The Transcendent institute of America is the third best establishment in the transcendental world union in terms of combat and tactical deployment, only next to the T.I.M (transcendental institute of Manchester) and the T.I.J (transcendental institute of Japan).
The T.I.A has a long history of supernatural tackles with both the supreme and minor darkness. The institute employs over thousands of youths each year into the early alpha ranks, beating each neo-transcendent into shape within months. A neo-transcendent in the T.I.A is capable of conjuring raw collapsing matter, which is an energy form capable of tearing down metal of any categorization. It was basic stuff in the transcendental world, but the T.I.A was the first institute to do so, and the only institute that perfects new intakes in the method.
The general ranking in the world institutes followed thus (ascending order);
ALPHA TRANSCENDENTS:
The juveniles or neo-transcendents, being the first
The marksman, being the second
The hunters, being the last (Jane and the rest belong here)
OMEGA TRANSCENDENTS:
The patron/matrons, being the first
The enigma, being the second
The supreme, being the third
The absolute, being the last and most powerful
And finally the obvious finalist and seat of power goes to the ARCHTRANSCENDENT.
Aside from that, the T.I.A has a wide field of supernatural enhancements. Each transcendental institute in the world had unique enhancements that enabled them handle demonic beings and so many more, but the T.I.A is said to be more prolific, releasing elementrics never seen before- some formidable, and some not very effective. Few of these included the ability to utilize one’s soul to murder a phantom, the ability to burn witches by blood markings, the power to submit warlocks into vomiting bloody maggots, and the ability to cause severe madness to any wraith till it eats itself whole. Other capabilities developed were still waiting in line to be approved for usage.
Having a land area that spanned across 24 acres of land, the T.I.A was situated at a distance far away from the general public. It was said the early founders picked an underground war bunker in Philadelphia and decided to tear it open further, thus creating the deep and wide crater hole that the T.I.M was built upon.
Domes were built around the premises, each housing having a unique purpose; engineering units, medical labs, accommodations and elementric test sites. Several machines lined up pavements, each serving as means of transportation around.
There were over 98 fields grown in the institute’s grounds. They all had the same precise measurements. They were to serve as arenas for different transcendental units within to carry out sparring activities or just technique exercises.
Aircrafts, expensive statues, monitoring towers, defense modules, and so many more infrastructures littered the surroundings of the T.I.A.
It was always a busy day, business as usual you may say, but every activity slowly drifted to a halt as the night swept in. there was silence everywhere. Everyone lay peacefully as they await the morning drill.
A sudden spark bursts out in one of the many domes. The light expands and a portal suddenly tears open. Jane, Damien and their unfortunate companion, Jason, all emerge from the opening.
Damien raises his hand, igniting a flame on his palm so he could find the switch. He slaps the lights on when he finds it.
The bulbs switch on one by one, illuminating different sections of the dome. It was a medical facility.
Different shelves, each about 11 feet in height lined up a section in the hall called ‘A’. Lots of books were stacked in, each referring to various healing and exorcism methods in the transcendental field. Another section named ‘B’ was occupied with bodily fluids and samples of different creatures; eyes of werewolves, fangs from different classes of vampires, glass stands that contained the spines of witches belonging to different kinds of coven, samples of preserved Dziwozonas, body tissues belonging to changelings, and large frightening skulls encased in a liquid membrane that said ‘CLASSIFIED’ on the surface.
The last section, ‘C’, was an operation room. Different kinds of surgeries and tests were carried out here. Bottles of various blends and mix lined up the cabinets. Medical utensils never seen to even to the most experienced surgeon in the outside world were placed in glass shelves.
Above on the ceiling were different writings or spells, scribbled with different kinds of font. They were prayers that were assigned by Raphael, the archangel. It is said the prayers monitors, protects, and steadily heals the soul of any who is placed here.
This is the section Jane and Damien were.
Jane goes up to a marble slab, a table perhaps, and places Jason’s body on it. She pushes some buttons by the corner of a machine and adjusts the light stand. The marble slab illuminates suddenly with a buzzing sound.
“So… rejuvenation,” Damien said, watching Jane put things in order “You know how to do this, I mean… I hope you're sure it’s a good idea?”
“Yeah, trust me” Jane wipes her hand with a cloth “Besides there is no other way in reviving the dead than this,”
Damien tucks his head “What about soul retrievals. It’s a bit manual and rusty but everyone knows it pays off at the end,”
“You want us to spend two days plotting a trip to the soul plane, and two days plotting another way to get back with Jason’s soul?” Jane stares down at Damien pathetically.
“It’s worth a shot. There’s no hurry!”
“Damien, one of hell’s gateways is wide open right now. The fight is coming to us and we can’t risk being short of even one transcendent right now. Besides, Jason is a really good number… a freaking talented one for that matter,” Jane said
Damien throws in the towel, seeing Jane’s point clearly. He shakes his head and draws a deep breath.
“Alright, talk to me. What are we doing here?”
Jane smiles “Good!” she steps on a little wheeled machine that takes her straight to section A.
Jane steps out of the mini-vehicle when she reaches her destination and goes through some shelves, reading the signs placed at the top. She stops at a shelf that said ‘REINCARNATION, REANIMATION, AND REJUVENATION’
“Finally!” Jane exclaims. She goes over to the large shelf, running her fingers through each book within her reach. She finds a suitable one and hops back on the mini-vehicle.
“Great, another stuff Adrian pulled out from a dead man’s casket,” Damien stood up from a seat, shooting a glance at the dust ridden book locked between Jane’s arm. “That’s the one?”
“Well, it’s one of a few” Jane places the medium sized, hard cover book on a glass table, spreading dust as it lands.
Damien goes over to take a look. Jane pushes a spring loaded key that unlocks the hold. She pushes up the little metal bolt and raises the thick front cover open.
As the pages turned over, one by one, dust sprayed in the air. The pages were brown and seemingly brittle so Jane was careful when flipping through.
