~15 and a half years later~
Like always now a days the tavern where Eleanor lived was over crowded with customers. All of which were grown men, that at one time scared her so bad that she would do everything to avoid them. Like anything at all. Even putting her older brother in harms way at times. Yet, every time her father would step in on her brother's behalf. Thankfully she grew used to it just as her brother moved out. So as you could guess she was used to this all. It was just normal for her.
"Yo, sis do you mind getting another few pitchers of ale for me? The big guys want some at table 4." Estrilda asked leaning over the bar so she could be heard. She was rather short for a 15 year old so it was rather hard for her to talk over the bar. Usually someone would say the message for her but, everyone was out for a while. Some or their relatives were grabbing more supplies for the store. Others had moved into new cities on their own to try and live in the hell hole that was life now. So for now, the girls had to work to the best of their capabilities for the day.
"You got it sis. Does Phoenix need anything else?" Eleanor asks as she got out a few cups and began to file them with ale. Her sister glanced over her shoulder to see Phoenix just give people a few orders.
"Nah, they're doing fine for now...they might wanna get some more drinks in a second. Like always." Estrilda sighed. Why did Phoenix have to be so good at this job? They were good at everything else. So why did they need to be good at this too?
"What about Hawk?" Eleanor asked stilling filling up a few cups. Estrilda glanced at the dog bed they had found a while back. Hawk was snoring off in the corner, mumbling in his sleep.
"Sleeping..like always..god he needs a vacation more than any of us do by the looks of things."
"We all do."
"Yeah but none of us sleep as much as Hawk does...plus he does work more hours than us for now."
"Okay, well you'll have to ask dad when he gets back in three days. Until then here ya go sis. Don't spill it." Eleanor teased her sister. Estrilda sighed getting her drinks and headed out to the tables. Eleanor hummed a bit as she started to fill up more cups for when she got asked for more. With the way business was going it was enviable.
That was when one of the guys at the bar spoke up. He had drunk three cups of ale and just sniffing the air around him, you could tell that he had.
"What are three kids like you doing working at a tavern anyways?" The male asked. Eleanor shrugged as she fillies a few more cups for her relatives.
"Well it's a family business and we were raised here so we know how this whole thing works and how to be careful. And you know, we kinda need the money so we can buy food. Plus our parents can't magically come back from having their souls taken out of their bodies after 14 years." Eleanor shrugged. The male sighed drinking more of his ale. He looked..well depressed just looking at him right now.
"My god this world has gone to hell. First the demons come and eat people's souls. Then our rulers get killed. Then the best protectors of the lands die. Next Queen Elizabeth goes crazy and experiments on her people. Now you can't so much as get a tiny cut on your foot without getting eaten alive." The male sighed looking upset. He raised his arm up for another ale which Elenor slid to him without a complaint. It wasn't like it was gonna change anything anymore.
"It could get better. One day the queen will fall and her daughter or one of her nephews or nieces will take over. I mean it'll get better then." Eleanor shrugged pushing her blond hair behind her ear as she put a few more cups on the counter.
As the cups down all you could hear was the clink of the glasses being put down. The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. It stayed that way for a few moments, even while new drinks were handed out.
"You haven't heard, have you?"
"Heard what?"
"Princess Margaret and her family were attacked by a group of knights against queen Elizabeth's rule. Margaret and her husband Gilthunder were killed. Their kids have all gone missing. As for princess Mal,...she got her hand cut infront of one of the guards....she's still healing but, everyone says she got her face ripped off... Queen Elizabeth kills anyone that's tries to track them down." A single male spoke up on the back. The whole bar stayed completely silent as everyone just froze.
This meant there was no heir. Without an heir Elizabeth would be in charge until she died. Yet, as a very powerful Druid, it was unlikely that would happen any time soon. Maybe in 400 years but, not any time soon. By then it was mostly likely less people would be alive.
"If that's the case then one round free, on the house for now to the end of days." Estrilda spoke up. Everyone cheered looking happy as the free cups were passed out. After all it was the only thing that numbed the fear and pain or the world currently.
"Well could be worse." The male sitting in the back spoke up. He chugged a bit. "I mean, the rust knight could be here."
"Rusted what now?" Estrilda asked stopping at once. As she did someone bumped into her, with a yelp. Yet, she didn't care. Her father had mentioned that title before.
"The rust knight is said to be one of the first ever experiments and one of the only living members of the seven deadly sins. It's said they killed an entire village in hope to please the queen so she would become their bride." The male spoke up.
"That sounds rather distasteful. Why not just buy her flowers or something like that? The girls here like flowers." Phoenix said emotionlessly like always.
