A short distance from the farming community of Egypt, one of Lowkey's human looking minions had stopped walking thirty feet from a small farmhouse. He looked around. When he didn't see anyone, he changed into his demon's face, closed his eyes and stiffed the air. Once he was done, he changed back to his human face, stepped up to the door, opened it without knocking and walked in.

A nineteen-year-old man heard the door opening and went to investigate. When he saw the human looking demon standing in his home, he angrily rattled off something in his language.

The demon pulled out a long blade knife similar to the knife that Mayor Wilkins had given Faith and said, "I don't know what you're saying, but this house reeks of magic activity. For that everyone dies." The demon dashed towards the young man at an inhuman speed; grabbed him and held him tightly from the back. As the man attempted to struggle free, the demon slit his throat. The demon turned loose of the man and when he fell to the ground while bleeding to death, the demon went further into the house. Within a few minutes, the demon killed all five family members in the house and left.

Minutes after the demon had left the younger sister by four years to the nineteen-year-old had returned home and found her slain family. She quickly left the house in a slight hysteria and ran as fast as she could towards town.

At a farmhouse a mile away, Aggie led Buffy and her group into the field where a middle-aged man was working the field. The man was six feet, seven inches tall with a heavy beard. Ten other men between the ages of sixteen and forty were spread out throughout the field.

The man saw Aggie and Buffy's group walking towards him and stopped working. When the five stepped up, the man asked in English, "Aggie, who are your new friends?"

Aggie pointed to who was who while saying, "They're Buffy, Cat, Nichole and Amber. They're English."

Before Aggie could say anything else, Cat said, "We're from an English speaking nation anyway."

"Anyway, everyone, meet my father Manfred," Aggie said as Buffy was seeing a confused expression on Manfred's face.

"Is there anything wrong?" Buffy asked.

"Between the ages of fifteen and thirty, I had traveled to many English speaking settlements," Manfred began. "I'm good at identifying where someone is from by his or her accent, but your accent throws me."

"You've been traveling at age fifteen?" Nichole questioned.

"There isn't an age limit?" Cat added.

Manfred slightly grinned before saying, "At the age of thirteen I was able to grow facial hair and by the time I reached the age of fifteen I was taller than most men. So ..."

"So at fifteen, you were passable for a young adult," Buffy finished.

Manfred grinned before saying, "I was an orphan and I needed to eat so I joined a ship's crew leaving England. Anyway, where are you from?"

"Trust me," Buffy began. "You never heard of where we are from."

"Judging from your accent I'll say you're right," Manfred said. "So, Aggie, what brings you five here?"

"Buffy wants to learn more about the Sandmen," Aggie said.

"What do you presently know about them?" Manfred asked.

"Just what Aggie told us," Buffy said. "They are capable of stimulating dreams."

"They think they can anyway," Aggie said. "I also told them about how the Sandmen fill the kids' heads with those nonsense stories about demons and heroic young girls who fight those demons."

"Everything's true about the Sandmen," Manfred said. "I've seen a demon threatening this village."

"Father, are you sure that you were dreaming?" Aggie said.

Manfred smirked before saying, "The demon had killed eight people. Your mother while pregnant with you would have been the ninth victim if it wasn't for a young girl with amazing strength and speed showing up and killing it. Later, I found out that the Sandmen had summoned the girl."

"How did the Sandmen summon her?" Amber asked.

"From what I know, these heroic girls always follow their dreams that the Sandmen give them to hunt demons and there are Sandmen located in every village of where demons have been spotted," Manfred said.

"That's interesting," Buffy said. "Tell me, do you know if these Sandmen ever went by the term Shadow Men."

"That term doesn't sound familiar," Manfred said.

"How many Sandmen are there in this village?" Buffy asked.

Manfred shrugged before saying, "I only know three of them. Tilon… he's one and he told me once that there were more than ten in this village."

"Tilon is dead," Aggie said. "His throat was slit."

"Dear Lord; who would do such a thing?" Manfred asked.

"From what I hear of these Sandmen, I believe that they are the next generation of the Shadow Men and I also believe a demon was sent to this village to kill the Sandmen," Buffy said.

"Who are the Shadow Men?" Manfred asked.

"They are the ones who created the first slayer," Buffy said.

"First slayer?" Aggie questioned. "What's a slayer?"

