Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (58 page)

Suspect and Identify

The t
hree of
the
larger workers were severely weakened
after sending out their energy to latch onto all immortals and bring them to the caster
. Firon, Xaon and the latecomer Clarein were all
overly
exhausted by now. It was only begi
nning to turn into morning as the entire group
had
worked through
out
the
entire
night. The only two immortal adults who didn’t stay for the entire night were Jillian and Sarah. Sarah stayed home with the three children whereas Jillian needed to sleep because she had work to do today.

Jack mainly worked with his hands to make the natural
sealant for the large cabins being erected
. He mixed mud and straw together in a large pit with
Haunt
being
the mixer. Mark and Connor
mainly drug the large
, elderly
trees from around the area and brought them into the
rocky clea
ring. Connor
mainly chopped the thick tree limbs from the trunks
so
that
they
would be
easier to bring through the brush
.
By the time all was done the clearing would be much larger.

After br
inging
the wood into the clearing, it
became
Clarein’s job to clean
the materials into
proper
building purposes. She would use her sharp claws to slice off the
remaining
limbs and
rough bark. Once done she’d
stack the wood into neat piles. What
didn’t end up
being
used
for building
purposes
we
re
added to the burn pile so that everyone
could be
able to see properly.
Clarein
had the easiest
tas
ks
of them
all because she could assist them
while also sitting on the ground.

Xaon and Firon were mainly in charge of building the large structures for all the Keepers who would soon arrive. They would each grab a hold of a
stripped
tree
trunk
that Clarein had finished working on and bring it over to their site. They would set the logs in a vertical pattern so that they could be thrust into the ground more easily rather than
layering them horizontally. After the main part of the wall structure became stable, they would work with Jack to seal the cracks between the posts with the mortar he
constantly
mixed.

Once
the outer walls were
finished it became
Kara’
s job. Kara had to work on bui
lding the roof for each cabin. Connor
also assisted her when
his powers were needed. He
had used Terra to crush the stony soil into
large sections
and then had to use Fire to harde
n the soil into useable tiles. His
sister would take the cooled tiles, jump fifteen feet in the air, land on a temporary scaffold and layer each roof per cabin
from the bottom up
.
By the time
her job was finished
the
re
would
be a new building waiting for her to roof
.

By this time,
they
had worked together to make five large cabins overnight. Each new cabin could house
thirty individual Keepers. It was a good start, but
they
would need at least one hundred more
structures
, for now.

The five cabins were all made off on the far northern side of the clearing.

As Connor
began
dragging another oak tree,
his
instincts alerted
him
to an approaching presence.
He
redoubled
his
efforts and drug the entire tree over to Clarein.
Once it
dropped
by her to do pile, he
shouted “Everyone!” Every single person stopped what they were doing to look directly at
him
. “We have our first visitor coming this way. It is only one person and he or she will be here in a minute.”

Everyone asked
him
what
they
should do if someone were to approach during the n
ight and were given an
answer.

Xaon, Firon and Clarein all stood shoulder to shoulder
while Connor
stood i
n front of the three of them. His
instinct gave
him
the direction that th
e runner was approaching from. He
knew it was a runner because he or she wasn’t using their energy to fly. Mark, Kara and Jack
stood off to the side so that he
could be allowed to give any orders.

They
were all quiet when
they
could hear as
the visitor plowed through the forest like a wild animal
gone mad
. It c
ame
from the west so that
i
s where
they
were looking.

Then the creature passed the tree line.

It was a
large
,
silver eyed Changer standing over seven feet tall and in a transformed state. He wore a large shirt and enormous pants that looked custom made and it
a
lso
seemed
sturdy. He had
loose
brown fur covering his entire body that looked
relatively
proportiona
l.
L
ong gorilla-
like arms
grew out from his shoulders
and large legs
gave solid foundation
. Then
Connor’s
eyes drifted down to
an
enormous
pair of
bare feet. He was the epitome of the legendary Big Foot.

Connor
remembered then him from the Mélange meeting.

As the enormous Changer approached
he
spoke in a lighthearted manner. “Ah, so you must be
the infamous
Bryce?”

Bryce
stopped several yards back and looked at
him
in a confused way. He bli
nked several times and smiled. Connor
saw that his teeth were mostly human, but his canines were a little longer than they should be. Then he spoke in a very deep and masculine voice. “That I am. Unfortunately we’ve never had the pleasure of speaking to one another. Am I correct in calling you Connor?”

