Chapter 266: THE CURSED AND THE BOOK

Upon seeing the miracle before her,

She became determined to be helpful.

She quickly spoke at whoever was responsible,

Declaring she wanted to be useful.

With her insisting to do more work,

There, came light that spoke forth.

The light blessed her another task,

That she promised to then fulfill no matter what.

The book quickly glowed,

and etched a sun symbol on the wall.

Joseph was quite amazed,

But even more so when the book started to turn its page.

Words started to come out of the book,

Coming together as a direction of her latest work.

It tasked her to gather all the monsters,

And in one place, after a prayer,

The curse would be over.

Martha's eyes expressed worry at first,

But remembered her promise and the thought, that someone may be going through worse.

She then quickly confirmed her obedience,

And in a whim, she grew wings.

Joseph was then tasked to guard the wall,

And ring the bell with his all.

If he fails to protect it, and keep the monsters from ruining the symbol,

Then it would lose its glow,

And Sellena's powers won't work.

Martha was then guided by orbs,

Telling her she needs to carry the book.

And once they get to gather all the monsters,

Raise her arm and recite a prayer,

Only then, would it break the spell,

And no more, would the monsters be a burden to both angels.

Joseph, who was aware of Martha's mortality,

And the danger of her role,

At first,

Hesitated to let her go.

But after sensing his sister's stress increasing,

He decided to trust Martha,

Who was determined on helping.

He then quickly performed his role,

Hoping that he would help,

In freeing the monsters.

...

Martha flew, with the orbs glowing behind her.

The glow seemed to attract the monsters,

And most of them quickly followed.

Some monsters however,

Were smart enough to predict the plot.

They then devised a plot of their own,

Something Zeharah, unfortunately haven't noticed in turn.

They dug the soil on the opposite side of Zeharah's vision,

And went on, to their own very mission.

...

Martha obediently tried to gather every slave turned monster,

But she wondered how she couldn't get everyone to follow.

She was able to get a lot of them though,

And thought, perhaps, she could trap them for the meantime,

As she searches for the other souls.

However, despite her efforts,

Martha was far from successful.

She couldn't help but fail in trapping them,

After all, once the monsters were no longer touched by the orb's light,

They reverted back to being a problem.

Because of their increasing population size,

The orbs' glow seemed to cause no effect on those at the back.

They then seem to be no longer hypnotized,

And with that, again, started to wander

and hide deeper into the night.

They scattered and finding them once more seemed difficult,

Since they tended to hide deeper than before.

Despite the orb's persuasive and enchanting glow,

What Martha always ends up collecting, was far from 'all.'

...

"My mission's supposed to be easy, right?"

Joseph tried to comfort himself, despite the chilling fright.

After all, he couldn't help but notice that tower seemed to be unsteady,

Like something, or someone,

was shaking it violently.

He almost lost his balance when it became more shaky,

And even if he wanted to deny it,

it seemed that danger was nearing.

He had suspicions that the tower would fall,

and feared that he may not think of anything,

to save the wall.

...

Martha sighed as Zeharah patiently guarded each one so far,

Despite their efforts, it felt impossible to gather each one.

Just then, the two orbs circled Martha once again,

Apologizing for getting in the way.

They admitted that this task was her original mission,

And ringing the bell till the war ends, was the orbs' making it easier.

However, the heavens turned angry that they doubted her abilities,

So they told Martha,

that she could do it,

If the heaven council insisted she will.

Martha felt pride that she had been given so much trust,

Trust that she wouldn't want to die.

She then gulped and thought hard,

Until she snapped her finger,

"An idea came to mind!"

The orbs circled around her more excitedly,

As she calls Zeharah to come near.

Zeharah easily obeyed her,

But felt suprised when she saw her pointing,

an empty lot.

"Yes...it's empty, and wide.

But as you can see, no monster is in sight."

"No...we should make a hole and trap the monsters there,

So we can look for more and have them stay."

Zeharah's eyes beamed at the idea,

And snapped her own fingers as she said, "I see ya."

