In the midst of chaos and tension, a single figure was surrounded by everyone. The mining operation had been under siege, but all attention was now diverted to one individual teetering on the brink of death. Strapped to a bed with rusty yet functional equipment monitoring his condition, he lay in the central building. His chances of survival were slim, but the hope that this savior would awaken was enough to draw every dog in the area. They gathered around him, eyes closed in prayer, hoping for a miracle.

 

Hamza lay on the bed, his condition being closely monitored by three dogs who watched in awe. observer held Hamza’s hand with a gentle grip, her eyes swollen with tears as she looked at Hamza’s unconscious form. She was filled with dread.

 

‘The Ultra pills should have worked. So why? Why doesn’t he wake up?’ she thought.

 

Connected to him, she could see the description of what Hamza had created with his ability. She knew that two pills should have been enough to heal him, yet he remained unconscious.

 

This is what hopelessness feels like. Not knowing what will happen. This is painful she thought.

 

Observer watched Hamza with a sense of despair, while the three dogs looked on in awe of his miraculous recovery. His critical wound had regenerated from scratch. His vitals stabilized within minutes, an astonishing feat considering he had been on death’s door just moments ago with a gaping hole and destroyed organ in his stomach. The monocle-wearing dog looked at the woman and tried to calm her down, knowing full well that the most dangerous moment had likely passed.

 

“Please don’t worry, lass. He has survived the worst. His unconscious state is due to shock, but he will be okay,” the dog said in a low voice. The observer nodded in response, her gaze fixed on Hamza.

 

“Who did this to you? The droids?” the dog asked, worry evident in his eyes.

 

“No, it was something with a dark, vile form. It attacked us out of the blue. We were holding our own in the siege until that thing nearly killed him. We had no choice but to run.”

 

The room fell silent at her words. The monocle-wearing dog asked urgently, “Was it a form like Aku but smaller? With a dark mist?”

 

The observer was surprised that they could describe the creature she and Hamza had encountered. Her focus shifted to the monocle-wearing dog as she replied with a twitch of anger in her eyes, “Yes!”

 

The room plunged into an eerie silence at her confirmation. Their heartbeats seemed to stop.

 

“We are doomed! It’s one of the seve-” the monocle-wearing dog began to explain before several dogs abruptly ran for their lives from the central building, screaming in fear. The phrase “one of the sins” echoed through the room as hope drained from their eyes.

 

The monocle-wearing dog shuddered as he continued, “T-th-the Seven Sins of the world… The sons and daughters of Aku… All of them have this form of darkness. They have been ravaging the world for a millennium. This battle is over. No one can challenge them.”

 

His explanation, coupled with the reactions of others, made the observer waver.

 

This is far too different from the original events. Will he be able to overcome this? Or…

 

She caressed Hamza’s head as she pondered their fate.

 

Will we die here? What was your plan?

 

She observed Hamza, who lay still except for a twitching finger. His eyelids finally opened and blinked, adjusting to the light. His critical injury had completely healed with his awakening. The observer was filled with happiness, but it was short-lived as Hamza’s first words were, “Jack.”

 

Hamza bit his lips and his bloodshot eyes told a story of their own. As he coughed out more words, the observer just listened.

 

He must be loathing himself.

 

The observer looked at Hamza in silence. “We need to escape from here with Jack. This is a suicide mission now…” Hamza’s low voice was drowned out by the screams and howls of the dogs that had just fled the building. Everyone’s gaze turned towards the exit.

 

It found us.

 

Hamza stood up, his breath heavy but steady. He quickly dressed in his jacket and pants, gearing up with whatever he could find in the nick of time. The dogs present were in disarray. He strolled past them towards the exit doors, with the observer trailing behind him.

 

“Observer, listen closely,” he said, his voice firm. “I don’t care about anything right now except Jack. As soon as we see him, we are making a run for it using your portals.”

“We can’t face that thing again. The Seven Sins… they are too much for even Jack.”

 

Observer nodded in agreement, her hand gripping her weapon tightly as they stepped out of the building in haste. A figure stood alone amidst the corpses of the dogs, its form blurred by the dark mist swirling around it. Its yellow eyes stared at them unblinkingly. Hamza and the observer were on guard as soon as they saw her. The observer glanced at her trembling hands.

