Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Slayer, The Avatar And The Guardian Of Light
Chapter 8 - Death is your Gift
Dimension: 165 - Earth
Date: 19th July 2001 AD
Country: USA - California
Location: Sunnydale - The Magic Box
Time: Afternoon
She stepped through the arch and appeared in the doorway of The Magic Box. The others were standing exactly where they were before she left.
He really returned me exactly were I left.
"How did you do that?" Buffy asked, confused. "And where did Adam go?"
Tara turned to find the arch gone.
There was a small clicking sound and a piece of paper appeared in the air and fluttered down into Tara's hands. It read:
I told you I would return you before you were missed. Wish me luck.
Time Lord
Tara smiled at the message and could tell that although it was serious it was written with a smile. She handed it to Buffy who had approached and had tried to read over her elbow (she couldn't reach her shoulder).
"What happened Tara?" asked Willow.
This is going to take some explaining
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile back at the manor
After Tara had stepped through the arch, he closed it with a wave of his hand. The Guardian took a deep breath, not for the need to breathe but simply in preparation for what he was about to face, and walked into the middle of the cloud of dark magic; he snapped his fingers and vanished.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 294 - Earth
Date: 10th August2001 AD
Country: Indian Ocean
Location: A Small Island
Time: Evening
A small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean
This island would never appear on any maps. This island is only visible if you know it's there.
The Guardian flashed into existence on the top of a hill.
He looked around, surveying the environment. He was standing very near what looked like a worn down shed, the type that's size means it's halfway to being an aircraft hangar, it was probably at least twenty meters square.
He walked toward the shed and opened the door. It creaked open. Once inside the door slammed shut. This didn't surprise Adam in the slightest.
On the far side of the shed stood James wearing an evil grin.
"Here he is, the Gods beloved Guardian, sent like an avenging Angel to slay the Demon." he taunted.
"I always hoped the demon wouldn't be you, brother." Adam said, moving to face him.
"You know I'm a lost cause, right? You will never get me back."
"Who says I want to, brother," Adam said almost growling the last word as he walked farther towards his brother.
"Well, it looks like you've finally grown yourself a new spine. You lost your old one many years ago."
"I do only what I'm meant to do."
"Oh, leave out the great mission bit. We both know you hate the Gods as much as I do. I've just got a better way of showing it." he mocked.
"My religious views are not your concern." Adam said, coming to a halt ten meters from his brother.
"You know we could have a really long discussion about religion, but I think we should get this party started," James said with a large amount of pleasure. He snapped his fingers; the room around them was suddenly full of demons.
Adam looked around; at least one hundred surrounded him.
"Bugger."
"Indeed, brother," James agreed, gesturing the demons forward.
They launched themselves at The Guardian. Adam drew his sword, which was again glowing. The demons visibly flinched when they saw the blade, but obviously thought he was no match for their numbers.
He launched himself at them, cutting and slicing every demon that came within range. He eliminated his foe with skill even a Samurai could not match. The ranks of demons continued to charge and the bodies continued to pile up. The Guardian, who had not suffered more than slightest cut, was surrounded by carcasses.
Eventually all the demons were killed and the bodies were literally ceiling high around The Guardian. With a blast of light from his body, the corpses were flung across the room.
"Is that all you've got, James?" Adam mocked, breathing heavily.
James threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, I'm just getting started." He clicked his fingers again. This time the air around them shimmered and more demons appeared, only five this time.
These were tall, reptilian looking; they had slightly elongated necks with various horns pointing backwards on their heads. They had wings and long tails with a single large curved spike on the end. They also had metal armour that appeared to me moulded to their body on their chest, arms and legs. In their chest armour were two slots holding daggers, each being at least fifty centimetres long. They had talons not hands, each talon being at least ten centimetres long.
"Batros!" Adam hissed.
"Yes....Batros. They can be very useful, and as I know how much you love them, I thought I'd bring a few with me." James sneered.
The Batros launched themselves at The Guardian. Unlike the other demons, these moved like animals, springing and bounding, launching themselves off the walls and ceiling.
These were harder to kill and Adam sustained many injuries and spent most of his time trying to prevent being out flanked.
Ten minutes later, he managed to gain the advantage by plunging his sword through the chest of one, and soon their bodies lay dead at his feet.
He had obviously been seriously injured as he was bent over holding his left arm to his chest, while the right held his sword which showed no sign of the slaughter it had caused. Adam had cuts on his face from the demons talons and tail slashes.
