Children of Fear, Book 2 of Spirit Cores -- Prologue

Prologue

“O Reverent One, I’m sorry to disturb you – but we may have an issue with the ASTS.”

Yvraine looked up, tearing her gaze away from the report she had been staring at for the last hour. You’d think that being the Goddess of Heaven would mean that I wouldn’t have to deal with so much paperwork. She sighed as she focused on Danyeel, her assistant for the last three millennia. I don’t know what I would do without her.

The last thousand years had been quite busy when it came to monitoring the souls of the humans in the mortal realm; there were so many more of them now and their numbers were growing exponentially every year. They were so numerous now, as a matter of fact, that over 150 years ago, she actually had to work with her sister to develop an unbiased system that would automatically send departed souls to their final destination. 

That was a fun decade, let me tell you.

Previously, the two sisters (one in Heaven and one in Hell) had to send their own representatives to guide the newly released souls to the correct place. Whereas Yvraine had her angels to do that duty, Morgraw had her demons – which liked to stick around longer than they should. While both of their agents were forbidden from interacting with the mortal realm other than to direct souls, her sister was always pushing the boundaries somehow. 

Fortunately, with the development of the Automatic Soul Transfer System (ASTS) – which was created with help from their father – they were no longer required to send down their representatives to guide the souls. It was all done automatically, following proscribed guidelines agreed upon by both parties; it was created by the Creator himself, so – obviously – it was perfect.

“What are you talking about? The ASTS can’t have an issue – it’s just not possible.”

While there were always exceptions concerning souls, it always came in the form of lost or stubborn souls who refused to depart; sudden deaths or even an unhealthy attachment to an item or a physical location were usually the culprit. The ASTS attempted to route the souls to their destination, but if they refused to cooperate the system wasn’t allowed to forcefully remove them. Doing so could potentially damage the soul for eternity – which none of them wanted.

As the Goddess of Heaven, Yvraine was responsible for ensuring that those poor souls were sent on their way – to whatever destination they were supposed to go to. After the ASTS was created, by a mutual pact they were no longer able to send their angels and demons to the mortal realm; as a result, she was forced to employ mortals to speed the process through exorcisms or spiritual banishments. All over the world, she had specific individuals in every religion and/or spiritual organization; they weren’t all called “exorcists”, but they performed the same function.

Unfortunately, sometimes lost souls – the mortals called them “ghosts” or “spirits” – fell through the cracks and were forgotten/unable to be found; when they were left for too long, they tended to go a bit insane from their prolonged solitude. These “evil spirits” (as the mortals tended to call them if they encountered them) caused no end of unintentional mischief: trying to communicate with mortals from their state of limbo and utilizing what little spiritual power they possessed to strike out at the unseen mortal realm. These types of incidents were commonly called “hauntings” by the humans and were usually quickly and quietly taken care of when it was heard about by her mortal exorcist representatives.

Even if the souls went a little insane from their stay in limbo, once they were finally sent on their way, they still went to their intended destination – nothing they did during their time as a lost soul could change that.

“I’m sorry to bring this to your attention my Goddess, but after the ASTS was set up, you asked me to monitor it for any abnormalities. Since its implementation, there hasn’t been a single one – until now. And not only one – but three,” Danyeel hesitantly replied.

“Three? Are you sure it’s not just an error on our end? Are the diagnostics running correctly?”

“Everything checks out, unfortunately.”

Hmm, this isn’t good. “Ok, tell me what the issue is – maybe there is a simple explanation.”

Danyeel looked down at her own paperwork, as if confirming she had her facts straight – though in all the time Yvraine had known her, she hadn’t forgotten a single thing. “One year ago, a mortal woman named Jessica Baker was slated to go to come here but was instead routed to Hell. For some reason – that I’m still trying to investigate – nothing alerted us to this change. It wasn’t until I noticed a discrepancy in the number of souls we were supposed to intake and the actual arrivals, that I was able to see the problem. Two more souls were routed incorrectly about a month ago; after a little more research, I found that Mark and Andrea Stone passed away in the same location as Jessica Baker.

“Now, apparently, the latter deaths were attributed to a murder-suicide, but nothing in their soul records reflect that; it was as if it never happened. As strange as that is, according to those same soul records, all of them still should’ve been sent here – but they weren’t. So, like I said, there might be an issue with the ASTS.”

No, that’s impossible…unless… “Was there anything unusual about the location? Any notes on what happened to this…Jessica Baker?”

“Now that you mention it, the initial death of the young woman was attributed to acute heart failure, which was strange in someone that was in relatively good health. There was also a small expenditure in your spiritual power shortly afterwards, charged off to one,” Danyeel looked down at her notes again, “Father Larkin. Apparently, Mark and Andrea reported that they thought an ‘evil entity’ had invaded their home and had killed Jessica Baker, prompting Father Larkin to perform a cleansing ritual on the home.”

Most religious and spiritual rituals performed around the world siphoned off a little of the spiritual power Yvraine possessed, though the drain was so minimal that it wasn’t noticeable. At one point, millennia ago, she used to monitor and grant her power on a case-by-case basis, but now it was all automated; if she had to look at every single one, she wouldn’t have time to do anything else.

“And this didn’t alert you at the time?”

“No, though it should have. Like I said, I’m still looking into the reason why it didn’t.”

Hmm… Although a lost soul could sometimes be attributed to certain changes in mortal behavior, it was very rare for it to cause something like this to happen. And, if it somehow was able to convince someone to perform an action that they had no former intention of doing, that was also noted on their soul record: they were held unaccountable for the actions they performed while being influenced by a lost soul.

All of this meant that what she was hearing about was an impossibility. Or at least, it should be impossible.

When it came to impossibilities, the first thing she thought of was her sister; somehow, some way, this has to be her doing. She just wasn’t sure how, though.

“Danyeel, I want an investigation team to the house immediately. I want them to be fully equipped and send…Stryker, as well.” Stryker was her best exorcist in the Americas; if he couldn’t figure it out, then no one else could. With the “Paranormal Investigation Team” (PIT) there as well, they were sure to find some sort of evidence. Finally, mortal technology has advanced enough to make our jobs much easier.

It was standard now for her exorcists and spirit banishers to employ PITs in their efforts to send lost souls on their final journeys. While they had the ability to “feel” the spirits nearby, they had to almost be right on top of them in order to do so. With human technological advancements over the last few decades, they could employ specific technology to find evidence of the lost souls; it saved days-worth of time and allowed them to work faster and more accurately.

“Yes, Goddess. I will be watching the reports even closer now, to see if there are any more anomalies.”

“See that you do. Dismissed.” She hoped that there weren’t any more because if there was, then it probably meant her sister had somehow found a way around the restrictions about meddling in the mortal plane. Yvraine couldn’t do anything about it at the moment, though; without proof, it was a baseless accusation.

What are you up to, Morgraw?