Enter: The Jackal, Part 4

By Kevin Jackson

It's now 4:09am, Saturday morning. After being sucked into a giant vortex created by Lord Xanth, Raven and Jackal drop out of the opening and fall approximately 40ft. into the ground. Raven sits up, shaking off the daze, and looks around to find that they have been dropped into what appears to be a rainforest. Raven sits up and covers her left shoulder, which was slashed by the attack of Lord Xanth before they were sucked into the portal.

"Ungh...I'm gonna kill him", she says with a look of anger on her face. She starts turning towards Jackal. "You ok-" Her words are cut off by a surprising gasp as she notices Jackal's right thigh gashed open badly. "Your leg!", she says as she rushes to his side. As Jackal tenders his leg, she looks back up at the sky as Xanth's minions begin dropping out of the vortex. She tries to get Jackal up by putting his arm over her shoulder. "Jackal, c'mon! We gotta move!"

Jackal stands with her assistance. "You go", he says. "I'll....hold them off."

"No", Raven says. "You're injured! You can't fight like this! Not without your powers!"

"I'll live", he replies.

Raven sighs. "If I had a nickel. Now c'mon!"

The two finally start running in the opposite direction. Jackal is slowing down the pace because of his injured leg, but Raven keeps him moving. The minions start gathering in packs once they've all made it through the vortex, then the vortex closes. The minions begin combing the forests after Raven and Jackal. After a few moments of running, Jackal had realized that the minions were getting very close to them. He grabs Raven in his arm and, using mainly his good leg and the aid of a kunai, begins leaping off of tree trunks and climbing with the kunai until the two ended up in the top of a tall tree. Once there, they remained quiet until the minions had passed.

"How did you do that??", said Raven in amazement. "I thought you lost your powers."

"I don't have my demonic sorcery", he says, "...but I'm still a ninja."

"Hm. Good point", she replies.

They awaited at the top of the tree until they were certain the coast was clear. The two carefully scale back down the tree to the ground. Raven helps Jackal over to a fallen tree trunk, where she sits him down against the tree trunk.

Raven studies the gash in his leg. She tries not to waste any time. "We have to take care of your leg", she says. "I can rip a piece of my cloak for you to-"

"Don't", Jackal says. "...I need...firewood."

Raven looks at him somewhat confused. "Firewood??"

Jackal nods as he tenders his leg. Borrowing one of Jackal's kunai, Raven heads from tree to tree and cuts off branches and twigs to be used as firewood. She returns with a bundle in her arms and lays them out in front of the log they sat on. Jackal takes two hand-sized rocks and, with one crack, lights a spark that started a fire.

Raven is surprised. "Wow. It always takes Beast Boy thirty tries to light a fire that way."

Jackal tosses the rocks to the side, then speaks with periodic winces of pain. "I'm used to...being in the wilderness. My sensei taught me many ways to survive without depending...on my powers." He then rips open the cloth on this thigh, revealing the gash.

"What're you doing?", asks Raven.

Jackal winces again. "Well,...since I don't have my powers,...I have to do this manually."

"Manually??", she asks confusedly.

Jackal starts picking through the sticks in the fire. His breathing shows signs of nervousness, as if he is preparing for something harsh. "Raven,...do me a favor. I don't wanna give away our location, in case Xanth's minions are still in the area", he says as he picks up a flaming stick from the fire. "So please...try to keep me from screaming."

Raven gasps as Jackal is about to put the flaming twig into his wound, and immediately jumps to her feet and wraps her cloak around his mouth just before he sticks the twig in. The flame then ignites his wound and Jackal screams at the top of his lungs into the cloak, luckily silencing the sound of his pain. After a few moments of screaming into Raven's cloak, Jackal finally calms down and she takes her cloak from his mouth. He then goes into a pouch on the back of his belt and pulls out a dressing and bandage, and wraps his wound up.

Raven face flows with sweatdrops, as if she too experienced that pain. "What...what did you just do??"

"Exactly...what my powers do", Jackal says while breathing hard. "I ignited my wound, which slows the bleeding. And if the wound's heated up, it'll heal faster."

"Really??", she asks.

"Have you ever noticed...that whenever you have a wound, it feels like it's getting a little warm as it heals? Your body naturally heats up the wound as it heals. My powers accelerate that heating process, allowing the wound to heal almost instantly. The only drawback...is that it really stings."

Raven has a slight snicker. "Hm. I see."

