Goodbye

The pyre Ajax and Lara built for Syrana was absolutely beautiful. For two people who had never gotten to know her, they put a lot of effort into the design. They put many different colored flowers and roses in between the logs that had been stacked so neatly and with care. They had even put a soft bed of leaves on the ground to ensure she was comfortable, even in death.

Lara had helped Myranda comb Syrana's hair, and wash her face, hands, and feet - and Metas helped carry her body to the stack of wood with Jyriah to ensure that she was placed as delicately as possible onto the leaves.

Myranda added more flowers into Syrana's hair and over her eyes, and then she kissed her sister's forehead. It was the single most painful day of her life, and she would never be able to forget it. Nor did she want to. The only thing that she would take from this, was the smoldering hatred that grew day by day for Silas, and her need for him to pay.

They tried to make her as beautiful as they could for someone who had suffered from such a terrible poison - but it was difficult without all the trinkets and 'death dresses' that typically covered the dead in a beautiful fabric of their favorite color. Even the lowest members of society had access to rites.

Her anger deepened as she thought of all the wolves they had to bury hours ago, all of those who did not get the true goodbye they deserved. Instead of returning to their element of choice, they had all been laid to rest in the earth. It made her feel guilty that she was able to give her sister a proper return, but not those who had been fed to the vampires so mercilessly.

Myranda couldn't help but squeeze her fists into tight balls as she watched her mate and her brother adjust her sister's arms to lay across her abdomen as though she were asleep. If only her eyes would pop open and she'd sit up and tell them it was all a big joke.

She even felt as though she could jump onto the pyre itself, but the only thing holding her back from such a dangerous desire was the comforting thought of watching Silas die at the hands of her mate.

Metas leaned in and whispered something into Syrana's ear, and then put his forehead to hers tenderly in one last act of respectful affection.

Jyriah followed suit, and did the same thing as Metas had, and only then did Myranda and the others go up one by one, and whisper their final words into Syrana's ears, and sent her off with a soft touch of each of their foreheads.

Their collective tears wouldn't be enough to drown out the sorrow that everyone was feeling. All amongst them felt some sort of guilt from their failures to help Syrana. Even if it's not what the beautiful wolf would have wanted, it was hard for anyone in the party to think otherwise.

'I wish I had been faster, closer, quicker'....anything but what they had the opportunity to do.

Joss and Jyriah worked together to light a fire using nothing but wood, stone, and a leaf. Thanks to the dry weather, it made it much easier to ignite since water hadn't made this more difficult than it already was. Jyriah took the lit stick to the collection of leaves at the bottom of the pyre and transferred the flame to his sister's final resting place.

"From fire we come, to fire we return. May her soul be united with the sun that burns. Moon Goddess in the sky, accept our loved one and welcome them so that one day we may reunite again. Thank you for the gift you bestowed to our kind, and now we return her soul into the sky. May she guard the earth and all of our kin, until it is her time to be reborn again" they all said in unison, as it was a chant well known to their entire race.

Fire, Water, Earth, Air - they all believed they returned to one of the elements that made up the wild magic around them. Unlike other creatures, the Werewolves of this land felt as though they were meant to be the protectors of the earth. Feeling such a way only led to the downfall of humans, who the lycan refused to house or protect unless they were already one within the clan.

When all of the humans finally died - they had a huge party and feast to celebrate that they had rid the earth of such monstrous little creatures. Since then, they've all had a belief that in order to keep the humans away, they had to return to the earth to protect it until their next cycle of life began.

Metas started to hum something low in his chest, and as it got louder, Ajax and Lara chimed in with their own octave of sound. This was one the lower rungs did not know - something ancient and old that sounded comforting and somber at the same time.

The four from the tunnels just listened as the three from the upper caves let out something so haunting and so angelic that it was hard to interrupt. As though they were in some sort of trance, they each felt an odd sense of peace amongst the air as the fire crackled and released beautiful flecks of gold into the night sky.