Meridian Chronicles: Keepers & The Soul Key (#4)

Chapter 12

               Back on Earth, there stood the mystery being in front of the invisible who were there to acquire Etheria's most needed weapon to take out the demon's and for Meridian to come home. Whoever was under the hood of the dark cloak worn over the mystery person was quiet. No face exposed, no audible breaths, but a stoic silence.

Talon moved to break the silence. "Who are you?"

The mystery being didn't speak but stretched out its arm, revealing a hand with a bizarre glove. Slowly the creature emerged an index finger pointing to the cryptic message on the wall.

Orion stood in the back of the group where Talon left him, but slowly he moved forward through the spirit guides where he towered over the strange being. "We do not wish to cause you harm, we are here for the sword. Do you know what I speak of?" The mysterious being nodded up and down, but the nodding was bearing visible with such a large dark hood. "Who are you?" Orion asked.

Pramlee and Kieren stood to the far left of the cloaked being but looked from where he or she came from before appearing, and they could see a chair, and it looked to be a bed of straw and an old garment used for a pillow. Pramlee looked back to the figure. "Are you a witch?"

The mysterious cloaked visitor did not answer to Pramlee or Orion. Pramlee with confusion, asked Orion, "Can he see us? Or hear us?"

Before anyone could answer, the mystery visitor turned to walk away, but stopped for just an instance and raised an arm up and motioned for the group to follow. They all followed the dark clothed mystery down a long hall of the cave, passing by the old garment and hay bedding that looked to be where this being slept and it didn't appear that this individual left the cave or had left in quite some time.

As they continued to journey through the cave, even the nymphs were quiet with the wonder of their new guest. Orion took the lead out of a protective instinct, leaving Aiden and Meridian at the end of the line, alone where they drifted back to visit more with one another.

"This is a creepy cave, I have been in my share of caves, but this one takes the cake," Aiden said while he and Meridian walked side by side. His eyes surveyed the walls of the cave with what little light shown from the lit torch in the hand of the mysterious cloaked figure. "So why are we following this thing? Who or what is it?" Aiden brought his eyes forward in uncertainty, watching the figure in front of Orion.

Meridian carried a soft smile on her face as though she wasn't afraid. She appeared she knew something that Aiden didn't. "Aiden, I hate to put this to you so bluntly, but you are already dead." She giggled.

Aiden's face resembled squeamishness as the words 'dead,' settled in. "Yeah, an idea I haven't gotten used to, not yet anyway. Still, I don't understand, I am a ghost? Can our new friend see me?"

Meridian took her hand and placed it inside of Aiden's. "Well, I don't know. I have never held hands with a ghost. I think this is something we can talk to Luna about, don't you think?"

"I suppose what about the nymphs?" Aiden looked at Venus, who had maintained a lot of silence through everything that had happened. She was walking close to Lotus and Relic, but she didn't seem to share the light-hearted commentary between Relic and his new love.

Meridian watched Venus as they all continued to walk through the cave in near darkness. She squinted to see her. "I don't know, she has been reticent, maybe she is worried. I mean about you and me. She was one who helped us in terms of our visions. She has always kept a small distance, but after we get out of here, we can ask. Fairies are supposed to be the ones to help ghosts cross over." Meridian looked down at her hand snugly in Aiden's grasp. "Can you feel my hand?"

Aiden glanced down at his own hand and pulled his head back a bit and snorted. "Well yeah, I mean I know it is there, I am holding it."

"No Aiden, can you feel my hand? Can you feel my touch?" Meridian's voice lowered.

"I don't know. I think I feel it. I don't remember what it was like as a human to 'feel.' I just know you are here; I can hear you; I can see you as anyone else. I guess I feel you, but it is different." Aiden's mood shifted, and he quietened down, watching the others in front of him.

"Well, I do know that as a spirit guide, I feel you, but it differs from being a human. I can't feel you in the way humans feel each other. I wished now I didn't know what a human being was like so I wouldn't have to miss it." Meridian broke her hand away from Aiden.

Aiden put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Look, I don't care. I am here with you, and we are together, and that is all that matters. Don't you agree?"

Meridian kept her head low with a guarded nod as though he disappointed her.

"What is it, Meridian? Do you miss being a human? Did I say something wrong?"

"It's not that. Don't you miss being human?" she muttered under her breath. "I mean your grandparents, Chris, your life." Meridian continued to mutter.

"I don't know. I have seen none of them since the day at the hospital. I know it beats being in the dark realm with a demoness trying to keep my soul from me." Aiden forced a smile on his face, but he was fighting his own emotional rollercoaster with having lost his life and having his soul stolen by a demon.

Aiden looked away from Meridian and pretended to be interested in what was going on up ahead as everyone in the group stopped moving behind the mysterious hooded individual. With their slow, down to a complete stop left them all standing in front of a marked 'T.'

Orion looked over the bustling group toward the right where the path continued onward toward another similar vision, a dwindling light. Looking over to his left, was simply an old wooden chair that appeared to have seen its better days. The mysterious cloaked cave dweller took a seat in the old chair, only regarding Orion as his eyes watched the strange creature sit with ease and not a word spoken.