“This book could be older than the T.I.A itself. I'm damn sure you'll probably find cockroaches compressed within the pages if you keep going,” Damien stares at the odd defaced drawings on each page; a dead man, whose tissue was burnt severely, as seen in the book, was restored back to life with a new layer of skin. Another page told the story of how the rejuvenation prayer was used to revive a troop of soldiers that died in a trench; the drawing clearly shows how the armed men rose up from the wet sand.
Jane flips over to a section that conflicted with Damien’s understanding. She stops at that section, grabs a pen, and begins to circle some words or instructions as the case may be.
“What the hell is this… I don’t get it?!” Damien’s eyes scanned through the letters. They had no resemblance to even a single alphabet.
“It’s Vinci linguistics,” Jane said
“Really?” Damien folded his arms unimpressed, watching Jane highlight few words in the book “Never heard of it,”
“Maybe if you went deeper in rabbinic vulgate, you could’ve known” Jane replies. She finishes up the highlighting and flips the page over to the next “Now I just need instructions for the ritual,”
“Rabbinic vulgate is some deep shit on its own. I've glanced through a few languages but I've never come across this,” said Damien
“I studied mine in a handout copy; straight from the T.I.M. it’s a simplified version,” Jane keeps reading through the page.
Damien walks back to his chair and sits forcefully “Well, you better hurry before sunrise,” Jane turns around and gives him a stern look “Sorry” he quietly said.
Jane begins to highlight words on that page too. Damien switches his gaze from Jane to Jason’s corpse once in a while. He looked at Jason’s pale face and the emotionless stare that shot back from his rolled up eyes
“There, I'm done. Let’s get to it!” she puts the pen down and turns around with the book, carefully balancing it on her palms as if it were a baby.
“It’s about damn time!” Damien stands up with relief, being tired of engaging in a weird stare-down contest with Jason’s corpse.
“Help me get the fiber defibrillators-“ Jane stares into the book “-take out his blood with syringe- completely filling the tube, mix it with two spoons of mercury, a drop of arsenic, holy oil, and then some gratings of beetroot and gall chunk,”
Damien gives a loud sigh to the hectic task before setting out to do as told. He scurried around like a mouse, finding the ingredients; managing to retrieve some fast and others well delayed, some low and some really high up the metal shelf. At last he gathers them all in his arms, spreading them out on the work table.
“You know… where I come from, women are the ones who do the ‘spice and herb haunt’!” Damien said, flicking the tip of syringe as he extracted Jason’s blood. He was clearly pissed about searching tirelessly around the place for the items.
“How about you come over here and take a look at the mess I keep straining my eyes for,” Jane snapped
“Just saying…” Damien murmurs audibly.
Damien pours the blood sample into a bowl. He grinds, dilutes and mixes the other ingredients in a little cylinder before pouring the final content into the bowl. He churns the thick product into a single potion.
“I can’t believe we had all this stuff laying around till now,” said Damien, staring at the mess he made on the table, and then at the thick red potion that bubbled in the bowl.
“Yeah, Derrick once said Adrian gets his shipments from the most surreptitious supplies in the world, and probably in this dimension. He didn’t get most of this stuff from the headquarters,” Jane said “So a lot of them could last for ages,”
“Adrian is really taking this competition too far,” Damien takes a good aim and flicks some shedding of beetroot at Jane.
“I don’t think so. He just wants his institute to be well prepared for anything,” Jane goes over to Jason’s body and takes a really close look at his eyes.
Damien knew everything knew almost about everything in the transcendental medical field, but didn’t have a single knowledge on reincarnation rituals; being there has never been a need to carry out such until now. He was pretty sure no one currently in the T.I.A could perform a rejuvenation prayer. The last time the act was done was precisely 1875, as Damien could remember. Before that year the rejuvenation prayer was being abused by different institutes; bringing back dead transcendents indiscriminately even when the cause of death wasn’t related to a transcendental service. The improper use of the prayer method caused people to come back to life in a whole different manner, some bodies possessed by demons who over took their souls.
It was however banned by the arch transcendent then, placing a strict prosecution on any who would practice the ritual. The books were withdrawn from every institute then, except the T.I.A of course. Adrian being the one who insisted that the book be kept in the shelves for historic purposes, and forbade anyone from using it.
Damien was worried about this. Not just about the fact of Adrian finding out and ex- communicating them, but the possibility of bodies becoming revenants when demons take over.
Damien shrugged the thought off his head, it was his best friend lying dead on that table, and he was going to take a shot at this for his sake.
“Alright, I'm done!” Damien announced, wiping his hands with a cloth.
“Good,” Jane said. She closes the metal case marker on her hand and drops it on the table.
Damien stares at the line pattern Jane drew on Jason’s body, spanning from his face, to abdomen. “What’s that for?”
“Bio-relay channels. It acts as a pathway that directs the revival energy to vital points. The points that conjoin with circles are those vital points,” Jane said, pointing her fingers to the circles on Jason’s forehead, chest and rib regions. She closes her palms together, uttered a few words and places them on Jason’s chest.
The lines that ran through Jason’s body began to glow.
Damien was impressed now.
“Take the potion in the bowl and sprinkle it around Jason’s body,” Jane instructed, taking a peek in the book.
“Sprinkle?” Damien’s brows furrowed “This shit is thick; it’s going to go splat not splash!”
Jane looked back into the book, trying hard to see if they indicated a specific texture for the potion. There wasn’t any.
“Maybe, you’ll just rub it all over him,” she said
“Yeah, like hell I would!” Damien turns around to get the bottle of arsenic “I’ll just dilute it further”
Jane didn’t see the harm there.
The little addition of arsenic didn’t make the potion watery, but it did change the thick nature a bit.
