The Ways of Magic
A/N: This was originally titled "Death and Rebirth" This is my first fan fic, and I would be grateful if you would review it. If you like it, tell me why. If you don't like it, I would appreciate criticism (constructive criticism only please.) If you haven't seen the episode "Spellbound", I would highly recommend watching it before you read this story, as it will give you a better understanding of what's going on. Enjoy the story.
Chapter 1:
"Is Raven going to be ok?" Beast Boy asked as he took a large bite of tofu. It had been a week since Raven had banished a monstrous dragon back into the book in which it was originally imprisoned. The dragon had told Raven that it was the wizard that had supposedly killed the dragon king, and had subsequently become imprisoned in a book. Ever since that event, Raven had been acting strange, and oftentimes would lose control of her emotions, causing random objects to explode as her powers seeped out.
All of the Titans, except Raven, were sitting around the table, stuffing their face with pancakes that Cyborg had made. No one was surprised that Raven wasn't with them, as she spent a lot of time in her room meditating. Meditating was the only way that Raven could keep her powers in check.
Robin looked up from his plate of half-eaten pancakes, "Yeah, Raven will be fine. It will just take her a little while to get past the shock of discovering that the person who she believed to be her friend was actually a demon."
Cyborg agreed, "Give her a week and she'll be back to being her normal, creepy self." Someone standing in the doorway cleared their throat. The Titans looked up to see that it was Raven.
Cyborg, obviously embarrassed, said, "Oh hi Raven. I...didn't see you standing there." Beast Boy laughed and mouthed the word "Busted.". Starfire giggled, "Raven, perhaps you would like to go to the mall and 'hang out'. It would be fun."
Raven let out a large sigh, "Starfire, for the thousandth time, hanging out is not my-"A high, piercing alarm cut Raven off in mid sentence. Robin jumped out of his chair, "Titans, let's go!"
Ten minutes later, the five Titans were staring at one of the strangest sights they had ever seen. They had been expecting to have to deal with some jewelry thieves, but it appeared that someone had already taken care of them. There were four men, encased in a shell of red light, suspended six feet above the ground. And below them was a boy, who looked as if he had passed out. He looked to be the same age as the Titans, and was clothed in a green cloak. He definitely seemed out of place in a downtown urban environment.
Robin approached the boy and gave him a shake. The boy moaned, looked up at Robin and said, "What happened? Where am I?" Robin replied, "As for what happened, I'm hoping you can tell me. And you're in downtown Jump City."
The boy pulled himself to his feet, and winced in pain. Cyborg walked over towards them and said, "Hey man, are you hurt?" The boy said, "Yeah, I feel like a ton of bricks has been dropped all over me."
Raven, who was hovering a few feet off the ground, said, "Let's get him back to Titans Tower. I can use my healing powers to help him faster than any doctors could." The other Titans agreed. As they were getting in Cyborg's car, the police showed up.
One of the officers yelled, "Thanks! It really makes it easy for us when you leave the crooks gift wrapped like that." Robin leaned out the window and said, "Its no problem.".
Robin rolled up the window and looked at the boy in the green cloak, "Did you do that? Was it you who hung those guys up like that?" Robin lowered his voice so Raven couldn't hear, "I only ask because that's a powerful trick. Raven can do the same thing, but she has to concentrate on it to keep-"The boy cut him off, and said in a surprisingly deep voice, "I can't remember anything before you woke me up. I don't even know who I am. And I don't think I could do something like that." Robin looked out the window, towards Titans Tower, which was growing larger as they approached. "Well," Robin said, "We'll try to get your memory situation straightened out once we get home." The boy was looking around at the group of people in the car. "Hey," he said, "You might have said this already, but who are you guys?"
Cyborg briefly looked back at the new kid and said, "We're the Teen Titans." Everyone proceeded to introduce themselves to the kid. For the remainder of the trip, everyone sat in silence.
They arrived at Titans Tower and took the elevator up to the living area, which was littered with many of Beast Boy's movies and CDs, not to mention a healthy amount of very unhealthy looking food. The boy in green looked at Cyborg and said, "Hey, what's that blue pudding stuff under the-"Cyborg put a finger to his lips in the universal 'Be quiet' gesture and said, "I'll tell you later."
Starfire piped up, "Since we have a new friend in the tower, I am going to make the Pudding of Welcoming!" As soon as Starfire left the room, the other Titans groaned. Cyborg looked at the new guy and said, "Now, in answer to your question, when she brings you a bowl of that stuff, get rid of it anyway you can. You do not want to eat it."
