Chapter Twenty-Three

Magnus had just gotten over the heart attack of witnessing his son almost fall to his death and he had become increasingly thankful for the Lightwoods' existence. He knew that if he hadn't been creating a portal that needed all of his magic and concentration, he would've been the first one to catch Max and he felt ashamed that he wasn't.

"How long until this void portal thing is ready?" Jace asked as he took a break from killing demons,

"Oh, any second now, my love and then I'll make you a sandwich with a nice cold beer," Magnus sarcastically chimed.

Before he could come back with something just a sarcastic, this hiss of a Scorpios demon came darting towards Jace. It pushed him onto his back with its huge monkey-like hands and before it could sink its tail into his chest, he sliced off its hands and got to his feet. Magnus could hear the hum of the demon's agile needle tail as it swung through the air and attempted to pierce Jace. He ducked, narrowly missing the tail, before clicking his fingers which made the demon completely freeze and allowed Jace to slice through its throat and watch it die. The little magic Magnus used had exuded the last of his energy from him and he had to lean on Jace to keep himself stable.

"I know you're weak, but I'd really prefer a pizza over a sandwich," Jace joked,

"If you could stop your little joke session and carry on with my portal, that would be great," Ember boomed as she directed three forsaken in Jace's direction.

With a heavy sigh, Jace threw a dagger at one forsaken and then ran to the left so that they wouldn't attack Magnus. The dark energy that he had summoned rushed through him, causing his head to pulse, his whole body to heat up and his mouth to become as dry as the Sahara. But before his absence of energy could cripple him, Ember grasped his hand and forced all the strength he needed through his palm. She had done this every time he began to even show signs of lacking in strength, yet he knew it wasn't due to the magnanimity of her non-existent heart.

It was almost done.

Magnus exhaled heavily as he placed a piece of glass on the floor and made it the centre of every spell and enchantment that he had sewn into the very ground he stood on. The air started to grow thick with the fiendish infernal force that saturated the landmark and though he had committed an act which he pledged to never do, Magnus couldn't help but pat himself on the back for completing something so arduous.

As he stepped back from the glass, he turned to Ember, "One last tiny thing is required."

The corner of Ember's mouth rose as she waved her hand which made Fraco appear while he was in the middle of taking an arrow out of his back.

"I could gladly kill that Lightwood," Fraco sighed,

"Oh trust me, you wouldn't want such a work of art to be killed," Magnus replied.

With not even an ounce of emotion riddled in her face, Ember created a long sharp spear out of her magic and pierced it directly into Fraco's heart. The magic spread through his veins, turning them jet black as the light in his eyes faded and his gills tremored as his body struggled to regenerate. Ember shoved him towards Magnus who didn't understand how she could kill a comrade as easily as killing a fly and with the tip of his finger, he positioned the unfortunate soul to have his feet either side of the slab of glass. Once a single drop of blood hit it, glowing hellish red cracks began to form in the ground as the glass began to tremble, all the demons froze, the protective walls and the Eiffel Tower turned lava red as they became consumed by the demonic power and the ground shook violently. Magnus moved as far away as possible from the raging ball of fire that began to grow as the amount of blood that poured from Fraco increased.

"Magnus, is it done?" Alec asked as he ran to him,

"Unfortunately, yes."

The fire grew around Fraco and it rapidly became too vast to remain in its spherical form but before it could explode, Magnus created a protective orb around him and Alec. The flames stretched out like enormous blazing tentacles reaching for and grasping every sinister spell that had been weaved into every inch of the area and when they had devoured all of them, they recoiled back to their core. There was a second explosion that knocked everyone onto the floor with the flames imploding as the slab of glass levitated and glowed a dark ghoulish green that spread slightly, creating the rough shape and size of the portal to the Void. Some of the Shadowhunters and demons were too close to it and were sucked in with their screams and roars echoing in everyone's ears.

What are you?

"That's exactly what you asked last time," Magnus said as he got to his feet, "is this all pre-recorded or something?"

The warlock.

"Vague, but well done."

It is rare for a being to be granted the second chance to come with us.

Alec grabbed Magnus's arm, "What does it mean 'second chance'?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders, brushing off the question and saving him from telling a very long winded story. He cautiously took a step forward, with his arm in front of Alec as he studied the portal he had created. Ember stood next to him, marvelling at his work with her wicked lunatic grin unveiling itself again and happily standing directly over a red hot crack in the ground.

Another joins you.

"I requested for the portal to be made so that the wrath of the Edom itself could be unleashed on a world that condemns downworlders to the shadows," Ember declared,

An unblemished wish you have.

"I find it quite melodramatic," Magnus commented.

As Max gazed at the floating glowing piece of glass, he completely forgot that there were still demons coming towards him and was only reminded when Izzy pushed him back and he fell onto the ground. Clary and Izzy were facing off five demons and it made him feel helpless as he saw the numerous Shadowhunters risking their lives while he sat there watching as if it were a 4D movie. As Izzy fought a moloch demon and a shax demon, Max ran between her legs, narrowly missing her sword and then between the legs of the shax demon. He closed his eyes, thought of the biggest explosion in the world forming in his hands and then threw it at the shax demon, making it fly in the air as it burned into ash. There was a shot of confidence that ran up to his brain and he wished he had brought a camera with him so he could have evidence for Rafael, but as he congratulated himself, the dark shadow of another moloch demon fell over him. What he can admit was a slightly girlish scream emitted from his little mouth as he created a barrier between him and the demon. It slammed into the barrier with the roaring flames from its empty eye sockets also attempting to penetrate it and though the barrier was doing its job, Max knew he wouldn't be able to hold it up forever. The protective wall began to fade and Max ducked to avoid the scorching flames and as he did, Izzy's whip flung out at the demon with so much momentum that it flew into air. In an attempt to regain his dignity, Max threw his magic at it, forcing it to enter the portal to the Void. With a cheeky grin on his face, Max turned around to see a large cut going all the way down Clary's arm that was bleeding uncontrollably. Whenever Max had grazed his knees or his arms while attempting to climb trees, Clary was the first one to look after him and wipe away his tears. Before Izzy could take out her stele, Max ran to Clary and held her arm with both of his small hands while summoning the magic to heal her.

"There's no need, blueberry," though Clary tried to mask her pain, Max could hear it in her voice.

He paid no attention to her words. As he focussed more, the world around him became blurry and swirls of blue surrounded Clary's arm with blue sparks emerging when the wound began to close. Though he felt extremely proud of healing someone for the first time, he rapidly became drained of energy and once he had stopped casting his spell, he felt severely lightheaded.

As his vision faded and he fell back into Izzy's arms, he smiled upon hearing Clary's sweet voice say, "You beautiful boy."