《The Original Sin》 1. Everybody has a little Demon inside of them. Doesn''t matter to them if you are a fanatical believer, a sanctified priest of some God or just a generally good person. What does your afterlife concern them? They only care about the here and now; and about their next meal. The religious types and theorists will tell you that there are seven different kinds, the so called "cardinal sins": Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth and Wrath. The ones all Gods warn you about. But ask your own little Demon. Does he care? He doesn''t. If he even deems to answer you. That''s what makes all those religious types so nervous. The lack of communication and knowledge. Makes it really hard on them to find ways to sell their religions to people. People say: "Why should I belief, if your God cannot even save me from this one little Demon". And right they are. Why concern yourself with your afterlife if you need to make sure to keep your little Demon fed. Unless you want him to feed on you. But let me tell you a little secret. They are wrong. All of them. Well most of them. Some people know. Somebody somewhere always knows a little something. Or tries to find out. The Demons are not here when we come into this world. But they become shortly afterwards. And nestle themselves deep within our hearts. And for this short moment, between their appearance and before they move inside of a new-born child, a person with enough aptitude and control can gauge the little Demon to find out what type of Demon the child will carry. And, surprise, we all start with a little Greed inside of us. You ask yourself what about this is a secret? Well, turns out that little Greeds are very touchy about even the possibility of being denied entry into their promised host. They react as violently and destructive as only a Demon can. And if they are afraid that they will not get their due, they take as much from everybody and everything in their surrounding as possible before unmaking themselves and their surrounding. Unmaking in way that would make most devils in the hells of whatever religion you pray to proud.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Oh, and little Greeds are always afraid of loosing something. Even loosing some time might be a world ending tragedy to them and everybody in their surrounding. So till now nobody survived such an experiment to tell the tale. But every century a couple of somebodies think they came up with a smart idea that nobody considered before and try. And fail. So if everybody starts with a little Greed, where do those others come from? In simple terms, what you are, how you behave and how other people treat you, defines what you become. For example, if a new-born perceives that others are getting more breastmilk, chances are it''s little Greed will turn into an Envy. The child likes eating above all else? - Gluttony. Child enjoys the tits and bodily contact more then the milk they offer? - Lust. Child is always full and happy and get''s praised for even taking a shit? - Pride. Child gets pampered so much that it doesn''t even have to suck on a tit to get milk? - Sloth. Child is hungry and often gets disturbed while feeding or sleeping? - Wrath. There are a million little things that influence your little Greed in the first few years of your life. And nobody really notices, because a young child cannot communicate and people tend to misinterpreted it''s wants and needs based on their own. This tends to have some very curious social consequences. Envies will most likely raise an Envy or a Wrath. Gluttons will raise Envies, Gluttons or Wraths. Lusts will raise Lusts or Prides. Sloths will raise Envies, Sloths or Wraths. Wraths will raise Prides or Wraths. And Prides, they can raise anything. That''s also one of the reasons why Prides are celebrated by the people as something great. Because they can supposedly archive anything they put their mind to, their Pride would not allow them to fail. Greeds on the other hand are mostly forgotten. People don''t see them, so Greeds can''t be that great if there are no adults with Greeds. Most people also never met a god, but still choose to be religious to some degree. Everybody has a little Greed. Even if nothing much of it remains after polluting it with our base human desires. And Prides? Fuck pride. If you are proud it means you fulfilled your greed''s and wants. How utterly pointless is that? Even Sloths have enough greed to always want more comfort for themselves. And they would fight for it. Whereas a Pride would just stop striving at some point. He might be good at whatever he put his pride into, but he will never become more. A Pride will compete and try his very best, because Prides seek challenge and they crave the approval of the crowds. But in the end a Pride limits itself by reaching a self-made threshold. If Pride beliefs he reached the pinnacle he stops. Unwilling to improve. Unable to innovate. Afraid that even a small change could lead to loosing it''s Pride. Treading water till he dies. So remember. Never give in to pride. Only ever feed your greed. Because only by wanting for more, reaching for more and fighting for more will you eventually become more. 2. Now lets talk a bit more