"I'm game if you are" Goober said - albeit reluctantly, but trying his very best to sound brave.
He did not like following Puck into Hell, and avoided the lower realms whenever he could. Goober's nature was very sensitive, and sadness, suffering and torment, caused his body to bruise terribly, breaking out in red welts.
"How many do we need to recover this time do you think?"
"Oh, I'd say around four hundred thousand."
Goober crinkled his brow thinking.
"How many?" he asked again.
"Around four hundred thousand."
Goober could see Puck was serious but his calculations seemed a little off.
"You mean to tell me that you intend going from recovering and recruiting six mortals from the nether-lands, to up the number now of four thousand?"
"Four hundred thousand" Puck corrected him gently. "Yeah, that is what I meant" Gordon sighed.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
It was appalling to see a sorrowful ghost. Their presence at this gathering had been very meaningful. Under Puck's guidance the six men had learned more after their last death than they had gathered over several hundred.
He had made it his project to help cleanse their souls - but still, old habits pursued, and their astral bodies taunted them with desires that kept them wanting life and yet despising it, all at the one time.
In seeing these ghosts there became a microcosmic glimpse into the immediate deficits within a humanity that was struggling now to navigate its course.
It could not be said that all of Mankind was deteriorating and or moving forward - they were, on the whole, all improving - just not fast enough to outrun the spiritual diseases that were dogging them into the lower realms.
Added to that were the two main concerns: the condition of dear Mother Planet who bears them all, and the infiltration of that alien disease from beyond the natural world, now incarnating in the millions through machines with screens and sound.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
Abject selfishness was rife amongst the mortals and coupled with an uncharitable neediness, the instability had worsened. They called this the 'Rocky Horror Syndrome' to mark that time in history when the people had given up their cautions of Hell and turned it all into a joke.
"How can they take anything seriously that is not in the immediate before them?" commented Grievous, shrugging his shoulders and sighing. The gap between Men and Fey had never been wider. Eric, Marley's father, put his hand up to speak.
"How was I to know?" he bleated aggressively, "Hell is not real until you get there - and anyway, it's not at all like a man cares to think about such things at any time...
"... I don't ever want to go back -I know that now- but my body still aches for the things I can't have, even without the flesh to go with it".
He stopped, and his face shadowed with an aspect of genuine shame.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
Grievous, looking over at his Troll Team, stood up slowly, waiting for the nod from Arnold to begin. He was noticeably uncomfortable.
He began: "We also have seen these changes, and, added to this there are too many of all kinds going into the dark side - the caverns of Hell are filling like never before, and both the immortals and men are indefinitely lingering there too long."
This statement weighed heavily on everyone present, because each in their own way had seen evidence of the decline in which he spoke of. Overall the Kingdoms were depressed and fearful - which was uncharacteristic of races whose nature in spirit was so naturally cheerful.
Of course, although unsaid, they all blamed the men and women of the planet for bringing them down.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
Of course the Humans incarnate were not in a position these days to perceive such a concern, and life is complex enough for them to keep up with in just day-to-day survival.
They did not have the perception (which was partly the problem in the first place) to see much further than their own needs and wants.
But for the beings whose memories predate the sun, there were observations of changes that portended isolation, and potential annihilation - a slow spiritual death from a rapidly ageing Earth.
Our World was losing its connection with the supporting Universal Heart, and the risk was that should this continue, the Planet and all of its spheres of activity, might be cast out upon the Cosmic Sea without higher communication or help - and the Angelic realm could become deaf to us.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
The four Trolls at the far end kept eating, ignoring the cues to pause for the talk; there was a handful of semi-permeable (dead) people - guys in bikers' gear sitting at the other end - and the Elvish - Puck's crew and family lounging in the spaces in-between. He drew breath and began.
"Friends" Arnold said rather loudly, "We, the people of Gravicia (Dwarves, like most, refer to themselves as 'people') have been monitoring the core synergisms back to, and including, the last Golden Age within this period, and it has only been most recently that our spatial context has shown signs of weakening and potentially dissipating completely.
“Very recently the deterioration has been both rapid and pronounced drawing fears for both casualty and disaster." He stopped to let them take it all in. No one really understood what he was talking about.
Arnold was referring to the 'Status Gravitas' assigned at the core - the passage to and from the Spiritual Worlds, into this World and out again.
In the simplest of terms it related to all of the realms combined within the one sphere - The Physical body (this World) its lower Astral Body (Hell) its Etheric Body (Faerie) its Higher Astral Body(Little Heaven). All of these realms are home to beings of the interlocking kingdoms, which have been exhibiting an arrhythmia in relation to the supporting Heavens beyond.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
Arnold, a dwarf from the Longfellows clan, approached the group to make his announcement.
In his hand were some papers, on his person, was a brown leather coat and matching breeches that were embroidered with a finely spun silver thread. His under-garments (if you could have seen them) were fine flax. He looked important - he was important - and he carried himself with the nobility of a god.
Arnold was one of the most senior of the dwarves (hence the name of his family) and took his position amongst this group very seriously.
In the parts where he came from, his people were sensitive and responsive to the Physical World in ways that brought them concern during those historic crescendos of calamity.
They were protective of all living things - be them rock, plant, animal, fey, or mortal.
Rarely did they have direct communication with ordinary men and women due to the fact that they simply could not be seen by them. But they often visited and conversed in dreams where folk would wake remembering deep conversations that had come and gone with the night.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series
