The Watcher Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I turned to find the stranger standing directly behind me. Not realizing he was so close, I stumbled backward, almost falling into the water. With lightening quick speed he gripped my wrist and swung me several feet back to the edge of the beach. In that moment he had moved as well, and was still standing directly next to me. Tears rolling down my cheeks, I pummeled his hard chest with my fists, angry....angry that my journey had ended to leave me alone, without Epona.
As if he had read my thoughts, he replied “You are not alone. Epona hasn’t left you either. Please,” when he said this word his voice was strained with emotion, “please come with me and I will explain.”
I glanced back at the water, and knowing no matter how many times I looked the island would still be gone, I followed him with slumped shoulders back up the beach. When he sat down on the sand, I crossed my legs and settled next to him, sadness wrapping itself around my body, my heart and my mind until I felt numb.
We sat this way for a while, until everything around me began to come into focus again, like a person wearing glasses for the first time. I noticed that he was not wearing shoes, and his jeans were rolled up around the muscled calves of his legs. My eyes followed his lean body up to those dark eyes once more, but this time I did not look away. I stared back at him, perhaps a bit belligerently. This seemed to amuse him, as he stared back with a sardonic smile.
“My name is Philip, or that at least is the name I now own. It was my companion, the black stallion Nostra, who brought you here. We have watched your journey through Gaia. We could not interfere with your adventure; we could not protect you in those times you were in danger. I am a Watcher, and it is my job only to watch. Neither human or Gaian know we exist.” When he saw my confusion, he chuckled, a low soft chuckle than sent shivers over my body.
“As you have learned, there is a link between your world and Gaia. And sometimes, albeit rarely, travel between the two worlds occurs. Do you believe in destiny?” He asked abruptly. I slowly nodded, never wavering under his stare.
“Destiny is real, and yet it is not all-encompassing. The choices we make, the roads we travel, can change in the blink of an eye, and with that change destiny is crushed. And yet She likes to show her power, and often does this by leaving a human, like you, destined to come across the plain between worlds. This is what happened to you.” I considered his words briefly, and understood that nothing I did, or could have done, would have changed the circumstances that brought me to Gaia. That fall from the cliff was taken with Epona, who held my fate as she jumped.
He seemed to sense my understanding and continued in his hypnotic voice. “Destiny is not my friend. And when I found that Epona had brought you with her, “ he paused. “Let’s just say I was not happy.” I suddenly remembered my initial dreams of Philip, and the fierce anger he exuded. I had felt that rage was directed at me, but now I could see he was angry at the circumstances surrounding my being in Gaia.
“I was never angry at you,” he answered my thoughts. I looked down, uncomfortable that he could obviously read my thoughts. When my eyes wandered back up to his face, his smile melted my unease.
“The dangers you have faced in Gaia left you at the door of Death more times than I cared to see.” Once more that pained expression passed over his face. But then he smiled. “But you are here now, and I am with you.”
I wanted to ask about Epona, find out where she was and how I could find her. But I did not ask. I waited as he continued to speak.
“ There was a woman in your world, Jasmine.” Hearing her name I sat up straighter, anxious to hear his next words. During all my adventures I had almost forgotten about my teacher, but later I would realize that the mysterious Jasmine had much to do with why I was in Gaia.
“Jasmine is also a Watcher. She can travel between worlds, as can I. When she left for your world, I had no idea that it was to prepare you for a journey to Gaia.” My thoughts ran quickly. Had Jasmine been teaching much more than the average book work I would have learned in school? I could not remember anything unusual in our studies, and yet....
“You can not remember because she hid what she was teaching from you. She filled your subconscious with the materials you would need for your trip through Gaia and your future as a Watcher.”
“Did Grandfather know?” I asked quickly, before he could read my thoughts. Hope filled me briefly, as I imagined that somehow my Grandfather was involved with my being in Gaia, or even perhaps he was here as well.
For the first time Philip’s gaze dropped. He scooped sand into his hand and watched it filter through his fingers. After a few pained moments he replied, “Your Grandfather did not know. Jasmine used her powers to influence him so she could be your tutor, and for the most part he was completely unaware of her. She left only enough in his conscious to allow her arrival each day and keep you home where she could prepare you.”
My heart dropped at his words, and once more I was faced with the fact that Grandfather was still dead, and no magic, no magical world, would change that.
