Gates of Man

This is a story a friend and I are writing up. I've included both the intro and the first chapter, though it's not quite finished. The basis is in the 7 Deadly Sins of the Catholic church, with some major twists. Feedback is welcomed with open arms.

/An Introduction/

Yo. My name’s Edan and I’m Lust personified. Really. Well, you might recognize me better as the Gate of Lust, but whatever. Same difference.

I know, I know. We’re not supposed to be real. Old wives tale. The Sector phenomenon? Coincidence. Or that’s what they say. I’ll tell you right now that it’s not coincidence, though. Just to set the record straight.

First, we’re all real. I can attest to that personally /insert leer here/. None of us are made up. There’s a Wrath, a Pride (my two bestest friends /insert wink here/), a Gluttony, an Envy, a Sloth and a Greed.

Second, we’re not raging maniacs. Well, not all of us, anyway (^.^). We’re pretty normal, for the most part. And we don’t have horns (horny’s a different matter altogether) or tails (/snicker/).

Thirdly, I’ve heard some nasty rumours that we’re not the good guys the legends say. FALSE!! Absolutely, horribly friggin’ fals-o. we’re the one who saved the world not too long ago. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. I mean, you have no idea how HARD (/snicker/) I—it was. I satrge/;lhyfa83

Mere here. We are never allowing Edan to record anything again. Ever. Let’s not even let him keep a diary.

Talon. Agreed. I’d just be how many times he’s had sex that day and full detail of each time.

HEY! That hurt! You are so sleeping on the couch tonight! Both of you! Anyway, what I was going to get around to saying before I was so rudely interrupted was that you don’t have to worry, ‘cuz I won’t happen again during this Reign. We’ll see to that! Peace out!

/Chapter 1/

Talon raised an eyebrow at the knife sticking out of his stomach, then lifted his eyes to stare at the man who’d put it there. He snorted before pulling it out, wincing only slightly and throwing the weapon to the side. “Get out and stop harassing people or I’ll find myself compelled to do something about it.”

The four men around him wore expressions ranging from shock to fury, wavering on the edge of being fearful. None of them spoke for a long moment, too surprised to even move. The one of them suddenly darted forward, swinging a long metal pipe.

Talon easily dodged to the side and as the man went by, carried by the momentum of his strike, he grabbed his attacker’s elbow and twisted. “Right. Now I’m pissed,” the teen muttered to no one in particular, though his face didn’t alter the mildly bored expression he’d worn all day. He turned to the remaining three men still standing, two of them still armed. At his feet, the man with the pipe—Talon mentally dubbed him Ass #1—was curled on the ground, cradling his throbbing limb.

“Who the hell are you?” one of the strangers spat out, shifting his grip on the long knife he still held.

“That’s exactly what I should be asking you,” Talon rejoined neatly. “You come barging into my district simply to harass people. I’m giving you one last warning to go home and watch TV. This is the most peaceful district and we want to keep it that way.”

There was a short silence as the man who had yet to speak helped the recovering man at his feet stand and limp away. Talon stared at the two remaining men. “So, you’re the stupid ones.” After that, he didn’t say anything as he quickly and methodically took them out, leaving plenty of souvenirs for them to take with them. A warning to behave themselves in the future, he left them moaning on the ground and headed home, hardly breathing hard.

Letting out a deep breath, he looked up from the paved street to the sprawling complex of buildings in front of him. Seen from this side, coming from the sector, the smooth gray walls were covered in graffiti and messages left by the gangs in the area. Feeling his ire rising at the sight, Talon ruthlessly squashed the feeling as he approached the main gate. He couldn’t afford to let loose out her, in view of the public eye.

Just before the main gate, though, he ducked to the side, into an alcove that hid a small door from sight. Slipping through, he breathed a bit easier with the barrier between him and the rest of the world. Patrolling his sector was necessary, as today had demonstrated, but he didn’t like doing it. He had to deal with too many idiots for it to be anything close to enjoyable. People simply never learned.

