The Resolute Shepard of Lost and Destitute Souls

by **krzy** Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:39 pm

Legends tell the tale of a benevolent spirit that crossed the veil only to be corrupted by sorrow.

This particular story was woven eons ago, in a time before the times before. So long ago that names and places have faded, leaving behind only memories of moments whose impacts resonated throughout history.

The story begins with a man somehow both boldly and cowardly approaching a stranger who caught his eye. A woman whose beauty was so otherworldly it was said she appeared to glide when she walked and that a chorus of angels sung when she spoke.

The story continues with their marriage months later, and again with the birth of their first child--a girl named after the man’s own mother--and again the story pushes forward through the man’s death in a senseless war.

He left behind a terrible gift.

Over the course of nine months, the woman’s belly grew despite her better judgment. It was the boy the man always wanted, coming along at the dawn of the circle of life to pick up where his father left off. She had no way of truly knowing, yet she knew all the same.

She was unable to flee the country before the sun kissed her boy’s face for the first time. And thus the story continues with the ear-splitting backing track of the woman’s wails, held down by doctors and nurses as soldiers carried away their newest recruit.

Her pain was as deep as the ocean she cried. It was crippling and the source of many a tragic ballad. It was that anguish that drew Chreyon to her, a spirit of unknown origin or age, but one determined to alleviate her sorrows by bringing happiness into her life.

Many theorize that had Chreyon arrived earlier, the woman’s soul could have been salvaged. Cynicists gloat that had Chreyon not been relatively young and naive for a spirit, it would have understood that there was no soul left to save.

In its desperate desire to balance the woman’s suffering with joy, Chreyon brought her the only thing she ever asked for: people like her. People who sympathized. People willing to mobilize against the oppressors. However, there weren’t enough people for such a suicidal undertaking.

So the woman asked for people. Full stop. Regardless of who they are or what they stood for. Her pain christened her cause just, and that pain demanded she be given an arsenal that rivaled her enemy’s. There are several chilling stories recorded of the foreboding aura that surrounded Chreyon’s impending arrival--a distant glow of a lantern that never seemed to move yet could never be escaped.

Chreyon sought the souls of those who had been hurt and broken--those who could be easily manipulated into sacrificing themselves for another person’s gain. And it was indeed so that many were lost in the ensuing rebellion. A failed rebellion.

The woman’s story ends with Chreyon carrying her away from the battlefield after she was struck by a fatal blow. It took her somewhere that let the woman’s pain finally dissipate enough for Chreyon to finally accomplish what brought it through the veil: it told her that she was finally able to fight for her child in a way she couldn’t do before. He would be proud. He would forgive her. And after all those years had passed, she finally smiled.

Recordings of Chreyon’s movements since the woman’s passing are sparse. They say it gravitated toward battlefields looking for something...or someone. As for the woman’s daughter? It’s been speculated that after the loss of her father and mother, there was much more to Chreyon’s wandering than anyone truly knew.

But there’s no way to know for certain.

by **krzy** Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:47 am

Chreyon watched intently as she gave her marching orders--to everyone else her voice was firm, unwavering. There was no mistaking her intent. No doubting her conviction.

But the spirit heard, or rather sensed, the undertones of pain and anger that coloured her words so subtlety that they were imperceptible. And that colour was black. It was ugly. A void that evoked despair and helplessness. Quicksand that sucked you in and never let go.

Ordinarily, they were two healthy, necessary emotions in moderation. Within her, they overwhelmed all other feelings. An aura that extended beyond her and could cover the globe five times over. That's what drew the spirit to her. Not since the pain that birthed the spirit has such feeling swelled to destructive levels.

Of course, Val was wary of the spirit who appeared to her through the ashes of her compound. When those emotions were at a critical mass that oft leads to cyclical and self-destructive violence. She still doesn't quite trust Chreyon. That's why she agreed to leave Patch Mondo alone without a fuss. That was a test of Chreyon as much as it was Mondo, and the spirit's failure at Regicide reverted some painstakingly-achieved progress.

It had new orders now.

For many, the elimination chamber would be a vessel of unimaginable horrors that they would be locked inside. For Chris Diamond, the chamber would be keeping him safe from the true borrows that awaited outside.

The Resolute Shepard of Lost and Destitute Souls

The Resolute Shepard of Lost and Destitute Souls

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