Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

And in an instant, he was back. He found himself inside his apartment. It had a warm and peaceful atmosphere that comforted him greatly. He had come back to this place to relax after each painful day at work, so he had some feelings for this place.

He wanted nothing more than to shower and call Zara over to end her holiday properly, but he knew he had to get straight into work. “Good morning Buddie,” he said, his eyes darting to the clock to doublecheck that it was still morning.

The room was silent for a moment before Buddie reluctantly answered. “Morning Ed.” Even though his voice hadn’t changed from its usual monotony, Ed could still hear that Buddie was pissed off at him.

Buddie had been blocked out from working in this universe for multiple days because of Ed. He hated not being able to do something that he knew was waiting for him. His work was now delayed for days and he had to put a lot more energy and focus into getting this universe back on track.

And even though he couldn’t figure it out at the time, it didn’t take him long to realise that someone had played a trick on him, causing Ed’s request to not go through to Superbia. He had also figured out who it was that did it, but that only left him more frustrated.

He couldn’t do anything to Superbia who had punished him. And he couldn’t do anything to Urdhuri either. So he could only put his focus on Ed.

He couldn’t fire or kill him, as that would go against the rules of the company and his programming. Ed hadn’t technically done anything wrong there, and had already finished his punishment for his previous mistake. Buddie was limited in what he could do to Ed.

But that didn’t mean there was nothing he could do. There were still a few tricks he could resort to to make Ed’s life difficult.

“Because you have been absent from work for the past few days, your assets have currently been frozen. That includes your bank account and your apartment. You have a minute to leave or you will be kicked out.” Once again, Buddie’s voice was monotonous, but Ed could feel the joy Buddie was having at his expense.

“But why? I was away from work because I was being punished.” Ed already knew something like this was going to happen, but he still wanted to know why Buddie could pull something like this.

“Your punishment ended a few days ago when you left Hell. Since you have only just now returned several days later, then it is only right for you to be punished for it.” If Buddie had a face, he would probably be grinning with satisfaction.

“Fine,” Ed reluctantly agreed with it and went to quickly grab his belongings. There wasn’t much he wanted to take with him, but he knew he had to grab the book Urdhuri had given him. Just for the amount of information it had.

Grabbing the book, he raced out the door before he could be kicked out. He found himself in a familiar office space, with a few familiar people around. He hadn’t really talked with any of the coworkers he shared an office with, but he could still tell that they seemed to be doing just as good as usual.

He walked to his desk and smiled when he saw Zara waiting for him. She unfurled her wings and pounced on him the second she saw him. He felt some pain in his ribs and was almost sent flying through the desk and person behind him. If he hadn’t reacted quickly enough by securing his threads into the ground as an anchor, she would have easily sent him soaring.

Smiling at each other, they sat down at their desks and waited for Buddie to give the order.

“Due to a recent incident, work has been backed up a little. Now that we have gotten everything back up and running, you will have to work harder for a little while,” Buddie said.

“That’s fine. Just send me the info, I can’t wait!” Zara was excited to get her hands dirty with work again. She also couldn’t wait to see what Ed would do.

“The information is currently on its way and should reach you shortly. But in the meantime, there is something else that needs to be discussed. We are going to start another hiring round from your planet, and this time we will be hiring more people. When the time comes, you will need to help out with some things.”

Both nodded, and were curious about their new colleagues. Zara was excited to find out what they would be like and what kind of traps they would make. Whereas Ed was slightly worried about them.

I wonder if there are going to be any innocent people that will be forced into the trial period? I don’t think many people will be able to handle this. But it also can’t just be a bunch of psychotic murderers, then how many people will stand a chance at redemption?

His eyes darted over to Zara who had an excited smile on her face as she stared at the screen. It was already difficult enough to get her to focus on redemption over murder. And that took a promised vacation and the fact that we’re dating to get her to do that. I don’t think that strategy will work for anyone else.

He thought back to his experiences during the trial period and how he felt then. The pain he went through when he died for his first and second time. How he was forced to cave in and punish people. He went through quite a lot, and if it wasn’t for all the strange and painful things he had experienced in his life up to that point, he didn’t think he would still be as mentally healthy as he was today.