"Bam!" A sound symbolizing a punch at the door…
Eva..! You crazy fool… you're an idiot! I warned you! I cautioned you not to leave alone! That son of a whore… is coming for you!
Where the large moon hangs in the sky, there is an old wooden cabin with an abandoned appearance, surrounded by tall trees and grass. Eva appeared on the hill, carrying the old witch on her back…
"Ha! We've arrived, my little girl; it's the cabin right in front of you."
"Knock, knock, knock…" she knocked on the door.
The door was already open; the old witch pushed the cabin door and entered…
A dim light inside the cabin came from the full moon in the sky, with a rough wooden floor, barrels, and ropes hanging on the walls… a broken lantern hung in the upper right corner…
A figure sat confidently in a high chair, wearing a loose jacket and robe, his arms stretched out on the armrests, and his face turned toward the ground, not entirely clear…
"Excuse me, I've arrived," said the old witch.
"I know that… well done." He raised his face… it's Tarkus!!!
The old witch removed her robe, threw her staff away, and wiped the fake tattoos from her forehead and chin… tattoos drawn with ink…
She was never the old witch, but a woman in her forties who played the role with excellence and skill, which Eva failed to discover…
"Where is my grandson?!" the woman said, tears in her eyes, unable to look at Eva.
Tarkus pushed aside the lid of a barrel next to him and pulled a child out of it. "Amazing how he can sleep anywhere… isn't it?"
Tarkus returned the infant to his mother but didn't allow her to leave yet!
"Please, at least send an antidote with her; Brando needs it…" Eva said after Tarkus had tightly bound her hands…
Tarkus placed a cylindrical tube tied with string in front of Eva. "What you see before you is what has put your friend Brando in that state…! It's a mixture of hawthorn, alkaloid plant, and asafoetida… a concoction I stumbled upon after decades of experiments…"
"Frozen time snakes have infested our bodies by the thousands, hundreds of these thousands… when their host is injured, they sacrifice their lives to seal and close the wound. Their bodies act as a substitute for what has been destroyed…
Our bodies rely on the 'binding' of those repulsive creatures… Brando, the old witch, and I— we are all immortals. Our lives are tied to a thin thread of those frozen snakes."
"Any normal human can drink this poison without harm, as it doesn't affect ordinary people… but for us, it dissolves and unbinds any place where those snakes have connected our bodies together.
After a period of horrific turmoil and convulsions, it begins to reopen old wounds all over our bodies."
"This pain! This exquisite pain intensifies the more your body has sustained severe injuries before, but if you haven't suffered serious wounds, you will be able to survive this poison…"
"So… Brando." Eva's fear of Brando's death was evident.
"Ha ha ha, don't worry, little girl! I don't think that dose is enough to kill him."
"The antidote! Do you have an antidote for that poison?"
"Hah! An antidote? If I made the antidote, what use would the poison have… ha ha ha!"
Eva was frustrated to hear Tarkus's words about the poison, and she began to recall Brando's words before she left the cabin. She realized that all the distance and effort she had exerted was for nothing...
The sound of weeping came from the woman whom Eva had knocked into the trap. "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, young lady! I had no other choice; he threatened to kill my only son, whom I have no one else but him. I didn't know what he intended to do…"
Calmly, resigned to her fate, Eva said, "I'm just a fool, anyway… you don't have to apologize like that; you were just a means to achieve what he wanted. I'm sure that man is in a hurry to kill me!"
"I'm not…! Not before I see your surprises!"
The woman crawled quietly toward Eva and whispered, "My dear, wait for me… I'll go get help! I promise you!"
I don't know what the woman was thinking when she dared to stand on her feet and then cross the cabin door to seek help… as if Tarkus were not present or that he would allow it?
Tarkus grabbed his dagger and headed toward the door through which the woman had left.
Eva tried to convince Tarkus to reconsider his decision and leave the woman alone. "Wait! What do you intend to do?! Stop! Please stop! Don't do it! I beg you…!"
Silence enveloped the place; Eva remained calm, trying to listen to what was happening outside… no screams or movement outside… there's no doubt that the woman managed to escape from Tarkus.
After moments of anxiety… the cabin door was pushed open by someone..! Tarkus appeared with a face covered in blood.
Eva lost her mind, tears in her eyes… she began to scream and direct harsh words at him, "What did you do outside?! Did you slaughter her? Why did you kill her? Why did you do that?! You're not a fighter! You don't possess an ounce of honor! A bug like you deserves nothing but death! You're a pile of trash, you monster!"
Tarkus watched her until her strength faded, and she calmed down…
"How strange! What are you crying for? This woman is the same one who brought you to me."
"You shouldn't have done that… why did you do something like this? Why did you kill someone who isn't even armed?"
"Just like what happened to my mother!" Tarkus said.
Tarkus approached Eva, knelt down to place his hand on her face, grasped her chin with one hand, and pressed on her jaw to open her mouth, fear filling her eyes…
Tarkus placed his dagger on Eva's tongue. "What honor are you talking about! If you really want to know, I'll tell you…"
"Two hundred years ago, when our island was still in the age of wars between empires, my mother served the warlords then. My father and my brothers all sacrificed themselves for that ruler. Everyone gave their lives for the continuity of our island, led by the ruler." Tarkus released Eva's face from his grip.
"The ruler placed his hand in the devil's hand and sold his people, who defended him and the land… we were brutally invaded by one of the armies; our clan was completely wiped out… they cut off my mother's head just because she wanted to live away from wars… they decapitated the ruler and began rolling his head down the stairs of his palace…"
Tarkus made a cut on the palm of his right hand with his dagger, drops of blood falling onto the wooden board…
"Sometimes… just sometimes, when there are two fresh wounds, pressing them against each other… the blood then becomes a medium for transferring the frozen time snakes… lick it! I want you to kill the murderer of your parents and take your revenge without needing someone like Brando to help you with that."
Tarkus extended his palm and commanded Eva to lick his flowing blood… Eva approached with great fear, tears falling onto the blood.
"Daaaam!" The sound of the cabin door breaking.
"Ow..! Ow..! What happened in this little cabin to make you cry like that?" Brando said upon his arrival… He was met with a fake smile from Tarkus, as if he wanted to convey to his enemy that his timing for arrival was not appropriate!
It seems that Brando had regained his strength from the poison... the bloody sword of Ares in his hand and the rest of his weapons at his waist… ready to engage in battle against someone who possesses the same immortal body...
"Come outside and face me! It's a perfect night to send someone to the other world; your end will be under the moonlight… I envy you for that, Tarkus."