[Seven Deadly Sins] Volume 3 - Beginnings and Endings

[CJ]

It had been days since the Virtues' last adventure. After finding Harlow, the Virtue of Justice, and helping the town of Valleyway, the group traveled outside of the realm, to the Fairy Forest. Their leader, M, the Virtue of Humility, faced a crisis. Her abilities as a Virtue disappeared strangely after her and the others' encounter with Tenbraum, a powerful Holy Knight, supposedly the son of the Great Holy Knight, who might still be alive.

It was as though M was a different person, less strict and rigid. She rarely walked straight and pulled her fingers through her hair excessively. The strangest thing of all was the way she talked.

"Everything I've ever told you about me has been a lie," she said to them in their travels. "I've been putting on a mask for you and myself. I've never been a servant of a princess. I was an unforgivable tyrant and am still deserving of every punishment this world can give me."

She kept her face turned away from them. It seemed she wasn't against telling them the truth, but it was still shameful. Arx and Lian might have recalled that she once berated them for "going against their virtues." If that was a sin, she was the most sinful of all. After all, the only way to feel shame is to have some sense of pride to begin with.

"It should be no surprise to you that I'm a fairy. I haven't used my powers around you because, frankly, I didn't know I had them. I hope I forget about them and my past soon though. I'll be able to do that there."

She explained before that to remove her memories again and restore her powers, she had to find a wizard in the middle of the Fairy Forest who resided in a castle. He was the one who helped her become M and start the Virtues. If she could find him, she believed their mission could continue properly.

In this world, the fairy realm's legendary forest was still alive and growing. It was a mysterious place, with as many legends as the leaves on the expansive trees. The plant grew magnificently, towering multiple times over Arx. For some, it was a magical place, filled with strange creatures and indescribable wonders. For others, it was an average, but pleasant forest. In the Virtues' travels, nothing odd occurred. It wouldn't have been odd to question M's story. This "Fairy Forest" was no more than large trees with rumors of a rather impressive castle in the middle. Maybe M and others made up the fantastic stories for selfish purposes.

The group came to a stop before a cliff face. The castle in question was supposedly seated on top of the cliff, about half mile up from the ground. From where they were, there wasn't a clear way to the castle besides walking around the wall. The towering trees made it hard to see if there was any way up.

"Hmmm," M hummed, peering up. "This place has changed since I've last been here. Don't remember a cliff face. Can anyone think of a way up there?"

[Hitotsumami]

Arx, although still mournful about the losses that had occurred in Valleway, had pushed forward. That was his virtue after all: Diligence. It was in his nature to keep moving on, but he found it especially difficult to do that with M in her weakened state.

"Perhaps you shouldn't forget your old self," mentioned Arx when M spoke of her past. "You should use it to help you move on. Learn from it. Become one with it." Of course, he doubted this would have much of an affect on her.

More than anything, however, he knew they needed M to regain her powers. If they were to go against Tenbraum again, then they'd need all the help they could get.

Upon reaching the cliff face, Arx scratched his chin. "Perhaps Lian could alter the time of this place? Change this cliff to when it was just a narrow ridge, something we could climb?"

[Mise™]

What had occured in Valleway had not affected Lian at all. The way he acted was how he always did. Even M's apparent breakdown did not have much of an effect on the Virtue of Patience. It was just like average days of his eternal life.

”I dost not blame thee for thy lies. The does not exist a sane man that hasth no secrets. Only a lunatic or an idiot wouldth share everything they knoweth.” Lian told M when she revealed that she had been lying about her past. ”Only person thou shouldth never lieth to is thyself.”

”I knew that thou couldth not hath been a daughter of man. I hath not seen thou for a decade, yet thy hath not ageth much. A child of man wouldth look much different after such time hath passeth.” While Lian had figured out that M was not entirely human only now he found out that she was indeed a fairy. ”If thou truly art one of the fairykind maybe thou art even older than I am.” Then again the way M acted and spoke like would hint that she wasn't quite as ancient as Lian was.

”I art not able to do what thou hath suggested.” Lian told Arx. He could only send things back in time for a few seconds, to do what Arx had asked him he would need to send it back at least a few hundred years. Possible even more. ”There hasth to be an easy way up there. I doubth anyone wouldth build a castle that they couldth not reach. Unless they wantedth to isolate themselves from the world outside.”

[newb23]

Harlow shook his head in agreement with Arx and Lian. "Forgetting is just another sin M. To truly atone for past mistakes one must never erase the thoughts of such sins." Harlow said as he walked.

"If you can't remember them then how can one forgive you for them?" Harlow asked M peeking at her as the continued to walk. "I know that we all have our reasons for being Virtues. Perhaps atonement is one of them."

[CJ]

"Before I lost my memories, time seemed to flow differently," M confirmed to Lian. "I actually don't know how old I am. Those years seemed no longer than the years I spent with you all, but from what I've been hearing, it probably was centuries at least. It's hard to know exactly."

