Alaia Skyhawk: Time for lots of Wyatt :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
~(-)~
Chapter 115: Setting Aside Shadows
The hour was early, too early for anyone in the crew to be up an awake. A fact confirmed when he'd peered into the rooms where the others were, all of them laid in contented slumber. Even Jakub slept soundly, if only his fellow Pooka could be so at easy.
Wyatt returned to his room and lay back down onto his bed, unable to settle as the others had. They didn't remember the Fall, hadn't lived through it. For all of them except Jakub it was distant history, and even for him he'd been raised sheltered away from the hardships of the initial rebuilding.
They were blessed in that respect. It would be easy for them to set aside the shadows of fear, in the face of the bright light of victory and hope that Tsar Lunar was going to shine upon the Allegiance. But that light would not so easily settle upon those Pooka's who remembered that war. It would not so easily settle upon Wyatt B. Devengard.
He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, one paw tracing the line of pale fur across his nose. The image of the ragged Fearling from a few hours ago, such a stark contrast to the one that had given him that scar. That, along with how casual Tsar Lunar and those immortals had been with regards to the creatures, combined together to make him feel more than a little disturbed.
The Fearlings of then and the Fearlings of now, were refusing to reconcile together in his mind.
And then there was the other revelation that his thoughts churned over. The thought that Pitch Black no longer existed. But the fear had been a part of him for so long... thousands of years. It was all so unbelievable, so incredible. Too good to be true, and yet it was true.
Constellation Lunanoff lived on, and Tsar Lunar XII had spent all these years guarding this planet and keeping the Fearlings and Nightmare King trapped here. He'd remained in isolation in order to keep the Allegiance safe.
There was a quiet knock on the door, causing Wyatt to tense in surprise. At first he thought it might be time for everyone to be up, but a glance at the clock on the wall said otherwise. Yet before the Pooka could rise from the bed and go answer it, the door opened just a little. The voice that came through the gap was that of Kosmotis.
"I do not wish to intrude, but I sense that you are in need of my skills. I have tended the rest of your crew while they slept, and with another day to think things over, it will suffice in their case. But unlike them, you have memories of... those events. Merely adjusting your fear back to Natural levels, will not prevent those memories from causing your fears to rise again."
He opened the door a little further and peered in. Wyatt was tense, ready to leap into combat, and Kosmotis' expression became resigned. He began to retreat, regret in his voice. "I will leave you be."
He made a small gesture before starting to close the door, and Wyatt felt his fear go from strong flame to tiny ember. His head now cleared for the moment, his curiosity took over and had him call out.
"Wait... Don't leave." Kosmotis opened the door again, and Wyatt walked over to it. "Perhaps a walk, to clear the air?"
Kosmotis hesitated a moment, then nodded.
"I know of a place."
They walked in silence through the hallways, stepping around the occasional moonbot that was doing its rounds. Not much further on they reached the dome where the mirrors were, proceeding across it and into the collection of buildings on the far side.
This was the complex where all the Moon Clipper's primary controls were located; from those for the farms that provided air and kept Tsar Lunar fed all these years, to those that dealt with the now redundant flight and navigation systems. It was to one of those rooms, a computer archive by its appearance, that the former General led him. And once there, the man settled into the chair at the main console. His manner that of someone who had been there many times before.
Wyatt frowned, his ears folded back warily.
"Why come here? It's just an archive."
Kosmotis didn't speak, but instead brought up a list of files on the screen. Dozens of them had been flagged to be easily located again.
He selected one and the video feed it pertained to began to play. It showed him, dressed as the General of the Golden Allegiance, stepping onto a ship to carry him to the vast prison-planet visible as a shadow that blotted out the nearby view of the stars. That clip cut off and Kosmotis selected another. The second one was date-stamped as being quite some time after the first, and showed the same view just as horde of Fearlings swept over it and blotted out everything.
He picked a third, which had been retrieved from a drifting wrecked vessel. This one clearly showed him, as the Nightmare King, attacking and killing the crew.
Wyatt, upset at seeing images from the war, moved as if to haul Kosmotis out of the chair and stop him. Yet before he could do so, the Steward quickly scrolled to the bottom of the list of files and selected the last one.
