"If there is one?" Lindle grumbled. He thought it was a good idea, but couldn't help but think Anvard made it up off the top of his head. He could tell his sole priority was to get to Corinth. He didn't even notice the room was shaking, because he stared so intently at that already malfunctioning c.r.a.p map. The water had risen so high that neither one of their feet touched the ground any longer. A floating Lindle called out. "Anvard just let it go, we can bust this door together!"

"It's got to come down at some point!" The map kept bouncing around as the water rushed in, creating pressure waves off the walls of the circular room. The coffins below started to become unhinged from their fixed positions. The first one drifted up, shocking Anvard. He quickly got his wits back and a bright idea came with them. He tried to use it as a surfboard. Kneeling on top, pulling himself out of the water. It couldn't support his weight. Not such a bright idea after all. It just toppled over to its side, knocking him off, and he splashed back into the high waters.

"The door will be covered soon! We can't break it from under water! You have to swim over and help!" Lindle was losing control. He was a fine swimmer himself, but holding his breath forever underwater wasn't an option. Once the water hit the ceiling, they'd be done for it.

"Got it!" Anvard shouted across the room.

"Then-come-on!" Lindle couldn't believe he'd just done all that for a likely broken map.

He tucked the parchment into the collar of his shirt. He knew it'd get wet, but not soaked like it already had been. Andy swam the length of the room like the expert he is. The swimming track of Levanta.r.s.e was his second favorite to the ice, and he put a lot of practice in on both, if not all. He made it, in what seemed like the nick of time. There was still the top quarter of the door visible, not yet submerged. "All right, on three we both thrust out with our shoulders," Anvard talked an angry Lindle through the first step to saving their lives.

"One, two, three!!!" They both put all their energy behind it. If they hadn't both lost their llaves there would be no issue getting the door open. They tried again and again, but it seemed like there was no use, while floating like buoys.

"It's too tight!" Lindle finally said.

"No, it's not," Anvard announced firmly. "We just need more force. Here, hold this," he looked to Lindle sternly, "and keep it above the water."

Lindle looked at the ridiculous paper and thought: Oh, that will be easy! It's not like we're surrounded by water or anything. Then it might be a challenge keeping this thing afloat.

After he gave up the treasured map to Lindle, he looked up at the hooded threshold above the archway of the door. It wasn't wide enough to stand on, but it appeared stable enough to grab hold of. He put both hands on the edges of it, and gripped hard. He could feel his adrenaline level surging as his blood sped faster and faster through his veins. He pulled the lower half of his body out of the water. He was hanging from the hooded threshold like a monkey from a vine. He pulled his legs into his chest, and took a deep breath.

Lindle watched the athlete in amazement. His focus under pressure was uncanny. He heard Corinth mockingly calling him, Rocksteady, but he truly was. No amount of pressure seemed to scare him away, except that rock and that hard place back in the tunnel. But Lindle overlooked that as a special case. He saw Anvard achieve Thunder in the most glorious fashion. There was no way he wasn't a powerhouse for real with the show he gave at the Pavilion.

Andy steadied himself. Then forced his contracted legs forward, feet first. He firmly planted them into the top portion of the door that was half-covered by water. The door nearly shattered under the pressure of both Andy's legs, as well the steady rising tides in the room.

They weren't home free yet for two reasons. First, the door wasn't fully opened, but Anvard had that covered. He began positioning himself to kick out again. Second reason, Lindle noticed that water wasn't just coming from the center of the floor in the room they were trapped in. The wall to wall bottom level of the entire temple was flooding with the waters of the North Lake.

"Don't open that!" Lindle yelled frantically.

It was too late. Lindle opened the map in his hands not long before Anvard thrust his legs forward again. He peered at the startling sight for too long to be able to stop the second blow that knocked the door off its hinges. Though they both heard the hinges snap, the door barely moved, because there was a wall of water on the other side of it. Instead of liberating them, the door was forced back into the cavernous room. Bringing with it all the new waters that rushed from behind. The boys were flung back toward the far wall, where all the coffins floated in a neat little group. They caught themselves up on those dead men's chests as best they could.

"See!" spitting out water,"maps do come in handy when properly used," Anvard told a half-submerged Lindle. He struggled to pull Lindle up with him. The curly-haired boy went under when they crashed into the rather cushiony coffins. He got him, lifting him from sinking with only his left arm. The other arm firmly gripped a wobbling coffin.

Lindle surfaced with a barrage of questions that Anvard couldn't possibly answer. "What's going on? Where are we going to go? Why's there so much water everywhere!?"

