Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 245

Chapter 245: Kristil’s Funeral

Mirae and Lysette made their way from the command center to a ward of the infirmary that had been cordoned off as a morgue for the nearly two thousand five hundred soldiers who perished during the day’s brutal battle.  All throughout, as undertakers processed the dead bodies, tireless work went on to identify the corpses of as many of the Domarians as they could.  And as seemed to be commonplace among the military, piles and piles of paperwork filled the room, documentation to inform next of kin and handle all the logistical drudgery that went into such a gruesome aftermath.

And of course, the sickening stench of death, of charred, decaying flesh and dried blood and so much piss and shit that it took all of Lysette’s willpower not to gag from the fumes.  But she suppressed her reflexes nonetheless, for anything less would have been the highest disrespect for so many brave soldiers who fought and died in a battle that they should never have had to fight in the first place.

An elderly gentleman, wizened and weary, looked up at the couple as they approached the desk.  “Cadet… Tronete, was it?”

“Yes, sir,” Lysette said.

“I received word from the commandant about half an hour ago.  Your friend’s body is right here.  And, I’m sorry for your loss.”

Lysette nodded, not saying a word as she picked up Kristil’s body.  It was wrapped in layers of bandages, but even obscured as it was, Lysette’s aura could still see her friend’s face.  That soft, smooth face of youthful passion marred by the scars that reflected the trials she’d been through as she worked to organize the scores of commoner students.  And those eyes of fiery determination that led her to sacrifice everything for the sake of the country that she loved despite all of its many flaws.

As she and Mirae took to the sky with the late afternoon sun at their back, she was stopped by Dani, who was calling out to them both.

“You two are leaving already?” she asked.

“I’m afraid so.  I don’t want to deny Nicholas and Kiarra closure any longer than I have to.  Plus, we both need to make sure that this tragedy doesn’t repeat itself again.”  Lysette paused for a moment.  “Do you want to come along?”

“Nicholas and Kiarra?  Those two are a couple now?”

“They are,” Mirae said.  “Not actually sure when that happened, but they seem… happy together.  And I am happy for them both and hope their relationship brings them both joy and comfort.  Especially now, when times will be especially rough.”

“To answer your question from before, I want to, yes.  I want to see you— the real you— and Serrena and everyone else again.  But I’m a soldier now.  I have to think about what everyone here needs, not just what I want.  I did want to tell you one thing before you left.  About Kristil.”

“What is it?”

“She saved my life.  That man’s last attack was aimed at me.  She pushed me out of the way at the last second.  The attack veered toward me like it was being guided by a malicious will, but she did something— I don’t know what.  But she–”  Dani started to cry.  “She forced the attack onto her own body, dominating whatever will was present within his blast and forcing it to target her instead.  I–”

Lysette cried as well, handing Kristil’s body to Mirae before taking Dani in her arms and just holding her for a good ten minutes.  She didn’t speak, didn’t message via telepathy, and didn’t make a single sound beyond her breathing, just focusing on Dani’s being and wishing her aura could soothe scars upon the mind and soul as well as those upon the body.  When Dani let go and wiped away her tears, Lysette finally answered. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come along and see everyone?  I’m sure I can talk to Saffron if you–”

“I know you could, L–  Mr. Tronete.  I would appreciate it too.  But Ari needs someone here who knows about everything going on.  Someone she can rely on.  And if I can be that someone, then that’s what I want to do.”

Mirae placed their hand on Dani’s shoulder and smiled.  “Your Devotion to your friend is admirable.  And I’m going to miss you, your kindness, your infectious joy, and your deep compassion for everyone you come into contact with.”

Lysette smiled at her love’s words.

“I’m going to go now,” Dani said.  “It’ll hurt too much to see the two of you fly off.  So I am going to head to the mess hall for dinner and not look back.”

The two shared one last hug before Dani did as she said.  Mirae handed Kristil’s body back to Lysette as the couple began their flight back to Ciricu.

And once they were outside the garrison and far enough over the surface to not be seen by others, Lysette let break her stoic appearance and shed countless tears of rage.  She raged at Alan, raged at Elithria.  She raged at Asterion, raged at Zarielle, raged at Lacos and his goons, raged at Omnia.  But most of all, she raged against herself.

Raged about how cruel and unfair the world was.  Raged against her powerlessness, her inability to defend her friends when they needed her the most.  Raged that hers was a damned existence no matter what she did.  Raged that the world would be her enemy, would unite in opposition to her no matter what she did or how she acted, simply out of fear of what she could become.