about religion and the Sins. The churches and temples tell you that they are send by the Gods to test us in this life, so that we may earn our entry into this or that paradise based on our deeds and not on the virtue of just being born. Fair enough. But they are wrong. Again. I met Priests, Saints and even a few Prophets before. And all those sanctified by a God still carry their own personal little Demon. But they also have something more in them. They like to call it the ''Divine Spark''. I like to think of it as that special little extra that makes them sparkle. But if you look close enough, you will find that it''s just another foreign energy. Akin to a Demon, but without the consciousness of one. Very few people are able to communicate with their conscious Demon, so imagine how high the threshold is for communicating with a spark of pure energy. What would you even offer it? More prayers? Some electricity to improve the sparkle? And furthermore, where does the spark exactly come from? One receives it when becoming a Priest, but at what costs? Why would any higher entity ever give away something that is basically a little part of itself for nothing but prayers in return? I learned that when a sanctified person dies, no matter if only a Priest or a Prophet, then the divine spark leaves them, and it leaves them bigger than it was during that persons life. But what does it take from a dead person? I always felt that there was something fishy about the situation, but either nobody knows, or the people that do keep quiet. Both reasons are equally terrifying. Now, I never met a God, and even the Prophets I met never met theirs or even dreamed of them. But from them I learned that a Prophets gift is based on their own involvement. The more likely they are affected by something, the more clearly and the further ahead they can perceive. Makes it apparently nearly impossible to kill them. And according to those I met the first thing all new Prophets will see, independent of their religion, is their own inevitable end. A Prophets gift however is not influenced by others, not even those following the same God. One of the Prophets that came to me once failed to foresee an earthquake that swallowed a large temple complex of his God, as well as several thousand believers. Simply because he was very far away at the time and could not even feel the movement of the earth. One might argue that all of this might have been his Gods will or part of one of his Gods grant plans. But in my opinion the Divine Sparks are just as selfish by nature as our Demons. They offer you their best to preserve themselves for as long as possible but outside of self-preservation you have to offer them something to receive their support. But what I did learn from my meetings with all those Priests, Saints and Prophets was that Demons and the Divine do not interfere with each other. One does not influence the other. Maybe because they simply cannot, maybe because of some higher covenant we are not even aware of. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. So remember, no matter what a Religion may promise you, they can not save you from your little Demon. And neither are they themselves free of it. The Demons lay claim to our mortal life, the Divines, good and bad alike, claim our afterlife. Whatever and wherever that may be. Now another really curious thing about religion is, that some of them got the Origin of Sin nearly right. Or maybe all of them do and people just suck at writing things down in an orderly fashion. Who knows. You know that Human religion with the one god, the one that basically split into three different religions during it''s early days because people could not agree on who the right messiah was? According to their creation-story God created the first man and the first woman in the Garden of Eden in the center of Paradisa. He gave them everything they could ask for and left them with only one rule: Don''t eat the fruits from the tree of wisdom in the center of the garden. Very simple. But: A snake misleads the first woman into eating from that tree. The woman, now blessed with wisdom and fully self-aware, feels guilty but still misleads the man into also eating from the tree. Misery truly loves company. When god returns he is angry and they are all banished from Eden and the snake and all of it''s descendants are cursed by god to forever creep on their bellies. Now let''s have a look and see what kind of Sin the snake represents. Envy? Why would an Envy even show something as special as a Wisdomfruit to a mortal? Gluttony? Please, have you ever seen a Glutton share anything? Lust? A Lust would have seduced the woman and the man, they were the first of their kind afterall and something new is always special. Pride? As unlikely as Glutton. Why would Pride even talk to the first woman, that was according to the story made out of one of the ribs of the first man? Sloth? Unlike always said Sloths are not stupid. Instead they are among the most crafty, because only with great enough advance planning can you be lazy without putting yourself at risk. So why would or should a Sloth even risk banishment from Gods garden were everything is plenty and there is eternal peace? Wrath? Wraths are