This is a world in which humans and other beings have not yet been divided. This is a story of ancient times. The war between the Kingdom of Liones and the Ten Commandments has temporarily ceased. However, the vanguard continues to renew itself and the ashes of a new war are heating up. But now our heroes are here...

...The Seven Deadly Sins are here!

***

https://youtu.be/xwOl8yU1jfE

***

Chapter X
A Prophecy of Eight

"We'll find out soon enough," the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins answered Merlin's question to a degree, his expression unreadable.

"Hm," the mage smiled suspiciously at the lack of an answer, accepting it. Turning their attention to the door opening before them.

"Whatever it may be, we'll get through it somehow," he spoke up again, poker-faced, "We always have."

He neglected to mention that he had already died once fighting off the Ten Commandments, Merlin noticed not bothering to correct him. Perhaps he had a point still, she supposed.

Before them was the palace's throne room, a quite large and expansive space. At the end of the room was a large throne, the very King of Liones seated comfortably on it. His eyes widened in surprise.

"The Seven Deadly Sins? Greetings! I believe you have come to question me about Miss Samael?" King Baltra greeted, watching as the group approached his throne.

"You waste no time huh, Baltra," Meliodas acknowledged him, casually strolling towards him with the bunch, "We aren't the only ones here though," he pointed over at the third princess.

"Father, it's good to see you," Elizabeth waved politely, smiling.

"Elizabeth! Same to you. I trust the journey has been treating you well?" he inquired, "No moves from this pervert?"

"Well...About that..." the silverette trailed off, glancing next to her.

"Who're you calling pervert?" the blonde asked straightfaced, massaging the princess' behind.

"HEY!" the king yelled angrily, stiffly raising his hand to stop.

"...Anyways," Merlin spoke up, "Your assumption would be correct. I believe you may have witnessed the future, Your Majesty?"

The old man nodded, stroking his beard, "As sharp as ever, I see, Merlin. Yes, I did indeed have another vision."

Merlin smiled suspiciously in interest, "May I ask what it entailed, Your Highness?"

"Why yes you may," he answered, thinking back to what he had seen.

***

"Geez, the nerve of those guys!" Hawk spoke up, disturbing the silence as he glanced through the bars, "Hmm, they're lucky I didn't use my full power against them!" he boasted, sticking up his snout obnoxiously. 

No response.

Worried, he turned back to Victoria, "What was with those guys back there anyways? I mean, sure you're a sin- but so are Meliodas and the others," he attempted to spark a conversation in the dim light.

Victoria sat on the floor of the dungeon cell, not looking at her poultry companion. Her face was hidden by shadows as she stared down at the floor. Hawk trotted towards her, attempting to see her face.

"Come on... I can't be the only one talking here," he pleaded, slightly unnerved by her silence. Still, there was no answer.

"...Man, I can't believe Meliodas, that jerk. He totally ignored your question back there," he tried again in futility, "If there's one thing I've learned about that weakling, it's that he can't read the atmosphere... What the heck goes on in his head anyway?"

"..." was his only answer.

The boar took that as an agreement, "I mean, all he ever does is walk around with a dumb poker face anyways. At least show what you're thinking sometimes! That's what I like about Elizabeth. I can actually tell what she's thinking. On that note, I can with Diane too. But man," he shivered, "that Gowther creeps me out."

Victoria laughed slightly, "...Why is that?" she murmured, humouring him.

Hawk was relieved, she had finally spoken, "Well for starters he's always talking in that weird way. Like, 'it would seem that the princess has arrived' or something. And then he keeps wearing the bar's uniform," he shuddered, "I never want to see that again in my life."

The girl chuckled.

"If that wasn't enough he keeps causing problems for everyone."

A chord struck within her, "Problems? Like what?"

"Like erasing people's memories for starters," he explained.

"Erasing..." she muttered in thought.

