Honor The Dead

The warmth of the sun greeted me, as its rays beamed down onto me. I groaned miserably as I cringed my eyes in pain. It toke every ounce of strength, before I finally opened my eyes. As they adjusted to the light, I turned from it and look down. There, I saw the dead body of my mother, still kept in my arms. Then it all came back to me. The release of the Dark One, the cave in, the death of my people, my mother fighting him, his defeat, mother dying next to me and me crying myself to sleep.

I sighed sadly, as I gently put down my mother, slowly stood up and wiped away any tears that were in my eyes. Even now it was still hard to accept, that everyone I had loved had been killed. Regardless I knew that no matter what, there was nothing I could do to bring them back.

After a few seconds of standing still, I went over the nearest tree I could find and climbed up. Once I was at the top I searched the forest, for a good open field for the graves. After all my people deserved a funeral. There was not enough room to house all of them right here, but I knew that there had to be a field somewhere. As I searched, my eye briefly caught sight of the human town. I let out a small growl of resentment, and turned my sadness in hate and anger. It was their fault that all of this had happened. Julian summoned the Dark One! He gave him the strength he needed. If we had left them be, none of this would have happened. They deserve to pay.

I quickly shock my head, to try and rid myself of the thoughts. I should not be thinking of things like this right now. I had more important things to worry about. Vengeance could wait; right now I had work to do. It did not take me long before I found a large, clear field not far from here. I jumped down from the tree and effortlessly landed on the ground, feet first. With a sad sigh, I slowly walked towards my mother, and picked her up. She was a bit heavy, but nothing I couldn't tolerate. Her entire body was cold except for the part, where I had slept on. Fighting any tears I had, I began to walk towards the field.

My walk towards the field, for the most part was undisturbed. Though after walking for a few seconds, I came across a small part of the forest, where my mother and I would sometimes train. The bittersweet memories slowly returned to me, as I sighed sadly and kept on walking. That was when I just barely heard, the sound of young laughter. The sound made me freeze for a moment, before I shrugged it off as the wind playing tricks on me. But as I walked on, I heard the laughter again. But this time it was followed, by and older sounding laughter. Getting a little annoyed by this, I turned to the source…and saw a younger me playing with my mother. I blinked in surprise, but just as they had appeared they disappeared. I stood still for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was going one, before shrugging it off as me seeing things before continuing to walk.

Finally, I reached the field. When I reached the other side of the field, I gently placed my mother down on the ground, turned into my wolf form and started digging. It took a few hours, but I had managed to dig up a grave about the same size as my mother. After that, I walked back to my mother and gently placed her in the grave. "Do not worry mother, I will give you the funeral you deserve. But first I will get the rest," I assured her in a sad tone. After that I dag another grave only a few feet away from her. "I will be back soon," I told her as I finished before turning back into a wolf, and running back to my kingdom.

As I ran past the forest, I could just barley hear the sound of laugh again. I ignored it, and kept on running towards my home.

When I was only a few feet away, I turned back into my normal form and slowed down for the rest of the trip. It did not take long for me to see the wall, just up ahead. Though a large part of it had been torn down, some of it still remained mostly untouched. I walked through the wall and into my kingdom and saw the one thing I had hoped to never re-experience. The one thing that froze my blood, no different than when I first heard of the fate of our people.

My home looked exactly, like it did in my dream. Every single house had been tumbled over, and been reduced to a mere shadow of what they used to be. Many of them had fallen over onto, the deceased bodies of my people. Even my home, which used to tower over the rest, had been ripped down leaving nothing but what used to be our old basement. But that was not what horrified me. What horrified me was the sight of all the dead. Hundreds of corpses littered the street. Their bodies drained of flesh, still dressed their clothes and armor, which were covered with dirt and blood. The sight of all the dead was too horrible for me to bear. I could already feel my insides twisting in way I never imagined, and every meal I had ever eaten racing out of my stomach and going straight for my mouth.

I quickly faced away from the sight, and let the contented of my stomach out, as I vomited for what felt like minutes. When I had finally finished, I feel to my hands and knees, my mouth cowered with vomit and my brow and eyes turned salty from sweat and tears. I just stood there, for 2 minutes taking deep breathes trying to recover. "Come one Aisling…you can do this…you must…you have work to do…you cannot back down now," I snakingly said to myself, as I wiped off the vomit from my mouth. I slowly climbed back onto my feet, as I snakingly walked back to my home.

