Part 3

Inside the house was a short hallway with two rows of coat hooks. At them hung several jackets and a dusty trucker cap. The worn-out floorboards along the hallway matched with the old greyish white wallpaper.

By the streaks of blood on the old entrance floor mat, I could tell that the young man had already tried to scrape the dirt off his shoes. Still, faint shoeprints went all along the hallway and through a door to the left.

Under the dirt and blood that stuck to the floor mat, ornate letters formed a fading "Welcome."

To my right, I could see a big untidy living room.

The door at the end of the hallway was closed and had an open padlock hanging over the doorknob.

I followed the shoeprints and came into a big dining room. In the middle of the room stood a big wooden dining table with eight chairs. Above it hung an impressive bronze chandelier with lightbulbs shaped like flames.

To my left was the kitchen, and to my right, an empty doorframe led to the stairs. Several gas lanterns and matchboxes lay on a commode.

When I entered the room, the young man told the Dreg, the Ghost, and me to take a seat. We sat down facing the stairway.

I noticed that the Dreg had problems sitting down because of the steel caps on his back. I felt like I should ask if he needed help as I watched him struggle to fit on the chair, but in the end, I remained silent. At least the Dreg had solved the problem by only sitting on the edge of his chair. Probably not the most elegant solution but a solution.

When the older man came in, he threw a short glance at me as if to make sure I wouldn't tell anyone about what I had seen outside. He then gave the young man the rifle he had forgotten outdoors. "I know we just lost Violet, but still, you shouldn't forget your rifle outside, ok? And now get some clean clothes while I look after our guests", he appealed to his son.

Right after, his son took off his shoes, put them in the hallway, and went upstairs.

After the young man was gone, the older one sat down at the end of the table and put his rifle down.

In the moment of awkward silence that followed, I scanned the rifle whose barrel pointed at us. The barrel had a flowing transition from polished to brushed steel, going from the beginning to the end. But the thing about the steel was that it was not brushed but scratched; Presumably scratched by the countless enemies that this man had crossed paths with so far. The wood on the rifle showed similar traces of usage. The rough oak wood had several small spots discolored by dried blood. On the forestock, there were words carved into the wood. "DON'T GIVE UP! DON'T LOSE HOPE!" it said.

The silence persisted until a petite woman of around 30 years jumped down the stairs. Her long brown hair flew to the side as she cut around the corner and entered through the doorframe that led to the stairs. Somehow it felt like I knew her from somewhere, but I couldn't tell how this was possible.

The woman's eyes, filled with a mixture of fear, uncertainty, and denial, told me she already knew some of the answers to the questions she was going to ask.

"What happened to Richard, Adrian? Where is Violet? Did something happen to her? Where is she!?" the woman asked with her eyes fixed on the old man named Adrian.

"I'm so sorry. We... we were overrun by Thralls, and then one... one of them killed Violet. I'm so sorry. I couldn't."

The slender woman sank to her knees. The hair that covered her face as she looked down at the floor could not hide her tears, which covered the floor more and more.

The old man continued. "Clara, let me explain."

Clara's head shot up, and behind the strands of hair that partially obscured her face, her despair surfaced.

"What can you explain!? That you chose Violet to defend the house with you instead of me! You know I'm the better shooter of us two. You know, with me out there, everyone would still be alive. But you told me to stay in the house with the kids. And also, who are those people in our dining room?"

"I told you to stay in the house with the kids because I know of your skills! Not because I thought Violet was the better choice in this battle. I knew that if the Hive had overrun us here, you would have been the last line of defense to protect the kids; To ensure that at least the four of you would survive."

The woman went silent. It seemed like she felt guilt for blaming Adrian for Violet's death. She slowly stood back up.

Then Adrian continued. "And about these strangers. They appeared near the end of the battle and saved Richard from a Thrall that would have got him otherwise. So you should at least show some respect towards them even if we don't know them yet."

"Oh... I'm sorry," Clara answered, turning towards the Dreg and me.

