Chapter Twenty
The Banished Pantheon

'You're everywhere.
You're in the hearts of little children, in the souls of the rich,
you're the fire that makes people kill and hate,
the cleansing fire that will cure the world of weakness.'

The First Evil

The World trembled, the power upon it almost more than it could take. While Magearth was used to ancient threats upon its soil, the Old Ones, the magical demons, even members of the Pantheon sealed away during the Original Betrayal. However, it had never encountered the combined magical weight of the Heartless, the Old Ones, the Banished Pantheon, the Charmed Ones and the Crest Holders. The magical power was concentrating upon one spot, which was made more difficult by the presence of the world's oldest Hellmouth. The World rarely, if ever, needed to act to save itself, but lately, it had happened too often. It began moving its magic, shifting the energy away from its Gods, the Elders, to one of its oldest children, the continent known as Australia.

The heavens had been torn open by the power of the Crest of Friendship, the rain beat down, drenching the earth below it. Meta, one of the last remaining members of the Banished Pantheon, looked down with distaste upon the individuals before her. Her greatest worry was the white blade before her, its power enough to destroy her. The child who wielded it was an unknown factor, his power undetectable. To test him, she sent a bolt of fire at him, her anger barely detectable as her bolt was snuffed out by the power of a young girl witch. That had been her warning shot.

From behind her, Mai heard the familiar jingle of orbs sounding behind her. Turning slightly, keeping her attention upon the... whatever she was... before her, he eyed the newcomer. He had brown hair, but beyond that, the rain was too heavy to make out his features.

"Don't look in her eyes!" He called. "She has the power to turn you to stone!"

"Not a worry." Mai muttered. The rain had this one boon, however, it obscured everyone's vision. Their numbers had thinned, until it was herself, her younger sister, Piper Halliwell, the red-headed Willow and a young blonde boy with a sword. The rest had disappeared; apparently confident those left behind could take on this creature, or in fear. Her own brother had gone with the group, along with Paige Matthews, to Halliwell Manor.

The two opposing forces were waiting for the other to make the first move, she noted coolly. Whatever the woman was, she had fired a warning shot, Mai could play at that game too. Raising her hand, a circle of fire surrounded the woman. One second later, it died, Mai's power crushed under foot.

This broke the stand-off. Fire leaped from Meta's eyes to consume Willow. Link jumped in the way of the flames, the Master Sword before him. As the flames passed by the Sword, it was drawn into the blade, absorbing the mass of flames. The blade continued in movement, sweeping around until the tip pointed at Meta, a huge ball of flame ejecting from the end of the blade, mirrored back at its originator.

Willow dodged to the left as Link jumped in front of her. Her eyes darkened slightly, the roots of her turning a vivid shade of black. While the fireball leaped from the Master Sword, a crackling snap of energy combined with the fireball, doubling its size and turning it a sickly green colour. Meta simply looked at the fireball as it came back, turning to the side and letting the ball go past her to explode upon an old oak.

Around the edge of the park, people were fleeing the battlefield while certain, less intelligent people came for a closer look. These would find their way impaired as the earth rose up, forming stony barriers that were impassable to any normal person as Mai's mother entered the battle. Jane Davidson, a witch with power over the earth and winds, walked up to add her power to the group defying Meta.

Looking at the people before her, Meta realised she may be outmatched. She began spinning rapidly, turning into a funnel of wind. Twisting her hand, Jane reversed the flow of the funnel, forcing the winds to reject Meta. Caught by surprise, Meta landed in a heap on the ground, quickly getting to her feet, again attempting to destroy someone through the flames from her eyes. Moving in, Link blocked the flames once more, saving the fire rather than expelling it once more. An explosion impacted upon Meta's chest, making her flinch away. Piper arched an eyebrow, unused to not doing much damage. Giving a shrug, she flicked her hands once, more, attacking Meta again and again.

Looking around, Willow frowned as her magical senses tingled. Closing her eyes, she silently cast a spell upon them. Opening her eyes, she found energy rippling from the ground. Looking down at the ground, she saw energy almost leaping from the ground. Frowning, she blinked in surprise. 'There's such an abundance of magic here. Why?' Looking up at Meta, Willow's eyes narrowed as she realise the sheer level of energy the Titan held by her own. 'We don't seem to be matching her, but how can we shift that?'

Fighting past the fiery bolts aimed at him, Link drew closer to Meta, the Master Sword drawing in more and more energy. Meta's attacks became more and more frantic as Link came closer, eventually unleashing a massive ball of fire at the boy. Unprepared for it, it smacked Link directly in the torso. Meta's triumphant smirk changed to a shriek of rage as the flames sunk into Link's body, having no effect whatsoever. Ignoring the explosions that Piper kept turning against her, Meta gasped as the Master Sword lashed down, cutting across her stomach. The fabric of her tunic split, but otherwise, Meta was unharmed. Raising her eyebrow, Meta's smirk returned. While she didn't seem to be able to hurt the boy, neither could he hurt her.

