239: Memento Mori (Cirayus) (Patreon)

NOTE: I'll be without internet connectivity the next several days, so here are Monday's and Tuesday's chapters. Next chapter will be Wednesday.

Greesha appeared as a white essence, semi translucent. She did not look pleased to be here.

“You’re like a cockroach, Cirayus. I see you survived the Ash,” Greesha said, her thin lips taut. Her voice trembled for a quick instant, and she scratched her neck.

She’d never been one to show her emotions, but having known the woman for centuries, Cirayus had become quite proficient at reading her tells.

She’s happy. Relieved.

“And the boy?” she asked sharply.

“Alive and well. And about to return to right all the wrongs we’ve wrought.”

This time, Greesha’s brows raised in genuine surprise.

She exhaled deeply, as if shedding a heavy burden. “I see.”

Kamesh offered Cirayus a ceremonial dagger. “You know what needs to be done.”

“What good will killing Greesha do?” Cirayus asked, refusing the dagger.

“This abomination has the blood of an entire clan on her hands. Yet did she die like the rest of us? No. She lives in comfort while we perished.”

Cirayus looked to his wife, who nodded. “Kamesh is right, Cirayus,” Kiyara said, locking eyes with Cirayus. “Had Greesha not divulged her prophecy to Maion and Shari, Sarvaak would have been born normal. There would have been no war between the Chitran and the Garga.”

And I would still be alive, her expression said. More than anyone else present, it was her words that cut through Cirayus the most. He’d treasured her. They’d fought together. They’d loved together. She’d been his other half in nearly all aspects of life.

As old as Cirayus was, until he'd met her, he’d been convinced he’d never find that again. He valued her companionship more than most things in the world.

Most, but not all.

“I cannot. You know this. Killing Greesha will not bring you back to life.”

“No, but it will allow us to move on,” Kiyara replied.

Cirayus paused. “Is this true?” he asked Kamesh. “Are you unable to rejoin the cycle?”

“Kill her, and we will be free,” the elder said. “Absolve yourself of your sins!”

“Greesha?” Cirayus asked. “You have always had stronger command of these matters than I. Do their words ring true? Does this make sense?”

“‘Does it make sense?’ he asks! I was happily sleeping in my cot when my soul was rudely—and rather painfully—snatched away to this place. Only in prophecies does such a thing occur, and I assure you, this is no prophecy. So, no. No, it does not make sense, Cirayus.”

Cirayus nearly chuckled despite the situation. This was Greesha, alright. Despite what must have been grueling years, living under the Chitrans’ thumb, she hadn’t lost her fire.

“What I can tell you,” Greesha said, pointing at Kamesh, “is that you have no knowledge of the workings of death and rebirth. Rejoin the cycle of incarnation? Nobody knows what comes after! Least of all lost souls like yourselves. I’m of a mind to believe you’re not even real.”

“How dare—”

“How dare you!” Greesha snapped, spitting at Kamesh’s feet. “What sin has Cirayus committed? The sin of dissuading you all to fight on behalf of the Garga? If I recall, it was you lot who pointlessly threw your lives away. Don’t blame him for your inadequacies. I swear, it disgusts me to see you all like this. Have you no shame?”

“Kill her!” Kamesh roared.

Cirayus crossed his four arms. “No.”

“You would deny us our final wish, father?” Satish said, his face full of anguish.

Cirayus shook his head. “I will. For this is not your wish, Satish. I raised you better than this. My son would never behave this way.”

Satish scowled. “Then it seems you do not know me at all.”

Greesha cleared her throat. “As much as I’d like to agree, we cannot be sure of that, Cirayus. We are not here. This place is a fabrication. But their souls? Less certain.”

Cirayus’ expression darkened. “You mean to tell me that these… ghosts are real?”

Greesha shook her head. “I suspect that whatever entity has brought us here also fabricated their forms. Perhaps even their mannerisms. But their souls—the source of their energy—there is a quality to it that I cannot place. At the very least, we should not dismiss them as mere illusions.”

“Enough of this!” Kamesh roared.

“If you will not kill Greesha, then we will have you pay for your sins. With your life.” Kiyara was the one who said it. Her melodic voice that had been filled with happiness, now called for his death.

Their daggers descended. With Giant Hide active, Cirayus ignored them. Their attacks lacked Chakra—even without his bloodline art, there was nothing they could do to him.

The daggers plunged into Cirayus’ neck, his chest, his back.

He barely felt the pathetically weak attacks.

“You cannot harm me—!?”

The daggers had done no damage. And yet, milky white essence bled from where they’d struck.

A wave of weakness passed over Cirayus. The white essence entered all three of his kin. Their gruesome burns healed before his very eyes.

What in the Realms?

Cirayus frowned. Both Foundation and Shield chakras were open, protecting him from attacks that targeted the soul. At least, they should have.

“Cirayus!” Greesha shouted.

Is that worry in that old bat’s voice?

They struck again. But there was no need to move. Balancer of Scales flattened the three against the ground. Kamesh’s jaw struck the hard road, and he immediately lost consciousness.

