Greyashe chapter 375 is entitled "What was taken."

Previous chapter 374: Phantasmagoric.

Next chapter 376: All of the magic in the world..

Summary page

-Short summary-

News travels fast as the recall's effects weaken and disappear. What is left after their advent is a sense of the unknown...

-Long summary-

War is an interesting thing. If it is a flame, it takes only a cinder to ravage, and a deluge to extinguish.

If it is an event, it only takes one over a day's course to begin, and several more over years and years to end.

If it is people then...

Even those without magic are easily able to tell that the worst event in (recent) history has at long last come to a close. The sky which had looked like it was on the verge of falling for some time has welcomed azure hues back into it's good graces; almost as if nothing had happened at all. Perhaps that is the most terrifying aspect of war --how easy it is to forget that it happened. For the victor to sweep aside all little inconveniences and continue living their life as if nothing had happened. In that vein can people really say that they are any better than the one who tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to oppress them? It's a question that several years of contemplation really can't answer so the rites of forgiving and forgetting are employed as they usually are by people. Maybe it's just hiding, and maybe it isn't right, but when one has a lifespan as short as the average person it's quintessential to life itself. 

The people who can crawl out of the rubble and count their blessings do so as the white clouds dip into a sky blue pool above. There is still much work to do even now. It is this ability to forgive and forget that allows people to advance even in the face of death. Truly it is this that deities, and even sentients fear the most from their mortal cousins. When one cannot be subjugated by their own mortality then they cannot be at all. Yet, even with all that had happened, all that they had gained and lost, there is the sense of a greater loss that cannot be identified. The feeling that there is an aspect that cannot be returned, despite what they had gained from emerging victorious.

The students of GMAGY find themselves dazed but mostly alive despite the recall's effects. Cayden finds the tutor he had reviled so long keeping a lone vigil outside of a fragmented classroom building, and at first is simultaneously relieved and annoyed to see the man who had caused him so much heartache over the years simply "okay". Seriously, would it have killed him to look a little worse for wear after this whole ordeal? Although he can only remember hazy inclinations of things that happened up until this point --mainly that of the Goddess killer returning as an angel and saving them from themselves temporarily, he'd still think that Adele would be more than just a little winded. Though respect has to be given to him, even if it is begrudgingly. Making his way over to the tutor, he makes a comment about how immaculate his clothes are, and asks if they do causal clothing? A man has to look good even at the end of the world. Upon receiving no reply, Cayden creeps closer and gasps at what he sees. The ice user covers his mouth with a hand and clenches his fist in sudden rage and sadness. Iselia awakens and notices him standing alone with Adele, and makes her way over to see if he needs any help. Cayden shakes his head and tells her that there's sadly nothing more they can do to help him, though at the very end he hadn't forgotten his duty to them as a teacher. To have his end come this way is just too cruel. Iselia gasps and tears form in her eyes as she ascertains the truth, of their tutor who had pushed himself to stave off the effects of the recall enough to keep them from leaving the safety of the school and encountering magicians, or innocents who they might have inadvertently killed in their crazed state, and what had he gotten for his valor? Killed by the very students he sought to protect.A body --and not a man is before them, riddled with the effects of several types of elemental magics. Harrow then shouts at the two that they found something they need to see. Iselia and Cayden trade a look and follow their friend, not wondering if it is more tragedy that they will find, but to what extent.

People do have a fondness for looking up when they are down. Maybe to ignore their own earthly plights? Little do they know that trials and tribulations are everywhere, and come in uninvited.

The Choir members murmur about the events that had just transpired down below. They had of course kept their promise to stay out of human affairs, but the conclusion to this conflict has them concerned in many ways. The admittedly fragile balance that humans and magic had has now been shattered, and it is unknown how this will affect their relationship (or lack thereof) in the future. They truly cannot say whether their connection with the world down below is one of mutual revulsion or otherwise, and furthermore they had lost two angels who had taken pity over these people at the cost of their own lives which is another point of contention for them. Could they completely sever ties with the beings down below? Or, rather, should they attempt to increase the amount of interaction between them? No easy answer would come to these questions, and that alone is another worry some aspect of this ordeal. They had even managed to create one not unlike their own! Granted this one is vastly inferior to them, but who knows what kind of further detriment to their kind they could achieve if left alone...

It is right then and there that the choir makes a decision on what should be done about the beings down below. Be they silent observer or active participant, they need to act now.

For now, rather than combating that well armed sense of the unknown with already battered bodies, let healing begin in the safety and comfort of home.

Kani and Guy can barely believe their eyes when a jeep pulls up in front of them and it is Libby at the wheel with Reid in the passenger seat. The swordsman has enough gauze around his face and arm to rival Kani's but he gives her a thumbs up to indicate that he is well. Guy smirks and asks if the mummy look is in this year, and Reid continues his thumbs up, just with a slightly more offensive finger. Libby asks guy about the person he's carrying on his shoulder, and if they're....you know. Kani assures them that he is alive, though she's not entirely sure what happened to him. For now at least, they should return to the capital and give him medical attention. He had been having off and on seizures since they started making their way back on foot which had been a great concern to the two of them. Libby nods and offers them a ride, explaining that they had managed to find the abandoned car in their own search for help. As soon as the skies cleared up however, they decided to find out what had happened. Needless to say, Van had somehow managed to save the day hadn't he? Kani sighs wistfully and concurs, but she was hoping at least she--no, they could have helped him more. Libby comforts her, and replies that finding him help, and being there for him had been more than enough. The witch thanks her with a small smile, and the group is soon off to the capital.

What ends up being lost after a war differs from person to person, from place to place, and heart to heart. Little things that were taken for granted are more apparent, and people once known in one light are seen in another. War changes everyone it comes in contact with, be it in a physical sense...

In Greyashe, Roysé, Nick, Nancy and Sikes anxiously rush Lazaro and now Candle who had suddenly collapsed and begun writhing in pain to a medic. The angel has a slight inclination of what is occurring, and comments to the others that she may need to be transported somewhere else immediately.

Or otherwise.

At the cathedral where the Unloved troops had fought alongside the Challengers against the magicians, the youth who had joined this war for revenge is the first to notice something very wrong. He had stared at his hand and tried to "sense" what was missing; he had at least trained in tracking magic, even if he doesn't actually use it. It's presence is familar and in a very, very, very minute way assuring. Now however, things just seem off to him. Which is to say he kind of knows what's wrong, but his brain cannot think beyond what would be considered "common sense" to allow for such a conclusion. The more he extends his senses and looks at his hand, however the more this possibility becomes likely. It isn't long before fear seizes his body and he begins to hyperventilate.

The very same elements that had been with him --no, humanity for seemingly longer than memory itself are now gone.

If what people lose in a war could be quantified simultaneously worldwide all at once, then would loss itself gain something?