THE VROL TRILOGY

by SK Benton

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  "…eterna de primoooof!!!"

  Donus hit Marnn squarely in the side of his torso, full force, after coming in at roughly 50 kilometers per hour, rendering the fallen Primulus incapable of finishing his homicidal cantus. With lightning speed Draagh took advantage of the distraction and reached out, his staff flying into his hand, and was instantly and unsteadily on his feet, ready to battle his brother - to the death.

  ###

  In the lower level dungeon, two floors below the prisoner dungeon, where all of the phase 3s were locked away, the majority of werewolves were running madly around their small enclosures, smelling vampires through the air ducts that brought fresh air down into the depths of the castle. In most cases at that hour, they would be quietly and happily munching away on the partial animals hung above their cots, but this night was different.

  Max and Jennie, in their phase 3 forms, paced around their cells, occasionally running up to the bars and trying to sniff for indications of any kind of threat. They only experienced things with animalistic instincts and vague, black and white imagery in their minds. Base feelings, such as rage, lust, fear and pain drove them via a genetic fight-or-flight response. They had both already eaten their venison legs, and were amped up and ready for anything, although they had no clue as to what. The other phase 3 werewolves who had not eaten would suffer a meter tank upon phase 1 conversion, as there were not enough energy resources available to sustain them once they had changed. Fortunately, very few of them ever suffered this, as the clan previously identified them as potential crashers, so their meat supply was always set on the floor instead of being hung from the ceiling. The waking team always provided nourishment shakes to those who needed it. Alea was on the waking team, and she would be sorely missed that following morning.

  Five floors above, Liliana navigated through the castle walls, sniffing until she found the proper vertical access tunnel - the one that would lead her to the lower dungeon area. She reached over and shook the ladder, just to make sure it wouldn't fall apart on her, and seeing that it was stable, began to climb down to the lower depths of the castle with Jennie's gauntlet on her left hand and the wand in her mouth.

  ###

  Outside and over the castle, the two Prīmulī quickly moved around, suspended in the air, 10 meters above the walkways between the castle towers. For every cantus that was thrown, an expert defense was provided. It seemed that Draagh was constantly on the defense, and he knew that if he were to win the fight he would have to reverse the order of things. Marnn wasn't just hitting him with grav pushes either - he was using everything in his arsenal that wouldn't result in his own incineration. As they were in clear view of anyone in the expansive open areas of the castle, they were putting on a spectacular show. It just happened to be one of the deadliest close-quarters combat shows ever seen in the Orion Spiral Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

  Vladros watched with keen interest (and shielded eyes), as the two immortals battled, thick beams of multi-colored light emanating from their staffs.

  "Torlen! Do you not see the futility in their battle?" demanded the vampire king.

  His protective guard, Torlen, one of his most trusted aides, always agreed with the ghoul leader, and said, "Yes, my liege, it seems like a never ending cycle of attack, defend, attack, and defend. Then they do it all over again. It would be quite boring, if the lights were not so unnervingly attractive."

  A vampire that admired light was one thing, but Torlen was of a special breed - his bloodline was completely immune to any kind of UV rays. In fact, they could even get a tan, if not for the fact that they were still slowly decomposing walking near-corpses.

  "I want you to go inside with a small detail and hunt down Krynos. Bring me his head - or I will have yours. Go!"

  "Yes, my Lord", he responded, as he pointed to four members of Vladros' protective guard and motioned for them to follow him into the castle.

  The group of five entered into the same side door that Ryder Johnson had earlier used to enter the castle and, sniffing the air, determined that there was little danger in the immediate vicinity. Moving down a narrow corridor, they encountered a stairwell, which they took to the upper levels. They ran up to the mezzanine and looked out over the main hall, which was devoid of all life. Only small piles of ashes showed where their brothers had so valiantly fought and met their final moments of life. Suddenly, they saw the flash of a figure running down a far corridor. Torlen smelled the air deeply, while his troops gave each other wary glances, having just seen piles of vampire death before their faces.

  "Not to worry, my brothers," said the lesser-disfigured commander, "he was vampire, but he has a different scent. I believe it was the alien whom Vladros despises so."

  He then tore down the pathway along the mezzanine, with troops in tow, following where Johnson had gone, and figuring that if it were the alien then he at least would be a fitting distraction for any lycan hiding in the shadows.

  ###

  Johnson looked in vain for Jennie and Max, not having any idea where they might be. He was given virtually no information on the castle, or where the phase 3 lycans housing was, as Vladros simply wanted him to die, not having the guts to kill the young man himself. As he raced down yet another hallway, he caught a scent - the scent of lycan youth, and spun around, looking in every direction. However, he didn't peer into the grates on the walls, because if he had he would have possibly detected a young lycan girl, noisily navigating her way down to the floors below.

  However, he did look at the grates.

  ###

  As there were still vampires rampaging throughout the castle, Krynos stayed with the children, constantly sniffing the air and checking the hallway. Then, he detected the scents of Donus and Kangor approaching. Waiting for them to arrive, he spoke to the children in the language that all lycans use when in sapient death form, learned from the time they are old enough to speak.

