It is the year 3055, a year of new discovery, innovation, and advancement. The 7 deadly sins have gathered round an oak table to discuss their current state, as they do every few hundred years.

The seven ancient figures sit awkwardly, staring at each other cumbersomely yet with malice.

There was pride, shoulders wide with an arrogant grin, an overconfident narcissist with a crown adorning his head, who believed he was the king of the sins but was just as hated as the others. He was so wrapped up in a sense of glory that it was the only thing he cared about.

There was sloth, eyes drooping, half asleep, wrapped in a blanket he knew he’d need to take for the usual boring meeting. He hated anything that took more than an ounce of effort, and therefore had become ghostly and white, going in and out of reality. His favourite pastime was to lie on a cloud and look down at the mortals, working away all day in their busy lives. He was very glad that he wasn’t one of them.

Next, was lust. He couldn’t focus; probably too busy thinking about that dreamy person he had seen the other day. If only. He only lived for pleasure, It was the only thing he knew he truly wanted. Everything else was a waste of time to him. He was just an ignorant, pleasure seeking scumbag who only cared about his next futile relationship.

Next, there was envy. He was always jealous, always wanting, with green, swirling eyes that scanned the room for anything he wanted to steal from his fellow sins. He would stare from above, watching the mortals. He wished he had what they had; confidence, encouragement, fulfilment. All he knew was desire. With no gratitude, never happy with what he had, he stole and snatched only to set his greedy eye on a new, enticing thing. A life devoid of happiness, only barren wanting.

Next there was greed. He had a sort of similarity to envy. Like envy, had everything he needed, but wished for more. But Greed’s longing was more of a sickness of the mind. He had everything he could ever wish for, yet he wanted more. More. More! It was like an insatiable hunger, taking anything in his path. He hoarded gold and loved money. He snatched anything valuable just so he could have it. He never questioned why he had the hunger, he just took and took. He sat there dressed in flowing red robes with fur linings and gold buttons and thread. He only thought of how he would get his hands on another one.

Next there was gluttony, a greedy slob who only cared about indulgence. Empty bottles of alchohol surrounded him and so did new ones waiting for him to drink. His fingers reached out for the food next to him. He only lived for pleasure, and never cared about what it would do to him; the harm it would cause. Who cares, when you can have all the good things now? That was his philosophy.

And the last was wrath, dark and brooding. He was a sadistic demon who loved suffering and pain. That was why he caused so much of it. It was his only hobby. His eyes would light up to see a dying child or a brutal earthquake or a horrific war. Red horns poked from his head, a marking to show what he truly was. He wasn’t like the other sins. He was truly evil.

“So,” Pride announced in his usual confident tone. “How are things?”

Silence filled the room, apart from a snore from sloth. Wrath wasn’t amused, so he slicked a small speck of fire at the sleeping sin who screeched and woke with a jolt.

“Hey, what was that for?” He complained.

Sloth received a dark glare from an angry Wrath, signalling that he should be quiet.

“What I’ve heard,” Gluttony began, his voice slightly muffled by the sandwich he was eating, “is that we’re having some - problems.” He took another swig of alcohol.

“Yeah, the world is getting too advanced nowadays, there’s nothing to do anymore, really.” Greed said.

At the mention of doing nothing, sloth’s eyes lit up.

“I was looking own at the mortals yesterday and saw that they just invented a new cure for a disease,” envy replied, eying greed’s beautiful robes. “I’m not sure what it was called. Wrath would know. Oh, if only our lives were as effect as that.” The spirals in his eyes spun and spun, thinking of the things the mortals had and what he didn’t.

“Oh be quiet, Envy, you ungrateful swine,” Snapped lust, ripping envy from his dazed desires. This remark caused tension to wrap the room as the two stared at each other furiously. The room exploded into a flurry of shouting and screaming as everyone argued.

Wrath had had enough.

“SILENCE!” He bellowed, shaking the room with his fury. Everyone stopped to listen to the wise yet spiteful words of wrath.

“ I never thought this day would come again, but the times we now suffer demand it. A new sin must be made. Shock caught the tongues of everyone in the room, an unsuspected silence that no one dared to break.

“What are you waiting for?” Mocked Wrath. Oh, don’t tell me that you’ve all gone soft! Scared are you? Cowards.” He spoke with malice, cold as corpses and icy as arctic glaciers.

Everyone feared what was yet to come.

What ensued was a ritual. An earth shattering ground trembling ritual. The sins huddled in the centre of the room claws, tentacles and talons all raised in the air, dark clouds surrounding them. They chanted words in the ancient tongue, beckoning a new evil spirit to curse the world.

Gradually, amongst the ghostly and monstrous spirits there formed a dark and menacing figure, with snaking tendrils that stretched out and slithered about in the space around it. The sins looked up in horror as a new sin was brought for. Deceit.

It smashed through the roof with a dark, clouded tentacle. It spread across the land cursing everything it came across. No one was safe. For you see, even in a time where everything seems to be going well, there will always be lies. And they spread like a wildfire. Like an impenetrable virus that cannot be stopped. If you tell a lie and tell it enough, people will believe it.

The ability to make people believe something is where true power comes from, and there are people will misuse that great power. Deceit was power. The lies would control the world.

The seven other sins looked at each other and grinned. They were back to their reign.