Tomes of Nevermore: Shattering Light

Chapter Seventeen: What Makes The Heaven's Weep

A feast the likes of which the town could barely afford was rolled out for the arrival of "The King of Ghosts". Jugglers juggled, chefs flipped foods with bright blue energy of their animus dancing off of their fingers.
"Such a lovely sight seeing everyone get together to do what they are meant to do, enjoy themselves." Omi said as he slipped a piece of buttered lobster underneath the visor of his helm, careful not to get the greasy butter on his nice clean fur. "I love seeing people happy.
"It truly is interesting." Tarah said listening carefully to a young girl singing a song she wrote about the king. "Nothing like this ever happens in The Clockwork City."
Ty was telling stories to all of the children. He had convinced the entire lot of him that he defeated death in a duel and as punishment death had turned him into a skeleton. Ty gave every individual child a squire name and led them in a march as they built a fort in the growing mounds of snow. Pal was also hanging around with them laying all sorts of funny toys for all of the children in the village.
"Ah what a fine last meal." Omi said dropping more food in his mouth ovrt his visor and looking around to make sure no one had heard what he said, no one did. "Clearly the gods are smiling down upon me. I have not had Northern Sea food this good since I was a lad dining in the halls of the deity Malkior Animus. Tarah please be a dear and go save young Alister from the boring banter of politically affiliated adults. He looks as though he'd rather be chatting up a pretty girl. After all he keeps looking at you every time you aren't looking in his direction."
Tarah spun around and looked at Alister who turned away and became bright red in the face. "Why was he staring at me?" Tarah asked blushing already knowing the answer.
Alister had a bored look on his face as he sat at the head of a painted table amongst a number of Lords who had decided to support him in the war. Compared to everyone else at the table however, Alister was not talking and was at least forty years younger than everyone else. He rested his arm on his head staring at Tarah but turning away as soon as she looked at him
"Oh yes Tarah why is he staring at you?" Omi said not truly asking a question before he dropped the last bit of food in his visor, wiped his hands on a napkin, and climbed up from the table laughing quietly to himself. "Oh and Tarah. From here on out I want you to listen to your feelings and do what YOU want, not what anyone else wants you to do alright? It was wrong for you to be made to come on this journey. You are a great deal smarter than Tywin and Alister. You are important and extremely powerful. Don't ever forget that. Promise?"
"Ugh... Yeah I guess I promise." Tarah said confused. "But I want to be here right now." Tarah looked down at her hands folded in her lap smiling before she got up from her seat and carried herself passed all of the lords sitting in their black gold encrusted chairs around a bonfire intoo the center of the table to keep the old men warm.
"Come on." Tarah whispered in Alister's ear. "Omi told me to come rescue you from these boring old men."
"My word my lady that is quite serious." Alister said loudly as all of the men stopped what they were saying mid sentence and stared at him.
"Is there a problem your grace?" One of the old men said looking nervous.
"Yes, it appears something needs my attention right away. This shouldn't take long friends. Please, eat, drink, and be merry. I will return once this matter is attended too."
"Of course your grace." Another man said raising his chalice. "All hail the king of ghosts. The rightful king and Lord Protector of The North."
"All hail the king of ghosts!" Everyone else who was eating outside in the snow shouted.
Alister got up from the table and took Tarah by the hand and began to walk away as quickly as possible. "I owe you my life." He jokingly whispered in Tarah's ear.
"Anything for my king." Tarah whispered mockingly in his ear.
Omi walked through the snow leaving tiny footprints behind him in the growing piles of snow. Ty was standing on top of a mound of snow leading an ongoing attack with a group of boys who were planning to pelt a group of girls (and Pal) with the hundreds of snow balls they'd made.
"Okay kids. Remember the high ground always wins. They're a bunch of winy little sissies and I wanna hear them scream when we hit them with a bunch of snow! Who's with me!" Ty shouted as all of the children raised their gloved hands in glee.
"Perhaps you will make a good leader." Omi said observing with his hands crossed behind his back.
"Of course I will!" Ty said raising both of his arms to the gray sky above causing all of the children to shout and do the same. "What is it Sir Master Omi, Knight of Heroes?" Ty spoke loudly so that the children could hear him and admire.
"Tywin, I will be in need of a squire please follow me." Omi said as a small child grabbed Omi's paw.
"No, Sir Omi please stay and play with us." A small little boy said tugging on Omi's hand.
