I find my way to the couch and slide

  James' spare bible from underneath it.

  “Oh, honey, you're so cute. Do you really think you're going to battle with us? Trust me, sweetie it ain't worth it. You're not ready for the big leagues.” Lust tries to distract me.

  I Flip the pages. Leviticus. Numbers.

  Psalms.

  “Don't bother with Pssssalmsss. Sss000 boring. “ The Flesh also tired his best.

  ~WORSHIP ME.~

  The pages flutter to a stop as I release

  them.

  "Wisdom is that you?" I ask.

  "You have heard from Father God. I would strongly advise that you do as He says." She replied.

  "Worship?" I look down at where my finger rests on the bible. Psalms 42:11.

  "Wisdom, how do I worship God?"

  "With your life, Jamal. You worship God with your life. Give honor to the Lord for He is worthy."

  I feel stuck. I don't know what to do, so I look down at the Bible and skim the words.

  Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

  "Lord, I thank You that I can put my trust in You. I thank You that I can rest in You. My God and my Savior I will praise You!"

  And then I'm on my feet lifting my hands, my lungs fill to capacity, and a roar of joy escapes my lips. Battle is near and I don't intend to lose it.

  A song I never heard before bursts from my lips. With each word, the room lights up, bright and warm. As I sing, I notice both Lust and the Flesh have grown quiet. But I still feel them. Lurking. Listening. Waiting. Urges still taunt me even as the words flow out of my mouth in an unfamiliar melody. I keep wanting to stop and look at a video.

  "Lust isn't talking but I can feel her calling to me," I tell Wisdom.

  "Just continue to read and resist her. She knows a battle is going to take place. She wants you to let her fully in so that the Flesh may weaken you."

  "Okay." I grab the Bible and sit back down. More flipping takes place until I land on another scripture in Psalms.

  How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

  Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself,

  Where she may lay her young— Even Your

  altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.

  Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;

  They will still be praising You. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion.

  O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah. O God, behold our shield, And look upon the face of Your anointed. 10For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

  I read and read and read and then finally close my bible.

  "I think I'm ready to take her on."

  "Studding a little longer is wise." Wisdom advises.

  "It's already 10:30 p.m. we need to start is battle soon. Plus I'm going to ask James to tag along with me. So I should be good on studying for the night. I just want to end this now."

  Ignoring Wisdom's advice, I stand up and walk to James' room.

  "James." I knock on the door.

  "Yeah?"

  "I'm about to enter the Battlefield. I was

  hoping you would join me in my battle."

  The door opens and James stares at me for a moment with a squint. "Are you sure you're ready to fight?" He looks me right in the eyes when he asks the question.

  "Yeah, I mean as ready as I can get." I shrug and look down, "Lust has had a hold on me for too long. I'm ready to get rid of her for good."

  "Okay." He steps aside and motions me in with his head. "Let's get it started then."

  I immediately fall to my knees by James' bed, and he joins me seconds later.

  We bow our heads in unison. Thoughts of my last battle with death suddenly assault my psyche. He almost had my soul! With these thoughts come second thoughts about the battle. But these second thoughts last for mere seconds. There ain't nothing that's going to stop me from engaging in this battle. It has to be done.

  "Jamal, what are you waiting for? Pray

  us into the Battlefield."

  "Oh, I thought you were going to pray like last time." Confused, my head comes up and I look at him.

  James' head is still bowed.

  "If I pray, we will only end up in my

  Battlefield."

  "Alright, but I really don't know how to

  do this, man."

  "Just talk to God like you are talking to

  me."

  "Alright. Well...God, we are heading into battle. Just please protect us. Let the Holy Spirit take control. Give us the strength to defeat Lust. Please, guide us as we enter the Battlefield. In Jesus' name, amen."

  I open my eyes and look down. My feet are covered in water the color of red roses.

  One glance around the room and I'm certain I just walked into a nightmare. I look at James. Neither one of us is kneeling anymore. He looks around in wonder just as much as I do. We share a ‘this-is-crazy’ look. The walls of this place are covered with full-body portraits of moving naked women.

  I'm thinking the pictures are the wall. I can't see one bit of wall between any of the frames. I try not to stare too long at the women twisting seductively while their hands roam their bodies. I wonder if this is what my thoughts created.

