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They scanned the bath’s surroundings, noting the care in every detail. Fresh cut honeysuckle was placed delicately in a small flower vase. Not a speck of dust was to be found.

For as perfect as this room was, it was still quite cozy and the ghoul basked in its comforts. The warm candle light flickering on the white marble stone was a sight to behold.

His air and quintessence mixed together and bleed out into the room, creating a calming scent mimicking the fresh night air as they relaxed.

The ghoul had promptly soaked in that sweet tropical water until every ache and pain from the summoning melted away.

They reached their clawed hand to the bottom of the tub, pulling the stopper and letting the water slowly drain away along with the unpleasant sensations that had arrived into this world with him.

Maybe this plane of existence wasn’t as unpleasant as he first thought.

As the last of the water drained away, he stood and reached out to turn the handle in front of him, letting cool refreshing water trail down his face and scarred skin.

After a quick rinse, they flipped the handle back in place and stepped out of the tub. In front of him stood a mirror, elegant and showy with a golden lining and gothic in design.

The ghoul’s eyes traced over the figure in the reflection. It was like looking into a fun house mirror. Their body familiar, but it wasn’t them. Not their true self.

Warped and concealed, hidden away. He could feel it right below his skin, but it would never break the surface.

What stood before him now was mortal… it made his very soul ache.

A dark thought suddenly crossed the ghouls mind. He imagined his clawed hand slicing through his bare chest, pulling and cracking ribs until his bound magic poured out of him.

He shook the thought away, even as he left one finger trace softly down his sternum. It wouldn’t work, and he’d face serious consequences for damaging his new mortal body that the clergy had so gracefully gifted them.

They instead averted their gaze, now focusing on the pile of fresh soft towels next to what the ghouls had described as clothing. A mortal custom… He ignored it for now. Instead grabbing just the towel.

He wrapped his skin in the plush material, and softly combed his claws through his long wavy blonde hair, pulling gently at the small tangles until his fingers glided through with ease. He shuddered out a relaxed sigh, turning and making his way to the rest of his quarters.

Three large windows looked out onto the ministry grounds. A once pristine garden now overgrown with nature. A small lake sat farther back before the tree line, the moonlight reflecting beautifully off the small ripples breaking the water’s smooth surface..

They turned and gazed upon their new nest. A large plush bed with a flowing canopy. Large fluffy pillows were stacked to the very top of the headboard.

Two nightstands sat on either side of the bed. Each decorated with blood red candlesticks, burning beautiful in their holders. The flame made Lumin’s fire element purr.

The ghoul let the towel drop to the floor and crawled into his newfound paradise. The soft cushions creating the perfect cradle for their battle worn body. Their tail wagging happily at the sense of security.

The multi ghoul nuzzled and turned their head in the soft pillows, before their eyes locked onto something shining in the candle light.

A raw cluster of amber, along with sage and thyme twined together in a beautiful display. Luminous’s heart flutter at the realization that it was his offerings. The others must have brought them here while he was in the bath.

If Lumin focused hard enough, he could still feel that little warm pulse left behind from his summoner on the offerings left to him. It made Lumin’s chest rumble in appeasement. A small comfort in this new existence.

The ghoul flopped back down into the cozy sheets. His eyes heavy with exhaustion from the summoning. They let them flutter close into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

—————————————————————————

They awoke to the dawn. Sun sneaking in through the paneled windows and onto their plush face. The light tickling their nose.

The protector roused from sleep. Stretching their tired bones. Stumbling back into the washroom finding the abandoned pile of clothing from the night before.

The ghoul was then put to the challenge of wearing them.

Luminous found it slightly difficult but after a few trials and errors of trying to button a shirt, they finally succeeded without cutting more holes with his claws. It was tight, definitely meant for a smaller or glamoured ghoul.

With some more tugging and pulling, the ghoul looked to the final piece of the outfit.

A metal mask…perfectly sculpted and polished…

It appeared to be loosely based on the appearance of a ghoul. This one was more masculine in appearance, with slicked back hair and two small devil horns protruding from the forehead.

