Young Writers Society

The Watchers

Evil has plagued the land since the beginning of time. At least, since the beginning of humanity. Wherever there are people and opportunities, workers of darkness plot and scheme in the shadows, seeking to bring about mischief whenever they can.

Rising above all other forces of evil, however, is a demon named Asmodeus, whose entire intent is to bring all of humanity under his domination -- and he will stop at nothing to see his vision brought to life.

Many centuries ago, with his army of terrifying Shayatins, he came near to accomplishing his goal.

However, a group of magicians known as The Watchers, who have also been referred to as djinn, banded together to end the reign Asmodeus had created for himself. The Watchers assembled from some of the most powerful witches, enchanters, sorcerers, and wizards in the entire land -- but their goal was the same - to stop Asmodeus.

After cursing Asmodeus to an eternal, magical prison, they went their own ways, left to live out their never-ending days as immortals. Among their many varied magical abilities, each shares the capacity to shape shift, and have spent the past several hundred years roaming from city to city and country to country, changing their physical appearances and identities as they pass through.

Until they found out that Asmodeus had escaped, and was rising again to finish what he started.

Now in modern day Brussels, Belgium, Asmodeus has re-created his army of evil henchmen - the Shayatins -- who are intent on taking over the country -- and the rest of the world. But taking over the world isn't as simple as it sounds: Asmodeus must seek out and enslave people known as Clairvoyants, whose latent -- and often unknown -- powers of the mind, such as telepathy, telekinesis, and precognition, would give Asmodeus the perfect weapon to subjugate humanity. The Watchers must reassemble to face their ancient foe, yet again, while also protecting the Clairvoyants from being captured. And, according to an ancient prophecy, their time is steadily running out before the Apocalypse takes its toll.

You are one of those magicians. Welcome to The Watchers.

