16 Dioro's Funeral

Ania comforted her son, "Oli, it's going to be okay. I know it's hard, but it's going to be okay. We can get through this together."

"I know Mom. It's just that…" Oli couldn't bring himself to say anything else.

He thought, "Why did he have to do that? He should've let me die, it's not like it's my first time… I finally had a real father who took care of me like a son, who loved me like a son. And before I even have a chance to grow up, he's gone because of stupid me."

"Oli, this isn't your fault. If anything, this would've happened at some point later on," Ania tried to speak like Dioro would. "Your father's past wasn't an easy one, and it was filled with sworn rivals and enemies. He kept traveling and not settling down because he was afraid of being hunted by some of his old foes."

Then Oli remembered what Brak had yelled earlier and asked, "Mom, that dragon said something about Dad being a wanted man. Does that have anything to do with it?"

She got a little angry after hearing that and explained, "If that's so, then no wonder the dragon wanted to kill him so bad. Your father was always one to shine above the crowd, the only problem is that he shone a little too brightly and made some enemies of powerful people. One thing led to another and he was forced to flee, gaining a hefty bounty in the process."

"What did he do?"

"Well…" Ania caught her tongue a little too late after letting her emotions run wild. "We can discuss that when you're older. For now, grab that and never let it out of your sight."

Oli grabbed the item off the floor and held it up for her to see. He inspected it carefully and wiped off most of the blood in the grass.

It was round and made of a precious metal similar to gold. Hieroglyphs of a long-forgotten language were etched throughout the surface of the metal. At its center was a large piece of flawless jade that dimly glowed. Unsure of what it was, he looked to his mother for an explanation.

"I don't know much about it, Oli," Ania paused to wipe her eyes, "Your father never told me anything about that item; I've never even seen it before. But seeing that it was in his chest, he must have fused it with his core long ago without me knowing. Normally, even if he died something like that would stay fused with a core but since your father destroyed his core to ignite and burn his soul, I'm guessing that this was left behind."

"Wait, what did you say? Ignite his soul!?" Oli had a tiny understanding of the soul arts, but he knew enough to understand what happens after burning your soul. "You mean he… Dad ignited his soul to… save me?"

With Oli about to break into tears again, Ania hugged him tightly and let out some tears of her own.

The other gorillas had all huddled around Ania and Oli but said nothing out of respect for them and their fallen chief. The clan waited for Ania to give the order to begin Dioro's burial, as was custom for the wife of the fallen to issue the order. It took over half a day for Ania to finally order Dioro's burial.

Normally it would already be night, but it was the first day of the new solar cycle, which had a strange phenomenon occur. There would be no night thanks to the three suns passing in the sky separately throughout the day. This would happen every seven days and was commonly termed as a sun's length of time or a sun.

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Also, there would be a lunar phenomenon every four suns. On the first day of the moon's cycle, the moons would line up and pass through the sky like shadows of each other, commonly termed as a moon's length of time or a moon.

Before long, the gorillas finished digging a grave for Dioro and laid him inside.

Ania, Oli, and Rathe all stood to the side of Dioro as each gorilla took their turn bowing before Dioro's body and giving thanks to him for his years of service as the clan leader.

Vloz remained in the back and bowed silently since he wasn't a member of their clan.

When the final gorilla stood up and returned to the crowd, Rathe stepped forward to offer a few words.

"We all know that Dioro was never one to show his emotions, but I'm sure that he was happy to give his life for us, especially now that he left us little Oli. I'll be the new chief from this point on unless any of you have a problem with that?" glancing at the crowd, Rathe made sure not to see any objections. "Then it's settled. Now, let's continue with the ceremony."

Rathe, with his strength mostly recovered after resting half a day, walked a few krin to grab a boulder twice his size. Effortlessly, he swept his hand past the base of the boulder and released just enough essence to cut through it, giving the massive boulder a flat bottom.

A group of four gorillas stepped out with Fontu at the lead as they picked up the boulder and placed it over Dioro as his tombstone.

Then, essence gathered around Rathe's palm and fingertips as he slowly pressed his hand against the stone, marking the tombstone with the chief's approval for the soul to move on.

The new gorilla chief released his aura and dropped his hands to the side when he suddenly turned around to see an intruder patiently waiting to interrupt the ceremony.

The crowd followed his example, taking a battle-ready stance. Ania and Vloz examined the intruder, curious about their intentions. Oli was floored to see Trada limping and barely able to stand.