(Sorry, I have redone the chapter, not too much change if you have read the previous chapter 18)

 

With the continuous ache all around her body, Mahnu tried not to fall unconscious again. Her fingers, arms, toes, feet and legs were all broken and being pulled away from her body, so that she couldn't heal herself.

They had tortured her so much that even her clothes had been shredded and fallen, leaving her naked.

Dried blood nearly covered her entire body and new blood was falling to the already red floor of the small room, making the place feel extremely forbidden and scary.

Being able to read their thoughts, answers were found, and Mahnu couldn't help but be resigned to this state.

Thelmos and Eliza had been here all this time...How could I have not known that?

Both of them had stayed behind, when all the others had gone to war, and Mahnu could figure out why...Thelmos would have been too lazy and Eliza might have found...Better things to do.

Another thing Mahnu had found out, was that the tablet wasn't with them, so they still didn't know where The Chest of the God's was hidden.

It was really unbelievable that they had been happy here in Bracken for quite some time. Even though they hadn't always been here, but they...Do nothing...Wherever they are.

 

They had no want to take over the world, just slight revenge for the elimination of their kin. They didn't want much, well, besides that of Eliza's handsome young males and normal servants to serve them.

They had brought people here from other places, holding beauty matches for males, that Eliza would love to judge and Thelmos would just tag along, mostly because Eliza would drag him along.

They had the strangest type of relationship...

For the most part, Eliza can handle Thelmos, but...If Thelmos wasn't so lazy, he would have most likely left Eliza a long time ago!

He had a strange, innocent and childish type of behaviour, and Eliza was something he didn't seem to agree with...

Eliza seemed to think that Thelmos’s aura of ‘goodness’ wrapped around her and made her feel good, and in so doing, she felt like even more the appropriate God. Perhaps she did have some sort of self-conscious inside her that she thought she was doing something bad, and Thelmos seemed to equalize that feeling.

Mahnu couldn’t understand it at all! Perhaps it had something to do with the men disappearing…That perhaps if she had no men, she would have no fun…Any other idea that Mahnu came up with didn’t seem to match Eliza and why she would potentially feel that way…

Since both of them were rather lazy, they had taken a full year to travel, back when they had moved towns about two hundred years ago. They stopped often, even though they didn’t have their feet on the ground…

Besides that, they would spend many days just listening to music, dancing, drinking and having other types of 'fun'...

...It was actually something Mahnu found herself jealous of...That they had each other, whereas, she hadn't had anybody...

 

It was made quite obvious that Thelmos and Eliza weren't going to stop slavery and work with the humans. They fully believed that they could do whatever they wanted with the humans and had even slaughtered a few in 'fun' in the past as well. Eliza cared mostly for sex, nothing close to worrying for humans, and Thelmos slept a lot, laying down and day dreaming...In fact, Eliza had done much flirting, and more, with Thelmos, perhaps giving him that more initiative to stay with her and have no eyes for anything else...Mahnu didn’t look much further into their thoughts upon that…Seeing Eliza go crazy, to the point of not caring to hurt the person that she was being intimate too, made Mahnu cringe and wish to be elsewhere…

Daily needs for the human's survival had also led to many humans to die whilst a 'slave', so that the population had not increased lately, in fact, if any one looked close enough, they would see that population was on a very slow decrease... Eliza’s slaves would eat when she was happy, it was Thermos’s slaves that would die from hunger or thirst, because he was just too lazy to give the slaves the command to nourish themselves…No, he was so lazy he did not even think of them to give them that command…To a certain degree, Thelmos's speed of thinking was just too slow and once or twice a week to let them eat, was not enough! It wasn't like he intended to let them starve, it was more so that he took too long to get to the thought and put it into action!

 

It was when Eliza had taken the long lost Loyal Royal Knight Peter, that she found out about the tablet, that things had changed...

Straight away, Eliza had ordered for all but a few of the slaves to find the tablet.

Within the last two months, Eliza had doubled her slaves and made Thelmos do the same, and some of those people had indeed come from Cental, making Mahnu see them there as well. Strangely, the capital does have some mindless people there as well, just not as many as Cental and Bracken, because the tablet was known to be in Havlish and most of the slaves had headed in that direction…And that was what most of the slaves were still doing, some dying in the process because they don't even think to eat...Lifeless and with no thoughts and wants, it would be normal for their bodies to start breaking down...It was a sad process...

For humans, many times they fight for their dear life to stay alive, but in this way, they can't even fight...They can’t survive…

 

...Mahnu also doubted that if she couldn't talk her kindred into peace, then no one could.

She wondered if that was too much of a selfish thought as she let out a small laugh.

…As a small amount of blood trickled down from her lips, she wondered if she was truly abandoned from all the God's now?

Mahnu put her head down in defeat, thinking. Did I want forgiveness from them after all? Did I not know over a thousand years ago, that I had gone against them, not expecting forgiveness? Had I been in denial all this time? Mahnu sighed.

The candle had breathed it's last and darkness surrounded her. Mahnu tried to calm her thoughts and zoned in on the King's sufferings, only then was she able to withstand that little bit more pain.

...I must get out of here...

Talking didn't work, so I must put them away...Put all God's away. If there were no God's...Yes, even myself...Even myself...It will be my last service to the humans.

