Chapter 33
I flipped through the channels, looking for Beverly Cleverly Live, America’s number one talk show based in New York. Anyone who was anyone hoped to land a seat on Ms. Cleverly’s couch.
“But now the Global Guild—”
I paused, having flicked right past that channel. You know the channel. The one with news anchors who have the intellectual nuance of a fucking thimble. The station with reporters who praise the hate of the world and claim victimhood every single time their audience wasn’t centered on all matters.
What I needed to do was continue channel surfing until I landed on Beverly Cleverly Live.
I actually wanted to watch that show, I mean, not regularly, but this particular show was important.
Plus, I promised to tune in. What I ended up doing was flipping back to the news report by a bunch of bigots with fake smiles because I was clearly masochistic.
“Look, the Global Guild rankings used to mean something…” one of the reporters said, explaining it poorly to his audience, with so-called bullshit facts about policies that never once existed, but no one watching this show with intent would bother fact-checking anything that didn’t match their perception.
He acted as if the shakeup in the rankings had less to do with talent and everything to do with performative promotions.
And honestly, most of this industry was based on popularity over skill, but the Global Guild didn’t play.
In order to be among their best, their witches had to possess talent and fame.
“You know, Chris, I get Enchanter Stone stepping down,” Reporter Johnson said.
The same prick from the press conference Gladiatrix held a few months back.
The guy who had the audacity to question Gladiatrix’s choices, the merit of her interns, and blatantly spoke with prejudice.
“The guy’s old and has been hanging onto that number two ranking for years. ”
After the top ten Global Guild members were possessed and transformed into devils, it caused quite a stir.
Some members faced long-standing physical side effects from the possession, like Enchanter Stone.
While Gladiatrix was able to properly exorcise the vampire inside the man, his age made it difficult for him to fully recover.
The same could be said for Wadsworth, but since that old bastard walked around in constant chronic pain, I doubted anything truly fazed him anymore. Still, both men stepped down from their positions in the top ten of the Global Guild.
Chances were, Wadsworth would use the newfound freedom to move more freely in his pursuit of The True Witch and her Celestial Coven.
As for Enchanter Stone, I had no idea. He’d probably spend his retirement serving as a spokesperson for some vile oil corporation while claiming fracking was somehow good for the environment, and as a witch who controlled plants, idiots would buy into the bullshit.
“What I don’t understand,” Reporter Johnson continued, “is Enchanter Kingston stepping down?”
That was huge news. Epic. The man who held the number one rank in the Global Guild for more than a decade had decided to step away from enchanter work and reflect on the events that led to his possession.
He was a powerful man, possibly the most powerful man, but his confidence had been shaken, rattled, and he needed time to heal from the emotional devastation that came with possession.
Flashes of Jamie Novak hit me. The young teen possessed by a wicked chimera left hollowed out and emotionally distraught from the events. While the top ten didn’t suffer a long possession dragged out over months like Jamie had, I was certain they each held similar scars to the boy I failed to save.
“He’s stepping down because he’s a coward,” Reporter Chris blurted, holding up a picture of Enchanter Kingston before ripping it in half.
Quite the declaration, considering Kingston had a worldwide audience.
And I hoped those obsessed fans ruined this reporter’s whole fucking month.
“Wah, I got possessed, and now I need to take a break from guild work. Talk about pathetic.”
“It does raise a lot of questions,” Reporter Johnson said. “I mean, how can anyone call themselves a top-ranked enchanter if they got possessed in the first place? Everyone knows only a weak mind succumbs to possession.”
Lies. Utterly unfact-checked garbage spouted as truth.
Possession couldn’t be prevented. The only way to stop a demon from forcing its way inside your body would be to successfully banish it before the assault began.
But many demons ambush their prey, their victims, offering them little to no opportunity to resist.
What was next? Were these fuckers going to claim one could pray away a demon? There were plenty of fools who believed such things, and that always led to the death of the host, and often the deaths of many more.
“Exactly,” Reporter Chris said, his voice grating on my ears. “Claiming to be America’s Champion, he should be able to at least bounce back from this little possession.”
