Spirit of the Woods

Mourning

Mourning

Chernobog

Flakes of snow fell from the sky.

Firewatch held out her hand, letting a snowflake fall upon her outstretched palm. Its intricate patterns and shapes beautifully create a matrix of ice. "It's snowing..." Curling her hand into a fist, she stared into the lightless eyes of Patriot before reaching behind her head and grasping the band tying her hair together. "Yelena is here to bring you home, uncle."

Both sides had ceased their fighting and held their voices, almost as if they were holding an impromptu service.

Jacob was the first to break the silence, "Is.. is he... completely gone?"

"His crystallization is already over sixty percent. No one shouldn't be able to move." Kal'tsit examined the standing corpse. "His consciousness has dissipated, but his will still overflows."

Amiya hovered her hand in front of Patriot's. "Resentment. Hatred, Revenge. It's all gone now. The only thing that he has left is wrath. The weight to avenge his comrades. The unwillingness to accept Frostnova's death. The hatred of Talulah's actions. The endless desire of home for Ursus and Kazdel. A fiery and unending wrath. For injustice. For the fallen. For the oppressed. He fought against fate."

"To resist fate is to resist the world. Destiny was his enemy."

"The entire world..." Amiya's hand grew closer to Patriot's, "Mr. Patriot..."

A dozen shields slammed into the ground. "Move your hand, Cautus." The line of Shieldguard that was standing still a second ago abruptly took a step forward. "We'll finish what the captain started." Hearing the threat, Firewatch quickly stepped in front of Amiya.

Her grey scarf blew in the icy wind. "You will not lay a hand on her. Stand down, unless you want to meet uncle so soon."

"We have no quarter with you. As the niece of our captain, we do not wish to fight you."

Firewatch snorted before unsheathing Kaze from its place. "Amnesty doesn't matter. I won't let you harm anyone for some damn prophecy."

"... it's already enough." Rosmontis spoke up as one of her pillars hovered over her shoulder. "Do you want to waste the life he's given you? He wished for none of you to perish. He only wanted you to find a fresh path of your own. He died alone today so all you can live on!"

The leader of the Shieldguard continued to move forward. "Who said we are going to die? Besides, we all heard what the captain said." He pointed to Amiya, "The cautus... will bring ruination to all. All ancient prophecies have been fulfilled."

"Frostnova put her trust in us dammit!" Jacob couldn't keep all his conflicting feelings to himself anymore. All this pain and death were about to relapse into another cycle. "She believed in the right cause! Why can't you see that?"

"...still... Frostnova and now even captain...."

Jacob spoke again, "Of course, he wouldn't believe in Frostnova's assessment! He just happened to ignore her opinion. He didn't go into his mess just through blind faith. The decision he made here was truly just! And here you stand to believe some prophecy!"

"...no..." The Shieldguard stood firm in their resolve. "It's not that we believed the prophecy. We believe in the captain and we'll finish his will." With the last words coming from the Shieldguard's mouth, any sign of peace between the sides seems to dissolve into open hostility before Jacob's eyes.

Shieldguards reformed their armored wall.

Mon3tr roared beside its master.

Rosmontis allowed her pillars to float behind her.