Mitha woke up suddenly and immediately knew something was wrong. There was an inexplicable sinking feeling in her gut and she felt as if she was being watched. She got up from her bed and looked out the window. The sky was a strange purple and the towering Burj Khalifa appeared to be on fire. She watched the smoke pouring from the tall building with wide eyes.
“Dad?” she called, her eyes still glued to the burning building.
There was no response and she called for her father again. Once again she was answered with silence. She closed the curtain and walked out of the room, looking out into the hallway.
“Dad?” she called again.
There was only silence. She walked down the long hall of the ornate condo, passing the various framed photos, potted plants, and rare artwork hanging on the walls. She made it to the kitchen, looking around the open concept room with the massive marble island in the middle. It was completely empty as was the living area that it overlooked.
Mitha searched the counters for some sort of note or anything that might indicate her father had temporarily left the condo. Any time he would go on supply runs or leave for any other reason, he always left a note. There was no such note today. She checked in the living room and came up empty handed. She could feel the sense of dread in her stomach growing.
She walked down another hall towards her father’s bedroom. The door was open and she entered, gently rapping on the doorframe to announce her arrival. She looked around the large room and her eyes fell on a pile of clothes in his desk chair. She walked over to the desk and pulled the chair out. A pair of her father’s slacks fell to the floor over his black dress shoes. A belt was still fastened around the waist. She looked at the shirt, picking it up gingerly and holding it in the air. The buttons were still fastened and an undershirt’s short sleeves were still tucked into the longer ones of the button down. She could smell her father’s cologne emanating from the shirt. It was as if he had vanished and left his outfit behind.
Mitha set down the clothes and called through the room once again,
“If this is a prank, it isn’t funny,”
There was still no response. Now she was becoming frantic. She burst through the closet door, pushing through the rows of dress shirts and blazers. She searched the bathroom, tearing down the shower curtain and finding no one behind it. She started to run through the hall, entering each room, yelling for her father and receiving no answer.
Mitha collapsed on the couch, on the verge of tears but then she thought for a moment. Maybe her father had gone to inspect the burning building. It would explain why there was no note, it had happened abruptly and he would have been as surprised as her. The logic didn’t completely follow but Mitha accepted it. Any explanation that could calm her nerves was a welcome one. She did one more pass through the house before pulling on a pair of tennis shoes and walking out of the condo.
She passed the other abandoned condominiums as she made her way down the stairs and to the main street of downtown Dubai. Her intuition was screaming at her to go back inside as the rolling clouds of dark smoke pouring from the Burj Khalifa blotted out the sun. She continued walking down the silent street, searching for her father. A flicker of movement drew her eye and she saw something slide into the entrance of the Burj Khalifa. She caught a glimpse of a green blazer and immediately called out,
“Dad!”
She ran after the figure, entering the ground floor of the Burj Khalifa and looked around. There was no sign of her father or anyone wearing a green suit. Mitha started to walk back outside when she heard the electronic ding as an elevator reached the first floor.
Her head whipped toward the sound and she watched in awe as the doors to an elevator slid open, revealing its lit interior. Curiosity got the best of Mitha and she stepped inside. The doors immediately shut and sealed her in. She pounded on the doors, calling for help. And then the elevator began to ascend. Mitha could hear the whirring as the cables pulled the elevator towards its destination. It was moving so much faster than any elevator she had ever been in before and she wasn’t sure if the sinking feeling in her stomach was from the anticipation or the G-forces within the elevator.
She watched the electronic number above the door increasing as the elevator passed each floor. It reached double digits and then flew through, increasing towards the triple digits as it ascended to the observation deck on floor 163. Mitha splayed out against the wall, grabbing the handles with both hands and gripping tightly. Finally the elevator slowed and an automated voice read out,
“Floor 163: Observation Deck.”
The doors slid open and the power went out. Mitha stepped out of the cabin of the elevator and onto the floor of the observation deck. Despite the black clouds of smoke that had been pouring from the building just moments earlier, there was no fire and the smoke was gone. Instead she was greeted by a long ornate table, piled high with various foods though most of them were rotting and flies swarmed the plates.. Empty chairs surrounded the table and at the head sat a grotesque man.
Mitha looked at the man in both disgust and confusion. The man’s proportions were wrong and it gave him a deeply unsettling appearance. A gigantic mouth with broad square teeth and a jaw that jutted forward in an extreme underbite sat over rolling fleshy chins that cascaded down into a rotund torso and spilled out in a stomach that hung from under a tight fitting greasy white shirt. The man was gorging himself on a strange looking leg of meat, pulling the tendons from the bone with a sickening slurp. He hadn’t seemed to notice Mitha yet. He tossed aside the bone from the meat and let out a loud belch that filled the room before lunging forward and grabbing another greasy leg of meat with both hands and shoving the entirety of it into his mouth.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see whose it was. A man in a green suit looked at her over the rims of dark lens sunglasses. There was a look of amusement on his face.
