Xander, Willow and Angel moved along the tunnel. A light emerged from a crossing tunnel and the ground shook slightly.
"He's gone up." Angel said.
"Buffy." Willow and Xander said at the same time.
The all took off running into the Master's Lair. They saw Buffy laying face down, her head and upper body in a pool of water. Xander quickly pulled her out and turned her over.
"She's dead." Angel stated.
"CPR." Xander said, starting the restorative procedure.
"Xand. Are you sure?" Willow asked.
*She's not like us, she will go. I won't stand by and lose another friend before their time. We've lost too many that way.* Xander half screamed at Willow in a language that Angel did not know but instinctively feared.
*Alright. But we are not HIM.* Willow responded, joining Xander and helping him with the CPR.
After a few minutes they managed to revive Buffy.
"I know where he's going." Buffy whispered.
"Where, Buff?" Xander asked.
"The Library." She whispered.
Xander and Willow took off at a dead run, after a quick instruction to Angel to take care of Buffy.
The vampire horde never knew what hit it. Willow hit the vampires attacking the library while Xander faced off against The Master. All the vampires around the library saw was a flash of red hair and the glint of metal before they dusted. On the roof, Xander emerged from the shadows to see The Master peering down into the library through the sunroof.
"Gutten Tag, Heinrich Joseph Nest." Xander said in perfect German.
The Master turned shocked, he had not heard that name in hundreds of years.
"Who are you? Where did you learn that name?" The Master asked in English.
"I know many things. I am retribution." Xander said, pulling a sword from behind his back.
Xander charged The Master wielding his sword with an easy grace that spoke of familiarity. When he came in range, The Master started attacking Xander, who blocked with the flat of his sword. Xander went on the attack, forcing The Master back to the skylight, and then he performed a sweep kick, knocking The Master towards the skylight, before decapitating him. The body fell though the skylight, disintegrating as it fell with the broken glass, leaving behind bones that shattered when they impacted with the table below.
Xander and Willow, still dressed in their hunting gear, which consisted of black boots, black slacks, black shirt, black duster and sword, sat at the main table in the library facing Giles, Jenny Calender, Cordy, the still weak Buffy and Angel. The shattered remains of Master bones had been swept off the table, as had the glass from the broken skylight.
"Explain." Buffy ordered.
"Alright." Xander said. "Giles, with your 'the world is older than you know' speech you are both right and wrong. The world is even older than you know. Yes there was a period where the demons ruled, but there was a time before that, which the demons destroyed all records of, where the world was a paradise."
"In this time before, there originated a race of humans. They were selected by divine powers to be protectors, well that's what ended up happening." Willow said.
"You mean the Slayers?" Buffy asked.
"No. This race were almost perfect warriors. They lived life on an entirely different time scale, were able to recover from the most grievous injuries. Should one die, then all their knowledge would be passed to closest of their kind and should a group of them be overrun and killed, the result would almost surely destroy whatever killed them. There was a price, only certain people had the ability to become one of these warriors and the price to join was death." Xander said. "They are called the Immortals and the only way to kill one is to remove their head."
"Fascinating, but what is the purpose of this story?" Giles asked.
"I think I get it." Miss Calender said. "Willow and Xander are Immortals."
"Correct. We are the Oldest." Willow replied, adding the last part in a whisper.
"Yah, sure." Cordy broke in. "Prove it."
Xander did not respond, he merely unsheathed a dagger from under his duster, showing an elaborately and delicately acid etched blade depicting a savannah type grassland scene complete with wildlife, attached to an ornately carved, put practical, hilt made out of elk horn. Xander used the dagger to slit his forearm along the vein from just below his elbow to his wrist, an injury that would cause death by blood loss in minutes, if not quicker. Holding up his arm so that the rest of the gang could see the small bolts of lightning arcing across, healing the wound.
"Ok. I believe." Cordy said nervously.
"The story goes, as the demons killed the majority of the Immortals that had lived prior to their reign, that there were originally two. Adam and Eve, like in Genesis from the Bible. Like in the bible, they were created by God in 'his' own image, and they were placed in the Garden of Eden, where time stood still. According to the story, a long time passed before they ate from the tree of knowledge and were cast out of the Garden. After Cain and Able were born, had grown up and married, Cain killed Able, then he killed Adam and Eve. However the process that God used to create Adam and Eve was not perfect and, unlike their children, they came back to life. They were the first of the Immortals. Since then the Immortals have always been foundlings." Xander said reciting the story.
"What I always wanted to know is where Cain and Able's wives came from." Miss Calender said.
