"Stop that!" Melchior shouted. "Stop that right now!"

"What?" I asked as I lowered my wand.

"You must not wave that wand about," Melchior said, looking furious. "You haven't been listening to me at all. You'll get both of us killed at the rate you're going." He scowled and snatched the wand away from me.

"I resent that," I said, crossing my arms. "I listened to every single thing you said. And I followed your directions exactly as you stated them. You told me to swish the wand."

"Yes, I did tell you to swish the wand," Melchior said, swishing my wand in the air. "You, however, were wildly waving your wand all over. I'm not sure that you're ready for the wand yet."

"I think you just said a tongue-twister," I said. "And I am ready for the wand. You just weren't clear enough."

Melchior shook his head. "We'll practice wand motions for right now," he said, putting my wand away. "Particular wand motions go with a certain type of spell."

"You haven't even taught me any spells," I pointed out.

"I am rather afraid of what would happen if you made use of both your will and the spell," Melchior said, wincing slightly. "So you will only learn how to will the wand to work."

"Right. How many wand motions could there be?" I asked. "Why do we even have to cover this?"

"Because you cannot tell the difference between a swish and a wave," Melchior said. "You must know the basics before you can tackle your magic."

"But the basics are so boring."

"Do you want to learn magic or not?"

"Yes…" I said slowly.

"Then I suggest that you do as I say or you may find yourself permanently without a wand. Never before have I met such an irritating person such as yourself," Melchior said.

"You poor thing," I said sympathetically. "Okay, so a swish is like this." I swished an invisible wand. "And a wave is this." I waved the nonexistent wand.

"Yes," Melchior said. "A swishing motion summons less energy than a waving motion, therefore, a swish is meant for simpler magic-"

"While a wave is meant for more complicated magic," I finished for him. "I understand it, Melchior."

"Do expect me to be in awe?" he said severely. "A flick - " he demonstrated - "is meant to drive things away. This motion - " he pulled his wand back in an arch - "is meant to draw things towards you."

I imitated his moves, quickly growing bored. I was not going to say anything, though. I wasn't going to give him an excuse to stop teaching me. I wished that Prue was there to help me get through this lesson, but Prue was experimenting with her spiritual form and the Power of Three. I sighed and concentrated on Melchior, determined to show him that I could handle magic.

"Those are all the motions," he said once we had finished. Surprisingly, there was a number of them.

"Now magic," I said and called for my wand.

Melchior grabbed it before it could reach me. "No, not yet. Now we're going to work on your will."

"You and I both know that I have enough will for ten people," I snorted.

"That's part of the problem," Melchior said. "You may have the will of ten people, but you are only one person. You must learn to control that will."

"How do you intend to teach me that?" I asked, a little annoyed. It seemed that my tremendous enthusiasm earlier had made Melchior decide to take his time teaching me magic. I had to be more patient and control myself.

"I believe that you are doing it right now," Melchior said. "You are controlling your emotions and your desires. You are focusing on the goal of getting your wand back, aren't you?" He had a expression that told me he could read me like a book.

"Yes," I replied. "But controlling myself is not one of my strong points, as you already know."

"Which is precisely why you must do some work before you move onto magic," Melchior told me. "I rushed you by pushing you straight to magic. That was a mistake on my part. If you use magic without having control over yourself, the results could be disastrous, especially when your strength is factored in."

"How long will this take?"

"A while."

I felt myself staring to get annoyed. I opened my mouth to say a few things, but I clamped it shut before I could. I had to stop saying everything that I felt. It never helped me. I was a hasty individual, and Melchior was right. Haste and magic did not go together. Instead of ranting, I took a deep breath.

"I see that we're already making progress," Melchior commented. "Good job."

I smiled. I didn't trust myself to speak.

"But are you ready for the next step?"

"What step?"

"Do you want this wand?" Melchior inquired, holding out my wand.

I was confused. What was he doing? "Of course I do."

Melchior drew back his hand. "Well, you can't have it."

