A World Apart: Original Souls Part 29

Chapter 26:.

Guarding The Tomb

May 23, 1002 ~ Nightfall Sebastian wasn't feeling well at all. His mind, so clouded. Much more so than Corinth's was with the weight of an Original Soul weighing down on him. It was quite a hards.h.i.+p to be ripped from the mind of the pure young boy and thrust into the warped world of a maniac.

"The people, they're fighting the beast with all their might." Sebastian said to Camil as they walked down the last pa.s.sageway to the Guardian's tomb.

"Interesting," she retorted unsympathetically. "And we planned for that. You didn't expect them to drop dead willingly, did you?"

"Hold your tongue if that's all you have to say," he growled. "I'm having a hard enough time with controlling the beast, and now the Guardian must be kept at bay as well. Neither you, nor Cade mentioned this little problem before we allowed that abominable child to unseal the window," he seethed with pain as he used the wall to guide each unbalanced step he took."Raising the temple from the depths of the lake was the only obstacle stated to me."

She stopped, turning aroundright as a shard unaffectedly pa.s.sed through her lovely face. She didn't so much as flinch when it crossed between her forehead and eyes, disappearing beyond her sight. "Why didn't you know any of this yourself? You couldn't even perform the ritual on your own. Very simple words to be spoken, and yet you needed a.s.sistance. Being a Secretist and being weak are not synonymous. These were your plans, Sebastian, not mine. Yet you required more help than any of the others."

He leaned against the wall for support, grabbing at his chest like he'd soon have a heart attack. "Well, do forgive me for a.s.suming we were to work together."

Her green-eyed stare gave him no relief. She had been subservient until this point. He couldn't figure out her game, though he possessed the skills of the Nexus. He was torn between the battle with the school's ministrants, holding the temple's Guardian inside of its tomb, and the mental anguish inflicted upon him by my resistance. Little did he know that I could crush his mind from within, without so much as a slight ripple in time pulsing out. But it is better that this play out in real time, without me, the Nexus, interfering.

They continued to walk on, reaching their destination. A circular sheet of rock, rolled carefully in front of the mouth of a cave. A series of bars, similar to that of a prison, were peeled back. They'd been opened by an unlikely source, much to the Chancellor's surprise. "Who's been down here?" He looked to Camil and then behind himself. The two Draconian Squadron members that dragged Evan all this way looked unfazed by their surroundings. The goons had nothing to say, but Camil wasn't so shy.

With a malevolent posture, she stepped away toward the gate in front of the tomb. Sebastian turned back to her with shock in his eyes, as Cade turned the corner from behind the bars. The two met up with one another in front of the s.h.i.+ny boulder that covered the opening to the tomb. Cade clapped as he grinned widely at the old pale fool before him.

"What a masterful job we've all done getting to this point." His smile, so deranged that it even gave Sebastian the creeps, the lord of weird glares. He put his arm around Camil's shoulders and gave her a wet kiss that she seemed to very much enjoy. The reach around her body stretched his black suit. Her being a tall woman, combined with the high heels she wore, put her on par with Cade height wise.

"Cade, what is the meaning-"

He cut Sebastian off swiftly. "Trust me, friend, when I say that I truly mean you no personal harm. Still, this process was ordained ages ago. Only now do we have the means to carry it all out. Corinth, or the abomination as you may know him, he's the rightful wielder of the Nexus, my old friend. Not you."

Sebastian couldn't contain himself. He nearly let the Tydrahn fall from the high skies where it lurked waiting to attack the school on his command. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded a simplistic answer. Spit flew from his lips. He was nowhere near them, yet Cade wiped his lapel, as if Sebastian's ocean of saliva had washed up on the sh.o.r.es of his jacket. Cade walked closer to him with a domineering strut that ticked the old man off. "What's your game, Cade? I possess -the Nexus. We can destroy the town now, and rebuild under-"

"You? Under you, Sebastian?" Cade said these things for him, while pointing at the Chancellor in a condemning fas.h.i.+on.

