Legacy

My friend and colleague of many a year, David Brewster has just handed me his ring.  He handed it to me on his death bed only moments before he died peacefully of old age.

I’d met David  when I was a mere sixteen years old and he was  then about fifty seven. David had been a Demon Hunter for about thirty years when I met him.  I too am a Demon Hunter, and have been for about thirty years.  By coincidence that was the number of years experience David had when I first met him.

Demon Hunters are a select mostly unheard of group of dedicated Christians battling some of the evil beings, demons if you will, infesting the world.  We have certain tools to aid our efforts, but David was our leader because he had the power of Almagado.  To explain that let me say the explanation somewhat goes to the heart of this stories beginning.

The power of Almagado is the ring; it is the all Seeing Eye of Almagado.  It is of the purest gold and the set resembles an eye.  It is inhabited by a good spirit assigned by He Who Is to the duty of the ring.  The ring had been first presented to Solomon by an angel.  It cannot be removed from the finger of its wearer except by its wearer; or in the case of the wearer being deceased before passing it on, by a man of good spirit and moral value; and then only if the ring accepts that man.

The rings power is near infinite and enables its wearer to perform almost anything he wills.  But this is not my story, its David’s. So now we go to when and how David came into possession of the ring and became leader of the Demon Hunters.

David had been out in the farmlands to test out his new automatic deer rifle and have a little fun target practice.  David had with him a Painters style respiratory mask because there was a bit of crop dusting going on in the area, and while one could wash off the being dusted, one did not want to breathe that stuff.

David heard a crop dusting airplane coming, the drone of the engine quite familiar, so he donned the mask.  A minute or two latter as he was approaching the dirt road leading out from the cornfield he was driving beside in his open topped Jeep, he spied a most peculiar thing.

It was like a thick somewhat billowy cloud deep charcoal in color.  It was at ground level right next to the stand of corn and was  like a huge brick in shape, about thirty feet long, ten feet high, and  eight feet deep.  From within it David could hear sounds of agony and moaning.  Needless to say that stood David’s hair on end.  He pulled forward a bit wanting to flee whatever it was, and as he turned slowly onto the dirt road, suddenly in front of him a frightening visage.

It was like unto a bald headed man, but had bight yellow skin and glowing red eyes.  This thing was hovering about five feet above the ground and thrusting forth a odd looking staff.  The staff started giving off a green vapor which wafted its way toward David.  As David surmised later if the Painters mask hadn’t filtered that vapor out, David would have ended up inside that mysterious brick shaped cloud.

David, in what one could only call a defensive knee jerk action hoisted his rifle and fired away at that specter.  David fired a bit wild and the first shot knocked the staff out of the specters hand, the next two shots caught the specter square in the chest and he dropped like a  rock, apparently deader than a doornail in earthly terms.  David looked at the body for a few seconds and then it glowed and disintegrated into a pile of ashes and a sudden breeze blew them away.

Then David heard a voice in his mind, not out loud, but in his mind.  It said pick me up, it was emanating from the staff that the specter had wielded.  David picked it up and was taken back by what he saw.  It was a mummified by time human hand wearing a ring.  A most unusual looking ring, it appeared to have a set resembling an eye.

The voice in his mind continued, it said remove the ring for you are worthy, and place it on your finger.  By now David was in a semi state of shock and almost robotically obeying the voice.  He placed the ring on his finger.  At that point David had full awareness of many things.  The ring was in effect The All Seeing Eye of Almagado; created by an Angel under the direction of He Who Is, and imbued with power by the infusion of a good spirit by the name of Almagado.

The wearer was granted almost infinite power, therefore the character of the wearer was very important and the ring was very picky about who wore it.  It could not be removed from its wearer, be him dead or alive, by any evil being.  That was impossible.

The wearer could never be defeated in combat by any evil being.  However much to the dismay of  Alamgado the ring was being misused by the Chief of earthy demons. That most powerful of Demons had acquired the ring by ambushing and back shooting so to speak, its rightful wearer.  Being unable to get the ring off the rightful wearer’s finger, the Demon severed the hand and lashed it to his own power staff.  Now while the demon couldn’t get full use of the ring by normal means, he was able to siphon some of its power through his staff.

David wasn’t sure what was about to happen next, but the ring instructed him to wave his hand and will the people and their souls to be freed from that cloud.  David did just that. Then the ring instructed him to wave his hand again and will the people with their souls intact to be returned with no memory of their time in the cloud, back to the time and place they were stolen from by that Demon. That he did also, noting that about fifty people went suddenly somewhere.

Still not sure just which end was up David was puzzled and the ring sensed it.  So the voice in David’ head explained that the funny brick shaped cloud that was now dissipated was a Soul Battery.  The Demon would steal people and their souls and put them in his Soul Battery.  The more people in it, the more powerful the battery.  The Demon would stick the bottom of his staff into the battery to recharge his staff.  The more powerful the battery, the more powerful the staff, and the more evil the Demon could do.

The ring sensing David’s next question answered it before David could ask. The ring said to David, you were able to kill the Demon because when you shot him in a vital place he was in his corporeal form.  When your first shot knocked his staff from his hand, he had no power to return to his invulnerable urethral form.

Had he retrieved the staff you would not have slain him, he would have slain you.  That shook David up a bit.  The ring then said go back to town and go to a particular church.  I don’t know its name yet, and there will be many to choose from.  When you get near the right one, I will sense it and let you know.