A realization hit her as she and Mirae silently flew up the southern slopes of the Spire Mountains and passed over Karchek’s final resting place.  Solanna had said before that demons represented a byproduct of Omnia’s system.  That they were something so pivotal to it that the gods, no matter how much they reinitialized it after the death of the Aestori, could never hope to scrub from it her system.

They represented something.  Some specific desire that the system couldn’t otherwise grant or embody by empowering a deity to fill that desire.  It wasn’t annihilation.  Lysette felt no proclivity to destroy the world.  Remake it, yes, but not destroy it.  No, it was the one desire the system could never hope to grant otherwise.

A desire to be free of Omnia’s system entirely.  A desire to end that system and the gods which were empowered by it.  Lysette thought back to that night, that moment before Zarielle made her into her Godslayer.  Into a demon.

She was scared, angry, fearful, maybe even a little resigned.  But most of all, she felt a deep, abiding hatred toward Asterion in that moment.  A desire, above all others, to see Asterion slain, to see him in the same powerless position in which his minions had placed her.  She wanted to see the gods slain, wanted to see their power broken and at the mercy of humans.

Karchek and Lilit probably both shared that desire.  A desire to be free of Omnia’s system.  A desire to live lives that they themselves chose, rather than one dictated to them from on high.  A desire to live in a world for humans alone.  One where no one else would ever again have to fight and die in a war that never should have concerned them.  No more Kristils with their promising lives cut short because of one vengeful god or another.

Lysette herself was no better than Alan in that regard.  Perhaps she had killed fewer than he, but that was no excuse.  Omnia’s system had failed the humans it was meant to serve, and she knew as well as anyone that it was time for it to end.

The couple arrived after two hours, touching down shortly after sunset.  Already a bonfire raged in the center of Ciricu, with its people gathering with piles of food to mourn yet another passing.  Another victim of a war that had been raging for at least four million years.  One that needed to end before it resulted in yet another genocide.

Nicholas and Kiarra jogged toward the two demigods, with the former breaking into a full sprint as Lysette reached the northern edges of Ciricu.  His eyes were sullen, his hands trepidatious, cold sweat upon his palms, and an ashen complexion that only drained further as he looked at the bandaged corpse that Lysette carried.

Lysette’s main body approached from where the town potluck was being arranged. After handing Kristil’s body to herself, she directed her avatar back into the town square to continue with preparations.  The three stood in silence, Nicholas barely avoiding breaking down, but when Kiarra approached and rubbed Nicholas’s back, he burst into tears, taking his girlfriend into his arms and burying his face in her neck and shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Nicholas.  She died a hero, fighting for causes she believed in.  We had nearly won the fight, but when the Elithrians were beaten, they launched one last cowardly attack.  Their commander tried to kill Dani, probably as a way to hurt me.  But Kristil jumped in front of the attack and forced it to hit her instead.  As far as I and the mortician could tell, her death was as quick and instantaneous as a death could be.”

Nicholas didn’t make a sound, just holding onto Kiarra for a bit longer as he nodded slightly.  He turned around, his eyes red and puffy, and shook his head.

“That’s just like Kris,” he stammered out.  “Always putting herself out there to help others.  Willing to leap into the fray to fight for what she believes in.  Not concerned about danger, not worried about what might happen to her as a result.”

“I’m sorry that even with my power as a demigoddess, I can’t bring her back.  But I wanted to at least give you this bit of closure, and make sure she gets the rites she deserves, as a hero.  A hero to me, to Dani, to Domaria, and to all of Aimarion.”

“I owe her as well,” Kiarra said.  She gave Nicholas a long hug and a kiss on the lips.  “If it wasn’t for her and Lyse and Dani, I’d still have my head up my ass.  And I’d never have met and gotten to know a man who is, quite frankly, far better than I deserve.”

“Kia…”  Nicholas’s voice trailed off.

“I didn’t know Kristil nearly as well as she deserved,” Kiarra said.  “I don’t think any of us did.  But I think she’d want us to look toward the future.”

“I–  In my mind, I know you’re right, Kia.  But in my heart, I need time.  I need time and energy and space just to process.  If it’s okay with you three, I’m going to step away for a few minutes while everyone finishes setting up.”

Nicholas walked off, back toward his and Kiarra’s cottage.