Damien goes over to Jason’s body and begins to throw the slimly content of the bowl all over it. Each substance that hits his skin dissolves immediately, percolating into his flesh and then flowing into the radiant bio-relay channel lines. The lines began to glow red as the slimly substances dissolved. The vital spots on the other hand began to beam with green lights.
Jane places the fiber defibrillators on Jason’s chest and activates it. The lines on his body glow brighter, giving a seeming appearance that his body might burst open in photons.
A slight kick and fist clenching behavior was noticed as Jason’s corpse shook in split seconds.
Damien caught the sudden motion with wide eyes “Is it working?!” he turns to Jane.
Jane twists her neck and cracks a her fingers “Not until I say the prayers,” looks like she was going off hand on this part, judging by the way she shoved the rejuvenation book aside. She draws a deep breath before spitting out some incantations which seemed meaningless but very effective.
ELINIZ ARON AMMON LEVIANTIZ. DON EASTRUMAFIN ZONNE KANA BLACKAN ZILT…
While Jane said the words, the large hall began to tremble with a minor quake; lights flickering, books jumping in their shelves, and the sound of medical instruments dancing violently in their cupboards.
Jason Cohan’s body began to crack open, each crack emanating from the lines Jane drew. Light beams shot out from the cracked spaces, and the lightning shaped patterns made their way to Jason’s eyes, which open up to glow like the full moon.
Damien slowly looks around the place, alert as ever. He generates an elementric crescent blade, holding it up with a tight clench. He was ready for that revenant anytime now.
… TAN AUSTRE FANDOMO ICK LAMAUS TRANSLUCIA. REVIVE!
Jane finalizes the prayer.
Jason’s body gives a wild series of jittery gestures and abnormal fits. Foam forms up in his mouth till it drools down his left cheek.
“That book didn’t say anything about side effects, right?” Damien said. His eyes locked cautiously on Jason’s body.
Jane turns back to the book, turning a single page back and forth
“Nothing about side effects here,” Jane said.
Fortunately, the building stopped shaking and the lights seized their misbehavior. Jason’s body calms down a bit; the foam dries up quickly, the bright lines and cracks go off, and his pale skin began to brighten up.
“Well, what’d you know,” Damien’s tensed muscles eased as he saw Jason calm down.
Jane draws close and places her finger on Jason’s neck. A smile beams on her face.
“It worked!” she said, laughing uncontrollably “I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah, me too!” Damien collapses on a chair, giving a loud sigh of relief. He still had a little level of pessimism though- This all seemed to sudden.
A rattling sound was heard in the operations room. The noise increases steadily in seconds. Jane and Damien were already spinning on their feet, heads looking around for the source of the sound.
“What is that?” Damien bends over to look under a table.
Jane pauses. She slowly looks up and noticed a loose metal pole that shook above Jason’s body. The quake earlier weakened its hold on the ceiling.
“Damien, get Jason’s body out of the—” before Jane could notify Damien from her distance, the pole was already coming straight down for Jason.
Damien rushes quickly to Jason’s body, keeping a close eye at the pointed end of the pole. He throws himself on Jason’s body, prepared for the worse, but nothing occurs for the next few seconds. Damien raises his head and looks above, laughing in joy as he sees the threat floating mid-air.
Jane was glad too “Nice one, Damien!”
Damien stares at her “I thought it was you?”
Jane shakes her head invalidly “Nope. Maybe it’s Jason—”
“Maybe you both are in trouble” said a voice behind.
A certain perfume scent diffused into the room suddenly. Jane’s heart began to pound, even Damien froze instantly.
A man walks into the operations room with his right hand stretched out. He waves his hand in the air, changing his telekinetic grip on the pole to a telekinetic throw. The pole lands at the far corner of the medical facility.
Jane hides the book under a stack of beakers and turns back around.
“M-Mr. Ketch…” Damien stutters “You’re kind of early, don’t you think?”
“The only thing I'm thinking about right now is what abomination you two are up to,” Adrian Ketch said.
“Sir, we have an explanation…” Jane’s hands rubbed each other anxiously.
“I bet you do!” Adrian said.
Adrian ketch is the directorial omega of the T.I.A- an Absolute to be precise. Of all directorial omegas in the world, Adrian stood out as the most focused and stern. No one fully understood his goals and what he pursued as a director couldn’t be questioned by anyone, not even the high ranking omegas.
“Well, go on!” Adrian steadily approached where they stood.
Jane wanted to cover Jason’s body with a cloth but Damien gives her a bad idea look.
Adrian stares at Jane and then Damien. His bushy brows made him look like he wore a frown always. No one ever saw him smile though.
Damien takes a deep breath “Sir…” he looks up “It was a gnome!”
Adrian was shocked and so was Jane. Damien could read the ‘what the fuck!’ off her lips.
“A gnome?” Adrian’s brows looked worse when they furrowed.
“Yeah… a stubborn, fast, annoying little gnome” Damien knew Adrian wasn’t buying it at all.
Adrian steps up to the platform and his eyes caught view of the body that was placed on the operation slab.
“What the hell is Jason doing here?” Adrian’s tone rises. He goes over and smacks Jason on the shoulder twice, awaiting a response. He got none.
Jane’s knees shook lightly as she saw the look on Adrian’s face. She then stared at Damien who was still embarrassed about his gnome excuse.
Adrian places a finger on Jason’s neck to feel for pulse “Let me guess, this ‘gnome’ must have kicked him on the testicles, knocking him out stone cold,”
Damien didn’t respond to that.
A brief silence swept across the dome before Jane speaks up
“Sir, it was an accident!” Jane blurts. Damien turns around sharply, fully aware of where she was going with this.
“We haunted down a demoniac who had an item in his possession,” Jane said.
“And what item must this be?” Adrian asked with keen interest.
Jane stares at Damien before revealing further “The Abaddon asuhura”
Adrian folds his arms over his night robe. He stares at Damien trying to figure out if this was some kind of joke. Damien’s face didn’t wear any humor. He turns back around to the slab Jason laid and leaned on it with his arms.
