Greetings, Seekers.
Jude is trying my patience. These last few human days, while I have attempted to find a solution to wrangling up 29 souls that should have been banished to The Pit eons ago, he has kept the south corridor shut to the Authority inspection, and the quarantined wing 6 still hasn’t been completely cleansed of overrun celestial energy.
Moreover, he has fond immense pleasure in taunting my mortal guests even when I have explicitly sent him request after request to stop. And, yes, I may have threatened to extinguish him from existence...
Would anyone care?
To think that I ever allowed something so vile, so absolutely nauseating, to have ever captured my affections is enough for me to blast a tiny pinprick of a hole through space and time itself, and shove that demon through it.
Who is that cretin to question my motives? I have kept this facility running through two celestial skirmishes, an overtaxing influx of souls during the Crusades on earth, and what seems like an annual work shortage by the Malifecium because they were all born with gripes, complaints, and a general sense of demon privilege.
And despite the Malifecium’s best efforts to thwart it, the Authority still boasts the highest turnover of souls, redeeming essences by the thousands every mortal week.
Hannah Donovan was chosen by the Source, not I, to be transformed into a Vessel, and I believe she may become the most powerful of them all, with a lot less training.
First, Donovan is able to wield the Blue Flame. That is more than I can say for most mortal souls, as well as the entirety of the Horde. That power is Source-given and fueled, and only one amongst us in this room has taken to wielding it with such aptitude so quickly.
Yes, that would be me.
With that said, Donovan is being trained by the best. The True Sword, the greatest warrior ever to be hatched into the Dominion class.
Me again.
Her soul has not only been used to fashion itself to a living, physical, form, but it is now charged by the Blue Flame, wrapped in it by the hood and bodice Donovan wears.
In a short time, Donovan will learn she has unlimited endurance and dexterity, and she can use any Light source to travel in an instant. While her power will be taxed in battle, she can tap into it to enhance her strength, speed, sight, and hearing.
As she grows more proficient and bonds with the Flame she will learn to manipulate the energy source and use it as a physical weapon. But, those lessons will have to wait...
As we speak, the Authority’s Guides have reported an uptick in dark energy amidst clumpings of the populace across the globe – in at least seven major cities. That generally goes hand in hand with a recent possession or, at least, the presence of something particularly nefarious around innocents. The Guides are attuned to such energy because it is made from the same darkness that forms the taints that glob on to a mortal soul with every one of their transgressions. As I spoke on earlier, a Guide’s primary role is to record each and every one of those taints to provide us a record of their morality.
I wish I had another 10 years or so to put Donovan through the paces. I would revel over training such a warrior. That young mortal has bite and tenacity. Both can be honed into the ferociously accurate sting of a trained Dominion.
No such luck.
Donovan is as prepared as she is going to be. I will check in with her along the way. I’ve imbued her with a heightened knowledge of combat, in multiple forms, and I have faith that the living Blue Flame that pulses within will naturally provide her with the rest.
Beyond that... Source protect her.
Oh, let me speak on Jude’s assertion that I am sending the girl out of the frying pan (I think that is the mortal term) and into her inevitable death. Yes, a Vessel can be killed, the soul-created body ceasing to exist. Hannah Donovan would essentially become nothing, obsolete, barely a memory.
However, she has been warned of the risks associated with her mission and I have set up precautionary measures to ensure she will never be far from assistance. That assistance will come in the form of her Floaters.
Floaters are souls that are generally trusted by the respective order overseeing their sentence to provide backup for a Vessel out in the field.
Essentially a Vessel’s sidearm, each Floater comes with a particular set of skills that the Vessel can use to gain an edge over an enemy.
The Floaters I have set up for Donovan will not only keep her safe – both in a fight and if she gets injured – but will provide needed companionship – even a conscience – for Donovan as she walks the mortal plane once more.
I would introduce you to them, but I’ve yet to fill Donovan in on the 3 souls (well, actually 5 – I’ll explain at a later date) that she will need to complete her mission.
The last thing I will have to mention to Donovan is that she is not the only Vessel out in the mortal world. There are Vessels of both the Authority and the Malifecium (as well as a handful that have gone rogue or simply retired and decided to stay on earth) that are on missions for the order who created them. These powerful souls-made-flesh in which that Donovan will inevitably run into on her journey, will either hinder her mission or provide needed assistance.
Again, I will nudge as much as I can... It’s hard to run a spiritual prison and help a single Vessel save the world all at once.
I only have two hands.
I must check on my hunter. She is in one of our cells – a dojo I created to let the more rehabilitated inmates blow off steam – training with multiple attackers as she learns to control her emotion and efficiently disable and disarm in open combat.
I’m guessing she is still going at it. Like I said, that girl has bite.
‘Til next time, Seekers.
- MAGGIE