“Luxuria’s Cor.”

“They call themselves Luxuria’s Cor, or lust’s heart. And they helped us out of the mist!”

Jorvain says with a smile.

“Hm, not quite how I’d introduce us, allow me.”

A tall man from the group says, walking past Jorvain and up front. His voice is smug, his hair is dark and fine, cut in a blunt bob, his armor is smooth, silver, and almost as shiny as his hair. He wears golden and blue jewelry in his ears, the blue matching the lavish cape on his back.

“Name's Wilkin, but whatever lovely pair like you prefer will do. I’m the leader, allow me to introduce my team~”

He says in a suave voice, winking.

“Pair?”

I say, not knowing whether to be confused or flattered.

“Hey, but I introduced you guys.”

Jorvain says with a frown.

“Properly.”

Wilkin adds with a haughty smirk.

“That beautiful beast over there is our tanker, Anastasia.”

He says proudly presenting the towering figure at his side.

They’re covered in thick sapphire armor, with a ginormous red scythe on their back, it’s not hard to see how built they are.

Dain lowers Maelis, who's wobbling on their feet, Dain walks over to Anastasia, a little too close, his hands on his hips, he looks them up and down.

“That’s some impressive armor.”

He says in a serious tone.

“Yours is no joke either.”

She replies, her voice catches me off guard, it’s deep, but gentle, calming even.

“It was made in Ira wasn’t it?”

He asks, but I can tell he knows the answer is yes.

“You’re good. That’s exactly right.”

She says sounding impressed.

“My hometown.”

Dain explains.

“Take off your helmet already Anastasia! “

Wilkin whines, interrupting the two.

With a sigh, she does, shaking her head as she does so—her long blonde hair comes down, piling on her shoulders, strands falling over her face. Her jawline is stern, her eyes sharp and blue like her armor, a long scar stretching across her face.

Dain takes a step back with an audible gasp.

“Ha! See, gets em every time, she’s a knight with the face of a princess, isn't she?”

Wilkin says with a laugh.

“Next, we have Silas, c'mon don’t be shy.”

He says with a smile, placing both his hands on the short man, cloaked in blue robes with a hood over his long brown hair, white streaks running through it. He clutches a staff tightly in his hands, dangling with gems and jewelry. He murmurs under his breath, biting his thumb.

“He’s our summoner, the most he’ll speak is when he’s scared.”

Wilkin says with a light-hearted sigh.

“Whoa, hey what type of Ardor gems are those?”

Maelis says, beaming with intrigue, already making their way over to Silas, who cowers behind Wilkin.

“Ah, yeah Silas is scared of women.”

Wilkin says sheepishly.

“I don’t pretend to understand it”.

He adds

“I’m not a woman..”

Maelis says dryly.

“Moving on!”

Willkin says cheerfully, choosing not to acknowledge that.

“This is—

“My names Leopold, I’m the beautiful bard, connoisseur of compassion and beauty!”

Leopold, springs forward, striking a dramatic pose and tossing their blonde and brown hair. On their head is a red bard hat, slightly slanted to the side dressed in jewelry adorned with a blue feather. Their outfit consists of blue puffy shorts and shoulders that transition into long, flowy, ivory blouse sleeves. Paired with tall red boots and blue gloves. And on their back is a violin-shaped bow.

“Hey, I’m the leader, I do the introductions! “

Wilkin whines, placing his hands on his hips.

“And you do a wonderful job, Wil, I just do it better~”

Leopold says blowing a kiss.

“Not to be rude but, what reason do we have to trust these people?”

Emrys says with her hands on her hips, rubbing dirt off her clothes.

“Did you miss the part where we saved you all from the mist?”

Wilkins says with a laugh, looking back at his team.

“Hey, my teammate and I made our way through that mist by ourselves!”

Emrys argues passionately.

“Quite the show that was, you’ve got quite the voice ~”

Leopold adds with a wink

“Why thank you”.

Emrys says with a haughty laugh.

“Not you, him.”

Leopold says with an eye roll, pointing to me.

“Oh..um, thank you?”

I say sheepishly.

“Well great, you “saved” us.”

Emrys says making quotation marks with her fingers.

“Correct. And your horse.”

Wilkin adds with a smile.

“So we’ll be going now won’t we Jorvain?”

She says turning to Jorvain whose anxiously looking between the two.

“Well…we kinda agreed to travel with them till we reach Sloth”.

Jorvain says with a sheepish grin.

“Really?”

I ask, glancing at all of them.

“Why on earth would we do that? They’re headed there for the same reason we are, to slay Sloth! “

Emrys argues.

“We’re both low on supplies, we’ll split once we reach a certain point and see who can slay Sloth first.”

Dain says crossing his arms.

“What’s stopping them from stealing our stuff and slaying Sloth before we can? Or killing us in our sleep?”

Maelis says, shooting Wilkin a distrustful look.

“Excuse me?”

Anastasia says, sounding very offended.

“What kind of heros do you think we are!”

She barks.

“I didn’t stutter, we met a group of heros that tried to steal our stuff and kill us! I’ve got no reason to assume your group is different.”

Maelis says sternly.

“Maelis, let’s not be harsh, they’re heros just like us, “

Jorvain says with a stressed smile.