“Your mother, however, does know you are here.” Philip informed me. “She came to Gaia with Christian, your father, and he trained her to be a Watcher. They were bonded, and from that bond you were born.” He lifted his hand at this point to touch my hair, and while I did not move away, he pulled back, as if in regret, and then continued. “Your mother wanted you to have a normal life, and it was something she could not offer as a Watcher. She was left with the very difficult decision of leaving you with your Grandfather. It left her heart-broken for a long time, and she always regretted that she could not explain to you, or him, why she had made the decisions that she had.”
“Where is she now?” I asked breathlessly. In one moment I had been once more faced with the grief over the loss of my grandfather, and in the next found that my mother not only existed in my world, but also in Gaia, and she had loved me!
“She is with your father, watching.” He answered briefly. He stood suddenly, and reaching his hand down to me, he grasped my wrist and pulled me to my feet. My hand tingled as he pulled his away, and I noticed that he rubbed his hands together as well, as if he had felt the same thing.
“Knowledge does not always bring happiness, “ Philip warned as he turned away from me. “And Destiny can be cruel.” He turned to me, lowering his head until I could feel his breath on my cheek. I suddenly wanted to touch his face, feel his hair, and was embarrassed at my thoughts.
He smiled, but pulled back from me. Shaking my head to refocus, I asked, “So why has Destiny brought me here?”
He laughed, but it was a cruel laugh. “Isn’t it obvious?” He asked fiercely. “You are destined to be a Watcher. And, let me tell you, that certainly does not mean staying here in Gaia.” He seemed angry and strode off a few feet from me, staring out into the water.
I approached him timidly, lifting my hand to touch his back and then letting it fall back to my side. I could hear his breath, a bit rushed and excited. I stood quietly behind him, also staring out into the water, and once again wishing Epona was with me. She seemed to be the only real thing I had in Gaia and now she was gone as well.
“I keep telling you, she is not gone!” His voice bit at me. Anger rose up through me, and I replied heatedly, “Would you please stop reading my thoughts! It’s very rude!”
And then came the first real laugh, a laugh of humor. He threw his head back and laughed, shaking his head at me as if I was a small child who had done something so silly there was nothing left to do but laugh. I felt even more angry at his laughter and stomped away from him. I had no idea where I was going, but I needed to be away from this imposing, unpredictable man. I looked behind me to see if he was following, and he was gone.
When I noticed he had disappeared I immediately stopped and scanned the beach to find him. And then, when I turned, he was standing directly in front of me. I had not seen him, had not seen him move, but he had disappeared and reappeared.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he said. I immediately felt relieved, and yet did not want to admit it, even in my thoughts as I knew he would hear them. He didn’t seem to notice my thoughts, however. Instead, his attention had turned to the water. His eyes narrowed as he stared out over the waves. I followed his gaze to see the ocean waves were growing, and hitting the sand with greater force with each passing second.
“The storm is coming,” he muttered. I nodded, gulping as I felt the wind start to blow my hair around my face.
Philip turned to me, holding his face close to mine so that his lips were almost touching my ear. He whispered, “You must trust me.” I really had no choice but to trust him. With Epona gone (even for the moment) I was alone in a different world and he was the only thing close to humanity that I had. Trying to smile back in response, I nodded my head to him. And, in the next moment, he had swept me up into his arms and we were lifting off the ground and into the air.
I didn’t scream, because the scream was trapped inside me. I could only hide my eyes as I felt us going higher and higher. My arms were tightly wound around Philip’s neck, and for the first time since coming to Gaia I felt like praying. The wind of the storm whipped at us, although Philip never wavered in his descent upwards, and at one point I felt cool wetness like the beginning drops of rain. Only when the silence came did I open my eyes. It was not just silence of sound; there was a silence to the air, a stillness, that I could feel.
Opening my eyes I could see we were surrounded by mist. I wondered briefly if we were standing on a cloud, like something you would see in a cartoon, but dismissed that idea quickly. As Philip set me down my I could feel a solidness below me, and yet I could see nothing but the mist. I ran my hand through the mist, and watched as it rolled away like water. I found comfort in the fact that Philip was holding my elbow with his hand, balancing me on a plain that felt unreal.
Philip stood very still, watching my face, waiting for my reaction. While my knees were wobbly and my heart was thudding, I managed a reassuring, yet weak, smile. His expression was so solemn my smile soon faded. I searched his face, concentrating only on him and not the mist. At one point a fleeting sense of doom came over me, and I shivered. Philip immediately stepped even closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“This is the void between Earth and Gaia, “ he began. “We can travel only as far as this plain without our companions.”
“You mean the horses?” I prompted. I remembered him referring to his stallion as his companion.
