At the Funeral

The clouds were towering over the lush fields and woods, far from the reach of the man. Enormous shadows cast the whole village into mild darkness, however, no trace of water came from far above, instead those had fallen down from the cheeks of those who had to witness their beloved being buried by the church. The funeral was in full swing, no one wore any black garments, but villagers still looked presentable, which slightly irked me as I was in my usual wear. Not only was I not able to be of help, but I also failed to mourn them properly in both clothes and expression. Regardless of how hard I tried, I could not force tears out my eyes. It did not bother anyone, and it really should not, considering my status of an outsider, but it further drove me away from people around as Nila and I were the only ones sitting separately from the rest.

The elven woman's expression did not seize her stoic or rather cold appearance, she remained the same throughout the whole procedure, only lowered her head during prayer, which I did not follow. 

Olek was the one in charge here, he spoke, "Let us pray, dear brothers and sisters.

Almighty and forgiving Farhen, whose love is granted to those who have reached the end of their time, hear our prayers and thanksgiving for Gram, Suzie, Porte, and Magdalene, whom we shall never forget. We thank you for the gift of their great beginning, for the grace and mercy they received from you, and for the love they shared among us all.

May their spirits find peace in the realm of charms and beauty you have designed for those who lived in your name. May your holy grace guide and strengthen us, so that we may walk faithfully in your service, living in hope and trust until we are reunited with those whose end came sooner than ours.

Grant us strength, O Farhen of the End, to live in this world of change, to embrace the forgiveness of sins, and to find peace in the spirit realm at the end of every man's and woman's journey.

Amen."

Right before his last words, Olek peeked in my direction and our gazes met. After observing my reaction, he gave me one painful smile and shut his eyes once more. I could not really understand what he meant by that and, to be honest, did not want to know. I cast my gaze elsewhere after glaring at him for a few more moments, then patiently waited until the prayer was over.

As the only remains were the skulls, their graves were not as deep or wide as you would expect. Instead of sufficient memorial spots, they were given tall tombstones, although they looked exactly the same as the older ones around the church. I did not even bother remembering the names of those who had fallen to the hands of that flower monster from another realm.

With the corner of my ear, I heard a silent comment of one of the village gals, "Their expressions are so cold. They are not from here, but the ones who died were kids…"

"One is an elf and another is simply too young to understand the weight of grief. Let them be." whispered another man whose name I did not know. I squinted at their talk behind our backs and was about to open my mouth. But Nila pulled me by the sleeve and shook her head after our eyes met.

Once the procedure was over, one by one, people left the cemetery. The ones who remained at the premise until the end were the priest Olek, Zanuff, outsiders and relatives of the deceased. Nila was observing the priest who consoled the crying women and broken men, he was in no place to pay attention to us. I was not brave enough to tell it, though, even though I wanted to leave, I also did not want to push Nila.

"Well, then, elf girl and young man, how about we go now?" suddenly said Zanuff from behind us. His words put me at ease as I saw Nila standing up. I followed her lead as the three of us were going in the direction of Zanuff's home. While on the road, Nila whispered words that made me raise my brow at her.

"Human lives are sure fragile."

"Just like our souls, little miss, it is draining to lose those we love. Olek is one hell of a man to be of support to the ones who need it the most. I would not be able to do it." cackled Zanuff, then side glanced at Nila, "You sure are an oddball, Nila, do you really wish to know grief so badly?"

"To know grief?" I turned my head to Nila, whose expression was rather sour. She faced the ground for a while before raising her eyes, at first at me, but then at the old man. She said, "For elves, death is merely a result of a blunder. It is not something inevitable for us unlike you, humans, which makes it hard to empathise with you… I saw humans and others die countless times, be it on the battlefield or the deathbed, but never once did I want to cry."

Nila's eyes widened a little, then she continued, "Although one of those was quite close, but still not quite a cigar."

"Is that so?" whispered Zanuff and smirked with his eyes facing the ground, "I am almost envious."

I did not barge into this conversation, as I did not have much to say. The death I experienced was either of my enemies or comrades, whom I despised regardless. There were moments when I was saddened by the demise of those I thought I was close to, but never once I cried over them or was unable to work the other day. I even took other lives with my own hands ever since coming to this world… Was I too callous? Perhaps, inexperienced? But anyway, this is no place to open my mouth. Olek and Nila, those were people who knew of my real identity. It was more than enough, I would not want to involuntarily let this sly old man into my secret.

As we reached Zanuff's home, he brought out the horses as we packed our belongings into the carriage. Nila only had her staff and suitcase by her side, while I had a pouch full of food and a water bottle. Her knife remained in my pocket, along with Solitaire's gemstone. She never asked me to return it, thus I never did. I doubt she had forgotten about it, as the woman was still avoiding eye contact with me. It was fine, in the end, after we would come to Wiskoschia and cross the monster realm to reach Dlayla region, we would part our ways then and there.

Even though such was my plan from the very beginning, for some reason this thought now weighed down my shoulders. Nila was exceptionally strong and useful with her magic, which fully negated her lacklustre performance in the morning routine.

While I was contemplating our future, the carriage titled to the side, and we finally moved forward. It was time to say goodbye to the village whose name I never learnt. To my surprise there were several kids and even Olek, seeing us off on our journey. It was probably the last time we ever met, thus I could not help but motion a slight wave of farewell with my hand. Nila did the same, however, more enthusiastically, which was a given, considering she had known them for twenty years now. It would actually be more natural for her to express more sadness in such a case, but there was only eagerness glittering in her pupils. She sure could not wait to leave this place, and the notion of this fact put a giggle on my face.