Vol. 05
Chapter 18
In the core of New York City, cars and trucks are rushing from point A to get to point B. A traffic light just turned red and a driver does not have the patience to wait for it to turn green. Instead, he stepped on to the gas and raced through the red light colliding with a truck and then everything else that were behind the car and truck end up getting sandwiched between car after car. That's what you call a traffic jam! A man came out of his panicking for his cut finger, "Oh, no! I need to rush to the hospital!" Another man is trying to figure out how to get to his destination, "Oh, I'm in trouble! My plane already left! Now, I have no choice, I'm going to run to Paris!" the man ran on his feet, thinking he could get to Paris with no problem. As these people stress out their problems, there energy gets sucked into this orb, this orb belonging to no other than Jason himself.
"Stupid humans, rushing to your deaths. The more you hurry, the more energy you produce. Once I collect all the energy created by your impatience, our great ruler is certain to be satisfied." Jason is always way too confident with himself. Back the Clock Works, the Iranian manager stands by the giant grandfather clock.
"All the energy collected by my clocks will be gathered in this gigantic clock no matter where they are." the manager mentioned. Jason appeared beside him.
"You certainly know how to manipulate time, Zurvan. Your magical power really paralyzed their sense of time." As Jason complimented the manager, the manager turned to face Jason and transformed into a man with a lion's head with a golden circlet around his head, a snake wrapped around his body and wings grew on his back. He held a staff looking more like a spear.
"Thank you for your kind words."
"Now, I leave everything to you. There is possibility that they will appear because of the commotion. So, be careful."
"Yes, sir. You can count on me." Jason walked off into the darkness leaving behind Zurvan with his grandfather clock at work in their devious plan.
Back at the downtown core, The streets were filled with endless traffic jams. In that traffic jam a public transport bus honked at the cars non-stop, in that bus is Selina walking back in forth in the bus keeping herself busy. "Oh, it's so slow!" complain Selina. A passenger got up and yelled at the driver, "Why is this bus so darn slow?" he also complained. The driver turned to the passenger and yelled back. "Please be quiet! You're not the only one getting impatient!"
"Then, do something! Remember? You're the one driving!" When the bus moved in a sudden pull, Selina fell forward knocking her head against the ticket box. "Ouch! What the hell?"
"If I can't go right, I'll go to the left!" The bus driver turned the bus on the left lane and driving through the cars. "I've been doing this for ten years! I'm a genius, out of my way!" A middle-aged woman got up from her seat and pulled the cord for her stop but the bus didn't even bother to stop, missing all the other passengers who were waiting at the bus shelter. The middle-aged woman went up to the driver to have a word, "Excuse me! I need to get off! Please stop the bus!"
"Unfortunately, I've decided that this bus will run express today! So, don't expect me to stop until the last stop!" the bus driver responded with such a psychotic tone. The woman swung her purse and whacked the driver across the head and continue.
"Just stop the bus, you crazy man!" Meanwhile, Hermione came out of the apartments looking puzzled. "It's weird. Nobody at the college answered the phone and Selina is not picking up hers. I wonder where she go? How the heck am I going to do this? I'm not comfortable doing this all by myself. But I guess I have no choice than to carry on with the mission." Before Hermione even started to walk, a huge crash happened right in front of her. A bus crashed right into a hydro pole, completely totaling the vehicle. A middle-aged woman stepped out of the bus, "I'm getting off, finally!" The bus driver ran out of the bus to see the condition. "Holy shit! My bus!" Passenger by passenger came out of the bus with anger. Selina was the last one to come out of the bus.
"What were you thinking? You should know that a lot of people are way too busy for such idiocy! At least I'm home alive!" Hermione shouted out to Selina hoping to catch her attention.
"Oh, Selina!"
"Oh, hey Hermione!"
The two girls arrived in front of the Clock Works store, "So, this is the monster's hideout!" Selina was about to march into the store with no plan of ay kind.
"Wait, Selina!" Hermione yanked Selina away from the store and brought her to a ally close to the store. "If you act like this, they'll notice us!"
"How can you stand so clam? You think that clock store is behind this, right? Then, we should just charge in already!"
"Selina, you are completely under the spell of the enemy." Hermione tried to reassure Selina for some sense.
"Look, I have so many things to do today! I need to go home, eat my dinner and study my ass off for the next exam. Then, take a nice bath...Holy crap! I didn't know it's so late already!" Selina checked her watched and went hysterical.
"Okay, I got it. I'll figure out a way to get in. So, just wait a minute. Alright? Now we could try to get in from the back, but the enemy could already be waiting for us." Hermione was thinking out loud. Selina snapped,
"Then, through the front! It doesn't matter which way we go, if it's going to be a trap anyway! Now, Hermione, let's transform quickly."
"Already? Aren't you thinking ahead of yourself, Selina?" Selina ignored to whatever Hermione said and transform.
"Upon the Rule of Diana, Lend me Your Light!...You too, Hermione, hurry up! Thinking isn't going to get us anywhere."