“I mean they did save us from the mist—

“No, that’s quite alright Vain,”

Wilkin says, " self-righteously "

“It’s Jorvain—

“I’m not at all offended by your comrades' distrust in us.”

Wilkin continues

“But we have no reason to trust you all either. We’re not competitive about killing the Sins, as long as they're slain, we’re all better off for it.”

Wilkin says sternly, his hands on his hips.

“And if we aren’t the ones to do it, we’ll gladly help you (mostly) lovely lads”.

He finishes with a smile.

“Sounds great! “

Jorvain says excitedly, wrapping his arm around Wilkin who side-eyes him with a raised brow.

****

Hence began the journey of the Sol Viridis and Luxuria’s Cor, to slay Sloth.

I walk behind, my hand on my sword hilt, ready to unsheath it if I need to.

Anastasia and Dain walk side by side, Dain laughing at literally everything she says, he hasn’t taken his helmet off but I’m sure his face is bright red.

Maelis is aggressively shaking Silas by his shoulders, passionately discussing something.

Wilkin is walking with Jorvain, making an excessive amount of gestures while he speaks, a wide smirk on his face, contrasting with Jorvain who looks like he wants to punch him in the face.

Emrys and I walk side by side on alert. Leopoldo slows down, walking at my side with a smile and fluttering lashes.

“Hey~”

They say with a sweet smile.

“Hi..”

I say uneasy

“You know if it weren’t for your armor you might actually be really good-looking ".”

They say looking me up and down.

“Is that a compliment?”

I ask with furrowed brows.

“It’s not “.

Emrys says bluntly, I’m sure she’s right.

“Hey everyone eat up, we should get our energy up before Sloth, we’ll divide what’s left of the rations between our teams.”

Jorvain shouts from ahead.

“Hey, I give the orders!”

Wilkin shouts.

“That wasn’t an order though?”

Jorvain says with a raised brow.

Passing out bread, cheese, and dried meat. We carry on eating while we walk down the path.

Jorvain slows down, to walk between me and Emrys, whose face goes red the second he approaches.

“Hey so I never got to ask what happened in the mist, you two okay? I heard singing, what was with that?”

He asks with a laugh.

I look past him to glance at Emrys, who's also glancing at me.

“Uhh, long story?”

I croak.

“Well, we’ve still got somewhat of a long trip!”

He says eagerly.

I sweat.

“We got separated from you guys but Emrys, she uh, made this amazing plan to sing and play her harp so you’d all hear us, but we ended up finding you guys first I guess? “

I explain with a sheepish smile.

“That’s it?”

He asks with a raised brow.

“Yep! That’s it, crazy story I know!”

Emrys says with an awkward laugh.

“Hey, are you two okay?”

He asks suspiciously.

“What? Yeah! Obviously.”

I say sounding as confidently as I can.

“Just a little on edge, we are almost at sloth after all.”

Emrys adds.

“True, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit on edge too, we should probably discuss it with the others. We need to come prepared.”

Jorvain says, suddenly sounding serious.

I can’t believe we’re almost at sloth, it seems like not long ago we were leaving Acedia debating whether we should take shady shortcuts.

“Everyone, I have something I’d like to say.”

Jorvain says. Prompting everyone to pause and look back.

“Get on with it.”

Wilkin says.

“We need to discuss Sloth.”

Jorvain says.

“I don’t think we do.”

Wilkin retorts.

“Seeing as we’re parting ways once we reach his palace, I’m not sure I see the point in that.”

“Fine, then I’ll discuss it with my team, but I suggest you do the same with yours.”

Jorvain says rolling his eyes.

“Hmph, I will, and it’s not cause you suggested it thank you very much! “

Wilkin says, feigning offence.

Our group splits, walking in two sides.

“Maelis, I think you should take the lead on this, you’re from Acedia, you’ve seen the effects of sloth firsthand,” Jorvain suggests.

“Sure. For starters, he feeds off of Ardor, so the longer it takes to slay him the stronger he’ll get, the faster the easier. The same way the fog affected us earlier his Ardor will do the same. So we need to preserve our Ardor and strength. “

Maelis explains.

“The biggest thing is how he gets in your head...influences your thoughts, his Ardor turned my village into a husk compared to how I remember it..”

They say quietly, a somberness sneaking into their voice.

“We’ll avenge your town, and all those who lost themselves and their loved ones to sloth,” Jorvain says sternly.

“That’s right.”

Dain adds

Soon the thin trees of the forest we walked through fade, as we leave the forest and walk onto a cobblestone path, stretching out and twisting up a large plane, in the distance, as far as the eye can see, is Sloth’s palace.

Grand in size and presence, despite the deteriorating structure and withered flags.

A sudden wave of fatigue hits me—I stumble forward—jorvain catches me, helping me stand.

“Thanks,”

I grunt.

“Of course.”

He says with a small smile.

“Am I the only one who felt that?”

I ask, glancing at the others, but judging by the sudden winded expressions on their face, I’m guessing that’s not the case.

“Definitely not.”

Dain says, taking off his helmet, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his forehead.

“Looks like this is what Maelis was talking about.”

Emrys says with a sigh.

“You guys alright?”

Wilkin shouts from up ahead.

“Yeah! We’re good.”

Jorvain shouts back.

“We should catch up to them now that we’re done.”

He adds.

Regaining our composure, we carry on, growing closer and closer, to Sloth.