Alphonse stood over a corpse as his breathing turned haggard and rough. He felt the sensation of hot liquid trickle down his body as the scarlet-red substance seeped through his ravaged clothes.

He felt the air around him swirl as it brushed up against the fine hairs on his arms. A spear tip tore through the air as it penetrated the soft, squishy whites of the zombie's eyeball. With a thud, the lying corpse fell to the ground.

“Thanks.” Alphonse nodded towards Oskar.

“Not like you needed it, anyway.” Oskar shook his head.

The least I can do is lessen the load. Oskar thought to himself as he looked at the pile of corpses that had littered the room.

“Shit… it’s Kristen.” Markus crouched over the mangled corpse of the woman. Her broken up bow lay in small pieces beside her.

“Why did she go alone…” Felecia's legs buckled to her knees as she held onto what was left of her hand. She stripped her eyes from the corpse, the smell of the dead corpse festered as the putrid smell entered her nose. She couldn’t help but run to a corner of the room and puked out what was remaining in her stomach.

“Let’s get out of here. I can't stand the stench.” Tariq held his nose.

“Take Felecia with you.” Alphonse said, as he inspected the body.

With Tariq taking Felecia out of the room, Alphonse reached forwards, lifting Kristen’s shirt slightly.

“Is that a blade mark?” Gabriel peered forwards as he held his sleeve to his face.

“Looks like it.” Alphonse placed her shirt down as he took a deeper look within the room.

A large table centered the room as wooden chairs that were once a part of it had been smashed into fragments lay strewn around the room. The only thing that seemed untouched was a grand picture that lay imposingly high on the wall in the center of the room. The picture depicted what looked to be a war. Alphonse’s eyes peered closer. His eyes rested on the familiar visage of a fat demon. His stomach looked as if it was about to explode. Eerie teeth had grown out of its stomach as the demon happily devoured a creature whole.

A sharp twinging pain assaulted his mind. The sudden bombardment caused a faint nausea as he shook his head. His mind once again focused on the picture.

“Alphonse c’mon, let’s get out of here.” Gabriel’s sharp voice reached his ears as Alphonse absentmindedly nodded.

I’ll need to come back here… I can’t let them see me blatantly eat one of our own, even despite the betrayal. I can’t become alienated from the group. Alphonse closed the doors behind him as the thoughts of cannibalism stormed within his mind.

“Shouldn’t we try to bury her?” Felecia clasped her hands together as her puffy eyes wandered to the door.

“We’ll come back later if we can, but we need to press forward,” Alphonse shook his head at the request. “We need to hurry and find Lucus and complete the mission.” Alphonse rested his hand on Felecia’s shoulder.

“Alright.” Felecia bit her lip as she closely followed behind Alphonse and Markus.

Alphonse approached the staircase and placed his foot on the first step. Goosebumps formed on the back of his nape. Alphonse’s head looked around. It feels like something is watching me…

“Do you feel that, Alphonse?” Haydon’s rare voice said.

“I do. It feels like we’re lambs heading into a slaughter.” Alphonse said. A grim expression forming on his dirty face.

“Want me to scout?” Haydon said as he brought his dagger out in front of him. His fingers ran along the blade, his usual habit of detracting any nervousness that he had.

“No, the last thing we need is another member of the group to vanish or die,” Alphonse said. “We travel together. Don’t even take a step out of formation from now on, alright?”

The others nodded at the warning. They felt the air become thinner.

Gabriel took a small breath. “It’s different to mana. It feels more like when I went climbing in the alps with the old man. Like the air is thinner here.”

“I’m not sure what it is, but we can’t go back.” Alphonse shook his head. His hands clasped around his cleaver as the whites of his knuckles were on display. They should have been used to approaching the unknown, but it was a feeling that would forever stay with him.

They carefully approached the first door that greeted them. Alphonse looked back at everyone as he nodded. His hands gently placed against the solid door and pushed. The unpleasant sound of the door creaking open rang outwards. With a last shove, the door was fully opened, his head peering into the room.

Nothing here. Alphonse sighed in relief.

It was a bedroom; it was quite cramped, as it only had enough room for a bed and table.

“It’s clear.” Alphonse’s voice rang out as everyone looked into the small room.

Alphonse’s eyes moved to the table. It seemed out of place. The quality of the wood was visibly worse than what he had seen in the castle. His hand grabbed hold of one of the sliding cupboards and opened it. Because of the poor craftsmanship, he shimmied it back and forth for it to finally slide open. A single notebook lay within the coarse wood of the cupboard, a piece of thin charcoal lay next to it.