I slowly walked through, I did the best I could to not throw up my again, as I searched the body of my father, all while trying my best not to step on any of the soldiers. These men and women, were some of the most loyal and honorable people I had ever met. Many of them were my friends. They didn't deserve to die. I sighed sadly, as I kept on walking.

"Aaaah!"

My sadness melted as I sharply turned to the source of the sound. For a brief moment, there was hope. Hope that maybe someone had survived the attack. I looked and the voice disappeared leaving no trace other than one of the dead. It must have been the wind again. My hope dropped, as I sighed in disappointment and emptiness, and went to looking for my father.

"Please! No! Do not!"

There it was again! I turned to the source, and once again nothing alive was there. I groaned in annoyance, as I once again turned my attention to finding my father. I was getting really tired of this. First I was seeing my mother and I in the forest, and now I was hearing voices in my head.

Fortunately the voices stopped after my outburst, allowing me to continue my search undisturbed. After a few seconds, I finally saw what I was looking for. My father. I could tell from the size of his bones, and by his different looking armor. As I slowly walked over to him, I could not help but shed a tear as the memories of our last moments together came back to me. "Oh father, if only there was something I could do. I just hope you will be waiting for me in Sidhe," I sighed sadly, as I wiped my tear away. As I went over to him, the voices returned.

"Help me please!"

"Please do not do this! I have a family, a son!"

"Aaah"

"Hold your positions! Hold your-Aaah!"

"Nuada? Nuada no! NO!"

"Enough! I do not know who is doing this, but I demand that you stop! This is not funny!" I exclaimed in furious, as I turned back behind me, only to be greeted with the same sight, I had seen before. I scanned around my home trying to find whoever was the cause of this nonsense. I waited for minutes, but still no one came. I sighed in annoyance, and took a few seconds to calm down.

After that, I went back to my father and gently picked him up. He was much heavy than my mother, but nothing I could not tolerate. "Mother always told you, that should not eat so much father," I chuckled sadly, as I lifted him. I turned back to walk back to the field, when I heard it:

"I am so sorry Aisling, I did not survive."

My heart froze upon hearing the final words of my father. Just like that, every other sound faded, as I let that one sentence sink into my mind. The sadness, hopelessness and pain coming from my fathers voice, was enough to bring me to tears and nearly shatter me. Not able to take much more, I quickly wiped away the tears and once again pick up my father. Just as I began to run, the voices return and this time ignoring them was impossible.

"Help me!"

"Get out of the way!"

"We cannot defeat him! He is too powerful!"

"My king, help us!"

"Edain, please forgive me."

"Please, no!"

"Help me! Someone! Anyone! Aaah!"

"Please help me!"

"Noooo"

"Go run! Gooo-Ah!"

The voices haunted me, as I kept on running. I ran as fast as I could, all the while making sure I did not let go of my father, as the screaming voices kept on and one, until I was finally away from my home.

I sighed in relief as the voices finally stopped, before turning back to the direction of the field. That's when I was greeted, with another surprise. There stood my father, playing with a much younger me. I knew that could not have been my father, I was holding his corpse with my bear hands. But that was true, then who where those two? I marched over to them and shouted: "HEY! Who are you, and what do you think-" I stopped as they had disappeared, as if they were never there to begin with. Now I was getting scared and confused. By this point it was obvious, that this was not some kind of sick joke. But if that was the case, then what was going on? Who were those people? Why did they look exactly like us? Were they ghosts? Were they connected to the vision I saw of my mother and I? And all of the voices I heard back home? Were they ever there to begin with? Was I just imagining things? Was I going crazy?

All of those thoughts clouded up my mind, until I remembered why I went back home to begin with. My father deserved a funeral; the answers, would have to be saved for another day. Pushing my questions aside for a while, I kept on walking to the field.

When I finally got there, I gently placed my father onto the grave, I had dug out for him. It was right next my mother, though it was larger than hers. "Wait a while longer father, there is still much more work to be done," I sighed sadly, as I went to dig up three more graves, these ones much smaller. They were the graves of my friends, Nuala, Ronan and Oisin. After I was finished, I turned back and walked back to my home, my sad mood not changing.

As I did, I came back to the place where I had seen, the image of my mother and a younger me. I could hear their laughter again, but I just ignored them and kept on my way. That is…until I heard the laughter of my father. In that moment, my instincts took over and made me turn, and there I saw not just my mother and younger me, but also my father. I stood still for a few seconds, before turning away and running at full speed. I could not take much more of this. Why was this happening to me? What did I do?