I have been around for a lot longer than anyone. I have seen the rise and fall of empires, I have seen war and bloodshed, treason and atrocity, and after nine hundred years of witnessing the cruelty of man, I hate man. Still, to this day, I wonder why I haven’t destroyed them already. I could if I wanted to -- I have the Demon Knife in my possession, one of four instruments that, when combined, would restore the King of Hell, Asmodeus, to full strength. Yet even I do not have enough magical strength to release the bonds on Asmodeus’ prison so that there would even be a possibility to revive him to his indestructible might. Even without those items he would still have the power, along with his army, of course, to take over the world. I still fight for the good of humanity, even though there is very little goodness, indeed. I still hold faith in the code of the Watchers - the sacred oath to preserve peace, to protect mankind, to fight off evil from dominating the world. I feel like a blasphemer to my own cause, sometimes, for the atrocities of man are so deep and so angering that I second-guess my allegiance to them. Is it bad of me to say that sometimes I feel like destroying the race I swore to protect? After what I’ve seen, I think not. Yet my soul tells me to not give up hope on them, and I trust my soul.
My current name is Michael Hayworth. I am immortal. I am a witch. I am a Watcher. What does it all mean in the light of eternity? What are these meaningless titles of which I self-proclaimed as mine? Immortality is an elusive concept, for it is created through the magic that we immortals are born with. What is a witch? It is just a synonym for a word that has no clear definition. We may live forever, but we have no idea who we are or how we came about or why we are special; we just took it as a gift or curse and lived with it.
But what, indeed, is a Watcher? That is a question that can be answered. A Watcher, indeed, is a magician who stands for what is right, and fights for it. There aren’t many of us left. And we are scattered across the globe. Four of us house the ancient relics that wield Asmodeus’ full power. He is formidable even without those relics. I house the Knife, another houses the Key, another the Diamond, and another the Crown. These four relics all symbolize an aspect of power - the Knife represents physical strength, the Key intellectual prowess, the Diamond impenetrable mind, and finally the Crown, which represents the power to control the minds of man.
Fortunately, we were successful in defeating Asmodeus. He is not dead, only contained. And though the Watchers rejoiced, I still felt uncertain, for I came into contact with an ancient written prophecy that foretold the coming of the Apocalypse, and the thought of that ever coming true, quite frankly, terrified me.
That is who we are, and who we fought against. But none of the Watchers know my history, my struggles, my pains, my memories. I suppose that is selfish to say since they all lived through the same times I did, but they all told their stories, and they all said how much fun they had. Me - I saw the darkness and couldn’t get it out of my sight. I felt like a statue, forced to weather the ageless time and watch the people die and live and die again, and have no way to ever be connected to them that truly felt real and special. I cannot say, however, that I didn’t appreciate my immortality; indeed, despite the things I lived through, I was happy to say that I lived through them. Not many can actually say that. Not many can with true confidence say they know how things really went down and claim to have seen all the historic events with their own eyes. Not many can say they can rewrite the history books to reflect the truth and be able to back it up. I do not, despite my anger at man, think my immortality to be a curse. Not in the least. Yes, there are hard times, yes there is war and strife and evil, but it still feels like a gift to learn from it all and do different.
When I was truly young, in the first century AD, I was the son of a Roman nobleman. In that time period I did not yet have control of my powers. My family - my father especially, thought I was a freak. When my father cursed me out one day, in the height of summer, his face red with anger and his forehead sweaty, I lost control in my verbal retaliation, and I killed him with my mind. He lay there on the hot marble steps with his eyes wide open and his heart completely still. Streams of blood issued forth from the corners of his eyes and the lobes of his ears, and a small rivulet of scarlet essence came trickling from his mouth. I fled Rome, and lived somewhere in Central Europe for a while. When I was living there, the whole entire land of Europe was Roman territory, but I was glad to hear that the man who ruled it was a good emperor. He was called Emperor Trajanus.
I saw the Roman Empire fall. I saw religion rise and make its move to conquer the world. I watched as the land of tundra became Kievan Rus’. And then came the eighth century.
It was the eighth century when Asmodeus rose. He and his army of Shayatins terrorized Europe, and we Watchers were the only ones who could stand a chance against his evil might. In the end we succeeded in trapping him, but there was so much damage done already, that our victory didn’t feel like victory. One of us Watchers had the power to erase peopleś memory, and thus wiped all knowledge of the magical war from the minds of humanity.
I watched as all the legends came and went. I fled Europe during the era of the Black Plague, and I stayed in Southern Africa because I was tired of seeing death. After it had finally ended, I returned to Europe and lived in France. I think of all the places to go, France was the place I went most frequently - that and Italy, and sometimes Spain. I roamed around Europe for a couple hundred years, then finally returned to France to stay. I was finally brave enough to start a family.
In the seventeenth century I met a beautiful French lady who was twenty-six years old. She adored me at first sight. When she asked me what I did for a living I said I didn’t do anything but live off the land. “What a horrid way to live!” I remember her exclaiming. All I did was laugh. She urged me to find something useful to do, so I began baking bread at a boulangerie for a sweet peasant man who cooked all day and night. The French lady, whose name was Monique, quickly fell in love with me, and we were married in March. She bore our first child the next year -- a daughter we named Philomène. About three years later came our second child -- a son we named Phillippe. In the seventeenth century, I called myself Hércule Laurent. I changed my name almost every century.
I was torn apart when they all finally passed away. I knew it would come, but I denied it till the day I watched their bodies being buried from the shadows. I must have wept for one hundred years. Even still, I feel the pain of losing them. Ever since then I could never let myself love another, not again. Through the centuries I would watch from afar as the generations that came from our marriage continued on, from grandson to great-grandson and onward. I was at least comforted that our legacy had not completely perished from the world.
The legacy continued on even into the twentieth century. By then the blood had been mixed so much that whatever trace of me was left in them must have been quite small. But nevertheless they still had me as an ancestor. The latest descendant was nineteen years old. His name was François Durand. He was a vivacious young man with a zest for life. His zest was taken away too soon -- at age nineteen he joined the French war effort in World War I.
I could not sit by and let him get killed in battle. I decided to enlist with the French Army and follow my descendant into battle. I worked my way into the young man’s regiment, and befriended him. I told him my name was Guillaume, that I was twenty-five, and I was proud to fight for France. He was such a young man, so precious, so innocent, so excited. I protected him from dying in that war. Him and me. My magic redirected all the bullets that would have killed him hundreds of times over.
