Chapter One: Welcome to Hell
"Open your eyes," a deep dark voice called out. Austin wakes in a dark room, almost pitch black. At first he thought he was alone, the voice from a dream, and it was just time to get ready for school. That fun hell hole. No place could possibly be worse. "Do you know who I am?" the voice calls out again. "What the," Austin questions out loud. Did he fall asleep again or was someone actually in his room? Austin goes to roll out of bed groggily groaning, but realizes that he has been standing this whole time.
There he is, the man standing across the room. Austin begins to panic as he questions who, how, why and what the hell was going on. Frozen in fear, Austin just barely manages to ask, "What are you doing in my room?" The man laughs, "Your room?" He begins to walk closer towards Austin in the dark room, cackling with his deep dark voice. "I am Death, son," the man calmly explains to Austin, "And you, well you're dead." Austin, who is trying to wrap his mind around what he was just told, now realizes that he has been standing next to six other people all this time.
"Sloth, Greed, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, and Envy, welcome to Hell," suddenly the room lit up and instead of being black, the room was a blood red, and extremely hot, almost as if they were standing on the face of the sun.
"AHAHAHAHA, YOU MEAN I GOT MY PROMOTION," a loud voice among the six screams out.
"Yes, Ventice, or should I say Pride, you got your promotion," Death answers. "Sins, meet your leader for the time being, Pride, he has been with us for quite some time. He started out as any human soul being tortured here in Hell but he quickly rose through the ranks to supervising demon, and now, Pride of the Seven Deadly Sins," Death explains to the six other members.
The other six were very confused. Pride may have been here in Hell for a long while but the rest, well the rest of them knew each other. As far as any of them know it was just yesterday that they all went to the same school. So of course that meant that they were all new and somehow "promoted" to the level of a Sin right off the bat? None of them knew why, hell none of them even knew why they were in Hell. I mean they were your average everyday teenagers. Right?
"There will be a lot to explain, where should I start?" Death looks around the room to see whose story should be told next. "Lust," Death points to the girl with long blonde hair and toned body. She obviously liked to impress, and impress she did, "well lets just say you had your fair share of lusty encounters, hell I'm one of the oldest beings in the universe and I haven't even had that much action. I believe you were in the back of one of the cars that was being driven on that night, yes?"
Brittany, or now "Lust", blushed and tried to hide her face. She was a sex addict, no two ways about it. She knew that and could have gotten help at any point, but she didn't want it. She enjoyed it, and she lived for it. She had any and every boy that she wanted, any time she wanted them. The rush she got from her encounters, was better than that of cocaine, and far more addictive. Death continued, "Dirty till the end, I like it, call me," he said laughing.
Next Death points his finger at a little round kid, everyone knew him as Michael but now as Death calls him, "Gluttony," Death stares, "Not much to say about you really, you just eat like a pig. Honestly man I don't know how you are just now making it here, you should have died a long time ago." Michael was a short, chubby black kid that was always asking for everyone's lunches in school. He's been doing that since middle school the group recalls, maybe even sooner than that. Never a picky eater either. Michael didn't have many friends because of this. He came off as annoying to most, but the friends he did have were loyal, and good at least. "Died choking on one of the cookies provided by the prom committee, and you were the only one to not die in the crash, congrats I guess," Death continues to joke.
"Ah, Wrath. I like you, I really do. Fight after fight, you even thought you were the son of the devil himself because you could never control your anger. Well unfortunately you are not his son. However, he likes you too so you are now his adopted...second cousin four times removed, but hey keep on his good side and maybe you'll get there some day," Death keeps on making fun of the kids. "If I'm right, and I am, you were the cause of the crash that killed all of you, except Gluttony, lost your temper and decided to drive, even I know that's a bad idea and I ride a horse," Death says. Tyler, or "Wrath", wasn't as amused with Death as everyone else seemed to be. He knew he wasn't perfect, but it's not like he never tried to be better, and calmer. Wrath just couldn't help it, and that, to him, felt like a set up.
Kat was anxiously waiting for her name to be called. She already knew what she would be named. Envy. Typical teenage girl some would say, never happy with her looks and jealous of all the models she saw in the magazines. But for Kat it was much worse than that. Anorexia, bulimia, self harm, minor cosmetic surgery, and enough makeup to cover the entirety of the cheerleading squad from head to toe. "Why can't I be pretty," she thought to herself every night. "You were, but you ruined yourself," Death says almost as if reading Envy's mind. "I like to joke and have fun, but there is nothing funny about you Envy, you didn't even have to be there that night, you were just trying to fit in," Death said in a big sad and disappointed sigh. It almost seemed like Death cared about Kat, though none of the new named Sins knew why.
