Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (70 page)

“Several
thousand year
s
ago was when my race
began with me
and me alone
. My
human
people lived on a very large island, s
lightly smaller
in size to
Oahu, one of
Hawaii
’s smaller islands
. Many of my people were fishermen, but we didn’t know how to farm so we traded a special ore with the other islands.
We sold
raw
gold
ore
.
After some time we realized its value.
Soon
my people
became greedy in trading because we wanted more things that our gold paid for. We then
gradually
became miners rather than strictly fishermen
because the gold could bring in more food
and supplies
than fishing for ourselves
.” His silver eyes met Connor’s
when he said
solemnly
“Somehow in my peoples excavations they r
eleased a plague
up
on the living. It spread into the
is
land and infected every living thing for a short time.

“
This
original
plague is no longer airborne
so the pathogen cannot be spread like that,
b
ut
it
still
now
runs through my very veins. This plague is now called a virus. When my mother
first
inhaled the plague
,
and it entered her body, I was close to be birth
ed
anyway
. Somehow by body survived the plague
,
while my mother
’s
didn’t. I don’t remember what happened
exactly
, but I assumed that the plague in my blood gave me the strength
needed
to
break free of my mother’s womb. Then the strange blood in my veins did something I didn’t comprehend until studying the lifecycle of humans.

“
The plague
had
made me grow into adulthood within a week’s time.

“I learned quickly and watched
as
everything
living
on my home
begin to
die and rot away. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I quickly learned of my abilities
to survive on a dying island.
I could fish underwater and breathe like the prey I was after.
I never traveled further than where my birthplace
was
because leaving the safety of one
’
s home frightened me
. Within a month of my life
,
the island
had completely
died of all life and greenery. It was another two weeks after my island became barren that I
met my first living human and
learned that the plague
disappeared
because he survived once he made landfall
.

“
He was a traveling fisherman of my people. His name was Zeke. When he arrived I was wary of this strange creature that looked like the rotting corpses that laid within my village. It stunk so I stayed away
from the huts
as much as possible. Zeke had gone straight to his home to find his wives and children all dead
and rotted beyond recognition
.

“D
uring the mourning of his family
I revealed myself to him after changing my shape to look like him.” Then Raphael pointed to his face. “I didn’t know what I was supposed to look like so I copied his features perfectly, except for my eyes because his were brown.” He went back to the horrible story of his beginning. “When Zeke saw that I looked exactly like him
,
he started making weird noises that I quickly learned was his language. He grabbed a sharpened stick and tried stabbing me until I broke the shaft with my teeth. I saw him as food right then, but stopped when I realized that he was trying to protect his dead family. I then went back to looking like him and sat down several strides away.

“He stayed where he was for a very long time while watching me strangely. Then he stood up like he was testing
if he should run or kill me. H
e t
hen did something strange
to me
at the time. He moved away and grabbed a flat piece of wood and began digging in the dirt. He then put his entire family in the pit and covered them with the dead
foliage that covered the entire island. He then lit the brush to send his family off to the next life. Seeing what he did gave me an idea. I grew my hands into flattened claws and began digging a very large pit in the center of the village. Zeke stood off into the outskirts to watch as I carefully laid each and every dead thing into the hole, just like he did.
Only I
also
put animals and people in the pit together
because they all looked the same to me
.
Once everyone was in the pit and the brush had been laid, Zeke cautiously came up to my side and lit the fire. We watched the blaze in silence and I soon began mimicking
what he did
.

“Several weeks had passed when he finally decided that I wasn’t the cause of his entire family’s death. He would slowly spend time with me and make the strange sounds again and I imitated them. Zeke was honestly trying to teach me and on the night of the third day of his lessons we were speaking clearly.

“He first asked if I was a demon sent by the gods and destroyed the village because of the
i
r greed. Then he began thinking that I was a god because of my extreme strength and my abilities to alter my physical
composition
like those of the sea creatures or those that could fly. Soon he began thinking that I was both his guardian and demon because I looked
exactly
like him and was the only thing that remained on our island
that still lived
.
I was a reminder of the village’s greed.

“We had become friends
in time
and looking back we were together for about five years.
He didn’t allow me to have any contact with any visitors
who came regularly to our home to trade
, but
that didn’t stop me from listening to him when they arrived for our gold. He never returned to the dig sight, but he gave away what remain
ed
in the village and bought plants that grew quickly and our island began returning to life once again. We were together like brothers.
That was until I killed him.”

