𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞
Ⅰ 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅
SIX HOURS AFTER THE TOWER SPLIT
TERRAN WINCED, A PONDING PAIN RINGING IN HER HEAD. Terran gasped as she pushed herself up onto her knees, the rocks pressing into her palms. "Rachel!" Terran called, dragging herself closer and shaking the demon girl gently.
Rachel gasped and shot up, her hands squeezing Terran's arms. "Terran." Rachel threw her arms around Terran, sighing softly. Slowly the others stirred awake. Cole rushed to Terran and Tim. Cole quickly checked on Terran before helping Tim to his feet.
"They're gone. They're all gone," Dick relayed, looking around the now-empty tomb.
"But we're still here," Kory said, using a rock to stand.
"Where were we?" Cole asked.
"I don't know. All I could see was darkness."
"It was a death realm," Terran explained. "Her powers sent us there."
"How are we still here?" Tim asked, leaning on Cole for support.
"Gar saved us somehow," Rachel explained. "I heard his voice in the darkness."
"Yeah, I think I heard him too," Dick said with a nod.
"I did too," Kory echoed.
"So where is he? And Hazel?" Tim asked, looking around the temple.
"I don't know. They're alive though. I'd feel it if they weren't," Rachel confirmed and Cole's tensed shoulder dropped in relief.
Kory stepped up to the blood pool, looking down at the shimmering red liquid. "I should've killed him when I had the chance," Kory murmured, her voice laced with agitation.
"Don't do it to yourself. We all made the decision to save him, together," Dick reminded.
"Did we, though?" Conner asked, stepping up the stone steps to stand by Kory. "I thought you wanted to save him. I wanted to stop him."
"Yeah, well if you had worked with us and not run off on your own this wouldn't have been a problem," Terran scoffed, throwing her hands up. "But no you had to prove to pop's you had an ego and we had to come save you." Cole shrugged softly, giving Terran a small nod.
"And look where your plan got us," Conner scoffed. "In a big, empty B-movie Batcave. And all the bad guys scattered into the wind." Conner turned to Dick and pulled a sarcastic smile. "Take a bow, boss man."
"Stop it," Rachel yelled, at some point she had moved from Terran's side and walked to where Jinx's body once was. She knelt down and picked up a small green stone before standing again. "Jinx died for us. Fighting with each other is not going to change anything."
"What are you doing?" Tim questioned.
"Releasing her spirit from this place of evil," Rachel said simply. She lifted her hands, the green stone cracking and fading into petal-like shapes before turning a bright pink and gold and floating into the air.
"Since when can you do that?" Cole asked, glancing between Rachel and his sister.
"I don't know," Rachel answered honestly. "My powers are back, but they're different somehow."
"Let's get out of here," Dick ordered after a beat of silence. He nodded back at Tim and they started to walk ahead.
"Hold on," Conner called and everyone paused. Conner looked down at one of the symbols on the ground. "There's something down here." He knelt down carefully, his fingertips running over the large crack in the foundation. Conner reeled his arms back and punched through the floor with a heavy crack. He reached under the rocks and ripped his arms out, pulling a small industrial green box. He blew the dust off the lid before setting it on the table and flicking the lid open, showing the Lex Corp logo.
Dick and Cole stepped closer, watching Conner flick through different pages of an old-styled leather-bound book. Conner took a small letter and took the inner page before tossing the envelope away. Terran took the envelope, quickly reading the name on the front as Conner's. "It's from Lex," Conner revealed his eyes scanning over the pages quickly. "He must have planted it here to help us."
"Yeah, that sounds like Lex," Dick spoke up and Terran couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.
"Why would Lex leave something here, of all places?" Kory questioned, looking between Dick and Conner.
"If you're reading this, my plan failed and May is as evil as I feared," Conner read aloud. "You must stop her. The book contains information only known by me. Give it to Richard. He claims to be a master detective, so let him detect."
"What else does it say?" Cole asked, trying to peer over Conner's shoulder more.
"The rest is just for me," Conner said quickly shutting the letter and moving it from Cole's sight.
"He's lying," Rachel whispered to Terran but neither spoke on it. Conner picked up the leather book and held it out to Dick. Dick took a breath before taking the book from Conner. Once the book left his hands, Conner stepped past Dick and the other stepped closer to the centre of the table where Dick held the book under the small golden lamp.
Dick opened the book, flicking through a few pages before landing on one with a roughly sketched girl. Her curled hair and the flowers that grew with it were accompanied by a detailed bone crown. Terran snatched the book from Dick's hands and ran her fingers over the ink drawing the resembled her sister almost perfectly. "Lex knew about this?" Terran muttered. She turned the page, next revealing a sketch of a slim boy with lined tattoos a large bird and wild cat with him, then another of a man with a small rune on his forehead and on the opposite page, a small girl with horns. Terran flicked a few pages ahead to a double-spread page of alien-looking hieroglyphics, the letters sharp and slim.
"Can you read that?" Cole asked, looking between the book and Terran.
"No. It's an ancient Veam, I think," Terran said, her fingers tracing the symbols. "Some is familiar but it doesn't match up to the symbol it would go with."
"Well, I definitely know someone who can," Dick said with a nod.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Tim urged. He stepped around Cole and they started to make their way for the exit.
"Hey. Where's Conner?" Rachel shouted, stopping everyone for a moment.
.
