"It's true, we're all a little insane."

At the beginning of time, Sinnsear's jealous daughter spawned her children down in the darkest depths of the earth. No light could ever enter to calm the seething anger that rose from her loins in the form of the Sins. The Sins...her legacy to the world, the only thing that ever brought her joy was knowing that their evil deeds would ruin her father's perfect plan. 

Humans would be corrupt as long as she still lived. 

But her father was the great Creator. He was as wise and tender and he was punishing and cruel. He'd cursed her, Cobra, his own daughter, to live forever in her chosen darkness, to be burned by the light of the sun. 

So there she sat, for countless years, plotting and scheming her revenge. Some way, some how, she would destroy Sinnsear's world and create her own. The only thing that kept her from this was her eternal dungeon. She would find a way...oh yes, she would. 

The Sins were only so much help. Too busy with their own lives to help out dear old mum. A goddess, denied by her own children! It was unthinkable. 

She had vowed to find a soul corrupt enough to carry out her plans. 

Her patience paid off. Cobra found her newest minion and set it forth unto the world to carry out her bidding. She decide the soul should inhabit a female. After all...a man could never really do what a woman wanted. The soul would also need a body that could withstand time. It was not hard for her to chose such a body. Any immortal female would do. But for some reason, Cobra found herself with an affinity for the Gaelic pantheon. The goddess Arianrhod was a beautiful and wicked one...she would suit. 

And so the Chosen soul took it's new host.

She knew this plot would be nothing immediate. Her patience was boundless. Though to her utter surprise, a mere century passed and she was already hearing news. Splendid. Things were looking up for her. She may get her wish much sooner than expected. 



When Cobra was not in her bed chamber, where she resided most of the time, she would be sorting through the newly arrived souls that were sent to their damnation. Yes, that was also part of her father's punishment...to send to her the wailing, grieving, hopelessly corrupted souls of his Humans. He wanted to show her what her Sins were doing to his perfect creation. Little did he realize that this was exactly what she wanted. 

She prided in collecting souls and kept them in jars like captured fireflies. Room upon room had been filled, floor to ceiling, carefully categorized---her own referrence library of evil-doing. Her favorite of which was the Room of Self-Death. Suicide was just to bland a word for her taste. 

Self-death souls often were not evil, nor had they done anything particularly wrong in their mortal life. No, they were the confused lot...the kind where every other Human had given up on them. These souls were so set on the idea that life was so horrid that it was not worth breathing another day. How wrong they'd been. And now they were here, a part of her shining collection. 

To amuse herself, she would set one free, and torture it with images of it's Earth-bound life. She had been in the middle of recalling a young man's lover wallowing in grief, listening to the faceless soul moan and cry in agony...when her fun was quite rudely interrupted. 

"Don't you ever tire of that, dearest mother?"

Cobra spun around and hissed at her son's voice. Wrath stood behind her, his eyes all for the glowing soul that hovered near her. She glared at him, and shoved the soul back into its jar, before placing it back on a shelf. 

Wrath had chosen his Human features to present himself. How she hated it. His hair was dark and cut short, styled in messy spikes. Black make-up surrounded ice-blue eyes, making his face look hollow and devoid of emotion. His Human body was tall and lean with defined muscle. He wore a black button-down shirt tucked neatly into leather pants, and black boots. The shirt, however, had been left half-buttoned to reveal a massive chest tattoo. The image was of his true form. A dark wraith-like figure with glowing eyes. 

Apparently this style was called "Gothic" as he'd explained once before. 


"You think it so easy living alone?" she asked, eyes still narrowed. She didn't quite understand why Human females found her son to be attractive like this. That would be a discussion for another time.

"It is quite obvious how not alone you are mother. All these poor damned souls for you to play with. You whine worse than the Emo generation we started a few years ago."

Cobra grinned, "I rather enjoy those ones."

Wrath grinned back, "I thought you might. Besides, if it wasn't for your loving children you'd be bored to tears."

"True...you all are the reason I have this beautiful collection," she said, with a sweeping motion of her hands.

Wrath leaned in and kissed his mother's cheek. "Greed and I bring you news."

"Greed? The bastard actually came home?"

"This is hardly home."

"It is  my home, where I bore and raised my children."

Wrath rolled his eyes in the dark, "yes, mother."

"I saw that," she snapped.

"Of course you did," he slipped her arm into his and led her from the Room of Self-Death back toward her bed chamber where he knew she'd be most comfortable. 

What is a son, after all, if he cannot keep a mother pleased?

After she was comfortably seated in her favorite chair (which was more throne-like than a typical chair), Greed made his grand entrance. Again, he'd chosen Human features. Cropped blonde hair, emerald green eyes, ivory smooth skin, beautiful Human-male face. His tall, broad figure was incased in a dark green suit and matching shoes. His fingers were adorned with glittering jewels. 

