Titans: Elemental

Chapter 75: Spellbound, Part 1

We see the moon hanging amid wispy clouds in a night sky whose lower altitudes are tinged with green. A large, half-ruined castle sits on an island in the middle of a lake. Inside, as flames lick across the floor in one hall, a distant figure with long white hair and glowing hands faces off against some creature whose clawed foot is in view. We see its glowing red eyes and hear the sound of a growl.

The figures' wide eyes are light blue, set above a wide black scarf that covers the face from the nose down, and narrowed in steely determination. The creature is a dragon, its opponent a young man in a suit of armor emblazoned with a black M, and the scarf's long ends hang down behind.

This is Malchior.

The beast opens its slavering jaws wide for a roar and prepares to belch fire; the warrior stands pat as the flames shoot out and conjures a shield to block them. This is pushed slowly forward, plowing the inferno aside, and Malchior advances across the stones. More fire blasts out, smashing through the shield, and the smoke clears to show the steel-clad feet intact. He hurls a ball of energy that detonates against the dragon's chest, sending sparks all over the body and seeming to freeze it in place. However, it is still able to breathe fire, and it sends out a new burst. Leaping backward, Malchior retaliates with a broad beam that hits home hard enough to throw up dense gray smoke.

He lands on a high ledge only to get knocked down by a sweep of that long tail. After a moment to collect himself, he stands and finds himself facing off against the monster again. Those blood-red eyes narrowed to slits as a soft screech issued from the reptilian throat, and Malchior readies a new spell.

When he speaks, it is with a British accent.

Malchior, "Necronom Hezberek Mortix!"

Glowing fissures open in the stones at his feet and lace toward the dragon; the entire floor caves in, dropping the beast out of sight amid a great cloud of dust.

The entire castle has crumbled, leaving Malchior standing alone on a ledge.

Malchior, "and so it came to pass that I, Malchior of Nol, did lay siege to the dread dragon Rorek."

He walks away. He does not get far, however, before a pillar of flame boils up from the smoking depths, Rorek is raring to go around again. One mighty leap carries it up to the ledge; it leans threateningly down toward Malchior and snakes the tail in for another sucker punch. He notices it too late and is wrapped up for a little face-to-face.

Malchior, "but it did seem the power of Rorek was greater than my magics could defeat."

Rorek warms up its throat.

Malchior, "and as the fell beast struck…."

It breathes fire, after which the action stops with a freeze-frame and the alarm of Titans Tower goes off.

The entire scene flashes red, matching the warning lights that accompany the signal, inside Raven's room.

She is deeply immersed in a book, everything we have just seen was recounted in its pages, and she does not look up.

Beast Boy yells from outside, through the door, "hey, Raven, put the pedal to the metal! We gotta go!"

The volume has a white cover, different from all the others she has read up to this point. Through her window, the sky can be seen. She looks up with clear irritation at having been interrupted and slams the book shut.

….

We see a patch of bushes in a playground on the other side, and kids are having all manner of fun

A large jack-in-the-box slides into view, the crank turning on its own. The box is white with red trim, and a heart is painted on each face. Several curious kids stop their play and gather around the new toy; after a few seconds, the lid pops and a pink stuffed bunny comes out on a spring. Assorted happy murmurs from the youths are heard as the box is lifted on the end of a flexible metal tube. The bunny's chest is also marked with a red heart, but this soon disappears as it stretches out and becomes one of several metal tentacles that snake up from the ground to leave their open upper ends squirming. From behind the bushes, the thing they are attached to rises into view; a colossal human heart, sporting these heavy-duty arteries and veins.

This is Kardiak.

It floats toward the playground; the onlookers panic and scatter in all directions. One boy is unable to get away despite his best attempt at running, Kardiak is trying to vacuum him in. He falls flat, digging his fingernails into the dirt to anchor himself, but the giant organ steps up the suction and he is dragged screaming toward it. Just after he is pulled in, three wingdings whistle through the air; a flash of their impact, and the steel aorta has been cut to pieces. The boy tumbles out just in time to be caught by Starfire, who flies across the area so fast that she is visible only as a violet streak. A blast from Vic's sonic cannon and a blast from Bryan's laser gun strike Kardiak next, and the three wingdings return to Dick's hand so that he can catch them between his fingers.

We see the Titans and the rescued boy; the T-Car is parked behind them, having been rebuilt since Terra squashed it flat.

