City of Sinners

Chapter 16

“What has happened?” I ‘ve seen Solomon and another man—Jerross of the Eagles—running towards the pile of shocked and disbelieving people.

I quickly took my steps from where I stood, and went towards him. I grabbed the collar of his chirt and with all the panic and worry in my eyes, I look at him straightly.

“We need to save Valour,” I said. I don’t know, I think I am about to cry as I look at him. But I pulled my best not to. Now is not the right time to show my weakness. Some one needs my help. Valour needs help.

“I can’t help you not unless if you tell me what has happened,” Solomon demanded.

I almost curse him out because of frustration, but good thing I was able to hold at myself. I bit my lip to control the anger, and with a hard decision, I removed my hands away from his collar.

“Valour and other of the gang members was abducted by something,” Gaston helped me explaining. It was a woman who all was covered in black, travelling from one place to another with the use of black dimension, snatching anyone she could meet.”

From my peripheral vision, I saw Jerross whispering to another man. I recognized it was his right hand in the eagle gang. When his right hand replied—in an inaudible whispers—Jerross looked at us.

“I think, the hell has planned this,” he said.

Solomon looked at him. With confusion, he asked, “What do you mean … planned by the hell?”

“This man beside me has analyzed the situation. It turned out, the woman has abducted one person each among the six gangs surviving here.”

“That means …”

“The hell knew who to abduct among us: those people whom we couldn’t let just die: couldn’t let just be left in this hellish hell.”

“Then …” with a noticed panic from Solomon, he quickly asked who among the Ravens has been abducted. It was the right hand man of the Raven. The one who has been helping Solomon since founding the Raven gang; the one who has a complete access to their financial accounts.

As for the Owls, I felt more bad and down when I found out that it was Agos who was abducted. Damn it! This hell knew a lot of things and has been doing mischievous acts just to make us feel miserable. I hate the feeling that I have in my chest now. The anger and irritation has ignited in my chest, that I somehow even thought that I can kill whoever the ruler of this hell—if ever there is, or if ever I could kill it. I don’t know! I just … feel raging.

“Do not worry Sitri,” Solomon’s voice has erupted beside me. I was looking at the red ground with anger that time, and when I heard him, I withdrew my stare from it, and looked at him with queries.

“We’ll be saving them, no matter what,” he again said. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at our front.

I followed the trail of his eye stares and then there … in the hologram filled with terrifying sentence extracted from the book of Inferno, another words has came out.

“Follow the trail of blood,” it reads.

And then, a map. It was a map that was as if made by a kindergarten: a simple X-mark labeled with “safe zone”, a two paired curved lines which looked like a road—labeled with 13th Kollor street, and another X-spot labeled with “the entrance to lust.” However, despite how simplistic the drawing is, I felt extreme spine-chilling sensation because the way it was drawn was terrifying. The curving roads has a lot of edgy points, as if the one who drew had Essential Tremor Disorder. Plus mention the blood-like in that was used to draw the image, it did not fail to make me feel afraid. Earlier, I was just this Sitri who doesn’t feel frightened of anything. I even unthinkingly dashed to a wave of Sinners. But now, I the Hell, has changed me a lot. I am now this stupid Sitri who felt easily afraid just because of a simple drawing.

“Was the hell telling us to follow that map?” Gaston asked.

“No doubt, Gaston,” Jerross replied.

“It was planning on something,” I told them.

“Sure it was,” Jeross again said.

“On the other hand, I think it was also telling us where the entrance to the second circle of hell is,” Gaston said.

Jeross looked at him. “You mean that entrance to lust mark is where the entrance to the second circle of hell is?”

But Gaston being unsure, he shrugged his shoulder. “Don’t know, man. I guess it was. I guess it wasn’t. All our clue is that the second circle of hell is the circle of the Sinners of lust. So maybe …” he answered.

Not from afar, at the edge of the safe zone, we heard a man shouting; “I found the X-mark! I found the trail!” he screamed.

Solomon started to move. He wielded his Silver sword which came on his hand upon twisting his ring. Just like him, I also grabbed my twin jaded knife from the strap attached on my belt, and then I started to play with it.

“I don’t force anyone to come to me. Or to join anyone who would join this Hell’s trick. But … if you know how important that man who was abducted from your group, then … you shouldn’t be hesitating.”

I exhaled deeply. I let the extreme control and concentration take me. When I am done, I am the first one who moved; who walked; who travelled the bloody path made by hell.

“Let’s move!” said Solomon from behind with a highly demanding tone.

Move. Yes, let’s move.

Because I will do anything just to save Valour.