My Only Love Sprung from My Only Hate
Chapter Three: Questions
She desperately fought for control, her body and mind both locked in conflict. The crackles of dark energy were almost deafening as they entrapped her. The malicious voice was agonizing her, accusing her of things she refused to believe. She could feel the strength leaving her, and her body was beginning to feel very cold. After every length she went to restrain her emotions, she was going to lose...
Then, she could feel someone holding her by the shoulders. She couldn't see them, but she could hear a voice calling her name. It was a calm and beautiful voice that sounded so familiar.
She couldn't see a face, but someone was telling her not to give up. She could hear their encouraging words, and like magic, she found the strength to keep fighting. The person continued to hold her as she fought to keep the anger from consuming her.
After what seemed like an eternity, she had defeated it. But she was so tired, her body aching from the ordeal that she could feel herself falling. But someone had caught her, holding her in arms that were warm and strong.
The soothing voice spoke again, and she wanted to look up to see the face of the person who had helped her.
Long locks of silver white hair fell past broad shoulders, and a pale face was partially hidden by a black scarf. Two piercing blue eyes were looking down at her, and she couldn't help but be mesmerized by the sight of them.
It was not until after a few seconds that it registered in her mind. She had seen those eyes before; they were once gray and they would often stare at her from a page that had the misfortune of being torn in half.
The rage that she had fought so hard to control had returned. She trapped the man whom she had loathed, and now he was at her mercy. There was a faint shadow of sorrow, but it was overwhelmed by her hatred for him. She could hear herself yelling at him, but she couldn't make out the exact words.
Suddenly, she could feel the strength leaving her body. She tried to keep conscious, but her concentration broke and she was falling again.
But somehow, she never seemed to hit the ground.
Her eyes fluttered open, and when her vision focused, she saw a stone ceiling above her head. Bewildered, she ignored the throbbing ache in her head and sat up. She was sitting on something very soft, and she found that she was on a bed that was definitely not hers. She left the mattress and stood up, her eyes examining her strange surroundings.
The room was spacious, and its walls and the floor were made entirely of stone. Thick dark draperies hung from a large window, and an old desk stood against the right wall.
Curious about where she was, Raven moved aside one of the draperies to look out the window. An endless canopy of trees loomed below a cloud-strewn sky. She could hear the sound of waves crashing onto the shore, but she could not see them in the darkness.
Wherever she was, she certainly wasn't in the Titan Tower.
"You're awake." A smooth, British voice stated from behind.
In an instant, her eyes flashed white and black energy encircled her hands as she whirled around to face her captor.
A thin young man was there at the door way, his silver hair cascading down his back and examining her with those ice blue eyes that she found both fascinating and horrid.
"Where am I?" she asked in a dangerously low voice.
"This is my home," he said taking stepping into the room much to her surprise. On closer inspection, she saw that fatigue was apparent in his features, but she didn't give it a second thought. "Or at least it was a millennium ago."
"You mean after you murdered its original owner and claimed it as your own?"
He didn't look offended or angry by her scathing question. "No, my father inherited this castle from my grandfather. It has been in my family for generations."
When he had taken another step, her powers summoned the nearby desk and engulfed it in black energy.
"Stay away from me," she demanded, levitating the desk as a means of defense.
He remained where he was, but those accursed blue eyes kept staring at her. "I would appreciate it if you did not destroy that."
"You shouldn't be worrying about your material possessions at a time like this, Malchior," she hissed.
"I am not Malchior," he replied sternly.
"You're lying!" she yelled back, keeping herself from launching the furniture at him.
"I am not," he answered calmly. "If you would give me the chance to explain—"
"I will do no such thing!" she seethed. "I will send you back to where you belong and go home—"
"Dear girl, how do you expect to return to your home when you do not even know where you are?"
There was a hint of amusement in his charming voice, and she felt the blood rush up to her face.
