Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 207

Chapter 207: Night of Remembrance

Lysette emerged from the detention center just as the last of the sun’s disc descended below the western horizon.  Back in the town proper, tables were already lined around the town commons, with the center occupied by a bundle of wood only slightly smaller than the one from last month’s ceremony.

As Serrena started the bonfire and the first plumes of smoke rose into the sky, the people of Ciricu began to gather.  Most of them brought with them one plate of food or another.  A lot of casserole dishes, stews, and generous hearty winter sides were joined by platters of various meats, including seasoned brisket, spare ribs, and turkey, among others.  Even some of the kids hobbled along with baskets of bread and rolls.

The combination of the hearty wood smoke and the fragrance of so much food made Lysette’s mouth water.  And judging from the sounds of restless kids eager to eat, it seemed she wasn’t the only one.

An icy hand wrapped its way around Lysette’s waist, followed by an equally icy pair of lips planting themselves on her cheek.  Lysette turned and Reciprocated both gestures in accordance with her divine nature, before plucking a pear off a conjured vine and handing it to her love.

Mirae took a bite as the two walked toward the gathering crowd.  “Better, love.  A little too ripe, though.  Pear tastes better when it’s somewhat firm.”

“Still?  I undershot the ripeness on the apple I gave to Julianna earlier so I tried to compensate a bit.  Seems I overshot it a bit.”  Lysette blushed.

“I think you’re doing great, love.”  “Although I’m not sure I agree with revealing that you’re a demon to those two.  They could cause quite a panic among the villagers if that truth came out.”

“I thought about that, but I figured being truthful and honest with our intentions and goals would go further toward securing their allyship.”

“Will you give them their Cultivation back?”

“Assuming they can be trusted not to wield it against everyone here, yes.  In time.  But I’d rather not worry about exactly when and where that will happen just yet.  And my other body is busy helping to set everything up for tonight, so I can’t offload that task either.”

“I was actually going to ask what it– he– you were doing.”  Mirae giggled.  “Still hard to wrap my head around the fact that Karchek’s body is now also you.”

“You make that clear every time we head to the bedroom, love.”

“I know it’s you, but I still don’t feel comfortable with the body of someone we fought and killed joining us in bed.  Even if it is you!”

“That aside, now I’m curious about your taste in guys.  I know you’ve mentioned–”

“None, love.”  Mirae wrapped their arm around Lysette’s arm and pulled themself in close.  “I am the deific incarnation of Devotion.  And mine to you is absolute.  I feel no desire to share you or be shared by you.”

Lysette nodded.

“Well, you don’t have to be so in-your-face about it in public.”  Serrena turned around with the scowl that accompanied any such scolding.

“Because you and Rayleigh are getting along most poorly,” Mirae said.

Serrena’s scowl grew more intense.  “We’re getting along rather well, thank you very much.  Thankfully in our case, getting along well is limited to cooperating as Cultivators and as a master and a disciple ought to be!  Not… whatever foul ideas the two of you get into seemingly every other evening.”

“Seemingly every other evening?” Lysette asked.  “Are you spying on us?”

Serrena pointed to her ears.  “I can hear the two of you going at it.  Especially at the dead of night, when I’d like to be able to train in peace.”

Lysette and Mirae turned toward one another with beet-red faces.

“Neither of us have your fancy ability to see with your aura.  So, we’ve been working toward doing something similar with echolocation, and sharpening our hearing considerably in the process.  I would like to turn that heightened hearing down, except I am trying to do right by the people and keep an ear out for any more of your friends who want to cause trouble.”

“I know we’re not the only couple in this town.” Mirae said.

“You are the loudest.  By far.  And the only couple who is awake two hours after midnight.”

Lysette and Mirae turned away from each other in perfect sync.  “We’ll try to keep it down a bit,” they said simultaneously.  “At least after midnight,” Mirae added.

“Well, at least I get something out of this exchange.”

“Speaking of,” Mirae said, after a minute of awkward silence between the three demigods.  “Where is Rayleigh, anyway?”

