"Your Momma Asked My Momma"
After about three hours of work, Britiana and ZsaZsa finally drew the last stroke of the transfer spell array. The array shimmered familiarly. "Phew," ZsaZsa sighed. "Seems like the more we draw it, the better we get at it," she declared.
"Yes," Britiana agreed. "Now we need to activate it," she said. She reached out to the nearest Crowley she could find and spoke to her telepathically.
Amalthea got the message and was startled. She didn't believe herself to be crazy, so she looked at Honora. "Nora, I believe we're needed downstairs," she said.
Honora furrowed her brows but didn't argue as the two went downstairs where they set up the transfer spell. They were amazed at the complexity and strange beauty of the array. "Amazing," Honora murmured.
Amalthea echoed her sentiment. "How do we activate it?" she asked.
Britiana explained the process and the words to say. They practiced a few times to make sure there were no mistakes. "What do they mean?" Amalthea queried.
ZsaZsa happily translated as she began to arrange everyone according to the cardinal directions. Once everyone was in place she nodded. "Everyone ready?" she asked. "Let's begin," she said when they confirmed.
"The North is our Guide. The East is our New Beginning. The South is our Anchor. The West is our Future. May the directions bring blessings upon the travelers and open the Way," the four women said together in Emphyralian Draconic. The array glowed even more brightly as it lit up the room and emitted a more pronounced humming sound. The feeling of power that flowed over them was much more than either Britiana or ZsaZsa was expecting. They widened their eyes and looked at each other excitedly. Upper fourth-tier mages were amazing!
Amalthea noticed their look. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Britiana laughed. "Nothing. Your family is very powerful," she said.
"Oh," without knowing what else to say, Amalthea only muttered a syllable.
"Never mind that. Darius said there's a girl here who accidentally caused the death of a mortal? Can I see her?" she asked. She'd taken off her cloak while she worked, now she picked it up and draped it around her body. Her visage changed into a pony-tailed blond woman with blue eyes, a tank, cardigan, jeans, and tennis shoes.
ZsaZsa also put on her cloak. Her visage changed to rounded ears, brown eyes, and the same general style as Britiana.
"I'll take you. Are you hungry? Want some tacos?" Honora asked.
"Give me some," Amalthea said as they headed upstairs. Honora snickered. When they entered the living room, she left a party box on the coffee table for her niece and sisters to share as well as a handful of sauce packets.
Britiana and ZsaZsa looked at it curiously. Honora snickered. "Here, try it," she said and took out two tacos and slightly unwrapped them, then added the sauce on top. Amalthea was already demonstrating how to eat because she really was a little hungry.
Britiana and ZsaZsa tried them and found them very good. A bit messy, but that was the fun of eating them. When they finished, they wiped their mouths and cleaned their hands. They could wait until later to eat more. They wanted to see a normal witchborn and one who had lost their powers.
Honora didn't keep them waiting any longer and led them in the tunnel. Neither girl had any displacement abilities, except ZsaZsa could turn into a Drake and fly if she wished, but she didn't. However, they were Dragons, and therefore could run fast, so they encouraged Honora to turn into a cat to quickly lead the way forward.
Within a few minutes they arrived at the shelter. Honora changed back into a woman and led the two girls inside. Corinne wanted to stand but Honora soothed her to sit. "It's okay. These are people who are helping us. They just want to look at you to try and understand how to help you," she said.
"Hi! I'm Britiana," the blonde girl said and then sat down cross-legged on the ground.
ZsaZsa sat down as well. "I'm ZsaZsa," she introduced.
"I'm Corinne Delacroix. This is my son-in-law, David Shaunessy. My granddaughters Piper and Penelope," she introduced with a warm smile.
Britiana nodded. "So, your powers have been bound. His powers are active, and her powers have been lost? What about the toddler?" she asked.
"She's too young. Powers don't usually develop until the seventh year. Seven is an auspicious number in witchcraft. You two aren't witches," Corinne said shrewdly.
