She hated when he called her that. "Look, you take one of our rods and I'll take the other. So we're on equal ground, all right?" Esteban felt better, but not satisfied. He still thought she had a better chance of getting the four rods necessary to form the Arc. "But we'll change another part of the plan too. Instead of me running off with his rods. We'll just take this dude down first. Then there will be four rods on the field, and whatever happens... happens!" She leaned in close, because she was still trying to get her footing. Anvard was relentless with those gauntlet strikes to the field.

Esteban's eyes darted around, surveying the field. "Whatever you say, babe." He quickly kissed her on the lips, and ran off toward the big man targeting him and his girlfriend. He hoped that Melanie hadn't lied to him. Otherwise, he'd be stranded with one rod and nowhere to go, but down.

The boy from Arco was on a half-witted mission to take out the well-known former Lirian champion at Imperativo school. His jersey blew in the wind as he charged forward. Desperately trying not to fall from the wave of tremors Anvard continued to create with every step and fist pound to the ground. While he clumsily ran across midfield, the brown bear on his jersey looked more intimidating than him with his b.u.mpy motion.

He was toned for sure, but not muscular. He was tall for his age, but not a giant. His brown eyes and dark brown, semi-long, curly hair shined, but not so bright that he stood out in a crowd. His rounded, milky skin face was cute, but he was no model. His most endearing features were his three dimples. Two on the cheeks, and one on the chin. The trio looked a little like overkill, but nature is what nature does. He looked too cute to most girls, almost girly. But not to Melanie. She knew the budding man that grew beneath the skin of the geeky athlete. And she was a bit of a tomboy herself, so they balanced each other out nicely.

Her brown skin and yellow eyes gleamed in the sunlight of high noon. Her red hair made her stand out in every crowd. Most people didn't have red hair. And when you saw one on occasion, they were almost always Esteban's complexion. She liked being a standout. It suited her character well. She always had dreams of rising like the yellow phoenix on her jersey. In these dreams, she'd be the first girl to soar through the sky, climbing the Lightning Arc with expertise. She'd smash her gauntlet against the Aura-field, and achieve Thunder. Nothing excited her more than the possibility of that dream coming to life. She wasn't going to let that go. Not even for her beloved, Esteban.

Anvard finally met one of his opponents at the center of the field. "You looked real macho running over here. I bet your girlfriend is real proud." Anvard didn't like the business of insults, but he did like the benefits of them. He didn't judge books by their covers. He didn't want to open this guy up and find a completely different plot line than he antic.i.p.ated. To him, despite the boys demeanor, Esteban was a threat until eliminated from the compet.i.tion.

"Real funny, I'm cracking up!" Esteban shouted. "And now .... you are too!"

BAM!!! He caught Andy off guard for sure. Esteban was as nimble as he was courageous to take bigheaded Andy head on. He had no regard for safety when he front flipped forward and brought his gauntlet down on the ground. The force from his flip generated a completely new level of destructive power in the gauntlets that Anvard had never witnessed before. Not even the pros seemed to play that hard. The stadium shook with the shockwave that shattered the open fields. As Esteban came thundering down on the ground, Anvard's body shot up into the air, nearly ten feet off the ground.

"Yay!!! Yay!!!" The crowd erupted into cheers for no# 2. Esteban's jersey number. He was the second ranked member from Arco at the school.

The field was badly damaged when Melanie jumped on Anvard's chest with both feet planted firmly in the center. She was shocked that Esteban needed no a.s.sistance from her in grounding this supposed tough guy.

"Ha-ha! You should have known better Sen. Fielder. We know you all too well. Most people who play this sport do." She looked down at him triumphantly.

Esteban carefully walked over to join her in victory over the number eight ranked compet.i.tor from Lirio. Though he was the best player in the game, and most prissy Lirians didn't involve themselves in the sport, his ranking went haywire when he was abruptly discharged from his last school in Imperativo.

They thought the worst was over, but they didn't realize that Anvard let down the spells that held Vonczech at bay. The other big boy on the field had been quietly charging over while they gloated.

"Stunner!" Esteban went flying backward toward the depositor like a feather in the wind, dropping the rod he held in the process. Melanie turned to her boyfriend in horror. That's when Anvard took his revenge. He grabbed her leg with both hands and twisted her ankle.

"Ahh!!!" a piercing scream came from her gut, as he flipped her on her back.

