The Untamed Beast

Passage from the Upper Realm to the human world was more fluid. An Upper Realm spirit was given the ability to enter the Middle Realm and briefly inhabit the body of a human, assuming that the human consented. This became a rare and highly prized event in the history of man, and a great honor to the host body.

Unfortunately, a Lower Realm spirit was also given the power to inhabit the body of a willing human host. And unlike its Upper Realm counterpart, the Lower Realm spirit—or demon—invariably had malevolent intentions and would wreak havoc upon all humans, spreading misery and depravity to an unimaginable extent. Because of this, the human world was given additional protection—a buffer zone—to deter invasion from below. Not only would an evil spirit need to find a human host, but it would be required to pass through the buffer first, where it would be met by a Guardian of the Middle Realm who would attempt to bar its passage.

“The greatest honor a human can experience is to be inhabited by an Upper Realm spirit. And the second-greatest honor is to be appointed Guardian,” Hogan assured Rick. “At any given time, there is only one Guardian who has reached his so-called maturity—the nine years when optimal physical prowess co-exists with sufficient life experience. In other words, my father turned twenty-nine and took over the post on the very day his predecessor turned thirty-eight and retired. Meanwhile, some other young man was turning twenty and beginning the nine-year process of maturing into a Guardian.”

“Except for me, it only took nine weeks,” Rick muttered. “That doesn’t fit your story.”

“Obviously, something happened to the existing Guardian—”

“And there’s only one at a time? That’s nuts. If it’s such an important job, why not have a bunch of guys ready to go at a minute’s notice?”

Hogan hesitated, as though needing to choose his next words with extra care. “The Guardian has the fate of the world in his hands—his alone. If he knew there were others who could step in…well, that might undermine his focus. Make him less willing to sacrifice his life.”