“That’s what you're going with? Honesty?” Damien whispers.
“I don’t see you coming up with stories other than a gnom---”
“Whatever!” Damien cuts Jane off.
Adrian looks over his shoulder, staring at the hunters slightly but very keen. “Did you at least get the medallion?”
“Yeah, we did” Damien pulls out the piece from his waist pouch and dangles it in the air.
Adrian turns around, believing them absolutely this time “So what happened to Jason?”
“He got hit”
“By the demoniac?”
“It was… we couldn’t tell who it was, sir. She just popped out of a portal, stabbed Jason, and exited through another portal at the far ends of woods” Damien said.
"It was a she?” Jane turned to Damien with a whisper.
“Yeah” he replied.
Adrian turned back around to Jason’s body “Seems the condition is critical,”
“He’s only injured though!” Jane sharply adds in, diverting Adrian’s mind from assuming ‘death’ occurred.
Adrian retrieves the medallion from Damien’s hand with telekinesis. He suspends it mid air, taking a look at it for a while before holding it in his hand. It still had a feel of warmth.
Damien was tempted to tell Adrian about the doorway opening. He held back a bit with the report, drawing up conclusions to what the news might cause, and the punishment he and Jane would suffer as a result of their recklessness.
Adrian reads the look on Jane’s face. He knew her too well. He knew when she was calm or bugged by something.
“Was it engaged?” Adrian speaks with a calm but cold voice as he stares at the floor.
Jane stares at Damien, questioning by method of facial gestures if this was a good time for ‘honesty’.
Damien draws a deep breath, leans back on a table, and folds his arms “Yeah, it was”
Jane scoffs “Honesty, huh?”
“This is a serious case!” Damien replies.
Adrian’s eyes lit in fury “HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?”
Damien decides to exaggerate a bit for their sakes “The demon dropped it on a symbol once we apprehended him. It was too late,”
Adrian was already pacing around like a bothered tenant. His fists clenched and released constantly, and his teeth gnashing was very visible. He couldn’t tell himself if it was fear or worry that engulfed his mind.
“Sir, I think you should take a seat-”
“A SEAT?” Adrian barks at Jane “Do you realize what you two… three just did. You just released a prince of hell into our world, and believe me the transcendents aren’t prepared for something like this right now. We’ve got a bloody schedule ahead of us, and now this?”
“Can you tell the exact region we unleashed?” said Damien “Judging by its seal?”
“Didn’t you take a look at this one?” Adrian said
“We did but we couldn’t figure out who the Archdemon is. The seal was drawn on the ground, it was something new, or in this case 'someone' new” Jane replies.
“What did the seal look like?” Adrian asked.
Jane pulls out her phone and shows the image to Adrian.
“I've never seen it before” Adrian’s eyes scan the seal from top section to bottom “It could be a minor threat”
Jane and Damien were glad to hear the serenity in Adrian’s voice.
“But it’s still from hell, so it spells trouble!” Adrian hands Jane back the device.
“Sir, even if we left the demoniac to flee, he would’ve still caused the same damage we tried preventing,” Damien said.
Adrian saw their point. But he suddenly gets hit with a thought “You know, I never even asked… I wanna know how exactly this demon hunt started,” Adrian takes a seat on one of the finely carved marble chairs, waiting for an explanation.
Damien turns to Jane but she just smirked and looked away in an odd fashion. Damien had never seen her express herself that way before. It was strange.
Jason’s body fidgets on the slab till he drops down to the floor like a fish escaping a ship’s deck. Adrian stares at the misbehaving alpha and then at Jane.
“Well, you managed to pull this healing off so that’s gonna cut some pain off your punishment card,” Adrian said. He tries as much as possible not to make it sound like a praise.
Jason gets up and looks around the place with wide green eyes filled with wonder and somewhat confusion. He rubs his bare body slowly with his hands, and then caresses his cheek bones with visible concern. He turns to Damien, and then Jane, before stopping his gaze at Adrian whose face was wrinkled in confusion.
“You okay, boy?” Adrian was clearly baffled by Jason’s movements.
Damien noticed the green eyes on Jason and so did Jane. They were shocked because they knew Jason didn’t have green eyes.
Jason nods awkwardly in affirmation to Adrian’s question and continues examining his own body like a costume.
Damien knew something went wrong, maybe a side effect of the rejuvenation. He didn’t want Adrian to find out Jason actually died, and also the fact that they practiced rejuvenation without authorization.
“Jason…” Damien called out slowly “You alright?”
Jane looks on as her heart raced in anxiety. The look on Adrian’s face had ‘suspicion’ written all over it.
Jason quits pinching his arms and stares up at Damien “Who’s Jason?”
“Oh, hell no!” Jane exclaimed as her heart gave a quick jump. She felt like poofing into dust at the moment.
The new Jason turns to Adrian whose jaw was slightly dropped already “I’m Matthew. Matthew Wilder”
“Fuck!” Damien curses as he turns around. He squeezes his forehead in embarrassment and stared at the wall. He knew Adrian already knew what was going on at the moment. Cases like these can ONLY be attributed to rejuvenation errors… nothing else.
Adrian remained quiet for a while, watching as the new Jason sits on the slab confused.
“Spencer,” Adrian closed his eyes and heaved deeply. Damien knows the mood the director is on whenever he calls his last name “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!!!!!!?”
Adrian voice could’ve waked half of the transcendental occupants at the moment.
“AND YOU!” Adrian turns to the leader, Jane “You better explain to me clearly because you know I'm going to hold you completely responsible for this!”
Jane stared at Jason II and then back at Adrian. She didn’t know what to say at this point. She had never felt so timid in her life as a transcendent. The fear was obviously linked to her losing her job.
Damien decides to cover up for his girl. He went for a well made excuse this time “Sir, it was---”
“Jason died!” Jane blurts. She felt relieved, taking the burden off her chest.
