"Come back Ziz! I thought you wanted to fight!" I yelled after the giant bird lady.

  "Leave me be, little bird!" she said.

  "I'm sorry, but that's not how fighting works! You can't just quit!" I said. "Well, you can, but that doesn't mean your opponent will stop."

  "That is most unfortunate for you. I will never be caught by likes of you, little bird!" she said.

  "Right," I said. I needed to find a way to catch her before she got away. I teleported to her again, but she easily passed by me. I just didn't want to let her get out of my sight.

  I couldn't grab onto her at this speed. I needed to find a way to match her speed and inertia so I could effectively grab onto her and attack. But how would I do that? I knew I needed to indulge in a sin, but which one?

  I could try wrath and hellfire to propel me, but I had a feeling that just wouldn't be enough. I had to be faster than her. I had to be better than her at the one thing she was the best at. Wait, that was it! Hubris! If I believed I was better at flying than the greatest flying beast to ever exist, the hubris jewel might give me the ability to do that.

  I just had to be careful not to let it consume me and take me over after I had won. There's no telling how much damage an out-of-control Dave could do to the Earth. There I go talking about myself in the third person again. Stop it, me!

  I slapped myself in the face a few times. It didn't hurt, so it didn't quite have the waking up effect I wanted, but that was ok. I just needed to focus on my own without the aid of self inflicted pain.

  I had to convince myself I was better than Ziz, the most intimidating flying bird or beast I had ever laid eyes on. I mean, she had elemental powered wings, for crying out loud! How was I going to develop a sense of superiority over what was essentially a giant flying mansion that could achieve Mach 15 speeds or higher? To give a point of reference, the fastest flying aircraft can only achieve Mach 9.6. And meteors enter the atmosphere around Mach 25.

  And yes, I am a walking encyclopedia. Give me a break. I was able to make it to the final table in the World Series of Poker for three years straight before alcoholism took me down. I'm a nerd. Again, give me a break.

  I could do this. I just had to believe in myself in an unhealthy, egotistical way. I could fly faster than Ziz. I just had to believe. I believe I can fly faster than Ziz, I told myself. No. I can fly faster than Ziz! I don't believe it, I know it.

  I can fly faster than her. She was nothing compared to me, the great invincible Dave Daverson. I hated to use my full name, but Beauregard David Daverson was better than this. He was better than an evil monster bent on the world's destruction. I could do this. I could do this. I could do—

  The air in front of me started to shimmer and morph. It morphed and reshaped until a thin purple ring formed in the air in front of me. Then another popped a few feet after the first one. Then another and another until there were over a dozen of them.

  Huh. I looked inside myself and the purple hubris jewel was on fire. Purple flames were bursting out of it. Ok, I had done something. This was new. I tentatively flew up to the first purple ring and put my hand out. I reached my hand through the threshold of the ring and felt a strong pulling sensation.

  The sensation grew and grew until I couldn't resist it anymore and it shot me tumbling through the ring. And then I hit the next ring which propelled me faster. And the next and the next and the next did the same. I shot out of the last ring going so fast that the world around me had turned into a blur.

  I straightened out and glided with my wings. I could see Ziz who had become a speck on the horizon, slowly start to get larger in my view. I pressed hard into my mind and summoned more purple rings in front of me. Another two dozen just to be safe.

  I shot through them like a rocket. Ziz started to get larger and larger, but I still wasn't fast enough. I summoned a hundred more rings and blasted through them. Ziz got larger and larger and larger until I passed her altogether. She started to get smaller in my rearview as I looked behind me.

  Oh shit. I needed to slow down or change directions. I tentatively altered the angle of my wings and body to turn around. I felt immense pressure on my body and wings, but they held up. If I didn't have the Mark of Cain making me invincible, I probably would have been torn apart by the forces on my body.

  I turned around, passed Ziz going the opposite direction, and then turned back around. I was going slower than her now. I just used a few rings to propel myself faster this time, and then a few more until I came up alongside her.

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  I smiled and waved. "Hi, Ziz! Fancy meeting you here! You come here often?" I said. My domination jewel lit up a dull bronze. Without its communication ability, there's no way she would have heard me.

  She looked shocked, annoyed, and fearful. "How did you? No one can beat me in the sky! This is my domain!" She roared.

  "Not anymore, it's not!" I said, putting up my left hand and blasting her with hellfire.

  She tried to shield herself with her wings, but she only served to make my job easier. I didn't want to burn her alive. I just wanted to disable her wings. I burned multiple of her right wings to a crisp before she careened out of control and crashed into the ground.

  She tried to fly away, but her wings were unbalanced. She had the left wings for some pairs of wings where the right ones were burned away. Then she tried to crawl. It was sad. It made me feel terrible for what I was doing.

