This is my second one-shot. I had some Writer's Block with this piece of writing, but I managed to finish it. I hope you enjoy it and please leave a review. I appreciate any constructive criticism.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. If I did the show wouldn't have been canceled.
The night was black as coal . . . the air was just as cold. The only light coming from the moon and the stars, shining like a ray of hope in this endless void. Occasionally, the caw of a crow could be heard, piercing the silence like a dagger. There was no sign of life. All of the trees stood dead and slowly decaying, each black leaf falling slowly to the ground . . . one by one. The bare branches twisted into shapes that cast demonic shadows upon the ground. Should a small child wander into the darkness, they would be forever haunted by the images their eyes had beheld. Lying in bed at night, wondering in fearful curiosity what kind of terrible creature had been hiding in the darkness. Their minds providing them with grotesque images of such a creature.
A thick fog began to descend upon the earth, obscuring their surroundings so that only silhouettes could be seen. Mine was among them. I am Raven, and through the darkness I aimlessly wander.
I glide slowly across the pavement, mulling over my thoughts. I allowed the blistering wind to hit my face because I feel nothing . . . absolutely nothing. I am numb, both physically and emotionally. All my life, I have known nothing but darkness. The darkness grows within my mind and soul, gradually trapping me within my own hell. Not a single ray of light can penetrate the darkness in which my soul thrives. The light is simply swallowed and destroyed.
It is my bleeding heart that feeds the darkness. My soul thrives in the dark and the dark thrives on my pain. No matter how hard I try to deny, I cannot deny what I am. I am a creature of darkness. I was conceived and born from darkness.
I continue to wander through the night as the truth begins to settle itself on my heart once again, like the weight of the world has suddenly been placed on my shoulders. I smile sadly in self-directed irony. At one time, I literally had the weight of this world wearing down on my soul. But even now, after I defied destiny, I still carry this heavy burden. I have carried it since the day I was born. That was the sole purpose for my creation. To bring destruction . . . .
As this thought entered my mind, my thoughts wandered to the source of my pain and suffering. My creator. My father. The demon Trigon. Suddenly, I felt an immeasurable amount of hatred, directed toward my creator. I do not consider him to be my father whatsoever. Biologically, yes. But he has never been my father. In my opinion, he committed the worst crime when he conceived me. He brought a child into the world only to make the child suffer, as well as the world.
I was not conceived out of love. I am the result of rape and I have never been allowed to forget that. I have always known, even when I was a small child. My mother had not been the one to tell me. One night, Trigon invaded my dreams. He quickly turned it into my worst nightmare.
I was floating a few inches above the grass, meditating. I was in a peaceful forest with many beautiful features. I was in a small clearing with a pond in front of me. The light of the moon and stars was reflecting off of the clear water. The trees around me were all different in appearance. Some were tall and thin while others were short and thick. There were also many trees that twisted into different shapes and I was tempted to climb to the top and view the beauty of this wondrous place I was in from above them.
The flowers that surrounded me were absolutely breath taking. They came in many different colors and shapes and added to the beauty of the forest. They looked like tiny diamonds and crystals when reflected by the moonlight. I was at total peace and not a single thought entered my mind as I observed the splendor around me.
That's when he came.
Suddenly, everything changed. The grass fell onto rough stone with jagged rocks everywhere. I turned my head to look at the trees and I was horrified by what I saw. The trees were changing from mahogany to pitch black and were beginning to decay as if they had been killed in a roaring fire. Some fell to the ground and turned to ashes and others remained standing . . . dead and decaying. The leaves were black and shriveled, and began to fall to the ground.
Then from the ashes upon the ground, spurted huge flames. They grew and spread quickly throughout the rest of the woods, burning everything in its path. I looked at the pond in front of me and gasped. Instead of clear blue water there was now a lake of lava that was slowly growing in size. It was coming toward me but I lifted myself higher above the ground. I was becoming slowly overwhelmed by the smell of smoke and the heat from the flames and the lava.
When I lifted my head, I was completely devastated. The beautiful forest that had once been here had been instantly replaced with this Hell. Everything that I had loved about it had been completely destroyed. The only sign of life were the black birds perched on the bare branches of the few trees that remained. I immediately recognized them as ravens, as we shared a name. But I quickly realized that these were not ordinary birds. When they turned to look at me, instead of beady black eyes, I was pierced by four glowing, blood-red eyes.
