OLYMPUS MONS

Rest, however, did not come. Not even five minutes into the train’s departure, Dixon harassed everybody with never ending questions. Also, the death stares he received from Nora was enough to make him very uncomfortable. Thus, no rest was attained. “Now sinner,” Dixon received a glare from Celina. “Er, now Kain, how’d you and your friend over there get in? I bet all my credits that neither of you are blessed with Virtue.” Rika looked away uncomfortably. For their cover to be blown this early was detrimental to anything they were to carry out in the Academy. “Don’t worry, I won’t spoil your special secret. Everybody will think that you are both leaning towards the arts of Kindness anyway, so they won’t expect much out of you in the combat field. If that were the case, you’d be doomed from the start!” Dixon slapped his knee and let out a hardy laugh. “You see, me and Carl don’t have it that easy. We’re doomed to fight and toil under the sun for the rest of our days.” Dixon leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms behind his head. “Well, you might want to watch out for Nora though. She’ll want to kill you the first chance she gets. The other children of the Houses will too. I’d not go too far from Celina if I were you.” The girl next to Kain, one of the two chosen by Nora, spoke up. “Why do we want to kill him in the first place?” Before Celina or Dixon could respond, Nora replied, “Because he is an abomination to Virtue. You must have felt it right now, the unsettling and dark energy he gives off. It is abrasive to the mere presence of one that is holy.” The girl nodded her head, albeit with an uncomfortable expression on her face. “Yeah…I noticed a dark feeling, but I didn’t think anything of it…” “That is the filthy energy given off by sinners. They are our opposites, therefore our natural enemies. I don’t know why I don’t kill this one right here! Not to mention, this one feels more disgusting than the others–” Before Nora could continue her sentence, Celina slammed the table in front of them. “It’s not THEIR fault that they are like this! We made them this way, and have the audacity to insult and kill them whenever they run out of use for us! If anything, we’re the disgusting ones!” Nora looked shocked, but her expression was quickly replaced by anger. Before either of them could respond, Dixon held up his hands. “Ladies, why don’t you stop your fight? You both are ruining the mood.” It was true, nearly everybody looked uncomfortable. Even Kain didn’t know what to say. “And Celina, you can’t tell the public such information. We might just have to execute them if you go on, you know?” Dixon wagged his finger at her. “Wait, execute? You're joking right?” Carl raised his hand and meekly stated his question. Dixon just shrugged and looked away. “Sinner, watch your back. I will kill you, if not now, later.” Nora pointed at Kain, who in turn just stared back. “Anyway, we get that you hate each other. Now, let’s change the topic!” Dixon clapped his hands together and smiled. “I’ll start with the introductions! My name is Dixon, one of two children of House Diligence. My Virtue blesses me with infinite stamina, as well as a boost in speed and strength. That is Nora,” Dixon pointed over to Nora, who had her arms crossed. “I’ll go ahead and introduce her, since it doesn’t look like she’ll do it herself. Behold Nora, only child of House Charity. She can give–” “Hey!” Nora shouted from her seat at Dixon. “I didn’t give you permission to reveal what my Virtue blesses me with!” Dixon waved his hand at her. “Calm down, calm down. They’ll find out later at the Academy, so why bother keeping it hidden?” Nora slouched back into her seat and scowled. “Anyway, Nora can boost our blessings. Basically, think of it as tripling the power. My champion Carl,” Dixon patted Carl’s back, resulting in a small wave. “He is a disciple of Diligence and Temperance. You already know what Diligence does, so I’ll fill you in on the ladder. Basically, the blessing equates to manipulating and storing kinetic energy. While Carl here can only store and express a little, people really good at it can absorb whole mountains! It’s pretty scary, actually.” Dixon nodded his head and closed his eyes, as if pretending to be solemn. “I guess you two over there practice the blessings of Charity, but what else can you do?” The girl with auburn hair spoke up first. “Umm, my name is River, and this is Joshua. We’re twins, and practice the same things.” Joshua, the boy with the auburn hair, spoke next. “Yeah, we draw from the blessings of Charity, mostly. We can also use blessings of Humility as well.” Dixon smiled. “Humility? Don’t see that Virtue practiced much.” Nora scowled at Dixon, supposedly for insulting her champions. “Now that just leaves you three. Celina, if you will?” While looking perturbed, Celina still played along. “Yes, my name is Celina of House Kindness. I heal people. That is all.” Dixon nudged Carl and smiled, speaking in a low tone loud enough for others to hear. “I bet that’s not all she can do. Guess I’ll just have to find out for myself.” Celina blushed and turned away from Dixon. Rika scowled at him. “You’re