XIX
The World as we Know it, Part II
"NNNNRRRRRGH!" Robin struggled to get out of Cyborg's grip around his arm. "We have to help her!"
"We can't, Rob!" Cyborg warned. "Trigon'll just blast us the same way."
Robin's mind swam with panic, fear, anger—all the things that blinded him. Most of which he'd trained hard to hold back. At this moment, having witnessed the observatory plummeting into what section of the mountain had been carved away until it had exploded out on impact, all the people inside that had fallen with it…Robin's mind could barely comprehend what it meant. Denial refused Robin the answer of death.
"No!" Robin tried again to pull away. "I can't leave her!"
"Starfire's a tough girl. She's survived worse than that! Besides, rushing all the way out there's too risky, and it's only gonna get us all into more trouble!"
Finally, Robin stopped struggling. He panted from the adrenaline having been spent in his rage. With his mind calming down, he grabbed hold of one rational thought. His head turned to his side. Zerrich had his eyes closed, as if her were concentrating.
"Zerrich!" he shouted. "Transport in there and f—"
A sudden eruption in the water turned everyone's attention back towards Trigon. The giant seemed to be struggling to keep his footing, but it was difficult to understand why. Another splash of ocean flared up around Trigon's left leg, causing the demon to stumble slightly. Further away from the churning ocean, a giant tail burst out of the water and splashed back down.
"It's a whale!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Where'd it come from?"
"Probably trapped here like us," Speedy answered.
"It's Aqualad!" Bumblebee shouted. Sure enough, Robin could see the Titan bobbing in the water further away from where Trigon stood. The monster looked to his feet, understanding finally what had attacked him. His lips curled in an amused smile, one that faded slightly as he looked to his other leg. Trigon kicked out of the water with his right hoof, slamming it back down into the ocean. A mad frenzy of shark fins scattered away, only to turn back towards Trigon and submerge back under the water.
The sea creatures were making little progress, and Trigon turned his attention back to the whale at his left. It was at that moment that an arrow fired from Robin's side. Speedy's aim brought the projectile high, coming down towards Trigon's face.
"Flash shot, cover your eyes." Speedy warned.
Robin closed his eyes until he heard the boom, opening them again to see Trigon blinking the effects away.
"Not too smart when he's distracted," Cyborg said.
Trigon's eyes suddenly faced towards the Titans, their intensity as bright as they were just before he'd blasted the mountainside. Sure enough, a large beam lanced out at Titan's Tower. The team instinctively ducked, but the blast went far too high to do anything. It impacted with the red barrier some miles away, though it seemed to have no effect on it.
The whale made a third ramming strike, this time causing Trigon to take two rough steps to keep his balance. That was the last hope for the Whale as Trigon took a giant step towards the large beast underwater. His hoof crashed through the water, sinking deep into the creature's body. The tail thrashed in the ocean a single time before it stopped moving all together. The demon retracted its hoof violently from the ocean, reddened water flying stories into the air and landing all around. The ocean water in the immediate area—having already taken on a red shade from reflecting the magic dome—grew even darker in its hue.
Then, Trigon looked directly towards Aqualad.
"Shit, man, get out of there," Cyborg barely said.
"Zerrich!" Robin shouted.
Zerrich nodded quickly. "I'm going n—"
Zerrich never finished. The lights in Trigon's four eyes lit up again, and the beam lanced out towards the ocean below. The last thing anyone saw of Aqualad disappeared within the beam—it's width far too great to escape. His silhouette dissolved within the great light, and ocean water blasted up in an angry spray. Evaporating water was steaming everywhere. Giant gas pockets from where the beam cut under the ocean blasted towards the surface, the ocean churning and turning white in a clean line from Trigon's position.
"No…" Robin whispered.
"Aqualad," Speedy said. "I don't…I can't believe it…"
Again, Trigon looked towards Titan's Tower. This time, he wouldn't miss. The blast fired directly for the roof, but before it's brilliant light could overtake them, a blue barrier surrounded the Titans' position. A split second later, the barrier rattled with the immense sound of a freight train slamming into a titanium wall as Trigon's blast made impact. Everything shook with such violence that Robin was sure the Tower would collapse all on its own. The blue shielding in front of them shattered in no time, pieces of it flying like glass shards at a hundred miles an hour. The Titans instinctively guarded their bodies with their hands or ducked low to avoid the debris, but the magic shards dissolved into nothing before any of it could hit a soul.
