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Stone Prison
By: Demonabyss
Chapter 21: Remains
Oh my aching head. Mental note, getting blasted by a nova like blast of demon fire into the ground, smashing into a fifteen-story building and then having said building collapse on you hurts … a lot. Oh man, if my head would just stop throbbing for a moment and if that pounding would stop maybe I could dig myself out and see what the hell happened though I have a pretty good idea.
This is just fucking great! Trigon's free, the world is screwed, everyone else is now stone (technically also including me but that's beside the point), Slade's still a pyro zombie, who knows what happened to the Titans, Raven's body is gone for all I know, I'm stuck under a building, my whole body feels like someone took multiple jack hammers to it (probably looks like it as well), and to top it all off I feel like I'm going to going to blow chunks. Wait a minute can I even do that in my stone form? Oh damn, I don't feel so good. What's wrong with me? For that matter, what's wrong with the Earth? It feels weird, twisted somehow, probably because Trigon is here. There are too many … too many voices now. They are faint but they're all there, millions of them. Before there was just one, Orbis Terrarum, "The Earth", now there are millions. What's happening?
(Normal POV)
In the realm of Terra's mind, Quarry, Raven and Terra's Hope appeared in a large temple like chamber. This chamber was made out of various types of rock, mixed together in a strange sort of harmony. In the center was another crystal obelisk, but instead of showing memories, this one showed current events, in this case Terra being blown away and buried under a building. Inside the chamber were five more emotions of Terra all of them standing around the crystal obelisk.
All of them looked like the older version of Terra in her human form, but were dressed drastically differently with different primary colors. They each also had a noticeable look and air about them that further distinguished them. One was the purple ninja-like Cunning, standing straight and stiff as she silently watched their entrance. Her cool and calm air would make anyone think she was plotting something. The one next to her had a white lab coat, a light blue vest underneath, and thick soda bottle glasses like a stereotypical nerd would have and was holding a thick book in one arm. She seemed to be analyzing the situation displayed on the obelisk. The next emotion's main colors were royal blue and silver and was dressed in medieval fantasy type armor, complete with gauntlets, boots, leg armor, chest armor, shoulder armor, a small scarf like cape, and she held a large war hammer. She held a regal yet friendly air about her. The emotion next to her was Terra in her Teen Titan uniform, except instead of being yellow it was a solid green color. She seemed twitchy and ready for action, any action it seemed. The last emotion was dressed in dark jeans, a gold tank top, and a black leather jacket with gold highlights and a gold stone symbol on the back. She had a toothpick in her mouth and gave off an air of authority and rebelliousness at the same time. Despite being a mixed group, Raven suspected these were Terra's strongest emotions, for the time being anyway.
"Where have you two been?" the nerdy emotion asked annoyed as she absently adjusted her glasses.
"Just, showing Raven around a little. We don't know how long she's going to be here," Hope replied evenly.
"That is true," the emotion admitted before turning to Raven. "I'm Wisdom, you know Cunning, the blue knight is Honor, the green Teen Titan is Courage, and the biker is Survival. Now then, what do you want to hear first, the bad news, the worst news, or the news where you say, 'we are so screwed'?" Wisdom asked evenly.
"Um, let's start with the bad news," Raven said calmly though she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.
Wisdom sighed and adjusted her glasses again. "The bad news is that Trigon's demons got your body and it became the portal allowing Trigon to come to Earth so it's very likely that you're stuck here. The worst news is that Terra is now buried underneath a fifteen-story building and there's no telling what happened to the Titans or if they're even still alive. The last bit of news is that Trigon turned the entire population of earth, human, meta-human, alien, whatever, into stone. As a result their souls are now linked to the Earth itself and through the Earth are therefore linked to Terra. Right now their spirits are confused and unfocused, but they're starting to close in on Quarry. If they hit this place, Terra will most likely go completely insane, cause an upheaval the size of Texas, and you'll more then likely get swept in the chaos and lost for all time," Wisdom explained dejectedly. Raven's eyes widened as her face showed pure shock and fear, breaking her normally emotionless mask.