He then got to his feet, and shouted with his llave pointed down-at her. "Incredulous!" he wasn't just a World's cla.s.s athlete, he was also a smart wielder. He used her gloating against her. A charge of Incredulous can render people guilty of betraying their own conscience. She would seek nothing more than to help Anvard in his quest to achieve Thunder.

While Mel lay on the ground with her mind racing around from Anvard's spell, Andy blocked yet another stun from Von. This time it went up into the Aura-field and dissipated into nothing.

"Do you not know any other spells?" Andy accused his roommate.

Von looked at him wide-eyed, standing not far apart. He wasn't expecting to be questioned. He wanted to fight. He had no idea what to say.

"I can teach you some, you know?" Andy kept on.

Von looked down to the ground perplexed. While they questioned the limitations of Vonczech's magik, Esteban was starting to come to. Stuns in English were only momentary petrifies. Nothing a guy like him couldn't handle.

"Well, maybe I could stand to learn a bit more. I don't study, ever," Von admitted while standing on the destroyed field. He could barely see Anvard, for all the splintered earth chunks that rose with Esteban's force slam to the ground.

"I'll only do it if you promise not to poke, or whatever you yelled, my eyes out tonight in the dorm." Anvard smiled, like he'd made a new friend.

"Okay, I'll try to not do that." Von actually seemed sincere for the moment.

Suddenly, Esteban reintroduced himself to them both. "Doble Inmovilizar!" He tried to immobilize them both with one strike. Two clear beams shot out of his rotating llave. He conjured up as much power as he could handle.

Anvard deflected yet another hit with his gauntlet. But Von proved, just as he did in training, that he didn't have the reflexes that Anvard possessed. He was knocked back to the ground. His back hit hard, and he appeared to be out of the compet.i.tion. This time for good. His body went completely stiff. His arms sticking up in the air while he lay on his back frozen in time, totally immobile. Anvard figured this as an opportunity to put his new mind slave to work.

"Get up-girl!" He didn't know her name, so he improvised. She immediately responded to his commands. Her conscience was his for the taking. If only she didn't boast over knocking him over. She might have won, and fulfilled her dream. After she would have been forced to betray Esteban, that is. But for now, her own c.o.c.kiness won her a free ticket to do whatever Anvard says land. "Attack your boyfriend with every non-lethal spell you know." She instantly snapped into the motions.

"Mel, snuggle bear, don't do this. It's me, your mocking bird." She looked like a zombie. And was totally non-responsive to his words. She started with a small stun, he blocked it with his gauntlet, but she was working her way up to the bigger guns. Esteban couldn't bring himself to fight back, so he just ran from her across the field.

The crowd laughed at him and chanted. "Go cower, coward! Go cower, coward!" But luckily enough for Esteban, he wasn't a prideful boy. He didn't care about them. He just wanted Mel to love him again.

Everyone was occupied, in some capacity, except Anvard. He stood there, wondering if this was really it. "Llamada!" he called the rods to his waiting hands. He dropped his own when Esteban went nuts on him, so now all four remaining rods lifted up and hovered over to him immediately.

He was now ready to a.s.semble the Lightning Arc. He was also the perfect distance away from the Depositor to make the highest jump he could. He hadn't even considered making the climb instead. That would make him look like a chump. He snapped two rods together. Then the other two rods together. Two separate halves waiting to make the whole Arc spring to life. They shined brightly, just like he was used to. He then took the two pieces to the long-winded puzzle and pushed their diamond shaped groves into one another. He stood on the far end from where Corinth and the others sat. They looked up to one of many jumbo screens to get a close up view on his activities.

"He's going to do it!" Emma shouted. "Yeah! Do it Andy!"

Everyone in the stadium shot to their feet. The metals in the first rod reacted with the second, the third, and the fourth! They generated arches of static electricity, gearing up to fulfill their destiny as one ma.s.sive structure. A gigantic crescent beam of blue and white light shot out into the sky, even farther up than the aerial coverage of the game from the hovering helicopters. He was being broadcast throughout all the Worlds. Aurora Boreal's diversity made these games the most watched amateur sporting events of their time.

He shouted out, holding the Lightning Arc high over his head. "Yeahhh!" He held that syllable, for what seemed like an eternity. When the Arc burst into being, it made the skies grow gray and dark. Clouds rolled in out of nowhere and cast a dark and beautiful silvery shadow over the Pavilion. He looked around at the dazzled crowd, soaked up their energy, but couldn't bear to waste a moment more than that.

