Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (66 page)

"Now, that may be hard for you to hear, but I am going to be taking all the eight Worlds under my wing very soon. I need them to be obedient and submissive. Something Hyperborean doesn't understand. No one who submits will be harmed. After all, I do need someone to rule over. Now do your part, young man. Unlock this window, please."

His honesty caught Corinth off guard. "How'd you get in the first time?" he couldn't help but ask.

"With Camil's help, of course. She granted Squadron access." Sebastian could sense the nature of Corinth's new line of questioning. Why don't you just do what you did last time? That was most likely the next inquiry to come from Cory. Sebastian had a simple explanation lined up for that question. "But ... what I want to bring in this time isn't coming from our Worlds," he told the bewildered boy.

"Take the thing inside my head," Corinth said sullenly, "and just do it yourself."

Sebastian didn't want to tell him that the Creative Window was the only thing that could give the Nexus over to him. The transfer wasn't as simple as he tried to make it seem so many times before. He finally had all three pieces lined up. He was inside the gates of Aurora Boreal, with the Creative Window and the Nexus. And this time, no pesky force fields blocking him from interacting with Corinth. He wasn't passing this one up.

"Just open the window, and you and your loved ones will be fine. I am gracious, aren't I? You lived under me in Draconia for nearly an entire term. You realize I am the Chancellor, right?"

"But you outlawed magik there. So why do you use so much of it?"

He deliberately ignored the young bo
y’
s astonishingly poignant point of most people's easy going hypocrisy. "Corinth, do you love your family?" He leaned in close. His cold breath gave Corinth the chills.

"Of course," little Cory said quickly, falling into the trap.

"Then why are you so willing to let them die, without even trying to save them first?" He pointed to Evan still losing his mind on the cobblestones. Corinth felt a great wave of guilt suddenly flooding into his heart. His mother and father were fighting for him. The Pavilion nearly crumbled to bits for him. Evan was lying on the floor screaming in agony. His friends were nearly killed on a high-speed coaster. All for him. They risked themselves because of his weakness and this selfish quest for answers. He couldn't stop thinking about his own needs. Perhaps Sebastian could bring peace to the Worlds, he thought?
If only I let go
.

I could not allow this type of trickery to play so easily over Corinth. I whispered to the restrained boy on the altar. "Sebastian can't bring peace to a peaceful place. He speaks of destruction to you openly, therefore he could never be trustworthy."

"At least he can be up front about it," Corinth said aloud to the Nexus, as if the conversation were ongoing. Camil was unsure of what just occurred, but Sebastian very well knew. Nearly every time I spoke out to him before ... it backfired. This time was no exception. Sebastian could tell Corinth was in a mental struggle with me. He wanted this type of discord to run ramped throughout the boy's fragile, yet dynamic mind. The uncertainty of whether to trust the Nexus became the only thing he could think about for months now. He had already decided that trust wasn't an option. He turned his stark attentions to the Creative Window, without saying another word.

Not even I could stop what happened next!

<*>

Anvard and Lindle found themselves in a cavernous room after they took a wrong turn and didn't correct their misstep immediately. They walked through a dry stone area. This was the first place that they didn't see any shards of glass on the walls. Instead, there were coffins on the walls. Seven coffins arranged in a circular fashion around the room. The magnificent detail caught Lindle's eye. He moved in to take a closer look. He rubbed his hand across the exquisite designs. They were dusty. Very dusty. "What are these?" he asked Anvard.

"I don't know, how would I, and I don't think it matters," he had a certain urgency to his tone. "We need to find Corinth now, and get out of here."

"How?" Lindle exclaimed. "The map is going haywire. It looks like it says we're under the North Lake. Tha
t’
s stupid! The myths always say; -
beyond the North Lake
.Tha
t’
s where the Shattered Temple is supposed to be."

"And yet no one found it out there," Anvard countered. "Maybe the map knows exactly what picture i
t’
s painting for us."

He unfolded the unmarked -piece of parchment, and instantly a 3D version of their surroundings popped up. The images were scrambled and hard to make out, but they could use it. Anvard manipulated the scenery, but couldn't get very far ahead on the map from the exact point where he and Lindle were positioned. The map didn't have a perfect layout of the entire structure. Though true, it still labeled
-‘
Shattered Templ
e
’ above every landmark it revealed to them. Lindle didn't believe it, but Anvard was starting to remember more clearly what occurred while they were floating in the lake. Anvard took a few more steps into the not so well lit room. Just a few torches spread out around the room. Placed in the wide gaps of space between the seven coffins against the walls.

At the center lay an oak table. A clear vase on the table had a bunch of red roses inside. They were fresh flowers, recently picked and placed there. He put the parchment down on the table, and just stared at the holographic map. Lindle continued examining the mysterious coffins. Rounding the room one at a time, so amazed by the meticulously drawn faces that covered each one.

"Where are you, Cory?" Anvard asked the images, while the map sat on the table, as if they could speak out and tell him.

While Lindle picked at one of the mummy faces on the sarcophagus, he noticed it move. Not from poking at it. It was trembling from the ground up. He watched it, and then took a look around. The entire wall was trembling behind the coffins, and so too was the floor now.

