[i]Mary[/i]

She had spent the past few days in the apartment Lazarus had gotten, locked in her room, getting used to the two new voices inside of her head. The process of getting her instrument(what appeared to be a string of pure light) was a fairly quick one, at first at least. The Abyss hid itself in Mary’s Essence, avoiding the gaze of those who could read Essence. It wouldn’t do to get Mary killed just for being a vessel. So, the Abyss behaved while Mary was in the Academy and the two spirits of Mary’s instrument moved into the abode it had set up. As soon as she was in her room however, all hell broke loose. The Abyss tried to shove both of the spirits out of Mary’s body. It nearly worked except for the fact that it sent her into seizures and immediately sent her own spirit to where all the others were housed. 

[i]Two days earlier[/i]

Mary landed in the black sludge with a disgusting squelch, her shout of surprise and disgust indiscernible beneath the shouting and screaming of the two spirits. As Mary looked up and realized where she was, surprise and disgust turned to fear. [i]It’s finally done it.[/i] She thought as she climbed to her feet. [i]It’s found a way to draw me in whenever it wants and now it’s going to trap me here and kill me and take over my body and kill Lazarus and it’ll be all my fault and I should have never even gone to Lazarus and left when I had the chance-[/i] Her slightly hysterical inner babbling stopped when she saw that the Abyss wasn’t here for her at all. In fact, it looked like it didn’t even know she was there. The two spirits of her instrument were being pushed back by tendrils that looked to be made of the same sludge covering the room, and things appeared to be at a standstill, the two spirits pushing against the tentacles and not going any further towards the opening behind them. Mary had never seen an opening in the room, and she had visited it every time she fell asleep. Something was wrong. Before she could even consider what to do, the spirits were both sent back a step. Agony ripped through her, and she screamed, the sound louder than the noise already in the room.

Immediately, the Abyss stopped pushing against the spirits and looked at her, showing as much concern as it could, given that it appeared to be made out of the black sludge, only had an impossibly wide set of lipless, razor sharp, teeth and two pure white eyes for facial features. “Mary, are you okay? What are you-“ Before it could finish, one of the spirits interrupted him. “We tried to tell you, fool!” This came from, a man (for the voice was deep and booming and decidedly masculine) who glowed with a reddish light. Mary couldn’t make out any details, but she slowly came to realize that it wasn’t because of the distance. The man had no details, he was a featureless, black humanoid shape, with a glowing red outline. As Mary stared, he continued. “But you didn’t believe us! We’re bound tightly to her soul, as tight as you are! Remove us, and you may kill her! And that means you’re really lucky because if you weren’t as tightly bound I’d be-“ 

“What my brother means to say is that perhaps we should stop fighting before we hurt her any further.” This was interjected by the remaining spirit, a woman (for this voice was soft and lyrical and decidedly feminine) who was wearing tan robes. Only her mouth was visible beneath the hood, with a few black strands of her hair hanging down past her chin. Her skin was slightly darker than her robes, at least as far as Mary could tell, given that her mouth was the only visible skin. The robes covered all else. The Abyss glared suspiciously at the two of them, but the tendrils were sucked back into its body all the same. Cautiously, Mary spoke, still maintaining a good distance from the three of them. “C-can I go back now?” The Abyss glanced over at her. “No. We need to talk.” “I don’t want to talk. You’re a parasite that I don’t want, and that I find ignoring is much easier than dealing with. You’re a reminder that I’m a [i]freak[/i] and that everyone I know and love is dead. You’re the source of all my problems. In fact, I’d rather you just die or leave or something! I don’t want you! Leave me alone!” At first her voice trembled. But as she went on anger began to take the place of fear. She didn’t know who or what had put the Abyss in her body, but she knew she didn’t want it inside of her. And since she couldn’t take out her anger at…well, everything that had happened to her, on the thing or person that had done this to her, the Abyss was the main target.

