W.I.T.C.H

Chapter 31

Power Struggle

Orube towered over Will, fist extended and glowing with power. Will shut her eyes and waited for Orube to fire her deadly blast. A few seconds later, however, Will opened her eyes to see a peculiar sight.

The power in Orube's fist had spread throughout the woman's body. Within seconds, she was covered in a golden glow. Although this surprised Will, she was nowhere near as startled as Orube was. The usually calm warrior now had panic written across her face. As the glow covered the last tip of her head, Orube began to scream in pain. Her cries were echoed by those of her teammates, who were in similar situations. One by one, the replacement Guardians were consumed by their power, and dropped to the ground.

"What's happening?" Irma asked, landing next to Will.

"I'm not sure…" Will said.

The five members of W.I.T.C.H grouped together in the center of the sanctuary, surrounded by their writhing replacements. Endarno flew in on his platform.

"Weak!" he said. "Weak fools! I should have known better then to trust them with my goals."

"What did you do Endarno?" Taranee asked.

"You took the Heart." Endarno said. "I had no choice. I did what needed to be done."

"It's their power!" Cornelia said. "Whatever he's using to power them is too much for them to control!"

"And it's killing them!" Hay Lin added, kneeling beside Orube.

"Yes, I believe it is." Endarno said. He had lost his confident demeanor, and was now simply watching with grim curiosity. The Guardians lived, and the elders would soon remove him from power.

"Ah, girls, I think this might be a bigger problem then we think." Taranee said.

"How can it be bigger?" Cornelia asked.

"Well, I don't know what's powering these replacement Guardians, but it's big." Taranee said.

"So?"

"So if I'm analyzing this correctly, and I am, it's going to build to such an extent that it's going to explode."

"That doesn't sound good." Irma said.

"It's not." Taranee replied. "Based on the power source necessary to cause this kind of reaction, best case scenario is the explosion kills everyone in this room."

"That's the best case? What's the worst case?" Hay Lin asked.

"Worst case, the explosion takes out all of Kandrakar, and probably most of the universe too."

Far away from the sanctuary, and oblivious to the drama going on above them, Elyon, Blunk and the Honor Guard continued to move towards the Engine room. Four chambers were behind them, but there was still one that stood in their way.

The nine meridianites cautiously entered the fifth chamber. They had been humbled by the previous challenges, and did not know what to expect in this, the most dangerous chamber of them all.

"Spread out and stay alert." Caleb said, drawing his sword. "Elyon, stay in the middle. We'll protect you."

"No, you won't." Elyon said.

Caleb turned to Elyon and felt his heart drop. Elyon stood in front of him, dead. She still talked, and stood, but she did not breathe. Her skin was pale white and her eyes were empty. Caleb had no time to react.

"You won't save me." Elyon said. "You can't. You led me into danger, and you weren't strong enough to protect me. Now I've paid the price. And it's all your fault."

Caleb tried to respond but no words came. Before he could catch his breath, Elyon disappeared, and was replaced by the Honor Guard. Each of them was dead, just like Elyon.

"You tried your best, but it wasn't good enough." Vathek said.

"There are too many enemies, Caleb. Too many monsters." Drake added.

"Did you really think some silly team could protect you? Could protect us?" said Tynar.

"Face it Caleb, without the Guardians, you're nothing. You're a joke." Raythor said.

"And now, because you couldn't accept that, we're dead. Dead!" His father said.

"No, father, I tried, I really did! I thought this would work! I thought I was strong enough!" Caleb pleaded, but it was no use. The Honor Guard disappeared, just like Elyon. This time, they were replaced by Cornelia, who still looked alive.

"Cornelia! Thank god you're alright!" Caleb said. "I'm sorry…"

"I'm sorry too Caleb." she said. "I'm sorry for making you think that this could ever work, but we both know this is the way it has to be."

"What?" Caleb said.

"We're too different." Cornelia said. "I'm from Earth and you're from Meridian. You're a warrior and I'm just an ordinary girl. Did you really think it would ever work between us?"

"Cornelia, wait! We can still…"

"No, Caleb. I can't wait. Not anymore." Cornelia said, turning away from Caleb. "Goodbye Caleb. Forever."

Perhaps there was a small part of Caleb that knew what was really happening. Perhaps some of him realized that this wasn't real, simply an illusion created by the room. The Chamber of Regret, for that is what it was called, had the power to make all who entered it live their greatest doubts and fears. For Caleb, he doubted he could ever protect those he loved, and he feared that what he had with Cornelia could never last. If there was a part of him that understood what was happening to him, it did not help him. His mind was unable to handle the emotions running through his brain, and he collapsed.

The others, seeing similar visions, followed Caleb to the ground. One by one, they collapsed.

Except for two. Two pairs of hands pushed against the large black door, falling through it and into the Kandrakar core room. They fell to their knees, gasping for breath. When they had regained their strength, Walli and Raythor looked at each other.

"I served Phobos for twenty years." Raythor said, eyeing Walli. "I dedicated my life to him, and was thrown into the abyss of shadows because of it. It took me a year to climb out, and when I did, I found that Phobos had lied to me. I found out that he was not an honorable man, but a petty tyrant. I found out that I had spent twenty years hurting innocents."