"Uh . . . Anvard! Does it seem to you that we're moving?" He scratched his head as his expression widened.

"No," Anvard said flatly. "Where do you think we should go next? Come take a look at th
e—
"

Suddenly, water burst up from the ground at the center of the room. Pushing the table up in the air to inevitably crash back down over Andy's head, if he didn't move. But he felt like he couldn't just yet because he lost the map when the sprouting geyser caught him by surprise, lifting it off the table toward the ceiling of the cavern.

"Get out of the way, against the walls, now, hurry!" an observant Lindle yelled.

"No, we need the map!" Anvard didn't want the map getting lost in the water. He waited for the table to make its fall back down to see exactly where the map would land. He shifted a little from side to side, to be ready to dodge the table. He wasn't so stupid that he was looking to get hit. He just didn't want to miss the map, as its likely soakedand wet frame came flimsily fluttering back down. Ther
e’
s no telling how badly i
t’
ll malfunction this time around, after all that water damage it had to suffer in the North Lake. With the tables weight, it will likely crash back down at about the same spot. But the map just flew away with the rising air pressure of the now closed chamber.

"The door!" Lindle yelled.

Anvard started stomping through the swallow waters, trying to follow the path of the air surfing parchment. The table splashed some water on his back when it smashed down behind him, splintering into countless pieces, as he pushed toward the wall of coffins. The map, still in the air, Anvard still chasing it. It was nearly as light as a feather. It continued swaying from side to side, evading the persistent boy.

"What good is a map, if we're stuck in here?!" Lindle shouted from the door they just walked through only moments ago. He pulled on the rusty handle as hard as he could, and it snapped off! He brought the broken treasure up to his face and stared at it with wide eyes. "Oh crap! We're officially dead."

Anvard continued dragging himself through the building waters. "A map could be the difference between life and death, if we're really stuck!" he yelled to Lindle, who was across the room at his back. "It can show us a way out!"

"If there is one?" Lindle grumbled. He thought it was a good idea, but couldn't help but think Anvard made it up off the top of his head. He could tell his sole priority was to get to Corinth. He didn't even notice the room was shaking, because he stared so intently at that already malfunctioning crap map. The water had risen so high that neither one of their feet touched the ground any longer. A floating Lindle called out. "Anvard just let it go, we can bust this door together!"

"I
t’
s got to come down at some point!" The map kept bouncing around as the water rushed in, creating pressure waves off the walls of the circular room. The coffins below started to become unhinged from their fixed positions. The first one drifted up, shocking Anvard. He quickly got his wits back and a bright idea came with them. He tried to use it as a surfboard. Kneeling on top, pulling himself out of the water. It couldn't support his weight. Not such a bright idea after all. It just toppled over to its side, knocking him off, and he splashed back into the high waters.

"The door will be covered soon! We can't break it from under water! You have to swim over and help!" Lindle was losing control. He was a fine swimmer himself, but holding his breath forever underwater wasn't an option. Once the water hit the ceiling, they'd be done for it.

"Got it!" Anvard shouted across the room.

"The
n—
com
e—
on!" Lindle couldn't believe he'd just done all that for a likely broken map.

He tucked the parchment into the collar of his shirt. He knew i
t’
d get wet, but not soaked like it already had been. Andy swam the length of the room like the expert he is. The swimming track of Levantarse was his second favorite to the ice, and he put a lot of practice in on both, if not all. He made it, in what seemed like the nick of time. There was still the top quarter of the door visible, not yet submerged. "All right, on three we both thrust out with our shoulders," Anvard talked an angry Lindle through the first step to saving their lives.

"One, two, three!!!" They both put all their energy behind it. If they hadn't both lost their llaves there would be no issue getting the door open. They tried again and again, but it seemed like there was no use, while floating like buoys.

"It's too tight!" Lindle finally said.

"No, it's not," Anvard announced firmly. "We just need more force. Here, hold this," he looked to Lindle sternly, "and keep it above the water."

Lindle looked at the ridiculous paper and thought:
Oh, that will be easy! I
t’
s not like w
e’
re surrounded by water or anything. Then it might be a challenge keeping this thing afloat.

After he gave up the treasured map to Lindle, he looked up at the hooded threshold above the archway of the door. It wasn't wide enough to stand on, but it appeared stable enough to grab hold of. He put both hands on the edges of it, and gripped hard. He could feel his adrenaline level surging as his blood sped faster and faster through his veins. He pulled the lower half of his body out of the water. He was hanging from the hooded threshold like a monkey from a vine. He pulled his legs into his chest, and took a deep breath.

Lindle watched the athlete in amazement. His focus under pressure was uncanny. He heard Corinth mockingly calling him, Rocksteady, but he truly was. No amount of pressure seemed to scare him away, except that rock and that hard place back in the tunnel. But Lindle overlooked that as a special case. He saw Anvard achieve Thunder in the most glorious fashion. There was no way he wasn't a powerhouse for real with the show he gave at the Pavilion.

Andy steadied himself. Then forced his contracted legs forward, feet first. He firmly planted them into the top portion of the door that was half-covered by water. The door nearly shattered under the pressure of both Andy's legs, as well the steady rising tides in the room.