Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

I wonder what’s happening to Ed right now? Is he okay? Is he safe? Zara sat at her work desk, worrying about Ed. He still isn’t back yet. I thought he said that the punishments lasted less than a day.

“Today’s file has arrived Zara.” Buddie said, knocking her out of her thoughts.

Name: Marlon Bower

Age: 23

Occupation: Hotel porter

Biography: Born to parents John and Valery Bower, Marlon’s family ran a small motel off the highway on the edge of town. He helped his parents in the hotel. He would help the customers to their rooms, and provide them with assistance whenever they needed it... Despite being out of the way, the motel received a lot of visitors because the town was in-between multiple tourist hotspots... Marlon met countless characters and became enamoured by their stories... Thanks to his young, innocent appearance, and his eloquence, he was able to easily connect with the customers, acting as if they had been friends for years... One late night, a young couple pulled into the motel’s carpark. The woman clung to the man sweetly, clearly drunk. Thankful that he was able to find a room, the man left his bags to Marlon while he carried the woman to their room... Later in the night, Marlon woke up to a dull thump. Heading towards the source of the noise, he looked through the window to see the man standing tall above the bloodied and wounded woman. Marlon froze in fear, watching as the man brutalised the woman’s body, killing her. Marlon locked eyes with the man, who threatened him into silence with the bloody knife... Even long after the man left, Marlon stayed silent, and never told anyone about what he saw.

-End of document-

Why didn’t he say anything? The man wouldn’t have been able to do anything to him. The moment he left town, Marlon should’ve gone to the police. That way the man would’ve been stopped. “Buddie. Has that man killed anyone since this happened?”

“Yes, he has since killed three more women.”

More people are going to die because of his inaction. I think I know how to punish him. Opening the app, she went about setting the scene for the murder that took place. The motel took shape on the screen, with the moon shining on the empty highway.

“Buddie, can you show me what happened that night? I want to see what happened to her.” Zara asked.

A moment later, footage of that night showed on screen. Zara studied every action the killer took during the video. Watching the video come to an end, Zara went back to work. “I want you to put Marlon in the position of the woman. However, I don’t want him to be under the effect of any drugs or alcohol when he gets attacked. I want him to be fully aware of the pain. If he makes any noise loud enough to attract the attention of the other people in the motel, someone will appear in the window like he did. If this happens, he will die.”

“Is there anything else you would like to add?” Buddie asked.

She thought for a moment and grinned.

~

For a moment, Ed felt completely weightless. He found himself surrounded by the same blue light that came when the teleporter activated. He tried to sense around for the other people but found no one. It felt like he was once again trapped in an abyss.

Thankfully, it didn’t last long. His vision cleared, and he was able to sense everyone that was around him.

Victor grabbed him by the arm and led him out of the square he found himself on. “I’ve already called ahead to have someone come get us. There should be a car waiting for us outside.”

The crowd flooded out of the square and dispersed throughout the city. Parked by the side of the road was a Limousine. Standing out front of the car was a neatly dressed man holding a sign that read ‘Victor’.

Greeting the man, the two hopped into the back of the limo. As it set of down the street, Ed was able to get a proper view of Pride City. Despite the constant ash and smoke in the sky, the city was immaculately clean. Ed saw janitors going up and down the street, constantly at work making sure that the city was clean.

As the car drove further away from the teleporter, the number of armed guards decreased, but Ed could still see them patrolling around different buildings.

Off in the distance, in the centre of town stood a majestic golden palace. Even from this distance, the palace dwarfed everything else in the city. It was by far the largest and most luxurious building Ed had ever seen. The palace could be seen from almost anywhere in the city.

BOOM! BOOM!

A series of explosions happened further down the street, demolishing one of the buildings. Through the rubble and smoke, Ed watched an intense battle play out. Two people were locked in a constant battle, dodging around the place and using the rubble to avoid each other’s attacks. A young insectoid woman was hurling bombs at her opponent while ducking between cover. Her opponent, a man with weasel like features, was trying to find an opening so he could shoot her with his pistols. The battle itself was noisy and chaotic but was limited to that single plot of land.

The car drove past the fight, which didn’t seem like it was going to end anytime soon. I wonder who’s going to win? Ed thought while looking back at the fight as it slowly disappeared from view.

Victor noticed Ed’s curiosity and decided to shed some light on the situation. “What you just witnessed was a duel. Here on the Pride circle, sinners will duel each other for many reasons: power, wealth, ownership of land, or even just because of their pride. Unless the person owns a lot of land, this is usually the most destructive the duels will get.”

“And why is that?” Ed asked.

“Destroying your own property is fine, but problems can arise if you damage someone else’s property. There’s the potential for the fights to blow way out of control, and most people find that unbecoming of their status, so they try their best not to cause needless destruction. That’s also the reason why the battle is a straightforward duel. You most likely won’t come across a sneak attack like what happened to Mr Milani in Pride City.”

“So, the people here care a lot about their status?”

“They’re on the Pride Circle for a reason. Of course, there will be people from other circles, so not everyone will care about their status so much. But the citizens do hold everyone to fairly high standards.”

Not too long later, the car came to a stop outside of a modern and stylish looking office building. Above the entrance of the building was aa bright, glittering sign that read ‘Hellish Habits Co. Ltd.’

Looks like this is our stop. Making sure they looked presentable, the two stepped out of the car and made their way inside.