Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (92 page)

Wake and
Sleep

Connor began
having the strangest dream
once
again
.
It felt so real.
For some reason
he
was
still
just a toddler and
had
just crawled out of a hole in
the ground
and stopped when
he caught the movement of
a flickering shadow within the night.
He
stood
stark naked and feeling a little cold in the night air
, but it was bearable
.
The shadow creature
ju
st stayed there just watching him
closely
,
but he felt no threat
until
suddenly
warm arms picked
him
up
in the darkness
.

Then
the strange dream changed
slightly
when Connor
saw a hulking black shape that looked
human
oid
, but
it
wasn’t
human by any means
. The eye
s of the creature were blue and brown
,
kind of like
hazel. It was walking towards Connor
, but it was benevolent and didn’t hold any malice in its eyes.

Suddenly
Connor
heard a loud
DONG
,
like that of a bell
ringing
inside
his
head
.
It vibrated throughout
his
entire body.
His eyes shot open and he
grabbed Tool
that
lay
above
his
head
,
right
where
it was left
.
Connor jumped to his
feet instantly
,
not knowing what just happened
, but not taking any chance
.
His empty hand felt warm, but Connor
didn’t pay it any mind.
He
prepared for a fight
against an unknown assailant
or threat
.

The dome wasn’t moving
nor was there any noise except from the crackling
of the
fire
.
Something must have made the noise.

Connor
saw the cover of
his
blanket finally land on the ground. Sarah was sitting up with a hand over her heart. Off to the other side of the
calm
fire both Jillian and Jack were sitting up as well. They looked at each other seriously and nodded at the same time.
They knew
what happened
.

Scared of not knowing what was go
ing on Connor
asked in a steeled voice
“What the h
ell was that?”

Jack looked over
and said “That was a Keeper’s Call. That was
the
summons for the next Mélange meeting.
”

Connor
looked over at Sarah who nodded, but still trying to catch her breath.
Her green eyes shifted down as he
straightened out of
the
battle stance. She said in a s
hocked, startled voice “Connor, your hand!
”

He
looked at
his
hand and saw a flame of
dark
blue fire covering
his
left fist.
It started at
his
wrist and encased the entirety of
his
hand.
He
dropped
Tool
loudly
on the stone floor
and brought the flame closer to
his
face to study it.
His
hand was glowing whiter, but not blindingly.
The flame was putting out a tremendous amount of heat, but was using the same amount of energy as a regular orange flame. Upon closer inspection the flames weren’t touching
his
skin, but actually
coming out of
the tiny pores. He
used
the
other hand to touch the flame and it actually felt like the warmth of the sun
in springtime
.

He
had an idea and a theory that
he had to try out. Connor
leaned down and grabbed a twig from the f
ire that didn’t burn yet. B
oth Jillian and Jack
were
standing as they looked at
him
with shocked interest. Sarah stayed seated where she was.
He
decided to back away because the heat
looked to be to
o intense.

With
his
fist still clenched and
the blue
flame burning brightly,
he
touched the end of the twig to the flame.
The end of the twig burned white hot for only a second before turning to ash and
Connor
knew exactly what was
coming from his hand. He
then immediately stopped the flow of energy and the flame disappeared.
His
hand
came out
completely unscathed from the fire.

M
ovement off to
the
right
came from Jack. He grabbed Connor’s
hand and turned it over. He wanted a
nswers as he looked back into his hazel
eyes. “What kind of a flame was that?”

Connor
to
ok a deep breath. “A Blue
Flame. It is a
flame that is so hot that it n
eeds
little
to no
oxygen
at all
to burn. All it
really
needs is fuel. It is the most dangerous flame because it can burn
just about
anything
and won’t suffocate
…”

Suddenly he released the
hand like a snake just bit him. “How did you manage it?”

“I
don’t have the faintest idea.” Connor
looked at Sarah who looked like she was trying not to laugh at her father. “It just appeared when I thought Sarah was in danger.”

“Try it again, but let us get back.
It was quite
…
warm
.
” Jillian said smiling
weakly
. She helped Sarah up from the sleeping bag and the three of them stood at the far end of the dome.
It was hotter to them than they let on. The wielder of the flame must be immune to the intensity.

Connor
focused on a dark blue
fireball surrounding
his
hand
,
in
his
mind
’
s eye
. Using
power and instinct to guide, a
dark
blue
flame sprung to life
after his
hand began to faintly glow
.
He
instantly stopped the flow knowing that it is possible
to be activated on command
.

He
had to change the subject back to why
Jack
became so defensive in the first place. “Can you please tell me what that feeling was? You know that
ringing dong sound
that could wake the dead
!”

Sarah walked over and sat back down on the sleeping bag. She patted beside her and
he
slowly sat beside her. Her green eyes were fully awake. “Connor
,
that feeling
emanated
from
a single Keeper. It was a world
wide telepathic call that only
we
immortals can receive.
No human or form of technology received it.
”

Jillian sat down beside them
and said “I have been waiting for the call for well over a month now.”

Connor
asked “Where is it at? How do we get there?”

Jack came over and sat down beside his mate. “Connor, close your eyes and focus on the bond. Tell me what might be different now?”

He
decided to do what he said.
He focused at his
gut
,
where
he
could always feel where
the
bond to Sarah is.
He
could feel exactly wh
ere she was as she sat beside him
, but there was somet
hing else. “I feel something.” He
pointed behind
himself
. “I somehow feel another bond, but how can that be?”

Sarah’s green eyes captured
his attention
. “That is a temporary bond placed by the Keeper who sent out the summons. When we arrive and meet the Keeper, he or she, will remove the bond th
ey placed on us.” She smiled. “We
’
re lucky this time because it feels like the bond is pointing to the north of us. It looks like it’s going to be held in northern Canada
this time
.”

Connor looked so handsome yet so confused at what has happened in the past few minutes. He
began
looking up as he process
ed
everything.

Jack
gained
her attention. “Sarah?” She
looked at his shadowed face because the fire was to his back. “Are you capable of making a bl
ue
flame as well?”

“I’m not sure, but I can try…”

Connor stood up saying “How about we get our things together and do this top side?
I
felt
how hot it got in here and I know that some fresh air will do us all some good.
” He was setting his penetrating hazel eyes on
her
father and his tone laced with authority even if he was asking a question.

Without further
complications
,
they
packed up
the
bags and cleane
d up the room. Connor allowed Sarah
to make a fire shield to absorb the energy from the campfire. Wh
en
she
made the rotating shield
,
it absorbed
all
the flames and
i
t gave
a much needed energy boost.
It has become eerily dark in here so
she used sonar to guide her
way.
Her
parents d
id
the same from behind.

Connor was first down the hall with his pack on his back as well as
hers
.
Sarah
stood
next
in line
and was empty handed so she got permission from her
parents to fly them back to the surface. As Connor used his power over Terra to push the boulder out, sunlight shone through.
It was blinding
and
shockingly
cold
for a moment.
Then
her
mate used Pressure to make himself fly as he stepped out of the tunnel
and into the sunlight
.

Sarah turned around as she
made it to the mouth of the cave and took both of
her
parent
’
s wrists in each of
her
hands.
She
focused
her
power and lifted off of the ground
. As
she
took the weight of
her
parents
she
noticed that
she has
become stronger because
her
pa
rents weighed next to nothing. She
flew up the wall slowly so as to not startle them. As
she
touched them to the snow cov
ered ground they
heard the boulder getting put back in place.