Chapter 4: A Gift or a Curse?
When Raven's mind slowly returned from its slumber, she groggily wondered if she had left a window open during the night. Must have been, because it usually was not this cold at Titans Tower. And had she fallen asleep on the floor as well? It sure was way too hard and compact to be her usual bed? It was when she blearily opened her eyes that the reality came back to her. The starry sky above her served as a reminder that she no longer was at Titans Tower, that she was no longer in the comfort of her home.
Reluctantly, she untangled herself from her cloak and stood back up, stretching sore and stiff muscles. Making a quick survey of her camp, she found everything just as she had left them, pieces of already cooked meat piled in the snow, a black spot in the snow that used to be her fire and a collection of animal skins. What was left of the wolves had been dumped out in the woods, so that Raven would not have to see their skinned carcasses. Yet when she looked back at her torn and sloppy work, she could still see them in vivid detail.
It made her sick just thinking about it, about what she had done to them. But what choice did she have? She needed to survive, to find her way back to her friends. Absentmindedly, she wondered if telling herself that enough times would be enough to wipe away the guilt. In the end, those thoughts were for another time, for she still had work to do. Staying here was out of the question, she needed to pack up and head out again. She had taken but one step when pain briefly flared up in her left leg, nearly causing her to fall over.
Gritting her teeth, she hobbled over to a rock and took a seat before removing the makeshift bandage on her leg. The wound had at least not begun bleeding again, but the skin around it looked dead and rotten. In fact, dark lines were spreading out from the wound like a sinister spider web. Not good. Encasing her hand in a soft glowing blue aura, Raven set about healing the wound. The pain eased away, but the black infection would not recede. Furrowing her brows in worry, she put more energy in forcing out whatever foul infection it was.
Finally, she was rewarded with success, as the black lines slowly receded. Nearly half an hour's painstaking work later, and Raven felt confident that the infection was dealt with. The wound still looked terrible, but there was not much she could do about it. She had spent most of her strength already. Ripping another piece of her cloak and applying it as a bandage, Raven tentatively stood back up on her feet. Cautious in case her wounded leg would be unable to support her, she regained some confidence when there was no pain or wobbling, and thus she was able to make her way over to the pelts lying in the snow.
To call the work she had done 'sloppy' would have been the most polite way to put it. It was just a mess. But after having scrapped away most of the flesh, and having let the blood either dry up or get sucked up by the snow, they were serviceable as cloaks and bags. She gathered a few sturdy branches as well, then removed her cloak. Though pieces had already been torn from it, the cloak was still useable, and she was hesitant to sacrifice it.
"Get your priorities straight, girl. It's just a cloak, you can always buy more when you get home," she mumbled to herself. Not IF she got home, WHEN she got home. That was what she had to constantly think. Not if, never if. No matter what, she would survive. No matter what, she would make it home. With that thought stubbornly locked in her head, she set about ripping her prized cloak to pieces, though she did take to care to spare the hood. She then proceeded to use the pieces of her cloak as improvised rope to bind the pelts and branches together to form a makeshift backpack. Using another pelt as a makeshift cloak against the wind, she packed her meager belongings and hefted it up on her back. She was ready to depart.
A quick levitation showed the same thing she had seen yesterday; perpetual night over a snow-covered wasteland in every direction she looked. The only discernable feature of the land beyond the odd group of trees here and there was the massive mountain range looming to the west of her position. Having no better idea on where to head, or even from which direction she had originally come from, she raised her hood and set off towards what she suspected was north. She at least made sure to have the mountain range to the left of her, to give her some sense of direction.
"Does anyone even live in this frozen hellhole?" she grumbled to herself as she ploughed through the snow with great determination. Nevertheless, even if no one else inhabited this land, she would not give up. She would endure whatever this accursed land threw at her.
Countless hours later, and Raven was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had spoken too soon. The stinging winds were back, relentlessly whipping her as she struggled ever onward. But with gritted teeth, she refused to back down and pushed forward, trying to find some momentary shelter. Having experienced first-hand just how violent a snow storm could be, Raven had no desire to be caught out in the open if one were to strike. But as she took another step in the knee deep snow, her left leg gave out beneath her, and she collapsed with a startled yelp.