  "Jamal, come play with us." A chorus of silky simpering voices float from the portraits. "Don't you like what you see?"

  That's a trick question. Their bodies are flawless. Truth is, I do like what I see...but I don't. Despite myself, my eyes roam the pictures. Black women, White women, Asian women, you name it. Every inch of the wall is covered with their bodies. I feel like I can just step into a picture of my choosing.

  "Jamal." I hear a voice calling me from a distance. It’s James. "Jamal wipe that silly grin off your face and let's get moving."

  I snap back to reality and James watching me closely.

  "Pull it together, Mal," he says furrowing his eyebrows. "This is a warzone, not a playground."

  "You're right." I agree, deciding right then and there not to look at these things at all.

  "Jamal, look at how bouncy they are," one of the women in the pictures calls out to

  me.

  "No look at how big my booty is," another picture tries to entice me.

  "James, do you see a way out?" I do my best to ignore the calls, taunts, and purrs.

  "Yeah, over there." James points to an opening a ways from us. "We'll just have to continue on the path we're already on."

  I look down at our feet and ahead, and for the first time I notice we are on a literal path. I probably didn't notice the path or the opening because I was drooling over the women in the photos. I try not to let the fact I almost got caught up before I even reached Lust discourage me.

  I can feel lust and her strong aura in the direction of the opening in the wall.

  "Let's go," I say and start walking

  quickly to the next room.

  "Jamal, why are you leaving us?" The women in the pictures speak as one collective voice. "You don't have to leave, stay and we will give you what you want."

  "Let's run," James suggests. "No time to

  waste."

  We take off running, and to my surprise, these pictures begin to hop off the walls. At least a hundred framed pictures fly towards us.

  "Don't go."

  "I'm so horny."

  "I know how to please a man."

  The rest of the pictures that aren't begging us to stay flood past us.

  "James, look! They're trying to block our

  way out!"

  I rip my shirt off, and reach behind my back and touch the tattoo there. Immediately the flesh that meets my fingertips begins to harden and raise. A burn that is both hot and cold shoots through my spine. I cry out as the metal rises off of my back and forms into my hand.

  I whip the sword around and let out a battle cry, "AHHHH!" I rush the dancing women. "Move out my way!"

  James draws his sword, too and follows me. We slice through photo after photo, but it seems as if there are an endless wave of them. Even so, we carry forward with our attacks. The pictures duck and dodge, and form a circle around me and James.

  "Stay with us. Stay with us. Stay with us."

  The chanting is like a swarm of bees buzzing around our heads. I want to cover my ears, but instead, I slice into a few before calling out to James.

  "We're not getting anywhere with this,"

  I yell over the mindnumbing chatter.

  James slashes through a few dozen twirling pictures with one flick of his glowing blue sword before saying, "You need to ask Wisdom for her power to flow into your sword. With her, you can destroy them all."

  "Wisdom, let your light shine through me." I close my eye and tighten the grip on my sword.

  Wisdom's power travels through my being and floods my sword with intense blue light. I know this even before I open my eyes. With a newly powered sword, I slash through the pictures dozen upon a dozen at a time. With one swipe I take out a bundle of nude photos that turn into dust at the swords touch. It feels great! And the best part of it is that I knew this wasn't my power.

  "Why do you want to leave us, Jamal?" A woman in a picture asks desperately just before it crumbles into a dust pile.

  "If you stop now I can blow your mind!"

  Another cries out as she races to the edge of herframe.

  The room echoes with the shrill frantic calls of the women. Still, James and I steadily cut through pictures and make our way to the exit. The way out is still blocked by the photos that raced to the opening the minute we started walking towards it.

  "They are still blocking our escape,

  James!"

  "Not a problem, bro. They are positioned perfectly to cut right through all of them at once." James readies his sword and races full speed towards the pictures.

  I follow his lead.

  "No! Stay with-"

  With one blow the remaining half turns into dust. I step over it and into the opening that leads to a hallway.

  "Jamal! Don't go!" A nasty voice floats

  into my ears.

  Despite myself, I turn around just in time to see this ugly, disgusting monstrosity materialize behind James. I think it's supposed to be a woman. She is completely naked...and repulsive. She has not one but many faces, all rotten, all disfigured. Her arms are so long that they hang past her entire body and lay limply on the floor.