pretty disgusting, man.” Dixon just laughed the same annoying hardy laugh. “Whatever, now you red-head. Since you're not blessed like us, just tell us a special skill that you have.” Rika looked at Dixon with anger. “My name is Rika, not red-head! And I’ll be damned before I tell you anything!” Dixon rolled his head, feigning exasperation. “Yeah, yeah, okay red-head.” Dixon pointed at Kain, ignoring the shouts of protest coming from Rika. “And you, Kain. What makes you special?” All eyes turned toward Kain. Kain stammered, not expecting the conversation to point to him that quickly. “Come on! Well, I’ll change the question for your sake.” Dixon leaned forward, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Everyone knows you're a sinner. That info was leaked, and there's nothing we can do to fix that. So how bout we go a step further.” Dixon smiled at everyone. “Don’t worry, it’ll be as if this conversation never happened. Now, here’s my question.” Kain held his breath. “What Sin are you cursed with?” It was as if the car went silent. Even Nora looked taken aback with the bluntness of Dixon’s question. “You know, your special powers? The things that make your uniqueness tick? Tell us!” Kain shook his head slowly. “I…I don’t know what you're talking about.” Dixon raised an eyebrow. “Really? So you're telling me that the choking smog coming from your body is just for show? I’ve met other sinners before, and none have had such a disgusting feeling than you. So I’ll ask again. What Sin are you cursed with?” Before someone other than Kain could respond, another person interjected. “Dixon, the mere mention of Sins is forbidden. They were a mistake, an accidental perversion of Virtue. You mean to say that you want to break the taboo of talking about them?” Dixon laughed. Kain was starting to feel unsettled by his hardy sounding laugh. “Never! Ah, just forget I said anything.” Dixon leaned back in his seat, looking out of the window. “Look alive people! We have just entered the great focal point of holiness, heart of Virtue, the great mega-city Olympus Mons!” Kain looked out of the window. His eyes widened. Spires of white marble shot toward the sky, seemingly stretching on toward infinity in both directions. Gold obelisks littered the place, refracting light toward one another in an heavenly fashion. There were metal tubes leading from one pillar to another, and the hustle and bustle of crowds could be seen passing inside through a line of rectangular windows that lined the edge of the tubes. Designs of gold and silver could be seen tracing almost everything, each in symbols of one out of seven Virtues. At the center, Kain could notice an upside down pyramid of complete black floating between the bright colors of its surroundings. The sheer size of the structure was not able to be determined, as it seemed to bend and stretch from what angle you were looking at it. From the base of the pyramid, a single tube of unidentifiable color stretched into the sky. “This is…” Rika was looking out of the window, tears streaming down her face. The others had a similar reaction, except for Celina and the other children of the Houses. Kain felt a sense of dread looking at the too-perfect city, as if its size dwarfed his very soul. “I know, right?” Dixon looked in delight at everyone in the car. “It’s simply marvelous, isn’t it?” Celina looked over at Kain and Rika, and a concerned look came over her face once she saw Kain’s expression. “What might be wrong, Kain?” Celina reached her hand out, grabbing him in it. “You don’t look too well.” Kain took his hand back and crossed his arms. “I’m fine, really.” A chuckle could be heard from the other side of the car. “Well, it’s obvious that a sinner would show aversion to holiness!” Celina shot Nora a mean look, resulting in louder laughter. “Alright everyone, we should stop our bickering. We should be arriving in the Academy shortly. Got to keep up appearances.” Kain looked out of the window once more. The black cyclopean pyramid, that terrible obelisk, seemed to get bigger and bigger. No, they were getting closer. “Celina,” Rika nudged Celina’s arm, getting her attention. “Is the Academy…in there?” Kain recoiled at the idea. He did not know why, but something about the mega structure terrified him. “Oh, yes Rika. Inside is much more than the Academy, actually. It’s the education district for people like us. Think of an entire city inside the pyramid, a school being the center. Rika nodded, also looking uncomfortable at the idea. After a while, the train soon came to a stop somewhere in the pyramid. Kain did not know where, as he had shunned the idea of looking out of the window to avoid the uncomfortable sensation that the place gave him. “Alright everyone, welcome to the glorious and holy Academy, bask in its glory!” Dixon sidled up to the side of the door, preparing to open it. Kain took a deep breath and steeled himself for the inevitable. If not for his will, he would not have come this far. It would be a fool's errand if he stopped here. Therefore, the only way for Kain to achieve his ambition was to go forward, and go forward he did.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.