Rayleigh bid farewell to Elara, her eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and admiration for his unwavering determination. He knew time was of the essence, and any delay could mean the difference between finding answers and being lost in the sea of uncertainty. All he had on him was a pouch of food and some money he had borrowed from Elara.
With a heavy heart, he secured passage on a caravan heading north. The journey was long and arduous, the landscape shifting from rolling hills to barren plains as they drew closer to the Fourways Kingdom. Along the way, Rayleigh heard whispers and rumors, each more chilling than the last. Tales of burning cities, screams echoing in the night, and a monstrous figure wreathed in shadow.As the caravan neared the kingdom's border, the air grew thick with a palpable sense of unease. The once lush forests were now charred skeletons, the fields barren and scarred. The stench of death clung to the air, a grim reminder of the horrors that had transpired. One could only see a cloud of smoke in the distance still stubbornly holding on to the ashes of the kingdom.Rayleigh left the caravan behind, his horse picking its way through the desolate landscape as the caravan would not enter the lands of the kingdom. The sun beat down mercilessly, but the heat was nothing compared to the burning anguish in his heart. He rode on, driven by a grandfather's love.He would pass through a city with nothing but death, dead and rotting corpses everywhere. The stench unbearable. His only question at this sight is what sort of action would be worthy of such a method of destruction.
As he approached the ruins of Linley's city, a wave of nausea washed over him. The once vibrant homes were reduced to rubble, the streets littered with debris and the remnants of lives cut short with corpse everywhere. He dismounted, his boots crunching on the shattered remnants of a once-bustling city, now all that remained were ruins and corpse. And as stated by the people no one was spared, women, children and even old people could be seen in various parts of this city, with some of the soldiers having died with their own weapons stuck onto them.He moved through the ruins like a ghost, his eyes scanning for any sign of life, any clue that might lead him to his grandson. He found none. Only silence and the echoes of tragedy.Finally, he reached Linley's home, a modest house that had once been filled with warmth and laughter. Now, it stood as a hollow shell, its walls blackened by fire, its windows shattered like broken promises. And a large gaping hole could be seen as he drew closer to it.Rayleigh stepped through the doorway, his heart pounding in his chest. The interior was a scene of devastation, furniture overturned, belongings scattered like leaves in a storm. He made his way to Linley's room, his breath hitching in his throat as he took in the sight.Linley's bed was untouched, the covers neatly tucked in, as if he had simply vanished into thin air. A single, unlit candle stood on the nightstand. He turned around the house and approached the hole, where he found some tracks and upon following them he found a corpse. A woman lay there on the ground, with even the rot unable to hide her once youthful beauty though her throat slit and clothes tattered.This was Linley's fiancé, Anri, she was a good woman but her presence here only darkened Ray's heart. He knew that Linley would never let his fiancé rot above ground. Only after a short walk , within the distance he saw a few familiar man laying beside a few corpses.
"Linley…" whispered Ray as he arrived beside his grandson's now rotting corpse, a sword wound right in the spot where his heart is. His eye's lifeless and his body like his fiancé rotting, the sight of it. Unbearable.
"Why…" said Ray. And for the first time in a very long time, He cried.
Only death and silence accompanied his wails.
After a while.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the ravaged city. Rayleigh stood in the backyard of the ruined house, his heart heavy with grief. With trembling hands, Rayleigh began to dig. The earth was hard and unyielding, but he worked tirelessly, fuelled by a desire to give his grandson and his beloved a final resting place. He then fashioned makeshift headstones from broken pieces of stone, etching their names with a rusty nail.
And as he laid their bodies to rest, a wave of memories washed over him. Linley's laughter echoing through the house, Anri's gentle smile, the warmth and joy that had once filled this now desolate place. Rayleigh knelt beside their graves, his tears mingling with the soil. He spoke to them, his voice barely a whisper, sharing stories of their lives, of the happiness they had brought him, of the dreams that had been cruelly extinguished. With his grandson dead he was now truly alone in the world, everyone he had ever known, his wife, his family. No one was left.He spent sometime beside their graves, the sun had long since set, leaving the sky awash with a tapestry of stars. Rayleigh stood, his legs trembling with exhaustion, his eyes fixed on the two graves. He placed a single, withered rose on each mound, a final offering of love and remembrance.He turned away, his shoulders slumped with the weight of his grief. But even in his sorrow, a spark of wrath flickered within him. He would not let their deaths be in vain. He would find the monsters who had done this, and he would make them pay. He wanted to hurt them, He wanted them to suffer.He mounted his horse, with no light anywhere but smoke to accompany him. The ruins of Linley's home faded behind him as he rode into the distance , but their memory burned bright in his heart, a beacon guiding him on his path of vengeance. Unbeknownst to the architects of this destruction. A ghost was now haunting them.