Act 4: Trial of the seven islands - Chapter 2

By the time they returned to their hotel, night had fallen, the moon high in the sky, and the first trial, the Trial of Pride, was just about to take place. In their room, an invitation to a banquet had been left, addressed to each of them and referring to them as "Illustrious Archivists". They changed into slightly fancier clothes that would be more suitable for the occasion and made their way to the hall where it would be taking place.

At first, they really had no idea what to expect of these trials, and only knew that they used illusions to tempt the guests into sinning. Those who did so would be put in temporary confinement as punishment. It wasn't too bad, just for the sake of playing along.
As soon as they walked through the door, the atmosphere changed radically. Everything around them felt brighter and more colorful, and Kyusaku could immediately tell that this was all thanks to an illusion – he was used to them after all, so he was completely unfazed by the change around them.

"About ¾ of these people are fake," Kyusaku told his partner in a low voice.

"Seems about right. I wonder how this trial will go."

"Let's just get something to eat for now, I'm starving."

The two of them approached the buffet, their gazes sweeping over the various food. After such a long and tiring day, the elf couldn't wait to get something to eat, and immediately picked up a plate and started piling a bunch of the most appetizing stuff on it. The food here seems pretty good...
As he ate, his gaze unconsciously drifted to his partner, but he was surprised when he couldn't find him anywhere nearby, and couldn't help but wonder where he had wandered off to.
Suspecting he had left to talk to a girl again, he looked a bit more thoroughly around the room, and only then did he notice he had been completely surrounded by other guests, standing so close to him that he couldn't really see anything else.

He was about to ask them to move, when something unexpected happened.

"Are you... Kyusaku? The renowned Archivist?"

Too surprised, the elf blinked a few times before he remembered to answer. "Huh? Yes, it's me..."

"I knew it! I've read all of your research! You're the best Archivist out there, for sure. You've made so many more discoveries than others!"

Then it clicked.

Is this what they're doing for this trial? Kyusaku thought, somewhat disappointed. The illusions were easily recognizable, and their praises sounded fake and basic. Ordinary people might have been fooled, but if he had to be honest, this was barely above than the lowest quality of illusions. He had expected more from a place that had risen in popularity so fast. Then again, maybe I'm just too used to illusions to be fazed...
Looking closer, he realized there wasn't a single real person among the guests surrounding him. All of them were illusions, repeating the same few sentences in an attempt to get him to brag. They quickly started sounding like a broken record to him, and since they were illusions, he didn't bother listening to them anymore, only waving dismissively to get them to move so he could find Miyaji. As expected, the illusions didn't have much of a reaction to this, only mindlessly stepping away as they still showered him in praises.

The crowd parted, their movements blurry. Maybe he was just too used to his Master's flawless illusions, but they really looked low quality. In the end, that sort of illusion was the most common one. This was probably good enough for a theme park.
As he looked everywhere for his partner, he caught a glimpse of bright red hair in the crowd, and made his way towards him just in time to see him punch one of the illusions in the face. The elf stopped in his tracks, puzzled. What is this idiot doing?

"Stop praising me! I don't care! I'm just doing my job! You should be praising Kyusaku, he's much more amazing than me!"

"Miyaji, don't hit the illusions..." He said with a sigh as he finally approached him.

"There's no rule that says we can't do it. They're not real anyway, and they were really getting on my nerves. Not even letting me eat in peace... Have you figured out anything yet?" His partner asked, inviting him to take a seat a bit further away from the group of illusions, who seemed to have lost interest in them.

"Not yet. To be honest, judging by the level of these illusions, they're probably unrelated to what we're investigating."

Truly, just one look was enough to confirm this.

Miyaji nodded in agreement. "I guess we'll need to see more trials to figure out why people disappear..."

The elf thought for a bit, mentally reviewing all the clues and possible leads they had.

"Miyaji, do you know where this concept of 'seven sins' comes from? That might give us a hint."

Waving his hand dismissively, he told him the little he knew. "It's an outdated concept from an old religion that doesn't exist anymore. It's been popular in fiction recently, so it probably doesn't have anything to do with the missing people."

"Hmm... You really weren't lying when you said you knew a lot about gods and religions," Kyusaku commented, looking pensive as a thought formed in his mind – but he didn't have enough information to develop it further.

"Well, history is your thing, religion is mine! Nowadays, there's only three types of people;" he raised three fingers as he listed them one by one. "Those who worship the current Gods, those who don't worship them but believe in their existence, and those who don't even believe they exist. All other religions ultimately died out. When it was the time of the Ancient Gods, there were a lot more of them."

"Why is that?" The elf asked out of curiosity.