He sporadically shot forward toward the Depositor. He was running with the force of a stampede. He charged and charged until he reached the spot that he designated as his tipping off point. He took the four-rod handle and dug the bottom end of the Arc of light into the ground in front of him. It propelled him up as he brought his muscular legs together and locked them tight. He vaulted forward through the air with the Arc as his guide. Once he hit the crest of his wave through the sky, he flipped himself so that the Arc no longer touched the ground. He jumped so high that he was in free fall down toward the Depositor's locking mechanism.

This was his make or break moment. He could've chosen to simply walk the plank. He could have walked over to the Depositor, stuck the Lightning Arc inside, locked it tight, and climbed his way to victory. That was the safe way, and it always got the compet.i.tor booed. People wanted to see a display of athleticism. The jump was feared by all. Even Anvard. But he wanted it worked. So badly. The only way to find out if he could still make it-was to try.

He came in twirling like a professional diver. He realigned the Arc so that it could hit the Depositor at the precise moment he was hovering directly over it. He was there! He drove-the Arc downward and into its intended fixed position. This was his moment and his alone. He'd either drop out of the sky, or become the champion.

"It connected!!!" the announcer screamed over the loud speaker in the stadium. He scared everyone except Anvard. His jump was so high that he exceeded the Aura-field itself. He knew that he had reached his goal not by the announcer, but when he heard the triumphant sounds of Thunder tearing apart the skies.

The aerial cameras caught his facial expression while clinging to the Arc in midair. He virtually floated in the middle of the sky above the Pavilion. His expression, as the media termed it: 'Pure Glee!' The safety Aura above the field burst apart into colored streamers that fluttered around the stadium. Everyone cheered and yelled out inaudible phrases. Though it was held on the least interesting Levanta.r.s.e surface, the event did not disappoint a soul. Especially not Anvard, who safely descended to the stadium grounds with the bright shine of a G.o.d among men emanating from the broad smile covering his face, from ear to ear.

Chapter 18:.

Lifelines

May 17, 1002 ~ Nightfall Just a dream, of no more hope The sky burns green, power will not choke The voice of means, the wielders, they have spoke The ma.s.ses careen, their lives ... but a twisted joke Watch as the roller coaster in this scene takes you far away from your friendly team A green dark sky that screamed with lightning, forced you to cover your eyes You once saw images of war, famine, sadness ... the tears that many mothers cry In the distance, what appears to be a dragon floats by The pressure of its flight knocking you down in surprise No longer shielded by the fleeting wave of a tired minded boy's hands held high You look in horror, as the face of fear is bold enough to bring about a firebird's demise Shattered in two, one bird's life not suffice Who?

Boy in a coaster that flies You!

Must now fight to keep false hopes alive.

Corinth awoke from his topsy-turvy dream in a steaming sweat. The voice inside of his head was getting louder. Taking more energy from him with every whisper. He thought it was real, so real that he decided in the dream to jump out of the high-speed sky coaster. But somehow, in some weird way, when he jumped out ~ the coaster cart came off the track with him. It felt like the fall woke him in a jolt. But the real thing jolting him awake was ... Emma!

"Why do you sleep so much?"

"Leave him alone, he's tired!" Anvard said from a tiny brown whicker chair. He squeezed his muscular body into it, sitting in the corner near the door of Corinth's quaint dormitory.

"Aren't you concerned, Andy? He doesn't even do anything physical. Yet anytime we stop moving for more than like ten minutes, he basically pa.s.ses out." She was still attempting to shake Cory awake when Anvard walked over and slapped her hands away. "Well, all right then. Have it your way, muscle-head." She moved away, back over to Emmy and Claudia, rubbing her sore hands from the slap. They too packed themselves into the small room. Corinth alone felt cramped up in there, better yet with all of them crowding around.

Anvard tripped over a pile of clothes on the floor and b.u.mped his head on the unusually low ceilings over Corinth's bed. "Gracious! This room blows."

"Tell me about it," said Emma in her usual judgmental tone.

"Why can't we just go to your guy's dorm?" Anvard asked, while holding his head.

Corinth could hear Anvard's accent coming out again, as he lifted his body from the bed like a waking corpse. He stretched his arms out wide in the air and yawned loudly without covering his mouths. "We can't go there because they've got that new roommate. What's her face. Or whatever. Something like that," Corinth's scratchy throat made him sound like a cartoon character. Anvard laughed and tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but Corinth didn't feel nearly as comfortable with Andy- as Anvard did with Cory. "That's okay, I've got it," he informed a bruised-hearted Anvard while pushing his hand away.

