And now, the story continues.
An Eternal War
Chapter Seven
By IceWing (icewing@one.net)
"So, where are we going to put all these books, Giles?" asked Buffy as she tried to maneuver around the stacked and packed boxes.
"Well, to be honest, I have yet to come up with an idea regarding that. I cannot simply leave them laying around like this. It is simply too disorderly for my tastes. Perhaps sell a few of the ones which we scanned into the computers a time ago, so that I may have a fund with which I may take some time off from working and relax. The rest, perhaps rent a secured storage facility and archive them there for a time."
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. Moving carefully through the man made labyrinth, Giles opened the door. Xander stood there, yet another box of books in his hands. "We left these in my car. Got a place for em?"
Buffy quietly stepped backwards, so that Xander couldn't see her. She wanted him to come in and sit down, maybe they would be able to talk. She had so much she wanted to say to him, but every time she tried to get him alone to talk, he bolted.
Giles stepped aside so that Xander could enter with the books. Finding a nearby stack which did not reach to the ceiling, he slid them onto it, making sure not to knock the entire tower of tomes to the floor. Xander sat down on the couch just as Oz and Willow entered, each with yet another box of books. Giles sighed and pointed towards the kitchen, which was both the only area with any free space left, and where Buffy was keeping out of sight.
Willow came around the corner with her books and greeted Buffy before the blonde could signal for her not to. Giles shut the door just as Xander heard Buffy's name. He could see how much Xander tensed at the name of the woman for whom he had pined for so long.
Buffy stepped out of the kitchen, her hiding spot blown. "Hey Guys," she said sheepishly.
Xander looked at her, then looked away, mumbling a greeting as he did so. Buffy tried to catch his eye as she smiled at him, but he wouldn't meet her gaze.
Giles was the first to break the silence. "I would like to take a moment to say how proud I am of all of you. Last night was a culmination of what you have been dealing with the past three years, and I am not simply speaking of your classwork. Together you fought a major demon and defeated it, saving the lives of your fellow classmates, now alumni, in the process. Congratulations and a hearty well done!"
The Scooby Gang smiled as they heard this. Giles was like a father to all of them and his praise meant quite a bit to them.
"Couldn't have said it better myself..." spoke a strange voice from the doorway to the kitchen. The entire gang spun around to find out who had spoken. From the shadows stepped a tall man, one that three of those present immediately recognized. Oz and Willow both examined him carefully, as this was a potential foe. Tall and thin, but with an aura of power around him. He moved with a catlike grace. His attire was stylish. Cordelia would have approved of his silk shirt and leather pants. Oz sniffed the air slightly, but otherwise was still. 'Damn, he's a hottie.' thought Willow as she took in his chiseled features and the well toned body under the tight pants. His dark brown hair was brushed back over his shoulders, while an earring could barely be seen dangling under one ear.
"You!" spoke Giles and Buffy as one, while Xander nodded politely.
Giles was the first to continue. "How did you get in here?"
Harlequinn walked back into the kitchen for a moment. The fridge was heard opening and closing, then the sound of a can being opened. Several seconds later, he reappeared, holding a glass filled with coke. "Xander over there can vouch for me, as can Buffy if she wants to..." He sauntered over to Gile's desk and hopped up on it to sit. He looked at Xander as if to ask if he was going to introduce him or not.
"Umm, guys, meet Harlequinn...."
Giles was furiously cleaning his glasses as he sat back down. Harlequinn took a sip of his drink before starting. "So, this is group of warriors that stopped an Ascension. An excellent graduation exercise if I do say so myself."
"And who would you be exactly?" questioned Buffy, her voice harsh.
"I, young lady, am the one who tossed you around a hospital room when you interrupted my attempt to save your companion's life. Now, if you would please stop interrupting me, I will explain my presence here, the reason why and what happens next."
"As has been said, my name is Harlequinn. Not the exact pronunciation, but reasonably close these days. I was born in an age long past, when magic was a part of daily life."
"Not human, are you?" asked Oz, already knowing the answer.
