Guardians of the Watchtower: North

Chapter 22

Ivy walked further into the room to find herself staring into a mirror. It was massive and mostly filled with black swirling smoke, but she could see something coming to the surface.
"Daddy!!" as she ran forward to the surface of the mirror, it rippled under her touch making her jerk her hand back quickly.
"What is this?"
"This is what's called a memory glass, my sweet child."
"So you're not really here?"
"I am, but I am not, I live on in your memories baby, your love for me is what makes this possible."
"So this is how I see you?"
"Yes, this is how you've been able to come to terms with me not being there. You've created this whole world for me so we will never be apart, at least, until you're ready to let me go."
"I don't think I'll ever be able to let you go daddy."
"Right now you think that way, but soon you'll be okay here," as he touched his heart,
"And here," he touched his head.
"It comes with being part of this world, my child, we all must leave at some point, it's the hardest part of life, loving someone so much that when it's time for them to leave, part of your heart goes with them."
"When you died, I lost myself, I lost myself in my grief, pain and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't talk to mom, she didn't understand what it felt like, she acted like your death meant nothing, and that made it ten times worse because I felt even more alone."
"It's not that she didn't care, baby, she was grieving in her own way, not everyone feels like you do. You feel the pain of the world baby that's part of who you are, that's what makes you so special baby, it's how big your heart is."
"Mom used to tell me if it got any bigger, it was gonna fall outta my chest...we don't talk much anymore...she's around, but it's so hard to talk to her...I miss her."
"I know baby, just give it time, you'll be able to talk to her again, you're stubborn like me and let anger get the best of you sometimes, you just gotta breathe and trust your heart. You know your mom would say the same thing. She loves you, she always has and always will."
"I know she does daddy."
"Maybe if you give a little, she'll surprise you. Don't hold on to the anger cause eventually, she'll be here with me watching over you, and you'll be upset with yourself wishing you hadn't been so angry with her."
"I don't want to think about that dad."
"No one ever does, but it's true baby, and you know it."
"You know, it's weird, I'm basically talking to myself. through my memories. telling myself what I should do. "
"It's crazy, what our minds do to help us heal, huh?"
"Yeah, to say the least daddy."
"This place is just for you and me, you can come here anytime you need to just talk to me baby girl. No one can come through, but you, not even the Goddess can come here. Speaking of the Goddess, you need to get to the altar room baby she's waiting for you to start your training."
Ivy walked closer to the mirror and kissed the surface it rippled at her touch. She turned and started for the door, Sabian's hand came through the surface, his fingers missing her hair by inches, he pulled his hand back. She turned to look back as the doors closed behind her, she was back in the library.
I kissed the seal of the door and turned to find herself face to face with Sylar, who was trying to hold back a laugh.
"Now I'm gonna have to beat that doors ass, trying to put the moves on my girl."
Ivy rolled her eyes,
"You're such a smart-ass Sylar."
"But I'm your smart ass," he grinned that big grin that made her melt and wrapped his arms around her waist. He scooped her up, hugging her tightly to his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck feeling the warmth of him making her feel happier than she could think was possible.
"See you're distracting me, I have to get to the altar room before the Goddess sends the guards to summon me."
Ivy peeled herself from Sylar's arms, unwillingly, and took off in a light jog, only to stop, twirl around run back to steal a kiss, leaving a huge smile on Sylar's face. Ivy turned around again and ran to training.
"Knock 'Em dead!, well not dead...you know what I mean!" he laughed then watched her disappear through doors that closed behind her and turned to go back downstairs.
Ivy trotted into the altar room stirring the butterflies that were fluttering around the Goddess, who was sitting in meditation, floating in the middle of the room.
"Sorry I'm late."
The Goddess didn't open her eyes, she smiled and replied,
"I knew you would be, spending time with a lost loved one will make anyone forget the time."
Ivy smiled and sat down on the floor in front of the Goddess, who was beginning to drift back down to the floor, landing less than a foot in front of her.
"So before we start, I'm going to teach you the laws of our world and help you know the signs to look for, to find your weapon."
