The Ancient One was not surprised that as he slept his new assistant entered his dreams. She was now wearing armor and turned around showing it off to him.
"Some Hindu ladies came," she remarked, "and dressed me in all of this and showed me how to summon it and take it off. And some Islamic women brought me this sword and shield, and they showed me how to fly with the shield. I actually fought a couple of things in my area, kept them from reaching their people until the police got there. But why do I need all this?"
The Ancient One smiled. "Next Thursday," he remarked, "we're going after the clerics, the religious teachers throughout The Islamic World that are teaching people to hate. We're going to destroy their souls, fifty of the worst. I'll need you for one assault. Again forty-seven of them probably will go with no trouble at all. But the worst one, the oldest one, will be the hardest one. He surrounds himself with his grandchildren and he keeps three women that he's intimate with to empower him. We'll literally have to fight our way in through some of the worst demons in the area. Then you'll have to keep the women off me while I destroy his soul. Then I'll help you deal with theirs. You must understand the level of filth that we are dealing with. They have no conscience. They have no understanding. They are fixated on destroying, it's all they think of. They can't be reasoned with in any way. What you will be doing is very important. We must break this power base. The only reason this situation happened in India was so that We couldn't concentrate Our forces on the homosexuals in The United States. The only reason these people were killed was to make God take His Forces elsewhere so men in The United States could be perverts and try to legalize it."
The Ancient One's guest looked hurt and quickly changed the subject. "First time I've ever seen your home," she remarked, "and I can see all the colors. I've never been here before. I didn't realize it was so small."
"That's because you're perceiving it through me," The Ancient One answered. "It's part of the temporary bond we have."
"The ladies mentioned that," The Ancient One's companion moaned. "They said I can only do this for seven days. I don't understand. Why can't I do it longer?"
The Ancient One smiled. "First of all," he began, "understand that nothing I say is in any way a rebuke. What is, is, and we can't change that. There are some aspects of Our work that you can never accept, no matter how hard you try, you can't understand them. You can't see why we can't allow some things. That's fine. It doesn't bother your overall work. You do very good for God. You're very powerful in the place you are.
Then again, it's your age. You have made commitments. You have bonded with many people in many ways. It would be very difficult for you to break those bonds, very difficult for you to separate from them and go do something else that they wouldn't understand. And you would have to separate from them. You would have to join me in your physical form and give yourself absolutely to me. You would have to give up all your dreams, everything that you want to do, and surrender your life completely to our cause, giving whatever funds you made to our efforts. That would not be right. As we say, you are needed where you are. So the bond that we have can only be temporary. We are hoping by using you very sparingly that you can help us in our next nine missions. But we would have to keep it at that. We would not dare drain your power any more than that, without total committment, which we could never achieve, and which we wouldn't really want. And remember, none of this is a rebuke. Your service is treasured and very much appreciated. You are one of God's joys. This that you are doing now is purely extra."
The young woman sighed. "How can you be so committed?" she asked. "How can you suffer so? How can you give up so much so willingly?"
"Time," The Ancient One answered. "It is believed I am over a million years old. I have been absolutely dedicated to this cause for most of that time. You are not quite an immortal yet. You have probably only existed several hundred thousand years. You are growing. Perhaps in a couple of lifetimes you will be able to completely commit yourself. But it takes time to reach such devotion, to reach such a level of understanding that sometimes no matter how precious your dreams are, the dreams of God are more precious. The survival of His children is more precious.
We struggle against the Darkness. Right now the Darkness is winning, because even some of the strongest among us have given up the Light. They prefer material pleasure, they prefer material comfort. They prefer the praise of their friends for supporting things they don't really approve of. They have bonded with things that are not saving them but are destroying them. When they realize what they've done it will destroy them forever. They will not be able to exist knowing how they've failed, and that will be a terrible loss to us all."
"I can't imagine," the young woman continued. "I've received flashes, images, from you of those other times, those other places. I can't imagine existing so long and coming back and fighting time and time again. Such devotion is inconceivable! Isn't there any way you could help even someone like this cleric? Isn't there any hope?"