A Virtue and A Vice

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Alma pulled the collar of her coat over her thin, pale lips in a useless attempt to fight against the ruthless cold of Skaedi that could chill even an eternal flame to its very core. Her eyes looked up toward her destination, a massive fortress of stone sat atop the cliffside against a drab background of a gray and colorless sky. The snow had let up a bit from its endless cascade but she knew it wouldn't be long before it would swallow the castle and obscure it from her view. "I'm almost there," she speaks aloud despite being completely and utterly alone.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to go alone?" A voice answered her clearly within her own mind, a telekinetic connection from thousands of miles away.

"It was for the best. There's no way you'd be able to sleep in the cold, Besides, who would watch the children if we were both here?"

"I suppose...but they say Pride is a powerful sin, what if they don't want to listen to you?"

"I appreciate your worry, Marzena, but I can handle myself. I'm not here to force anyone to join our little group anyway. I'm merely curious is all and if they happen to be interested then it will just be the icing on the cake. Anyway, I should go, the storm will pick up again soon and I would much rather be inside than out if I can help it." Alma said, feeling Marzena sever their mental connection. Letting out a sigh that came out in a white mist she continued her trek.

Within the hour the snow had picked up as she had feared to the point that the castle was but an outline against the overwhelming blanket of white that seemed to cover the very air itself. Undeterred, she continued with a study pace, humming a quiet lullaby to keep any feelings of frustration at bay for as long as she could and it wasn't long before she reached the entrance to the large structure. A door fit for a giant with a smaller one built into it was the only thing that separated her from the inside and from her target. "I don't know if there is anyone here but I would like to be let in. If I don't get an answer I'll assume I'm alone and break the door down anyway!" She shouted into the small window covered by bars in hope that the echo would carry it over the roar of the blizzard.

The echo slowly faded into obscure silence, and before it had completely disappeared, a voice rang from the castle's depths, deep and masculine, yet speaking softly like a breeze: "I would not see harm come to my home. Enter." spoke the voice. The door stood ready to be opened into the castle, a grand construction of marble and greystone. Chandeliers of blackened gold and shining crystals, bright red carpets and the dead candles on the wall scones ignited to life. Elevated above the rest of the hall with stairs that led up, stood a tall and imposing figure, clad in black and red robes, held together by a clasp of silver. "Such a rare and curious thing... To be granted a visit by a Beast Saint. To what do I owe the... Pleasure?"

Alma gave a courteous bow, a bit relieved she hadn't come all this way to find an empty castle. "Former Beast Saint I'm afraid, though the fact that you already know who I am saves me the trouble of explaining who I am." She says as she removed her hat from her head, already feeling the bite of the cold dissipating under the protection of a roof. She smiled, a soft and gentle smile, though a keen eye could see the falsehood behind it. Like an uncanny mask hiding someone's true feelings. "Forgive me for intruding in your home but I'm afraid you may not fin my excuse for doing so a satisfactory one. I admit my reasons for coming are mostly of my own mere curiosity but perhaps something greater may yet come out of it. If you know me in the slightest I would imagine you would know me by another name, 'The Wicked Sin of Wrath' as my detractors once called me and the name I adopted for myself. I've come because I hear you go by a similar moniker, are the stories true or have they been greatly over exaggerated?"

"I cared little to investigate further. There are few in this world worthy of my attention. None that I have discovered that are worthy of bothering with. Your moniker was foreign to me, but no more. Myself, I go by many. Some given to me by the inhabitants of this desolate land, some of which I bestowed upon myself. The Baron, The First of his Ilk, The Sangyn King. Yet I suspect, in light of your own title, that your intention is to find Tepaz Vanaheir, the Bat of Pride." Tepaz spoke. "You seem to know a bit about me already, and you now know that I exist. Yet you remain. Which tells me that either your curiosity has not been satisfied, or you want something more from me." He asked with a questioning look and a completely neutral tone.