At first, she just lay in the snow, bewildered by what had just happened. It was only when the wind increased in strength that Raven began forcing herself back up again. 'Come on, you can't stay out here! You'll freeze to death,' it was a painstaking task, but she finally had her feet solidly planted on the ground again. However, her left leg still felt weak for some reason, and she had trouble supporting herself on it. She should have stopped and had a look at it, try to heal whatever was wrong with it, but this was neither the time nor place to stop. 'Must keep going, must find shelter,'
Refusing to stop, Raven resumed walking, if it could even be called that. More like half dragging her left leg along. Her already slow pace became even slower, and the weather was growing worse by the minute. Without doubt, there would be a terrible snowstorm upon her any moment now. That alarming thought was enough to give newfound energy to Raven's tired limbs and she forced herself to move faster. Even as a light throbbing pain began pulsating from her leg, she pushed on.
The wind was picking up speed, and her already limited view range was ever shrinking as more snow was dragged into the air. For a dreadful moment, Raven feared she would get caught in the open when the worst of the storm came. But as it turned out, luck was on her side. For as she staggered onward, she came across a most welcoming sight. A large rock, jutting out of the ground at a slight angle and shaped like the teeth of some gigantic beast. A pile of snow had built up behind it and on either side, creating a small hole beneath it that was sheltered from the rampaging winds.
Gathering all her strength, Raven all but ran towards the shelter, stumbling in the fierce storm like a drunkard. But it was worth it, for at last did she reach it and finally escaped the terrible storm. She then proceeded to collapse on the ground in relief.
"Thank Azar for this," she mumbled gratefully, right before she pushed herself up on all fours, where she froze up in horror. Too occupied with getting into shelter, Raven had not seen just what awaited her once she got there. A human skeleton, dressed in ancient battle armor, was sitting propped up against the rock. Another poor soul, no doubt lost in this barren land and ended up dead where no one would ever find him. But even when her brain had registered that yes, he was dead, Raven still remained frozen in terror. It was not the dead warrior that had her terrified, but rather what she felt radiating from him.
A foul and twisted energy, similar to the one flowing like the wind through this accursed land, was emanating from this dead relic of ancient times. But this was far worse to Raven. This power felt more tangible, more concentrated. To her senses, it almost felt like she could reach out and touch this abhorrent power, and that sent chills of revulsion down her spine. 'What kind of man was he in life, to wield such foul sorcery?' she asked herself in disgust. Raven was very tempted to just climb out of her shelter and get as far away from the skeleton as possible.
However, pragmatism stopped her before she could even move. The storm was still raging on all around her, and it was showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. So unless she wanted to freeze to death out in the open, she had no choice but to stay.
"Why does this keep happening to me?" Raven asked herself in dismay as she wrapped her fur cloak tighter around herself and settled in to wait the storm out, taking great care to have her back to the skeleton and to be as far away as possible. She tried to do her best at ignoring it, but she could still feel its revolting sorcery caressing her back. It was going to be a long wait.
Far away from where Raven was, right where she started her journey in fact, Slade's corpse still laid impaled upon the rock that claimed his life. Blood and entrails had long since frozen solid, and wild animals had been biting and nibbling at his limbs. In fact, a single deformed wolf was currently in the midst of tearing at the corpse armor to get at the flesh beneath. The only part of him that remained unspoiled was his head, and the ominous mask that even in death seemed to glare hatefully at the word.
Not that the wolf cared about such things, all it cared about was filling its stomach with much desired food to survive for the day. And it needed to hurry, its animal senses were telling it that a storm was approaching from the south, and it would not bode well if it caught the wolf out in the open. It was almost through anyway, just a few more bites and tugs and it would have its meal. But then, it stopped, whole body tensing up in alarm. Its animal instincts were telling it that danger was close at hand, and getting closer still.