Looking over his shoulder, Robin could see that Zerrich was now tumbling high over the Tower's roof as if Trigon's beam had hit him directly. Instinctively, Robin bolted over the back end of the Tower, diving after Zerrich as he fell to the ground. He had to make his timing count. Pulling his grappling gun out, the Boy Wonder fired it towards Zerrich. The cable wrapped around him twice, and Robin began to reel the line back in. Reaching Zerrich's body, he quickly undid the two wraps, reeled the cable fully into the firing mechanism and aimed for the right side T of the Tower.
The two were in freefall for what seemed like forever until the line grabbed hold of the building. Robin brought the line in taught, starting his swing down towards the ground—hopefully with enough room to spare. The swing came to its nadir, and the heel of Robin's boot scraped an inch off the ground, kicking dirt ahead of him as he continued his swing. On the way back around, Robin was able to safely land running on his feet with Zerrich at his side. The man from Azarath tumbled forward, wincing in pain and holding his right arm.
"I can't do that again," he said with harshly squinted eyes. "Blast took everything out of me."
"I think he's used up some power," Robin said. "The beam barely lasted this time."
"There's something positive," Zerrich grunted. "What next?"
And that was where the Titans sat. If all the team could do now was work to tire Trigon out, it meant they would have to force the monster to continually exert energy. Doing so would most likely destroy the city. They couldn't possibly wear Trigon down completely—even with the fight they were putting to him, he had still gained enough strength back to fire those eyebeams in the first place. Trigon would just hold off on his attacks again, going for the most basic of offense. And for a creature of his size, it would be enough. From Robin's point of view, the Titans were out of viable options.
-
-
Red light filtered through the mix of kicked up dirt in the air and rubble strewn about everywhere. Starfire groaned and struggled to open her eyes. Pain zapped her in so many ways she was afraid to move. Her body was hurting everywhere, but she was alive. Recent events ran back through her mind, that horrific moment when the entire observatory suddenly fell after Trigon fired off a brilliant light from his eyes just below them. Everything collapsed around her, and she hadn't been able to rip the restraints off before they hit the ground.
The young Titan let out a pitiful sound as she attempted to raise her left arm. It barely responded to her mental commands, and her blurred vision could see a mess of brown and red caked all over the limb. She tugged slightly at her right arm, a jolt of pain blasting her shoulder. The arm was most definitely pinned under her. She realized rather quickly that she was still in the command chair with everything turned on its side. The busted console in front of her flickered on and off, showing some signs of life. She looked above her, suddenly aware of the golden glow nearby. The cannon was still intact, at least from Starfire's vantage point. Her eyesight rapidly looked outward towards the ocean. The smoke was clearing just slightly. She could see Trigon in the distance, his giant form unmistakable as it moved. The cannon was tilted slightly up, pointed just to the creature's right. Starfire's eyes widened as the control console continued to flicker. The readings indicated the xenothium was loaded, and the magic was flowing all around the cannon's stucture—the structure mapped from Chang's blueprints. It had called for a much stronger design to withstand the energy produced by the xenothium discharge.
There was still a chance. She watched as Trigon took a massive step, placing him in front of the cannon. She jammed at the trigger button, paying no attention to the terrible pain throughout the limb and praying the signal was still working. Nothing happened. She jammed it down harder, but Starfire still got no reaction from the machine. Narrowing her eyes, she pinched the protruding section of the large red button between her fingers and pulled. The plastic button pulled away in pieces from the console, leaving a hole just wide enough for her index finger. She let some of her energy collect at her fingertip then slid the digit into the console. She let the green energy go, and the console sparked and blew out.
The cannon, however, hummed to life. A low thrum that climbed in pitch filled the space of rock and debris, and the golden glow was accompanied by a new red blaze. This light source, however, was not from the dome outside. She watched as the beam of enchanted xenothium energy lanced out, violently shaking everything around the Teen Titan. She could barely see as the beam struck the monster's back, the red glow from the cannon creating a dissolving silhouette out of him in the distance.
Starfire was suddenly quite aware of the glow's increasing brightness. The beam continued to fire, the sound still increasing in pitch. The surrounding area continued to shake, the vibrations getting worse by the second. There was a loud hissing sound as the back of the cannon cracked—the highly durable construct finally giving in. She reached for her harness just as the glow increased one hundred fold and quickly overtook her…
-
-
There was a sudden fear as Trigon took another step towards Titans Tower. Beast Boy had watched Robin dive after Zerrich when the man from Azarath had protected them all from the monster's last attack. There really was nothing else that any of them could do. All their plans had been thrashed, and Trigon was going to succeed in destroying the world. Starting with them.