Survival sighed. "Like she said, we are so screwed," she commented dryly. "The others are reinforcing Terra's mental defenses but it's not going to do much against that much raw energy. There has to be a way to turn this around. Terra will not go down like this!" Survival said venomously.
Honor nodded. "Indeed we must press onward without hesistation. But without a proper course of action we will be swept away by these misguided spirits like an insignificant boat in a hurricane. I fear we have little time to plan any countermeasures and will soon be overtaken. It this tsunami of power does not devastate our mistress, then it will most assuredly rain havoc on our land and we'll all be gone into the winds," the blue armored emotion said in a proper and commanding tone.
Raven blinked a couple times before the green clothed emotion, Courage, gave an explanation. "Translation: We need to move fast but without a plan we're dead and we don't have much time to get one. The main problem is all that excess energy from the population's spirits inside the Earth. If the energy surge doesn't kill Terra first, it will definitely destroy Quarry and all of us with it," Courage explained to Raven. The Goth nodded as she tried to figure out what to do.
Cunning silently watched and listened. However a new screen showed up, this one showing another of Terra's emotions. This one was dressed in robes similar to that of a Japanese priestess, also known as a miko, but instead of being white and red, it was white and light purple. She held an aristocratic air to her. Cunning's eyes narrowed for a moment, knowing this was not good news. "What is it Pride?" she asked in a cool manner.
"The defenses are failing. All the spirits are homing in on Quarry like an oasis in the desert. They all think it's either the after life or a way to return back to normal. The defenses will be shattered soon and have free reign over Quarry unless something is done soon," Pride explained in a calm controlled manner, similar to a royal.
"There has to be something we can do," Courage cried while clenching her fists.
"There is one thing you can do that may save us all," a new voice ran out. Everyone turned at the sound of the new, obviously older voice. It came from a woman who appeared out of thin air as she approached the group. She looked to be in her early twenties and was definitely not one of Terra's emotions. For one, she was completely made out of stone in a fashion similar to Terra's true form. Her hair however, was not only crystal but pure spun gold as well. Her eyes were different in that they swirled with many colors inside them in no set pattern, like the Northern Lights. From her back appeared two angel-like wings that were colored various reds, blues, purples, and gold like the colors you see at twilight. She was dressed in a short green dress that looked to be made of plants. It even had various small flowers growing from it. The woman held an almost supernatural beauty that you'd have to be brain dead to miss. Raven absently noted that all the emotions, Hope included, seemed weary around this woman. She definitely did not belong to Terra and yet she wasn't unwelcome.
"Who are you?" Raven asked cautiously. This woman didn't seem to be an agent of her father, since his element was more of a fire based then the earth based this woman had. She also lacked the malevolent air about her that those in contact with her father had. This woman had an air similar to that of good friend or possibly a mother.
The woman smiled softly at Raven. "Forgive me, we haven't been introduced. You may call me Orbis Terrarum and I am a friend of Terra's. You are Raven, as I understand it, one of Terra's friends. In any case, there is one possibility to turn this whole thing around. Instead of trying to stop the energy flow, you could attempt to use it instead," Orbis Terrarum, explained to the emotions and to Raven.
All of them stood silent for a moment before turning to Survival and Cunning who Raven guessed were the leaders here in Quarry just as Knowledge was in her own mind of Nevermore. Cunning was the first to speak. "You mean to take all the power and feed it directly into the core? It is risky and all of us emotions would have to act as conductors to even have a chance of regulating that much energy. It would however protect Quarry and give Terra the power necessary to take down Trigon. However, assuming Trigon is defeated and everyone is returned to normal, we're going to suffer a major energy withdrawal. Quarry would possibly collapse from it. There is a 50/50 chance of it," Cunning rationalized and explained. She then turned to the gold and black colored punk, Survival. "It is your call Survival," she said calmly.
