Chapter 6: The Master's Command

"What is happening to me?"

Starfire was staring at her hand in horror as her flesh continued to… unravel, was the best word Raven could think of for it… away, revealing a hand of glowing green energy beneath. She held it up and her eyes grew wide as the process continued up her arm, finally stopping just below her elbow. The Tamaranean seemed to be in a state of shock, and Raven really couldn't blame her for that.

"You think that guy in black's curse is what's doing this?" Robin asked, looking and sounding at once angry and afraid. "Why? What's he trying to gain from this? If he just wanted us out of the picture, he could have done that without doing… this to Star!"

"I don't think he wants us dead," Raven said. "You're right- if he's powerful enough to do something like this, he's powerful enough to kill us all if he wants to. This is some kind of transformation, but I'm not sure I understand exactly what's going on." She turned to face Starfire. "Can I have a look at that hand?"

"Yes," Starfire said quietly, nodding. Raven glided over and reached out one of her own hands- the other girl's new "flesh" was blisteringly hot to the touch and she pulled back, fingers singed. Deciding that approach clearly wasn't going to work, Raven held up her hand in front of Starfire's face and began to chant quietly, focusing her energies through her palm and into her friend's body.

Raven was blasted back with the force of a shot from a small cannon; righting herself in midair, she decided she really should have seen that one coming. Still, now that the curse had started to take effect, she thought she was starting to get a better handle on what exactly it did. "He infected you with some kind of demonic life-energy," Raven said. "It's eating its way into your soul and both amplifying and corrupting your powers. That's what's happening, Starfire- you're basically being turned into a living starbolt."

"And this is happening to all the rest of us, too?" Beast Boy asked, shuddering.

"Probably," Raven said. "Starfire's probably the most powerful on her own out of the four of you, so that's why it's affecting her first, but before long it will start working on the rest of you too." Mentally, she revised her opinion of the sorcerer's skills- "good" didn't quite cover it. She couldn't imagine putting together a spell like that so quickly, much less affecting four people with it. Whatever this guy wanted, he wanted it bad.

"So we're all going to turn into demons now, or something like that?" Cyborg said, rubbing his head. "Man, that's so unfair."

"Not exactly demons, but not good either," Raven told him. "But remember, you're not in your real bodies right now, just spirit versions that exist in this world. If we can get back to our own dimension, the effect shouldn't carry over." Probably, she added silently, but something said that uncertainty wasn't what the other Titans wanted to hear right now. Cyborg looked like he was running a diagnostic on himself, Beast Boy was pinching and prodding at his body with a worried look on his face, and Starfire was still staring at her corrupted hand while Robin tried to reassure her. Right now, the team was in trouble, and Raven knew that she was their best hope to get them out.

Great, she thought darkly. The Titans are stuck in Hell, and the person best suited to take charge is the team loner. Yeah, this is going to end well.

Mercifully, the uncomfortable situation was broken by Robin stepping forward. "You heard Raven," he said simply. "Our best hope of fixing this is getting ourselves out of here, so we need to keep moving."

"You're the boss," Cyborg said, and he and the rest of the team fell into step behind Robin as he continued in the direction they'd been heading, towards what they hoped was their attacker and their best chance of salvation. Raven took up the rear, shivering and wrapping her cloak more tightly around herself as she stared around them at the blasted landscaped, unable to escape the nagging feeling that there was something very important she wasn't seeing.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Veneficus was in his study, perusing an ancient scroll of magic that was both powerful and dark, when He came.

He did not come in the flesh, as He hadn't ever since the disaster of Earth-His physical form had barely survived that ordeal, and He'd hidden it away in some remote portion of this dimension while it recuperated, a process that might take millennia. But His spirit still went about, observing all the doings of His minions and carrying almost the full weight of His power, and only a fool would believe that even now He was not still in control.

Veneficus could feel the presence enter the study, as if something had entered that was too vast for the small, hellfire-lit room to contain; the sheer weight of it drove him to his knees, and he bowed his head before the power that had shaped and dominated his life. At other times he might think rebellious thoughts or spin schemes that were hidden from his master, but when he was in the presence of the spirit of Trigon the Terrible, he was loyal. It was impossible not to be, for a demon.

"Master," the demon lord choked out. "What is you will?"

VENEFICUS, the Voice said, silent and yet so huge that it seemed Veneficus's mind could not contain it. I HAVE NEED OF YOUR SKILL AND POWER.

"I am at your service, dread lord," he replied. "Speak, and I shall do it."

INDEED, Trigon said, sounding amused, if such a thing were possible. THERE ARE TRESPASSERS IN MY DOMAIN, VENEFICUS. I CAN FEEL THEM CRAWLING ACROSS IT LIKE THE INSECTS THAT THEY ARE, AND YET THEY ARE SHIELDED FROM ME. A POWER HANGS PROTECTIVELY ABOUT THEM, AND I SMELL THE TAINT OF… AZAR.

