Chapter 2 - Sloth

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-L’eau, Current Day

In the political and geographical center of the world, surrounded by water, was a country by the name of L’eau. It was named after the first ruler who had died many many years prior. Above the clouds and stars of that country stood a castle.

Two people walked down a hallway together. With every step on the blood red carpet, they got closer to the door.

One grasped the handle and slammed it open. The room was almost pitch black, old stone walls covered with vines enclosing it. The red carpet continued until an object at the end of the room. The two people walked forward towards a golden throne.

The first person sat on the throne and spoke to the person beside him.

“L’eau. It appears all has gone well. Nell has nothing built up.”

The woman next to him, L’eau, nodded as the man continued speaking.

“I have granted him my vision, and now he will use it. Get him to sit on the throne.”

L’eau nodded again.

The man stood up and walked away from the room. He walked down the hallway and into the study. He looked out the window, observing all the people underneath him.

He spoke.

“Do you value this existence, my child?”

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“Unhand me, human!”

The guards stared at me like I was insane.

“Who’s this kid think he is? He popped out of the city's heart that killed two people when it collapsed, and then ran outside the hospital without paying the bill. That’s manslaughter and unpaid civil debts. 97’s gonna execute you even if we don't take you in for science. May as well get the check, am I right or am I right? Haha. Sorry, pal.”

I wasn’t sure why they wanted to examine me. I was a human, just like them.

I glared at them with all my might, only to get laughed at. Staying with them was probably the best idea, though. I could escape later when nobody else was nearby. My best bet was simply to nod and let them take me.

The guards brought me to a place in the city seemingly secluded from everywhere else.

One of the guards spoke. His words seemed natural, but at the same time, it felt as if he was trying to imitate me. I couldn’t explain it if I tried.

“I gotta piss. Keep this kid here until I come back.”

“Kay.”

The guard soon left, his metal armor clanking as he waddled away. Now was my chance. I had to ask him something.

“Will I get money from this?”

I didn’t know why that was the first thing I thought of, but I did need money. If I kept stealing, I would get arrested eventually.

He nodded.

“I guess. It’s kind of like a job-”

No. No. No. I didn’t want to. Effort led to disappointment. A job required effort, which was something that I couldn’t do.

I needed to escape. I had knowledge of magic, so I could kill them and leave.

I jumped back and held my palm at them. I would use fire magic.

I pushed my arms forward, but nothing came out. My heart froze as I fell to the floor. My body instinctively curled up as I gripped my chest.

I couldn’t use magic. I needed to put in effort for magic. I tried to put in effort. And yet again, I was disappointed. I knew this would happen. I was stupid to try. I needed to stop trying.

I needed to stop putting in effort. This was the outcome every time I tried.

The guard ran up to me and held a metal object to my face.

“PUT YOUR HANDS UP!”

Oh. Oh. Oh. This was a weapon. I think it was called a gun. This would kill me.

I put my hands up. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to exist, but I didn’t want to die. I was scared. I was trembling again. I needed to escape. I tried to cover my ears with my elbows, but he yelled at me.

“DON’T MOVE YOUR HANDS!”

I jumped back as water began to flow out of my eyes.

I needed to calm down. I needed to stop being overwhelmed. I wanted to leave.

“P-Pleas-”

“I SAID DON’T FUCKING MOVE!”

I put my hands up as high as I could. The water in my eyes began to cloud my vision. I was scared. I was too scared to think. I was too scared to feel anything other than fear. Every word the man spoke added another water drop of terror into the already-full bowl of my mind.

He yelled at me again.

“WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!”

I squeakily spoke.

“M-m-m-my-y n-a-am-me is N-Nell M-M-Mor-ren-”

He put his finger against the trigger.

I didn’t want to die.

My hands were beginning to get tired. I would have to put them down. I didn’t know what to do. I curled my legs up as my arms began to fall.

“HE’S REACHING! NELL MOREN, YOU WILL DIE HERE!”

I bit my cheek as he held his finger against the trigger.

And I closed my eyes.

“Hm? Is this a violation I see? Didn’t I teach you to leave this to me?”

My eyes shot open.

A man walked up to the guard who held his gun at me. And, with a single flick, he sent him straight into a wall.

As I watched this, I fell backwards. He slowly walked up to me.

I stared at his ankle, engraved with the number 97.

And then, I stared back up at him.

He towered over me, his long, rough white hair covered by a dark green cap with a red stripe in the middle. His beard was short and spiky, his eyes almost blank with how white they were. He wore a forest green military outfit over his shoulders, his arms free from their sleeves.

He picked me up by my head as if I was an animal and stared at me.

“You aren’t human, are you, child?”

And I stared back into his eyes.

I was terrified. I sensed magic from him. He could fight too.

I kicked and thrashed as he held me by my head, trying to escape his grasp. And yet his hands did not budge.

I kicked him in the chest as he held me by my head.

And he didn’t even flinch. He simply continued to stare at me with… loving eyes. I wasn’t sure what emotion he was conveying.

“You… Nell. You love this world, don’t you? I see it in your eyes. You wish to live, don’t you? You want nothing more than to enjoy the spoils of your labor, don’t you? I’ll give you all you wish for. Join me, Nell.”

