A Prequel to "Fragile Dreams"

By the way, since this chapter deals with Azar, who unlike Raven is actually a mage and not an empath, I had to choose a system for how magic worked. I basically stole the system from Mage: The Awakening. Which I do not own. Just like I do not own any of these characters, with the possible exception of my version of Azar. There, by ass is covered.

If you enjoy this story, I have another story called Fragile Dreams. That is a Rae.Rob story, but there is no Rae.Rob here, obviously, since this is before she met him. If you enjoy this story, I highly suggest reading Fragile Dreams. You can either search for it or find a link to it on my profile. Thank you, and please, please review. That's the only way I grow as a writer.

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An Exile
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"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

Azar never ceased to be amazed by something as simple as how different things could look in the dark. Long, obscuring shadows could stretch between familiar objects, leaving a sinister, alien expression across the face of the darkened room. When viewed this way, even the most benign and familiar of places could seem evil and threatening.

This room was no exception. It had no name of any significance, but this very mediation room was where her father had personally taught her much of her magic. Azar had spent much of her life meditating and training in this room. Despite this experience, the veteran mage could not help but shudder as she drew her gaze across the shadows cast by the single flickering candle. Maybe it was the threatening shadows, creeping across the familiar scenery. Maybe it was the screams she could hear from outside, despite the soundproofing. Maybe it was her knowledge of what was causing them.

Or maybe it was her dark robed pupil meditating in the center of the room. Azar glanced at the chanting youth, glad that she was probably blissfully oblivious to the carnage outside. All of her consciousness had been focused on her meditation for the previous fourteen hours. Sweat dripped slowly from her lavender hair, and her robe stuck closely to her floating form. Azar was truly beginning to worry how much longer the battle would rage, about how much longer her pupil could remain like this.

Azar could do nothing but watch. The wait was excruciating. Normally, she would meditate herself, but she couldn't risk losing any awareness of what was around her. She could afford for the battle outside to spread into this room. That would be nothing short of disastrous.

She continued to observe her young student as the hours stretched into twenty. Azar watched in growing apprehension as the empath's temperature continued to rise. Her pale face now glistened under the cowl of her robe, and still the battle raged out outside. Azar drew her hand across her face, brushing her silver hair out of her eyes and wincing as the blood rushed back into her arm after being immobile so long. To her surprise, she found her own hair damp as well. The stuffy air was being to overwhelm even her body after twenty hours.

Azar sighed. "Raven, awaken."

Raven twitched slightly, flinching at the sudden noise in the still room. Slowly, her lavender eyes flickered open and focused on her mentor across the room.

"Is it over?"

"You did well, Raven." Azar replied smiling, neglecting an answer. They both stared into the other's eyes in the severe silence. A muffled scream rang out, and was quickly silenced. Neither woman said a word. As they sat in the darkness, more screams came every minute or so. Raven flinched at each one, and Azar knew she could feel the terror and the agony of each life cut short. Azar thanked whatever god had seen fit to not "gift" her with empathy.

"It's Trigon, isn't it?" Raven whispered shakily, the soft sound seeming piercing in the small room.

Azar paused, then nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so."

"Can we stop him?"

Azar clamped down on her own emotions with an unyielding wall of discipline: giving Raven any doubts could be dangerous. "We will."

Raven closed her eyes and turned away from her mentor, violet locks obscuring her pale features. "He's after me, isn't he?"

Dangerous ground. Azar tightened her hold on her emotions, obscuring her motives with sheer willpower. She laughed. "Of course not, my arrogant pupil. Why would you think something so ridiculous?"

Raven didn't even look back at her. "They why are you here?"

"I don't understand."

Raven's voice didn't change from the monotonous whisper. "You are the most powerful mage on Azarath. You expect me to believe that during a battle again Trigon, you would stand guardian over me otherwise?"

"I am not Azarath's most powerful sorcerer, Raven."

"But you are dodging the question."

