Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (104 page)

Being the
grandparents of
Connor
,
David’s
metal working gained quick recognition and
Rhoda
was being constantly interviewed. Unfortunately
,
being in the spotlight didn’t make her rethink her clothing style. Even after all this she was as eccentric and
personable as ever before.

Kara’s paintings were still
as
breathtaking as ever, but as an interviewed immortal herself, her paintings ha
s
gone to world class status
nearly
overnight
. She sold five paintings and received close to two million for each. Luckily her personality didn’t inflate any more than usual.
It couldn’t grow anymore.

The
in-laws were quick to get back to doing what they normally did. The only difference
i
s that their customers had tripled.
Jack opened a second shop while Jillian had to hire help so that she could make her customer’s deadlines

Even Connor’s business boomed once he
restarted teaching survival lessons.
He
used to
average
about ten or so customers
per weekend
, but now
he’s
dealing with a minimum of fifty. If it weren’t for Mark’s unwavering dependability it would be difficult
. Even the
original customers
,
who remained loyal
and weren’t terrified
,
helped
Connor
out when
he
was needed in more than one spot at a given moment.
Once he
had
the interview with Jim he saw Connor
remained
the
exact
same person and he continued bringing his family to the seminars. Tyler and Billy were always
the
big
gest helpers, especially after Connor
took them flying with
him
.
Jim’s reputation and skills as a reporter gained more notice after meeting Connor and became the primary interviewer
for the May and Branderson families.

Sarah was the only one who didn’t do too much. She
decided to
tak
e
time off from teaching as the
kids needed a full time parent who didn’t want to be around a crowd for too long or being in the spotlight herself. When
they
did go out as a family
they
’d only take off when she’d nervously be
gin biting her bottom lip, if they
ever got surrounded.

T
he remarkable changes
in the
children
were spectacular these two years
. Both of them are now walking upright and looking about a year old themselves
. Their physical shapes aren’t round like most babies, but early pubescent would be more accurate
.
They take much of their features from their mother, but they will
one day
gro
w larger than Sarah,
reaching c
lose to their dad’s
height in a few decades.
They have both began to teethe and
l
ove to eat just about anything they can get their little hands on.
They are both potty trained, but it didn’t take them any time to figure out how to
take
command their bodily functions. They can both pick out their wardrobe and put on their own clothes.
Pearl has grown her hair out into long ringlets whereas Darrel likes to keep his light brown hair somewhat short, like his dad.
Their strength is stronger than most infants, but no more than a toddler
’
s. Their mental range has grown, but not by a
ny
significant amount
, maybe a meter or two
. They prefer to speak to others by
telepathy, but are able to speak
eight languages
fluently by mouth as well.

On their anniversary both Connor and Sarah
went away to spend time together and left the twins in the care of Kara and Mark. While they were away a shadow group of the government hired mercenaries
with the latest technology and weaponry
to kidnap both Darrel and Pearl for experimentation since they found out an adult immortal
to be far
too powerful to control. They didn’t dare attack Connor or his wife and thought an opportunity has arisen to take out the babysitters and spirit the children away.

All the elite mercenaries didn’t count on one fact, a very angry Aunt Kara. She killed all but the leader when she caught the scent of
men and gunpowder
coming from the woods behind her home.

Hearing about the incident t
he President surprised
them two days later
with a personal visit
and came up with a proposition. While his
grown
children played with the twins he spoke of ferreting out all of those within the government who uses deceit and the shadows to harm decent folk and use their
power to further their greed
by oppression
.
The President, along with consent from the Elders came up with a plan to scan the minds of all upper political and military personnel. It was voluntary, but those who declined the scan were asked to resign. To prove he was no exception the President himself
agreed to be
scanned and proven that his motives and ethics were focused on helping his fellow man and not for his own gain
like most political tools
.

The plan proved so effective that other powerful and minor governments requested to have their staff and those in power scanned. Nearly forty percent
out of all of upper governmental control were
tested
and
fired or resigned and honorable people were chosen or elected to take their place. The result was so significant
and suc
c
essful
that nearly seventy percent of warring conflict
in the world
came to an abrupt end, without shedding a drop of blood.

