Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 18 (Sin's Past) Part 1

After the three of us survived the forest we became the only test subjects in our respective tents. The poisoning became more intense, sometimes one or all of us wouldn't wake up for days. On the offhand chance we didn't pass out we were forced to train through the experiment. We only had the three of us to compete against, it wasn't like before when I could single out the mediocre to practice on.

Through bits of information I became aware that the poisonous concoction they fed me also included the majority of the poisons used in the other two tents, which explained its higher rate of fatality. It also proved to become increasingly difficult to balance the toxins inside me. The imbalances that recurred in my body sent me on many close touches with death and consequently excruciating pain. As the poisons became more concentrated in my body the scent of the toxins became more apparent.

The scent would be at its strongest shortly after receiving large doses of poison. The toxins within my body and the newly introduced toxins fought to negate each other. To protect others from the effects, I wasn't allowed to get close to anyone. They dug a hole deep into the ground and pushed me to the bottom. With me securely inside they closed the top of the hole with a gate and locked it closed. I was trapped inside until the toxins ran their course.

Tripping boy and Fearless boy never asked where I went on nights like these, they probably assumed I was passed out in a tent somewhere. One night the doctors took me out of bed despite my scent being normal. They forced an extra dose on me and tossed me down the hole. I was there until the following night, by myself, before they threw a rope ladder down. Things continued this way for weeks, they'd give me half a day between doses no matter where I was. They were convinced the poisons in my body weren't as concentrated as the other two due to the amount of different poisons I had to consume.

Day in and day out my body was at war with itself, the poisons tore apart and reopened passageways I didn't know existed. The very fibers of my body were re-routed. After all these years I wanted to cry, but realized I couldn't. When I tried to scream, I couldn't. My throat was too raw to scream anymore. I laid in silence at the bottom of a hole, looking up at the night sky with bars sullying the view. For a short while every night I could see the moon before it moved on, tired of looking down at me.

One night after many weeks of spending the night alone, Fearless boy peeked through the bars and down at me. I stared back at him as I peered up. His eyes widened, unable to make out what exactly was down below. My eyes had started changing slowly. While the poisons were running their course through my body, my eyes were swallowed by black, showing no trace of white.

"Are you a monster?" He asked. The question hurt, but I couldn't tell where. It wasn't a pain I was familiar with.

"Not any more than you are." I snapped back.

"Oh. It's you." Fearless boy said in a flat tone before turning to walk away. It only took him one step to move out of my line of sight. I didn't expect him to come back, he was missing out on much needed sleep to talk to someone he had no interest in talking to.

The following day I joined the others again, coming face to face with Fearless boy during breakfast. We didn't talk about what happened the night before. We trained hard that night, I found myself hoping I'd have a good night's rest. It didn't happen though. They came again, dragging me off to the tent for my dose before hauling me to the hole and dropping me inside. As the night progressed Fearless boy once again came to look down at me. He didn't stay long, but knowing he was up there even briefly made me feel strangely not alone.

Weeks passed like this until my eyes no longer changed back to normal, nor did they remain completely black. The scent of my body changed entirely, not as strong as when I was first given a large dose of poison, but obviously different from before. The doses became less frequent and less incidents occurred within the balance of my body. No longer feeling backlash or sick, I was able to return to the strength I had before and even began exceeding that.

At night I was able to sleep with the other two once again. The cold open structure seemed comforting compared to the dark solitude in the ground. Fearless boy and Tripping boy began sleeping closer to me each night, cutting the distance between us.

One day as Tripping boy and I were practicing swords I pushed myself harder than before, realizing I could go faster. The feeling was elating, this new strength inside. Unaware of the changes, I discovered he couldn't keep up. Unable to block in time, the tip of my sword grazed his side. The wound wasn't deep, but he looked irritated with me as I stopped suddenly.

The smell of his blood hit me, I recognized the scent from the poisons I consumed. As an adult came closer to inspect, they stopped suddenly in their tracks then sat down on the ground. We walked closer to him and watched. When we were little it was common for us to get injured. As our skills grew so did our ability to avoid injuries such as these. The three of us still suffered from bruises, the occasional dislocation, and other such injuries, but I couldn't remember when the last time I'd seen any of us get cut or hit so hard we bled.

This phenomenon intrigued me. I knew my scent was the cause for the weird reactions from the adults, I knew it was why they separated me and kept me away. I didn't realize just how effective the blood inside us had become though. Curious, I ran the blade of the sword across the side of my hand. The wound was shallow and small, just enough for a few drops of blood.

The adult suddenly woke from whatever it was he'd been seeing. He knelt in place to stare up at me, fixated. As I backed up it became apparent that Tripping boy was affected as well. He turned to stare at me, after all these years of being together I was suddenly aware of him. He was much taller than me now. Despite wearing a worn tunic that didn't fit properly and the unkempt state we'd been living in, he still had a saintly look about him. For the first time I wondered what he'd look like if he were cleaned up like an adult.

"What.. what do you want?" I asked. The adult managed to wrap an arm around one of my ankles. I shook him off, accidentally kicking him lightly in the process. Tripping boy reached out to grab my hand, holding it gently in his.

"Get off!" I yelled down at the adult, who obediently obeyed. I looked back at Tripping boy, then down at our hands.

My hand looked dirty in his, I rarely washed myself and the dirt from the hole I was tossed into was still under my nails. For the first time I felt ashamed that he was sleeping closer to me at night. I looked at his hair, it wasn't completely clean given our sleeping and living conditions, but to me it was unsoiled. I raised my other hand to my hair, it felt matted. I wanted to reach out to touch his, but the thought of my dirty hands sullying his hair embarrassed me more.

While I stood before him, suddenly aware of all these things, he stood before me staring into my eyes. As if waiting for me to say something. I was uncomfortable, never experiencing this sort of look before. I wasn't taught how to process these emotions.