Connor
stride faltered for a momen
t, but Raphael didn’t miss it. He
moved around a tree and spoke cautiously. “How were you able to do that? Wasn’t he your first companion and teacher?”

The Head Elder’s tone remained cool and nonchalant. “It remains my fault even if it was an accident on my end.
Zeke had taught me how much better food tastes when it is cooked and one night it all happened so fast. He was cleaning a fish with a bone knife that I figured how to make from my very body. It was very sharp and he accidently cut the palm of his hand.” Raphael sighed heavily
. “I wondered what my blood looked like so I cut my hand too and saw that our blood looked exactly the same. I then touched his wound with my hand and my blood entered his.”

Hearing this brough
t back the mental accounts of his
sister’s transformation. She was fastened to the table and Mark pressed his bloody hands into a wound on her sternum. Then her screaming
…
he
’ll never forget…

“I can tell by that look that you’ve seen what happens when my
blood enters another human’s.” Connor
nodded while still walking because
his
throat
grew
swollen from that hard time. “That’s right
,
Marcus’s mate is also your sister. You were the one she said brought her back to life. I thought she was joking until I saw that electrical demonstration you gave us at the meeting.” Finally he went back on his original subject. “As what mostly happens when my blood enters a new host
.
Zeke
died after being in agony for two days. I gave him a proper sending like he was my family.
I keep
t
his face as a constant reminder of all he gave to me and as a remembrance t
o his life. A
fter his death I secluded myself onto our side of the island. I never ventured further than what my body needed for nourishment.

“After twenty
years of grieving in solitude
,
I began hungering for companionship once again. Because of my loneliness I ventured around the island. About four weeks later I found something I’d never hope to see. There was another village
settlement
on the opposite side of my home.
The whole island’s ecosystem had healed to a livable extent.
They had only been there for no more than two or three years. I studied them and their habits for over a month and learned their new language and
how they socialize.

“Remembering how frightened Zeke was of me the first time
we met
I didn’t reveal my powers
to them
. Once I introduced myself and welcomed them to my island they didn’t trust me and their greatest warrior tried killing me. The warrior was stopped when one of the elders of the village told him to. The elder knew that his village’s greatest warrior would have been disposed of if he were to face me. Apparently the old one saw my weight as I stood in the sand of the beach.

“Soon the old man had me accepted into the village as his surrogate son. Then my time in the village as a human was changed after only six months of living with them.

“A rival tribe approached and began a
n unprovoked
fight
against us
. I cared for these new people and didn’t want to see them hurt. My decision was made up when one of them killed the old man
who took me in
. I trans
f
ormed
in front of them all by turning into my dragon form. I took the head and scales of our lizards, the tail and curved teeth of a snake, the talons of a
flying
raptor and
the
large
leathery
wings
of a bat
to carry my weight. Once my transformation had finished I completely obliterated the other tribe
by myself
.

“My people were afraid of me and I could see the resentment in the
i
r eyes for allowing me to enter their community. I
returned
to my human look and told them that it was understandable. My hopes
for companionship
were crushed again
and I
began walking back into seclusion, but something miraculous happened.

“The village’s chief had twin daughters. They told me to wait
and not
to
leave
,
so
I did. They had pleaded with their father to allow me to stay.” Raphael smiled despite himself. “The old chief could never tell them no.
T
hanks to their efforts I was able to stay
a member of the village
on one condition. I’d take them
both
as my wives.” He chuckled in amusement
for some reason, but it soon became clear
. “I was so naive back then. Of course I accepted his offer and they accepted me. I didn’t understand what they wanted of me on our wedding night because Zeke didn’t teach me about mating. My wives knew just what to do and I went along with
their
desires
and innocent coaching
.

“That all changed when I figured out that it wasn’t only my blood that caused the problem. I spilled my seed inside them
both
and
they began screa
ming in agony
an hour after my seed took hold
. Luckily all new
husbands and wives
must
leave the village for seclusion for over a week. I did what I could do to ease their pain, but as you can attest there isn’t much to do. I cried like Zeke did with his family because I knew they wouldn’t live like my friend did
n’t
.

“You have no idea how I felt seeing them in such a state. They had convinced there father to let me stay
as one of them
, become their husband and
this is what I did to repay their generosity. How could I go back to the village or face their father? What could I do besides leave them and never contact another person for the rest of my life
because whoever was around me died
.