Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (34 page)

Connor
finally saw a pair of Changers walking down the stairs and passing
them
. Then
they
heard the roar of a Keeper and the loud cheering of a crowd.
He
saw the lights at the end of the tunnel and
they
all walked out of the stairwell. In front of
him was the playing fields and Connor
remember
ed the wrestling arena lay
behind them
.

He
became
surprised and a little shocked to see how easily it was to distinguish between Changers and Balancers without looking directly at their eyes.

Changers wore the least amount of clothes possible and they didn’t carry weapons. That
i
s because their bodies
a
re
the weapons. Connor
saw that almost every Changer in the room was transformed
in some way and most looked like
some kind of hybrid animal.
W
inge
d humans
were
also
common
.
Some had colored their skin like vibrant fish. It became unsettling seeing some women with blue and red hues, but they were stunning.
O
ne male
stood
with arms twice as long and thick as they should have been, he was covered with brown hair and his hands were twice the size
of a large man
. He looked like a go
rilla as he walked o
n his knuckles
and
short back
legs.
O
ne or two other
wolves of almost similar build to Mark and
his
sister’s
were meandering about
, but their fur wasn’t
as developed or as streamlined
.
It must be Mark’s
special
trademark signature.
There were many feline hybrid Changers who walked on all fours. Some males had manes
like a lion and the
shoulder
muscle
s
to back it up.
Then there was this
Changer with a long snout, tusks and coarse hair; he
mirrored
a boar.
Connor
saw a group of female Changers walking over towards the football arena and four of the women looked like leopards and the other two
females
were the same, but they also had wings that were tucked against their sides. All of the women wore leather bikinis with a hole in the
ir
b
ottoms
for their tails. No on
e seemed to care because this i
s the one place where they didn’t need to hide who they were or what they could do.

Kara noticed
other
s
of her kind
and grinned at
M
ark.
“Race Ya!” She stepped
over
to her le
ft and her eyes began to glow. They
heard her bone’s fracturing all over her body. She started to steadily get taller and her fingernails started growing to become claws. Her mouth and nose grew and became a muzzle.
Her rounded ears curved and became pointed. Her ears
then
swiveled back and
forth as she tested them. T
he hair on the back of her head grew down to the middle of her
shoulder blades
.
Her human teeth gr
ew and sharpened into canines. Connor then
saw Kara
produce
a tail
from the back of her pants
as her fur began to grow. She dropped down to all fours just as wings started
protruding from her back and they were sandy blonde colored
.
The wings she made were like that of a
hawk
; sleek and speedy.
Her feathers were all glossy and the shapes of her wings were perfect for flight. Her pupils were no longer circular,
but
were now
almond shaped slits. Her lips pulled back to reveal sharp canine teeth. Then her expression dimmed. “Aw man, how did you beat me?” She said in her deep animalistic voice.

Connor
suddenly noticed that Mark
had
already fully transformed into his
Fwen
form as well
. His black glossy feathers
glistened from the ceiling lights and his black fur
remained
loose, but flowed continually
from muzzle to tail. He walked a few steps forward on all fours and grinned. In his husky and animalistic voice he said “Sweetheart, I have nine hundred years more experience at this than you do.”

They kept talking as Connor
looked at the Balancers
who were gathered in this room
. M
ost Balancers almost always walked beside their mates. They moved together and rarely strayed.
All t
he women
looked
to be
around the same age. They ranged from late teens to early to mid twenties. Some were taller than Sarah, but not many
. Quite a few of the women were either her height or shorter. Their complexions were all flawless and their hair ranged from short to even longer than Sarah’s
and their hair color
s were also an assorted mix
. Their skin tones ranged from
pale
white to
the darkest of
brown. Their
male counterparts
ranged from
late teens to middle aged men. Connor
smiled because
he
became a Balancer in
his
late teens
while
Jack became one in his
early f
orties. Most of the men carried weapons with them.
Connor
became
astounded to see weapons from differ
ent cultures, eras and locations.
Many of t
he weapons were all from the time they were made and maintained throughout the ages.
Most men carried swords like the katana,
g
lad
i
us, kukri,
broad swords, one man had a
two handed
claymore and many had knives and daggers.
Almost all Balancers were clothed in modern clothing, but some
attired
ancient clothes that have only
been
se
en in history books or
depicted in
movies. He
bet most of the beings in here could rewrite history and set theories straight with their past and vast knowledge.