The leader of the Virtues was distraught. She hated listening to the others, telling her to do exactly what she didn't want. Toward Arx, she felt an incredible amount of guilt and shame, thinking he was disappointed in her. She wanted to shut Lian from her mind, feeling somewhat infuriated by his belief that she shouldn't lie to herself. Harlow was farther from the truth than he might have realized. It was the want to forget that lead to being a Virtue in the first place. She knew they were right, but she wouldn't accept it. There was still so much on the line.

"If I don't forget again, I won't be able to use the powers you guys are familiar with. I need to be M again if the world is going to be saved. I'm not strong enough to face what happened. I know it's wrong, but If I stay like this, there won't be a Virtue of Humility. The world won't be saved. I can't let that happen."

Hearing that Lian couldn't take them up the cliff face, M sighed. Her mood became even more sour, like she was about to eat something rotten. She tapped her feet and peered up at the sky.

"I suppose I'll have to use my abilities then, but I don't want Harlow touching me. I'm only going to take Arx and Lian with me. Harlow, you'll have to find your own way up... Wait. Hold on... this feeling..."

M shivered and grew pale. She backed away and yelped when she accidentally bumped into the cliff face. She clutched her face and looked out at the other Virtues from between her fingers.

"They found us," she muttered.

Two pairs of glowing eyes emerged from the forest. They became larger and larger, floating like fireflies in the shadow of the trees. Eventually, their bodies formed in the light, translucent and multicolored. They were of the same species as the dog beast M infamously transformed into.

It wasn't long before the beasts howled and pounced upon the other Virtues. They were huge, as large as M had been in their journeys, about as large as Arx in height, though much heavier. One of the beasts attacked the Virtue of Diligence, trying to push him to the ground and bite at his neck. The other proceeded to try and ram itself into Lian. They left Harlow alone for the time being, perhaps seeing him and M as the weaker of the bunch.

"Don't hurt them!" M shouted in fear, though whether she was talking to the Virtues or the beasts was unclear.

[Hitotsumami]

At the mention of M's age, Arx shrugged. "You're in the same boat as Lian when it comes to that, then," he said. Even Harlow was a really old man. It appeared, out of the current group at least, he was the youngest of all.

Arx also didn't feel it was his place to push his opinion on M's memories any longer, and even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have the chance, for giant beasts suddenly appeared out of the forests and pounced upon the group!

One in particular jumped to Arx, attempting to bite his neck. As quickly as Arx could, he pulled his turtle shell shield off his back and attempted to bash it against the crazed beast, hoping to sling it back into the forest where it came.

"This is your forest, right?" asked Arx to M. "What's this all about!?"

He readied his shield in case another attack would happen.

[Mise™]

A lot was going through Lian's head as he listened M's story about herself, but he still not ask more questions for now. With time everything would get revealed one way or another.

As the monsters appeared Lian did not seem to do much. He just stood there analyzing the situation and did not even draw his sword to defend himself. And when he finally spoke he stared at the beast rushing towards him intensively:

”There art no need for us to do battle today. I willeth not to hurt thy or thy realm. So return back to the way thou really art and we shall talk.” Lian tried to sound as commanding as he could. Which was really commanding. Since these monsters looked like M when she had transformed Lian thought that they were like her and were fairies that had transformed in to monsters to defend their land. Not only that M told him and Arx not to hurt them, which made it even more obvious to him.

[CJ]

"No, Lian," M muttered. "They're not-"

"Return to the way we really are?" a voice sounded. "Wow, this human's so scared, he's convinced himself we're not actually real!"

The beast came to a halt before Lian and perked its ears. It tilted its head and looked down upon the man as though he were a child.

"These humans are tougher than they look!" another voice came, this time from the limping beast Arch knocked back into the woods. "I think the big one bruised me. Ow."

Their mouths did not move, even though they The two paced about in a semicircle around the group. Their transparent bodies looked almost invisible if peered at directly.

"You want to talk?" the first one spoke again. "Then state your purpose here. It seems you have mistaken this place as 'your forest.' If you are truly not here to hurt us, we will escort you out of these lands. But if your intention is for harm, we will summon our brethren to kill you swiftly."

M sat against the wall, curling her knees up to her chin. She covered her face with her hands and remained incredibly still, as though not wishing to be seen. Her face turned red as she cried silent silent tears. Arx wouldn't get any answer from her yet it seemed.

[Hitotsumami]

"We're not leaving," Arx said to the talking wolves. It didn't surprise him that they talked. It was the Fairy world, a world beyond his homeland, and he expected anything was possible.

"We cannot leave. We're looking for a wizard, one that lives upon this hill," he motioned towards the cliff face that the group had been unable to climb.

Arx considered telling the wolves that they were three of the Seven Heavenly Virtues, but decided against it, since he doubted these wolves had any idea who the Virtues even were.

Nevertheless, he was fixated on the goal at hand, and he wouldn't give up.