An hour later, the Titans were sitting around watching TV when Raven said, "I'm going to see if I can help that kid find his memory." Beast Boy looked at Raven, "Yeah Raven, you should probably do that because, you know, its not like anyone else can do it." Raven gave Beast Boy a glare and said to the amnesiac kid, "Ok, relax, this isn't going to hurt," and put her hands on the boy's head. Raven chanted her mantra that she used for meditation, "Azerath metrion zinthos." Her hands glowed with black energy, and a look of extreme concentration came over her face. After about ten seconds, a blast of red light exploded out of the boy and sent Raven flying across the room. She hit the wall with a thud and fell to the floor. The Titans ran over to where Raven was struggling to stand up.
When Raven made it to her feet she said in a soft voice, "There was a shield over his memories, I couldn't read anything at all."
Starfire cried, "Look!" and pointed in the direction of the boy that had just wrecked half of their living room. He was hovering a foot above the ground, chanting in some unknown language. An aura of red light surrounded him like an unearthly cloak. The Titans were shocked when a brilliant red light filled their living room with an eerie glow. The boy fell to the ground, unconscious, and the light subsided.
Robin looked at Raven and said, "Did you learn anything about him at all?" Raven said, "Yeah, he's a magic user, and a powerful one at that. Since he hasn't said anything about his powers, we have to assume that he doesn't know about them. If that's the case, then we know why he can't control them."
Beast Boy looked at Raven and said, "But how could he hang those criminals out to dry and not know he did it? Also, who is that guy? I mean, we know nothing about him at all."
"That's what we need to find out, before he hurts anybody worse than he already has," Raven said in a slightly angry voice.
The boy on the ground groaned and sat up. He looked around at the trashed room, "What happened?" he said in a groggy voice. "The last thing I remember is Raven putting her hands on my head so she could read my mind."
Raven waited for the boy to get to his feet before she said, "I'm going to try something, and if what I'm thinking is right, it won't hurt." Before anyone could say anything, Raven threw a bolt of black energy at the boy's chest.
It never reached its target, because a tendril of red energy shot out of the boy and hit Raven's blast in mid flight. The effect was startling. The two bolts seemed to mix, and then exploded in a shower of gold sparks. The strange young man's jaw almost hit the floor, and he was barely able to say, "What just happened?"
Raven looked at the other Titans, "He's a mage, although I've never seen magic quite like that before. It takes a high degree of mastery of power to be able to unconsciously counter another spell, which is what he just did." The boy, who had been standing in silence, said, "I'm...a mage? What's that?" Raven looked at him and said, "A wizard, you can manipulate reality with the force of your will."
The other Titans seemed to come out of a trance, and Robin said, "I think you should stay with us until we figure out who you are?" The other Titans nodded their heads in agreement.
Raven tapped the nameless boy on the shoulder and said, "You should try meditation. It helps me keep my powers under control, and maybe it will do the same for you."
The boy responded, "After what I just saw myself do, I think controlling this power is a good idea." He looked around the room, noticing the mess. "How'd the room get so messed up?"
Raven replied, "I think it's both our faults. You apparently have a mental shield of sorts over your memory. When I tried to read you, you kind of exploded with red light."
The nameless boy blushed, "Sorry," he said, looking at the other Titans. Cyborg reassured the him that it wasn't his fault.
Raven suddenly looked up. "I need to meditate," she looked at the nameless boy, "And I think you should too."
Raven led the boy up to her usual meditation spot in front of a large window. They both sat down on the floor and Raven said, "Find your center and repeat after me. Azerath metrion zinthos..."
The boy did as he was told, and soon felt as if he was descending into his own mind. Images flickered in front of the boys eyes that he didn't understand. Faster and faster the images came, until the boy felt as if he was watching a long flip-book.
Suddenly the images stopped, and the boy fell into blackness.
"Hey, are you ok? You have to snap out of it." The boy's eyes suddenly seemed to start working normally, and he noticed that he was sprawled on the floor, with Raven crouching beside him.
The boy sat up, "Yeah, I think I'm ok." Raven noticed that somehow, the boy seemed different.
Raven asked, "So...do you remember anything?"
The boy smiled and said, "Yes. My name is Rorek. Your not going to believe this, but right before Robin woke me up downtown, I think I was fighting a dragon."
An excited look came over Raven's face, "Oh, I think I could believe it. I'm going to tell the others." She flew out of the room, disappearing through the wall.
Sitting in the now empty room, Rorek thought to himself, "That's the happiest I've ever seen her get. And it happened right after I said my name."
A/N: I hoped you liked this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please review it to show any appreciation you might have.