He lived on into adulthood and we lost connection. Fortunately no one else in his family decided to enlist in the effort to defeat Hitler in World War II. But I had power, and I felt like fighting for righteousness and freedom, so I joined the French Army again, looking like a different man and having a different name. My name then was Hubert. I think the most terrifying moment of my life was when I heard that Germany won the Battle of Dunkirk. When that happened, I thought that maybe the prophesied Apocalypse had come. But in ‘45 when the war ended, I felt better.
Those are the highlights of my dark history. Now it is present day, and the world has drastically changed. The things that haunted me no longer kept me up at night, and the new wave of technology and evolution inspired me to move on and enjoy life. My new name is Michael Hayworth. I am a Canadian, or so the records say. I live in a second-story apartment in Québec City, and we seem to always be in a cold snap. But it was winter time, which meant that the cold snaps were more acceptable to us city people.
It was November 11th, 2018, when the Earth rang like a bell for almost twenty minutes. While the seismologists saw it, I felt it. No, there was no earthquake where I was, but I felt the Earth vibrating, and I heard the ringing. It was similar to the sound one creates when tracing the rim of a wet wine glass. It made my head hurt.
And even though nothing as of yet had been confirmed, I knew there had been some sort of magical disturbance -- something big like never before. All Watchers can feel when there is a disturbance of magical power. This time was larger than anything we’d ever felt. I knew that quite soon I would receive some kind of sign. And if I didn’t, I knew where to go for answers: Stonehenge.
Stonehenge was a meeting place where all people of magical power would congregate in times of crisis. I believed a crisis was coming, or already happening. Sometimes we get signs, sometimes we don’t. It really depends on the incident.
I was in my apartment at the time. After I felt the wave and heard the bell ringing, I checked on the chest where I’d hidden the Knife of Asmodeus. Using a technique I had learned ages ago, I honed my gaze to see through the spells I casted to see if the Knife was still there. I sighed with relief when I saw it still collecting dust.
Two days passed since then. There was no sign that appeared. With no sign showing up, I knew I had to get to Stonehenge.
I find it kind of ironic of me, a nine-hundred-year-old sorcerer, to take a plane to Southampton Airport in England, then take a cab to Stonehenge.
When I arrived in the rolling green hills of Salisbury, I felt within my soul a burning need to reach out to the Watchers, a strong sense of rightness in being where I was. I knew without a doubt that it was wise of me to come to England.
The cab rolled to a stop in front of the visitor center near Stonehenge. I paid him and stepped out. After the cab drove off, I quickly cloaked myself in a spell that would render me invisible to all non-magical entities, and I walked across the green fields toward the great circle of bluestones that emanated magical power. This site was also one of several Nodal Points, sites of intense magical resource.
Upon entering the Stonehenge, I felt the static in the air -- it touched my skin, reverberated off the rocks, swirled and whispered in the air. As I walked forward, other magicians walked forward as well, though I imagine they teleported themselves there instead of doing what I did. We all stood in a circle, facing each other. Each of us were so diverse from the other -- different backgrounds, creeds, colors, histories, ages. But we all had one thing in common -- the duty to protect our world.
I looked around at all of them. We had all been through so much together. We had all been there for each other. Now, coming back together for the first time in hundreds of years, our past friendships had fallen to the wayside.
The first Watcher I recognized was one named Garnet. She was a woman most of the time, but she enjoyed switching her gender every so often. When she was a man she referred to herself as Gideon. She’s been around for just over four hundred years, but even in those four hundred years, she’s switched her gender so often that I don’t think even she remembers what she was born as. She always wore a rose in her jacket. I thought it disturbing to me that she would wear the rose, despite what it meant to her, what dark past she forced herself to recall.
Underneath her jacket she was wearing a glittery red dress. I always thought she looked quite pretty when she was a female, but her personality was quite alarming to me. I won’t go into that right now.
Next, I saw Absalon. He was looking like an African-American man now. Here’s something to understand about changing appearance -- regardless of what you make yourself look like, another magician will always be able to recognize you by your magical signature. He was looking good. I liked his new appearance. He was originally from Denmark, but since then he had experimented in many different cultures. In the 1700’s he lived in India in the time of Shah Jahan and the building of the Taj Mahal. Absalon was always a searcher -- he valued knowledge above all else, and he would go to the ends of the Earth to find it. Even though he was rather young in sorcerer standards, we all valued his immortal wisdom. I wondered what his name was now.
An old lady stepped forward from the circle to address us. “My fellow Watchers,” she said with an elderly voice, “thank you for convening at the Stonehenge so quickly. I could not risk sending a sign to all of you, for the risk would have been too great. Let me tell you what has happened.”
I saw her glance at me, and she nodded. I raised my hands in the air and focused my mind around the Stonehenge, pressing outward. A wave of energy erupted from my spirit and extended outward, forming a cocoon around the ancient magical structure. I was performing Tsukamu, the Seize. It is a technique I learned in Feudal Japan. The way I used it then was with the intent to prevent other forces of magical power interfering and tapping into the meeting at Stonehenge. We didn’t want evil listening in.
The old lady continued. “The isle of Mayotte, between Madagascar and southern Africa, was found to be the epicenter of this strange vibration across the globe. I saw it with my own eyes: Asmodeus has risen again.”
The crowd went into an uproar of panic. She yelled out to quiet them. “Somehow he has escaped his prison, and he has with him his Shayatins. But it appears that the Shayatins have evolved -- they can now disguise themselves as humans.”
The panic, the horrid stench of fear, grew even bigger, and the loud cacophony of terrified voices amplified tremendously. I had feared this day would come. I had seen this moment as a nightmare created from my worst fear, and it came true. I knew the prophecy was true, I just didn’t know when it would manifest into reality. As the Watchers panicked, I saw the end of the world before my eyes, and Asmodeus at its pinnacle.
“What are we going to do?” Garnet exclaimed.
The old lady answered. “There are people out there who need our help -- they are called Clairvoyants. We need to protect them from Asmodeus. Asmodeus needs them in order to succeed in global domination. We cannot let his plan succeed!”
“No!” all the Watchers screamed out. With our outburst, ripples of powerful energy surged in the Stonehenge inner circle, and reverberated back to us as equally as it was put out. There’s a saying out there that says, “Never get a wizard angry”... or something to that effect. And it’s very true. Magicians don’t play well with others. If they get angry, they tend to lose control. Don’t get on a magician’s bad side. Not a good idea.
The Watchers had finally reunited. Evil had risen from its dark cell, and was determined to finish the mission it started -- global domination. And we were the Earth’s only hope, only chance at survival and at freedom. The Apocalypse had come, and it was our job to stop it.

