The Majors, Cold Fury (Book 2)

Epilogue

I trudged up the pathway winding along the edges of the cliffside.

It was broken in places, scattered with rubble and debris, but I managed. I had a destination, after all.

Slowly the ruins of Rivendale came into view, broken and torn apart like an army had rampaged the streets. There was not a soul in sight.

The difference of just the atmosphere of the place was striking. It no longer felt like the glorious city of the elves, pristine and elegant. 

Now it was merely an empire lost to history and violence.

I could still smell the fire, although there was none in sight, ash rising with every step I took. I tried to breathe slowly as to not stir up the air, I had already experienced too many coughing fits on the way up the side of the plateau. 

It was like a weight had been tied to my chest, trying to drag me down. And I would have happily let it pull me into the ground, to force me into darkness, allow my mind to stop spinning with thoughts all making that weight heavier by the moment.

I fiddled with the object or...objects? In my hands for a moment, gazing around the destroyed city, searching for what Gemini had described to me...

Eventually, my eyes landed on the three graves lined a few dozen feet from the path that led to the crumbling palace, set up against the hill.

My heart sunk.

The wizard hadn't been lying.

It was weak of me to cry just at the sight. I hadn't even read the names engraved on them yet, but I already knew.

I already knew who laid so close yet so far beneath the ground.

My breathing hitched at just the thought. I wasn't sure how long I had stood there, staring at the three overturned rocks which obscured the burnt landscape.

But finally I had managed to make myself move forwad, putting one foot in front of the other.

And before I knew it I was standing over the grave in the center, my feet treading over the freshly dug earth. The name seemed a mesh of letters to me that I couldn't quite understand through my tears, but I knew what it said. I knew what they all said. I just wished it weren't true.

Slowly I lowered myself to the ground, kneeling in the dirt. However, at the moment I wasn't particularly bothered by getting my trousers dirty.

"H–Hey." Was all I managed to get out, my voice trembling much more than I would have liked it to. I just... had to pretend he was listening.

I had to pretend Scott was still there, and not a corpse lying several feet below me.

He was...somewhere better now, right? Isn't that what they all say?

But I couldn't help but feel even more saddened at the thought.

I slowly exhaled, wiping my face quickly. "Whew...it's okay Jim..." I whispered to myself, trying desperately to calm down my heart which beat rapidly against my chest, as if it were banging against my ribcage and begging for release.

I breathed out again, taking deep breaths as I let my gaze fall down into my lap and what was in it.

I let the edge of my thumb dance along the petal of one of the many poppies I had brought. It wasn't a bouquet, merely a mesh of flowers that I had gathered. I closed my eyes for a moment, before beginning to take the stems and weave them together, one by one. Carefully knotting and braiding, twisting to bring the flower heads closer to one another.

It began to remind me painfully of when we sat in the clearing in Hyacinth...nothing but us and the flowers and the green sunlight pouring through the leafy canopy...

But it would never be the same.

It couldn't.

You were gone.

You couldn't come back this time.

I didn't even get a goodbye...you had...said you'd be back. You promised...

Yet I'd never see your face again. I'd never hear your laugh, nor the sarcastic edge to your voice as you teased me in this lifetime.

But maybe, just maybe, in another world, another timeline, we were sitting together, us against the world. At least then I'd have you by my side instead of beneath me, slowly rotting away in the dirt.

It should have been me.

I slowly finished the ring of flowers, the webbing between my fingers making it slightly difficult to finish the final knot. The flower crown was much too big to rest on someone's head, but it managed to slide just over Scott's grave as I dropped it over.

"There you go..." I murmured, gently turning one of the flowers to face me, opening the petals further.

I had to pause again, take a breather to stop myself from breaking into sobs. Every time I had thought my tear ducts had completely dried up, they returned. At every single mention of your name, just the thought of you made me burst into tears.

I glanced down at the remaining flowers within my lap, the petals as white as the snow that used to coat Rivendale in a soft blanket of frost. I wiped the sticky tears that threatened to pour over my jaw and chin, my eyes drifting to the right. To Erin's grave.

She was far too young to die... just like you...and it pained me even more to know you had died knowing you hadn't saved her.

Taking one of the flowers I tossed it gently over to rest by Erin's headstone...only to watch it shrivel up and blacken immediately, like instead of throwing it on the ground I had thrown it into fire.

"Okay...you don't want the flower." I muttered to myself.

Typical. Erin had never liked pity.

It confused me, but like most things I decided not to question it.

With another slow exhale I looked back to Scott's headstone, lightly tracing the tips of my fingers along the words engraved within the stone.

I couldn't help it as more tears began to flow down my face, spilling from my eyes like rivers of grief. I didn't have any room to be embarrassed, although no one was even watching.

Choking down a sob, one that shook my shoulders and threatened to throw me past my breaking point, I leaned forward and rested my forehead against the cold rock of the grave...

"You didn't have to do it..."