Chapter 19 - Two Reach a Crossroads

Upon her entry into the pavilion, Bloom was met with blinding darkness. The sudden loss of her sight unnerved her, but she immediately fought off the idea of turning herself around and running out. She doubted she could escape anyway; the compelling urge to keep going forward was still at work on her. Just standing still in one place took up much of her willpower and waning strength. So with a calming breath, she took cautious steps into the open space beyond, hoping she wouldn't run into something terrifying hidden by the gloom. "Hello?" she ventured meekly, "Is there anybody in here?"

An overwhelming droning answered her, the pressure of the darkness vacillating from weightless to heavy. Black and white visions danced across her vision and she almost shouted in surprise. The visions were of her and her life, every precious moment, every unique thought. The droning was actually an onslaught of voices and sounds that had been significant to her. She barely distinguished the sound of motherly Miriam singing to her, the soothing tones from a comforting Vanessa, the tenor- voice of her Sky. But at the same time she could picture the taunts of the Trix, feel Darkar's subjugating powers, and hear Baltor's haunting laugh. Hearing and seeing everything that comprised her life all at once was the most surreal thing she'd ever experienced.

But the experience was short-lived. A commanding voice dashed the assault of memories and brought Bloom back into the present situation. "Princess Bloom of Domino I presume?" questioned the irked voice from the darkness. "Come forward."

Bloom didn't move forward. The voice's tone of annoyance made her nervous. She squinted into the black, trying to identify the voice's source. "You must be the judges of the deceased. I suppose you're going to judge me? For what I haven't done?" she questioned.

"Rarely do the souls of the deceased question the interrogators. Come forth." another voice said, sounding less commanding and more curious. But his gentle curiosity also gave Bloom a heady sense of wariness. "Allow us to review your case…" urged the curious one.

"My case… you mean my lifetime…" Bloom muttered. She then sighed resignedly and stepped forward. As she did so, the pressure began to build up again and Bloom gritted her teeth. Voices she didn't recognize began to filter in and out of the silence, their words inaudible. The darkness seemed only to become more dense and foreboding. But Bloom was compelled to walk and walk… "How much further do I go until I walk into a wall?" she asked, irritated.

"Halt." stated the harsher, commanding voice. The voices grew louder and Bloom could sense her unseen judges stirring. "You're… you're…"

"Is this truly happening? Is a living being standing in our court?" questioned Curious. The babbling voices beyond the darkness swelled in volume as he posed his questions. "Such an ordeal hasn't been so in thousands of years. But she's fading see!"

"What in the name of Hades is this?" mused the commanding tone. "The gods certainly do know how to shake up my court hearings, don't they?"

"We cannot judge those who aren't dead. Their judgment is not within our jurisdiction, the intact souls of the living aren't our charges… but she isn't technically alive either. She's partly corporeal, but as we speak we see her essence is breaking down. Do you see her arms?" Curious sounded greatly intrigued by Bloom. Bloom self-consciously ran her hands over her fading arms when he noticed her predicament. "What do you suppose Hades would have us do, Minos?" Curious asked.

"Quiet Rhadamanthus." Minos answered. "Aeacus? How would you handle this?"

A third presence that hadn't made itself known answered, "She's not panicking like the rest of the souls we encounter. She's not pleading for another chance. Why aren't you begging us for your life?" Aeacus asked calmly.

Bloom stared straight ahead into the darkness feeling as though there were some invisible barrier mere centimeters from her nose. Several moments passed before she realized she'd been addressed. "Well… I-I…"

"We don't ever address the souls. They don't have emotional or mental stability enough to offer an answer. Even if they did they'd lie out of their own sense of self-preservation. Only the aspects of life can be read to reveal the true nature of an individual's life. Perhaps her life wasn't worth living? Where are her aspects? Where is her strand of fate? Bring them to me!" Minos snapped to whatever unseen servants were lurking in the darkness.

"None of the aspects were given to us, brother. Fate hasn't been reported to have cut the thread yet, either." said Rhadamanthus.

"Then she isn't physically dead yet. Her spirit is still clinging to her body, which lives, and the life she'd been leading, which has ended." mused Aeacus. "This most certainly is a unique situation…"

"Unique situation or not, the living don't just wander into the judgment zones!" Minos sputtered, cutting off Aeacus' musings. "Nor is this a curious situation. Obviously some demented higher power dares to mock the sacred duties of those who handle the fates of the dead! What power or deity dares to meddle in Death's affairs?"

"Whoah! Okay!" Bloom interjected fiercely. "I'm not someone's attempt to mocking your 'sacred duties'!" She felt a sudden wave of ferocious anger swell over her and she shrunk back slightly. "At least I hope not… I believe I'm here to be judged for what I haven't done."

