Metamorphosis: Seven Sins I - Callous Comeback

Chapter 1 – Callous Comeback

Five Years Ago

A freak storm was pummeling the western coastline of the Deserted Island, formerly known as Moga Island. Alas, such days were long past, as the fishing community of Moga Village had been destroyed in a similar storm almost forty years ago. Not since that day had such a sudden storm wreaked havoc on the island.

In the eye of the storm – way, way out to sea, where the mountainous peaks of the island were only barely visible on the horizon – something stirred. Something ancient, long-forgotten, and, in the best interests of the known world, better off unconscious.

Tired… so tired… need more rest…

The being almost wanted to stay there and never wake up. He never had been the most energetic of people. He was so comfortable lying there on the ocean floor, as he had been for the past thousand-and-nine-hundred-fifty years. In fact, it had been so long since he was last awake that his body had actually turned to stone. Perhaps he deserved it, after what he had done. Condemned to sleep for so long that rock grew over his body – a very ironic way to go if you asked him.

Being asleep, unaware of the cruel world around him, was bliss. This in mind, he began to sink back into slumber.

Then the awful memories came back, the memories of what had happened to his soul as he slept – trapped in Hell, forced to lay in a snake pit with only a hungry Najarala for company. A place where moving a muscle would get you bitten. Again, ironic.

''Need more rest… but elsewhere. If I fall asleep here, I’ll be back in eternal prison with that miserable serpent.''

Under the tumultuous waves, in a cave so deep beneath the surface that light only barely penetrated the darkness, the statue shuddered and began to crack. As the being felt awareness and strength return to him, the storm up above grew worse. The harder he struggled against his prison, the more the currents swirled.

The moment his bonds exploded into dust, a nimbus of electricity scoured the sky far above, creating enough thunder and enough lightning that the being could hear and see it even from the ocean floor.

And then, everything became calm again. There wasn’t even the slightest breeze to ripple the water’s surface as the being swam upwards to take his first breath of air in centuries.

That feels good, he thought, as his head poked above the surface. He smiled lazily. ''Now time to find the others. Ruling the world is too much work for one person, after all.''

The one known as Ace, Spirit of Sloth, only needed the slightest application of his powers to create a current that pushed him toward Deserted Island.

Elsewhere, the great volcano rumbled and shook as if it could barely keep itself together. It had been a long time since its last eruption, when its sole inhabitant had first been imprisoned. Lava had been boiling inside of it for almost two millennia. It needed to let it out.

Trapped… still trapped… don’t like it…

Now that awareness was returning to her, though, the volcano was starting to feel like it couldn’t hold on to its pent-up fury. It had to let it all out, or else it may just explode. The one it was keeping imprisoned had a volatile temper, and it was infectious.

Don’t like being trapped… don’t like it… hate it… HATE IT!

There was a muffled *boom* that came from within the fiery mountain, and massive clouds of smoke shot into the air. The atmosphere was darkening ominously, appropriate for what was about to happen. And still, the pressure within the volcano built up until, indeed, it could hold on to its anger no longer.

''I HATE IT! LET ME OUT! I MUST RELEASE MY RAGE! I HATE IT!''

*CRA-KA-BOOOOOOOOOM!*

Fire and brimstone erupted from the volcano’s mouth. Lava rushed forth, drenching the sides of the mountain in red-hot rivers of death. Immense boulders of hardened magma rained down on the land, bringing nothing but utter devastation that spread for miles around.

The largest boulder hit the ground in the middle of an ashy, primordial forest near the volcano’s slope, hissing loudly as it was quickly cooled by the air around it. Then, the numerous cracks in its surface shone bright yellow, like it held tremendous energy inside of it that simply couldn’t be contained.

It exploded with a deafening bang.

From the middle of the wreckage, the being let out a primal growl and stalked forward. It was only after her anger had settled a few seconds later when she realized that she was supposed to walk on two legs. She did so, and surveyed her surroundings with one good eye. The other was milky white, and had a hideous scar slashing across it.

