Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (63 page)

In the quiet of
his mind Connor
knew that there were a total of thirty eight Immortal Guards that had come
so far
.

Just before midday Veronica and Shannon stepped out of the Elder Keeper C
abin and made her way over to the rest of her friends
. She happily told
them
that not a single person has fled
and everyone will fight for the
cause.

At noon the atmosphere changed
.

The cabin for the Elder Keepers opened and every Elder filed out
,
one at a time, being led by Sorono. Every one of them wore
their
elder’s robe. The way he moved alerted
Connor’s
senses that he
i
s on a mission. He had something on his mind
that weighed heavily
.
Connor
stood up from the bench as did everyone around
them
. Even the entire open space had silenced. The only sounds that were heard came from the Elder Keepers as they made straight for the arena floor.

Each and every Elder made an easy step up onto the stage while moving in a fluid
line
, practiced over many centuries
. Once Sorono stopped in the center, the other E
lders moved to different squares
and just stood there
patiently
. Connor
faintly heard Elder Ade
la say “What are they up to now?
” He
also glanced at Veronica for some clues and she looked as perplexed as everyone else.

The silence had become annoying until
he
felt the sensation of Sorono’s mind
reaching in every direction
. He stood tall and proud in front of everyone. He would then begin moving around to see all who were present while making sure his long tail maintained balance.
“First, let me start by giving my sincere gratitude for everyone who is willing to fight in the name of justice and peace. It fills my heart to know that you believe in what we are doing.”
Sorono finally met
Connor’s
stare head on and stopped. Only then did
he
put the pieces together.
He
knew exactly what h
is elder sibling
wanted.
Connor
smiled and then he did.
“Now I know you are wondering what kinds of
preparations
we have
to make
.
You…”

While he continued speaking
,
Connor
kissed Sarah atop her head
,
to gain her attention
.
S
he looked at
him
confused and then she
entered
his mind. Her eyes widened and he
thought back
“Do not worry. Everyone needs to understand this. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She didn’t honestly mean what she thought.
“Be careful.”
What she really wanted to call
him was an
idiot, but she knew that this must be done.

He
then moved away without making a sound
. Some people spotted his
movement, but didn’t pay attention.
He
rounded a few tables and began walking toward the stage. As
he
jumped onto the stage while Sorono spo
ke, everyone
began
watching him
advance to center stage.

“…time is our enemy and we need to teach you how to properly defend yourselves.”
Then Sorono
stopped talking as he saw that Connor
now stood twent
y feet away from him. He held his
stare, but spoke to everyone.
“As you are well aware, Connor and I are very strong.
To say anything on the contrary would be ignorant
and foolish
on your part. Not one of you have seen or even conceived of the strength that we possess. What we are about to demonstrate is how dangerous it would be for anyone to fight a Harmonizer head on!”
Sorono then grinned.
“Are you ready, Little Brother?”

Connor
raised
a
hand
to halt for a moment
.
“Hold on. M
aybe we should show them that we won
’
t be using any tricks.”
Sorono blinked in confusion until he
began taking off
his
shirt. Then he understood.

Sorono
withdrew his arms from the sleeves
of
his robe as
Connor
tossed
his
shirt
off to the side. They
had to show everyone that
they
were unarmed and didn’t wear any protective plating. Soon his chest
stood
bare as
his brother’s
and he tied the sleeves of his robe around his waist.
Once it
became
secure he took a few steps back and took his battle stance.

It was then that
Connor
knew
his
a
bilities would be pushed to the
limit.

Rigid and Fluid

Before everyone,
and especially
Connor
,
stood an ancient veteran
warrior. Sorono was the ultimate opponent that stood atop the entire world. Unfortunately and fortunately
Connor
stood as his opponent.