"It took me years to perfect my teleportation spells, and I doubt that even with your extensive knowledge of the dark arts that you would be able to teleport across oceans."
As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She did have the ability to teleport, but not within great distances. If what he said was true, then there was no way she could teleport back home if she was in a different nation.
"Then take me back to my home!" she argued, her psychic hold on the table slipping slowly away.
"Teleportation is a complicated spell, and it requires a great deal of magic. I am afraid that I cannot send you back until after a few days have passed."
...that means I'm stuck here...
The realization had struck her, and the desk that she had levitated had dropped soundly back onto the stone floor. She sunk to her knees, and the exhaustion she had felt earlier instantly came back.
"...why...why did you bring me here?"
There was a heavy silence between the two, and the only thing that she could hear was the autumn wind whistling outside of her window.
"If I told you the reason, you would never believe me."
His mysterious response produced more burning questions in her mind, and she stared up at him from the floor. His blue eyes continued to look back at her intensely, as if he had much to tell her but chose not to.
She was about to get up, but her legs protested in pain. The conflict with her inner hatred had left her with little to no strength.
He saw the painful expression on her face and he began to walk towards her again, but she immediately formed a barrier to prevent him from coming closer.
He drew back without saying a word, but to her surprise, his eyes had looked hurt.
"...you should get some rest," he finally said. "If you need anything, just tell me."
He walked away from her, but paused at the entrance of the room. "After four days, I will be able to take you back to your home. And if you still feel that it is necessary, then I will allow you to seal me back into the book."
His last words left her speechless, but he had left before she could say anything else.
Willing herself to get off the ground, she climbed back onto the comfort of the bed. She curled into a ball onto the mattress, not bothering to pull the blankets over her body.
Her captor had left her in a state of uneasiness. If he truly was Malchior, why would he go through the trouble of taking her with him if he was able to free himself? What purpose would she have to him if he broke the curse himself?
Even more confusing, why was he willing to let her send him back to the book that he was trapped in for more than a thousand years? Was it just another lie to let her guard down?
...and what was that pained look in his eyes all about? Had he actually felt hurt that she refused to let him get near her?
Her head was throbbing even more now. The questions would have to wait until the morning; nothing would be answered if she stayed up wondering about them.
Whether this man was Malchior or not would be determined later. Within a few minutes, the whispers of the autumn wind and the shifting ocean waves had lulled her to sleep.
Beast Boy yawned, sitting contently in his seat. "Great breakfast, as always!"
"Yes, it was quite good!" Starfire beamed as she washed the spare dishes that Raven hadn't broken. "Thank you for cooking, Beast Boy!"
"Man, that wasn't a real breakfast!" Cyborg complained. "How can you live off that tofu stuff?"
"Y'know Cyborg, one day you'll realize that meat does nothing but clog up your arteries and then you'll be begging me to cook your meals!"
Cyborg just stared in disbelief at the green changeling. "Uh-huh. I'd rather have that little Gizmo freak mess up my circuits again before forcing myself to eat tofu for the rest of my life."
"By the way, where is our friend Raven?"
Robin was gathering up the shattered mess that their teammate in question had left in her wake into a garbage bag. "Probably sleeping. I wished she would've cleaned up the kitchen before she meditated."
"She's probably mad that she didn't come with us last night," Beast Boy remarked. "But I saved her some candy from the party, so she'll cheer up!"
"Don't do anything to tick her off again," Robin said cautiously.
"Dude relax, I'm just gonna give her some candy! Even someone as moody as Raven can't turn down sugar!"
Beast Boy got out of his seat to retrieve the bag of candy that he had scavenged from the celebration last night. With a big grin on his face, he knocked on the violet-haired girl's door.
"Yo, Raven! Time to get up!"
Silence answered him, but he was undaunted and knocked louder. "Hey, don't be upset that you missed out on an awesome party! I saved some candy for ya!"
