Teen TitansThe Chaos Round-Part Two Between Worlds, Against all Odds

by Inkblot24

Our heroes' plight continues as the Chosen's promised vow to a daemon of manifestation is tested -he's forced to fight his own sister to the death, an old enemy resurfaces, and a bond that could unexpectedly save his planet, is brought into question -find out the rest in part two! The chaos round continues, here!

13. Chapter 13

Teen Titans; New Generations; The Chaos round Part Two; Against all Odds – Chapter 13: Rise from the Underground – Old Wounds Bleed Wide Open – Faces in the Darkness; An Invasion of Souls.

/

Silence, quiet. Dead streets, as they came to life.

A swirling instance left the Titans in shock as the sky shuddered under the pressure; the weight of worlds was causing a meltdown of epic proportions to unfold. Time was unwound at the seams; it was unlike any event and none of the heroes could catch themselves quickly enough to blink up in awe. The age of the dinosaurs and their death could be counted, as a mirror image about what was to befall our heroes in their trying need for resistance.

A sky of red and soot, and black winged things with pits of lava to each end. The ground shook. The cars that had been built for man, sang out all at once. A sand - storm tore past the roadways and sent buildings hurtling across the scape of California's dusty soil.

Hours off in Japan, Yumi had tried to remain a voice for the folk she did know. The council of spirit and humans to this plane prayed and stayed together. Fending off the darkness as best they could, Japan was stronger than this madness. Her icy form was not enough to cool the hearts of those who had sided with the chaos entity, who'd been moving them around like wooden pawns.

In Sweden, Sten had to stay with his family to prevent any tabloids from hitting where it hurt; where his mother had nearly freed the young guardian's father - until he'd finally cracked under the pressure. The demonic entity had come for them, yet Sweden was known for staying not from the fight, but knowing how to act when the worst did come to pass.

Abeni was soundly a strong voice for her nation, and took towards helping those to evacuate who had remained unchanged by the war – God Ares's motives. They were strong at heart. They had to wait out the storm, as one nation of many.

Klara in Hungary made sure to sing her songs with a proud voice to then lift her countrymen's spirits. She had no choice, not until she recovered her magic to aid her allies - the Guardian dogs in their own similar battles.

Ava Grayson or Anya Wolfmund, could not return to her plane. She still had work to do on Earth, where the worst had come to decimate all and every ounce of life she'd ever cared for as a human child.

He was resetting it. Raven glared at the god with her eyes white and full of strength. Ares was redoing time and creating, things by Eris's magic with his own twist!

Ami kept Koko and Kaede near her. They were glad that she had decided to think before acting on any such impulses as before. Her strict training was still incomplete. After this war was won, Ami would return to Japan to be properly cleansed of the evil from this realm's plane.

The middle child; Anna Grayson, decided to contact Lady Astarte and Nina while her fire power was dwindling fast. She'd decided that they were not her enemies; they could help, and they had no choice as of this time but to listen to her demands.

The Titan Zatanna's leg had been hurt by one of the harpy's attempts. She winced as Raven forced the magician to lie back down, as her own magic had weakened a great deal. She needed extra power to…No, time to heal her wounds.

"I'm sorry…Hold on, Zatanna…" Damian clasped his hands around hers and squeezed them.

"I'm…. not dying…why –

"We are all going to die because of hi! -

"Damian." Raven shot a glare at the spoiled son of the bat. "Please, I need to speak to Zatanna. Alone."

She directed him to sit by Cyborg and Connor. Dami slowly released his girlfriend's hands and was still shaken sorely by the blow. She'd gotten hurt. Aiden had just…Argh!

If he EVER laid his eyes on –

"We saw you this way, before." Anna stood up and frowned at her relative.

"When Apep was our Number - one foe, in the past –

"Don't try to make him look innocent." Snapped Dami. Ann sniffed back, and just stood taller than him. Never backing down.

"Dad failed at stopping it from coming to this. Only my "perfect" sunshine, lil' brother decided it was high - time to break from tradition a little." She stated, almost proudly. Her eyes made Dami feel small. Good, he had a temper like no other. She didn't want those monsters to get a whiff. Just like in the past with the Snake 'who eats the sun.' Damian was a packaged hot meal for the next rage - sniffing - gorgon to scarf down.

"I…Just don't want anyone else to pay the price. Those, mon! –

"They were gorgons; mythical beings of strife." Kay reverted to his adult form to recharge.

Gar looked on and raised a brow.

"Are you low on juice, puppy - cat? –

"As ever I'll be, mate!" Kay snickered and brushed back his white locks to the side, continuing to then lift the team's fighting spirits.

"I know dragons. This is not his doing. This is a chaos entity losing ground."

"Say wha? Wha, what are you talkin' bout? Is Vee playing us or –

"More like a test." Connor looked out on the wasteland that had once been his ally's home. His second stomping ground.

"Bulloony!" Beetle rolled his eyes as he and Cyborg attempted to make a signal out; to any who could listen for their S.O.S. "If that's what he's onto us for, I'd say that's muy –

"Vee isn't the culprit. Please let go your earlier suspicions." Kay siggb hed and knew that Verra was going to get his just reward delivered to him sooner than they'd pictured. "We brought ourselves to the conclusion that going before a few Eternals, Celestials, and Ethereals would have an army at the ready, or something of that nature. It did not, exactly backfire." He went on, "Verra had all the intent of a Guardian of the chosen to find a way, as did my kin. However -things, are a bit rattled to this point on…Hakuro was –

"The light kid from…Oh, dude…" Gar gawked and shook his head. "That kid went nuts last time! He was a basket case with a night light off – talk about awkward! Don't you remember? Aiden made him –

"Aide freed him an' tried to be friendly to the lil hermit." Cy recalled. "He didn't wanna' trust anyone still connected to the dragon. He even said it –

"Why was he allowed to help us?" Connor asked this, having some knowledge that this light being held aa way to stop this flow of chaotic power…He hoped.

