Time felt like it had stopped moving

'Sacr…sacrificial offerings?'

No words came out of Arlo's mouth, he was unable to speak from the shock. He had been wrong all this time, they were not on a pilgrimage.

This realisation, helped Arlo put the missing pieces together, all the hints throughout the journey that he was unable to catch, came perfectly together in his mind.

Which left his eyes widened and his mouth to make a shape of a circle

'It all makes so much sense'

Arlo thought to himself,

The way Sasha was panicking throughout the whole journey, the way the two protectors kept glaring at everyone, the awful food they had been given to eat during the journey. Sasha saying that she wasn't that devoted compared to everyone else made much more sense now. Everyone here was a devoted follower, which meant they were ready to give up their lives for their strong beliefs, but Sasha wasn't ready to die yet.

Arlo thought back to his response when Sasha had asked him his purpose for being here

'Wow, I was afraid my answer wasn't going to be satisfactory, but it had actually been to good of an answer. What a coincidence'

Now that Arlo knew they were sacrificial offerings, he was also able to figure out how Sasha had died previously.

'I must have tried to protect her, but ultimately failed to do so, because the protectors are much stronger than me.'

Lost in thought, Sasha grabbed his hand in fear, her eyes were starting to tear up

"Help me Arlo"

Her trembling voice made him snap back into reality

He glanced at her for a moment

Arlo had promised to protect her, but what could he really do here. How would he manage to fight against the protectors without any weapon in hand, his clothes were also quite thin which made him very vulnerable to any attack.

Their was nothing he could do

He sighed

"Let's wait and see what happens"

He was trying to convince himself that what he had heard was actually wrong and that this was all just a big joke.

Arlo stared ahead of him to see what would happen next

A tall man stepped forward and started to walk in the direction of the block, it was the same man who had helped Arlo when he was just starting to become conscious. The man stopped right before it, then bent his knees so that he could place his chin on the block. The brown hair protector lifted his black sword up, then swiftly shot it downwards, cutting the man's head off from his body. Then he grabbed the man's head and walked towards the pond whilst the other protector grabbed the rest of the man's body and also walked towards the pond. They both stopped a couple meters behind it, then threw the head and the body of the man into the pond.

Arlo kept looking as the man's disfigured body was being swallowed by the water. It seemed surreal to him, this was all to much to process is such a short time. Arlo wanted more time to grasp this whole situation, but luck wasn't on his side because the blond hair guy yelled again

"Next sacrifice come forward and place your head on the block"

Those words echoed throughout Arlo's head

How could he save himself and Sasha from the two protectors, their was no way he could. He was just too weak compared to them, even if he and Sasha ran they would still catch up to them.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

As Arlo kept thinking, another man started to walk towards the block.

An expression of panick and fear was written all over Arlo's face, he didn't have long left untill it was his and Sasha's turn.

'Dam, why did I promise to protect her'

He agitatedly thought

The only way out of this mess was to jump into the pond, that was the best solution he could come up with. He wasn't a hundred percent sure If the pond actually had powers, but it felt so familiar to him, to the point he had convinced himself that it did.

Even though the pond could possibly help him, he didn't want to use it, because that would just mean doing the whole journey all over again and not progressing a single bit. Arlo didn't even know how many times he had done this, so it just paranoid him even more.

' I have to do something new, in my previous cycles I was mostly likely killed by the two protectors, so this time I have to come up with something to defeat them, without actually fighting them. Well…. That sounds impossible '

As Arlo continued to think, Sasha grabbed his sleeves then got on her tip toes and quietly said

"Let's run"

Her idea wasn't bad, but for how long could they run before they were caught and killed. They most definitely weren't quick enough to outrun the two protectors, even if they did run their only choices were to either go deeper into 'paradise' or to run back to where they had come from...

Suddenly an idea popped into Arlo's head, an idea which was extremely dangerous and had a very low chance of actually working, but it was the only thing he could come and he was also extremely desperate.

He bent down, then leaned forward

"When the time comes, I'll yell run and we will both run back to where we just came from"

Sasha listened but didn't say anything

"Okay?"

He said

she looked behind him

"Yes, I understand"

They then stood in silence patiently waiting, the number of followers rapidly decreased from ten to nine then eight….to just 3 followers.

Ahead of Arlo and Sasha was a women who looked to be her late thirties, she walked towards the block, stopped right before it, placed her chin on the block, then the protector cut her head clean off her body. The brown hair guy picked up the women's head whilst the other protector picked up her body, they both walked towards the pond and stopped a couple metres before, Just as they were going to throw her body and head into the pond, Arlo yelled

"Run"

As his voice traveled through the vast open space, Arlo and Sasha turned their body and started to run as fast as possible, They headed back to where they had just come from.

As they were approaching the trees, Arlo looked behind him to see where the two protectors where.

He saw the two men calmly walk in the same direction as them, they weren't carrying the body of the women, which meant they had already thrown her body in the pond.

He then stopped looking back and concentrated all his focus to what was ahead of him.

They were currently running through the path they had taken previously, thankfully for them all the overgrown vines had been taken care of so their weren't any obstacles in their way.

Sasha was right behind him, but she didn't look to good. Her breathing was getting worse and she seemed to look completely exhausted.

"Just a little more Sasha, try to hold on till then"

He said

They kept on running through the tall trees, Arlo now had no idea how far behind the two protectors were. His main plan was to be seen by them, so he had to know where they were and not get caught by a surprise attack.

After a little while, they slowed down, and started to jog.

They both were out of breath, and their forehead was covered in sweat. Arlo and Sasha continued to jog untill they got close to seeing the desert, then they hid behind a massive tree.

Both the protectors were no where in sight, but it wasn't that easy to get rid off them.

They simply couldn't just run and hide behind trees, both of them would eventually get caught, Arlo didn't even know what kind of powers the two protectors possessed.

Sasha and Arlo were side by side hiding behind a tree trying to catch their breath, it had been a long time since Arlo had ran so much.

Seconds later Sasha muttered

"What's your plan Arlo? How are you going to defeat the two protectors"

Arlo was in no way capable of defeating the two protectors, they were simply to powerful, mysterious and tough to defeat, he also had no weapon to fight them with. However he did have a sneaky plan, which if it worked would certainly be able to defeat the two protectors.

"Don't worry I have a plan. It's dangerous but it's our only way of surviving."

She looked at him for a couple seconds, then she stared at the desert.

"Tell me your plan, I want to help you Arlo"

He smiled a bit

"All you have to do is stay here and be quiet, when the two protectors come here I will deal with them"

She frowned a bit, his answer had displeased her.

"I don't want to die, but I still want to help you Arlo. What's the point of me surviving, if I'm going to be all alone. I want both of us to survive this together"

Her answer had made Arlo happy, it seemed that she cared about him.

'What a good friend'

Arlo would have asked for her help, but in his plan she would just be a burden to him, so it was better to keep her hidden.

"Don't worry I won't die, I'm going to live no matter what, y—"

Before he could continue speaking, voices came from behind them.

"Are you sure they are here?"

"Yes I am sure of it"

Arlo peeked from the tree they were hiding at, he saw the two protectors about 70 meters from where Arlo currently was.

He then took a big breath in, and proceeded to exhale slowly

'It's now or never'