"What are you going on about?" Minos growled. "Be judged for what you haven't done? Our decisions are based on your actions that were carried out through life. We don't go by hypothetical situations that could or could have occurred. That'd be judging life worth by mere speculation!"

"But if all this isn't because I couldn't destroy Baltor, then why the hell was I dragged from Domino to stand in that horribly depressing line!" Bloom screamed indignantly. She ignored the waves of rage the judges were giving off and buried her face in her hands. "I'm alive, but I'm fading… therefore I'm dying, but I'm in the line of deceased souls… and I've done nothing wrong or right, but I'm being judged anyway… I need an answer! I need absolution! Give me a definite answer! What is happening to me!?"

"Enough!" Minos roared. "No one speaks out before the judges of the dead with such insolence!"

"Well as my father would say, 'Nobody mistreats a princess of Domino!'" Bloom retaliated before suddenly realizing the consequences of talking back. She reeled in her anger and focused on trying to reason with Minos, "If there's no purpose for my being here, let me leave!"

Apparently her back talk had been the final straw for the judge of the dead. The rage was roiling with obvious hints of hatred. "You're going to toil and despair for eons in the Fields of Punishment, princess! See you talk of mistreatment now!" Minos snarled.

"Minos!" Rhadamanthus spoke up, "Cease! Hold your tongue! We're fair judges who must remain impartial and unbiased… don't allow your personal feelings…"

"Quiet Rhadamanthus! Dirae!" Minos shouted.

Bloom felt the air around her grow unbearably heavy. She clutched her chest and closed her eyes tightly as pain clawed over her arms and legs. The voices she'd heard earlier became horrible, high pitched screeches that made her ears ring painfully. Her vision flashed from fiery red to the darkest of blacks and her mind scrambled to process it all. Bloom's mouth opened to scream, but instead she uttered one word, "Damn…"

"That's right… you've been damned…" sneered Minos' voice above the cacophony of the screeching. "Take her… wait… what…"

The flashing before her eyes ceased and she was left blind with darkness. The pain faded from her and she felt a nothingness unlike anything possible. The screeches and voices of the judges all ceased and the immediate silence was practically deafening. The sudden lifting of weight was too much for Bloom and she fell to her knees, her mind reeling. Slowly she opened her eyes to nothing and took a small shaky breath, "Damn…"

"Kerrin! Kerrin, no!" Aetheria cried out once they'd crossed the light/shadow boundary. As her eyes adjusted to the onset gloom of the cavern before her, Layla caught sight of a startled Diaspro scrambling to her feet and running like hell into the darkness. Where she'd been kneeling lay the motionless body of the Eternal Fairy of Darkness. Kerrin was propped up against the wall, her complexion unnaturally pale and her eyes closed. The shock was unanimous amongst the group members. Nobody moved as Aetheria ran across the cavern and threw herself down next to the unmoving body. "No… no no…"

After the initial shock, the reactions of the group began to differentiate. Layla watched as Flora covered her mouth with her hand and buried her face in Helia's chest. Musa and Riven shared a grim look and remained quiet. Stella's eyes watered slightly and Brandon took her hand into his. Both Timmy and Tecna tried their hardest not to focus on the depressing scene before them. Roxy looked absolutely mollified and stood staring with an open mouth. Sky and Eilian both remained emotionless and crossed their arms. It was interesting to note everyone's feelings about what had happened.

Meira, like Aetheria, looked disheartened. "Aetheria…" Meira called out, her own sadness heavy in her tone. She slowly strode over to Aetheria's quivering, hunched form. "Aetheria, stop. She's gone…"

"But you're all the Eternal fairies for a reason… dying isn't one…" Stella started then stopped as Eilian gave her a dour look. She frowned and looked away from Eilian, but Layla could see in her eyes that her confusion still at work. "Eternal means forever…"

"Not for us… the servants. In this case, eternal is describing the ideality the gods wished for the aspects we protect…" Meira stepped closer to the shivering Aetheria and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She cast a glance back at Layla. "We ourselves remain timeless, yes. But invulnerable… no. Any severe injuries we sustain can render us mortal so that we too may fall to Death's clutches. As Kerrin has…" her voice trailed off.

""They're killing now…" Sky noted astutely, cutting into the somberness that had overcome them all. Layla glanced at him and saw he bore a cold expression; he was seemingly unmoved by the scene before them and disinterested in the mortality of their supposedly great allies. His self-appointed responsibility toward Bloom obviously outweighed his respect for the deceased. "What does that mean?" he asked, not even glancing at the still warm corpse before them.

