The bodyguard leader trembled violently. He stared in amazement for a breather as his eyes opened and he saw his surroundings. Then, rapid destruction began in his body; Maria’s spirit was at work, who had been trying not to absorb her child’s life force for years.
Within thirty breaths, the young bodyguard had turned into a pile of bones in his skin. The spirit, which had finished its work before the eyes of those who watched with amazement, was slowly floating above the eight-sided star in the middle. Unlike its exit from the first body, the energy of the soul was calm and yet familiar.
“Maria, darling, this is you, isn’t it?”
Niko was the first to react, and the gray-haired man cried out in hope as he almost smelled the scent of his wife he was holding in his arms.
“Yes, my love. I couldn’t imagine seeing you again.”
When Niko fell to his knees, unable to withstand the storm of emotions he was experiencing, Fernandez, who started to walk towards Maria’s soul with sobs, shouted “Sister!” The tall man’s every step was timid but big, and as he approached the symbol, a voice brought him to himself.
“Don’t step inside!”
When Nafız, whose face turned white, looked at her with her blood-red eyes, the painful brother would come to himself. The people were unaware, but the female orc performing the ritual was having a hard time.
“Who did this to you, darling?”
Niko on the ground was also shaken by Nafız’s voice and ran to Fernandez.
“Should this be the first question the man I’ve loved all my life would ask when he sees me?”
Of course, Maria knew who the culprit was, but she had made up all kinds of excuses not to tell. The spirit of the kind woman who had spoken to her brother and husband for a hundred breaths suddenly turned around. His daughter Eftelya was slowly opening her eyes, and Maria, unable to overcome her desire to talk to him, let go of the two men and glided towards him.
“My beautiful daughter, I’m sorry for what I caused you all these years!”
Maria was not full of violence and vengeance, as she attached her soul to her daughter without being tortured. She always restrained herself not to harm her daughter, but still, the young girl’s suffering was too much.
“Mother, you are the one who endured this torture to protect me. Forgive me!”
The mother-daughter reunion was getting heart-wrenching. Maria had not spoken much to herself while parasitic in her daughter’s soul. As each attempt at communication overloaded the victim’s mind, the tragic woman had only called out to her daughter at crucial moments.
“Goodbye to your mother, Eftelya!”
Nafız, whose life force was evident, shouted to the young girl in a weak voice.
“Daughter, do not seek revenge. Living your life is the best gift you can give me.”
Maria repeated the sentence she had said to her daughter in every fit of anger all these years. The young girl had gotten used to living inside her mother, even though it hurt her, and they were breaking up with him now.
“Goodbye, Mom!”
When Eftelya’s words were over, Maria’s spirit form disappeared into nothingness, looking at the tear-drenched faces of her sister and husband. While everyone was shaken by the burden of experiencing a great event, Nafız could not stand it anymore and collapsed to the ground.
Tonight the inhabitants of the city were in their beds, as usual, none of them aware of what had happened, but what was to come in the coming days had already been lit. Whatever Maria said, the two men burning with rage would not change their minds. The leaders of two of the city’s three most prominent noble families had embarked on a road of no return.
In the gladiator school, dinner was eaten, and after the tiredness of the day, everyone retreated to their corner. After his first fight, Alyon had moved into caged rooms with purple alloy bars with the others.
“We made fun of you when you came, but you misled us all; you’re a badass orc!”
As Alyon stayed among these men, he began to keep the pulse of the environment better. The gladiator school was like a small orc tribe, where the strong ruled over the weak. He now had the title of orc that made history and had equal right to speak with others.
“It’s okay, but how long do you intend to live in this vicious circle?”
Laughter broke out in the vast caged space when the question was over, the veteran gladiators giving the same reaction every time they heard the question. They laughed because laughter was the first defense mechanism developed by man, the only barrier to despair within them.
“What can we do, orc? Do you think you have any salvation when even your honorable tribe is selling their kin as slaves?”
The voices cut like knives as the burly blond man sitting next to her spoke. Every word of this sentence is accurate; the pain it caused to the hearts was just as intense. Alyon was not surprised; it was challenging to keep one’s head upright once it was bent.
“I will only tell you one thing. If you want to see better days, hold on a little longer and don’t die!”
As the tone of the great orc’s voice reached his ears, he involuntarily gave goosebumps. The gladiators, who had laughed before, froze this time, and a sprout of hope fell within them.
The gladiators, who took their usual places for training in the morning, would open their sleepy eyes wide when they saw the change inside the school. The areas that had been empty for a while now that the guards had gone were now filled with fully equipped soldiers in purple alloy armor.
“Morrison, assemble the gladiators!”
Quintus shouted with delight as he entered the door with two of his larger bodyguards beside him. He was able to hire guards from Nikonya, the commercial city of the neighboring region, for his home and school, which had been left defenseless by order of the City Lord. How could he not be cheerful?
“Girls, the boss will talk to us, line up immediately!”
When the gladiators lined up in front of their watchful owners at the voice of their trainers, Quintus, who had gathered the bodyguards behind him, began to speak.
“As of today, I’m taking back Morrison’s powers within the school. He will continue to live here as a simple person!”
The fat man, who stopped for a while to watch the faces of the gladiators after his first sentence, continued his words, looking down.
“Mikhael, the head of the bodyguard, is the new head of the Augustus gladiator school with full authority. Does anyone have anything to say about it?”
The short blond man would not neglect to press the veins of the angry gladiators as he finished his words. He expected that someone would lose control and be punished as an example for those who remained. Ten breaths, twenty breaths, time passed, but the crowd of gladiators was dead silent.
Quintus was disappointed; he felt compelled to screw things up.
“Morrison, look at what you’re guarding at every opportunity. It looks like we’d better replace your workout clothes with skirts.”
The fat man was hitting the gladiators at their weakest points. Everyone agreed that their trainer was a caring father figure. Finally, a person who had been at the school for a long time came forward, unable to resist.
“You fat dwarf, how can you consider yourself superior to us when you make money off our backs!”
Here is what was requested! Quintus’ gladiators had a plan to incite using the bond they had formed with their trainer.
“Quickly catch this fool! Mikhael, it’s time to prove yourself; I expect a creative punishment from you!”
The atmosphere was cold, and as a group of soldiers marched towards the shouting gladiator, no one, including Alyon, could decide what to do.
————————————————————————————————————————–
The roads to hell are paved with good intentions.
Karl Marx
