Shepherding Humanity

"But more of these creatures are closing in on us!"

A hunter shouted as he looked to the far side of the black swamp. More tentacled eyeball monsters were approaching.

These physically weak creatures were slowly crawling towards them with their slimy tentacles.

Despite their ridiculously slow movements, their strange power was terrifying. Once you got surrounded…

"Even if it may cost us our lives, we must kill at least one of them!"

Medea took the initiative and raised her stone spear. She was the bravest warrior of the tribe and did not hesitate to charge forward.

Boom!!!

With a single blow, the big and vulnerable eye exploded. Accompanied by a sharp and hoarse scream that sounded like a baby's cry, the creature turned into disgusting, viscous juice that splattered across Medea's face. A foul smell hung thick in the air.

"Take it away!" She picked up the corpse's slimy tentacles with one hand, and quickly started to turn back. But before she realized it, she was already surrounded by seven or eight evil eyes. She couldn't help but grimace.

"Follow me and kill our way out!"

It was a very brutal fight.

The tribe's powerful hunting party of nearly thirty people died almost to the last man.

Because of their delay, they were surrounded by terrifying creatures, and missed their chance to escape. In the end, only three survivors managed to escape from the eerie, infested swamp.

"All of them are dead."

Though Medea was an extremely strong and intelligent woman, she couldn't help but weep.

She looked at the two remaining warriors beside her and knew what this meant for the tribe.

Over the past years, most of the able-bodied males in the tribe had died while searching for food and hunting giant beasts. Only a hundred healthy males were left in the tribe of nearly a thousand, the rest were all old and sickly. And now they had lost a third of them…

They were on the verge of extinction .

"However, our race was going to die sooner or later. It was only a matter of time, so we might as well bet it all." Medea took a deep breath and looked at the corpse of the Evil Eye. "I hope that this was worth the cost. Its evil blood should be useful…"

Over the years, countless warriors have tried to take in the blood of various powerful beasts, hoping to gain the power of the Hero King Gilgamesh and protect the tribe.

But all of them had died. Most likely, only the blood of special creatures could be assimilated, like the “Blood of the Conqueror” granted by god.

"Perhaps, the blood of these aberrant and evil creatures could become a second Blood of the Conqueror…"

When Medea returned to the tribe with her few remaining warriors, her father was on the verge of breaking down.

"Are you insane? Do you know what you're doing!!!"

Her father was a large and sturdy middle-aged man dressed in black pelt. He was panting in stress as he sat in his high chair.

"I'm not crazy." In the tent, Medea was calm in the face of her father's anger. She took a deep breath and said: "We can no longer turn back. Instead of waiting for death, let's risk everything and create a second Hero King Gilgamesh to lead our civilization to glory. This is the only way for us sentient species to survive!"

"That's impossible."

The chieftain slowly shook his head and spoke with great bitterness: "Only the legendary God-given elixir, the Blood of the Conqueror, can grant us great power. Not to mention, this creature is such a slimy, disgusting, and vicious monster. Even if we managed to acquire its abominable power, God would surely punish us… "

"Power is neither good or evil."

Medea's voice turned low and hoarse. She looked resolutely at her aged father who was sitting high above her.

"Gilgamesh possessed the glorious power of the Blood of the Conqueror. Yet he was a tyrant, and wielded the holy sword of civilization against the Almighty…. Even if you have a dark and terrible power, I believe you could still protect the people as long as you remain good.

This monster is completely different from the other species that we’ve encountered! It's weak, even weaker than us humans, yet it also has unimaginable power. If we could gain its power…"

"You! Medea, how dare you!!!"

The chieftain turned solemn. He breathed roughly as thought over this audacious idea.

His decision would change the course of civilization and affect his entire race. His grandfather, Utnapishtim, had saved hundreds of people with Noah's Ark and set the tribe on the path to recovery. Now, civilization’s torch has been handed over to him. The moment he became chief, he had sworn to protect his people with his life. Their civilization would not end under his watch.

He clearly understood that all was insignificant next to the survival of his race.

Huff-huff-huff!

He closed his eyes and gasped for breath, this was going to be the most monumental decision of his life.

He bowed his head and looked down at his headstrong daughter. He murmured in a pained and hoarse voice: "But we don't have enough people left to try and assimilate this new blood."

Over the past two hundred years, if they had just lived normally, then there might have been more of them left at this point. But the courageous and resourceful leaders of each generation were not willing to silently accept their decline. They called on the young people of the tribe to try and take in the blood many different giant beasts.

In each generation, there had been warriors who bravely risked their life and died in terrible pain.

