Also by MD Fryson
Meridian Chronicles Series
Black Widow Curse & The Coven
#2
Fairy Nymphs & The Demon Court
#3
Keepers & The Soul Key
#4
New Series
The Demon Chronicles
Nevoc & The Necromancer
Fall 2020
Lahash & Black Moon Lilith
2021
The shrills of the ambulance grew closer as she stood in the middle of a street with the boy who didn't look both ways before he ran into traffic. Laying there bleeding, his fate seemed uncertain — despite the glowing apparitions looking out the attic window of the old house a few feet away. Meridian looked around, searching for the dark ones in hopes they would not be around this innocent child. She wondered if he was in his last human life, and would she soon meet him in Etheria if he chose to be a guide like herself?
She stood there with her parents, who, like she, watched over the human race. Driven by their curiosity to see the tragedy unfold, spectators walked right through the spirit guides, invisible to the human eye, as they flooded the street. Meridian could sense the vibrations of the two ghosts who appeared as young boys that were not short of their own curiosity. Still watching from the attic window, their presence hinted at the fate of the boy as he lay fighting for his life.
"Caius, what do you make of this?" said Meridian's mother, as she looked at her husband, feeling worrisome.
"I don't know," he replied grimly.
Just as the ambulance arrived, it was too late. Despite the paramedic's repeated attempts to resuscitate, this human's fate became clear to the spirit guides as the small glowing ball of bright light left his body and ascended, disappearing into the sky, leaving behind his lifeless body that the EMT's struggled to bring back to the world. Meridian was still learning and had many questions already.
"Father, was that his soul?" Meridian asked.
Caius nodded his head as he looked back at the body that was once full of life.
"Yes, that was his soul, and in moments, we will be able to see firsthand his fate and his choice if given one."
There, as the paramedics continued to try to get his heart going again, another apparition made an appearance and stood there looking at his body.
"What is happening?" Meridian questioned.
"This boy was in his fifth life, his last human life. Instead of taking the journey to choose to have another human life or to become one of us, he is lost. He will remain a ghost until he makes a choice. Maybe the fairies will help him cross over, but it will always remain his choice. Just be happy the dark ones did not show up. The world does not need another addition to the dark world."
Caius drifted off as though he had more to say but had stopped himself. Her mother, Arianna, motioned Meridian to join her and her father.
"Come, Meridian. There is nothing else we can do. He is lost, and we are needed elsewhere."
In a moment, the spirit guides arrived at the hospital they frequented to watch over the sick. A young mother who was expecting her firstborn had arrived at the hospital to deliver a son who had decided to make his entrance too early to survive outside the womb. The mother, who was on her own with the exception of her parents, seemed fine aside from the panic of having an early arrival and the badly—timed question of what she planned to name her baby. The laboring mother screamed out, "Aiden!" to answer the nurse's badly timed question.
Meanwhile, the spirit guide trio made their rounds to see how some of their human lives were coming along in their healing. With so much going on in a busy hospital, Meridian's usual focus was interrupted by an illuminating being that kept showing up around one of the rooms on the maternity ward floor. She was crying, going in and out of the rooms of all the laboring women. Meridian stared at the ghost and felt deeply for her loss. It wasn't hard to know what she was looking for. For a moment, her attention was drawn away from the weeping ghost as she caught a glimpse of something dark and sinister. The shadow—like figure moved quickly away from the weeping ghost as if it knew that Meridian took sight of it. The shadowy being, known as one of the dark ones, patiently waited around for the next opportunity. The dark ones could not exist without the bad side of humanity, and they fed on the downtrodden, the violent and the evil within humans. Meridian couldn't help the shiver that ran down her back as she took in the sight of the figure.
Not too far away, Meridian's mother stood watching her daughter.
"Meridian!" called out her mother. "Hurry. We are being summoned."
Meridian snapped out of her placid stream of thought and moved swiftly behind her parents as they moved to check in on the young mother who had passed on after experiencing a difficult childbirth.
Meridian looked at her mother and asked, "What is happening?"
Caius interrupted.
"This child has decided to make his appearance a little too soon," he replied.
Her father shaking his head turned his back to Meridian and continued to speak.
"Arianna, I just don't understand. When the next life has begun, why do they always want to seem to rush into it? In all my time, I have gone to the council with that question and never get a straight answer. They always say that the new life coming into this world doesn't make its entrance based on the new life alone, but sometimes the mother or father has a lesson or punishment to learn from the previous life. I wonder if this is one of those times?" Caius questioned.
"What do you mean?" Arianna asked.
"Nothing."
Caius did not want to continue the conversation. He seemed agitated and as though there was more to his question than he wanted to share with his wife and daughter. Meridian heard her father and was trying to put together everything she could.
"It's time to go. Come, Meridian."
