I inhale the cold air, it was taunted by the smoke of a lit cigarette in some stranger's mouth just a few feet away and I could smell the moisture from last night's rain and sirens of police cars filled the air and within a second a car sped pass the empty street before me. Whips of air passed through my clothing and I turned my head with my eyes that followed the direction the car went off, with a police car chasing closely begin. Something like this didn't surprised me, in this section of town crime was higher than usual and every where you would look there was violence around every corner. From prostitutes to just some poor guy being beat the living shit out of by four others for who knows, and who cares, for the reason. I've lost some of my closest friends to drug influence, they got hook onto it quick and even tried forcing me to try it but their attempts we're useless and I just left without looking back.
Mom was a dealer herself, I can't really blame her though, it's the only way to make money over here so she does things that even though she knows is wrong, she wants to survive in the world. I even took up a job at some Burger King, I have to take a bus every morning to it, in fact that's where I'm headed to now. You may be wondering, 'What happened to your father?', funny story actually. He died...
Back to when things were in the norm, back before everything went down hill there was this nice blue house in the part of city where it was rare to hear a curse word, so much of crimes. In that house my family lived in it; Me, Mom, Dad, and Eizzy, my older sister. Everything was fine, Eizzy was going through her average teenage self isolation and locked herself in her room listening to Asking Alexandria loud enough to make our neighbors complain about her 'devil music'. I was with mom in the living room watching Law & Order: SVU and Dad was at work. He worked as some huge important boss at this smaller branch of a huge company, LexCorp. Then the phone rang, for some reason it wasn't an ordinary call from some relative my mom would talk to for hours at a time. Tears had glossed her eyes and streamed down the cheeks, I saw this and immediately went to her as she bent down slowly as if she had broke a leg or a hip and she struggled to put the house phone into place so it just fell and broke on impact, shattering little fragments all over the wooden waxed floor
"Eizzy!" I call out to my sister, I was amazed that she actually heard me through her music and she saw Mom down on her hands and knees crying and she was mumbling what sounded like prayers,
"What did you do to her Jesse?!", she said then rushed to her side and helped me get her up and we sat her on the couch, "I didn't do anything to her! The phone rang she began crying!" I replied trying to defend myself. Mom was in a different world, she held her lips in the palm of her hands. I felt tears starting in my own eyes and Eizzy had a tear streaming down her cheek, it was too much to watch your mother break down in front of you so we tried to comfort her by rubbing her back softly. It took awhile for her to speak and she only said two words, two words that was all needed to crash and drown us in a ocean of sorrow like the Titanic crashing into the iceberg, "Dad. Died." Both me and Eizzy was shocked by what she said and we just stood there, eyes open and mouth gaped.
"No. No!" Eizzy shouted and she broke down like Mom, I was only twelve so I was still processing what I heard but it didn't took long until I felt something snapped in me and all I could see was my father disappearing in thin air. My Dad, a man, the man who been there for me for as long as I can remember, has disappeared and no longer existed... I didn't weep but tears rolled down my face one after the other and I felt moisture flood over me.
Unfortunately my Dad was the main source to our money and after he passed, we had no money left and were forced to move out. Not long after, my sister followed my father's footsteps and she too disappeared. She didn't died, though it wouldn't make a difference, she just left. No one knows where she went, no one tried searching. Eizzy isn't just some girl that can be kidnapped easily, she has been taking martial arts since she was born. As well as me, our parents thought it was good to be taught to fight our battles if anything happens to us but it also taught us respect and selflessness. She left and it was of her own free will, she chose to leave me and Mom behind.
The sound of the bus horn disturbed my thoughts and I then hop on, paying the fee then taking my seat in the back but before I sit I noticed someone left something on a seat. I picked it up and sat where it once lied. It was a brown book, the size of my lap. I wipe my hands on the hardcover to remove some dust it had on it, and I read the title out loud clearly "Azarath". I gave it a puzzled look, what a weird title. For some reason I proceed to opening it, the pages looked ware out and I read the chapter, "Chapter One: The Gift of Azarath" Underneath the title it had weird writing that I couldn't read, the looked like a bunch of symbols, and I blinked once. Then suddenly I was able to read it clearly, "The gift of Azarath allows even mortals to obtain magical abilities of one that is a true born of Azarath by simply touching the book of Azarath. However the gift is also a curse, whoever gains the gift gets the curse of Trigon and becomes one of his Sons of the Seven deadly Sins upon use of the gift they receive. Using any ounce of magical power will instantly seal their fate and they'll become part demon themselves. For this, the gift must be guarded and must not allow any mortal touch it with his/her bare hands. The results may lead to their death and the Universe's doom."