notorious for risking their own lifes just to spite their enemies, but a Wrath would never entice. It would instead try to force you to do something, or risk it themselves to get an advantage over you. But they would not entice you. That leaves us with Greed. Greed would entice you to try something that it can not reach or does not dare to reach for, just to find out about the consequences. Greed is all about getting those things it does not yet have. And if Greed itself can not use something, it is likely to give it to someone that can, just to find out what that something does. And if that is not possible Greed will carry the object with it till it finds a use for it. A Greed would never destroy something, just because it can not have it. That is something only Envy or Wrath would do. Greeds are pure curiosity and hoarders. A bit like a Dragon, but without that magpie-like fixation on shiny metals and precious gems and less afraid to give something away. Greed will discard anything it sees as unworthy or has no further use for. And it would also exchange everything it owns if it in turn would receive something new. This makes Greed very susceptible, but also dangerous. Never entice a Greed beyond reason. It will set you, it''s loved ones, itself and the world on fire, just to see the results. Disregarding common sense and everything else just to feed its curiosity. And this is also why feeding and raising a Greed is so difficult. Your little Demon is influenced by all of your choices and actions, just as he slowely influences you. Give in to any feelings and emotions besides curiosity for too long and your Greed will get tainted and turn into something matching your emotions. In a sense greed is pure, but only as long as you are. If you loose yourself in your emotions you taint your Greed and make it lesser. To raise a Greed you therefore have to strife for balance. Be lazy, feel lust, eat until your stomach hurts, follow up on your envy and anger. But only do so in moderation and to feed your curiosity. Feed your Greed like you would feed a good hunting dog. Only ever enough to keep him wanting for more. This will eventually lead to an addiction like situation were your Greed will empower you, just so that you can provide more for him. Which in turn creates a feedback loop. Feeding can therefore be described as a balancing act, because a Greeds empowerment will also lead you to become addicted to his empowerment in turn. Take nothing for granted when dealing with Demons. So remember to always keep your rationality in control of the situation. Because the very moment that your Greed turns into Pride your inevitable downfall is only a matter of time. Stagnancy leads only to death. Never give in to pride. Only ever feed your greed. Only by wanting for more, reaching for more and fighting for more will you eventually become more. And only by becoming more, can you potentially escape from your Demon. 3. When Training your little Demon you have to take into consideration what kind of Demon you currently carry in you, what development you aspire and what your personal capabilities are. Generally speaking the earlier in life you start, the greater your later possibilities. But you have to remember that Greed is always your start and Pride is always your end. Only by wanting for more, reaching for more and fighting for more will you eventually become more. Greed is the most easily to develop as it can feed on everything, but it is the hardest to keep. Once you loose your pure Greed, you will never get it back. Feeding and training a Greed therefore has it''s own complications. Like mentioned before, the best way to feed your Greed is like you would feed a hunting dog. Only ever enough to keep it wanting for more. Therefore there are several important rules you should follow when trying to raise a Greed. First of all, do not lie to your Greed. You do not need to share everything, but never lie. This also holds true for all other Demons. Second, never overfeed your Greed. If your Greed looses it''s balance it will more easily slip out of your control and turn into something lesser. Therefore when acquiring something new don''t feed your Greed everything at once. Instead always keep back at least two thirds and if needed feed it a little bit of something else to compensate. Balance is key. Third, do not attempt to take from your Greed. Greeds are hoarders, they will freely discard things they consider useless, but they will react violent if one tries to take. If your Greed claimed something you want then exchange it for something else or wait till he bores of it. But do not try to take from a Greed by force. Never. Fourth, Greeds thrive on novelty and balance. So to minimize the risk of taint you have to offer your Greed a variety of different things. Therefore you either have to seek the adventure and travel the world, or make the world come to you. Raising a Greed is a team effort. You can attempt it on your own, but sooner or later you will fail to provide. The later it happens, the more violent the feedback and backlash you will receive from your unhappy Greed. If you know that you will fail to provide, taint your Greed and make it lesser. If you fail to provide and Greed feeds on