She was surrounded by darkness, pure and endless, stretching away into eternity. Phoebe tried to scream, but she had no body, nothing. Beginning to panic, she frantically tried to move, but it was as though the darkness had bound her with invisible ropes. The black parted like a curtain, swirling at the edges of her vision. For an instant, she thought she saw the inside of the manor, as it used to be. Then, her thoughts were swept away by another, different mind.
Paiges head was still fogged up with the last fragments of sleep as she wearily climbed the stairs. She scowled darkly as Phoebe jogged past, her face alive with energy. Grumbling softly to herself, she reached the landing. Then, she felt a little shiver her down her back, like a file was being drawn across her spine. Suddenly tense, she stopped, listening.
There was a small creak behind her, and Paige twisted around quickly. A huge, hulking demon was holding Piper around the neck, thick fingers crushing her throat. Her sister was unconscious, a trickle of dark blood slinking down her face from her hair. The demon was grinning, yellow eyes sparkling maliciously.
"One word and she dies."
The words died in Paige's throat. She gazed at Piper helplessly as the demon tightened its grip. A soft shuffle of footsteps whispered from behind her, but she dared not move.
Something hard and heavy crashed into the base of her skull. Fireworks of pain blossomed in front of her eyes, and her knees buckled. Then, darkness….
The world swirled into darkness again, and Phoebe was aware. Like dark smoke the darkness churned around her, stifling. What was that? She wondered. It was no premonition. It was as though she was Paige. Or were they memories? How had Minas-
Paige's head throbbed painfully, and she tasted coppery blood in her mouth. Eyes flickering open, she winced as harsh sunlight burned into he eyes. She rolled over painfully, and realised she was tied up. Piper was nearby, eyes closed. She was still unconscious, hands bound tight. Apiece of clothhad been shoved roughly in her mouth.
"Mph…." It was then that Paige realised that there wasa gagin her mouth. Something hard poked her in the back, making her flinch. She twisted her head uncomfortably, and looked up at the squashed face of a demon. He glowered at her.
"Quiet or you'll regret it." Paige glared at him, fear lost in a sea of sudden anger. The demon snarled and turned away. Glancing around, her stomach dropped.
They were in the middle of a forest, surrounded by huge pine trees. Bright sunlight lanced through the branches, burning as it landed on her pale skin. There were also people. About a hundred, mostly women, bound and gagged as she was. Twenty demons prowled around them, yellow eyes flicking about nervously.
One demon was apart from the others, kneeling in the dirt. He chanted softly to himself as he traced symbols in the dust. The others avoided him, galning at him fearfully as they passed. Two of them muttered nearby, and Paige could hear the fear in there voices.
"He's crazy; we'll never pull this off."
"What if we do? Do you what this could do?"
"We've all heard." The first voice said loudly, angrily. "Heard the dream so many times I'm sick to death of it.
"Is that so?
The cold voice cut through the sudden silence.
"Paige twisted to see. The two demons were looking at the ground like naughty children. Before them stood the demon who had been tracing in the dirt. Now that she could see his face properly, Paige winced. It was a bulbous mass of blistered skin, with two smouldering orange eyes glittering from the folds of flesh.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Vitus." said the hideous demon. His voice was deceptively friendly. "But just so you know-"
He grabbed Vitus by the throat. Paige shut her eyes quickly, but could not clock out the horrible wet tearing of the demons head being ripped off.
"I don't care." finished the demon. Paige moaned softly, feeling sick. A pair of hot orange eyes landed on her face.
"Well, well, well…" the demon swaggered over to her, what was supposed to be a smile twisting his already grotesque features into a disgusting mask.
"If it isn't young Paige Matthews..." Paige's eyes widened.
"Surprising, isn't it? That we know your name." he chuckled darkly, shaking his head.
"I don't know why it should be, since we have Phoebe." He smirked as an alarmed look flashed across her face.
"Mph!" the gag muffled the insult. The demon, obviously catching the intended idea, kicked her in the ribs. Paige's back arched as her ribs cracked beneath his hard boot, face contorted with agony. He was not smiling now.
