Chương 34: Chapter 34

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…