Battles We All Must Face.
The Mystic Judge.
Renee And Nik Milford.

The air in the space was tense, the only word that could truly describe it as it was indeed tense standing and sitting in the large hallways of the court in the mystic section of it, long before humanity and mystics had decided to live in blissful ignorant harmony there were no courts, no viable judges who knew mystic law that could truly deliberate over matters like these, but thanks to the grace of Goddess, Renee could be at ease knowing he'd rallied more than five mystic lawyers and the prominent, well renowned Dean Harold to help him fight for his family, his children, Adrian was a miracle worker, they knew what had happened but what kind of coincidence was that, it's as if fate wove on a different tapesty for him than the rest of the world, it was a beautiful thing.

For a whole month they had deliberated, discussed and had been in and out of court, getting hit with losses and wins but today was the day they would get the final verdict of who would have permanent custody of the children, so therefore this is why the air sizzled with power as Neill groaned and challenged Nik with a piercing gaze. "Have you no shame?" He hissed standing up and so did Nik, he wasn't afraid to defend himself against Neill or any of his siblings. "You're the one without shame Mister Sovietro and if you hadn't noticed we're in the hallways of court, it'll be wise if you just sit down and stay silent." Nik retorted never breaking eye contact, then Neill chuckled as his brother Mihkail came over to where they were. "Brother, he's right, don't do anything stupid." He warned as Neill backed away slowly.

"I wonder why he's even doing this, the kids don't need this in their lives, they have stability, love and a family, he wants to exploit them, leave them empty and never capable of accepting love, no wonder Johnny broke the mating." Nik mumbled as he stood next to his mate who just took his hand. "What did you say?" Neill came up front again, threatening in his gaze. "He's right." The patriarchs voice boomed in the hallways with decorative pictures of art and law. "What, —father what are you doing here?" Neill growled and the Milford's had the same question, what was he doing here, had he come to make sure they lost.

"I'm here on behalf of my grandchildren, Harold informed me of this misguided plan of yours to claim the children that won't even acknowledge you as their father, and the judge presiding over your little waste of the Milford's time called me in a week ago to give my testimony in private, you keep raising the bar of my disappointment Neill, truly, and you Mikhail always your brother's keeper in all his madness, leave." The patriarch all but finished with a guttural growl, an enormous amount of will over others filling the very hallways and the air itself, Renee couldn't believe there was someone this strong besides their children, of course they had experienced power before but the patriarch was ridiculously strong. The couple remained silent, breathed better as Mikhail turned tail and left.

"I know you won't speak to me, it would be a betrayal of your children I understand, but be that as it may, as parents you're allowed to speak to me, tell me, how are they and how is my grandson doing after breaking his bond?" He asked Renee who breathed deep and nodded. "Jonathan still struggles at times but being with us and healing with Adrian, he's become better, really better, plus therapy works, both he and Lorenzo are going to therapy, coming to terms with what happened, as for the rest of our children, they are fine, happy." The witch replied with a mother like glow, whenever Renee spoke about his children a glow overtook him. "I'm glad, and congratulations." The large mountain of man rather wolf replied as Renee and Nik both nodded in appreciation.

In the weeks that followed after the bakery incident, Renee resigned, worked full time at the cafe which now had four stars from the critics of Greenway Bay, he'd also told his mate that he was pregnant, Nik had been overjoyed, and then Adrian broke the news of his pregnancy, life wasn't ever the same, the two of them were about to be parents again and grandparents, an accomplishment not many thought they could reach — now they had and they couldn't wait to have more of these special moments. "You alright my love, water— need a seat, I'll get you a snack." Nik fussed over his mate who just chuckled to himself. "I'm fine, just very nervous." He chuckled again hugging his Nik. As the mates separated the huge clock above chimed, it was time for their session.

The doors opened on their own as Neill and his father went in first, Renee breathed deep as Nik became his source of strength and walked in after the wolves, it wasn't an extravagant office much the opposite, it spoke of an educated woman yes but the touches of furniture and art made you feel relaxed in the place. "Good morning your honor." Neill went first as she settled in her seat. "Good morning mister Sovietro, patriarch." She acknowledged as she turned to the Milfords. "Good morning your honor." Renee stated as the woman nodded, her chocolate skin was so effortless, for someone deliberating over a major matter she seemed relaxed, and calm, an air of reassurance around her, as her obsidian eyes sparkled. "Good morning." She curtly replied placing a file on her large oak desk.