"Yours is just a scratch, so I'll need a little water", he says as he slowly stands to his feet. He turns and starts limping slightly. "I'll be back."

Raven starts going after him. "Wait a minute. Can you walk?"

Jackal looks back. "I'm fine", he says. "There's a river at the bottom of that cliff. I won't be long."

Jackal left and carefully climbed down a thirty-foot cliff down to a river, where he lightly wet another bandage and climbed back up to get to Raven. He wrapped Raven's wound with the soaked bandage.

"There", he says as he finishes wrapping her wound. "That should be fine in a short while."

Raven looks at her arm, shedding a very slight smile. "...Thank you."

Meanwhile, the other Titans are in flight in the T-Jet, currently searching every area they come across for signs of Raven and Jackal.

Beast Boy starts losing hope, and starts showing it. "Dudes, this is crazy! We don't even know where to begin looking!"

"We have to try", says Robin. "Cyborg, any luck?"

Cyborg tries to contact Raven by communicator, but to no avail. "Nothing", he says as he gets aggravated by the communicator. "I can't get a clear signal from her. You think she got shot into a different dimension?"

Robin shakes his head. "I doubt it. If that was the case, you wouldn't be able to get a signal at all. Are you able to track it?"

Cyborg sighs. "I wish", he says. "The signal's too weak. However, it's showing signs of getting stronger, but very slowly."

"Does that mean we can find her soon?", asks a worried Starfire.

"Right", Robin replies. "So we may as well head back to the tower and get a few hours of rest. We'll continue our search in the morning."

"Wait a sec, Robin", says Beast Boy. "What about that guy who wants Hell to break loose? Shouldn't we be looking for him, too?"

"We will", says Robin, "but we can't do anything if we're too tired to even walk. We need to rest. We'll continue at daybreak."

The Titans turn course back to Titans Tower to rest.

*COMMERCIAL*

Jon Lovitz sits on a classic-style chair. "Subway Dinner Theatre presents 'The Fight For Hunger'", he announces.

The scene opens to a girl working behind a Subway counter. Two men – Chinese twins, one bulky and one slim, but both muscular – walk up to the counter.

The twin Chinese men speak in unison, speaking as if they know minimal English. "Meatball marinaras, please."

The Subway worker holds up a single wrapped sandwich. "Sorry, but we only have one left", she says.

The twins both look at one another as if they were challenging one another, then they each step back and take individual fighting stances to the sound of an echoing gong. "HYAA!!!!", they yell.

The scene switches to Jon Lovitz, who is talking to a hidden bet taker, whose hand is on the screen taking a $100 bill from Jon. "Put me down for the large fellow", he whispers. As the man takes the money, Jon's attention is suddenly shot to the camera when he realizes it's shooting him again. "AND NOW FOR DINNER! Subway restaurants, with such mouth-watering delights, like the Italian BMT on fresh-baked gourmet bread, hot and fresh from the oven!" He is now seen with a Subway sandwich in his hand. "Subway! EAT FRESH!!"

*NOTE: Subway rocks. OK, back to the show*

Raven is seen sitting at the campfire, attempting to contact the Titans on her communicator with no luck. "I can't get a clear signal. I don't understand."

Jackal clenches himself, trying to keep warm. "Why do you bother with technology?", he says with an obvious annoyance to technology. "All it does is screw up on you."

"Well it's not like the communicator to have an unclear signal", she says. "Cyborg's GPS system is top of the line."

"That doesn't mean it can't get messed up", he debates. "Relying on technology will only make the situation worse. Once it fails, there's little you can do."

Raven puts the communicator away. "So I'm assuming you don't use tech equipment?"

Jackal shakes his head. "Never."

Raven just realizes he's clenching himself. "Are you…cold??", she asks.

Jackal somewhat growls under his breathe in annoyance. "This is aggravating", he says. "Without my powers, I can't keep myself warm. I'm really not used to this."

Raven looks at him as if she wants to help him. With some hesitattion, she steps over to him and sits down next to him, then opens her cloak while avoiding eye contact. "...C'mon."

Jackal looks at her confused. "What??"

"Use my body heat", she says. "I'm still warm from when you used your power on me earlier."

Jackal is almost shy of accepting her offer to get so close to him. It's…It's ok. I'll li-"

Raven cuts him off. "If you say 'I'll live' one more time, I'm gonna pop you. Now c'mon. You need to keep warm."

Though Jackal still nervously hesitates, he scoots closer to Raven as she wraps her cloak around the both of them. Jackal feels very comfortable sitting close to her, but not because of the body heat she's sharing. Both avoid eye contact with one another as they are slightly blushing.

