A World Apart: Original Souls Part 4

We were close to the high extending marble columns that were the support structure of the large and slightly inclined rooftop. Everything in Center Square is made out of marble. Every texture, sculpture ... just everything. The crowds were huddled around the huge, you guessed it, marble circular fountain at the center of the square. The entire s.p.a.ce was dominated by the Parthenon itself, but there were two smaller replica buildings that lay at it sides.

Also, a-plentiful group of trees that sat directly across from the Parthenon, over the large grounds that enclosed the area forming the square. The rectangular Parthenon building, and its slightly inclined triangular roof, had small statues of all the former Draconian leaders sitting inside the wide-open s.p.a.ce. The square was technically a rectangle, because the replica buildings weren't nearly the size of the Parthenon. Though the Alley of Trees, as it's called, ran the length of the Parthenon from the opposite side. But why bother calling the square a rectangle if no one else has ever said a word.

From beyond the Alley of Trees I could see the rest of the City Center's gray buildings disappearing from my sight. The goons took me inside the government run edifice and hoisted me onto a rolling limestone altar.

The doors slammed behind us and silence took the stage. The Parthenon has always been sound proof, so that protest from the people never intimidated the Draconian council during any deliberation. As if it could. The small councils of each World and the 8ights themselves are the ones always doing the pus.h.i.+ng and shoving. Especially in Draconia. I can't imagine how Sebastian would let them brand me a fugitive.

Some -of the signs out there said things like;"Aiding Criminals Is A Crime!" and"You Have No Right To Your Draconian Blood, So Give It Back!" With as long as the phrases on those signs were, they really spoke volumes of the things that occurred in the day and a half that I spent behind Julia's crumbling walls of Corinthia. They branded me an accomplice in her failed attempt to shelter Corinth. I suppose that's chiefly due to my presence provoking her ego, but I couldn't just not see my son ever again. The stakes here are climbing higher and higher, and I have no idea how I can bring them down.

The goons in black continued the transfer of me, from their hands, onto the altar. They strapped me onto it like a sacrificial lamb. My arms were spread out slightly above my head and my legs were strapped down and spread out as well. "Where are you taking me?" No answer came back from the tall tan skin guy with the scar behind his left ear. "Where is Sebastian, the Chancellor? I'm a friend of his; I demand you take me to him!"

"Making demands won't get you anywhere with them, friend," Evan said, with a sly smile and giddy deposition. He was a few yards down the short corridor. He leaned up against a half-pillar that was built into the gray and black swirling texture of the walls. A small wood and gold coffee table sat next to him. On top of it, I noticed a black and gold lamp that brought back memories.

This was the same chamber of the Parthenon where I, and some of my Squadron team members, found the former Chancellor dead at his desk from a heart attack, at age forty-one. That lamp was on his desk at the time, which is just beyond the entryway that Evan is standing in front of, and then down the hall. The lamp was labeled as a treasure in memory of the late Chancellor. There were tours being given in his honor and things like that lamp were landmarks and talking points for the tour guides to explain his unlikely rise and fall as the youngest Chancellor in Draconian history.

Sebastian was a part of the senate before he rose to claim the seat of Chancellor. The senate voted him in nearly unanimously, which was odd considering the public's disdain for his desires to return to the days of old. We probably should have had an election, but he was in the line of succession, and the elected senate approved him. Though true, he was anti-Phillip, some might say. Phillip became Chancellor while running against Sebastian and beat him with ease. Sebastian was a man without compromise. His first order as Chancellor, in Phillips stead, was to ban the use of magik. Something that hasn't occurred since the days when the Great Eight still walked the earth over a millennium ago. Those were different times, very different, but Sebastian was obsessed with that era. It's a wonder he hasn't done away with the 8ights Council all together. He didn't take their advice on anything anyhow.

Likewise, it's truly a wonder why he ever liked me. My marriage to Julia was something even the most liberal Draconians would think to be over the line. Her green eyes and different cultural background being the only reason. But I couldn't let that thwart love. It would have been the worst decision of my life. And that's saying something, considering where I am now. All because of her.

"I'm imagining your biggest concern right now is that troubling son of yours, am I right, Criston?" He was mocking me, but he also had Corinth in his grasp, so this one I'd have to play cool.