"Slayer is the term that the Sandmen use while referring to the girl who fights demons," Manfred said.

"You four knew," Aggie quickly said while glancing between Buffy and her friends. "All this time the four of you knew everything that I was telling you."

"My friends and I know about slayers and the Shadow Men," Buffy said. "We didn't know about the Sandmen or their ability to give the slayers the dreams on demonic activities."

"How do you know about the slayers and not the Sandmen?" Manfred asked.

"I can't really answer that, but my friends and I are on the slayer's side," Buffy said. "I also need to talk to the Sandmen. I need to warn them that their lives might be in danger."

"By the person who killed Tilon?" Aggie questioned.

"I think Tilon was killed by a demon and Tilon was targeted," Buffy said. "The other Sandmen will be targeted as well."

"I only know two of the Sandmen members other than Tilon," Manfred said. "The other members keep their involvement a secret, but I will see what I can do about arranging a meeting between one of them and you."

"Thank you," Buffy said.

"Do you have a family name?" Manfred asked. Buffy gave him a curious look. "The Sandmen will want to know this. The more they know about you the more they will trust you."

"It's Summers. My name is Buffy Summers."

"They keep their meeting location a secret so they'll most likely want to come to you," Manfred said.

"We'll meet them anywhere they want," Buffy said.

"Good," Manfred said.

"Am I right to think that you and your friends currently have no place to say?" Aggie questioned.

"And you would be right to think that," Buffy said.

"I have plenty of room at my house, so you four can come home with me," Aggie said.

"I… we don't want to put anyone out," Buffy said.

"You won't be." Aggie then said in a slightly mournful tone. "I welcome the company."

"You live alone?" Nichole asked.

Aggie lowered her head before saying barely above a whisper, "Going on a full season now."

"You lost your husband?" Nichole questioned.

Aggie raised her head while breathing in the strength to say, "I lost my entire family; my husbands and four kids from sickness."

"We lost more than half our village," Manfred added. "Aggie and her mother, Shadya were in the next village while visiting Shadya's sister when the sickness came."

"I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories," Nichole said. Aggie just politely grinned and nodded.

Cat saw that Amber was concentrating on a thought with watery eyes and asked, "Are you okay, Amber?"

Amber came out of her thoughts with a slight start. She then looked at Cat while saying, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Cat said.

"Hearing about how Aggie lost her family reminded me as to how I lost my parents and younger brother," Amber said. "It wasn't from sickness though, but it was all three at the same time."

"How did they die?" Nichole asked.

"In an…" Amber glanced at Aggie before she continued to say, "They were traveling and they just didn't reach their destination. I was sixteen when they died. My older brother became my guardian."

"Okay, that's quite enough talk about death," Aggie said. "If you four come with me, I will show you to my home."

Before Buffy and her group had time to respond, Manfred said, "Buffy, I will be done with my work shortly and then I will go see one of the Sandmen."

Buffy nodded before saying, "Thanks."

Aggie gave her dad a kiss on the cheek before saying, "I'll see you later."

Manfred just grinned and waved bye. When Aggie led Buffy and her group away he went back to work.

During the walk to Aggie's house, they crossed paths with Ramsay and the other five men again. The fifteen-year-old girl who saw her slain family was walking next to Ramsay.

When Ramsay saw his sister he walked up to her. He glanced at Buffy and her group for a moment before saying something in the local language. Aggie and Buffy's group could tell that the teenager had been crying her eyes out. Buffy and her group watched with a slight concern as Aggie spoke to the teenager and then giving her a hug. After the hug Aggie spoke to Ramsay again. Their conversation was short and when Ramsay and the five men walked away, the teenager stayed with Aggie.

While the men were walking away, Aggie turned towards Buffy's group. With a hand on the teenager's back Aggie introduced the teenager to Buffy, Amber, Cat and Nichole before saying in English, "Everyone, this is Helen. Her entire family was slain in the same manner as Tilon."

"My god," Cat uttered out.

"Aggie, do you know if Helen's family were members of the Sandmen?" Buffy asked.

"I seriously doubt it," Aggie said. "She and her family had recently moved to this village. Her dad is originally from Greece and her mother is from a village west from here. In fact, the village west from here is where they lived before moving here."