"Well, yes that was the plan," Sebastian choked out, while he tried to silence the awakening of the temple's Guardian from behind the large stonewall.

"No, old man, that was your plan," Cade admitted. "We," he turned and gestured toward Camil, she nodded respectfully, "made other arrangements. Like-sticking to our links on the Chain of Divinity. You, on the other hand, decided that you'd rule the Worlds, instead of our master carrying out his original plan."

Sebastian actually appeared afraid. "I ... I was only planning this for a short while. Until things were stable enough-"

"Stable! Ha!" Cade hissed. "He speaks of stability as if that were our goal!" He leaned close at Sebastian's face. Much to the old man's dismay. "We aren't running a stable operation here." He pulled anyway, walking back to his beloved, Camil. "The Guardian will be released," he said quietly. Then he turned to gauge Sebastian's reaction to his words.

And react he did. "What! That will undo all that we've worked for."

"That's the plan!" Cade chirped enthusiastically. "I mean, did you honestly think that your link was a one way street only?" Sebastian had no idea what he was referring to about his link in the chain. Severity was something he knew well. That's why he was charged with it. A Secretist didn't make mistakes. Sebastian knew he had carried out his duties with dignity. "Sebastian, you didn't think that you were only to hand out a severe punishment to the people," Cade laughed at him. "No, no, no! You too . . . were meant to endure it!" His emphatic behavior riled up both Camil and Sebastian. But in very different ways. She giggled as the older gentleman turned deathly pale.

"I achieved the impossible. I unsealed the window. The temple has risen. And neither the Nexus nor this so called 'Guardian,'" he angrily gestured toward the tomb, "can do a d.a.m.ned thing about it!"

"No, the child achieved the impossible. A mind like yours isn't fit to house the Nexus. I suspect that even you knew this. To do what we have planned, we must have a layered operation. Not just strike at the wind like lunatics. As I've been informed, that's exactly what you did with that beast. A mindless animal from a card game. Who, I ask, plans such a childish adventure to lure a boy here? A man, who is just as naive as a child himself, is the perfect answer. Even the boy's friends thought it was an idiot's idea to travel out here. Lucky you, that the foolish Walker is a double agent," he paused to a.s.sess his own statement,"of sorts, I suppose." He decided he wasn't completely off key with his a.s.sertions about the well-read fellow that saved Corinth.

"I even disposed of that odd intruder that tried to rescue the boy!" Sebastian thought he'd done more than expected of him. He had, but didn't quite understand the message that; less is sometimes more.

"Oh, of course you did! There is no other logical explanation," Cade dismissed him. Which spurred Sebastian to justify himself further.

"The boy is here, that was the plan. I forced his father to bring him here. I made all of this possible," he said with grandeur as his hands rose in the air.

"To some degree, you are right. You've served your intended purpose then. Now you are released, go ... retire. You look so beat anyway, old man." Cade grinned again. "But don't forget to leave the Nexus, of course."

"It's mine now, and I'll use it to destroy you both! All of you, in fact. My will is stronger than its own. It will obey me!"

"I think not, friend. Yes, your will is strong. Myself and the other Secretists even placed wagers on it. I thought you'd give out before the boy even got to Hyperborean. Looks like I owe a few of our pals some coin. But nevertheless, you are too weak minded. A fool, truly."

That last statement rang throughout Sebastian's mind. It's all that I can hear him thinking about. It dug up memories he didn't want to recall. He decided in that moment that he was through with his Secretist position. And through with Cade and Camil. He actually trusted her, until this point. She was very good at creating belief and disbelief. Her link on the chain being Depth. A distinct ability to invade, infiltrate the largely uncharted recesses of places and even people's feelings, creating false trust, among other things.

"Your mind is too clouded," Cade informed from in front of the series of bars to the tomb. "Withered by age and deceitfulness. The Nexus doesn't require someone strong of will, it needs someone dynamic of mind. That's why the other psychics forecasted that it would be conceived into the mind of a mixed race child. Who more torn and neediest of coping mechanisms than one of them. And now here we are. The search through all eight Worlds is well over. We've found that child."

