Trip the Light Fantastic
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Oz didn't realize the sun had come down until John tapped him on the shoulder.
"It's time Oz."
Oz got up and followed him back to the glen. The whole Sept was in attendance, including some Oz hadn't met. They must have just arrived.
Conn intercepted the pair and motioned for them to follow. He brought then over to the Pack's yurt.
"I'm assumin ye' ave 'ad a wee problem with clothes whene'r ye transformed 'afore Oz."
"Um, yeah". When you went from 5'6" 145 pounds to 6'5" and over 250 pounds, the cloths you were wearing usually did not survive the trip.
"Well, strip down and I'll show you how to put this 'ere on." He held a bundle of tartan cloth in his hands. "All the way mind, ye'll be goin regimental!"
"This be a Great Kilt, or 9-yard kilt. It's just one long piece o' cloth, and there's a special way to wrap it around y'self, and then belt it. It's also a fetish I created. It will cross into the Umbra with you, and "meld" into your being when ye transform into Crinos, Hispo or Lupus. That way when yea return to homid, yea won't be naked! When we've the time we'll find a spirit to teach ya the Rite so ye can do this with yur own clothes."
Oz was not too thrilled with the idea of wearing a kilt, but not being naked was a good thing. After he was dressed, all three headed towards the fire pit. John indicated that he should go and sit in a place that had been reserved for him. The Rite Master came and stood behind him and addressed the gathered Sept.
"Tonight a young cub seeks to enter adulthood within our Sept. The task set before him will be to enter the spirit realm and discover the parts of his past that are unknown to him. Before he begins his journey, he must be cleansed."
The rite master took a branch with some leaves still on it. Oz couldn't tell from what kind of plant it came. Sticking the branch into the fire, he removed it when it began to smolder. The rite master circled Oz three times, chanting in the Garou tongue, waving the smoking branch as he went.
After the third pass he stopped to stand in front of Oz and began a low growl. The others in the Sept took up the growl as well, and it soon rose to a Howl. As it reached a crescendo, they halted abruptly.
In English the Rite Master continued; "May the taint of the Wyrm be gone from you. May the taint of the Weaver be gone from you. May you always walk in Luna's light and with Gaia's blessing".
"The cub has been cleansed." Spoke the Rite Master. "Now let us send him on his journey. Who will lead him across the Gauntlet into the Spirit world?"
John arose from where he sat. "I will Rite Master. I am "Talks to the Wind", Child of Gaia and Theurge of the Red Moon pack."
"Step forward Talks to the Wind and lead your charge."
John came to stand before Oz. "This is how this works. We are going to cross through what we call "The Gauntlet", the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world, also called the Umbra. Eventually you'll learn to do this yourself. Once there I will set you on a path, but you must walk it alone. I will await your return."
He produced a hand mirror, framed in tortoise shell. Standing beside Oz and taking his hand, John brought the mirror up so that both of them could look into it. Suddenly Oz felt dizzy. His perceptions became muffled, as if he was immersed in Jell-O. As quickly as it began, it was over.
John was still holding his hand. Oz looked at him and he smiled. "Welcome to the Umbra Oz."
Oz looked around. It was still night time. Looking up he saw a gibbous moon sitting above the clearing, between half and full. He could have sworn it was a half moon when before he crossed over. He could tell he was still standing in the glen before the fire, but it was somehow different. He could see things dancing in the fire, spirits rejoicing in there element. He could see the assembled Garou sitting around it, but not as they were. Rather he saw bright figures that represented them. All radiated with a pure white light, but also had other colors swirling around. The same was true of the trees and other living things surrounding the glen.
"What you're seeing Oz is the spirits that inhabit us all, souls if you want to call it that. Derrick calls them avatars, some people call them auras. You and I are physically here in the spirit world, so we see each other normally."
Oz spotted some movement and he saw the shining representations of the Totem spirits belonging to the Sept and its packs.
"Time to send you on your way Oz." John transformed into his full wolf form. Raising his head, he sent out a low howl, followed by various yips and growls. Before him a silver light shot out low to the ground, winding through the trees into the forest. He reverted back to human form.
"This is your trail Oz. I don't know exactly where it will lead you or what you'll encounter on the way. Return when you've found the answers you seek."
"Thanks" was Oz's only reply. He turned from John and began to follow the path.
As he left sight of the glen, the trail narrowed. He could walk it, but had to push aside the occasional branch. He walked for perhaps 10 minutes when he noticed a change in the air. He couldn't quite pin down what it was. It smelled earthier perhaps. He took perhaps another 20 steps, when he got a strange feeling. He was not alone. Buffy called it her Spidey Sense.
On guard, Oz proceeded. The shining trail continued but it looked to Oz as if he came to the forest's edge. Before him was an opening similar to the Glen in the Gazzam Caern. There were both wolves and homids going about their daily business. He noticed that the homid men were dressed in kilts like the one he wore now, wrapped around their wearers and then draped over one shoulder. Some wore white linen shirts, others were bare chested.
Suddenly, springing from the forest came other Garou in Crinos form, attacking. The adult males and females had no chance to organize a defense other then to fight individually. The young scattered and ran to the safety of the forest. Oz stood frozen, unable to act.
As he watched, a young female ran towards him, a Crinos form Garou in her pursuit. Oz could only stand there as she was clawed from behind. As she fell before him Oz could see half her spine was exposed. The Garou responsible howled Victory and turned to find another victim.
Oz could feel his bile rising up, but with it fear. He tried to will the change to happen but couldn't. Above him he saw the still gibbous moon and felt defeated.
It looked like the invaders were going to win when more Garou entered the field, apparent allies of the locals. With howls of Outrage and Challenge, they entered the fray and the tide quickly turned. The remaining invaders fled.
The battle over, Oz felt the power of movement return to his legs. He went forward and knelt besides the body of the fallen girl. Turning her over, he looked at her still face. Suddenly her eyes opened!
In a heavy Scottish accent she spoke to him, "These are your people, and you stood and did nothing. When will you Rage!" With that she became still again.
Aghast Oz stood quickly and moved away from her. He could see the silver path led him on through the center of the clearing. Moving forward he came amongst the survivors. Those who could were tending the wounded. None seemed to notice him.
