Teen Titans; New Divides – Universal War – Finale
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Chapter 16: Her Folly
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~ Yet long ago, in that same universe, a child of the mysterious world of the Ethereal was to be born; watched over by many and beloved by all that had the chance to witness such a time to take place on this plane of existence.
Now, many planes held up the balance and instructed the realm of the mortal bound, where the boy in the desert story before had grown and nearly had died to discover his birthright.
The other child, a child of light and wonder, had always been brought to believe in his astounding potential to govern a part of the world of Ethereal. The great time of the awakened eye was upon his little sect one hour, at just the age of two – hundred. The mother too was very young, yet very wise. She told her sect to hide her many children of the god- lands across the cosmic rifts. To see to no harm befalling her fated heirs of such rights of passage. The youngest was not yet to be seen into the world, yet the young boy of light and curious features did not desire to stay and do as he was told.
One year, as his coronation into the order was to be held and for, he to be honored by all of the beings within this high realm, a voice called out…so faint and so sad. He was taken by the voice. A spell over his mind, now coming of age as he followed it…
Leaving the safety of his world to be stolen by another's power…
Over a much darker intent…...
~ The Forbidden Myth: "The Age of Envisioning and His Rapture of the Damned." "Book - 162." ~
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Ignito shut the large tome with a snap. This lair of his was getting quite cramped. He'd had to reorganize his records a great deal thanks to Constantine making the boy act out as a regular magi might do, maybe.
~ Raku my boy…my lordship. Can you not see it? ~ He smiled and let the room be washed in gold, as stories in all of this and every time was both reborn and written.
(Very important!!)*~We are Archivists of Lore. You are a God's child of not records, yet of fate itself. And of wisdom, ye shall be granted…Let us see if your "magi – master" has a whole grasp on the situation…Shall we, little Universal? ~
He faded out into the void; gone to do impossible tidings, to make mischief and to guide the lost as he was created to endure all matter of tasks – that included, having this Demi – God made true. True enough and strong enough to understand what he really was…and why Athena would come to quake at the sight of Ignito's little incarnated rebel – rouser.
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~ SPOILER ON RAKU'S TRUE NATURE TO COME, SO LOOK ALIVE! ~
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Hakuro had seen plenty.
He walked the halls as a shadow now to the Great Athena's domain between realms. He was here accomplice, and his price…
Was his role perhaps as a deity to be of Virtue and Justice.
He would lose that totemic light and be cast aside, just for having a desire to purge the worlds of blemished impurities that they; the gods of old, had certainly come to create.
Chaos, and he HATED the taste of it on the tip of his tongue.
Hakuro had been made blind by Roku's evil power (arcs ago Roku tormented Hakuro when he'd been in his younger less powerful form with Dick Grayson as his charge and protector. He was abandoned he believed because he did not want to trust anyone that pitied the dragon, including the former Chosen.)
Tsani would most likely call his actions criminal, as would Lady A'. The one God – figure of the Ethereal that would call him a lost soul for abandoning his rites to pursue one of vengeance.
He had it all. The Chosen was at his side. Safe from Raku's twisted wants. He had the post of power over a light similar to a Celestial's and he was well respected here. Even among the fallen and used…. all of the realms would understand.
Athena hated Raku as much as Hakuro missed Richard. He was once a god friend…and someone he could protect if he was allowed to continue by way of the man's son and other offspring.
Not, Raku. Raku was a plague to the figure of everlasting, tainted light.
His eyes could not see, yet the void was there. The rift growing by leaps and bounds if no one were to stop the balance from shifting.
And Hakuro would do everything in his power to fix that gaping tear in the fabric of life itself.
Even if he had to do away with as many of those unholy specks as he should. It was his job, he was a vassal of Justice and none had even to ask!
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Aiden stayed by Anna and watched her through the bars to her cell. The bars were of magic, not of iron. He was there to be an aid in this oncoming purge. Anna was here to wait on a rescue or for Deathstroke to finally think up a plan to get them out.
~So…. You like it here? ~
She turned her head to ask the stone-faced man with a fiery scalp of auburn hair.
~ I'm here to protect you. ~ He said with a sigh. ~ And I want to make sure you are contained. Athena was clear –
"And what about what you want?" Ann snipped. "You always were the person who choked when trying something new, but you just didn't have the discipline to find your goal like everyone else in this family. Even Ami is a damn saint and Ava is the queen of the Norse gods!" She threw up her hands in exasperation at that sentence. "I even became a Navy gal and swapped to the Army just so my feet were back on the ground again to stop you from making a terrible…. You always screw up!"
She lost it. The pressure of waiting, and of seeing that emotionless gaze was enough as her hands felt hotter. Fire pulled back by the magic of her cell.
"With poor Lisa, who you couldn't understand by her feelings. And by Dad and mom who are worried sick about where my life is going too….and Isa!? Aunt Isa lost her only son. She watched us like her own so we wouldn't end up burnt to a crisp! You owe her a lot -Uncle Shoji is still one of the good guys and looked after Ami this entire time, but do any of us care?? No! And what about Aunt Rachel? She's got a Death star sized migraine since we came into existence! And Uncle Vic? Gar? And Dami…. Grandpa Wayne?? We screwed it up big time for them by wanting to be heroes – but you know what?? WE were SUPPOSED TO BE!"
