He'd only ever heard of Azarath the one time. A legend, of a promised land, far away, for the needy, the sick, and the lonely, where they could feel welcome and safe.
What a waste of good magic.
At least it was mostly destroyed, now. He could feel the subdued healing energies, and the lingering demonic ones that had reduced this realm to ghosts and rubble. They called to him, a thousand ethereal voices vying for his attention. In truth, they scared him ever so slightly; they told him of a being who even him, Klarion, Lord of Chaos, could not hope to equal. That the child had managed to destroy him was utterly unbelievable. He would need to confront her, test her...but not yet. There was still, as always, work to be done.
The archer was there, unconscious. The ninjas beside him were most definitely dead. It surprised him, that the witch had not spared the mercy to let them live. It betrayed her current state of mind. Shocked, angered...maybe a little arrogant. Whether she was justified or not, they'd soon find out.
His familiar walked all over the archer. "Teekl! We do not walk over the person we're here to...rescue." -he said sternly.
The cat seemed to pout, but it jumped off. He rolled his eyes, walking forward, before faltering, his presence momentarily interrupted. Trans-dimensional travel was...technically impossible, without an anchor. Teekl kept him rooted to Earth, but it was a physical, living being, and the realm of Chaos was a sub-dimension of Earth's reality, not an entirely different one. The only thing keeping him in Azarath was a locating spell he'd put on the redhead beneath him. Without it, he would not have been able to cross into this realm. In fact, once he returned to Earth, he would not be able to repeat the feat.
It made the she-demon...special. No one else in the known universe could do it. And so the Light was in the unfortunate position of needing her...help.
Grabbing onto the unconscious young man, he let go of his grip, and returned to Earth.
I learned two things as soon as I stepped out of the teleporter. The first one was that, whatever the yellow particles used by the machine were, they did not sit well with me. I felt like every cell in my body was in the process of disintegrating for the nanosecond that the trip lasted, an uncomfortable reminder of my death, becoming the Portal. In fact, I almost fainted upon arrival.
The second thing I learned, is that we were no longer on Earth, but rather above it.
The Watchtower was a well kept secret. Only the highest echelons of the government knew about it, and only the current members of the Justice League had access to it. The general population had no idea that a fully armed and operational battle station hovered above them at all times - even though its guns were pointed strictly away from the planet.
Having been the last to go through, I immediately got caught and stabilized by Batgirl, who raised an eyebrow at me.
"Magic user, right?" -she asked knowingly.
I gave her a slightly nauseous nod.
She nodded. "Your kind usually feels mild discomfort from the Zeta rays. Now that you've been here, you should be able to teleport instead."
I wouldn't call it 'mild discomfort' in a million years, but I nodded nonetheless.
Batman was looking at me oddly, but said nothing. Cyborg had disappeared, presumably carrying Gar off to the Watchtower's medical center. The Dark Knight turned, and Batgirl nodded for me to join them. The billionaire led us through a series of wide corridors, in which a saw some familiar (and legendary) faces. Black Canary, Supergirl, and Red Tornado all passed us by, sparing a nod for Batman and even Batgirl, but avoiding my gaze like the plague.
Like I said, the League hated me.
When I first stumbled out of an interdimensional portal onto Earth, fleeing from my Father's rage, I knew nothing of the planet. My mother had never been one to talk about her years as an Earthling, and the monks of Azar had lived on Azarath for so long that they could not remember their homeworld.
My portal had taken me to the outskirts of Metropolis. I had arrived with nothing but the ragged robes on my body, and a desperate desire to hide myself away. I could feel the Library, calling to me, reminding me of the purpose of my birth. I don't know what resonated the most, my portal's magical energy, or the demonic aura I was surely giving off, but what I do know is that I drew a lot of attention.
Superman, being Superman, came first. My first glimpse of a superhero was also the best of them all. His heavenly visage was marred by a worried expression, but not because of what I might do, but from how I probably looked to him. Kryptonians must share the same feelings as humans, because I could sense worry, but not fear. He asked me who I was, and why I was there. I told him the truth. He did not believe me. At least, the part about me causing the end of the world.
