Greetings!

“I love you Pax”

Love? Do you even know what that word means?

If so, then why are you saying that to me?

Why would you love me? What exactly is there about me that can be loved?

“I love you too”

Why did I lie like that? Why do you believe me?

Don’t smile like that…

Don’t be happy about that…

It’s a lie… I’m lying to you…

Please notice…

You mean nothing to me…

Nothing… right?

I have to end this…

But why do I keep going deeper?

“Do you love me”

“I love you more than anything”

You’re only going to end up hurt…

It hurts…

Why can’t I stop myself?

I hate myself…

Why am I so disgusting?

Why did I keep going?

I’m revolting… I don’t deserve happiness…

Why did I end up…

I…

I ended up doing that…

Why?

I ended up committing…

- - - - - - - THE ORIGINAL UNFORGIVABLE SIN - - - - - - -

Opening his eyes, Pax was greeted by a stone ceiling and a dingy room.

“Abby…”

“Who’s that? Your lover?”

Through the steel bars of the cell, Derrick spoke to the child who had just woken up.

“No, she was nothing like that.”

Pax wondered why it had taken so long to remember the sins of his first life, and the foolish girl he had hurt.

“Hmmm. So how long do you plan on staying here for?”

“Well, I guess for however long you’ll allow me. To me, this place is as much of a prison as the world outside these bars. The only difference is that someone gives me a meal every few hours when I’m in here”

Having surrendered himself to the knights, Pax had lost motivation to pursue his goal. It wasn’t that he had forgiven Kael Drogo for what he had done, Pax just felt too tired to find and kill the guy.

Perhaps he just needed to get some rest before continuing his long journey.

“The boys up there don’t really know what to do with you. Normally you’d be sentenced to death for what you did, but everyone knows that you could easily kill all of us if you wanted.”

“I don’t like killing people.”

Derrick nodded in understanding. He felt that he had come closer to understanding the monster that lay before him.

“...I see. Reinforcements will be here in a few days so I’d recommend that you leave before that happens. If you want to leave, the cell door is unlocked… Goodbye.”

Standing up, Derrick brushed the dirt off his pants and began walking away, only to turn back and ask one more question.

“Actually, I have one last question: How old are you actually?”

As Pax sighed, his eyes didn’t drift from the cell ceiling.

“This body of mine was born four years ago. The soul inside this shell has lived for a total of 32 years, but I have yet to celebrate my 15th birthday… Does that answer your question?”

Derrick nodded thoughtfully and walked away, leaving Pax to the silence once more.

- - - - - - -

Deep underground, in a dimly lit cave, two men managed to slay a demon.

Though he was so tired that he could barely stand, the first man walked over to the demon corpse and dislodged his axe out of its chest.

“That was way too fucking close Julius.”

The one who spoke was an old friend of the man, though they had only reconnected recently.

With a sigh, Julius plopped himself back on the floor.

“Yeah, we completely ran out of bullets. Alex, can you get the Shard?”

“Sure”

Pulling a knife from his waist, Alex walked over to the corpse, cut open it’s chest, and after rummaging around a bit, pulled out a mysterious item. It emitted light on its own in a rainbow pattern. It’s sides were jagged and sharp, but it otherwise resembled a shard of a broken mirror.

“Hah, it’s a big one.” Julius, having watched the entire process Alex went through, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief at the success of their mission.

“It better have been, that was way too much of a pain in the ass for this guy to give us nothing in the end.”

As Alex was also exhausted, he plopped himself down next to his friend.

The two sat in silence, regaining their strength, until Julius broke the silence.

“So how much more do you think we need?”

“After today, and counting the shards that Marcus promised us… probably four to five more shards, depending on how big they are.”

Julius couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of how much work was still left.

“Hey man, we’re like… almost fucking there. Only a few more months before you can see your son, right?”

“That’s assuming the gate works, he’s still alive on the other side, and that I’m able to find him when I get there. We don’t even know how bad the time dilation is. For him, it could have already been 2 days or a hundred years.”

Looking at Julius’s face, Alex knew that he didn’t have to say that those truths changed nothing. Julius had the determination to see this through, no matter what it took. Though he would complain or get tired, he would never give up.

Seeing this, Alex stood up, saying, “Alright, drinks are on me. Let’s get your sorry ass out of here.”

- - - - - - -

“What is it that you wish to accomplish?”

A strange man looked down upon Pax and posed such a question to him. His face held many scars and he wore an eyepatch over one of his eyes. He was also tall and fairly muscular.

Pax assumed that this was the “reinforcements” mentioned a few days ago by Derrick.

“There’s someone I want to kill.”

“So what are you doing stuck in here?”

“I’m taking a break. The man I want to kill will not die easily and he is a great distance away.”

“What’s his name?”

“Kael Drogo”

The strange man smiled when he heard that name.

“Haha, I also want that man dead. What do you think about joining my team so that we can kill him together?”

It seemed like this strange man was a part of the Artenian military. As the war was still ongoing, there were sure to be many people who wanted Kael Drogo dead. Pax had originally considered joining the military for his plan but thought that they might not accept a child.

Therefore, Pax had no reason to refuse this man’s offer. Without any kind of support, it would otherwise take Pax a long time to amass funds to cross the vast ocean separating the two halves of Artenia.

“Alright, as long as I’m the one that deals the final blow I’ll come with you.”

“Good, I can accept those conditions. Come meet the team.”

The strange man opened the cell door and Pax walked out. But for some reason, the strange man was just staring at him.

“What?”

“Do you mind if I pick you up?”

“Uh… sure”

- - - - - - -

Derrick thought that he was dreaming when he first saw Captain Vincent come into the room with a child in his arms. But then he realized that he knew that “child” and his surprise turned into apprehension.

“Oh hell naw, what are you trying to pull now Captain?”

“Derrick! Everyone! Welcome your newest member of the team!”

Holding the poor Pax above his head, all eyes in the room became focused on him. It was like a scene ripped straight out of the lion king.

Pax had already mentally checked out at this point and was only staring blankly into the distance. Derrick was appalled that not only was he being considered part of the team, but the volatile monster was joining them.

Everyone else in the room was thinking that the Captain was insane for kidnapping a five-year-old and bringing them to this room filled with dangerous psychos.

Of course, no one thought that they themselves were the dangerous psycho.

“Hey Captain, what the hell are you doing?”

The one asking the question was a woman that went by the name Ivy. She wore a cloak and light armor that revealed a large portion of her chest. Her long hair flowed down her shoulders and she tilted her head in puzzlement at the Captain’s behavior.

“Hm? This is Pax, our newest member of the team. Don’t judge him based on his appearance because he’s probably the second strongest out of all of us in a direct fight. Right, Pax, introduce yourself.”

After placing Pax down on the floor, the Captain took a step back to let him speak. Pax, regaining awareness of the situation thought for a moment before speaking.

“Hi… I’m Pax… I use blood and bone magic as well as healing magic. I want to get several times stronger than how I am now… It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”