Original Souls (A World Apart #1)

by Kyle Thomas Miller

  They were dancing and jumping around like kids. Well, they were kids. Two girls and a boy. The boy decided to jump up on his bed, to the far left of the dorm, playing air guitar. His favorite song was playing and nothing could stop him from shining as bright as his favorite rock stars did on stage, night after night. The two girls watched and rocked out alongside him from the floor— when suddenly, a man fell on top of the boy's bed from a dark purple glowing light on the ceiling.

  The girls screamed as the boy toppled over, falling to the ground. All three screaming as the unconscious fellow lay there, unwittingly scaring the trio of nine-year-olds half to hell. Other children heard them screaming in the other dorms, and came running out into the halls.

  The portal stayed open on the ceiling. Likewise, the children's mouths stretched wide and hung low. Not one of them stopped screaming at the top of their lungs. Not even to catch a quick breath of air. More miscellaneous items fell from nowhere onto this boy's bed. Some school supplies. Paperback notebooks, a thin touch screen tablet, pencils, and the whole nine. Then lots of clothes came tumbling down after that. A colorful pair of sneakers rolled off the bed and onto the floor. Nearly touching one of the girls' feet. She freaked! Jumping up from the floor running around the room screaming so loud now, that the unconscious man started to come to.

  Yellow eyes shaking awake to the cracking sound of a little girl's cries. He lifted his head, while lying underneath a mound of clothing and school supplies. Just then, another unlucky man dropped in, using the first guy's body as a cushion. The weight of the second man falling onto the formerly unconscious fellow, sent him right back into a daze.

  Criston, the man, and all of Corinth's school stuff made it safely to the school, but not so soundly. The kids in the room couldn't stop yelling for help. Some of the older kids outside had already ran for a teacher, by taking the Oeste sky-bridge over from the top floor of Concordia Nova to Olympia building.

  "Hey…hey…hey-y-y!" he shouted so loudly that it overpowered their cries for help. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I was just . . . just." He thought about his word selection carefully. He didn't want to alarm the three terrorized faces staring back him with wide eyes anymore than he already had. "I was just, dropping in," he said with finality. "And now I'm going to be leaving." He leaped off the bed and went for the door, but it opened from the other end first.

  "What is the meaning of all this screaming I'm hearing about?" came the blistering storm of words out the mouth of a completely white-eyed ministrant. He burst into the dorm with the sense that he'd encountered silly child's play like this all day long. Blinded by his own intolerance for youth, he then saw Criston recoil and jump back onto the bed. The frustrated ministrant looked the suspicious man in the eye when he said, "sir, you picked the wrong dormitory to mess with," calm and concise was his tone.

  His llave already rotating. He whispered softly, "Canem." Downward from the very center of the ceiling came dull lights pulling into a cyclone. The deep orange lights reached their apex, coalescing into hologram dogs. Four of them, that all simultaneously jumped at Criston, who was crouched on all fours atop the boy's bed, once they fully formed.

  The children in the halls, and the three on the floor all gasped wildly. The man on the bed suddenly produced a glowing hand from amidst the stockpiled items, and not to mention the unconscious man beneath. He flagrantly waved the hand in front of the dogs, and they recoiled from their agitation now gone into remiss. Sen. Bernard was in awe as his Canem spell was neutralized with ease by this mysterious intruder. The shining hand began to glow so bright that everyone covered their eyes. The students in the dorm and halls alike. Even Sen. Bernard's all white eyes could not withstand the brilliance of the blaring Hand of Fate. The mysterious intruder then slammed his hand down on the bed, and everything disappeared in an instant! Including the bed! The only thing that remained, were the colorful sneakers that had fallen off during the initial chaos.

