FHC B3 Chapter 58: Grimm Funeral

Food wasn’t the same with the impending weight of the funeral ahead. Alice stayed cold, silent even as she stuffed her face with what Volk piled on her plate. The big man himself was joined by his brother, the two doing their best to look away and keep themselves busy.

Busy. But only a few Grimms were in the room.

It was almost strange to see it devoid of the hungry crowd, but it was an odd hour.

I ate too, finishing the meal a tad slower than Alice, though I had to rush to keep up. She dumped her plates and rushed out of the mess hall.

Before I left, I caught Volk gripping a ladle hard enough to splinter the wood. He caught my eye and glanced to where Alice marched before sighing.

“Send my condolences, boy,” he said.

I nodded and chased after her. She took a second to look at me and then to the mess hall before shaking her head. Alice continued her lead and led us toward a Whisper Tunnel wall and slid inside.

I joined her and stopped as she stopped.

She paused. “I’ve never been to the room.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She turned and faced me, a complicated expression on her face.

“I’ve never been to the room where they host the funeral rites. I’ve mourned several deaths over the years, the loss of a Grimm. But I was never close enough to justify attending.”

“Do you know where we need to go?”

She shook her head. “Yes, but not visually. I think I want to walk there.”

Slowly, she led us back through the wall we had just entered and into the Warren proper. Alice hesitated but eventually started walking, leading us down a new set of tunnels. Again, I realized how little I had explored the place, not that there was much need.

Training, sleeping. Astra. Food. When would you have found time to explore, Cain?

It took nearly ten clicks, but we arrived at a dead-end. The end wall wasn’t a small corridor like usual; rather, it ended in a massive earthen wall lined with iron vines. They crawled across the four corners and into the middle in a lattice of runework.

“This it?” I asked.

“Yes.”

She placed her hand on the door and paused. Her fingers curled into a fist and she reached out again only to stop a mere inch away.

I slid closer and gripped her shoulder. “Where’s all that confidence and brimstone from earlier?”

“I don’t know,” she snarled.

It wasn’t directed at me, but I winced.

“Just remember the goal.” I released her shoulder and nodded to the wall. “Funeral. Then Devon. We get answers and figure out what to do from there.”

Slowly, she relaxed, but with visible effort. It wasn’t normal to see Alice struggle with something. She almost looked afraid. But that hesitation died as a thin layer of frost rippled across her skin.

When she spoke, her voice was carefully steady, neutral and cold.

“Let’s go.”

She placed her hand in the center of the metal runes and mana glowed to life around her fingers. The metal absorbed the flow and shot across the metal vines and into the leaves along the corners.

Unlike the hidden rooms, the wall rumbled and a hissing pop released the stone from its anchors. The wall retreated into the floor, revealing another tunnel. White-flamed torches lined the walls in intervals of five steps. And on the far side stood a black metal door.

Alice strode forward and I followed. When we reached the door, she didn’t hesitate. It opened soundlessly and we stepped inside.

Before I could examine the room, the door slammed shut and I felt several pairs of eyes look our way.

“Alice,” Adeline greeted, voice quiet.

She left the stone table she had been standing around and approached. As she made her way over, I examined the room, noting the lack of torches to light the extended space.

Unlike the tunnels, the room shared similarities to the awakening room where Kierra had acquired the system. A massive hole, nearly twenty meters wide, opened into the night sky. Despite the lack of moonlight or torches, the room contained enough ambient light to see comfortably, even if it hid the recess in shadow.

Mana filled the room and lined the walls in veins and ribbons across smoothe stone.

Outside of the hole and the stone table baring food, the room was surprisingly empty. The mana gathered around a black pedestal positioned in the back holding a covered lump the size of a body along with a circle of dirt before it exposed between the stone.

In the corners, painted in red, runes and glyphs lined the edges with vertical script. They didn’t glow, not with mana nor light.

From the table, Astra waved, and the others who’s faces I didn’t recognize nodded politely.

I waved back, but Adeline stepped within range and nodded to me.

“Cain,” she greeted.

“Adeline.”

She turned to Alice and studied her face. Eventually, she reached forward and hesitated before grabbing her shoulder. “Are you ready?”

Alice stiffened before blowing out a breath. “Should I be?”

“No, and no one expects you to. But here we are.”

I scowled. “That’s a little cold, don’t you think?”

“It is what it is. Elias… fell in battle well over several months ago. It hurts, and I’m still pissed. But I’m glad to finally put him to rest,” she explained.

Adeline’s voice wasn’t exactly angry, but it wasn’t the same neutral calm I had expected.

“Eli will be buried tonight. Whether I’m ready or not,” Alice stated.

Adeline flinched but nodded before turning to me. “Cain, do you mind if I talk to Alice alone.”

I looked to Alice, but she motioned for me to go ahead.

“Call me if you need me,” I said.

“I will,”

As I searched the room, I frowned.

No Devon. No Garret. Where the hell are they?

“Cain,” Astra greeted.

“Hi, Astra. Are you okay?”

I asked it politely, but the Grimm looked exhausted. Her regeneration had repaired her body, but she looked worn out mentally. Her eyes sagged, and her shoulders dropped. Even the chain around her waist drooped.

“I’ve had better days, but I’ll rest tonight after the rite,” she sighed. “That book continues to elude me, as does Devon’s journals.”

“You should get some rest. I doubt it’ll matter much for the upcoming fight.”

She massaged her temples. “Don’t remind me. The research is all I can do to keep myself sane. Nothing is normal now. Not everyone here, not the Prime. Especially not all… This.”

I smiled sympathetically and noticed the other two Grimms keeping their distance while politely talking between themselves.

“I expected more people.”

“Elias was always charismatic. Ever dependable and well-liked. But out of respect, they kept away for tonight. We all know the importance of giving space. And most who mourned his loss have done so already,” she explained bitterly.

“Adeline said something similar,” I said. I motioned toward the other Grimms. “Were they close friends?”

“Kimms and Arthur? Arthur mentored Elias early on. Helped him a lot when Devon wasn’t there. And Kimms went on several hunts with him. More than most. I doubt Alice recognizes them, Kimms especially.”

Explains who they are. But where are they?

I sighed and idly examined the table of food. It wasn’t extravagant or much, just as Alice described. A small deer; fresh meat.

“Astra?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“Any signs of Devon? Or Garret? We ran into Garret earlier. He said he’d be here.”

“Garret? No. I haven’t seen him in days.” She sucked her breath through her teeth and pointed behind me. “As for Devon… He’s right there.”

I turned around and heard the door slam shut.

Devon entered the room, dead eyes meeting mine.