Lumin was slightly worried about his own horns being able to fit, until he realized there was room modified for them to fit.

There was also a small cutout for their mouth. Perhaps for easier communication without a metal muzzle muffling their voice.

His fellow ghouls explained the rules of the mask. It was to be his new identity. They were to be a nameless face in the pack. A loyal and devout servant to the ministry and his summoner to help spread his majesty’s influence and message in the mortal world.

But if the ghoul chose to reject his duties, the clergy that had so graciously pulled him from the pit would not hesitate to punish him and send him back…

Or something worse… They had tried to get the other ghouls to elaborate more on the subject last night, but that seemed to only make them uneasy.

It was extremely unpleasant, They had said. Worse than being sent back, and even that is excruciating pain, more than a ghoul has ever known.

Lumin had decided not to push them anymore on the subject, instead switching his interest to basic mortal interaction. The ghouls tried not to show it, but the change in topic definitely put them at ease.

At least Lumin learned some more basic rules of the Ministry. He wasn’t to attack any human being, church member or not unless given specific instructions from the higher ups themselves.

That of course meant they couldn’t taste human flesh just yet, which he was only slightly disappointed in… They set his prey drive wild in a sense that he didn’t quite understand yet. He let the knowledge burn gently in the back of his mind for now.

They also learned that they were not allowed to leave the ghoul quarters with his mask and uniform. His ghoulish features were to be hidden away, even in a glamoured human form.

Apparently not all of humanity knew of ghouls' existence or even Hell's existence, and that could greatly frighten humanity.

So ghouls were left with these disguises to spare unwanted human distress. It also seemed the church just greatly admired uniforms. More clothing customs that Lumin couldn’t care less about, but if Luminous was to remain here they would have to follow the ministries rules.

No matter how ridiculous and useless Lumin thought some of those rules were.

They held up the mask, lingering slightly before placing it on their face. The cool of the metal was actually quite soothing on their skin.

Luminous was suddenly met with a sense of calm. His senses were suddenly dulled, and the strange new world seemed a little more bearable. It was as if it was enchanted with strong quintessent magic. Stronger than any that Lumin could ever conquer, mortal form or not.

With a new sense of peace, the ghoul stepped out of the room and made their way to where the others of his kind gathered.

Two familiar ghouls sat on the curved couch, facing a lit fireplace, warming the room to a comfortable temperature.

The curtains were partially drawn, letting the dawn light seep through. Illuminating the dim room. Lumin then noticed that the ghouls were no longer glamoured, looking more like how a ghoul should appear. Definitely not their true forms, but something closer.

Despite the more relaxed state, they all wore their masks. It seemed like a common custom for these ghouls to only have them fully removed in the privacy of their own rooms.

Maybe the masks allowed them a sense of privacy. After all it seemed like they were never out of the watchful gaze of the clergy.

One unfamiliar ghoul sat curled up between the others. A confusing scent met Luminous’s nose. It was as if a burning forest fire was at the bottom of an ocean. This wasn’t like a multi scent of different elements, like wet embers or starfire… it was a transitional scent. One that seemed very uncomfortable at that.

Now that Luminous was closer, he could feel the aura of discomfort that expelled out of the small ghoul. Elemental changes were no joke when it came to ghouls.

They were sudden, often caused by extreme grief or distress, and they could deeply scar a Ghoul’s elemental form to their core. It also hurt like hell to transition between elements…

Luminous could only imagine the agony this ghoul was going through, and here they thought they had it bad being forced into a mortal body…

He stood off to the side, waiting for them to notice his presence, shuffling awkwardly from side to side as they preened the small ghoul between them.

Aether noticed him first, the ghoul running his hand through the small ones long hair, before catching the large frame in the corner of his vision.

His mask tilted up from looking at the smaller, and his eyes met with the protector. Luminous fiddled with their hand, feeling as if they intruded on a personal moment.