"He, was more…. pushed into the seat by his leaders. Ancient deity that holds his powers back –

"Did a crappy job of that, huh?" Beetle snorted and got up to scope out the skies – only to find a force field in his way. He crashed back down, narrowly avoiding Raven's stare of death.

"OWW! They want us to be eaten alive? Come on! That is such a letdown!"

"These are ancient monsters, creatures who feed off of hope in the world." Raven shrugged and went back to helping Zan with her aches and pains.

"Painted that picture bloody well, ya did." Kay agreed and helped Beetle to stand up. "Are we waiting to say our goodbyes? I can –

"You using your teleportation magic, could leave us as open targets." Raven rebuked. "I don't want to make us any weaker as it is…"

"What about you, Rae?" B exclaimed. "You are using up –

"Ow! Hey!" Cy shook his head, a fist used to conk gar on the noggin at this point. Ole' Clichés.

"We can't stay put. I don't wanna put them in danger either –

"We so don't have to worry like this much, do we Ann?" Ami popped over and smiled at her big sis, who blushed at her cute sibling's timing. Ava brought in her thoughts before Ami could impart false hope onto her own family.

~It isn't that. The core monument…The source of this storm, we have to locate that –

~Leave it to me! ~ Koko sniffed and returned in face as her ally Kaede did the same. ~ Cats are not the only creatures who can locate lost items. ~ The wolf concluded and began her spell.

The two were of a different species, yet formed words alone that spoke of acceptance in these bleakest of hours to come.

Their hands held onto hope as the layers of will – o – wisp from the fox fire of Kaede's clan spanned over the surface, while Koko's world was full of howling and drums of her nation's prosperity.

~We are to follow the path laid out. Come, everyone! ~ Kaede was smiling, and this made Ami hopeful that Haru would one day return to visit once she'd been sorted in the halls of those passing. The scale would weigh their futures accordingly, as the teams struck off on a new venture. To the center of the known Earth, they'd once held with such fond remembrance of her chapter.

/

Eris knew her powers had broken, with the world coming apart around her – the girl she'd entrapped years ago had also woken with a start to rebel loudly in the goddess's ear.

~STOP IIITT! MY WOORLD! MY PERFECT

The effects of this toxicity she'd taken in were painful and dangerous.

She threw her body against a wall and wallowed, while Raku looked on from the doorway to see the goddess as in pain as a demon of sin.

He was, sorry for her. He'd lied about taking her away – yet she did not remember it clearly. She'd seen his self in the desert that had not been born yet. It was…The strix who'd sent this being from a dream to torment Eris – to get the god angry enough to bring her wars to Earth. For strife had a new name.

~U…. You….! ~ She pointed his way. He did not sway, for Ignito was there and kept his ally close.

~We have a common enemy; we were both used. ~ Raku said as he walked closer to the riling woman in her agonizing moment of punishment and self – loathing.

~LIAR! Like a god can listen to a wretch like you! –

~You won't be a god much longer if you can't stand up. ~ Raku proclaimed, his voice a bit deeper as his body harnessed the magic around him to grow tall. To regain his strength, yet he rejected the feeling of e-

~AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!~ She dove a him with her eyes as mad as a snow beast's; all clad in white.

Raku dodged not too swiftly and his cloak threatened to send the boy toppling. He caught himself as her projectile arms came at the brat. He brought out his next of defenses. A book that should not be opened.

His hands clasped round it and he ran on his two legs to flee for a safer location in casting his curses.

Cursed, for this was his power.

A story to tell, and to write; for Sarah had refused to tell anyone of Raku's real gift.

His ability to manifest from this air – to create life and to take it back with one swipe.

A creator, a destroyer.

A demi – God made and born to rise…

And to fall…

~NONONOOO!CUT IT!OUUUTT!~~ Her strike hit the wall beside him. Her aim well off by Charl's fib, the white lie only pulled her further to bits as she cried out – the boy in front as solidly devised as her father's very creations.

This specter of a man made her eyes run red and blue as the darkest trenches filled over with magma.

~Story to tell; break thine spell…. Please be thine rule unto thine own palace; sunken and untold – thy heart breaks a – two, to ye, Goddess of ever – misery born unto to thee –

~Your words…! They spake…NOTHING!~ Eris bore her fangs and sped forth, only to have Charl push her from their true catalyst commeth.

~AGH! IMP! YOU DARE SIDE WITH THE TRAITOR?!~

"You should look away, mon ami." Charl spoke in is mortal to immortal's lowest tone. With precision, he had her to stumble. On hands and knees, she'd know nothing. Say nothing back, for she had lost that right.

~ MY POWER…. I OWN IT! NOT, THAT…. IMPOSTER! IIIMP! I SHOULD HAVE SLAIN YOU WHEREST YOU'D LAIN!~ Her fire was hot and cold; his shield was enough to allow Raku time to work.

~STORY TO DIVINE! TELL AS IT MIGHT – POWERS OF DARKNESS, OF CHAOS AND LIGHT! ~ Ignito spoke through Raku's voice. Gathering the skill of then, he could conclude this story as finished.

The book expanded to show itself. Once a prized tome within the library of ages, this book had come to Raku as a familiar would to a witch or warlock. It knew the boy's fate before he ever could; his magic to come to fruition would find ground amid the strange Earthen sphere. As it should be to an ancient meta – human child's happiest of endings.

Raku extended a index finger to the wild goddess of strife and discord. She yowled back as painful aching throbbed at her temples.

Her limbs started to unravel, as if a paper character brought to life, now threatened by it's creator of being erased. Raku shut his eyes partially to Eris's cries to be set free. The only way to illuminate the threat here, was to –

~Stop! ~

A voice awoke Raku from his trance. I was, someone he did not recognize…. Or, had he forgotten them as so many others in the darkest corners of his mind…

~Don't cease! She needs to be erased, here! Before the end is firmly set! You ARE a god! A creator of things and strife, as well as hope and light! –

~N..NO! ~ Raku trembled by Ignito's words. Praises. They were wrong! He was. Could not…

The spell broke and Charl was left to have the claws of the daring Eris at his chest -his heart bled to the floor by her seething temper.