There! Something was coming towards it! Walking on two legs, it had the body shape of a human. But the wolf knew on some instinctual level that the one before it was far more dangerous than a mere man. Not willing to relinquish its meal, the wolf bared its teeth as it let out a warning growl. If the man heard or saw it, he gave no acknowledgment of it, and just kept on waling closer at a nonchalant pace. Claws dug into the snow as the wolf crouched in preparation for a leap, yet still the man seemed content to ignore the bloodthirsty beast before him.
The wolf let out a bark as a warning, powerful muscles bulging and tensing beneath its thick fur. And yet still, the man kept on walking without the barest hint of worry in his steps. The wolf could no longer contain itself, and so leaped at the intruder with the intent to rip his throat out. A single clean swing from the man, and the wolf's head and body flew past him on opposite sides before slamming into the snow. He did not spare so much as a glance at his latest kill as he kept walking on nonchalantly.
It was only when he stood before Slade's corpse that he stopped. For many minutes, he just stood and stared at the frozen lump of flesh that used to be a powerful man. Slowly, the wind began to pick up strength around the man, but he remained unmoved. Even as stinging chills bit into exposed skin, he gave no indication to even feeling it. Then, his eyes finally left the corpse, following a path on the ground long covered up by snow. He was on the right track now, he knew it with absolute certainty. The one he was searching for was at the end of this trail that only he could see.
He could see his goal right before his very eyes, even though they were miles apart and despite having never met before. He did not question how he knew, he never did question the way things were. It was simply the will of Chaos, and there was nothing else but to play your part in it. And he knew the part he played in all of this, he knew it with absolute certainty. He also knew her part, though he doubted she knew it herself. In the end, it did not matter, it would still play out the way Chaos desired it. Such was simply the way the world worked, to fight it would be futile.
By now, the storm was upon him, striking his body with furiously howling winds that would have brought a lesser man low. But he was more than a man now, and this storm did nothing to affect him, or even slow him down. As if to prove how powerless the forces of nature were against him, he resumed walking. He did not struggle, he did not stumble, and he did not tire, he just kept on walking at a calm and sedated pace, following the path only he could see to find a person only he could know about.
Okay, something was definitively wrong here. The storm had passed hours ago, and she had been able to walk quite a good distance. But now, the pain in her left leg was too much for her to ignore. 'What the hell is wrong? Shouldn't it have passed?' she asked herself as she hobbled into a forest ahead of her. The second she was deep enough to be provided with protection from any possible winds, she collapsed into the snow. Something was most definitively wrong. Not only did her leg hurt like hell, but she was sweating up a river, and she felt dizzy.
Forcing herself up into a sitting position, she leaned her back against a tree and unwrapped her bandage. What she saw once her leg was out in the open almost made her cry out in dismay. The wound had turned pitch black, and there was pus leaking out of it. Those black veins were back as well, spreading out across her leg. 'How did it get this badly infected? I've healed it twice already!' she thought in despair. Well, there was no point contemplating that. What mattered here was healing it before it got worse. So she set about it with all her willpower.
She poured all of her strength into purifying this foul infection, yet it was not enough. She could see the black veins recede again under her continuous assault. But as if powered by a force greater than her own, they would grow out again. Raven fought it with all she was worth, she fought it until her limbs trembled and her vision became blurry, but it would not recede further. The infection was too strong for her to handle. In the end, she was forced to give up.
"Why won't it heal?" she asked herself as she leaned against the tree, her strength all but gone.
"Perhaps because it's not meant to be healed," a familiar voice, one that had haunted her for years, spoke from the darkness. Her eyes instantly flew wide open in alarm as the one man she would have never suspected of seeing again walked into the open.
"Slade," Raven whispered in disbelief, eyes wide with fright. How was this possible? How could he be here?
"Surprised to see me?" Slade inquired in amusement, had clasped behind his back as he just stood there and stared at Raven.
"This is impossible. You're dead, I saw your impaled corpse with my own eyes," Raven stated with disbelief written all over her face. Her statement earned her a chilling laugh from the one-eyed villain.