"I found that child!" Sebastian barked in a searing shout.

"Yes, lucky you that one of your Squadron men is his father. It couldn't have been any simpler for you, could it have?" He turned his back to Sebastian and looked to the beautiful Camil. "I would love to chat further about this Sebastian, but I'm on a tight schedule. Camil, darling, I beg of you to complete this final stage of our mission here tonight."

"It is more than my pleasure," she spoke to Cade with the same obedient tone she had given to Sebastian before the finale of their intent was revealed. They beamed at one another with heated pa.s.sion. Sebastian knew nothing of their relations.h.i.+p, but was becoming all the more aware as the stare between the two lovers lingered, even intensified.

Without hesitation, Camil walked up to the boulder that covered the mouth of the tomb and placed her hand on the metal plated golden hand imprint. It lit up when she touched it. Burning brighter than the sun in the deep bows of this great temple built into the fallen mountain. She shut her eyes while rotating it clockwise, allowing it to strike eight notches before it crumbled beneath her fingertips. She smirked as she moved away, and then the tomb began opening up behind the dust of the disintegrating stonewall.

The wall that formerly blocked the Guardian from rising to defend the temple was now gone. Turned to debris by the manual release Camil initiated. The darkness inside the tomb was soon illuminated by the emerging light within. As the form of a person, it came rus.h.i.+ng out past Camil and Cade, stopping in front of Sebastian. He -continued to will the Nexus to keep the Guardian at bay, but that was no longer an option. I could do nothing of the sort for him. The human form, made of pure light, took its right hand and reached into Sebastian's chest. It reached even into his soul.

"Ah!!!!" The pain being more than unbearable. But the Guardian wasn't seeking death. Not tonight. The old pale fool screamed with a fierce pa.s.sion that made both Cade and Camil smile. They knew the Vigil Luce, the Guardian, wouldn't attack them, because they actually studied the laws of the Secretist. Sebastian avoided learning the rules at every turn. Simply recruiting others to do his dirty work. It bit him on the bottom, being so clueless.

The Guardian reached for his soul, grabbing me, the Nexus. It took me from the vicious mind of the Chancellor, and pa.s.sed through the corridor, grabbing up Evan, too, from the Squadron buffoons in the process, without any further disturbance. Sebastian clung to the wall, sliding down hitting the floor hard. Cade walked over and crouched in front of him.

"Well," the gray-eyed, blond-haired man started, "you see now that there are powers at work here that can't be stopped by a furry dragon from a child's card game," Cade seethed through his teeth. He was actually angry with Sebastian for being such a failure when it came to his Secretist duties. He did bring them to where they needed to be, but he also tried to take over the operation by destroying the school and the town. This wasn't a part of the Chain of Divinity. At least not yet.

"Oh, how it feels better for that fiend to be no longer weighing on my mind. The Nexus was coiled around my soul like a serpent," Sebastian said in a weak tone of voice that was starting to show charges of rage.

Cade looked at him suspiciously, but he thought he saw in the withered man no threat. He grinned for his dominance over the soon to be defunct Chancellor."Well, this sure is a come down. The stupefied Draconian Chancellor lying on his side in a damp dark corridor far from civilization. Your power hungry ways have brought you to your knees. What a sight this is for me! For all Draconia, I'm sure as well. They'll be relieved to have finally outgrown you." He taunted Sebastian. Not something a totally sane person would do. Many insiders knew him for his spiteful and deceitful nature.

The reference Cade made, calling him a fool resurfaced in his mind. He knew what was most imperative now. He'd break up the enduring love between the two Secretist that betrayed him.

