Hear Ye, Demons Come this way.
Adrian & Sonia.
Sonia and Ari found themselves on the other side of a gateway the medium had created to go into the demonic dimension, but instead of finding a buzzing world full of life, they found a red sky and what was supposed to be the mirror version of Greeneway Bay, a desolate land. "Are you sure we're in the right dimension?" Sonia asked as she rubbed her arms for comfort but even as she did so, the apprehension still got to her.
The first time I tried to open the gateway, it led to another demonic dimension, one that isn't linked to us, my magic hadn't all returned then, since the twins were still taking from me, now that they are naturally taking in mana on their own, I have all my magic and hence we're in the right dimension, Enzo did warn us it would be like this, —I just didn't expect i—." Ari didn't finish as Sonia quickly grabbed his hand and made them invisible.
"I know I felt it, can't you feel the trace?" A young demon muttered among his four other companions, the five of them all looked starved and rugged, as if they hadn't had a decent meal in years, worn out from their dying world. "He's lying again, he can't feel anything!" The largest of the demons snarled toward the young demon, her boot connecting with his gut and throwing him to the ground where the others jeered and snarled at him.
"Demons, especially young ones haven't met any other mystics meaning they only know the feel and trace of their own magic not any else but your magic is different from everyone else's, those atuned or can wield magic can feel it's trace, so it would explain why he felt it." Sonia narrated to Ari who hummed in silent acceptance. "We need to move, find the leaking rip and close it." The witch stated as his aunt nodded along and they vanished from where they stood.
"It's gone, —but I'm telling you, I could feel it." The young demon told his companions but they didn't believe him, as for Ari and Sonia, they found themselves trekking through a wilted ash forest, the trees, the ground, all had been charred to nothing leaving trunks without any life. "What happened to this world?" Sonia asked sadly as she placed her palm on a dead tree and ash coated her hand. "War, greed, violence, fire, these are all the signs of why the demons were sealed in this reality the first time." Ari muttered with a sigh, crouching down to feel the earth, it held pain and memories of those long dead and he didn't want to venture into them.
"We're close, it's up ahead, but something else, —rather some people else are there." He announced as Sonia caught up with him and they moved faster. "Worst day to be wearing stilettos." She whined glaring at the mud. "Why are you walking on the mud in the first place." The witch with the orange hair quipped as Sonia gasped feigning insult then she looked at Ari with his shoes lacking any trace of mud, he'd actually been waking above ground. "Not all of us know nifty spells like that." Sonia retorted making her nephew chuckle. "I'm a mother now, I have to know every spell that can come in handy for every emergency, —I get those a lot." Ari mused making Sonia laugh.
The twins were barely a month old but they were already a handful, especially when Nik shifted and his two tails whacked everything in his proximity. "Those two are a handful but Archie will be the one to look out for, if he's got any of the Sovietro genes flowing through him, trouble will follow him like a magnet." Sonia chortled as Ari just rolled his eyes with a slight chuckle. "Hence why I'm glad both my boys have an amazing aunt, Tori is about to take the floor, she'll be the one to look out for." Ari stated in happy laughter as he thought about his new sister, Renee had given birth and it was a girl, another girl finally.
"I like a challenge, bring it on." Sonia challenged as they finally reached their destination and were surprised, rather appalled by what they saw.
"Keep siphoning!" A large, almost 6'9 male demon barked angrily at the smaller male demon kneeled in front of the dimensional rip that the two witches had been looking for, there were two others there but they seemed to be guarding the taller more aggressive man. "He's being used as a conduit, to pull in the mana, transfuse it and pour it into the larger demon, —I can't believe this, he'll die." Ari whispered angrily at what he had read from the demons.
"Your family is dead, you're the only one left except for the brat who betrayed us on the other side, —this is why you're being punished, you'll live out your existence being nothing but a battery for me!" The aggressive demon growled proudly as he pulled on the smaller male's hair, when his face turned to meet the two witches they both gasped. That unmistakable blinding red hair turning black, those sharp eyes, he looked exactly like Enzo. "This can't be, —Enzo said his whole family died." Ari tried to convince himself but the truth was a clear thing.
"Or he thought they were, he was being forced to do the bidding of whomever that is, —and if they were controlling him then it's possible he lied about his whole family being gone." Sonia argued with reason as they watched the man filled with agony. "We need to close that rip, save that man and find out if there is more of his family out there, see if we can save them too." Ari stated full of conviction and Sonia didn't argue as they became visible to the demons, who all turned when they showed.
