Been reading my In Nomine books, and I've come up with a few ideas...
In Nomine/Persona 4
Location: The Deep Marches. Time: 7:41 PM, July 10 2009
Amaterasu sat on the edge of a mountain, wondering where Izanami had gone. The Goddess of Death had vanished one year ago, and neither hide nor hair of her had been seen since. Even the few contacts Amaterasu had in the Media had not seen her. It was not like Izanami to vanish into the corpreal world...the yelling of a severant shook her out of her thoughts. "Amaterasu-Omikami! Izanami has been spotted in the Vale of Dreams, gravely wounded!"
****
The wounds were even worse Amaterasu had believed. Countless minor wounds covered her body, and a single terrible wound leaked Forces with every movement. It was clear Izanami would suffer a second and far more permanent death. "Izanami, who has wounded you so?!"
"A mortal..."
"A mere human did this! Impossible!" Maybe one of the stronger Ethereal gods, a Demon Prince, or an Archangel could strike such a blow. But no lesser spirit, and certainly not an mere mortal.
"Mere! Hah! This mortal was as far from mere as the heaven are above the earth." Even through her pain and horrific visage, the joy on her face was plain to see. Suddenly, Izanami grabbed the front of Amaterasu's robe. "Listen to me, my husband's daughter. I have a tale to tell." And Izanami told her story. She had sought to test humanity, to see the truth of their nature. She spoke how she had chosen three mortals; One to be nothingness, one to be despair, and one to be hope. She spoke of how she had spun a web of illusions veiling truth; Nothingness had used her web to kill, Despair tried to stop the deaths but with tricked by Nothingness, while Hope had spread like wildfire, fouling the schemes of Nothingness, while following the trail of clues first to Despair, then to Nothingness...
And then past the false villain left by Izanami to track the goddess to her hiding place, where Izanami had sought to test the powers of Hope and his allies, magic gained by facing their own unwelcome truths. "They fought well, Amaterasu. They forced me to stop testing them and fight them in truth...I struck their leader with my greatest illusion...but those he had helped guided him free of it, and the power he gained as a result..." She gestured to the wound. "Hope did not just win my contest, my husband's daughter. It exceeded my wildest dreams. The pit will never win, Amaterasu, no matter how convoluted their schemes. Mortals will unravel them. Break with Hell."
"Break with Hell! If we dare betray them, Nybbas will smother us! He will cut off the flow of Essence that keeps us all alive!"
"Nybbas will lose, Amaterasu. Eventually, mortals will pierce his illusions, track him to his lair, and strike at him as the did me. It is only a matter of time." With that, Izanami's forces were scattered fully. Only Amaterasu had heard her tale, and Izanami had not mentioned the names of the mortals she tested, nor the town where she had tested them. Still, there was enough for her to investigate.
****
Kulumah, Djinn and Servitor of the Media, (aka Kensuke in his current role as a security guard) was waited backstage for his assignment to arrive. He was assigned to the latest pop idol, some human named Rise The idiot hellsworn mortal that had previously been assigned to keep an eye on the girl was currently being "reprimanded" for failing to keep tabs on the girl when she had gone to ground in some backwater for a year. Luckily, the girl's agent had persuaded her to come back, and now Kulumah's first assignment on earth was to keep track of the carbon-copy pop-star and keep her singing until her fame faded. Given the low number of halo's working in the areas, it looked like an easy first assignment. He was also technically supposed to try to isolate and guide Risette towards hell, but he had a favor or two he could call in to help there- he was no master of temptation, and he knew it.
An announcement blared over the speakers. "Risette's due to arrive 2 minutes! Get ready people!" The various humans involved in this whole circus doubled there flurry of activity, and Kulumah pulled a trick the Boss himself had taught him before sending him to earth. He burnt a bit of essence to forge a link to the greater symphony, and with a whiff of brimstone a phantom music began to play, a soundtrack to the movie that was his life. Dead useful for figuring out how much shit he was in at any given moment, and great for avoiding surprises- nothing like a dramatic sting to warn you of danger. Casual essense use was frowned upon, since it disturbed the Symphony and could lead rival demons- or worse, angels- right to your doorstep, you'd practically have to be in the room to here the disturbance he'd just caused, ao he was feeling safe. He cocked his head, listening to the soundtrack. A quiet but upbeat affair, with strings setting a rhythm and synthesizers a cheerful beat. Good news. At long last, the human singer finally walked into . The human that was presumably in charge of this whole circus was by her side in an instant, babbling about the song schedule. Before the mass of humans could obscure her, he willed his Symphony to hers, using his resonance to forge a link through which he could keep track of the girl, using another drop of Essence to bo. But before he even tried, his soundtrack had shifted- the strings had turned a minor key, turning the tone from cheer to uneasey and tense. A split second later, Kulumah noticed Rise was looking straight at him. The a split second later, she turned away just a bit too quickly for it to be casual.
