This should clear up some confusion!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I haven't really updated this story yet. I haven't had very much time this week to write it, unfortunately. I only reposted this chapter since the site didn't send out any alerts last time, so people may have missed the update. And it seems the problem still hasn't been fixed. This site's run by morons, I swear. It seems like stuff goes wrong every week. Also, some stuff has been added, since when describing the demon's appearance last time, I left out a minor, yet important detail. I should have the next chapter up relatively soon. Thanks for you patience.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 6: Templar's Tale
When Cyborg finally pulled into the Titan's garage, he and Jinx had somehow gone from the subject of her destroyed apartment to the last episode of "C.S.I." After the T-Car slowed to a halt, he opened the door and the two climbed out of the vehicle.
"Alright, we're here. You can come out now," he told the three newcomers in the back. No response. "Hello?" he called again. Curious, he opened the door. He was surprised to see all three of them gripping their seats tightly, the same wide-eyed look of terror plastered across all their faces.
"Uh, you guys okay?" Jinx asked. Worek, the water mage, turned his head slowly in her direction.
"Is it over?" he asked.
"Yeah," Cyborg answered. Suddenly the realization struck him that they probably never rode in a car before their entire lives. As such, they had never gone that fast before.
"Oh, sorry about that," he quickly apologized. "Hope my driving didn't scare you too badly, heh heh… Here, why don't I help you with your packs?"
The bionic teen graciously carried their packs on his shoulder while Jinx helped all three shaken newcomers out of the car.
"Welcome to our humble home!" Cy said to the four of them in an overly extravagant fashion. "If you'll just follow me up the stairs, I'll show you around the place."
He motioned with his hand for the others to follow and led them up the stairs. On the way though the azure mage stopped them and put a hand on Eutonos's shoulder.
"If you'll excuse me for just a minute, I have to speak to him privately. Phanos, you go ahead with them."
The others nodded and proceeded while Worek took Eutonos to a corner.
"Yes?" the earth mage asked.
"It's about the strangers. Well, one in particular - the dark one. I believe her name was 'Raven.'"
Eutonos nodded. "Yes? And what about her?"
"Well, she has a rather dark aura, and I couldn't help but notice her powers. They seemed rather…well, they seem very similar to his."
Eutonos grimly nodded. "I noticed it too."
"Do you think she's of the same nature as him?"
The green mage thought for a moment. "I really don't know just yet. So far, they all seem benevolent enough, but it's a little too early to make a decision. We'll just have to be on our guard and see what develops."
"Right. So you think we can trust them for now?"
"I think we can trust them enough to tell them about ourselves. We might end up staying here for a few days. In the meantime, I'll try and find out what I can about 'Raven.'" Worek nodded, and the two ran to catch up with the others.
Meanwhile, Starfire was showing the two brothers around the tower, and Beast Boy had decided to go and see what Raven was up too since she was nowhere to be found. Right when he was about to turn down the hall toward her room, he practically collided with the empath.
"Oh, sorry Raven, didn't see ya!" he said cheerfully. "Um, Starfire's showing them around the tower. If you want to-"
He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence. Without saying anything, Raven quickly walked around him and continued down the hall. Beast Boy stood there, dumbstruck in mid-sentence. She hadn't said a word to him. Heck, she hadn't even looked at him.
"Um…" he said out loud. Maybe she was in a bad mood for some reason, or maybe these visitors were putting her on the edge. Still, she usually at least made some snide remark at Beast Boy in times like those. Now however, she had almost acted as if he wasn't even there. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to follow her down the hall and find Starfire.
"And this is the kitchen, where we prepare the food for consumption! Over here you will see the refrigerator where we store the food while we are not consuming or preparing it!" Starfire said cheerfully to the two brothers, Lekim and Evad. "Inside, you will find various delicious items, such as mustard!"
Neither of them were paying much attention though, since they were more focused on her face than anything else. The happy alien was explaining to them about all the wonderful uses of mustard when Raven came bursting in.
"Starfire, Cyborg's here. We'd better help them if they need anything."
Starfire looked disappointed, but smiled all the same. "Very well! Let us go meet our friends and see if they are in need of assistance! Perhaps we shall show your other friends around the tower as well!"
