Lightning split the night behind them, growing more pressing a pursuit with every passing moment. The Lighthand were marching as best they could as the storm raged and ravaged the lands around them. The winds constantly changed direction and were powerful enough to knock even a strong warrior to the ground, soaked through, the mud was thick as pitch and seemed to swallow you like quicksand the more you fought against its grip. Several of the soldiers had lost items and clothing as the wind had carried anything it could grip tightly enough away, and a couple even lost a boot to the viscous sludge underfoot. The rainfall was driving harder than a charge of heavy mounts, every drop slammed towards the ground, moving like a balled fist, and felt just as hard when it struck your face. Beyond unrelenting, it was a torrential fall, and the sky remained blackened by the clouds. The lightning struck again, it was getting more frequent and still closer with every strike. Kaya stopped her march, such that it was, holding her clothes tightly around her she turned to look behind. She could see smoke rising in the distance and faint lights in a few places. No doubt the lightning had caught several trees and caused them to combust under its epic blow. As she observed, another bolt descended the heavens and struck a tree nearby the trail they were marching on. Kaya spun in a flash to see the burning debris of the Firwood struck falling toward the soldiers.
"MOVE IT!" Kaya screamed as she noticed some of the other soldiers were already aware of what was happening and had started to scream their own warnings to disperse. Several smaller burning branches fell, followed by a much larger limb, and fear shot through Kaya like poison. At least five feet long and a full foot wide at the thicker end, Kaya viewed, frozen in numb panic as it crashed heavily onto a recruit's head, breaking open his skull with force aplenty to throw a spray of viscera and bone from his head as it flattened him into the floor with a sickening crunch. Several other recruits were screaming in panic and grief "NO!" "Help me get it off him!" "COME ON HELP HIM!!" and swiftly began an already doomed scramble through the swamp-like mess to try and aid their fallen comrade in arms. Kaya could tell from the impact there was nothing to be done but did not stop the soldiers for she knew it would do no good to try. They would gather his remains either way and carry them until they found a place they deem suitable for the burial ritual. No one in the Lighthand, no matter the cause to meet one's end, would ever be left in the field and all bodies must be cremated before burial, as is their law. Not only to prevent the corpses from being used for nefarious purposes, but also it is the belief of the Lightbringers, and by extension, the Lighthand, that to burn the body in fire is a purification rite and by torching the impure flesh, one essence may become cleansed and be allowed to re-join Calana in the Heavens.
The rain seemed harder now as Kaya watched the Lighthand recover the body of their brother, and another bolt struck maybe a few hundred feet away. Kayas face contorted into a grim stare as the soldiers began to line up again under Soren's instructions, while Salec tended to carry the body, she thought about how easily life could be removed and how quickly it can be done. Lost in thought and distracted by the ever-growing power of the storm, she barely heard Soren give the call to march again, but soon they were underway towards the inn once again. Kaya got into step walking alongside Salec, whose massive form barely seemed to notice the weather at all.
Salec had to speak loudly over the wrath of the storm as she got closer, "Can't believe we lost another, lass" he shrugged his broad shoulders under the weight of the now two bodies he was carrying, "I think ya may 'ave undersold it a bit when ya said storm be getting rough up here!"
"How far is the shelter, we'll lose more the longer we are out here!" Kaya shouted to beat the roar of the winds.
"Should be there soon lass. Just o' the treeline, it be, and round the corner" he gestured a vague course with his hand as he spoke.
Kaya started to urge the soldiers on and encourage them to move quickly as they were near to safety. Their pace did quicken but only slightly, it was hard going in these conditions and on this terrain whatever you did. Looking forward through the thinning timbers, Kaya could see to the right of the trail's end a faint glowing light flickering through the gaps in the limbs of the mighty forest. They managed to make it to the edge of the treeline without any further incident, and spinning to her right Kaya saw the sturdy greyish stone building, and could barely make out through the rain the smoke trail coming from its chimney.
"Hurry everyone, HURRY!" Soren was shouting at the soldiers from behind the lines, keeping an eye for elements and enemies alike. As another bolt hit a tree just behind him, he dived on reflexive instinct and avoided the glowing ashen branches. While not big enough to be fatal this time, they certainly would have injured him if he hadn't had the sense to watch for them falling. He chuckled to himself as the group continued on, handfuls of yards from salvation against the unending tides, and every one of them cold, wet, tired and hungry. Salec stopped and turned to observe his brother and make sure they were moving as one, no stragglers. Kaya was a few yards ahead of the brigade, guiding Salec through the worst of it, just moving towards the light in the distance. Getting closer revealed how different these buildings were from the ones Kaya had grown up in.