"Greedy bastard aren't ya?" Death looked over at Austin. "More and more and more you just want a little more. Probably enjoying the attention you're getting right now," Death criticizes. Austin, in some ways as Greed, was a little bit of all of the Sins. He wanted everything, which makes him envious. Sex, which makes him lustful. Power, which makes him Pride. The best cuisine money could buy, which makes him gluttonous. Revenge on anyone who crosses him, which makes him full of wrath. And sometimes, he just wants a damn day to himself, is that too much to ask for? That makes him slothly. And lastly he wants fame and fortune, as well as everything else, how could he not be the embodiment of greed itself. "Well I refuse to give you what you want Greed. You know why you're here and that's that," Death ended.
Sloth, naturally was last to be named. Mark was as lazy as they come. But for Mark, it went deeper than just laziness. It was his inability to act on the night of the crash that really earned him his place in the Sins. "You sat there and watched it all happen, Sloth." Five of the six other members peered over at Sloth. Pride was looking into a mirror. What did you expect, he IS Pride. Death continues Sloth's secret, "As the crash happened you were walking home. You watched the cars collide and then build up, into maybe one of the biggest crashes reported on record. Want to tell them what you did Sloth?"
"Nothing," Sloth said staring at the ground, eyes watering. "I froze," he said.
"Yup, you sat there and watched, who knows if he had done something maybe some of you, except pride wouldn't have to be here right now. But that doesn't matter now," Death finally finished.
Mixed emotions went around the room. Some were mad at Wrath for starting the accident, some were mad at sloth for doing nothing, Pride was still checking himself out in the mirror and Gluttony was just embarrassed he died via cookie. Although, with all of the tension in the air nobody said a word. The group just sat in silence and judged each other quietly. No one wanted to piss off death after all.
"There will be a lot that I am going to have to teach you seven before you will be allowed to leave Hell. But before we start the teaching process, lets get you a tour of your new home," Death explains to the new stressed and confused group of Sins. They all continue out of the room into a long hallway, just as hot as the room, if not hotter.
"So, we aren't going to be tortured, are we?"
"Haha, maybe a little, Envy," Death replies.
"A lot," Pride teases.
"So is that a yes?" Envy asks with a serious tone. Before anybody could answer, the group, following Death, walk through a door at the end of the hallway. They all step out onto a narrow walkway. It was a bridge, similar to a long wooden bridge you'd find with rope handrails and you'd immediately say, "Fuck this," and turn around. Only thing is, this bridge had no handrails and below it was a big 'ol sea of lava and flames dancing across the surface.
"How is that even -"
"Don't even ask"
The walkway was so narrow that everyone had to walk in a single line formation. With even the slightest loss of balance and they'd be swimming with the lava hounds. Despite the sound of screams and bubbling lava along with chains, demonic cackling and many other despicable sounds, Hell was really quite peaceful.
"Now listen up," Death begins, "we are on our way to meet Leviathan, one of the princes of Hell. Does anyone know whom that may be, and no revealing the answer Pride, " Death questions the Sins.
"From the sound of his name, I'd say he is a dragon like demon?"
"Kind of, Gluttony, but he is actually part of Lucifer himself."
"Come again," Wrath calls out, confused.
"A long time ago," Death explains, "God created angels, and shortly after he ordered them to serve humans. Most of the angels, Michael especially, were more than happy to do so, as long as it made their father, God, happy. But Lucifer did not like this, he felt as if angels were superior in every way and demanded that the humans served them, so he left Heaven, along with his lover, Lilith."
"So Leviathan is the son of Lilith and Lucifer?," Greed asked.
"Let me finish will ya," Death exclaimed, "Lucifer was the original seven deadly sins, all wrapped up in one body. However Lucifer split himself into 6 beings, Leviathan (Envy), Satan (Wrath), Beelzebub (Gluttony), Mammon (Greed), Belphegor (Sloth), and of course Lucifer but he held onto pride and lust. There was no need for him to split lust from his body as Lilith, his queen of Hell would take that place. Besides, he wanted his own lust for his wife, if you're picking up what I'm putting down."
They reach the end of the walkway. Death asks the sins to follow them just a little longer along a platform toward another sea of lava. Once they reach the edge the ground begins to shake, and waves form in the lava. All of a sudden a large snake like dragon creature flies out from within the lava. Wings as big as empire state buildings and a body bigger than anything any of the Sins have seen before. Leviathan had long sharp looking teeth and eyes that pierced right through the souls of everyone standing in front of Leviathan. Although, Death didn't seem to be phased. Was he just used to coming across Leviathan, or was he something to be feared even more?