The Eighth Sin

Episode 13.5 - King of the Dead

Y/N reemerged in a crystal land, the only colors for miles green and purple. She stood up, her head swimming with voices trying to push past the barrier in her mind. This place reeked of memories. She straightened herself as she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. 

Off in the distance something caught her attention. There was a large purple gemstone, growing brighter than the rest. Something about it's soft glow made Y/N uncomfortable and intrigued simultaneously. She sighed and started to trudge towards it, careful not to touch anything. Something about the eerie gems made her wary to come into contact with them. As she neared the large gem, she realized that it was actually a building of sorts. 

She walked up to the doors and pulled it open a bit to check if it was quiet enough for her to slip in without drawing attention to herself. She let out a breath of relief when the door glided open silently. She pulled the door open just wide enough for her to squeeze through and made sure that the door was closed before walking up the spiral staircase that was the only feature of the room. She walked up stairs for what seemed like hours. With every step she took the memories pushed against her barrier more forcefully, desperately pleading for her to acknowledge them. She eventually reached a room at the top of the staircase. She pushed through the door open just before collapsing. 

She heard muffled sounds of footsteps hurrying across the floor and she looked up to see Ellie leaning over her with a worried expression. "Oh my- Y/N? Are you okay?" She asked frantically, pulling her sister's head onto her lap. 

"Ellie?" Y/N asked. "Don't you feel the memories?"

Ellie's face contorted into a face of confusion. "Memories? What memories?" 

"You can't feel them?" Y/N whispered. "Their desperation?" Ellie shook her head. 

"That's because she doesn't have the same abilities as you." A voice suddenly said from the doorway. Y/N groggily lifted her head to see a fuzzy image of Emer standing in the doorway, wearing robes and holding an empty wine glass in his left hand. Emer looked down and laughed harshly. "Oh, I'm sorry. Let me take care of your little problem." He waved his hand and the increasing pressure in Y/N's head was relieved, her vision focusing. 

"What do you mean that she doesn't have the same ability as me?" Y/N asked, sitting up and looking at her sister. "I know that she..." Y/N trailed off as Ellie averted her gaze from hers, blushing. She couldn't seem to recall an exact moment that she had seen Ellie actually tamper with memories. 

Emer laughs again. "That's what I thought, too." He told them. "That's why I tried to get her to fall in love with me. Apparently I was going after the wrong sister." He locked his cold eyes on Y/N's. She scooted backwards, trying to get away. "You see," He continued, tracing the top of his wine glass with his fingertip. "I was a necromancer."

"W-Was?" Ellie asked, paling. 

Emer looked back at Ellie and said, "Oh, I thought you already knew that this is the Necropolis." Ellie and Y/N exchanged a frightened glance. Emer's gaze fell on Y/N once again. "And I, of course, am the king." 

"Then what do you want with us?" Y/N asked, pushing herself off of the floor.

"I was getting to that," Emer hushed. "And I only really need you, Y/N. As I was saying, in life I was a necromancer. In death, that apparently means that you're the equivalent of a god. I can leave this realm as often as I like, and if you enter the Necropolis anyone can see me. Not to mention that I can drag anyone I want in here. I quickly established that I am the ruler here, but in time spirits tend to grow, well, restless." His fingertip stopped tracing the wine glass. "They want to leave the Necropolis as well, but because of the barriers that the Goddesses set up, only necromancers and a few spirits can leave at a time. So, I did some research and found out that there are some people out there, particularly a certain family, that can mess with memories. You can imagine how excited I was when I found out that some of them can even rewrite the memory of nature." Emer paused and smiled at Y/N's horrified face. "I went up to the surface and found that family. I figured that the best way to get you down here was to let Ellie fall in love with me. And she did. I decided to take her to human entrance to the Necropolis and used some of my abilities to make it look nicer. I also pulled some very willing ghosts up with me to act as villagers. Once there, I proposed. She ran and later that night told that she wasn't ready to marry." His hand tightened and a small crack appeared on the wine glass. He laughed. "I got so unexplainably upset that I dragged her down right away, taking the village's charm with me. I didn't even realize that it didn't matter that much until Ellie didn't seem affected by all of the spirits around. And then I remembered about you." The wine glass shattered, flying every where. 

"I'll never help you release all of the spirits into Brittania." Y/N said, backing away from Emer. 

Emer smirked. "Oh, I don't need your help. I'm sure that you noticed all those pesky, pushy memories. The dead's memories are more overpowering because they are constantly searching for a place to go. Your barriers are weak enough by being surrounded, but the closer you get to actual spirits the worse it gets. That's why you were so sick earlier. I had some servants watching over Ellie. Anyway, if you directly touch one of the gems outside or a spirit, your defenses will be pushed away as if they were a mere pebble and you'll be consumed by memories. Eventually, those memories will wear your own down into nothingness, until you will simply cease to exist. The spirit's memories will be gone, too. The sudden lack of memories will be enough to tear through the barrier separating us from the rest of the world." Emer took a couple steps forward and grabbed Y/N's wrist. "I don't need any assistance to make you touch a rock." 

He started to drag Y/N towards the staircase. She braced her heels against the floors, hoping that the frictions would slow them down, but instead of skidding they glided across the crystal. She pulled against him and tried to grab on to Ellie, but wasn't fast enough. "STOP!" She cried out, trying to tug her wrist out of his grasp. 

Emer glanced back at her. "I wouldn't try tampering with memories, unless you want to make my job easier." He told her, tightening his grip. 

Suddenly the ground tremored beneath them. A loud cracking sound came from behind them. They both spun around to see Ellie standing in the middle of the room, a knife sticking out of her chest. 

Y/N screamed. Emer dropped her wrist and shouted, "No!" Y/N got to Ellie in time to catch her. She brushed hair out of her sister's eyes with trembling fingers. Tears traced her cheeks, dripping to the floor. Y/N hugged her close to her body as the air swirled around them. 

When the wind slowed down around them they were back in the ruins of the city. Ellie was growing colder. "I remembered," Ellie started. "I-I remembered that if you die in the Necropolis you're taken- taken back to the human world."

Y/N hushed her sister, pleading for her to reserve her strength. Ellie lifted a shaky hand to Y/N's fingers. Y/N curled her fingers around a thin chain and pulled it from Ellie's hands. She shook her head "Please." Ellie whispered.

"You're going to be okay!" Y/N insisted. "I won't have to... I won't..."

Ellie smiled sadly. "I loved you, Y/N. You were- You were the best sister I could've asked for." Her eyes glazed over and her body turned limp. Y/N chest tightened as she grabbed the green lights, Ellie's memories, floating away. She compressed them into a little green gem. 

Y/N's fingers shaked as she laced the chain that her sister had given through the gem, making it a beautiful necklace. She clasped it around her neck, still clutching the gem. 

She sobbed over her sister's body.

-Time Skip-

When she returned to her own town, Y/N arranged a funeral and begged her family to come. 

No one did.

After the funeral, she went on a walk through the woods, just wanting to get away from everyone who would ignore her and pretend that her sister hadn't died. 

And that was when a miracle occured.