Chapter Twenty

The Amulet and the Souls

Prayers are the most lethal weapons in hopeless situations

Elisium

The Fifth Loop, Year 491, 5th February (5L/491/2/5)

"Oh God, please, please. Don't let this world slip into despair again."

George ran out from the bushes, praying, shooting wildly. Nathan was behind him. Everything had happened so fast that they had no time to react. They hadn't expected the cornered enemy to pounce in such a lethal manner. By the time they understood Roger's intention, he had already reached Moses. They heard that shot. Their hearts sank. With one shot, Roger had sealed the war—and the destiny of this world.

Soldiers of David's army opened fire at Roger and his men. George and Nathan rushed to check on Moses. Their much-awaited savior was lying on the ground with a neat bullet wound in the center of his forehead.

More out of hope than logic, Nathan checked his pulse, then placed his hand on his chest searching for any signs of life. Nothing. The Savior can't be killed by a bullet. There had to be something—but there was nothing. His knees buckled and his mind and body went numb.

Moses, the Savior, was dead.

George sank to the ground near Moses's dead body. All he could see was darkness. He found it hard to breathe. He felt his world crumble around him. One little mistake and all the hopes of a better world had gone up in smoke. Destiny can't be such a tyrant.

Nathan got hold of himself. This wasn't the time for mourning. Enemy's reinforcements could reach there at any time. "Check on the looters. Leave no one alive. We want their masters to see the massacre but we don't want them to know about Moses."

Nathan noticed that Roger was still twitching. The Star-rock pellet hadn't pierced his body and had exploded around his legs. Nathan picked up a gun and aimed at Roger's head.

"Stop! He could be useful to us alive. He may have some vital information. And after this," George said pointing to Moses's dead body, "we will require every little bit of information we could get."

"Put him into a truck," Nathan ordered one of his lieutenants. "How many men did we lose?"

"Four, including Moses."

Nathan looked at George, sitting on the ground, his face buried in his palms. This mission would have been a roaring success—their troops had killed more than a hundred looters—if not for that one casualty that was worth thousands of lives and millions of hopes.

David's army placed their dead and injured inside the seized trucks and began their return journey. Their caravan got a huge reception when it reached the Refuge. People came out of their houses to welcome their brave soldiers. The caravan stopped near the headquarters of David's army.

Jacob walked out of the building humming a song. This was their first victory, and seeing all the monster trucks they had returned with, it looked like a commanding one. He wanted to hear every little detail of this battle. He hurried towards his friends George and Nathan.

"Well, where is Moses?"

George just stood there, frozen like a statue. He could feel every eye in the crowd fixed on him. He quietly looked at Nathan to help him out. Nathan signaled to his soldiers and they carried a body out of a truck. First, there was a ghostly silence when people realized whose body it was. Then there was a murmur followed by cries of despair and shrieks of agony as Elisians watched their last hope carried on shoulders—shattered and dead.

Jacob leaped at George and pushed him against a truck. "I told you he is not ready. I told you again and again that he doesn't know his powers."

"We didn't take him there to fight. We just wanted him to see what it means to be in a war."

"Well, then tell me how did he end up like this?" Jacob roared, defying his age. "Tell me how you two are alive and he is dead?"

Nathan pulled Jacob away from George. "We just lost him for a moment and the enemy commander shot him."

"You know, you just didn't lose him for a moment, you lost this war," Jacob hissed, his body shaking violently. "Well, your one error has cost Elisium its future." Jacob tried to hold onto someone for support but collapsed to the ground.

"Take him inside. He needs some rest," George said to one of his soldiers.

A huge crowd had gathered there in anticipation, but now all faces had lost their color and eyes had become moist. Hope was quickly fading and gloom was clawing its way back. "My brothers and sisters, first, let us bury our martyrs with full honors, and then we will have all the time in two worlds to worry about our future."

***

Adam stomped towards Moses, grabbed him by his shirt, and shook him. "You idiot. You fool. You walked into a battle and got yourself killed. Do you know what that means?"

Moses had no answer to that question and anyway, Adam was not going to let him speak. "This means there is no Bearer left for that amulet. As if the things weren't bad enough in this Loop, you threw your brain down a drain and committed suicide."

"But we have other descendants alive," Samuel mumbled under his breath. "Why can't any of them become the Bearer?"

