Original Souls (A World Apart #1) Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Contents

  Short Reference List

  Chapter 1:

  Little Boy Close To Blue

  Chapter 2:

  Worlds Away

  Chapter 3:

  The Crumbling Walls

  Chapter 4:

  The Seat Of Power

  Chapter 5:

  Descending To The North

  Chapter 6:

  The Nexus' Complexes

  Chapter 7:

  The Watch Towers Over The Hour

  Chapter 8:

  Getting Hands On With Fate

  Chapter 9:

  The Wonder Twins & Friend

  Chapter 10:

  Daddy Is The Dearest

  Chapter 11:

  A Penny For Your Thoughts, A Courter For Your Heart

  Chapter 12:

  All Sales Final!

  Chapter 13:

  Glass Handed Ghost Man

  Chapter 14:

  Front Row Seat To Disaster

  Chapter 15:

  Eterna's External Experience

  Chapter 16:

  Politics As Usual

  Chapter 17:

  Game On!

  Chapter 18:

  Lifelines

  Chapter 19:

  Lessons In Session

  Chapter 20:

  For Our Ears Only?

  Chapter 21:

  What's A Library?

  Chapter 22:

  Upon The Falls Of Night

  Chapter 23:

  Ascending Through The North Lake

  Chapter 24:

  Severe Unions

  Chapter 25:

  What A Sight!

  Chapter 26:

  Guarding The Tomb

  Chapter 27:

  The Grass Wasn't Greener

  Chapter 28:

  Forging The Next Chapter Of Fate

  *Author Thoughts*

  This is an outright work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and all incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A World Apart: Original Souls

  Copyright© 2012 by Kyle Thomas Miller

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, electronic, photocopying, mechanical, graphic, recording, or by any information storage system without expressed permission by the sole author. Expecting cases of brief quotes as a part of critical articles and reviews.

  Short Reference List

  Of notable and possibly confusing terms throughout the book

  Maledictus. It is said that to even utter a word of it is to curse your own tongue. It was the most commonly spoken tongue before it was deliberately replaced by English, concerning communication and the spells of the eight Worlds. It’s known in this book as a blended language composed of several others that existed long before it. In our reality is predominantly composed of Spanish and Latin, with some terms in Maledictus being complicated fabricated.

  English. If you’re reading this and understanding it right now … you probably know a thing or two about the English language. But within the pages of Original Souls, English is a secondary, worldwide language that has taken root in place of the cursed language, Maledictus. Spells in English are much weaker than the spells in the language of its predecessor. Thus, most who can manage to wield in the cursed language seize the opportunity than user the faulty newer language of modern times.

  The Great Eight. The long gone creators of the eight existing Worlds. They lived a little over a millennium ago.

  Ancestry Wars. Are the setting for the dates noted beneath every chapter heading throughout the book. A little over a millennium has passed since the wars that tore apart the original land, which led to the majestic creation of the current eight Worlds. The ending date of the war marks the separation of the first homogeneous race spreading into the heterogeneous eight races. These eight newly defined, different races have eight differing eye colors that denote their ancestral lineages to the eight wagers of the Ancestry Wars.

  8ights Council. A group of elected official in the modern eight Worlds that govern an act as heads of state. The eights Chancellors reflect the image of the Great Eight, whom are their ancient ancestors.

  Puente Del Cielo. A modern earth spanning bridge that can be seen from outside the planet’s atmosphere. It traverses the earth in crisscross bands, connecting the eight Worlds that were once separated by the corrosive Ancestry Wars.

  Llave. (pronounced; ya-bay) A mostly golden skeleton key shape affect that serves as a conduit for wielders to cast spells. Each llave is cut from something called a Maximo Llave, or a magnum key. These keys rotate midair at a wielders chest. The spiraling motion, driven by the wielder’s strong-hearted desire, picks up charged energy, a powerful stamina from the wielder that is then converted into extra power for casting spells. Some llaves have spells engraved on them that protect their vulnerable rotations from being perturbed by other wielders. But some simply choose to use their llaves as if they were old-fashioned wands, which llaves replaced decades ago. Many elderly choose to use actual wooden wands because llaves feed off physical and emotional energy from the wielder. So, it can be a tough task for some oldies to get it up into rotation, ,making wands a preferable choice.

  Pixies and their Dust.

  Golden pixie dust has become the most commonly used pixie dust in the human dimensions. It’s revered for its illustrious beauty and readymade molding in objects of nearly any magical design.

  Bronze pixie dust is not common, in that the bronze pixies have never before been seen by human eyes. They live and stay inside the Fairy-lares, which are a dimension apart from earth and its eight Worlds.

  Silver pixie dust is known for its near indestructible durability, and unique ability to ward off evil magik. But decades ago the silver pixies oversold their product and ended up stranded on both sides of their dimension. All pixies survive on their dust physically and financially. Trading with the human, and a few other creatures, provides them with the provisions for continued subsistence. But after the silver pixies started selling off more than they produced, they began to die off. They have hard time crossing between the borders of the eight Worlds and the surrounding dimension, like their home dimension the Fairy-lares, because there is just not enough of that dust left to keep them alive and vital.

