AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lilith's daughter looked even more insecure than before. I had never seen the brave warrior so shy.
"As I said, I am Lilith's daughter," she repeated quietly. "She brought me into your world, and I've never seen her since." She swallowed hard. "From the beginning, my task was to represent and give birth to women becoming like myself: strong, courageous, and kind at the same time. I am condemned to go through a human life to be reborn after my death. Over and over again." Her voice took on a bitter edge. "In every life, I have to fight for something. When I open the history books that existed before the Knights of John, I find myself on so many pages. My life, my stories. My life has often been sought after, and this is not the first time the Knights of John are looking for me, but so far, I have managed to keep them away from me."
She looked sadly in my direction. "I'm so terribly sorry, Myrina, that Nash thought you were Lilith's daughter. I couldn't have lived with myself if something had happened to you. And I'm also sorry I didn't tell you, especially Maggy and Myrina, but..." A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, and she wiped it away with a sniffle.
"No, Aspasia, please don't worry. I understand that you couldn't say anything." I went to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Another pair of arms wrapped around us, and the smell of campfire enveloped us. Up close, Maggy's black hair with the reddish tips looked like little matchsticks.
"Thank you," the Amazon whispered, and we just stood there holding each other briefly.
"So, you're the Holy Grail then?" suddenly asked Edward, who had not yet spoken.
Aspasia peeled herself out of our embrace and nodded to Edward. "Yes, I am also called the Grail. During one of the phases when the Knights of John were hot on my heels, I had received help while looking for a suitable shelter. They called me the Grail. It was more of a code word, but someone put it out into the world, and that's how the myth was born."
"Then perhaps you also know where the secret writings are? The ones that tell of the beginning of time?" Tanael wanted to know.
"The last time I saw them was when I was hidden in Jerusalem. Complications had forced me to leave in a hurry. I kept my documents in the so-called Ark of the Covenant, which also contained the ones you are looking for, Tanael. But the Ark was later stolen, and the documents disappeared with it. They were lost without a trace. I searched for them, but the trail came to nothing," Aspasia informed him.
"The Ark of the Covenant? So, it really existed? When was that?" Chris slid back and forth on his chair excitedly.
"That must have been sometime around 1000 BC," the Amazon estimated.
What must it have been like to be reborn for the same purpose every time? To fight, bear children, and then die. Again and again. It had to be terrible. Trapped in an uninterrupted continuous loop. Life after life, death after death.
For Aspasia, freedom meant loving the person she chose for herself. She had told me that back then. Condemned to bring offspring into the world, a relationship like the one with Emma was forbidden to her. In this life, now that there were no more rights and freedoms for women and artificial insemination was no longer possible, she took the freedom she had always longed for.
She loved! Uncompromising.
My gaze involuntarily wandered to Tanael. How important could love be for a creature that had existed for thousands of years? Aspasia was proof that it could be existential.
"Jerusalem," Tanael murmured, and Edward joined him.
"That would mean they might still be hidden under the Temple Mount," the literature student pondered.
"The assumption is obvious and makes it easy to decide on our next step. We'll start with the search in Jerusalem," the angel suggested. "What do you think, Myrina?" he turned to me.
"I see it the same way you do. The Temple Mount is our next destination," I agreed.
"Why are you so interested in the documents?" asked Aspasia.
Tanael explained, "Because these writings, stone tablets, and papyrus scrolls probably contain the answer to an important question."
"And what question is that supposed to be?" Lariel raised his eyebrows and looked skeptically at the God of the First Light.
A grin formed on Tanael's lips. It was as amused as it was cruel.
"Who exactly is John Adam Nash?"
CHAPTER 25
We need to know our enemy so that we can defeat him. So far, we know too little about the head of the entire organization that has taken over world domination," Tanael defended his cause.
"Shouldn't we be looking for Charly, Anne, and the other women rather than chasing after a phantom?" Jordy asked abruptly, and everyone turned to him in surprise. His voice was quiet and rough, almost like he hadn't used it for days. He hadn't said a word in all that time, and now he said precisely what made my stomach ache.
"Jordy's right," I agreed with my brother. "We mustn't forget that human lives are hanging by a thread."
"But maybe we'll find the women once we know exactly who Nash is and, more importantly, what he is." Tanael's reasoning also sounded plausible, but what if we didn't find out who he was in time?
"I'm afraid we might be too late," I admitted. The memory of Charly tugged at my heart, and I found it challenging to continue being strong.
