“Are we really doing this? Are we really going to kill those poor kids?” The cleric’s concerns earned him a few disinterested looks.

“Look, Eric, one of them blew up a chunk of a large city. Maybe some of them are innocent, but we can’t know for sure until we coax them into admitting it. Even then, they might lie to us. I know you might not like it, but we have to do this.” Everyone else agreed with the mage, nodding their heads in approval.

“What are we doing anyways? Since we know that two of them are in opposite directions, me and Adri thought we would split up.”

“No,” the knight bellowed, “they may be young still, but they’re deadly. Even if we could defeat them as a team, even as pairs, they might have a last resort up their sleeves. We need to stick together, make sure we all stay safe. Even if its overkill, I’m not going to be responsible for anyone’s death. First, we’ll head out east for Jerule.”

With their bags at the ready, the group was already prepared to leave, they just needed to decide on a direction. Heading east, the group took the raised road that led through a jungle. Hot and humid, the group could feel themselves work up a sweat, the girls gathering around Brian as concentrated on fanning everyone.

Matthew began to slow his walk, letting the others lead as he walked alongside the cleric. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that whole telling the truth thing for years. Why didn’t you tell me about it personally?”

“I was afraid you’d get angry with me. I know it was a dumb thing to think, but it was what I thought at the time.”

The knight stroked his stubble, “Eric, if there’s anything you guys need to tell me, tell me. I will always consider what you have to say, even if I don’t like it. After Adriana told me about what you said, I started reconsidering what I was doing, and I think it made me a better person, so just be front with me from now on, okay?”

The cleric nodded and smiled, the relief helping to take his mind off the relentless humidity emanating from the jungle in the middle of the summer.

“Curious Matt, are you really going to give up being a warrior? I imagine you want to go into crafting, but I know you’ve been doing side-missions here and there.”

“When I told my father that I was thinking about quitting, I feared a lot of things, that I would need to uphold my word no matter what, that I was overreacting and I would return to being a warrior after the incident, and that this new hobby would grow boring for me. None of those were wholly true, but I have gone back to helping people occasionally, if only to keep in shape. At the same time, I doubt I’ll ever truly enjoy these long excursions.”

“That’s fine, everyone enjoys something different. I’ve gone into monster researching while Adri likes investigating. I guess most of us used our warrior schtick to fuel our other hobbies. Apparently, that’s pretty normal from what my parents told me.”

The cleric stopped dead in his tracks, “Did you hear that?!”

Matt had come to a screeching halt, the others turning around when they noticed the two had stopped. “What is it Eric?”

“I heard a rustling nearby. I have a feeling we’re being watched.” Holding his palm above his head, he began pointing it to the surrounding thick layers of jungle. He had made a full circle before stopping, though he remained alert has he continued to hear the noise. “It’s not just a feral beast, it must be sapient. We may have just found our target.”

The group unsheathed their weapons as they gathered back-to-back in a circle of six, their eyes locked on their surroundings, not letting the slightest movement slip by.

“There!” After what felt like minutes, the cleric had broken the circle, rushing into the foliage and leaving the others to catch up.

In front of him, Eric could see a large shadow rushing along the treetops above, all while the cleric was getting beaten harshly and repeatedly by various branches of trees and bushes. Through the pain, the man pursued his target, never losing track until the two eventually reached a clearing.

In the light, Eric could see his target was tall, round, sporting a shell on his back. “Sloth of the seven sins, I presume.”

“It’s Dustin, man. I was just trying to catch some z’s, why you stalking me?”

The cleric raised an eyebrow at his calm demeanor, mentally questioning why he would be running away if he was just looking to take a nap. “Dustin, on behalf of Queen Vanilla of Lumina, I have been sent to slay you.”

“Slay me? Like, tell me jokes?”

“No, as in kill you.” As the cleric finished his explanation, he watched the realization slam the shell in his face, his eyes bulging and face moving erratically before he suddenly stopped.

“Oh. Well about that.” The devil had landed on his stomach, the cleric backpedaling to avoid being squished. Dustin then proceeded to pull all his limbs inside of his shell.

“Yo Eric, what are you-“ Brian had stopped and stared at the cleric and the large shell in front of him, the others following suit.

“Guys, this is Dustin, aka sloth. I think we’re going to have to crack him open if we want to get rid of him.”

Without warning, the dragoon slammed his halberd down on the hard shell, a purple mist was expelled from the shell’s openings. The group began hacking and wheezing horribly upon intaking the horrid substance.

“This gas is toxic, don’t attack him.” The cleric waved the others to distance themselves, doing so himself to avoid breathing in any more of the fumes.

Once they could breathe normal air again, the heroes began to figure out a plan of attack, until they were alerted by a new sound. This new sound was the shell spinning toward them, attempting to run over them as it dashed in their direction. With a slam of a mighty ice mallet, the shell stopped in front of the mage, expelling considerably more gas.

“Jessica, move! He’s trying to suffocate us!”

Using an icy path, the mage rushed away, but falling over as the toxic made it hard for to keep her balance. The shell began spinning again, it’s sights set on the mage. With lightning bolts and fireballs, the dragoon and rogue pelted the shell maddeningly, only for their projectiles to bounce off harmlessly.

