บท 169: Chapter 158 - Sins That Stain The Soul
The group tried to breach the dimensional barrier three more times, each time they crashed into a different location in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Once by David's home, another in the yard of a seemingly random old woman, and another time just outside a bar near a college.
Jumping back to the island, the group was a bit downtrodden with the results of the experiment, everyone felt as if they had an itch they couldn't scratch.
Griffin, after learning about the pocket dimension, had grown somewhat of an obsession for it – understandable so considering his past and many other jumpers out there who are being treated unfairly or taken advantage of due to their special ability.
"What the fuck are we doing wrong mate? It's David's fault. Every time we jump, we go to where he wants to go," Griffin yelled out in frustration with his conjecture, but logic dictates that his way of thinking was not entirely wrong in this case.
Every jump would pull them towards a location that held sentimental value for David.
Alice facepalmed and shook her head in exasperation "We can't be blaming each other right now,"
"Wait! I think he is right," Zeel chimed in after carefully thinking "My dad used to tell me 'Every weary traveler needs a home' – maybe we have been looking at everything a bit wrong,"
"That's why we are trying to get home to the traveler's dimension, yeah?" Griffin voiced out agitatedly, but his words held great meaning nonetheless.
"For you who has lost everything, then yes that can be considered your home," Alice sounded out after coming to a realization of her own "But for David, he hasn't lost anything really. So –"
"So, like we're Zeel's home basically," Elizabeth chimed in feeling as she was getting the drift of what they wanted to say.
"David, who is your home? Your mom? No, too young to remember. Your dad? No abusive. A childhood crush?" she asked with a quirked brow as she finally managed to see his face crumble at the mention of a childhood crush.
The moment Elizabeth mentioned childhood, everyone could see David's eyes widened before he averted his gaze from them – they had struck a nerve no doubt.
"Fucking shit, all this while we were jumping you been thinking about a girl?" Griffin said as he jumped to David's location punching him in the face.
"Don't jump to conclusions, we need to conduct more research and I know exactly where," Zeel said as he pulled up a projection of the Parthenon in Athens, the base of the Paladins.
No better place to get answers than from the fanatical religious group that has been hunting jumpers for hundreds of years thus far.
"Hell yeah, I am gonna enjoy this trip," Griffin said cracking his fingers in anticipation, he might not have been able to get his revenge on Roland, but there are enough Paladins to kill.
"But first, we need to find your home David," Alice said cheekily, as David stammered for a suitable response, but before he could the group had already jumped to the bar in Ann Arbor near the college.
The exact same one they had crash-landed near numerous times.
Walking into the bar and finding a seat, the group waited 20 minutes for David to point out who his little crush was but he refused to.
Zeel, getting tired of waiting, ordered a drink for the first time in a while as the bartender came over.
"Here you go," the bartender said, giving the group a once-over then zeroing her gaze on David momentarily before asking "Is that you David?"
"Yeah, Millie been a while right?"
"I know, haven't seen you in years," Millie said as she took the seat offered by Alice.
"Oh, these guys are Alice, Zeel, Griffin, and Elizabeth, close friends of mine," David mentioned after staring at Millie for a while.
"Oh Hello!" Millie said out of politeness before returning her attention to David "So what do you do these days?"
*cough*
*cough*
"I work in banking," David said.
*psh*
"hahaha!"
"good one man!"
These were the responses that were heard all around the table upon hearing David's occupation.
"What? Does he not work in banking?" Millie asked, curious about why everyone was laughing.
"No, he does, he really does. He does banking so well, it's hilarious," Elizabeth said stifling her laugh, getting a pointed look from David – could robbing banks also be considered working 'In Banking'?
"So how about you? I knew you wanted to travel the world someday?" David asked curiously as to why she was staying here in a dead town.
"Gotta grow up sometime, huh?" Mille replied a bit uncomfortable, feeling she was being looked down upon.
David nodded and considered for a while "What if I took you exploring and promised an adventure unlike any other. We're working in archaeology, sort-of as a vacation, we're heading to Athens, Greece. You can always join us?"
"You're teasing me, right? I always wanted to go to Greece," Millie said as she bumped her shoulder with David's.
Zeel and Elizabeth frowned briefly in disapproval, but Alice was more relieved.
Every since gaining her divinity, she could feel the darkness of sin in everyone, but Millie had a lighter feeling compared to most.
