Memories of Mei

15. Year: 1254 SL

It was only fitting that the grey clouds poured down on us that morning in Trigate. We had lost our Captain the night prior, and all the Templars of the Trigate Division, along with all the Ilmatari, gathered in the church.

Archbishop Domine addressed the hundreds of people overflowing the pews. As disheartening as it was to lose one of our own, Templar Captain Sebastian Stonewall died an honorable death. 

He fought to protect the innocent from the fiends that ventured into this world. Archbishop Domine reminded us that he and his sacrifice would never be forgotten.

We approached the heavy wooden door on the hut by the outskirts of Trigate. Captain Stonewall led the charge. 

The report stated a ghoul had taken up residence here. It was a simple extermination request nothing to fret, but to take seriously regardless.

Stonewall waved us through the door as we planned to take the ghoul by surprise. We were all just young templars at the time. For Anton, this was only his third mission.

Where a ghoul should have been found, a fiendish hag stood instead. 

Stonewall knew we were all in danger. Stonewall knew this fiend was stronger than any ghoul. Stonewall protected us from every blow.

However, Archbisop Domine's words did not console the five templars that Stonewall left behind. 

For all of us, we lost a father that day. We lost our teacher and our guide. We lost our closest confidant, and beloved member of our team. We lost a piece of us.

The hag had weakened Stonewall to the point he could barely hold up his warhammer. 

We were useless against her. We could only watch as Stonewall desperately tried to defend us while we waited for Anton to get back up from the Third Bulwark.

Stonewall slammed his warhammer into the hag's grotesque form, and she flew back into the wall. 

Chathi cheered for Stonewall with surprise from the turn of events. He turned around to give us his typical thumbs-up paired with words of wisdom. However, the words never came.

From across the room, the hag impaled Stonewall with four beams of magical energy - two in his torso, one in his thigh, and the last through his head. 

Jandar lurched towards the hag, but it disappeared. Rowan dashed to Stonewall's side, but there was nothing he could do now.

I grabbed Chathi as she fell to the floor. I held her close to me and never let go as she sobbed uncontrollably against my chest plate. Jandar punched the wall to express his feelings in the only way he could manage. 

At the same time, I could not take my eyes off our beloved Captain. I could not look away from his lifeless gaze.

As the next in line to be Captain, I had to address the crowd with words of solace, words of hope. As I walked up to the stand, I knew I needed to address the four individuals in the first row who could not lift their heads high enough to look at the casket in front of them.

"Captain Stonewall was the foundation on which we developed. He was the man who wiped away our tears as children and tended our wounds as templars. He slayed our demons and embodied the divine light of Ilmater, Himself. But most of all, Captain Stonewall was our friend.

"If I know my Captain as well as I think I do, he would scold us right now for how we are mourning his valiant last stand. In his mind, he protected the most important thing in the world to him: us."

I paused before using one of Stonewall's phrases to rally my team, "Chins up, Templars, the future isn't at your feet – it's ahead of you."

Backup rushed into the hut, but it was too late. Anton couldn't believe his eyes. His guilt plastered on his face. 

Rowan remained on his knees at Stonewall's side even after the Third Bulwark took the body away. Although I could not see Rowan's face, I saw his tears as they stained the stone floor beneath him.

Chathi, Jandar, Anton, Rowan, and I carried Stonewall's casket on our shoulders out of the church. 

Although tears welled in our eyes, we stood strong together. We carried the weight of our grief together. 

We carried a hero through the cobblestone streets of Trigate so that he could see his home one last time; so that he could say goodbye.