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[h3]⛼ A7 - The Ever-Burning Mausoleum ⛼[/h3][sub][i]Co-Written with ERode[/i][/sub][/center]
"The Black Ledger."

The man nodded, but only in understanding.

"Those who bring such bodies, their family or their companions, remember such deeds. As for us, Flame grants purification so that an unshackled soul may rejoin the cycle without regret."

The gravekeep stared for but a moment, nodding when he was finished with such brief internal deliberations. It was clear, to some degree or another, how such an order - the believers of the Flame-Face - treated with death. They saw it as another part of their cycle, a cycle of souls from one life to another to another. They saw souls as malleable, that they would come back into life after a moment in the black sea beyond. He had not considered this, for souls had always seemed evidently abounding in that sea beyond. It did not seem that the soul of a screaming hellion might find themselves transformed from one state to another, to that of a peaceful being, yet then again they had passed through the veil of the most severe transformation of all, that of death.

And yet, it did not seen to change his holy writ. The recording of those who had passed was a holy mission by its association with those who were living, those who would read the names and the deeds and be able to know again the dead. Thus would the soul be kept and saved, not forced to be left abandoned in the sea beyond.

"Who writes in the Black Ledger? What do they record?"

“Of its record, one takes the name and the dates, the cause and perhaps their occupation.” He peered closer towards Lethe. “Are you not of that flock? Few concern themselves otherwise, except those personally involved.”

"I am a recorder of the dead. My ledger is my own. In recording those who have passed, their souls are preserved and protected from oblivion, and the living profit by knowing those who have come before. This is what I have held for truth. Should you be correct, or should I, it does not alter the impact of the record. Do those who so record in your Black Ledger want for aid in their holy task?"

"Curious."

The older man folded his arms.

"The Black Ledger is a denomination separate from this Mausoleum, though their work finds greater purchase with those who have lineages storied or wealthy." He gestured at Lethe's appearance. "If you wish to join them, they can be found in the Royal Road...though I suppose their practice is not one that aligns well with your faith."

A slow cock of the head followed, questioning, contemplating, marionette-like almost. That the older man did not comment on the clashes of his own reasoning with the gravekeep, yet felt the need to do so when comparing the man with the Black Ledger, was something of an insinuation which he did not enjoy. "Why so?" 

"Their's is a belief that there are lesser and greater lives. Through records, legends past dwell within the present, while the chaff are scattered and left behind."

A quirking of the lips. The flames consign all to equal oblivion, whilst the ledger separates those with pasts forgotten and pasts treasured.

"You don't strike me as the type to extoll the virtues of an unbroken lineage, though your work resembles theirs."

A snort came as the response, a mouth wry with the sour thoughts that came from such blasphemous statements. The Black Ledger truly did not sound like an institution which would agree with the gravekeep. "All souls have worth. Those who could accomplish greatness have been snuffed away in childhood while those who do not stretch their lives away. I make no judgements to the dead, only service so that they may be spared oblivion."

He paused, considering. "Would the Flame-Face give men toil? Would it patron a ledger in exchange for men at the fire?"

"We worship but differing Faces of the same Deity, who dwells amongst us even past their demise. So long as your labour is honest, I've no reason to refuse you and yours. Mind that the pages don't burn though."