 

“Amusing,” the figure spoke in a throaty voice with a feminine pitch. “How did you escape without me noticing?” It approached them, but they backed away.

 

Hamza smiled, seeing that instead of attacking them on the spot, it seemed amused.

 

“Oh, you know,” he said casually. “Magic trick. Abracadabra. Your vanishing trick was nice though. Would have killed me if you aimed at my heart though. Miss Gurina, one of the seventh spawn of sins.”

 

Provoking it might be stupid, but boring speeches would bore it too. It was a gamble, but he just needed to stall for time.

 

Its laughter echoed around the area at his words. The laughter slowly died out but another sound took over - the clanking of battle droids’ limbs soon filled the area with their sounds.

 

“I like you,” she said after a moment of silence. “It’s been ages since I found amusement in hunting. Where is the samurai?”

 

“The feeling is mutual,” Hamza replied, his body tense with anticipation. “Though it’s unfair that you have an army of droids though. Wouldn’t it be fun if you see us take them down and face you in a 2v1? The samurai is running late. He should be here any moment now.”

 

He only had a few hours until he reached the time limit of his ability.

 

“Hmm,” she said nonchalantly as she stood still amidst the swirling dark mist.

 

Both of them waited for her answer, ready for a confrontation.

“No. Instead, how about I give you a choice? Let the droids kill all those in that building, or I end this right now?” Gurina’s voice was cold and emotionless.

 

Before Hamza could answer, both he and observer were thrown back by a gust of wind. Gurina, who had been standing a hundred meters away, was now just a few feet from them. They quickly scrambled to their feet. Hamza’s legs trembled, but he didn’t falter.

 

“I smell fear” Gurina said, her voice echoing ominously in the silence.

 

“So what will it be? Your life or theirs? I want to hear you scream who should live, my sweetie,” Gurina said, her gaze shifting to the dogs watching from afar through the window of the central building.

 

Her arms morphed into delicate hands of a woman as she lifted Hamza’s head, which was bowed down in moral dilemma. Looking at her with contempt, he furiously made his decision without hesitation. The observer could only watch with fear in her eyes. Her body wouldn’t listen to her commands. She wanted to blast that thing away but her trembling hands did not move. Hamza made his decision swiftly so as not to anger the thing.

 

I’m sorry

 

“I choose us!” He screamed out loud, his voice echoing with hopelessness. Gurina grabbed both of them by their throats and threw them behind her as she snapped her fingers. They skidded on the terrain a few meters away before managing to stand up.

 

The droids that had been silently watching from afar suddenly sprang into action, rushing past Hamza and the observer and into the building. The echoes of slaughter and screams filled the area as the droids spared no one and brutally chopped away anything in their path. A few dogs managed to escape the building but didn’t make it far. Hamza didn’t dare to look as he knew there was nothing he could do.

 

A voice made him look towards its source. The monocle dog was crawling towards him, half of his lower body cleaved off cleanly. He repeated the same words over and over again.

 

“Run lad, escape,” he said before being squashed like a bug by Gurina who giggled in amusement.

 

“They always have such interesting faces in near death. Ahahaha,” Gurina laughed out loud as Hamza watched in horror. The words made him remember his past - a burning memory of a boy who said the same words as his surroundings were engulfed in flames. He fell to the ground as a panic attack seized him. All sounds dulled as he could hear nothing but his own heartbeat getting faster and faster. His vision blurred slightly.

 

A slap brought him back to reality.

 

“Snap out of it…” A barely audible voice reached Hamza’s ears - the familiar voice of Jack who was covered in black oil.

 

Jack looked at Gurina who was standing near the broken-down building laughing as it collapsed under the sheer weight of all the droids that had swarmed into it.

 

The rubble and debris created a dust cloud that covered the entire mining operation. The dust soon settled with a gust of wind clearing everything.

 

Gurina’s laughter died out.

 

“The samurai is here. My master told me about you, samurai. I wonder if you are as formidable as I was told,” she said with a giggle her voice echoing ominously in the silence.