  Everyone looked around stunned and confused. Where had he and the bed gone? Sen. Bernard bent over and whispered to his orange hounds in Maledictus. "Ir, Encontrar O Nosso Intruso." Go, find our intruder… were his instruction to the hounds. They bounded through the door's archway, jumping through students bodies, like air passing through fan blades. The airy holographic hounds just passed through invisibly. They came out on the other end, never having truly interacted with the students at all. Still, the children screamed from the fear inspired by the vicious looking pack of wild orange dogs.

  "Don't be afraid students," Bernard said flatly to them, while waving in the air the hand that held his llave. "Those hounds were sent to find our ghost man. They are your protectors, not your attackers." Some still shuddered as the hounds passed swiftly, but a large scale panic was averted. "Now, go back to your respective dorms peacefully. And make well sure you do it—silentlyyy!" he dragged out the last word with a specific disdain for even the slightest bit of chatter. Looking around at individual faces to strike fear in their already frightened hearts. He turned back into the room and said, "you three, with me!" Pointing down at them, his face was all business.

  His completely white eyes and hair made him stand out. At least in Hyperborean, where there weren't many Blancans. In comparison to the amount of people from other Worlds, Blancans were very few in numbers in the far North. In Blanco, Bernard blended in perfectly with his peers. A very serious people, and painfully intelligent. They all had very white features. All of them. And not just their eyes, but also the hair on their heads and bodies. It made them look older than they were, but also more distinguished. Most Blancans had tan skin. Unlike the other races, who come in all skin tones, their genealogy is largely focused down to specific traits, making them look alike in overall appearance. Though they could differ drastically in facial features. Most family members in Blanco don't even resemble one another if you get a good look at them side by side. Especially when it comes to the cut of their noses, jaw lines, head shapes, cheekbones etc.

  Bernard was younger than he looked. Not yet forty years, but an approaching birthday would soon put him in that age group. Most despise the Blancans looks. Though Bernard had a certain handsome physics about him that didn't turn every woman from the other Worlds off. It was his attitude that did that. It sent them running away screaming curses every time. Sharp and concise features, in conjunction with a piercing and malevolent tongue. He was quite a pill to swallow for most. His only known admirer was Sena. Hendrix. They shared a rather uniquely cynical outlook on the Worlds at large.

  Because of his fearsome nature, the three returning fourth-graders were reluctant to follow him. But he was the disciplinary for the twelfth floor of Concordia Nova dormitory. They'd either go with him straight away, or be punished, and still end up going with him anyway. They decided punishment wasn't an option, so they all got up and left the room with the ministrant.

  Down the halls of the dorm building they went. Bernard was leading them back to his office. He intended on making an official report of what happened in their dorm. The fire torches against the wall blazed as normal. Though there was ample lighting from several windows, they never turned those torches off. Covered by lamp shades with different figures of animals and other mythical characters, they painted amusing shadows against the walls at nightfall. They were real fire torches, but nonetheless controlled by electricity. Just like an oven, using electricity to spark the fire of the pilot, these torches could be turned off and on with the flip of a switch.

  The power of a lone flame carried great historical significance in Hyperborean. A place named for the fact that it’s so far north of all the other Worlds. The blaze of the flame against the stone walls made the stones shimmer. There was silver pixie dust, mined from the Silver River, or Rio Plato according to Sena. Hendrix, mixed into the concrete. The gleam of the dust persevered the stones, and warded off dark magik. Aurora Boreal had many lines of defense besides the force field surrounding its outer perimeter.

  From Concordia
Nova, Sen. Bernard led the three children over the Oeste skywalk. The mini-sky-bridge glided across and over the grounds below, connecting only to the twelfth floor of Olympia. Bernard’s quarters and office were over there. He’d just taken the automated skywalk, or rather run, from Olympia over Oeste when the other students came looking for someone to help their fellow screaming mates.

