The Defeat of the Seven Deadly Sins
In a dream, a woman came to me, and showed me the following.
It was a dark, wet, cave. Pling, pling went droplets of water from the stalactites which hung knife sharp like arrows. Attempts to humanize the cavern had been made. Tapestries, thick and woolen, hung around the wall. But, though once beautiful, they had not been cared for, and mold grew between and among the stitches. Along a section of the wall, a glass side table held crystal bottles, but the glass’s reflective surface was smothered by layers of thick dust, grim, and slim. A circular table of heavy wood centered the room.
There were Seven who sat around the table.
There was Sloth, a jumba Jabba -the-Hutt like beast, whose yellow-tinted skin sagged like folded sheets, and whose legs and arms had withered to useless sticks. Sloth had one eye, always in a half doze. Next to Sloth, sat its twin, Gluttony. If Sloth could be described as Jumba-the-hut, then Gluttony was a Scooby-Doo jello monster. Each inch of Gluttony was smothered with many-fold mouths. Big round mouths with pointed teeth, small thin mouths, only pasty gums, with lolling tongues licking crumbs and smacking lips. And with so many mouths, Gluttony had as many arms and hands, but only for the use of stuffing within it whatever its grubby fingers could lay hold of.
Greed was a big-boned beast that clothed itself in a human-like form. A business suit of the finest material stretched tight across his bulk, the gold buttons strained. His tie seemed to choke his pudgy, pink neck. A crimson silk handkerchief folded neatly in his left breast pocket. When he shuffled his bulk in his seat, the coins in his pockets clinked. On all fingers he wore many, bejeweled rings, set with emeralds and diamonds and rubies. But his eyes were hungry, and shifted in an endless search around the fine room, seeking the porcelain dining ware, or the fine tapestries that hung from the stone walls, or the silver bottles of Myrr and fine oils that lay upon a glass side table.
Beside Greed, as deflated in size as Greed was ballooned, sat Envy. Envy’s form was also human-like, but thin, like skin stretched taught over bone. Envy’s stringy hair was adorned, but like that of a bride who could not decide on a style, set with gold combs, crystal tiaras, and strings of pearl. She wore a fine dress, a royal purple, but the flowing silk only served to highlight her green-tinged skin. She could have been pretty, once. But centuries of jealousy had decayed her. Mascara painted on thin lashes hanging over sunken sockets, pink blush dotted her cheeks, and red lipstick smeared across her puffy lips. But Envy’s eyes were filled to their outer brim with something nearing a cruel resentment.
Lust sat beside Envy. At first glance, Lust was the most beautiful figure to ever be seen. With perfectly sculpted arms, broad shoulders, chiseled jaw, Lust could have been a statue of the ancient Greeks. But the longer one looked at Lust, the more apparent it became that his beauty was only an illusion, chipping away with time like red painted nails. As if he were made of porcelain, his skin broke off in places like that of an antique doll, revealing, where muscle and bone should be, only a hollow shell.
To Lust’s side sat Pride. Like Greed, Pride also wore a suit and tie, her hair tied in a neat bun atop her head. Pride spoke constantly, and every sentence Pride uttered began or ended with the words “I” and “me.” Pride sat with shoulders straight as a brick, and she wore diamond earrings and spoke with a self-assured confidence. Yet she appeared transparent, as if by only thinking of herself she had been transformed into a ghost. More so, Pride was blind, and where the pupils of her eyes should lay, only a glassy-white fog remained.
Wrath finished the circle. Wrapped in a darkness like the fire and smoke of the Balrog, Wrath was a terrifying beast. Antelope-like horns protruded from his head, and his eyes were only pupil and iris, both which emanated in strong waves an illogical, senseless fury and rage. Even the other monsters who sat at the table with him shuddered, drawing back when those hate-filled eyes landed upon them.
“Updates on the war?” Wrath asked.
Pride spoke first. “I have been working tirelessly, and am pleased to say that I have deceived a human king to invade another human nation.”
Greed laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. “Pride, that was not your work. That silly little human would never have done so without my input into his heart. He wants riches. That was my work.”
Envy glared with pursed lips. “Give me some credit.”
Wrath ignored Envy and turned to Lust. “And you, dear Lust, what have you to report?”
Lust gave a simpering smile. “A farmer wants his brother’s wife, and she wants another man. It will make for a fine show in that little nowhere human village.”
“And Sloth?” Wrath asked.
Sloth barely lifted his heavy lidded eye. “A young boy nearly roused himself to watch his father’s herd. I convinced him it was more pleasurable to sleep. The sheep would be fine. He’s coming along nicely for starting a good habit of doing nothing.”
Greed snorted. “Humans don’t need your help, Sloth, to do nothing.”
Sloth’s eye narrowed, and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but a yawn emitted instead of words, and the doleful eye returned to its slumbering state.
Wrath’s rage-filled eyes fell upon Sloth. “Do not forget to do your do work, Sloth.” He warned. Then, speaking to his fellow monsters, “All of you: be on guard. We must not slack.”
“But why,” Gluttony complained while stuffing itself with sauce and meat. “Humans are foolish little creatures. They would destroy themselves even without our help.”
The darkness around Wrath grew. The other monsters became very still. “Something is stirring in our enemies camp. Something ominous is occurring. You know of what I speak. We cannot let our guards fall.”
There was a long silence. Then Lust whispered. “I tried to convince a woman to simply daydream in pleasure of her and her friend. But I couldn’t reach her heart. Something already lay in it, and when I tried to touch it, it caused me pain.”
Greed swallowed. “I had been working on a young soldier, hoping to convince him to plunder goods from the deceased. There was a pearl necklace beside a dead woman. She was already dead, I told him, what good does that little pearl necklace do her anyways? Besides, you have earned it. I also whispered. This is what the glory of war is about: bringing riches home. But he didn’t take it. Instead, he wasted an afternoon burying the dead, young woman and laying the necklace with her in her grave.” Greed shuddered with horror at the young soldier’s kind act. “I do not know why I couldn’t convince him. It was easy enough to convince his fellow comrades.”
The monsters sat in silence, each thinking thoughts which terrified them, of recent attempts to grow inside individuals’ heart, but finding a wall and defense already set against them.
Pride spoke. “Still, I say, these are only a few souls un-lost. I have tricked many thousands to think only about themselves.”
“Do not become complacent, Pride,” Wrath said. “Even if humans are easy to deceive. We all must be on our guard. Our Great Enemy is on the move.”
It was here my guide withdrew me from this vision. And when I woke, I went outside, and sat on the porch for a long time in the morning light, contemplating what it meant.
The monsters called the movement of their enemy ominous. And for those monsters, who were embodiments of the seven sins, it is ominous. The movement in the “enemy camp” is only the beginning of their end. But as I looked at the rising sun, gold beams falling onto the dry, prickly grass of my spring garden, I thought. For humanity and all creatures of the Earth, it is a movement of Hope.
