Approaching the Hero of Greed

As soon as Amicus heard what the cloaked figure had said, the air around him seemed to freeze.

Cloaked figure: Amicus what are we going to do?

After a brief moment of silence Amicus' expresion changed from that of shock and desperation to pure determination.

Amicus: I would have liked to find out what his abilities are but that is no longer an option. We are going to do the only thing we can, and that is to make our stand for Salutem!

Cloaked figure: Well ok then of course I am with you no matter what, but do you really think we can pull this off with our current strength?

Amicus: Remember who you are talking to, also for some quick introductions. Arbit this is the other party member I told you about. Her name is Fide, and Fide this is our newest recruit, and his name is Arbit.

After the introduction Fide removed the hood of her cloak to reveal her face. Arbit thought to himself that Amicus was right; she was very beautiful. She had jet black hair that was up in a neat bun and two fiery red eyes. Even though her eyes were red they had a sort of soft look to them especially when she looked at Amicus. Despite Amicus' confidence it was clear that Fide was still very worried until Amicus whispered something in her ear. After that the worry did not completely vanish from her face but whatever he said put her more at ease.

Amicus: Arbit I will explain more on the way but we don't have any more time to waste just standing here.

Amicus then stretched out his hand

Amicus: Terram

A faint golden light started imitating from his palm. Then the vague form of a sword appeared and quickly became more defined until it was a fully formed sword. The light dissipated and Amicus tossed the sword to Arbit.

Amicus: Here you are gonna need it.

Arbit who seemed to have been caught in a trance by the light snapped out of it and caught the sword.

Arbit: How did you do that? That was amazing!

Amicus: I will explain later but that is not the matter at hand. Fide lead the way and Arbit follow me.

Fide started running deeper into the forest and Amicus followed. Arbit tried running after them but it was clear that he was not going to be able to keep up even if he sprinted. Amicus noticed this and called out to Fide.

Amicus: Go ahead of us and keep an eye on the hero of Greed.

Fide: Ok will do!

She once again started running into the forest. Arbit could tell that Amicus didn't like having to split up and cursed himself for being a burden. Suddenly Amicus yelled out again.

Amicus: And Fide please please be careful!

Fide stopped and turned to answer

Fide: Don't worry I will.

She then gave Amicus a smile that put him at ease, and finally disappeared into the forest. Amicus turned to Arbit who was still panting after sprinting to close the distance between himself and Amicus.

Amicus: On the way I will do my best to catch you up on what is going on. So just go at your pace and I should be able to keep up.

Arbit: Ok *pant* just let me *pant* catch my breath.

Amicus: Ok then let me know when you are ready to go and in the meantime I will start. Ok so even though he is known as the hero of greed he is anything but a hero. He is part of the eleven Great heroes. Specifically he is one of the seven heroes of sin. But you probably have no idea what I'm talking about do you.

Arbit: Yah I have no clue what any of that means. Also I am ready to get going.

Amicus started running the same path that Fide had taken and Arbit followed close behind.

Amicus: Alright let me explain what the eleven great heroes are. There are two groups that make up the eleven heroes. The heroes of sin and the heroes of virtues. I will start with the Heroes of sin. There are a total of seven heroes of sin, known as Pride, Wrath, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Lust, and Gluttony. Each of them started as a normal human that was born into one of the bloodlines of sin.

Arbit: Wait what is a bloodline of sin?

Amicus: I am getting there but first I need to explain what a sin is. Long ago there were seven beings of pure sin that grew so powerful that it is said the Gods themselves came down from the heavens and killed them. However they were so powerful that even though they were killed their souls remained. To keep them from causing more trouble the gods bonded the Souls with the souls of seven heroes of the day. They were known as the seven heroes of sin from then on.

Arbit: wait, so is this hero of greed guy really old?

Amicus: No he is not. The Gods also showed them how to transfer the sins to someone new with a technique known as Soul Alchemy. So the hero's passed the sins to the children and their children passed it to their children and so on and so forth. These lines of heroes are known as the bloodlines of sin. Now before I get to the main point I need you to understand the relationship between a sin and the hero they are bound to. From the moment the sin and hero are linked the hero is plagued with constant temptation to indulge in their respective sin. But this link is not all bad for the hero, The hero is able to access a small amount of the sin's power and this is known as their domain of sin. Using a domain of sin comes at the cost of greatly increasing the temptation felt by the hero while it is active. This is the greatest threat to a hero of sin because if they ever give in to that temptation they will become a warped version of themselves that is completely consumed with their respective sin.

Arbit: You said that there were two groups of heroes. I think you called the other group the hero's of virtue. So what is up with them?

After asking this Arbit thought that he noticed Amicus' head tilt down slightly and he spoke in a more saddened voice.

Amicus: You are right the other four of the great eleven heroes are known as the heroes of virtue. There is Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice.

Amicus could barely get the last name out.

Amicus continued after a short silence

Amicus: Anyway the heroes of virtue work in much the same way as the heroes of sin. Each one of them is in possession of a virtue which is said to be the soul of an ancient hero. The Gods created them to keep the heroes of sin in check. There are however a few differences between the two groups. The first is that a virtue cannot be passed to another person at will. It is the virtue itself that picks the next hero. The other main difference is that the domains of virtue are quite a bit more powerful because the user does not need to worry about overusing it and risking temptation. There are other minor differences but I don't have time to explain them all. Now to the main point twenty years ago the hero of Pride called all the other ten heroes for a meeting to discuss the current state of the world and to discuss their next moves. They all met in a city named Pinnaculum. Little did the other heroes know that the Hero of Pride had succumbed to her sin. Little is known about her domain of pride but what we do know is that it was able to influence people. The night of the meeting the hero of pride used her domain to push an unknown number of the heroes of sin over the edge causing them to succumb to their sins. Together the fallen heroes murdered the heroes of virtue and disappeared into the night.

Arbit could sense great rage and sorrow in Amicus' words.

Amicus: After that night none of the heroes of sin have been seen except one. We only know the fates of two of the heroes of sin. We know that Pride fell for obvious reasons and we know that Greed fell because he returned to Pinnaculum five years after the meeting killing every single citizen and burnt the city to the ground. Since then he has been the only hero to operate openly. He has left a trail of fear and fire in his wake and around ten other cities have suffered the same fate as Pinnaculum.

Suddenly Arbit's eyes widened as a realization hit him.

Arbit: Wait Fide said that the hero of Greed is here! We need to stop him before Salutem suffers the same fate!