THE VROL TRILOGY Page 25

  The beautiful dega leaned her head back and let out a mock howl, expecting laughter from the little girl, but instead was greeted by a puzzled look on the girl's face.

  "No Jennie. I do not change."

  "You don't?" asked Jennie.

  "We do not change until we come of age. Did you not know that?" she giggled.

  "Come of age?" Jennie inquired, looking puzzled.

  Max put a hand up, attempting to block Liliana's view, and with his other hand formed a circle with his thumb and forefinger, and made up and down jerking motions.

  Jennie continued to look a bit confused, while Draagh almost snorted his afternoon tea out through his nose. Even Liliana apparently got the joke, though Max quit right away, finding it a bit disturbing that a little girl would understand such things. He tried to assuage his guilt by imagining that perhaps she just thought Jennie's confused look was silly.

  They all got up to leave, with the little girl bowing to the other three, and thanking them, especially Jennie, for being so kind to her. She then jumped over to Max, and motioning for him to bend forward, whispered into his ear.

  "I accidentally saw a boy do it once. He had a look of pain upon his face, and it was quite disturbing. I do not look forward to coming of age."

  This caused Max to get another of his typical awkward expressions on his face. Smiling, she ran over and gave Jennie an affectionate hug around the waist, and then skipped off to help in preparations for the full moon. After Liliana had disappeared from sight the three adults walked out of the mess hall, with Max trailing slightly behind.

  Draagh and Jennie appeared to be discussing something quietly, when she turned and blurted out, "Max! Oh God! That's terrible!" She then rushed off to continue with her training without even looking back.

  Max stood in place, stunned, with a look of disbelief on his face. "She… she called me… Max," he stammered.

  Draagh smiled and patted his grandson on the back as they continued on to the training hall, where they spent the rest of the afternoon going through all that Max had learned in the prior week, with the young lycan mage performing cantuses while utilizing his katana, all in an attempt to find proper balance on his HUD.

  After finishing for the day, Max went back to his quarters to get cleaned up for dinner, hearing giggling coming from Jennie's room when he got to his door. He walked down the hallway, creeping up slowly, trying to avoid detection as he listened to Jennie and Liliana, who were apparently playing with woman's power gauntlet. He surmised that that young girl had somehow gotten out of her chores so she could spend more time with her new friend. As Max stood by the door, he heard what sounded like an electrical shock and a cat shrieking, causing the two girls inside to burst out in laughter. He was about to walk away, when the door suddenly opened, with Liliana standing there - hands on her hips, and an expression on her face that seemed to say oh boy - you are in So much trouble.

  "This is a girls-only club, so says Jennie!"

  The little girl playfully stuck her tongue out at Max and slammed the door shut, the room yet again echoing with the sounds of giggles and electrical shocks.

  Damn, that kinda sounds like fun, he thought as he walked to his room.

  Chapter 23 - Wolftime!

  Donus joined Draagh, Max and Jennie for dinner, as he was to assist in preparing the two youths for their first phase 3 transformations.

  "It is a bit painful, but nothing of an overwhelming sort," said the lycan commander, "so be not worried, the majority of us shall be locked away, as most lose their ability to reason, and we do not desire to do Vladros' work and deplete our own numbers."

  Jennie looked at him with a gaze of curiosity and asked, "Deplete our numbers? Do we attack our own?"

  Donus gave her a sullen look. "Yes, dear girl. Only a few can maintain their identities in such a state. It is they who guard the castle when the moon is full, along with a number of normals from the nearby village that you had the good fortune to visit with my recon team. I happen to be one of those who maintain sapience, so I will check on your well-being throughout the night."

  Max, who had been quietly eating his dinner, looked up and asked, "Where are the cells we'll be located in during the change?"

  Draagh offered an explanation, saying that the holding cells for adults were two floors beneath the dungeon, while the children would be locked in cubbyholes up above - the outsides of the doors coated with palladium and/or platinum, metals painful to the touch for both vampires and lycans while in battle and death forms. Lycans could tolerate touching those metals in day form, albeit with a mild stinging sensation.

  He had previously taught Max and Jennie that anything from the platinum family of metals, which consisted of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, could cause pain, with rhodium being the worst - but fortunately, the rarest of the group. Max was well aware of the structures of these metals, having a master's degree in molecular biology, where part of his studies included metallurgy.

  The old mage further explained that children were required to stay in these small rooms for the entire night. The last thing anyone wanted was for a poor, unfortunate child to be roaming the hallway and suddenly encounter a loose, non-sapient phase 3, as it would result in the child's instantaneous death.

  Part of the preparations for the full moon included expanded hunting parties, which brought back massive amounts of prey so that each cell had near half an animal. They had found throughout the years that a werewolf is much better contained with a food source than without one.

  Both Max and Jennie accompanied these hunting teams, the chance to leave the castle being a welcome one, and also enabling them to practice their already impressive skills. Children were busy collecting their belongings and decorating their quarters, which was a ritual that had gone on for decades. Most pups looked forward to the day of their first change, and on this particular cycle there were three local youths who were to experience it first hand - one being the teenager Max barged in on when he was slipping about the castle.

