Chapter 9

“I understand Loki covered some of the basics with you, as well as the obvious need to keep all of this secret.” Emelia said as she led Henry through the sprawling underground facility. Here and there Henry caught sight of individuals wearing the official D.E.D. Exorcists uniforms, with differing D.E.D. trailing around them.

“He did.” Henry responded.

“Good, that makes this easier. I know it’s already been a wild night, and I’m certain you’re going to want to get home and rest sooner rather than later. So we will do the official bit here quick.” She took another turn down a random hallway, and then led him to a room there. Stepping into the room, it was set up with a large ‘U-shaped’ table, and a small projector in the opening of the table. That projector was glowing faintly and pointed towards a blank canvas.

“Our organization, currently known as the D.E.D. Exorcists, has been around for time immemorial.” Emelia said as she turned on the projector, and began flipping through a slide show. The first slide showed fearsome monsters facing off against a group of humans, clad in armor and robes, with glowing weapons.

“In the past our founders imbued weapons, and themselves, with the energies and aspects of those who came through the rifts. For while some of the creatures coming into our world wanted to rule it, others wanted to save it. The original creatures who reached out to humans to aid us wanted to protect the human race. And it is thanks to them that we have made it to this point in time.”

She flipped through a few slides, showing various weapons and objects, as well as images of individuals with glowing tattoos and brands on their bodies. As she continued through the images, Henry recognized a few. After all, everyone had seen countless pictures of King Arthur and Excalibur, as well as Gilgamesh, and Beowulf. Most recognizable though, was the image of the Knights Templar.

“As time went on, our organization grew, as did our ability to resonate with the creatures from the other dimension. No longer did they speak to us only in our minds, no longer did they grant us their power through links and bonds. As time, as our interaction with them continued, they came over, taking on physical form, and became bound with us.”

A few more images showed creatures and humans connecting, energy swirling around them as pacts were formed. “Just as we made these connections though, so too did the efforts of those who would do our world ill, increase. For the more connected we as humans became to this other dimension, the stronger the resonation between our two worlds became.” Emelia chuckled. “In short, the more we sought the power to defeat those who were seeking to do us harm, the stronger and more capable they became.” Her eyes seemed to sadden. “It’s ironic really, the parallel this has with the human race overall.” She shook her head. “Strength begets strength, I suppose.”

She flipped rapidly through half a dozen slides, skimming past them, saying she would send him a pdf of the slides later for him to review, until she got to the current ones, that detailed the phone app.

“These past few years, our numbers have taken a hit, and we’ve lost some of our strongest members. It has become imperative that we expand our resources and gather as many recruits as possible. Our sources on the other side have warned of a coming invasion, and we’ve been working around the clock to prepare ourselves for that day.”

“And so you created D.E.D. Exorcists to find those who could resonate.” Loki had told Henry as much.

“In short, yes. The main purpose of the app was to allow us to widen our search efforts and gain, en mass, more members. We no longer have the time to be selective, and as more and more rifts open, we decided this was the best choice to make. Additionally, this app will begin to at least prepare the mass population for what may come. Because if we falter, if we fail even once, it is only a matter of time before a Tiered Demon fully materializes in our world in a form even those who cannot resonate with the D.E.D. can see.” She smiled sadly. “So at the very least…the app may help lessen the general populaces panic, even if, gods forbid that event ever happens, it likely means the end of our world.”

“That’s rather dark.” Henry responded. Nothing about any of this was making him feel any better. From the way it sounded, they were losing whatever this war was.

“The world is a dark place. Optimism leads to depression.” Emelia said simply, “I’d rather deal with the facts, and face everything head on.” Even as she spoke, her cheery smile returned eerily. “But that’s not why we are here right now. Right now, it’s orientation.”

She flipped to the next slide, which showcased the opening screen for the app. “Feel free to follow along on your phone for this part. And don’t worry, the app doesn’t require wi-fi for Exorcists to use.”

Skeptical, Henry pulled out his phone, opened the app, and held his thumb down on the scanner. As it completed confirming his identity, the slight sound echoed from his phone, and a moment later he was looking at the intro page. Which, to his surprise, now had an avatar of himself on the screen.

“For every user of D.E.D. Exorcists, whether they be actual exorcists or not, an Avatar is shown on the main page. For those who are just playing the game, they can get different gear and clothing that will increase their D.E.D. points and stats, allowing them to use stronger D.E.D. and such. For our actual exorcists it serves two purposes.

First, it gives you a decoy screen so you can interact with the regular gamers without drawing suspicion. Extremely important during Tiered Demon attacks. Second, if you do the following,” she flipped to the next slide, which showed a quick swiping pattern across the screen. “you will pull up your current exorcist information. Every time you log into the app, and it checks your resonation, it will update the information it has on you.”

Henry traced the pattern as shown, and the Avatar faded away. In its place, information appeared.

Henry

Unranked Exorcist

Strike Team- Unassigned

Resonation Tier Potential- SSS

Current Resonation- C+

Max D.E.D. Points- 400

Current D.E.D. Points in use- 10

He stared at the screen, not really certain what he was looking at. Obviously, they were stats of sorts, but they didn’t make much sense to him. He remembered Loki mentioning Mid Tiered Exorcists had a range of 101-500 D.E.D. points to use on their D.E.D., but he wasn’t certain what good starting levels would be, or anything. And as for the tiered status, he’d played enough games to guess what that meant.

“As you can see,” Emelia had walked over to stand beside him, her hand pointing down at the screen he was currently displaying. “Your resonation potential is as high as possible.” She smiled at him. “Which is why it was imperative we get to you quickly.”

“Resonation tiers,” Emelia continued “are a way to gauge how well a human can connect with the matter and energies of the other dimension. Those with extremely high potentials, if they survive long enough, are able to form bonds with the strongest D.E.D. out there. That is to say, if someone reaches SSS Tier, they can form bonds with D.E.D. that rival, or even surpass, Tiered Demons.”

She said if they survive. Henry didn’t like that. Especially because Loki had been mentioning he was in danger as well. “What do you mean, if they survive?”

“Those of us who can resonate with the other dimension, become targets. Not only does that mean there is a higher chance of small rifts opening around us, but D.E.D. who come through these rifts will seek us out. And while some D.E.D. will be willing to instantly bond with someone with a high resonance ability, others will try and destroy those who resonate strongly. Because just as our world is divided, so is theirs. And many view those with strong resonation, as threats.”

“Which is why the stronger the resonation, the more important it is that you surround yourself with capable, trustworthy, D.E.D.”

Henry glanced at his Evil Eye, which was still floating innocently behind him. From the moment he’d summoned the Evil Eye, all he had gotten from the creature was a strong sense of loyalty. That D.E.D., as eerie as it appeared, seemed intent on keeping him safe no matter what. Why? Henry had no idea. But if his resonation potential was so high, he had to wonder if the D.E.D. would get something out of it? The director had just compared them to humans, and he knew humans, more often than not, would only give someone their loyalty, or cooperation, if they got something in return.

“So then,” Henry looked towards the director, “how exactly does one go about gaining new D.E.D. And I suppose, more importantly, why would they even bond with me in the first place?” He had his Evil Eye, but he could already guess that wasn’t going to be enough. After all, at resonation C, he had a maximum of 400 D.E.D. points, and was only using 10 of them. He had a lot of points to still use. And if his gamer senses told him anything, his 10-point Evil Eye wasn’t exactly on the strong side.

“Straight to the point.” Emelia smiled at him. “I like that.” She clicked the next slide. “Make sure you pay attention to this next part. After all, this is the part of being an exorcist that matters the most. D.E.D. Interactions.”