He stabbed at the wall, trying to stand. Cade didn't bother to help as he stood as well. Now on his feet, Sebastian was ready to take his revenge. "You were, and still are very well right, Cade. I've been a fool to think that I could out maneuver the Bone Creator. The window should have been opened, but I shouldn't have bothered to waste my efforts on that dismal creature." His pale face spoke volumes for his cunning. He looked to them both, like he was sincerely apologizing. Camil came forward and smiled politely as she linked her hand in Cade's. "Yes, I have been a fool," he said truthfully. "But you forget just how powerful this fool is!"

The old man drew his wand faster than either of them could react. Like the lover he is, Cade pushed Camil back and out of the way before attempting to retaliate. He a.s.sumed Sebastian was coming for him first.

"Ad Saxum!" shouted the masterful wielder of magik.

For Cade, the world as he loved it had just ended. "Fiat Lux!" His llave rotating clockwise in front of him, he knocked Sebastian halfway down the hall.

The old dog was a fool, but not stupid. He had already shrouded himself in protective spells they couldn't dream of wielding. He barely felt a pinch of the red beam blast Cade struck him with. Cade on the other hand felt his heart breaking inside his chest. His heart turned to stone, then shattered into a millions pieces, as he looked behind himself to see his bride-to-be frozen in time.

"Ha-ha-ha!" Sebastian projected his laugh down the hall, insuring Cade would hear. "You underestimated one of the greatest wielders alive. And now you pay the price."

He turned Cade's beloved, into a stone version of herself. She stood there frozen forever in the exact moment her lover tried to save her. He pushed her back only a few steps when he saw that Sebastian had produced his wand from his velvet jacket pocket. Now, she would eternally stand guard at the entrance to the Shattered Temple's tomb of the Guardian.

From down the hall, Sebastian taunted Cade, as tears dripped down the sad man's pained looking face. He could barely breathe, better yet speak as he fell to his knees, looking at the solid frame of Camil. "Well, at least you know that whatever love you have for her will live on forever. Because that's how long she'll be there ... that's for sure!" Sebastian smiled slyly as he raised his wand again. "It is as if your love were written ~ in stone!" the twisted man's mouth spoke words that rang true in Cade's head and heart. He knew there was no way to undo such a powerful spell. Sebastian held his wand high, with that sinister laugh echoing throughout the dank hall and the Guardian's ancient tomb. Sebastian glared at his former partners, and shouted out a spell for last time tonight. "Teletransportar!"

He instantly disappeared, leaving only a blue and gray fog of dust to cloud up Cade's mausoleum of grief for Camil.

Chapter 27:.

The Gra.s.s Wasn't Greener

June 5, 1002 ~ Daylight Corinth woke up in his bed feeling a little less guilty than yesterday morning. After all the crazy things that happened since he emerged from the coc.o.o.n of his nearly two year coma and now that the Shattered Temple rose, he couldn't believe he was just about right back where he started. The Nexus dominating his thoughts, and Oliveto whimpering at the thought of having to go to the PuP Pound.

After the Tydrahn destroyed a quarter of the grounds of the school, including the pound, things were s.h.i.+fted around quite a bit. Students from Delphi crowded into Concordia Nova, Elysium, and even Olympia buildings. The school's committee of ministrants held an a.s.sembly in the Pavilion. Telling students, staff, and parents that they felt it was best to move quickly past the tragic -fires as a result of the ma.s.sive -earthquake that roused the mountain in the North Lake, destroying Delphi dormitory and part of the Diamond Atrium.

Everyone seemed bewildered about what happened. Stories and newly formed rumors flew around the school's halls. The school paper, Megazine, even printed a story about it, saying a dragon attacked Aurora Boreal. But that wasn't the likely case to the Worlds reporters, especially those hacks at Dernier Cri, considering all the students' technology was confiscated and erased. There wasn't a shred of known proof left. Students had pictures and videos galore, but Sena. Hendrix felt it best to stamp out the proof. All this in one annoying day that brought on magikal searches of everybody's dorms. Even a few minds erased, from what Corinth had heard. Whether her efforts totally worked out, they'd have to wait and see, but admission applications and attendance were already sharply down. The school received a swift kick to its long running reputation for being the safest place on the planet. Now it seemed like the most likely place to be a part of a freak -accident, that could potentially kill.