On the way back to town David had one of those motorist happenings that make most of us unhappy, the notorious flat tire.  David got out of the Jeep and looked at the tire thinking fine time for that to happen.  He waved his hand and said fix yourself.  Now David was just being funny, but it wasn’t funny when the tire fixed itself.  That set David back a few steps.

The ring then said, see you have been given much power, use it wisely, and never for glory or gain.  David got the message loud and clear.  David got back to town and drove around from church to church until the ring said; that one.  Go to its basement, there will be others.

David obeyed.  The church was a large older church that apparently hadn’t been active for a while.  It was unlocked so David had no trouble getting in.  David went to the basement and was surprised to find it occupied. There were three men, one of them much older than the other two. They seemed to be running whatever the deal was and the elder seemed to be in charge.  Past that there were about twenty men and women of various ages milling around looking very sad.  They wore clothing that looked style wise to cover a fifty year period.

David wasn’t in the room, which had been used as a gymnasium at some point, for hardly two minutes, when everyone’s focus was suddenly upon him.  That spooked David pretty good.  Then the ring spoke to David and said fear not, I’ve mentally sent them a message that a new ring wearer is amongst them, they are just surprised and will get their composure in a few seconds and welcome you.

They were the local chapter of elite groups of Demon Hunters, the three of them that is.  The others were persons/souls rescued from Soul Batteries.  The Demon Hunters when they could spot and kill a Demon while it was in its corporeal form,  Minor Demons would only have two or three souls in their batteries. Then their death would automatically free the captives from its Soul Battery.  That was a good thing, but, not without a problematic side.  That being only a ring wearer could send them back to the place time they had been captured with no memory of captivity.

Therefore this basement of the formerly active church was a sanctuary wherein the rescues could be cared for and fed.  Frequently dying of old age without a chance of being sent back.  Not a good situation, but the best this group of Demon Hunters could do under the circumstance.

Much conversation passed between David and the other three Demon Hunters. David was starting to grasp the idea that fate had surprised him real good and he too was about to become a Demon Hunter; and as David would find out later, the Chief Hunter.

David having used The All Seeing Eye of Almagado once before, knew he could do it again and send these poor souls home.  That being then accomplished. Talk got around to rescuing more.

The three Demon Hunters that were operating this chapter of Hunters explained an age old problem.  Budget woes, they had barely enough resources to keep those in the sanctuary fed.  And nothing with which to repair the van they hunted from and transported the rescued back in.  It had gasped its last upon return from the last outing so to speak.

David said I can probably take care of that, so he went outside and looked at it.  It was a paint thin rusted up, dilapidated mess.  David said Okay ring lets do our stuff and with a wave of his hand said Van be fixed.  It started running and purring like a kitten.  David had to turn off the ignition and in the process noted the fixing also filled the gas tank.  David said thanks ring, but got no response.  David thought oh well maybe Almagado is taking a nap.

Then David noticed how bad the outward appearance of the van was so he waved his hand and said wash van.  Water started coming in powerful streams from each of his four fingers.  That was a surprise, but David walked around the van until it was well washed.  Then Davis said dry van and waved his hand, streams of hot air issued forth from his four fingers and he walked around and dried the van.  David was getting rather happy about the way things were going.

Not to leave a stone unturned, David thought, it sure doe’s need a paint job. He thought two tone would be nice; so with another wave of the hand and uttering two tone nice blue and white.

Streams of paint issued forth from his four fingers, three of them spouting white and one of them spouting blue  He walked around the van and when he had made the circle, he looked and was impressed with the quality of the finished work. No masking had even been needed.  Then he said paint be dry and he waved his hand and the paint was dried.

David went back in smiling ready to tell the good news about the van; but before he could someone said, you are sure a mess, how did you get that paint all over your lower legs?  What, said David and he looked down, sure enough from the knees down the front side of his pants were paint soaked.  David hiked the lower pant legs up a bit and could see it had also stained his legs.  David though I must be getting clumsy.  Fortunately David kept a spare pair of jeans in his Jeep.

He retrieved them and went back in.  The older Demon Hunter said there is a workable shower room over there and he pointed in that direction.  So David headed for the shower room, so preoccupied that he hadn’t notice that he hadn’t heard from the ring for a while.

David used much water, much soap, and a whole lot of elbow grease, but he couldn’t get rid of the stains. It was then David said no problem, I’ll use the power of the ring to wash off the stains.  He waved his hand and said stains be gone. Nothing happened.

Then David heard from the ring again.  Almagado said to him do you remember when I said you have almost unlimited power, well almost is the operative word.  You do not have the power to remove those self inflicted stains that represent sin.  Only the saving blood of Jesus can do that. And with that blood gushed from the shower heads, followed by a clear rinse.  The stains were gone.

The ring then said, David you knew that all along, had you not, you wouldn’t be wearing me.  This is just a reaffirmation of that to you.  Also as the years pass you will learn that it’s a fine line between prudent use and frivolous use of the powers you have been granted.

Indeed David learned and he learned well.  The others and he and I had many a fruitful hunt.  It is now upon me to be the ring wearer.  I hope I can do as well as David did.  I’ve come to realize that there are many forces of evil in the world and many forces of good as well.  We maintain a low profile for obvious reasons.  If you were to say good morning to one of us on the street you would never know who we are or what we are about.  But beware; evil operates with the same low profile.