  "Children, you must sit in the back of your kennels. Be very quiet and do not attract attention. Have your garlic sprays ready, and if vampires approach, spray them and scream as loudly as you can. Do you understand?"

  All of the children responded, saying, "Yes King Krynos!" in their lycan tongue, and sounding more like puppies than children.

  Moments later, Donus and Kangor burst into the room, with Donus giving their leader an update on the battle, while Kangor guarded the entryway.

  "We have managed to destroy most of the lesser forces of Vladros, and only his upper-caste remains. However, although they are not plentiful in numbers, they are skilled and maintain some form of magical protection, so we must fight together and carve a path of ash through the corridors until none remain. I also assisted Lord Draagh in distracting his enemy, and it appears he may yet gain the upper hand."

  Krynos nodded his lupine head, and looking around at the children (who were not following his previous instructions), let out a nasty snarl that sent them to the backs of their cubbyholes.

  Returning his gaze to his second in command, he growled, "This room has already been attacked by vampires, so it carries the scent of death. I do not believe that any will again approach this floor."

  While he stood near the door, Kangor also gave his king a status update.

  "My Lord, the defenses worked as expected, and the majority of the troops were decimated before scaling the walls. Plus, we also bring good tidings,"

  "And what would these good tidings be, Kangor?"

  "We shall not have to feed the sharks for at least a fortnight."

  Donus smirk-growled, knowing that, although true, Kangor attempted to lighten the mood, which had been quite dark for the past hours.

  Then, the three most powerful lycans in the Rhönen Dominion bolted down the hallway, after Krynos had kicked some vampire ashes out into the corridor and locked the door, keeping the children relatively safe. Tearing through the east wing, they looked out windows facing the courtyard to see Draagh and Marnn fighting in their ancient a
rts. Numerous bolts of light and eerie, opaque shields materialized out of thin air as the stalemate continued. Sounds like electrified, burning metal sizzled through the air. As they hit the master stairway, all three dropped to the lower floor, where they had detected the rotting stench of the enemy. They split up, with Krynos heading out alone, and Donus and Kangor ghosting their leader. Although they were animals, sapient werewolves were extremely intelligent - one could say much brighter than when in their day form, and this was simply a lycan battle tactic.

  They were no longer defending their castle - they were hunting vampires.

  ###

  Draagh and Marnn continued their otherworldly battle, staffs flashing brilliantly, with deadly beams of energy and defensive shields being subconsciously generated. All seemed to lead to a stalemate, until both mages simultaneously fired an offensive combination of identical flame and gravity cantuses at each other, knocking themselves back tens of meters in opposite directions. Draagh was up first and quickly shot over to his downed brother. Shocked, Marnn opened his eyes to see his detested sibling standing over him, with an angry, yet concerned look. Draagh had his glowing staff pointed directly at Marnn's face, ready to inflict serious damage, and after many long seconds finally spoke.

  "Brother, you indeed have serious issues with which to contend, and although it is not my place to kill you, as I have sworn to preserve life to the utmost of my abilities, you can no longer exist on this plane. I truly am sorry for what I must do, as you have gone beyond the pale."

  Not wishing to expose himself to another moment of danger, he executed his cantus:

  "Moverincatatio exilium purgatorio"

  Marnn disappeared to a dimensional purgatory from which he would never escape, followed by a sucking sound that terminated in a loud pop. He would continue existing, but in blank nothingness. For most that was a fate worse than death.

  Draagh kneeled down and picked up his brother's staff, left behind when the fallen mage was forever banished. Appraising the dark mage's device, he thought he might hold onto it for a while, but then reconsidered.

  Max will not be ready for quite some time, and when the time does come, he will find his ghanlo just like the rest of us.

  The staff of a Primulus was no ordinary walking stick, nor even a magical object of great power. Inside it was a living entity, the ghanlo, and although not sentient, it had immortal life and therefore could not be killed or even disposed of. The object in which it resided could not be broken; it was not affected by the elements, and it withstood the ravages of the deadliest radiation and even the burning fires of a sun. Prīmulī could change the object in which their ghanlo resided, and Draagh himself had carried his in the form of a sword many centuries before (when he used to pal around with Vikings). The staffs of minor-mages were indeed simply wooden objects through which they channeled their abilities and collected some 3D computational data, but for the most part they were as valuable as a wooden pole. Draagh's ghanlo was nearly old as the galaxy itself, as it was created when he was - so connected were the two.

  Mentally concentrating on the local area, he saw that Max and Jennie were safe in their cells, the children had been saved by Krynos, and the lycan king and his top two aides were quickly dispatching the invading forces, so he decided to dispose of the staff before heading down and finishing off the invaders.

  As he stood there, with Marnn's staff in his hands, he knew he was required to send it far away, to a place that not even he could find, to rest within an object of cultural importance that was not of his knowledge. This was the law for ghanlos detached from their masters. The ghanlo had already terminated its connection with Marnn as soon as its former patron was banished, so it would simply wait until again claimed.

