“Fight it, Sindy, fight it,” Dabbler hissed. “These impulses aren’t coming from us, but from them. That’s how they battle, by overwhelming people with—”
“I’m not stupid, damn it! I’d have figured it out!”
“I never said you were,” Dabbler replied, calmly, but with just a hint of ire. “What you are is angry. And jealous. And possibly just a bit too full of yourself.”
Wrath, Envy, Pride....
Sindy’s eyes widened, and put a hand to her mouth with a gasp as she realized—
“Oh why should I bother trying to help you?” Dabbler went on petulantly. “Stay here and be a victim if that’s what you want. I’m going for the prize!” She turned and made as if to leave.
Sloth, Greed....
Sindy caught Dabbler’s hand. “No!” she cried. “You’re right! And you’re doing it too, now, don’t you see? We’ve got to resist it—”
Dabbler snatched her hand away in fury. “Why should I listen to you? You’re just—”
Wrath, Pride, Envy....
Dabbler swallowed and nodded, meekly taking her hand back. “Yes,” she whispered. “Resist it. Together. It’s our only chance.”
Clinging to each other, Sindy and Dabbler tried to overcome the well-nigh irresistible impulses surging in their souls—to blot them out, to reject them. Laughter suffused the tunnel as their foes realized what they were attempting to do. All around them the horrible demons loomed, waiting confidently.
Dabbler squeezed her eyes shut. Sindy, just think of her—yes, it was coming back to her; the image of what her lover was, not what those foul delusions strove to paint her as.... “How could we have thought so harshly of each other?” Dabbler whispered.
“I don’t know....”
As they regained a sense of humility, the looming statue of Pride crumbled away to dust.
A great howl arose from the remaining Sins, and they rushed inward—only to be halted. A circle of light now emanated from the lovers, and the demons could not pass within its bounds. Frustrated, they howled again. Their influence was still twined about the souls of their victims—they could feel it. And yet they could not get at them. Jealously extended a tentative hand towards the light.
Sindy stiffened and whipped her head about, hey eyes narrowing. “Yes,” she said. “I have felt you. Indeed, how could I not, with myself so low and Dabbler so high—God knows she could do better! But this feeling is completely out of bounds, she’s here, she’s chosen me!” She bent her head back into Dabbler’s embrace. “How could I have been so jealous?” she breathed.
And where Jealousy touched the circle his hand burned. He screamed and went up in flames.
The lovers felt a surge of affection and gratitude, and in the face of their love, Envy melted away.
“How could we have been so heartless?”
And the Wrath that had been kindled within them dwindled to ashes along with the being from which it had emanated, killed by kindness.
“To think that we were actually considering not sharing with each other...”
Greed fell, unable to contend with generosity.
“...or worse, sating our own desires while excluding each other...”
Gluttony’s gargantuan bulk dwindled away, starved by their regained sense of temperance and self-abnegation.
“...or simply giving up....”
Unable to contend with their newfound zeal, Sloth abandoned the struggle.
“Love you....”
“Love you....”
And the light within their eyes altered, while the light about them waned. Once again the darkness of the tunnel pressed in, and suddenly they were locked together, swept away in their all-consuming passion, gripping, rubbing, pressing, kneading, frantic with urgency.
Lust, towering over them, laughed and laughed.
“MY SIBLINGS YOU MAY HAVE OVERCOME,” it boomed, “BUT I, IN THIS PLACE, AM MIGHTIER THAN ALL THE REST! MIGHTY ENOUGH TO TAKE THE VERY WELLSPRING OF YOUR RESISTANCE AND TURN IT TO YOUR UNDOING! FOOLISH MORTALS, TO IMAGINE YOU COULD DENY ME!”
The two struggled for self control, for self mastery, the only preventative against Lust’s suffocating, self-destructive drive for pleasure. But each desired the other too keenly, too passionately.
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Wed Aug 09 22:58:40 2006
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