  I stare at this thing as her faces' mouths open in unison and call my name without a breath in between.

  "JamalJamalJamalJamalJamalJamal."

  James' lips turn up in a sneer. "Go ahead and move on." He shoves a thumb in the ugly woman's direction without looking back, "I'll deal with this mess, bro."

  "Okay-" I begin but then the thing disappears. I stop and throw James a puzzled look.

  He simply intercepts an incoming from behind me.

  "Let's play!"

  I Jump and nearly stumble as I whirl around and come face to faces with "it". Her long arm slowly lift off the ground and try to wrap around me. I back up, frantically contorting my way around her long limbs.

  "Jamal!" James shouts and grabs my shoulder. He jumps us me back and raises his sword.

  He looks at me. "Jamal, I will take care of her. Your battle is with Lust. You'll find her at the end of the hallway. When you get there, put on the full armor of God. I know you can."

  I nod to acknowledge I hear him.

  "Jamal?"

  "Yeah, bro?"

  "Run."

  James plunges the sword into his stomach and immediately blue light spills out of him and engulfs his body. When it fades, James is wearing the full armor of God.

  The ugly woman screeches and charges at us both, her arms drag behind her. James steadies his sword, prepared to strike. I run straight towards the woman as if I'm about to crash into her. At the last minute, I drop down and slide past her long arms.

  "Jamaaaal! Come BACK!" she screeched in her ugly voices.

  I look back to find the beastly thing flying towards me.

  James is a blur as he moves into her path. He leaps into the air and grabs one of her faces and lands. His hand slams the back face into the ground. And then he does it again to the other face, and again to another face, and then flings her into a wall on the opposite side of the room.

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  "Go on, Jamal." The words are coming from James' mouth, but I know it's Wisdom speaking.

  I nod and once again survey the path before me. This time I walk in confidence, leaving James to deal with the disfigured, thirsty female. He can handle her, he has Wisdom on his side. My fingers tighten around my sword as I make my way down the hall.

  On both sides of the hall are screens that I assume stretch to the end of the hall.

  I glance at one screen while I walk down the hall. I do a double-take. Is that me? I stop and watch for a moment. That's me looking at porn. I walk a little further and stop to peer at another screen. That's me texting Selena. I go to a screen on the opposite side of the hallway and watch myself shove a five-dollar bill into the bikini of a stripper. I peep the silly grin on my face as she gives me a show.

  This place is a freakin' museum of lustful Jamal!

  "Look at thisss," My Flesh hisses. "You are full of lussst. Who are you trying to fool? You love it."

  "Why is this here?" I feel overwhelmed

  by all these images of my lustful desires.

  "It'sss videosss of what isss in your heart." He said, "Thiss isss how you truly feel."

  "You're lying." I say it, but I don't believe it. How can I? I'm surrounded by images of my past sins.

  Jamal after Jamal click on websites, swipe through pictures, is sleeping with Selena. I could have walked away in a lot of these moments, but I didn't. Man, I feel defeated! Am I? Has lust already won before I even started the battle? The images of my past play across my eyeballs, and dance through my mind leaving a trail of guilt in its wake.

  I feel my sword slip from my hand as I fall to the ground. I'm shaking from shame.

  Oh, wretched man that I am!

  "Jamal, what are you doing?" It's Wisdom.

  "He'sss giving up," My Flesh answers for

  me. "Obvioussss, isssn't it?"

  "I can't go on!"

  "Get on your feet, Jamal." Wisdom commands gently.

  Wisdom's light burns like fire in my sternum, it travels through my shoulder and races down my arm. Before I know it, I snatch up my sword and am on my feet.

  Clamping down on the handle, I swing with all of my might at the screens on the walls.

  Shards of glass rain down all around me, glittering with the reflection of light.

  "This isn't me. Christ died to wipe this

  all away!" I yell.

  "You fool!" My Flesh hisses angrily. "You

  could have jussst gave up here. Now..."

  "Aw, shut up," I say as I throw my sword

  across my shoulders and resume my walk to the end of the hall.

