That Day

After the attack was countered successfully, the two return home through Leo's tunnels. As a point of interest, Simon decides he wishes to count how much time it would take them to get from the western shore of the Caspian sea back to the tower using the tunnel. Unfortunately for him, his watch doesn't work inside the tunnel, neither does his phone and the only piece of technology which actually works properly inside is the metal phone all the heroes appear to posses. Still, it is impossible to tell if it is the tunnel itself which works like that, or if Leo designed some kind of contraption to stop people from mapping out his constructions. Regardless, it would be impossible to map out an imaginary structure, a tunnel which goes in a straight line from one point of the planet to the other without interacting with the outside world. Could it be, a building from the world of ideals?

"I should have allowed a higher number take my place. This journey was useless." Alexandru says while Simon opens the door back to Lazar's apartment.

"Father! He will kill me!" And in an instant, without realising what was taking place the king launches out a wave of spears from the floor into the ceiling, breaking all the furniture and impaling Lazar a thousand times.

"NO!" Simon shouts jumping out of the door frame and into the room, stumbling over broken spears, crawling and unable to catch his balance as he runs towards Lazar. He stood no chance, his body was pierced by spears so thoroughly his limbs were disintegrated.

"SON! What are you doing here?" The king shouts furiously, only now realising what he has done.

"Call Enzo! Call a doctor, call someone!" Simon shouts as his clothes get covered in blood trying to hold together what's left of Lazar's body.

"What are you doing here boy?" The king grabs Stephen by the shoulders and slaps him furiously. "What are you doing here?"

"He, he invited me here." Stephen says producing a letter allegedly coming from Lazar. "He wanted to speak to me, to convince me to end my grudge against his servant. When I arrived however he attacked me and I defended myself."

"All lies!"

"Silence plebeian, a noble is speaking!" The king stops Simon from interrupting.

"I tried stopping him without killing him but... but I couldn't. He was overwhelming me and if not for your arrival I would have been killed."

"By an old man who had one foot in the grave? He suffered an incredible wound when he fought the tech smuggler. He could have never posed a threat to you!" Simon counters but it is impossible to say. The room was covered in cuts, broken spears everywhere. Stephen himself was covered in blood and bruises and parts of his body were torn away as if narrowly being missed by Lazar's flesh tearing attacks.

"We've got to call Leo, let him know what happened here!" Simons says desperate trying to reason things out while still holding Lazar's body in his arms. Stephen pulls out his phone but Leo won't answer.

"Call the Lion. Call the fu*king lion!" Alexandru says throwing his phone at Stephen. Stephen picks up the phone and starts dialling the number.

"Lazar is dead." Stephen says and a door appears before he could even finish the phrase. A few moments later Leo appears from the other side covered in scars on his back and one big one over his chest. His face was red with anger.

"The call is coming from inside the Century Tower." Leo says showing them the screen of his phone. "How did Lazar die inside the safest building on the planet?" Leo shouts slamming the doors to his tunnel behind him.

"I killed him."

"Prison!" Leo says and an immense door opens inside the room. It was just a fragment of the actual door but what was about to come out of it was small enough to pass through. The doors slightly open and immediately jumps out number 3, the Last Survivor. Just as the gates open, it sounds like a mutated voice screaming, like some kind of hellish, monstrous ram was ordering his enemy to crumble. Without a warning, Alexandru's face is smashed into the ground with enough force as to knock him out cold. Number 3 was on top of him, the ever iron clad knight, enforcer of the Tower's will, victim to a relentless curse. Number 3 is a knight, humanoid in nature although his arms and legs are longer than usual. There is no distinction between his armour and his body as they appear to be one and his helmet has mutated and grew a jagged maw which is the only display of emotion the knight has. Fearsome and strong, loyal to a fault to humanity's side yet unable to control his animalistic instinct for battle, when he is called few dare to stand tall before him and fewer remain standing when he leaves. The hound of the Tower, he enforces the rules inside the building with enough strength to rival even number 4! The Last Survivor struggles to keep himself under control and not long after he knocked the King out, he returns to his station, back beyond the enormous gate. As he returned to his confines and it was safe for regular humans to enter, more doors open and there came soldiers bearing heavy weapons and even heavier cuffs. They lock Alexandru out but before they could take him away Stephen intervenes.

"He did killed Lazar but he did so in order to protect me!"

"Why are you here? Weren't you forbidden from leaving your kingdom?"