A wave of reassurance bleed out into the air as the quintessential ghoul got to his feet to greet the freshly summoned.

Luminous appreciated the ghoul’s efforts of making him feel welcomed, but unease was still thick in the air.

Unease that wasn’t just from an unfamiliar ghoul being summoned. This distress went much deeper, deep enough to hurt the whole foundation of this ghoul pack.

“Good morning sleeping beauty, you sure clean up real nice!” Aether tried to break the tension. The two others stayed silent, watching the unfamiliar ghoul closely. “Is the mask bothering you at all?”

At its mention Luminous reached up involuntarily to adjust the cool metal. They then tried to remember how to speak this strange new tongue.

“No it’s actually quite nice…”He finally ushered out. “It’s helping me adjust a lot easier.” The multi ghoul then let his hand fall back down to his dress shirt and pants, tugging at the tight material. “This on the other hand…”

Aether gave an amused laugh. “Yes, unfortunately the ministry only had a limited number of uniforms for the new summons. When you get more settled in with life here, there will be an outfit tailored just for you.”

Luminous head perked up in curiosity at the mention of other newly summoned ghouls. “There’s more new summons?”

A frustrated growl came from the small ghoul, now clinging to Mountain on the couch. Luminous grew slightly on edge at the small burst of aggression. He let out an apologetic noise to the small ghoul, not wanting to offend anyone so soon.

Aether’s face dropped, a wave of defeat coursing through him. They then made a motion for the warrior to follow them out into the hall, his tail dragging sadly on the marble floor. Once the door was closed, he let out a long tired sigh.

“Forgive him… he’s been through a lot in these past couple of weeks… You’ve unfortunately been summoned into a less than ideal situation.”He ran his hand frustratedly over his mask.

Lumin gave a nod of his head in understanding. “I could sense something was off, but I didn’t wanna overstep and assume anything…. Being a new summons…”

Aether gave a thoughtful smile and rested his hand on Lumin’s shoulder. “For this being the first time you’ve been out of the pit, you’re adjusting very well. I guess that’s just how protectors are. Always ready to face and adapt to a new challenge.”

Luminous snorted in amusement and shook his head. “I don’t think adapting is the right word for it… I think survive would suit it better.”

The quintessent ghoul gave his shoulder a small squeeze before pulling back. “Well, you're doing great.”

Luminous preened under the compliment, “I appreciate your hospitality for me, even under all this stress.”

Aether let out a nervous little chuckle. “Someone had to keep the pack together… Well what’s left of it anyways…”

Luminous felt the hurt behind those words and they instinctively wanted to take it away. “Perhaps I could help keep it together too, so it’s not up to just you.”

The other ghoul had a wave of relief wash over them, and Luminous even noticed the other’s shoulders fall in a more relaxed position.

“That would be very helpful…” The ghoul then tensed up, his gaze averted to the floor, one hand coming to wrap around his upper arm, squeezing gently to mimic comfort.

“We’ve just lost our original summoner….Terzo.” It was distant and hurt. Lumin wondered for a split second how a ghoul could get attached to a human before focusing back in on the story. “We were very close to him, but the clergy had other plans.”

The ghoul’s tail lashed behind him. “They decided he wasn’t fit for the position he was in anymore. That he wasn’t the right image that the church wanted to portray for the project…”

Luminous quirked their brow at the mention of the project, it was to be the main means of spreading his majesty's influence. They were to spread it through music and song… a band is what the mortals called it. Lumin didn’t understand all of it right now, but let the ghoul continue his speech.

“So they ordered for him to be taken care of…” Aether gripped his own arm even tighter.

“We were the most recently summoned at the time…. But even then we’ve been with him for more than a year… I guess they didn’t expect us to be so attached….” The ghoul got choked up on his own words.

“W-We were the ghouls ordered to do away with him…”Aether dropped his head in shame. “For all of the past leaders in fact.”