She raised her voice, seeing the phoenix's cry breaking down the other's walls as he shook his head and groaned softly.
"I'm a fire bird… Ami's a sun goddess, Ava's an icy queen of some fairy -tale land, and You?? You are a stupid white knight with a dragon in your damned head saying you have the power to get it together! And I –
~ Are you harassing my poor ally? ~
"I'm trying to fix what you broke! He's, my brother, not some damned drone!" Anna shouted and her scream made well over the now cooked bars of the cell. Heh. Time for some spanking of that little –
~I don't think it right to let you go, fire girl. ~
"I…AM NOT –
She was shocked by the cage that held her. Hakuro's arm was out and Anna was to her knees, clutching her gut.
~ You need to be quiet. Athena is trying to plan the next generation of the gods. ~ Huffed the light being as he took Aiden's arm. Anna screamed out, pain and panic littering her brow.
"Give him back!! Aiden!! Snap out of it!! He doesn't control you!! Please!!Get away!!"
~ Shut…UP! ~
Anna snarled at Hakuro as his temper came out, white hot as his features.
~ Athena is saving your world; can't you see it? Raku was a mess on order and brought chaos to turn our realms into a joke. He destroyed my family, and he will take from you and all the others until his story is done! Archivists are thrill seekers! They write and steal manna in many forms, or had it just dawned on you that the parasite you house is nothing but a menace since stillbirth?? That I didn't ruin your brother, but saved his wasted life as fodder to that worm of a daemon scumbag!??~
"Raku is more human than you think. Athena is just angry at the person who –
~What do you know of our history?? Were you there?? ~ Hakuro raised his palm and made Anna grit her fists to her sides. The agony as much as this little tyrant wished for. His quest not yet complete.
~ I had promised to protect the chosen. That was always my rite. Not the red lord's not the guardians'. ~
He snorted to the red headed prisoner. ~ Aiden will find a way to break from the demon's hold once and for all. ~
"Long enough for you to swoop in and look like the hero." Anna growled. "You're messing with his sense of right and wrong….and Raku was –
~You…. will not speak that creature's name inside these holy walls. ~ Hakuro warned with a hiss. ~ I'm not tainted any longer by his evil presence, and if he does soon try to rescue his prince? ~ The eyes of the spirit being were jaded, so very angry at the world.
~I'll cut out those devil's orbs as he did mine. He won't ever see the face of the ones' he's ruined …And that will be MY idea of justice served, enough. ~
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Anna went over the words he'd said. "Justice…with pain? That…" She gripped her skull and groaned. It was a bother, oh yes…wait for Slade or set off and get out on her own.
She couldn't wait to slap that face of Aiden's for being so careless.
"First Roku, then Apep, and lastly… Ugh." He was a damsel. No doing a thing there, most Power – sources were meant to be guarded for dear life.
"Lil…She did everything to screw up my time as a human being –
~Why not try to put aside your humanity and fight? ~
The fire bird? No…
"I am not going to start this..not now –
~I'm trying to get to know you better. But, if you wanted a rescue party, I have just the thing. ~
That voice!
Anna scrambled to hear as a hole in the floor opened. An intangible being in black and maroon with eyes as embers, long hair to his toes and a book…in his hands.
~Time is not your master here, little incarnation. ~
"Ignito…" Anna gasped. "How…you can do that??"
~I'm not bound by the laws of the gods, only of the void and beyond it. ~ He explained still, rather cryptically. He was the part of Raku that knew just about everything and that he'd feared to become yet might never be. As in, enlightenment but with a shadow still attached.
"Where is your kid?" She asked.
~ He's making his way, somehow. ~ Sighed the aspect. ~ What of your odds? ~ He asked back. ~ Would you not like to have the power to save the day? Your fire bird rites are connected to his story. ~ The dark jinn figure said. ~ I could release its power for only a moment to turn the tides. However, Aiden is a dragon, a stubborn and proud beast. ~ He chuckled and opened his book to reveal an image in still life of their fights. And Anna watched with awe.
~ This is why a dragon and a phoenix are unique when they work together…~
"How?" Anna wondered through her anguish, buried deep down. "His brain's gone to mush and high and mighty Hakuro is more like a god of vengeance than mercy."
~He was a part of Richard Ainsley's tale and failed at it.~ The aspect turned the page as Anna's eyes curiously followed. ~ HE was not unjust, yet he was weaker than Tsani. Not at all a test that A' might approve for he was disowned as her child, and as a so to the Ethereal upon that mark…~
"Then…" Anna gulped. "Roku really did ruin his life."
~ He wallowed; he did not fight. He was careless and left himself to save his post by dirty means. The council that took him in was only after the rites of A' and what remained so he was locked away to never discover it. He was tainted by darkness, and for that we may only be willing to fix with forgiveness from both. ~
"He, is really a mess…" Anna wanted to pity Hakuro, but he'd been bullied and then became the bully. He had to get a stern talking to by someone. "Someone, like Aiden ???"
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Stopping here for now! We have to get it to twenty chapts or bust. Let me know if this is in need of extra content.
Also, Azag was a record keeper as was Lord Dream - wake, but is an archivist really just a type of archaic time lord in all of this or much more??
What is the aspect Ignito talking about when he says and wisdom, or the Chinese mythological reference and symbolism of the phoenix and the dragon? Ignito just keeps on popping up everywhere! Read on and see the rest in chapter 17!