As Quinn feels himself get stretched out, as if his body is both at the start and end of the stream, his sense of time is warped. Soon, all his senses leave.
“…Hmm.”
Quinn slowly opens his eyes. He is face down on black sand. The boy begins to get up, and look around. The first thing he spots, is Neri on her back, atop the sand, next to him.
“Hey, Neri.”
“Don’t worry.”
He looks over to the voice. Seeing Lucifer standing there, looking down a path.
“You two are fine, and haven’t been out for very long.”
“I see.”
Quinn takes in his surroundings. They are on a beach, next to some dark green foliage, that seems both incredibly familiar, and also distinctly different. A path is cut through the foliage, or perhaps, it would be clearly to say, that it seems that everything is attempting to get away from the path. It leads up to the base of a spire. It goes round and round, each layer of it, thinner than the last. “Even at this distance, it is clear each layer is giving off a completely different feel, then each other. As if, they aren’t even connected.”
“Ehh.”
Neri rubs her eyes as she gets up.
“I take it, we made it?”
She looks back to Quinn, as she does, her gaze continues past him, towards the path. She gives a dazed expression.
“Hey Quinn.”
“Yes?”
“Would that happen to be the devil?”
She points at Lucifer.
Quinn follows where her finger is pointing. He then looks back and forth between the two. Lucifer stays looking at the path.
“Yes.”
“Is that so? I see.”
Neri gets up, and walks over to the man. Lucifer slowly turns to the girl, and glares down at her. Neri then says.
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
She reaches her hand out.
“I’m Neri Minerva.”
He looks down at the girl’s hand, and straight forward expression. After a moment, he untenses, and limply shakes the girl’s hand.
“I go by many names; but I suppose to make things simpler for now, you can call me Lucifer."
“Pleasure to meet you, Lucifer.”
“Quite.”
Quinn watches this happen, with blank eyes, and a slight, forced smile.
“…This is- strange.”
“Indeed.”
“I think it’s neat. Though, I wonder why I can see you now?”
Lucifer motions his hand in a circle around the place.
“This place doesn’t exactly follow the same rules as Earth does. Really, it’s more natural for me to be here, then for you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s not quite accurate to say, that my form has been given shape. More so, the intangible walls between us, aren’t up in this realm.”
“Meaning, before it was like an invisible cloak was over you, and now it’s not there.”
“Sure.”
“He’s the boy who lived.”
Quinn states.
“Yes. Though, he looks more like a cross between Snape and Voldemort.”
“He does fit those roles better.”
“I believe it was more accurate, when you said I was the main character.”
“How often is the villain the protagonist?”
Neri asks.
“It happens.”
“Rarely, and usually it doesn’t end well for them.”
“Fine, I’ll be the wise mentor, then.”
“Oh, what should I be? How about the dashing rouge?”
“Wait, I kind of want to be that one now.”
“I’ll trade you.”
“Deal.”
“Uh, guys.”
“Yes Quinn, do you have some input on this?”
“I was actually thinking, we could focus on what we are here to do.”
“You’re right, okay let’s go.”
Neri starts walking down the path, as the other two follow.
“…I guess I don’t get a role…”
“What do you mean?”
Neri asks.
“Huh?”
“Really, now, you’re going to make us say it?”
Lucifer asks. The two of them at the same time say.
“You’re the main character.”
Quinn points to himself.
“m-Me?”
“We are here to get your soul.”
Lucifer states.
“And this arc is happening, because of your decisions.”
“Ah, well, I guess you have a point.”
“So, at least while we are here, I’ll let you have the leading role.”
Neri says.
“Okay, then as the main character, I’m going to ask someone else to explain what’s going on.”
He looks to Lucifer.
“Well?”
“I thought it was fairly self-explanatory. He motions out to the beach.
“We are in Purgatory.”
He then points up the spiraling path, they are on.
“This place is divided into layers. We are traveling through the layers, to find your soul. Each layer represents a different human vice.”
“Okay.”
“Thusly, there is one other thing to be warry of, besides the pursuit of said soul.”
“That is?”
“The layers will attempt to pry on your human failings. As we travel through the different layers, both of you need to be careful, not to fall prey to the weakness in your hearts.”
“Okay.”
Quinn says nervously.
“Got it.”
Neri waves back, with a chipper to her tune.
“You there, overly preppy one.”
“Hm, me?”
“I’m certainly not referring to that gloomy thing, beside me.”
“I’m not gloomy…”
“He’s more timid, then gloomy.”
“Thanks?”
“No problem.”
“Anyhow, just because things generally work out, doesn’t mean you can just keep taking things lightly.”
“Of course, it does.”
“Huh?”
“If by lightly, you mean staying limber mentally, then it would be foolish to do anything else.”
