Guardians of the Watchtower: North

Chapter 24

John called Ivy into her sitting room, but when she went in, there was so much more going on in there than she thought. Maps covered everything that would hold still long enough to be covered, each one showed a different part of the Wastelands, from the creatures that roamed there and Dovarian's castle to the cell she was a prisoner in, and the floor where she had accidentally stumbled across the nursery, covered in years of dust. Every map was detailed and covered in writing old and new, faded and fresh.
"So, this is the Wastelands Ivy, every part of it that we've been able to figure out."
"Okay, so how does this help us?"
"Well, there's weak points in the Wastelands, but getting in isn't the problem, getting back out once we're in is. The Goddess can't help us there, and unless we have you and Addy together ,we won't be able to get anyone back out..."
"So..."
"So we need a fail-safe plan..."
"Okay well, what did you have in mind?"
"We find the West Tower Guardian, she's the next to ascended, and with all three of you together we will be stronger than just the two of you."
"And what if we can't find her?"
"We can!"
"What do you mean we can?"
"We know where the Air Coven is we know..."
"You know where the Air Coven is this whole time? We could have left weeks ago, to go back for her!!!'
"You had to train properly, or it wouldn't have mattered."
"No, it won't matter if he has already killed her!"
"He won't kill her he needs her."
"And what makes you so sure about that?"
"Because he needs all of you alive, he needs you to turn the world on its self so that the humans will die and we will be the only ones left. other than the animals."
"I don't understand why he's trying to end the world."
It's not as easy as you may think, Dovarian has killed a lot of people, your father included, looking for his daughter, she's the fifth guardian, Spirit, it's not just about ending the human world it's about him wanting his daughter back!"
"But why did his wife take her in the first place?"
"Because Dovarian's radical views on how the world should be, only Moonwalkers and now the humans were weak and needed to be enslaved as servants. He thought because they don't have magickal powers like we do, they were less than us."
"But that's insane, we have to have humans that's how our universe is balanced!"
"Well back in the early days of humans, they found out about us and started hunting us down like we were cattle, burning us alive and killing us. They treated us like we were evil, even though we don't believe in the same gods or demons that they do. So things like "The Devil" don't exist for us, we have a god of the underworld, but it's not like their version. We don't burn in a lake of fire for being what they call sinners, but our actions do dictate where we end up; if we come back for another life; if we deserve to be stuck here to watch the living live until the end of the universe, it all has a price."
"So, because they killed us or hurt us he thinks they all need to be enslaved or die?"
"Yeah pretty much, it's about power and control and being the master of all five Covens."
"There's a master of all the Covens?"
"Yes and no, Dovarian doesn't know the full prophecy."
"What's the full prophecy?"
"Well, when you five stand at the gateway between the worlds and make the final choice for the world, the choice you make has two effects, one good and one bad. If you make the right choice, the choice of a pure heart and what's right for the world, then you give your heart to the world, and all five powers transfer between you and you gain all of them. Each girl is the master of their Coven, and able to control all the elements, you become a Goddess. Dovarian thinks that by getting all of you together, having you make the wrong choice will then transfer all your powers to him. That's why he won't kill you because he fears if he kills the Guardians he kills the power, and he needs it to be master."
"So, that's why you're so sure he won't kill Addy because he thinks he will gain her power."
"Yeah, his ignorance has bought us enough time for you to train and to get prepared to face him and the rest of Spirit Coven."
"Can't we go into the human world and look for his daughter? I mean no one knew I am what I am and I have been in the human world since I was a kid!"
"It's not that simple Ivy, Dovarian's wife, Alison, bound both Lilith's and her powers; if they're not unbound by the time she needs to ascend she won't. We need to find the other two Covens to do that but there's another problem, the South Coven has disappeared, we don't know where they went or how to find them, at least not alone."
"Do you think the Air Coven will help us find them?"
"Maybe, but we need to find them by the time the fourth tower ascends, or they could side with Dovarian, and that would be bad, two towers against the other three towers could turn this world upside down."
John spent the next several hours, describing in detail, the creature from the darkest points of the Spirit Covens nightmares, to the layout of Dovarian's castle. He made sure that Ivy showed him everywhere she had been taken and went over every inch of each map, making sure they were right or changing what was wrong, so no one had bad information. John smiled as he looked over to find her falling asleep with her face lying across the lower half of the maps.
"Ivy, go grab a snack and stretch your legs , I'm literally, putting you to sleep!"
Ivy rubbed her eyes as she giggled a little "I'm sorry John it's been a long day.So why do they think were not real now?"
"Because, we made them think we weren't real, that it's a figment of their imagination that we were ideas for their children to dress up as, on Halloween, which isn't real, it's Samhain, now go get a snack before you become skin and bones."
Ivy got up and stretched to her fingertips as she began making her way to the door, stopping just before to turn and ask if he needed or wanted anything, he quietly declined and turned to roll and tie the remaining maps back up.