Azar smiled sadly at her pupil's logic, perfect as ever. In truth, that rational for her being here had never even occurred to her, but it made sense and was probably true at some level. Azar would give her life to protect her pupil. Nevertheless, such knowledge was very dangerous for Raven to have. She let the wall of her discipline slip a little, allowing her to sense Azar's honesty. "That is not the reason, Raven."

Raven looked up at her, and Azar could feel Raven's soul self pressing against her willpower, feeling for the truth. Azar stood fast. Raven gave a miniscule shrug. Apparently accepting the answer as truth, she resumed staring at the floor. "That may be true," Raven admitted, "but I am what he is looking for. I can feel him.

When Azar didn't respond, Raven continued. "He wants me. I always feel him looking for me."

"Do not worry, Raven. He will not get you."

Raven whipped her head around to glare at her teacher. "Oh, so now you are here to protect me?"

"Your anger is uncalled for."

"Is it?" Raven bit back. "There is only one other reason for you to be here, and that is that I'm as big a threat to Azarath as Trigon is. You are here because you are afraid of me." The empath accused.

"Raven…" Azar spoke calmingly, closing her eyes.

"I'm his daughter, aren't I?"

The quietness of Raven's whispered question sharply contrasted with its significance. Azar's eyes snapped wide open, and she could feel the waves of shock resonating off of her. Before she could bring down her discipline to contain them, she knew the game was over. She had just confirmed Raven's suspicions in no uncertain terms.

Azar did not even bother to deny it. "Who told you?"

Raven shook her head. "No one. I have just… always known somehow." She looked up to meet her mentor's eyes just as a muffled voice cried out for the last time outside. "This is nothing new. He's been attacking me my whole life."

Suddenly, Raven flinched as though physically struck. "No…" she whispered into the silence. Waves of emotion flowed from the young empathy, dousing the solitary candle in an instant and plunging the room into perfect darkness. "MOTHER!" Raven screamed, her voice cracking.

Azar was glad for the darkness, as it hid Raven's agony from her eyes as she cried. She could feel it too. Trigon's presence was gone… but so was Arella's.

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"Arella's death was unfortunate."

"Arella's death was unforeseen."

Not for the first time recently, Azar wondered if she was the only sane person left in this council room. "No, Arella's death was a tragedy. That is not the issue here," she said calmly, forcing patience she didn't particularly feel. "The important thing is…"

"The important thing, Azar," the elder mage spat her name like a curse, "is that Raven is too dangerous to remain here. She is a threat to the safety of Azarath, and our laws demand her removal."

"The girl just lost her mother, Councilor Llorn!" Azar shouted back, finally losing her patience.

"And the primary barrier holding her powers at bay." Another councilor said, looking condescendingly down at her from his high podium.

"A quarter of our population is dead because of her!" A third councilor, an elder woman, accused.

Azar shook her head in complete disbelief. "No… a quarter of our population is dead because of Trigon, who…"

The woman in the center of the council ring cut her off with an upraised hand. "Who never would have attacked Azarath had the girl not been here, Azar."

Azar stood in visible shock, attempting to pull her composure back together and failing miserably. "Magistrate, you can't agree with this nonsense!"

The Magistrate shook her head sadly. "They speak the truth, Azar. I am sorry, but your pupil cannot stay here."

Councilor Llorn rose to his feet on his podium again. "I'm afraid that is not sufficient, Magistrate." As everyone turned to face him, he continued. "She cannot stay anywhere, Magistrate. Raven Roth is too dangerous to keep here, and far too dangerous to allow to leave."

Azar started to become sick to her stomach.

The magistrate's face remained neutral. "What are you suggesting, Councilor?

"The spawn of Trigon must never be united with her progenitor, or woe to the universe. By Azar's own report, Trigon has already reached her at least once before, during the battle: allowing her to leave Azarath could be just as good as turning her over to the Lord of Destruction himself. What right do we have to gamble with the fate of the universe?"

The magistrate frowned, a scowl creasing her aging but still striking features. "You are testing my patience, councilor. Your theatrics have no place here. Make your motion or sit down."

"I move that Raven Roth be executed immediately."

