(a/n) here it is, the third and final instalment of the Fifth Dragon/Seven Sins/Begun By Blood trilogy. for those of you who havent read The Fifth Dragon or Seven Sins I suggest you at least read Seven Sins before you do this, as you wont understand it at all. The Fifth Dragon, on the other hand, isn't as important to this. So, with no further delay, I give you the prologue.

Begun By Blood

Prologue

Rush silently followed behind the Sin of Pride, the ancient being wearing a blindfold that he now called his lord and master. The corridors the two were trekking through were dark, cold, and damp. In the small amount of light Rush could see nothing but bricks and stones on the walls. No paintings, no torches or lights, not even a door. Most people would gone a bit crazy in this kind of darkness, but he, of all people, had no right to reject the darkness, both outside of him and within. He had abandoned his friends, joined Pride and his troop of Sins, and become the one thing he hated most in this world… Envy. If anyone deserved to spend the rest of their life in this labyrinth of long corridors and darkness it was him…

And he didn't care.

"Where are we going?" the African teenager finally asked as he and Pride turned another corner.

"The place that will ultimately turn you into the Sin of Envy." Pride explained.

"Translation?"

"Every Sin, excluding myself, must pay retribution to have the powers of their Sin bestowed upon them. Your predecessor went to this place as did the other Sins… and I paid with my own flesh to create this place." He paused and touched his fingers to his blindfold where his eyes would be. "Fortunately for you, your payment mustn't be so pricy."

"Meaning?"

"While I paid with flesh you must merely pay in blood." Rush eyed him questioningly before he continued. "A singly drop of your blood must drop into 'The Pit' before you can truly become the Sin of Envy."

Rush just shrugged and looked away. For all he cared every drop of blood he had could be spilled into this pit that Pride spoke of. He didn't deserve to live after what he'd done.

"Here we are." Pride said as they approached a large pair of double doors, the door itself painted blood red and golden swirled painted all over it. Pride simply pointed his open palm to the doors and they slowly creaked open revealing a clip hanging over a large crater in solid rock. An eerie, neon green glow coming from the pit illuminated the entire room. "Take a look." Pride ordered. Rush did as ordered and looked over the edge of the cliff. Far below where he and Pride stood was what looked like a lake with glowing green water. In the center of the lake was a single stone pillar with seven orbs of light and energy floating around it. Six of the seven orbs glowed red and flowed swiftly around the pillar, but one gave off an aura darker than the tunnels behind them and didn't move at all. "Hold your hand over the edge." Pride ordered. Pride walked over and grabbed him by the wrist and then manifested a simply knife in his free hand. Pride grabbed the blade from the air above his and swiftly moved it to Rush's hand, lightly pressing the sharp side to his palm. "With this tribute to the Pit I here by bestow the title of the Sin of Envy upon you." And with that he pressed the blade harder to Rush's hand and slashed it across his palm. Rush flinched but did not move. He only looked at the blood covered knife the Pride held and then to his hand. By some feet of magic the knife hadn't left any mark at all, not the gash he'd expected nor a simply cut.

Pride took one last look at the knife with Rush's blood on it and then tossed it away, over the edge of the cliff and into the green waters below. The knife melted away before even touching the water and only the blood slashed into it. Instantly the black orb of light around the pillar sprang to life and turned red, now floating around the pillar with the others.

Pride grinned devilishly and the seven pointed star appeared on the cloth on Rush's shirt. But then a second symbol he hadn't expected appeared on the boy's forehead. It was the outline of a diamond with its top cut off and a dot in the center and two lines jetting off of the top two sides of the diamond. It was the Seal of Thanatos.

Pride grinned again. "It all begins with a drop of blood."