Magi and Djinn World Tour- Student of the Dark Arts

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Chapter 33: Puzzled Reflections

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Raku would be in school with Astarte there on the daily to make sure she wasn't wrong about the magical security of the grounds. With her, she had hired some special cases on her team to bring about a cleaning that the cast of characters responsible for said events, would never have their hands dirty enough to participate in.

Michael's father stayed away, saying he had to return to report what he had witnessed. Snorting back in his face, the leopard woman only made him even more anxious to see to the plans he'd been promised by the lone representative.

Atticus came before the darkest walls below the subway's last pillar above them. It was a place to lock on to a portal and to transport them to the person that had been meaning to explain everything.

"Then, the one that gave you a second chance, Grey…you're indebt to him? Was he not able to relay a name, face?"

"You know whom, Sire, and no." Replied the replenished sorcerer. "My associate doesn't care to be seen by the wrong persons in power. He respects, you, and maybe…you'll think the same once he's had the pleasure of discussing what may be."

"Cryptic, as always?"

"I'd never said my age matched my face, sire."

They made their way to a door that would act as a gateway. Their arms wove up as the spell opened a passage into the night…

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Raku was tossing and turning all night until he'd decided to find a second glass of water suitable. His, was tepid. He went to the door and turned the knob slowly. Snoring by the tele was Chas, and John was in his own room knocked out. Zee and the others had the protection of Astarte until she had to try again. The home, the apartment was quiet, save for the ending of a film that looked to be down to its last credit page.

Raku smiled and sighed softly before making his way to the kitchen. The one night light was above the wall by the electric kettle. If he'd made it now, the room would be too loud again. Opting for a glass of nondairy milk and a fat vegan cookie, Raku felt young as a child in the sands with a honey cake between his teeth.

He rarely thought about those times as he sipped. His silent mind was for once, not bothered by Ignito, or a worrying John and chiding Chas, or an apologetic Zatanna…or even a goofy Grayson. He, was here. Simply, present.

~Are we, then ? Anything else to add to that decree, my lordship? ~

Rau shut his eyes softly with a breath through his nostrils. ~I was simply meditating, Ignito. ~

~And as for one…late night snack, then? ~

~I'm half - human, all god. ~ The boy frowned as he took one decent sized bite. ~What should it matter if my poor soul is on a tether at all, and if I were –

~Ignito, why did you vanish? ~

The silence returned. Until the aspect sighed and answered the child's question.

~The mind was blocked, but by a wall. When John had allowed me to direct myself unto his little investigation…parts became scattered and –

~Your division made you a target of Lothos. ~ Raku put down the glass from his lips as Ignito nodded. ~It, did. And in some way, the cleansing by your kin did justice. So, here I am. ~

~Why not before. ~ The boy took the last bite of his oatmeal raisin before downing the rest of his glass to put in the sink for the washer by tomorrow. ~Why at this time of night? ~

~I needed to speak only to you. No distractions. John will understand later…yet Astarte has a bind on me as a messenger for now. It is to protect you as well…from me. ~

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Ignito?

A….

Raku felt pinned to his space as he tried to see Astarte and…wait, Ignito was –

"Then… -

~Shush, now. I've only come to say…That you might have difficultly tommorow. Michael's new soul on this earth is a curious little vole. I fear you may have to save their life by sacrificing you "peace" in an effort to win them over. ~

~Wait…Michael is in danger – or, will be?? ~ Raku soundlessly gasped. ~Ignito…this is directly from Aunt Astarte, isn't it? ~

~Partly, she wants you to be on your best guard and behave as you would be the victim. That way, if Michael is in trouble, the truth….might slip out sooner. ~

~She, wants me to get us in trouble. ~ The boy paled. ~To lure out who may be pulling strings behind… ~ Raku shook his head and walked to the room door.

~ The old me was troubled, but I'm trying to be better. If I start anything that can be taken as a threat –

~You cannot, dear boy. ~ Smiled the aspect as it had begun to fade. ~You're a god, not a child…recall it? ~

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Raku was restless even after returning to his room. By past midnight, his eyes tried to drop shut –

He wished he'd stayed wide awake as more entities had entry into his life. His past…as a glorified pet of a demon queen.

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"You've done a fabulous job with décor, my sweet!" She pecked on the cheek her dearly malleable doll called "Risa." As in this world, it was a playhouse where the keepers were the strong ones. Raku could only make it out alive due to Lilith finding purpose in his abilities. He was used to keep her happy, while she had promised to keep his potential in check. One day, the boy wanted to speak to the great spirit of an origin he'd discovered by Azag's keep. He'd decided to use Lilu to get there, all because he wanted to know about the fire of creation and why all of the realms craved its light. Why he was even as a partly taken, able to use such powerful magics.

Doll faced Risa was given an outfit to service the guests as Raku was allowed to wear a protégé's attire of old Romanian garb. Right now they were guests and had to behave. As the host returned from his dressing rooms, Lord Lothos bowed to all. Tall, handsome with an air of mystery and regality in ever chuckle at the ear he left to his next targets, while Lilu was a true guest.

