Author's Note: In classic Greek mythology, Elpis is the personification and spirit of Hope, the last spirit that remaining when Pandora closed the lid. This is why mankind has never lost hope.
The Seven Deadly Enemies of Man are Lust, Gluttony, Greed. Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. These are the statues that line the Rock of Eternity where the Wizard Shazam dwells.
CXLVII
Darkseid vs. The Justice League
Part Four: The Dragon of Hope
The pain alone would have killed an ordinary man.
Instead, a near-dead Bruce Wayne had simply fallen into the space between the worlds of the living and the dead…
Into the last passage of consciousness, where the pain had stayed behind, his body beaten beyond the limits of his mind to comprehend in this realm. Back in the real world, he was perfectly aware that Darkseid could end him at any moment… But not yet… Not while he had a chance…
In this dream - where Death was kind enough to wait for it to end - stood the foreign black-haired man, draped in flowing white robes who had summoned him… someone familiar. Yes, it was memory… he had met this man with the Phantom Stranger upon a rooftop in Shiruta…
"Aye, Bruce Wayne… You knew me as Teth-Adam, the foe who foolishly battled the God of Freedom for the love of Barda. And now, by divine mercy, I am the newborn spirit of the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity. By the Wizard Shazam I have been granted my final chance at salvation…
The greatest of my sins is that it should have been I who battled this vile God called Darkseid – the scourge who now defiles my homeland… But alas… the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man caused the downfall of Teth-Adam long before I could fulfill this noble destiny. The passions of my mortal heart were the life-blood of the Enemies. Truly, had Teth-Adam lived to face Darkseid with such a heart, I would have kissed his hand and bowed before him - accepting the Tyrant as my eternal sovereign lord…
Yet through the greatest act of providence ever decreed in history, it has been left to unwise Adam to choose a new Champion… To choose a man who will represent the Gods against the evils that now befall us. My time upon your plane grows short, mortal. My spirit must return but a choice will be made! And I believe in this dire moment that the Champion of the Gods must be you, Bruce Wayne!"
Bruce cautiously eyed the spirit of the Wizard Adam and recalled what he could of him, forcing his battered senses to return. Teth-Adam had fought Clark to a standstill and even bested him in his Kryptonite-weakened state. If what Adam spoke were true, Bruce could equal even Clark's level of power as the Gods' Champion…
And could it come at a better time? Everyone Bruce cared about was now at Death's door, including himself and suddenly he had been given the opportunity for power beyond his wildest dreams, to be able to now protect those he loved…
There was a sudden scraping sound behind Bruce… And then the heat of a snarled hiss. Turning in a dream, he saw the Bat crawling towards him… The thing that would follow him to the afterlife. The spirit of Vengeance that had guided his life through the dark corridors of Hell - to avenge the loss of his parents to terrorists twenty years ago by any means… True, Bruce hadn't pulled the trigger of the Engine of Destruction, but he had allowed that weapon to fall into the hands of a madman…
…The madman Ra's al Ghul.
The eleven million corpses rotting in Kahndaq now pointed a bony finger at Bruce's soul.
"Aye Bruce Wayne, there is blood on your hands… just as there was blood on mine. The heart of a Champion must begin life anew, beyond such corruption. Can you free yourself of the sins of the past? Can you free yourself from the bat-demon of Wrath that even now seeks to claim you as its very own?
You must never underestimate the power of the Seven Deadly Enemies. To be a Champion is to possess untold power - yet not one single action may be used to serve their cause, Bruce Wayne. Of the Seven Deadly Sins, it is Wrath that has nested in your soul. But be warned, Bruce Wayne!… Should the hand of Wrath continue to guide you, you will become corrupted by Darkseid, and take him as your God. This I have seen."
"Then why, Adam?! Why choose me?!"
"Why? Look before you… look upon the end, Bruce Wayne. And know that when these Champions of Justice fall, so too falls the Universe… Hope itself may become lost in this very moment. That is why I have chosen you…"
As Adam lifted his arm, the darkness surrounding them suddenly departed. It was as though Bruce were a spirit floating above an emerald battlefield frozen in time. This was an out-of-body experience… Below him, he saw his own body, pinned to the ground by cruel green beams that were now nothing more than fixed images, energy suspended in a single frozen moment of time.
Just beyond, a motionless Clark struggled, still sheltering Barbara Gordon while she wore that same frozen expression upon her face – willing her damned Ring to work once more, unable to comprehend that Darkseid had simply drained it of all power. The Amazon Princess Diana struggled to remain erect – gripping her sword, immense pain and effort scrolled upon her face.
