A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 144: Aftermath

Chapter 144: Aftermath

(One Day Later)

With the large Wrath demon gone, the remaining forces had lost their will and were thrown into what the people were calling ’The Chaos Devourer’ which was really just the aura that Traytora was giving off.

Of course, upon seeing where they were being taken to be killed, the demons immediately tried to run away, but none of them succeeded, and every last one, was fed into the hungry maws of the seemingly rabid serpents that ate anything that was withing their reach.

Said reach slowly getting smaller and smaller until it couldn’t be sustained any longer and Traytora passed out after another half a day.

When a few guards were ordered to pick her up and take her elsewhere, but they couldn’t reach her as a chaotic mass of flames of various elements flared out of her body whenever they got close to her.

They tried many different methods but ended up having to move the entire floor along with her.

Of course they also took note of the body she was hugging, quickly deducing who it was. This news quickly reached Tobreos as well as Cythistia’s parents, Lycerous and Kharinna, all of which were devastated upon hearing the news.

As for everyone else, everyone had all lost their home, and some of them were experiencing the same pain as Traytora, though not quite as strong, from losing their own loved ones. There were even whole families that had been wiped out from that.

As for Efyos, the spirit of the city itself, he had been damaged far too much during that conflict, and was now dying, wilting away as whatever life force he had left, he used to create a seed that would allow him to be reborn anew. This method was only to be used when his life was fading, hence why he didn’t use it until now.

Efyos wasn’t the only one who was dying. Dorrak was dying also. The reason he was dying, was because he sustained too much damage against the demon, which normally would’ve been fine and he could’ve recovered in time, but he overextended his limits when he was using his racial empowerment technique, he used all his stamina, and to keep that boost going, he had to tap into his life force as well.

Then there was the loss of the fighters that fought in the forest. At least two thirds of them had been culled, leaving only about half of the city’s original fighting force remaining.

With everything that happened, nobody was in the right shape to do anything, but the patriarchs knew that they had to carry on, so they commanded everyone who could help out to do so, cleaning away the debris to make space for shelter or just making the shelter.

Everyone helped pitch in as they slowly rebuilt what they could. Not everything was destroyed, some buildings remained like the forges and a few of the manors in the noble district, which were used in any way possible.

It took a month until everyone at least had a roof over their heads, but in that time they had noticed that the silver glow that permeated every corner of the city, had faded, and not just from the parts that were destroyed, but also from the parts that weren’t destroyed.

And this was Efyos pouring all his remaining essence into a seed, which upon discovery, the patriarchs decided to bury alongside the other bodies in some other location in the forest, away from Athenela.

It would be an arduous process, but it had to be done, as this place could no longer be their home. Despite the ruins still being rather strong, without the protection from Efyos, they would be susceptible to influence from outside forces.

They also needed to recuperate to prepare for the possibility of the human’s attacking them, and by moving locations, they would be able to temporarily prevent them from knowing where they were and attacking them.

After another couple of weeks, Winter was finally over and the sun finally returned, signalling new horizons for the people of Athenelos. And with the suns return, Traytora finally woke up. She had been out cold ever since her soul receded back into itself.

When she awoke, she didn’t let go nor did she stop crying over her beloved’s corpse. It was a tragic sight, seeing someone cry silently over someone so important to them. It wasn’t until Dorrak came over to see her and called out to her did she finally look away.

"Traytora." He called out her name.

She was a mess, dry and dirty hair, strained eyes and a pale skin from lack of food.

"I know you’re hurt, but you can’t stay like this forever, you can’t leave her like this forever, you need to-" *COUGH* *COUGH* Dorrak coughed midway due to his internal injuries that were getting worse by the minute. Yet he came here because he was worried for her.

Traytora just continued staring at Dorrak cough endlessly until a white feathered, blonde haired harpy woman came over to him.

"There you are! You know you shouldn’t be up and about right now!" She screeched at him angrily. She cast some healing magic on him and it helped him stop coughing.

"I... I had to... I heard she was awake..." He said whilst panting and pointing at Traytora. "And I knew she wouldn’t move unless... Unless someone, no, unless I came and talked to her."

"And I was right... She stopped crying, even... Even if only for a minute."

’What happened to you?’ Traytora finally asked.

"Demonic infection, draining my own life away... Stack that on top of injuries... And I’m one foot in the grave." Dorrak explained.

This threw Traytora into more despair and she quickly got up and tried to reach Dorrak but fell due to her body being weak from malnutrition.

"Ah!" She fell face first into the ground and couldn’t get back up.

Dorrak, saddened by this scene, struggled to walk over to the poor serpentine girl and sat down next to her before he picked her up and hugged her. Traytora then began sobbing uncontrollably.

*Sob* *Sob*

"There there, let it all out... I may not be around for much longer... But I will stay with you until I go." He said to comfort her whilst patting her head to sooth her.

A while later she looked up and asked, ’But what about your daughter?’

Dorrak looked up at the sky for a bit before he answered, "It’s too late for me... I just hope she lives a good life... Away from all the conflict."

They sat there for a good few minutes until Lycerous and Kharinna arrived after hearing Traytora had awakened, and they saw her still crying on Dorrak.

They slowly approached and the sound of their footsteps reached Traytora, who then looked up at them, but when she did, she just started to cry more, as she felt like she was responsible for Cythistia dying. She hid herself in Dorrak’s chest as she couldn’t bear to look at them.

The two parents didn’t say anything, as they were too heartbroken themselves, as they had not only lost their daughter who was carrying their future granddaughter, but also their son, who seemed to have died somewhere in the chaos. They just stood there with their heads down, not knowing how to deal with this situation.

It wasn’t until an hour later when Dorrak started coughing again and the harpy girl came over to treat him and take him back to rest. And that left Traytora alone with Lycerous and Kharinna.

The three of them just stood there, not saying anything to one another, nor did they move. Traytora just kept her head down in shame as her body trembled in fear and hunger. That was until Lycerous spoke.

"You know... You know she loved you, just as she loved us, she loved everyone. She was such a kind person... I... I wish it didn’t have to be like this, but... But she wouldn’t want us to wallow, like this... We have to move on, for her... No matter how hard it may be."

"He’s right." Kharinna agreed. "We can’t let her memory die like this, we have to live on for her. Otherwise... We’d be trodding on her legacy."

"Now come, you need to eat, and we need to preserve her body, so that we can bury it later." Lycerous said.

Traytora didn’t respond and tried moving, but fell face first into the ground again, her body still lacking any energy to properly function.

Lycerous sighed and went over to pick her up while speaking to his wife, "I’ll deal with her, you take care of our daughters body, okay?"

Kharinna nodded and walked over to her daughter’s body, and used her magic on it to take it out of the ground and preserve it so that they could bring it with them, so they could bury it at the place that they would end up calling their new home.

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