Free Original Souls (A World Apart #1) by Kyle Thomas Miller

pain the only phrase left I could think of to get me through. The converging walls crushed my fingers as I shouted.
     
    "Insert key . . . please!!!!!"

Chapter 3:
The Crumbling Walls
    March 26, 1002 ~ Nightfall
     
     
    "Wow!" is the only thing I could think to say after the portal sucked me through. I was saved from a bitter fate of living without my fingers. This day, I deem fingers a necessity for getting through life. I don't think I could have managed without them. They burn now, as the blood dries from my debatably insignificant wounds. But-at least I still had them. I ca n’ t imagine how people get around without certain limbs. I need my legs, arms, hands and yes, fingers.
     
    Julia really knew her stuff. It was all in the pudding from the start. She didn't miss a beat. I can't believe I was stupid enough to question the audio and video examples.
     
    This is my first look at what Julia's plan entailed. Apparently, she didn't think this all the way through. There isn't much here in this so called paradise. Just a beach looking house a few yards away from a beautiful shoreline. The sunset looked just like the sunrise I witnessed a moment ago on the Puente del Cielo. I guess the time frames from her World to the next were a little different. It's not surprising at all really. All the Worlds have different time frames. It's got something to do with the original time of day they were created. Julia created Corinthia at close to sunset on the Puente del Cielo yesterday. When the sun rises on the bridge, then it will be setting in Corinthia and vice versa. A beautiful site, this twilight. The sky's orange and gold hues reflected off the white shutters of the beach house and made this place look perfectly serene. I guess there is some magik here after all. I felt right at home.
     
    Julia stepped through a white porch door with a gray netted screen at its top center. She was wearing a turquoise sun dress that fluttered in the ocean breeze. The dress was nearly the same color as Corinth's eyes. The mix between my Draconian heritage and Julia's La Envidia heritage was to thank for that. Her brown hair was down, and it too was flying around in the wind. A sweet and natural beauty. This was a surprise to me when I first met her. Her people aren't exactly known for being easy going or friendly. She had her moments, but for the most part, I think she's put most of that stereotype to rest.
     
    "You're late!" Julia shouted down to me, with a smile, from the wooden porch. The sea winds muffled her voice. She spoke up as much as she could. "Come in off the beach, someone's been dying to see you."
     
    I walked over and as I lifted my leg, putting a dusty black boot on the first white painted wooden step, a bolt of lightning burst out of the door! It flew down the steps and into my arms. It knocked me clear back off the stairs and sent me falling on my back into the sandy beach beneath me. This lightning bolt, or at least what I thought to be lightning, sparked an excited fire in me the likes of which I haven't felt in years.
     
    "Corinth!" I yelled with a huge smile. "You've grown so much!" I could n’ t help but shed a few tears. I lifted my now twelve-year-old son into the air and spun him around like a windmill. Corinth was always so short for his age, but his shape seemed a little more elongated as I hugged him tight. "This is the greatest day of my life," I said to him with a kid's joy in my voice.
     
    But he didn't say anything back at first. Not a word. I put him down. Tried to give him a little breathing room, considering h e’ s two years older than the ten year boy I hugged that horrid last night I saw him. He's old enough to carry himself, I suppose.He looked up into my eyes, squinted his own, and then asked a question . . . without moving his lips. I could finally hear that tender voice with the slight stutter again. It asked me ;“ wha t’ s wrong with me, dad ? ” I looked up to Julia as I put my hands on