[Tier 3]

Umbra

umbra (ˈəmbrə): n. [Latin] Shadow or darkness.

"And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming"

—Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven"

She hadn't even had time to leave a note.

One moment she'd been writing in her journal and the next, the universe was just…wrong—tilted on its axis and void of all color and life.

Raven was thrown backwards off of her cot as an ear-splitting crack erupted through the cavern. Each surveillance monitor screeched as they malfunctioned in tandem and then it was silent, save for a building, high-pitched whine that Raven found was coming her own mouth.

Why was she alone? Where were the guards? Shakily, Raven grabbed the side of the cot, the metal rail so cold that it burned her fingers as she tried to peer over the side.

The floor of the cavern gaped wide, and, as Raven looked on in horror, three dark figures emerged from the chasm—two large and hulking, and the third slim and serpentine.

"It has been many a year, child," said the third figure. "And, I must admit, these wards are very strong. But, alas, not strong enough. Sire will be so pleased."

Raven choked back a scream and edged backwards, her fingers slipping and scrabbling for purchase on the cool stone floor. She tried to call her magic, to banish these people from whence they came, but it was as if she were cut off from it, somehow. She could feel her magic, yes, but it was distant, unreachable. She was alone, anchored at the bottom of the ocean, and her magic was the sky above the breaking waves.

"Who are you?" she managed, her voice sounding stronger than she felt. "You weren't supposed to—"

"Get in?" The man stepped into the light, and Raven's heart stopped as she recognized his face. It was the man from the dream—the snake man with the gash of a smile. "Haven't you heard the prophecy, my dear? Nothing can stop the Dark King from getting what he wants. Come along, now."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Raven spat, baring her teeth, and, finding a nearby candlestick, brandished it as a weapon.

The snake-man looked back at his henchmen and they laughed raucously, as if Raven had just told the world's best joke. Raven bristled, annoyed, but even she could see that a fight between the four of them would not last long. Her eyes darted around the cavern for something, anything she could use to aid her escape but in the end, Raven had no plan, no brilliant idea, and her friends were either gone or could not hear her.

"Enough!" Snake-man said, punctuating the end of his sentence with a clap, and the men beside him snapped to attention. "We must depart. Sunset approaches."

"Don't touch me! Let me go!" Raven screamed until she was hoarse, but the hands around her neck were strong, and no matter how she fought to keep it, her breath seeped out of her, and darkness fell.

Raven woke up struggling. She thrashed and kicked, aiming for eyes and throats even with her eyes closed, but her feet and fingers struck only air and some hard, unforgiving surface beneath her.

Hesitantly, she opened first one eye, and then the other. Poles of gold swam into view, criss-crossing and intertwining and surrounding her on all sides. As she pushed to her knees, Raven was struck with a sense of vertigo when the floor beneath her canted suddenly, thrusting her up against the bars.

She seemed to be in a…hanging birdcage, not unlike the one Nightlocke kept her dragon in. It was dark beyond the gilded bars of the cage, but Raven could hear the soft plink of water dripping somewhere, and its echo told her that she hung alone in a large room or cavern, and that the floor not very far from her feet.

Something rustled as she moved, and Raven looked down at the swathes of white, lacy fabric that billowed out from her arms, gathered at her waist, and stopped just above her ankles, lace edging tickling her bare feet. She felt violated, obviously having been seen naked by those disgusting men. And bathed, she noted with alarm, as the scent of some unfamiliar soap filled her nose whenever she shifted. Panic shortened her breath and peppered her neck with beads of sweat but the most horrible thing of all was the thought that Raven had no idea what was going to happen to her.

Raven knew that she was supposed to become the portal, but none of those books ever told her exactly how that was going to happen. Would she be torn open as her father used her body as a literal gate to this world? Or would they force her to say some spell, or magically charm a door? If she knew the answers to any of those questions, perhaps she might also find away to circumvent it. Because how can you stop something you can't name?

Wait, her magic! Raven frantically centered herself and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt her magic, its fierce, rushing current right beneath her skin. So they hadn't taken her magic, at least not permanently. What a dumb move, she thought as she called up her soul-self, didn't they know her magic was her ticket out of there?

