The Mourningstar

19th Olarune 998 YK: The Mourningstar

I’ve been putting off writing this particular story for some time now… but perhaps, on the eve of the Day of Mourning, it would be appropriate.
 
My memories of years past are fuzzy, unfocused. I remember the emotions I had, or very specific features of people I knew; their eyes or a scar across their face. Their full visage is lost to time. The Mourning on the other hand; that day will forever be seared into my memory, as clear as the day those memories were made.
 
I had recently been transferred from the Champions of the Bell. Prince Oargev had been made aware of me and my abilities. He was the one who sparked the idea that I should be a member of Queen Dannel’s Guard; an honour beyond measure to be sure. I would later hold resentment for that change; though it probably saved my life.
 
20th Olarune 994 YK - I was 22 years old. I had been through so much already; fighting for half my life. I had been honoured as a war hero, a champion of Cyre, and on top of that I had now been given the honour of being hand picked by our Queen. The situation was still dire for our nation, but for me I could not have been more proud.
 
Queen Dannel had ordered an offensive, the first in decades, against our bitter rivals to the north. Dylis’ unit was with that army. With a swift victory they had laid waste to Atur and quickly returned back into friendly territory. The news of victory was short lived however, we received word that the Karrns had formed an army and were in pursuit of our retreating forces. To make matters worse a Thrane-Brelish army had invaded from the south west.
 
We Cyrans had always been hard pressed throughout the Last War, but that day… I cannot recall a single moment prior where our situation had ever looked so dire. My unit, along with the remaining Queen’s Guard in Metrol, were dispatched southward to intercept the Thrane-Brelish assault. We were to delay the invaders as long as we could, until reinforcements could arrive.
 
I had only been with my new unit for a few months and I hadn’t yet seen any action with them. I was unsure of them, and they must have been unsure of me. Still, they were quick enough to put me at ease around them.
 
The unit was headed by Captain Daine; he was a good leader. Confident in his ability and more importantly confident in the abilities of the people he led. To this day I don’t know much about him… I don’t even know his surname.
 
The others were an interesting bunch. Jode d’Jorasco was the unit’s physician, he was always making jokes, most of them were okay. Jode was the one person in the unity I had a lot of interaction with. Following my transfer to the Queen’s Guard, Jode made it his mission to strike up conversations whenever he saw me… particularly after the downfall of the Bells.
 
Pierce and Lei d’Cannith… they were inseparable. They had a connection that was rare to come by, that of two strangers who had become family. It made me happy to see; reminded me of the bond I had with Adardy. Lei wasn’t the first Cannith I met, but she was certainly the first to allay my distrust of her house. She seemed to retain a sense of compassion many of her brethren lacked. Pierce had a wonderful way of speaking. Whenever I spoke to them they brought a smile to my face - I particularly enjoyed our discussion on “why humans would pierce their skin to put a contaminant inside their skin” when Pierce spotted my Bells tattoo for the first time.
 

A Desperate Stand

We were heavily outnumbered in the south. The Thrane-Brelish army had overrun Kennrun by the time we had made it down and had begun pouring into Southern Cyre. Once there, the Queen’s Guard was broken down to individual units whose Captain’s were given autonomy. While the few warforged we had confused the enemy to make it appear we had a much larger force than we actually did, the Queen’s Guard units conducted raids; hit-and-run attacks that brought chaos to the invaders supply lines.
 
We were slowly whittling them down, morale was fairly high that we would succeed.
 
My unit had just come out of an early morning raid on a supply caravan traveling through the Saerun Foothills. We were not as tireless as our warforged compatriots and so we were slow, sloppy… we left tracks. A unit of Thrane-Brelish warforged pursued us through the hills as we attempted to make our escape. The tingling sensation of being followed only grew in intensity as the warforged gradually gained ground on us.
 
As we crested a hill, we took a quick breather. Our forces were in sight not far ahead of us; they were too far for us to make it to them before the warforged would catch us however. A couple of minutes behind us we could see the warforged clearer now. They were led by a taller warforged that had spikes across their body - a Warforged Juggernaut. We were in for a rough time whatever we decided.
 
