Hello everyone and welcome to the seventh chapter of What is to Come. No news and etc so onto the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything not owned by me.
I'm expecting three more chapters, so that puts this story at ten again. Unless there's going to be a last one that is really short and stuff. But I don't know yet. I've barely begun writing the 8th chapter…
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What is to Come
Chapter 7even: And the Plot Thickens
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So the reason I was dragged away from my book was to stop some bloody psycho that probably doesn't know which way is up? Karigan thought fiercely as the Titans pulled up at the bank under attack. The 'bloody psycho' was none other than Cinderblock, who really did have rocks for brains, and that wasn't saying much. Raven must have heard her thoughts since she looked at Karigan out of the corner of her eye and smirked.
Cinderblock seemed to be enjoying scaring the remaining hoard of screaming civilians and causing general chaos. And usually what was fun for the bad guys wasn't for the Titans.
"Titans, go!" Robin yelled as everybody climbed out of the car. Star and Raven rose into the air as Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla. Cyborg changed his arm into a sonic cannon and Robin pulled out a coupled of exploding disks. Now Karigan smirked; Cinderblock didn't stand a chance. A stream of missiles flew at the large moving rock, distracting its attention away from the bank. Robin jumped into the air, bo-staff extended, ready to beat Cinderblock's face in; but instead got violently knocked out of the air by a stone fist. Cyborg was planted on Beast Boy's nose (since he was a T-Rex) and he ran wildly at Cinderblock. The two were quickly belted out of the way and Star, Raven and Karigan fired green, black and orange missiles at it. Cinderblock emitted a loud roar and swatted blindly at the air, managing to bat Star out of it. Karigan and Raven continued sending projectiles at it until it snatched Raven out of the air and began crushing her with its fist. Karigan was getting annoyed and then saw her friend in need of aid.
"Hey, Rocky!" she yelled, throwing a chunk of marble at its head. Cinderblock dropped Raven, who was caught by a green pterodactyl, and turned to its new target. Karigan saw the shadow of a large foot before she even had time to think.
"Oh shit!" she shouted, dive-rolling out of the way. A cloud of dust billowed up as Cinderblock's foot struck the ground. Karigan coughed and shook as the dust began to clear. No feet came crashing down on her so she stood up and dusted herself off. She didn't hear her friends' shouts, and only realized Cinderblock had decided to sneak up on her when a large shadow swept over her. Karigan turned around and glimpsed a large stone foot before everything went black.
The Titans watched in horror as Cinderblock's foot came crashing down on top of Karigan.
"No…" Robin whispered, a wave of dread washing over him. As the dust and dirt settled down, each of their eyes widened in amazement. Karigan stood, hands raised in front of her, holding up an invisible shield that stopped Cinderblock's foot from crushing her. She gave one last push and Cinderblock toppled to the ground, causing more dust to rise up from the earth. All the Titans walked or floated over towards Karigan, immensely relieved that she hadn't been killed. Before they came within even ten feet of her they were blasted off their feet or out of the air. Karigan stepped forward, grinning like a lunatic, her hand resting on her hip. Starfire sat up first and gasped when she saw her teammate.
"Friend Karigan! What is wrong with your eyes? Do you have-"
"Silence." Karigan growled, her empty black eyes staring down Starfire.
"What the?" Cyborg whispered, also noticing Karigan's changed appearance.
Suddenly a bolt of ebony power flew at Karigan knocking her off her feet. Now everyone turned and stared at Raven, who was floating in the air, eyes glowing white.
Ok, now this is getting very annoying, Karigan thought, frustrated that she was trapped in her mind yet again. Before was a powerful attack on the strongholds of her mind, but now this was just plain stupid. Her demon side was treading on thin ice, and since anger made her more powerful (on occasion) the demon had gotten loose for the last time. Time to go back into the mind bitch, she thought sourly, gathering all her remaining power around her.
No one approached Karigan and Raven waited, hanging on the moment to see what she would do next.
Karigan's eyes flickered open and she smirked triumphantly. But then her moment of small happiness vanished when she realized everyone had just seen her demonic side.
"At least I won't have to lie anymore." She muttered, sitting up and brushing herself off. When she turned around to face her friends, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Star all had looks of shock on their faces. Robin looked relieved, probably because she didn't die, and Raven was poised in the air, ready to attack. Karigan stared right back at her dumbfounded friends.
"Um, I can explain." She said slowly.
Cyborg stood up. "Explain? Damn-straight you will! What the hell was that?" he demanded, both frightened and curious about what he had just witnessed.
"That," Karigan started, "Was the truth."