"This letter! I receive this letter from Lazar informing me that he wishes to negotiate. He wanted to end my grudge against his servant. Yet when I came here he attacked me. He tried to kill me!"

"I am no judge. I cannot decide your fate. Know this, if it were up to me, I would kill you on the spot." Leo warns Stephen knowing from a mile away something else happened that night, but he didn't knew what. He was too drunk and confused for his mind to work out properly all the details and for the exact circumstance a court of law exists only to judge the crimes of those inside the tower.

"Arrest him too and if he tries to resist I won't call out number 3. I'll send you to him."

"Understood!" The soldiers say starting to work. Numerous men surround Simon who was still holding onto Lazar's body.

"Touch him and I'll kill you! Did nobody called Enzo? Is there no doctor that can help? Somebody do something!" Simons says pointing the spears inside his body at the men trying to retrieve Lazar's corpse.

"Would there be any... comfort if I were to tell you Lazar's soul is guaranteed to go to Heaven?" Leo says sitting next to Simon, sending the paramedics away with a wave.

"He killed Lazar. He killed Lazar and his father is an accomplice. I could have defended Lazar if I were here, neither of them could hurt me! If I was here, I could have saved him, maybe stall enough for Lazar to call for help but that royal bastard took me away and then his son came here and killed Lazar as vengeance since he could not hurt me!" Leo gently rises his hand out towards Simon but backs down knowing all the platitudes he has prepared would be seen as just that. He couldn't say anything to Simon which could cheer him up.

"Would you help me notify his family?"

"That's cruel Leo."

"I lost everyone but one member of my family at a very early age. When I was 5 the Oortians attacked my city and my parents died right in front of me. I didn't knew I had powers back then, I couldn't save them. My wife didn't knew about hers either. We both think how it could have been different, how we both definitely could have saved them. There is a man I know, a man which isn't part of the 100 but works for the tower. His powers allows him to see different timelines, different versions of events which happened in the past for others. He can see into his own future, decide whether to take one action or another. He is the sole reason the lottery no longer exists..." Leo chuckles a little. "Never in my life have I asked him what my life would have been like if I saved my parents that day. If you want I can put you in contact with him."

"To spin me a beautiful tale about how I could have save Lazar and prove myself as the hero? You can have his body now, I have heard his spirit talk to me. By the words of the man whose life was wrongly taken, I swear revenge!" Leo lets out a deep sigh then has his men take everyone away. Immediately after, Lazar's body is collected for his funeral.

For the next few days the tower is quiet as its most senior resident with the longest history has been retired, not on duty honourably discharged, nor painlessly in his sleep. His ancient life was snuffed out by circumstances that will be decided not long after, but most importantly first, the funeral will take place. When one of the 100 dies, especially one from the 90s upwards, it is a huge deal. Most if not all heroes die a heroic death and although they might not have been loved in life, everyone is given a solemn farewell. Something luckily is seen less and less frequently as humanity starts thriving, more of the planet is reclaimed and more of the alien threat is eliminated. Still, the whole city is wearing black for this occasion. Lazar was among the most visible members of the 100 with most of his work being on the ground inside the city. Everyone was allowed to participate at the funeral, everyone. The broken nose King who was denied Enzo's healing food. The castigated prince who was seen as responsible for the event. They shamelessly presented themselves at the funeral as well. Simon was preparing to descend into the streets, to follow the procession when a young woman approached him.

"You must be my great grandfather's servant. My name is Yana." She was a slender young woman with shoulder length platinum blond hair and very tanned skin. Her features were quite more Asian compared to her progenitor although there is a joke to be made about Magyars and the people of the steppe, returning to their origins. It would go all over Simon's head though. Yana was carrying a black suitcase with her, one which was intending to hand over to Simon.

"I was given the order by my great grandfather, to provide you this suitcase in case you haven't received it by the time of his funeral. Although attached to life, in the later years he appeared ever more content with the arrival of death and made plans for it." She says giving him the suitcase. It was lighter than expected although it felt somewhat incredibly heavy.

"These are his tools." Yana says looking longingly at Lazar's cane and a secondary weapon of sorts. It was a large curved knife made out of a material halfway between metal and bone. It was orange like bronze but it was rough like stone.

"This, is not a dagger." Simon says realising he was unable to absorb it into his body. It looked like a weapon but it wasn't a weapon.

"Do you have time? My great grandfather told me about these tools and their use during the night of the shattered sky."

