“I can’t believe I was roped into this.”

“Sorry about that.”

“You should be!”

Lucy turned away from the wanna-be princess to take in the sunny rays of a blissful afternoon. Having been given custody to the haughty monarch, she was hesitant until she learned of the fieldtrip they would be going on.

Now that she was outside the tower, the girl could draw a picture of where she was stationed. Beyond the tower was a mountain staring the duo straight in the face, large and intimidating; however, there was a path leading around it and into a forest.

“It’s not your fault” Hayley muttered to herself.

Lucy had stopped looking at the forest and turned to her escort, confused.

“Anyways, as you have obviously surmised from our surroundings, we cannot scale that cliff over there. Such a task is not meant for a lady, nor for a fledgling like yourself. We will instead make our way through the foliage until we reach the top of the last mountain and head straight to the town.”

“So what are we doing?”

“You’ll understand once we’ve arrived. Until that time, I’ll do the dirty work normally assigned to a scout.”

Following the short and flustered royalty, Lucy admired the scenery and the ambience, the sky blocked by green, yet the ground was strangely bereft of plants. All that could be seen from her vision were white poles with black stripes, holding leaves out of her reach. This didn’t last long, as the trees gave way to rock and open land that continuously scaled upward.

After what felt like an hour, Hayley signaled to her follower. Lucy soon realized they were on top of a massive hill; looking outward, she could see their destination: a labyrinth of a town, buildings packed into a dense collection that peaked her curiosity.

“That’s where we’re heading. Whatever your ability is, do not use it while we’re in town. Nobody knows who we are, keep it that way.”

Lucy could barely pay attention to the bossy girl as she was still sight-seeing. Away from the city was a desert, the city was slight to their right, while straight ahead was a small forest before more towns appeared. In the distance small towns dotted the world, with one indistinguishable structure looming in the recesses of her vision.

As the pair reached the border of the town, Lucy felt a chill run down her as the city expanded and the noise emanating from it became apparent. The town had few entrances, most of it barricaded by a wall formed from the back of buildings.

“Robust and Gigantic, right?” Hayley eyed her partner before turning her attention to a pair of women walking by.

Lucy watched with curiosity as the two women stopped and began to chat. Curiosity turned to shock when the women began to fight, punching and grabbing at each other until they tore off their clothes. Once a crowd began to gather, the two ran off into the distance in their underwear.

“What happened?!”

The girl was pulled into one of the alleyways between two buildings resembling giant wooden crates. Hayley had looked her in the eyes, now grinning sinisterly.

“What you witnessed was pride eating away at those two bimbos. We can inject our sin into other people, they just have to be in seeing distance.”

“So I can make people envious of each other?”

The devious delinquint nodded before dragging her back out.

“Look at those men,” Hayley pointed at two men in stripped shirts, “make one jealous of the other.”

Closing her eyes and recreating the two adults in her mind, she focused on one desiring the other’s shirt. Upon hearing a loud bang, her eyes shot open, only to see one of the men was attacking the other, forcing the victim to flee and his attacker to follow suit.

“You’re a quick learner. Now that you have the basics down and know how to get to town, you better not let us down.”

“Wait, was this not the mission? Or the hunt?”

Hayley shook her head. “No, Xandir told me you still don’t know how to transform. Until then, you’re not ready.”

“Transform?”

“Yes!” Xandir answered once the two returned. “Now that you understand the basics, it’s time for the exciting part.”

Lucy quirked her head as both Xandir and Hayley smiled giddily.

“This will be the most difficult part: concentrate on why you became a sin.”

“Your transformation better be cool, not like Dustin or Clyde or Westin!”

Taking a moment, the girl concentrated on her brother once more. Once again, she had felt heavier than usual.

“Did I do it?”

“What the heck?” Hayley answered, bewildered at the sight before her.

“No, you transformed into your brother again. Think about why Jade came to you, what makes you envious of others, what is it that drove you to become a sin.”

Lucy took a breath, her mind flickering through memories. Back and forth through time, all of the events that had unfolded, all of the terrible things that she had experienced. Her brother may have been on her mind, but she knew there had to be a reason. Images of others began to emerge, her classmates, parents, and even Elizabeth.

She could feel herself changing once more, but this hadn’t stopped or even slowed the onslaught of thoughts seeping into her mind. This horrible curse that had afflicted her, this lack of mana that held her back, she wanted it to be no more.

“I understand now” were the words that came out of a new being. “This whole time I’ve been envious of everyone else -every single person I’ve ever met- but I never thought about it. I've always wanted to be strong like everyone else, and now I am. Now, I am Envy.”

