17 years ago

At 4 am a very special girl was born, inside a makeshift tent. There were dozens of people watching the place from the outside waiting for the end of the birth so they could witness the face of the sacred descendant. The father seated beside the woman, ready to finally have his first daughter, held the woman's hand, intending to retain some of her pain.

He was Tkeleh, the leader of the tribe Gade Semini, located in the Amazon. This clan was founded thousands of years ago, to some extent known as one of the twelve tribes of Israel, where it was called only the tribe of Gade. The world only knew about their origins until the eighth century BC, where the Assyrian invasions that brought down Samaria took place. Even though they were a fighting tribe, they were scared enough to hide and protect what they believed in. They could not be the center of attention or would be hunted down and killed, and therefore found it difficult to spread their faith and increase their brotherhood. And so they continued until they had no more willpower.

By the time they began to despair, they heard the rumor that a holy child had been born. Prophesized by David, it would be known as Messiah and bring several gifts to the world. The tribe, instead of accepting the news as something good, took it as a great insult to their faith. They knew that God would not show himself in this way, not through a son, since he was immortal they thought there was no need of human descent from Him. It would make no sense at all, and so, seeing that the world around them seemed to be creating increasingly crazy beliefs, they decided to keep looking with twice as much vigor to prove to others that they were right.

They took all the known teachings as truth, trying to figure out something that could elevate them above others. Through the decades, they made several attempts in the search for success, in search of the tree that spoke with Moses with the voice of God, of the soldiers who should be dead at the bottom of the Red Sea, or any record credible enough to make anyone believe. That's when they came to a conclusion. One of the reasons people were believers and exercised their faith was so that they could be forgiven of their evils and go to the Garden of Eden. So that's the place they needed to find. They remembered that the world began with Adam and Eve and that in the short time they had before they met the serpent and spoiled everything, they lived in Paradise. They began to investigate unexplored locations at the time, leaving on journeys in search of green fields of unimaginable beauty. Even in the midst of so much desert they did not refuse to proceed. That's why they left the desert.

For several centuries they explored the world, trying to embark on all the journeys they could to search for the unknown, going as sailors. Because of this, the number of members of the tribe, which was increasing for generations, also decreased with all the shipwrecks of the time. But it all paid off when, under Pedro Álvares Cabral, they discovered Brazil. Initially, there seemed to be nothing of special importance, since they had just arrived there and not explored. However, after nearly 40 years, the greatness and greenery of the Amazon was revealed. They knew they had to go there. They left one at a time, investigating the jungle, observing the incredible variety of fauna and flora, and how it resembled the much desired Garden of Eden. They found a great cave with a large area full of fruit trees and non-aggressive animals. There they followed a monarchic regime, already established in Europe. They have for some time opted to follow this regime, just as Solomon, Saul and David had done before them. The chief had been chosen on merit, in order to define precisely who would set the clan's objectives, the customs to follow, manage the resources and guarantee the safety of its people. For generations it was always the same family, since it seemed to be the right one for the job.

Therefore, in 2002, a girl, daughter of the king of Gade Semini, was born. The father, already 54 years old, was all at once cheerful, disappointed and broken. Glad, for having a child after so many attempts and disappointed to be a girl. Unless she could still have another child, which was very unlikely, this could be the first woman to reign over the tribe. On the other hand, it was born on December 25, which for them was a horrible coincidence, since it was the same day that the "false "son of God was born. Finally, he was heartbroken to see his wife die. His wife was too old for childbirth, just over 56 years old, and could not stand the moment. She died bringing the miraculous daughter Esther, whose name inspired on a woman who freed the Jewish people from a pogrom'.

Esther, as the daughter of a king, had a noble life, full of various duties. Until the age of five she had a somewhat easy life, being the first to be fed when hunting the groceries, she always slept in the most comfortable hammock and, for lack of mother, had a great variety of breast milk. From the age of five she had to start learning to protect herself. Not wanting to give a weapon too dangerous, they decided to educate her towards the martial arts, beginning by learning Krav Maga. There was some difficulty in learning, due to the brute force needed to be able to use it correctly, so she focused on learning about all she could from the Jewish faith. At the age of seven she managed to perfect Krav Maga in her own way and was given the first weapon. A mace, in this case, an iron rod with four M-shaped blades at the top, over thirty centimeters. It was all silver and would fit like a glove in the girl's hand, now with enough force and caution to use it. However it was always regarded as a traditional and symbolic weapon and therefore, unfortunately, she was not taught to use it, since she would be the first to carry such a weapon. The rest of the tribe used either bows or knives to fight or usually to survive.

She learned all she was entitled to, and even with all these activities, she thought of her clan. Especially in his father, who was already over 60 years old and was seriously ill due to a lack of medicines or disease prevention. The man would stop several times in a hospital network inside a tent, to be treated by the Indian healers. These tried to help patients through prayer, which several times was not enough. Esther looked for him every time she heard of something bad happening to her father. One day she went to the tent where he was staying, seeming to sleep quietly, and spoke worried:

- So father. – She shook him a bit until he woke up. – What happened? Are you all right?

Tkeleh slowly opened his eyes, stretching and looking at his daughter with a smile.

- Of course I'm fine, you don't have to worry. I don't really remember how I got here, I just know that whatever it is shouldn't be serious.

- I heard you fainted in the middle of a hunt. This is the third time this week, I'm starting to worry.

- Esther, I have God at my side, and with Him here I know that nothing bad will happen to me.

- I… I understand, but I have some herbs here that, when reading one of the books of the foreigners, seems to have exactly the same characteristics as a plant capable of curing these fainting of yours. Just crush them a little with water and I find…

- Esther. – The father looked at her frankly, watching the green eyes that reminded her so much of her mother. – I appreciate you finally starting to read, but that's not the message I wanted you to take back. Those herbs of yours will not change my fate. If God wants me to die, then I die.

- This seems unfair to you. Are you saying we shouldn't do anything to stay healthy? That's like saying we don't need to hunt, because God would feed us if we were hungry.

- You still don't understand. You are too young.

- But… - She was interrupted.

- But nothing. Go to your training and pray for your father. You'll find that in no time, I'll be running and hunting like nobody's business.

Esther was feeling ignored. She had always had several new ideas to improve any aspect of her clan's life, from mixing plants to curing disease to trying to forge weapons through controlled flames. All these thoughts came from the Holy Father's teachings, made up by the Old Testament and various scriptures of previous leaders of the Gade Semini. The only problem was that, even though they refer to inventions from those past times, they also explain why not to use them. Their goal was to recreate the early times, until they reached the lifestyle of Adam and Eve, to find Paradise, so when was the goal to regress, why would they advance? The girl felt left out and it didn't help that she could see demons.