"I am really concerned," I started out calmly. "Corinth is just a boy, you know that. He can't handle all of this. If you need to take me in, then do it, but send him up north to my mother's. It's the best place for him to be right now."

"You still don't get it!" Evan shouted in an angrily excited tone. He was scratching behind the left side of his neck like it was a lottery ticket. He'd start to bleed soon if he didn't get a grip. "You are not the prize," he went on, "your son, Corinth, he's the prize in all this! Not you, so get over yourself! Everything isn't about you!" his voice started to crack as he bent over and fell to the white and black marble floors of the same pattern from the walls.

I was silently hoping for him to drop dead, but I tried to keep a cool composure. The two goons guarding me at my sides rushed over to help, but he swatted at them like flies.

"Get your grubby hands off of me! I'm fine. Just get him into the offices and continue on with the operation!" They reacted on command and returned to my sides to wheel me into the former offices of Chancellor Phillip. Now the offices of acting Chancellor, Sebastian Wilc.o.x. As we pa.s.sed Evan, and made our way through the black arches of the threshold, he whispered something into my ear. "Things aren't what they seem," he almost sounded like his natural self again.

When we entered the vestibule of the Chancellor's offices, I noticed something odd. A peculiar mark behind the ear of the other goon, who was a little bit shorter than the goon to my right. They both had the same scar behind their left ears. I saw this guy's scar as he dipped inward and turned his head. He was trying to get a better grip on the handlebars that helped them wheel the heavy altar they had me horizontally strapped to. At first, my only sight was the ceiling and their faces, and then they used the handles to redirect the position of the altar. They turned me upright and continued pus.h.i.+ng me forward on the two bottom wheels.

The Chancellor's offices were subdivided into different chambers for the members of his staff. The hall we're in is wrapped around in a circle. There were dark brown doors every few feet. They all had small gold plated labels on them, bearing names engraved in black. These are the different offices of the staff that are important enough to warrant needing an office. The Chancellor's personal office is positioned at the very end of the hall, in either direction. There are two entrances or exits, if ever Sebastian chooses to use them. The office is large and has a huge window that covers the whole wall behind the Chancellor's desk. It overlooks a beautiful garden on the outside perimeter of the Center Square.

I had only been in the office twice. When Sebastian rea.s.signed my entire unit after Corinth went missing, and when the former Chancellor died there. He took office about two years before Corinth's disappearance, so he had already ama.s.sed the pull necessary to do what he willed. Most thought he'd be impeached for his overly restrictive laws, but that never happened. Still, it was too hard to work on missing person cases while I had no idea where my boy was at the time.

Both instances that brought me to the office were tragic. The first time I was ever inside the Parthenon on Squadron business was when we found former Chancellor Phillip face down at his desk, not breathing. It was a sobering sight to see the top man dead at the Seat of Power. After that discovery, Sebastian quickly lobbied for the Seat of Power and won by a senate vote, but still not a vote of the people.

I always thought it strange that no one seemed to suspect any foul play. Sebastian lost the public elections to this groundbreaking candidate, and not even nine months later, he turns up dead from a heart attack. He was nowhere near done with his five-year term. He wasn't nearly old enough for that to be a realistic cause of death. He was only forty-one. Though I knew and respected Sebastian, I thought he could have been involved at first. The mystery surrounding the case was daunting until the coroner released a death certificate. Sebastian had the most to gain from his death, politically at least.

But I guess it was their personal connection that kept anyone from thinking up convoluted conspiracies. Sebastian is Phillip's father, and his public display of grief was heartbreaking for everyone in Draconia. Likewise, it helped hispublic image, because most thought him to be very impersonal and cold. This humanized him to the point that no one wanted to talk of more general elections to oust the grieving father. But now he's up for reelection, after serving out the remainder of his son's term. This time around,people aren't as transfixed by him. They've seen pieces of his vision for Draconia realized, and no one wants to see it go any further. Strict laws and higher than necessary taxes can turn a people on you very easily.

Where he is right now, I can't imagine? Evan might be part of a plan that has him held captive as well. If so, than I'm in bigger trouble than I realize. Sebastian was my ace in the whole. I'm hoping that he can clear up some of these issues. If Evan and his goons have control of the Parthenon, then Sebastian must be in hiding. Even the people seemed to be in support of whoever has the Parthenon in their grasp. Maybe it's one of the challengers to Sebastian in the election trying to pull off some kind of coup? Maybe they've managed to seize control over Draconia's government through promise of change that will never come? It could get worse if we let criminal pirates commandeer the government, instead of free elections. If this is the case, then I'll be waiting on a miracle to get Corinth back.

