Corruption

Long Ago...

Before the city was split in two, it was practically a utopia. There were skyscrapers and planes and gardens and everything a person could imagine a city has. Unlike the city it is now, it had a name. It used to be called Ironrose City. Why? The time it was created was between the Automated Ages and a time people call Eden Hours, nature turned into machinery and factories and smog. Ironrose City was the perfect mix of every pair of opposites. People moved there to get away from their lives and moved out to get away from it. Perfect balance and harmony resided there.

A pair of opposing friends were brought into this opposing world. Brian Micheals and Nick McCall. There was almost nothing these two ever had in common. Nick was much more behaved than his best friend, never shouting or talking back to his parents and always doing his work to the best of his abilities. Brian, on the other hand, was never in a situation where his parents were proud or even happy with him. Always playing pranks, never did the right thing and grew up to be a troublemaker of every kind. Although, they both wanted what the other had. Brian wanted those around him to be proud of him for his talents, whatever they may be. Nick wanted people to like him for his personality rather than his perfect manner.

However, there was just one thing they had in common which sparked their friendship. Curiosity. Nick was doing some reading when he came across a legend. The best friends came together for the first time in years, as teenagers, to discover something that they shouldn't have come near.

Buried deep underground, somewhere in Ironrose City, were two chests. But once one was opened, depending on which one it is, the other must be opened as well. One contained the souls of angels that purified all that was hellish and wrong. One contained the daemons of the Seven Deadly Sins. However, our protagonists didn't know this. The legend only said that the chests exist and that they were buried in the biggest nature reserve in the most urban city in the world.

Nick and Brain rushed to Paradise Garden, the biggest nature site in all of Ironrose City. It was the Eden of the metallic city around it. This was what made the city a haven for a lot of people.

How were they going to find the chests in a park this big?

The sudden feeling of being strangled overwhelmed them as their necklaces tugged them in separate directions. Another thing they had in common was that their mother gave them necklaces with keys on them. Being dragged by a powerful force, they found themselves face-planting the grass. Thinking that it might be it, they began to dig. Stupidly, they didn't bring shovels so the only option was to dig their bare fingers into the dirt and scoop for dear life. Finally, after about 20 minutes of pure digging. they reached a breaking point.

Finding the chests was one thing, taking them out was another. They both weighed a ton! Dragging them towards each other, the best friends collected their thoughts about their new discovery. It could be real and their keys are the answer to it, Nick suggested to his best friend, causing an eye roll to emerge. It could all be a hoax that wasted their time, Brian complained. Although he had to admit, he too was curious about the chests.

They were both simple wooden chests with a small engraving on the top. One of the chests had a halo and wings inside a circle and the other had just a circle on it. Since they didn't know much about religion or what those things meant, they didn't know which one to open first. Therefore, opening them at the same time was the best option for them both.

One, two, three and the keys were turned, lifting the lids of the chests open. Nick opened his chest to see nothing at all. Brian opened his chest to find seven glistening, oval pearls placed in small cases. Each section had an engraving of a letter on top. This would make their families rich, they thought. Heaving the chest up, they carried it back home, leaving the other chest alone. It was only when the riots in the city arrived when they realised something was wrong.