Desire

With a single blink of the eye, their gaze was met with the Sylvan sight of the room, wooden floors and walls that echoed the same color. Glints of emerald light occasionally glowed from the walls an oddly comforting feeling engulfed the room as a steady flame of a fireplace grew in sound, the flickering red clashing against green like a dance or perhaps a fight.

Both of their eyes focused in on an underlying presence in the room, like a snake in hiding, yet detectable to even the weakest of prey. A woman with pine colored hair tapped the desk she sat at, having appeared from what would be nowhere. The atmosphere shifted, an unnerving cold with an emptiness that seemed endless, fire itself couldn't warm what remained.

"Welcome back you two,"

A smile spread across the woman's face, holding neither malice nor anger towards the two, the atmospheric warmth returned to the room, growing more almost. A voice like silk escaped from her lips as she spoke or a mother to her own children.

Nabi's eyes widened at the sight of the woman, dropping to take a knee while Greed allowed his eyes to keep wandering to inspect the beauty of the room. He never seemed to understand the beauty of a room like this, yet something about it all seemed alluring, such a large contrast from the the high rising structures and sleek buildings this was rather homelike if anything else. The golden light of his eyes noticed the woman as he offered a nod, less arrogant in his speaking.

"Oh? 'Sup V—

By time he could barely react he took an elbow to the gut from Nabi, he clutched his stomach as he looked at Nabi while the woman held her hand over her mouth, chuckling at what Nabi did. Greed fell to his knees in a similar manner Nabi did, still clutching his stomach as he did so.

"Lady Leviathan," Nabi let her gaze focus on the wooden floor beneath her, mind calm as a tree in a clearing. She looked at Greed from the corner of her eye, frowning somewhat before resetting herself.

"Nabi—Nabi. You're so mean to Guisei — you should really be nicer to him," Leviathan said in between her laughter. As she a dimmed light erupted from her desk. "In speaking of Guisei—Mammon wanted to speak with you after I brief you for your next mission,"

The boy, Guisei, now finally caught his breath from the elbow, looked up at Leviathan and nodded, a small smirk spread across his lips as Nabi gave the report, his mind fixated on the idea of speaking with Mammon. Light rose from the desk, overshadowing the red of the flames as all around were now painted a dark black.

The light congealed into a bright screen of hardened emerald. The crimson-lit eyes of Nabi flared as she viewed silhouettes through the translucent screen, yet kept her tongue dormant for the time being. After moving through the information filled screen for a moment, Leviathan remembered the two before him both looked restless in wait for something.

She stared back at Nabi, her eyes focused on Nabi's feline gaze. The two continued to stare at each other in silence as Guisei continued to tap his finger against his shoe. Leviathan blinked.

"Why are you two still here?" Leviathan asked, her eyes blank, only filled with inquisition. Guisei and Nabi looked back at the woman, mirroring her own gaze. Silence filled the room for mere moments as each of them debated in their minds who should shatter the air.

"Ahem!" Nabi coughed as she waited for Guisei to speak, angling her gaze towards the boy ever so slightly. The golden eyes of Guisei narrowed as he realized what Nabi was telling him to do, exchanging a quick nod…and did nothing. A sigh escaped Nabi's lips, a hand coming quickly over her mouth as Leviathan perked up in response to the sound.

"Something you wanted to say, Nabi?"

"We were told that you had our next assignment ready for us…something about a project," Nabi said silently.

"Yes! The project," Leviathan refocused her gaze as the light slowly drifted into her wooden desk. Orange bled back into the wooden room as the light of the fire had once again gained its vigor. She tapped the desk once and then again as she remembered the remnants of the information she had to relay. "For your next assignment, we've decided after a long time of waiting to begin a special project that we've been holding off on. That is....the cultivation of the New Cardinal Sins,"

"It's about time don't you think?" The boy stood up a bit, stretching his arms out as he let out a small chuckle. "I've been waiting since forever to kill that old man and take his place. You do mean I finally get to take his place, right?"

Leviathan chuckled and Nabi clutched her thigh, a burning sensation coming from there. Like faulty acupuncture, millions of needles felt as if they were stabbed into her as she lowered her gaze for a moment.

"Yes, in your case Guisei, you will finally be able to prove yourself as a worthy heir for Mammon's place as the Sin of Greed and Nabi of course will take her rightful place as the Sin of Wrath like her father and his before him," Leviathan said, her lips beginning to curl into a smile.

"Then that means the other three are also being chosen?" Nabi gasped out as she let her gaze fall to the ground as the heat dwindled. She let out a sigh of relief as color slowly returned to her face.

"Correct, or well somewhat correct. I have already chosen an heir and Lord Lucifer has made his candidate known to us as well. Asmodeus on the other hand has always been...neglectful and hasn't chosen a successor to our knowledge,"

Leviathan looked to the side, narrowing with a bit of detestment. An envious thought passed through her head of how one could live so freely, yet she herself felt confined to the room of flame and darkness. Like a lone breeze, a sigh escaped the woman's lips as she looked upon what were to be the "heirs" for Satanael and Mammon's legacy. She continued.

"Since we haven't had the cooperation of each of the Sins in such a manner in many years and the lack of belief of some noble houses, we are required to test you all," Leviathan said. "In an...controlled environment,"

"What do you even mean by that, you'd think after forcing us on all those missions they'd think we already proved ourselves," Guisei replied.

Leviathan only offered a light shrug to the question, her eyes moved to the ceiling away from the two. "Who knows, I for one have complete trust in you both. Perhaps it has something to do with someone in particular not wanting to pick up any other Curse Series from other courts," A sly smirk spread across her face as she spoke, a hint of judgment in her gaze as she shifted it back towards the two. "Curse Academy…"

Guisei rolled his eyes as he looked to his companion and then to the orange light that fought for power against the overwhelmingly cold green. His expression of arrogance became that of something else, a hint of wanting, envy of his own.

"High class school to have those lazy noble children prove themselves so they can sit around for the rest of their lives, I'm aware," Guisei said.

He slowly turned around, with every word he spoke the cold feeling in the room was unsettling almost as if he wanted to speak more than he truly wanted to. He walked to where he believed the two entered as the feeling seemed to rush throughout his entire body.

An inhale and then a calming exhale caused the boy to focus his mind. He exchanged a glance with Leviathan as his eyes spoke for him entirely. She only offered a nod, not out of submission but rather intrigue of what the boy wished to achieve. His mannerisms all to familiar for her.

"He's in the lower levels, I'll brief Nabi about the other details," Leviathan said as the bright lime lights converged from all around the room almost like ants as they joined together to form an arch. The interior faded like an illusionary dream, replaced only with a bright light that despite its strength only could dream of overpowering the warring lights within the room.

Guisei took a step forward, confidently basking in the light as his smirk broke free into a full grin. His hands opened before he closed them back. The time finally had come, a day he spoke of for many years.