As he was about to exit the clearing on the other side, he was belted on the back of the head and sent reeling to the ground.
"Fear? You useless welp! Fear has no place in a Garou's heart! We fear nothing, not even death itself!"
Picking himself up, Oz faced a bloodied and scarred Garou in Crinos form.
"You could have forewarned us, and fewer would have died. You could have joined us and fought with honor, but you stood there like a coward! When will you Rage!"
Oz turned to run again, but tripped. On the ground he turned to see what caused him to fall, the body of another young girl. Her sightless eyes never moved, but she spoke to Oz, "Will you sing our song Galliard? Will you tell the people of the slaughter that occurred this day?"
Oz got up and ran again. Following the silver trail, he was back in the deep forest. He kept moving wanting to put distance between himself and what just happened. Ahead of him, he heard a snapping sound.
Oz froze. Something was up there, ahead of him. Trying to be as quite as possible, Oz crept ahead. He found a group of Garou. None were in homid form. Three were in the lead, all in their full wolf Lupus form. Two more followed in Crinos form. They appeared to be stalking something. One looked like it was getting berated silently for making noise and possibly giving them away.
Oz could hear more movement. There appeared to be a trail in front of them, crossing their path. A large shape was approaching from the left. As it passed them, the hunters sprang into action.
The object of their hunt was nothing short of an abomination. It actually resembled one of the Demons he'd seen Buffy fight. It had rams horns on its head, a human face, but with fangs like a vamp. Pustules covered its sparsely furred body. Its upper body was that of an over large and fat human, while it's legs resembled a Rams. It screamed pitifully and began to defend itself.
As before it looked like the fight was just about over. The hunters had their prey wounded and on its knees when crashing from the other side came more of the horrors.
One of the Crinos hunters screamed "Ambush!" and soon they were on the defensive. Two of the wolves tried to transform into Crinos but died in the process. The odds were now 3 to one against the Garou.
Once again Oz stood frozen. He purposely tried to incite himself, to gather his rage, but he failed. Looking up, he cursed the still gibbous moon.
While they gave as good as they got, superior numbers won out and the last Garou fell. The remaining monsters began to feast on their remains. Oz was horrified.
Oz found that his path lay through the battle ground. Trusting that they would not be able to see him like most of the other things he'd encountered he pressed on. He made it to the other side, when something grabbed at his ankle. Looking down he saw the upper body of one of the Garou hunters. Only his head, shoulders and one arm remained, and that one arm had a death grip on Oz!
"You stood there and watched! What kind of Fianna are you! Standing there like a frightened pup! When will you Rage!"
Oz kicked at the thing holding him. Freeing himself he ran again.
After running for a few minutes, Oz slowed to a walk, but did not stop. Fear. It seemed a constant accusation of the Garou he's encountered here. What was he afraid of? What fear was holding me back? Failure? No. He'd never been afraid of sticking his neck out. He'd joined the Scooby gang hadn't he?
The path he was following led to a road. Not a highway, a rural type road that had grass still growing in the middle with two tracks for tires. The shining path turned to the left to follow the road. Oz continued to follow.
Eventually the road led to a building, but not like one he'd ever seen before. It was more of a Adams Family version of a building. Very gothic. As he got closer, Oz could see that the walls of the building was more like an insect shell then anything else. He could see spiders running around the whole place, but in neat ordered lines.
Looking around he noticed that one of the windows at the ground level had a light coming from it. Moving up to it, Oz peered in. His heart almost stopped.
Inside was the laboratory from UC Sunnydale in perfect detail. There was Willow engaged in some type of spell casting. The whole scene played out before his eyes.
Willow tossed ingredients into the growing fire. She began to chant, "I conjure thee by the Saracen Queen, and by the name of hell. Let them know no love or solace, let them find no peace as well."
Willow appeared infused with energy and a few small objects around her, beakers and test tubes and such, start to levitate. Willow was nearing the end of her spell. The energy building, she took a photo of Oz from her pile of ingredients.
"Wow" Oz thought to himself. He'd said he wouldn't have blamed her if Willow had cast a hex on Veruca and him. And here she was doing it. You go girl.
"Let this image seal his fate, not to love - but only hate..."
Oz felt his heart ache with pain, pain at the hurt he caused her that brought her to this. But as she moved to add his picture to the fire, she makes the mistake of really looking at it. She stops, stricken. Then tries again to cast it into the flame - but it's too late. She can't go through with it. She starts to cry all over again. The spell is broken. The power drains from the room and objects fall to the ground.
Oz feels only more pain. He doesn't really know why she stopped, but he hoped it was out of what ever love Willow still had for him.
Then a sarcastic voice breaks her tearful silence. "Wow. For a minute there I thought you might actually play rough."
Willow turned to see Veruca in the doorway. Oz feels a chill go down his spine. He decided to try and intervene, but again he is frozen in place.
"Sometimes you have to, you know, to keep what's yours. Sometimes you have to kill." Veruca moved to block the door. It's the only way in or out of the room. She looked out the window.
"Well what do you know? Sun's almost down."
Willow and Veruca face off. Willow is shaking with rage and fear, and Veruca appears to be relishing every moment of it.
"Can't say I'm surprised you didn't go through with your little hex. You don't
have the teeth."
"You don't know what I have. You don't know anything about me."
"I know what you love. I have his scent on me right now."
Willow's heard enough. In tears, she tries to dart past Veruca to the door, but Veruca catches her with a vicious back hand, sending her sprawling to the floor.
"Go ahead and cry, but you should have seen this coming. You can't tame a wild thing. He's not yours any more. While he's in you, he'd be thinking about me, no. Not thinking. It's deeper than that. Why don't you just try to relax now? In a minute or two it'll all be over."
That's when the door behind her gets kicked open and the "other" Oz enters, breathless and enraged. He and Veruca square off. The Oz outside the window remembers his actions, but is a little wigged by seeing it from this perspective.
"Don't touch her again!"
"Come stop me. I like it rough, remember?"
The sun has faded completely from the room now and the change begins.
"You want to hurt me, hurt me. But leave her out of this."
