Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (42 page)

He
looked into the
darkness
and directly at Mark. “It is safe. Come on out.”

Mark
stayed on all fours while being as cautious as cou
ld be. He then made his way as Connor
stood in the center. He looked around the silent area and stated “
Is the silence around her
e
giving you the creeps too?”

“Yes, but my instinct is telling me that ther
e isn’t any danger around us.” Connor
looked around and said “Let’s get to work and find something. I’ll search over here while you do the same on the other side. If we find something
,
we track it together, no private tracking. Who knows, maybe some trails will have traps.”

He nodded seriously. “Understood.”

Mark’s nose dropped to the ground as he began
the
search on the opposite side of the clearing.

While in Connor’s
search
he
found something, well several so
mething’s to be more precise. They
excluded Veronica’s fresher footprints, but she was a good
of
tracker
as she admitted
. She had found
most
tracks
,
just like she described. Apparently Sorono
had been
dragged
all
through the forest.
They
distinctly saw a large male Keeper footprint who dr
ug
the unconscious Sorono
through the whole area
.
It wasn’t hard to
find
his drag
marks because
Sorono’s
weight pushed the ground out of his way and his thicker tail left
its
own
unique
drag patterns.
Soon Mark and Connor
trailed the drag until it up and disappeared. Even Mark’s sense of smell
came
at a loss.

They
returned to the clearing and Mark found another drag on his side and it too turned out to be false. And then there were crossing tracks all over. This search was beginning to look like an unreadable roadmap.

They
continued working throughout the night and well into the morning.
They
even came across a few Keeper footprints that looked a little strange.

Connor
even used
his
eyes to search out aura
trails
. Apparently Sorono
had been
dragged
around
by
about
thirty four other Keepers of different color. Ranvan’s aura stayed
only
in the clearing like he was directing the others to carry Sorono’s limp body around the forest.
Connor
kn
e
w this because he hadn’t drug Sorono through the trees like the other Keepers did.

They
finally took a break under a shade
tree when it became stifling.

Mark hadn’t transformed
the first time since
they
left
the cottage
.
He had to be warmer than Connor
from all the fur he still wore
and the
relentless
beating of the sun
.
H
e laid on his belly while looking
and
glaring at the clearing. He broke the silence by stating “This search is beginning to piss me off.”

“Me too.”

Connor absently
moved
his
foot and then a realization
slammed into the forefront of his
mind.
He
glanced at the grassy ground and pushed
his
heel
in
deeper.
His
instinct allowed
him
to know that this
i
s the key to the whole story.

Everything began to make sense now.

“Mark, look at this.”

His head came up in full alert. “Did you find something?”

“Yes, watch.”
Mark
watched as
Connor
stood up and took a few steps into the forest. “Listen to this and tell me what you hear.”
He
made a small leap and landed heavily on
his
feet.
He
then walked into the grassy c
learing. “Now liste
n
to this.” He
then leaped once again.

Mark got up and the look in his eyes said he realized it too. He pressed his hand into each spot
that
Connor
jumped. “Connor, why is one spot relatively dry and packed while the clearing’s ground is soft and wet?”

He
grinned. “It’s simple. Someo
ne has disrupted the soil of this unnatural
clearing. Every trail
left
out in the open i
s a diversion to make any searchers
who came
give up hope
,
like we were and just as Veronica did. I didn’t realize it because this whole place is riddled with aura and that was also part of this plot. Anyone capable of using aura will be as useless as the best trackers. The mastermind of this undertaking had forgotten one key detail. The rain
i
s the mistake he forgot to factor in. The forest is used to rain and has developed ways of getting rid of excess water.
This
ground has been
disturbed and the result is that the water has had a difficult time dissipating the excess.

“Sorono wasn’t dragged away. He was taken underground and
moved that way
. If my suspicions are right…” Connor
looked away from
Mark and to the ground below
their
feet.
His
power rose instantly an
d released in rapid pulses,
sonar was activated.

His
vision of color was replaced by black and white, but now it is poss
ible to see everything around him
and through anything.
He
could see through Mark and every p
hysical object that surrounded him
within a five mile radius now. But
he
didn’t need to focus on the surface. It was time to look subterranean. The softer disturbed earth below
his
feet contrasted
greatly
by t
he packed ground surrounding them.
The soft soil
appeared to be
in the shape of a tunnel that reached close to one hundred feet below the surface.
He
smiled once the new path laid before
them
.