Azar felt her knees become weak, and she almost collapsed. She had expected the motion to exile Raven from Azarath, but nothing this severe. "WHAT?" she screamed, silencing the murmuring in the council and turning all heads towards her. "On what charge!"

"High treason. Conspiring with a Demon against the welfare of Azarath."

Azar trembled with rage, and gave thanks again that empathy was not one of her powers. "How dare you even consider…"

"Enough, Azar." The Magistrate interrupted her. "This is a matter for the council to consider. We will hear your arguments, but now is not the time."

"But… but… this is crazy! You are talking about murdering a teenage girl! How can you even consider this outrage to be a motion?"

"I will not warm you again, child. Be silent." The Magistrate spoke sternly, as though to a pupil. "Your theatrics will not be tolerated either."

Azar stood silent in shock as she listened to the eleven wizards on the council debate the issue. The council was divided practically right down the middle on whether Raven would be spared or not, but the proponents of her execution had their argument's better organized, and their pragmatic approach was far more solid that the ethical arguments forged by their peers. Azar knew which result was coming long before she was given her chance to speak.

Azar looked directly into the eyes of Councilor Llorn. "You are making a mistake, Councilor. The seal that Arella put on Trigon will not last forever. Raven might be the only person capable of defeating him. When she's gone, we will lose our biggest asset while Trigon will lose nothing but time."

"We cannot afford to gamble, Azar, no can be play favorites. The youth represents a probability of disaster we can no longer defend."

"Councilor, Trigon will eventually find him way into this dimension. The only question is when… time is meaningless to the immortal." Azar argued, clenching her fists at her side. "We must also be prepared to fight."

"Time is not the only issue here, young Azar. The power Trigon would gain from being reunited with his progeny would make the fight you speak of hopeless."

"But we also can't…" Another Councilor responded to Llorn, and the whole council was off again.

Finally, the Magistrate raised one gloved hand, commanding silence from all present. "Enough." She spoke simply, her tame voice magically traveling to every corner of the room. "I have made my decision. Councilor Llorn's motion is approved. Raven must not be allowed to rejoin her father."

"Magistrate!" Azar protested. "You can't possibly…"

"You know the law, Azar. My decision is final."

"Your decision is idiotic!" Azar exclaimed, finally losing all patience. "What your talking about is murder!"

The Magistrate's eyes narrowed. "It is not our place to judge my office, daughter of Azar. Are you doubting my integrity?"

"I am doubting your intelligence! This decision is a disgrace to your office!" Azar shouted, her green eyes burning with rage. "If my father were still alive…"

"Trigon never would have attacked!" the Magistrate shouted back, her own store of patience obviously depleted. "Your father is dead, and now it is my role to be Magistrate."

Internally, Azar sighed. "I will not obey this decision." She said, fully aware she had just signed her own death warrant.

"You act the part of the child, Azar!"

"And you act the coward!" Azar yelled back, mentally preparing the spell that would get her out of here. "I will not bow to your wishes and destroy our best hope for survival. I will take Raven and leave."

The Magistrate gestured, and guards approached Azar. "You no longer deserve your father's name, child."

Azar began gathering energy around her. The guards broke into a run, but Azar already knew they were too late. "It is this city which no longer deserves my father's name."

The Magistrate stood, her face frozen into an expression of elderly outrage as she screamed a final warning at Azar. "You are making a mistake, child!"

"My mistake was bothering to come here." With a wave, Azar sank into the floor and was gone.

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Azar rose from the floor of her personal chambers, already breaking into a run. "Raven, get up. We need to move."

She saw Raven start to stagger to her feet, but didn't have time to wait for her. Azar lashed out at the bookshelf with her eldritch might, pulling choice books with her rapidly and tearing down the rest of the bookshelf with the force. She quickly tossed them into a bag, running through this room into the next.

"Master, what is going on?" Raven asked, her voice clouded with confusion.

"No time," Azar responded, throwing miscellaneous spell components and magic items into the bag with the books. "Grab what you absolutely cannot live without, and nothing else. You have 20 seconds." Thankfully, Raven didn't waste time with further questions. She ran.