~You…Are now dead…so…. –

Eris swung over to Raku with her body as ridged as –

~Stop! It's a trick! ~

The voice again. Raku was unable to see who'd been shouting demands. The goddess of destruction laughed at the air and held her palms up to it to welcome…. Her puppet master…

Raku's skin grew dull and frail at the sound of a dozen laughing demons; his memories were real, and her coming…

~Was a sign now, that we've failed this plane…. ~ Ignito cleared throat as he stayed beside his counter – self. His imagination of the stress this would bring to their worlds. Raku was a god of balance, of the solar and lunar divides. He was feared because Azag had been a god once of time – space in a separate line. He lived for so long, that the traveling had rung him out, to bleed tar black into his veins at every fullest of moons. Every summer was vital, as it returned the god's strength. Raku had almost lost his way because of a demon who'd opposed diversity among the sexes and of it, she was envy incarnated in this life as well…

And, they'd just let loose the worst storm imaginable, again.

The guardians of Earth were ultimately, on their own this time.

/

Aiden tossed the cretin that carried his face to the side. The gorgons looked on and saw this, only to pull the double from the boy - but he went back in as if taffy to a rotten tooth.

Wobbling about, Aiden flailed and shoved the godless harpies back to have them avoid being hit. Some were in this for a freedom without consequence. Others, like Medusa, still held their morals somewhere deep down.

He had to figure out a way, while the Gemini boy was readying –

~It's feeding time! ~

The definite sound of crushing rubble and croaking waves made the rumbling atmosphere shake and shimmy without remorse, while on its axis. As if an earthquake in a glass jar prison to some insect, this feeling had Raven especially, clinging to her spell book, or Malchior, even tighter.

~What is that? ~ She gasped and hung onto the first piece of rock that would have her feet to the ground.

~The plates are shaking something ghastly; we must get your allies to higher ground! Quickly! ~

Raven nodded to her book pal and ran to find Zan and Dami finally on their feet. Mostly, their harpy enemies had been turned down by invitation only for a time. They still looked itching for a round two...

Ares needed them back at his platoon. They'd fled, for now.

Blue Beetle sky - rocketed out into the stampede of trolls, rock beasts, demon imps and ghouls, in order to find his team members in the scuffle.

~The circle of life, my butt! ~ Cy shouted; noting that this was just like the Disnere film, the Savanna King. (The lion king.)

He rode a bucking wildebeest bronco of a beast to gather up Ami, and a far from disturbed Anna Grayson. Ava shut down the roads to let the trotting wild heard on, while her ice magic kept them from hitting the sides of buildings and smashing them in a demolition – derby - royale.

~This won't hold! My magic can't protect –

~Then save you first before we all end up trampled to death! ~ Beetle spouted the truth. The buildings could be rebuilt. The people…Had already fled the city or had been taken by their inner demons.

~We have to stop this madness! NOW! ~ Kori sped away from her allies and saw Richard facing their son and a gang of monsters.

Verra was with him, and very, very disturbing to look at.

He had reverted to his taboo beastly self. The guardian had gone over calming this curse with the help of monks in the spirit realm of Tibet. Now, it had gotten free again. The world swam with sickly miasma strands of life- taking energies and wafting about, endlessly inside the void.

Kori dove down to intervene, though Verra was in his overprotective mode on autopilot.

~Nigthwing!~ She shouted down to her husband. Kori lit up brighter and let her bolts fly at Verra to have him step back – he took it as a challenge and howled so loudly, that it should the skies around the alien maiden.

~No! My husband is not a toy for chewing! Give him back, bad forgnort! ~ (we are going with bad dog on this one.)

She sent her light down and evaded this trembling feeling. Verra did not frighten her, he was just very confused and that was able to be cured with the right touch. She imagined that magic was like that. He'd beaten back his demons before.

So, she imagined, it. Well, anyway.

Richard had finally; with the hunting actions of Verra on two legs, gotten closer to the Gorgon circle. There, Aiden had been a part of a beat down as their main target. The dopple had vanished to recover its strength. Raku's influence was dead up on the surface, so it wasn't him Dick found out as he stepped closer to his son's body. It was the dopple going all out to regain a form! To overtake Aiden!

Dick swiftly dodged Vee's burly paws and saw an opening to intervene within Aiden's unruly cluster of daemon rejects. The pressure was pointed at him in stares and violent spears at each end. Still, Aiden was trying to dance the dance away from this mad affair, with the Gemini twin the ringleader in his case.

He talked to the godless as if a messenger of misfortune, ear to ear he slipped away to seek out the attention he'd lost from his older brother. Madness swelled inside his vision and twin Gemini wasn't coming back up from the ecstatic rush the feeling gave away – he was turning into a demon on the spot, at turned one as his newest title.

Aiden saw by his ability and the sinking miasma, as it turned the once meek soul, over to the dark side of misery and woe for a lifetime.

Kaien might have spared him if –

~You don't have to do this!~ Aiden cried back to the twin, who looked away from his pranking fun - times.

~Ah? So, then? Can your mutt bring back my lonely brother? He cannot! He is a sun god of filthy volcanoes! Earthen molester of Gaia and her children! A bastard – God! You, are to receive not the blame here, yet my allies do not care for those who would subject the overturned to a life sentence they do not require. You will be the first to perish by our hands – we are the ones who rule your Earth now…. Suffer as I have! Take him!~

"NO!" Dick jumped into the scuffle and drop - kicked the tallest troll made of swamp wood.

Aiden gasped as the high-flying Grayson still had more years left than the grim reaper by his agility.

As if immortal, himself.

It was a touch of the gift from Roku so long before; Aiden needed to be the last chosen of this realm, so he had to live. Any who could aid him would be allowed to fire at will what the had – the dragon had known the future to come always…

That was always why he'd wanted to keep that part of the myth private, until its time to emerge came.

Then, was there a way to prove that Aiden wasn't the enemy or was Gemini twin's anger so engrained that he'd not see reason?

