A fair-looking lady sits atop a clear seat, the surrounding area hazy white. She motions me closer. She was small, almost looking like a child. She had long, curly blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. While sucking on a lollipop, she tapped her fingers on her chair, as if patiently waiting for my arrival.
“You’ve had quite the day, haven’t you? All 12 hybrids were completely killed. Impressive.”
I almost threw up at the remembrance of what I did, but I kept it together for the sack of respect. She was right, if my memory serves me correctly, this must be the original Sin of Rage and her watching me kill all those hybrids must’ve been exciting for her.
“Well, I can certainly tell you this. You passed your exam.”
“Exam? What exam?”
She goes on to explain how each inheritor of a Sin must go through trials specific to their Sin. For me, I needed to commit an act so horrendous through the emotion of Rage that she would take notice. For the Rage successor before me, he murdered an entire town of people to get her attention. As I was standing there, listening to her stories of past Rage sins, I realized something. Though she may seem cheerful and giddy on the outside, she was sadistic and dangerous, even more than Tenshi. At least Tenshi was upfront about what he wanted, this girl seemed like she could smile at you while killing you.
“Alright, so I’m assuming you brought me here because I said I needed your help? Yeah, I changed my mind, I’m good. So if you could just let me go back to sleep that would be great.”
Laughing she twirls around the curls in her hair.
“You’re not going anywhere silly, we have too much to discuss.”
Getting up from her seat, she hops down and walks up to me extending her hand out. Taking it, she guides me through the mist as we eventually end up in an urban setting, street lights fill my sight as cars honk and rush by. Suddenly an explosion breaks the city life and the scene quickly changes to an all-out battle between several people. I get a glimpse of Greed throwing someone at a building.
“What is this? Is this the past?”
“No silly. This is the future. At least one of the possibilities. That’s if you don’t stop what’s coming.”
“Well, what’s that?”
Laughing, the scene shifts back to the hazy white area from before.
“War silly. An all-out battle between both sides.”
Skipping around, she goes back to her seat where she continues to suck on her lollipop while twirling her hair.
“Wait what war, what are you talking about?”
She puts her lollipop down as she explains what my situation is. I already knew that Tenshi had planned to make me part of his army through all this training, but what I didn’t know is why. As she went on to explain, I learned that Tenshi was building an army, one that would partake in a war between the heroes and Sins. Before the Sins were gathered all in one place like they are now, they were once scattered around the world fighting independently. Tenshi was the first one to gather them and use them as a fighting force. She wouldn’t tell me much about the previous Sins, but what she did say is the lines of hero and villain aren’t as simple as I thought they were.
“You won’t have to look far to find the previous heroes.”
As I looked at her confused, she smiled and hopped down, and stood in front of me.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out everything soon enough, little one.”
I almost laughed when she said that as I looked down at her talk. The area started to shift, the haze getting darker.
“Well, it seems my time is up. Don’t forget, there’s a bigger plan behind just joining his army.” The mist swirled around her as she continued to suck on her lollipop.
“Oh and about the other Sin, Greed. Well, he’s not all he seems, let's just say that” and with that she along with the surrounding area vaporized, leaving me floating in darkness. I couldn’t talk or move, but I couldn’t stop thinking of what she showed me and said. The battle that was going on, the upcoming war, and what really couldn’t get out of my head, don’t trust Greed. At least that he wasn’t all he seemed to be. From what I could tell, he seemed just fine. Sure he seemed to enjoy getting on Rage’s nerves more often than not, but out of all the Sin’s he seemed the most normal. He didn’t look at me with killing intent or with an expression as if he wanted to test my power. Instead in that one sitting I had, he genuinely seemed concerned and was trying to be informative.
My thoughts only get deeper and deeper as I finally drift into sleep. Waking me up, for the first time since I’ve been trapped here, was an official breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, and sausages floated into my nose as my eyes fluttered open. I turned over to grab my phone, then groaned as I remembered I no longer have it. It got taken from me when I first came here.