Sonia was first as she unleashed lightning on the three standing demons throwing them all back, Ari was next as he conjured a shield that surrounded him and the demon who looked like Enzo along with Sonia. "Don't be afraid, we're here to help." Ari muttered as he waved his hand over the rip and cut off it's connection to the demonic dimension, at which the demon slumped to the ground, he was nolonger siphoning the mana, the shield shook as the demons outside were blasting it with their own power. "Adrian, not to rush you but how sure are you that the shield will hold." Sonia exclaimed as Ari created an orange thread from pure mana and used it to repair the rip.
"It'll hold long enough." He grunted out as he focused more and created multiple threads all being used on the rip and it was slowly closing until a small gap was left that a small hand could barely fit through. "No, not my power!" The demon outside yelled as he hurled a beam of unbridled black energy that caused Ari's shield to crack. "Adrian!" Sonia called out as she was summoning another attack on the demons. "Ventus!" She clasped her palms together creating a gale that blew back two demons but not the largest one which was a problem as the sky darkened and everything stilled for a moment.
"I'm done!" Ari announced as from above a thick beam of blinding red energy shot down on the shield but Ari snapped his fingers and time paused. "My power isn't infinite dimensional threading takes a lot of magic, so I need you to tell me everything about your faimiy, —are there any still alive?" Ari demanded aggressively as the demon crawled away from him."Now!" Sonia hissed impatiently. "My mate, and our two girls, they escaped last night, I don't know where they are, —please you shouldn't have closed the rip, I could feel him, feel my son, now I can't." The man cried as he balled his fists in frustration.
"Lorenzo." Sonia whispered and the man reacted then. "Yes, —how do you know him?" He questioned tentatively and Ari breathed deep. "Take my hand, my telepathy can't work whilst I'm anchoring so many things at once." Ari explained as Sonia grabbed one hand and she urged the demon to take the other and in an instant time, the shield and they themselves, went back to normal, disappeared and ported away to a safer distance, an abandoned dock that seemed to have been vandalized.
Ari breathed deep as he looked at the demon still in shock and Sonia who was reeling from the port jump they had just done. "Teleporting in a different dimension is different, just like the magic we cast, you'll get used to it." Ari explained to Sonia who snickered, it was obvious she would never get used to it but she just nodded anyway. "My name is Adrian Brooke to be Milford soon, this is my aunt Sonia Sovietro, we're witches from the main dimension, well the one where all mystics here come from, we came to close the rip but as fate would have it, we found you, —Lorenzo made it out alive after being controlled and sent to invade the main dimension, he lives with my family and his mate." Ari explained as a roar echoed from the woods they had left.
"We can catch up later, tell me if you can find his family?" Sonia asserted seriously as Ari nodded, the feel of Enzo's magic wasn't that different from his father, therefore his other siblings wouldn't be hard to find aswell. "Got them, but you won't like what's surrounding them." Ari replied after spreading out his psychic connection to find the family. "They're surrounded by hostile demons aren't they?" Sonia muttered. "They aren't hostile, —not all of them at least, I come from a special bloodline you see, we are able to siphon and transmute energy at will, my children inherited that gift and since mana here isn't exactly stable we're the only ones who can siphon and give it out without being hurt, which makes us something of a rarity to have in a world with power mongers everywhere." The demon explained and Ari groaned, they had no choice.
"We go, —and we need to get back soon or Jax will literally explode." Ari muttered as Sonia grabbed his hand again along with the demon, they vanished from the spot just as the demons they had fought before appeared there. "It can't be." The largest, the leader whispered as he felt the different magical trace in the air. "Witches." He spoke in shock as he quickly turned to his minions. "Go to the elder, tell her there are witches here, and tell her I'm in pursuit." He ordered the two who quickly nodded and ran into a conjured portal, as their master walked into his own.
Ari, Sonia and Enzo's father appeared in the sky, their bodies held up by invisible energy, below was a horde of almost twenty demons wielding magic and striking a barrier that held three inside, it was a woman and two girls all trying their hardest to keep the barrier up but you could see they were well worn out and barely healing but still fighting. "Auntie you'll take the left, I'll take the right, Enzo's dad get to your family, once you have a hold on them call out my name, I'll take over." Ari ordered as they sky darkened and Ari hissed, it seemed they had another problem.
