Gates of Penance-Chapter 31: A new forest

Nacht began to seriously start thinking about how to deal with this absurd punishment that had been placed upon him. The apparition was of course the death march, the cursed object and a manifestation of his sins. That was why it appeared in the form of himself... and his uncle.

’What a headache.’

Nevertheless, he didn’t have the time to figure out how to deal with the ghostly punishment.

"Are you sure you heard voices coming from that place?"

"I’m sure."

Nacht looked away from the apparition and towards the incoming voices. The cathedral’s doors opened revealing two young men perhaps a year or two older himself. One of them had auburn hair with light green eyes, while the other had dark skin and deep brown eyes. They were both wearing what seemed to be worn down black battle gear. They both seemed strangely tired.

’How unusual.’

They each looked at him in surprise.

Nacht tried his best to muster a friendly smile.

"Hey, do you happen to know where we are?"

They both summoned their weapons, revealing their status as enlightened.

Nacht’s eyes darkened. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The sinner with light green eyes spoke.

"I don’t know, do you happen to be an abstract?"

Nacht summoned the death march.

"I’m human, just like you."

At the sight of him summoning what they thought was a relic, they both relaxed a little.

Nacht was surprised that they thought that he could be an abstract. Well to be fair, he did have two traits that were related to them. Still, for an abstract to impersonate a human was extremely rare.

He also noticed how they completely ignored his ghostly counterpart which meant that they couldn’t see the apparition.

The two sinners looked at each other. This time the other one spoke.

"How did you get here? Who are you?"

Nacht lingered for a moment.

"I recently left the first gate of penance."

He tilted his head.

"And isn’t it common courtesy to introduce yourself first?"

The man with deep brown eyes spoke first.

"I am Armon, of clan Nightward"

He then gestures to the sinner beside him.

"This is Mirad, of Lesser Clan Mirage"

Nacht paused for a moment.

’Nightward and Mirage... never heard of them.’

To be fair, Nacht didn’t know of any clan besides the one that presided over the capital and his own district. So it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t know the clans of the two sinners.

"I am Nacht..."

Nacht didn’t have a clan so he simply opted to just say his name.

He looked down at his avatar.

He noticed two new threads that sprouted from his body, piercing both of the sinners.

He focussed on the threads connecting them and when he did, his perception became frighteningly accurate, zeroing in on both of the enlightened warriors. It was to the point that he would be able to fight them with his eyes closed if he wanted to, and it would make no difference.

Armon spoke in a steely tone.

"We have been expecting you... Nacht."

Nacht furrowed his brows.

"You have?"

Mirad shrugged.

"Well we were expecting something, not you exactly."

They each turned and motioned for him to follow.

Nacht hesitantly followed a few steps behind.

He wanted to know more about the enlightened since his knowledge was vague and what better way of getting information then getting it straight from the source itself? Plus, he was curious and had a number of questions he needed answered.

Outside of the fallen cathedral, he was met with a stunning sight.

Warm sunlight beamed down onto a beautiful forest, colouring the landscape with shades of gold and yellow. The forest gave off an earthy smell and a feeling of calm. Plants and vegetation parted to reveal a winding path through the exotic forest.

It was nothing like the decayed miserable forest he had seen inside of the crucible.

Nacht had never seen such a beautiful sight. In District Nine he had mostly seen pale grey concrete and a sunless grey sky obscured by countless clouds. It was depressing to say the least, but this forest revitalized him with both wonder and curiosity.

"Where are we exactly?"

Mirad snorted.

"I’d like to know the same thing."

Armon punched him In the shoulder causing the green eyed sinner to wince.

"We don’t know exactly where we are but we do have a general idea. Me and Mirad along with the other enlightened were dropped here by the voice. We’ve been stuck here for close to a year, so you showed up just in time."

Nacht had many questions to ask but didn’t know where to start. Apparently the duo had been expecting him. They all seemed to be stuck in a predicament of some kind.

Something he found odd was why did the voice drop him off in a place with other enlightened? Well, it could have been worse. He could have been dropped in a place where it was crawling with abstracts, then he would have really been in a predicament.

"How did you know I was coming? And what do you mean by other enlightened? There’s more?

Mirad sighed.

"We’ll explain everything soon, for now we need you to meet the others."

Nacht continued to follow them while admiring his surroundings.

"Are there any abstracts nearby?"

Mirad shrugged with a faint smile.

"Me and Armon here have done our best, but you never know. The cathedral is a ways away from our camp. Being the two most trustworthy, we were assigned to keep watch over it."

Armon tilted his head.

"I am the trustworthy one, I was sent here to make sure you do your duty."

Mirad made an astonished face and put his hand to his chest as if he were hurt.

"How can you say that?! I’m trustworthy too!"

Armon simply shook his head with a faint smile.

Although the two sinners seemed to be joking around somewhat, Nacht was still keenly aware that most of their attention was still focused on him. Either they didn’t trust him or they were curious, maybe even both.

However, Nacht did find it odd that they seemed to be relieved... hopeful even. He was also still confused with why they were sent to an abandoned cathedral to guard it.

"How long until we’re there?"

Mirad made an expression as if he were thinking deeply.

"Hmm... I don’t know. We get there when we get there I guess. I’m pretty bad with time."