Shadow Of The End

It took a moment for Lyn to calm down from the adrenaline rush, but upon seeing the Assassin escape...

She turned towards Priestly, looking down at his dead body, his hand still in his coat pocket. She felt her throat tighten a bit, unable to say anything.

Lyn watched Eiria search his pockets, but she was still in shock.

Steven shook his head and walked to the other side of the room. He ran a hand through his wavy blonde hair in anxiety.

In Priestly's pocket was a small, blue stone with a gold ring around it. Tied to it was a note, with an adress on it.

Numb, Lyn had turned away from Priestly's body and walked off to the window, staring out of it blankly. What was the point, now...? She had only realized it, too late, that Priestly was their only hope in solving this crisis. The "miracle" he spoke of that cured the King... It was just that. A miracle. A one time thing... There would be nothing to stop the rest of this.

She found her thoughts growing grim, dark, and morose. But for once... She didn't seem to care.

Eiria found the stone and turned it over in her hands, examining it. She stood up and glanced at Lyn and Steven before reading the note.

It simple had an adress on it for a house in Castle Town's plaza. Underneath, it read, If you find me dead, take this to the young man living in the house with the adress above. Time is of the essence. Godspeed.

-Charles Priestly

Eiria read the note out to the others. "It's not far," she said and crossed the room to the staircase. "We should go now."

Finally, Lyn found her voice. She turned away from the window and walked over to Priestly's body- but, ignoring the others, knelt down and scooped her arms under his body, lifting his lifeless corpse upwards.

She avoided the eye contact of the others, saying simply, her voice cold and devoid of emotion, "I will bury him. You go on ahead." She hesitated for a moment before turning towards the door.

"There is nothing left for me now, anyways."

Eiria stopped and looked back at her. "No offence, but carrying his body out of here is probably not the wisest thing to do. And we're not completely at a dead end, don't you want to know where this stone leads us?"

Lyn didn't even bat an eye, or turn to look at Eiria.

"I'll carry him out on Filly," she said simply, calmly, her voice still carrying seemingly no emotion. "You may follow your own path. As for me... I am going home."

She then walked out of the door and into the next room, leading her out of Priestly's house.

"I've tried to avoid death, but now I've just run into more of it..." Steven said as he looked at Priestly's dead body. "I'm eager to find this young man if it means an end to this madness."

He went to stand by Eiria, and then he turned around after hearing Lyn's words. "Home? Why go home at a time like this?"

Ignoring them, Lyn walked outside until she reached where her horse remained. Filly nickered, and calmly, Lyn lay Priestly's body over the horse's back. She covered it as best she could with a blanket that had been tied to the saddle, and, taking the reins of her horse, turned and began to walk back down the alleyway, alone and silent.

"She just gave up?" Steven asked as he put his hands up and watched as Lyn left. He looked back at Eiria. "I guess that means we are the ones to end this."

( If no one has any objections, I'm gonna time-skip to Lyn taking Priestly's body to her farm. She's going to bury him in the graveyard close by her farm. )

"For someone who has so much care, she loses hope too easily," Eiria said as she separated the note from the stone and held it over the flame of a nearby candle, letting the fire swallow the information. She had memorised the address, and thought it better to get rid of the note before it fell into the wrong hands. Clearly they had to watch their backs more closely from now on...

"I guess so," She said. She pocketed the stone and headed out of the scientist's house.

(Sure, go ahead)

Hours had passed, and after much effort, Lyn stood calmly, drenched in sweat and covered in dirt, over a freshly buried mound. She had done the best she could, digging grave on such short notice- but she had done it well, made it deep enough, and had covered it, finishing it off with a rough stone she had found among the rubble piles from nearby. She had carved all she could in the rock- his name.

She stood in silence as she stared at the grave- and her eyes drifted to the side, where a second grave lay not too far to the side. It held a headstone, and a mound- but she knew it was empty. It would always be empty. She closed her eyes, to hide- no, to cover- the pain.

"...I'm sorry about your friend." came a voice.

A man wearing a top hat and carrying a cane and seemingly appeared out of thin air right beside her.

Lyn glanced simply to the side at the man who appeared. She seemed to care little about his appearance, and looked away. She bent down and picked up the shovel nearby.

"Do not be," she answered, her voice cold and emotionless. "I hardly think he considered me his friend."

She walked then to the side- and, stopping beside the second grave, looked once at the name carved on the stone... And, turning back to the fresh, undisturbed earth before her, took a deep breath... and plunged the shovel into the dirt, once more beginning to dig.

The man observed her, and then walked to the opposite side of the grave to her. He took large strides, holding his can behind his back, and then he stood, feet together at the side of the grave.

"...and is this also a friend of yours?" he said.

Lyn was silent for a moment as she began to dig. However, as he indicated the grave already made, she paused for a moment, hesitating- before then saying as she resumed digging, "That is my father's grave."

She paused for a moment, looking down at the few holes she'd dug so far. "This... will be my mother's." She resumed digging.

"...well, I'm sorry to hear that. My deepest condolences, truely." the man said, bowing his head slightly. "Although, is it not a bit bleak to dig a grave in advance? Surely, you don't know quite when she will pass on."

Lyn only paused for a moment to catch her breath, resting slightly against the handle of the shovel. She still didn't look in the man's direction, her eyes still looking downcast, empty, at the hole before her.

"There is nothing left. In the end... there will be nothing left." Once more she dug the shovel into the dirt, continuing her task.

"Well, if you think like that, dear, and you've already lost." the man said. "Surely, there must be something you will strive for, something you want. There are plenty of things young women like you want. A nice boyfriend, a big house, larger breasts..."

He paused. "...do you want larger breasts? I can arrange that."

Lyn froze, stopping. She looked up, her eyes blazing with fury.

"You think this is a time to be making jokes?" she snarled. "The Corruption is only going to spread. Our last hope lies buried six feet underground, and many more will soon be joining him!" She slammed the shovel into the ground in front of her to illustrate her point.