"Mama, where are you going?" I asked, looking up at my aunt with wide green eyes. I pouted at the rose that was in her dress pocket. "You promised that you would teach me how to play chess later, but that was at lunch. It's dinnertime!"

"I did, I did," my aunt mumbled. "I'm sorry, but there's an... adult thing that I have to go to. It came up last minute. I'll be back soon, darling." With that, she leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. Still pouting, I watched her walk down the stairs with disdain. Back then, I didn't understand what she was doing.

When she came back, Aunt Angelina was covered in red stuff. I asked her what happened, and she dismissed it and said that someone had tripped and fell with a thing of tomatoes directly on her. I bought the blatent lie and dragged her to where I had set up the chess table, begging her to teach me as I went.

She smiled and said that she had to change first, so I reluctantly let her upstairs. I sighed and turned towards the game. I sat down in the left-side seat - my lucky seat - and waited for her to come down.

Aunt Angelina walked down in a dark blue, informal dress. She smiled at me and wiped a bit of "tomato juice" off her face, sitting in the right seat. "Alright, Garnet. Do you want to start or shall I?"

I explained how I had learned from William that white always goes first, and that I had sat on the side with the black chess pieces. My aunt smiled with joy and moved one of her pawns, clicking her tongue as she went.

Something was wrong with that scene. I didn't smell tomato on her; instead, I smelled a metallic smell that I would only associate later with the smell of blood.

--

That dreaded smell filled the air as I stood, heaving as I faced Asmodeus's hopefully last resting place. I retraced the chains into a hand again, turning to face my comrades. A flashback wove its way into my mind, but I shook my head to block it out.

I don't remember who asked if I was okay, but I had answered yes. I remember when I broke down and told him everyting. "She was covered in blood when they took her to jail, Mich." I sobbed and sobbed, eating the leftover cookies that I had made last week. They might have been stale, but at least they didn't smell of blood.

I faced the person named Mich in my memories, noting how pissed off he was. I was plenty pissed off too (even if I didn't let out a large explosion of power like most of the other Watchers, I didn't have that ability. I was just as pissed as they were). I glanced to my right, taking in a vaguely familiar African-American boy and an Indian(-American?) woman that I remembered to be named Mer.

Sure, being hundreds of years old had its perks, but it sure had its disadvantages. For example, I have met and practically adopted so many people that the older friends that I had were barely recognzable to me.

This made me inconcievably sad.

The old woman was calm now, looking at us with grim features. "I cannot help you," she proclaimed loudly. Great, as if we weren't angry enough. Now we can't have the woman who came to warn us help us more? Bull.

It appeared that other people thought so. Mer, who, if I remembered correctly, never got angry, blurted out: "So now you won't even help us? To be able to find us and contact us, you must be pretty powerful, so why don't you help us?" I could tell that she was trying to be calm and logical, but it wasn't working whatsoever.

"Alright, alright, calm down," I interjected. "She has a good point. Why can't you help us? It would have been impossible to find me unless you had some powers yourself, especially since I got a magician to put a prescence on another continent from where I was." I didn't remember who, but I did know that it was one of the wizards in the circle.

The African-American coughed, but didn't say anything. Was it him? He didn't look powerful enough, but I knew that appearences weren't everything.

"Do you want me to show you what I do every few evenings, Garnet?" Aunt Angelina asked me.

Jesus Christ, Garnet. Get over it. It was a thousand years ago - over that, even. Get yourself together.

Of course, while I was having an internal crisis, almost everyone began arguing. Mer backed out of the argument shyly, almost bumping against a stone. I sighed and marched over to Mer, who flinched at my angry face.

I grabbed Mer's shoulder and shouted at the top of my lungs: "Don't you see that you're upsetting Mer? Be quiet, right now! You are all acting terribly to the poor old woman as well!"

"You voiced against her, too," the one who performed The Seize said. (How I remembered that exact spell and not anyone's names escaped me).

"Yes, but I said it calmly and logically. All of you are just yelling at her, you b-" I almost said the b-word, but I remembered that I was around extremely powerful wizards. Not a good idea. "-beet eating dogs!"

A still-unrecognizable person mumbled: "here she goes again", which made me extremely furious. I stomped over to him and grabbed his ear, giving him the "mom look" that I so perfected.

He mumbled a "sorry" and I dropped him, turning back to Mer. "Are you okay?" I asked her softly. She nodded meekly and I turned back to them, pointing a finger at them. "I want all of you to calm the hell down, got it?" I glared at them and they all nodded while I backed into my first spot.

Five minutes, and I was already yelling at them.

They were such children sometimes.