  Donus called a meeting with his night guards, as he called them, and the five who were to experience going phase 3 for the first time. Max recognized the young man whom he had so ungraciously surprised, and once he caught the lad's attention, made the same circle with his thumb and forefinger, followed by up and down jerking motions while silently laughing, taunting the boy. Jennie saw what he was doing and punched him in the arm, causing him to wince in pain.

  "You idiot. Don't! The poor kid's already been traumatized enough by you."

  Grinning, Max turned to his lovely friend and said, "Aw Jen, we all go through it sooner or later," causing her to grimace.

  "Ew, gross!"

  Donus went over the various details of their up-coming transformations and housing for the night. Of course, he left out the grizzly specifics of exactly what would happen; he didn't want to alarm his audience or cause anyone to flee. They would have plenty of time to be mortified once they had completed their transformation cycle and returned to day form.

  Lycans took their full moon transformations seriously, and although they maintained every precaution to protect their numbers, they did not denigrate their special phase 3 forms in any way. It was considered strong and noble, and all lycans studied very hard to maintain sapience during that one night every lunar cycle.

  ###

  The day of the full moon soon arrived, with everyone scrambling around making last-minute changes, such as cell and meat assignments. It appeared that there were a number of lycans who would not do well caged next to each other, so an attempt was made to separate them as much as possible.

  Max and Jennie were housed in cells next to each other. Jennie didn't mind this, but she begged Draagh to provide her with a vid of her transformation the following day, which he said he would most certainly not do, much to the woman's chagrin. The girl had a most disconcerting sense of humor, with a taste for wanton violence mixed in for good measure.

  Wh
en everything was ready, and about two hours before sundown, everyone prepared to go to their assigned quarters. Donus' night guards took their positions in turrets high above and overlooking the castle. They had impressive-looking battle armor that would transform and fit their phase 3 bodies - a gift from Draagh many years past. In fact, the Rhönen Dominion was the only clan in the world that possessed such armor. Many others had petitioned that Draagh make it for their clans, but he always turned down such requests for reasons known only to him.

  Jennie searched around and found Liliana before the little girl was to be locked away in a cubbyhole of safety, giving her an affectionate hug.

  "You stay safe, ok?" said Jennie. "I want you to join me for breakfast in the morning and tell me how it sounded."

  Liliana snickered lightly and nodded her little head, her dark hair having been put into pigtails by her older friend earlier that day. Jennie then handed her a small box, rectangular in shape, saying it was for her to play with while waiting out the night, and Liliana's eyes lit up like stars in the sky. It wasn't often that someone handed her something that looked like a gift, even though it wasn't originally intended to be one. It really didn't matter to her anyway - Jennie was entrusting her with something, and for that she was grateful.

  Liliana opened the box and looked at the wand inside with an appreciative expression. "Oh my, this is so much better than that little stick I play with."

  "Huh? So it was you!"

  "Excuse me? Have I done something wrong, Jennie?" she asked, gaining a look of panic, as if she had done something wrong.

  "Oh no, sweetie. It was you I saw at the end of my mock battle with Max. You lit a stick on fire and ran away."

  Liliana smiled softly and nodded her head.

  Needing to prepare for the full moon, Jennie left her little friend and headed back down to the lower level, where she met up with Max and Draagh.

  "Pops, where will you be when this all happens?" asked Max, noting that Jennie had just entered the vast chamber of individual cells, all lined up on either side, with a two meter-high wall running down the middle of the room, blocking the view from the cells across the way.

  "Oh, I believe I shall be up above, enjoying the beautiful moon, and perhaps enjoying a bit of my pipe. You see, Krynos does not care much for the wonderfully aromatic scent of my herb, so I have refrained from partaking in its pleasures as of late."

  Jennie rolled her eyes as Max chuckled a bit. He had come to accept that his grandfather loved the pipe, even though it affected the old mage more than he would willingly admit.

  Jennie and Max then entered into their cells, and Draagh shut and locked each of the doors as the two sat down on floor mats provided for their minimalistic comfort. He bid them farewell and departed for the upper levels, his herb satchel already in hand.

  Not being able to see one another, but able to talk, they disrobed completely, and hung their garments on hooks on the walls of their cells. They weren't provided with the special armor that Draagh had created for the night guard, but they did want something to put on once they had transformed back to their normal, lycan selves. There was nothing to do except wait until the morning, stuck in their respective cells, so they began chatting about various things, more small talk than anything else, while lying down and looking at the giant slabs of meat hanging in each of their enclosures. Jennie looked at her own personal meat smorgasbord, eyeing it while licking her full, sensuous lips.

  "I'm kinda hungry. Maybe I'll take a bite already."

  "It should taste fairly good. I caught a servant trying to hang some already-rotting meat in our cells and gave him the riot act," responded Max.

  They both stared at their gently swaying, raw meals as they pondered what the night would bring. A short while later, they both heard growling and groaning sounds coming from down the corridor. Apparently, not all lycans were created equal, and some changed earlier than others.