~Now I know this sounds familiar... I definitely heard about the Sons of the Seven deadly Sins.
I thought then the bus came to a sudden halt, slamming my head onto the back of the seat in front of me and the book fell out of my hands and slid down the alley of the bus, underneath seats. And I wasted no time in trying to get it back and ran out of my seat, looking under every seat to where it could have slid but nothing, no trace of it whatsoever. I heard the sounds of a thousand people screaming and the steps that sounded similar to hard rain falling fast onto pavement. I snap my head to see through the windshield of the bus and saw people panicking and running for their lives but no source of what is causing the panic until I saw a burst of something black shooting through the sky then it was followed by a burst of light green shot in the same direction as the black then something expanded and it formed a large green scaled T-Rex snapping at something in multiple directions followed by a huge burst of blue light coming from the ground and shooting something down that apparently was by the T-Rex's head.
The realization had finally hit me, I was looking at a battle. Not just any battle but a battle between the Teen Titans, the heroes from a city not too far away from the one we're in then I was hit again with another realization, "Azarath..." I said to myself in a low whisper.
"That's what the Teen Titan Raven says... or something like that... Was it Azarath meat on zinc toast? No, not that, that makes no sense and I doubt someone would use that as their catch phrase before doing some super cool attack."
Go to her
Something had said in my mind, it didn't sounded like my mental voice but I followed it anyways and I leave through the exit of the bus that had been open since everyone was trying to escape.
They had been in the park, nearby the water fountain which was off for the season, tying up their latest super villain. I saw Nightwing standing in the center, blocking cameras with the palm of his hand and he refused to discuss about what has just accorded. BeastBoy however was happy to get the cameras attention and shifted into many different animal forms, showing off his ability. Starfire just looked puzzled and asked Cyborg "what are these 'cameras'? Are they trying to see us better?" Cyborg explained to her as quick as possible but he was busy with his robotic arm gun. Raven stood in the shadows with her purple robe over her. I felt my body being pushed towards her and I couldn't really control it. She had sensed my presence and quickly snapped her head to look at me, her eyes glared at me ominously but I kept approaching.
As I got closer her eyes grew wide and I think she got a tone paler, "You. You touched the book of Azarath." I was stunned by her sudden analysis and it was like she read me like a book. I scratch the back of my neck softly, looking sheepishly, "Yeah, I did. It was by accident though. When I picked it up I just thought it was some historical book about Egypt or something of this dimension."
She glared at me harder, her death glare had a really good effect too cause I was feeling the future death any minute now,
"Do not tell me you used the gift." She said and I stood there puzzled then realized what she meant, the gift that was half a gift and more of a curse.
"And become a demon? I think I rather be ordinary." Then I thought about the term "Ordinary" and my life was everything but ordinary, plain or dull.
~I wish it was...
Then I felt a surge of energy coursing through arm and my arm had a mind of its own as it raised, pointing at Raven with my palm, then another surge came but this one fired a white blast at her, she shouted just before my arm had fully aimed at her,
"No! Do-" the blast hit her making contact and she was launched backwards. The other Teen Titans had saw their fellow teammate being blast by the corner of their eyes and I was their new target.
Their eyes shifted between the still body of Raven and me, they all glared at me at once and I felt the anger in all of them. "Oh no..." I said to myself then my mouth lost control and a new voice was spoken through me lips, it was deep and menacing, "Yes! The day has come where I have found myself a new vessel! I think I'll name my new son Envy Mwhaha!" the voice coming from my lips laughed evilly but then something in me snapped and I gained control. Raven stood up, crackling her neck,
"You don't think I would be killed that easily Trigon do you? I just had to go unconscious and go inside the boy's soul self and cut you're new vessel off and from years of suffering with you in me, I know exactly which wires to cut and to prevent anything from happening" His laugh echoed inside my head, sending shivers down my spine. Raven sees me shaking and then comes over to me, placing a hand onto my shoulder,
"I'm sorry but he will always have something over you and he had already made it obvious by putting a new name to you. Your name, the life you had before now... it's over." She tries to comfort me the best she can but when I heard the last word I was shaken even worst and then my life had flashed in my mind of my first memory with Mom, Dad and Eizzy playing in the playground to when Dad has died in a accident where he drove off the bridge and died drowning, no body to be found. Then it flashed to this morning...