"Really, Raven? After our little adventures with your father, I thought it would be obvious that I'm beyond Death's stroke," he mocked her as he began to slowly approach her, like a confident predator toying with its prey. Raven tried to stand back up, but was too exhausted and so settled for gathering energy in her hands, ready to unleash it at a moment's notice.
"No, this is not possible. You're not real, you can't be," she vehemently denied, even as he drew ever closer. "This is just a trick, an illusion. I'm just hallucinating it all," her attempts at reasoning away Slade's existence was met with a mocking chuckle from the madman.
"Raven, Raven, Raven," Slade began while shaking his head in disappointment, like a teacher dealing with a dense student. "You of all people should know that it doesn't matter in the least how I'm here," by now, he was right in front of her, menacingly towering over her petite frame.
"Maybe I'm not really here, maybe I'm just a hallucination caused by your fever. It may be that you're the only one who can see or hear me," here, he paused to lean forward until their faces were mere inches away from each other. "But I assure you, that makes me no less real," even though Raven tried to tell herself that Slade was dead, that he was not truly there, she still found herself pressing her back against the tree to get as far away from his face as possible.
"But I must say, you surprised me, Raven," Slade continued as he straightened up again, looking down on her quivering form with his lone eye. "I had fully expected you to die a long time ago in this land. Figured your sheltered and comfortable life back at Titans Tower had made you soft," even when depleted of strength, even when frozen in fear of the man before her, Raven still found the strength and courage to speak.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not that easy to kill," she snarled at him, hiding her fear behind a face of bravado. In turn, Slade looked at her with mirth shining in his eye.
"All too true, I guess. But it's only a matter of time, I guess. Sooner or later, you will succumb, one way or the other," he mocked her. That actually worked wonders at driving her fear away, because now her anger was growing.
"We'll see about that," she countered fiercely, glaring heatedly at Slade, who for his part merely raised an amused eyebrow at her.
"Oh? You think you have what it takes to survive here?" he asked dubiously, clearly not believing that she had what it took to make it back home alive. If she had been able to stand, Raven would have marched right up to Slade at that point to emphasize her commitment.
"You can count on it. No matter what it takes, I will make it back alive, I will survive. This frozen hellhole will not be my grave, that I swear," she stated with absolute conviction in her voice. After all, she had sworn that she would be reunited with her friends, and she would be damned if she broke that promise. But once again, Slade did not look convinced in the slightest.
"No matter what it takes," he repeated thoughtfully while rubbing his shin in apparent contemplation. "Tell me, do you truly mean that, or are you just telling yourself that to sound strong?" that inquiry was met with an utterly confused look from Raven.
"What are you talking about?" she asked suspiciously as she narrowed her eyes at Slade, who began to slowly walk around her in a predatory manner.
"Are you truly willing to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means doing morally questionable acts? Are you prepared to put aside your heroic standards in your goal to survive?" he asked as he kept circling her like a vulture, with Raven's suspicious eyes following him as much as possible. "Are you willing to scavenge? Are you willing to deceive? Are you willing to steal? Are you willing to fight?" each question asked drove a knife of insecurity into Raven's soul. But it was the final question, whispered into her ear like the words of a lover, that proved to be too much.
"Are you willing to kill?"
Instantly, Raven pushed herself away from Slade, stumbling and falling on her shaky legs before she reached another tree to use as support.
"Never! I'll never be a killer!" she shouted furiously as dragged herself back up on her feet, even though her legs felt like they would give up any second. Slade however was completely unmoved by her violent reaction.
"Then your life is forfeit. This is not a land that tolerates weakness, this is a land where only the strongest and most ruthless survive. And if you want to survive here, you need to become just as ruthless," he revealed calmly, this time keeping the distance between them as he observed her reaction. It was one of anger and suspicion.
"Why should I trust your words? Why would you even offer advice like that to me? If you had still been alive, you would have tried to kill me yourself," Raven spoke as she clutched the tree next to her for support, finding it ever harder to stay upright. That damn infection in her leg was pulsating with pain.
