Today was a day of mourning for Gabriel. His father was approaching his final day. He had been going strong until his fiftieth birthday. Since that point he had been in constant decline. His soul flame which had once burned so brightly above his heart, had dimmed to barely more than an ember. Tomorrow a priest was coming to give his father his last rites and commit his soul to god.
As Gabriel was heading home from work, he considered the soul flame. Such a beautiful representation of their own divine spark and the love of their god. It was a blessing none could deny. Its mere presence allowed people to use and shape divine energies and kept wandering spirits at bay. However, despite its strength it remains a point of weakness. If a person’s soul flame goes out that person dies, and while it is superior to normal fire in its resistance to water, it can still be smothered by one who is determined enough. Even more striking of a weakness, albeit a less physical one, was the soul flame’s responsiveness to its owner’s emotions. Gabriel looked down towards his heart at his own soul flame. It had been burning low recently, his emotions getting the better of him. Most people covered their soul flame in public, not wanting their thoughts and emotions broadcast to the world, but Gabriel did not have that luxury. All civil servants were required to display their soul flames while on duty, so his sorrow was plain for all to see.
The next day Gabriel was given the day off work to be with his father as he passed. He spent the day waiting by his father’s bedside for the priest to arrive. He sat in silence, Gabriel and his brothers watching their father sleep, not daring to break a silence disturbed only by belabored breaths. This continued for hours, each of the three brothers gazing upon the man who had defined so much of their lives come to the end of his own. It was almost unthinkable. They remained mired in their thoughts until their father coughed and awoke.
“Gabriel, Samuel, Jacob, my sons, come here,” their father rasped, each word an excruciating effort of will, “I am proud of all of you. Jacob, you are well on your way to becoming a priest. Samuel, you are already a foreman of the mines. And Gabriel, my Gabriel, you are one of the chosen. You have become a guardsman of the portals. You have no idea how proud I am of you all. I am glad that our god gave me the honor of raising you three, you bring honor to the Yosef family name,” his speech devolved into a coughing fit. He recovered after a minute and continued, “I do not have much time left with you, my children, but do not despair. I will soon join my flame with that of the creator’s and be allowed to bask in his light for eternity. No, do not allow your flames to dim with sorrow, kindle your hearts with the thought that I will become part of something greater. Now shape up my sons, I just saw the priest approaching through the window.”
As he said this Gabriel heard a knock at the door. He stood immediately, wiping away the moisture that was collecting under his eyes. He went to the door and brought the priest into the room. It was Lord Jeremiah, the head priest of their city, and the priest Jacob was studying under. He calmly walked into the room. Strength evident in his stride, his soul flame blazing the brilliant gold of those ordained by god, the color Jacob’s flame was slowly becoming.
“Greetings Sir Yosef, are you prepared for your last rites?” Lord Jeremiah intoned solemnly.
“Yes my lord, I am ready,” their father gasped, grimacing with pain as he sat up, “I’ve been waiting for over fifty years for this moment. I wouldn’t dream of missing it.”
“Very well,” Lord Jeremiah said, and addressing the brothers he said, “The wandering spirits will be drawn quickly to a man with as strong a soul as his, be ready with the knife my children. Now who will consecrate his body so that no spirit may enter it?”
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Each of the brothers looked at each other. To consecrate a body is the final stage of a man’s death rites. The consecrator opens the throat of the body with the sacred knife so that no wandering spirit may take possession of the body. To do that to one’s own father, even if it was only his body, was a difficult task. After a moment of thought Gabriel knew it had to be him. He was the eldest son, so it could only fall to him to take up the gruesome task.
“I’ll do it!” Jacob shouted, thrusting himself before his brothers, “I’m training to be a priest my Lord, it is my duty to do this.”
Gabriel was shocked by his brother’s bravery. How long had it been since his little brother, that always shy and quiet Jacob, became this brave soul? He was surprised by Jacob’s outburst, but also relieved.
“I’m sorry Jacob, but you cannot. You will be serving as my second in this. Should I falter in this endeavor you will serve as my support,” said Lord Jeremiah.
Silence once again ruled the room. The tension alleviated by Jacob’s statement returned tenfold. Gabriel knew what had to be done. Breaking the smothering silence, he said, “I can do it my Lord. I will consecrate our father’s body.”
Lord Jeremiah nodded. From within his voluminous robes he produced a small branch from a sacred tree and the bottle it would be held in. He and Jacob began chanting, imploring their god to give Sir Yosef a peaceful crossing. Gabriel held his knife at the ready, pressed against his father’s throat. Lord Jeremiah lowered the sacred branch into Sir Yosef’s soul flame, and immediately it was engulfed in fire. Sir Yosef’s soul flame was extinguished, leaping from his fragile body onto the sacred branch. Their father gasped, his body now bereft of a soul, and breathed his last. Here was the moment, the time when Gabriel was supposed to slit his father’s throat to consecrate his body, but in the heat of the moment Gabriel found he could not. He hesitated for but the briefest of moments, and that made all the difference.
What once was his father’s body inhaled deeply, its eyes shot open and it let out a triumphant shout, “I’m alive!” Horrified Gabriel slit the throat of what once was his father’s body, but it was already too late for that. The spirit would no longer let go of the body so easily, especially not one as powerful as Sir Yosef’s. To ward off Gabriel’s attacks the spirit grabbed Gabriel’s throat, squeezing the breath from his lungs, defending its fragile hold on life. Gabriel could hardly breathe, but he managed to keep enough of the spirit’s attention on him that Samuel could grab another knife and plunge it into the heart of what was once their father. The spirit's scream of joy became a howl of death as it was forced out of the body it had only just possessed. Panting, the three brothers stared at each other with a mixture of shock and horror while Lord Jeremiah looked placidly on, securing the sacred branch that now housed Sir Yosef’s soul inside of its bottle.
“How did that happen? I’ve seen flames extinguished before and it takes hours before the spirits find the body. I thought I had time, why did this happen so quickly?” Gabriel was astonished and ashamed. He had failed in his duty and allowed a spirit to defile his father’s body.
“I did tell you that those with a stronger soul attract spirits more quickly Gabriel, I told you to be ready. However this is an odd case, for the average person’s death it takes an average of four hours before the spirit possession begins. Unfortunately, this was not the average death. In this instance there are two things that increased the speed of possession. The first is that your father had an incredibly radiant soul and such power attracts spirits. The second is that your father did not die naturally, he willingly vacated his body. Generally the soul flame persists for the first couple hours after death to allow people to perform the death rites on those who die suddenly,” Lord Jeremiah explained, saddened by the fact that things had turned out this way. “Now I must be off. Do not worry Gabriel, no harm came to your father’s soul from this, and I must say Samuel you acted admirably. Your quick reaction time and decisive decision making avoided what might have been a huge problem. Well done!” With that remark Lord Jeremiah left the house to take Sir Yosef’s soul to the great flame of the god.
Gabriel and his brothers busied themselves with cleaning the room and preparing their father’s body for cremation. None of them wished to discuss what just happened. Gabriel vowed then and there that he would not fail like that again.