The ice beneath our feet cracked, each fracture carrying the sound of something breaking inside Avarice. She writhed, clutching the piles of gold that cascaded around her like a golden sandstorm. Her desperation, a force emanating from her in waves as she futilely tried 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!"
Avarice still didn't know, but the real battle had begun. The game she had always controlled now belonged to another.
"Avarice, what you seek is nothing but value, when you have everything, the rest loses its worth in your eyes. What you need is only to satisfy need, not exude it."
"You don't understand, gold is all I have," Avarice begged.
Wrath could no longer bear Avarice's greed and her quest for what had no real value.
Gluttony emerged from the shadows as an inevitable presence, bringing with it an army of condemned souls. They were the greedy ones, those who, like Avarice, had been consumed by greed. Their forms were translucent, misshapen, but their eyes burned with a fierce intensity, as if each carried the burden of an existence ruined by their own obsession.
Gluttony advanced slowly, its face a mask of serene determination. "You've always accumulated but never given. You've always taken, but never offered. Now, Avarice, see what you've really created."
The souls of the greedy began to move, like a tide surrounding Avarice. Their whispers echoed through the cold air, a cacophony of laments and accusations.
"It was you, your ignorance didn't give us what you had..."
"Your greed ruined us..."
"Your hunger for gold consumed us, now I want this!"
Avarice recoiled, her eyes wide with pure terror. She tried to clutch the gold around her, but every piece she touched dissolved into dust. The love and attachment to material value began to dissolve. The souls surrounded her, ever closer, extending spectral hands that passed through her like knives, tearing fragments of her essence.
"No!" she screamed, her voice now a mix of fury and despair. "This isn't fair! You followed me! You chose greed!"
Gluttony tilted its head, a cold smile forming. "And who led them? Who inspired them? You are the source, Avarice. And now, you will be devoured by what you created."
The souls advanced, penetrating Avarice's form like a storm of shadows. She flailed, screaming, but it was useless. Each touch of the souls tore more from her form, revealing something fragile, almost human, hidden beneath her monstrous facade.
"I... I am all of this!" Avarice whispered, her voice now weakened. "Without this... I am nothing."
I watched in silence as Gluttony drew near. With a gesture, it commanded the souls to cease. They stepped back, forming a circle around Avarice, now kneeling on the ice, trembling.
"You are nothing because you chose to be nothing but gold," Gluttony said, its voice as soft as a blade. "But there is a choice. There always was."
Avarice lifted her gaze, her eyes filled with golden tears that streamed down her face. "Can I change?"
Wrath did not intervene; it was enjoying the moment.
Gluttony observed her, staring with an intensity almost maternal. "You can, but it won't be easy. These souls are yours. You made them what they are. And now, your redemption will be to guide them."
Avarice 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 looked at me with a mix of exhaustion and satisfaction. "She is still a reflection of sin, but now she carries something more."
Avarice then spoke.
"I, who created the insatiable desire. I, who shaped hearts with trembling hands of greed. I, who was the whispering voice in the ears, the shadow that sucked the light from the soul. I... was responsible for all this. Every time someone looked at gold and saw not wealth, but an abyss widening. Every time a life unraveled in search of something that would never be enough. It was me. I taught them to desire, to never be satisfied. And now... now I see myself trapped in my own realm of emptiness."
She looks around, her hands trembling as they touch the riches still surrounding her, then lets out a bitter laugh.
No... this isn't how 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 happiness hidden behind each gold, each jewel I accumulated. But... what I created was a nightmare. I no longer see human faces. I no longer see hands willing to share, nor looks of affection. What have I done? I turned everyone into shadows, all thirsty for more, and in the end, what remains? An immense emptiness. A hole that nothing fills. Not even more gold. Not even more diamonds.
When I saw those souls, once full of hope, lost, I didn't realize. I was so obsessed with conquering, with accumulating, 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 trapped everyone in an illusion, and in the end, I'm the one trapped here, in my own castle of riches. And what is a castle without life? Without color? Without the warmth of a hug? Without the laughter of a friend? What is gold without a heart to share it?
I created monsters. I created creatures that only know how to consume, that live to accumulate without understanding that nothing they seek can truly fill them. I made them believe happiness was in things... and now, I see that true wealth is in what I never taught them: affection, compassion, sacrifice for something greater than ourselves.
I... I created this evil. And what more can I do but regret? I can't fix the wounds I caused, I can't bring back the broken hearts, but... maybe, just maybe, I can try to save what's left of me. Maybe there's still a chance for those who got lost, if I show them the way back. The way of generosity. The way of love.
She looks up, with a faint sigh of hope.
I regret. And, maybe... this regret is the first step toward healing. Not for me, but for all those I touched. That I may finally learn what it is to be truly rich... in what is eternal.
I'm sorry.
Avarice stood up, staggering, but something within 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 an expression that, perhaps for the first time, showed regret. As time passed, her physical form lost shape and each piece dissolved like sand.
"The crossing doesn't end here," I murmured, watching her. "What you did will follow you. But what will you do now?"
Avarice didn't answer. She simply took a step forward, her souls left behind, delighting in the gold coins. We would cross together, but she, now, carried the weight of her transformation. She had become a shadow, just like Wrath and Gluttony.
"What's your name?" Avarice asked, after becoming a shadow.
"And does it make a difference? Do you have a name to call your own? Your name no longer holds the same meaning as before, you are no longer Avarice, just like Wrath and Gluttony. I don't need a name or an archetype to be me."
"I don't care about anything anymore, what I was before doesn't reflect who I am now; I was alive, but I got trapped in my own words and let time carry me away. Now, I'm just an echo of what I once was, forged by my own choices and the consequences I never feared in my blindness. The past no longer has power over me, and the future is just a distant illusion. What remains of me is the loneliness of one who got lost in the endless search for a purpose that never existed. Now, I am the shadow of what I thought I was, free from the chains that once held me, but also empty, without direction, without 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 am still alive."