Story 65. From Hell to Another Hell (3)

Chapter 111

A long time ago, Ara lived. Even before then, I think that maybe there was Isnilen.

Born from the Maker, she fell in love with humans, and she promised to bless them every time she was reborn. No one knows if she kept her promise, but what we do know is that even whenever humans did something stupid, Ara loved us so much that she would forgive us and disappear.

Suddenly, I heard something that wasn’t a voice. It was beyond the typical sound; it was someone’s will I could listen to in my head.

“It was promised that she was to be born as the first daughter every time. But the first daughter was not beautiful like one would expect from the Goddess. What king would bed such a woman?”

“Our prince, who wasn’t the Goddess’ warrior, requested to meet with the Virtuous Priestess. He also asked to experience the drug, and the lowly girls would not dare to refuse him.”

“The next Goddess must be born from the Virtuous Priestess and our kingdom’s Goddess’ warrior Hakim Karid. Any other daughters born must be killed even if it means invading the sacred harem.”

“Unless the girl immediately showed divine power, it didn’t matter who became the next Goddess since she will just be a puppet. Everything will work out. An average person will end up becoming promoted to the positions of the saviors. This is how things work in any kingdom or city.”

“Hey, listen carefully. The church doesn’t care who the real Isnilen is. All it wants is someone, anyone, who could pretend to be this symbolic figure and will still be easily controlled.”

“But the thing is, if you were born in such a lowly family, no church would accept you. After all, you need money for the church to hire you as a priest.”

“How dare you pretend to be Isnilen? More like a traitor! Kill that traitor!

These events happened over and over again in our history. Saviors existed, but they were murdered again and again.”

Suddenly, I saw a scene in front of my eyes. A very young Hawaki was standing there. She was in her mid-teens, and in a clear, intelligent voice, she said to someone, “Hmm. That’s what I thought, so what is it that you want to do?” She looked very young, but she looked as regal as any mature queen.

The prophet, who also had a look of a young man, was kneeling before her in an Alinchan outfit. He replied, “I want to find the truth in the holy land. Being born a savior, what my burden has been too great to bear, so I wanted to find the truth. That is why I came here, the hometown of my soul.”

“And how would you accomplish that?”

“Please let me meet the priests of this place. The ones your highness protected since the beginning…”

The floor of the harem began to be filled with water as Isnilen’s pale beings appeared. Their voices whispered desperately, “Isnilen… Please take our lives at once. That is your mission!”

Suddenly, Hakim Karid appeared while holding and pulling out his giant sword; he walked towards them and slew them. He yelled, “Shut up, all of you! What a joke! If Nazlahil isn’t the Goddess, who could it be? She has to be the one.”

Hakim Karid was 18 years old, and he slept with women only once or twice so far. He walked towards Hawaki and the prophet before motioning his men to kill them as well. The prophet held his rusted sword and announced, “Oh, I forgot to tell you that all Hwen men are warriors. We fight with our swords to protect our family. I heard that in Minurd, there is only one warrior, huh? I may be here as a refugee, but you should not underestimate me…”

However, he was no match for the warrior. Even as a boy, Hakim Karid was the direct descendant of the greatest conqueror, and there weren’t many in Alincha who could defeat him. The warrior killed the fragile prophet quickly. He was about to rape Hawaki again before leaving when the pale hands appeared from the ground to grab his ankles. A voice said to him, “Ah… Unless it is a true mission, I cannot be killed. I cannot die, Pagan Warrior.”

Hakim Karid, trapped by the hands from the ground, asked, “What mission?”

“Hehe… Warrior boy… This will actually benefit you too. Attack and conquer Hwen. You must kill as many people as possible there. You must steal Hwen’s essence and eradicate the kingdom. Will you trust me and do this?”

Hakim Karid turned around suddenly and slashed at the voice in the air, but nothing happened. The voice said to him, “Huh? Huh? No matter how hard you try, the Goddess will not be reborn because I am Isnilen. I need to be reincarnated for the Goddess to be born again. Get it? Oh, what’s that? The warrior cannot get it up? Is he sterile?”

It was true that the Goddess wasn’t born again to our world. That poor man… Perhaps the warrior was really sterile. Was this the will of the Goddess?

“Shut up!”

I thought I screamed out the words, but it sounded like Hakim Karid’s voice. Suddenly, my eyes opened. Was I dreaming or hallucinating? Am I still dreaming now? Was that a dream inside a dream, and I still wasn’t awake?

In front of me, the prophet waved. If he was floating, I would have thought I was hallucinating, but I saw that his feet were touching the ground. He said to me, “Hey, get up. I told you that a living man must keep walking.”

“What?”

“This is where the memories of the sacred place flow down and pile up. It’s the bottom of the world of consciousness. There are good things and bad things here. They die and get mixed together to be reborn again. It’s where an eternity of death and life cycle exists. This isn’t a place for people like you.”

He came towards me and offered his hand. I didn’t take it and began to limp. When I walked unstably, he offered me his hand again. Remembering the moment I begged him to save me, I finally took his hand. The dark wet floor felt soft and squishy.

He said I needed to walk, so I did, but to where? Was he telling me to walk just to survive?

To live?

I asked him, “I didn’t know you could speak my language so well. Before this, you were talking nonsense.”

“Oh, that.”

He pointed at his head and replied, “This place is my consciousness, so basically, you are inside my head. Get it?”

“… what?”