Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (60 page)

"Spirant Facilis," Lindle whispered from behind Corinth. He wanted Anvard to be able to breathe easy, but his clever spell didn't work, as he was
n’
t very good at wielding in the cursed language.

"My god, I can't .... I can't! My chest!" He started twisting back and forth trying to move back in the direction they just came from.

"Anvard, wait!" Corinth shouted. But Anvard pushed so hard that his foot and shoulder both shifted out of their fixed position between the walls that pressed against all of their backs and chest.

He slammed into Corinth when he lost what little balance he had. Their heads knocked against one another's like coconuts. But there was no room to fall down. There was more space back the way they came, but still not enough for Anvard to get pass, unless he cleared the way somehow. He was in full panic mode now. He tried to climb over a leaning Corinth as he drifted in and out, with unfocused vision. Anvard's bolt like head was no soft tool, so the force overwhelmed Corinth. Anvard, too, could barely see, he was so overwhelmed by the onslaught of fear creeping through his mind. Corinth's small body seemed to shimmy its way down to the floor of the man made crevice they huddled in. He laid there on the floor as Anvard literally stepped on him, trying to pass in a panic.

Corinth slowly came back to reality after the strike of their two heads, but somehow with a new focus he never experienced before. His world seemed to slow down and become very poignant. But he wouldn't let the regret of dragging the two of them with him into this mess keep him from accomplishing his mystified goal. He just knew it in his head. He couldn't put it into words that the others could understand, but there was something waiting for him out there in the Angora Mountains. Something that had been waiting longer than Walker roamed the earth. He knew this was bigger than he was, and couldn't simply be ignored. He wanted Anvard, at the very least, to be able to understand the sensation incessantly dominating his thoughts since he was reunited with his parents. He'd been feeling like he was chasing an elusive idea from the beginning of it all.

He grabbed Anvard's passing leg, and opened his mind to him. Time stopped for a moment between them. Lindle was trying his absolute best to back away, but the sight of a charging Anvard scared him s
o—
that he got jammed up in the limited space around him. While Lindle fought to regain control over his movement, the other two felt each other in a way they never could have if Corinth weren't a budding psychic himself, and now an increasingly profound fraction of the entire Nexus.

Anvard's veins popped out from beneath his skin. They coursed with his blood flowing faster than ever before. His petrified face was frozen in shock. He welled up with tears in his widened, bloodshot eyes. Those tears rolled down the center of his face into his broadly opened mouth. In an instance, he felt every emotion Corinth ever experienced. Every lonely thought. Every fleeting urge. They were all now a part of his mind as well. He realized that Corinth always felt like he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Not just in day-to-day living, but in his very own mind too. There was no escape for him. He had to go forward with this plan. Anvard could feel it the way Corinth felt it. He knew now, and understood why Corinth couldn't explain it before. The knowledge soothed him. It calmed him to the point that he ceased all frantic activity, and just let the tears stream.

<*>

Anvard blasted the rocks with an Annihilate, while using a Vis Aura to protect himself and the others from debris. He didn't want to try fitting through again. They finally reached the open mouth of the coaster station, but things weren't exactly looking up for them. The coaster looked old and out of order. Lindle inspected it as Corinth and Andy sat on a railing of the platform that separated them from the tracks. It looked like they were in a train station. A very dusty, dingy train station. The coaster wasn't exactly a train, but it worked like one. One difference being that it was openly exposed to the outside. Not always, but more times than not. They noticed all the railcars were exposed, no hoods in sight. They wanted to take a single cart, but they were all connected to one another. They looked around for tools, but found nothing. They'd have to take the whole darn row, if they even still wanted to get across.

Anvard hoisted himself onto the top red bar. Corinth looked up at him from the middle bar leaning forward. "I'm sorry I almost trampled you," Andy twisted his lips slightly into a grin, but he was really embarrassed by his behavior. He was supposed to be the rock of this group.

"It wasn't that bad," Cory tried to sound friendly. "I remember feeling like I couldn't breathe either when I fell down in the auditorium. It's not a fun feeling."

Anvard wanted to agree, but his pride took him in a different direction. "Yeah, but if I'm not able to protect you then..." he paused, because he didn't want to think of the possibilities.

"You'd be surprised how I react under pressure. I'm not a baby. I'm small, a little more scarred, but overall I have a lot of courage too." Corinth realized how surreal he sounded while touching his chest like that's exactly where the courage existed inside of him. "Well ... it's somewhere down in there," he said, trying to clear up his explanation.

Anvard knew that to be the truth. He felt a glimpse of that stark courage Corinth possessed when he touched his leg, but really his soul. He felt it, true, but -Anvard could
n’
t possibly imagine on his own how much depth there was to this feeble boy's soul. Corinth had a deft way of dealing with emotion. That's why he is the one the Nexus connected with over all others.

"But someone's got to be the rock of the group. You think that guy's going to do it!" He gestured to Lindle, who was tapping on one of the carts, like that would identify whether it was still functioning properly or not. "He can't even figure out where the switches are." He pointed to the switchboard just a few feet from the bars they sat on. It was positioned in front of the carts Lindle knocked on, but he didn't notice. "Somebody has got to be the rock, the stable one, you know?"

"Well, okay, Rocksteady!" Corinth laughed in his face. "You really showed how stable you can be back in the tunnel."

Anvard smirked, but really his pride was in the toilet, and Corinth had no problem flushing him out. Andy felt like Corinth was supposed to be impressed by him, not mocking him. But he figured he deserved it after he nearly broke the boy in two.