They smiled. "No. We come from somewhere else. Somewhere you'll be safe," Britiana said. May I take your hand?" she asked, holding her hand out to her.
Corinne cautiously took her hand. Britiana took a deep breath and then she disconnected her consciousness from herself and entered the body of Corinne.
Silver Dragons had several ways to move their consciousness from their own bodies.
The rarest was Healing. It was a process in which a Silver Dragon or Hybrid's soul exited their body and entered another and used their psionic power to repair the body. It was an incredibly taxing process in the beginning, and it drained them. Only one in five thousand Silver Dragons were born with this ability because this ability could grow into the ability to heal or kill with a thought.
The second common was Astral Projection, which was still incredibly rare. Astral Projection was a soul body copy of the person that could move autonomously. One could completely inhabit the soul body or partially. Over time and witch practice, they could even interact with the physical world and use their abilities.
The most common way was Clairvoyance. There was no soul body, only pure consciousness. There was no interaction, only seeing. The best part was they could see anywhere on the physical place they occupied within reason according to the age and strength of the Dragon.
Britiana wasn't very powerful and couldn't see far but could see much. Once inside the body and mind of Corinne she observed her, what one may consider a soul or perhaps life force. It appeared in a way she could make sense of. Everyone's inner world was different. Corinne's was like a sluggish small town. Her magic was a well in the center of the town. There was a lid on the well that was transcribed in arcane symbols.
She returned to her own body and smiled at her. "Is it reversible?" she asked. "The binding?"
Corinne shook her head. "There's never been an incident in our recorded history," she answered.
Britiana nodded. It wouldn't take much to break the binding, but she didn't mention that," she said. She let go of her hand and held her hand out to David. "May I?"
David didn't know why, but he took her hand. It didn't take Britiana long to check him out. She smiled and let go of him. His inner world was simple, an orderly garden. His magic was a neatly trimmed shrub. He didn't have much power. He'd be lucky if he attained second tier in his lifetime.
She released his hand and smiled at him. She pulled her flask out and took a drink. Her Clairvoyance may not be as difficult to use as Healing or Astral Projection, it could still take it out of her. She had a feeling that Piper's inner world probably wasn't going to be pleasant. She put the flask away and took a few deep breaths then held her hand out to Piper.
Piper gladly took the pretty older girl's hand. Britiana entered her inner world cautiously. Piper's inner world was a child-like wonderland with gardens, tea parties, topiary, and pastries. She didn't see her magic source yet but there was a storm cloud on the horizon with lightning sparking through it. She moved closer.
Under the dark sky was a beanstalk that was about the size of a person. It had the potential to grow larger. However, there was something wrong with it. It was etched with arcane symbols and the beanstalk appeared to be dying.
Around the dying beanstalk was a dark energy. She could hear whispering within the dark energy. She pursed her lips and touched the energy. The energy appeared to be startled and recoiled. She could also hear the words clearly. Voices were whispering her promises of protecting the family and finding her mother if she joined them. Only they could give her power back.
Britiana snorted. "You wish," she said. She tapped into her telepathic ability and began to weave a barrier around the beanstalk, pushing the dark energy back. It tried to resist, but the silvery purple weave kept expanding as she poured power into it. As the barrier expanded, the dark energy dissipated. Once the barrier was large enough to completely expel the black energy, she stopped.
This was an ability of some Telepathic Silver Dragons. It was called Weaving. Weaving had two main functions: Shielding, which creates a psychic barrier in someone's mind to protect them; and Bridging, which created a mental link between two people who couldn't form them naturally. This was her first time Weaving a Shield. There had been no opportunities to practice on Thelessia.
She was running low on energy, but she wanted to see if there was hope for reviving the beanstalk. If the demons could restore her ability, then it should be possible. She approached it and touched it. Information rushed into her mind, and she was almost violently expelled back into herself, and she fell back.
ZsaZsa gasped and caught her. "Britiana!" she exclaimed. Everyone was startled.
