Samantha. - part3

After Zeus' words, the thunder that surrounded the clouds began to rumble in all directions, hitting the flames and strangely deforming them. What had once looked like several barriers of flames trying to isolate the cloud began to resemble a disorganized fire. And as time went by, the fire began to diminish and the flames that had been fighting directly with the clouds before began to disappear, leaving only a few flames in their place and enough space for the lightning to advance to the next "barrage of flames", which was Arthur's own soul trying to defend itself.

Each time a barrage was deformed, Arthur screamed and squirmed. When the flames were extinguished his head throbbed to the point that crying became difficult, and this was the only moment Arthur stopped screaming, but it was also the moment when he felt the most pain, the pain was so great that he didn't know how he was supposed to process it and he remained stagnant with injected eyes and only the sensation of pain itself filling his mind at the moment. Arthur's eyes gradually lost focus, and he was already on the verge of fainting, which in this situation would have been nothing more than a gift for the boy, but at that very moment a new voice appeared.

- You are as arrogant as Odin, Zeus. It seems that gods are always the same, no matter where you find them. I'm glad I didn't follow the path of an apostle in my life. - As this voice appeared, Arthur's eyes, which had seemed distracted and sleepy, refocused. The screams, which had finally stopped, returned, making it clear that the boy was once again feeling the same pain. However, the pain gradually began to subside, and with it, his screams diminished until they finally ceased altogether. After a few moments, clarity returned to Arthur, but as it did, his eyes grew heavy, and his body felt weightless. Soon, he found it hard to keep his eyes open and just before slipping into unconsciousness, he caught a glimpse of a red-haired woman in a dress that seemed to be made of flames. She smiled at him, and though her smile was kind, Arthur struggled to stay awake out of fear. Despite her gentle voice, he sensed an underlying dread, even worse than the previous voice. Fearing both voices, he fought to stay awake, though it was futile. As he teetered on the edge of sleep, the woman, still smiling, spoke again. This time, her voice sounded more "human," easing his nerves.

- Don't worry little boy, just go to sleep, and let me take care of everything for now; we'll talk later. - Said the woman with a welcoming expression.

Arthur noticed that her voice was different from before, now the woman's voice conveyed a feeling of tranquility and gentleness, unlike the first time he had heard her voice, now she wasn't pressing him. Just by hearing these simple words, and seeing her expression, Arthur fell asleep as tears flowed from his eyes.

- Children shouldn't have to go through this... - The woman murmured as she stared at Arthur with a face that was hard to read. Her expression showed anger, but her gaze seemed to pity the boy who was now unconscious.

- Samantha... are you going to interfere in my trial? - Zeus' voice sounded again, but this time there was no disdain in his tone.

- Trial in... You know, it's funny that countless people insult the gods daily, but only those chosen by the 10 shields in the past are sentenced to lose their connection... That's funny, don't you don't think this too? - Samantha asked as she looked at the thundercloud circling overhead, as if she were staring at Zeus himself. Unlike the kind face she tried to express to Arthur, her face showed only anger and disgust at the other side, and not only had her face changed, but her red hair resembled a bundle of flames, as did her clothes; and in her eyes was a design that resembled a triquetra, but this triquetra was on fire and had an contracting blue color with Samantha's red eyes. As soon as this appeared in her eyes, the flames around her became stronger, and the space around her seemed to be oscillating. At this point Samantha spoke again, but her voice became heavy again, as if it carried the very definition of power in the form of words with it, making the space ripple more strongly. - All the students we've chosen are continually attacked, we're all tired of it... That's why this time, five were left without students on purpose, so the other five can choose one student each. And I chose this boy, so could you ignore the words he said earlier in consideration of the guardians? - Samantha asked, while looking directly at the cloud.

In response to Samantha's question, a face appeared on the cloud. There was no specific appearance, it was just shaped like an ordinary human head, but its eyes and mouth were formed by rays. After forming this face, Zeus answered Samantha. - Samantha, you can't go against the... - Zeus stopped talking, and the lightning-formed eyes turned towards Samantha, who raised her hand towards the cloud. After seeing the electric eyes staring at her, Samantha smiled and spoke. - Zeus, you only brought a representation of yourself, and you still want to impose something? I came personally, you know. So, let's be honest here... Whether you ignore the boy's words or not, your stupid tantrum ends here! In any case, I must repair the damage you've done to my future apprentice, so I don't have time for futile conversations that we already know the outcome of.

- Samantha, do you think you can just decide to end the conversation? Even if you've completely merged with your soul and outgrown our existence, you're still dead! You think you're special? You're just... - Samantha interrupted Zeus before he could finish speaking, uttering just one sentence.

- Ostende infinitum!

- Stop it now! I order you to... - Once again Zeus was completely ignored, but this time only one word brought silence to this world of flames.

- exilium.

After this simple word echoed in the air, the cloud that was the representation of Zeus simply disappeared, almost as if it had never been there. The flames that had previously been extinguished by Zeus began to reappear and fill the spot where the cloud had previously been, but unlike before, the flames were weak and could barely fill the space. Samantha, who was watching this, shook her head and sighed. - I wanted to give you a compatibility test for sorcery but looking at the state of your soul. - Samantha stared at the surrounding flames with a complicated face and looked at Arthur who was sleeping not far from her before sighing again.

- There's nothing I can do now; I hope you learn well. - Samantha sat down next to Arthur, placed her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes.

While Samantha waited for Arthur to wake up, she noticed the continuous fluctuations in the temperature; the temperature continued to rise to a point where the only possible colors to be seen in this sea of flames was blue, Samantha who was sitting next to Arthur in a place where the temperature would be enough to devastate a city just by its extension, but this didn't seem to affect her and she just continued to sit next to Arthur as if the heat didn't affect her.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."