“Looks like my old bedroom, god I miss it.” Tariq shook his head as his finger wiped across the dirty walls. Gray, almost black residue, stained his finger.

“This must be the slave’s quarters.” Gabriel looked around. His shoulders stayed clear of the dusty walls.

Tariq let out a sigh. “Is this you starting shit again?”

“No, this is genuinely the slave quarters. Shoddy furniture, a small room in an enormous castle. It fits the bill,” Gabriel said. “It’s not my fault that it resembles your old room.”

“You really get on my nerves, wizard.” Tariq said through gritted teeth.

“Likewise, makeshift elf.”

Alphonse took hold of the notebook and wiped off the layer of dust that caked the cover. He flicked to the first page.

“Looks like a diary.” Markus squeezed into the room. His face was too close for comfort as his head craned over Alphonse’s body.

“Right, this is ridiculous. Get your massive fuck off shield out of this tiny room, man.” Tariq attempted to push Markus’ massive body out, but it didn’t budge an inch.

“Alright, alright. I was just curious.” Markus pouted as he practically crawled out of the room.

The words greeted him. He wasn't used to the handwriting. It was fancy and filled with flair. It reminded him of a computer generated font.

How much practice would they need to get to this level? It’s more like art at this point. Alphonse thought. It was too fancy for him. He sighed and placed it in front of Gabriel's eyes.

“Can you read it?” Alphonse inquisitively asked.

“Uh,” Gabriel took a minute to become accustomed to it. “I was taught in calligraphy, but this is on another level. The intricate details and the way it forms throughout, I wonder if all the servants were taught to this extent” Gabriel looked at the art like writing in wonder.

“He asked you if you could read it.” Tariq was becoming impatient. His eyes wandered inside the cramped up room. It didn’t help that the air was thinner than usual.

“Of course I can read it.” Gabriel held his head high as he looked at the fancy words. “Year 603, It was the month to celebrate the Seven Monarchs of Evil. Three months since I was taken from my family to become a maid… I wonder how momma and poppa are doing… The lead maid scolded me today, something about my hair, but I think she was just making an excuse to shout at something. She seems really stressed. She said something about the Prince of… Loop?” Gabriel squinted at the writing as he questioned himself.

“Prince of Loop? Is that a place?” Felecia said. She wrapped her finger and thumb around her chin in thought.

“Ah, no, it should be lust.” Gabriel said as he corrected himself as he continued where he left off. “She said something about the Prince of Lust arriving today. Something about a succession. I wish they told me more but, stay out of sight, out of mind they say. I’m just a slave after all… I wonder if I will ever be able to leave here. The air is hard to breathe and I always hear screams deep within the walls.” Gabriel finished the page.

“Poor girl,” Felecia sighed at the misfortune of the servant. “It’s hard to imagine the life of a slave…”

“Aren’t we also slaves?” Tariq said. “I mean, we don’t need to clean and do laundry. That’s a plus, I suppose. But she doesn’t need to face bloodthirsty monsters that only think about ripping you apart. She had that going for her, I guess.” Tariq nodded at his own words.

“You’re insufferable. Sometimes humans are the worst monsters of all.” Gabriel said as he flicked to the next page with a frown on his face. “The Prince of Lust… arrived,” Gabriel noticed a stark difference in writing on this page–it was shaky–as if she was trembling while holding the piece of charcoal. “He lined all the maids up and… selected them one by one.” The writing was becoming increasingly hard to read. Something had smudged together lines and blended as one. Gabriel skimmed past the indecipherable writing until his eyes landed on the only words he could understand. “Get me out… I NEED OU-” Gabriel stopped talking as it had been cut off. Blood marred the bottom of the page.

“What else?” Alphonse said.

“Nothing, that’s it.” Gabriel shook his head as he flicked through the blank pages.

“...” Felecia wanted to say something. Various thoughts welled up in her mind as she envisioned the girl in the diary. Tears broke out at the side of her eyes as she tried to get the thought out of her mind.

Alphonse shook his head. “Let’s continue.”

Seven Monarchs of Evil, they must be the seven deadly sins. “Succession.” The monster’s words fermented in his mind. What the hell does that entail? It felt like just another thing being forced into him. His anger sod as he walked out of the cramped room.