Gunmage
Chapter 107: When the voices stop

Chapter 107: Chapter 107: When the voices stop

"Graves?"

Aveline asked in confusion.

"For who?"

"People"

Lugh replied simply.

She stared at him oddly but kept silent, savoring the cool breeze brushing her fair skin.

Her steps slowed as she wandered between the graves, moonlight bathing her petite figure in silver.

There were a lot of them, a whole damn lot.

Had he been digging for an entire month?

"How many of them are here?"

"I... don’t know"

Lugh answered honestly.

"How many do you plan to make?"

Lugh hesitated.

"30,000"

"Thirty—?! If you don’t know how many are here, how will you know when you’ve reached your goal?"

"I’m not sure yet"

He said, before adding

"But I’ll know"

A pause.

"Perhaps when the voices stop"

Aveline felt a chill crawl up her spine. She took a small step back, instinctively. Then she calmed herself.

’A little strangeness never hurt anyone... I hope’

A strange quiet settled between them. Aveline had longed to see him again, but now that he stood in front of her, she wasn’t sure what to say.

"U-uhm"

She began, voice trembling.

"Can—do you know how to play chess?"

"Chess?"

Lugh echoed.

"Yes"

She said, gaining a bit more confidence.

"Some of me can"

He replied.

"Some of—? Never mind."

There was definitely something odd about him.

Another unsettling silence took hold. Aveline was about to bring up the strange nature of his eyes, but Lugh spoke first.

"It’s getting late. We should head back."

"Oh... okay."

She sounded disappointed, but she didn’t press.

They walked out of the forest and slipped through the expansive meadows and manicured gardens of the grand manor.

While moving, Aveline suddenly remembered something.

"Oh! I almost forgot, uncle Edrin is around. He mustn’t know about you. Be careful."

"I know"

Lugh said simply before abruptly veering left.

"Where are you going?"

She asked, confused.

"There are two guards patrolling that area. Only one in this direction."

She stared at him, baffled.

She wanted to ask how he knew that, but decided not to.

A guard, dressed in the deep royal colors of House Von Heim, suddenly flinched at the sound of movement.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

He stepped forward, weapon in hand, and turned the corner in one smooth, practiced motion—

Only to see a rat dash into the underbrush.

"Oh... just a rat"

He muttered.

Before he could return to his post, Lugh and Aveline had already slipped past like shadows.

This scene repeated several times across the estate.

In the rear garden, Lugh knelt and dug up a rusted metal grate, swinging it open with quiet precision.

"Where does that lead?"

Aveline asked, reluctant to follow.

"A hidden chamber"

Lugh replied, giving no further explanation. He vanished into the darkness below. She had no choice but to follow.

The tunnel swallowed them whole, Lugh descending first like a shadow into the dark.

Aveline followed reluctantly, brushing past roots and cobwebs as the air thickened around her.

Deep below, she found him working at a dead-end wall, until he revealed a hidden notch and produced a strange key made from scavenged materials.

With a turn, ancient mechanisms stirred, counterweights, pulleys, and gears groaned to life. The wall cracked open into darkness.

They entered a vast underground chamber lit by eerie blue phosphorescence.

Iron pipes ran through stone walls, books and relics lined forgotten shelves, the air reeked of old oil and secrets.

Aveline could only stare. This had always been beneath her home?

Lugh said nothing, leading her up winding stairs until they reached a hidden door. With a twist of his hand, the panel slid open to reveal a quiet manor corridor, untouched and unsuspecting.

As the secret door vanished behind them, Aveline glanced back, but there was no trace it had ever been there.

"How did you find it?"

She asked.

"The rats"

Then—

"This is where we part ways"

He said, turning.

"U-uhm—wait!"

He stopped.

"Tomorrow. Same place. I’ll bring my chessboard. We can play."

He paused, thinking.

"Alright."

"S-see you then!"

She exclaimed with a bright smile as she darted toward her room.

Lugh vanished, as if swallowed by the night.

...

She seemed happy, he noted to himself.

Well, that made sense. The assassination attempt on Isolde had happened nearly a month ago.

Since then, Isolde had placed strict restrictions on her daughters’ movements.

In normal times, noble ladies hardly stepped out unless for tea gatherings, royal balls, or sightseeing. Isolde had once been lenient, her daughters were free to roam as long as they were well-guarded.

But now, even protection wasn’t enough. So, she locked them in completely.

She had also promised to teach Lugh magic in three days.

Lugh wasn’t particularly eager to learn, but he was curious. What kind of arcane systems had the suppressed humans developed?

Unfortunately, that promise was never fulfilled.

Two days later, a man arrived at the manor, someone Lugh had never seen or even heard of.

He had straw-brown hair and looked to be in his early thirties.

They called him Edrin.

Isolde’s reaction had been... curious.

She welcomed him warmly. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was what followed.

Lugh’s already-tight confinement became suffocating. He wasn’t allowed to see anyone.

Not even the maids came anymore. Every morning, a large tray appeared in his room. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at once. Delivered without a sound.

He assumed it was the work of the so-called "shadows"

He’d seen them once, slipping through the window. He didn’t let on that he’d noticed.

If he needed anything, all he had to do was write it down. By the next night, it would be delivered with the tray.

Soap for the in-room bath. Drawing materials. Measuring tools. Copied journals of renowned physicists. Large sheets of parchment.

Yes. Lugh had made it his mission to complete the last wishes of the souls he absorbed during the collapse of Drakensmar.

More than 90% were done. Most of the souls were desperate. Simple wishes formed in the agony of death.

Let me live.

Make the pain stop.

Their anguished voices tore through Lugh’s mind, shredding his soul with each whisper.

He couldn’t bring them back. The dead remained dead.

But in another sense... he had fulfilled their wishes.

After all, he was alive.

And he was not in pain.

He was them.

And they were him.

Lugh had known this truth for a long time. He had simply refused to accept it—

Until now