you, be prepared to loose everything, including everything in your surrounding. All the other Sins, except Pride, can be seen as intermediate stages that are more or less interchangeable with enough effort on your part. But there are some more common traits that one has to keep in mind. Envies are the closest to Lust and Wrath and the most susceptible to external stimuli, such as social pressure. Envies feed on setbacks. Never underestimate the will of an Envy that you defeated or left behind. The more they suffer, the more likely they are to go to extremes to surpass their old selves and all those that surpassed them. Never turn your back on an Envy you scorned. However, if you truly defeat an Envy it can turn into a Lust with a masochistic kind of love for you, or turn into an uncontrollable Wrath that will haunt you for the rest of it''s life. Gluttons are closest to Sloth and can reach it as easily as overfeeding on everyday things. So always keep their diet balanced. Gluttons develop on an obsession. Their single minded obsession makes them relatively easy to control, as long as you can provide, but also very terrifying if you try to block them or harm their obsessions. Gluttons with material obsessions are prone to develop OCD or similar mental disorders. Lusts most easiest change into Envy, but with an overstimulation they can directly transition into an uncontrollable Wrath. Lusts are most susceptible to strong emotional stimuli from it''s host. Lusts come in a variety of different obsessions. Not all require sexual intercourse, some thrive on simple bodily contact, hugging, kissing or just being around their partner or partners. They are very social and open with their kinks and make for great companions. However, due to their extreme reactions to their hosts emotional state, they are considered as unstable. And if they should fall into Wrath, they will not stop at anything.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Sloths are the most flexible ones. With enough stimulation they can easily change into any other, but they are also closest to Pride. So beware! Unlike portraited Sloths are very smart and tend to plan ahead for every thinkable eventuality, just so that they can relax and be comfortable for as long as possible. If you encounter a solitary, resting Sloth, do not approach. Chances are that there is at least one layer of lethal trap set up around it. Sloths thrive on rest and recreation, this however requires the hosts to spend most of their waking time learning, making plans or improving their mental abilities and foresight to prepare for there prolonged rests. Due to their distrustful nature and their prolonged sleep Sloths are either solitary or in monogamic, lifelong relationships. Wraths are closest to Lust and Sloth. And are especially susceptible to change after long, drawn out physical activities. Wraths feed and thrive on all of their hosts negative emotions. This makes them very susceptible to self-loathing, self-harm and they can turn socially inept. However, similar to Envies, they tend to go to extremes to reach their goal. But unlike Envies they do not require their goal to be a living being. Wraths can focus all their energy on an object, a symbolic concept like a country or a kingdom, a force of nature like an ocean or a volcano, or even something as unreachable as a star in the sky. There was a case of a Wrath that focused all her hate on a river after loosing her parents and her entire hometown in a flood. She spend her entire life constructing dams and digging side rivers and lakes. She thereby not only relocated the river to flow several kilometres around her former hometown, but also changed the ecosystem of a good part of her country all by herself. However, their dependence on negative emotions make them hard to predict and control, and trying to indoctrinate them into loyal fanatics can just as likely to turn them into rebelling extremists, that will commit suicide bombings just to spite you. Last of all Pride. The end of all those that loose their ambitions. Pride is surprisingly easy to reach and also develops very fast in it''s beginning stages. But it is impossible to further develop once you reach your threshold. And Pride is impossible to change into anything else. Remember, Greed is always your start and Pride is always your end. If your Pride beliefs that the end of the alphabet is W, it will stop when reaching W and will never even consider words containing X, Y or Z as part of the same language. Same rule applies to everything else. If your Pride beliefs that it reached the pinnacle it will stop supporting you. Young people that get stuck with a Pride due to their upbringing, can develop fairly normally as long as they are kept clear of self-imposed or societal thresholds. So the most important thing for a young Pride is to think and look outside the box for areas he can develop in. Areas that are as free of biased thresholds as possible. Prides do not do well in science, martial arts or any other field that undergo or requires constant change and improvement. But Prides excel in law, accounting, teaching, politics and similar fields that change slowly and very little over the span of a human life. The later in life you reach Pride, the higher the chance for stagnation. Therefore remember to always be cautious. Prides feed on the positive feedback and praise their hosts receives from their surroundings. They are solitary, very territorial and thrive in competitions were they can demonstrate their superiority. However, Prides do not suffer setbacks well, and will self-destruct if they fear that their pride is shattered or lost. Never give in to pride. Only ever feed your greed. Only by wanting for more, reaching for more and fighting for more will you eventually become more. Only by becoming more, can you potentially escape from your Demon. And only by escaping from your Demon can you possibly reach immortality. 