He started up the stairs at the end of the hallway. When he got to the end, he pulled a card out of his wallet and swiped it through the scanner, waiting until the light blinked to green before opening the door. Stepping through, he closed the door behind him and turned to look at the room. The richly decorated Grand Hall was almost completely made up of varying shades of red.

“Yo, Tarla!” he called, striding purposefully down the hall to the opposite end. Just as he came within ten feet of what seemed to be a solid wall of red, a section slid away revealing a girl-—young woman, really—of about 19. She smiled slightly at Talon before ushering him into the room beyond.

“Dinner was just delivered and your bath will be ready afterwards,” she said as the door slid shut behind him. The young man shrugged off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor in a heap.

“Good,” he answered shortly. “Anything happen while I was out?”

Tarla began setting out the food on a low table as she answered. “Not really. Nothing more exciting than the main coming, unless you count Shan getting his foot stuck in a bucket of water exciting. It was certainly amusing. The mail’s over there, by the way.”

Easily able to see the klutzy assistant chef with his foot in a bucket, Talon smiled slightly, feeling his bad mood evaporate around his lifelong friend. Tarla expanded on the incident and he half-listened as he absently went through the small stack of envelopes.

“…absolutely priceless. I wanted to…” Complaint, complaint. “…picture of it. Maara did and…” Another complaint. A letter from an outside dignitary. “…get it from her to show you. Then Shan…” Yet another complaint. A letter from two sectors over. Complaint. “…around and we could hear him—”

“When did this one come in?” he asked abruptly, cutting off the stream of words as he held up the second letter. Tarla looked up, a slight frown on her face.

“What? Oh, that came about two hours ago. As I was saying…”

Talon completely ignored her this time as he tore open the top of the envelope and quickly pulled out the printed paper inside.

“Is anyone else tired of this warring state? ‘Cause I am. It makes it so hard to find time to get laid.”

Frowning, Talon glanced at the envelope, hoping to find the name of whoever had sent this. There was no return address, but he realized with a shock that it had been addressed to Wrath. Wondering how this person had known who he was, he returned his attention to the letter he still held.

“Is anyone else tired of this warring state? ‘Cause I am. It makes it so hard to find time to get laid. Do you know how frustrating that is? Anyway, I’m writing this to see if you (the Gate who’s reading this) are of similar mindset. If so, there’s got to be something we can do about it.

“Oh, sorry. I still haven’t introduced myself. It’s the built up sexual tension, I think. Anyway, my name’s Edan Sakane, the Gate of Lust.

“Put simply, I want to meet you. Doesn’t it seem odd that we’re expected to hate someone we’ve never met? So, I’m going to fix that. There’s a nice, long, comprehensive explanation for all this, but you’ll have to come to hear it. You’ve got two weeks to think about it.

“If you decide to come, I’ll be waiting all day at the Tower of Crossings on April 24th. Hope to see you there.

“♥ Lust (AKA Edan)”

Talon spent a moment staring at the paper, the words running through his mind. The Gate of Lust—this Edan Sakane—wanted to meet him. And he had a point. Talon had always been raised to hate the other Gates. The seven Dark Sins had always been in contention with each other, for as long as anyone could remember. It was just the way it was. But he had never even met the other six. He probably would hate them even so, but the point was he never had met them. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and decided then to go.

Just so he’d have a good reason to return and at least severely dislike the others once he met them in person, of course.

~~~~

Mere stared at the envelope waiting on his desk. It was addressed “To the Esteemed Pride, who’s Reign it is.” He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to open it or not. Not many  people know the identities of the Gates of Man, much less where they lived. Only the most devoted followers, the servants/employees and certain government officials, really. Whoever had sent this letter had probably bribed an official. It was pathetically easy to do, after all. The world wasn’t what it used to be, according to some of his oldest employees.

Still, it had piqued his interest and he turned the envelope over, opening it neatly. Pulling the sheet of paper out, his eyes fell immediately to the bottom, where the sender’s signature had been written.

“♥ Lust (AKA Edan)”

Suddenly much more interested in the contents of the letter, Mere started at the beginning.