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For the second time that day, the tension in the Tower threatened to burst in World War III. Karigan hadn't told everyone else the truth, and had stayed silent ever since they reached home. They all were now gathered in the common room, waiting impatiently for Karigan to explain her actions further.
Karigan sat against the counter, sipping her mug of tea when Robin approached her.
"Are you going to tell them?" he asked quietly, eyeing his other teammates nervously.
Karigan stopped drinking her tea, "I have to." She answered softly.
"Then you had better before one of them kills us; they know me and Raven are in on this." Karigan said nothing, but placed her half-empty mug on the counter and walked over to the table. Only Starfire looked up when she came silently near.
"Friend, please, what is really going on?" she said, her large green orbs pleading with her. Karigan sighed and pulled up a chair so she was facing each one of them. No one spoke for a few painful moments until Cyborg could stand in no longer.
"She asked you a question," he said quietly, looking up at Karigan, "Now what is really going on?" Karigan looked down at her hands on the table and fiddled with a ring she was wearing momentarily.
"What is going on…" she mumbled, placing her hand in her lap and looking at Cyborg. "A lot is going on. Too much even. None of you were supposed to know." She answered distantly.
"Dude, you're talking in circles." Beast Boy muttered.
"What were we not supposed to know?" Starfire asked softly.
Karigan's gaze shifted and fell on her innocent alien friend. "The truth. You weren't supposed to know the truth. No one was; not even Robin."
"Karigan," Cyborg said, and her eyes shifted to his. "What is the truth?" he asked for the second time today.
"It's not what you've been told;" she answered quietly, "What you saw today…was the truth."
Cyborg was getting frustrated at her lack of response; and Beast Boy was right, she was talking in circles.
"Stop," he said, frowning, "Just stop." He looked at Karigan, their eyes locking for an instant. "Tell us everything from the beginning. You started acting strange after you told us you were half-demon. That has got to have something to do with this."
Karigan sighed and sat back in her chair. Well, she couldn't evade this any longer.
"Fine," she muttered, not trying to sound agitated, but coming off as it, "From the beginning. But don't interrupt me." She said, staring at each of them in turn.
"Two days ago my father Xaphtious dropped in for an unexpected visit. He was the one destroying downtown that day." Their expressions immediately moved to shock; but no one interrupted.
"He came to give me a message. 'The Doom is coming Crossfire, check the book.' For my seventh birthday he gave me a cryptic book and that was the book he was talking about."
"He called you Crossfire." Star interrupted, but then eeped and quickly covered her mouth. Karigan nodded.
"Yes, that's the name of my powers and my Told demonic side." She could see Star about to interrupt again so she quickly continued. "The book he gave me was a book of Tellings, like prophecies, and the Doom and Crossfire had their own little special pages in it." She muttered grimly. "The Doom is simply and horribly the end of the world; and Raven and I are supposed to cause it." She let the words sink in as the horror dawned upon her friends. "That's why my dad came here; he was trying to get me on his side." She added.
Beast Boys eyes were as wide as saucers; the truth was much worse than the explanations he had been thinking up. Cyborg was shocked just as much, but still skeptical.
"That doesn't explain why you screamed earlier." He pointed out. Karigan sighed and stood up.
"Xaphtious' ways to get me on the demonic side are through horrible attacks on my minds- thus bringing out my demonic side and squashing me from existence." She halted, unsure of telling them of the more recent and violent experience with her father.
"So he attacked you today?" Beast Boy asked. Karigan nodded.
"My demonic side escaped much like earlier, only it was much worse and I was nearly killed."
Silence reigned and it was a few moments before anyone spoke.
"Can we see the book?" Cyborg asked suddenly.
"It's in a different language; you won't be able to understand it." Karigan explained. Cyborg shook his head.
"I don't care, I want to see it." Karigan sighed, stood up and went to retrieve her book.
As soon as she was clear of the room Cyborg rounded on Robin.
"When exactly where you planning on telling us all of this?" he growled. Robin shrugged.
"Whenever Kari was ready." But that wasn't a good enough explanation for Cyborg.
"C'mon man, we're a team!" he practically shouted. "You could've told us. The only reason Kari didn't was because she was scared. We could've helped bring this guy down for good!"
"No, you couldn't." came an ice-cold voice from the doorway. All attention focused on Karigan, who had returned from retrieving her book at just the right moment. Cyborg was shocked at the coolness of her voice and sat down quickly.
"Xaphtious is much too powerful; killing you would be as easy as squashing a bug." Karigan was tired of coddling and keeping them from the truth. If they wanted the truth, she would deliver it on a silver platter.
