Magi and Djinn World Tour! Student of the Dark Arts –

by INKblOt32

Raku; after beating back an alien princess's take over, now has a lot to learn as a full fledged half djinn and demi god sorcerer in training. In this series, John helps Raku to navigate his choices, to fend for himself and overcome adversity. Yet, will his actions speak loud enough when an old foe returns to find him at his weakest point? Find out!

40. Chapter 40

Magi and Djinn World Tour- Student of the Dark Arts

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Chapter 40: Call Me Your Monster

/

She was sure that John was a good-natured imbecile. She'd seen the same in Atticus, Ardius, Sarah and Veravakumu. They all sympathized with that in which could kill. She didn't understand. Her old relic, the one of before her rise as the sacred holder of war or ever so, love, was Innana. After her fall in the city that boy had failed to remain in, the reborn Lilith; Ishtar as a demoness, had taken her first bite.

Then, her dear family, Isis as Isa, who had not forsaken the boy. She…

Ishtar, then Inanna. Who was she to say he deserved to suffer for being another person long ago?

Johnathan knew nothing.

Ani, thankfully would be less air headed full of such dreams. Such things were unbecoming of a god, but of he?

Of, Raku's ancestry from his father's rites was, in to question. The headmaster, the damned Lothos, and even Ignito had something to share. She had powers that Raku had not yet learned of, to read her enemy's heart. Her ability to see what none saw without a second sight. This, was why she had been chosen to protect the next and the next after that.

She'd told him not of what it all was, should he turn and she be the one to have let him fall a second time.

She….didn't want to see him waiting like Roku had upon his sentence. The boy was cursed to become another Lothos and Lilu, who was she? Was John…

She gripped her skull as Ani put a set of fingers to her wrists. "You're in pain; is that human to blame, Sara?"

"No." She composed herself and watched as John did what he could to make a gap in the veil. So far, the crack was impenetrable.

"You'll be unable at this rate –

"It's not impossible, lov."

Her eyes blinked at the rudeness of that usage. "I …" She cleared her throat. "You're not to…why?" She sagged. "What, do you need of us right now?"

John grinned as he motioned to a small telling of Lothos's power.

"Under his creepy exterior, is a child. A winy, irritating brat by the looks that can't let go of the past. Worst is though, he's involved my pupil, my student and my…family is a way. So?"

"You know little about our…"

"In kind, lov. I've heard your words repeated on multiple occasions." He raised a palm as she saw the cracks chipping slightly wider past the door they needed to go through. "If you are a goddess of any kind, your kindred are in there. Fighting back. Raku left to fix a problem on his own; though foolishness, I applaud him for staying as human as he…well, he's learning what "he" wants, not any of us to tell?"

John let the shards snap back as Astarte ran her staff of the crease, helping. "If that boy has such potential to ever be called a demi – God, so may it naught be." They whittle what come may of their causes as the walls only broke to a fraction before the miasma seeped, through, blinding all three as they shut their eyes to potential dangers that lay ahead.

/

The teens all were living the suite life up as Raku was given a chance to toast with everyone. The hazy memory of his old life resurfaced as the dress he'd wear later was not a part of the rehearsal for their cafeteria scene.

"Alright, good. Good." Their new director clapped his gloved hands together with a nod to their impressive attendance. "Very well done, Amber, and…why are you so glum, Raku?"

"I…I'm just restless."

The smile he got back was soon lifted as Lothos in the director's suit fanned out his arms as some important ringleader of a merry troupe.

"You'll of course be a tad bit out of sorts about the decision to have you play the Lady of the Feast." Grinned the monster . "All of us should cheer you and the lord…wait? One , two…." Lothos counted the heads in the room, including those he'd been speaking with.

"Has anyone seen Lord Michael?"

/

In his stuffy dress rehearsal for the theater class, Michael ran like the devil was about to send his hounds a' coming.

"Damn well will I ever allow that lording "twat" the leisure of obtaining my allegiance to its cause." He scoffed under his breath. "To find an exit…"

His father was useless, sold to selling his son off because he was collateral anyway. The real Michael was damn dead in the earth. Why was he still up and walking? Why need him…

Something about how Raku had this déjà vu….what that brat had said about a past life or something odd…

Was Amber really a student or did she know more than she let on? He wandered where no students weren't in class or out on the fields for practice. A big puff of smoke came from the potions room as that age old medicinal wisdom wouldn't help anyone once Lothos exacted his plan.

To the kitchen, it was deserted as Raku had to be pissing his shorts over how close the vamp was. He didn't know how, yet when Michael leaned back into a shelf, it shifted out of place to reveal a hidden compartment. A storage area, below the floor boards?