After Robin finally arrived, all five Titans and mages helped her move in to an extra room in the tower. Thankfully it didn't take long, but Jinx still maintained her sour mood the entire time. When all was said and done, she had decided to stay in her room while the ten of them had gathered around the common room, sitting in a circle with the titans on one side and the mages on the other.
"Well, now that that's over with, I think it's time for you five to explain yourselves," Robin said seriously.
Eutonos, the green earthmover, cleared his throat. "Well, as you may have already guessed, we are not from here. We came here through a world portal."
"A portal?" Robin asked.
"Yes, a portal that enables one to travel between worlds across the universe. You see, we come from a world we call Pantara. More specifically, we come from the country of Basilon. We're all mages, as you can see. We are all part of the Templar order."
"Templar?" Cyborg asked.
"I've heard of your kind before," Raven said. "You wield elemental magic."
Eutonos nodded. "Right. As you can see, we all come from each of the five schools. Earth, fire, wind, water, and lightning."
"So, how did you end up here in the first place?" Robin asked a little impatiently.
"I was getting to that. As I told you, we are part of the Templar order. Us five were chosen as a group to help combat a growing threat to our kingdom. Normally the order doesn't send out ones so young, but our natural talents for magic made us all natural choices. We five were merely one of dozens of groups of mages chosen to investigate."
"Investigate what?" Beast Boy asked.
The earthmover paused and took a deep breath. "We were chosen to help fight a sorcerer who's been posing a serious threat to us. I don't know if you've ever heard of him before – he's known by many names - but his real name is Calabos."
That name seemed to cause Raven's chest to tighten. Where had she heard that name before?
"He has been gathering servants for a long time now, but has only recently revealed himself to us," Eutonos continued. "In fact, we were the ones who discovered him nearly two years ago. He was working on some kind of plague to release upon the people that would turn them all into mindless undead! We discovered some of his servants trying to attack a caravan and infect the food with this disease. Naturally, we stopped them and exposed this to the High Council. Though we ended up stopping him, this did not make him happy, and he escalated his efforts to gain power. Since then though, we have managed to foil a number of his plots. He now has a particular hatred for the five of us." He spoke the last sentence with a sort of subtle pride.
"Who exactly is this sorcerer, anyway?" Robin asked curiously. Eutonos took another breath and narrowed his eyes. The other four templar around him started to shift uncomfortably.
"He has a long history, but I can tell you that he is a very powerful sorcerer who wielded incredible dark magic thanks to his heritage."
"Heritage?" Raven asked.
"Yes. Calabos, well, is a daemon. A half-daemon, to be specific," he said.
Everyone on the Titans' side paused. All eyes unintentionally went to Raven, who looked just as shocked.
"A 'daimon'?" Beast Boy asked.
"A demon," Raven corrected. "It's the same thing, just another way of pronouncing it."
"I see this has shocked you all," Eutonos observed. "I doubt any of you have ever faced a daemon before."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Cyborg said.
"Really?" Evad asked, eyes widening.
"Yeah, we live with one," Beast Boy said reflexively. Realizing what he had just done, he covered his mouth and turned red.
"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled. Usually, Raven was not one who liked others knowing about her 'heritage'.
Raven however, remained stoic and interrupted him. "It's okay."
"What? What does he mean?" Eutonos asked.
Raven looked at him calmly, trying to remain as dignified as possible. "The others say this because I myself am a half-demon."
All of them stared wide-eyed, open-mouthed at her. Their expressions were those of utter shock and fear.
"Wait!" Beast Boy said suddenly. "Look, I know you guys may have bad experiences with demons, but Raven's not like that! She's not evil! She's a great person! She saved the entire world, you know!"
"Beast Boy," Robin began, but it wasn't until Eutonos waved his hands that Beast Boy ceased.
"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to offend you," Eutonos said. "It's just that the only experiences we've had with half-demons have all been rather bad, as you probably know."
"Yeah…" Evad said nervously.
"Well, I can assure you that friend Raven is not harmful in any way," Starfire said. "She even saved the world when she killed Trigon-"
"Trigon!" Worek shouted suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him.
"You have heard of him before?" Starfire asked.
