Chapter 3: Every Discovery Starts with a Search
"Where are we going?" Sydney asked as he tried to keep up with the elder's swift pace. As they walked through the expanse, it didn't seem like they were even moving once Sydney finally caught up. It seemed impossible how anyone could get used to being in a space like this.
"You said you wanted something great, didn't you?" The old man's voice echoed throughout the expanse.
"Yea, but, why won't you answer my questions?"
"Fine," the elder said as he finally stopped. "You're training for your role as a guardian of truth will entail two things. First, you must learn how to harness the sleeping powers with in you. More importantly though, is to learn to see things clearly so you know when to use your powers."
Sydney wondered what powers he was talking about. He wasn't anything special, right? However, where he was standing suggested otherwise. If there was something special about him, he wanted to learn what it was. "Master, how do I learn these things?"
"Before you can see the truth of the worlds, you must learn to know the truth about yourself."
This wasn't going to be a journey like anything he could imagine, but in his heart, Sydney knew it would be worthwhile. "Show me then."
Sydney was standing in a room that seemed so familiar to him. The purple carpet below him brought out so many old memories. He looked to the bed where he had slept for so many years, and saw a young child in it. It wasn't possible. The boy had is face in the pillow despite the fact the sun was shining into the room.
Sydney bent down and saw a small pool of liquid on the pillow. "What's wrong?" he asked and tried placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. To his surprise though, his hand went through, as if he was a ghost.
"These are merely shadows of the past Sydney," the elder's omnipresent voice filled the room, "You are here to watch and learn, nothing more."
"Sydney, are you okay?" a feminine voice said as the doorknob slowly turned.
"Mom…" the teen said.
"Go away," the younger Sydney said, trying to bury himself further in the covers.
"You know I can't do that, she said gently sitting on the bed and stroking the young boy's hair.
"Why can't I go with Seth and Jessica?"
"This is their special trip with Dad. Your big sister is going to the state wide band competition and your brother is going to be in the football finals."
Sydney thought back to these moments he was seeing played out right in front of him. He remembered how devastated he was when his older siblings got to go off to Indianapolis with his dad while he had to stay at home with his mom. He got over it when they came back though.
"They've worked hard to earn this trip. Maybe in two years when you start high school you can do something like that too."
"Okay mom, I promise I'll find something and be the best at it."
"I'm counting on it."
"But it didn't matter what I did," Sydney said looking down toward the floor, fists clenched and tears flowing down his face. "I could never live up to the great legacy of my brother, the sports star who got all the girls or my sister, the valedictorian and greatest trumpet player the school has ever known."
"And that has destroyed you from the inside out," the elder said as he mysteriously appeared in the room.
"What do you mean? Sure I can be jealous sometime, but I hardly ever think about it."
"It's so buried into your heart that you don't have to think about it for it to affect everything that you do."
Sydney tried to process what the elder was saying, but it didn't make any sense to him. How could there be something so deep in him that he didn't know about it? If anyone but this mysterious old man told it to him, it would have been quickly dismissed, but the elder seemed to know him better than he knew himself.
"Come, there is something else you need to see," the elder said as the room he was in faded into the bright white area from before.
"What?" Sydney asked, fearful of what else the elder would have in store for him.
Suddenly, the silent expanse was replaced with the sound of many voices. Where nothing but an infinite expanse of white was, now there were many teens talking amongst themselves, who were eating the supposed food the school served them.
"Do you recognize this place?"
"Yea, this is the school cafeteria. Which reminds me, shouldn't I be getting hungry?"
"When the spirit is separated from the body, you no longer need the things of your human life."
"So, does that mean you are a sprit too?"
"No," the elder said shaking his head, "I, along with the rest of the guardians, are all psychical beings similar to you. When you went into the coma, we were able to separate your spirit from the body. It is much easier for a new guardian to undergo the training in spirit form that his true form."
"I'm confused," Sydney said, completely lost at the talk of the body, spirit and soul.
"That part is unimportant now," the elder said walking to the side of the room, "However, what you are about to see is the moment that changed your life."
Sydney looked ahead and saw two people he was very familiar with. One had short brown hair and blue eyes, the same as the one he saw in the mirror everyday, and the other one was an Asian with longer black hair and black eyes.
"Get off of me," Noah said as he shoved one of the other people into a wall. "Never touch me again or else!"
"You can't hurt them like that," the younger Sydney said, running at Noah. His fist nearly connected with the Asian's face, but he ducked to dodge it. Noah slammed his elbow into his stomach before slamming his fist against Sydney's face, knocking him to the ground.
"Try that again and it won't be my fault if you die," Noah said as he walked away.
"Say that to my face," Sydney said as he slowly got up.
"You're not worth my time."
"Now do you see?" the elder asked, as Sydney watched the familiar events unfold in front of him.
"Yea, Noah doesn't care about anyone and needs to have the snot kicked out of him."
"You see only part of the story. What if you had arrived even one minuet earlier," the elder said and once again, the scene faded away, only to be replaced by the same people, except the younger Sydney wasn't there.
"So how'd you do on that test?" Josh said ripping a paper out of Noah's hand.
"Just give it back Josh," Noah said reaching for it, but it was pulled out of reach.
"What, only a 98, what happened to your Asian super power of knowing everything."
"Shut up."
"Don't worry," the other one said putting his hand on Noah's shoulder, "I'm sure you won't miss any next time."
"Let go of me."
"Or what, you're going to go cry to mommy?"
"Get off of me!" Noah yelled as he shoved the person into the nearest wall. The younger Sydney had just appeared, seeing what Noah did, but nothing more. "Never touch me again or else!"
The older Sydney stood their as the images froze. He couldn't believe it; that was the first time he had met Noah. Instantly he had hated him, but had all that been based on nothing? He thought about all the other things Noah had done, but maybe they weren't as bad as he thought. "It can't be," Sydney thought aloud.
"Come, there is more about Noah you must see," the elder said as the scene once again changed.
_
And… cliffhanger!
I'm really trying to make the characters deep here, showing Sydney's and Noah's pasts. Unlike most of my stories, I'm focusing more on the characters than the plot, but this is going somewhere, I promise. I'm presently surprised at the amount of support this is getting, so I hope to update somewhat frequently.