"You just shut up. It was you who started all this mess by listening to that devil and attacking this world. You just don't get me started on your idiocies." Samuel quietly sat down. He knew further riling up Adam, when he was already in such a foul mood, was not a great idea.

"I just can't understand why my descendants can't keep their heads straight. First Noah, then Solomon, then you," Adam glared at Samuel, "and now this fool, all doing one stupid thing after another?"

Noah shook his head. "Is it mandatory for you to mention me whenever you talk about anyone making mistakes?"

"Because you started the tradition of foolishness."

Noah ignored Adam's comment and turned to Samuel. "I will answer your question, Samuel. The amulet can only be passed from a father to his son. This straight line of succession has followed for the past five Loops and this chain cannot go in reverse. Moses inherited this amulet from his father, via his mother of course, and now he must pass it to his son—it cannot be given to anyone else. Moses, do you have a son that we don't know of?"

"Even if he has a son he will be around ten or twelve at the turn of the Loop," Adam said throwing a furtive glance at Moses. "A child cannot oversee a Transition."

"Sire, I am a little confused." Solomon had been very silent so far, engrossed in his own thoughts. "That amulet saved me from certain death. It even saved Moses from drowning. So why didn't it save Moses from that gunshot?"

Adam returned to his chair and sank into it. "That amulet has no will of its own. It saved you because you wanted to be saved. It killed your enemies because you willed it to do so. It saved Moses from drowning because at that time he was desperately looking for a way to save himself and the others. But here in this battle.."

"My mind went blank." Moses completed Adam's sentence. "I was caught by surprise and I panicked. I just froze and didn't know what to do. And before I'd think of anything he shot me."

"That is why you had to understand the functioning of the amulet before jumping into a battlefield," Adam added with a sigh. "When your mind was clear, you used the power of the amulet to kick away those trucks but at a critical juncture, you just blanked. I tried to whisper to you, just the way I had whispered to Solomon and others in their time of distress, but you were too occupied with other voices in your head."

"Amulet wouldn't have stopped the bullet."

"Of course, it would have. It could have annihilated your enemy. Ask Solomon how he blew up Thomas. But such a level of control comes with practice and even the most powerful weapon in the hands of a novice is useless. Now we have to pay the price of your misadventure. Do you understand what your death means?"

"Yeah, you're left without a true heir," Moses said through pursed lips, rolling his eyes.

Adam slammed his fist on the table. "Don't you dare act like a disgruntled teenager getting a lecture from his parents. It is not about prolonging my dynasty you fool. Your death means the line of kings, the chain of Transitioners is broken. A lineage that had continued for five Loops, through all the ups and downs.

"With all the nasty things that have already happened in this Loop," Abraham said in a low voice, "I fear that the Dance of Two Sisters will come to a tragic end."

"Sire, we cannot turn back the clock," David said looking at the person who had the power to set things straight, "but you Adam the First, the one who forged that amulet must have a solution. You are greater than the Amulet."

"I wished that was true but the Amulet was forged by the Supremes, Divine Beings, with the help of some divine powers. They started this Wheel of Transition and with a linear transfer down the generations, from father to son, they wanted the amulet and its Bearer to become one, inseparable. The Amulet is part of us and we are a part of it. We are it and it is us. Haven't you all felt this?"

Solomon remembered his first contact with the amulet. "I felt a surge of energy course through my body when my father put it around my neck—as if something latched on to my soul."

"Yes, it connects to our souls and after we die, a part of us becomes a part of the Amulet. The ruby at its center holds the Transitioners and the diamonds around it embrace the souls of the other Bearers from every Loop. The Amulet becomes more powerful as more souls attach to it. We can do these conferences because our souls are part of this Amulet. It feeds from the energy of the Bearer and the Bearer can channel his powers through it."

"Tell me what will now happen to the amulet without a rightful Bearer?" Abraham asked Adam.

"That is what I am trying to think. Once the Amulet attaches to a Bearer they kind of become a single soul in two different entities, Amulet and Bearer. Now after Moses's death, a part of his soul has joined the amulet, but the amulet itself is left without a soul to attach to."

For the first time in the history of the conferences, Noah had a worried look on his face. "Sire, we have no idea what you are talking about."

Adam leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and started mumbling to himself. "The Amulet cannot survive without a Bearer and the Bearer is dead. However, it must return to its roots. It must find a carrier for its last journey to its final resting place."

He opened his eyes and looked at the blank faces in the room, "I need you all to pray because prayers are the most lethal weapons in hopeless situations."