Chapter 1: Home

A place with no supreme deities that exist to either bless or curse the inhabitants of the land – Atalanta. It was described as the cursed corner of the universe, the home of all sinners, the place forsaken even by their own gods. We were taught that pure evil rooted from the soil of that land, which dirtied what was once a holy and sacred world.

To think that such vile land exists, it made me wonder what kind of creatures resided there. Were they monsters who devour people? Demons with two horns? Or perhaps, witches who got burned alive?

When I brought up this query to my mother once, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. Her lips waned into a thin smile before answering, "No, my dear son. They're only humans. In fact, there's even a little prince among them – a boy so brave, bright, and brilliant."

My five-year old self couldn't understand. I still had many questions, but I never got to ask her again because that was the last time that I saw my mother alive. Only then did I realise what she meant back then, when my body bathed in a pool of blood and my small hands trembled at the sight of her corpse on the floor.

The little prince of the cursed land – It was me.

And I unknowingly murdered my one and only family.

My kind and gentle mother, who showered me with love and affection, died by my own hands when I manifested the curse at the age of five.

"Peace and forgiveness upon the lands of Atalanta." I whispered solemnly to the wind.

The grass surrounding my home glistened with dew as I roamed around first thing in the morning. The sun was already up while the clouds were nowhere to be seen, as if hailing the brightest star of the day. My skin glittered when the sunlight indiscriminately gleamed, and the warmth of it felt relaxing so I stayed rooted to my position.

"Amity! What are you doing? This is no time for sunbathing!"

The calm and serene of this morning was disrupted by the arrival of my friend, Lenox. I watched him with disappointment as he scurried towards me without a tinge of grace.

"I was praying." I corrected his assumption. "You sure have a lot of energy in the morning."

Back then, it felt like I had no choice but to get along with this snot-faced kid because Lenox was the only boy around my age when I first arrived on Everly Island. Even now that we're both sixteen years of age, he still sticks to me like an annoying bug.

Well, nothing much changed about him save his height and slightly toned build. With his round eyes which looked constantly afraid, he's still the same sceptical boy with freckles and brown curls.

"Yes, yes. Good morning, my friend." Lenox replied nonchalantly. "Anyway, you really need to go to the market now. She's got herself in trouble again!"

Out of exasperation, I pressed one hand on my forehead. How annoying.

In a swift, I came sprinting down the hill with my friend trailing closely from behind. As much as I wanted to saunter and enjoy the beauty of this morning, there's no way I'd stay put after knowing that she is already causing a ruckus this early.

"What is it this time?" I asked Lenox when he caught up with me.

"I heard she got pissed at some random dude who was staring at her." he explained.

My brows furrowed. "I can't believe she got pissed over something like that!"

A crowd was gathered in the market when we arrived. The elders seemed worried, but the overhyped cheering from the young ones shunned any attempt to interrupt the fight.

"Want me to gouge your eyes out?! You scum!"

I almost fainted at the sight before my eyes. The girl in question kept her chin up as she lifted the face of the nameless wad who had the misfortune of meeting her today. I can't even recognise his face because he was so beat up. The lad must've been traumatised.

"Oy, Amity. Do something about your sister." Yano, a soldier in his late thirties who was designated to keep watch over the island, incidentally stood beside my spot. His bed hair and the lengthy yawn that followed gave me the impression that he just got out of bed.

"Why don't you stop her?" I shot him a horrified look. "Aren't you supposed to maintain the peace and order here? Do your job properly!"

"Eh? No way," He lazily pointed her. "You want me to do something about that thing? Her monstrous strength aside, my swordsmanship is mere child's play compared to hers."

"You're so useless!" I clicked my tongue in dismay.

He feigned to be hurt. "How could you say that to an old soldier like me?"

I ignored him. "Nasha!"

She shuddered at the sound of my voice then tilted her head to my direction. Her lips fixed into a guilty smile. "Morning! You're finally up, huh? Shouldn't you be sunbathing?"

I don't know why the hell they think that I'm sunbathing every morning when in fact, I'm praying. I always correct them but now they're just purposely saying it to piss me off,.