"Even with everyone there, the only people that would probably survive is Raven and myself, and only because we're part demon." She explained, her tone never changing. Karigan walked slowly towards the table and stopped a little ways from it. "And the only reason why Robin didn't tell you guys was because I asked him not to. And the reason why I didn't tell you wasn't because I was scared. That was part of it, but not the main reason."
"Damn, how much did you hear?" Cyborg asked, amazed. Karigan sat back down in her chair.
"Enough. The echo is pretty good in the halls." Now it was Star's turn to speak up.
"But what was your main reason, Karigan? For whatever it is, we can help."
Karigan shook her head. "You can't help, that's the thing. The reason I didn't tell you was because I knew you'd want to help." She continued after seeing the crestfallen looks on their faces. "I'll tell you what I told Robin. This is my burden, and weighing it down on your shoulders would destroy you. And I didn't want to worry you when there was nothing you could do about it." She explained.
"I needed you guys to stay true and always be yourself. Constantly worrying about me would've put me into more danger than anything; and coddling me wouldn't have done me any good." She added, her tone softening. Cyborg smiled, now he felt like the truth was out.
"Well then no coddling you, missy. If you want it tough, we'll make it tough." Karigan smiled back.
"Now that's more like it." She responded enthusiastically.
"But how long are you going to have to put up with your father?" Beast Boy asked in a more serious tone. Karigan stared at him, her blue eyes darkening slightly, but notenough to notice.
"Not for very long." She responded, setting the book of Faistine on the table. "You can look through this to your hearts content." She told them, getting up and heading for the door.
Robin caught her by the arm before she left.
"What do you mean 'not for long'? What are you planning?" he demanded, a worried expression settled on his face. Karigan looked him straight in the eyes.
"I know what I'm doing. Trust me." She responded vaguely, leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the cheek before turning and striding out the door. Robin watched her go, his hand lingering on the spot where her lips had connected with his skin, now more worried and suspicious than ever.
Once Karigan reached the sanctuary of her room, she settled down comfortably on her bed and resumed reading the books Raven had lent her. She skimmed through the first book, discovering almost immediately that it wouldn't help her at all. The second book was incredibly thicker, and filled with dust from over the ages. The first chapter nearly put her to sleep so she skipped the rest. Third times a charm…she thought, picking up the third book she had.
The first chapter was mostly about what the book contained, so Karigan barely skimmed over it and moved on to the second chapter. This was the one that captured her attention; it was mostly about the dimensions themselves. (here comes a lovely description…enjoy)
Of all the dimensions, there are four main ones that hold the many different powers that exist. The first dimension, possibly the largest of the four, holds Earth and all the other planets of the galaxy. (Excluding those that require traveling through a black hole to reach.) In this dimension, it is fairly easy for creatures from other dimensions to enter, and is usually a battlefront for large crusades of good versus evil.
In the second dimension, evil reigns in the Underworld. Three sinister and powerful creatures control three different things or parts. Grim, the Reaper of Souls, controls the first part and collects corrupt souls that are doomed to spend eternity in the Underworld. Bob, the Overseer of most demonic activities, controls many of the demons and strives to keep a form of peace between Grim and Trigon. The third and final part is ruled by Trigon the Terrible. He has tried and failed a countless amount of times to take over Earth. His demonic minions not governed by Bob, carry out his wishes, causing chaos and pain in more than one dimension and on more than one planet.
The third dimension, known as the Afterlife, is where three more Supreme Rulers dwell. Jack works endlessly on ancient spells and lost crafts to help put an end to the evil of the world. Celere keeps the long-lasting peace in the Afterlife, and looks after all the peaceful souls resting there. Dakkaadyyyshum, the final Supreme Ruler in the Afterlife, helps those who seek his assistance in fighting against the evil in other dimensions.
The final dimension, Mishocair, or the Unsettled, is where the seventh and only female Supreme Ruler resides. Sividia watches over and takes care of the lost souls that gather in her domain. If any soul is rejected from the Afterlife but is strong enough to resist going to the Underworld, they accumulate under Sividia's protection and guidance; often redeeming themselves and traveling to the Afterlife. Also, if a soul is suspended in equal balance between life and death, they will travel to Mishocair.
Karigan basically knew the overview of each dimension and since the rest of the chapter elaborated on the Supreme Rulers, she skipped to the next chapter that dealt with actually traveling to the dimensions. Finally happy at having reached what she was looking for, Karigan dove into her reading.
