2 Chapter 02 : One Can Only Convert A Sinner, Never A Saint, part 01
The location imprinted in John's soul lead to a cave at the base of a mountain. It was pretty well hidden. Chances were that no one could stumble upon that cave, even by accident.
John stopped the carriage a few meters away from the cave. He took his five year old son in his arms and then ordered a knight to bring his wife and follow him inside the cave.
The cave was so dark that they could barely see where they were walking.
A weak light that was at what looked like the end of the cave reinforced John's faith that there was an entity that could help him here. Even if he had to sell his soul to a demon, he had to make sure that his family was out of danger. His son and wife had to live no matter what.
Before they reached the end of the cave, John turned to the knight holding his wife and warned, "No matter what you see here today, I want you to keep yourself calm and do what you're told. Understood?"
***
Lyn Capital, Aldhurst Province, Eralis Kingdom
Jaden Stewart, the king, was lazily sitting on the throne listening to the report of his general, Alard Mercier.
"...and the five thousand men who had left earlier managed to take position at the exit of the Eldridge underpass three days before the arrival of John. If John sends knights to scout ahead, he will come to know of what awaits him one day in advance... And with the dwindling numbers of his knights, he won't risk it and will choose to take a detour around the Eldridge mountain...but they do not have enough rations to last them for the seven days journey around the mountain...and I'm not even mentioning the fact that his wife and son are merely a day and a half away from dying if they are not dead already." Alard Mercier said in a calm voice.
Jaden lazily yawned. He slumped into his throne even more and then said, " Our coffers are running empty. We need those two provinces and their abundant resources. With John alive, we can't rightfully claim them. His people idolize him. John asks for less tax and gives his people better living conditions, but that will end when I get my hands on his two provinces. Hehehe."
Alard Mercier thoughtfully looked at his king and then said," ... But My King, our spies in the Rauwan Kingdom say that John Stewart is well respected by the royal family to the point that the Rauwan kingdom abandoned all claims to John's two provinces that neighbor their kingdom. It is said that he floods the Rauwan kingdom with ores every year. John's mines have gained him more riches than we can imagine. If he somehow survives our attack, wouldn't he use his wealth for revenge? It wouldn't be hard for him to fund an army strong enough to fatten us... I'm not even mentioning the fact that he could ask the Rauwan kingdom for help."
Jaden Stewart laughed and said, " Our foolproof plan will see to it that he dies along with his family. Even God can't save him now." His finger tapped on the armrest and then he ordered, " Get a few of your men you trust and go to John's castle and bring back all his wealth to the capital."
Alard Mercier bowed, "Yes, Your Highness." And then he left the throne room.
***
Eldridge Mountains
John arrived in front of what looked like a ghost. The weak golden light coming off of the transparent man gave the impression of holiness.
The knight behind John was already pale from fright. He fell on his behind still cradling John's wife in his hand.
"You're finally here...please put them down, I will take care of the poison now." The ghost said in a weak voice.
John put Silas down on the ground and then went to retrieve his wife from the still pale from fright knight and then put her down on the ground next to his son.
The ghost weakly flew towards the mother and son and stopped above them. It seemed he was assessing their situation. After a moment he turned to John and then said, "Your wife's body is still strong enough even though she's on the verge of dying. Because of that sliver of strength, I can easily get rid of the poison plaguing her and she will be fine after a few weeks of rest. Your son however, is beyond saving. He's too young and too weak. His vitality has been sapped by the poison and even if I do get rid of it, I can't guarantee that he will pull through...Unless I share my divine energy with him...but that will change h..."
Before the ghost could finish his words, John grew impatient. Afraid that they would both succumb to the poison while they were still talking, he urged, "Do your best to save them before it's too late. Please."
"Alright." The ghost said before it thought, "I tried to warn you. What happens to your son after being infused with my divine energy is none of my business. A sliver of divine energy, even from a dying angel like me is still too potent for a human's body, and it's a five year old kid we're talking about...hehehe... I can't wait to see what kind of variant he will become."
Still floating on top of the mother and son, the ghost waved its right transparent arm above them and spots of black light emerged from the two bodies. It seemed that those black lights were the poison being expunged from their bodies. The black light unceasingly emerged from the mother and son congregating in the angel ghost's right hand in the form of a small nail sized pill. The pill stayed the same no matter how much black light entered it.
After a long time, the purple complexion on the mother and son disappeared much to John's delight.
After regaining their true colors, the mother and son then started breathing normally but it could be heard clearly that the little Silas still had some problems breathing compared to his mother.
"It's done. The mother should be fine now...as for the son..." The ghost angel then threw away the black pill and then plunged his right hand inside its chest. Not long after, the ghost angel had retrieved and chipped golden crystal the size of a fingernail. The golden crystal seemed to faze in and out of reality and seemed to exude holiness. He then continued saying, "This is a part of my golden divine halo. If I fuse it with his soul, it should give him more than enough energy to continue living."
The angel then let go of the golden crystal which then flew inside the little boy's chest and for a split second, John could've sworn he had seen a silver halo above his son's head.
"They will both live. Now it's time to talk about compensation." A grin appeared on the angel's face.
Knowing that this moment would come, John had prepared himself to offer up his soul as compensation.
As if reading the thoughts of John, the angel said, "Your soul alone will not suffice. I will be taking those of the knights and horses outside. That should suffice for now."
Without waiting for a permission, the angel then took possession of the body of the knight that had come with John in the cave.
Following the possession, the new Knight's body morphed to look exactly like the angel had looked in ghost form.
The angel slowly walked outside and then voices of the chatting knights suddenly vanished followed by intense heat. It seemed the matter was over in an instant.
The Angel then came back and started talking:
"As you can see, you being here has saved me from eternal damnation. If you didn't heed my call, I would've been erased completely without nourishment and a body to possess. I had used the last vestiges of my divine energy to hibernate waiting for a chance to come back to life...I thank you for your help.
As I am now, I'm at one thousandth of my former strength. When I reach the one hundredth, I will be qualified to leave this place for a higher realm, but that could take thousands of years. To thank you, let me become the protector of your bloodline until I leave. I will look after your descendants and make sure that no accidents happen to them, they will never fall sick and I can guarantee you that they will die of old age naturally, at the very least." The angel said. He then thought, "Thanks to the part of my golden divine halo inside of your son, he already has the qualifications to become immortal...so I guess you can die happy knowing that your son will be safe for all eternity."