Axel stood silently by the edge of the throng, arms crossed and brow drawn. The amount of magic reverberating through the dome that Michael created was deafening, and threatened sensory overload in the highest degree.

Good lord, why can't they get their magic under control?, Axel thought sourly. He was likely one of the youngest in attendance -- maybe not quite as young as Garnet -- but still definitely one of the only people who would have an excuse for losing control of his magic due to mood. And yet, he found himself perfectly self-controlled, while Watchers far older than him raised a fuss like nothing he'd seen for several hundred years.

The elderly woman in the center struggled for several long moments to regain control of the room, shushing people and trying to project her voice louder than the cacophony filling the room. Eventually, she succeeded, though she sounded uncertain and self-conscious when she spoke again. "We will need a plan, of course."

Axel sighed and began pushing his way through the crowd. He knew what that meant. Either he would have to volunteer himself up as the sacrificial lamb and actually assert himself, or he'd be stuck following the loudest, fool-hardiest Watcher that would somehow push themselves into a place of prominence. It really was disgusting how immature immortals could be sometimes.

"Obviously we are going to need to find these Clairvoyants," the old lady continued. "And... um, and then we will need to figure out how to keep them away from Asmodeus."

Axel managed to break his way through the ring of people.

"Oh thank god you're here," the old woman said. "What would you have us do, Axel?"

He felt the weight of dozens of eyes bearing down on him then, the bickering stilled and the room quiet as everyone focused on him.

"We need a team to locate the Clairvoyants," Axel said, squaring his shoulders and forcing himself to look confident as he addressed the room. "Surely there must be records of their whereabouts somewhere. A records keeper, perhaps...?"

"Oh, um, yes, I do believe I have access to that information," an old man standing off to his left said. "I can have that information broadcasted by the end of the day."

"No," Axel said. "That is not information that needs to be broadcasted. Give it to me."

There was a disgruntled murmur that rose up through the crowd.

"That information needs to be seen by the fewest number of people possible, even amongst us," Axel said. "The more people who know about it, the more likely it is that it will get back to Asmodeus... now if any of you have a problem with me being the strategist for this mission, perhaps you would like to suggest someone else?"

Axel steeled himself and forced his expression to be carefully neutral as he slowly surveyed the crowd. Clifford didn't like it, that was clear from her expression, but she'd get over it. It's not like he was going to go all Rambo -- or was it Rocky? His pop references were getting pretty rusty at this point -- and go off on a mission all by himself.

His stomach felt sick. It was impossible to express how dearly he hated being the center of attention -- especially the center of the attention of all of The Watchers. But slowly one by one the murmurers averted their gazes and silence settled in again. Rambo. It was definitely Rambo that he wasn't going to emulate. He cleared his throat.

"Very well, then, he will report to me by this evening. Then we will need a team to extract the Clairvoyants, another team to prepare a place to keep them safe until we can force Asmodeus back to his prison, and a third team to begin recon to see the extent of his forces and identify potential weaknesses."

"How will the teams be decided?" the old woman asked.

Axel hesitated again. The only thing worse than being the center of attention was being put on the spot while everyone was watching. "I will assemble a team to locate and transport the Clairvoyants back... the rest of you, I assume, know your own strengths well enough to identify whether you'd be most useful as a member of the safekeeping team or active in the field. Ideally that would be where most of you migrate. We want the extraction and safekeeping teams to be as small as possible."

A murmur of agreement rippled across the crowd.

"And who might your extraction team consist of?" the old woman asked.

Yet another question to put him on the spot. Still, it was one that could be anticipated, even if he hadn't had a chance to fully think through his options yet. He slowly scanned the crowd, racking his brain to remember who had been most helpful on the last mission as he looked for familiar faces. "The team will be Michael... Clifford... Cherry... Maria... and myself."

Axel looked for each person to give some sign of acknowledgement as he picked them out of the crowd.

"I don't see why this meeting needs to go longer," Axel said finally. "I would like to speak with the people I just named, straight away. The people who would like to be part of the safekeeping team should meet over in that area, and the rest of you over that way. You should elect for yourselves a representative each that can convene with me to coordinate."

Maria Wyldenite

Do not freak out, I told myself.

And trust me, I was trying my best not to.

Like, forget the fact that Asmodeus was free. Forget that I would be going on the mission to find the Clairvoyants. I could even forget that this crazy old lady said she would not be helping us.

What I couldn't get over, was the fact that there were so many watchers, all at one place, screaming at the top of their lungs; and occasionally letting lose a whole bunch of power. No, this scared me to crap.

I was born merely 467 years ago. I had never, never been a part of something as huge as this, and had never been in the presence of so many powerful watchers before.

All of them could do something amazing. Some could crush people, some could read minds, some could make themselves a weapon. Me? I could see people's past. And occasionally, if I found the power to concentrate and be serious for once, I could look two minutes into the future, and reverse time by two minutes. Big deal.

So now that I was on this mission?

I was afraid I'll be useless.

