The Beast leapt at Malchior's long neck as he floated in the air with his wings outstretched. When he got close, Malchior effortlessly batted him out of the way with a strand of dark magic, sending him sailing across the huge chamber. The dragon was merely playing with him.

Malchior opened his mouth and an orange ball of fire formed, then a jet of fire shot in Beast Boy's general direction. He morphed into a hummingbird and dived out of the way. Malchior shot a few more streams of fire at Beast Boy, although he wasn't trying his best to hit him. The hummingbird flew erratically and attempted to retreat into the cover of darkness.

At some point, Malchior lost sight of him, but he wasn't too worried. The changeling posed no real threat to him. He turned his attention back to Raven as she sat motionless on the floor. The only sound was her breathing, which was louder now. This was his revenge for her imprisoning him, and revenge tasted sweet.

Beast Boy shifted into an owl and silently glided as he circled around behind Malchior.

After a moment of gloating, Malchior turned his attention back to finding Beast Boy. However, Beast Boy had now found him. The owl glided in silently from behind his head and then, as the Beast, pounced on his back just above his left wing. The Beast tried to dig his claws in, but the dragon was protected by scales. Nonetheless, he did manage to penetrate in at least one place, and he tried to bite into the base of the dragon's neck.

With a howl of surprise and pain, Malchior grabbed him with tendrils of dark magic and threw him off. This time he threw the Beast about ten times harder than before and he went flying over Raven's head and all the way into the front wall of the room. The impact would have killed any human, but the Beast was more resilient.

"Well played," Malchior conceded. "But now I'm going to end you."

As the Beast was getting up from the floor, the dragon glided in for the kill, with his massive wings fully extended. He didn't actually use them to fly; he just liked the menacing look they produced. A huge glowing ball of fire built up in his mouth and he unleashed it.

The Beast jumped fifty feet into the air, but the stream of fire followed him. As his fur was being synged, he morphed into a tardigrade. This bizarre micro animal can survive fantastic extremes of heat and cold and even radiation. The super heated air created a current which lifted him high and he slowly drifted down. He was so small as to be invisible.

Malchior could sense he was still alive even if he couldn't see him, and he knew what must have happened. He flew around in a search pattern looking for some type of animal.

"I know you're here," Malchior said. "You may be some tiny animal that can elude my eyes and ears, but I can sense your thoughts. That's one thing I've learned from controlling the collective mind of Azarath."

"Can you sense this?" Beast boy said in his mind.

"Yes," was Malchior's snarling reply.

As the dragon passed slowly underneath him, the tardigrade morphed into a fairyfly, possibly the world's smallest flying insect, and he flew down into the small wound he had made earlier. He entered the dragon's body as an amoeba.

"Then release Raven and heal her, and I might let you live."

"While my abilities are, of course, far superior to anything that you can imagine, I never bothered to learn how to heal anyone except myself. And I have no intention of releasing Raven's mind."

The amoeba floated down a vein which would eventually lead him to the dragon's heart. The purple blood was likely toxic to him, but Beast Boy didn't care. He just had to survive long enough to carry out his plan.

"Now, where are you…?" Malchior muttered as he searched the air around him. "I know you're close"

"Very close."

"Wait a minute…!" A momentary look of panic appeared in the dragon's eyes. "You're inside of me?"

"Let her go because I'm about to expand into a very large dinosaur. I don't think you're going to be able to heal yourself from that."

Malchior thought desperately for some spell in some book that he that he had read that would extract Beast Boy, but there was none. No ancient wizard or magical creature had ever faced a situation quite like this before.

"Last chance. Release her!"

Realizing that he had no choice, Malchior did so. Raven's mind then cleared. She became aware of her surroundings and saw the dragon floating above her. But she was so weak the only think she could do was slump backwards and lie flat on the floor.

"I did it," Malchior growled. "Now get out!"

Beast Boy saw the images from Malchior's mind of Raven waking up, but he didn't know if it was real or an illusion.

"Heal her!" he demanded.

"I told you I can't!"

"Then I hope you liked the chest bursting scene in movie 'Alien', because you're about to reenact it."

Malchior hadn't seen any movies, but he got the idea. However, he made an alternative proposal.

"If you kill me, I will incinerate Raven with my last thought. Now get out! I give you my word of honor that I won't attack you. In fact, I'm going to leave. There is something I need to do now anyway."

Beast Boy hesitated. He didn't exactly trust him.

"I know how weak and sentimental you are," Malchior continued. "Unless you want to see me burn her alive right now, you'll leave my body without doing any damage. I give you my word I won't attack either of you if you do."

After a moment of angst, Beast Boy emerged from a cracked scale on the dragon's chest and flew down to Raven as a bird. He knelt next to her and returned to human form. He fully expected what was going to happen next, and he took her hand.

Malchior laughed. "How sweet! But I forgot to mention one thing. I'm a bit of a liar…"

A flaming ball formed in his mouth. Beast Boy braced for the inevitable.

Then the fire faded.

"No. That is too easy," he said. "I know the limits of Raven's powers. While I go to purify myself after my captivity, you can struggle in vain and shed your precious tears. And then I'll return and put you out of your misery."

Summoning a huge ball of purple energy, Malchior blasted a hole in the wall of the cube where the entrance had been. He then flew out into the temple. A handful of monks scattered in terror before him and he shot fire at them. He broke through the temple roof and flew out into wind and pouring rain.

As he passed over the tomb of Azar, he unleashed a blast of fire which incinerated the dome shaped structure and left only smoking ruins and steam from the boiling water. He then flew high up the mountain and dived into the mouth of the volcano.

Beast Boy knelt by Raven's side.

"Hold on, Raven," he pleaded.

She opened her eyes a little. "Beast Boy? You're here?"

"I'm here, Raven. I'm right here. We'll get help. You're going to be okay."

"No," she said. Her voice sounded like Timid again. "It's too late for that. But it's for the best anyway."

Beast Boy cradled her head in his hands. "No, Raven! Don't say that. You can still heal yourself if you try."

"He tricked me, and he used me again," she said sadly. "But he told the truth this time. I've tried and tried to change things, but I'm a curse to anyone who tries to get close to me. I'm meant to die alone and unloved. Let's just get it over with…" She closed her eyes.

"That's not true. Raven! Raven, listen to me… Do you remember the fight that we had that time in the kitchen? Do you remember?"

"What does that matter now?" she mumbled without opening her eyes.

"We were sort of teasing each other … You said something about I'd never find a girlfriend if I didn't stop acting so immature. And I said, … um, well, … I said that no one would ever fall in love with you because you were so cold and strange…"

"It's the truth," she said.

"No, it's not the truth," he insisted. "Because I … I am in love with you."

Raven opened her eyes. She looked at him and a tear fell from her eye, followed soon by one more. She made an attempt to smile. Then her eyes closed and the sound of her breathing became much more faint.

"Raven!" Beast Boy cried.

There was no response.

At that moment, Arella entered though the shattered wall where Malchior had broke out.

"My daughter!" she screamed. "Raven!"

She ran over to them and put her hands on her child.

"Is she … dead?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Not yet," he replied. "But we need to find someone who can help her and quick."

"Azar said you are the one," Arella said.

Beast Boy stared at her in disbelief. The woman really was crazy.

"She appeared to me when I was on the pilgrimage," Arella continued. "She told me to return and to get this from Raven's house."

Arella pulled Raven's meditation mirror out of her robe and placed it on Raven's forehead.

"I know I've failed at being a good mother. I never know what to do or what to say. But, please, don't let my daughter die!"

Beast Boy again looked at Arella in disbelief and then glanced down at the mirror. It immediately sucked him inside.