Natalie's eyes fluttered open, and she got up with a start. "What is this? Where am I?" she babbled in panic. The young woman's eyes were so dry she could barely open them.Her memories flooded in suddenly, making her heart race even faster. "Oh, no…" Natalie mouthed. The last thing she remembered was pandemonium and destruction.***The Douglas roundtable members were safe and secure inside their UNIMOG military truck. They were confident of victory against the progressing Cooper army. After all, they had a rocket launcher vehicle that had already demolished the enemy's vanguard.Suddenly, a tall, old man in green robes appeared from the forest side. The stranger had an uncanny vibe about him. His eyes focused on the UNIMOG as if he could see its owners from afar through the thick armored walls.Silas was about to instruct the old man to escape the battlefield. However, Malcolm stopped him, claiming the stranger was the mythical Green Monk.On the one hand, the royal army's soldiers
"Mmmmm…." the trio mumbled. Their mouths were sealed to their utter surprise, and even a word could not escape. "Pathetic insects!" the Green Monk thundered. "Do you think I would let you chitter in my presence? Be grateful that I haven't killed you yet!" The trio also found their limbs paralyzed. How could the stranger perform such supernatural feats casually? The group's only hopeless hope was for Tyler Grant to arrive and rescue them. However, that was rather unlikely. "I will leave survivors behind so that at least someone remembers today's lesson!" the Green Monk declared. "However, in exchange for your meaningless lives, I will accept these three beautiful damsels as sweet offerings!" "Rarely have I seen such opulent skin, lustrous hair, and sensuous bodies in El Abyssium! These women will be my concubines, slaves, and sacrificial lambs, depending on their talents. Be grateful for being chosen by the Great Goliath!" Natalie, Britta, and Gina stumbled back instinctively,
Natalie looked like she had seen a ghost. “What did you just say? Gina will be sacrificed? What do you mean by that?”Britta looked away so that her cellmate would not see the pain etched on her face. She considered herself a hard-boiled, self-dependent woman who never wept in the face of trouble or loss. In fact, the young woman had no recollection of the last time she cried.Britta’s parents were killed in battle when she was little. She was raised by her grandfather, Butch Salvatore, the previous Seraphim King.Butch was loving and caring until she was ten, after which he grew cold, distant, and harsh. The old man forced his granddaughter to learn martial arts and live a high-octane life in which she was constantly challenged.One day, little Britta returned from school crying because boys bullied her. Butch made her skip dinner and the next day’s breakfast. The girl gave the boys a taste of their own medicine during recess. Only then was she allowed to sit at the Salvatore table a
Montserrat Prison was located in a desert an hour away from Sapphire City. Most of the cells were underground, and prisoners saw sunlight only for thirty minutes a day.It was late at night, and the establishment was as cold as ever. To be fair, the criminals incarcerated within its walls were colder and heinous. It wouldn’t be a repetition to emphasize that it was an especially freezing night.Most prisoners were grateful for the moldy but thick blankets provided by the jailer. However, one of them refused the supplies.The anomaly was an old man serving a life sentence. People called him Sal. He was considered senile and kept in a solitary cell.Sal was in his seventies, yet the most dangerous criminals in Montserrat prison feared him. The old man was built like a giant at six feet four inches. Even though he barely ever worked out, his muscles bulged like those of a professional wrestler.“How does Sal stay so ripped when he barely eats anything or lifts weights?” one of the patrol
“It’s pointless!” Tyler declared with exasperation, lying down on the lush grass. “I give up!”He had been toiling at the borders of El Abyssium over the past hour, trying to find a way in. However, all attempts had turned out to be futile.“If it were a physical barrier, I could try breaking it down with Indra’s Vajra. If a magical barrier were blocking the path, I’d manipulate it with Hephaestus’ Touch. But if the path itself is invisible, how can I overcome it?”Kat shrugged nonchalantly. “There must be another way…” The goddess had been watching her husband silently, a playful smirk lurking on her lips as if she knew something he didn’t.Tyler whipped out the map parchment again. “The map categorically says the path to El Abyssium opens only during a full moon,” he added. “On other days and nights, maybe only the Green Monk can grant access. So I’m completely helpless!”Kat walked over to her supine husband and crouched beside him. “Show me the map.”Tyler raised an eyebrow at her
Kat giggled for almost a minute before responding. “No, silly! Time travel? Even the god of gods, Quetzalcoatl, can’t turn the wheel of time!”Tyler had a quizzical expression on his face. “Then what did I just experience? The days and nights came and went—like a time-lapse!”“I can’t see the future or travel through time. However, as the patron goddess of the moon, I know the language and patterns of the celestial bodies. I can imagine what the night sky will look like in twelve days. You can consider it a cosmic projection of my divinity.”“So you mean-”“Yes! You misinterpreted the map’s riddle. It actually said the path will open only when it SEES a full-moon night. It didn’t say it HAS to be a full-moon night.”The forest parted as if on cue, and a paved path opened before them. Under the moonlight, a powerful gust of wind blew from unseen lands that had been inaccessible until now—El Abyssium.“Have I ever told you that you are amazing?” Tyler murmured.“You know I love flattery
When Natalie heard she was chosen to be Goliath's bride and that the madman intended to deflower her in a public ritual, she was visibly horrified. What sins did she commit to have such a despicable fate? The young woman decided she would rather jump to her death from the open window. Where was Tyler when she really needed him? Britta convinced Natalie that there was still hope. She sent a message to her grandfather, Butch Salvatore, requesting a rescue. The old man was the Seraphim King himself. He was in prison, out of choice, to fulfill a promise he made to someone long ago. Even though their relationship wasn't perfect, Butch wouldn't allow his own blood to be killed by an old maniac. Moreover, to antagonize him into action, Britta cleverly mentioned that his heir, Tyler Grant had failed. The Green Monk's name was the icing on the cake. Butch cultivated high hopes for Tyler's future during the training days in Montserrat. He enthusiastically sent a message to his granddaughter,
“I… I don’t understand…” Natalie muttered, looking at Trent in shock. “How are you standing before me? I say you die…”The young woman vividly remembered the one-sided battle outside the East Sapphire forests. The Green Monk went berserk, raining fire, flood, hail, and lightning on his enemies. In minutes, he wiped out most of the Douglas royal army.The Cooper and Hilton outfits realized Goliath’s wrath would consume them as well, so they tried to escape the battlefield. For those two armies, it was their first encounter with the supernatural. Watching Armageddon unfold before their eyes was bizarre. The soldiers’ survival instincts kicked in, making them flee for their lives.However, Goliath would have none of it. He considered all three armies equally offensive.An inferno erupted around the Cooper army, burning them to sooty husks. The Hiltons were on the horizon, about half a mile away. Even though Goliath’s attacks chased them, they narrowly escaped annihilation.Natalie watche