We reached the large brown and gold-trim double-doors of the Chancellor's office. Evan walked around the large altar and opened them. He motioned for his goons to take me into the office. As we entered, I noticed that Sebastian had redecorated a bit since Phillip left. The decor was dark and sullen. I couldn't imagine why he would have covered that beautiful window. A floor to ceiling window that overtook the entire back wall, but now with a thick black curtain keeping out the light nailed over it. A slight bulge at the center of the window looked peculiar, like there was some frame-like item underneath it, mounted to the actual gla.s.s, but there was no way to tell. I don't think I've ever walked into a house and seen black curtains that let nearly no sunlight through.

Sebastian was a legendarily pale man. His skin was so dried out and ghostly that the mere sight of him was overwhelming. Frightening even. He usually dressed in black and spoke with a low booming tone that made his words seem rehea.r.s.ed. His intensity never ceased to amaze me. He had a heart, it seemed, but he hid it very well. But for all the dark changes he made, one thing was still the same, the desk where I found Phillip.

This desk is an artifact; it's been the Chancellor's desk for nearly one-hundred and fifty years. The Chancellor who signed off on the Puente del Cielo originally sat there. It had history. Every Chancellor since then has sat behind it, likewise Sebastian. But right now there seems to be a man that I don't know sitting there. The desk chair is turned so that the back only shows. I'm sure it can't be Sebastian, because this man's hair isn't white.

The burgundy suede chair began to slowly turn. The seated man's face hadn't fully crept its way into my line of sight before I realized who he was. That sun-dried jerk. The Gente Peligroso from the factory that tried to annihilate Corinth had returned. He sat staring at me with the most profound look of terror in his eyes. He looked scared. His mouth covered by silver tape and his hands bound-to the arms of the chair. His red eyes spoke volumes and volumes of-pain. Not only were his irises the color of a Gente Peligroso, but also the whites of his eyes had become considerably red. He looked like he had been beaten pretty badly. He shuffled and wiggled around while looking at his captor...the increasingly notorious Evan.

"Stop it, old man!" Evan scoffed at him. "You had a job that you failed to complete. You brought this on yourself. And remember, -it's an honor to be executed on the master's direct command." That didn't sound very pleasant, I thought, or honorable for that matter. "Most Gente Peligroso we use are simply exiled for failure, but you will have the distinct honor of addressing your puppeteer. The one pulling all the strings here." I had no idea who Evan was referring to. Worse yet, he had his Mr. Scary voice back. Whatever he lapsed in judgment as we entered the vestibule of the Chancellor's offices, he had regained in full form since we reached Sebastian's personal office.

"Where's Corinth!" I shouted, with a strange hint of authority in my voice.

"You again with this. The boy is no longer your concern."

"Actually, the boy is his top priority, Sergeant Gambit," said a gloom and boom voice from behind me, to Evan. "We have spent an incomprehensible amount of time building a maze that would lead our dearest friend, Criston, right here for that very reasoning. That reason being, of course ... the boy you've so recklessly disregarded."

"Yes, Chancellor," said Evan. Then the man who I've trusted for so many years walked past-me without so much as giving the courtesy of glancing at my dire facial expression. My face could show only shock and horror at the sight of my ace card... being my main opponent.

Sebastian probably knew all too well that I didn't have a clue to what was happening around me. Why Evan couldn't catch the sun-dried Gente Peligroso, even though the blast radius for the absorption gun was supposed to be aimed right at him. Why Evan was the one to pick me up at the hospital after Julia's outburst. How I got away from those goons without as much as a scratch on me. A little dirt in my ears, from that dusty road, but nothing I couldn't handle. Why there were no police outposts at the scene of Julia's now infamous crime. Yet, they were there as soon as I returned- to collect the goods. I brought this cruel fate upon my own child.

"Why!" I shouted out loud. "Why is all of this happening!? He's just a boy, we're a simple -family. What are you going through all of this for?" I paused and took in a huge gulp of air."Do you even know the-answer yourselves?!" my voice began to crack as the room fell silent. No one seemed to have the gall to respond to my questions. The looks on their faces were looks of stun. It's almost as if they had forgotten I was still here, even though they were all walking around deciding my and Corinth's fates.

