Summon Toren(2)

“Yes. Beings designed specifically to exploit human emotions on every level.” Uriel regarded the sapphire giant. “Feel-good vessels programmed to bring humanity whatever…floats their boat. Unfortunately Socerith is technically adhering to the rules. No doubt for the sheer purpose of tying our hands.”

“He’ll get sloppy,” Lyght assured.

“Oh of that I have no doubt,” Uriel said. “But until he throws the stipulations to the wind, we can’t storm the compounds we’ve found scattered over the entire earth.” The Commander's scowl deepened while his lip curled a little in disgust.

“Entire?”

Uriel nailed Zool with his gaze. “His hiding gained him a head start on our retaliation. And he's succeeding in a big way.” His fist banged the onyx table. "Later we will discuss how our spies managed to miss so much activity. I suspect one or more may have been compromised."

“Entire?” Grythe echoed Zool’s astonishment as if Uriel hadn't spoken. That the situation had gotten to that point before being noticed was a difficult concept to swallow.

“Head start, you say.” Azen’s amethyst eyes swept right. “Seems we’re eating his dust he’s so far ahead. Any idea what his end game is yet?”

Uriel shook his head. "So far the general objective is to turn mankind upon itself to maximize the corruption of innocence and increase the harvest of souls. The same as it's been through all the Ages, only much faster. Too fast."

“Well this is all unfortunate news,” Lyght sighed. “It figures we can’t count on the bitch to act corruptly when we need him to.”

“Bitch?” Meron’s brows narrowed like somebody changed the language channel on him. "I thought that term referred to females.” He dug through an inner pocket of his dark yellow topaz jacket. “I will never figure out this accursed language." Exasperated scribbling ensued in a dog-eared leather bound journal. The human kind. The constant requirement on every hand to do all things by human standards was oxymoronic of epic proportion.

“This is not a vocabulary session,” Uriel’s green eyes flashed his annoyance. “Socerith is building an army of undetectable influence, evil that can work and perpetrate wickedness practically in the open. While he’s doing that, he’s also seeking out eligible humans for reanimation. Which brings me to the crux of this meeting.”

Uriel paused to be sure he had their undivided attention before locking his gaze on Toren. “He’s in the process of persuading the Pope to join his cause.”

The shocked silence sat heavy on the group until Vektor dropped one hand flat to the onyx with a thunderclap that matched the fury sparkling in his green beryl irises. "Bloody hell. Just tell us what to do."

Uriel aimed his gaze at all of them individually. “What we always do. We work faster and harder and turn his tactics in our favor. The only thing new about his plan is the effort to make things happen quicker. Mankind’s soul remains his prime target. His strategy remains the same. Self-destruction through the exploitation of their biological instincts. We must remind mankind that instinct without morality turns humans into beasts.”

“Unaccountable pleasure and power, front and center.” Salem muttered on about mankind’s blindness to the dangers of submitting to the impulse to pursue pleasure without thought to consequence.

“The age is already ripe for taking. We've seen it over and over on a smaller scale.” Uriel tightened his expression. “The addictions of the wicked are growing and immorality at every level is flourishing.” The seasoned warrior's anger seeped through, but it only mirrored the depth of his feeling for his youngest siblings, the humans.

Having spent ages cautioning the warriors against emotional involvement in their missions, things were especially dire for Uriel to let his own slip in. But as Commander of The Brotherhood of Warriors, Toren trusted he would use it to sharpen the wisdom of his judgments, rather than cloud them.

“And the righteous?” Kassern finally broke his own silence.

“They more than sense the make-or-break tension at the seams of every society. They know something grave is coming, and they're trying to prepare, but aren't sure how. And now with the new Pope in play, this could get really bad really fast.” Uriel stood, hopefully to end the meeting. “Thankfully, the faithful are more than ready to take it to the next step. They just need to be point in the right direction.”

Dorn stood to face their commander. “All respect sir, but our faithful are pathetically few and far between and dangerously prone to temptation. What about this Pope, what are the odds looking like?”