Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (64 page)

The
answer
to the challenge
came in the form of
the gorilla
drumming his massive upper arms against his
thick
chest. Connor stood still as he charged
. When he was close enough he jumped and brought both of his fisted arms up
,
trying to slam
Connor
down
.

When the gorilla
was now within
his
territory
Connor
brought
his
hands up and grabbed his
furry
wrists.
A
mild shockwave flow
ed
down
his
arms, chest, abdomen, thigh
s
and finally
transfer
down
in
to
his
feet.
The force of
the Changer’s
hit and bodywe
ight crushed the marble under his
f
ooting
and forced
Connor
to sink
down an inch. Unfortunately
that was his best move. Connor
grinned and tightened
his
grip while
the opponent
remained
in the air.
He
jumped bac
k a step to get out of the hole
s that
his feet created
.

Connor
brought the Pressure net
images
back into the front of
his
mind and conjured
yet
another net.
He
leaned back and threw the Gorilla behind
him. Once he felt a great
weight hit the net,
he
closed the end and pushed the im
age back into the recesses of his
mind.

With their two best Changers beaten there was only one
final alternative
left for them to be able to apprehend
him
.
Unfortunately
Connor’s
captives were too close and
he
knew
they needed to be protected
.

Connor
grinned
again
when
he
felt two large powers behind
him
beginning to
increase
dramatically
.
T
he temperature around
him
beg
an
to rise
rapidly
and
he
knew
exactly
what they were up to
.
He
turned around to see the two Keeper ground Guards inhaling the heat
they
focused to a point
. Their massive barreled chests began to swell as they took in the
superheated
air. Their eyes were zeroed in on
him
the whole time
and
he
k
new what
i
s
to come
next. Together they bent forward with their
maws
open and aimed directly at
him
.
T
heir abdomens constrict
ed
under their robes as they forced the superheated air from their lungs. Two red and orange jets of fire came
barreling
directly at him
.

In response to Fire he
called upon
his own
element of Fire.
Inst
antly
,
his
orange Fire Shield appeared over
his
forearm and it was now as tall as
his
body.
He
was surprised
to see just
how
large it had become, but
he
had to protect
him
self and the others from the
deadly
inferno
headed in their
direction. The other guards
were no longer struggling
against his power because they
were a
waiting their death.

Connor
twisted
his
left arm and put the perfect shield right between
himself
and the two flame’s that have just become one
gigantic flamethrower
. The moment the
very
first flame
tongue
licked
the
shield it expanded and its rotation
increased to a spinning blur. He
was happily surprised when the shield didn’t collapse when it touched the marble floor
, that
had been
a worry
. The shield continued rotating and getting larger as it absorbed the
intense
fire and transferred the
enormous amount of
energy
back
into
his
stores. The sound
s
of the
flames
w
ere
roar
ing by
his
ears as they were sucked into
the ever growing
shield. The shield had expanded to twenty feet in diameter as the flames were finally contained.
Connor
heard the Keepers take a bre
ath and knew that they thought he
was finished.
The
shield continued sucking the flames until not a single spark
remained
. The shield finally began to slow and shrink
when it absorbed the last spark
.

He
turned
his
arm and saw that the two Keepers were frightened beyond anything that they have ever known. Unfortunately they pushed another one
of his
hot buttons and they were going to be more than frightened
after this
.
He
disengaged
the
shield and it disappeared into nothing
ness
.
Connor
slowly began walking up to them
with a dangerous purpose
.

His
voice couldn’t reach the
exact
level
he wanted so he
used
his advanced
telepathy
to multiply the effect. Still
sen
ding
the
mental voice to everyone in the
room, he
spoke to the two female Keepers before
him
.
“What
do you two think you were doing!? Did your companions mean anything to you as you tried taking them out with me!? You two went too far with that last stunt and now you are going to be punished!”

Connor
took two steps before they realized
exactly
how much trouble they were in. T
hey turned around to run away, but they soon realized that they were between a rock and a
very
hard place.

T
hen felt a familiar mental voice shout
ed
“CONNOR, STOP!!!”
and i
t was followed by a loud roar. He
stopped and so did the Keepers
against the wall
. Veronica leapt onto the marble stage and
began
running on all fours directly at
him, but he
could see nothing but fear in her eyes as she ran.
S
he didn’t have her egg
either
.
He
searched for the familiar glint in the crowd. When Veronica mad
e it to the middle of the room Connor
spotted her egg in Firon’s thick arms as he watched from the edge of the platform. Veronica must have entrusted her child to her son.

Veronica suddenly stopped and dropped to her hands and knees. Her head was deeply bowed as she looked directly at the floor. Her fists
were planted by her sides and Connor
could see that her tail laid against the ground.
“H
ead
Elder Damian, please allow m
e to take whatever punishment is
coming to this hatchling. He is young, rash and highly impulsive, but I owe him everything. Please allow this to be my one final request
if his disobedience is to be death
.”

There was a pause
.

“Honored Mothe…”
Damian
stopped speaking as
Connor
began to
walk
directly
and normally to
his dear
friend.

Out of the corners of his
eye
Connor
could see each Balancer and Changer Elder’s shaking in fear up on their separate platforms. Some of them even decided to take shelter behind their marble seats in an attempt for protection.
He
f
inally made it to Veronica and
stood between her arms.

He
laid a hand on her smooth
ly
scaled head. She immediately realized
he
just touched her and she slow
ly lifted her head to look at him
with her large gold eyes. She slowly let her held breath out and her mental voice was worried.
“Connor, please let me do this. It is my choice like you once said.”

His disarming
smile made her blink.
He
continued to
use
his
voice and telepathy on ev
eryone so they could hear what he
had to say to her. “Veronica, why are you prostrating yourself to Damian?”
He
could see the Changers in the audience and the Elders reeling as they
finally
noticed that he
had
entered
each and every one of
their minds.

She looked up behind
him
and back to
him with a confused look. He
could tell she was also speaking to everyone as well.
“Because he is the H
ead
Elder and the leader of this meeting. He is the highest authority of our world.”

“Well then you are being fooled, my friend. Damian is not the H
ead
Elder.”
Connor
straightened
his
left arm and pointed
to the end of the Keeper dais
.
“
He
is the Head
Elder.”

Her jaw dropped
nearly
t
o the floor, but she followed his
finger up to the
platform.
Connor
pointed to the K
eeper
at
the end with c
losed
eyes
.

The e
yes of the Keeper finally cracked
open
for the
very
first time. His large eyes were
brown
near his slit pupils and mixed with blue to reveal hazel eyes as
large
as grapefruits.
They seemed familiar.
He no longer slouched in his chair but sat completely erect. His shoulders moved back to reveal a large chest. His head lifted
proudly
to reveal his true authority. He turned
his head to look straight at Connor
and his leathery lips drew back to reveal his smile. A purring r
umble came from his throat and Connor
finally got a feel for his mind. His mind was the
most powerful
he’s
felt since
arriv
ing
here. It was as powerful as Sarah’s
, but vaster from
his
knowledge throughout the ages
. His mental voice was
deep and extremely calm.
“Very good, Connor May. You are exactly right
!
I
am the
real
H
ead
Elder.”

He stood up from his chair and Connor
realized instantly
that he was the largest Keeper he
ha
s
ever seen. He was at least fifteen or sixteen feet tall and his robes weren’t loose against his flesh, but clung to his extensive muscles. He grabbed the safety bar with his right clawed hand. His knees bent and he jumped over the bar with ease. He let go and dropped to the marble floor landing, but despite his size and weight he made almost no sound. He took one step in
their
direction with a look of longing in his
deep
eyes.