It had already been a week ever since that cursed expedition to the building we assumed was connected to Heathen. We entered with seven, but only left with five.
Kyra and Emanuel died in there.
Kyra died the instant her brain was punctured-through with a glass shard thrown by an apparition of Celeste.
Emanuel had his body ripped apart into shreds when trying to defend the frozen Cynthia from tenants. The tenants were originally situated at the entrance to the building, blocking off our exit to leave from the start. But at a certain point, they'd been commanded to rush towards the staircase where they eventually ambushed Kyra and I on the fourth floor. Before they did though, they attacked both Emanuel and Cynthia. Cynthia, although frozen, was immune to the attacks due to her hardening Fractal. Emanuel, on the other hand, didn't have a means of defending himself.
Cynthia, stuck frozen, couldn't do anything but watch as Emanuel screamed with terror as he was torn apart helplessly by the mindless tenants. Ever since then, she had not ventured outside of her dorm building. Medical professionals at A.X.A. had officially diagnosed her with a heavy case of PTSD.
These two casualties impacted us heavily.
It's because of Heathen, I kept telling myself.
Every single person situated in that building, and every single event that occurred in that building was all curated by Heathen, and the single man behind the organization alone, Ian Sedia. When we searched the A.X.A. database for any matches on the name Ian Sedia, no current civilian came up, even when filtering it out for his controlling Fractal. But when we searched the internet for any connection to that name, only one result came up.
[ "Ian Sedia" — 1 match:
The Seven Sins
Sin of Wrath: Reed Regardius — Fractal: Super Strength, Super Durability, Regeneration.
Sin of Greed: Midas Genhova — Fractal: Emotion Condensation.
Sin of Pride: Venus Van Hattum — Fractal: Air Manipulation.
Sin of Sloth: Ian Sedia — Fractal: Mind Control
Sin of Gluttony: Gian-Luca Yvox — Fractal: Memory Eating
Sin of Envy: Vidia Yvox — Fractal: Blinding Eyes
Sin of Lust: Veronica Lyst — Fractal: Emotional Amplification ]
A debatable truth had been revealed to us through the internet.
Years ago when I was still a young student in school, we learned in history class that the Seven Sins were a group of seven terrorists with strong Fractals that dominated during the Filtering Era. But Kyra revealed to some of us recently the truth: that the Seven Sins were actually the true first documented cases of humans with Fractals, from a time before the Filtering, even before Melysia was born as a country.
The thing is: the Seven Sins were labelled as deceased.
Every source on their history have stated them to have died long ago. So how could I have possibly come across a Sin?
Ian Sedia was the name of the Sin of Sloth, with a Fractal known to be able to control people within his vicinity using spoken commands. That was exactly what I'd experienced and witnessed upfront myself. If he truly was the Sin of Sloth as depicted by the legend, then I'd somehow survived an encounter with a Sin, or someone with a Fractal identical to Ian's.
Looking back on it, it was hard to determine if he was the real deal considering I'd only encountered one of his 'proxies.'
After being carried a distance away from the building by Celeste and Sav, my body finally let-up its frozen state and released itself from control. I'd finally been free, but the insinuation in my mind afterwards overshadowed any relief from being free from his Fractal.
If J had killed all the tenants, and Celeste broke all the cameras, why was I still under the control of Ian's Fractal?
This meant that something else in that building continued acting as a medium for his Fractal that wasn't a tenant or a camera. There was something else we were unable to notice.
There's more to that place.
Until now, after our constant warnings and mentions of the atrocities that happened there, no clean-up crew or expedition team of any sort has returned to that building to retrieve the corpses of our fallen.
We'd been sitting on it for some time now.
Surely, by now, word of our direction in Operation Zenith had been heard effectively by Overseer Azrael. After the events that occurred in that building, it became clear that the expedition was short-handed, and what was needed was not just J, but an entire division at least from Overseer Azrael's task force.
When I spoke to the General about Kyra's attempted S.O.S. call only for it to be ignored, he brushed it off, laying down useless stale words.
We thought J alone would have been enough. We did not anticipate any Fractals to affect him the way it did.
It didn't sit right with me. I tried to shoot back.
