A Hell Called Serestral - Chapter 29

“Let’s talk inside,” the captivating lady had a voice that sounded melodic.

She had opened the door for them. It was incredible that despite her tiny body, she could push the stone door open without struggling by just a bit.

Aries dragged the two enchanted men inside the house and made them sit on a corner far away from the captivating lady.

“Isn’t her eyes light yellow and her hair white?” Aries asked while gripping the wrists of the two men sitting at the dusty floor at each of his side.

“No!” Prince Sunrei gazed more hungrily at the captivating lady. “Her eyes and her hair were both black. She is so beautiful.”

“They are not black! They are as crystal blue as the ocean,” Pines angrily countered.

“Brother, Pines, it will be best for you to stare at the wall,” Princess Pieffer commanded.

“But…” Prince Sunrei was about to retaliate but Aries pushed their heads on the nearby wall.

“Just listen,” he said.

“Fine!” the Fish House Leader lowered his head and leaned his forehead on the wall. “Just this once, Aries!”

After Pines had zipped his mouth, the captivating lady had introduced herself, “I am Gin-Ren. According to the legendary book, I am a Zodiac Knight.”

“You’ve read that book?”

“No, Aries,” Gin-Ren flashed an enticing smile. “I heard it from the Head Shaman when I was five years old. She told everyone that whoever finds me will be greatly rewarded,” her appealing smile had filled with bitterness. “That announcement forced my parents to leave me in this house. They changed the color of my hair and told me to hide my face with a hood and cloth all the time. But after a few months, the Head Shaman had caught me. A Zodiac Knight came to my rescue but it was only after the Head Shaman had cast a curse on me,” while saying that last sentence, she was staring intensely at Aries.

“What curse?” Prince Sunrei asked and tried to glance at the captivating lady but Aries pushed his head back to facing the wall.

“A curse of lust,” Gin-Ren sighed. “People will see in me their greatest desire and will be filled with lust.”

“For real?” Pines was shamefully staring at the dusty wall in front of him.

“Yes. That’s the truth,” the captivating lady replied.

“No…” the Fish House Leader murmured and buried his face on the wall. “Forgive me, My Princess.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Prince Sunrei leaned his forehead on the wall with his eyes closed. He was shaking his head as if trying to get rid of the unwelcomed thoughts in his mind.

“This is unfair!” Pines yelled without moving his face away from the wall. “Why is Aries unaffected?!”

“Aries doesn’t desire anything,” the captivating lady had answered. “He can see beauty but could not feel any desire for it.”

“You are talking as if you know me well,” Aries was staring suspiciously at the young lady. He was waiting for a flash of memories, but nothing was happening.

“You are the Zodiac Knight who rescued me from the crazy Head Shaman,” Gin-Ren was gazing back at Aries with a smile. “You might not remember because it happened eleven years ago.”

“He had lost most of his memories. That is the reason he could not remember,” Pines glared at Aries then glanced back to the wall.

“I see,” Gin-Ren looked at the floor with sad eyes. “Those corrupted souls had hurt you too.”

For a fleeting moment, Aries had glimpsed his beloved Pieffer in the face of the captivating lady. A powerful desire had overwhelmed him. He wanted to touch her face. He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to give her pleasure.

Aries closed his eyes until his emotions had calm down.

She is dead because of. I should never forget that.

Aries repeated those words to himself until he was calm enough to look the captivating lady in the eyes.

“How can we release you from the curse?” Princess Pieffer had asked.

“The Head Shaman is the only one who can take this curse away,” Gin-Ren answered with an exhausted sigh. “I tried it for years even though I know that she will never listen. She just keeps sending lustful men to keep me busy. She is also using the children to keep me away from her. These innocent lives… I cannot let them get tainted by lust. I have to protect them.”

“If I kill the Head Shaman…”

“Hey! You always want to kill!” Pines snapped at Aries before facing the wall once again.

“Do you think the Head Shaman will still want to live after we ejected the corrupted soul out of her body? She used children just to keep Gin-Ren occupied. She should be leading a peaceful village. But she could not do her job well and her people had suffered. If we will not give her death, she will probably give it to herself. If not, then people of this village will give it to her. Or worse, she will be like those men I killed earlier, they could not think about other things aside from lust.”

