Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (48 page)

"Okay, so you both need to setup your ELD," Lindle informed them.

Corinth already knew that, but his opponent seemed to be somewhat cumbersome with the whole thing. "Haven't you ever played before?" Corinth whispered to the boy across the table.

"Yeah, sure," the dark-haired boy stated sullenly. "But not for real. I just practiced by myself. I didn't have anyone to play against."

Corinth nearly burst into tears. The kid looked down as he plucked cards from the top of his deck for his ELD. He drew five cards from his deck of fifty. Apparently, he didn't have an element card, because he only put down a light card and dark card. He matched them up with the corresponding letters of the ELD, and left it at that.

"Why didn't you have anyone to play against?" the boy instantly clammed up upon Corinth's questioning. He didn't know whether Corinth wanted him to profess that he felt like a loser, or what? Lindle noticed as he leaned against the table behind them. He got up immediately to settle this as quickly as possible. It was to the delight of the players at the table he leaned up against. He was too close for their comfort.

"Hey, I don't think we're here to talk about our personal lives. We're here to play this awesome game. Now let's focus." He handled it well. Corinth dropped his case and they started the game.

"You can go first," Corinth said. He had all the slots covered. An element, light, and dark card across the ELD. He also had an elemental unique card on the unique slot, to absorb any overlap in attack points for his element cards. He knew he had stronger element cards than the others.

The little blue-eyed, black-haired, pale skin boy couldn't believe Cory drew that many good cards in his first shift. He scratched his head, trying to cook up a plan. But he knew he didn't stand a chance. He tugged at his white shirt not knowing how to start.

Lindle looked over to him. "You do know how to play at least a little, don't you?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking," he said. "I'll use the Ravager card to attack." Ravager only has 100 attack points and the attack points are equal to the lifeline. All of Corinth's cards had higher attack points, so he'd simply annihilate him in return if he attacked.

"You do know that won't destroy his card, right?" Lindle was becoming concerned that this kid didn't know any of the rules.

"Oh yeah, that's right!" He scratched his head in confusion. "Um, then what do I do? That's my strongest card on the ELD?"

Lindle leaned in a little further. "What you do is, you employ some strategy. This gu
y’
s obviously got a better deck than you." He gestured to Corinth with his hand, and Corinth waved at them innocently. They both thought it was a bit weird. But as Cory's opponent looked at the turquoise-eyed boy, he realized that he wasn't the only awkward fellow at school. "So play the field. Try to use attributes that can make your card's attack points stronger. The Ravager has much better attributes than attacks," Lindle insisted.

"Okay, so Ravager is a dark card, so maybe I'll use one of its attributes to slow him down." The boy thought that was a great idea. At least his tone suggested it.

"That may be a good idea." Lindle didn't want to seem like he was outright coaching the kid through beating Corinth. Though Corinth was okay with anything that would get this game going.

"Okay, I'll use Ravage
r’
s repair attribute." The small boy paused and looked up to Lindle. Both Corinth and Lindle did
n’
t understand what he thought that would do. He had
n’
t taken any damage yet, and the card had more perilous attributes than that.

"Then you've got to cast it," Lindle said with a slightly annoyed grin.

He had forgotten that part too. He pressed the attribute listed under the card while it was in the appropriate slot, then pressed the cast button on the Aurriculium board. Instantly, the card sprung to life inside the board. He was amazed. He hadn't used an actual Aurriculium board to practice, so he hadn't seen an Adlucination illusion before. The Ravager card looked like a great big centipede. There lay a dirt road beneath its floating hundred legs. Just like in the picture on the card. But now in a 3D animation right in front of them. The Deave card used repair. This sent it back into the bo
y’
s deck. "Whoa!" the card shot up off the D marking on the ELD slot, right back into the ki
d’
s deck, shocking him into a frenzy. "Wasn't expecting that!" he said with an excited look on his face. Corinth and Lindle both genuinely laughed with him. He didn't know what to do or how to play, but he was charming in a certain kind of way.

"Yeah, that's why you've got to read what the attributes do, before you cast them. Your shift's not over yet. You can still attack if you want. You know you get one attack and one attribute per shift. You might as well attack with another card. He'll probably just crush you from then on anyway," it sounded harsh, but Lindle meant no harm. The kid could sense that much.

They each had 1,000 Lifeline points when they started. They were both beginners, on level one. Though Corinth was much better, so he still had the same amount of Lifeline points, but the other Draconian boy wasn't so fortunate. He hit zero quickly, but seemed more relieved to lose than upset.

"That was amazing!" Actually, make that excited. The boy was
n’
t relieved, he was excited to lose. It didn't take long. Corinth crushed him in four shifts, so they both started getting up from the table.

"No, you stay," Lindle said to Corinth. So he sat back down, as his former opponent came around the table.

"Thanks for being patient." He extended his hand and Corinth shook it firmly.

Corinth was excited to see someone else from Draconia. He was tired of people not knowing the same TV shows as him. There were a couple of big shows that ran everywhere, but his favorites were mostly Draconian productions. "It was no problem. You got a lot better toward the end," Cory was trying to be nice.

"I'm Jeremy," the boy said to Corinth.

"Me, I'm Corinth. I'm from Draconia too."

"Really, I was wondering. I couldn't tell. I thought maybe La Envidia, but it didn't seem that way either really."

