Chapter 2: Waking the Cat
AN: Fair warning, lots of awesomeness and silliness ahead. This is only the start, so just wait till we get to the big epic stuff!
Eight years ago...
"What...what happened here?"
A young knight asked that as he looked around, at all the destruction and carnage. Thousands of knights butchered, others wounded, it was horrific.
And as he was coming too, he himself noticed that there was a major issue. He himself was missing a leg.
"How did...huh...AAHHHHHHHG!"
"D...daddy?!" a young girl screamed as she saw what was happening before her. She appeared only eight years old, and yet she was here. However, it only made sense. After all, she lived in this city...in a house nearby, because her father, the one before her, was a Holy Knight.
With her scream, other healers noticed he was still alive and came to his aid. They began using magic to seal the wound on his leg and save his life, while another Holy Knight came to his aid as well.
"What happened, Atellio? Atellio?!"
"Gi...Gira...you are alright?"
"Yes daddy! What happened! What happened to your leg!?"
"I...I dont remember..."
One of the clerics, a Holyman who is a member of the Church, looked over at the tower.
"I saw it happen, from a distance...it was...the Seven Deadly Sins!"
"What?!" the man said, shocked as he coughed up blood. "What about the Holy Knight Commander, Harozen?"
"...he was found murdered, in a most brutal way. It could...it could only be those criminals!"
"Daddy!" Gira shouted, full of fear and shock.
"Let me...heal me, and let me get to work!"
"Atellio...its already too late for this wound...you...you wont be able to become a Holy Knight again".
"...just...what happened here..."
And so, a Royal Decree was issued. Wanted posters were made, depicting the ones known to this era as the Seven Deadly Sins, which called for their arrest...or execution.
Word spread throughout the capital, and then the kingdom, and then the entire lands. Even to the farthest northern coastal tips, to the southern beaches, to the tops of the Regalith Mountains, to the bottoms of Rezden Valley. Spread by the followers of The Church, word quickly spread of their treachery. How they murdered the one who was trying to reform them, Commander Harozen, in fear of being sent back to where they came from. In greed, for some attempt at a power play. In Envy, for how great and popular he was. In wraith, for feeling like the world conspired against htem. In Pride, for how they believed to be better then everyone else. In lust, for wanting to do whatever they want and not be restricted. In gluttony, for wanting to satisfy their every desire and indulgence. And in sloth, for not wanting to be forced to work by someone else's hand. They were branded as having done it for every sin in the book.
And thus, eight years passed without a single one of them having ever been captured or killed.
"I am definently right this time" a young boy declared, as he looked out over the cliff at the region below. "I know it. A member of the Seven Deadly Sins is definently here".
The young boy was not some normal boy however, but one of the Beastkin races. To be exact, he was a Wolfkin, with Wolf Ears on his head and a Wolf Tail, as well as the characteristic small framed body. He had a sword at his waist however, in a rather nice sheath, as well as a cloak to help hide his features. He looked rather young, around 10 or 11 years of age to be out in the woods on his own, but he was determined to succeed. He was also wearing black boots that went with his grey hair, and his silver eyes shined with energy along with his gloves.
He was determined to find all of the Seven Deadly Sins. And he was sure he had found the right city this time.
Of course, he said the exact same thing about the last five cities he entered, but he looked at his compass and was sure of it this time. Ignoring the fact such as compasses point north and not towards a target normally, or anything like that. He could just sense it. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a gemstone, admiring it.
"For sure. I will succeed" he declared to himself, putting the light green gem in his pocket and heading down the side of the cliff.
Shaltir City:
Population: About 30,000.
Owned By: Lord Dawngate
Known For: Being a center of trade, providing the Kingdom with ample amounts of soldiers and criminal slave labor.
Rumors of: Corruption, Serial Kidnappings, Major Prostitution Rings
Location: Northern Hills
"Name for the entrance registry please?"
"Zayler" the boy replied. The man just made a little note along with the name, signaled the other guard, and then let the boy be on his way without any hassle.
Maybe it looked a bit weird, him being around on his own, but he as not really drawing any attention so he was getting by just fine.
The city seemed rather lively, though there did seem to be some dark tones to it and some despair. As if there was this feeling in the air, that something was wrong, but no one knew what. At least, most people didn't. But Zayler had a keen eye, and some good judgement for his age. Hence why he was able to travel alone. So with that in mind, he decided to move forward.
Finding a lead would be difficult though, so he considered looking for an Inn to stay in first.
"Hey! Hey boyo! Are you looking for a room! We recently just got a vacancy, if you want it!" this one guy called out, apparently some promoter for an inn on the main street. "We got drinks and such too!"
