Under the Forbidden Sun
Part 10 – Rebirth
“Oh, my head!” Xander sat up, a bit groggily. “God, I feel like I died or something.”
“Well, pet,” said Spike, “you did. Die, that is. Angelus got fed up and whacked you. You shoulda seen Jericho go off on him. She was pissed.” Spike snickered.
“That bastard! I didn’t do anything to him!” cried Xander indignantly.
“Pet, have you forgotten that you spent the last three hours
before he killed you insulting his looks, intelligence, fashion sense, and
taste in sexual partners?”
“So?” said Xander.
“Did he really need to KILL me?”
“No,” said Jericho, entering the room. “And now he’s going to apologize.”
Angelus slunk into the room. It was obvious from the fading bruises and still-healing cuts that Jericho had had a little ‘talk’ with him about offing the other members of the group, even if they WOULD recover in a few hours.
“I’m sorry, Xander. My actions were uncalled for,” said Angelus, almost snarling at the humiliation of being forced to apologize for something he felt he had every right to do.
“Apology accept… wait! Jericho, are the babies okay?” asked Xander frantically. “If Deadboy made me lose them, I’ll kill him and keep on killing him until he stays dead!”
“The babies are fine,” reassured Jericho. “Angelus didn’t know if you were pregnant or not at the time.”
“And I’m SO sure that he had that in mind the whole time,” muttered Spike snarkily. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of Xander miscarrying because of his death.
“Well, then I accept your apology, Deadboy,” said Xander, mollified and snickering a little. A contrite and humiliated Angelus was something to be remembered for a long time.
“Now that that’s over with, we can get down to business,” said Jericho. “Malachi and Joholen have been preparing for the ritual.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Willow. She, Giles, and Tara were tied to chairs in one of the bedrooms.
“I have no idea,” said Giles. “I don’t think I can get loose. What about either of you?”
“Nope,” said Willow after a brief struggle with her ropes. “You wouldn’t happen to know any spells that are useful for this kind of situation, would you?” she asked Giles hopefully.
Giles shook his head.
Tara wrestled with her ropes a little, scooting her chair a bit in the process. Willow’s eyes lit up. “Maybe one of us can get close enough to untie someone’s ropes!”
“Good idea,” said Giles.
Wesley stood on the edge of a small clearing, watching the two demons create the ritual circle.
Joholen stepped back from the intricately worked circle. “You’d think making these damn circles would get easier after seven hundred years of practice, now wouldn’t you?”
“Uh, I guess,” said Malachi.
“That was a rhetorical question, Chi,” said Joholen gently. The boy flushed in embarrassment. “Don’t worry, son. Has anyone told you what we’re doing here?”
Malachi shook his head. Joholen laughed, “We’re preparing for the World Rebirth. So demons will control the earth, with us as the rulers.”
“Why do you need those others? Why can’t you and Aunt Jericho do this by yourselves?”
“Because only certain people can complete the ritual. And those five are destined to rule beside us. It’s really very complicated.”
“Explain it to me?”
Joholen sighed, “Alright. You know why there are prophecies, right?” The boy shook his head. “Well, certain things are predestined by the Fates to occur. Prophecies are the Fates’ way of insuring that these events have an equal chance of succeeding and failing. It takes certain people and events to culminate for a prophecy to come about, or to be stopped. If any of the five had been killed before Jericho Chose them, the prophecy could not come about. Equally if they had not made certain choices in their lives.”
“Like with Xander killing his grandparents?” Malachi queried.
“Exactly,” said Joholen. “You understand.”
“But why those five?”
“Because they’re who the Fates determined should carry in the new era. A long time ago, even before Jericho and I were born, there was another Rebirth, where humans became the dominant species. That was when Slayers were created. The same mix of demons brought that change about.”
“Mix?” asked Malachi.
“Yes, for a Rebirth to occur you need…”
Malachi interrupted his father, “A Saveric demon, a Grogthk, two vampires, one evil, on neutral, a werewolf, and…” He looked at Joholen with a question in his eyes, “Does it take a Braachen demon or just a half-demon?”
Joholen smiled proudly, “It was a half-Braachen last time, too. So a half-Braachen is the last.”
“Did they have the same roles? Or were they different?”
Joholen thought for a minute, “No, they were different before. I’d have to read the histories to refresh my memory on which was what.”
“Oh, no. It’s not that important. I was just wondering.”
“Now, to finish the circle, we need an undulating ring of swallow’s hearts between the saltpeter and the Fyarl bile.”
“What do we have to do?” asked Xander, as they walked toward one of the more remote cemeteries.
“You’ll know when it’s time,” said Jericho cryptically, then giggled.
“Why’s it so funny?” asked Spike.
“You all know the ritual already. You were born knowing it. When we begin the ritual, you will know exactly what to say and do, and when you’re supposed to do them.”
“Oh,” said Xander. They walked the rest of the way in silence.
When they arrived at the cemetery, Joholen and Malachi were standing next to an extremely gruesome, yet delicate looking circle. The center was ten feet in diameter and the various rings that formed the circle took up another three feet.