That was the moment that a red glow shone through from the wreckage on the side of the mountain behind Trigon. The glow quickly lanced out, and a brilliant red beam slammed straight into the demon's back. His four eyes winced, his giant maw spreading wide and baring black teeth. Trigon roared, a sound that forced Beast Boy to cover his ears. Even the soundwaves that followed a moment later caused the changeling to close his eyes and turn his head away. Everyone else on the rooftop had done the same.
The sound stopped, and Beast Boy looked towards Trigon again. The energy enveloped the beast, its arms reaching out at nothing in particular. Red and gold waves of energy danced around the creature's body as the beam continued to cut into his back. His eyes were still shut tight with his mouth still wide open, but he almost seemed to be stuck where he was standing. The cannon had somehow survived the fall, and with its activation came the fact that someone had survived along with it. Starfire was okay.
Then, the mountainside exploded. Beast Boy's relief was turned to horror in an instant. A blinding light encompassed the entire section of the mountain, and the green Titan put his hand in front of his face. The light relaxed slightly, but the boom that followed was deafening. The xenothium beam stopped, allowing Trigon's form to relax and hang limp where he stood. There was a quick streak of red and white that zoomed past the Tower away from the mountain. Behind it, a blastwave of massive proportions swept over everything at the base of the mountain, destroying nearby homes and buildings and pushing the ocean water up into the air. The nearly invisible wave continued outward, slamming hard into Trigon. The being finally slumped forward, splashing into the ocean.
All that was left in front of the blastwave now was Titans Tower. No one on the rooftop had any kind of anchorage, and the blast pushed everyone over the side of the tower like pebbles being swept off a porch. It was almost as if a wall had decided to get up and plow into everything in front of it. The energy pummeled the front of the tower, shattering most of the windows and sending glass everywhere. The flyers struggled to gain control within the turbulence. Beast Boy formed quickly into a pterodactyl before searching around. Sure enough, Speedy had been thrown way too far out to put an arrow line to any use, but Bumblebee was quickly at his side to catch him. Cyborg had reactivated his jetpack, hovering safely in the air. Robin and Zerrich had huddled on the opposite side of the tower, just inside the entrance corridor. Glass had still been strewn about even on their side.
More damage was yet to come to them. A giant tidal wave from Trigon's splashdown was making its way to the small island. Beast Boy swept in quickly and landed near the two boys, allowed them to grab onto his talons and flew up back to the tower's roof. The other team members were gathering there as well. The big surprise came after everyone had made it to the rooftop. Mas and Menos sped their way up the side of the tower and came to a halt on the roof. In both of their arms was Starfire. She was covered in dirt and ash with red-brown splotches everywhere. There was blood around her neck and arm. She also had a cut somewhere under her scalp, as two muddied lines ran down the side of her face. A terrible gash was on her left shoulder, and more covered her legs and left ankle. Her clothes were tattered and stained. She looked like the disaster Beast Boy knew she'd just come from.
Yet, with such a horrific appearance, Starfire still floated from the two small Titans' grasp. She turned around and grabbed them both up in her typical bear hug.
"What wonderful friends you are!" she thanked them. "And what wonderful timing!"
The twins looked as if they couldn't breathe, but at the same time they didn't seem to mind. When Starfire released them, they looked to each other.
"¿Entiendes lo que ella dijo?"
"¡No, pero tomaré un abrazo como aquel cualquier día!"
"Star!" Beast Boy yelled in excitement. "You're okay!"
"Now THAT'S how you kick some demon butt!" Cyborg cheered.
"Starfire!" Robin shouted. Instinctively, Beast Boy took a step out of the way as the Boy Wonder made a direct line for the Tamaranian girl. He grabbed her in a bear hug, dust flying everywhere. Starfire looked surprised for all of a moment before returning the affection. Robin must have suddenly realized the rest of the company, or he realized the fact that he could have inadvertently hurt Starfire worse with her current condition. Beast Boy tended to figure it was the former.
"Er…Star! I'm…I'm really glad you're okay. For a while there, we all thought that…well…"
This time, Starfire took Robin in a hug of her own, and Beast Boy doubted she'd let go as easily this time. "I am glad to be alive as well. And I am thankful for friends such as you who care so greatly for my well being."
