Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 48 | The Funeral

Marque looked upon the statue of his fallen friend that stood in the courtyard before him and his eyes began to water with tears. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a golden scale, now a little dirty and kind of crumpled. He held it in his palm, just looking down upon it until his fingers enclosed around it. Marque had carried the last physical evidence of Wímad's entire existence in his pocket ever since the day he had died.

Wímad was killed by Braunick while he was fighting him in Durmist around four or five months ago. The evil overlord threw a punch straight through his body and the golden dragon basically disintegrated into the air. The scale in the human's hands was the only thing that was left from him. The dragon was honored as a hero by the entire Zena, as he had managed to hold off Braunick long enough for the rest of the group to come up with a plan.

Another dragon had been wrongfully slain by the king in one of their many battles. Scar used to be a dragon that served Braunick, a mindless slave with unknown origins and unknown intentions. Not much was known about him. Scar was loyal to him until the end when Braunick let his mind loose and he decided to switch sides last minute before being killed. The dragon was forced to serve Braunick it's entire life and was one of the most powerful beasts that Marque and the rest of the Destigems had ever encountered. Scar was due to get some sort of acknowledgement as well by the Zena—a graveyard for fallen heroes of the war was proposed by the Ar'guals where they would construct statues of every member of the Zena that was lost in the war. They were going to begin immediately. The only setback they had was to clear more land for it as most of the island was a jungle, covered with trees and forestry. They currently occupied the only flat and treeless space with the newly built Zena.

Marque slid the scale of Wímad back in his pocket. "I know you're somewhere, Wímad," He said. "Somewhere." He began his walk to Thad's throne room.

~ ~ ~

After talking to Thad, the dwarf had agreed to give the only remaining piece of the dragon a proper burial. It was the least they could do.

They gathered the Destigems and some Ar'guals and soldiers of the Zena to attend the funeral. Marque stood at the base of the statue, looking upon the small crowd gathered for the burial.

"I," he began. "I didn't really know the dragon. He was good one, I know that. He used his final moments to help us and sacrificed himself for that very reason," The human explained. "Wímad held off Braunick so we could think of a plan. We didn't ever come up with one at that moment. Calvin was off somewhere else, Agent 34 and Arenia were, too, and me and Sercon were the only ones there watching his death. When he died, he basically disintegrated into the air—something I have never seen before. There has been nothing that comes remotely close to the way he died. This scale was the only thing that survived. I risked my life to grab this thing before Braunick did something to it,"

Ismara hoisted herself up onto the base of the dragon's statue. "I've known him for a while—the dragon was old. He couldn't hold off Braunick for long enough. He's been through a lot of stuff. He said he didn't want anything to do with the Zena, but look what happened. I met him when I was younger, when I trampled into a dragon city and he was kind enough to save my butt from getting eaten. Our friendship only began to grow after we needed to use him to travel us over Braunick's army and beat them to the Zena so we could show them of me and Agent 34's gem,"

"And he was the only reason we made it," Agent 34 said, pulling himself up.

"He is also the reason why we were able to beat Paöminar and Xander in the Battle of Bones," Arenia told them, also climbing aboard. "No offense, Paöminar."

"None taken," the dragon said at the back of the crowd. "Being on Braunick's side is over with. Never going back,"

"He is also the reason why Agent 34 even made it to the Zena in the first place—without him flying them there in time there might not have been a Zena to go to," Thad told them. "Only the Gods know what would've happened if we didn't have him there to save us in battle,"

Marque held up the scale. "Today, we bury the last piece of Wímad's story. We are finishing his tale for him," The human slowly lowered himself down off the statue. He leaned into the hole in the ground that had been dug before the service and sat the scale down in it gently, careful not to damage it. They began to shovel the dirt back into it, patting it once it was all in.

"We won't forget you, buddy," Marque whispered as he let the tears fall freely.