Titans X Chapter Nineteen: Wings of Darkness
The heroes were scattered about. The shield had taken the majority of the blow…but it couldn't hold up to all of it. Green Lantern and Dr. Fate were among the first to rise, with Raven floating up next to them, and the Titans X standing up as well, each slightly banged up but still OK.
At that time, Danny finally got a good look at what they were fighting. He was tall, around 6 foot seven, with shoulder length black hair, an oddly shaped scar over his left eye, demon claws, wolf like fangs, huge black angel wings, and majestic, yet horrific armor. His eyes…Danny shuddered in fear, as he tried to keep from looking at them. They were of the deepest black, almost like…
There was a saying, Danny had once heard: Battle Not with Monsters, lest you become a monster yourself, and look not into the void, least the void look into you.
That's what they were. The void. They scared Danny…worse then anything had before in his whole life. They had no emotion in them. Just…a void. No light reflected in them.
Afiag turned his head towards them, and took one step forward, as the ground cracked beneath them. He clenched his hands and unclenched them as the air crackled around him.
"Afiag!" Dr. Fate called out, floating above the ruble that was once a mountain, mystical energies surrounding him. "What do you want?"
Afiag tilted his head in Dr. Fate's direction before answering in a growlish voice. "Nothing you can give me, Mage. Stand aside or die. I care neither way."
"I can not. We will not allow you to roam free; you are a danger to all who surround you," though Fate's voice seemed calm and steady…if you listened closely, you could hear a slight quiver as he spoke to the God Killer. Something about Afiag frightened everyone, but that didn't STOP them. GL hovered next to Fate, as did Raven and Danny, while Jake, helping Heatblast up, stood along side Peter, Kim and June.
Afiag, if he looked over them all or not, it could not be seen, continued walking towards them.
GL was the first to lash out, sending out a wall shaped energy weapon, to hold Afiag back…said wall was quickly and utterly destroyed upon contact with the untouched Angel of Darkness. Kim shot forward, lashing her foot out, hitting Afiag square in the left side of his head…
And not doing a damn thing. In fact, she almost broke her leg against his face as she quickly dropped to the ground, rolling away before Afiag tried to do anything. Not like he even moved, in fact he continued walking as if she didn't do anything. Heatblast was up next, firing off several powerful streams of flame, with Jake joining in from above…
The flames soared upwards in a blazing inferno, before blasting outwards to all sides, making way for its lord and Master, Afiag. His HAIR wasn't even singed.
"Oh that is NOT good," Heatblast commented to himself.
"Ya think, G?" Jake asked him sarcastically.
Danny fired off an ghost ray, but it, much like the flames, did nothing. Dr. Fate, meanwhile, was muttering something, as GL flew at Afiag, this time having a sword created.
The sword broke apart on contact with Afiag. John's eyes widened, then brought up a shield in front of Afiag, making it as strong as he could…
Afiag actually stopped. Then he smashed the shield apart with one strike, sending John flying backwards twenty feet, his suit ripped open, blood gushing from a new wound in his chest…
"JOHN!" came out a cry, as Hawk Girl, Shiera SP flew to his aid, having been freshly teleported in. Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash were all right next to her. Fate, knowing that they'd need backup, had teleported them in.
Star Fire came in soon after them. For some reason, Afiag had stopped moving and was, presumably, watching Shiera cradle John's bleeding body. Or at least his head was in their general direction.
Star Fire caught a good look of Afiag…and all of the fighting spirit, along with all of the color in her face, was drained.
"Impossible…" she breathed in her native language (Which I translated) as she nearly fell over in fright.
"Star?" Flash started, "What's wrong? Do you KNOW this guy?"
Star Fire looked as if she was about to breakdown. Brave, unshakeable Starfire…and Shiera, who had gotten into a rage after Fate had taken John to heal him, upon sight of Afiag, nearly dropped her mace herself.
"Star Fire!" Flash yelled.
"…yes…" she started, as if in a trance. "He is the boogie man of my people."
"As he is mine." Shiera answered as well.
"The Dark Winged Angel who descended from the Heavens, not to save, but to destroy…Low would he wrought death upon the lands, and unstoppable force, bringing darkness to all, and destroying the light. For this is the Blight, the Arch Angel of Darkness, the Unopposed," Starfire and Shiera spoke as one, some how knowing the entire verse by memory alone.
"Where Cthul'tu and the other Great Old Ones were the gods of ancient Thanagar…he was the Devil. A blight upon the entire world. He came without warning, decimated my people, then left, leaving my world in shambles. But we rebuilt…" Shiera continued.
"On my planet, there are tales of how he came to challenge all of Tameran…and wiped out most of the population." Starfire spoke herself.
It would be Afiag who spoke next. "Ah, a Kryptonian. I haven't seen one of your kind in quite a long time…" he said, mentioning Superman.
"How did you know I was from Krypton?" Superman asked, suspicious.
"All of you Kryptonians have this…smell about you. You smell of the planet. Tell me, what are you doing on Earth?"
"Not that it matters, but Krypton was destroyed years ago. I'm the last survivor."