An inn that was also a tavern. Zayler had to consider this place might be a good place to get information on who he was looking for. Something did seem strange, but that might have been some of the looks he was getting as a cloaked, hooded newcomer. The man seemed honest and nice enough though, so he thought it would be good to get away from the streets.
He decided to enter, and immediately afterwards, he was called over by a woman who appeared to be manning the bar. As he did, she poured him a glass of water in front of an empty seat.
"Hello sweetie, you here a for a room? Its just a few coins, but this is a complimentry glass of water, on the house. And if you want information, its double the price".
Hearing that, he smiled. As he thought, it appeared this place was a source of gossip. Therefore, he paid double, and made his inquiry".
"A little under eight years ago, I heard there was some massive battle that occured as the result of some unknown forces. I was wondering, if anyone notable had arrived shortly after that".
"Its been a long time since I heard a question like that. The answers might take some time" she told him as he took a drink of water. "How about this, you wait up in your room, and let me hear around. I can let you know what I find when we ready the bath water".
"Ah, thank you" he said as he finished the glass, and then headed towards the room. He was starting to feel a bit tired anyways, maybe mental exhaustion of finally finishing a long trip. Either way, it would be nice to get out of his clothes and lounge around, and even more so to have a proper bath.
However, as he entered the room, the drowsiness seemed to be coming on stronger and stronger. He had known about mental exhaustion, and also knew he might be a bit tired, but he had slept on his blanket in his cave a good amount of time last night, and he knew he shouldn't be this drowsy.
But before he could think anymore, he collapsed in his room.
The next thing he knew, cold water was splashed over his whole body. He felt cold all over, but his instictive desire to shiver and hold himself in his arms was prevented. His arms were bound in chains behind his back, and then chained to a metal ring on the floor, which made him unable to stand up and remain on his knees. His entire body was naked also, as someone had stripped him in his sleep, and now there were two women giggling as they bathed him in this position with sponges, rags, and hands. Furthermore, there were three individuals watching him from across the room, all of which made his face turn bright red. He also felt a collar around his neck that felt weird.
The three people in question was a man who looked like he was a mage, that he did not know. But the other two were the promoter and the barkeeper.
"As always, Tayrn. Your Magical Power, Charm, worked wonders for us" the mage said. "He will make us a great deal of money with our more...particular...clients".
"Indeed" the woman said in an exotic voice, coming over to Zayler as he was bathed and stroked his ears, turning his face more and more red.
"Wh...what did you do to me?! What is going on here?"
"Oh, you poor niave little boy. Isn't it obvious? You are now our product, for our customers. You would not believe just how peculiar our more powerful client's tastes can be, or how strange" she said as she stroked his back.
"What?! No! You can't..." he started, only for her to whack his behind.
"Oh yes, try to stay all pure and embarrassed and defiant. It tends to make the clients enjoy our service even more. If it makes you feel better, most requests are far more innocent or different then one would expect. Most of them, anyways".
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and snapped her fingers. The two women quickly started to dry him off, though they pouted for a moment.
"For example, take those two. They have this fetish about bathing younger boys who cannot do it themselves. So we provide them that service. And we needed you cleaned up before we can use you as product. Argeyn? Move him to the storage room with the other boy. Oh, and dearie, don't do anything stupid. The more money you make us, the better we treat you".
With that said, Argeyn raised his hand, and snapped his fingers.
Eventually, after a bit of tests and odd encounters, Zayler finally was brought to storage. He had become far more aware at just how many diverse fetishes there were, but it seemed now he was brought to a room and placed on a bed on his stomach. His wrists were shackled to the front bedposts, and his ankles shackled to the back ones. However, he was not alone...
COuld it...no, he has black hair...but maybe he knows something!
At first, he thought for a moment he might be one of the Seven Deadly Sins he was looking for, but he could see the boy did not match the wanted posters.
"...oh, you are not him".
The boy seemed to notice him, and replied drowsily. Now that he was moving, he could see the boy was a Beastkin like himself.
"Him? Who is him?"
"...the one they sometimes bring in here. He was always rebellious, so they had to use lots of drugs on him. Though he always felt...lacking...in real motivation".
That...that must be him! One of them!
"Do you know where he might be?"
"...it doesn't matter. If you end up here, it meant you were alone. Or neglected. Or sold off. Not much to go out for..."
"But, you can't just submit!" Zayler exclaimed, as he tried to struggle out of his shackles.
"...those are made of metal you know. There is no way you can break them..."
"I will show you! I wont give up!"
The boy just sighed.