He was too curious and sought a way out of this organization bin for hungry imps and devil children. Climbing a ladder to the bottom, he tested that it was solid stone. With a flick of his pinky, Michael had his finger as a torch light. "Now, where do these lead to?" A set of paths, as he took the one closest.

/

Ani turned on the light as orbs of energy paved their path. Underground, they had no idea that both paths were meant to meet. Michael scrambled over rocks while Astarte, John and Ani all took their steps lightly. In case demon's were there, so far this place seemed untouched.

Michael curved into the wall up until he'd fallen over a crying rock in the dark, one that yelped out. Another that barked…

"Ow…." Michael shook his head, seeing the three adults in his view, even in the dark. "You, three?...Ah, you're the two bloody ass – hats that tried to warn my father –

"You won't tell on us to your dad. Will you?"

The kid gawked and shook his head. In fact….was he dressed the robes of some old world Lord of a fairytale land?

"Where have the students gone? Have you no shame in what is being done??" Astarte thrust herself from underneath John as he rolled to avoid a spear to the eye.

"Abi, restrain him."

"W- wait! I'm trying to get help! Honest!"

"This entire tunnel was blocked until we broke the barrier." John scratched his skull. Cracking his neck, Abi and Michael flinched. "The courtyard is there and what time did you think it was, lad? Take a lucky guess."

"Not….morning?"

"Right, you wpuld have eloped with the good and bad in Baphomet if he let ya. Blokes, the lot of your classmates? All a farce to drive Raku into the position we've gone to get him out of. Because of your belittling attitude. And your father's obsession with making deals with overlords."

"I….I don't know. Any if this, I swear to you on the grave of my fore father's left –

"Ah, you should make no such messes with the dead and dying." Abi growled in Michael's ear. "It would disgrace a later bloodline. The gods weep on your behalf, no more!" His claws of a canine came out to frighten the youth. "Where is the red haired demon with eyes of cinder and bloodlust?? You must tell us."

"Aud…itorium, but let me go! I am not going back inside…"

"What's wrong, lad?" John snorted, hand to a hip. "Cat out of its nine lives? You're the kind to run in any danger, no matter what it is that proves useful. Your father did that pact to save his son, but you wanted no part when you found how he wanted the school as well, after Lothos burns it to the ground. That man is also incarnated from the real Marcus Borgges family. Because Lothos put you up to coming back at all! If you want your freedom, so help me, you'll help save my student and every other witch and warlock in this entire facility." John did everyone a solid as he turned his hand ti the exit and made it simply wither into the black rocks that coated their way.

"See, lad …I don't take kindly to bullies on the school yard, especially when my charge has a lot basing on this course he has to finish up. Now? If I lose his life here and you get your just rewards, I might as well give you to the god Anubis here to wrap up fir judgement day. Sounds nice, right?"

The growl of Ani had the boy whine out frustrated, as he finished rebelling long enough to understand the situation at large within the school.

"By midnight, tonight….there is supposed to be this, big staged event. Raku was chosen for it, as was I. I think he's a lady, and I am the lord of the feast."

Wide eyes met the boy as Ani gripped tighter, before wronging the kid's arm to look at him. "So? You were so fed up with your workd that he could fare no less? You took down your enemy by exchanging the life you now lead, animal?"

"You calling-

"Silence yourselves." Astarte snapped the order, making both quiet down. "John, he'll lead the way, yet what if Lothos had full control like before? Zatanna cannot be in this fight, not yet. Will your magic be strong enough to wound that, aged blood sucker?"

Her lip curled at the very mere mention of his name. "He will be erratically, and as long as YOU comply, mortal?"

"What? Smiting is beyond what I am, just…a failed copy to appease my fucking dad."

"Why did you then, why try?"

"Why do any of us try, teacher." Snorted Michael to John's back as they walked towards the way up not, out.

"We do it to find ourselves if at all, to entertain someone else's amusement, I bet." John answered. "You're a sheep. That was why Lilu got to you, but Raku still had the head to fight the control over him by the monster YOUR dad let into the academy. But it's too late to place nice." Sneered John as Ani shoved Michael out through the gapped space to the kitchen. It was here. Huh." Shrugging, John lifted up Michael before Astarte made sure Abi had a strong pull on the kid's damned time. "If he runs, you may chase yet alive. No blood today. Not yet." She told the Jackal as he morphed into one.

~ As you wish, Lady Astarte.~

"Ah, so he was your lap dog after all –

"G-

"Quiet it, lad." John pulled Michael away from the dog's bite. "We have work to do."