"That's the thing though, the knight is so heartless that he would never consider that. I mean instead he would rip out a heart for the queen to wear as jewelry." The male spoke up once again before downing his whole ale. It was like he wanted to pretend this couldn't effect him. Yet, the more he drank the more he talked.
"Oh please the rusted knight is just a scary bed time story that parents made up to scare their kids into be having. Everyone knows that." And old male complained.
"That's not true I saw him. And bar keeper what ever happened to the food I ordered?" Another male yelled.
"Sorry we're a bit low on food right now...do you mind lasting without it until my cousin comes back in a few hours...you know if he does." Eleanor sighed trying to look upset, trying to guilt trip him. It was cruel but, it was all she could do now. They didn't have much food and Lucas was supposed to come back this morning but, he still wasn't back.
"Tell ya what I'll come back tomorrow if I'm still alive. Then you can give me food if you have it." The male spoke up trying to keep the girl from getting upset. As soon as Eleanor went to open her mouth, the door burst open. Everyone glanced over before a scream erupted out of the room.
Standing in the door was a tall knight whose armour was covered in rust. Everyone screamed running around to an exit as the rusted knight kept going. One guy even jumped out a window in a rush. As for the knight, he limped over to the middle of the floor. He stood there, legs shaking and breathing heavy before they fell down to the ground with a single word.
"He...help."
And with that he was down for the count.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next thing Haylen knew, he woke up the a pug hovering over his head and a bucket of water being dumped on his forehead. He jumped up grabbing for his knife he kept hidden on his side. Yet, in wasn't there which made him panic as he began to look around.
All he saw was buddy images and a blurred pig. He began to breath heavily before a large blur went in front of his face. As he panicked looking at the blur, his eyes focused a bit which some how made him see a pair of red eyes looking at him. Needless to say he screamed. After all his aunt did send a lot of different people to kill him all the time.
"Wow, wow calm down buddy. Take a deep breath before you bring the blood searchers here." The red haired girl spoke quietly trying to soothe him. Haylen just slowly began to quiet down but, in his defence he hadn't eaten in three days. Regardless, his eyes slowly fixed a bit allowing him to see the other people near by.
There was a a normal height, red haired person with yellow eyes sitting on a stool looking him up in down. For some reason they were wearing a navy blue skirt and a punk shirt that was obviously made for girls. Meanwhile there was a blond head of hair cooking in the kitchen meaning there was another short person in the house, doing some thing. Someone who, judging by how high pitched the humming sounded, was most likely female.
Then for some reason there was a pink pig. Yet, there was no explanation for why the pig was there. Like at all. There was just a pig walking around for some reason. Like he pretty sure the pig had messy bear cups on it's back.
Yet, soon he found himself looking at the red eyes again. They belonged to a very pale girl. Her face just seemed to shine to him. Yet, her very very pale whit...maybe blue hair just made her look..well a bit prettier. All that put together seemed to make his heart punk faster. Then her mouth open causing the angelic voice to be heard again.
"So are you gonna tell me why the fuck you are here of am I gonna beat your ass until you do?" She asks slowly pulling a sword out from behind her back which had been in a holster. Yet, the sword was missing it's tip. It just looked like the sword had been cut in half. Though it did have a bit of blood on it. The short, curvy girl just dug it out ready to use if necessary.
"Wait wait, don't use that on me! I can use magic! If you cut me you'll attract the blood searchers here!" Helyas begged looking terrified as he backed up resulting in him tumbling backwards out of his bed. He yelped landing on his back, feet in the air. All the while using heart racing.
"Well you can put that weapon away Estrilda. He is obviously unable to protect himself." Phoenix spoke up from their seat as emotionless as ever.
"Yeah, yeah listen to the red haired guy! I can't even use a knife to cut chicken. No need to use a weapon on me." Helyas begged. His heart was pounding, just getting a flash back of his mother being gutted.
"...very well then. I hope you understand about the whole sword thing. I mean it's literally end times." Estrilda sighed putting the weapon away as she dragged the boy back to bed carefully.
"I understand. I mean..everyone knows about how dangerous people are becoming. Plus the blood searchers look like humans until blood comes." Helyas spoke up looking terrified, hitting his left hand on the floor. He hissed in pain having hit a bruise on the floor.
"How'd you get all those bruises on you?" Estrilda asks slowly begging to dig out bandages. He looked down for a second.
"My family got attacked by blood searchers...my parents died and my sister and I ran.we got to a house and we found armour. We put the armour on before trying to escape. T-then I got attacked and...."His eyes grew large realizing he was wearing his ripped clothes. The ones he had been wearing back home before the attack occurred. "My armour! Where is my armour!" He yelled looking around. His sister would be looking around for him in that armour. She didn't know where he was, just what he was wearing.