Once more, there was no answer. Growing a bit agitated, the changeling took grasp of the door. To his surprise, it had slid open; Raven usually kept her door locked.
Brushing it aside, he marched into her room. "Hey Raven, wake up already—"
The bed was unoccupied and the room was empty. There was no cloaked figure levitating a few feet above the floor, and no eerie chanting.
And more bewildering, there were no death threats for coming into the room uninvited.
Puzzled, Beast Boy left Raven's room and went back to his teammates. "Guys, she's not in her room."
Cyborg gaped at him. "You went into her room and she didn't kill you?"
"Yeah, weird isn't it?"
"Maybe she's on the roof meditating." Robin proposed logically as he tied up the garbage bag.
"But she usually shows up at breakfast," Beast Boy replied.
"He is right," Starfire agreed, concern tingeing her voice. "She comes to the kitchen to drink her herbal tea every morning, does she not?"
"Guys, I'm sure she's somewhere in the tower," Robin reassured them.
Beast Boy looked doubtfully at the Boy Wonder, but he said nothing. The bag of candy still in hand, he left the room and made his way to the rooftop, hoping that he would find Raven meditating there.
Her eyes fluttered open, expecting to wake up in the dreary darkness of her room. When she found the stone walls and ceiling, however, the events that transpired the day before played back in her mind.
Sitting up, she stretched her arms. Her head was still aching, but not nearly as bad as it was last night. She walked over to the window and pulled back the draperies to take a look outside.
The sun was bright as its rays poured into the room, and the trees beneath it bathed in the light.
She rubbed her temples with her fingers. Although the scenery was a nice change, she had other things to worry about.
Judging by the sun's position, it had to have been noon. Raven wasn't one to sleep in late, but it wasn't everyday that she was on the verge of losing control of her emotions or that a warlock teleports her from her home to the middle of nowhere...
Upon memory of the silver-haired wizard, she looked away from the window and left the room. She entered a vast, winding hallway that was lit by torches that were placed on the walls. Her light steps echoed through the empty halls as she searched for her captor, determined in getting the answers that she was deprived of.
The movements of the ocean waves were graceful and harmonious under the noon sun. The sounds of the water and the scent of the crisp air were things that he sorely missed during his imprisonment, and he took another moment for his eyes to take in the beautiful scenery once more. He had never remembered how endless the ocean depths seemed to be, or how melodic the sound of the waves was as they shifted and crashed onto the waiting shore.
He left the castle entrance and followed the winding path that led to the shore. His steps were uneven and awkward; he was more exhausted than he had thought after teleporting last night. Not only was his magic limited, but his physical strength was affected as well. The muscles in his legs and arms were throbbing with pain, but he ignored them. It had been so long since he had stood on those shores that his longing outweighed the physical state he was in.
He cautiously walked down the path that led to the beach. However, he had lost his balance and fell off the path, hitting the pebbles soundly.
The pain shot up through his body, and he stifled a groan as he tried to get back up.
"How can I expect you to teleport me back home when you can't even walk a few steps without falling on your face?"
He looked up to see the cloaked figure of a girl hovering above him. His pride suffered a more damaging blow due to her remark, but he shook it off and sat up from the ground.
She watched him as he gripped his right knee tightly with his hands. Although he still wore his long black scarf, she didn't have to see his entire face to know that he was in pain.
For some reason unknown to her, she pitied him. Perhaps it was the fact that being stuck in a book for longer than a millennium could do things to your coordination, or perhaps it was because she didn't like to see people in pain.
Whatever the reason, she soundlessly landed next to him on the ground and knelt beside him.
"Move your hands," she commanded.
He looked at her in confusion and asked, "What do you plan to do?"
"Just trust me."
Without another word, he did as she said. Her slender hands covered up his knee, and she closed her eyes in concentration. Her hands were engulfed in dark energy, and she focused on absorbing the wound. The pain channeled from his knee and into her being, but she didn't even grimace.