...Then, I will be able to eternally sleep.

 

That's right, she had time to think of her next step now and what 'sacrifices' could be made...

...Mahnu felt sad and lost at her last thoughts.

 She hadn't wished that normal desire of eternal sleep for a while and now that she had brought it up again, it felt wrong. But...The land of Kralaide will be better without us immortals. They will live on, to die just as they always...Had...

A tear fell from her face and Mahnu closed her eyes, feeling like it hurt to do just that...But no...The pain was because she felt like she finally had a reason to stay...And now, she had to leave that reason...Yet, hadn't her existence always been unfair? Through everything that she had done and achieved, through the years and years of suffering...How could she have the slight inclination to stay? Yet, that was just how she was feeling at the moment...

...She thinks of Richard and knows that he doesn't like her disappearance. He has missed her, a lot!

Still, even though they weren't together, he was making her feel special!

Yet another tear escaped...

Mahnu kept her eyes closed, focusing on just one person...

He also found out that I'm a God...So now it's over anyway...Perhaps my destiny was to come to this moment and use what I have to entrap the rest of us God's...Maybe, I should think of Richard as something I should not have experienced...

Yes, it's time for all God's to disappear.

 

 

3 weeks later

 

Being outside of the town of Brackan, King Richard had to control his urge to march straight into the city all by himself. Looking in the direction of Cental, to the west, for the Loyal Royal Army to show themselves, the King had been impatient for days, as he had waited and waited.

Doing reports, he would be outside and facing west. When eating, he would be outside, facing west...

They had been here now for three days and many of the people there, for the King's protection, thought that the King was acting a bit too strangely.

A few now knew a little bit about the God's and understood a tiny bit more, but they still thought that the King was acting too much in gratitude for Mahnu. Considering that they had only been given a small amount of information about the God’s, mostly stating facts that would help them out if they had to fight, these people did not particularly understand what Mahnu had done in the past. Perhaps if they knew that if it weren't for her looking for something to entrap the God's and using her powers to make that object work as such, and thus saving the rest of mankind back over a thousand years ago, they might understand the King's urgency even more. And well, that's if they believed what they had been told in the first place...

Yet, there was no one that still thought that the King in front of them was in desperate need to have his woman back in his arms...

 

The strategy had already been thought of over these last few weeks, but the biggest problem was waiting...

Noise was finally heard, another two hours later, stomp, stomp, stomp...This noise was something that gave the King the first smile in weeks!

"Finally." King Richard says, as the Army could be seen in the far distance. Some of the army were on horseback, but it looked to be a few hundred men that weren’t, and they were running towards us in big, strong steps.

The army was great indeed, going for quite a distance along the horizon.

As a few minutes went by, more and more of the army came into view and the King finally felt like he had hope. That even though there were immortals in Bracken, and that they were going to confront them, there was a chance that they could win!

They had won once before, and they will do it again!

Not only did he want to save Mahnu and bring her back to his side, but he had also personally seen a lifeless looking person walking around the day before and they had no idea upon who they were and where they were...All they had wanted...Was a tablet...

So...Saving Mahnu and entrapping those evil God's, should save the people too.

That was the major plan!

Now that the army was here, he was one step closer to accomplishing this goal!

 

Marcus had never seen His Majesty like this. Something as drastic as including an army, had never happened in King Richard's reign. Yet, as though he was going to war like it was a regular occasion, here His Majesty was, finally satisfied that the army was nearly here.

"Your Majesty, are you sure this will work? It is very risky plan, please..."

At least once everyday, Marcus showed his concern towards the King's safety. Since it was his duty, he had every right to continue to bring this subject up, yet every time that he had, the King would either ignore him or tell him that the plan is set and that was how it was going to happen.

The King interrupted Marcus, "You know of my plan, I will not go over it in such details again."

"Your Majesty..."

"Enough, are they ready?"

Marcus couldn't settle down, he hesitated to answer, knowing that if he answered yes and complied with the King's plan, it could be his and the entire Kralaide's defeat!

...The King as bait, to save Mahnu, was putting everything on the line!

Marcus remembered the King's words, 'That is why it'll work.' And His Majesty's proud nod.

"It'll work Marcus, she'll be free."

Having the rest of that day to get everyone into order for the next day, there was no longer anything they could do, as...

Marcus watched as the King walk towards the city of Bracken, all by himself.

He prepared the rest of the knights to sneak around, so that the God's wouldn't get distracted by them.

 

'I don't see this as a good plan, Your Majesty.' These words were still repeating in Marcus's head, and then the reply...The King had looked at him, determination in his eyes, 'Numbers, Marcus. Spread them out in commoners’ clothes. Make the town yours in five minutes. Find Mahnu. A call for whoever finds her and all rush to that direction.'

Marcus sighed, how had he accepted that as a plan!? Seeing the King, like he had finally woken up since a month ago, must have startled me into thinking that this plan would work…There is no turning back now...

Shaking his head to this stupid 'plan', Marcus could only do as he was ordered and attempt to help find Mahnu within the shortest amount of time possible!

The quicker that they let the signal go off, stating that they had found her, the quicker His Majesty and his knights could also run and get out of danger as well!