"Criston, my dear friend," Sebastian started out, "I am merely procuring the future for the next generation. Your son, he is, well, a misfit of sorts. He doesn't possess a normal ability to simply blend in with the faceless ma.s.ses. I knew this from the day he was born. I felt a huge surge of energy come into the world, and not just our World. Draconia and all the way abroad could feel this child's energy radiating like a beacon of either hope or dread. Unfortunately, I have deemed it dread. Just like all the mixed breed abominations," he said with a smile upon his pale face. His blue eyes stood out more than usual. His black cloak draped over him and a black suit beneath it, covering him from the neck down to his ankles. He wore black suede shoes to accompany the dreary look he always had about him.

"Who are you to decide such a thing, you careless fool!" Sebastian twitched some at the sound of me calling him a fool.

"I know you're upset, my dear friend, but we mustn't lower ourselves to insults. I'm here as a messenger for the ma.s.ses. We cannot have a boy with the power of a G.o.d amongst us, it's too dangerous in such feeble hands as his. That's why we are going to transfer it to my hands," he momentarily paused. Seemingly to gauge my computation of his words. "So that the power is better taken care of, of course."

"What!" I shouted. "How is something like that even possible, you can't just take his power from him, you'll destroy him."

"That could be an unfortunate side effect of the transfer. I'm not as well versed in all this as I probably should be, but it is a sacrifice that I am willing to make."

"You're not the one sacrificing anything, it's Corinth who loses. You're a monster and I won't let it happen."

He laughed at me. "It's funny how soon you are to forget the circ.u.mstances surrounding you," he said while walking up to my face, looking me dead in the eyes. "You have already allowed yourself to believe there is hope for your boy, while completely negating the fact that you are strapped down to an altar that could hold the likes of a magik wielder twice your ability!" He turned away from me and began to pace the length of his large office.

He was right, I didn't have a hope or a prayer. I don't even know where they're keeping Corinth. Then it dawned on me. Why would they need me alive if they already have Corinth? They shouldn't, but Evan said they did. Throughout this whole ordeal, they've been more than reluctant to destroy me. Sebastian himself said that this was all orchestrated to get me here. This seemed to be the only opportunity I'm going to get, so I decided to survey the situation, then put it to use wisely.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Evan off to the far side of the office near the large floor to ceiling window that took up the entire wall behind the Chancellor's desk. He was leaning against a sculpture of a former Draconian Chancellor, with his head down low. He was scratching his neck even more vigorously than before. Sebastian didn't seem to take note, he was thinking immaculately hard about something as he continued pacing, but I noticed. I took note of the very same scar on the left side of Evan's neck that I saw on the two goons that wheeled me in here. They all resembled one another to a point of precision. I chose to play this one cool and not over sell myself.

"So, how's that brain was.h.i.+ng program going down at Squadron, Sebastian?" I asked with a grin on my face.

Everything going on in the room instantly stopped. Evan looked up at me first, and then his gazed swiftly glided over to Sebastian. The two goons behind me came into sight as they too took up question with Sebastian. Sebastian stopped pacing directly in front of me, about six feet away. He came in a little closer. He was the only one looking to the person in the room with an exit strategy ... me.

"So... for once in your miserable life you decide to be observant, Criston. What a pity," he hissed with disdain in his tone. "You are a troublesome fooljust like your father always said you were. It's a shame that I didn't believe him until today." He's trying to use my strained relations.h.i.+p with my father, toward the end of his life, against me. But I'm already ahead of him.

"Well, I guess a father always knows what's best. What more can be said, Sebastian?" I couldn't keep the grins from showing up on my face.

"Well, I know a few things that you don't, buddy boy. Bring in the child!" He snapped toward the doorway behind the altar that I'm intricately strapped to. The two goons and Evan were now distracted from my a.s.sertions of brainwas.h.i.+ng, but I hadn't hit my stride just yet.

Then a blue light started to make its way into the room. It was so bright that I had to shut my eyes, even though it was behind me at first. I let a few seconds go by before I tried opening them again. The sight before me was astounding once I figured out what the structure truly was.