  He gazed upon the black pole with an ornate headstock and then, setting it down, brought up his own infoscreen and started randomly typing data into the seemingly intangible interface. Before he could finish his 4d slip data entry, which was to take the staff, Socrates coalesced into view.

  "Lord Draagh, greetings."

  Chapter 25 - Liliana to the Rescue

  Deep within the walls of the castle, Liliana dropped to the ground inside her vertical access tunnel, having reached the dungeon where the phase 3 lycans were being housed. Howls and snarls immediately commenced, all having detected her scent. She used the same cantus as before, blowing out the iron grate and cautiously sticking her head out, looking in every direction for any sort of danger.

  After determining that no one was loose in death form, she crept down the corridor, attempting to find Jennie - the only problem was that she didn't know what Jennie looked like in phase 3.

  Liliana peered into each cell, with nearly every werewolf growling and snapping hungrily at her. She had almost reached the end when she saw two very unusual werewolves in adjacent cells. One, a female, had a particularly glossy black coat and was relatively small in size compared to the others. The male in the cell next to the female had a medium brown coat, and was slightly larger. The odd thing was that they both seemed so calm, simply sitting on their hindquarters and keeping as close together as they could, despite their common wall. Liliana took one look and knew that they were Jennie and Max.

  "Jennie! I know it is you. I am so glad you are safe, but we need your help for we have been attacked by the enemy - vampires are in the castle, and a battle continues as I speak."

  Phase 3 Jennie just sat and looked at the little girl without moving. The little girl neared the cage that housed her transformed friend, and for a moment it seemed as if she could reach out and touch the werewolf, but the its face suddenly contorted and snarled, as it snapped at the little girl.

  Scared, Liliana jumped back, a tear rolling down her small cheek, but she knew that she had to try to help her to change back with something untested. Frightened, she pulled out the power gauntlet. The werewolf had stopped snarling, and was watching the little girl put the quadrinium device onto her hand. Then, as if knowing what was to happen, it sat in the middle of the cage and closed its eyes. Liliana lifted the gauntlet with purpose, and pointed it at her friend.

  "Electrincantatio quassatio!"

  A massive burst of electricity shot out from the glove and hit phase 3 Jennie squarely in the chest, knocking the werewolf back against the wall, with ample amounts of smoke and the stink of burnt fur filling the air.

  "Jennie! No! Jennie!" cried out the little lycan. "Please don't be dead! Please wake up!"

  The child was so concerned with her friend that she didn't notice a mid-level vampire soldier had found the dungeon, and was creeping up behind her. The cacophony of scents and chaos in the castle prevented her young, nascent senses from detecting the immediate danger until the last second. Phase 3s were going wild in their cages, not being able to get at their mortal enemy that stood right before them.

  "Lycan child, this shall be fun," the decrepit creature hissed, as he raised his knifed hand, preparing to plunge the blade into her small frame. His rotting smile held nothing but evil intent, masked by near-dead eyes.

  Liliana gasped and looked up, her face defiant, as the looming vampire created a shadow over her small face.

  "Now you die, dog scum."

  His arm slammed down in a flash, as the girl screamed.

  ###

  "Greetings, old friend. How are you?" Draagh asked Socrates.

  "If what you ask regards my well-being, as I am technically not a being, then nothing has changed. Query: Are you attempting to send Marnn's staff to another world?"

  "I am indeed. You are aware of the law."

  "Yes, my Lord. Data is not to be saved. The staff shall be lost until its next user is attracted to its frequency."

  "That is correct. Would you be so kind as to verify the four-dimensional coordinates and make sure that I am not sending this to the center of a sun, or into a black hole?"

  Socrates slowly spun to port, as he usually did while computing data, especially the Kamiliak Equation. When he was d
one, he slowly came to a stop, errant particles flowing back into the floating mask.

  "The equation is complete, my Lord. The ghanlo shall be safe."

  "You are not to save this data, so states the law."

  "That is correct my Lord. However, data is energy, and energy is never permanently lost -it is simply repurposed."

  Draagh sighed, and looked to the stars. He knew not where he was sending the ghanlo, but he was certain it would not be located until it was meant to be found, and hopefully, the new owner would not fall to darkness, as his now-banished brother had done. He pushed a symbol on his infoscreen and Marnn's staff vanished from site with a small popping sound.

  He then turned and raced down the pathway to the closest stairway, while Socrates dissolved from view.

  ###

  Mere nanoseconds before the ghoul's blade reached young Liliana's head, its trajectory was altered, and passed harmlessly by her shoulder. Liliana, who had bravely kept her eyes open in defiance, watched as two copper-colored hands had grasped the enemy creature's neck, and then twisted it more than 180 degrees around, snapping it and ending the man's life.

  He dropped to the floor with a heavy thud, a completely naked Jennie Escalante standing over his corpse and tiredly looking down at it.