"Before the Seven Deadly Sins ever came to be, thousands of years in the past, the sins took the forms of animals..."
Estra is the Fox, the original creature the sin of Greed was derived from. In an unfortunate event, she wakes thousands of yea...
Indigo wavered in view, dappled with black and murky grey. There was no direction here but I felt like I was sinking. Down, down, down. Was there no bottom?
Did I really care?
My throat was constricted. My lungs didn't ache for air. Did it really matter? I was content. No breathing meant no pain. No pain meant relief.
A nagging thought, a persistent one, wormed its way to through the deluge of disjointed ruminations.
Hadn't your chest been caved in? Your arm and sword destroyed?
Then I was rushing up, head thrown back from the force. Indigo gave way to pale blue then blinding light.
I came up gasping for air but unable to take a breath. I pawed at my chest, felt the undulation of skin, bone and muscle returning me to normal. Not fast enough. I was fading again, indigo crashing in.
CRACK!
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My left hand was pulled straight, fingers splayed. Through the fire that scorched my senses, I saw Ban holding my wrist, other arm pressed against my shoulder. Angry red striations and blotched bruises formed under his ministrations. The arm fell limp and my head dropped back. Pain buzzed in my ears and rolled my stomach. I was drenched in sweat, panting. My concave chest had reformed.
Cold metal was sweet relief against the heated skin of my left arm. I was faintly aware of Ban's quick fingers strapping the metal to the inside of my forearm. Not wanting to fall back into the waves of darkness, I clawed my way back up and woke with my fingers twisted in Ban's collar.
I was supported by one of his bent legs. He peered intently at my face. My eyelids fluttered. I tasted bile and blood on my lips and wiped it away shamefully. My head weighed a thousand pounds and flopped forward.
My sword...
The hilt had been fastened to my left arm with strips of red fabric, the skin black and blue from wrist to elbow. What remained of my blade was the hilt and a jagged edge of steel. It was covered in blood. I couldn't see my fingers – Ban had wrapped my hand and fingers together.
"They were pretty messed up." His voice rumbled through his chest and hurt my ears. I winced then flinched and stiffened as every other ache and pain in my body called for attention. "But if you're worried about your fingers, you should have seen your arm."
"What happened? You're whole again," I asked in a hoarse whisper. I knew what had happened but I couldn't quite believe it. Couldn't quite believe how outmatched I'd been.
"You decided to take flying lessons and landed beside me. Your chest was caved in and your arm twisted like a wet rag. Seriously bad, fox. I had to twist it back the other way so the muscles went back to normal then tug your arm out straight to try and align the bones. Don't know how you survived."