"Listen carefully, witch." he hissed, inches away from he face. His rancid breath scorched her skin.
"If you or your sister do anything, anything at all, we'll kill Phoebe. Understand?" Paige nodded, and he turned away. As he stalked back to his drawing, Paige glanced back at the still comatose Piper. They were in very big trouble.
For a long time Paige just lay there, nursing her throbbing side. Piper slept on, and the demons continued to patrol. Hours passed, the flaming sun slowly making its way across the azure sky. Exhausted, Paige was drifting into slumber when someone grabbed her and hauled her to her feet. Her knees buckled from lack of use, and she ended up being dragged. She aimed a kick at the demons leg, but then remembered Phoebe. Turning limp, she allowed herself to be pulled towards the ugly, misshapen demon who had cracked her ribs.
At this angle, she could see what he had been tracing in the dust; A triquetra.
That can't be good she thought anxiously as the demon who was carrying her dropped her in the centre of the drawing. He bent over, pulling the gag and rope from her stiff body. Paige stood up cautiously.
The demons stood in a circle around her. They began to chant, making strange symbols in the air that left glowing trails that seemed to burn. Every fibre in Paige's body screamed at her to get out of there, but she was frozen in place.
Their chanting reached a pitch, and an invisibly force pushed her to the ground. She was on her hands and knees, the huge unseen weight pressing down on he back.
Glowing lights flickered at the corners of her vision. She looked up, and saw they were coming from the bound people around her. Witches. The hideous demon stepped in front of her, chanting. The droning voices suddenly stopped, and the coloured lights glittered like the Aurora Borealis in the silence. Paige looked fearfully into his eyes and saw a black void. He raised his arms, staring into her heart.
"Let it be done." He whispered. The twinkling lights surged into Paige's body, burning like acid. Her bones shattered inot her flesh, sharp slivers tearing into delicate tissue. Screams echoes in her pain ridded mind, and she realised they were her own.
Far away, as though at the very edge of the world, she heard the creak of a gate swinging shut. Then, nothing.
Phoebe was herself again, floating in the darkness. It seemed as thought there was no time in this place. She couldn't tell if it had been ten years of ten seconds before the next memory hit her.
Lancing pain drove itself through her skull. Paige weakly opened her eyes. Everything was a blurry smear, flashed of brown and black. She was flat on her back, and seemed to be relatively unharmed. Her insides still shuddered with pain as she sat up, feeling somehow drained. Blinking dizzily, she glanced around. She was alone, in a dark cell made of rock. Instinctively, she knew she was in the underworld. Evil pressed down on her, radiating from the stone around her.
The lumpy demon teleported in front of her cell, a triumphant smirk on his squashed face. Paige glared at him with hatred.
"How was your nap?"
Paige ignored him, standing up slowly. Her legs wobbled slightly. The demons smile widened, eyes glinting wickedly.
"Don't you want to know why you're here?" he persisted. She looked at him contemptuously, hiding her fear behind a façade of strength. Her anger did not dim hi mood. The grin on his face was almost gleeful as he spoke again.
"The end has come." An startled look twitched on her face.
"What?"
He laughed. "Game's over, witch. You Lost. The gates of heaven are closed, and hell has been unleashed on Earth." He paused for affect.
"And it's all thanks to you." He began to teleport away, calling out an afterthought.
"Oh, by the way, your sisters are dead." There was dead silence, somehow worse than weeping.
The image faded, slowly this time. The horrible emptiness that Paige had fel remained. Even as a shadow, it felt like a knife had been dug into her Phoebe's stomach. He lied. Thought Phoebe He said I was dead.. And Piper too… Phoebe hoped ferverantly that it was a lie as well. Red flickering lights began to dance….He lied. He said I was dead.. And Piper too…
It was several weeks after the strange spell had been cast. In that time, Paige had heard, in bits and pieces, what it had been. The Powers That be had ordained that only a whitelighter could close the gates of 'heaven', while a demon could close the gates of 'Hell'. It had been to create balance, and to stop good and evil from wiping each other out.
