Someone shakes me awake. "Get up and get out!" I hurry towards the voice, uncertain of where I am in the limo. I reach the edge, and before I can step out of the limo, I am picked up and carried away. I hear a rusted gate swing open and shut behind us as what sounded like a garage door opens. I hear the door behind us close down then I feel myself being carried down a few flights of stairs. I get that cold basement feeling the lower we get. How deep does this go? I think to myself. I see torchlight through my hood off in the distance as my taxi steps off the last stage of the never-ending staircase to hell.
I hear a door slam shut behind me. It sounded like a solid reinforced steel door. I should feel flattered. My free ride was coming to an abrupt end. Was he an uber driver? He sits me down and yanks back my hood. It takes me a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the bright room, and the five blurry figures sitting in a half semicircle in front of me start to take full shape. I wish I could read their auras right about now...what is going on?!
"Do you know who we are?" The man sitting at the head of the semicircle asks. "No, I must have missed that episode of American Horror Story. What season are you guys in?" Geez, tough crowd...not even a chuckle. "I am glad you have spirit. Let's see how long it lasts." "Unshielded me and find out." This is what makes my audience laugh. "He certainly has tenacity, doesn't he?" A man closest to my left says. I begin to study my captures more closely. All can't be any older than 40, only a few with crow's feet. The man at the head is the oldest, with a few grey/silver streaks in his beard and hair. "What's this about?" I ask in a raised, severe tone. "Are you in that much of a hurry to know your fate, young one?" I glare around the room to show I am not easily intimidated. "I'm not impressed so far," I reply with a dry, even tone to go along with what I say. I then feel a weird prickling sensation throughout my skull, as if thousands of needles were probing my head. I did not make a sound. My grip on my chair tightens. I must not show how painful this is or how scared I am. "No reason not to yell or scream, boy, we can read auras too!" Someone from my left yells, but I can't tell because my eyes are beginning to blur. I lose focus again, and everything goes black.
I wake up with a start...again. I have to break that habit. I look around my temporary home for a few moments. This looks like a twelve by twelve cell made of center block brick, probably reinforced with rebar. Again, flattered. Why are they going through so much trouble over me? I think to myself. It's obvious they know of my talent. I found that out right away at school. But who are these people? I get off my bunk and sit on the center of the floor in my cell, crossed-legged, and close my eyes. I take slow breaths in through my nose and out of my mouth. Slow controlled breathing. Alex think, why are you here, and how do you get out? I ask myself. It felt like they were probing my head for scientific research or something. What was that? Could they read my mind? Too many questions and not enough answers.
I open my eyes; I feel that same prickly sensation again, just like I did at the high school, causing all the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. I get up and try to see out of my crappy little window. I can't see anything. What's the use? I slowly back up to the end of my cell and brace myself for anything that comes next. I prop my foot behind me and press hard against the wall with it. My fists are balled and ready to fight. Whoever comes through that door, I am going to launch myself as hard and as fast as I can at them. I hear a loud grunt followed by a loud thud right outside my door. I feel something being released off my shoulders. Wow, that felt so good. I try to probe a fine spirit thread under my cell door, and success! The door seems almost to explode outward but without the loud blow-up noise. Uhhh...what?
I wait to see the source of all this after the dust settles but see nothing. Maybe I had a seven-month coma, and this is a Christmas miracle? "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" I hear a voice right in front of me but don't see a soul. "Look at your hand, kid." I look down and hold out my hand, but I don't see it either. "I'm cloaking you too, so move your ass!" I waste no time. I follow the noise of their feet beating the pavement floor and up the highway to the hell staircase. We sprint for what seems like forever up the stairs. They finally level out, and I see the garage door, which immediately bursts outward, just like my cell door did. I then see all the dead bodies littering the outside grounds. Holyshit, these guys must be the real deal. There's an Osprey Boeing V-22 hovering in the distance. Again, flattered. I run after I hear go go go! I make a beeline straight to the chopper. I jumped over bodies and trees that something or someone had cut down. It lands right before we get there, and I run up the ramp just as six figures come uncloaked before my eyes. They mean this by the term, 'Seeing is believing?'