"If you don't recognize him, this is your son, Criston!" said Sebastian in a loud tone, because with the awesome blue light, also came a high pitch whine that made my ears cringe.

"It's a coc.o.o.n," I said under my breath. Sebastian must have read my lips.

"Yes, it is, Criston. Good of you to take note and catch up with the rest of us."

I now knew why Corinth didn't remember anything from his nearly two year stent missing. He was protected by his unique power. He was only about fifteen feet away from me. The four Squadron members, that I thought to be dead, brought him in on a smaller version of the altar they had me on, minus the wheels. Geary chewed his gum, like a horse eats hay. He remained the only one who looked like he was here of his own free will.

Corinth's eyes were open, but no one was home. Those eyes radiated a blocked-out turquoise light, colored in the same shade as his irises. The s.h.i.+ne was so bright that it was difficult to see the rest of his body. They sat the altar on the Chancellor's desk, right in front of the Gente Peligroso that tried to blast Corinth and I away back at the factory. The light beams shot from Corinth's eyes and twisted into a spiral form as they traversed his entire body in every direction possible. It formed a coc.o.o.n around him in orbiting lights that kept stiffing back and forth. They spiraled in different directions around him, while never leaving any one spot open to the world outside of its grasp, keeping the innocent boy sheltered inside.

"In case you were wondering why we kept you alive this long, here you have it." Sebastian couldn't stand the thought of needing me, I could see it in his eyes. I'm going to milk this for all its worth. "The boy is in some sort of protective lights-show. We can't penetrate the light physically or with magik. Not even the most powerful wielders could break that structure around your peasant child. We have been trying for two years and have failed miserably. That's why we decided to use you ... once again, my dear friend."

That part caught me off guard. "What do you mean 'once again?'" I asked willfully.

"So, now you realize you are not the one holding all the cards," he smugly announced. "You, Criston, this is all because of you, but in more ways than you know . . . Geary!" Sebastian called out menacingly. "Do turn off all of our little friends so that Criston and I here can have a more literal conversation."

"Right up, boss!" Geary said while glancing at me, as he turned and walked over to Evan. He grabbed him around the back of the neck roughly, but Evan didn't even seem to care. It looked as if Geary was turning something that was embedded in his neck.

Soon after Geary walked away from Evan, moving onto the others in the room, Evan's eyes went dark while he was standing up. He just fell asleep with them wide open, or at least it looked that way to me. I watched as Geary walked up to the three others that helped him bring in Corinth's coc.o.o.n. He did the same. Only when he reached the two goons guarding me did I finally find out what he was doing to the men.

Before I could examine the method Geary employed to relinquish them of their freedom to move, speak, and seemingly breathe, Sebastian got right in my face and started to whisper the facts about the procedure he was performing on them. His pale skin frightened me. He had his flaky cheek pressed up against mine, and his breath wasn't as desirable as I would have liked it to be. But my attention went back to Evan. He didn't look human any more. That's at least what I got from the look on his non-expressive face. He didn't move an inch, which meant that he couldn't be breathing. Unless he was taking in the most shallow breaths ever.

"The serum is what you were referring to when you suggested that these other men were being brainwashed," Sebastian softly said into my left ear. "They are being controlled by the El Muerte Vivo." Oh goodie, I thought, more terms that mean nothing to me. I listened in to find out what this El Muro Vive really was. "You see, this is the curse that started the Ancestry Wars that the Great Eight waged against one another. I have reproduced it... in a manageable serum. I've been using it for years now. In fact, I used it on you, Criston."

That revelation didn't hit me as hard as Sebastian may have thought. It would have, had I not noticed Corinth's and my ticket out of here, dangling so close to me. As Geary was administering his touch of death to the Squadron goons on either side of me, I noticed something amazing. He went over to the second guy on my right. This was the big guy that got the ball rolling for me when I noticed the scar on the left side of his neck. I realized in-that moment that it's an incision, not an ordinary scar. A doctor, or at least a trained specialist of some kind, made that cut on his neck. And there is a slight bulge surrounding the area. There's a chip inside of all these guy's necks. That's why Evan scratched and itched. His must be new, or something. He didn't have that scar before, not that I noticed, but he certainly has it now.

"So the chip inside their necks releases the serum at specified times to keep them under your control, did I get that right?"