"Such as?" Michael skeptically eyed over the magi.

"Stopping the ceremony." John huffed. "What else?"

/

Raku stood up as he was tugged without a sigh from the students; more giggling and talking about him behind his back, by the new director of the school ,

So he'd pictured, yet it was actually Michael's crazy father. Just as crazy for trying to kill two birds for more power than he already owned on this good earth.

"Raku, Grayson was it still?"

"It is." Raku nodded as he was told to come away a second and speak. "What seems to be the matter, s –

"My…Michael." The man checked his watch from the doorway as Raku didn't look back at a nosy Amber from over his shoulder. If only she were redeemable as a being of the earth, yet she had told Raku not to try. "No here has –

"Could you…." The man knelt to whisper into Raku's ear. So, unpleasant, that the hairs on the boy's neck stood up his spine in a straight line. "I recall your ability to "manifest" others from a college. He said you're the descendent of a god, so?"

"I…" Raku shook his head , pulling back until he saw Lothos coming over to them. "Is everything alright, dear lady of tonight's show?" His grave mistake was that Michael's papa was starting to have thoughts about salvaging his son's soul before banishing the red haired demon and his pets.

"This will be a private affair between the staff and students, Director. If there us anyone else to add to that list, I would hope you'd be willing go and check?"

"Hum, wishing on a star sounds so droll, yet if you know that a wish is ten folds bad luck -

"There is no such thing!"

Raku's words broke the men's staged bickering, although it wasn't. Chiming the boy, Lothos wagged a pointer in her face. "The lady must remain in check for tonight." The man bobbed him on the nose as the man behind caught the kid. "Are…sir? Sir, please stand aside."

Lothos pulled back, only to let Raku be escorted to his dressing rooms for the same rehearsal as a certain blonde fink. "Remember, those child can take away everything. See them as nothing or me…." Lothos hissed as Michael's father scurried out with the Grayson kid not blinking back. "Are you-

"Ignore him for a bit. The weasel he's become is not due to you, child. Follow." He ushered, Amber watching on her hands to the seat , while Lothos fumed and waited for them to take a break.

"FROM THE TOP." He snapped his fingers as none of the students forgot those words. Of course, as they donned new gear, new appearances.

/

Raku was dragged back to wear Michael's seat should have been for the costume he was….his father stomped across the floor, giving Raku a semblance of his anger on pure paper. The students lined up, terrified, as he pointed a finger at one if the older students in charge of the costume and design teams. "The gala will be larger than that! There will be guests here to witness the work of the school…where now, is MY Lord of the feast??"

"He went to check up on…." A student threw a hand over their mouth as the elder caught it. "Ah, you know? Don't hide it! Out with it, now!"

Raku saw that everyone was doing there best to die tonight. Didn't it dawn on them that this entire event was a cover for their executions??

Raku saw a classmate "Penny" as she was sewing up a hem at the base of one gown. Raku saw it and did not react at first, until he saw the collar.

A red stone. An old stone that should have been destroyed long ago.

That red ruby had made Raku into Roku through its creation. His son Rokuro had been manipulated by its power, and so on. It was a fat crystal, never in pieces or parts. Never shattered or else welded and sealed together by dark magic. Raku was stubbed by how it mocked his humanity, the side that cared now that the dragon was no more.

"Isn't is brilliant, Raku? The stone was donated as a gift by the director. You'd best have a knife up your boot around him though. Don't like the bloke one bit." Penny bit her lip as a hand needle pricked her skin unnecessarily. "Anyway, be on your best in this gown. It took an entire two weeks to create. My fingers need a holiday!" She forced a grin yet sweat coated her upper lip.

She wiped her brow just as Michael's dad was in her view from above. Raku stood by while the man wiped his eye of the fatigue it was to ruin a perfect….well, wasn't decent, but it could be! Raku had seen immortals and mortals getting along so it could be done.

"Have him fitted into the first layers, Penny, and be a dear; where has your classmate Michael gone off –

"He was in his entire wardrobe and ran down that hall, but sir. That wa –

"How long? Hours, I am to imagine?" Shaking his skull, he searched the room fir a stand in until that…brat, was brought to him again. Lothos would grind their bones with his huger, yet a chance to be the headmaster for a very long time…they needed to have a travesty to start from scratch.

"Ah….a –

"I could summon a double." Raku raised his palm. "It can look exactly like him, if you'd prefer."

"Very quick on your feet, but I suppose that you could always just…call out to him?"

Penny went back to her dress making as Raku eyed the man who was starting to attract even darker energies around himself. "You by far….want this?" Raku said in a smaller voice, though grounded in his question to the new headmaster.