Wyatt stopped his lunge when the view of the Earth came onto the screen. The screen quickly narrowing down and focusing on one of the northern continents, before zooming in again to get a vague view of a town. A scattering of thick clouds blocked much of the view, and one especially dark one loomed in from the north.
The telescope that had filmed the scene, focused even closer on that cloud. The figure of Pitch Black revealed to be atop that roiling mass of what appeared to be black sand. The display split up to show several other views, as other telescopes had been directed to the event. One showed a flare of light and a distortion in the air, from which a flying sleigh emerged only to crash in the middle of a nearby street.
A white-haired figure came out of the adjacent house, one of the views zooming in to show that it was Jack Frost, and that from the sleigh clambered the obviously weakened Guardians of Memories and Wonder. All looked bleak until the moment a young boy came running out of the house as well.
Wyatt sat down on one of the spare chairs, unable to take his attention off the event he was being shown. His expression turning to concern when he saw the diminished form of an obviously sentient rabbit with Pooka markings. The Guardian of Hope, Aster, so weakened he had lost his true form.
A flicker of lightning, a boom of thunder that could not be heard from the moon, caused the Guardians and the boy to look to the sky. Only now could it be seen that the child was James Bennett, the boy who would one day be a Constellation. Aster, North, and Toothiana hastened him away, while Jack Frost leapt into the air to take Pitch Black head on.
Wyatt flinched and clutched at the arm of his chair, the moment he saw Jack be struck out of the sky. At that point the clouds began to thicken even further, maddeningly blocking almost all sight of what was going on below. Minutes ticked by like an eternity, and how must Tsar Lunar have felt at the time he had watched this first-hand? Waiting with bated breath and pounding heart, to learn what had become of his Guardians of Childhood.
It only grew worse when a seething mass of black sands converged inwards, visible only by the way they sucked all light from their path below the clouds. And then, when all seemed lost and the darkness closed in on the last of the light in the centre... It was all swept away in a glory of golden streamers, which burst up through the clouds and pushed most of them away.
Kosmotis spoke now, the both of them still watching.
"James did that, with his powerful belief. He purified that which Pitch had corrupted."
What was now revealed was a battlefield like none the Pooka had ever seen. The boy, James, was no longer the only child standing with the Guardians. There were others as well, and as one they charged forward with smiles and laughter evident on their faces. Their very touch turned the surrounding creatures of black sand into streamers of golden grains, much to the fury of Pitch.
The Nightmare King's rage brought Fearlings into the fray, and again Wyatt tensed in concern only to see the most unbelievable thing. The children, still smiling and laughing, ran at them with no hesitation... and the Fearlings ran away. By now many other individuals had arrived to take part in the fray, immortals and other allied creatures. It was complete chaos, no side seemed to be able to gain a decisive advantage over the other. But then one of the telescopes, the one focused on James, showed him racing away with his friends towards a park. The golden streamers of sand that swirled aimlessly above the town, all now coalescing near him and the others. The view only clear enough to tell that he and his friends had their hands clasped and were wishing for something.
A line lashed out from the cloud of golden sand, seeming more solid than the streamers. On another of the views, where the Nightmare King was about to strike Jack from behind, that line wrapped around Pitch's arm and dragged him towards the park. What followed was the sight of Sanderson emerging from the heart of that golden cloud, striking Pitch up into the air and then sending him plummeting into the ground.
Sanderson then rose aloft, golden streamers raying out from him. A distant view of the Earth showed that they were everywhere, not just at the town. The darkness was banished.
Kosmotis stopped the playback, his head bowed and his tone solemn.
"It was as difficult for me to accept what had happened, what my possessed persona had done, as it will be for you and the rest of your kind who survived and remember it, to accept." He looked at Wyatt. "The last thing I clearly remember, from before the moment I woke up here on this world after I was freed, is standing guard outside that door into the Fearling's prison."
He now nodded towards the screen. "A handful of faces, of people he fought here on this world, are all I can bring up of the time in-between then and now. The rest is a miasma of pain and suffering and darkness, with no concept of time. I woke to learn that fifteen thousand years had passed, and that in my moment of weakness I had caused the fall of the Golden Age."