Sorono’s battle stance was unique to his species, but still held a humanistic resemblance. He
became
slightly hunched forward which made the shadows over his enormous muscl
es look unnerving to everyone, Connor
included. He had shaken off
the top half of his robe, like Connor
did, so everyone could see that
they
were unarmed in the defensive sense.
Sorono’s
long and highly developed arms were close to his side while he bent his elbows to resemble a pro boxer’s stance.
Sorono
didn’t have his fingers extended like he usually would
in a fight
because this sparing session was a demonstration and not
like a
life or death
match
. Each of his sharp back claws w
ere
tucked inside the palm of his hand while his thumb securely held the tops of his
three
fingers. He had balled his hands into a
large and
tight three finger
ed
fist. He might have had only three fingers and a thumb, b
u
t
the size of
the reptilian
fist was much larger than
a person’s
entire head. His large legs and
clawed
feet were crouched
down
,
preparing for an instantaneous dash
forward
. His toe claws were actually gouging into the stone platform so that he could use the added friction from the ground
to propel himself forward
. Then there was his long, thick and whip-like tail. It swayed to and fro with a slow pace, but it was doing more than keeping his
balance. It
would be used
both a
s a
weapon and a distraction for
any
opponent. Then there were his
unwavering
eyes. Sorono focused on
ly
one target and all of his senses were
geared towards that one
purpose
…Connor
.
B
ut he was
n’t going for the kill. He
wanted an honest and straight forward battle, but he was only going for the win
nonetheless
.

Seeing this other side of Sorono sent a visible chill up
Connor’s
spine and through
out
his body. When his
body gave the slightest of tremors, Sorono noticed it and didn’t gloat. That sent
Connor’s
heartb
eat racing even more and sent his
instinct into overdrive. It
began
warning
him
that if
he didn’t use everything he
had, the simplest of mistakes
could and
would be the end of his
existence.

Suddenly ther
e
came
a moment of clarity when he
realize
d this. In the deepest part of his
core something new began to flow through
his veins. He still remained
fear
ful
, but this
feeling
was something
he’s
never experienced. It was a feeling of an honest challenge.
He’s
always been strong
er than anyone
and after gaining all of
his latent
powers
he’s
never once found a worthy opponent of
his
talents. This new se
nsation had done something to him,
just as the fear had done.

The fear
he
felt
sharpened his
senses to a raz
ors edge while also making his
thoughts increase in s
peed so that everything around him
seemed to slow down
to a crawl
. This new sensation had become both a twin to the fear while also doing the opposite. This feeling supported
his
body
talents
while also relaxing
them. He
felt in complete control over everything
his
body
could be
capable of.

While this was all happening inside
his body, his
eyes remained locked on Sorono. Apparently he could either see or his instinct told him of this change
. His large
r
hazel eyes widened and he too shudde
red. Connor
realized then that h
e just felt the same fear that he
just did. Another tell he had was that his tail had ceased to move as a distraction.

Connor
took a deep breath and slo
wly released it and it brought his
focus even sharper than it
had been
a tenth of a second ago.

Connor’s
stance widened as
his
boots slid
smoothly across the platform. His
knees bent and each of
his
leg muscles
bunched for an explosive move. He
dropped
his
arms to
the
side
s
and balled
his
fist so tightly that t
hey were screaming for action. He
dropped
his
head and shoulders slightly while keeping
the
target in
sight. As it
i
s,
Connor
too was going for the win. Unfortunately
he
was unable to tell if this battle would be over
with
in a moment
,
an hour
or a week
.

It didn’t matter because
he
wanted
this.

Nothing was the initial trigger, but
they
moved almost as one. Together their
legs released the explosive pressure that they were under.

During
the blinding
dash
Connor’s
powerful brain instantly realized several key things about Sorono. Because of his enormous size he must weight somewhere between three and a half to four thousand pounds, but that was only half of the
realiziation
. Because of
the greater
size and weight he shouldn’t be able to instantly break the sound barrier within five feet of his dash, but
it
could
be
see
n
clearly. It looked like an explosive mist pulling apart all over his entire body.