At this moment, I saw a little face peek around the doorframe. The little boy's eyes were fixed on me until he noticed the Ghost flying around behind my head. His head fascinatedly followed the movements of the Ghost.

The boy stepped around the corner and out of the woman's shadow but immediately jumped back after seeing the Dreg.

"Oh Kyle, what are you doing here? I told you to stay upstairs to keep an eye on Betty and Grace. Why did you come down?"

"I just wanted to know what happened. Why is Dad full of blood? And where is Mom?" the boy asked with half of his face behind the doorframe.

"Kyle... you may come here and sit down before I tell you," Clara said. With those few words, it seemed Kyle had put the puzzle together, as his eyes suddenly widened.

He then ran up the stairs. Clara made a restrained gesture as if to stop him. A few seconds later, we could hear the sound of a slamming door.

"Clara, I think you better follow him. I will take care of the rest down here," Adrian expressed, and without any word, Clara went upstairs.

The room was silent for a moment. Adrian rubbed his eyes and started talking again.

"I hope you can forgive them. It's always hard to lose someone, even when death is ever so close like nowadays. But I think it would be best for now if we talk about something else and clear some open questions."

I nodded.

"So, first of all. Who are you, and how did you meet? It's quite unusual to meet a Risen and even more so one who travels with a Dreg," Adrian asked.

I did not know how to answer. "Who am I?" That was a question that reverberated inside of my head.

How I met the Dreg maybe was a bit hard to explain but who I was, was a question I couldn't even answer for myself. "I am me, but who is that?" I asked myself.

Adrian tried to fill the silence. "If it's hard to answer with the helmet on, you can take it off. The air inside the house is much better than outside."

Hearing this, I took off the helmet, lay it on the table, and took a deep refreshing breath. Adrian, the Dreg, and my Ghost looked at me, seeing a face I had never seen even though I was its owner.

I then attempted to answer.

"To be honest with you, I don't know who I am. Just until yesterday, I was dead, and when my Ghost brought me back to life, I had no memory of what life had been like before. Soon after, I heard some scary noises and started searching for a weapon. Then I hid from some Fallen that seemed to be hunting me. Thinking they would soon find me, I tried to fight them but died hurting only one of them, which happens to be the Dreg sitting next to me. Well, then the Fallen left my dead body, leaving behind the wounded Dreg. Then when my Ghost brought me back, the only thing I could find was the Dreg abandoned by his own kind. I decided to have mercy with him, and out of pity, I chose to help him. And yeah, now it seems like we are allies. Strange, ain't it?"

"Seems like you already had quite a lively life even though you have only been alive for like two days," Adrian happily commented.

He continued. "But still, I would like to call you by a name because names like Dreg, Ghost, and Risen feel kinda impersonal to me. Maybe you have some ideas for naming yourselves."

"No idea," I said, "but why do you refer to me as a Risen, if I may ask?"

"Well, because that's how we refer to light-bearers. That's how we call people with the Traveler's light; People endowed with powers that transcend even death. The Risen are people who can wield fire that doesn't burn them, lightning bolts that don't hurt them, or a void that doesn't consume them. And for those people, it's a characteristic that they travel with a small flying robot called Ghost. So if I got nothing wrong, it is just logical that you are a Risen," the man replied.

"Yes, he's right," my Ghost affirmed, "and if I may say this, I would actually like to have a name."

"Good, so now back to your names, do you maybe have something on you from which you can derive a name? Something like a symbol, a word, or a characteristic," Adrian suggested.

After looking around for a bit, I finally had some ideas.

"Ghost, what do you think about 'Ray' as your new name? Because when you revived me, you shined like a light ray," I said.

"Yes, I like it, and for you, I have a suggestion too," The Ghost now named Ray expressed. "You may not know about it because now it is under your armor, but before I revived you, you had a Dog Tag around your neck on which only the nickname 'Ronin' was readable."

And by this, I had gotten a name. From this moment on, I would be called Ronin.