“WHAT!” Adrian and Matthew scream.
Matthew paid less attention as Jane explained to Adrian what happened. He was completely focused on this new flesh he wore. He looked at the arms, the legs and dragged the belly skin. He didn’t remember anything at all in his memory but being wheeled around in a wheelchair, moving from one hospital ward to another. The rest in his memory lane was just a blank path.
Matthew also remembered DYING because how else would he be in this body. But he didn’t know how exactly he died, not even a hint of the incident sparked up his memory. Matthew was sure this wasn’t heaven or hell. He was gripped with fright and absolute confusion, but he did his best not to show it to these strangers. He didn’t want to see them do something weird to make him calm down, judging by the monstrous medical utensils and machines.
Jane’s explanation took a while, and Jason II (Matthew Wilder) sat by listening to every odd and disturbing detail. The information was too much to handle. By the likes of things Matthew heard, he was completely convinced that these folks were cultists of some sort, and this ‘Jason’ person that he possessed is an experiment. His thoughts were wild and stupid, and he knew that, but from what he just heard and what he found himself in between, everything seemed far from normal now.
Matthew pinched himself hard till he bled, just to make sure this wasn’t a dream of some sort.
“A rejuvenation spell, huh?” Adrian stares back at Jason II as he digests the entire tale Jane told.
Matthew couldn’t withdraw his eyes from the dangerous gaze shot at him. He stares back blankly until Adrian turns back to Jane and Damien.
“We’ve got bigger things ahead than this!” Adrian said.
“But, sir, the more time we waste only draws Jason’s soul closer to a permanent lock in the soul plane!” Jane retorts “This thing inside his body could be a demonic infiltrator. We have to obliterate it now or Jason’s body would soon become a legion bank! Or the Kruger shaft might engage!”
Damien nods in agreement “I agree. If that little fucker stays cozy in there, he’ll draw his little buddies in as well. Sir, he may look calm and act naïve but I can assure that’s an infiltrator!”
Matthew knew where this was going now “Whoa! Hold on!” he jumps down from the slab.
Damien and Jane generate elementric blades immediately.
“I’m not a threat!” Jason II raises his hands up “Like I said earlier, I'm Matthew Cohan. I’m from Chicago…”
“Demons love Chicago!” Damien barks.
“Well… you're not wrong” Matthew agrees with the theory, remembering having some encounters with awful people there, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here. I swear I have nothing to do with this. Last thing I remember was dropping to the ground unconscious and that’s it, I'm not some demonic partying freak!” Nathan tries winning their trust for the moment.
“Well, I've never seen a demoniac with green eyes,” Adrian said, turning to Jane and Damien “He’s just misplaced soul. They’re lots of ‘em floating around in the soul plane's boarder”
Jane and Damien weren’t fully convinced about this. Adrian puts the Abaddon asuhura in his chest pocket and turns to leave.
“Sir!” Jane calls out instantly.
Adrian turns around like he heard a mosquito buzz in his ear “What?”
Jane purses her lips nervously “The Abaddon asuhura, sir”
Damien stares at Jane with a questioning glare “Why do you want it? That stuff is clearly not safe in our hands,” he whispers.
“And may I ask your reason for needing this?” said Adrian.
Jane stares at Damien and then Adrian “I need to run some tests on it!”
“Really?” Damien scoffs and looks away.
“You have no idea what this is, young lady. Your skill is very much deficient in examining it. This is not your field,” Adrian said, turning towards the large glass door “Now do your job and fix this damn accident” He points to Jason II.
Damien waits till Adrian crosses the door before confronting Jane with his questions.
“Don’t ask!” Jane shuts him up before he said a word.
“Oh, I'm gonna ask alright!” Damien follows Jane as she angrily walks up to the spot she hid the rejuvenation ritual book, “Babe, what's up with you? Why are you so into this medallion anyway? It’s no use in the hands of any transcendent; we might even cause more damage if we keep it with us!”
Jane didn’t seem to care. She digs up the ritual book from the stack of beakers and locks it in between her armpit.
“Wait, hold on” Matthew said “Are you guys like a thing?”
Damien turns around with frustration “Uhm… look, Patrick-”
“It’s Matthew-”
“Whatever the fuck it is!” Damien sparks “You don’t just come around and add a lip in transcendental affairs, alright. Just hang tight in there and we’re gonna send you back to wherever the hell you came from!”
Matthew was stunned “Well, someone’s got an attitude” he murmured.
Damien turns back around “What the hell did you just say?”
Jane grabs him by the wrist “Damien, chill!”
“I swear to God, if you weren’t in Jason’s body, I would’ve broken that damn jaw of yours!” Damien’s voice seemed to shake the entire medical dome.
Jason II froze to a quite visible intimidated state. He sat down in misery, waiting for Damien to calm down a little.
Damien wriggles Jane’s hand off his wrist and heads towards the door “Jane, let’s beat it. Morning drill is up in an hour!”
Jane stares at Matthew penitently, giving an indirect apology for Damien’s actions.
Matthew didn’t know how to respond to that. He tries a nod and a wink at once, but Jane looked away from the awkward gestures.
Matthew looked as Jane moved on, following Damien closely. He had lots of questions to ask but he debated within himself whether it was the right time at the moment or he should wait till sunrise. Getting on Damien’s bad side again was what he feared.
He goes with his major conflicting gut at last.
“Hey, uhm… what exactly is this place?” Matthew restrained most of the words, making his sentence sound like murmur.
The transcendents didn’t seem to care at first but Jane decides to stop after feeling a little guilt.
“Well…” Jane drags on as she turns to reply
Damien hears her and turns back around “Jesus, babe, that’s not a major problem right now. We've got shit cooking on the fire already- HELL, remember?”
