Eliphas sighed as he sat in his giant gauntlet, slowly floating towards a net of thrashing fish. Everyday was the same thing, in and out. Wake up, sleep, wake up again, eat, check traps, kill food, free the rest, reset the traps, wait for the vines on his roof.
Is this really my life? He asked himself. He supposed it was, since he didn't dare leave this swamp, for fear of recognition. Not that he even knew if anyone would recognize him, he just didn't want to take the chance. He had just finished pulling said net out of the water using his free gauntlet when he realized he hadn't heard anything for a while now, which was peculiar as he had become accustomed to the sounds of the swamp. Eliphas stopped what he was doing. He could just barely hear the sound of voices over the fish' desperate attempts to return to the water. At first, he decided to ignore them, returning to the task at hand. As long as they didn't bother him, he didn't care. Then he heard a woman's scream. After a moment the voices continued. Eliphas tried to reason that someone had just pushed someone into the water or got frightened by a snake. It didn't work, and the next thing Eliphas knew he had dropped the net back into the water and was drifting towards the sound.
I'm just gonna look. He told himself.
I'm just gonna look and see that everything's alright. And when it is, I'll feel like an idiot and go back to living alone. In a swamp. Eliphas slowed just before reaching the voices, trying his best to remain hidden. He could see several soldiers, all clad in silver. One of them looked like he might even be a lieutenant. How Eliphas could recognize this was beyond this, so he chose not to question it. Lastly, he spied a young woman on her knees. No, not on her knees, she was sinking! She must have fallen into a pit of quicksand!
Lucky for her she's got those soldiers with her. He thought to himself as one of them picked up a branch and began to help the young woman to safety. The lieutenant said something, however, and the soldier dropped the branch.
Wait... Eliphas thought.
They're not... they're not going just let her die, are they? He watched as the sand swallowed the girl up to her neck.
Isn't someone going to do something!? The young woman's mouth was now under the mud, and yet the lieutenant forbid his men to help her. Just before her nose was enveloped, leaving her suffocating, a massive gauntlet smashed through the trees. It reached down into the quicksand and, with a sickening squelch, pulled her out.
"What's the matter with you guys?" Eliphas asked the soldiers, his voice just barely registering anger.
"You see a lovely young lady drowning and you just watch? What are you, a bunch of deviants?" The soldiers all gawked at the sight of this purple haired stranger floating in a giant gauntlet. All but the lieutenant. "Eliphas Voltaire; the Deadly Sin of Sloth." The lieutenant breathed, his eyes glinting with intent.
"Do I know you?" Eliphas asked, cocking his head to one side lazily. It was an honest question, in his case. "No, but I know you." The Lieutenant replied. "Listen well, Sloth! I am Lieutenant Lucien, and I am going to give you a choice. Hand over the princess, and we will leave you be. I will not breathe a word of our meeting to anyone, and you can go on living in your... charming little home. We only want to return her to her own." He said with a genuinely friendly smile. The smile disappeared, however, as he continued. "If you refuse, you will be arrested for kidnapping her royal majesty, the princess, from protective custody. Choose wisely." Lucien finished, giving one final smirk.
Eliphas was quiet for a moment. He lowered the Princess, placing her on a dry patch of ground behind him.
"See, if I were you, I'd say I was gonna do that, but then arrest me anyway." Eliphas explained slowly.
"So, I'm going to have to say... no." Lieutenant's expression went stony once more. "Very well. Men, secure the princess, then arrest this filth." As the soldiers began approaching Princess Evelyn, the gauntlet that had lifted her out of the quicksand slammed down in front of her, landing on two of them. It then picked those two and, throwing them at the other three. All five men ended up going under the water.
"Enough of this!" Lieutenant Lucien spat. He drew his weapon, a long sword whose hilt was encrusted with emeralds. The lieutenant leaped from his dry spot on the ground, swinging his sword over head as he sailed towards Eliphas. Eliphas didn't move at all, just sat there as the gauntlet he was on tilted upwards. Suddenly it shot into the air, leaving Eliphas to tumble backwards into the mud. Lieutenant Lucien saw it coming and just barely evaded it, twisting his body mid air, like a cat. The motion turned his sword into a deadly propeller. Just as the blade was about to come down on Eliphas' mud covered head, the left gauntlet came soaring past, punching the Lieutenant hard enough to send him flying into a tree. Eliphas stood up and began wiping the mud off. As he did, he saw the five soldiers climbing out of the water. The right gauntlet swooped back down, knocking them all back in.
While Eliphas had been preoccupied with the soldiers, the lieutenant had held his blade in front of him, his eyes closed. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and, before Eliphas could register what had happened, the Lieutenant was directly in front of him, his armored knee pad slamming into Eliphas' stomach. Eliphas fell to the ground as his gauntlets descended on the lieutenant. The left one had tried to grab him while the right attempted to crush him. Lieutenant Lucien jumped straight up, pulling his legs up just far enough to avoid being caught. Landing on top of the left gauntlet, he hopped backwards off of it, causing the right one to slam harmlessly into it's partner. The gauntlets continued to pursue Lieutenant Lucien, never quite fast enough to catch him. After allowing himself to be chased a good ten feet away, the lieutenant turned around, sprinting past the gauntlets as they tried swiped and punched at him. He dashed towards Eliphas, who hadn't moved from his spot on the ground.
Eliphas looked up. Seeing Lieutenant Lucien coming towards him, he knew he had allowed himself to be baited. He brought his gauntlets back to him as fast as he could, but the lieutenant was faster. Stopping just in front of him, Lieutenant Lucien lunged forward, asedf plunging through Eliphas' lungs and coming out his back. Eliphas stared down at the blade sticking through him as if he didn't understand what it was doing there. The Lieutenant pulled his blade back out, letting Eliphas fall to the ground. "Come along now, your highness." he said, turning to Princess Evelyn. "This has gone on long enough. Come back with us and we-" He was cut off as the gauntlets finally caught up, each hitting him at the same time. The lieutenant went flying into a shallow pond. Eyes blazing, Lieutenant Lucien stood up, only to have his left foot dragged out from under him. He had been knocked into one of Eliphas' traps, and the lieutenant was dragged screaming off into the swamp.
One of the gauntlets gently picked Eliphas up and laid him in the other's open palm. He was hurt bad, but so long as he didn't move, he'd be alright. The gauntlets both floated over to where Eliphas had left Princess Evelyn.
"We'd better leave..." Eliphas said through a groan.
"... that's not gonna keep him busy long... probably cut himself free already..." The empty left gauntlet hovered near the princess' feet, beckoning her with it's index finger.
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