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It was quiet in the truck as Libertus drove down the dark, empty highway.
He had offered to do a solo run along the outer roads. Driving near the coast to check on a few abandoned structures for missed supplies, or a lone survivor who may have taken refuge in the building, before swinging by Hammerhead to go over their stock of supplies versus what Lestallum had. See what was needed and what could be traded between the two places. Supplies were running thin, but they managed well enough.
While most runs were never pleasant experiences, some were definitely worse than others. Especially when he would run across abandoned vehicles of previous hunters or Glaives that had gone missing on a run.
Sometimes, he would be able to piece together what happened to bring closure to those left behind. Others, they were left with no answers, just the remains of a vehicle, and whatever may have been left inside. If the vehicle was still in decent condition, he’d mark on the map where it was located and another group would come out to pick it up. More often than not, however, it got left behind as a silent memorial that no one will visit.
It wasn’t something he enjoyed doing, but he had become better accustomed to doing it the longer the night persisted.
When the darkness first fell, driving solo used to bother him. The sounds of the countless daemons around him unsettled him, knowing there was no one there to watch his back if, or when, shit hit the fan. Often he wouldn’t volunteer to help unless he could go in a group, or there was literally no one left to take the job.
After a few years had passed, hope was continuing to dwindle amongst the masses, and Libertus soon realized that he had let his fears rule his life for far too long. The new set of Glaives needed him as their leader, more than just a follower. Once he broke down and talked to Cor, the Marshal agreed to help Libertus become the leader the new Glaives needed.
What once was anxiety inducing, had now become second nature for him. Sure, he’d been in a few close calls, but he’d always make it back alive somehow. He vowed to continue doing so.
This trip however was different. Libertus had made it a point to let at least Cor know he would be late coming back. He needed to make a detour, one that was much needed for him to let go of the past, and move on with the future.
As he drove along to a certain clifftop, his thoughts soon drifted to the years prior to the fall of Insomnia. Those in the Glaives that had lost their lives on either side of the war. He had spent many years thinking about what had happened, and how he no longer faulted any of them for their actions if they had ‘betrayed’ the others. They had been caught in a failing war and were given a way out. So they took it.
Libertus had been one of those to cross that line in a moment of selfishness and pain after the loss of Crowe, until he heard the truth. He realized that Drautos had been playing them all for fools and was the reason many of their ranks had lost their lives.
As he pulled up to the familiar clifftop, a spot he had visited many times before, his thoughts drifted back to the one person who never gave up on him, no matter how stupid or selfish he had become. The one person he truly called brother.
Nyx Ulric.
Nyx always had his back, and saved his ass on more than one occasion, whether due to a flaw in their plans, or his own stupidity that caused him to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was also the one person who Libertus continued to hope had survived the final battle against Drautos, so he could thank Nyx for the push that he gave him to get him where he was today.
Cutting the engine, Libertus kept the lights on for safety, took a deep breath, and slipped out of the cab. The sounds of daemons drifting on the wind made it known that they were his only companions this evening as he walked towards the edge of the cliff.
As Libertus stood there, he sighed softly. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he pulled out a stack of letters. With the most recent letter on top, he trailed his fingers along the words written on the paper. Words that he had read at least ten times before this moment.
Libertus looked back up to the ocean, held out his hand, and waited for a gust of wind to come. He closed his eyes, and let go of the letters as the wind grabbed them, pulling them far away from him.
“Goodbye, Nyx.”
There was something freeing about being able to let go, and say goodbye to someone he had held onto for so long. When he opened his eyes, Libertus let the smile spread across his face. He watched the wind carry the letters far away from him into the abyss, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“Nyx,
Where do I start?
For starters, this will be my last letter to you. I had held onto hope that you were out there, somewhere, after the battle with Drautos. But I think deep down inside, I always knew you had died that day.
After seven years, I have finally come to terms that you really are gone, and I can let go. But just because you’re gone, doesn’t mean your memory has to be. I think about you often, and at times will talk with people of the past. Tell stories of how stupid you were, how stupid we both were.
You know, I think you would be damn proud of who I’ve become and what I’ve achieved, and really, I owe it all to you. Nyx “the Hero” Ulric, the man who put others before himself, including me, who had the hardest time putting others before my selfish needs. I learned a lot from you, and carry those lessons with me each day.
This never ending darkness has taken its toll on many of us. I’ve watched many comrades fall around me, and there have been times where I thought I was going to fall myself. But I kept hope that something, somewhere, would get better. Finally, I realized that I had to make things better myself, it wasn’t going to change by me sitting around. So, I took on leading the new Glaives. We go out to protect innocent people. Take out daemons. Do supply runs.
Nothing has changed. It’s still “For Hearth and Home” and we strive to keep those surviving through this darkness alive for as long as we can.
You know, I’ll always owe you one. But now I get to be the hero.
See you on the other side, brother.
- Libertus”