:abel

II – 7 days before judgement (2)

"…So! Class, after this…Eventful start, let's start with the err…Introduction!"

Bolin groaned loudly. Very loudly. He made sure to be as overdramatic as possible, adding long, drawn out moments where he simply breathed heavily, before continuing to groan.

"…Yes, Bolin?"

"Again? Why do we always waste an entire hour on this dumb stuff we've already been told about countless times?"

The classroom took this opportunity to talk amongst themselves. Anything to hold off class from starting, so they let Bolin have his whining session. Noel glanced over to Bolin and sighed, shaking his head in disapproval.

"I understand but, despite the amount of time teachers have this class, students your age still get in grave danger during attacks. It's good to have a refresher."

"You aren't the Skye I know…You evil…professional wench."

"It's Miss Skye during school hours, Bolin."

"—And come on guys! Focus up, put your phones away and stop speaking. I know its boring, but I'm sure you'd prefer that over normal lessons.."

Yet, it had been 10 minutes since Skye said that, and the class was still struggling to quiet down. Bolin had fallen asleep, Yura was trying to help Skye to quiet down the class, Shelly simply looked through the window. Ivan, glanced over to Noel and seemed visibly frustrated, but, not really angered.

"Dude, you just did a whole combo on my ass not even 15 minutes ago and now you're all quiet? Can't you like…exempt your authority?"

"Exert, not exempt. Besides, I'm letting Skye do her thing. We've known her for long enough, I'd be an asshole to help her when she's trying her best."

"What about Yura then?"

"Dick riding."

"Brutal wording."

--------

"Okay! Now that class is finally ready for the introduction, can anyone tell me what a sin is! – Both, definitions, actually."

A male student in the back raised his hand, sitting up right on his chair. 

"Yes, Minho?"

"A sin is breaking one of the divine laws, but It's also the name of a person who has been consumed by said sin. They're…like a crackhead on steroids, but the steroids are also infused with a super serum…that is also on steroids."

"I—You're…Correct?"

Skye looked genuinely baffled by the answer she had gotten, Minho wasn't wrong in the grand scheme of things, but the way he worded things wasn't as good.

"Okay, as Minho said, a sin is when a person gets consumed by a specific sin they've committed or are committing. I know the naming is confusing, but, I'm sure you'll all get used to it. Regardless—These people are usually blinded by a strong desire and it becomes their sole purpose."

"But teach, people are bound to commit "sin" or break the divine law, how come some of us haven't become sins?"

"Well, they're usually targets, their desire for something or the desperation one may feel to the point of committing a "sin" attracts bad forces, and, you know the rest of the story. This whole divine law and sin stuff was pushed onto humanity, and as you know, humans can't stand agreeing with one another. It's a chain reaction, no one was safe from it. What counts as a sin or a divine law is so unbelievably random that no one can avoid it, which is why every public space has at least two therapists appointed to them. To try to avoid people turning."

"Sorry, went on a quick tangent, but, next question!"

Skye turned over to her laptop, connected to a projector as she clicked on the arrow button, which flashed over to a slide, there was a single image, a poorly drawn image of a zombie with red eyes and a red imp with horns displayed for all the students to watch.

"Nice." A student muttered, chuckling.

"Did you draw that, Miss? Real talent!"

Some students broke into quick laughter before calming down.

"Thanks! But…yeah, I didn't really want to use real images so…I figured art would be better, and easier to learn!"

"…Even if you all already know everything"

Skye pointed over to the red imp, then back at the zombie figure.

"Okay, if we know what sins are, what are devils, and what makes them different from sins?"

"Sins are humans and devils…well, devils?"

"That's…kind of correct, but not quite. Hands up next time please!"

A female student at the front raised her hand.

"Devils usually use their powers to turn a human into a sin, but they can also come to our world, no?"

"Good job! Looks like you all know what you're talking about!"

Next slide, another poorly drawn image. A red circle with an equally red imp coming out of it.

"Sometimes devils slip into our world from their own world, it happens very rarely, but when they do its about a hundred to a thousand times more dangerous than a sin itself. Thankfully though, those same entrances are very weak, only open for a few seconds at most, meaning a devil attack can be controlled with minimal casualties."

Next slide, the red imp devil with a big fire around them, and the zombie character with a much smaller flame around them.

"Sins borrow power from devils in exchange for their life, they only gain a portion of said power, gaining enhanced speed, strength and durability."

Skye pointed over to the devil.

"If sins borrow only a fraction, devils obviously have all of said power. Making them a LOT stronger than sins. An attack from a sin is easier to survive, a devil one is hard, but still manageable…Thankfully."

"But Miss, what if a portal were to stay open?"

"Stay open…huh."

----

People love to lie to themselves.

It's human nature, to act like everything is fine, when it clearly isn't. Trying to keep a level of normalcy despite their personal issues, people still go day by day doing the things they've always done. Go to school, go to work, go eat out during lunch. It's all too normal to hide from the bad sides of life.

"Cmon guys, smile! Today they served pizza, when's the last time we ate pizza?"

"It's slop."

"Nah Yura, you just don't understand. It's GOOD slop. It sucks, but its good enough to stuff yourself with."

"Its kinda contradicting no? It's like saying I'm warm and cold at the same time."

"No that's just being lukewarm."

"???"

Yura's expression was genuinely unreadable as she stared at Bolin, he hated not having the last say in a debate, and confusing his opponents is what he did best. Yura sighed as she bit as she glanced over to Shelly and Noel that quietly ate.

"You guys have been awfully quiet today.."

"Really? I think I was pretty loud this morning."

"Yeah, but that doesn't count, you stopped talkin' immediately after."

"Ehhh. Debatable."

"…I'm glad you guys are alive."

Shelly muttered out, looking over at the pizza on his plate. This sentence kind of was off-putting for the group, they didn't really know what to say. Bolin tried to laugh it off, but stopped immediately after.

"We…We are too?"

Yura replied, a little taken aback and confused by what he had just said. The exasperated Shelly sighed.

"If I hadn't acted so recklessly, we wouldn't have gotten so close to the sin, we would've been safer. So I apologize."

"Is that why you've been acting so grumpy today?"

Bolin patted his back, reaching over to his barely eaten pizza as he grabbed it.

"Seriously man, chill out. We're here today ain't we? It's life. We can't control what kinda psycho freak attacks us at any given moment."

"True that."

"Yeah, besides I got a video of Bolin screaming like a little girl, so worth it."

"It's AI."

"Ehhh, don't think my camera can generate your big baby tears."

"AI."

"It's okay to cry, don't be ashamed."

"Noel shut the fuck up I just said it was AI man! Assholes."

Shelly chuckled as he leaned over to Yura.

"Show me that shit."

"Fuuuuck no! Yura! Don't show him nothing!"

But maybe, it's okay to lie to yourself. To put the negatives on the side to focus on the good sides. A temporary solution, sure, but a solution, nonetheless.

 7 days before judgement. | :ABEL