"You think that's all it takes to beat me," said Adam, breathing heavier than before as he sheathed his sword.
James laughed.
"You're like a toothless old cat brother, trying to scare me with your roar."
"This old cat isn't as toothless as you think." said Adam, straightening up with great effort; he clasped his hands behind his back, the image of a gentleman.
But Adam was no fool. Anyone standing behind him would have seen that in his right hand a shaft of metal appeared and started growing in his fist, it twisted and curved into the form of a scythe with the most vicious blade edge you had ever seen. The blade and the handle were covered in runes (which like his sword moved, twirled and re-wrote themselves) while the handle was pure black and the blade was of the brightest silver.
This was not the type of tool you used for collecting the harvest, and definitely not the sort of weapon you want to be on the wrong end of.
"Come on brother, it ends tonight." Adam stated as the last hint of day fell below the horizon.
Both launched themselves at each other in exactly parallel movements. Adam brought his scythe around only to have it collide with another scythe held by his brother. This scythe was pure black, including the blade; it was also covered in runes, but they were obviously applied with a less skilled hand and they seemed to almost lumber or crawl over the surface.
The weapons clashed, slashed and sliced. Parries were blocked, thrusts were dodged and attacks were countered. It looked like a scene from an epic battle (if it had been the matrix, bullet time would have been slow). They were moving so fast it should not have been possible. It was the clash of the titans, blades rung, bodies moved at an incredible rate, every section of the shed was covered, they were moving so fast.
Finally the weapons stopped, the scythes were entangled in the air between them and the warriors just stood forcing as much strength as they could into the blades.
"You can't win brother. Give up," James sneered. He was clearly in a worse position to his brother, having sustained direct hits to the torso, the arm and face, while his brother had only been nicked on the shoulder, but added to his wounds from the previous fights, he was struggling. He was almost out of power. "My years of training and researching the dark arts have prepared me for this."
In a flash movement Adam released the pressure on the blade, disentangled it and brought his blade down, sliced the opposing blade in half. A series of rapid hits caught his brother's legs, torso and severed all fingers on his right hand as well as inflicting a deep wound which cut through his right eyebrow and down his cheek only just missing his eye. James collapsed to the floor and clutched his fingerless hand.
"Darkness can not defeat the light, James. You of all people should know that," Adam countered with so much truth in his voice that you would belief it even if you had been taught otherwise since the day you were born.
Adam raised the scythe above his head ready to end it once and for all, he moved to bring it down but stopped, his eyes portrayed an inner struggle.
His brother sensed his hesitation and decided to act on his brother's indecision. "Even if the darkness can not win, if the light can not defeat the darkness, then we will triumph." James decided to play his last card. "You made a fatal mistake brother." He grinned. "....you left your precious charges unguarded."
Adam froze, his eyes snapping to James's.
He opened his mind focusing on Sunnydale.
Flashes of the time he missed....Pain....Willow....Buffy....the vampire Spike....Dawn.... Joyce.
....Joyce is....dead
....oh God....Tara
....Tara's mind
....Tara
....Tara
Oh god....I've failed them.
He focused, bringing his mind to the present.
He saw....
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 165 - Earth
Date: 10th August2001 AD
Country: USA - California
Location: Sunnydale - Glory's Tower
Time: Evening
Buffy and Dawn stood at the top of a tower.
"Buffy...no," Dawn pleaded.
"Dawnie, I have to."
"No," Dawn repeated, raising her voice.
"Listen to me please. There is not a lot of time. Listen."
________________________________________________________________________
Glorificus
"By the Gods, what have I done?"
"Yes indeed....and thanks to that fight you haven't got the energy to 'snap in' or to open a time portal, but you probably have just enough energy to open a dimension portal, it just depends on how fast you can fly." James grinned.
Adam swung his scythe up again, but stopped; the inner struggle evident on his face. He surrendered, lowering the scythe.
"You can't do it brother. You can't kill me. You're WEAK", James taunted, standing slowly. "That is why you lost her."
Fury erupted on Adam's face.
A flaming knife appeared in the air between them and embedded itself in James's shoulder. The fire spreading over his skin. James screamed in pain.
Adam sent a look of pure revulsion at his brother before beginning to spin; as he got faster he sped up, the air around him moving with him. He transformed into a tornado which blasted through the roof and rocketed of faster than the eye can see over the Indian Ocean.
