"Who the hell was that?" I asked Hectic.
"A Smiler... it's a criminal gang that's been bothering me for a while now, because of something I have," Axel replied, holstering his revolver.
"Axel... what are the consequences of being a Sinner?", There has to be a price to pay; nothing in this life is free.
Axel grew serious. "Being a Sinner is good... at first... until you realize all the problems that come with it."
Axel's voice took on a melancholic tone. "If you don't die at the hands of another Sinner, from a botched ritual, or from the corruption of a god or evil entity... your soul will always be destined for hell."
My soul... will go... to hell.
Axel raised his voice so Lux and Kōri could hear. "I'll give you lessons on everything about Sinners: the paths and their types, the ranks, and much more."
"Axel, I saw you jump into the air."
"It's one of my Rank 11 abilities, Watcher."
Watcher and liar 2 rank of path of the Cunning... I should write down what I know about the Sinners in a notebook.
From what Axel says, the abilities of one Rank are retained when moving to the next, that's interesting.
"Axel, what Rank do you think he was?" I asked cautiously. "I think he's a Rank 11, from the Path of Wrath. I don't know the names of those Ranks yet." Axel sighed in relief.
"Nero, take us to your house," Lux said calmly as always.
We walked out of the alley, leaving the Smiler's body behind. After all, there were no police around.
I felt a few raindrops on my skin...
Soft drops began to fall from the sky. In a moment, the light rain turned into a small storm.
Our leisurely walk turned into a run...
After running for quite a while, we arrived at my house.
I hurriedly opened the door and let my companions in. Rose was sitting half-asleep in a chair in the living room.
All four of us were soaked, and just standing still made us drip a lot of water.
I'll be the cold door...
Axel raised an eyebrow and asked me, "They look like twins, but she's your younger sister."
I nodded understandingly... I hadn't thought about it, but it's true.
I approached Rose and gently woke her up.
"Brother, five more minutes."
Rose opened her eyes and looked at three soaking wet strangers in her living room.
Rose jumped up and looked at me suspiciously. "Who are they?"
"I won't waste my breath explaining who you are," my voice trembled with cold and sleepiness.
"I'm your boss, and my name is Axel," Axel said, his tone calm and almost thoughtful.
"I'm your friend. You can call me Lux."
"Miss, my name is Kōri."
"Where are you going to sleep?" Rose's question made us think about where each of us would sleep.
Axel and Lux would sleep on the sofa, Rose would sleep in her room, and Kōri and I would sleep together.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, you're soaked," Rose said, staring at us.
"You should change your clothes."
"Miss, could you give me some clothes?" Kōri's voice was formal and elegant.
Rose nodded and went to her room. After a few minutes, Rose came out with some clothes and gave them to Kōri.
Kōri went to the bathroom to change...
"Nero, lend me some clothes too," Lux said, looking at me with her two amber-colored eyes.
"I don't have any clothes that fit you."
Lux nodded and said, "I'll wait with Axel until I dry off."
Axel remained silent and just stared at me.
I went to my room... took off my clothes, dried myself off, and put on clean, dry clothes.
I found a sheet and put it on the bed. I lay down on one side of the bed and waited for Kōri.
I started thinking about the Sinners...
From what I understand, the Sinners are the representation of the soul; they are emotions, moments, or a fusion of both.
The Sinners possess the Centrum, which is their very soul in physical form.
The Sinners have 11 ranks per path. The Path of Wrath seems powerful; the ability to control fire is something I'd love to do.
...
Which path will I choose?
...
I hope it's at least powerful...
I feel like I'm forgetting something, but what is it...?
...
Wait, I remember now...
Axel's journal mentions that the Daemon, whom Axel found dead, had its Centrum removed...
But...
Why did they do that? I don't see any benefit in taking someone's Centrum.
Also, what is that object Axel has? And why do the Smilers want it?
So many questions are giving me a headache...
"May I come in?"
I heard Kōri's voice behind the door, "Of course, you can come in."
Kōri opened the door and entered the room, closed it, and lay down on the cloak. Feeling cold, she covered me with the sheet and did the same for herself.
We remained silent, each on our own side...
Although I was fascinated by the Sinner world, I know that world is dangerous.
Rose must never know about the Sinners; it's too dangerous...
I fell asleep thinking about the Sinners and their dangers.
...
I opened my eyes and saw a nightmarish landscape...