"You're just going to taunt me?" I said crossly. "I can't understand you, Melchior. You do everything that you can to annoy me, then you tell me to control myself. And you have only been here two days. How do you manage it? Doesn't this exhaust you?"

"I see you're not ready for the next step," Melchior said. "But that's going to take some time. I just thought that the strength of your powers might help."

"Obviously not." I went over to the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Melchior asked, making no effort to stop me.

"I'm going to watch Prue," I said. "I'm too annoyed to try to work on controlling myself." I opened the basement door.

"You're going to regret this," Melchior said as he turned to work on some potions.

"Who says so?" I demanded. "How much can magic help me if the Elders are the ones who control it? I'm not free from them like you are. I'm helpless against the Elders."

"You're giving up, then?" Melchior wasn't looking at me.

I flushed with anger as I charged back down the stairs. "I am not giving up, Melchior. I know that you're trying to trick me. My mother uses reverse psychology on me all the time. It used to work on me until I figured it out."

"And yet you are still responding to it," Melchior stated. "You respond with anger, a reaction that leads you to blindly do as the person commands. The only way to beat this is to gain control over yourself."

"But… But that's what you want me to do anyways! So it would still work, but… argh!" My head hurt from thinking about this.

"Time is of the essence, Christina," Melchior said. "I don't know how much time we have left. The Elders will notice my absence soon, and they will try to find me. I may be free, but I still cannot rise above them. I need your help."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're truly evil, Melchior." I sighed. "I'll help you, but first you have to help me."

"Of course. Now, work on controlling yourself." He looked at me with the odd look I had seen yesterday. "You remind me so much of her…"

"I remind you of whom?"

"No one. Just get to work."

I stared at Melchior for a while, prompting him to snap at me. But there was something different about him, as I could easily see. I was going to find out what was up with him.

My method of finding out the truth basically consisted of asking Melchior who 'she' was every five minutes. "Who is 'she'?" I asked again. "Just tell me a name. Any name."

"Silence, Christina!" Melchior bellowed. "I will not tell you who she is. It is not important. Leave. Me. Alone." Warning dripped from his voice, but his eyes didn't match the tone.

"You want to tell me," I said pointedly. "I can see it in your eyes."

"Enough! You have practiced enough for the day," Melchior said. "Now get out of this basement!"

I smirked. "I'm getting to you. You should be setting an example for me, yet you're losing control."

He gave me a fierce look. I gave up and walked up the stairs as slowly as possible.

"I know that you can move faster than that," he said, "and I would suggest that you do."

I rolled my eyes and left. The sisters were still working in the attic. I started to climb up to them, but they emerged and started to come down the stairs. "How did it go?" I asked eagerly.

"Perfectly," Prue said, grinning. "I knew it would work. The Power of Three can be Paige, Piper, and I, Phoebe, Piper, and I, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige…"

"I get the idea, Prue," I said.

"She's just rubbing it in," Phoebe said. "And it took a few tries, missy."

"You're just pissed that I was right," Prue said superiorly.

"I think it's hormones," Piper said.

Phoebe was about to respond when Paige yelled, "Darklighter!"

I whipped around and faced the darklighter.

"Christy, move!" Prue called as she ran down the stairs.

I was frozen to the spot. I couldn't remember how to move, let alone orb. Everything was going in slow motion. I could hear voices calling to me, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The darklighter raised the crossbow… released the arrow… and the arrow tore into my chest. I looked down at it, not believing that this was happening. Excruciating pain was ravaging my body. I touched the blood and finally realized what was happening. I swayed, then fell to the ground. "Prue?" I whispered, not quite sure of where she was. "Is this what it's like to die?"

I closed my eyes and slipped out of myself. The pain ebbed away. I found myself floating over my body. I was vaguely aware of the fact that Piper had vanquished the darklighter and that Leo had appeared in the room. He healed my body. Then everything disappeared. I was still in the Manor, but it was completely empty. I ran through the house but found nothing. "Prue? Hello?" I went outside and gaped at the sight. The street was deserted. Suddenly, I remembered that I was supposed to be dying. I looked down, but the wound was gone. Either I was okay, or… "I'm dead."

