Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (70 page)

Lindle had me at
thingy
. He's right. We've got to try, even Walker said so. And I'd be dead already if it weren't for his sacrifice. I have no idea why he came for me, but I'm glad he did either way. He gave my friends and me a fighting chance.

“
All right," Anvard said reluctantly, "let's do it."

Lindle pulled out a soggy stack of cards from his pocket. "Never leave my dorm without these puppies," he said while looking like the biggest geek alive.

He setup the ELD perfectly. Since the rules of the game didn't apply, he could just pick and chose as he willed. Like I suspected, he didn't have anything stronger than a Tydrahn. I myself had a Tydrahn card, but it would be of no use to us from my dorm in Olympia. During a regulation match, the game would be riddled with rules, but Lindle went into his deck and pulled out the most effective match up to place in each slot on the ELD. He randomly pulled out Destiny, Love, and Wind star Deaves cards. Normally, it would be nearly impossible to form a Trifecta from drawing per shift in a match. But he could bypass all that and simply destroy the Tydrahn without question. I guess he did have a plan.

After he placed the three cards down, he pressed the cast button. Anvard visibly tensed up. He bit down on his bottom lip while standing next to me. I was just as nervous about the response the board would give us, but looking into his shiny pink eyes helped settle me.

I turned back to Lindle kneeling at the board, and saw a spectacle of lights. The three cards leaped off the board, but not in hologram form. They weren't transparent or anything. They blasted up toward the ceiling with dark red and purple lights. At first, they were in their separate forms, but when three star cards are cast on the ELD all at once, they weave themselves into an awesome Trifecta. The three cards combine into one mega Deaves creature. By rule, they could destroy your opponen
t’
s entire ELD. We only needed it to take out one card, the Tydrahn, so this should be a breeze.

The three star cards started filtering themselves into one another, combining to some grand final form. The dark red and purple lights obscured the figures. I could barely make out which creatures they were before they started the transformation, but I knew their categories. Wind, destiny, and love. They're always star cards. And they would certainly combine in the standard way from the look of things. They mixed together to finally reveal the form of a woman. She was cloaked in a dark red shawl that covered her personal parts. Across her stomach, the shawl was cut in the form of a star. Her hair was purple, just like Claudia's. Her skin, jet-black on one vertical half and white on the other. She looked super cool and ready to battle. Her steel sword had and engraving of a star on the space between the handle and the blade.

We all backed away, while she just floated there, hovering above the board. She was a giant. Not as massive as the Tydrahn, but I'm sure she'll hold her own against the beast. "Lindle, you casted it, do something." I inched forward and hit him on the shoulder.

"Oh! Right ... okay," he said nervously. After that whole speech he gave us, he has the audacity to be scared of this chick. He really is a piece of work.

"Just do it! The Tydrahn probably made it there already."

"But how? She's not going to listen to me," Lindle shot back at me. When he said that, the Deaves Trifecta lady suddenly looked down to us with a not so happy expression. "Ah!!!" Lindle ran behind Anvard shouting.

I had no idea what to do. I didn't know if the card would listen to me or not, but I figured something had to be done. I edged closer to her with a limp. I wasn't really hurting anymore, but she scared me so, that I felt like the pain in my ankle had suddenly returned. "Use your most powerful attack on the Tydrahn, now!" She kept looking, but she didn't budge. "Hey!" I shouted out to her, waving my hands wildly. "Hey! Listen
at
me!" that came out wrong, because I got mad really fast. We finally have some firepower behind us and this thing won't make a move. "Look, we need your help, please!" I didn't know if she could feel emotion or not, but I figured it was worth a shot.

From behind Anvard's back, Lindle told me the secret to get her going. "Yo
u’
ve got to name one of her attacks. Look at the card," he said.

“
Don't you know any of the attacks, it is your card after all?" Anvard announced with a frown.

"Oh yeah," he smiled like a buffoon. "Use ... Stealth Charger, now!" he commanded, oh so forcefully, from behind the back of a giant of our own, Anvard. But once again, nothing happened.

"Looks like we'll be needing a new plan," Anvard said flatly.

Lindle looked perplexed. His brain was working underneath those long curls. He snapped his fingers, "I got it!" he chirped. "Press the cast button." My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe that was his epiphany. I pressed the button without hesitation, and the black & white star card sprang up through the ceiling and flew away at near supersonic speed, I'd bet.

An image of her appeared on the adluncinatio portion of the Aurriculium board. The hologram imagery popped up, showing her breezing through the sky, not too far ahead of her we saw the havoc the Tydrahn had begun wreaking on the school grounds. It already reached the Northern Coaster station. The whole area was in flames and the fire tore down what little was left of the track. It blew up trees and pillars on the grounds, headed directly for the Delphi dorm. I have no idea if the ministrants can fend off something so powerful. But if they don't try, our card may be too late to rescue them. We watched helplessly as the dragon-like tiger creature opened its mouth wide and an orb of white light filled the space between its fangs.

"Oh no!" cried Lindle. "I
t’
s getting ready to attack the dorm."

Anvard and I were speechless. I couldn't have possibly imagined all this really happening this way. My best guess is that Walke
r’
s dead, and now the whole town is about to be destroyed. All because I couldn't help but stay away from this place. It truly is my fault. If only I still had the Nexus, I could end this the way I did the attack on the Pavilion. Well, I'm sure the Nexus did most of the heavy lifting on that one, but I helped.

