Tread Lightly

The task is set, and so are the people sent to complete it. Virgil and I must go westward once more and find a plant that can be used by Dr. Heath to create a medicine to keep the pale lady from taking Primrose. Or so Virgil and I thought. We take a quick moment to discuss how we will skirt between the demon and his controlled monsters while looking for the Mandaamin. Our talks on completing the mission set for us begin as we leave Vernon in the medical building to rest, the man having a temporary room.

"So, should we share the Nightmare to move fast? I bet the beast is the best way to quickly travel in small numbers."

"Yeah, that's likely the best way to go about it. If we are ever caught, I can distract the monsters and Mask my way back to you."

"Sounds like a plan. Wait… Do we know where it's at, Virgil? Last I saw, it ran away after the other was killed."

"Oh shit. You're right. We're gonna have to go looking for it then, and quick. Can't let it get away or for someone to kill it. It's only a 1st Sigil, after all."

But while we walk out of the building, just as our feet touch the rickety wood that takes us outside, pairs of footsteps follow us. I glance backward and see Earl awkwardly walking behind us alongside Dakota, who is cheerfully stepping just behind me.

His face looks like he wants to say something but doesn't know if it's appropriate. Virgil takes one glance between the two of us before sighing and shaking his head.

"You two work out whatever you need to. I'll go find the Nightmare, Wyatt. Meet back here in, say… two hours? I think I can find the damned giant horse by then and find out a bit about the Mandaamin by then."

I nod and agree with the man. In return, he spins and pulls up his hoodie as he walks out beneath the almost set sun. Even now, the man still has to be careful of getting burnt. He seems to have always preferred the night but surely never feeling the sun couldn't be good for you. I just hope he can bear with it.

I shake my head at the thought of his inner demons. We all have our own. We can fight the external together, but the internal is different. They are grating, devouring, and exhausting to hold at bay.

Earl speaks up once Virgil leaves and puts his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Wyatt. Uhh. Do you want to come to Leonard's funeral? It's about to start soon. Nothing big, just Elizabeth, Esther, and I. I think we'd all like it if you came. I know you got a lot of stuff going on, so it's okay if you can't."

My eyes shift to the rapidly fading silhouette nearby, and I turn back to the young man before me. He has to be hallucinating if he thinks I won't make it to Leonard's funeral. We might not have known each other for very long or had even been very close, but a friend is a friend.

I put my hand on his shoulder and vehemently bob my head in agreement.

"Of course, I will. We were friends, Earl. Still are. Death only separates us; it does not sever the bonds. Lead me. I got a few hours to spare before I need to leave."

Earl turns and moves with a pep in his step, but he stops after just a few minutes and asks me another question with an unneeded apology. He puts his head down as he speaks; I think I even hear a slight sniffle.

"Do you hate me, Wyatt? For leaving you and for ratting you out to Johnny? Again, I'm sorry for all that. I really am. If I hadn't, then none of this would be happening. We'd probably be even further east and away from the break."

This is really eating at him, huh? He doesn't understand who I am, not honestly if he thinks I hate him. Not even when I was utterly alone did I hate him or anyone else in our group. I'm the one who lied first, after all. I think the spectacled man is sensitive and feels guilty after seeing the fight I participated in. That and he doesn't want to fight against the break. Doesn't want any of us to get hurt.

I try to reassure him that I don't hate him or harbor any sort of grudge. There are too few people worth protecting to hold a grudge like this. I pat him on the shoulder and walk by him as I talk, pulling him with me.

"No, I don't hate you, Earl. None of you guys. If you hadn't told Johnny about me, then not only would I not be a 3rd Sigil, but I also wouldn't have met Virgil and Vernon. Nor would I have found a cause to fight for. A decent one, nonetheless. I would have only grown to hate myself if I had ever joined the Hunters and been forced to do things against my will.

So, in fact, I can only thank you for what you did, Earl. Don't feel so guilty, and get on your rocker. Stop acting so illogical, man. That's not who you are."

I can hear an audible sigh of relief come from Earl's nose at what I said, the man having a weight pulled off his shoulders. He catches back up to me and thanks me.

"Thank you for forgiving me. I need to be less believing in the world around me and more trusting of myself. Come, let's go to the funeral. I'm sure the ladies are waiting."

After our discussion, we walk north through part of the town until we reach the edge, where a sprawling graveyard resides behind a metal gate of black iron. At least two to three-hundred headstones remain lodged in the dirt before me, probably twice that number lacking any type of marker.

A decent number of people are here today, at least two dozen. Probably the family or friends of other people who were killed today. It is early to have a funeral; after all, it's only been a few hours since everyone died in the attack. I think they might have expedited Leonard's funeral for me. So that I could attend.

