Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (12 page)

"We have some business to take care of here, Criston. Le
t’
s make this easy for all of us, okay?" He nodded like the snot faced jerk he is. What the hell could he be talking about? I guess Squadron didn't take too well to me escaping like that. I hoped they didn't suspect Evan's involvement. The jeeps had me barricaded in. They're lined up one after another, stretching across the width of the bridge. They were in front of me and likewise behind. There was no escaping this time around. "Now hand over your llave, and the boy won't be harmed," Geary threatened. I don't know what's going on, but I know I don't like him using my son as a bargaining tool.

I leaped at him, even though he was holding an absorption gun. I didn't want to take another hit from one of those puppies anyway. My hopes were that I could wrestle the rifle like gun from him and turn this little get together into a full-fledged party.

I knocked him to the ground and straddled his torso. He was a pretty big guy, but then again, so am I. I used all of my six-foot-two muscled frame to break the death grip he had on the gun. He held on tight, but I pressed the gun down into his throat, pressing my face to his, then snapped back, pulling the gun away with me. As I gained this leverage over him, I ran into another problem. The dozens of men that came to aide him just as I started this futile assault. It took at least six men to pull me off of him, kicking and screaming, but at least I let him know that I wasn't a lame duck just yet. They dragged me back, and he got up with a tense look crawling over his face. He seemed embarrassed that he needed so much help to deal with a defenseless father.

"Hold him back and let me have a piece of him, boys!" he said to the men behind me, gripping my arms and shoulders, while forcing me to my knees. After he spoke, they responded immediately by tightening their grasp on me. I guess his pride wasn't too important that he couldn't simply pummel the embarrassment out of me. This was going to hurt. I braced myself as he came in for a harsh blow to the gut. He stepped back, leaning on his left leg, and then drove his right fist into my stomach at hurricane wind speeds. I hunched over in agony, as he giggled in delight.

Like a harsh winter breeze, someone shouted out, firm and familiar. "Stop this idiotic rant now!" But it was too late for Geary, the jerk, to halt his second shot. His fist came plowing into my chest, as I lifted myself to catch wind of the demanding voice, harder than a soccer ball kicked by the strongest of strikers. I cringed again, dropping my head, and started coughing my lungs out. I couldn't catch my breath, not after a hit like that. I kept my head down for a second and saw Corinth being picked up and carried away by a strange fellow in white.

I started shouting, kicking and throwing myself about
.“
Corinth! Corint
h
… wake up! Use your powers, use your powers!" But he was still foggy. He could barely open his eyes, better yet focus his mind enough to help us out of this jam. I kept screaming and shouting though, because I didn't know what else to do. I felt the walls closing in around me. Every one of my plans had fallen to bits. I just couldn't get it right.

"Why did you hit him when I clearly ordered you to stop?" came a question from my new worst enemy.

"I couldn't stop myself. It was like a reflex or something," said the oaf, Geary, while he scratched his head, defiantly looking the other man in the eye with a smirk.

"Criston, I'm sorry that had to happen," Evan said in a bizarrely calm tone. "I know that you couldn't possibly have your llave with you. After all, you had to give it up to Julia in order to get into Corinthia, isn't that right?" My mind was racing. I couldn't believe he had betrayed me, -and I couldn't even figure out how h
e’
d betrayed me. His plan seemed so flawless. He helped me escape those two goons that tried to take me to the locked docked. It worked out perfectly. "I'm sorry that things couldn't go over more smoothly. We needed Corinth and we knew you were the only one Julia would allow access to the boy. S
o
— we did what was necessary," he said, with an absent look in his eyes.

"Who the hell is 'we
?
’ Who are you working with, Evan? How could you do this to me? We're brothers, and Corinth loves you. He always has!" He seemed completely unaffected by my words.

"This is an issue better discussed with those who still need you alive," his voice grew colder with every word. This certainly wasn't the Evan I grew up with. But then again, no one seemed to be like their old selves any more. My wife of thirteen years just nearly destroyed me and our son over a misunderstanding. "Destroy it, on my command!" Evan turned around and shouted back to a man standing behind a long-range explosive gun on a jeep at the center of the barricade to my front. What were they intending-on shooting down? Was it me? I didn't think so, because Evan said 'they,'whoever 'they' are, wanted me alive. Then I turned my head back and noticed what the explosives gun was taking aim at. The locking mechanism to Corinthia. The gateway. "Are you looking, Cris? Because I really want you to see this
.
” His smug smirk left no room for sympathy. He knew exactly what this meant.
“
Fire!" he demanded.

"No!" I yelled in shock.

How would Julia get out? How would Corinth and I return without the gate? It would take darn-there forever to build another. I guess tha
t’
s the intent. To cut us off from one another, but more so Julia from us. They most likely feared what new powers she would posses
s
— in time. The gate was supposed to be hidden, but I led them straight to it.All of this was my fault and
I’
m helpless to fix any of it. My key to wielding magik was in that lock.

As the explosive pullets hit the small insignia that marked the gate at the bottom center, a small amount of gold flakes burst out with a lot of the marble from the pillar in response to the impact. The short-lived little gold spot that once marked the entrance to Julia's new World was no more. The pillar itself seemed as if it was going to crumble, but they planned for that. A team of three rushed it, and started reconstructing the damaged area right away. They began spackling new cement from a large silver barrel they carried over. They brought it from the jeeps. They were done quickly. I looked to it after they finished, and it was as if it had never happened. The so called, Pillar of Corinthia, was just an ordinary pillar now.