Mom was sitting in the center of our apartment, we had no couch so she sat on a pillow, counting the money she had made the night before. Her brown skin over the years had turn to pale and wrinkly as if she had aged 50 years. Her black hair was put in a nappy bun and the look in her eyes was nothing but worried. I remember the days before then and somehow I envied myself for what I had. I envied anyone who doesn't live the same life. I envied my sister, who had the courage to leave and not look back. I put a sweet and gentle hand onto my mother's shoulder, she flinch slightly before looking at me and then she calms herself.
"I'm off to work mom, see you in 6 hours 'kay?" I said to ensure her that I'll be safe.
"Stay safe baby, please, stay safe. I don't wanna lose you too." A tear rolled down her narrow face and I nodded, "Yes Mom, I love you."
"I love you too sweetheart. You remind me so much of your father you know? The same black hair, the same skin, the same look in your eyes. If only he could see how much you grown..." Mom was always depressed, always thinking about the love of her life, she always tells me how much we are alike and I wish I wasn't so she wouldn't have a constant reminder of what she had lost... I leave and shut the door tight then headed off to the bus stop.
It's amazing how one book can change the fate of one's life forever... No, my life isn't over, and I won't let it be. I gave Raven a stern look in the eyes, "Curse or no curse, I will live my life. I am not done with it yet!" I clenched my fist tight and I felt so many surges of energy, I felt like my hands can explode the entire world but Raven simply looks at me sympathetic,
"I'm guessing you haven't read the book fully yet..." with one hand she tucks it into the back of her robe and brings out the book I lost not to long ago and she levitates it, it floats midair and opens itself, flipping pages until it stopped and it faced me, I read the page out loud,
"Chapter Five: Trigon's naming ceremony. Those mortals who are unlucky enough to touch the book gains a curse, Trigon is now in their minds and souls and he forces them to commit evil. Those who turns out to have already a strong evil side are the ones Trigon claims as his children and once he names you, putting your biggest evil as your new name, those who knew you by your previous name will forget you and all the memory off you. You would no longer exist in anyone who knew you and unfortunately it's incurable; cannot be reversed." The book closed. I take steps back in shock of what I just read out loud, "No. No she can't forget me! I'm all she has left! She needs me!" I fall onto my knees and smashed at the concrete path under me hard with my fist and I found myself crying again because for the third time in my life, I lost someone I love very much and there's nothing I can do about it.
I must have cried for at least an hour because I felt like I had no tears left and I knew my eyes were red cause they sting with every blink I take and I finally stood up, looking at Raven with no emotion, "What now."
~How can I have emotions right now? My mother was all I had left and now she will suffer without me...
"You are a teen with super powers, similar to my own. There's only two options, come with me and I'll train you how to use them or get handcuffed and be put into super villain jail. Either way it's your choice." She said nonchalantly. I could escape right now, and master my own powers, then kill Raven for the fun of it or I can go with her and she'll help me learn my powers and I can help stop events that will make other innocent people to go through what I've went. Either way I get some satisfaction but I know mom and dad, and maybe Eizzy, wouldn't approve of me killing others over the lost of them.
"I will like to learn how to use my powers, if you don't mind teaching me." I said to her kindly and she nods. I follow them to a Van, it had the same pattern scheme as Cyborg's robotic parts, and I enter. He drives off until we hit the shore line then everyone but Cyborg exits, "Hey new guy," BeastBoy said to me through one of the lower windows, "Wanna fly to the tower?" I give him a puzzled look then exit the van, expecting a jet to be out waiting but instead I just see BeastBoy, Raven levitating not to high off the ground, Nightwing in Starfire's arms as she flies probably the same height up as Raven.
~Does he think I can fly? I thought then gave him a puzzled look and he laughed a bit before shifting into a large green prehistoric flying dinosaur then he hawked over, pointing his beak to his back as he did. I did what I was instructed to, or at least what I assumed he meant, and I hope onto his back, gripping onto his neck with my hands and forearm for support then with a few flaps of his wings we are off the ground and are flying towards the tower. I lower my gaze to see Cyborg's van going into the water and I raised an eyebrow at the scene.
