Chapter Forty Six: Unexpected Consequences

There were volcanoes in all directions although none of them were close enough to be threatening. But they were all steadily spewing out smoke, noxious gasses, volcanic ash and lava. A continuous rain of volcanic debris fell from the almost pitch black sky. The atmosphere was hot, fiercely hot and scarcely breathable. It was a good job that Tara was better equipped to survive in such conditions than most normal Earth humans.

The atmosphere, quite awful from a human perspective, was just perfect for the creatures that inhabited the place. A group of dragons soared on high, only visible from below because of their great size and the periodic blasts of fire that they sent at one another in the course of their own private conflicts.

There were creatures on the ground as well, dark and hard to see creatures that seemed to be perfectly at home grazing on something hidden on the ground beneath the layers of ash which covered the lower parts of their bodies. They might have had four legs but the legs were not visible.

Exactly what they were, Tara did not know and she had no interest in finding out. If this was the Earth there would be predators to eat the grazers but thankfully, so far there was no sign of any such creatures.

Hopefully this latest hell dimension would be behind her before she had time to find out anything more about the inhabitants. Tara intended to leave as quickly as possible, just as she had left all of the other hells she had visited.

The ground began shaking, but not strongly enough to make Tara fall over. It caused no alarm amongst the local denizens so Tara assumed that it was a perfectly normal occurrence. She knew that volcanoes on Earth were often associated with earthquakes so she assumed that the same thing applied in this place.

Tara found that her latest orb had brought her to a spot where the fallen volcanic ash came up to her knees. She thought about moving to a nearby windswept rock outcrop which stood out above the surrounding area and was largely clear of ash. But she decided against it. So far the local creatures had all ignored her. She wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Standing up there might attract attention from creatures she would rather avoid.

But there was one local creature she wanted to see thought Tara as she looked all around her. Jasmine had agreed to arrange for local guides to meet Tara on arrival at each new hell dimension, to make sure that she moved on to the correct dimension in the sequence. So far this had worked exactly as arranged and Tara had been able to move onto the next dimension each time, hopefully getting nearer and nearer to Kallistien.

But now for the first time there was no guide waiting for her. The last of the weird creatures who had acted as her guides had not lingered after leaving her in her present location. It had immediately returned to its own world. Now Tara had to decide whether to risk waiting or whether to try to make her own way towards her destination.

Rather than just stand around doing nothing Tara extended her senses. Could she be close enough to Kallistien to sense it from her present location? Were Willow or Cordelia near enough to be detected? Was it possible that she was now just one orb away from where she needed to be? This was an underworld so it was connected to some sort of overworld. Could it be connected to Kallistien? And if it was would she be able to detect it?

Tara's mental searching latched onto something, a presence, a far distant but somewhat familiar presence. As she continued to try to concentrate on what it was she was detecting, she was distracted by a movement close to her. The local inhabitants were becoming aware of her and were moving towards her. It would be a big risk if she just orbed away into the unknown, but the risk of staying put for much longer was increasing all the time and there was still no sign of a local guide.

It was becoming clearer and clearer that no guide was coming. Something had gone wrong. Either that or she had been betrayed and abandoned. Would Jasmine have done that after arranging for guides to take her this far towards Kallistien? But had she really travelled towards Kallistien at all? Perhaps she was further away than ever. Was Jasmine simply playing a game?

No, that made no sense. If Jasmine had intended to betray her she could have done it many worlds ago. Jasmine had built up contacts with other hell dimensions but she had told Tara herself that her connections could take Tara only so far. Anyway if she was on completely the wrong track why would she be able to detect that familiar presence, whatever it was?

Tara knew that if she didn't leave the hell dimension soon she'd have to deal with the creatures which were now slowly moving to surround her. Individually they did not look to be very formidable but if they all attacked together she doubted that she could fight them off for long.

Tara concentrated once again on the far distant but familiar presence that she had detected. Or rather she concentrated as much as she could, bearing in mind the distractions around her. She now thought she knew who it wasn't but she still didn't know who or what it was. Could it be a trap? Trust nobody and nothing in a hell dimension had been Leo's advice. Good advice, but it could only take you so far.

Normally Tara, as a Whitelighter, was limited in whom she could detect from afar. In most circumstance she could detect the presence of the witches in her charge, such as Willow and Cordelia and orb straight to wherever they were on Earth. But for other humans she was more restricted. She knew she wasn't detecting Willow or Cordy, nor was it Anya or Amy. In fact Tara didn't think it was a witch at all. But who was it?

Tara's decided she had no choice but to orb directly to whomever it was that she was picking up. Whoever it was they were a very long way away and in a different dimension. It seemed to be another hell dimension, which was odd since she hadn't thought her senses could detect anything that far removed. She didn't even know whether she could orb that far but she did know she had to try.

Two of the demonic creatures suddenly leapt towards Tara at the same time. Although apparently acting independently the creatures had been working as a team and communicating with each other. But as they landed on their objective there was nobody there. Tara had orbed away.

