monolike | IC CONTACT

We love stories. We're history buffs, after all. [That kind of comes with the territory. Impartiality also comes with the territory, but Sorey is not as good at that as Mikleo is. They'll manage somehow.] I'd really like to hear about it, Allen.

Unless it's something you'd prefer not to share.

[After the previous misunderstanding, the last thing they need is to cause any more unintended tension. They don't need the grief or the guilt complex.]

[he shakes his head] No, it's fine. It's not really a story I hide.

[Unlike the ones he does. But hey that's besides the point right now. Instead, he'll just get started. YAY STORYTIME.]

It started when I was a child. My birth parents abandoned me when I was very young because I had a deformed arm. But, I was very lucky and there was a man who took me in and raised me as if he was my father.

Then when I was eleven, he died suddenly. I was completely devastated. So not long after...I was approached by a man called the Millennium Earl. He claimed he had the ability to bring my father back to life.

[He shakes his head] It was a trick, of course. The Millennium Earl uses the souls of the dead to fuel his killing machines, Akuma. He just requires a loved one of the departed in the ritual that traps the soul....so he goes around, preying on people who are deep in grief so he can make more Akuma.

Normally he has the person killed after the ritual's complete, but I got lucky and my powers as an Exorcist awoke and saved me. Though, before that happened, I was cursed...so I could always sense trapped souls like those in the Akuma.

When it was all over, I was eventually found by an older Exorcist. He explained what happened, and asked if I wanted to become an Exorcist as well. And I said yes.

And...that's how I first got involved in all this.

[Yay storytime...?]

Edited 2016-02-13 06:15 (UTC)

[It's a story that starts out not dissimilar to their own (abandoned children, anybody?) but everything from there on is different. Where they were taken in by their grandfather, by a loving family of seraphim who did everything they could to raise Sorey and Mikleo, Allen experienced loss.

This Earl character does sound like a Lord of Calamity, preying on the weak hearts of people to sew misfortune and release monsters unto the world. Sorey can definitely see how Allen would equate them as having the same enemy.]

I see. So you must have been very young when you started doing this...? Eleven years old? [That's way too young. When he was eleven, he and Mikleo were still romping around the forest and mountaintops and ruins, not a care in the world beyond their own daily chores.] I'm sorry you had to go through something like that.

[Mikleo nods quietly, pondering the tale for a long moment. He and Sorey had been fortunate enough to grow almost to adulthood before venturing out into the world and facing the dangers that go along with it. He can't imagine leaving sooner; they'd have died for sure.]

So that's why you were able to detect Greed in the station, before. But that curse means you can track these Akuma?

[He would never assume a curse would be a good thing, but that at least sounds somewhat useful, when your job is to hunt such things. Much like Sorey gaining the power to sense malevolence through his seraphim.]

[He shakes his head at Sorey's expression of sympathy. It wasn't an easy path, sure. There was a lot of pain, but it's made him who he is today after all. He didn't regret it] Mm, though I didn't finish training until I was fifteen.

[He won't mention that he was far from the youngest Exorcist ever recruited. He's seen and happen to people much younger. Often times against their will, unlike him. But ah...those are too dark of stories for today.]

[Instead, he focuses on Mikleo's question and gives a little nod]

That's right. With it, I can sense trapped souls from up to about 300 yards away - even through solid objects. [Suck on that "Normin for the Win"] It's helpful, but...as you say, it can be more of a hindrance when someone like Greed is around.

Trapped souls? [Huh. Maybe that's what he'd been seeing? It had been muddled and there had been so much malevolence it had been hard to look at Greed, so Sorey never really got a chance to see exactly what he'd looked like, outside of his physical body.] Did you see anything else around Greed, like...a dark cloud, or anything like that?

[Seeing the souls clearly was something Sorey couldn't do, but that Allen would notice that first and not the malevolence...maybe they really aren't seeing the same thing. Like how the seraphim of Elysia could never be positive that they saw the same things as Sorey, due to their difference in species. Still, Allen must have high resonance in order to see and hear Mikleo. It'll be difficult to determine how these sorts of things overlap, though it's not as if they have to find a common ground with how their worlds and powers work in order to stand on the same side of an issue.]

Trapped Souls are souls that've been forced into a vessel that they don't naturally belong to, whether it's by magic or some other means.

[As for the second question, he considers before shaking his head]

I couldn't get close enough to Greed to tell if he had that. [Besides, the thousands of souls would be way more distracting even if he could] I can see dark energies though coming from some people...it usually presents itself as a dark haze, depending on the severity. Is that what you mean?

It's something like that, yes. That's what malevolence looks like to those who can see it.

[He's interested to know how similar it looks, but probably not with Greed. Allen's reaction made that pretty clear.]

Huh. [That's interesting. So it was the souls more than the malevolence that grabbed Allen's attention. Maybe this is like how Sorey could never really know for sure if he saw the same thing as the seraphim?

Well, whatever.] Anyway, it's not important. I was just curious. [Something to shelve for later contemplation, maybe.] It seems like your powers are a lot sharper than mine, Allen. I could only barely tell there were souls in there, I had no idea how many. Mikleo, could you?

Not exactly. I could feel that there was more to him, but it's hard to see around that much malevolence. The only clear indication was when I spoke with Ling. The rest was just...

[It's hard to put it into words. Seraphim can see into the hearts of humans, sure, but Greed's not exactly human, is he? And they still don't know enough about either of them to understand the situation properly.]

...In a single person, it was like the combined malevolence of an entire city. Different kinds of suffering from many, many different people, all stemming from the same source. If he's carrying multiple souls, then that would explain it.