  Every screen that happens to catch my eye I slashed with my sword until I reach the door at the end of the hallway. I size up the door, looking for the handle. The door is nothing but wood with an antique looking doorbell on the side. I cock an eyebrow at the doorbell. Now, why would I ring the bell to ask for entrance? That doesn't sound like much of a battle to me.

  I rear back and kick the door. The door swings open and slams into the wall behind it loudly.

  “Hello, the door was open so I came in” I said as stepped in the room.

  My eyes are immediately drawn to a huge bed in the middle of the room. Three women kneel on their knees in a circle on it.

  I look down at my feet resting by the threshold of the doorway. The room is a void, or so it looks. Aside from where the bed is lit up by some invisible light, there is nothing but darkness. I can't see the ground. A breeze from the room reaches my nose, and I smell this sickly sweetness that reminds me so much of lust.

  The woman whose back is towards me suddenly turns around. Her eyes are swirls of glittery dust, like the galaxy.

  She crooks a finger and smiles with straight, sharp white teeth. "Come join us."

  As she offers her invite, she slinks off the bed one lovely long leg at a time. She travels from the bed to me slowly, swinging her hips and biting her lips. She takes my wrist and kisses my cheek. The grip on my sword immediately loosens.

  "Jamal!" Wisdom yells.

  The woman quickly grabs for my sword, but I snatch my wrist away from her grasp and tighten my grip on it. In the process, the sword skims her torso. With my free hand, I grab her by the neck. Already she is turning to dust when I start to wring her neck. In moments, she is a glittering pile of dust at my feet.

  "I guess that old saying is true. Not all that glitters is gold." I smirk at the other two who are now staring at me with their galaxy eyes.

  "Why did you do that?" They ask together. "We can show you pleasure you never had before."

  "Bet," I say crossing the threshold and swinging my sword over my shoulders. "I'm willing to bet I'm gonna get a whole lotta pleasure when I defeat you. Oh, by the way, you can drop the act. I've spent enough time with you to recognize exactly who you are... Lust."

  The glittering dust begins to lift off the ground and swirl around me.

  "But of course," it says with a tinkling laugh. "We know each other so well. I would be hurt if you didn't recognize me."

  The dust floats over to the bed and forms into the woman I thought I just killed. She strokes the other two's heads like adoring pets.

  "Come lay with us, honey. I know you are getting excited. You don't have to deny yourself. It's only natural."

  "I rather cut my hand off before I lay with you," I answer with a sneer. "Let's stop playing games, Lust. We both know why I'm here. So stop wasting time and let me kill you already."

  "Kill little ol' me?" She points to herself with a pout. "Oh, honey, aren't you getting beside yourself. Ladies, teach my dumb honey bunny a lesson."

  With one last disgusting kiss to her

  "pets" Lust releases them. Both women climb off the bed in sync. As they make their way to me, they begin to turn. Their limbs grow with every hip movement. Faces begin to press out of each cheek.

  "Eeew. There are more of you things? One of you is enough, but three of you?"

  These things are the spitting image of

  the ugly chick I left James to take care of.

  "Could you at least put a bag over their face, Lust?" I shake my head. I guess it is now or never. I take my sword and point it inward.

  "Wait? What are you doing?" Lust crawls to the end of the bed with wide eyes. "Get him!" she screams at her minions.

  "Don't let him awaken the party pooper!"

  They rush towards me like hungry dogs.

  "Too late." I smirked.

  But then they are on me, one on each side. I start dodging their tentacles and backing up. I don't want to turn my back on them and run.

  "Wisdom what do I do? They aren't letting up!"

  "Lust sent her dog to do her job, I see," Wisdom sighs. "Do not corner yourself. If they get you into a corner it won't be a pretty sight."

  "It's kind of too late for that," I say dodging their fierce noodle arms.

  "You have to get out of their reach." Wisdom advises helpfully.

  "I think I got that. Easier said than done,

  though."

  "My girls won't allow you to let that

  party pooper out. I don't want her to ruin our fun." Lust is more settled on the bed now that she sees I am too busy dodging her pets slash minions to kill the flesh.

  "This could have all been avoided if you'd just listened to me."

  "Send a shot at the bed towards Lust."

  Wisdom commands. "They might go and protect her."

  I slam my sword into the dark. Surprisingly it makes contact with something solid.

