File 444 - Advents (also called: Anti-Affectors, Void Benders, Holy Children)
Subtitle: Little Light

Author: Carolus Enrick, Theologian and Metaphysician

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From past files, one may know of the several branches found in the skill trees of the Affector - Mental, Elemental, and Cosmological (that along with some aspects of mental, was thought to be the long refuted imagination branch). However, there's one more, lesser known branch that not many research books care to include and teach to growing reality benders due to ridicule. That branch has many names which include "The Outer Firmament Branch", the "Beyond Branch", the "Bizarre branch", or the "Empyrean Branch". The practitioners of this branch are labeled "Advents", classified separately from Affectors in the popular scholarly community due to the differences pertaining to their nature.

Those who vote for such segregation of the two in philosophy and study aren't completely wrong. As one knows, Affectors, at their core, are scientists utilizing physical science and the "Heavenly Science" by the powers of their otherwise subconscious mind - the area of our being closely synchronized to the universe. However Advents on the other hand, don't rely on science, the laws of physics, or even the fundamental building blocks of life - frequency, energy and vibration. Their powers are beyond reason, beyond scientific and logical protection. The only things in existence resonating with the nature of this ludicrous branch being dreams, children's fairy tales, and the ramblings of intoxicated men - utter nonsense, and without logic.

According to some scholars, their power is "imagined", meaning that they fabricate whatever it is they wish to do, regardless of whether it works with the common laws of the multiverse, bringing it into existence with the power of their faith in their deity who supposedly goes under a variety of names: "The Creator, "The Father", "The Avenger of Blood", and the "Lord of Hosts" amongst others.

Our sightseers and intelligence did catch some instances of this power being utilized to execute some rather strange and preposterous actions. In one world, a version of "Earth" (Reality C-207148), we came across a child Advent, roughly 16-17 years old, turn herself into a mouse, fabricating around herself an old fashioned country dress, having a "tea party" with a random mouse she found to talk about "life as a mouse" as an act of escapism from her life of persecution. That mouse happened to be part of our intelligence, who shapeshifted to get closer to studying the girl and her powers. The following quote is from the agent describing his experience with the shapeshifting Advent.

"I completely regret the whole experience. This girl dealing with loads of emotional baggage sat right in front of me babbling non stop about how great it must be to be a mouse, while I was just sitting there, clothed to the collar with these town clothes she magically summoned on me, looking for an exit. But she was terribly nice, offering cheese and tea, which was surprisingly... not half bad. I just don't get how she willfully turned herself into a mouse! She didn't have any tech, her consciousness wasn't linked to an animal's brain - she just did it! Like something ripped straight out of a Disney movie! Who does that?!"

Ontop of that, Advents have been thought to, from the terrified ramblings of some cosmic "satanic" priests, to be capable of ripping themselves and their victims from their dimension instantaneously to a reality tailored within a moment's thought by the Advent, existing apart from the building blocks of the multiverse for the sole purpose as a personalized stage to battle in (or whatever other purpose they may have in mind). Ontop of that, Advents can alter the properties of earth beyond that of Affector manipulation, exist outside of time and space, create new creatures and entities from their imagination, and as a cherry on top, make animals talk.

*Since their imagination happens to play a massive part in inspiring their powers, tin-foilers and some unpopular scholars supporting this refuted "imagination branch" have taken Advents with much praise and reverence, describing them to be the masters of the true "imagination branch", posting messages throughout the Federation territory to welcome any Advent who may intercept their message into their society.*

However differing in the source of their strength, they do share a recognizable amount of similarities to Affectors, in the fact that both can fabricate and speak through dreams (which act as a method of interdimensional messaging), reaching and shifting into other distant realities, time travel, and altering one's mental and emotional state, amongst some others. However again, those similarities in the Advent's side, are done without a logical method. Only faith in who they call their "savior" who according to them, is in and of himself God, who is split in to two other forms - the Spirit and the father, creating a Trinity.

Advents, although their strengths inspire fear and jealousy among many Affectors, do come with their weakness. It's possible for them to die of standard spiritual and cosmic attacks, like that of a reality bender, but that isn't known as their weakest point. Since their incalculable power is pulled from their faith in their God, certain lies pertaining to their connection with their deity, themselves, or about the spiritual world around them can prove detrimental to their supernatural abilities. A weakness can also come from the Advent's choice to pull away from their God and follow their own pursuits, said to be called "sin" or "backsliding". In some Advent cultures, the Advent who backsides the most, who in trurns works to mislead and kill God's elect, is known as "Pale Light" or "Pale "Blight" - the antichrist figure of advent mythology, who can be several people throughout history.

So even though their advantage does seem unfair, their weakness lies in twisted morality, ideals, and theology, that in turn weakens and corrupts them. Such a simple recipe of failure has brought Advents their fair share of ridicule, many members of this branch perishing because of these simple weaknesses. As a quote orated by a theologian: "Many are called, but few are chosen". Likewise, many Advents come to be, but few live to see the end of their journey, making them, ontop of their preexisting rarity in the multiverse, an extremely scarce kind of reality bender that only 0.05% of the population of the whole multiverse (in a poll taken by federation theologians) is aware of.