A loud pounding came at the door. "Open the door, Azar!" A loud, male voice shouted. The guardians were here. "We will not ask again."

"Make that 10 seconds, Raven!" Azar shouted as she heard chanting begin on the other side of the door.

Azar stared sadly at the black book her father had given her for a second before throwing it into her pouch as well… revealing two silver rings beneath it. She froze for a second, then quickly slipped them on her ring fingers, one per hand. "I need your help today, father," She whispered softly, as Raven came back into the room wearing her blue cloak, two seconds late. "Please forgive me."

Even as Azar turned towards the door, she felt the bad she was holding shrink down to the size of a pouch. In one smooth, practiced motion, she pulled two bags of silver dust from the pouch and hooked it to her belt. She spilled silver dust from two pouches in a circle around the two of them as she heard explosions starting outside the door. "Raven, hold that door shut with everything you have." She saw her pupil's eyes go black as she obeyed, but Azar tuned her out after that. She didn't even her Raven's mantra over her own chant.

The silver dust rose and started to swirl around the pair as Azar's chanting sped up. She heard the door blow in, but couldn't see it through her closed eyes. The spell was only half done, but Azar knew they had only seconds to live. 'Close enough.'

"ad Vas cotta Dam ii shii, Bakaru Solenu Smatka, Smatka Exodia AZARATH!"

Azar's entire world exploded in blinding pain.

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Councilor Llorn had no idea where he was going to find the man, but it didn't turn out to be a problem… he stood out like a sore thumb. A man who had to be at least 6'6", standing straight-backed in a dark cloak, alone on otherwise deserted streets. Councilor Llorn forced himself to smile, pushing back to urge to swallow. The fact he had bad news to deliver really didn't bother him that much… he was a consummate politician. Once he had gotten himself in front of his adversary, he was certain he could talk his way out of any situation, like he had been doing for decades now. He would make something good for himself come of this Trigon mess yet!

As soon as he stepped up to the man, he opened it mouth to start speaking. The other man beat him to it. "Do you have the girl?"

Llorn looked up at the man and swallowed despite himself. His face was entirely concealed in shadow, and all the councilor could see were two beady red eyes staring down at him with ferocious intensity. "Do you have my payment?"

"The deal was you would turn the girl over to me. Afterwards, I would remove the magistrate for you. Not a moment before. Where is the girl?"

"I don't quite have her ready for you yet, but events have been set into motion. Now I need assurances that…" Llorn choked off as he felt incredible pressure building between his temples. The red of the man's eyes glowed brighter as he forced his way into the councilor's mind.

Suddenly, the man laughed as the pain faded from Councilor Llorn's head. "Clever. You would deny me my prize, and still use it as leverage to place yourself as Magistrate. Raven's death would be your springboard to power. Yes, a clever fool."

The pain in his head came back, building back up to an echoing crescendo. "But a fool none the less." Llorn started to beg to death.

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"Where are we, Master?"

Azar gazed out with hollow eyes across the desolate landscape. The entire panorama was nothing but barren gray plains as far as the eye could see. Azar knew from experience they went on much further than that. "Limbo. The empty nothingness between planes. They gray lands where no sane person would ever chose to venture." She let out the breath she had been holding. "The spell worked."

"What?"

Azar laughed a little to herself, the sound fading rapidly into the huge, empty space. "I had to interrupt the spell early because of the Guardians, so there was no guarantee that it would work. It took a ton of energy out of me to force the spell to stay on course with only a fraction of the incantation. Even with all of this vast area to aim for, there was no guarantee that the teleport would be on target."

Raven looked around again. "But why are we going here?

Azar looked at her pupil with confusion for a second, then burst out laughing as Raven's assumption became clear to her. "This is only an easy stepping stone to our destination." She managed to get out between laughs. "We're going to Earth."

"Earth?" If anything, Raven looked even more confused. "Why would we go there?"

"Allies, Raven." Azar said, finally managing to stop laughing. "We need to find help to fight Trigon when he next attacks you."

They were silent for a long time after that. Azar slowly cleaned away an area of gray dirt, magically lighting a fire to ward of the cold of the nothingness closing in. When she was just about to enter meditation to regain her strength, Raven spoke again.

