"The Bigger It Is, the More Power It Takes"
Nova Aurelea, Terranthea
A large black cat with orange splotches on its fur ran through a cemetery. "Kill it! It's a witch's familiar!" a group of teenagers chased after the cat. That's right, not even cats were safe anymore. Luckily, animal rights activists are arguing against this narrative, stating no truth to the thought that cats are inherently connected to witchcraft.
But to a group of good for nothing youths who don't need much of a reason to be cruel, cats are witch's familiars is enough of a reason. The cat ducked behind a crypt and whirled away in a gust of wind. She reappeared on top of another crypt nearby, hiding behind a cross as she peaked at the teenagers. They were shouting and cursing, looking for her.
"It disappeared! My dad was right! Cats are demon spawn," one of the boys spat. In the anger of being denied prey, they began to desecrate the crypt. The cat mentally shook her head and whirled away. She reappeared in front of the Heck family mausoleum and slipped inside. She activated a hidden tunnel and walked in.
It was a small tunnel made just for large cats. After running for a while, the tunnel turned into a junction with larger tunnels branching from it. If it weren't for magic, most of these tunnels wouldn't exist because many of them were under swamps and bayous. She turned into a silvery mist before changing into a woman with medium umber skin, gray eyes and long black hair. She looked like she was in her early thirties but was already four-times that.
She whirled again and ended at the end of a tunnel and stepped up to a door. She knocked on a door. A rhythmic sound in certain spots on the door. There was a shimmer on the door and then it clicked open. She walked inside and closed the door.
On the other side of the door was a replica of a house. There were even windows, but all they showed were dirt walls. The house had three stories. There was a difference. There was a trapdoor in the ceiling of the attic that led to the basement of the original house.
There was always a space beneath the basement for numerous reasons. Witchborn had enemies, and the Crowley's were early abolitionists, helping runaway slaves who sought refuge with them before helping make their way North. Over time the space grew and grew. It was the five Crowley sisters who made the replica house.
"Thea. You're back," one of her sisters greeted looking up from a laptop she was using. This woman looked a similar age to the first. Her skin was slightly darker, and her hair was auburn. She had it pulled into a severe bun. She was sharp, not soft at all despite her appearance. "How was it?" she asked.
Amalthea Crowley sighed. "I managed to get the family to a safe house. I don't know how long they'll actually be safe," she said. "Any other posts for help?" she asked.
Deianira shook her head. "None now," she said. She stopped playing on the computer, closed it up, and set it aside.
Thea looked at her. "Delaney still hasn't returned?" she asked. "It's been more than a week," she said. She also worried about her niece.
Deianira shook her head again. "It's either a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know whether to hope or despair," she said, leaning back with a sigh.
"What about the others?" Thea asked, changing the subject.
"Lena and Ria got in late last night and are still sleeping. Phryne and Lyzzie went grocery shopping," she said.
Thea went quiet. Going out in public was dangerous. Thankfully, they knew how to glamor. They had to eat. They also managed to make money by selling handicrafts online. Amalthea made beaded jewelry. Deianira made clay jewelry. Honora and Helena made essential soaps and candles. Lysithea customized shoes, making several thousand dollars per commission. Phryne up-cycled vintage clothes. Delaney metal worked with gemstones.
They no longer lived the life they used to, but they got by. They managed to help other witchborn find safe havens. Other witchborn weren't as powerful as them, and they were falling victim to mortals rather than demons. The demons were winning.
As well as the uptick of mortals turning on witchborn, innocent people were being victimized as well. Mostly women. Women's rights were being stripped away one by one. Small scale conflicts were breaking out all over the world, with several major ones.
A man that could only be demon spawn, or least demon owned, was continually trying to run for executive leader of their country, and it looked like he was winning because every other word was "witches!" There were news stories every day about violence toward women accused of being witches.
Anti-witch laws were passed the last time he was in power but were being contested hotly in the court of law. Yet, they were still the law. The world was turning into a hellscape faster than they could keep up.
They weren't enough alone and other witchborn weren't powerful enough to tackle the systematic issues. Their one hope was Delaney finding a safe haven somewhere other than Terranthea. They didn't know if they believed in little green men aliens, but since the Upper and Lower Realms existed, there were bound to be other suitable places to live.
Which is why when Delaney became able to pass through the Shadow Dimension, they agreed to let her look. It couldn't hurt. It's just that, as a mother, every time she left her sight, Deianira worried.
Delaney was the product of a forced union, but she never hated her. Even before she was born, her heart knew that the little thing growing inside her was meant to be hers. Now, she could be the hope for all of them.
"Text them to be careful. There are some kids hanging out in the cemetery making trouble," Thea finally said. "I'll go to the workshop," she said, and even though she was tired, she still decided to do some busy work to relax.
