"Here let me tell you the story of the Slayer and Hecate's Dagger." The
Oracle brought out a terra cotta bowl from a shelf. She sprinkled a few
herbs and some liquid from a tiny vial and mixed it. Xander was sitting
with Accacia sipping cocoa and Willow peered over the Oracle's shoulder to
see the contents. From the smell Willow could tell the identity of some of
the herbs, belladonna and white asphodel she thought in her head. But some
of the other ingredients eluded her there were a few dried leaves that
shined an ominous scarlet glow and a straggly root that changed color from
green to white in an instant.
"The root is from a plant called antimox, it used to grow wild when I was a girl. But now it's extinct. Those leaves are from the flowers, which were placed on the Slayer's grave when she was buried. It still carries with them the blood of the Slayer."
"Oh." Willow replied as she took a sip of her cocoa.
"Alright the mixture is ready, Willow and Xander please sit there." The Oracle motioned with her hand to the center of the domed room. "Accacia I'll need your help."
"You're gonna call upon the past and play it for our guests?" Accacia was guessing but deep down she knew she was right.
"Very good Accacia you've been studying. Bring me a torch please." Dutifully and with her usual bounce in her step Accacia went to a wall and brought the torch.
"Thank you dear." The Oracle smiled and lit the bowl on fire. The smoke billowed and snaked around them like ropes. Xander crinkled his nose. The smell was a bit strong and reminded him of some of the food that they had been served in the cafeteria. The food was bad even before one of the cafeteria workers decided to try and poison the entire student body. In hindsight Xander had suspected that the cafeteria women was experimenting on the right amounts of poison even before she was caught. She looked a little disappointed each time he returned healthy for another helping, even after scarfing down on two servings of meat like substance.
The golden room now resembled a foggy day in London.
"Xander. Willow." Through the mist they could hear the Oracle's voice. "I shall call upon the shadows of the past." As the Oracle spoke the smoke began to clear and in it's place came sunlight. A table and two chairs seem to have materialized out of the gray. Willow and Xander gasped at where once was cave now was a small cottage.
"Thank you for flying Oracle air please keep your tray tables in their upright position and turn off all electronic devices as we enter our descent into Greece B.C." Accacia announced. "I love watching the past."
"It's like a movie but it's free and, hey Will do you think she can do that for other things like." Xander's mind jumped forward a few thousand years and he could see himself wearing leather boots and carrying a six shooter holstered to his belt astride a stead as he rode into a lawless town.
"Xander. Concentrate." Willow shook him a little to return him back to 400 BC.
"Oh sorry." Xander said mentally making a note to ask the Oracle for a view of the old West.
An older gentleman's voice was heard through the dying mist and invading reality, "Listen to me Diana. You've been chosen." The man wearing a tunic and sandals sat in the chair and glared at the girl staring through the cottage window, Diana of Cecily.
Her eyes wandered the wilderness through the window. It seemed that after the change that had transformed her from potential to Slayer, life was a dream, more vivid than most but a dream nonetheless. Each punch her watcher had thrown that morning during training crossed over to her in slow motion, and with lightening quick reflexes she responded her fists following her eyes to any undefended area of her Watcher's body. Patreas called off the training session after only ten minutes and a possible broken rib or two.
Her form was anything but willowy, it seemed that a few hours as a Slayer and already it enhanced the musculature of her arms and proud brow. Even the flaxen ends of her hair echoed with the Slayer's most important instinct, to stay alive. She changed her focus from the window to her Watcher, Patreus, a kind faced well educated man.
"Patreus? Are you still hurt from this morning?"
Patreus tried to stand and instead decided to sit down as his ribs were still injured.
"Not as bad as it could be I could tell you were holding back." Patreus replied leaning back and resting his head against the back of the chair. " My girl's a slayer. You know Diana, there have been Watcher's who've spent lifetimes training girls who have never been chosen." Patreus wished he could rejoice fully but the knowledge of the duality of being a Slayer was heavy on his mind. Diana of Cecily was chosen to fight the fight against the darkness and it's children, but she was just a girl. She had the strength and grit to be a fine Slayer but a part of him wished that she could have a normal life with a wonderful husband and children.
'Slayers are never given that option.' Patreus thought to himself with a sigh.
"Patreus? I've never actually thanked you for training me. I know I was stubborn and made your job very hard for you after you told my parents that I had the potential to fight this war." Diana's hazel eyes shifted down to the table. "But now that I have the power I thank you for teaching me the ways of the warrior. You've seen such potential in me, a peasant girl, and I thank you greatly Patreus." Tears began to well in Diana's eyes, she had never been known to have emotional outbursts but today was different. As Diana bent over to hug the neck of her mentor, Patreus could feel little tears poking through this wise face.
"I thank the gods that I found you Diana." He said still firmly in the embrace of the Slayer.
Willow dabbed the corners of her eyes. The inside of the cottage swirled into a singularity morphing the touching scene into a Salvador Dali-esque collage of colors and misshapen figures.
"Umm Will?" Xander grabbed his stomach similar to when he had been adrift in the middle of the Adriatic. Accacia noticed that Xander had turned green.
