Everybody hurts

Wei Huoran was staring at his Qfold in disbelief while sitting on his couch at home. He hadn't known Chief Ironclaw for a long time, or even did more than chat with Chief Snowfur in the chat room occasionally, but their sacrifice touched him deeply. After a few minutes, Huoran typed,

-BossWei- What will happen to both chiefs?

-ChiefBlood- They will be honored according to the rituals of their tribe. The surrounding Yak clans will soon arrive to accept the villagers who survived.

-ChiefEagle- Once they arrive, they will also honor Chief Snowfur, and bury him as traditions dictate.

-BossWei- Then what?

-ChiefBlood- Then Chief Razortalon and I will escort the remaining Ironclaw bears back to their home and leave.

-BossWei- You two are his friends, how can you leave?

-ChiefEagle- Daoist Wei, the funerals of our people is deeply steeped in tradition. We are allies of the Ironclaws, but only members of the tribe can be present during the ritual. Friends and allies are allowed to honor the dead and make tribute after the year of mourning.

-ChiefBlood- Daoist Wei, We will be returning soon to gather our members, and returning home. Times are volatile right now, we need to keep our tribe together, and we also don't want the events on Shou continent making its way here to bother your master.

-BossWei- I understand, I'll make sure we have enough stock so that you can defend yourselves. If things get real bad, I'll offer to you the same as I did for the merfolk. We will offer protection if the situation worsens for you and the members of your tribe until all the stones are found and sealed again.

-ChiefEagle- Thank you, Daoist Wei.

-ChiefBlood- We will consider it, but for now I need to go. It's my turn to guard the village.

-BossWei- Ok, I have something to do as well, but don't hesitate to send a message if you need something, Farewell.

Huoran put his Qfold away in his storage ring, went outside, and took a personal taxi to Rhythm & Spirits, a dive bar located on the edge of Market Square. It was known by a small number of people for being tucked away from the busy streets, low lighting, cheap drinks, and playing jazz and blues music.

'What are you doing?', Quanliyuan asked.

'Since I can't wish my friend a safe journey at his grave until next year', Huoran said as he sipped his drink, 'I'll just use a different method.'

Huoran downed the rest of the drink, and ordered another drink.

'Don't have too much and lose control', Quanliyuan remarked.

'It's only for tonight', Huoran countered, 'Don't expect this to happen again anytime soon unless something really horrible happens.'

'Why does it sound like you are blaming yourself?', Quanliyuan questioned Huoran, 'There isn't anything you could have done.'

'I know', Huoran sipped his drink, 'I can't do anything right now, but that will need to change.'

Huoran raised his drink, and looked towards the sky, "I'm sorry that we only knew each other for a short time. Safe travels on your journey to the next life."

A few days after the battle in the north, beastkin from the three closest villages finally arrived. Jaeger Bloodclaw looked on as he saw the banners for the Frostmane, Stormstride, and Misty Peak clans approaching Snowfur village. Chief Bloodclaw, Chief Razortalon, and Elder Yara stood at the entrance of the village before the Snowfur elder stepped forward, "Welcome to Snowfur village, I'm afraid that because of recent events, we are not prepared to properly greet you at this time."

Three giant and hairy beastkin stepped forward, from the left to right the introduced themselves, "Gormuck Frostmane", "Durgan Stormstride", "Thundar Stormmane of Misty Peak".

"Can I assume that you are Chief Bloodclaw and Chief Razortalon?", Gormuck inquired.

"We are they", Jaeger affirmed, "Now that you have arrived, our watched has finished, and we will leave."

Razortalon added, "We will leave today, but we have one request."

"State your demand and we will consider", Thundar proclaimed.

"Our ally, Chief Ironclaw, fell in battle alongside Chief Snowfur", Razortalon explained, "We beseech you that we are given permission to retrieve the his body. We vow that our only intention is to return him and his tribesmen back to his lands in accordance with tradition."

The three beastkin looked at each other for a moment before Durgan spoke, "We will allow this, but only the two of you can enter while being escorted by us."

Jaeger replied, "We agree to your conditions."

