The blood stained sand was traced in lines that formed a pentagram covering most of the Church of Darkness' floor. The nervous families gathered together in the middle of the church dressed in their black traveling robes and their fashionable pointed rain hats carrying the few supplies allowed. Melindas baby squirmed in her mothers arms as if she sensed the anxiety in the room. Toddlers were peering through their mothers legs silently inspecting the other families gathered together. Husbands and wives kissed eachother as if for the last time.

They stood in the center of the pentagram anxiously looking toward their Priestess, awaiting the outcome of the biggest decision of their lives. It was a gamble, but it was the right thing to do. Their magic was too powerful. It was time. After weeks of preperation the group was assembled and ready to leave the world and their magic behind.

"How much demonkin blood did we acquire from our allies?"

"I only managed to procure enough that should last about 20 years if we ration the rituals. After that we will have to use the rest to return to a hopefully better world than this. We had connections to acquire more but when the king sent his seekers through the city the demonkin had to be evacuated to the Reglar hidden bunkers."

"Well it will have to last. Its time to start the ritual."

Alanor was a beautiful world. It was filled with magic, monsters, magical plants and creatures. The landscapes were as beautiful as they were deadly. Some monsters were more obvious than others. Many would consider the king to be one of those monsters.

His parents were the stuff of legends. They united the realms and ushered an age of peace to the continent of Nort. He was the proud prince of the great house of Lycor. And after his parents were found in their parlor, poisoned by darkshade he became king.

Darkshade was one of thousands of poisons that grew in Alanor. Some of the deeper forests were ventured by brave herbalists who made alchemical poisons for spiteful nobles and the various assassins guilds. Just walking through these areas risked death. Sightless airless poison clouds were given by the exhale of a breathshroom, a hard to see mushroom that grows on the base of Avarack trees. Even the bleekmoss creeping underfoot can leak through your shoes and slowly poison your skin. A hindervine brushing against your hand can cause your entire arm to slough off. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Poisons were a risky business.

This particular poison only grew in the continent of Reglar. Reglar was an island off the continent of Nort and also the home of the demonkin, a race of demon-like humanoids. The male demonkin had pale blue skin and black horn nubs and the female demonkin had pale pink skin and white horn nubs. A pair of nubs could be sold to a local merchant for a whole gold coin, which was enough to support a family for a year. Nubs were a lifesaving ingredient could be grounded down and used to make a potent healing potion. Some demonkin would remove their nubs themselves to help support a friend. The effects of this procedure was head pain that would last the rest of their lifetime.

Demonkin were just like thier magical friends, only the demonkins magical blood contained a complex art that created wonders. A single drop of their blood could fuel a master quality spell. The Church of Darkness were their allies and friends. But they were the only ones.

Ever since the power of their blood was discovered they were hunted to almost extinction. Humanoids who weren't gifted with magical blood would use their blood to fuel their spells. In parts of Nort, demonkin were kept magically bound to be used as slave labor and bloodwhores. While demonkin blood was potent, they could not cast a ritual. They had all the instinctual knowledge of magics, but none of the aptitude. They were a friendly passive race struggling for survival. The church worshipped the wealth of power and knowledge the demonkin had. And the king believed they killed his amazing parents.

The Church of Darkness were a sect that was especially adept at their extreme power and control in magic. So adept that King Lycor ordered them to prove their loyalty by ripping the blood and souls from the demonkin in Reglar, or face their own extinction. King Lycor gave them two weeks to complete the ritual and eliminate his enemy. Their town had been monitored by mercenary forces since the order was given.

When King Lycor declared war on all demonkin and ordered their extinction the Church was not suprised only saddened. Their clan had been hiding and freeing demonkin from the Norts for the past few decades. They had been smuggling them into Talah, the beastkin continent to the north but soon found that the tribes that pledged to help liberate the demonkin had betrayed them and most decided enslavement was a better option.

When this was discovered they rushed underground construction with some bribes to a tribe of trusted dwarves and began moving the last of the demonkin into hiding. As the demonkin began to dissappear, the church began to be targeted by the kingdom.

Supporting the demonkin was beneficial to their chuch. Over the past few decades they had revieved a plethora of knowledge on all the magics. Their founding principle was to never take from demonkin what was not given freely. And today they would be using the final knowledge gifted from their last demonkin contact to escape the dire fate their helping hands had given them.

The mages of the church of darkness almost had enough knowledge and power to win if they chose to challenge the king. They only needed a few more decades to create magic enough to break his enchantments. The mages had finally found a way to purify their blood to procreate with demonkin. But there were only 5 families left after the kings purge. Now they were gathered together to "exterminate the demonkin" as far as the mercs were concerned but with the knowledge gained from the demonkin they had made other plans. The demonkin couldnt travel with their magical unawakened blood, but the mages could.

Mana was the fuel for magic. It could be seen by people with manasense as a thick purple and gold cloud that swirled around and in us through the atmosphere in Alanor. It helped control the elements by the will of sentient magical creatures. The more mana in the blood the more intense the spells the user could cast. If demonkin blood was like mana whiskey, mage blood was like mana wine. But without circulating mana from the air to the blood, mage blood would instantly lose its magic. Containment magic proved this fatal by constricting spell usage during combat. This is what made this pilgrimage risky because where they were going, there was no mana.

Melinda clutched her husband's nubs in her hand and her baby in her other. It was the last thing he could do for her before he was caught and drained. She remembered when they first met, she had been running through the village on an errand to pick up some herbs for her moms tonic and she ran right into him toppling over head over feet. She landed in a mud puddle and after sitting in it for a minute they laughed and laughed. His mom noticed and brought her in, cleaned her up, and fed her.

Declans' mother was a magemind. Her will influenced the grandest and most magnificent rituals that created wonders from nothing. She explained it as test of wills where her will would battle against the obscurity of the runes the mages would need for each ritual. She was feared and worshiped but mainly she was loved.

"Oh don't you clean up just nice doesnt she Declan?"

"....yeah" he said with a small smile directed at Melinda. That was the first time she felt her heart flutter. Her and Declan had become fast friends. He would wait outside her gate every day to walk her to and from the markets or to take strolls through the gardens. They started off talking about their lives then talked about their dreams. Walking turned to holding hands and that turned into kisses. It wasnt until the next summer that he finally proposed.

"What about children Declan?" It was common knowledge that demonkin and humans rarely had successful birth.

"Lets take life as it comes, love. I'm happy just spending my life with you."

A few years later Declans mother finished what became her life's work, a ritual to purify mageblood for her daughter-in-law. The battle of wills for the runes almost killed her, but she was there the day when it was announced with love and all the joys of new parents that their daughter was finally conceived. She was born with black blue hair like her father and teal eyes like her mother. No nubs. A beautiful anomaly.

Melinda's finger was wrapped in her daughters little hand and she felt soothing coming from the little fingers. "Hush little one, our adventure is about to begin."

And as the priestess hummed the ritual to a close the portal flashed, bringing the group of witches to the mana void planet of Earth. As the group of mages dissappeared into the void, all the vials of demonkin blood splashed to the ground. The vials would arrive on Earth, just not the contents. The ritual consumed the blood and locked the portal for centuries.