"I wish I could child." Omi said patting the little boy on the head. "But there are certain things in this life one simply must do. I do wish you the best of luck child. Throw a nice big snowball for me okay?"
"Okay!" The little boy said.
"Alright Leon!" Ty said to the little kid tugging on Omi's hand. Omi gave the boy a curious look. "You're in charge while I'm gone. I trust you."
The little boy released Omi's hand and saluted Ty. "Do wait a moment before you start the attack." Omi looked over his shoulder. "Pal," Omi called out. "your best friend Tarah Weird will be in need of your assistance. Please go find her."
"My best friend Tarah Weird needs me!" Pal said flying to Omi as fast as he could with a crown of blue snow flowers wrapped around his glass dome head. "What is wrong?"
"Do not worry Pal. Infact if you can take about five minutes to find her." Omi said.
"No, I will find her right now." Pal said. "My best friend Tarah Weird needs me. Best friends are always their when best friends need them. Best friend Tarah Weird do not worry. I am coming!"
"Or worry a great deal. Pay close attention to that little mech Tywin." Omi said walking down the cobblestone path out of the village with Ty walking beside him with his black hood up. "There's something very weird about him."
"Did you say it weird like that on purpose?" Ty asked. "And where are we even going and why aren't we bringing the others?"
"What word am I saying weird, Tywin Weird? Is it weird that I am saying weird?" Omi said confusing Ty on purpose. "And we are going where we need to be at this time. Actually, it will be the only place we will be at this time so it must be the right place. Of course, I have been wrong before. And of course the others aren't here because they are where they need to be. Understand Tywin Weird?"
"No." Ty said. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Nothing wrong with that." Omi said. "Their's absolutely nothing wrong with not understanding something. So long as you try your best too."
"Good because I feel like I don't understand a lot. Like everybody thinks I'm stupid." Ty said.
"There are many different kinds of smart Tywin Weird. No one in this world is born without talent. There are things that you will be far greater than your sister and Alister at doing and there will always be things they are better than you at doing." Omi said. "Do not call yourself dumb, Tywin Weird. Accept what you are, but never ever dare let it define you. Only by admitting what we are can we ever hope to overcome it. If you where the insults people call you like armor they can never hurt you with them. Besides you have a big heart Tywin Weird, no one can deny that."
"Thanks." Ty said. "I guess."
"Tell me Tywin? What do you think of this spot that I'm standing in right now? There's an oak tree above me, a frozen river, what do you think?" Omi asked looking up at the sky.
"It's fine I guess?" Ty said confused.
"Very good. Alright moving on then. What do you think of the sky?" Omi asked.
"It's cool I guess?" Ty said looking up and opening his jaw in shock.
Above, the clouds had parted and bright light from the three suns oozed from behind the thick gray clouds. Against the tricolored sky was a single ball of fire with a long tail running from its back in the shape of a teardrop. "What is that thing?" Ty said.
"It's a comet." Omi said. "The very some comet I was born with. Only comes once every nine-hundred something years and some change."
"What does it mean?" Ty asked. "It looks like a tear."
"Maybe it is." Omi said. "But there are all kinds of tears. Each one means a very different thing."
"Is this what you brought me out here to see?" Ty asked.
"No." Omi said. "I have brought you here to make you a knight before I am killed by a person whom I trained."
"What?" Ty said in shock. "What are you talking about?"
"Hm. I suppose it has been longer than ten minutes. You know it's funny how one can mistake the tiniest details like that." Omi said.
"What tiny details?" Ty said.
There is a saying that comes from the Zekian race of the god Will Technik, that says "The fall of Kingdoms begins with the fall of one strong soul." This term in this scenario is extremely accurate because the fall of the "kingdom" or rather the alliance of rebels that was the army of Alister Wildeheart truly did begin with tragic death of one extremely strong soul.
Gray clouds filled the sky and the winds picked up and began to blow the endless falling snow in circles. The sounds of mechanized dragons roared like lions in the sky. A giant icicle shot down from above like a spear sent down from the heavens. But Omi manifested a giant knight out a bright green animus and blocked the ice spike with a massive emerald colored shield.
A horn blew and from behind and Ty could hear a tree shout, "The False God and King Zero has arrived! Sound the alarms! They've brought the fight to our door steps!"
"Protect the king!" One tree shouted.
"Protect the village!" Another tree cried.
