The Chosen: the Age of Corbin Tyler the Undying

Chapter 7

"Trade center?" I echoed. This place hardly resembled a trade center of any kind. I was sure that at some point it had been a quaint town. Possibly bustling and busy, but as it was right now, it was nothing but ruins and empty shells of houses and shops and buildings. 

"It was once beautiful," Tritan told me wistfully. "Its populace full of life and laughter. But now, that has long since deteriorated to what you see before you. There are only four residents of this town now."

"You said it was once a trade center for the Thirteen Cities," I said. "What Thirteen Cities?"

"The Thirteen Interdimensional Capitals. This town is older than all of them, it has been around since the Pre-Originate. Before the Originate Ages began, it was the center of power as trade was what made a city powerful. It was also the center of research. Two genius scientists named Unum and Induo lived here and conducted their research here." He shook his head. "Truly a pair geniuses."

"What did they study?"

He side-eyed me. "We are getting off topic, but I would be happy to tell you more about them later on. They are, after all, the fathers of our understanding of the Rift."

I nodded. 

He started down the ruin strewn road. "My family has been the leading family of this town for generations. My manor is the only structure still standing and it is there that two of the four residents reside. You will meet them shortly."

"Who are the other two?"

"One of them is me," Tritan said. "The other is lurking around in the ruins somewhere, but don't worry about him, he tends to avoid everyone rather than risk interaction."

"What is his name?"

"An excellent question," he told me. "No one knows, I doubt he does either."

I said nothing, choosing instead to examine the wreckage on the road. Carriages, stalls, wooden tables, all destroyed and slowly rotting. But not rotting like I had ever seen. It looked like small particles rising off of the wood and spreading out and disappearing. 

We went along the road, eventually coming to a square. To my right was a church, a Gothic Style Cathedral. Beautiful, but fallen to disrepair like everything else. 

To my left was another road that looked like a continuation of what I had passed. But directly in front of me was a bridge that crossed a river. The bridge was cobblestone. At the end of bridge railings, at the top of the posts sat square lanterns that were still lit. On the fronts of them were plaques bearing the same Celtic Knot Crest that Tritan wore around his neck. 

At the other end of the bridge was a cobblestone path through the woods. The woods appeared manicured and groomed, not wild. 

Tritan continued to the bridge, and we crossed it. I looked at the trees each one was old. Its bark blacker than the night around us. 

We came out of the woods, and I looked up at the massive house in front of me. It was three stories tall. And, oh maybe six hundred feet long. I couldn't tell how far back it went, but attached to the side of the manor, way down to my right, was a tower. It was twice the height of the manor itself. 

The entire structure shared the same exterior look: stone blocks with a black slate roof. 

Tritan hopped onto my shoulders and motioned for me to open the set of huge oak doors. 

I turned the handle and pushed them open. I was expecting to see more dark colors, dusty floors, and cobweb infested corners. 

I was not expecting to find perfectly cleaned floors, a bright red carpet running from the front doors, up the stairs on the other end of the room and out of sight, a flat screen tv to my left, or a billiard table to my right. 

To my left, in front of the 70-inch flat screen tv mounted on the wall was a set of living room furniture. All the kind of 70's Italian leather furniture. Two couches, a loveseat, a single chair, and a few end-tables. To my right was the billiard table, as mentioned before. The sticks, balls, and other instruments for gameplay were mounted on the wall. There was also a mini fridge beside it with a glass door revealing bottles of soda. 

Behind the staircase, it looked like there were more rooms, but I could not see what they were. On either side of the massive entrance room were hallways that I was assuming led to other bedrooms and such. 

The second and third floors were balconies, but aside from that, I couldn't tell what else was up there. 

There were three women sitting in the living room. The oldest looked to be in her mid to late forties while the other two were really my age, not women. But you know, whatever. 

The oldest had graying hair tied back in a ponytail with green eyes. Her face was kind, but her hands told the tale of a seasoned warrior. 

The one sitting on the couch next to her had green eyes as well and overall looked about the same. Just younger. Her hair was gray, but I could tell it was a dye. She had her hair done in a braid as well marking her as slightly different. 

The third was sitting in the loveseat by herself. She had brown hair, tied back in a ponytail and it was perhaps the longest hair I had ever seen. Her eyes were a bright pink that I didn't know could exist. She was reading a book, but I couldn't see the title. 

I won't lie, she took my breath away. 

They all turned to look at us when we stepped into the room. 

"My my," the oldest one said. "What have you brought to us?"

Tritan hopped off my shoulders and into the lap of the girl who was sitting by herself. 

"The Chosen," Tritan said casually, turning into a loaf on the girls legs, she didn't even react. "An exceptional one at that."

"Why do you say that?" The woman said. 

"First introduce yourselves," Tritan said with a nod. 

The woman turned to me and smiled. "My name is Katrina Furlong," she told me.

The girl next to her looked at me. "I'm Rebecca. I'm her daughter." She pointed at the older woman. 

I looked at the girl on the loveseat, she finally put her book down and looked at me. "I'm Alexa," she said dryly. "Rebecca's my cousin, and Katrina's my aunt."

"My name is Corbin Tyler," I stated. "Apparently I'm the Chosen."

In that moment, I felt strange on the inside. Like something had just gotten etched into history forever. And like my future was going to be anything but normal.