“It’ll be over in a jiffy,” Jane replies
Matthew felt Jane was a lot nicer than Damien. Her smile was very welcoming and warm. He sits down on marble slab and Jane comes in to join him. Damien on the other hand stood by the doorpost, folding his arm as he waited for Jane to wrap up her orientation.
Matthew stares at the ground for a while, choosing his words carefully “Where am I?” he asks.
Damien scoffs in ridicule to the question.
“This is a paranormal facility. We specialize in phenomena that extends beyond the veil of reality,” Jane tries her best to understand the mysterious soul. She needed to connect deep with him if she wanted answers to feed her curiosity.
Matthew nods gently, digesting the delivered description with difficulty.
Jane sees she confused him further “It’s like a police academy but we hunt ghosts instead” she breaks it down a bit.
Matthew’s eyes widen, disbelief flickering within. Damien gets irritated when he sees the reaction; he didn’t know why Jane agreed to waste such an important time with a misplaced soul.
“For fuck sakes, Jane!” Damien cried, hitting the door post with frustration.
Matthew sees Damien countenance “I think you should probably go,” he speaks in a low tone to Jane.
“Don’t worry about it, he can wait!” Jane jeered.
Matthew found nothing funny about this but he managed to wear a thin smile with Jane, his eyes were currently fixed on the holes Damien’s fist made on the post.
“The body you possess,” Jane continues “His name was Jason Cohan. He was really good guy- a good transcendent”
“Transcendent?”
“That’s what we’re called”
Matthew looks down at his host’s body, swiping off mucus that secreted from his rib areas. His back also seemed to be oozing the same fluid- flowing down from his spinal region.
Jane noticed the slimy substances as well. She was suddenly alerted by it. She snaps at Damien, drawing his attention. Damien refuses to come by, but on seeing the secreting fluids, he slowly begins to walk up to their position.
“What is this?” Matthew whines, drawing the sticky fluids from his new body like glue.
“It’s Jason’s Kruger shaft” Damien mumbled, unwilling to involve himself. But this seemed major, “It’s self-deteriorating. We better send this… person back from wherever he came from or he’ll decay alongside the shaft,”
A Kruger shaft remained the one device that every transcendent had to pay cautious attention to. The shaft was made of biological tissue and coated with silver- some say the tissue was from Adams Kruger himself, but that remained a mystery. The shaft was implanted in transcendents on the day of induction into the neo-transcendental early rank. The device extended from the vertebrae column, and then around the ribs at last, encapsulating the boney structures like a thick shell. The Kruger shaft was the device that enabled all modern transcendents to generate elementrics- be it basic or complex. But the major reason for the implant of the Kruger shaft was to avoid an instance whereby the body of a transcendent is possessed by a demon or ghost. Once a transcendent dies, his or her body has a time limit of about two hours before the Kruger shaft automatically engages itself, destroying the corpse completely. If the body is being possessed by a foreign entity within the two hour period, the Kruger shaft would engage instantly and the spirit within would be destroyed alongside the body.
The alpha transcendents never remained calm, knowing they had a bomb installed in them. There were even outsourced rumors that a Kruger shaft could engage itself at any moment if manipulated paramechanically (paramechanics dealt with building machines and devices that operated by a spirit gauge, or roughly programming the soul of an individual or a free wraith via paranormal coding and encryption). Due to all these fears, alphas were mandated to carry out shaft maintenance weekly.
Jane did her best to contain the leak. Her palms were already beaming with the light of a healing elementric as she places them on Jason’s rib cages. Matthew was wheezing unusually now. He tries closing his eyes to count to ten as he was taught in the hospital once, but that only made more mucus squirt out his back.
Damien stood by with his arms folded, staring pathetically at Matthew’s reaction.
“C’mon, Damien!” Jane said “This is about saving Jason’s body right now; if its gone, there’s no way we can bring him back!”
Damien sighs “Fine… step aside!”
Damien reaches for a pair of medical gauntlets and puts them on. He engages an elementric with the arm-piece, drawing the image of an ankh on the air. He produces a ball of energy on the other gauntlet and places it on the ankh; making sparks of red light swallow the elementric projection. He grabs the red elementric ankh from the air and places it on Jason’s chest.
“Vanisium alores!” Damien draws an elementric disk in the air with his right arm, turning it in accordance with the ankh he held close to Jason’s chest. The more Damien turned the disk, the deeper the ankh sank deeper into Jason’s flesh.
Matthew didn’t feel much pain at first but he screams in extreme agony when the ankh enters his host’s body completely. Jane restrains his fidgeting misbehavior with a telepathic lock, making Damien’s work easier.
Matthew felt like he was being pulled out of Jason’s body and flung into an abyss of horror. Different faces flashed before his eyes, disappearing into darkness as soon as they appeared. The faces he saw had eyes scattered all over, most of them were just floating wheels covered in eyes and wings.
The outline of the Kruger shaft in Jason’s body could be seen glowing red like molten iron. Damien pushes the ankh deeper into the chest cavity till it emerges on the other side of Jason’s body.
The glow stops and Jane releases Matthew from the lock. Jason II drops to the ground paralyzed. He felt every bit of energy leave him once the ankh popped out through Jason’s back.
Damien gets up and grabs the floating ankh which was in a solid form now. “Well, that’s over” he said, dropping the gauntlets and ankh on a table.
Matthew raises his eyes to Damien “I'm I saved?”
Damien stares down at him with a frown “For now. This doesn't change the fact that we’re gonna send you back to hell,”
“I’m not from hell!” Matthew tries manipulating Jason’s body to its feet, but his paralysis was still in effect.
“Then we’re you from? I believe it's the soul plane, though” Jane said.
At this point Matthew ceases his struggle and gives the question a thought. He had no idea where he was before he arrived here. The last thing he remembered was being in a hospital bed and then everything went blank and black.
“Come to think of it… I don’t really know,” Matthew quietly spoke.
Jane and Damien stare at each other.