“Pathetic vermin-infested world,” she spat viciously. “It needs to be fixed… the ground torn asunder… the trees ripped apart… the… the living things eviscerated…”

Her eye flickering red with madness, and mouth foaming with acid saliva, the being stumbled forward. The sheer amount of fury she was just barely keeping in check clouded her vision, making it difficult to walk. Her muscles constantly twitched with suppressed rage, adding to her instability.

But she would make it. Oh, she would make it. And when she did, well…

“Life is good,” Ira, Spirit of Wrath, said with a twisted grin. “But for everything else, the alternative is better.”

Near the very same volcano from which the second spirit had been unleashed, there was a place called the Sacred Land. The most hostile part of the already-hostile habitat, no monster could survive there.

Part of the reason why it served as a prison for another spirit – after all, if nothing could survive, nothing could try to release him.

At the bottom of the Sacred Land’s largest lava pool, where the immense lava falls plunged over the cliff and filled it to the brim with scalding hot, liquid rock, the being awoke abruptly in response to the volcano’s eruption. The lava falls were constant and their continuous roar was soothing. But the great burst of rock and fire that was launched from the great mountain was a disturbance. A disturbance of unchecked power.

Power… that is what I want… all mine… so much of it… mine for the taking…

Feeling strength trickling back into his body, he clawed upward through the lava, slowly rising against the push of the falls that endlessly poured viscous liquid on top of his prison. He could tell that his soul had returned to its vessel, granting him all that had once been his. He could move his limbs, he could rise up out of the lava, he could feel the lava agonizingly searing his skin.

But even though his body was screaming in pain, the being smiled. He had forgotten what it was like to feel things – and no, his time in purgatory didn’t count, where his soul had had molten gold forced down its throat. That had been painful, although deliciously ironic.

No, this lava bath was nothing to him. Being able to truly feel pain invigorated him, telling him that he was alive once more. He swam faster, and broke the surface, sucking in a deep, glorious breath.

Breath… I’m alive… I have power… but I crave more… oh, so much more…

He crawled out of the lava pool and staggered to his feet, almost unable to stand. But there was immense power to be taken from this world, and that was what motivated him. It was in the air he breathed, in the heat of the stone under his feet, and every second he spend standing there was like he was bathing in gold.

Avari, Spirit of Greed, smirked as his senses drank in his surroundings. Gold… power… the very world itself… all of it would soon be his.

The storm near the Deserted Island had moved on to the landmass itself. The worst of it was currently hammering the lush forest region known as the Misty Peaks. A Zinogre turned its head toward the black sky and howled, feeling the intense electrical energy crackling inside the clouds.

High on the tallest peak, only known as the Great Mountain, the clouds swirled about each other, creating a black hole in the middle not unlike the eye of a hurricane. Lightning flashed from inside the eye and crackled along the bottom of the clouds, their skeletal forks branching out like a deadly web. Occasionally, a faint yet intense glow would fade into and out of existence, coming from the very heart of the storm.

So much energy… it feels so good… more…

Just underneath the barren, windswept surface of the plateau that served as the peak of the Great Mountain, the earth shifted as the being fought her way to freedom. Her first few seconds of awareness were awful. Being underground was torture for someone who enjoyed the sky. Her sensitive skin needed to be in the open air.

Her pain turned to annoyance, and her annoyance fueled her powers. An immense, tornadic blast of Wind magic tore the ground to shreds, sending the being flying high above the Great Mountain. She let out a sigh as she felt the rain and wind caress her, filling her lungs with moist, life-giving air. Another application of her powers created a gentle downdraft that allowed her to float down back onto solid earth.

The wind… the rain… the elements are there to pleasure me…

After almost two thousand years of being imprisoned in Hell, with no physical sensation to speak of except that of an inferno devouring every inch of her skin, she had forgotten how much she missed this world. Every new smell, sound, sight… all of it was pleasing, and she lived for pleasure. The very act of standing still in this terrible storm filled her with ecstasy.

More pleasure… MORE…

From her high vantage point, the being’s eyes lit up upon seeing a small village in the distance. A deadly smirk flitted across her face. Destruction would please her. It would please her very much indeed.

As she jumped off the mountain and flew toward the doomed settlement, the spine-tingling cackle of Luxi, Spirit of Lust, blended in perfectly with the howl of the winds.

