The Sleep World

5: Underground Facility of Babylon High [14th March, 2013]

“When I first discovered this one in the second day of classes,” G happily recalls his amazing memory while exploring the facility, “I was thinking about you abducting and conducting experiments on the students. I’m glad that it turned out to be a weapon facility. Now that I found out who you really are… I guess we could call this your domain huh.”

“Aside from you and G, who else knows of this facility?” Orchid asks.

“G’s two classmates, the ones I hired recently,” Sade beams at G. “Maya Muchlater aka the Diligent Sloth and Bobby Porkchop aka the Kind Glutton, do you still remember them, G?”

“They’re here, right now?” G becomes excited.

“Actually, they have classes to teach and it is sad for me to say that but they have a tight schedule,” Sade gives him the bad news. “However, I can give them your contact details so that in case you or they have time to spare…”

“Sure, please do,” G sends Sade his phone number and email address. “I missed those guys…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell them that I got to meet you.” Sade walks along to guide them to the Titanium Bat, “Kids do grow up fast. You were once swinging bats on the skulls of those delinquents, now you are swinging blades to decapitate your foes…”

“I’m not going so far to do that, yet…” G gets weirded out a bit. “That escalated too quickly to be honest…”

“Actually G, we are not aiming for you to become a superhero,” Orchid pats him in the back. “Sometime soon, you will be receiving quests where you need to kill someone.”

“What 3rd strongest is trying to say is… justice is only served when you get to be the one to do the punishing.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Orchid hisses at Sade. “Killing for the sake of justice is different from killing for the sake of necessity. Valid reason within the confines of the law, I mean.”

“Alright,” Sade changes the direction of the conversation. “G, what is your true purpose?”

“I just,” he glances over at Orchid not knowing how to answer the question, “let fate take me to where it takes me.”

“I want to speak with him alone, Orchid, if that is okay?” Sade politely asks for request.

“Sure do,” Orchid walks ahead. “I’ll take a look at your weapons and inventions.”

“Thank you,” Sade stops G from walking. When Orchid disappears from their view, he asks him again, “Now that fate is no longer with us, what is your true purpose… your main goal. I want you to think…”

“I don’t know what my true purpose is… just yet…”

“You should know… you must engage upon it.” Sade makes him look at his own reflection, “See for yourself… your one true self. Even without fate, you have a choice. You can still run away from your destiny and make your own or you can embrace it whichever you choose but you must have a goal. What does the child in you tell you?”

“That I want to become an adventurer,” G answers Sade while looking straight into his reflection, “to go on adventures that I’ve only dreamed of…”

“Now, with the recent events the led you here, what is your purpose now that you’ve got a taste of adventure and the circumstances why you became one?”

G finally realizes what Sade is leading him to, “I want to avenge my parents’ death.”

“That’s it,” Sade makes a revelation. “Your parents shouldn’t have died, but they did. By doing so, it actually changed your fate. This is the answer that you are looking for, G. You are fated to meet them again, Macay and Kroth. However, it is up to your own choice on how you use the power I gave you during your years here in high school.”

“The power of my sin is Vengeance,” G remembers that he has this incredible power. “I almost forgot about it…”

“Being a sinner alone gives you an additional 25% of your combat power, but with that Special Sin… you’ll get an additional 50% physical power and 50% speed.” Sade reminds him about the properties of his power, “your feelings of vengeance gradually increase your power of Sin. Not only that, you can also gain boost just by feeling the strong sense of vengeance from others. BUT LET ME REMIND YOU, G… you are responsible for that power source. USE IT WELL.”

Delving deep into it, G realizes that their tour is over with Orchid waiting at a way-gate Sade invented.

“We should’ve just used this way-gate in the first place,” he thought to himself.

“So this is the one way way-gate you created,” Orchid examines Sade’s invention. “Not too shabby, but it definitely would save us from spending money. Hey G, are you ready to go?”

“Uh yeah,” G hurries along while glancing back at Sade. “What you said, I’ll think about it…”

“You should,” Sade bids them farewell. “See you around…”

Back at Dream Entrance, G decides to ask Orchid about Fate and its entirety.