Wyatt was a little disturbed despite all that he had just seen. Kosmotis had willingly come here and viewed all the files on record?
"Is that why you come here? To watch the evidence of the Nightmare King's crimes?"
Kosmotis glanced at him, noting the harsh edge to the Pooka's remarks. His feelings of injustice, that he would be feared for actions not his own, filling his voice with conviction. It brought out a hint of the great General he'd once been.
"He wore my face, but he was never me. I fought inside him all that time, even if I do not remember it. There are immortals here, on this world, who assure me that such is true. That they witnessed times when I broke through his control, just for a moment, and caused him to retreat. That I gave them the chances they needed to steal victory from him at those battles."
His gaze went to the screen, to that moment of Pitch's defeat. "Tsar Lunar added to the archives when he could, recording everything significant that took place on the Earth within sight of his telescopes. Watching them, filling in the gaps of what has happened, helped me come to terms with it. I had to understand the past, in order to walk freely into the future."
Wyatt scowled.
"Forgive me for my scepticism, but I'm afraid I don't share the same confidence in Pitch's permanent destruction. Not even after seeing that battle."
Kosmotis got to his feet and started to push up his sleeves.
"If you are concerned that they might possess me again, fear not." He held out his bared forearms, revealing the bands of frost-like white that encircled his wrists. "The Guardian of Fun has made certain that such can never happen. His power of laughter and fun is agony to them, burning them upon contact. Even if they were to get past my new and far stronger defences, they would not get past his. The moment they possessed me they would suffer the pain of these upon my skin, and be driven out. Just as his power drove the last of them out of me when I was freed from them."
Wyatt, once again caught by curiosity, reached out to touch one of those white bands. He could feel the tingle of power from them when he did so.
"He is truly that powerful?"
Kosmotis resettled his sleeves, and with a few key-presses then brought up several images of the Guardians. They came from a range of times, spanning from when they'd each just been recruited right up until the present. In each one they were armed and ready for combat.
"You may or may not have noticed, that the Guardians of Childhood on this world are nothing like those that existed during the Old Golden Age. Those Guardians were pacifists, teachers, sources of inspiration for children. They were helpless in the face of the Fearling hordes. The Guardians of Childhood that exist here, are certainly not pacifists, and they are certainly not helpless. Every one of them was chosen not just for what they had the gift to inspire in children, but because they were also gifted with the will and talent to be exceptional fighters. They are warriors, tried and true, and they are the ones who defeated the Nightmare King. That which all the efforts and resources of the Old Golden Age, failed to do."
Wyatt regarded the images thoughtfully, once again tracing the scar on his nose with a paw.
"That so few succeeded, in a task that so many died in attempting."
Kosmotis turned off the console and moved away from it.
"While admittedly Pitch was considerably weakened compared to his original strength, it was still no mean feat to bring him down. Nightlight kept him sealed for one-hundred and fifty-six centuries, give or take, during which time the Fearlings lost a lot of power. Without the strength to leave this planet on their own, once free of that seal, Pitch set about trying to terrorise the people of this world in order to gain it. The Guardians stopped him, and he was eventually tricked into allowing Tsar Lunar to change him into a Legend Immortal. It cost Pitch dearly, weakened him to such a degree that it was four-hundred years before he'd gathered enough power to strike out again. The conclusion of that was the battle you just watched, which took place nearly thirty years ago."
The Pooka remained seated, his manner still guarded.
"At the start of that footage, the Guardians looked so helpless. What happened to weaken them so?"
Kosmotis let out a sigh.
"What else, but the same thing that brought down and destroyed all the immortals of the Golden Age except Father Time. A Belief Blackout, which spanned all of the Earth. He almost succeeded, but underestimated Tsar Lunar and Jack Frost. Because Jack was chosen specifically to counter the Blackout strategy, and had spent nearly two-hundred years preparing in secret for that confrontation. During that time, through his own intuition, he discovered the Fearlings' greatest weakness."
The Steward turned to regard Wyatt, as a parent would regard a child who struggled to understand.
