Pure Souls (book 1) : Light Withering Away

K

Cory's P.O.V

Now what chance did I have with Shelby? She was with Jess... and she was happy. The two walked hand-in-hand down the forest path. "Cheer up, bud," Max whispered.

I sighed. "It's just... I thought that I was going to be with Shelby," I mumbled.

"You'll find someone else."

"But she was the one! I loved her."

Max bit his lip. I rolled my eyes and looked away. After an uneventful couple of hours, we reached an opening. Walking across it lead to massive gates, and a city was inside. It was bustling with all sorts of people, and the vibes felt pretty nice compared to the tall black spikey gates. Suddenly a girl ran over and knocked Shelby off her feet. "You can't go in there!" the girl exclaimed.

"What? Why?" Shelby asked, sitting up.

"It's dangerous. The people in there will kill you."

"I'd like to see them try."

Jess pulled Shelby off the ground, but a boy ran in and knocked her over again. "Ah frick my elbow. AhhHhhhHHhhhHHHHHHH!!" Shelby shouted. "I got a boo boo."

"That's okay sweetie, we'll fix it," Jess said. Lauren suddenly had a bandaid in her hand and she put it over Shelby's bleeding elbow. Max and I stared at them, confused as to what the heck that interaction was. Another girl ran in, aggressively pushing the other two strangers away. "Sorry about them!" she said. "Nothing's going to ha- TRAITOR!!"

We looked through the gate to see a boy with messy brown hair and glasses standing with a worried expression on his face. "Get away from them!" he demanded.

"Like we'd listen to a traitor like you," the boy who pushed Shelby said.

"Leave. Them. Be."

"We can't let them go with you! We will take you away."

"No... you... WON'T!!" Leaves and sticks began shaking on the ground nearby, and the boy on the  other side of the gate's eyes turned solid green. He lifted is arms and pointed at the three other strangers, and the leaves and sticks dove towards them, an intent on scratching them. The three strangers scurried away, and the other boy returned to normal. The gates opened, and he walked through, a grin on his face. He went over to Shelby. Max slowly went over, holding his arm out in front of Shelby protectively. "Shelby... Max... it's been so long."

Max's eyes widened and Shelby had tears of joy in her eyes. The three hugged each other. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh ROSS!!" Shelby exclaimed.

Max kissed Ross on the cheek. Ross smiled and kissed him back. "I've been looking for you for so long..." Ross smiled.

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Lauren stepped closer to Ross, "but my name's Lauren. And I hope you don't mind me asking... why were those people calling you a traitor?"

"Hold up. Are you... you look familiar."

"I..." Lauren cocked her head.

Ross sighed. He frowned and sat down on the grass. We all sat in a circle. "I'll tell you the whole story after introductions," he said.

"Oh! I'm Jess, hi, yes I'm Jess, and I am... um... w-well..." Jess stuttered. She looked at Shelby with a red face. Shelby put an arm around her and pecked her on the cheek. "Jess is my girlfriend," she finished.

"Really?!"

"Yep. Mkay um let's move on."

"Great idea."

"Well I'm Cory... I... write stuff. That's it," I said.

"Oh okay that's cool," Ross said. "Now, about those other people..."

NARRATED BY ROSS (yay)

Mkay so... let's start from the beginning. I was sad when Shelby and Max disappeared without a trace. I wanted to stay determined to look for them, but after a month or so, I gave up. One day, a strange... well, I dunno what it was so we'll call it a mar... marsupial. Good enough. It came and knocked on my door. "We can help," it said.

"Who is 'we'?" I asked.

"The EAPE. We can help you find who you are looking for."

Being clouded by my sadness, I agreed. I had no idea what the organisation was about at first. I only worked as... actually I don't remember. But I found out that they were an evil organisation. And they were looking to harm and create chaos. So I escaped. I snuck away. And that's when I discovered I had nature powers. I can control weather, although that takes a lot of energy. I can talk to animals. I can control plants 'n' stuff like that, as you saw I moved the leaves and sticks. Since then I've been living a normal life. And the EAPE haven't even tried coming back for me.

Ross sighed. "Do you know who the leader of the EAPE was? Their identity is... anonymous to outsiders. A spell. But, if you could tell us..." Lauren looked at Ross expectantly.

"Hm... I can just remember his name. I'm pretty sure his name was Jack?"