"Nope, I grew up in Graysonville," he told him with a huge smile. "How about you?"

"Oh, um!" The boy scratched his head just like he did earlier. He was embarrassed to say. "Um, I'm from Carter," he said in a low tone. "Uh, the upper areas
,
” he tried to class it up a bit
,“
but still Carter
.
”

Corinth found himself in another awkward situation. He knew Carter was a bad, really bad town. Bad schools, bad people, and worse local police. Nobody willingly traveled through there. Corinth had never actually been, but he heard things. Especially on the news. Graysonville was fairly close to Carter, but they were like different planets. Graysonville being high end. The best you can want without being the richest person on earth. Corinth had two workings parents, with great career jobs. Obviously, Jeremy didn't have the same.

"That's pretty cool," Corinth finally said. "My cousin lives in Carter. He's like my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him." Corinth wasn't a great liar, but Jeremy wasn't very perceptive. He smiled widely, while Lindle looked at Corinth intently. He could tell it was a lie, but he knew why he said it. He made the boy feel so much more comfortable with where he came from, instead of embarrassed. In reality, Corinth didn't have any cousins at all. His mom's sisters weren't old enough yet to really want children. And Evan didn't seem like the fatherly type to Corinth on most days.

"Cool, maybe we can hang out some back home. With your cousin in all," Jeremy said, sounding very eager.

"That's a good idea. Maybe we can hang out here too," Corinth suggested in kind.

Jeremy's face lit up brightly. "Really? Are you sure?" He was so ready to have a good time at this expensive school. After all, his scholarship wasn't just for learning. He hoped that was the case anyway.

"Yeah, we have to practice together. I have my own Aurriculium board. Come by my dorm anytime, I swear I'm always there. It's number 23# on Olympia twelve."

"Wow! Olympia!" Jeremy looked away thinking about how big and comfortable Corinth's dorm must be since it was on the teache
r’
s floor. Their rooms were so much better than the students were.

Corinth noticed and decided to dispel that myth quickly. "I
t’
s not as cool as it sounds. They have me in a little shack compared to the ministran
t’
s offices and dorms. But it's all just for me, so that's kind of cool. No sharing my space with roommates." Corinth felt confident for the first time out on his own. He usually drew strength from others, but he was making a friend all by himself. It felt good.

"Thanks a lot, Corinth. I can't wait to practice," Jeremy said, with an identical glint in his blue eyes to that of Corinth's turquoise peculiars.

"All right, all right, this Draconian love fest is holding up his next opponent?" Lindle didn't want to break it up, but he'd eventually be stalling the entire room if they didn't move on to the next match up.

Corinth beat player after player with ease. The cards Evan gave him really charged up his deck. He was learning new strategies along the way as well. Some of his opponents knew how to play the game better than him, but his cards were just so powerful. He took a new lesson from each match, which made him more adroit as he went on dismantling eight more opponents. The room cleared out as sore losers cut their losses, leaving before the ultimate victor was crowned.

It was down to Corinth and ... Lindle! "Wait, how are you in the tournament. I thought you were a score keeper." Corinth hadn't even noticed him play. He had different score keepers nearly each match, and none of them seemed to sit down at a table and break out a deck of their own. So why is Lindle all the sudden the person sitting opposite him at the last active table.

"I'm the champion," Lindle said solemnly.

"The champion of what? They just started this game back up," Corinth spewed with a frowned.

"There's an international ranking system. It's not nearly as popular as it used to be, but that does
n’
t make me any less the champion of it. Just because Aurora Boreal school ditched out doesn't mean everywhere else did. Rank still counts. Here at school and abroad, in fact. I've -been playing for years back in Arco. Sena. Mira decided that my ranking put me in a class above all of you. She said there was no reason for me to compete throughout the early stages. There's no chance any of you could seriously beat me, tha
t’
s why. I'm level nine. I have 9,000 lifeline points to your 1,000. It would take some sort of divine intervention for you to win this."

"But that's not fair
!
” Corinth shouted like a brat. He could
n’
t believe what he just heard. Why had no one informed the competitors about all this? Neither he nor Emmy knew. He wondered if everyone else were already up to speed or just as clueless as he was
.“
Somebody might have had a shot if you gave it to them." Corinth didn't like the thought that Lindle got to skip all the preliminary matches and start at the end.

"Wha
t…?
” Lindle questioned sarcastically
.“
Are you scared to face me?" His timid disposition of earlier had completely disappeared. He looked at Corinth from across the table with an absolutely firm composure.

"Corinth, I understand your doubts about my decision making process." Sena. Mira stepped down from the makeshift stage walking toward Corinth. He didn't see Sena. Hendrix, he figured she had left at some point while he wasn't paying attention. "I was trying to help others like you. If you had faced Lindle in the earlier stages of the tournament you would have been unfairly knocked out because of his high ranking."

Her striking gray eyes looked different to him now that he knew that she was the reason Anvard was hurt back at his old school. He didn't see her the same. He was sort of thankful about the circumstances since he wouldn't have met Andy otherwise. But she hurt his friend, and he didn't like that thought anymore than Emmy did. Though he wanted to be mad at her, he realized that she held a good point. Many kids would have been auto-ousted. Not able to show their full potential against other amateurs, because Lindle is no amateur.