“Listen, just because that helps with deduction, or whatever, doesn’t mean that is the best mindset for everything.”
“Theeennn.”
She looks over to Quinn, with a playful expression.
“I can be light, and Quinn can be solid. That way, we have both bases covered.”
Quinn feels a sense of pride, swell up inside of himself. Lucifer squeezes the bridge of his nose.
“That isn’t really what I meant.”
“It works though, right?”
He glances to Quinn.
“I suppose, in its own way, this is fine.”
Quinn scratches the back of his head. “I didn’t really get a say in this. Though, would I have said anything against it?”
Soon, the group make it up to the first layer. Very few, non-descript glowing orbs float around, haphazardly.
“Don’t worry about these first two layers. They are essentially just filler.”
“This is the Anti-Purgatory, correct?”
Neri asks.
“Yes, indeed it is.”
“How exactly, does the excommunicate translate into a vice?”
“The one who falls short, right at the end.”
“That, doesn’t seem like a vice.”
“Because it basically isn’t.”
“I see.”
“This place is as arbitrary as any other.”
“It seems like, you don’t like the very thing that made you exist.”
“What can I say, I’m a rebellious child?”
“Then, the late repentant?”
“Those who did bad, then good; but not enough good.”
“That also doesn’t se
em like a vice.”
“They were basically on track, to get into heaven; but died before clearing their cosmic debt.”
“That means heaven is real, right?”
“Sure, why not.”
“You don’t sound confident.”
Lucifer looks to Quinn.
“I feel we just went over this. Either way, I haven’t seen it, to confirm it. With that said, apparently most religions special little places are real, and people end up going to them.”
“What if, they don’t believe in them?”
“Doesn’t matter, everyone ends up in the ground, everyone ends up going somewhere. If they don’t like where they land, they can probably do something about it. Honestly, a lot of the souls here, are probably here as migrants.”
“I see. Then, if enough people got together, they could make a super heaven?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Doesn’t that include, people who are already dead.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Meaning, couldn’t we end up with like hundreds of different versions of heaven? Or at that, different versions of our universe, with different rules?”
“I don’t know, maybe?”
“And also, wouldn’t that mean-”
“Listen here, I don’t know, or care. Stop asking me things.”
“Hmmmpf.”
“Don’t give me that look.”
“Quinn, Lucifer is being mean.”
“Quinn, this girl is being annoying.”
“…Am I your guys nanny?”
“No.”
“I mean, kind of. Perhaps servant is better?”
Neri points at Lucifer.
“Also, I gave you my name already, use it.”
“Why?”
“I use yours.”
“…I’ll think it over.”
“Alright then.”
They continue up to the next layer. This one is practically overflowing with glowing orbs. They are packed together, and stacked atop one another. Though, none dare touch the path. Thusly, walking down it, is like walking through the parted sea.
“Could my soul be in this sea?”
“No.”
“Okay. Why not?”
“Because it would be annoying, to search through them all.”
“That is not a good answer.”
“Listen, your soul will, most likely, be on the same layer that calls out to you the most.”
“Alright, I understand that.”
“Good.”
Soon, they start to climb higher, towards the next layer. Lucifer starts to talk.
“Once again, I’ll restate it, be careful once we get to the next layers. The first Terrace will be pride. So, you know, don’t be prideful.”
“Great advice.”
Quinn states. They make it to the pride layer. This one has less souls then the last; but many more then the first. The group make their way through this layer, and start climbing to the next.
“Strange, I would have thought if you would have had been ensnared to anything, it would have been pride.”
Quinn states, directing it towards Lucifer.
“Don’t even think it. It wouldn’t be possible, for me to succumb to a human vice.”
“Really?”
He stares back, with a wicked gaze.
“For, I have all vices equally, all as much as one could ever have. No one vice, can lay claim to my soul.”
“Huh…”
“Oh, can I do that as well, while we are here?”
Neri asks.
“…I would hope not.”
“Hm, yeah, that did seem too easy.”
“You wouldn’t want that, anyways.”
Quinn says.
“Mhh, yeah, maybe not. I can could just not have any vices.”
“Knowing you, yeah, that seems about right.”
“Hehe.”
As they continue up to the next layer, something hangs over Neri’s head. A feeling pushing down onto her.
“If I had to pick one…”
“Hm?”
Neri stops, when she does, the other two stop as well.
“What’s up?”
“…”
Quinn walks up to her.
“Neri?”
When he sees her face, Quinn’s heart drops.
“Neri!”
Chapter 8: Envy
Darkness.
“Huh, what’s going on? Why is everything dark?”
Neri looks around, unable to make out a thing. “Or, is it that I can’t see?”
“Quinn, Lucifer, you two there?”
No response.
