The moment Ms. Ruari left their hotel room, Alfred rested his back on one of the four single beds there and drowsily mumbled, “Let’s sleep for a few hours before heading towards the main gate.”

“Are we really going to face Sloth without any training?” Luna hesitantly asked.

“Why are you hesitant?” Dr. Jerami asked, also settling on the bed beside her husband.

“Are you not?” Luna asked back, a bit annoyed. “Whenever we fight sins, someone is taken away from us. First it was Mom, then Dad, Carl’s soul, and Sol’s body. What if this time they completely succeed in taking Sol away from me? I don’t want to lose my twin brother.”

“Hey, you’re worrying too much,” Sol was obviously trying to act cool but Luna could see beyond his pretense.

“You are also worried,” Luna shot back at his twin brother.

“But I chose to believe in Dr. Jerami and in our strength,” Sol faithfully countered.

“Are we really something special?” Luna doubtfully asked. “If we are, then how can Pride still get Mom and Dad from us? Why did we fail to save Carl?”

“But they failed in taking my soul away,” Sol looked determined as he uttered those words. “I’m still here with you. I resisted Pride. I’m that strong. You are too. You stood firm against Pride for a long time. We will continue defying him. We will take our parents back. I will take my body back. We will save Carl’s soul. Just have faith in us, Luna.”

“Maybe I’m just tired,” Luna sighed and lay down on the bed and hid underneath the thick blanket. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep it off.

Despite worrying too much, Luna did fall asleep and had a dreamless sleep. But he was awakened when he felt one side of his bed move.

“I thought you are not worried? Why are you still awake?” Luna asked, confident that the person who sat on his bed was his twin brother. 

Sol was indeed using a different body, but there was a familiar feeling radiating from him. It must be his soul that Luna was sensing.

“I’m hungry,” Sol quietly whispered. “We haven’t eaten anything since we arrived at this hotel. My stomach is growling. We should eat something.”

After being reminded that they had not eaten anything for hours, Luna’s stomach began to tighten with hunger.

He rolled over the bed and glared at his twin brother who was smiling sheepishly at him.

^#######################################^

“See? You are also hungry,” Sol was happily filling his stomach with variety of food, from soup, steaks, pasta, and cakes. He was also drinking plenty of soda.

“You’ll be sleeping after this. You should not eat much,” Luna said despite his side of the table filled with stew, barbecue, rice, salad, and milk shakes.

“We got plenty of sleep while in the car,” Sol reminded Luna. “We should walk around town and see if we can help someone.”

Luna stared at Sol with awe.

“What?” Sol asked. “Isn’t this what you wanted? To see if we are strong enough to win against sin?”

“What about Dr. Jerami and Alfred?”

“They need to sleep. And if we really are as strong as they claim us to be, we can take care of sins on our own. We need to do it without their help,” the unwavering determination in the eyes of Sol was annoyingly encouraging.

“Okay,” Luna breathed. He was still nervous but also curious at what they can possibly do. “Let’s go for a walk.”

^#######################################^

Luna and Sol were heading out of the restaurant when Ms. Ruari called out to them.

“Are you planning to walk around town?” the manager kindly yet nosily inquired. “It’s nearly midnight. Stay here where it is safe. You can come out tomorrow with Jerami and Alfred.”

“Any time of the day is not safe for us,” Sol reasoned. “They will always be after us. We need to go out and test our capabilities.”

“I’ll come with them.”

A tall and slender man, probably two to five years older than Luna and Sol, approached them. His hair was short and a bit wavy. He had the same tough eyes as Ms. Ruari. He was wearing dark blue polo shirt, black pants, and black leather shoes.

“Ben, we should always guarantee the safety of our guests,” the manager strictly stated.

“Mom, they should use their abilities, not hide it,” Ben politely expressed.

“Your son is right,” Sol quickly agreed. “We can’t enhance our abilities if we cower in here. We should go out and fight sins.”

“Don’t worry about them,” Ben assured Ms. Ruari before she could open her mouth and retort. “I will take care of them. I’ll bring them back safe.”

“Fine,” Ms. Ruari sighed in defeat. “Return here before dawn breaks. Our guests need to rest.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Ben looked enthusiastic as he led Sol and Luna out of the hotel and into an empty alley.

“Where are you taking us?” Sol would have been suspicious of Ben if the former could not see how radiant the soul of the latter was glowing while various colored smoke were pulsating weakly around it.

If only he learned about that wonderful ability a bit earlier, he would have saved Luna from getting hurt by the people he thought were good.

“Dad wants to protect us. That can only be his reason for not telling us about our abilities,” Sol unconsciously blurted out loud.

“Why are you suddenly talking about Dad?” Luna asked in confusion.

“Nothing,” Sol curtly replied then glanced at Ben who stopped in front of a high-fenced mansion.

It was eerily similar to the mansion where Lei had taken Luna captive. The only difference was that place was not empty. It was filled with people lazily resting on the ground. Most of them were nearly corrupted with Sloth.

“What are we doing here?” Sol glared suspiciously at Ben who glance back at him with confusion.

“I thought you want to save these people?”

“We do,” Luna sincerely answered. “But maybe we should do it one at a time?”

“We should do it here,” Ben impatiently insisted. “One at a time won’t help. That’s what we are doing for a long time but Sloth is still winning. We should destroy all the corrupted bodies now. That is the only way we can be more powerful than Sloth.”

“There’s no harm in trying,” Sol said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Ben smiled and touched the gate but Luna stopped his hand from opening it.

“Wait,” he nervously blurted as his heart raced with anxiety. “We don’t have any plans yet.”

“Sol and I will take care of the not fully corrupted people while you destroy all the vessels entirely devoured by Sloth,” Ben simply directed before opening the gate.

^#######################################^