Mystics
Chapter 4

Sinead lays in her bed, staring at the ceiling. A number of priests and priestesses roam the ship. Knowing there is a couple day travel back to the home territory, the members of the church chose to set sail at midnight. She’d been thinking about the conversation she had with Zven ever since she entered her room.

In some ways she wished she’d had the upbringing he did. Zven grew up with his brother Max, raised by a man who know their blood father, a man who happened to hunt the supernatural. Zven and his brother grew up learning to hunt turned bloods, and other monsters, as well as how to track certain patterns that could relate to spirits, and demons killing people.

Sinead grew up in Ireland, always knowing she was different. Growing up she struggled to keep her unique Ethereal essence from acting out, which often led to her getting bullied in her home town. When pushed far enough, she would lash out against her bullies, it was when people learned how dangerous she could be that they began to call her a freak. She felt relief the day her parents told her about the Crimson Moon and the travel to Canada. It wasn’t until she joined the Shadows Bane that she learned to control her abilities, and later earned her place as a priestess.

She replaces herself questioning how someone like Zven, could go through all that he has, and not hate her. Because of her, he ended up at the Forest Outpost, ended up at risk in a war zone of his own engineering, and ended up trapped in a liminal space, disconnected from time for three years. How in any way does he not hate her?

Sure she likes him, and she believe she has a shot, with his whole ‘fresh start’ idea. The lich believes she doesn’t deserve his kindness. Not that she doesn’t accept it. She doesn’t understand how he isn’t holding some kind of grudge. Hell, Sinead knows that for the longest time, when Leo joined the church, he held a grudge against her for what she put him through, and he was more than justified in his reason for doing so. Even now, while he understands why things happened the way they did, Sinead will never be able to replace the appropriate way to apologize for everything.

The lich is shaken from her thoughts by a knock on her door. She gets up from her bed, and puts on a night gown to cover her undergarments. Normally Sinead would sleep with her full set of clothing on while in her quarters on board a ship during travel. But she felt differently tonight. After tying the back of her night gown she opens the door to her quarters, and replaces the founder outside her door.

Sinead stammers over her words, before saying. “Forgive me for being out of uniform founder, I wasn’t expecting a visit at this hour.”

“Did I disturb something?” The cambion asks, when noticing the lich’s cheeks are a little flushed.

The lich lets out a stuttered, “N-no. I-I was thinking about someone.”

It isn’t until she said it that she realizes that could sound really bad out of context, and she wishes she had worded that differently. She knows she likes Zven, but its not like that. So why is she becoming flustered. Sinead could be creating the wrong connections, it’s probably because she’s standing in front of the founder wearing nothing more than a night gown. Course now that she’s thinking about it, her flustered state would be much worse of Zven had been on the other side of the door when she answered.

“Should I come back at a different time?” Raven asks, not wanting to intrude.

Shaking her head, the lich answers. “No, no, it’s alright. I just wasn’t expecting a visit at this hour. I was just resting.”

She couldn’t believe it. The founder chose to speak to her. For years she had always believed that the founders were a mysterious force with powers unknown. She never knew that they were cambion, or descendants of the one whom she so foolishly called master for so long.

“I apologize for the circumstances under which we met. I wanted to take a chance to get to know one whom is seen as the ambassador of change by those who are here.” Raven opens as she enters the room.

Sinead closes the door, replying. “I served the wrong side for so long. All I did was bring the information I was told back to the church. Yinto did the rest.”

“You may not see yourself as what your fellow priests and priestesses do. They look to you, because it is you who led them here. Yinto may be the brains, but you stepped up to lead them here, where they uncovered the truth. Now we are returning to the home territory, to figure out what to do with that truth.” Raven says, her tone airing her decades of experience.

The lich nods but replies. “Forgive me if I sound rude, founder, but I am no leader. I blindly believed in a lie for over fifteen years. How can they look up to someone who could be so easily fooled?”

Sure she was put in charge, but she coordinated with the priests and priestesses who actually knew what the hell they were doing. All she did was oversee the situation. She helped in moving debris, but that was pretty much all she did outside of coordinating movements with the right people.

“Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing. I know what it’s like to see ones self as unworthy of leading anyone. As a daughter of Lilith, I never thought I would be worthy of leading anyone because I am descended from the very being that threatens this reality.” The cambion explains, “You may have blindly believed in a lie for over fifteen years. But you eventually learned the truth, and with that revelation you chose to tell others. You began a movement by simply sharing what you learned. You may not see yourself as a leader, but they do. It’s because of you that they came this far. Don’t look at what was. Instead look at what is, and what can be. Don’t let your past hold you back from doing what you know you can.”

Raven was the most doubtful that anyone would join the Shadows Bane, but Ryndor told her that it didn’t matter of the people didn’t like them. The idea was to create a force to stand against Lilith. Humans don’t have to like them to work well with them. Over time it became a mutual respect. Before she knew it Raven found herself in a leadership position. Sinead is where she once was. She uncovered the truth, and worked with someone she looked up to in order to begin the proper movements to begin making a difference.

Sineads problem is that she’s still punishing herself for things she did as a blind follower of Lilith. It’s because of what she did that she isn’t allowing herself to fully see the opportunity before her.

The lich gives an understanding nod, asking. “How can I put myself in a position where people who I’ve wronged can exact their justified revenge?”

“You need not concern yourself with the feeling others, only what you feel is right. But that doesn’t mean you ignore the feelings of the people either. As a leader it is your job to be an example of what they should aspire to be. For in their darkest moments, it will be you they look to for guidance, both as a leader, and as a priestess.” The cambion answers.

It was something Galadrian told her. As the creator of the military he chose to lead by example, to show the Shadows Bane how military leaders should approach combat situations. Raven was more in the concern of protecting the leaders of the Shadows Bane, and thus rarely led the people. But she did have a say in the meetings that were held, primarily because the people knew that the honor guard would only answer to her. Before she and her siblings had themselves sealed away, Raven discovered a Void Tear, an artifact so powerful it’s said to have been the origins of Ethereal Essence. She hid it in the temple, and tasked the honor guard to keep anyone including the leaders from accessing the bowels of the temple unless Raven herself approved their entry.

Returning herself to the moment, Raven, says. “We carve our mark in society by doing what we believe to be right. Sometimes doing what’s right isn’t easy. It can be easy to latch onto unjust blame and blind faith. Fear and anger often push people to that. They aren’t beyond reason.”

“You think there are members of the cult who could join the movement?” Sinead asks, becoming confused.

With a nod she explains. “As it is in Purgatory, so too shall it be on Earth. No one is beyond redemption. Even the worst of people given enough time can be redeemed.”

They both know that in order for change to happen a lot of cult loyal people are going to die. But Raven knows that no soul is beyond redemption. Purgatory is supposed to be a place of redemption for those who cannot pass through the gates of Heaven. As the saying goes, ‘one must fall before they can rise’. The idea, she believes, was that before one can pass through the gates of Heaven, they must be able to see themselves as having been redeemed, and be seen by others as having been redeemed. It’s a method of ensuring that no corruption ever enters Heaven. Raven herself has never actually seen the pearly gates, as she’s always viewed herself as unworthy of ever entering. Not because she’s a cambion, but because she’s a descendant of Lilith.

“I never thought if it like that.” The lich replies, “I always thought the saying was ‘as it is in heaven, so it shall be on Earth’. Was that always geared towards Purgatory instead?”

With a nod Raven answers. “It was. The religious believe Purgatory to be something different, and many replace the idea that anyone who enters ‘Hell’ is unworthy of redemption in the eyes of God. What most do not understand is that redemption is for those who seek it, otherwise Purgatory becomes their Hell, because they refuse to change. Purgatory is what you make of it. A chance for betterment of ones self, or eternal damnation.”

While she believes there could be a god out there, the cambion believes that this ‘god’ is a silent observer, watching things from the background, never getting involved in the actions of its creations. She believes that Purgatory was created the way it was, because the creator believed that no one was beyond redemption. It takes as long as it needs to take for each person. Be it a year, or decades. Lucifer as the warrior would have only been assigned the task to watch over Purgatory, if it was believed he could keep the souls there in check. Before the flood, Lucifer’s mere presence commanded respect from all who lay eyes on him. For he was seen as the guardian at the gates.