Shannon O'Reilly was bullied and everything his older sister wasn't. When his sister Sarah gives him a chance to change things through a single wish things don't go as planned.     I Wish: Book 5 Chapter 12 Frantic By Amethyst

Each second that passed without me able to feel Ziralin’s presence in my mind I grew more panicked. This had never happened before, we had been a constant presence at the back of one another’s minds since I had accidentally turned her into my Familiar. It was a constant tugging at my mind that lessened as she grew closer. Since we had gotten stranded on this Plane that tugging had been my lifeline, it meant that the girl I loved was still alive out there somewhere.

Another slap brought me out of those dismal thoughts and I realized that Rebecca was shaking me. “Shannon, stop freaking out and think,” she told me firmly but gently. “You’re the smart one here. Just because you can’t feel her doesn’t mean that she’s dead. Could she just be sleeping in her bunker? They’re separate dimensions right?”

I shook my head and couldn’t speak at first because of the tightness in my throat. I sniffled, wiped freezing tears from my cheeks, and tried again. “Not unless she’s inside with the portal folded up and put away but she wouldn’t be able to get out that way unless she had someone she trusted to open it again. She might trust Ellie with that but she wouldn’t let her face things outside alone unless something really bad happened, Ziralin is much better suited for survival in a place like this. As long as the portal is open we’re not completely cut off from this Plane and can still get a faint sense of one another. She just vanished.”

“This whole world is just weird in general so there could be all kinds of explanations, right?” Lisa encouraged.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. They were right, it could be anything preventing me from sensing her, and if Ziralin was feeling that too then she still wouldn’t stop until she found me. I needed to pull myself together and consider the problem. Finally, I nodded. “You’re right, it’s not like Nhekar has been playing by a rulebook that I’m even remotely familiar with so far, so it could be anything. The last sense I got of her was that she was just beyond these mountains, in that direction,” I said hoarsely, pointing in the direction where I had last felt Ziralin’s presence.

“Good, so we just need to find the general area that you last sensed her in and I can try to pick up her scent or any magic that she or Ellie might have used to track them down. It’s something that Ziralin was pushing while training me and I know her scent pretty damn well. We need to move fast though, so less talking and more flying,” Michelle insisted.

Rebecca and I pushed on through the evening with a new sense of urgency, flying without breaks. The twin moons were well on their way toward the horizon and my arms and wings were aching from flying and carrying Lisa for so long but we were rewarded for our tenacity when we could see the final mountains of the pass parting to reveal what appeared to be farmlands of some sort, vast fields dotted with the occasional homes.

We cleared the mountains and that was when we saw the city beneath us, built along the lower slope of the mountain to our left as if to watch over the farmlands below. Or to look down upon them. It was a city of mostly dull stone and very large compared to what we had seen so far in this world. Some form of magical illumination lit the streets in the center and I could feel magick energy everywhere there. That city was where Ziralin had been when she vanished, I was certain of it.

We found a quiet place to land and once we had returned to human form and Lisa and Michelle had shaken off the effects of our Succubus mojo, Michelle switched to her cat-girl form to try to pick up a trail. We moved as quietly as we could and fortunately, most of the city seemed to be in bed. We only had to avoid a few figures with basic weapons and armor that I thought might be city guards. That was easily done since Michelle’s sharp senses were better than even those of a Succubus, and she picked them up before they got too close and gave us ample time to hide.

It was easy to see the disparity between the Makers and those who were not. The area we had landed in had been run down, the buildings had little more than cloth curtains in bare windows and doorframes to keep out the night’s chill. The roads were roughly hewn from the mountainside, vermin skittered away at our approach and into the shadows, and there was the constant reek of refuse, urine, and shit that made me want to gag.

And then we got to the wall. It was smooth, pristine white, easily thirty feet high, and ran for as far as I could see in each direction and there were regularly spaced large violet okka crystals along the top that could be seen even from ground level. The Makers weren’t subtle, that was for sure, this was a physical and magical barrier to keep out the ‘undesirables’ and keep them from getting any ideas. It was near the gates built into this massive wall that Michelle picked up Ziralin’s and Ellie’s scents. The scents were faint and among many others but there. There were also signs that there had been a fight and afterward the trail led right through those gates.

The massive gates were made of what looked like gold with intricate carvings, dotted with over two dozen fist-sized okka crystals, and were barred for the night with guards standing to either side. Well, they had been standing. Now they were slumbering thanks to a quick sleep spell.