Raven hit the top of the cage with an abrupt clang! and fell right back to the floor instantly. Alright, so maybe they did know.

Peering through the bars, Raven could see that she was in what looked like the sanctuary of a church. Below her, where the apse and altar should have been was bare, save for deep grooves in the tile where a hexagram had been carved into the floor. Stone altars marked each point of the hexagram, and her birdcage, suspended by nothing but a simple, gold chain, hung right at the center. There were sheets of glass propped up against the altars, each as high as a man, and dread flowered in Raven's chest at the sight of them. She didn't know what they were for, but her senses were telling her that they had a terrible purpose, one that should be prevented at all costs.

The rest of the church was empty and dark, and obviously hadn't been used for years, or perhaps decades. Its tiled floor was cracked and chunks were missing in places, and the broken stained glass windows cast monstrous shadows on the walls. Raven could see the deep purple-red sky and the sun just touching the horizon beyond the glass. Didn't her captors say something about sunset?

Panic revived, Raven felt along the sides of the cage for the latch, for a keyhole, for anything, but the bars wove into one another seamlessly, and there was no door to speak of.

"Now now, Little Bird," came the wheezing rasp of the snake-man, as he emerged from the lengthening shadows. He came to a stop near the largest altar, and lay a hand on it reverently. "Cease your struggling. We wouldn't want to muss your pretty dress, now would we?"

Raven spat at him, feeling victorious when it splattered right on his cheek. The snake-man swiped at the spittle angrily, breaking his cool and confident visage.

"Fool!" he snapped. "You will regret that. I will take great pleasure in seeing your so-called friends' broken bodies bleeding on the stones and feeding the Dark King the power he needs to rise. And when it comes time to spill your blood, I will take great care to slowly—"

"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH MY FRIENDS!" Raven snarled, thrusting her arms through the bars of the cage, trying and failing to claw at his white priest's robes. She screamed in frustration, and there must have been something feral in her eyes, for her captor paled and retreated a few steps.

He recovered quickly, however, and his lips curved in that obscene smile that still haunted Raven's dreams. "Oh, but I shall. Why, you've led them right to us. Just enough, I might add, for the ritual. It's almost as if it were…planned, don't you think?"

Raven stilled immediately. "What are you talking about?"

He chuckled indulgently at her, as if Raven was a silly child asking foolish questions. "Oh, my sweet, sweet, naïve Little Bird. The Church of Blood's seeds are many—did you think your side was the only one capable of planting spies? Come now, let us talk of more adult things."

Out of the shadows materialized a cowled figure, who stepped up behind the snake-man and whispered in his ear. Straining, Raven caught the words "Master Sebastian", and "—vehicle approaches—" and, "shall we—send out the scouts—" before the snake-man—whom she now knew to be this 'Master Sebastian'—nodded and dismissed the messenger with a hand.

"Your friends have impeccable timing, I must say. But of course, you did have a hand in that," he said, pulling a small bundle from his robes, and Raven sucked in a breath when she recognized Byter's training suit. "Flawless craftsmanship. Pity it shall burn with all the rest," he added morosely, looking genuinely put off by the waste of skill.

Raven squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the bars of the cage so tightly, bone white showed through her already pale knuckles. She ran through all the spells she knew in her mind, but she could recall nothing that would get her out of this place, not without going through the ensorcelled birdcage. And even if she did get through, there was still an apocalypse to prevent.

If she could just get a message to her friends…tell them to turn back, that it was a trap…If there was no…blood…for the stones, she thought with distaste, they wouldn't be able to raise her father then, would they? If only she knew what the ritual actually needed…If she could just stop them from coming inside, that would have to be enough!

Raven's frantically-laid plans were interrupted as the massive double doors at the head of the church flew open. Scores of cowled figures poured into the church, spreading along the aisle and along the walls. Raven's eyes darted as she hoped against hope that her friends would not be with them, but was disappointed and horrified to see their limp bodies being towed unceremoniously towards the sanctuary. You're too late, that wicked part of her whispered in a singsong voice. Now they shall all die.

