Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (45 page)

"I'll only do it if you promise not to poke, or whatever you yelled, my eyes out tonight in the dorm." Anvard smiled, like he'd made a new friend.

"Okay,
I’
ll try to not do that." Von actually seemed sincere for the moment.

Suddenly, Esteban reintroduced himself to them both. "Doble Inmovilizar!" He tried to immobilize them both with one strike. Two clear beams shot out of his rotating llave. He conjured up as much power as he could handle.

Anvard deflected yet another hit with his gauntlet. But Von proved, just as he did in training, that he didn't have the reflexes that Anvard possessed. He was knocked back to the ground. His back hit hard, and he appeared to be out of the competition. This time for good. His body went completely stiff. His arms sticking up in the air while he lay on his back frozen in time, totally immobile. Anvard figured this as an opportunity to put his new mind slave to work.

"Get u
p—
girl!" He didn't know her name, so he improvised. She immediately responded to his commands. Her conscience was his for the taking. If only she didn't boast over knocking him over. She might have won, and fulfilled her dream. After she would have been forced to betray Esteban, that is. But for now, her own cockiness won her a free ticket to do whatever Anvard says land. "Attack your boyfriend with every non-lethal spell you know." She instantly snapped into the motions.

"Mel, snuggle bear, don't do this. It's me, your mocking bird." She looked like a zombie. And was totally non-responsive to his words. She started with a small stun, he blocked it with his gauntlet, but she was working her way up to the bigger guns. Esteban couldn't bring himself to fight back, so he just ran from her across the field.

The crowd laughed at him and chanted.
"Go cower, coward! Go cower, coward!"
But luckily enough for Esteban, he was
n’
t a prideful boy. He didn't care about them. He just wanted Mel to love him again.

Everyone was occupied, in some capacity, except Anvard. He stood there, wondering if this was really it. "Llamada!" he called the rods to his waiting hands. He dropped his own when Esteban went nuts on him, so now all four remaining rods lifted up and hovered over to him immediately.

He was now ready to assemble the Lightning Arc. He was also the perfect distance away from the Depositor to make the highest jump he could. He had
n’
t even considered making the climb instead. That would make him look like a chump. He snapped two rods together. Then the other two rods together. Two separate halves waiting to make the whole Arc spring to life. They shined brightly, just like he was used to. He then took the two pieces to the long-winded puzzle and pushed their diamond shaped groves into one another. He stood on the far end from where Corinth and the others sat. They looked up to one of many jumbo screens to get a close up view on his activities.

"He's going to do it!" Emma shouted. "Yeah! Do it Andy!"

Everyone in the stadium shot to their feet. The metals in the first rod reacted with the second, the third, and the fourth! They generated arches of static electricity, gearing up to fulfill their destiny as one massive structure. A gigantic crescent beam of blue and white light shot out into the sky, even farther up than the aerial coverage of the game from the hovering helicopters. He was being broadcast throughout all the Worlds. Aurora Borea
l’
s diversity made these games the most watched amateur sporting events of their time.

He shouted out, holding the Lightning Arc high over his head.
"Yeahhh!"
He held that syllable, for what seemed like an eternity. When the Arc burst into being, it made the skies grow gray and dark. Clouds rolled in out of nowhere and cast a dark and beautiful silvery shadow over the Pavilion. He looked around at the dazzled crowd, soaked up their energy, but could
n’
t bear to waste a moment more than that.

He sporadically shot forward toward the Depositor. He was running with the force of a stampede. He charged and charged until he reached the spot that he designated as his tipping off point. He took the four-rod handle and dug the bottom end of the Arc of light into the ground in front of him. It propelled him up as he brought his muscular legs together and locked them tight. He vaulted forward through the air with the Arc as his guide. Once he hit the crest of his wave through the sky, he flipped himself so that the Arc no longer touched the ground. He jumped so high that he was in free fall down toward the Depositor's locking mechanism.

This was his make or break moment. He could've chosen to simply walk the plank. He could have walked over to the Depositor, stuck the Lightning Arc inside, locked it tight, and climbed his way to victory. That was the safe way, and it always got the competitor booed. People wanted to see a display of athleticism. The jump was feared by all. Even Anvard. But he wanted it worked. So badly. The only way to find out if he could still make i
t—
was to try.

He came in twirling like a professional diver. He realigned the Arc so that it could hit the Depositor at the precise moment he was hovering directly over it. He was there! He drove-the Arc downward and into its intended fixed position. This was his moment and his alone. H
e’
d either drop out of the sky, or become the champion.

"It connected!!!"
the announcer screamed over the loud speaker in the stadium. He scared everyone except Anvard. His jump was so high that he exceeded the Aura-field itself. He knew that he had reached his goal not by the announcer, but when he heard the triumphant sounds of Thunder tearing apart the skies.

The aerial cameras caught his facial expression while clinging to the Arc in midair. He virtually floated in the middle of the sky above the Pavilion. His expression, as the media termed it: 'Pure Glee
!
’ The safety Aura above the field burst apart into colored streamers that fluttered around the stadium. Everyone cheered and yelled out inaudible phrases. Though it was held on the least interesting Levantarse surface, the event did not disappoint a soul. Especially not Anvard, who safely descended to the stadium grounds with the bright shine of a god among men emanating from the broad smile covering his face, from ear to ear.