I marched towards her. "What are you doing so early in the morning?!"

She pouted. "Listen, Amity. This guy was staring lewdly at me."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" The poor guy interrupted, limping as far away as he could from us. "I was staring at the fish behind you!"

"Ha?" Nasha seemed even more ticked off. Once again, she grabbed him by the collar. "Are you saying that I look like a fish, you fucker?!"

I could only slap myself in frustration. Her lack of common sense is incredible!

"Stop it, will you?" I yanked her by the wrist. "You're so violent!"

She glared at me. "You heard him! He said I looked like a fish!"

"When did I ever say that?!" The guy shrieked in fear for his life.

Oh, it was such a noisy morning.

The market was packed as usual, and this was just another angry episode of Nasha in which she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. In fact, everyone on this island already knows that she rampages from time to time so they just learned to shrug it off eventually.

I had to threaten her that I wouldn't feed her dinner just to get Nasha to say sorry to the boy. With a slight bow and an almost incomprehensible apology, we were able to leave the scene shortly.

---

"Lenox, you damn traitor!" Nasha began strangling our friend as we strolled around the market. "Where does your loyalty lie, you moron?!"

"I was worried that you might kill him so I went to get Amity!" He started making weird gurgling noises and his pupils disappeared as Nasha continued squeezing his neck. "B-Bitch! Can't… breathe."

A vein popped on the side of her forehead. "What did you just call me?"

I heaved out a deep sigh. Out of pity for Lenox who's already salivating to death, I pulled Nasha from behind then ran an eye over her. "Are you hurt anywhere? Did he hit you?"

"Nope." She lifted her gaze at my towering figure. "That wimp didn't even fight back."

"Good." My face softened. "Stop picking fights with random people."

If there's anyone on this island whom I consider as my family, Nasha Oliveira fits the bill… though it's kind of difficult to specify what our relationship is. People often refer to us as siblings since we were raised under the same roof, but we're not blood-related at all.

The only girl in our trio scampered her way into the nearby bakery. Lenox, on the other hand, breathlessly muttered a harangue of curses directed to her, but he still came with us anyway. As we stopped in front of the shop, Nasha excitedly gazed upon the pastries displayed behind the glass wall. This girl and her sweet tooth…

She pointed the slice of red velvet cake. "I want that, Amity."

"Not today." I calmly denied her request. "I already used up all my earnings."

"Eh?" Her face soured. "You're always short on money. Pathetic."

A vein popped on my forehead. "IT ALL GOES TO YOUR FAT STOMACH, YOU DIMWIT!"

She simply giggled in response.

"Oh, it's the long-haired prince 'n his feisty sis." Marlo, the owner of the bakery, appeared with a goofy grin. "My wife's obsessed with 'yer hair. She's waiting for it to reach 'yer ass."

I did my best not to show a wry face. It feels weird that somebody's excited for my hair to reach my butt. I feel like a plant being watched to grow. Honestly, I don't know how to feel about his wife being a fan of my hair.

"It's beautiful, right?" Nasha interjected rather arrogantly, like a mother flaunting her son. She began combing my jet black hair with her hands. "His hair is my pride and joy."

"Even the hidden ones?" Marlo naughtily joked.

Nasha wiggled her brows as she repeated his words. "Even the hidden ones."

The two of them burst into laughter, as if I weren't there listening to their dirty jokes about my hair. For some reason, Nasha gets along well with old men and she's friendlier to them compared to people around our age. Perhaps it's due to the fact that she was raised by a single father.

"Anyway, buyin' anythin' from me?" Marlo inquired politely.

I shook my head. "Sorry for the disturbance, but no. Maybe next time."

"Ah, that can't be. Give me a sec." Marlo gestured us to wait before returning inside his shop. When he came back, he handed us a bag of muffins. "Enjoy 'yer breakfast, kids."

I waved my hand. "No, we can't possibly-"

"Thanks, Marlo. You're the best!" Nasha suddenly shoved me aside. How can someone be this shameless? "In exchange, I'll stop by the forest to pluck some berries for you~"

"Jus' be a good kid and don't cause too much trouble to 'yer bro." Marlo said with a hearty laugh.