"Of course! He's one of the eight primary demons listed in the Necronomicon! You mean to tell me you slew him?"
Raven fought hard to keep a blush from forming on her cheeks. "Yes."
"Wow, that's amazing," Worek said as he sat back down.
"Wait, let's back up!" Robin interrupted. "You still haven't told us how you got here!"
"Oh yes," Eutonos said. "Well, as I said, we were tracking one of Calabos's top warlords in an effort to capture him. He was a warlock by the name of Sephiroth. Apparently, he was trying to find some kind of artifact to bring back to his master to gain him power. We found him and tracked him until we finally managed to corner him. By then however, he had opened up a portal in a mad attempt to escape. He and his servants fought us, but we eventually won, and even managed to kill the warlock himself. However, the portal was still open. Right before he died, he released a spell that knocked us back into the portal. That was when we ended up here."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "So, does that mean you're stuck here?"
Eutonos shook his head. "No, we merely have to use a spell to open up the portal again, using one of these." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a large, pyramidal crystal. "A nexus key. It allows one to open up portals without actually knowing the right spell. This is actually the one he used to open up the portal that got us here."
"So, you can go back any time?" Cyborg asked.
"No, unfortunately. The key can't be used again for at least four days after the portal is opened. Once it's opened, we can use the key to go back home or wherever we wish."
"Oh…so you are kinda stuck here, huh?" Cyborg said.
"Yes, I'm afraid," Eutonos said. "You see, we've been to other worlds before, so this wasn't as big a shock to us. We were taken aback though because we were never in a world like this one."
"Well Raven, can't you just transport them back? You can travel between dimensions," Robin said.
"Well, yes, but I have to know where I'm going. I can't send them home because I don't really know the location of their world," Raven said. "Kind of like how you can't remember a place if you haven't been there before."
"Oh." Robin looked puzzled.
"We're really sorry. We really don't want to be any trouble," Eutonos quickly said. "We can find our own place to stay if you cannot take us."
"No, that'd be a bad idea," Cyborg said. "Unless I'm wrong, you're from some medieval-style place. You wouldn't know up from down out there."
"Medieval?" Evad asked curiously.
"He's right." Robin stood up. "Tell you what, we'll let you stay here the next few days, okay? Just long enough to go home."
"Would you? Thank you so much!" Worek said.
"We can find rooms for you, but it might be hard though. I don't know how much we have to spare," Robin said.
"Wait," Raven stopped them. "Can you tell me more about this sorcerer?" she asked. "Calabos?" All five templar looked at each other before turning back to her. Finally, their leader nodded his head.
"Okay. But we'll have to show you."
"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked. He watched as they pulled some kind of large, crystal sphere out of a pack.
"Is that a memory sphere?" Raven asked with awe.
"Yes. It preserves visions from the past." Eutonos held it up. "If you want to know more, touch the sphere and close your eyes." He placed the sphere on the floor and waited. Cautiously, Raven went up and lightly touched it. She was followed by Robin, then Beast Boy, Cyborg, and finally Starfire. Still touching it, Eutonos closed his eyes and the others did the same while the remaining four templar stood by and watched.
"The story begins over four hundred years ago," he began. All Titans felt a strange sensation wash over them. As he spoke, his voice seemed to echo in their minds.
"At that time, almost the entire continent was ruled by a great empire of a people known as the Polemians. They were warlike and brutal, but very powerful. They banned the templar order and its magics when they had taken over a long time ago. However, some groups of people secretly resisted. Some groups secretly kept their arts alive, others turned to 'other' forms of magic. Some chose rather…dark paths."
As he went on, the Titans' visions went from a solid black to a smoky gray, like they were looking through a thick cloud of fog.
"His exact origins are unclear. What is known however is that a necromancer by the name of Kilthar found an odd child rotting in one of the Polemians' prisons. When asked his name, the child called himself 'Calabos'. The meaning of the name is unknown, but we do know it comes from an ancient infernal dialect spoken by demons."
The Titans gasped when a vision appeared before them. They all saw what looked like some kind of ancient prison all lit up in flames and crumbling. In the center of it all stood a dark figure. They couldn't make it out because of the darkness and the flames, but its silhouetted form was tall and menacing.
