In a room, deep in an undisclosed location, the box containing the Lich's Phylactery sat on a bare concrete floor. To my utter amazement, his holiness The Pope was there as well. Although I have worked for The Vatican for many many years now, I had only met one other pope, not including Gregory the XI as a possessed corpse. My gloved hands slightly trembling, I opened the box to reveal a small lump wrapped in a leather bag. Inside the pouch was an ornately carved figure painted in blues and reds. It was a figure of the body of the Lich in life, wearing an ornate hat. I reached into the box and plucked the figure out of the custom cut foam, slowly removing it from the sack. Thankfully this time there were no horrid visions. I set it onto the ground, closed the lid of the case and removed the case from the circle. His Holiness removed an aspergillum and sprinkled holy water onto the Phylactery. It hissed and bubbled off on contact. The Pope continued to cast holy water onto the cursed item, walking around in circles as he prayed in Latin. After several repetitions of prayer the Phylactery stopped hissing as the holy water hit it. That should have removed any enchantment that may cause blowback but we still didn't want to take any chances. I reached down and picked up the Artifact, then I secured it to a chain with a quick release mechanism. A wood chipper was brought in, as was a large bucket of Holy water. Once the outflow was adjusted to go directly into the Holy water, the blades began to spin, faster and faster as the hum and whir filled the space. Everyone in the room had cleared at least 50 yards away before I hit the button releasing it. Time slowed down as I watched the Phylactery fall towards the spinning blades. I could see every rotation and the drop seemed to take forever, finally impacting and shattering into a million pieces. I collapsed as my world went black again.
I laid there on the floor, gasping for breath. I wasn't in my body, I was in the body of the Lich. I was seeing and feeling everything from his point of view again, but this was current. I could feel the desert heat and the grit from the sand blowing across me. Something snapped, I could feel a tether break as his body hit the dirt. There was a profound feeling of loss and energy. It felt like he hadn't slept in days and was about to collapse from exhaustion, body aching and joints feeling like they were full of broken glass. The pain was almost unbearable, but the feeling of loss, torment and mental anguish was so much worse. I could feel his rage and the torment of knowing that if he died this time, he wouldn't be able to come back. He screamed in anger and pain until his lungs ran out of air, gasped for more and screamed again, dry heaving from the pain, wrenching and gasping for air. Spitting and shuttering, as there were no contents in his stomach to empty but his body still trying in vain to expel a poison that wasn’t there. I could see the Vampire, Shay, running over to help him. It was such an odd first person view, and I could feel all of his pain and emotions so well. My vision began to tunnel out and go into a pinpoint until everything blacked out completely.
I jerked as I slammed back into my body, I could feel my soul making it back home with a physical impact. Angiola was there, on her knees and holding one of my hands. His Holiness the Pope was praying over me, and repeatedly blessing me with Holy water. Simon, Reginald, Philip and Thomas were there standing over me, almost in a huddle. “I'm okay... Wow... That sucked. I had another vision. I was in the body of the Lich, I could feel the tether snapping when we destroyed his Phylactery. It weakened him, drastically. I coll... He collapsed, and could hardly move. It was like his joints were on fire and full of broken glass. He knew, he knew it was destroyed and I could feel his anguish, and rage as he realized what it meant. We really hurt him, and his power... He's at less than a quarter of what he was at.” I told the group, as I slowly got to my feet. The Pope had a really pained expression on his face. The Pope prayed over and blessed each of us individually, and again as a group. After four centuries of working for the church, I had never been blessed by The Pope before a mission. Despite stopping what would have been the end of the world, a few times, The Pope felt like we needed a special blessing for this one. The Holy water basin, filled with the fragmented powder of the sculpture had finally stopped boiling. The smell coming off of it was horrendous. Thankfully we had already left the room for The Pope's blessing. I could feel the power and evil coming off The Eater Of Souls, every time I was in the Lich's body. Knowing how much power and evil there was packed into this beast... I was grateful to have a bit more help from above.