Andy brushed off his hurt, and turned back to his sisters. "What's this about a new roommate?" he asked, with a scrunched brow.

They looked at him cross-eyed, and simultaneously folded their arms across their chest. Claudia didn't want to be the odd ball out, so she too folded her arms. If not a second off from the twins synchronized movement.

"He's been asleep half this time and yet he heard more of the conversation than you!" Emmy stood up and shouted with a laugh. "You really don't listen at all, do you?"

"I bet you he listens when Corinth talks," Emma said with a snicker. The three girls giggled. Off to the corner of his eye, Anvard noticed Corinth giggling too. But he didn't know whether that was a good or bad sign coming from the little guy he continued to try to get closer with. But the turquoise-eyed boy continued to push him away.

Bang! Bang! Bang! A knock came to the door that caught them all off guard. Corinth looked around as if it were someone else's decision on who was allowed into his dorm.

"Uh! Uh, h.e.l.lo?" the feeble boy called out in question of the unexpected visitor.

"What are you doing?" Emma hit him on the shoulder while whispering.

"I don't know, I'm not used to visitors," he said with a raspy, yet loud tone while ducking down.

"First, why are you talking so loud? Second, you do know that they can't see us. Right?" She motioned toward the door with her hand. The large dark thing did appear to be sealed shut. Corinth looked around a little embarra.s.sed, but figured she was right. It was safe to stand up.

"What do I do?" while he asked that question, Claudia was already opening the door.

"Hi, and who are you, might I ask?" She only cracked the door and stuck her head out.

Corinth was nervous beyond belief. Every time someone had knocked on his door in the past few weeks, it was to deliver him bad news. Like this morning during Anvard's match, when the messenger kid told him that the committee cancelled the Deaves tournament.

Claudia turned around from the door with a blissful smile. Her heart seemed to jump out of her chest. "Corinth, this wonderful guy says he knows you." The door opened up to reveal Evan standing beneath the archway.

"Uncle Evan!" Corinth shouted, charging over to him. He heard that Evan was in Hyperborean, but he hadn't had a chance to see him the entire time. A white t-shirt and denim jeans did it for Evan. His mind was too far away to give a hoot about his usual fashion forward styling.

"How's it going?" he said with a big smile, then took a quick look around. "Whoa! You got a lot of friends, dude. And your digs, it's ... kind of cool. A bit small for five people, but still pretty cool."

"No, they're just visiting," Cory said, waving his hand at them all.

"I know, dude," said Evan while venturing further into the already overcrowded, small, and junky room. "Now you should know by now that Sena. Hendrix doesn't like a messy quarters," he said while laughing at the dirty, oh so dirty room. He tried to avoid stepping on anything sharp. He wore flip-flops. He didn't want to be stuck with any sort of protruding things that may be hiding beneath the mounds of clothes casually tossed any and everywhere.

"Yeah, that's probably true," Corinth said, in the most nonchalant of tones, "but she's just a ministrant. I don't care what she thinks. It's my room."

That rubbed Evan every which way but right. "Wait dude, you should be a lot more respectful of-" he forcibly stopped himself.

All five kids looked at him, like he was an alien. Then, the truth alarm went off in his head. He forgot that Corinth didn't have the slightest clue that Hendrix was his grandmother. To hear him say that he didn't care about her opinion made him rethink his own att.i.tude about Criston's constant insistence that she not be a part of their lives. All families have issues. But Silvia had changed so much, still Criston gave her no credit for it. Certainly, it couldn't erase the crimes of her past. After all, she did say that Corinth was an abomination while in the womb. That is a bit tough to get over. But-at -least she's trying, he thought. Then he let it all go as quickly as it came.

"Oh, never mind me. You're right, it's your room. And it's your time here. So make the best of it, and worry about cleaning up the mess later." They all smiled. They liked the more carefree approach to their youthfulness. It sounded like a lot more fun. "But don't get lost amongst the junk in the process," he continued, pointing-a fatherly finger at all of them. He took the liberty of sitting himself on the edge of Cory's bed. "If you get lost in the mess, you might end up throwing your life away. And trust me, that's not so much fun. It really is about finding that right balance," he realized some of his words were going over their heads, so he cut it there. Little did he know that he had an impact on them all the same. A small, but present impact.