The buildings in the village were small wooden huts for the most part, with the Longhall, Temple and Hunters Lodge being the exceptions, though still wooden, they were built for purpose, and as such each was different. Most were wrapped with furs, hides, or solid wooden walls in the case of the three more prominent buildings and some of the houses. This, was unlike anything she had seen, great chunks of some kind of unfamiliar and very dark stone melded together with what looked like an odd kind of clay or paste. Glass made into large sheets covering the windows, not like the openings covered with leathers, as were the windows of her home and easily twice the size of even the Longhall. While Kaya could infer what was being accomplished and how they would be able to do it, her people hadn't really felt the need to use these materials like this, and the building was very impressive to Kaya. They made it to the door, itself taller than most homes from the village, made of solid Firwood banded in Cold Steel. Hanging above it, a sign depicting a warrior sat in full plate armour, only not wearing his helm and the image of a bright sun above him with the words "Warriors Rest" painted just under the image. Salec pushed the door open slowly and as the brigade filed in quickly after, Kaya waited at the door for the rest of them to get inside before giving a nod to Soren to come in and they both pulled in the door against the wind to get it closed behind them.
Once out of the heaving rain and threat of lightning strikes, everyone collectively sighed a breath of relief and the patrons in the hall cheered thanks that a group of weary travellers had made it to safety in this most horrid of storms. As soon as the door was closed Salec made his way to the bar, his troops began to mingle and Soren nodded for Kaya to follow him, and the pair sat at a nearby table. On the way to be seated, Kaya took in the main hall of the Inn. Several serving maids and men were wandering around with trays filled with mugs of various drinks. The place was packed, no doubt thanks in part to the storm forcing travellers to stop in for fear of injury or worse in the maelstrom outside. She could spy through a serving hatch a small kitchen behind the bar area and a few cooks preparing meals. Her stomach growled as she sat down at a table with Soren, she started to really smell the different meats, loaves of bread, herbs and vegetables that were being eaten and prepared.
Salec rested Thunderstrike against the bar and waved for attention. The innkeeper, a chubby man, with a short beard, long dark hair tied back, and a crooked smile, gave him a nod and a grin as he made his way to him. When he arrived, he and Salec slapped their hands together in a warriors grip, and smiled as he began to speak happily, "Salec, my friend! It does me ol' heart good t' cya make it outta that wretched storm, lad." he eyed the two wrapped bodies Salec still gripped to his other shoulder and his smile dropped away, "But... erm, looks like some o' ya guys didn't 'appen t' be s'lucky" he finished in a more sombre tone.
Salec nodded and let his head fall in shame, lowering the two corpses gently to the ground by his seat, "I failed 'em, cous'n."
The Innkeeper waved to a serving maid and whispered something to her, she nodded her acknowledgement back to him, and then he turned his focus back to the gentle giant as she scurried off to set about her secret task, "You listen 'ere, lad, ya didn't fail nobody" he lowered himself to meet his friend's eyes, "Ya hear me you big loaf? Nobody did ya fail, aye?"
Salec lifted his head, and tried to smile, but was clearly fighting an overwhelming pain at the loss of his comrades, "Aye, my friend." he tried to settle himself by punching his palms, one fist then the other, a few times normally helped him to refocus, and he shuffled his body around as if to loosen up his shoulders and then took a deep breath, "Ya still got any o' the blackberry mead in cous'n?" he asked hopefully.
The Innkeeper laughed "Aye, AYE! Of course, lad. I'll 'ave some up for ya." The Innkeeper went back to his tasks and a few moments later had a mug of blackberry mead for Salec which he placed down on the dark wood-stained bar top. While Salec set to drinking his mead, an elderly woman, dressed in the white robes of the Auramancers approached him, and tapped him lightly on his back, as she could not reach the taller man's shoulder.
"Greetings child, I am Izalia, a Priestess of Calana." she bowed, with her left hand pressed flat to her heart, a sign of holding faith in your soul and common among religious types.
Salec returned her bow in the same fashion as was the custom, "'Tis an honour, Priestess, I 'sume our host had someone tell ya o' our loss this day?"
Izalia nodded solemnly as she returned to standing from her bow, "Yes child. I was travelling this way to the abbey at Falkarn when the storm hit and we were forced to seek shelter here." she reached her hands out together and cupped, Salec placed his hands on top and she continued, "I'm terribly sorry for their End coming before its time child."
Salec gripped her hands tighter, his voice a little shaky he spoke, "Thank you Priestess, for it is with your words and by your grace we may return to Calana."
She sympathetically moved her head to one side, "Would you like me to perform the Ritual of Lights for them?"
Salec looked up and smiled a grief-weary smile, but it was genuine joy at the thought of his troops being honoured by Calana, "I would, an' I know they woulda wanted it to"
Izalia sighed and let go of Salecs hands, "Well I shall seek you out upon the morn and we shall send your soldiers of light to Calanas waiting embrace." She gave another shallow bow and went off back into the crowd, gesturing to two nearby men to carry the bodies out to the back room for the night, leaving Salec to continue his now slightly too warm mead.