Before the mage could be squished, the knight slammed his sword down and had a poll rise between the shell and them, the beast slamming into it and spewing fumes. Matt quickly scooped up Jessica and ran, retreating to the group while Sarah joined the other two in pelting the beast with ranged attacks.

“Adri,” Eric had grabbed his girlfriend’s shoulder, taking her attention off the enemy, “I need you three to do your best in keeping it distracted. Sarah should get its attention first, then Brian, and last I need you to get Dustin to stand up.” Nodding, the rogue relayed the plan to the others, letting Sarah run up to the beast.

The elf could see the shell was revving up for another dash, so she gathered her mana into the best earth attack she could muster, pushing it up with a single spiral of ground. Unable to balance on the spike, the shell tumbled over and landed on his back. Acting quickly, Brian encased the head of his halberd with energy, slicing into the monster’s lower torso. In retaliation, the creature expunged his clouds at an accelerated rate, but the two attackers were already too far for it to reach.

Realizing he had no options, Dustin finally poked his limbs out, standing up straight on hind legs before moving back down on all fours. Before he could retreat again, Adriana assaulted his head with bolts from above.

Dustin could see she was too high to attack while in his shell, but she was within reach if he stood up. Getting back on his hind legs, he clumsily attempted to grab the rogue, who jumped off the branch and toward the cleric. Facing Eric, the monsters face showed the realization that he had a mistake he wouldn’t live to regret.

Eric shot a thin stream of water through his chest, where he predicted the heart was. If he was right, the shot would be fatal; if he was wrong, the devil’s rampage could turn even worse.

In a moment, Eric could feel his heartbeat, his headache, and his stomach drop as he looked at Dustin, and Dustin stared back still standing on his hindlegs. No one said a word, merely joining in the staring contest.

Darkness began to encapsulate the beast, his form shrinking as it began departing from his figure. Soon, there stood only a tall, stick-thin blonde teenager with long hair and baggy clothes. This teen carried the remnants of his devil-self, a gash on his stomach and a small hole in his chest. His legs gave way, causing Dustin to fall backward into a sitting position, before falling on his back and moaning in agony.

Kneeling in front of the boy, the cleric looked at his victim. “Do you have any final words, Dustin?”

“I just wanted to sleep in peace, dream of a better life, ya know? I never wanted to work hard. Will I be able to dream when I die?”

“You’ll have the rest of eternity to dream” the cleric formed a knowing smile on his face, watching the teen contently drift off into the abyss. “And hopefully, you’ll dream of the best life.”

The smile on Eric’s face vanished almost instantly when he felt the teen go limp. Tears began welling up uncontrollably, his heart ached worse than before.

“Eric, it’s going to be okay” the rogue tried to comfort him, but he shrugged her off.

“I need to bury the body, it’s the least I can do for him.”

“Here.” The knight handed his friend a hastily made shovel recycled from an extra sword and shield he carried.

“Thank you. You guys can go.”

“We’ll meet you in Jerule.” With that, the five departed from the cleric, Eric digging a hole while he contemplated what had happened, and why he felt this way.

‘They’re right, I don’t know him, but I can’t help but wonder: what if it was me? This poor kid did nothing wrong, he probably has no idea what happened. At least he looks somewhat at peace now. Still, is this what it’s like to kill another human being…’

A fire crackled as six young adults sat around it in silence, five falling asleep, one wide awake. Eric had rejoined the team only to learn that they had all wanted to retire. It was a difficult fight to be sure, but they could surely make it back to town before nightfall and even after nightfall if need be. The cleric couldn’t understand their need to sleep since it was still mid-day and he was energized.

“Well, you guys can head to bed if you want. I’m going to talk to the townspeople, see if I can gather info about any other sins that might be around.”

Eric was happy to depart from the group but talking to the townspeople was a mistake.

“Have you seen any strange activity around town?” He had asked this of many residents, all of them giving answers that led him nowhere and brought down his refreshed vitality.

“I saw a strange creature in the jungle. It seemed scary at first, but it never bothered me or anyone else.”

“Yeah, there was a strange monster in the jungle. Mostly minded its own business; seemed rather shy actually.”

“Oh yeah, I remember seeing some dark, shadowy beast come from the trees. Weirdly, around the time I started seeing it, I stopped feeling as tired as I used, but now I’m back to wanting to sleep all day. I hope that doesn’t mean something bad happened to the creature.”

That last villager he spoke to made Eric feel sick. Deciding he was done, he retreated back to his friends, restless is his sleep.

“You…why’d you do it man?”

Eric awoke to leafy trees surrounding him, alongside a certain blonde teenager who looked battered and bruised.

“Why’d you kill me man? I just wanted to sleep!”

The cleric watched in horror as Dustin shambled slowly over to him, pain smeared across his face with every step he took.

“I’m-I’m sorry! I was just following orders. I didn’t mean for this happen.” Eric cowered with his hands over his head until he could feel himself shake.

His eyelids shooting open, Eric sat up straight before he could see Adriana grabbing his arm.

“Are you okay? You were whimpering pretty bad. Nightmare?”

“More like night terror. I was face to face with that kid.”

“Eric, if for any reason this gets to be too much for you, you can leave. We can leave.”

“No, I’ll see this through to the end.”