never said that victory came without casualties | axel's funeral

[CAIN]

They had suffered many losses in the rebellion, but there had been little time for ceremony or style. They'd honored their dead, as one is required to, but at the end of the day they had put them in the ground or burned them when there was no time; there was no individualized honor or ceremony, as is typically the case in war. He supposed they had mourned Prometheus on his own, as they should, but he felt that there had been something missing there. It hadn't quite felt right.

Much as he may have disagreed with Axel's politics, he was still their leader once, still a part of their family. Cain would show him the respect that he deserved, King or not; the Blackfallen did not abandoned their own, even in death. He stood on the docks in the darkness, the torches lit all around him and casting a gentle glow across the water. They had been told to join him here accordingly, and soon, they started to join him slowly, gradually, casting solemn glances towards the small paddle boat floating in the water beneath him.

"Blackfall," he started, voice low and even, "Tonight we bid farewell to one of our own. Axel cared for the militia, in his own way, and he upheld the values that we claimed the day we went into rebellion. He was good man, even with his crown, and we will remember him as one of the first leaders and first to fight for Blackfall. With honor, we send him off to the heavens; with honor, we give him back to the ashes that we rose from."

He lifted the torch he'd been holding, briefly, and then knelt to set the boat alight. As he rose, he pushed the boat off with his foot, and it drifted slowly through the pier, flames rising high into the sky. "As he has fallen, we shall rise and continue on in his memory. For Blackfall, for the end of tyranny, and for the people."

© MADI