There was no wind. No light. No sound. Absolutely no environmental stimulus for the senses to feed off of, except for the bitter cold that strangled the Tundra in its deathly embrace and never let go. And of course, the dread. Any living thing that wandered in here would slowly grow more and more terrified, until it fled in blind terror.

There were many caves in the Tundra that offered a place for life to thrive. This was not one of them.

Inside this darkest of chambers, a biting chill suddenly breezed through. This was no mere wind, though – it was the power of an ancient horror about to awaken for the first time in many hundreds of years.

A world that should have belonged to me… I can still take it by force… there’s still a chance… I’ll make this world pay for denying me what is rightfully mine…

Fueled by the being’s jealousy and spite, the temperature plunged, and the ‘wind’ began to swirl like a tornado. Ice formed on the walls and ceiling of the cave, and still the temperature refused to stop falling. If there had been any creature in this chamber, it would have frozen solid in little more than an instant.

One would think that the icy stalactite that happened to be hanging in the center of the storm would thicken, gaining an extra layer of ice to further imprison the being inside of it. However, it did the opposite – it weakened, the intense cold causing cracks to zigzag across its length.

With only the barest shrug, the being shattered her frozen prison and painfully landed on the hard ground below. Free once more. She should have been at least satisfied by that, if not outright happy.

But she wasn’t satisfied. She was extremely angry. Anyone else wouldn’t have been hurt from such a short fall. Anyone else would have landed on their feet. Why hadn’t she? Why was this disgusting world out to get her? Why was pain always inflicted on her, and nobody else?

Calmly, the being stalked in the direction of the cave mouth, ice forming underfoot with every step. Her calmness was a guise, though – it was her spite that flowed out of her and froze the ground, her spite that gave her eyes a glare so powerful that her eyes glowed in the darkness.

“Sssoon…” she spoke in a high-pitched whisper. “Sssoon I will be the fortunate one… and everything and everyone that made me sssuffer will be the misssfortunate.”

The world owed Invi, Spirit of Envy. And she would make it pay dearly.

There was a reason the enormous ocean of sand that covered a good portion of the continent was called “the Great Desert”. There was literally nothing but sand for as far as the eye could see, unless you counted the humans crossing it in their sandships, and the vast elder dragons that hunted them down.

In a much different way from the ice cave that had spawned the Spirit of Envy, there was no real sensation, apart from the midday heat that turned the sand hot enough to fry eggs on it. The sun beat mercilessly down on the endless sea, smothering everything that would have otherwise existed without it. No sounds, no scents, no sights.

Until the sand in one particular spot started to shift.

FOOD! That was what the awakening spirit’s first conscious thought was. Haven’t eaten in so long… I didn’t actually need to eat during my imprisonment, but now I’m alive again, and I want to EAT!

It hadn’t been bad in Hell. His cell had had nothing for him to satiate his hunger with except for live, rather disgusting animals. Admittedly, toads and rats and the like weren’t bad once you got used to them, but it was awfully boring. Now that his soul had returned to his stone-encrusted body, though, this was his chance to incorporate a bit of variety into his diet!

The sand started to sink, creating a huge pit that widened with every second. Had there been any Delex swimming by, the dolphin-like creatures would have been sucked helplessly into the whirlpool. It deepened with every inch it grew by, and it wasn’t long before it had reached the statue buried far below the surface.

Solid stone poked through the surface. Even through his shell, the being could feel sunlight washing over him. His power over Earth built up inside of him, causing his stone prison to tremble and vibrate as if about to burst. It did, eventually, after he had shaken it up enough. The resultant *bang* echoed across the desert, and little steaming chunks of rock were scattered far and wide.

The being climbed to his feet, and the pit he had created rose up again until it was level with the rest of the Great Desert, like it had never been there previously.

“It’s good to be back!” the spirit proclaimed, placing his hands on his hips in an approving pose as he scanned the empty desert. “Now I think I’ll go find something with some taste to it… then the others! Yes. Food first, then the others.”

Gulo, Spirit of Gluttony, was good at prioritizing.