"You fools!" Sebastian cried, as Raven's friends were dropped by his feet. "I explicitly ordered for them to be awake! They can't very well be unwilling if they are unconscious, now can they?! Imbeciles!"

"Please," Raven cried, terror for her friends' lives making her voice weak, "Leave them alone—you can have me—I'll do whatever you ask, just...just let them go!"

Sebastian half turned to face her, tirade temporarily forgotten. "Don't be silly, child. You know as well as I that your friends are an integral part of this ritual," he said matter-of-factly, before facing away, raising his arms, and speaking a spell in a harsh, guttural language that was unfamiliar to Raven.

Richard woke first, the arched ceiling swimming above him dizzyingly. For a moment he thought he was in the Manor's Great Hall, hungover and still reeling from a seriously bad trip. The sinister-looking white-haired man standing above him was not Alfred, however, and Richard was rudely jerked back to the present as two hands closed around his shoulders and dragged him to his feet.

Around him, his teammates also stirred. Garfield's animal instincts kicked him right into the shape of a ferocious, emerald green lion. He roared at his captors mercilessly before locking eyes with Richard, who gave a slight shake of his head and mouthed, "Remember the plan". Reluctantly, Garfield calmed, receding back to his human form, and allowed himself to be bound.

Kori, Roy and Victor all awoke similarly, but, to the utter bewilderment of their would-be hooded assailants, also subsided quickly and without fuss. The men turned to Sebastian for direction, their confusion and dismay evident even though their faces were hidden.

"It is no matter," said Sebastian, trying and failing to look unruffled. "They will soon change their minds. Come! Let us bind them to the Gates."

Richard let the strange men tie him upright against a slanted sheet of glass, and watched as they did the same to his friends. The tips of his boots were flush against indentations in the floor, which he knew was carved for blood—his blood—to run along the spokes of the hexagram in the center of the sanctuary, mixing with the blood of his friends, and powering the arcane circle that would, if successful, would bring Raven's father to this world.

Raven. Richard's eyes caught her desperate and terrified glance through the bars of the cage, and his heart broke for her anew. He tried to tell her with his gaze that everything would be okay, that he had a plan, but she looked so broken, so beyond hope, that, for the first time, he doubted her strength.

"Don't worry," he mouthed to her, "Trust me. Be strong."

"I love you," she mouthed back, and Richard's heart nearly stopped beating. He blinked at her a few times before recovering, heart thundering in his chest. He knew she was only saying it because she thought they were dead anyway, and her lack of faith in him was a bit disheartening. It made him angry, even, and Richard's anger filled him with a strength he hoped would be enough for the both of them.

Of course, a voice whispered from some dark place within his mind, you may still die, even if your plan does work.

It has to work, Richard maintained, willing with all his might as if that alone would make it come true. He closed his eyes briefly, steeling himself, before opening them and sending a quick nod Raven's way. He would make her say it to him again, when all this was over. Richard would make her say his name over and over, until he had to quiet her with his mouth, and still her with his arms.

Sebastian stood at the head of the circle, in front of the only altar that was not occupied. The steely looks of determination on the faces of those to be sacrificed were worrying, but Sebastian could not afford to look unsure of himself in front of his followers, especially not tonight. They would be weeping for their lives, soon enough. He was sure of it. And then, his Dark King would be born to this world, and Sebastian would be his right hand. Together they would wreak havoc across the blazing earth, with Sebastian's bride, the lovely Raven, at his side.

She would be against it, at first, there was no doubt in Sebastian's mind about that. But eventually, the demonic Little Bird's true nature would overpower her weak, human exterior, and then, oh! What paradise it will be!

"Hear me, Church of Blood brothers and sisters!" he bellowed, arms raised. "Tonight we shall witness the raising of the great and mighty Dark King, Trigon the Terrible!"

Sebastian basked in the cheers of his followers for a few moments before motioning for silence. "I, Sebastian, Brother Blood, right hand of Trigon, do willingly shed my lifeblood for the cause." In a grand, sweeping gesture, he procured the ceremonial, bone-handled dagger from his robes.

