Sinner's Song

"I say no wealth is worth my life"

Part 7: Pride

How do you grieve?

Do you cry? Scream?

Even if you find the strength to fight the emptiness...how do you win?

I've rarely seen a human break free of those shackles. Each time I come to collect, there is always a struggle.

Something left undone, words left unsaid, but time waits for no one. When your time is up, that's it. You're whisked to the land of grieving gods and dismal demons, the same as everyone else, for you see death does not discriminate.

"These are the new reports, sir. Greed is doing well. Envy is catching up to them. Lust seems to have hit a little bump in the road but Asmodeus assured us they had a plan."

A deep rumbling voice from behind me settled in my bones. "And the others?"

I shuddered. "Gluttony has just lost another employee and there was another massacre in Wrath but everything is still running smoothly. Sloth has just finished their comb-through of the section of Limbo you assigned them. Everything seems to have gone well there too."

"Good," his voice resounded, each syllable bouncing off the intricate pillars of the room.

Gathering my courage, I turned to place the department reports on his desk. From the corner of my eyes, I could see his feathers flutter against the bright gold ring of eyes on his head.

"Vincent." The sound of my name sunk into my stomach.

I often wondered how he even spoke without a mouth but I wasn't brave enough to stare for too long to find out.

"Yes sir?"

"I have a new task for you."

I straightened up, waiting for him to continue.

"There are a handful of our partners that haven't been paying their monthly dues. I need you to go and collect."

I nodded. If there was one thing Lucifer hated more than rejection, it was people who didn't keep their word. Sometimes his business partners wouldn't be able to meet the demands of his contracts and sooner or later begin to try and pull the wool over his eyes to hide their failings. But nobody was ever able to fool him.

Nobody ever won against him.

Without another word, he sent me on my way and I did as I always had. Donning my black robes I made my way down to the ferry. Some folks from Gluttony were busy loading their newly deceased onto the boat by the time I arrived. You see while we handled the souls of newly deceased humans, there wasn't anywhere that was equipped to deal with the withered souls of our own people. So we sent them down the river to Hades and he would take care of them.

It just so happened that my first stop of the day was down the river as well.

"No other souls to ferry today?"

"None so far," I replied, handing the ferryman my fee.

His long boney fingers examined the coin before slipping into his robe and allowing me onto the boat.

The ride was always silent, the waters always still. It was dark but not in a dirty way. The only way to tell it was even water was when the boat drifted by and left fading ripples in its wake. Otherwise, the water was so still that it reflected everything like the surface of a mirror.

As we approached Hades' domain, a looming mountain came into view. The lanterns lighting the path upwards glistened beautifully against the water. It was so serene that I almost forgot just how poisonous the river was. Sometimes souls driven mad in Limbo would be taken to the river to be disposed of. It was impossible to save them once they were driven mad by the fog so there was nothing else we could do but round them up and lead them into the river. The poisonous waters would destroy whatever was left of their empty souls.