"He freed the child and took him as one of his own. From there on, he taught the demon child to hone and control his powers. Eventually, Calabos grew very powerful, more powerful than Kilthar intended. He thought he could use Calabos to gain power for himself, but in reality Calabos used him. Eight years after being freed, Calabos finally killed the necromancer and took his servants as his own. However, by this time, the Polemian Empire had already started to fragment and collapse. Civil war and outside conflict had weakened them. In its wake were chaos and anarchy. Finally, Calabos had sensed his time had come. The sorcerer gathered servants from all around the region, men, gnolls, ogres, and monsters of all sorts of horrible kinds. He amassed a huge army, and led it on a path of destruction that swept the entire empire and destroyed it for good. One by one, the regions fell, and he took over.
The Titans saw another vision, this one of a burning village where scared civilians were running away from darkly-clad, masked soldiers that were attacking their village.
"But, some resisted. A very powerful wizard and general by the name of Arturus led the remaining free people to one last stand. He and his top captains rallied people from all the corners of the continent to resist Calabos's army in one final battle."
The Titans suddenly saw another vision that made all of them stare widely. They saw a field on which were two huge armies. On the right they saw people, most of which looked exactly like humans. Some resembled humans, but were slightly different. In front of them was a man with a white hair and beard on a horse. From the looks of him, he seemed to be the leader, Arturus. He looked middle-aged, probably no more than fifty, but the beard made him look older. On the left was a terrible mix of humans, monsters, and creatures of all strange kinds, staring at the opposing army hungrily. Finally, the white-haired man gave a cry, and his army rushed forward. On the left, Calabos's army stampeded forward as well, and the two met head on. The battle erupted into a huge all-out melee. Several scenes of carnage flashed before the Titans' eyes. From the way it seemed it looked like the good guys were actually starting to win.
"The battle fought to a draw for the longest time, but finally the tide shifted in the free people's favor. However, Calabos was not to be defeated so easily."
The entire battle seemed to pause as everyone heard the sound of something monstrous approaching. From the midst of the monster army, there appeared a sight that made every Titan's jaw drop.
It was Calabos. Only, he wasn't what they expected. What Beast Boy first noticed was his size. He was huge! He must have stood at last fifteen feet tall! While Raven looked almost like a normal human, this thing didn't look even remotely human. Every inch of his body was black. He looked like he was wearing some kind of jagged black armor, but the Titans realized that it was actually his real skin, like a black exoskeleton. His head resembled a samurai helmet, with two large horns protruding from the front. He had no eyes, or at least no eyes that they could see. A black, spiked tail thumped angrily on the ground behind him. A large, glowing red crystal protruded from the very center of his chest. Beast Boy knew about Raven's chakra stone, and figured this must have been the same thing. Unlike Raven's however, this crystal was large and looked like it was actually impaled into his chest! Aside from this, the only part of his body that wasn't black was his set of long, metallic fangs that protruded menacingly from his mouth. His mouth actually reminded Beast Boy of the creature he had seen in the movie 'Alien'. The changeling gulped nervously as he took in the frightening sight.
In his hand, he held a giant, flaming sword. With it, he lashed out at the opposing soldiers and cut down an entire row of them at once. With his other hand, he unleashed a wave of dark red energy that struck down more in his path. He cut down people left and right, none of them able to stand against him. Some had managed to stab him or land blows on him, but this had done nothing but destroyed their weapons and caused them all to writhe in pain on the ground.
"In this moment, Arturus faced the demon, and the two clashed."
The white haired man appeared out of nowhere and rushed the towering demon. With a wave of his hand, he unleashed a bolt of white energy at Calabos, and actually seemed to hurt him. For a while, the two became locked in a furious duel, but Calabos was eventually caught off guard, and the wizard thrust his sword into the massive demon's side. The demon gave a loud roar of pain, and dropped his flaming sword. The wizard readied to strike again, but the demon sent him flying back with a wave of red energy and rushed away from the scene.
"Calabos was wounded, and he fled the battle. His army, now leaderless, was defeated. For three long months, Arturus and his monks pursued him. Finally, they cornered him on the very summit of Mount Tygal, and Arturus finally defeated him once and for all."
Another vision appeared, this one of Arturus stabbing the massive demon in the chest again on top of a snowy peak.
