The Saviors : Wrath Of The Sabers

The Funeral

The bodies of the fallen companions were not recovered. Paul had discussed with about this matter with Joeret, to which she answered, "There is no point in even trying." 

 Paul's memories of the events after the final song of Roselle were unclear. He could remember a blurry image of two glowing green balls (of sizes close to that of a golf ball) exiting her body after her final mysterious words. One of those glowing balls had slipped into Creator's screaming mouth and down his throat. He was being restrained by one of the trees. He kept destroying the thick branches that held him back and they grew back almost instantly, which was consuming a lot of CoolBoy's energy (his expression suggested that his energy was being drained in large amounts).

The other ball hovered above her body for a while before dashing towards the sky. Paul tried to follow that ball but soon failed because of something he hadn't felt for the few peaceful years he had spent with the mutants. His fright knew no limits for his eyes fell on something he could not have even imagined. An unbelievably huge cloud now covered the entire battleground. His senses were greater than ordinary humans and he immediately smelled a weird scent which most people would not notice. The others seemed to be aware of the scent as well, but it didn't seem to impact them at the least. Unfortunately for the human-eagle, the smell worked as anesthetics and he passed out. 

After what felt like a very long sleep, Paul opened his eyes and found himself lying on his bed in L.E. He didn't want to get up. He wanted to curl up and cry till he had no tears left. He had seen battles before but it had been almost a decade since then. After thinking for about fifteen minutes, he decided to get up and see how the others were coping with the recent loss. 

As he walked out of the left eye of the L.E. an climbed down the retractable ladder (the emergency exit), he felt the depressing chill in the air and sat by her legs. He found it amusing how the distance between him and the stars in the night sky above him depressed him even more. It had always been his dream to travel through space to other star systems, other planets containing life and perhaps even galaxies beyond the one in which he dwelt ; The Seroliada Galaxy, which was located in the exact same place as the Milky Way in his dimension.

The full moon was shining brightly, and there was light coming from a nearby bonfire. Paul figured it was his friends who had lit the fire, as they usually did in cold nights. He could imagine the image of the team sitting around the fire, telling stories and laughing every once in a while. But what he found hard to imagine was the bonfire without two of the mutants. 

Eventually, he decided to join the others. They didn't seem to be weeping. Their expressions were serious, as if they really had cried till they were out of tears to spare. Creator didn't seem to be around. He was sitting at a distance near the trees. The distant smell of dust after rain had gotten weak, which gave Paul and idea of how long he had been passed out. He had been unconscious for at least two days. 

At the sight of Paul, Creator decided to join them. Everyone was silent, which Paul found quite disturbing. Ironically, it was Creator who broke the silence.  He stared at Paul for a while before finally saying, "You seem to have some questions." 

After thinking for a decent while, considering and reconsidering his words, Paul replied, "Yes. I do."

Creator said nothing. He simply moved in closer to the fire, so that he was visible easily, which was a saddening sight for Paul. His eyes were bloodshot and dry. He had a frown on his face and his expression wasn't half as confident as it usually was. It was clear that he had been crying for hours. He remained silent and stared at Paul.

"What were those blue balls and what did her last words mean?"

Creator stared at Joeret, expecting her to answer. She wasn't in a very good state either. She was feeling some of the worst feelings according to Paul; guilt and regret. She claimed that the death of the two mutants was her fault as she had not thought of a strategy. The others did not agree. 

She said, "Arad Faristray  was a trick used in ancient times for various purposes. With time, the usage of this trick declined and eventually, it was forgotten. Arad Faristray means 'Go to whom I wish.'  Those two balls of energy were Roselle's life balls. One contained her powers; the other contained her consciousness and memories. The one that entered Cree was the one with the powers. Because the perfect usage of the ability has been forgotten, only the power ball entered Cree meaning her memories and consciousness are now lost and..... she's dead."

Paul looked down, "What was that cloud.. no, never mind that, what was Shadow's real name?"

At this question, everyone went quite. It had gotten so quite that Paul's angry breaths could be heard like breezes of wind. He scolded, "He died fighting for you guys! You've been with each other for so many years and none of you, not even one of you knew his name?" 

"Unalos," said Creator after a while. "His name was Unalos Soca-Nowincia"

Paul calmed down a bit. With a little relaxing but not so happy giggle, he said"Even mutants have last names, eh?" 

"Yes," replied Creator and his serious expression turned into a less serious expression.

The rest of the night was spent describing the mutant planet. The trees, the skies, the planet itself sounded similar to Earth, yet very different. Paul wasn't very surprised when he heard that mutants weren't the only species on Mutaforgia. Humans aren't the only dwellers of Earth either. 

None of them seemed to know much about the  other animals of Mutaforgia. The beasts (as the mutants called them collectively) preferred to live in an isolated island, which was advantageous to the mutants as well as most of the beasts were said to be dangerous to them. Joeret knew about them a little but only about the beasts of the ancient times, before the second dressing. She knew this as she had read some books forbidden to common mutants. No one knew how but the books containing knowledge of the Mutaforgia before dressing always seemed to survive.

She told the others about the old mutants who had made a deal with the First Beasts ensuring them a safe life away from the mutants.That was the only description of the beasts recorded. Joeret claimed that they would've changed drastically due to evolution since its been almost a million years since the deal was made. Ever since, one thing remained constant after every dressing ; there was always an island isolated from the mutant lands for the beasts.

"I once heard a rumor," Joeret said. "Rumors about a mutant voyaging to the Land of Beasts. He never returned, obviously, but it is said that he lived there. Some rumors said that he somehow sent a message to the mutants, saying that he had became the master of the beasts. There was also a rumor about him having a daughter. Although everyone knows that the rumors are fake, its still an interesting thing to think about."

"Fake?" asked Paul.

"Of course its fake," she replied instantly. "There are no means of sending any messages from the Land of Beasts to the Continent of Mutants. Also, he voyaged to the land of beasts alone so how could he have any children?"

The night passed as Paul learned more about Mutaforgia and before they realized, the sun had risen. The Researchers had arrived for the funeral and so it began. 

Creator had placed a pendant of Roselle's in her coffin and Shadow's coffin a severed arm of his which got cut during the battle. That was all they could recover. They all bid their farewells and spoke of the loyalty, kindness, love and beauty of the two departed souls. Creator looked at her coffin until it was no longer visible below the soil. His eyes were still bloodshot but he did not cry. His eyes were still as dry as the previous day, dangerously dry. 

A new motivation and reason, stronger than the ones before, had taken birth inside Creator. His rage for the Sabers had reached unmatched levels and he looked forward to the next battle, not knowing about what was to come next.