As her eyes opened and the world lit up, she looked down upon both Hayley and Xandir, the former now appeared as if she were a bug.

Holding her arms in front of her, she only now realized she was wearing unfamiliar garb that covered most of her body. Her hands were foreign, charcoal black with elongated fingers and fingernails resembling rusty daggers.

Moving the lower half of her body proved to be more of a chore than she expected, as she was not used to such long legs. The most surprising part, however, was the extra appendage. After feeling around, she grabbed onto a thin, wiry part and pulled it to her front.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“A tail?” She was perplexed as she held it by the spade shaped end.

“Aren’t you lucky? Your sin form is so cool!”

Letting go of her tail, Envy glanced back up to see two new figures standing in front of her. By their positions and their sizes, she could tell the one on her left was Xandir and right was Hayley.

The beast that replaced Xandir was even more massive, a fact Envy couldn’t comprehend, even while witnessing it. His armor remained silver, but it was even bulkier, while his short blonde hair was now a messy black, with brown horns jutting out from the head only to start curving backward at the top.

To the right was an imp in place of Hayley. Just like Envy and the other sin, her skin was charcoal black, what little of it was visible. Most of her body was obscured by a black cloak that draped to just above her shoes. Her hair was a glowing white ponytail. Most striking of all was her four eyes, glowing white like her hair, with no pupils or cornea.

“I’m Wrath and she is Pride.”

Wrath’s voice retained the deep quality of Xandir but was now far more growly.

“Everyone has their own form. You will get to see Westin’s later tonight.”

Pride had the same pretentious tone as Hayley, but her voice was far clearer and wholly confident.

Wishing to return to normal, Lucy was immediately relieved of her form, the other two following her lead.

“You’re ready!”

“You still haven’t told me what you want me to do.”

“Well new girl -who shall be referred to by name after this- you will be taking the initiation tonight. The initiation? Stealing supplies from the town we just visited.”

“Supplies? What kind of supplies?”

“Hamburger meat, chicken, Fabric…” Clyde had droned on and on, unaware Lucy had zoned out.

“So you are helping me tonight? Well I pray you have a better attention span” Westin chimed in, drawing the girl out of her stupor.

“Well howdy duty Westin! I was just telling little ‘ol Lucy what we need.”

“No need Clyde, I’ll make sure she’s aware.”

Escorting her outside, the man immediately transformed into his sin form. Having missed it prior, Lucy was taken aback when black and purple smoke consumed the man, only to disperse and reveal someone or something else.

In this case, the demon was of roughly similar size, but unlike Westin’s average body, this beast was boney. The skin resembled stone, its anatomy mirroring a statue, with a tail and wings.

“I assume Xandir did his job.” The voice was jarringly different, from a smooth voice that could break into song effortlessly to an uneven and grating voice that aggravated the girl’s senses. “Take your form.”

In an effort to keep him quiet, she did as instructed. While the stone monster had retained Westin’s height over her initially, he now appeared meek.

“Excellent. We need these forms so that we can continue to cause chaos during the day and not be recognized during these hunts. Whatever you do, do not change back into a human while we’re on the mission.”

“We’re stealing stuff, right? I’ve never stolen stuff before…”

“Feeling uneasy? Don’t worry, they don’t need it to survive.”

“Why do we need to cause chaos?”

“It’s what Jade asked us to do. And it’s fun.”

As he finished answering her question, he turned around and began walking off.

“So what can you do?”

“Me? I can turn into other people and make people jealous of one another.”

“Every one of us can affect humans but we can’t manipulate each other. Still, turning in to other people sounds like a lot of fun. What can you do in that form?”

“In this form? You mean I can do more?”

“For instance, as myself, I can increase my physical strength or my speed, though at the cost of some other aspect. I might be able to break a tree, but one punch would do me in. As for what I can do as Greed? You’ll have to wait and see.”

As the sun began to set, Envy could feel anticipation begin to build as she followed greed to the top of the mountain. The air was growing colder, the fruity orange sky was turning a royal shade of purple, and yet the most beautiful sight was that of town below. The tall demon was in awe at the bright lights peaking out from the city, escaping the crevices created from the many buildings.

“How are we going to steal stuff if people see us coming a mile away?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head. I’ve pulled off this operation many times prior and not even Dustin screwed it up.”

Just outside the city limits, the pair could spot two guards hoisting spears, a yellow light glowing from behind them.

“You know what to do about the guards. As for me” Greed summoned a cane constructed from various metals, from gold to bronze to iron, with a diamond at the tip, “I’ll take care of those lights.”

