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

Chapter 15 pt 2

Warrick, dripping with a curiosity of the scene that played out before him as he watched Lahash carrying Echo in his arms while walking next to Astaroth, would not let him be. Not satisfied with his interaction with Valefor, he found Lahash leaving his quarters.

"Ah, Lahash, so I see you have a visitor...I would like to get to know her a little better." Warrick looked past Lahash as if he were going to see anything past a closed door.

"Warrick, can you still read the minds of the Etherians?" Lahash stood leaned up against his doors with amusement.

"Why would you ask such a question? I can not read them from the demon realm, you know this." Warrick stopped looking past Lahash.

"What do you want Warrick? I am busy." Lahash moved away from his door to walk down the hall.

"The comment you made, about if things do not go as planned...in Etheria. You asked me before, have I thought about that. At the time, I had not. But your statement has left me concerned. Many of the demons have distanced their selves from me, they seem cryptic. I am not at all the meetings; I feel that I am not being told everything. What do you know?"

Lahash did not turn around to look at Warrick who was moving toward him. "I know nothing you speak of. You know the plan...the dark one will destroy Meridian. We will invade the Hall of Souls...your position will be protected."

Warrick walked around to face Lahash. "No, I don't believe you. Something here isn't right. If we invade the hall of souls, then what? We take out the Angels. We still need an influx of souls so that there will be a purpose for Etheria...for me. Without this, there is no place for me. Is this what you were eluding too? Do not play games with me Lahash."

Lahash pushed Warrick out of his way, "Warrick, I do not take demands from you. The dark one gave me the task of helping you out, to keep Meridian out of Etheria. I did my part; I can't help it that the plan failed."

Warrick grabbed Lahash by his arm, "The hell you did! The plan failed because you were too busy worrying about that nymph. That is all you care about. You had the chance when Pyro summoned Ipos, who still has yet to return...you did nothing to quell that intervention of the nymphs. Instead, you stopped Pyro."

Lahash jerked his arm from Warrick's grasp, his dark eyes turned red and with a hiss, he said, "Allowing Ipos to be destroyed would not have helped! Pyro was destroyed because he allowed his greed to take over. The dark one would have been more disappointed losing a grand duke, one that commands many legions of the scum bag demons roaming Earth. I had to do what I had to do and that is the end of it. This is where we are. Step away from me you parasite. Of all the things the nymphs exist to do, Karma is one you should watch out for. You saw what happened to Pyro. You will be next."

Lahash stormed away headed straight for Astaroth's chambers leaving a seething Warrick behind, which in turn took off in the opposite direction. As Lahash stomped away, he looked over his shoulder as if he were anticipating Warrick to be on his heels. A quick turn around to see the empty hall was all Lahash's eyes could see.

Lahash hesitantly turned back to continue his high hatted march, straight away right into Astaroth's chambers, where the demoness herself sat in solitude mapping out her own plan, one that ended as a result of Aiden, back in the dark realm.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be caring for your new lust?" Astaroth peered up from her large table, filled with strange bottles and relics of the past, things that she dearly loved to collect from prior souls who had the unfortunate experience of knowing her. Maintaining her posture, she hovered over her table looking into a large ball, it appeared to be a crystal ball.

Lahash moved to the table, with his eyes studying the ball that she hovered over. "What is this?"

"It isn't just fairies who have crystal balls so to speak." Astaroth stood up in a pompous nature, taking pleasure in knowing and having something that Lahash was unaware of.

"Crystal ball? Why would you need a crystal ball?" he snorted.

"It isn't just a crystal ball fool. Look here." Astaroth pointed to the top of the crystal, right in the center, where Lahash reluctantly leaned over the table to get a better look. "There do you see it? You should see a hovering inverted pentagram."

Lahash pulled away from the ball and looked at Astaroth with suspicious eyes. "So what a pentagram. What purpose does that serve you?"

Quickly Astaroth pushed Lahash aside and picked the ball up from the gold cradle the ball sat in. She held the ball with both her hands. She walked over to a larger cradle that looked identical to the smaller version that sat neatly centered in her large round table with her other collections.

Astaroth held the ball over the large cradle decorated as a lizard's claw with thick razor nails. Lahash crossed his arms across his chest and turned his body away uninterested in what Astaroth was doing. He held a smile as he stared at the artwork displayed on the large stone wall directly across from the table. He pointed to the artwork on the wall and said, "Is that...is that you?"

Astaroth did not pay any mind to what Lahash was looking at, instead, she said, "Look here, and watch."

Astaroth released her grasp on the crystal ball and with her release and the ball did not move or fall, it safely and quietly hovered for a few moments. Lahash turned to see and his eyes widened as he pulled his head back. He brought himself closer to the large cradle and as he took his steps closer the ball in a blink became larger. The circumference of the ball now the size of the cradle, sat comfortably within its grasp. The small inverted pentagram that hovered within the ball had risen upward. Lahash reached toward the ball to touch it when Astaroth stopped him.

"No, not yet." Astaroth held Lahash's hand within her grasp.

"What is this some kind of portal? We don't need a special portal, we can go where ever we want whenever we want." Lahash's tone sounded doubtful to Astaroth who stood with smugness.