"Why don't we talk in the other hall. Quietly, about the feast?"

/

As he walked , this man looked to hunch over and scowl. Raku just watched from his angle as this imposter had to be tearing him from….

Wait…

"You….took him over…how??"

The boy's arm was yanked as the miasma curled round his cheekbones and eye sockets. Wider still, he saw the two souls, fused to one another of Atticus and Michael's father.

"Why did he do this??" Raku gripped the man's arm to let go. "Why did he corrupt you like this?? It's wrong!-

"Wrong, but necessary."

Raku froze as his eyes never saw another set of hands cling round his sides and draw him back as an eight legged entity. It wasn't, but a black forked tail and wings so hot as embers made his abs burn painfully as his possessor left bright brands. "Here was where you had your first perfect marks. It was a long time, yet you never let them see all of your scars? A treasure map hidden by invisible ink. You are my map of that time….oh…my la –

"Lothos!"

Raku spun to see not his enemy, but Peter, a student from his class. "We were looking for you. Did you run from stage fright?" The red headed teen chuckled as Raku pushed him off to look over. Then…where were the mutants and demons he had been fighting??

"Ah, Penny has the dresses made up. You're really going the entire way. She even made a bodice –

"I'm flat." Raku frowned. "And she can try, yet it has to be sized petite."

Raku was shaking only in his hands as he mellowed those in time to find Penny and her forced masterpiece. "Some of the jewelry can wait. I just want to see how it works by layer. Turn around. I'll get the measure out."

After seeing to how perfect it was, Lothos did come round with the red necklace. "This can go once we're sure Michael will do the scene. I wanted this to be dinner and a movie sort of, how does that sound?"

L- love it already!" Penny was patted on the head as sge wrung her fabrics and tape measure. She was….fighting.

This was bad. Rats in a trap, Lothos was about to raise a curtain on their brilliantly gory demise.

~ Just as in the past, you will awaken to me, my pet. It is meant to be. If she should live, you could stop this massacre. You really could, but…you're still on as you were before the turning. It's a trouble I'm willing to fix for you, my dear.~

Raku looked away as Lothos acted harmless as a flee. "Your headmaster and the teachers will be later attending. Fir now? To your dorms to prepare. Ah, Peter?"

The boy traded over as Raku swallowed when Peter was whispered to be the director. "Raku? You'll be in our house with the men tonight. By the time we wake, skip on over to the stage to get ready oh, and…if you stop by…bring your regular night clothing. It's going to be helpful."

Raku's eyes pinpointed on the boy's. "I'll stay with J –

"Not enough time." Lothos shook his red hair side to side. "You are a performer, so stay with your troupe."

"We'll have fun, get your anxiety down a bit." Peter egged on. "You'll be a man tonight, but by tomorrow, they won't care either way. Be yourself for a change."

"I…" The reason he'd not stayed in a dorm was the gender bi – laws of mixed rooms. He was non binary, gay and asexual primarily due to trauma and coming back out of his stigma, but…

"I will, not be-

"It's mandatory. Or, would you rather let the school down, dear child?" Frowned the Director. "I'd hate to see how your reputation might plummet. Or …oh? Him?"

Raku looked around. Lothos had frozen the clock for a bot while only they could speak. "If you needed a stress reliever, I have just –

"I'm not to be tempted!" Raku skidding back, yet bumped into a wall he could not break. His book tried to come out, yet the chains of his keeper were as vines round the tome. " No…no…you're not going to hurt any –

"ANH!" The kid was tugged, clawing and growling as his body ached from the brands he'd taken from John. "Those bite marks are fading fast." The man tugged again as a neck link bound to Raku's throat as the collar there was far too tight. "St…op….t…."

"Why shouldn't I ruin you all over again to prove a valid point?" Shrugged the demon as he reeled in the chained down demi god. "Now, the only person you'd ever respect would be the one to see to your upbringing. But of course, you owe me the payment of….a little extra for getting rid of your real enemies."

"There is no one else greater…-

"Though you DON'T mean ME, little pet!" Chuckled the monster as his tail swatted the kid's body like a two-pronged whip.

"Remember your place back under me. I've kept it warm. And all if those wishes your body can sustain…"

"Stop….stop!" Raku failed as the tail turned him over to look up at the criminal. "You Djinn- boy? You." Grinning down, his tail moved to prop up the kid's dripping chin. Tears, typical of an empath.

"Are always mine, even in an after fact. Right into that book of yours, Lilu is so very envious of us two."