Traveling to the different dimensions is a very complex and dangerous ordeal if not done properly. For demons, it is fairly easy; as they are taught the spell at a young age a regularly practice it. But for Mortals and leath-taiseals, or half-demons, the spell is much more difficult and easier to complicate.
Though it is rare for anyone but demons to want to travel to other dimensions, it has been done on several different occasions. Aside from the possibility of loosing your life in the transaction, there are other less or more severe consequences, since the mind is the only thing transferred.
In the world of dimensions there exist thousands of different dimensions, less than a sixth of which are devoid of any sign of life. If the spell should go awry, you could be sent to one of those dimensions where return is nearly impossible. Another possible affect of a botched spell is ending up in the Underworld and being sold into brutal slavery for the rest of eternity. Though highly terrible and cruel, there is nothing that can be done to stop it. Karigan shuddered; that did not sound like fun. Though possibly the worst that can happen is thebody along with the mind is sent away; and since the conditions in most other dimensions cannot be sustained by a Mortal body. The incantation, though simplistic, is powerful and hard to control. It is best to memorize the spell completely and effectively to diminish the chance of fault.
Karigan yawned; this stuff was interesting, but she needed the spell. She skimmed the rest of the page and the next, finally finding the incantation. Karigan quickly copied it down and strode to Raven's room.
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Raven couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. Karigan had finally lost it. She had come to her with a powerful spell and the start of a plan to stop her father. Sure, it made sense, in a strange psychotic way, but Raven wouldn't believe that she was actually serious.
"Raven, listen to me," Karigan pleaded, "I had a dream the other night. I think I confronted my dad and something…weird happened." Raven barely listened, not believing that it could be that weird. "He sent a fireball at me, and I did too. But when they collided, it was like an explosion; white light everywhere."
"Maybe that's just what happens when your powers clash." Raven interrupted, but Karigan shook her head.
"That's never happened before. Anyway, then it switched to this circle of stone pillars. Some raving red demon with white hair was going berserk and taking it out on the rocks."
"Wait," Raven interrupted again, "how many eyes did he have?" Karigan looked confused.
"Uh, four, why?"
"Damn." Raven breathed slowly.
"What?" Karigan practically screamed.
"That was my dad." Raven responded. Karigan smiled.
"Well all the better!" she exclaimed. Raven stared at her like she was insane. "In my dream he said 'this changes everything' and 'fool'. Now the only person he could prize enough to call a fool would be my dad; but I haven't quite figured out how him dying would change everything yet. But if I kill Xaphtious, that'd change things for the worse for Trigon."
Raven shook her head in utter disbelief. Karigan was insane and she was embracing it openly.
"Karigan, you could die too." Raven said softly. Her friend stared her in the eyes.
"That is a chance I am willing to take." She responded calmly. Raven still could not believe she was having this conversation with Karigan.
"If I die too, that could affect the Doom dramatically. The Writer's of the Tellings didn't think one of us would die. It could postpone what is to come for years."
"Don't be so eager to throw away life." Raven spat bitterly. Karigan's eyes saddened.
"I'm not, believe me. I don't want to die, but destroying the world is the last thing on my 'to do' list. And I now know the answer to his question. I can't. I can't go on for years to come, feeling nothing, constantly on guard. If I want to stay sane, I need to fell, so this needs to end soon." Raven shook her head, but before she could speak, Karigan interrupted her. "Please Raven, just do this for me. A favor; possibly my last."
Raven was torn; loose her friend, possibly for nothing or for the better, or keep her friend, but have a far greater chance of destroying the world. Of course, she could tell Karigan was going to follow through with her plan anyway, regardless of her answer. So the least she could do was make sure she got to the Underworld safely.
Raven sighed, "Fine, yes, I will help you." Karigan smiled and embraced Raven tightly.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"I take it you aren't going to tell the others?" Raven said. Karigan shook her head.
"No, they would just try to stop me, especially Robin."
"So when do you want to go?" she asked.
"Want to go? Never. But tomorrow night is when I was planning. Late tomorrow night, or when everyone should be sleeping." Raven nodded.
So a day to do everything she wanted to do before she possibly died. Karigan sighed and exited Raven's room; from here out she was going to let loose a little. Not enough to be a sitting duck for Xaphtious, but just enough to enjoy her remaining time with the Titans.
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So there you go. I'm expecting 3 more chapters now, since I started typing this like a week ago...and I'm thinking thatone will be shorter than usual. Just to break things up a bit. Well, hope you enjoyed that and please review! I'm out. –poof-
Oh yes, and I don't own Dakkaadyyyshum, that dude belongs to Raven's Wolf.