"Okay. I know they say, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' But I still think we're rushing into things. Upon the Rule of Mercury, Lend me Your Speed!" After Hermione transformed, the two charged for the front door of the store.
"Lets go! Silver Moon, Watch my Aim!" Selina threw her discus through the door creating an opening big enough for a person to fit in. The two guardians managed to get in with ease, but expecting to be in the store they end up running through a corridor that seems to go on forever. At the end of the corridor was a steel door, Selina tried to open it, "Damn, it's locked! How do we get through?"
"That's where I come in." Hermione took out her silver clutch and open it relieving her new tools to Selina.
"Hmm, where did you get that?"
"A gift from The Messenger himself."
"Lucky girl!" Hermione took out a tool that looks like a needle and stuck it into the lock of the door and played around with it. In a few seconds, the door unlocked.
"And we're in!" Hermione kicked the door open revealing the grandfather clock and the manager. He turned to see the intruders.
"Who's there? The store is closed!" he demanded.
"I'm the warrior of the Hunt and Moon, I'm Guardian of the Moon!"
"And I'm the warrior Commerce and Thieves, I'm Guardian of Mercury!"
"We're here to fight you!" they both said.
"Well, well, I'm impressed. I never expected you to show up so early." Zurvan responded.
"I cannot forgive anyone who toys with a girl's precious time! Even the cuckoo in the cuckoo clock is mad! Under the name of Diana, I will defeat!" Selina shouted out her threat. Zurvan transformed from a civilian to a monster.
"You're nothing! I'll show you that this is where you're going to die!" Zurvan raise his staff causing the grandfather clock to speed up to noon. The gongs sounded and the face started to glow green. The inside of the clock opened up and appeared to be another room. "Now, come and get me, Guardians!" Zurvan went inside the clock.
"You're not getting away!" Selina threaten. Hermione grew concern.
"Guardian Moon, that was the Persian God of Time, Zurvan."
"How do you know?"
"By reading mythology books which you should be doing!"
"Are you ready to get in there, Mercury?"
"More than anything!" The two ran inside the clock following the monster. The clock after went back to it's normal state.
Luna returned to her office but found a note on her door. "What's this? 'Luna, I'm at the enemy's hideout, the Clock Works, Hermione' Damn that girl and her wit." Luna opened her office and dropped everything inside. She went through the exit at the back of the building and made sure nobody is there. "Upon the Rule of the Moon, Grant Me your Power!" After her transformation, she ran in speed that cannot be recorded.
The two Guardians enter a room full of working clock gears, small ones to big ones. The room resonated with the sound of a ticking clock, echoing. Selina looked around to see if she can find the monster. "Where did he go?" She looked around desperately. Hermione put her hand onto Selina's shoulder to calm her down.
"Be careful, Guardian Moon. Zurvan has probably set a trap somewhere."
"I'm getting irritated. You coward! It's cheap not to show yourself!" Selina yelled out, resonated her voice in the room. Then they heard a laugh.
"I'm waiting right here. Why don't you come?" Zurvan's voice responded.
"You don't have to tell me that, I'll be right there!" Selina walked off into a direction without thinking.
"Oh, wait! It's dangerous to just walk around blindly." Hermione warned her. Selina continue to walk.
"Mercury, just follow me!" And she did just that not liking the idea. Selina walked in front of a gear posing as a door, she kicked it open and revealed another room but with numbers scattered all over the place. "I guess he's not here!"
"Guardian Moon, if you just walk around without thinking, we'll get lost in this maze of gears numbers!" Hermione was trying to get through Selina's thick skull.
"Don't worry! Because I've got you, Mercury!" Selina complimented Hermione in such manner. Hermione sighed and just carry on and got into her thinking zone. "You're quiet all of the sudden."
"Silence, I'm thinking where Zurvan is."
"Alright, but make it quick." Selina walked into the room of numbers glancing here and there.
"What's wrong? Are you still there?" Zurvan's voice reappeared.
"Shut up! I'll be there soon. So, you just wait! Remember? You're the one that's cheating here!" Selina's voice got higher in pitch. Hermione looked where Selina is standing, and saw her shrinking in height and age. On the wall, she realized a counter counting down from eighteen. Her mind clicked.
"Oh, shit! Guardian Moon, get out of there!" Hermione moved in a blink of an eye and pulled Selina out of the room and back to the main room of gears. Selina grew back to her normal self and feeling a little embarrassed.
"Holy crap! That was scary. What the hell just happen?" Selina hugged herself.
"It seems like time in that room goes back year by year. That counter was your age, as it goes down, you got younger."
"Then, there could be a room where we become grannies?"
"Now you're thinking! And yes, most likely. So, we have to be careful when we go into rooms."
"Oh man! That's so wrong! Let's get this guy before that ever happens!"
Outside of the grandfather clock, up on the high open window of the store, a man in green pops in. Guardian Earth himself. He jumps down to the ground with perfect landing. He looked around and couldn't find what he's looking for. "So, they're not here." He continue to search around the place.