Arianna motioned her daughter to follow them out of the hospital. Meridian honored her mother's request but noticed the dark shadows had appeared again and seemed to crawl on the ceiling of the hallway, and she could still hear the sobs of the young ghost who died in childbirth looking for her baby. As they made their way through the portal, their sight became distorted and blurry, almost like the appearance of moving water in a glass. The wind picked up, the ground shook, and the portal to Etheria was right on the other side. With a few steps, the three disappeared leaving the busy hospital behind.
Weeks on Earth passed before the guides portaled back to the hospital. Meridian felt relieved to be back somewhere that was familiar to her. She was anxious to see the progress of the newborn boy named Aiden. Little did she know that there was much more to this connection than she could even dream of and her father's agitated reaction to questions about his birth. She wandered to the maternity ward and looked through the little container holding baby Aiden. She could overhear the nurses talking about how awful it was that his mother passed away. As the nurses continued their discussion about the newborn's circumstances, she thought back to the day that Aiden was born and the ghost she saw in the maternity ward. As she stood watching the infant being swaddled as the nurse comforted him, there was another interested being standing down the hall from the nursery. Unnoticed by Meridian and unseen by the human world, he stood and watched Meridian quietly. He appeared human, but his eyes said he was altogether something else. Yellow eyes and reddish skin foretold he was of the dark world. As she heard the baby's grandparents walking down the hall to take the baby home, her eyes fell on the dark being, and, in that instant, he faded into a shadowy apparition and disappeared. Startled by what she saw and by her mother shouting at her for wandering away from them caused Meridian to jump and move quickly to her mother as she lectured.
"Meridian! What are you doing in here? You were supposed to wait outside the surgery room. We need to go!" her mother scolded.
A portal was opened by her father who had been waiting for the pair. As she walked through the portal with her parents, she turned around to look for the shadow, and all that she could see was an empty hallway where the strange being once stood.
"Mother, did you see that?"
Arianna looked aggravated at her distracted daughter. "See what?" She was motioning to her as she answered.
"The dark ones, they are here and very close," Meridian snapped.
"Do not be silly; the dark ones need evil, the bad part of humans, to draw their power. There is not much to draw from in the maternity ward. Babies are innocent. I think you are confused or seeing things."
Arianna turned her back and walked away, and Meridian followed. The portal trip ended with a stopping point at the dreaded headquarters at the palace in Etheria. Meridian did not join her parents but instead went back to the family's dwelling.
The couple shared the dread as they waited patiently outside the headquarters to speak with Warrick. With little time, Arianna was too impatient to wait to start a conversation about the baby in the hospital.
"You need to open up to Meridian," stated Arianna.
"She doesn't fully understand everything," Caius replied looking down at the ground, mulling over the event in his mind sharply.
"No. Now is not the time for all of this! She needs to understand that until she has been educated to approval that she cannot wander away, and we can't always discuss matters in her presence."
Arianna stood over her husband with her arms crossed. "She does not fully understand why or even who that baby is."
Caius stood up from his seat. "I forbid it! She is never allowed near that child again."
Before another word was spoken, the big double doors swung open, and a spirit guide who served as a messenger for the council let them know they were ready. As Caius and Arianna stood up, she looked at Caius in a mixture of fear and disappointment.
"Whenever we are finished reporting, we will talk about this more."
Caius walked along in front of Arianna and paid no mind to her last comment.
The huge, dark wood doors opened to a large room and a dark chill. There at the furthest end, sat the council members. Even though the council was of the highest respect and love for all, they had a very commanding presence and intimidated the majority of the guides. There were only three, one of which was a woman. The council saw and knew all, but despite their gifts, the guides always had to report their encounters of this magnitude.
To Meridian's parents, this was a usual day. However, the council had something a little different in mind.
"Caius, you have had quite a busy time," stated Warrick as he looked down upon the couple with noticeable tension.
Warrick was a tall, thin being with long gray hair and a lengthy gray beard. He sat in a relaxed slump, and his face rested on his left hand as he leaned on the arm of the tall, dark chair. The other council members who sat on each side of Warrick stayed quiet with their gazes locked on Caius as they awaited his response.
"Yes," responded Caius in a low voice. "The boy is doing well," he replied further.
"We know how the boy is; you know this. We have been through these proceedings thousands of times. At this point, there is no need to waste time," Warrick calmly but cynically responded.
"I'm concerned with other instances. We know about the teenage boy you also watch over, the one that is struggling with his parent's divorce."
Warrick sat up and leaned forward as he spoke.
"You are really pushing the boundaries of your duties. You know you are not to get involved with what the humans do and their decisions. You are to comfort, and that is it. In no way are you to show any sign that you are there. Leaving objects for them to find is forbidden!"