"Can't you just give it to me?"
"No, you have to find it for yourself that's part of your journey, my child."
"So I'm never gonna find it....Great, the whole world's doomed! Doomed I tell you!!"
The Goddess couldn't help it but busted out laughing at the voices Ivy used to explain the doom the world was facing.
"Well, I'm glad you're amused by this Goddess!"
"You're still very much a teenager, so melodramatic. Your weapon will find you when you are ready for it."
"Okay, Obi-Wan Kenobi!" the comment only made the Goddess giggle.
"So much like your father and your mother, it's insane."
"Listen to the Wicca laws you must, in perfect love and in perfect trust, live and let live, fairly take and fairly give, soft of eye and gently of touch, speak little and listen much, heed the flower, bush and tree, by the lady blessed be, merry meet and merry part, bright the cheeks and warm the heart, mind the threefold law you should, three times bad and three times good, this only part of the rede that we all follow to help guide us in the right direction that we need to follow to make sure we do the right things in this life and the next. Our actions affect everyone and everything around us Ivy."
"I get that!"
"So the number one law in our world is we don't take life, life is precious, to take away someone's life we lose our souls with it!"
"And our powers?"
"Yes, every action has a consequence, you take life, I take away the gift I've given you!"
"Duly noted."
"What you send out comes back to you times three, whether it's good or bad. We don't play with people's lives we live in harmony with the human world. They think we don't exist except in fairy tales because they think their god or goddess means more than me and that's their choice to. We don't force people to believe in me they believe as they see fit"
"But you are real!"
"Yes, I'm real for you, and that's all that should matter. People will believe what makes them feel safe, and it's not our place to make them believe differently. If someone asks you about me, you simply tell them that you don't share the same views and leave it at that. They may say nasty things about me, or about you, but we both know I am not the devil or Satan, as they see me because that form doesn't exist here in our world!"
"So turn the other cheek?"
"Yes, because for them to say anything, about what you believe in, only shows what kind of people they truly are. They shun their own gods by saying I don't exist, and it shows how much faith they have in themselves, be better than that my child!"
"Gotcha!"
"We don't take away their free will, that's what the universe has given them, and it's not our place to take that. If they come to us, asking for our help, as long as it doesn't hurt others we can help them as we see fit, but we don't do love spells. I know Sylar has told you some of these things, but I feel if you hear it from me it'll set in better. Love spells are dangerous because humans can't tell the difference between lust and love, and lust can turn into obsession and obsession can result in a deadly situation which in the end, you would be responsible for."
"And, a death will get me stripped and banished to the Wastelands!"
"Yes, even the Guardians must be held accountable for their actions, no one is above the laws, not even me. That's why I created the Wastelands because I won't take the life I've created. Children become lost and need guidance not to be put to death!"
"So you think that you'll still be able to save Dovarian?"
"Eventually yes, but he's very lost, hurting and thinks I don't see him, but I do."
"And what if he doesn't change, will you be able to forgive the Guardians if we have to kill him to protect the world?"
"Only time will tell what happens whether he dies or lives is beyond even me!"
"I didn't think anything was beyond you!"
"I don't control the fate of the universe, that's for the universe to decide."
"Free will..."
"Yes, just like our relationship with nature, we don't take from the earth unless we give back as well, we live as balanced as we can. You take a branch from a tree, for something and you plant a tree in its place, doing this will bring balance to your life. The same applies to everyday life, with the people you have surrounding you.
"Fairly take and fairly give!"
"Then, there's the threefold law; you get back three times as much as you give whether it be good or bad. Do unto others what you would want to have done to you. Don't cast spells on the girl you don't like, to make her hair fall out or to get rich because that's self-gain. What the universe wants for us to have will come we don't take greedily!"
"So send out bad, get back superbad, send out good intentions, get back great? And don't do things for greedy needs."