"I'm okay," Britiana murmured but stayed slumped against her with her eyes closed.
Piper was wide eyed. "The bad voices are gone!" she said.
Corinne and David looked at her. "Bad voices?" Corinne asked in a whisper.
Piper nodded. "They've been talking to me since that day people came to our house," she answered quietly. "But they're gone now," she said.
"Mm. The bad voices can't bother you anymore," Britiana said.
Corinne looked at her with wide eyes. She had so many questions and didn't even know how to ask.
ZsaZsa pulled out some of her everberry wine and helped Britiana take a drink to pep her up a bit more. "What happened?" she asked.
"Overload. I know why witchborn lose their power when some things happen," she said.
"Why?" Helena asked.
Britiana rubbed her forehead. "It's a protective mechanism from your nature deity. It's meant to keep witchborn from abusing their abilities. Calling them Forsaken is quite apt in that regard. Demons weren't meant to be able to exploit the vulnerability accidentally created," she answered.
Frowning, Helena crossed her arms. "Then how do demons get the power released?" she asked.
"Because it's weak. It's a millennia old mechanism and your goddess has been sealed in the Upper Realm for almost as long. They've exploited weaknesses that've formed as the power weakened," she explained.
"So, eventually this world will evolve into one where magic isn't restricted?" ZsaZsa asked.
Britiana nodded. "Hmm. Whether it would evolve into a magic-based society, I don't know, but I do know demonic interference has set this world off kilter for a long time," she explained.
The witchborn in the room were quiet. They didn't doubt that demons are largely responsible for a lot of the worst things in the world. They weren't naive enough to blame everything on demons. Humans were human after all.
ZsaZsa nodded slightly. "Why don't you rest until they need our help? Activate the cloak and I'll take you back," she suggested.
Britiana agreed. She activated the stasis capsule, surprising the family of four. ZsaZsa picked up the capsule.
"Can you find your way back?" Honora asked.
"No problem," ZsaZsa assured.
Honora took off the storage bracelet. "Take this back too in case they get hungry again," she said.
ZsaZsa took the bracelet and put it on. "Thanks." She left the shelter alone and excitedly turned into her Drake form. She began flying along the tunnel with a leisurely glide. She'd take a rest too when they got to the house. She hummed to herself as she flew.
--
Termina
After exploring the city for a while they got impatient and wanted to hurry up to the campsite, so they traveled again. When they arrived at the campsite, which was a wooded area on the outskirts of the city. Lazarus pulled out the ring and tapped it again. They saw him wave his hands a bit as he directed the sound around, looking for a resonance. "That way," he said and began walking in a certain direction.
After walking for a few minutes, they came upon the scattered remnants of a campsite. Sariya walked around looking at everything critically. "This way. Someone tote Delaney and keep up," she said and began running forward.
Delaney huffed a sigh and looked at Darius expectantly. He tried not to laugh at her as he knelt down. She latched on and the three Dragons began running forward, following Sariya.
"Why are they going deeper into the woods?" Delaney wondered.
"She probably thought she could lose them," Sariya answered. Delaney didn't answer.
They kept running for a few more minutes before Sariya came to a halt. "The men gave up, but she was hiding here," she said, pointing to various disturbances in the ground that Delaney couldn't see.
"She got lost," Delaney said.
Sariya agreed. "Let's go," she said. She then led them on a meandering, twisting path as Kathleen Shaunessy tried to find her way back to civilization.
After a while, they could hear a river. Without hesitation Sariya moved toward it. Kathleen must have been thirsty and headed toward it. It turned out that the river had pretty high banks, so Sariya slowed down.
Darius let Delaney down. "What is it?" he asked.
"She's down there," Lazarus said, pointing toward the river. "Her breathing and heartbeat is weak."
Sariya carefully edged to the bank and scanned the river side. "There she is. She's partially submerged," she said.
"I'll get her," Amadeus said and stepped into the shadows of the night. He arrived beside the unconscious woman. He picked up in a princess carry and stepped back into the shadows.
