Nympha Postmortem

21: their Blood calls out to me.

 "It is with great regret that we depart from the ones we love..." Crassus' voice echoed in my ears, and I felt my temples hurting terribly.

The pack, fewer than I could recall, were all gathered on the banks of the lake. Mourning faces, and cries raised to the sky along with the flames. The bodies of the deceased burned on the ceremonial altar.

Each family who had a member passed away, took a handful of the ashes, and placed them on baskets made of alder leaves, along with burning candles.

Placing the baskets onto Malum, the families whispered their departing last words.

"Omnes una manet nox," they all chanted as one.

I was told that they didn't fear death. One gets to be with gods after they die. Or so they were told.

"Death is something we don't fear for ourselves." Crassus' continued, "But for the ones we leave behind. The dead will wait to be reunited with the rest, while us-"

I was finally released to be on my own soon after I woke up. But Crassus' words still stuck with me ever since that day. Was I really responsible for all these people's sorrows?

Annia's voice ringed in my ears, as my feet slowly dragged through the damp grass. The sound echoed through the trees, and whispered in the wind.

♪ Sa o Roma, babo, e bakren činen ♪

♪ A me, čoro, dural bešava ♪

♪ A, odo, daje, amaro dive ♪

♪ Amaro dive, Ederlezi ♪

♪ E devado babo, babo, amenđe bakro ♪

♪ Sa o Roma, babo, e bakren činen ♪

As the ashes from the bodies raised to the sky, they continued to send the baskets off on the lake, singing along words I couldn't understand. They broke bread together and ate as their dirge reached the gates of the sky.

Trails of tears dragged down Kore's scrawny face. The flame's reflected in his eyes as he raised his gaze my way. He frowned at me, his bottom lip trembling, and he dug his teeth against it, muffling his sobs. He placed his basket onto Malum's rippling waves, which slowly floated further away, until it completely caught on fire.

"Murderer," I heard, and a cold chill ran down my back as I turned around to see who said that. I looked at the ground beneath me, and it felt like I was becoming one with it. The bugs that crawled in the dirt, I felt them on my skin.

Rex which stood behind the crowd, got up and tried to make his way to the front to where his older brother was.

He wouldn't leave my side, no matter what, which seemed odd, as the last few times I recalled him running away from me as if I were the plague. But not those days. He was there, since I opened my eyes, and till I laid down to sleep.

He looked back at me a few times, and then to the front again, and tried to push aside those in his way. I felt my heart racing in my chest, and uneasiness weighted down on me as I saw him walking away.

"Don't..." my voice cracked, and he turned around surprised. "Please don't go. Don't leave me."

He gazed down, his features softening, and sighing, he turned around and took a seat next to me. He broke the bread in his hand in half, and handed me one of the parts.

"I know what they are saying," I told him, and crumbled the bread in my grasp. "I murdered someone's father, someone's child, someone's lover."

He scrambled in the dirt with a stick he found, and biting out of the bread, he stopped to look at me.

"Don't mind them."

"I shouldn't be here."

He frowned.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "That what Crassus said is right. What I did-"

"Sometimes, things are better left unsaid." He threw the stick in the fire, and turned my way. "That wasn't you."

"You don't know that." I took a bite out of the bread, the crunchy taste melting in my mouth. "You don't know me, Rex."

His eyebrows lowered, and he clenched his jawline as he turned to look away. The flames reflected playfully on his pale skin, and he ran a hand through his white locks, pinning them backward.

"Why is she still here?"

Rex threw the crowd a dirty glare.

"I am afraid." I confessed, as we locked eyes. "I am terrified. More so of myself than of anything else."

Gore images flashed in my mind, and a tremble took control of my body.

I grabbed a hold of Rex's hand as tightly as I could, while treacherous whispers filled my ears and poisoned my thoughts.

"I am right here," he said, and placed my hand in his.

"Their blood calls out to me from the earth beneath my feet." I ultimately confessed, tears gathering in my eyes. "The dead, Rex, I can hear their cries. Their fear clings onto my skin." 

A/N: The song above, is the mourning dirge which Annia and the rest are singing. Give it a listen, and let me know your thoughts on it! You may also find the rest of the songs in the full official album in the second chapter of this book 'Malum Concerto'.