"He is the one who figured out how to 'tame' fear and render them harmless. With nothing but his Lieutenants and a handful of other immortals, he rescued Toothiana's fairies and set them to work in rekindling the happy memories of this world's children. He then with the additional help of eight-year-old Jamie, James Bennett, and a handful of other children, held off Pitch long enough for the balance to shift and the Blackout to end. As soon as Belief was restored in the Guardians, Pitch Black lost all but a shred of his power. He and the Fearlings were so weakened in the aftermath, that my daughter was able at last to free me. With Jack's help, of course. I owe him a debt that can never be repaid. We all owe him a debt. He who knows full well he was chosen and deliberately forged as a weapon to defeat the Nightmare King, but holds no grudge for the suffering he went through because of it."
Kosmotis sighed, thoughtful and distant. "While every world will be given a Guardian of Fun of their own, there will never be another like Jack. No other such would need to be like him; a person whose heart is that of a Legend, yet whom is cast into the role and hardships of a Spirit of the Seasons. He is truly unique, and a part of me wonders that, if given the chance, he could have been a Constellation himself. His will is certainly the match of one."
Wyatt rose from his seat, at last truly looking at the man stood before him. The shadowed fear of an old nightmare, old memories, gradually being pushed aside by what he could now see.
"You've changed from the man you were, when you were the General of the Golden Allegiance. I met you then and thought you wise. I saw you fall to darkness and thought you a fool. But now I see I was wrong on both counts. Because now you are wise, in ways I had never considered back then."
Kosmotis started towards the door.
"It appears my talk with you has done its work, and that in your case I have now fulfilled my duties as the Steward of Natural Fear. I'll lead you back to your room."
He stopped when Wyatt put a paw on his shoulder, glancing back at the Pooka with hesitation. But Wyatt was no longer frowning, and instead he wore an expression of wistful regret.
"You have my word, that I will speak to the rest of my kind who survived those dark days. I'll tell them your story, and if you're okay with it I'll ask Tsar Lunar for copies of the archive footage to show them as well. I'll make sure that none of us harbour any lingering fear of that dead wraith. I can see you're still carrying his crimes on your shoulders, and that's not right or fair. Not in the Golden Age. No one in a Golden Age should have to live with that."
Kosmotis, able to sense the change in Wyatt's attitude towards him, at last managed the faintest of smiles.
"Yes, that would be good. Because the greatest weapon against fear isn't strength, it's understanding."
~(-)~
"You seem to have had a weight lifted from your mind."
The remark distracted the Pooka from his thoughts, causing him to turn away from the view through the dome to the young man approaching him. Tsar Solus, Jamie, wasn't wearing his formal robes now. The only thing to mark him for what he was, being the spiral pendant he wore over his everyday clothing.
Wyatt inclined his head to him in greeting.
"Good morning, Tsar Solus."
Jamie came to a stop beside him, smiling.
"Please, just call me Jamie. I only use my formal title when I have to." Jamie now regarded him knowingly. "So, Kosmotis talked to you."
It wasn't a question, and Wyatt sighed.
"I suppose he reported that to you."
"No." Jamie shook his head. "Bunny guessed you'd have trouble accepting Pitch was gone, and that you'd have fear issues because of that. Add in that it's Kosmotis' job to help people with those sorts of problems, and it was easy to figure out."
Wyatt didn't look offended. Instead he remarked in humour.
"Then I guess 'Bunny' was right, whoever that is. After all, to be named after the term for a cute rabbit, I can't imagine they are very dignified."
Jamie snorted with laughter, confusing the Pooka beside him, and he explained.
"Bunny is Aster! E. Aster Bunnymund. He has a yearly festival called Easter, where he hides chocolate-filled eggs all over the world for children to find. His Legend name is The Easter Bunny, because he looks quite a bit like a rabbit. Bunny is his nickname, just as Nicholas St North is 'North', Toothiana is 'Tooth', and Sanderson is 'Sandy'. Jack has two nicknames that only Bunny uses. Depending on if Bunny is amused or annoyed, he'll either call Jack 'Snowflake' or 'Frostbite'."
Wyatt shook his head in wonder, realising that Kosmotis wasn't the only one to have changed. The Aster of old would never have permitted himself to be called 'Bunny'.