"How can I? She's the reason you're living in cages. She's blinding you! When she's gone, you'll be able to admit what you are."
They are both in their Glabro form now, still human, but the primitive being is showing through.
"You don't want to find out what I am."
"You're an animal. Animals kill."
"You're right. We kill." He leaps at Veruca.
Both quickly transform into Crinos, battle forms. Willow turned away and shuts her ears against the sounds of Oz and Veruca's bodies as they twist and crack. Meanwhile, Veruca and Oz continue to battle throughout the grotesque metamorphosis.
Willow huddled in a corner, the wolves blocking her exit. As the battle continued Oz gained the advantage. He gets a jaw lock on Veruca's neck and violently bites down. She shrieks with pain, Oz does not relent. When he's finished, he releases his bite and Veruca's body falls to the ground, inert. Then the Oz Wolf turns toward Willow. His maw is bloodied and his eyes are the cold eyes of a killer, there no hint recognition there.
Willow turned and faced the giant beast crouching low in front of her, baring its razor-like teeth. Nearly out of her mind with grief and terror now, she says in a tiny voice, "Oz?.." She reached a trembling hand out, as if to stroke him.
The Oz watching from outside began beating the window, shouting. "No Willow! Get away! Run!"
Without missing a beat, the Oz werewolf lunged toward her, going for the kill. But he is snatched away from Willow only milliseconds before her certain death.
Buffy arrived just in time. She grabbed Oz by the hind legs and dragged him away from Willow. There is a brief fight between slayer and wolf, but Buffy manages to kick him upside the head, dazing him long enough to use the tranquilizer gun and sedate him.
Once the Oz werewolf passes out, Buffy rushes to Willow and gatheres her into her arms.
The scene before Oz faded away, leaving an empty room. Why show him this? It was beginning to seem like some weird Frank Capra film. Wait, if Oz followed that logic, that meant there was a theme to all this, but what?
His fear. What was he afraid of? The truth smacked him in the face; hurting Willow, or any other innocent human for that matter. He had no control in his Crinos form. He would have killed Willow as easily as Veruca. But that didn't have to happen now, did it? Now that he understood the truth about his nature, and that the Rage could be tempered with reason?
He noticed the shining path again, leading away from the strange building. He continued on.
The path led him off the road and back into the forest. It meandered for a while, leading him in no particular direction that Oz could tell. Again it finally brought him to a clearing, and a familiar one. It was the same Garou encampment he'd been to at the beginning of his quest. All seemed peaceful, but wary of his last visit here, Oz stretched his senses out for any signs of trouble.
Finding none, Oz decided to enter the Caern. There were perhaps 7 or 8 people around and about. No one seemed to notice his presence. 3 older men were sitting near the fire in discussion. Oz decided to eavesdrop.
One dressed in breeches and a white linen shirt addressed another wearing a kilt. "Angus, I was in the town this morning. The tale is that a number of the Osborne families are heading to America".
"Ach, we can't let them leave!" said the third, a redhead peppered with grey.
Angus replied to him, "Shaun, the Osbornes are our Kinfolk, not slaves. The Impergium ended eons ago. We canna tell them where to live and what to do. We've treated them as friends, but none really know the truth."
So it was true Oz said to himself, my family is Kinfolk. One mystery solved.
"But what will we do without them! You know as well as I that most of the young we've had lately come from them."
Angus answered this too. "Not all of them will leave, some will remain. And there are others. I suppose some of the younger Garou will want to follow them too. That we'll have to keep an eye on."
The conversation would have continued, but it ended when a Howl filled the air. Oz was not sure, but he thought it was a call for help. What ever it was, it galvanized the three Garou. Angus shouted for the women to stay and the three charged off in the calls direction, changing into their battle forms as they went. Oz ran after them.
The Howls in front of them continued, getting closer. They broke from the forest path onto a dirt road, ahead on the road a battle was taking place between Garou. This time Oz had no doubt as to who was who. Eight Black Spiral Dancers were attacking some of the Fianna from the Caern.
It appeared that most of the Fianna under attack were female, some fairly young. As they ran towards them, Oz could see discarded packages along the road. They must have been jumped while returning from the village after a shopping trip or something. All were in Crinos form trying to defend themselves.
The males were still a hundred yards or so away. As Oz ran, he saw one of the younger ones fall before the onslaught. Oz could feel the anger boiling inside him. Not this time! His anger turned to Rage. He could feel it as a presence in his soul. He reached out and embraced it, willing himself to change. Oz could feel his gait change along with his center of balance. Looking down at himself, he was in his Crinos form. He realized that he was conscious of this, he was present and in control. He reveled in it! Woe onto them!
In short order Oz, Angus and the others jumped into the fray, taking two of the enemy down in the first rush. Oz found himself facing one of the beasts by himself. They both took a moment to size each other up. They were both about the same size, but the Spiral's coat was splotchy and mangy. One of his eyes appeared to be clouded over with a cataract. The Spiral launched the first attack. Oz dodged and counter attacked, slashing with claws and gouging his opponent. First blood to Oz.
They circled as they fought, slashing with claws and dodging. Oz saw an opening and took it. Having spent many hours watching WWF wrestling, he tried a throw he thought would be easy. It was, much to Oz's surprise! While his opponent was on the ground, he tried another. Taking a running jump, Oz came down with all his weight on his elbow, into the enemy's chest. "Atom Drop" he thinks it's called. Oz could hear and feel bones breaking.
While the enemy was still down, Oz got up and stood over him. With his claws, Oz simply ripped his throat out, ending it. Oz turned towards the rest of the battle. Only three Black Spirals remained, and they were fighting for their lives. One had his back to Oz, defending itself against Angus. Oz simply walked up behind it and drove his claws into its kidneys. Angus finished it with a powerful punch, snapping its head back and breaking its neck. They both Howled in glee.
The final two attempted to run. One of the other elder males Howled, and it stopped both in their tracks. The two adult females took the opportunity to finish them off.
The fight over, the woman Garou transformed back to human form and quickly went over to the fallen Fianna child, who had also reverted. She was still alive. One of the woman held her hands over the wound and chanted words in the Garou tongue, healing the wounds.