~~~~

Setae ran his fingers along the gilded arm of the chair he was sitting in. absorbed in the way the soft light reflected in the golden color, he hardly heard the small stack of mail hitting the table in front of him.

At length, his attention transferred from the chair arm to the papers. Assessing them for a long moment, he reached out abruptly and tugged a single envelope from the bottom of the stack, ignoring the ones that fell to the floor.

Making note of the sing word—Greed—written on the envelope, he ripped it open, being careful only of the paper inside. The envelope was cast aside as he unfolded the letter and scanned it.

Frowning, he read the missive again, slower. Finished, he contemplated the paper for a long moment before reaching out to hit a small, golden bell.

A servant walked in and bowed slightly in Set’s direction. “Yes, milord?”

“Find out everything you can on the Gate of Lust. Everything.”

“Yes, milord.”

Setae read over the letter once more s he settled back, one hand absently rubbing the chair arm.

~~~~

Armor’s cheek twitched at the knock on the door. Large, droopy brown eyes continued to stare unblinkingly at the TV, the only source of light in the room. Long, slim fingers moved at an almost inhuman speed across the hand held game controller. The door opeed a crack. “Mail’s here,” a voice said quietly, but firmly.

“Mmm…” was the rely as the pixel character on the screen decapitated another two enemies.

The servant sighed and set the mail on a small table next to the door. “There’s something you might be interested in. Addressed to the Gate of Sloth.”

There was a surprised little grunt and a finger reluctantly pressed the pause button. “Bring it here.”

~~~~

“Nope…nada…oooh, that’s promising…”

The sound of pages being turned echoed in the otherwise silent room. Shifting slightly, Citniko paused for a moment as the disturbed water lapped gently at his stomach. As the pleasurable sensation faded, he returned his attention to the fashion magazine he was holding above the water’s surface.

“Zilch…nothing…overload…”

“Sir?”

“Love the red…Hmm?...not the blue…”

“The mail is here, sir.”

“Green, maybe?...Bring it in…nope…”

Niko didn’t glanceup as the butler left and returned a moment later. Holding one hand out, he asked, “Anything different?”

“There’s a letter from another sector, but the rest are complaints, sir,” the butler replied.

“Just the letter, then,” Niko ordered absently. “Tell me. Green or red?”

The butler handed the letter to the bathing teen and glanced at the magazine. “Red, sir.”

“That’s what I thought. Dismissed.” As the butler left, Citniko transferred his attention to the envelope he now held.

“Now, who knew I was Envy and what do they want?”

~~~~

Stabbing absently at a stray chunk of potato, Blaine glared half-heartedly at the man who had dared interrupt her meal. "Is there a point to this?" she asked sharply before bringing the fork up to her mouth and chewing with relish while eyes a piece of meat.

"Ah, yes, ma'am," the man replied hesitantly, watching with morbid fascination as the meat joined the potatoes. "The, ah, mail came. Ma'am," he added quickly as his eyes followed the path of more potatoes to Blaine's mouth.

Blaine considered this, chewing the food slowly. "Hmm...okay. Bring it in," she ordered after swallowing. The man nodded and left quickly. He returned a moment later with a handful of envelopes.

Glancing at the small stack, Blaine reached out with her free hand to snag a particular letter from the man's hand.

She stared at it as she brought another large chunk of meat to her mouth. The writing said "Gluttony" on the side, but nothing else. She swallowed before looking at the staff member. "What's          this?"

"It came from another sector, ma'am. All I know is that it isn't a complaint, uh, ma'am." His attention was distracted again as the girl at the table added a roll to her already overfilled plate and began to butter it.

"All right. Thank you." He nodded and left, thankful to have been dismissed quickly.

Blaine set most of the roll down after popping a portion in her mouth, then turned the envelope over to open it. She scanned the contents before raising an eyebrow. "This should be interesting."