It sounds like he's been happy here.
Jamie took hold of Wyatt by the sleeve of his robe, and tugged the Pooka towards the mirrors.
"Come on, I'll show you a bit of it."
Wyatt would have dug his heels in, would it not risk tearing his robes and were it not a Constellation doing the tugging. Instead he offered only a rather muted protest.
"There's really no need."
"Don't be such a wet blanket."
Wyatt was quickly manhandled through the right-most of the three mirrors, emerging into a chamber that by the ornamented door-frames could have been on any planet in the Allegiance. The sight of those traditional patterns made him pause, but only until Jamie firmly guided him out of the mirror room and to the end of the hallway beyond.
Because from the window located there, was a perfect view over the City of Solaris.
After giving the Pooka a few moments to take in the view, and noting the nostalgia in the fellow's expression, Jamie smiled to himself.
"This is Solaris, the home of the World Council. I've spent nine and a half years setting that up and getting it running, to bring together the separated nations of Planet Earth. Tsar Lunar build the city for me, using the manufactories inside the Moon Clipper, and launched it down here. That's why so much will look familiar to you."
Wyatt put a paw to the window.
"I could be back on Lumeris right now, at one of the Southern Ocean Cities. Except there wouldn't be people walking about as freely as those down there are. The people of the Allegiance are living their lives, always looking over their shoulders at nearby shadows. Just in case a Fearling comes hurtling out of it. Laughter is strained, and smiles never quite reach the eyes, but down there they don't have a care in the world."
Jamie sighed, nodding.
"Yeah, Jack and Kosmotis have done a great job. Without their help, keeping people calm, open-minded, and thinking clearly, uniting the world in the time I did would have been impossible. It would have been the work of five or six decades, not one, and it would have be a real uphill battle."
The Pooka beside him became thoughtful, thinking about what Kosmotis had told him. There was one thing that had him puzzled.
"Tsar Lunar called the Guardian of Fun and the Steward of Natural Fear, the two most important immortals to protect against Fearlings. What exactly is it that both of them do?"
Jamie gestured for him to follow, and the two of them began to make their way in the direction of the Council Chamber.
"The Steward adjusts the balance of fear in people, to help prevent Unnatural Fear from forming, while the Guardian of Fun inspires joy and laughter in their hearts. The two together make the people immune to the Fearlings, because Unnatural Fear and Fun can't exist in a person at the same time. That's how my uncle weakened the Fearlings, by using his power to make people immune. He weakened them so much that he and Emily Jane were able to force them out of her father." Seeing the Pooka's puzzled expression at the mention of 'uncle', Jamie explained. "I'm descended from Jack Frost's sister. Calling him my many-greats-uncle is a bit of a mouthful."
Wyatt's words were filled with wonderment, as the two of them now arrived on the balcony in the Council Chamber. Beneath the majesty of the sunburst skylight, and above the tiers of seating where a world had come together.
"It would seem that yours is quite the family."
Jamie's expression became wry.
"We don't brag, but yeah. We've never been average, ever since Jack became an immortal three-hundred and fifty years ago." He now pointed to the room below. "But back to the matter of the Earth, I'd suggest formally adding it to the reinstated Golden Allegiance right now... except I know it's still not quite ready for that. It would be best for the Silver Allegiance to begin its recovery and become Golden Allegiance again first. The Fearlings are safely contained now, and the frostdust in Jack's permanent mirrors means they can't get to the moon through one without being forced to go, but let's not take chances. The rest of the Allegiance needs to recover a bit before we allow any regular visitors here."
Wyatt nodded in understanding.
"As much as I'd love to stay and see this world a little before I leave, me and my crew should really go back to Lumeris with this news. I can't bear to leave the Allegiance living in terror, of the Fearlings and the Nightmare King, for even a day longer than I must."
Jamie traced a finger over the patterns on the balcony railing, thoughtful.
"Tsar Lunar already knows there are five new Constellations in the Allegiance, and that they've yet to figure out how to successfully create immortals. Father Time has kept him informed, and I'm sure he will also make sure those Constellations are waiting on Lumeris when we arrive."