"You're much cleverer than anyone has ever given you credit for." Sweet, he awarded me with a backhanded compliment. "But!" Sebastian abruptly said as Geary was on the down swing of turning the last guy off. "You don't know the half of it really," he finally went on to say. "Look there, at this large man." He gestured just beyond the altar I was strapped to at the big goon to my right. "Watch as Geary goes into the incision with that tool in his hand."

Geary held a silver, double-p.r.o.nged tool that had a blue handle. He used it to push through the skin of this guy and into the scar. As he pa.s.sed the top layer of skin, the tool attached to something inside. I couldn't see it, but I heard a small clanking sound come from it. It was loud enough that I could hear it over the now lower whine of Corinth's coc.o.o.n. He then twisted the tool so that the guy's head lowered from an upright position, nearly down to his chest. His chin rested there, and I could tell that if he were to stay in that position too long he'd have a horrible neck ache once Geary finally decided to turn him back on. This guy's eyes went dark, the same way Evan's did. It was almost like they were robots, but I'm sure that's not the case.

"You are right on some things, Criston," Sebastian said while still pressed up against me, but now he spoke with a free and louder tone. "They are being administered a dosage at specified times, but for you we employed a different method, when you kidnapped your son for us."

My strong front was annihilated this time. I figured I had been drug up, because I've been having random black outs for years. But I thought it was all revolving around the stress over Corinth's disappearance. I suppose it was, just not the way I figured. To hear that they used this serum to get me to kidnap my son from his bedroom makes me want to puke. I couldn't help myself, so I did throw up all over the ground in front of me. Lucky me that my head wasn't strapped down as well. If it had been then I would have puked that all over myself.

"I see that I've knocked your composure down a few notches," Sebastian hissed at me. I wish he hadn't of moved away. I would have liked some of that to get on his dreadful cloak. Just a dash of color to lighten his demeanor.

"How?" was the only word I could get out.

"Well, this lovely gent here," he gestured to the Gente Peligroso sitting behind the desk, gazing at the ill.u.s.trious lines that continued to form, breakdown and reform again around Corinth, "he can explain everything!" Sebastian said with an out of character, excited tone. He wheeled the guy in the chair around the desk and took the silver tape off his mouth. The sun-dried man didn't say a word at first. "Speak, you imbecile!" Sebastian smacked him on the back of the head. That was more like his character. Now the man began to speak.

"I suspected from the very beginning that the boy's powers would have a protective feature," the Gente Peligroso spoke as if Corinth's powers had a mind of their own. "I knew that only someone he trusted could bring him to us. So-" he stopped suddenly and began to cough. The beating they gave him must have been a bad one, because some blood came spilling from the side of his mouth.

"Speak on, you dirty fool!" Sebastian's will was stronger than this man's, he did as he was told.

"So... I thought that only you, Criston, only you, could bring him to us without his powers reacting adversely to danger," his voice was weak, but he kept on. "I thought that if we got him to our facilities at the factory before his powers had a chance to invoke, we could make the transfer. We drugged you with the serum that night. You weren't aware of it whatsoever, but unfortunately, we couldn't keep you there with us. After all, your son would be reported missing by your wife. You needed to grieve with her and talk with the authorities. Who were sent to your home by us anyhow. It all had to look like an ordinary kidnapping, not a huge conspiracy. We have been drugging you with the serum off and on for years. This is the reason we persuaded you to take missions that kept you far away from Draconia and Julia. We thought she would suspect the strange nature of your behavior if you two spent too much time together."

He grimaced and dug in deep, trying to keep his composure. He coughed a little more and his tone grew even weaker, but I needed to know what was going on. I listened intently to every word he spoke.

"Though we had succeeded in retrieving the boy, without incident, his powers were too quick and strong for us. After the serum would take effect in you, Criston, and you brought him within our presence, his ability trapped within his mind would instantaneously cast this protective s.h.i.+eld you see here now on the desk. Encasing him in fiery turquoise aura rays."

He gestured to Corinth's body lying on the desk, to the right of him, with his chin. His eyes seemed to speak of regret, but his words continued on without any traces of emotion creeping into his tone.

"You were no longer trust worthy. And we never were. The Nexus denied even you access to him once you were in our midst. That's why you were lured to the factory. We needed to bring you to the base, without drugging you, so that his powers wouldn't interfere with the transfer. If it had not been for your friend, Evan, over there, we would have succeeded. His serum wore off at some point during your mission, and he saved us all from certain doom."

