and all the devils are here

As was previously noted, demons roaming about on the material planes are carefully monitored but only interfered with if their actions began to pose a possible threat to the overall scheme of things for a specific world or dimension. The possession of a messiah by this particular demon, it was unanimously decided, did constitute such a threat. The glaring oversight that had resulted in this eventuality had mostly been due to the circumstances surrounding the incident and the rapidity with which it had occurred. Demons only occasionally managed to make it down to those worlds and usually did so as a result of their own machinations. Rarely is one ever summoned there against their will because most of the few material beings who are aware of their existence and know how to call on them are also aware of their reputations and recognize that life in such places is challenging enough without inviting the riff raff down for a visit. That being the case, and because this demon had shown no signs of being up to anything, no one had bothered to keep an eye on him or had even noticed that he was gone until after the possession had already taken place.

     The one chosen to go down and retrieve the demon happened to be a being from its natural plane of residence. She was what is known as a Guardian called Av????%a+ on her world. It was, among other things, a Guardian’s responsibility to track down rogue spirits, bring them home, and give them a good talking to. She had been selected for this particularly difficult assignment because of her extensive knowledge of demon psychology and her unique ability to fit in and cope with the inhabitants of the denser planes. She had successfully completed many such missions, but was feeling some apprehension over this one. She had never been on an assignment to this planet before and knew almost nothing about it. She had visited it briefly once while on vacation, however this only added to her trepidation since that trip had ended very badly.

     She had been drifting peacefully above a majestic mountain range when she happened upon a small village at the base of the foothills. At the edge of the village, she noticed a charming little cottage with over a dozen beautiful rose bushes growing in front of it. She recalled having heard somewhere that the scent of flowers was one of the greatest treasures that the Earth had to offer and one that far too many humans failed to take the time to appreciate. She wanted very much not to share in their mistake but, being as she was in a noncorporeal state, was incapable of experiencing the sensation of smell.

     She floated indecisively over the bushes for a while, then carefully looked around to make sure that no one was watching before assuming a semi-corporeal form, which she was able to do for short periods and which would in turn allow her smell the roses. It was also something that she was strictly forbidden to do on casual visits to the material planes since, in addition to enabling her olfactory capabilities, it also allowed her to be seen.

     While she was intermingling with the blossoms, losing herself in the fullness of their beauty and marveling at the innocent precision of the honey bees as they went about their day’s work, the owner of the house stepped out onto her front porch. When she saw the wispy, luminous shape moving through her roses, she knew immediately what it meant: she had been selected by Almighty God to bear witness to a sacred event. She ran into the village in a state of religious near-hysteria telling anyone who would listen about the miracle that had taken place in her garden. She had been chosen by The Lord to receive a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

     In the fifty plus years since that fateful day, tens of thousands of believers had made the religious pilgrimage to that holy place in the hopes that their infirmities would be healed, their illnesses cured, or just to have their rotten luck changed for the better. Some were, in fact, cured—not by anything supernatural, but by the power of suggestion and the unknown potential of the human mind. Some even claimed that they too were able to see the Holy Virgin: same reason. Most, unfortunately, went away crying and lamenting the fact that they had not been deemed worthy of divine grace for the easing of their burdens or relief from their suffering. And then there were some who left exactly as they had arrived but feeling a little bit better about themselves and everything in general for having at least made the effort.

     Another consequence of the manifestation that day that none of the people who came to visit that place would ever be aware of was that one of the visitors to that garden, the one who had started it all, had had a lot of explaining to do when she got home.