Chapter 1: Something ends.
Strapped to the cold stone table laid the 16-year-old girl, her skin paler than the moon, clad in her purple spandex, her robe had been removed and destroyed - a symbol of her saviors' power that her captors had no interest in preserving. She wouldn't need it anymore. Her name was Raven, at least that was her new chosen name. Once upon a time, her mother had called her Annabelle. That very same mother was currently one of the six-eyed beasts holding her captive. She was bound with chains enchanted with the blood of the sorcerers of Azarath - Ravens own masters. The young mystic knew this meant only one thing. Azarath had fallen, the first line of defense the multiverse had against the greatest evil she knew had fallen.
Her father was coming.
She strained against the chains, she tried to cast her magic. She went through all of the trials and tribulations in her head. Her friends. Her regrets. All of those feelings she had never allowed herself to feel. In fear of her father creating a bridge into this world with them. All of her sacrifices would now be for nothing.
"BROTHERS!" A man clad in a black hood yelled, he was standing on a stone next to Raven, facing the other way, out towards the crowd. The other, 20 or so people around the dimly lit cellar of the thousand-year-old mansion. The rest of his followers gathered there, among them Raven's mother, she threw her head to the other side and found her uncle, cousin, and other relatives, people she had known and loved here in the mortal world among the members of the cult. The man cast off his hood. The girl recognized him immediately. His name was Jackson Devlin, and he had been her high school teacher, the only one who seemed to care about her while she was growing up - before she dropped out. He held in his hand a dagger, ornate with runes on it in an ancient language very few could still read. Raven knew she could even though she had never learned how to read it. She refused to read it, she knew where the knowledge came from.
"Today our mission ends! Our duty is done! Today, we herald our master into this world. We shall bask in his glory and create our paradise under his rule!" The crowd cheered.
"But there are two things that still need doing. First, we, the loyal subjects have to make an offering." He promised with the knife in hand.
"An offering in blood. Join me, brothers and sisters, put your hands on the stone and let your life force give power to the spell!" The stone pillar the altar stood on had a place at the bottom for everyone to put their hands, Raven only now realizing she was some 5 meters into the air. The air got colder as everyone placed their hands on the rock.
"Now, brothers and sisters. Let your power enter the altar of S'aar. Power up this tool of our lords' excellence!" Jackson cackled, Raven, recognizing that people were losing blood that came pouring up the rock, around her forming a pentagram, no. Not just a pentagram. A rune. Six eyes. And she could immediately feel her body changing, tensing up. The intense mystical power inside of her surging. She was stronger than ever before right now. If the chains weren't holding her down - she could have changed the world with a thought. This power... Was intoxicating.
But soon, the fantastic of it started to vain, her training and resistance to such pursuits, the easy solution kicked in and she came back down, down to her sense. The followers' dark hoods began falling off from their faces as their bodies had given enough blood.
Throwing her head around, she'd see old teachers, nurses, the nice cashier at the supermarket. The guy at the antique bookstore. Everyone Raven had known and held dear were in this very room, their eyes glowing with a sinister red glow. Once the rune was fully charged, Jackson cut his hand open, six eyes appearing in his head. Raven's mom appeared on the other side of the stone table, next to Jackson. Her six eyes had a more intense glow to them. Her mom said nothing, Raven was horrified at the sight, trying her hardest to use her new powers to break free, but she couldn't.
Her mother sliced her hand open, just like Jackson had with the same dagger, using the other side of the edge. Holding it above Raven, her hand was layered with Jacksons' hand.
"I am the Bride."
"I am the Disciple."
The two said in unison.
"This is your prophet. Your avatar. She is the daughter of Darkness and she shall be your vessel. The hour is nigh, it is time for you to rise, Lord Trigon!" The two let their blood drip onto the rune they were standing on, its glow growing more violent and the entire room echoed with a deep, dark voice beckoning his return.
"Stop!" Raven begged, choking back tears but nobody heard her, for there was not a human among the crowd.
The dagger pierced her chest, to her very heart.
"You're dead, Raven." The voice spoke, it wasn't a taunt, there was no feeling at all involved in the words. It was a fact, final, and an ultimate one. Raven had no body to answer with, her body was currently being taken over by the worst evil she could imagine.
The voice echoed within her.
"Suffering has been your lot in life.""It's not fair." The teenager complained, she had no body yet she spoke, she couldn't quite explain what this place was or how it felt because somehow, it felt like nothing yet everything at the same time.
"Is this heaven?" A part of her clinging to the teachings she had once learned as a child - long before she knew of her true heritage.
"Heaven is not available to you, daughter of darkness. Your very existence is an affront to the foundation of paradise.""So, I'm just gone? Trigon is gonna steal my body and get to execute his plan? Bring an end to it all?"Unless you choose to stop him, child. I am a being far more suited to ward off your father than you are - even than the mages that raised you were. For their teachings came from a part of me." "How will you help? What do I have to sacrifice?" She wasn't a fool. Nobody, especially not beings of the cosmic magnitude, gave anything away for free.
"I ask for the same thing your father would. You to be my vessel and I shall hold him back. You will be my rider, and we shall bring the wicked to justice. Vengeance is my name, and you young witch are my champion."Raven felt like she let out a sigh - a truly fascinating experience, given how she didn't have a body - She could feel her father's presence nearing. He was approaching and once he took hold of her now empty husk of a body, nothing could stop him. Not the Justice League and not the Sorcerer Supreme. Raven could feel the energy of this Vengeance. It was pure. Holy. Everything she wasn't. More importantly, she felt this presence to be as strong as her own father.
"I accept."
Member
Hound55,
DocTachyon,
Captain Uni,
Antlers,
Supermaxx,
Anciek,
Eddie Brock,
Theyra,
Neziul,
Not a Sayan
