Death's Ascension

There are certain objects in this world that are so delicate yet so beautiful, so important but can be taken so easily.
In the kingdom under the Sun, a woman was hard at work creating her masterpiece. The woman was attempting to make a mask of gemstone for her husband, a Cleric of the Ever-Light. Like most couples in this kingdom, they were gifted with high fertility and had many children. The woman and the Cleric loved each and every one of their six children. As fate would have it, one day the Cleric was sent on a dangerous mission for the Ever-Light and he did not return alive.
The woman cried to the sun begging and pleading, asking why such a fate would befall her under its watch. The woman received no answer. She went to the temple and was assured that the soul of her husband was with the Ever-Light now and was among the pearl sands. She buried the body at the base of an elm tree. She managed to finish the mask she had made for her husband, she placed it at his grave and vowed never to work with gemstone again.
As the years went by, she continued to lose what remained of her family. Her oldest child attempted to follow in her father's footsteps before she was ready and fell in battle. She cried up to the sun again asking why but again received no answer. She went to bury her eldest child next to her father at the same elm tree. After she had buried and said a prayer to the Ever-Light to allow the soul of her daughter to go to pearly beaches of her realm, she had noticed a single raven perched atop of the tree. She left a mask made from turquoise to mark it.
She lost two more children later to a sickness that spread through the lands that the temples were unable to quell. She stopped begging for an answer, she knew she would receive no answer that could comfort her. As she buried her two children next to her eldest and late husband, she looked up and noticed the same raven now another perched at a lower branch, staring back at her. This time leaving behind a mask for both made from animal hides.
She lost another child to one of the largest bandit raids of the age rumored to be led by an Emperor. She humbly brought the body to the same tree and buried it next to the others, leaving a mask of wood. She looked up expectantly and saw two more crows perched below the first two.
After she had lost the other two, gave them their own prayers and leaving behind masks of obsidian, she was left alone with only herself. The woman was older now and expecting. Before she became unable, she went up to the tree and began to dig her own grave. When she finished, she looked up at the elm tree that had seven ravens perched on it, all looking at her. She held the last mask that she would make, a porcelain blank face with two eye holes that had a streak of tears coming down from each and placed it on herself.
At that moment an eighth raven flew down and landed on her shoulder. She looked at the raven through her mask and spoke in a hushed voice, "I only wish that no one have to suffer my pain. The pain of not knowing that their loved ones must pass without a guide" in that moment the seven ravens perched on the elm tree flew down and swarmed around her. She vanished in a flurry of feathers never to be seen again and leaving an eighth grave empty.