Never Let Me Go

Akira's POV

When we were little, we would always play the same game. 

The holy warriors against the evil necromancer.

But the problem arose when none of us wanted to be the necromancer.

 Who would want to be the heinous wielder of forbidden magic when you can be the brave warrior waiting to seize the glory? 

After all, who was strong enough to willingly be the dreaded villain when the chances of being the hero were within reach? 

So we all pestered the older kids. But them being too busy in teenage angst, refused to let themselves stoop down to the level of humoring their younger siblings with the act of playing in their make-believe. Naeem's brothers would just shut the door on our faces and let's not talk about Amad's sister.

All of the older kids were mean. Except for Torhild.

He was our favorite. Too many times have I wished for an older brother like him. 

And he was, he was our older brother.

He would humor our childish musings, help us with our first love, do our homework at the last moment, play the necromancer to our heroic warriors.

He would play his assigned role with the outmost enthusiasm, you see. He would put on a black cape, mark his face with ink to resemble the dark mages, talk in a low menacing voice. In short, perfect casting for the role.

We would fight him with our toy swords and shields, tackle him to death.

And then with a dramatic gasp, he would go still, pretending to be dead. Us being the little children we were, would think it was real and get frightened. We would try to shake him awake in panic and just as we let our guards down, he would tackle us with a scream.

But today no matter how much Eboni or Kishar shook him, he didn't get up, didn't say, "haha, fooled you," with a grin.

 No, he just laid there peacefully, selfishly in his burial ship. 

His face looked hauntingly pale with no sign of flush from the morning chilly air. It was as if mother nature knew she was losing a beloved son. So she sent her tears with the sprinkling rain and her mourning with the howling wind making the branches shiver. Dead leaves carpeted the ground like a lover withering away in wait of her warrior.

 I look around to see my friends, some standing with expressionless faces, some with tear-stricken ones. But all of them in complete silence, as if a sudden sound might break the delusion of Torhild still being with us.

The Grand general stands tall in front of the procession. With his back straight and head held high, he does not look like the father of a newly deceased son. He looks like how he always did, like a warrior. 

Among the crowd of people dressed in black, Zahra stands out the most in her beautiful white dress, looking every part of the bride she should've been this winter before the sinister wielders of the dead stole her beloved in this month of dead leaves.

 She wasn't crying, she was so eerily quiet that it was starting to make Naeem worry for his sister. Did she even remotely expect this to happen? Her love of twelve years abandoned her for the journey towards the afterlife in a moment, leaving her with only stunned silence and stabbing memories?

I took out the dagger I had bought for their wedding gift which now will be a part of his grave good. I laid the dagger down next to his still body and one last time caressed his forehead. 

A last goodbye to my beloved villain.

There never was quite a pretend-necromancer like you, Torhild.

Naeem's oldest brother, Amad's sister, and some of Torhild's cousins start to pull the small decorated ship towards the Araceli Lake by thick ropes. After the ship had been set afloat, they let go of the ropes.

They let go of him.

I look up to the Sigmond estate balcony where we had played with Torhild countless times. My father was standing there with Eboni and Naeem's father. They were saying something inaudible from my spot but it looked like a heated discussion. Father looked enraged and Eboni's dad was trying to calm him down. 

What happened? why were they standing up there instead of being next to their friend who just lost a son? 

My eyes meet father's. He gives me a false smile and looks away like he always does when he felt guilty.

They think we don't know.

We weren't as naïve as the adults thought us to be. We know there was a traitor. Otherwise, the attackers wouldn't have been able to trespass on the Holy lands. 

We have heard the hushed whispers of our parents too. We know Lilura had betrayed us. They had broken the conditions of the cease-fire. They had joined hands with the Necromancers.

I averted my eyes back to the ship sailing away to the afterlife. Burning arrows flew from behind me. Like shooting stars, they hit the ship and set it ablaze. The bloody wings of the fire make it look like the thousands of Crimson spider Orchids in bloom.

It was a beautiful sight. Doomed yet evidently mortal.

Death could truly be beautiful sometimes.

As we stood in the shelter of the front porch, Amad's soft singing echoed with the rhymes of the wind, his hand caressing Gunhild's head resting on his lap,

Don't drop your sword, warrior
Don't let it fall
Embrace the valor, warrior
Fly to the slain's Hall

Don't bring pearly tears, mother
Don't let them fall
Rejoice your son, mother
He heard Alfodr's call

There he goes, beloved
While promises you recall
There he goes, beloved
Odin awaits in his hall

A warrior in a war, sister
So death had befall
He fought and fought, sister
Until he could no longer crawl

Gone is the boy, father
Held whom you fragile, small
Warrior till the end was your son, father
So hide your tears and stand tall.

Don't drop your sword, warrior
Don't let it fall
Greet death with a smile, warrior
See you in Valhalla's hall.

By the time the soft melody ended, I couldn't see the ship though my blurry vision anymore. 

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GLOSSARY

*Orpheus and Eurydice: The tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice tells the story of a musician, Orpheus , the son of God Apollo and the muse Calliope, and his lover, Eurydice. When Eurydice dies and untimely death, Orpheus travels down to the underworld to make a deal with Hades to let him leave with his lover. He impresses Hades and his wife, Persephone with his music and is given the chance to take Eurydice back but under the condition that he doesn't look back until both of them are out of the underworld. However, he fails to fulfill the condition and looks back at his beloved before she crosses the border and thus Eurydice is forever taken away.

*Grave Goods: Grave goods, in Archeology, are the items buried along with the dead body.

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