"Yeah, like once he even erased Diane's memories of us. He even rewrites them too. Like I could have been speaking to you now, and he'd make me think that I was speaking to Meliodas or something. And don't even let me get started on his nightmares," he shivered once more, "The jerk even thinks of it as an experiment! Though on that note you have Merlin too. Am I right?" he looked at the brunette girl, "...Victoria?"

Victoria wasn't listening. Her face seemed contorted between an expression of realization and one of grim horror.

"Oi! Victoria snap out of it!" his voice seemed muffled.

Back then... what had she said to Meliodas? She tried to remember. Meliodas had asked what she had been doing for that long and she couldn't remember.

"...What? Well what do you remember after?" he had questioned.

"I remember I was in the forest... And Gowther was on the floor unconscious... Then I heard Elizabeth's yell," she recalled.

"Gowther? Are you sure?" he had wanted to confirm.

The Seven Deadly Sins captain had seemed to know something he hadn't mentioned. He even rewrites them too, Hawk had said to her in his rant.

He... he couldn't have... she thought skeptically. But it would make sense... Why he had been there unconscious... Why she had been unable to use her Reset ability to save Elizabeth... Something had disappeared from his hands as she noticed him.

Had she... been... fighting him? A sharp pain twinged in her mind as she gripped her head in agony. Words flying across her brain, too fast for her to comprehend.

"Elizabeth!"

"... blame... injuries..."

"...Guinevere Avalon..."

"... four clans... Princess..."

"... truth..."

"... forget."

"... Forget..."

"... forget..."

"Victoria!" a voice yelled in fear.

And then she blacked out.

***

The King had been calmly seated in his throne room at the time when the vision had struck him.

He was floating in the air, an unknown location. A kingdom, it would seem.

Eight stars twinkled in that night sky, each surrounded by a pitch black darkness.

The eight star was a strange bright blue, half covered by the ominous blackness.

A red moon hung tall above the fearful land, merging brilliantly with the midnight sky.

A clock ticked in the town square, high above all buildings except the castle.

One star shot down from the rest, landing in the murky waters. Separated from the rest.

A strong heat burnt against the king's back, a waterfall of lava searing through the quiet.

Frightened, the king ran, passing the blue star on his way.

All of a sudden, the handles fell off of the clock shooting at him at an unimaginably fast pace.

Unable to dodge the king, saw he was trapped by heavy black chains, a red liquid in the air.

He snapped out of it at once, he gasped for air. His daughters crowded around him.

"Father, did you see something?" his daughter, Margaret asked in worry. Veronica standing by his side protectively.

He shook his head, "Yes I did," he had replied, not wanting to worry them. Wearily, he stumbled to his feet making his way towards the weapons room.

"Your Majesty!" the knight saluted, scared as the king grabbed his shoulder roughly.

"Bring me that set of sacred treasures you got recently!" he ordered tensely, eyes bloodshot.

"Y- yes Sir!" the man nodded, "Erm, which ones?"

"The Timepieces! Chronology!" Baltra demanded, shaken by his sight.

"O- oh! Alright!" he yelled in fear, rushing inside the room.

"Quickly! We have no time!" he urged, leaning on the wall. Soon the soldier returned with the set in hand.

Bowing, he extended them to him in his hand, "H- here it is, Sir!" he screamed, unnerved by His Majesty's attitude.

"Thank you," he thanked the knight, "How is the latest prisoner?"

"We're taking her to the dungeons this instant, Sir!"

"Tell them to halt the proceedings, I must speak with her at once!"

"Yes, Sir!" he saluted, sending the message along as another knight ran off.

The first knight bowed, "If I may ask, did you perhaps have a vision, Your Majesty?" he asked, kneeling.

"Yes, I did," he nodded, "Our land will soon be in grave danger, young lad," he stated, making his way off to the dungeons. The holy knight was shaken.

"...And that was what happened," Baltra finished, "I gave her The Timepieces before she could be locked up. When she escaped, I ordered that the guards give no resistance, but instead put up a search party to locate her. I believed that Miss Samael would most likely run into you folks."