"Why would the demon attack Helen's family if they weren't part of the Sandmen's group?" Amber asked.

"Perhaps it's not a demon that's killing after all," Aggie said.

"I'm still convinced that we're dealing with some kind of demon," Buffy said. "There has to be a connection between Helen's family getting killed and the Sandmen. We just have to find out what."

"Well, in the mean time, Helen will be with us," Aggie said. When Buffy nodded they began walking again.

Aggie owned the third largest sheep farm in the region with two farmhands and the walk to her farmhouse took forty minutes. Once everyone entered the farmhouse, Helen went and lay on the bed. Aggie grabbed a long blade knife to slaughter one of her sheep for their evening meal.

Before Aggie was able to walk out, Buffy questioned, "Do you want any help?"

Aggie smiled while saying, "I could use the help with the sheep once it's dead,"

Buffy gestured towards the door while saying, "I'll follow you."

Aggie nodded before walking towards the front door. Buffy followed behind her.

At the Sandmen's council, eight of the sixteen Sandmen in the village were sitting in a circle in front of an apparatus similar to that of the shadowcaster apparatus. A silhouette figure that represented the slayer sat on a round track. A candle burned in the center of the track while casting a shadow on the wall. For a few minutes they were chanting the spell to summon the slayer through her dream. The silhouette figure suddenly moved on the track and rested once it reached a northwestern positioned.

The Sandmen were slightly thrown by it. They expected the silhouette figure to rest in a southern direction towards Africa. Africa was the last known whereabouts of the current slayer and a sudden directional shift meant that a slayer had died and another was chosen from the last time that they invoke a slayer's dream.

"We're summoning an inexperience slayer," One of them said in his native language.

"This changes nothing," The oldest Sandmen said. "Continue."

One of them nodded before he began sprinkling Calynthia powder several inches over the silhouette figure while avoiding the flame. The others recited an incantation while the one sprinkled the powder.

They reached a crucial point of the spell of where any sound could change the outcome of the spell. A golden cloud began to form over the silhouette figure and before the one sprinkling the powder was done, there was a hard knock at the door. The Sandman with the powder was startled and dumped a large amount of powder onto the flame; which sizzled like gunpowder. A black spoke was created and mixed with the golden cloud. The golden cloud changed to a more grayish color before emitting a flash of light that momentarily blinded everyone.

One of them uttered out in local language while rubbing his eyes, "Dear, Lord."

"What did we do?" the youngest of the Sandmen asked. "I mean, how will this affect the slayer?"

"The guardians are the ones who had forged this device with their magic and they had told us that if this would occur, then the slayer would forever dream of demonic activity on her own," the oldest Sandman said. "For now on, the slayer will be drawn to the strongest demonic activity wherever that demonic activity will be in the world."

"So we no longer have control over the slayer?" the youngest Sandman asked as there was another knock on the door.

The oldest Sandman was standing while saying, "We'll still be able to stimulate her dreams as we can with anyone, but our control over the slayer has been severely lessen." He then walked towards the door. "The guardians had wanted this from the very beginning and now it's done."

When the Sandman opened the door, Manfred said with his slightly poor pronunciation of the local language. "Leeto, I'm looking for Kiros."

"He's here," Leeto said as Manfred was noticing the smoke in the room.

"Did I interrupt something?" Manfred asked.

"You did, but it's too late to worry about it now," Leeto said as Kiros moved up behind him. "Come in."

As Manfred walked in Kiros asked, "What can I do for you, Manfred?"

Manfred saw the apparatus. He then looked at the faces of each person before questioning, "All of you are Sandmen, aren't you?"

"We're Dream-casters," Leeto corrected.

"Of course," Manfred said. "Were you eight summoning the slayer?"

"Manfred, is there something that you want?" Kiros asked.

"Four women had come to town," Manfred said. "They want to talk to a Sand… to a Dream-caster."

"Why?" Kiros asked.

"They think that all of you are being targeted by a demon," Manfred said. "They also want to know if you know anything of a group of people known as the Shadow Men."

"The term 'Shadow Men' hadn't been used since the beginning of the slayer's line," Leeto said.

"So at one time the Dream-casters went by the term Shadow Men?" Manfred questioned.

"Not at one time," Leeto said. "In the very beginning when the slayer was created to run the demons out of this dimension. As long as the slayer's line existed we had gone by the term, 'Dream-caster.'"