"I've made this clear before and I will make it clear again, this isn't a case I'd say is challenging, far from it really since it's not complicated to deduce the problem and what led to it, a team of ten candidates as our jury and myself made a conclusion on your case yesterday, after ten minutes we had come to a conclusion, mister Neill Sovietro, your claim to Adrian, Jonathan, Mark and Martin is far from parental instinct as you may have liked me to believe, far from it rather, Adrian Brooke gave a testimony here with my team that made them cry, yes they couldn't be swayed, but they were hurt, to abandon a child with three siblings, to never love him and expect him to take care of your responsibility for you, —is cruel and frankly we don't tolerate it, these children have tended to themselves for a long time until the Milfords came along and took them in, gave them a home with much more love than they already had. The same could be said for your father who knew they existed but never cared to even check on them, but that is an issue entirely out of bounds at this point, and frankly this wouldn't have gone any other way." She stated, her eyes hardened looking at Neill as if he were trash.

"Martin Brooke Milford, Mark Brooke Milford and Jonathan Brooke Milford are to remain in the custody of their adoptive parents Renee and Nik Milford, any attempt you may try to take the children forcefully in any way or form will result in your immediate incarceration, as for Adrian Brooke Milford you cannot claim custody as he is now an adult and from my understanding in this court, if he is mated then the law states that his rights and choices are not to be violated, furthermore Adrian revealed to court that he's the submissive partner in his mating, —." Renee gasped, he knew exactly what she was about to say, he'd learned about it recently. "Mystic law states that his now primary custodians are his extended family, if he were to break the mating he still would have the choice to be with the Milfords or not, you don't get to interfere, and let me warn you again, the court does not care who you are Neill, the law is the law and I'll make sure it takes its due course if you violate this ruling." She concluded as Renee hugged his husband.

"Thank you so much your honor." Renee cried as Neill stormed out of the office but no one cared. Renee stood up and shook the woman's hands but she pulled him in for a hug. "Mothers are special things Renee, even if you're a man, to those boys, you're a mother, have a good day." She expressed as they separated, Renee couldn't be happier. "Take care Renee, Nik, I know my son, he's not easily swayed once he's brewed up a plan like this, protect your family, I will do whatever I can to make sure he does not harm any of you." The wolf reassured before nodding to them and leaving them in the hallway. "Come my love, let's go celebrate with our children." Renee sweetly stated as he kissed his mate then made their way out of the building.

Lorenzo Milford.

Being lied to by someone you never thought could lie to you hurt, but the realization that the lies you were told never made sense in the first place, creates a sense of unease and yet acceptance, yes he lied but now as I think back on it, it was stupid, that's how Enzo felt, Kyle had played them, yes he was their mate, yes he was part of them but he'd put in motion plans of his own, lies and excuses to things that even mates didn't need excuses from, he had to applaud him though, he had been smart and truly hidden well about how he felt, but time revealed all even when it healed all too, it couldn't stay hidden forever, in their lives secrets never stay hidden, they always come to the light in an amazing way, even when you don't want them to, it's why Enzo waa honest about his past to Johnny and his family.

He wasn't well educated, he was just a soldier taken from his family and deprived of his rights to anything until he came here and he was reborn in this world when Adrian saved him, he would always be grateful for that. "Bye Lorenzo, see you tomorrow!" That was Katie, she was a mother of two, married and was tired of being home unable to fulfil her own dreams, so she decided to join the night classes Enzo attended at Johnny's highschool, she had helped him and he returned the favour when she needed help with school related problems, she knew Enzo was gay and had a husband, Jonathan, they actually bonded over how it would be nice to actually be the ones yelling they're home after all this.

"Bye!" He called back as he began his walk, Enzo hadn't brought his car today since he felt like walking but now he was regretting that, Johnny had warned him he would, and now he was. "One portal home." Enzo muttered as he held out his hand once he found a secluded spot past the few streets of the school, the portal opened and he walked through expecting to be home but when he appeared back by the school, he knew something was wrong. "Revele." He commanded the space around him as magic in the air finally made it presence known, someone was warping space. So he decided to make a run for it, Enzo made a dash past the streets he'd wanted to pass but ended up back where he started.

"What the—." He now knew it was an active spell, anything he did it wouldn't matter, he was trapped, but if you overload the warp with mana it would shatter, so Enzo released his aura all around him, he filled the space with demonic aura and mana until it began to groan, the spell was being affected, so he increased his push outward and the groans increased until the sound of glass shattering echoed around him. "That was not fun." He heaved as he fell to one knee pulling all the mana he'd spent back into his body slowly. Lightning was hurled from above him and just as it neared him  an orange almost red shield appeared blocking and absorbing the hit, more bolts of lightning appeared but the barrier worked well and Enzo was grateful for Adrian, his protection never failed.