The rest was tough to tell. Aiden had a task, and it was not to make well with an Eternal being.

He'd expected this to have more to do with Eris or Raku, but instead it was Ares who had betrayed his role as a footstool to the hungry goddess. Eris had gone further into her depressive state -as if she'd lost the will to love anyone with two legs and a soul. Gods had both of these, though they were warped beyond compare. Charl had not loved, he'd used her. Just as he'd filled the void of her consequential loneliness for a time.

And as the world burned hotter, the magic had begun to escalate. It flickered alive and left the Titans to face the flames - to expect the worst. Aiden, had opened Pandora's sacred box. He'd shattered that perfect urn to pieces by the goddess's feet. Raku had helped to cement the fact that Aiden was still alive and bound to their pact. In his eyes, Raku was trying to face his inner demons quietly and quickly. There was one last thread to cut loose the boy from his past life, if he were to ever become a true Chosen's ally for a good time longer.

~They don't want him to stay and keep his promise. ~ Aiden remembered how the gods had called Raku out as a demon without knowing the entire story.

Aiden felt his mouth breathe fire. His father was toppled by a flying pellet of green; in time to drop the man from his instant, demise.

Aiden covered his face and felt the smoke rage free from each of his nostrils. Something, he could do to fix it…

~SHOW THEM…. ~ Aiden breathed out again as cinders kissed his ashen lips. Kori and Dick were to the side, she'd come soon but…. He was not soon enough to end it…

Show them your power!~Aiden shouted as if his voice were a strange…. His dad…Just like that time! Ami had mentioned Nigthwing's body having been manipulated by the god of war…Now he was –

~I see it! We had the fire tucked away, not from beneath these lids will you bat away my law and order…BOY! ~

"AIDEN!" Ava tried to telepathically connect from where she could with Raven and Zatanna's aid. They were closer now. They had found him!

~Fight it! You know why this isn't right…Rage is not the answer. It won't free him. It will make you lose control! Please! I've already lost my best friend…. ~ She sniffled and had no choice but to choke back those solid tears from the link.

~But that does not mean you can do the same and make him suffer too! He wants to fight. You said it! We all want to believe it! ~

~Fool! The boy's pet is no longer at your call to prosper. He's sided with the ones to have turned his fate – the demon witch who is now idle inside this plane's very walls! I was working to rebuild this putrid city…. To protect my creations! You, are making my work monumentally draining as it comes…thou, shan't find your answers clearly! The Chosen will work unto I! King of the Earthen domain!~

Ares was there, in his head. The dopple no longer the nineteen-year old's number one concern. Aiden panicked and shook his head to free the vision of smoke and soot from his senses. The laughing war – God had the Chosen shout louder. He'd been so vulnerable….

~And yet, you didn't forget about me? I was always in the corners of your mind…-

Aiden gasped; Ares made a choking sound before his voice came through Aiden's lips. Quite upset by the intrusion.

~What? What are you trying to take! GET OUTT!~ Aiden shouted and bashed his head into the earth. Red clashed with white as his eyes fell back into his skull. Utterly drowned inside his memories of a time that was not his own; it belonged to a monster…. A demon who'd taken lives….

A war god wannabe who'd harnessed the power of gods from long before -a real threat…. Then, why was…

Aiden let out a gurgling and then a yell so strained and pained from those lips, that the war lord's body spilled from his jaw. Its body as titanium safe as a locked coffin. It wanted to have someone to undo the latch. Its black armor was an omen of death and nothing more. To let monsters, roam free by its hand. At least, this was what the teams had seen. In actuality, they'd seen of an even greater threat and its return – to terrorize the rest their home - plane...

/

Slade's face was able to make out a few others; the Titans, and the Chosen…He'd just wanted Lilith to give up on her conquest already. Eris was done; her eyes dripped misery and a loss so great, that her depression was exposed to her enemies in the form of a watery grave. It filled the underground and as miasma, stood against the ones meant to seal it back. The witch's tears made a river; a filled to the brim cavern that would leave this level to the fishes.

Slade grabbed Cici's wrist, pulling her from her fight. "We have to move it!" He'd not believed her more stubborn than Alice. In fact, she had this wry humor to her that was genuinely more mature about her, even with her ageless body and brain. He knew she'd saved her body in a way that was taboo. By becoming Lily's pet all those years, Cici had managed to break free, yet the Crone Hecate had exposed her weakness. She'd tried to make her protégé grow up too fast. Before her eyes, she'd lost her sibling, who'd remained pure enough to be released from her curse. She'd been resurrected. Alice was nothing but a doll of sand that held a soul for so long. She'd burned to know who'd awoke her and how. Never why, as she knew the reason for that.

Her sibling had in fact been Cici, which made the other blonde grow to age in her state, appropriately with Catalina Daia's help. By the last fall of the dragon's reign on Earth, the youngest Daia had found love in the worst of spaces. Yet, it had not been of family, but of contracts and trickery. Cici's brown wrinkled up at that bleeding loss.

Aaron Stellanova, or the incarnation of Orion the White knight's own personal charge, in the past. An ally of the Daia and Crescendo, he was then found to hold a portion of the Chosen's energy and light in him, so they'd bonded. Hakuro had come first, and his answer had been just as confusing. His past had betrayed his eyes, so he could not trust another to contract again with a power - source, for he was one.

Then, Horus had come and was not a stranger to the Grayson clan. He'd shone his light on the world in order to do away with the demon Apep. A sun - eater, unlike Hati. He'd been lost to them later, as his role had since ended.

After this, there had been Aaron's return and the rest continued. Slade was sick of selves and doubles all the same. He just wanted a vacation in great outdoors like a retired bumpkin. Cici could join, if she'd just let go of this silly dream of make – believe.

For his sake, and hers, he hoped she'd listen to reason.

~I know we are to die; will you not trust me? ~ She looked deep into his eyes and for all intended purposes, embraced the man on the lips, before leaving him in her dust.