"Because the Ancient Gods couldn't leave the Heavenly Realm. A bit hard to believe in something you can't see, right? So people made up all kinds of beliefs for various reasons. But that wouldn't work with how the current Gods come and go as they please; they don't even particularly hide their identity or presence. It would be difficult to deny the existence of someone you could literally run into while shopping for groceries."

The elf chuckled as he imagined said scenario. He had to agree with Miyaji there; although he had never met a God, he knew a few people who did. And indeed, when there were clearly Gods around, then all those religions that weren't about them naturally saw their popularity decrease.

"Anyway," Kyusaku said, "back to the missing people. Have you heard of any major historical event happening in the area? I didn't have the time to look at the records before leaving."

"There is one, around 700 years ago."

"What happened?"

"A massacre."

To be honest, he wasn't surprised. History was full of massacres after all.

"Hmm... That could have something to do with it. I'm not sure if it's related to the mysterious eighth island, though. What else do you know about this?"

"There were two kingdoms on the mainland having a war," Miyaji summarized. "The powerful spells used by both sides severely contaminated the water, and the people living on these islands relied heavily on fishing. There wasn't enough food for them, and the two kingdoms were too busy fighting each other, so nobody helped them. Ultimately, no one won the war, and both kingdoms fell and were forgotten, along with this archipelago's people, who died out from either starvation or magic poisoning."

Kyusaku remained silent for a moment, trying to process this information and figure out if it could be related to their other clues, when something occurred to him all of a sudden. His expression changed as he noticed an inconsistency in his partner's story.

"Wait a second..." He started, turning to his partner and giving him an accusatory look. "If they've both been forgotten, how do you know about this?"

Miyaji's smile twitched. "Uh, well, I told you I was old..." He replied, averting his eyes, only half-admitting the truth.

"Don't tell me you were there?!" He exclaimed, jumping out of his seat in shock; he knew he was definitely older than him, but not that old.

"I didn't take part in the war," Miyaji clarified, clearly trying to steer him away from the topic of his age, "but my job required me to help clean up the aftermath."

"What kind of job even is that...?"

"A peculiar one."

Judging by his reaction, Kyusaku decided to drop the subject for now – it was fine if he didn't want to tell him now; he would eventually talk about himself when he felt like it. Since he had given up on acting like a normal human, he knew it was only a matter of time before he felt comfortable enough to tell him the truth – unless Kyusaku figured it out first.

He sat back down, grabbed an empty glass and poured himself a drink. All that talking had left his throat dry.

"...Well, since you were there, do you remember what the souls were like at the time?"

"Full of resentment. There are still many vengeful ghosts roaming on the mainland. Typical for a battlefield."

"What about these islands?"

"I don't know. When I came here, I couldn't find any trace of their souls. They died without anyone paying attention to them, so most were not properly buried and I was quite surprised to not find a single lost soul wandering around, but it's possible that the famine or magic poisoning left them too weak and they dissipated right after they passed."

"I guess they can't be responsible for the missing people then... Just when I thought we might have found something!" Kyusaku let out a frustrated sigh; this case was feeling more and more impossible.

"Well, there are still six other islands. Seven counting the invisible one. I'm sure we'll find a clue on one of them."

The elf knew his partner was right. At the moment, the only promising lead they had was the eighth island. I remember it can be seen at dawn... It's possible that the light from the rising sun reacts to the magic hiding it.

After finishing their dinner, Kyusaku made plans with Miyaji to look for the mysterious island at dawn, and they separated in front of their rooms. The elf got changed before sitting on his bed with a sigh. So far, he couldn't say he was really enjoying this vacation. He had a lot of fun on the beach, but after passing the first trial, all they could think about was the case of the missing people.
It's starting to look more like work and less like a vacation, he thought as he finally lied down and closed his eyes after putting his glasses away. Why did Miyaji choose separate rooms? He wondered; he was not used to sleeping alone while being far from home. We've always slept in the same room when on jobs in the past... Was this really necessary?

He couldn't quite relax, and had a hard time falling asleep.

Hungry... so hungry... Unable to bear the sensation devouring him from the inside, he threw himself at the food in front of him, devouring the rotten fish with too many eyes like a wild beast that hadn't eaten for so long it had forgotten what satiation felt like; even when the disgusting smell and taste made him throw everything up, he just desperately threw himself at another gross-looking fish, freezing as he did so when he noticed his thin and frail arms. Why am I still hungry? He wondered, looking at his unfamiliar, bony hands. These are not my hands. This is a dream.

The elf woke up in shock, jumping out of bed before sprinting to the bathroom as the taste and smell of the rotten fish persisted, as if he had really eaten it; he could even still feel its gross texture in his mouth. Stupid fucking dreams. Is it too much to ask for a break?!