The sun had sunk completely below the horizon, and the moon, heavy with unnatural fullness, shone brightly through the broken windows. The dagger glinted sharply in the moonlight as Sebastian pulled it across his palm in a fluid motion, slicing open the skin from his thumb to his pinkie finger. He let the blood drip onto the circle, and even though it wasn't much more than a few drops, a small stream of crimson began to trickle sluggishly in the grooves of the hexagram.

"I call forth the Butcher, the Devourer of worlds, He born of Sin and the Rage of man!" Sebastian cried, throwing back his head in ecstasy. He could feel the power building in his veins as his brothers and sisters chanted with him, and the altar behind him shone a deep crimson through the glass. "I call forth Skaath, and do invite him to drink at the feast we have prepared for him! Drink, and become Nekron! Drink, and become the end of all life! Drink, and rule!

"I call forth Ophidian, the Serpent of Avarice, to be your servant! Rise, Ophidian! Take this boy, who lusts after those who belong not to him, as your blood-price, and let yourself be devoured! Drink, and give yourself to Nekron!"

"ROY!" Raven screamed as one of Sebastian's acolytes stepped to the altar where Roy was bound, and with a deliberate movement, slit his wrists.

Roy winked at her reassuringly, but Raven was far beyond assurance. The birdcage swung wildly as Raven thrashed inside, snarling and sobbing, but her efforts were in vain. The cage did not open, and Roy continued to bleed into the circle. The glass behind him began to glow a deep orange, and a beam of light shot straight into the ceiling.

Sebastian took no notice of this development, and continued his incantation, much to Raven's dismay. He was growing taller, she saw, and his skin had darkened to the same blood-red as the altar. She looked to her friends helplessly, and they smiled back at her, as if they had everything well in hand and Roy hadn't just been consumed by a towering pillar of fire.

"Rise, Parallax, God of Cowardice, and take this mortal, who binds fear deep in his heart, the fear of the beast that lives inside of him. Drink his blood, and submit to Skaath! Drink, and give yourself to Nekron!" cried Sebastian, "Rise, O Emerald-Eyed Bellua, Goddess of Envy! Rise, Keres, Queen of Cruelty! Rise, Scorpius, Lord of Hatred! Rise, and submit to Nekron!"

With each invocation, fiery bursts of colored light erupted from the altars, gold for Garfield, green for Starfire, a deep blue-purple for Victor, and violet for Richard. Angry, desperate tears stained her cheeks as Raven shut her eyes tight so that she would not have to see their blood fill the canals of the hexagram. This is the end, she thought, we've lost—and it's all my fault.

"And, finally," said Sebastian, though his words were sort of mangled, as if he were trying to force them out of a mouth made for devouring, not speech. "I call Charon, Master of Despair, ferryman of the river Styx, to consume this child, and surrender to Skaath—give yourself to—I say, stop your muttering, child! You have already lost!"

Raven became aware that she had been mumbling the same frenzied string of words between each hiccuped sob. Defiantly, for it was the only thing she could do at this point, Raven glared at Sebastian through her tears and continued to chant. Her voice grew above the cacophony of "Rise! Rise!" that filled the church until she was standing and screaming at the top of her lungs, "AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS! AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!"

AN: Whoa, 22 reviews for the last chapter! 452 in total! I'm honored!

You guys really wanted this chapter huh? Sorry that it had to be a cliffhanger! *winks*

I hope you guys don't mind that I took a bit of creative liberty with the aforementioned Emotional Spectrum and their respective entities. The reason why will become clear in the next two chapters.

I am genuinely curious as to what you all think Richard's–and the team's, by extension–plan to save Raven is? Using this chapter and the E.S. as your clues, leave me your guess in that review box! I might just be motivated to give you a New Year's Gift, if you know what I mean.

Really, though, I love to hear what you guys are thinking. Believe it or not, I do take your ideas and suggestions to heart. That being said, stay tuned for the final two chapters of Ultraviolet!

-Ehbi