The Unwritten Sin

Chapter 4

"Listen, I don't know where he came from," Wilder heard an angry voice above him. "He was here when I got here. Why don't you piss off!" Wilder opened his eyes, and realized he had fallen asleep on the pier. He hurriedly stood, and brushed himself off. A small group of people had gathered around him. The angry man was small and unkempt. Wilder could see his hand tattoo; clearly the symbol for gluttony. A circle with two pillars supporting a third horizontal pillar with two nubs on top. Wilder had only seen this symbol a handful of times. Most people get caught up on wrath or pride, he thought. He backed away from the group, and the other person, who he had speak first, was his own height with wild blue hair. He didn't see his tattoos, as he wore a tattered hoodie with long sleeves.

"I'll leave," Wilder said quickly. He nodded to the other man, and jogged to the end of the pier, burning with embarrassment. He had never felt so weird in his life. He wasn't used to being the center of attention, and he hadn't meant to sleep on the pier, in the middle of Phase City, either.

Wilder heard a faint "Hey!" following him as he dashed into the street. Two taxis had to slam on their brakes as he ran across the street. The angry drivers screamed at him from their windows as he ducked into a dark alleyway. He had lived in Phase City long enough to know the map like the back of his own hand, with it's infamous tattoo that had caused him so much trouble.

"Hey, hold up!" The kid was still running after him. "I just want to chat with you!"

Wilder had not been keeping up with his workouts, and knew he wasn't going to be able to keep the other man at any distance for any amount of time. He paused, breathing heavily, and watched the blue haired boy close the distance between them easily.

"Hi," the boy said, leaning over on his knees. "I'm Neptune."

Wilder sighed. "Wilder. Thanks for trying to defend me," he said, "I didn't mean to fall asleep, I...."

"Oh, don't sweat it. That's where I died last week."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah. I couldn't handle the pressure. Shit getting to my head. Thought I'd start over, you know."

Wilder stared.

"Oh....you've never....Oh. I'm sorry." He paused, looking embarrassed. "It doesn't hurt as much as you would think," he said after a moment. 

Wilder nodded skeptically, catching his breath.

"Alright then," he said at length. "I had better get going...I..."

"Whatevs," Neptune said casually. "Of course I have a ton of stuff to do..." he flipped his long sleeves together anxiously. "Nah man, I'm kidding. I have LITERALLY nothing to do."

Wilder sighed. "So...what, you want to...hang out or something? I'm not here to adopt," he said, "I understand you just came back, but I have no experience, and I...."

"Oh," Neptune laughed. "Nah, man. I don't need help with that." He pulled up his sleeve, and Wilder saw seven tattoos there. He caught his breath. 

"What? You....you're...."

"I'm on my last incarnation," Neptune said, as if it were nothing. "Well, I mean other than priesthood, I guess." He smiled, and his teeth were very crooked.

"You're saying you just got reincarnated, and you're..."

"Not perfect. Yeah. Maybe the Machine is having a little trouble." Neptune punched his chest a few times. "The old ticker isn't actually in peak shape, to be honest. I have a pacemaker."

"You're kidding."

"No," Neptune smiled widely. "Baffled all the doctors."

"Yeah, that's crazy. Wait a minute, how come you remember dying?"

"Like I said," Neptune went on, "the Machine is going through a little bit of technical difficulty I guess."