The air was filled with the aroma of smoke, burned wood and the caws of those demonic birds. I was terrified by what my eyes were seeing. I was immobilized by my fear. But somehow, I knew that there was more to come . . . and I was right.
A deep, booming, evil laughter filled the air. I knew that I would never forget that laugh. In the darkness in front of me, suddenly appeared a pair of four glowing red eyes. As the eyes looked at me the laughter became more malicious.
"Hello, dear daughter", said the voice with a hint of cruel amusement.
I did not understand why he had called me 'daughter' but I didn't want to find out why.
"W-who are you?" I had tried to keep all traces of fear out of my voice. I had been taught that it was bad to show weakness. But no matter how hard I had tried, the fear was evident.
This caused the voice to laugh once again. An evil laugh filled with sadistic cruelty and amusement.
"I am the Trigon the Terrible. I am the source of all darkness and the evil incarnate," he said with pride in his voice.
The monks of Azarath had allowed me to read many of their books, but I had never come across any information about Trigon. I thought about what he had previously called me. He had called me his daughter. This would mean . . . that I was a demon as well. I shuddered at the thought and I desperately hoped that it wasn't true. However, I considered the possibility and I suddenly remembered the looks I had been given by the people of Azarath one day, as I walked to the temple. The looks on their faces was that of hate, fear, and disgust. I had not understood why but I had thought it must be for an unknown reason. I had questioned one of the monks about this but he seemed keen to avoid the subject. After that, I did not think about it again. Until now.
If I was the daughter of this demon, it explained why the Azarathians had looked at me in such a way. The more I thought about it the more it seemed possible. I then opened my mouth to ask my question, hoping against hope that I was wrong.
"Why did you c-call me your d-daughter," I stammered. I dreaded the answer and I was praying to Azar that what I thought was indeed incorrect.
When he next spoke, I could tell that he enjoyed watching my fear.
"I called you daughter, dear Raven, because I am your father. Those foolish mortals tried to keep your true heritage a secret from you to spare you from the pain. How pathetic."
He then began to laugh once more, as his words began to sink in. No . . . no! This can't be true! But as much as I wanted to believe that it wasn't true, I knew deep down that he was not lying. It was true . . . I'm a demon. I looked at my hands and thought that these were the hands of a half-demon. I closed my eyes in resignation and I could feel cold tears trickling down my cheeks, against all my will.
I couldn't hold it in anymore. As I lost my concentration, I left my place floating in the air and hit the rough surface below me with a loud 'thud'. I cried out in pain as I felt the tip of a particularly sharp rock had inserted itself into my knee. I opened my eyes and examined my surroundings. The atmosphere was the same as it had been when I was above it. Many of the trees had been licked by the hellish flames that roared with a great ferocity and fallen to the hot, hard Earth and were quickly enveloped by the flames. Others had simply turned black and were slowly decaying, their branches twisting into various demonic shapes that would normally have been impossible to achieve, even for the oddest type of trees. The small pond of lava had now grown to the size that could be compared to the largest river. As I looked up, I saw that the sky was blood-red and alive with flames, smoke, and the unmistakable aroma of death and decay. There was no moon . . . there were no stars. Only destruction . . . and more destruction.
I lowered my head to tend to my injury. I lifted my leg slowly to prevent further harming myself. I brought my shaking hand to my wound and grasped the stone with a firm grip to steady my quivering hand. Slowly, oh so slowly, I began to pull the rock out of my knee. I hissed as the pain returned and my unoccupied hand formed itself into a strong fist. The nails of my fingers were beginning to pierce the skin of my palm and I could feel a thin trail of blood oozing down my hand. My knee was throbbing with pain and I fought very hard to keep myself from screaming, but still I continued to pull it out. It was almost out now. Just a little bit more . . . .Finally the rock had been removed but the pain remained. I opened my eyes and examined the item that had been previously lodged in my knee. It was now completely covered in blood. My blood . . . the blood of a demon.
Drops of the dark red liquid traveled down the rock's length until it hit the earth. I sat staring as more drops of blood quickly followed, with tears running down my cheeks. I moved my knee very carefully to see the stone stained with my blood.
Several questions began to form in my mind. As I sat staring at my blood, I began to wonder: Why would a powerful demon have intercourse with a mere mortal? What could possibly be gained by conceiving a half-breed child?
