You can’t get Blood from a Stone

Ulysses Bloodstone a monster hunter and mercenary had a vision which led him to a town close the blue mountain in Pennsylvania. Wearing a flak jacket with several storage pouches for weapons and ammunition, and tough leather boots. Ulysses stood at 188cm, with blue eyes and blonde hair but his most striking feature was the blood red gem in the center of his exposed chest.

"Mr. Ahab, I can guide you up the mountain, but I must warn you, there is something far more dangerous than the beast on that mountain." Keme'ehnepo, or Coyote as he likes to be called, tried to warn the man.

"I assure you friend; I am always prepared." Ulysses tapped his huge shotgun for emphasis.

The tall, skinny, Native American man was still not convinced. "I should tell you of Ho'neohtseohtsęstse and his son Ho'nee'ameohtse—"

"I have a beast to hunt, Friend, must you delay me so?"

Hesitating, Coyote decided to trust in this man's confidence. "May the ancestors protect us from, The Great Trickster."

"That's the spirit, Friend, adventure awaits," said Ulysses.

They started the trek up the mountain in the morning but six hours later and they were only halfway to their destination. Ulysses could see the exhaustion on his guide and chose to distract the man. "Friend, you mentioned something strange about this beast?"

"Yes, Mr. Ahab, the creature at first, would only hunt in the forest but later came into town. The creature would assume the form of a man but eat man flesh as if still possessed of beast."

"Are you entirely certain that we are not dealing with a human killer?"

"Yes, Mr. Ahab, it is said, that the monster would spirit away a young woman from its victim's family, but I have not been able to confirm whether or not those women ran away on their own."

"A very intriguing creature, not to worry, Friend, I will prevail over the beast."

They walked for another two hours before resting or Ulysses allowing Coyote to rest for a time. The night descended as they waited, they could hear the howl of wolves. Ulysses peered through the night with his third eye, he could see the aura of something big up the mountain.

"Wait here, Friend, the hunt is afoot," said Ulysses.

He rushed off to investigate, but not even halfway to his destination, he heard a scream, that released psychic feedback. He sped up his pace but the trip up the mountain still took him an hour, considering his inhuman speed, he traveled quite the distance.

Slowing down as he got closer, Ulysses unslung his shotgun, creeping closer to his target. He walked into a wide clearing, with an over sized teepee, but his target, the thing he sensed, was the biggest bonfire he had ever seen. The thing didn't make any sense, a fire this size would require a lot of kindling, not to mention the potential for a forest fire and the heat. If he was wearing an undershirt, he would have perspired through it by now.

"Oh, ha…ha ha…you finally decided to show up." A voice resounded through the clearing, seemingly without a point of origin. "You know, I lost an arm waiting for you, It grew back but it's the principle of thing."

Ulysses spun around with his shotgun in hand, looking for the speaker. "Maybe you should introduce yourself, Friend?"

"No thank you, did I mention I lost an arm…but don't mind me, the answers you seek are right in front of you..."

As the voice faded, Ulysses opened his third eye to track it, but the blinding aura of the bonfire distracted him. He turned around to take a closer look at it, it was radiating power. He knew he had to stop this thing but was not sure how, then he spotted it, a connection to the bonfire that raced of into the woods. He used his third eye to chase the link back to the source.

Ulysses found a very muscular, young black boy, with sharp cheek bones and an angular face, he was holding a baby. The connection to the bonfire was strongest in these two but part of it was connected to the two native men following the young man. He decided to break the strongest connection first, targeting the young boy, Ulysses decided to take a closer look. It was then that he found something odd, inside the young man, was what appeared to be two souls. One was inside the other like egg yolk in a shell.

Thinking that he found the main connection, Ulysses pulled the internal soul into the inside of the gem in his chest, where he could fight it in astral form.

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Manley Hill grew up in Chicago during prohibition, his father worked security at a bank. Although he wanted to be a doctor, his father never did. The bank that his father worked at was robbed, he would later find out that it was an inside job and his father worked with criminals. His parents would soon divorce because of his father's cheating, and he would live with his mother. Life with his mother would see him living in squalor, destitute and desperate.

At the age of sixteen, his father would come back into his life, telling him a sob story of losing his eldest son, a brother Manley never knew he had. Apparently, his brother was lynched at the age of twelve, when Manley was only eleven, for killing four white boys that were picking on him. His father, falling into a depression, then decided to rob the same bank, he got shot protecting when Manley was born.

