Simone was still fussing over her clothes. “A woman’s decency isn’t to be trifled with. I’m not Lust!” The many shades of Simone were vast it appeared. “My virtue is important if I tip in any of the scales I could become what is hunting us.” She had to stay happy and bouncy, for their safety.

Simone tilted her head and nodded. “I see. That was Lust, she must have taken them from you. She is smarter than Wrath.”

She was roaming around near the flower waiting for Lewis to be ready when he asked her. “The questions are one in the same. I’ve been waiting for a very long time. The Unseelie Queen spoke of a man who would free us and come deep into our soul to defeat the evil set in us by the fey lord. How long we would have to wait didn’t matter to us.” She looked at Lewis with an uncharacteristically serious face. “You’ll have to defeat the seven sins of Simone. Lust and Wrath are able to morph the landscapes here into what you see. The sins killed off any happiness as they saw that we were devoid of it. It broke us.”

She stretched a bit and began to walk in a set direction, “Come on, I’ll take you. Since you met Lust but her influence is still here… I would say you haven’t beaten her yet. We’ll have to find all seven Simones and put them out of their misery. Once we get to Wrath who should be last… She should have a door and I’m the key.”

She took him to a river and put her hands on the ground. A few magic sparks came as a few Simone floated to the surface. “Come on,” Simone was light as she jumped onto the backs of the Simone and skipped her way across. “Sloth is the easiest to find. She doesn’t move,” She pointed in the direction of bright blue. “It’s the only water in the entire realm.”

The assassin followed Simone to the river, he hand on the dagger. The whole mindscape was something that lewis was growing accustomed to,a nd it seemed as though each and every Simone he encountered had an ounce of power to their name, able to alter the world as they saw it in various ways. For the guide Simone, it seemed as though she were able to alter herself mostly, as well as the path forward.

Take note. The world does not work the same as it does in the real world,]/i] he thought to himself as he hopped across the backs of the dead bodies floating in the river.

“The first is Sloth, then,” he stated aloud as a confirmation to himself. Seven deadly sins. Given by the fact that Lust was/// He shivered. It means each of them may have a type of control over the respective sin. Which means Sloth… He gripped the hilt of the dagger as he landed on the other side of the river.

“Water?” he asked. Sloth. Unmoving. He clicked his tongue. Could it really be that easy? But then, he wondered what he was going to do when he got there. Could he kill the Seven Deadly Simones? Could he kill anything here? Or did he have to set them free somehow? He was never a great problem solver when it came to emotions.

“Just crash through it I guess,” he muttered to himself.

The Simone at his side took his hand and pulled him along once he made it. “No dilly-dallying. The creatures here were made out of the bodies of the good Simone. The flower I was in protected me from the corruption. It was made for me from her tears. She hasn’t cried since. She hasn’t been free since.”

She got them close to the lake and she stopped Lewis and looked up at him. He was a good bit taller than she was, even Lust was taller than she was now. Maybe it was because Lust was another age from Simone. “The dagger I gave you will be able to kill anything in here. Besides minor landscape changes, our clothes, and summoning the dagger SHE made for you. I can’t do anything else but open the door.”

She got them close to the water’s edge now and she looked down and pointed as the lifeless body of a Simone deep within the water. “Not all is as it seems. You’ll have to descend… but be careful and remember that she controls this space.”

The water rippled a bit on the defensive as the guide Simone got a bit too close. She stumbled back and fell on her butt. “I can’t go with you. She doesn't like me too much… Be wary of the water.”

Lewis stared down into the depths of the lake. It was just as he had seen when he first arrived here. A deep lake with Simone trapped at the bottom. The only difference seemed to be that this Sloth Simone lay permanently dead at the bottom. And obvious trap. He grimaced at the thought of having to swim down there. He had already dealt with three hundred years worth of death and rebirth via drowning. Or at least…what he had perceived three hundred years as. He wasn’t quite sure how long he had been in her mindscape.

“The whole damned thing is water,” he muttered at the guide Simone’s useless warning. Still, he took his shirt off, tossing it to the side, and then unsheathed his dagger, placing the crimson edge between his teeth. Without any other real preparation, he dived into the water, breaking the eerily pristine surface.

Immediately he was hit with icy cold water. This was already different from the lake that Simone had been trapped in. No, this was far worse. The icy water was already sapping at Lewis’ strength, but he had no choice but to continue down. He had already cast a spell to breath under water, which had luckily worked, but he wondered if Sloth would take that away once he reached her. It was something that he would rather not think about in the short term. He would deal with it when it came time.

The cold was dulling his movements, but for some reason or another, the dagger that he held between his teeth was radiating a slight warmth. It was better than nothing.

Halfway there. he thought to himself.

The darkness that enveloped the lake water was perfect at the deeper depths. A song would come to Lewis’s ear and the water rippled from movement near him. There was something definitely growing closer to him. The cold water was perfect for keeping the prey slow and struggling.

“Lewisssss,” the voice called out only Sloth wasn’t moving still. Matter of fact she looked so peaceful as she snoozed away. Her snores were actually audible the closer he got to her.

