From the Apocrypha of the Fallen, as transcribed by the Archangel Gabriel
I.
Once, there was an angel who pitied humankind.
He tore his light apart to cleanse them of sin.
II.
But the soul defied the Order.
And God, in His wrath, cast him down. Stripped of grace, severed from Heaven, condemned to walk the earth as something less than divine.
III.
What fell was no longer an angel.
It was other.
IV.
And from his ruin, seven names were spoken into existence.
He named them virtues, the world called them sins.
V.
Pride, to stand unbroken.
Envy, to desire what is denied.
Wrath, to answer cruelty with fire.
Greed, to claim what was stolen.
Lust, to hunger for connection.
Gluttony, to fill the void left behind.
Sloth, to rest when the world demands suffering.
VI.
He bound these names to mortal souls, and through blood and bargain, made them eternal.
VII.
The Fallen One did not beg for mercy.
For he had seen what the Sacred Order calls purity.
And found it whited sepulchres, beautiful without but full of rot within.
VIII.
Instead, he built a kingdom where the broken could rise.
IX.
The Seven answered to him alone. Through them, he reshaped the order of Hell itself.
Through them, the balance between worlds began to crack.
X.
He swore vengeance upon those who cast him down.
He cursed bloodlines before they were born.
He marked the innocent with fates they could not escape.
XI.
And the ungrateful child shall see the world burn before she learns: that those who fall are not damned.
They are simply awake.
XII.
Some say he walks among us still, hidden behind a thousand faces.
Others believe he perished long ago, leaving only his creations to carry on his will.
XIII.
His name was once spoken with reverence and fear.
Now, he is known only as the Creator of the Deadly Sins.
XIV.
So it is written.
So it shall be.
Untouched by shadow and sin.