  They silently crossed into Olympia now, and the scenery changed drastically. Olympia was the oldest building on school grounds, yet it looked the most up to date. That's because every single stone, metal, and even wooden board was constructed wholly from silver dust. That meant they'd never waiver in esthetics or luster. The integrity of the structure was forever locked in. The other buildings must be manually repaired, because the Rio Plato is running low on pixie dust. Conservation methods had to be employed for the silver pixies to survive, and continue to replenish the magnificent river.

  Bernard's office was at the edge of the Southeast hall of Olympia. Not so many doors down from Corinth's room at the end of the South hall, overlooking the Olympus Grounds. The four of them continued on around the Main hall of Olympia. This circular hall connected all the eight directional halls. They were passing the storage room that Hendrix converted into a dorm for her grandson when they heard a loud, nearly ground shaking thud.

  Bernard stopped and looked around, backward and forward. Then focused in on Corinth's dorm door. There was nothing in the circular Main hall with him, except the three children he was escorting to his office. They were hopelessly clinging to one another. "Did any of you hear that, as I did?" He looked down at them with absolute authority. They all simultaneously shook their heads to agree. He didn't know what to make of it, so he walked past Corinth's door. But as he moved closer to the next door, he was overwhelmed by a strange tingling feeling. He sensed some powerful magik emanating from the door he'd just walked away from. Which, of course, was Corinth's. He saw nothing and heard nothing else, but that door number was now stuck in his mind. #23.

  <*>

  Only moments ago, Corinth, Emmy & Emma, and Anvard were looking outside the one window in Corinth's dorm room. They spied as best they could on Sena. Hendrix as she argued in the grass fields with Walker. They'd been at it for quite some time.

  After Hendrix sent them away, they all signed up for affiliates that looked the most interesting to them. These extracurricular programs were additions to their normal class loads.

  Anvard for: Levantarse, Societies

  Corinth for: Deaves, Megazine, Spheres

  Emmy for: Deaves, Megazine, Republics

  Emma for: Explorers, Megazine

  All of them were really excited for their Affiliates. They figured they'd be a fun break from ordinary school work. Once the school year really started to get tough.

  Sena. Hendrix and Walker had finally given each other a rest. But they argued long after Corinth and the others walked away. Sena. Hendrix left at first to find out why the committee had approved Walker’s Deaves petition. Then she came back to the Olympus Grounds and argued some more with the head Librarian. All in all, it had been about four hours since they were sent away by the Grand Ministrant.

  Now Corinth had a full-fledged deck of Deaves, and was about to begin learning the rules of the battle and trading card game. But before he could dive into that, he had to figure out how to explain to his three new friends, why his dad just dropped from the ceiling… into the middle of his dorm room.

  Emma was-released by Sen. Bernard, not before getting a week of detention and cleaning detail, of course. And even though she saw a great deal of strange things when she wandered into Bernard's quarters and stole that map this morning, she was still startled by Corinth's even stranger father. "What...the heck...just…happened," with a flat monotone she looked down at Criston with shock and agitation all rolled into one feisty little package.

  Corinth anchored to his father's side. "Are you okay?" He tried his best to lift his dad to his feet. But Cris was a big man. Six-foot-two and muscular. Corinth stumbled, but Anvard came to the rescue. But instead of grabbing Cris, who had just face planted when he dropped from the ceiling. And not onto the bed he brought with him. No. He hit the hard surfaced floor of Cory’s small dorm. Still, Anvard helped Corinth only, leaving the boy’s father to fumble his limbs again.

  "I gotcha!" he said, as he lifted Corinth to safety and let his dad fall a second time since he’d unexpectedly entered the room.

  "Well, thanks a lot, young fellow," Cris said while getting back up, one contracted knee at a time. He used Anvard's nearby shoulder to lean against once he fully erected his body. "Nice to know you have my back." He playfully winked at Andy, but no smile came from the young gentle giant.

  "Who are you?" Anvard said, like he was the man of the house.

  "That's my dad." Corinth slightly lifted his arm to point at him.

