Chapter 9 - The Misers

The ice beneath our feet cracked, each fracture echoing the sound of something breaking within Greed. She writhed, clutching at the heaps of gold collapsing around her like a storm of golden sand. Her desperation radiated in waves as she tried, in vain, to maintain control over what was already lost.

"You don't understand!" she roared, her eyes gleaming like molten gold blades. "This is all mine! I built this! I am this!"

Greed didn't yet know, but the real battle had just begun. The game she had always controlled now belonged to another.

"Greed, what you seek is nothing but value. When you have everything, the rest loses its worth in your eyes. What you need is simply to fulfill a necessity, not to exalt it."

"You don't understand. Gold is all I have," Greed pleaded.

Wrath could no longer tolerate Greed's insatiable hunger for what held no true value.

Gluttony emerged from the shadows like an inevitable presence, bringing with her an army of condemned souls. They were the avaricious, those who, like Greed, had been consumed by their desires. Their forms were translucent, misshapen, but their eyes burned fiercely, as if each carried the burden of a life ruined by their own obsession.

Gluttony advanced slowly, her face a mask of serene determination. "You always hoarded, but never gave. Always took, but never offered. Now, Greed, see what you have truly created."

The souls of the greedy began to move, like a tide encircling Greed. Their whispers echoed in the frosty air, a cacophony of laments and accusations.

"It was you. Your ignorance deprived us of what you had…"

"Your greed ruined us…"

"Your hunger for gold consumed us. Now I want it!"

Greed recoiled, her eyes wide with pure terror. She tried to grasp at the gold around her, but every piece she touched dissolved into dust. Her love and attachment to material wealth began to disintegrate. The souls closed in, ever closer, extending spectral hands that pierced her like knives, tearing fragments of her essence away.

"No!" she screamed, her voice now a mixture of fury and despair. "This isn't fair! You followed me! You chose greed!"

Gluttony tilted her head, a chilling smile on her lips. "And who led them? Who inspired them? You are the source, Greed. And now, you will be devoured by what you created."

The souls surged forward, penetrating Greed's figure like a storm of shadows. She thrashed, screaming, but it was futile. Each touch of the souls stripped away more of her form, revealing something fragile, almost human, hidden beneath her monstrous facade.

"I… I am all this!" Greed whispered, her voice now weakened. "Without this… I am nothing."

I watched in silence as Gluttony approached. With a gesture, she commanded the souls to stop. They withdrew, forming a circle around Greed, who now knelt on the ice, trembling.

"You are nothing because you chose to be nothing but gold," Gluttony said, her voice soft as a blade. "But there is a choice. There always has been."

Greed looked up, her eyes filled with golden tears streaming down her face. "Can I change?"

Wrath did not intervene; he was enjoying himself.

Gluttony stood observing her, gazing at her with an almost maternal intensity. "You can, but it will not be easy. These souls are yours. You made them what they are. And now, your redemption will be guiding them."

Greed hesitated but slowly raised a hand, touching the shadow of one of the souls that had devoured her. The soul stopped, and for a moment, the whispers ceased. She seemed to understand, perhaps for the first time, the weight of what she carried.

As I approached, Gluttony turned to me with a mixture of exhaustion and satisfaction. "She is still a reflection of sin, but now she carries something more."

Greed then spoke.

"I, who created the insatiable desire. I, who shaped hearts with the trembling hands of covetousness. I, who was the whispering voice in their ears, the shadow that drained the soul's light. I… was responsible for all of this. Each time someone looked at gold and saw not wealth but an ever-deepening abyss. Each time a life fell apart in pursuit of something that could never be enough. It was me. I taught them to desire, to never be satisfied. And now… now I find myself trapped in my own kingdom of emptiness."

She looked around, her hands trembling as they touched the riches still surrounding her, then let out a bitter laugh.

"No… this isn't what I dreamed. I wanted more. I wanted to be more. The power, the beauty of control… I thought I had found the key to everything. That there was hidden happiness behind every piece of gold, every jewel I amassed. But… what I created was a nightmare. I no longer see human faces. I no longer see hands willing to share, nor glances of affection. What have I done? I turned everyone into shadows, all thirsty for more, and in the end, what remains? A vast emptiness. A void nothing can fill. Not even more gold. Not even more diamonds."

When I saw those souls, once filled with hope, lose themselves, I didn't notice. I was so obsessed with conquering, with hoarding, that I didn't see what was happening. They left behind humanity, left behind love, friendship… for me. For my false promise. For my lie disguised as power.

I thought gold was everything. I thought money, possession, control were the true essence of life. But now… now I see it was all a prison. I imprisoned everyone in an illusion, and in the end, I am trapped here too, in my own castle of riches. And what is a castle without life? Without color? Without the warmth of an embrace? Without the laughter of a friend? What is gold without a heart to share it with?

I created monsters. I created creatures that only know how to consume, who live to hoard without understanding that nothing they seek can truly fulfill them. I made them believe happiness lay in things… and now I see the true wealth lies in what I never taught them: affection, compassion, the sacrifice for something greater than ourselves.

I… I created this evil. And what else can I do but repent? I can no longer mend the wounds I caused; I cannot bring back the broken hearts. But… perhaps, just perhaps, I can at least try to save what's left of me. Perhaps there is still a chance for those who were lost if I show them the way back. The way of generosity. The way of love."

She looked upward, with a faint sigh of hope.

"I repent. And, perhaps… this repentance is the first step toward healing. Not for me, but for all those I touched. May I finally learn what it means to be truly rich… in what is eternal.

Forgive me."

Greed stood, staggering, but something about her had changed. She was no longer the imposing, monstrous figure she had been. Now, she was just a shadow, carrying with her the souls that had defined her, but with a look that, perhaps for the first time, showed regret. As time passed, her physical form lost shape, dissolving piece by piece like sand.

"The journey doesn't end here," I murmured, gazing at her. "What you've done will follow you. But what will you do now?"

Greed didn't answer. She simply stepped forward, leaving the souls behind, delighting in the gold coins. We would cross together, but she now bore the weight of her transformation. She became a shadow, just like Wrath and Gluttony.

"What's your name?" Greed asked after becoming a shadow.

"And does it matter? Do you have any name to call your own? Your name doesn't carry the same meaning as before. You are no longer Greed, just as Wrath and Gluttony are no longer their names. I don't need a name or an archetype to be myself."

"I no longer care about anything. What I was no longer reflects what I am today; I was alive, but I became trapped in my own words and let time carry me away. Now, I am just an echo of what I once was, forged by my own choices and the consequences I never feared in my blindness. The past holds no more power over me, and the future is but a distant illusion. What remains of me is the solitude of one who lost themselves in the endless search for a purpose that never existed. Now, I am the shadow of what I imagined myself to be, free from the chains that once bound me, but also empty, directionless, without a reason to continue. The only meaning left for me now is to free these souls from their sins. The only meaning I still have in life—if I'm even still alive."