"Basically yes, Okay, that's it with the rules for today, let's play cast your circle, my dear." The Goddess winked at Ivy playfully and began casting her own circle, Ivy stopped and watched in awe as the Goddess began to glow, feeling her power flow out of her, like warm water, lapping at the shores of a warm white sandy beach. The smell of wet, pungent earth filled Ivy's nostrils, as the butterflies filed through the open windows, on the far side of the room, and formed a mock tornado funnel, flowing around the Goddess, causing the wind to pick up and lift the split in her white silk shirt. Ivy saw, for the first time, all five symbols blooming to life across the Goddess' stomach, the waved pentagram on the West point, rippling and shimmering in blues and teals, her own seal of ivy at the North point, the one of reds, oranges, and yellows flaming like real fire and one that flickered and looked like it was there then not there. "That one must be the airseal," Ivy thought to herself. She saw it then, smack dab, in the center of the four pentagrams was the fifth, it looked like a watercolor painting in blues, pinks, and purples a watercolor galaxy... It's true then, Dovarian's daughter has to be the fifth element...she's spirit.
"Ivy, please pay attention cast your circle. I'm going to skip all the messy stuff and do a knowledge transfer just like Adaliah did , but you need to cast so we are both protected!"
"Sorry, yeah!" Ivy stepped back and began to cast her circle.
She gathered her powers up not looking at her palms this time, as they began to shimmer and glow. The ivy that was her pentagrams began looking like it was alive not just a tattoo on her skin,moving like it did when she was blessed. Ivy willed her power out of her hands and could feel the power crawling from her center down her arms, bringing a shiver, it was a breathtaking feeling, her power like this, as it flared to life. Like second nature she knew where her hands went to form the five point star, both hands moving in opposite directions, crisscrossing and back down as her voice rang out from her throat once again. Her hands moved leaving behind the same iridescent light in its place,
"Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtower of the North by the power of earth I summon you forth to witness this rite and to guard this circle."
As her voice rang out the last words and her hands came together to complete the pentagram, Ivy felt the most powerful surge of energy she had ever felt since touching the Goddess. It was even more powerful than the first time she called her circle with Addy. The cast pentagram flipped up and came back down like before and landed around her, simultaneously the Goddess came forward and cupped Ivy face like a mother soothing her child.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes!" Ivy raised her left palm to face the Goddess who mirrored her motions and came palm to palm. The electricity made Ivy shiver when she reached up to touch the Goddess' temple, The current was complete, and her body was set on fire and filled with life.
"Look deep into my eyes, my child. I will show you things you need to know."
Ivy did as she was told and stared into the Goddess' beautiful, heavenly eyes. It was as if the sands of time stopped, the barrier of this world melted away, and there was nothing standing between Ivy and the future she had to secure. Thousands of years of knowledge and prayers from all over the world in all languages cried out in her head for help, for forgiveness, for mercy, and for love. So much love, anger, hatred, and false lies were being told about her, that tears welled up in Ivy's eyes.
"How can they hate us when they don't even know us? They stole half the ways of our life to create holidays for their religion's, but denounce ours...I don't understand?"
"This is how we turn the other cheek. They kill in the name of their God, but I don't ask for life, I ask for love and acceptance."
The surplus of knowledge hit Ivy full force and centuries of history poured into her. From the feeling of the flames, burning her at the stake, to the praises of people now long gone, to sitting in the class, as Merlin spoke of honor and duty to protect humankind. Just like that Ivy found herself looking up at the ceiling of the altar room gasping for breath and the Goddess cradling her in her arms like she was an infant.
"I know it's hard to understand why we protect them when the world they live in if filled with death, hatred, and acts of violence against one another The glimmers of humanity shining through are what give us hope for them. Help that fire grow and it will bring back the world we once knew!"
"I understand."
"Good, that'll be it for today, we continue to work on your magick and spells after school ends."
"But!"
"But nothing, you need to graduate before we continue! "
"Yes, ma'am."
Ivy's vision stabilized as she crawled from the Goddess' lap, back to her feet. Looking back over her shoulder in the direction she'd come from, and the Goddess was back in the sitting position as before. slowly drifting up from the floor. Ivy just nodded and turned to leave the room in silence, making her way back to her bedroom...
Why must we save them when all they do is kill each other?