Now the only one left to name was the Dreg which turned out to be easy, as the Dreg, who seemed like he understood us, pointed at himself shyly and said, "Skriliks," when we looked at him.

I was at first a bit confused as it was the first time he had spoken. His raspy voice had something of an insect-like clacking.

"Is Skriliks your name?" He nodded.

"Wow," Adrian barged in inquisitively, "I did not think you would understand us. If I may ask, can you speak our language?"

Skriliks shook his head. "So you understand us but can't talk in our language." Adrian clarified. Again the Dreg nodded.

A few seconds later, Clara came down the stairs.

"I think Kyle needs some time for himself to process what happened. It seems like his mother's death hit him pretty hard. He didn't want to let me in. Said I should leave him alone. Sat waiting in front of the door the whole time, but I don't think he will open it anytime soon. Richard stayed upstairs to look after the girls, by the way. It seemed like they didn't hear anything. They only asked why Kyle slammed the door."

"Thank you. Do you need some time too? You look drained," Adrian replied.

Clara sighed. "No, it's all right. I think a glass of water will do," she said as she shook her head and rubbed her eyes.

"You want some too?" She asked, looking at us. "No, I'm fine. How about you?" I replied. Adrian and Skriliks shook their heads.

Clara went for a glass, and when she returned, Adrian briefed her about the story I had told him before.

"Interesting, it's been some time since we last met a Risen," Clara said, "The last one we met was a Risen called Gallifrey-12, who protected our settlement for some time. Quite a fascinating guy who could create a void that consumed everything other than himself. He also was quite a bookworm and always tried to understand the nature of his powers. His Ghost, also called Clara, was nothing the like. She was more quirky than him and liked to tell the stories of their adventures. Sadly we didn't get to spend much time with him because when our settlement got attacked by the Hive, he died protecting us."

"But shouldn't he have been able to get revived by his Ghost?" I asked.

"No, sadly not," Clara answered dejectedly, "After Gallifrey had already slain like 50 Hive Knights, Witches, Acolytes, and Thralls and died his 10th death or so, they killed his Ghost while she was trying to revive him, making his death permanent. Of the more than 30 people in the settlement, only 14 survived. And that was because Gallifrey took most of the fight onto him, making it easier for the rest to win the battle. We parted ways that day with the other remaining members of the settlement and decided to search for a new place to live because we knew the Hive would come back to kill the rest of us."

I looked down, thinking as an awkward silence filled the room. The story had shown me that even I can die my final death if I'm not careful enough, something I didn't realize until then.

"Ahem, I think we better do something else now before this awkward silence turns painful. We should start digging a grave for Violet. If we don't start soon, the ravens will try to eat her," Adrian suggested.

"Yes, you are right, but before we start, I have to tell Richard to explain the situation to the girls. They should know about it," Clara explained before going up the stairs. Meanwhile, the rest of us grabbed our stuff and went outside.

I could feel that Adrian had more trust in us, but still, he always carried his rifle. When we arrived at Violet's corpse, there were already some ravens that Adrian instantly chased away. We then carried Violet's body to a shed in front of the house, where Adrian handed Skriliks and me a shovel. He then showed us where we should start digging next to the shed. I put down my bag to be able to dig.

Next to the shed were two graves already. Two pairs of planks, forming a cross, were pinned to the ground. The first one had the name "Sophie" and the term "beloved wife and mother" engraved, and the second one "Andrew" "beloved husband and father."

Adrian, watching us with the rifle still in his hands, noticed that we were reading the inscription. "That's the graves of my wife and my son. If you want to know how they died, I can tell you while you start digging," Adrian proposed.

"Yes, I would like to know," I said while laying my leather bag in front of the shed.

Adrian started. "Well, for my wife, the story is simple. She died of some unknown disease years ago in the settlement. We buried her there, so the grave you see here is empty. Both are empty. It was Violet's idea to put them here to honor them and so that we would never forget them. But now to Andrew's story.

