The Sermon Part 2

Wind ripples through the surrounding fields. Grass waves back in circles. Around the wreckage, ghosts and living creatures alike find peace.

A lizard scurries beneath the pebbles and runs up Noe's robes. Cooling the temperature of his hand by depriving it of the oxygen to burn, Noe lets the reptile flurry into his palm. As if knowing what he is about to do, the reptile smiles slyly at him.

Rosalind observes the thousands of ghosts planing across kilometers.

"Verstorben," Feng Mian's comforting voice extends to the ghosts in Ziraethean.

'Deceased.'

Leaping out of dazedness, every ghost turns themself to look at Feng Mian.

"Elhunytál és wava spiriti paez a bolygó."

'You have passed away and are now a ghost roaming this planet.'

Heads rotate this way and that, stiff shoulders scrunching up in distress.

Suddenly, a tsunami of peace disseminates about Feng Mian's seemingly angelic form that she glimmers white in serenity. A beaker of hope and promise of happiness in the eyes of the helpless. Ethereal, she explodes, resounding, "Musaite félelem."

'Do not be distressed.'

Surges of fellowship brim upon the face of each ghost, love for Feng Mian glistening.

"Mae siend megmentett."

'You are saved.'

The ghosts find calm in Feng Mian's words as if Ziraethean is a language designed for the perilled to hear.

Slowly, the sky blushes yellow as Noe steps into the central radius of the ghosts. Calling upon the wind and skies to send his pleas to his Father in the Unknown, he feels the air around him pulling his feet off the ground.

Noe flutters his eyes closed and lets himself drift up into the sunset sky.

At seeing a person fly, Daniel inhales dashingly - Noe as his bliss.

Impartial to the goings of the terrestrial World, Noe immerses himself in the spirit of redemption that flows through his veins. All his years of fire and flare have not been for naught. He has been chosen to bring about peace to the souls that cannot forgive themselves; to save humanity.

Beneath him, the ghosts seem like fireflies without bioluminescence, flitting around in the dark for somebody else to light their way. Eyes tiny and hopeful stare up at him, awaiting a time to move on from the pains of their Earthly existence.

A boy who Noe hurt, Allery, filters into Noe's mind. His mother. Daniel. People who Noe anguished with his heat. Everything that used to bring about destruction and torment to others comes together in this moment.

The time is now.

Noe opens his eyes. "Andestus," he speaks.

'Be forgiven.'

Gradually, each ghost begins to glow a red so searing. Their skin, flesh, and bones dematerialize, sent to the realm of unimportance. All that remains of the thousands of them are tiny, orange-red flames bright with the unmistakable power of a resentful soul. They gravitate near the soil, thickly swaying to and fro in the one relief that there is a living who shall remain to tell their tale. As they burn, their despair and self-loathing is transmitted into Noe.

Noe sees it all.

During their stay on Earth, one felt burdened by their mother's constant need of assistance and labels themselves 'unfilial'. Another revealed the secret of their uncle's abuse and sees themself as 'weak' for being unable to endure the nights of terror. Ghost Girl, whose thirst for life led her to abandon a friend she mislead, blames her 'cowardice' for staying in the borders of society's rules, never straying an inch from.

Flickers of flames burn away hatred as the flames rise up an up, weight lifted from their hearts and deposited upon Noe's. Absorbing their pain and taking it as his own, Noe breaths in deeply.

Beneath the sunset brushed across the sky, the souls reach their most vulnerable state, a freed state. A transformation occurs as blue takes over orange-red, streams of exoneration wiping away craze; banishing it.

Pure blue. Liberated from guilt, their flames can breathe absolutely.

A cleansing has been done; the power and might of their souls has been restored.

The blue flames drift up into the sky.

Rosalind draws her arms up and flattens her palms. Taking the weight of the skies into her hands, she parts the streaks of clouds that disrupt the ascending souls and allows their flames safe passage into the heavens. Within the depths of the sky that they reach, the flames form an ensemble of light, a blanket of blue that bathes Rosalind's wrath. Her constant state of outrage seems to dissipate as she marvels at the thousands of blue flames that frolic together.

The grass whistles an uplifting flute while the setting sunset paints the scene of a violinist cascading alongside their melody, transitioning to the next expression of their song. As the wind continues to blow, the souls dance along to the rubble drum; brandishing the collisions as a rythm.

Looking up at the souls ascending, Daniel notices a shift on each of the Ephrene's faces. Feng Mian is slightly less calm, Noe slightly less at peace with himself, and Rosalind good as new.

Daniel steps up and gravitates to Noe's side on the grass. "Now what happens?"

"From here, their souls shall pass through a river in the Unknown and be judged in the Omniscient's waters. To be reincarnated or thrown into Xeron forever. That is the question," Noe turns his eyes to Daniel, the magus of language, for approval.

"Shakespeare," Daniel responds flatly.

Noe deflates.

~

"Are we ready to go?" Daniel softly asks long after the sun has set before them. Stars blink like fireflies past the walls of the dome.

"Go where?" Rosalind enquires curtly, the gravel beneath her grumbling.

"To find justice for what we've seen and keep our word to avenge them."

"It's too dangerous. You can't come with us," Noe warns him.

"Bearing witness to their tragic story, what I cannot do is sit by and do nothing," Daniel's eyes glow white and blue, twinkling along with the stars above.

"I respect your decision," Noe instantaneously concedes at the determination in Daniel's regard. To stop Daniel from pursuing his wishes would be a stain on Noe's self-given duty to protect him - he must safeguard Daniel's morals too.

Unconsciously, they continue to be submerged within each other's gazes.

Rosalind slightly raises her hand, "I'm not the only one who's against this teacher guy dragging us behind, right?" pressing her glower on Feng Mian whose eyes are still staring up high.

" ... It feels empty without her," Feng Mian mentions Ghost Girl.

"You get attached too quickly," Rosalind reprimands, limply dropping her hand.

The night cools as they stand together in reverence at what they have just done, benevolence at what has been seen, and anticipation for what is to come.