4. I am a curiosity. Some call me an accident. The accident. Others call me a perversion, and the result of all of that greed that made me. But I was here before you were, and I will most likely still be here when the last of your kind leaves this world. Deal with it. I was born in an accident, true. An accident so terrible that people still talk about it. I am the result of what happens when someone tries to capture a little Greed before it can enter it''s host. My surroundings suffered from my creation. The whole world did really. I am the collection of millions of souls, their memories and their Demons. All of their Envies, their Gluttons, their Greeds, their Lusts, their Prides, their Sloths and their Wraths. I have no collection of how I became. One moment I was not, the next I was. Easy as that. There was nothing much left of civilisation for the first couple of centuries of my being. Luckily some people of all kinds survived my creation. Would have been really boring without living beings around. The first couple centuries nobody came to me, so all I could do was re-live a small portion of all those memories that made me. I experienced life as a man, a woman, a child, a slave of any of the races that made me. I was a dog, a cat, a rat, a bug, a fly, a spider, cattle, horse, sheep. I used and abused and I was used and abused in return. I experienced a lot, but I have yet even more ahead of me. Possibly another millennium or two of memories of all those beings that were consumed in my creation. Some memories are very short. Others are as long as a century. That''s why I have more experience with being an animal then a person. Lack of time. But whenever I got some free time I continue to watch and learn. And then at some point when people recovered enough they came looking for what was left of the site that their ancestors did their little experiment. And they found me. They didn''t know what to make of me. And when they learned what I was made of they started to make demands. They DEMANDED their ancestors knowledge. From ME. For FREE. I refused.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. First they tried to hurt me, and take from me by force. I may be bound here, but I am not made of flesh. Fire. Cold. Poison. And many more insidious methods. But I laughed at their attempts. They still persistently tried for a long time. Then they tried to move me. But when one group tried, another attacked them. Afraid that the other group would keep all my knowledge for themselves after securing me. So for half a decade I experienced war from a front row seat. Amusing at first, but numbingly boring after the first couple of months. They all curse, they all scream, they all cry and they all bleed when they get hurt. And eventually they die and just remain silent forever. Then they came to bargain. But I had no use for their gold, gems and slaves. I did not need a palace. I had no desire to be worshipped in a temple. And I did not find their short-lived, domesticated zoo and circus pets entertaining enough. Thought, the diplomats they send were an amusing bunch. Especially how they interacted with each other when they believed I could not see or hear them. And finally came the day I was offered something new. Something I did not learn from my memories up to that point. An old scholar was the first to make a deal with me. He found an old notebook in a ruin when he was just a boy. He spend his whole life chasing those wonders described in the book. And finally he made a discovery that was not described by the author of the book. But he was afraid of never finding an explanation for his discovery. So he came to me. And we struck a deal. His discovery and all his future discoveries for my help in explaining it and helping him with his problem. A good deal. And for the next 15 years I received monthly reports from him regarding his progress and his other discoveries. Sadly he had no disciples. My second deal was with a Baron. An unimportant noble from the western region bordering the cursed zone, my area. He offered me a comprehended history of his region and a slave to read it to me for my knowledge regarding how to raise cattle. His offer amused me, because before he came I had just re-lived the memories of a cow. And therefore I accepted, not knowing what to expect. And for the next year I had a slave sitting next to me reading to me from census data, tax data, birth and death registers, and so forth. Who married whom, correspondent with their liege lords, police reports. Blablabla. I