Their bloody history was paved with generations of martyrs. This was the reason why there were so few of them left now. But despite all the deaths and sacrifices, they have yet to produce any results.

Medea took a deep breath. "Yes, we no longer have enough healthy men in our tribe, and we'll need them to protect us. But, we have enough women, children, and the elderly. For years, men have protected women, now it’s our turn to step forward."

Medea spoke in a solemn and serious voice: "And, if a large number of women die, we'll be less of a burden on the tribe. Reducing the population might not be that bad… This time, it’s our turn to die."

The tent turned dead silent.

Half a day later, Medea stood high above the tribe, lighted by a blazing torch. She had assembled the entire tribe before her..

"If you don't want to go extinct!"

"If you hope to restore the glory of the Sumerians!"

"If you wish for a second Hero King to appear and lead our civilization!"

"Death will not crush our will and bend our spine! The great Hero King Gilgamesh once said that mankind's struggle against nature is a saga of passion and courage… Let history record the courage we show on this day!" Medea spoke passionately as she stood on a high platform and looked down at the tribesmen gathered below.

"Tomorrow, early in the morning, we need you to come, for the sake of the tribe! The history of mankind is a saga of passion and courage!"

The women below were solemn as they held their sickly children in their arms.

It was clear to everyone that there was almost no chance of survival.

Most of the women in the tribe had a sleepless night.

The next morning, they said goodbye to their silent husbands and crying children, and resolutely headed to the site of the test.

They have suffered enough over the years. Their husbands were dead, their fathers were dead, and their sons would die in the future. What did they have left?

They still had themselves.

If no one could protect them anymore, then they had to protect themselves.

That fateful day was drenched in blood and pain. Countless women boldly stepped forward and tried to assimilate the blood of the Evil Eye. But most of them were not compatible with the evil blood. The corpses of four hundred people who had died in horrible pain littered the field.

In the end, including Medea, there were three women who survived. The two other women were named Circe and Cassandra.

The three of them would live on forever in ancient stone murals.

Within the graven image, three courageous women stood tall amidst a sea of blood. Surrounded by endless corpses, the three of them held a huge burning torch high. This scene would be carved into Babylonian history. Later generations would name this sacred mural “The Three Witches”.

The torch of civilization has been passed on.

After a death came rebirth. In the days that followed, these three great and tenacious women led the tribe and started to advance civilization once again. They started to gain extraordinarily sharp senses and strange mental powers similar to the Evil Eye’s.

They slowly gained the power to resist the giant beasts, mentally interfering with them from the rear, while warriors with stone axes fought at the front.

Because of their exceedingly strong mental powers, they were often unable to control their own psychic waves. Were they to copulate with a man, they could lose control of themselves in their pleasure, and unintentionally kill him by shattering his mind.

Therefore, they were chaste women.

Unable to have relations with men, they were lonely, arrogant, and unapproachable.

Medea was an honorable woman with a strong sense of duty. She led the tribe in battle. With wooden staff in hand, she often went hunting and fought against giant beasts.

Cassandra was kind and gentle. She preferred peace and quiet, and led the women of the tribe. They herded cattle, grew herbs, healed the people, and fought against diseases.

Circe was the exception. She was originally a married woman, but had unintentionally killed her husband during sex. Having known the pleasure of a man’s touch, she was extremely lustful and couldn't bear the loneliness of the long nights. She secretly used the Evil Eye’s charm ability to seduce the able-bodied men of the tribe into wandering into her tent in the middle of the night, and had her way with them. She indulged in debauchery and would often kill her partner while lost in the haze of pleasure.

In the tribe, men began to die frequently under mysterious circumstances.

The people furtively cursed Circe, but this only made her harbor a grudge. She used her mental powers to place a curse on the males who rebelled against her, causing them to suffer terrible headaches. Their eyes turned hollow, and their hair started to thin.

The name of Circe the witch became synonymous with evil and terror within the tribe.

The other two witches could not dissuade her from her evil ways. Neither could they join forces to kill her because her power was needed to protect the tribe.

Gradually, due to Circe's oppression of the men, the status of women started to increase, and the warriors of the tribe began to fear the three witches. They became the symbol of power, mystery, evil, and the unknown.

From henceforth, the tribe entered the age of witches where women ruled from on high.

“The Spear of Witchcraft” thus recorded.

[The Babylonian tribe suffered under the attacks of the great beasts, leaving only a few men left. In desperation, the women drank the blood of the Evil Eye, and the three great witches appeared: Medea, the Witch of War, reigned over the turbulent battlefield and led men to glory. Circe, the Witch of Ruin, sowed chaos and curses. Cassandra, the Witch of Spring, watched over life, developing medicine and caring for livestock.]