  Aurora Boreal Institution. The most prestigious and diverse school in all the Worlds. It’s set up under a protective force field on the far north side of the smallest World, Hyperborean. Its namesake is that of the illustrious Northern Lights that occur at the planet’s north pole.

  Draconia. Currently the most politically powerful of the eight Worlds. With the signature of race in this novel being a person’s eye color, and not their skin tone, Draconians stand out for their differing, shimmery ice-cold shades of bright blue eyes. As well, they standout for their generally icy and dicey personalities. This World is the only one restrictive enough to ban the use of magic to all civilians within its borders, whether you’re of their blue-eyed Draconian blood, or not!

  La Envidia. Spanish word for envy. And these green-eyed folks that bear the name are prompted by their jealous thoughts so innately that it often times makes the very rash, deceptive, and judgmental people.

  Hyperborean. The smallest World and farthest north. It’s the former home of Aurora, the creator of the Aurora Boreal institution, and of the Great Eight era. These yellow-eyed dignified beings that descend especially from her are known for their stark pride. A pride that can often times lead them to repetitively falter, repeating past mistakes without regard
.

  Lirio. A World of self-absorbed pretty boys and girls. These pink-eyed beauties are normally boisterous and conceded beyond bearing. Lirio is one of few Worlds that still teaches Maledictus to students, and isn’t afraid to utter phrases of it in conversation as well. Lirians are generally beautiful, selfish, indifferent to sports, disgusted by animals, and possess a host of other idiosyncrasies that make then some of the most annoying people on the planet. Their one redeeming quality, Lirio is the most socially equate and open-minded World out of all eight.

  Arco. These brown-eyed lovers are often sensitive and warmhearted. With that said, they can easily mistaken for weak crybabies. The most respectable and respectful of the eight races. The smallest of stature, both physical and political. Their society reveres peace, but often, Arcan individuals have a fuse burning inside them that can lead to explosive fractures in their surface personality when pushed too far.

  Velocidad. These purple-eyed city dwellers live in an asphalt utopia. Nearly as socially experimental as Lirio, and still they often have brainy qualities. They live fast paced lives, but one thing that can slow a Velocidadian down, is their argumentative nature. They’ll abruptly stop the flow of events just to argue about the pleasure derived from having experienced said event.

  Blanco. These stoic, sharp-tongued people are a race different from the others. Their appearance, much less diverse. Their traditions, much more observed. They are completely white-eyed folks, pupil as well as the iris. They have all white hair, head as well as the body. While their facial attributes may vary among family members, the entire race has an uncanny, sometimes unbearable resemblance to one another.

  Imperativo. Now, these gray-eyed fiends are quite the card, considering the disastrous and manipulative games they love to play. Imperativo is a place of knowingly impaired judgment, but a quick-witted self-idolization refrains its entire people from ever caring about the heart wrenching societal development of the prejudices they propagate. The Draconian people are more openly ruder and cruder, but the Imperativans use undertone and covert indignation to one up any who dare crosses their path.

  *You’ll find many terms throughout the book that seem to be certain omissions from a list such as this. But to include more plot driven terminology would have spoiled the adventurous journey just a page or two ahead. Still, my grandest hope is that you’ll come to agree, if you so choose to read on. And I hope that the small amount of formatting issues don’t mentally rip you from the story, as they were necessary to deal with kindle conversion and the few slips from my weak eye. Sorry. THANKS!

  A World Apart: Original Souls

  Kyle Thomas Miller

  “Eternity Will Become Reality”

  Chapter 1:

  Little Boy Close To Blue

  March 21, 1002 ~ Nightfall

  "Magik" is a strong word. It holds so much meaning here in my home World, Draconia. Unfortunately, it’s a negative meaning. I'm not sure yet whether banning it to civilians was a good idea. Still, it’s perfectly legal for me, a standard blue-eyed, dark-skin Draconian, and the team of men standing behind me in this abandoned factory.

  This narrow hallway we're passing along stretches for miles it seems. It's so dark ahead of us that I can't tell if it ever ends. The floors are covered with grimy dust, and the walls have a syrupy oil slicked a crossed them in some ritual-like fashion. The oils are shaped in figures that sort of look like portraits of animals. Mythical animals of spliced species, dragons and such, while-some of the other images take the form of a myriad of nature’s inhabitants. But they aren't exactly the greatest artist caliber of work, so they aren’t so easy to make out. Everything here looks as if it's been tinted by a gray and blue filter. It's a drab place to be tonight.

  There's a missing kid. A young boy about eleven years old—I -think? Maybe the report said a twelve-year-old? No matter, either way we have to get this boy out of here alive. The report said that he’s been missing for a while now. Luckily, a credible tip recently came into the receptors down at Squadron, our policing station. That's why I'm here now with my squad to check things out. I'm truly surprised that I was dispatched to this case so abruptly, considering my dreadfully ironic history.