Dick led Kory, Terran and Cole through the hall of an old apartment building. The whole building's electrical system seemed to be out and the only light that had managed to make its way into the wooden interior was a cold blue light. Tim and Rachel stayed in the van and as sweet as it was that Cole and Tim had admitted their feelings, Terran could sense something was off between them as they said goodbye.
"Listen, Roberta is a little eccentric," Dick warned, looking back at the others. "But I trust her. She's an expert in extraterrestrial languages. Knows everything from Klingon to Tamaranean."
"You know Klingon's not a real language, right?" Kory questioned looking up at Dick.
"Try telling her that," Dick whispered before knowing on the door.
"Or any geek at Comic-Con," Cole said with a small laugh.
"How about we don't tell anyone that," Terran suggested and Dick gave an approving nod.
With a pair of technical clicks, the door swung open revealing no one behind it. "Come in," Roberta called and the four slowly stepped inside. "EMF hats by the door."
"We're actually good on the, uh, hats, Roberta," Dick called back in a gentle tone.
"Suit yourselves."
Terran turned back to close the door before back to Cole who was pulling on a matte black cap. Cole shrugged softly at Terran's weird look before tossing the cap back into its spot. Terran rolled her eyes and the pair followed after Kory and Dick.
"Hello?" Dick called peeking around the corner. The three others followed him to where a woman sat at a desk in front of a trio of monitors. Terran looked around the space, stacked boxes of files and the windows were boarded up with bullet-hole-covered slabs of wood. Terran turned back to Roberta as she spun in her chair to watch them. Terran noted the overly large blue necklace that clashed with the bright red spotted shirt. "No devices on us, just like you asked."
The woman stayed silent for a moment before standing from the rolling chair in a single movement, but not moving from its boundaries. Roberta held her hands tightly behind her back as she started to move in small steps towards Kory. Suddenly Roberta lunged forward and sniffed a stripe up Kory's body, careful not to touch her. Kory gasped in surprise and reeled back, watching the woman closely.
"No scent of sulphur. Must be a myth," The woman concluded as Kory stammered. Quickly her hands shot out to grab Cole's head and angle it down to look at his skull. She took her hands back and Cole took a small step behind Terran as he gently touched his scalp. "No horns, you are still young."
She turned to Terran who quickly put her hand up. "Touch me and the only thing you'll feel is a broken jaw," Terran hissed, looking down at the woman with sharp eyes.
"You're the youngest I see..." Roberta took a breath before shouting in Veaman. "Are you really a demi-god?"
Terran tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "You want a demonstration?" Her eyes lit up and Roberta smiled. She shoved her hands in her pockets as she laughed and jumped once in joy before falling back into her seat.
"She Tameranean and he a god?"
"Yes, and he's my brother. Still learning, still both demi-gods." Roberta couldn't help but chuckle in glee. "We have some questions," Terran said, switching back to English. "We have a book that needs translating."
Dick passed the book to Roberta to the open page of the sharp Veama writing. "Prophecy?" Roberta read aloud after a moment.
"You know about that?" Dick questioned.
"The end of the world? Yeah. I know about it," Roberta hissed and Terran chuckled.
"We think the Blood Moon ritual has happened," Kory added.
"So there is a fulsome son of Trigon manifested in the Well of Blood here on our Earth?"
Dick and Kory spared a glace and Cole sighed. "We didn't say it was a happy book."
"And he has the Horn?"
"What horn?" Dick questioned his eyebrows furrowed.
Roberta quickly shuffled through the pages before showing it to the others. "The one Trigon lost in his early battles with the first Gods." A dozen sketches of different horns scattered the page, one drawn in red standing out the most. "It's protected by his followers. Only one with Trigonic blood can use it."
"Use it for what?" Kory questioned.
Roberta flipped to the next page, reading over the next set of words. "To usher forth and welcome Trigon, here in our earthly realm for his final dominion, over humanity." Roberta paused and looked up at the others. "Basically, he's gonna eat the world."
Dick took a breath, nervously pulling at the roots of his hair. "And how do we stop him?"
"You don't," Roberta snapped. "The light one. The one blue power." Kory nodded to herself. "Not you." Roberta huffed. "Tameraneans have orange light."
"Kory has blue," Cole corrected.
Roberta went back through the book, her eyebrows dropping. "There's no talk of Tameraneans..."
"Then it's Hazel," Terran deduced.
"Maybe the book's wrong," Kory said sharply.
Terran reeled back, her eyebrows raising in irritation. "Why's she so obsessed with this?" Cole questioned, projecting his question into Terran's mind.
"Okay, okay," Dick said softly. "We don't know who it is right now. What can you tell us about this prophecy?"
"The light, when used to its full power, can end this. But..."
"Why is there always a but," Cole groaned, his hand massaging his neck.
"Whoever's light will be used, it will end them as they are."
Terran turned, making her way back out into the hall. Cole quickly followed her, stopping them both in the hallway. "Terran-"
"We both know it's Hazel," Terran whispered, her eyes shooting down the hall. "The book doesn't mention anyone from Kory's planet. It has to be Hazel."
"I know that," Cole agreed. "But maybe if we find this horn, we don't have to find out if she's right."
Terran's hands shook slightly as she squeezes her upper arms. "What if Hazel isn't immortal, what if she had to live to do this?" Terran questioned.
Cole reached forward, resting his hands on Terran's. "No one is going to die," Cole promised but he could feel his brain ticking in worry. "We're going to make it out of this. You, me, Hazel. We'll all be together."
❁
❝ we are 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 ❞