“Your breakfast is ready my sir.” Sebas stood there, bowing down to me.
“It’s all good man. You don’t have to be so formal. Please, just call me Ethan.” I got out of my bed, washed up, and started eating my food when I noticed Sebas was just standing there avoiding my gaze or my plate. I motioned him over and told him he could sit with me and even enjoy some food. They had prepared more plates than I could finish anyways, so there was plenty left for him. At first, he protested, something not being proper, but after a few encouraging words, he eventually let up. For the first time, we genuinely talked as he explained how things worked here. From what I could gather, most of the staff were people that Tenshi knew when he was younger just like how Sebas is a brother of an old friend of his. Quickly finishing our food, I finished getting ready just in time to meet Rage at the door. As we walked, we didn’t say much until we got to our room. It was a small room, but he pointed to the outside backyard as he explained that we were going to use that instead.
There weren't any dummies, yes actual dummies not hybrids, nor were their training equipment. Just a grass yard, about the size of a quarter football field. Walking towards the center he lays down his bag
“Today you have one simple job. Takedown your opponent.”
“Oh yeah, well I have enough of your moves down pat. As long as I follow previous fights, I can take you on.”
As if motioning someone out, he takes a seat on the edge of the room and backyard.
“You won’t be fighting me today. He’s your partner for the day.”
In saying that, Greed walks out into the backyard raising his hands, shrugging his shoulders.
“Please, don’t try to sound so enthusiastic about it.”
He looks at me, smiling.
“Well, now then” taking a fighting stance. “Shall we begin?”
And with that, he propelled himself towards me. The first thing I noticed was the difference in power between Rage and Greed. When sparring with Rage, his attacks had more weight and speed to them. Greed on the other hand, while he was still strong, lacked that edge that had me on my toes the whole time. He throws several punches as I easily duck and weave away, every so often, throwing a jab to keep my distance. This goes on for a while, but as it does I notice something strange happening. As I’m dodging my body seems to get heavier and heavier, making it all the more difficult to evade his attacks. Nevertheless, for a moment I didn’t see anything special about him. Then his fist connects with my chest, sending me flying into the fence as I cough up a bit of blood. I looked up, confused about how he suddenly gained so much strength and why I couldn’t dodge it in time. As he approaches, he chuckles to himself a bit.
“Wondering why that hurt so much aren’t you? Take a look at my hand and you’ll see why.”
Glancing at his hand I notice a glowing green aura radiating off it. That’s when it hits me. His Gear must be in use. But when did he activate it? I never heard him say it. As if reading my thoughts
“Right before I walked out here. No one ever said when the fight started, so I figured why not give myself the advantage and prepare early.”
I knew that wasn’t fair at all and I could tell Rage knew this wasn’t fair at all as he sat inside looking at Greed with disappointment. But he was right. Training never has a time, and if he wanted to he could’ve easily punched me the moment I walked out here. His Gear must be some sort of energy-draining type. My arms felt heavier as if I’d been carrying a hundred pounds for hours, my legs gradually burning up as the weight of my torso became too much for it. As I slowly got up, propping myself up on the fence, the smile on his face only grew, turning freakishly sadistic.
“Well, well, well. Would you look at that? The great Ethan Alexander is nothing more than all talk and no show”, leaning over he whispers in my ear “oh and after I’m done here, I’ll go visit your friend Julia. I’m sure you’d love to see her again. Oh, but in pieces this time.” Laughing to himself as I stared at him from below I realized what the original Sin meant. Greed isn’t what he seemed. He’s sick to the core, conniving, and willing to put up a front to get what he wants. I try to muster the strength to fight back, throwing a weak punch at him, but he easily swats it, hammering down at my forehead with his fist. Grabbing me by the collar he lifts me and I get a glimpse at the real horror that stood before me. His body had grown in size, now standing about six and a half feet at least, muscles ran through him, making him look like an oversized weight lifter. I struggled at his hand, but to no avail as he tossed me aside. I felt him lift me from the back collar this time, rapidly punching me in the chest and gut as I spat out blood. By the time he was finished with me, I could barely utter a word.