"…Th...thanks", says Jackal.

"…I'm glad I could help", Raven replies.

A few moments of silence quiets the area before Jackal begins speaking again. "...We should start moving once the sun rises", he says. "Xanth and his minions will be active at that point."

"…How long does his beam effect last?", Raven asks.

Jackal thinks for a moment. "...Since he didn't hold you for very long, you should probably get your powers back sometime after sunrise."

Raven looks over at him. "What about you?"

Jackal looks down at the ground unsure. "…I don't know."

Raven looks down as if worried about Jackal's well-being. "...Then we need to stick together", she says. "There's no telling what may happen."

Jackal nods. Before he looks back up, his curiousity starts to take over, as he wants to learn more about Raven as well. "…Tell me something, Raven. I've been curious…about this…Trigon. Just...what did happen? Who is he?

Raven looks back at Jackal. She sighs. "Well,…It's a long story."

"It's a long night.", says Jackal.

Raven reacts with a slight snicker, as if knowing he's proven her wrong. "…Ok, I'll tell you. But I would like to know more about you too, and about this Shiir-Kov."

Jackal nods. "Of course."

Raven sighs as she prepares for her story. "Well,…I was born in a place called Azarath…"

Meanwhile, the scene switches to Xanth's lair, where he has just placed a vile with Raven's blood on an alter, next to Hades' Grail and the Necronomicon. Xanth then steps over to his throne and sits, leaning his head onto the backrest of the throne and going to sleep. While drifting into slumber, he lets out a small smirk, as if satisfied that he will soon accomplish his plan of releasing Shiir-Kov. The scene switches back to Raven and Jackal.

Jackal isstill wrapped with Raven in her cloak as she finishes her story. "…I see. So you've dealt with much pain and suffering. …I'm sorry."

Raven shakes her head. "Don't be. …Now,…your turn."

Jackal sighs. "Well,…I was raised by a ninjutsu master by the name of Danzo Hazuki. Though he is my sensei, I consider him my father."

"And your mother?", Raven asks.

"…I…never knew my mother", he answers. "I am an orphan."

Raven's eyes open slightly. "An orphan??"

Jackal continues. "My mother…supposedly died at my birth. I've seen images of her in my dreams. It's as if I...know her already, but...without ever having met her." He pauses with a sigh. "...Hazuki-sensei would tell me stories about her, saying that she was his top pupil and was trained as a demon hunter. Her life was devoted to it. Sensei told me of one incident where Shiir-Kov attempted to gain power in the Earth realm, and my mother opposed him. She left for the battle, and returned…impregnated.

"Impregnated??", says a surprised Raven.

Jackal continues. " He found her battered and bruised, clothing ripped in many places. She complained of pains and stress within her body until, moments later, she gave birth to me right in front of the dojo. Sensei could tell that I was no ordinary child. He said that when I was born, I had a very feint baby growl like a newborn demon. According to him, my mother said it was Shiir-Kov's doing before she died.

Raven looks down at the ground as she listens to his story, not knowing what to say.

"Hazuki-sensei told me that...Shiir-Kov passed his intentions to my mother when she was with him. ...He wanted me to be his Earthly mercenary, to have a living breathing hellspawn walking among humanity to do his bidding. As a human/hellspawn hybrid, I can survive outside the voids of the underworld unharmed, but with very limited power compared to a full-fledged hellspawn. …I don't know what he did, or how, ...but Shiir-Kov killed my mother that day…and I won't forgive him for it."

Raven's eyes slightly tear up from the story. "…I'm sorry."

Jackal clenches his fist, trying to keep himself from tearing up.

"…So…in many ways,…we are a lot alike", she says as she looks over at him.

Jackal nods. "…Perhaps it's our similarities…that motivated me to want to protect you since I first saw you. I just…had that gut feeling that there was…something special about you."

Raven's slight blush returns. "…Seriously??"

Jackal continues looking down as he nods.

Raven looks at him, now blushing a bit more* "…No one's ever said anything like that to me."

Jackal looks at her. "...Then they must be fools", he says.

The two actually gaze into one another's eyes, and their lips slowly inch toward each other. Once they're a split second from actually kissing, they stop and look away from one another.

Jackal clears his throat. "Uhm...I'm sorry…I should stand guard, in case Xanth's minions come back." He stands up. "...You should get some sleep", he says as he starts walking away.

