What is the true meaning of life?
Somewhere in Georgia,Tbilisi,2023
A man and a woman sit in the gorgeous countryside surrounded by the grassland, the sun sunned bright, up in the sky the birds took off to experience the thrill of flight given to them by God.
The man said to the woman as he graced the beauty that was in front of him:
'I'm glad that we could get together because I have something of importance to say to you.'
'What is it?', the woman asked.
'The truth is that I have always loved you, Anna, you have become something more than a friend in my eyes.'
Anna replied to his heart-warming words:
'I like you too, Davit, ever since we were children, but I couldn't tell you because I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same'.
You couldn't be more wrong', he said, caressing her hair while the morning breeze blew in the beautiful countryside.
He then approached her to kiss her, then an explosion made itself heard far away.
Out of nowhere, a massive asteroid hit the earth lifting an enormous earth cloud and utterly obliterating Georgia. A tremendous glimmer could be seen around the world as it signified the beginning of a new world.
Arethusa, capital of the Empire of God, 2187
A girl can be seen walking through the many alleyways.
'I wonder if there will be food at the city camp today', she said sprinting towards the main street.
'They may have my favourite: roasted lizard and cactus juice'.
While guiding herself through the streets of the capital, the huge palace of the empire could be seen shining like a diamond among the poor neighbourhoods surrounding it.
The people were all skinny, you could see their bones protruding from their weak bodies, the elderly and the kids on their deathbed having to go through the recent pestilence that struck the population, leaving behind a mountain of corpses.
The girl continued to walk passing by the many stores trying to make a profit in this new world where the wealthy eat, and the poor starve.
Then she turned to a corner and encountered a mercenary, having a conflict with a strange, transfigured person.
He yelled at the girl: 'Watch where you're going bum' before continuing to harass the person who had been mutated into a human with bat wings and sharp claws for fingers.
He shouted: 'One of you monsters killed my brothers in arms, he sliced through them like they were butter, draining the blood from their wrenched bodies, eating them, devouring them, I will never forgive you'.
The person stood still doing nothing but glaring at the sky. It was like he was daydreaming memories of the past, where he didn't need to worry about the everyday life in the capital or the standards that prevailed about the appearance of someone.
While he was doing that, the mercenary exploited an opening and charged the mutant, drawing his sword out of his case, slicing him in the chest, and striking him in the face.
The mutant fell, giving way to a cry of pain. Then, following a couple of seconds, he arose and rushed towards the man with the intention of killing, showing his widened claws and anger towards him.
The mercenary had battled this kind of ''special'' people in the past and knew that one of their greatest weaknesses was their animal instincts.
Knowing that he dodged the simple yet fatal attack of the mutant and after kicking him in the knee forcing him to kneel, he aimed his gun at his head.
But the problem was he had miscalculated something. As the pain surround his whole body, he understood that something was wrong.
He looked down, and with a face full of terror noticed that the tail of the mutant had pierced his foot and after kicking him in the face he fell crying in agony.
Strange figures could be seen in the distance wearing violet armour and holding weapons of blue steel, the royal guard.
They were the country's special forces who were patrolling at that time of the day. They arrived at the scene arresting both men and returning to the castle. None would see them ever again.
After the incident, the girl continued to walk, finally reaching the city camp where all kinds of people could be seen: soldiers, warriors, travellers, and many other poor souls. But the one among them caught the girl's eye.
It was a hooded woman in grey, standing firm with a fiery look in her eyes as if she could take on the whole world.
She stared at her for a bit before continuing her business.
The girl went to the line waiting for her food. After a few minutes, it was finally her turn, but there wasn't any food left.
With sadness in her eyes, the girl sat down at the edge of crying. The woman in grey approached her giving her plate to her.
'You need this more than me', she said trying to smile so she wouldn't scare her off.
The girl kindly replied: 'Thank you very much kind lady, I promise to repay you somehow'.
'There's no need, I'm Daciana Metalic, what's your name?', she replied.
'My name is Esme, just Esme, nice to meet you'
'What an elegant name Esme'.
At that moment,
a shout could be heard from afar:
'We are the royal guard, sent by God's authority to extinguish any trespasser trying to impose heresy to our kingdom'.
'Has anyone of you seen a woman with silver hair and grey clothing traveling alone'?
Then the guard pointed towards the Daciana, announcing:
'There you are you witch, as the Holy Council orders, you're accused of heresy, having showcased your mutant abilities without first registering to the catalogue of the church.'
'Therefore, you're arrested and will be stripped of all your belongings until the investigation has ended.'
Not a second passed before the guard finished his sentence that Daciana started running with the whole patrol running behind her.
Esme followed them, taking a shortcut having learned the many alleys by heart after a long time trying to survive. She fell onto the woman right as she was about to jump a wall in a small alley.
Daciana yelled angrily: 'What do you think you're doing girl?'.
'I can show you a secret passage only I know to make your es-'
She was cut off by the guards who kicked her in the stomach and pushed her into a puddle of mud.
'Are you, her accomplice?', they asked.
Daciana stepped in front of her unsheathing a strange-looking knife that looked like it had African origins.
She said to them: 'Don't you dare hurt her, you scumbags, or else you're facing the wrath of a true witch.'
The guards rushed, swords in hand aiming at her neck, but little did they know the extent of the woman's powers.
She threw her clothes revealing her armour made out of pure steel with symbols familiar to the girl.
Then to Esme's surprise, parts of Daciana's armour began to change shape becoming a shield.
She used her weapons to knock down the first guard, then, she stepped forward piercing two with her knife and hitting another with the edge of her shield.
She finished them off and kneeling she asked if the girl was hurt.
But in the background, the soldier that was first knocked down saw an opening and without second thought took his knife out and tried to stab the woman in the back.
The girl saw this and instinctively picked up a sword lying in her feet and sliced him cutting off his arm before beheading the guard.
Daciana was shocked. 'How could a girl like her wield the sword so easily and like a demon? Her movements were graceful yet had the same power mine had, no, even greater.' she thought to herself.
She thanked Esme and after walking for a bit the two of them went to the entrance of the secret passage.
They said farewell to each other went their separate ways.
The woman continued thinking: 'How could she know those movements, I'm sure I have seen them before, and if she was so skilled with the sword why did she give it up? No matter, as long as it doesn't affect my cause I can continue my path.'
She said to herself as she made her way to a peculiar landmark, in the silence of the night.
End of chapter.