While Alvar dove deeper into the mental arts and furthered his mastery of different kinds of weapons Veli and Gerdi had stuck to the mace and shield. But besides them deepening their knowledge of the blunt weapon they were introduced into a different kind of warfare as well, namely siege weapons and defence mechanisms.
The two had been rather relieved when their regiment of students took a break from their usual routine and began to implement the knowledge they had gained in the tactical lessons into the handling of the siege weapons, after being introduced to their handling of course.
So immersed where the students in their studies of the various fields that they did not notice how the time passed by and in the blink of an eye summer had turned into autumn, the leaves on the trees turning into various shades of red, yellow, brown or orange as the live left the once blooming vegetation and returned to their origin in order to prepare the trees and plants for the approaching winter.
The nearly always shining sun got covered more and more often by fields of grey clouds, carrying with it an abundance of droplets that only waited to hail down upon the inhabitants of Tyria.
Along with the begin of autumn the day of one certain festival, reserved for the later part of the year, came and plunged the Norn of Hoelbrak and in every other part of Tyria, that housed the otherwise boisterous people, into a sullen mood but not without reason. The day of the dead had come once again, after one full cycle of the year was completed.
Even though it was a festival and the day of the dead was celebrated it was still not a day filled with happiness as all the Norn commemorated the ones that passed away into the afterlife, be it friends, family or just acquaintances.
During the time of the festival lamps of various colours where hung around the capital of Hoelbrak while the various families remained rather reclusive and amongst themselves, exceptions being the large processions that pilgrimaged to the shrines of the different guardian spirits to thank and ask said spirits to look after their deceased in the afterlife and the large feast at the end of the day to return from the melancholy of the day of the dead back to the sweetness of life.
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On the day of the dead Alvar woke up early as usual but he knew that today he would not have any training to complete and thus took his sweet time with getting ready.
After laying in his bed for a few more minutes in silence he stood up and walked over to his closet in which hung the traditional dress that was reserved for this one special day in the year, consisting of a simple pair of trousers and shirt in a light grey colour. Along with the dress all people would wear a facemask, coloured in white, with nothing but holes for the eyes.
Alvar had always wondered in his younger years why his people wore those blank faced masks but now that he had grown older saw many purposes behind them, one being to hide the own sorrow from those around, as not the living should be the focus with their sorrow but instead the deceased and the memories of their times spent on Tyria.
After caressing the smooth surface of the porcelain mask for a few seconds Alvar put it aside and began to dress himself in the light grey clothes. Once he had put the robes on Alvar grabbed the mask and left his room where he began to grab himself some breakfast.
While Alvar was eating his grandparents entered the room and with a look Alvar saw that they had already gotten dressed in their robes as well, though just like Alvar hadn't yet donned their masks as they didn't like to wear it while at home and in the company of their family.
"Good morning Alvar. Slept well I hope?" Alvar's grandfather asked while his grandmother was rather silent, only pressing a light kiss onto Alvar's head. It had always been that way on the day of the dead since Alvar could remember and he knew exactly why that was. Having lost everyone in their family, besides Alvar, he most certainly did not begrudge his grandparents their solemn mood, as he himself was not on the top of the world as well.
"Ye, I slept well. And you?" Alvar asked back after swallowing the spoon of oatmeal, spiked with fruits, down and took a sip of water from his mug. The answer Alvar received though said more then words could ever do consisting of nothing but solemn silence to which Alvar remained silent as well.
After taking in their breakfast, with slight talk accompanying the family, the three cleaned up their dishes and left their house into the fresh morning air.
The last few weeks the weather had gotten colder and a slight mist hung in the air and began to cling to their clothes in the form of faint water vapor.
After taking in a slow and deep breath under his white mask Alvar caught up to his grandparents that had left into the direction of the nearby shrines already while Alvar had completed his morning ritual.
The three began their small pilgrimage at the small shrines inside of Hoelbrak, where they each lighted a candle for every person they had lost, after which they would venture out into the nearby woods where the large main shrines dedicated to their patron spirits were located.
The three stepped out of the huge gates of Hoelbrak along with a few other families and began their walk to their first destination, the shrine of the bear, located in a cave closest to Hoelbrak.