“I’m going to follow him at a distance, just to make sure he has me if he needs me.”

Lysette only nodded.

A short while later, all the villagers had gathered around the bonfire, ready for the consecration and memorial ceremony.  Nicholas and Kiarra were among the last to arrive, doing so hand-in-hand.  Both of them were stable, at the least, though Nicholas still had big, puffy eyes and plenty of dried mucus and tears on the new shirt he was wearing.  The two made their way to the front of the crowd, standing not too far from where Kristil’s body lay, ready to be cremated.

At the couple’s ready, Lysette began speaking.

“My friends, people of Ciricu, Terean refugees, and all others who call this place home, tonight is a solemn night, one we all hoped would never come, and certainly hoped would not come nearly so soon.  Today we mourn yet another person killed in the infernal pits of war.  A kind, caring, considerate woman who embodied the very best in humanity— the very best in all of us.  A woman named Kristil Rosari.

“She was a true hero, an inspiration to me and to many, many others who knew her.  She was a leader, someone to look up to, a guide and mentor.  An organizer who saw a problem that she and many, many others faced.  And rather than simply accepting injustice in her life, she fought, time and time again, to correct that injustice.  And earlier today, when the forces of injustice sought to destroy our way of life, she rushed into battle as any hero would.

“We had nearly won, but in their desperation, those forces of injustice launched one final cowardly attack.  And, knowing that someone would need to take the attack to shield others, Kristil made the ultimate sacrifice, giving up her life to save the life of a dear, dear friend of mine.  We gather here today to mourn her, but also to honor and consecrate her.  To memorialize her heroism, to pay respects to her sacrifice…”

Lysette teared up.  “I didn’t know her for nearly as long as I would have liked.  But her brother, Nicholas, is here with us tonight.  And I want to give him the opportunity to speak, to remember Kristil as only he knew her.”

The crowd responded with a polite applause as Nicholas approached the central dais, his girlfriend still holding his hand, following behind silently as a form of moral support.

“People of Ciricu,” he began.  “Today, Aimarion is unquestionably a darker, less just, and sadder place as a result of Kristil’s passing.  She was a hero in every sense of the word, as Lyse had said earlier.  She was also a guide and a mentor to me.  She was my only sibling.  And being a year older than I, she was a role model, someone I aspired to be.

“She was a hero, yes.  But she was my hero as well.  Sure, we didn’t always get along.  We fought sometimes, as siblings do.  Some days we didn’t like each other very much.  Some days, we fought, and screamed and slammed doors in our small home because we were angry and fed up with one another.  But deep down, we loved each other…

“We relied on each other.  Especially at the Academy, where we were taught Cultivation.  When we were forced to… suffer indignity as a result of the injustices…  The acts of cruelty we were sometimes subjected to by people who were taught wrong.  Who didn’t know better.  And some who did know better, but chose to act in a cruel fashion because it was easier, faster, more convenient to accept the world as it was, rather than working to change it.

“Kristil was a talented, conscientious Cultivator.  But more than that, she was a builder of bridges between people.  One of the best I’d ever known at working to find common ground with others.  At trying to see the best in people.  Even if they may not have fully deserved to be seen as their best selves.”

Nicholas paused and clutched Kiarra’s hand.  “I know that most of you here didn’t get a chance to meet Kristil.  She chose not to come here, because she felt her duty to her country, to the people she cared about.  To me, to our parents back in Domark.  She felt she had to go to the front lines, to fight for the causes she believed in.  And, though I had hoped she would have many, many more decades to do the work she set out to do, I know that she died contented.  She died satisfied that her life was able to save the life of our friend, Danitha.”

“I want, as her brother, to make one request of everyone.  I want everyone to accept that spirit of generosity, of kindness, of caring and consideration for everyone, even for those who had wronged her.  I want everyone to be inspired by her life, and by her sacrifice, and to try to live a life in accordance with the values and principles she held most dear.  If her inspiration, her sacrifice, guides the world to a better place.  Or even just convinces one person to make a positive difference, then I think Kris would be happy with the legacy she left for all of us.”

The tears began flowing as Nicholas said that previous sentence.  “Please, everyone.  Let us bow our heads, and hope and pray that, wherever Kris is now, that she is making that world, that realm, better as well.  Let us empower her with our tears and memories and ensure that she is never forgotten.  Thank you.  Thank you all.”

— End Volume 3.

Chapter 244: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114358461

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 246: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114484664