"I know." Walli said. "I read you file. Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I've lived all by doubts and fears." Raythor said. "That's why I was able to exit that room. How did you? What have you done that could match that?"

Walli lowered his gaze.

"I've seen things, done things that none of you know about." he said. "Believe me when I say that I have no doubts about who I am. And there is nothing anymore that scares me."

Raythor wanted to ask more questions, but he realized now was not the time. Besides, far be it for him to question others about their past. For now, he would just have to be grateful that he was not alone.

The Guardians stared at the women below them, who would soon explode, killing everyone.

"What do we do now?" Cornelia asked.

"Even if we knew how to stop their power source, I figure there's only about thirty seconds before it's too late." Taranee said.

"Well we have to do something!" Irma said.

"Let's get these people out of here." Hay Lin replied, looking back at the Kandrakar elders.

"Not enough time." Taranee said.

"How much time do you need?" Will asked.

"Will?"

"How much?"

"In a couple minutes we could get everyone out of here and into Meridian." Taranee said.

Will quickly opened a fold to Meridian.

"Do it." She said.

"Will, what are you…"

"There's no time, do it!" Will said.

Taranee sighed and did as she was told. She had an idea what Will's plan was, and as much as she wanted to talk Will out of it, there was no time. When she looked into Will's eyes, she saw no fear, only determination. She turned around, and one by one, the Guardians started filing the elders through the fold and into the Meridian castle.

Will bent down next to the replacement Guardians, and pulled out the Heart. Everyone had told her that she was different, that she was special. Time to find out if they were right. She could tell there wasn't much time left. Orube was doing everything she could to hold in the power, but it was soon going to be to late. Will held the Heart over the replacement Guardians, and slowly began to absorb their power.

Will knew that she would not be strong enough to control all of the power, but that didn't stop her from trying. She was a true Guardian, she thought to herself, she had a Heart. She had more experience with this type of thing. She would be able to last longer. It was excruciating, like trying to hold back a hurricane, but she only needed to do it for a few minutes. Just long enough for her friends to get everyone to safety.

She could feel her control slipping. There wasn't anything anyone could do now. It was too late. She'd gone to far. It was only a matter of seconds before the power would consume her, and she wouldn't need to worry about anything anymore.

For the first time since they had reached the core, Walli and Raythor took a good look at their surroundings. The core was a long, golden cylinder, stretching endlessly, both up and down. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it, and it took a couple of seconds for them to take it in.

"How do we stop this thing?" Raythor asked.

"We contact Yan Lin." Walli said calmly. "She'll know what to do."

"Yan Lin!" Raythor said, remembering. "But the talking stone, Caleb has it!"

Walli reached into his pocket and pulled out a small purple stone.

"I got it off of him in the last chamber, after he had collapsed." Walli said.

"Smart." Raythor replied.

Walli grasped the stone and thought of Yan Lin. Far away from the chamber, elder Yan Lin held her talking stone and listened carefully.

"Yan Lin, can you hear me?" came Walli's voice through the stone. "It is Walli. Raythor and I are at the core."

"Only you and Raythor?" Yan Lin asked. "Where are the others?"

"They did not make it through the last chamber." Walli replied.

"About that," Raythor said. "They're going to be alright, right?"

"Yes, Raythor, they should be fine." Yan Lin reassured.

"What about you?" Raythor asked. "Last time we saw you, there were two elders spoiling for a fight."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them." Yan Lin said with a smile. She glanced back at the two unconscious bodies behind her.

"What did you do to them?" Walli asked.

"Let's just say, once a Guardian, always a Guardian." Yan Lin replied.

"Speaking of Gaurdians, how do we save them?" Raythor asked.

"Look to your left." Yan Lin said. "There should be a small control panel."

Walli turned and found it.

"Your definition of small is much different then mine." Raythor said, staring at the panel.

Thousands of buttons lined the panel's surface, each one a different color, and each one with a different symbol.

"Press the access button." Yan Lin said.

"Ummmm…" Raythor replied, staring at the buttons.

"The green one with the symbol that looks like a tree wearing a top hat."

Walli quickly located the button and pressed it. Slowly, Yan Lin walked Walli through the process of shutting down the connection between the new Gaurdians and the Engine. It was painfully difficult to figure out Yan Lin's instructions.

"I hope they're not in a rush up there." Raythor said. "This is taking forever."

"Just one more button." Yan Lin said. "Red and white, with three upside down triangles. Once you press that, the connection should be broken."

"Should?" Walli asked.

"Well I've never done this before, but if it's anything like other Kandrakarian panels, this should be how it works." Yan Lin said.

"And if it isn't?" Walli asked.

"Oh, just hurry up!" Raythor said. Then he leaned over and pushed the button.

Raythor wasn't exactly sure what he expected to happen, but it didn't happen. There were no bright lights, no special effects, nothing. Everything remained exactly the same as it had before.

"Yan Lin?" Walli said. "Did we do it right?"

"I don't know." Yan Lin said. "Either it worked, and the Guardians are saved, or it didn't work, and we only have a few seconds to live. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Oh." Walli said.

Then he sat down and waited.