Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (63 page)

“Yes, yes… Now sit down Adela so we can finish up here.” She
looked down at the two youngsters
once Elder Adela returned to her seat. “Please forgive the outburst. She is still
very
young. Now you have my congratulations for carrying on our race.” She rolled up the scroll and handed it back
to the others. “One last thing,
w
hat
are
your
elemental
affinities
?”

Sarah and
Connor
glanced at each other and both took a deep breath.
Sarah’s
chest swelled and dropped. She looked
him
w
ith her emerald green eyes and he
knew she was ready. She nodded once and
Connor knew that she wanted him
to reveal
the big
secret.

He
looked into the H
ead
Elder’s deep seaweed green eyes and steadied
him
self one last time.
He
spoke loudly and clearly and well enough f
or every E
lder present to hear. “Sarah and I can use every element individual
ly
. Terra, Metal, Pressure, Fire and Liquid are all
under each of our
independent
controls.”

It took a moment to sink in, but
he
managed to make the Elders laugh in each of their seats.
Their laughter echoed off the walls and became
increasingly
louder.
Then one
E
lder
behind
him
took it too far by saying a single word in their language.
The one word
Connor
cannot stand being called.

While they still laughed
he
gathered Sarah’s attention
by touching her shoulder
.
From her pouting lips he
could tell their laughter made her confidence vanish.
She went
sheet
white
once she saw the
serious mask and he
knew she could feel the torrential fury pounding through
him
. “Sarah,”
His tone
of
barely controlled
rage
frightened her
. “go back and sit wit
h
everyone.
Let me deal with this.” He
entered her mind and added
“Please go. This is what I’ve
been planning
for
. I will show you, but you need to get to Mark…
GO
NOW!”

She was startled, but turned around and ran as fast as her legs could take her. It was faster than the others could see
. Once
she made it to the
edge of the marble top
,
planted her right foot and leapt into the air. She made a perfect arc and landed with both feet right next to Kara.
Connor
looked into Mark
’
s unwavering silver eyes and gave the signal. He
got up
and the others took
defensive positions
around Sarah.
Connor
saw
that she already had her Fangs
out and
they were
ready for
a taste
blood
. Kara was on all fours and teeth barred
.
Her w
ings were half spread as she prepared to spring
in front of Sarah. Mark stood tall behind Sarah with his wings also half spread. Jillian and Jack stood to either side and their looks
alone
could have turned a roaring inferno into an ice sculpture.

The laughter of the Elders died the moment Head Elder Amphrite yelled “Where did Sarah disappear to
!
?” The look on her face was of pure disbelief
as she finally turned to see Sarah in the crowd once again
.

This was
his
chance to end this farce.

Connor
ignored her question and
turned to the Changer Elders. He
looked at the twin sister on the far end
and spoke in their ancient language he learned
. “Next t
ime you call someone a
liar
you had better have proof that my words were false!” Her face p
aled and Connor
caught her
attention and pointed her out
. “Yes that’s right. I know your language
now
. Be sure next time to listen before you speak to me like some common Balancer, because I’m on a whole new level that you can
’
t
even
begin to imagine
,
Shorty
.
”

“Enough! You will not
address an Elder like that!
” He
turned around to H
ead
Elder Poseidon
returning the words to common English
. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t have any authority or the power that you say you do.”

“Try me
.”
Connor’s
voice was no longer even
, but
laced
with
pure malice
.

“Hold your tongues! All of you!”
Damian stood and mentally shouted and the entire room silenced
. “Child
,
you are on a dangerous and slippery slope. Before you are judged for your insolent mouth, you will answ
er my question. Why didn’t you b
ow
down
to me when you first stood in the center?”

All of the pieces were now in place.
Connor
looked him straight into his
large
brown eyes. He
spoke
with
both his
mouth and mind
,
loud enough
so
that even the people on the back row
of the crowd
could hear this
.
It was strange being able to touch so many thousands of minds all at once.
“For starters I do not like liars
and ju
st about everything that you have said
is a bold faced lie
,
Damian
. Secondly I do not bow to
imposters
!” He and every Elder present had their jaw’s hanging by their hinges
,
except one
who smirked
.

Head
Elder Amphrite looked down at the Immortal Guards on the ground and said “Arrest him! He needs to be taught t
o respect the authority of the E
lders!”

The moment the
y took one step forward
Connor
gave them
a dangerous and feral smile
and
then
said “Ah Cassie and Marik
,
my old friends.
How’s the back of your necks feeling?
” He
stretched
his
own
neck like they did after
he
let them go.
“
I hope I didn’t do any serious damage.
”

They stopped which is what he needed. Connor
focused
and brought
his
power forth
as
Cassie
said “That voice… It couldn’t be… Marik…. RUN!” It was far too late for both of them.

This i
s the beginning of the end of the meeting.

Connor
sent a blast of power under their feet and shattered the solid marble
into
white dust
with
his
control over Terra
. Two cylinder shaped holes
appeared beneath their feet and they dropped
down
into it. Right when only their necks were exposed
,
did
he
send the marble dust back into the hole and secured them indefinitely to the floor.
His
instinct
for danger
told
him
to look up.

The two upper Guards jumped off the Elder
’
s platform. Each had a Gladius aimed to kill
him
.
Connor
smiled at their
futile
attempt
and
used
his command
over Pressure and imagined two
invisible and solid
nets about ten feet above
his head and under each of them.
I
nstinct followed through
without any hesitation
.

They both
blindly
landed into
the
invisible nets of pure Pressure and dangled
helplessly
in mid air. Connor
pushed Pressure under
his
fe
et and flew up to their level. He
reached into the nets and ripped the swords
from their frightened fingers.
R
aw fear
dominated
their ancient
,
dark brown eyes.
With a sword in each hand he
taunted them in front of their former wielders. “I will
take these as spoils of war.” He focused each blade and
mental
ly molded them into one. When the
power over Metal released down
his
arms the metal floated up into the air. The blades became red hot and the two bladed tips started winding together and folding in on
themselves
at blinding speeds
. Soon
the swords became a useless sphere
of red hot iron. As it cooled
above his
hand
he
flew
back down
to the ground.

The moment he
touched the floor
he
dropped the
rapidly
cooled
metal and whirled around
, sensing something else
. Now the Guards from the Changers
side
made their mov
e
against him
.
Connor
was expecting more
.

They seriously underestimated him
.

The female Cheetah Changer
began
closing her distance to
him
after witnessing how effortlessly he dispatched four Balancers
.
He
didn’t want to seriously hurt her so
he came up with an idea. While he
continued trickling energy to hold the Pressure nets in the air
he
sectioned that part of
his
m
ind away to continue doing it. Connor
then gathered more energy and fe
lt a cool flow going down his
arms.
He
studied her run as she made her way and collected the moisture from the room simultaneously. Within two of her strides stride’s
he
caught the timing. When her front legs were back between
her legs and
the back legs moved f
orward to propel her momentum, he
struck.

He
took Jillian’s water lasso and wrapped it around
the cheetah’s
front and back legs
.
Connor
pulled and locked her movements. Unfortunately she moved too fast and slid across
and tumbled along
the floor and right past
him
.
She released a growling howl along the way.
He
tightened her bindings
to lock her entire body’s movement
and dropped the
watery
leash.
He
portioned
another section of his
mind again to still keep her watery
binding
secure
like rope
.

Connor
turned to see the G
orilla Changer making his way. He
grabbed
Tool from
his
hip and said “No tr
icks or weapons, pure muscle.” Connor
threw Tool
across the floor an
d heard it hit the wall with a
dull
twa
ng
.