~ How vulgar! We are to leave here at once! Manifesto! ~ Lil shouted and let her shriek throw the lunar princess off balance.

~Is it time? ~

Manifesto trembled in anticipation as his palms clenched the other. His greed was for the material, for power and for a sacrifice for his queen to be made.

Raku was the trade - off for his fortune to come. Lilu never spun odd tales. She was true to her word at most times.

Embrace of the lunar cycle! Desist! Seal the underground – make it so!~ Cici used her magic to shift the walls to create a great barrier. The access to the top was blocked. With the moon bow glowing bright by her breast, it was so strong that the room needed not a light to keep it so dimly lit. She had the power of the moon and the underworld as Cici used her powers to keep her inner goddess contained. Ishtar was real; Lilith was a pesky bad dream. A cold bucket of water hit Slade as he was shoved through a passage way. Cici had…. let him save himself…. He scurried back to find an exit. Maybe the Titans could stop the fight. He did not know. Aggie was on her own.

The goddess in Aggie was able to faze through the walls. Her body weaker as she did. Her old strands of white showing through the veil of her Universal guise. As if this had been a mistake, or that her true enemy was not this one, she still had more ahead to accomplish while she thrived in spirit.

The rubble was nearly come and gone; Slade stood, his feet shaky on the ground, still as he tried to leave the deadly underground city behind.

Cecilia…No, had she been able to escape? He was stricken with a grief that only a father might feel, or a…

Love, that wasn't it. She was a comrade. This grief was a kind he was sure she'd infected him with by her magic. She was a moon daemon, a creature of the unknown. Of emotion that Alice had rejected to thrive by in the sun. She'd died earlier, and the moon, had replaced that halo with no choice on how it should be. It just, took to the throne in the sky…

What was he thinking? It had to be the witch. He touched his own face and was afraid to be wrong; she'd not even paused. Love, was not so simple as that. She'd broken her own rule. Alice, was no more…

Because, he may have replaced her…

/

Raku didn't want to believe that his magic was weak. Eris was crawling off to clear her head. Her eyes were…. Not a happy sight.

He saw her pupils turn as she did. The putrid miasma ran in circles as Shadow von Hert's doggie dozen. He pushed back. The madness was over! Charl shouted and commanded his fellows to ruin the boy – or so he thought. Raku's guide; Ignito, whispered into the demi god's ear –

~They are under a different commander! We have lost! The enemy has changed! Run from here! Now! ~ Raku was hoisted by the mage's magic towards the door where he'd entered without fear. Now, Eris sat in a heap and rocked herself back and forth. Charl…He'd pay!

~This is over! ~ Raku protested.

Charl laughed as if he'd lost his will to believe in such possibilities. ~Ah -ah! You are too important to let slip away, my king! –

~I'm done with commanding monsters! ~ Raku let the words ripple, it made Charl's hair of a bat stand on end. It only made his smile wider, greater of ill intent than before.

His…. Untapped, "Power- source" magic was still there, inside his body and by his aura. Raku was branded, just as his children, and Aiden…

There was only to be hunted for such a flavor in this and any other life – he was the greatest fodder and tool to a demon lord.

Raku gulped and rushed in the direction of the door. He used his tome to open up a new one. This one being out into the streets of a German city. He'd lifted the lid of that underground riot factory – but, now what?

~This way! Manifest a portal! I'll –

A powerful shockwave ran across the street's surface. The cobbles jumped up as if in the air by the lack off gravity…No! The world was collapsing!

~AAAHHHH!~ Raku did all he could to try, to think without the shouting car horns or fighting men in his way. He was seen, tangible. And it felt…. Sickly…. Deadly, to be here.

His skin itched as he tried to shake the feeling away. Ignito was using his magic to open up an escape….

~AAA FDAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!~ He screamed as if a torch were to his flesh. It was, life…And he could hear them…The ones who'd been lost. The ones he had to save…NONONO! This was just like before! He….

~Aie…ai…de.…. ~ Raku felt his body being tossed through a whole field in the space time alignment. This vortex, would bring him…to his Chosen…

The one he wanted to protect….

/

Cici's body would not be found. She was close to death in her current guise, at least she did believe it was her time to perish for her crimes.

A wise soul in the space, so chose otherwise. Cici's destiny was never to leave her fate to another.

~See? Lady Crone? ~ Vespa turned to her teacher's ally; Hecate, as the girl in her world was close to falling apart in a lifted time – sphere off the ground. Surrounded by the council telepathically, and her old teacher - her ally Chronos's student; Vespa of the realm to Vesperion territory.

Cici was not awake, yet she could sense the presence of those she'd chosen to run from.

~Like her mother's flame of rebellion, she is forged of light and little hope…she chose to save another, who is fated to aid the Chosen…~ Hecate nodded to the faces of the holographic council men and women, some being of different spheres in time. Thor was with Hel in one, while Artemis and Agni were to the other. A god of wisdom from China's past world, and a deity of fertility in Africa. A deity of the Raven in the New World of the past, and much more…

~Will you allow her too to aide the Chosen? She is just; her values have not failed, she intends to grow from this, and I will have her master the art of the Unknown Void's choosing. ~ Promised Hecate with a bow to Artemis on her moon chair in the heavens.

~The stars say she will flee again, have you not instilled fear into the girl? ~ Thor looked to Artemis and gawked. In his old age, he'd become a greater ally to the young. Unlike his worrisome father, he had some heart in what he wished for of humanity. Cecelia was never a human; she was part - human and part daemon (thanks to her father's episodes and Roku's intervening on their family, gutting her papa dry as a dirty cod on the streets of –

~She can understand. ~ Vespa bit her lip as the fertility goddess pointed this out. Her braids of her kindred as long as ropes down her solid back. A danger to cross such a witch, for her foresight could tell if death would steal a life away in a single hour.

~There is no telling how this act will change one who has found her name and rites in another type of redemption. ~ Agni snorted and turned his head away to ponder the outcome on his own. ~Lord Veravakumu promised my children of India's nation in the past, that he would not lose himself to his demons. He has, again broken his pact! My personal priests, riot at this lie! It is what she will do if you hand over the role too quickly! ~ He warned, with Hecate bound to fight him every step he came up into her throws.