Satish endured the pain in silence as he’d been trained, but Kiyara cried out when her body collided with the ground. It took every grain of fortitude Cirayus had not to falter seeing his family in such a sorry state.

“You! Must! Pay the price!” Kiyara grunted against the pressure of ten times her weight. “With your soul.”

“My soul, is it?” Cirayus asked, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Have you devised a new weapon that bypasses my Chakra defense? Or is this perhaps something else entirely?”

Greesha shrugged. “The gods possessed nothing like this. Besides, I am not truly here. Neither are you. Samar Patag burned sixteen years ago. No fire lasts this long.”

“I see,” Cirayus said. “There is much I wish to discuss with you, but first, I must end this.”

“End this?” Satish said. “You would harm us? Your own family?”

Cirayus paused. If what Greesha said was true, then these may very well be the souls of his beloved family.

Still, they’d been twisted. These were not the same people Cirayus once knew, and he couldn’t bring himself to believe they had changed so much after death.

“You are our protector. Not our executioner!”

For Satish, Cirayus had multiplied his weight thirty-fold. Even then, his son did an admirable job resisting it. He’d just risen to his knees when Cirayus doubled his weight again, sending the demon back down to the ground.

“Will you not… pay for your sins?” Satish asked.

“My list of sins is nearly endless, son. I learned long ago that to live is to err, and the longer one lives, the more burdens they bear. I have always lived a principled life, yet I have made many, many mistakes along the way. If taking my life could undo all the wrongs I’ve wrought, I would give it gladly. But I cannot. Not yet. I cannot die here. Not to twisted manifestations of those I loved. And not until the Akh Nara has fulfilled his destiny.”

“That boy! Is he more important than all of us?” Kiyara shrieked.

Despite the knot that wrenched his chest, Cirayus’ response was immediate.

“Yes! That boy will be the savior of our people. Not you, not Satish, not even I can be weighed on the same scale. He is the most precious existence in all the Demon Realm.”

His family gave no response. Their silence said everything.

“I shall pay for my mistakes,” Cirayus said. “I have been paying them by carrying the weight of each mistake on my shoulders. Striving to improve myself, that I might do better. I’m afraid I can do little to ease your burden, my kin. I can only give you peace. If that means I have to personally deliver you to the cycle, then this is the burden I shall bear.”

Cirayus increased Balancer of Scales to a hundredfold, concentrating all of that pressure on their necks. All three were dead before they’d realized it. Before they could feel any pain.

It was all Cirayus could do for them now.

Their bodies crumbled away, leaving milky white ghosts behind.

They floated to Cirayus.

“Move, you dolt!” Greesha shouted. “Do not allow them to touch you!”

Cirayus regarded each in turn.

“There is no need.”

All three placed their hands upon Cirayus, but his soul was not sucked away.

‘You were a protector, a teacher, and a father to me. No son could ask for more.’

“Satish,” Cirayus whispered, surprised to hear such genuine words out of the mouth that had only just cursed him.

‘Live, for our sake, oh great warrior. For your role in this is not yet over.’

“Kamesh.”

‘Know that I love you. Now, and always.’

Tears fell down Cirayus’ face like a waterfall, and he sank to his knees. “Kiyara… I wish I could have done more.” His voice trembled and broke. “Oh! How I wish…”

‘Hush now.’ Her voice was gentle, yet strong. Full of confidence. ‘We depart this realm without regret, knowing we stood true to ourselves until the end. Be it battlefield or bed. May Fate reunite us again, my dearest Cirayus.’

The ghosts faded, and Cirayus heard their sighs of relief.

“May we meet again,” he whispered, still on his knees. “On the calm shores of destiny.”

Minutes later, a bony hand touched his shoulder.

“You chose the hard path, Cirayus. Know that it was the correct one.”

“How fares Samar Patag?” Cirayus asked, standing to his full height. “How fare the Garga?”

“Surviving. That is all that matters.”

Greesha fell silent, and Cirayus knew what she was thinking.

“He is capable,” Cirayus said. “He will be the one to unite the clans.”

Assuming he is safe, Cirayus didn’t add. Thoughts of the boy had plagued him the moment he’d been snatched away. If any harm had come to him, gods or not, nobody would be safe from his wrath.

“They said the same about Ekanai. We all know how that turned out.”

“Vir—Sarvaak—is different. He will not shirk the mantle.”

Greesha regarded her hand, which had faded away. Like the others, she, too, was disappearing.

“For all our sakes, let us pray you are right,” Greesha said, her white form fading. “Alas, it seems our time together draws to an end. Too soon, as usual.”

Cirayus chuckled. “You haven’t changed one bit.”

Life under Chitran rule could not have been easy for the Gargan seer. In fact, he was surprised to find her alive at all.

“Ha! As if a little war could bend me. I’ll be expecting you soon, then?”

Cirayus nodded.

The old lady sighed deeply. “It seems preparations are to be made.”

Though, despite her words, Cirayus saw the barest hint of a smile buried under her face.

She had hope again. They all did.