
Skin of the Sinless (Part 6)

Chapter 6: Face of the Forgotten
He pressed forward with his claymore resting on his shoulder, leaving bloody footprints behind him. His feet regrew the muscles and skin with every step he took further into the labyrinth. Requiem walked through the labyrinth that took the shape of a dungeon. Every room he passed was vacant as he progressed through the torchless hallway that seemed to have no end.
He spent days walking through the hall into an eternal darkness that all stayed the same. The scent of grass filled his nostrils making Requiem stop in his tracks. He peered into one of the rooms next to him to see nothing, but empty stone coffins. Requiem then looked back in the direction he was heading to see the archway into the garden now there. He made his way to the entrance before stopping.
The little girl on the swing excitedly looked in his direction. “Didn’t think we’d be graced with your presence after our last encounter! You look filthy. Come wash off. Come, come.” She jested with a smile from ear to ear.
Requiem stood in the archway covered in orange dust, bile and blood. He let the point of his blade drop to the ground, and dragged it behind him as he entered the chamber. Everything his claymore touched turned into rot trailing behind his every step. He made his way in her direction noticing a new set of children running around him, playing like nothing was happening.
The little girl’s smile disappeared along with the swinging of her swing. “We ascended the tower as one, and when we had made it to the top we were both still granted deepest desires.” She said while watching Requiem press forward. “My brother had wished for us to be separated, but to never be separable. While I had wished to become one with the tower, for it had become our home,” she continued.
Requiem had made his way in front of the pond across from her before stopping. Behind him was a trail of rot through the grass and garden itself. She looked up at the chained head above before speaking again. “I am not Sin, nor mortal, but merely here to maintain the labyrinth. At most, hinder those from scaling the tower itself while my brother acts as my protector.”
Requiem looked up at the head suspended above that looked down at him quaking in anger. It was letting out a silent scream but Requiem paid no mind. He turned his attention to the little girl once more.
“I did not lie to you. The Sins set before you will do everything in their power to end you. That is, if they so choose. My task is to make the labyrinth resistant to your travels.” She explained not knowing what Requiem’s next move was.
The little girl glided her arm in front of herself to draw Requiem’s attention to the pond. “You are not the only one transcending this tower, and I am having conversations with many where you stand. All at the same time. All at different points in time.” She ominously shared.
Instances of different individuals, pairs and bands of all kinds seeking the top of the tower stood around him. Some relaxed in the pond in front of him that was now tainted with blood. A few that had their weapons drawn were answering to the little girl’s stone protectors. “The tower gains its power through each one’s turmoil and the children are what keep me eternal.” The little girl continued.
Requiem walked around the pond to confront the little girl while catching glimpses of the garden in its true form. The children were bone thin. They ran in a garden made of the deceased children from before. Their bodies looked as if they never aged with their sucked in eyes showing very little life.
The blue sky above was a cracked mural of the sky itself. Requiem extended his claymore, placing the edge of the blade on the little girl’s shoulder. An image of her true self reflected on his silver blade. She was a skeletal being with flesh peeling from her face.
Requiem let the weight of his claymore cut into her shoulder. Her hand shot up to grip his wrist with her cold fingers to steady his blade. “Again, we cannot stop your progression.” She said, staring into the scar covered eyeballs looking back at her through the holes of his iron mask.
A stone sword was thrown by one of the statues that crashed into the right side of Requiem. It drove his body into the ground of the rotted chamber, leaving a cloud of dust where he stood. All that was left was his right arm clinching the claymore in the little girl’s hand and his head sticking out of the ground at an angle.
The little girl finished. “But we can break your will.” She looked up at the suspended head above. “Brother, throw him into the next chamber. We’ll let the boy deal with him,” she instructed.
The little girl tossed Requiem’s arm to the side in disgust. One of the statues picked up its stone sword with one hand, and scooped up Requiem’s head with the other. The statue drew its arm back before throwing Requiem’s head at the wall with all its might.
Requiem’s head burst into the adjacent chamber, skipping across the floor. It ricocheted off something made of stone causing it to shatter from the impact. His head violently spun on its side before coming to a rest in the derelict chamber. Still conscious, his eyes fell on a crumbled pillar in front of him once the dizziness settled.