The Osprey immediately takes off as the ramp closes, and I rush to a seat to buckle in. I swear this is straight out of one of the G.I. JOE movies! I take this time to catch my breath and drink a water bottle thrown at me. "Thanks," I mutter right before I take a long swig. "Well, this has been an interesting 24hrs. Is Ashton Kutcher going to come out from the cockpit to tell me I'm being punked?" One of them laughs as he looks at the ground and shakes his head. "You really don't have a single clue, do you?" A tall, dark-skinned man asks me. The blonde next to me talks next. "The old man sent us. You must be special...at least we hope you are, or this was a huge waste of time and resources." "Yeah." I begin to say. "I don't have any idea who they were or who you are and nothing about some old guy." "We'll let the high counsel explain everything to you."
They told me the trip was going to be four more hours and that I should cop some z's, but I was too wound up to. I couldn't call my parents to let them know whether I was ok or not. I didn't understand why at first until after they explained it. They would be bewildered about why I can't go home yet because the high council wants to talk to me first. I mean, they did save my life and all, so I owe them that much at least.
"So, can anyone teach me that invisible trick you guys can do?" They all say in unison, "NO! Only the men in the Death Watch can be taught this skill." Blondie says. "This is a secret passed down since the 1200s. Only six members were allowed on the Death Watch at a time. We also don't retire members, death is the only way out, so we take this secret with us to the grave." I listen to all this in silent fascination. I am also excited to find out that so many people out there are like me. Well, not exactly like me because I am one of a kind but knowing I am not the only one on the planet with my gifts is like a heavy weight lifted off my shoulders.
Before I knew it, we had reached our destination. I have so many more questions. I ask one question to find out if I have two more after being told the answer to the first one. It seems never-ending. These guys feel like it wasn't their place to say to me everything there is to know about their history or mine. They wouldn't even tell me their names, so I gave up asking questions and tried to figure out what I should ask or say when I talked to this High Counsel.
As soon as we touch down, it looks like we're landing in the middle of nowhere with nothing in sight: no landmarks, no buildings, signs, or anything. Everyone files out of the Osprey, so I follow right behind and feel dumb as we wait. Suddenly, I feel the ground under me begin to lower underground. We were standing on an elevator that takes the Osprey and crew straight to their underground bunker, impressive!
Before I separated from the Death Watch, they apologized about how tight-lipped they had to be and that it was nothing against me. I get it, a squad with the sole purpose of just killing. The bunker looked like an ordinary building from the inside. Nothing like those other guys, clean walls, furniture, working elevators...I mean, the other guys should at least have one of those. I didn't get a grand tour or anything. They led me straight to an elevator and down to the bottom floor, the 21st floor. The doors opened to a well-lit hallway with paintings, a few statues, and even a fountain. All the entries we were passing were numbered like hotel rooms, starting with the number 21.
We reach the end of the hallway, one doorway remaining. Before we got near it, the door automatically opened. This is one room that served one purpose...meetings. Several flat screens, a few computers, and one big round table. All their ages are about the same as the other guys, including what I'm assuming to be their leader sitting at the head of the table. Well, it's a round table, but the guy is directly in front of me. They all rise to their feet, and each of them exchanges pleasantries with me, either a good afternoon or how do you do? I didn't even know what time of the day it was. Everything is just one big blur right now. "Take a seat, son, and we can get started." I take my seat and scoot in closer. Then in almost exact unison, all of them take their seats.
"I assume you know who we are?" Leader asks. "Just like the other group, no, I'm sorry to say." "So you have survived this long without any guidance from a Knight or anyone?" I laughed as I looked at the round table when he said the word Knight. "Your name isn't Arthur, is it?" Some of them laugh lightly. "That would be amusing if it were but no. I go by many names. We try not to be formal anymore, but all these men here are loyal and have a respectful notion of calling me their Grand Master." "Grand Master, to what exactly?" Everyone is quiet for a few moments studying one another. Are they communicating telepathically or something? "Over the years, our scripts have been misplaced, faded, or stolen. Either prior knowledge of our history, as in why, when, and where we first received our powers."
Grand Master continues with. "Our histories believed that we all somehow originated from the first seven." "The first seven what?" I ask. "The Knights of The Holy Grail." He stays quiet for a few seconds to let everything sink into my brain. "So what do guardians of the grail do nowadays?" He takes time before he replies as if to use his following words carefully in a way I could understand. "It is unclear exactly how or when the grail was lost. Or what we become afterward. We all scattered the earth in search of use for our powers. Some of the knights became the only semblance of the law where they lived. A few died defending their land from invading armies. A couple of things are clear, though. They were all ordered to produce an heir. Also, to seek out people who are like us."