Dick, "Kardiak, you're under arrest."

Rose starts snickering at the joke as Blackfire rolls her eyes.

The overgrown heart beats a couple of times before vacuuming up the severed blood vessel lengths and reattaching them. That done, it rises into the air and lashes down at the Titans.

Dick, "Titans! Go!"

All leap forward, just in the nick of time to avoid being smashed, and Dick brings out his fighting staff.

Dick, "Starfire! Launch!"

Rose, "Blackfire! Launch!"

The sisters grasp Dick and Rose's ankles and swing them through 360 degrees, and let's fly as if going after a gold medal in the Olympic hammer throw. With that much momentum behind them, Rose and Dick have no trouble driving Kardiak flat in one blow of their staffs.

Their eyes suddenly go wide, and they are seized by the steel veins and flung upward to crash into Starfire and Blackfire. Jack, Bryan and Vic drop into view from high above.

Vic, "T-rex Takedown!"

Jack, "Brother Blitz!"

Vic lands neatly on Beast Boy's shoulders, the weight dropping both out of view for a moment, and quickly rises on the snout of this move's namesake. The cannon is primed to fire, but before he can get off a shot, Kardiak wraps up both Titans, slams them to the turf, and heaves them out of sight.

Jack and Bryan move in, shooting a series of elemental blasts and laser blasts at the giant heart. This staggers Kardiak for a moment, before they grab the brothers and toss them at least fifteen feet away.

Raven moves in, levitating several wrecked streetlights; these go flying toward the disembodied body part like giant buzzsaws, but it swats them away with ease. Conjuring up her "soul-self", she wings away in it to avoid a counterstrike, and Starfire takes her place in the offensive, only to take one across the jaw. Next, Vic is bashed to the grass, Dick is hit and loses his staff, Rose is tossed into a nearby sandbox, Blackfire is sent flying into the air, Jack it smacked into a slide, and Beast Boy, in human form, wedges himself in the end of the vena cava. Finally, Raven gets slapped down, crashing to the grass on her face, and the monstrosity's shadow falls across her. She takes to the air an instant before a blood vessel whips down at her.

Raven, "this has gone on long enough! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

The spell hits home, spreading across every square inch of Kardiak, and she tears the vessels off with a sweep of her hands. For a few moments, the black-washed fragments twitch in midair alongside the "body" to which they were attached; the lot finally explodes in a terrific flash, and a few sparking bits slide toward and into the sewer. Vic rubs his head as Beast Boy comes up.

BB, "dude! Way to take him apart!"

Jack, "nice work, babe!"

Dick moves closer to make sure his eyes are not deceiving him.

At the T-Car; the rear driver's-side door is open, and the body bounces slightly under the weight of someone who has just climbed in. That someone is Raven, as evidenced by the hand that reaches out to pull the door shut. She is inside, impatiently fastening her seat belt.

Raven, "can we go now?"

The others trade a slightly puzzled look and head for the car; a screech of rubber on asphalt, and they are on the way home.

Well after they have driven off, the sky above the playground darkens into nighttime, and we look down to the end of a large drainage pipe that protrudes from the ridge on which the park sits. Just inside it is the de-veined Kardiak, which glows and starts to beat again. The snapped arteries and veins break the surface of the collected drain water and writhe….

….

Back at the tower, standing quiet under the full moon

We see Raven back in her room. She sits on her bed, holding the white book she was so engrossed in before having to go to work, and she opens it to start reading again.

She sees Rorek, still holding Malchior wrapped up in its tail on the rocky ledge surrounded by flames.

Malchior, "but it did seem the power of Rorek was greater than my magics could defeat."

As before, the dragon warms up and lets go with a fiery belch.

Malchior, "and as the fell beast struck…."

A knocking interrupts the narrative.

The knocks continue from outside, revealing someone at the door; she looks up, really annoyed, and moves to open it a bit. Dick is in the hall.

Dick, "hey. When we got home, you kind of ran to your room and locked the door. Anything you want to talk about?"

Raven, "no."

A drop of sweat appears on the back of his head as she shuts the door. Inside again; she sits back down on the bed and dives into the pages once more.

Malchior, "... greater than my magic could defeat. Warm up, breathe fire. And as the fell beast struck, I…."

More knocking.

Raven, now supremely fed up with all these intrusions,heads to the door.

Starfire is here, her long hair teased up into a style that could rival Marge Simpson's for sheer defiance of the law of gravity.

