The Orb of Xordapth Part Two: The Unknown

1

The demon advanced on Piper, outstretching its arms to her, gliding over the floor. She waved her arm, but it didn't explode. She tried to freeze it, and again, nothing happened. She looked anxiously at Leo, who stood behind the demon looking terrified.

Leo orbed over to Piper and handed her the Book of Shadows, which he had been holding. She opened the book, walking backwards as the demon slowly came towards her. She looked up, smiling, an idea clearly forming in her head. She snapped the book closed and lifted it high, then sent it crashing down upon its head.

The demon fell to the floor with a thud and piper opened the book again. She flicked through a couple of pages and found what she was looking for.

"Demon be gone from time and space, remove your form from this place," said Piper clearly.

The demon's form faded in front of them and the hole in the floor repaired itself. She turned to look at Leo with a puzzled expression. "Why did the floor do that?" she asked.

****

Phoebe stared nervously at the floor. Paige sat on a stool beside the bar of P3, the club owned by Piper. Paige's eyes were closed, and her face was scrunched up in concentration. She took in a long breath and said, "Voices of the mind transfer, let messages be seen and heard, the minds of the power of three connect, as I will, so be it."

Paige gasped and fell from her seat. Images ran through he head. A book smashing down on the head of a demon. A hole in the floor of the attic closing up... Leo clinging onto her and orbing.

Her eyes flung open and she was staring at the ceiling of P3. Leo was stood over her with Piper and Phoebe kneeling next to her, one at each side. They helped Paige to her feet.

"I guess I shouldn't try telepathy spells," she said, rubbing the back of her head.

"No," replied Piper, "and definitely not with what's going on."

"What is going on?" asked Phoebe.

"As it turns out," replied Piper, "the demonic followers that trapped that Xordag person are out to get the Orb and so, we have to protect it."

"The demons are the 'They' that Prue was talking about," said Paige.

"Ok," said Phoebe. "What's the deal with that? Why would Prue go to you when she knows us?"

"I don't know, maybe she couldn't."

"ALRIGHT!" bellowed Leo. "You need to stay focused on getting this box as far from here as possible."

"One question first," said Paige. "Why now? Why is it now that they're coming for it?"

"They were responsible for the demise of a god," replied Piper. "If you commit that crime you spent a million years in hell's prison. Obviously the million years is up."

"Not possible," said Leo. "This had to happen over the last thousand years as the Book of Shadows has been written. Otherwise, somebody else would have gotten the Orb by now."

"Then why are the demon's free from hell?" asked Phoebe.

"I don't' know." replied Leo. "Someone must have freed them."

"We're clueless," said Piper, "it's all unknown."

The four of them turned and looked at the wooden box, sitting on the bar.

2

It was like a temple. There were large pillars at each side of the long, oblong room holding up the arches overhead. Beyond the arches, there were the stars. Yet the temple was as bright as though it was midday and the stone steps which led up to the three great chairs were all glowing with gold light. The temple was completely white.

This was except for the small groups of gold, robed figures which were dotted around the room, occasionally talking to a normally dressed man or woman, which were obviously other Whitelighters. Upon the three chairs at the front of the temple were three figure dressed in white with gold trimmings. These people in the robes around them were the Elders.

The Elder sat in the central chair stood and advanced down the steps towards Leo and the girls. It, like the demons at the manor, glided rather than walked. The Elder stopped before them, towering slightly. Leo looked up at him, courageous, but fearful.

"They needed to come," said Leo, seemingly without being asked, "other wise they would have died and Hell would now be reigning on Earth."

There was a pause.

"Yes," said Leo.

Another.

"No we didn't get time," he replied to a soundless question.

"So," said the Elder in a booming voice, looking up at them, "we finally meet in person."

The Elder's hands, which had suddenly appeared and seemed human, rose up and pulled down its hood. Beneath the hood was an old man with long white hair and a long beard. His face was worn and looked as though it had been around forever (which it probably had), but his eyes were bright and seemingly full of life.

"Welcome to The Great Realm." said the old man, his voice now that of someone who had been around a long time. "I am Merlin, Head of the Elders."

"The Merlin?" asked Paige.

"Yes, dear," replied the old man, "you see, when I disappeared, the real reason I had gone was because I had come here to be an Elder."

"You aren't to tell anyone about his whereabouts," said Leo commandingly. "If anyone finds out where he is this pla..."

"Leo, my dear boy, lighten up," said Merlin. "Speaking is silver, but silence is golden. I'm sure the girls already know this concept."

The three of them nodded, still in awe about who stood in front of them.

A great hole in the centre of the floor broke open, and a portal of black appeared beneath it. The robed demons from before rose up from the portal, shrieking. The Elders all turned to look at the portal, and the demons rising from it.

Merlin outstretched his hand, and muttering in Latin, sent a blue ball of energy whizzing around the room. The ball hit the demons, one by one, eviscerating them. Few of the remaining living demons floated back to the hole, but a bright red flash all around closed up the portal, and the hole.

The demons had nowhere left to go and the blue ball continued in its work until all of the demons where dead.

"Piper," said Merlin, turning back to them as though nothing had happened, "you must go to the spirit world and find your sister Prudence. It will take a lot more than the Power of Three to win in the battle of what is coming."

"Doesn't that mean that I have to die?" asked Piper, horrified.

"Yes."

There was a long pause in which Piper, Leo and Phoebe looked at Merlin in disbelief and Paige looked at the floor, devastated. Merlin, however, stood smiling. Piper backed away.

"You can't be serious?" she said.

"I am," he replied. "We will have direct link to you here and when you have your sister, we will bring the both of you back to life."

Everyone looked at him astonished.