The Zodiac Empire

Chapter 19 - Visit From a Virtue

Author's Notes: I don't have a title for this chapter yet, sorry! If you have an idea, shoot it down in the comments below! And if you enjoy what you read, please don't forget to press the little star button!

"It's so bright..." Naito squinted his eyes as his body wafted through the chilly air towards the beaming violet light ahead of him. Around him was nothing but thick, gray mist. What a peaceful dream this was. Just himself and the music of the whistling winds. But as he peacefully floated through the air, a realization occurred to him. This was the place where met that Virtue. Was this not actually a dream? What could he have been brought back here for? The first time it was because he nearly died, wasn't it? Was he having another near-death experience? But nothing happened to him, did it?

"Worry not, child, you are fine." Echoed the booming, thunderous voice from last time.

"Are you reading my thoughts?" Naito felt a sudden invasion of privacy.

"Child, come to me." Humility didn't answer his question.

"I don't have much of a choice in that matter, do I?" his body was already wafting towards the light on its own anyway. He came to a stop once he reached the center, where the Virtue was waiting for him, sitting upon a colorless throne. "So, you're able to just summon me here at any time, I assume?" Naito asked.

"Child, it seems that you have completed the mission I gave you." The Virtue said.

Answering my questions would be nice, Naito wanted to say, but he'd rather not get on the bad side of something that could read his thoughts and bring his soul to this weird place at any time. "I did." He said.

"You approached the situation in a brash manner, judging and lashing out at Silver before getting to know him."

Naito bit his tongue. Was he about to get scolded by a jackass, again?

"Nonetheless, you realized the errors of holding onto such anger, and were able to complete your mission. It appears that your heart has become slightly humbler."

"I really didn't help much..." Naito said honestly. All he did was fall asleep in the library.
"However, you're still not ready to become a heavenly knight."

Naito was fine with that, really. He had a lot on his plate already without all this spiritual stuff. "In that case, may I return to the real world now?"

"Patience, child. There is an impending doom that I must warn you of first."

"Impending doom?"

"As I informed you, there are seven of us Heavenly Virtues. Naturally, we have opposites as well. They call themselves the Seven Deadly Sins." Said Humility.

"Deadly Sins...?" Whatever that was, it didn't sound pretty.

"Put simply, everyone in your world has what we refer to as a "Fruit of Sin and Virtue" within their heart. This fruit has a meter, per say, which can lean to the left, causing it to rot with sin. Or, it can lean to the right, ripening with virtue. These Seven Deadly Sins seek to corrupt your world with rotten Fruits, creating hell on earth."

"A world full of people who have succumbed to the evil within their heart?" Naito asked to be sure he was following.

Humility nodded. "Glad to see you're understanding, child. We Virtues can't sit back and watch as sin slowly distorts your world's balance yet again. So long as we exist however, it is impossible for the Sins to corrupt too great a many of your kind. But regardless, all it takes is the spark of one great or influential leader to cause an entire group, or even an entire nation, to fall apart."