The towers he built were magnificent, but they were hollow. People who lived in them reported a strange, clinical depression. The Solstice Tower, for all its beauty, was so perfectly reflective that birds dashed themselves against its windows by the thousands.
Elias hesitated. He had spent a decade designing cathedrals that would never be built and homes for people who didn't know his name. "What do I get in return?" devils_work
"I don't need to take it back," the man said, turning to leave. "The ten years are up. Your hands are yours again." The towers he built were magnificent, but they were hollow
One of the most effective tools used is "discouragement," making a person feel their true vocation or worth is a sham. Elias hesitated
The devil often offers a way to bypass the struggle and patience required for genuine growth.
The change was instant. The next morning, the city was no longer a mess of grey concrete; it was a mathematical symphony. He drafted the "Solstice Tower" in forty-eight hours. It was a marvel of glass that seemed to trap sunlight and hold it long after dusk. By the second year, Elias was a household name. By the fifth, he was a god of industry.
"I don't want your soul, Elias," the man said, his voice smooth as polished marble. "That’s a poet’s fiction. I want your work. I want the next ten years of your hands."