Alma chuckled a bit, "Of course, for someone who believes time to be such a precious thing I would think you would know that no one would come this far just to simply confirm a nagging feeling. I do have a few more questions, if I may be so bold as to make an assumption I would say that you are cursed as well? Not just some arrogant man living on his own? After all, it is the curses we bear that set us apart from the normal sinners. We embody our sin to the very core of our being whether we want to or not, so a friend of mine gave me the idea that us rotten apples should probably stick together. I don't know about you but it sounds much better than just rotting in the sun for the amusement of others."

"But something tells me this won't be as easy as I would like it to be now will it?" She askes with a shrug, knowing just from how Tepaz spoke he probably wasn't big on being a team player.

"It all depends, doesn't it?" Tepaz began as he made his way down the spiraling steps. "It all depends on what sort of people you are. You have my curiosity, but it is now your task to keep me intrigued. I created my own community of Sangyn, I've battled Beast Saints and their equals through the ages. I've faced the horrors of this world and beyond. I even conquered a god. **The** God of Skaedi. So you must understand my single question: How are you better than all of those? What do you have to offer me beyond the company of rotten fruits?"

"You'll surely forgive me if I don't pretend to think too highly of Gods. After all, if they were honestly so great they wouldn't need to meddle and create something like me now would they?" She asked rhetorically with a smile. " I admit, you seem like a man who has been around the block a few times if what you've said is honest and true. If all is true then it would seem I'm in the presence of someone who has faced many great and powerful obstacles, so I can't say I have anything that could rival a God in terms of power but perhaps you might be interested in the expansion of knowledge. After all, as far as I've researched our kind isn't well known to history. Us cursed beings aside from you, the sin of sloth, and I are still very much a mystery even among ourselves. Could you say you aren't the slightest bit curious what the others might be like? It's easy to see you pride yourself on your strength. Would you even have the right to pride yourself on your intellect if you didn't chase this mystery? And our little group is the best lead at the moment. Is that reason enough? Or should I come up with something else?" She asked, tilting her head a bit, knowing she had a few more tricks up her sleeve if she needed them.

Tepaz chuckled deeply, yet with the tone of being ungenuine, at Alma's words. He reached the end of the stairs and continued towards her. "Trying to play on my pride, are we? The things you've mentioned are the sole reasons for my curiosity, but it will take more to convince me to join league with those who may simply prove to be inferior and unworthy of my time. So let me make it clear:" He trailed off as he now stood before Alma. She appeared healthy and curiously attractive in a most disturbing fashion. Yet beyond that... "I care not for your power. I care not about your curses and plights in themselves. I am more interested in what sort of beings you are. What shapes you? What makes you into you? What sort of creature are you at heart? I made an entire community in an attempt to find those my equals. That failed. Do you think you can succeed? My own ilk was unworthy, for they were less than man. What of you? Are you less, equal or more?"

Her eyes shifted upwards at the man, though her head remained straight. She rested her chin against the back of her hand as though in thought. "I don't see how anyone could ever hope to view beings they created solely by one's self as equals. If you were able to create it by your own hand then it would only mean it could never be a complete equal..." She trailed off, "As for where I stand in terms of equality with human beings, I cannot say. My curse has granted me power it is true but that power comes at a great cost. Humans can feel such a wide range of things, they can get joy and happiness over the simplest of things and feel pain and sadness for equally small things. I lack the ability to feel that full range of emotions, so if we go by the idea that being able to do something that others can't makes one greater then I have power humans do not but in turn, they have something I do not..." She continued, actually rather perplexed by the question.

Her cheeks puffed as she thought, an odd face for someone whose eyes were as blank as her own. "As a person, I would say I'm nothing more than someone looking to be content with her life. I've done many things in my life that have brought me great joy, pure bliss at times I would go so far as to say but ultimately I don't think any of that matters. After all, what is the point of such a high if it only makes the baseline all the less fulfilling? Exactly, it would be pointless. I forwent happiness some long ago but I still search for that chance to be content with myself, with life and the world. I don't personally see anything wrong with that but for what that means when it comes to being on equal terms with anyone I can't say I know the answer."