After the spell was finished, her hands left his knee. When she looked at him again, she found his ice blue eyes staring at her in wonder.
"...what?" she asked, growing uneasy as he kept looking at her.
"I did not know that you had the ability to heal others," he replied.
She stood up from the ground. "There's a lot that you don't know about me."
Sensing the slight hostility in her voice, he didn't push the subject any farther. "In any case, you have my thanks."
She felt her cheeks growing warm, which made her all the more thankful that she had her hood on. "It was just a simple spell. Anyway..."
Her hands emitted dark energy once more, and she had entrapped the unsuspecting wizard with a chain of black magic just as she did the night before.
"I have a lot of questions that need to be answered." She stated monotonously.
He looked at the black energy that bound him, and back at her. "Is this really necessary?"
"Why, do you have something to hide?" she asked suspiciously.
He sighed in defeat. "No."
Satisfied with his consent, she began. "First of all, where is this place?"
"In England. As I told you before, my family has owned this castle and this land for generations."
The question of her current location being answered, she moved on. "If you're not Malchior, then who are you?"
He noticed the tinge of sadness in her voice when she spoke the dragon's name, but he answered, "My name is Rorek. I come from a lineage of wizards."
"According to the book, you're supposed to be dead," Raven cut in.
"My physical being died the day I sealed Malchior into the book, but not my soul. Lady Raven, you of all people should know that whenever one casts a spell, the process requires a part of the spiritual self in order to be successful. I put my entire soul into the curse I used to defeat Malchior, so what was left of me afterwards was an empty vessel."
"...but what caused you to reawaken after a thousand years?" she questioned, becoming intrigued while at the same time keeping him entrapped in her spell.
"Like I said, I put my entire soul into the curse, and when Malchior went into the book, so did I without actually being aware of it. I died thinking I had defeated him, but when he had awakened, so did I."
"If your soul woke up when he did then..." she trailed off, a distant look clouding her dark eyes.
He was puzzled by the sudden change in her mood. She didn't have much difficulty asking him questions before, so what had made her hesitant now?
"...why didn't you tell me?" she finally asked. "If your soul was alive, why didn't you warn me about Malchior's true intentions?"
He had looked apologetic, which threw her off guard. "My soul was at rest because I thought that I had fulfilled my purpose. I did not think that he would spend a millennium plotting his escape, nor did I consider the possibility that this book would find its way to you."
His blue eyes stared at her again, and the feeling of uneasiness had returned. "My soul had been asleep for a thousand years whereas Malchior had been awake. When I sensed that he had been resurrected, I awoke. I did try to warn you, but he had overpowered me. He knew that I too was awake, and he made certain that I would not get in the way of his plans."
She was speechless as she listened. She was so overwhelmed with the information that her concentration had faltered and she released him from her spell. She looked away from him and her face cast downwards toward the pebbles on the ground.
"...I am sorry."
Her eyes widened and she gaped at the wizard in response.
"I knew what he said to you," he continued. "I knew that he deceived you into thinking that he was a virtuous man. Tried as I might, I could not stop him from manipulating you, and for that I am truly sorry."
Raven continued to stare at him in bewilderment. He shouldn't have to be the one apologizing! If anything, it was her fault that she let herself be tricked into releasing a dragon bent on world domination, not his.
...and why did he have to keep looking at her with those blue eyes of his?!
"Lady Raven, are you all right?"
She turned away from him, overwhelmed with the information she had just learned. "I need to be alone."
Rorek or anyone else couldn't have stopped her. In an instant, she had disappeared in a flash of dark energy.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this story and review afterwards, it really does mean a lot to me. In fact, I'm glad that I'm getting any reviews at all! I'm glad that there are people who enjoy this story, and I hope you guys continue to read it. I know everything is going pretty slow at the moment, but hey, I'm building a plot! Don't worry though; I plan to take this story places and I think you all will be pleased with the results...at least I hope most of you will be.
Anyway, thanks for reading!