Try, Try Again

A hush fell over the cavern as a group of demons entered. Many of those gathered grumbled disapprovingly under their breath as the upper elite of the Underworld took their places in the middle of the cavern. The Underworld had been in chaos and disarray for years after the Charmed Ones had defeated the Triad. It had briefly settled down when one of the Charmed One's sons had impregnated a young darklighter. The Darklighter's mother had been hell bent on raising the children, twins, in the art of evil. She had been struck down on the verge of success. Upon her vanquish, the upper level demons had seized the opportunity to begin to reorganize the manner in which the Underworld operated. It was these few elite that now governed the realm of demons with an iron fist.

"Silence," Zayd boomed. The cavern was dead silent.

"What is this about?" a demon in the back called.

"The time has come assert our power over the mortal world," Zayd answered.

"It would be suicide. The Halliwell Line grows stronger every passing day," a shape shifter cried.

In aggravation Kaasen sent a fireball hurtling at the disbeliever. Those standing close shared in their comrade's demise. Kaasen shifted his gaze around the whole of the cavern. Some demons bunched closer together while others moved to shield themselves in the niches in the walls.

"Does anyone else wish to question us?" he snarled. He was met with silence.

"We cannot accomplish this task easily or alone," Zayd continued once Kassen had settled down.

"We are going to have to resurrect a strong power," Sabien interjected.

"The Source?" a slender demon whose visage was completely dark purple asked.

"Zankou?" another suggested.

"Enough!" Kaasen shouted, again letting his temper flare up.

"We are going to resurrect the grandmother of the newest generation of the Halliwell Line," Sabien announced.

"Elza," several darklighters murmured immediately, their voices laced with fear. She had been formidable her in day.

"Upon her resurrection, you will treat her as your Queen. She will be quite…irritable," Zayd murmured with a snicker on his lips.

"Have preparations been started?" one of the darklighters inquired.

"That is none of your concern. No leave us!" Sabien ordered. The crowd assembled began to disappear by all manner of transport; orbing and shimmering. Once the elite were alone, Kaasen turned and stretched his hand out. A eerie blue light glowed around it and moments later the demonic Seer appeared.

"How may I serve you, my Lords?" she asked her voice hoarse and her body hunched with age.

"We require your guidance Seer," Sabien began, his voice almost kind. She nodded for him to continue.

"We are going to resurrect a powerful being and we desire to know the ideal time at which to perform the ceremony," he explained.

The Seer closed her eyes and fell instantly into a trance. Her body in its decrepit stage began to list side to side. Zayd moved to steady her but Sabien and Kaasen held him back.

"Do not disrupt her," Kaasen hissed.

Without the warning the Seer's eyes opened wide, her pupils constricting until there was almost no color to them. She let out a gasp as she regained control of her body.

"Tonight. It must be tonight, or else it will be too late," the Seer informed them, her aged form shaking from the effort.

"Go," Zayd commanded sharply and the Seer gratefully departed.

The trio turned to face each other. They hadn't anticipated the ceremony would have to be completed so quickly. They'd been so careful to follow all the charts to determine the perfect time to resurrect Elza.

"Let us not waste time," Zayd orated. He dismissed his colleagues and they went their separate ways to prepare for the ceremony.

As the moon began to rise into the night sky, the trio reconvened in the cavern. They proceeded with baited breath to lay out the ceremonial bones. Zayd walked the wide circle, adjusting the angle and position of the skulls, one at each point of the compass. Kaasen let out a slow breath as laid a crystal of dark jade in the center of the enclosure. He stepped back and caught his companions' gazes.

"Let us get started," he spoke, his voice disturbingly calm.

The three demons took their respective places around the circle, circumscribing it in a triangle. Each raised their hands to the center of the circle, and began to chant.

Per universitas quod per tunc
Nos dico super animus ut resurrectum
Reverto in mens quod vultus

As they chanted the spell over and over a bright light shot from each of their palms, meeting in the center of the circle. The beams intensified with each syllable. Suddenly the light made a sharp ninety degree angle towards the ground and the crystal burst into flame, slowly forming the shape of a figure. As the smoke died down, the figure of Elza became clear. Elza looked around her at the three demons.

"What is going on?" she snapped harshly.

"We require your aid and guidance my Queen," Zayd answered, offering his hand to her.

"How is that you were able to resurrect me?" she questioned as Kaasen disposed of the used artifacts.

"It took us many years, your Majesty," Sabien informed her. The trio led Elza away contented. Their plan would work. They had power now.

In the mortal world above, a young man stared out the window of his bedroom. He'd just awoken from yet another one of his nightmares. They had plagued him ever since he was five. It had started about a month or two after his twin brother, Jake, had killed himself. After a long two years, Matt's dreams were no longer filled with images of his brother dying. They'd been replaced by strange images and snippets of conversations. In every single dream he could swear he knew the voices but he could not place them with faces or names. Even after waking up, the answers never came to him. Presently the sixteen-year-old was contemplating his most recent dream.

Matt recalled being blinded by a bright light. It happened every time and one would think he'd be used to it by now but it still startled him each night. His eyes never quite acclimated themselves to the brightness. He could see vague forms that he had determined over the years were people. The one on the left, slightly taller than its companion was saying something.

"…it's almost time…" it said, sounding upset and fearful.

"You knew it might…" the other voice, of a woman, said, her voice full of sadness.

"…no choice in the matter," the male voice countered.

"There is always a choice," Matt heard. It was the first entire sentence he'd heard in nearly eleven years.

"Not this…need to," the other voice answered with determination.

"Will they…?" the female voice queried almost skeptically.

"They are the ones with no choice," her companion said as if with a smile of satisfaction in his voice.

Matt was jarred from his thoughts when the door to his room opened. He did not turn around and the entrant did not speak at first. The pair shared a long-established silence.

"Another dream?" Chris Halliwell, now thirty-one, asked his son.

"Yeah," Matt muttered, turning to face his father.

"I just wish I could figure out what they mean," he bemoaned.

"There's nothing in the Book and I've tried a vision quest but they haven't helped at all," he added sourly.

"I know. Well try to get some sleep alright?" Chris suggested.

"I'll try…doubt I'll have any degree of success though," Matt grumbled sullenly.

"Night," Chris called as he shut the door to his son's room.

Matt tossed himself atop the covers of his bed and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't fair. He'd lost his mother, a woman he barely remembered. Not even his Dad's memories were enough. Grandma had forbidden him from trying to summon her. Matt had never been entirely sure why Piper had been so adamant about not summoning Kenzie. It was also really fucked up that the person he was closest to, the one who knew him better than he knew himself had felt it necessary to take his own life. It's not that Matt resented Jake's choice. He knew the ridicule his brother had endured because of what his powers labeled him ass. There had been several times when Matt found himself accidentally black orbing. Chris had explained that it was his mother's genes manifesting themselves. In those rare moments, Matt knew and truly felt his brother's pain. IN experiencing his mother's powers, Matt had drifted into deep melancholy, knowing that had Jake endured, he would have found a way to control his powers so that his whitelighter genes were stronger than the darklighter.

"Why can't you tell me what I'm supposed to do," Matt cried to the heavens. He often offered up this plea, never expecting an answer. What he was unaware of is, that this time, someone was there to answer.