"I want to know about the person who gave you the shadowbane. Like you said, it's an herb that comes from the Shadow Dimension. Only Shadow Demons can fully access the Shadow Dimension," Delaney said in a level voice.

"So can half Shadow Demons. My husband was half Eoduun," Sariya said plainly.

Delaney frowned slightly. "Half-breeds can only access the periphery," she said.

Sariya frowned slightly as well. "Maybe because my husband grew up in the Shadow Dimension. He told me that when he was young, his father showed up and took him from his mother," she explained. 

Delaney nodded. She took a deep breath and let it out slightly. "Do you know the name of the Shadow Demon?" she asked

"Alizabab," Sariya answered. She didn't mind answering these questions.

"Alizabab," Delaney repeated in a low voice. "You are pregnant, right? May I cast a blood resonance?" she asked.

This request surprised everyone. Sariya nodded slightly. She didn’t know where this was going but she was open minded.

Delaney stood and approached her. With a twist of her wrist, a white wisp of light floated above her palm. It moved to hover near Sariya's abdomen. The light began to pulse lightly. The room was deathly quiet as they watched. The light began to change color and began to glow red.

Delaney took a shaking breath and flicked her hand, disengaging the spell. She sat back down. "Now it's my turn to share about me," she said. "My world is called Terranthea. It's mostly made up of humans. Modern humans have only existed for about fifteen thousand years. Starting from a hunter-gatherer society, we became a sprawling civilization with massive cities and towering buildings. Technology is advancing every year.

"As technology took over human lives, magic and magical creatures became the things of myths and legends. We, the witchborn have always existed from the earliest days. Religions have persecuted witchborn periodically over the years until collectively the majority just no longer believe in magic.

"Even in our darkest times, the witchborn protected the world from demons from the Lower Realm. But the demons were getting stronger and smarter. About fifty years ago, demons began amassing followers, influencing politicians. The witchborn became exposed. Now we're hunted down, arrested. The landscape of our world is no longer within the power of the witchborn to protect. So, I've been looking for a new home for my family. We, the Crowleys, are the enemies of the people according to the anti-witch laws," she said the last part wryly.

Her audience was rapt. "Why? Is your family special? How are you connected to Qazim?" Darius asked. 

"The Crowleys were always a powerful family. Our powers were always strongly connected to nature. But my mother and her sisters are even more special. My grandmother met a fallen god. Lowercase god from the Upper Realm connected to our world. He was a Cat deity. He had six daughters with my grandmother before he was hunted down by others from the Upper Realm and killed. From what I understand, the existence of my grandmother and her daughters was a secret that the Upper Realm never knew about.

"The Crowleys continued to fight demons. When my mother was a young woman, they came across a Shadow Demon. It was recorded in our family grimoire that Shadow Demons weren't from the Lower Realm. They could use the Shadow Dimension to travel anywhere in the universe and cause havoc. This Shadow Demon took a liking to my mother. They finally managed to combine their power to send him back to the Shadow Dimension and restrict him from appearing again. But it was too late. I was already cooking."

"That Shadow Demon was Alizabab?" Sariya asked. She wasn't sure what exactly the results of the blood resonance were.

Delaney shook her head slightly. "My mother and aunts didn't know his true name. He was a strange character and just went by 'Babs'. But the blood resonance proves that I have a direct blood relation with your child. You seem to be carrying my nibling," she said with a soft smile.

She became serious again. "Things were still okay then. Things got better for a while. Demon appearances weren't as frequent. However, my mother and aunts were getting older but not aging. I was getting older and not aging. My grandmother died from old age, and we all were paused. This was not a major problem, it just meant we could protect the world for longer."

"The demons were already working on humans behind the scenes, right?" Darius asked. The Hunter Wars lasted less than a century, but it seemed as though Terranthea had been fighting demons for as long as humans existed.

Delaney nodded. "About thirty years ago, one of my aunts fell in love with a male witchborn, and wanted to have a family. Things were still more or less fine then. We noticed the uptick of demon activity, but didn't notice the things humans were doing." She smiled sadly. "Five years ago, anti-witch laws were passed worldwide. Every major country passed them at almost the same time. Our neighbors turned against us. My uncle was killed not by demons, but a mob of people, his neighbors and co-workers.

"We can't hurt humans. His hands were tied with what he could do to fight back, but our house was burned. Things like that began happening everywhere. Innocent people were persecuted. It was another era of witch trials, but worse. We've been hiding ever since, while still trying to fight demons. Therefore, we need a safe place. I hope to find a haven for all witchborn so that we can amass power, return one day, and seal up the Lower Realm forever." She clenched her fists and sniffed as she fought to control her emotions.

"Since I can use the Shadow Dimension to travel, I've been looking for years. I was beginning to give up hope that we would ever find a haven," she smiled again finally, "Then y’all walked through the void."

Chrystianna smiled as well. "It was fate for you to discover Emphyralis. You are welcome to come and see if it's suitable for your family," she said.

Delaney felt relief. "Thank you. Thank you very much," she said and almost teared up again.

They let her have a moment to collect herself, before Darius spoke. "What idea do you have for dealing with the Hunters?" 

Once composed, Delaney answered. "They have a camp in the mountains. If you give me some shadowbane, I can deal with them easily. Then all you have to worry about are the mountain trolls and the ones that are coming from Tarrytown," she said. "I can use shadow magic to cloak myself, almost the same way your other companion uses the void to hide himself. I use the Shadow Dimension to hide myself," she explained.

"Can you cloak other people?" Darius asked.

Delaney nodded. "I can. Why?" she wondered.

"Take Britiana. Her dimensional magic is strong enough to steal a spaceship," Darius answered. "Mom can contain the villagers, and Guennit will sneak attack the mountain trolls. Sariya and I should be able to handle the other Hunters," he said.

Having made a game plan, they called Guennit back in and began to hammer out the details.