"Did you just say you were trained by a Joker??"
Artemis couldn't believe her ears, it sounded so hilarious. "Yes, one of the best."
"Wow... I dreamed that I would be trained by one too" Artemis sounded happy but was that really happiness?
"Why don't you contain your Envy, Artemis?" Delilah appeared from nowhere. "And also, the man who trained him used to be a servant here, dad really loved him."
Everyone looked surprised, speaking of servants, few passed the corridor as one strange creature branched into the room with a tray of 'tea'. He looked not human and also he was without a definite shape. Things like this in the house keep scaring Lona.
"Ok Lona, without wasting time, we need to start the initiation ritual. You have proven to me that you are truly one of us."
Lona interrupted her, "first of all. I want to see my Father." The room went silent. Lona began to suspect something.
"The truth is, you can't see him with performing the ritual. If you don't then don't think you can survive standing before him" Zinna shrugs while Zaria scoffed. The bedridden boy looked confused.
"His aura his more suffocating than ours. Explaining it now to you will make you more confused so we just start from the basics."
"I thought we all are Immortal?" Lona asked a question that none expected. They looked at each other, trying to withhold their laughter.
"That is partially true, you saw that In the case of Big sis Delilah and Big sis Elizabeth. But we could die, we don't call it death instead we call it transcend. Where your soul remains in the dream realm. That is where all our ancestors are and they are the ones who choose to stay there."
Artemis explained, taking one of the dried pancakes from Daisy's plate. Lona wandered how they ate that creepy thing comfortably.
"Why would you choose to stay in a dream realm when you can live centuries on earth." Lona remained puzzled. Now Artemis began to imagine him as a dumb Punk.
"What will you do when your powers knows no bounds and day by day, monsters and evil deity emerges from no where just to claim what is yours?" The question was thrown to Lona. Now he was understanding what was happening.
A Blackwood could grow to be Soo strong and that would make stronger enemies to be born to challenge them. So the only way they would reduce that risk is by entering an Eternal slumber. Arising when the world is at the brick of annihilation and all hope is lost.
"So one way or another, we would end up like them. Locked away and wondering in dreams. Definitely someone or a group of people are pulling the strings." Within seconds he understood where the problem could be starting from.
"You are right, someone or an order is pulling the strings. It may even be the gods but the question is, are we ready to face them?" Delilah asked.
Lona looked sorry and defeated at the same time, his intentions were just to see his parents and become a Righteous but now being a Blackwood means more problems ahead.
"No we can't, we have to get stronger." Lona confessed
"Exactly and that is what we are doing, growing stronger not just to become Righteous but to understand what is really going on in the Multiverse and know who the hell is messing with us."
"I see.." he nodded.
All eyes were on him, Now it comes to a crucial part were he can't joke with. His life as a true Blackwood was just about to start.
"So how do we begin the ritual???" Thier faces lighted up in expectations.
****
Lona looked amazed, watching what the rest were doing. The way they acted, like they knew each other in and out. Lona could barely stand in their midst, their presence seemed to slow his breathing.
"Let the ritual begin!!!" Delilah declared, the rest gathered around Lona who prepared for the worst.
"My dear Lona, I want you to know that once this is complete, you will loose all humanity in you. You might start doing things that you never thought you will do. You just have to be true to yourself and don't deny whatever you want."
Elizabeth smiled at him, "you are one of us now, so don't overthink it. Just let it flow within you as you are about to sign a contract."
"And how did I become one with you, last time I checked you were the one who wanted to take my life" Lona didn't return her friendly gesture, clearly tell her that they still have scores to settle.
"That Black tears were enough to prove it, only someone who has the Blackwood blood flowing within them could develop a Black tears. Those tears meant that you have reached your peak of Emotions and once you exceed that point. Everything and everyone around you fades away."
Lona got scared, imagining how dangerous such a situation could be. If he could barely fight and yet he could somehow cause destruction. Then what would occur if he gets stronger?
"And also, after the ritual, you will unlock what we call a sinful path. Where your power would increase through sins which is quite the opposite of the Righteous path. For now, you will maintain the 7 Basic sins and by that you shall grow."
"You mean I would get stronger with the More sin I commit?" He questioned.