“Is my destiny my purpose?” he asks her. “I’m totally confused here…”

“Your destiny is a mystery that is unfolding slowly into your very eyes,” Orchid starts. “Your purpose is something that you’ve decided for yourself. I can’t help but read your thoughts… the shallow ones, I mean. Your primary purpose right now is revenge. Lucky for you to have the power source called Sin…”

Sin is a power exclusive to those who studied and are currently studying in Babylon High in High School City. The power of sin, as explained a while ago, boosts a quarter of the total combative prowess of the student. But aside from having the power known as Sin, there are unique individuals who are given the power of the Deadly Sin. There are seven deadly sins known in existence and those appear in only one or two students depending on the school year. Every school year, a pair of deadly sins will be granted to unlikely individuals. For the sins of Sloth and Gluttony that G’s classmates got, Maya Muchlater and Bobby Porkchop, the former being very diligent while the latter being very generous as he would share his meals no matter how little it was.

When G was freshman, two sophomores at that time had the deadly sins Lust and Pride, two juniors had the sins Envy and Greed, and the lone senior got Wrath. When the one with the power of wrath graduates, a new freshman in the next school year will be chosen again. However, apart from the seven deadly sins, there also exists rarer ones called the Seven Hidden Sins and it only appears ones every fifty years, by once meaning that it would follow in the same manner as to how the Seven Deadly Sins would appear. It so happened that in that year, G also became a recipient to one of those by chance… Sin of Vengeance. Aside from Vengeance, the other hidden sins were Treachery, Artifice, Apathy, Defiance, Theft and Sacrilege.

“You shouldn’t read my thoughts, you know?” G covers his head with his hands. “I have some private thoughts too!”

“Let’s not dive into that,” she brews some coffee. “Anyway, you should practice that power of yours for the remainder of time that we have today. I’ll brief you with a new mission tomorrow… another major mission of yours.”

“So is this a part of my destiny?”

“Probably,” she shrugs off. “Remember the plans for the revolution against the government at Alphabeta? You will be doing a major role there G~”

“I knew it,” G sighs anxiously. “I hope everything connects…”

“It gets better, G,” she grins. “By the way, please study about the two or three other governments within Alphabeta. Yeah, you should do that instead of training your sin.”

“But what about my sin?” he asks while thinking of how to activate it.

“Come to think of it, that sin of Vengeance comes naturally,” she tosses some books at him. “This however, is learnt.”

“Alphabeta Region: Past to Present latest edition,” G checks it out while finding himself a seat. “This magical book updates itself, it said…”

Alphabeta Region used to have four great divisions: The Kingdom of Memories, The Blinx Terminal, The Ancient Land, and The Humanimal Territory. However, because of an inner war that happened within Humanimal Territory and the refusal of the other divisions to interfere, the Humanimals fell. The Remnant Islands are what remains of a great nation of human-animal species called humanimals. The war almost led to the extinction of the humanimal population, but thankfully, Kingdom of Memories opened their doors to the refugees of the war and established the Jungle Town at Destiny Islands where the great temple of beginnings stands on top of Mt. Destiny. Now, with only three divisions left and the Remnant Islands remain untouched, the fate of Alphabeta Region rests.

The Kingdom of Memories rules over the Memory Island, the Destiny Island, the Lover Island, the Life Island, and the Quiet Island. However, Quiet Island has been destroyed due to a massive earthquake. The reason of the Island’s death is because it was unfortunately standing on top of a newly formed trench.

The Blinx Terminal Government rules over the Rich Island, Isolated Island, Fathor Island, and Xi Island. They used to be a democratic type of government, but with the recent rise of a corrupt leader the government plunged deep into a dictatorial type of government. However, the only cities where Martial Law is enacted are the cluster of cities that make up the Blinx Terminal. These cities are as follows: Brilliant City (Central), Lustrous City (Northern), Incandescent City (East), Neon City (West), and Xeroradiography or simply X-ray City (South).