"Ari." Sonia stated worriedly. "Stick to the plan." The witch exclaimed as he created multiple fireballs above the horde of demons and shot them downward, Sonia appeared on the left hurling attacks on the unsuspecting demons whilst Ari caused the ground to break and he attacked with it blasting back the demons, he stomped his foot on the ground and created a rift between the three women and their attackers but Enzo's dad found it easy to jump and get to his girls. A war cry echoed in the dead park as the attacking demons stopped and scattered away whilst Ari readied himself.
"You're not escaping again!" The aggressive man screamed as he lunged for Ari but his blade was ready, at a speed none of them could even dream of the witch cut the demon's torso, flipped over above him and pummelled him to the ground creating a crater then placed a ball of orange flames that exploded killing the demon right then. "Whoa, where did that come from?" Sonia mused. "You have no idea how much I've missed this, but Jax is calling." Ari replied as he tossed his waist length hair back.
"Adrian!" Enzo's father yelled. "No dad!" A girl screamed as Ari and Sonia turned back to a scene of horror, The woman from before was holding back her daughters whilst her mate was in the hold of two demons, one with a blade to his neck. "Constó." Sonia cast the spell as Ari waved his hand and Enzo's father was pulled to him and so was his family, they all embraced each other as Ari held out his hand again and opened a gateway. "Let's go home." Sonia stated first as she walked in. "Don't be afraid, he's waiting." Ari coaxed as Enzo's father, and his family all walked in whilst he released a wave of his magic erasing the trace of his and Sonia's presence.
The portal closed but they weren't back in Greeneway Bay, they were in another dimension. "When I saved Enzo he had a tether that connected his mind to the person controlling him, to make sure the tether was cut and all foreign traces were gone from his body, he had to pass through here, it is cleansing, trust me you'll feel better after the process is done." Ari explained as white milky energy covered not only him but the family along with Sonia, they didn't struggle, just let the process happen. "Dad are we going to be okay?" The youngest girl asked and Ari smiled. "Of course we are sweetie, I can just feel it." Enzo's father replied as they were all completely covered in blinding white energy.
The Milford Home ~ Ari's Lab.
An orange swirling mass opened in the room, as Jax groaned walking in, both his arms were holding aswell as burping his sons and since they didn't feel like being put down, they had gone to sleep in their father's hold, who was also half naked, apparently they liked skin contact, a proven fact by Ari. Sonia was the first to walk out of the portal, she held a smile as the dimension she was in had replenished her and healed her. "Oooh my babies!" She shrieked in absolute joy as Jax glared at her for her attempt to wake them. "Sorry." She replied in a cringe as Adrian walked out of the portal.
"Hello there, missed me already." He teased as he walked over and kissed Jax whilst Sonia was still behind him cooing over the twins. "I'm better now, they wouldn't let me put them down, lets hope they do now with you back." Jax replied as Ari awed then moved to place kisses on his children. "Where is Enzo, he might want to be here for this." Ari mentioned as Enzo's father made it out of the dimension first, he was naked and Sonia quickly grabbed several towels. "I'd forgotten about that part, thanks auntie." Ari muttered as he shooed Jax and their children out.
"Where is Enzo?" He asked again as he looked around the house with his telepathy. "Not here, he's gone to make sure Johnny's graduation party venue is perfect, he made us swear not to intervene so he's busy." Jax explained as Ari groaned but nodded as Renee and Nik showed up looking worse for wear. "She's at it again huh?" Ari chuckled making them both glare at him. "Lizzie, is with her now, hopefully she'll sleep for a while, what's going on here?" Nik asked as he looked at the new family and the striking resemblance with Enzo. "I'll explain later but first, girls this is my dad, —Renee and his mate Nik our pops, follow my dad to get some clothes and Enzo's dad, sorry don't know your name, you can follow pops to get some clothes too." Ari stated and they all seemed perplexed but accepted.
"We'll talk once everyone is settled." Nik exclaimed before leaving. "So I'm guessing you found more than the rip?" Jax muttered as he came over handing Nik to Ari who nodded slightly, the baby kistune snuggled into his other father's embrace and was back to sleeping. "Yeah, we found Enzo's father, right at the place with some unsavory characters, I'm hoping they'll be okay, they've been through hell." Ari replied as he walked downstairs to find Lizzie with their other sister, Tori, laid on the couch. "Let me guess, if you move she cries." Jax exclaimed and Lizzie nodded whilst Ari just chuckled in amusement.