“We couldn’t disobey… our summoning bonds wouldn’t let us…” He was rambling now, taking quick panicked breaths. “We didn’t want to… but we didn’t have a choice…”

“We wouldn’t just be sent back to the pit if we rebelled against the clergy… we would be expelled out of existence.” The ghoul breathed in sharp and deep.

“But we tried to warn him, to at least give him a chance…” Aether let out a defeated cry. “We told him of the clergy's plans, but he didn’t even seem surprised by them. He just accepted his fate… He didn’t even tell his own mates…”

Aether crumbled in on himself and Luminous came and gently held the ghoul’s hand. “It’s okay, you don’t have to go on if it hurts too much.”

Aether returned the grip on Luminous’s hand. “No. I need to get this out.” The quintessential ghoul’s deep purple eyes met the Multi’s amber.

“Dewdrop was the one called upon to take out Terzo. Mountain and I had to take care of the others. His older brothers… The past leaders of the project.” Aether let out a frustrated sound. “We handled it better than Dew… He’s been blaming himself for the whole situation. The loss hurt him so much, he’s having an elemental transformation because of it.”

“We never even really got a chance to mourn before the Clergy threw us to a new master.” Luminous’s eyes narrowed.

“My summoner?” The protector drawled out, brow narrowed. The cogs turning over in his head.

“Yes…the cardinal.” Aether rested his head in his hand. “He was thrown to us as much as we were to him. The clergy immediately put him in charge at the death of Terzo.”

Aether’s eyes grew more tired. “You are not the first ghoul he summoned…. He was made to summon a ghoul as soon as possible. The others of our pack were split up between different ministries, some even sent back to the pit….so our numbers have severely diminished.”

Luminous could tell where this was going, a pit grew in his stomach. “He was ill prepared… I don’t think he knows much about ghouls at all, but the clergy forced him to act.”

It was a cold night, a strong storm was raging outside. The wind whipped against the stained glass windows of the church. Aether stood uneasy in the corner, watching unsure as the many siblings of sin put down the finishing touches on the summoning circle.

The man in red who he had known less than a month stepped forward and set down an offering of sea glass and herbs, along with his own blood. Cutting a slice into his hand and letting it splatter to the chalk circle below.

Then the chanting began, it was like any other summoning, Aether had attended at least two before this. Nothing was out of the ordinary so far except for maybe the Cardinal’s nerves.

It seems that their calling went on for hours with no answer, many of the siblings growing tired of the endless standing chants. The cardinal however refused to leave his post, desperate for an answer. The need to please the clergy was too high.

Just when Aether thought this summoning would be a failure, the chalk circle dissolved in a pool of black water, it resembled that of a whirlpool. The air grew humid and sour, something was wrong.

The portal spit out a water ghoul. His gills strained against the air, like the mortal body that formed with the ghoul was forced too soon to answer the call.

“That’s how we got Rain.” Aether’s eyes saddened as the memories of the first summon came to mind. “We could tell something was off immediately. I think that maybe the portal or the sacrifice didn’t quite fit the ghoul that was summoned. Or maybe he was forced into it.”

“The mortal body that formed with the ghoul didn’t adjust well to the new plain of existence. He couldn’t breathe the air well, still needing water.”

The water ghoul desperately splashed the water onto his neck, his face turning dark blue from a lack of oxygen. The cardinal stood stunned, frozen in shock at the situation before him. The water ghoul thrashing violently in the sealed circle.

Aether watched in horror as the ghoul brought his webbed clawed hands to his throat. He remembered screaming at the cardinal to break the circle, running up and shaking the small man out of his daze, claws digging into his shoulders.

It was definitely out of line for him to treat his new master like that, but ghouls couldn’t break the protective barrier and he couldn’t let this new summon die.

Aether sucked in a deep breath. “He tore into his own throat….Desperately trying anything to breathe.”

The cardinal immediately stumbled forward, swiping the chalk away. Water poured out into the room, but the ghoul continued to thrash and shake. Their own blue blood dripping down their shredded throat.