Deianira agreed and sent a text before plopping over on the couch. She reached for the glass of wine she'd been sipping. The house went quiet, waiting for those who were meant to come home to come home.
--
SIlvermoon, Emphyralis
Chrystianna snuggled against Elias. It was time to get up and address the important issues facing them, but they were lazy. "I miss you," she murmured.
Elias smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I miss you, too," he said. "I'm here for a week this time. We have to make it count," he said.
Chrystianna nodded and pouted a bit. A week wasn't enough, but she wasn't going to complain. "Let's get married," she said.
Elias paused and glanced at her. "Married?" he asked curiously.
She nodded again. "We can sign the certificate tomorrow, have a small ceremony, and announce it at the banquet," she said, getting excited.
Elias chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer. "Up to you. As long as you don't regret it," he said.
Chrystianna scrunched her nose. "I won't. We can save the pomp and hullabaloo for when Britiana marries," she said dismissively. "I'll grant a holiday for the next day," she said.
Any member of the Dracosenati getting married was usually a big deal. There was a lot of noise around such events. The day was usually made a day off for the people of their nations. It wasn't a requirement, but it made the people feel included in the celebration.
She understood that it was more important now in the rebuilding period than usual times, but the circumstances weren't ideal. She'd make up for it in any way she could, but she wouldn't change her mind about marrying Elias. "Do you think Darius and Britiana would like siblings, or would it make them feel bad since they didn't get to grow up with me and as soon as they come home, I decide to have more children," she worried, already moving on to a new topic. "You know them better than I do," she said in a small voice.
Elias caressed her cheek. "I was lucky," he said. "They won't blame you and they won't feel jealous," he assured her. "If you're worried just ask," he said. Chrystianna nodded. She sighed. "We should get up. It's almost dinner time," she said and started to wiggle out of his arms.
Elias grunted and rolled off the bed, then scooped her up making her yelp in surprise. He chuckled. "Let's wash up," he said and strode to the bathing room with her.
--
Britiana woke up from a nap, washed up, and came out to the family sitting room. She found Sariya already awake. She'd changed into some spare clothes that she'd brought with her. She was no longer dressed in her hunting clothes. She now just wore a lightweight dress and a pair of leather slippers.
She was embroidering a small animal on a baby dress as she was curled up on a couch. "Oh, that's adorable," Britiana said. "Now that you're here, you should go to the Healing Hall and have a check-up. See if you're having a boy or a girl," she said excitedly.
Sariya smiled. "Okay. I'll get a check-up before going to Undirheim," she agreed readily. Although she never felt there was anything wrong, her child wasn't fully Eoduun, after all.
"It would probably be a good idea for all of us to get a check-up. We didn't grow up on Emphyralis," Darius said, coming into the room and overhearing part of the conversation.
Britiana nodded. "That's a good idea," she agreed.
Darius took a seat in an armchair. "Mom and Dad are still not up?" he asked.
Britiana shrugged. "They're a young couple who haven't seen each other for two decades," she said dismissively. Darius frowned at her. Britiana stuck her tongue out at him. Sariya chuckled at them.
Delaney walked into the room. She was still wearing the same clothes, but she'd freshened up. She gave a slight smile as a greeting. They seemed to be obviously close friends. It made her miss her family even more.
Britiana waved her over. "Come, find a place to sit. I have a few things I want to ask," she said.
Delaney curiously sat in another armchair. "What is it?" she asked.
"How many people are in your family? How do you plan to bring them? Are you strong enough to cross through the Shadow Dimension with many people? I have an idea, but I need to check it with a mage that's studied here on Emphyralis. From everything I learned about Thelessia, in ancient times, they had more powerful magic. Some of the places our ga-guardians *ahem* explored, had ancient spell books that I've been studying, but I'm not a fourth-tier Mage yet and you are. Are other people in your family also fourth-tier mages?" She asked several questions at once.
"Why don't you let her answer one question before asking another," Darius said drolly to her.
She made another face at him, then looked at Delaney sheepishly. "Sorry. I got a bit excited," she said.
Delaney shook her head. "It's fine. Can you answer me first? Why do you call me a fourth-tier mage? What does that mean?" she asked.
Britiana was a bit surprised. "Oh, it's a system of rating a Mage power. It's...about knowledge and ability. Um, the first and second tiers are pretty basic, giving more weight to knowledge than power. Around the third-tier, knowledge carries less weight than ability. It's usually the upper limit for many mages. The leap from third tier to fourth tier is massive. However, the more ability you have the more knowledge you need or else you'd end up like him," she jerked her thumb at Darius. "A lot of wasted potential, barely second tier," she explained.