Air his my face, brushing my lengthy black hair backwards and out of my eyes. My cloths whipped as the wind passed through them but I managed to smile some, it was actually enjoyable. Once you get over the fact you're on a giant green prehistoric bird and your previous life no longer exist so you know live to be a super hero. He swoops down over the Teen Titan Towers roof and shifts with me on him, back to normal and I crash some, from the distance from the height he changed from, downwards and landed on something soft. I get off to see that I landed on another green boy but this time this one was wearing a uniform that covered most of his white skin and blond hair, wearing a black mask on his eyes and a green quiver on his back filled with arrows.
"Watch where you land Beast...boy?" He said angry at first then it was quickly turned into shock as his eyes made contact with mine then it went back to anger,
"Hey! Nightwing! We have a civilian on the Tower!" He shouted, pointing at me, to Nightwing who landed softly thanks to Starfire. Nightwing turns over to me and approaches us,
"He's no civilian Archer. In fact I don't even know what he is."
"He's a demon." Raven said and she levitated downwards to me then the green blond examined me, poking at my forehead then poking at my ass,
"Hey pervert! No one gave you permission to touch me there, or anywhere for that matter!" I said as I smacked his hand away from touching me any further,
"Raven, I doubt he's a demon. No horns and no demonic tail." The pervert said, pointing his finger at me again and I felt my anger grow and surges passes into my hands again but this time they are illuminated by a white aura forming weird spheres around my hands and the outlining of my hands were black inside the spheres, they looked like Raven's hand whenever she uses her powers but opposite colors. He stares at my hands with awe,
"Never mind, he's not a civilian." He said then Raven held my hands into hers and my powers vanished, "You must not use your powers with any negative emotion. That's lesson one." She said and releases me hands.
"Can't help it, my anger sends surges into me and that guy is really annoying. Who was he anyways, I never seen him." I asked and raised a brow to Raven.
"That's Archer, he's almost like you except for the only training he has to learn is close combat, his aiming is already enough to compete with Green Arrow himself."
"Woah." I said, kinda impressed.
I see him talking to Nightwing on the other side of the room but i can't hear a word they say all I see if Archer taking a look at me and his mouth gaped as if he just broke his jaw right there.
"We should get you a uniform and a new name. Unless you want to be called Envy." Raven said and I turned my attention back to her,
"No, I don't need to be reminded of the thing that caused me to lose my life..." I said and she then walked towards the stairs that lead downwards and into the Tower, I followed but my head was still clouded by that one word "Envy". Apparently it fits me perfectly, according to Trigon, and I admit I am envious a lot but what else could you do if you have nothing. Can you really blame a guy for being envious of others who have more than you. Envy is a selfish trait, to only care about what you don't have and willing to do anything for something you want, like a family... I would do anything to get my family back, to bring back the dead and find what I lost then I could continue where we left off. But now I have nothing, only a name that is a constant reminder of what I lost. Even my life is nothing as of now...
I've been following Raven unconsciously for awhile and I found myself in a large room the ceilings and walls were painted white and it stored many uniforms that looked a lot like other heroes only smaller and a bit edited. The room resembles a warehouse in a way but smaller. Raven was levitating high up and was flipping through racks of uniforms that were black. She finally pulls one out and tosses it to me and it lands onto my head, I take it off then look to see that the uniform she tossed to me looked like hers but instead of a leotard it was a sleeveless shirt and long pants that went to probably my ankles and it was completely back instead of being a royal blue like hers. She then tosses a box and it lands just before my feet, I bend over and opened it to see big black boots. Raven levitates downwards with one arm filled with more uniforms that were black and some were white,
"Since you're like me I thought we can make you into my little brother, besides you technically are since you're now a Son of the Seven deadly Sins and I'm the Daughter of on of those sins." I knew this, in the High School I attend to people often talk about heroes and one of my friends had been a Raven fanatic.