A year later the president returned with better news, but first he came to
greet the twins without an ulterior
motive.
He had brought his entire family to meet
again
. After a
nother
brief introduction
,
he became entranced by
the twin
children. His favorite word for them was
special
. During his stay
with
the May’s
that day
he explained how many of the buildings and streets were
officially
repaired thanks to the joint
efforts
between the immortals and mortals working together
for a common purpose
. Then he explaine
d about the United Nations Summi
t
.

Just before he left
,
he took
Connor
off to the side to explain the reports that he received. Between D.C., Los Angelis and New York City
,
just under t
hree
thousand humans in total were killed during the assault. Of the Changer’s, fifteen hundred were counted among the dead
and
were
handled
carefully
by Hasmat so that the blood virus didn’t cause harm, even if it became harmless
after being
shed
. The Balancers lost seventeen hundred and the Keepers on
their
side were around five thousand. They were heavy numbers
as a whole
, but they could have been much worse if certain events had gone in any other way.

Apparently Sorono has stayed
behind
and helped both financially and physically in the reparation of the damaged cities. He and the
other
E
lders worked together
so that they could prove that they were around to help.
Connor
asked to help them out
once
, but Sorono was adamant that only the
E
lders should do the work.
Connor understood
exactly why they were doing it and it wasn’t strictly for rebuilding trust
with the exposed world
.
He was showing, subtly, that the Elders worked together as a unit
and
just as hard as anyone else. Th
ey were showing how balanced the
world really is.

“Daddy?”
His
attention
returned to the present
as Pearl began tugging on
his pant
leg.

He
dropped down to say “What is it, Baby Girl?”

She smiled and her hazel and green eyes twinkled as she said
“Daddy, is it true that once this day is done we can go wherever we wish
in the world
and
be accepted with open arms?”

“That they will. The humans realize they won’t live as long as we will and they
want us to be as helpful to
them
so that they
might
be remembered later
,
in time. They want to give a good impression
so they too can achieve a semblance of immortality. A
nd this just is the start of the mortal and immortal alliance. This will be a good day
, so don’t start worrying like Mommy
.” She then giggled as he
rubbed the top of her head.

“That this will.”

They
all turned to a strong
mental voice and Darrel was the first to say
aloud
“Uncle Sorono! It has been a long time.”

Sorono chuckled and dropped to a knee.
“It has been a long time
, nephew. Come closer so that I can see how much you’ve gown.”

“They are walking
now
. Even I can tell how much they’ve developed.”
Veronica said, walking up behind her mate with Shannon keeping up.

Pearl the
n
squealed “Shannon!”

Sarah came up to Connor’s
side as Pearl ran over and wrapped her
spindly
arms aroun
d Shannon’s leg. Once she released her grasp,
Shannon was careful to wrap her arms around Pearl’s body and picked her up.
“It is good to see you as well, Pearl.”

Not long after
,
Sarah’s parents found
the
m
as
did
his
sister and Mark
.
Kara
and Mark were both in their Fwen forms because it helped the humans distinguish between Balancers and Changers. It only helped
the humans,
even though all they had to
understand
i
s that a
ll
Changer’s eyes were always the
same
color of liquid silver.

After everyone finally came
back
together
after t
wo
long
year
s
, there
came
a trumpet that had been sounded. As the crowd quieted
,
a man with a bullhorn stated “Welcome ancient ones. We are
all
thankful for your
timely
arrival
and have made preparations and accommodations per your Elders requests
. Please follow me inside for the gathered world leaders. Once there you will
receive
your unique badges and papers for your entry anywhere around the world.” The bullhorn clicked and he turned around.

“Darrel, Pearl, come over here.
I don’t want you to get separated from us in this crowd.
” Sarah said in a
n
elegant tone
and then she smiled motherly
.

They both left their friends and
came over and
Sarah and
Connor
scooped up a kid and began following the crowd.
Darrel situated himself on his dad’s left shoulder
for a better view.

The wind
Continued
whipping all of the
different
nation
al
flags that lined the entranc
e to the United Nations building. Crowds of reporters and TV stations were present and recording everything.
Many
walked around the flagpoles and began entering the main building with everyone else.