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In the basement of the mansion the three witch sisters stood holding hands and concentrating on the Key. They were carrying out a Power of Three spell aimed at focusing and directing the power of the Key.

Nobody knew for sure but everybody suspected that the power of the Key was building up and up to some sort of climax. The aim of the sisters was to defuse the situation by sending the power out and away from the building before anything bad happened.

As the sisters completed their spell they stood back and watched as the power from the Key swept up and through the ceiling above, into the rest of the building. The bright glowing greenness took the shape of an expanding funnel as it rose upwards from where the Key was being held by Glory and Lissie.

As the power surged out from the basement it spread out laterally along the ground and upwards through the roof. It then continued to expand beyond the mansion. By the time it reached the outside it was no longer visible except to those with a great deal of magic power.

It was the invisible wall formed by this expanding force which met the incoming Jaffa shuttles and destroyed them, although this had not been the intention of the sisters. The power had not destroyed the mansion or the Kallistians in and around it but it reacted strongly to destroy the Jaffa attack force. The sisters had intended to direct the power of the Key in such a way as to expel the Goa'uld and their forces from the planet without bloodshed.

"Well something's happening out there. We're not being shaken up by any more bombing runs," said Daniel who had stood with Faith at the other end of the room watching what was being done. "You might just have stopped that attack. Is that all it takes to get rid of the Goa'uld? Three women chanting a verse of poetry and waving their hands about? All these years I've been reading the wrong books."

"Not just any three women," said Faith. "Three very powerful witches, plus all the power of the Key. You need more that a spell book. I don't think you can be a strong witch unless you're born a witch. The Halliwells, Tara, Amy, they all come from families of witches. Although come to think of it Willow and Cordy don't. Not as far as I know."

"Something in the genes perhaps," suggested Daniel. Faith shrugged.

As the affects of the spell continued the only thing to change in the basement was that the bright green glow around the Key continued to grow in intensity, so much so that everybody in the room had to shield their eyes. It was now pretty well impossible to see Glory and Lissie at the center of the bright green glare.

"If this glow continues to grow any more intense we'll have to get out of here," said Daniel. "Do you think this will really get rid of the Goa'uld and if so how long do you think it'll take?"

"Don't ask me," said Faith. "You now know as much as I do about magic. If you want to know any more you'd better go over there and talk to the experts."

"You couldn't know less than me," said Daniel. "I didn't know about vampires and slayers until I met you people." Of course if this works our next problem will be getting hold of the Key back in the future he thought. Or can we take it with us when we return?

Suddenly there was movement from within the green glow and Glory appeared. As she did so the glow from the Key began to diminish. She staggered forward and then sank to the floor. She no longer had her hand on the Key. That had presumably been left behind at the center of the glow with Lissie. Paige rushed over to Glory to see if she was alright.

"What have you done?" gasped Glory as she sat up and looked around to see what was happening. "What did you think you were doing? This is all wrong. It shouldn't be like this."

But it was like this and no power on Kallistien could change it. Outside the building the shell of force coming from the Key and set in motion by the witch sisters continued to expand. It had passed the point where it provided a physical barrier, so there were no more smashed shuttles or smashed people inside them but the force continued to cause the changes intended by Prue and her sisters.

Across the countryside, through the villages, through the towns and cities and across the oceans. The power was now moving so fast that nobody saw it coming and nobody noticed it go by, but after it had passed things were no longer the same.

All over the planet the Jaffa and everybody serving the Goa'uld felt a sudden panic come over them. It affected the Goa'uld themselves, those who were on the planet. It had no affect on the native population but all of the off-worlders felt an urge to leave the planet and go home. They simply had to leave and the sooner the better. Jaffa rushed to the nearest shuttles and the nearest transportation points, all other activities and duties forgotten.

Up in space the ships of the Goa'uld fleet had not yet been affected. The crews of the ships realised that something strange was happening but they could get no clear picture of what it was from the people leaving the planet. As Jaffa transported aboard the ships they were questioned about what was going on and why they were acting without orders but nobody could give a sensible answer. They just knew they had to get away from Kallistien and the quicker the better.

Not every offworlder was quick enough to get aboard the shuttles or in a position to use a transporter. But there was an operating Stargate on the planet. The same Stargate that would in later years be set up in the capital city. Every offworlder who could find no other way to leave, headed for the Stargate and left that way. This Stargate would no longer provide an point of access to Kallistien until the protection provided by the Key was no longer in place.

Down on the planet the power continued to rush forward until it finally completed its coverage of the planet and met itself. By now all of the Goa'uld and Jaffa on the planet had been affected. All of them had now left Kallistien or were making urgent arrangements to do so. But the job of the spell and the power of the Key had not yet completed the task that had been assigned to it.

The shell of force was no longer centred on the building containing the Key. Now it was centred on the planet itself and it continued to expand. It moved up from the surface towards the orbiting ships. Meanwhile on board those ships the initial confusion was settling down into something more sinister.