Poor Barda now lay beneath a dozen beams while fallen Orion lay twenty feet beyond – his lover Lightray was deflecting the beams from the battered warrior as best as he could. From this perspective, there could be no denying it…
They had been beaten.
And yet, standing before the vain God who was about to destroy them, was his valiant Raven. Even though Darkseid had wrenched the cruel pin through Raven's small midsection, there was a look of defiance in her violet eyes. The same needle that had affixed the Gods of Maltus to their crucifixes…
Bruce now understood where the terrible pain had come from, the one that had seared through his own gut – this was what Darkseid had done to her… angrily using the Harpoon of Fate, driving the cruel stake through his loyal Raven as the price of her defiance.
Yet - she continued to defy him.
Black ebony hair flowing in a frozen single moment while those brilliant violet eyes beneath burned with soul fire. This was the true Raven, a perfect blend of light and darkness, the child of Trigon and the disciple of Azar. She had been the key to destroying the Universe but had freely chosen to save it.
To save him. To remain with him for eternity.
Bruce had felt the pain Darkseid had inflicted upon her.
It had been beyond any agony he could ever describe or comprehend. And yet… it was not pain that filled those eyes. It was the supreme blaze of courage and the inferno of defiance that filled those lovely eyes… the same eyes he had been so fortunate to gaze into every night for the past year.
The unbelievable courage in the face of Damnation, to look it squarely in its eyes and still embrace the sacred beliefs she held as the last daughter of Azarath. There was no wavering in her conviction… in his faithful Raven. She was Azarath and she was Hope.
The God of Tyrants may pin her eternal soul to a crucifix upon Maltus as an example to all who dared to oppose him, but he would never truly beat her. He would not crush the Hope she held within. It burned in her, in those perfect violet eyes for the Universe to behold and admire.
Bruce suddenly remembered… There was a dragon in her, a dragon… of Hope! That was what burned in that gaze… That Darkseid could never truly defeat the only thing Pandora had saved, that was the same spirit that was now living inside Raven...
Hope.
Elpis.
Raven was the reincarnation of Elpis!
In that moment, the epiphany became crystal clear to Bruce Wayne… In this Universe of Gods and rebirth, it all suddenly became clear…
He was never meant to be the Gods' Champion.
"Adam, are you blind or just stupid?"
The Wizard Adam was taken aback by the mortal's sudden question. He stopped and stared quizzically at Bruce's spirit as they floated above that single instant of time, where the balance of the Fate of the Universe was held delicately upon the scales of this very decision.
"I humbly admit that many have accused me of being the latter… including myself."
"Adam, even with just one eye, I can still see who needs to be Champion. Look at her! Even now, on the verge of death, just look at those amazing eyes, Adam! Those are the eyes of your Champion. And that… that is the heart of your Champion… Pure and balanced beyond measure, sorely tested each and every day by the evil of Trigon, yet still true to the light. Do you understand?"
"I… Yes… There is merit and wisdom in your words, Bruce Wayne. Her heart is pure, yet not naïve, and her courage is like an inferno unyielding. She hides her true self well in humility, but only to protect those she loves. But will she accept the role of Champion in this greatest hour of need?"
"You'll have to ask her… although I'm pretty sure what the answer will be."
"Thank you, Bruce Wayne. And let us hope that your woman may save both our souls."
"Adam… She's saved mine already."
Raven had desperately wanted to teleport herself and Bruce to safety… to flee from the oppressive Darkseid and his deadly Manhunter army. But she could not abandon her friends to the Tyrant - who would only destroy them and follow her. No, she must make her final stand, even if it now cost their mortal lives.
Azarath had long ago taught her how Tyranny was defeated… with Hope. Even the most tragic slave could be freed, the most defiled soul redeemed. These were the miracles which Azar had performed for a thousand years, rescuing humanity's most tragic and lost souls, transporting them to Azarath to offer them redemption.
Her own mother Angela Roth had been saved this way. An orphaned street urchin who had been taken in by a dark cult, and then tricked into becoming the sacrifice of Trigon at the turn of the millennium. Horribly impregnated with demon-spawn and left abandoned, Rachel Roth wished for nothing more than her own merciful demise.
The unborn Raven was the prophecy of a foretold darkness. The bringer of the end times… Trigon's own daughter, sired by a demon who had destroyed a thousand worlds, the promised bride of the Lord of the Unliving who would bring about Blackest Night in exchange for her contracted soul.
