I gather with my sisters at the right side of the stage. Prudence and Faith are scanning the crowd (made up mostly of people who donated to the Prophet), likely searching for the face of the Prophet. I do not bother. He will be here soon enough. Hope is brushing invisible dust and crumbs off her dress. The most eager of the seven of us, she seems most likely to have accidentally spilled something on it, but today, we are all perfectly clean - dresses ironed, faces cleaned, hair tamed. Though each of us has different skin, hair and eyes, I like to think we all look alike.

Faith suddenly points towards the crowd, and the rest of us turn to look, as the Prophet has appeared and is making his way towards the stage. The Prophet is old, bald and frail, but when God first spoke to him, he was only 20, only a few years older than I am now. God led him to spread the Word to all nations, and so he did. God urged him to make war on the Heathen Nations which still resist Him, and so he did. God prompted him to purify New Canaan through the Virtues, and so he did, and still does.

All people in New Canaan have been saved from their evil deeds through each Renewal, every 14 years, through the purification of the Seven Virtues and then their replacement by new Virtues. Today, my sisters and I are to replace our older sisters, who will be relieved of their duties. Despite my excitement at the fulfillment of all my training, I still find myself worried on behalf of my older sisters. However, I have no further time to doubt, as the Prophet is standing at the pulpit, in front of the seven wooden poles.

He opens the Book of Visions, in which God's messages to him are recorded, received through dreams, and begins to read, "Vision Eighteen: God spoke to the Prophet, and this is what He told him: "I shall send you seven young girls, filled with the Spirits of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, Faith, Hope and Charity. They will be pure and holy, and you shall raise them according to my words. After seven years, I shall send you seven new Virtues to be taught, and after another seven years, you shall burn the previous Virtues to free their Spirits, which shall pass into the new Virtues."" He smiles benevolently at the crowd, and gestures for the seven Virtues on the other side of the stage. The crowd cheers.

My older sisters stand on the stage, one before each wooden pole. The Prophet makes quick work of tying them up, as the audience's applause is near deafening. Someone at the front of the crowd passes him a burning torch (it's considered a great honour). The Virtues themselves are all smiling joyfully, as though they had learned that they were designated to bear children, rather than being about to burn for the sins of the nation.

The Prophet begins speaking again, motioning with his hands for the audience to quieten down. "We gather today to celebrate a joyous occasion, the 5th Renewal. We burn the bodies of the old Virtues, so that their spirits may pass to their successors." Raising the torch to the first Sister, he announces to the crowd, "Sister Prudence! May she ever be virtuous!" The crowd, my sisters and I echo these words as he throws oil over my older sister, then sets the base of the pole alight. It is not long before Sister Prudence is engulfed in flames. A lesser girl (she is, after all, only 21 - the age at which a girl becomes a woman is the age at which she can no longer carry the soul of virtue) would likely be screaming in pain, but Prudence has a serene expression. When the time comes, in another fourteen years, I don't know if I will be able to control myself like she can, since my hands are shaking just watching. As the Prophet moves on to the next Virtue, the process repeats again.

"Sister Justice...May she ever be virtuous...Sister Fortitude...May she ever be virtuous..."

I know what happens now. My sisters will suffer heatstroke or hypovolemia, and they will die in pain. I would think it an inhumane way to die, but my sisters are all willing, as I too shall be, when the time comes. It is necessary for the Virtues to be sacrificed so that everyone else can be purified. God himself has decreed it.

It doesn't take long for my sisters to die, with burns marring their skin so badly that I am torn between staring in horror and averting my eyes. Meanwhile, the Prophet is motioning my sisters and I up to the stage, to stand in front of our counterparts, away from the flames. I can't stop looking at Sister Temperance, who was smiling at me only last night, and now is disfigured almost beyond recognition. I know God wants this, and God is good, but something feels terribly wrong. Perhaps it is just the Spirit of Temperance passing into me.

It takes only a few numb, quiet minutes for the Prophet to help us to put on our habits. Then he re-introduces us to the audience.

I am seven years old. In fourteen years, I will die for my people. I am Sister Temperance. May she ever be virtuous.