Ethel treaded the trail without a direction. After patching up the luminary, she left him alone. Dawn was upon them. A patrol guard from town could pass by anytime. The young man would soon reunite with his people. Meanwhile, she had nowhere to go nor nobody to meet.

The sound of dead leaves crunched and her ears perked up. Something was crawling in the dark. Its watchful eyes followed her. She glimpsed on a small creature hiding behind a tree. Annoyed and tired from the ordeal since her first day, she called it out. “Why don’t you step out?”

A spider lurked out. It had only one merlot red eye in the middle. She knew right away it was an abyssal spider belonged to Aranea. The smallest one among spiders.

“You couldn’t be more shameless than you were last time.” The voice came from the spider. “Do you intend to be a traitor who protects the light? A shadow protecting the light. It sounds too pathetic.”

Ethel laughed. “Have you forgotten the one who holds the tittle of pride is Mael? I should be in a rage hearing such a rude remark from you.” She flashed a smirk at the creature, knowing well Aranea was watching everything.

“Wrath!”

“Are we back to calling each other by our roles, Envy?” Ethel stopped her teasing. Aranea was never the type to take her playful joke in a good light. She raised three fingers. “Three of you join Mael. Fallon was never on my list. He never like being pushed around. What changed his mind?” Ethel put down one finger and continued. “I wasn’t sure about you, but I have my suspicion you would be on his side. You never like me, and wherever Fallon goes, you always stick close to him.”

For the last finger, her smile downcast. “The one on top of my list was Ophelia. She always held Mael in highest regard, which doesn’t surprise me. I’m more surprised she helped me kill him five hundred years ago. ”

Ethel placed a hand on her side. “Using the lowly sinners as a decoy just to get my guard down. Whatever tricks she pulled on me, I underestimate her.”

“Yes, she did prepared everything for this day to come. Ophelia was the first to resurrect. Consider what you made us all do five hundred years ago.” The grudge held in Aranea’s words placed a heavy weight on Ethel’s shoulders. It was right of her to bear such rage towards Ethel after she forced them to kill their fellow sinner, giving none of them to voice out their opinion. In a world where everything and everyone hated them, they had only each other. The strife from five hundred years ago wasn’t the first one, but it definitely made their bond beyond mending.

It was four against one. For the remaining two. She wasn’t sure of their decision. “That leaves Greed and Gluttony now.” Her heart drummed as she waited for Aranea to reveal the remaining sinners. Dying as the last one standing didn’t scare her than living alone. She fought Mael the Pride to keep the war from dragging the innocents. She never once wanted to kill him. The sinners were her only salvation in a world that hated her existence.

“What can you hope after failing us more than once?” Aranea broke the silence. “We don’t need a flame that couldn’t guide us. Mael is the only one we’ll listen from now on.”
Ethel let a dry chuckle. Her crimson eyes burned. No tears fell for a sinner and a traitor has no right to shed one.

“Where’s the authority of sinner?”

“Again, I have told Fallon, and I’ll tell you the same thing. I don’t have it, nor will I tell you where is it.”

“For someone who knows the responsibility is heavy, you will never hold it until the very end. Instead, that responsibility is being thrown away to someone else, someone like the luminary.”

Ethel shrugged. “Go ahead. Ask them. I doubt they even know what it is or give it to you.”

“Don’t test me!”

“I can try,” Ethel taunted. If she choose who to be the sinner of wrath, Aranea was the right one. The sinner had no control over her emotion. “Mael isn’t here yet.”

The wind whistled out an eerie lullaby. Trees swayed by the gust. Branches of skeletons danced along with the guide of the breeze. Small creatures trembled inside their homes. Their small, fragile hearts echoed in her ears. Being in a presence of two sinners, the fear might as well just take them away immediately.

“I guess I have my answer.” Ethel turned away. It was time to end the conversation. She rather talk to the real Aranea than her puppet spider. “You better take care of your new leader. Once he returned, I’ll have him dead first for the second time.”

“You can’t possibly win against us.”

“We’ve been together for such a long time. You and I know well who will die first.”

“WRATH!”

“Calm down, Aranea. I might just find where you’re hiding now if you show your rage against me.”

The spider returned to the shadow. Once Ethel made sure of her presence gone, she released a long sigh. Ethel looked at her hands. Mirage evoked from her past sins. Covered in a blood of those she killed from mortal, the children she vowed to protect, and her fellow sinner. Shadows of the dead flickered in the corner of her crimson eyes. Trees towered over her lone figure, pointing their branches at her as the world called out for judgment. Life after life, she killed and killed. She tasted their bloods once. Watched the flame burned the life away. She did what was right. To keep the world from the destruction of merciless war.

“Who am I trying to be a protector? I’m nothing more but a sin.” The scarlet butterflies rested on her hands and shoulders. She turned to each of them. Fragments of her past trying to comfort her. The sight was nothing different from looking through the mirror and comforting herself. A madness she fell into.

*     *     *     *     *     *

The crackling sound of burning wood woke him up. Luther opened his eyes. Morning dawn greeted him. He winced at the pounding pain in his head. A hand instinctively held where the wound was. He looked around, finding nobody was around. His drenched cloak hung on a nearby branch.

He dug through some of his memories before passing out. Standing before the sinner clad in black armor, he staggered on his way to block his opponent from reaching the other sinner behind him. The two sinners could have been friends and struck a dagger behind his back. But the two weren’t on good terms.

Luther got up. He held a nearby tree for a support. If it weren’t for his miracle blessing, the headache could split his head open. Still, he’ll need to get back for a better treatment.

“Captain!”

A voice startled him. Luther looked up to see knights of luminary running towards him.

“We’ve found him. Quickly, get the healer here.”

He fell back to the ground and leaned his back against the tree. A relief washed over him. He thought he would have to walk his way back home in this condition. The heaven was on his side, sending a help in a short time.

“Those damn sinners. What have they done to you?”

“You shouldn’t have gone by yourself, captain.”

Their loud voices rang his head. He raised his hand, silencing them. Then he saw something flying past them. A red flickering light. When he turned, there was nothing. He thought he was seeing things. As they waited for the healer to arrive, Luther patted on his pocket. When one of them seemed empty. A panic raised inside him as he looked around.

“Is there something you need?” the knight asked.

Luther responded with a shake of his head. He can’t tell what it was. It’s better for it to be lost now than found by these knights.