Chapter 140: Funeral and Onward
The House of Heroes stood in solemn silence.
Built from white marble quarried from the White Peaks in the Great Desert, the monument rose three stories high, its walls etched with the names of every hero who'd given their life for Ryteline. Inside, statues lined the great hall - warriors, strategists, healers, martyrs. Those who'd sacrificed everything when the kingdom needed them most.
Today, a new statue would join their ranks.
Auger Maxwell the Hero, the Companion of Kings.
Dawn stood at the front of the gathered crowd, her white hair hidden beneath a black veil. Yet tears could not stop streaming down.
Around her, nobility and commoners alike filled every available space. Generals who'd fought beside Auger. Common soldiers he'd saved. Children whose villages he'd protected.
The casket was closed. Empty, technically there was no body to bury.
The Beasts of Time had consumed him completely, leaving nothing but memory and grief. He used his future to save the world. Borrowed power he'd never live to earn. And Time took its price.
That truth would soon be known in the annals of history and mythology.
The Blood God hailed his greatest triumph.
The Goddess of Madness offered a place in Her garden.
The Maker will write the purest script about him.
The Light Seeker shall tell stories about him around the campfire.
About Auger Maxwell, the Hero who saved the World from itself.
Solafant stood beside Dawn, solemn in human form.
The Pope of the Church of the Three Rings, whose personality came to hold the ceremony, stepped forward, beginning the traditional rites. His voice carried through the hall, speaking of sacrifice and honor and duty.
Dawn heard none of it.
She kept seeing Auger's final smile. The way his golden eyes had found hers across the battlefield. The soundless apology he'd mouthed before the Beasts tore him apart.
"A hero never arrives too late, or too early.", he had said.
But he'd left too soon. Far, far too soon.
The priest finished speaking. Silence fell over the House of Heroes.
And Dawn finally let her cries be known. This was how Ryteline celebrated the end of the year, with a funeral and mourning for its hero.
He was many things, eccentric, crude, but ultimately a good person who would stop at nothing to protect his people.
The funeral went on for the entire day, with fewer and fewer people by the end. Dawn was the last person to leave; her gaze still lingered at Auger's statue, covered in flowers from the nation that loved him so much.
But there are more people who wished to visit him one last time. Those from the mystical side of the world who are reluctant to reveal themselves.
A clown in red came first, "Hello, dear Hero. I'm the representative from the Wondertainment Troupe, Sageo."
He placed a paper flower onto the grave.
"Many would think that it is a joy for us to have someone like you gone, a thorn removed to further our entertainment purpose. But that's not true! Art is nothing without obstacles!!"
The clown opened his arms up, "So, as our farewell gift for you— we shall show Ryteline why you are so important, why you were so beloved, why YOU are a pillar of this nation!!"
With that, Sageo left. And other representatives also came, offering their words and the words of their organization.
And finally...
The Lady in White, the Chalk Princess, came. Her azure eyes glazed over the flowers, then the statue, there was no emotion in those eyes, at least none can be deciphered. She had no flowers to offer, only here with a chair and a book.
"Quite undignified, I know.", Charlotte chuckled, "Why should I care what this world thinks of me in the first place?"
She placed the chair down, sitting on it with her legs crossed.
"But it is a lie to say I don't have opinions about this world, especially you, my dear Gandalf... what was your actual name again?", she brushed past the flowers to read his name, "Auger Maxwell, right."
Charlotte opened the book.
"When Mashhith chose you, you were just ten at the time. Rescued you from one of Sinclair's routine attacks and brought you to me."
She turned the pages. Reminisce about the past—
"No flashbacks. Like many who Mashhith left at my feet, you wanted revenge against Sinclair. But you find companionship outside of that singular goal, and together with friends you annexed Ryteline from Zankur, leading to the slow descent of a once mighty empire to its doom, still didn't stop Renlou from nibbling some land though."
"Counting this time, you saved the world seven times. Including destroying three of five world-ending artifacts, stopping the Academy of Infinity from summoning a Nebula's Avatar, and two more when I was off-world. Quite the achievement, I must say."
"All of that, yet never reach beyond the Fifth Step. It's quite alright; some rituals and requirements are absolutely impossible, like what happened with Rowan. Poor guy died trying to open the Gate of Anti-Matter to reach the Sixth Step. Yet some people like Alan became a god within three minutes... he exploded after a year, but that's beside the point. Life isn't fair; that is the universal truth for all."
She flipped over another page.
"Messtorrin's strike wouldn't destroy itself; it could've tanked that attack... but the result would be the destruction of ninety percent of all life. The Ego was willing to go that far. So you prevented extinction."