"The story says that they were the daughters of Adam and Lilith." Willow said, with an odd note in her voice.
"Who's Lilith?" Giles asked.
"Some texts report her to be the first wife of Adam, before Eve was created. She was cast out of the Garden for eating her own children, some of them anyway." Miss Calender said.
"Yah, something like that." Xander said quietly.
"She was a half-demon." Willow said, Xander dropping his head. "In fact all the races of demons are descended from Lilith."
"Anyway, the story goes that during the time of the Demon's reign, they corrupted some of the Immortals, giving them a new reason for existence. The Demons invented the concept of 'The Game'. A ritual combat between the Immortals with some mythic 'Prize' when only one remained. Ever since all the Immortals who have taught new Immortals have taught them about the game, which gained the motto 'There can be only one.' Very few Immortals now days actually know about the origins of 'The Game' or Immortals true purpose." Xander explained.
A few days later, in Joe's Blues bar, the man believed to be the oldest living Immortal received a phone call he would not soon forget.
"Hey Adam, you got a call." Joe called.
"Adam Pierson here." Methos said as he picked up the phone.
"Hey, Methos. Using my Husband's old name now are you?" the female voice said.
"Who is this?" Methos said, vaguely recognising the voice but not being able to place it.
"Oh, I'm offended. I mean I thought you would remember, I mean me and my husband did stop you and the other horsemen a few times, kicked your ass across most of the Middle East and, oh yah, trained your Teacher." The woman said.
"Elaina???" He asked.
"Yah but I go by Willow now." The woman said.
"Why you calling old girl? And how's the decrepit old fart?" Methos said with a smile but with respect in his voice.
Joe seemed shocked. Methos always called everyone 'Kid' because to the five thousand year old Immortal, everyone was, but here was someone, probably two someone's who he respected and treated like elders.
"He's fine. You know he's just going by Xander now, like he was just going by Marc back then." Willow said.
"Yah, and I'm still gonna call him the decrepit old fart. So what's up?" Methos said playfully.
"Remember that story we told you when you were barely Fifty, before the whole Death nonsense?"
"Yah."
"Well, we found the place they are trying to get back in. Xander and I are on the front line with a Slayer and some friends. We're asking you, and some friends, if you can get them, to head down here to set up a reserve force. Interested?"
"Maybe. How bad is it?"
"If they win, very. Way worse that you guys were at your height. Last time they enslaved the earth for twelve thousand years, Xander and I were around then and it was terrible. Made the Horsemen look like Saints."
"Alright I'll see what I can do. Think you can get me a copy of that story? I may have a way to get it out to the Immortals" Methos asked.
"Give me a few hours and I'll give you a website address that'll have the whole thing. Take care of yourself." Willow replied.
"Always. When you going to stop trying to mother the world?"
"When you going to admit you were wrong, apologise to Cassandra and ask her out?"
"She'd try and take my head, you daft old bat." Methos said, genuinely shocked.
"Be the charmer you were in that first hundred years. Sure she might kill you a few times, but she won't take your head, I'll make sure." Willow said.
"Yes, mother." Methos replied cheekily.
"Talk to you in a few hours." Willow replied, hanging up the phone.
"Well I'll be." Methos whispered before raising his voice. "Joe! Beer! Now!"
"Who was that?" Joe asked.
"A legend, Joe, a legend." Methos said reaching for his beer. "Her and her husband both"
"How so?" Joe said, slipping into Watcher recording mode.
"They are old." Methos said, downing the beer in one swig and pouring himself another from the tap. "Very old."
"I thought you were the oldest." Joe said.
"Nor by a long shot, Joe. To them, I'm a child." Methos said, downing his new beer. "Oh well, better round up Macleod and the other Boy Scouts. I got to help save the world."
Methos started chuckling manically as he walked away.
"Put the beer on my tab." He shouted as he walked out the door.
"If he ever paid his bar tab, I could buy the Bahamas for a holiday home." Joe grumbled.
The next day, millions of Immortals around the world received e-mails, from an unknown source, entitled 'The Origins of The Game' with a link to a website. The website, not linked to any search engine held a single, very large document called 'The True Histories Of The Immortals, By The Oldest.'
Many of the Immortals were shocked at the revelations of the document, and for a large number it rang true. Some, a small portion of the Immortals but still a large number, rejected the document outright as a lie and continued the Game.
*We are the Oldest. This history, the story of the Immortals, has echoed down from the dawn of time, from creation itself. It is time to stop the bloodshed, time to learn the truth….*