"What does Trigon want with me?"

Azar opened a single eye, reaching for her belt pouch as she looked over at the lavender haired empath. She tossed her the large, black book. "Here, read this. Everything you want to know is in there."

Raven's eyes widened. "The book of Azar!" She looked over at her master. "You never let me even touch this before!"

"That's because it was ordered that you shouldn't know your parentage. Too dangerous for you, and much too dangerous for Azarath."

"Was it also ordered that I leave Azarath?" she asked, referring to their panicked escape from the place that had been her home all her life.

Azar closed her eyes in though. 'Nothing good can come from her knowing just how badly Azarath has betrayed her.' She thought. "Yes, Raven… You have been exiled. On pain of death are you to return to Azarath again."

Even with her eyes closed, she could feel Raven's glare on her, knowing she wasn't telling to entire truth. "Is that why they tried to kill us then?" she asked, her voice thick with sarcasm.

'Why did I cursed with a pupil with empathy?' Azar sighed to herself. "Do you trust me Raven?"

Raven barely hesitated. "Yes."

"Then trust me. That's a story for another day."

"Then tell me something else. Why are you here?"

Azar chuckled to herself at the delicious irony. "I have elected to share your fate."

"Why?"

It was a simple question, but a good one. Azar opened both her eyes, looking straight into the violet orbs of her pupil. "Who we are is nothing more than the sum of our actions. Remember that, Raven."

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As Raven slept, Azar studied the spell that would take her to Raven over the last leg of their trip to Earth. Probably for the only time in the years to come, she wasn't even slightly worried about pursuit from Azarath… Limbo was simply too big to find someone in. As she flipped pages, she caught another glimpse at the silver band around her ring finger. She smiled, despite the disheartening events of the day. She took off one band, and then the other, cradling them in the palm of her hand.

"Did I do OK, Father?" She asked aloud. Somehow, she had turned her back on everything her father had stood for in a single day. She had turned her back on the city of her birth, the city her ancestors has built. She had chosen chaos and exile over the law of the council. She had become a wanted fugitive by her father's legal successor. Her father should hate her.

But somehow, she felt approval coming from the rings. And right now, that was all that mattered to her.

Azar felt a strong energy signature from inside the camp, and looked over to see Raven's soulself pulsating as she slept. 'Nightmare.' She thought. Hardly a surprise after the last forty-eight hours.'

Raven shivered in the cold, and Azar moved to cover her up better when she noticed that Raven's hair, like her own, was fluttering in the cold breeze.

There is no wind on this plane!

Decades of combat experience were the only thing that saved her. Azar spun, he eyes glowing white with the power as she swirled the nearby grew dust into a protective shell over the two exiles. The resulting blast as Azar's energy clashed with their assailant's woke Raven instantly.

'How could I have been so stupid?' Azar berated herself. If the attack hadn't used an attack that displaced air, she would be dead right now. As the dust settled around her, she could see the mystery attacker… a tall man wearing a black cloak. He floated towards them, his feet hovering a foot off the ground and his arms crossed over his torso. Twin red eyes pierced the darkness of his cloak… they flared.

Azar threw up her hands, bringing her energy to bear for another parry, but was caught off guard by the psychic nature of the attack. Azar felt a pressure building between her temples, but she was no novice… she had fought telepaths before, though never one this strong. Azar didn't even try to keep him out of her mind; she would probably fail if she tried. Instead, she welcomed him, and the pain in her head vanished as her spirit stopped trying to fight the intrusion and her iron discipline took over. Then Azar counterattacked in the real world, clapping her hands together and sending dark bolts of energy streaking towards the dark figure.

The pressure in her in head vanished as her attacker pulled back his energy to defend. He vanished in the burst of dark energy, but Azar wasn't about to assume he was gone, not when she hadn't detected him in the first place. "Raven, get behind me! Scan the ground behind me and tell me if he appears. Don't try to fight him yourself." Wordlessly, her pupil followed her instructions, her eyes glowing as she surrounded her body with her soulself.

