Day 9 Sidestory

Clack, clack, clack...

The echoes of Salem's heels sounded through the dark cave as she walked through the dark passage, paying no attention to the protruding crystal on her way. The woman walked on, eyes staring straight ahead

She soon come to a wide, dark room. The stone ceiling above reached up to aboit 10-meters, curving together so it formed a spherical dome atop. Even though this place is underground, it's majestic interior can even rivaled that old palace of her

Salem wondered why she even come here. It's been so long since the last time they meet, and for a good reason. And now she'd come to him for help, also with a good reason.

The reason for that is because the person who she wants to meet is the only one with the ability to locate her son, who has gone missing for several weeks now. She couldn't bring herself to imagine what he must be doing out there, cold, alone and shunned by humans. To Salem, pride is not something that matter compared to him

Her feet stopped just outside the entrance to the room. She waited for several moments, as a guest should

Soon enough, from the darkness several projectile appeared, launching themselves toward her. A further look would reveal them to be sharp, black daggers. The knives themselves were fired with inhumane speed as it struck Salem's vital points with pinpoint accuracy

Chink Chink Chink Chink

Or they would have, had a shield not materialized itself mid-air and stopped the attack. As a result, the daggers were embedded deep in said shield

Salem waved her hand, and the shield disappear. The projectiles landed uselessly on the stone floor with clattering noises

"Is this how you greet an old friend, Lord of Envy?" She said with an unamused face

"My dear, that's how I greet everyone. I thought you already know this, Pride" Came a reply from the shadow

The room was brighten up by the torches lining across the wall. The light reveal a throne at the back end of the room, in which a young man is sitting on it

She frowned "Don't call me that, I go with the name Salem now"

"Ah, yes, how could I forget" A playful smile etched on his lips "It's been what, several thousands of years now since we met each other? I don't know. What I know is that you have a good reason to come here, does this matters concern your son in some way? The one which disappeared just several weeks ago?"

"And how do you know that?" She asked coolly

The sound of laughter echoed in the room

"Dear Salem, that's my job to know. Envy is my deadly sin, as such I longed for learning things that have traits better than me to perfect myself. And what better ways are there to learn something than to observe it?"

As he said this, Envy snapped his fingers. A mirror appeared out of thin air, which shows her castle standing proudly on the top of the mountain

A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes

"To answer your question: Yes, you are correct. I'd like you to find the location of my son, and as fast and accurate as possible. I can give you anything you requested as long as you can do that" She decided not to beat around the bush and went straight to the matter

Among the Seven Deadly Sins, Envy is the one with the widest range of detection. The last time she saw him, he can sense something 5,000km away without any problem. Coincidentally, he is also the most materialistic just behind Greed. Salem is sure he'd take up her offer

What she didn't expect is for Envy's smile to fade away before shaking his head and sighed sadly in respond to her, as if troubled by something

"Here's the thing, Salem" He slumped backward to his throne, his face turning serious "I would have helped you to find your son, if I could. The problem is that for some reason, my mirror just can't seem to locate him no matter how hard I tried"

Her hopes wavered a little

"My daughter Alistair has also gone missing a year ago, and until now there's still no news of her. Chances are that they are dead... or that they are just currently outside my sensory range" He added that as an afterthought after seeing her murderous looks

Salem made some mental calculations. That would put them somewhere between Atlas and Vale, assuming both of them were alive

"I wouldn't put my hope on Vale if I were you. Seriously, those area have been combed over a hundred times by my minions already" he sighed "And Atlas is huge, until now we've just been able to search about 1/7 of it"

"Atlas... That is Sloth's place, isn't it?"

"I know what you're thinking and no, I haven't been able to contact him. My guess is that the bastard is currently enjoying a deep nap in the underground, not likely to wake up for another hundred of years"

Silence follow his statement

"Fine, then I'll go there myself" She said, which earned a stare from Envy

"Is that really alright? Don't forget you still have a kingdom of Grimm to rule here, and not to mention you're still weak from our last battle with the gods. In that state, your power shouldn't even be 1/10 of what it used to be"

"Oh, it'll be alright" She said in an off-hand manner "In terms of magical prowess, I'm the strongest amongst us after all, so there's nothing to worry about. As for the Kingdom, they're not worth my attention"

With that said the woman turned around and walked out if the room, having gained some new information for herself

"To make a statement like that, you truly are the Sin of Pride indeed..." Envy muttered as he chuckled to himself, before realizing something

"Wait, I just give her their general location... and didn't receive anything in return...."

The cave was filled with his roar if anger

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Author's Note: Yeah, just testing an idea of mine here. I can't guarantee you that everything will be exactly like in Canon, so you guys can leave if you have a problem with that. For those cool people who decided to continue reading this story, thank you