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B4C56 - Burning the Light
🕑 Added 2024-10-17 11:07:31 +0000 UTC“I have three more for you today,” Tyron announced as he walked into the room abruptly.
Cerry flinched at the sudden disruption, but Tyron didn’t pause, placing down three stones upon the table in the middle of the room. Flynn eyed them, looking vaguely ill, however he chose not to say anything.
“This makes ten souls over the last few days,” Cerry murmured, half to herself. “Just how many have died recently?”
She didn’t expect to get an answer, in truth she was only partially aware that she’d even spoken aloud, but she had, and Tyron addressed her query.
“Not enough,” he said.
In shock, Cerry looked up at him and almost immediately looked away. His eyes were ice cold, as was his tone and entire demeanour. It was almost impossible to reconcile this man, this Tyron Steelarm, with the Lukas Almsfield who had run Almsfield Enchantments. Were they really the same person? It seemed impossible, yet she knew it was true, had seen him transform his face with her own eyes.
There was a pause, then a sigh. Tyron walked around the table and sat, close to Cerry, but not so close that she would feel uncomfortable. At least, that was his aim; judging by her reaction, he hadn’t been successful.
“Cerry, you don’t have to like or approve of what I’m doing. In truth, I wouldn’t expect you to. I don’t ask that you pretend to be comfortable around me, or that you pretend not to see what I’m doing.” He gestured to the three stones on the table. “These are the souls of people I killed recently, just as the others I gave you were. I’ve judged that they have nothing to answer for, and thus would like you to use your abilities to put them to rest, but you don’t have to. If you refuse to help me, you are still welcome to stay here and I will still protect you and Flynn as best as I can.”
He was being sincere, she knew that, but it was still difficult to accept what he said. At times, she felt like he wasn’t even human, as if he were some kind of monster with a human skin, putting on an act, being just human enough that others wouldn’t notice what he really was.
It wasn’t fair to think of him this way, Cerry knew that, after everything he’d done for her, and for Flynn. She’d be dead, or worse, if Tyron hadn’t protected them. Even so….
She took a deep breath to steady her nerves.
“It’s alright. I-I’m happy to use my abilities. Letting the dead go on to rest is… is a good thing. Are any of these… are any of these children?”
Tyron shook his head.
“No children, not this time.”
“O-oh.”
She almost hadn’t been able to breathe when she’d called out the spirit trapped in a stone and a young boy had emerged, cold and afraid, crying for his….
No, best not think about it. She shook her head to chase the memory away. That soul was at rest now, she’d done what she could.
“I know it’s distasteful,” Tyron said evenly, “but it’s necessary.”
She didn’t want to reply, Divines knew, she didn’t want to, but the words slipped out against her will anyway.
“How can it be necessary?” she demanded, hot tears burning in her eyes as she looked up to glare at her former employer. At the killer. “They’re children.”
“They aren’t just children,” Tyron replied, looking back at her, his eyes devoid of sympathy, “they have the blessing of the Divines. Of all the people in the Empire, they are the only ones who can inherit the Noble Class. Do you have any idea how powerful that is? The things they can do?
“If a Noble were to ask you to cut Flynn’s throat and then gut yourself, you would. If they asked you to smother your newborn in its crib and eat it, you would. They are the Voice of the Divines and they have absolute power over everyone who lives here. I’ve learned things over the past years that would make your spirit weep were you to hear them, things that Nobles do to commoners, to Slayers, to anyone. They don’t even think you’re the same species as them, Cerry. Try to imagine what that justifies in their minds.”
His voice neither rose nor fell as he spoke. This was no impassioned plea, merely a statement of fact and an appeal to reason, but now, a real spark of anger ignited within him as he continued.
“But that doesn’t really matter. Not to me. I’m going to exterminate every Noble line in the Empire because vengeance demands it. When I’m done, none of them will remain.”
“It’s madness,” Cerry told him, tears running down her face. “Just because they can inherit the Class doesn’t mean they deserve to be killed! They haven’t committed any crime. They weren’t the ones who killed your family.”
“I’m not going to discuss this any further,” Tyron said, his eyes growing cold once more. “If you don’t object, I’d like to watch you work with the first of the souls. Would that be alright?”
