Reincarnations, the infinite.

Chapter XIII - Redemption

After the incredible battle, subdued in combat, seemingly with no chance of victory, there was only one option left for Eduardo: prayer! After the young man's silent prayers, a bright light appeared. They disappeared from that treacherous region, where the last sound they heard was a deafening scream:

_"NOOOOOOOO!"_

Eduardo sought help from God, asking for permission for his guardian angel to rescue them on that mission. The liberation came as requested. Back at the spiritist center, Eduardo was once again in his physical body, and he saw that all his incarnated colleagues prayed and watched over all of them. Their prayers certainly helped for the smooth journey back. The disincarnated colleagues also returned. The Hunter, Exu, and Débora were there beside the young lady they had come to save.

"I took advantage of the distraction you provided during the fight and helped the poor young woman. She will come with us to receive the necessary treatment and reunite with her deceased mother who awaits her. In a few days, her father will receive good news," concluded Débora, disappearing along with Amanda from the environment.

"Thank you for the adventure. We started as enemies, but I believe that in the near future, I might even consider calling you friends. We'll run into each other again," Exu said, bidding farewell, returning to his abode.

"I need to seek answers; a great shadow looms from our journey. If even a small part of what the dark being said is true, we will have a big problem ahead," the Hunter returned to his colony in search of knowledge.

"I also demand answers! How can that evil spirit know so much about us? What is all that he talked about? What is this Spirit of Truth?" Eduardo grumbled.

"You already know the truth; just use your ability to return to past incarnations, and you will know what it is all about!" Marcelo said.

There were countless reincarnations on other planets as a killer or warrior. However, on Earth, what stood out the most were the lives where Eduardo was part of the Spartan warriors! Loyal to his king, he fought to the end against enemy legions and met a tragic end through numerous arrows piercing his body, topped with his beheading... At that moment, Eduardo touched his neck when the memory came to his mind. He had always felt great discomfort in this region of his body.

Years later, he returned as a soldier, part of Alexander the Great's militia. He explored the world and fell in love with Asia after his king's death. However, at the beginning of the Dark Ages, his own darkness began. Involved with numerous malignant mediums, called sorcerers at that time, he discovered a way to contact other worlds. He became a wicked and fearless battle king. Armed with his knowledge and art of war, he entered battles without fearing death. He became an authoritarian and fearless emperor. Arrows now only scratched his body, shields didn't block his attacks, and swords barely touched him. After spreading death and pain wherever he went, leading an army as cruel as its leader, the higher spirits decided to intervene in all the chaos he was causing, both in the spiritual and material planes. Thus, a noble group of good warriors, aided by these "guardian angels," managed to ambush him! Since imprisonment wasn't an option for that version of Eduardo, he took several of those heroes with him to the grave in his last breath of combat, having his head beheaded again. Eddie raised his hand and protected his neck once again, on impulse.

Several of those heroes had been present in these recent incarnations to help Eduardo evolve while protecting the destiny of humanity, as he could return to the dark side he had been on before. These heroes were part of his family, his friends, his loves in these lives. Nakata, his best friend, was killed by his hands during an incarnation, right at the end of the Middle Ages. He, under the name of Andrey, fought alongside him in a rebellion, and Edward killed him to usurp a throne that should have been his friend's. The dark silhouette he saw in his travels, the executioner of Andrey, was the demon lord of darkness, influencing Edward's actions through obsession.

Tears rolled down Eduardo's eyes. But everything made sense. The hatred that always gave him strength to continue was indeed present in his heart, still "smelling" of darkness. After composing himself, he questioned Marcelo and Carlos:

"Why did God allow all this? Including the incredible power of the demon master of the underworld, growing every day?"

"Everything has a reason in this life! We all have an important role to play. It's not for nothing that there's a spark in each of us that says we are 'the chosen ones,' we are special, we have a fundamental role in the construction of the universe, just like any other being, living or not, on this planet or in the other spheres of creation. We all must reach the level of a Christic spirit, like our Master Jesus," Marcelo said.

"At first, we thought you were His messenger because of your special ability. That maybe you were the Spirit of Truth. However, you are a vain being. You love praise and can easily be swayed to the dark side because of this small but fundamental detail. Prepare yourself first! Pray and watch! Train beyond the arts we taught you—charity and love—and the rest will be a consequence of your evolution. Evolution is constant, perfection is a utopia always one step ahead of man," Carlos added.

It was difficult. Remembering having hurt others countless times. Sometimes it seemed like going to the dark side would be more congruent, a kind of shortcut: "Just to get stronger, and then I'll come back to the good..." A mere flimsy excuse.

In the midst of the recently released ancient memories, Eduardo began to remember from that point on when he took the measure in the past that ended up sinking him even further.