Luckily for Mary, the Abyss didn’t take offense to this most recent outburst. Sighing, it walked to the center of the room, where a chair and a table was created from the sludge as it sat down. “I understand you’re angry. Resentful. Scared. But I can’t hurt you without hurting myself, and I can’t leave at all. Whether we like it or not, we’re bound together. You can stay here and ignore me, or you can start accepting that I am a factor in your life, and that you can use my unique talents to your advantage.” Mary scowled at him, still clinging to her anger. “And what do you get out of it?” It shrugged, small streams of sludge coming off its shoulders. “I get to be acknowledged by my host, rather than ignored. I get to actually use my abilities, rather than occasionally getting them when you’re unfortunate enough to have someone die near you. And now that I have your attention, they will be useful in that endeavor.” It nodded towards the two spirits. “Before we go any further, I think introductions are in order.” Before Mary could say anything, the robed woman stepped forward. “I’m Mercy. My brother, the angry one, is Vengeance. We’re the spirits of your instrument. You call upon Vengeance for combat, killing your opponents, or finding them. You call upon me for binding, healing, and defending. Whenever you call upon Vengeance, the light string will turn red and war horns will sound. Whenever you call upon me, the light string will turn gold and bells will be heard.” Mercy paused, and Vengeance used this opportunity to speak. “Of course, what my sister has said isn’t all that we are used for, but it is the basics. You call on me to make those who have wronged you pay. You call on her to protect your allies and subdue those you don’t want to hurt.”

“And,” the Abyss added, “you can call upon me too. Though what exactly will happen to your instrument is unknown.” The siblings (Mary doubted they actually were, but didn’t mention it) both glanced at him but said nothing. “Did you understand all of that?” Mercy asked. Mary blinked once. Twice. “Kinda.” Mercy opened her mouth to speak but Vengeance overrode her. “You will learn with time, but for now, you need to decide what weapon we will turn into!” Mary’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Weapon?” “Yes! We can turn into the instrument you received, the string of light, and a ring for more subtle needs, and now you need to decide what weapon we will be when you decide to smite your enemies without our aid!” Vengeance’s voice boomed forward and Mary jumped a little at the exuberance and loudness of it. “And the weapon will hurt both Angels and Demons?” She asked. The last time she had tried to use human weapons on either of the two other races it ended badly. She could hear the bloodthirsty grin in his voice as he spoke. “Oh yes! It is quite efficient against all races! What would you prefer? A sword? An axe? Maybe a spear? How about a mace-?” Mary patiently waited while he went through a dozen more, and when he paused she took her chance. “A handgun.” Vengeance seemed to visibly deflate. “A handgun? You can’t rip into the flesh of your enemy with that! You can’t see the light leave their eyes, feel the resistance of their flesh give way, feel-“ “Vengeance. Enough.” Mercy spoke softly but firmly. “She has decided. We will abide by her decision.” He descended into grumbling, but agreed. Mercy turned back to Mary. “Now that that’s settled, let us see what we can teach you while we still have you….”

[i]Present time, Academy, Midday.[/i]

Mary stood off to the side of the crowds and the ball room, nervously twisting the ring on her index finger. It appeared to be made of a red metal, with gold inlaid in twisting, seemingly random, patterns. The jewel in the center was a solid black. “Do I have to? I don’t know how to interact with anyone in this day and age…it’s been 200 years!”Mary muttered under her breath. [i]Yes. You have to. It’ll be good for you to interact with someone besides Lazarus.[/i] That was Mercy. She didn’t sound like she was going to bend on the matter. “I interact with you!” Mary protested. [i]We don’t count.[/i] Sighing Mary took a tentative step forward. She couldn’t do this. It had been two hundred years and then some since she had last interacted with anyone who didn’t occasionally go manically insane and pursue something with a single mindedness. “How do you begin a conversation? Oh hi, my name is Mary and I have three voices in my head! How many do you have?” [i]Mary…[/i] “I’m going, I’m going.” 

With that, Mary stepped into the crowd.