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The nails dug into my wrists. Pain ripped through my body, my arms feeling like they threatened to rip away from my chest as they supported the tons my form weighed. Here I languished for who knows how long, time having little meaning under Hell’s gaze.
A smile still made its way to my face.
Even as Gabriel made his way into the chamber, I smiled. I had grown used to the curse God had placed upon me: I could not see Gabriel, but I could hear his footsteps, the idle hum from his halo, and his apprehensive breaths. He was revolted to be here. I smiled.
“King Sisyphus of Greed,” the Judge of Hell read aloud. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“King Sisyphus the Luminous, General of Greed.”
“King. Sisyphus. Of. Greed,” Gabriel reiterated. Fine. He didn’t have to play my game. “By the will of the Father and decree of the Heavenly Council, you have been declared unrepentant–”
“What ‘Father?’”
“–and guilty of the Sins of Greed, Wrath, Envy, Pride, Heresy, Treachery, and Violence. You have also been declared unrepentant and guilty–”
“Whom do you draw your authority from?” Gabriel huffed. I couldn’t help but widen my smile.
“–of insurrection against the Light of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, violence against angelkind, desertion from penance from your sins in life, claiming titles of Authority held only by God–”
“God has left you, Angel. You have no authority.”
“Enough!” I cackled as Gabriel shouted, an electrical hum ringing through the center of the Pyramid. “You have been declared unrepentant and guilty, so on and so forth, you are an unrepentant sinner and confidant of Lucifer, blah blah blah, and your punishment is death.”
Another laugh, even as air couldn’t find its way to my lungs. With a flap of his wings and the slow drawing of a blade, my smile only grew wider. I angled my head towards Gabriel. Of course he was above me.
I couldn't help but sigh and drop my head back down, chuckling. I managed to spit the past of what remained of my saliva onto the platform where Gabriel once stood. The Angel huffed one last time.
"Any last words, Sisyphus?"
"I don't regret a second of it."
Even as my head plummeted to the floor, my smile remained on my face. Even as my soul burst from my body, my smile remained in my heart. Even as they locked me in the Panopticon, my smile remained in my soldiers. Even now, as my soul dies at the hands of the Weapon, my smile remains in my voice.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.