She didn’t reply immediately, and Flynn, bless his timid heart, sensed her distress and came around the table to fold her in a gentle embrace. He didn’t like conflict, and was particularly reticent around his former Master, but he was always there for her when she needed him the most.
“Fine,” she said after calming down. “Just the first one… please.”
“As I said,” Tyron nodded, withdrawing a small notebook from a pocket and flicking it to the appropriate page. In moments he’d produced pen and ink and sat, waiting for her to begin.
Somehow, he seemed more alive in these moments than any others. There was something about the study of things he didn’t understand that made him seem… more like Master Almsfield. Her Class continued to be a fascination to him, and its connection to the Realm of the Dead was of immense interest. Thankfully, he didn’t push her more than she was comfortable, though he could force her to use her abilities if he truly wanted to.
In the end, it wasn’t so bad, because Cerry liked using her abilities. At first, the Class had seemed grim and unpleasant, but guiding souls toward the afterlife, or at least bringing some level of comfort to them in their suffering was… good. It felt like she was helping.
When she felt ready, she gave Flynn a little nod and he returned the gesture with a slight squeeze on her shoulder before moving away to give her space. Cerry focused on the closest of the three stones and reached within herself, activating the primary ability of her Class: Spirit Speech.
Come out and talk to me, she said.
“It’s fascinating everytime I hear it,” Tyron muttered, scribbling furiously in his notebook. “It’s completely unintelligible, but I can speak with ghosts using a ritual and perfectly normal speech.”
The ghost within was feeling resentful, and somewhat stubborn, Cerry could tell they weren’t willing to come out immediately. Another benefit of her Class. As soon as she communicated with a spirit, a… bond was established, giving her insight into the spirit’s emotional state.
It helped her speak to them, but it wasn’t always pleasant. Every ghost she’d talked to had been angry, despairing, filled with grudges or worse.
It’s safe out here, and I can help you, Cerry said. If you come out, you can talk to me. I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.
No! The spirit rasped back. I’m dead. Leave me be!
No matter how many times she heard it, the voice of the spirits always sent a shiver running down her spine. A rasp and wail, a scream and a whisper, it sounded like it was right next to her ear and from far, far away, all at once. Eerie and unsettling were wholly insufficient words to describe it.
There must be something you’d like to speak about, Cerry weedled, do you have any grandchildren you want me to pass a message on to?
This was definitely the spirit of an older person. They were often most interested in their surviving family, although not always in a good way.
My family is dead. I want to tell the bastard responsible to burn in the hells forever and that’s it!
Hearing that, Cerry winced. Of course, this would have to have been someone who had their whole family working on the Estate. Many of the servants had been that way, loyal families who’d worked for the Jorlin’s over multiple generations.
You can tell him yourself if you want. He’s here.
The spectre hesitated, caught between terror and rage. As was often the case with the ghosts, rage won out, and the spirit billowed forth from the stone screaming in anger.
Beast! Vile Fiend! Evil, cursed shit-prick! Die for my children! Die! Die! DIEEEEEE!
Despite the shrieking and wailing that, to Cerry, was almost ear splitting, neither Flynn nor Tyron reacted to the ghost at all, because neither of them could see or hear it. This was another thing the Necromancer found interesting. Whereas he needed a ritual to substantiate the ghost, she didn’t, allowing her to speak to them in their natural state.
The ghost swiped angrily at Tyron, and at Flynn, also at Cerry a few times. It was difficult for them to perceive the living. As far as she could tell, it was almost impossible for the dead to tell the living apart in any meaningful sense.
Of course, without the influence of Magick, the ghost was completely harmless and unable to interact with the material world in any way.
I could tell you which one is the right one, Cerry suggested, getting a little irritated at being attacked.
She told herself to be patient, this person had suffered a very traumatic death.
You will lie! Came the screeched reply as the spirit continued to twist and circle around the room swiping and screaming at everything and everyone.
I have no reason to lie, she said, trying not to get exasperated.
She had no idea why ghosts tended to be so… unpleasant. It was as if a part of their compassion or humanity was severed the moment they were no longer living.
Of course, trying to be calm in the presence of the person who killed you was asking for a lot.
I won’t ask you to believe me right away, but I want you to know that I can help you. With my help, you can pass on much quicker than you otherwise would. I can’t force you to agree, but it's something you can consider.