The room
remained constantly
bustling with
excitement
and Keepers were no exception. Some stood towering as they walked amongst the crowd
while
others
were content and
walked on all fours to get around.
Many moved out of the way as they moved and all
people
avoided their tails.
Not even the first E
lder
could be spotted
in the crowd
and
he then
remembered Mark saying that
they
will only meet just the two
,
until the meeting starts.

Kara gained
Connor’s
attention when she turned her head and her ears were swerved to
his
direction. “Brother, do you have an idea of what to do first?”

Sarah then grabbed
his
hand and smiled.
He
looked at
his
sister and best friend as he turned and walked beside her
,
still on all fours.
Then
his
in-laws moved around so they could
see
him as well
. “I want to see how they play Baseball fir
st. H
opefully we might get a chance to play.”

“I doubt it.”
He
looked at Jillian. “I’m sorry to say it Connor, but there is a list that you will need to sign up for.
I asked while I washed my clothes.
” She turned to the crowds. “This meeting sure looks to be a big one this year.”

“If that’s true, we better enroll before more show up.” Sarah said excitedly. “Come on, Connor. Let’s go over there and find the registration area.” She pulled
his
hand in the direction of the Baseball field.
Kara and Jillian
both
snickered behind
them at Sarah’s change of mood.

He
could
instantly
feel that someone
began
watching
them suddenly
.

Connor
stopped cold and jerked Sarah to a halt. Her eyes went wide as
he
looked through the crowd.
Who’s looking at me?
He
then saw a pair of eyes looking right at
him
and
he
sighed with relief. “Hey Veronica!”
He
yelled within the crowd. Sarah tu
rned in the direction he
waved
.

Their
newest friend made her way through the crowd and up to all of
them
. The crowd moved to give her space
and they avoided her long tail
. The crowd didn’t get upset or anything, they must have had to do it so much that it no longer bothered them to make
plenty of
room
for the giants
. She finally made it up to
their
group
and Connor noticed
that Clarein was tagging along
.
He
felt the strong and familiar mind trying to gain access into
his. Connor
allowed her, but also put up
a few
mental barriers to certain parts of
his
mind that
he
do
es not want her to know about. He
picture
d
Sarah’s green ey
es as the mental barriers that were
erect
ed
. Veronica’s guarded eyes softened as she looked down at all of
them
.
“Glad to see that you have all finally made it up here. I was afraid I had lost you in the cr
owd when you all arrived
. It took us awhile to make it through ev
eryone…
Kara? Is that you?
”

Kara smiled showing all her teeth. “It’s me alright. How do I look, Girlfriend?”

“It really is you. Your form looks magnificent. What do you call it?”
Kara
told her the name.
“A Fwen, that has a good sound to it.”
Her gold eyes became suddenly playful.
“Would you mind if I could feel what your wing is like?”
I
n answer
his
sister extended her left wing all the way up to Veronicas face. With her right clawed hand she reached out and caressed the feathers with the palm of her hand.
“It is very soft. Thank you.”

Connor
thought
;
Ah the golden retriever has gotten some attention.

Sarah spoke loud enough to speak over the crowd and up to Veronica. “We were going over to the Baseball field to sign up for us to play
. You
’
r
e
welcome to tag
along while we go over there.” Connor
looked up to see her big and bulky head no
d once. Suddenly Sarah pulled his
arm again and made
their
way through the crowds.

About two minutes later of avoiding others and movi
ng out of other Keepers paths they
made
their
way
over
to the field
and stadium
. The closer
they
got
,
the
taller
the bleachers became. The bleachers lined the entire length of the sides and back of the field.
Connor
saw several long tails hanging down from certain levels of bleachers.
Th
e
sound of whistling wind and
the
crack of metal hitting metal
announced a play
and then came the
thunderous
cheering from the crowd.
He
c
ouldn’t see a thing from where he
was at because the
tall bleachers blocked his
line of sight.