Sĕigo hit the ground like a brick. One moment he was fine and the next he was on the floor of the cave, trembling. He could feel the loss and it enraged him. The pain and the drain to his power was immense, like nothing he had ever felt before. He laid there and yelled until he couldn't anymore, gasped in a breath and yelled again. His Phylactery had been destroyed, as well as a large amount of his power and any chance he once had at rebirth was just gone. Shay was at his side, he couldn't tell when he had gotten there… He was yelling something, trying to help but Sĕigo just couldn't make out the words. “ARE YOU OKAY! WHAT HAPPENED?” It was all muffled, like he was underwater but he could tell Shay was yelling. Half listening and half reading his lips, Sĕigo shook his head in the negative. Shay grabbed Sĕigo under his arms and began to drag him deeper into the cave. “Master! Sĕigo has collapsed, he's trembling and crying out in pain! I don't know what happened but he needs you!” Shay yelled for The Eater Of Souls, as he dragged Sĕigo over to his master. The beast lumbered over and looked down at Sĕigo. The Eater Of Souls did not speak verbally, but he would speak into your head. “You have fallen, and are weak.” Said The Eater Of Souls, into Sĕigo's mind. A trickle of clotted blood came out of his nose as the words hit him like anvils. “You wanted the Phylactery far away, and for years that worked. When it was uncovered, you knew it was no longer hidden but chose to leave it alone. Hoping if something happened, there would be someone close by to take possession of. Now, you have nothing. Worse, we can not make another.” Only The Eater Of Souls knew exactly how much was changed by the destruction of the Phylactery.
I was very glad that mess was over. It was interesting meeting with the Pope, unexpected really, but I was grateful to have the blessing. I put all my faith in God, and a personal relationship with the savior, as opposed to a title given to any man. I would imagine with all of the miraculous things that I've seen and been a part of throughout my LONG life, I ALREADY have God's blessing. It was a nice gesture, and he helped destroy the Phylactery so I really didn't want to complain. I just feel like my grace is between me and my God. Not a popular opinion, especially around here, but that's okay too. Back at The Order compound, we started to get ready. We had another flight leaving for the US in a few hours now that the Phylactery was destroyed. We had planned on attacking right around Sun rise, not that going after a powerful Vamp in a cave would be easy but at least this way he couldn't run. Plus going after vamps at night, no matter how many, would be a foolish endeavor. Not to mention dealing with whatever powers The Eater Of Souls may have. Unfortunately Manus Patris had been so depleted from the mission going after The Dark Pope, we wouldn't have much back up from them for this one. They were spread rather thin and had a very large area to cover. Angiola and I were back in her office, studio area. She was very excited, Thomas and her had stopped by the range on the way back and she got to try out the rail gun Thomas had built. She had only been able to run five rounds through it, but I could tell from the giddy look of excitement on her face when they got back that she had enjoyed it. “There was almost no recoil at all, it was absolutely silent but the trajectory is completely flat just about as far as I can see. It's odd not compensating for drop and having hold over but I'm confident enough with it. I'm sure I'll be able to smack that big lizard without any issues!” She told me. Her enthusiasm was evident but I was still worried about this one. We knew so little about The Eater Of Souls it was really hard to say. I was glad the Lich had been weakened so much but I still hated having the visions from his point of view. Being inside his mind and body was so alien to anything resembling normal or logical it took me hours to feel human again.
I sat down on the couch as Angiola went over and started to upload the pictures from the trip to NY. She was thrilled and excitedly talking over her shoulder about making a photo album and the different art we saw on display at The Met. I was exhausted, my nerves were absolutely shot and I hadn't been this frazzled in a long time. The last six months had been an absolute rollercoaster, both physically and emotionally. I had died twice in battle, fallen in love, lost that love, DESPERATELY longed to die and actually stay dead… I'm NOT proud of it, but I have to be honest about it at the very least. Thankfully I received the biggest shock of my life and Angiola was still alive, or at least back from the dead. As wonderful as things had been since we reconnected, everything going on with the Lich and this Eater Of Soul. I felt like I had been hit by a bus after this last… Trip? Visit? Invasion I guess, into the body of the Lich. I didn't PERSONALLY suffer any physical damage but being inside his body, sharing the vessel and completely experiencing things from his perspective was horrid. There was nothing to heal from but this last one was too much. I could feel my body sinking into the couch, everything started to tingle and my brain began to buzz. I could hear Angiola saying something but I couldn't make out the words. I couldn't comprehend her speech or even recognize the language she was speaking. The couch started to swallow my body and I struggled to stay sitting up as my vision blurred in and out a couple of times before tunneling to a black pinprick.
