‘Zero? Why did you step in the way?’ Ars, who’s on the ground, looks up at Zero who is standing in front of him and next to a weirdly dressed kid with a giant flame in his hand.
The kid looks annoyed, ‘Stay out of this child, I won’t hurt an innocent.’
Zero gathers all his strengths and shouts, ‘ARS! I SAW YOUR CRIME ON YOUR STATUS SCREEN THING! WHY ARE YOU NOT EVEN A LITTLE UPSET ABOUT IT?!? EXPLAIN TO ME OR I’LL STEP OUT OF THE WAY!’
Both Ars and the kid are taken back by Zero’s outburst.
Zero’s legs shake uncontrollably when he finishes talking.
Ars looks shocked but his face quickly changes to that filled with grief.
‘If it’ll save my life I’ll explain.’
(Editor’s Note: Everything in bold for this section is the ‘visual’ of what Ars says. The italics is what Ars says to Zero)
A boy stands in front of a gravestone sobbing holding a single white rose with a broken stem. The boy is wearing a nice black suit with nicely combed blonde hair, his blue eyes swollen from the crying.
A man approaches the young boy and taps on his shoulder, ‘Ars sir, I’ve brought the car around.’
He gestures towards a black limo and walks the young Ars to the vehicle.
‘When I was seven my mom died from a rare disease, she came from a wealthy family which makes it even worse that they couldn’t get the resources to cure it. After her death I was sent to live with my father who hated the rich lifestyle and lived by himself in the slums.’
A young Ars eats cereal on a dirt covered table as a man walks by and throws a stack of papers down.
The boy looks up and sees a man that looks almost exactly like the adult Ars. Ars looks confused, ‘What are these papers dad?’
The man rolls his eyes slightly, ‘It’s been six months since La… your mother has died, and I think that it’s time you move on. Your name is the best way to start so I changed your last name to mine.’
Ars looks hurt, ‘But, mom said you gave me my first name after yours and she gave me her last name.’
‘Well technically Ars is just my nickname and now we’re even closer with the same name, Ars Wholl.’ The dad gives the fakest smile ever seen
‘That sounds like the words the kids say around here.’
The dad mutters, ‘Yea them and my cellmates.’
‘Everything was fine for the most part, he would work at the office for most of the day and come home late and just drink beer. I had to learn how to do most things by myself which isn’t the worst part. Things started to go downhill when I got older and started to look more and more like my dad.’
Ars’ dad comes home kicking down the door to Ars’ room, ‘I need your help put on some clothes and let’s go!’
Ars, barely awake, turns on the light, ‘It’s 2 in the morning, what do you want?’
‘I forgot something at work and with my license… suspended for drunk driving I need you to drive me there.
The dad pushes and begs Ars for a minute until he finally caves and agrees.
‘How did he go to and come home from work? I was way too tired to think anything through, I wish I did.’
Ars follows his dad’s instructions to the office, a place Ars has never seen or heard about until now.
When they arrive Ars notices that this place is not a normal office building but an apartment complex.
Ars opens the door and looks at the building, ‘Dad are you sure we are at the right…’
The dad kicks Ars out of the car and locks the doors, he climbs into the driver’s seat and hits the gas driving away quickly.
In utter shock Ars stands there motionless staring at the car as it gets further and further from view.
While standing Ars notices a woman a few feet away in the alley crying heavily.
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He walks up slowly to the lady, ‘Are you ok?’
The lady turns as her eyes widen, her body shakes, and a blood-curdling and ear-piercing scream comes from her, ‘AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!’
The scream stopped Ars right in his tracks stunned and speechless.
‘I CALLED THE COPS; YOU SHOULD’VE STAYED AWAY!’
Ars doesn’t move when the cops come driving down the street horns blaring.
‘I was arrested because of a despicable crime my father done, but I was soon bailed out probably cause of my father. As I tried to live a normal life, I kept getting arrested and bailed out, my sh*tty dad kept doing crimes and making me take the blame for it. He’s no idiot though he left no physical fingerprints, but he showed his stupid face that looks just like me. Going back and forth to jail for a year took a toll on me, I couldn’t even look at a girl without freezing up. Most recently, I tried to escape my arrest, but I thought if I keep getting out the girls my dad hurt and families, he traumatized get no justice so if I spend the time in jail maybe I can give them closure.’
(Editor’s Note: Flashback is over)
Zero looks away with his eyes filling with tears, but he doesn’t cry.
The kid has streams of tears going down his face making ugly crying noise. He lowers his hand, and the fireball shrinks more and more until it disappears.
‘I’m going kill your dad.’ The kid cries out gasping between tears.
Ars struggles to get to his feet, ‘I didn’t say all that for pity, I said it cause you were going to kill me.’
