Meridian Chronicles: Keepers & The Soul Key (#4)

Chapter 4 Part 4

Karma rushed to Selena and leaned her ear close to Selena's face so she could hear what faint words were leaving her lips. Karma jerked her head up and around, "Iron! Oh no! They made this entire hall of Iron!"

Moments later scores of dark shadowy soldier demons flew in, circling the group. The fairies all lay lifeless, struggling to stay awake. Orion and Karma jumped to their feet, moving toward the rest of the guides. Karma shouted to the guides, "Quick! We have to move them, get them together, especially Echo, hurry! Move!"

Everyone was shuffling to grab Echo and the rest of the fairies to safety with Orion for protection. Pramlee and Ridge grabbed Echo, who had passed out. "What is happening to them?" Pramlee shouted to Karma, who was dragging Venus to the side of the hallway.

"Iron! Nearly all fairies cannot be around Iron. I am the only fairy who it does not affect." Karma stood up after moving Venus but was knocked down by two demons.

Talon flew up and fended off the scores of demon soldiers, while Orion fought the demons. The stench chocked everyone. While Orion and Talon continued to defend everyone, they left Echo unattended.

Everyone coughed and grabbed their throats and Echo disappeared. Just as Orion looked to see that Echo was missing, the demons disappeared, leaving everyone confused.

Relic shouted, "What was all that about? Is anyone hurt?"

Kieren looked around, still choking on the sulfurous stench and rubbing his neck. He whispered, "No, no.."

The remaining fairies, still lay unconscious and weakened. Karma quick to their sides, she raised her arms over her head and from her hands, a silver star emerged lighting up the red atmosphere. From the single star, a small burst of light spewed, gushing down thousands of smaller stars showering the weak fairies.

Relic stayed with Lotus who rested and her eyes barely open. His eyes broke away from Lotus and he struggled to watch Luna suffer. His eyes squint shut at the sight of her in pain, and defenseless. He reached over to her and ran his hands across her face and brushed her hair. "I wanted no harm to come to her, or any of the fairies."

Karma maintained her protection of stars and smiled as she rejuvenated her family with energy once more. "Relic, they will be okay. I promise." She winked at Relic.

Pramlee drug herself over to Orion who had descended from the red sky to where Echo laid before she disappeared. "Orion, where is Echo?"

Orion kneeled, brushing his hand across the sleek iron floor. He sighed, "It was a farce. No one was hurt, were they? It was just a distraction. Lahash created this distraction to get Echo." Orion moved toward Talon who looked around in the air as if he sensed something. "Lahash tricked us."

Talon turned his face toward Orion, his breath still ragged from the fighting, calming the demon inside of him. "I don't think it was all just for Echo, as self-serving as he is. There is more to this. He wanted us all here for some reason."

Kieren took off down the iron hall; only his footsteps were audible. He came to a large door, sealed shut without a lock or even a doorknob. "Hey, this hallway ends. There is a door here." Kieren hustled his way back to find the fairies resuming their energy from Karma's work and Orion with a look of concern.

Relic broke away from the group to move closer to Kieren, who seemed a little too excited to have found a door. "Man, what are you doing? There is no door here. It is just a wall; this is a dead end." Relic turned back, facing the group shaking his head.

Orion peered beyond Relic through the smoky atmosphere. "No, Relic there is a door, you just can't see it."

Relic jerked his body around to look once more for this door he could not see. "I don't see it, does anyone else see the door?"

The fairies band together and moved swiftly as though they were floating toward the door. "Yes, we can see it," Luna shouted while the rest of the fairies agreed.

Pramlee and Ridge caught up, and both said. "I can't see the door."

Talon paced, weaving in and out of the group. "Guides can't see the door, but Orion and the fairies can. I can't see it either."

Relic threw his hands up, "Great, what does this mean? We can't get in. What do we do now?"

Suddenly a shadowy apparition appeared in front of everyone. They all gasped andTalon lunged forward and said, "Lahash!"

There he stood, still dressed to the nine's, with his cocky grin to boot. "Well, Talon, I see you have brought your insight to the realm. How wonderful."

Talon ran toward Lahash who did not make a move, standing confident. "You tricked me! You lied!"

Relic interrupted the heated moment. "Excuse me while I pull out my demon trick book." Relic pretended to pull out a book from his back pocket. "Yes, here it is, in the demon playbook." He shot his eyes up with a sly grin. "Here it is! Yep, I believe that tricks and lies are all a part of the playbook. Sorry, Talon you must have missed that memo." Relic walked to Lahash and Talon. "Here, you can borrow my cliff notes." Slaten elbowed Relic.