Kaya and Soren had been served and he had taken the liberty to order them both the Knapperberry wine and Kaya also asked if they had salted Porga. She informed them that was all fine and went to get the order, as the pair observed Salecs goings on at the bar, and before long the maid returned with their drinks.
"What's a Knapperberry?" Kaya asked while hesitantly looking inside her mug at the slightly yellow liquid. It smelled vaguely of Witchgrass, a very common herb in cooking that has an aroma almost exactly like dirt but its saviour is it offers dishes and drinks prepared with it a creamy texture somehow. This clearly smelled too sickly to be just that and Kaya guessed that whatever this Knapperberry thing is was giving it that punch.
"A sweet berry from lands far south of here" he took a big gulp from his mug and waved the maid over for another, his was not yet finished, "tastes a bit like honey."
Kaya took a tentative sip and the initial bitterness of the beverage caught her off guard on the first touch, but after that shock, she found the taste to be quite pleasant, very earthy but sweet and almost felt like drinking milk, and a weird, warm feeling hit her stomach. She grabbed a strip of the cured animal from the tray that had been served to her and chewed a chunk of the dried meat from the end.
She asked, "What's going on at the bar with Salec?" pointing over as Izalia was just leaving.
"Ah, shesh a preishtessh o' light... and they... they... erm they" he was pointing over to Izalia with every failed attempt to complete his thought.
"They what, man!" Kaya grinned as she shouted with jest anger at his confusion.
"THEY!! They do a thing..." he went silent, offering no more, for now, save another wave to the barmaid.
"What thing, Soren?" Kaya asked, sipping her wine.
"A ritual... the Ritual of Lights... for... for dead people." he drained his mug as soon as the barmaid dropped it and signalled for another.
"Ah..." Kaya drank nervously unsure how to continue the conversation.
Death isn't something that is naturally a problem in Calanaar. There are legends and stories as to why, and all are different depending on who's telling them, save for one commonality within all the scripts. The Gods have long abandoned the Heavens, and mankind must do what it can to control those forces that should be governed by beings with far greater power than any mere mortal. Earth, Fire, Wind and Water once all maintained, controlled, and progressed by the Gods now must be barely contained by the work of countless Conduit Mages. Life and Death, are controlled and calculated by the Necromancers and Auramancers. When someone reaches their 100th year of life, their essence must be given back to the Void. This ritual is referred to as the 'Ritual of Ends' fittingly enough and should anyone try to escape or avoid it when the time comes, it is a sworn duty and matter of great importance to the Lightbringers to find them and return them to the Necromancers, so they may conduct the ritual as they should have. As with Death, so with Life, and conception without the assistance of the Auramancers is an incredibly rare thing. Painfully, more often than not, a child will not grow to term or will be stillborn without their help. Given the understanding that natural death by old age is not something to expect, passing abruptly is normally rare, save for war times or plague. While not in open war, these times still wreak unstoppable havoc within the realm, and forces unchecked make it ever more pressing and ever more difficult to hold to any sort of ideal, save survival. She regarded that no one had thought to sit with Salec and asked, "Soren, should we go sit with your brother?"
He laughed, "Nah, think... think..." Soren was very drunk, and very quickly, "He... wantsh to be alone... Promishe..." Soren's words were nearly incomprehensible, as his drinking overtook his senses, "He... takes death... very seriously..."
Kaya thought on this for a moment, and to her it made sense. Salec did seem to shoulder the burdens of those in his ward and Kaya had seen him wandering the camp talking to anyone and everyone. But right now, he wasn't that man, that pillar of strength and leadership. She could see it in him, he was vulnerable and hurting, and he needed this time to handle his thoughts. Kaya thought better of interfering and instead decided to joke more with Soren. After all, she was trying to keep her spirits up and her mind occupied also, "So is there anything that you take seriously, little man?" she smiled into her mug as she drank more of her wine.
Soren shot Kaya a look of disdain at her 'little man' comment before speaking in high-pitched joking shock "Little Man?! Shmaller than me brother, aye, but I'd shtill knock you fo' sixh lassh" Kaya giggled as he turned his face away as if to look up at the stars in thought, and gripped his chin on either side in mock amazement. Kaya chuckled as he pretended to be deeply thinking on the subject, "What do I take seriously?" he said quietly as Kaya nodded back to him. A moment of silence passed before unceremoniously and very loudly he screamed, "DRINKING LASS!!" several people in the hall cheered and raised their own drinks in celebration as Soren did the same and swiftly downed his 8th... or 9th mug of wine.