I've dealt with demons…
Chapter 8
Knight had been searching for hours now. The good news was that he had located most of Raven's emotions. Unfortunately, trying to find and keep all of them in a single group is somewhat akin to herding cats. Anger was constantly snapping at everyone and thus clashing with calm, and timid absolutely HAD to apologize for everything she had ever done wrong, no matter how insignificant. Happy was always running off and making mischief and love would act as though the world itself was going to implode if she and Knight weren't constantly holding hands. They still had to find immature, smart and brave. Knight was beginning to reach his boiling point. "How can you even stand to look at me?" timid cried, "I am so sorry, I shouldn't have touched your sword without asking first." Knight sighed. Just ignore them he thought as he trudged along. Anger was as fed up as Knight was and she screamed at timid, "Will you STOP APOLOGIZING!?" Timid looked as though she had just been told to jump off a cliff, her eyes began to water. Calm's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to tune out the world, quietly meditating in her brown cloak as she floated cross-legged at the back of the group. Love continued to recite poetry as she clutched Knight's right arm with all her might. Out of nowhere happy burst out laughing and ran past Knight, but he caught her cloak with his hand, stopping her escape. He sighed and stopped, and then he collected himself, turning to face the Ravens. "Happy! This mission is important; you need to stay with the group. Timid, I hereby forgive you of every transgression you have ever committed against me ever, no matter how severe you think it may be. Anger: control yourself damn it!"
Thankfully, the following minutes of their journey was far more pleasant after a firm talking to, until Knight came upon… a door? In the middle of a rock face was situated a door marked "Raven", not unlike the one in Titan's tower. It was weird, but still he had to press on, and he opened it. Inside lay the main room of Titans tower… sort of. The entire place was a mess, orange cloaks and pieces of armor lay strewn about, alongside several derelict bags of chips and soda cans. From further in Knight heard a loud belch. It came from behind the sofa that sat in front of a huge flat screen TV. He advanced, his armored boots or sabatons as they were called crunched on bits of trash. In the sofa sat another incarnation of Raven, defiantly immature Raven. She was asleep, wearing a few random pieces of her armor, the television remote in her hand. Immature snored was snoring loudly as Knight leaned down and gently shook her shoulder, doing his best to rouse his companion. "Who- what the hell?" immature stirred and her eyes groggily opened. "Raven?" Knight asked. "You'd better have a good reason for getting me up this early tin-man!" Raven sat up and yawned, her breath was foul. "Get up, we have to go and defeat Trigon" Knight explained. Immature just cocked her head at him, "I don't wanna do that!" she leaned to the side a little and gazed upon all the other emotions, who stood impatiently at the head of the room. "Damn" she said, "you actually managed to get the girl scouts together, impressive." Anger called back after them, "hurry up let's go!" Immature just began to pick at her teeth with her pinky finger, "Not my problem sweet cheeks." Anger's four red eyes narrowed and she growled like an animal. Knight was begging to lose patience, "what do you mean it's not your problem, ITS YOUR MIND! We need to kick Trigon out and you are going to help whether you want to or not!" he yelled. Minutes more passed of bickering before immature finally conceded, "Fine, fine; I'll go with your little posse, but only cause' I think you're cute under all that metal." With a lot of grunting and complaining, immature got up. As she did so she slapped Knight on the armor over his buttocks. He stiffened and raised an eyebrow, but held his tongue.
A little while later they were on the road again, though it took time for immature to collect and don the pieces of her orange armor, which had lain helter-skelter about her room. Thank God! Knight thought has he rounded a corner to find both brave and smart; they were clearly arguing. "A full frontal assault is suicide" explained smart as she adjusted her glasses. "I have read many of Knight's books on warfare, and we need to be smart about this!" Brave was clad in green and she brushed smart off, "That's non-sense, we can take him, come on!" Brave tried to escape but smart stepped in her path blocking her exit. "I'm serious, we need some sort of strategy!" she cried. "I have a strategy" Knight said as he stepped into view, "but I am going to need to talk to Raven." "I'm right here!" the Ravens said in unison. Knight sighed, "CONGLAMERATE Raven" he exclaimed. He stepped aside and allowed the rest of Raven's incarnations into the room. They all began to group together, forming a circle. Love lagged behind and took Knight's hand. A tear fell from her eye as she stared back at him, "good bye" she said, and then she took off his helmet and kissed him as though it was the last time they would ever see each other, grasping his head in her hands. After her over-dramatic embrace she left and joined the circle. All of them began to chant in unison, azuras mentreon zyntos, azuras mentreon zyntos. Each of them interlocked hands, and then they rose into the air slightly. Still they chanted on as the circle hovered, then it began to spin. Round and round it went, faster and faster until each Raven was a blur of color. Then the voices seemed to melt into each other and the circle tightened. Smaller and faster it grew until finally there was a bright flash of light; the brightness subsided and there was Raven. She stood for only a moment before she sighed and fainted, falling to one side. Knight ran over and caught her in his arms. It was Raven; plain old Raven, wearing a blue cloak and shiny black armor.