I don’t know how all this happened. One minute I was excited to fight and the next I’m battered and exhausted. But as he goes to land the final punch, a smile crosses my face. For a moment, he hesitates in confusion. The smile turns into a giggle, turning into an outburst of laughter as I seemed to be enjoying the pain. Nothing mattered anymore, not him nor how tired my body felt, and as he stood there confused I managed to croak out
“Gear Shift: One”, the air around my hands vibrating in response. He realizes what I did, but it's too late. I raise my fist, sending all my blood pressure to my hands as I strike down at his neck. He falls knees first as I manage to loosen his grip just enough to escape his clutches. If you’re wondering how that managed to work, it’s simple. By increasing the blood pressure in certain parts of my body, I’m able to provide more oxygen and nutrients to that part, thus enhancing its speed and strength.
He steadily gets up, furious that I fought back. Even with my enhanced strength, I was barely standing on my feet, my legs shaking as I tried to get into a fighting stance. My body couldn’t keep up with his new strength as he sped at me, and within a blink of an eye, he stood before me. Effortlessly tossing me into the air, he launched a series of punches all connecting, sending me flying into the air. Jumping, he balled his fists together and hammered me down. As I crashed into the ground I was already on the verge of blacking out, but as my bones cracked, my consciousness completely slipped as I laid there limp. Greed walks over and lifts me by the back collar, shaking me to see if I’m still conscious.
“Hmph. That was easier than I thought it would be” tossing me aside like a rag doll. As he looked around, Rage slowly got up, flexing his arms.
“We both know that was too much. This was training, not a real fight. You nearly killed him.”
“Please, if he’s going to be your replacement then he needs to learn how to use his abilities. I’m just giving him the push you’re too afraid to give him” confidently walking away.
The ground vibrating around him, Rage grabs Greed’s arm, “Afraid? Don’t joke with me. I’ve given him a beating before.”
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Looking back and forth between Rage and his gripping hand,
“Please remove your grip. Besides, if you had, he wouldn’t be training every day. Anyways, unlike you lot, I have an actual life outside of here. Now if you’ll excuse me” removing the hold, walking away.
I have no clue how much time passed by, but when I managed to wake up, I seemed to be laying on my bed. The lights turned off and when I glanced over, I could see it was nighttime. I tried getting up, my body reminding me of my reason for being in bed when pain rushed through me. I lay there looking at the ceiling, the memories coming back to me as I think back to my fight. I was helpless against Greed, physically and Gear wise. His ability to steal the energy and power from others completely countered my use of my second Gear. Sure he kind of cheated, but he’s right. In real life, my opponent won’t ever give me a chance to prepare. Still, the feeling of losing hurt more than anything, especially in the fashion that I lost. I got the beating of a lifetime, my chest still throbbing in pain.
“Hey, Rage fairy. Are you there? I could use some help again, I’m not going anywhere, so you don’t have to rush off like last time.”
At first, nothing happens, the whizzing of the ceiling fan the only source of noise, but soon enough a low humming sound goes off. The sound mimicking the sound of cicadas, and as I blink, white spots start appearing. The noise only grows louder, spots taking over my vision as I try to hide from the intensity of the situation. I trash around, trying to escape the noise, my hand knocking over a lamp. It gets so intense that I squeeze my eyes shut until it’s finally eerily quiet.
I slowly open my eyes, revealing a world where everything’s black and white. Looking around I could see that not only has it become dead quiet, but time itself has stopped moving as the lamp hung, suspended in the air. A light shimmers in the distance, revealing the original rage Sin. She jumped around until finally resting in front of me.
“So, you called?” Still playing with her lollipop.
“Yeah, I need you to teach me more about my ‘Sin’.”
