Night has fallen amongst the living and the dieing.
The cemetary was silent as the grave...fitting, considering the circumstances. Many graves lacked headstones, so ancient was it's grounds. The church that stood next to it seemed to threaten to plunge into open sea, the waves crashing against the rocks sounding from the entrance of the cemetary, some two hundred feet from the cliff's edge. Raven stood on that dusty England road, her eyes showing dark shadows from where she had strained to use her teleporting powers to take her where she needed to be.
The bones of ancient sorcerer lay here. Here, in the spot where the cemetary lay.
She examined the ground next to the church. No grass grew here. None ever would; none had for a thousand years. The sand was black and coarse, like ashes. It was ashes...an ancient struggle between dragon and magic had been fought here.
Malchior could not be tracked, but this is something she could do. If she had enough strength, she could do this, could bring about this change. And it would be a change...a change for all the fate of the world. If Malchior wrecked terror such as he had tried to wreck when the last battle had been had, then the world would be brought to its knees long before her father even got the chance to come. And then, when he came, what chance would mankind have? What then?
This was the only way. But it was such obscure magic, such a long shot, that she stood a strong chance of being killed in the attempt. And even if she wasn't killed, the spell could go horribly wrong. Necromancy was a horrible thing to attempt, and it was closer to dark magic than anything else. It was cheating fate...something Raven knew better than to attempt. Or at least she thought she knew better, up until this moment. Now she was attempting to cheat fate on several levels.
Raven raised her hands and chanted slow, rhythmic words in a language long since forgotten. Gnarled trees that grew near the edge of the water bent and swayed toward the water dangerously as she raised her voice higher just to be heard against the raging wind. The cliff was a good five hundred feet away, and yet water sprayed up in huge waves, lapping onto headstones and washing some away back into the sea.
It was getting harder to speak. Her throat was constricting, and the elements were raising up around her horribly. The blackness around the edges of her mind threatened to engulf her, but she continued to speak. She continued to scream the words even as she noticed that all was growing dim, and the sound of waves crashing was coming closer to her. She continued even when she realized she was to her knees.
Even when Raven blacked out, she continued to shout the words.
The light, blinding white light flooded her closed eyes. She opened them slowly, her pupils adjusting and revealing four figures standing around her. Her surroundings were obviously that of a hospital. The other Titans hesitated to speak as Raven looked around, noticing that the window that showed the outside world told her of her location: London. She raised herself to a sitting position, then turned to Robin.
"Hi." She said hesitatingly, wondering what had happened, and whether the spell had worked. Hopefully it had, but until she knew for sure she wasn't going to breathe a word to any of them.
"Hi." He said shortly, with a note of stern concern in his voice. "We tracked you on the communicator. We found you blacked out in a cemetary. What is going on, Raven?"
"I had the strangest urge to go sight-seeing." Raven said in her usual monotone. "Am I cleared to go?"
Cy shrugged. "Scanners say your fine. You should be able to get out of her, no problem. You sure you don't want to wait until morning though?" It had to be around two a.m. The bright halogen lights in the room were the only thing that suggested she should be awake. Raven considered staying in that hospital for a descent length of time, but decided she couldn't wait. She had to get back to the Tower. Raven shook her head.
"No. I want to go home."
The others slowly filed out of the room, and Raven got up, putting on her cloak which someone had taken off. Robin had hesitated near the door, waiting on Raven. He looked prepared to make a speech. Sure enough, a second later he ran a hand through his hair and sighed in a nervous manner. "Look, Raven, I know Malchior hurt you, but hunting him down like this, isn't it a little..."
"Necessary?" She suggested
"Ridiculous." He put in. He moved toward her and stood a few inches away from her. "Malchior's gone. You destroyed him. He's not coming back."
"No." She shook her head and side stepped him, walking out the door. "I cursed him. I didn't destroy him. That means that he can still destroy us."
Raven stood surveying her room before flopping down on her bed. Not a sign. Not a sign of anything resulting from her spell.
So it hadn't worked, and she hadn't been strong enough. And all their hopes of stopping Malchior were gone. It was up to her. All she could do was study what magics she could and hope it would be enough. But if the last powerful spell she had attempted had not worked, what made her think she could manage to do stronger magic? She needed training, a tutor, and that's what she had hoped to recieve from her venture to London.
Raven's thoughts froze as she heard her window open slowly. A form slipped through it slowly. Raven sat up imperceptably, and through whoever had entered against the wall, eyes glowing furiously as she walked toward the perpetrator. "You picked the wrong room to break into." She growled, but before she could go into an actual threat, she was thrown against the opposite wall, a man's voice speaking calmly with an accent not recognizable, yet still his English was understandable.
"If you release me, maiden, I will release you."