Funeral

Hadden watched the burning pyre of a hundred corpses, his family's corpse in the center of it all. A deep silence fell in the location, only broken by the crackling fire.

Occasionally, one could hear a sniffling or two, both by Hadden and Emma. Emma had thought she could contain her emotions, but this was too much for her. The death, the tragedy; it was overwhelming her.

Hadden still teared up, sniffling a little from time to time, but he couldn't flat-out cry anymore. There just wasn't enough tear in his eyes. His eyes were now as dry as they were hollow.

He stood there, regardless of the heat of the fire, watching the last embers fly away as he imagined his family's souls had. He got down to his knees and prayed as the last wisps of flame went out and nothing but smoke and ash remained in front of him.

The funeral was over.