[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/r9yMgni.jpg[/img]
[b]Character:[/b] Evelyn Caroline
[b]Location:[/b] The Unnamed Swamp
[b]Tagging:[/b] The First Sin - Sloth [@AllHollowsEve]
[b]Summary:[/b] A group of five holy knights and their leader have cornered the princess in the swamp. Rather than ask them to save her from quicksand, she contemplates death.[/center]

     Evelyn was panting laboriously as she ran through dark sticky mud that swallowed her feet in a thick and slimy sludge. The mud clung to her skin, weighing down her feet and making her escape ever strenuous. Her legs burned and her heart and lungs felt on fire. This had been the most exercise she had ever gotten in her life and she was wishing that had not been the case. Her mother and the maids would have not liked her to have bulging thighs or calves. To them, such legs were unattractive and her potential suitors would consider it manly. No; thin and delicate like a flower was beautiful. She had to fit in all of her gowns and corsets. The flower was wilting fast. She had long had to ditch her gown and trudge through the bog in but muddy pantaloons and a once-white slip. She was covered in mud. It was all over her face and in her hair from the countless of times she slipped and fell.

     [b]Princess![/b]

     She gasped and glanced back over her shoulder, her gray eyes wide with terror and pink lips parted in her struggle to breathe. The Holy Knights were close. Her knees near buckled weakly beneath her and she thrust out her arms to steady herself. She pressed on, gray eyes darting frantically in panic as she searched for a way out. She needed an escape. It came sooner than she expected. Her next step caused the mud to soar up to her shoulders. Evelyn uttered a short startled scream in fright. She could barely touch the bottom if there was one.

     A white mare stopped behind her. Soldiers in silver armor quickly started to dismount, but they did not dare step close to her. The princess looked neck-deep in quicksand and they didn’t wish to jeopardize themselves trying to go after her or frighten her into a panic for fear she would sink. That would not have been good news to take back to Hector.

     The red-haired lieutenant held out his hand to her as he instructed, “Princess, we’re not trying to hurt you. We want to take you back to the castle. Please, let me help you. If you don’t let me help you, then you’ll drown.”

     Evelyn was frozen. Her heart was hammering against her chest. The water and foul-smelling gunk had soaked into her clothing. The Holy Knight had looked so nice and kind, and in that moment, she almost wanted to abandon her quest and forget about having ever wanted to find the Seven. Her journey was going to kill her. [i]Look at you![/i] her negative conscience exclaimed. [i]You weak little thing. You’re going to die![/i] The princess’s face scrunched up as tears began spilling down her cheeks.

     “Princess please!” the lieutenant begged.

     He then saw it. Defiantly, the princess shook her head as she bit her lips to keep from whimpering. The kindness in the lieutenant’s eyes went out like the flame of a candle. The green eyes that settled on her then were no longer friendly. They became cold and uncaring. His soldiers carried a long branch over to him and the lieutenant held his hand up in stop.

     “No,” he said plainly. “We will leave her where she is…”

     Evelyn’s eyes widened in shock at his words. He was going to leave her? The lieutenant walked back over to his horse and climbed back up into his seat. He sat there, gazing down at her and told her, “When the mud rises to your ears, we will see if you still refuse to be saved.”

     The soldiers dropped the branch and watched the princess as the bog sluggishly crawled up her neck. She could feel herself sinking—painfully slow. Quicksand; what a cruel way to die. Quicksand took its time and gave her time to think about how trapped she was. The worst part was she didn’t know if she could force herself to entertain the lieutenant’s offer. She wasn’t going back. She…would she rather die? Here in the bog? Her thoughts frightened her as she began crying. She cried until the mud rose to her lips and she closed her mouth and clenched her eyes tight in her desperation to not swallow any of the putrid water.

     The soldiers became uncomfortable. She was going to die! They looked to their superior. “Sir!”

     “Just wait!” the lieutenant ordered irritably. “She will give in!”
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[color=ed1c24][b]GM Direction:[/b][/color] This is Sloth's debut. You can either control all five soldiers or ask me to. The lieutenant is the only Holy Knight with an arc. You can make the weapon's power whatever you wish or if you have decided for the GM to play him, then you will see what his arc ability is eventually.