Angiola was working at her computer, ecstatic from the trip to The Met and their honeymoon together. This was easily the BEST week of her life. Finding Tobias again, getting married, a gorgeous honeymoon and a flamboyance of VAMPIRIC FLAMINGOS!!! She was at her desk typing away and uploading photos from the trip while talking over her shoulder to Tobias. After a few moments of him not answering her she paused and looked back, just in time to see him roll off the couch and hit the floor. It was like he was having another seizure but he wasn't shaking at all this time. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and he was bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. In a panic she ran into the hallway and screamed for help. Reginald's office was right next door and he rushed into the room first. She had gone back to Tobias’s side and was placing him onto his side, and sliding a pillow under his head. He was completely limp and non responsive. Reginald knelt down beside the two of them and checked his pulse. Simon came running down the hallway and into the room. Reginald looked over his shoulder and said “His pulse is over 250 BPM we need to get him to medical” to Simon as he entered the doorway. The fact that true members of The order could heal from almost anything and were essentially immortal meant they had an advanced medical suite on sight, as well as a dedicated staff. It's really difficult to explain why the bloody torso you brought into the ER is now walking out with all of his limbs a few days later… Or how the head was reattached… Or how the patient survived 150 mg Dilaudid IV push without being on a vent. Questions like this and many others made having medical staff read in on the situation a necessity. As well as cross training many of the members in “Field medicine”, mostly consisting of grabbing all the pieces you can find, pump them full of pain killers then get them to cover. Reginald scooped Tobias up onto his shoulders and ran after Simon, heading to the underground medical wing.
Simon and Reginald placed Tobias’s limp body onto a hospital bed in the medical area. A nurse and doctor followed them into the room, the nurse quickly starting an IV and hanging a bag of saline. “He collapsed and is non responsive, bleeding from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. Pulse was over 250 BPM when we got to him. We destroyed a phylactery from an extremely powerful Lich, but there shouldn't have been any blowback. He's been experiencing seizures and visions since he came in contact with the vessel.” Simon told the doctor, as the man quickly began to check Tobias’s lungs and pulse. The nurse had been hooking up electrodes to his forehead and chest. Monitors began to give readings, thankfully all the alarms had been disabled or they would have been screeching as well. “Pulse 257 BPM, BP is 285 over 197, temp 115 degrees, his brain waves are…” The nurse trailed off, as she was reading the stats to the Doctor as he was still doing a physical examination. Every eye in the room went to the EEG readout that was showing tightly packed peaks and valleys on all of the readings, lines overlapping to the extent the screen looked like it was glitching. “60 milligram of Diazepam full push NOW!” Said the Doctor. As the nurse readied the injection and quickly hooked it to the IV port before pushing down on the plunger. The EEG readout slowly started to change. It was still off the charts for “normal” but the screen was at least readable now. “Hit him again, same dosage, then give him 70 mg dilaudid, we have to get his BP down”. Said the Doctor, still staring at the EEG screen. Before the nurse could disconnect the syringe, the EEG readout went completely flat, showing absolutely no brain activity. The pulse, temp, and BP all suddenly leveled off just as quickly and went back into a normal range. “Pulse at 90 BP, no 80, 60… Okay it seems to be leveling off at 45 BPM. All brain activity has stopped.” Said the nurse to the Doctor. “Is he dreaming or something?” Angiola asked, concern evident in her voice. The Doctor paused and studied the EEG readout. “No, there doesn't seem to be any activity at all. He isn't in a coma, the readings are more like he is in a vegetative state. I've never seen anything like this before. The Physiology of the members here is bizarre but honestly we are in uncharted waters here. Nurse, go ahead with the Diluaded push of 70mg. We will just have to keep a close eye on him and see what happens. The least we can do is keep him comfortable.” The doctor said as he shook his head apologetically to the concerned looks around him.