“But you had an early life, right?” said Jane.
Matthew pauses in taught again “Where I come from- my early life, I used to suffer a lot”
“Sounds like hell to me” Damien mutters.
“Damien, please…” Jane silences her partner, “Go on” she waves at Matthew to continue.
Matthew carries on “Back in my older body, I had pretty tormented state,” Damien gives that ‘sounds like hell’ look again “I had a paralyzed, dysfunctional body ever since I was a kid. I never left the hospital since I was four years old. School, birthday parties, recreational fun- I did them all on my sick bed. You know, lying down like this reminds me when I fell out of bed, trying to help a little bird get out the window,”
“I understand…”
“Look, bro, we feel your pain and all that emotional lashing, but we need our partner back in time before this hell issue gets to its peak. That means we’re gonna send you away and take that body back. I'm sorry but we've got no choice than this,” Damien cuts Jane off. She was about to retort but she restrains herself, hearing the points in Damien’s speech.
“I understand your urge to have a feel of what it’s like to be normal, we all do here! But we’ve got a major risk at hand and Jason Cohan is needed,” Jane said.
Damien gives a chuckle “You just said what I said but a lot nicer!”
Jane rolls her eyes “Please shut up!”
“Well, I could be a transponder-"
“-transcendent” Damien corrects
“Yeah, I could be a good transcendent!” Matthew said “Just try me!”
Damien shakes his head in negation to the possibility “You’ve never moved your body in basic combat locomotion, so how the hell are you supposed to master the elementric arts?”
“And Jason’s Kruger shaft is deactivated temporarily,’ Jane adds in.
“I could try something. I've got to be useful!” Matthew strongly insists.
Damien looks at his watch and calculates the time of sleep he’ll have before morning drill “Look, if you want you want to keep Jason’s body so bad, you can show me what you’ve got in the next few hours,”
“Damien!” Jane scolds.
“Alright!” Matthew cries, trying his best to dance while on the ground.
“Look, babe. I've got to get some sleep. Lucius’ is gonna be out early and we don’t wanna be caught sleeping off on the sparring ground,”
Jane wasn’t still rolling with the idea of letting Matthew keep Jason’s body.
“Alright, Patrick. We’ll see you soon!” Damien said as he and Jane walk towards the door.
“Yeah… it’s uhh.. it's Matthew. Hey, I'm I not coming with you guys?” Matthew questions.
“Nah, you stay there. We can’t bring you out like that” Jane said.
“It’s a cozy floor, you’ll love it!” Damien smirks as he leaves.
Jane switches off the lights in the medical dome, leaving the facility as well.
Matt stares into the darkness as he laid motionless on the floor. He begins to hum the theme of a popular show he watched on T.V during his hospital days.
What went through his mind was how exactly he was going to prove himself worthy of keeping Jason’s body or his qualification of being a transcendent. This life of fighting paranormal threats was far better than playing with the tubes that stuck up in his nose while in his sick bed or playing a prank on the nurses by tapping the ‘assist’ remote recklessly. This new life sounded interesting to him, and he wasn’t going to let go of it that easily.
******
The night was blossoming in its darkness. The sounds of owls and other nocturnal creations filled the cool air; sounds that summoned the creatures of the night.
The night itself has always been a mystery that sparked testimonies in many, but right now, the phenomenon in display was a mystery that only a few could testify to;
Streaks of multi-colored light flashed out from a certain portion in a cemetery, burning up the grass field and breaking down gravestones. This light show was however the after effect of what happened earlier.
Few hours ago, the undertakers within the cemetery and few other curious locals were drawn by the beam of light that shot up to the sky. The all traced the beam to a shed that glowed in red smoke. The shed was pretty brittle, so the undertakers never understood why a mighty beam like that came from inside. They were all taken aback in fright when strange manifestations like multi-legged lizards, and laughing clouds began to emerge from the shed.
The clouds seemed to be alive, judging by the way they swirled around the beam of light, laughing wickedly as they did so. The locals were already in their heels, running away from whatever was going on. But strange beasts with ape-like bodies and goat heads ran out from the shed, chasing the poor civilians to their brutal deaths.
The living dark clouds switched their attention from the light beam and then targeted the undertakers. The graveyard workers try running for their lives but the clouds chase them down, entering into their bodies through the nose and mouth. These men were transformed to heinous beings at once; each having a different type of double-horn shooting out from their heads.
Currently, the shed was still misbehaving, spitting out more demonic clouds into the town. These clouds either possessed people into demoniacs or they just slaughtered locals as they pleased. It was like a purge under the rising sun. People around the plagued vicinity had to lock themselves up and pray the madness ceases before sunrise.
The multi-colored array of light expanded further until everything in the cemetery went up in flames, roasting every natural creature to death. The shed shatters at last and what seems to be a portal rips open in the air. The light beam ceases once the portal fully manifests.
This was it. This was the doom shuttle!
The portal thunders, blowing out myriad of colors as it constantly changes the course of numerous flaming wheels that floated by it. Surviving undertakers who took strong shelters hid themselves further, some taking refuge under tables while some hid behind caskets.
The wheels slowed down and the thundering stopped. A behemoth being covered in flaming fur majestically steps out from the portal. On seeing the arrival of the figure, demons and demonic creatures around began to howl and make noises, demoniacs shouted on top of their voices, spitting out blood from their throats in worship or tearing their cheeks with stone fragments.
The fire clears off the being, revealing the massive build of a quite unlikely paranormal creature. His skin color was like blood mixed in coal, little horns scattered around his arms and back. The eyes of the creature were bright as sparking sapphire, dark fumes escaping the corners like his eyeballs as if they were on fire. His legs were like mighty pillars, positioned on the ground like a massive monument. The three horns on his head rose up to 12 inches before arching its position behind his head.
Anyone with half a brain could tell this was a demon, even if not specifically mentioning his rank.