The seventh spirit was the very last to awaken from his thousand-and-nine-hundred-fifty-year sleep.

As was usual for the Tainted Sea, the sky was overcast and the air was only slightly humid. Despite being so close to the ocean, this secluded cove held no life aside from insects and small plants. The beach was rocky and barren, and the waves that washed over the shore only brought inanimate debris with it. There weren’t even any fish bones or dead creatures to speak of. In the distance, the famous lighthouse of Port Tanzia rose up from the horizon like a grim obelisk, and the wind blew the stench of its fires toward the lifeless coast.

Of course, there was a very good reason for the Tainted Sea’s condition. It was exactly that – tainted. The waters of the bay were uncomfortably warm, almost boiling hot, and nothing could live in such horrible conditions. Legends said that, at the bottom of the bay, rested a legendary elder dragon that had been cast into banishment by another, more benevolent, creature.

And every legend had a grain of truth buried at its core.

I can FEEL…

If there had been anything living at the bottom of the bay, they would have felt the sudden disturbance that rippled through the depths. It was as if a long-dormant presence had abruptly stirred for the first time in many centuries. All movement in the water stopped – it was like the tides themselves had momentarily frozen with fear.

Two medium-sized thermal vents that stuck out from the seabed, which had long remained inactive, suddenly brightened and spewed lava into the water. They were joined by several smaller vents that grew out of the rocky floor nearby. For the first time, orange-red light touched the murky depths of the Tainted Sea.

I can SPEAK…

A low, rumbling roar vibrated through the water, and the ground began to shake. The volcanoes shifted, then suddenly moved upwards, as if something was pushing them up from out of the ground. The two largest volcanoes rained dust down on the seafloor as a pair of thick, flightless wings unfolded. A cluster of six volcanoes began to rise, revealing a head-shaped mound upon which two points of fiery light glowed – a pair of eyes.

I can SEE…

The roar increased in volume to a deafening bellow as the elder dragon emerged from the ground, its many volcanoes belching smoke and fire into the water. Huge hissing clouds of bubbles erupted into the water, easily cloaking the gigantic beast. It seemed as though the dragon was part of the land itself, with its rocky hide and volcanoes sprouting from its head, wings, and tail.

I can MOVE…

The surface of the Tainted Sea heaved, and the elder dragon’s head and shoulders exploded up out of the water. Salty spray rained around it as it took its first breath of fresh air. Its eyes blazed hotter as it glimpsed the overcast sky and the mile-high cliff walls that enclosed the Tainted Sea.

With immense effort, the elder dragon managed to drag its enormous bulk onto land, thanks to a pair of legs that hadn’t quite gotten used to moving yet. On those same legs, it stood tall once more, drinking in the sights and smells that were there for it to drink.

''Finally… I am awake. Finally… I can enjoy what my beautiful world has to offer me.''

It was his world. His to live in. His to admire. His to conquer.

Opening his jaws, the elder dragon unleashed a triumphant roar that shattered the sound barrier, making the air itself ripple. Fire and rock erupted forth from his volcano-wings, flying high into the atmosphere before falling back down as a hail of meteors. Each meteor that hit the ground made it tremble, and rightfully so. The Earth itself was smart to fear the elder dragon’s revival.

As fire rained down around him, he smiled. Announcing his return had felt better than he had thought it would, even if there was nothing around to hear it.

No matter. They would find out soon enough.

In the blink of an eye, the elder dragon had vanished. There was no fancy flash of light that announced his disappearance – he was simply there one moment, and gone the next.

In the dragon’s place was a cloaked figure.

Superbius, Sin of Pride, averted his gaze to the sky. Distantly, he could see the black storm clouds that hung over Moga Island, away from the continent. He could feel an unusually cold breeze, feel the rumblings of the faraway mountain, and hear the distant sifting of sand… All of these were signs that he was not the only one to have awakened today.

After many lifetimes spent suffering in a place where despair reigns and pain is the only way to atone for past crimes, Superbius thought, a dark smile playing across his lips, it gives me some satisfaction to even dare think of this…

The Seven Deadly Sins are back.

'To be Continued...''

Metamorphosis: Seven Sins II - Heinous History'''