Clash Of Worlds (58 page)

“Well hurry up, the professor’s called a meeting. Seems important!”

Cody looked out into the distance one last time.
Good luck,
he thought to himself. Then he and Sophie made their way back inside the building. He had a feeling it would be a long time before he would ever cross paths with James again.

Several weeks passed, as James travelled alone on his journey. He travelled light and off the grid as so it would be impossible to track his whereabouts. He did not want the World Order interfering with his mission.
This is something I must do alone.
Therefore, he did his best to keep off their radar. James tracked the coordinates that had been engraved onto the crystal using a Global Positioning System map to project their location latitude and longitude. The system took him to the territory of northern Russia. This part of the largest country in the world was unliveable and largely abandoned. The temperatures were below freezing and the road was difficult. The agent had to pass through a large mountainous landscape in order to reach the destination the coordinates lead too. James travelled in the terrain for days, at times having to eat the snow clean off the ground once his food rations ran out. He coped with the cold temperatures easily during the day and struggled with them during the night.
I may very well freeze to death before I find Chad.

On the fourteenth day, weary and exhausted from the journey, he was nearing his destination. The coordinates led to an area less than half a mile from where he now stood. One last mountain stood between James and the end of his journey, or so he hoped anyway. This whole mission could have been a complete waste of time. He had thought as much during his time on the long and lonely road. He had begun to wonder if the markings on the crystal were even coordinates at all. Self-doubt had begun to plague his mind.
I cannot give up now. I must go on! I must!
He knew that in a short time, he would know once and for all whether the journey had been worth it or not.

The last mountain he had to ascend would be no easy task though as this was the biggest one of them all. It towered above all the others in the area, dwarfing them in a show of superiority. It almost looked out of place in the terrain, as if the mountain was created with the sole purpose of hiding whatever it was that lay beyond it.

The sun was beginning to fade, and the energy slowly began to drain out of the already fatigued body of James. He lost his footing several times as he advanced slowly up the mountain. Around halfway up, the large guitar case had become simply too heavy for him to carry any longer. James removed it from his back and took the sword from it. He tossed the case back down the mountain and continued upwards.

James’ legs began to feel five times heavier than usual as he ascended to near the top of the mountain. He eventually reached its peak and stopped for a moment, tossing the sword to the ground as he placed both hands on his knees. Plumes of white air froze as it came from his mouth as the agent gasped for air. The long climb had taken quite a lot out of him. After taking a few deep breathes, James reached down for the sword and took a step forward. However, his tired legs were not yet ready to continue on and James lost his footing. He fell down, rolling over the top of the mountains edge. He began to fall down it at great speed, crashing into rocks that were spread out between the snow as he rolled helplessly out of control. James felt a sharp pain as his head smashed against a rock and then everything went black.

James opened his eyes slowly. It seemed some time had passed since his fall but whether that be an hour or a day he did not know. He was battered and bruised and could hardly see a thing. This was because he now lay in total darkness. Night had fallen on the lands and the area was silent and dark. Still, there was a small ray of light in the area. James managed to shuffle his head upwards from the ground to see his sword laying only a few feet away from him. The shaft of the blade was glowing red, something he had never seen it do before. The glow dimly lit the immediate area and James struggled to his feet.

He took the sword in his hands once more and examined the blade. Ancient writing began to appear on the shaft of the sword as James touched it. ‘
Only those of our blood may enter the realm
’ were the words that appeared in a strange language, the same language that James had seen on the walls of the pyramid in Argentina.

Suddenly, a large stone structure appeared a few hundred feet in front of him. James looked on in awe. He had never seen anything like it. The structure that had appeared was a gateway, the gateway between worlds. The structure stood over fifty feet tall and looked like it had been here for thousands of years. The large stone towers that stood at either side of the gateway seemed old but looked well maintained. The gateway was raised from the ground and thirty large steps in the centre led upwards to it. There was an opening at the top of the stairway, which much to James’ amazement seemed like a doorway to somewhere else. More surprising for James was the fact that the area he could see beyond the opening was not shrouded in darkness, unlike the area all around him. Either side of the structure itself was still dark, meaning the area in the centre had to be somewhere different entirely.

Is this the other world that Auron and my father spoke of
? James dwelled on those thoughts for a moment and then quickly shrugged them off. The time for thinking was over. He knew what he had to do. James moved onwards toward the structure. He slowly advanced up the stairway with caution, gripping his now red glowing sword with both hands preparing for anything. James reached the top of the stairway and stood directly in front of the opening. He took one final look behind him at the darkness of the mountains, at the world he had grown up in and knew it was now time to find out who he truly was. James turned back to the opening and walked, disappearing through it in an instant. The gateway vanished moments later leaving only darkness and silence in the Russian mountains once more…

About Philip McClennan

Philip was born and raised in Liverpool, England. He began writing comic books at a very young age, taking inspiration from his favourite computer game franchise
Final Fantasy.
He writes sports articles for various magazines and websites.

Philip achieved a BA Hon’s in Film and Screen Studies at Liverpool John Moores University. He also enjoys reading fantasy, thrillers and horror fiction, as well as autobiographies. His first novel,
Clash Of Worlds,
is the first book of a planned trilogy.

He loves travel, art, football and chocolate. After originally wishing to be a film director and script writer, and also spending far too many years of his life in higher education and dithering, he has decided to reorient his priorities and focus on writing fantasy and suspense. For more information, please check out his personal website:
www.philipmcclennan.com