Manley learned his father had connections with the mafia, people he served with during the war. Still resentful but desperate, Manley joined his father in a life of crime. He would use what little money he made to support his mother and himself.

At the age of eighteen, everything changed for Manley. During a shootout with the cops, his mutant powers awakened. He then used this power to rip the very souls from the bodies of the people around him. Friend, foe, no one was spared from his wrath, exhilarated by his newfound power, he went on to take over the city.

He later found out his power had other applications, for he could warp reality around him. This revelation led him to believe that he was a god. So, he dubbed himself Prime, and commanded people to worship him. Although he had long killed both his mother and father at this point, he was happy but alone. He trusted no one and his power was the only thing that let him feel safe. He killed those he couldn't trust and subjugated those he could. He had the whole city of Chicago under his control, but his quest for power didn't end there. He was not fulfilled being god to a city, he wanted the world to recognize Prime.

His understanding of his own power was shallow, but his ambition was anything but shallow. He discovered the world was filled with powerful beings, after crossing paths with Mephisto. This all happened before he could even expand his rule outside the city, apparently one of the politicians he killed was contracted to the demon. Mephisto came to talk but feeling high on his own power, Prime chose to attack. The part that crushed him wasn't the demon's power but the fact that Mephisto didn't even consider him a threat. The demon didn't even fight, just avoided and taunt him.

The incident with Mephisto was the catalyst for Primes renewed obsession with souls. When he wasn't studying demons and the hells, he was experimenting with souls. These experiments, eventually led to his downfall. After many experiments, he decided to try combining different souls. The combination would take but, in the process, he discovered that when two souls occupy the same space, they become harder to manipulate.

Thinking he found a way to protect his soul from demons, he started putting souls in random bodies. This led a new discovery, when a soul feel that they are in danger they influence their host body to suicide. This is worse when two souls occupy the same body, it can lead to madness. Prime not wanting to abandon his experiments, started searching for more resilient souls. He began reaching into other dimensions, pulling on souls, testing their resistance.

This led to his encounter with The Living Tribunal, that was so powerful, that his very being trembled in fear. In a desperate bid to escape whatever judgement awaited him, Prime taxed his power pulling the most resilient soul he could, casing his own within it, and escaping into his own past.

A now depowered Prime, fell into a deep sleep, while the other soul took over his infant body. Time past in a blink from his perspective, but when he woke up, a new tragedy struck. The moment he regained his power and became aware, his power was stolen by the soul, that was to be his shield. Prime was now trapped and unaware of the world or even the passage of time, until something changed.

Prime, found himself in a new space, with his power returned. As he was about to explore this new space, a blond caveman wielding a spear, appeared before him. "Strange." Prime froze him, then studied the man. "Interesting, I could use this when redesigning my body."

Digging deeper into this new space, Prime found something else, a creature not unlike himself. The thing was just a mind, trapped in this dream like space. Prime decided to give this thing a new body and soul, just like himself. "Brothers in suffering, brothers in life.

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Ulysses opened his eyes in fear. "What was that thing?"

"Why aren't you doing your job, Blondie?"

The voice resounded again, but before he could respond, a bright light forced him to cover his eyes. After the intensity died down, Ulysses gapped at a man, his double, going through a variety of facial expressions, but his eyes, angry, malicious, and uncaring. He has never seen such an odd sight, why doesn't this twin's eyes match the distress his face was showing.

So focused was he on the double that he nearly missed the other person. A skinny copy of the boy he attempted to pull into his gem, but with alterations. This version had a visible third eye, and a red gem in his chest, just like Ulysses. The boy then looked over at the bonfire.

"A hell portal, nice work," said Prime. He looked over at the teepee.

"Well thank you, but who are you?" said Coyote. He revealed himself in the shadow of the teepee, with a strange sharp tooth smile.

"I am Prime, would you like to join my pantheon?"

Ulysses, felt different, his mind clear, he realized this was beyond him and ran.

Looking at the running Ulysses, the Exo-Mind, now the double of Ulysses said nothing but struggled with his body's hormones.

"Oh, and why would I do that?" asked Coyote.

Waving his hand, Prime pulled Coyote to him. As Coyote floated immobile in the air in front of him, Prime gave a disarming smile. "Because we can help each other, and I can trap you in that body."