________________________________________________________________________
"I love you....I will always love you. This is the work I have to do...."
________________________________________________________________________
As the tornado, Adam was using all his might to move as fast as he could, holding his hand out in front of him, about a mile ahead a portal to the Scoobies' dimension opened. He reached and passed through it in under a second. He was going too fast and the dimension barriers were being torn apart when he passed through.
________________________________________________________________________
"Tell Giles....tell Giles I figured it out....and....I'm ok....and give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now....you have to take care of each other....you have to be strong...."
________________________________________________________________________
Increasing in speed The Guardian switched from tornado to straight out flying as he moved over the far coast of Africa. He shed his physical form continuing only as a ball of energy. He was moving so fast he looked like a blazing comet, with a tail of magical flame over a mile long.
________________________________________________________________________
"Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it....be brave....live....for me."
She turned and ran for the edge.
________________________________________________________________________
Passing over the Central Atlantic, he broke the speed of reality creating a subspace tear hundreds of miles in length, leaving its mark as a black flame that scorched the sky.
She can not die; she can not die.
________________________________________________________________________
She reached the edge, jumped, and performed a perfect swan dive.
In the distance a roaring could be heard, getting louder by the second.
She fell, three meters till the portal.
The sound got louder and a dot appeared on the horizon.
Two meters
The dot became a flicker.
One meter
The black flame roared over the border of Sunnydale.
She fell into the portal at the same time as Adam hit it, the force of the impact forced Adam back into his physical form, the flaming trail vanished leaving huge spatial damage in its wake.
Buffy and the Guardian hung in the portal, convulsing in pain.
The portal closed.
Dawn flooded over the horizon.
The Scoobies, Spike and the animals all made their way towards the bodies of Buffy and Adam lying mangled on the ground.
Willow cried, comforted in Tara's arms.
Xander and Anya just stared in shock and sadness.
Spike collapsed to the floor in sorrow.
Giles looked on in disbelief.
Buffy...his Slayer...was no more.
The Animals limped up to their master, their heads dipped in despair. Mystique curled up and rested her cat head on his chest. Lylacor lay down beside his master, laying his paw and head onto The Guardian's shoulder.
They made no sound.
No howl
No whimper
No calling
Just....silence.
Dimension: 165 - Earth
Date: 19th July 2001 AD
Country: USA - California
Location: Sunnydale - The Magic Box
Time: Afternoon
She stepped through the arch and appeared in the doorway of The Magic Box. The others were standing exactly where they were before she left.
He really returned me exactly were I left.
"How did you do that?" Buffy asked, confused. "And where did Adam go?"
Tara turned to find the arch gone.
There was a small clicking sound and a piece of paper appeared in the air and fluttered down into Tara's hands. It read:
I told you I would return you before you were missed. Wish me luck.
Time Lord
Tara smiled at the message and could tell that although it was serious it was written with a smile. She handed it to Buffy who had approached and had tried to read over her elbow (she couldn't reach her shoulder).
"What happened Tara?" asked Willow.
This is going to take some explaining
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile back at the manor
After Tara had stepped through the arch, he closed it with a wave of his hand. The Guardian took a deep breath, not for the need to breathe but simply in preparation for what he was about to face, and walked into the middle of the cloud of dark magic; he snapped his fingers and vanished.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 294 - Earth
Date: 10th August2001 AD
Country: Indian Ocean
Location: A Small Island
Time: Evening
A small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean
This island would never appear on any maps. This island is only visible if you know it's there.
The Guardian flashed into existence on the top of a hill.
He looked around, surveying the environment. He was standing very near what looked like a worn down shed, the type that's size means it's halfway to being an aircraft hangar, it was probably at least twenty meters square.
He walked toward the shed and opened the door. It creaked open. Once inside the door slammed shut. This didn't surprise Adam in the slightest.
On the far side of the shed stood James wearing an evil grin.
"Here he is, the Gods beloved Guardian, sent like an avenging Angel to slay the Demon." he taunted.
"I always hoped the demon wouldn't be you, brother." Adam said, moving to face him.
"You know I'm a lost cause, right? You will never get me back."
"Who says I want to, brother," Adam said almost growling the last word as he walked farther towards his brother.
"Well, it looks like you've finally grown yourself a new spine. You lost your old one many years ago."
"I do only what I'm meant to do."