“Enchanter Barlowe hasn’t let it slow him down,” Reporter Johnson said, cutting to a clip of the devout Christian enchanter holding a vigil while casting his Heavenly Ice—quite the name he picked for his unique branch magic.
Not everyone got the opportunity to name their branch, since the Department of Magical Records would dictate one’s official branch.
However, if the witch in question was deemed the first on record with the licensing facility, then they got to name it.
As such, this extremely religious witch chose a name to reflect his faith.
“But see, this is what I’m talking about,” Reporter Chris said.
“Enchanter Barlowe should’ve moved up to the number one ranked enchanter in the Global Guild.
He was ranked third. With Kingston and Stone, the former number one and two enchanters, stepping down, it only makes sense that Barlowe would move to number one.
Yet this new rearrangement of the top ten feels very fake. ”
“Yup, the math isn’t mathing, that’s for sure,” Reporter Johnson said. “But we all know it’s part of a political stunt. A woke agenda meant to cater to the witches who cast more PC policies than actual magic. Honestly, the top ten seems to be aiming for some type of diversity Olympics—”
“Oh, fuck this.” I flipped the station, unable to bear another second of these assholes.
I landed on Beverly Cleverly Live just in time to catch Gladiatrix mid-interview. Good, I hadn’t missed it yet.
Beverly was a big woman, tall and wide, with most of her height in her torso.
It made her tower over Gladiatrix as the women sat on the couch.
Just looking at her, she didn’t seem like the girl next door.
Still, Beverly had this captivating demeanor, charming audiences for years as a singer-songwriter, filling stadiums and hitting notes even the best magics couldn’t hit.
I wasn’t a fan, but even I enjoyed her bigger singles from time to time.
Now, she used that charm to captivate American audiences from the comfort of their home.
“So, how do you address the rumors that your rank change had to do with politics over talent?”
“Rankings are an extremely complicated matter,” Gladiatrix answered with a smile. “It doesn’t help that every state, every city, honestly, has their own qualifiers when it comes to ranking their guild members.”
“Plus, the schools,” Beverly chimed in. “My daughters attend two different academies, each focused on different specialties, and let me say, the ranking systems at their schools don’t add up the same way.”
I scoffed. Specialty academies didn’t exist. They were merely titles of elitism to ensure that a particular academy wasn’t forced to cater to unsavory students.
Basically, the specialty allowed them to discriminate without being called out for it, keeping their wealthiest witch families in a coveted private education.
“Precisely,” Gladiatrix replied to Beverly’s anecdote. “As for my ranking, it’s often being reevaluated, as any member of the Global Guild, especially the top ten. After the incident in Chicago, it was deemed that my actions pushed me over Enchanter Barlowe’s placement.”
“You mean where you single-handedly fought him, Kingston, and Stone?” Beverly paused for the audience’s applause. “Then safely exorcised the demons possessing them.”
“Not single-handedly,” Gladiatrix corrected. “There was plenty of help on the field before and after I stepped in. But I did face off against those three. It’s important to note that the demons possessing them weren’t able to harness the full extent of their magical capabilities.”
“Yes, but they were still devils. Three devils. And you yourself had also just shaken off a possession.”
Gladiatrix laughed. “I’d hardly call passing out from sheer exhaustion ‘shaking it off.’ But yes, I did manage to collect myself enough to help purge the devils from the area.”
“Humble and all powerful,” Beverly said, gesturing to Gladiatrix. “Can we just all take another moment to applaud the spectacular Gladiatrix?”
The audience roared, cheering louder and longer than before. Some even stood up, practically on cue, for the cameras that panned through the crowd of overly excited audience members.
Beverly Cleverly waited for her audience to settle before moving back into her interview. “Your top ranking might be the biggest news in the Global Guild, but it’s certainly not the only change happening, is it?”
Gladiatrix beamed. “Yes, there are many things happening that I’m so proud of. For years, I’ve been advocating that the Global Guild can only truly call itself a guild of the world if we open our membership rankings up to other nations.”
“And you’ve done just that.” Beverly pointed to the big screen behind her, showing pictures of masked vigilantes from the UK. “Several of these witches assisted in bringing a bit of order back to the streets of Chicago.”