"Protect the Realm!" A third tree shouted.
"For the sake of Arborius protect everything and charge! This is our land! It is a tree's duty to protect the soil that gives us life!" A tree with a much deeper voice shouted. "Ye proud plants of the village of Eternum, CHARGE!"
"The power of a lesser god no doubt." Omi said struggling to hold back the ever growing ice spike. "I must say that I am impressed with you Zero Wildeheart. I suppose this is the reward one gets for murdering one's own parents."
"It is the prize one gets for losing touch with humanity old man." Said a voice as a tornado of snow began to swirl in front of Omi. "I have seen a much greater picture than you can imagine old kimchi. No one life, nor anything a mortal can do will ever hold value to me. You're nothing and it is time for you to die for the pathetic beliefs that kept you nothing for your entire existence."
"Oh Zero." Omi said shaking his head as he crushed the ice spike between the hands of his knight made of green animus. "You are so lost it breaks my heart. Misguided youth in a misguided world. Tell me what dominions does the lesser god Zero Wildeheart possess?"
A figure wearing a black cloak appeared at the center of the swirling vortex of snow. He looked a great deal like Alister except instead of white hair Zero's hair was black as midnight and instead of glowing green eyes his were gray and emotionless like the sky above. On his head, he wore a crown made of blue ice with snowflakes lining the rim. The ground around him froze with webs of white ice and an animus even blacker than the one Aidan had used swirled around him.
"I have dominion over Hatred, Winter, and Vengeance." Zero said forming a giant knight out of black animus around himself. Zero's knight avatar stretched out his hand and a sword of ice formed in both his real hand and his animus knight's hand.
"Fun." Omi said blocking Zero's blow with his green animus shield. "Interesting how you don't have dominion over the North. I suppose that you need the approval of the Northern people for that, not just that ugly crown of ice you took of your dead father's head."
Ty scraped his claws on the ground and melted the snow with his flames but before Ty could leap forward a wall of green animus formed in front of him. "I am going to need you to stay alive Tywin Weird. This is not your battle it is mine." Omi said.
All around knights in black armor wielding all types of weapons went to war with the lines of spear wielding tree's in front of the city. All were careful to stay out of the way of Omi and Zero's stand off.
"That mouth of yours will be closed forever after today old man. I've had it with your pathetic lessons and I've had it with the way you dare speak to your betters. I am a god and I command that today is the day that you finally die old kimchi!" Zero shouted attacking Omi with everything that he had. "You should have died a long time ago with the old ways of the world."
"Oh I am fully aware that today is the day that I am going to die." Omi said. "I have accepted that you would be the one to kill more for sometime Zero. Honestly, I thought you'd have arrived an entire minute earlier than you actually did. Funny isn't it?" Omi laughed. "I came into this world with that stupid comet in the sky I expected that I would be leaving with it as well it only seemed fitting. I have always known you would be the one to kill me as well. Even when I taught you the very move you are using against me. I knew that one day I would not be strong enough to stop you." Omi then pointed to Ty. "But he will stop you. This skeletal idiot is braver getting braver."
"SILENCE!" Zero shouted smashing Omi's animus shield sending cracks ringing through it as ice began blanketing over Omi's knight. "Before me all mortals are nothing!"
"He's not a mortal. As if that mattered anyway." Omi said with a laugh as he struck Zero with his animus sword sending Zero flying back inside of his obsidian animus knight. "And he's the third and final person in this world that I will make a knight."
"Wh... What?" Ty said in shock as he watched men dying all around him, falling to the ground and turning into burst of sparkling dust. "Master Omi what in death's abyss are you doing! I swear if you die on me I will be very mad!"
"Tywin my death is not for you to decide." Omi said. "Come inside of my animus and take a knee. I cannot die until you are made a knight and Zero seems very intent on killing me in this moment."
"NO!" Ty shouted. "You can't just die! What about my training? What about Tarah and Alister? How can you just give up and die like this."
"Tarah and Alister never wanted to be knights." Omi said looking over his shoulder. "Tarah wants to be a witch and Alister wants to be a king. The only one that was ever truly interested in my teachings was you. This is not a suggestion Tywin Weird. If you ever want to realize your dream and become the greatest knight in the world then please come here and take a knee before I smack you with my sword instead of Zero. You're training will be your own responsibility once I make you a knight. And make no mistake Tywin, I am not giving up. Death's call is just one no man can refuse."