  I was destroying the only one of her kind. In end she was just an animal. A very angry, dangerous animal, but still an animal. I didn't want to make her extinct. So I decided to do the next best thing. Neuter her. Wait. That's not the right word. I mean, make her harmless. I don't know what word I'm looking for there. I want to say 'neutralize', but that sounds too much like killing.

  I ran up to her. I wanted to walk up dramatically and put a foot on her leg or a wing, but even crawling, a mansion sized animal moves faster than my walking speed.

  "Ziz," I said, panting. "Why am I out of breath? I guess invincibility also doesn't have anything to do with cardio? Stupid. Why am I saying this outloud? Nevermind." I took a few deep breaths. "Stop, Ziz. I don't want to kill you. I'll let you go as long as you just live your life and don't kill any humans. Can we agree to that, please?"

  Ziz turned over onto her back to look at me, but her feathered wing hit me in the face and got feathers stuck in my mouth.

  "Patooey!" I spat the feathers out of my mouth.

  "Little bird, you know as well as I do that I can not agree to that. I must stick to my principles," she said, breathing raggedly.

  "No, you don't! Shut up! Stop with the macho bullshit! Just concede! I don't want to kill you!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

  "Little bird, if you only knew how much it hurts me to not be able to get up and fight you to the death," she said, still breathing raggedly.

  I looked more closely at her. She had a hole burned in the side of her chest. She probably had a collapsed lung. And yes, birds do have lungs. They also have air sacs, which are things humans don't have, but they do have lungs. And those lungs can collapse if punctured.

  Oh shit. I might have already killed her. I didn't want this. What was I going to do? I had all this power to corrupt and sin and destroy, but what good was it when I barely had the ability to help others? My powers, besides teleportation, mostly had to do with me.

  I wanted so badly to heal her, but I couldn't. What was I going to do? Just watch her die? I couldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I wiped a tear from my eye as I walked over to the hole in her side.

  "Why? Why do you have to die?" I said, leaning against her body and crying into her feathers. I sniffled and got some snot on her, immediately regretted it, and then hoped she didn't notice.

  "This all could have been avoided if you just agreed to leave humans alone! I'm sorry we're destroying the planet and disrespecting your skies, but there's nothing I can do about that. It's my job to protect the humans. I can't do anything else!" I yelled.

  "Little bird. How I pity you. You haven't learned that death and killing are inevitable. We were diametrically opposed. It's your job to protect the humans, and it's my job to protect birds and other flying creatures. One of us had to die. That is all there is to it," she said, her breath slowing down and getting more ragged.

  "No! I refuse to accept that! I'm going to save you! Just you watch!" I yelled through my tears. "Hnnng!!!"

  "What are you doing, little bird?" she said in confusion, raising her giant feathered eyebrow that was bigger than my entire body.

  "I'm straining! I'm going to develop the power to heal. Just hold on! Don't die before I get there!" I yelled, sniffling.

  I started to believe. I could help others. I could heal others. I didn't have to be a destructive monster. I could do good. I would do good, even if it meant giving up my life to do it. As I started to believe, something strange happened.

  The crown flashed and flickered in my mind. One by one, the jewels extinguished and went dark. I could feel that I didn't have their powers anymore. The crown shrunk until I couldn't see it anymore.

  What was happening? Was it something good? Would it help me save her? I kept pushing myself to believe in my ability to help others. In my desire to help others. In my love for people and creatures other than myself.

  Then something new began to form in the crown's place. Thin weaving branches created a wreath. Leaves and flower buds sprouted along the wreath. It wasn't a laurel wreath like I was familiar with from the traditions of ancient Greece.

  It appeared to be a rose wreath. Except, the stems or branches didn't have thorns. They were smooth. Periodically around the wreath, rose buds sprouted but remained dormant and unbloomed.

  What was this? What did it mean? I wondered what this could be until a pulse of knowledge emanated from the wreath. Suddenly, I knew its name and its nature. It was the Wreath of Virtue. It offered the power to do good for those worthy of it.

  I realized this was the intended form of the crown. God had intended for the ruler of Hell to be a force for good, rather than a punisher. A nurturing force rather than a destructive one. It was only Lucifer's original rotten nature that had corrupted it and turned into a force for evil and misery.

  Only someone who truly wanted more for others rather than themselves could return the wreath to its original state. Only someone who truly wanted to give to others and not themselves could do it. It took my desperate emotional state to change it.

  My desperate need to save someone else. My willingness to sacrifice myself for another. Especially someone who offered nothing to me in return. I simply wanted to save her because it was right. Nothing more, nothing less.

  The rose bud in the front of the wreath began to stir. It slowly opened up and bloomed into a beautiful yellow rose. It glowed softly with yellow light. Instantly, I knew this was the rose of compassion. It would allow me to heal Ziz's fatal wound and set things right.