Chapter 76: The meaning of life

"What the?!" Sia exclaimed with horror.

Their group leader and vice leader were completely engrossed in those melodious songs. Though it was melodious it was biting them in their back by making them remember of their bad karmas.

"Every cause has an effect, and every effect has a cause…"

Hearing this line from Luo Rin everyone understood their fate was destined to die there. Die in the night under the pure white light of the lunar.

Everyone was getting heartbroken and frustrated from deep inside.  Their will to live was vanishing slowly thanks to the enchanting songs of the Healing god Sekhmet.

Sia was the only one who had a strong urge to live and had a strong will to support her decision.

"I will escape out of this shit place!! And I swear I will take Sk out of here! She had saved my life in the past, now it's my turn to save hers."

With that she carried Sk on her arms and took a deep breath for a run. Simon was already hanging onto her back. If it were someone else from the group he/she would have fallen on the ground by then.

Carrying two people each weight in between sixty to seventy wasn't a small task. The other members stared at Sia and were thinking about the pressure on her body.

A tiny Asian with a height of five feet four inches was carrying two people of six feet. Looking from afar even Sekhmet was surprised by her physical psyche.

But alas, it she had to die at one time or another. 

Sekhmet didn't stop her songs and continued to add them like a drama's background songs. Her sweet melodious, enchanting voice was boosting the morals of the great wolf and crushing the wills of team Alpha.

Sia didn't hesitate any more and started running towards their camp. The only place that can give them chances of survival. They had bought a variety of guns, machine guns, rifles, semi-automatic rifles for the purpose of hunting and poaching.

But alas her small body couldn't handle the weight of two people. She gritted her teeth and stood up, only to fall on the ground again. Her leg had become red, showing a swollen part and indicating a small fracture.

The other members of the group was watching her from a distance, only to feel pity for her.

'If that small girl has a will to live, then why don't we have so?' was the question in everyone's mind.

At the same time they heard the same song again, "Throughout history, it has always been forlorn

through the centuries it has been forwarned

never mess with a woman scorned

payback was what I was taught, revenge was my only thought

yet, what I bargained 4 was not what i got

revenge was the only thing...on my mind

its all I could think about all of the time

what kind of misery would it bring....

to you...but karma did its voo-doo

and it striked me, not hitting you

the irony of it all, was that it was you who were supposed to fall

I was the one burned, but quickly my lesson was learned

that revenge may be sweet, but karma is a force you cannot beat

by gods good grace, and happenstance

I was the one slapped in the face, twisted circumstance

karma took revenge's place, and it was I who was disgraced

I got the rain, as you bathe in the sun

I was struck with pain and you had all the fun

you were graced, as i was defaced

karma is not a force to be reckoned with….."

'You were graced, as i was defaced

karma is not a force to be reckoned with…..' these two lines were repeating on everyone's mind. Each time they listen these lines they gets closer to the meaning of life.

The mantra of a good life is do good, stay good. Every effect has a cause and effect has a cause.

Here the effect was team Alpha on the verge of death and the cause was their bad karma. Everything in the world works in a cycle. Be it life, be it death, or be it something else. 

The more they hear her songs the more they were getting enlightened.

When everyone was getting depressed Luo Rin thought of changing her theme, and play some more with their emotions.

"Sometimes you just have to push yourself just to get out of bed.

You stay up 'til 2am just wishing you were dead.

You ask yourself, "Why can't it be someone else instead?"

You get tired of all the thoughts in your head.

You lose sight of who you want to be.

You blame yourself, screaming, "Why am I me?"

You wish you could just be free.

Open your eyes and you'll see

That life is what you make it, and sometimes it's hard.

We get battered and bruised, mistreated and scared.

We forget what's important.

We forget our drive.

We all need a focus point,

A reason to survive.

Find your passion.

Find your drive.

Find something that makes you fight,

And you will survive."

The words of her songs resonated with team Alpha's heart and they slowly regained the drive to live and fight. The drive to fight their destiny and win against it. The drive to break the cycle of karma and win against it.

Now that she had cheered up their spirits she make them realise about their lost innocence. Something they lost the moment they killed an animal.

"Wind whistling,

Snow glistening,

We try not to,

But we're all listening.

Loud screams,

Bad dreams,

It's very far,

But close it seems.

Sad day,

Lost our way,

All we can do

Is simply pray.

Innocence gone,

Life no longer long.

We may not know,

But we're all doing wrong.

Joy lost,

The Holocaust.

We look to see

Hearts covered in frost.

Wars fought,

Sins taught,

Making mistakes,

Hoping not to be caught.

Not taking blame,

Pushing for fame.

As advanced as we are,

We're still all untamed.

Too much pride,

Needing a guide.

We will deny it,

But behind lies we hide.

Hurting others,

Betraying brothers.

Many forgetting

To appreciate mothers.

Lies are fed,

Filling heart and head.

Through all of these years,

Innocent blood has been shed.

Children abandoned,

Lonely and stranded.

We're all wasting the life

That we have been handed.

Taking from the poor,

We're loving no more.

Fight to be free,

End up starting a war.

People starting fights,

No longer enjoying the sights,

While mere mortals are taking

Our God given rights.

Soldiers killed,

Void can't be filled,

Pay close attention,

For pure souls have been tilled.

Need to find peace,

Work together like geese,

But greatest of all,

The hate needs to cease."

Hearing this tears started to come out of team Alpha's member. They were understanding every bits and pieces behind those lines. And realized how wrong they had become. Luo Rin was feeling excited after playing with their emotions and didn't give them a chance to recover. She continued again, 

"And then I realized

that to be

more alive

I had to

be less

afraid

so

I did it…

I lost my

fear

and gained

my whole life."

This uplifted their spirit and gave them the power to run from there. When she posed another song before them,

"Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,—act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait."

Something this foggy day, a something which

Is neither of this fog nor of today,

Has set me dreaming of the winds that play

Past certain cliffs, along one certain beach,

And turn the topmost edge of waves to spray:

Ah pleasant pebbly strand so far away,

So out of reach while quite within my reach,

As out of reach as India or Cathay!

I am sick of where I am and where I am not,

I am sick of foresight and of memory,

I am sick of all I have and all I see,

I am sick of self, and there is nothing new;

Oh weary impatient patience of my lot!

Thus with myself: how fares it, Friends, with you?

At this point members of team Alpha had no control over their feelings. They were getting sad, they were getting angry, they were feeling joy, and they were feeling despair.