The chamber he had landed in was in shambles from what he could see in the darkness. Requiem heard a grunt from behind, making his head shake with every step as it grew closer. Whatever was approaching spoke with malice. “I HAVE WAITED ALL THIS TIME FOR THIS?!”
Requiem’s head was hoisted into the air until it was face to face with the one holding it. It was a behemoth of a man whose exposed red muscles stretched its skin so thin it had torn all over. It looked to be wearing a mask of a child’s face from how loose the skin sat on their small head attached to a muscular neck.
The behemoth brought Requiem’s face close to his. He stared into the eye holes of his iron mask as Requiem stared back at him with the words ‘WRATH’ and ‘SLOTH’ scarred on his filthy face, and on his eyeballs themselves. “HOW DARE THE TOWER TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!” Roared the behemoth spitting in Requiem’s face.
He took Requiem’s head in between his massive hands, and squeezed his head with all its might to crush it without avail. “HUNDREDS OF YEARS WAITING FOR NOTHING!” The behemoth furiously cried in frustration. Requiem’s vision blurred while the behemoth cocked back its arm, then spiked his face into the floor below.
The behemoth stomped and stomped on the back of Requiem’s head with each foot burying his face deeper as he whined. “THIS ISN’T FAIR! I WANTED ONE THING! JUST ONE BLOODY THING!”
Requiem’s head was yanked into the air once again with rubble falling from his eye holes. The behemoth threw his head to the floor again making it land face up. He drove his fingers into the eye holes of the iron mask blinding Requiem from seeing what was to come next. Blood fell like tears from his eyes while his head swayed from side to side from the behemoth’s fingers.
Wherever it was going didn’t matter. All Requiem could feel was the behemoth’s fingers making a slush of his brain until he blacked out. Requiem regained consciousness with the behemoth wailing in pain. “AM I NOT DAMNED ENOUGH?!” He was conscious again, but his sight was still gone.
The behemoth’s fingers were still lodged in his eye sockets, but were no longer attached to its hand. Requiem could hear the sobs of the behemoth while the massive fists beat into the face of his mask, one after another seemingly without end. His brain bounced around in his skull while the monster cried for days until it all of a sudden came to a halt.
The ground rumbled with each step it took away from Requiem’s head while its roaring voice trailed off. “I SIT HERE WAITING, LETTING ALL THOSE PUNY MORTALS PASS FOR WHAT?! THIS?!” Requiem let his body mend itself as soon as he heard the behemoth stop on the other side of the chamber.
First, the behemoth’s fingers slowly pushed out of his eye sockets until they plopped on the floor. His eye sockets glowed white before reanimating his eyeballs. He darted his eyes around to see the giant monster sitting on the other side of the chamber with its face buried in its knees. A silhouette of light took the form of Requiem’s body until he was whole again as he listened to the behemoth cry. Lastly, his claymore forged itself from light in his hand once his body had finished reanimating itself. He used his blade to cut around his head to free himself from the wall.
Requiem dropped to his feet catching the behemoth’s attention. “MY WISH HAS COME TRUE!” The behemoth jumped to his feet with tears pouring from its eyes. He charged Requiem screaming. “I SPENT YEARS CLIMBING THIS TOWER BECAUSE OF YOU!”
The behemoth threw his right fist that was missing two of its fingers at Requiem’s face. He ducked under the swing maneuvering behind the hulking beast. Requiem was now behind the monster in motion bringing his claymore up the behemoth’s back. The behemoth’s fist exploded the wall, blasting rubble in all directions, before spinning around swinging the back of its fist at Requiem.
Requiem caught the back of the behemoth’s fist with the side of his face quicker than he could raise his blade. His head was batted down to the ground with his feet suddenly in the air. The behemoth grabbed hold of one of Requiem’s legs. It threw his body against the wall crushing bones and rupturing organs. Requiem got to his hands and knees with blood pouring out from the eye hole and bottom of the iron mask.
“DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I’VE WAITED FOR THIS VERY MOMENT?!” Blustered the behemoth as he drew back its leg. It drove its foot into Requiem’s side, making him fly against the wall again. Requiem’s back bounced off the wall for a second time before his body fell to the floor, leaving a mess of everything inside.