I grit my teeth.

“What… are you talking about?”

A bit of love left his eyes. Gripping my scalp, he threw me into a brick wall.

This hurt. This hurt a lot. This hurt more than I could understand. My pain receptors were much more developed than when I was first born. I… I didn’t want to fight anymore.

With blood dripping down my head, I looked up at the man as he squatted in front of me. I was sitting against the wall. He grabbed me by my hair, and lifted me upright.

“You’re stupid, aren’t you? Don’t you think so? You don’t understand me?”

Water began to fall down my face.

“I don’t… understand… anything…”

He closed his eyes, and took a shaky deep breath. As if this was hurting him more than it was hurting me.

“Then die.”

He held his arm back, his palm flat. And wind began to surround his hand, forming a blade shape.

I was going to die.

He held the blade up to my stomach. I was going to die. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to live, but I didn’t want to die.

At that moment, I knew nothing. Nothing of what would happen to me. Nothing about what was around me. And nothing about ‘me’.

I closed my eyes, and prepared my mind for its end.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I heard footsteps coming over. I could only assume it was the partner of the original guard.

Tap. Tap tap. Tap Tap Tap TapTapTapTapTapTap.

There was no clunking from the armor, but instead, a pure sound of raindrops. Rain began to pour from the sky, falling onto my hair.

It felt nice. This rain felt so much nicer than I thought it would.

Each and every step sounded as if it was stepping on a puddle. These weren’t the footsteps of death.

These were the footsteps of a savior.

“Eyes up, Nell. You can’t afford to look away.”

I opened my eyes at the sound of this voice, and turned my head.

There was a tall man with ice blue hair flowing as calm as the sea. But, his eyes contrasted his hair. I could see a rough, stormy ocean crashing on itself. With a pure white outfit- shirt, coat, and pants, and a shimmering gold earring. His frame wasn’t small, but it wasn’t as large as the man holding me. His body was larger than mine, at least. He was tall too. He stepped towards the man holding my scalp slowly, the rain pouring down on him frozen in place as if he was controlling it. And, in his hand was the collar of the second guard that had left earlier.

He threw the guard onto the floor with no regard for his life, grinned softly, and stared at the man with the coat.

The guy who was holding my scalp’s eyes widened. And, he dropped me onto the floor, turning to the man with blue hair.

“Get out of the way before I kill you too.”

The blue-haired man giggled.

“Oh really? Is that so?~”

Every word he spoke rippled through my mind.

This man was strong. This man was much stronger than the person who was trying to kill me.

As I sat against the wall, the man with the green coat was instantly enveloped in a box of water. A flowing box of water, reflecting the light off the sky into my eyes in a shimmering volley. I couldn’t see inside of it.

A sword of water was stabbed into the box of water, almost telekinetically. But, at that moment, the box of water burst open, and nobody was inside. The water seeped into the floor.

The blue-haired man scoffed.

“Tch. He got away.”

But, his frustrated demeanor instantly changed as he turned to me. With a bright smile on his face, he ran up to me.

“Nell!!”

How did he know who I was…? I didn’t speak to anybody before. I didn’t know who he was. But… But I didn’t mind.

This was the first time anybody had wanted to speak to me.

All I could do was sit there in shock. The two guards that had come before the man with the 97 on his ankle were both dead.

From what I understood, humans were usually disgusted by seeing a body. So why was this one not? He was almost apathetic to it. And if I was a human, why was I not? Humans are supposed to kill to survive, so I didn’t have a problem with the actual killing. Also, he saved me.

I stared at the blue-haired man. His eyes shined brightly, despite their darkness, and the darkness of the area around me. The clouds had covered the sun the moment he arrived.

As I looked at him, I didn’t see him as a human. He was too good to be a human.

I saw him as a god.

“Nell! You speak, right? I think you do. Come with me! You don’t get a choice!”

Um…

This was a bit of an odd request. I didn’t know anything about him. He was even a bit terrifying. But, his words caused a warm sensation within me. I felt as if I had to abide by his wishes.

He tilted his head a bit, closing his eyes as if he was thinking. Then, he opened them.

“Actually! I have a better idea. Close your eyes!”

I closed my eyes. I trusted this man with my life.

I felt him pick me up and put me on his back.

“E-Eh?!”

I almost instantly tried to open my eyes, but he spoke to me.

“No opening your eyes yet!”

I kept them closed.

…

Soon enough, he told me I could open my eyes. We had moved into a completely different area.

I looked around. The air was filled with a grimy smoke that burnt my lungs. It smelled horrendous. There was human excrement on the floor and the walls were the color of aged copper. Underneath the floor was a slowly flowing stream of brown water.

There were hundreds of people as well. Some of them were talking to themselves, some of them were fighting. Two of them were dead. Six of them were taking pills from a paper towel. Eight of them had needles up to their arms.

I spoke to him as if my words were purely an observation.

“Not a single one of these people care about themselves.”

He grinned and spoke back.

“Not a single one of these people are connected with the world we live in. Welcome to the sewers of Jeti City, Nell!”