Anvard stared at him unsympathetically. "Hey, you volunteered for this."

Lindle stared back for a second as they both clung to the same coffin. It stabilized its wobble shortly, with them at either end, creating a fine balance across the length. "I wasn't complaining. But I'm definitely concerned, you numbskull!" Lindle slapped his hand down on the coffin, losing grip. Anvard again pulled him up. When he resurfaced, face to face with his second time savior holding him up, he donned a new att.i.tude. He looked down as he spoke. "Maybe I'm a numbskull too." Anvard nodded to that sincerely. "But what are we going to do!? The water is almost near the ceiling now."

They both looked up with dreadful expressions. Neither of them envisioned themselves drowning, not ever. Well, except when they plummeted toward the lake a few hours ago on a fiery death cart. But they didn't have much time to think on that one. And now they just stare at nothing but a flat rock ceiling looming above, as the waters continue to rise. "We could swim down and out of here. Let's see if the map has any unfilled areas on it. Maybe we can find our way to air by going back down!" Anvard seemed optimistic.

"Yeah, but what if we can't hold our breath that long?" Lindle countered, while looking down at the clear rising liquid.

"It doesn't matter, we have to try. Just give me back the map."

"Um-about that." He put a finger to his mouth with his free hand. "I sort of ripped it in two when we got pushed back by the incoming water behind the door."

"What! Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack." Lindle pointed to the two soaking pieces of beige parchment that floated a few yards away from them.

"Great, just freaking great!" Anvard splashed water Lindle's way. "I gave it to you for two-seconds, and it's ruined!"

"Well, let me remind you that you kicked in a door that unleashed a whole lake's worth of water onto our heads during those 'two-seconds,' pal!"

"Okay, okay we both blew it. I get it." Anvard leveled with him. But Lindle felt like it was more Anvard's fault than his own.

"It's no use anyway!" Lindle exclaimed over the roaring sound of water splashing wildly on the circular walls around them. "I saw it on the map. The entire bottom level was filling from all directions."

"But how?" Anvard asked.

"You said it yourself. The map said it. The translations have been wrong all this time. It wasn't 'beyond' the North Lake, it's beneath it!" Lindle was bewildered and confused. Waiting to die a horrible death wasn't what he initially planned for the evening. Not at least before he noticed Corinth and Anvard talking in the Library. He was just going to eat some Smoldering Golds chocolates, fall to sleep on his bed, with a good book in hand. That is, if his roommates decided they wouldn't be ma.s.sive jerks for the night. "We're screwed!" Lindle dropped his head down on the coffin and heard a welcoming sound. "They're hollow! They're hollow, Andy!" he shouted out with glee, grabbing Anvard's shoulders, then suddenly realizing he had no support when he started sinking, yet again. He pulled himself up this time, using Andy's shoulders, which didn't settle too well with the athlete once the coffin started rocking around.

"Steady yourself, and stop flipping out," Anvard's strong jaw grumbled at him. "Now what's all this hollow stuff about?" He questioned quickly as he took another look around to see the waters were getting ever closer to that flat ceiling nearing their heads.

"They're floating and they're hollow. That means they're air tight, I think? To some degree, at least. We can get inside of them. And live, Anvard. We'll live!" he shouted in his face with his brown eyes seeming to glow like the sun. He couldn't contain the glee in his heart. Not dying was a much better plan than waiting for death.

"How do you know if they even open?"

"Um, I don't," said Lindle flatly. Then he heard the coffin cracking open while he looked away at the waters still filling the cavern.

"Well, what do you know," Anvard said with a huge grin. "Hop in, Curly," he smiled at a wet and wavy Lindle,"you may have just saved our lives."

"Wait, what if we sink?"

"What?" Anvard impatiently questioned.

"What if we sink?" Lindle said again. "Our weight is going to make this thing a lot heavier."

"Whatever," Anvard barked, "once we close it that won't matter. Water obviously can't get in, otherwise these things would have never surfaced like buoys when the water came flooding in. Besides, look," he gestured with his head toward the velvet interior of the empty and dry coffin,"they would, at the very least, be damp if they weren't waterproof."

Most likely true, thought Lindle, but his nerves made him hesitant. He looked down at the gray coffin and its plush velvet looking insides, and wondered if it would serve as his deathbed.