I scoffed at his words. "It's not a matter of whether she behaves or not. Even if she doesn't do anything, she's the trouble herself, Marlo. Her existence might just destroy the whole world someday."

I instantly regretted my statement when Nasha tackled me down then began raining me with punches on the gut. My eyes widened in horror as I watched my own blood splatter from my mouth across the ground.

"Make sure not to kill 'im, lass." Marlo laughingly retreated to his shop.

I have no idea what the gods were thinking when they created this human being. How could they possibly put an insanely violent soul into the body of a blonde and petite girl?

"Oh," Nasha suddenly halted upon realizing that she threw her fists too hard. She stared at my unresponsive figure with a satisfied nod. "Yup, I'm the strongest. Oy, Lenox. Do something about this mess."

Our friend, who was still upset due to his near-death experience earlier, stared daggers at her. "Bitch, you hurt him, you heal him."

"I would if I could, you fuckwad. Now heal him before I kill you."

Lenox grudgingly knelt beside me. Even though he talks back to Nasha, he's actually scared of her. Can't really blame him, the girl's pure evil.

"Bear with it, my friend." I gently patted his shoulder then offered some words of comfort. "We shall get our revenge one of these days."

He sniffed like the pathetic loser that he is. "I hope your sister dies in a shithole someday."

When Lenox formed his stance to make a prayer, I kept my eyes wide open in anticipation.

"In the name of the gods Antara and Eirini, I pray to my soul – to thee who reflects the light to counter the darkness, lend me thy sins to cleanse all impurities." He chanted then closed his eyes in concentration. "Thine is the power and the glory of atonement. Repent and redeem. Come, Vita. Peace and forgiveness upon the lands of Atalanta."

I held my breath in amazement when Lenox summoned Vita, the womanish spirit that his power allows him to summon. Despite being faceless, you could tell that she was a woman just by looking at the flowers crowned on what seemed to be her head. The colour of her form was also earthly; it was a mixture of green and brown, a soul brimming with life.

I was born and raised in Atalanta, which was once devastated by the Devil's Plague. It was an attack launched by the twin primordial gods, Antara and Eirini, which affected a portion of humanity by cursing their souls. It was also believed to be the twin gods' punishment for their subjects who violated the laws of the universe.

As a result, the ones who were directly affected by this phenomenon were cursed to only possess corrupted life energy, thus labelled as Sinners. But it doesn't end with that – no, it would be more appropriate to say that the curse had no end at all. It was a perpetual cycle of inheriting the greatest sins of your past self and manifesting the curse in your next life.

In other words, once the transgressions of your previous life start manifesting in your current body, you gain an ability that reflects or relates to the greatest sins of your past self. However, this was also a double-edged sword, because the more you use corrupted energy, the more it corrodes your mind. When you use too much of your powers, you start losing your sense of humanity. We call this Corrosion and it's akin to insanity, that's why it's also important to use your powers in moderation and meditate to avoid corrosion.

Anyway, Lenox's power was easy to understand: he can summon a spirit named Vita and employ her regenerative skills. His healing expertise has been a huge help to us when the situation called for it.

"Heh. It looks girly as usual. Your power really suits your personality, huh?" Nasha casually blurted out from a distance.

Lenox blushed at her comment. "Shut up."

"It's a shame that you're a boy now. You must've been pretty in your past life, Miss Lenox." she added mockingly with a childish giggle. See? This girl is just pure evil. What a bully.

"Leave me alone, you evil minx." Lenox covered his face in embarrassment.

He nodded to Vita, as if urging her to start doing her work. An earthly scent began filling the air while the spirit chanted in ancient language, and a fog in a shade of green also surrounded me. The next thing I knew, my body was as good as new and all my injuries were gone.

As if he lost all his strength in an instant, Lenox slumped weakly on the ground. As soon as he lost consciousness, Vita also disappeared gradually out of thin air.