Being near the guilty always put her emotions on edge, Milly was like a breath of fresh air for Alice.
Griffin, getting a bit impatient said "Well let's go, the jet leaves in?"
He paused expecting Zeel to continue his statement.
"Right now?" Zeel answered eyeing everyone on the table before nodding once again in certainty "Yeah, right now. I can pass by your apartment and you pack up then we leave on that 'adventure'?"
"Uhmm, sure, I got nothing better to do anyway," Millie said as she proceeded to ask for time off at the bar.
As they were all heading out, David met his childhood bully Mark.
Before Mark could say anything, David punched him in the stomach and walked out of the bar.
David did this because he knew that Zeel would not allow him to receive a beat down that could compromise his combat ability for the upcoming battle.
Mark was about to come for some payback, but Alice fell behind the group with only Elizabeth and Zeel noticing.
Standing beside Mark, Alice said "You're guilty of so much,"
At this time, Alice was barely in control of her divinity, so her voice had a certain majesty to it. Alice's eyes slightly bled, but she still stared at Mark with ruthless eyes.
"Her name was Wendy, the girl you raped in high school. When nobody believed her, you thought it nice to rape her two more times.
Still, she was a strong girl and did not commit suicide. Instead, she moved away to continue with her life, but you could not control the itch.
You found her again, she had a daughter and a husband, but you began raping her again. At that time, she was psychologically broken and did not resist you.
Her husband saw you guys in the house and became a broken man.
Wendy felt guilty and hated herself, but she tried to move on and build her family back up. Her husband was forgiving her, and she admitted to everything you had done.
They were about to go to the police and you would have been f*cked in prison for the rest of your life.
But her daughter came home that day walking shakily as her crotch bled. Wendy's daughter had been raped that day.
Other highschool boys knew what you did, and thought they could get away with the same. So they raped Wendy's daughter for fun after drinking too much.
I heard the young girl crying for someone to help... she prayed to any god that would listen... she prayed to me, but I did not listen.
Zeel told me that I could not save everyone, and it was not my responsibility. Yet, I still heard her crying amongst the many other prayers and I ignored her.
Seeing her daughter living a similar experience, Wendy broke and could not allow her daughter to suffer the way she did.
That day, Wendy killed her husband, daughter, and then herself. You were never suspected because she had a long history of mental illnesses,"
Alice looked deeply into Mark's eyes as she peered into the sins that stained his soul. Alice's eyes were ruthless beyond anything anyone, anywhere had seen before.
Mark began to spasm with his eyes becoming hollow.
Alice was not simply burning Mark's soul; she was killing it piece by piece for an eternity that lasted a moment of ephemerality.
Mark was experiencing Wendy's pain for a thousand years in a single moment, and each time the pain exponentially grew.
Zeel noticed what happened, but he was more curious about Alice's stare that was different from that of The Ghost Rider.
The Ghost Rider's stare, from Zeel's understanding, made you feel the pain of the sins you had previously committed.
It was a penance for your sins, but Alice's stare was much different. It made you pay a thousand times the price for each sin committed.
Alice named it 'The Malevolent Gaze'.
Alice soon left, while squeals and yells could be heard in her wake. The dead body of Mark was blacker than even the darkest abyss.
The truly terrifying thing about Mark was that he still survived in a state of unbelievable suffering.
Zeel and Elizabeth said nothing since this was the new way Alice coped with her growing divinity.
However, for Alice it was different, ever since she became a god, Alice could hear people calling – good people who needed help.
Alice felt as if she would go insane, but Zeel always steadied her mind with his own indifferent mind.
But today, Alice thought about something different.
'If Mark did that horrible of a thing and his soul was that stained... Zeel's soul was way more stained than Mark's. Then what had Zeel done in the past that was so much worse than Mark's actions?' She thought.
Zeel's soul was almost entirely pitch black, like an all-encompassing abyss. Alice did not know what Zeel's sin was, and she hoped that she would never know of his sin.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
The_Young_Flash
The_Young_Flash Here it is....
I wanted to show how much a divinity affects new gods like Alice....
You guys blame her for attacking Zeel, but she didn't do so willingly.
Unlike Zeel who barely feels, Alice and Elizabeth will both react negatively to having a divinity because they are compelled to perform good deeds inline with their divinities.
Also, read the auxiliary chapters to understand how divinities work, progress, and the restrictions on Gods.
Thanks,
The_Young_Flash
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