Chapter 2: Sinner's Contract

Suddenly, Lumière could move his body once more. He quickly turned around to face the owner of the mysterious echoing voice, and his gaze shook. Sitting politely atop a wooden box with his hands folded in his lap, a figure dressed in an outfit reminiscent of a bygone era sat, waiting. He had medium-length curly black hair and blue eyes that seemed vacant, yet determined to move forward.

"Who- who are you?" Lumière subconsciously stammered, quickly realising his demeanor and recollecting himself.

"I'm merely a messenger. There's no need to be afraid." The figure spoke candidly.

'Why did the flow of time suddenly cease? Am I in a dream?' Lumière's thoughts began to race. 'If I'm not, then who is this man? Is he a user of magic? Isn't that forbidden by decree of the Orthodox Churches? Then, is this man an evil person? Should I be wary?'

"You're a sinner, aren't you?" The figure asked, calm and unwavering. "You do bad things. You regret those things."

He was surprised by the figure's informal speech. His heart still ached with fear, but Lumière managed to speak with stumbling over his words, replying calmly. "I do bad things, that's right. But I don't regret them. I have people to take care of. I can't afford to think for others."

"No, you do regret those things." The figure stood up from where he had been sitting, gradually approaching Lumière with a tilted head. He looked abnormal, inhuman. With each step the figure took, Lumière took one backwards. "Every night you sit and you think about the things you do. You begin to hate yourself. You begin to Despair."

The space around Lumière seemed to shake as Lumière fell back against the wall of the alleyway, staring up at the figure who towered over him.

"But you don't have to do that any more. There's an even greater Sin willing to accept someone as wretched as you." The figure offered his hand to Lumière. "Even Sinners receive the opportunity to make restitution for their actions."

"How?" Lumière's brows furrowed. "How do you think I can manage that?"

The figure didn't reply, retracting his hand and stepping away from Lumière. He looked over towards the beast, still frozen in time, hovering over the woman and child with foam and saliva dripping from its maw. It was a horrifying creature, an amalgamation of writhing flesh and black miasma constantly wrapping around its profane form.

"You regret what you did to the people who admired your talent, using their emotions to leech the money from their pockets. It hurt you when you saw that child's smile- you had guilt that you twisted her genuine excitement to your benefit."

Lumière couldn't bear to look over at the two.

"My Lord likes people like you. People who know that sometimes some things must be accomplished in the worst ways.

"Your Lord?

"No, Lumière Croft. I'm talking about God."

'God? Not 'Goddess'?'

In Leiden, there were two majour orthodox religions that most people followed. The first, the Church of the Eternal Blueprint, followed the Architect, the Orthodox Deity whose knowledge had founded the architecture of the Forger Empire, which controlled the majority of the Western Continent. The other was the Church of Thorns, of which Lumière was a half-believer, who followed the Crown of Thorns, the Orthodox Deity whose knowledge gave life to the plants that supported the denizens of the Forger Empire.

Those two were the most widely praised and honoured Deities in the Western Continent. However, those Deities were both Goddesses. There was no honoured God in Leiden. At least, not one that was said to have decent intentions for its people. Lumière knew that much, so he became incredibly wary of the figure in front of him, more so than he had been previously.

"What God do you follow?" Lumière asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing. His hand slowly and quietly navigated to his back pocket, where he kept flash paper meant for his illusions.

"That's not important right now, Lumière Croft." The figure spoke calmly, refusing the question. "What is important is that currently, you're in danger. After this beast is done with the mother and daughter, who do you imagine it will go after next?"

Lumière hesitated before responding. "It'll go after me."

The figure reached his hand out to the side, and before Lumière could even comprehend what had occurred, he had pulled out a sheet of parchment from thin air. Where he had reached his hand, space seemed to warp and contort, as if it were like a curtain he could push past with a simple touch.

"My Lord wishes to offer you the chance to live." The figure smiled. "He will give you power befitting of a terrible person. You can use it to survive, or even to save those two that are about to be swallowed by that horrible abomination. However, if you accept this power, you will be doomed to be an abomination yourself."

Lumière was stunned for a moment.

"So, Lumière Croft, will you take the deal? Do you have the resolve to do terrible things in order to save others? Or is your determination limited to small acts you can convince yourself were wholly necessary?"

"I…" Lumière began to speak, his voice trailing off almost immediately. Staring at the creature, he felt his entire body freeze once more. However, when his gaze turned towards the terrified faces of the mother and daughter, his heart ached more than he could bear. "I want to save them…"

"Then sign the contract."

The figure threw the rolled-up parchment over to Lumière, who glanced down at it with apprehension. However, the paper was immediately pinned down with a glimmering metal object. A dagger had found its way to the ground, thrown alongside the parchment.

"I make it a habit not to carry pens with me. Sign it in your own blood." The figure smirked, having satisfied his wit.

Lumière picked up the dagger, his gaze shaking as he eyed its edge- sharp and untouched.

"Of course, you don't have to accept my Lord's benevolence. I'll be kind enough to leave that dagger with you, free of charge. You can take the risk and try and defeat that abomination with it. Of course, if you take this course of action, those two will definitely perish."