The demon stares around the inferno that licked up the graveyard. He stares down at the demoniacs and goat-like demons that prostrated behind him. Raising his head to the sky, he listens to the praises rendered by the dark clouds that streaked around.
He turns to east at last, staring directly at the shade where the surviving undertakers took refuge. The undertakers themselves noticed the bright eyes of the demon facing their direction. They sought to flee through a back door at once, but a demon of large build mows them down with a lethal tackle, lifting each of them up with its horns and smacking them to the ground.
The chief demon watches as the men are rolled towards him, bashed and bruised with blood flowing through their deep cuts.
“Uion dayu tarampi yesu?” *WHY DO YOU RUN FROM SALVATION?* the chief demon said.
The graveyard workers were frozen in confusion, not understanding the language at all.
“I cara purio rudem gaea, yerush ibi nartu shoden” *I COME TO PURGE THE WORLD OF ITS SHADY CLEANLINESS, GIVING MANKIND A DIP IN THE POOL OF PEACE” the chief demon continues, “A freka tusea yurumaeko unndueo Yahweh domar pi!” *IT SHALL BE A FRESH START, A NEW DAWN FROM THE ASHES OF IMPERFECTION CREATED BY YAHWEH!*
The men were still confused. They only cried and begged to be free, but unfortunately, the demon didn’t understand their language as well.
The portal sparks up again and the wheels started spinning with incredible trail of flames around them. Another demon steps out of the light, taking his time to examine the area he found himself.
This demon looked fiercer than the first. His horns were almost uncountable, surrounding his forehead and scalp like multiple crowns made of copper. His jaw was firm as iron and his teeth made a glint in the surrounding flames. The chest of the demon had seemed to be armed with metal-like tissue that had a gold luster.
“Pazuzu…” he calls out to the chief demon that arrived earlier.
The chief demon- Pazuzu, was a principality and a ruthless commander “Amon…” Pazuzu replies with respect.
By the looks on the faces of the demons, and the silence that swept the place, you could easily discern that Amon was the Archdemon of this hell faction.
Amon stares down at the helpless undertakers “Faruo rui?” *WHO ARE THESE?*
Pazuzu stares at the men. He didn’t even know their use to him at the moment but he was certain they had some information that’ll be of good use “Uyo turei cabba jocu obriti kio mekallione” *THEY ARE FROM THIS REALM. THEY MAY KNOW ONE THING OR TWO ABOUT THE MEDALLION*
Amon’s amber eyes flicker in disgust to Pazuzu’s statement “Yougo unstra hulioroti yamsi Belial kataraye umba iiki taron!” *THEY HAVE NO BUISNESS WITH THE MEDALLION. WE SHOULD FIND IT WITH THE ONE WHO BELIAL ASSIGNED TO ACTIVATE IT!*
Pazuzu nods in agreement. He looks up to the full moon and the darkness that slowly faded to morning “Jago epiti forut ragua jinsi guafuyi unda” *I RECKON YOUR EXCITEMENT TO UNBURDEN THIS WORLD OFF ITS INIQUITIES*
Amon turns around and stares at the burning shed “I negalio forut foucho iristi explicio dana jalo mekallion” *I AM NOT EXCITED. WE MUST ACHIEVE COMMUNICATION WITH THE APPOINTED ONE BEFORE WE LOOSE CONTACT WITH THE MEDALLION*
Amon turns back around to Pazuzu “Ui lamaus trato youi shisha ganida jo hatti. Yorut baka falon di amiggo hastinifia ratum” *OUR LAMAUS IS THE WHAT KEEPS US OUT HERE. WE MUST HAVE IT BEFORE ANYONE OUTSIDE OUR ALLEGIANCE DOES. ONCE THIS IS ACHIEVED, WE CAN THEN FOCUS ON THE MAJOR GOAL*
“Whaka udri kobo Belial viago?” *WHO EXACTLY IS THIS MORTAL THAT BELIAL ASSIGNED?* Pazuzu said.
“Ratti un darko jisuin goddo. Ourioutti danfo uderio lamaus riquea,” *WE’LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH. BUT OUR ALLIANCES CHOOSE TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS FOR NOW. HOWEVER, A MEMBER OF THE PARTY DID REVEAL A PLACE TO ME. THIS INDIVIDUAL SAID WE MIGHT FIND OUR LAMAUS THERE,* Amon said, opening his palm to show the readings of a text scribbled there.
Pazuzu stares at the writing “Yorus genai fado. Gerut gavanini yutu olpasi rad” *THE PLACE ISNT FAR. IT’S NOT MUCH OF A SURPRISE SEEING THE PROXIMITY OF OUR DOORWAY TO WHERE IT IS*
“Adio” *YES* Amon said, closing his palm back “Tweye yetsu uporo. Kebe di raest nou? Daruti raut vah?” *WE MUST MAKE HASTE. WHERE ARE THE REST? HAVEN’T THEY SPAWNED YET?*
“Flauros wida raoshi abi” *FLAUROS WILL BE HERE SOON* Pazuzu said.
“Taroki. Gendai shobvo vessel gendi asin bitollo. Tyri oppai Belial construo turus savlon youri” *GOOD. GET YOURSELF A VESSEL AND TAKE A LOOK AT THE COORDINATES GIVEN. FIND THE LAMAUS AND BRING IT BACK NO MATTER WHAT! IF YOU SEE BELIAL’S SERVANT, BRING THE MORTAL SAVIOR WITH YOU AS WELL!* Amon commands, heading towards the shed with mighty stomps of fire.
Pazuzu nods in compliance to the instruction.
Amon stops suddenly and turns back around, staring at the bleeding undertakers. He then looks at Pazuzu “Werey forum pa?” *WHY ARE THEY STILL HERE?*
Pazuzu gives a command and the demons around tear the men pieces, throwing their mangled pieces into the surrounding flames.
The transcendents were in for something big indeed…