Raven sheds a single tear. "…Wait!"

Jackal stops and turns towards her. "What is it?", he asks.

Raven stands while avoiding eye contact, then speedily walks to him. She grabs his face, stands on her tiptoes, closes her eyes and gives him a passionate kiss. Jackal is caught off guard by the whole thing and his eyes show it, but he closes his eyes as well and holds Raven in his arms as he shares the kiss, apparently being the very first for the both of them. After their kiss, Raven's teary eyes gaze into Jackal's again.

"…Just...be careful", she says.

Jackal nods silently. Raven lets him go as the two part ways for the evening. Jackal scales into the trees in the same manner as before in order to get a bird's eye view of the area, while Raven walks back over to the campfire and lies down wrapped in her cloak to goes to sleep.

Jackal perched on a high tree branch, where he sat and viewed the area for over an hour. From time to time, he felt his lips with his fingertips, amazed by Raven's kiss, which ironically was also his very first kiss. After about an hour, when it was obviously quiet and clear, Jackal leaps back down to Raven, who he finds wrapped in her cloak asleep and lying near the dimming fire. He kneels next to her, gently stroking her hair over her face. He lightly smiles as he watches her sleep. He then stretches out with his arms crossed, still trying to keep warm, and goes to sleep. About twenty minutes later, Raven wakes up and finds Jackal asleep on the other side of the dimmed fire, clutching himself to keep warm in his sleep. Raven has a look of concern in her eyes.

Jackal's dream, which is a recurring dream, has him walking down a lonely paved road in a very misty area. A female figure is walking down the other direction on the road. Once Jackal got visual recognition, he notices that it is his deceased mother. She appears as a Japanese woman in her mid-20's, stands at 5' 5", wears a red ninja outfit with some black, brown hair draped back in a ponytail, and dark blue eyes. Her name is Hanako.

Jackal stands with a look of disbelief. "…Mother??", he says. "...Is it really you??"

"Yes, Jackal", says Hanako as she walks up to him. "I'm here."

"...Why'd you have to die?", he asks. "Why couldn't you stay with me? Why couldn't you fight with me?"

"I'm so very sorry", she says. "My life force was depleted after Shiir-Kov raped me and accelerated your birth."

Jackal is shocked. "What??"

Hanako continues. "I managed to escape his clutches and gave birth to you at Hazuki-sensei's dojo. Though I got to hold you in my arms as I died, my only regret is that I could not live to see you grow up and, even moreso, fight by your side."

Jackal starts tearing up. "But...but I need your help. He's…he's coming, and I don't think I can stop him."

"You can defeat him, Jackal," she says, "if you believe you can."

"But how??", asks Jackal. "Xanth can open the gates now, and I barely have the power to stop Xanth anymore. ...I don't think I can win this war, Mother."

Hanako steps up to him and places her hands on his shoulders. "Jackal, do you know why you were brought into this world? Do you know what your purpose is?"

"Oh sure", he says sarcastically. "To be Shiir-Kov's earthly mercenary and to carry out his bidding and destroy this world." He clenches his fist. "How could I forget what Hazuki-sensei told me?"

Hanako shakes her head. "No, Jackal. That was Shiir-Kov's purpose for you when you were born. Do you know your REAL purpose?"

Jackal looks up at her confused. "I don't understand."

Hanako explains. "You were brought into this world as my successor, to carry on my responsibilities as a demon hunter. You've been given a special gift. Hazuki-sensei gave you the same gifts and training as he gave me, and that has allowed me to fight a strong battle against the forces of darkness for so long. Through time, I've gotten stronger, and my powers have improved. You're at your time where you shall unlock new abilities, Jackal. You've learned to truly harness your demonic powers, which is good, but you must not rely on your hellspawn abilities, as you have realized recently when you lost those powers. However, you must remember that you've only been stripped of your demonic powers because they were your only active powers. The spells inherited from me are still harnessed inside of you. After all, a power cannot be taken away if it is not active."

Jackal looks at his hands. "…A hidden power??", he says.

Hanako gently grabs Jackal's head and shoulders and hugs him, holding him close to her heart. "You CAN win, Jackal. You must believe."

Jackal sheds tears and hugs her, nestling into his mother's chest like a young child. "...Mother."

"Remember,…you must believe", she says before the scene starts blurring away.

Jackal's dream dimmed away as he woke up, the bright sun shining down into his eyes. He's half sleep at this point and is still crying, under the impression that he's still hugging his mother. When he nestles into his "mother's chest" again, he finally realizes that he's awake.