"How do these strangers know of the Shadow Men," one of the other six Sandmen asked.

"They didn't say, but they knew about them creating the first slayer," Manfred said. "Perhaps if you decide to meet with them you can find out how they knew."

"I'll meet with them," Leeto said. "Did you get their names?"

"The oldest one is Buffy Summers," Manfred said. "She seemed to be the one in charge. The other three were Amber, Nichole and Cat."

"Where are these ladies?" Leeto asked.

"They're with Aggie," Manfred said.

Leeto turned towards the others while saying, "Continue with the spell on summoning the slayer. Perhaps we'll get lucky and nothing else will fill her dreams tonight."

"Yes, Leeto," several Sandmen said.

Leeto faced Manfred again before saying, "Take me to your daughter."

Manfred nodded before walking out followed by Leeto.

A short distance from town at a small dwelling, a young and inexperience witch was practicing a very powerful resurrection spell on dead flowers. After reciting her spell for thirty minutes the flowers began to rejuvenate, but before it could complete the demon barged in.

The witch immediately sensed that he was a demon and made a botched attempt at rattling off a protection spell. The spell slowed the demon down enough for the witch to grab a staff that was within arm's reach. As the demon approach the witch, the witch swung the staff with her might while striking the demon hard against the face. The demon stumbled back slightly. He then changed into his demon face and went at the witch again. The witch was able to strike the demon five more times with little affect. The demon grabbed the staff from the witch and broke it in half before throwing the pieces to the side. The demon then grabbed the witch; pulled out his knife and slit her throat.

At Aggie's farmhouse, Helen abruptly woke up in a fright. She quickly looked around to re-familiarize herself of her surroundings for a brief moment. She then calmed down slightly, but how agitated she was from her dream she got up.

Aggie was cooking the sheep outside over a flame. Everyone was outside talking while helping Aggie when she needed it. When Helen wandered out everyone turned towards her.

"How do you feel?" Aggie asked in the local language.

"The same, but now with disturbing nightmares," Helen said.

"You will probably have bad dreams for a while, but it will get better; I promise," Aggie said. Buffy and her group just listened to the conversation without really understanding what was being said.

Helen crossed her arms and nodded before saying, "I dream that Fola had her throat slashed by a man… but the man's faced had grotesquely changed before killing her."

"It was just a dream," Aggie said.

"That's what," Helen said before getting slightly choked up with tears. She then closed her eyes to get control of her emotions before she continued to say, "My mom would tell me that for the pass few weeks when I would dream of fighting grotesque looking people. Each one of those dreams felt real. Watching Fola die felt real."

In a soothing tone, Aggie said, "I know. And you're not alone. You have me. I'll always be here if you ever want to talk."

Helen grinned and nodded. She then found a place to sit.

When nothing else got said, Amber asked, "Is she okay?"

"She will be." Aggie said. "The ordeal left her with nightmares, which is to be expected."

At the TEC headquarters, ten minutes after Buffy and her group had left, Giles Sam and Dean were making calls to power companies in Ohio. Kennedy was on the Internet while looking for the information of a power-drain that way. Within a short time they learned that there was a large section in the state of Ohio affected by an unexplained blackout. The area was as far north as Akron; as far south as Cambridge; as far west as Mansfield and as far east as East Liverpool. Canton, Ohio was the first city that was hit by the blackout, but only by a few minutes.

Just after circling the affected area on a map, Kennedy asked, "So which city do we start with?"

"I would suggest starting with the closest affected city to us and then moved out from there," Giles said as Jack was entering the office.

As every faced Jack, he said, "I was brief of what had happened and I've been assigned to help locate that time machine. So how can I help?"

Kennedy pointed to the map while saying, "We have circled the affected area on the Ohio state map. Now we have to check out each city as fast as we can."

"All we need is a means to do it," Dean said.

"Capt. Matuzek is preparing a helicopter as we speak," Jack said. "We should be good to go within a ten minutes."

"Good," Giles said.

"Can I take a look at the map?" Jack said. Dean picked it up and handed it to Jack. Jack took a quick glanced at it before he continued to say, "The time machine is in Canton."

"How can you be sure?" Dean asked.

"Did Buffy tell you about that vampire being sent back in time to Sunnydale when Buffy was sixteen?" Jack asked.