Anvard was in a hurry. The water wasn't going to wait for them to think this one through. He tried convincing his partner of the benefits concerning the floating coffin. "Look at it this way. If we don't get in, we drown for sure. If we do get in, we live . . . until we ultimately run out of air-or something equally horrific. But at least we got a shot." Anvard thought about it as he spoke. An airtight compartment would eventually choke them out. But it was the only option available. Lindle wouldn't budge though. Anvard glanced again to the water. He was seconds from freaking out on Lindle if he didn't just get in the darn coffin. "Look! Either way we're screwed. Let's just get screwed later, okay!" He smiled at his new friend encouragingly, then took both hands and steadied the coffin as best he could. "Now-hop-in, Curly!"

Lindle pushed his wet, dark hair away from his face. "If we die, I can't promise that my ghost won't haunt Corinth for bringing us here." He smiled, slightly.

"I understand," Andy said with a half-nod. He truly did understand Lindle's quip remark. He only hoped Corinth was safe and sound enough that he'd at least make it out of here alive. Wherever he may be inside the temple? Otherwise, there'd be no turquoise-eyed boy to haunt. Lindle tried his best to keep the coffin from rocking as Anvard got in as well. There was no sinking problem as he laid down. The coffin was like a mini-boat. Not an ocean liner, but definitely a big enough coffin for the both of them.

Just before they closed the lid up, Anvard wrapped his pinky finger around Lindle's. "Till death do us part!" They both forced uneasy smiles as they took one last gulp of fresh air, and sealed the lid up tight.

Chapter 25:.

What A Sight!

May 23, 1002 ~ Nightfall The waters that filled the lower levels of the temple came from the lake. Anvard and Lindle had yet to experience the full throttle after affects of the mountain that rose from deep down inside its depth. Their coffin didn't have enough air for that long, but enough to wait out the bulk of the flood. Once the mountain reached its apex, the waters would descend beneath it, clearing out the lower levels again. Still, the grand question was whether they'd want to be alive for the true spectacle of Sebastian's dark mind? His treacherous plans for the inst.i.tution, protected by an indestructible force field, weren't much more promising than running out of air inside a floating coffin.

The magnificent sight mystified students and staff of Aurora Boreal alike, as they watched from the Olympus Grounds and indeed every sector of the school. The submerged mountain that formerly kept the Shattered Temple locked inside the lake grew taller than any of the other Angora Mountains behind and in front of it. It rose from the waters clear into the night sky, and into the vantage points of, yes, everyone in Hyperborean.

Sena. Hendrix watched from her office, knowing the dreaded truth. Totally realizing that there was nothing she could do from this point on. Through a bowling ball sized crystal sphere on her desk, she looked on as the mountain smashed to bits the lingering portions of the Northern Coaster's track. From the center of the lake, it ascended to eventually loom over them all as it came to a slow, but steady halt.

The lower levels of the Shattered Temple drained, while Corinth felt himself steadily weakening. The transfer had already begun. Sebastian lied when he said it wouldn't hurt. They began the process that would rip the Nexus from his mind. He opened the Creative Window without a clue to what its purpose meant to the Worlds of old.

All the shards of gla.s.s that were plastered to the walls were torn from their positions. They now floated in midair all throughout the temple. They pa.s.sed through the walls and all objects, just like Corinth noted similar looking shards doing when his father took on the hand of fate weeks ago.

"Ahhhhh!!!" Corinth screamed from atop the altar. The leather straps kept him restrained as his back arced into a crescent, sending his body upward. He pulled vigorously with his arms, but they wouldn't budge. He cried and screamed as the final leg of the transfer began.

The traitor, Camil, or Lilith, read from a small book in her hand. On its front cover it said; The Secretist: Chains of Divinity. Quite a strange t.i.tle, and the words she uttered in Maledictus were even more curious.

"SEMINA PLANTASTIS NUNC RADICEM EIUS ACTIBUS PROFERET PRAEMIUM ET FRUCTUS".

She spoke of the seeds planted now taking root. She requested that the Creative Window bring forth the rewards and the fruits of these horrific deeds. If there were any balance for justice within the windows capacity, it would destroy Sebastian, and her too. But there is no such thing. The window will only bring into existence what was thought to be impossible. It will create a way for anything within its grasp to be made possible. Camil repeatedly yelled the phrase out while standing directly in front of the altar. Corinth laid there, drained of his energy. Sebastian to his left, bent on both knees with his eyes glowing a brighter blue than ever before. His arms were spread out from his chest, into the air, as he sucked in the Nexus. Ripping me clear from the mind of the turquoise-eyed bo- .