“First of all” walking up to me, smacks me, breaking the silence in the air. “I’m not a FAIRY, I’m a spirit who YOU need. Now let’s get down to business.”
She sat down with me and went over all the facts about Sins. Time seemed to go on forever, and when I asked about it she said that she slowed down time to where every hour in normal time is half an hour in her time. Explaining the source of our power, she said that learning how to control my emotions is one of the most important things I need to learn because the more enraged I am, the stronger my power. However, losing control of my emotions can result in the Gear taking over, wreaking havoc. When I tried to press further into what she meant, she just dismissed my question by going on about my two Gears specifically. Using Elektrokinesis for area blasts or projectiles is nice and all, but she said I need to be more creative. Going over several applications, she stated that my second Gear, pressure manipulation is something that needs the most work.
For what seemed like forever, she suddenly turned around facing the window.
“Looks like my time is up. But don’t forget what we discussed and get ready for today. Oh and two things, when you wake up, you’ll feel a lot better. Your body heals faster than normal because of Gear use. Finally, good luck you’ll need it” and with that, she vaporized, my bedroom turning back to normal. I look around as the morning light creeps in behind the curtains. Rubbing my head and eyes, my body is still sore from the fight, but the healing effects from Gears are amazing as I’m able to stand and walk around.
Greeting Sebas, I get ready and as usual, Rage is standing at my doorway, looking impatient as ever. No one says anything as we walk down the hallways and finally end up in the main room. Tenshi is sitting on his throne, the rest of the Sins near him focused on their own business. As I walk towards the center of the room I can see Greed leaning against a wall playing with some rocks when he glances up, making eye contact. Smirking, he exits the room.
“Welcome. Today I have gathered you all to discuss our next course of action. Rage, Greed, and Envy have already started setting up our access points. The rest of you will coordinate with our forces and start preparations.” Looking down at me “Ethan, how is your training coming along? I heard you’ve been put through substantial work, you better be grasping what they’re teaching.”
“Yeah, it’s intense, but I’ll manage” rubbing my arms and back as I remember the pain.
Nodding in acknowledgment, he goes on to explain how Rage, Greed, and Envy will be taking groups to certain cities to prepare. I still had no clue what they were preparing for or what I would be doing since Rage will be leading one of the groups. That's when I hear my name get called.
“Wait, can you repeat that.”
“Ethan, you’re a part of Rage’s group. This way he can keep an eye on you and you’ll get on-field training.”
“Right, okay cool.” At first, I thought of this as a job, or some actual training, but then realized that I’m still a part of the same group who’s been trying to kill me. I’ve been acting like everything’s normal, that I’m safe, but I knew better. The moment they accomplish what they want, or deem me replaceable, they’re going to kill me. Still, I had no other choice, if I was going to learn more about this group, I had to stay here.
As we filed into our respective groups, a man flicked his hand and in a swoosh, we were transported into a completely different room. It was as if we jumped out of an airplane, my ears popped as the walls flashed around us and we stood in an office setting. The sound of printers, computers typing, and paper shuffling filled my ears as I looked around, realizing that we stood in an office building. We were in a private room, the blinds rolled down so they couldn’t see us as we sat around the large desk in the center.
“Now, most of you already know your positions so those who do, please leave.”
A bunch of people left the room and greeted the people outside like it was nothing. All that was left were me, Rage, and a few others. One of the people stood out the most though. He had dark red spiky hair and wore a sleeveless jeans vest with some khakis and sneakers. Strapped to his back though was a huge broadsword that had to be at least 4 feet long, and about a foot in width. It had a knurled handle that matched his hair color, while he had a wide build, having to be at least 6’5 with muscles running down his arms. He stared coldly into the distance, not looking at anything particular, but he seemed to be prepared to strike anything that came too close. Even Rage seemed to keep his speech and vision away from him.
“Ethan and Ken, stay here. The rest of you are dismissed”, the rest of them exiting the room leaving an awkward tension in the air. We sat there for a couple of minutes until finally, I spoke up.
