Chapter 12 - Tale of the Ashen Night

The last day of December had blessed us with snow. Or cursed, depending on your point of view.

I had myself a complicated relationship with snow.

In one hand, I found it beautiful, be it under a microscope or as a topping changing known landscapes into new fabulously white tapestries.

In another hand, snow had worked against me so many times, be it for the building of a new antenna or for an infiltration mission, that by the end of the war I had come to hate the white frozen substance.

In the last few days, mom and dad had been busy decorating the house in tones of white and yellow (because gold was, well, too costly), the colours of Goddess Radiance, and they had put a tiny statue of her on top of the fireplace.

Why all this turmoil?

Because tonight, we would pray to Radiance for us to pass from one year to another safely. The days of the gates, they called that, with the doorstep as the last day of December, and the exit as the first day of January.

“Kids? I’ve something to say to you.” After the prayer, Mom and Dad had taken us to talk.

“Tomorrow, we won’t be narrating the story of the Ashen night.”

Noa and Vi did not say anything but you could see their disappointment.

“Because we have been invited by lord Valince to participate at his private dinner.” Added mom.

“What?”

“Yes, you’ve heard properly. Under the recommendation of Crisnée, and seeing that Vivianne has awakened her Shi, lord Valince asked us if we wanted to join them, him and his daughter, to their private dinner. Of course, we said yes.”

“That’s so cool! Sis’, we’ll really need to thanks Crisnée!” As usual, Noa was as full of energy as a brand new mana battery. Which was a bit tiring, but not unpleasant.

“Uhn!” Vivianne nodded in acknowledgement. Those last few days, she and Crisnée had started interacting a bit more, even if it was mainly through swords clashing.

This night, as usual, I went to sleep with Vivianne but, at some point, I felt something else climbing in the bed with us. Seemed like Noa had difficulties sleeping. I half-woke up, as did Vi, and when she saw who it was, she just made a bit of space for him.

I slept the rest of the night between my two siblings, and I thanked my luck to have been reborn in this family.

***

First of January, afternoon.

Everyone was somewhat properly clothed. For the very first time I saw Mom clad in a dress, a nice piece of white cloth that was quite good looking on her.

Dad was dressed in a three-piece suit that totally destroyed both his image as a househusband and as a hunter, and both Vi and Noa sported the same cloth, soft blue pants with a shirt and a jacket in the same tones. Each of the twins had chosen a hair accessory for the other without concerting beforehand, which had lead to a fun situation of the two of them choosing the same thing for the other. And so they both had a hairpin with a tiny flame carved in it in their hair.

Me? Well, I was in blue, but that’s all I could say.

Even if the mansion of the city lord wasn’t really far, the snow and the temperature were still a problem. As such, the city lord had taken on him to ask a carriage to take us from our home to his. The coachman seemed a nice man, but I couldn’t help and dislike him after seeing the disgusted gaze he had thrown at Vivianne, after crossing eyes with her.

It was easy to forget it, as Vi was now taken care of by a private tutor, but most people out there were either disturbed or disgusted by her eyes, and her missing left hand did not help her case with those people.

And each time someone reacted like that, you could nearly feel another wound opening on the heart of my big sister.

Was it because we were in a backward city, or because the world had become less welcoming overall? But this kind of reaction really disturbed me. During my last life, you had to pull of way more than altered eyes and lost limbs to be shunned in disgust.

In fact, the only thing that really made people react like that was Entropic mutation. Everything else was, at worst, ignored, at best talked about in a good light.

Sometimes I really want to strangle those people.

Yet you can’t strangle everyone, not if you want to be accepted in society.

How unfortunate.

The journey by carriage was short and unpleasant, as those people seemed to even have forgotten how to make fucking shock-absorbing springs, which was a shame really.

Once arrived at the mansion, I was a bit disappointed. It was way smaller than what I was waiting for, but I guess my expectations were a bit too high for the place.

For one, it looked more like an overgrown farm than a noble mansion.

We were quickly taken into the first hall, entirely made out of wood, with the same grey walls I was not acquainted with. There, we let our shoes behind and were led in what seemed to be the dining room.

It was maybe three times bigger than ours? But this size only put the emphasis on how empty, nay, how hollow the room felt. Indeed, in this big room with its big table, only four persons we present. Two looked like maids, and the other two were Crisnée and a man that ought to be her father.

“Welcome, welcome. Take a seat, we’ll start dinner soon.” His tone was cheerful but his eyes, just like the room, felt hollow.

“It’s an honour and a pleasure to be here with you today, Lord Valince.” Answered Mom while doing a small curtsy, quickly followed by dad and the twins, although Vi had some difficulties pulling it as she had me in her arms.

“I can say the same for you. First you save my daughter, then your twins both turn out to be Shi-competent? It is indeed my honour to have such citizens living in my city.”