  A bolt of light shoots through my sword, slides across the floor and hits Lust. As Wisdom predicted the two minions withdraw to protect their queen. With no time to waste I jam my sword into my stomach to undergo my transformation.

  "You idiots! I can protect myself from a weak attack like that," she screams at them, glancing over at me.

  She does a double-take and groans. "Great, now Honey went and let out the party pooper."

  Blue light blinds my vision. It pours through every pore in my body and shoots through my eyes, mouth, and nose. The light is brighter than the first time, the feeling, the pressure is more intense.

  My flesh slips off my body making way for the solid armor taking its place. When the light subsides, I can see Lust sneering at me.

  "What are you waiting for? Get them!"

  I squeeze the hilt of my sword as Wisdom's light wraps itself around me like a ribbon. Before the light can alter my vision, I see that the hilt shows an open bible with scriptures slowly fading in and then out to be replaced with other scriptures. I swivel the sword one time around as I let Wisdom take full control.

  The ugly chicks waste no more time coming after us. Wisdom charges them head on as they race toward us. Ugly One and Ugly Two abruptly stop just before we crash into each other. One swipes at our head with a long limb as the other aims for our legs. Wisdom's avoidance of the attacks are swift.

  She somersaults over the two of them, whirls around and strikes Ugly One's legs. The blade only nicks her leg before she jumps out of the way. Ugly Two whips both of her arms down on our breastplate. The wiggly string arms might look flimsy, but let me tell you they carry some strength.

  The impact brings us flying to the floor. But we don't stay there long. Wisdom quickly jumps to our feet and stabs the sword in Ugly Two's direction. The long limbs shrink away quickly and move around us.

  "Oh, Wisdom, you ol' party pooper. So determined." Lust lays back casually on the bed as she speaks. "By now you should realize it won't be easy to sneak up on my puppies. After all, they have a face on every side of their heads." Lust giggles as she fans herself. "I must say, I'm really enjoying the show."

  Oh, please get cocky. Wisdom murmurs inside my head. Pride comes before a fall. Remember that, Jamal.

  "I remember," I respond out loud. "Do what you need to do, Wisdom. I trust you."

  Ugly One and Ugly Two collect themselves and move to encircle us. Ugly One slinks to the back and Ugly Two moves to the front of us. Long punches are thrown from every direction. Arms are everywhere. Fists sail by us as Wisdom simply leans to the side to avoid them. She doesn't even have to move from her spot. In one sudden motion, Wisdom springs in the air and flips behind Ugly One.

  I shutter at the sight of the faces we saw while up in the air. Even the top of these ugly things' heads have ugly mugs.

  Ugly One reach for us in the air. But with a flick of a wrist, Wisdom slices Ugly One's elbow clean off. The thing howls in pain as the rest of the limb shrivels away.

  Wisdom then drops low and trips Ugly Two, who immediately falls, arms flailing. Wisdom grabs her arms and ties them together, dodges the long kicks, gets her legs, ties those too, and then proceeds to dropkicks her into the bed where Lust is perched.

  Then She turns to face an angry Ugly One. Her nasty limb grows slowly, slithering out of the bloody stump Wisdom left.

  Wisdom tilts our head.

  "MOVE!"

  The single word bursts from our mouth filling the whole room. Ugly One's bug eyes widen even more as she is flung back to the bed by some invisible force. She lands on the bed beside Lust and on top of Ugly Two.

  "Wisdom, what just happened?"

  The Word of God is powerful, Jamal, She answers simply, advancing to the bed towards Lust and her minions.

  Lust swats them to the side like a couple of flies. Immediately they stand up, oblivious to the fact that they just got slapped around like two ping-pong balls.

  Man, do these things get tired? I think just as they launch themselves at us for another attack. Somehow Ugly Two managed to get herself untangled.

  Wisdom is in front of both of them in a flash. She snatches Ugly Two by the throat and flings her into the air. Ugly One swings wildly at us. Wisdom jumps back, ducks to miss the swing and then grabs her arm before she could retract it. Then Wisdom seizes the other arm and forcefully pulls the ugly thing in two.

  I gag a little bit and will myself not to throw up as the two halves wriggle for a moment in dazed confusion and then vanish into dust.

