“Even though there appears to be no monsters, lets split up just in case. Matthew will join me, Brian and Jessica will join Anthony, and Eric and Adriana will join Sheldon.” After Anita’s orders, the groups went their separate ways, the men leading to the left and right, while Anita sauntered down an alleyway leading toward the center.

“Now that we cleared the city, it looks like a ghost town.” Matthew was surprised to see no monsters were still hanging around. “So where are we going?” The woman’s eyes glowed at the question. “Remember how I said I hadn’t made it far in? That was another lie.” The boy was growing rather agitated with all the lies, “Could you just tell me the whole truth?”

“You see, I didn’t really get far, but I did manage to sneak in to an alleyway from one of these entrances. I then found something incredible, which is why I had to come back. There may be valuable artifacts here, but what I found might change history as we know it. While the others take their time exploring the city and many other important aspects, you and I are going to find this area.”

The woman had hyped up this secret area to the point Matt couldn’t deny the curiosity welling up within, but he had pondered something. “Why me though?” The woman turned to Matthew, “After yesterday, I know you’re the most responsible one of your team. I figure you should be the first one I share this discovery with.”

Matthew followed Anita as she entered many buildings, searching for the entrance she had found. After much trial and error, Matthew was beginning to wonder if the archeologist had imagined this area or was purposely lying as she was clearly struggling to remember this secret area. Before his skepticism could reach critical mass, Anita had pushed aside a wall hiding a staircase leading to an underground cavern. “Aha! I knew it was in one of these houses!” The boy wasn’t particularly reassured by her statement given that the two could have been at this for many more hours.

Making their way downward, Matt led the way, luminating the cave with his light. “How convenient, but you don’t have to do that, I brought a flashlight and a lamp.” Anita pulled out what the boy assumed was the lamp, as she pushed a button which caused the lamp to explode with light. Outshined by the piece of technology, the teen grumbled to himself.

“Anything interesting?” Matthew looked around, but he had no idea what Anita considered valuable; for all he knew, every inch of these walls was gold to her. “No, just cave, cave, a bit more cave, and rock walls that form what I like to refer to as a cave.” Upon reaching a flat surface and turning a corner on the claustrophobic path, Anita gasped. “What is this?!”

Matthew quickly followed the excited researcher as she stopped before a wall with several carvings. As Anita focused her light on the image, Matthew could make out shapes that resembled devils. “It looks like a drawing of devils.” As Matthew turned to Anita, he could see his ignorance had not deterred her excitement one bit. “Not just a depiction of devils, but one depicting different races of devils! Look, see this tall one with a tail and horns? They are believed to be shadow sneakers, devils that can hide in a different world that’s linked to ours.”

Matthew was surprised and excited, realizing that he could tell Luke stories about these devil people. He listened intently to the rest of Anita’s explanation, jotting down every detail for later. “This short one with four eyes is referred to as a Seer: they are highly intelligent and can even see into the future. This skinny one with the wings and tail is a Gargoyle, able to turn itself into stone. This giant one with the tortoise shell is called a…well, Shell; they were able to protect themselves by hiding in the shell and excreting deadly toxins. This fat one, he must be a Ceaseless Consumer, a devil who could eat anything and everything. This pretty one is probably a succubus, able to control the minds of others against their will. This one here…he seems to be a guardian.”

“Aren’t guardians just regular devils?” Matthew recalled from his classes that devils were called guardians, though he couldn’t remember why. “No, but they may as well be, being the only remaining race.” The boy sighed, slightly ashamed not to have pieced together the obvious. “Why are they the only ones left?” Anita’s expression turned melancholy at the inquiry. “Humans. Humans had fought the many races for dominance of this continent. Even when they had dominated the continent, the humans would frequently hunt all but the most hospitable of races. Between Alzal and Vulf moving west, their more combat potent abilities, and humans eventually learning the error of their ways, those races managed to survive. Devils were not so fortunate.”

Matthew regretted his question, feeling miserable by association. “Don’t feel bad kid, there’s nothing we can do. It’s not like either of us are responsible for what happened. All we can do is protect those that remain, or at least leave them in peace.” The teen nodded in agreement, taking her words to heart. “How had I not seen this earlier? Matthew, look, there is stone pedestal here!”

Following the researcher, he had also noticed the stone pedestal beneath the picture, which had seven round indents. “Do you think someone had put orbs in here?” Anita smiled at the boy, “Very astute, that is what I believe that was my hypothesis as well. To what end, I have no idea though. It seems this pedestal has some relation with the image, but…”

“But what?” He had begun getting into Anita explanation, hoping she would shed light on whatever was going on. “Why does this image depict only seven devil races? We’ve recorded well over ten. It couldn’t be in remembrance of those that went extinct, Guardians remain, and the great exodus predates the extinction of these races. Perhaps it relates to the story of the seven sins?”

Anita had turned toward Matthew, walking back the toward the entrance. “Have you heard of the story, Matthew?” He shook his head, hopeful to learn yet another story he could tell Luke. “Long ago, there is said to have been an evil being who attacked this city. Its power was unrivaled, stronger than the strongest warriors. One day, another powerful being got the idea to split the Malevolent force into many pieces, seven of which reflected the Malevolent force’s evil. These seven were the sins: Sloth, Pride, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Lust, and Envy. While commonly believed to take the shape of devils, they represent evil behaviors found in all sapient beings.”

“So what happened to them?” Matthew had heard of things like greed, pride, lust, and wrath, but the other three were new to him. “The hero that saved the city had left the orbs in the care of the people. He warned them to never release the sins.” Matthew shuttered, “It’s just a story, right?” Anita giggled, making the teen feel embarrassed for asking a dumb question. “I doubt anything like that had ever happened. Those orbs were probably just decorations made for the story. These ancient people loved telling stories, and some bandit probably just found the place and stole the orbs.”

The woman had begun making her way out, seeing as there was nothing left to search. “Well, I have a bunch of stories to tell my brother when I get home.” Anita’s interest was piqued, recalling the teen mentioning someone by the name Luke.

“Your brother is Luke, right?” The boy nodded. “The girls mentioned him a few days ago. He must be so grateful to have someone like you watching out for him.”

“I really didn’t want to leave him at home, I’m worried he’s getting bullied as we speak. When I come home, he’ll never have to worry about his mana problem ever again.” Anita looked confused and concerned at the statement. “Mana problem? Isn’t your brother ten?”

“He’s had a problem using mana since he was born.” The woman was puzzled at this, the boy had hoped she might be able to find solution to his problem. “Perhaps he was mana locked? When children have too much mana flowing from their essence, seers lock their mana flow so they don’t hurt themselves.” Thinking about it, Matt had heard of this before, but he still wasn’t convinced. “I thought mana locks only lasted a year at most though. Luke hasn’t ever been able to use mana.” Anita’s moment of triumph was flattened. “I have no idea then, I’ve never heard of someone living without mana.”

The two had returned to the joint group, all of whom had brought back various artifacts of different shapes and sizes. “Find anything?” Anthony asked. “We’ll tell you all about it on the way home.”