“Your father isn’t here, Mitha. Might want to head back home” the man said. Mitha started to ask how he knew her name but he held his finger to his lips and shook his head, pointing to the man at the head of the table. Behind her she heard the elevator doors slide open. Mitha turned to look and she saw a woman leaned against the back of the elevator, chewing gum. The woman saw her and flashed her a peace sign.
Mitha looked back to the green suited man, completely confused, but he just jerked his head towards the elevator. From the head of the table there was a roar as the repulsive man demanded more food. Mitha got into the elevator and the doors slid shut,
“Going down,” intoned the elevator speaker. Mitha looked at the woman in the elevator with her. The woman looked back at her and straightened up, holding out a hand. Mitha noticed the dark tattoo on her arm that looked like a fox.
“Corrine,” the woman said and Mitha tilted her head, “Sorry, I’m Corrine, nice to meet you.” she clarified. Mitha nodded slowly and shook the woman’s hand,
“I’m Mitha,” she said. Corrine nodded and rocked back and forth on her heels,
“Sooo…” her words trailed off and Mitha just continued to stare.
“What’s going on?” Mitha finally asked, breaking the silence. A look of relief came over Corrine and she smiled,
“That I can answer. The TLDR is that the world has ended, those were Princes of Hell and we suspect that you might be what we call a Virtue,” Corrine paused, “Though your dad was definitely not.”
“What do you mean? Where is my father?” Mitha demanded to know, her eyes narrowing into a glare. Corrine shifted uncomfortably,
“Look, there isn’t an easy way to say this so I want to apologize in advance.”
“Where is my father?” Mitha’s voice rose in both volume and pitch. Corrine nervously rubbed the back of her neck,
“Uh…”
Mitha was becoming angry. This strange woman, Corrine, was giving her no answers and Mitha still hadn’t processed whatever that was upstairs. She wanted to find her father and she wanted to get out of this elevator.
“Ok, let me just rip the bandaid off. Your dad made a deal with the man in green, the Prince of Greed, and it was time to collect. His soul was collected by the Prince. He’s gone.” Corrine said quickly and flinched away as if preparing for Mitha to hit her. Instead she shrank back to the corner of the elevator, crossed her arms, and stared silently at the doors.
“Floor One: Lobby” crackled from the intercom and the doors slid open. Corrine watched Mitha as she wordlessly exited the elevator and walked out of the building.
“We need to work on your persuasion skills,” Greed said, appearing beside Corrine and making her jump. She shot him a dirty look,
“People like to have answers before you go into what you want from them. We don’t exactly get this whole demon thing right away,” she said. Greed shrugged,
“You did,” he replied.
“I was nearly dead,” Corrine retorted. A wicked grin spread across the Prince’s face,
“So we need to nearly kill mortals before deals can be made?” he asked darkly. Corrine grimaced and shook her head as she walked out of the elevator,
“I don’t think I want to learn anymore about your type of persuasion,” she said and Greed laughed impishly,
“Fine,” he followed behind her, “Do you remember how birds teach their young to fly?” he asked and Corrine turned around to face him.
“Why?” she asked.
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“Do you?”
“Yes, they push the chicks out of the nest,” Corrine answered and Greed nodded,
“That they do,” he said cryptically.
“Your point?”
“We start pushing these fledgling virtues out of the nest.”
Corrine was taken aback. She knew that the man in front of her was a Prince of Hell but this was reckless and flippant even for him.
“What if we’re wrong?” she asked and Greed shrugged,
“Then they die and we move onto the next,” he stated.
“What if they’re a virtue but we put them with the wrong Prince and then they die?” Corrine asked, recounting their conversations about the mortality of Virtues. Greed nodded slowly,
“That is a risk but not one that’s impossible to overcome, plus we should get one chance to save them. When their powers manifest, the Virtue is temporarily immune to all powers of Hell. That lasts exactly once,” he answered.
Corrine sighed, she knew there was no winning or convincing Greed to pursue an alternate plan. She rolled her eyes,
“What’s next?” she asked. Greed’s expression brightened. Moments like this made it easy for Corrine to forget that the Prince only revealed the emotions he wanted her to see.
“She’s obviously not my counter otherwise that would have been revealed when we made contact and she doesn’t counter my repulsive sibling, Gluttony. We already know who counters Envy. That leaves four other Virtues that she could be but something tells me Andrea is the most likely counter to Pride though of that, I am not 100% certain. Logically we’re down to 3, Sloth, Lust, and Wrath. If she’s a Virtue at all, that is.”