There was a new sound coming from below the tower. Beast Boy walked to the edge and looked down. The island was now flooded. Ocean water sloshed everywhere as the giant waves splashed against the magic barrier and made their way back. The beaches were already being flooded out, and people nearby were making their way to higher ground. The water level would probably travel higher and further inland, but the good thing about Jump City was its number of hills. The waves wouldn't make it too far.
"Have we defeated him?" Starfire finally asked, and Beast Boy turned back to the group. "Have we defeated Trigon?"
The waves started up again. A loud roar of ocean water caused the entire team to look over the edge once again. The downed Trigon began to rise back out of the water as it cascaded off of his body. It was a slow, menacing ascent into the sky. Whether Trigon intended it to look that way or not, Beast Boy got the worst of chills up his back as his heart tripled in speed. When the monster fully straightened, water falling stories into the ocean around his hooves, Trigon looked back towards Titans Tower.
"We aren't having a good day," Beast Boy finally said.
A flash of light interrupted Beast Boy, and the Titan shielded his eyes for the umpteenth time. At first he assumed it to be one of Speedy's arrows, except that even Speedy seemed surprised by the effect. Trigon was already taking a giant step backwards in the ocean water. What could have possibly made him do that? Beast Boy began to look around, and he soon found his answer.
Raven hovered about a half-mile from the team. She had a black aura surrounding her, energy tentacles whipping about with lives of their own.
"No more, Father!" She shouted, her voice warbled and booming even from as far away as she was. She was enraged, and it showed in every conceivable way.
"Jeez, Raven, what took you?" Beast Boy shouted in triumph.
"You will do no MORE!" Raven's black magic shot forward in a rush, but it quickly swirled into a bright green energy. The swirls formed into a sphere, a flash of light bouncing off its new surface. Then, a new series of bright tendrils shot forward towards Trigon. The bright green energy turned dark as it flew across the sky, and the darker it got the faster and more menacing it became. The howling sound of Raven's magic put a chill through Beast Boy's spine as it flew overhead and struck Trigon.
The demon put a giant hand in front of him, catching the first series of tendrils. The follow up lines reacted with minds of their own, twisting around the monster's hand and arm until they connected with his shoulder. The darker green entities suddenly turned to electricity, and Trigon reacted in kind as it struck him. His arm whipped around ferociously, attempting to cut off the attacking tendrils as they continued to come at him. Eventually, the energy sphere shrunk into nothing. Raven's attack ceased.
The next strike came from Raven's eyes. A blast of red energy shot forward, and Trigon placed his hand once again in front of the beam. This time, however, the energy seemed to pass directly through the demon's palm, striking for Trigon's chest. The immediate result was absolutely nothing. A few moments later, Trigon clutched at his chest, barking from some sort of pain. The sound startled the Changeling, who jumped with a yelp. Whatever had been done to Trigon, the beast shook his head in anger and straightened as if the attack had never occurred.
THESE PITIFUL TRICKS YOU HAVE CONJURED AGAINST ME WILL SERVE YOU NOTHING. MUST I EXPLAIN THIS ALL TO YOU AGAIN? YOU MERELY ANNOY ME.
"Be careful, Father. These tricks are just a few of the things I've been taught!"
Beast Boy went over to Cyborg and Robin. "Guys, I think this is gonna get ugly."
"I say we take advantage of it," Cyborg said. "We need to go back on the offensive. I ain't about to give up just yet."
"Same here!" Bumblebee shouted.
"Starfire," Robin queried, "Are you good enough to fight?"
"For my friends and my home?" Starfire asked back. "I am always capable of helping. I say it is about time we did the bringing it on!"
"Probably the weirdest way I've heard that said," Bumblebee started, "but I couldn't agree more!"
"Then let's put it to 'im," Speedy grinned.
"First, I want to get off the Tower," Robin said. "We're sitting ducks. Beast Boy, get Speedy and I to the Lone Fir strip mall. That'll be our standing ground. Everyone else, attack Trigon and lead him to us."
"You got it," Beast Boy said, morphing into a pterodactyl.
"Titans," Robin shouted, "GO!"
