Note: This is a story I wrote for my Morality class last year. I had to portray one of the Seven Deadly Sins through artwork or creative writing. Obviously, I chose the latter. The sin I decided on was Lust.

I already had the idea for this in my head; I'm contemplating writing fantasy novels (no more than two, really) that are based on this. But I'm not sure if I'm willing to work on something that long, yet.

I know the story is a bit short, but because I had to write it for a class that had nothing to do with writing, itself, I had to keep it brief. If I ever get around to actually writing those books I'll flesh it out a bit more, haha.

Many people have a common misconception of what gods and goddesses really are; those who believe in the myths often see them as ruthless, perfect beings. The former is certainly true – they are readily willing to punish those who live misled lives. The latter, however, is a myth in and of itself.

I should know. After all, I am one.

Well, I was one, I suppose. Although those who worship and idolize us are completely unaware of this, gods and goddesses can be quite imperfect beings. Of course, serious misdeeds are usually exempt from our behavior, but now and then one of us is led astray. Sadly, we aren't all immune to mortal temptation, as many believe. We merely serve as idols to those we watch over and intervene when punishment or reward is necessary. Our main focus is to provide figures for humans to look up to: sensible beings who are imperfect but still considered moral. Unfortunately, we cannot appear to them in the flesh – they'd just see us as their equals, and take advantage of our powers if we were to use them as proof – so they have concocted complete misinterpretations with only fragments of who we really are. But I digress.

The reason I had said I was a goddess is simple, although I've been quite fond of complicating it and justifying my actions. The truth is, I had done something that was inexcusable by even the most tainted of beings. Something that humans are often chastised for, and is usually unheard of among my kind.

I'd committed adultery.

Against my own free will, I was another god's mate. Also much like humans, my kind often had arranged "marriages." A young male and a young female, both born to gods and goddesses, would inherit powers from their parents. The two would choose something to rule over – in our case, the element of water – and would be matched depending on what they chose. He chose water, I chose water. And that was it. We were destined from then on to rule over the element and its affect on the mortal races together, a "married" couple much like those in the various myths concocted by humans.

You see how this would lead to disaster. Most learned to love their chosen mates, but others were simply unable to. I was one of the latter. The difference between the others and myself, however, was that I acted on it. I had developed an obsessive interest in a human male. Desire clouded my senses and I grew even less fond of my "husband." No sooner had I noticed the man had I succumbed to the temptation and appeared to him – a great offense to an unwritten code – borrowing the body of a stunning human female. As expected, he was unable to resist me, and that one luxurious night led to a punishment it was not worthy of.

My absence was surely noticeable that night, especially to my mate. The next morning, as I left her body, the beautiful young woman who had no recollection of the night before awoke in a handsome stranger's bed. She was unable to face the horror of cheating on her beloved husband and the thought of being stoned to death for her sin. Deciding she'd rather take her own life than be killed so degradedly in public, she laid herself to rest in the ocean.

The rueful spirit in my and my mate's realm awakened him to where I had been that night. The consequences were great. Not only had I let a primal human desire such as lust lure me so blindly me into adultery, I had appeared to a human, took selfish possession of another's body, and caused a young woman's suicide. I was far from the idol I had been expected to be. I was not fit for any form of judgment or rule of any kind. Instead, I was the one to be judged.

That morning, I was stripped of my powers and resigned to earth as a mortal. I was destined to remain in that small village in which I caused so much pain, to preach about the gods and who they truly are and what they are capable of. I was to eventually die, like all humans, and face the torture of seeing that man day after day. He no longer wanted me, nor did he even know me – I was not the same girl that had lain with him, but a frail, ordinary woman he would not glance at twice. The only thing worse than seeing him, perhaps, was having to see the young girl's family and husband whose lives I'd destroyed forever… all for an insatiable hunger and lack of self control.