"I don't care." Raku's jaw trembled. "I will stop the massacre. Your ally failed when Ardius and the gods stopped her. She…she only –

"She only slept with the weakest messes." Hummed the demon as his tail flicked curiously upwards. "Tell you what, if you can do this one performance and stay a lady…make one more deal. I'll take off the chains, let you make the switch and drink from the cup of life blood you'd never had a chance to taste on your own."

Life blood meant….he would never escape if his psyche got warped. Lothos dragged the chain as it inked, no one else seeing "If you drink for the cup at the feast, I will leave without killing the innocent only. If any, my fellow mutants will be dead and gone, yet the castle was as you left it. There will be changes, and your gilded cage shall be much larger than the last. That stone?"

"My damned headstone." Raku spat. "I know if it."

"To Roku, it was his power source in form. What would you say if that power that I want, only needs to be transmitted into that stone? I can charge it up another time, but it will be enough to whet my appetite for a while….while …"

"I get that, you've told me what "YOU" expect of my abilities. Lilu…she was….the same, though never showed that side to herself."

"She may have wanted you wholly as I do. After all…the Djinn were once born of Ethereal matter before their ascension into the cosmic field. The infinite is calling, dear Lady of this night." Bowed Lothos as time started up again. "You will dress up and be pretty for these olden eyes. If you do not, you forfeit every life in this academy. In this city, to me."

Raku stood shaking as he clutched his arms. Lothos gasped as he went to grab a coat from the closet that the staff had left behind. "Take my spare. You're hopefully not getting the jitters before show time!"

Raku was escorted to the boy's dorm as he saw that the lights were dim and candle lit there. He wanted to bolt yet the arms that held him made him walk. "This initiation is secret. Anything that leaves this room; those that break our sacred oath will be punished by those deemed to do so."

They led Raku to an altar of what looked to be a blood chalice as he knew what that was. His son had drunken that damned blood. That titan Robin had learned of its potential to turn a mortal soul to darkness. Roku's dragon's blood, a fresh cup.

The demon's had visited. That made sense. These men were Alma Mater material back in the States. Prefects elsewhere.

"W- What is –

"For good luck. We're all gonna drink."

"The director is interesting, but I know the headmaster hated um the first time they butted eads." The boys joked and put themselves forth to the vat of the damned vessel like this was punch at a high school party. A frat party, as someone came up from behind Raku and pounced onto his back, positioning up his chin as his jaw was pinched to open.

"Why are you being a wallflower, now? Mate, you're gonna be one of the head boys at this school. Open!"

Raku was forced to sit as they came after him, hands and faces with his force fed body realizing how Robin had felt…Dick had, when Slade had made him drink that blood the first time. ( New Beginning arc, teen titans. .)

Roku….had been just like Lothos, as his dorm mates did so badly to make his drink an entire cup without vomiting up the rest.

Raku felt thirsty as his hands an hour later, found something that was painfully set upright. Was…wa –

~ My lord!!~

Raku blinked as he saw the misery of an organization party around him. "No, I…" He let go as his hands pushed back at the boxers he had nearly lowered of his other prefect. The other teen had his tongue hanging out, top less and bitten by others in the room. The room, that had lost its function die to a demon coming through here.

" How….ah!" Raku backed up from the damned election in front of him. He would have done that…what the hell??

~ The blood won't work any longer, it only works on these mortal bound.~ Ignito frowned from his cell that he was locked up in.

"I have to contact John, you can! Right?" Raku begged his aspect to do so, yet it could not. ~ Due to the binding of flesh and God hood, yet hath no way of bringing me to your world. Only if our power is released."

"Tell…can you tell John nothing?" Raku's knees shook as he stayed on them, tears falling while his dorm filled with the sounds of fucking and clucking young adults. It was….

"I need to counter this. Lothos is simply trying to get to me. He did this then, same tricks." Raku grumbled as he tried to stand up. His body tipped as he fell back to the wood. "Enchanted…" He huffed. " He's thought too far ahead for that."

Raku cursed into his legs as he did force himself to fight past the sounds so lewd as they died very close to midnight.

"It's time, princess."

Raku looked up and found that he had dozed. The teens were in new garb, as if he'd been dreaming the entire…

~ Do not be disillusioned, my lordship.~

Raku nodded, being handed his dress as the boy's all clapped. "Ready to get the party going?"

"It, must be done." Raku said, as they all followed by flagging him across the lawn and back to the cafeteria to be hungry, dripping with agony and gods knows what else was to come of this "feast" Lothos had planned. All to enslave the djinn boy and tie him to the demon for life.

/

Oh boy…hurry up, Johnny!! Find out if Raku is in hot water. Will John say and do what needs to be done? Find out!