Note: Because this is a double update, if you have not read Chapter 5: Voice, please do so! Thanks!

Sunggyu gasps for oxygen as if he hasn’t been breathing for a while. His chest puffs up and down as he inhales in the precious air his body desperately needs. The dream he just had is so strange and surreal. He checks his own body and realizes that he couldn’t move at all. He’s chained down. He struggles but he quickly gives up knowing how it is impossible to break those steel chains.

“How nice of you to join us with the living once again, boy. You’re just in time for the ritual.” Acedia says as he walks into the room Sunggyu is held but not giving the other a single glance.

“Let me go! I do not have anything you need!” Sunggyu yells out as he struggles once again. Acedia laughs as he finally turns to look at Sunggyu. He looks slightly more different and he now wears a different set of clothes – ones that Sunggyu has never seen before and looks extremely ancient.

“Oh no, you do have what I need. You see, you’re a gatekeeper; you just haven’t realized that yet. Remember the first time you saw one of my skeleton minions? It did hit you after you out and normally people will wake up in a trance, not knowing what has happened to them but you did not. You woke up perfectly fine and even recall what happen last night. You could be just an extremely strong willed person so I put you to the test – by sending you into Limbo, you know when all the doors starts to disappear and floor tiles begins to crumble away? It’s a test to see if you could escape from there. It’s a simple test for people with powers and apparently, you did. My suspicions are further confirmed when the gate responded to you, my boy. You’re a gatekeeper no doubt and of the Gate of Crowe.” Acedia explains.

“You’re lying! There’s no such thing as what you said. It’s all a prank isn’t it? I must be dreaming this.” Sunggyu says as he desperately tries to convince himself.

“You can say all you want but it doesn’t change the fact you’re now in my hands, boy. Want to leave and get out – you have to win the master of this domain, which happens to be me. But you can’t. You’re powerless or rather – you have no idea what your powers are and no idea how to use them.” Acedia seethes as he approaches Sunggyu with a black dagger in his hand.

“What are you trying to do to me? Get away!” Sunggyu warns but it falls into deaf ears.

“Not to worry, I won’t kill you… yet. I just need your blood to open the gate and that’s all – just seven drops of your precious blood.” Acedia explains and in one swift motion, he slashes Sunggyu’s arm. Blood flows out immediately from the open wound as Sunggyu cries out in pain. Acedia chuckles at Sunggyu’s suffering as he collects the dripping blood into a glass vial.

“Now, the time has come for the first gate to open. We have been waiting far too long for this day to happen. Without the first gate to open, the other six will not budge no matter what we do. Be blessed, Gatekeeper for your blood is being offered to revive The Master.”

Acedia approaches the gate and mutters some words before throwing the vial at the door. The glass shatters and the blood stains on the stone in the middle. Almost instantly, the blood glows with a faint red before it seemingly soaks into the door and vanishes. Seconds later, the gate glows brightly with the Sunggyu’s birthmark image glowing brightly along as well. The skull image slowly faints away, leaving the stone door image-less. The seal has been broken.

But it is yet to be completed. A large heptagon circle appears on the gate, as it begins to disappear in a clockwise motion.

“Soon, The Master will step into this world once more and free this world.” Acedia exclaims.

Sunggyu struggles with his steel chains but it will not just come off. He gives up and slumps onto wooden chair where is chained onto. Suddenly the conversation he just had with Acedia comes into his mind. If Sunggyu is truly a Gatekeeper as the other says, he will have powers. With that hope in mind, he tries to focus and think how superheroes use their powers that he have seen on the television or read from comic books. With apparent reasons that all those are truly fictions, nothing happened. Sunggyu is not emitting any powers or some sort at all. He sighs before trying to recall past events that may help him to get out of his binds.

“Remember your name’s meaning and your purpose.”

Sunggyu snaps his eyes open at that memory. His name doesn’t exactly mean a lot to him, and he is sure that it will not help him in any way. Sunggyu then recalls how the lady calls him by another name when she first saw him instead of his given name. She called him Industria. Is that supposed to be a meaning or some sort? If so, Sunggyu wonders what it means.

“Defeat your counterpart and reunite the seven.”

The number seven catches Sunggyu’s attention. His name could be in link with that number. He tries to think of any possible myths and legends that he may have come across of or heard before that has a possible relation to the number seven but he has none. He sighs loudly how his mind decides to shut down at the moment of crisis he is in.

“Damn it! I don’t know what it is supposed to mean? Seven what? Seven deadly sins?” Sunggyu blurts out.