"Something like that. But this time you are restricted. For example if you are on the Gluttony path which is where you will start from, you can only gain energy by doing or absorbing energy gotten from gluttony. Then when you reach its peak, you could move to the next sin which is Sloth." The explanation was clear, Lona was fine with it.
"You will also unlock a family trait, and a sin beast. Even when we follow the sinful path, you already have a registered basic sin because we all have one main sin or another." Daisy added
"I don't understand" Lona mind went blank, did she speak in riddles?
"Don't worry, we will let you know when we are done." With a smile on her pretty face, there was no way Lona would protest or resist.
A small knife appeared above Lona after he was instructed to kneel in the middle of their circle. With that knife, each of the girls made cuts on their left palm and made sure their blood fell into a chalice passed round.
Starting from Daisy, who was the youngest among the girls till Delilah. Lona stared in Awe, hoping that they won't tell him to drink the blood.
His fear finally found him, he was instructed to drink it. "Don't worry, it's really sweet" Zinna confessed whole the rest nodded.
"There is no time Lona!!!" Zaria cried out as if something would happen if he doesn't act quick. "Ok fine!!"
In one gulp it went straight down his guts, warm in the mouth but freezing cold in the stomach. To his surprise, it had a pleasant taste.
"You are right Zinna, it's tastes..." He turned towards where Zinna previously stood but his eyes met no one. He wasn't in the strange mansion anymore.
"Don't tell me...." He looked around to see if he could see anyone. Everywhere appeared dark but strangely he could see clearly. "Wow!!!!"
His eyes finally met a structure, a colossal door made of stone that had a division in the middle. Their was only to enter was to push it from the middle.
Lona walked up to it, he looked like a dust particle in the eye of the door, making Lona feel intimidated.
"What kind of door is this?" He asked himself, the answer laid before him. He looked closely only to see the name is the seven deadly sins caved on each openings on the door, with each sin door overlapping the other.
The smallest place to open was the Sin of Gluttony while the Largest place to open was the Sin of Pride. Even when he couldn't see the top of the gate, he was certain that the top was the Sin of Pride pathway.
"Opening the sin of pride means you have opened the colossal gate entirely. So the door has seven overlapped gates representing the seven sins" his hand rested on his chin.
"But Delilah said Basic sin, meaning that after Pride, you could progress to maybe the complex sins. So there is definitely no limit to how strong you could get as a Blackwood" Realizing that made Lona to understand how much of a threat his new family is.
He slowly reached out to open the pathway of Gluttony, even as small as the door compared to the rest, it still stood three times Lona's height.
He placed his hands on the door, ready to push open, the coldness he felt on his palm almost made blood stop flowing to his hands.
With one single push, the door still didn't Budge. He pushed again, this time with more effort but it still didn't move.
To him, it felt like the door was fixed to the ground and couldn't move, "is this punishment?"
He pushed for several minutes, still no sign of movement, his body drenched in his own sweat. His legs gave up, forcing him to drop on the ground. "Damn you!!!"
He banged on the door as he continued cursing. It dawned on him how weak he was, "is this how I will grow stronger, I can't even push open the smallest pathway.
His back finally made contact with the freezing ground, all hope was lost, what more could he do?
He was on the verge of passing out when a deafening sound echoed.
"Kraaaaaww!!!!!!! Kraaaaw!"
Without hesitation he opened his eyes, right on top of him was a Raven looking at him like it had spotted his prey.
Once more, fear took the better part of him, yet he froze on the spot, "easy pal!!!" He spoke softly, bringing his hands closer to the raven who locked eyes with him.
In a swift move, he grabbed it and jerked up to his feet. "I won't hurt you" his heartbeat quickens by every second.
He was ready to let it go, hoping it would fly away, so he thought.
"Kraaaaw!!!" Right behind him, another sound, much more softer like it was asking Lona 'what are you doing'
He slowly turned, seeing another Raven, "shit, where are these ravens coming from?" Something's different.
He quickly looked at his hands and saw the Raven he caught was gone. "Shit!!!" He turned to look at the one on the ground. It startled back locking eyes with him again
The pitch black raven tilted his head to the side, watching Lona step back slowly. "That Raven there is definitely the one in my hands, how did it get there?"