PROPHET

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

In his quest for power, occultist Lucas Ferguson (aka Father Lucifer) struck a deal with the demon Mellikon. In exchange for the pure soul of a child the demon would provide Father Lucifer with demonic power. The soulless child would serve as the vessel for the demonic power and Lucifer would control the child. Lucifer chose to father the child himself with one of his female followers serving as mother. The instant the child was born Lucifer sealed the contract with Mellikon. The demon took the soul of the boy, named Damien, and instructed Father Lucifer to perform a particular ritual every year on the child's birthday. The ritual would infuse Damien with a portion of demonic power culminating on his 18th birthday when he would gain power over the hordes of Hell. That was the plan, anyway, but there would be a few twists along the way – for starters, Damien was only one of two children born that night, he had a twin brother. Lucifer hid the second child's existence from Mellikon and named the second child Malachi, deliberately choosing a name similar to Mellikon's. Lucifer intended to use Malachi to manipulate Damien's demon power and steal Mellikon's power for himself. As twins the two boys shared a spiritual bond which Father Lucifer could use as a tool to manipulate the demonic power. Even Malachi's name would give Lucifer a weapon against the similarly-named demon. As young children, the two were kept separate. Damien was revered and protected by Lucifer's followers, they had been told that he was the chosen one. Malachi, however, was only a tool, to be kept alive but needing no caring as far as Lucifer was concerned. Few of Lucifer's followers even knew Malachi existed. For most of his early childhood Malachi was kept in a dark room, his only human contact being when Lucifer or one of his trusted followers came to feed him. Malachi's only companionship was the darkness.

Lucifer's grand scheme fell apart shortly after the twins turned six. The FBI raided the place where Lucifer and his cult were staying and many of the followers were killed or captured. In the confusion Malachi escaped his room, and when Lucifer's followers tried to get Damien away they mistakenly took Malachi instead, not knowing there were two children. Lucifer lost Damien to the authorities and thus could not continue the annual ritual to infuse the boy with demonic energies. When Lucifer learned that Malachi had been rescued instead of Damien he was furious. Lucifer said that, without Damien, Malachi was useless. He had his henchmen shoot Malachi and the people that had rescued him. The bodies were buried in a shallow grave and Father Lucifer set out to recover what he could from his scheme. Unknown to Lucifer and the others Malachi had survived the shooting. The young boy clawed his way out of the grave and wandered off into the night, free at last. What happened between then and Malachi's recent appearance in Superior City is a mystery known only to Malachi himself.

When Malachi first arrived in Superior City he was calling himself Brother Mal and was using funds from an unknown source to set up homeless shelters. In reality Malachi was serving as a sort of prophet for a mysterious entity he merely called the Darklord. Malachi was recruiting converts for his master, who is the same being who empowered the Ultra-Humanite when he enveloped Superior City in a globe of darkness. Coincidentally, Father Lucifer was also in Superior City, having just escaped from his imprisonment in Hell and was seeking to set up a new power base in the city. Meanwhile, the heroes ArcAngel and Surge of the Enforcers of Justice were getting suspicious of the homeless shelters set up by "Brother Mal" and began to investigate.

By the time the heroes discovered that something was amiss at the shelters, however, Malachi was gone. Through news reports, Malachi had learned that Father Lucifer was in Superior City and immediately set out to find him. When Malachi encountered the group of superhuman teenagers called Lucifer's Six, he convinced them that Father Lucifer was not worthy of their loyalty. With Lucifer's Six by his side, Malachi tracked down his father and killed him. Afterward Malachi, Lucifer's Six, and most of his converts vanished from the city. Their whereabouts are unknown, but Malachi is surely continuing his quest to find more followers for the Darklord.

POWERS & WEAPONS

In addition to being highly charismatic and a skilled occultist, Malachi also possesses the power of Darkness, given to him by the Darklord. Prophet can engulf one or many people in a field of Darkness. Anyone within the field will, depending on Malachi's choice, be confronted with their greatest desire or their greatest fear. Prolonged exposure will usually result in the victim being driven insane or becoming addicted to the power of Darkness, and thus serving the Dark Lord. In extreme cases Malachi can allow the Darkness to completely consume a victim's life force, killing them.