LXXXIV
Eden Lost

As Raven teleported back at the beautiful estate she had learned to call home, a feeling of concern for Bruce made her stomach sink even as their parting kiss still tingled upon her lips. She had left him alone with a man she could never trust, a man who could harm him…or worse. She hated to be apart from her husband in the presence of such evil, but Scott Free's need was greater.

Before her appeared Clark, Barbara, her mother Arella and Alfred...who had already began cleaning debris from the floor where Clark had burst in through the ceiling. Raven grinned when she caught sight of the old gentleman's look of disdain. Turning to the cause of the mess, Raven realized she had no idea where Scott Free even was.

"Where is Scott located, Clark?"

"Near an old temple in Kahndaq. If you can get us close, I can fly us the rest of the way. Are you ready, Mrs. Wayne?"

"I'd like to go as well..." Raven was surprised to hear Barbara Gordon.

"I'm sorry Miss Gordon, it would not be safe." Clark answered with the voice of manly confidence and fatherly concern.

"I would prefer if she came with us, Clark." She had surprised herself with that... Raven Wayne was beginning to see Barbara Gordon as a friend, no longer a rival.

"I may not be able to protect all of you."

"…You won't have to." Raven was again surprised to hear her mother speak. For all her Azarathian philosophy, Arella was a force of magic in times of need.

"Shall we go then?" Raven instinctively raised her jacket, which felt strange after wearing a cloak for all of her life. Earth clothes were still foreign to her.

"If it's all the same to you, Mrs. Wayne, I would prefer to stay. There are some contractors I would like to call." Alfred was looking up at the hole through the estate's roof, his hand covering his eyes against the sunlight which shone through.

Raven lowered her jacket and stepped over to the old man. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she had to levitate six inches to kiss the tall gentleman on his forehead.

"Be careful, dear friend. There may be danger even here," she whispered.

"And to you, mistress. Godspeed."

"OK everyone, here we go." Raven once again raised her jacket flaps as the familiar black smoke engulfed the four travelers as they disappeared into its mists and across dimensions.

They had left the autumn cool of Gotham city for the stinking heat of Kahndaq. Any nose could detect diesel fumes while a keen nose could detect the odor of the sun-warmed dead. Above them, dark swirling clouds gave the land an ominous feel as the sun began to set.

Along her dimensional shift, Raven had managed to key-in on the emotions of one of the mother boxes, using its frequency to land next to Scott and Barda Free.

She witnessed for herself that the situation was indeed dire. Even with Barda's mother box covering the hole in his chest, Raven could see that the new god had been mortally wounded. It was Clark who first spoke to Barda, the warrior woman who had remained by the side of her exposed husband - his Mister Miracle outfit and mother box now dust in the desert wind.

"How is he, Barda?"

"…Dying. The mother box's power is fading, even with this foul-smelling noise-maker." She gestured at the portable generator, still belching diesel fumes. "He needs a hospital now!"

"Barda…" Clark seemed crushed to have to ask the following question… "would a hospital even be able to help him? Can a doctor's scalpel cut him? Will human blood be able to be transfused into his veins? I ask this because I know there's no hospital on Earth that could ever do that for me…"

"You want me to leave him here to die! We don't need you anymore Clark, you can go!" The tears were streaming down Barda's eyes and there was an accusation in her voice.

"Please… if I may, I know something of the ancient healing arts." Arella moved over to Barda to place her hand on the tall woman's shoulder, kind indigo eyes gazing into warrior blue.

"I hope you know them all, priestess. Save him… please."

Arella gently placed her hands on Scott Free and began chanting incantations that hadn't been heard on Earth for over a thousand years. The air around her began to spin, matching the increasing winds of the gathering storm above as her hands emitted pure white light. She continued while the other four prayed silently for Scott Free…

Finally, after many agonizing minutes, Arella fell backwards… exhausted.

"By the will of Azar…he is no ordinary man… I have done all I am capable of…"

"Will he live?!" Barda was inspecting the wound critically when a stranger answered her…

"No my dear, he will die... I'm afraid all of you will die."

Barbara, Clark, Barda, Raven and even a listless Arella turned to see a man dressed in long, red silken robes - flowing in the warm winds framed by the setting sun, approach. It was the stranger who had provided the sinister answer while their attention had been entirely focused on Scott… No one had even noticed this thinly-bearded stranger approach their group across the desert.

"Ra's…"

Raven did not know this man, but someone in her did. They had used her mouth to say the word. She was surprised when she realized it was Azar herself that had come to the surface of her consciousness… the mother of Azarath knew this stranger well.

"You recognize me, princess of the angel?" Ra's al Ghul beheld Raven carefully.

"This child does not know you, Ra's… But the soul of your one true love… the wife who forsake you, with a belly full-of-child to pursue her girlish dreams... this one does."

"Zara… You have returned to bear witness to your crimes against duty and love." Ra's spoke with the confidence of a man who heralded an army, an army he had apparently left behind.

"I have wronged you, I can never deny this… But I beg of you Ra's, if there is any love left in your heart, please do not do this! Do not bring the great ravager onto the land of our home! Do not destroy this world as Azarath itself was destroyed!"

"There is love in my heart, Zara… but not forgiveness… We tasted of the fruits of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge… yet you would try to spit out the taste to absolve humanity of its sins. You are not forgiven. The coming of the Red Angel will absolve this world of its sins the only way it can be done. You took my kingdom to build your Eden, I will use what you left behind to make mine."

"We don't have time for this!" It was Barda who suddenly shouted at the stranger, standing at her full, threatening seven feet.

"None of you have time."

To prove Ra's statement, thunder clapped above them as they suddenly heard a deep, ominous laughing echoing across the sky above. The land itself vibrated with each evil chortle, all hope dashed before its wake. The center of the cyclone above seemed to have torn a rift into space beyond the sky.

"Ah, guys…" interrupted Barbara, "there's something coming through the hole..." There was true fear in her voice as she craned her head to the heavens.

It was Clark who took action, breaking the stalemate. In the blink of eye, he had effortlessly hoisted Ra's al Ghul off his feet with one hand, the other ready to put a hole through the man's face if he didn't get the answer he wanted.

"Close it, Ra's… NOW!"

There was no fear in the Arabian to the Kryptonian's threat, only a profound sense of joy.

"You will is strong, man from the stars… but not that strong."

It happened before Raven could intercede... Talia was a rank amateur compared to the power her father. As Azar and her people had traveled the path of spiritual mysticism for a thousand years, so too had their abandoned lord walked the path of the mystic… a path to the bowels of Hell and back. He was stronger than even Azar herself dreamed possible.

Even so, given time, she was certain she could force Ra's spirit out of Clark's body… But Ra's had been correct, they had no time. The Nebu were now landing upon the sands around them, greedy sets of insect eyes turning towards them while tentacles and teeth hungered for soul-laden flesh.

They had to leave.

Raven reached out to gather Clark's spirit into herself (which felt like being sunburned on the inside) and teleported herself, her mother, Barbara, Scott and Barda across dimensions once again as Nebu began to streak hungrily across the desert towards them. The discarded body of Ra's al Ghul she left behind.

…The maddening laughter booming in the skies continued.