My thoughts shift from my surroundings and instead focus on a single person as I catch a glimpse of Elizabeth sitting in a patch of grass beside a small girl and a rolled-up bundle roughly the size of a person. Esther and… Leonard.

The speed of my steps heightens as I make my way closer to them, and Earl struggles to follow me. Sand is pushed aside by my boots that frankly need to be replaced at this point with all the shit they've been through, but that thought barely lasts a second as I reach my friends with Earl hot on my heels.

Elizabeth is the first to notice me, and I get a good look at her as she runs up and hugs me, squeezing tight with tears falling. She still has a large bandage wrapped around her nightmare black head of frazzled hair and pair of bruised black eyes. It's only been a week or so, and she's not a Sigiled, so she can only heal slowly like an average person. But it does look like she's better now. The thought of how fragile she is makes my heart twist.

I pat Elizabeth's back as Esther looks up at me with dead eyes, the small girl experiencing far too much loss in such a short time. She's performing a death grip on the baby foxes in her arms, and I'm surprised she's not hurting them, but it all makes sense. Her parents, town, twin, and now even one of her new family. All without anything she could do to help. That would kill me inside, and I figure it's doing the same to her.

Elizabeth cries out to Earl and me while she's in my arms.

"You're both here. Thankfully. I was hoping neither of you would get hurt. I can't take another person dying. Neither can Esther. The poor girl is about to break."

Earl steps over to Esther and picks her up while trying to get her to talk.

"How could we have died? I checked in on you after the fight. I was just checking on Wyatt, and he was helping Primrose get healed. You doing okay, Esth? Anything you want to do?"

I turn my attention away from Earl as Elizabeth pushes herself from my hug and acknowledges Leonard.

"I can't believe he's really dead. One minute everything's fine. The entire town is calm and safe. Then out of nowhere, gunfire started sounding off non-stop. The second I heard a shot, I felt like something was wrong, but I never would have thought that Leonard would die. He didn't even do anything, either. Those fucking Hunters just gunned him down for being in the crowd. They shouldn't be Hunters! Those bas-!"

I grab her softly and stop her anger from growing any further. I've never seen her even slightly mad, so I realize I must help her.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Just take a deep breath. We avenged him already. Those people aren't worth your anger. They're already dead."

Elizabeth follows my advice as Earl continues to try to talk to Esther, who is just staring at me. No, she's staring at Dakota beside me. It's odd, but I don't say anything and focus on the woman before me.

"Hoo... Thank you. I don't know what came over me. I just feel so powerless, unable to help at all. I mean, Esther is a kid, so obviously, we can't let her help, but you and Earl both have Sigils. You fight, you get hurt, but at least it's something. All I do is wait. Twiddling my thumbs to see who dies this time."

Silence passes between us for a few seconds as we look each other in the eyes of the other. I take a bit to think, but I can't come up with much of a way to get her able to help besides doing what Edmund did to me. Finding a weak monster and letting her kill it for its Sigil.

I bring this up to her before pushing it to later.

"I could help you get a Sigil, but I must leave soon. I need to go retrieve something for Johnny to save Primrose. The lady's life is on the clock, her body gradually shutting down even with Dr. Heath's aid."

Elizabeth gets visibly upset at hearing that I have to leave soon, but I see her push it down. She does, however, still ask a question.

"Does it have to be you?"

I shake my head slightly before I answer.

"Probably not, if I'm honest, but I already promised, and–"

"And you won't break a promise. That's fine. I get it. We all have things we must do. Hopefully, I'll have found mine by the time you return."

I nod and agree with her, and then I change the subject as I realize I'm on the clock along with Primrose.

"Yeah, I hope you do. Maybe you can join Dr. Heath in treating people? I also heard that the gunsmith needs extra hands to manufacture bullets. But enough of that. This is Leonard's funeral. We shouldn't be disrespectful, and honestly, I feel as though we already have been. Do we have someone available to bury Leonard for us, or should I?"

Earl answers my question as he moves Esther closer to Dakota, the young girl who loves foxes growing a bit less stony as she touches the dog-sized vulpine. Dakota doesn't mind the attention as he nuzzles her back.

"No, you're supposed to bury your own dead. We could pay, but I figured we should do this ourselves. Save the money and have it feel more personal. There are shovels over here."

I agree with him and follow him to grab some shovels after he leaves Esther with Dakota. We return with a shovel for each of us as we begin to dig a grave for Leonard in an open plot. Wary of the approaching two hours, I try something new, or well something old that's been enhanced.

I try out Strugglers Defiance, the now weaker version of Strugglers Gasp, now that my body has reached the level that allows me to use it without breathing in the Ether around me. The Sigil skill, like all others that come from the Sigil itself, is simple and easy to activate. You only have to find the muscle.