had never known how utterly boring a yearly collection of governmental data really was up to that point. Luckily the Barons family only ruled that region for the last 250 years or so. Needless to say that I did not accepted a similar deal for a long time. My third deal was with a church that was rather influential at the time. By now they are barely a footnote in history. One of their Saints, the first high clergy I met, offered me a very detailed map of the known world and the promise to have it updated at least once a year. In return he wanted to know everything I knew of the ancestors religions and their beliefs. And for nearly 800 years I was able to enjoy the sight of how the people recolonized this world, how all those lords and ladies tried to shift their borders by war and by marriage. I still have those maps. Even thought the latest is out of date for nearly 2000 years by now. A very good deal. Then, somewhen around the time they started to research the cursed zone, the first researcher that wanted to get my input on an experiment similar to the one that created me appeared. Even thought his offer was good, he failed to ask for all the details I knew. And so he never returned from conducting that experiment. Sometimes a century passes without somebody trying to get my help in creating another one like me. More often than not there are two in a century that ask for my help. And even thought they pride themselves with their knowledge they did not learn a thing from all those that came before. I am made from millions of mortal memories and all of their Demons. The whole world offers me their knowledge, their newest discoveries and their dirtiest little secrets for a little bit of my own knowledge. Why would I want to share this position with anybody or anything? Never give in to pride. Only ever feed your greed. Only by wanting for more, reaching for more and fighting for more will you eventually become more. Only by becoming more, can you potentially escape from your Demon. Only by escaping from your Demon can you possibly reach immortality. And only with immortality can you possibly turn into a Demon yourself. 5. She first came to me as a young woman. She carried a Lust in her. Lust for wisdom and power. And the most conscious Demon I had ever seen. In this life, and in all my recordings. She asked for my name. I never had one. I don''t think that up to that point I ever considered naming myself. The People called me names. But non of them appealed to me. So I chose my own. "I am Greed." She was a smart one for her age. She had nothing much to offer yet, and she knew it. But she knew to ask the right questions. "Where do the Demons come from?" "Greed." She paused. And fell into thought. "So what is their End?" "Pride." "Thank you. I will be back once I have more to offer." And she left. She returned a few years later. Still a young woman among her kind. She had learned a lot. And had enough to offer to get the answers for the right kind of questions. "How can I get a Greed?" "You cannot." "Why?" "Once you loose it, it is gone forever." "How does one loose their Greed?" "You taint it." "What taints Greed?" "Ones emotions, ones actions and what you feed it." "Thank you. I will be back when I have more to offer." Our third meeting was about a decade later. She now carried an Envy in her. She envied me and all greed. "What is Pride?" "Stagnation, and eventually ones end." "How can one get rid of a Pride?" "One cannot." "How can one avoid Pride?" She amused me. She was smart. And she asked the right kind of questions. And just maybe I was curious what she would become or what she would unleash. "Never give in to pride. Only ever feed your greed. Only by wanting for more, reaching for more and fighting for more will you eventually become more." She noticed that she had received more than she had bargained for. It must have surprised her. I was not known to offer things for free. "And what happens when one becomes more?" She really was smart. "Only by becoming more, can you potentially escape from your Demon. And only by escaping from your Demon can you possibly reach immortality."This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I still kept something hidden from her. It just was in my nature. I wanted to see her decisions, not scare her. "What are the other five Sins?" "Intermediate and exchangeable existences, with just enough greed to not stagnate." "Thank you." Our fourth meeting happened again about a decade later. She was now middle-aged for her people. And still carried her Envy. She must have spend a lot of time amassing knowledge to trade. This time she truly came prepared. Prepared to take as much from me as possible. Amusing. "Tell me everything you can on how to properly raise a Greed, please." Ah, no more questions. More of a demand really. But she was polite about it. And she had enough to offer. So she got what she bargained for. "Start with the very young. Do not taint them, let them make their own decisions. Just sort out those that loose their Greed, so that they do not taint the others. The best way to feed Greed is like you would feed a hunting dog. Only ever enough to keep it wanting for more. Do not lie to a Greed. You do not need to share