Huff!.
She took a deep breath — though it was not necessary to fill her lungs in an astral plane of the boy's soul, she did so anyway.
"Okay, here I go!".
Stretching out her hand, she reached towards his original sleeping soul with eyes closed and senses wide open.
Then, tightening her grip on the boy's forehead between two fingers of each hand as though to steady herself for what she must do next.
"Alright now – the next step is to make the dream world. In order to do that I will need more memories from him." she spoke with a low voice.
–And then.
"I can see it"
His memories were like stars up in the night sky - scattered pinpoints of light that spoke to each other through stories no one else could hear.
"Alright now for the next and final step".
Closing off what seemed like miles between them, She slowly gathered these disparate essences until Her grasp felt full enough for Her creation — a dream world composed entirely from his own innermost thoughts
In the dream world, her new creation was flourishing.
ZAP!.
Raven slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see the fruits of her labor.
" it worked!".
She said in satisfaction as she gazed at a gate made of pure white energy, like a wall between two worlds, and through it she could see an ancient Colosseum full of people.
She got up from where she had been seated by the slumbering boy on the floor and approached the glowing portal cautiously, as she started examining the structure carefully.
"it appeared that place to be an exact replica of an ancient Roman Colosseum ... interesting"
She said before reaching out with both hands touching either side of the gate.
—— it's prefect.
she thought to herself, proud of all that she had achieved in creating such a complex spell-work in such a short time.
"Now All I need to do is make the copy of the boy to go through the gate."
She slowly turned around, and beheld the boy who suddenly appeared standing before her, with his head bowed in a state of slumber.
"Well then boy time for you to go"
she said with a patient smile as she stepped closer towards him.
She extended her hand and lightly touched his forehead before murmuring some strange words only her mind could comprehend.
"ነቅተህ አታቅማማ፣ የታዘዝከውን አድርግ" Wake up and do not hesitate, do what you are commanded to do by your scorching heart"
Hmm!
then, like magic, he opened his blackish- sharp eyes wide and silently marched forward into the swirling energy portal.
ZAP!!.
She watched as his silhouette began to dissolve into the portal, fading away until all that was left was an invisible force - a gaping hole in space.
ZAP!.
The energy portal still remained in place like a burning ember of light and she felt its draw on her consciousness.
Turning her gaze to the boy slumbering beside the portal.
"No! Please Sto‐p I-i am I would n–"hk!.
she saw anguish etched on his face as she could feel, his fear and pain. His expressions changed quickly from one of terror to agony as he writhed against whatever spell had befallen him.
"Am sorry kid, I really am, but this is for your own good. All the same, I'm going to try and make it easier on you"
Her heart ached for the boy as she reached out her hand to touch his forehead.
"that's only fair. You won't have to suffer too much pain if I can help it - let me take some of that burden away from you so you don't feel too broken down by the end of this trail"
In a faint whisper, she uttered an ancient words of a spell.
"የሚነድ ተወርዋሪ ኮከብ ነውና ህመሙ የሚዘልቅ አይምሰላችሁ።" Do not think that the pain will last, for it is a burning shooting star that burns and then subsides.
Ack!
She could feel his pain and sadness radiating off of him in waves as her magic worked to take it away. It wasn't an easy feat- she had felt worse before, but even so, each soul was unique and different ——especially his.
The feeling never got easier, yet she knew that it must be done - for this too was one of her traits.
"You got this raven!".
So instead of recoiling from the current emotion swirling inside her soul like a stormy sea lashing against rocks, She pushed back with all the strength and love inside herself until eventually those unharmonious feelings were replaced by peace.
Sigh!.
She sighed with relief as she watched the boy's face.
"thank god, His pain seemed to be subsiding".
Raven smiled softly, relieved that the slumbering boy's face was finally relaxing into a peaceful expression. All of the anguish and shaking had gone from him, replaced by a gentle calm. She reached out her hand and ran it lightly through his thick black hair.
"Just hang on there, boy," she whispered reassuringly under her breath. "I promise you that this won't take too long."
So she continued moving her hand through his thick black hair, Her fingertips lightly tickled against the sides of his face.