"Azar?" Veneficus asked, sudden fear striking through what, had he been human, he would have called his soul. Did the Master know what he had done? Surely not, or else Veneficus would not still be breathing. Trigon saw all, but when his gaze turned inward, as it had now, it was possible for many things to slip past him. "How is such a thing possible? Azar is dead, and her power could come hear no more easily than yours could enter her domain while she lived."

AZAR DOES NOT COME, BUT HER LAST DISCIPLE HAS- SHE WHOM I WILL NO LONGER CLAIM AS MY DAUGHTER, SHE WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MY SHAME. RAVEN IS HERE, THE MORTAL RAG-TAG WHO HANG ABOUT HER WITH HER. I WILL NOT BEAR THIS INSULT, BUT I WILL BE AVENGED!

"How so, master?" Veneficus asked. He could almost feel four blazing eyes on him now, though in truth he knew those eyes were far away.

I CANNOT REACH THEM WHILE I AM WEAK, BUT YOU CAN. YOU WILL SEND FORTH YOUR MINIONS, YOUR SPELLS, AND YOU WILL FIND THEM AND BRING THEM BEFORE ME. THEN THE MORTALS WILL PERISH, AND I SHALL TURN MY ATTENTIONS TO MY RENEGADE DAUGHTER, AND BEFORE I AM THROUGH HER SCREAMS SHALL RESOUND FOR TEN THOUSAND YEARS! As Trigon spoke his voice seemed to swell further, until it seemed as though the world itself would crack open, revealing the gateway to yet stranger and darker places.

"I hear and obey!" Veneficus shouted to his lord. "I shall not fail you!"

YOU HAD BEST NOT, OR YOU WILL SHARE HER FATE. The Voice fell silent, and the presence of Trigon's mind withdrew. Veneficus fell face-forward onto the study's carpet, which he'd made from a rival's hide, and lay in a stupor for several minutes.

So, he thought, Trigon knew he had uninvited guests, but didn't know who had brought them to this dimension. That was good, for now, because if he knew that Veneficus had been responsible, or what he planned, the demon sorcerer would have been destroyed out of hand. His only option now was to follow Trigon's orders- he'd intended to wait a while and allow his curse to take effect before recapturing the Teen Titans, but now everything had to be sped up. He needed to act fast and be gone from this dimension with his prize before Trigon realized he'd been cheated.

Veneficus stood slowly, carefully rearranged his robes- it wouldn't do for the servants to see him in such condition- and then spoke a single name. A hulking demon materialized in front of him and bowed. "You see these?" Veneficus asked, forming an image of the Titans in one hand. "They are out there, in the burning wastes. Gather your pack and find them, and bring them to me. Alive," he added as an afterthought, and could almost taste his minion's disappointment. Still, the big demon nodded once, saluted with a fist against one shoulder, and then vanished in a burst of flames, gone to the hunt.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Time seemed to blur for Raven as the Titans walked slowly through the barren lands. The light towards which the sorcerer had fled grew no closer, and little in the landscape around them changed- they hadn't even seen any more monsters or demons since the wolf attack. Hell, it was becoming clear, might be many things, but an interesting and varied dimension it wasn't. Still, if they'd actually made it to one of the inhabited regions, things would probably be far worse. Considering they were likely headed towards one such region now, that was small comfort.

The only way to tell time was by the small transformations beginning to occur in the other Titans. Starfire's condition had resumed spreading up her arm, more slowly this time, while the fingers of her other hand were also starting to glow green. Beast Boy's flesh was occasionally writhing, and at one point an eye popped onto the back of his neck before vanishing again. Cyborg's armor was fading from bright white to dull grey, had sprouted a few spikes, and was starting to expand over the organic parts of his arms. They seemed determined to ignore the changes to the best of their abilities; the fact that Beast Boy gave a kind of frightened little moan every time he sprouted an extra finger or had some other loss of control over his shapeshifting showed that this was not entirely successful. Only Robin seemed unaffected.

A sudden roaring sound came from above, and Raven glanced up to see a small swarm of meteors, larger than the ones they'd seen before, come streaking towards them. Robin saw them too. "Down!" he shouted, and the team fell to their knees as the fireballs passed over their heads and crashed directly in front of them.

Raven looked up and saw something stirring from within the craters. Something was rising from the nearest one- a huge, pale demon with bulging muscles so huge they made Mammoth look downright petite, its face concealed by an iron mask and a huge, double-bladed sword in its hands. More demons of similar type were rising from the craters behind, each carrying a decidedly lethal-looking oversized weapon. Fanning out, they advanced towards the team.

Beast Boy looked towards Robin. "All right," he said, "is it okay to panic now?"

Robin watched the demons with wide eyes, and then looked back to his cursed friends. "Yes," he said in a slightly strangled voice, "I think this is the time to panic."