"Let me see, the Power of Sanctity, Chanting My Eternal Lord and Father, wait a minute, why are these two runes..." Constantine was frowning as he looked at the runes in the basement.
The Magic Array he drew was in the shape of an upside-down triangle, with a rune at each corner that could infuse the Power of Holy Magic. Two of these runes lighted up, but the remaining one didn't.
Constantine had to walk over and erase his mark from the stubborn rune, then started again using unicorn blood and elf's blood from the Magic World Maya, lamb wool and deer antlers and blood from the first-born lamb commonly used in Christianity to redraw the pattern.
Tim and Jason were watching him draw with their arms folded, standing on his left and right, respectively. After a while, Jason said, "Why do I think the image of the Holy Spirit you drew is problematic? Are you sure those hanging from either end of the cross are ox ears and ox hide? And this, this doesn't look like Christian culture, it looks more like something left over from the Carthaginian culture."
Constantine looked up at Jason from head to toe. At this moment, Jason was wearing a red jacket adorned with a baseball team logo, baggy dark denim jeans, and a pair of wellington boots. This image had an uncanny discrepancy with the professional terminology spilling from Jason's mouth and his trending stature as a magic prodigy.
"Even I can see that the symbols connecting these two runes are wrong." Tim sighed as he pointed at the symbol Constantine was drawing, adding, "Isn't the direction of the Force of Backflow reversed? And even so, I don't think it will be able to supply energy to the adjacent rune as efficiently."
"Wait a minute, did the Batman of your universe teach you magic?"
Constantine was surprised, and even appalled as he stared dumbfoundedly at the two kids, exclaiming, "Batman watches me like he'd watch a thief, he would actually let me teach you magic?"
"Who said we learnt magic from you?"
"But besides me, who else would be proficient in the study of runes?" Constantine looked down again at the pattern he had drawn, adding, "Even Little Zha, who was born into a magical family, just knows some common runes. She has never even seen some of the gray runes left from religion and history. Presently in the magical world, I am the only one dedicated to conducting this research."
"We learnt magic from Bruce Wayne." Jason shrugged and stated, "I think his magic level is far superior to yours. In terms of rune theory, I'd say you are on par."
Constantine's jaw dropped, and he wondered at Jason in genuine astonishment. "Wait…So the Bruce Wayne in your universe is a magician?! Are you sure?"
"What's so surprising about that? With Batman's intelligence, mastering magic is a piece of cake." Tim, the first bat fan, said disdainfully, "Also, are you sure Batman is wary of you because he doesn't want you to teach the Robins magic, rather than your unbearably dismal love affairs?"
"What a joke, I'm not interested in children."
"The Robins in this universe are hardly children." Jason rolled his eyes. "Sometimes, I feel Batman is a bit overprotective of his Robins, but aversion towards you is undeniably the most sensible choice he has made."
Constantine sighed, "When I met Batman, the Robins were still children. I'm now watching them grow up. But indeed, kids from Gotham are not suitable for learning magic, for certain unexplainable reasons."
"What kind of reasons?" Tim, now curious, asked.
Constantine sighed deeply, while redrawing the Magic Array, "Your universe is from an earlier era, when the magic realm may not have evolved to the present level, you know? About a decade ago, the magic realm underwent a radical change. Guess what caused it."
"What caused it?"
"Because black magicians from Gotham felt that the demons and angels had been exploiting the magic realm for too long and that the unfair treaties had gone on for too long. So, they set up a gigantic summoning array in Gotham, which summoned all the exploiting angels and demons, and then, using the home field advantage of the Gotham mud pit, beat up all the angels and demons."
"Ever since then, the black magicians from Gotham and the land of Gotham itself have been blacklisted by both heaven and hell. My coming here is not merely to wield the power of the Court of Owls, but also to leverage the unique geographical advantage of Gotham in the event that I may find myself unable to repay my debts in time, making it a hassle for my creditors or to make them entirely give up."
Tim and Jason shared a knowing glance, realizing that in this universe, equivalent to their future, the impoverishment in the Magic realm was resolved in a somewhat ludicrous manner.
Probably, contemporary to them, a group of black magicians emerged in 1980 in Gotham. As these people grew, they truly embodied the ethos of Gothamites - stand your ground - refusing to accept the stringent exploitative terms, instead uniting themselves, leveraging the home field advantage, and beating up all the powerful creatures they could conjure.