39 Days Until Memor Becomes a Learner.
Year 953 of Refinery Era Day 174
In Memor home, where the curtails were drawn and the room was only illuminated by a single candle-lantern set on the table, next to it an open book with a brown leather cover, it was a book on the legends from before the fall.
Memor stood in front of his wardrobe buttoning up his only decent clothing, a navy blue linen shirt with dark dress pants. His mind pondered on what he had just read, he hadn't slept the night before, reading the book laid on his table, especially a single section.
This book… Legends Before The Fall, it was interesting, though I have read it many times, maybe it was because I was just skimming through it that I lost my reasoning while reading.
The section that spoke of the god they believed and what shall become of the dead is truly a dream and a nightmare. How god even welcomes the sinner of our world despite their transgressions. Just imagining it is cruel, a killer and its victim drink the same water, living in the same place after their passing.
It might not be true, after all, these texts have been preserved from before the fall.
Memor continued dressing himself, his mind whirling with ideas he had read the night before. As soon as he was done, Memor smothered the light and closed his book, placing it with the rest in a corner.
Leaving his home, Memor walked past his neighborhood of houses surrounding the well and into the inner parts of the village. He went west, going past the library straight down its road, where a building similar to it stood. It was much larger than the library, holding up a marble spire on its peak. At the gates of the church of Mnemosyne an emblem shaped in a circle framed its black iron gates. Inside the circle were a pair of hands cupping an open book. The walls of the church consisted of marble pillars connected to blue wooden walls framing a tinted window.
Memor went through the gate, going around the church to its back side where a crowd of people dressed in blue had gathered surrounding an empty grave. He walked into the crowd, standing just a meter away from the empty grave where Elena's body shall rest, beside him wearing a wrap gown in midnight-blue,Calypso with her sharp eyes and current gloom making no one wish to stay next to her despite her beauty.
They stood staring at the empty pit, all the noise in the surroundings seemed to fade and just then she spoke, her voice was almost crackling."What did she look like the last time you saw her?".
Memor, his eyes still on the hole answered."She was…"He sighed,"I didn't know her too well, the last time I saw her, she seemed tired."
Calypso didn't react, pausing for a long while."Elena was like a sister to me. When I first joined Salvos, she joked that I would grow up to be her twin in a few years, but my eyes have grown to be the complete opposite of hers."
Memor was silent, he had nothing to say, nor could he say anything as in his heart, despite being under the seal of the Bayel flower, it seeped in a faint guilt.
In the silence, Calypso raised her head and shifted her sharp gaze to beyond the grave, Memor followed. The rest of the Salvos, Theano, Iro, and Haris, fitted in navy-blue suits stood on the opposite end of the grave, nestled in between them a little girl with straight brown hair just like Elena's, and had a red scarf in her hands, gripping it so tightly the redness of skin had shown through the back of her hands. Her eyes were large and round, but now dropped so low one would suspect they were closed.
"So young…she is only 14."Calypso closed her eyes, trying to stop her tears from flowing out."Natalie doesn't have anyone left, her parents were gone before she could even remember them…now."She let out a moan, wiping her eyes of the tears the slipped through.
"Do you plan on taking care of her?" Memor said with a straight face.
"No, it's too cruel, not when her sister just left her."
How unfortunate. Calypso and Elena looked way too similar for Natalie to live with, it might even deepen the scars she had just gained.
Memor and Calypso didn't talk after that, her sharp distant eyes have gone to a place Memor couldn't see. He observed the people walking around, waiting for the priest and the body to be brought. Most were here out of courtesy and the rest were like Calypso.
She's here too, huh? In the crowd, Memor spotted the distinct flowy red hair of Alara peeking past a group of people, standing next to her was Demi who had this softness in her eyes when looking at Alara.
Luni roamed around, bowing at the elders that have come to see Elena one last time, he wore an expression befitting of a funeral.
A few minutes passed, the Priest Athan came sporting a navy cassock and holding a necklace in his hand with the church's emblem. Behind him followed four individuals in clergymen outfits carrying a glossy mahogany colored casket over their shoulders.
The crowd of blue moved aside, as the group carried the coffin next to the grave, then they slowly lowered it down into the pit with ropes.
Standing at the forefront of the casket, Athan clasped his hands together and started to pray, everyone at the funeral followed suit.
Then the Priest Athan spoke."Today we come here for the departure of Elena. Her soul will be taken to the kingdom of Mnemosyne, the mind of Mnemosyne, the memory of Mnemosyne. She will be liberated from our mortal realm and into the divine soul of Mnemosyne…Blessing to Elena."
"Blessing to Elena."Everyone at the funeral murmured under their breath. Athan held out both his hands and in the next moment a set of shovels appeared in them before being taken by the people who carried the casket, then another set appeared and they were taken as well.
The people stared in silence as dirt started to cover the coffin. Slowly but surely, what was visible of her resting place was gone as well.
After the funeral, Memor walked to the lake where he and Luni used to hangout, surprisingly there was an extra guest, Alara sat on the grass staring at the lake in her blue sundress.
She is here, huh? Should I scare her? No, let me try something that will work. Memor walked to the back of Alara, tucking both his hands behind him and said."If it isn't Lady Alara, oh the pleasure I get from meeting you again."
"Oh! Tsk you keep surprising me." She cleared her throat then made her best lady impression she could muster."Oh Mr Memor, how lovely it is to see you again."
They chuckled as Memor sat down next to her, then they grew quiet, it wasn't the best time to mess around as they had just been at a funeral and from how she didn't remark about Memor's clothing, she must've noticed him as well earlier in the day.
Memor and Alara watched in silence as the algae in the lake bubbled around, the insects buzzing, and the clouds drift gradually obstructing the sun.
In the shade of the cloud, Alara asked in a detached voice."Do you believe we will all end up in Whirl when we die?"
Agh, what was Whirl again? Memor pondered for a bit before surrendering,"I'm sorry, I can't seem to remember what Whirl was?"
She gave him a look, as if she had expected such a question, before staring back at the lake."Whirl exists in the middle of the four regions, when a person passes, one can see their soul head in the direction of Whirl. Of course, you can't see it since you're not a Learner…It's said that Mnemosyne is there as well, waiting for the rest of us to join him."
Memor hummed in understanding, then said."I believe death is a liberty."
Alara looked at him weirdly, raising an eyebrow and snortling as she said."I didn't take you for that kind of person."
"The more you know."Memor replied with a smile.
She smiled back and turned to the lake, pausing for a bit she said."I wish to visit Whirl someday."
"Like die?"
Alara turned to him, laughing."No haha, It's a real place, they say it's the largest thing one would ever see in your life. A dark tornado encompassing the area of a continent."
Memor smiled and nodded, as they both had nothing else to say they watched the algae bubble.