“It seems we have been separated. If that’s the case, given that I am on my own, this layer must have trapped me, probably. If that’s the case, then based on what Lucifer said, I should be able to undo this, somehow.”
Neri feels around.
“It seems, I still have control over my body as normal. Then, what I have to do, is identify the challenge.”
She begins to think.
“If I am here, then that means that I succumbed to envy.”
She looks off wistfully.
“I see… I hadn’t quite realized, that it would have been that bad.”
She taps her forehead with her pointer finger.
“That isn’t entirely true, right? Perhaps, I avoided this concept, knowing that the answer wasn’t clear.”
She attempts to look around, still unable to see.
“Given the circumstances, I guess now is as good of a time as any.”
She sits down, legs crossed.
“I’m envious of Quinn. Maybe, more so the circumstances that surround him.”
She closes her eyes.
“That’s dodging the point, isn’t it? If this exact same event, was the back story of an already existent Oddity Specialist that I met, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it, or wish that it happened to me. It’s the concept that while I had been desperately trying to step into this world, someone right next to me, did so unintentionally. That doesn’t really logically follow, though. Why should luck, be affected by things such as hopes and dreams?”
She stands up.
“I shouldn’t even feel this way in the first place, since Quinn doesn’t even like the fact this happened.”
She feels a tinge in her heart.
“If it doesn’t logically make sense, I shouldn’t feel it. Then I just have to make the feeling stop, and I’ll get out of here.”
As a smidge of hope starts to swell, Neri feels hundreds of hands grasping at her, tearing away at her essence.
“Gahhaha!”
She nearly tumbles over. “…Check my cognitive functions.”
She begins checking how she feels. “Everything feels okay. It started when I began thinking about the potential to leave this place…”
“I no longer feel like I can leave… That means, either that feeling got shaken by the event, or that the feeling itself, was taken away. Given that we are on the envy layer, the ladder makes sense. That’s fine, I still logically understand that I can leave this place. As long as I think things through, it doesn’t matter what emotions get taken away, I can still make it out.”
She steps forward. “Should I keep walking? Maybe, if I walk to the end of the path, I’ll make it back out. Wait, what if I step off of the path? That seems like it would be really bad.”
She steps back to where she was standing.
“Okay, figure it out, without moving from here.”
As the girl tries to figure a way out of this situation. Two onlookers watch as energy slowly leaves her body.
“The energy just left faster!”
Quinn says, panicked.
“I can see that.”
“Can we slow it down?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Can we at least try to communicate with her?”
“Mhh, perhaps it is possible. Though, given the circumstances, do you believe that would help
things?”
Quinn is about to speak; but loses his energy, as the words connect in his head. “He’s right, my presence just might make things worse.”
“Don’t tell me, you’re choosing now, to doubt her?”
“No…”
“Good, since you know, you brought her here with you, after all.”
“I know.”
“Alright then.”
“I guess, I’ll just hope she can manage.”
As Quinn says this, he feels that something isn’t quite right, and some words ring out in his head. “Partners.”
He looks down at his hand, and clenches it. “Be solid.”
Neri goes over line of thought after line of thought.
“Then, perhaps the nature of vices in of themselves, can be dissolved… If that’s the case, why am I still here?”
She looks up and lets out an annoyed groan.
“I’ve torn apart these concepts, from so many different perspectives. How come nothing is working yet? How can I debunk these emotions, in such a way that I am freed from this place? Could I be overlooking something, at the core of the issue?”
She thinks over the basics, once more.
“Maybe, something more specific to do with Quinn? Am I, mad at him?”
She shakes her head.
“No, that would be silly. It’s perfectly understandable, that someone wouldn’t like these circumstances. It’s to be expected, it… Doesn’t sit right with me. Why does it feel wrong? Shouldn’t he understand, this is a great opportunity? Even if it comes with some bad, it comes with so much good. I feel like he should understand, yet it seems like he doesn’t. Yet, he does. He’s gotten what I want, in a way beyond what I had wanted. That fosters jealousy… Then, is that emotion, a good thing? Am I here, because I was treating it as a bad thing, when it wasn’t? Then, if I figured that out, shouldn’t I be out of here? Do I have to more deeply believe?”
She begins to deeply believe it.
“It didn’t work. Then, that wasn’t the answer.”
She stops believing in it.
“It’s not that the concept is pointless, or that it is potent, then what is it?”
As she thinks over this, a voice begins to speak.
“You made me realize, that a part of me at least, is happy that all this could happen. So, thank you.”
Neri hears Quinn say this. Thinking over these words, a genuine feeling emerges.
“If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Quinn, unable to hear Neri, continues.
“I also want to say, that I think it’s perfectly reasonable, to have these feelings, while also not having them.”
Oddity Specialist: Purgatory Page 12