Divine War: The Lancasterian Chronicles

The barren land glistens like a yellow bone overheated by an inclement sky.

"Is right to abandon him?" Nadjela asks, shading a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, her gaze falling on the giant they leave behind.

"Dont worry" Chester says as he wipes the sweat from his forehead. He carries the sleeping bag rolled under one arm. "No matter if I finish at the end of the world, North Star will always appear to fight by my side. Our bond was forged in blood and sweat, few things erase that"

Nadjela accepts the answer without inquiring too much.

The girl advances with more ease than Chester in these dry and desolate atmospheres, a landscape frequented by rolling plants as big as elephants, carrying animal skeletons among its roots as they are pushed by the warm wind, the same wind that stirs the young girl's long dark hair. The white outfit the princess wears helps her cope the weather, clothing woven from threads created from stalks of El-nido-de-todas-las-plantas, the top part is sleeveless and reaches above her navel. The bottom is a belt of stems with two thick cloth strips, one at the front and one at the back to preserve modesty. The cloth slides down the curvatures of her tanned legs as she walks. Both pieces show a design of zigzags and red lines that imitate the birds' wings, with elaborate dyeing from the guts of hellish ants.

The duo travels along pathless trails, with the Armored now relegated more than half a kilometer in the background. Nadjela insists on treating Chester like a heavenly savior, and he repeatedly proclaims that he is made of flesh and blood.

"And if you don't believe me, go ahead and touch" he extends the right arm, positioning near the girl's head.

She gasps, the Lancaster's body is more imposing up close. The princess' fingers drum in the air, tempted to touch that firm and powerful muscle offered to her, but shyness and education help to restrain her. Nadjela retracts the hand to her chest and instead asks Chester what is sacred where he comes from. Chester lowers his arm and assures that many truths and beliefs exist, but the two primary ones are kill or die killing.

"I don't understand," the young woman pouts, unhappy that for the first time in her life the meaning of words is missing.

"It's good that you don't understand. Anyway, it's stupid" Chester doesn't help her to comprehend it either.

"Sounds barbaric"

"Hell yeah!" Chester laughs, but Nadjela can't find the joke.

Nadjela interprets the mechanic's role as some kind of witch doctor specialized in giants. Similarly, this invisible bond that Chester claims to possess, the princess considers a mystical power similar to the disembodied contact that her father has with the ancestors and the mother bird. Chester will insist on denying his divinity, but that hair, and that body capable of withstanding komodo poison, were signs of a different nature.

Whether the promised hero of La Cuna, or a fallen demigod, Nadjela longs that, after returning to her home, Chester will somehow solve the problems. Or at least share his wisdom, because even though he looked young, he seemed to know everything, although sometimes gave the impression of being the bigger fool.

(A deep, wide and fierce river that under the whims of the sun turns into a series of puddles without substance. This man is a real enigma and I don't know if I can decipher him)

She decides at least to try. Under that sun, under any moon, she'll search and save her people.

"What other sacred truths are there besides kill or be killed?" Nadjela asks.

"There was a dude who knows how to do things. Humble, honest, used to guiding and helping others. A man made of a truly unique material, the kind that leaves a strong impression without the need to crush others"

Nadjela smiles and asks what happened to this wise man, hoping that maybe she can find him.

"He was tortured and nailed to a wood piece" Chester reveals.

The princess opens her eyes wide in horror, the smile gone. When Chester looks sideways and notices the girl pale with fright, he hastens to reveal that the man was freed three days later and everything ended more or less well.

"Although don't get your hopes up, he died a long time ago. There are still people who study his ideas, but I am not one of them"

"But, great sir, you are not a bad person, right?" The princess clasps both hands close to her chest like praying. "That you don't want to kill women and children is proof of your good intentions. Perhaps you are not so far from being like that wise man"

"First: Don't call me "Great Sir", it doesn't fit me. Second: All the people I've seen claim to be incorruptible saints, deep down they are the worst piece of shit. Third: We've been walking for several hours, let's find a place to rest. And seriously, just tell me Chester"

"Only Chester?"

"Good! You're making progress, girl"

Nadjela catches that the Lancaster avoided the question of being a good person or not, but as they still don't have enough confidence she decides leave the conversation topic.

"Huh, grea-... Chester, where are we going?"

"Where the fates take us!"

The man speaks with full confidence, even though his tactics may not be the most accurate.