The abyss cradled Ethel in her slumber. In the sea of abyss, she called it her home. The only place she rests without disturbance. A haven where not even light can find her. She was safe here.

Red streaks of light pierced through the cocoon. Her crimson eyes fluttered opened, meeting the gaze of the moon.

Just let me stay here.

Denying of her wish, the accursed moon shone brighter. Its bloody light reached out like hands to her lone figure. Red blazing flames wrapped around her body. Ethel drifted closer to the moon. Her cries came out quiet. The pain fueled her rage until it exploded. She saw only blood in her vision.

Ethel gasped out. Eyes shot opened. Hand reached out to the accursed moon hovering in the sky. A scarlet butterfly rested on her outreached hand. Ethel laid at the bottom of a dried lake. Her return ignited a blazing flame, drying its water into smoke.

“I’m back again, huh?” Ethel said melancholy. Even after returning from the abyss, she never once felt alive.

Three scarlet butterflies fluttered around. A butterfly with the fiercest flame tickled her bare skin. Her long, moonlight hair was the only thing that covered her until a silk-winged red butterfly rested on her shoulder. It weaved its lustrous flame into a black rove to wrapped over her body. Another butterfly with two pairs of wings rested on her protruding black horn. Every butterfly had their own unique appearances.

Ethel placed a hand on her chest. The remaining butterflies remained rested inside her, greeting her new arrival with a whisper.

In the darkness, something glinted. As she focused her gaze on the target, light coated the mortal. A small smile set on her lips.

“A little too early for us to meet,” Ethel said, her eyes never leaving the light.

The mortal emerged from the darkness. She frowned at the bandage wrapped in his mouth. Wisps of deep, cedar brown hair ruffled by the powerful gust of fiery wind. He was young. A young seedling that had only sprouted, now facing an ancient being. Too young, as they have always been. Still, the wonders of the miracle stood beside them through generations. Something she, as a sinner, had always lost against.

One of her butterflies rested on her shoulder and whispered close to her ears. He’s alone. Ethel raised an eyebrow. “The light ought to know better not to delve into the darkness by himself, no matter how much fate favors your victory.”

Crimson eyes glanced at the silver brooch of white lily adorning his chest. An insignia worn only by the seven luminaries. His sharp, cerulean blue eyes struck daggers.

“Quite an intense emotion you’re showing. You have the heaven’s gift so there’s no doubt you’re a luminary but an idiot who walked straight into the death alone.”

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The heaven’s eyes were what they called them. A mortal with the eyes of the sky considered as a child of heaven. Meanwhile, she has the sinner’s eye. She heard what rumors about her eyes spread among the mortals. They told tales she drank the blood of her enemies to attain the mortal image. The fear of the color of red made them banned anything associate with the color. Red roses burned from the garden. A drop of blood on a cloth cleaned with blessed water or burned to repel the devil. A ridiculous superstition.

“Even worst for a luminary, you are mute. I’m relief though since I won’t be listening to the luminary’s speech about salvation to the mortals and judgment to the sinners. That noisy luminary of justice was always going off with the same speech.”

They were annoying when they recited the whole paragraph of their ways of light. The souls changed, but the words remained the same despite thousands of years have passed. She remembered every word without even trying. The words just etched itself inside her memories.

“I never knew a mute can become a luminary. A luminary need a voice to perform their miracle prayer.”

The luminary only stared at her, raising a sword. He struck the blade down. Ringing bells rippled the air, slicing a graze on her cheek. She touched the blood trickling down.

I have only awakened from my slumber, and this is my first welcome. She gazed at the sword. Blade carved with depiction of a knight raising a bell to the Heaven. The bell shone bright against the darkness beneath the knight’s feet. Ethel remembered never seeing that sword before.

“You’re not the Valor or the Justice.” Her hand touched her neck.

Another sword that cut me down.

She gulped as the tightness around her neck throbbed. Sometimes it was a swift and painless one strike. Others butchered and hacked her flesh and bones. The memories tugged her muscle tighter. Only two blades can touch her. The sword before her was not one of them.

“He could be one of the seven luminary hidden at the cathedral,” the silk-winged butterfly said.

Without giving her a moment, the luminary waved the sword over his head and struck it down to the ground. A pressure of a mountain swooped down on her body. Ethel dropped to her knees with her arms holding her up from falling flat. If she was a second later, she’ll be kissing the earth. Bells chimed continuously as the luminary approached her. It was the second time. Yet, the blade hasn’t touched her flesh.

Ah, if you weren’t a luminary, I would have you dead by now. Red warped her sight at the mortal. Ethel bit down her lips to stop the whispers of her devil from killing the young man. If she spilled his blood now, more blood would follow along, creating a never-ending scarlet river throughout the land.

Ethel dug her fingers into the dirt. “Be careful where you’re walking into.”

The mortal stopped. Crimson flames burst out from the ground. His path blocked. The pressure on her body lifted away. A spark of a shiver ran down the back of her neck. Footsteps shook the ground. The shadow within the forest lend their vision to her, alerting her the coming Luminary Order. The young man came with no reinforcement. It was unusual for them to come hunting a sinner alone. The mortal ought to know better that their blessing wasn’t enough to quell a sinner like her.

“Heed my warning, luminary,” Ethel faced the barrier of flames blocking her from the mortal. Butterflies dropped into her shadow simultaneously. Thick, black mist grew and wrapped her body in a blanket. “The prey you’re hunting is not something you can do by yourselves. When hunting a sinner, you are hunting the shadow itself. Cherish your life as it is your last.” Her words echoed as her figure dispersed into hundreds of scarlet butterflies flew to the sky.