Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart

by Lorena Angell

  “So you’re saying that if I’d actually handed the diamond to the Death dudes things would have gone differently?”

  “No, people of powers cannot handle the stone. If you’d handed the stone over, it would have killed the first person who accepted it. The remaining clan members would not have been able to heal the deceased either.”

  “But, wait, I saw in one of my vision outcomes the Death Clan rising up and becoming empowered and murdering many people.”

  “What you saw were the repercussions of the Death Clan realizing I’d duped them. If you’d watched that vision play out, you’d have seen their destruction by my own hand. You have a lot to learn about interpreting the visions you see. The Death Clan was always going to be destroyed Calli, but I coupled their end with your beginning. You asked if I have a shard, yes, I have a diamond in my heart. I received mine in the same manner as you.”

  “The diamond shard stopped my heart and killed me. If that happened to you too, who healed your heart and brought you back to life?”

  “A mysterious being revived me following the priest’s destruction. I don’t know who she was or where she came from but she had far greater powers than I have ever seen. My beliefs of the time labeled her as the goddess Isis. Isn’t it interesting how our culture and belief systems can influence our minds? She gathered the pieces of the stone and divided them into twenty equal sized pieces and instructed me on the will of nature, charged me with maintaining a balance forever. She instructed me to seek out candidates who would also respect the will of nature and empower them with one of the Sanguine Diamonds. Freedom was one of my choices; he and I do not see eye to eye. Freedom lost the desire to continue being an agent to the will of nature and has gone rogue.”

  “The mysterious woman, where did she come from? Have you seen her since?”

  “I don’t know much about her and yes, I’ve seen her a few times in my lifetime.”

  “So, there were twenty-one pieces all together, right? Freedom has one, you have one, I have a piece of one, but where are the others?”

  “The other stones are in Unaltereds around the globe. Each has a duty or responsibility and we are all interconnected mentally because all our diamonds came from the same stone.”

  “I’m connected to other Unaltereds?”

  “Not yet, you only have a fragment in you.”

  “Are you saying I will eventually have all the shards inside me?”

  “Yes. I mentioned this after the Death Clan’s destruction. I told you that once the splintering takes place, no one can halt or change the future of the diamond. Now, think about the possession aspect I mentioned. The diamond recognized you as its owner and reacted viciously to the attempted hijacking of its powers. When it exploded, it killed you, thus releasing your possession of the stone pieces, except for the one in your heart. Once you were revived, the shard was once again in your possession; the other pieces were in limbo. At that moment, any Unaltered person could have picked them up and taken possession; luckily, I was the only Unaltered around. I picked them up one at a time and encased each piece in an amulet that can be worn by people of powers. So long as the shard is never broken out of the casing it doesn’t pose any threat to people of powers. But if two or more shards are brought together in too close of proximity, they will try to hook together like magnets. If you push magnets together from a distance, they will jump toward the other when they get close enough. If that happened with two amulets, the shards will break their casing.

  “The shard in your heart is protected by your body. You can be around people of powers and they can touch you and not die, but if you get too close to too many of the shards, some fireworks will go off.” She winked with the last comment.

  “So, what happens when a Diamond Bearer dies?”

  “The next Unaltered to touch the stone will own it. Technically, you died and the scattered shards belonged to no one. If I hadn’t brought you alive, the diamond shard in your heart would have been up for grabs too.”

  “Someone died and their stone was given to me, am I correct?”

  Maetha was genuinely shocked by my question. “A very good friend of mine removed his diamond for the purposes of annihilating the Death Clan.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “His name was Gustave.”

  “He died?”

  “Calli, Diamond Bearers live until they’re decapitated or their heart is separated from their body.”

  “He willingly removed his heart?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow! The diamond I carried came from the inside of a man named Gustave? The piece inside of me right now—”

  “Gustave was a relative of yours, Calli, and he approved of my selecting you to carry his diamond.”

  What a humbling revelation! “Are the Diamond Bearers immortal, Maetha?”

  “No, we could be killed if we stopped paying attention to our surroundings and future constantly. When you had the whole stone on your chest didn’t you feel the power of awareness flowing through you?”

  “Yes, I spoke telepathically with Chris and had a vision of my own future. It was at that point I realized I wasn’t going to die through all of it.”

  “I placed the diamond in the pouch for protection from Freedom. I’d envisioned the capture of the stone and realized I needed to protect it from Freedom’s awareness. He set the situation in motion two hundred years ago when he taught the Death Clan how to feel inside the body and how to manipulate healthy tissue. Prior to that incident, he’d sided with a different group of Healers teaching them how to pull the life essence from people.”

  “The Vampires?”

  “They were referred to as such but looked as normal as you or I. A diamond was harvested from a Diamond Bearer and one of your relatives was used in the same way as you for the Death Clan. Some day you’ll meet him.”

