A shoulder to cry on

I fall to my knees. My legs can’t support my weight anymore.

I can feel my heart beating and pulsing without even bringing my hand to my chest. My mind is racing. No matter how hard I try I can’t stop thinking about what is right in front of me.

I look at the corpse of the human laying in front of me.

I want to throw up.

I want to cry.

I want to scream.

I want to fall asleep and never wake up again.

I’m so tired right now.

“AKI!”

I can hear Lafanda screaming.

I completely forgot about Juni, Lafanda and Mimi. I have to help them.

“AKIHIKO!!” Lafanda screams even louder.

I can hear her vocal cords failing with every scream of concern.

“H…” My voice won’t come out.

I can’t move; I can’t speak.

(I’m useless.)

But I want to see them. I want them to find me.

I raise my arm and aim above me.

(Holy dream blessing: Guiding Nightlight)

An orb of light illuminates the foggy surroundings.

“Over there!”

I can hear their footsteps getting closer.

“Aki…”

They emerge from the steam.

Juni is silent, covered in what looks like chemical burns, especially his hands. His eyes are red with streaks of tears.

Lafanda and Mimi are covered in cuts and blood. Her arm covered in small bite marks and a large one on her shoulder.

They look around and see the dead human.

“Are you…” Lafanda tries to say something, but she can’t finish before tears roll down her face. She tries to wipe them, but they don’t stop flowing.

“I’m not...” I say as I begin to sob.

Juni also starts to tear up.

I use all my reaming strength to stand up and head towards them. The four of us embrace and fall to our knees.

The night silence is broken by the sound of our sadness.

It starts with sobbing, but it evolves into crying our hearts out as we hug each other.

The steam slowly dissipates, revealing the clear night sky, with the moon shining down on us.

I have no idea how much time passed while we stayed together like this. Letting out all of the emotions we were holding back. At that moment it was like only we could understand what we were going through, what we were feeling. So we just consoled one another.

Even though we are far away from the safety of the town, no other slumberwalker approaches us. Almost like even they took pity on us and allowed us to mourn and rest our hearts, minds and souls.

The purpose of the first mission is obvious now. I don’t know what I would have become if I just kept killing them like the first day of the trip. It would have become a game.

They are alive and suffering. Trapped in their own bodies.

I understand now the importance of this work. The scars left by the events of tonight are never leaving us.

Never.

As we slowly start to recompose ourselves, we look around at what we left behind.

“The job is not done yet.” Juni says. “And there is a lot to do.”

Lafanda, Mimi and I nod.

He’s right.

After healing ourselves as best as we could so the physical labor won’t open our wounds again, we begin.

We look for a nice open place where we can perform the prayer and slowly work throughout the entire night.

We arrange all the corpses next to one another, following the steps we learned back on the headquarters. Closing their eyes, cleaning their faces. All without muttering a single word.

The slimes of this world aren’t round creatures. They have bodies and bones, the actual slime clinging to it in place of flesh and skin. They are fairly easy to take down, you just have to aim at the core they have in place of their heart. All of their cores are cracked, as if someone reached inside each one and crushed it.

We arrange seven slime bodies.

The chimeras with their lion bodies and snake tails are more difficult. They are essentially two monsters in one. The best way to deal with them is to focus on one of their heads. Once you take one out, the other gets disoriented and finishing it off becomes easier. As we arrange them, we put the severed heads next to the remaining one.

We arrange two chimera bodies.

The humans of this world are hunters that never attack their prey head on. They will always try to circle around and hide when they get the chance. Losing sight of a human in battle always results in injury. But as long as you keep attention and don’t let it get room to reposition it isn’t hard to deal with. They also share the same weak points as the forms given to us by Sonala so it is easy to remember where to aim.

We arrange one human body.

With all of the bodies in position we stand next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. Just standing up is taking everything I have left, but we are not finished.

I didn’t understand the point of the prayer before. They are already dead, why not bury them? Why spend the energy using a blessing to send their bodies away after the fight when everyone is so tired?

But right now, I can only feel frustration. That this is the only thing that I can do to ease all the suffering they have been through.

We begin in unison.

“Oh goddess. She, who watches over us all. Please guide these lost souls who have met their ends in suffering. May only dreams find them in their eternal slumber.”

The orange light envelops all the bodies, and we watch as they all ascend to the sky. The darkness of the night illuminated by all the small spheres.

I once again catch myself holding back tears.

The lights slowly fade away and as the last one of them goes out, so does that feeling in my chest when I was looking at the bodies in the ground. I’m not feeling any better, I’m just feeling lighter.

We stare at the sky until clouds begin to cover the moon again.

“So, I guess we should start getting back.” Juni says. “Is a long way to the city to say the least.”

Lafanda and Mimi nod in agreement.

As they begin to leave, I’m just standing in place.

“What’s wrong Aki? You need a shoulder?” Juni say. “Or rather… a place to rest your hand?” He points at the top his head.

I can tell he’s trying to lift up the mood, but in contrast he is also trying really hard not to get mad.

Lafanda and Mimi giggle a little.

Both Juni and Lafanda stop and extend their hands towards me. I’m not used to this at all.

To have this kind of support. To have people that listen to me. That care about me. That disagrees with me but make up after.

To have friends.

Saying I trust them with my life is not enough to describe it.

They deserve to know. I want them to know how much I trust them.

At the very least, I want to give them the same hope for the future that Volkan gained when he found out about my awakening.

“Actually, before we go. I want you all to know something. It is important. Really important” I say.

They glance at one another before giving me their full attention.

“Go ahead

“I want you guys to know why I joined the resting guild.”