Living in Me (Sequel to Not Gonna Die)

|Chapter 26| Respecting the dead

AHAHAHA THE MAP FINALLY UPLOADED!

So yes, this is the map of this world, I hope you like.

          There was one final gathering at the Team Crafted base as the bodies of those whose lives had been taken in the war were gathered together in their respective armies to be cremated. Shrouds were made for each person, some burned by themselves if their owner had already been buried, others wrapped around the body as it was lost to the flames. It was a testament to how the war had changed the Lords as for the entire funeral, those who had once been enemies stood beside each other as allies to watch as the dead were honoured.

          The Snow Strikers were wrapped in snowy white shrouds that had a long dagger embroidered in the middle. General Andreas stood silent and watching with his vastly reduced army as dozens of the fabrics burned, Aramis' included. Anne's shroud burned in the middle of them all, a shroud for Herobrine beside her. His was the same as hers, but also had words of an ancient language sewn in by Steve and Notch, who stood a little apart from everyone else.

          Ty and Seto lay with all the other Team Crafted recruits, their shrouds a light blue with the symbol of the army on the front; a blooming fruit tree that swallowed up a sword, symbolising the end of wars like the one that had just happened.

          Hundreds of other warriors lay in their respective armies, each army with a personalised strip of fabric as the flames burned away the memories of war and sent the embers flying into the night sky. The hours went past and people slowly drifted away from their posts to sleep off the exhaustion of the past few weeks, but the friends and families of those who had passed on stayed until long into the night.

          In the following days, after only the ashes remained and were scattered to the world, the armies gathered up their men and their materials, preparing for one final march home. Lords shook hands with the Generals and other Lords before they left the gates, setting the grand castle to their back as they finally headed home.

          "Will you guys be going soon too?" Quentin asked Steve and Notch as the three of them watched the last few armies slowly begin to depart.

          The two brothers look at each other and Notch shook his head a bit. "I think we might stay here for a while. That is, if you guys don't mind."

          "No no, by all means," Quentin said quickly. "This place was built to be a home for anyone who needed it, so you can stay for as long as you'd like."

          "Thanks," Steve said with a grin. "In that case, since I'm gonna stay a while, I'd better start looking around."

          "There's a blanket ban on pranks that involve explosives of any kind," Quentin quickly warned, recognising the grin as something Mitch used to wear in the younger days (before he had accidentally destroyed a building with a 'little' explosive).

          "Then what's the point?!" Steve asked instantly, comically throwing his hands in the air. "Notch still has, like, 50 explosive charges left over from all the bases we had to blow up!" He struggled to suppress his grin as he mockingly shook his head, muttering how kids these days didn't know how to enjoy proper pranks as he left.

          Notch gave a sigh, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. "I'll keep an eye on my stock, but I highly doubt he'll try to use them to play a practical joke," he said to Quentin.

          "I figured," the General said with a shrug. "But it never hurts to double check."

          Steve grinned to himself as he faintly heard the end of this conversation but he continued his usual jaunting gait down the halls of the huge castle. He spun around a corner on his heel and instantly let out a "Woah!", side-stepping to avoid crashing into the person who had come around the corner at the same time and had much the same reaction.