The 3 elder males then regarded Oz. Angus spoke.
"I dinna ken who you are laddie, but we're grateful for your help."
Extending his hand to Angus, "Daniel Osborne, it was my pleasure."
"An Osborne eh? Yer accent seems strange though." Relied the one Oz knew was called Shawn.
"I'm visiting from America, looking up ancestors." taking Shawn's hand as well.
"Ach, a Yank eh? Well welcome to the old country!"
"Yes welcome!" said the third. "I'm Michael "Cassan-ny-Greiney" MacDermott. These two are Angus "S'doo yn Feeagh" McCloud and Shawn "Easht lesh dagh cleaysh" Osborne. It's likely Shawn here be one o' the relatives you seek!
As they stood greeting one another, Oz saw the shining path appear over Shawn's shoulder. Must be time to go.
"I'm pleased to meet all of you, but I must be going"
A look of concern on his face, "We won't hear of it laddie! Yea must come back to the Caern so we may welcome yea properly!" Comments of agreement all around.
"I wish I could, but I'm on my Rite of Passage and the spirits beckon me."
"Ach, well far be it from us to interfere in that. I dinna want the spirits angry with us, and such a Rite brooks no distractions. Good luck to you laddie! If yea ever be in need, a debt is owed to yea by the Sept of the Whispering Glen."
Everyone shook Oz's hand again. The women kissed his cheek and thanked him, and then Oz proceeded on his way.
The path led him back into the forest. In short order, he found himself at the edge of another clearing. In the middle sat Talks with the Wind, waiting for him. He stood as Oz approached him.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"I am Daniel Osborne, Galliard of the Fianna Tribe. The Osborne family that came to America are indeed Fianna kinfolk."
"Great! And the other little thing?"
Oz reached for his Rage. It was a little more difficult this time. The stimulus was not there. He pulled an old actors trick. He saw on a TV show once that when an actor wanted to cry real tears, he thought of something tragic in his life. Oz thought of Veruca attacking Willow. His Rage sprang forward and Oz willed himself into Crinos form. Looking up, the gibbous moon still held station above the clearing.
John smiled "Cool! Stay like that; the others will get a kick out it when we return."
Standing next to him, John brought up a small mirror, different from the other one. "Now is as good a time as any to show you how to do this. The Gauntlet as I said is a barrier between what we know as the Physical world and the Umbra, the spirit world. The Umbra mirrors the physical world in some places. You could call it an imprint of the physical. Only things whose force of life is strong get imprinted. Hence the trees you see here from the Caern."
"We therefore equate the Umbra as a mirror world. Looking into a mirror, you can gaze into the other world from where you are. This is called "peeking". You can then take it a step further and "will" yourself across. In some places that Gauntlet is heavier then others and it takes more strength of will to cross. Here, the Gauntlet is fairly thin, so it's a great place for your first attempt."
He handed Oz the small mirror. "Here. Take this and while looking into in, think of seeing the glen as you know it. When you have that image in place, just imagine yourself there, in the image."
Oz looked in the mirror, but only saw himself. Concentrating on John's instructions, in a few moments his visage disappeared and was replaced by the glen. As he began to imagine himself standing there, the feeling of being in a Jell-O bath hit him again. Looking up, he saw the pleased faces of the Sept surrounding him.
"The Cub Returns!" Exclaimed the Rite Master. "And we see at least part of his quest has been fulfilled."
Oz remembered he was still in Crinos form. John returned from the Umbra and appeared beside him. Oz willed himself back to his human form. Shouts and growls of approval rang out.
"I am Daniel Osborne. A Galliard of the Fianna Tribe."
That produced a loud whoop from Conn! "I knew it!"
"My ancestors are indeed Kinfolk of the Fianna, and arrived here in America at the turn of the last century I think. My mother has a family tree that might help track them down when I can get to it. I discovered that the block to my Rage was my fear, fear that I would hurt the ones I loved when I lost control of my Rage. That fear is gone now."
The Sept leader Whiteclaw stood next to Oz and placed one hand on his shoulder. He turned to the assembled Garou. "Do any doubt that the quest the Cub was set upon has been completed?" Silence.
"Then let it be said that the Cub is no more, and let the Garou take his place amongst the Sept."
The Sept leader stepped back, and the Rite Master took his place. "It is appropriate at this time that the new adult be given his Garou name. Have you chosen one Oz?"
That stopped him. "No, I haven't"
"I've got one" Shouted Krieg, smiling. How about "Guardian of the Chosen One".
Whiteclaw spoke up. "Appropriate, given Oz's first task in the World. I also believe it is one he will return to. What say you Oz?"
"I like it!"
"So be it" continued the Rite Master. He circled Oz three times, chanting in the Garou tongue. After the third pass he stood in front of Oz. An assistant handed him a small wooden bucket and a dipper which had a wooden handle, but a cup made of Silver on the end.
Taking a dipperful of water, he poured it over Oz's head. He continued in English, "We welcome into the Sept "Guardian the Chosen One". May he defend his Sept and his people with Honor. May his teeth and claws remain sharp and rend his enemies. May he use his skills, wit and wisdom to preserve Gaia the Earth Mother in all her aspects."
Oz felt like he was just baptized, which he supposed was not too far from the truth.
"The Rite of Passage is complete. Welcome to the Sept Oz." The Sept roared. Then Oz felt a cold liquid getting dumped on his head. A whole bucket full of beer! "Conn!"
"Welcome to the tribe me boy-o! Here have another!" And Conn thrust a large clay mug into Oz's hand, brimming with beer. It was then that Oz noticed the fixings of a large party had been assembled in his absence, kegs and all. He was warmed with their faith in him. What if he'd failed?
Krieg approached him, extending his hand. "Congratulations boy. Party all you want tonight. It will be our last for a while. Tomorrow we leave to face the beast." He lifted his own mug and drained it.
"How long are we going to be down there?"
"Oh, it shouldn't take more then a week or two. We'll be back before Christmas." Krieg slapped him on the back, hard! Then he went off to get a refill.
Taking a large draught himself, Oz said to no one in particular, "Oh boy."