Azar had known all of this… yet she had freely offered both mother and unborn child sanctuary for twenty-one years.
Azar had gathered lost souls like theirs, saving each and every one. The Faith and the Hope that she had given away over ten centuries had been crafted and recorded into the rings that Raven now wore, the Rings of Azar… Azar's own soul still dwelled within Raven so that Azarath and its compassionate deeds would never be forgotten.
With Faith and Hope had come Acceptance. Acceptance that Raven was the child of Trigon, not a demon but rather a God of Revenge and that Raven herself was half-God. The Ancients and even the Gods themselves had damned Hope as nothing more than bright folly, sealing it in Pandora's Box with all the other demons of Man. Their last and only companion.
But Raven understood.
She understood perfectly well.
Without Hope, Darkseid's vision of the Universe would come to pass. The Prophecy of Stone had been written into the stars by Suli herself, for a price Raven may never know. A Universe that would freeze in perfect balance, suspended in time. Without Hope, all was lost.
Raven understood that the weapon that Darkseid now assaulted her with was the same needle had been used on the Gods of Maltus. It was the same tool that Verdandi had used to spin the threads of Fate, only larger. It pierced her very soul, which fixed her own Fate to this spot, removing Raven from Yggdrasil's weave. This was the plight of the Gods upon Maltus… removed from the Weave.
And yet she would not permit Hope to abandon her… To allow Darkseid the final victory he so desperately craved. She would push apart the stars and become Atlas to the Universe itself before she let Darkseid realize the Prophecy of Stone.
And then… she beheld the spirit of Bruce before her with another by his side... Yet only in her mind's eye. They were in the spirit world, a place she knew so well. Time slowed around her, until it now seemed to stand still, a millisecond stretched to Eternity.
Surprised and staring at the two spirits in her consciousness, she recognized the other man as Teth-Adam, but he was different now - clad in long, flowing white robes and his emotions were at peace. Adam reminded her more of an elder of Azarath than the villain who had battled Clark, Scott and Barda.
"Raven Wayne… I am the Wizard Adam." He bowed politely. "Your husband has opened my eyes so that I may see you as you truly are… as a worthy Champion of the Gods. I can bestow upon you such power that you may break the Prophecy of Stone and end the reign of Darkseid. You need only accept the role of Champion, choose six patron Gods, and say one magical word.
But before you do so, I must warn you that the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man will constantly tempt you, as they did poor Teth-Adam. Their guile is beyond measure and your vigilance must be constant, fore if you ever allow them to ever sway your step, even for one brief instant, you shall fall from the path of the righteous."
Raven thought for an instant before replying…
"I would be honoured to become the Champion of the Gods, Wizard Adam… but I am afraid my Fate has now been fixed. This Needle of Fate removes me from the Weave. While I am affixed, I am unable to accept. Do you have the strength to remove it?"
"As Champion I did… but alas, I am Champion no more... Progeny of the Goddesses of the Fates become heroes and champions… which is why I had first selected you, Bruce Wayne."
"I'm the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Adam. While they were powerful people, but I'm positive that neither of my parents were Gods."
"And yet you are a child of the Goddess, Bruce Wayne. You bear her touch. She allows you to change the Weave with your own hands while others are helplessly bound to it. Such heroes are the children of Fate."
"…Bruce," spoke Raven, "become Champion my love. Save them and live. It is not too late for you."
Bruce concentrated for a second… the wheels of thought spinning madly in his brain.
"It's not too late for you either, Mrs. Wayne… You weren't bound by that Needle 3.7 seconds ago… were you? How long have we been in the spirit world, Adam?"
"As the Scribe of the Rock of Eternity, it is within my power to slow time, although only temporarily I'm afraid. In your mortal world, no more than one thousandth of a tenth of a second has passed, Bruce Wayne."
Raven grew concerned…
"Bruce… I know what you're thinking. It's too close! I also felt the terrible pain you're in. I am immune to the Manhunter beams, but you are not, my love. And you must have felt the searing agony of the Needle of Fate. How will you even be able to activate Tim's watch through such agony and torture?... Accept Adam's offer and live, my love… please."
"I will… depending on how you answer one question, Raven. Was Darkseid always this close when you began talking to him… or did he step forward to stab you with Fate's Needle?"
"Yes, Darkseid stepped forward. He said I shall have you forever…just like your father, he advanced on the word 'your' and then plunged the needle into me on the word 'father'. That terrible memory will be etched into my mind forever…"
Raven's sad eyes watched as Bruce's spirit did some mental calculations, counting the seconds associated with those words…
"He took one step? Those are his footsteps in the sand, right? That's about a three foot stride… Damn, this will be close."
