A circle of six people sat at a table made of obsidian. A dozen empty chairs between them. Carved from a single shard of a volcano that soared across the land in its titanic explosion. Each person at the table wore a mask, plain white and pure. Spreading over their face with only the eyes carved out to allow the wearer to see. Upon the brow of each mask was a ruby that shone with an inner light that somehow didn’t shed light upon the person wearing them. Masking them instead of impenetrable shadows.
“The ceremony was held once more.” Rumbled a voice that was like grating stones. “We are blessed that a wearer was not found. Truly the coming of the Master will be unopposed in our time.”
A woman chuckled, a lilting musical sound, “Of course Morose. We have been preparing the world that none that are like the Hero will ever rise again. The great diviner that looked within the armor gave us the keys to make sure that happened.”
“Yes Chastity, those that embrace their truest desires have faded. As she had stated in her last moments in our hands. I find that we have nothing to worry about as we await the great opening.” This voice was almost childlike, full of innocence.
A hand waved and the table rippled between them. The darkness of the stone beneath became reality as orbs rose from the table. A shadowy show of the very stars above and the planets that circled the great life giver. “And when He comes he will ascend to the heavens and take us with Him.”
“Praise Be!” Shouted the table as the planets moved glacially slow on the display. “May He rise again! May his thousand years of rest bring forth his pinnacle.”
Chastity spoke once more, “Many of our number remain in work. Toiling and making sure that the world remains in our grasp so that we may hand it to Him when He arrives. If only we could have uprooted and removed the very memory of the Hero.”
“He is practically a myth now. We only have to find some way to negate the presence of that stupid armor. Why the Master left that behind we may never know. It would only take a generation for him to be forgotten had we been able to destroy such stories.” Morose spoke as he stared at the display.
“The hidden magic academies function well,” Innocence said as he kicked his short legs. “Even the experiments to extend the span of life have been greatly advanced.”
“It will be good to be able to lean on something besides how we have survived these last centuries. Finding appropriate people to take our place amongst the council has become impossible.” Chastity leaned forward and plucked a moon from the display and held it between her fingers. “One day I will be able to clasp the moon like this. Pull it from the stars as I’ve always desired. Or wave a hand and turn it into a paradise for those that worship me properly.”
Innocence coughed, “Beware the desire. For it may taint the path that He has made for us. Though I understand we must be driven, to do so without the purest of intentions may spell disaster for our cause.”
Properly chastised as was her place, Chastity placed the moon back in its place. “I merely want to spread the human race across planets where they may thrive once more. That way, should the worst come to happen, the race will survive.”
“But they must live within their means. To spread so rapidly as before we would strain the very world of its power, and its resources.” Morose leaned back in his chair. Hands interlaced he looked on at the small set of those that he called his comrade. Thirteen chairs, ten of their number so engrossed in their tasks that this meeting was a passing pip in their minds. “Remember, people must be in their proper place. Their desires tempered like blades.”
Innocence stood, his chair holding his weight, “I must go now. There are others of our cause that require a shepherding into a new form.”
“Did you catch those drakes? To harness their strength would be a boon that we could use.” Chastity leaned on her elbows looking across at the young child.
“I’ll update you in a month during the next meeting. Hopefully more of our number will be here.” Shadowed hands reached for a mask and the person faded into nothing when it was removed.
…
Innocence stood in his chambers. His new body was still so weak. To think that taking a five year old’s body would be this strange. They had to be young though, that way the integration of their minds and memories would be seamless. The older wills having the strength to hurt those that required the bodies that would be improperly used otherwise.
His chamber was suitable for a full grown man that had been his later years. But, to rearrange it could trigger the youthful urges to surge past his control. The old desires to play and frolick when there was important business was a constant struggle. A test surely given to Innocence by the Master. His will would be made manifest through the success of passing minds from body to body.
Removing his shadow robes and pulling on his appropriate attire to manage the secret facility deep in the heartfang mountains. The land of beasts so powerful but mindless that they would make the perfect subjects to make artificial warriors that no human could match. So that the council could take a firmer hold onto the reins that controlled humanity.
Stepping out he approached the nearest testing chamber. Opening the door and looking at the process that would move a man’s mind and soul into the body of the least of the beasts they had been able to catch.
His disciple, reaching his fiftieth year in the service of the council sat in a chair. His body strapped down as his skull was pried open and his brain thrummed. The power of a shard of magistone embedded in the gray matter. It had been masterfully carved with the proper formations that would soak in the mind surrounding it. Then, it would be moved to his new body.