"Whoever you are, what do you want?!" Enzo called out with a guttural growl as the blonde woman he saw before appeared from the shadows, he knew someone would come for him at some point, like the rest of his blended family, he was rare. "You ofcourse dear, I couldn't help notice all that power, rare." She mumbled with a sultry smile on her red lips, he could feel her animosity, she might've seemed weak but Enzo had learned never to underestimate a witch, they always, and he meant it, always had a trick up their sleeves. So he attacked first, creating a sand storm, conjuring sand from nothing was hard luckily he had glass, concrete and mud near him so he punched the ground. "Seventh Circle: Sand Chaos." He muttered as it whipped around into a storm, Enzo made a dash to escape but blondie cast her own spell breaking his.

She created a whip from nature and imbued it with her mana to attack Enzo but the barrier activated and kept him safe, causing his witch aggressor to groan and attack with ice beams, Enzo rolled out of the way as he stood up conjuring water into existence then whipping it around him then shaped it into  sharp blades, they all converged in front of him and he set them on her, she dodged each one but Enzo smirked pointing upwards as he had opened a circle of glyphs that rained cursed lightning on her. "Stop ah!" She screamed before the circle was overtaken by a red will and shattered. "You have got to be kidding me." Enzo groaned as Kyle walked into the light.

"Hello lover, miss me?" He questioned with a slight pout, Enzo expected to feel something like all lovers do when they see their ex, he felt nothing, as if Kyle had never shared their bed, or kisses, nothing, all he could feel now was Johnny. So without wanting to stick around more Enzo got serious. "Forbidden Circle: Damned Soul awakening." He opened the circle and black smoke slithered out, rolling out like a fog. "Masters of creation, sands of the beginning bring forth my creation." He added to his conjure as from nothing and broken earth golems broke out of the ground, he made them the host of the damned souls. "Attack." He ordered as the blonde had a look of awe in her eyes but Enzo just wanted to get out of there whilst they were occupied.

"Ah —ah ah, not so fast." Johnny groaned as another woman showed up. "What do you want now?" He growled toward the woman with black wavy hair piercing green eyes and a smile that probably meant she was enjoying this. "You're pretty good with conjuring, but can you handle this?" She asked as she hurled fire at him, he knew it was imbued with magic to make it deadly, but as the fire came at him it never reached him as protection came. He looked around, the golems were still fighting but loosing as Kyle had destroyed the second last one. "We just want to talk!" He called out walking forward after the woman stopped her inferno. "Talking to you might aswell be considered treason of some kind, so no, we aren't talking." Enzo replied as he concentrated on his connection with Renee, used him as the anchor to his this method of teleportation.

"I realize when I shattered the warp you created a much deadlier version of that warp, it would render me powerless if I crossed the barrier, that's why you decided to fight so you could push me to the barriers edge, not smart since I can sense magic like the rest of you." Enzo explained as the blonde scowled, his intuition was right, once his connection to Renee was strong he smiled toward Kyle. "Whatever game you're up to, whatever you think your self righteous morals are leading you to, you are wrong, and I hope when you realize, it won't be too late for you." Enzo stated as he bowed to the two witches. "Stay far from my family Kyle, you know what I'll do to you if you don't." He warned as black flames began burning his body away, it was painless since it was just another form of teleporting.

Enzo appeared in his adoptive parent's bedroom, right onto of their bed. "Um honey, what are you doing in here, on the bed, with your artistically muddy shoes on?" Renee asked as he walked in with Martin in his arms, the kid had a fever so he became extra clingy to daddy. "Um, about that—." Enzo chuckled nervously.

Adrian Brooke.

"What is going on Mornell, it's game night at home." Adrian whined as he was at the precinct, specifically at the front where Mornell was with a team of police officers. "I'm sorry Adrian I wouldn't have called if it wasn't important but we need your help." She stated as Adrian nodded and waited for her to explain, he knew she was right too, Mornell called when it was truly an emergency. "My partner, Gary, he was working on a case that happened two weeks ago, four men highjacked a cargo truck headed out of town, and killed the driver along with two workers, the other workers in the back fled before they were caught and reported what happened, my partner had been looking into leads that could possibly tell us where the truck and the highjackers went, he found it yesterday and was scouting out the place today, I thought he would send me an alert for back up, but he didn't, we've been trying to contact him all day but his phone wont go through and I have no idea where he is since we hadn't properly talked about the area he was checking out, Adrian they sent a warning that if we approached, they'd kill him." She explained and Adrian felt sorry for the woman, Gary was abrasive at best but once you got to know him you'd know he was a perpetual grouch but effective at his job.