Corrine was dazzled by the dizzying display of logic that Greed had just rattled off. They had come a long way in a short amount of time identifying Virtues. It reminded her of the analytical reasoning section of the LSAT. All the different variables and rules that had to be followed to reach the final conclusion.
“If we want to minimize our risk and hers, we drop her on the Bahamas with Sloth. If she isn’t the counter virtue to the Prince, then we redirect. We won’t have that same chance with either Wrath or Lust who would likely just kill her,” Greed concluded.
“We’re just going to drop her on an island?” Corrine asked.
“Yes, more specifically, you are going to drop her on an island.”
“Why? I’ve never been to the Bahamas, I don’t know what it looks like to be able to get there. Also can I bring another person with me? Is that a thing I can do?” Corrine asked. Greed sighed,
“You have a lot of questions for this late in the game. I can bend reality to my will and you’re questioning how the powers I gave you will be able to work. Disappointing, Corrine.”
Corrine held her hands up in surrender,
“Ok, fine. Again, I’m human. None of this really makes sense to me,” she said defensively. Greed shook his head and then he snapped his fingers. Corrine’s head flew back and her mind was filled with an image of a beach with white sands and dark water lapping at the shore. Blackened palm trees dotted the horizon and behind them loomed towering resorts and villas.
“Holy shit,” she said as she came back to reality. Her head was throbbing.
“Got it?” he asked and Corrine nodded, wincing slightly as she did so, “Good. I would bring the girl myself but Sloth and its little minions would easily catch on to my presence. You’re slightly less detectable. You can drop her off and get out before anyone notices a thing. And we can thank Envy for this idea. Dropping virtues in other’s territory is truly inspired.” Greed finished.
“Didn’t Envy do that specifically to kill that Virtue?” Corrine asked,
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t adapt that into our plans. Now go find her and let’s not repeat our little Chicago escapade here,” Greed said. Corrine rolled her eyes and followed after the woman.
Mitha shut the door behind her and slid down against it before wrapping her arms around her knees and sobbing. She didn’t entirely believe Corrine but she knew that her father really was gone, whether it was the way Corrine said happened or not. She was alone now.
“You could cry about it or you could do something about it,” Corrine said, suddenly standing in front of Mitha. Mitha jumped up and glared at the woman,
“Get out of my house,” she demanded but Corrine shook her head,
“No can do, sorry.” Corrine replied and she reached for Mitha. Mitha ducked underneath her arm and ran into the kitchen, rounding the island so that it was now between her and Corrine. Corrine’s face was etched with irritation, her lips drawn tightly and her eyebrows furrowed.
“Do not make this harder than it needs to be,” Corrine warned. Mitha narrowed her eyes and looked to her left, lunging and pulling a knife from the wooden knife block on the counter. Corrine’s eyes widened,
“Okay, let’s calm down,” she said. Mitha shook her head, jabbing the knife out towards Corrine,
“Why are you in my house?” she asked.
“There’s a lot to explain, but I’d be happy to do so, woman to woman?” Corrine offered. Mitha shook her head and started to come around the island toward Corrine. Corrine slowly retreated, one hand held up and the other on the strap of the backpack on her shoulders, “Take it easy,” she said quietly.
Internally, Corrine was screaming in frustration. She had been promised the power of persuasion, “a silver tongue” as Greed had put it but this was the second time that an encounter became a confrontation. Either it was a Virtue thing or she really didn’t understand how this was supposed to work.
Because you aren’t trying.
Greed’s voice rang in her head,
“What do you mean?” she hissed out loud and she immediately noticed the look of confusion on Mitha’s face.
“Get out,” Mitha commanded again, still approaching Corrine with the knife. The sunlight streaming through the window reflected off the sharp blade.
Think of it less as persuasion and more as commanding. Bend her to your will.
The idea was unsettling.
Set aside your ideas of morality, Corrine. We’ve been over this.
Mitha was getting closer and Corrine was running out of room. Soon she would be pinned between Mitha and the wall. She glanced at the knife again,
Save yourself for once, Corrine.
She scowled, she didn’t appreciate the condescending tone in the Prince’s voice. She wasn’t helpless.
Prove it.
Corrine straightened up and looked directly at Mitha. She took a breath and then commanded,
“Back up and put down the knife.” The words felt different. There was a deeper resonance to Corrine’s voice and it seemed to echo off the walls. Mitha dropped the knife and it clattered on the ground. She stepped back and Corrine stepped towards her and away from the wall. Mitha looked at her now empty hand in shock and then back to Corrine,
“How did you do that?” she asked. Corrine ignored her question, focusing only on the task at hand and her newfound power,
“You are more important than you know,” the powerful resonance in Corrine’s voice receded, “And I am really sorry to do this,” she said in her normal voice. Corrine grabbed Mitha and envisioned the beach that Greed had shown her.
