Only a couple days later, a search party we'd sent returned to Arcos with Grandpa's body. I was truly horrified at the sight, and my heart sank when I realized we never had a send off for Papa. A couple of Cooler's soldiers dragged Grandpa to a very open area, almost the center of town. Since I was suppose to be the ruler, this was going to be a send off including Cooler and I both. We gathered rocks to form a circle so the fire wouldn't escape. I sulkily walked to pick up my first couple of rocks, the first one I noticed was dark grey and fairly large. It was smooth to the touch, only rough in a couple areas, and felt cool in my hand. Maybe I was just out of sorts that day, or simply loosing my last bits of sanity, but I felt as if this rock represented me. Dark and grey.. Unwanted.. Left all alone.. And cold inside from the lack of happiness and company.. ".. Pull yourself together, Kuriza.." I quietly muttered to myself as I scoped the area for other rocks to begin building the pyre. After a couple more minutes Cooler and I had each gathered enough rocks to form a circle. I got to place the last rock, the first one I'd picked up, and the one I felt I had a connection to, as weird as that was. I also got the privilege to light the fire, this was my first send off that I'd actually gotten to actively participate in, so this was all new. As I lit the fire, the flame came up around my small hand and engulfed it, searing my skin. I let out a small, sharp whimper as I quickly pulled my hand out and shook it. My hand was stinging badly, but Cooler only rolled his eyes at
my poor mistake. Now came the part I feared most. Ripping Grandpa apart, limb by limb.. And finally.. Burning the heart last, to release his soul. Since he was quite muscular, this had to be a two person job. Even if I wouldn't be too much help. Cooler approached Grandpa and planted a firm foot on his chest as he lifted up his thick right arm, then turned back to me.
"Aren't you going to help?" He asked in a more monotone voice.
"I-I won't be much help.." I managed to squeak out.
"Well you at least have to try." Cooler then turned his head back to its original position. I carefully made my way closer to his corpse and observed his cold, lifeless arm. I wasn't too sure how to go about this, so I just wrapped my minute hands around a couple of his fingers. Cooler gave me an unimpressed glance and I sighed a very silent sigh. We pulled back with as much force as we could give, and then I heard the blood curdling sound of the bone pulling from its socket, the skin ripping and tearing from its original position, and the wrenching of all his muscles and muscle tissue pulling from the others they connected to. I was in true horror now, I let out a loud cry of terror. I wanted to vomit, cry, and run away, but currently I was frozen and that's when the tears began to pour. Since I was struck with fright, I hadn't noticed when I pulled back I had fallen, and currently was shaking immensely. Cooler threw the disconnected limb into the fire, and we watched it burn. The whole area fell silent, the only exception was the crackling of the fire, and me. I was bawling from this horrifying experience that was far from done, and heaving until I finally emptied all my stomach contents. The smell of the burning flesh was unbearable, I'm almost positive that the putrid smell was what sent me over the edge and made me vomit. It seemed the whole world had stopped. No one.. Nothing seemed to move for that moment. After the limb had finished burning, it was time for the left arm. I was still shaking, but I eventually got back to my feet. I grabbed his wrist this time, and yet with another pull, I fell down. The same blood chilling noise filled the area and the next limb was thrown in the flames to burn. Although I was still sobbing, I already had much more improvement on controlling myself. After the arm had completely burned, we moved to his right leg. I knew I'd hate the sound of his abnormally large femur snapping.. But I grabbed hold anyway, my cold hands only a couple inches from Cooler's large hands. We pulled and the crack filled the area, this time, Cooler even stumbled and fell. I helped throw the leg in the blistering fire this time, and watched yet another limb burn. I was slowly becoming more comfortable with this situation, as it was normal to be traumatized at the start. As the last bit of flesh transformed into ash, Cooler and I got another tight hold on the next limb. We pulled back and sent the next limb to broil into soot. Yet another dreaded body part awaited me. His tail. We grabbed on and pulled back. It sounded as if we pulled out his entire spine with that tug, which I was grateful to discover was incorrect. The smell in the area was extremely foul once his tail had burned. We now had to detach his head, which I was not very willing to participate in. We each grabbed a horn, our right feet on each of his shoulders. With a sickening, deafening crack, his head was ripped from his neck and shoulders and tossed into the bright, unforgiving flames. We all watched in silence as I tried to recuperate. Next was to retrieve the heart and throw in the torso. Cooler decided to work closer to the bottom while I worked up top. We both clawed at his torso so we could break his rib cage. I could feel the skin peeling under my nails, I tried not to focus on that and sort of go into a trance. After we'd dug a deep enough hole, my hands were overly bloodied. Cooler then took matters into his own hands and split the torso in half as he broke his rib cage. Cooler yanked his heart out from his chest and handed Grandpa's heart to me. Into the flames the beaten and broken torso went to burn like the other pieces of Grandpa's body. That specific part took a while longer to burn, but I had been given the honor to toss the heart in. And that's exactly what I did when the torso was finished. Cooler had sat down in front of the pyre when I threw in the heart. I plopped down next to Cooler, sobbing quietly into my crimson hands. But then, something remarkable happened. Cooler wrapped his tail around my waist and pulled me closer, trying to comfort me. I thought he was in a trance, but it appeared to be quite the opposite. He was aware of me then. And I'll never forget that moment, because I knew that was the beginning of a turning point in my life.