Cobra verbalized her distaste in the ancient tongue. Greed just smiled, flashing teeth so white they reflected even the fainted light in the darkness of the room. 

"We do so apologize for the Humanity we display, mother. But we've become so...accustomed to it."

"Your attempts to settle me are pathetic, Greed," she paused and adjusted in her seat, "seems I've taught you all a little too well. Now tell me sons, what news have you?"

Wrath stepped forward. "Birdie is dead. I made sure of that myself."

Cobra raised a brow, " he was good enough to grace my father's presence?"

Wrath looked confused, "I was sure he would have come here."

She scoffed, "seems not. I would have enjoyed meeting him. I wonder if he knew how important he really was to my cause." Her face suddenly lit up, "that reminds me sons," she gestured toward the far wall of her bedroom, "Katie has been keeping me company lately. She had much to tell me about Arianrhod's doings."

Greed rubbed his hands together as his seering green eyes fell on the helpless soul his mother had pinned to her wall. Katie Ellis had been far too easy to kill. He remembered how much fun he'd had with her before he'd let her die...and apparently so did her soul. It screamed in terror as Greed approached, and could do nothing but scream louder as he touched the cold, shivering entity. 

Cobra let her son do as he pleased and turned back to Wrath as he said, "Katie was useless in Arianrhod's search. Not every Oracle is as powerful as the next."

This was one set-back Cobra had failed to consider in her plotting. Arianrhod would not be able to find Sinnsear without assistance, she simply did not have enough power in her particular pantheon. Though, it was not without it's usefulness. No one would suspect a lesser god of such a devious scheme, let alone pay her much attention in general.

"Tell me, what news do you have from my Chosen?"

"Her search for Sinnsear is relentless, I assure you."

"You tell me nothing, son."

"The Other's have been gathering..."

"The Banshee called on the Draconic one last night," Greed interrupted, leaving Katie's soul to calm it's tortured cries. "And the Cunicular female has been hanging around as well..."

Wrath scoffed, interrupting his brother in return, "Cunicular... why the hell can't you just say "rabbit"? Pompous jackass..."

"As I was saying," Greed shot stern eyes toward Wrath, raising his voice above him, "we have not seen more than two Other in such a close location in quite a while. Let alone have them call from another timeline."

Cobra didn't seem the least bit amused by this information, "they know something. Find out what this is."

"I was getting to that, mother," Wrath interjected. "The sole purpose of The Other is to protect mankind, keep us Sins from carrying out our corruption, and..."

She shot from her chair, reaching for Wrath's throat. "You dare preach to me my own history! I have existed from the beginning of time! Do not patronize me!" 

Her children often stepped on her toes, for this, she had no patience. Reguardless of how many times she had to remind each of them of her status, it seemed to slip their minds.

"Forgive me, mother, I only wish to..." he swallowed passed the tightening grip on his throat, "finish what I began."

Cobra leaned in close to her son's ear, a low hiss resonanting behind her voice, "your Human body needs air to speak." Wrath screamed as she forced him into his true form. His fleshy body melted into a man-like shadowed figure. A ghostly shape of dark. "That's better," Cobra said, her tone much calmer than before. 

It was an insult to use personal power to change the form of another being of power. Everyone in the room knew that, but they also knew that their human presence was an equal insult. Cobra meant to make her point very clear.

Wrath's voice was hollow, almost an echo as he continued, "The Other were sworn to protect the Keeper of Sinnsear."

Cobra went still, only her eyes moved, drifting from Wrath to Greed, and back again. "Are you saying that the Keeper is near?"

"It would explain the sudden collection of Other to one area, mother," Greed said, his voice soft as if unsure of his tone. "We're quite sure it's a girl, as it has been for generations."

"You have no solid proof of this."

"No....we don't."

"I do not want to see either of you again until you can tell me something worth a damn!" 

The last note of her voice echoed off the emptiness of her room, emphasizing the wave of her hand that sent her sons back to Earth. They would undoubtedly go back to their usual debauchery: sex, drugs, violence...human inhibitions. She shuddered at the remembered sight of her two sons...so at ease in those human bodies. As the years went on she was more frightened that the Humans were influencing them, more than they were influencing Humans. Was her plan working so well that the teaching of The Sins was taken lightly among Humans? Was it...common?

Of course she would never know, never witness this phenomenon.

She cursed and went back to her original train of thought. 

What a waste of a visit from her children. They came to tell her nothing that was certain, other than the death of the reporter, Birdie. His death was necessary, as were the numerous death's that assisted in Cobra's plans. 

However...The Other were calling on eachother, to the extent of separate timelines...yes, that bit of knowledge bothered her.  This could be a problem, or it could help her. If they knew where the Keeper was, it would save her Chosen a lot of work.

Cobra laughed, and wandered off to find another soul to play with. 

She needed something to help her think.