Chapter 42: The Rogue Reclaimer As Summoned
An unbreathing silence had fallen over the Guild Hall. It was heavier than stone, a void where the boisterous energy of Hunters used to live. Now, it was a tomb.
Linx’s body, shrouded in white linen, lay on a low wooden table in the center of the room. The sight of it was a wound in the air itself, a raw, undeniable fact that bled the life from the space around it.
Ning Que stood apart, meticulously wiping his katana with a soft cloth. The steel was pristine, but the ghost of blood clung to his memory.
He could still see Linx’s smile falter, the light in his eyes extinguish. He could still feel the phantom weight of his friend’s body. Each swipe of the cloth was a futile attempt to scrub the image from his mind.
Across the room, Viera was a knot of pure, unadulterated grief. She knelt beside the body, her shoulders shaking with sobs that made no sound. In her hands, she clutched the worn leather coat Linx had always worn, pressing the fabric to her face as if she could inhale his very essence as if the familiar scent could somehow reverse time.
Aeris stood behind her, a hand on Viera’s shoulder, her own face a mask of stoic pain, the cracks beginning to show at the corners of her eyes. Lian, the team’s healer, was hunched on a nearby bench, her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles were white. She stared at them, the instruments of her failure, her quiet tears a confession of her impotence.
The heavy doors of the hall pushed open, letting in a sliver of gray afternoon light. It was time.
In the central courtyard, Hunters gathered in solemn ranks, their usual bravado replaced by a grim-faced unity. They formed a silent audience around a tall, unlit pyre.
Ning, Aeris, and Lian carried their fallen comrade, his shrouded form feeling impossibly light, a hollow shell of the man he had been.
As they laid him upon the wood, Viera finally broke.
"No," she whispered, her voice cracking. She took a step forward, her hand reaching out. "It’s not right. We can’t."
Aeris caught her arm, her grip firm but gentle.