Innocence scratched at the sutures that surrounded the crown of his skull. The strange transitional period where he went from the stone into the body of this boy and absorbed all of what he was into a new life. A scant two years had stressed his personality greatly. This would be the first attempt to take over the body of a beast.
Donning his leather gloves that had been preserved with wax and sanitized the beast they could boiling it. Stepping upon the stood he looked into the now lightless eyes of his disciple he had raised with his own hands and smiled. “You’ll be greater than you were before. Than a human could ever be. I believe in you, my son.” It was strange to be coming from the mouth of a child as slowly, Innocence removed the stone with the greatest of care.
He paid no attention to the helpers that cracked the skull of the creature they had drugged into mindlessness. Wiping as much from its strength as they could. It would take a road of recovery for his apprentice to ascend through. Embedding the crystal into the brain of the beast he whispered words of encouragement while black lines of magic crawled across the ridges of the beast's minds.
He watched as the gray matter wrinkled more than it had been before. As it was made denser, with the amount of connections that a man would need to function. Long had they studied the brain of mortals. The gaping damage of those that suffered from memory issues. To the still developing brains of children.
“Seal the skull. Keep him drugged for the next three days while he sets his roots down and tills the soil of the mind.”
The assistants bowed deeply, their tongueless mouths unable to spread rumor or gossip. They ritual of the silent they had entered into raising them from base mortals to those that could work the wills of the council. Once, when this project was in its infancy he himself had taken the ritual. Growing to lead the way.
He had to admit, the feeling of a tongue in his mouth again was strange. After a life without it eating had become a much more enjoyable process. If anything he had developed a sweet tooth in his new years. “Dispose of the mindless body. The process cannot be reversed and we must believe that this acolyte will be able to overcome the beast. Pray for him brothers.”
Bowing deeply they went about sealing the skull of the beast.
…
Chastity pulled off her mask, the shadow robes still wrapped around her. The culling of the third generation had caused them to need to hide their identities. The intruder against their cause had bided their time until they were amongst the top echelon.
Donning her religious garb she stepped into the monastery she commanded. The women walking back and forth in their full body coverings, as was proper, filled the hallways. The bell to gather for prayer rang out. These women, so deep in their religious zeal, had embraced the truth of their savior. That He was not of this world and that He would usher his believers into the heavens. And in return they must live lives so pure that obedience was the only thing to drive for.
Chastity would guide these fellow souls into the heavens with her. She would make a paradise upon the moon to house all those that feared the lusts of men. Even the marks of the sullied, who had come without their purity intact would be welcome in her embrace.
Standing before the women of her monastery she raised her hands and quieted the whispers of the hall. “Those of the pure, who had studied the art of the soft hand shall be called for a quest.” Murmuring filled the hall for a few moments before they waited for Chastity’s words with baited breath. “There is a new threat in the great cities. You will go there and recruit the believers to stand against the work of the whore, of the prostitute, of the adulterer, go forth and spread the hand of purity. Cleanse those that seek redemption of their sickness of the mind and body. And those that cannot be swayed will be broken upon the wheel.”
“In His name we act!” Shouted the congregation. The five masters of the soft hand stood forth and gathered. Each of them was so wondrous that they covered all but their eyes to hide their beauty.
…
Morose pulled off his mask after he dismissed the shadow of the heavens above. It had taken a great toll upon his limited skills with magic. Sweating, he stood and went to his tower’s window and looked down upon the army of the fourth kingdom. He had seized power by taking the oldest daughter of the King and purging the rest of the family of its heirs. He was ready, the greatest military of the lands, rid of their desires through castration in their youth. It had taken a campaign of social masters to turn the land from their pagan gods and into the true path of Klagona. Embracing the Name as they would not worship a nameless God.
They drilled and worked hard down below. Making the ground quake beneath their stomping feet as the brothers of war watched their family with the greatest of camaraderie. “Your Lord,” came the call of his advisor through the door.
“Enter.”
The thin, hawkish man stepped into the room. A handmaid stepped in behind him, “Your Majesty, your son is born. An heir to take on your legendary strength.”
“Good, and my wife?”
“Dead during birth, m’lord. She bled out in her sheets.” The handmaid said as she bowed deeply.
“Bring me the next woman in line and arrange a marriage ceremony. We have no time for a mourning period. Let my fallen wife’s name ring out that she was able to bear me a son. Spread the word of her great sacrifice.” Morose turned and leaned on the edge of his window.
“As you command m’lord.”