Hope to live

' Run? '

' Where do you think I should run when you brought us here like cattle ready to be butchered?!' the young man screamed inside.

Setekh was standing there: his right hand was dripping blood in the sand, forming a pool right next to his feet. The headless body of Lucio was in front of him, on the ground, surrounded by pieces of skull and brain matter: it was a horrible scene.

The miners were about to go crazy: just that morning they were laughing, and playing cards and now their lives were in the hands of a red monster capable in shattering a human head with simple physical force.

An anubite that was a bit taller than the others approached Setekh.

" Chief, what do we do with these humans?"

"Now that the war began, they have no use anymore. Hmm... Then, let's play a game with this filthy trash." answered Setekh while smirking.

The humans were arranged in six rows without resistance, blinded and their hands tied behind their backs with ropes: even though they were able to move again thanks to Lucio's death, the fear they were feeling made them incapable of running away or muster any strength, not to mention that their water tanks were almost empty.

"I must say, I really appreciated your cooperation: if you tried to put up a fight, things would have never gone so smoothly. As a gift, I'll tell you a secret: if you go straight, you'll reach the entrance of your Gate as well as survive this ordeal. I know, you don't have enough water, but because I am a merciful being I refilled the reservoir of three people for every eight persons. Probably the ones with their tanks full already guessed it by the increase of weight on their backs. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't say that aloud nor wouldn't share it, but you can do what you want. Now that the explanations are complete, just wait to be touched, and then you can go home to your beloved ones."

After saying this, Setekh gave the order to his subordinates:

*touch*

*touch*

*touch*

*touch*

*touch*

*touch*

*touch*

*touch*

The people of the first row were all touched, but nobody moved.

"Ahhh...you have three seconds." sighed Setekh while pressing his forehead as if having a migraine.

"One."

...

"Two."

...

"Thr-"

*step*

Someone moved. Little by little, a miner began walking, and like ducks following their mom, the other miners, when hearing the advance of a fellow worker, began going forward too.

"Nice, It wasn't that hard, right? "

Because they were blind, the miners could only try to go straight, but not even fifteen meters after, some of them were already out of the tracks.

"Sir, are you really letting them go home?" a perplexed anubite asked.

"Of course not. You, bring me a bunch of spears."

"Yes!"

After receiving the weapons, Setekh touched the tip of the pikes, ensuring that were sharp enough, and picked one of them. Subsequently, having checked everything, he brought his spear horizontally to his right shoulder, loaded the arm and smirked.

"Let the fun begin."

Swooooshhh

The spear travelled as fast as lightning, crossing the desert while splitting it in two ways like Moses did with the Red Sea, until it reached a man -

"Mm, Mmh?"

And skewered him.

*cough!*

Blood spurted out from his nose and mouth. The spear was thrust into the ground while passing through his chest. As his consciousness began to dim, the image of his family crossed his mind.

' Mom... dad... I'll wait for you...'

Then the man closed his eyes, forever.

"Kuhuhuhu, hahaha, did you see that?!" a burst of disgusting laughter reverberated in the surroundings.

*clap* *clap* *clap*

"Beautiful throw my Lord."

"Never saw anything better."

Setekh was overwhelmed by praises from his helpers.

"Another one! Give me another one!"

*Swoooooosh*

"Khuoookk!"

*Swoooooosh*

"No..."

The game continued until no one was alive. The sand was painted in blood from the innocent.

"They are so fragile and die so easily, don't you think?"

"They are an inferior race, my Lord. What could we expect from them."

"Whatever... send others eight."

It was the turn of the young man.

---------

"Admiral, the destroyers were wiped out" a young official reported the cruel result.

The commander closed his eyes for some seconds and then opened again.

"They'll be all remembered as heroes, without a doubt. Their sacrifice has given us precious time, a possibility. Now it's not the time to mourn but to revenge them! And the only way is by killing the Kraken. Are the preparations complete?"

"Yes, the nuclear reactors of the Roosevelt will detonate in ten minutes. The crew already embarked into a destroyer and are leaving the area. Now the ship is on his way at maximum speed toward the monster. The only thing is..."

"What, now?"

" The Rear Admiral of the Roosevelt decided to sink together. He reported that someone had to stay on and guide it."

The declaration made by the official plummeted the morale of those in the control deck. Looks full of sadness, regret and hate were painted on their faces. The commander, in particular, was the one with the most contorted face...

"So many brave heroes are giving their lives to this plan... was I wrong? Have I sentenced them to a pointless death?"

Regret filled his voice.

Listening to his dispirited words, an unknown man, with tears in his eyes, rushed toward him, grabbed his collar and bellowed:

"With all due respect, Sir: snap out of it! Those people are not giving away their lives because of the plan. They are sacrificing themselves because you gave us hope! Hope to survive...

Hope to live...

Hope to win.

The knew what their destiny was! And if I could give my life to allow others to survive, I would gladly do that! So, please, I beg you... don't feel responsible for their deaths, but feel responsible for our lives."

The words struck Admiral Maynard deep into his heart.

"I'm sorry... I let you all see a pathetic scene. Good, I feel honoured to have you by my side. Let's speed up too, hurry!"

Not too far away, the Kraken was enjoying the feeling of having crushed those pests when a bigger boat appeared in his vision, through the fog and the torrential rains.

'Again? Another futile attack? Are you taking me for a fool?!"

RUMBLE!

Bolts of lightning flashed across the sky, the angry waves smacked against each other as if wanting to tear down the aircraft!

Even though the Kraken was perceiving rising energy coming from the ship, he was too furious to care about and was confident that the humans didn't have a trump card able to harm him.

He was underestimating mankind and his imagination.

' This time, I will devour you.'

' { Norse's Authority: ~ Swallowing The Heavens ~ } '

The Kraken slowly opened his gigantic mouth, filled with thousands razors teeth, and began absorbing the water all around him at an incredible rate: everything that got inside disappeared in endless darkness. Fish, glaciers, scraps from the wrecked destroyers, men that were still alive and were trying to swim in vain.

Everything.

The carrier that was already going at maximum speed, began to accelerate even faster until that too, disappeared inside his mouth.

*CRUNCH*

Sounds of steel breaking could be heard from the outside.

*CRUNCH*

"He swallowed it?" asked the Admiral while looking towards a man who was holding a binocular.

"He swallowed it!"

"How long till the explosion!"

"Should be... now."

It was then.

The countless tentacles froze in mid-air.

The storm paused: not even one drop of rain pattered the fleet, the rumblings of the clouds ended.

It was as if God himself paused the world.

"Did he die?" Someone asked, not believing in what he was seeing.

"I don't... don't know... turn a round! Quickly!"

The fleet U-turned and after fifteen minutes reached the site of where the Kraken was.

The fact that they were able to go near him made the people on the ships restless.

The mythical beast was there, unmoving, his face twisted in disbelief and pain.

"We... won..."

At first it was a whisper in the wind.

" We won."

Then...

"WE WON!"

"UAAAAAAA!"

That day, Admiral Maynard cried like he never done before.