“Hey, so I was just wondering. How do all those people outside know you guys?”
“This is my company. In fact” walking around the room staring out the window. “This is my building” guiding his hands through the room.
Admiring the view, I realized that all of the Sins must have their place in society. That’s the only way they could blend in with society and carry out their plans. What surprised me the most though is that Rage was the one who owned his office building. For being a Sin of Rage, an office setting was the last place I thought I’d see him in.
“Ken, do you have a status update?”
Turning his head towards he stands up, bows, and sits back down before answering,
“Yes sir. The preparations are complete and we’ll be ready in the morning.”
“Good good. Ken, I want you to teach Ethan more about fighting for the day and brief him on what’s coming up.” And with that he was on his merry way, walking and talking amongst the people as if it was a regular workday.
I could feel Ken’s gaze piercing me as he stared at me down. Finally, he broke the silence with a loud bang on the table.
“Look kid, I don’t have the time nor the patience to deal with someone who doesn’t know how to fight so meet me in the basement in 15 minutes” and with that, he walked out, greeted a few people, and disappeared from my view. As I sat there alone, thoughts swirled around my head, none of them with a clear answer. If Rage owned this entire building, that alone costs millions meaning not only do his pockets run deep, but Tenshi must have billions in assets. But how did they get all of this, isn’t there any record of what they’ve done? Who is this Ken guy and why does it feel like if I even breathed the wrong way around him he’d behead me. All these questions filled my mind but finally decided that sitting around wouldn’t do me any good I headed out of the room, getting all kinds of looks from employees until I finally was inside the elevator.
Coming out of the elevator, I immediately knew something was up. There were no lights on, only the flicker of a bulb every so often. All my instincts told me to run, to crawl back into the elevator and never go back, but I ventured forth into the darkness. Engulfed by the darkness, only the leakage of water and my breathing were the sounds I heard until finally it was broken.
“Welcome,” a loud voice boomed. “This will be our training place until morning. The rules are simple: survive until one of us is unconscious. Don’t worry about damage, the room is soundproof and we have a healer ready.”
Before I could even protest, I felt something knock me off my feet, sending me flying across the floor. Alright, if that’s how you wanna play it, so be it.
“Gear Shift: Zero!” my hands lighting up in response, the air crackling around me. I charge a bolt of electricity and start sending shots around me, but none of them seem to hit their mark. Only the crackles of them hitting the wall.
“Come on! Are you just going to be there hiding in the darkness or will you fight me for real?!”
That’s when I heard it before I felt it. The whizzing of the blade, seeming to pierce the air, the glint of light coming into vision right before it stabs me right through the foot. At first, all I can do is look down and just stare at my foot. That’s when my body catches up with my senses, and I howl in pain as I can feel the heat rising from the injury as I look down and see a medium-sized sword protruding. I stumble back as I try to remove the sword when another comes whirling, catching just a shred of my cheek, blood spilling out. I look around, scared out of my mind because not only is my foot burning with pain but because the feeling of a sword could come flying out and I don’t know how to stop it.
The area seems to be swirling around when suddenly I hear what Rage would tell me.
“Focus on your surroundings, ignore the distractions and find your opponent.”
I close my eyes and focus on the sounds around me. The clanging of swords to the air being disturbed from throwing swords. Soon I start flying through the room, spinning and bending around, feeling the words fly past me. When I open my eyes, there he is, standing against the wall, swords aimed at me.
“I’m impressed you made it this far. Now the real fight begins.”
He grabs two swords from the air and charges at me. From the countless fights I’ve had down to the beatings I’ve taken, they all seemed to be ingrained in me as I weaved in and out of slashes and jabs, blasting electricity at him whenever I had a chance just for him to block it with his swords. Man, what were they made from? As we continued to trade blows, he was still getting the best of me as cuts started to appear all over my body, weakening my punches. Right when he came down with his sword, I poured all my energy into my right fist, blasting it away as electricity crackled on my hand. For a moment I’m happy, but it quickly goes away when he spins around, as I get a look at a sword materializing in his hands. I step back just in time for his sword to slash through my left shoulder.