She flipped to the final page; instead of text, it was a full-on illustration of Auger standing.
"But unfortunately for you, who became a god through an unconventional way, plus being in Mystery's Domain made your presence blind to The Admirer. The power of Memory cannot recreate you."
Charlotte closed the book and leaned back on her chair, her eyes staring at the beautiful night sky full of stars.
"It's beautiful, but also ugly.", her eyes rolled up, sensing someone, "Would you like to have a drink with me, Dantes?"
Lea was attending as well, just hiding in the darkness before having her chance to offer flowers.
"How can you see through the combination of Veil, Cloak, and Silence?", Lea asked, rising from the ground. Her face was uncovered.
"Simple, I calculated the disturbance.", Charlotte shrugged and performed a backflip off the chair.
"What?", to both her answer and what she just did.
"It is a lot of mumbo jumbo, so just ignore it.", she threw the book she was holding into the air.
Before Lea's eyes, the book vanished. Charlotte then took out her phone.
"So, what book do you want? Those blood freaks got there late, but they reaped the most rewards, looting everything not bolted down."
Ah, right... there was a second part to that.
"Can I keep The Shapeless Comedy instead?", Lea requested.
Charlotte waved her hand, "Just keep it, I don't have a need for it right now. Now choose a book, or I'll choose for you."
It contains the servant of the First Law, and Charlotte just gave it away so casually...
"You took too long.", with a snap of her finger, Charlotte grabbed a book that had been falling since whenever.
"It has only been two seconds!!", Lea protested.
"Not my problem, taking this.", Charlotte threw the book to her.
Catching the book, titled 'The Biology of Cancer, Remastered Edition 2, 2250'.
"What is cancer?", Lea asked.
"Just read it when you have the time; I'll be going back now.", she clapped her hands and vanished.
With a sigh, Lea threw the book into her shadow. Now with Charlotte gone, she took out a bouquet of various flowers from said shadow.
Our time together wasn't long, only a few weeks at best. In that time, you were like a father to me, something I never had... she chuckled, a broken chuckle that sounds like glass grinding... You taught me so many things in those short times...
And now, he is gone with no chance of coming back, even as a living memory. Lea cannot cry, this body lacks that feature, but she was weeping for the time that could've been had.
Once more, the warning of Bashie Mahzala echoes in her ears. To never mess with Time, never violate it in any way. For Time is brutal to anything that violates it.
And Kahelzar's statement, that the worst outcome for a violator would be complete erasure from the timeline. No one to remember in the first place, no one to laugh with or mourn for.
Indeed, from the view of Time itself, that price was dirt cheap. Anyone who calls himself a hero would think so.
Lea calls herself an executor of righteousness... And so, under the pale light of the twin moons.
"My new year resolution is simple."
Eradicating all evil she comes across.
=0=0=
Returning to Lacrosa, Lea stood in front of her mansion.
"O' darkness, consume all."
Her shadow extended, like hands of darkness reaching out to grab hold of the entire mansion. Every path, every bit of the building was touched by gentle hands of darkness.
And the building began to sink into the shadow. Lea had a growing feeling of fullness, her capacity was nearing its limit.
Was it too arrogant to do something like this?
No, obeying the Principle of Trial and Error, obeying the Law of the World. Where hard work and suffering are surely rewarded.
It took an entire hour to sink her mansion into the ground, while to the outside she looked just like a statue overlooking her own house getting destroyed.
That was... very full.
Now only a gooey black pool where her house was remained. Where did she put it? The same place she kept her bow - the Dream World.
Apparently, she has been storing her stuff in her Dream World all this time. It is very different from her Shadow Realm, which is another thing.
But they are related. With the real world being the surface layer, below that is the Dream World. Her Shadow Realm is in between them, closer to reality. And below the Dream World is the Mirror World. Does it have more layers? Lea is pretty sure about the True Labyrinth of the Mind being deeper, then under that is the Immaterial...
Being the Demigod who possesses the Divine Domain of Unconscious, Lea just placed her house inside it. Rather than use a projection of reality, she could just lock people inside her house.
Now, for this pool of darkness. She recalled it into herself. The Plague Garden rolled up to her; Lea gave the Star God a lift into her arms.
For now, she only needed to go to Empire's Edge to start spreading her name.
=0=0=
In the Great Desert, which covers 60% of the northern part of the main continent, something was stirring beneath the sand... no, two things.
From the ground burst a crab-like creature with an armless humanoid statue on top, all made out of dark red crystals pulsing with energy.