Wyatt blinked.
"We?"
Jamie glanced at him with a mischievous smile.
"Tsar Lunar and I have had many discussions since I became Tsar Solus. One thing that came up repeatedly, was the importance of sparking as much hope and joy as possible once contact was made. Having Tsar Lunar show up will be huge, but having another Tsar arrive with him will be even bigger. Especially if that one can create immortals the same way he can. We've spent a lot of time planning this, although convincing my uncle and Bunny to cooperate will be more of a challenge."
Wyatt started to realise something.
"I'm guessing you don't mean convincing them to let you go."
Jamie braced himself on the railing, looking up through the skylight.
"As was said before, a Guardian of Fun is very important for all the worlds in the Allegiance. Every world will need one, and who better to help choose the first few candidates for it than the original one himself? As for Bunny coming, he deserves to see Lumeris again, and more of the Pooka Brotherhood as well. Sandy should have come too, but his work won't allow it. The Earth can manage without him or Jack for a short while, but not without both of them at the same time. Kosmotis can't leave either. Candidates for other Stewards will have to be brought here to him, and later on candidates for Guardians of Fun can be brought here too, once you're all shown what to look for in them."
Wyatt gave him a long look.
"That's not the only reason you want your uncle with you for this trip."
Jamie heaved a sigh.
"He deserves the chance as much as Bunny does. I wouldn't be what I am if not for Jack, and none of this would be happening. And if he tries to argue that his permanent mirrors will stop working if he goes too far away, Tsar Lunar solved that a loooong time ago. Once a mirror has been made and set, if an additional spell is placed on it, it will continue to work so long as people expect and believe it to work. With the number of people who use or work near them on a daily basis, that's not going to be a problem."
Wyatt raised his eyebrows.
"Did you consider the discomfort both would suffer, in the lag between leaving here and arriving at Lumeris. Granted belief in them could be trigged quickly once they've arrived, a simple announcement about their visit would suffice, but still. Even sustained by two Constellations and fourteen other believers, it won't be pleasant for them."
"And I know my history, when it comes to the Golden Age." Jamie straightened up, secure in his knowledge. "Tsar Lunar taught me that more often than not, most immortals were created from volunteers who first travelled to the homeworlds of their reigning Constellation. Once they were immortal, they'd then be transported back home and announced there to the people they'd watch over."
Wyatt shrugged to accept the point.
"True, for Legends. But Nature Immortals have to be attuned to their particular planets by the local Mother or Father Nature, after that initial change to immortality. Otherwise they don't synchronise properly. Your uncle would have access to parts of Lumeris' winter aspects, but not all of them, because winter there isn't made up of exactly what winter here is."
Jamie rolled his eyes, his counter-argument quick in reply.
"That's besides the point, he wouldn't be doing weather-working there. He'd be a guest, passing through, so it wouldn't matter. I doubt we'd find a Constel candidate fast enough for that anyway, and Emily Jane can't leave this world anymore."
Wyatt paused at that, thinking.
"Constels... Willing extensions of the Tsar or Tsarina they work for. Unable to make someone immortal themselves, but taught how to 'create' Naturals by linking existing immortals into the fabric of nature for their respective worlds. Doing so with far greater comprehension of the balance required, than a Constellation could dedicate the time to learning." He now looked a little smug. "Fortunately for us, with having five Constellations who have strived ceaselessly to figure out how to successfully create immortals, we already have candidates for all the major positions for every world in the Allegiance. If one died of illness or old age, another was quickly sought out. Finding and training candidates has never been our problem. Turning them into immortals is."
Jamie's smile widened.
"Tsar Lunar and I can help with that. Now come on, let's go track down Jack and Bunny. If you're set on leaving as soon as possible, then I need to get to convincing them to come."
This time Wyatt followed without being tugged along, and all of a sudden everything didn't seem so unbelievable anymore.
~(-)~
Alaia Skyhawk: Yep, you saw that... Tsar Lunar, Jamie, Jack, and Bunny are all going to visit Lumeris... Cue Jack and Bunny whump/aka the immortal's version of travel-sickness... Man I'm mean to them XD