Factory Reset: Divine Corruption

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Chapter Seventy-Nine: A Wailing Cry Punctuated by Sorrow

Dust softly blew with the morning wind, the atmosphere condensed into a cold fog resting just above the horizon line. Cold swirls of breeze swept through the ruined city, scattered concrete and foreign materials. Dark blue lines and greyish hues colored the sky a calm but mournful shade.

Twenty-one scattered Protogen huddled around a shallow grave in the dirt. A holographic tombstone displaying a single name: Rip-Cord. The dirt was crudely made, dug by Mason and Bathysphere. They asked for no one to join them in their dig, and they used no enhanced abilities to carve out the earth.

The tombstone was created by Aberration. Red colored flowers lined the hard-light hologram, created by Viscera from their own blood. Ice was placed around the grave, created by Bathysphere and suspended a few inches off the ground by the work of Marissa and Nebula.

Within the shallow dirt was Rip-Cord. His body laid against the cold hard soil. Freefall couldn't do much to add, and instead unclipped her gun's magazine and placed it atop the dirt. Arctic and Northern contributed by both generating ice to line the crude casket within the planet.

Ruinate created preservatives with Noxious' gas, flooding the pockets within the grave just enough to preserve him until the end of the solar system but without enough pressure to combust. Cardinal crafted a wreath of hard-light. Fallout left his bow on the grave, and Bailout couldn't bear to stay. He simply left a single stone, carved in stone, atop the grave beneath the wreath, saying "Good Night" in Protogenia.

Lunch-Rush and Gear-Work remained on the ship, thinking it better to allow the survivors to say their goodbyes without interruption. They sent down food and supplies to heal injuries and better their ceremony before they left the system. They barely knew the dead personally, knowing Rip-Cord as just another teammate to serve. But they understood his importance in combat, and his comradery.

And finally, Rallycry made sure that the grave was compact and immovable. He didn't stand atop the grave; he simply padded the dirt down and made sure that the soil hardened and thickened.

Twenty-one protogen scattered around. A single rabbit, and a Mosomarian in the raptured city of a God that died far too soon. For a heart that had stopped beating, for a brother in arms and for a brother in a family that has perished. For an existence snuffed out.

Mason stood at the very front of the grace, his body weak and tired. By Gear-Works extensive work, his entire body was patched together with bandages and wrapped in warm clothing. His right ear was bandaged profusely, the ear hanging down by the side of his head even as his other stood straight up.

Ja'Kle stood by his side, peaking at his love with a worried expression. He stood naught but a foot behind him, wings at rest and unfocused. He stood as a solemn man, making sure that Mason wasn't about to stumble or fall. He felt bad, he truly did. He wished he could have done something. He was given a God's power, he should've been able to do much, much more.

Wither and Render were nowhere to be seen. The two had left early before the funeral, thinking themselves outsiders that would have ruined the mood. They ventured back deeper into the city, hoping that some remnants of the society were still, in fact, intact.

There were no words spoken during the funeral. Words were not needed. Rip-Cord was a part of their family. He was someone that they believed in but did not believe in himself. They all had a hundred words streaming through their thoughts, all wanting the courage to speak about their comrades' sacrifice. And yet, none stepped up to the challenge. All except Bathysphere.

"He was the strongest out of all of us." Bathysphere announced, standing before the grave beside Mason, having moved beside him slowly as the minutes tacked on. He displayed nothing on his visor, his voice cracking under the strain of a thousand different but similar emotions coursing through his body.