Gaia's Champion Ch. 50 - Teaser (Patreon)

“Your house is cursed with malevolent magic, which is why life has likely felt so dour and depressing for you. These energies were supposed to overwhelm your mind and drive you to a dark and foreboding place. In short, the magic here was designed to make it so you could have no happiness. To where you believed it would never come again and think that checking out early would be the better option,” Dimitrius explained.

“It was… supposed to make me… kill myself?” Jennifer gasped, shocked at this revelation.

“Yes,” he replied, his voice low and resonant. “But it hasn’t, because the full power of it is being tied up, diverted by another form of magic. Something else is at play here, interfering with the dark magic, preventing it from reaching its full potential.”

“It’s almost as if the dark magic is fighting a losing battle, struggling to assert its dominance while being ensnared by a more potent force. So long as this opposing magic holds fast, the house’s dark energies will remain diminished, unable to achieve their intended effect,” the warlock went on. “Which probably explains the hex we found on you last night.”

“What?! What is it you are saying?” the blonde woman asked, almost demanding an answer.

“Jennifer,” Valerie began, her voice gentle but firm, “the hexes we removed from you last night were likely placed to ensure you would end your life. The dark magic on this house, weakened as it is, couldn’t affect you properly. That’s probably why the Black Witch cursed you in the first place. The dark energies were insufficient on their own, so she resorted to direct hexes to push you to despair.”

“OK, just a minute! Let me see if I have this straight. You’re saying that my house was cursed with some sort of dark magic, which was supposed to drive me to suicide, but it didn’t work? So, that twatwaffle of a woman, who is likely a Black Witch, resorted to cursing me directly? Just so I would go and take my own life as she planned?” Jennifer asked, making sure she had the facts correct.

“That is our guess of your situation, yes. But, it is an educated guess,” Dimitrius stated.

“How would you know what this woman did to me?” Jennifer asked, curious as to how he had come to that conclusion.

“It’s something I would have done, as I used to be a Dark Father myself,” Dimitrius told her. Upon seeing her confusion, the man elaborated further.

“I used to be a Black Warlock. The title of Dark Father is given only to those who reach power levels high enough to form their own coven of disciples, and teach them such magics.”

“Y-you… you are…” Jennifer stuttered.

“I was. The keyword being ‘was’. I walked away from that life when I still had the chance to do so. I now spend my time trying to balance the scales, to undo the darkness that I have wrought,” Dimitrius said with a semi-guilty look.

“Plus, he has me to help keep him in line,” Valerie giggled as she wrapped her arms around Dimitrius’ midsection. Jennifer gaped for a moment before she shook herself, blushing slightly at the affectionate display.

As she sighed to herself, Jennifer felt a mix of relief and apprehension. She finally understood why her life had felt so off, so wrong, for all these years. The revelation was a double-edged sword, bringing clarity but also an unsettling awareness of the forces at play around her.

The inexplicable sense of dread, the feeling of being constantly watched, the oppressive atmosphere that had haunted her—everything now made sense. How her life had been off since the divorce and her subsequent job loss. How no one ever came to visit her anymore, even though she worked hard to maintain her friendships.

The very thought of her home being cursed like she had been rocked her in a way she never thought possible. But there it was, and Jennifer now knew why everything had fallen apart for her in the last few years. With her hazel eyes filled with a mix of hope and trepidation, Jennifer looked at Dimitrius.

“Can the Dark Magic on my house be dispelled?” she asked, her voice steady despite the underlying tension. Dimitrius, with a confident and almost casual demeanor, gave her a reassuring smile.