The Portal - VII

Part 1

When a soul is broken, shattered by a power greater than itself, its fragments are spread as leaflets caught on the wind. They are tethered by the power that makes them whole but it can take years, decades, or even centuries for the fragments to become one again. This phenomenon was first seen in the refugees found under the steps of the Himalayas. Humans cast out by society, destroyed by forces beyond their scope of existence, or simply rotted away from the inside, found their ways to the foothills of the largest mountains in the world. There they found an inkling of solace as the healing powers of the eastern men called upon the ether to heal their souls. Documentation for these rituals are many and varied but don’t speak with such pointed language. There are similar hotspots of soul healing that exist in different apex locations on the planet. Places of great healing, places of great spiritual acuity, places even of great death. Souls and soul fragments are drawn to such places and congregate around them like a moth to a flame. They live off the warmth of such energies until the point they are made whole and ascend, are consumed, or wither away beyond repair.

                Many people see these fragments as ghosts, apparitions, and wraiths that “live” in the shadowed places of the world. Others see them as angels, or beings of light. They are simply fragmented souls vying for a chance to become whole once again. These are human souls hoping for a chance for renewal. However, there is a difference when a being from a portal becomes shattered.

                When the soul of a portal traveler, a being who has wielded the power of souls is ruptured, the pieces are more like jagged glass fragments. They stick in the fabric of space and time like a wound tearing itself wider and wider. They consume the fragments of lost souls, they gather energy from the living and the weak, and they fight to become whole once again across the chasm of existence. Such creatures are very dangerous and inflict unspeakable damage to those caught in their path. They are called many things by many cultures of men, demons, devils, ghouls, vampires. Creatures that hide in the darkness and steal what is not theirs but what they wish to possess; life.

                Unlike the fragment of a human soul, a portal soul of any strength, when fractured can not move freely form place to place. They must use a vessel of sufficient power to cart their essence from place to place until they are made whole again. No mere simple feat is this for it requires a weak enough person, a weak enough mind, a weak enough soul for a new one to inhabit the same vessel. For that is what the body is. A vessel for a soul. A case to house the immense power of life itself, nothing more, nothing less. For two souls to inhabit one vessel is tantamount to sticking a building inside of a handbag; utterly impossible. Though it has been done.

                Monks in the Himalayas have taken in the soul fragments of the weak using their own life force to heal their astral wounds and make their souls ready for travel to the ethereal plane. Shaman in the African plains have done the same, consuming the flesh along with the body to hold more than one soul, dormant however in nature, inside their flesh. Psychics, or those with strong mental ability, attuned as they are to the higher planes, can have rooms as large as mansions inside their vessel to hold a host of souls without fear of rupturing. Though this last case if very dangerous. Inside such a large vessel it is possible to get lost and for control to be forfeit without the loss of the host soul. If the host ventures into a deep room and forgets about the light, an arrant soul can take the reigns.

                The fragments each have a particularity to them different from the whole. As if each prevailing distinction of the personality were split among the shards. Some fragments are more docile, some more aggressive, some more gentle, some more malicious. Though they share the same core they do not share the same energy or temperament. Until the pieces are rejoined, and the dominance of the whole is remade, the pieces will fight for control.

                Commonality prevails in each instance however, a soul can not exist without a vessel, for very long. Once outside a vessel the soul is susceptible to corrosion, decay, malfeasance, maliciousness and destruction. A fragment can grow smaller and smaller with time withering away to nothing. A soul can be turned from a pure source of energy to one of dark deviance. From that instance it must be destroyed. These same agents for saving the souls are also the ones to see about to their ending as well.

                Though there are other methods to destroy such a being before or after the rejoining is completed. Though this a deeply held secret by the owner of the old tomes. Only one who possess the texts can undo what has been done and end the cycle of tearing of souls. However, the same text in the right hands can wield great power which in turn can lead to great devastation for every realm of space and time and every realm of existence.

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