Chapter : 5 The woman raised a brow

Vin STAND DOWN liked to spend his time waking up. Curled softly under the comfort of a thick set of sheets and blankets, letting the warm, bright sun slowly lull him from his slumber; perhaps even sneaking in a few cheeky moments of rest while he was at it. Usually, that's how he would wake up, and to him there was a comfort to that: a peace that came with that style of waking up, whether it was at noon on a weekend, or seven in the morning for school.

If that was his favorite way of waking up, then this was, by far, his least favorite. Instead of waking up surrounded by sun, it was harsh artificial light bulbs. Instead of curling up under warm covers, it was being cuffed by his hand and feet to a massive surgery table, his limbs trapped in massive metal cases bolted to the board where he leaned. Instead of being able to slowly adjust to the world of the waking world by drifting in and out of sleep, he was immediately greeted by a woman clad in robes of some sort.

It was coming back to him… Oh, right, wasn't this the woman who had knocked his ass out when he was freaking out? That was really comforting...

"Welcome back to the world of the waking, Mr. Corsetti," The woman greeted, "I assume you may have a few questions?"

Yes, Vin had several questions. And by several, he meant hundreds. Yet when he tried to voice them, he encountered another observation.

He was wearing a mechanical muzzle of some sort. Wow, he sure was feeling the love right now: he discovers he has superpowers, finds Irina and Xenovia have some sort of cosplay thing going on at the church, and now he's being treated like Hannibal-fuckin'-Lector.

The woman seemed to realize his rapidly mounting uneasiness, and calmly raised a hand.

"I understand that you may be experiencing some discomfort at the moment, but for the sake of both our safety and yours, we need to keep you like this for a little while. At least until we're done explaining things, alright?" The woman smiled.

If she was waiting for a response, she was going to be disappointed. At the very least, Vin sighed, and tried his best to shift and get comfortable. Apparently, she took that as enough of a que, and started. Her hands found a manila folder on the table in front of her, which she flipped open in her hands.

"Mr. Corsetti, during our encounter, you displayed a rather peculiar ability, you seemed to generate crystals of some sort, upon review, it seemed that the creation of these crystals were tied to the motions of your arms."

Oh my god, Vin was going to be so angry if this ended with him getting probed, because he didn't know if he was still in Italy, or Area 51. And if the way this conversation was going was any indication, he was almost tempted to lean towards the latter. Well, if he could lean right now, but that's besides the point.

"Now, I want to clear a few things up for you, Mr. Corsetti, but I must warn you that what's going to be said is all one-hundred percent true, despite how it may sound… fictitious."

Oh boy, here we go.

"Mr. Corsetti, I won't lie to you. You have just stumbled into a world that we try to keep very hidden from regular people like you, but now it's the kind of world you are stuck in for the rest of your life."

Oh, that's not ominous.

"Mr. Corsetti, what if I told you that the supernatural do in fact exist?"

Vin's eyes widened. Really? Like, ghosts and shit? Vin took a deep breath, and shook his head. Yeah, no. He was willing to believe a lot, but he drew the line at ghosts.

The woman raised a brow, "You deny the supernatural's existence? I understand. From your profile, it seems like you're a very practical man. High marks in the sciences, looking into a future as a mechanical engineer, a complete atheist. You're the type of person who needs to be exposed to something tangible to be proved of its existence, correct?"

Oh great, they had a file on him, a creepily personal file too.

"But, isn't your ability enough tangible evidence, Mr. Corsetti?"

Vin's breath hitched. Oh fuck, she was right.

"You see, Mr. Corsetti, this world you've wandered into has been selling a lie to everyone for a countless amount of time. Religion, folklore, legends, stories... they conceal more truth than you may think."

The woman rested her forearms on the table, "Biblical gods exist, Mr. Corsetti. Angels, Devils, Yokai, all of these creatures are real, tangible, albeit hidden races. Now, with that in mind, I think it's time to switch gears to talking about how this all affects you."

The woman reached into her robes, and pulled out a remote of some kind. After pressing multiple buttons on the controller, the mechanical muzzle attached to Vin's face hissed, and fell down to the floor with a clatter. Soon after came his arm cuffs, and then his legs.

"Come, sit down over her, Mr. Corsetti," The woman gestured to a chair sitting across from her.

Rubbing his wrists, Vin limped over to the chair, hissing quietly as his bruised body made contact with the cold steel seat.

"Your 'superpower' that you've displayed is something that appears in a very rare number of humans, called a Sacred Gear. These are abilities gifted from God, and bestowed upon humans. There's multiple different known classifications of Sacred Gears, and each one has different abilities. Do you remember the rings you had on your fingers?"

"Uh yes…" Vin looked down, before his eyes widened, "What? Did you guys take them?"

The woman smirked, as if amused, "No, we haven't taken them, they simply dematerialized. Each Sacred Gear physically manifests in different ways when used. For you, it's those rings."

"Oh, I… um… I see," Vin said dumbly.

"I know a lot of what's been said is heavy, and a lot's been left out for the sake of not overwhelming you with details. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask? No matter how illogical you may think them to be, I would be more than happy to answer to the best of my abilities."

"...Uh, sure. Let's see."

Vin pondered for a moment.