“‘He flies without wings and conquers without a sword.’” I instantly recognized the Bedouin saying. I had always felt it was figurative, but I began to understand it had a much more real meaning as he continued to explain...
“The Arabian horse is a much older breed than anyone realizes. It truly was created from the Southerly Wind at the beginning of time. And a very few are direct descendants of those magical creatures that were the very first. It is those horses that are companions to the Watchers. They carry us between worlds. Without them, we could not navigate through the mist to find the other world.”
“So what, exactly, does a Watcher do?” I asked.
After a brief pause Philip explained. “We observe. It is our job to observe the path humans take and record it in the Great Hall. We cannot interfere with the humans or the creatures of Gaia, but instead we only watch and keep that record, that history, hidden here in the Mist. For every important historical event that has ever occurred, the ones you know about and the ones that were never revealed, a Watcher was there, observing.”
“What is the Great Hall?” I asked.
“The Great Hall is hidden in the mist. You will see it soon enough.” His voice sounded bitter. He walked off a few feet into the mist, and my heart jumped, not wanting to lose sight of him. I felt as if the mist could bury us forever from one another’s sight.
“I am here.” He replied to my thought. Turning to face me, he continued. “I must take you to the Great Hall for your initiation as a Watcher. However, I must first present you with your choice. “ He waved his hand over the mist, and I looked through the opening he made to see myself. I saw myself standing in front of a mirror, wearing a wedding dress. I was smiling. Then the image changed, and I was laying in a bed, holding a child in my arms. A man was standing next to me, leaning over and smiling at the baby. I saw flashes of images, me standing on my porch as children played in a yard, me laughing at a dinner table with a family around me. The images came faster and faster, and as they continued I saw myself growing older, until the last image, the image of me as an old woman lying in my coffin.
“This is the life you can still have. I can return you to your world, and you can lead a normal life. If you remain with me, and become a Watcher, all these things will never occur. You will be initiated, and I will train you, and your life will go on for a very long time, tenfold that of any normal human. You will never have a real home, a real family, a normal life. You cannot become friends with the humans or the Gaians. You will gain special powers, and be able to move between Earth and Gaia, and you will know great adventures. You will see the most glorious beauty imaginable, but you will also witness the most sickening, horrific scenes...you will see these things over and over. Many Watchers become so bitter they die before their time. The path humans are taking, the doom that the Earth seems headed for, is difficult to see, and often makes the Watchers, this Watcher ,” he pointed at his chest, “so angry with humanity we are ashamed.”
“How did you become a Watcher?” I asked. While I truly wanted to know, I also wanted time to absorb what he had already told me to make my decision.
“In 1870 I found Nostra grazing on my parent’s farm in Indiana. He brought me here, and the rest is history.” He laughed at his own irony. I wanted to know more details, but before I could ask he said,
“You would be very wise to let me return you to your world and continue on with a normal life. Everything about being a Watcher is not bad, but at many points in the decades to come you will wonder, maybe even regret, losing the chance to live out your life happily, in ignorance of the atrocities that go on in your world.”
“So you think it would be wiser for me to choose ignorance?” I laughed softly, not in humor, but at the immensity of the decision I must make.
“I think you deserve better than this.” Philip replied shortly. “I would like to protect you from this, protect your innocence and your youth from what will come if you become a Watcher.”
“Why?” I couldn’t help but ask this. Why was he so concerned about me? Why did he look at me as if he would like to eat me and protect me at the same time? I couldn’t deny my own emotions for him, which seemed ridiculous in the very short time we had even really known one another (less than an hour, in fact). But nothing that was happening was normal .
“Because I have watched you for your entire life, and I...” He faltered, looking away. I walked in front of him, turning his face to me with my hand on his chin. “I do not wish this for you.” He whispered.
“And so you would rather I leave, go back to my world, and you could never talk to me again?” The thought made me shudder.
“I would sacrifice being with you to see you be truly happy and beyond the pain you will feel as a Watcher.” He grabbed my wrist tightly and pressed his lips to the palm of my hand.
“You don’t see me having any happiness as a Watcher?” My voice trembled as I felt his beautiful, sculpted lips touch my skin.
“You will know some happiness,” Philip said. “But you will know equal pain.” He dropped my hand and looked at me very hard.
“It is your decision.” And he was right. Many, many years later, decades later, I would look back and recall those final words and wonder if I had made a different choice what my life would have been like. But my decision was made and there was no turning back.
“I will be a Watcher.”