“Behind you,” Rayleigh said, carrying three large casserole dishes full of mashed potatoes on a board of solidified air in front of her.  “My Goddess told me that we’d be taking the evening off to remember the slain soldiers.  I can’t say I understand it, but if that’s what she thinks is best for us right now, then I’ll defer to her judgement.”

“Breaks are important, even for us,” Serrena said.  “You’re advancing at a remarkable pace, but your mind and body need time to recover after pushing yourself to your limits as you have been.”

Serrena poked Rayleigh’s shoulder, eliciting a grimace from her disciple.

“See my point?  You’re pushing through, but your muscles are near their limits.  You don’t want to end up like this blockhead.”  Serrena pointed her thumb toward Lysette.  “She’s constantly pushing herself to the brink of death and defying all sensibility in order to get stronger.  And I can tell you that if she needs breaks from time to time, then so do you.”

“Now I want to hear what kinda shit Lysette has managed to get herself into.”  Rayleigh nodded toward the crowd a few dozen paces away, and the four began walking toward the commons.

“Honestly, I can’t think of a single fight where I haven’t been brought to the brink of death,” Lysette said.  “Well, until last night, at least.  Was pretty nice to have consciousness all through the Blood Moon.  Managed to not make it four in a row somehow.”

Rayleigh chuckled.  “I see My Goddess’s point on the matter.”

As soon as Lysette passed through the crowd and made her way toward the bonfire, she was stopped by Evelyn and another elderly woman whose name she didn’t recall.

“Ah, Lyse, good timing,” Evelyn said.  “How are you feeling?  I know you’ve been so busy with everything going on lately.”

“The tasks are never-ending, and there are more of them every day.  But we’re all doing what we can.  And I wanted to say how grateful I am to you and everyone else.  I hope I can continue to live up to everyone’s hopes and dreams and aspirations for me.”

“Such a kind-hearted woman, thinking of others like that,” the other woman said.

Lysette demurred.  She certainly wanted to be kind-hearted.  And she tried to be kind-hearted.  But seeing the bodies of her four victims from last night was a stark reminder of exactly how close to the precipice she truly was.  How her demonic nature threatened to make her exactly the same as Asterion, Thosse, Zarielle, and every other god on Aimarion.  Someone willing to kill not just out of necessity, but out of convenience.  Or even worse, sacrificing lives for her own personal gain.

Evelyn nodded.  “If we might ask you to say a few words of commemoration before we get started this evening.”

Lysette took a long and deep breath as she approached the central bonfire.  As she did, she looked into the eyes of everyone gathered.  Townsfolk of Ciricu, from wide-eyed children staring at the piles of food gathered all about to the weary faces of elders who had been a part of far too many remembrances.  Her comrades from the Domark Cultivation Academy, most of whom were more interested in whatever Lysette would say than the ceremony itself.  Her fellow demigods Serrena and Mirae, who had together already led a ceremony in her absence.

And most importantly, the eight Terean soldiers who fell in battle the previous night, some of whose bodies were so mangled and damaged that they remained wrapped in cloth from head to toe.  A grim reminder of the true cost of war.  A grimmer reminder that said cost was usually not borne by those who instigated the fighting.  And, perhaps contradictorily, a cautionary tale of what fate befell Lysette and everyone she cared about should she fail in her crusade against the gods of Aimarion.

Lysette took yet another long breath before she started speaking.  “Ladies, Gentleman, and everyone else, thank you for being here for this remembrance.  Tonight we remember the lives of eight soldiers who fell last night in a battle outside our town.”

Some of the kids looked on with agape mouths while some, mostly the younger ones, clutched onto their parents’ thighs and waists, burying their heads while their parents tried to comfort them.  Lysette gave everyone a moment to calm down and process her words before continuing.

“Thanks to everyone’s help and hard work these past few weeks, none of the good people of Ciricu were harmed in the attack.

