Jacob Masters had bought land, sight unseen, In Texas, with promises of a vast oil field, only to discover that a system of caves lay below his land. He cursed his bad luck but decided to explore the caves, in hope of other mineral prospects. Within the caverns, he found no sign of oil but, to his surprise, a faint orange light phosphoresced in the dark. On closer inspection, the light appeared to emanate from peculiar stone structures that descended from the ceiling in conical forms. The lights were very faint, but sure enough, scattered the entire surface of the cones. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he noticed that these strange stone growths were actually collections of ossified bodies, hundreds of figures, huddled together, and the light seem to emanate from their chests, two oblong amber shapes beneath a crystalline surface. At first, he believed it to be a form of ancient cave art - sculptures cut into the rock. He dug his pickaxe into the source of the light and watched as a liquid seeped from the fissure. He dipped his finger in the resin and felt an intense sensation, one of great invigoration, of wellbeing and strength. He chipped away at the rock to discover leathery skin beneath. They were not sculptures at all, but some form of ancient, ossified creature. He collected a little of the substance and shared it with a friend, never speaking of where he had obtained it. Within a month, he had harvested an entire column of the strange mummified bodies that hung, like stalactites, from the cave ceiling. His addiction to the substance, which he christened furnace, had got the better of him, and its physical effect was noticeable. To all intents and purposes, furnace was a form of adrenaline. He was now collecting barrels of the glandular secretions from the presumed-dead creatures, and selling it at a huge price to townsfolk. It was soon common knowledge that a far greater wealth than oil could be found beneath the plains of Texas.

Thomas eventually found Jacob in an expensive hotel, and pleaded with him to sell the land, explaining that the animal he was harvesting was incredibly dangerous. The stubborn Texan refused. On the 20th September,the cleric, Abramo, under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, offered Jacob the equivalent of a million dollars by today’s standards. Thankfully, he accepted. The cave system would be sealed, but not before Thomas could see the creatures himself. He writes:

‘We were escorted by Masters through a tunnel that appeared to have formed due to water erosion. This opened into a large cavern, in which the unusual collections of bodies could be found. They are profoundly odd - and easily mistaken for stone. They are vaguely bipedal, with sinewy limbs. The skull is quite unique, the mouth reminiscent of a shark, a peculiar diamond cleft in the upper mandible, and a lower jaw that allows food to be macerated by serrated teeth. The animals grow to almost seven or eight feet, with powerful forelimbs, which allows them to run rather like a gorilla. The sacs that Masters has been siphoning from are adrenal glands, that the animal relies upon to free itself from the cocoon in which it sleeps. In this cave alone, there are, perhaps, a thousand individuals. Who knows how many elsewhere? A ticking time bomb.’

The then President, Ulysses S. Grant, created a special platoon, charged with understanding and managing the presence of ‘anomalous hostile forces’ within the continental United States. The group of ex-Union soldiers, intrigued scientists and trained assassins were brought together under the title, the Holy Order, a name coined by the Cleric Abramo, partly in jest. Thomas was unhappy about this relationship with the US government. Abramo and Thomas were faced with something of an ethical conundrum. The species, which Abramo called the Succubi, were inert - in their state they posed no threat to humanity. The fact that, if awoken, they might ravage the earth like locusts, was why it was thought prudent to eradicate them. Merrylin countered this with the sheer magnitude