In the late Middle Ages, as a young Edward, he was one of the members of the personal guard of a powerful emperor in a country between Europe and Arabia. An excellent fighter, he quickly caught the attention of his lord and became one of his advisers. In that place, composed of warriors, the emperor wanted combat specialists to assist him, even if they were still young warriors. As was common at that time and in that place, the emperor had a harem with several concubines at his disposal. However, as expected, he was never satisfied, and he flirted with a young girl, the most beautiful in the reign. She became his primary wife: the empress! He remembered as if it were yesterday their engagement party. She wore a white dress adorned with various rose petals and other flowers. Slightly tan skin, black and straight hair, with a somewhat Egyptian touch. Yes, she resembled the paintings we currently see of Cleopatra. Her beauty and her body were in a way that Edward, as a warrior in whom his emperor had placed much trust, avoided direct contact with the eyes of the young queen. He even avoided looking in her direction.

The party was filled with wine, mead, and even a drink made with barley and wheat, brought by the Nordic peoples who traded there. At the end of the party, the emperor raised his cup of this exotic drink and, after a brief speech

, ordered one of his best and most trusted warriors, a bald man of already old age but with the fierceness of a young lion, to demonstrate his combat skills.

That night, he called one of his enemies, a young man slightly older than Edward but much more muscular and taller than his opponent. He thought to himself, "What madness! He won't be able to overcome that giant in combat," but his thoughts were torn like pages from an old book fluttering in the wind. The older warrior quickly dodged and, with his blade, struck the tendons of the giant's arm muscles, causing him to drop the enormous mace with two gigantic iron balls on the ends, which fell on his head and crushed his skull. Edward felt a chill and a terrible fear at that moment. He pleaded with the gods never to allow him to face such an opponent in combat, fearing for his life, which still had much to live. Despite everything, the party continued normally, as that kind of atrocity was common in those times.

After a few days, it was evident that the king dedicated much of his time to his new wife, forgetting the others. He even fell into a kind of passionate blindness because his other wives betrayed him with other warriors close to him, men he had once trusted, and he didn't even notice. Edward felt a great heat coming from inside him, crying out for justice, wanting to do the right thing and tell him everything. However, he feared the impulses of the cruel monarch and the reactions that would come from it.

As expected, the young heart of the queen soon tired of that old and rude man she had married. So, she always found excuses and reasons to fight, avoiding her marital duties. On one of those nights of royal couple fights, by coincidence, Edward was on guard, patrolling the castle at night. To his surprise, he was approached by none other than the emperor himself, who asked if he was acting correctly in recent times. He didn't know why, perhaps that fire clamoring for justice within Edward spoke louder than his fears, but he gathered the courage and replied:

"My lord, power, wealth, and beauty are sores! True curses of humanity, granted to men and women for their trial, their evolution. However, because they are so dangerous and powerful, a man must be truly wise not to be swallowed by these divine gifts." Those words seemed to come from the mouth of Eduardo or Edgard, his even more futuristic version, who possessed better wisdom.

"So... What should I do?" The emperor retorted, as if at that moment he entrusted his entire empire to Edward.

"Well, let the young empress go away in peace. Give her a piece of land to the north so she can stay far away from you, and you can live again. Then turn your eyes to the other wives, your empire, and your subjects. These are the ones who need you."

The emperor fell silent and left. Edward didn't know where he found so much courage for such a brave act, but he threw all the words stuck in his throat into the ears of his lord, hoping that he had correctly understood the true meaning of what he had said.

On a seemingly beautiful day, walking through the city market, Edward saw from a distance the young empress disguised and mixed with the crowd. She was biting into a juicy apple when he found her. He found it strange that she was alone there and decided to approach to investigate the situation. His combatant senses prevailed, and he noticed a strange and hooded figure lurking around the queen. He followed the shadowy figure stealthily and saw that he pulled out a small hand crossbow. He ran like never before to prevent that calamity and collided with the opponent, preventing the assassination with the weapon's fall. The man looked deeply into Edward's eyes, became enraged, and shouted:

"Guards, this man tried to assassinate the empress. Arrest him!"

Now, closer, Edward realized it was the older bald warrior of the emperor. The one he feared confronting one day. His instincts made the young man draw his sword and prepare for the confrontation, but a stab near his ribs almost extinguished his senses, leaving his vision blurred. Edward staggered backward and fell from the top of the market hill, which bordered the capital's beach. Edward disappeared into the waves of the sea, only to wake up a few days later on a nearby beach, almost dead, saved by a boy named Andrey. That would be the beginning of a revolution to transform an empire into a kingdom.

When Edward realized it, some years later, he would be holding his friend's body, enraged for having discovered that Andrey was having an affair with the young empress. Edward became a king and forcibly married the young woman, who had a different name in this current incarnation: Samantha.