  I was excited to meet him along with all the other Diamond Bearers. “So, Freedom has been running amok for a while now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why don’t you just read his mind or look for his future and put a stop to him?”

  “It doesn’t work that way with a Diamond Bearer. Calli, you learned how to maneuver through mind-block walls and shocked more than a few people. The Readers were amazed the most by that. What you did was enter the mind in an angled fashion different than regular mind readers use; of course yours is different because your power source comes from the diamond.”

  “Can’t you break through his walls like I did with the Readers?”

  “You didn’t break through walls you found the holes and gaps and entered through them. Imagine a game of checkers. All the disks are placed on black squares and can only move on black squares. You know the rules for checkers like when you can jump or when you can’t; one of those rules is you always move at an angle on the black squares, never on the red. Imagine that you haven’t moved any of your checkers but your opponent is trying to be kinged. He must get to the last row but is blocked and cannot get through. If you got down at eye level to the game board, your checkers would appear to be in a straight line, not a zig-zag pattern. This is how a mind block is seen by Mind Readers; a straight wall. But Diamond Bearers have the bird’s eye view and can play on both the black and red squares. We are able to reach the back row because everyone else only has blocks set up on the black squares. We move diagonally on the red squares and enter through the blocks. However, Diamond Bearers can set up blocks on their red squares too, but not to keep the Mind Readers out, because they can’t read our minds anyway, but to keep other Diamond Bearers out.

  “This is the reason I exercise extreme caution when selecting a bearer. I need to be certain you’ll be a good agent of nature before ever giving you the diamond. I know once you have all the pieces of your stone and have learned how to block completely I won’t be able to enter your mind. I, along with the other Diamond Bearers, will be able to sense where you are at all times but won’t be able to read your mind if you don’t
want it to be read. Freedom has found a way to prevent all communication from the other Diamond Bearers. He has figured out how to be ‘invisible’ in a sense. We cannot track his location all of the time. We cannot see his future either. The day he appeared to you, he resurfaced momentarily. I bi-located to his location, outside your mother’s clinic, and watched him communicate with you and then turn and walk away.”

  I was amazed to hear her say this. “You were there? I didn’t see you.”

  “I wasn’t there to be seen. I had a fix on Freedom and I needed to follow him. My eyes held onto his physical form but I could no longer track him using the diamond’s powers; he’d gone ‘invisible’ again. Being able to see him but not feel him confused me greatly. I knew I must alert the others.”

  “What do you think he’s using or doing to hide from you?”

  “I don’t worry so much about the logistics of his ability to block us as much as I worry about his reason. The ‘why’ is much more disconcerting. Freedom disagrees with my choices and feels life on this planet should play out chaotically with disasters and illnesses keeping the population under control. However, that would also mean people of powers would rise up and rule the rest, as in my early days, and the Unaltered blood line would have ended during the Black Plague in 1348.

  “The Diamond Bearers chose not to eradicate the plague because it would have been in direct violation with nature. The world’s population suffered a huge hit but without it the planet would be overrun with humans right now. However, Freedom, his wife and two children were infected and were going to die. I stepped in and healed Freedom and his oldest, a son, to keep the bloodline going. Freedom was to be the next Diamond Bearer and his son would continue the line. There was nothing to indicate to me that Freedom would stray from the path of nature, but once he became a Diamond Bearer and learned what I had done, his true nature surfaced.

  “His son lived a full life and had several children, the first of which was Unaltered thus passing down the gene to continue the line. In Freedom’s mind, the good thing I did was not right and as his son aged the more it angered him. The fire was fueled with the deaths of his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. Freedom feels I took away his choice, I forced him into this immortal state against his will; in essence, he’s right. This is something you’ll need to wrap your mind around, Calli. Your present family will die before you. Your future family will die before you, and some because of you. But the first born from every generation will be protected and guarded, placed on the ready, should any be needed in the way you were needed.”

  “So, is every Diamond Bearer a descendant of yours?”

  “Almost.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you’re like my great, great, great, great…how many greats?”

  “Three-hundred generations.”

  “You’re the greatest grandmother ever! How is it you’ve kept your existence a secret? I mean, you and all of the other Diamond Bearers. Why didn’t Mrs. Winter know about you, or Chris, or the Death Clan for that matter? We have ancient Greek mythology stories, Bible stories, even King Tut stories, but no Diamond Bearer stories.”

  “You are comparing the lives of twenty-one individuals to entire empires and civilizations; of course you’ll have stories about them still surviving in this day and age. A small handful of people, regardless of their powers and abilities, slip through the cracks of time; besides, those grand iconic stories you mentioned are just fun bedtime stories told and retold to the point of becoming myths. The real stories behind the myths are much more interesting, trust me. How have we kept our existence hidden? We stay out of sight for our own preservation.”