“But still… let’s try to save the Head Shaman,” Gin-Ren said. “I just turned twenty-one. I can’t take her place.”

“You have to do it,” Aries got up on his feet. “That is your duty as a Zodiac Knight. Tell me where I can find the Head Shaman.”

“I… I will come with you,” Gin-Ren offered with a bit of hesitation.

“Let’s go,” Pines eagerly got up on his feet.

“Stay here,” the princess commanded. “This place is filled with children and needs to be guarded.”

“As you wish, My Princess,” Pines slumped on the floor and buried his face to the wall again.

“Brother, please stay here with Pines.”

“Be careful out there,” Prince Sunrei said. “Call us if you need help.”

“I’ll say the same thing to you,” the princess smiled. “Call us if you need help.”

“Do not worry about this place, My Princess!” Pines straightened his back. “I will keep the children safe!”

“Thank you, Pines,” Princess Pieffer said before leaving the place with Aries and Gin-Ren.

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Gin-Ren led them to a shrine at the middle of the village. In the middle of a circular and cemented ground stood a towering stone statue of a beautiful woman wearing a long furry robe and feathery headdress. Around that circular ground were well trimmed knee-high bushes. Streetlamps were illuminating the area. Stone benches were scattered around the statue and in those seat were naked people hungrily making love with each other.

In front of the statue was an elegant seat made of marble and decorated with colorful and fresh flowers. A long table was facing that sit and scattered all over the red tablecloth were luscious fruits.

Half-naked men were serving the Head Shaman while in front of her, men were fighting to death. She was watching everything with an entertained smile.

The Head Shaman was radiating an enticing aura that was more powerful than that of Gin-Ren even though the latter was more beautiful than the former. Aries could not see a dark smoke around the Head Shaman but he was certain that a corrupted soul was inside that body.

“Stop,” the Head Shaman had slowly straightened her spine against the high backrest. “A more interesting contender is here.”

The bloody and exhausted men battling in front of her had instantly stopped exchanging blows.

“Take them away,” she gracefully waved her hand and four of the ten half-naked men standing around the statue had immediately dragged the two bloody fighters away.

“You finally came, Aries Del Luna,” an alluring smile curved on the red lips of the Head Shaman.

“I came here to kill you,” Aries marched towards the Head Shaman with dual blades in his hands.

The remaining half-naked man around her and the statue had circled around Aries with only their fists as their weapon.

“Kill them first,” the Head Shaman lazily crossed her legs and leaned her head on the seat.

Aries raised his dual blades and attack the half-naked men. With only their fists to evade, Aries had quickly stabbed his blades to their bodies and absorbed the corrupted souls within them.

While he was busy with the half-naked men, Princess Pieffer and Gin-Ren were ejecting the corrupted souls from the vessels that were too absorbed making love on the benches.

Aries knocked all the half-naked men unconscious while the two ladies were nearly done liberating the vessels. And because the hovering corrupted souls were trying to make their way back to the people they possessed, Aries quickly changed the form of his weapon and shot arrows at the gliding dark essences.

“You are getting better at absorbing souls,” the Head Shaman was talking like she knew a lot about Aries.

“Who are you?” he asked after stepping into one of the shadows cast by the unconscious men lying on the ground and reappeared in front of the Head Shaman. His dual blades were crossed at her neck.

“You can’t remember?” she asked with a wider smile.

Aries ignored her taunting. He was there to kill her, not to question her.

His blade sank deeper into the throat of the Head Shaman but immediately stopped when the corrupted soul had spoken.

“Kill me and that young successor will die.”

“Her soul won’t,” Aries smiled back.

“You’re right,” there was no trace of fear in the eyes of the Head Shaman. “But she will never be reincarnated in a body that can perform a ritual. Her soul will have to be reborn from a mother’s womb and you will have to wait years to reinstate the barriers in this village. Go on, Aries. Take my soul.”

“Aries, don’t!” the princess yelled.

She was sitting on the ground and cradling Gin-Ren who had fallen unconscious the moment his blade touched the neck of the Head Shaman.

“Let’s find another way.”

With trembling hands, Aries removed his dual blades from the neck of the Head Shaman and marched back to where the Princess was.

She had broken a transport bracelet that took them back to where Prince Sunrei and Pines were.

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