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TBC - The War for Amazonia
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Oz didn't realize the sun had come down until John tapped him on the shoulder.
"It's time Oz."
Oz got up and followed him back to the glen. The whole Sept was in attendance, including some Oz hadn't met. They must have just arrived.
Conn intercepted the pair and motioned for them to follow. He brought then over to the Pack's yurt.
"I'm assumin ye' ave 'ad a wee problem with clothes whene'r ye transformed 'afore Oz."
"Um, yeah". When you went from 5'6" 145 pounds to 6'5" and over 250 pounds, the cloths you were wearing usually did not survive the trip.
"Well, strip down and I'll show you how to put this 'ere on." He held a bundle of tartan cloth in his hands. "All the way mind, ye'll be goin regimental!"
"This be a Great Kilt, or 9-yard kilt. It's just one long piece o' cloth, and there's a special way to wrap it around y'self, and then belt it. It's also a fetish I created. It will cross into the Umbra with you, and "meld" into your being when ye transform into Crinos, Hispo or Lupus. That way when yea return to homid, yea won't be naked! When we've the time we'll find a spirit to teach ya the Rite so ye can do this with yur own clothes."
Oz was not too thrilled with the idea of wearing a kilt, but not being naked was a good thing. After he was dressed, all three headed towards the fire pit. John indicated that he should go and sit in a place that had been reserved for him. The Rite Master came and stood behind him and addressed the gathered Sept.
"Tonight a young cub seeks to enter adulthood within our Sept. The task set before him will be to enter the spirit realm and discover the parts of his past that are unknown to him. Before he begins his journey, he must be cleansed."
The rite master took a branch with some leaves still on it. Oz couldn't tell from what kind of plant it came. Sticking the branch into the fire, he removed it when it began to smolder. The rite master circled Oz three times, chanting in the Garou tongue, waving the smoking branch as he went.
After the third pass he stopped to stand in front of Oz and began a low growl. The others in the Sept took up the growl as well, and it soon rose to a Howl. As it reached a crescendo, they halted abruptly.
In English the Rite Master continued; "May the taint of the Wyrm be gone from you. May the taint of the Weaver be gone from you. May you always walk in Luna's light and with Gaia's blessing".
"The cub has been cleansed." Spoke the Rite Master. "Now let us send him on his journey. Who will lead him across the Gauntlet into the Spirit world?"
John arose from where he sat. "I will Rite Master. I am "Talks to the Wind", Child of Gaia and Theurge of the Red Moon pack."
"Step forward Talks to the Wind and lead your charge."
John came to stand before Oz. "This is how this works. We are going to cross through what we call "The Gauntlet", the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world, also called the Umbra. Eventually you'll learn to do this yourself. Once there I will set you on a path, but you must walk it alone. I will await your return."
He produced a hand mirror, framed in tortoise shell. Standing beside Oz and taking his hand, John brought the mirror up so that both of them could look into it. Suddenly Oz felt dizzy. His perceptions became muffled, as if he was immersed in Jell-O. As quickly as it began, it was over.
John was still holding his hand. Oz looked at him and he smiled. "Welcome to the Umbra Oz."
Oz looked around. It was still night time. Looking up he saw a gibbous moon sitting above the clearing, between half and full. He could have sworn it was a half moon when before he crossed over. He could tell he was still standing in the glen before the fire, but it was somehow different. He could see things dancing in the fire, spirits rejoicing in there element. He could see the assembled Garou sitting around it, but not as they were. Rather he saw bright figures that represented them. All radiated with a pure white light, but also had other colors swirling around. The same was true of the trees and other living things surrounding the glen.
"What you're seeing Oz is the spirits that inhabit us all, souls if you want to call it that. Derrick calls them avatars, some people call them auras. You and I are physically here in the spirit world, so we see each other normally."
Oz spotted some movement and he saw the shining representations of the Totem spirits belonging to the Sept and its packs.
"Time to send you on your way Oz." John transformed into his full wolf form. Raising his head, he sent out a low howl, followed by various yips and growls. Before him a silver light shot out low to the ground, winding through the trees into the forest. He reverted back to human form.
"This is your trail Oz. I don't know exactly where it will lead you or what you'll encounter on the way. Return when you've found the answers you seek."
"Thanks" was Oz's only reply. He turned from John and began to follow the path.
As he left sight of the glen, the trail narrowed. He could walk it, but had to push aside the occasional branch. He walked for perhaps 10 minutes when he noticed a change in the air. He couldn't quite pin down what it was. It smelled earthier perhaps. He took perhaps another 20 steps, when he got a strange feeling. He was not alone. Buffy called it her Spidey Sense.
On guard, Oz proceeded. The shining trail continued but it looked to Oz as if he came to the forest's edge. Before him was an opening similar to the Glen in the Gazzam Caern. There were both wolves and homids going about their daily business. He noticed that the homid men were dressed in kilts like the one he wore now, wrapped around their wearers and then draped over one shoulder. Some wore white linen shirts, others were bare chested.
Suddenly, springing from the forest came other Garou in Crinos form, attacking. The adult males and females had no chance to organize a defense other then to fight individually. The young scattered and ran to the safety of the forest. Oz stood frozen, unable to act.
As he watched, a young female ran towards him, a Crinos form Garou in her pursuit. Oz could only stand there as she was clawed from behind. As she fell before him Oz could see half her spine was exposed. The Garou responsible howled Victory and turned to find another victim.
Oz could feel his bile rising up, but with it fear. He tried to will the change to happen but couldn't. Above him he saw the still gibbous moon and felt defeated.
It looked like the invaders were going to win when more Garou entered the field, apparent allies of the locals. With howls of Outrage and Challenge, they entered the fray and the tide quickly turned. The remaining invaders fled.
The battle over, Oz felt the power of movement return to his legs. He went forward and knelt besides the body of the fallen girl. Turning her over, he looked at her still face. Suddenly her eyes opened!
In a heavy Scottish accent she spoke to him, "These are your people, and you stood and did nothing. When will you Rage!" With that she became still again.
Aghast Oz stood quickly and moved away from her. He could see the silver path led him on through the center of the clearing. Moving forward he came amongst the survivors. Those who could were tending the wounded. None seemed to notice him.