When he reappeared, Darius was already pulling out a warming blanket. Amadeus laid her in it, and they wrapped her up in it. "Should we take her to your Healers?" Darius asked Delaney.
Delaney shook her head. "It's not safe there," she answered. "Do you have anything to give her to help her?" she asked.
"She has to wake up enough to drink it," Darius answered. "Let her warm up for a bit," he said.
Lazarus crouched and set a head sized stone on the ground and tapped it a couple of times. It began to glow orange and emit warmth. Darius shifted the unconscious woman closer.
"Ohh. What's this thing?" Sariya asked. So far, she'd only seen Dragons using regular fire for warmth.
"A hearth stone. My aunt gave it to me. They're really popular in Isaz," Lazarus answered with a grin. "It's cold up there," he added.
Sariya nodded slightly.
With the warmth of the hearth stone and the warming blanket, the woman stirred enough for Darius to be able to feed her a mild tincture to revitalize her a bit. She coughed and opened her eyes and panicked when she saw so many strangers hanging around her.
"Calm down. I'm Delaney Crowley. Your momma asked my momma and aunts for help," she said. "They're safe," she assured. Kathleen nearly sobbed in relief.
"Now that you're conscious, we'll send you there. We still have things to do," Darius said in a business manner.
Kathleen was confused. "It'll be okay," Delaney said, spreading a transfer spell on the ground. "Help her sit on this," she instructed Darius.
"Please excuse me," Darius said and moved the woman cocooned in the warming blanket to the spell.
"Your momma and husband will take care of you on the other side," Delaney assured her.
"Wait!" Lazarus hastily fished out the ring. "Almost forgot," he said and gave it back to the woman.
Seriously confused, Kathleen took the ring, looked at everyone. Before she could ask more questions, Delaney activated the spell, and she disappeared in a purple flaming poof.
Lazarus put away the hearth stone. "Now what, my lord?"
"Save the witchborn safe house," Darius answered. "Let your family know," he said.
Delaney sent a message in the group chat. "Then let's go," she said. She took Sariya's hand and stepped into the shadows. The other three followed.
It didn't take them long to return to where the safe house was located. They found a safe spot on a nearby roof to watch things. Nothing has escalated yet. Delaney checked the situation on the app as well. "No one's identified the demon driving them yet," she said.
"Let's rest. We've done a lot of traveling. We'll take turns keeping an eye on the situation," Darius said. "Britiana needs to rest as well. She was doing things. We'll start breaking up the party just before dawn."
"I'll take the first watch. I didn't use as much energy since I can't travel," Sariya volunteered.
"All right. Watch for an hour. Amadeus can take the next shift, then Lazarus," Darius assigned. They agreed and settled in on the rooftop to rest and keep an eye on everything.
--
Nova Aurelea
A very confused Kathleen arrived at the shelter while Deianira, the twins, and David were setting up some portable cots for them to sleep on. It would be best not to wonder where everything came from in the middle of the night when all the stores were closed. When one can turn into a cat and has a large dimensional storage space, anything is possible.
"Mommy!" Piper suddenly shouted happily and ran over to hug the woman still wrapped up in the blanket.
"Pip!" Kathleen cried and hugged her daughter close. David and Corinne went over to help her to check on her condition. "I'm okay. Some people helped me, then sent me here. I'm still a bit confused," she said.
Corinne laughed and hugged her daughter close, so delighted to see her alive. "Look at the state of you. Come eat something and rest," she said, unwrapping the woman and helping her to one of the beds that was already set up.
Along with the beds, Deianira also brought some sandwich supplies and chips and soft drinks.
"We'll head back now. Rest here tonight. We'll make decisions tomorrow about the next steps," Deianira said.
"Thank you all so much," David said.
The Crowley's assured them it was what they should do. They then hastily left the family alone to rest. It's been a long day for them. It had been a long day for all of them and the sisters also wanted to settle down and rest as well.