"The serpent is unconditionally evil', for centuries this is what the Holy Chronicle has portrayed. But sometimes, I wonder if people would still feel that way if they heard the serpent's side of the story.
At that moment, I truly sympathized with the serpent, at that moment when her warm loving gaze turned into a gaze filled with disdain and contempt.
At that moment when she aimed for my life without any shred of mercy.
At that moment when she remembered the rabbi describing all the iniquities and transgressions my kind had committed.
At that moment when she became my judge and executor based on a millennia-old text.
In her mind, I, a nine-year-old was the inexcusable existence who would cause the wrath of God to fall on the world once more.
The hatred full look in her eyes hurt, it hurt so bad that I couldn't move, it hurt so bad that...I asked myself...
Should I just die?...NO....NO....NO....NOOOOO....I DON'T WANT TO DIE....DON'T...PLEASE....PLEASEEEEE!!!!!"
.....
"At this rate, we will all die before even reaching the end of this damn desert." Hagar said while pulling out his axe from the corpse of a Shamir.
The scenery before him was a gore and bloody one. Most of the team members were engaged in a disadvantageous battle with the monstrous Shamir who had ambushed them in a group.
This was already the fifth battle today and most of the knights were either fatigued or injured. They were barely holding on and the monsters' wave was becoming too much to handle.
To make matters worse the Shamirs that appeared this time were probably grade 4 monsters as three knights had to work together to take down one of them.
"If you are done on your end, help the others!" Phen yelled at the top of her voice. She did so while engaged in a brawl with a grade 4 monster.
And it cost her dearly.
In the brief moment where Phen looked elsewhere, the Shamir formed a thick first with one of its many limbs and mercilessly drove it into Phen's torso. It's attack was so intense and overwhelming that it completely shattered her armor and battered her core.
"Urghhh!!!" she dropped to her knees and let out an agonizing sound. Coughing up a huge chunk of blood, she ultimately let go of her weapon.
Phen had her knees to the ground with her torso arched forward, her head bowed and her arms lifelessly hanging down. She seemed to have lost all hope as she didn't even bother to defend herself against the slowly approaching fist of the Shamir.
Just as its fist was about to close in on her, she let out a surprising grin.
Turned out that, Phen had purposely let her guard down to give the Shamir a false sense of victory and cause it to carelessly mess up its final blow. And she was successful.
The Shamir's final blow was so slow and light that Phen had no trouble reining it in with a slight parry. Once she had altered its trajectory, she grabbed the Shamir's limb with her left arm and aggressively pulled the giant-like Shamir's towards her little body.
With all her strength she launched her leg towards its limb and dealt a massive blow to it, her kick was so intense that the monster's elbow bone not only dislocated it also pierced open its skin.
"Gahhhhh!!!" the Shamir screamed as its repulsive blood gushed out like a waterfall.
But Phen took no pity on her opponent as she raised her leg high into the air once more and stomped her feet on the sand, her stomp created such a huge quake that even her sword bounced up into the air.
She performed a front flip and used the sole of her boots to catapult her sword right through the thick and large neck of the Shamir. The little hole the jetlike sword created in its neck and its previously sustained injuries were enough for the Shamir to slump and die.
This kill counted as Phen's sixth in a single day. She was truly a monster...but even a monster grew tired. Phen felt every part of her body screaming in pain as a result of the tremendous damage she had taken in her fights.
She wanted to run to the aid of her team members but she couldn't even take a single step forward as he collapsed and fell unconscious.
.....
"....!" Phen jumped awake.
She was at the same spot she collapsed earlier but when she looked around, the monsters were all dead. It seemed like her teammates had successfully subdued the monsters.
*Sigh* Phen let out a deep sigh in relief only for her eyes to widen. She saw her team including Yeshu sad expression's as they formed a circle around a wide area.
'No way. Did someone di...no, let's not have such thoughts.' Phen tried to deny the unavoidable reality and ran toward the team not minding the pain that was eating at her body with every step she took.
She reached where they were gathered and the look on her face noticeably changed.
'Lady Phen.' Yeshu said with a soft voice. He couldn't bear to boldly call out to her at such a time.
Impromptu graves with rusty swords acting as the gravestone. This was the horrible sight that welcomed Phen. Seven members of the team had fallen prey to the Shamirs, some of which the bodies couldn't even be scavenged.
They were people she dined with, fought with, slept with, laughed with, cried with. They were all dreamers who one day hoped to reach her prowess but now they were dead. All dreams and hopes gone, that was DEATH.
Phen almost let out a tear but she remembered her responsibilities to the nine team members who were among the living, she told herself it was no use crying over the dead and hardened her heart.
She got to her knees, clasped her hands together, and looked up to the sky.
"Remember, O Lord, God, the Messiah, ruler over Spirits and Flesh, men of the true faith, give them rest there in the land of the in thy kingdom, in the delight of Paradise, in the bosom of our forefathers, our holy fathers, from whence pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away, where the light of thy countenance visiteth them and always shineth upon them." Phen prayed.
"Amen." all eight knights said in unison.
Yeshu looked at them with curious eyes. Maybe it was because his father knew he was a Miracle Worker, Jose never introduced or taught Yeshu the way of the church, so Yeshu unlike other children of the continent grew up without any particular religious belief.
He, a Miracle Worker, his existence itself was blasphemy against God, a death sentence if you will. Why did people believe in a God who commanded a young child like him to be nailed to a cross and whipped to death?
Even the Kings and Emperors bowed to the Pope out of respect for this God. What exactly was it that drove people to him? Yehsu truly wanted to know why humans seemed to need something to believe in.
'I should ask Phen about the contents of the Holy Chronicles later on.' Yeshu thought to himself.
After her brief prayer, Phen stood up straight, picked up her also rusty sword, and stuck it in the ground. She placed her hands on the hilt, held her shoulders high, and began her speech.
"Our Comrades have fallen and ascended to heaven, they are not inhabitants of this Adamah world anymore and they share our duty no longer. It is now on us as servants of the Messiah and knights of the Great Azorian Empire to finish what we started!!" Phen shouted at the top of her voice.
Her audience were the Knights who stood proudly before her.
The eight Knights left were Leah, Hagar, Galit, Thud, Ascah, Earnar, Liab, and Happach. They were the top powers of the group and managed to escape the fight without sustaining any substantial injury.
Phen continued...
"Even if we cross into the very depths of hell, we will return home proud and strong! God, the messiah has promised to keep us, his will says we shall not die but live and live we shall!!!!"
"And live we shall!!"
"And live we shall!!"
"And live we shall!!"
"And live we shall!!"
The fired-up Knights all chanted at the top of their voice, all but one, Leah, he didn't utter a single word.
He silently stared at Yeshu with a smile on his face....it was almost creepy.