I was shocked. I was really dead. Fear jumped up within me, but I really had nothing to fear. I was in the ghostly realm. Nothing could kill me again. I wouldn't have to worry about anything from this point on. Calm started to settle over my body. Everything was going to be okay.

A white light appeared before me. It was time to move on. I felt at peace as I walked towards the light. I was about to touch it when I fell into darkness. All light had disappeared. There was nothing, absolutely nothing.

Prue's description of the worldly gap came back to me as I floated in the nothingness. There was nothing there. I was surrounded by darkness. I couldn't move or speak. Time had no meaning there.

I was in the worldly gap. I was not meant to die. I should be alive. But things would be much easier for everyone now. Prue would be able to use my body. The Elders would be pleased with that. I felt afraid again. Prue had stayed in the worldly gap for months, and she still hadn't moved on. She had gone to my body. Where was I going to go? There was no guarantee that anything was going to be all right. I longed for the white light. Even though there would be no chance of coming back to life, things at least would be assured.

Out of the darkness, the familiar woman emerged.

"Who are you? Why do you keep coming to me? What do you want?" is what I wanted to ask, but I couldn't say anything.

The woman looked at me knowingly. "I am you," the woman said, speaking the strange language. I understood it this time. She reached out to touch me, but withdrew her hand quickly. "We are the same person, but I am not Christina, just as you are not quite me. I appear to you because the Elders are interfering with your destiny. It is just as I feared. They do not understand, and you do not remember. I am here to remind you. I am merely a memory, no more real than the first vision you had. I am a shadow of the past."

Shadows of the past.

She nodded. "I want to show you what you need to see. I need you to remember your purpose. I would tell you your purpose, but I do not have the ability. As I said, I am not real - I have no will of my own. We are not free. We may not be controlled by the Elders, but we are under the power of the natural order. We forget, but you will remember enough to allow you to find your purpose. Pay attention to everything that you see, but remember that it is just a memory. If you don't, you could be destroyed. And we've gone too far for that to happen." She smiled sadly. "We came close to losing everything, but the worldly gap has given us a second chance. Remember the past." She backed into the darkness. "Shadows of the past."

"I will remember," I said, finding my voice. "I will find my purpose." The darkness around me melted away gradually. I watched as a scene began to form around me. Bright light appeared, temporarily blinding me. I blinked.

I was walking along a dirt path. As I passed the other villagers, they stared blatantly at me and whispered amongst themselves. I did not acknowledge them. I have grown accustomed to being the odd one of the village. It sometimes worried me, though, for it would be quite easy for the clueless villagers to accuse me of witchcraft. But I had no time for thoughts of their ignorance. I was late for the meeting, and Dion was not going to be pleased. Sighing, I pushed on and entered the meeting place.

"Maia, you are late," Dion said once he had spotted me.

"As I already know." I scanned the area. "Where is Laius?"

Dion leaned against a tree and shut his eyes.

"Dion?" I said, my voice unsteady. "What has happened to Lauis?"

"Lauis is dead," Dion said, eyes still closed.

"No," I whispered. "It cannot be. Who did this?"

Dion opened his eyes. "You know who did it," he said. I could see the anger burning in his eyes.

My own anger surged through me. "The Elders!" I hissed. "What was their reason this time?"

"They didn't bother to provide a reason," Dion told me. "I only knew it was them because I recognized the magic." He paused. "The Elders know that we're getting closer to finding the formula."

"Give up on the Elixir, Dion!" I cried. "It is forbidden, and it is not worth the difficulties that you have endured."

"But to live forever…"

"How can you dream of living forever?" I demanded. "How can you when you have never even lived a life? You have given your life to the Elixir; your life is in its hands forever. That is how it makes you immortal!"

"We can beat them, Maia," he said.

"We can never beat them," I said bitterly. "We have tried so many times, but they are too powerful. We have watched each other die over and over again. We barely are able to build our lives. I am a slave to them, and so are you."