  This unit use to solely deal with missing person cases, but we were reassigned after ... well, I just couldn't do it anymore. It helped that I'm the unit leader though. My men didn't want a new guy bossing them around, so they all came along with me when I was reassigned by the Chancellor of the 8ights Council here in Draconia.

  ‘8ights,’ is what most call them. They’re elected in each individual World to guide and govern that World, and its relationship with the other seven. I've known the Chancellor of Draconia, Sebastian, all my life. He and my father were childhood friends. He gave the eulogy at my dad’s funeral. He's like family. That's why he approved my entire unit following me to my new assignment in the less specific field of, city patrols, even though we’re all trained specialist. I appreciated that. It would have been difficult getting to know new Squadron members while I was going through so much at the time.

  At this point we've already progressed far down the hall, well into the darkness that's keeping us from telling how long this path really is. "Put your flashlights on guys, we don't want any surprises," -I hollered back behind me. We probably should have done that already, but I can’t help but be distracted by the crappy scenery. Looking up at the tall ceilings,I can’t imagine what kind of people would be staying in a place like this. Though with those wall markings, someone’s got to be hiding out somewhere in here. Probably a couple of stray bums drinking runoff sewer-water, turning themselves into the rats they cook and eat for dinner. Harsh, but likely true during these darkening days.

  From the lens on top of our Absorption Guns, flashlight after flashlight flicked on. They gave a better view to the unwelcome sight of a dead cat carcass on the gray cement ground. A black cat at that, tucked up against the wall as we passed by. Bad omens don’t mean much to me, but I know some people who let that stuff dictate their entire lives to them. Dreams, psychics, coincidences, dingy-smelly-rotting-dead cat carcasses. Must be fate trying to tell me something? Or perhaps, -it’s just a dead cat? Either way, people’s superstitions never seem to prepare them for the worst-case scenario, so why bother?

  These well-equipped, double-handed guns afforded us a new sense of dread, as we can now see just how pitiful this place really is. Fitting, since their purpose is to absorb rouge magik wielders' sad and defiant little spells. I'm hoping we won't have to use them at all. No activity recorded yet, besides that cat, though it wasn't too active. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything going on. Still, the report read that the guns would be required since this abandoned factory is believed to be inhabited by the Gente Peligroso. Traveling rouge magik wielders from all eight Worlds. They refuse to give up their power, and considering they live on the streets and places like this closed down factory, they refuse all constructive fashion tips as well. Well, only those rogue-bums traveling through Draconia would have to stop using magik for a time. And possibly dress in clothes that don’t smell like hot garbage.

  Magik is still valued almost everywhere else. And I can't say I disagree with these rogues for not following the rules. Who could live without something they’ve known and loved all their life? The only problem is that they use their power to destroy things in every World. It's only a matter of time before Worlds other than Draconia start banning magik wielding by civilians. We're going to need these guns if we run into any of those Peligrosos. We've been instructed to bring them in alive, if possible, for questioning. We can’t simply use our superior wielding abilities to take them out. Most of the Gente Peligroso are young and untrained teens. They generally recruit runaways and social outcast. Those types you see in school at the back of the classroom playing with an army knife. Eyes on fire, just daring you to give them an excuse to use it. Most who’ve never been properly taught to wield magik or cast any long term spells. Their leaders are all
most likely powerful wielders, but they simply don't have the man power to teach most of the new and younger recruits. The 8ights have hunted them to near extinction, but they’re still around. Growing even. That doesn’t make much sense, but they don’t pay me enough to ask questions like that. Or rather, they couldn’t pay me enough.

  The tunnel started to open up, we stumbled upon an intersection. There's a leak, better, a stream of water falling from the tall grated ceiling. The water hit the ground at the center of the intersection, splashing vigorously against our black, Valid steel-toed boots. Valid is the strongest steel there is, just really a symbol of the 8ights power and prestige. The men behind me started spreading out, while attempting to avoid getting wet. The liquid bounced all around the sides of the walls, resembling rain droplets as it beaded on the cement. Our black jumpsuit uniforms started to shine a bit as we fully penetrated the pentagon shaped intersection.

  My earpiece communicator meant nothing cooped up in this dead factory. The walls must be too thick. I can't get any signal. I took it off, and threw it down into the small puddles of water all around our feet. A little electric shock went out as the water reacted with the mechanics inside it. It bothered the left side of my neck around my hairline too. I figured it would be in my best interest to get rid of it. However, I could have just put it in one of my many pockets. These jumpsuits are like the overalls version of cargo pants. I hate cargos, thus I hate these constricting uniforms.

  My dark hair isn't even very long, especially where my ears are. I have a virtual crew cut with a bit more length and style. I'm sure most of the guys behind me are feeling the same annoyance from their earpieces. But it'd be better if they simply stored theirs in these busy jumpsuits. Communicators aren’t cheap. Lucky me again that I'm in charge here. Most of them have longer hair than I. Especially,Evan. He has longer hair than most guys in Draconia. He's a special case, but it’s considered downright disgusting for a guy-to sport long locks in our home World. There’s no place like home, some say. That is, if your home’s a prison, because that’s exactly what Draconia feels like from the inside.