Kulumah was not a stupid demon; his sharp mind was why he'd been assigned to earth despite barely being a half-century old, and it raced considering the implications. Any use of essence caused a disturbance in the symphony, and given the change in the soundtrack he was pretty sure that her sudden interest in him wasn't a couincidence. He'd bet a weeks worth of essence that the girl could hear the Symphony. Most symphonically aware humans were soldiers for Heaven or Hell, and she certainly hadn't been Hellsworn last year, otherwise she wouldn't have had a Hellsworn set to track her. His superior's probably didn't know, otherwise he'd have been told. Put it all together, and it meant someone had made her a soldier within the past year in the boonies. The question was, who was she serving now, and why? Either some other demon was horning in on his boss's territory, or the halo's were trying to pull something. He made a mental note to get to a tether and report in soon.
***
Two weeks later, and Kumulah fumed as Rise excitedly talked with group of teenagers- friends from the boonies, apparently. Rise had been going out of her way to avoid him, and when he had called in a favor form Maximilian, a local Impudite, to try and get up close to her, she'd avoided him too. Max had sworn up and down he hadn't spent a drop of Essence, and he was decent chance he wasn't lying. The newcomers had him feeling paranoid; he was almost certain that one of them was either the celestial that had recruited her, a messenger from the same, or backup here to get rid of him. The detective was certainly gruff enough to be a Malachim. In a sudden bout of paranoia, he activated the soundtrack to see if there was an ambush waiting for him, sending a tiny clamor of disturbance rippled through the symphony. As one, Rise and all eight of her "friends" turned to look right at him, expressions wary, but eager. Kulumah got the feeling he'd just blown a dog whistle next to a wolf pack. Crap. He then noticed that he was alone with the unfriendly teenage soldiers, outnumbered 8 to 1 with no witnesses. Double crap. Then the punk with the headphones took out a card and called up bizarre thing he could only see with his celestial senses- which was possible, but not normal- shot a windstorm at his face- which was also not normal- and did it all without disturbing the symphony in the slightest- which was goddamn impossible.
Faced with nine empowered humans doing impossible crap, Kulumah did the eminently sensible thing, and fled like a team of Malachim were on his ass.
In Nomine/Persona 4
Location: The Deep Marches. Time: 7:41 PM, July 10 2009
Amaterasu sat on the edge of a mountain, wondering where Izanami had gone. The Goddess of Death had vanished one year ago, and neither hide nor hair of her had been seen since. Even the few contacts Amaterasu had in the Media had not seen her. It was not like Izanami to vanish into the corpreal world...the yelling of a severant shook her out of her thoughts. "Amaterasu-Omikami! Izanami has been spotted in the Vale of Dreams, gravely wounded!"
****
The wounds were even worse Amaterasu had believed. Countless minor wounds covered her body, and a single terrible wound leaked Forces with every movement. It was clear Izanami would suffer a second and far more permanent death. "Izanami, who has wounded you so?!"
"A mortal..."
"A mere human did this! Impossible!" Maybe one of the stronger Ethereal gods, a Demon Prince, or an Archangel could strike such a blow. But no lesser spirit, and certainly not an mere mortal.
"Mere! Hah! This mortal was as far from mere as the heaven are above the earth." Even through her pain and horrific visage, the joy on her face was plain to see. Suddenly, Izanami grabbed the front of Amaterasu's robe. "Listen to me, my husband's daughter. I have a tale to tell." And Izanami told her story. She had sought to test humanity, to see the truth of their nature. She spoke how she had chosen three mortals; One to be nothingness, one to be despair, and one to be hope. She spoke of how she had spun a web of illusions veiling truth; Nothingness had used her web to kill, Despair tried to stop the deaths but with tricked by Nothingness, while Hope had spread like wildfire, fouling the schemes of Nothingness, while following the trail of clues first to Despair, then to Nothingness...
And then past the false villain left by Izanami to track the goddess to her hiding place, where Izanami had sought to test the powers of Hope and his allies, magic gained by facing their own unwelcome truths. "They fought well, Amaterasu. They forced me to stop testing them and fight them in truth...I struck their leader with my greatest illusion...but those he had helped guided him free of it, and the power he gained as a result..." She gestured to the wound. "Hope did not just win my contest, my husband's daughter. It exceeded my wildest dreams. The pit will never win, Amaterasu, no matter how convoluted their schemes. Mortals will unravel them. Break with Hell."
"Break with Hell! If we dare betray them, Nybbas will smother us! He will cut off the flow of Essence that keeps us all alive!"