The emotion closed her eyes in thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "I say we go for it. A minor chance of winning and surviving is better then just waiting here for death with zero chance. Contact the others, tell them of the plan, and to regroup at the core," she commanded. Pride nodded and the screen blipped out. The punker turned to Orbis and Raven while the other emotions left for what Raven assumed to be the "core" of Quarry, whatever that was. "Listen Orbis, I particularly don't like you here, but since you are you may as well be useful. You're going to be another conductor since you are obviously earth based like the rest of us. Raven, I need you to observe and coordinate everything. If you try to act as a conductor, I don't know what will happen since your powers are a different type then Terra's and we both know that mixing two different types of powers like that can have a serious backlash," she explained to the sorceress. Raven nodded and all of them disappeared, heading to the core of Quarry.
The Titans got up, sore and bruised, but they did. All around them was destruction caused by Trigon's appearance, twisting and mutating the world. Everywhere there were statues of people who had once been alive and well not just half an hour ago. Beast Boy was the first to speak after taking a look around. "We failed didn't we?" he asked though he didn't expect an answer.
It was silent for a moment as all four remaining Titans looked around at the destruction that had been wrought. Everything was gone, destroyed, and to add insult to injury the red demon giant was using Titans Tower as a throne to rest and regain his strength. It was then Starfire noticed something. "Why is it that all of the people are stone and we are not?" she asked curiously.
Cyborg was the one to answer. "It's because of these rings of Azar we're wearing. They protected us from Trigon's effect. Looks like all that searching and collecting that Terra made us do paid off, for all the good it did us," the half robot said dejectedly. "There's nothing we can do."
Robin turned sharply to him. "Yes there is! We're still here and we can still fight!" he said determinedly. "There's still hope. There has to be a way to win this."
"How? The world is trashed, everyone is turned into lawn ornaments, Trigon is in charge, Terra got buried under a building, and Raven is. … " He trailed off as he looked down dejectedly. They were all silent for a moment before a familiar voice spoke up.
"I wouldn't be so hasty to count her out just yet," Slade said as he appeared from the shadows. Immediately, Starfire attacked. The man in the black and orange mask was pinned to the wall by the green glowing eyed alien as she readied a star bolt. "I am not here to fight you. I came to offer my assistance," he said undaunted by the assault.
"We will not listen to your lies! You are the cause of all this!" the angry Tameranian girl accused, more then ready to blast him to pieces. "We saw Raven become the portal, she is gone," she said still angry but also a little dejectedly.
Slade merely narrowed his eye. "Trigon is not someone you can say no to my dear. It is true that your friend became the portal that Trigon used to enter this world. That part of her destiny is fulfilled and passed, but a part of her still remains. If you wish to find her, one of you must come with me," he explained calmly.
"No deal Slade. Raven's our friend, either we all go or no deal," Robin said with authority.
"You don't understand. Trigon is omni clairvoyant. His mind can be at any place at any time. For us to succeed, his mind must be distracted," Slade explained calmly as Starfire let him down.
"And how exactly do we fight him that long? Even with the rings of Azar we collected," Cyborg asked. Before he could answer however, a scream ripped through the dead stagnant air around them. All of them recognized it as Terra's despite being warped and having an echo to it. Without thinking, Slade and the Titans ran towards the screaming.
They came to a street and a couple blocks away, was Terra in her true form, screaming like a banshee. All around her the remains of the building that had been on top of her were whirling in a miniature hurricane that was steadily growing larger as more and more material was added to it. In the center was Terra, glowing bright gold as if she were getting ready to release another of her upheavals. However, this time was distinctly different. Instead of the golden energy building to be released like a bomb, the energy was instead collecting, converging, and compacting itself into her. The gold aura on her body flared like a bonfire, growing steadily larger as she continued to scream, whether it was in rage, pain, or adrenaline none of them could tell. Her crystal hair whipped around her face like crazed serpents, golden flares shooting from her eyes as the hurricane quickly grew in power. It shot up into the sky, creating a gold pillar of whirling energy and light. From this cyclone of gold light emerged a titan in the truest sense of the title.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
AN: To those of you reviewing, I'd like to make it clear that Raven's mindscape is Nevermore, while Terra's mindscape is Quarry and are two different places as they are two different people. Thank you.
What will all that energy does to Terra?
Will she stay sane after using that much power?
Will Raven ever be returned to her body?
Will Trigon be defeated?