Sure, I was excited. But I was also nervous. Especially about my team. Wasn't Axel the guy who could read minds? I shivered. I did not want someone to know what was going on in my head. Ever. Cherry can freaking control water itself. And Michael? I could not even begin to process just how powerful and strong he was.

The only one I was not that intimidated of was Clifford.

She was really friendly, and I had a feeling that if the entire world was sick, she would be the one to get up say, "Well, someone needs to cook."

She was sitting beside me as the five us gathered to hear what Axel had to say.

"It's fine," she told me. "This happens quite frequently."

"Yeah, like once in a millennia," Michael cut in.

I smiled my brightest smile,"Oh, I'm fine," I said. "I'm not worried about Asmodeus."

Axel cleared his throat. "Let's save the chit chat for later," he said. I noticed how he didn't really meet our eyes; I could tell he hated being the center of attention.

"First, locations," he said. "It seems that most of our clairvoyants are situated in Berlin; with a select few scattered around the world. So our first priority should be to visit Berlin, check the damage, and see what can be done. Any questions?"

Every one was nodding along, murmuring to themselves.

I raised my hand, "If most of the Clairvoyants are in Berlin, wouldn't Asmodeus be aware of that? Surely, he has a way to track them?"

Michael nodded. "True."

Cherry spoke up,"I think we should check on the ones scattered around the globe first. That way, we have a better chance of getting to at least some of the clairvoyants first."

"But then, what about the ones in Berlin? They're larger in number, so getting to them first, however impossible it might seem, has a numeral importance over the ones scattered across the globe," Clifford said.

Axel tilted his head. "Are you saying it would be more advantageous if we split up?"

"Negative," I said immediately. No way, I would die if I were on this alone.

"She's right," Michael said. "Splitting up is a bad idea." Oh, thank god, I think.

"Well, then let' just check on Berlin," Axel said. "Clifford's right; we cannot waste time hopping around the world, trying to get to a few select clairvoyants. For all we know, Asmodeus locating them first is just as likely as him reaching the ones in Berlin before us. We might as well just make Berlin our first stop. It shouldn't take much time."

It was decided then.

"When do we leave?' I asked.

Axel met my eyes. "Now."

I sat back in my chair, letting out a sigh. God, I needed coffee. It was probably the best invention the humans had made.

Please, call me Cherry. Call me anything else and you may regret it. I'm older than most can fathom, maybe older than I think I am. You see me hanging in the sky. I am the silver moon, the tears of the sun, and the adoration of the night sky. I see a lot more than I need to, too.

But niceties aside, being immortal would be useless and drab if it weren't for eternal chaos threatening to consume the entire world.

I've fought in wars, I've watched people live and die, I have sailed on the open sea. And Asmodeus, goddamn Asmodeus, has to be another one of my troubles. How could I ever forget?

--

This old lady had told us of "Clairvoyants". How useless...or useful were they, actually? I watched Axel, Michael, Clifford, and Maria talkedwith such conviction that I had barely grasped myself. All of this was happening so, so, fast, like decades of action passing through me in the blink of an eye. I guessed this was what happened when you were so used to being bored.

Hoshi circled around me uncertainly. His fur was slightly matted, and there were bare patches on his paws from frantic, anxious licking. I have returned to my task, and returned to being something more than just the moon. From a waterskin at my waist, I drew out a stream of clean water and Hoshi opened his mouth eagerly to drink.

As he did so, I looked up at my fellow Watchers. Maria nodded slightly, and Garnet offered a smile. I gave all four of them a nod, because I barely paid attention throughout the entire meeting.

"To Berlin."

And then, we were off, out of this imprisoning room and out near the open sky.

Berlin

This innovative city is the capital of Germany, the second most populous city in Europe, and a great place to be. It was founded in the 1200s and has experienced a turbulent past.

In 1417, the city became the capital of Magriavate of Brandenburg, a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Soon after, Berlin was the same of the Kingdom of Prussia. After growing throughout the next two centuries, Berlin helped establish the German Empire in 1871, becoming a leading world city by 1900. After being decimated by the aftereffects of WWII, Germany being reunited by the Berlin Wall falling in 1990, Berlin (and Germany) came back to peace and flourished internationally.

The Watchers have decided to meet at one of the most popular tourist destinations to see if they can sense the presence of any Clairvoyants they must take to safety.

You congregate at the head of Brandenburg Gate, disguised as regular humans as not to draw attention. Your magic and abilities must be limited for similar reasons.

Brandenburg Gate:


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((The other destinations have not been decided, yet. I can pick them and write a little bio of them, too!))

I've always been smart. Scary smart. Unnervingly smart and perceptive if you asked my thirty-six sets of foster parents. Even though I'm only eight, I'm good at people. I knew before foster parent set number sixteen did that she was pregnant and he wouldn't let me stick around once they found out. They didn't appreciate me telling them that. I knew that foster father twenty-seven was an alcoholic before his wife did. She called me a liar and smacked me. They were the only ones I requested to leave on my own. I also knew before foster mother thirty-three did that she was about to get cancer and wouldn't be able to take care of me anymore. I didn't want to tell her but I also knew that if I didn't, we wouldn't have time to say goodbye before I had to move on. She's the only one of all of them who missed me when I left.