[He shrugs at Sorey's remark about his powers being sharper. Their powers came from different sources, it was only to be expected. Besides, he doubted Sorey would actually want to have a sensing ability as sharp as Allen's. Useful as it was and even if Allen's long adjusted to it, it was still a curse]

It sounds like Mikleo's senses are pretty sharp too. [Being able to pick up that it's enough energy to cover a city, much less that they came from different sources- that's pretty damn good]

...Honestly, Greed's an anomaly even by my standards. I'm not sure what to make of him. [The only other time he had seen that many souls attached to a single vessel was a Lich King. But even then...Greed hasn't shown any of the other traits that went with Lich Kings. It was weird to say the least] Though I hope you don't take it personally if I never visit you on the Huntress.

[Since screw going near that again.]

Nah, that's okay. I really don't blame you. [So Allen doesn't know the deal with Greed either. Sorey doesn't know whether to feel comforted or more worried by that. And true, being on the Huntress is kind of worse than being on the Golden in terms of malevolence, but he feels much better being around Mikleo so the tradeoff is worth it.]

Same here. If Sorey's domain wasn't as strong as it is, I'd have been the one requesting a transfer.

[It had admittedly been tempting, but at least the Huntress has a number of people he can actually talk to. Sorey's ship doesn't have that much going for it, in that department.]

[He looks between the two of him]

His...domain?

[Yeah that doesn't make any sense to him]

Uh, like, hellions, powerful seraphim and people with seraphim pacts have, [Sorey gestures around himself in a dome,] what we call a domain. It depends entirely on spiritual strength. My domain means any seraphim I have pacts with will be safe from malevolence, and it also purifies malevolence...well, a little bit. Mostly we have to do that by hand.

The main purpose of the pact is to grant the Prime Lord and her sub lords a vessel to dwell in and avoid corruption in exchange for their power. Being on the Huntress alone could have become a problem if it went on too long, but with Sorey around, I can just get inside if it becomes unbearable.

[being a sub lord is occasionally convenient, yup]

[He crosses his arms and thinks as he listens to this]

So in other words...Seraphims are susceptible to malevolence, so they form pacts with humans and that can protect them from being corrupted. And in exchange, a human with a pact can use the power of a seraphim to purify malevolence - and that's what makes a Shepherd. Meanwhile the domain is just an extensive aura of someone's strength.

Is that right?

More or less, but it takes an exceptionally powerful seraph to be able to make a pact and become a Prime Lord. [So it's not like it can happen all over.] And the human has to have really high resonance, and should probably be able to resist becoming malevolent. [Glances over at Mikleo.] There used to be a lot of Shepards, even a bunch at a time at one point but...not so much now.

[Mikleo catches the glance, then shrugs. It's never been a concern with Sorey. For the others, maybe, but not for him. He knows Sorey too well.]

If a vessel becomes corrupted, the seraphim will be transformed into dragons, and there's no going back. If they choose poorly, their lives essentially end.

[Okay so he's listening to Sorey. So Shepherds are pretty rare since the pact wasn't an easy one to make. Made sense, it seems like a pretty powerful pact with a lot of responsibility. He's not sure what this whole prime and sub lord thing is, but maybe Mikleo when he starts speaking with clarify. Except-]

[--Wait what]

--Corrupted Seraphim turn into dragons?!

[THATS A NEW ONE. A VERY WORRYING NEW ONE]

Edited 2016-02-26 06:04 (UTC)

Yeah. [which is like, a problem and all] Very powerful seraphim become dragons when infected by malevolence. That's apparently one of the reasons why Shepards have such strict rules about what they can and can't get involved in; any situation that might cause a conflict of the Shepard's heart will put the seraphim at risk if they start to generate malevolence, and then there's suddenly dragons flying all over the place. [It's one of the biggest reasons Sorey doesn't go flying off to take care of things how he sees fit. Well, that and the respect he has for Lailah and the others' judgement. The idea of his own weak-heartedness causing the death of his friends is definitely a scary one.]

Thankfully it takes a lot of malevolence for it to come to that. Most corrupted seraphim become hellions first, and they can still be purified. There aren't many dragons in the world, even with how much malevolence there is.

[Still, you know. It's a bit terrifying to imagine, losing yourself to that. He doesn't like thinking about it much.]

I see... [And he thought he had problems. Sure, Nea going out of control could be bad- but he didn't really compare to a dragon. Hell, even becoming a Fallen One, the biggest fear for an Exorcist, was temporary compared to becoming a dragon. A Fallen One happened with Exorcists purely by the choices they make anyway, not....just being around some dark energy too long or Sorey having a very bad day]

I've encountered dragons in my travels, but I've never had to fight one. In a lot of worlds, they're just naturally born creatures with no dark matter, so there's no reason for an Exorcist to get involved. Some have even been allies. [That's always fun] But a dragon created solely from malevolence....

[That's bad. That'd definitely be Exorcist work and that's very, very bad.]

...Are you sure you want to stay on the Huntress? There's plenty of other ships in the fleet that don't have that level of dark power aboard. Maybe even some with people who can see Mikleo... [He's not saying staying there is a bad idea. No, he's saying it's a Terrible idea.]

Wherever we go, we'll have to make sure we're together. And a lot of the ships are nearing capacity, right? We wouldn't want to put in a double transfer and only one of us get it. [Sorey glances up at Mikleo.] Besides, Mikleo is tough. It's not so much as if he's around malevolence, he'll turn; it takes days, sometimes even weeks, and an intense concentration of malevolence for it to work. The reason why it's a problem for seraphim who make a pact is because of the pact. [Sorey smiles and shrugs a shoulder.] The difference between having poison on your skin and poison in your bloodstream.

If it's something you're worried about Allen, don't be. Mikleo's here to guide me; he wouldn't hide it if something was wrong. And I won't let anything happen to him, either.

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nerdeology - 2016-03-01 04:46 (UTC) - Expand