As he was about to exit the clearing on the other side, he was belted on the back of the head and sent reeling to the ground.
"Fear? You useless welp! Fear has no place in a Garou's heart! We fear nothing, not even death itself!"
Picking himself up, Oz faced a bloodied and scarred Garou in Crinos form.
"You could have forewarned us, and fewer would have died. You could have joined us and fought with honor, but you stood there like a coward! When will you Rage!"
Oz turned to run again, but tripped. On the ground he turned to see what caused him to fall, the body of another young girl. Her sightless eyes never moved, but she spoke to Oz, "Will you sing our song Galliard? Will you tell the people of the slaughter that occurred this day?"
Oz got up and ran again. Following the silver trail, he was back in the deep forest. He kept moving wanting to put distance between himself and what just happened. Ahead of him, he heard a snapping sound.
Oz froze. Something was up there, ahead of him. Trying to be as quite as possible, Oz crept ahead. He found a group of Garou. None were in homid form. Three were in the lead, all in their full wolf Lupus form. Two more followed in Crinos form. They appeared to be stalking something. One looked like it was getting berated silently for making noise and possibly giving them away.
Oz could hear more movement. There appeared to be a trail in front of them, crossing their path. A large shape was approaching from the left. As it passed them, the hunters sprang into action.
The object of their hunt was nothing short of an abomination. It actually resembled one of the Demons he'd seen Buffy fight. It had rams horns on its head, a human face, but with fangs like a vamp. Pustules covered its sparsely furred body. Its upper body was that of an over large and fat human, while it's legs resembled a Rams. It screamed pitifully and began to defend itself.
As before it looked like the fight was just about over. The hunters had their prey wounded and on its knees when crashing from the other side came more of the horrors.
One of the Crinos hunters screamed "Ambush!" and soon they were on the defensive. Two of the wolves tried to transform into Crinos but died in the process. The odds were now 3 to one against the Garou.
Once again Oz stood frozen. He purposely tried to incite himself, to gather his rage, but he failed. Looking up, he cursed the still gibbous moon.
While they gave as good as they got, superior numbers won out and the last Garou fell. The remaining monsters began to feast on their remains. Oz was horrified.
Oz found that his path lay through the battle ground. Trusting that they would not be able to see him like most of the other things he'd encountered he pressed on. He made it to the other side, when something grabbed at his ankle. Looking down he saw the upper body of one of the Garou hunters. Only his head, shoulders and one arm remained, and that one arm had a death grip on Oz!
"You stood there and watched! What kind of Fianna are you! Standing there like a frightened pup! When will you Rage!"
Oz kicked at the thing holding him. Freeing himself he ran again.
After running for a few minutes, Oz slowed to a walk, but did not stop. Fear. It seemed a constant accusation of the Garou he's encountered here. What was he afraid of? What fear was holding me back? Failure? No. He'd never been afraid of sticking his neck out. He'd joined the Scooby gang hadn't he?
The path he was following led to a road. Not a highway, a rural type road that had grass still growing in the middle with two tracks for tires. The shining path turned to the left to follow the road. Oz continued to follow.
Eventually the road led to a building, but not like one he'd ever seen before. It was more of a Adams Family version of a building. Very gothic. As he got closer, Oz could see that the walls of the building was more like an insect shell then anything else. He could see spiders running around the whole place, but in neat ordered lines.
Looking around he noticed that one of the windows at the ground level had a light coming from it. Moving up to it, Oz peered in. His heart almost stopped.
Inside was the laboratory from UC Sunnydale in perfect detail. There was Willow engaged in some type of spell casting. The whole scene played out before his eyes.
Willow tossed ingredients into the growing fire. She began to chant, "I conjure thee by the Saracen Queen, and by the name of hell. Let them know no love or solace, let them find no peace as well."
Willow appeared infused with energy and a few small objects around her, beakers and test tubes and such, start to levitate. Willow was nearing the end of her spell. The energy building, she took a photo of Oz from her pile of ingredients.
"Wow" Oz thought to himself. He'd said he wouldn't have blamed her if Willow had cast a hex on Veruca and him. And here she was doing it. You go girl.
"Let this image seal his fate, not to love - but only hate..."
Oz felt his heart ache with pain, pain at the hurt he caused her that brought her to this. But as she moved to add his picture to the fire, she makes the mistake of really looking at it. She stops, stricken. Then tries again to cast it into the flame - but it's too late. She can't go through with it. She starts to cry all over again. The spell is broken. The power drains from the room and objects fall to the ground.
Oz feels only more pain. He doesn't really know why she stopped, but he hoped it was out of what ever love Willow still had for him.
Then a sarcastic voice breaks her tearful silence. "Wow. For a minute there I thought you might actually play rough."
Willow turned to see Veruca in the doorway. Oz feels a chill go down his spine. He decided to try and intervene, but again he is frozen in place.
"Sometimes you have to, you know, to keep what's yours. Sometimes you have to kill." Veruca moved to block the door. It's the only way in or out of the room. She looked out the window.
"Well what do you know? Sun's almost down."
Willow and Veruca face off. Willow is shaking with rage and fear, and Veruca appears to be relishing every moment of it.
"Can't say I'm surprised you didn't go through with your little hex. You don't
have the teeth."
"You don't know what I have. You don't know anything about me."
"I know what you love. I have his scent on me right now."
Willow's heard enough. In tears, she tries to dart past Veruca to the door, but Veruca catches her with a vicious back hand, sending her sprawling to the floor.
"Go ahead and cry, but you should have seen this coming. You can't tame a wild thing. He's not yours any more. While he's in you, he'd be thinking about me, no. Not thinking. It's deeper than that. Why don't you just try to relax now? In a minute or two it'll all be over."
That's when the door behind her gets kicked open and the "other" Oz enters, breathless and enraged. He and Veruca square off. The Oz outside the window remembers his actions, but is a little wigged by seeing it from this perspective.
"Don't touch her again!"
"Come stop me. I like it rough, remember?"
The sun has faded completely from the room now and the change begins.
"You want to hurt me, hurt me. But leave her out of this."