Zero's knight made of black animus dropped its ice sword to the ground and Zero raised the arms over his head. A glacier formed in both of the knights hands. "If I can't kill your pathetic squire than I'll bury him beneath a thousand feet of ice and he can spend an eternity underground!"
Ty thought he was dead as the giant shadow of the glacier formed above his head. Before Ty could even shout Omi rushed to Ty's and caught the glacier in his hands. 
"I don't have time for you to be disobeying me any longer Tywin Weird." Omi said struggling to keep the ice from burying the two of them in the earth. "Take a knee. Your master commands you! Respect the wishes of a dying man!
"But..." Ty said stuttering as the glowing dust of the dead swirled around Omi's animus knight like a tornado.
"Tywin, you're really starting to annoy me! Bend your accursed skeletal knee! Don't let my death stop you! Do not let anything stop you! You need to be a knight! The greatest knight that has ever lived!" Omi shouted. "Do not forget your dream!"
"I..." Ty didn't know what to say, but before he could even respond he had to bend his knee just to keep from hitting his head on the spiked bottom of the enormous glacier as Omi's knight was being crushed.
"Repeat after me." Omi said. "In the sight of all gods old and new, living and dead, I Tywin Weird do accept the honor handed down to me by The Knight Ser Omi Hall, The Knight of Heroes. I vow so long as I am living to protect the weak, to do what is right, and to serve innocence wherever it may be. I shall take no wives, I shall have no children, I shall own no lands, I shall serve from now until the very end of my days."
Ty repeated the words Omi was saying in terror as he watched the ice grow closer and closer to them.
"Do you vow to honor your family? Do you vow to honor your duty? And do you vow to always use the purest honor when in combat?" Omi said.
"I do." Ty said.
"One more. Do you vow to never lose sight of your dream no matter what happens? This is not even a vow to the gods Tywin, this vow is to me personally. No matter what happens, you will never give up. Whether that means saving Alister or giving up things you love. Tywin Weird, will you vow to forever be my hope for this world?"
"I... I do." Ty said making a fist with his bladed hand.
"Then I do dub the Ser Tywin Weird, The Knight Who Walks With Death. You're the only one fit to ever carry such a title." Omi said. "Rise to the world and may the gods bless your journey. It will be a long and weird one my friend."
"Die!" Zero shouted trying to force down the glacier.
"I'm working on it." Omi said. "Tywin, run along and go find Alister and your sister. This fight is over. Make me as proud as I know you will."
"Stop you can go with me!" Ty said. "We can save the kingdom together! The world needs you Omi!"
"The world has had me Tywin Weird." Omi said. "My days are at an end there is no use fighting it. I have lived for almost a thousand years and done a great many things. It was an honor to have been your teacher Tywin Weird. I know Alister, Tarah, and yourself are all destined for great things. My only regret is that I will not see what you will become with these eyes. Tywin until we meet again."
"You're not just my teacher or even my friend." Ty said wishing he had the tear ducts to cry. "You're my hero Omi. I owe you everything. Please don't do this!"
"Teaching you was a debt it was my pleasure to repay." Omi said. "Now get out of my sight and you'd better not die for a very very very long time boy or I swear by the living gods and the dead my spirit or reincarnation or whatever I become will hunt you down."
"A fight I could never win." Ty gave Omi a hug as Omi collapsed to the ground as tears ran from his big sad eyes.
"Go." Omi coughed as light began to drip from his mouth. "Go and be the hero this world needs."
Omi kicked Ty in the face and sent him flying out from underneath the glacier just before it came crashing to the ground. Ty screamed for the death of his hero and watched as the sparkling dust of Omi's death and a hundred others floated up from the cracks in the glacier and into Ty's body.
Suddenly Ty became overwhelmed with memories and feelings of the past, Omi's memories and feelings. Ty's body began to regrow organs attached to his bones. Soon he had muscles and nerves then finally flesh and even hair. When The light of Omi's dust was finally gone Ty began to cry as he finally stopped seeing and feeling the feelings of his dearly departed, mentor, friend, and hero.
There are no words to ever describe how Ty felt in that moment. But no matter how horrible, miserable, rotten, or broken Ty felt, rage, and passion burned in him a thousand times brighter. A fiery red animus began to drip from Ty's bladed finger tips.
"This isn't over Zero!" Ty swore.