  Donus unexpectedly appeared at their location, showing a look of surprise at seeing them sitting without yet having transformed. Startled by his unannounced arrival, Jennie instantly jumped back and covered herself with her shirt hanging on the wall.

  "Ah, a handsome woman indeed you are, young Jennie. You shall make a certain lycan quite happy when you have chosen your mate!"

  "Oh my God, don't look!" the girl cried out, as they both heard Max complaining in his cell.

  "Hey! Not fair! Bastards!"

  "Shut up, Gunnarsson! You're such a perv!"

  Donus laughed at Max's unfortunate lack of scenery as well as Jennie's antagonistic response, and continued, saying, "Young Max - you are certainly being denied a view of one of the great wonders of the world. Magnificent! Anyway, my friends! You look quite well! It pleases me to see that the change has not yet set upon your countenances."

  Jennie gave Donus a slightly embarrassed look, and kicking on the wall of her cell that was shared with Max she said, "Why should that be weird? I hear stuff, but what's the difference?"

  "My sister, those who are of weaker constitution tend to suffer their transformation sooner than those of great strength, but then again, I should have expected as much. You are both strong, indeed."

  Max sat up and did a little drum roll on their shared wall, and in an announcer-like voice, said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly announce the coming of… yarrrrrrrrrgghhhh!"

  Max had started to shift to phase 3, and it wasn't pleasant. Jennie listened in concerned horror as he screamed out in agony.

  "Hold fast, dear brother! It shall soon pass and you will see all in a different light," exclaimed Donus, while Jennie got a terrified look on her face. Donus retained a slight smile and glowing, wide eyes as he watched Max transform.

  "U-oh, here it comes," she groaned, feeling her body change from the inside out.

  ###

  A phase 3 lycan transformation was never a pretty sight. In fact, it was known to have caused witnessing normals to enter into a permanent state of catatonic shock. The change started internally, with the organs shifting to accommodate the elongation of bones and muscles, which in itself felt like the worst cramps and diarrhea one could ever experience (and sometimes with equivalent results spraying out all over the place). The individual then dropped to the ground on all fours as their arms and legs bulged due to the violent muscular growth. Mutatebots (building/mutation particles) worked in uncountable quantities, building new tissues (and causing agonizing pain), while the salubots (health particles) performed their duties by flushing away dead and unused portions of the body through orifices, resembling the effects of the deadly ebola virus. Human skin shredded and sloughed off, with blood spurting out of ripped-open wounds caused by the sudden, unexpected expansion of muscular tissues and body configuration changes. The tibia and fibula leg bones would self-break and reform with a backwards knee, known as a stifle. Claws violently burst out of the fingers and toes, with the hands and feet becoming dexterous paws with semi-formed digits. Near the end of the brain-melting sequence, the body elongated and the muzzle pushed out of the face. The worst part of this was that the lupine-style teeth replaced the former lycan/human teeth, with the old ones popping out and falling to the ground, followed by ample amounts of blood and pus. Finally, fur grew over the body and face, and the ears extended. It was almost as if a werewolf had grown inside and then burst out of the former body like a balloon.

  Needless to say, it hurt - immensely, and once finished, after about one minute, a very large werewolf was standing in a puddle of blood, blue pus and intestinal waste, where a friendly and sapient lycan used to be.

  Donus looked at the two with a rather unsettling smile, and then cleaned his battle armor and face of human skin and bodily fluids (mostly Jennie's as he had watched her intently). After making sure they had transformed with no ill effects, he left and returned up top to be with his night guard, and to direct the normal human patrols.

  ###

  Draagh sat up in a turret at the top of the castle, puffing aw
ay at his pipe, when Krynos approached him. Quickly waving away the pungent smoke, he put his pipe into his pocket and greeted his old friend.

  "Krynos, lovely night is it not? The air on this world is so pure and invigorating."

  The lycan king had yet to begin his transformation, usually being the last to do so, and had arrived to greet his friend and have a bit of a chat before he would start running around the castle and peeing all over the place - marking territory that was most definitely his anyway.

  "I just spoke with Donus. He says that your two young charges have experienced the change without difficulty."

  "Ah, excellent!" agreed the old mage. "So then, all we must do is wait out the night, and in the morning join in the main hall for a mighty feast."

  "That would be correct, dear brother," stated Krynos. With that, he looked over at the rising moon and bounded off out of sight, knowing that he was soon to experience his own transformation. Draagh smiled, and pulling his pipe back out, lit it up and puffed away while relaxing in the light of the rising full moon.

  ###

  The werewolves who were once, and again would be Jennie and Max, paced in their cells, unaware of their location, or even of themselves. They were now beasts of pure instinct, and these instincts led them to choose between three very different activities - to escape, to eat the meat hanging in their cells, or to mate. They smelled each other, the mutual attraction being irresistible. Maybe it was just that they had spent so much time together, or it was that they were actively denying the spark of romance while in lycan form, but something drove them to try and sniff each other at the edge of their shared wall, where the bars of their cells terminated the barrier, their noses not quite able to touch.