A Dance of Two Worlds

David's Army

Chapter Nine

David's Army

Revolutionaries must inspire people to fight but they don't need to be great warriors

Elisium.

The Fifth Loop, Year 491, 7th January (5L/491/1/7)

Savior or not, my every breath from now is dedicated to Elisium and its people.

Wow! A hero's rising. It's giving me goosebumps.

Moses had visited different parts of the Refuge in his first week. During these visits, he realized that this place was brimming with despair.

Every alley, every corner, every house has its tales of miseries. People have lost their houses, farms, lands—and even lives.

So now you're going to shed tears for them?

Don't you have any emotions?

No, you're the emotional fool. I'm the smart guy within you.

I'll fight for these people till the last drop of my blood.

And that last drop will be spilled in the very first battle.

What? Why?

Idiot, this sentimental charade won't win you many wars. You have to understand this world and how this whole Transition works if you really want to do some good. So leave this crap and get to work.

Moses got the point and started spending a lot of time with Jacob and George. Arthur and Joseph also joined them in these chats where the two experienced men passed on their knowledge to the next generation.

"All your hopes are firmly based on this Dance of Two Sisters," Moses asked Jacob one fine morning. "But what happens if it's just a theory and there's nothing like a Transition."

"Well, we are two small worlds in this immense universe. Here we have a Dance of Two Sisters, maybe in some other place there could be a Symphony of Souls or a Twirl of Maidens. What I know is that Nature preserves balance and harmony in these systems through such processes."

What are you? A philosophy student?

Now what did I do?

You keep asking such dumb questions and he'll keep throwing more theories at you. Can't you ask something more practical?"

"Okay, let's assume that this Transition thing's true and this amulet's got real powers, but you can't rely on just some magical artifact to defeat such a powerful enemy."

That's better. Now this old man won't be shooting some mind-numbing supposition at you.

Don't underestimate his powers to bore the hell out of you.

George answered Moses's query before Jacob could bombard him with some more philosophy. "Son, you are not fighting them alone. After a few failed rebellions, we realized that the only way our world could come out of this crisis was to have faith in the Transition and fight a war at the turn of the Loop. A bunch of such honorable Elisians formed David's army "

"Unlike before, these men didn't want to fight headlessly and get massacred, so they started to train and build weapons," Jacob elaborated on his friend's point. "Slowly their numbers grew. David's army now has seven thousand soldiers. They are being trained by Nathan, a Solomon and a former Commander of Aden's army."

Moses shook his head. "I don't know how to fight myself and you expect me to lead an army?"

"You know, revolutionaries must inspire people to fight but they don't need to be great warriors." Jacob narrated a famous quote that many people credited to Solomon. "George will lead David's army, but you will be our sigil of hope because hope strengthens a person's will a hundredfold."