The Hilt

The Hilt is a mysterious artifact that resides in the worlds of I Think, Therefore We Are and Calm Silence.

Originations
An ancient relic, a gift from the god known as Jason, the hilt has a mysterious force. With no blade for it, it appears to be nothing more than fancy jewelry. The hilt itself is gold and has the shape of a crescent moon, with two pointed fangs jutting out on opposite ends, elongating away from the blade. Embedded into the hilt are two rubies, one on each side, and they show on both sides of the hilt. The center has a larger sapphire set in the middle and the hilt has another sapphire set into the base of the smooth leather pommel.

Jason required those who believed in him to do his work - they would need to wield this weapon in his name. However, anyone who took up this task would lose their soul to the power of the hilt. They then carried out his will mindlessly, perishing upon finishing their task or meeting an untimely end.

Powers
The Hilt has two unique powers.

First Power - Channeling
The first is its ability to channel emotional energy and form it as a physical force. It acts as though it is an extension of the person themselves, much like having an additional part of their body. Through this wielders will place their souls into the hilt and use the weapon that is created from it. However, much like pouring a glass of water into another, the wielder will have no way of returning to their body. Through this the Guardians fought for Jason in the ancient times. These guardians were powerful and said to have bodies unlike mortal men.

When Lady Shalice inherited the hilt her unique mind structure allowed her to wield the weapon by placing individual emotions into it and retrieving them at will. Thus she was able to maintain her unstable but still cognitive mindset as she went about her mission. Under the belief that she could force out the current soul inside the hilt by placing her own in it, Shalice threw her entire being into the hilt to save Kell - although it was all for naught.

It found an additional use as it fell into the hands of the Keeton scientist Garius Effacel, he was able to use the hilt to channel emotional energy out of people who were under high levels of emotional stress. By having the victim hold the hilt while under duress, he would purposely remove the hilt from their possession. Through this they were unable to have that emotion returned to them. That energy was then stored into containers - he was then able to provide the energy GOV needed to maintain their ambitions of the dominating power by controlling all resources by exclusively using this powerful and plentiful source of energy.

The aftereffects of losing emotional energy - particularly powerful emotions such as fear, anger and despair - provided a secondary effect - people lost what made them who they were, and eventually became known as MACHiNES. These creatures were malformed from what they originally were, mutating into monsters, often losing cognitive thought.

Squeak is the last MACHiNE created when used with the Calm Silence, and used his mysterious connection to Jason to split the hilt into the three separate souls that inhabited it. Using whatever inner strength he could, he managed to hide away the Calm Silence, leaving Heartbroken and Corruption behind before he lost his mind completely. Heartbroken was unable to siphon emotional energy, but the sickly blade Corruption was able to do the job, although the MACHiNES that were created from it were far more wicked and unstable.

When Shalice Kismet found the Calm Silence much later, Lady Shalice - whom he was named after - was so lonely that she would draw in the souls of anyone who touched her. To those unaware of its effects the blade was lethal upon touch, but even when Shalice himself was given permission to hold her, she was still so lonely and missing the essential aspect of her - Heartbroken - that she was drawing him in regardless. Although Heartbroken was returned to her, she drew in the rest of Shalice entirely and he was brought into the hilt.

As Mic Sanguine received the hilt from Shalice, she eventually woke him from inside the hilt through a cry of needing him. Through this she could channel him to be a weapon. However, as the hilt is an extension of the wielder, the two would mix into each other while he was channeled as a weapon. During these times she shared many of his personality traits until she returned him back to the hilt.

Second Power - Restoring
The second power is the ability to bring out a physical entity of what is housed in the hilt through sharing a strong connection with the emotion or soul inside the hilt. Lady Shalice inadvertently did this twice; she summoned Sin and Kell on two separate occasions.

This was only demonstrated two more times - While Mic loved Shalice, he did not love her the same way. Only when he came to the recognition that he did and she was under mortal danger did he finally come out of the hilt. The last time this occurred was when Harland truly discovered what the hilt was capable of - although not quite everything - and his mad desire for power brought out Sin from its own weapon, Corruption.