"She had briefly mentioned something about it," Giles said. "She said that her younger self had killed one of the Dr. Briers' vampires by chance."

"Well that vampire was a person two weeks ago and he was from Canton," Jack said.

"So you're basing your hunch of the time machine's whereabouts on the fact that a vampire was from Canton?" Kennedy questioned.

"We know that the time machine is in Ohio and one of the time traveling vampires was from Canton," Jack began. "Canton is basically in the center of the affected area…"

"It was also the first city that suffered a blackout," Sam added.

"What Sam said just confirms that everything is pointing to Canton," Jack said.

"Let's say you're right," Dean said. "Why did the other cities blackout?"

"I say that the other blackouts were caused by a cascade failure," Jack said.

"I do see why you are being drawn to Canton, but from my experiences mob-boss type demons have the tendency to steer slayers… or hunters to one area while their activities are elsewhere," Kennedy said. "So in my opinion, we should mark Canton off the list of possible cities."

"I disagree…" Jack said.

"Not really a shocker," Kennedy commented.

"Kennedy!" Giles uttered.

"I'm not going to stand back and keep quiet," Kennedy said.

"Kennedy, I respect you and your opinions, but I strongly believe that Canton is the place to start looking first," Jack said. "Therefore, I'm pulling rank."

"Okay, fine, but I want it noted somewhere that I'm against going to Canton," Kennedy said. "I'm not going to be blame for Dr. Briers getting away."

"Noted," Jack said. "I'll take full responsibility if we don't find them." He then gestured towards the door. "We should get going."

"Let's go," Kennedy said. She, Dean and Sam then followed Jack out.

In Egypt 551 A.D., at Aggie's farmhouse, Aggie was in the middle of cooking the sheep when Ramsay and three others walked up. Ramsay glanced at Helen for a second before saying in English, "There's been another death."

"Who?" Aggie questioned.

Buffy overlapped Aggie while asking "Was the person a Sandman?"

"It was Fola and…" Ramsay was only able to get out.

"Fola!" Aggie quickly said. Before anyone could respond Aggie turned towards Helen. "Helen, tell me about your dream with Fola and I want details."

Helen became uneasy before she went into details of her dream. Buffy didn't know what was being said, but she could tell that whatever Helen was saying, she was giving Ramsay cold chills.

When Helen finished Ramsay said in English, "I don't know about the part of Fola casting magic spells or the killer changing into a grotesque looking person, but that was a good description of Fola's death."

"What's going on?" Buffy asked.

"It appears that Helen had dreamed of Fola's death," Aggie said.

"Have she dreamed of other deaths," Buffy quickly asked.

"The only other nightmares she mentioned were about her fighting grotesque looking people," Aggie said.

Buffy grinned. She then saw that Ramsay had a good size knife strapped to his side. She held out her hand in front of Ramsay while saying, "Let me see your knife."

"Why do you want my knife?" Ramsay questioned.

"I have a hutch about something and I want to see if I'm right," Buffy said. Ramsay hesitated for a second before handing Buffy the knife. Buffy then walked twenty-five feet from the head of the sheep that was being cooked before facing Aggie again. "Tell Helen to come to me and take the knife."

Without really understanding what was being said in English, the three men just watched.

In a skeptical tone, Aggie commented, "Okay." She then told Helen what Buffy wanted her to do.

Helen hesitated for a moment before walking towards Buffy. Once she took the knife from Buffy's hand, Buffy told Aggie, "Tell Helen that I want her to throw the knife from back here and stick it between the sheep's eyes."

"She can't do that," Ramsay quickly said. "No one can do that."

"If I'm right about this, Helen can," Buffy said. "So please tell Helen to the throw the knife."

"Helen, throw the knife from were you are standing and stick it between the sheep's eyes," Ramsay said. Helen and the three men gave Ramsay a curious look. "Buffy, the woman next to you believes that you can do it."

Helen gave Buffy a look as if she was trying to decide on something. Buffy grinned before saying, "Tell Helen to trust her instincts."

"Buffy said to trust your instincts," Ramsay said.

