The Villains' Hero (second draft)

Chapter 4: Eros

Within an elaborate room with high ceilings, stained glass windows, and a large round table made of walnut wood gathered many higher-ups within Eros' ranks. Amongst the angel-like beings were a couple that seemed to stand out. One was a female who had a body covered with eyes, was short in stature, and had large wings. Another was a male who had no eyes, a very large frame, small wings, and was covered head to toe in mouths. Sera also sat at the table, leaning forward with his hands crossed on the table before him. "Now, to discuss the situation at hand," he said coolly.

"What is there to discuss? He should've been reaped! Fallen like him will only cause problems and doubts towards Eros to arise," spoke a man with several arms and smaller, somewhat frayed wings. He slammed about three of his arms on the table, causing a loud echo throughout the room.

"Look, we can deal with all that. But he did provide excellent entertainment for Dene. He should be punished, but shouldn't have to die. He can be a great source for heroes to gain popularity and he could be used to keep others in line. Every time he rebels, he'll be caught and punished accordingly. Because people like him always do dumb things again. He makes the perfect candidate to ridicule via heroes for entertainment and to keep others like him under control," said the woman with the many eyes.

"This Disgraced soul is a perfect puppet! We can remove something per incident until he becomes a vegetable! First his fingers, then toes, then limbs, then his senses, and more! It's absolutely brilliant and will keep everyone else too afraid to form any traitorous thoughts!" This time it was the male with many mouths, shouting almost in glee at the idea. The others paused for a moment, considering his words. "I think that's a good idea, Onoura. Today, a finger shall be removed. Shall I inform Dr. Silver?" A soft spoken female with several ears all over her body and soft looking wings joined the conversation.

"Yes, send word. That is an excellent decision, Onoura. Today, Karma Graves loses his left ring finger before being released back to Hunloy," Sera responded," And one more thing..."

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Karma hit the ground, trying to roll to cushion the fall. "Damn, do they have to drop me like that every time..?" He muttered, getting up and brushing himself off. His clothes were tattered and his wrists had rope burns from when they were tied; the woman had said "an extra punishment" about that. He also smelled terribly, but the worst of it? It caught his attention as his hand passed by his vision. He was now missing a finger on his dominant hand, though there was no pain because while it was extremely painful upon removal, that strange woman healed it completely instantly and the pain faded with it.

He reached up with a sigh, tying his hair back into a low ponytail with what remained of the string he used originally. He was a mess. But one good thing came from this ordeal, they never found his hidden pocket so he was pretty loaded with money. He knew adding extra padding to the inside of his hoodie would be useful. Karma began heading back to his place, sore and exhausted and just wanting to shower and sleep. He didn't even care if the water would be cold or not. Three days going through hell would do that to anyone. As he walked, he ran into a woman and a child.

He recognized the woman as the one he saved. She seemed to recognize him too, as she came over and gave him a massive hug. Surprised, Karma froze for a moment and she just started thanking him and apologizing for the trouble. Taken back, he told her it was okay then asked if she was hurt. She let go of him, holding the child's hand once more. "Nothing major. I just wish I had gotten the bread for my younger brother here... Our parents were villains and when they were killed, he became my responsibility but we were running out of food..."

He realized how much he had taken for granted growing up in Dene in a long line of heroes. All along, there were people like this woman who was born in an unfortunate situation and unable to escape it, surviving everyday like it was normal. His eyes wandered to the boy, who pressed against the woman shyly. He was extremely malnourished and small for his age. His mind jumped to what this boy's fate would be. If he even made it to 20, he would either be forced to live like this longer or be separated from his sister who had become a mother to him.

Karma gazed upon the two with concern and sadness. Despite what he had experienced for the past three days, he recognized that he needed to save this woman or this chil would have been orphaned and left to die. It made his experience worth it. "Eros is cruel..." He whispered before going into his hidden pocket and left just enough money in there for him to get by. "Here, you need this Wa'me more than I do. Unfortunately, I've found I'm a good cat burglar so it doesn't affect me much anyway." He gave a warm smile and a slight chuckle at his pun, handing the money over to the wide-eyed woman. Before she could say anything, he was kneeling down to the kid and places his special glasses on his face.

"These glasses are pretty cool, using your hands you can do anything like play games or look stuff up or even call your sister. They even come with these cool earphones!" He smiled as his gave the child his earbuds in their case, " With these, you can listen to music and let everything fade away when you feel overwhelmed or upset about something!" Before either could say a word, he was waving and walking away. When out of sight, his smile fell and he looked extremely serious.

"Eros must be stopped." Were the only words that escaped his lips as he got to his apartment building looming above him as the artificial sun turned off and the false stars began to shine.