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Chapter 195 - Epilogue 2: Non-traditional Funerals

The hastily repaired city dressed in mourning colors when the news was announced the week before. Today, Halcyon was strangely quiet aside from the chirping of birds and the calls of other animals. Citizens from all walks of life gathered along the main roads in the late evening with lit pure black candles in their hands.

As the sun set, a procession of honor guards made their way down the street. In the middle was a black coffin carried on an elaborate, open-roofed carriage. The City Lord and his family rode with it. Sorrowful voices sang their farewells as it passed by. The procession continued well into the night, winding through most of the city.

Solemn moonlight illuminated the streets. Just as the moons reached their peak, the procession arrived at the grand cathedral in the heart of the city. The haunting voices stopped as the coffin was carried into the cathedral.

Innello and his father emotionlessly stared at the empty coffin as it was set down in the back of the cathedral. Rebecca wiped away her tears with a handkerchief as she clutched her husband's arm. Edwina kept her eyes downcast and a fan blocking her lower face. Though attempting to look the part of an aggrieved family member, boredom frequently flashed through the depths of her eyes.

As for her brother, Tregario couldn't seem to stop smirking. That hindrance was dead and the city would be his in the future. He had a hard time suppressing his laughter. Even Edwina, who supported her brother's claim as the future City Lord, was a bit disturbed by his obvious joy with a family member's death. She pinched him several times to remind him to calm down.

After the family had stood quietly for so long, the head priest softly approached.

"My lord, it is time for the people to come pay their respects."

Innello simply waved his hand in affirmation. The head priest bowed and left to open the doors. As guards stood watch over the main hall, well-wishers came to offer their respects. The funeral would last from sunset to sunrise for a week, but the family would only come on the first day.

Many citizens wanted to come now to see their new heir after honoring their previous one. As they crowded into the cathedral, the mourners noticed Tregario's odd reaction to his cousin's death. Frowns turned even grimmer with this discovery.

Even if he was overjoyed about it, shouldn't he at least pretend to be saddened by this unfortunate event? The citizens were aware of the inheritance situation, but all that they had heard were rumors. This second-in-line was average with a bit of talent with magic at best, but Halcyon's citizens still had high expectations since he was their beloved City Lord's child.

Taking such joy in his hero cousin's death did not bode well for their future. They noted down this incident in their minds to discuss later. At that moment, sending off their city's prodigy and nation's hero took priority over mere gossip.

**********

One week after the main funeral in Halcyon, the campus of Nafriton University was devoid of life. By now, students should have returned to school, but the university remained closed after the True Order's rebellion. Its fate remained ambiguous.

However, some faculty, staff, and students had gathered on the grounds of the Nafriton Residence Hall. In the back corner of the Inner Gardens, a small shrine to those lost in the war stood silently. A dark coffin lay in front of it. Various sweets were placed on top of the coffin while Ramona stood next to it with a dark veil covering her sour face.

The sun had begun to set when the headmaster began to light and give out pure black candles. One by one, those present quietly prayed and said a few words of comfort to Ramona. The sniffles of a few fuzzy puffballs could be heard in the darkness. By midnight, all but the headmaster and gremlins had left.

They had work to do the next morning, and only Ramona was close enough to stand vigil for Aayla the entire night. Compared to Daren's city-wide mourning, Aayla's was a simple affair. As dawn broke the next day, the headmaster and the most troublesome gremlin trio remained.

Headmaster Marin carefully removed the sleeping gremlins from the coffin and set them by the shrine.

"At least they didn't destroy something this time," he chuckled. "A few more guests should arrive soon. Though the sun has risen, let's wait until they arrive. This funeral is not exactly traditional anyways. We can talk then."

Ramona's face remained shrouded by her veil, but her confusion could still be felt. What is this old fox scheming now?

Just as the sun fully rose from beneath the horizon, a small group of exhausted people led by Innello Forolan arrived at the Inner Gardens. Only his wife, Jacki, and a middle-aged woman with familiar blonde hair accompanied him. Several guards trailed behind them but stayed back when the group approached the shrine.