-
-
To say Raven was angry was an understatement. Her eyes glowed a bright white, threatening with the next blast of emotion to split into two pairs of glowing red seas of hate. Her breathing was ragged, and while her fingers were extended they were tight at each knuckle. She delved deep into her mind, finding those spells she'd buried long ago when they first nearly did her in. Truth be told, they weren't all dark magic. Raven had decided she couldn't risk filtering out the normal spells she'd been taught from the dark ones.
Now, it no longer mattered. The greatest evil she would ever know was tearing apart her city and her friends, and Trigon had no intention of stopping there. Raven bathed in her own anger as she released a funnel blast of black energy at her father. The stream hit him in the chest, and only after the impact did Trigon put his hands in front of it. The energy swam outward, creating a swirl of energy that threatened to surround the demon in front of her.
Trigon, however, pushed back at the assault, and Raven felt the impact against the black energy all the way to her arms. She flew back at a greater speed than she had anticipated, but she was still thinking. Quickly, she conjured a dimensional portal in the sky, sailed through it and appeared at Trigon's side. She continued flying back a little more until she could bring herself to a stop, ending up a few hundred feet ahead of where she'd just been.
Her hands reached to the waters below Trigon. The ocean turned black and began to rise. A tunnel of ocean water flew up into the air, surrounding Trigon. Raven closed her hands together, causing the vertical tunnel to shrink until the demon had no space within.
YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY HOPE TO DROWN ME, DAUGHTER.
Raven shook her head in anger, ignoring the voice intruding her mind. Her teeth flared as she kept one hand pointed towards the giant tower of water. Her other hand balled into a fist, and with a final chant she thrust her hand again towards her father. A blast of white gas shot forward in a tight stream until it connected with the ocean water. Almost on impact, the water began to freeze. The water quickly became a tower of ice, crackling and expanding quickly as it cooled the surrounding air. The temperature of the blast was well below any kind of average freeze anywhere on the planet—even Robin's freeze discs didn't have this strong an effect. The molecules of any object trapped within were brought to an extremely slow rate, as close to absolute zero as Raven could get it.
The dark girl had a quick thought back to the dreaded Firnusium. This attack probably would have been enough to slow even Scourge's fiery make-up…had she known to use it at the time. Many of the spells she was delving into she had ended up forgetting, which was quite easy considering the information she was given as well as some of the ways in which she had absorbed it.
The tower cracked quite loudly, and two red limbs shot outward. Trigon continued to pound at the icey tomb until he was free, and ice chunks flew into the ocean and the city. Entire buildings took house-sized ice rocks right at their hearts, glass and debris exploding out onto the streets. None of the taller buildings collapsed from this, but smaller structures found themselves crushed by landing ice blocks as if they were paper houses.
Raven didn't care. She was too angry, too focused. Or possibly, too distracted. Her hands swirled into the air again, and a new black cloud began to swirl around her father. Within the dark swirls, flashes of light began to erupt. Soon enough, lightning strikes blasted out and attacked the Demon. At first the attacks were random, but they eventually fell into a synchronized assault. The onslaught increased in speed, striking the monster all around his body.
Trigon roared, the sound again causing everything nearby to vibrate. He spread his arms out, sending a shockwave of energy in every direction. The black clouds cleared away, dissolving into nothing. This time, Trigon looked to Raven, his eyes glowing menacingly. Raven flared her teeth again in anger, reaching out with her senses and finding the magic coming from Trigon. She clapped her hands together once, shouted a single word from the Azarath language, and an explosion covered Trigon's face. The monster's head snapped back, the glow gone from his eyes. Raven's trick had intercepted his power before it could fire. She could only backfire a spell like that during its conception, and truth be told she wasn't sure it was going to work.
As the monster recovered, Raven became aware that her team had once again begun fighting back. Streams of blue and green energy struck the beast from different angles. Trigon swatted at his surroundings, but the streams of energy continued from new points. They would do very little, but the Titans weren't a team of people that could ever just sit back and watch.
Throughout this assault, Raven could not tell in any way if she was truly weakening her father. She would have to start attacking with stronger magic, more powerful than she was used to. She had always known better than to delve into things she was not ready for, and not everything she had been taught had ever been honed. A lot of it was simply information—knowledge on how for a later use. Once she was strong enough.
