After Raven looked at the old, worn directions, he folded the paper and tucked it into his back pocket. His journey had passes 6 days when the sky began to slowly turn black. Raziel screetched as they came to a stop to examine what was in front of them. The sky was black and they stood at the edge of a dead field, decorated with frightening jack-o-lanterns, burning dimly. As far as the eye could see burned these hideous pumpkins along with home made lanterns, which burned dimly.

Other ravens could be heard in the distance as Raven and Raziel began to lurk through the horrible field. The heat was incredible from the burning lanterns and jack-o-lanterns, so Raven removed his shirt and let it hang from his back pocket, slightly tucked in. He withdrew his blades and continued to stalk through the field. Though Gorath's presense was not felt in this area, something evil was up ahead, though Raven did not know what it was...he would not be unprepared for it. At last, they reached the edge of the field, only to see a forrest which seemed endless.

The trees stood high and almost blended in with the night sky. Directly in front of him was a wide path, which led into the forrest and showed no light at the end. This path was not completely dark, however, as it was lined with similar lanterns, burning dimly to some unknown location. Raven took out the map and realized that on the other side of this forrest stood the mightly castle in which Gorath should be in. Nervous, he tucked the map back into his pocket.

Knowing that this voyage through the forrest would not be a walk through the park, he kept is knives out and his shirt off to prevent heat exhaustion. Raven gave Raziel a quick pet.

"Let the games begin, Raziel...."

He started into the forrest. As he got deeper and deeper into the abyss, he looked around and could not see past the dim light of the lanterns. Raziel walked back and forth on Raven's shoulders in an uneasy manor. Raven was walking cautiously in the fighting stance, waiting for anything to come at him. Hours passed and Raven became more focused on walking than fighting, convinced nothing was out here.

The entrance had long gone past eye shot. Raven continued to walk and put his knives back into their holdsters. All of a sudden, he heard a swift movement to his left. This made him stop and Raziel stand full alert. A figure was slowly approaching, coming to surface.

Raven slowly put his hands on his blades, ready to kill what was come towards him. As the figure became more visable, he took his hands away from the blades. It was a woman. A young, fair skinned, pale, gothic woman. Raven was kind of shocked by her beauty and wondered why this girl would be out here. She approached him slowly through the dim light of the lanterns in a seductive way.

"Who are you? Why are you out in these woods all alone at night?" asked Raven.

The woman (which was PLW!) got close to Raven, placed her hands on his chest lightly and ever so seductive. She leaned in to his ear, the night so quiet, he could hear her mouth opening to tell him something.

"Who said I was alone?" whispered PLW in a seductive voice.

Startled, Raven turned around quickly to see another woman standing across from him. This woman was another beauty, but he did not get the chance to take it all in before he felt a sharp pain in his side and the arms of PLW wrap around his neck, choking him. The woman across from him had thrown a throwing star into his side as he turned around, he quickly noted that he could not match her speed. Raziel took flight and hovered above the group and screetched. Raven, choking for air quickly removed one of his blades and ran the spikes down PLW's right thigh, releasing her grip so he could focus on the woman in front of him.

It was at the moment where he tried to look at this woman again that he felt another sharp pain in his chest. She had thrown another star into Raven.

"Shit! Little girl, you're quick as hell, so you better hope I don't get my hands on you!" yelled Raven at the mysterious woman.

He staggered towards her, his vision blurring from loss of blood. This woman was truely deadly. Raven continued to confront her, however. Raziels sounds were fading in and out as he got close to the woman. He drew back to stab her in a lethal area, but collapsed just before he could make the blow.

The mixture of the heat, loss of blood, and confusion had taken him over. As he fell, the woman caught him in her arms. And in those last few seconds of conciousness, she said something to Raven...something that he'd not soon forget.

"Victoria. Remember my name, boy. That is, if you are able to think after I'm done with you." said Victoria in a stern voice.

As Raven slowly looked up at her face fading in and out, he felt another sharp pain in his chest. He staggered back away from her and looked at what she had done. She had cut a large "V" into his chest. She had also at some point removed her stars. Raven heard slow foot steps coming behind him and he slowly turned around, barely holding onto conciousness. It was PLW coming at him in a swift motion, kicking him in the side of the head.

Then there was darkness. Raven was seconds from passing out when he heard the women speaking. One of them, Victoria, he believed, had taken his map and assignment paper.

"Lets just kill this mother ****er, Victoria!" shouted PLW from above him.

"Hm. Gorath, huh? Well, if it's Gorath he wants, it's Gorath he'll get." said Victoria in a mocking manor. "We'll leave him here and if he survives, he'll face Gorath tomorrow...in which case, he won't survive."

Sleep....

Dull pains. Raven slowly sat up, his head pounding, he looked down to notice that he had been bandaged up. It was still night. He figured it would be a never ending darkness around here. He slowly stood up and put his shirt on, walked over to a tree, slid his back down it and sat.

He reached into his pocket for his cigarettes and discovered there was a paper that was placed in his pocket at some point. He put an unlit cigarette in his mouth and unfolded the paper. The paper had a kiss mark, left with lipstick and a little note underneath that said:

"You really know how to show a girl a good time. Love Victoria".

He slightly chuckled, lit the end of the paper on fire and lit his cigarette with it.

"Bitch..." muttered Raven.

He slowly stood up and stretched. Raziel flew in from the woods and landed on his shoulder and he began his walk again. This time, his blades never left his hands and he never let down his guard. For a span of about a week, he walked. After what seemed like an eternity, there was finally a flickering light in the distance. He picked up speed and walked towards it.

As he finally reached the forest's edge, a cold breeze came through, which Raven embraced. In front of him stood the mighty castle, opposite of that pearly white castle he had seen before and about twice as large. He approached the bloody, giant, wooden doors. There was a torch on opposite sides of it, showing the blood splatters from who knows what. Raven got about 50 feet from the door when it swung open. Raven quickly drew out his blades and stood terrified at what was in front of him.

Standing at close to 7', was Gorath. His eyes fixed upon Raven, Raven's eyes fixed upon Gorath. The giant slowly approached him, the ground slightly shaking as he walked.