As I pondered these two questions, I could feel the four, piercing eyes of Trigon watching my every movement. I was determined not to show weakness. I shut my eyes quickly and tried to regain control of my emotions. I desperately tried to block all else around me, as I could feel my control slipping from my grasp. But that was proving to be a difficult feat. The heat around me was almost unbearable and it made it impossible for me to clear my mind. I punched the ground in frustration, as I found myself unable to regain control. This only caused more blood to pour from my body but at the moment I did not care.
I was once again brought out of my thoughts as I heard the malicious, booming laughter of … my father. His laughter echoed throughout this Hell I was trapped in. It was inside my mind, destroying any hope I had of clearing it. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get that laughter out of my head.
The evil cackle slowly began to die. Suddenly, he began to speak again. His voice was still inside my head as he spoke, and I found myself wanting to die….
From that night on, I knew I would be forever haunted by this mere memory. The things that Trigon told me…are too horrible for me to even think about, let alone speak aloud. He told me of the many terrible things he had done. How many lives he had taken, and how he had taken them, the number of calamities he had caused. All of the destruction he had created.
He told me how I came to be conceived and the purpose for my creation. By that point, I had screamed with all the energy I could muster until I found myself back in my bed. My body was tangled in the sheets and I covered in cold sweat. I had looked around and found myself surrounded by the monks of the temple, Azar, and my mother Arella. My mother sat down on the edge of my bed and as I looked at her, I remembered what Trigon had done to her, and I began to cry once again. My mother had gathered me up from my place on the bed, placed me on her lap, and wrapped her arms around me as I continued to cry. The monks had looks of dawning realization on their faces which turned into sadness as they watched me cry in my mother's arms. After a few moments, my tears had stopped and I was merely sitting on my mother's lap, with a look of emptiness in my eyes. Azar had questioned me but I was unable to speak and I did not wish to relive the experience. Instead, Azar delved into my mind and saw the memory for herself. It took a relatively short time, and then she recounted the nightmare to the monks and Arella. By the end, my own mother was in tears and the monks had horrified looks on their faces. It was on that night that I became aware of the enormous weight that I was carrying, and had been carrying since the day of my birth: The weight of the world.
A few years later, my destiny became a reality. I fulfilled my purpose. I became the portal and brought Trigon to the Earth. To do unto it as he had done unto so many other worlds.
I had ensured that my friends would survive the destruction of the Earth; I implanted in them each, a bit of my powers. It was them that found me, reverted back to the form of a child, and powerless. They encouraged me and gave me hope, with which I found the strength within me to destroy Trigon. I restored the Earth to its' original beauty and no one was the wiser except for me and my friends.
For a time, I was happy; the first time in years that I had truly felt happy. But good things never last. I discovered that I could still feel Trigon's presence within me. His blood runs through my veins, as does a piece of his soul. Just when I thought my pain would finally end, that I had been freed from the darkness…I found myself still chained. It was merely an illusion. I was foolish to believe that something like me would ever be given a happy ending.
This brings me back to the present, where I am wandering through the night. The star-strewn sky was now pitch-black and lightless. The stars and the moon had vanished, leaving nothing but total, impenetrable, silent darkness. But I don't care. Even on the brightest of days when the sun shines brilliantly with white clouds drifting along in the breeze, I am still stuck in the dark.
I am alone in my own limbo. The world would be far better off without my existence to taint it. So would my friends. All I am to them is a hazard. It is only out of fear that they have kept me here. The fear that I will become their newest enemy, an adversary with both the power and potential to destroy them and this world. I am able to sense that fright radiating off of them in huge waves, to the point where I'm surprised they haven't been suffocated by it. I can sense it every time I enter the room. Their fear is projected so loudly that I often wish my empathy came with a volume control.
I have found that my demon half is growing harder to control. I can feel the demon within me struggling to free itself from its confinement; slowly slipping through the bars of its cage. Whenever I look at my friends, I feel a powerful urge to kill them in many horrible ways. Their deaths by my hands are all I see when I close my eyes, and it haunts me so. I see their bodies on the ground, drowned in their own blood and horribly disfigured. They are almost unrecognizable. This is also what I see when I look at them.
And so, now I am here. I made my decision only a few short hours ago: To leave them forever. I wander aimlessly in the dark… and in the dark I shall remain.
Thanks again, I hope you liked it and leave a review. Obscurum is Latin for 'darkness.'
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