"Oh, leave out the great mission bit. We both know you hate the Gods as much as I do. I've just got a better way of showing it." he mocked.
"My religious views are not your concern." Adam said, coming to a halt ten meters from his brother.
"You know we could have a really long discussion about religion, but I think we should get this party started," James said with a large amount of pleasure. He snapped his fingers; the room around them was suddenly full of demons.
Adam looked around; at least one hundred surrounded him.
"Bugger."
"Indeed, brother," James agreed, gesturing the demons forward.
They launched themselves at The Guardian. Adam drew his sword, which was again glowing. The demons visibly flinched when they saw the blade, but obviously thought he was no match for their numbers.
He launched himself at them, cutting and slicing every demon that came within range. He eliminated his foe with skill even a Samurai could not match. The ranks of demons continued to charge and the bodies continued to pile up. The Guardian, who had not suffered more than slightest cut, was surrounded by carcasses.
Eventually all the demons were killed and the bodies were literally ceiling high around The Guardian. With a blast of light from his body, the corpses were flung across the room.
"Is that all you've got, James?" Adam mocked, breathing heavily.
James threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, I'm just getting started." He clicked his fingers again. This time the air around them shimmered and more demons appeared, only five this time.
These were tall, reptilian looking; they had slightly elongated necks with various horns pointing backwards on their heads. They had wings and long tails with a single large curved spike on the end. They also had metal armour that appeared to me moulded to their body on their chest, arms and legs. In their chest armour were two slots holding daggers, each being at least fifty centimetres long. They had talons not hands, each talon being at least ten centimetres long.
"Batros!" Adam hissed.
"Yes....Batros. They can be very useful, and as I know how much you love them, I thought I'd bring a few with me." James sneered.
The Batros launched themselves at The Guardian. Unlike the other demons, these moved like animals, springing and bounding, launching themselves off the walls and ceiling.
These were harder to kill and Adam sustained many injuries and spent most of his time trying to prevent being out flanked.
Ten minutes later, he managed to gain the advantage by plunging his sword through the chest of one, and soon their bodies lay dead at his feet.
He had obviously been seriously injured as he was bent over holding his left arm to his chest, while the right held his sword which showed no sign of the slaughter it had caused. Adam had cuts on his face from the demons talons and tail slashes.
"You think that's all it takes to beat me," said Adam, breathing heavier than before as he sheathed his sword.
James laughed.
"You're like a toothless old cat brother, trying to scare me with your roar."
"This old cat isn't as toothless as you think." said Adam, straightening up with great effort; he clasped his hands behind his back, the image of a gentleman.
But Adam was no fool. Anyone standing behind him would have seen that in his right hand a shaft of metal appeared and started growing in his fist, it twisted and curved into the form of a scythe with the most vicious blade edge you had ever seen. The blade and the handle were covered in runes (which like his sword moved, twirled and re-wrote themselves) while the handle was pure black and the blade was of the brightest silver.
This was not the type of tool you used for collecting the harvest, and definitely not the sort of weapon you want to be on the wrong end of.
"Come on brother, it ends tonight." Adam stated as the last hint of day fell below the horizon.
Both launched themselves at each other in exactly parallel movements. Adam brought his scythe around only to have it collide with another scythe held by his brother. This scythe was pure black, including the blade; it was also covered in runes, but they were obviously applied with a less skilled hand and they seemed to almost lumber or crawl over the surface.
The weapons clashed, slashed and sliced. Parries were blocked, thrusts were dodged and attacks were countered. It looked like a scene from an epic battle (if it had been the matrix, bullet time would have been slow). They were moving so fast it should not have been possible. It was the clash of the titans, blades rung, bodies moved at an incredible rate, every section of the shed was covered, they were moving so fast.
Finally the weapons stopped, the scythes were entangled in the air between them and the warriors just stood forcing as much strength as they could into the blades.
"You can't win brother. Give up," James sneered. He was clearly in a worse position to his brother, having sustained direct hits to the torso, the arm and face, while his brother had only been nicked on the shoulder, but added to his wounds from the previous fights, he was struggling. He was almost out of power. "My years of training and researching the dark arts have prepared me for this."
In a flash movement Adam released the pressure on the blade, disentangled it and brought his blade down, sliced the opposing blade in half. A series of rapid hits caught his brother's legs, torso and severed all fingers on his right hand as well as inflicting a deep wound which cut through his right eyebrow and down his cheek only just missing his eye. James collapsed to the floor and clutched his fingerless hand.