S.O.S. calls are only used in emergencies! How could you ignore that!?
Once again, the General replied with absolutely no remorse.
Other than J, we had faith that the rest of you would have been strong enough to deal with threats like that.
I stomped out of his office before I snapped internally.
"Fuck—!!!" I screamed, slamming a wall out in the hall.
I couldn't believe how careless the General was after two of our own kind had died. But then it came as no surprise after I remembered that he was the one responsible for Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth's deaths, as well as Garren's suffering to the Controllant.
If it weren't for Enzo, even I would have died to his hands.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!!"
Memories poured into my mind that continued to burn my heart with bittersweetness. Besides all the moments I cherished with Kyra, there was a single memory that stood out to me the most.
There's a difference between you and I, Kyra. You can still retain some form of assurance and safety with A.X.A. because the people here respect you, and they recognize that they need you.
Those very words I'd told her came right around to prove me wrong. I found out the hard way that I was wrong in every way with that statement.
It didn't matter if you were a lowly rule-abiding Angel, or a high-level Upper Four like Kyra. Whether you were low or high in power in the military, A.X.A. would write you off easily all the same. No remorse, and no regret. No responsibility taken for mistakes they refused to recognize.
A.X.A. was fucking horrible. After two years of ignorance, I'd finally accepted that fact.
Join Heathen.
Those words rung loudly in my mind. They were words I never ever would have expected to hear in my life, yet they were directed at me, and only me. It was a request I'd obviously never consider, but in the moment, I felt helpless. What was there even left for me at A.X.A.? I lost so much in my time here without much gratitude in return, and it didn't help knowing I'd almost been written off by the General at one point. What possibly awaited me in A.X.A. that could benefit me in the long-run?
Your true potential awaits you at Heathen, not at A.X.A.
I recalled the Sin of Sloth's words. He was the only individual other than Enzo to recognize some hidden Fractless talent in me that I didn't see myself.
Who do I lean more towards?
Before, I'd been dealt two cards: Enzo and Kyra's. I chose Kyra's, considering how much I abhorred Enzo's personality, and how much I loved Kyra's.
But Kyra was dead now.
In place of her shredded card, a new, mysterious one had been placed before me. Now I could choose between Enzo or Ian.
To be Fractless, is to be in power.
I'd told myself that the moment before I killed Darius. It was a fact I'd rejected for so long and refused to ever acknowledge, but I acknowledged it now after understanding that it allowed me to persevere under the pressure of Darius' presence. It was a pill I finally swallowed, and forced myself to believe.
Now, it was the only remaining thing I'd been left with.
Potential.
The Sin of Sloth kept talking on and on about this 'potential' I apparently had. When you're fully aware you're a Fractless, the term 'potential' could never coexist with your own self-view. So even now I continued to question what he meant by that, which brought me curiosity.
Throughout the hell that awaits you, just know that my offer still stands.
Those were the final words he'd said. Through the careless treatment those suffered from A.X.A.'s nonsensical decisions, only now I could see that Ian had drawn a safety net beneath me in my position at A.X.A.
How much do you know, Ian? What could you possibly be hiding to reveal in Heathen?
The curiosity tormented me.
At first, I decided I'd wait, just as I always did. I waited two years to be given my first chance to command in the Tenfold. I waited a month to be placed in a mission alongside my comrades. Waiting always eventually brought me what I wanted, although delayed.
But the more I waited, the worse things turned out to be.
I waited as Garren slowly descended into a loss in control over his body. I waited as Kyra did everything she could to protect me from Darius and his apparitions until the very end. And I waited as Kyra bled out on the floor in front of me.
'Waiting' was just another term referring to 'doing absolutely nothing.' Until now, I'd been doing absolutely nothing.
What would waiting do for me in a situation such as now? I was still a part of Operation Zenith, a large-scale task to find and subdue the Sin of Discrimination. But in what way would doing that benefit me in the long-run? Give me some extra brownie points with General Michael, the same man who tried killing me a month ago?
Give me a fucking break.
I'd promised myself something before I ended Darius—to drown myself in desire—to be selfish.
And right now, my curiosity brought desire forward.
What does Heathen have to offer?