USM: Broken Sun

Chapter Two: Nightwatchers and Novas

We sat down on the futon in the living room. The clock ticked as I stared at her and her me.

"Okay, are you going to explain?"

"Can't until Witches' Hour."

I looked at the clock. It three minutes till eleven PM and according to crappy ghost investigation TV shows, Witching Hour is at three AM.

My sister must have thought the same thing or read my mind. "It's a common misconception that The Witching Hour is at 3 AM when in reality, it's at eleven PM. That's the time when magic is free flowing and easy to manipulate if you're not skilled at it."

"So we're waiting for a Witch?"

She shook her head. "No. Eleven PM is magic flowing. Every spell can become more dangerous or more easy. That's the time when spells that oversee someone become disrupted and confusing."

I stood up. "Someone's watching us?!"

She nodded and pointed to my seat. "30 seconds till Witches' Hour."

I sat and looked around. "How do you know so much about this stuff?"

"Friends. Got a few magic friends. Especially in space." The clock dinged and she smiled. "I'm gonna tell you about that necklace and the story surrounding it. Don't interrupt or I shoot you. Got it?" She placed what looked like an alien gun on the table as I gulped and nodded. She was serious about this. "Good."

About 3,493 years ago a female first took the Egyptian throne instead of putting her young nephew on the throne. Her name was Hatshepsut. One day long before stepping on the throne, during a trip to visit a temple, a sandstorm swept in. Hatshepsut took cover in a nearby cave. There she discovered a being with wings that she believed to be the goddess Isis.

"Believed?"

"Didn't I say I would shoot you?"

"Sorry."

She praised the goddess for sparing her and asked for her to send away the storm. Isis, or Ionia from where she was from, agreed but on one condition: the Hatshepsut would become her loyal servant and take the her place as a Nightwatcher.

She explained to Hatshepsut what a Nightwatcher was. They were a god-like being with the ability to control both Darkness, Light, and Magic. They would stay a pacifist in war unless something they truly loved or cared for was in evil's way.

Hatshepsut agreed and was the first human to be dubbed Nightwatcher.

"Human?"

"Shut up!"

Hatshepsut was soon followed by the next famous women of the period: Antigone, Cleopatra IV, Boudicca, Irene of Athens, Marie Antoinette, Mary Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Fyre McPhate, and finally you, Mason Sdentato.

"No offense but, who the fuck is Fyre McPhate?"

"Don't curse. She was a good woman who died two years ago. I was safe keeping her necklace until you put it on. Can I continue?"

"There's more?!"

"Yes. Shut up!"

Until recently I thought the goddess was actually a figment of imagination or an Eternal. I discovered that she was actually part of an alien race know as the Avens. Avens live on the planet Bellas Major. They look human, act human, and could live as humans except one thing. All Avens have wings. I discovered that Ionia was a royal family member who was sent to train with the Eternals but instead crashed on Earth. Her crash caused the sandstorm that Hatshepsut got caught in. Ionia was astonished by how humans worshiped abnormal beings as gods and gave Hatshepsut a sliver of her powers.

What I've been able to recover is that all of the past Nightwatchers' and Ionia's minds are connected. It creates a collection of fighting styles, knowledge, and powers. Sort of like a Xandarian Worldmind.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Stop cursing. The Worldmind is a sentient supercomputer, whose data is entirely comprised of the experiences, histories, and personalities of deceased members of the Nova Corps as well as the general populace of Xandar. It is tasked with preserving itself, as it is one of the most knowledgeable supercomputers in the universe, and acting as the custodian of the Nova Force. The actual brains of deceased Xandarians are stored within the computer and the Xandarians had been amassing these brains for 1 million years or so."

"Cool. Is that all?"

"No, but I'm almost done."

It is all passed down by a pendent that takes itself onto the personality of the owner. Hatshepsut's was an an ankh, Fyre's a teardrop, and yours a flower.

Ionia never told Hatshepsut about all of the powers Nightwatchers would receive. It was more than just the manipulation of darkness, light, and magic. It includes superhero strength, speed, stamina, accuracy, durability, agility, reflexes, a moderate healing factor, and flight. And their only weakness depends on the Nightwatcher. For example, Hatshepsut's was all of Egypt and Fyre's was her love of art.

My sister looked at me with steel eyes. The wind had died down during the story and the candles gave the shadows a creepy look. It was like they were under Dr. Facilier's (2009 Princess and the Frog Disney movie!) control and ready to sweep me away to him.

It was silent for a moment until I exploded. "HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT SPACE ANALA?!"

She raised an eyebrow at me using her name. "I just told you about an ancient artifact that you're wearing and have to learn to control," she gestured to the freaky shadows, "and you want to know why I know so much about space? Priorities much?" She grabbed the gun and placed it back into her giant sweatshirt laying by her side.

"Yes. You can't just bomb me with alien crap and not explain how you know so much. Plus you haven't given me an honest answer about the blonde man."

She gaped at me then muttered 'Little sneaky bitch' under her breath. She got up and disappeared into her bedroom, returning with a box then plopped down. "Fine. But I can't explain some because of dad and you won't understand most of it."

"Fine. Explain what you can."

Anala sighed and leaned back into the couch. "I'm half-alien, half-human."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. She has hell didn't look alien. She looked totally human and didn't have anything unusual about her. So what- Hello Mason! "Aven." I looked at her with wide eyes. "You're half Aven."