Blackfire is next to her, her hair tied into twin ponytails.

Raven opens up a crack to peek out and see the beaming Tamaraneans faces.

They have apparently bought out the local shops' supply of barrettes and hair spray.

Starfire, "we have journeyed to the mall of shopping and discovered the joy of Earthly hair ornaments. Do you wish to-?"

Raven, "no."

Slam; one of the clips pops out of Starfire's hair and clatters on the floor.

Blackfire, "okay, um…. Sorry…."

Inside, Raven sits on the bed, sighs wearily, and gets back to her reading.

Malchior, "and as the fell beast struck….", it warms up, "... I summoned the forces of my enchanted book."

He conjures it up between his raised hands; it is an exact duplicate of the one Raven has been trying to finish. The fire lances toward it and is met by a beam that shoots forth from the cover.

Malchior, "Aldruon Enlenthra Nalthos Sola Narisnor!"

The white power starts to overcome Rorek's incinerating breath.

Malchior, "and with a curse more ancient than foul Rorek himself, I…."

Knocking on the end of this.

Vic, "yo, Raven!"

Raven is left wishing she could hide inside the pages and stay there until everybody will just leave her alone. The pounding at her door continues.

BB, "dude, open up!"

Rose, "come on!"

Raven's hair stands on end with the sound of a hair dryer going off in the background as she lowers the book; judging from her utterly livid death stare, she is ready to eat them alive and spit out bones and circuit boards.

She stomps toward the door and opens it to see the girl and the two boys outside it. As soon as they get a look at the frightful countenance, they back up with a yell; a moment later, though, they have straightened up and are grinning broadly, hands behind their backs.

Raven calmly incensed over being interrupted again, "what?"

BB, "we're here tonight with an exclusive offer."

Vic, "a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get in on America's fastest-growing sports sensation…."

Rose, "the hot new game they just made up and asked me to help advertise for ten bucks…."

B thumps a hand against Vic's chest.

They all immediately move back together, Vic holding up a large wad of smelly laundry.

Rose, Beast Boy and Vic, "... STANK BALL!"

Vic gets a good whiff, "whoo!"

He passes out, whereupon Beast Boy holds up a cloak in Raven's style, but it is marked with black and white stripes.

BB, "want to be a referee?"

Vic is back on his feet and holding that nasty ball as if it were the Hope Diamond. Raven's glares at the jokers, wondering which one she should disembowel first.

Raven, "go…. Away…."

She backs into the room; the door starts to close, but Beast Boy wedges himself in to keep it open and Vic pops up underneath him.

BB, "but, pleeeease?"

Vic, "everybody loves a good game of stankball."

Rose, "and they need a referee to play the lightning round."

Raven, "no!"

A black bolt shoots from the gem on her forehead, driving the door shut and pushing them out. In the hall, they get up and Beast Boy addresses it.

BB, "oh, Raven, come on! Why can't you just have fun like normal people?"

Inside the room, something now weighs very heavy on her mind as she clutches the treasured book to her chest.

BB, "why are you always locked in your dark room, reading your nasty old books? Why do you have to be so creepy?"

She grips it even tighter.

Rose slaps Beast Boy upside the head.

Vic, "forget it, B. Leave her alone."

Raven softly says to herself, "I'm not creepy. I'm just different…."

She sits on the bed; the window behind her showing the full moon.

Raven, "and I wish there were someone around here who understood that. Someone I could talk to. Someone more like me…."

Raven then began to look at a picture on her bedside table.

It was a picture of her and Jack during Halloween.

Jack was dressed as a wizard in a gray cloak and hat, while Raven was blushing while dressed in a gold bikini.

It had taken Jack awhile to convince her to wear said outfit.

Raven gave a small smile, but it faded.

She didn't know if Jack would understand her plight either.

Raven, "is there anyone like me?"

"There is…."

The violet eyes pop at these two words, and she stares down at the tome in her hands. Standing up, she tosses it away in surprise with a small gasp; it lands a short distance away on the floor.

Malchior's voice comes from it.

Book, "ow."

She gasps.

Raven, "uh, did you just…?"

Book, "-speak?"

Raven, "uh-huh."

Book, "I did. And then you dropped me on my spine."

Raven, "oh. Sorry. Books aren't supposed to talk."

Book, "true, fair maiden, but I am no book."

