Chapter 93

Silent Shackles

“He was the most resplendent of the Kings, and donned the Crown of the Kingdom as well as the Light in pursuit of the Greatness; yet, who would have thought that, at the peak of his rise, he would have gone mad and tried to destroy the Wheel? Such was the solemn fate of King Un’dur, the Only One of His Name.”

Historic Archives, Vol. V- The Royal Family

Noah weakly stumbled onto his feet, followed by Asandra who felt her head spin in circles for a moment, clutching at him to stabilize herself. Both were exhausted, yet, as the sun slowly began ascending, knew they had too much work at hand to rest. The first order of business was finding Olivia, which they managed to do after quite a bit of struggle.

Asandra had tucked the Princess and the bard inside a small mound just on the other side of the fort. Luckily, the raging shockwaves of numerous battles that took place would dissipate before reaching the backend of the fort, ensuring the two weren't harmed. When they found them, the two had relaxed expressions on their faces, still fast asleep. Both Asandra and Noah smiled wryly, feeling a faint sensation of envy.

Noah tasked Asandra with taking care of them as he slowly ventured out toward the plains where the massive army was stationed, on the lookout for Myrell, Sash, and Row. The three had been left behind in their tents as Noah didn't think the battle would have reached their side of the river – at least not as quickly and as explosively as it did. His initial plan was for Olivia to put on a brief show and simply slip away in the troves of chaos. However, her attack, and the giant's reply, had completely shaken the world and ensured he had no peace of mind for a long time.

Furthermore, there was also the case of the assassins that still left him reeling with anger. Despite the cold surface, he still felt pangs of pain inside of his heart; he might be insidious, more so than the most people even realized, but the massive loss of human souls left even him tongue-tied. Yet, those in the Capital not only did not help but also abused the chaotic situation they knew would happen to gobble up more benefits.

As he slowly made his way through the chaos of the plains, he realized that the likelihood of anyone surviving… was zero. Everything, from top to bottom, was ashes. Smoke was yet to clear, obstructing his view, but he'd seen countless scorched, soot-infested bodies lying around. What shocked him the most was that quite a few looked like the Ghosts of Vesuvius – still in their sleeping positions, their bodies mummified by ashes. They almost looked like statues of ash-dyed stone rather than corpses of the living.

Then there was the stench; or, rather, to his dismay, he realized it wasn’t even stench – it was like the smell of barbeque, yet there was something derivative about it. Perhaps it was his perception laced with the knowledge that this smell didn’t come from beef or pork but rather human flesh, or perhaps it was that there was truly something off with the scent itself, but rather than hunger, he felt like vomiting once again.

Sighing, he helplessly kept looking around, yet failed to find even a single survivor. Soon enough, he had gone through the whole plains, including the tents that were assigned to the three. However, he didn’t even find them there – not alive or dead. Eventually, he made his way back to the fort’s entrance whereupon he saw a figure that shook his heart – Sash was standing right there, pacing left and right with a dark expression.

His skin had several patches of burnt red, and an entire left side of his face looked peeled compared to his otherwise black skin. When he saw Noah, his eyes sparkled as he raced over, hobbling and nearly falling down.

“M-Master, quick, help—“ he stuttered out, suddenly stumbling over a piece of rock and flattening against the ground. Noah quickly shot forward and helped him up; the man coughed out some dust and a few sparks of blood, breathing deeply.

“What happened?” Noah asked, frowning.

“M-Myrell, she’s, she’s dying…” Sash muttered out, coughing dangerously in the process. Noah frowned further, picking him up and tossing the man over his shoulder; to his surprise, he was extremely heavy – almost three hundred pounds by Noah’s estimates. Yet, his frame and height hardly supported that. Keeping his shock inside, he fought against his body’s tiredness once again as he entered the fort and followed Sash’s instructions.