  “Wisdom, that's nasty!” I complain.

  Wisdom shrugs our shoulders. “Had to be done.”

  "Oh, honey, you just had to go and kill her twin." Lust says unaffectedly, "Oh well, now you get to deal with her." Although I ain't see Lust's face, I know she is referring to the red faces growling at me from the head of Ugly Two.

  "Oh, no problem," we say casually as we

  wait for Ugly Two to advance.

  She runs and leaps in the air and lands in front of us, like a meteor falling to earth.

  Her long limbs flail in front of her.

  "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

  Her screeching slides us back a few steps. Her long limbs wrap around us and begin to squeeze.

  Wisdom, I think worriedly.

  “Oh, you of little faith.”

  Next thing I know, we pop out of Ugly Two's arms and straight into the air. Wisdom lands us on our feet and we run straight for Ugly Two, sword raised.

  Ugly Two isn't scared. She matches us in speed as we race toward her. Her fist grows until it looks like one of those cartoon hammers, and comes flying towards us. The fist is so big that there is no way to dodge it.

  The fist is inches from us when a shield appears in our hands. The fist hits the shield and bounces off. We go flying from the impact as a howl of pain fills the air. It only lasts a second, and then we land on our butt.

  A chuckle comes from the bed. "No longer a puppy, but my beautiful hound." Lust sighs satisfactorily.

  Wisdom pulls us back up. The shield is a little weak, but it did its job, She told me. You have to trust Me, Jamal.

  Ugly Two cocks back her arm, building momentum. By the look on her face I can tell she's really trying to send us packing.

  Ugly Two aims her fist at our face and launches it with the power of a missile.

  The shield is placed in front of us and takes the brunt of the attack. When Ugly Two's fist connects with the shield, a gust of wind fills the room. The room falls silent.

  The impact pushes us back, but this time we stay on our feet. Wisdom advances on Ugly Two the moment the vibrations from the hit stop.

  "BE GONE!"

  With the two words, Ugly Two vanishes

  leaving sparkly dust in her wake.

  "You B****!" Lust screams, suddenly

  jumping up from the bed.

  One moment, she is standing feet away from us, the next minute her face is inches away from us.

  "YOU THINK IT IS GOING TO BE THAT EASY TO TAKE ME ON?!?" Her face contorts in rage and spittle flies from her mouth as she talks. All of a sudden, her face relaxes into a beautiful smile that radiates so bright, the room shines.

  "No matter. I was here first. He's not gonna let you get strong enough to defeat me. I got him wrapped around my little finger!" She giggles and then breaks into a maniacal laugh.

  “She crazy.” I comment to Wisdom. “Is this the thing I've been letting control me all this time? Nah, she definitely got to go.”

  “I couldn't agree more,” Wisdom responds.

  With that Wisdom thrusts the sword into Lust's midsection. But the sword flies into thin air. Lust is no longer there. She shimmered away.

  "Up and down is all you do!" Lust's voice floats all around us. It's sweet and seductive at first, but then changes and becomes deep, hard and cold. "God is not going to forgive you every single time you fall into sin. Shame on you, Jamal. You don't deserve God's love. You don't love God. You love me. Most of all you love yourself. Just give up already."

  Wisdom ducks as a very long, thick rubbery arm comes flying down from the sky. She slashes at it and it retreats. But then two strange looking rotten trees appear in front of us. The smell coming from them makes us gag. The trees begin to move, and I realize two huge boats the same color are at the bottom of them.

  But they're not trees or boats. I'm looking at the legs of a corpse. I giant corpse. The flesh of the legs are gray and peeling. Bone peeks through some of the flesh. The two feet are so big I don't know where they end.

  Wisdom what is this? I ask as She ducks

  and dives the attempts to squash us.

  "Oh, this?" Wisdom speaks out loud.

  "This is Lust in her true form." She ducks an arm coming out of the sky that nearly knocks us over.

  "I'll make this one quick." Wisdom

  promises.

  All of a sudden a rotten moon is in our face. White milky pools stare at us.

  "Oh, I wouldn't underestimate me if I was you."

  Two rows of what look like yellowed piano keys reveal itself when the slit of the gray round face opens up to say those words.

  A wind of spoiled milk and putrid eggs nearly brings us to our knees.

