Original Souls (A World Apart #1)

by Kyle Thomas Miller

  Those guns are fiendlike. Evan's gun sucked so much energy out of me that it left me stranded in this coma for nearly four whole days. Last Tuesday, myself and nineteen of the finest Squadron members entered that creepy factory. I learned today that only fifteen of those fine men came back out with me. It was a devastating blow when Evan broke the news. He tried to do it as easy as he knew how. So he blurted it out while one of Julia's doctor friends went over my chart. I know how disastrous he is with bad news, but this was completely unexpected. Though when Corinth first went missing, he thought that sending us a card, while avoiding the facts, was a better idea than having a friendly chat. I don't think they make a card that says sorry your child was kidnapped. I guess that's why he decided to make it himself. This time around he was just as clumsy with his emotions. The doctor says, 'here’s how your vitals look.'Then Evan goes,‘four men were killed during our investigation.' The doctor excused himself just a moment after Evan shocked us with that tragic revelation.

  "I guess there's a first time for everything, right?" I said with my head hung low while propped up in my hospital bed. My throat ached so much that my voice was weak and faint. Those dreadful words flew out of my mouth and off my lips like little boomerangs. They bounced off of a speechless Evan, and came back to hit me hard.

  I feel responsible. I am responsible for what happened back there. I hope the others understand that sometimes men are lost. That sometimes we try our best, but it isn't enough. I've done what I could to lead strong, but I wasn't prepared for that kind of ambush. No one could be. I don't know if my men will respect me after this. At Squadron, the fault always lies with the commander. That’s me, so I can only imagine what's to come once I return to headquarters. I feel guilty, but not for the lives lost. We all know the risk and have to live with that. I feel guilty about my lack of concern for my men's safety after realizing Corinth was the kid in question on our mission.

  Once I saw his face, he became my focus. I completely zoned out on the possibility that the four men that ventured ahead in that intersection with me could have been in serious danger. I barely thought of them after I came too, awakening from that hospital-like illusion. They weren't in the illusion with me and they weren't there when I woke up. They must have been dragged away by the sun-dried old man that first appeared with the cheetah girl, and then mysteriously reappeared to claim my son. I put my personal life ahead of mission control, and I can't say that I'm ashamed of that. I care for my men, but Corinth's life is mine to protect, not theirs.

  "I'm sorry I just blurted it out like that, it just didn't seem like there would ever really be a good time to say what I had to say," Evan explained with a quiet tone.

  I thought for a moment, and then I encouragingly responded. "You're right, things like that don't have a right moment or time they can be said. Either way it's going to be sad, but I'm glad you're here with me now." Evan smiled and started to walk out of my hospital room, but I had to know something before he went. "Was it difficult to put that Gente Peligroso behind bars?" I called out to him before he could shut the door. When he turned back to me, his demeanor changed. He became stiff and sick looking. He looked at the ground as if it were about to come alive and tell him something gravely important.

  "He got away, Criston," Evan said with a timid look in his eyes that showed just how much he was disappointed in himself. When I'm down, Evan's next in the chain of command. He had the same feelings weighing on his mind. That the mission failure is his fault.

  I tried reassuring him. "Look at it this way, we went in to find a missing boy, and we came out with my son. The guys lost in action,and the peligroso guy aside, we did accomplish our intended goal. That's nothing to be ashamed of," I insisted and believed it too. But couldn't believe the guy got away. You’d think they were aiming the gun at him, so he should've been out as well, if not worse off for it. But maybe he was even more powerful than I could have possibly thought up while tangling with him. Evan looked stronger as he walked out of the room. I was glad to know that he was as happy as Julia and I are. Corinth could finally start again with some sense of a normal life after all he's been through.

  As he left, she came in. Julia. She slinked in with the confidence of a corporate executive. Who just so happens to have a heart of gold. She's a keen woman, no damsel in distress-like nature about her. Yet she's as delicate as they come. Her long brown hair was down today. A jean jacket, tight white T-shirt and a black ruffled skirt made her look much more youthful than the nurse uniform that she usually donned when at a hospital. Her eyelashes looked as dense as a forest. As dark as night. Her eye color as green as a lawyers mind, heart, soul, and wallet.

  Julia's out of this World, quite literally. Because she's not from Draconia, where our son and I were both born. Julia is from La Envidia. That's why her eyes are a different color than almost everyone she comes across in Draconia. She's strong enough to withstand the discrimination she receives for being a foreigner married to a native, with a mixed race son. Corinth was superbly unique for this. There weren't many like him. Especially in Draconia.

  Even with the building of the Puente del Cielo, commonly called the sky bridge, the Worlds seem just as far apart as they were before the dawn of modern times. Maybe even further I think some days.

  The bridge was erected to bring us closer, but more so it was built as an accessible trade route through each World. It's always about money or power in Draconia, they're inescapable themes. Around that time, the 8ights Council also spawn to life. The Chancellors of the eight Worlds reformed a relation lost through the Ancestry Wars. The 8ights Council reflects the original Great Eight, as they're known.