Mitra, the Goa'uld lord, had not been affected by what had happened. He had been aboard his flagship directing the suppression of the rebellion on the planet below. From the reports reaching him, confused as they were, something serious had happened. Undoubtedly it was something that had been done by the rebels and their witches.

Mitra realised that he had to act quickly. If he could not take control of the planet as it was he would take what was left after most of it had been destroyed. He issued orders to his ships. What he wanted was for all of the major population centers to be destroyed. That way he would be certain of killing most of the rebels and witches. He also ordered that all other known centers of resistance be obliterated from space.

But the shell of force continued to expand from the planet, up into the atmosphere and beyond. Before Mitra's latest orders could be put into effect it became clear that the confusion was still spreading. Ships in lower orbits were now heading away from the planet in all directions and without orders. They weren't just leaving the planet, they were heading out of the system at maximum speed. Nobody had yet launched an attack against the planet.

"What's happening!" demanded the Goa'uld lord of the advisors and commanders gathered around him. "What's causing this?"

"Our instruments say a wave of force of unknown type is coming at us from the planet," said the chief technician from his control seat. "It'll be here in a couple of minutes."

"Can you identify the point of origin?" asked Mitra.

"Yes, we think it's in the Eastern..." began the technician.

"Don't explain, just obliterate it. Fire everything we've got at that point," ordered Mitra. "And then get away from the planet as fast as you can. We can come back later when this force has dissipated."

But it was too late for the ship to get up to sufficient speed to avoid being engulfed by the approaching wave of force. As the ship sped away from the planet in company with those ships which had not already left, they were overtaken by the Power of the Key, a power that would make sure there was no return. A Power that would remove all knowledge of the witch planet from the Goa'uld and their record banks and keep the planet hidden for many years to come.

As the power continued to expand it reached the limits of the Kallistian solar system and stopped. To anybody looking towards the Kallistian sun from outside the system there was still a sun to be seen but no planets could be detected within that system.

Light was still on the way from the Kallistien sun towards the surrounding stars. That couldn't be altered since the light had been leaving the sun for millions of years and couldn't be called back. But anybody approaching the sun would see a system without planets. The system would seem to be empty and therefore not suitable for the attention of any would-be conquerors like the Goa'uld. This concealment and the blocking off of the Stargate would keep Kallistien hidden until the barrier established by the Key faded or was removed.

But Mitra's final orders had been carried out before the last of the ships left. Now there were missiles heading towards the house containing the Key. They had passed through the rising wave of force without being affected. The force was no longer a physical barrier. Since there was nobody aboard the missiles they were not diverted into space like the manned spaceships. There was nobody onboard to be affected by the panic now shared by everybody in the Goa'uld fleet.

Inside the house the bright glow from the Key had continued to fade. Prue looked at her sisters and saw that they all wanted the answer to the same question. Had it worked? Had the Goa'uld and all their forces been expelled from Kallistien? As the sisters exchanged glances Paige was the first to break the silence.

"Is that it, have the Goa'uld all gone? Has the Key been shut down?" she asked.

"You've driven them all away," said Glory, who had now recovered somewhat and got back to her feet. "But you haven't destroyed them. They'll be back."

"Yes, but not for a very long time," said Prue. "Not for centuries. And when they do come back we'll be there to deal with them. And they'll be a few others along to help us including our other sister."

"But you've changed everything," said Glory. "How do you know things will be the same? You might not even exist in the future."

"Well there's the finger in the river theory that says..." began Daniel but he was interrupted; what seemed to be an earthquake was now in progress.

"Power! You must be able to feel it?" Glory asked Prue. "It's coming up from below, way below. You've shaken something up down there, something dark."

"I can feel it," said Paige. "What is it?"

"You used the Key," said Glory. "The Key's got a lot of power of its own but if you went beyond that it would have taken power from wherever it could find it. It's drawn power up from below. Now you've got to face the consequences. We've all got to face the consequences."

"Talking of the Key where did it go?" asked Piper. "And what happened to Lissie?" The green glow of the Key had now faded to a point where everybody could see that there was no longer anything there, no Key and no Keeper.

Nobody had an answer to Piper's question and now the shaking of the building became more severe. The floor in the center of the room slowly rose up a little causing everybody to step back away towards the walls and hold onto them for support. As the floor buckled upwards the outline of a vaguely hexagonal shape became visible.

"Power from below?" asked Faith. "I don't like the sound of that. Could that be the entrance to another Hellmouth?" she asked indicating the shape on the floor.

"Hellmouth?" asked Daniel. "Another Hellmouth! What's a Hellmouth?"

"Now see what you've done," said Glory. "One of the main uses of the Key is to open up portals to other realms. That's what's happened. The things that can come out of there could destroy this world. You fools! Why couldn't you leave things alone?"

At that moment the Goa'uld missiles arrived.