I was surprised to hear him say that Evan saved us 'all.' Not because I still believed Evan wasn't a true friend, but because this Gente Peligroso guy included himself in that saved category. Why would he be against Sebastian, yet helping him at the same time? Sebastian looked uneasy and impatient while standing over the old man in condemnation. It looked as if he wanted this guy to hurry the story along, but he let him continue on at his own pace.

"I, too, am guilty of this crime. Though I was not myself at the time, I still nearly destroyed your son. I am deeply sorry for this."

Even though he bore the symbol of the Gente Peligroso, his red eyes almost seemed true to me. I started to quickly feel sorry for this old fellow. He appeared to be lost in the unsavory world of Sebastian, the tyrant.

"I am a revered Priest of magik, and I have defiled my name. The El Muerte Vivo serum turns those who are exposed to it into zombie-like creatures. They are not living beings while the serum courses through their veins, but neither are they dead. They are in a limbic state between life and death. They are more powerful than humans, but rarely do they possess a free will. They can be managed affectively if given the proper diluted dosage. It won't kill them, rather making them available for use as a zombified hybrid. The serum I created was used against me in order to transfer the powers of this young boy into the Chancellor. But first you, Criston, are needed to break the spells of the boy's unique power."

This is why I'm alive. They-need me to help let down Corinth's defenses, so they can get to him. That won't happen. I may have delivered him straight to them when under the influence of an impossible sci-fi drug, but I won't let it happen again. Corinth won't suffer because of me or anyone else again.

"What do you say, Criston? Will you convince the boy that he's safe. Whichever way that might be done, I'm not certain, but as his father you must know some trick. It just might save your own life if you do so." Sebastian was overly c.o.c.ky. But I had a plan and it wasn't going to fail.

"Yes, I will," I told him. It was a bold move that I had to make.

Sebastian's face went red as the words came out of my mouth. "I must admit, I didn't suspect you to be so ... willing. I was sure we'd have to convince you in some rather violent ways."

"No need for that," I said with a cheerful tone, "what must be done, must be done."

"You hold a good point, Criston. I'm glad that you're seeing things more my way. Release him!" Sebastian motioned Geary over to my straps. He didn't hesitate, Geary came right over and started unstrapping me from the altar. His brown mop hair got way too close to my face for comfort. He smelled like a wet dog after a romp through the city dump. He took the first strap off from the left, following suit at the right. And -as soon as he did that-I punched him hard in the face, grabbing my llave from around his neck. He started falling to the ground and the chain that my llave was attached to popped as gravity took hold of his body. I darted toward Corinth on the long desk.

I can't believe he tried to steal my llave! And to have the audacity to wear it in front of me like that. He's the king of idiots. I took a few quick and large steps across the room to the Chancellor's desk, with my llave wrapped up in my palm. Sebastian seemed startled by the commotion. He took cover, stepping-far out of the way of my charging body. I stopped no more than a millimeter from burrowing into Cory's coc.o.o.n. While I started to reach out and touch him, I couldn't help but be afraid that his power might destroy me or something. But it didn't. The blue-green beams of light immolating from Corinth's eyes and around his body simply vanished as I touched the soft skin of his creamy-tan face.

"We're getting out of here," I whispered "Not as far as you may believe, Criston!" said Sebastian with a horrifying giggle that sent a chill down my spine. But I couldn't be bothered by it. I had to teleport out of here.

"You should take a look at that thing before you go casting spells, Cris!" Geary yelled, and then he suddenly threw the tool he initially used to turn off Evan and the others. I was in the middle of flicking my llave in the air, but it and my hand were knocked down and into the wooden desk of the Chancellor. The tool went right through my right hand, stabbing me twice with each p.r.o.ng. I was now losing time and blood, but neither Sebastian or Geary came any closer. They kept a safe distance. I guess in fear of my magik, and more so Corinth's. "Take a look at that llave, buddy, it might put you in your place."

I ignored Geary and grabbed the llave with my left hand to cast the Teletransportar spell that would get Corinth and I out of here. I got it out from under my pinned down hand, then I flicked it in the air again. Sebastian seemed to being smiling still, but he wouldn't be once my llave went into rotation. But it didn't fix itself at my chest, as I expected it to do. It just dropped to the floor. I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. I thought maybe Corinth's powers were blocking mine, but that didn't seem to be the case. So, I -looked down at my llave on the carpeted floor, as Geary had suggested, and it all became clear. It's a flipping fake!