After the shrine of the bear came the shrine of the snow leopard, then the wolf and last but not least the shrine of the raven. Though once they arrived at the shrine of the raven the trio where surprised to find the old Havroune dedicated to the raven standing at the caves entrance, a gathering of other families surrounding him, and promptly walked over to them to find out what was happening. Though once they arrived Alvar and his grandparents were a little startled when they heard the Havroune's words.
"Good, you are all here. Follow me please. We have a lot to discuss." And with those words motioned the group of families, Alvars included, to follow him into the dark cave, with all them of clueless what awaited them.
Those of you knowledgable about guild wars/guild wars 2 may have noticed that I am changing and/or incorporating things that are not included in the game or its lore.
The reason for that is that I find a few aspects of the game and its lore lacking, even though I love most of it, and thus decided to bring my own elements into the lore.
Furthermore, as the story will not only take place in Tyria, I had to get a bit creative in how I want to include the other possible universes into the guild wars lore. None the less I hope you enjoy the story, no matter how I play around with the lore^^
After following the Havroune into the cave the group of families assembled around the old man, who for this day had put on a grey dress of his own, and waited for the old man to explain why he had waited for them at the entrance.
"You all must be wondering why I brought you here and nobody else for that matter. What you all don't know is that each and every one of the families assembled in this cave currently have one thing in common." The old Havroune spoke causing confused muttering to erupt in some of the families.
Alvar meanwhile was forming his own thoughts on the matter. He had tried to make out who the other families were to find some clues on what kind of connection they shared with each other and how the Havroune picked them out correctly in the first place but he had no success with his endeavour as the masks and grey clothes hid everything but the gender of the person behind them.
After a few seconds the murmurs died down and the old Havroune began to speak again. "Today we are, as you all know, commemorating the dead of our people. But what you all do not know is that the day of the dead is not simply a symbolic day for our people. On this very day the patron spirits are indeed fulfilling one of their sacred duties and that is to gather and escort the spirits of our deceased through the mists into the Underworld, the domain of Grenth, the god of death and lord of the Underworld. Even though said god has gone missing with the other ones after the dragons awakened but that does not change the purpose his domain serves."
The old Havroune's words caused Alvar to widen his eyes slightly behind his mask. Did the old man really tell them just now that the stories they were told as children, about the gods and their connection to the patron spirits, were in fact not just stories but actual retellings of reality?
Gobsmacked silence was all the old Havroune received from the assembled families which he promptly used to continue speaking.
"To do so our patron spirits receive a list from a servant of Grenth with the names on it of all those that died and need an escort into the realm of death where they will receive their judgement. Somehow though a few of the people who's names were written down on the list never appeared and to this moment could not be found anywhere. After conversing with the servant of Grenth the patron spirits contacted us Havroune and soon we came upon a curious fact. All those that are missing are part of the same group and died at the same day."
The old Havroune's words caused Alvar to clench his fists tightly as he could already imagine whom the old man was talking about. And yet he hoped with every fibber of his being that he was wrong, even though he instinctually knew that his hope was in vain.
"The group I am talking about consisted of hunters that went on expedition into the far north where they were ambushed by the sons of Jormag and perished in the fight, no survivors. Not a single member of said group arrived at the gathering point our deceased are lead to after dying, which frankly is something that has never happened before. But rest assured that we will do everything we can to find out what happened to your deceased and bring them back to where they rightfully belong…" The old Havroune finished after which he bowed lightly to the group of subdued families, from whom some where obviously crying silently but due to the masks it was hard to find out who that was exactly, not that Alvar had any wish to do so.
His own mind was currently occupied with worry for his uncle's soul and what may have happened to him that night. Alvar, due to his constant training with Isolde, was now able to remain a little bit calmer and could recall some things from that night in more detail than before he had received the training in the mental arts. But no matter how much he could recall the vision always ended with his uncle's death and nothing he could see in the vision gave any indication to what may have happened to the group and his uncle.
With a sigh Alvar turned around and began to softly pull his rigidly standing grandparents out of the cave at their sleeves, none saying anything as each one of them was submerged in their own thoughts.
After lighting the last candles for those that had made it into the afterlife many years ago the family of three began to make their way back to Hoelbrak though none of them were really in the mood to partake in the feast that was supposed to help them overcome their pain a little and show them that life was filled with many joys that it was worth living for…
Hope you enjoyed the chapter^^
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