"...even after the introduction? Haven't they crushed your spirit yet?"
"Ha! I only let them think that happened. I wont allow this!"
"...well, good luck...don't blame me if they kill you..."
"Hey! You still have a lot of time left too! Why not break out with me? Its not hopeless! I wont let them treat me like this, and neither should you!"
The boy just gave him a sort of soulless, blank gaze.
"...what is the point? I have no one. I am here because no one cares about me. No one likes me. No one believes in me. I am here because this body of mine was the only useful thing I could do, so I have nowhere else to go".
As the boy sighed, Zayler got a bit annoyed at his attitude...and spit with enough force to get it to land on his back, causing him to actually take a look at him.
"...I suppose we are the same in that regard, at least".
"Hey!" Zayler said. "I will not give up! And I wont let you give up either! I came here to do something, and I will do it!"
"...but if you are here, isn't it pointless? You wont be able to escape...you wont be able to do whatever you plan to do...what was it anyways?"
At that moment, Taryn walked in with a smug smile.
"My guess is...that lazy brat plans to clear his name, and save the Kingdom".
"...clear his name...and save the Kingdom?" the boy asked, with some genuine interest this time, if only barely.
"Tsk...I was wondering if even in this situation, I could hide who I was" the boy mentioned. Suddenly, magic power seemed to flow from him in a shocking and surprising fashion, as two blades made of what appeared to be energy, magic power, appeared in his hands and allowed him to cut through the chains".
He then quickly moved and cut through the chains on his legs.
"Its just as I thought...you are that one, the famously lazy one...normally those who I use my magic power on are more enthralled, but it felt like you still had at least some independence left".
"...are you really going to fight naked?"
"Does it look like I have the time to put on armor?! Or any armor to put on anyways?!"
"Its just as I thought, it is you! The orders are to either capture or kill you...we could make a lot of money to help bribe officials if we turn you in. And you should still have plenty of drugs in you keeping you weak! Honestly, unless you want to die, you should just surrender".
"...it sounds like no one believes in you...you shouldn't die needlessly".
"No! I wont just surrender! I admit, maybe I was lazy before...but I am tired of getting walked on, of people taking advantage of that!" Zayler announced.
"But even if someone thought about looking for you, we already erased your name from the registry".
"Yeah, well, as we know that was not my real name anyways!"
"...this seems really stupid and pointless".
"And you! You should not give up! I promise" Zayler announced, looking back at Taryn who raised his sword in a threatening way. "I will prove everyone wrong! I will save everyone!"
"...but...if waht he said is true, and no one believes in you...what is the point?"
"Because I will reunite the Seven Deadly Sins is why!"
Taryn was hoping he would just exhaust himself, but it seemed that Zayler was being stubborn.
"And I know the comrade I look for is right here, I am sure of it!"
"...you are looking for someone no one believes in? When no one believes in you?"
"It does not matter if no one believes what you say, or if it seems hopeless, or if you are hated! So long as there is a tomorrow, so long as you believe in something, or know that something is out there that you can make right, or fufill your dreams, even someone lazy like me will act!"
"...lazy? You dont seem lazy...just who are you?"
Suddenly, he combined his two hands together, and created a large sword of light. He had an impressive amount of magic power.
"I was someone who was essentially lazy, and let things happen. I was blamed for something unjustly...but, just because someone might be a Sloth, does not mean they dont have desires or things they believe in! I wont ever return to that!"
"Ha! You are all bark, and no bite!"
"...you are provoking answers out of me a lot...you should focus on the fight..."
"Sorry, I just saw a bit of myself in you was all, and wanted to knock some sense into you" Zayler said with a smile, as he stared his opponent down. However, that was when the mage teleported himself behind Zayler.
"Good night, boyo".
"Nice try...but I wont give up that easily!"
As the mage and Taryn both went and attacked Zayler at once, he began to focus all of the magic power he could because...
The Seven Deadly Sins Captain, the Feline Sin of Sloth, could not lay back after something like this...
...and then, both of them were knocked back. But not by Zayler, but by the other black haired boy. And yet in that instant, the boy's hair turned white, and his eyes went from a soulless black to a red. And right there, at his waist...was the Brand of the Feline Sin of Sloth. Azarel.
With that entrance, he yawned a little.
"Its been awhile...since someone was able to wake me up fully" Azarel mentioned, as his concealment was now broken.
"Impossible...waht happened to that boy..."
"Now that I am awake, I must admit I am annoyed. People like you guys who take advantage of others like this? You make me sick...sick enough to really stir me into action.
Azarel did a few stretches as he said that, and then he looked at Zayler.