"Give her to me." Ari whispered as Lizzie moved and the baby girl whimpered just as Ari held her and she was silent again. "How do you do it?" Lizzie asked quizzically. "It's magic and it's for the same reason why we all feel protected, content and safe with him, he's just him." Jax explained as their parents came down. "Elizabeth, call your engine buddy, and summon your brothers here, calls won't get through." Nik instructed the girl who immediately got into action.
"Wow, you have a lovely home." The woman who was definitely Enzo's mother stated as she and her daughters plus Renee walked down the stairs. "Thank you Leticia, I've had help with the other rooms though." Renee answered modestly as Leticia joined her mate's side. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions and in need of a lot of answers aswell but we need a few people to get here before we start." Nik explained as Lizzie came back cutting the call she was on.
A portal opened, well two in the main foyer, as the patriarch, and the boys all showed up, as they walked in the male demon visibly shifted and so did the rest of his family, Ari was the first to understand, he could feel it, a bond that was repairing so fast that it was hard to miss, Enzo stood frozen next to his mate and held on to Johnny's hand.
"It's not a vision, or an illusion Enzo, they're right here, come greet them." Ari called out as his eyes were set on Enzo who gasped. "Mom, dad, —Torei, Nomi." Enzo whispered as he ran toward them, and they to him, with burning tears in his eyes that he didn't care for, they were reunited, they were together, so he cried, huddled around his family, his baby sisters in his arms. "I thought —I thought I lost you." He cried as he held onto to them. "We thought we lost you, —after that raid, we searched everywhere, we couldn't find you, my boy, my brave beautiful child." Leticia cried as she held him in her embrace, a mother's love could never be rivaled then, she had her child back.
"We never stopped, we never stopped— I promised, I would find you." His father cried as they still held onto each other, all the pain, the separation, the hurt, it all faded away as they were huddled on the floor crying. "Look at you, —all grown up." Leticia scrutinized, feeling Enzo's face, they could all tell she missed him, what mother or father wouldn't. "I'm so glad you're here, —but how?" Enzo questioned and most eyes turned to Ari. "Well it was a team effort, our beautiful aunt helped, —a lot." The orange haired witch replied as Jax placed a kiss in his hair.
"Thank you, —thank you so much." Enzo cried as he hurriedly walked over to Ari and hugged him, Sonia moved to the crying demon and held him too, he deserved a family, to have them with him and this was it, they would've done anything for him.
After the cry fest and introductions, well not all of them Enzo walked over to Johnny and took his hand and walked back to his parents. "Dad, mom, —this is my mate, Jonathan Brooke, baby these are my parents Leticia and Dorreti Guthrie, I never used my surname here, I thought I lost them and needed to start over but here they are, my family." Enzo introduced as everyone held adoration for them as the two demons hugged Johnny. "Thank you so very much, for taking care of him, it means so much." Leticia stated as Johnny shook his head in refusal. "He's a handful, like my brother said before, team effort." He joked making them and everyone else laugh.
"Father come, we'll explain, —everyone, this is my father, also the patriarch and governor of all Greeneway Bay, he's also a grandfather and most recently a great grandfather, I suppose Nik called him here so that he knows what happened and also so you can share your experiences with him about your past dimension." Sonia explained as Renee ushered all of them into the large dining hall. "I am so glad I had this remodelled." He whispered to his husband who nudged him playfully.
Everyone except Ari, Lizzie, Sonia and the triplets along with the babies stayed back. "You alright?" Lizzie asked as she helped Ari place the babies in their beds. "I'm good, —so that whole fix the rip statement was just for face huh." Lizzie stated and Sonia chuckled whilst Ari smiled. "We knew if we told anyone that we were actually going to find Enzo's family you would all insist on coming, when aunt Sonia first came to me with the idea of closing the rip, I had a vision of Enzo, only it wasn't him but his father and I realized he was alive, so we waited, so that I had my full strength and my telepathy fully mine to find the family, it's why we didn't go then, we needed time." Adrian explained and a shocked gasp came from behind them.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Dorreti stated as Ari shook his head in refusal. "It's alright, I'm sorry about the secrecy." He explained and the man came over to hug both Sonia and Ari, making them chuckle. "Thank you, so very much." He whispered before letting go and walking out of the nursery. "We did good huh." Sonia snickered proudly. "Definitely."
+++
The Medium.
Chapter 40 is next and the end of this second part of Medium, this chapter made me cry honestly and I can't wait for more, though its the end, we all know this book's epilogue comes not now. Happy Pride month!
I am Saint Jay.