Gates of Penance-Chapter 34: Meeting of sinners

Submerged in darkness, Nacht felt a comforting silence. Now that he was an enlightened, his perception in the dark increased to encompass his room. He was able to command the darkness, albeit to a limited degree.

Commanding too much of the darkness drained his reservoir of orren at a startling degree. However, he was able to maintain a shroud of darkness over his avatar without wasting too much orren, offering him an increase in stealth.

He then turned his attention towards the faint imperceivable threads that sprouted out of his body. He had learned that he didn’t need to tell someone his name for them to be connected to a thread. They only needed to hear his name to be under the influence of the [Dual insight] Ability.

Nacht also noticed a new thread that he hadn’t seen before. It was pointed in the same direction as another thread he had been tracking. They both pointed in the direction of the inner fortress. He focused on the newly discovered thread and felt his perception warp until he saw a silhouette of a woman that looked very similar to Armon.

Nacht thought back to what Magi had said. Using the information, he identified the woman as Armon’s sister, Historia. He also noticed a different silhouette which was intercepted by another one of his threads. The thread that pertained to Armon.

The two siblings were interacting with each other but Nacht could barely understand what was happening. The farther away his mark was the less clear his perception became.

When a mark was too far away, his perception became focused in a single direction. When someone was in range, his perception of the individual became blurry. Finally, when the individual was close to him, then he was offered a perfectly clear picture of the individual as well as what was happening around them.

It was quite a useful ability but it still had its limits.

Nacht then walked over towards his bed and laid down. He hadn’t had a chance to relax in a long time.

’...Finally.’

The bed felt far more comfortable than the cold ground of District Nine which he was used to. Now that he was somewhere relatively safe. He decided to plan his future steps. He needed to learn more about where he was, the situation he was in, and learn more about the enlightened around him.

Since he was an enlightened now, it was only natural that he should learn more about there history and customs. Above all, he would also like access to their knowledge on penance. For instance, how would a sinner enter the second gate?

He also needed to learn more about his new abilities and worst of all, his punishment. He already knew that the phantom menace was a reflection of his sins. However, his punishment description also hinted at the fact that his soul was no longer his alone... whatever that meant.

Nacht noticed something elusive.

’I’m tired?’

Apparently he still needed to sleep even though he wasn’t fully human anymore.

With a small sigh, Nacht allowed himself to relax. He fell into a deep sleep.

***

Nacht woke up to the sound of someone banging on his door.

He lazily got up from his bed and walked over towards the door. The door opened to reveal the sinner that had so rudely disturbed his much needed sleep.

Mirad had a flimsy smile on his face while scratching the back of his head.

"I didn’t catch you at a bad time did I?"

Nacht looked at Mirad in slight annoyance.

"What is it?"

Mirad continued with the excuse of why he woke him up.

"We need to go, you are being called."

Nacht had been expecting this. He knew that they would want to know more about the stranger who had been let into their residence. It was only a matter of time before they asked to meet him.

Before Nacht could follow Mirad to the meeting, he pointed to something behind him.

"Isn’t that your sword?"

Nacht had an expression of confusion as he turned around only to see the Death March laying on his bed besides where he slept.

’How did that get there?’

Nacht walked over and grabbed the saber before he dismissed it back into his core.

Mirad gestured for him to hurry.

"We need to go."

Nacht walked with Mirad as he led him into the courtyard and towards the fortress’s inner gate. The sun had gone down, revealing the stars in the night sky and plunging the world in darkness.

Nacht felt his perception expand through the darkness to encompass a small portion of the fortress.

Unlike last time, there was a different guard at the entrance who simply opened the gate and let them pass through. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Are you finally going to tell me what’s going on?"

Mirad looked ahead.

"You’ll know soon enough."

Nacht sighed.

"Can’t you at least tell me a little so I’m not completely clueless going into this meeting?"

Mirad’s head swivelled as he led Nacht through the different paths inside the fortress.

"All you need to know is that you are about to meet the leaders of this fortress, most of which you have already met."

They turned right and walked down a large hallway before taking another right.

"Any tips for the meeting?"

Mirad turned to look at Nacht.

"No idea... I need some advice myself."

They eventually made it to a set of stairs that led underground and into another corridor.

Torches lit up the path which illuminated a door at the end of the pathway.

Nacht didn’t know what to expect for this meeting. All he knew was that he shouldn’t offend anyone too much and maybe even try and get along if he could help it.

Mirad reached out and opened the metal door.

They stepped through the door to reveal an enclosed chamber with a large table in the middle. Lining the table at both ends were seats that were occupied by individuals that Nacht was familiar with.