"But I'm not really alive anymore, aren't I?" Slade asked rhetorically with an amused tone of voice. "But honestly, it would be a shame to see you fall so soon, especially considering how far you've already made it,"
"So what? This is all some sick entertainment for you? To see how far I can get?" Raven asked in disgust, drawing out another dark chuckle from the one-eyed madman.
"In a way, I suppose. I want to see you twist and turn in the wind. I want to see as your hope gets extinguished in the bitter cold. I want to see your very soul get slowly grinded to pieces by the land. I want to see a hero fall," he revealed smugly.
"Then you will wait and watch in vain, because it will never happen. I won't die here," Raven countered fiercely, but Slade just laughed at her as he advanced on her yet again.
"Die? Dear child, why should I want to watch you die?" he asked as he came to stop right in front of her again, a sadistic gleam in his lone eye. "After all, there are fates far worse than death waiting for you down the line. Far, far worse fates that you will endure, and I'll be there to watch. I'll be there every step of the way," once again, he paused to lean uncomfortably close towards Raven's face, whispering his last words. "I'll be there when you finally break,"
And with those words, Raven had had enough, and so she unleashed a blast of dark energy at him while screaming in rage. It drained the last of her strength, and demolished multiple trees, but at least Slade had at last vanished, leaving no trace of him ever being present behind.
"It will never happen, Slade. Do you hear me? Never," Raven whispered tiredly as she slid down the tree and landed on the ground as her eyes started drifting close. But just before blissful darkness engulfed her, she heard Slade's parting words drifting down the wind like a restless spirit.
"We shall see, dear child. We shall see,"
Many hours later, or maybe it was many days later, Raven was on the move again. But it was a slow move, for the pain in her leg would not go away and a terrible fever had struck her. Stumbling forward on shaky legs, she tried to push forward through the dense forest she was in. but alas, it was growing increasingly harder as her vision blurred and sweat drenched her body. Suddenly, she had to stop as she was struck with a fit of coughing that nearly had her collapsing to the ground.
"Damn it all," she swore in frustration as she forced her legs to continue onward. Though she could not help but curse the unfairness of it all. Surviving cold weather? No problem! Fighting off bloodthirsty beasts on an empty stomach? Bring it on! Stopping a simple infection from spreading and killing her? Sorry, no can do.
When she nearly tripped on some root hiding in the snow, Raven momentarily stopped to use her healing powers on her left leg. It dulled the pain somewhat, but that was all it did. She still felt she would keel over at any second. And as she pushed on, she was struck by another violent coughing fit, one that left her with the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Still, with gritted teeth, she refused to give in. she had come too far to just give up and die. But as she stumbled onward, Raven had to grudgingly admit that her chances of survival looked bleak.
"No! Can't think like that! Mustn't give up! Must push on! Must survive!" she told herself. So she continued onward, even though she had no clue where exactly she was going. But then, she saw something up ahead, standing in an open clearing. Hope soared as she clumsily stumbled into the open to see just what it was. A rock, rising up from the ground like a statue, stood at the center of the clearing. But it was not the rock that had Raven's attention here. No, it was the strange symbol of a circle with eight points that was etched on the rock's surface, as well as the multitude of objects lying in front of it.
If Raven had to guess, she suspected that this was some manner of holy ground for the locals, one where gifts were offered to whatever gods they believed in. Personally, Raven could not possibly care less what they were worshiping, all that mattered to her at that point was that someone came here to worship. That meant thee was people living in this land. Hope surged in her soul at the prospect. 'I can still survive this hellhole,' she thought in elation.
That hope however was put on hold when her empathic powers were overwhelmed by a mindless rage she had hoped to never feel again. 'Impossible! It can't be them! I killed all those beasts!' she thought in alarm as she spun around to face whatever was coming for her this time. It was not the bloodthirsty wolves that stood before her, it was something far worse. What it was, Raven had absolutely no idea. It looked like an animal, it moved like an animal, it thought like an animal, but it walked on two legs like a man and wielded an axe like a man.