Merlin raised a hand to her chin in thought, "That is most interesting..."

"Well, well, well..." Meliodas began, also thinking, "It seems that there was more to this like I thought," he nodded.

"Father," Elizabeth spoke up, "Did you perhaps recognize what kingdom was in your thought?"

The King of Liones nodded, "Yes I did."

"Oh~ And what was it?" Ban smirked lazily, excited.

"Ban!" King nudged the fox's sin to have respect.

"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes.

The king cleared his throat, "Ahem," he directed all attention back to him, "It was a long since forgotten Kingdom. One I haven't thought about in years."

"Which one was it?" Diane inputted.

"The Kingdom of Avalon," he finally answered.

"...!" Meliodas reacted in surprise. Warily, he glanced at Merlin. The boar's sin looked away at the same time. He knew she had seen his reaction.

Objects levitated swiftly in the room as she quickly made an effort to put them back down. Turning, she apologized to the king, "Ah, my apologies. I lost control of my powers for a bit," she smiled suspiciously. The captain had reacted barely visibly, meaning this did, in fact, have some sort of connection with him. Perhaps maybe Victoria too.

"Alright then," Baltra responded unsurely.

"Man~" Ban whistled, "That really is old."

"Avalon?" King repeated in shock. He had doubted he would ever hear that name again.

"Hey, King," Diane whispered in his ear. He blushed furiously, thinking back to their confessions, "What's this Avalon place they're talking about?"

Puffing his chest that she had come to him for an answer he took a deep breath, "Well-"

"-The Avalon Kingdom is one of the many Great Kingdoms of Britannia, lead by the royal family of Avalon. It is believed that it had fallen due to a wide variety of travellers going missing on the way to visit loved ones. All contact with the Kingdom has been lost for several years, leading to it being forgotten," Gowther finally spoke up.

"Why you-!" King deflated at the opportunity lost.

"Oh, thanks Gowther," Diane acknowledged, slightly disappointed.

"It is what he said," Merlin nodded, "However, there is something that bothers me," she glanced at Meliodas who avoided her gaze.

"Like what, Lady Merlin?" Elizabeth asked.

"Victoria," she stated. Meliodas continued evading her gaze.

"Victoria?" she repeated.

"Ah you noticed it too," Baltra nodded.

"Noticed what?" King asked, not understanding.

"The Avalon Kingdom, itself," Merlin explained, "in its entirety, resembles the so-called Gawain Kingdom, Miss Samael mentioned to us."

"What? How do you know?"

"I did some research into the topic," she smiled secretively, "Despite this, however, it would seem that no such Kingdom exists."

"Eh? It doesn't exist?" Diane asked in shock.

"Not at all," she placed an arm on her hip, "Yet it exactly resembles every detail about the Kingdom of Avalon."

"So you're saying..." Ban started, "that Little Miss Goddess may be lying to us."

"Exactly," Merlin nodded.

"Are you sure she didn't just mix it up?" Diane asked skeptically.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," King spoke up, "But Miss Victoria did state that her mother was merely a thief within the country. She probably didn't know much about there," he supported Diane's theory.

Merlin smiled, "Yet she was still able to explain it perfectly to me when I asked," she revealed.

She had asked her? When? Meliodas thought in surprise. He should have warned her not to answer. It was too late now, he supposed.

"She did?" King was surprised. He didn't know that.

"Right down to a T," she stated, "It would seem that Miss Samael isn't as clueless about it as she lets on."

"What are you trying to say?" Diane narrowed her eyes.

"It would appear that the goddess hasn't been telling everybody the whole truth about her past," Gowther stated clearly.

"And it would seem that there is one of us who knows about it," Merlin continued.

"What? Who?" the fairy king asked.

Merlin glanced behind her as she was met with his steely gaze, "You've been awfully quiet for a while now... Haven't you, Captain?" she smirked.

***

What is Meliodas hiding?

Could it be that Victoria is not truly on their side? And just what is it that Meliodas knows about her that the others don't?

~Nia