We quickly discussed our options and came to the realization that our only chance would be to stand and fight. Make use of the surrounding terrain to negate their numbers as much as we could.
 
We took our positions and readied ourselves for the fight ahead. I was positioned with Daine in the choke point. We had to hold long enough for the others to do some damage. In the lull before the warforged came into range, I heard Daine speak up. Just loud enough for me to hear, his eyes intent ahead of him focusing on the oncoming assault. He asked how I was doing… he told me it was an honour to have served with me. The confidence he usually exuded was softened in his words. There was a quiver of worry in his voice.
 
The battle began well but quickly turned sour. I was able to destroy one of the warforged in the initial assault, but their design soon proved superior. The Juggernaut plowed through our defence almost immediately. Pierce rushed to plug the hole it had created. The warforged numbers and defensive capabilities threatened to overwhelm us.
 
I took a number of severe blows that Jode, may the Gods bless him, stitched back together using his magic. Each cast of his magic left behind a throbbing pain where my gashes had been.
 
Beyond all odds we were managing to hold the line. We wouldn’t last for much longer however. Seeing the battle turning, Lei threw herself into the fire. Flanking the warforged that were now shoulder to shoulder in our choke point, she used her magic to wound and daze several of them.
 

Forsaken World

Lei’s magic went off with a bang, merging with a cacophony of shattering glass. A sound of thousands of glass windows shattering simultaneously that was enough to near deafen me. Everyone, warforged included, looked toward the sky to see a gargantuan conflagration that had erupted among the clouds. A tower of intense light reached out toward the sky, dispersing outward forming the likeness of a mushroom.
 
Far off in the distance, I could see gigantic shards of glass erupting from the ground in all angles. The ground began shaking more violently than I had ever felt before. The fear and the shock I felt witnessing this is indescribable. My body became weak as though my bones had been stripped from my flesh. It took all I had just to prop myself up.
 
I was thrown from my feet, rolling across the ground as a shockwave of immense proportion seemed to materialize instantly, bringing with it scorching air that felt as if it ripped all oxygen from my lungs and replaced it with burning coals. I couldn’t breathe for the few moments it lasted.
 
Lay back on the ground, I eventually came to. The sky was still lit up with a fiery orange that backlit the warforged Juggernaut who now stood over me, its fists poised and ready to strike… ready to finish me off.
 
“These people have lost enough.” It gathered its unit and began retreating back to where their army was.
 
I summoned all the strength I could and climbed to my feet. I was bewildered, looking around me I saw my companions steadily getting to their own feet. Off in the distance I could see a curtain of dense grey fog rapidly spreading from what I could only describe as a storm of glass within what seemed like the plume of a volcanic eruption.
 
That fog unsettled me. There was nothing about this disaster, this attack, that was natural. I took in my surroundings. The warforged were just cresting a hill out of sight. Everything in our immediate area could have seemed normal if it were not for the sky of fire.
 
My mind was racing for that brief moment. What had happened to my mother? She was near Making - very much in the direction of that explosion. Had Dylis been far away enough in the north to be spared? I know his unit had been redirected to support our southern reinforcements. Was this the only explosion to have happened? Who did this? Had that Juggernaut known of this plot? Were they merely a distraction?
 
I cleared my head. These questions would not have helped me in that moment. I made a conscious choice to get on with what I needed to. Everything else would come later. Afterall, we were still at war.
 
I made my way to Daine as the others were still dazed, finding their feet. I petitioned him that we needed to leave. After a moment of silent contemplation he agreed. We gathered ourselves and started making our way to the Cyran army.
 
We crested the hill to see a sight I couldn’t fully comprehend at the time. Our entire army, the army of Thrane and Breland lay in one mass grave. Every single person that had come here to do battle now lay dead. A line of clear, untouched ground separated the two. They had not even engaged each other yet. The banners of both sides waved furiously with the wind. I felt a pit enlarge in my stomach. Taking a deep breath I held down the urge to vomit. What could have done this?
 