[Mise™]

The beasts weren't transformed fairies like M. With his abilities Lian could fix everything as long as the damage was recent enough but not a blow to his ego. His theory had been wrong and Lian wasn't used to being wrong and thought very highly of himself. He looked shaken for a moment, but as he had said that he had wanted to talk, but got a hold of himself and spoke back to the beasts.

”Thou art wrong. There art no forest nor land that I calleth mine, not here nor elsewhere.” Lian paused for a second. ”Like he hath saith we art here because we wanteth to traverse this hill and seeth the castle that hath been builth there.”

[CJ]

"Wizard?" The main beast asked, meeting at eye level with Arch. "There is no wizard who lives in this forest and certainly not or near in the Fairy King's castle. He might have lived there under the old rule, but all those evils have been expelled from these lands for centuries."

This got M's attention. She picked her head up from where she crotched and listened intently.

"That being said. No one is allowed on the hill aside from the Fairy King and his servants. Your journey has been in vain. We will escort out of this forest."

"Wait!" M spoke up, standing up finally. "Who is the Fairy King?"

"The ignorant human doesn't know of our Fairy King!" the other beast exclaimed, shaking his tail. "Human ignorance isn't a myth after all! Fairy King Stohlz has ruled over these lands for ages, feeble one."

"Stohlz?" she asked. "But he is King of the Mountain! How has he come to rule over this forest?"

Suddenly, the beasts grew quiet and withdrawn. They stepped away from M, as though she carried a terrible disease.

"I have not heard that title for many ages," the main beast spoke in a low voice. "How does a human know of the Fairy King's former title but not his current one? This should be investigated immediately. We will be taking you humans in now. Come quietly or we will bring you by force."

M was quiet again, looking to Arch, as though expecting him to say or do something.

"Who are you humans anyway?" the other beast asked, tilting its head in curiosity.

[Hitotsumami]

Arx did not want to follow these wolves, for they were obviously dangerous, but if they could lead them to their goal, then he'd leave the decision ultimately up to M. If she decided that they should follow, then he would go along. If anything, he was somewhat interested in the world of the fairies. He had spent his entire life in the kingdom, assisting the king. He had only rarely heard rumors of the fairies, and M was the first one he ever met in person.

To answer one of the beast's questions, however, Arx said, "We are four of the Seven Heavenly Virtues, and I am Arx the Turtle. We were once the strongest force of the Kingdom before we were banished. We are here not to cause harm, just to help out one of our own. Would you not do the same?"

[Mise™]

During his long, long life Lian had been to a lot of places and seen a lot, but he had never been here in the fairy realm. Listening to the two beasts speak Lian was not quite sure what they were talking about. He tried to piece together the story from what he had heard, but Lian felt like he was still missing some pieces of the puzzle to truly grasp the bigger picture.

”Thou may call me Lian. And I art not quite a son of man.” Lian did not want to say any more than that. He preferred to be secretive, unlike Arx who once again did not seem to have any trouble to tell everything. Not that being the Seven Virtues probably meant much in here.

[CJ]

"If you cooperate with us, we will cooperate with you," the main beast said, turning its large head to Arx. "However, the troubles of four humans... or turtles or not quite "sons of man" are vastly inferior to the safety of this kingdom. This at the very least you should understand. Now, come along."

The ethereal beasts prepared to leave, but M wouldn't budge. She remained silent and shivered terribly. The leader of the beasts went to approach her to get her to move, but was interrupted.

"There is no need to panic, dear girl."

In the cliff face nearby, the rocks began to shift. It wouldn't be long before the group could see they formed a rather large and abstractly detailed face. Its features were stern and jagged. The voice was rough and deep, much like the earth that formed it.

"Fairy King Stohlz!" the smaller beast exclaimed. "These humans appeared in our lands and-"

"Silence! Do you think I do not know this already? Still, this is quite the pleasant surprise. I did not expect four of the Seven Heavenly Virtues to appear in these lands. I know your plight, dear Virtues. For I know all things."

The face seemed to scare M, making her hide her own face. At this, the being laughed for a moment, causing the ground below them to shake.

"Knowledge is among the greatest of all strengths so I am very strong indeed. Shall we test your strength, Virtues? I need only ask one question... a riddle, if you will.

"What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?"

[Hitotsumami]

Arx was prepared to walk with the wolves, but it appeared that the Fairy King himself came to them through the cliff face. Arx raised his shield to defend, but when he saw that the Fairy King seemed friendly enough, he put it away.

But then, they were asked a riddle.

It was in Arx's nature to be persistent, and he saw this riddle as a time waster. "Greetings, Fairy King," said Arx, "but unfortunately we do not have time to answer your riddle. We are in dire need of a wizard who can help our friend," he motioned to M. "If she does not regain her powers, the Seven Virtues will be without a leader, and without a leader, the Kingdom will come to destruction. It needs us."

He turned back towards the wolves, but doubted they would help them any longer. "Let us find a way up to mountain on our own," he said to the others. "Unless, of course, you can answer this riddle."