The World and Powers: Limbo

So another segment. My last segment I'll do before going to bed. I was sort of inspired to do this thanks to Oscar needing clarification as to something Oz- err I wrote AS Ozzie in another discussion on the Forum. (By the way y'all should check it out. It's the ask your MC a question discussion. Great for character building.)
I like the idea of making this anthology. It's not really spoilers since the first chapter will show that the story is an Urban Fantasy so It's cool with me. Other segments in this series will be from other stories I have either sitting on the backburner in my head or started and waiting to continue for different reasons.

Limbo:

The World: So the story of Limbo is set in modern day LA. But that's not all that it encompasses. Inside this metropolis are the supernatural, and with it come layers of reality. This story is HEAVILY influenced by the Book of Revelations, so most parts of the supernatural are derived from parts of the Bible.

Sheol: The Sheol is the blanket term for the world between Heaven, Hell, and Earth. In the bible it's a place the dead congregated before they're eventual release to Heaven when Jesus took the keys of death from Lucifer. From my understanding it's different from Purgatory/Limbo and Hell. Hence why I decided to use it as the World Between Worlds.

The Veil: The Veil has no direct connotation with the Bible it's merely the term used to describe the barrier separating the fabrics of reality.

Key Terms:

Shifting: A term used by Cambi able to cross the Veil.

Walkers: Humans with no demonic or angelic blood that can phase through the Veil. They're said to be Walking, not Shifting.

Phaser: An enchanted object used for instantaneous Shifting. All Cambi can Shift, but only Walkers, Manipulators (see Talents) and full blooded Demon/Angels can do it at without assistance or a lot of preparation. It's why generally speaking Cambi stay in the Sheol or stay on Earth, it's just too much of a hassle to do both.

Cambi: Humans with demonic blood. It's a term derived from Cambion which is the offspring of an Incubus/Succubus and a human. Closest thing I could find outside of Nephilim that fit a devi/demi-human.

Talents: The term used by the Cambi to describe their powers. Talents are the closest thing to magic in the story that humans can come to without divine interference. Talents are derived from the seven deadly sins. Manipulators are the strongest Cambi and have limited control over all seven branches of Talents. Example: In Chapter 1: Clarence's Talent is said to be Seduction which is taken from the sin of Lust.

Also each Talent manifests itself differently. Hence varying descriptions in its appearance. Example:

Clarence's Manifestation

So, Clarence had scrawled the name, minus all well meaning expletives, across the back of the photo in his neat slanted print. His jaw tensed. His hand drummed agitatedly against the counter top. The air around him shimmered like glass and Clarence sniffed, the picture crinkling in his fist.
"Temper Clare." The stool beside him scraped out and Clarence frowned, looking across to the blonde haired lady standing eye level to him,"your Talent is showing. You're drawing attention to us." She sat down, pushing a stray lock behind her ear and pulling her ponytail daintly over her shoulder. "Try to be more subtle." Like me.
Clarence grimaced. "I wouldn't call you subtle either Lydia." He said with a nod towards the tight red strapless dress she was wearing. Nevertheless he took a deep breath and reined his Talent in. The kaleidoscope of refractive air dissipated back into nothing. Clarence waved down the bartender. "What's you're poison?"

Lydia's Manifestation

Clarence scowled and reached under the collar of his shirt, pulling out what looked like a really cheap charm necklace, complete with rusted paperclips and random bottle caps. He held it out to her.
"Aww," Lydia snorted. "And what's this? You're attempt at being part of the 'in' crowd?" She sipped contemplatively at her second drink, "what do the kids call it nowadays? Being 'metal'?"
"It's a Phaser," Clarence continued as if she really hadn't know. "He's not going to be Walking away that easily."
"Oh joy,” she said, inspecting the necklace in the palm of her hand. She waved her free one above it, the tell tale crackle of her Talent the only warning Clarence got before they both, along with the space between them, disappeared. It was the strangest thing to watch. It only lasted a second, but in that second it was as if Lydia had never had hands, like his mind temporarily deleted the knowledge. Like it was completely normal for her to be missing them. “Who made this?" She asked when her hands reappeared. She shook them out while setting the Phaser on the counter. "You’ve got a one pump chump. This is only going to get you through the Veil one way. In. Or Out. Not both.”

The Order of the Locusts

The Locusts come from Revelations 9 and are led by Toni.

Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit
9 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faceswere like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their powerwas to hurt men five months. 11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew isAbaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

The Locusts were for me extremely fun to work into the story because obviously they're not looking like beetled, scorpion horse lions, but the concept of them, a holy TORTURE unit I found appealing. This gave me a lot of freedom in how to colour their morals and just exactly who (backstory wise) could be considered a candidate for their ranks. The Locusts keep the balance. They do good where needed in the typical sense and have no problems slitting throats when needed. Kind of Punisher style.

Locusts

The Locusts themselves always work in pairs and are always recruited at the brink of death. Usually Locusts are people who after a life time of bad died doing something heroic or good to end their lives showing them to be people unafraid to do the morally black or gray thing in order to achieve the greater good. Locusts are all originally humans. They give up their humanity for a new eternal life that can only be ended in battle (this was more so inspired by Artemis and the Wild Hunt).

Tools of the Locust

Locusts are given enhanced speed, strength, agility, reflexes, the degree in which they are enhanced depending on the person. Also their arsenal for weapons, which ranges from the medieval to modern. It's all in personal preference. The thing that makes Locusts uniform are their outfits and the mask. It's a circlet that when placed on the head, embeds itself and elongates into a face obscuring piece that allows Locusts to communicate telepathically. When wearing the mask Locusts cant speak. When wearing the mask Locusts can move freely through the Sheol.

Characters and Their Status

Ozzie: Main Character
Race: Human
Abilities: Psychometry (the ability to read the past through objects), Empathy, and Touch (the ability to remove the sensation of pain or introduce it through his touch)

James: Over protective Best friend
Race: Human
Abilities: Clint whisperer (the only one able to deal with Clint for extended periods of time and reign him in when he inevitably goes off on a tangent)

Clint: James' eccentric friend
Race: Human
Abilities: Being fabulous.

LayLay: Hot ginger Actress in a movie with James
Race: Cambi
Talent: Wrath

Dante: Pink haired asshole DJ
Race: Human
Abilities: He's a Walker. and Shadow (Due to unknown circumstances Dante is able to control his shadow)

Dodge: Tall, blonde and intimidating
Race: Locust
Abilities: Locust abilities. Knows the Language of the Heavens.

Newt: Level-headed partner to Dodge
Race: Locust
Abilities: Locust abilities. Has an unusually high resistance towards Talents

Toni: A strong independent black woman who's Ozzie's legal guardian
Race: Fallen Angel
Abilities: You dont wanna know