Rich Island is the largest Island in Alphabeta Region. Aside from Blinx Terminal, it contains the following towns and cities: Pink Spring Town, Naguilngar Town, Yellowing Town, High School City, Mumbaki Town, Rock Town, Similar Town, Repeat Town, and Shuttle City. The only city who was able to shield themselves from the corrupt government was Shuttle City. Xi Island has three cities in it: Family City, Friend City, and Neighbor City. Fathor Island has the Reaper Town and finally Isolated Island has the Lone Town and the Isolated Temple.

Ancient Land has four islands: Ancient Island, Guardian Island, Necro Island, and Horde Island. The central government of Ancient Land is governed by the United Nations of the Ancients…

“So,” she approaches G, “are you done?”

“I may skim fast, but I read carefully,” he sighs. “I haven’t read enough yet, but I got the gist of what it is trying to tell me…”

“Good,” she pats his back, “I’ll go and get your next quest.”

“A new quest already?” G starts getting pumped. “That’s what I wanted to hear~”

“I’m glad you had that confidence boost,” she opens up a strange envelope. She checks it out, grabs the quest, and gives it to him. “You are going to visit the Humanimals, G.”

G takes a look at the request, “Jungle Town?”

“Yes,” Orchid places the contents of the envelope back. “All of the secret quests will be handed personally to you.”

“To me,” G scratches his head. “This me thing… is getting trivial already…”

“Like I said… if you want to find out why I am going so far doing this for you, you have to find it out.”

“Right,” G puts the books back to his magical storage. “I wonder what those reasons are… exactly…”

“Reasons which do not involve: Romance, Personal Gain, Finance, and Babysitting,” she fires up the magical gateway. “Nevertheless, it involves only one thing… your Destiny.”

“Yeah since you are the goddess of beginnings and destiny…” G looks outside and notices that it is damn sunset. “Can I do this job in the morning?”

“Oh shoot,” Orchid turns off the magical portal. “I forgot… … …you should be doing it on the 15th of March…”

“So… I noticed…”

“Hmm?”

“The envelope…”

“Yeah ‘The Envelope’ is your prophecy and I as the goddess of destiny will be making sure… in anyway or form… that you will… fulfill it.” Orchid nods off, “that’s sounds about right… I need to make sure of that…”

“I’m going to the guild’s bar for a change…”

“If you want to get a piece from the S-Class Magicians out there then… go ahead, otherwise… just stay here and eat the dinner that I cooked for you. Whilst I’m away checking out the receptionists’ progress with the countless quests that enter daily, I suggest that you keep reading books.” Orchid glares at him one last time, “You won’t find the envelope so don’t try…”

“Fine… mom…”

“Good…”

G, in his thoughts, “NYE-NYE-NYE-NYE-NYE-NYE, she talks a lot, my goodness…”

A few more hours later, in a bedroom prepared by Orchid for him, G calls out Index to ask for questions…

“Index, you probably won’t answer my questions… but… why can I casually speak with the likes of you gods?” G examines his blades trying to set up the mood. “I mean, look, I’m not even a hero or a chosen one… but why is she going too far just to help me?”

Index sighs, “Lad, she is the goddess of beginnings and more importantly… of destiny. You are destined for something and you’ll have to find out on your own. Once you find out… it’s up to you to decide.”

“Cryptic messages again,” G swings the Unbreakablade around. “I like this one better than the Isolator. This is well balanced and it feels like I’m one with it.”

“Maybe that’s your destined weapon,” the map floats around and tells him about his next destination. “Do you want to know about Jungle Town? What’s your mission anyway?”

“It’s not really a mission… per se…” G checks it out again. “It just said that I need to get in touch with one of the senators contacts. Some guild members will be with me tomorrow…”

“So you’re going to be a part of a joint mission,” Index confirms while registering the mission to his database. “You will have to do this stealthily. You will need to be careful.”

“Stealth mission in the daylight?”

“Maybe you’ll be having a briefing first I presume…” the map replies. “Stealth missions are usually done at night, so you’ll need to use a little more of that noggin…”

“Yeah but… I kind of want to work solo…”

“This is part of your training,” Index sighs… “You have to sleep… you will be in need of a briefing tomorrow…”

“The way you say it makes it look like I need disciplinary actions,” G sighs… “Oh well… at least I get to have an idea about tomorrow’s activities. I’m really curious… I need to find out a lot about myself and my true purpose…”