She didn't have the time for it, now. She would have to be strong enough. She reached back with her mind. Her eyes were still glowing as her hands became surrounded in a bright light. Where Trigon currently stood, three sources of light began to appear. In front of him, a red sphere flashed to life. To his left and right, bright blue and green spheres pulsed as well. A line of light from the green orb struck the red one, and it continued straight to the blue one. All three orbs of energy suddenly blasted their own beams at Trigon. Putting his hands out to stop the streams of energy did nothing as the build-up continued. An Azarath symbol began to form just ahead of the monster. It's intricate lines and calligraphy glowing and changing color. Trigon stopped trying to move, though Raven understood why. The beams were preventing him from doing so.
The three orbs suddenly fired new streams of energy away from Trigon. The light beams met at the symbol, and everything began to glow in brilliant swirls of blue, green, red and eventually white. The orbs were tapping Trigon's power and very soul, sending the signals back to the symbol in the sky. His power would be used against him until there was none left. This spell was dark in design, and the color shift from a brilliant white to a very evil black made this apparent to anyone watching. Raven watched as the effects began to take their final form. The loud hiss coming from the energy turned to a rumble, black energy flaring out in every direction from the symbol in the air.
Finally, the symbol flashed, preparing to strike down the beast in the sea. Everything began to turn a bright white, completely overtaking the red of the dome barrier. Eventually, even Raven couldn't see through the white in front of her.
-
-
The sounds of the outside world were suddenly gone. Raven looked around, noting the entire space around her was still a brilliant white—though it was no longer blinding. She looked instinctively to her hands, realizing she could see herself clearly. Her breathing was somewhat ragged, mostly from the anger she'd been using moments ago. Okay…now what's going on?
There was nothing beyond the white surrounding her. No casting spells, no Trigon, no Titans or Tower. No Jump City. Did her last spell go wrong? She'd never performed it before, had only barely recalled it after delving into her mind for those cast-off secrets…
Her mind! Was that where she was? Except she'd been there quite often, and it looked nothing like this.
"That is because you are only experiencing the part of your mind I am allowing you to see."
"Who's there?" Raven shouted into the white. She knew that voice, and suddenly she began feeling some old emotions she'd rather never feel again. The white space chuckled, and Raven looked all around her. There was still nothing but empty space.
"Why must you insist on having everything explained to you? Your mind has already discovered the answer. Must you continue to deny it?"
Raven grew very uncomfortable. Fear began to overtake her. Quickly, she started trying to calm herself down, to regain control…
"My sweet Raven," the voice soothed, "you no longer have any control here."
The sound distinctly came from behind Raven, and the girl spun around. A mummified being stood not ten feet away from her. His eyes shown through the wrap of parchment that covered his body from head to toe. More accurately, the parchment was his body. Raven's emotions raced in too many directions to comprehend. Her voice grabbed onto one in particular.
"Don't you dare show yourself like this!" Raven spat. "You disgusting monster!"
"You don't find this form comforting? The two of us came to know each other quite well while I had this appearance."
"You lied to me like this! You took my trust and used it against me! A trust I never, EVER give anyone!"
"Except to me, I see," Malchior chuckled. "Suit yourself."
The parchment practically exploded out, black and purple fires flaring from underneath and burning the paper debris into nothing. The dark flames grew into the air until they took on the form of a large, winged creature. The silhouette of black and purple fire surrounded the new shape completely, and a large dragon pierced the fires with a single step forward. The black flames snuffed themselves out, leaving Malchior in his true form.
Raven suddenly felt helpless along with all the other emotions. She immediately tried to reach deep down into her soul self in preparation for fighting Malchior.
"That shall not help you, my dear," Malchior said, a slight tone of satisfaction in his voice. "Not only are you seeing the part of your mind I am allowing you to, you are also performing as I choose to allow. There are no powers to attack me with, no magic spells. But fear not. I have no wish to fight you."
"Then what do you want with me? How did you get out of that book?"
This time, Malchior laughed. The dragon's head reared and looked skyward as it bellowed out loud. Then, it turned to look back to Raven. "Can you not see? I am not really here. In fact, I have yet to leave that book since last we met."
"Then what are you?"
"I am a conjuring within your mind, of course. A little creation of my own in case you ever decided to delve back into those wondrous incantations I taught you."
Raven's eyes went wide. "This is a trap. Everything you ever taught me was a trap."
"Everything I taught you," Malchior sneered, "was a means to an end. It was either to grant my own freedom or to win over your trust and desire so that you might help me. Remember the last thing I ever said to you? I taught you everything you know. Not everything I helped your brain absorb was magic or knowledge. This little trap was purely extra."
"And for what?" Raven asked, bitterly. "Why do this?"