And in the sky where clouds gather, a living humanoid white flame surrounded by a rainbow vortex. And without any words, the flame raised their right hand. In an instant, a fireball as large as a city appeared, burning like a second sun. The rainbow vortex burst forth, making the fireball pulse uncontrollably.
Around the crab-like monster, crystals began to grow uncontrollably, forming spires reaching toward the sky.
The fireball descended; the spire grew to intercept it. Resulting in an explosion that blinds the day and glassed the entire area, killing everything in it.
Star Gods, the Avatars of the Stars themselves. The will and power of a celestial object giving form, only limited by their Light.
And Heralds, those chosen by their home Star after achieving great glories and feats great enough to be noticed. Beyond their own power, they were given blessings by their Star.
The Crystaline Spread of the Equinox Rollers. The crystallized madness of a Star, of the celestial faction whose goal is to defy the Cosmic Laws.
And Fthaggua, the First Herald of The Madden Flame. With them is The Void Enigma, one of the Elemental Lords like The Madden Flame. Embodying the purest form of elemental power.
And the First Herald of Fire showed why Fire is the strongest Attribute in the universe as they summoned another fireball with the same size as the previous.
The Crystaline Spread was barely standing with over half of its body gone. So in a last-ditch effort—
"Halall Wiikol."
Shimmering crimson portals appeared around the Star God, Fthaggua in the sky seemed as surprised as The Crystaline Spread. Then crimson vines came from them, binding the Star God.
"Is that what I think it is, my lord?", the Herald's ethereal voice asked the rainbow vortex.
Then from one of the portals, a woman wearing clothes made of human skin and vines came out. Hair as red as blood, and dull silver eyes.
There was an aura of insanity to her, making Fthaggua cautious. This was the Goddess of Madness, Sularao.
"Halall Vikor: Obore (Annihilation Sentence: Crunch).", she spoke in an ancient language, one remembered only by her.
A jaw of bloody red flame came out of her fingertip, rushing toward The Crystaline Spread like a rabid dog. But the intended effect of total annihilation didn't happen.
BOOM!!!
The Star God exploded into millions of crystal fragments, Sularao was quick to create a bone wall blocking the shards from hitting her. Yet some shards were able to poke out to her side.
And she witnessed the effect of these shards... they began to grow, infecting the bone wall.
"This is...", she mumbled.
"That was very dumb.", Fthaggua chided from above, "The Crystaline Spread has the ability to regrow from a single shard. Without Fire and only an imitation of it, you cannot kill them."
Sularao narrowed her eyes, "I shall deal with you ne..."
Her voice died down. Ten more city-sized fireballs appeared, blocking the sky with their burning flicker. It was evidently clear who had more firepower between the two, literally.
"You were saying?", Fthaggua challenged, "I have no real problem with this world, so why challenge me?"
"Then why come to this world?", she challenged, not backing down.
"It is a command from my Lord and Light to come here and destroy Gallery of Infinity's leader, The Still Fantasy.", they stated, then pointed to the South, "It's right over there."
Sularao followed... There was a massive storm of ice in the ocean, creating what seemed to be an ice pillar.
"How did I miss that?", she questioned herself. It was the same as the Mist Lord...
"Ice, Silence, and Bind. It simply froze its presence; only Fire can melt through the concealment.", one by one, the fireballs disappear, "The Still Fantasy, if not stopped, will freeze this world into a solid block of ice for its collection. If you don't want it to happen, stay out of my way."
With the World regaining its Authority, Messtorrin had opened the gate to the rest of the universe. Unleashing the starlight's horrors and madness upon the world. And in a land forbidden to all but one, Sinclair was writing into the Tome of Light with a quill, leaving a trail of starlight.
"With the coming of the new year, the new Epoch starts with a bang!! The Elemental Lords versus the Gallery of Infinity! Exquinox Rollers trying to defy the universe once again! The Council of Entropy is up to no good again, triple the trouble even!"
She looked at the quill with a crazed smile, "As the Goddess of Stories, what should I name this upcoming age? The Age of Mystery is over, so what's next?"
The quill let out a spark of starlight, Sinclair nodded.
"The Age of Mythology, that's a great and simple name!!", with a spin, she continued to write, "Safeguarded by the most unusual of allies, the next chapter of this world's epic shall unfold..."
"And you shall witness their story...", she held the quill up high, "Alsara Hikaya the Starlight Tale."
A bearer of Starlight in its name, and the Second Seat of the Seven Wayfarers of the Abyss - those who witness and record the stories of the universe.