"Xander. Oh are you okay." Accacia moved over to Xander as he hunched on the ground and started patting him gently on the back. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you got sea sick."
"Is it okay if I throw up? I mean I'm not gonna some how erase myself from the time continuum am I?"
Accacia giggled. "It's okay we're not really in the past. We're just observing it. I mean we're still in the cave so if you were gonna throw up it would have been on my." Before she could finish, Xander let lose the substances that had been swirling inside him. "Bed. It's okay. I needed to buy new sheets." Xander heaved another volley in response. "Maybe two pairs of new sheets."
Where once was day had churned forth and placed them outside in the night air.
"Oracle?" Willow addressed. "Where are we?"
"We're a few days after Diana's awakening. The Spartans who were controlled werewolves in the midst of battle lost a few of their in the heat of battle. The city of Sparta has proclaimed that these "traitors" deserved the death penalty and that anyone who brought their heads in would be greatly rewarded."
"So the Slayer is hunting werewolves?" Willow asked, since she wasn't a very big fan of werewolf hunting malevolent or otherwise. Being that her first boyfriend was one, she never liked the idea of hunting down another person just because they were a beast three days out of a month.
"Well one of the Spartan generals had indeed taken three of his soldiers from the battlefield and lead them into a frenzy. Then ordered them to pillage and burn a town, in order for the great name of Sparta to be feared. In truth Willow the Spartan way of life is barbaric but is based upon following without question the lead of your superior. These poor men that have had the bounty placed on their heads are only outcasts because general Lycus ordered them to be." Diana shivered as the night whipped out a chilling wind. She had walked two miles from her cottage in a thin tunic, with her bow hung on her back, a blade hidden within the sash around her chest.
'I wish Patreus would have told me to have brought something warm.' Diana thought to herself. She sat down resting her legs against the grass. 'I wish he would have told me more about what I'm doing out here. All he said was something about Spartans are werewolves and that there were a few Spartans on the loose. Then he gave me this bow.' She reached behind for the bow feeling the cool silver under her fingers. Each end of the bow was a wolf's head, within it's jaws carried large emeralds. The bow had a heft to it and she pulled the string and heard it snap back with an unmerciful thwack. 'If there were any werewolves prowling around I can handle them."
A wolf's howl ripped through the dark. She realized that her body quivered now not from the cold but from fear. She pulled the bow close to her chest. And raced off towards the howl.
*&*&*&*&*&*&***&*&*&*&**&
I must thank all of you great authors that have contributed to the Buffyverse, Christopher Golden, people that wrote Tales of the Slayer. Without you guys I would never have the inspiration to write these. Also I'm thanking you and writing these to show my appreciation and that I value your work and creative styles. Review and tell me what you think of the story so far. Is Diana good or bad? Thanks guys.
"The root is from a plant called antimox, it used to grow wild when I was a girl. But now it's extinct. Those leaves are from the flowers, which were placed on the Slayer's grave when she was buried. It still carries with them the blood of the Slayer."
"Oh." Willow replied as she took a sip of her cocoa.
"Alright the mixture is ready, Willow and Xander please sit there." The Oracle motioned with her hand to the center of the domed room. "Accacia I'll need your help."
"You're gonna call upon the past and play it for our guests?" Accacia was guessing but deep down she knew she was right.
"Very good Accacia you've been studying. Bring me a torch please." Dutifully and with her usual bounce in her step Accacia went to a wall and brought the torch.
"Thank you dear." The Oracle smiled and lit the bowl on fire. The smoke billowed and snaked around them like ropes. Xander crinkled his nose. The smell was a bit strong and reminded him of some of the food that they had been served in the cafeteria. The food was bad even before one of the cafeteria workers decided to try and poison the entire student body. In hindsight Xander had suspected that the cafeteria women was experimenting on the right amounts of poison even before she was caught. She looked a little disappointed each time he returned healthy for another helping, even after scarfing down on two servings of meat like substance.
The golden room now resembled a foggy day in London.
"Xander. Willow." Through the mist they could hear the Oracle's voice. "I shall call upon the shadows of the past." As the Oracle spoke the smoke began to clear and in it's place came sunlight. A table and two chairs seem to have materialized out of the gray. Willow and Xander gasped at where once was cave now was a small cottage.
"Thank you for flying Oracle air please keep your tray tables in their upright position and turn off all electronic devices as we enter our descent into Greece B.C." Accacia announced. "I love watching the past."
"It's like a movie but it's free and, hey Will do you think she can do that for other things like." Xander's mind jumped forward a few thousand years and he could see himself wearing leather boots and carrying a six shooter holstered to his belt astride a stead as he rode into a lawless town.
"Xander. Concentrate." Willow shook him a little to return him back to 400 BC.
"Oh sorry." Xander said mentally making a note to ask the Oracle for a view of the old West.
An older gentleman's voice was heard through the dying mist and invading reality, "Listen to me Diana. You've been chosen." The man wearing a tunic and sandals sat in the chair and glared at the girl staring through the cottage window, Diana of Cecily.