"How can I? She's the reason you're living in cages. She's blinding you! When she's gone, you'll be able to admit what you are."
They are both in their Glabro form now, still human, but the primitive being is showing through.
"You don't want to find out what I am."
"You're an animal. Animals kill."
"You're right. We kill." He leaps at Veruca.
Both quickly transform into Crinos, battle forms. Willow turned away and shuts her ears against the sounds of Oz and Veruca's bodies as they twist and crack. Meanwhile, Veruca and Oz continue to battle throughout the grotesque metamorphosis.
Willow huddled in a corner, the wolves blocking her exit. As the battle continued Oz gained the advantage. He gets a jaw lock on Veruca's neck and violently bites down. She shrieks with pain, Oz does not relent. When he's finished, he releases his bite and Veruca's body falls to the ground, inert. Then the Oz Wolf turns toward Willow. His maw is bloodied and his eyes are the cold eyes of a killer, there no hint recognition there.
Willow turned and faced the giant beast crouching low in front of her, baring its razor-like teeth. Nearly out of her mind with grief and terror now, she says in a tiny voice, "Oz?.." She reached a trembling hand out, as if to stroke him.
The Oz watching from outside began beating the window, shouting. "No Willow! Get away! Run!"
Without missing a beat, the Oz werewolf lunged toward her, going for the kill. But he is snatched away from Willow only milliseconds before her certain death.
Buffy arrived just in time. She grabbed Oz by the hind legs and dragged him away from Willow. There is a brief fight between slayer and wolf, but Buffy manages to kick him upside the head, dazing him long enough to use the tranquilizer gun and sedate him.
Once the Oz werewolf passes out, Buffy rushes to Willow and gatheres her into her arms.
The scene before Oz faded away, leaving an empty room. Why show him this? It was beginning to seem like some weird Frank Capra film. Wait, if Oz followed that logic, that meant there was a theme to all this, but what?
His fear. What was he afraid of? The truth smacked him in the face; hurting Willow, or any other innocent human for that matter. He had no control in his Crinos form. He would have killed Willow as easily as Veruca. But that didn't have to happen now, did it? Now that he understood the truth about his nature, and that the Rage could be tempered with reason?
He noticed the shining path again, leading away from the strange building. He continued on.
The path led him off the road and back into the forest. It meandered for a while, leading him in no particular direction that Oz could tell. Again it finally brought him to a clearing, and a familiar one. It was the same Garou encampment he'd been to at the beginning of his quest. All seemed peaceful, but wary of his last visit here, Oz stretched his senses out for any signs of trouble.
Finding none, Oz decided to enter the Caern. There were perhaps 7 or 8 people around and about. No one seemed to notice his presence. 3 older men were sitting near the fire in discussion. Oz decided to eavesdrop.
One dressed in breeches and a white linen shirt addressed another wearing a kilt. "Angus, I was in the town this morning. The tale is that a number of the Osborne families are heading to America".
"Ach, we can't let them leave!" said the third, a redhead peppered with grey.
Angus replied to him, "Shaun, the Osbornes are our Kinfolk, not slaves. The Impergium ended eons ago. We canna tell them where to live and what to do. We've treated them as friends, but none really know the truth."
So it was true Oz said to himself, my family is Kinfolk. One mystery solved.
"But what will we do without them! You know as well as I that most of the young we've had lately come from them."
Angus answered this too. "Not all of them will leave, some will remain. And there are others. I suppose some of the younger Garou will want to follow them too. That we'll have to keep an eye on."
The conversation would have continued, but it ended when a Howl filled the air. Oz was not sure, but he thought it was a call for help. What ever it was, it galvanized the three Garou. Angus shouted for the women to stay and the three charged off in the calls direction, changing into their battle forms as they went. Oz ran after them.
The Howls in front of them continued, getting closer. They broke from the forest path onto a dirt road, ahead on the road a battle was taking place between Garou. This time Oz had no doubt as to who was who. Eight Black Spiral Dancers were attacking some of the Fianna from the Caern.
It appeared that most of the Fianna under attack were female, some fairly young. As they ran towards them, Oz could see discarded packages along the road. They must have been jumped while returning from the village after a shopping trip or something. All were in Crinos form trying to defend themselves.
The males were still a hundred yards or so away. As Oz ran, he saw one of the younger ones fall before the onslaught. Oz could feel the anger boiling inside him. Not this time! His anger turned to Rage. He could feel it as a presence in his soul. He reached out and embraced it, willing himself to change. Oz could feel his gait change along with his center of balance. Looking down at himself, he was in his Crinos form. He realized that he was conscious of this, he was present and in control. He reveled in it! Woe onto them!
In short order Oz, Angus and the others jumped into the fray, taking two of the enemy down in the first rush. Oz found himself facing one of the beasts by himself. They both took a moment to size each other up. They were both about the same size, but the Spiral's coat was splotchy and mangy. One of his eyes appeared to be clouded over with a cataract. The Spiral launched the first attack. Oz dodged and counter attacked, slashing with claws and gouging his opponent. First blood to Oz.
They circled as they fought, slashing with claws and dodging. Oz saw an opening and took it. Having spent many hours watching WWF wrestling, he tried a throw he thought would be easy. It was, much to Oz's surprise! While his opponent was on the ground, he tried another. Taking a running jump, Oz came down with all his weight on his elbow, into the enemy's chest. "Atom Drop" he thinks it's called. Oz could hear and feel bones breaking.
While the enemy was still down, Oz got up and stood over him. With his claws, Oz simply ripped his throat out, ending it. Oz turned towards the rest of the battle. Only three Black Spirals remained, and they were fighting for their lives. One had his back to Oz, defending itself against Angus. Oz simply walked up behind it and drove his claws into its kidneys. Angus finished it with a powerful punch, snapping its head back and breaking its neck. They both Howled in glee.
The final two attempted to run. One of the other elder males Howled, and it stopped both in their tracks. The two adult females took the opportunity to finish them off.
The fight over, the woman Garou transformed back to human form and quickly went over to the fallen Fianna child, who had also reverted. She was still alive. One of the woman held her hands over the wound and chanted words in the Garou tongue, healing the wounds.