May 17, 1002 ~ Nightfall

Just a dream, of no more hope

The sky burns green, power will not choke

The voice of means, the wielders, they have spoke

The masses careen, their lives ... but a twisted joke

Watch as the roller coaster in this scene takes you far away from your friendly team

A green dark sky that screamed with lightning, forced you to cover your eyes

You once saw images of war, famine, sadness ... the tears that many mothers cry

In the distance, what appears to be a dragon floats by

The pressure of its flight knocking you down in surprise

No longer shielded by the fleeting wave of a tired minded boy's hands held high

You look in horror, as the face of fear is bold enough to bring about a firebird's demise

Shattered in two, one bird's life not suffice

Who?

Boy in a coaster that flies

You!

Must now fight to keep false hopes alive.

Corinth awoke from his topsy-turvy dream in a steaming sweat. The voice inside of his head was getting louder. Taking more energy from him with every whisper. He thought it was real, so real that he decided in the dream to jump out of the high-speed sky coaster. But somehow, in some weird way, when he jumped out
~
the coaster cart came off the track with him. It felt like the fall woke him in a jolt. But the real thing jolting him awake was ... Emma!

"Why do you sleep so much?"

"Leave him alone, he's tired!" Anvard said from a tiny brown whicker chair. He squeezed his muscular body into it, sitting in the corner near the door of Corinth's quaint dormitory.

"Aren't you concerned, Andy? He doesn't even do anything physical. Yet anytime we stop moving for more than like ten minutes, he basically passes out." She was still attempting to shake Cory awake when Anvard walked over and slapped her hands away. "Well, all right then. Have it your way, muscle-head." She moved away, back over to Emmy and Claudia, rubbing her sore hands from the slap. They too packed themselves into the small room. Corinth alone felt cramped up in there, better yet with all of them crowding around.

Anvard tripped over a pile of clothes on the floor and bumped his head on the unusually low ceilings over Corinth's bed. "Gracious! This room blows."

"Tell me about it," said Emma in her usual judgmental tone.

"Why can't we just go to your gu
y’
s dorm?" Anvard asked, while holding his head.

Corinth could hear Anvard's accent coming out again, as he lifted his body from the bed like a waking corpse. He stretched his arms out wide in the air and yawned loudly without covering his mouths. "We can't go there because they've got that new roommate. What's her face. Or whatever. Something like that," Corinth's scratchy throat made him sound like a cartoon character. Anvard laughed and tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but Corinth didn't feel nearly as comfortable with And
y
— as Anvard did with Cory. "That's okay, I've got it," he informed a bruised-hearted Anvard while pushing his hand away.

Andy brushed off his hurt, and turned back to his sisters. "What's this about a new roommate?" he asked, with a scrunched brow.

They looked at him cross-eyed, and simultaneously folded their arms across their chest. Claudia didn't want to be the odd ball out, so she too folded her arms. If not a second off from the twins synchronized movement.

"He's been asleep half this time and yet he heard more of the conversation than you!" Emmy stood up and shouted with a laugh. "You really don't listen at all, do you?"

"I bet you he listens when Corinth talks," Emma said with a snicker. The three girls giggled. Off to the corner of his eye, Anvard noticed Corinth giggling too. But he didn't know whether that was a good or bad sign coming from the little guy he continued to try to get closer with. But the turquoise-eyed boy continued to push him away.

Bang! Bang! Bang!
A knock came to the door that caught them all off guard. Corinth looked around as if it were someone else's decision on who was allowed into his dorm.

"Uh! Uh, hello?" the feeble boy called out in question of the unexpected visitor.

"What are you doing?" Emma hit him on the shoulder while whispering.

"I don't know, I'm not used to visitors," he said with a raspy, yet loud tone while ducking down.

"First, why are you talking so loud? Second, you do know that they can't see us. Right?" She motioned toward the door with her hand. The large dark thing did appear to be sealed shut. Corinth looked around a little embarrassed, but figured she was right. It was safe to stand up.

"What do I do?" while he asked that question, Claudia was already opening the door.

"Hi, and who are you, might I ask?" She only cracked the door and stuck her head out.

Corinth was nervous beyond belief. Every time someone had knocked on his door in the past few weeks, it was to deliver him bad news. Like this morning during Anvard's match, when the messenger kid told him that the committee cancelled the Deaves tournament.

Claudia turned around from the door with a blissful smile. Her heart seemed to jump out of her chest. "Corinth, this wonderful guy says he knows you." The door opened up to reveal Evan standing beneath the archway.

"Uncle Evan!" Corinth shouted, charging over to him. He heard that Evan was in Hyperborean, but he hadn't had a chance to see him the entire time. A white t-shirt and denim jeans did it for Evan. His mind was too far away to give a hoot about his usual fashion forward styling.

"Ho
w’
s it going?" he said with a big smile, then took a quick look around. "Whoa! You got a lot of friends, dude. And your digs, it's ... kind of cool. A bit small for five people, but still pretty cool."