Then, his own statement catches Sunggyu’s attention – the seven deadly sins. It is so far the only myth and legend that has in relation with the number seven that Sunggyu happens to know but which one is him or rather is his name part of the seven sins?

His focused attention breaks when a tremor shook the room. Acedia laughs out loud in glee as he watches the heptagon circle being reduce to only half. Sunggyu is running out of time. His instincts are telling him that the gate must remain close and something bad will happen if it opens. But according to Acedia’s story, The Master should be a good god if he wishes to liberate the humans from the gods’ control yet Sunggyu couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“Be reborn again, Master! Your servant, Sloth calls out for you!”

Sunggyu widens his eyes with attention. Isn’t Acedia that man’s name? Why is he calling himself Sloth? Then realization hits him. Sloth is part of the seven deadly sins but how does it all fits? Sunggyu thinks hard and let his mind search through his memories for any possible hints and clues he may have.

Acedia.

It finally came together at the true meaning between the names. Acedia and Sloth are practically of the same meaning but just in different languages. If Sloth is part of the seven deadly sins, then as his counterpart, Sunggyu deduce that he himself should be as part of the seven virtues and the counterpart for Sloth is Diligence.

Which is also translated as Industria in Latin.

Having solved the link between him and his counterpart, Sloth, Sunggyu struggles with his might, with the meaning of Diligence filling his mind. A scent of lavender fills his nose as a blue aura fills his body. Sunggyu feels his energy slowly slipping away from all the futile struggling but he continues because he can’t give up. The aura begins to glow even brighter and with a burst of light, the steel chains breaks and flies away with a good distance.

Sloth turns his head to see the commotion and finds himself a situation he has never thought of. Sunggyu is free from his chains. He begins to panic as little bit as he summons his skeletons. Sunggyu gags a little when those grotesque figures appear once again. Concentrating once again, he places his hands outwards and let the meaning of Diligence fill his mind.

Once more, scents of Lavender fills Sunggyu’s nose as the skeletons levitates into mid-air. With a swift crushing gesture by Sunggyu’s hands, the skeletons distorts into a ball of bones before breaking apart. Bones flew in every direction the moment they’re destroyed.

Sloth retreats backwards as he watches his minions fall before him. He glances at the heptagon and a sense of relief fills when as the circle begins to complete with only one-seventh of it is left. He turns to look at Sunggu and smirks at the tired Gatekeeper.

“You’ll never succeed! I’ll never let you!” Sloth exclaims as he rushes towards Sunggyu recklessly, trying to tackle the gatekeeper and in hopes to delay sufficient time for the gate to be fully open. But Sunggyu isn’t going to simply fall for such tactics.

With a quick grasp of concentration, he swiftly sweeps Sloth of his feet and levitates him in mid-air. Sloth tries to struggle out from the invisible grasp but the force holding him is far too strong for him to break free. With one swing of his hand, Sloth is thrown at top speed, directly at the gate.

The sound of bones breaking can be heard when Sloth hits the stone door. He drops onto the ground and coughs out blood. He can no longer move his body and is on the verge of dying as well but his mission is complete nonetheless. The heptagon has completely disappeared from the gate and the sound of the heavy stones opening bellows throughout the hall.

“It is done. My task is complete. When the other six gates open, he will return.” Sloth exclaims slowly and in between coughs of blood. Once the gate fully opens, an aura of darkness escapes from within. Sloth laughs with his last breath when his body suddenly ignites. Sunggyu shields himself from the ignition and watches as the body burns brightly and fiercely.

The gate continues to release a black colored aura but Sunggyu did not manage to see what comes after that. Fatigue overcomes him as his world spins for a moment before losing consciousness.

When he wakes, he finds himself again in the land of desolation. A bright light shines from above and he watches as the purple star slowly dims and a bright blue glow replacing it. There are now two blue stars shining brightly whilst the remaining five still shines red. He wonders what the stars meant. A tremor fills the place and Sunggyu understands the signs this time – it is time for him to wake up.

As he leaves the desolated continent, one of the red starts begins to dim and a faint purple glow starts to emit.

-

Somewhere on Earth

“Hey, can you call you brother down for dinner?” A lady instructs a mature looking boy as he gets up from the couch unwillingly and heads upstairs. Moments later, he comes rushing back down looking all worried.

“Mum! Woohyun’s missing!” 

To be continued in Chapter 7: Disappearance

A/N

Here is the second chapter i promised! but I did not proofread it! So if there are any mistakes please point it out so i'll correct it! 

Could you guys now guess what's Sunggyu's power? If you can't no worries! It will be updated on the foreword page! =) 

Enjoy :D