The Guardians

I don’t know what I’m doing with this yet.

There is evil in the world.

Beyond the petty ills of greedy men and bored bureaucrats, worse than murderers and slavers. There is evil in our world that is not of it, that is not the work of mankind. Demons make sly promises and steal bodies, possess the innocent and vulnerable, and drive humans to worse excesses than they would manage on their own.

Undead things stalk humans as prey, and worse, doing things that would make the most hardened terrorist or serial killer green with nausea . . . or maybe envy.

Monsters hunt, not just to eat, not just to survive, but with the express purpose of increasing the misery of life on Earth.

There is evil in the world, and evil beyond it, and that evil has plans and strategems we know not of, and aims we cannot fathom. We do not know what it stands to gain. Mankind is helpless in the face of these things. Human weapons, human technology, human adaptability, are nothing to these hideous creatures, to their fell magic.

But there is also love in the world, and goodness, and kindness, and it is not unique to humans. Against the demons grasping for souls or shreds of flesh stand angels, though they might not be what your religion has taught you. Against the undead, against the monsters, stand the Guardians. Called Kherubim by some, Deva by others, Phylax by still more, we embody the power of good, and fight the forces of evil. Those forces are called demons, and Daeva, and Shedim, and Sa'irim, and Asuras, and more. The names vary, but it doesn't really matter. We serve Asha, the truth, and fight Druj, deceit.

We are forbidden to interfere in purely human affairs. A mugging, a murder, a rape . . . no matter how vile, if it is only human, we cannot intervene. But when the tendrils of supernatural evil reach for your world, and strive to make it worse, we stand in the way, and fight, and lend our strength to humans who stand in their own defense.

We guard you as best we may, and so many of us wish we could do more. But we cannot. It is not our right to make your decisions for you, or to protect you from the consequences of your own choices. We must allow you to be free, for good or ill. But we will keep you free from others, as well. We safeguard your free will as much as we do your bodies and souls. We are the Guardians, and we move among you, and we watch, and report, and defend. We do not know whence the Enemy comes, nor what it truly wants, but we will not stand idle as it enacts its schemes.

Neither Hell nor Heaven is what you think it is. But you are not alone against the dark.