  Criston brightly smiled. Somehow, his dark tan skin face showed red marks, while his eyes were rolling in the back of his head. Cris tried to make a joke of it, going with the odd feeling in his gut. He attempted a jig to break the uncomfortable tension in the room. It didn't work. The kids just thought it made him look even older and less cool than he already did. Corinth just covered his face, and smirked beneath the cloak of his hand. A blind willingness to look stupid was one of his favorite things about his father.

  Cris started to get some of his wits back as he stumbled to attention. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'm not cool, because I'm older than you. That's fine, just don't come knocking on my door when you need someone to get you into a R-rated movie," Cris laughed loudly, but not even Corinth joined in this time around. But funny enough, Emma did join in.

  She poked Corinth in the side and said under her breath. "Your dad's cute." Strange, she didn’t mention the word -funny, even though she was steadily laughing at his ill-fated joke.

  He shot her a look of pure disgust then said, "are you kidding me, he's like thirty or something."

  "Oh, grow up! Your dad's a hot fudge sundaesupreme. It’s not the end of the world, ya know."

  "You're twelve!" he shouted as the others turned and looked at the two of them. They stood dead center in the room, adjacent to Corinth's unmade twin bed.

  They were both stunned for a second. Corinth looked down at the two-tone floor, embarrassed, just before Emma whispered, "and a half."

  Oliveto walked over to Criston and took a sniff. He circled him, then took in another sniff. Cris looked over to his son, and he threw his hands up. Expressing that he hadn't a clue to what the mid-size puppy was up to. The mangy animal circled quite a few more times before finally jumping up on his hind legs, reaching for Cris' upper body. He loved dogs with a passion, so he bent down on both knees to pet Oliveto. He got his fill of warm hearted licks for getting so close to the animal. He loved it.

  This gesture from Corinth's pup made Anvard rethink his attitude toward Cris. Andy wasn't an animal lover, no he was not. The Fielder family, like most Lirians, didn't view animals as pets. Not because of animals rights or something mildly noble like that, but simply because they didn't want to clean up after or cater to any other beings besides themselves. This mentality was simply passed on generation through generation. Everyone seemed to develop their own reasoning for why they couldn’t get along with domestic animals today in Lirio. Anvard's reason was his fear. He respected animals for their intuition, but feared what lurked behind their little non-smiling -faces. He always told himself that if an animal comes along that could smile… that would be his first pet. Though afraid of Oliveto, because he didn't know what the pooch was thinking from minute to minute, he still liked him. And he thought; if Oliveto trusted Corinth's dad, then Corinth's dad must be trust worthy.

  He walked over to Sen. Gambit, extending his hand. "I'm sorry about the way I just behaved. I should have known better to disrespect my elder. Please, accept my apologizes."

  Cris looked at Andy as he seemingly bowed before him. He wasn't used to teenagers with such poise and hum
ility. "Well, you're a bit too formal for my liking, kid, but you definitely won me over earlier with that Corinth grab. He's always worth saving before me anyway." Cris looked over to Cory and winked as he grabbed Anvard's hand, but instead of shaking it, he pulled him in for a great big hug. It made Andy smile monstrously. First, because he wasn't expecting it. Second, because even though he always gave people handshakes, he was more of a hugger himself. Cris pulled him out from the embrace and noticed his huge grin. "Now that's more like it," he said as he hugged Andy again.

  Emmy too donned a bright expression as Criston introduced himself to her. But none could match Emma. She played herself to be quite the little queen. Something Cris noticed, but couldn't begin to try to care about. No love lost though. Emma figured she'd land her hits next round. A crush like this couldn't be defeated so easily.

  They all talked amongst themselves for a bit. Corinth questioned why his father hadn't gotten him any cool sneakers to wear out. Cris looked around, throwing things across the room, but couldn't find the skater sneaks he'd picked up for his boy. While he was shifting the contents of the extra bed now in Corinth's already small room, they all heard muffled screams.