Headmaster Marin stepped forward to greet the new arrivals. "Thank you for coming all this way so quickly."

"We got special permission to use the portals, so it wasn't as long as it could have been," Innello replied. "Naturally, my wife and I would come to wish Aayla well in her next life. She and Daren were close from what I understand."

"You have our condolences, Dean Heston." Rebecca curtsied.

Ramona quickly bowed in return. "No, you have my thanks for taking care of Aayla in Halcyon."

"She was a kind girl and a joy to have in our lives. Jacki, you have the offerings, right?"

"Yes, madam." Jacki and the woman stepped forward with large bags in their hands. "You have our sympathies, Dean Heston. This is Mrs. Piper Vear, Christopher Vear's mother. The others couldn't come in time, so they sent us with their well-wishes and some parting gifts for Aayla."

"Thank you."

Ramona didn't speak much after that, so Jacki and Mrs. Vear began to burn the offerings at the shrine. After the fire started blazing, Innello dismissed the pair. They silently bowed and left. As soon as they were out of earshot, Innello turned to Headmaster Marin with a questioning gaze.

"All right. What did you want to talk about? The invitation that you sent was strange."

Headmaster Marin chuckled as the trees grew around them to form a private space. With Dormi's influence, their words from now on would remain a secret. Four trees sprouted from the ground to form leafy chairs. The headmaster gleefully took a seat.

"To be clear, it's what Ramona wants to tell us, not what I want to tell you."

As the rest of them took their seats, Ramona glared at the headmaster, who had played some trick behind her back. She had no idea that the Forolans would be coming. Their son's funeral technically didn't end until the sunrise of this morning, but they had started traveling before then.

Ramona had no idea where to begin. As she struggled to find the words to speak, the headmaster kept the conversation going.

"Hm, let's start at the beginning then. With Ramona's trip to Terra." The headmaster nodded. "Yes, let's do that. We can clear up some of the misunderstandings about Aayla's identity."

If Ramona had a drink in her hand, it would have dropped to the ground in shock. The headmaster knew about that?! Innello and Rebecca stared at the headmaster in confusion.

"All right. If the headmaster insists, then I'll just start there."

Without much of a choice at this point, Ramona told the others everything. From her accident and travel to Terra years ago, to the care of Aayla's parents and her arrival in Tellus years later. Innello and Rebecca silently listened to her entire story. The headmaster cheerfully added on whenever he could.

At the end of her narration, Ramona took out several papers from her bag and handed them over to the couple.

"Here are the results. These show the spatial distortions after my accident, my return, Aayla's arrival, and the incident at Sarrasak. Each shows the same key patterns. In short, I think they may have been transported to Terra."

**********

[Sarrasak City, Chinebar Republic, Tellus, two months prior, just after the final battle for Sarrasak.]

Back on Terra, also known as Earth, the media went wild on a random winter day. The news was so crazy that it made headlines across the world. Each nation on the planet was utterly transfixed by the story. As the story progressed, the headlines became more and more outrageous.

'AUSTRALIAN GIRL MISSING IN CANADA FOUND IN MIDWEST USA'

'BIZARRE KIDNAPPER WAS 'NUTTIER THAT SQUIRREL SH*T', DELUSIONAL WIZARD'

'INTERNATIONAL POLICE LAUNCH INVESTIGATION'

'WHO IS JOHN DOE, THE OTHER 'SQUIRREL SH*T' VICTIM?'

'MISSING DISGRACED ARCHEOLOGIST IDENTIFIED, RESPONSIBLE FOR INTERNATIONAL KIDNAPPING'

'MAGIC-OBSESSED RELIGIOUS CULT DISCOVERED IN KANSAS'

'DRUGS, WIZARDS AND A NEW CULT: IS THIS AN FBI COVERUP?'

'THE 'SQUIRREL SH*T' WIZARD, FORMER ESTEEMED ARCHEOLOGIST, CHARGED'

'INFAMOUS 'SQUIRREL SH*T' WIZARD SENTENCED TO ASYLUM FOR CRIMINALLY INSANE'