"You will not speak like that again, Maia," Dion commanded me.

"You will not command me to do anything," I lashed out. "I am my own guardian, Dion. I was made to be that way, and I cannot be ruled by you."

"You also cannot be ruled by the Elders," Dion said.

I finally broke down. Dion held me as I cried. "Lauis is gone. We cannot continue this without him."

This is only a memory, I remembered. I stepped out of the body and watched Maia and Dion.

"Then we will start again in the next life," Dion said. "They won't let us remain here much longer. We remember too much, yet again."

I was suddenly struck by a realization. Dion was Melchior. He didn't look like himself, but I could still see that Melchior had once been Dion.

"It's always easier to forget," Maia sighed. "They'll try to destroy me again, though."

"They have never succeeded, Maia, and they never will," Dion assured her.

This had to be a past life that I had shared with Melchior. Who 'Lauis' was, I didn't know, but I knew that I would soon find out.

"They are coming," Maia said.

"I know, Maia. We will meet again."

Another memory swirled around me. I found myself in a new body, but I easily escaped it to watch from my usual view. I was astounded when I saw who I had been in this life. I had been a man. There was something very wrong about that. Well, we are supposed to learn throughout our lives. We can't learn too much if we're the same sex in every life. I felt much better when I saw Melchior. He was in a woman's body. Two other women and a man were walking with us. I peered into their souls and would have fallen over if I hadn't been floating.

The other man was Prue. One of the women was Paige. The other woman was… Leo? I had definitely not seen that one coming. I allowed their names to come to me.

"You are making this much more difficult than necessary, Bonifacio" Ariadna (Paige) said.

"I cannot avoid the issue of the Elders," Bonifacio (me) said. "I am coming closer to the truth, but the Elders do not want me to discover it."

"They are still getting in your way?" Clarisa (Leo) asked.

"Of course they are," Sergio (Prue) answered for me… er, Bonifacio. "The Elders will never stop."

"What makes you think that what they are hiding concerns you, Bonifacio?" Mireia (Melchior) questioned.

"I don't know," Bonifacio admitted.

I closed my eyes and silently recited his next words in sync with him.

"It's just something that I can feel… like a memory that I have forgotten. The Elders are keeping something from me, and I should be able to claim it," Bonifacio said.

"And what about the Verum?" Sergio asked.

"They still won't allow me to come near it," Bonifacio said.

"But your powers…" Clarisa said.

"They do not matter. I am not powerful enough to come near the Verum," Bonifacio. "That's what they say, at least."

"Those fools," Mireia muttered. "They cannot handle the Verum."

"No one can, Mireia," Ariadna said. "Not since the Living Balance was destroyed."

"She wasn't destroyed," Bonifacio said. "No one could destroy her."

"They did," Sergio argued.

"Perhaps."

I don't know how many memories I watched after the first two. Some of the details began to blur together, but I was able to pull a few key things from the memories. One key thing was that Piper, Paige, Prue, Leo, Phoebe, Melchior, and I had a very deep connection to each other. Another thing that I made a note of was the Living Balance. She came up often within the memories, as did the Verum. Those three things were crucial. I had to explore all of them further, but first I had to get into a body. As the darkness returned, I tried to think of a way to get out of the Worldly Gap. I came up with nothing.

Hopelessness took over as I resigned myself to existence in the Worldly Gap. I kept thinking of Prue. I really missed hearing her voice. I also missed her sisters and their little antics. I wondered about Phoebe's baby and her engagement to Cole. How's Prue doing in my body?

My thoughts took an unwelcome turn to the Elders. They're probably celebrating, I thought to myself. Gideon… My blood boiled as I thought of him in triumph. I'll bet that he sent that darklighter after me! He had been especially threatening, and Prue and I had both felt something off about him. But I just couldn't believe that an Elder would actually do that. Would he really hire an evil being just to kill me? They did want to kill me for the greater good. Just how far would they go to serve the greater good?

That would certainly keep me occupied for a while. Let this end soon, I begged the Worldly Gap. Just let this end.