I was living in London with a rich couple who mostly ignored me when I felt it. An odd feeling that something was wrong with the world. A feeling that some evil had escaped somewhere and, the oddest part, the feeling that I could help. Somehow. I dismissed the feeling at first. And, the next day, I dismissed the feeling that there was a place I needed to be, a place where important things were happening. The day after that, the pull strengthened until I couldn't just pass it off as the aftereffects of finishing Lord of the Rings for the first time. I didn't know where this feeling was coming from, and whether it could be trusted or not, but if my long line of foster parents had taught me anything, it was that my gut instinct was generally right. And a feeling as strong as this had to be important, right? I was still hesitant to leave the house on my own but as the day progressed, the feeling got stronger. So strong I could no longer ignore it. I had to go where it was pulling. I had to go to Germany.

My current foster parents were out at a fancy wine tasting party to which I had not been expected to come. As such, no one stopped or questioned me as I sped around the house trying to figure out what I would need. I packed myself a few peanut butter and banana sandwiches, threw my passport, a spare change of clothes and my toothbrush in my school backpack then, after a little bit of consideration, threw my lucky teddy bear in there as well. Then I grabbed the spare credit card my foster mom left in her dresser drawer. I spared a brief moment to wonder how long it would be before they noticed I was gone as I pulled open the front door then I headed to the train station.



"Where are your parents?"

"Oh, I'm here with my grandma!" I pointed at an old lady in a wheel chair across the station and put on my most innocent face, "She told me to buy the tickets since she would have trouble standing in the line."

He looked suspicious and I was terrified he would question me further but then he suddenly looked down at me again and cheerfully asked, "Just the two?"

"Yes sir." Why not. My foster parents had plenty of extra money.

"Alright, there you go! Enjoy your trip young lady!"

"Thanks!" I called back as I hurried off in the direction of the old lady. I sat next to her as I waited for my train and then lost myself in the chaos as it pulled up and people poured into it. Twenty minutes later, I watched through the window as the train pulled our of the station and settled myself in for the overnight trip to Germany.

As I got closer and closer to Germany, the pull in my chest strengthened. A sense of urgency rose in me, an urgency to be in Berlin. As the ride wore on though, my exhaustion battled the feeling and won. I didn't wake up until I had to switch trains and I quickly fell asleep on the second train as well. On the third and final train, however, the feeling of urgency brutally strangled my exhaustion and I was too keyed up to sleep anymore. I settled for eating my sandwiches instead.



I was just finishing my last sandwich when the final train pulled into the station. As I stepped off the train, the urgency that was pulling me along reached a fever pitch. I picked a direction, at random I thought, hiked my unicorn backpack higher up on my shoulders, and started walking. And walking. I don't know if it's something grown-ups realize but walking places takes a long time when your legs are so short. I kept on following the feeling though until finally I ended up at... The Brandenburg Gate? Because I moved around so much and could never really make any friends, I would read whatever books were lying around my foster parent's houses. I recognized the gate only because I had seen pictures in a tourist book from a set of parents a couple years ago.

I didn't understand why I was here. The feeling of urgency, the Pull that had led me, was directing me only towards the gate. No further. I couldn't understand it. Not until I saw the group at least.

At first I thought they were just normal tourists but then I looked closer at how they carried themselves. Although most of them looked like they were right out of college, nearly all of them walked in such a strong, powerful way that I couldn't help but think of them as a lot older than their appearances implied. The feeling was further reinforced when one of them, a young woman in a red dress happened to glance my direction. Her eyes were unfathomably old. Instantly, I knew these people were what I was being pulled towards. I had to help them... Do something. What that something was I wasn't sure. Well, there was only one way to find out. I walked up to the one in the red dress and tapped her on the back.

She turned away from her group and looked down at me, "Hello honey, can I help you with something?"

"Maybe? My name is Amelia Claire Evenstar and I think I'm supposed to help you."

Taleweaver: (very brief)Introduction

Taleweaver was in quite a predicament. Some dog had found them where they were left and was carrying them to goddesses knows where. Drool was running down the mask and some got in the eye holes of their vessel and it distorted their view. They shuttered with disgust.

I have to fix this situation... I can actually do something with this. It is quite irritating to wait for them to come and find me so why not find them myself.

They left the mask and took over the dog.

Now to find them.

Tale went through the city searching for the group. Finally they arrived at Brandenburg Gate and saw them. They had the dog drop their mask at the child's feet as the child seemed sensible enough. The Axel Hawthorn man seemed like a good choice too but they decided that the child could use more of their help than the man did.

Hello child. I am Taleweaver.

