A Dragon Lament

Ryel knelt in the shrine he had set up to his fallen sons, daughters, friends, and family. Small statues lined the walls along with paintings and sculptures. They were of his those that had fallen. Their bodies no longer carrying their essences. A small altar at the head of the room holding two rather large goblets that flash the names of the fallen was hidden behind the body of a young man. The man looked very much like Ryel, the silver hair, crimson eyes, dark skin, all the same. Cyel's body lay unmoving as his father knelt there. The ghosts began to lift their lament. Their voices in perfect harmony, spreading to other ghosts. Though not many can see the ghosts, their sorrow was felt by those closest to Cyel, his his father, and Eleni. The ghosts lifted their voices, giving words to the good deeds that the young man had done. A lone living voice was lifted in harmony with the ghosts, Ryel's voice was calm and even, his emotions flooding into the lament. Eleni quickly and quietly entered the shrine, her steps faltering as she saw Cyel's body. She stopped with a small gasp, raising her hands to her face as if they could stop the tears from coming. Ryel continued to lift his voice in the harmony, the statues, paintings and sculptures coming to life and singing along. His voice finally falters as his head drops, tears creeping down his cheeks. Eleni covered her mouth with her hand as a sob erupted from her. She walked slowly over to the altar and fell to her knees, staring at the body, her eyes momentarily free of tears. Ryel noticed Eleni and lifted his head, watching her. He spoke in a small broken whisper, "He's gone." Eleni chewed on her lips a moment, reaching out to touch Cyel, then pulling back, staring at his silent form. Without warning, she began shaking and sobs poured forth from her. She bowed her head and cried. Eleni managed to speak one word through her sobs, "How?" Ryel walked on his knees to Eleni, and slowly wrapped his arms around her. Ryel spoke a single word, "Fate." Eleni spoke loudly, her words echoing in the shrine, "Fuck fate. Fate is nothing." Ryel sat and folded his legs in front of him, lifting Eleni into his lap. She leaned into him, crying, as he rocked her back and forth, the lament continuing around them. Eleni spoke softly again, "Fate." Ryel responded with a whisper, "It was his time." Eleni mumbled something, as if she were trying to say more, angrily, but her words were overtaken by her sobs. She buried her face in Ryel's chest and sobbed uncontrollably as she wrapped her little arms around him and held on tight. Ryel rocked back and forth with her in his lap as he again began to sing along with the ghosts. Eleni hushed slightly, her sobs slowing after a while as she listened to the song. As her crying stopped, she closed her eyes, and with a soft, broken voice, joined in. 

Late night thinking

Ryel lay alone in his bed, his arm reaching for someone who wasn't there. His subconscious tended to reach out at night and wake him up when it didn't find anyone there. There was a chance that it would stop, he hoped, in the meantime, the empty bed had awakened him again. He sat up, beginning to think of things, he set his feet on the floor. He reached for the leggings at the bottom of the bed and pulled them on, walking out the door to his bedroom and taking an immediate left. He placed his hand on the bare skin of his chest, over his heart, he gently tapped the door open. He looked into a long forgotten room, a child's room, strewn with toys, drawings, mock weapons and of course, clothing. It had been a long time since the boy had occupied the room, long since grown up and on his own. Ryel stared into the empty room, knowing that no matter how hard he stared his son wouldn't be there, but a father had to try. He finally turned from the doorway and walked to the one immediately across from his own room. He gently tapped that door open as well, revealing a no less messy, yet more recently lived in room. His eyes crossed the floor to the bed, seeing the silver hair that told him his little Cael was in his bed. He softly walked across the floor avoiding toys and other things as he went. He knelt by the boy's bed and gently touched his forehead. Ryel watched Cael sleeping, his mind thinking. "It's been a hard life for both of you, you and Cyel had a lot more in common than you ever thought. Neither of you knew your mothers, but I hope you'll have the chances Cyel didn't. The chance to be a father, and maybe a grandfather some day." Ryel paused in his thoughts, his mind shifting its thoughts. "He was a quiet boy, didn't cry too much, always wanted to be a Crimson Guardian. Cyel was a good man, I'm very proud of how he turned out. I just wish he had been able to know a longer life." He shifted slightly on his knees, his body showing a few bruises and scrapes. His mind began again, "Tonight, I'm feeling my age. There's forces at work you don't know about, but you are safe, none of it can touch you, I won't let it. You and your love of magic and weapons, you would have thought it spectacular and on some level I suppose it was." Ryel again touched his son's forehead. "Your father, the one who doesn't get mad, who doesn't raise his sword.. fighting against a demon at Market Square. I wouldn't have believed it either my boy. I had not raised my sword to fight another being since I had to raise it against.. but that is a long forgotten story, filled with pain and anguish." Ryel pulled the blankets up around his eight year old son and tucked them in around him. He looked on silently for a moment, his eyes drifting to something hidden between the bed and the wall. The small glint of bronze catching his eye, he leaned over the bed and pulled it from its spot. The stuffed toy stared back at him with the same wonderment it had when he had first bought it. He remembered the night he had knocked so late at the door to the Church of Celestia and been let in to place it next to his sleeping Cyel in his crib. He set the stuffed Bronze Dragon next to his son's pillow. "It's yours now, Cael. Enjoy it." Ryel turned and walked out as quietly as he had walked in, leaving the door slightly ajar. He made his way back to his own bed and lay on top of the covers, still thinking.

A Dragon Lament (cont)

Ryel's voice quieted, along with the others as a small statue rose out of a large goblet on the altar and moved to one of the shelves. Eleni quietly wiped her face as she watched. Ryel kissed Eleni's forehead as the ghosts began their lament again. Eleni whispered, the words barely audible, "I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry..." Ryel whispered in Eleni's ear, "Shhhh... he knows you loved him." Eleni shook her head softly and rested against Ryel, closing her eyes as she listened to the song, lost in thought and memory. Ryel rocked back and forth, Cyel's body crumbling as he watched. Eleni wiped her face with her hands and wrapped her arms around her legs, curling into a ball on Ryel's lap, her soft voice whispering with the ghosts. Ryel lifted his voice with the ghosts again as he closed his eyes. The two sat there for a week, no food, no drink as the lament was lifted in their son's name. Ryel smiled to himself, knowing that Cyel would get to meet the woman who had given him life. Their souls meeting again in the cross over, he had many years yet before he got to see his many sons, daughters, friends, and family again. He was still needed here, his desire to follow them across stopped by a promise once made to the greatest friend he had ever known. But he wondered... would they be there waiting.. would they welcome him when it was his time.. The lack of sleep kept him thinking, the past, his son, watching him grow.. hearing his first word.. the word echoed in his mind. He saw the clearing then, and his best friend. As Cyel climbed on Tenchi and hugged him he spoke, his voice small and with the sweet sound of innocence, "Tentree." The memory walked away as the lament entered his mind again. He watched his boy grow again and he looked down at the little halfing in his lap. Ryel thought, trying to figure it out, he should be dead by now. The curse that went with seeing the ghosts should have shattered his heart by now, sending him to be a ghost until it healed and he could return to his body. He should have felt that pain by now. It should have happened.. and during the week he waited, waited for it to come, but it escaped him. He realized with his brother's ghost crossing over that the shattered hearts would come no more.. and so now he had to deal with his son's death in a way that he had not had much recent experience in. He must live through it. Ryel tightened his arms around Eleni. He lifted a silent prayer to Kossuth, in the final moments of the lament. The ghosts stopped singing, the voices trailing off as the end of the lament echoed in the shrine, around the realm, and in the ears of all those that had ever held the three of them in their hearts. Another child was gone.