CXII
Bruce Wayne vs. Trigon
The reality which had been nighttime in Gotham city shattered around Bruce, broken shards of Wayne Towers and the Gotham skyline falling into eternity - leaving him alone in emptiness. Barbara and Trigon had disappeared as well so that he stood in an infinity of darkness. This place was the very embodiment of nothing. He shouted to the darkness…
"If we're finished… I would like to go back to Raven now."
Bruce closed his mind. He actually wanted to talk with Trigon first, but he didn't want the demon to realize it. It was starting to come together…
In a flash of red smoke, Trigon appeared before him once more, now only a head taller than Bruce, standing across from him in the darkness, struggling to maintain the immortal fury inside him… The anger on the demon's countenance was painfully obvious, a glare of hatred leveled at Bruce,
"This is all I have left to offer you, mortal. You must be content with nothing! So here it is, look around you. This is obviously all you ever wanted from me… Do you believe this to be a game, Bruce Wayne?! You have just doomed the lives of one trillion souls… That was no illusion. That was one branch of the 52 realities, a reality without the Great Trigon… And yet you toss aside my gift I have willingly given, as though it were mere chaff."
"And what would happen to that red thread of Fate after I pulled it, Trigon?"
"It - and I - would disappear from that existence. On that, you have my word, Bruce Wayne."
"But where would it go?"
"It would go elsewhere."
"To become the thread of Fate for Raven's destiny in my world."
"Her threads of Fate are irrevocably intertwined with my own in all destinies. Do you think your noble sacrifice will save her or your world from my power?! Do you believe Raven will not embrace her true inheritance? That hope is baseless…
I offered you your only chance for survival, a world of your own in exchange for something you can never possess… how incredibly naïve you are, mortal. In your extreme insolence, you have chosen a woman you can never own, Bruce Wayne... Raven is mine!"
"I don't own her, Trigon. Raven chose me. And I chose her. Fate may have brought us together but we chose to remain with each other, to love…"
"Such pathetic, ignorant devotion… Is this what they call love?..." The word left a bad taste in Trigon's mouth. "Shall I twist your eternal soul into a ring then? Is this the symbol of love? Compress all that you are into a little band of living flesh so my daughter can wear you around her little finger for eternity? For surely, that is your proper place in her Universe…"
From behind him, Bruce felt the familiar grip of the white-gloved hand rest upon his shoulder. He really should have been surprised to find the Phantom Stranger appear in this bleak dimension, but strangely, he wasn't…
"This man has passed your trials, demon. Release him!" The Stranger spoke with righteous anger and authority.
"…Make me."
Trigon grinned devilishly at the Stranger, as though goading the mysterious figure to take action against him, to force his hand.
"Don't do it, Stranger." Bruce held his arm out to prevent the Stranger from advancing into battle. "He has no power over us unless we attack him first."
"No power over you?!" The roar was deafening. "I am Trigon, mortal! I have destroyed a thousand worlds, leaving only barren rock remaining in my dark wake…"
"How many worlds have you destroyed that didn't attack you first?" Bruce had stood firm against Trigon's shouts of indignation.
"Never doubt the incomprehensible might of Trigon, fools!"
"I don't… You are divine retribution on a scale I never dreamed imaginable. But you only react… You had your demons destroy Azarath without lifting a finger because it was the one place which would never attack you. You have destroyed the nations of Earth which attacked you, but only those nations. Krypton attacked you and paid the ultimate price… You possessed Talia when she was making her play for me, didn't you?"
"Of course. She needed very little coaxing however. I reveled in the magnificent lust I found there, Bruce Wayne. She could have given you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams, she still may if you desire…"
"I don't. When Barbara went to remove Talia's finger from her mouth, you configured that as an affront upon you. That's why you were able to twist Barbara's soul and mind like that… to show her that future… and I promise that you will pay dearly for what you did to her, demon."
"Shall I? Did I not offer you the chance to save her, Bruce Wayne? To save an entire reality and the innocence of Barbara Gordon?"
"Only at the cost of another… And that other reality happens to be my home where my wife waits for me."
"Death waits for you, mortal."
"Then let it wait… When you were in my soul, the bat-demon of revenge that possesses me – the one that drove me to create the engine of destruction to avenge my parents' murder - acknowledged you as its master… I know what you are, Trigon."
"What I am you could never comprehend, even in a lifetime of devotion and study."
"You are the God of Revenge."
"It is true, I seek revenge."
"But why?... Why exact vengeance upon unknown worlds which have done nothing more than defend themselves from a perceived threat? That's the final piece of the puzzle…"
"A puzzle beyond your recognition, insignificant wretch... Do you truly believe I need to even lift a single finger to destroy your world? You're so close to destroying each other already… a simple nudge here and there and poof! I will mirthfully witness your idiotic nations tear themselves apart."
"E Pluribus Unum, Trigon. Humanity will resist you, your evil will drive us to work together as no other force in our history ever has… You've lost, demon."
"You overestimate the nobility and resolve of the human soul, Wayne. Neither you nor your precious mankind will ever prevent me from obtaining my daughter and destroying your world."
"That's why you need her, isn't it Trigon?... She doesn't have the limitation that you do. If she were to follow your crimson path of destiny, she could destroy any world - whether they attacked her or not, couldn't she? You would use Raven as a tool of destruction just to overcome your one single restriction - so that no life in the Universe would be spared..."
"Demon!" The Phantom Stranger had listened incredulously in silence, but his anger now prevailed. "All the powers of Order will stand against your mad design, Trigon!"
"Let them… I shall rewrite the powers of Order to my own accord, Stranger. When I have destroyed this Universe, I will simply create another."
"We must leave this place, Bruce Wayne! There are powers that must be alerted to prevent this tragedy. The Universe will not let you prevail, Demon!"
"Perhaps… I may even be stopped, Stranger… I may not live to see the End of all that is. But rest assured, there is no power that exists in Creation that can stop my daughter from her allotted destiny!"
The evil laughter of Trigon filled the entire void in despair as he disappeared from view in crimson smoke, leaving only the Phantom Stranger and Bruce Wayne alone in the darkness. Traces of the world he had left behind were slowly fading into view. He was returning.
Bruce placed a firm hand upon the Stranger's shoulder to look him in the eye…
"There's always hope, Phantom Stranger. There is a power that can stop Raven from any prescribed destiny which Trigon holds for her… and that power is Raven herself."
"Let us pray you are correct, man of Gotham. But in the meantime, let us tip the scales in her favor."
Bruce nodded as he watched the morning sun cast off the darkness of the void. The scene of destruction in the desert of Kahndaq he had left behind mere moments (and two lifetimes) ago returned. The trials of Trigon were over...
But the final battle had just begun.