The Weight of Reality

We continued moving for hours. That gray fog was slowly gaining ground on us and a growing sense of unease was spreading among our group. We hadn’t seen another living soul.
 
We were a couple of miles into Southern Cyre when we noticed the fog halt its advance. Coming to a rest and creating a barrier along what roughly seemed to be the border of Central Cyre. There was no doubt in my mind now. This simply could not be natural.
 
We set up camp in what was still enemy territory. We acted as we normally would under the purview of war. In the relative calm of our camp, moods only seemed to worsen. A dark haze had taken over everyone. We all went about our duties, wordlessly.
 
Sleep took me surprisingly quickly. My mind must have been shutting down from trying to understand the events of the day. Even my usual nightmares deserted me that night.
 
I awoke to find the sky had settled, though a thick smog had filled the vacuum and I hoped for a moment that I had dreamed it all. Unfortunately as I clambered from my tent, the wall of dense fog mocked my listless fantasy.
 
Daine gathered us all together. He wanted to go back into Cyre and look for survivors. There wasn’t any debate, none of us thought any differently. We packed the camp and made our way to the border.
 
Tying a rope to each other, we stumbled our way through the curtain of fog to find the land relatively unchanged on the other side. Methodically and with haste we made our way through Cyre to the capital of Metrol where Daine hoped to find Queen Dannel. Those days of travel are a blur. My mind was blank, my body felt empty. I felt as if I was watching myself from afar.
 
We finally reached Metrol to find it destroyed. The city of wonders I remember was all but flattened. Rubble and debris replaced the streets and any semblance of structure. The palace still stood, but getting there might take days with the obstacles we had in our way. It was sickening.
 
We spread out a little to begin searching for survivors. Calling out for anyone who might be trapped; my voice sounded strange… distant. I searched through rubble, picking up debris, watching someone else's hands doing the work. Hour after hour we found no one. No sign of even the dead, but we couldn’t give up... there had to be someone.
 
I had always had faith in the Sovereigns. They watched over us, subtly guiding us through our own actions. On the Day of Mourning however, my confidence in them had evaporated as quickly as that shockwave had arrived. They were on my mind as I searched the ruins. How could any of them have guided us to this point? For whatever reason, be it the Six prevailing, through the Sovereigns own intentions, or even just lack of care. They had failed. Surely this could not be their design?
 
In an experience I can only describe as being violently torn back to reality, an unnerving screech rang out within the ruins. Within seconds several grotesque creatures were charging at us. They were small, bipedal, fleshy bags; their face was all but mouth, a wide maw with rows upon rows of sharp teeth.
 
To make matters worse two elemental hands were flanking us. Each seemed to be two large hands of fire that had merged down the center. They walked like a spider on the flaming fingers. A short but deadly battle ensued between us and these monstrous foes.
 
Many of us almost perished in that fight; broken and beaten in more ways than one we all came out standing on the other side. In the aftermath Daine fell to his knees looking toward the palace high above. We had all slowly, but surely, come to the realisation that there was not a single thing any of us could do here except die.
 
Daine struggled to fight off the despair that had gently been gripping him these past few days. My resolve was somewhat hardened. I had family, and I knew they were outside of Cyre. Perhaps whoever had massacred my nation, my people had spared other lands. Daine could not see past the loss of our Queen and the devastation that was in front of him. He was lost.
 
I had to remind him of our duty to protect Cyre; that Cyre is not a city, or the land that surrounds it, but the people that had lived here. They would need us, as we would need them now. I don’t know if it was my words that moved him, or if he simply felt his final duty was to make sure his comrades could have a fighting chance at living, but he made a decision. We would head west and find Prince Oargev.
 

The Fallout

We made it out of Cyre without any issues. It was eerily empty the entire journey. While on the road to Vathirong we met with some refugees who had made camp outside of the town. A few of them were injured, but all of them were scarred. I could see the despair on their faces. The relief of finding others washed over me as I felt a tenseness I didn’t realise I was holding release.
 