There was a huge, withered tree, almost dead; I was in the sky, unable to move or do anything.
The tree was surrounded by a sea as black as darkness itself and as green as spring leaves.
In the sea, people were burning alive, engulfed in a kind of black fire.
I could hear them screaming a word, a word that has always sent chills down my spine...
...
Error
...
I blinked and opened my eyes...
My body and mind froze at the sight of the imposing figure before me.
A dragon...
But not just any dragon, a dead, skeletal, rotting dragon...
I could feel myself moving again...
Everything felt so real...
The scene shifted to a forest with pine trees, as tall as any building in New York.
Ha... ha... ha...
I heard the dragon's eerie laughter; it was slow, amused, almost mocking...
It brought its skeletal head close to my body and said, "Run."
I turned around quickly and started running through the forest.
In the distance, I could hear the dragon laughing again and starting to run, its laughter growing louder.
The branches of the plants scratched my skin, drawing blood.
I could hear the dragon's laughter getting closer...
I hid behind a large tree, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Pam, pam, pam
I could hear the dragon's footsteps as it searched for me.
Its cursed laughter sent chills down my spine and filled me with absolute terror.
"Where are you?" it said in a mocking, crazed tone.
Its laughter and footsteps stopped; I even thought it stopped breathing.
The forest fell into absolute silence...
Its footsteps grew quieter, and it stopped laughing. It was clawing at the bark of the trees.
Pam!
The tree where I was hiding was severed by the dragon's claws.
I tried to run, but he grabbed me...
Laughing again, he threw me into the air, sending my body crashing to the ground.
The throbbing pain made me realize this wasn't a nightmare...
I felt my left arm snap.
The dragon lashed out with its tail. I rolled on the ground, terrified of being eaten alive.
The dragon opened its mouth and bit into my stomach and lungs.
As tears of pain streamed down my face, the damned dragon threw me into the air.
My blood dripped onto its face...
It opened its mouth and with one bite, ripped my body in half...
...
Agh!!!
It opened its eyes, and I felt my heart pounding.
What the hell was that?
"Nero, what's wrong?" Kōri asked, looking at me with a hint of concern.
"Nothing, I'm just a little agitated," my tone calmed, and I relaxed.
Kōri nodded and got out of bed.
The bright sun was already awake. Rose must be at school by now, since it's Monday.
I sighed and calmed down...
Was that a dream?... or rather, a nightmare. Everything seemed so real; I could feel the fear, the pain, the exhaustion...
...
"Nero, Rose left breakfast ready on the table," Kōri's voice seemed to be coming from the kitchen.
I got out of bed, thinking that this simple nightmare seemed more real than I expected.
I walked to the kitchen; the wooden floor was still damp from our clothes.
"Good morning," Axel and Lux said at the same time.
"Good morning," I said, sitting down in a chair.
Kōri grabbed some bread and handed it to me. As I ate it, I thought that today was my day of transformation into a Sinner.
When I finished eating, I went to Axel and asked him, "When are we going to become Sinners?"
"Well, well, you're desperate. If you want to do it so badly, I'll go get the materials and come back."
Axel ran out of the house...
We had to wait two hours for Axel to return...
It was 10:03 AM according to the clock. We had exactly 5 hours and 57 minutes until Rose returned.
"Sit on the floor," Axel said, sitting down with a bag in his hand.
We sat down, and Axel placed some materials on the floor.
He grabbed a small bag and three fine glass goblets. It was the first time I'd ever seen that kind of cup.
He placed the cups in front of each of us, opened the bag containing a white, almost gray, powder.
He sprinkled a little powder into each cup...
He went to the kitchen for a pitcher of water, poured water into each cup, and the water turned white.
He grabbed a knife and made us draw a little blood...
The plain cup of water in front of us changed to a different color for each of us.
Lux's water turned dark yellow, Kōri's a color that mixed white and blue, and mine turned black and purple.
Axel stared at my cup as if he were analyzing something strange.
Axel composed himself and said, "Drink it."
Each of us took our cup and drank it all...
My body trembled, and my mind was transported to a strange place where millions of pairs of eyes were watching me.
My veins turned black and purple, and my eyes began to glow.
After a minute, all the effects disappeared...
An inexplicable sensation washed over me, a feeling that mixed pain, euphoria, fear, and exhaustion.
Axel smiled, "Welcome to the Sinner world."