  The Great Eight started each individual World. Draconia was started by he himself, Drake. This all is said to have occurred somewhat over a millennium ago. He was also said to be the most generous person to ever live. By Draconian scholars at least. If that's true than he would be horrified to know what Draconia has become. Magik being outlawed, and I assume the language change would really throw him off too.

  "Criston,"...

  Some Worlds, like Lirio, still speak Maledictus. That cursed langu—

  "Criston!"

  "Hey, I saw you there the whole time." Julia turned up her mouth, looking pissed off, but understanding. I did really see her while I was deep in thought. The only problem is I don't really want to talk to her anymore. Naturally, the conversation begins on nice terms, but I know where it's headed. She grabbed what she could of my short black hair and pulled hard, standing beside my hospital bed. "Owww!" I yelled, because my head already ached. "I'm sorry, I was daydreaming away," I told her, "about you of course," I threw in for good measure.

  She wasn't having any of it though. She could see straight through me, even from a mile away, I'm sure. She stared into my overly large blue eyes and started to weep. She was breaking down, the stress of the weeks apart. Worse, the absolute shock of recovering our son. She threw her arms around me, and I pulled her into my hospital bed with the last drop of strength I still had in my arms.

  "It’s been two years too long," she said with a heavy heart. "He's virtually been raised by his captors for twenty whole months. What can we do, how do we make this right, Cris?"

  She was gripping on my left bicep as I held her here in bed with me. I was springtimefit and ready for the summer months. The job at Squadron picks up with the heat, so we’re all informed to be ready for action during those particular months of the year. I considered myself to be more lean than muscular, and with my six-foot-two frame, it's always a breeze to take down suspects of any type. My strong jaw and slightly sunken-in cheeks touched against the supple skin of Julia's forehead. She was pressed up against me for comfort and from fear of the unknown. We had talked earlier about what we could do to give Corinth a sheltered approach back into the world, but Julia was a bit off her rocker. She had drastic plans that would do our family no good.

  "Cris, talk to me here," she called out."I can't do the thinking al
l on my own. You’re his father for goodness sake!" she shouted, in a last ditch effort to agitate me into a conversation.

  "I know that, obviously," I tried to sound aloof, but I was still annoyed from earlier, "but what your purposing is too much."

  "How can it ever be too much for a mother to want to protect her child at all cost? There’s no way around the fact that Corinth is wanted. They are probably looking for him as we speak. And considering you, nor your Squadron 'elites,’" she barked at me sarcastically, "could do anything to stop the Peligrosos the first time around, I feel that there's no real solution to Corinth's safety. There's no other way." She had a point. A point I didn't want to hear, but a point nonetheless. They are likely still looking for him. From what that old shriveled up grape said back in that dusty coffin room, they needed Corinth for something. Something important to him.

  "We can protect him here in Draconia. Now that we know, we can make adjustments and maneuvers to ensure that he's always safe."

  "Maneuvers!" she echoed back to me. "Look at yourself, Cris. You sound like a cop. This is our son. The light of our life. We can't maneuver around his childhood. He won't have one unless we undo all this. It won't just be a little sit down father and son talk to put this one away. He can't grow up in fear. He could be recaptured by only heaven knows who, and for only heaven knows what. If he stays here we might as well hand him over to them now!" she shouted out of frustration. But what she didn't know was how badly my frustrations had built at this point too.

  "How dare you!" I scolded, pulling myself away from her warm embrace. "People died back there, Julia. People with families just like ours. They died for our boy just like I would have and will if need be."

  She didn't back down, she was too amped. We both were. "No one else will have to die if you just do what we need to do, Criston!!!”

  That was as loud as her voice could go. I had heard her go there before, and I'm sure this won't be the last time. But the expression on her face. The anger. That's new. Either the North and South poles had just switched or Julia is coming out of her character. Better, her own skin and bone seem to be radiating, echoing this mantra she's been peddling to me since I woke up. She was uncontrollably loud and just plan hysterical in a public place. For a moment, I suspected the cheetah girl was really behind those eyes. But I know my wife's touch like the back of my hand. This is Julia, but a new side of her I've never seen before. She is willing to break the most principle law of the entire 8ights Council to ensure Corinth's recovery goes smoothly. Creating a new World of our own.

  <*>

  I tore my hospital robe off right after I closed the bathroom door. Julia brought me clothes from home. I bent down to grab the knapsack she put them in, and went through it to get a closer look. She knew me well. My favorite navy blue shirt, my dusty black boots, that are starting to look more gray these days, and a baseball cap to top it off. But I tossed that aside for now. Of course, there are some denim jeans, socks, the whole nine, but she truly knew what I felt most comfortable in overall. After I put on my clothes, I stepped out of the bathroom to a very different scene. Julia up and left on me!

  I peeked outside the hospital room door and saw business as usual. Doctors and nurses buzzing about, taking patients from room A to room B, for reasons unknown to me. It all seemed to be going off without a hitch. The fluorescent ceiling lights on the other hand, weren't so hitch-free. My head started to pound. My eyes were still adjusting to the difference in the lighting between my room and these busy halls. The doctor’s white jackets. The white nursing uniforms. The patient's white & green polka-dotted gowns. All this reflective material wasn't doing me any favors. They weren't only ugly to look at, they were giving off so much light that they made the halls appear as one white blur to my retinas. My body was still suffering from the blast. Well, at least we know that the guns get the job done. I have a new found respect for criminals knowing they readily suffer hits from them daily.