  "I'm done talking," Wisdom says calmly,

  gripping our sword.

  "And here I am trying to make a friend."

  Lust smiles. "Bring it on you B-"

  Before she can finish her boring little taunt, we are across the room. The retreat is so fast, we break sound barriers. Then we move again. Wisdom's movements are so quick that all I can see from the corner of my eyes is a blur. We blast up a decaying leg, past disgusting things I don't even want to mention and bring our sword high above our head. Before Wisdom can lodge it into Lust's head, we are thrown off the corpse.

  We fly into the air, somersaulting for what feels like forever. But then something scaly and funky wraps around us and begins to squeeze us.

  "Pop goes the weasel," the deep voice of Lust singsongs with a chuckle. "Welp, you can't say I didn't try to warn you."

  Blue light bursts from our body. Lusts hand unwraps itself from around us and we drop the rest of the way to the floor as a blood-curdling cry saturates the air.

  I wasn't surprised when we landed on

  our feet.

  With her good arm Lust slaps us across

  the room. But this doesn't faze Wisdom.

  Nothing seems to faze her. She is faster, more powerful, and more prepared than ever. Our battle with Death was nothing compared to Her performance at this moment.

  Wisdom slices through one of the stumps that Lust uses for legs. Lust howls in pain, but before she can react, Wisdom slices the sword through Lust other leg. This makes the huge body teeters forward.

  She's about to fall on us and crush us! I

  panic.

  But then the limbs and torso begin to

  shrink as the body falls forward.

  "Sweetie, you don't really want to kill me." Lust tries one more attempt at seducing me.

  "Yes, I do." Wisdom, kick her in the

  chin.

  Her limb tries to wrap around me, but

  Wisdom slices at it.

  Lust is back in her seductive form, but she looks weary and disheveled. Her eyes are dull and her lipstick is smeared. Her normally perfect hair is standing on end.

  "You may have won this battle, Wisdom," she says slowly, shrugging in defeat,

  "But you know as well as I do that there are many, many more to come. Be prepared."

  "I will keep that in mind." Wisdom is not amused. She lifts our sword to the sky with the blade facing down.

  "I will always be here, Jamal. Waiting.

  Soon as you see that girl with a nice booty, a seed will be planted and I will be reborn." Lust attempts a seductive smile before Wisdom brings the sword down on her head and rips her in two.

  "That's why I put my trust in God," I say.

  The room suddenly disappears in a crumble of sparkling purple dust. I'm still holding my sword, but my armor is gone.

  "Thank you, Wisdom." I put my sword behind my back, and it sears into a tattoo.

  I shake my head. "I can't believe all that

  porn translated into that. That's crazy."

  I look around and see that I'm back in

  the hall that led to the room. But now it is nothing but white empty space. White floor, white walls, and James laying in the middle of it all.

  I do a double-take when I see his steadily breathing form.

  "Bro! Are you for real sleeping?!?" He jerks and slowly sits up with

  stretch.

  "Oh, you finally done?"

  "James, how can you sleep in a place like

  this?"

  He shrugged and lifts himself off the

  ground. "Took you guys long enough."

  "Aye, we fought two of those ugly women plus Lust. What did you expect?"

  He nods. "Makes sense. It's like a dirty room. The longer you let it go and keep adding to the mess, the harder it is to clean."

  I snorted, "You got that right." I have

  ample experience with dirty rooms.

  "That's our way home." James nods to a

  door.

  "Wait, was that there before?"

  "Naw, but it is now. Let's go."

  "Okay. Hold on, let me get my shirt." I run and grab my shirt off the floor.

  "You know you don't have to do that,

  right?

  "What?"

  "Take off your shirt."

  "I had to get my sword."

  We start walking towards the door.

  "You don't need to take off your shirt, though. You can access your sword through your shirt."

  "Really. Well, I kinda like looking like an

  anime character."

  James laughs and pats me on the back as

  we walk through the door together.

  I turn back and look at the white room.

  Pure. Like a new beginning. We did it. We won the battle. But I'm no fool. I know there are many more to come. Now I know how to be prepared. I'm definitely gonna be on my fasting game.

  "P.W.R." I whisper right before the door

  shuts sealing in my first victory.

  The End.