It's done. Finally, I can feel myself again. I barely had my eyes open while Sena. Lilith-well, Camil, read from that little book in her hands. Sebastian lied to me. It hurt, a lot. Hopefully, he wasn't lying when he said we could all go free. I hope his version of peace, is actually peaceful. I opened one eye to peek out at the two of them. Sebastian was still kneeling on the ground to my left. Camil still faced the window. She's saying something I can't pick up on. She's speaking in a much lower tone than I heard a minute ago. I have no idea where we go from here. They haven't motioned either of the Squadron drones next to my unconscious uncle to cut me loose. They just stood there like zombies. They don't even look like they're breathing. I hope Uncle Evan's okay, because I don't think I can carry a six-foot guy out of here all by myself. I wonder where Anvard and Lindle are? They could help for sure. I have no idea what to do. Now that they've got what they want, neither of them are paying me any attention whatsoever. It's risky, but after all that's happened, like the tunnel and the coaster ride, I think I can handle this.

"Hey...!" I tried to shout, but before I could get the whole sound out, someone covered my mouth with their musty hand.

"The less they think of you, the better," came an unwelcome voice. He put his head close to mine as he undid the straps of the altar. He used only one hand as he reached across to my left side. He still covered my mouth with the other. "Be still, and most certainly quiet," he whispered into my ear. He removed his hand and crept around the altar toward my feet. He undid the straps without Camil or worse, Sebastian, taking note. I rolled off the altar, and he led me cautiously toward the other smaller room behind the large cavern that housed the Creative Window. I grabbed him by the arm to motion him to stop.

"What about my uncle?" I asked in a childish tone. I felt like a kid again anyway, instead of some old soul who knew way too much about what made the world go round, so it's kind of fitting.

Walker looked back, though he couldn't actually see around the threshold that separated the two rooms. "I hate to say this, but Evan might have to be spared for now." With a sense of urgency, he rushed me through the dreadful thought of leaving my uncle for dead.

"I can't just leave him." I looked up at the man who most likely got me here in the first place. I can't imagine what he must be up to. But as much as I want to know, I'd much rather get away from Sebastian, but not without my uncle.

"You have to," he started up again."If they haven't destroyed him yet than they must want him around for some reason. He'll be fine," he tried to a.s.sure me.

"No!" was my immediate reb.u.t.tal. "They said we'd all be free, and safe, if we just submit. They'll let him go, they promised."

"And you believed them?" his tone struck me hard. "Corinth," he grabbed my shoulders, "they would have said anything to get the Nexus from you. Absolutely anything." I was surprised that he knew that term. Mostly, because he pretended that he didn't last we spoke at his Villa. I was fed up with all the snooping around. All the lies and mind games. I had to put an end to it.

"What's going on here?!" I couldn't help but yell. My emotion was boiling over. Walker shushed me. I tried to calm down, but it wasn't as easy as I would have hoped. "No! Tell me now. Why'd you try to kill me? I thought we were friends! Why should I even trust you right now?"

"Corinth, just because your ill-informed grandmother thinks I tried to harm you doesn't mean it's true. She thinks she knows it all, plain and simple, but what's going on here isn't the slightest bit simplistic, if you haven't already noticed."

"How'd you know she was my grandma?" I asked in a softer tone.

He straightened up, like his pride level went up a few notches. "I am The Well Read Walker, as well the school's senior Librarian. It's sort of my job to know things. But I digress, most ministrants already know this fact." With that, he pulled me by the arm and led me to the winding staircase. "Trust, Corinth ... is something one person earns from another. I think that I deserve the benefit of the doubt from you at this point. But I level with you fully-that the tainted fruit I fed you over these past months was for good reason."

He admitted it. He did poison me. But the look in his brown eyes said something more than the words he choked out of his throat. Walker hadn't been forthright with me since we met, but his sole interest right now is safety. That, at the very least, I could tell. I could just feel it in this very apparent way that struck me like it was the certain truth, not smoke and mirrors. But that doesn't make me anymore cooler with leaving my uncle behind. What if Sebastian is as treacherous as Walker believes? Than Uncle Evan is in huge trouble if -we don't rescue him now. "I'm sorry, but we can't just go. Where are Lindle and Anvard? They came too." I knew he had my best interest at heart, but I can't just walk away scot-free from this one.

"I'm absolutely certain they're both all right. Once the lower levels drain beneath the mountain, they'll find their way back up and out."

"You can't just say that! How?"

"Corinth, we don't have time for this!"

"That, you are right about. In fact, you're already too late," Sebastian projected himself, looking like an even more deranged and sinister fellow than usual. "Fiat Lux!" he shouted with his wand in his hand and pointed in our direction.

