"Let's Just Call It Crowley House"
Starshadow Castle
Sonja paid the Drake who had brought her a fist sized capsule and a note. She opened the note. "Chrystianna's boy sent us the biggest toughest demon they captured," she told Zane.
Zane had already grabbed the capsule and studied it. "Quite ingenious," he said.
Sonja nodded. "I could have used one of these that morning. Would have saved a lackluster chase," she mused with a frown.
They'd already sent Roark the duty of choosing a few logistics staff, and guards to send with Troi to Silvermoon.
Sonja stood, "Let's take it to the dungeon before letting it out," she suggested.
Zane nodded. They stepped into the shadows together. They then reappeared in a cell. They opened an inner cell door and sat the capsule on the ground.
Zane drew a sword and readied himself. Sonja took out the note and read the deactivation code. The capsule expanded and turned into a cloak. Sonja took the cloak and looked over it as they stepped out of the inner cell and closed it. The big, red, angry demon was disoriented and groggy. The last thing it remembered was an "angel" with a sword, then a piece of cloth flying at him.
He staggeringly looked around only to see bars and two strangers. One was not even paying attention to him. Sonja was studying the cloak. It was one of the early prototypes, so it's Patternweaving also wasn't the best, just some protective and strengthening properties.
"The fabric that the guard uniforms is made with Patternwoven, right? Do we have a surplus?" she asked Zane.
Zane was watching the demon staggering around, shaking its head groggily. "I'll have it sent to Silvermoon," he said, as if reading her intentions.
"Dahlia's birthday is soon, right? Let's pick out something special for her alone," she suggested. He grunted in agreement.
Finally, the demon came to himself enough to realize something was very wrong. "Who are you?" he demanded and went to rip the bars away. As if bars could contain a demon of his level. He gripped and grunted and pulled, but the bars didn't budge. "What's going on here?" he snarled.
Sonja finally looked at him. "Do you eat? We'll provide you with food while you enjoy your stay here, but not if you eat sentient beings. If that's the case we'll find other ways to keep you alive," Sonja said without looking at it.
Feeling insulted, the demon snarled and tried to shake the bars, but again, they didn't shake. Why weren't these people afraid? Seeing a demon, everyone; witch, mortal, demon spawn alike; reacted with fear.
"We'll be studying you. Your magic, your biology, your strengths and weaknesses. Don't worry, we won't kill you while you're defenseless. We aren't demons," Zane said and bared his teeth in a grin that was definitely not a grin.
The demon paused and took a step back, shifting to his preferred form, a handsome tanned, blonde man in an expensive suit rather than the unassuming middle aged rabble rouser from the protest in Termina. He calmed himself by tugging on his cuffs and smoothing his jacket.
"Who are you people? You aren't witches. We...aren't in the Mortal Realm," he realized that his entire demon felt off. This was definitely not the Mortal Realm he knew. There was something about this place that made his teeth vibrate. It was decidedly unpleasant. The Mortal Realm was like a paradise for demons, which is why they wanted to be there. The Lower Realm was referred to as hell for a reason. Unfortunately, demons' power was rooted there so they had to return often. If they could corrupt enough of the Mortal Realm, they could stay there longer.
"No. We'll probably end up returning you there if you behave yourself," Sonja said. "Someone will be along soon to see if you need anything before the study really begins," she added. "Let's go," she told Zane and the two of them stepped into the shadows leaving the demon flabbergasted.
The demon had tried several times without success to use his displacement skills or recall to the Lower Realm. Nothing worked. He felt fear for the first time since time unknown. He had no idea where he was or what was going to happen to him.
--
Silvermoon
Delaney showed her family the upper floor of the inn where the innkeeper's family was to live. They exclaimed in awe. It was a great place. They ran around looking at the rooms, marveling at the size. One of the first things Delaney did when she went back to Terranthea was share the videos she took on Emphyralis. Everyone was awed by them but seeing it in person was truly mind blowing.
"Are all the rooms so big? How to keep them clean?" Phryne wondered.
"This place has been closed for almost a century and when we came in, there wasn't any dust. I think there are probably enchantments in place to keep the place clean," Delaney said. "Let's choose rooms," she said.
Looking around, they finally chose rooms that they liked the best. There were a couple of fights, settled with rock-paper-scissors, but generally they were playful about it.
Delaney had scoped out a room before, and thankfully no one else picked it, so she claimed it. She took the bedding off and replaced it with some things she picked up in Silvermoon City. She also began unpacking most of her clothes. Although their clothes were different from mainstream Emphyralian attire, she'd seen cultural attire. So, for now, they'd all probably hang on to their own style when possible.
Amalthea chose a room at random. She didn't have any attachments to choosing "just the right" room. She liked it though, after she entered. The large windows overlooked the side garden. There were a few flowers beginning to grow and a gray-haired man was tending to a few plants. She went over to the bed. It looked comfortable enough, but she pulled out her pillows and a blanket she liked to use.