" _ "
he almost seemed peaceful as he lay slumbering in front of her and she continued moving her fingers in tender circles around him until eventually they came to rest on either side of his head once more.
"finally he seems more at peace. I just pray that this trial he is going through will teach him something valuable".
Sigh!.
She sighed again as her gaze left the boy's tranquil countenance and fell upon the portal before them.
"It would appear like his counterpart is having a grand old time...".
she suddenly said in a detached tone, taking in the chaos and destruction that was unfolding within the dreamworld.
BOOOOM-BOOOOM–BOOOOM—BOOOOM!!!!.
"How awful..."
she literally could see and hear lightning and thunder exploding everywhere inside the dream-world, fire blazing and screams echoed from all corners. Despite this destruction, she could see the boy's counterpart carelessly just flaying around destroying everything on his way while seemingly enjoying himself.
"He reminded me of one particular maniac superhuman, with an American-Flag as a cape...luckily he wasn't as strong".
She said to herself with disgust as she remembered one of her visits to another universe — a world where superpowered individuals were recognized as heroes by the general public and worked for a known powerful international corporation's that marketed and monetized them.
But outside their heroic personas, most of them were just corrupt, self-serving degenerates who pursued power only for its own sake. Raven really hated that world — it had been filled with corruption and lies from start to finish.
Raven shook her head, dispelling the darken thoughts of the past that had threatened to overwhelm her.
"Th, that thing… no..Not… me…"
She looked down at the slumbering boy and noticed his expression was no longer one of peaceful slumber.
"No… no…s–stop..."
He seemed troubled now, With a sad yet determined tone of voice she said "I can't do anything for you now - this is you fight please be brave and endure it" before she reached out and gently stroked his hair with her hand in an attempt to at least soothe his soul.
"No... no...I—
Of course her touch and words did not work completely. This time, because she didn't use any magic or spell to take on his burden and pain, because he had to fight his own battle against his anger and hatred instead of relying on a spell or other form of magic to take away his burden and pain.
He needed to witness it all, to feel it all, so as to learn what would happen if he followed the wrong path, trusting only in those negative emotions to guide him through this trial, as there is No amount of coddling could replace this lesson ——at some point he had to face his devil himself that until now was caged by his weakness and hopelessness.
Hm!?
Raven was just about to speak again in to soothe the sleeping boy in front of her, when she suddenly noticed movement around her. She drew back and held her breath as she whispered,"That's wired! I swear I just saw something movi–AH!..."
Her words were cut short when hands crafted from shadows began reaching out towards her from every direction.
The darkness stirred with whispers and rustles, further intensifying the tension and alarm that flooded through Raven's body.
She stood in the darkness, like a prey to whoever control those shadowy hands but determined rather than terror-stricken.
The boy lay slumbering before her, and around her were shadowy hands that seemed eerily familiar - darkly potent yet wicked - as though they belonged to an old power she had known. but they were darker than what she was used to feel when the demonic influence of her father on her was on it's prime —a power beyond good and evil, but even so...
"You got this raven"
she murmured under her breath, digging deep for inner reserves of strength even as the wispy black tendrils suddenly shot forward with lightning speed, encircling and trapping her like a mouse in its cage.
ጋሻ"–shield"
Chang!.
She murmured a single word, and suddenly a dome of pure white energy appeared out of nowhere to encircle her the gate and the slumbering boy at the last moment.
KRNCHH!.
The shadowy hands crashed into it without effect — each one dissolved upon contact with its shimmering surface. Miraculously, they left no mark or trace upon it as they all dissipated away like ephemeral smoke.
"from where this is coming from!?" Raven murmured to herself as she looked around in the darkness that was outside her glowing white dome of magical energy.
"It seems there's more of them!".
She clearly could see more movement around her, the shadowy hands, was writhing and twisting all over the place as if they were snakes searching for a way inside her dome.
"It seems like it's not over yet!,"
she said aloud, and almost as soon as the words had left her lips.
KRNCHH!.
more shadowy hands crashed into her dome only to be violently dissolved like all those before them.
Huff!.
She took a deep breath and tried to focus on what was happening—trying to figure out what or rather who is attacking them in a place like this.
KRNCHH!.
Hk!.
