Refragmentz: Souls of Memory

Chapter 4- Buried

The ridge became very quiet after Lyssara left. The only sounds were the wind and the cracking of the fires from the burned cliff. I stood there for a while, looking at the empty sky, and I began to wonder how many more surprises this world still had for me.

"Are you going to keep staring at the sky, human?" Vexa said that as she sat beside the boulder with her wrists still bound in golden light.

"Sorry... I was just thinking," I said to her.

"About what?"

"About that woman, Lyssara. Are you two close?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Vexa turned her face away. "She is my rival, not my friend. I always knew that she hated me, but I never thought she would leave me like that."

I could see that her words were hurting her more than she wanted to show. I decided not to ask any more questions about it.

Instead, I said, "I want to try something. Chains of Oath, release."

The golden rings broke into small sparks and faded away. Vexa stood up immediately and rubbed her wrists. For a second, I thought she would attack me with the sword she had dropped, so I got ready to defend myself.

She did not attack. She only gave me a cold look and said, "You are a fool to free me. I will leave this place and come back with an army."

"Then go," I said that to her calmly.

Vexa turned around and walked toward the edge of the ridge. I watched her go, and I counted her steps. After ten steps, I felt my body become a little heavier. After fifteen, the pain in my chest started to return. After twenty, my knees nearly gave out, and the window in front of my eyes blinked red.

[Heartbound Resonance is weakening.]

At that same moment, Vexa stopped walking. She tried to take another step, but her legs would not move, as if she had walked into an invisible wall.

"What... what is this?!" She pulled and struggled, and her face turned red with anger. "It feels like there is a rope tied around my waist!"

"I think it is the same thing that stopped you before," I said. I forced myself to stand straight, though my legs were shaking. "I do not know the reason either. It seems you cannot go very far from me."

"Then I will cut the rope!" she shouted, and she tried to swing her hand at the air.

Nothing happened, of course. After a minute of trying, she gave up and walked back to me with heavy steps. When she came close again, the warmth returned to my body, and the red window changed back to normal. I let out a long breath.

"It seems that we are stuck together for now," I said.

"Do not say that as if it is a joke!" Vexa glared at me.

I did not say anything more about it. There was something more important that I needed to do.

I picked up Captain Orrin's sword and started to dig a hole in the ground beside the broken boulder. The soil was hard, and my body was not strong without the buff, but with Vexa standing close, it was easier than I thought.

"What are you doing?" Vexa asked that as she watched me from a few steps away.

"I am burying my friends," I said to her.

"Why? They are dead. It makes no difference now."

"It makes a difference to me. They were my comrades. They should have a proper place to rest."

Vexa did not say anything for a moment. Then she said quietly, "In the demon army, we leave the dead where they fall. No one has ever dug a hole for me or for my soldiers."

I stopped digging and looked at her. I think that was the first time she said something to me without any anger in her voice. I did not know what to answer, so I just kept working.

It took the whole afternoon to bury all eight of them. I carried each body to the graves one by one, and I said their names out loud. Captain Orrin. Young Tomas. Mara. Bren. Old Hollis. The twin brothers, Jory and Jace. When I came to the last one, I had to stop for a moment.

"Dorian," I said.

Vexa was standing right behind me. She had not moved from that spot the whole time. "I killed that one," she said softly.

"I know. I saw it."

"And you still... you do not hate me?"

I looked at the grave for a long time before I answered. "A little. I do hate what you did. But I cannot hate you completely. I do not know why."

Vexa looked down at the ground. For the first time since I met her, she looked small and unsure, like a child who had been caught doing something wrong.

Then she walked over to the broken Radiant banner lying on the ground, the one with the white sun on it. She picked it up with both hands, and without saying anything, she stuck it into the earth above the graves.

I did not say a word. I just nodded at her, and she nodded back, a little awkwardly. I think that was the beginning of something between us, though I did not know what yet.

The sun was already setting when I finished. My arms were sore, and my hands were covered in dirt. I wondered what to do next. I could not take Vexa to the lower camp, but I also could not leave her, since the invisible rope would not allow it. I began to think that I had made a very difficult situation for myself.

"What will you do now, human?" Vexa asked me.

"My name is Chase," I said that to her. "Not human."

"Chase," she repeated slowly, as if she was testing the word in her mouth. "Fine. What will you do now, Chase?"

Before I could answer, I heard the sound of horses coming up the slope. Many horses. I turned around and saw a group of knights in silver armor riding toward us, each carrying a banner with a white sun. In front of them was a man with a gray beard and a scar across his eye. I recognized him from Chase's memories. Commander Hale of the Radiant Order, the highest-ranked officer on this front.

The knights reached the ridge, and Commander Hale saw the graves, the burned cliff, the dead demons everywhere, and then me, standing beside the Crimson Executioner without a single chain on her.

His face changed completely.

"Chase Ardent!" he shouted, drawing his sword. "Step away from the demon, right now! In the name of the Radiant Order, you are under arrest!"