It was Eilian who answered him. "It means time is running out and they've noticed it. They're going to take on anything in their way with brute force. Persistence will result in annihilation." Eilian swiped her hand through the air and drew out her scythe, her gray eyes suddenly cold and steely. She too appeared impassive about Kerrin's demise; rather she looked anxious to move onward. Layla suddenly realized that only Meira and Aetheria seemed to care about Kerrin's death. Eilian was probably still peeved about Kerrin's hiding the location of the Dais; her grudge was just as strong as Sky's sense of responsibility. "We must pursue them. We'll mourn our fallen comrade later. Kerrin would want us to move forward." Eilian urged Aetheria.

Aetheria's shoulders shook harder with silent sobs, but she made no effort to remove herself from Kerrin's side. She just clung to Kerrin's lifeless hand, as if letting go would mean losing her forever. Meira squeezed her shoulder sympathetically and looked up at Eilian, her sad, intelligent eyes looking darker all of a sudden. "Memories have oddly remained intact… did you notice?" she asked quietly.

Layla watched Eilian's anxiety morph suddenly into curiosity as she considered Meira's perception. She cast another glance at Kerrin's still form; Layla could see her eyes surveying Kerrin's person, searching for some kind of sign. Her eyes sparked when she finally noticed something and she returned her focus on Meira. "Her pendant is gone… it ought to still be on her person… unless…" Eilian's eyes widened then grew stormy as she seemed to get angrier; her flawless face became tense with an expression of horror. "No!"

With a frown, Layla forced herself to look upon the deceased fairy again. "Is that important? Will it have an impact on our objective?" she asked, her mind struggling to make the connections the Eternal fairies had made impossibly fast. "Memories? Is all of this even relevant anymore or are you girls on a whole new book?"

Meira nodded slowly, her gesture an infuriatingly vague answer to Layla's barrage of questions. Layla was about to grill her some more, but Meira spoke up instead. "Eilian's right. Kerrin's death will not be in vain. We're running out of time now. Let's keep moving… it won't be long before Baltor reaches the Dais." Meira turned on her heel, her white robe swirling about her as she did so.

"Wait, what do you mean about memories?" Layla grabbed Meira by the arm. She caught sight of Meira's slightly worried and confused expression and a thought dawned on her. "Are our memories supposed to be gone?"

"We don't have the time, Layla." Eilian motioned toward the abundant darkness ahead. "We need to go after them before they annihilate Bloom."

Meira gave Layla an odd look before breaking free of her grip and dashing ahead into the darkness. Eilian followed her and the guys and the girls did the same. Layla was about to follow suit, but she hesitated and looked down at Aetheria, who was still stroking Kerrin's limp hand. "She did try to help in the end. In her own way she tried to stop them. By not helping us she was keeping the Dais' location secret to all…" Layla offered the words, trying to condole the distraught Eternal Fairy. She knelt down next to Aetheria. "She did the right thing. She did what she could. But what she did wasn't enough. Aetheria, we need your help. Kerrin would want you to help us stop Diaspro and Baltor."

Without so much as a sob, Aetheria carefully set Kerrin's hand down and stood up. Then she faced Layla, regarding her with such a serious expression Layla felt the enormity of Bloom's situation slip a couple notches in priority. "The darkness is what binds us all together. The darkness holds the unknown, sparks the imagination, embodies the idea of nothingness…" She walked past Layla toward the darkness the others had entered. Slowly she reached out to allow her own entry, but she stopped mere inches from it. Aetheria turned and glanced at Layla again. "Her charges are the aspects of memory, the ideas we have stored in the deepest darkest recesses of our mind. With her death there should be universal panic as every memory stored in the darkness was lost…"

"But our memories are still intact. And there's no panic… no chaos." Layla stated. Her mind raced through a couple of her own memories to make sure before speaking again. "So why are they intact? Why is there no breakdowns among the Winx or the Specialists? Why am I not entirely lost with why I'm here?" Layla questioned.

Aetheria's eyes were unwavering and filled with such knowing that Layla shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "They've both been led to a crossroads by Hecate. Both of their fates are on the line now. Both are struggling with indecision. Our actions will prove to be futile as it will be their decisions that determine the fate of what has been and what shall be. But we will go to Dais anyhow… it's what we personally must do in an attempt to save what is." With one last knowing glance at Layla, Aetheria moved onward into the shadows. Layla wanted to ponder Aetheria's cryptic thoughts, but the direness of Bloom's situation suddenly regained it's priority. She huffed with dissatisfaction and followed everyone else into the shadows that practically connected everything.

-Author's Note- Wow was this hard to write! Didn't know how to go about having Bloom judged without creating the implication of a single religion. I decided to stick with the Greek theme. Aetheria sure did offer a bit of insight at the end didn't she?(Hint, hint!) Who stands at a crossroads? The reference to Hecate offers a clue to one, but the other? Will there be another death? Is Bloom finished? Will Baltor manage to destroy the aspects? Stay tuned and all will be revealed in the final chapter of Destruction. Hopefully you're all prepared for my mind-blowing ending!