She figured she'd eventually make it homey and her own. She went to a lovely ornate wardrobe and began to fill it with her clothes. She was actually really curious about the fashion here. Unlike some of her sisters, she missed the days of full skirts and corsets. She liked the convenience of modern clothing of course, but sometimes she did want to indulge. Now it wasn't socially acceptable without being accused of glorifying a terrible time in their country's history. Even though she was born after that.
She snapped out of her thoughts. She sighed and walked back into the study of the top floor. She looked at a bay window where light was coming through. She pulled the remnants of a stained-glass window from her storage space. She set it against the window. It was arched and the design was circular, with no real discernable pattern except there was a brightly shining star surrounded by a flame in the middle.
"Ah, it's beautiful there. Will we be able to get it professionally installed?" Deianira wondered.
"I'm sure," Amalthea said. She walked through the colors and saw that the flame was hitting a pedestal with a vase on it. Without much care, she set the vase aside. It was probably a priceless antique, but it wasn't as valuable as what she replaced it with. A thick tome was settled on the pedestal where it would always be touching the light from the window.
Deianira walked over and touched the book. She gasped when it opened and began turning pages wildly. This wasn't an unusual occurrence. The spirit of one of their ancestors had bound herself to the book so that she could always watch over her descendants. This was the Book of Heck, sometimes called the Crowley Book of Spells. Sometimes simply the Grimoire, it was their most valuable resource. Generations of witches wrote spells and information on various demons and other creatures inside.
Each of the Crowley's also had their own books that they wrote with their own specialties. But the Grimoire was still their main source for spells and potions where they wrote new ones that weren't attribute specific.
The flipping pages finally came to a stop on a spell. It was hastily scribbled, crossed out several times. A series of thoughts and ideas. "The five elements combine...connecting moonlight and sunlight..." Amalthea had trouble deciphering the scribbles.
"A solar eclipse?" Deianira guessed. "Five elements...five witches with different attributes?"
"Is this pointing us in the direction of sealing the Lower Realm?" Lysithea asked from where she was watching at the door.
"I think so," Amalthea. "There's more written down but it's hard to read," she said. "We'll have to take the time to work on it," she said.
"We'll have time for that later. It'll still take several decades to become strong enough, but since Great Granny wants to help, we'll have to thank her properly," Deianira said. Great Granny was what they called the ancestor in the book.
Amalthea agreed. "For now, we have to make the other witchborn survive until then," she said. She took a deep breath, firming her resolve. "Let's go to the living room," she said.
The three walked into the living room. "Come into the living room when y'all're done!" Amalthea called out to the others and sat down on a comfortable couch where Delaney was already sitting. "This place is so nice. You really lucked up when you saved the right people," she teased her niece.
Delaney laughed lightly. "I feel so guilty. They're doing so much for us, and I don't feel like I earned a whole damn inn," she said.
"Maybe they see it as a win-win. They get to test the transfer spell, make allies, gain powerful magic users, and someone to run an inn that's just been sitting empty," Lysithea suggested.
"I'm all for it," Helena declared as she joined them in the living room.
"Me, too," Honora said and plopped beside her sister.
"What do you think, Phryne?" Amalthea asked.
Phryne was born in the modern era, unlike the rest of them who were nearing a hundred and fifty. She was only twenty-five. They could get used to living without modern conveniences, even Lysithea. It seemed that Emphyralis may have its own technology. Plus, there was magic for everything.
Phryne had also recently lost her father. She may be more attached to Terranthea because of that. She surprised them by smiling at them. "I like it here already. That one guy, Lazarus, has sound magic, much more flexible than what I know. Amazing. I want to know more and learn more," she said.
Honora smiled and stroked her daughter's hair. "That's good. I think your daddy would hope for you to have a better life," she said with a sad smile.
Phryne hugged her mother.
Amalthea smiled. "Then let's give our new home a name," she suggested.
"We don't have to be fancy. Let's just call it Crowley House," Deianira voted. Their old house had been referred to as the Crowley House for as long as they could remember.
"Seconded," Amalthea said. "Show of hands?" Everyone raised their hands. "Passed. Now, we need to decide on a schedule going back and forth to Terranthea," she said.
"I have to be there. Phryne and I should trade off. She's the only other person who can work the network as well as I can," she said.
The others agreed with this. "I say half go, half stay," Deianira suggested. "Helena and Honora trade off, me and Thea trade off. Delaney comes and goes as needed," she said.
Delaney agreed. "Weekly trade offs? In the meantime, y'all join the Mage Tower and learn things," she said. "That's the only way to get stronger to be able to seal the Lower Realm and end the demon threat once and for all," she said firmly.
Her mother, aunts, and cousin agreed. "We should head back down and find the others so we can decide how to actually go about collecting our people from all over the world," Amalthea said, standing.
They agreed and headed back downstairs.
--
When the Crowley's came downstairs, they went into the library. They found Britiana and ZsaZsa drawing on wooden medallions while Darius talked with Raven. Several Drakes were lounging around like cats. One was even sprawled on his back in a beam of sunlight with his feet sticking up and his wings spread behind him. Sariya was sitting at a window, looking out thoughtfully.