The ugly demon, Tanius, had come up with a brilliant plan. All demons knew of the Charmed ones, and of the sister who had come when the other had been killed. The half-whitelighter witch, twice cursed for the demons.
The plan was simple, yet genius. A channelling spell, using the magic of witches, would use the white-lighter half of the witch. They could make her shut the gates of Heaven. Amazingly, unbelievably, it had worked.
All the whitelighters were trapped, with only a few remaining on Earth, their powers lost. They were illuminated, easy picking for the darklighters,
There were in the underworld still. Paige felt numb as Tanius stood before the crowd of witches, his face alight with greed. She watched, emotionless, as he sucked the power from them all, glowing with the light of their stolen magic. The magic sunk into his skin, fading as he absorbed it.
Tanius nodded and the rest of the witches were dragged away. He teleported in front of her, ugly teeth bared in a gin. As two of his cronies held her down, he called a glowing brand from the fire. It emerged in his hand from glowing blue sparks.
"The whole of the human race are slaves now, thanks to you. The New World Order begins at dawn tomorrow." He twirled the glowing tip towards her face. Paige saw the triquetra, glowing a rosy pink. Tanius held it in front of her face, the heat scorching the tip of her nose.
"This mark means that, unlike the rest of your kind, you can not be killed. You can, however, be submitted to anything else. Short of removing limbs, of course." He snickered.
"Ans you have no idea how many demons have lost friends, cousins, parents to the Halliwell line. And since you are the last…" The brand was pressed into the skin below her shoulder blade, the flesh bubbling and blistering under the unbearable heat.
Through the pain, she heard his voice, tight with excitement.
"You will pay"
The memories flew fast now, a calioscope of blood and claws. Through the smear, Phoebe saw flashed of painful clarity.
Paige was working for an obesely fat demon, carrying him human limbs on a golden platter. The skin was nearly ripped from her back by his whip…
A demon held her down while another beat her, the second hissing at her with a forked tongue.
"You won't forget what you did to my brother in a hurry, which. You feel this on for the rest of your days"…
Than, at the slave pen. How many demons, how many punishments, she didn't know. She prayed noe that one of them would get careless and kill her accidentally, to free her from the misery that had seeped into flesh, blood, bone. No friendship came from the others. They blamed her for the hell that was reality.
Grayson, the beefy owner of the slave line, held her upright as the demons watched with vengeful eyes. An argument broke out, and she was dropped to the ground. Tears slipped down her cheeks and pooled in the dirt. She vaguely surprised that she could still cry. She thought she had used them up by now.
A silent demon bid three sols for her. The money of the Source, Tanius.
As the cloaked figure was given the rope, Paige understood what hell was.
Phoebe started. She was back in her body. Minas was still there, the silver fire glittering in his palm. He extinguished it quietly, eyes boring into the shell shoked Phoebe. He looked apologetic.
"I am sorry for the suddenness, but I don't have much time. The Source will sense me here."
Phoebe felt her fists clench "Who are you? Why did you show me that…" her voice failed. She glanced sadly at the sleeping Paige, feeling as though someone had torn her heart out. The last fragments of the visions flickered through her mind.
"Piper." She said suddenly. "Is she…."
"No." Minas shook his head. "She is not dead. However, we-"
"'We?'"
"The Avatars. We-"
"Avatars? What-"
"There is not much time." He interrupted hastily. "We don't know where she is. You have to find her." He spoke with a sense of urgency.
"You must understand. The spell Tanius did….We did not understand the effect it would have on this world. Now…." He shook his head despairingly.
"The Avatars have been banished to the ends of the earth. It has cost us greatly to bring you back." He gripped her by the wrist, making her wince. His skin burned as though a fire crackled beneath the skin.
"You have to change this."
"But where is here? Where am I?" Phoebe was nearly crying with frustration.
He stopped suddenly, listening.
"He knows I'm here. I have to go."
"But where am I!"
"Your future."
Then he dissolved into nothing, leaving her alone in the quiet night.