It opens, flipping quickly through the pages to stop on one whose bottom half has been torn out. Malchior's eyes are in the upper section, seen in black and white.

Malchior, "I am a man. Malchior of Nol, at your service."

Raven, "the wizard who faced the dread dragon Rorek?"

Malchior, "the wizard who defeated Rorek, and who was trapped within these pages by the dragon's final curse."

Raven, "trapped? But that battle was almost-"

Malchior, "- one thousand years ago. And I've been waiting for someone to find me ever since. Raven…."

The pages flip to a picture of the young Titan, hands glowing against a shimmering background of moon, stars, and the birds for which she was named.

Malchior, "... I've been waiting for you."

Raven's face flushes a bit at Malchior's last pronouncement. Extending a black-shining hand toward the book, she is met with a blinding flash that shoots toward the ceiling.

Raven, "the curse is strong. I'm sorry. I don't think my power can break it."

Malchior, "I know. But perhaps we could just talk?"

Raven, "er, well…. I have a boyfriend, just so you know."

Malchior, "oh, I don't doubt it; a beautiful maiden such as you."

Raven blushes as she and the book begin talking….

….

Malchior, "Stank Ball? You're joking."

Raven, "they wanted me to referee."

Malchior, "smashing. You must be the luckiest girl in the world."

Raven glanced at the picture of her and Jak as she has propped the book open on a stand at eye level in her room.

Malchior, "and this Beast Boy sounds like an absolute genius."

Raven, "hehe, that's funny. You're funny."

Malchior, "and you're the best thing that's happened to me in a thousand years."

Raven, "then…. You don't think I'm…. Creepy?"

Malchior, "certainly not. You are dark, and darkness is often misunderstood. But I feel like I understand you."

Raven smiles warmly, "I feel that way, too."

She yawns.

Malchior, "it's late. You should sleep."

Raven, "do you promise you'll still be here when I wake up?"

The preceding page forms into a gray-paper rose.

Malchior, "I promise."

She crosses to the stand and closes the book, the origami flower still protruding from its upper edge.

That's when a knock comes to her door.

Raven opens the door to see Jack standing there.

Jack, "hey. I thought you might not be feeling well, so I thought I'd give you this before bed."

Jack handed her a glass of hot chocolate.

Raven, "thank you."

Jack, "you're welcome. Night, sweety."

Jack kissed her cheek and left.

Raven blushed as she took a sip of her drink before she set it down and settled down to sleep, a blissful expression settled on her face, the sort of look we hardly ever see her wear up to this point.

The paper rose seems to shake.

….

It is now the next morning.

Crowing is heard.

The source is revealed to be Beast Boy, making as much racket as he can while in this form.

After a couple of crows, he struts away. We soon see him at a locked door; he reaches into view, back in human form, and knocks on it.

BB, "hey, Raven…. Um, it's, like, almost noon and you haven't come out of your room. Jack said he was worried. So, just in case you're mad, I'm gonna go ahead and say, 'sorry I called you creepy last night.'"

Dead silence within and without.

BB, "Raven?"

He puts an ear to the door to listen in.

….

Malchior, "perhaps if we're quiet, he'll just go away."

Soft laughter from Raven, which causes Beast Boy to straighten up in shock.

BB, "um, Raven, is everything-?"

The door opens a bit; she glares out.

BB, "hi. Um, you were…. Laughing, and I thought I heard…. Is there someone in there? Is Jack with you?"

Raven, "just me, and a really good book."

BB, "oh. Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Raven, "better than okay. Way better."

She closes the door in his face.

Raven, "sorry, Malchior. He won't bother us again."

BB, "Malchior? Who's Malchior? Maybe I should tell Jack?"

….

She sits cross-legged on the floor, and has set up a ring of chalices and lighted candles. She extends one hand and lets some flower petals fall into a vessel filled with powder. Sparks dance in the cup, giving way to a small blast that leaves wisps of dust floating in the air. Now she pours in glowing blue liquid from a flask, at which point she adds a pinch of some other ingredient. This causes a brilliant spot of light to flare up in the chalice briefly.

Raven picks up a second flask, sets it aside after eyeing it critically for a moment, and picks up a beaker of white powder. It sparkles faintly as she stirs it.

Raven pours it into the chalice, "I've never even heard of this spell", smoke boils up, "where did you learn it?"

Malchior, "it's in the Galleon Scrolls."

Raven, "you've read the Galleon Scrolls?"