Zero tries to help Ars up, but with Ars’ big build contrary to Zero’s it was a fruitless effort.
The kid at Ars’ damaged shirt and burns, ‘I’m sorry about thar, we should get you to a…’
At that moment a small blue screen, similar in size to Ars’ Status screen, appears in front of the three boys that reads:
Quest:
Find the Doctor.
Reward: 20 Gold Punishment: Special Rehabilitation
Time Remaining: 1 hr 59 minutes 45 seconds
The kid sighs, ‘A Quest at this moment? The timing is crazy.’
Zero and Ars look at the screen confused, both looking at the other boy for some assistance.
He gives a giant grin, ‘Seems like you guys are brand new, so I guess I can help you out.’ He goes over to Ars to help him walk, ‘I actually know where the doctor is, so this is going to be an easy quest.’
He starts walking with Ars in the opposite direction of the town with Zero jogging to catch up.
‘Why exactly do we have to listen to that stupid blue box anyways?’ Ars coughs.
‘Well, the fact that the reward is 20 gold, and the punishment is the worst one to possible get. You also can benefit from the doctor’s Sin so it is quite literally a win-win situation.’
Zero questions the kid, ‘That girl before mentioned that Ars used that “Sin” thing too, what exactly is that?’
The kid stops in his tracks, ‘Oh soft-spoken boy you have asked a great question. Status.’
The blue screen appears in front of his face.
‘You guys show your screens too.’
‘Status.’ Both say as the blue screens appear in front of them.
They all look at each other’s screen which reads:
Name: Kota Kono
Crime: Arson
Sentence: 25 years (+15)
Name: Ars Wholl (Prisoner 210)
Crime: S*xual Harassment, S*xual Assault
Sentence: 50 years (+2)
Name: ________ (Prisoner 019)
Crime: Forgery
Sentence 2 years
Both Kota and Ars look at Zero’s blank name in confusion.
Ars chuckles, ‘I really thought he was a murderer, thank goodness.’
Kota lifts his eyepatch and starts examining both the blue screens.
‘What’s the point in the eyepatch then?’, Zero thinks to himself.
Kota puts the eyepatch back on,
‘So basically, in this world the crime you’ve done has a sort of power, but every time you use the power it adds a year to your sentence. A strange system for sure even though it does keep some people from going overboard. There are three types of Sins that I have seen: Activated, Focused, and Duration. Activated Sins are like my fire where it must be activated every time it wants to be used. Focused Sins allow the person to keep the ability activated if they focus on it, but if they lose focus, they must activate the ability again I’m thinking that’s the kind of Sin Ars here has. Duration Sins are pretty rare, and they have a time limit so it can last pretty long.’
Kota drops Ars and walks over to Zero looking him up and down, ‘Little “No-Name” over here is pretty interesting, his seemingly boring crime with a low sentence and such a mysterious vibe… YOU HAVE TO BE A SUPER POWERFUL PERSON!’
Zero starts to get uncomfortable, ‘I don’t think that’s the case plus I don’t even know to activate anything.’
Ars holds his side while on the ground, ‘What exactly is my superpower thing? Can it help me get up by myself?’
Kota doesn’t turn to talk, ‘I lost interest in you figure things out yourself.’
‘Let’s focus on getting him to the doctor.’ Zero points to Ars.
Kota nods and picks him up, ‘I’m going to stay on your good side, so when you get super powerful you won’t kill me.’
We see a log cabin located in a dense forest, two figures draped in darkness walk up to the cabin and kick down the door. There is a man with a torn lab coat sitting at a desk, the man turns in horror to see the two walking towards him.
The three arrive at the entrance of a forest with the sun slowly going down creating a nice orange glow.
Kota stops in front of the trees, ‘The doctor is basically a straight shot through the trees, but once the sun goes down it is almost impossible to travel through.’
Ars stands up on his own, ‘Well thank you for getting us this far, you’ve been a big help.’
He shakes his head, ‘Store.’
A blue screen appears in front of Kota as he swipes on it like a cellphone, he suddenly stops and smiles.
‘There it is, and only two gold that’s perfect.’ Kota taps on the screen and suddenly a wooden stick appears in his hand. His hand sparks and lights on fire and he touches the stick as it becomes enflamed like a torch.
‘I have my own business with the doctor, I only told you about traveling in the dark because if I had to carry you, we would’ve gone way too slowly. Follow the light and I’ll guide you.’ Kota looks directly at Zero when saying all this.
With that Kota makes his way through the trees.
Zero helps steady Ars.
Ars looks at the light getting further and further away, ‘How did we end up in a situation like this? It’s going to be a long night.’
Quest:
Find the Doctor.
Reward: 20 Gold Punishment: Special Rehabilitation
Time Remaining: 32 minutes 07 seconds