"You said one question, my love… that is three. I will survive… but only if you live! Become Adam's Champion… for me."
No… I won't lose you Raven. I can't… not like that. Not while there's a chance. Based on the first strike with Diana, the angle of the beam should just miss you… but I will have to be quick. When we return, I may have less than a second to activate the watch. Which should prevent Darkseid from impaling you and give you the chance to save us.
Raven… you have to teleport us the instant that Darkseid is struck. Take us back to where we battled Trigon... Adam, as soon as we teleport, I need you to join us, stop time again for us and then present the offer of Champion to Raven immediately, is that understood? If Darkseid so much as suspects or is given the opportunity, he'll kill everyone here."
Adam stood perplexed.
"I understand Bruce Wayne, but how may the past be altered? Even I do not have such power…"
Bruce only smiled.
"Stick around and watch, Wizard. The LexCorp Tachyon Cannon Number One has one shot left and I've got to make this one count. I'm just hoping that Tim was clever enough to engage tracking functionality for that satellite based on its last target. I won't have enough time… or strength… remaining to aim and fire."
Raven was not convinced.
"But Bruce, how will you even have the strength to fire?! You are precious seconds away from death! And immobilized by the crushing beams of the Manhunters. Even mighty Orion could not save himself. Please my love… save yourself. Darkseid will not kill me, he'll simply torture me for eternity."
"Over my dead body, he will!... I can't lose you, Raven. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out what you are… You're truly the last Hope the Universe has… and you don't even know it, my dear.
You're the personification of Hope… if the Universe is to survive, you have to live and live freely. Which is why I'm afraid I'll need to borrow that Hope for just a little while, my lovely wife."
"Borrow? I do not understand, Bruce… What hope I have is yours, but..."
"Raven… You are the reincarnation of Elpis... The dragon that you bear inside your God-soul, it's the dragon of Hope, one of the 'evil' spirits the ancient Gods placed inside Pandora's Box, that was reborn into you. The New Gods and their children are all aspects of the Old Gods, recreated through the Source. And you, my beautiful wife, have now become the Hope of this existence."
It was all so strange for Raven to comprehend… and yet… it was true.
She was the child of a God, which meant that she could be a spirit reincarnated. She recalled that Elpis was the daughter of Nyx, and Raven was nothing if not a child of night, a raven-haired daughter of darkness.
After the destruction of Azarath - when all had seemed lost and she had been drowning in the Sea of Oblivion, she had become the Dragon. She had flown on dragon's wings through the Sea! And then Azar had told her that they would not defeat her father, but rather that they must embrace him, and that Raven must become as she truly was!
Because she was Hope! And Azar knew…
Azar, how long have you known?!
Since the night I exiled you to Earth into the arms of this man, step-daughter. From the moment I defied Trigon and embraced his daughter.
Yes, she was Hope, one of the children of Nyx placed inside Pandora's Box. That is why Darkseid sought to crush her spirit, why the Tyrant had sought her out this way! She was the only obstacle remaining to his complete domination of the soul. Freedom had fallen, but Hope remained!
"Bruce, whatever you require I will give you. We are one, my love."
The spirit of Adam stepped forward, a new look of strain furloughed his brow.
"We must hurry… my time upon your realm grows perilously short. A Wizard has only twenty-four hours in his lifetime to leave the Rock of Eternity - and the sands of that time are now measured in single grains."
Yes, it was time. Raven flung open her spirit arms to allow Elpis passage into this dream realm.
The dark serpent of shadows broke forth from Raven's soul, majestic and powerful on massive ashen wings. Elpis, the spirit of Hope! A coiling, powerful serpent of light and shadow which danced in the air and flew directly into Bruce Wayne… the Spirit of Vengeance joined with the Dragon of Hope to balance the scales of Justice…
Bruce felt Hope's immortal power now burning within his soul. He was not a God, but he far beyond any mere mortal. He knew what he had to do… With his dying breath, he knew what he had to do… to reach across and double-tap one icon on his watch. To give the Gods Hope.
He took one final look at his wife.
"Raven, I love you… I always will… Whatever happens, we will be together for eternity. Adam, please take me back."
Author's Note:
Everyone remembers the dragon that Raven transformed into back in "Drowning in the Sea of Id" in Chapter 36, right? One hundred and eleven chapters later, all is explained…
So… If Raven becomes Adam's Champion, which six Gods do you think she'll represent?...