~I'm deciding then this; if Lady Cecelia Crescendo Daia is successful in helping the Chosen to return order to our planes, then she shall be tested in her role to come - and if she again decides to leave the role to another's misery, then her life will be cut short. She will end her cycle here and expect divine punishment, as is the way of the gods of olden times. ~

Hecate's voice was concise, thorough it may have been more serious to some. Still, the goddess in her was stricken with a fear that Catalina would defy the role she'd been placed with in her keep. As if this girl had the power to transform hearts…

The visionaries dispersed, while Hecate left Vespa to take to her own needs for now.

Good, there was work to be done.

The meeting was adjourned as Vespa sneaked off to locate another; her master the reaper in another time...

She swiftly found her fox hybrid form to have the shadows round her, as they coaxed her to allow passage through this Queen of the Underworld's, dark world. Hecate lived in a palace as a witch, not as just a wicked queen. She needed to know that Vespa was a classified double -agent. Later, not now.

The former god of death had expected no less from a fox of the Four wind strewn passages of the southern – west most planes. Not entirely now, of the Elemental brand. Though, he wasn't her master any longer. She'd previously taken on the role, but still had a long way to go. She; from time to time, realized that his presence was still with her. In one way, he was a part of her, so she could see his spirit functioning on the other planes as a displaced messenger by her want of his soul to still, be in existence.

She'd been a soldier, a warrior, a model, and a drunk… all in one lifetime. Vespa, was not a ruler, however.

~The Chosen needs all the help we have in our power to provide! ~ She called out to elicit a cry from her teacher's lips.

A swirling portal for smoke dove the lavender, four – legged fox hybrid to kneel. She knew death came on swift wings, but…

~The chaos was averted in the temple of the fire – bird, fear not! ~ The being called out as his ashen body returned to wave away the smoke from his entrance. Vespa sighed in relief and bounded over to the time – god. ~How did you stop the flow of time there? Is that why the Chosen is now freed? –

~He'll be not free until we have his mind cleared of all distractions. Autur told me of the condition that the evil left of the temple, so I came with my best foot forward to fight off the miasma that had found its way to the golden doors of our old friend's hall. ~ He forced out some smoke as Vespa reverted to her women - to - human guise. Vespa knew he worked for her now. She'd sent him; as a familiar to a witch's word, to go to the dunes and save…. And secure the fire -bird, to keep his heart beating. For now.

~Cecilia Daia, is being given a trial; she is to blow it if her force of dark energies only amplifies–

~Did you not wish to change? ~ Vespa's fears dispersed by her un -dead teacher's question.

~I did change, sire! –

~You still try to put your allies in a box as you see fit. ~ Chronos shook his head.

~You are trying to dictate order, not supply it to those who require your guidance, most –

~I'm not meant to rule time! ~ Vespa shouted, hoping none would hear her weeping.

~I've known you before your time in the wars you've faced… ~ Smiled the old goat, softly. ~I've seen your parents as they threw you onto your back, and how you took to sin in order to survive, without a blessing from your –

~I'm just young to you! ~ Vespa brought her hands to shield her tears. Crying, was no sin. It saves the soul, makes it think clearly once all was shed. Or so, she'd believed it had such power to save her…

~You shed a tear, for you have not yet died to be reborn again unto THIS lifetime. ~ Remarked the 'former' god of time as he floated about in his spectral body. As if she needed a personal haunting to fix what was never broken.

~I don't count the years you desired my attention; when I'd been no more than Rokuro was to his father – and…. this is not what I want! –

~You'll not see it, child…~

~I'm old enough to have seen her rise! ~ Shouted the fox self, into the air. The walls boomed by her presence. And Chronos; miraculous of all, knew that he could not worry over Vespa's tantrums. She'd been as a child in the same way.

Oh, Chronos blamed her father for instilling doubt into his father's ways, yet it mattered not.

Vespa was to be a keeper of sacred order; a relic as he had once become. Gods were not always born in one world, and did not sustain this way a they had in their own stories of creation. In these planes, order was of a different picture. A place where none should know it. Chronos had once been a spirit of the harvest in this world. Granted a power of the gods to maintain the order of many lives, he took to a dual persona much later. He soon succumbed to being split in two by Roku's magic. He'd done the work of a monster, a killer.

Just as she… He too had demons he'd wished to obliterate without aiming at the back of the head.

He had not been aware of it. Not until Hecate had put a stop to –

~Another time, you came to make me weary? What is it, child? ~ The former god tried to wind things down. Vespa had to return to her time. And quickly, before Hecate saw through their ruse!

Vespa looked up from her drying eyes and took in a gulp of stale air. ~It is about the next task, not to be of my own making of it… ~

/

The crying did not die. Aiden was in wallowing agony; for having been used as Raven had by her father, as an object and a way out of the underworld's slammer!

His eyes felt lit as Christmas torches, not lights over the city. This pain might not compare to Hakuro's blindness. This was, going to pass…

Kori put a hand to her mouth as Verra in his "were – form" instinctually went after Nightwing. Raven forced her way over towards Aiden's manipulated form. Zan gave her access past the swinging axes of orcs and miserable, gorgon henchmen.

The sky bled from a shade of red to blue and black, it went around as if night could turn to day by the feel of chaos all around – Raven whispered to Malchior and let his magic aide her. Ares swatted back with his sword. ~THE CHILD WILL FULFILL A GOD'S WISH! HALT, ALL YE WHO BELIEVE THEY SHOULD BE HERE AND AMONG THE NEW DAWN! ~

~ There is only darkness! ~ Ava shouted this as her powers were amplified by her sibling's strength.

~SUN AND MOON…. BECOME ONE! STRIKE THE EVIL Whereat IT STANDS!~

Ava's moon magic had Ares shift in his large armor. As if a black knight of the opposite Knights of the Round, he had to not allow these ne'er - sayers passage by his hand.

