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

Chapter 5 Part 3

Selena and Luna drew back their arms, instigating their balls of furry, glowing green, spinning and ready for the catapult. The nymphs had an aerial view of the madness below as they took to the air to head off Warrick. No matter the odds, Warrick's rage and relentless craving for power took over. His long drawn out speeches of peace and a restoration of Etheria no longer. All offerings were now gone, and in place a raging demon losing his disguise.

As Warrick thrust toward Charity and the other guides, his face changed revealing his true identity. Warrick's eyes full of evil, his pupils long and thin, his nostrils flared, and when he opened his mouth, his teeth were sharp and grotesque. He opened his mouth to speak, his voice low and frothy. "Selena, this I will no longer stand for. You will burn for this!"

Warrick pinned the Fairy Queen down on the floor, flames left his mouth as his jaws widened. His eyes glowed red, and his body steamed from the heat exuding off of him. Orion came to her defense and tackled Warrick, throwing him away from Selena. As each one collected their selves, Warrick was not given another chance to advance when Lotus came out of the air and tackled Warrick, hurling him into the wall. Still incoming, Venus darted like a bullet opened her hands, placing her palms out. From her palms a beam of electricity plummeted into Warrick's chest where he was frozen unable to escape the electrical shock surging through his body and just at the right time, Lotus came in for another hit and drenched him in water igniting the final surge to his demon body.

Karma snuck her way through the crowded room of chaos and climbed to the top of the stairs to the hall of souls where she put the key into the secret compartment, turned it and stepped away. The great doors opened shedding the powerful light of the angels.

Once inside, like before she walked down the hallway, bright white with an endless precession of doors, lined with gold. This time an angel did not greet her. The hall was silent and still with only the sounds of her footsteps that echoed throughout. After many steps in, Karma stopped and looked around for a clue what was to come.

She heard a whisper, unstrained, and the voice was light and free, happy. Karma turned her ear toward what she believed to be a woman's voice still whispering, nearly impossible to detect at all. As the moments went by, with a blink of an eye, Karma looked around, and her surroundings had changed. No more did it appear that she was standing in the hall of souls, but she saw the very scene when she and the other fairy nymphs journeyed to the dark realm and fought the demons and saved Relic from his fall into the fiery pit. She turned around to look behind her, and the scene changed again. This time she saw Meridian and Aiden standing in Esmra's garden the night that Venus and Echo assisted her with showing Aiden and Meridian the workings of the universe and the moment Meridian saw her father, within the very hall, she was standing in.

After the scene played out, it began to float away in pieces revealing the hall of souls once more than the room went completely dark. An ominous voice spoke slowly. "Why have you come?"

Karma looked around in the darkness, the only light was the one coming from her glowing red stone from her necklace. "I am here, I am looking for Meridian. Please help me. Please, I beg you." Karma's voice faded away in fear.

The voice said, "Why do you seek Meridian?"

"Etheria needs her. The spirit guides need her. Outside, it is chaos, the demon Warrick still rules, and everything is falling apart. The dark one has taken a soul that does not belong in the dark realm. Please help us." Karma kneeled down, dropping her head and closing her eyes.

"Why does your kind assist the guides? How is it that the fairies continue to be involved? What is it you believe is your business here?" The voice asked.

"It is not our business; we only want to help. Selena, the queen, wants to help. She feels that it is because of her that things have become the way they are. She failed Meridian and Caius." Karma said.

"You can deliver your karmic debt unto those that the universe deems fit for karma. This is not your place. Meridian was to acquire the quartz sword. Without Meridian or the sword, it dooms Etheria. The prophecy will come to pass. "The voice said.

"What prophecy? The end of humankind? The extinction of the guides? I do not understand?" Karma begged.