Darius spread his hands, surrendering to being a waste of a mage.
"But you're different. You have both ability and knowledge. But there can always be more knowledge. That's what you were looking for, right?" she asked.
Delaney nodded, understanding. That must be the difference between her family and other witchborn. They were fourth-tier and the rest could only be third-tier. "How do you know what tier I am?" she asked.
"I'm in the upper third tier. You broke my wards easily, but you can't breach space-time without using the shadow dimension. You're higher than me, but lower than fifth-tier," Britiana explained.
Delaney nodded slowly again. She felt emotional for a moment. To think, she almost gave up on Thelessia. She would have missed this opportunity. She blinked back her emotions. "There are six of them. My mom, four aunts, and cousin. I can bring over one at a time, resting for a few days between trips," she finally answered the other questions. "But first I need to find a place for us to stay, but I don't know what the currency is like here or if anything we have is valuable enough to buy or rent property," she explained.
"Don't worry about that," Darius said. "We aren't ungrateful. There are plenty of places in Silvermoon that belong to our family. Most of them are empty now. We can let you stay in one of them until you establish yourselves," he said.
Delaney opened her mouth to argue but swallowed back. They would need time to establish themselves, learn about Emphyralis and the magic here. "What's the protocol for learning magic? Is it free to learn, is it protected?"
"Just join a Mage Tower. You just need to pass an aptitude test. You'll be fine. The higher your tier, the more knowledge you have access to," Britiana answered. "Which brings me to this," she said, pulling a book out of the folds of her skirt. She flipped through the pages until she found a diagram. "Most of these books will be copied and added to the tower's library, but I plan to make sure technomages get this one if they're researching replacing the Dragon Gate Network," she handed the book to Delaney.
Delaney took the book and raised her eyebrows. Most witchborn magic was done through spoken words and alchemy, but magic circles and arrays were also a must. It's just that not many witchborn can fully use higher level arrays. She looked at this one. She couldn't read the runes and symbols of Thelessian mages, but there was a page of hand-written notes tucked in the book, translating them to the common language. "A transfer spell?" she asked. It was more complicated than that, but that was the jist of it.
Britiana nodded. "With an anchor. It doesn't work without two arrays with correct coordinates," she explained. "The bigger it is, the more power it takes to make it work, but Draconite can solve that problem. If it's bigger, more people can be transferred over longer distances. Although I need to double check with someone from the Mage Tower, I think to transfer ten people, it only needs to be ten feet by ten feet," she said.
Delaney nodded. "Thank you. Thank you so much," she said, choking up slightly. Not only could this bring her family, but also other witchborn. Tears filled her eyes, and she handed the book back.
"I'm just glad to help," Britiana said and put the book away. "Okay, so tomorrow we'll get check-ups, find a house for Delaney's family, then Delaney and I will go to the Tower," she announced.
"That's fine. While you do that, I'll go to the military department," he said.
"No one can go anywhere without identity tokens," Chrystianna said as she and Elias finally showed up.
Britiana frowned. "Oh, right. I forgot about identity tokens. They can't even leave the residence right now, can they?" she said sheepishly.
Chrystianna chuckled. She pulled two tokens out of her dimensional ring and handed one to Sariya and Delaney. "These are temporary permission tokens. Put a bit of blood on them to bind them. Since Sariya plans to go to Myrkir, she can apply for permanent residence there if that's what she chooses. As for Delaney, we'll sort everything else out later. The temporary tokens are good for six months once bound," she explained.
Sariya poked her finger with a needle and bound the token to her. "Thank you," she said, and put her embroidery away, along with the token.
Delaney used her blade to cut her finger to also bind her token. "Yes, thank you very much, ma'am," she said.
"Just call me Chrystianna. Both of you," Chrystianna reassured them. She used a small stone and tapped it with her finger. A sound like tapping a crystal glass rang out. A servant arrived. "Is dinner prepared?" she asked him.
The Elven footman bowed slightly. "It is, your Grace. The dining room waits only for the diners," he answered.
"Thank you," Chrystianna said. The man bowed again and left the room. "Let's go eat," she ushered.
No one argued with her. It had been a long day, and they were famished. Over dinner, Chrystianna announced her impending marriage and raised the possibility of having more children.
As Elias guessed, neither Darius nor Britiana objected and even encouraged her. They also looked forward to expanding their family. They were a little less enthusiastic when she announced she would have a banquet to introduce them to society. They didn't object. They would need to meet certain people eventually. They might as well do it on her terms. They'd just treat it as their parents' wedding reception.
After dinner they realized that after resting, they had free time, so Chrystianna gave Darius and Britiana several addresses and encouraged them all to go out and explore the city and find a place Delaney liked to settle her family.