Willow watched the exchange with quick eyes, her mind flashing forward to piece together the plans. Jane and Mai were keeping the other humans away from the battlefield, while the boy who had done that odd form of teleportation was simply standing there, seeming to hold his breath. The earth buzzed with power again, and suddenly, Willow knew what to do.

"Piper!" She called. As one, the woman and the boy behind her turned to look at Willow. Getting to her feet, Willow dragged a column of power from the earth, throwing it at Piper. "Use your powers now!"

Gasping from the onrush of power, Piper shuddered. Ignoring Piper's issues to deal with the power, Willow drew more and more power from the earth to bolster Piper's powers. Forcing the power added to hers to obey her, Piper turned around, looking directly at Meta, who was distracted by Link. Raising her hands, she flicked them forward. Her powers, while powerful before, now knew no bounds. Her magic impacted upon Meta, who gave a shriek of pain, before her body was consumed by flames. They spread outwards in a slowly growing explosion, consuming Link and moved on, grasping for more to consume and eat. However, the flames suddenly shrank inwards as they were about to reach Piper, who was frantically trying to freeze them. With a small 'pop', the fire disappeared, absorbed into the figure of Link and the Master Sword.

Plainly happy with himself, Link twirled the blade, and then let it shimmer out of existence. For now, the battle was won.

Her eyes dulled from a vivid purple to their normal blue colour, Zelda blinked, her vision of the battle that had taken place fading. Giving a satisfied smile, she turned, looking at the fallen form of Sam who was unconscious upon one of the many lounges within Halliwell Manor. Holding her hands over Sam's shoulder, Kairi frowned. Sweat was gathered across her brow as she attempted to heal the damage Meta had caused to Sam. The hole that the fire had burned through Sam's shoulder was glowing brightly, widening and then closing as Kairi's magic fought Meta's.

"Here." Zelda placed her hands over Kairi's. A thread of black light joined the wave of pink pooling into Sam's wound. "The wound was caused by a power almost as old as the Universal Gods. Understandably, it will require some time before you grow powerful enough to combat it by yourself."

Watching the two girls with a confused look upon her face, Paige cocked her head. "Um, can I ask something? What is your accent? It doesn't sound like anything I have ever heard before."

Zelda raised her hands as Sam's wound fully closed over. "I originate from another world, Paige. I do not naturally speak English, however, the powers that we possess,' She waved her hand to include Sam, Kairi, Matt and the others. 'grant the ability, among others, to speak any language we encounter."

Matt frowned. "What, wait, you said I had something before too. What is it that I have?"

His younger sister sighed, flipping her hair. "Yes, yes, what special destiny does Matt have now?"

Zelda met Megan's eyes directly. "You would be wise to be more tolerant, Megan." Settling herself gracefully upon a seat, Zelda cleared her throat. "In recent years, there has been a recent rising in the numbers of the Heartless, creatures born from the darkness within people's hearts. This is a direct result of the deaths of the Keyblade Masters during the Keyblade Wars. Sora, 'She nodded to the boy as he walked into the room, freezing as he heard his name. 'has slated this influx somewhat, however there still exists a large imbalance between the forces of Darkness and Light. We have been charged to fix that." Raising her hand, she drew a vertical line, with a small line sticking out at 45 degree angle to the right, creating a tick. Above this, she placed a small circle. "To aid us, we were given these, the Crests of the Light. I have been charged with the power of the Crest of Knowledge, which allows me access to all information which has been revealed in the past." She paused a moment, looking at Matt. "You contain the power of the Crest of Hope, with omnipotent powers over Lightning and Electricity."

"Of course." Megan muttered.

Looking back at Megan, Zelda quirked her mouth. "You, however, are a conundrum."

"Why?" Megan demanded hotly.

Zelda raised a finger. "Allow Paige to bring the others, and I will explain then."

"What?" Paige asked. A suddenly, soft jingle filled the air, making Paige look up. "Piper is calling. Excuse me." She abruptly exploded into a flurry of white and blue orbs, disappearing through the ceiling.

Giving a soft moan, Sam's eyes fluttered open. "Ow." He said weakly. "What did I get hit by this time?"

"Fireball." Kairi supplied perkily.

Sam stared at her in confusion. "I got hit by a fireball."

"Yes."

"As in, a ball of fire?"

"Yes."

Sam stared for a moment longer, before lying back down again. "Ok. I'm just gonna lie here for a while… Let me know when we're done saving the Universe."