"Nybbas will lose, Amaterasu. Eventually, mortals will pierce his illusions, track him to his lair, and strike at him as the did me. It is only a matter of time." With that, Izanami's forces were scattered fully. Only Amaterasu had heard her tale, and Izanami had not mentioned the names of the mortals she tested, nor the town where she had tested them. Still, there was enough for her to investigate.
****
Kulumah, Djinn and Servitor of the Media, (aka Kensuke in his current role as a security guard) was waited backstage for his assignment to arrive. He was assigned to the latest pop idol, some human named Rise The idiot hellsworn mortal that had previously been assigned to keep an eye on the girl was currently being "reprimanded" for failing to keep tabs on the girl when she had gone to ground in some backwater for a year. Luckily, the girl's agent had persuaded her to come back, and now Kulumah's first assignment on earth was to keep track of the carbon-copy pop-star and keep her singing until her fame faded. Given the low number of halo's working in the areas, it looked like an easy first assignment. He was also technically supposed to try to isolate and guide Risette towards hell, but he had a favor or two he could call in to help there- he was no master of temptation, and he knew it.
An announcement blared over the speakers. "Risette's due to arrive 2 minutes! Get ready people!" The various humans involved in this whole circus doubled there flurry of activity, and Kulumah pulled a trick the Boss himself had taught him before sending him to earth. He burnt a bit of essence to forge a link to the greater symphony, and with a whiff of brimstone a phantom music began to play, a soundtrack to the movie that was his life. Dead useful for figuring out how much shit he was in at any given moment, and great for avoiding surprises- nothing like a dramatic sting to warn you of danger. Casual essense use was frowned upon, since it disturbed the Symphony and could lead rival demons- or worse, angels- right to your doorstep, you'd practically have to be in the room to here the disturbance he'd just caused, ao he was feeling safe. He cocked his head, listening to the soundtrack. A quiet but upbeat affair, with strings setting a rhythm and synthesizers a cheerful beat. Good news. At long last, the human singer finally walked into . The human that was presumably in charge of this whole circus was by her side in an instant, babbling about the song schedule. Before the mass of humans could obscure her, he willed his Symphony to hers, using his resonance to forge a link through which he could keep track of the girl, using another drop of Essence to bo. But before he even tried, his soundtrack had shifted- the strings had turned a minor key, turning the tone from cheer to uneasey and tense. A split second later, Kulumah noticed Rise was looking straight at him. The a split second later, she turned away just a bit too quickly for it to be casual.
Kulumah was not a stupid demon; his sharp mind was why he'd been assigned to earth despite barely being a half-century old, and it raced considering the implications. Any use of essence caused a disturbance in the symphony, and given the change in the soundtrack he was pretty sure that her sudden interest in him wasn't a couincidence. He'd bet a weeks worth of essence that the girl could hear the Symphony. Most symphonically aware humans were soldiers for Heaven or Hell, and she certainly hadn't been Hellsworn last year, otherwise she wouldn't have had a Hellsworn set to track her. His superior's probably didn't know, otherwise he'd have been told. Put it all together, and it meant someone had made her a soldier within the past year in the boonies. The question was, who was she serving now, and why? Either some other demon was horning in on his boss's territory, or the halo's were trying to pull something. He made a mental note to get to a tether and report in soon.
***
Two weeks later, and Kumulah fumed as Rise excitedly talked with group of teenagers- friends from the boonies, apparently. Rise had been going out of her way to avoid him, and when he had called in a favor form Maximilian, a local Impudite, to try and get up close to her, she'd avoided him too. Max had sworn up and down he hadn't spent a drop of Essence, and he was decent chance he wasn't lying. The newcomers had him feeling paranoid; he was almost certain that one of them was either the celestial that had recruited her, a messenger from the same, or backup here to get rid of him. The detective was certainly gruff enough to be a Malachim. In a sudden bout of paranoia, he activated the soundtrack to see if there was an ambush waiting for him, sending a tiny clamor of disturbance rippled through the symphony. As one, Rise and all eight of her "friends" turned to look right at him, expressions wary, but eager. Kulumah got the feeling he'd just blown a dog whistle next to a wolf pack. Crap. He then noticed that he was alone with the unfriendly teenage soldiers, outnumbered 8 to 1 with no witnesses. Double crap. Then the punk with the headphones took out a card and called up bizarre thing he could only see with his celestial senses- which was possible, but not normal- shot a windstorm at his face- which was also not normal- and did it all without disturbing the symphony in the slightest- which was goddamn impossible.
Faced with nine empowered humans doing impossible crap, Kulumah did the eminently sensible thing, and fled like a team of Malachim were on his ass.