From the place they were crouched, it was difficult for Envy to make out any of either guard’s features. Still, she attempted to employ her signature vice onto the men. Nothing was happening, even when she squeezed her eyes shut and taxed her brain. Just when all seemed lost, one of the men began to speak, the two sins able to faintly hear him from across the way.

“You know, I wish I could have a spear as great as yours.”

“Dude, we have the same spears.”

“Yeah, but I want yours.”

“Fine, I’ll toss you mine and you give me yours.”

The aggravated guard tossed his spear to his ally, the latter catching it with relative ease. The jealous guard proceeded to toss his over as well, however the bottom end hit the derp and fell to the ground.

“Woops, clumsy me.”

The man picked up the spear and tried again, but it only went a foot ahead. Picking it back up, he repositioned it for a better throw, but rethought that idea when he realized it might hit the man instead. For the next few seconds, he had flipped the spear in over a dozen different positions before finally just handing the spear off.

Envy glanced at her partner nervously, the latter shaking his head understandingly.

“It happens. Here, let me-“

“You know what? I want my spear back.”

“Too bad, it’s mine now!”

The guards were now within arms reach of one another, soon breaking out into a brawl, leaving both of their spears and the town unprotected.

Greed raised his cane and the lights had blinked out instantly. The guards were too busy beating up one another to take notice of the demons swooping into the city.

“My cane can turn objects into different objects, like turning these lights into gold. However, it’s only temporary.”

“So we better start stealing now. How are we going to do this?”

“That’s where my next trick comes in.”

Cupping his hands together, Greed materialized a light brown satchel. Pointing his cane at the window of a grocery store, the glass melted into water. Stepping inside, he held open his bag, which began to pull in nearby cans.

“You see this? This is how it’s done. This bag never gets full, but it does get empty.”

Envy had watched, enthralled as the bag began consuming all manner of meats without ever growing in size.

“Keep an eye out Lucy, we don’t want to get surrounded.”

Snapping herself away from the store cleaning, Envy had glanced down the town’s aisles. It had seemed as if no one could sneak up on them without being noticed from a mile away. Turning her attention back to the store, she was shocked to see it half empty.

Turning back to check the town, she saw a woman running toward their direction, a sword in each of her hands.

“Hey Westin, I think we have company.”

In the blink of an eye, Greed now stood in front of her, no longer holding the bag.

“Looks like a guard. When we get to the mountains, split up and hide. Don’t let her find the tower!”

“You two -whatever you are- stop right there!”

Both sins ran off, Greed speeding ahead while anxiety began to worm its way into Envy. Looking back, she couldn’t tell if the woman was gaining on her or was already close. When she faced forward again, she could see the entrance was only seconds away.

When see believed she was free, the world around her suddenly grew taller and her right leg wouldn’t move. It had taken her a second to realize that her leg had fallen into a hole, one made of a black haze. Quickly pulling herself up, she resumed running.

As she entered the field, she made a sharp left, only to see her pursuer still hot on her trail. It had only occurred to her now that she was running for far longer than she ever had been in her life; the thought had sent a rush of adrenaline that propelled her forward, allowing her to scale the cliff with ease.

As she made her way into the forest, she turned back, but no one was behind her now. At least, she believed she was alone until the sound of dirt being kicked up alerted her otherwise. Backed up against a tree, she cowered while awaiting the woman’s wrath.

“Lucy are you okay?!”

When Pride had peaked around one of the trees, she was surprised when it was bereft of one Lucy. Listening to her gut, she peered upward to see the girl was clinging to the branches, holding on for dear life.

“Hailey?”

“Westin told me what happened. Good to see you’re a master of hide and seek.”

Making her way down, Lucy returned to her human form.

“Don’t tell anyone about this.”

“I won’t. But I will tell them…” Hailey had also returned to her human form, a grin forming across her ears.

“Yes?”

“You passed the initiation! You’re one of us now.”

“I’m real happy for you, but how does that help me?”

Lucy had relayed everything to Elizabeth, including the unfortunate news about not being able to make a bed.

“Hey, now that I know how to use my powers, I can get you out soon.”

“How soon?”

“Tomorrow maybe.”

“Maybe? You better get me out tomorrow for sure.”

“Elizabeth, are you still mad at me?”

“Luke, what would ever give you that idea?”

Lucy laughed nervously as she watched her friend push her face against the cell bars and squeeze them with all her might.

“It’s, lu-“

“I don’t care! Listen Luke, I’ll get out of here tomorrow one way or another.”

“Okay fine, tomorrow it is. Goodnight Elizabeth.”

The sin left her friend to stew, feeling a mixture of guilt and frustration as she made her way to the bedroom.