Jackal's thoughts flow through his mind. "...Just a dream. …Then where is my face buried??" Jackalnotices that he's hugging and nestling into Raven's chest, who is also the one hugging and holding him close to her heart as she sleeps. The two are tucked under her cloak. "WHAT THE?!?!", he thinks as he turns completely red. "W-W-WHAT AM I DOING WITH RAVEN UNDER HER CLOAK?! I gotta get outta here!" He tries to slide away from Raven, but she moans in her sleep and tightens her grip. "GEEZ!! SHE'S GOT A VICE GRIP!"

Jackal lightly tickles Raven's side. She lightly giggles in her sleep and starts twisting around, eventually loosening her grip on Jackal. Once he found an opening, he slides away from her and hops to his feet, still with a blush-red face and feeling his face with his fingertips. Trying not to think about it, he starts pilfering around the woods for food and water.

Not too long after Jackal left, Raven wakes up and find that Jackal is not with her. When she woke up in the middle of the night, she purposely nestled herself with Jackal to keep him warm. When she stands, she can hear a single figure swooping around in the trees. She knows now that it's Jackal. About ten minutes later, Raven gets up and walks down to a river and removes her cloak and shoes. She's preparing to wade in the water to wash her face, hands, legs and feet. She's about to dip her bare foot into the water until Jackal drops down and jerks her away by her arm, startling her suddenly.

"Oh. Jackal", she says after a slight gasp. "You scared me."

"You don't wanna do that", he says.

Raven looks at the river. "Why not?"

Jackal explains. "I went around collecting fruit, fish and water. While I was out, I finally figured out where we are. Look at this." He pulls a small fruit from his sack.

Raven examines it. "What's this??"

"A camu camu fruit," he says, "a great source of vitamin c. It only grows in one place on the planet. And here's more proof." He pulls one of five plain-looking river fish from his sack.

Raven raises an eyebrow. "Ok, so it's a fish. What's the big deal?"

Jackal shakes his head. "It's not this fish. It's what ELSE is in the water. Watch."

He throws the catfish into the river and waits a few seconds. Then the catfish is bombarded by a school of vicious piranhas that rip it to shreds in less than six seconds.

Raven gasps at the sight. "Piranhas??"

Jackal nods. "Exactly."

Raven starts piecing it all together. "...But that means that…we're in—"

The scene quickly switches to the Titan Tower.

"The Amazon??", says Robin as he turns toward Cyborg.

Cyborg stands with Robin in front of the GPS monitor, showing a dimmed, but strengthening, signal from the Amazon. "Right", he says as he nods. "Raven's communicator's finally giving me a signal. It's not strong enough for me to home in on her exact location, but I do know that the source is somewhere in the Amazon."

Robin looks at the area of the map while scratching his chin. "That's good. At least we have a starting point. We'll get Beast Boy and Starfire and get down there in the jet ASAP. We should be able to find her soon."

The tower's alarm goes off. The map reveals its source pinpointed to a very large chapel on the other side of town. "Aw, now what?!", yells an annoyed Cyborg.

Starfire runs in with Beast Boy. "Friends!", she yells. "There is trouble! We must go!"

"And it couldn't be at a worse time!", Cyborg proclaims. "We finally got a lead on Raven and Jackal somewhere in the Amazon."

Beast Boy notices the map. "The Amazon, huh? I got it", he says as he opens his communicator and dials a contact.

Aqualad picks up. "Aqualad here."

"Yo, Aqua!", says Beast Boy. "It's Beast Boy!"

Aqualad replies. "Hey, B.B.! What's up?"

"Dude, I need a HUGE favor", says Beast Boy with a serious tone."

Aqualad listens. "Shoot."

Beast Boy asks, "...How fast can you and Titans East get to the Amazon?"

The scene switches to a large sanctuary, where Xanth stands in front of an alter with the Necronomicon in one hand, the grail with Raven's blood in his other hand and standing over a what resembles a large circular voodoo drawing of sand on the floor. He is surrounded by his minions.

"The time as come", Xanth says. "Here, we shall bring forth a new saviour to purify this world of all that is unworthy. In moments, our Lord Shiir-Kov shall be reborn. ...And now…let the ritual begin!" Just as he starts to chant the words, the Titans rush in.

"Not another word!!", yells Cyborg.

Beast Boy looks surprised. "Wow. He didn't say that to me for once."

