Booted feet padded softly down the great entranceway of the most feared king on all the planet Titan. Along the wall flickering torches cast shadows on the already stomach turning ancestors of the ancient house of Azarath. The red caped figure glanced up at the occasional face, recognizing a few from the horror stories that the maids whispered to their children at night. Some were painted over ten hundred-thousand years ago, but their deeds of the past still elicited terror in the hearts of the palace workers.

Strangely enough, to a human that much time would seem an eternity. To a demon however…

Glowing eyes of fire strayed to a particularly gruesome picture of great uncle Elvion. If memory served he had the habit of eating an old woman when he awoke each morning, and a virgin before he went to sleep each night. He said it gave him wisdom for the day, and the strength for any attacks he might encounter whilst he slept. More likely he found them to be delicious. He had been killed soon after the beginning of the war.

No one mourned him.

The current ruler had a similar ceremony, but it only involved virgins, and no one was eaten. In fact, it was this particular quirk that accounted for the creation of the cloaked and hooded figure, who, upon finally reaching the massive double doors at the end of the hall, proceeded to walk through them.

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The first step into the solid gold doors was like stepping through water. It was almost solid, but not quite. After a few seconds Raven felt the tickle of a Hand on the side of her face, then thousands of them, nearly covering her with their probing tentacles. One even forced her lips apart and snaked into her mouth, searching under her tongue and behind her molars.

Hands are the first line of defense for the chamber she was about to enter, and even though they recognized her right away for who she was, in a house of demons one could never be sure which uneasy alliance would turn sour.

Finding her clean, the probes slinked off to whatever dimension from which they had been summoned, and the Princess of Darkness found herself in the dimly lit war chamber of the Azarathian nation.

"Good evening your Highness, how sweet of you to join me." A silky voice greeted her from across the room.

Raven narrowed her eyes at the speaker, and stalked over to him, blood red cloak sweeping the floor in what she hoped was an intimidating effect. "Enough with the pleasantries Slade, your mouth is fit for nothing more than biting off the heads of bats. A sport I hear you are quite fond of."

The masked man chuckled, and bowed mockingly, his own scarlet cloak flared out behind him. "You know of my deepest addiction, my dear." He looked up and winked at her. "It is almost as if we were married. A thing I am sure you will be quite fond of." He straitened up then and gestured to the round steel table that stood a bit behind him and to his right. He must have been looking it over when she first came in. "However, there is no time for playful banter at the moment my dear. Our beloved king will be here soon, and I must 'get you up to speed' with the latest developments."

Raven bit off the half-formed cutting remark she had been about to throw at the man and followed.

Floating above the metal desk was a full three dimensional map of the planet Titan, in its every splendid and disturbing detail, and in miniature.

Currently each of the Five Great Nations was magnetized a hundred fold, and rotating slowly over its mapped location.

Slade tapped the city closest to him with his index finger ,and for a moment the table was blank, then it reappeared to consume the entire counter space. In his infuriatingly calm and level voice he began his explanation. "Mammoth has found a position as a stable hand in the palaces main complex. He tells of a plague that has been sweeping over the nation, killing nearly a half of the population. It seems to have died down mostly by now, but with the army at one-half strength they should be easy to overcome."

Raven studied the treetop city for a moment, then swept an open palm over the interface, zooming out and giving her a better view of the surroundings. "Beastopia will not fall easily, no matter how few their numbers." She began in a steady voice. "I've heard tales of their king. A master commander, or so it is said. Besides, the jungle will be a treacherous land to cross."

In the pale glow of the map Slade seemed to smile under his mask. "The jungle has been nearly chopped down entirely by the very people it protects. You see, the plague was spread by a biting insect, whose name I can neither remember nor pronounce, that burrowed under the bark of trees. So in an attempt to stave off the disease, they stripped the forest down to its muddy soil. And as for the king," He chuckled dryly at what he must have taken as a personal favor from the universe. "He was stabbed in his sleep by a dieing servant, who blamed him for the suffering of his family by the disease he had no way of preventing. Along with his wife and two daughters. So you see, my dear, the only thing between us and the capital of Beastopia is a teenage boy, the heir to the kingdom, who somehow managed to survive."

"Oh." Raven relied dumbly, and then cursed her mouth. After a moment of thought she found something intelligent to say. In a dry voice she responded "I'm to lead the invasion, am I not?"

"Of course not." A booming voice answered from the other side of the room. "No daughter of mine would be given such a battle that any lowly foot solder could command."

Raven and Slade both spun on their heels to face the man, or more accurately, demon, who just entered the room, and as if pressed down by an invisible hand, both kneeled in union, heads bowed and eyes on the floor.

"My Lord." They greeted.

The red skinned king strode across the plush carpet to stand before his offspring. "I have a more interesting job for you." He spoke to her hair, but showed no intention of letting her rise. "We are to attack all five nations at once. Crushing each simultaneously so that they are unable to call for aid. I already have the armies in place, and ready to move on my command. Slade, you will be leading the slaughter of Beastopia and Tamaran. Raven, you will head the forces against Mechin and Gotham."

He brought his hand down suddenly on the top of his daughters head, and she gasped involuntarily. Her mind was flooded with Trigons liquid will, tearing at her mind for any thoughts of betrayal. She felt his dark energy rip through her with little regard for the consequences, with seemed an idiotic thing to do, as in a few hours she would be called upon to use her wits to fight a war in his name. But she stubbornly squelched that thought and let him rummage around as he pleased, knowing from experience that that would allow the search to go faster, and hopefully to cause less damage.

Seemingly satisfied, he withdrew his presence with a final fire-like whip of pain and turned to exit the way he'd came. His last words echoing off the walls. "We begin in two hours."

After she was certain he was gone Raven stood quickly, and immediately regretted it. The room spun, twisting in on itself in an extremely uncomfortable way, and she squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to stave off the impending nausea.

Then strong arms gripped her shoulders, and they snapped open again. "Perhaps you should go lay down." A silky voice whispered in her ear. "You're looking a bit pale."

Raven wretched herself from his grasp and spun around, fist colliding with the air exactly where his face had been a moment before. Now only his soft mocking laughter remained. So with as much dignity as she could muster, (which, giving with the unsteadiness of her steps, wasn't much) she stepped back through the golden door, and down the flickering entranceway.

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With love,

Your faithful Authoress,

NumbuhZero