I immediately hit the deck, as the red burst of light sparked from the illuminated tip of his rigid black wand, but Walker didn't flinch. Not even a little bit. After a few seconds, I understood why. I looked up from the damp ground to see Walker standing tall, while the red light from Sebastian's spell crumbled. It fell to pieces on the outer perimeter of Walker's... force field. To see those golden lights around Walker and I flare up like that shocked me. I didn't even know Walker casted any spells. Then again, he didn't use a wand or llave, so he must be stacked with abilities I couldn't possibly dream up. Apparently, Sebastian didn't know either from the looks of it. His mouth hung open still, in a gaping gasp of confusion and frustration.

"Trickery, I'm sure," the old dude spat. "Polar tricks of some sort. I'll break that field without even trying," he seemed certain. But so did Walker. "Fiat Lux!" he shouted, using the same failed spell.

This time, I was a little more confident, so I didn't take cover. I actually stood up while the red beam of light turned to dust on the outside of the field.

"Ad Infinitum," whispered Walker. It was just like Sebastian had done to me when I still had that thing in my head and I tried to read deep into him. Sebastian must have tried to read Walker's mind, or worse, break it. That's good though, because it means Sebastian doesn't know much more how to use the Nexus than I did.

"Who are you?" Sebastian inquired while moving closer. I was wholly shocked they didn't already know each other. That made Walker seem like a lot less of a threat to me.

"Worry about yourself, old man. You can't control the Nexus anyway, so worry you should!" Walker mocked."It wasn't built for a mind like yours. It will turn you inside out. Destroy you right and ready before you nearly reach your end-goal of the night."

Sebastian's pale face went as red as a cherry. "You fool!" he was spitting angry. "There is nothing that will stop this. The Creative Window may not destroy things, but it will provide me with what I need to destroy this entire World . . . and you two imbeciles as well!" He looked at me, and his icy blue eyes flashed wildly. "Do it now, Camil!" He commanded her like a general commands troops. His tone seemed like it was meant for several people with the way he shouted out at her. Still, the only other people in either room were my uncle and the two stooge-like Squadron dummies standing near him. She took the order in stride, but some hints of trepidation in her body language screamed she was feeling otherwise.

"Of course," the traitor to Aurora Boreal chirped back to her master.

What I saw once she moved closer the Creative window shocked me, too. An Aurriculium board sprouted out of the ground like weeds that burst through old and cracked cement sidewalks. With the board came a horrific looking beast. The Tydrahn!

"Run!!!" Walker shouted, grabbing my arm, basically dragging me toward the spiral staircase we had been on our way toward since he freed me.

But it was already too late. Once the tiger-like dragon formed on the board, it opened its mouth wide and conjured an orb of light. It sent that sparking orb hurtling across the room, right into Walker's force field. The field exploded immediately and it sent both of us flying into the wide mouth of the winding staircase. Walker took most of the blast. His head hit the wall hard, and it left him unconscious. He rolled down the stairs a little farther than I did. I tried picking myself up to go to him, but my ankle was twisted backwards. It hurt bad and virtually immobilized me. I looked down to Walker lying on the first landing of the staircase, and I saw lots of blood coming from behind his head.

"Walker! Walker! Wake up!" Nothing got through. He wasn't even moving down there.

"Corinth ... Corinth! Where are you?" with that oddly placed accent, I'm sure that has to be Anvard yelling from what I a.s.sumed was the bottom of the stairs.

"Anvard, help!" I was shocked that neither Camil, Sebastian nor the ma.s.sive Tydrahn showed up yet to finish the job. Anvard and Lindle came charging up the stairs. They were soaking wet and out of breath. Anvard stopped a few steps in front of me and reached out for my hand.

"Come on, we need to get out of here," traces of that strange accent crept into his speech sometimes. Couldn't understand why his sisters sounded so different. Before, it annoyed me. But now it is the settling sound of comfort "I can't," I said in a defeated tone.

"Look, Corinth, no more of this obsession, this is too real now!" He was obviously angry with me for bringing them here. I'm angry with myself for coming. I should have known on my own that Sebastian couldn't be trusted. He looked back to an unconscious Walker as he picked up speaking again. "The adults can handle themselves. Walker, your uncle, and anyone else! But we've got to go. We have no way to defend ourselves without our llaves. We're just sitting ducks now." He kept reaching for my hand, so I grabbed at his. He pulled me up and I immediately collapsed back onto the damp ground.

"What's wrong?" asked Lindle.

"The Tydrahn, it's . . ."

"The what!" Lindle shouted. "Exactly what the heck has been going on since we were in the lake?"