A monster, an abomination, an unholy union between man and beast. That was what Raven saw it as. It obviously possessed the intelligence to wield a weapon, but Raven could not sense any real thoughts from it, nor any feelings save an unquenchable rage that burned like a fire in its soul. It glared at her with its beady black eyes, muscles tensing for a fight. Knowing that talking was pointless with this monster, Raven gathered her power and made ready to stand her ground. She almost fell over with her vision started spinning.
"Damn it, not now;" she pleaded as her fever grew even worse. Sensing a weakness, the creature roared and charged right at her, axe raised for a killing blow. Even when it felt like her head had become filled with lead, she still managed to conjure a barrier that the axe blow bounced off of. But the creature would not stop and rammed headfirst into the barrier, shattering it and sending the both of them tumbling to the snow. Raven tried to stand back up, but everything in her vision kept swaying like a boat caught in a storm. The creature had no such trouble, and was back up on its feet in an instant and attacking again.
On reflex, Raven created a dome of black energy around her, putting all her strength into keeping it up. But the creature would not be denied its kill, and began to relentlessly hammer her dome with its axe, braying something foul and guttural all the while. Raven could feel the strain on her mind from the onslaught. Already were her arms trembling from the exertion, and each blow to the dome sent a spike of pain slamming into her skull. Slowly, cracks began to appear in the dome, and the creature increased its efforts.
Knowing that her defense was about to crumble any second now, Raven reached out with her powers and grasped the closest object she could find, then dropped the barrier. Having not expected this, the creature momentarily stumbled forward in surprise, and then received a wooden shield encased in dark energy straight to the face.
"I'm not done yet, ugly!" Raven roared in fury as she gathered her powers into a massive fist of dark energy and slammed it straight into the creature, sending it flying straight into the rock with the sound of bones breaking from the impact. A second hand of dark energy materialized and kept it pinned to the stone as Raven charged up a final attack. A stab of guilt came to her when she looked at the helpless creature held in her grasp, but she reluctantly pushed it aside. 'Just like the wolves, this thing is barely sentient. Like last time, it's either it or me,' she tried to tell herself. It did not erase all of the guilt, but enough for her to get the job done.
So with that, she unleashed her attack, and a blast of dark energy pulverized the creature's skull, splattering blood and brain matter all over the front of the rock. With the fight finally over, Raven let her energy dissipate, and she instantly collapsed to her knees. She had overexerted herself, and now she was paying the price. Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision, and her body refused to obey her anymore. Then, she fell face first into the snow, and did not rise again as blissful unconsciousness grabbed her. All became silent in the clearing again.
But then, something strange happened. The blood from the slain creature, it began to drain out of the body and slithered up the rock's surface like a crimson serpent. Slowly, it flowed into the eight-pointed symbol carved on the rock, until it had filled every crevice of it. Then, it began to glow an ominous red, pulsating foul sorcery like a rotten heart.
"The sacrifice is considered sufficient," an insidious voice whispered in the wind as tendrils of dark smoke reached out towards the unconscious Raven. They gently caressed her cold and battered form, embracing her like a long-lost lover. They carefully seeped into her body, vanishing into her mouth, nose and ears. Then, once the deed was done, the glow vanished from the rock, and the blood turned to ash and flowed down to the snow. And all the while, Raven blissfully slumbered on.
When Raven returned to the realm of the living, she felt good. No, more than that, she felt great. With no small amount of confusion, she stood back up on strong and rested les, with no pain threating to bring her down.
"What the…" she spoke out loud as she looked at her unblemished body. It felt just as strong as when she started this trek. There was no fever, no headache, no sweating and no trembling limbs. She proceeded to remove the bandage on her left leg, to be greeted by a strange sight. The infection was still there, exemplified by the black tendrils running beneath her skin. But the wound itself had closed up, with no sign of pus or rotting skin. Gently poking her exposed flesh confirmed that it was fully healed.
"What happened?" she asked herself in confusion. How did she get this way? It most definitively had not been her work. But nevertheless, mysterious as it may be, she was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So she grabbed her things and headed off again, hoping to find some other trace of civilization.