Chapter 33: Hellblazer

     John Constantine is a cheater. Someone who doesn't compromise to mere limits. Someone who broke the rules. Someone who dabbles in magic, the supernatural, and the occult.

Magicians twist time and space. Warp minds. Create life. Magic has no rules and Magicians are the ones who wield them. Magic is power. It is amazing. But despite how amazing Magic is, it was addicting and dangerous. Addicting in the way that you wanted to dive deeper. And dangerous because Magic has risks. It is dangerous to others and dangerous to the users of magic themselves.

Magic always comes with a cost. You bend the rules. You cheat. But one way or another, the Universe would find a way for you to pay Magic.

John Constantine paid a lot and sacrificed too much to become the Magician/Occult Detective that he is right now. Random people, acquaintances, friends, lovers, etc. He has paid a lot. And it would never be enough.

He never stopped dabbling in magic. It was his thing. To always cheat and bend the rules. He has made several contracts and cheated ghosts and demons alike. Selling his soul and tricking every demon that he encounters. That was his scheme and stopping other cheaters from becoming too powerful and stopping corrupted magicians. With occasional demons, ghosts, and cape business inserted into his life.

Capes are always trouble for John Constantine. And you can find any type of Capes around that always meant trouble for himself.

Aliens, Alien Ring, Space Cops, Demigods, Bats, etc.

One of John Constantine's least favorite things was involving himself in the bat business.

So as he was contacted by one of the Bat's associates, he should have rejected it. But he didn't because his gut feeling was telling him that it was important.

He would never want to miss it.

John Constantine expected the birds, batgirl, and Gotham vigilantes to request that he revive Batman. (A dead bat? It sounded like a joke. That man is too stubborn to die. ) It was never their request. And there's no batgirl and other Gotham vigilantes. It was only the birds. The robins.

They wanted John Constantine to take a look and ask questions to a child.

A magician? possessed by a demon or spirit? They never told him anything. And he didn't learn anything about the child with the mere exceptions of his speculations until he use his magic and laid his sight upon the child.

No, it's not a child... It's an abomination.

A spirit? No, but it felt like one.

A demon? Possibly.

A magician? Unlikely... But it reeks of magic.

There was also a familiarity to it. Other than magic, demon, or spirit. A cape business that he didn't like. A power ring. Specifically, the yellow power ring. The being in front of him feels like a manifestation of fear itself.

And it would be never enough to describe how abominable it is with just a feeling.

The sight that his magic revealed to him. It was a disgusting sight. And nothing was appealing on it.

A mangled corpse and pieces of soul stitched up together. Too many eyes. There are so many eyes staring at Constantine. They were entangled by strings and spider webs but it wasn't tied enough.

Occasionally, there would be distortion for every few seconds on the being. New features would be added to the thing that he has seen but they are never permanent. Suddenly it would have worms digging into its body and bugs crawling all over it. Then the being would be elongated and bend irregularly in an indecipherable pattern. Arms and legs twisted horrifically. The being would float and suddenly it was sinking to the ground. There would be something or someone in the abomination's shadows. The mangled body is stitched together with different human skins and body parts. Feeling inhuman. A predator who was merciless and ready to kill anyone. There would be music accompanying the being, that made you urge to go to war. If you get close too much it was like you would burn. And sometimes, the being was enveloped by a fog and looked so unapproachable. Then there was the silence, the end.

It is an unknown.

This strange amalgamation of different things. It is terrifying.

" " Wanker!! What is that disgusting piece of shite?! It's mental! "

" I don't like you, Mister. You're rude. "

And suddenly, all of that feeling and horrific sight is gone when the child spoke. A messy black-haired child with icy blue eyes was looking at him with a glare on his face.

He looks so normal now and if Batman decided to come back from the dead, dare he say adoptable.

" Dead parents? "

He ignored the gasp of indignation from the kid and turned to stare at Nightwing.

" No. They were alive. "

" So, his parents were abusive? "

" No. They were caring to the point that they would spoil their child rotten. "

Tough luck for Batman when he came back. Arranging his trench coat he ignored both the being with many metaphysical eyes glaring at him and the youngest vigilante that Batman has on his fold. John Constantine asked Robin.

" So what do you want to know about this... Kid? "

Robin glances at him.

" He already has answered our questions. We wanted you to ask those questions again and know if he was telling the truth. "

Robin handed him a paper containing a lot of questions.

" You could have just Wonder Woman and her lasso of truth. "

Shrugging, Robin answered.

" She's currently occupied with other matters. "

" And I am not, lad? "

" You would be able to notice something that she can't. "

Robin supplied. John could read behind the lines. If he notices something wrong with the kid, then he could just kill it.

But he already has noticed a lot of wrong upon meeting and looking at the kid. Grasping the paper and looking at the questions on it, he started casting his magic and turned to look at the kid who scowled at him.

Truthfully, he should be starting to think of a way to kill the kid. But this is a completely unknown being. A strange amalgamation of different things came out with horrific results. It's been a while since he laid his eyes on an interesting sight. It was like encountering a new magic.

Cooperating with the birds, John Constantine started asking questions about the being while wanting to find more information about it and it's weaknesses.