Helen slightly grinned before turning away from Buffy. She stared at the sheep for a few seconds before preparing the knife to be thrown. She took a few deep breaths before rearing back the knife. She swung her arm in a swift and graceful throwing motion. The knife left her fingertips at a speed faster than even Buffy expected. Aggie, Ramsay and the three men had immediately lost sight of the knife. The blade twirled end over end several times before the blade of the knife sunk into the sheep's skull between its eyes. The only thing showing of the knife was its handle.

"What happened to the knife?" Aggie quickly questioned in English.

Amber was smiling as she said, "Look at Helen's target."

Aggie and Ramsey looked. Ramsey had even walked up to it to see it up close. As Ramsay pulled out the knife, Aggie asked, "How did she do that?"

"She done it because she is the slayer," Buffy said. Aggie and Ramsay gave Buffy a skeptical look. Amber, Cat and Nichole just grinned. Helen and the three men had a confused look on their faces as they didn't understand a word that was being said. "Going by Helen's age, the Powers That Be had recently chosen her to be the slayer. In fact that was why the demon killed her family."

"Helen's family was killed because she's a slayer?" Cat questioned.

"Not exactly," Buffy said. "I'm now suspecting that a crossmok demon had killed them."

"What's a crossmok demon?" Nichole quickly asked.

"A demon that can smell magic," Buffy said. "When a young girl is chosen as the slayer, it leaves her and the house that she was chosen in with an extremely strong magical pheromone. This pheromone never goes away, but it does become less prominent after a month."

Helen tapped Aggie's arm before saying, "I know everyone is talking about me. What is being said?"

Aggie gestured for her to wait before saying to Buffy, "Helen knows that she's being talked about and she wants to know what is being said. What should I tell her?"

"Repeat what I say to her," Buffy said.

"Okay," Aggie said.

Buffy faced Helen before saying, "Helen, you are a special and an important girl to the world." Buffy paused to allow Aggie to repeat what was said. Helen smiled after hearing it. "You have been bestowed upon the gifts, the power and the talents to fight demons, vampires and the forces of darkness. You are the chosen one; you are the slayer."

Before Aggie could repeat what Buffy wanted Helen to know, Ramsay said, "Tilon told me something similar when I was ten, but what he said was that, 'Into every generation a slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a chosen one. She alone…'"

"I heard it," Buffy quickly interrupted with. "So please tell Helen what I said… and what Tilon had said."

When Aggie and Ramsay told Helen everything, Helen gave Buffy a disturbed look before questioning, "This is a joke, right?"

"I think she's serious and seeing how you perfectly put Ramsay's knife between the sheep's eyes, I believe her," Aggie said. "I believe that you are the slayer." Aggie and Ramsay talked to and consoled Helen about the situation.

When Cat saw that Aggie's and Ramsey's attentions were on Helen, she whispered to Buffy, "Why did Dr. Briers send a demon back to this time to kill people who had something to do with magic?"

"It was Lowkey and he sent the crossmok demon here because I fallaciously indicated in front of Dr. Easter that the slayer was first created in Egypt in the year 552 A.D," Buffy said.

"So the crossmok demon was sent here to end the slayer's line before it got started," Cat commented. Buffy just nodded with a grin.

"Why make Lowkey think that the slayers were created in 552?" Amber asked.

"If Dr. Briers would send a demon into the past beyond a certain year, he would give away his position," Buffy said. "I hoped that the thought of ending the slayer's line before it was created was enough of an incentive for Dr. Briers and Lowkey to take a chance on giving away their position and it was."

"Now to ensure that the creation of the slayer's line is stop, the crossmok demon is killing everything magical across Egypt while starting with this village," Nichole commented.

"Exactly," Buffy said.

"Aren't the crossmok demons assassin demons for hire?" Amber questioned.

"They are," Buffy said.

"Where are they originally form?" Nichole asked.

"They were actually created through selective cross breeding in the Soviet Union during the Cold War era and they are also somewhat difficult to kill," Buffy said. "I never faced or killed any in our reality, but in Kennedy's reality I killed three of them."

"So how do we kill the demon?" Cat asked.

"Cut off its head or burning it will do it," Buffy said. "We also need a witch or someone that can perform magic."

"Why?" Cat questioned.

"The crossmock demon will be drawn to anyone performing magic," Buffy said as Manfred and Leeto were approaching.

"So you need someone to perform magic to lure it in?" Cat questioned.

"Exactly," Buffy said.