Sornid stayed down for a few hours, actually resting peacefully. This is the first time Clara was truly on watch duty alone. Clara continues looking around the forest, and burnt down home.

  There was truly no other living soul around. The forest’s tranquility is perfectly clear. Her previously blurry eyesight was cleared up flawlessly within this floor. The dreamlike quality is just as crisp as the light falling through the leaves.

  She decides to stand, and look within the burnt down home. The stone framing itself is all that’s left, the rest left as ashes. The wooden frame would still be standing, but the fire ate away at them and collapsed the ceiling.

  The ashes are softer than Clara thought beforehand, she had thought from how people talked about them, it’d be rough similar to coal. But it’s also warmer. It’d been hours, the night long over by the time the fire went out.

  She thought the wind that carries it away would’ve cooled it off more heavily. It wouldn’t still be warm to the touch, similar to a person. But she was surprised just as much at this as the other things she noticed.

  Despite how it seemed only the stone foundation remained, the only thing visible other than the pile of ashes and quickly crumbling wood, she saw many other things. The ashes hid many trinkets, including some charred photos.

  These photos were impossible to view clearly, the people hidden beneath the burnt paper meant alot to whoever owned this home though. The frame was gone, but the glass was well kept, clean.

  But that wasn’t all there was to find in this burnt down building. It was a small house, to be sure, but the ashes covered stories. Stories of whoever was raised here, the people who lived here.

  A small teddy bear, completely blackened by the flames stared on at Clara with a perseverance in it’s little coal-like eyes. There was also a ball, the original color burned away. She tossed it up in the air before catching it again, wondering. Pondering.

  She looked around for more answers. Maybe she could find out why Sornid was so desperate to enter this house once more. She hears a cracking beneath her feet, under the layers of soot. The cracking oh so familiar to the doctor, the snapping of bones.

  She digs, and digs. She could analyze these bones at least somewhat well, as someone who made most spells in the field of Medical Magic herself. Of course a good amount relied on the gods, but that doesn’t mean all of it did, especially what earned her many prizes didn’t.

  Had she only relied on the gods' strength, she’d never be able to make spells for hospitals across the world. She’d never had been able to make anything helpful for anyone, since the gods were fickle with whom they lended their strength.

  It mattered not, however. These bones are more important at the moment. She always found herself lost in the past, even when it mattered most. But these bones are interesting. It’s two skeletons of similar age- or at least similar-ish in height.

  Most of the carbon in the bones were burnt to nothing, turned to pure light and heat by the flames, and as such most of the detail too. There were some details, including that it was more likely one female and one male, but the ages, heights, and other details were lost to the newfound fragility of the bones and they’re being buried under the soot.

  Of course, the digging around is interrupted by the sound of a groan. And shuffling on grass.

  “What are you doing with my parents?” Sornid speaks up, hardly looking at Clara, clutching his head, his knuckles going white.

  “Oh,” Clara quickly takes a step back, falling into the warm embrace of the ashes, “S-sorry, I w-wasn’t aware that’s who-”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “No need to apologize…” Sornid shuffles a bit more, wobbling a little as he stands up. “Just… Help me bury the bodies.”

  The pauses in Sornid’s speech left Clara speechless as she stood back up, struggling to get a solid footing in the burnt wreckage. She finally slides down, and sees Sornid digging around his bags, and his inventory.

  Clara wordlessly grabs a shovel out of her own inventory. It’s not a nice one, but it’ll work. She grabbed it before leaving just in case she’d have to bury someone and give them a prayer to the afterlife.

  The sound of the shovel hitting the ground felt worse than anything else. The sound of the shovel stabbing the earth, felt like it was murder. The cold lifeless dirt falling, along with the small bits of stone mixed in leading to small musical clinks.

  The hole was finally deep enough to bury the remains. Sornid was the one who wanted to handle them, and then the sound changed ever so slightly. The sound changed from just the digging into the soil of the shovel, and the dropping of it.

  There was something else. Similar to sparse rain, as small little droplets of water hit the ground from in front of Sornid. Then Sornid’s smooth breathing stopped. It was more, shaky. Clara felt compelled to stand, and approach him.

  Sornid continues to silently bury the burnt bones. There aren’t any sounds other than the shovel moving the dirt, and the wind brustling the leaves nearby. The breathing of Sornid and Clara also fills the air.

  Sornid’s breathing is pretending to be steady, but without the first glance, it’s clearly shaky, along with Sornid’s hands shaking. Clara steps up besides Sornid, staring down at the mostly filled hole.

  Sornid just simply looks towards the sky, and states a small phrase, “Odd how it’s raining with clear skies, hm?”

  Clara knows that it isn’t raining, but of course, the tears streaming down Sornid’s face states it must be for him. “Yeah, an odd weather phenomenon indeed.”

  Sornid continues weeping in front of the grave for minutes on end. The time appears to stop while the tears keep flowing. Sornid’s knees give out as they hit the hard dirt in front of the grave, the shovel serving as an unmarked tombstone.

  Clara kneels down in kind, landing a somber prayer. She heard Sornid’s mutterings a bit better, “Why… Why did it have to kill them?”

  “I know not.” Clara whispers back, placing her hand softly on fre “But I’m sure that after we clear up the tower, they’ll be waiting for you.”

  “Liar.”

  “Hm?”

  “You don’t know a damned thing about this tower.” Sornid angrily mutters, “Nobody does.”

  Clara lets out a light chuckle at Sornid’s anger, “maybe you’re right about that, but that also means why give up hope? This tower is known as a Tower of Deceit and Nightmares just as much as it is one of Truth and Dreams.”

  Sornid stops, thinking for just a moment. Before he goes to fully weep.

  He continues crying. For minutes, hours, who knows. Clara stays besides him, for every tear that falls on the ground. Every small moment of emotion Sornid displays, let’s loose, Clara sits besides him.

  Now, she mutters her prayer aloud, “O’ great Merciful God of Light, please grant these two peace in death, and joy in the afterlife. Bless upon these two souls the tranquility of nature when thy light shines upon it.”

  Sornid continues weeping, a silent cry out to whatever gods would push him through, whatever he went through before Clara found him passed out in front of this house. The sun begins to set, the sky beautiful hues of orange, purple, and just a small hint of pink. The sky goes dark.

  And despite that, the peaceful nature of the environment stays, and Sornid finally stands a few hours after dusk.

  “We need to move onwards.” Sornid looks onwards, drying his eyes with his sleeve.

  “Mhm, but I’d say we should do that after…” Clara takes a few moments, figuring out the words on the tip of her tongue, “you are doing better. Your grief is over. You don’t just get over death like that Sornid, even if you act like a dick sometimes.”

  “Mm.” Sornid makes a sound of agreement, but to what part, she has no clue, until he finally speaks up once more, “Sorry. For my previous actions, I mean. I know it means naught-”

  Clara just lightly smiles and lightly pats his back, “That’s all you had to say.” She grins as she looks at the mostly unmarked grave. There are plenty of stones aside the wreckage, and she’s got time for a little project.