Morning dawn raised from its sleep, greeting her for the first time after five hundred years. Ethel basked herself under its warmth. Although the light stung on her shadow, she was in peace. She winced as she tried to adjust her back to the tree. The fiery flame butterfly rested blotches of dark purple at the back of her neck.

  “It’s bruise.“ It told her.

  Ethel only smiled. She underestimated the luminary and let her guard down.

  “He’s the third luminary who can touch me. I thought it was only the Luminary of Valor and Justice. What luminary is he?”

  “Is that important now? You barely survive more than an hour.“ Black misty flame wrapped over the bruise. The silk-winged butterfly emerged from her shoulder. It hovered on Ethel’s nose.

  “It’s rare to find a light that can touch a light. He even braved through the darkness without fear. I rather have someone look at me than cower away.“

  The silk-winged butterfly dissipated into black dust. It gave up trying to talk to the present version of herself. The fiery flame butterfly nudged its wing on her cheek as if asking a question what happened. Ethel shook her head.

  “Let’s take the time to reach out the other sinners.“ Ethel shut her eyes closed.

  She imagined a red thread tied on her wrist. The thread extended in front of her. Then, it spilt into seven threads, tied to four shadow figures. Their backs against her. Meanwhile, the remaining two threads tied only to the darkness as the owners have yet to return.

  Fallon, the Sinner of Sloth.

  Aranea, the Sinner of Envy.

  Taegon, the Sinner of Gluttony.

  Roze, the Sinner of Lust.

  “All of you are here.” She sighed out. Pride has yet to return. It’ll give her more time to put up a plan to ensure the past doesn’t repeat itself. When she reached out to Fallon’s red thread, her entire left hand sliced. Ethel looked down without so much of reactions at first. She touched Roze’s thread. Thorns sprouted from the red thread and punctured into her skin.

  “Again?” Crimson eyes trembled at the sight of her fellow sinners’ backs. Similar event happened to when Pride first declared cutting his bond with them. His red thread crushed her body, demanding her to kneel.

  “I'm being deny?” Bleeding hand trembled in hesitation to touch the remaining two sinners before withdrawing herself away.

  Ethel opened her eyes, grimacing at the splitting headache as a result of the after-effect of rejection. She raised her left hand. It was still intact.

  What should I do now?

  “Hungry,” said the fiery flame butterfly

  “Yes, I haven’t eaten anything. Is there somewhere I can go?”

  Wrath, you can an never change our fate.

  A crackling voice whispered at her side. Pupils dilated as she recognized the voice.

  However, Ethel quickly shoved the noises away.

  “Let’s not think about it now. I’m hungry.“

  The butterfly went ahead, leading the way. Ethel pulled the shadowy mist from behind, creating a hood over her head. Quite a convenient ability for her to change her outwear. It doesn’t require as much maintenance as washing or sewing. Though her imagination only goes as far as simple clothes, it is far more important for her not to walk around naked. She still has conscious of her own flesh to another’s eyes.

  Once she stepped into the light, her horns retracted. Ethel rubbed her fingers on her head, feeling the tiny bumps of her protruding horns. Meanwhile, her crimson eyes remained the same. It was the only thing she couldn’t hide or change. She gathered her abyssal energy into a calm state. She’ll need to keep her presence as quiet as possible if she was going into the mortal’s town.

  # # #

  It took her only half an hour to arrive in a small town. Dark clouds loomed over. The people walked in shells of their mortal vessel. Clothes were old and tattered. Bodies withered away, yet they kept on continuing their days full of hard labor. Ethel found the mortal’s stubbornness to be odd and endearing. Their life was brief, but spend their mundane time with hopeless hardship. Sometimes she questioned what was the point of living such a cruel fate.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  Ethel kept her eyes down from anyone noticing her as a sinner. In her favor, nobody paid any attention to her as they have enough troubles on their plates. A sinner waltzed into a mortal town was never a good idea. However, she needed to replenish the energy. Nothing served her a better breakfast than a corrupted mortal town, with its residents locking their deepest and darkest feeling behind their hearts.

  She slowed down her pace upon seeing a man in front of her. Just to be safe, she pulled the hood over her face. He was stumbling with a sack over his shoulder. Sweats dripped down from his cheek. He grasped to little air he could breathe in. Suddenly, he twisted his ankle and fell right to the mud on the side road, splashing its water on a nearby passerby. Not even a second before he could regain his composure, a hand flew across his cheek.

  “Rat, you ruin my shoe!” A piglet finger pointed at his face.

  Ethel stopped and watched the scene unfold from a distance. The man’s luck ran into a worst one. A nobleman in a blue robe with open sleeves barely fit his greedy stomach. Jewels screamed as it adorned his piglet fingers. His huge bald head shown no sign of intelligence. Flabby face scrunched in disgust. Cheeks reddened as anger boiled in him.

  The poor man hurried to his knees and hung his head low. “F-Forgive me, my lord. I wasn’t looking.”

