The Unification

I was tired. Tired of the repeated issues that plagued my family for as long as I could remember. My parents always fought, and my dad would often leave the house for weeks if not months. I was too little to remember what their arguments were about, but I remember my elder brother, Tom, being angry with Mom over Dad always leaving. One day, Dad left and never came back. I was ten at the time.

Tom was the next to leave; he joined the Navy just five years later, as soon as he turned eighteen. I was left alone with Mom, who fell ill the very next year. It was cancer. She fought hard for five long years, but it eventually got the best of her. It has been a year since Mom passed, and I am left with scars that have barely healed over time. Tom and I rarely talk, and neither of us have a clue of Dad’s whereabouts, or even if he were alive or not. Whenever I tried to ask Mom about him, she would always say it was best I knew nothing about him. She said I’d be safer the further he was away from me. It was confusing; Dad never hurt me.

My religious relatives always say to have faith in God’s plan, but if there were such a plan, it was most likely a curse. What little faith I bore had decayed with time. But my grandmother was different; she encouraged me to pave my own path and revealed secrets that most of our relatives never knew about. That year, she told me she was a witch and taught me all the spells she had recorded in her grimoire. Grandma also said something peculiar: she said that I would not be in any danger if I were to realise the full extent of my powers. One day, while visiting her, I took her grimoire in secret and performed a summoning ritual, hoping to find my dad.

Before I knew it, the earth before me caved in, revealing a flaming abyss, and from its red depths rose a gust of black smoke that swirled around the room before descending to the ground as the chasm began to close. The smoke soon faded into the air, and from it emerged my dad.

“Dad…? How?”

“You just summoned me, hon.”

“Yes, but what just happened?”

Dad said I would need to sit down to hear his side of the story. By the end of his explanation, I didn’t know what to say.

“I’m half-witch, half-demon?”

“Yes, and your mother sealed your powers saying it was best you did not use them until you were old enough.”

“Were your constant fights about me?”

Dad looked down and sighed. “None of it was your fault. She and I had conflicting views about a lot of things, and she thought it was best that I left, considering who, or rather what I am.”

Dad said that Mom thought his presence would eventually draw in beings too dangerous for them to protect both Tom and me from. Moreover, Mom had Tom from her previous marriage, and since he hadn’t inherited her powers, he was the most vulnerable. Dad said Grandma had partially undone Mom’s seal, allowing me to tap into my witch powers. He said that he could undo the seal on my demonic powers if I liked. I said yes in a heartbeat.

The surge of power I felt was overwhelming yet exhilarating. It was the best I had felt all my life. Now able to harness the full potential of my powers, I was ready to take on a new journey. Dad said he’d show me the many worlds existing beyond the realm of the living. Thanking Grandma for helping me reunite with my dad, I left my cursed past behind and decided to pave my own path moving forward.