Raku, was the trade off item, before he knew it fully.

"Your…protégé? He's not a Roma, is he?"

"Romani, never. Much older a race, in fact…demi –

"Demi?" Lothos and she talked as if he were a prized war horse waiting to have a mare to mount. "Is he claimed by ye as such?"

"Tiis an incidence that the boy stayed at my side… there is his desire to ascend and question the high ones." The laughed, poured a glass of red and black that did not looked encouraged. The other women were about to have the same drink, until Raku saw te witch take her time. The night changed as the drinks made delirium of the helpless guests, the room turning to moans and shouts – Raku was dragged up the steps as the thre left the orgy scene to others of Lothos's pack.

"We have not officially met, little one." Taking his hand, the gloves Lothos wore had to hide his true farce of a frame. "My creed is as a collector, a trainer. You lady must be away to organize her prize; a country to the north has one of our spies willing to spill first blood." Smirked the evil hand. "You'll be staying in my castle, living as a prince while I train where Lady Lilu's left us. Is that not, right?"

"If any luck, you'll make a man out of my pupil. I've tried, yet his half – immortal blood is a noxious trick. His father was the great Lord Azag, you must know." She spoke too vain, too pompous and expectant of a man's curious leer.

"Ah, a great lord of cryptic means."

Lothos…..should he respond?

Raku was beat red as he tried to open his lips to say a thing. "You, understand who…"

"I am not as old, yet the later age before Solomon I was told runs through his son's veins. Veins that hold the fiercest fire I hath ever seen to witness…" A hiss, a cure to his curiosity as Lilu gleefully had them grinning back to her. Raku was nervous, yet that voice soothed him somewhat as the morning of her departure, both man and child of the gods were left to their breakfast.

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His touch still lingered as Raku felt poison work its way through every pore that it could reach.

~ You'll never forget, never forgive yourself for this…you know your guilt, dear prince of harsh payments –

~ WHACK! ~

"sAY WHAT THOUST MIGHT; She left thou unto I to tear away the shame, the fear."

Raku curled tightly under the quilt as his memories wrote themselves.

~ If I am let to step foot in those dreams ye hayth cast aside, I shall rape them. Claim them…~

RRRIP…..

The fabric tore in his dream as the real Raku kicked his foot like a dog on the kitchen floor.

"N…no….no…..s….lo….loth –

/

The night was long as the land beyond shown a devastating role he'd played.

"My king –

The servant stopped before the newest guest to Lothos's chambers.

Long dark hair and a smaller frame than was natural, eyes hazy red and black as they searched atop the royal canopy for a sigh of any daylight. Lain on the beds if having been wed off already, was a mere boy who resembled one of great beauty. Of being delivered, as the servant cleared his throat in…caution.

They, the boy… had been ravaged as promised, and yet to break. To bend.

Lothos put a hand to the boy's naked chest to see if it were still beating.

"Yes, Bartholemew?"

"Sire, the Duchess of …."

They spoke of take overs, ball gowns and seductive ploys. Raku rested with that hand still resting, his chest rising as falling in a mild shudder. Palming lower, Lothos found his toy's wilted cocklet and decided that he was bored, again.

"As you were, m'lord…"

Raku quickly was hoisted back upright as his chest was lain flat, that red hair cascading down to curtain even more fiery eyes of bloodlust and passion. "You stopped short, let us finish before rising. My pet…" A hand to the teen's unbidden cheek, and that daybreak never came for him…not for many, many moons.

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Raku awoke to his face feeling slightly too…damp. He swiped at it and then rose, damned if it were…he screamed, alerting Chas right away to come hither from his dream times.

In his sleep, books and pages or relics galore had been pulled apart, scattered across the room.

"No….no, no…." Raku got up and tried to find a spell of his story teller's magic to rebind the books as they once were, to put away what he knew needed fixing. He couldn't tell John, not that he'd somehow recalled his first time being taken by Lothos. Not that he'd woken in tears to find what he'd unconsciously committed by some anxious lack of self-restraint. It wasn't just books, but pages of history. It had to be a warning, a warning heart hammered as his eyes got blurrier. He rubbed them, so….still, so…tired…

With a flop, his subconscious had conked him out to prevent any outbursts as John and Chas came running. After all, he was only a child, all he was had been as a waste of potential …

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John in the back room was not taking as much a load off as the tortured dream self that was Constantine.

His very first look led to an eye roll as he let his dream self pull out out a fat cig to light it. "Am I really that twisted to describe my life as "actual," torture?"

~ You may be along sooner than you think.~ Lorhos appeared dramatically behind the chains and dark of this chamber. Cooling limbs and blood prints upon the walls should scare children before bed, yet not John.

"Right, is this an intervention on my mental state since the wee nip? It was not by the way consensual-

~ Didn't have to be, it made its mark.~ Lothos frowned while levitating on air as a real undead creature of the night. His skin was as pale as the moon itself as a backdrop didn't harm his flesh. He was after all, only half lived and among the living thanks to Atticus's greed and stupidity.