"Uh-oh." The convulsive laughter of Nasha interrupted my thoughts. The next thing I knew, she was holding the unconscious Lenox in her arms. "This dork passed out again!"

"You're so mean." I told her before carrying Lenox on my back. "Don't make him do this all the time, Nasha. You know how summoning Vita puts a heavy toll on his body."

She pouted. "But Lenox likes using his powers. He said it gives him a purpose in life."

"So you intentionally beat me up just to make him use his powers and feel needed?" My eyes must have looked dead when I spoke. "I can't decide whether you're nice or evil."

I was trudging the whole time with Lenox sleeping soundly on my back as we retraced our steps back home. It was only a three-minute walk from the downtown market to our house located on the hillside. There's nothing really exceptional to see here, it was just an entire lot covered with healthy grass and eroded rocks brought by the recent rainfalls.

Shortly, we arrived at our house. Nasha wasted no time and started gobbling the muffins that Marlo gave us for breakfast whilst I proceeded to our room to let Lenox rest.

"There you go, buddy." I grunted heavily before slumping Lenox on my bed. I could have taken him home, but this poor guy lives alone and I didn't want to leave him unattended.

My eyes accidentally darted on the portrait of a woman on the corner of my room. Her golden eyes and silky black hair exuded the beauty and elegance of someone born from royalty. Whenever I see this portrait, it feels like I'm looking at the female version of myself.

She was the former Queen, my one and only mother, after all.

The fallen sun of Atalanta. That was the label attached on my name when I was banished from the royal capital of Katharos at the age of five. Kaplan Oliveira, the former king's advisor, relinquished his position and proposed to take me in for reasons unknown to me.

When I first heard that such an esteemed person will be in charge of my supervision, I expected no less of an opulent home. But what greeted me here was such a humble abode that it seemed so underwhelming compared to the palace of my previous residence. The single-storey house made of stone stood alone on the austere field of grass, and there was nothing noteworthy to see save some scattered firewood and a few forging materials.

I remember Kaplan squeezing my small hand and letting out an embarrassed laugh. "From now on, you will be living with me and my daughter, Your Highness. It's not as plush as the palace, but this sturdy home will protect you from the heat, the rain, and even the snow."

Back then, I had no way of knowing that I would come to love this place deeply.

"Amity, these muffins are so good~ I'll give you one if you agree to spar with me!"

"No." I flatly refused in an instant.

"I get it. You're scared that I might squash you like a peach, right?" I never knew someone could look so criminal while munching muffins until she did. "Don't worry, I won't kill you."

She has always been this way ever since we met – impish and jaunty in nature that not even her father could handle it. The fact that she was talented both in swordsmanship and martial arts didn't help, either. As we grew older, Nasha developed a useless obsession in fighting and she became indolent towards anything else. As a result, she was dependent in things like cooking, cleaning, or just living in general. She cannot survive on her own.

"Unlike you, I'm busy and I have lots of things to do." I noted with sarcasm then flicked her forehead. "I'll leave the house to you, then. Don't do anything stupid. I'll be back."

I was just about to twist the knob when she suddenly wrapped her arms around me from behind. I looked over my shoulder in an attempt to meet her gaze, but Nasha buried her face on my back then hugged me even tighter. How clingy. She's like a monkey.

"Nasha?"

"I had a bad dream last night." she said in a small voice.

"What kind of dream?"

"The skies turned bloodshot red and the whole island was burning in flames."

I pursed my lips. "It's only a dream. Don't worry too much–"

"I was holding your severed head, Amity." she said barely above a whisper.

I was rendered speechless. As strange as it may sound, there were many occurrences in the past where Nasha would dream of strange events, only to find out later on that those were the premonition of things that have yet to come.

So I understand why she feels queasy.

Because she was Nasha Oliveira.

I knew her more than anyone else. She's rash and violent, but incredibly soft at times when it came to me. No one will ever know, but I do. The reason she became so obsessed with fighting was due to her fear that the rest of the world could turn against me anytime.

Because I am the fallen sun of this land and a Sinner cursed by the plague.

And this was a place where no god exists to forgive your sins no matter how much you pray.