Mitha pushed Corrine as she fell back onto warm sand. The woman looked down at her and Mitha could see the conflicted feelings on her face. Then she vanished and Mitha was left alone on the unfamiliar beach. She looked to her left, watching the deep blue ocean water as it crashed onto the shore just a few feet away. This place felt peaceful but there was another feeling, something ominous. She stood up and looked back away from the water, seeing the burnt palm trees and once impressive beach resorts looming ahead. There was no one else on the beach.
Mitha brushed the sand off of her backside and started to walk towards the buildings, the soft sand slowing her down as it sank beneath her feet. She made her way towards the street and saw the trail of destruction that had been left by something though she didn’t know what yet. The skeletons of buildings lined scorched concrete. There was no fire or smoke but clearly something had blazed through the streets. She started to follow the trail when she saw a man walking towards her. He tilted his head and looked at her quizzically. She narrowed her eyes, bracing herself for a similar encounter as the one she’d had with Corrine but the man just slowly raised his hand and gave her a confused sort of half wave. She watched him for a moment and then waved back, equally confused. He started to walk towards her and she stood her ground,
“Um, I’m just going to go past you, I live over that way…” he said awkwardly, trailing off at the end of his sentence.
“John!” someone yelled from behind Mitha and both her and the man whipped their heads towards the other man running towards them.
“Chris,” the man, presumably John, replied. Mitha noted the relief in his voice. She watched as they embraced and then the blonde one gestured towards her,
“Who’s this?” he asked and John shrugged,
“I don’t know. I just saw her as I was walking home,” he said. Mitha stared at the pair, uncertain of whether she should introduce herself to them or not. The last person she gave her name had dropped her on the island with no explanation. The blonde one looked at her kindly,
“I’m Chris,” he said before gesturing to the man beside him, the first one Mitha had encountered, “And this is my husband, John.”
“Husband?” Mitha asked and Chris nodded,
“Yes”
Mitha was silent and the men traded looks of concern. Mitha immediately realized what they must be thinking,
“No, no I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, “That’s really cute, um, it’s just been a weird day.” Chris smiled softly,
“You’re not from here, are you?” he asked and Mitha shook her head.
“I was in the UAE just a few minutes ago,” she replied and both men looked shocked.
“How’d you get here?” Chris asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Mitha responded and she told him about the situation with the green suited man and the woman named Corrine.
“And then I was on the beach and I walked up and ran into John.” she concluded. Chris looked dumbstruck but John didn’t appear to be surprised.
“Huh,” Chris said after a moment as he processed the information. He looked at Mitha and smiled, “You’re welcome to stay with us until we can figure out what’s going on, right John?”
He looked to his husband. Mitha noted the strained smile from John as he nodded. He had spoken very little, deferring to Chris to do all the talking.
“Yea, of course,” he said tersely. Mitha was suspicious of his tone but Chris didn’t appear to notice and he instead smiled brightly,
“Great! We’re just down the street over here,” he said, waving her along as he began walking. As they walked, Chris told Mitha about himself and John and their time on the island. John quietly walked beside his husband until they reached the house.
“Here we are,” John said, running up the steps to the door. There was a noticeable change in his demeanor now. He was excited as he grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. Mitha felt a rush of cool air from the house, they had electricity.
“How?” Chris and Mitha asked in unison. They exchanged a brief glance before looking back to John who had a broad smile on his face and his arms extended out as if to showcase the air conditioning pouring out from the open door.
“What’s on your arm?” Chris asked and Mitha saw the dark sloth on John’s forearm. John immediately pulled back his arms and covered the marking with his opposite hand. His smile was gone and now his face was a deep red,
“It’s a long story,” he said sheepishly.
“We have time, let’s talk inside,” Chris said. John held the door open and Chris walked in, followed by Mitha. Mitha and John locked eyes for a moment before John dropped contact, staring down at the ground. She walked past him and into the house. John followed, shutting the door and locking it.
The cool air felt luxurious and Mitha took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. It had been a long time since she had been in a home with electricity and she could hear the low buzz of appliances and the gentle whir of fans. She had forgotten how loud everything used to be.
“John, care to explain?” Chris asked, gesturing towards the ceiling fan and more generally around the house.
“Ok, but I want you to know I love you and that I did this for us,” John began. “We were running out of water and I can’t lose you.” His voice was beginning to break, clouded with emotion.
“John, baby, just tell me what’s going on,” Chris said and Mitha could hear the worry in his voice. John took a breath and began to tell his husband and Mitha the story of his night in the Caves.