The three yak chieftains entered the village, and Chief Bloodclaw, Chief Razortalon, and Elder Yara followed after, walking through the ruined streets until there reached the statues. The wolf and eagle approached the stone bear, picked it up, turned around, and walked back to the tent city. When they arrived, all the tents had been taken down and put away, and groups of wolves, eagles, and bears were waiting for the two chiefs. When the Ironclaws saw their chief, they began to roar in sadness, and pound their chest.

"I know how you feel, Ironclaw tribe", Jaeger expressed his grief, "We, the Bloodclaw wolves will escort you and Brother Ironclaw back to your home."

Razortalon shifted into his true body, "Sky Talon clan, it's time to go."

All the eagle beastkin followed Razortalon's lead and morphed as well. The wolves and bears mounted their flying mounts, and Chief Bloodclaw and Chief Razortalon took off into the air. The rest of the three tribes spurred their own mounts into the air, and soon everyone was flying in formation.

The next day, Wei Huoran was back in Simspace with two men, Sage Vigol of the Array Formation department, and Sage Neridia Tideweaver of the Artifact Refining department.

"We are very busy Daoist Wei, I wonder why you invited us today?", Vigol probed Houran's intentions.

"I have to report an unfortunate situation, sages", Huoran replied, "Chief Ironclaw and Chief Snowfur are no longer with us."

Sage Tideweaver reacted, "May they dance in the eternal tides."

"They confronted the holder of the Bull stone", Huoran explained, "To protect those around them, they sacrificed themselves to give Chief Razortalon an opening to deploy our sealing artifact. The good news is that the artifact worked, the bad news was because they were ambushed, they couldn't be successful without sacrifice."

"So, today's meeting will prevent future events?", Vigol sought answers.

"Hopefully", Huoran replied.

Huoran sent a command to Simspace, and a holographic image manifested.

"Is this a puppet?", Neridia asked as he walked closer to the visualization.

As he circled it, closely evaluating everything from every angle, Huoran said, "No, it's a battle suit."

Huoran sent another command, and the suit opened up to unveil a hollow chamber that only had enough room to fit a human's body.

"I have enough material to build one suit, and I have a list of what this suit needs to be able to do", Huoran clarified, "Sages, can you assist me in the creation of this artifact?"

"This is fascinating", Neridia responded, "I very much want to see the final result. Vigol, I can handle this myself, there is no reason for you stay."

"Tideweaver, don't think you can chase me away", Vigol angrily chastised the other sage.

Huoran materialized a giant cabinet with all the materials needed for the creation of the artifact suit.

"Here is all the schematics for every part, and this cabinet contains every resource we need to refine", Huoran elaborated before activating a screen with the list of abilities, "Sage Vigol, here are our target goals, we need to build the formulas and formations to achieve this."

Vigol looked over the requirements before smiling, "Brat, you certainly know how to take a mile when given an inch."

Sage Tideweaver had already walked to the supply cabinet, opening every drawer and investigating every material, "Why haven't I've seen some of this in my workshop?"

"I don't have much right now", Huoran said, "But our supply will increase soon as it matures."

Neridia grabbed an ingot of a matte grey metal and placed it in a blast furnace before initiating the fire. Vigol walked over to a blank screen, wrote one objective at the top, and started quickly drawing rune diagrams.

Huoran went to his own station, and sat down to sketch formations for a different objective, and the three fell into a rhythm.

In Snowfur village, there stood four groups of beastkin, the Frostmanes, Stormstrides, Yaks of Misty Peak, and Elder Yara, ten younger yaks, and the three chiefs.

"Thank you for assistance in performing the ritual for Chief Snowfur", Elder Yara said as she heard the younger beastkin behind her still weeping.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back with us?", Thundar implored the female elder.

"Perhaps later", she replied, "Chief Snowfur wanted us to go and see Sun God island before this incident. So I will fulfill his wishes, and take my disciples and family."

Yara turned around and signaled to a huge white owl that shuffled its way over. She instructed to younger beastkin to climb onto the owl before doing so herself.

"I will return when I'm ready, but I will go investigate if what Chief Ironclaw told us was true", Elder Yara told the three, "Until the next time, May the trails ahead be lined with prosperity and peace."

The elder prodded the owl, and the mount ascended into the air. No one could see her, so they were unaware that tears had flowed down her face.

"Goodbye, Kailash", she whispered as she looked back to the now ruined village.