I looked back up and I saw the real one dangling from a chain in Sebastian's hand. He held it up in triumph over me. "Are you looking for this, my dear friend?" Sebastian said with a cynical tone.

He had me caught. I was impaled by the blue handled death switch that turned the others into lifeless zombies. I couldn't get my hand free no matter how hard I tried. The two p.r.o.ngs were long and thick. They both went straight threw my hand and locked themselves into the wood of this historic desk. They immobilized me. Blood was rus.h.i.+ng out from the wound like a river, but I figured I could fix all of that as long as I had my llave, but the real one is too far away from me to be of use.

"Why would you help us destroy your son, Criston? I may be an old man, but I'm no fool, as you may believe. I know you love your boy. Even I loved the former Chancellor, my son Phillip, but he was standing in the way of history. He was dealt with as appropriately ... as possible. The lethal dose of the El Muerte Vivo virus was more than enough to get rid of him. And more than half the senate was under my very influential drug during the vote to make me the Chancellor."

I can't believe he just admitted to doing away with Phillip. His own son. If he'd kill his son for the Seat of Power in Draconia, I can't imagine what he'll do to get the kind of power Corinth has locked inside his head. I wonder if this power is intuitive enough to know Corinth's still in danger. "Just let Corinth go, there are other ways to get power, Sebastian. He's only a boy!" I pleaded.

"You've said that phrase more times than I'm willing to hear. This new generation of new thinkers is comprised of idiots. You don't have the backbone to run a World properly. You want it all, without any sacrifice. Well, you yourselves have become the necessary sacrifices to purge Draconia of outside influence. Your mixed child was an abomination from the start. The La Envidia are a deceptive race of ingrates. You've corrupted yourself with that vile woman you call a wife. I will reinforce the new laws that prohibit the use of magik, and I will have that d.a.m.ned -sky bridge closed off to Draconia. The boy's powers will help me secure the reelection. And if they are as powerful as the Priest has built them up to be, then I will rule all the Worlds as one-very soon." His hands were spread toward the ceiling as he spoke, and all I could see was my llave dangling from his hand. He looked back down to me with a knowing smirked."Very soon, Criston. Priest!" he shouted abruptly, "perform the transfer, now!"

The Priest perked up for a minute in his chair, but didn't make a move after that. He reminded me of the key shop owner who sold me my llave as a boy. He told me that the spell that's engraved on it was vastly powerful. I had never heard of this spell before and I always thought that it sounded weird. He told me to never use it unless I was truly at the end of my rope. Odd, so much power being on the llave of a child, but he said I wouldn't be able to cast it until I had the strength of an adult.

"Not just death," the old man told me back then, "I'm talking the end of many lives. The spell can only be used by the righteous of heart. If you aren't pure in your intentions then the spell won't work, and in return it will destroy you. Though-sometimes, even when it's executed perfectly, the spell can still be pretty destructive. It all depends on what you need most in your heart... if you can even get the spell to work in the first darn place," I remember that wide, warming smile he flashed after handing it to me.

I couldn't believe I remembered his words so much over these years. But I forgot the actual name of the spell. He told me that it was engraved on the outside of the llave, because it wasn't a part of magik as I know it. I didn't have to wield the spell through the llave, like normal. I could use the llave as a spell itself. I didn't need to have it in my hand or even in rotation to get the spell to work. Just a pure heart Just like the powerful nature of the key shop owner, the Priest didn't seem to be too interested in Sebastian's demands anymore. He hasn't moved an inch. In fact, he looked to be dead. Sebastian motioned that rat Geary over to check the sun-dried man out. Geary popped him on the forehead, and the guy scoffed at him, like an abused house pet. Geary turned to Sebastian and said, "He's still breathing boss." As if that weren't evident by his response to being knocked upside the head.

"Do as I command, you filthy animal, or your family will pay the cost for your insolence!" Sebastian yelled in his face.

"I am done doing your bidding, Chancellor. You should have learned the ritual when you had the opportunity." The old man was doing me a solid by holding off on this so called transfer. If only I could remember the name of that spell. It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't hit it.