She nodded. "That took you quicker than I expected. Yeah, how though is part of dad's secret."

"Why don't you have wings?"

"I do." She grimaced and took off her tank top. Underneath was a blue halter bra and a orange tattoo of a wing on her right side. "I lost one two years ago."

I nodded as she sat back down. "I was a mercenary trained with one of Thanos's adopted kids after my mom died when I was fourteen. We were rarely separate until we learned that Thanos was lying to us. Then we went are separate paths and got in trouble with the law. After I, um, escaped out of prison and was confronted by one of my relatives who insisted I join the Nova Corps." She pulled out a helmet that was gold and had a red three pronged symbol on it.

"Holy sh-"

"Don't curse. Like I was saying, I eventually became a Nova Centurion and was reunited with the old friend I trained with. I helped her and her team on a few things, and I may or may not have fallen in love with the dude in the picture."

"YES! Knew you were in love with him!" I pumped my fist in the air then yawned loudly.

"You're going to bed. I answered your questions and explained about Nightwatchers. Anyway-"

I don't remember anything else because I was already asleep.

It was dark. That was the first thing I noticed. That wasn't too weird, though. I am the more "old places are cool" kind of person. Then I noticed where I was and other people were there.

I remembered it from when I was a nine. My father had taken a trip to Egypt and brought me along against my mom's insists of the danger. My dad had take me to see a lot of the most famous buildings and architecture around. But my favorite was the Temple of Hatshepsut. It was so simple on the outside but beautiful on the inside.

We were standing at the bottom of the steps and the sky was clear, showing all the stars. A figure in a light blue chiton with pure white wings stood there. The woman stepped forward. "Hello Muhsina Sdentato. I am Ionia. Welcome to the Nightwatchers."

I stared at her then looked around. "Should I like, bow, or something?"

She laughed and held my face in one of her hands. "No need to child. I am not a royal here on Earth nor a god. We are your friends."

"We?" I glance around the empty room. She followed my gaze and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Honestly, I know the rest of you were worried about me, but how am I supposed to explain things if you don't show yourselves? It's rude."

Ten figures in black and white appeared, all in different outfits ranging from their time periods. Each also had an animal or creature standing beside or on them.

"What are they?" I wondered out loud.

The youngest looking and second to the end closest to the temple stepped forward including the sparrow that sat on her shoulder. "They are familiars. Your familiar chooses you, but it is worthless if you cannot wield it justly."

"Familiar?"

"Your familiar guides and defines you. To be worthy of its power, you have must destroy what holding you back."

"And yours is a sparrow?" I pointed at it.

It looked at me then burst into flames, growing larger until it was unable to stay on her shoulder. The black feathers had turned golden red and beady eyes into blue pools.

"Whoa. It's not a sparrow, it's a phoenix."

The black haired girl giggled then nodded. "No Nightwatchers' familiar is the same. Like the pendant's shape, it goes off your personality."

Ionia placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I think we may be getting ahold of ourselves." The girl nodded and stepped back into line. Ionia turned back to me. "Your sister explained a lot about the Nightwatchers already. But the rest you need to know the others will teach you."

I nodded. "So I'm going to learn a lot of lessons and stuff about the Nightwatchers. Got it."

Ionia nodded. "Yes. But we won't start tonight. We can only manifest in dream form for so long." I noticed she was kind of getting foggy and I shook my head to clear it up a bit. "Anyway, each Nightwatcher will train you in a special form." Ionia nodded at them all.

The woman closest to the temple stepped forward, a kite (that's a bird by the way. Google it.) on her right shoulder. "I am Hatshepsut. I would be honored to teach you all the history between us all."

The black haired Phoenix girl stepped forward. "My name is Antigone. I'm going to teach you how to control your familiar."

The woman next to her stepped out with a snake around her arm. "I am Cleopatra the Seventh. I will teach you how to manipulate magic."

The woman with a horse spoke next. "Boudicca. I am going to teach you how to fight with weapons."

They all continued. Irene of Athens with a Siamese cat would teach me how to fight by using tactical measures and thinking, Marie Antoinette with a poodle would teach me how to manipulate light, Mary Lincoln with a small dove would teach me how to fight with my familiar, Eleanor Roosevelt with a cocker spaniel would teach me how to beat people with voice, and Rosa Parks with a eagle would teach me how manipulate my dreams.

There was only one person left. She looked about sixteen with long straight blonde hair and always changing eyes. Her familiar was a large wolf who constantly glared at me. She stepped forward with a huge grin. "Hi, I'm Fyre and I'm going to teach you how to manipulate darkness."

"You would like an infomercial."

She giggled then nodded. "I do don't I?"

Ionia put a hand on my shoulder. "You are one of us now. Just make sure you nearly always wear that pendant. Or you're going to be in serious trouble."

The whole dream disappeared as I woke up in cold sweat, grabbing the necklace

SOOOOOOOO

Anala is Mason's sister's name. AND SHE'S A NOVA!

By the way, tell me if I got something wrong about anything in Anala's past.

I'll take anything like criticism or just helpful thoughts.

NEXT CHAPTER: Mason's first day of school, finding her familiar, and meeting the team (Not exactly in that order).

~PoetryNeedsANewName~