Her eyes wandered the wilderness through the window. It seemed that after the change that had transformed her from potential to Slayer, life was a dream, more vivid than most but a dream nonetheless. Each punch her watcher had thrown that morning during training crossed over to her in slow motion, and with lightening quick reflexes she responded her fists following her eyes to any undefended area of her Watcher's body. Patreas called off the training session after only ten minutes and a possible broken rib or two.
Her form was anything but willowy, it seemed that a few hours as a Slayer and already it enhanced the musculature of her arms and proud brow. Even the flaxen ends of her hair echoed with the Slayer's most important instinct, to stay alive. She changed her focus from the window to her Watcher, Patreus, a kind faced well educated man.
"Patreus? Are you still hurt from this morning?"
Patreus tried to stand and instead decided to sit down as his ribs were still injured.
"Not as bad as it could be I could tell you were holding back." Patreus replied leaning back and resting his head against the back of the chair. " My girl's a slayer. You know Diana, there have been Watcher's who've spent lifetimes training girls who have never been chosen." Patreus wished he could rejoice fully but the knowledge of the duality of being a Slayer was heavy on his mind. Diana of Cecily was chosen to fight the fight against the darkness and it's children, but she was just a girl. She had the strength and grit to be a fine Slayer but a part of him wished that she could have a normal life with a wonderful husband and children.
'Slayers are never given that option.' Patreus thought to himself with a sigh.
"Patreus? I've never actually thanked you for training me. I know I was stubborn and made your job very hard for you after you told my parents that I had the potential to fight this war." Diana's hazel eyes shifted down to the table. "But now that I have the power I thank you for teaching me the ways of the warrior. You've seen such potential in me, a peasant girl, and I thank you greatly Patreus." Tears began to well in Diana's eyes, she had never been known to have emotional outbursts but today was different. As Diana bent over to hug the neck of her mentor, Patreus could feel little tears poking through this wise face.
"I thank the gods that I found you Diana." He said still firmly in the embrace of the Slayer.
Willow dabbed the corners of her eyes. The inside of the cottage swirled into a singularity morphing the touching scene into a Salvador Dali-esque collage of colors and misshapen figures.
"Umm Will?" Xander grabbed his stomach similar to when he had been adrift in the middle of the Adriatic. Accacia noticed that Xander had turned green.
"Xander. Oh are you okay." Accacia moved over to Xander as he hunched on the ground and started patting him gently on the back. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you got sea sick."
"Is it okay if I throw up? I mean I'm not gonna some how erase myself from the time continuum am I?"
Accacia giggled. "It's okay we're not really in the past. We're just observing it. I mean we're still in the cave so if you were gonna throw up it would have been on my." Before she could finish, Xander let lose the substances that had been swirling inside him. "Bed. It's okay. I needed to buy new sheets." Xander heaved another volley in response. "Maybe two pairs of new sheets."
Where once was day had churned forth and placed them outside in the night air.
"Oracle?" Willow addressed. "Where are we?"
"We're a few days after Diana's awakening. The Spartans who were controlled werewolves in the midst of battle lost a few of their in the heat of battle. The city of Sparta has proclaimed that these "traitors" deserved the death penalty and that anyone who brought their heads in would be greatly rewarded."
"So the Slayer is hunting werewolves?" Willow asked, since she wasn't a very big fan of werewolf hunting malevolent or otherwise. Being that her first boyfriend was one, she never liked the idea of hunting down another person just because they were a beast three days out of a month.
"Well one of the Spartan generals had indeed taken three of his soldiers from the battlefield and lead them into a frenzy. Then ordered them to pillage and burn a town, in order for the great name of Sparta to be feared. In truth Willow the Spartan way of life is barbaric but is based upon following without question the lead of your superior. These poor men that have had the bounty placed on their heads are only outcasts because general Lycus ordered them to be." Diana shivered as the night whipped out a chilling wind. She had walked two miles from her cottage in a thin tunic, with her bow hung on her back, a blade hidden within the sash around her chest.
'I wish Patreus would have told me to have brought something warm.' Diana thought to herself. She sat down resting her legs against the grass. 'I wish he would have told me more about what I'm doing out here. All he said was something about Spartans are werewolves and that there were a few Spartans on the loose. Then he gave me this bow.' She reached behind for the bow feeling the cool silver under her fingers. Each end of the bow was a wolf's head, within it's jaws carried large emeralds. The bow had a heft to it and she pulled the string and heard it snap back with an unmerciful thwack. 'If there were any werewolves prowling around I can handle them."
A wolf's howl ripped through the dark. She realized that her body quivered now not from the cold but from fear. She pulled the bow close to her chest. And raced off towards the howl.
*&*&*&*&*&*&***&*&*&*&**&
I must thank all of you great authors that have contributed to the Buffyverse, Christopher Golden, people that wrote Tales of the Slayer. Without you guys I would never have the inspiration to write these. Also I'm thanking you and writing these to show my appreciation and that I value your work and creative styles. Review and tell me what you think of the story so far. Is Diana good or bad? Thanks guys.