Alexis saw the look in his cousin's eye. He had forgotten that Caelan came from a military family; he knew how important the burning of the bodies was to him. It was strange for him; the only thing he had noticed about the burning was the smell. There was no enlightenment for him, no fulfillment that was supposed to happen upon seeing the ashes return the Heavens. He had heard the stories after all; the spirits forced to walk the earth forever as their bodies rotted into the earth. They then joined the Underworld as their bodies did.
Alexis looked at the dying man and tried to calculate some kind of way to bring him peace without sacrificing himself and the rest of the people with him. He could come up with nothing; the Metal Men were moving too quickly to build any kind of flame. No materials, no sources, just them and the forest and beings that were coming upon them quickly. Alexis had no answers; he didn't know what to tell his cousin, what to tell these people; he was no leader, he had always worked alone, his actions were only felt by him. Now his actions would be felt by the entire group he had assembled around him.
He turned to his cousin, the one he knew would hate him for this decision, "I don't know what else we can do for him; look at him, he's too weak to walk, too slow for us to carry and too close to death, in my opinion, to be able to save, even if your mother looked at him," he took a deep breath, the hardest part was about to come, "The only thing we can do, is grant him a small mercy and kill him now," this last bit came as a whisper in Cael's ear, "Its that or the Metal Men kill him and I'm sure that it won't be pretty, we need to do something for him; I do agree, but we cannot burn him; I'm sorry Cousin."
The Metal Men moved through the Forest, their arrival still known as long as the children remained alive in the Ruins; their cover blown, they would not have the element of surprise that the numbers they had, in this case too few, would need in order to mount a successful attack; as long as the children survived, these two Metal Men were committing their own suicide by being here. They stepped towards the carcass of the small girl that had fallen to them; a slight hiss came from one of the Men and the being leaned over the small body, feeling for some sign of life. When none could be found, the Man stood up straighter and sighted up the device in his hands once again. He searched for the other boy that had run when they came upon the two of them; another hiss escaped his armour and the other being turned toward them, an exchange of muffled sounds and hisses continued as the two decided what to do.
One of them gestured towards the obvious disturbance in foliage and moved to follow it, while the other shook his head in protest; the argument of whether it was safe or not, remained too vague for him to make a decision about. Instead, he removed something from his bag; a small piece of technology from before the Ascension. Flicking a small switch a crackling began, the feedback loud and intrusive to the actual message being sent. He pressed a small button and the static cleared for a moment and a muffled voice echoed through the ancient machine, "What do you want?"
One of the Men grasped the Mask that shrouded his head and lifted. With a squeaking protest and a burst of compressed air, it left the attachment to his body and the being took a breath of native air, "Do we continue to press towards those who saw us? Or do we retreat; I do not wish to calculate the risk associated with this."
The voice on the other side of the speaker sounded annoyed and snapped back, "If they have seen you and already escaped, they are beyond our reach; return to the South; we cannot risk mounting an attack on this population, not with our element of surprise ruined," the feed immediately went dead and the man returned the device to his bag.
Coughing once and noticing the thin layer of blood on his hand, he immediately adjusted the mask back onto his face, feeling the comfortable feeling of the pure stale air that moved through his system once again. The two beings nodded in understanding and turned on their heels moving back towards the South in a silent retreat. However before they left the scene completely; one of the two took a silver metal piece out of one of his pockets. He clicked it a few times until he saw a bright yellow flame appear from its mouth. Setting it to the dry dead grass that surrounded the Ruins, he watched as the fire danced in front of him. Nodding in silent approval he turned around once again and vanished into the corpse of the structure in front of him.
The readings had begun, the grounds in front of the Cog were crowded with thousands who had come to hear the voice of the Elder Rickard. As he droned on about the new threat of the Metal Men and what it meant for the Village, the parts they all played and the precautions that had to be taken, Alexis's mother saw Caelan's parents and moved towards them. In a hushed voice, as not to draw attention to the conversation they were having, she whispered to her sister, "Have you seen Alexis? He was gone this morning when I woke up and I haven't seen him all morning? Is he at your house with Caelan?"
