After abating his nausea, Lumière glanced upwards and saw that the woman, Aris, stood apart from him with a smile on her face. She had been reaching her hand out gently. His whole body tensed up, and his eyebrows furrowed.
"What is this- an invitation?"
Lumière reached out his hand as he straightened himself up, hesitantly taking her hand in his.
"Aris Sevant." She spoke with that same smile.
"Ah… Lumière Croft." He said nervously in response.
"I know."
"Is this all… real?"
Aris nodded in response. There was a slight pain in her gaze.
"They'll try and find you too, I'm sure. It's how we always die." The familiar feminine voice spoke out, seeming illusory as the words hung in the air. "The others will tell you that much too…"
"The others?" Lumière questioned.
"You'll encounter the rest of us. I just happened to be the first, for some reason." Aris chuckled. "We are 'his' chosen few. We are all sinners."
Lumière's brow twitched slightly. He did not know of the grand and lofty 'he' that Aris had been referring to, but upon the mention of a 'sinner', it all started to make a slight bit of sense. He was inducted into the labyrinth for that exact reason- because he too was a sinner.
"How can I avoid them?" Lumière asked of her hurriedly. "Those people…"
He spoke questioningly, but he too was wondering if he could avoid the woman in front of him as well. His mind was a constant balancing of the deeds that he had witnessed. She had destroyed the world he had seen, but too had she been the victim of extreme malice. Given power, he wondered if it was inevitable that she snapped. Standing before him, she seemed her former self, rather than the emotionless latter. His heart relaxed slightly, and he became less hesitant to converse with her.
"The Rememberers." Aris smiled. "They hate us a little bit, I think. Our Lord probably messed with them somehow. We always have to deal with them in some form. Sometimes they pretend to be our friends, comrades, or even family. No matter what, however, they always kill us."
"Wait- so you're not…?"
"Alive? No, not in the slightest. But I'm not quite dead, either. Consider it a boon of our Lord." She winked. "We all sit here and wait for new little ravens like you to fly in."
Her gaze fell a bit blank for a moment, but soon her expression turned serious.
"The Rememberers- their countenances and mannerisms are usually the same, but their names and positions in society change often. I'm sure you've already met a few of them. They might even be your closest friends. You have to be quite wary of the Rememberers. They're immortal, but only in memory. You can kill them, but they will remember you. They only ever appear once in your lifetime, so as long as you can somehow rid yourself of all nine of them, I think you'll be able to live quite a happy life."
"I didn't ask for any of that trouble."
"But surely, you have something you desire, don't you? In exchange for this menial war between Sinner and Rememberer, now you have the strength to shape the world how you wish." Aris smiled.
"Strength?"
"Eventually, we realised 'he' had given us power. He had given us the power to be sinners. And so, we were. So are you."
"I have power as you do? Like in that memory?" Lumière asked in a horrified tone of voice.
"We're hoping you'll be different. We're watching with anticipation. But, whatever you choose to do with your life, it's none of our business. We're fated to destroy the world. Not one of us has ever been able to part with cruel destiny, so it just means you'll join us eventually. 'He' has already placed a seat at the table for you in that event."
"The table? Do you mean that curved table at the end of the long stone hallway? The one that overlooks that throne?"
Aris just smiled in return.
Sighing inwardly, Lumière set forth another question.
"If this 'history' is real, how can it be possible? The world was destroyed, and yet, in reality, my world still stands."
Aris shrugged slightly.
"Who knows? Perhaps we're from two different worlds, or someone is messing with time." Aris laughed. "The only thing I know of that links us is our Lord."
"Our Lord?"
A grin curved up Aris's lips. Her eyes seemed to glow slightly, and her tail began to twirl softly behind her. The space around them seemed to darken, and a pair of bright violet eyes were visible from the shadow.
"He is the Grandest and most Ancient Sin, the Prince of the Dark Cosmos, the Father of Lies and Deceit, and the Eldest Serpent who rests in the Shadow. He is-" Aris stopped speaking, a fit of coughing erupting through her body as blood was spat out into the air.
"Are you alright?" Lumière asked hurriedly.
"Ah- yes, sorry. It's hard to speak his true name without- well, dying- not that it really matters. You can just call him…" Aris paused for a moment, considering her thoughts before grinning. "You can call him 'The Sinner'."
"We are his primordial sins, and so we serve his will, which is to live. He has no grand expectations for us, and so we just live as we want to- at least, that is what Mr. Sand said we should do. I've been named 'Gluttony', and have been allowed a seat at the table. You're now the same." Aris smiled, extending her hand once more. "Welcome to our ranks, Despair."
Lumière heard the tense cries of birds in the distance. Instantly, a thousand ravens materialised in the dark space, diving towards the ground before colliding with it in thick splashes of black blood. His form was enveloped in a black cloak of raven feathers, and his hair became stained in midnight-black. It was the form of 'Despair'.
"If you ever want to use the powers our Lord has bestowed to you, you just have to say something strange- like 'Despair' or whatever, kind of like I did. Ah- you can also borrow my power if you want! It won't be as strong as what you saw, since I spent a hundred years practicing with it, but-"
Lumière's eyebrows furrowed in apprehension, and Aris chuckled nervously, shaking her hand to avert the suggestion. He had no desire to swallow the world, so it was likely something he would ignore if he could. Still, the flashes of memory he could remember began to make sense. It all surrounded that phrase- 'despair'. It had been the moment he had lost his lucidity when the rat man had attacked the monastery, and when he had regained himself, it was when the rat man had died. It was the showcase of a terrifying, strange power.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Gluttony," Lumière said. A serious expression settled on his face, and he reached out his hand in turn.
As Lumière accepted her hand, he swore that he could see the illusory outlines of seven figures behind her. Behind them all, the shadow with bright glowing eyes seemed to look down on them fiercely. The entire space was cloaked in an aura of mystery and terror.
"Ah, they're getting restless. They want to meet the new kid too. Especially Lust- he likes men like you." Aris winked. "I think your time in the labyrinth is coming to a close, however. There's only so much time for us to talk to you."
Aris's eyes widened, and she clapped her hands together in realisation.
"I get it! We always visited the labyrinth every time we got stronger! They'll probably be able to meet you soon, then." Aris grinned excitedly. "Poe said it was something about our connection to the Great Truth during those transitioning moments that throws us into its depths. He's so smart, isn't he?"
Aris marvelled excitedly, but Lumière's gaze began to shake as he listened to her.
'Poe…?'
"Well, I think that's all the time we have." Aris sighed, placing her hands against her waist as she turned to look at the bright stars in the distance. "The others also want to meet you, so it'll be some time before we see each other again. As long as Lord Sinner convenes a gathering, though, I'm sure we'll be able to talk once more. I'll look forward to whichever comes first."
Aris turned to look at Lumière with bright eyes, and a kind, excited smile crossed her face. Instantly, the space around Lumière began to churn.