Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (69 page)

“
RAH!!! RAH!!!!!!!
!
” came the earth shattering roars of the beast.

If they didn't believe me before, I'm sure they do now.

"What the what was that!" Anvard eyes bounced around the staircase franticly.

"I tried to tell you!" I sounded like an arrogant fool, but if we're going to die, I might as well try to feel superior one last time.

"What do we do?" Lindle was in pure shock.

"We run!" Anvard shouted back to him. We started down the twisted stairs, moving at a quick pace. Leaving Walker and my uncle behind felt like huge mistakes, but there weren't many options available to us. Then our worst nightmares got a little bit, I mean a lo
t
… worse.

The stairwell started to cave in. The roars of the Tydrahn echoed in the background. Which instantly led me to believe that the monster was to blame for our current predicament. We had nothing to shield ourselves with. Magik couldn't be our savior this time around. Chunks of mildewed stones fell from above our heads. It was an outright disaster. Anvard tried to evade what came crashing down, but it was no use. The staircase was blocked off from moving forward. Rocks piled up on top of other larger rocks. We were afraid to go back the way we came, but it was the only option.

We tried, and found it was no use. Not enough space to maneuver. If we moved an inch in the wrong direction, forward or back, w
e’
d be smacked in the head by a bowling-ball size boulder. Soon we'd be buried alive, but more likel
y—
buried dead. Here it comes, the big one. A huge sheet of rock dislodged above us. Lindle screamed and Anvard froze. He was stunned by our imminent fates. I could only imagine what was going through his head. I actually wished I still had the Nexus, so that I was still a psychic and I could read his thoughts.

“
I wish he cared more
.
”

I didn't hear it the way I did with the Nexus. I felt it, instead of thinking it. He couldn't be feeling such a silly emotion at a time like this, could he? I felt Anvard's feelings, like they were my own. Lindle too, he's so scared. As if that weren't already a given, but I could sense the way the fear took over his body. He was tensed beyond belief. The both of them were. It made my body tighten as well.

"No!" I cried in disbelief.

Anvard looked to me and smiled grimly. "At least we go together, to whatever is next," he tried to seem like he was okay with dying while his stiff body fell back against the wall, but I could feel the indifference in his bones as he hit the stone. The time around us went gray. Daunting how many thoughts can pass through a mind in just seconds.

Apparently, the Nexus isn't the reason I can hear people sifting through their thoughts, but  more so their feelings. If not, then what the heck is the Nexus for? It occurred to me how little I know about psychics outside of my own experiences. Well, I'll never know now. The sheet of rock crumbled. The last of the splintering ceiling came dropping toward us. These -new falling chunks were too big to avoid, and both my friends seemed too stunned to move anyway. The end couldn't have felt worse inside of any beating heart near m
e
… than that of Walke
r’
s. Wait! How does he even know what's going on?

"Corinth, where are you!" Walker's voice came from just around the last bend of the spiral stairway. We didn't get far from where his body laid unconscious a moment ago. But he definitely wasn't unconscious now.

The rocks, and I mean all the rocks, stopped just above Andy's head as he cringed with his back up against the wall and me in his tired arms. I kept my eyes open the entire time. It was too tragic not to stare on at it. He was the tallest, so it was just in the nick of time that Walker did, well, whatever he did.

Lindle cowered on the ground, and then poked his head out from underneath his own clutching grip around himself. He stuck a shaking hand out and tried touching one of the suspended, frozen in time, rocks above him. As soon as he put his hand to it, he got a little electric shock. He snapped back when it zapped his fingertips. "Ah!" He stuck his finger in his mouth to soothe the pain.

"Corinth!!!" We hadn't moved an inch after Walker's first call. We were mystified by the whole floating rocks and floating shards of glass that clogged up the air space. At least the glass didn't actually interact with our bodies. It just passed through us as every bit traversed the halls like little holograms. But after seeing what happened to Lindle, we wanted to make sure we didn't touch near a rock as we made our way back to Walker. He was still stretched out on the landing he fell down to earlier. His hand was reaching out above his bloody forehead. "I don't have long," he sounded weak. Broken.

"What can we do?" I asked from Anvard's arms.

"You," he pointed directly at me with a finger stemming from his elongated arm, "must get the Nexus back. It's the only way."

"The only way for what?"

"Please, Corinth. Too many questions. The Tydrahn is already on its way to destroy the school. It will break the force field and destroy the rest of Hyperborean too. Sebastian's trying to send a message to the other seven Worlds, and he'll succeed unless you reseal the window. And you can only do that with the Nexus. You're a powerful little psychic, but you're not that strong yet on your own. Though you're fated to be one day. But fates can be altered when overwhelmingly destructive things come to pass. This is one of those moments. If he destroys the school then I don't know what will happen next."

I didn't want to ask any more questions. He could barely speak, and I know he's using all his remaining energy to keep this stone staircase from collapsing on our heads. It's just that I don't know how we're going to stop two of the most powerful wielders I've ever seen without any magik of our own.

Walker tried choking out a few more words. "The Aurriculium board. Remember that I gave you the Tydrahn card when we met. Remember its stats. Use them against it. Buy some extra time for the Guard to emerge."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Just go, now!" He willed us forward forcefully.

