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The Crystal Exarch had seen far too many devastated towns and villages in his time on the First. There were very few survivors of the attack on this small village on the edge of the Rak’tika Greatwood. It was more of a hamlet, really, but all the more reason the Crystarium should have protected them. Sin eaters had utterly ravaged the people who lived here, leaving few survivors and mostly broken buildings behind.
“If only the Crystarium had been alerted sooner,” he sighed. There weren’t even that many bodies to bury, for it appeared that quite a few of the unfortunate souls had been turned into sin eaters instantly instead of being spared such a fate and merely dying. Still, the Exarch stood in the center of their village and surveyed his surroundings. Around him, the guard was busy trying to organize the bodies, give medical assistance, and put out fires.
He approached a weary viis. She had tear stains on her cheeks, smudged by dirt. “Is this everyone?” he asked quietly, crouching to her level. “Are there more people we should be looking for?”
“I haven’t seen some of the others, but, maybe, they…” She didn’t finish, but he knew. Perhaps the missing ones had turned into sin eaters. Perhaps they had escaped. That was the hope, at least, but they both knew it was more likely that if anyone was missing, they had turned into sin eaters.
The Crystal Exarch placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said. “Please rest, and when you’re ready, go to the Crystarium. We’ll see how we can shelter you while your village here can be repaired.”
“Thank you, my lord. May the darkness bless you.” The woman tried a brave smile, and he smiled back.
Well, if they still had people to search for, he may as well make the effort. He got to his feet and walked in no particular direction, keeping an eye out for sin eaters or other beasts wandering nearby. He entered houses in case the guard had missed someone, but after three houses, he hadn’t found anyone. I wonder if this is a pointless effort? he thought, pausing for breath. It had taken a lot of effort to get through the rubble of the last house. Then he shook his head. No, if there could even be one more person left to save, it is not a pointless effort. She would stay until she was certain everyone was accounted for.
So, with renewed strength, the Crystal Exarch made his way into one more home. It was on the outskirts of town, but not too far to be isolated from everyone. A garden patch lay ruined next to it, and when he saw it, his heart fell. Somehow, seeing such hard work dashed to pieces made him sad. If whoever lived here had fled, there wouldn’t be much of a harvest to salvage. He made note of it just in case; unfortunately, if the occupants had died, what was left of the garden could still be of use to feed their community one last time.
He circled the house, just to make sure there weren’t any creatures or people needing help, and then finally entered. Immediately the smell of blood hit his nose and his heart sank lower. There hadn’t been much hope in the first place, but with how strong it was, it was unlikely anyone lived. Still, if he could, he would save those in need, so the Exarch followed the source of the smell and kept track of the destruction around him.
Small things stuck out to him as he trudged through the dwelling. Scattered laundry, and some of it worryingly small. A tiny toy. Something that looked like attempts at portrait sketches. Most of the house looked feminine, which he had noticed was more likely to be a viis home in a settlement like this. Where their men hid, he had no idea, but probably somewhere actually inside of the Rak’tika Greatwood.
It didn’t take long to search. A body was slumped in what must have been the kitchen. He approached and checked for a pulse. Cold. Sighing, he laid the woman down and smoothed her hair. “Rest in the sunless sea, my dear,” he whispered. Then he tugged the knife out of her fingers and noticed why she had been curled up so strangely.
A cabinet had swung open when he laid her down, and inside was a baby. One of the latches was broken, so the only way to keep the door shut would have been to keep her back to it. Slowly, he reached in. Had this child died too? But surely she would have been eaten if a sin eater had managed to claw its way past her mother? The Exarch cradled her in his arms and tested once more for a pulse.
Life.
He smiled. One small silver lining to such an awful day. “What is your name, little one?” he asked. “Did your mother put your name anywhere?”
The babe shifted unhappily, most likely sensing unfamiliar arms. Then, as he got to his feet, she let out a wail. Most others would have been annoyed or upset at the sound, but to him on that day, it was music. A hearty cry from a baby, who may have been orphaned, still indicated life. Still, he hurried to calm her and searched desperately for a name somewhere. She deserved one last memento from her mother, if he could find it.
It wasn’t until he upended an embroidery basket that he found a name. “Lyna” was embroidered on what looked like a baby blanket, and it looked half-finished. Perhaps he could find someone to finish the pattern? “Lyna,” he whispered aloud, and then tried once more to soothe the baby. “Little Lyna, are you all alone?”
He really shouldn’t have taken her cries as an answer, since she was only a baby, but it sounded like a “yes” to him. So he took the blanket from the basket and wrapped her in it. Lyna only quieted when he sang for her, which somehow managed to lull her back to sleep, so he kept humming his way back to the town square.
After weeks of initial hecticness, it was clear that Lyna had no one. So the Crystal Exarch made an unexpected decision and took her in as his own. What had happened to her home and her family (for it was revealed that not far down the road, a male viera had tried fighting off the sin eaters, and he was most likely her father) were tragedies, but he hoped that one day, she would view her adoption as a silver lining the way he did.