"However, Arturus did end his life. Instead, he did something perhaps even worse. He imposed a terrible curse upon him – a curse of no flesh. Calabos's body and powers were destroyed, but his spirit and mind were not. Now powerless and almost a ghost, Calabos was forced to wonder the world and watch as the people around him rebuilt. His spirit fled to the forest of Darkwood, where he remained for hundreds of years."
The Titans saw a forest briefly appear, one that looked very dark and foreboding.
"Meanwhile, the people around him rebuilt, and Basilon was reformed. The templar order was reinstated, and we slowly regained our glorious past. However, as time went on, Calabos's spirit slowly started regaining power by drawing on the energies from the land around him. He strengthened enough to regain some abilities, including enough to actually appear to others, but he was still just a shadow. His spirit showed itself to the monsters that had followed him before, including his most deadly servants, the gnolls, who swore allegiance to him again. From there, he slowly started regaining his servants and his power, but he was still not able to obtain physical form and thus regain his powers completely. He has constantly been looking for a way to regain his form, but so far he has not been able. It wasn't until a few years ago that he launching attacks at the people around him. It was only hit-and-run, but it was enough to cause trouble. To this day, he has remained elusive."
The visions finally faded, and the Titans opened their eyes and found themselves in the tower once again.
"The rest is history," Eutonos said as he put the sphere back in a pack. "As we said, we discovered him a couple years ago. Since then, we've been trying to find out where he resides and from where he's striking. Unfortunately, we haven't found him yet."
"Wow…" Robin muttered. "So that's why you're here, huh? That's just…wow." Every templar nodded. "Well, we don't normally do this, but we'd be happy to let you guys stay a few days until you can go home."
"Thank you," they all said humbly.
"But it might be a little difficult. We don't have that many spare rooms left," he said.
"Meh. That's no problem. We've had to share rooms plenty of times," Evad said.
"Man, that's incredible. I wish there was something we could do to help," Cyborg said.
Eutonos shook his head. "No. Even if you could help, we would not ask you. This is our war, not yours. That would be asking too much of you. You have your own problems you need to worry about, and we have ours."
"Well, the least we can do is give you a place to stay until you can go home," Robin said. "Well, now that that's decided, we might as well figure out where you'll be staying."
Beast Boy and Starfire looked rather happy that they were staying. Raven however, seemed to have her mind on something else…
"Hey Raven, do you-" Beast Boy started, but stopped when he noticed she was sweating. "Raven? Are you okay?" he asked. Raven opened her eyes and looked straight ahead.
"Raven?" Robin asked. The others had also noticed her strange behavior. The empath looked around and stood up.
"I have to go meditate," she said and took off for her room. Everyone in the room stood there, confused.
By now, it was nightfall, and the Titans had managed to find three spare rooms for the Templar to stay in. "Well, it's kind of bare, but it's better than the floor," Cyborg said as he flipped on the light switch and showed them the room. "We have only three spare rooms unfortunately, so two of you will have to share."
"That's fine," Lekim said as he dropped his pack. He and his brother surveyed the room. There was very little furniture and only one bed.
"Wait, there's only one bed in here!" Lekim said, fear growing on his face.
"Hey, chill! I'll bring in some cots so you two won't have to, um, share," Cyborg said.
The two of them shrugged and nodded. When all was said and done, the two brothers ended up sharing a room, Phanos and Worek shared another, while Eutonos (being the leader) got a room to himself, despite his repeated offers to share with someone else. Since all five of them were exhausted, they decided to get some rest as soon as they were all situated. Tired as well, Starfire had decided to "get the 40 winks". Jinx still hadn't come out of her room, and Cyborg had decided to go check up on her (big surprise).
As Eutonos took off his green cloak for the first time that day, a soft knocking came at his door. He went up to his door and pressed the button slowly, still a little uncertain as to how to use the device. As he'd hoped, the door opened, revealing the water mage Worek. He was still wearing his azure cloak, but was no longer wearing his sword or his armor.
"May I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.
Eutonos nodded and allowed him in, shutting the door behind him. "Well?"
"This is a very strange place. Frankly, we're lucky we ran into these people. We still really don't know much about them, though."