Britiana finished drawing on a medallion. The symbols she drew shimmered. There was a red Drake waiting patiently behind her. "Is it ready, boss?" he asked eagerly.
"Hmm. Here, try it," she said and put the medallion around his neck. "Think about what you want to look like," she said.
The red Drake tilted his head and thought about it. He then shimmered slightly and turned into a majestic owl. "Ooh. Ohh!" He danced on the illusion of two feet and flapped his wings. "Neat!" he said. "Can I have it, boss? I'll make all your deliveries for free for a year!" he said excitedly.
Britiana laughed. "No need. Keep it. Thank you for testing it," she said and patted his feathery head. He didn't actually turn into an owl. It was a glamor, and when she touched him, she felt his scales.
It was enough. If they were going to travel via Drakes on Terranthea, the Drakes couldn't be out in the open. So Britiana utilized the same glamor spell she used in the cloaks on wearable medallions for the Drakes going with them.
Darius glanced at the Crowley's when they came down. They found places to sit. "Settled in?" he asked conversationally.
Amalthea nodded. "We thought of a name for the Inn," she said.
Britiana brightened. "Not the Illwind Inn, I hope," she said.
Delaney snorted. "No. Even less creative. We decided to call it Crowley House," she said.
"It's not that bad. It was the Silvermoon Inn before," Britiana said.
"We were wondering what the next step is? There are still witchborn in danger," Deianira said.
Darius nodded. "We're going back after lunch. Raven will coordinate things here. I want to convert your bomb shelter into a temporary way station before they're brought to Emphyralis. Other nations will be sending personnel to help," he explained.
Amalthea furrowed her brow. "It's not very big," she said.
"That's not much of a problem. We can expand it. We'll only keep people there for a few hours before sending them to Emphyralis," Darius said assuredly.
"What about getting people to the shelter? Will you keep depending on portable spells?" Delaney asked.
"Yes, but we'll make a permanent spell in the shelter and the portable spells will be designated. We'll make copies and distribute them to various safe houses. The activation spell will be written on the portable spells that only the witchborn can read," Raven explained. She'd just been discussing this with Darius and found it plausible. One of the best things about the transfer spell was the ability to customize it into a single point to single point without interfering with other spells of the same kind.
This was also the drawback when it came to using it as the basis of a new Dragon Gate Network. Figuring out how to change the anchor points will need more than a few days of research. Luckily, it seemed jumping from one planet to another wasn't too tricky as long as there was sufficient magic to power it.
The former portable spells had no set anchor point so they worked well enough as long as one was open and one was used, but if there had been more than two open at the same time, chaos could have prevailed. They would need to set designated anchors to each new portable spell and the stationary spell.
Only Delaney knew about the ins and outs of the spell since she was there when it was developed. The other Crowley's thought they understood, so they didn't ask too many questions. Amalthea's brows eased. "We decided that half of us will go, and half will stay at any given time," she said. "While we're here, we'll start learning. I understand we have to join the Mage Tower? How do we go about that?"
Raven smiled. "We can take care of that after lunch. By joining the tower, you get access to books and materials you may not be able to otherwise. It would also be useful of you to travel to other nations that may suit your abilities more. For example, the Mage Guild of Treestar may suit Deianira more. Maybe Helena could travel to Underreef to learn more about water-based magic," she explained.
Lysithea listened calmly. "What's your tower's specialty?" she asked.
Raven laughed slightly. "We have the largest library of magic in the world, we just may not have some niche things other mages don't want made public," she explained kindly.
The Crowley's could understand that. Every witchborn family had their own spell books. Some spells were universal, but many were developed by individuals and passed down by the family. Lately it's become trendy to share spells online. Even then, many of the more powerful spells weren't shared.
"Are there obligations?" Phryne asked.
"A few. It depends on the organization, on your rank, on your tier," Raven answered.
"Speaking of obligations," Britiana suddenly mused. She handed Raven a piece of paper. "For the Tower to make some money. Find a few trusted novices," she said. It was the instructions for the encapsulating stasis cloaks.
Raven brightened. "Thank you!" she said. "I have a feeling that these will be very popular," she said.
Britiana waved a hand dismissively. "I can't take the time for it now. Just make sure whatever anyone else orders, you match it for Silvermoon," she said.
Raven nodded seriously.
"What about the guards coming to Terranthea? Won't they need the disguise cloaks?" Sariya queried from the window.
"We can make them when we get there," Britiana answered. ZsaZsa nodded. This was the plan. They had to get back and start implementing their plans so that they could take a step back. They wanted to let subordinates and the Crowley's take over the day-to-day process of finding, rescuing, and processing witchborn refugees. Britiana could see that Sariya was ready to go to Myrkir to find the other Eoduun, settle down, and have her baby.
The only way to accomplish this was to do what they could as soon as they could, as the situation came up.