Overshadowed

"Samuel, you should be sensing the same thing that I am, yes? It seems as though our friend Eclipse has finally made a meetup happen with his little friend Chronias. What can you tell me about his status?"

"Chronias appeared to have been overshadowed by VICE agents as he had entered the portal into Infinitum sir! However, it does seem that he's actually become able to prevent himself from being taken in fully! How is this even possible!?"

Calypso audibly laughed in a way he hadn't felt the need to for a very long time! That clever little bastard actually finally found a way to avoid consumption by Vice. That demon's near infinite grip shall not claim this brilliant demon's mind today. I knew that deciding him as the avenue for our new experiment would be a brilliant choice! That quantum physicist teacher Eclipse had told me so much about did genuinely know his stuff after all this time and all these resets! It was the perfect way to get him to actually accept that there was a greater purpose to that small white shell he'd been given. Sadly, it seems this time the shell was drenched in darkness too. However, I can definitely work with this, he'd thought to himself.

"The Ouroboros has been exchanged Samuel. That means that Eclipse is finally recognizing that there is a purpose to his near infinite potential. Tell me, if you had the power to engulf others in darkness that could counteract the very nature of vice and sin, would you not do so? Would you not demand that the world could hear that there was hope against this pox upon even the angels of heaven? This is how our shadowy friend has chosen to help the world around him. The constraints of his initial deal were that darkness would be allowed to spread, but I had no idea this is what he meant! He's using his dark matter nature to literally rival the darkness there was before creation!"

"But, my dear Calypso, is that wise? Wouldn't that be so much dark power as to not be able to be wielded by a singular person? No matter how good at grounding they were? Wouldn't the overwork the mind would need to do overwhelm even the strongest of our sages?"

"Not with that spiritual 'cage' I put him into. He might think that body has literally infinite power. Infinity, however, only exists in one being. Me. This is a luxury he will come to appreciate greatly in his now incredibly long existence. However, he truly thinks he can create a life for this of the two shells I have brought into existence, so if he truly wants the mantle of Eclipse to be purified, we can certainly try and see how far he decides to go with his little endeavor. So how far up to Chronias' body did the shadow get up to in this timeline?"

"He was apparently half consumed by shadow in this timeline Calypso. Why, would you need to ask that and not just tell us?"

"Well, that's very simple Samuel! Eclipse is the reason! He created the concept of aetherite in order to confuse all the methods we have through holy scribes and computer sensors to actively resist being remembered! So long as Eclipse forgets it, it ceases to be part of his reality!"

"My lord!? You gave the mantle of Eclipse THAT MUCH POWER!?"

Calypso's size grew to several skyscrapers in an instant. His throne immediately rising to an impossibly intimidating form where his masculine features and long, white pearly beard extended upward like an optical illusion made manifest. "DO NOT QUESTION MY DECISION! You will never truly come to understand that to actively fight against Vice is to put yourself in range of his influence. This mantle needed to be able to pull off EVERY trick in the book to be able to keep ahead of Vice's corrupting influence! All of heaven is in danger due to my non-mistake of creating Vice in the first place to make sure there were consequences to not following my rule, without directly demanding that rule be followed. There are risks involved, certainly! However, I am the only one who can know the final outcome of this game for a reason! For the hells you would have to endure would cause you to fully give in to Vice's Overshadowing technique and thus cause you to immediately return to Eterna! You, Samuel, have a vital role to play in this game we're going to be playing against Vice and Eclipse. You must believe in my holy might, just and fair plans, and that all will be resolved in the end!"

This was of course to intimidate Samuel into continuing to follow orders. Samuel, of course was a vitally important piece to Eclipse's success, but the rest of Infinitum City was not yet ready to experience the torment this soul had. Eclipse was a husk, that is why the current holder was placed there when he passed into the afterlife. This experiment is about how far a person is willing to go to purify themselves of all vice and all sin. The era they died in was rambunctious and full of these things in spades. However, they already achieved great wins for the people of their time. They managed to save many of what would currently be called "LGBTQ+" people by allowing them to have some moments of peace inside of private speakeasies before the earthly known "Lavender Scare" of the 1950's. While their mission was a failure overall, to try and have a sect of society be fully protected in ways they knew they would never live to fully appreciate and take advantage of, their mission was one of love. Love for each other and for the people of their nation. It was born, as I was, out of the desire to make a brighter world of creation for all. Through helping an underprivileged class, Eclipse would have been accepted as an angel regardless.

When examined though, it was clear that a time on earth where he was in solitary confinement broke his brain. As the Lavender scare was beginning in the late 1940's, Eclipse and Chronias had picked an awful time to try and be wedded. This allowed the earthly overshadowing of Vice to begin. Though Eclipse is a mantle that had been abandoned many times, this one is particularly feisty. He prayed to me regularly while being stuck in that padded cell after being a hedonist who indulged in "babes and booze" regularly, his words, not mine. He did not realize the damage he had done to himself during that time. It was so bad that when I had first gone to meet "Eclipse," he said that he wanted to do something to help people "Now!" It was a sad thing to witness, but it was sadder to witness while he was alive. One of my followers who had done everything right other than not believe in me. For so long he studied cryptography and tried desperately, often times in vain to succeed. It allowed Vice to grow in power as the mantle of Eclipse itself clearly knew this person was going to take it over when the time finally came for his suffering in silence to end.

That's what overshadowing does. The mantle of Vice might never be purified. However, if we can purify a mantle similar to Vice, then we might have exactly what we need to have a constant, natural way of fighting against the overshadowed condition that many angels have to experience. That inner voice telling angels to refuse to exist. For the sake of the demon Vice's disgusting wishes of consuming the known universe entirely. All returned to sustained, infinite shadows. That is the feeling that overwhelms any angel consumed by this Overshadowing condition.

And Eclipse is responsible for Vice's existence. Without even recognizing it. Thus, he is the only soldier we have to fight against the overshadowing of my people. He fights to grow strong enough and wise enough to fight this threat. That is the nature of our game in truth. It is about protecting, when that can be a job that using Eclipse's innate mantle, I could've been doing for him for so long just via his existence. That is why he must mentally fight and "defeat" me when I'm almost going full brunt at him.

The angels around him that he loves. That is why Eclipse will fight.