"I would like to hear that story."

And so Yana started telling Simon the story. It was back during the reclamation wars, when humanity crossed the Bearing strait and headed back into the Americas. Knowing that was a vulnerable spot in their defences, the Oortians created a monstrous entity out of oceanic water and rose it high into the sky becoming like a glass dome over the earth. Covering the strait in eternal darkness, raining ice and snow as the temperatures dropped because of the darkness, harnessing strong winds generated by the unequal temperatures. He, alongside several few other members of the original tower and an army of conscripted men with powers were tasked with destroying the stained glass. The few, higher tier heroes above him were killed during the initial assault as the sky was falling on them. The mass conscripted soldiers with powers were going to be slaughtered. It was a battle against impossible odds but they had to win it, otherwise the whole assault would have been for naught. If the Oortian forces were not enough, if the conditions were not unbearable already, there was also an Oortian construct wrapped around the Stained Glass itself. It was an enormous hydra like monster whose body was like a tornado.

Only three heroes survived, Lazar being one of them. The second survivor was the original inventor of the endless cut, the technique Yue Fei now uses as his own. The third and final hero who lived to tell the tale was Aretti who at that time was the 36th hero and quite fearsome. His powers allowed him to infuse characteristics from legendary weapons through myth and history into fakes.

"All he told me about how he pulled through was that this thing, it isn't a weapon but a stake."

"Why wouldn't he leave these with you? I believe you are far more attached to these objects than me."

"These are not heirlooms but tools of justice. Consider them your burden now." She says before giving a courteous bow and leaving. Left without a clue on what to do with those, Simon stores them before thinking about bringing Lazar's cane with him to the funeral. If nothing, he would insult the two men who killed Lazar by having it.

At the funeral, nearly all the heroes were present outside of those who were forced to engage the enemy in battle that day. Still, it was surprising seeing the top 10, all but number 1 present at the funeral, sitting away from the rest, on a risen platform behind the 100. Simons didn't had any chance going anywhere near them, quite the opposite, he was a simple member of the crowd, caught between complete strangers who came to pay their respects to the fallen hero. It was a closed casket ceremony as the body was too damaged to show to the public. For the day, people were allowed to pass by the casket and leave trinkets or say a prayer after which the body was taken to a private cemetery where only the family and close friends were allowed inside. Simon was not invited to the private funeral as he was just a servant and the rest of the family were not in contact with him the same way he was with Lazar. Still, he stood outside the graveyard and listened from afar as the burial took place, sitting on the edge of a fence, looking down while holding the two items Lazar gave him. Simon's mind was filled with questions, with what will happen in the future. Perhaps he will resume his work with the men he met during the Kuiper attack on the alien technology facility. At the same time some of his friends were travelling north to the tower in order to start working. Will the tower even allow them in now that all of that happened? His only option was to wait for the day in court to come since he was called as a witness against the two alleged plotters.

Once the ceremony is done, Simon could see Lazar's family leave the graveyard from afar. It was high time for him to leave as well, to return to his old apartment which he hasn't used since Lazar took him in. Now that a new hero took the 89th spot in the tower, Simon was no longer assigned to that floor and had to leave. Luckily he has money for the time being. He starts going back home and stops at a nearby restaurant to buy himself dinner, nothing fancy, something warm and fatty to cover up the bitter taste of the funeral.

"And one of the good ones had to die, not one of those bastards like number 4."

"I say this is homicide! I bet that little pompous prick of a prince planned it all."

"I hope they get what they deserve in court. I hope they are thrown out of the tower. Like they aren't rich and powerful enough, just having their own country filled with servants and little more than slaves to serve them." It was a small comfort to know the people were on Lazar's side on this subject yet it was disheartening knowing nothing truly punishing will happen to the two, even if found guilty. Unless the whole tower agrees, it is very hard to punish someone from inside, especially when a blockhead like Jebe could be easily convinced that Lazar being the 89th hero, was closer to regular humans than the strong heroes of the upper floors. All it would take is for number 4 to intervene then Leo would intervene to spite him, then number 6, then more heroes and it would all descend into civil war unless someone gives up and the only ones capable of giving up in that situation would be Lazar and his family. All of Lazar's children are powerless and so are his grandchildren and so forth. He had many friends and the public opinion is on his side, but not necessarily the opinion of those that matter. After all, the tribunal and the court exists to give the common folk the appearance of justice, not justice itself.