Next, unfortunately, came the magic users. Zatara and Dr. Fate came in spells blazing, ready to take me out. Superman stopped them cold. I was only a fourteen year-old kid, in his eyes, completely undeserving of such treatment, regardless of my family tree. The wizards knew of Trigon, of course. They didn't know about the prophecy, but they very quickly figured out my purpose in the world, and told Superman as much. I confirmed once again what I'd come to Earth to do, but the Last Son of Krypton was resolute. Fate is not set in stone, he said. He could not abide by punishing someone for something she simply had not yet done. The magician and the avatar argued with the alien, but in the end, Kal-El's words carried enough weight that they promised to leave me alone, provided I did everything I could to prevent my demonic heritage from flourishing, and stayed out of their sights.
After that, I wandered a few weeks, which saw me delivered to Jump City. The rest is history, really. When I reverted the damage my Father had caused, I expected the League to come and take me in - or out. It didn't happen. Dick would later tell me that he'd filled Batman in. I can only assume he and Superman had stopped the rest of the League from coming after me. Why, I did not know. What I did know, is that the League considered me dangerous, and possibly a criminal.
The bats led me to a large conference room, in which a group of young heroes was waiting. I barely recognized a few from Dick's memories, fellow founders of the Team; there was Superman's clone, the Martian girl, and the Atlantean, all of them about as old, or a little older than I was. The rest were younger, from about 15 to 18 years old. There were a lot of them, which didn't really surprise me much. Dick had compiled a list of young superheroes from around the world we could probably count on for contingencies, and it numbered in the dozens. In fact, during my travels, I'd met with a couple of them; I still kept contact with Argent, and with my 'kids'.
The door closed behind us, and Batgirl left to join Aqualad's side. Batman addressed the young heroes. "Team, this is Raven. She is a close friend of Nightwing, and was recently attacked after Changeling made his way to her."
I saw a few concerned expressions, but it was clear they were not too close to Garfield.
Aqualad cleared his throat. "Was he injured?"
I nodded heavily. "An arrow, through his chest. I...tended to him, as best as I could. He should recover soon."
That got his attention. "Arsenal?" -he asked incredulously.
"Yes. As you might imagine, this is the first real lead we may have on the missing heroes." -Batman said.
Superboy was about to ask something when the door opened, revealing a very angry Green Arrow. Unfortunately, that anger was manifested as an arrow, currently pointed at my face.
"WITCH! What have you done to my boy?" -he asked, seething. Batman put himself in front of me.
"Stand down!" -he growled.
To his credit, Arrow stood his ground. "You get out of the way, right now!"
I could feel his emotions; contempt, rage...but there was some genuine worry in there. He was deathly afraid for his sidekick, and I couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for him, so I stepped from behind the Dark Knight and spoke.
"Arsenal lives. I transported us to Azarath, my home dimension, where I left him, along with two of his assassin companions. I cannot vouch for their health, but your former sidekick should be fine." -I replied.
His nostrils flared. "And you plan on what, leaving him there to die?"
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Though Azarath is rubble, its magic survived through me. So long as he stays there, he will not want for anything. He will not age, or need sustenance. I plan on getting him back, once I've figured out what the hell's going on."
Batman turned to me. "We need him now, Raven. Brainwashed or not, he has information on our enemies, something we sorely lack."
He turned to Green Arrow. "You'll see him as soon as we determine it to be safe, until then, stay out of the way."
The archer grit his teeth, but ultimately slung his bow on his back and fled. Batman then turned to the Team. "Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, Bumblebee and Batgirl: go with Raven, retrieve Arsenal. Take him to the Warehouse and interrogate him. The rest of you, be on alert." -he ordered, then he turned to Aqualad, who rose to follow him.
The heroines walked up to me, their faces a mix of determination, wariness, and excitement. I only sighed internally, raising a portal that swallowed us all.
Hey there! So we get our first glimpse into the Light, and their plans. With that, I'd like to tell you that I've figured out the entire story. Updates will be slow, so bear with me, but I have some awesome stuff planned! Hopefully you'll enjoy it. Until then!