Malchior chuckled again. His neck extended out, placing his snout inches from Raven's face. "I despise losing," he hissed through his sharp beak. Malchior's dragon head pulled away as he continued. "In the ever so slight possibility my plans were foiled I doubted you'd willingly continue to use the knowledge I had granted you, but I also doubted that would be for long. All it would take was a single threat so great…you would feel you had no choice. And then, I would have you.
"My original plan was to render you powerless and let whatever monstrosity you were attempting to stop destroy you forever. Oh, but this, my dear…" Malchior's chuckle became a laugh, and Raven's hand unconsciously grabbed at her chest. "I knew that darkness within your heart had come from your father. I never knew you were destined to face against him. Nor was I aware that…he could hold power over you."
Raven's head unconsciously shook from side to side. "No…"
"Oh yes, my dear little Raven. Consider this my parting gift. Oh, now…don't be so upset. If it is of any consolation, there was really nothing I ever taught you that could have defeated him. Your father is far too powerful, even for me."
Malchior's form began to swirl into a black mist, though the dragon's head remained intact the longest. "Although, there was the one spell you had been considering. What a shame you never attempted it, though I am quite positive you never would have wielded the strength to cast it. Even if there were a hundred of you."
The rest of the mist swirled away, and the white space slowly began to darken into a deep black. Raven's breathing became rapid as she realized what was about to happen.
"Farewell, daughter of Trigon," Malchior said, his final words followed by a sinister laugh. Then, it too faded into the darkness.
-
-
Cyborg flew far out of the way as Raven set off her last spell against Trigon. The beams had seemed to grapple him down, and the symbol in the air was starting to glow a nasty glow. Any second now, Cyborg was sure it would strike at Trigon, and it was a simple matter of waiting to see how powerful it would be.
Then, the symbol fired a beam of light the same length and width as itself…but it fired away from Trigon. The beam struck Raven full on, and Cyborg wasn't too sure that was supposed to happen. Raven spun out of control, threatening to plummet back to the earth below. Cyborg was well out of range to catch her, but Bumblebee was close enough. She swooped in and caught the young girl before she could splatter on the ground. Cyborg flew in closer, momentarily oblivious to the creature behind him.
"Hey, girl, wake up," Bumblebee was shouting at the unconscious Raven. Cyborg couldn't help but be worried, but he was grateful when he could see her eyes begin to glow again as they opened.
"That was a close one, Rae," Cyborg shouted from the distance. "Maybe we should try that little number ag-"
Then, there was an explosion. The blast came directly from Raven, her body surrounded in light. Bumblebee was blasted at a tremendous speed away from Raven. Her body flailed out of control, and she showed no signs of recovery. The thought to fly after her had barely processed within the neural network that made up his brain when the same blast wave slammed into him. He put up his robotic arms to shield his face from the blast, but it still turned him end over end.
When he recovered, he looked back to Raven. She was floating in the air, her arms and legs extended. Bumblebee was nowhere to be seen, and Cyborg could only hope she'd been able to land somewhere safe. Raven continued to float in place, and it was then that Cyborg noticed her eyes.
There were four of them, and they glowed in a deep red.
MY DAUGHTER. WHAT AN INTERESTING TURN OF EVENTS. THIS PLEASES ME GREATLY.
The horrible rumbling came from behind Cyborg, and he turned to look at Trigon. The monster had his arms folded over his chest, the last series of attacks showing no real effect.
I SHALL CONCEDE THE BATTLE FOR THE MOMENT, AS I HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTING TO RETIRE TO GAIN MY STRENGTH. YOUR ATTEMPTS TO THWART ME, WHILE VALIANT, ARE AS I HAVE SAID ALL ALONG. NOW, YOU SHALL BE FORCED INTO CONTEST WITH ONE YOU HAVE COME TO CALL AN ALLY.
"Oh, no," Cyborg whispered. "He ain't gonna make us…"
BUT, UNDERSTAND THIS. SHE IS MY DAUGHTER, FIRST AND FOREMOST. RAVEN…MY KIN…I SENSE YOU CURRENTLY HOLD THE POWER TO DESTROY THESE PITIFUL CREATURES. DO AS YOU WISH.
In complete horror, Cyborg turned back to Raven. She was still hovering in place, her hands covered in black energy. Even in the distance, Cyborg could swear Raven was smiling.
It was probably the most sinister smile he had ever seen.