A dark laugh came from right where Azar's energy blast had hit, and as the smoke cleared, Azar could just make out his robed form. "A mage worth my time? This is proving to be quite the intriguing assignment."

"What do you want with me?"

"With you?" He laughed, staring meaningfully over Azar's shoulder. "Trigon wants his daughter back."

Raven screamed suddenly behind her. "Fool, I told you to stay behind me!" Azar summoned as much energy as she could and severed the contact between the two of them. Raven collapsed on the ground behind her, but Azar could still hear her slow breaths. "You know, if you kill her, Trigon will probably do the same to you."

He scoffed at her. "I'm not so careless, fool."

Azar smiled. She could sense Raven slowly climbing back to her feet behind her. "I don't know about that. After all, you were foolish enough to tip me off to your presence before your attack."

The man's eyes flashed a darker crimson. "Do you MOCK ME! You cannot mock a GOD!"

Azar smiled. "You're no god. Just a petty man being used by an evil he can never understand. Your life will be short."

"If that is so, than yours shall be shorter still!" And with that, the cloaked figure exploded with energy. Azar raised a barrier to block the power, wincing in pain at the fraction that good through. Perhaps he was right.

"Raven! Take that book and GO."

"But I don't know how!"

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The teachings of the first to hold the name Azar, her ancestor, always stressed peace. They said that the natural state of the universe, the state where you were the most powerful, was when you were most at peace. This meant at peace with those around you, but primarily, it meant being at peace with yourself. When at peace, you are like water... you have no set shape, no set role, and no unlimited potential. Water didn't directly oppose barriers, it flowed around them. When power was the last thing you wanted, you were at your most powerful.

All you had to do was accept it.

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Azar closed her eyes and accepted her destiny. She clutched the two rings even tighter in her fist, and then threw them to Raven.

"Never let go of those, Raven. I will be with you always." With that, she turned so that one arm was pointed ahead of her to continue blocking the psychic's attack, and the other arm pointed behind her, towards Raven. "ad Vas cotta Dam ii shii, Bakaru Solenu Smatka, Smatka Exodia Azarath!"

Just like that, Raven was gone. The psychic attack had stopped, as well. Azar stared straight ahead into furious red eyes. "Fool"

Azar smiled. "We are the sum of our actions. Nothing more, and nothing less." Azar felt her eyes starting to go blue with the eldritch energy building up within her. "You will never find her."

"I have no time for fools such as you." He said, as his eyes flashed again. "Die."

Rather than fight the pain of the psychic intrusion, Azar smiled and embraced it. "Gladly." She absorbed as much of his power into herself as possible. She could feel her spiritual self distorting as she took it far more energy that she ever had been meant to possess, her soul flowing like water suddenly freed to expand to a larger contain.

Still smiling, she dropped what was left of her shield, no longer resisting the flow of energy against her. She could feel her parts of her body starting to burn and tear away under the assault, but the pain seemed to small and far away. Azar could see those crimson eyes widen under the hood as he finally realized, too late, that she had no intention of surviving this fight. Smoky black mist started to swirl about her body was no longer a sufficient container to hold the enriched soulstuff.

Finally, Azar knew it was time. She could feel her spirit saturated with energy, every drop of her flowing soul expanding outwards, looking for the limits to its new container. Azar pulled every bit of her energized soul back to her, and the space around her, for an instant, crackled with arcs of lightning surrounded her petite form. Then, harvesting every drop of eldrich energy she could, she hurled it all towards her attacker. "NULIFICIL POTENTIA AZAR!"

Azar's entire world became nothing but white hot pain as her body became a conduit for the most powerful spell she had ever cast. Despite the agony, however, she never once stopped smiling.

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End
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A/N: This will become important to the storyline of Fragile Dreams. I will neither confirm nor deny the identity of Azar's combatant. I think I dropped enough hints. The only person who has proofread this is me myself, so if anyone wants to take up the challenge, I would be thankful.

If you enjoyed this story, I would very much recommend you read it's continuation, named Fragile Dreams (Plug, Plug, Plug)

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