Genre: Fantasy

Pride, the greatest sin.

People who carry a great sense of boastfulness have a special place in the center ring of hell. Today, I watched people worship their pride as the world turned to dust. A lot of souls still refuse to be humble on this last day of September. Only a few picked up their phones to make amends. A handful of people dared to go back home and take the first step in apology. But a great number stayed quiet and felt superior even as the world crumbled in front of them.

Pride, humans have not learned at all!

I watch every soul be slayed one after another. I grabbed my things and kept observing. I could smell the salty air of agony entering my nostrils. Filled with pain. Fouled with regret. Stenched with despair.

I approached a young man sitting on a corner. Frantic, he looked. He's still wearing his office uniform as he anxiously works on his laptop.

"My job! My emails! I have so much to accomplish in life!"

"Do you wanna call the people you love?" I offered him a phone.

He stared at me, hesitating. With the next explosion across the street, I was perplexed with his answer.

"I don't need that!" he boasted. He tossed my offer and went back to his own reality. "This war will be over soon! I will call them by then."

Oh, how proud is the human soul. Most of them still can't believe that no country will win this mess.

I saw a lady going to a rave. Most people there are nude. Dancing to loud music while most of them are making out. She was timid. She was once a very shy and sick girl who I used to follow across the street. I saw her fill her lungs with air before stripping.

"Stop!" I shouted. "That's not a wise way to spend your last day on earth. Come with me. I'll take you back home! Your parents have been looking for you for months!"

"Hypocrite!" I could feel every drop of her saliva sharpnelled to my face. "You people would only do the right thing when it's too late!"

She ran past me and started dancing. I stared at her. Nauseated on how she became like a wild animal as she started kissing the first person she saw.

She was wrong though. It is never too late.

As long as you're alive, you have a chance of redemption. What comes after this is probably the delatory time for retribution. But they don't know that because they are drowning. Suffocated with pride.

The third world war started this morning. Proud countries wanted to expand their territories. Leaders want to claim every oil-producing land they could find. Sirens were screeching as missiles from every country were given to each other.

Like an exchange gift on Christmas Day.

I continued my search. Looking for at least one soul I could help. But in every corner, no one took my hand. They are probably scared of my scalded face and skinny steed.

"Help!" Someone caught my attention from the Amusement Park. A little girl trying to ride the Merry-Go-Round. Her eyes sparkled when she saw me. "Mister, can you please carry me to the saddle?"

Oh, another poor little soul. Trying to enjoy the material things while she could.

I approached her calmly.

"You only have one leg?" I gasped.

She nodded while keeping a bright smile on her face. She's wearing ragged clothes with a face filled with grease.

"Why would you wanna spend your last time here?" I started carrying her and put her on the horse. "The world will end in any minute. Where are your parents?"

"They abandoned me when I was a baby."

"Would you still like to meet them?" I hesitated.

"Really?" she asked. Her eyes started swelling. "I miss them so much!"

This poor soul.

"Aren't you mad for what they did to you?"

"A little," she snorted. "But I just wanna hug them and ask why they did it."

Little does she know that her parents died in an accident. The same tragedy that caused her to lose a leg. But she did not harbor any ill feelings. There is no trace of pride on her face.

Trully, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter heaven.

I unleashed my wings, wide-spread and dark as coal. I covered her with a warm light as her sleeping spirit drifted in my arms.

"Death!" War called my name from his steed. Beside him are Pestilence and Famine mounted on their horses. Their bags of good souls are empty. "Did you find at least one?"

"Yes," I sighed with a smile on my face.