Chapter 18: Monk Joan

445 25 17
                                    

In Golden City, stood the Golden Tower - the main monastery of the West Land, where the High Priests resided to relay the High Forces' wishes to people. Now, they were receiving new monks who had decided to put themselves into the service of the High Forces. In that line of young men devoted to spirituality, one stood out with particularly soft skin and beautiful features. But his wise, fiery light blue eyes and short messy blond curls indicated that he should be a man, hence, no one doubted it.

When his turn too, came, and he was enrolled in the monastery institution of young monks, he introduced himself by the name applied to both genders, but more common amongst men:

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

When his turn too, came, and he was enrolled in the monastery institution of young monks, he introduced himself by the name applied to both genders, but more common amongst men:

"Joan... Joan Mardyr."

The surname was the one the nuns had told him to be his father's, thus his. Nuns, for "he" had indeed lived in a convent in an orphanage, had afterwards served in the highest convent of the West Land, had left it on a whim, escaped, and ended up here. "He" was in fact a "she" - Joan, disguised as a man to pursue her goals further. Her plan had indeed worked - no one suspected her to be a woman. Soon, she was enrolled in the Golden Tower Monastery under the name "Brother Joan".

She immediately became engulfed in her daily toils and began studying the Angel Craft - of how to connect with one's guardian angel and summon them when needed. She read a lot of books in the library and was deeply interested in western history as well as eastern one.

Soon, however, both she and her teachers realised that she would never be able to summon a guardian angel because she had none:

"Brother Joan, we apologize, but we will not be able to assist you further in Angel Craft studies - you are a Former Host, son. As this monastery serves not only to worship the High Forces but also to atone for one's sins, we won't ask you details of what you might have done in your past that could drive away your angel, but continuing your studies, at this rate, is pointless. However, you can still study healing techniques, because, as far as we've observed, your soul power is immense, hence you are gifted to become a healer. It seems that your soul is still young and hasn't been much corrupted yet."

Hearing such words from the elders, Joan was mesmerized for quite a while. She spent many days in her room, brooding over the matter:

How come I am a Former Host?! I should clearly have had a guardian angel, it appeared to me back then! But... No, wait, it did not say it was an angel but an 'unearthly warrior'. Unearthly warriors can be not only angels, but eastern spirits, and demons too. He didn't really seem much animalistic like a nature spirit, so then, maybe, a demon indeed? No, I should research this deeper... Meanwhile, I'll accept to study the Healer Craft, in order to rise in ranks in this monastery, so that I could have access to more hidden libraries and catalogue. After all, that kind soul, Tsukishiro, did say that my spiritual power was unusually high, higher than those of the High Priests, so if I work hard enough, and conceal my true identity, I might just be able to become a High Priest as well. Then, no information will be forbidden for me anymore.

Thus, she decided to work even harder, and began to study the healing techniques. She spent her free time in the library, researching angels, spirits, demons, and their characteristics. Fellow young monks considered her strange and kept their distance from her.

"Brother Joan is always stuck in his books. He doesn't even rest much at meal breaks!"

"Leave him alone, he's weird..."

Joan had no time for them and their rumours - she was completely engulfed in her studies and research.

Soon, from reading so many spiritual and demonology books, she began to have unusual questions:

Are demons really that bad and hopeless? They're just blackened souls and spirits... Since they say that the Black Energy conquers places which the High Forces - the light - cannot reach, then one can assume that those blackened beasts are born with no light within. So, is it really reasonable to fight them off with weapons, or fight them off at all? Wouldn't it be more logical to give them light instead, so they would forsake their demonic selves and become kinder and brighter? After all, that is indeed how the High Forces fight the Black Energy - they spread their light in their territory, and the Black Energy gets consumed and purified by them. So, what if we used the same method on demons? Surely it could work..?

She decided to test her theories during her healing sessions. She had proved to be quite crafted in healing, so, soon she officially became a Spiritual Healer. She was often called to purify people possessed by demons, lift curses, and so on.

Once, when she was summoned in a nobleman's mansion to heal his son possessed by a demon, she entered in contact with the demon as before, but now, instead of scaring it off with her light powers as was the custom, she entered in a conversation with it:

"Why do you torment this child?"

"Food... Give me food..."

As was often the case, this demon too was a low-level beast, operating with only the instincts of constant hunger and hatred.

"I have some fine food for you."

For the first time in her life and, probably, the entire history of spiritual healing, Joan decided to feed the demon with her light energy, instead of scaring it off with it. The result was even more amazing than she anticipated - the demon swallowed the light energy orb she had given, screamed, and exploded from inside its stomach, consumed by the light energy. Her theory was truthful - penetrating through demons with one's light energy, like the High Forces did with the Black Energy, worked, and destroyed demons even faster than normal healing techniques.

The child was fast healed as the demon had completely vanished. After that miraculous event and more that followed, Joan's name spread far and wide, and people often asked for his help. She too, easily destroyed demons with her newly-discovered method, and her powers grew, permitting her to purify and destroy even mightier demons than just some hungry beasts. Hence, soon her name reached even the pits of hell, and upset quite a dangerous enemy - the Crown Prince of the Underworld himself.

The Guardian Demon (The Guardians of Nine Heavens #3)Where stories live. Discover now