The Ascension

The two female zombies walked through the forest, leaking death elements as they moved towards a goal that was like a bonfire in the vast darkness.

Once they got to a strange wall in the middle of the forest, they heard a voice speak from the top.

"Master, isn't there anything you can do?" A soft voice asked.

"Unfortunately, they are not a lich, but an advanced zombie. They have been dead for far too long, and the younger one is missing her organs." The soft sigh was followed by a fierce suction that made the two feel empty.

The sisters laid down as their strength faded, and embraced each other in death, as they once did in life.

"Poor children." Aila jumped down and gently moved the dry hair off their faces. "Barely a full grown woman, and already dead. Yellow skin. Skin and bones mostly." She sighed sadly. "Shaala, get your scissors. I would like to take a bit of their hair, and their clothing."

"Alright, Master." A minute later, Shaala appeared at her side. Aila cut a lock of hair, tied it with a piece of their clothing, and gave it to Shaala.

Aila carried each body to a small area in front of the gate, and built a pyre. Aila lit the pyre and watched the two bodies disappear.

"May Imera take you into her arms, and give you peace."

* * *

"You seem troubled, Master." Nuri said and sat down beside Aila at the table. Aila ate the food put in front of her, but she had not smiled since that moment with the two female zombies earlier.

"So young." She whispered. "Like Ellie and Elena. Starving. Sick. Dead. No one to care for them, just themselves." A tear rolled down her cheek.

"You're thinking about what might have happened to them if you weren't here." Nuri said softly, and watched her Master nod. "Which makes you feel sad because you still think about your parents." Aila nodded again.

"They were so good to me. If I was home with my family, and healthy, I would be happy. But now I know my girls." She said and another tear rolled down her cheek. "I don't want to go home. I would miss my family here too much." Aila closed her eyes.

"Doesn't that mean if you were home, you would be here?" Nuri asked her gently. Aila turned towards her so slowly, but once she did, Nuri noticed that the dam of tears her Master kept behind her wall of strength had come pouring out.

"Master, don't you wish the same thing for yourself that those girls have? The peace of death?" Nuri asked gently. Her Master's face scrunched up.

"No." She whispered. "And that's why I don't want to go back. I don't want to die. I want to live."

"How long have you held this in, Master?" Nuri drew her close. She put her head down on Nuri's shoulder.

"Since the day Imera brought me here." Only Nuri could hear that tortured whisper, the one that Aila bottled up until now.

She felt so much guilt because her emotions were selfish in nature, when her parents were unselfish. That made her guilt feel even more painful as she loved her parents a lot.

"Master." Nuri whispered. She stroked Aila's hair gently. "Do you think, if they could see how healthy and strong you are now, that they would be happy, or sad that you didn't want to go back?" Aila's tears weren't over. Nuri knew that. However, the guilt she carried now had a fragile hold on her.

Nuri held her, pulled her onto her lap, and let her cry. Each tear was hot and cold at the same time. There was an abnormal amount of energy in her tears. Elena had to come over and take away the wasted earth elements, while Ellie took the water. Nadya and Alara shared the light essence, while Ivadra gorged herself on the dark.

As she sopped up the life, Nuri used that same life to purify the death elements her Master leaked, and felt a little awe.

She would tell her Master in the morning, but the death elements she purified had been converted into life essence. Nuri remembered a simple truth of their world that Aila once told them.

From life comes death, and from death comes life.

* * *

Nuri watched as Aila made a box of ironwood, and put the locks of hair from the two female zombies in the small box. Aila had already smoothed the wood, and oiled it so it would last a long time.

"Nelise, elder sister of Riele. Riele, younger sister of Nelise. Embraced each other in life, and in death." Aila carved the words upon the memorial post, and put the box under their name plaque.

"You sound sad, Master." Nuri said quietly.

"I am better than I was, love." She sighed. "The people of this world should care for their children, and help them to grow. Instead, sisters die and turn into zombies because there is no one to care for their life, or their death." Aila looked up into the sky, and her eyes started to leak the gray mist.

"Some day, I will find a way to take them out of time itself, and protect them from this end." Her voice vibrated with power, and the ground shook. Aila's voice cleared, while Nuri tilted her head.

"Master, do you think you can turn back time itself?" She asked.

"I do not know, but now is not the time to find out. I am too weak to pierce that boundary." Aila reached for her hand, and held it gently. "Even if I can not save them, I still want to mourn their deaths as it was so senseless, and preventable."

"Like the two slaves who died at Toral's." Nuri said quietly.

"Yes. Like those two slaves who died before I could help them." Aila grit her teeth.

"Don't worry, Master." Nuri said quietly.

"Not worried. Angry." Aila reiterated. "I have to be strong for the others, but I feel I can relax in your arms for a bit." Nuri smiled, as it was a large compliment to be the one Aila relied on for comfort.

"The Inaris will sell each other out soon. They can not stand becoming nothing but beggars in a town they once walked around as lords and nobles." Nuri told her calmly, and while it didn't soothe her anger, she did calm a bit.

"So have you decided what you want to do, Nuri?" Aila asked.

"Plants." She said. "More precisely, spices. I have the life elemental affinity. Is there anything more suited to growing spices than life?" Aila started to smile, and the longer she thought about it, the more excited she became.

"Yes! Spices!" She took a deep breath. "I'll get the Mercenary Union to acquire seeds for us. They have branches all over, and since there should be spices in the capital, I can get seeds, and you can make a fortune!" Aila said and eagerly hugged her. She crawled onto her lap, and looked her in the eyes.

"I am so going to eat you up next time." Aila looked quite hungry. "On your night, everyone is going to switch out, and you're going to blow many times! And you are not allowed to stay put. Don't even think about escaping your fate." Nuri blushed brightly.

"So mean, Master." Nuri said shyly. No one else would love her like her Master did, and no one could.