A woman named Iona spoke with us on behalf of the others. She told us they were headed for a camp where other Cyran refugees were being told to go. The Brelish, our invaders not but a couple of weeks ago, were allowing Cyrans to gather there safely.
 
Together we traveled toward the camp. As we approached I felt the mood of our group tense up, I remember distinctly gripping the handle of my halberd tightly; a handful of Brelish troops were standing on the road to the camp, armed and armoured. We grew slowly closer to them when two of them turned and rushed away. My mind was ready for a fight, I felt an anger growing within me that I struggled to stifle. I must have been more obvious than I thought; the Brelish soldiers placed their hands upon their swords, but didn’t draw the blade. I felt a hand gently touch my shoulder. It was Daine.
 
He didn’t need to say anything. The anger I held faded away. My heart felt heavy... I was tired.
 
The two Brelish soldiers returned with blankets and food. They led us into the camp and gave us tents to set up. How far our beautiful country had fallen.
 
I settled into a routine over the next couple of days. The others seemed restless and Lei had mentioned going west to Sharn. That wasn’t something I wanted to do, but I would do what Daine ordered me to. That choice was soon removed from my troubles however, when Prince Oargev and his entourage appeared in the camp.
 
Ariana. My amazing, brilliant wife was with him. Sat on the horse with her, arms wrapped around him was Llyr. I hadn’t seen either of them in months but it felt like years. Ariana spotted me almost immediately thankfully, for my legs refused to respond. I felt weighted in that moment.
 
She came over with Llyr in tow and hugged me. The rush of emotion was overwhelming. They were alive! I’d have fallen to my knees were it not for Ariana propping me up. They were safe.
 
We had little time to speak before the Prince began a speech.
 
“Weep, oh nations of Khorvaire, for the Jewel of Galifar is no more. You have finally completed what you started when you rejected the true and proper right of Mishann to ascend the throne of Galifar. With your jealousy and petty ambitions, you have brought this disaster on us all!
 
Weep, my brothers and sisters, for our homes and our families have been eliminated in a foul and cowardly way. Do not let Cyre be forgotten! Do not let the Day of Mourning end! Not until we have discovered the villain. Not until we have made the villain face justice for this heinous crime. Not until Cyre's children are once more safe and content within their homeland.
 
Weep this day, my fellow Cyrans, and never forget. But tomorrow... tomorrow we begin to hunt down this villain, to demand justice, and to rebuild beloved, cherished Cyre. Tomorrow! Tomorrow we shall go home!”
 
His words bound me to that camp. To those people. I will see the day when Cyre rises from the ashes. I will see those responsible burn for the crimes they have committed.
After the effect of the Prince’s words died down, Daine, Lei, Jode, and Pierce sought me out in the crowd. They left for Sharn, looking to help other Cyrans who found themselves in a hard place. Daine gave me his cloak… I hope to one day honour my promise in returning it to him.
 
It has been four years since the Mourning and New Cyre has grown in numbers if not in infrastructure. We have found no answers. Cyrans still live in destitution. Ariana has taken Llyr to Q’barra on behalf of the Prince, and I have been doing everything in my power to aid him.
 
The people of the camp have taken to calling me the Mourningstar... a somewhat cruel title that only serves to remind me of my lost brothers and sisters of the Bell and only slightly preferable to Feathertail. Still, many of them look to me when they need assistance. I voice their troubles to the Prince, even if it is rare that anything comes of it.
 
I have a newfound faith in myself following principles of the Blood of Vol, even if I don’t agree with all of their philosophies. There have been many doomsayers and missionaries from various faiths in New Cyre, but none have rung more true to me than the strength that can be found within oneself. The gods have lost my trust completely.
 
There are so many unanswered questions… but, for now, we are surviving. I sorely look toward a future where we can live.
 
What our dreams imagine, our hands create.