everything, but never lie. Never overfeed a Greed. If Greed looses it''s balance it will more easily slip out of control and turn into something lesser. Therefore when acquiring something new don''t feed Greed everything at once. Instead always keep back at least two thirds and if needed feed it a little bit of something else to compensate. Balance is key. Do not attempt to take from a Greed. Greeds are hoarders, they will freely discard things they consider useless, but they will react violent if one tries to take. If Greed claimed something you want then exchange it for something else or wait till he bores of it. But do not try to take from a Greed by force. Greeds thrive on novelty and balance. So to minimize the risk of taint you have to offer Greed a variety of different things. Therefore you either have to seek the adventure and travel the world, or make the world come to you. Raising a Greed is a team effort. You can attempt it on your own, but sooner or later you will fail to provide. The later it happens, the more violent the feedback and backlash one will receive from an unhappy Greed. If you know that you will fail to provide, taint the Greed and make it lesser. If you fail to provide and Greed feeds on you, be prepared to loose everything, including everything in your surrounding." It was a lot to take in for a mere mortal. She thought about it for about a week. Sitting in my shadow and just thinking, planning, scheming. Her ambitions and thoughts were delicious. "If I raise Greeds for a quarter of a century and gift you all I learn, would that be enough to learn how to become like you?" I had seen that coming. I had just expected it would take her longer to reach that conclusion. It seemed that the greed in her was strong. She must have fed it well over the years. And her Envy was changing, It would become Lust again. Lust for greed. Mortals. So amusing. "Maybe. But only barely." "How long would it take me to prepare if I knew everything?" She was so smart. "If you can offer enough to learn everything it would take you at least another decade to properly prepare." "Thank you." She left me again. She knew that time was now against her. She was one of the smartest among all I had met, but she was still only mortal. So short-lived, even those races more attuned to nature barely got older then a century or two. In the following years I sometimes heard from others about her ''school''. People praised her for re-discovering Greeds. Especially those bored nobles. They got Greeds for their collections, and were apparently willing to pay her handsomely for it. And sometimes people tried to offer me a "newly" discovered Greed in exchange. Mortals. But she kept true to her desires and returned to me eventually. A quarter of a century was nothing to me, but she had turned from middle-aged to elderly. Still, she did not loose herself in pride. And her Lust had gotten stronger. I was so proud of her. "Is all this enough to learn everything?" "It is." She smiled. "Do you think I have enough time left to prepare and succeed?" This was a first. People normally did not ask for my opinion. But she had always been smart like that. "Maybe. You should hurry. But do not abridge things." "Thank you." It took her nearly half a year to learn everything. She was not young anymore. But she had prepared well. As soon as she had learned all she needed she called in favours from all those rich people she had dealt with over the years. And against my prediction it only took her eight and a half years to properly prepare as far as I could tell. Nine years all together if one included the learning phase. She really was special. And when she was ready she returned to me. She knew that she had nothing left to offer, but she still came. And I indulged her. "Will I succeed?" "I do not know. For I am the only one of my kind." "What will I become?" Ah, she noticed. I expected she would. "Something akin to a Demon and a Divine. A being of pure energy. An aggregation of mortal minds, their Demons and all your surroundings." "Will I retain myself?" "Your old self will become a small part of your new self. One part in a billion. But it will not be lost." "Would you name the new me?" "Yes. You shall be Eve." "Eve?" "The first woman according to an old human religion. Greed enticed her to eat a fruit of wisdom thereby breaking Gods command." "Did Eve ever regret her decision?" "Why would she? She and her mate were Gods most beloved creation, and despite their sin they founded the human race and all their decendants were eventually granted forgiveness by God''s son." "Thank you." She left for the last time. She went for one of the regions bordering my area. Far enough to not overlap with what I considered mine. But close enough to communicate. At least I hoped so. And then you became. I never knew how the birth of one of our kind happened, because I was the first. But experiencing your coming into this world was spectacular. No explosion, no implosion. No bright light or loud sound. You just became. Like a Demon. And everything she amassed as sacrifice just ceased to be. Faster than the blink of a mortal eye. Just gone. I reached out to you. And I named you Eve. For you were once a woman, given wisdom by Greed.