Ethel ripped the last shadow. Their screams replaced by dead silence. Death sealed their fates the moment she had their shadows in her palm. She placed a hand on a nearby tree for support. Her gaze avoided those clouded eyes of the fallen scattering around her. Their strengths were nothing to be impressed. But their numbers took a toll on her spent energy.

By the time she finished, the morning dawn raised from its sleep, greeting her for the first time after five hundred years. Light disintegrated the dead bodies. It left no trace as it completely erased their tainted existence from the land. Ethel basked herself under its warmth. Although the light stung on her shadow, she couldn’t help but feel at peace.

As she adjusted herself for a comfortable position, she grimaced at the gash wound on the side of her stomach. Fortunately, she wasn’t bleeding much. The scarlet butterfly rested closer to the wound.

This is troubling. Ethel thought as the wound wasn’t healing up as usual. She looked up at the sun. Her awakening from a long slumber started off being hunted. The sinners attacked her for the entire night without giving her the rest. Now the sun was holding back her from recovering. It was one trouble after another.

“Is there somewhere I can rest?” Ethel turned to her scarlet butterflies.

They went ahead, leading the way. Ethel pulled the shadow 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 presence 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 town. 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 short, but spend their mundane time with hopeless hardship. Sometimes she questioned what was the point of living such a cruel fate.

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 locked their wrath 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 earn 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.

Her breath became shallow. The wound on her side gnawed on her flesh. Ethel entered a quiet alley. Her knees buckled, and she fell down with her back on the wall. She undo the shadowy mist of her robe, inspecting the wound that was once only a small gash now turning into a monstrous claw mark. The butterfly emerged from her hood.

How is this possible? Ethel winced.

The little armies of Pride shouldn’t possess any special combat capability. Even the weapons they wield were the same as what the mortal used. No poison was laced on any of them.

“Wake me up when someone comes here,” she commanded her butterfly. Too tired to think how they did it. She leaned her head on a barrel beside her. Sleep soon succumbed to her.

*     *     *     *     *     *

Something wet caressed her cheek. The sweet touch tasted poison to a sinner of wrath. But another side of her wanted to lean more on the touch. Ethel fluttered her eyes opened. A little girl no older than eight years old wrung the wet towel she used to wipe her sweats. Ethel cast her gaze away and pulled the hood to cover her face. Her heart raced at the thought of the girl noticing her eyes.

“Why didn’t you wake me up!?”

“She’s harmless and you need rest. The wound hasn’t healed.”

“Still—”

The little girl grabbed something from the small basket beside her. Outside the alley, Ethel noticed women in blue robe and children handing out a fresh bake bread to the workers and beggars on the streets. The girl handed her one.

“What’s your name?” asked Ethel.

“Amy.” She smiled.

Ethel gazed down at the rough hand of the child. In the sinner’s eyes, the children’s soul were naive to the world’s conflict. They were the new light and hope. Yet, the corruption of those in power rendered their future bleak. Forcing a child to grow up fast and withered into a pitiful soul.

Ethel took the bread. She expected the girl to leave, but the girl stayed by her side and ate her own bread. Ethel welcomed the child’s company in silence. She munched on the bread. Tasted nothing but its weird texture. It was a little black on the side with a hard texture.

She looks like her, Ethel thought as a memory came to her mind.

A young sinner naive to the world’s hatred towards her existence. Curious of the mortal’s town, she ventured deep into a territory she shouldn’t cross over. Ethel was there by her side to keep an eye. Bewildered of the foreign sight excites the young sinner. Candies molded in different shapes of animals arranged on the shelves. Girls at her age wore a beautiful, flowy dress. It was their little secret adventure. Despite the danger, Ethel only wanted to have the child to learn the world. She herself was a naive. Those innocent days ended when Ethel wasn’t by her side. Before she could find the child, the child faded into oblivion in her arms. In rage, her wrath was release upon the town and devoured the land.

Ethel gulped down. Her grip crushed the bread. She took a shaky breath, stopping the memory from taking over her wrath. She can’t have another tragedy repeat itself while there were innocents.

You’re strong, wrath. Yet, you deny your flame. Pride’s words reminded her. Ethel denied her wrath to keep the peace. Her flame turned colder. She failed as a sinner of wrath.

“Thank you for the bread.” She brushed the little girl’s head.

“Bye!” The girl waved.

The sun was ready to fall back to the horizon. Night would soon engulf the land. Ethel should leave the town. Her presence attracted unwelcome guests from outside. The residents already have their own problems. Adding another one would only drive them down to the bottom.

Let’s hold on another night. She told the scarlet butterfly emerged from her hood.

For how long? It questioned her.

Ethel halted. She has no answer. No plan came into her mind. The sinners hunted her at night. The luminary was no exception. What’s the point of her return when nothing or nobody is waiting for her for a good reason?

Just for another night and I’ll think of something. She lied. There’s no plan. She’ll just keep on running until she reached the same end. Repeating the same cycle again and again.

As soon as she reached the other end of the alley, she bumped into a passerby. She got herself too detached from the reality she didn’t look 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?”