Back inside the grandfather clock, Hermione was sitting cross legged on the floor doing her usual thinking. Selina was pacing back and forth within the space they are in, growing impatient. (I'm getting tired using that word!) "Have you figure out something yet?"
"Just a minute..."
"I'm getting annoyed!"
"Alright, in this room their has to be an exit."
"And?"
"It seems like this maze is set up in a certain way in order for Zurvan to find himself easily."
"Then, where is he?"
Because of the exit, the doorway creates a air suction within the space, causing a vacuum of wind. To find that suction..." Hermione held out her right hand with her palm facing up and letting a dust of silver dance in the air. "...we'll use the dust of mercury and follow it where it's being pulled to, and most likely he will be there. Let's go follow the dust trail!" Hermione ran ahead and Selina ran after. The two tried to keep up with the dust as it goes faster the further they go. Up ahead, they see Zurvan standing by with his staff and waiting for their arrival.
"Nice job. You finally found where I am. But this is the end! I hope you are ready."
"You're the one who should get ready!" Selina threaten the monster and ran up to him but then half way she collapse and tried to stand up again. "What the? I can't stand up. Why not?" Zurvan just laughed and walked up to her.
"Finally, it's starting to work. Your energy has been sucked away by my clock."
"Damn that cheap clock!"
"Her energy?" Hermione thought back when she examine Selina's clock. Zurvan raise his staff and brought down, using the point head as a spear and attacked Selina. She dodge by rolling away to the left but still manage to get cut on her left cheek.
"Shit! That hurt!" Selina got mad,
"Guardian Moon!" Hermione walked up to Selina to help out but...
"You're in my way!" Zurvan unwrapped the snake around himself and threw it at Hermione. The snake snatch onto Hermione's body and extended itself to her arms and legs immobilizing her body completely. She tried to break free but no hope, she could not move, she was as hard as a rock.
"God I hate snakes!"
"Good luck trying to beat the strength of my python. Instead of squirming around, enjoy watching Guardian Moon suffer." He raise his staff and attacked Selina again but repeating the action rapidly. Selina kept dodging the attacks while on the floor as Hermione tries to free herself from the reptilian.
Back at the shop, Guardian Earth continues to search for anything out of the ordinary. He stood in front of the grandfather clock with his back facing it. He then felt a sudden urge of energy from the clock, he turned quickly facing the clock and threw a leaf at the face of the clock breaking the glass protecting it.
From that impact, before Zurvan can do a finally blow to Selina, he froze in pain. Selina quickly regain her energy. "Oh! I got my energy back!" Zurvan dropped his staff and hold himself against the pain.
"Oh no! My energy is depleting!" Zurvan is in shock. The snake that hold Hermione turned into ashes, setting her free.
"Finally! I can move again! Now where was I? Oh yes! Quicksilver Haze, Surround!" Hermione's attack covered the room. Zurvan stood his ground in a blind frantic search of the Guardians, at the same time falling weaker.
"Darn it! Where did you go?"
"Are you alright, Guardian Moon?" Hermione went to help Selina up to her feet.
"I'm okay now. Thank you." Hermione looked for the outline of the monster through her fog and eventually finding him.
"Zurvan is up ahead, you'll see his silhouette."
"Gotcha! Silver Moon, Watch My Aim!" Selina threw her discus at the direction |Hermione pointed it out, Zurvan immediately turned into dust on impact. Sitting outside of the shop was Luna in her wolf form waiting for the two Guardians come out safely and alive! Before her eyes the shop disappear into thin air, creating a empty lot on the street, and in the middle of the lot was Selina and Hermione in their civilian forms.
"Oh my goodness! You two are alive!" Luna ran up to them in happiness.
"Who told you we were dead?" Hermione asked.
"You're the one who wrote that note thinking that you can handle this madness by yourself! Of course, I thought you were a goner."
"Well, we manage to take care of ourselves without you thank you very much."
"Don't think you can get rid of me that easily, sweet heart."
"Right back at ya!" Hermione and Luna were having their usual spat as for Selina She had her mind else where.
"Why don't we all take a nice SLOW, RELAXING walk to home. Around this time, I'm really exhausted. I don't want to get stressed out anymore! Even if it means to tape your mouths shut!" Luna and Hermione just stared at Selina in silence and not taking any chances of her scenario.
"That's not a bad idea." Hermione responded finally.
As the three were walking along the street with Luna in her human form. They past by a bakery being spellbound by the aroma of the shop. "Hey, look! This shop is doing a speed eating contest with their amazing cakes! That sounds delicious and disgusting all at once." Hermione commented.
"Let's go in and give it a try! Nothing can fill this bottomless stomach!" Selina tapped her very small belly. Selina is the first one to go inside the bakery, but the other two just stood outside in a somewhat state of shock.
"She is such a boy! How is it possible that she can all that cake?" Hermione responded.
"Who knows, but I think her personality will never change at this point on!" Luna mentioned.
"I suppose, your right." They both eventually went into the shop also.