No one died this time, but hundreds sustained burns and were knocked into comas by the Tydrahn's stray electricity and falling debris all around them during the attack. This led to an influx of outrage from parents, ultimately ending in the second ma.s.s withdrawal of students this semester alone. Corinth felt like his coming here led to all this turmoil. He wasn't far off, but this trouble was coming long before he existed. Much of it was due to antic.i.p.ation of his arrival, but nonetheless the doings of others.

Corinth sat up, with his chest against his pillow, and looked out of the window behind him, down to the Olympus Grounds. He was up early for a change. Today was the first day cla.s.ses would resume. He couldn't believe they were still three months away from the short summer break at the start of September. The hand of fate still rested there at the bottom of the hill in front of the main gate to Olympia. Corinth was convinced that he and Walker were the only two that could see it. Besides Sena. Hendrix and his father, of course. No one else ever mentioned it.

Except for the Guardian of the Shattered Temple. The Guardian spoke out to Corinth, and Corinth alone, when it returned the Nexus to his unwelcoming soul. It then went out and obliterated the Tydrahn, with ease I might add. It extinguished most of the fires the Tydrahn started from blowing up their Trifecta Deaves card with its lighting tongue. Lindle and Corinth practiced everyday with Jeremy to ensure their skills wouldn't get rusty like that ever again. If they ever encountered another situation like it, they wanted to be ready.

The words of the pure light figure gave Corinth the strength to face the challenges of living with the Nexus always in the forefront of his thoughts. He tried to stow away the regret of his decisions. But the state of his relations.h.i.+p with Anvard made it hard to keep the Guardian's philosophy in mind. They hadn't spoken since Lindle knocked him out. Anvard kept far away when Corinth was with Emma & Emmy. He didn't know anymore how to fix what went wrong than Corinth did. It ate both of them up inside, but they went on as normal. Pretending it didn't affect them at all.

Corinth turned forward swiftly, as a knocked came to the door. "Uh!..." he choked out, with a bit of tangible shock in his voice.

"It's Walker!" came the cheery voice on the other end. He antic.i.p.ated Corinth's hesitance to welcome an unexpected visitor. Corinth jumped up, scarring Oliveto half to death, as the pouch leisurely laid at the edge of Cory's twin-size bed licking himself. He twisted the k.n.o.b hard, ripping the door wide open.

"Hey!" they both shouted. Walker happily blasted inside wearing his usual attire. A plaid s.h.i.+rt and pea-green pants.

"How's your head?" Corinth asked while closing the door.

"Much better," Walker informed, while looking for somewhere to sit. But there was never anywhere to sit in the quant room. He eventually opted to stand instead. Corinth watched him move with the bandage around his head. His blond curls were wrapped up inside there tight. Walker showed Corinth the gash on the back of his head at the hospital the other day. "Why don't you sit down," Walker suggested, though it was Corinth's room. But he knew how fl.u.s.tered Cory could get sometimes. Corinth jumped onto his bed and folded his legs. Meanwhile, Walker reached inside his pocket and pulled something out. "Here," he said in that same cheery tone. He handed Corinth a little beige booklet that read; Magik Manual.

Corinth looked at it with a frown. "What's this?"

Walker smirked while looking at Corinth with pride. "It's something for you. So that you can learn how to wield-magik. Considering how much you've likely missed out on!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Corinth said tentatively. "I can't do magik. Every time I try, the thing just breaks!" Corinth sounded upset, which hurt Walker's heart.

"Well, actually, I didn't forget that minor detail." Walker turned to the door as it slowly crept open.

Corinth casually got up from the bed. "I thought I closed this." He did, but there was something coming through, with a little trinket in hand. "Ah! Ah!!!" Corinth screamed at the sight of the little guy. "What is that?" he yelled while jumping back onto his bed, displacing Oliveto again. He cowered up against the window at the sight, standing a bit small, on the floor in front of his bed.