Harlequinn peered at Oz. "As a matter of fact, no. Think of me as a cousin though." He grinned as he brushed his hair back over his ears. Nobody understood what he was showing until his ears seemed to almost morph into ears similar to that seen on Star Trek. "Guess you guys have never seen an elf before..." he said to the stunned silence.
"There are no such things as Elves." said Giles. "They are the conjuration of faerie tales and bed time stories. In all of the time the Council has been tracking matters of the supernatural, there have been no mention of such beings."
"Granted there are not nearly as many of us now as there were when I was
a lad... Probably less than a thousand in total right now spread across the
world. But do you really think we would let what the Watcher's have become track
us down? Plus, someone who hunts demons and vampires probably should
realize there are kernels of truth in some of those tales."
"What do you mean, what they have become?" interjected Willow.
"Who do you think started the Watchers, little one? Let me tell you a story....."
"The world was not always as it is now."
"Yeah yeah," interrupted Buffy. "It was run by demons and was hellish. We know the story..."
Harlequinn turned towards her, his finger tips crackling with restrained power. "Interrupt me again Slayer, and you will find your mouth sealed shut for a day or so. If you think I am jesting, just try me!"
For a change, Buffy decided not to press her luck.
"Now, as I was saying... The world was not always as it is now. Modern historians hold that civilization only truly began about five thousand years ago. In very scattered areas. I can tell you that this theory is wrong. I was born well over seven thousand years ago, in a city as grand as many you will find today. It was a time of magic, of power, of adventure. But darkness was coming. Our world is but one of many, scattered across the planes, dimensions if you will. Magic exists, I need not tell you of that. Like many things, it ebbs and flows. Does everyone here know what a sine wave is? How it has a set period of time to grow and shrink over a distance. Well, that is how magic is for our world. It rises and falls over a period of thousands of years. Now, we are on the upswing again. Until the peak, we have about two thousand years or so. But that's not going to matter for what we are discussing today. As the magic levels rise in the world, creatures from other planes are able to cross over into our world more easily. And survive here once they arrive. Some of the demon's which you fight fall into this category. Near the very top of the wave, the world has been, and will be again unfortunately, flooded by creatures more powerful that you can imagine. Creatures which can drive gods mad, that hunt ancient dragons for sport, that lay waste to cities defended by hundreds of warriors willing to sacrifice themselves to keep the innocent safe.
"These Horrors, as we call them, are evil. There is no other word which even comes close to describing them. They wish to make every world they come in contact with into a twisted reflection of their own. The Watcher's hold that the world was a hell, over run by creatures of evil. They are right, for as far as they go. What they do not know, or choose not to mention is that it is a cycle. One that we may have a chance of breaking this time. This world, the people who live in it, have developed in a way that has never before been paralleled in any of the three cycles which we have knowledge of. This time, there is a chance to win, to break it completely. To save our world and save billions of innocents from dying in the Scourge.
"The Horrors are evil, but they are also smart. They know that in time, Name Givers, humans such as yourselves and others who have not re-Awakened yet, could perhaps discover a means of salvation. So they found a way, soon after the magic had completely bottomed out and there was almost no magic at all in the world, to infiltrate across the netherworlds, the first of the beings which you now call vampires. When a human host is willing to become a vessel, the Horrors are able to summon into the body one of their own. This is how vampires are created, but it is old news to warriors such as yourselves. The plan was to use the vampires which resulted to keep mankind afraid and cowering. They failed.
"They had not counted on the fact that there were some of us who had survived as long as we did. At that time, there were about two thousand or so of us who had survived from those days of before, during and after the Scourge."
Xander, who had been listening intently, cautiously raised his hand. Harlequinn sighed and asked what his question was. "Ok, you saved my life. And I saw you in that dream. So, that right there is a major indicator to me that you're on the up and up. But how does somebody survive for that long? Old age keeps coming to mind."
