Chapter 267 - Inheritance (2/2)

”You…you freed her?” said Tyr.

”If you are to thank anyone, then thank her,” said Li as he nodded to Tia. ”She was the one to glimpse into Hildr's heart and to know her suffering.”

Tyr looked down at Tia and then looked away, putting his head into his hand. He shivered in something like a sob, but not quite – it was evident that he was long past the stage of tears and had fallen into an endless listlessness where he had not even the energy for crying.

”I thank you,” said Tyr to Tia. ”I thank you for doing what I should have for years upon years. I thank you for taking upon duty that should have been mine. I thank you for being the courage that I never could scr.a.p.e up.”

He paused. ”But I cannot fight with you. I am not what I once was, nor will I ever be.”

”Then I will leave you to your thoughts,” said Li. His decision seemed cold, but it was one of reason. He could not be the one to sit down by Tyr and lift him up from his own head, nor was he equipped to do so. There was simply nothing he could do, even if he could pity the monarch.

”Yes, leave me,” said Tyr. ”I will not bother you more. I am sorry to have bothered you even now.”

”I not being mean,” said Tia as she saw the king withdrawing into himself again. ”Did not mean to be mean asking you about your friend. She…would understand you. Because she loved you. But you gave up too fast, and I knew she would not like that. She never wanted you to give up. Always wanted you to be free and happy.”

She frowned at Tyr, and this time, her frown was gentle. ”Now, you are not free. Not happy. Maybe outside, you can be happy again. Like she wants you to be.”

Tyr contemplated Tia's words in a bout of silence before shaking his head.

”I do not deserve freedom nor happiness,” he said. ”My hands are soaked in far too much blood for that. I…thank you dearly for what you have done for Hildr and for conveying her feelings to me.”

Tyr's words became more resolute, gaining a little shard of strength, but the voice was still hollow and weak. ”But now, there is all the less reason for me to ever leave these ruins. There is no vestige of my people nor loved ones left to protect, nor am I worthy of protecting anything, for that matter. I will have my being escort you all to the surface. Again, my deepest of apologies for burdening you.”

The network of black flesh around and above Tyr shuddered before moving with squelching sounds, gathering around Li and the party in the form of a platform.

”But-,” said Tia.

”Little one, I value your words and what you have done,” said Tyr. ”I know that I am not happy. I know that I am not free. But I am not yet ready for either. You remind me much of Hildr, and hearing her words from you have brought me to reflection and thought.

Perhaps, in time, I will try to make peace with myself. But that time is not now.”

Tyr put his head down, and his figure stiffened, turning still like a statue, dormant as it was before Li and Tia had seen into his heart. There was no reaching Tyr again at this state.

Li put a hand to Tia's shoulder. ”Let's go, Tia. It is not our place to give him the peace of mind he seeks. Come, the rest of our own adventure awaits.”

Tia looked to Tyr for a lingering moment before nodding to Li. Together, they walked back to the chrysalis, and the black flesh gathered under it, solidifying into a platform that started to draw upwards from several tendrils connecting it to the mountain walls above.

The platform moved quickly, so quick that in just a few seconds, Tyr's body was not visible anymore.

”Hm?” noted Li as he saw a black tendril rise up from in front of him in the shape of a four petaled flower. The head of the flower melted away, revealing a large, plated grey scale.

”Take it, little one.” Tyr's voice echoed throughout the entirety of the mountain, transmitted across the length of the entire network of dark flesh in rippling echoes, as if they were extensions of his vocal chords - a testament to his fine control over them. ”It is my last remaining token from Hildr. I have kept it safe from decay for centuries, but I am no longer worthy of it. You who have freed her and understood her heart last should have it.

Consume it and inherit her powers. She always wished to fight free and unbound by any petty politics or duty with me. In some way, perhaps this will fulfill that wish. Farewell.

Fight strong. Fight well. Fight.”