Another quirk of her Class. Cerry couldn’t force a spirit to serve, it had to be voluntary. Only then was she in a position to do anything for them.
Sadly, the spirit was too busy screaming and cursing to be sure that she’d even been heard. Cerry sighed and hesitated a moment before she gave Tyron a gesture. He raised a brow at her.
“Already?” he asked.
“This particular person isn’t… all that happy with you? They’re too upset to speak with me at the moment.”
“You didn’t have to tell them I was here…”
“It was the only way I could get them out of the rock.”
With a few gestures and words, Tyron seized control of the spirit and banished it back into the stone, where it would remain until she awoke it or he summoned it out once again.
“Well that wasn’t very successful,” Cerry sighed, rubbing at her temples.
“Why is it that your Class shows such a divergence from every other that deals with the dead?” Tyron mused aloud. “Necromancy is about binding and commanding the dead, whereas you are actively required to seek their cooperation. Forging a relationship of mutual benefit. It’s…”
“Nice?” she suggested, a little tartly.
“Different,” he said. “It’s very different.”
“How many more of these do you have, Master… Steelarm?” Cerry finally sighed, feeling exhausted. “Dealing with regular spirits who died without violence is difficult, but those who were killed are extremely hard to persuade. They hold onto those grudges with a… uh…”
“With a death grip?” Tryon finished her sentence. “Not that many more. No, I can’t give you an accurate count, I need to vet them before I bring them to you and I’m not finished going through them all.”
He capped his pen and put away his ink before snapping the book shut and slipping it back into his pocket. Standing from the table, he looked down at Cerry and Flynn for a moment before he sighed.
“I want you both to consider my earlier offer to leave the city very carefully. It’s much more dangerous to be here now than it was before, besides, if you were to stay much longer then I’m worried for Cerry.”
“What? Why?” she asked.
Tyron tilted his head a little to the side before he straightened again.
“Because it won’t be long until this place is overrun with angry spirits,” he told her flatly.
“You didn’t mention this before,” Flynn said, coming to Cerry’s side once more.
“I wasn’t sure of it before. Unlike Cerry, I can’t see them normally. Right now, Kenmor is overflowing with very angry ghosts, and I do mean overflowing. They’re starting to spill out into Shadetown. If they find out there’s a Spirit Speaker here, they may come in droves.”
The city… was filled with ghosts?
Seeing her look of confusion, Tyron chuckled to himself.
“You think I’ve been a monster? When ten thousand little ones slaughtered in the purge descend on you, will you be able to think of me as in the same class as them?”
Leaving his question hanging in the air, Tyron gave the two of them a nod, and walked out of the room.
Comments
Suastes Jiménez Miguel Angel
I wonder what impact Cherry and her abilities will have on Tyron and his revenge. What happened to other people who acquired a forbidden class and managed to escape?
Icharris
Honestly, I hope the issue ends up being more complex that this. Not that I want the divines to end up “being the good guys with a justifiable reason”. But I hope it’s more than just them being incompetent or nefarious (at least not nefarious just for the sake of causing misery).
Ray P
wiping out threats you can't contain is completely logical when they are big enough which you can't apply to the real world as it isn't a bloodline or culture that causes issues but ideologies
Ray P
this is a ridiculous example nazis or Jewish people didn't have mind altering super powers give to them by evil gods
KopiCAT
@David Janic Would you apply that logic to real life as well? That it's ok for the various groups of people around the world to utterly wipe out entire cultures and peoples? Because otherwise, a survivor might seek revenge in the future? Such as Hitler trying to wipe out the Jews? After he started, for whatever reason, it would be considered reasonable for him to finish the job? Because anyone could potentially be a threat in the future? Or things like ethnic cleansing? After all, people of a different ethnicity can be a threat in regions where war and conflict are all about ethnicity. And so you consider it distasteful but necessary for one ethnicity in such regions to utterly wipe out another?
KopiCAT
Dude. Your horrible acts are still horrible just because others are doing something even more horrible. Otherwise, serial killers, mass murderers and so on would not be considered evil or bad, because Hitler and Stalin existed. At the end of the day, he killed innocent children. He's a monster. After he brings the Empire to its knees as it bloody deserves, he should have a really horrible ending.
alt31415
"Or I’m only killing them because they’re killing others. The cycle continues and nothing changes. Y" - That's why you kill more than one killer.