"Hey, hey relax. We switched you out. It's in a room upstairs so we can clean it a bit and try and reverse the rusting. As for how hot it is, I don't know how to fix it. All I know is that it might make you pass out from heat exhaustion again. Now give me your hand before your bruise it more." Estrilda sighed. The second he handed over his hand, she began wrapping it. Just as she got close to getting done on walked a girl.
The short blond girl walked in with a plate with barely any food on it. Her green eyes just glanced down looking embarrassed. She seemed to be a bit taller than Estrilda but, was still relatively short. Then for some reason she looked like Estrilda face wise. Yet, she was relatively skinnier than her. Plus her breast size was much tinier than the other girl. The blond girl bit her lip a bit as she slid over a plate of food.
"It's not much but, it's all we got for now." The blond spoke up handing him a bit of food. He looked down a bit before slowly taking a mouth full. Helyas sat there in completely silence, before downing a bit more as he began to cry.
"Oh lord you're cooking is so bad you made him cry!" A high pitched voice yelled.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry! I know it's bad but-"
"No, no it's the best meal I've had in days...it's all I had to eat in days and this...this taste amazing right now to me." Helyas cried into his hand getting more emotional. He sniffled loudly rubbing his eyes looking embarrassed.
"Oh trust me once you eat more, this will taste way worse to you. Especially when it comes back up." Estrilda joked which in turn granted her a hit on the back of the skull from her sister. In turn she jumped a foot in the air. Then within seconds the two began arguing as any two sisters would.
Phoenix however was still looking him up and down. Their yellow eyes began to squint, as if getting mad. Or maybe confused. To be honest their face was hard to read. By his guess all of his emotions looked like confused. Like honestly. Yet, Helyas soon just drowned them out and began downing his food. Meanwhile Phoenix kept looking him for a while. He looked familiar. Somehow Phoenix still couldn't place the male's looks in his head.
"Well I mean things could always be worse. He could be a blood seeker." The high pitcher voice spoke up. Helyas looked around for a second before looking at the pig who was five feet in front of him. He tilted his head a bit, mouth full, just looking at the pig. It looked like the thing was looking at him.
"You looking at something pig?" Helyas asks jokingly. The pig shrugged a bit.
"Yeah a cry baby." The pig spoke aloud. Helyas began choking on air.
"Holy shit! A talking pig! It really is the end of the world!"
"Well you're not a sight for sore eyes either!"
"Hawk that's enough picking on the poor boy. Now go stand guard outside incase some knights or blood seekers come by." Eleanor yelled quickly dragging the pig away by his ear. In her defence however, he did scare off a lot of people in the past. Especially boys their age.
Yet, Helyas just sat there shaking. Was this some kind of magic? Was this going to end in his death? Was it a shape shifting blood searcher? Could these people use magic? Only time would tell.
"So what's a scaredy cat like you doing here? I mean what would motivate an idiot like you to go walking around with rusted armour on when there creatures out there that hunger for blood out there?" Estrilda asks slowly as she finished bandaging his hand. Helyas bit his lip before sighing.
"I..I'm looking for the Seven deadly sins." He admitted.
"Well hate to tell you but they're dead. I mean, a demon legit sucked their souls about 15 years ago." She spoke up again looking away.
"I know but, there's rumours going around that there's a way to bring them back....by finding the new embodiments of the sins would help bring them back. By uniting all the new scene embodiments, we can revive the old ones with a blood sacrifice..and I'm willing to be that sacrifice in order to save who's left." Helyas spoke up admitting his plan.
"Well that's some plan..why don't you finish eating and rest before you continue in this quest. I mean it's most likely something you need to sleep on. And trust me buddy you need more rest than the rest of us." Estrilda spoke up. Helyas was going to argue but yawned instead. As you could guess he dozed off soon after that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helyas was getting the last moments of sleep when the pig, hawk, raced back in. The poor pig looked terrified.
"There's a bunch of knights are coming to arrest the rusted knight. They're going to kill him or sacrifice him!" Hawk yelled racing in. Everyone froze for a second.
"Okay, okay no one panic..I-I'll just go talk with them." Eleanor spoke up slowly walking out from behind the counter. She glanced at her family once before leaving the tavern. As soon as she left, everyone began to panic. Phoenix quickly began looking for something behind his things. Hawk hid behind the at. Meanwhile Estrilda began trying to hide Helyas.
Yet, Helyas had his own plan.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Can I help you with something sirs?" Eleanor spoke aloud. She just stood in front of them, refusing to let them get close to the tavern. The larger male's just glared down at her.