A moment passed and then Raven's helmeted head moved to one side and she stirred. Knight looked down, relieved until he received a hard a smack across his unarmored face. "You idiot" Raven said "you entered my father's realm!" Yup Knight thought good old Raven. He helped his friend up, "pardon my faithfulness" Knight replied. Raven was still angry with him for doing something so stupid, "How did you even get here?" she asked. Knight just shrugged, "Mother Mae-eye was kind enough to help me." Raven's face fell, but it was hidden behind her helm. "Please tell me she didn't give you a small red stone with a black center." Knight nodded. "You fool!" Raven explained "with that stone Trigon can return to the realm of mortals!" Suddenly it all made sense, Knight's face lit up in understanding. "That is why he needed you, to trick me into bringing him the stone. But now that I know of his treachery, and I have entered your mind, we can expel him from your consciousness." Raven crossed her arms, with a small clink of metal on metal. "Easier said than done he's too-""There you are!" Trigon suddenly manifested himself right above them, he was huge; as tall as a sky scraper and his four eyes narrowed in the direction of Knight and Raven.
He clenched a mighty fist and brought it down, "look out!' Knight yelled and he ran into Raven, knocking her out of harm's way. In a flash the two were up, bolts of dark energy flew from Ravens hand and Knight drew his crossbow, letting fly explosive bolts that blew up in Trigon's face. He merely laughed at their petty attempts to defy him, "foolish mortals!" he roared "I am evil incarnate! You cannot possibly hope to defeat my power." With that his eyes began to glow, and pillars of red light poured from them. As the energy struck the ground there was a massive explosion and Knight and Raven were flung to the side, landing under a rocky out cropping. The air was filled with dust, concealing the heroes from view. "Come out and face your doom!" Trigon shouted, unaware of their location. The earth shook with every one of his giant steps as he searched for his adversaries. Pebbles and debris pinged off Raven and Knight's armor as they fell from the rocky ceiling above them. Knight pressed himself against the rock wall and turned to Raven, "I can't fight him like this, but he's still in your mind. Can you weaken him? Make him smaller?" His companion concentrated for a moment, but then shook her head. "I can't" she explained "he's too strong!" Knight thought for a moment. "What about me?" he asked "can you make me stronger, or at least large enough for me to fight him?" Again Raven shook her head, "you couldn't possibly best him; but… I know a spell, it might expel him from my mind, but it's lengthy." Knight was undeterred, "how much time do you need?" Raven bit her lip slightly, "ten minutes, maybe eight at best." Knight's face was determined as he put on his helmet, "It's yours" he said.
Knight stepped out into the open, drawing his greatsword. At the same time, Raven held out her hand, drawing out Knight's inner energy. Her energy always took the form of a raven, but when she began to use her influence on Knight the power took a different form. Knight's energy assumed the likeness of a massive wolf, with a scar down its eye. The animal incarnation flowed from his heart and grew larger and larger until there was a bright flash of light. Trigon roared his fury as the light nearly blinded him. When he finally looked again he was faced with Knight, though this time he stood just as tall as Trigon did. Knight's new form was not solid, but rather the armored warrior was made up of dark energy. The wolf that had sprung from his body earlier was now emblazoned on his breast plate; howling up at the sky with the scar down its eye. With his new body Knight drew his greatsword; it burned with power as he took his stance, leveling the blade before him. "Insolent worm" Trigon roared, "your doom is sealed!" From his hand sprung a sword of fire and the dark lord swung viscously at Knight, beginning the battle that would decide the fate of all mortals.