About one year ago, he died on a patrol mission in the remnants of the settlement. It was a standard mission for Andrew. Just grab as much food and water as possible and then go back. But sadly, unfortunate circumstances added up. First, Clara, who usually went on patrol with Andrew, had to be replaced by Violet, and then secondly, they ran into a Fallen patrol. The Fallen found them but to save Violet, Andrew sacrificed himself and lured them away from her. And as we never found anything that proves that he is still alive, we had to assume that he died."

After Adrian finished talking, I glanced over to Skriliks. It looked like he felt guilt for what his race had done as he motionlessly stared at the tip of his shovel on the ground. When he noticed my gaze, he quickly started digging as if to hide his emotions.

I grabbed my shovel and wanted to start digging too, but was distracted by Clara, who had just arrived and knelt in front of Violet's body. She lifted the blanket but immediately put it back down and turned her head away in pain, closing her eyes.

The moment she noticed that I was watching her, she jumped up and went to grab a shovel. While she came back with the shovel, she saw my bag and instantly dropped it with a stunned expression.

Adrian turned around, startled. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's just this bag. Where did it come from?" Clara said.

"I found it on the dead body of a Fallen," I replied in a curious tone, questioning why she asked.

But then I remembered. I dropped my shovel, opened the bag, and pulled out the photo I had found inside it earlier.

"Could it be that this is you?" I asked abruptly.

"Yes! But- but how? That is Grace, Andrew, and me. That is the only photo with all the three of us we ever got to make. I thought it was lost forever when Andrew died. But wait that you found the bag on a dead Fallen's body means-." Clara's head sank to the photo. She supported her forehead with both her hands while holding the picture and started crying quietly. She then rubbed her tears with her arm and said, "Thank you! Thank you that you brought this with you. I can't express how much this photo means to me. Thank you." Her gratitude made me smile.

She kept looking at the photo for a moment until Adrian handed her the rifle and said, "Here, I think you can bring this inside the house together with the picture. When you did that, please come back and help us dig. I want this finished before sunset."

Adrian took a shovel and joined us. Later, Clara joined in too, and we finished digging before sunset.

"Wait, shouldn't everyone be present at Violet's funeral. Maybe Richard wants to say his last goodbye," Clara said as Adrian and I were about to carry Violet to the grave.

We agreed, so Clara went to get the others. When they arrived, a little girl of about six years wanted to run to Violet but was stopped by Richard, who held her arm. "No! let me go! I want to see Auntie!" she cried. Kyle, who seemed to have left his room, looked at the body in sorrow.

When everyone gathered in front of the grave, Adrian and I lowered Violet into the grave.

"Sorry I could not protect you," Richard said with a sense of guilt.

Except for silent crying and sobbing, there was only sorrowful silence after that, so Adrian and I started burying Violet.

From there on, nothing happened until the sun finally set and the mourning crowd dispersed.

While heading for the house, Clara looked back at Ray, Skriliks, and me, who did not know where to go.

"Wait, we forgot to ask if you want to stay overnight," she shouted.

"All beds are occupied, but they can sleep inside the shed if they want," Adrian loudly suggested from inside the house.

"Yes, that would be nice!" I shouted, trying to be loud enough for Adrian to hear me.

Richard, who had already guessed that we wouldn't say no to this offer, then brought us two sleeping bags and helped us make space in the shed before heading back to the house, saying, "sleep well."

I then went inside the shed and took off my helmet. The air was stuffy, and the inside of the shed was quite dark, but that didn't matter because I finally had a pretty safe place to sleep.

Still, I couldn't sleep because my mind recalled the things that had happened. While thinking, sitting on the sleeping bag, I twitched with my knife, igniting it several times. My Ghost noticed that I couldn't sleep and asked, "what's wrong?"

"It's just this story about the Risen called Gallifrey. It made me think. What if I can't protect you? What if I'm not strong enough? You know that sort of stuff," I explained with a worried sigh.

"You know, I think it will be fine. Look, you have me, Skriliks, and all the others to help you. If you fight, you don't have to fight alone. Just remember that."

"Thank you," I said, cheered up a bit, "I think I better try to sleep now."