"Okay, le
t’
s get going!" Anvard clapped his hands together and hopped off the top bar. "Come on in, Curly," he called out to Lindle to stop trying to turn on the machine by strategically banging on it.

The blue-gray carts that sat on the rusted tracks seemed completely inert. But Corinth was determined to make it, despite the obstacles that came already and could possibly stand in their way if they venture forward. Corinth pushed Anvard aside, and took control of the switches he was reluctant to touch. He pushed the most obvious button first. The big red one that was labeled
,“
O
N”
. After he pulled his hand back, the line of carts directly in front of the switchboard sprung to life. The static sound of the electromagnetic propulsion systems coming to life shocked all three of them. There seemed to be an electrical field that was
n’
t quite flowing right, which gave way to Anvar
d’
s new wave of reluctance. The lights above the track began flashing red, green, and yellow. There were four tracks. They boarded the second track from the right. Well, at least Corinth and Lindle did.

"Wait!" Anvard called out to them, but they continued to step inside. "The lights! They're still flashing. This thing can't be operable," as the last word left his lips, the lights stopped. On yellow no less.

"See, its fine," Corinth pointed to the screen onboard the fourth cart in the railcar row. "Everything's fine," he said again impatiently.

"It's yellow, Cory!" It wasn't the right time to break that nickname out again. Corinth shot him a steely glare, but Anvard ignored it. "That's a caution light. See, red means no. Green means go. And yellow means slow, or something else that makes more sense ... and also rhymes?" Anvard insisted while scratching the back of his head.

"Okay, Rocksteady, we'll trust you to handle this one the way you did the tunnel situation," Corinth countered sarcastically.

He threw his hands up. "You know what, whatever!" He was beyond frustrated with the roller coaster emotional ride he and Corinth were on. Why not just hop on a real roller coaster while the
y’
re at it. One that was likely out of order. At least according to the sign at the gate that they continued to ignore, like it was never there. "Let's just go!" Andy summed up firmly.

He got in and pressed the button he recalled seeing the guide press all those years ago on his family hiking trip. Meanwhile, static electrical currents slowly kicked in, making the hair on the back of their necks stand tall. Just then, the boys sat down. They positioned themselves on one of three benches against the sidewalls of the cart. Not even the slightest hint of hesitation crept through Corinth or Lindl
e’
s minds. They were ready. The automatic bar locks descended from over head. They were all now strapped in and on their way.

The cart slowly crept up the track with soothingly smooth propulsion. The structure had no wheels, so the ride would
n’
t be bumpy unless the technology failed them. The row of linked carts hovered just a few inches from the surface of the -flat glass track with metal stripes defining either edge. Propelled and repulsed by magnetic forces that held it in tight suspension with minimal friction and maximum velocity. The switch-track function operated via the individual car
t’
s resonant traditional engines. Facilitated by the magnetic levitation that garnered resolute torque for slowing and accelerating the coaste
r’
s carts. When these forces combined, they provided the dynamic dexterity needed to perform the shifts from one side of the nonlinear track to the other. As it traveled through the mountains, it resembled a spiraling roller-coaster in more ways than a straightforward train.

Anvard didn't trust such advanced technology that already looked like it had endured much wear and tear. When he and his family boarded the coaster years ago, it wasn't so high-tech. It was still attached to the track by way of wheels and motor that moved it forward. The ride was clunky and uncomfortable, yet the carts looked newer and much better kept than tonight. Obviously, the coaster was still in working condition, but still he had a bad feeling about the not so joyous ride they were taking.

The coaster reached the summit of its incline. At the top of the hump, they looked out over the grounds of the school to the side of their peripheral vision. They saw the pillars and the pixie dust lighting up, and fading away back down there. The school grounds looked pretty close, even though it felt like forever walking from there to the tunnel of the coaster. They weren't nearly as high as Anvard remembered or expected. He looked forward passed the control board, and the sight ahead cleared up his confusion. This was only the first of many climbs and descents. They still had to get over the mountains. That's why the coaster was built in the first place. After the smooth ride over the Central Lake, they'd have to ride upward to traverse the dangerous series of craggy peaks. Just beyond those craggy crevices lay the eerie North Lake. They had to travel over that water body as well. Then they could finally relax as they descended to the valleys between the higher mountain ranges that lay even further north of Hyperborean and Aurora Boreal school.

The coaster dropped like a streaking eagle swooping down to collect its unexpected prey from the fields. The buzzing sound radiating from beneath and inside the group of open blue-gray carts sounded volatile, but that didn't seem to bother Anvard. It was the ride that made him feel uneasy. Very queasy in fact, as he grimaced with a pained look on his face. The decent was just as much an event as any other roller-coaster that was built for fun instead of traveling means. The railcar carefully glided off the incline into a straight and even ride, just a low forty yards above the Central Lake. The mist off the water dashed their faces as the force of the speeding coaster whipped it up.

It was a refreshing feeling to Corinth. Gliding from one side of the World of Hyperborean to the other made him feel free. Unbound from the worries he normally and naturally possessed within himself. The silvery moon shined off to the left of them
,
lighting up Corinth's eyes beyond that of their usual shine. He loved the sight of the full moon. He thought it drifted so gracefully across the night sky. The moon used the shine of the sun to reflect light down to the earth, so that we wouldn't all be completely blinded when our home star wasn't in sight. It reminded him that even the smallest of objects could have a huge impact on the grand stage of life.