EPILOGUE: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Tactical Command Ship 'Amyntor'

The heavy cruiser ploughed through the icy waves of the North Sea, its bow cut through the waves turning them to plumes of white spray. The sea-king helicopter took three goes to land on the aft deck but as soon as it touched crew ran out and secured the vehicle.

Jumping down to the deck Buffy quickly tied her hair back as it whipped around in the wind, she spied Xander standing to the side and quickly went over for a hug. The surprise of seeing him with both eyes again was doubled by the fact that they were now a vibrant blue.

"How?" she began but he forestalled her by just giving her another hug and then leading her off the landing pad and into the ship. He was dressed in blue slacks and a black muscle top and his hair was slicked back, this combined with his melancholy expression stopped Buffy from asking anymore questions - he just looked too damned professional.

They passed dozens of sailors in the halls, all of them stood at attention as they passed and Buffy was impressed, deciding that she enjoyed being seen as some kind of general. As they neared a red-lit walkway Faith joined them and Buffy raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Nice uniform Faith."

Faith grinned half-heartedly but did smooth down the blue jacket that held several insignias across the right shoulder, "That's Colonel here on deck Buff, gotta keep to the regs you know."

"Of course," laughed Buffy but then realised Faith was being serious. What the hell was going on, first she was ordered to travel to the Shield's flagship - ordered! Then Faith turns up acting like a good soldier, surely the world had been turned on its head.

They went up one flight of stairs and entered the bridge, it held a 360 degree view and there were over a dozen pits where the crew worked furiously at their stations. A thin man with gold epaulettes turned and barked, "General on the Bridge!"

The entire staff stood to attention and waited expectantly, Buffy didn't know what to do - what was she supposed to say, no-one had actually said they would address her as general.

A crewmember stepped forward holding a jacket and Xander quickly shrugged himself into it, it was the same as the others - midnight blue with black spray marks across the diagonal but it also had red-gold insignia on the right side.

"As you were," Xander commanded and the crew returned to duty, "The Sea-King is secured Admiral Nelson," Xander continued, "Make your heading one seven zero and proceed with all speed."

"Aye sir," the Admiral responded and relayed the commands.

Buffy stared at Xander in shock, "You - you're the General?"

Xander grinned, but even then it seemed touched with sadness, "A long way from being a soldier boy huh?"

Buffy looked long at hard at Xander, and at Faith - something about them was different. The uniforms fit all too well and gave them a polished appearance that watchers and slayers seemed unable to achieve. Had Buffy not already known them they would have blended in with all the other blue/black uniforms because even their expressions now held the determined look that all Shields seemed to share.

Her friends had become soldiers, part of something bigger than themselves and while a little part of her regretted it she knew that it was something they needed. All things in their own time she had to tell herself.

"So what's the mission… General?" she tentatively asked Xander.

"We have a powerful new enemy," he answered, "They have detroyed our base in the Atlantic and ah," his voice caught before continuing, "Ambushed us in Africa."

He passed her a photo of a gruesome looking man with limp blonde hair taken from the scrambled memory chip of a damaged cam-corder found on the body of one of Tao's team.

"I recognised him from a memory I got in the orb and Buffy," Xander's eyes flashed an emerald green and goose-bumps ran along Buffy's arms, "Believe me when I say he is the most dangerous man on the planet."

The New Beginning

On the outskirts of London an old Manor House was purchased and plans made to turn it into a training facility where Slayers and Shields would once again walk the hallways together. Britain was of the old world and well understood that it needed others to fight the demons and the monsters, others like the Shields and the Slayers. Slayers now equipped with highly trained squads of soldiers and high-tech weaponry; clothes that glittered with nano-crucifixes, guns filled with silver, wood or lead bullets and a communications network that included satellite as well as super-natural and psychic links.

A navy and air-force that could transport teams to even the most inhospitable places, and dozens of people like Hakon, Faith, Xander and Boudiga – who between them had many thousand years of experience. Soldiers from every nation and culture, a hundred different fighting styles spread across ten thousand warriors, and at the head of every unit a Slayer would lead.

In the demon community the whispers became rumours, the rumours became truth and the truth was that for the first time the humans had the advantage. The tide of despair and destruction would turn back onto the monsters and the monsters would scream for their own saviour; for the one that would lead them and give them victory.

Perhaps that saviour would answer, a saviour that had once been human himself – had held absolute power over the world of his time,

And wanted to again.

Saint Helena (Island) South Atlantic Ocean

Tao gasped at the iron strong hand that held him and prayed to his ancestors for a quick death, for surely he had earned that much. His colleagues were already dead; they had spared only him and brought him to this place.

The hood fell back and Tao could see the face of his captor, a horribly decayed face that should only belong on a corpse. The nose had collapsed and the lips receded, leaving gaping holes that dribbled a mixture of drool, blood and mucus. The eyes were clouded but still managed to focus on him and the voice rasped, "Stop struggling, you have lost."

Tao laughed, or tried with a hand at his throat. He managed to flick out a knife and plunged it towards the living corpse, but his captor just grabbed his wrist, moving too fast to see and snapped the bone cleanly. If Tao had air in his lungs he would have screamed, instead he convulsed but still the corpse maintained his grip.

Ever so slowly the corpse leaned in and clasped his mouth over Tao, as the lipless gums touched his lips Tao wanted to vomit, the texture and taste of the skin was exactly that of what he imagined a dead body to be. It was slimy and cold, the taste was of meat gone bad and the flesh seemed too soft, like jelly. The corpse started sucking and Tao screamed mentally as he felt his life literally being pulled from him; his own skin and blood dried, his organs shrivelled and finally his soul released, and now only his corpse was left.

The creature tossed Tao aside and breathed deeply, his body filled out and became human, his hair grew long and golden and his eyes became clear and piercing. Stepping out of the ruined cloak he marvelled at his newly repaired body, his skin now an unblemished rosy pink and the muscles on his torso were clearly defined as were his biceps wrapped in the golden bands. The priests standing around dropped to their knees and started chanting.

He looked down at the ruined corpse of Tao, "Nothing like the essence of a semi-immortal, by his taste I am closer to the source – with the original immortal soldier I will become truly immortal myself – what is it," he murmured and motioned a priest forward.

The priest was holding out a sheet in shaking hands, "This arrived, it is a photo from one our agents – he said it might interest you."

He snapped up the paper and gasped as he saw the figures in the black and white photo, it was taken from slightly above but he could clearly see Ashe and Xander looking up. He could see Ashe's hand was on Xander's shoulder; the newly restored corpse smiled grimly.

"So my Hephaestion, you look so fine with your new toy – I wonder if you're ready for the return of an old one," with that he laughed heartily, enjoying the full use of working lungs for the first time in millennia.

The demon-priests continued to chant the name of their God-king, their voices echoing throughout the valley so that even those on the far side could easily hear the name being repeated:

"Alexander, Alexander, Alexander."

THE END

Will there be a Sequel?

Only the Gods know and they can be wrong