They all introduced themselves individually to yet another of Corinth's family members. Cory thought he'd be the odd one in the group. But it turns out they were getting to know him faster than he was tapping into their personalities outside of the confines of this boarding school.

"I really came here, because I want to give you something." Corinth was seated beside him on the bed now. Evan pulled out a bunch of little cardboard rectangles from each pocket. "Uh ... uh, there we go!" One started to drift away from his grasp as he yanked it out of his pants pockets. He caught it up out of the air, and shuffled all of them together.

"I recognize that insignia?" Corinth said in a questioning tone. Emmy recognized it too.

"Yeah, you should!" Evan shared his nephew's excitement. "If you're playing in a Deaves tournament you need to know the mainstays of the ELD."

He sounded like a complete geek to Anvard and Emma. She was seriously reconsidering having a huge crush on him. But then again, his eyes are so shiny. She decided it'd be okay to like one geek per semester. And Evan was it.

"Oh, wow! Is this your old deck?" Corinth asked, while gawking at the cards.

"How could you tell?" Evan laughed, as a smile cracked on Corinth's face too. The boy looked at the cards like a hungry bear. "They're a little old looking and smelly, but I'm sure they'll help you do some damage on the Aurriculium board."

"The what?" Anvard asked.

"It's just the name of the board that manifests the personas of the Deave cards during a match," Evan said with a reminiscent smile.

"Oh, okay." Anvard didn't feel any more enlightened to what they were talking about with that insider's explanation Evan gave him.

"Did you play here at the school," Emmy put to Evan.

"Oh, no!" Putting his hand to his chest like; who-me? Not a chance! He seemed a little embarra.s.sed. "I didn't go to this school at all," he looked around when he said it. His eyes showed how much he wished he could have. "I played on a local team though, in Graysonville, Draconia. That's where I grew up with this one's dad." He put his hand on Corinth's shoulder. "Cris hated this game. He thought the adlucinatio were cool looking," Anvard and Emma didn't know what they were, but they chose not to interrupt, "but he hated the general concept for the rest of it.'Too many rules,' he'd always say. He was more of a sports guy, like you." He pointed to Anvard. "By the way, awesome job out there today." Andy nodded with a gracious smile and blushed a bit. He enjoyed the praise. "I got into that game some, but this is where my heart really was." He looked down at the cards like he was parting with an old friend for good. He handed the well-stocked deck over to Corinth.

"Thanks a lot," his little nephew was thrilled as he rummaged through the little cardboard treasures.

"Of course, of course." Evan tossed his hair like always. And like always, Corinth put it back. "I won't be needing them anyway. Well, I haven't needed them in quite some time really. So it's no problem."

Cory truly was thankful. He didn't like his own deck at all. The only card he managed to get that was worth anything, was the one Walker gave him the night they met. But this deck had some gems in it. Just the first couple of cards instantly revealed that to him. He saw unique cards and sub-unique cards. He couldn't find those anywhere in the Refectory general stores. He and Emmy would eat lunch there then hit up all the shops surrounding and inside the cone-like structure that many students thought to be a weird design. But none of them had much of anything new to offer. The school hadn't had Deaves in so long that the vendors ordered less and less cards. They were hit unexpectedly with the influx of kids wanting to play the game again, so it was slim pickings to start.

Evan looked down at his watch. "Wow, we've all got to get going?"

"Going where?" Anvard asked first.

"Well, I've got some personal stuff to wrap up. But aren't you guys going to watch Corinth play tonight," he sounded so certain.

Emmy and Corinth looked to one another. "Sen. Gambit," Emmy started, "they cancelled the tournament this morning. We would have played then, but a messenger came to our doors and told us," she sounded b.u.mmed. She really wanted to test out her skills.

"No, they rescheduled it." He looked at his watch again. "Honestly, I was surprised you were still here. I was sure I'd miss you. Their starting in like ... six minutes." Both Corinth and Emmy's faces dropped. "And by the way, call me Evan. That Senor stuff is for the oldies that look down on kids. That's not really for me."

Emma and Claudia almost died when he said that. Together, competing to be the one he heard first, they said, "okay then ... EVAN!" Hearts flashed in their pink and purple eyes. As Evan's baby blues squinted, trying to tell if these little ladies were seriously swooning over a nearly thirty-year-old man.