Aether dove into the circle and grabbed the ghouls hands, forcing his quintessence into every fiber of this water ghouls being. He watched as his magic stitched his throat back together, he could subconsciously feel the ghoul’s mortal lungs being completed as well. He forced his magic to make the ghoul breath, their throat raw with the freshly healed skin.

He stayed with them for what felt like hours, until the water ghoul was breathing on their own, even if they were small pained breaths. Aether immediately fell unconscious, their elemental magic completely drained from the near death experience.

The Quintessent ghoul apparently didn’t wake until two days later. He awoke to Dewdrop curled into his side and Mountain’s top half leaned over the bed, snuggling into his chest.

Aether immediately shot up, the water ghoul being the first thing on his mind. The two others of his pack jumped up as well, relieved purrs and chittering leaving their mouths.

Where’s the water ghoul? Did he make it? The others informed him that he had…but not without any hiccups.

The ghoul couldn’t speak. His vocal cords completely shredded, even with the healing magic they were damaged beyond repair. He could, however, sign… and sign he did. Angry violent gestures and short sentences, a mix of different ghoul and human signs, still trying to learn the new way of communicating.

Aether learned that he could also communicate through the quintessential bond he had created between them, with the excessive healing. It was weak, but the water ghoul could link their minds temporarily if they couldn’t find a way to communicate with the signs they knew. It was challenging and extremely stressful.

Not to mention Dewdrop seemed to have an irrational hatred for the new Ghoul simply because he was a water ghoul. Aether knew he felt like he was being replaced and the pain of the transition wasn’t helping, but it seemed like whenever the two ghouls were even near each other a fight would break out between them.

It was exhausting…

The water ghoul revealed that his name was Rain. Fitting for the state of the night he arrived on. He also made it well known that he was extremely unhappy with being summoned. It seems that the ghoul was forced without warning from their realm in the pit, and he was taking it out on everyone, especially the humans, and most especially of all… His summoner…

The cardinal had apparently tried to go and see his new ghoul while Aether was unconscious, without a ghoul escort.

Rain had let the man know just exactly how he felt about the whole situation, and apparently tried to take the Cardinal’s throat out in revenge.

It took five siblings just to get the water ghoul off of him, and luckily the cardinal got out with minimal damage. A few cuts, bruises, and bites, of course. But that was infinitely better than the human's jugular being torn out and spit onto the floor.

It was pure utter chaos, and Aether was so tired.

“Since his summoning, Rain has been in their recovery room. He’s allowed out, but he prefers to be left alone. He never really leaves the ghoul quarters, because he has to have a ghoul chaperone at all times to make sure he doesn’t harm any more humans.” Aether growls in frustration.

“He hasn’t really warmed up to us yet, so we do our best to leave him be. Dewdrop is also having trouble accepting him as his old replacement, I think the elemental change is making him more reactive than normal.” Aether clasps his clawed hands together tightly. “I’d say he’s the closest to Mountain so far, but even then he’s very short with him.”

Luminous let out a hum, trying to take in all that was said to him. “Maybe I can go introduce myself to him. Show him that he’s not the only one new to this.”

Aether nodded his head in agreement. “That might make him feel better. The fact that you're a protector should put him at ease as well…” The Quintessent ghoul signed in relief. “The dark lord answered our calls, sending you to us.”

Luminous laughed, giving Aether a gentle nudge in the shoulder. “Whatever you say…”

Aether gave him a cheesy grin under the mask in return, lifting the mask slightly to wipe the dried tears from his eyes. “It’s true!”

Lumin shook his head at the notion, a smirk on his face. “You should go rest with your pack…” Lumin closed his eyes and focused on the auras of the two ghouls in the room over. “The smallest one is missing you.”

At Lumin’s words Aether reached out with his own quintessence, letting the smaller known he’d be back soon. His eyes turned to meet the Protector. “Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?”

Luminous bowed his head in a single nod then notioned to the door that held the other ghouls behind it. “Fine! Fine!” Aether began to make his way to the door. “But if you need help with anything just come find me.”