Prologue 3: Against Our Better Judgement

... It was dark. Cold. It felt like it's always been that way, for the eternity that came before us, and for the eternity before us.

Of course, light can tear through the darkness, even if it's the weakest light that can possibly exist in our universe and beyond, defeating the pitch black with a lighter shade, as infinitesimally small this change may be. I'd prefer that over a light so bright it would cause harm, one that gently brings itself into your life over one that tears it's way in. It probably knew that when It pulled that on me.

The light was blinding. The body I was in, my body, it wasn't my body. the arms were too long, the fingers, too long, my legs were bent in an awkward angle, like ostrich legs. They were shorter than my legs too. My arms resembled a skeleton too much, the front half with a gaping hole in the center similar to the gap between the ulna and radius.

'Is this a demon?'

'Am I a demon now?'

'Why?'

'Why me?'

'Was she here? No, I can't see that happening.'

"How do you like your new look, demons?"

'So, I was right.'

It made a smug face at us as if it was a toddler proud of It's work in a scribble on a paper, "You heathens were always like this in the inside, I hope that you won't complain. As for why I brought you here, I just wanted to disillusion you on the good nature of humanity. They're already discussing who's the demon among them," It let out a deafening laugh, "your only hope to survive is to run or kill... or you could die by their hands, though that's kinda boring. Either way, I'll enjoy myself."

*It is no God, not in the least.*

It looked at us, It's irises splitting like cells undergoing mitosis. Within a minute, It's eyes were filled with a sea of alternating red and black, almost like the eyes of an insect. A compound eye. It was watching us all, moving to focus on our location. Each iris, like a cell, changed shape as they move, morphing out of each other's way. It almost looked as if, with one wrong move, the entity would lose It's eyes to the sheer pressure of all the irises in a single eye, as if they are little living things filling up the entity's eyeballs.

*It was a demon.*

Everyone just stayed in place, frozen by fear, or at least something in the same vein as fear. A sense of dread, maybe. Terror? Whatever it was, it told them that even moving without It's permission would be a death sentence. At that point, we knew that It lied when It said It could do nothing about us. He was in complete control of us.

If It told us to fight, we would have to fight. If it told us to die, we had to die. We were, are and ever shall be mere puppets with souls shoved in them, a shadow of free will.

*It is the King of Demons.*

Everyone's eyes were a deep shade of red, the same as his. Blood... just like blood. He surveyed us and as his eyes passed over me, he flinched, but then he resumed his admiration at his creation. He thinks I didn't notice. I noticed.

Then, something clicked. Gluttony. This was my design for Gluttony. I had become Gluttony. But why? I wasn't exactly a glutton back in the other world, was I? I tried to search the rest of the crowd for my other designs, I needed to know if this was a coincidence, but out of the few thousand called, there were at least 200, 300? Maybe more, I couldn't tell. Before I could even turn my head, the voice boomed in our heads again.

*Don't you agree?* I realize my internal voice isn't one, it is a hundred. A hundred unknown voices in unison, in a somehow soothing cacophony. *About the King of Demons thing, that is.*

'Huh? Who's there?' I thought

*You were correct to guess that you had become Gluttony. Now, You, Gluttony, have finally gained your inheritance... We are your inheritance. We are your shield. It shall no longer have the same level of influence over you. Unfortunately, we cannot influence the world around you, we are only reflections from the past, trapped in you now, Gluttony. We can merely provide our experience...*

'What will it cost, the offer?'

*So you still know how to question an offer when you have the chance, huh? We just want to give our thanks to a certain "God" putting people through hell*

It, the "God", looked as smug as ever.

'Good enough, I'll take it.'

"As you may have felt, some of you give off a different aura... Fighting presence? Killing intent? What do the books call it these days? Power levels?," It continued, taking a second to laugh, "Anyway, I'm talking about seven of you, all representing your greatest sin. Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Pride, and," His eyes, every single pupil in the middle of the sea of blood-red irises, all focused on one point. Me, "Gluttony," It says with a look of pure, distilled disgust on It's face.

*It feels us. It feels our presence.*

'Good, let It know that there's someone after him,' I tried to grin but realized that there were no muscles on my face.

No skin, no fat, nothing. Just a skull placed on the vertebral column, held by nothing but sheer will and a bit of muscle holding my jaw and neck.

'Probably should have thought about that when I made this,' but, despite saying this, my head was firmly in place while still having all it's motor function, save for facial expressions. Is that part of the "sorcery" (or whatever it's called) involved with this place?

He spread his arms out. Was he trying to emulate the statue "Christ the Redeemer" in Rio? A smile spread across his face, from ear to ear, nowhere near the calm smile on the statue, "Please stay alive as long as you can and make sure you entertain me before you die."

All the thoughts in my head, including my own, converged to one thought *'We plan to, but you won't be happy about the finale.*'

The arms burst out from the floor again, reaching, grabbing, and clawing it's way, enveloping every individual in the room. Some struggled while others remained complacent in their fate. Us, we're just rearing to go join the fight. But first...

We returned to the dark, away from the harm of all that is too bright. She was just right. She shines, not like the sun, not oppressive, not hurting those beneath her in return for her help. She didn't kill you if you got too close. The moon, yes, she's the moon, gentler, guiding us. Yes, the moon, she's the moon.

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The moon is beautiful, isn't it?