~ The boy isn't having as brilliant dreams tonight.~

"Wouldn't know. I won't invade his privacy." Sneered the magi a bit over his fake smokes. " You came to tattle on me? Maybe to enact some sort of evil while I lay resting, is that it? You really might just be –

~ I am confused, actually. What you gave John, you cannot deny –

" An abused child forced into the throws of war and a responsibility…of a demi god! You, took advantage-

~ It's not a real boy, Constantine. It is a prize to be sought. Do you know why Ignito leaped throughout space and time to father children before his death?~ Ignito's eyes glowed under the moon, until John threw diwn his cig in a yell. It burst to ash and cinder as Lothos's neck protruded out to have John do the same. ~ Bite a god, own time itself. The question was?...How did Lord Azag escape every infection, inflicted battle scar and disease that could have been his very last? The truth, do you want it more than –

"I WANT. RAKU. SAVED."

~ You can't do that. CONSTANTINE. Only gods may salvage their own. Only Guardians mayeth be crowned as true deity when ready to ascend.~

"Wait …guardian….in training to- No. No more of this…" John began to cast as Lothos never pulled a single blink. The chains on the wall came after his limbs to pull him in an X – outplayed as a specimen for marking. Lothos circled the man as his mind was blinded by the wince in his flesh. "I…won't do a thing you did. Not even if I'm granted a life in turn, you hear??"

~ Hear that in your voice, Johnathan?~ Instead, the demon turned with a cast of his eyes over side his cheek. ~ You know I'm right. Amelia. I saw her in memory with that Harpy to be, Anna. They will either turn or prosper. Aiden of course will be forced to give up his magic if he so chooses once their bond is split. Mortals are so fickle these days if you had the choice to become a deity if time, would you?~

"Never."

~ Nor shall he, in fact.~ Lothos sighed with a shrug. John had quit whining to hear out Lothos, to tackle his words out if him. Someway, somehow. To find one weakness to draw out.

~ You think he didn't deserve what I did, then you are partly right. Raku gave up a pinch less of his mortality so we teased him to reveal himself to us. As great as it can be, the boy would not turn! No matter what I did, he refused to corrupt himself. The only thing that did it, was growing up. Or, Lilith forcing a spell. A curse, as you humans put it – when he was about there as of his consent…well, past, he started to think like us. Quieted, though. He was my spitting-

"You corrupted him through an alchemy that "injected" that corruption of your soul to create Roku. He never would have existed had you been burnt at the stake. As if Lilu didn't know what you were after…"

~Not a heart, magi.~ Tutted the red headed demon. ~ A wish. One. Wish. To be just like a god. A god that could manifest his hearts' desire without consequence. Azag had no such tether. This was why he died, facing and defying his rites as a time lord of olden.~

"Raku was born to defy it, not to start it again. Creatures like you understand lust. Not love, not truly mourning souls that have passed on at all. You could never begin –

~ I, am not unlike he. My kin were only half vampire. The other, a mortal controlled by the lust devil known as Lovely Lilu.~

" You were caged by their commitment. She was your god, and –

~ And I fucked her over.~ Grinned the vamp. ~ Plain and simple as that.~

" She had Raku, she had the control over a god whose powers could reshape your fate…"

The demon nodded. ~ Raku was used like that by whomever knew his very rites. If you could cage a djinn, you had nothing to fear –

"He is half mortal, why?? Why did any of that make sense-

~ It was enough to bring about a change in us.~ Was all Lothos replied as the dream had started to fade. ~ The moral is this; that boy will not intend to coerce, yet as a siren, you may protect him. Crave his desire - to see you win any wars thrown your way. Sadly, he will never be and is not human. He does not wish to be. ~

" You're very wrong, and Ignito is just as twisted in that logic as anyone from his time that I've happened to come across." John spat out as grossly, as spewing might pass as rebellion to some part of the creature's temporal lobe.

~ You're trying to incite a reaction. It won't work. The last being to do this was killed, trapped within the pages of a fantasy, one unwritten.~

"You had your hard on 'out ' of that book long enough. You even walk like this isn't even my dream. What gives?"

~ I have magic of the gods transmitted by the courting of a god. I am blessed, is all.~

"You stole that power." Growled back John. " Raku said you rapes him, not only-

~ He later took that as a go ahead…why not? I was asked to watch the lad grow up. There was no growing, thus….it was rectified-

" He was manipulated to think he was anything close to what you are! He's better –

The wag of a finger and those eyes told John the opposite as the snap of said fingers, showed the incident of another victim's well into being, wet dreams…

/

Raku woke up and found himself coated in sweat and unnaturally erect down there. He screamed out as the face looking out at him was Chas, John was staggering into the room as Raku clutched himself with his lip trembling and eyes bleeding wet. "D - d- don't look!" The boy's panicked eyes, fresh of what Lothos had promised and the debauchery he'd been forced to watch as the thing skinned his back while doing so. Down to an energy vamp in the later hours, Lothos had successfully drained John to the calling throws of death. Chas had hid cell out in an instant as the blood was drained from his face. "Johnny?? JOHN!!"

John was off duty today, stuck at home. Now, only a select few could protect the boy as he trembled with Chas holding him too tightly to call the man only his family.

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