The last time I had been to Berlin was in early 1989, to watch the celebratory concert marking the fall of the Berlin Wall. And now I was back again, and the nostalgia placed a miniscule smile upon my face.
The Watchers and I stood at the foot of the Brandenburg Gate. Its massive, powerful arches were reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe back in my old stomping ground, Paris. We had all adjusted ourselves to fit the part of young tourists so as to look unassuming. What none of us realized, however, is how wrong we were.
First a young girl approached us. That in itself was odd. Then she told us, without even saying hello, that she could help us. Immediately we all knew what she meant. Following behind her was some dog wearing a funny mask. Was it the girl’s dog? We soon found out that the answer was no. The dog coughed the mask off its face… or maybe the mask coughed itself off the dog’s face… it was hard to tell, and quite peculiar. It started floating in the air, hungrily searching for something. I quickly performed the Seize to hide us all from view of the general public. It was all the mask’s fault, I say. If not for that floating mask I wouldn’t have had to risk doing magic in public. The damn mask. I had no idea what it was that controlled it, but already I didn’t like it near me. Absalon, wise man that he was, stepped back a few paces. Garnet shot a fearful glance in my direction. What the hell is that thing? she was appearing to say. We had totally forgotten the girl.
Suddenly, I heard a voice whispering in my head. It was subtle, slippery, snake-like. It wasn’t Harry Potter, though. I really wished it was Harry Potter.
“Greetings, you dancing djinn. I am the weaver of destinies; the Taleweaver. I protect the past, influence the future. I am here now because I have seen the darkness arise from his prison, and I saw this moment in my mind, and the significance it held.”
I looked over at the others. I could see by their wide eyes and dancing gazes that they all heard it too. They were all standing frozen while listening.
“You all need my help. I know that the little girl standing here said the same thing, but really, folks, I have seniority here. You should listen to me.”
“Why is there a talking, flying mask?” Cherry exclaimed.
“Some sorta spirit, I suppose,” Absalon whispered.
“It’s got scratches in it! Must’ve been in a fight!” Garnet commented excitedly.
“Greetings, spirit,” I said to the floating mask. “Who are you, and why are you here? Why do we need your help?”
The mask bobbed a bit. “Asmodeus has awoken, and the Clairvoyants are in danger. I am one of these Clairvoyants. The girl next to me is one as well. We both found you before you could ever find us. I am an ancient being that has watched the world through all it’s ages.” A sudden shift in atmosphere took place. “I have just usurped your Tsukamu shield, Michael Hayworth, and used it to suppress all of you in motion and speech. You cannot move or speak now, and with that you are under my control.”
Fear built in my chest. I could no longer tell if this spirit was on the side of the enemy or on the side of the Watchers. But I began to think that maybe it was neither… that this spirit only fought for itself, was only on it’s own side.
“I shall continue,” the spirit-mask said. “I have come from far away - I have been tracking Asmodeus’ movements and achievements. I narrowly escaped his terrible Shayatins. The Shayatins can now appear like humans. You must be wary. You must allow me to help you identify them, and teach this girl how to harness her ability to find the other Clairvoyants before Asmodeus does. There is a war coming that nothing can stop. It is a war of good and evil, a war to determine the fate of humankind. I have read every prophecy, I have seen every future path, and there is no escape. All of you, the sacred Order of the Watchers, are the last hope for humanity’s survival. I will in just a moment set you free from my use of the Seize, for we have very little time. We must get this girl to safety.”
The Taleweaver’s spell was lifted. We all breathed in and coughed. Looking around, beyond the Tsukamu shield I had put up, I watched humanity living it’s ordinary life. The mask was silent for a while. Us Watchers were speechless. Suddenly, the mask started whirring around the inside of the Tsukamu shield, a blur that we couldn’t follow. It circled, circled, circled, and didn’t stop. And then, abruptly, the mask flew onto the girl's face. She screamed, trying to get the mask off her face, but she couldn’t. A change overtook her. Her appearance morphed into someone else. A cloak appeared out of nowhere and enveloped her shoulders, the hood casting itself over her head. Her hair turned blonder and shortened quite a bit. Light came out of her eyes. The girl, surrounded by the embodiment of the mask, turned to me, said: “I will give back the Clairvoyant once we escape the Shayatins that are heading towards us at a walking speed of 5.24 kilometers per hour. My light is a deterrent to the darkness. Release the Tsukamu and protect the girl that which I inhabit.”
I thought to myself for a brief moment: Did he seriously just say ‘5.24 kilometers per hour’?
And then the more important questions started shooting through my head. Why would the mask thing inhabit the girl? Was it really that much of a martyr? And what was the mask's power?
Those questions kind of flew away as I lay eyes upon the group of people coming towards us. Only, they weren't people. They were demons. With one great sweeping motion, I released the Seize, and we Watchers all prepared to fight... in the middle of a crowd of tourists in the heart of Berlin. Just brilliant.