"So you want me to find out where he is in the city, but if I do and you go there guns blazing won't you get him killed?" Adrian asked as he diverted his attention away from a passing soul, he couldn't help right now, he already had a crisis. "I know that, but we need to take some risk, we can't lose one of our own, Gary is the best at what he does, despite his shit attitude to new people." Mornell exclaimed and Adrian chuckled with a nod. You are the medium, not to mystics or animals, you are the medium to all creatures. Adrian heard the whispers when he'd hesitated but that soon was thrown out the window. "I can do something better, but I need your trust." Adrian told Mornell who nodded. "Just tell me it's not voodoo, it creeps me out." She asserted making Adrian laugh.

"Get me anything from Gary, and a map of the city." He told her and she quickly nodded ordering the other officers and soon enough the map was spread over the hood of Mornell's car. "What are we doing exactly Mornell?" A detective from what Adrian could gather without breaking his focus asked. "Ment, I have no time for your skepticism here alright, let Adrian do what his best at." She defended as the man snickered muttering something about make believe magic. "Inveniat soldatu macion phetuna sol." Adrian cast the spell as the black sand he conjured moved on the map surprising Mornell and the officers close to them. "Are you sure he's there?" The detective questioned. "I'm never wrong, he's at the docks." He reassured and soon enough Adrian, Mornell and the other officers were on their way to the docks in silent cars.

"I need to go inside alone, get Gary out and you're free to do whatever you want." Adrian explained as Mornell looked at him as if he were mad but she sighed. "You probably don't want back up." She asserted. "Nope."

Adrian got out of the car as they parked a fair distance away from the docks whereas to not alert the goons inside. "Five minutes, seven at best." Mornell warned him and he nodded as his body vanished, being psychic was a blessing, no one could see him, feel him or even hear his heart beating, plus he could walk through walls, so when he walked into the first warehouse and found nothing, he knew he needed to get a move on since there were many others in the dockyard. So Adrian focused, reigniting the spell for Gary anchoring it with the watch he got from Mornell, he found the man instantly and ported to him.

Gary had been beaten and tied up inside a crater where it seems there was merchandise most likely unclaimed or export. "Gary are you okay?" Adrian questioned rousing the man awake with slight shaking, when he groaned Adrian realized he probably was badly hurt. "Don't worry Gary, I'll get you out but I need to heal you first." Adrian added as he placed his palms on Gary, a green and orange glow overcame the man's body healing him slowly, the man groaned as Adrian's magic forced his broken bones back together rapidly until they felt as if they hadn't in the first place, his face was no longer swollen just bloody. He dragged in a breath as his eyes widened in shock. "Adrian." He exclaimed as Adrian placed his hand on his beating heart.

"Where am I, —wait how did you get in—." He began firing questions but Adrian clenched his fist shutting him up. "There are still people here who want to kill you, so I'd ask the questions later, right now I need you to stand and follow me." Adrian explained as Gary nodded and got to his feet, as he held out his hand and an orange portal appeared. "What is that?" Gary demanded. "The way to safety." He replied as he took the older gentleman's hand and walked through with him. A portal opened a distance away from Mornell and the other police officers, Adrian made sure they couldn't see it's glow until it closed and he along with Gary made their way to Mornell.

"Gary, oh goodness, are you alright?" Mornell was the first to notice as she ran to Adrian and Gary wrapping her arms around Gary, Adrian let them have their moment as the police officers stood shocked. "You're welcome." Adrian muttered as more vehicles for the police showed up and they went in pursuit of their criminals. "Thank you so much Adrian, I knew calling you was the right thing, you saved him." Mornell thanked Adrian in their embrace as he just accepted the hug. "Thank you Adrian, I didn't know if I was going to get out this one alive." Gary expressed as he hugged Adrian too. "Lets get you checked out." Mornell stated after Gary let go of Adrian.

"I'll drop you off at home, just give me five minutes." The detective added as she escorted Gary to an ambulance, Adrian smiled as he looked up to the stars, this was how it felt to do good huh, the feeling was always amazing. "I see you nabbing criminals." Jax muttered next to him, he'd allowed him to astral project in reverse. "It feels good." Adrian chuckled as he looked at Jax whose eyes shined with love as they stood next to each other. "You could become, what do they call it, yeah—a consultant, you are studying in the field." Jax suggested and Adrian chuckled. "Maybe that's an option but my number one choice is waiting to see how it goes after school, I'll see you soon." Adrian replied as Jax made a kissy face before vanishing. "Ready to go home?" Mornell asked. "Yeah."

+++

So I realized in the first parts of the book Adrian claimed to help ghosts but now as his power grows, I'm also learning that his power and being the medium isn't just for ghosts, even people he must help.

So I hope you're enjoying the story so far.

I Am Saint Jay.