"We're looking for the rusted knight. If he's here, the blood searchers would come and we can't put the village in danger like this." The biggest male spoke up.
"Well I hate to tell you this but the knight isn't here. Well at least not a human one." Eleanor spoke up as Hawk walked out in armour with the boar hut symbol painted on the armour.
"Wow! Did all these guys come here to see me?" Hawk asks with a smirk. Eleanor sighed rubbing her temple. Why did he have to get all cocky whenever he acted?
"..uhh...sure thing Hawk. I mean who wouldn't wanna see a cute pig like you." She said aloud trying to keep the knights from getting in the house. The knights just glanced at the pig before one spoke up.
"Look! A boy snuck out the window!" The biggest one yelled again. Sure enough Helyas was racing off quickly into the woods, looking for an escape.
"He must be the rusted knight! After him!" And with that the guards were off. Eleanor froze up watching the knights race off before racing after the new male. If he really could bring their parents back, then she wasn't gonna risk him dying.
Sure enough soon he found himself at the edge of a cliff. Hawk hid behind him looking at the big knights. Helyas gulped looking at them all. Yet, his heart pumped more and more making him panic. The knights stepped closer.
"Prince Helyas, the now third in the line for the throne, you're coming with us for committing treason of the highest degree by trying to revive a demon." The largest knight spoke up.
"No! He probably didn't know." Hawk spoke aloud as the knight started to dig out a blade. Helyas paled looking at him, heart pumping and panicking.
"No, no I'll go. Just..just leave that tavern and this pig alone. If you do, I'll go with you." He said aloud.
"Helyas don't do it!"
"It's okay hawk." The prince sighed walking forward. "This is all my fault anyways. If I hadn't come this way then the tavern wouldn't have be in danger....I..this quest was all in vain anyways. I'm not strong enough to do anything on my own..so take me back home." He sighed holding his hands out for the guards to take him.
"Who said we're taking you alive? I mean if you did this far from the village, everyone can escape." The guard smiled.
"Wait, what." The prince gulped.
"Vine dope." The knight smiled digging out his blade and swinging it. Helyas screamed jumping back but, was soon covered in vines. He was held in place as another hit was sent his way to kill him.
The prince closed his eyes hoping his end would come quick. After all dying was just like blinking sometimes right?You close your eyes, then when you open them again you wake up in the afterlife. So it should hurt that much. Well he never knew for sure to be honest. After all it never hit him.
He opened his eyes to see Estrilda standing there smirk on her face. Helyas looked around and some how didn't have any cuts on him. Instead he saw the knights looking kind of terrified. Yet, only Estrilda stood in their way.
"Don't give up on your quest to soon. I mean you're half way done." Estrilda asks.
"What do you mean?" Helyas asked before seeing a odd mark on Estrilda's arm. She grinned happily.
"I'm Estirlda the Gemini sin of Greed...in a way...I mean I'm still in training." She blushed nervously. It was her first time admitting it out loud after all. Yet, just saying it gave her a sense of pride in a way that she wasn't used too. Well at least not yet.
"Now if you excuse me I got some assholes that I gotta deal with." She smirked turning around and digging a dagger out of her back pocket. She closed her eyes for a second before vines slowly began to grow on her knife. Well at least for a second.
"So, now where were we?" She grinned before charging at the knight.
What happened next surprise him. She copied the vine attack. It was like she had stole the att-oh. That's probably why she was the sin of greed in a way, now that he thought about it. Probably was more than that as well but, Helyas didn't care. All he knew was that he was struggling to get free and the pig was chewing off the vines.
Meanwhile slowly Estrilda took the knights down one by one. Mainly by having the veins tie the knights upside from a tree. Yet, she made sure there was no cuts on the,. If they did, well they would all be dead.
After all the knights were defeated she slowly turned around to face him. As soon as she did she noticed Helyas was just laying there on the ground panting, having just ripped off half his shirt to get free yet, some how avoided from causing any cute on his skin. He just glanced tiredly up at the girl.
"H-how many s-new sins are at y-your place?" He panted tiredly.
"Three. I mean the rest were supposed to be back by now but, I'm assuming Luca, Elias, Ada, Bea and dad got into trouble. So I hope you're up for more of an adventure...can you walk? Or do you need me to carry you?"
"T-to tired...carry please."
"Okay you got it prince." She teased picking him up. Yet, she just threw him over her shoulder like a rag doll. Then she began walking making it more awkward looking. Yet, all he could hear was the guards yelling to be set free. He just panted laying over her shoulder.
Oh boy this was going to be a very long journey.