“You have to be faster than that if you want to live.”
Grunting, I get back into a fighting position. Electricity won’t save me now. It’s a long-range style and he’s fast and strong enough to close the distance between us to where it’ll be dangerous for me to use it.
“Gear Shift: One!”
The air vibrated around me in response.
Smirking, he gets ready and charges at me. Most of, if not all the fights I’ve been in have involved fists. Never once has sword fighting ever come up, so with the first attempt at a punch, he easily blocked it with one sword, slashing me with another. Blood splattered all over the blades as the heat rose in me. I managed to roll away just to see his blade smash the ground I once stood. Pacing around each other, neither one of us making the first move in anticipation of what could happen.
So far all I can do with my second Gear is increase blood pressure in me to boost physical abilities, but there has to be more to it. Memories of science class come flooding back to me, though none of it helped to see as I either slept through or skipped classes. And don’t worry, my grades never fell past a B+, school was easy. That’s when the only class to ever keep me awake came to memory, Physics. It was the one class I couldn’t cruise through, with too many complicated word problems, and associating words with ideas was way too complicated to sleep through. One of the concepts my teacher mentioned popped up and for the first time, I smiled.
“What are you grinning about? Your clothes are tattered, you’re dirty, bloody and barely standing on your own two feet.”
I slowly raise my head, and from his perspective, he must’ve thought I lost it. Standing there all beaten, my hair frazzled with dirt and dried blood coating it and my clothes, I was in no condition to continue this. Still, it was crunch time, the real fight started now. Charging at me with his weapon drawn, he swung his sword in a frenzy, but everything seemed to slow down as I weaved in and out of his attacks until finally on his last slash, his sword shattered on contact as I put my hand out.
Stumbling back in confusion, another sword comes flying towards me, yet once again it shatters on impact.
“What’s the meaning of this?! Why aren’t they working?”
All I can do is uncontrollably laugh as I slowly walk towards him, arms dangling by my sides. Forget this is training, forget he’s anything. Just another person in my way. Crouching real low, I launch off the floor with blinding speed, and before Ken could even react my fist connects with his gut sending him crashing against the wall. Before he could even react, a volley of fists batters him into the wall, each punch stronger than the last. Right when I’m about to deliver the last punch, he grabs my fist, smirking as he looks up. Blood dripping from his mouth and one of his eyes swollen shut,
“I’m impressed you’ve managed to get this strong. From the reports, I thought you were a soft boy.” Pushing me back he slowly gets up and wipes off the blood from his face. This entire time he’s been generating swords from thin air, but for the first time, he draws the broadsword from his back. He lunges at me, sword ready as I get ready to use my new technique. The air starts to get heavier when suddenly, the lights blare on, blinding us for a few moments. We both blink in confusion and see Rage standing at the entrance clapping in approval.
“Good good. This is what we like to see. Get healed up and rest well. We depart early in the morning.”
We both look at each other, frustrated that we didn’t have a clear winner though none of us are in any condition to keep going. The next few hours went by in a blur. Not only was this an office building but on the floor below us, there was a hotel. I was taken to my room, where I was treated for my wounds. I washed up, put a fresh new set of clothes on, and laid on the bed. It felt weird not having Sebas around or even just being outside in the normal world again. Doesn’t matter though, I can’t lose focus of why I’m here. Finding out Tenshi’s real plan and taking him out from within is the top priority.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
I almost jumped off my bed at the voice of a little girl.
“Did you miss me?”
Standing at the edge of my bed was the Original Sin, or as I liked to think of her, the annoying little girl who enjoys killing people.
“How’re you even here? Don’t you only appear in dreams?”
“You are dreaming silly.”
When I look around, the entire room is white again and she’s sitting atop her throne with the same lollipop in her hand.
“Now, we have much to discuss before your big event.”