The muscle is easily identified as a new but also an old part of me. It's hard to describe how it feels to activate it, but the flow of Ether is easy to articulate. Ether comes from my core in an absolute torrent that overflows my entire body like a shower of torrential rain, and for a second, I worry that this skill will just add to my Ether saturation. But after a few seconds, I feel the pleasant sensation of my chains being loosened, the Ether burrowing into my orange manacles and making them less restricting.

I feel the enhancement to my physical, mental, and surprisingly even Ether capabilities instantly. My body moves with just a little less strength than I usually have when using Strugglers Gasp, my mind moves faster than ever, and my Ether is more straightforward to manipulate. The absence of foreign Ether lets me control Ether with ease now that my restraints are lessened.

With a flick of my mind, I create strands of Braided Ether on my shovel and send the Ether down the object. After a bit of resistance, which would undoubtedly be quite tricky usually, a rainbow multicolored Ether appears at the end of the thing. The rainbow color, that only Sigiled can see, mesmerizes me as it encompasses the head of the shovel.

I try to figure out what the rainbow color does but can't figure it out while I dig. All that I can reason is that it doesn't affect non-living things. I also want to test out my newly enhanced will, but at this point, I always keep a piece of me between the Bloody Palm and me.

I use the shovel and my increased physical aptitude to rapidly dig the hole. And to make the job go even faster, Dakota joins in as well. The fox just using his natural abilities to dig with his claws almost as quickly as me.

After ten minutes or so, the grave is dug, and I climb out of it. Earl moved dirt away from the hole, and Dakota just helped me gain depth. The little guy-turned-not-so-little has to jump out of the hole to get out.

I release the flow of Strugglers Defiance and feel a wave of tiredness rush over me. Not enough to make me need to sleep immediately or even lay down, but it is a considerable amount of weakness that burrows into my body. I guess that's the new price for loosening my chains. I do notice another upside to this skill compared to Strugglers Gasp.

The Ether that remains in my body after I use it is minimal. Most of it flows into my chains and then out into the air around me when it's done. I guess that's the difference between using your own Ether and forcing the Ether in the environment to obey your commands.

Once done, Earl, Elizabeth, and I carefully lower the fallen young man's body into the hole. Then, we get out and fill the void. But before we fill the spot, we spend a few minutes looking at him, each of us just silently thinking.

A pointless death for a man who deserved so much more. I could have seen Leonard gaining a Sigil, helping us fight, and being a defender, but no. He was killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

After almost ten minutes of silence between us, I speak up, wanting to say some words for the young man only a few years older than me.

"You were a good man Leonard. You protected these people before I arrived despite not having a Sigil and being just as unsure as them in the path ahead. Few can face down creatures as threatening as a group of dire wolves and me without faltering. I didn't care for you much when I met you, but you grew on me. You all have."

Lowering my head, I wish him farewell.

"I hope you have a peaceful trip to the White Fields, Leonard. I hope we can meet again someday. In this life or the next. You never know what might come in the future."

Nods pass between the ones beside me, and they all speak as well to the fallen Leonard. Earl is the next to talk, breaking down halfway through his eulogy to his dead best friend.

"Thank you, Leonard. You have been such a great friend for so long. You followed me into the woods and protected me from game and other critters while I sought out the path of an Alchemist. We'd spend hours or even sometimes days in the woods just to find a plant or substance that I could test with. I---... I---... You might have complained, but never once did you leave me. When the break hit, you didn't leave me either. You chose to stay and help me. Not only me, but you also found and saved Elizabeth, Esther, and Lonnie with your family's shotgun.

I'm going to miss you, buddy. For ten years, we've been a team; I can't imagine going even just a week without you…."

Elizabeth is the third and final one to speak. Esther only watches, and Dakota can't talk as he's just a fox.

"I never really knew you when we lived in Luadner together. Only when hell itself came for us did we meet. You were a kind and helpful soul, if only a bit dull. Which is not a bad thing. It made you strong. It made you courageous. I'll miss you too, Leonard."

She inhales sharply, taking a break to sniffle before finishing.

"I remember you saying that your father never seemed to act like you mattered. That his negligence always hurt you. That he never seemed to care, even if he was there. I promise you, Leonard, that we'll all become better for you. To show you that you mattered. To us. Without you, I think all of us would be dead here. So, thank you. And rest easy."

After the goodbyes, we fill up the hole. All of us are stricken with tears, and I have to constantly wipe at my eyes as I fill in the void. Once the ground is even, I check my pocket watch and see it's already been over an hour.

I need to hurry. The sun is long set, and I must prepare to leave with Virgil.