  I was starting to get some sense of sight back, when Evan suddenly grabbed my arm. He began pulling me back down the hall in the opposite direction I was headed, which was toward Corinth’s room. While he held onto my arm, like a schoolchild being dragged out of class for punishment, he turned back to me. "You've got to see this!" his tone was so grave that it chilled me to the bone.

  "See what?" I said. "Why are you walking so fast and where the heck are you taking me?"

  I had questions that he didn't seem to want to answer. He was walking so fast down the corridor that we nearly knock over an old lady clinging to her cane. I brushed up on her left side as Evan was tugging me toward the right, in order to get out of her way, but it surely didn't work. My eyes weren't fully adjusted. She had no idea we were coming, because her back was turned to us. "Oh, dear!" she screeched in horror. "Hey, watch where you're going, you could kill somebody!" I apologized as graciously as I could. But as we were walking away, I'm sure I heard her mumble. "Jerk-idiots." She did have a point.

  Evan is nervously rushing toward something, but I have no idea what. So, I decided to change that in one simple move. I stopped! He turned abruptly, "what are you doing?"

  "I've got the same question on my mind!" I snapped back. "You’re leading me down this crowded hall like there’s no one in it," people began to turn and watch as my voice elevated. "You won't even tell me why, nor where we're going? Give me something go on, bud."

  Evan was standing a couple of yards in front of a Plexiglas window that extended down from the ceiling to about where his waist is. The rest of the wall was sheetrock down to the floor. I noticed through the glass window behind him, people gathering around the mounted television on the wall toward the far left of the room. Patients and medical staff alike were herding inside, like cattle to the slaughter. It seemed to be some kind of recreation room. Some had 'Aw!' stricken looks about their faces, and others appeared rather suspicious of whatever was coming from the TV mounted above. The looks on their faces alone told an alluring story. I couldn't imagine what was fascinating them so. I started to walk past Evan, toward the entrance of the room, when he placed a shaky hand on my shoulder.

  "I wanted to tell you first," Evan put his head down and let his hand drop from my shoulder, like it was the end of an era. He seemed so dramatic and out of touch that I had to inquire.

  "Please," I started out, "I need to know what's going on here. People are looking downright crazy in there." I gestured toward the people crowding inside the recreation room. "What is it exactly that you wanted to say?"

  "You're not going to like this, Cris." Uh-oh, I thought. Nothing’s ever good when the icebreaker to bad news is ... bad news. He continued, "but Julia, she's done something. Something that I can't even explain. I don't know how she managed it. She couldn't have possibly been powerful enough to make it happen on her own. And so fast! I just saw her with Corinth, in that other room, a few moments ago."

  I knew exactly what he was talking about when he said Julia's name. I couldn't even sugarcoat it inside my own mind. She had disappeared and went ahead with her plan, like she never even considered any other option as viable. She must have been testing me. She must have been trying to gauge whether I'd be of any help, or just a hindrance to her. I took a few steps to Evan's right and collapsed into the row of chairs lined up against the wall just beneath the Plexiglas window. Unlike the doctors, nurses, and patients, I didn't need a breaking news update to tell me what was going on. The entire planet changed in a matter of minutes. "Figured that," I muttered aloud.

  Evan sat down next to me and scared me half to death. I completely zoned out. I had forgotten he was here that fast. "Did you know, Cris?" he asked with a patient tone. I was glad he sounded rather patient. I hadn't fully finished processing what Julia had done to be able to answer his question just yet. A few moments of silence went by before I cleared my throat and tried to take a crack at responding. But before I could, he asked again, sounding a little less patient this time around. "Come on, Cris! I need to know i
f you knew about it," he pressed on.

  "Why does it matter?" I asked.

  "It's not me who wants to know," he said while pulling his signature staring at the ground act. "The Chancellor called in to, Chief Ray, and they want to question you. Technically speaking, I'm no longer here as your friend. I'm here as a Squadron member and I've been instructed to bring you in.

  <*>

  How do things happen so fast? Just hours ago, I was lying in a bed with my wife, whom I hadn't seen in weeks, and my long lost son was recovered from only god knows what tortures. Now I'm headed toward a police station.

  Squadron is the elite force of the 8ights Council. Composed of trained specialist set to patrol, police, and investigate anomalies in the city centers of Draconia and the other seven Worlds. So much more went on in the capital city, Broaden. Which isn't so far from my house in Graysonville. We were here not only to keep civilians in check, but more so to protect the 8ights Council members from rouge attackers. They weren't always the most popular guys and gals in town, so they formed this elite force chiefly to investigate and protect their interest as they saw fit. We were assembled from all around Draconia's police stations. Taking only the brightest and best that managed to keep their butts out of hot water at the local stations in our hometowns. But it seemed there was no safety net for a member like me.