“Lewis,” the voice was closer to him. “You should just let her keep sleeping,” the voice was growing closer. It looked like it was a mermaid version of Simone. There were three of them circling around like sharks coming in for the prey.

The little Simone was up on top watching. “LEWIS THE DAGGER!” She was about to panic. Was all their hard work for nothing? Water was incredibly hard to fight in. Had they chose the wrong one to start with? “KILL SLOTH AND THE LAKE WILL DISAPPEAR!” It was a race now.

Think quick.

There were mermaid versions of Simone closing on in him, and fast. There was no way he could move fast enough to outrun them. He cursed, gritting his teeth against the edge of the dagger.

The dagger can kill anything here. He looked down at the sleeping Sloth beneath him. She never moves. He could feel the mermaids circling faster. He could hear their calls, wishing for their mistress to stay in her deep slumber. Lewis was in a bind.

Water. He pulled the dagger from his teeth, gripping it tightly. He had the strength for one throw. One dagger. He had to hit his mark. Focus. Aim. He took a deep breath, and exhaled. The water immediately around Lewis quivered. Move. The water around him suddenly burst outward, creating a small pocket of air, leaving Lewis suspended. A “tunnel” formed from this bubble, straight to the heart of Sloth.

Aim true. He threw the dagger with all his might. Immediately the bubble around him collapsed. The magic he had used to keep himself breathing failed, the exhaustion taking its toll as the icy water filled his lungs.

The mermaids let out an awful screech as he released the dagger. Even they had to realize what it was even though it was a bit too late. Sloth opened her eyes enough to look directly at Lewis. Where she could have avoided it she just smiled as the dagger impaled her. “Thank you,” her voice was more gentle than even his own Simone. She was trapped just as much as the rest of them. She could have a good sleep now.

The water began to shake and slosh as it exploded everywhere. Still, Lewis didn’t move from the hole as he found the hard ground of the lake. His guide was running down the side of the now-empty lake. The mermaids were flailing on the ground from the lack of water now. “Lewis!” She ran to his side and immediately began trying to get the water out of him. She pressed her lips to his to give him a few good breaths.

“Wake up!” Maybe coming here first had been a mistake on her part. How could she not have known there were mermaids here. She thought it was just a deep swim. How far had her selves fallen while she was gone?

Sloth laid not far from them with the dagger in her. Only when it was removed did she become ash.

Lewis blacked out as the water filled his lungs. When he came to, there was a worried face aver him, attempting to force oxygen into his lungs. He pushed her out of the way hard as he started to cough and choke up water from his lungs. He turned on his side, heaving as the icy liquid spilled onto the now empty lake bed. After a few moments of ragged, deep breaths, Lewis rolled onto his back again, and started to laugh.

“Be wary of the fucking water…” Was this what humans did when they almost died? He started to cough again, but after the fit managed to sit up. His clothes were, for whatever reason, dry, and the chill from the lake was practically non-existent.

“What other fucking trauma’s do you have!” he yelled at the guide. He stood up, angrily marching to Sloth, yanking out the dagger. For once in his life, he was starting to feel genuine anger. “Anything else I should know about? How about flying fucking harpy Simones? Maybe giant tunneling snake Simones?”

Her eyes got a little darker as he shoved her to the side. She hit the ground and she didn’t move for many minutes as he began to yell at her. She was more lifeless on the ground than anything. Any other girl would have cried and wouldn’t have understood the anger.

Instead he was meant with something else as the ground began to tremble and she slowly picked herself up. There were times when the world was tearing around her and she was covered head to toe in blood as she stalked her way to him. “What else? WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?!”

She heaved at him as she rushed him and for someone who had no training she was fast as she took him by the neck. The world spiked and her eyes were dead, not like they once were. “You want to know about trauma? WHILE CAUSING IT?! You worthless…” She shook her head and dropped him as everything stopped. She was holding herself as she began to vomit.

“No. No. No. We need to go. She’s close. WE NEED TO GO NOW,” she was normal again she grabbed Lewis and pulled him in a new direction. “I’m going to get tainted. We need to leave. Wrath sensed us. She’s trying to overpower me in my moment of anger.”

After taking him and running a good distance she let out a few good deep breaths. “I told you… I can be tainted. I have to get to the door to open it or you can’t ever leave this place Lewis.” She looked so tired now as she tried to pull herself together. "That was so very close. I understand you are angry but I didn't know it was there. I thought it was just the water. I haven't been awake for over three hundred years Lewis. This place didn't look like this when I was last here. I just know the direct routes to them. That's it."

Lewis turned just in time to see the guide Simone lose herself, if only for a moment. He had never seen anyone move so fast, and was taken off guard when she launched herself at him, picking him up by his throat. He had underestimated the mental landscape a second time. This was her world, and she held complete control over it.

“Fine,” he said simply as she returned to her true self, frantically stating that they need to leave. There was little emotion behind his voice, as he had reverted back to the simplest form of functioning. Sever the link. He didn’t want emotions. They always got in the way, and were always useless.

Yes, even her.

He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as he sheathed the bone dagger. “Just lead the way,” he stated with a dead look in his eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”