I made it back to the wall. I was about to go, when I hesitated. What if the voices were still there? What if there were more visions. I did not think I could take much more of this. I kept on until I pushed the thoughts out of my head. I cannot let a few visions and voices, stand in the way of my friends. I had to get them. With newly sparked determination, I ran towards the tunnel.

However surprisingly, there were no voices to be heard. Not a cry, or scream or anything. Now this was getting ridicules. Suddenly I hear voices and then I do not? After trying to find an answer for a few seconds, I just decided to delay the subject for now, and just go and find my friends. It took me a few seconds, but I soon made it to the basement. Right near at the base of the staircase, I could see a dead Tuatha Dé Danna. Taking a deep breath, I used what my mother taught me of mist spells and summoned a thin glowing trail of mist, though this one was shorter than the one my mother had used. Following it down the stairs, I slowly and carefully walked the tunnel, making sure I did not step on everyone.

As I entered, I was immediately greeted with the sight of hundreds of dead bodies. Men, Women…children all of them littered the floor. As I fought back, what little was left of my stomach trying to get out, I cringed in pain as I clamed my eyes shut to avoid any tears. It took me a long time, but I finally managed to hold it all in.

I kept walking through the tunnel; there was no sound to be heard, other than the echoing of my footsteps. I walked for minutes, making sure not to step on anyone.

Finally I made to the spot, where the cave-in had happened. On the ground were three skeletons of children and a few full-grown adults, not far from them. Upon further expectation, there was no mistaking that they were the bodies of Ronan, Oisin and Nuala. The sight was heartbreaking, seeing my three best friends together like this. After everything we had been through, it should not have ended like this. I sighed sadly and bent down to pick Ronan up, never noticing the sound whispering growing louder. What I did notice however, was something was turned my blood to ice and made my heart as still as stone.

Ronan's left arm was shoulder deep inside the rubble, as if he was reaching for something, and the debris had caught his arm. "Oh lords NO! Oh Ronan, how could this have happened?" I cried in desire, as I felt tears falling from my eyes. My answer came as I heard a voice calling out "Aisling!" followed by the sound of the roof collapsing. Before I could respond, more voices cried out:

"Ronan! No, my son!"

"Ronan, what were you doing?"

"Aisling! She was in trouble! I-I had to do something."

My confusion turned to a mix of surprise and horror as I realized, that Ronan had tried to reach me, during the cave-in. My tears continued to flow, as I cried: "Oh Ronan, I was fine. You should not have thrown away, your life like that."

As I kept on crying, the whispers turned to moans, pleas and cries which throughout the cave, and haunted my mind:

"Momma, I do not want to die!"

"What are we going to do?"

"We are trapped! We are all going to die!"

"Mommy, Daddy I am scared!"

"Do something father!"

"I do not want to lose you!"

"Mother, I will see you soon."

"Father, protect me!"

"Do not worry my dear, it will be over soon."

"They promised we would be safe! They promised!"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" I cried in pain and despair, as the tears kept falling one after the other. But the voices did not fade; they only grew stronger and louder. It was been enough when I was outside, with the soldiers and my father. But now with the cries of not just adults AND children, it was far too much for me to bear. Simply hearing all this agony, desire, hopelessness, sadness and pain was enough shatter me completely. I could not take it a moment longer.

I ran as fast my legs could carry me, as the cries and screams followed me. I ran out of the tunnel and onto the street, where the cries of all the soldiers came back to haunt me. I did all I could to ignore them, as I ran through the street, out of my home and deep into the forest, ignoring all the screams, cries and laughing as the tears kept pouring like a waterfall. Finally when I was deep through the forest, they all stopped. But my crying did not. I simply went on, as I walked deeper and deeper into the forest, until I found a large hole nearby a small hill. I went inside cruelled up and kept on crying. I turned to the sky and cried: "Mother, please help me! I am too weak to go back and I do not know what to do! Please help me! Do something! Anything! Please, I beg you! I am not ready. I am sorry. I am not ready." After a few seconds went by, with no answer, I finally gave up and fell asleep hoping that tomorrow; I would get some kind of answer.

Well there's the latest chapter. I hope you enjoy it and sorry if it's a bit rushed. Just to clarify, Aisling is currently having posttraumatic stress, which is why she's hearing all these voices and having some hallucinations. I'm sorry if you were confused in this chapter, and if I didn't make things clear enough, and you enjoyed the chapter regardless. Have a good day.