“I also want to thank everyone for everything these past few weeks.  I know that my first arrival to Ciricu has brought about a great many changes to this town and to the people living here.  Hopefully more good changes than bad changes.  To the extent that I can make it so, I shall endeavor to do exactly that.”

Serrena walked up to join her.  “No matter how much we wish at times that things would remain the same, change is the only true constant in this world.  What I am about to tell you will not be easy for you to hear, but I think it would be an even greater disservice not to tell you.  Please take a moment to mentally prepare yourselves.”

She paused for several minutes while the villagers discussed among themselves.  As they did, several of the children clung even tighter to their older relatives as parents provided yet more consolation and explanation of what many in the village had already understood.

Once the villagers had recollected themselves as much as was possible, Serrena continued.  “Outside the village, already the gods and their believers have been preparing for war.  Not just here in Ciricu or even in Terea, but all throughout Kraciell, if not all of Aimarion.  Though last night was the first time this conflict has come to this village, it is not the opening salvo in the overall conflagration.

“The kingdom of Domark has already been besieged twice by Elithrian partisans serving Asterion.  And it was that same god who lent his power to the Terean operatives serving the Sea Goddess Thosse in the attack last night.”

Lysette interjected.  “I don’t believe I’ve said this to more than a very few people here in Ciricu, but I think it’s time everyone knows this about me.  I was born and grew up in a small town along the western edge of Domaria called Osstia.  A village very much like Ciricu, filled with good, kind-hearted, loving people and community just like the ones you all have.  A village which three months ago was reduced to nothing in a tragedy I never again want to see repeated.

“Though it is merely an adoptive home for the past month, already I have come to love this village, to love the people and community as my own.  That is why I want above all else to protect this village.

“Tonight, we come here to remember the eight Terean soldiers who lost their lives last night.  But more than that, we remember that they too left behind families, friends, loved ones, and communities of their own.  We come here to remember that no matter the outcome of any battle, in war there are no winners.  Only losers.  Only people whose lives are thrown away by gods, kings, archdukes, and lords who tear families apart and throw our bodies into the uncaring pyres of war.

“Let us take a moment of silence to remember these eight people who last night paid the ultimate price.”

And as the eight were lifted onto the funeral bonfire and the stench of death wafted into the sky, Lysette too closed her eyes and reflected upon everything so far.  That she, too, was a victim, but also a warring demigoddess herself.  One who warred for her people, fought to protect them, but also took lives of her own just the same as all the others.

And she remembered her promise to Finis, caretaker of the Aestori legacy.  That two months ago, she had vowed that she would do all within her power to find a better way forward, to finally end the five-million year conflict, the original sin of Aimarion’s creation.  To usher in a new world in service to humanity, so that humans and all other mortals could live their lives free of unending war.

Mirae spoke next, taking Lysette’s hand as they joined her and Serrena.  “My Devotion to protect the people of Ciricu is absolute.  But I cannot do this alone.  Even the three of us together cannot do so alone.  We will need every one of you.  Our fellow Cultivators from Domark, and everyone else as well.  The only way we can possibly move forward is together, hand-in-hand, building ourselves up as a community and a people united by a shared vision of a world of peace.”

“Please,” Lysette said, dropping to her knees and lying prostrate before the gathered people of Ciricu.  “Continue to lend us your strength.  Let us work to create a future where we will never have to have another remembrance for lives cut short by war and conflict.  A world where we live in harmony rather than discord.  This is what I want.  I think that's what all of us want.”

Evelyn and her friend from before both approached Lysette.  “Miss Lyse, please rise.”

Lysette stood up slowly.  “Goddess or not, I never again want to see myself as above the community I serve.  Never want to see you all, or anyone else, as anything other than people with lives, hopes, dreams, and families of your own.  And I pledge that I will give my all to my new home, to the community that took me in and welcomed me as one of their own.

“I think I’ve said everything I have to.  So, uh, thank you for listening.”

The crowd laughed, and the feast of remembrance followed.

Chapter 206: https://www.patreon.com/posts/112051729

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

Chapter 208: https://www.patreon.com/posts/112440642