Wolve
That argument doesn't hold up in reality. Pretty much nobody is saying we shouldn't have fought off the Germans in ww2 because we just replaced one murderer by the other. The cycle did not continue, in fact the cycle of war going on for millennia in Europe ended then and there.
Runaway_Cactuar
There's a part of me that wants Ty to say, "you best start believing in ghost stories, Ms. Cerry, cuz you're in one"
braeden winstead
Thanks for the chapter! Still can't believe "I'm an empath" got turned into a class 😂😂
Dylan Alexander
It’s that whole question isn’t it? Is it right to kill a million people to save 10 million. Or I’m only killing them because they’re killing others. The cycle continues and nothing changes. You’ve just exchanged one killer for another, even one with a different flavour.
kingoff00ls
It would be so hard for me besides perhaps dove talking that would connect in my mind botd with chrysalis as the same author. Great chapter.
Wolve
TFTC, I really like how the moral conflict is brought out in this chapter. He's doing something horrible, but is it really horrible when so much worse would continue to happen if he didn't?
Andrew
Thank you!
CentaureHeart
Yeah, I don't even think someone else coul raise this children. As soon as they awaken the Five will be able to direct their path. Maybe even before.
DrDankness
Seriously imagine being an empath and witnessing that. It would shatter her like glass.
David Janjic
They are nobles already in the social status sense of the word. They just haven't got and they may not ever get the Noble class. Anyways, I understand Tyron's reasoning here, even without revenge angle it's distasteful but necessary. Every one of these children are potential future enemies and pawns of the divines. When there is a bunch of them, the Divines were picky with who they gave the Noble class. But when you slaughtered a whole generation, then suddenly the prime five need to fill up the ranks. It's basically guaranteed that most of those children would end up as Prime Five's pawns.
CentaureHeart
Um no, she hates seing Tyron kill anyone. Children are for sure the most sensitive spot. She calls him a killer not a child killer, she just hates all the killing.
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
alt31415
She's not being compassionate to nobles, she's being compassionate to CHILDREN who MIGHT become a noble IN THE FUTURE. jfc guys
Dan K
Man, horde of kid ghosts is somehow more terrifying sounding than a horde of normal ghosts.
Dan K
It’s like they are just begging for Tyron to turn it into a necropolis.
lenkite
The so-called Divines have suppressed and enslaved humanity and prevented them from rising in power to counter the rifts. No mercy for the class that is directly contributing to the extinction of humanity on this world.
CentaureHeart
That's because she was sheltered, sees everyone as humans and has compassion for every human in general.
Ray P
moments like this always confuse me peasants and other lower citizens in the past knew how terrible nobles were to common folk. cerry's compassion for the nobles feels so unnatural especially during this purge.
Ian Jones
The rifts are definitely the major threat, but the Slayers can't truly do their job in protecting the realm while under the thumb of the Magisters and Nobility. Because they're suppressed by them, the rifts are allowed to expand and break, causing wanton destruction throughout the realm. By looking to eliminate the Magisters and Nobility, Tyron can free the Slayers to better protect the realm and the people in it. While brutal, the ends justify the means for the greater good
visigoth
Indeed. Tyron is just the devil she knows; the one she can see; the one she can interact with. She’s aware of the purge, but they’re squirreled away so it might as well be distant to them as opposed to the souls Tyron’s slaughtered. It’s like watching violence in a foreign country on the news compared to a murder in your city
CAPTAINCAEL
The city is really turning into a city of the dead
CentaureHeart
Didn't expect the chapter for a day or two. Thanks for powering through ! I can't realy blame Cerry's naivety. She just hasn't seen enough yet.
Mr.Cat with a top hat
yeah and we don’t see it too often in this story
Sparky357
It's a much more unsettling when you digger deeper as Tyron's reasoning comes from the idea that the main enemy of the world are the rifts. While those who suppress the slayers are the oppressors that need to be overthrown through any means nessessy this is not taking into account his personal vendetta.
Mason Jones
Love how this shows a different perception of how Tyron is seen. Always find character perspectives interesting especially in these situations
