She walked inside the liquor store and headed to the whiskey section, knowing it was going to be a rough night of transmutations.  The bodies had been building up around the liquor store proximity,  and no one was willing to help with their transition.

“They don’t call them Spirits, for nothing.” She mumbled to herself as she grabbed a bottle of Jameson off the shelf and headed to the register.

What the Living were unable to see, was the portal the liquor store was built upon.  No, it wasn’t an ancient burial site or a lay line per say- It was an artificial portal with a contract for operation, and that contract was nearing it’s end, which made it amplify it’s effect for a long range- like that final electrical release that happens from a faulty conduit.  The last blast was bound to shock the neighborhoods within a three mile range on every side.

Years previously, when the liquor store was mearly a small local bar, there were human volunteers that acted as a release valve for possible misfortune and violence, but most of them had ended up dying of consumption or what might be seen as insanity. Many generations passed and no one seemed willing or knowledgeable enough to pick up the Transmutation Torch.

She had no idea how she fell into this gig and surmised it was vicinity and convenience. She didn’t realize how on point she was with this assumption. She had the innate skills and was willing but ignorant.  No one approached her about it, everything just sort of fell into place and before she knew it- she had become a local representative of transmissions between life and death and communication with these Spirits.  She was more than a release valve, she was a kind of  compassionate but reckless reaper.

As she walked home with the bottle tucked beneath her jacket, she was given the transmission that this is a job few qualify for; that it was her philosophy that “Everything is temporary” that convinced the Soul Council to recommend  and essentially assign her to this hard to articulate task.  She had also previously set a strong energetic protection boundary around her, and this was rare, but an essential upgrade from previous Transmutators.   They knew that she had the muster to take on the amplification through the transmutation process, She came from a resilient line.  Of course it was all quite a bit of a risk, because she was also seen as impulsive.   To Soul Council Majority, She was a risk worth taking.

As She walked through the door She contemplated what this would mean in the long run.  She knew there was a reason they called it Spirits and Poison; the reason the medical community called it a depressant or addictive.  She knew.  That was another reason she was the perfect candidate.  They admired her awareness of herself and of things seen beyond the normal spectrum.  This Spirit situation needed to be regulated before it exploded.

Have you ever read a Portal Contract before?  They are lengthy, full of stipulations and very fine print.  They are tiresome to read and edit, and even more tiresome to try and comprehend.  It takes a Portal Contract Specialist to mind these matters, and those are also a dying breed.

The Spirit game has really changed over the last decade or so. Used more as a source of entertainment than their actual function of Soul Transport and Evolution.  Doesn’t that seem to be the case with so many things these days?

There were just so many reasons She was the perfect replacement for a job no one wanted.

No one asked if She was willing or able. She didn’t really have a say in the matter.  Like any job she was allowed “vacations” or breaks- but honestly it was going to be like Black Friday for her for several years.  The longest anyone had lasted was a year, but the pool of willing Transmutation Correspondents was a lot bigger then.  At one point people were literally lining up for the job- most were dispelled quickly as they were easily distracted from the job at hand, using it as a free bar tab.  Turn over could be high, but if one stuck, they could be there for five years tops.   A stipulation of the contract was duration for Transmutation.

It’s a well known fact that Spirit Transmutation is one of the hardest jobs a living human can have.  There is a constant bombardment of frequencies, and random variation from external output which can define the outcome and put extra pressure on the physical human meat suit.

One might ask why a Higher Spirit isn’t given the job; it’s because the job is a boot camp for initiation to Higher Spirit and the job requires previously mentioned meat suit.  She certainly didn’t know this when the transmissions started flowing in a few months before the confirmation transmission was sent.

Imagine a rather ordinary thirty something woman with what could be seen as a problem with consumption.  Imagine that same woman is met with a job that would require that she continue her consumption.  Now some may call that a demon, and that is what the Spirits do… but imagine that is only half of the story.

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“The blood that runs through these veins have seen unrecorded history.  It’s felt the damage of life times ravaged through experience.  It’s run across the land like a river taking parts of the landscape with it. It’s left parts and parcels of it’s mineral content in the wake of its flow.  It’s been absorbed back into the Earth like it should, only to assist in nourishment for the local surroundings creating a vibration that resonates for miles. She gives and she takes in perfect balance.”

There was no rational or discernible reason for these words to flow into her mind in this moment, but they did. She found herself inspired and confused.  What did it mean? She tried to slough it off as a last remaining mental by product of her moon cycle, finding its slow transition outward and down to be flushed back into the eternal life recycle we call Local Water Purification.

“If only they knew.” She outwardly commented to no one as she discarded the blood stained tissue into the toilet and watched as it swirled away.

The Soul Council had noticed these mental behaviors in her.  A sort of appreciation for the mundane yet macabre.  She was able to see beyond the 3D layers, and interpret the meaning of the symbols embedded into everyday life. The Soul Council had found, over time, that this capacity was necessary to the job, but a skill few had.  To make matters worse those who did have it, essentially lived in denial and found themselves reluctant when encouraged to entertain the notion, much less the actual experimentation of an essential element that made up their being.

Portions of the Soul Council thought that the program should be all together ignored; they argued that there was a reason no one was qualified nor wanted the job. Nothing in the contract said that position had to be filled. Their suggestion was to let the Portal Contract run it’s course, as chaotic as it may be, and sort out the rest later.  In the mean time find a top notch Portal Contract Negotiator that would be able to align contracts for any mess that may be made in the mean time.

The majority of the Soul Council argued that it would be unethical to abandon the station if they were aware of a candidate that could fulfill more than the basic requirements, and that the contract was Soul related, so  the initiated had no choice but to at least man the position until the term ended or they failed… whatever came first.  And that was the sad nature of it.  The candidates historically and consistently failed before their term was met.

Those few in the Soul Council who would rather abandon the project, coincidentally, were the newest and youngest members on the board.   The Elders in favor of this new solution felt that their experience with this situation was keeping in the alignment of the soon to be void Contract.

And all the while these distinctive and life changing Soul Council Conversations occur on the outskirts of awareness… this strange 30 something year old woman keeps plugging along daily- completely unaware that she is about to be employed by Spirit full time with no discernible vacation, no discernible benefits, no advertised severance package and no unemployment safety net if everything goes to hell in a hand-basket.  It wasn’t even a “paid” position, per say… it was more akin to an unpaid internship.  It may seem crude, but Soul Councils aren’t even known for “thank you” cards when a human helps them reach a solution.

In modern terms, you may say that “This bitch that lives down the street from the liquor store, is about to get shook by Spirits she never even knew existed so close to her proximity.  She’s got a job she didn’t know she applied for, and things are going to get weird.”