"Well, we'll have to change that tomorrow, won't we?" Eutonos said. "Especially the one they call 'Raven'."
Worek nodded and walked over to the window, looking out at the moonlit ocean and listening to the waves beat against the shore. "I knew there was something strange about her. I still can't get over that a demon would be good. Do you think we can trust them?"
"I think we can. We should try to ask Raven about herself. If we can learn more about her, we might be able to learn more about Calabos."
"And find a way to defeat him." Worek finished.
Eutonos nodded. "Unless you want to, I can try to talk to her. You four in the meantime can get to know the others and just relax, but try to learn a little about this place, too."
Worek nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me. I don't think the others will object, either." He turned and headed for the door. "Well, I'm tired. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Now free, Beast Boy headed for Raven's room to check up on her. He decided he'd better do it before Robin could.
"Raven? You there?" he asked. "Are you okay?" He was caught off guard when Raven's door quickly opened a crack. Her voice came from the other side of the door.
"Just go," she said emotionlessly.
"Raven, you were sweating back there! Are you sure you're all right? Do you wanna talk?" he asked. He couldn't see her face, but he could tell just from her voice she wasn't okay.
"I'm fine. I, I'm just not feeling well. Please go." Her door swiftly shut and Beast Boy was left out there, alone, frustrated, and even more confused than before. This was the second time she had blown him off that day.
"Why is she avoiding me?" he asked aloud.
"Beast Boy, just leave her alone," came a voice from behind. The changeling turned to see Robin staring at him from down the hall.
"But she's-" he started, but was cut off.
"You know how she is. She needs some time to herself when she's like this, and you'll probably just make it worse anyway. Just let her go for now. I'll talk to her later when she's cooled down," Robin said.
Beast Boy's lips formed a mean scowl on his face. "Oh, I get it. I'll naturally screw things up, so you want me to leave her alone so you can go and make her feel better, just like you did during that Trigon mess. Is that it?"
Robin glared back at him and folded his arms. "I don't appreciate your attitude, Beast Boy. As team leader, I have a duty to look after my teammates."
"Yeah, of course of you do," Beast Boy said as he approached his leader and looked him in the eye. He was now almost eye level with him after having grown some. "Even if it means doing everything yourself, right? I mean, why let any of us have anything to ourselves when you can hog all the glory? That's pretty much been the standard since day one, hasn't it?"
"Beast Boy, do you have a problem? Because you're really starting to-"
"You know what? Fine. Go talk to Raven. She'll appreciate your company more anyway!" he said angrily. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, fearless leader!"
Confused and angry, Robin stared down his teammate. "I don't know what brought this attitude on, Beast Boy, but you'd better stop, or-"
"Or what?" Beast Boy snapped. "What are you going to do, Robin?"
Robin scowled at Beast Boy and narrowed his eyes. "As team leader, you have my permission to buzz off."
The changeling gave a defiant sneer. "And I will, with or without your permission!" He angrily pushed past Robin and stormed off to his room. Robin hovered in the same spot for a while, frustrated and trying to figure out Beast Boy's strange behavior, before finally trudging along to his own room.
Inside, Raven sat down on her bed and rubbed her hands over her face. The image of the towering demon replayed over and over in her head. Those jaws - she had seen them before.
Her dream. It had to have been the same one she had seen in her dream. The first one had already been fulfilled. What about this one? Why had she dreamed of him beforehand? She hadn't even known about this monster's existence before! This was not good.
Off to the side, one of Raven's statues had exploded as her emotions went running rampant. This day could not have gotten any weirder. First her strange dreams, then the five newcomers, then Jinx, then Affection's feelings about Beast Boy, and finally her vision of a demon that frankly scared the hell out of her, and she didn't know why. This, as one could expect, didn't do a lot of good for her emotions. Thank god she had mustered control over them through the years, or things would have gone haywire by now. She needed to meditate now.
The mage breathed deeply, squatted, and rose into the air as she slowly chanted to calm her nerves. She would have to tell Robin about this soon. As team leader, he'd need to know. Raven had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. She couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen…
Ugh. Well, I didn't really like writing this chapter since there really wasn't much happening, but hopefully this will answer most questions. I should have the next chapter posted soon.