“That you are.”

He then continued
appearing
pleasant, even as he crossed his large
furry
arms. “So may I ask wh
y
there were three Keepe
r Call
s? I don’t know what they mean, but I can assume that it cannot be a good foreboding.”

Connor
nodded while everyone remained silent. “You are correct. Actually there isn’t too much time to prepare, but something very serious is about to happen. Do you think you can wait until the Head Elders explain what is happening?”

Bryce went silent for a few minutes as he deliberated what should be done. He then uncrossed his arms and said “If three Keepers sent out their call, something dangerous
must be
in the mix. I can wait until the Elders explain what is going on around here.” Then his silver eyes looked up and behind
the large and powerful child
. “After I get these bonds removed from me, what should I do until I’m told about
the situation
?”

“We still need a lot of help building shelters for the Keepers. If you don’t decide to help, you may change back into human and go into town to
rent a room.”

“For how long will I need to rent?”

Connor’s
mind instantly calculated how many days remained and how many days it would take for everyone to make their way to t
he three primary destinations. He
guessed that
the other
immortals would need to leave here on July first, for everyone to make it to their locations and have a day of rest from their long journeys. “Bryce, you will only need to rent a place for sixty four days.”

His smile vanished and his catlike eyes widened. “We only have
that
long?”

“Afraid so, big guy. We’ll need to have everything finished by July fourth.
”

Bryce
nodded a moment later. He walked up to
Connor
and then bowed to the three Keepers. Each one of them soon removed his bond to them. Once he
became
free to be himself he turned around to ask “Alright, if time is truly that short, I’ll help around here for a little while. Where do you need me?”

Kara took a step forward and gained everyone’s attention. “You could help Mark in bringing in more trees
,
for more lodges. Brother could then aid me in tiling all the roofs. He’s been doing the most out of us all.”

Bryce gave her a one sided smile. “Sure thing, Child. By the way,
aren’t
you that new Bone Changer everyone’s been talking about?”

Kara grinned proudly. “The one in the same.”

Then Bryce turned his eyes to Mark. “Ah, Marcus. It has been a long time old chum. What is it like hanging around these
strangers? Is it some kind of fetish to be with others who aren’t
of
your
own
kind?”

Bryce’s spoke in honest unknowing. It sounded like he has never had any friends outside
of
other Changers. “It is much more relaxing than watching your back with every step. Come on and I’ll show you where you can pitch in.”

As Mark and Bryce walked off into the forest
they
heard Big Foot ask “By the way, is there a liquor store
or pub
around here?”

Three hours later four mated pairs of Balancers, nine Changers and one female Keeper arrived to the field. The Balancers and Changers went into town to get their rooms for
close to
the next t
hree
months.

Not long after, Sarah and the three
excited
children arrived. She
carried Pearl and Darrel inside their car-seats while Shannon walked close to her side. As the four
approached, Connor
felt Sarah using her power.

He stopped what he was doing and made his
way over to
his
loving mate. Behind her
floated
a large wrapped object being levitated by her powers over Pre
ssure. It looked like one of their
bed sheets that was used as the wrapp
ing. She smiled his
favorite smile and said “Since you haven’t had any dinner or breakfast, I brought it out here for you. Actually I brought enough for Father, Kara and Mark too. Are you hungry?”

“Famished!” Jack said while coming up from behind.

Sarah
placed their
children on the ground as she lowered the food to the ground as well. Once it
became
untied, she opened it like a picnic cloth. Inside
the cloth
sat
four
large honey-baked
hams
,
on the bone
,
along with seven closed pitchers of lemonade
with ice cubes
. In a small basket were biscuits and a jar of blueberry jam
waited to be used
. Then there were several large Tupperware containers filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and even waffles. Off to the side were paper plates and plastic forks.

The four of them
began eating the meal that she spent awhile making for all of
them
. As
Connor
began working on some eggs and bacon, Sarah
started
looking around the field. “It sure feels strange seeing so many around our old training area. Seems like only yesterday that Mother and I had our first fight, after we completed the ceremony
…
Now look at this place. It will never look the same after all this is over. Now this place won’t be used to better ourselves, it will be a place to prepare for a war.
” Then she smiled weakly and began rubbing
her ankle.