The stage was now set and everyone in Notre Dame was ready for another witch trail, everyone except for Liam and Allan. Standing in the crowd, their hearts were beating wildly like they were running a marathon.
“Dear God, please let Maria be safe” so prayed Allan. But however, it seemed as though God had forgotten about him in this world when they both saw Maria. “Oh my God ! what have they done to her?” Liam said.
Maria was chained up and walked out to the public lifelessly. Her eyes had no soul behind them at all. It was like they replaced her with a zombie.
Unbeknown to the both of them, the horror of what Maria had been through was beyond their imagination. For nearly a full day of mentall torture, she had cried so much that tear had stopped coming out if her eyes. Her once beautiful green eyes was now turning red. She had screamed so much because of the pain that she had lost her voice and could not scream anymore. And finally, after what seemed like a week of continuous torture, being killed countless times, they had broke her spirit. She was now just a shell, she could feel nothing and she could hear nothing. Gabriel promised to end her misery if she just said yes to everything he said and she agreed. Walking up to the stage in front of the Temple, Maria's mind was blank, she was no longer truly there, rather still stuck inside to prison in her own mind.
The people who believed in Maria chanted to let her go but it had no effect, the Temple ordered silence and the trial started. Gabriel stood up and walked in front of Maria and read her indictment, Maria did not show any response at all. They accused her of using dark magic and becoming a vessel for the demons by offering her soul, that was why at the time being she was like a body without a soul as she had none. Slowly but surely, the people of Notre Dame were once again getting brainwashed by the Temple. With their lies, those who believed in Maria before started to doubt her back. The people were now getting to side with the Temple.
Reaching to the end of the trial, Liam started to make his move, getting closer to the stage. However, when he almost got there he heard something very interesting, he did not know it was real or was it just his imagination but he decided to follow it.
The High Priestess then made her final announcement. “Maria, dear poor soul, the Goddess of Healing shall forgive your sins and offer you a gift. To put an end to your suffering, the thing that you begged us to do. To separate you from this world forever, isn’t that right” She asked Maria.
With a lifeless reply, Maria said “Yes…., please end …..my suffering”. The crowd cheered, now they were fully convinced that Maria was a demon as she herself had admitted it in front of the High Priestess and in front of the great statue of the Goddess herself.
“Then by the mercy of the Goddess, I shall give you your redemption” She signaled to Gabriel, he nodded, his head was given a short sword with the symbol of the Temple carved on the blade. He stepped up next to Maria and told her quietly “Beg, beg for me to end your life.” he said. “Please kill me, I beg of you” Maria responded lifelessly. Gabriel laughed filled with satisfaction as he swung his sword toward her neck. Maria did not fight back at all, she was just kneeling down awaiting Gabriel to cut her head off. However, there was someone else that was fighting on her behalf, just before Gabriel’s sword could touch Maria's skin, Liam stepped in and interrupted it with his own sword. “Save the Goddess’s ambassador, save the innocent” That was what Liam said out loud.
Everyone was shocked at what just happened, never in the history of a witch trial had this happened before, someone was going against the Temple will.
“Step aside now or you will share the same fate as the witch” Gabriel spoke, however, Liam did not waver at all, standing in between Gabriel and Maria.
“She is not a witch you fool, can’t you see. I must do what is right. I must save the innocent. I must save the Goddess’s ambassador” Liam replied.
“Hahaha, going against the Goddess’s order and you still think that you are in the right,” Gabriel said.
