Piero had always been an odd individual. He would routinely go days without uttering a single word as a child. He would simply sit and stare at people, watching them and how they behaved. He was very withdrawn, and refused to socialize with any other kids. Despite all of his parents’ efforts, Piero would simply not break from his shell. They were no help, either, as neither were very understanding of their son. Instead of accepting him how he was and trying to nurture him to be the best version of himself he could be, they consistently tried to force him to be someone he wasn’t. They would make him go to events and participate in activities he had zero interest in. They would invite friends of the family over to make him socialize, figuring there would be nowhere for Piero to hide if people were brought into their home. Nothing changed Piero and made him want to be around anyone else, though. That was, until his special power emerged.
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Morning Star possesses the ability to inhabit/possess another person’s body and mind to control them or speak to them.
When Piero was 13, he discovered he had the power to make people do things he wanted. At first, it felt like an out of body experience. It was as if Piero was looking through the eyes of the other person while they did things he thought of. Then, he learned that was actually a part of his consciousness astral-projecting from his body and invading that of another person, connecting the two. It did not take long for Piero to get used to controlling his ability, and as he became more comfortable, the sense of power overwhelmed him. There was another consuming factor as well. Whenever Piero would astral project, he subjected himself to the energies of other astral planes. This included dark realms, and often when he would use his powers, it was not to do good, which led to him becoming more and more malevolent over time.
By the time Piero was an adult, he had committed numerous criminal acts. Well, technically, others committed numerous criminal acts, but he was the reason why. His favorite pastime, though, was to force devout Catholics to perform sins against their religion. He reveled in feeling their helplessness, as he made them indulge in all the debauchery and immorality they vehemently worked to avoid. Eventually, this guilty pleasure caught the attention of The Vatican. Exorcists began studying cases where Piero’s former victims would confess their sins, and claimed they were being controlled by a man with incredible powers to possess others. This investigation led them to Piero, as the victims were also able to describe what the man looked like. Thus, Piero became enemy number one of the Catholic Church and The Vatican, and the cat and mouse game began.
For years, Piero would torture and possess people of the Church, and force them to commit sin after sin after sin. Before long, the guilty pleasure became a full-time job, and Piero dedicated himself to destroying the lives of as many Catholics as he could. Then, the pope put out an internal decree that capturing Piero was their top priority, saying that everything happening was pure devilry. In the eyes of the Church, there had never before been a greater show of Satan’s works or existence. This ultimately led Piero earning the name “Morning Star”.
The back and forth between Morning Star and the Catholic Church continued throughout the early and middle parts of his life. But sometime in mid 22nd century an event happened which presented an opportunity for Morning Star to eliminate his adversaries once and for all: an alien race known as the Tromokratesians invaded Earth in order to secure the final of the triplos asteri – three stars containing half the soul of Armonia, who was the goddess of the universe. The goal was for their leader, Emperor Kako, to unlock the power and answer the Inquiry of Cosmic Wisdom, thus becoming a god of the universe alongside Armonia. The Tromokratesian intergalactic armada stretched all across the globe, dispatching tens of thousands of powerful alien warriors onto the surface and inducing hundreds of battles against Earth’s militaries, as well as hyper-beings and superheroes of all kinds. The future of mankind and everything else in existence was literally at stake.
In Rome, the same was taking place. The alien invaders were attacking anything that moved and were destroying the city. Instead of panicking, though, Morning Star saw it as an opportunity. As he snuck around Rome, he noticed Vatican City was under full siege. He saw it as his chance to infiltrate the home of his mortal enemy and to finish them once and for all, and that was exactly what he set out to do.
As the Corps of Gendarmerie and military troops deployed to protect the pope were occupied with fighting against the alien invaders, Morning Star was able to sneak past the guards and work his way deep into the Apostolic Palace where the pope lives. While inside, staff was scrambling trying to prepare for departure. It was apparent the pope was going to be escorted from his home to safety, so Morning Star had little time.
Piero immediately began possessing workers to help him navigate the palace and get him as close to the pope’s room as possible. Then, when he found the room he noticed it was guarded by a half-dozen of the Gendarmerie. So, Morning Star possessed them to all turn and kill the man next to them. Finally, he was going to be able to get the pope!
Morning Star listened through the door to make sure there were no more armed guards waiting for him. He heard nothing, therefore, he slightly opened the door and peeked in. That was when he saw Tromokratesians had killed all the guards and were about to do the same to the pope. Refusing to have his joy taken from him, Morning Star immediately attempted to possess one of the alien invaders. However, when he was inside its head, everything seemed jumbled. Their brains were not exactly the same as that of humans’, so the process of possession was out of whack. Also, he could not understand anything in its head, as Tromokratesians did not speak any language known to humans. Morning Star shook his head and focused even harder, though, and eventually he was able to gain control of the alien invader’s motor functions.
The first thing he did was to force the Tromokratesian to turn to the other aliens and gun them down with his weapon. Then, he made the alien invader place the blaster to his own head and pull the trigger. The laser beam blew a hole into the alien’s skull, killing him instantly. At that moment, the pope recognized Morning Star and began praying. Piero told the holy man that prayer would not help, and then he possessed the pope! However, once inside his mind, the spirit of the pope began fighting back. Morning Star’s head was filled with visions and sights of all the miracles and holy things the pope had experienced in his lifetime, including the multiple times the pope had believed he felt the direct presence of God. The sensations overwhelmed Morning Star’s mind, and he instantly broke connection and fell to the ground.
The two men stared at each other, but before the pope could speak to Morning Star, the villain heard more Gendarmerie guards running towards their location. So, Piero ran out to the balcony and began climbing down the building as best he could to escape. Once he was on the ground, he ran into the back alleys and the hiding places of Vatican City to escape without being seen. And as he did, he contemplated everything he’d just experienced. Despite the fact the world was falling apart around him, Morning Star could not help but wonder whether or not what he just felt and saw was real…