Malchior, "and the Mornal Archives, and the Stones of Syr. Heh. I've been trapped in a book. Not much to do but read."

Raven pours in another potion, "I think it's almost ready."

Malchior, "good. There's just one more ingredient."

One page flips backward and lashes out like a serpent. There is a brief flash of lightning; when it clears, a few snipped bits of her hair drop into the mixture and set it sparkling again. Raven touches the strands hanging over her right cheek with a bit of alarm.

Malchior, "a lock of hair from a beautiful girl."

Raven, "beautiful?"

Malchior, "I truly appreciate all that you are doing for me, Raven."

Raven, "I might not know how to break the curse, but at least I can get you out of that book."

She pours the contents of the cup into her hand and blows them toward the stand. Pages go flying everywhere, suddenly freed of the book's binding, and circle around her in a thick swarm. As she looks around, completely at a loss for words, a second circulation pattern establishes itself within the main one. The pages here fly in a very tight circle and reach a height of several feet. A pair of feet assembles itself from the whirling papers, and the rest of a human figure is pieced together. The whirlwind dies out after its head and closed eyes are complete; this one feature is all that we can see. As Raven stares dumbstruck, the last couple of pages fit themselves in and the figure opens its eyes, they are an exact match for the ones in the book. Raven's own eyes go even wider; the new figure standing in a circle of light with the book. After a millennium, Malchior has found some kind of freedom.

Malchior, "thank you."

Raven, "you're welcome."

He steps out of the circle, which fades away as he walks over to her. Both raise a hand to touch, but Malchior's falls apart in a pile of papers before their fingers can meet. She gasps softly; he just glances down at the remains of that wrist.

Malchior, "silly me. Of course. I remain bound to the book."

He steps to it; the hand reforms.

Raven, "because the curse is still in effect."

Malchior, "indeed. If I am ever to be truly free, well, it would require magics of much greater power."

Raven, "I could ask Jack for help-"

Malchior, "his kind of magic won't have any effect."

Raven, "then teach me the spells. I want to help you. I want to learn."

Malchior puts his arm around Raven's shoulders, "to break this curse, I must teach you more than just a few simple spells. I must teach you everything I know."

White light pours from that hand; when it clears, we see a close-up of her, now with tall stacks of books in the background. She looks up in alarm,

Hundreds of open books float around them.

Malchior, "the Book of Nord. The Endreal Verses. The Romanomicon. The Bursean Chronicle. More than six thousand pages of spells, charms, and incantations."

Raven, "that's a lotta reading."

….

Elsewhere in the massive instant library; the books have settled down. Raven, now clad in a lavender cloak and outfit, approaches one stack as Malchior stands at a short distance.

Malchior, "those are just the basics. Now, for more powerful magics, we turn to the works of O'Riordan the Strange."

A couple of volumes float into the air and open up.

Raven is reading to beat the band; behind her, a fresh stack slides up and Malchior pokes his head out. She laughs at the prank.

….

Raven has both hands partly raised as if meditating.

Malchior, "and let the energy flow through your entire body."

A ball of green light forms above them as he says this.

Malchior, "feel your thoughts giving it power and form…. Good, Raven! You've…."

It explodes, setting his head on fire; she gasps at her misstep.

Malchior, "... almost got it."

She beats out the flames as forcefully as she can, then turns away with an embarrassed little smile.

….

We see her studying several books that float at eye level under her control, but there is no black aura around them as one might expect. Two close and move off as Malchior walks up, and another takes their place.

Malchior, "you know, there is a better way."

At a gesture, green light pours from every set of pages and into her forehead gem, knowledge passing directly from the reference works into her brain.

….

We see her levitating another ball of light as Malchior looks on. It stops, crackles for a moment and bursts into a brilliant green version of her "soul-self", hovering in the starry sky as fireworks explode around it. Back to the pair; Malchior puts an arm around her neck and caresses her hair gently, letting that gesture convey his pride at how quickly she has been able to master all this complex spellwork.

Raven pulls away slightly, giving an embarrassed look.

She shouldn't be acting this way with him!

She had Jack!

She was worried about what Malchior was making her think….

….

Reviews:

BluSpeeder: I might do something like that. Good idea.

Canadude2029: indeed. I'm glad you liked the chapter.

DaV1nc136: I'm glad enjoyed these chapters so much. Happy New Year!

Bailey Radcliff: 8D

….