"Yes…all planets must come to an end, as do all others. Some…later then others. Now then, I will make the same bargain with you that I made with them. Stand aside or die. There are no other choices."
"No deal. We can't let you pass, creature. I don't know what you are…but we will stop you!" Super Man spoke up.
"That's right!" Wonder Woman answered as well, then flew at Afiag, punching him in the face…
This time he actually moved a bit.
Wonder Woman moved a lot more.
Namely when Afiag grabbed her by her arm, and slammed her against the shattered ground. Wonder Woman kicked upwards, landing a solid blow to his chest, as Shiera flew in, Mace on full power, as she slammed it into his face…
The energy fizzled out, and the mace itself actually made his head jerk back a bit…before he slammed Wonder Woman into Shiera, casting them both away. Then Afiag was hit roughly 909 times per second for one full minute…before, in a move faster then the eye, Afiag held the Flash by the throat. It was then, luckily for the Flash, that a certain Ghost Boy decided to make himself known, by turning intangible, grabbing the Flash along the way, and getting out with their life.
Afiag continued walking, Super Man waiting for him…then Afiag stopped, and slammed his fist downwards, disappearing in a green flash of light.
"What the?!" Danny cried out.
It was a portal. That was what Afiag had been heading to…but to what?
In the end, only Danny, Jake, Super Man, and June decided to venture through. Starfire was still way too weirded out, after all, she had been told STORIES as a child about how Afiag slaughtered millions of her people in one day…that sorta stuff, after meeting with the guy who you heard about as a child, kind of freaked you out. and the others had injuries that needed attention, thusly forcing Raven and Fate to stay behind. Namely the Flash. Near broken neck.
"AFIAG!" Super Man yelled out, flying after him, Danny and the others following closely behind…
When the flash of green subsided, they found themselves in none other then the Ghost Zone.
"I have warned you, Kryptonian. I will not let ANYTHING GET IN MY WAY!" Afiag roared, as the entire Ghost Zone shook with his fury…a fury that defied even Death Sheloth's, if it was possible.
Super Man slammed his fist into Afiag's face, knocking the Angel of Darkness backwards in the weightless space of the Ghost Zone, as Danny raked him with beams from all sides, Jake joining in on the fun by firing fire balls…which fizzled out due to it being cold in the Zone. June grabbed up a rune and fired off a powerful burst of Lightning, leaping form rock to rock…
Afiag roared as the energy of the Ghost Zone itself swirled around him, lashing out in all directions, before smashing Super Man out of the way with his wings.
Afiag, with one powerful flap of his wings, propelled himself forward, blowing June backwards…
Danny caught her just before she went too far, then, after making sure she was OK, flew forward, attacking Afiag from behind with every energy blast and fire trick he had…
Afiag shrugged it all off, then swung outwards, intending to kill Danny and June in one strike…
That was before Super Man flew in, at top speed, and slamming into his midsection, throwing Afiag off balance as the Man of Steel continued punching the Angel of Darkness…
Afiag smashed Super Man away from him via slamming both fists into Supes back, sending the man of steel falling…
Afiag continued the assault by slicing open Super Man's costume in the front, making the hero bleed, as he smashed his knee into Super Man's face, grabbing him by the shoulders, and ripping into them…
Jake slammed into Afiag as hard as he could, trying to keep him away from Super Man…
And succeeded.
And slammed him right through a wall in the Ghost Zone, into another dimension…
When Jake opened his eyes, he found himself somewhere familiar.
"Home…" he breathed out. …but why was Afiag at his dimension? Yall have NO idea how much I want to end it right here. But no. I'm going to end it later.
Super Man, June, and Danny showed up next, the latter two helping the first one. June's talisman had healed Supe's wounds to an extent…
Afiag's trail wasn't hard to follow. The roads were destroyed in his wake by his sheer presence.
That's when a different Jake showed up.
That stopped everyone.
"Uh…"
"No time to explain! Move!" June said, rushing forward.
"Hey, wait!" Alt. Jake cried out after JakeX and the others.
"No time! Dark unstoppable Angel out to kill everything! Gotta move faster!" Jake yelled back.
"Awww man…"
They found him alright…but something made them stop. Namely the fact that he had stopped…in front of two girls.
The Oracles.
They looked at him…not with fear, or any other such thing…but with sadness and remorse.
"I have but one question…will I ever see them again?" Afiag asked…almost pleadingly.
The twins, unusually, answered as one. "In our life time, Shadon Afiaga, The Arch Angel of Darkness…you will not. We are…so, so sorry…"
The dark clouds rolled over the city, as rain started the fall…
"…how long does these girls live?" Danny asked, fearing the answer.
"For as long as the Universe they live in survives." Jake answered, grimly.
The rain struck Afiag…and it seemed as if there were tears running down his face…
I "Eliria…" /I Afiag's voice came through, and in a flash, he was gone…the only thing left in his wake, was black feathers.
Notes: If you wish to see what Afiag looks like, here ya go; http:// www. /deviation /38525863/
Take out the spaces inbetween to get to the link. Note, it was NOT drawn by me; I'm Jakanine.