"No, it's all right," Walker explained. "It's fine, he's a silver pixie."

"A what!" Corinth shouted looking down at the little silver man.

He wore little silver shoes, little silver shorts, a little silver s.h.i.+rt, and topped it off with a pointy little silver hat. Still, a little silver bell at the end of the hat jingled as he ambled in front of Corinth's bed. Corinth slightly calmed down, but decided not to come down off of his bed.

"Why is he here?" Corinth asked.

"To give you something. Something special!" Walker seemed excited.

The little silver pixie pulled from behind its back a key that was larger than its tiny frame. To Corinth, he looked like a mouse on its hind legs, holding a- "Llave!" Corinth shouted out loudly, he hadn't even noticed it before the tiny guy pulled it from behind himself.

"This is for you, young one," the withered face pixie with a scratchy voice said to the stunned silly boy. Cory felt a new wave of shock come over him. He had no idea it could speak in addition to walking. "We silver pixie know that most use the gold pixie dust for their pretty llaves," his begrudging tone expressed loud and clear his sentiment."Yes, the gold is plentiful and beautiful, but it's not so st.u.r.dy. As you may know, young one." The pixie nodded like he had some certain insider information. Corinth frowned slightly, but the s.h.i.+ne of the llave caught his eye again, and the discomfort melted away. "But we silver pixies are very proud of our, unfortunately waning product, just as well as the gold tribe is of theirs. We haven't grown as much as the bronze and gold pixies in the last decades, but we commissioned this, special for you ... anyhow. Though we're low in supplies of our dust, we want you to have it." He handed Corinth a s.h.i.+ning beacon of a llave. "It's crafted completely from silver dust. No mixed metals," he insisted."It will not break, I can a.s.sure you of that," he informed the wide-eyed child, but more importantly, he was informing The Well Read Walker.

"Thank you!" Corinth knelt on his bed, holding the intricate key close to his chest. "Thank you so much!" he shouted again with joy.

Walker looked on, very pleased with the outcome of events.

"May I-"

"Here!" Walker abruptly snapped to the impatient pixie.

Older silver pixies were not the kindest. Or most gracious. But this one played his role well, so Walker tossed him the price that they bartered to get Corinth this prized possession. Silver pixies had used so much of their dust over the years that they exhausted themselves. They didn't create as much as they sold. Eventually, they were left with very little of their only sustenance to sustain life outside the Fairy-Lars. This made it more than expensive to everyone. Even when the silver pixies themselves, tried to buy back the dust from people they'd already sold it to. Walker gave up a precious amulet to the tiny, troll-like man. Walker did this in order to feed his greedy nature. With that, the elder pixie turned and walked clear through Corinth's dorm door, back into his own land of fairies.

Walker turned to a beaming Corinth, with a sobered expression. His brow tightened immensely. He didn't know how Corinth would respond to his next few statements. "I know that Sena. Hendrix insisted that you get rid of this, but I insist that you keep it close at all times." He tried to hand Corinth the green whistle that he first pa.s.sed off as a simple dog caller for Oliveto. "I understand how misleading my words may have seemed when I told you of this trinket's attributes, but I only wanted your safety to be secured with me, and me only. If others knew of your whereabouts the way-" his speech was cut off by a simple gesture from the reluctant youth.

Corinth rolled his eyes. Walker closed his own, taking a deep breath. He feared that Corinth would attempt to go through this process alone ... again.

"Please . . . please take it."

"My dad and my mom can protect me," Corinth said while staring down at his new llave. "I appreciate your help back at the temple, but you have too many secrets, Walker."

"Take it anyway." His brown eyes seemed so kind and warm as Corinth looked, from the edge of his bed, up at him. He melted in their presence.

He reached out and retrieved yet another gift from the well read fellow. "I'm only doing it because I want to, not because you say so," Corinth stated defiantly.

"Of course," Walker smirked and held his hands up, like a captured thief. "And it shouldn't be any other way."