  “Should I just plucked that useless eye of yours?”

  The man shivered. Other people kept on walking away. Some had their fists clenched and eyes bored rage on the nobleman. Ethel took a deep breath of their rage into herself. The anger burned her numb tongue. A tasteless fire was what she could describe.

  For the mortal, living at the mercy of these awful so-called leaders was far better than living outside of town, where the darkness awaits them. She made it clear once thousands of years ago. They wished to live with the mortals in peace and end this meaningless bloodshed. Yet, their words fell on deaf ears. They thought her words were a deception to lure them into a trap. If the mortal made their choice to live in a cage as pigs, then she has no right to stop them. She grew weary of trying to think of a way to solve the strain between the sinner and the mortal.

  Ethel walked away from the scene. There was little to what a sinner like her can do except their fear and a sword on her neck.

  She reached to an old building isolated in the far corner of the town. A chapel left unattended. As if abandoned by its people despite it being near to them. She wondered if their God was seeing this pitiful sight of his throne. Mortal’s faith was fragile than a glass. Once shattered, even the broken glasses can wound the heart of their God. Before she leave, the door of the chapel swung opened by an old man. White towel wrapped on his neck. He grabbed his tools and tend the overgrown grass on the front lawn.

  “Dear heaven, please get inside. You’re too weak to tend small matter right now. You’ve been only just raised from your sick bed!” A young woman in a blue robe walked out with her hands on her hips.

  “I’m getting old for this, and so does the grass. I can’t leave them like this if nobody isn’t going to.”

  The young saint shook her head. It was the least corrupted area. Despite the darks clouds loomed above their roof, their smiles brightened up the coming dark days. But soon those smiles will turn cold and there’s nothing she can stop that from happening. Ethel turned her sight away. Let these people have their time before the blood rained down from the sky.

  As soon as she reached the other end of the alley, she bumped into a passerby. She got herself distracted. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was. Ethel kept her head down and apologize. “Sorry.”

  Her eyes caught the familiar silver pendant. Ethel raised her eyes to meet the cerulean blue eyes of the luminary. Ethel clicked her tongue. “Again?”

  She ran through the bodies of crowds. People shouted in confusion. Some thought she was a thief. Luck was on her side for once, as the luminary couldn’t use his miracle prayer in public. Ethel used the people as her shield to dodge his reach. This made him gave up on the idea of using force and chased her instead. The luminary wouldn’t want to create chaos among the people if a sinner was in the town. But she won’t last long. The wrath she absorbed from the resident has yet to fill her. It was slower than usual.

  I need to leave quick! She glanced back at the luminary. She can’t move away like she did yesterday. It wasn’t dark enough.

  Frustrated by the chase, she turned around. She drew a line of crimson flame between them. The people screamed and scrambled away.

  “A sinner!”

  Her shadow scattered and grabbed a few shadows of mortals nearby. Frozen in place. The hostages trembled in her palm. The luminary halted.

  “Children, get away from here!” Ethel glanced at the female voice.

  Her little hands clutched on the saint’s skirt. Wide hazel eyes glistened in tears, meeting her crimson eyes. The woman shielded the girl with her own body despite she herself was already powerless to protect her own.

  The luminary approach. She clutched the shadows of hostages enough to make them scream for mercy. Their cries pierced her. But she kept a serene face.

  “Not another step or they’ll die,” Ethel warned.

  He glanced between her and the hostages. His hand hovered on the hilt of his sword. He raised his hands. Cerulean blue eyes threw daggers in her direction. He can curse her all he wants, not that it matters to her. Ethel glanced at the bridge connecting the town. She’ll need to destroy the bridge to buy more time once she crossed.

  Nobody made a move. Only the sound of the hostages’ whimpers filled the silence. Cold sweats broke out on her forehead. The luminary’s eyes remained on her the entire time. He could have given her trouble if he wasn’t a mute. Perhaps an injury or a punishment? The Order of Lumina acted pure and kind to the people. Meanwhile, she saw some devil disguised themselves as saints.

  “Please let us go,” the child begged.

  The little girl’s sob stabbed like needles. What started as a sympathy now turned into annoyance. She was already in a tight situation and had to resort to a method she despised. The child’s cries clawed the demon she tried to put at bay. She could turn the entire town into oblivion once her patience snapped. The throbbing headache returned. This time it felt like her head was splitting in half, as if someone hacked her head with an axe.

  Dark clouds shut away the Heaven’s eyes. Darkness stretched out from its hiding. Ethel could feel the red thread tightened behind her and crossing over the bridge.

  “No,” Ethel breathed out as she turned around. Thick black mist surrounded the town.

  A lone figure emerged from the looming shadow on the other side of the bridge. Metal scraped on the stone ground. Red sparks danced. Heavy footsteps vibrated the bridge. Clad in a black heavy armor. He wielded an enormous blade glowed in red. Black shadowy mist crept out from the gaps of its armor. A pair of red garnet eyes peered through the helmet.

  “Fallon.”