“No, I’m going against the Temple’s order. And I’m following the Goddess’s command. Save the innocent” Liam replied. His words made the entire Temple member mad, Gabriel was no exception, he immediately attacked Liam right after that. The reason why the Temple wanted to shut Liam down right away was not just because of what he said but what it had caused. With just that one single action of Liam, it had sparked something in their eyes, something that some of them had already been thinking about, who they actually were serving, the Goddess herself or the Temple. Before those two were the same, by serving the Temple of the Goddess they were serving her themself, but now somehow everything seemed wrong, now those two seemed to be two different sides. Although not everyone was thinking about that, it was a risk to the Temple and it must be eliminated. Liam was facing Gabriel, one on one. Their swords clashed with one another, Liam did well to hold his ground but there was something very clear, he was no match for Gabriel.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Liam was trained MMA style, he did not have much knowledge with sword and shield other than in some games he played. The only one who had some actual knowledge about this was Kyle, although it was not much either. So when it came to a sword duel, of course Liam could not face Gabriel, someone who had much more experience with the sword. What Liam could do was just defend, blocking Gabriel attacks the best he could. Gabriel showed to be frustrated as he could not land a blow on Liam, even though Liam could not fight back, it looked as if he could not win either. And then in the twisted mind of Gabriel he thought of something else, a way to take Liam down. Gabriel shifted his body to the left side, causing Liam to also shift left to defend himself, however, Gabriel shifted and with a fancy footwork, turning right instate, Liam was surprised and held up his shield to the right side of his body, ready to block the swing. But it never came, rather Gabriel ran past Liam and aimed at Maria. Liam did not have any time left to think, all he could do was react. Letting go of his shield to run faster, so he could catch up to Gabriel before he could take a clean attack on Maria. However, it left him wide open for Gabriel’s counter attack. Liam took a clean swing from Gabriel and falled to the ground, Gabriel laughed at his victory as two guards got on the execution stage to restrain Liam. Gabriel then continued on what he was doing, but due to the bloodlust and the duel that just happened, Gabriel lost his focus for a split second and part of his true nature had come out. Gabriel kicked Maria down to the ground, right in front of Liam, Maria now lying face up on the ground. Liam screamed at Gabriel to stop what he was doing but to no prevail. Gabriel looked at him then laughed, he then lifted his sword up high, “I want you to witness this. I want you to see the result of going up against the Temple”, Gabriel spoke as he thrust his sword down aiming at Maria's heart. Gabriel's sword was now tainted with blood, Maria was also covered with blood and still lying there lifelessly. However, it was not Maria’s blood, but Liam, he managed to get himself lost from the two guards and used his body as a shield for Maria. Right now, Liam was literally stabbed in the back by Gabriel. His sword went through Liam's body and the tip of the sword could be seens sticking out the chest of Liam. Liam's blood spilled down onto Maria, “Please Maria... wake up… please… fight back”.
“Foolish, she is already long gone. Don’t worry she will follow you every soon” Gabriel said.
But Liam did not care but he just kept on pleading at a lifeless looking Maria. Gabriel then pulled his sword out of Liam's body, blood poured out of his wound and his arms and legs were losing its strength, it was obvious that he could barely hold on, but Liam kept on shielding Maria no matter what. Gabriel then stepped on Liam’s wound and pushed down hard, Liam screamed out in pain but refused to fall down, “Maria… please… come back.. please”, he too now was near the end of his strength. Gabriel kept on pushing Liam down, kicking him right in his stab wound, Liam at the moment was in and out of consciousness, everything seemed like a waste to him until a miracle happened before his very eyes. A hand touched his face and he caught a woman’s voice “Li..am”, somehow, Maria had woken up, she regained whatever consciousness she had left.
Maria never believed in a higher power in her life, for her science can explain everything and knowledge was the true power. But what happened to her, how she managed to get herself out of her nightmare was nothing short of a miracle. Inside her head, there was only nightmare and torture, what was seeming like a mere day to other was actually a week for her. All she could feel was pain, suffering and the coldness. But then in another seemingly usual loop of torture, as Gabriel was using ice to rip her flesh off of her, rather then feeling the chilling cold of the ice touching her skin, she suddenlly felt warm. That was when Liam was shielding her from Gabriel and his blood was dropping down on her skin, she could feel it, she could feel the warmth of his blood, the warmth of his hands that were holding on to her, the warmth of the person that was protecting her. It was the first feeling other than pain and suffering Maria felt through all this time in torture. And then she could hear someone, someone was talking to her “Please Maria... wake up… please… fight back”, a man’s voice, but she could not see who was talking to her, she was still being torture by Gabriel but his voice kept being louder and louder like drump banging inside this hollow darkness. And then she told herself “fight back, come back. There is someone waiting for you”, and that was what she did, inside her own mind-prison, she fought back, she free herself from Gabriel and all those horrible sense and just kept on following his voice and the warm feeling she kept running and running until she saw a light and and voice echoed to her ear, “Please... Maria'', she escaped Gabriel prison, and the first vision she saw was Liam with a wound on his right chest bleeding out.
“Li...am” she spoke,
Her body was aching in pain, she lost her voice from all the screaming, she could barely make a sound but she still reacted. Maria put her hand on Liam's face to feel his warmth, to make sure that this was real. And when she felt it, she knew this was real, she was freed. Her hands were now moved toward Liam's wound, she was trying to hold his blood, her natural reflex from her time in medical training kicked in.
“Help… please... Help him please….he is dying. I’m not.. a witch… please !!!” Maria yelled as loud as she could. But it was seemingly pointless as Gabriel lifted his sword up high again ready to cut Liam's head clean off. But this time, Maria was the one covered for him, she pushed Liam's body aside and was about to receive the fatal swing of Gabriel herself, saving Liam’s life.