Our Sins and Virtues: Pride

Angels Cry and the Sky Shakes

Val sat on the edge of the platform and glanced down at the valley below. The chill from the snow escaped the fortress of isolation, and the heat bubbled against her back. She was alone. Lucifer had left after showing her his dwelling and disappeared through the rock.

She didn't ask why. No, there would be no use in inquiring what he was doing or why. There were so many unspoken things between them. It made her feel as if she was an island in a dark ocean. There was a piece that identified that he must be the same. Two masses on the road to damnation together but apart. It was a tragedy.

Val looked down at Lilith and cringed. There had to have been more there once, right? He must have had some love at some point. You can't love without a heart, however, and that was why he was Pride. His pride had brought him to his own cursed life of a means to an end.

Pulling from the edge, she wandered back into the house built among willow branches. It was a pleasant place with practical uses. Modernized with an elegant kitchen and sitting room. Down a small hallway were a study and the bedroom.

There begged the question as to why an angel, or fallen angel, would want such conventional things in his isolation. Things that didn't make much sense to the eons of being alone. A copy of Van Gogh's Starry Night was a main feature above the sofa. It was so accessible, yet so distant. There was this disconnect between this element and Lucifer.

Val's feet carried her into the bedroom as she exhaled. The bedroom was likely the warmest place in the snow globe Lucifer created. The blankets were rich in color, the lighting was dim but easy on the eyes, and it smelled faintly of dragon's blood. Val twitched her nose and lips before she stripped her clothing from the day.

She glanced back at her wings and puffed. "How am I going to shower with this?"

Her questions were answered as she entered the massive bathroom with an extended shower. Now the fireplace in the warm bedroom made sense. She could bathe how birds clean themselves, right? No one truly educated her on the dos and don'ts of having wings.

Was this the first time she didn't have a schedule made out for her? Lucifer left her with little verbiage on when he would return. What if, and this was an odd concept, he left her here? Val exhaled as she climbed into the shower, turning the faucet.

The water pressure was delightful, and it warmed her aching limbs. It caused her feathers to ruffle away from the stream of the water and puff in the moisture collection. A pleasant sigh left Val's lips as she ducked her head down and into the hot stream.

"This isn't easy," she breathed as the water dripped down her nose.

"Valkyrie," a voice murmured.

A male voice.

"Valkyrie, be an angel and get the ball."

She snapped her vision toward the direction of the voice and noted the mirror was no longer a reflection. Wiping the glass with sudden need, she watched the scene. A man, generic and plain, was hunched to the ground. He had no shirt on and an elaborate tattoo of wings on his back.

It was an oddity onto itself, and Val felt a tingle of dread and excitement. Through the small lessons, she's had with mirrors. Obviously, this was something important. She didn't recognize this stranger, not the bright scenery around them. The land beyond seemed almost flat.

A woman glided into the picture as the toddler hobbled across the grass with a ball in hand. The grass was vibrant and a green she had never seen with her own eyes. Her face was pressed up against the foggy glass as she watched the scene play.