"Darkness can not defeat the light, James. You of all people should know that," Adam countered with so much truth in his voice that you would belief it even if you had been taught otherwise since the day you were born.
Adam raised the scythe above his head ready to end it once and for all, he moved to bring it down but stopped, his eyes portrayed an inner struggle.
His brother sensed his hesitation and decided to act on his brother's indecision. "Even if the darkness can not win, if the light can not defeat the darkness, then we will triumph." James decided to play his last card. "You made a fatal mistake brother." He grinned. "....you left your precious charges unguarded."
Adam froze, his eyes snapping to James's.
He opened his mind focusing on Sunnydale.
Flashes of the time he missed....Pain....Willow....Buffy....the vampire Spike....Dawn.... Joyce.
....Joyce is....dead
....oh God....Tara
....Tara's mind
....Tara
....Tara
Oh god....I've failed them.
He focused, bringing his mind to the present.
He saw....
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 165 - Earth
Date: 10th August2001 AD
Country: USA - California
Location: Sunnydale - Glory's Tower
Time: Evening
Buffy and Dawn stood at the top of a tower.
"Buffy...no," Dawn pleaded.
"Dawnie, I have to."
"No," Dawn repeated, raising her voice.
"Listen to me please. There is not a lot of time. Listen."
________________________________________________________________________
Glorificus
"By the Gods, what have I done?"
"Yes indeed....and thanks to that fight you haven't got the energy to 'snap in' or to open a time portal, but you probably have just enough energy to open a dimension portal, it just depends on how fast you can fly." James grinned.
Adam swung his scythe up again, but stopped; the inner struggle evident on his face. He surrendered, lowering the scythe.
"You can't do it brother. You can't kill me. You're WEAK", James taunted, standing slowly. "That is why you lost her."
Fury erupted on Adam's face.
A flaming knife appeared in the air between them and embedded itself in James's shoulder. The fire spreading over his skin. James screamed in pain.
Adam sent a look of pure revulsion at his brother before beginning to spin; as he got faster he sped up, the air around him moving with him. He transformed into a tornado which blasted through the roof and rocketed of faster than the eye can see over the Indian Ocean.
________________________________________________________________________
"I love you....I will always love you. This is the work I have to do...."
________________________________________________________________________
As the tornado, Adam was using all his might to move as fast as he could, holding his hand out in front of him, about a mile ahead a portal to the Scoobies' dimension opened. He reached and passed through it in under a second. He was going too fast and the dimension barriers were being torn apart when he passed through.
________________________________________________________________________
"Tell Giles....tell Giles I figured it out....and....I'm ok....and give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now....you have to take care of each other....you have to be strong...."
________________________________________________________________________
Increasing in speed The Guardian switched from tornado to straight out flying as he moved over the far coast of Africa. He shed his physical form continuing only as a ball of energy. He was moving so fast he looked like a blazing comet, with a tail of magical flame over a mile long.
________________________________________________________________________
"Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it....be brave....live....for me."
She turned and ran for the edge.
________________________________________________________________________
Passing over the Central Atlantic, he broke the speed of reality creating a subspace tear hundreds of miles in length, leaving its mark as a black flame that scorched the sky.
She can not die; she can not die.
________________________________________________________________________
She reached the edge, jumped, and performed a perfect swan dive.
In the distance a roaring could be heard, getting louder by the second.
She fell, three meters till the portal.
The sound got louder and a dot appeared on the horizon.
Two meters
The dot became a flicker.
One meter
The black flame roared over the border of Sunnydale.
She fell into the portal at the same time as Adam hit it, the force of the impact forced Adam back into his physical form, the flaming trail vanished leaving huge spatial damage in its wake.
Buffy and the Guardian hung in the portal, convulsing in pain.
The portal closed.
Dawn flooded over the horizon.
The Scoobies, Spike and the animals all made their way towards the bodies of Buffy and Adam lying mangled on the ground.
Willow cried, comforted in Tara's arms.
Xander and Anya just stared in shock and sadness.
Spike collapsed to the floor in sorrow.
Giles looked on in disbelief.
Buffy...his Slayer...was no more.
The Animals limped up to their master, their heads dipped in despair. Mystique curled up and rested her cat head on his chest. Lylacor lay down beside his master, laying his paw and head onto The Guardian's shoulder.
They made no sound.
No howl
No whimper
No calling
Just....silence.
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