His features remained as if made of stone. "I did not ask for equals of strength. That was never the intent of my court. There will always be a discrepancy of power in a society, such is the way of the world and I am not here to change that way. And I believe you misinterpreted my question." Tepaz spoke with the wave of his hand, as if dismissing the notion. "Mayhaps I should describe my plight a bit to enlighten the topic: I was granted absolute pride, in magic and at heart. I do not tolerate monsters. They are vicious, deplorbale things. They believe themselves above everything. The laws, the heavens, life and death and me. They are destructive without due caution or reason, and they always seek to assert dominance over me. Nothing shall ever be above me."

"The issue of my court was never that they were not on par with me. That was an inherent flaw in life. I made more Sangyn with the intent of finding those who would walk with me, feast with me, those who could embrace their flaws as much as their strengths. I was mistaken to think that could ever be. They were not Sangyn as they should be. Instead of walking with me, they followed, walking in my steps, and demeaning those who strayed by even an inch. They did not drink with me, they simply existed in my presence. They did not become Sangyn to take control of their lives, they became what they now are in order to escape what made them into them, to 'destroy' their flaws and escape their mortality. They do not walk their own paths, they followed me as if I were the Messiah. Puppets dancing to my strings. They were gnats... No, they were sheep. They were blind sheep and I was their shepherd. And a society can not be made by sheep."

Tepaz looked right at Alma, staring into her blank eyes. "Are you beginning to understand? You invite me to your community, but what even is your community? A gathering of misfits by your own words, a collection of freaks of nature. You are outcasts of man's society, so what does that make you? That is what concerns me. That which concerns me is a single question, one which I've already spoken in but different words: What are you? Monsters, sheep or man?"

Alma couldn't help but smile a bit as he spoke, realizing quickly she may over thought what exactly the man before her was asking. "I see, you speak so seriously that I thought you were looking for an answer that was much more difficult to give. I'd honestly say that I've worn the clothes of monster and sheep in my time but of course, one learns and one grows. But at the moment I am a man, well, a woman last I checked but my own being all the same. Don't take this the wrong way, but if you want friends there are better ways of going about it than being all stoic and cryptic. Either way, what exactly our little group becomes I can't say. But as for what we have now I don't think you'll have to worry about anyone bending the knee when you walk into a room if that's what you're worried about and given we're probably about the only ones who can really relate to one another when it comes to all this bull we're putting up with I doubt fighting amongst ourselves will be too much of a problem. We still have to find the other four though before I make any promises. What do you say? Wanna shoot your shot and join now or should I save you a seat when the gang is all together?"

Tepaz smiled. For the first time in ages, he smiled a genuine smile. He was not convinced that this was the right people to join up with, nor that he would find what he wanted and needed with them, but if anything, he was convinced stepping into the light with them would lead him towards the right path. His racing heart told him as much. "That may be so, Alma, but I have found that cryptency and excessive stoicism weeds out the impatient, manipulative and the unworthy. I am not yet certain if you will match these things, but you don't seem to do so yet... Except with some hints of manipulation, yet flaws are what makes us into human beings. All the same, I will accept your offer. I will accompany you to meet these 'sins'. I think it would do me well to find those who are similarly afflicted like me. Do you have a headquarter? Do you have a point of meeting?"

Alma crossed her arms, a bit relieved things seemed to be going well thus far but knowing they weren't exactly home just yet. "Indeed, everyone has their quirks. As for a place of meeting, I can't say we have a base of operations or anything but I and the only other sin I've found thus far have been living at the orphanage I run called Hearts' Nest. It's located just outside of Yoshino in western Hylion. The children don't mind the extra company so I wouldn't worry about intruding if you decide to visit. It's the best we have at the moment when it comes to a headquarters but who knows? Maybe if this thing takes off and we start a band or something we can buy a bar or something." She finished with a joke. "I'm sure the idea of me having that sort of job is a bit surprising, I promise I have my reasons and they aren't nefarious ones."