Soon enough, the duo reached a small corner to the left-backend of the fort where he saw Row dumbly standing in front of a makeshift house made out of the rubble. He held a sword in his hand, and to Noah's surprise, despite the dumb look on the giant's face, his stance was almost perfect for deflecting attacks from his blind spots.

When Row saw Sash and Noah approach, he smiled widely, revealing a mouthful of missing teeth, and scratched his head as he moved to the side. Noah set Sash down and made his way through a dangerous-looking ‘entrance’ that looked to collapse at any moment. Ignoring it, he found himself inside a cramped and dusty room, one barely lit by a single candle burning in the corner.

That, however, didn’t impede his vision that immediately landed on the figure lying still on top of a bed of straws. He immediately sucked in a cold breath as he crouched for closer inspection; she lay stark naked, and there was not an inch of her skin that wasn't at the very least brimming in faint, pinkish red. For the majority, however, her body was covered in third-degree burns, at some points her flesh and muscles having completely been ripped out by the fire down to her bones.

Her breathing was shallow and ragged, and it was clear that every single movement of her chest came with great pain. Beyond just the wounds, what shocked Noah the most that she was still even alive – forgetting just the burns that were more than enough to kill someone like her three-four times over, just the fact that she didn’t get CO2 poisoning was a miracle in and of itself.

Even her face had completely distorted; had he not trusted Sash, he would have never even guessed this was Myrell, to begin with. Watching her like this, he couldn't help himself, biting his lower lip in frustration. She was far from perfect, be it as a person or as a subordinate, but it was not easy watching one of the people he observed slowly grow dying. She would die, without a doubt. Even if he could miraculously transport her to Earth and into the most advanced hospital, unless they transhumanized her mind, there would be no saving her, let alone here, in the wild. Could one of those Internalizers save her? He didn’t know. Either way, he had no means of contacting someone like that.

He sat by her side and gently grabbed her hand; her flesh immediately melted off and spilled over onto his palm, the sensation strange and shudder-inducing. It felt less like holding someone's hand and more like dipping his own into a really thick soup. He didn't dare press tightly from fear of waking her up. However, he suspected that even if she managed to wake up, she would pass out immediately after.

He held her hand like that for almost half an hour, letting the sourness and bitterness swell through him. He had lost too much and too many throughout his life for a single death to impact him overtly, but that didn't mean he was immune. Perhaps, in a way, it hit him worse than most as he knew this would not be the end. Whatever he did, be it on Earth or here, and whatever he will do… he always left a sea of the dead in his wake.

Even just today, she was only one amidst tens of thousands to die. And, Noah knew, by the end of his life’s journey, she would only amount to a speck of light in the starlit sky, sharing her miserable fate with the rest, mocking him from high above.

Sighing once again, he slowly let go of her hand as he saw that her flesh began gluing to his. Right after, he reached into his pocket and took out a small, fingernail-sized pill, looking at it for a few breaths before gently placing his fingers against her tattered, burned and torn lips, squishing the pill and then using Dark to push it down her barely-functioning throat.

It didn't take long for her breathing to grow even shallower… until it completely stopped. Her twitching eyes gave one last push and ceased moving. She lay there still, just as a few moments ago, yet now, there was no life left in her.

Looking deeply at her, he sighed one last time and got up, leaving the makeshift house. On the outside, Sash stood by Row’s side, the former anxiously waiting. When he saw Noah’s expression, his own bloated, his mouth agape, eyes widening.

Such was death, Noah thought, looking up at the ever-brightening sky. It’s a simple thing, perhaps the simplest of all the things in the world – yet, it spills over from its own, enigmatic realms into the reality, shackling everyone in its wake. Kings or Queens… commonmen or commonwomen… or slaves… none were exempt, and each death, however few souls it may impact, resonates. Taking a deep breath, he glanced at Sash who had slumped to his behind, still reeling from shock, and Row who seemed confused over what was happening. There was just one more death he needed to confirm with absolute certainty before returning to Elucido to pay some debts – that of Ludwig Fyrost, the Duke Godwind’s son.