The gap between his tone and words that seemed genuine, and his dead gaze, was particularly unsettling, but it seemed that I was the only one seeing or at least reacting to it.

That’s it. He has the gaze of someone who is dead inside.

Seen too many of them during the war. Didn’t think that we would encounter one so quickly in this new life.

Yes. It’s sad.

It was the kind of gaze soldiers that volunteered for the first line had, the gaze of someone who just stopped to care long ago.

But then… Then suddenly his gaze lit up a bit. He was looking at his daughter.

“I heard from my daughter that your twins are already quite good blades. It reassures me to think that they will be training together in the future.” And, as he took his gaze off his daughter, his eyes turned dead once again.

“We’re also happy about it. Crisnée already came visiting our home once or twice, and she seems to be a very well behaved lady.”

“She is indeed! But enough mundanity, come and sit! Hanna, since our guests are there, let’s start with the appetizers at once!”

“Yes master.” She bowed and she and her colleague exited the room.

After that… well, since I couldn’t eat anything (damn this baby body!), I did not really pay any attention to the food. The appetizers were followed by something to drink, I think.

But then…

“Well, before getting to the main course, let’s hear the tale of the Ashen Night, as tradition ask us to do!” He clapped his hands and a door opened, revealing a man and a woman, both in their thirties, colourfully clothed.

“Welcome Lea and Ethan, brother and sister and travelling bards! You’re lucky, they only come here once every three years.”

“You honour us, lowly bards, way too much, my lord.”

“Rubbish. Every last piece of silver I pay you, you prove worthy of them!”

“Thank you, my lord. Shall we start?”

“If my guests are ready?” He looked right and left, receiving nods from both Mom and Dad. “Perfect. Do start.”

“Thanks.”

Tale of the Ashen Night

In a far distant age, beyond reckon of lore,

When strange skies still trembled with dragons’ roar,

When miracles were as yet things commonly seen,

And gods as often as mortals strode on grass green,

In those days, when war rent the earth and burnt the sky,

And for supremacy Light and Darkness did vie,

On one side stood Radiance sun-browed, pure and serene,

On the other the Dark Temptress, the Eldrich Queen.

Silent had she descended earthward like a shade,

The very earth to consume, her horrors arrayed.

With her dread host, everything did devour,

From the noblest beast, to humblest flower,

All died, changed, was reborn; for, where’er she trod

She corrupted, ‘til, there remained only on sod,

Monsters deformed, broken vessels of pain,

As love was exchanged for evil’s mute reign.

‘Til, uniting the world, Radiance arose,

Corrupt Heart’s porphyrous tendrils to oppose,

Finally, after a contest cataclysmic

Radiance landed the last blow, struck her to the quick;

The Queen reeled and fell, vanquished in soul and in frame.

But, out of sheer malice, tho’ to e’erlasting flame

Condemned, this Dark Queen, to make partake of her gloom

The world, it to self-same mis’ry did doom:

Doomed it to ashes, to sorrow, to fail.

Radiance saw perish ‘neath interminable hail,

Our world; grief-stricken, she herself didst immolate,

To ward off our forebears’ preordained fate,

Arduous twas for those left, Radiance’s elect,

To cling to life in this world, broken derelict.

Yet, tho’ great the sacrifice, earth still became hoar;

Flowers faded, Spring yielded her bounty no more.

‘Cross barren plains for refuge our forebears didst seek,

Icy rivers traversed, ascended frigid peak,

‘Til they at subterranean fortress arrived.

There, huddled together, in cold darkness survived

Our kin, fed on what sustenance the goddess brought,

Whilst to slake their thirst, for underground sources sought.

Them in their somber Citadel the long eons saw,

‘Til, bread and hope dwindling, when fear on hearts didst gnaw,

At long last, in heavens and hearts a new dawn broke.

The tenebrious nightmare had finally passed

Of pitch-black snow, and harsh, bone-chilling blast,

Now the sun showed his majesty, the time had come,

To step through the gate, to claim and future, and home.

Faced with an altered world, a despair-filled land,

Sculpted by darkness’s malevolent hand,

Our ancestors built and fought, hale in limb,

They strove, surviving but by infused vim,

‘Til came the day when, through Radiance’s grace,

They built cities, kingdoms, and reclaimed their place

From fiends that had made of our world a second Hell.

Ages saw kings born, buried; kingdoms rose and fell,

‘Til twoscore and ten years removed, latter days knew,

Two noble-hearted friends from Dawn True and Dawn New,

Boon companions, as a gesture of amity,

They carved out a land of peace and prosperity.

Ashenmark. Our home. Our country. And now, from his throne on high,

King Mailtus watches o’er his realm with vigilant eye,

Safeguarding us with great walls and many a skilled warrior:

In Radiance’s keeping, may this era e’er endure.