“Well, how do you want to get inside? Should we just fly over?” Rebecca asked as we all considered the wall and gates.

There was a lot of magick energy running through both those gates and the wall. I turned to Lisa and grinned. “You know; I don’t know what my new limits for storing magick energy are. I think that I should find out. Would you like to join me for a recharge, apprentice-mine?”

Lisa grinned right back. “Oh, I don’t mind if I do, oh wise and powerful Master.”

I let Lisa get her fill first and then I sucked every drop of magick energy out of those gates and then started on the wall. I hadn’t taken quite everything in the wall but it was now effectively useless as a magical barrier. I only took that much because I wanted to use that magick energy while it was available and had needed to top myself up a couple of times while I took care of some important precautions before we moved on.

First, I had to cast the anti-Succubus spell that I had come up with on Lisa and explain it so she could use it. It was a combination of the mental protections that Xuriel had cast on me and a spell designed to ward against and filter out harmful gasses and toxins but also targeted toward Succubus pheromones, which I had Rebecca pump out. Much to my surprise, the spell seemed to work and my apprentice prepared to cast it herself.

It took everything that Lisa had to be able to cast it on Michelle. It also required a lot of focus on her part and it wasn’t quite as powerful as I could make it, but we had little choice since only Lisa could cast spells directly on her Familiar. She needed to recharge again afterward but there was plenty more magick energy for her in that wall and I had my second chore to see to while she did that.

Rebecca and I changed into our Succubus forms to rip every one of those fist-sized okka crystals from the door so that I could stuff them with as much magick energy as I could before topping myself up again from the wall. Those crystals could store a lot of magick energy for their size and I wanted to have some batteries available in case we ever ran dry again. Once they were filled and stored in the bunker, Rebecca and I worked together to rip those doors off their hinges as dawn began to break.

“Is this a good idea?” Rebecca asked, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking me in the eyes once we had finished our task. “The sun is rising and we’re going to risk being seen and having to fight our way to your cousin and fiancée. What about the prime directive and all that?”

“Fuck the prime directive, Beks,” I told her seriously. “They already know about people like us. They captured Lisa and Michelle and held them in a goddamn cage for over a week and it looks like they kidnapped Ziralin and Ellie now. I’m done with subtle. If these people have harmed one hair on either of their heads, then I will bring their precious city down around them. Besides, I think that it’s high time that people on both sides of this wall see how the other half lives. Vive la révolution.”

Rebecca nodded and smiled. “Good. I’m always up for sticking it to the rich and popular. I just wanted to make sure that you’re thinking straight and know what we’re probably in for. I’m a bitch, but you’re not that type of person and you’re kinda growing on me, sort of like fungus. I don’t want you to do anything you might regret later, Shannon.”

“Thanks, Beks, you’re growing on me too. Honestly, I’m okay. I’ve seen enough to know that these people hoard and abuse their power for their own sakes. We won’t kill anyone if we can avoid it, only in self-defense if there is no other way. We’re just making their lives a bit uncomfortable and giving those poor people on the outside a chance to fight back if they want to.”

Where the slums that we had landed in had been destitute and decrepit, the Makers’ area of the city was opulent and ostentatious. The streets were paved with smooth white cobblestones and the buildings were large and elaborate in their designs. Luxuries and magical conveniences, from street lights to self-propelled carriages, were everywhere that we looked. There were also a lot of Nhekarites with fancy magical armor and weapons, though those varied in appearance and abilities. Most likely by whatever Maker that they served.

The only thing they had in common was that they tried to get in our way. So we took them down and then refueled any magick energy that we had spent with their little toys. I would have thought that our actions would have raised some sort of general alarm but that didn’t seem to be the case. From what we overheard, they were all so sure of their power over those outside the wall and of the wall itself as a defense, that such a thing didn’t exist.

They didn’t work particularly well together either. In fact, some groups ended up fighting one another in hopes of being the ones to capture us for whatever ‘Sah’ that they happened to be working for. Sah seemed to be a title given to the Makers, and three of them attempted to catch us ‘interesting creatures’ themselves after their subordinates had failed. They weren’t Sahs any longer though because I sealed their ability to use magick once we had incapacitated them.