Staring at the parchment, countless thoughts raced through Lumière's mind. 'Accept power? Like magic? But that's against the laws of the Church… if I accept this deal, what will happen to me? Will the Goddess strike me down? No, even my closest friends might personally kill me if they found out I accepted such a thing. Even if none of that happened, surely this comes at a cost. What will this 'Lord' ask of me in return?'

The parchment was empty, except for an indescribably incomprehensible signature. It had no clauses, no descriptions, and no information. So, Lumière looked back up towards the figure.

"What does your Lord want in exchange?"

The figure smiled after hearing Lumière's question. "He wants you to do what you were meant to do from the very moment you were born. He wants your fate to succeed."

'Is this Deity capable of seeing the future? What does he mean by my 'fate'? Is my future something that coincides with this great being's interests? What significance could I have? All I do is lie… is this really all that's being asked of me?'

'But, even despite my worries… this is the only chance to save those two, isn't it…? Even if the true cost of this power is more than I can handle, whatever it truly entails, the only choice for me now is obvious.'

Before long, Lumière found himself flipping the dagger in his hand, slicing quickly along the flesh of his arm before he could bear to comprehend it. Ruby-red liquid flowed along his skin, spilling onto the parchment. Before he could think to twist the pools of blood on the paper into the shape of his signature, his vision darkened.

Dancing at the edge of all that he could see, he witnessed horror incomprehensible. Thousands of tendrils enveloped the sky, wrapping around the lilac moon and pulling the stars out of the sky. Eyes replaced the stars, one by one, until the entire universe stared down at him from above. Being watched by so many pupils was maddening, terrifying, horrific.

Lumière felt dread cloud his heart, and with each passing second he was tempted to cry out. However, he had resolved himself to stay resolute. So, he stared back at the universe, and forced himself to grin in response.

'What is this horrific sight? A sky blanketed in madness… is this what the end of the world looks like?'

After a short time enduring the painful fear that clawed its way into Lumière's heart, the sight of the horrors ceased, and the area around Lumière returned to normal. Instantly, he felt as if he had grasped the powers that he had obtained. He let out a sigh of relief, but the dread in his heart remained.

"Welcome to the pathway of the Sinner, Lumière Croft." The figure smiled, reaching out his hand. Lumière looked back up at him, his gaze seeming quite different. However, when Lumière reached out to grab it, he realised that the figure seemed more distant than ever. To him, he seemed to be right in front of Lumière, but at the same time, he was too far to be touched. "We'll meet again. For now, and always, you can call me Thomas- Thomas Hawthorne."

"How will I find you in the future?"

"You won't. I'll find you in a few days. If you have any questions for me, ask them at that time." Thomas Hawthorne began to turn away.

He let out a sigh, turning his head back to Lumière.

"Now, you need to steel your resolve. The beast you're about to face is also the servant of a Deity. However, it's not like you or I. That thing is an abominable parasite- a malfeasant biproduct of corruption left behind by a ritual. It's not blessed by their Lord like we are."

"Why did I encounter such a creature?"

"Coincidence is dangerous. You just happen to be an unlucky person. Fortunately, my Lord has been interested in your fate for some time. He would like to help further your growth as a terrible person."

"Is this 'Lord' of yours particularly evil?"

"Evil is subjective, Lumière Croft. If that's how you want to think of the Lord, then you can do so. He won't think of it as ill will. He may even see it as praise. However, you must remember that from this point forward, he is your Lord too."

"May I know the name of my new Lord?"

Thomas Hawthorne smiled mischievously. "He is known as 'The Sinner'."

'The Sinner? I've never heard of such a Deity before. Is he one of those lower Deities worshipped by sects outside of the majour cities? This certainly isn't a name befitting a benevolent Deity. So I really have become a servant of an evil God…'

"Will you not help me fight the beast?" Lumière asked Thomas.

"I'm not interested in playing with children today. Don't worry, Lumière Croft. The power my Lord has bestowed unto you is more than enough to defeat it."

"What is that power?" Lumière asked, attempting to be humoured. After seeing the sky turn into a horrific amalgamation, he had instantly grasped the changes that had occurred within him. It felt like an ancient emotion had begun to beat in his heart, and alongside it, he felt he had been bestowed with true power.

"Each bestowment my Lord gives others correlates to that person's most innate Sin. For you, that Sin was Despair. To fear, anguish,- to curse fate and still struggle against it… that is who you are at heart, Lumière Croft." Thomas Hawthorne turned back towards Lumière. "These Sins, this power, it's not too far apart from who you were before you received it. In fact, one might say that it's akin to a persona, a different version of your same self. As long as you call out to that Sin, you can summon that power."

"All power has repercussion." Lumière's gaze furrowed. "So, what is mine?"

Thomas Hawthorne shrugged. "Go ahead and find out. I'm just a messenger, after all."

He winked, before turning his back to Lumière. "Until next time, you terrible person."

As Thomas Hawthorne walked off in the distance, he seemingly vanished from Lumière's view. However, before Lumière could ruminate on their meeting, time began to flow once more.

The creature's howl sounded out, and the screams of the mother and daughter continued.