"I
t’
s a cover up," I whispered to myself, while still held captive by the robotic jerks that Geary needed just to get in a punch. They pulled my arms downward, behind my back, and placed two tight bangles around each of my wrist. These bangles were tethered to one another by a short chain. I knew this item all too well. I never thought there would come a day when I'd be on the receiving end of their grasp. The last goon behind me didn't spare an inch as he tightened the handcuffs he'd just placed around my now burning wrist. Oh, karma. -I probably should have listened when all those criminals asked me to loosen the cuffs, and instead
I’
d tighten them more, nearly taking their wrist off in the process.
‘
Come on, the
y’
re burning my wrist, man!
.
’ That was the most common phrase I heard after I was reassigned to city patrols. Now that guy is me and i
t’
s not a fun feeling. Especially when you know for a fact that you're not wrong. My head dropped low, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Evan walking toward the former Pillar of Corinthia.

He motioned for the construction crewmen to step aside so he could inspect the fix. It looked like brand new to me. It appeared from the outside that no damage had ever occurred. They could move on without the public being any the wiser. I can't believe that Evan is the guy in charge of all this. Though he didn't seem much like the guy I knew for so long now, ther
e’
s no mistaking that h
e’
s deeply involved in this cryptic scheme. While peering at him, I noticed he lacked a certain sense of human emotion. He conveyed an overly devoted focus on the goal at hand, like some sort of robot. In fact, most of the Squadron members present seemed robotic in movement and speech.

All expect Geary, of course. He was just as vile as usual. He seemed to possess all of his human traits that made him the derelict moron -I knew. Tha
t’
s why I always kept a close eye on him. Always put him in the team I led. Being the commanding officer, I figured keeping morons like him in line was my duty. Of course, it was. And we never got along well because of it.

Evan walked away from the pillar, came over to me and crouched at my front. He lifted my head so that we were eye-to-eye. "I'm sorry that you couldn't stay in the fold, Criston," he said with his robotic talk. "We have been friends for so long and I must admit this is no easy task."

"You're no friend of mine," I said through my teeth. Then in drastic fashion, my tongue and lips, in fact, my entire mouth, reacted instinctively. I hocked a pile of spit straight into his face, and then arrogantly smirked.

He wiped away the spit like it wasn't repulsive at all to him. He didn't even flinch when the first bit of it touched his face after leaving my mouth. His eyes were cold blue, icy and distant. I stared into them, and all I could see was a captive mind. This isn't the Evan I grew up with, not a chance. I ca
n’
t read this new man. The walls of this man's mind didn't crumble as Evan's usually did when challenged.

Normally, he could never hide an ounce of emotion from anyone, better yet me. His best friend and really ... his brother. His icy blue stare didn't say much of anything to my heart, except nobody's home. His tan skin didn't have the same warming glow. He looked unnaturally pale. I thought maybe I shouldn't have done that, for Corinth's sake. I need everyone as calm as possible, to ensure he is treated with a sense of respect and care. But really, who could hope for such a thing from someone who hunts you down and holds you against your will.

"I deserved that I suppose, but let me assure you that you are only alive because those above me want it to be." He called my arrogantly smirk, and raised me the value of my life. New Evan had quite a hard poker face. He turned away to take something from a Squadron goon standing behind him. I couldn't make out what it was, so I let my head drop again. Just waiting for those around me to decide my fate, as well as Corinth's. I saw just Evan's legs swiftly turn back toward me after he retrieved what he wanted from the goon. Then, he freaking shot me!

"Ow!" I immediately cried out in shock. He got me right in the neck with an absorption dart. A little different from the bigger guns, it was intended for one target at a time. There was no blast radius to account for, just a single dart in my neck. It slowly started working its way through my system. Leeching out any traces of magik in me. I didn't want to go through this again, but I started passing out right after my head hit the cobblestone streets with the gold and silver pixie dust flakes in them. I could see only the sparkle from the flakes against the twilight as I began to drift away, lying helplessly on the Puente del Cielo.

Just before I completely lost it, I pulled out the dart sticking from the left side of my neck. I knew the effects had already kicked in, but I was still defiant. My head had hit the ground hard a second ago and my vision was fading from it. But as I stared at the little mechanism I just-pulled from my neck,
I’
m almost certain it isn't an absorption dart. If not, then what on earth did he just do to me?

March 28, 1002 ~ Midday

I came to while in the back of a moving van. I was lying sideways at the very back of the vehicle on its floor. I guess these guys didn't care much about the condition in which I arrived to wherever we're headed. My hands were still handcuffed behind my back. I tried to wiggle out, but it was pointless. From wiggling, I realized that my feet were now shackled as well. Evan knows all too well that I'm crafty. Apparently, he is too. Even more so than I. He must have thought to take every precaution possible to prevent me from escaping.

I can't see to the outside, so I can't gauge where we may be going. But wherever it is, I can tell the driver is in a huge rush to get there. The van kept making sudden turns and swerving back and forth. It seemed as if the driver was-evading traffic, because ther
e’
s a loud siren that accompanied the roar of the engine. I had never seen an interior of a van like this before while at Squadron. In fact, the siren was different from the local police units, and Squadron's alike. If I took a gander,
I’
d say that we are in the city center. Hints from the evasive driving. That's the only place I can think of that's populated enough to need to drive like a maniac.