Alexis looked at the dying man and tried to calculate some kind of way to bring him peace without sacrificing himself and the rest of the people with him. He could come up with nothing; the Metal Men were moving too quickly to build any kind of flame. No materials, no sources, just them and the forest and beings that were coming upon them quickly. Alexis had no answers; he didn't know what to tell his cousin, what to tell these people; he was no leader, he had always worked alone, his actions were only felt by him. Now his actions would be felt by the entire group he had assembled around him.
He turned to his cousin, the one he knew would hate him for this decision, "I don't know what else we can do for him; look at him, he's too weak to walk, too slow for us to carry and too close to death, in my opinion, to be able to save, even if your mother looked at him," he took a deep breath, the hardest part was about to come, "The only thing we can do, is grant him a small mercy and kill him now," this last bit came as a whisper in Cael's ear, "Its that or the Metal Men kill him and I'm sure that it won't be pretty, we need to do something for him; I do agree, but we cannot burn him; I'm sorry Cousin."
The Metal Men moved through the Forest, their arrival still known as long as the children remained alive in the Ruins; their cover blown, they would not have the element of surprise that the numbers they had, in this case too few, would need in order to mount a successful attack; as long as the children survived, these two Metal Men were committing their own suicide by being here. They stepped towards the carcass of the small girl that had fallen to them; a slight hiss came from one of the Men and the being leaned over the small body, feeling for some sign of life. When none could be found, the Man stood up straighter and sighted up the device in his hands once again. He searched for the other boy that had run when they came upon the two of them; another hiss escaped his armour and the other being turned toward them, an exchange of muffled sounds and hisses continued as the two decided what to do.
One of them gestured towards the obvious disturbance in foliage and moved to follow it, while the other shook his head in protest; the argument of whether it was safe or not, remained too vague for him to make a decision about. Instead, he removed something from his bag; a small piece of technology from before the Ascension. Flicking a small switch a crackling began, the feedback loud and intrusive to the actual message being sent. He pressed a small button and the static cleared for a moment and a muffled voice echoed through the ancient machine, "What do you want?"
One of the Men grasped the Mask that shrouded his head and lifted. With a squeaking protest and a burst of compressed air, it left the attachment to his body and the being took a breath of native air, "Do we continue to press towards those who saw us? Or do we retreat; I do not wish to calculate the risk associated with this."
The voice on the other side of the speaker sounded annoyed and snapped back, "If they have seen you and already escaped, they are beyond our reach; return to the South; we cannot risk mounting an attack on this population, not with our element of surprise ruined," the feed immediately went dead and the man returned the device to his bag.
Coughing once and noticing the thin layer of blood on his hand, he immediately adjusted the mask back onto his face, feeling the comfortable feeling of the pure stale air that moved through his system once again. The two beings nodded in understanding and turned on their heels moving back towards the South in a silent retreat. However before they left the scene completely; one of the two took a silver metal piece out of one of his pockets. He clicked it a few times until he saw a bright yellow flame appear from its mouth. Setting it to the dry dead grass that surrounded the Ruins, he watched as the fire danced in front of him. Nodding in silent approval he turned around once again and vanished into the corpse of the structure in front of him.
The readings had begun, the grounds in front of the Cog were crowded with thousands who had come to hear the voice of the Elder Rickard. As he droned on about the new threat of the Metal Men and what it meant for the Village, the parts they all played and the precautions that had to be taken, Alexis's mother saw Caelan's parents and moved towards them. In a hushed voice, as not to draw attention to the conversation they were having, she whispered to her sister, "Have you seen Alexis? He was gone this morning when I woke up and I haven't seen him all morning? Is he at your house with Caelan?"
Just so you all know I'm going to be gone for a week on Vacation; I don't know how good my internet will be so just post as needed, and if you have questions PM them and hopefully I can get back to you. Regardless its a long trip so I'll have time to write more Ruins things, so expect an update when I return, that of course meaning you'll have to post for now.