She then raises her hands and I was in a black room of her powers, this one wasn't transparent for obvious reasons and I took off my cloths and toss them to the side and then examined the uniform, ~How am I suppose to put this thing on? It's skin tight! I decided to try putting on the shirt first and it surprisingly slipped on with ease and then I put the rest on and I clipped the cape onto my shoulders, the shirt had metal parts where the capes hooks can slip into and lock themselves onto my shirt. The cape also had a hood, like Raven's cape and I put it on over my head,
"'Kay, done." The black barrier went down and she looked at me, tapping her feet onto the floor and gave me an analyzing look. She then levitated upwards again, putting the other uniforms back and came down with what looked like another black fabric and gloves. The gloves were fingerless and the fabric was a mask that had a a few wholes in it. She hands them to me and I put on the gloves easily then tighten their straps around the back of my wrist but I stare at the mask questioningly, Raven sighed then pushed back the hood my head and place the mask on for me. The mask had a hole on the top for my hair to be loose and free, holes for my ears to pop out holes for my eyes, my lips and jawline were also revealed.
"As for a name... Crow." Raven said and I nodded, I liked my new name and at the same time I couldn't really believe that this is happening to me, just a few hours ago my life was... somewhat normal... Then Raven walked out of the room and I followed, the door lead to a hallways with many more doors but we walked down until we were back to the staircase that lead to the roof.
"Introducing the new member, Crow." Raven said with very little excitement in her voice but it was somewhat clear.
Nightwing and Archer stopped combating to pause and look at me, BeastBoy shifted from a flying hawk into his human form then came to me, looking at me up and down, "Nice. Looking bad ass already." He said with a grin then I pulled my cape over my chest and it somehow sealed itself. Nightwing came and Archer followed close behind, "I agree, you look so... Raven-like." He said and grinned. Starfire flew over to me fast then she clapped her hands together with joy and smiled brightly, "Yes! Now I have yet another companion to do the 'Girl talk' with!"
"Um, Star... He's a guy..." BeastBoy said and Starfire gave him a puzzled look, "So I cannot do the 'Girl talk' with him?" She pouted slightly and BeastBoy shrugged, "I mean, you can if you want but I doubt he'll know much about having boy issues... unless he's gay or something." His attention then snapped to me at the last part and I gave him a death glare, "Don't get your hopes, Green Guy." I purposely pretended as if I didn't knew his name and he got a bit mad, "Hey! I am as straight as Archer's arrow," He pulled out an arrow from Archer's quiver and it bended downward slowly then Nightwing laughed and I looked at BeastBoy with a evil grin, "Dude!" BeastBoy said at Archer and he shrugged,
"You took the arrow I use to wrap around people if they try getting away." BeastBoy pulled on the elastic arrow some before placing it back in Archer's quiver.
Raven pulled me by the wrist further down the roof and she stood on the ledge, "Archer!" She calls out to him and he comes,
"Yeah?" He says and gives me a puzzled look and I returned it,
"Go down to the land, I have a favor for you later." He shrugs and do as he was told then went down to the staircase. I look over to Raven,
"What's this all 'bout?" I asked
"It's time for you to learn how to levitate. BeastBoy can't always give you a ride. What if he has to go save someone but can't get there in time cause you're riding on his back and if he were to go faster your life would be in danger. And I cannot levitate you myself, my powers don't work on my brothers and sister. Even touches you makes me powers fail until the physical contact is broken. So this will be a lesson." I nod, understanding what she meant in a way and she continued,
"To activate your powers of levitation you must know how to feel as light as air and to do that you must get rid of the allusion of gravity. Gravity, in magic, is nothing but the thing holding us down when we want it to. So today you'll be jumping off the Tower until you truly believe that gravity has no effect on you. Don't just say 'Gravity doesn't exist', that does nothing. You must believe it with all your heart." I gulped down some saliva that seem to have found itself stuck in my throat and I felt my hands shake some but I nodded to her then she grinned and jumped off the tower and I immediately watch with my mouth gaped. Her limbs spread wide and her cape and hood ruffled with the air passing through her as she fell then she came to a sudden stop and she was floating in the air just above the ground then softly landed. She looked up to see me, she was probably one hundred feet down and beside her stood Archer.
~What is he doing?
I knew she was waiting for me to jump and I gulped again, harder this time and my hands were definitely shaking cause when I placed them on the ledge they wouldn't stop. I pull myself onto it and stood, looking down, I felt my heart sink down to my torso. I've never been afraid of heights, if anything I love getting higher but this case was different. I wasn't up here to enjoy the view, no I was up here to get down there. What if I can't fly? Then what? I imagine myself falling and crashing onto the hard rock covered in moss of Titan island's ground,
"Hey-" BeastBoy said and I was so scared out of my mind I jumped a bit and I lost my balance.