She then flew there, as Martha temporarily guards some monsters,

And after seeing the lot herself,

began to blast a hole.

She blasted it over and over,

with the hole getting deeper and deeper.

But the problem didn't end there,

As the soil keeps collapsing,

and it may kill the cursed monsters.

Thinking hard, she came to the conclusion,

That she needed slabs of stone.

And remembering Selaphiel's words,

She could very well, at most times,

get creative with her curse.

She knew that there are living creatures,

Trapped within the soil,

And even if they're invisible to the naked eye-oh very little,

They're not short in number.

She sighed, and still thought she could make it work,

And opened her palms, as she puts a curse:

"Oh the creatures surrounding the hole,

Placed and living from the soil,

I curse you to become bigger and strong,

and after receiving such state, turn to stone."

Light then began to glow,

As the creatures did turn big and then turned to stone,

She smiled as she successfully made a trapping hole,

And excitedly have Martha informed.

Martha nodded and thanked Zeharah,

But she do not know,

why she suddenly felt scared.

She then took a glance at the now far view of the tower,

And sighed heavily,

"I hope he's okay."

...

"Well this isn't okay at all!"

Joseph whined as the tower began to fall.

The bell even fell from the ceiling,

And all he could do was dodge,

if not, he'd be bruised quickly.

He sighed, he sighed a very irritated sigh.

What's worse, is that he couldn't see any enemy nearby.

Or maybe he shouldn't have thought so in his mind.

Because after three minutes, he then heard hungry gnarls.

The monsters,

they were beginning to climb.

These monsters however, have wings.

That chose to climb, so he wouldn't notice.

They were smart enough to know that if they fly to the entrance,

Joseph would blast them, and ruin their chance.

The angel almost felt hopeless of the situation,

They were very many in number.

And even if he know half their intention,

He was still confused, as to why the tower was shaking,

at the brink of fall.

The monsters smiled at his confusion,

They had wings for a reason.

So even if the tower would fall,

These winged monsters would have a chance to survive,

than helplessly crawl.

The wingless monsters from below then began to make signals,

Screaming that they hurry up.

All of them had already did their part,

And the tower would fall,

If Joseph make the slightest blast.

Defenseless, and still puzzled, Joseph has to think,

Not only does he have to save himself,

but all of humanity's skin.

"The wall...the symbol on the wall is more important,"

He thought, and at the whim of the moment,

he devised a plan.

"Hah, I'm usually an airhead when it comes to tactics,

but...

I have no choice but to use my brain in this.

This may not be the only answer to this difficult equation but...

It's the only thing that I currently see as an option.

I hope my sister won't be mad at me,

If ever,

I fail at coming up,

with the brightest solution."

...

Martha successfully lured the monsters to the pit,

And at the success she sees, couldn't help but weep.

"Now then, let's go catch the others,

But after looking at it from behind,

Their eyes only widened,

seeing the falling tower."

"My...my brother!"

Zeharah yelled in terror.

They quickly flew towards the location,

As the sister cries, failing to kill the tension.

She wanted to be calm at all costs,

But she always fails in doing so.

"Oh goodness Joseph, why are you like this?

You're always endangered whenever I leave you for a moment."

Her blue eyes continued to sting in tears,

As Martha remained quiet, unsure of what to say.

They felt their tears halt from the sight they were met with however,

Seeing Joseph, flying and alive,

while holding a cut slab of the symbol.

"Sorry sis, I couldn't secure the tower.

Good thing though, I saved the symbol.

But I think I got a little too hard on the winged monsters,

They're from below,

can you check if they're still alive and all?"

Zeharah could almost laugh seeing Joseph's innocent request,

And finally smiled,

"I'd do that, thank you for doing your best."

Joseph's eyes beamed at the compliment,

And felt a bit teary,

As it wasn't something she always say.

Seeing the appreciation in Joseph's eyes,

Zeharah felt guilty as she had always been strict and hard.

She then came to decide,

That perhaps, she should do it more often,

If it meant earning her brother's smile.