His ribs turned black around the scars still present. Requiem was lifted into the air by one of his legs once more. He was brought to face level of the behemoth with his claymore dangling under him by the thorned rosary. The behemoth used its free hand to readjust its loose face so that it could get a good look at what it’s been waiting for.
“YOU DEEMED US THE HERETICS AS YOU CAME WITHOUT WORD, AND MASSACRED MY VILLAGE IN NAME OF GOD?! WE HAD NO ARMY. YET, YOU TREATED THE FARMERS AS SINNING SOLDIERS FOR TRYING SOMETHING NEW?! MY FATHER WAS A GOD FEARING MAN AND HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE, FOR YOUR PRESENTS UNDER GOD’S WILL IS FAR MORE EVIL THAN ANYTHING ON THIS EARTH!”
Requiem’s body mended itself enough by the time the behemoth stopped spitting in his face. He yanked up his claymore by the rosary, caught it in his hand and swung at the behemoth’s waist. It was a futile attempt as the beast caught Requiem by his forearm, crushing it in his hand. He then ripped off Requiem’s arm, and tossed it to the side before vociferating.
“I WILL END YOU LIKE YOU DID MY FATHER! I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET LETTING THE ORPHAN YOU CREATED WALK AWAY WITH HIS LIFE! YOU FILLED ME WITH THE RAGE THAT GUIDED ME UP THE TOWER, FOR I AM WRATH AND YOU WILL FEEL THE HATE I HAVE GROWN FOR YOU!”
Wrath grabbed Requiem under his remaining arm with his free hand to raise him above his head. “GOD WON’T SAVE YOU!” Wrath growled in anger. Requiem’s body was stretched apart from both ends until he showered Wrath with his blood and entrails upon separation.
Wrath tossed both halves of Requiem’s body behind him, then made his way to the wall Requiem’s head had entered through. Wrath placed his hand against the wall looking for a door. “I HAVE FULFILLED MY DESTINY! NOW LET ME LEAVE THIS BLOODY PRISON!” Wrath angrily protested.
Requiem laid there in two as his upper half reanimated with his claymore following suit. His body jerked while he used his claymore to rise to his feet. Wrath turned to see the frail Requiem standing before him once again, and let out a deathly wail before charging. He stood with both hands loosely gripping his claymore with his legs shaking under him. Wrath quickly closed the distance as he towered over Requiem with his arms extended in front of him.
Requiem tightened his stance, dropped down, and drove his claymore into Wrath belly as he grasped at the air overhead. Requiem then spun his body to the right, making his blade glide through and out the left side of Wrath’s torso. Wrath dropped to a knee while holding his side with Requiem ending his attack behind him. Requiem gripped his claymore in his left hand and unraveled some of his rosary. It was time to end his suffering.
Requiem placed his knee on Wrath’s back, wrapped the thorned rosary around his muscular neck and wrenched back. The rosary violently cut into Wrath’s throat and Requiem’s forearm. Wrath swung his left arm to reach back for Requiem while using his right hand to pull the rosary loose, but his two missing fingers hindered him greatly. Requiem used his claymore to stab Wrath in the left shoulder.
He pulled back on his blade to sever Wrath’s arm from his body. Wrath gurgled in pain falling to his side with Requiem still on his back. He sawed through Wrath’s neck until the rosary cut to the bone. With one final pull, Wrath’s head rolled to the ground into a puddle of blood. Requiem rose to his feet, looking down at the behemoth’s lifeless body that spewed blood from its neck.
Tears fell from under his iron mask and mixed with the blood below. He crouched down to pick up Wrath’s small head off the ground by the hair to get a clearer look at his face. The head slipped from its skin so the only thing he brought up was a flesh mask. All the suffering he has ended without a single face to recognize.
Requiem rewound the rosary around his forearm while looking down at the fallen foe before him. He plucked the Wrath’s head up with his claymore, then jabbed his blade into his still beating heart. Wrath’s head sat on top of his chest with his lidless eye staring up at the one who brought him to that very place. The word ‘WRATH’ illuminated all over his body, then disappeared leaving the only sin left. Requiem looked up at the dark ceiling with a single tear falling from under his mask.