  “Once I have all the shards inside me I’ll be able to communicate with the other Diamond Bearers, right?”

  “Yes, and they with you.”

  “When will that happen?”

  “When I know with a certainty you won’t become another Freedom. Do you have any other questions at this time, Calli?”

  “You’re leaving? Will I be able to communicate with you? I thought you were bringing Beth and that I’d be learning how to spot auras? What do I do in the meantime?”

  “Yes, I’m leaving. I have other pressing business to attend to. In the meantime you need to practice meditation. Learn how to control your mind; learn how to bring yourself to a place of neutrality. As far as communication, I will come to you when the time is right. Until then, try to find your place in nature. Keep current with the world’s news and you may be able to spot our interventions.”

  “Do I have to go back to school? I mean, honestly, what’s the point?”

  “As your greatest grandmother, I’m telling you to finish school.”

  “Going to pull that card, are you? Alright. What about my parents? Should they know what’s going on with me?”

  “Not yet; all in due time.”

  “Maetha, what do you know about the Shadow Demons?”

  “They are the consequences of using a diamond to wipe out a group of Healers.”

  “So, they are the dead Healers?”

  “Yes, their desire for power holds them to this world. That’s also why they only go after people of powers.”

  “Can’t we get rid of them?”

  “Oh, there have been attempts to do so throughout the years, but so far nothing has been successful. All we’ve come up with is how to push them back with light. I am of the mind that they live in an alternate dimension with our darkness being their windows. They are not present in all dark corners of the world, only those where they can smell the powers in existence.”

  “Yeah, I’ve figured that out already. You said they are the consequences of using a diamond to wipe out a clan of Healers. Is there another way to wipe out clans without using a diamond?”

  “Our group of twenty-one Immortals can kill any group of Healers. But when we do, it only sparks the development of many immortality-seeking Healers. They see us and what we can do and figure we must be all powerful immortal Healers and they strive to become the same. Basically, we end up making more work for ourselves when we reveal our powers. In this current world we live in, it’s downright dangerous for us to step out of the shadows. Governments would love to capture us and find out what keeps us alive. We have enough trouble with the governments as it is; we certainly don’t need them trying to find Immortals, to boot.”

  “I’m going to find a way to eliminate the Demons, Maetha.”

  “Calli, I believe you will try, but I don’t see it in your future.”

  “Well, things can change.”

  “Yes, they can. For now, I want you to try to enjoy your childhood, enjoy your youth.”

  I couldn’t help myself from laughing. “What? Are you serious?”

  “I’m completely serious. You need to go out with your friends and go on dates with the young men.”

  “I’m not interested in any of the boys around here.”

  “Calli, I’m not telling you to forget about the vision you saw concerning Chris, I’m simply telling you to broaden your horizons and experience life for what it is. You have several years before fate intervenes; get out there and be a kid.”

  “I don’t know. I’ll try but I’ve never really fit in.”

  “That is the purpose behind my encouragement. You need social interaction to learn how to blend in better, to learn the social conventions of the age, to keep up with the trends. Before you knew how old I really am would you have been able to guess that I wasn’t from ‘your’ time?”

  I shook my head.

  “Some of the other Diamond Bearers are not as cultured and up to date with the world and they are actually handicapped by their refusal to press forward with advancements. I don’t want that to happen to you and social interaction on the basic level is the first step to staying current.”

  “Alright. I’ll hang out a little more.”

  “Good. I’ll visit you again down the road.”

  She left me s
itting in my chair under the giant umbrella pondering everything she’d revealed. What would it be like to be Maetha and watch the world change and evolve over her lifetime? What would it be like in my own lifetime? Even if I only lived five-hundred years, what kind of changes and advancements would I witness? The idea boggled my mind and I put it out of my head. The issue of hanging out with other kids my own age had my stomach in knots. I simply didn’t relate with the kids from my school and the other day at the mall with Suz was proof enough of that.

  Chapter 4 - Brand New Power

  I’ve gone out several different nights looking for the Shadow Demons but found nothing in all the places I’ve looked. I’d like to investigate them further but how can I when they’re nowhere to be found?

  School will be starting soon, thank God; I’m tiring of Suz constantly whimpering about Brand and why he won’t pay her any attention. I’ve tried on multiple occasions to read his mind only to be perplexed at the mess he has inside his mind. Looking for his future is worse; I don’t quite know how to describe what I see. For one thing, I can’t actually see what he’ll do next because there are too many possibilities of where he’ll go. Never before have I actually seen possible outcomes in someone’s future; I just see their future. Needless to say, Brand has become my new project because I don’t like things I don’t understand.

  School has been in session for one week now and everything is just as I left it in the spring; no one pays me any attention. Even the teachers look right past me to the point I’m beginning to wonder if Maetha has something to do with this; but I’m torn. I don’t care for attention, yet I’m missing it—somewhat.