Michelle’s sharp senses led us to a large building guarded by yet more magically equipped goons. As soon as they saw us they began to talk excitedly about, “More new specimens for Sah Mharis.” Instead of reaching for the more obvious magical weapons that they wore they tossed some red spheres at us while we were still approaching.

“Move!” I called out as I used my wings to get a bit of air. Lisa and Michelle tried to get behind cover as the spheres shattered on the ground, releasing some sort of thick red gas. Rebecca wasn’t quite quick enough to get into the air with me though and passed out. I quickly cast a spell to summon a wind strong enough to blow it back in our attackers’ faces. They only had a few seconds to realize what was happening and panic about it before the gas hit them and they collapsed.

I landed by Michelle and Lisa while we waited for the red mist to clear. “You girls okay,” I asked. Lisa looked okay but Michelle was looking toward Rebecca’s prone form in concern.

Lisa nodded and while Michelle was still looking at Rebecca she mumbled, “Holy crap, whatever that shit is it's fucking strong. I got a little whiff of it but other than a moment of drowsiness, I’m fine.”

“You also have a much more powerful sense of smell than me and weren’t able to get clear as quick as Shannon,” Lisa pointed out, looking over her Familiar in concern. “It’s probably some kind of potent sedative. You would have probably been in dreamland too if you hadn’t had the protection from gasses and airborne contaminants portion of the anti-Succubus spell that I cast on you. Just sit still for a minute, Kitten.”

“Yeah, really potent. Rebecca was out, like instantly, but Succubae have a pretty powerful sense of smell and she didn’t have your magical protection. Still, it affected those jerks almost as quickly,” I said with a glance toward our most recent attackers. “At least now we know how they managed to capture Ziralin and Ellie. I’m going to cast a purification spell on Becca, wake her up, and then drain their weapons to top up my magical fuel tank.”

By the time Rebecca was awake and the goons’ magical equipment was drained Lisa was convinced that Michelle was fine. “Beks, would you mind knocking?” I asked, gesturing to the overly ostentatiously carved wooden door to the building.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the other pseudo-Succubus replied with a grin before punching it hard enough to send splinters of wood flying everywhere and leaving a gaping hole in the door. Then she just grabbed what was left and tore it from the doorframe to toss it casually aside. “Oh look, they left it open. I say we should accept their gracious invitation.”

Michelle quietly chortled beside me as both Lisa and I had trouble keeping smiles off our faces. “You could have just opened it, Becca. Was the gratuitous violence really necessary?” Lisa commented dryly.

Rebecca shrugs and shifted her wings. “They gassed me, tried to capture us for Goddess knows what, they’re probably holding your friends captive, they take slaves, and they’re kinda abusive assholes in general. At times like these, gratuitous violence is always necessary. Not to mention oh-so-satisfying.”

We stepped into the room beyond the front entrance but, besides the Nhekar version of the trappings of wealth, there wasn’t really much to see. The place was huge though. there were ramps leading up to a second floor and hallways branching off in several directions. “Can you sense her yet, Shannon?” Michelle asked in concern.

I shook my head. I couldn’t sense anything yet and as much as I was trying to remain calm and not worry the others, it was starting to really worry me. “Nothing yet. It looks like we’ll have to treat this like a Sorcerer hunt.”

“A Sorcerer hunt?” Rebecca asked in confusion.

“It was one of the first lessons not directly related to magick that Shannon taught me,” Lisa explained. “It kind of works for Demons too. The general rule of thumb is to never look for the victims or possible victims. Unless you know them personally, you won’t get anywhere. Always look for the asshole with the magick. Usually, the victims won’t be far away.”

“Yeah, we just had to narrow down the area first this time to get a better idea of which particular asshole we were looking for,” I added as I reached out with my magick sense. “I sense four potential assholes. One is off by itself and doesn’t feel as powerful as the others. Feels like somewhere up those stairs. The other three are together and somewhere down that hallway. I’m betting that that is where we’ll find Ziralin and Ellie.” I tried to ignore the, “or what’s left of them,” that my fear-addled brain was attempting to add to that and led the way down the hallway in question.

There were several doors down the hallway but none of them were of interest to me. That is until I found one that opened to a spiral ramp going downward. Michelle groaned as she saw where I had stopped us. “Why is it always the basement? Talk about cliché. Can’t people on any Plane of existence do their shady business deals and experiments in a nice sunroom or garden?” I couldn’t respond, my heart was beating too quickly and I was having trouble breathing as I led the way down.