Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (24 page)

He
quickly rolled the scroll back up when Sarah said “Connor, let
’
s get our rooms and then
go and
get something to eat.”

“Sounds like a plan, Princess.”
Connor
put the scroll in
his
pack and said “I wonder if they have any apples?”

“
They’d
better!” Sarah said and everyone laughed as
they
continued walking down the shaft.

Sarah felt
excited about this meeting.
They
walked down a long tunnel
,
which made everything
seem
so very dramatic
and mysterious
.
They
all walked side by side down the wide tunnel
while passing
a flame lit
torch after torch
, casting amazing shadows
. Connor took the end with
her
to his right.
Jillian
walked to
her
right and looked
excited.
Jack
held a faint, but playful smile. Kara’s silver eyes were bouncing all over the place, but Mark
seemed
very calm as he walked.
Connor’s walk was
pure
precis
ion
and his predatory hazel eyes took everything in.

At the end of the tunnel
they
could all see bright lights. It was odd because
she’s
never been to a meeting with this level of brightnes
s
before
. Sarah
looked to
her
right and from the look of
her
parents, they noticed the change too.

The six of
them
entered the first level of the mountain
and st
opped to see what lay before their
eyes
.
The temperature in the room was so very comfortable
,
compared to the outside
frigid conditions
. It was the perfect temperature for
her which was a shock because Sarah
thought that the mountain would be chilly. The room was cut into a large
rectangle
as were the wa
lls that came up to about
forty
to fifty
feet. The ceiling above
them
was a square
d
dome and it reminded
her
of the birthday present Connor made for
her
. The only differences between the two were that this room was at least a
thousand
times larger and the walls weren’t melted into glass
that sparkled
.
S
even
large
circular
support beams
,
made of stone
,
allowed the room to be secu
re. Each beam was the size of their
cottage and were all placed strategically within the enormous room. Three lined each side of the room and the last beam was in the ve
ry center of the room. The cent
r
al
beam
was by far the largest and thickest; it
went all the way up
to the stone ceiling
and held the very center of the dome up. That beam was where the staircase
to the lower levels
would be.
That much i
s obvious.

Sarah
then knew why the room
seemed
so bright. On each of the seven stone pillars held four bright lights aiming at four sides.
She
could barely see the wires
, but they lined the roof and led t
o a power box on the far wall. She
could see everything in the room and it was beautiful.

Off to
the
left was a large field of fake grass. The field itself was set up like a Baseball field. Off to each side of the field held
a
metal bleacher
stadium
that were all large enough to seat Keeper’s and anyone else who wanted to watch. Off to
the
right
sat
another field, but this one
had been designated
for both Football and Soccer
matches
. Behind the central pillar
laid
another field
that
had been
raised above the ground and made completely out of stone. It was a c
ircular and rather large,
a place for people and Keepers to wrestle.
Sarah
remembered the rules
even though
she
never participated;
‘No killing during a match!’ and whoever the referee was made sure
everyone
followed the rules.

There were four buildings. One building was a restroom for men while the other was for women. Both were large enough to allow Keepers to use the facilities. A third building was smaller and looked like a recreation shed and the last building had a
moderate
line of people waiting.

Sarah
scanned the room again and this time
she
saw everyone who made it here before
they did
.
She
counted thirty Keepers on this level and some were walking on their hind legs, but most were
comfortable
moving
on all fours.
She
had to learn to avoid their tails because if they whack you, you’ll feel it for a very long time in the future.
They all
wore different robes, but they all looke
d about the same. The only way she
could ever differentiate between Keepers were by their eye color and if they were male or female. Other than that they all resemble
d
each other.
T
wo Keepers over on the wrestling area
were
trying their best to win. When one did
,
he roared and everyone
on this level
heard it, but
few
pa
id
any attention to
the victor
.

She
looked to
her
right and saw over at the football field both Balancers and Changers having a
friendly
match. There were six members on each side. The Changers were easy to spot because they were all transformed.
O
ne male had
applied the
attributes of a Cheetah. He was skinny, had a long tail, yellow fur with black spots, big rounded ears, long arms and legs.
T
wo of his team mates
simply
sported
white wings on their backs. T
wo looked almost like horses and the last one was bearlike. The Balancer team held the ball and was played by six mated pairs. The three women spread out behind their mates.

The ball went into play and two of the women went into the air using their control over Pressure. The two winged Changers took off after them. The two men
tripped up the
chargers with small stones using Terra. The
last
man and the woman blended
Fire and Liquid to make a steam
screen.

Sarah
couldn’t finish watching the play because Connor captured
her
attention. He
started
grinning from ear to ear. “I thin
k
we should play some of these games later.” He looked down at
her
with playful eyes. “What do you think, Princess?”
H
is excitement seemed too much until she realized that he was never allowed to play with other because of his size. Here at the Mélange he could fit in.

He
looked at the others and they were all mesmerized by how amazing the first room actually is.
It was every major leaguer’s dream.
Sarah
turne
d to look back at her
mate and
couldn’t
resist
hid
ing
her
own playful smile.
“We can tomorrow morni
ng.” His smile weakened, but
was
n’
t
entirely
crushed. “We need to get our rooms, take a bath, change clothes and get something to
eat.
”

“Alright.” Connor raised his voice and everyone was pulled out from their
own worlds
. “Come on. We need to get settled in.”
No one said anything, but
she
could tell that they were displeased in some certain way.

Jillian and Jack
led the way to the central support beam. As
they
approached the stone
pillar Jack
said “You guys are lucky.” He was referring to Connor and Kara. “We have never had the luxury of electricity
in a meeting before
.
They’ve broken centuries of tradition…
I wonder what they are using as a power supply?” His voice began to trail off as he started contemplating.

Arriving at the pillar
Sarah
saw three hand rails. One lined each side of the decent down to the lower levels
and the third rail took the middle as a divider. The descending staircase was really large.
Three
Keepers could walk to either side all the way down and not touch the other
’
s shoulders
, it
i
s that wide
.
T
wo thin rows of lights lined the upper corners
and illuminated
the stairwell which made things much more convenient.
At least we won’t need to worry about winding our way down in total darkness.

Jack and Jillian
took their first steps down into the second level. Mark and Kara were next and
they
followed
them
soon after. The stairs not only went down, but also spiraled along down the ce
ntral stone pillar. She
counted stepping down two hundred steps until the mouth
eventually
re
opened.
She
looked over the rail as
they
kept going down.

S
ix large buildings
stood
inside the second level, but compared to level one, this room was
slightly
larger
. Three of the buildings were smaller than
the
two
on the other side of the room
and the last building
in the middle
was slightly larger
than all of them
.
She
knew that the three smaller buil
dings would be
their
lodging
. The two larger
and wider buildings
are for the Keepers
,
because of their bulk. The last b
uilding was for the bath house.
It a
lso serves as a place to do
laundry during the afternoon hours.
The three buildings were all built of wood and it looked newly constructed and painted. They were all painted a light blue as a contrast for the
dark
earth that surrounded
t
hem
.
The three buildings were three stories tall
, but the Keepers showed four stories and reached the ceiling
.
The Keeper’s lodging was also new and coated with
green
paint. The bath house was made of wood as were the others, but the house was painted a calm yellow. Each of
the
lodges were al
l placed against one wall with
two pillars separating them.
Even the pillars in here also held the lights to
keep darkness at bay for
the
whole
room.
The Keeper’s place was
on the other side of the room. The bath house was on a wall that was between both clusters.
S
team
kept
escaping
the entrance as someone left
or entered
through the front door.