"My name is Aurora," said the red-haired, flaming-eyed beauty. "I'm not the most experienced, but I do hope that you'll take care of me for tonight."
"Who says that I'm 'taking care' of you," I exclaimed. "I'm sorry, but I really need to get going. The wind carried my group off somewhere and I need to make sure they're alright."
I could only hope that Xylvia and Leonna were ok.
"They were probably carried off to a different brothel." Aurora said.
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME FEEL ANY BETTER!!!"
I heard the door to the room that Aurora led (forced) me into *creak,* so I turned and saw all the other girls faces peeking through the crack of the open door.
They quickly retreated, acting as if I never saw them in the first place.
I let out a miserable sigh.
Aurora suddenly walked closer to me and placed her right hand on my chest and her left stroked my cheek. She had a soft touch, like silk in the shape of a hand.
"How's my magic touch?" Aurora asked.
"I'm not answering that," I said. "Besides, I already have my heart set on someone."
Aurora stopped moving her hands. In fact, she took her hands off me completely. Her mischievous smile had completely vanished. Her wings and tail dropped a little, and she kept her head down so that I couldn't see her face.
I started hearing the voices of the other girls from outside the doorway.
"Ouch." "Oh no…" "He shouldn't have said that…"
I started to get a little concerned.
"Um, hey. You ok?" I asked
"Must be nice…," Aurora said. "You know. To have someone like that…"
One of the girls from the doorway suddenly bursted into the room, interrupting the mood completely, and marched straight towards me.
"Lain, please don't…" Aurora started to say.
The girls named Lain suddenly grabbed me by my jacket collar and forced me to walk backwards.
"You can't go blurting something like that out," Lain flared at me. "You've got some nerve talking down to her like that. You think that we're just some objects used for you're pleasure?! We do this because it's in our nature! It's required! We have no choice! Otherwise, we die of starvation! Do you really think that we have no feelings?! Huh?! You think that we don't wish-"
"Would you please shut the fuck up," I calmly interrupted. "I came tumbling in here because I had no control of the situation. That crazy wind storm blew me in here."
"Wait," said another girl who quietly walked into the room. "Are you new to the Third Gate of Hell?"
"I've never even been in hell before," I said. "This is my first time even visiting this place."
"That…actually explains a lot." Lain said.
Lain took a glance at her hand grabbing my collar.
"Huh… Well, this is awkward."
She quickly let go of my collar.
"If I made you upset, then I'm sorry," I apologized to Aurora. "I really have to get going though-"
*Sniff* *Sniff*
"WHAT THE-?!"
Another girl got close up to me and started smelling me.
"Um, what the hell are you doing?" I asked her, extremely worried.
"That would be Lily," Lain said. "She does that whenever she smells something good on someone. She's pretty shameless when she's hungry."
"That's not it." Lily said.
Her voice was low and timid and she looked like a sixth grader, which kinda scared me.
"What are you sniffing me for," I asked her. "What are you, a police dog?!"
The second Lily stopped sniffing me, her eyes widened. She stumbled on her feet a little and stuttered. Her emotionless figure was instantly replaced with that of a scared little girl.
"Im…Impossible… Th-That…can't be right…"
"Lily, what's wrong?" Aurora asked.
"His blood…his sweat…they smell just like that monster…"
Lily suddenly grabbed me by the collar and yanked me down to her height.
"How are you alive," she asked with a terrifying tone. "That monster killed you after you disobeyed Him. Wait…Did he let you live to suffer? What did he do to you?! WHAT KIND OF TORTURE DID YOU HAVE TO ENDURE FOR THESE PAST THOUSAND YEARS?!?!?!"
"Lily!"
Aurora wrapped her arms around Lily and tried to snap her out of whatever mood she was in.
"Micheal killed him…right," Lily suddenly asked, slowly returning back to her low emotionless tone. "That monster is really dead…right?"
"Yes, he's dead Lily," Aurora said. "He's dead, and he won't EVER come back."
I couldn't do anything but stand there and watch the scene happening in front of me. I don't know what "monster" Lily is referring to, but what does that have to do with me? As far as I know, the only monster that I could think of was Gleam. But Lily referred to this monster as "he."
"Lily's scent never lies," Lain said. "So tell us: How the hell are you still alive…Adam?"
"…"
Adam?
"I think you're getting me confused for someone else," I said, disregarding their claim. "My name is Hiro. Hiro Satomi."
"Hmm…some sort of curse," Lily murmured to herself, completely returned to her original tone. "Brainwashing…or perhaps amnesia…?"
Suddenly, dark flames completely swallowed my entire body and formed into jet-black wings. The familiar apple-shaped carvings in those wings stuck out like a sore thumb as the wings suddenly flapped and dragged me out of the room.
A heard shouts like "A DEADLY SIN?!" and "HOW IN HELL?!" as I was dragged out of the brothel and back onto the windy streets.
"Wrath, why the hell did you do that?" I asked him, completely surprised by his sudden action.
"We shouldn't be here," Wrath said, still in his sword form. "We have to find the others. We can't get lost in a dreaded place like this."
"Are you hiding something from me? Was what they were saying about me true? What the hell is going-"
"Now isn't the time. If I had known sooner, I would've acted sooner. Come on, I need you to fly us-"
"What the hell is going on Wrath?! I feel like everyone is keeping secrets from me! Why isn't anyone telling me anything?! I'm being thrown into all of these crazy problems in these crazy worlds and I'm always left in the dark!"
"This world isn't meant for a human to know. Do you really think that you have power. You don't. I only said that you had power because I didn't want to discourage you, but now you're starting to be controlled by your own pride."
"STOP FIGHTING!"
Shana's voice from the sword strapped on my right side came out in fully capitalized letters.
"I don't sense any pride in Hiro whatsoever Wrath," Shana said. "All I sense is fear and concern."
"Don't talk to him Shana." I said.
I unsheathed Wrath and threw him to the ground. The wind blew much harder, but I didn't move with it. I walked forward, away from Wrath.
"You're calling me prideful? Take a look at yourself Wrath."
I thought I could learn a lot from him. I took him seriously when he said that I had some form of power inside me. Was that all really a lie?
"You can walk yourself," I said. "Shana, can you put some wings on me please?"
"O-Ok." Shana said
As Shana formed wings on my back, which were golden and had the same carved apple-like shapes on both wings, I looked behind me to see Wrath in his "human" form.
"It doesn't hurt to try and understand something, even if I am only human," I said. "I don't care if you're Xylvia's father. I'll find out what you're hiding from me one way or another."
With that, I flew off. Without even taking a second glance behind me.
I thought I could trust Wrath, but hearing those words completely shattered that trust. I can only hope that he's the only one I lose my trust in.