“Hop in, boys. It’s nearly time to start,” said Jericho, carefully stepping into the circle and moving into the very center. Spike leapt over the edge and moved to stand at Jericho’s left side. Angelus stepped in and mirrored Spike’s position on the opposite side. Oz entered and stood directly in front of her, while Doyle stood behind her, slightly to the right, so that he was near Angelus. Xander walked up to the circle and went to prod at the edge.
“Don’t!” said Joholen. “You’ll mess it up.”
Xander shrugged in apology and stepped in the circle, placing himself between Spike and Doyle. The six in the circle slowly began to glow with an eerie silver light.
Joholen grabbed Malachi’s arm and pulled him well away from the now glowing circle and its equally fluorescent occupants.
“This is taking forever!” said Willow, blindly fumbling with the ropes on Tara’s chair.
“But we have to keep going,” said Tara. “It’s the only way.”
“If only I could see what I was doing,” said Willow.
“What if I guide you?” asked Giles.
“Okay, said Willow. “That might help.”
“You’re close, move your right hand up a bit more. Now, see if you can slip a finger between the layers,” said Giles, studying the knots carefully.
Willow sighed, frustrated, then did as he asked. The rope loosened a fraction of an inch. “It’s a little looser,” said Tara encouragingly.
“Can you push the rope that’s in your left hand toward Tara’s chair?” asked Giles.
Willow pushed, feeling the rope bunch up. She let go and got a better grip, then tried again, smiling when she felt the rope slip out of the first knot.
Now that they had the first knot, the others quickly followed suit, and Tara was freed from her chair. She quickly untied Willow and then Giles. Once they were all free, they raced out of the house. “Now, where did they go?” asked Giles.
“I am the Earth-Ender. I created in the beginning and I shall be the end. I am the Alpha, I am the Omega. Through my will, I decree what was once shall be again,” said Jericho, her voice resonating eerily through the unnaturally quiet night. She drew interlocking infinity symbols in the air with her index fingers.
Spike took a deep breath, then said, “I serve thee, the Earth-Ender. You are the Alpha, you are the Omega. I am the Bloody. Through my servitude, chaos will be reigned and order will prevail through the world. Through my cunning, the oppressed will overcome their tyrants and become rulers once more.” He made a motion as though casting off shackles and knelt before Jericho.
Xander hesitated a second, then his voice rang through the night, “I serve thee, the Earth-Ender. You are the Alpha, you are the Omega. I am the Merciless. Through my servitude, treachery will be disdained and fidelity will be rewarded. Through my loyalty, the scorned and abused shall overcome their molesters and reap their just rewards.” Xander made a move as though fending off an attacker, then knelt.
Doyle spoke next. “I serve thee, the Earth-Ender. You are the Alpha, you are the Omega. I am the Fallen. Through my servitude, malevolence will be forgotten and benevolence will be remembered. Through my sacrifice, the forgotten and ignored shall become known and respected by those who would not see them.” Miming removing a blindfold, Doyle too knelt.
“I serve thee, the Earth-Ender. You are the Alpha, you are the Omega. I am the Tormenter. Through my servitude, torture will be discarded and gratification will be rekindled. Through my strength, the tormented shall destroy their captors and find again the light of day.” He made as though cracking a whip and then casting it away, before kneeling.
“I serve thee, the Earth-Ender. You are the Alpha, you are the Omega. I am the Unjust. Through my servitude, prejudice will no longer be tolerated and integrity will become the norm. Through my honor, the despised shall conquer those who discriminate and again be recognized not in infamy but in tribute.” Oz finished his speech, thrust his hands in the air, and he too knelt at Jericho’s feet.
The three searched for any signs of the others. Finally, in the distance, Tara spotted an odd glow. “Do you see that?”
Giles looked toward where she was pointing. “I do believe that is where they are.”
Willow and Tara soon ran ahead of Giles. They reached a clearing and stopped short. Giles caught up to them, and he too stopped. Before them was an amazing sight. In a glowing circle, five illumated figures knelt around a sixth figure.
Willow made as though to yell out, but Giles stopped her. If the ceremony was disturbed, the disrupted energy could rip them all to shreds.
“I give thee my rage, tamed and tempered, to shape the world,” said Spike, raising his right hand to his mouth and opening a cut with his fangs. He then allowed his blood to drip onto the ground.
“I give thee my revenge, from the kindred of my soul, to free the world,” said Xander, with tears in his eyes as he removed the ever-present bundle of hair from his pocket and placing it on the ground.
A knife materialized by Doyle and he shook a bit as he began his part, “I give thee my life, falling now and forever, to guide the world.” He then took up the knife and plunged it into his heart.
“I give thee my soul, ensnared by passion, to love to the world,” said Angelus, placing a small green-mist filled jar on the ground.
“I give thee the world, just and unjust, to save our eternal souls,” said Oz, removing a small glowing sphere from his pocket. It was a perfect minature of the earth. Just as he placed it on the ground, the first rays of the sun touched the circle and the six people in it began to glow a bright gold. They glowed brighter and brighter until the sun was fully over the horizon. Then a gold beam, the size of the circle, shot into the sky.
A final combined chant was barely discernable from inside the circle. “From our offerings take what you will. Give the world back to those who lost control. Demonkind and humankind, reverse. Day and night, switch command. From our offerings take what you will.”