I wondered if Sebastian had already gone to pick up the pieces of the World he sought to bring to its knees. I just can't understand peopl
e’
s lust for power. There's so much more to enjoy. That thought prompted me to grab Anvar
d’
s hand. I don't care if he's mad at me or not. I just want him to know how I feel. As I locked my fingers in his, he finally turned to me and gave a little eye contact.

"Don't worry," he said with his accent sounding a little thicker than usual, "it will work out, I can feel it." He was lying. He didn't seem remotely sure of it, and he shouldn't have been. The Tydrahn released the orb of light from its mouth just like in my dream. Most of the scenarios in my recurring dream had played out already. In different sequences, but still they occurred. All but one. The figure made of pure blazing light that tried to save me from having my face melted off never showed. Neither had my face been melted off, so I wasn't exactly sure how to interpret all that.

Our lady was close, but still too far away. The lightning flashed out of the Tydrahn's mouth, headed right at Delphi. I grabbed hold of Anvard. I didn't want to look, so I tucked my head into the side of his chest. "Oh, my goodness!" Lindle shouted, but in a jovial tone, which was something very unexpected.

I turned back to the hologram screen to see the lightning of the Tydrahn being countered by a large force of multicolored energies. The ministrants weren't going down without a fight. Even some students joined in. Massive force waves pulsated from both wands and llaves alike. They were fighting back, but just barely. The Tydrahn's lightning started pushing them hard. Stray sparks flew out of its mouth, electrocuting some of the other teachers and students running around the grounds in horror. They were flung around in every direction as the green-scaled animal, with the face of a tiger, roared impossibly loud.

They looked to be out of resistance juice when the creature suddenly stopped attacking them. The orb of light disconnected from its host, and the large beast flapped its wings sporadically in their direction, blowing person after person away. But the beast wasn't attempting to attack them with the wind force of its wings. It was trying to turn around. Somehow, it got wind of our approaching Trifecta star card. She moved at such a faster rate than the dreaded Tydrahn that she caught up with it quickly.

She didn't waste a second either. As the beast tried to turn its large body to face her, she struck it in the side with her ample sword. The pained screams were higher pitched than the screeching battle cries it howled when it busted out of the temple earlier. The beast started to falter as she withdrew her sword. But instead of tumbling to the ground, it shot up into the moonlit sky, crying loudly like the wounded animal it was. We cheered, hopping that our girl had changed the game. She did, and now we needed her to finish the job. But instead of doing that, she just hovered there over the Delphi building. She stared out into space as aimlessly as when she was with us in the temple. That's when it dawned on me.

"Put in another attack! Now Lindle!" He was closest to the board. He kept inching forward, from behind Anvar
d’
s back, as we watched the Trifecta closing in on the Tydrahn a minute ago. He and I rushed over to the ELD. We pressed the same attack again and hit cast. Hopefully, she'd respond immediately. We don't want the beast recovering from the blow she got in already. Not one bit.

Or all the way! Which it appeared to have already done, recovered fully. A lonely beam of white lightning descended from the skies above our darling Trifecta card. She never knew what hit her. She immediately exploded to pieces, sending little fire balls spitting toward the Diamond Atrium and the surrounding areas of Delphi.

We three were speechless as the screen went blank and disappeared. Leaving us in the pretty dark room, only illuminated by the glowing shards of glass that passed back and forth by our heads, down to our feet, and all about the high ceilings of the temple.

"I don't get it," Lindle announced. "Why does the Tydrahn move like i
t’
s got a will of its own, but we have to make each move like we're playing the real game?"

He didn't get it, but I knew exactly why. "That's only one of many reasons why Sebastian so desperately wanted the Nexus. He's controlling the Tydrahn." They both looked overwhelmed by my assertion. And I could feel the sensation of grief that flooded Anvar
d’
s heart. He couldn't imagine life without his annoying little sisters. They were two of his greatest friends.

"Where is he?" Anvard barked abrasively at me.

"Where's who?" Lindle asked.

"I'm not talking to you, Curly, so just shut it!" Anvard was off his rocker. "This is your fault!" He turned back to me with tears in his eyes. He normally resembled a delightful puppy, but now he looked more like a pit-bull. He had it out for me. I could feel it in his heart and his mind. He put his fist to his head and knocked on his own skull vigorously. "What!? You don't think I can feel you poking around up here. I'm not stupid, Corinth. I know all about your abilities. I probably know more about them than you do!" His hands suddenly shot toward the ceiling. He paced back and forth in front of me like a madman. "You're a selfish little bastard. And I'll take you down myself if you don't tell me where Sebastian is. Right now!"

This was a new gear for him. Everything he did up until this point was to protect me. Now he threatened my life. And I have no known way of providing him with the information he wanted. I guess I found that flaw I was looking for behind the glowing pink eyes of the thought to be perfect fourteen-year-old boy? But no one's perfect. Not one of us. "Andy, I don't have any idea how to do that," I said quietly.

But he wasn't trying to hear it. "LIAR!" he shouted, charging toward me and gripping me up by my neck, lifting me clear off my feet.

"Anvard! Stop, i
t’
s Corinth!" Lindle looked more than shocke
d
… as his attempt to settle Anvar
d’
s tempe
r
… was blatantly ignored.

He looked me dead in eyes as tears continued pouring down his face. But he wasn't sad in appearance. Just mad. "Did you really think you were going to get off on this one that easy? You just destroyed a whole towns worth of peopl
e—
my sisters!" his voice cracked as he choked back more tears. He started wiping them away dramatically, trying to stay tough and intimidating.