Ivy smiled and went on her way to the kitchen. She hopped down the stairs, looked around to see if anyone was watching and slipped off her shoes, pulling a risky business move she slid across the floor, Tom Cruz style, but over guessed the distance and slid into the kitchen's swinging door. A loud crash followed by screams of a man and some pretty foul language met her ears, and that made her peek into the kitchen, thinking she didn't hear that quite right. She saw one of the butlers on the floor fighting to get back to his feet while slipping in a brown looking soup that covered half the man and a huge portion of the floor. Ivy, not wanting to be identified as the reason for the now huge mess in the kitchen, made a quick break for the front door.
Once Ivy was outside she felt a shiver, like taking off her jacket, it had been weeks since her birthday and now the snow was melting in the warm February breeze and life was coming back to the earth after a long sleep. In only a few weeks she would be graduating from high school, and it dawned on her that she hadn't even begun to think about college, how was she going to be a Guardian and go to college? Will being a Guardian take over every aspect of her life and make her unable to do the things she dreamed about before all this even started? What about her dreams? Definitely, something she needed to talk to John and her mom about, she wanted to do this, but still wanted a future too. It's crazy the little things you can forget when life gets in the way.
"Earth to Ivy," Sylar was waving his hands in front of her face trying to get her to come back to this planet.
Ivy blinked shaking her head, not realizing she had absent-mindedly walked all the way to the lake behind the house just lost in her thoughts.
"Jesus, sorry Sylar!"
"Where'd you go there?"
"Just thinking, mostly about what all this means for my life or lack of one."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I wanted to go to college. I have plans and dreams outside of all of this, outside of being a Moonwalker!"
"Oh, I see."
"Yeah, I want to go places, I never planned on staying in Denver, my whole life. Don't get me wrong, Denver's amazing, it's my home but I want to see far away places and forgotten castles, sit in cafes in Paris and drink a coke, eat the most amazing food in a villa, in the Italian countryside bathed in warm sunlight. I want to walk the great wall and backpack across the English countryside, taking crazy pictures with my friends...I never thought in a million years, I'd be trained in hand to hand combat and use magick to fight a darkness I don't know, and protect the world that I'm not even apart of now."
"Just because you're the Guardian doesn't mean your whole life gets taken over Ivy. Granted we have important things to do right now, or it won't matter that you want to go to Europe because Europe won't be there if we don't find the others. You just have to put some things on the back burner for now, until we get everything straightened out, is all."
"But how do they even know I'm the right one? What if I make the wrong choice?"
"You won't."
"But we don't know what the others will choose. And what if they side with Dovarian? What then...we're screwed?"
"Ivy stop, just stop, and look at me," Sylar took Ivy's face in his hands and turned it upward to face him.
"I know the Goddess picked you, and you picked us for a reason. You had your chance to walk away from it all, you could have gone back to being human and leave your powers dormant, but you didn't. .ou picked us because you knew, in your heart, this is what you are supposed to be doing, and I have faith in you!" Sylar let go of her face.
"You just need to believe in yourself, Ivy. We all believe in you!"
"I know you do!"
"Come here!"
Ivy scooted closer to Sylar, and smiled as she watched the light get caught in the rings of his eyes, making them even bluer than they usually were. He smiled back knowing she was looking at him like he looked at her as he sat down in the sand putting one leg on either side of her as he pulled her into his lap.
"Ivy, you are truly amazing. You are one the strongest, kindest, and forgiving person, I've ever met. You love with your whole heart, not just a part of it...You're my princess in shining armor!"
Ivy couldn't help but start laughing at the last remark,
"Princess in shining armor, huh?"
"You know what I mean!" Sylar chuckled.
"I get it!"
"So, I've wanted to talk to you about something for a while now, but I know you've been busy. I was kinda waiting for the right time, to ask you something..."
But before Sylar had a chance to finish what he was saying a huge explosion went off, near the house, that shook the ground. Ivy scrambled trying to get to her feet and began running towards the screaming voices. Fighting her way through the maze walls was not working. Before getting upset, Ivy's palms flared to life, and she motioned with raised hands for the walls to split apart. The hedge walls did as they were told, moving apart as Ivy ran in the newly made pathway, towards the explosion. Ivy breaking past the tree line, being able to see the men she had been training with were fighting with people that looked the same. As soon as they spotted her, two of the men stepped forward, and before Ivy had time to speak they began casting their pentagrams, but as their hands began moving to close the circle they didn't stop they began going faster. Ivy felt the pull on her clothing as two twin tornado spilled out from their palms. The men let them loose, and the tornadoes touched the ground, tearing up everything in their path as they grew bigger and bigger, finally combining into one, coming right for her. Her blood-curdling scream cut short, as the tornado came down. Ivy tried to grab hold of a statue, but it was too late. The tornado swallowed her up, and sent her flying up in the air, so high she was sure something would get broken if she hit the ground. As it dropped her in the center, Ivy called for the earth to catch her. Ivy reach out once she was safely back on the ground trying to get out of the eye of the storm, but as soon she touched the swirling wall it tried to pick her up again, and she jerked her hand back. Raising her palms about to use her inner weapon to cut this tornado down, Ivy was suddenly surrounded by Markus and Samuel, who grabbed hold of her, wrapped their bodies around her, and the three of them were gone in a blur of earth tones.