"Well, some elven bloodlines can survive that long. Has to do with having a dragon in your ancestry." In the background, Giles almost choked on his tea. "That's about 95% of those of us who have more years than George Burns. The remaining few either were granted the, ability I guess you would call it, from one of a handful of magical items or were given a boon from extremely powerful beings. Dragons, spirits, the Passions..." He saw some questioning looks and waved them aside. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, as I was saying." Harlequinn paused and looked down, something close to shame on his face for those few who could read it.
"We were tired. Many of us had fought for thousands of years against them. A few had gone insane from all that had occurred over the centuries. In our hearts, we knew that the fight had to continue, but we couldn't do it forever. We wanted to be normal again. We'd all lost loved ones, both to the fighting and to old age. But we could never be normal if we were always having to pick up our swords again to stop Their plans." He looked up, his eyes on Buffy. The guilt and shame she saw astounded her.
"Several dozen of us gathered on what was then a large, mostly uninhabited island off of what is now Europe. With us we each brought several of our most trusted mortal retainers. For two lunar cycles, we performed a mystic ritual in order to shift the mantle of responsibility from our shoulders to the shoulders of others. And when it was done, one of the retainers stepped forward and was imbued with the power we had summoned during that ritual. Her name was Katrina. She was only fourteen but she volunteered to take the responsibility we wanted so much to get away from. So she was the first to be chosen." He looked at Buffy again. "The first Slayer."
"Our retainers agreed to be the ones in charge of her training and support.
In the beginning they would stand beside her, as a kind of armed auxiliary.
Over generations, the Watchers began to become more hardened and insular. After
hundreds of years, only a few believed in the legends we had recorded
for them in those early days. They forgot their origins, edited the histories.
Mention of we who had created the Slayer and the Watchers was forgotten in the
mists of time. We had achieved what we had wanted. For others, another, to take
over as the world's champion, holding the line against the darkness, all alone
in the night. So often, dying alone in that same night, as the world passed
on, not knowing, not wanting to know."
He paused again, looking at the remaining coke in his glass as he swirled it gently. "We were cowards. In wanting to get away from it all for a time, we sentenced thousands, perhaps more, to die in a fight they knew nothing of. The Watchers knew so little about what was going on. And much of what we had left them was lost over time. But we had convinced ourselves that what we had done was for the greater good. But was it? Was it worth all those lives destroyed so we could claim we were owed the time off? I sometimes wish the idea had never been conceived.
"But it was. And there is no point in arguing that. The past is as set in stone as all the Obsidmen are today. Which brings me to why I am here now. One of the few who assisted in the original ceremony, for some reason, changed sides. We're trying to figure out why, but as of now, it doesn't matter. He did. And that changes things. The vampires and the demons associated with them have always had numbers on their side. But with the magic level as low as it is, the kind of brute force techniques they use just don't work real well. His defection changes things. He has knowledge which will allow their plans to have a subtly which they are unable to do by themselves. So, it is time for us to step back up to the plate as it were. It was about time anyway. Changes are coming and alot of us have been hiding, both from Them and from ourselves for too long. Millennia ago, we were heroes. Some of us forgot that. Some didn't. Its time for us to be heroes again."
Harlequinn looked the Scooby Gang over. "I have contacted some of my friends. They should be arriving soon to help train you, to maximize your potential. In your hands, we are placing great power, for you have already shown that you have the responsibility that normally follows such power. Do not make us regret teaching you." With that Harlequinn got up and walked towards the kitchen and out of sight. A few minutes later, when he had not reappeared, Oz went in after him. "Hmmm!" he said and a few seconds later, the rest of the gang was staring at the flaming letters hanging in midair which gave a phone number and the message "Call Me, We'll do lunch."
"Man can definitely make an exit!" said Xander.
Hours later, just before dawn....
The crescent moon shone dimly down through the ever brightening sky. Through the wooded glade of one of SunnyDale's numerous parks, staggered a pale, haggard figure. She was cold, tired and hungry. She rested against a tree, then slid tiredly to the ground as she tried to cover herself with the remains of her now torn leather jacket. She closed her eyes, a faint smile on her lips and drifted off to the first peaceful sleep she could remember in ages. A single word formed on her lips as she fell asleep....
"Xander...."