"You remember it as it was, but that was not the end," the Tribus continued. "The wind removed every trace of the horsemen from every place but one. A towering rocky crag that bordered the desert shielded the plateau where the retreating rebel leader had rested.
The imprint of his form remained where he had lain wounded, and his red blood still stained the hallowed ground. Dark forces assembled in the shaded plot and petitioned for demonic intervention.
The dried blood became liquid and flowed around the shape of Satan's body, keeping within the contours to create a facsimile in the dirt. Soon, a pool had formed, and like a cauldron coming to the boil, the blood began to bubble and turn into a hellish brew that rejuvenated every cell. The cells rapidly multiplied, but every cell division was a flawed reproduction, and a living beast rose from its birthplace, dripping with gore.
He stood upright in the form of a man. The terrified creature had been born in a world that would not tolerate his presence, and he screamed out in pain as his corrupted flesh began to smoulder and burn.
Hearing his cry, she slunk out of the shadows to claim her prize.
"Flattened to the ground, cowering, lest the light return too soon, her sinuous body traced a crooked path in the sand as she slid towards the burning figure and raised the entire length of her upper body, swaying back and forth until she was directly above the burning mutant who was still alive and screeching in agony.
Glittering with malevolence, her jet-black eyes were like gun sights that never wavered from her prey. The reptile head was now motionless atop the swaying, scale-encrusted pillar of blackened flesh that made her body, and instinctively unhinging her jaws, she made the strike.
"The gaping red cavern of her mouth clamped down on the head and shoulders of the unfortunate aberration below, who, in truth, had never wanted to live. Secure in her hold, she opened her gullet wider, pushing down hard until his entire body disappeared into her own, extinguishing the flames like a candle snuffer.
From deep within the chamber of the serpent's body rose a reeking black cloud that poured from its jaws like smoke from an infernal chimney, and the muffled screams from within became progressively fainter as his living body entered the embryonic sac of the transparent gut that ran the entire length of her body.
Stretching then contracting her rough reptilian skin against the desert floor, the serpent moved swiftly but without grace, its distended body scraping a deep path in the fine sand as she escaped. The sword had wounded Satan as a man, and when demons revived his spilt red blood, the one became two, and it was the darker twin that she carried off that night."
I found myself unable to speak.
"The mission is over," said the Tribus. Humans cannot save themselves. They are fatally flawed and beyond redemption."
I knew the truth.
The fault was mine, and the words of my confession tumbled from my lips.
"I could have saved them had I not hesitated to deal the fatal blow to Satan."
"Your flaw was moral weakness," said Tribus. You failed to act when it was your duty to kill him, and in a deliberate act of self-deception, you described your lack of courage as mercy."
"I will redeem myself if given the chance, and this time, I will not fail," I said.
Even to me, my words sounded pitifully hollow.
"It is too late," said Tribus. "Your weakness was human, and in that form, you will remain. I will return alone. You will leave this world.
I was banished.