Deathless

Deathless Chapter Forty-Seven: Departure

         

Chapter Forty-Seven: Departure

    Dark clouds gather, and then they disperse. The spell lifts, and Death's gaze returns once more on Arlenia.

    Vronil, the fallen warrior, with an arrow in his chest, is taken into Death's clutches.

    Anwyn, the misstepped huntress, still lying on the shore, now finds her peace.

    Charon, the sick old man, laid prostrate on his deathbed for months upon months, passes into the next life.

    Vinron, the youthful soldier, still pining for the glory he will never have, burned on the fields of the Pass, feels himself finally able to let go. His pile of ash becomes just that, a pile.

    Admiral Lasaron, former captain of the fallen Dragonfire, current captain of the ocean floor and a ruined fleet, finds his peace. The burns, the wounds, the pounding of the sea trouble him no more.

    Commander Rowlec, felled by Kalun's treacherous hand on the fields of the Pass, looks into the sky, and once again vows for revenge, for the vengeance he can never carry out.

    And then a feeling of peace passes over him. His wounds do not sting so badly anymore. He closes his eyes. They do not open again.

    Alexander, the bounty hunter turned bodyguard, slain on the slopes of the Arcaneus Peaks by rebel pikes, lies among his comrades, Nathea and Ridelf. And so just as they have done for the last fifteen years, they tread together the final path to the afterlife.

    Captain Risselyn, ambitious, arrogant, prideful Risselyn, son of General Ancelian, poisoned by a Renerin arrow atop the Arcaneus Peaks, lies on his stomach, as he always as.

    He does not know how long it has been since they left him. Lindale, Vanya, Sirya. He repeats their names in his head, over and over. They are his last hope for peace.

    And finally, in his heart of hearts, the captain knows that they succeeded. He feels as if the world is finally in place, and without any regrets, his soul finds its peace.

    The proud general, Ancelian, along with his son, feels the fierce lion within him finally grow tame. He passes into the next life, and this time, he gives in without a fight. For the first and last time.

    Caswil, the traitor who once thought he knew everything about the workings of the world, now convinced of his ignorance, feels himself finally able to forgive and forget. The troubles of the world no longer ail him. Decades of standing beside the emperor fade away, and Caswil is gone.

    So too does the proud Emperor Iepenel, the Warrior King, stabbed in the back by a man he thought his ally.

    The emperor, once forever bearing the brunt of a legacy he never asked for, of a throne he never wanted, of a country he never thought he'd be called to defend, feels his worries lift from his shoulders.

    The Warrior King once feared death. But now he embraces it with open arms. The dark horse emerges, and Iepenel is taken with it.

    And so too do thousands of souls still walking Arlenia's soul. The soldiers butchered on the Pass, the pirates left for dead on the bottom of the sea, the peasants gutted in their own homes. All find comfort in the clutches of Death.

    The long-suffering souls no longer wander. They find their peace.