Anvard looked back to Lindle. "Maybe you should stay here with Walker, make sure he stays breathing." Lindle looked relieved. I could sense that he didn't want to face any more challenges tonight.

"No!" Walker shouted out. "All of you go, now! Leave the tunnel." His face looked pained as blood stiffened on his tan skin.

That was all we needed. We walked up the stairs and entered the second room. I could see the Creative Window in the center of the other room, now in front of the altar I was strapped to not so long ago. But no Camil or Sebastian in sight. The massive hole in the ceiling, and subsequent rubble on the damp floors, explained the Tydrahn's escaped from the Shattered Temple and the collapse of the winding staircase.

Then a sudden boom and dust cloud came from behind us. "No!!!" I shouted in heartbreak, because I knew exactly what happened. I couldn't feel Walker anymore. His essence was entirely gone from the temple. "Put me down!" I snapped at Anvard, but he resisted. "Put me down, right now!"

"He's gone, you have to square with that."

He wouldn't even look at me. Though I could read his face like a book. He wouldn't look because seeing me cry would bring him to tears. "Anvard, he might not be dead. We can search through th
e—
"

"No!" he said in a commanding voice. "We need to find out what that board can do to help us."

I didn't feel like arguing anymore. I just wanted to go home.

"
We already know what the board does, Anvard." Lindle announced. But I wasn't so certain about that. I mean, sure we know what a normal board does for the card game, but this is real.

"Well, then le
t’
s go," Anvard sounded anxious, so we pressed forward. They walked across the floor while Anvard still cradled me. We passed through the purplish-blue glass shards seamlessly. Once we escaped the width of threshold above us that separated the two rooms, we saw a sort of welcoming sight. There truly was no one else in either room. But the door that the Squadron guys brought my uncle through was now wide open. With my uncle missing as well as the others.

We looked down at the massive Aurriculium board that molded with the ground. It sprung out of the Creative Window when Camil and Sebastian were doing their ritual thing. I wonder if it works like a regular board? Lindle knelt down and reached out to touch it.

"Don't do that just yet!" Anvard yelled out to him.

He looked up from the ground like a precocious puppy that couldn't help but explore its surroundings, attempting to learn, without regard for safety. Very cute, but
I’
m with Andy on this one. We need to think first.

"Why?" Lindle asked with those big brown eyes looking as innocent as ever.

"Well, you got that shock from that rock, didn't you?" Lindle looked down in thought of what Andy said. "Maybe you ... I mean we," Anvard shook his head like an adult, "should be a little more careful
.
”

"Yeah," Lindle started, "but we don't have time for that." He immediately rubbed his hand over the board. The shine in his eyes told me that he was beyond fascinated. He was downright obsessed with the sight before him. "If this works like a real Aurriculium board then I've got the perfect plan." I couldn't wait to hear this one. The kid who froze up time and time again during this horrible adventure has a plan. The -
perfect plan
, to be more exact.

"So spit it out then!" Anvard was still anxious. His body felt so tight up against mine. I wasn't sure if he'd have some sort of spastic attack. H
e’
d end up sporadically throwing me clear across the room, into the wall with all the odd fixtures on it, because of some misguided reflex in those overly ripped muscles.

"Hey." I tapped on his head to get his attention. He still couldn't look me in the eye. "Can you put me down. I think I'm a little better now." To have felt his emotions when he thought we were going to die made me feel secure with him. But now the air between us is weird again. This time, he's growing more distant by the second. Things felt so strange as he put me down, allowing me to test my ankle before completely letting go of my waist. He didn't give me an ounce of eye contact. I would have asked what's wrong, but Lindle was ready to reveal his grand plan before I could get a word out.

"We use the board to summon our own Deaves. We use cards a lot more powerful than the Tydrahn, and we destroy it before it wrecks the school."

"Yeah, there's a few problems with that," I told him. "There aren't any cards more powerful than the Tydrahn in either of our decks. If I had pulled that card on you at the tournament, I would have won. And we don't even know if the Deaves will obey us. What if they just kill us after we summon them? If we can even summon them at all!" I summed up, a little overexcited.

He looked up from the ELD slots with an offended expression. "First off, you wouldn't have beaten me with that card." Anvard and I both rolled our eyes. This kid really is a geek. "Second, that's not how the game works. Your deck, your call."

"Yeah sure, but this isn't a game, Lindle
,
” Anvar
d’
s accent kept creeping into his speech, though he tried to suppress it
.“
That monster thing is going to be real. Didn't you hear that,
Tidran
, or whatever you two called it, screaming earlier. I
t’
s big and ferocious. We can't take this lightly!" Anvard seemed fully convinced of his own words.

"Look, I'm usually the one who's overly cautious, but you guys are talking about waiting to try to save peopl
e’
s lives." He had a great point. "Like you -said, that thingy is real, and if we don't do something, i
t’
s going to kill all our friends. Your sisters Anvard, they're there, probably asleep. A bunch of unsuspecting people are in store for a rude awakening if we don't take yet another risk tonight."