Raven gritted her teeth and concentrated to keep the dome of energy in place. The shadowy hands kept coming, more insistent than ever before, pressing against the forcefield with a festering strength.
"Where is it coming from!?"
With narrowed eyes she sought desperately for some sign of their assailant.
"I can't see anything damn it!"
yet all around them was an impenetrable abyss of opaque nightmare that filled her gaze with nothingness. She felt as if they were stuck at its centre, adrift in this infinite darkness and unable to escape its clutches no matter how fiercely she stared into it...
"Even using empathy proved useless...".
The darkness seemed to smother her, muffling her senses —her inner senses felt like a dull knife when trying to pierce the darkness, Which in turn unable her to locate the source of the attacks in this thick blackness.
"I need to find the attacker!"
Even so, she still didn't give up as she desperately continued searching for any sign of the attacker —any chink in this wall of shadowy hands that was still raining on them from all the sides.
" I could not even split myself into two since my body is not here at the moment!"
Even if she could miraculously detach herself from her body and float out into this darkness, searching for the attacker that had come against them, it would be hopeless—for everywhere she looked were those hands of darkness tying to reache toward them with no good purpose.
"Besides, those hands give me the feeling that if I got caught by them — it would be a game over for sure".
She said as Her eyes still darted wildly around the darkness, searching for the source of this attacks until...
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her and she closed her eyes in concentration as she maintained her protective dome of energy. She called out into the darkness.
"Rock of Eternity! Do you hear me?"
...
Nothing stirred in response.
"I am in need for your help at this moment! I am under attack, and I need to locate where this attack is coming from!"
...
Still nothing.
"Please rock of eternity can you ever hear me I am in a pickle here!?" but she kept calling out as if in response while she closed her eyes tight.
...
Yet no matter how deep she looked within herself or into the ether around her, it proved useless —there was no answer forthcoming nor any sign from it.
" it seemed as if whatever or whoever was attacking us— had managed to cut me off from any possible connection outside the boy's soul"
she said as she felt a deep sense of unease, but she is still holding her ground, fiercely maintaining the dome of energy that surrounded them both.
Suddenly She looked down at the boy slumbering beside her, and felt a deep chill settle in —she had an inkling that this attack could be connected to him in some way.
" _ "
"But how was he involved?" She wandered aloud while She also knew he was not the one responsible for instigating the attacks in the first place.
Also Despite being scared of what these millions of shadowy hands may do to them if they caught them, she still sure of one thing—if it came down to it and all else failed, she had enough power within herself to fight off every single one of those hands.
But, In the same moment however came another realization —if she went full force here, Raven could not bear the thought of such destruction possibly consuming the boy's fragile soul.
"No am not doing that!"
She gritted her teeth and steeled herself against using too much power or risking any harm coming upon him as a result of her battles for survival.
Crack!.
Suddenly Raven saw that the dome of energy surrounding them started crack and churn under the relentless barrage of milions shadowy hands that surrounded them.
"As i expected...this shield won't hold for long".
Raven could feel the immense pressure building and knew that she had to act quickly or be overwhelmed.
Huff!.
yet she didn't panic or anything, she was still calm and collective as she simply took a deep breath closed her eyes, and steadied herself and murmured "Come on Raven! Concentrate!".
Slowly opening her eyes again, as if a great power had been unlocked within them —they glowed with a brilliant white light.
Her glowing gaze was transfixed on the advancing shadows. As her attention focused, a powerful energy seemed to build up around her.
"የበሽታ መከላከል!" disinfection!"
ZZZZZZ!.
Suddenly the dome crackled with electric energy, glowing brighter and brighter until.
BOOOOOM!
it seemed to suddenly burst outward while radiating in all directions—Raven was surrounded by a brilliant white light that grew more powerful as it raced away from her body like an unstoppable wave of destruction towards any shadowy hand that would seek to encroach upon her and anyone with her.
——destroy them all.
With just her thoughts, she commanded this force outwards in every possible direction within what appeared to be one mile's radius sending out an impenetrable wall of pure white energy.
It was such intense power and rage for protection that each shadowy hand met their demise immediately upon contact with this pure white energy wave emanating from this lone girl standing fearless — as if defying anything that would attempt to stand against her.