He had to keep the Chosen all to himself to revitalize his energies. The sun knew of rage and ruling by a king's hands. He had this quality by his love of the battlefield.

Aiden would not suppress his desires, not today.

/

~Begun….

~Began! He hath shown! ~

The harpies cackled and squawked; by the pride of their new king's throne, they would burst to smithereens just for he.

Raven batted at a bat -winged spook, while Zantana flushed full of her father's magic and let the harpies know of her annoyance, clearly. They scattered up into the air and let their wings beat and break the layers which kept the sisters in the clear from any under -handed attacks, none close to remaining unlike their own tricks and with talons razor sharp to the enemy.

~We wicked women of torment doth know of chaos! It is bled from thy lips – the fallen world shall bow to the king's blade! All hail but, Lord Ares!~

~STOP THIS!~ A fire from the pits exploded beneath the ground. Out from the rubble, a tumble and a sputter fell from the protagonist's tone - for he was no hero to them. Raven held back her shouts and so too did the Chosen's siblings. Anna rushed through the air. Her deliberate throw of that fire - spear was enough to have Raku's eyes look her way.

He looked too much like a younger Roku. He'd changed.

To save himself, not her brother.

Ignito's guise looked as if Raku had overtaken a young male version at eighteen - as if this were always who he'd meant to become once their trials had ended here on Earth.

~I have come to help –

~You'll stay away from my family…..IF -

"No…" Ami gasped and walked up to Raku in his new body, while Ares was still stunned by the boy's fire power.

"You, are really you!" She grinned back at the boy, then at her family. They did not quite understand why Ami was so ecstatic over the daemon's transformation.

~I'm only this way until Aiden is safely –

"You threw him away!" Anna shifted dangerously close to the teen with her eyes bright and lit as mob torches again.

"Aiden tried to help you, and you…You went back! And now, you…even look like –

~This form was to escape! ~ Raku let the body he'd earned fall away to reveal his tween aged glance. The team was even more confused – letting magic be the reason for everything, yet Anna still scowled at the child in her face.

~I'm sorry, it was to get away from my captors –

"Still can't tell if you want to help us, or save your reputation –

"We already said he was on our side, Annie!" Ami whined at her twin and summoned over Kaede to keep Anna from making a big mistake.

~I'm getting weary of these games that you humans play…. NOW Silence! ~ Ares's magic power had force to it, as the land rocked below his victim's feet.

All while Aiden was still partly possessed by the war criminal deity, sleeping soundly in another place.

Raku's eyes rose to see this, while his heart again sank…

~Let him go free!... ~ Raku shouted to the god, wishing he'd done this all sooner before the male had gown too powerful. ~It's not him you wish to own. ~ Raku gathered his courage and recalled the emotions he'd felt when he'd been with Aiden before…It was…Not fear, not devotion…. But…. Something far stronger….

Love. It had to be….

Raku did as no god would or could have guessed; he manifested shackles round his two wrists and presented himself before the god…. Could, love do as before? Was this himself? His true face?

Ares paused before he'd seen it all in full circle. And then, his mind clicked back to reality -Raku wasn't just partly - mortal by birth, he'd always been a strange boy. A deranged soul from the scriptures. He was…

To love of another of an opposing gender. He, loved Aiden?

Not as family, yet by….

~You? A crying widow? HAH! ~

Ami's eyes turned to light as her mirror came out; Verra's form was stunned by its magic as he reverted to his doggie dog form on the ground. Kori scooped up the pup as he coughed back to the alien mother all he could. ~ Agh! So…did, we win? ~

All while Dick went to cool off Anna with Ava's help, Zan had nearly lost sight of herself. With the harpies playing peep a boo on her in the clouds, she'd had too much attention on them than on her team's -

~This boy is, queer! I had no clue that Azag would allow such a thing as you to be spawned! Ugly - and I know of desire. My kin lived to drink the essence of the other - but out of, love? It cannot exist for a god! You are but a mortal with magical prowess! How distasteful! ~

Raku's arms shook as he held them out and pleaded softly. A quiver in his voice made this seem as pathetic as….

~Aiden cared…. I must not give up! ~ Raku told himself and let his body drop lower to the earth. His nose itched to know the air, but the rough ground made him beg to call it his grave.

Ares brought out his hand and let the child's arms up. He dragged Raku along to meet his helmeted and icy stare.

~Ares…. Please, remove him. I will go –

And did I say you could sell yourself to that lummox, my pet? ~

Raku's eyes shut tightly. He had to block her words out. NOW.

I have decided…. The Chosen will go free! ~

Not unless I kill the gorgon, first…! ~

Raku screamed as the world again split, and let one million buzzing vermin fly free of its walls. Ares cried out as the stinging beasts wove past his armor and had the god to his knees, almost in a mortal kind of pain.

The harpies flew off and cried tears that dried instantly. They were not devoted enough to let the god know of their desertion of their supposed king's cause.

Raven looked on at the scene as a dark-haired queen emerged from the vein of the earth's crust.

Raku lowered his eyes and bit back a growl. An anger filled, dreaded roar of a dragon as Aiden's form returned, while Ares…. Had been again banished from their world forever…

Ignito begged and panicked to his charge, his young ears already full of the pleas of another….

~Let me take over! Please, young –

~n- no…. ~ Raku trembled as he barely managed to suppress his emotions from her all – knowing eyes.

~I'm definitely going to need a better leash next time….~

Ava Marie gasped and saw the woman; instantly guessing by her parent's faces, that Raku was not the only one with nightmares to drive away into the dark of his mind.

~You gawk as if I am not royalty? Well! Roko surely left some of her flesh to your memory…. ~

Raku gasped softly.

Roko…She'd been possessed that long? He could not bear it much longer as the tome in his possession revealed itself to cast out the witch. The strix, from his every waking memory.

~Creator of! ~

~Heel! ~ She used her craft first, and disarmed the child, still in his shackles from earlier. He coughed a bit of blood from the inside of a wound…. He was…. Raku's jaw ached…A human pain….