He
stemmed the flow of power and grinned at Mark.
Connor’s
vision returned to color once again. He grinned back expectantly. “I know what happened now. Sorono was kidnapped and transported underground by a tunnel that i
s still there. And it isn’t man
made nor is it a cave system. This tunnel
could only have been
made by Keepers because the structure is perfect.”

Mark
gave
him
a hopeful look. “Can we follow it?”

“As a matter of fact, we can
and we are going to travel through it
.”
He grinned expectantly as he heard the rest of
the
plan.

M
ark moved away when told and soon stood on the outskirts of the clearing.
Connor
moved a few feet away from the center and began focusing.

The ground began trembling when
his
power over Terra released
into it
. In the center of the grass covered clearing
,
a hole began to reveal itself. Once it was five inches down
and spread apart,
he
stopped
using the
energy. “Mark, come on. We are going for a little ride.”

Mark
jumped
by his side in a second and they
walked over to the six foot open cir
cle of moist brown soil. Once they
both stood on it
,
he began using his
power a
gain. The ground trembled as they
moved lower. Mark grumbled about it being the
craziest elevator
of all time
. Soon they
were too deep and light became a
top
priority.
While descending down lower Connor
upturned
his
left hand and focused the outside heat to a point to create a baseball sized fir
eball that floated just above his
palm.

Ab
out two minutes later Mark and Connor
braced
them
selves. Once the elevator reached
the shaft, it crumbled under their
weight and
they
fell. It was
only a twenty foot drop and they
easily landed without injury.

Once inside the tunnel
they
were able to see
,
thanks to
the
fireball.

The tunnel itself
stood
twenty foot high and made in a semicircular pattern. There wasn’t any form of light down here and even on the stone wall there weren’t any torches. It was just your basic stone tunnel with no
modern
commodities.

They
saw the tunnel
went
only
in
one
direction
because sixty feet to
the
back
wa
s a natural stone wall that hasn’t been reconstructed by power.

Connor
looked up the shaft
that had been
made. If anyone were to fall, they would most certainly be killed
. Mark knew it was neces
sary when he
collapsed the vertical shaft. Seeing the tunnels structure, the shaft’s collapse wouldn’t cause a cave-in.

Mark walked up to the tunnel wall and raked his razor sharp claws against it. He left
behind
four claw marks an
d then asked with his back to his friend
“Connor, can you estimate how long ago this was made. I’m having a hard time making my own
personal
estimat
ions
.”

“Sure give me a minute.”

He
brought
energy to his
eyes and the tunnel
walls
w
ere
saturated in a crimson aura.
There were also the weaker colors of the other thirty four Keepers, plus Sorono’s white.
Denser objects hold an aura longer t
han lesser ones. Despite that, his
mind
a
lready
began
calculating a
n approximate
date. Using the timeline from seeing Ranvan’s and Sorono’s aura and how long ago they used their abilities… “I’ve got it, but you
’
r
e
not going to like hearing in, Bud.”

“Tell me anyway.” Mark said while walking up to
him
calmly
.

A
sigh couldn’t be contained. “From seeing an aura and
the
date it was used while also calculating the dissipation rate, I’ve come to the conclusion that this tunnel was built over eight months ago by Ranvan.
And it hasn’t been used in
three
weeks since the capture.
”

Mark w
ent
silent for a moment and then cautiously stated “Then that means that this has been a trap all along. Then the Tsunami was
only
the bait to lead Sorono here. When he found the clearing he was q
uickly subdued, because there i
s almost no sign of a struggle
up there
. If this has been so perfectly laid out and executed then that means only two things that I can think up. Someone is controlling Ranvan or he isn’t feral and
is
the mastermind.
”

Connor
smiled and placed
his
right hand over
Tool. “Those were my exact thoughts, but it feels good to know that you’ve come to the exact same conclusion as me. I knew something was wrong the moment
after
hear
ing
about the tsunami and Sorono’s departure.
It was too coincidental.
My instincts told me there was more to this than the first glance
of destruction
. Now that we are here I know that my instincts were right.”