The 3 elder males then regarded Oz. Angus spoke.
"I dinna ken who you are laddie, but we're grateful for your help."
Extending his hand to Angus, "Daniel Osborne, it was my pleasure."
"An Osborne eh? Yer accent seems strange though." Relied the one Oz knew was called Shawn.
"I'm visiting from America, looking up ancestors." taking Shawn's hand as well.
"Ach, a Yank eh? Well welcome to the old country!"
"Yes welcome!" said the third. "I'm Michael "Cassan-ny-Greiney" MacDermott. These two are Angus "S'doo yn Feeagh" McCloud and Shawn "Easht lesh dagh cleaysh" Osborne. It's likely Shawn here be one o' the relatives you seek!
As they stood greeting one another, Oz saw the shining path appear over Shawn's shoulder. Must be time to go.
"I'm pleased to meet all of you, but I must be going"
A look of concern on his face, "We won't hear of it laddie! Yea must come back to the Caern so we may welcome yea properly!" Comments of agreement all around.
"I wish I could, but I'm on my Rite of Passage and the spirits beckon me."
"Ach, well far be it from us to interfere in that. I dinna want the spirits angry with us, and such a Rite brooks no distractions. Good luck to you laddie! If yea ever be in need, a debt is owed to yea by the Sept of the Whispering Glen."
Everyone shook Oz's hand again. The women kissed his cheek and thanked him, and then Oz proceeded on his way.
The path led him back into the forest. In short order, he found himself at the edge of another clearing. In the middle sat Talks with the Wind, waiting for him. He stood as Oz approached him.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"I am Daniel Osborne, Galliard of the Fianna Tribe. The Osborne family that came to America are indeed Fianna kinfolk."
"Great! And the other little thing?"
Oz reached for his Rage. It was a little more difficult this time. The stimulus was not there. He pulled an old actors trick. He saw on a TV show once that when an actor wanted to cry real tears, he thought of something tragic in his life. Oz thought of Veruca attacking Willow. His Rage sprang forward and Oz willed himself into Crinos form. Looking up, the gibbous moon still held station above the clearing.
John smiled "Cool! Stay like that; the others will get a kick out it when we return."
Standing next to him, John brought up a small mirror, different from the other one. "Now is as good a time as any to show you how to do this. The Gauntlet as I said is a barrier between what we know as the Physical world and the Umbra, the spirit world. The Umbra mirrors the physical world in some places. You could call it an imprint of the physical. Only things whose force of life is strong get imprinted. Hence the trees you see here from the Caern."
"We therefore equate the Umbra as a mirror world. Looking into a mirror, you can gaze into the other world from where you are. This is called "peeking". You can then take it a step further and "will" yourself across. In some places that Gauntlet is heavier then others and it takes more strength of will to cross. Here, the Gauntlet is fairly thin, so it's a great place for your first attempt."
He handed Oz the small mirror. "Here. Take this and while looking into in, think of seeing the glen as you know it. When you have that image in place, just imagine yourself there, in the image."
Oz looked in the mirror, but only saw himself. Concentrating on John's instructions, in a few moments his visage disappeared and was replaced by the glen. As he began to imagine himself standing there, the feeling of being in a Jell-O bath hit him again. Looking up, he saw the pleased faces of the Sept surrounding him.
"The Cub Returns!" Exclaimed the Rite Master. "And we see at least part of his quest has been fulfilled."
Oz remembered he was still in Crinos form. John returned from the Umbra and appeared beside him. Oz willed himself back to his human form. Shouts and growls of approval rang out.
"I am Daniel Osborne. A Galliard of the Fianna Tribe."
That produced a loud whoop from Conn! "I knew it!"
"My ancestors are indeed Kinfolk of the Fianna, and arrived here in America at the turn of the last century I think. My mother has a family tree that might help track them down when I can get to it. I discovered that the block to my Rage was my fear, fear that I would hurt the ones I loved when I lost control of my Rage. That fear is gone now."
The Sept leader Whiteclaw stood next to Oz and placed one hand on his shoulder. He turned to the assembled Garou. "Do any doubt that the quest the Cub was set upon has been completed?" Silence.
"Then let it be said that the Cub is no more, and let the Garou take his place amongst the Sept."
The Sept leader stepped back, and the Rite Master took his place. "It is appropriate at this time that the new adult be given his Garou name. Have you chosen one Oz?"
That stopped him. "No, I haven't"
"I've got one" Shouted Krieg, smiling. How about "Guardian of the Chosen One".
Whiteclaw spoke up. "Appropriate, given Oz's first task in the World. I also believe it is one he will return to. What say you Oz?"
"I like it!"
"So be it" continued the Rite Master. He circled Oz three times, chanting in the Garou tongue. After the third pass he stood in front of Oz. An assistant handed him a small wooden bucket and a dipper which had a wooden handle, but a cup made of Silver on the end.
Taking a dipperful of water, he poured it over Oz's head. He continued in English, "We welcome into the Sept "Guardian the Chosen One". May he defend his Sept and his people with Honor. May his teeth and claws remain sharp and rend his enemies. May he use his skills, wit and wisdom to preserve Gaia the Earth Mother in all her aspects."
Oz felt like he was just baptized, which he supposed was not too far from the truth.
"The Rite of Passage is complete. Welcome to the Sept Oz." The Sept roared. Then Oz felt a cold liquid getting dumped on his head. A whole bucket full of beer! "Conn!"
"Welcome to the tribe me boy-o! Here have another!" And Conn thrust a large clay mug into Oz's hand, brimming with beer. It was then that Oz noticed the fixings of a large party had been assembled in his absence, kegs and all. He was warmed with their faith in him. What if he'd failed?
Krieg approached him, extending his hand. "Congratulations boy. Party all you want tonight. It will be our last for a while. Tomorrow we leave to face the beast." He lifted his own mug and drained it.
"How long are we going to be down there?"
"Oh, it shouldn't take more then a week or two. We'll be back before Christmas." Krieg slapped him on the back, hard! Then he went off to get a refill.
Taking a large draught himself, Oz said to no one in particular, "Oh boy."
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TBC - The War for Amazonia