~Good dog! ~ Cooed the witch as her barely - clothed self stepped out of the smoke and debris ridden hole she'd come from, down below.

~You made this all possible, my lovely, little, boy – king! ~ Echoed the mock – goddess.

The strix was speaking only to he, yet the Chosen's family heard it. Lil…No, Ishtar raised her arm, and the army of Ares's might, splattered to chunks across the earthen dust - as mined subjects on the grounds of an abandoned army base after curfew.

Ami screamed with Zan, while Damian threw back his arm to toss a bat- weapon her way.

~You want to suck that badly, do you? ~ Ishtar licked her lips and took her aim -

~No! look out! ~ Raku used his art again to block her attack. Dami…. He would have lost to her wiles!

Dami ran over to Raven, panting. He, did not want a succubus on his body! Like a leach! …

~I'm feeding….so, don't interrupt! ~ Raku was shot a glance that left him stunned, his body as ridged as if he'd been doused in a toxic fungus.

Or a snake's venom. ~No…. N…No! ~ He tried to control it, but the fear was back. Festering deep inside…

~You left me quite cross down there, little princeling…. I was growing tired of waiting for time to cease because of you… The witch's arms went up, and the men of the teams were levitated forth. All but Raku, Malchior, and Aiden. She had plans for them. Even that dusty hard - back.

Cyborg was able to fight back with Dick a bit harder. Conner, Beetle, Dami, Verra…. They all had to start learning to pray.

/

She's a maniac, even through time and space she doesn't stop holding a grudge on her children's heads and nightmares.

Notice that the text I have for Ares was at 16, while Ishtar/Lilu's text started lower at 9, then went up to fourteen when she'd gotten ready to face her enemies. Now, from attempting to feed on the energy of the males in the Titans' and Chosen's groups, she's gotten text that is almost to rival Ares's at 16. Wow, so…. If I made it 20? That would hurt my ears too!

So, Raku was trying to make a stand but ran by a crossroads that has him beaten for time. Aiden was freed from Ares's control, but now Lilith is saving the kid for dessert while she finishes of the Chosen's family one by one. She's pissed because they made it impossible for her to get Raku back, and he's her lifeline to the human realm. Due his demi -god status, she took is upon herself to corrupt Raku at a young age to spite her and his kindred and to get back at Azag for playing her heart like a steel drum.

If any, it is revenge. Plain as this, but also, she wants to be on top for a very long time, right? Lilu is reborn unto every lifetime, but she tends to be like a trickster deity; showing up when you least expect.

Charl was a dead man, and Eris? She invited Lilu in by her desire to sin. Due to Raku's fortitude, he could not properly keep Lilu from returning through his memory of her abuses. That was why Ignito was trying to keep Raku from recalling his past, he had to have her bound to it. So much for that!

Cici gave up her role in locating Alicia to apologize, and instead chose to save Slade and his companions from Ishtar's rage before she could be revived by the corruption going on from Eris's curse.

Why then are the dogs like Kay and the foxes not affected by Lilu's cursed hand? Malchior is not of flesh and blood, but of pulp and ink – strewn pages. In a way, a part of his heart is not there to love unconditionally. Raven realizes that he's more a familiar by his lack of attachment than a being with a true soul. She made the pact to have him at arm's length in case he'd become her enemy again.

So, in this mentally – draining turn around, who did you think was going to be the original head honcho to want our heroes swept away for good? Eris? Ares? Slade? Even Hakuro had a grudge, but no.

Ishtar is an almighty archetype like Cici, Hecate, and can rival Sayu's darkest side combined. It is the ability to manipulative love and of those who cannot love, she has no power over (such as Slade or Roku.) The reason that Lilu went after Raku as a child, is because Azag's kid would have been her executioner. She'd had him at her side to prevent a new deity from rising. Plus, in a way she did save him from a life of loneliness in the desert slum with his evil caregiver. Wattpad story. Azag was in fact the one to sew that misery into the teen's very bones! As if any, Lilith helped Raku to make his face known to those who would have made him their whipping boy. The gods are sort of, immortal but with the temperament of a corruptible nobility. Not all of these beings have that, yet they are if anything else, prone to transformations that humans can only touch on.

Raku was sure his powers would cause ac stir, but saw no other way to save Aiden- he sacrificed his own safety for the one he cared for like a family member. Yet, in Raku's history, it is simply devotion to another living creature. Raku is sort of, the tempted maiden in his story. He is coerced by a demoness and goes on to love and both loath his captor.

Raku however, is a half – blooded immortal and has different needs than a human might. He also clings to the power that he and the Chosen share by the fire - bird's gift. The flaming ball in the wattpad story and in post – arcs with Lord Destiny or Abi, cursing Roku's existence, were in fact images of not a glowing orb of the sun, but of a cosmic EGG. The veil of creative forces and rebirth. Of unforetold events. The eclipse; of what casts its shadow over the sun but that which moves the tides? That would be, the moon!

So Raku; if he decides to take the power from Azag eventually, will become a complete GOD in his own rite. That was why his manifestation power was the envy of his enemies and allies. He can birth a world by his power of both light and darkness.

Of the mysterious void, and the heavenly cosmos. This is why he can also be a vortex or he can house worlds inside him. That is why alternate selves exist. Which is why the gods are afraid if Raku decides to take his father's crown back, they will all be swept under by the forces that almost killed the boy's parent.

Azag was once a djinn who made it to the rank of lord. He was actually a deity, but tried to refuse the position. The gods persisted, and he finally took to the case where Abi would rule and Azag would foresee the order and events that would keep his great rites in check.

The story is a bit confusing, but the rest here is the sequel and spin off if you will, of that arc I'm still working on for the fun of it.

Right now, I am going online to work on creative and fiction writing in an English major to better understand the drive I'm pursuing. Or at least trying to speed it up – but the best part is that I had no idea that it would be so simple to come back and post this! So, stay curious kids, and read on for some more of the chaos round arc!