Xanth turns towards the Titans. "Ah. You are just in time", he says. "The ritual is about to begin, and you have a front row seat."

Robin clenches his fists. "We're not here to watch you! We're here to STOP you!"

Xanth shakes his head at Robin as if disappointed. "Oh there is no stopping the ritual, as there is no stopping Lord Shiir-Kov! The realms shall be merged as the prophecy has revealed, and he shall rise and claim this world as his own! Those who do not pledge themselves to him shall be destroyed! I shall make you only one offer to join us, and he shall liberate you and purify your souls from the weakness you call humanity."

"Fat chance!", yells Beast Boy.

A large number of Xanth's minions drop down from the ceiling to join the ones that are already present. "Then…die.", says Xanth.

As the minions attack the Titans, Xanth begins chanting the ritual words from the Necronomicon. Meanwhile, back in the Amazon…

Raven is sitting by a fire with Jackal. She just finished eating some cooked fish on a stick. Before she puts the stick back down, she tries the camu camu fruit. "Hm. They almost taste like oranges", she says.

Jackal is eating cooked fish on a stick. He nods. "Mmhmm. The camu camu fruit has a citrus taste and is very nourishing. They've been used all over the world to make nutritional juices."

Raven sets down the stick as she sighs. "…Listen, Jackal. …About last night when I…kissed you…I hope I didn't offend you or anything."

Jackal puts his fish stick back into the ground as she shakes his head. "Not at all."

"I don't know what came over me", she says. "I...usually don't get so emotional like that."

Jackal shakes his head again. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Besides, I could tell in your eyes after you kissed me…that you enjoyed it."

Raven snorts under her breathe as she raises an eyebrow. "What??"

"Go ahead and say it", he says playfully. "You enjoyed it."

Raven crosses her arms and looks away, hiding any emotions. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Jackal has a slight smirk. "Oh I can get you to say it." He hops over and tickles her side.

Raven yelps a surprised giggle and quickly covers herself. "Hey!"

Jackal's smile stretches. "Yep, found out your weakness this morning. So are you gonna say it, or will I have to make you?"

He starts tickling Raven's sides and underarms as she starts rolling around on the ground laughing and trying to get away. Jackal eventually gets a hold of Raven's legs, pulls off her boots and starts tickling her feet, sending her into spasms of laughter. Raven tries to fight him off, but doesn't really try hard enough, as a part of her is actually enjoying it. As Jackal is enjoying his playful torture on Raven, he looks up in the sky in awe and immediately stops the torture and drops Raven's feet.

Raven squirms away from him while recomposing herself, still getting all her laughs out. "If you do that again, I'm gonna-" She suddenly notices Jackal's expression. "What's wrong?"

Jackal's expression does not change as he stares into the sky. "…The sky."

Raven looks up and sees the sky turning blood red and swirling with dark clouds. She gasps. "What?? What's going on?!"

"…It has begun", Jackal says.

At that moment, while the Titans are still trying to fight off Xanth's minions to reach him, Xanth has completed reciting the Egyptian text from the Necronomicon and has activated the ritual. Xanth then steps up to the circle and pours Raven's blood onto the circle while chanting the prophecy.

"'In this world, there comes a savior," he chants, "...a savior from the depths of the flame-filled realm. The all-powerful entity who claims his wish and purifies those that follow…'"

"NO!", yells Robin as he tries to fight off the hordes of minions. "WE HAVE TO STOP HIM!!!"

After pouring the blood, Xanth stands and steps back. "Let it be known," he chants, "…on this day….the wicked shall be forgiven…their souls shall have everlasting purification…THE GATES SHALL OPEN…AND HE WILL RISE!!!"

The circle starts glowing and a flash of light shines out and into the sky, causing a sonic boom effect that levels much of the surrounding area. At that moment, natural hellspawns (appearing as dark-skinned man-beast figures with teeth, claws, shoulder-length free-flow hair, red eyes and a deep beastly growl) emerge from the portal in the light, followed by a dark-skinned man (black beard, appearing to be in his mid-40s, wearing blood-red ceremonial-like robes and boots with a hooded cloak). His eyes are human-like, but seem to have more evil in them than the hellspawns he commands. This man is Shiir-Kov.

Jackal knows by instinct what is happening. "…He's here", he says.

As the Titans look on in awe, Shiir-Kov takes a deep relaxing breathe as he smiles. He speaks with a very deep and evil voice. "Yes, my children", he says calmly. "…Hell is upon you."

TO BE CONTINUED