"...you look familiar..."
"Well I should! My true identity is the Second Prince of Danastar, Zaylen!"
"You made your alias your name with only one letter changed? Heh, no wonder I felt you were being honest. You really are lazy" Azarel said, as he held out an open arm towards the door. In an instant, a blanket seemed to fly right towards them at top speed, and wrapped the two of them up together in a caccoon.
And at that moment, it finally sank in.
"W-w-w-wait...so...so you really were...but that cant be! You look so young! And I heard you were a normal human!"
"Its a long story" he said, as a spear emerged from the blanket. "First though, we need to deal with these two".
"I wont let this happen!"
"Two pronged attack!"
The two attacked from opposite directions again.
"Chroma, First Form Duplicate: Spear".
Suddenly, a spear appeared from the blanket and deflected the mage's attack upward, causing massive damage to the building, while the blanket was totally unphased by the knights attack. It was then the prince realized the awkward situation he was kind of in, but given it was keeping him safe and working, he decided to appreciate it.
"Chroma, Second Form Duplicate: Swords" he announced as he managed to step out of the blanket himself, a sword appearing in his hands as the others began to cause widespread destruction across the entire building, and knock enemies into walls. Meanwhile, he himself gripped his sword, and slashed it forward over a collapsed Taryn. As a result, the hallway, and every door that was holding their "product" was cut open, while no one was actually harmed. The swords then severed all the chains holding them hostage, while also cutting a way to freedom that was very obvious to them.
And then, a few of them came over and brought some of the belongings that Zaylen had with him.
"...huh, guess they sold off your clothes already".
"What!? Those jerks!"
"Whatever, I can deal with that later" he mentioned, looking around. "That said, after something like this, Holy Knights are probably inbound. CHroma!"
With that, Chroma unfurled into a blanket that Zaylen was now riding, which swooped over for Azalen to jump onto before it flew through the massive hole in the ceiling and into the sky while keeping the two of them securely held onto it.
"...to think...I actually found one of the Seven Deadly Sins...and in a place like that..."
"What made you think to ask anyways?" Azalen asked curiously.
"Instinct".
"Alright...well, congrats on your victory. Honestly, now that I am awake, I do have business of my own, so...I guess I could help you look for them..."
"...why do I sense a but?"
"Well, its really hard for me to be on my own. So I am counting on you to wake me up. You managed to fully wake me up after eight years of slumber, so it seems you are good for that".
"That is great and all...but...its night time, we are up in the air, both of us are naked, and I am super cold! Do you have...you don't, do you?"
"Well, I suppose we should probably go inside..." Azarel said, as he directed Chroma to go down and land on a nearby grassy hill. It was still cold though because it was night.
"Inside?"
"Yeah...alright Chroma. Fifth Form! Realm!" he said as he snapped his fingers, and suddenly the blanked grew to massive size and camoflauged itself, with them inside of it. However, there were various differences inside. "This is the fifth form: Realm. I can make a mimicked area of where I am under my control, but I also have a section I can transport us into where I can store things. One time, while dealing with some werewolves, I found this building they seemed adament about protecting, so I took it with me".
It was very strange. Inside this Realm, it was warm and sunny, but also it felt like they could sleep normally. BUt what was really strange was the building...it practically looked like a giant hat!
"It is some sort of tavern or inn from a long time ago. I thought it might make a good home on the road, so I had my Chroma swallow it. It was a bit tough and took some time, but I eventually managed. Anyways, there should be some clothes that fit you inside" he said, before throwing himself back onto the grass and lying there. "Wake me up in the morning! Its been a long time since I slept in Chroma, I could really use this!"
"...I am a prince, but I feel like I am being treated like an alarm clock..." Zaylen mentioned, as he headed towards the door. But that was when he saw a sign that said something dangerous.
"Make sure you use the proper password or else the traps will get you".
"Ummm, Azarel?" he asked as he turned around, but he was already fast asleep.
Zaylen went over and pushed Azarel a little, but he didn't budge at all, and was already sound asleep.
"How did he manage that so quickly?!" Zaylen questioned, which seemed to disturb him just enough to grab hold of Zaylen and pull him into a lying down position in the grass next to him. "...I suppose...it is refreshing at least him not treating me like some delicate royalty".
And so, the two started their adventure with a snooze in a grassy plain.
AN: Ahhh...the sweet smell of retribution and justice! Hope everyone enjoyed! All the hillarity! XD Anyways, leave a review letting me know what you liked, and stay tuned for next time when the action picks up! After all, no reason a strong person would have appeared here yet, aside from Azarel!