The Ancient Breed (47 page)

“Sounds like one,” Nick said, trying to imagine the fierce, two-legged horror.

She turned a few more pages and read again. “Now, it says that dozens of small, hairless creatures scrambled from the cylinder’s opening and danced and hopped around the beast, but it did nothing to deter their antics.

“They watched the creatures for days. The purebloods learned that each time the little creatures emerged from the cylinder, they would run ahead, locate a Neanderthal encampment, and slaughter the males. The beast would follow and feast on the meatier women and children. After watching the devil horde exterminate three Neanderthal tribes, the purebloods decided to act.”

Nick envisioned the carnage, and anger flushed his cheeks.

“Using their magic, and they aren’t specific here, they eliminated the vile beast and the small hunters. Nothing more is noted here about the deaths, except that only one pureblood wizard was killed in the battle. They sealed all the corpses inside the cylinder and then explored it. After a thorough search, they discovered that the cylinder was an intergalactic spaceship, and that the inhabitants who had built and piloted the vessel had died upon impact. They also determined that it had been some kind of transport ship with a cargo area lined with cages and corpses of the most bizarre life-forms they had ever laid eyes on.

“Only one of the specimens had survived the crash – the Cumalodin. Its cage door appeared to have sprung open upon impact, releasing the beast. However, they couldn’t locate the cage for the smaller specimens. After sealing the ship, they used their collective magic powers to move it offshore from what is now Portugal and dumped it into the Atlantic Ocean. Now, further on in the book . . . ,” Glenna’s voice trailed off as she thumbed to the back of the text for her next reading.

Nick wondered why the ancient purebloods hadn’t revealed how they eliminated the Cumalodin. It was possible they had considered the matter closed, because they had slain the beast and had sent it to the bottom of the ocean.

“Here!” she announced triumphantly and started to read. “Just before the half-breeds’ recorded history . . .”

“
Humans
, please,” Nick corrected her.

She nodded agreeably. “All right, then. Just before the
humans’
recorded history, a little over four thousand years ago, four powerful destroyers formed a pact – which was highly unusual, since they didn’t usually trust anyone - to reclaim this dimension for the purebloods and destroyers by exterminating the half . . .
humans
. Sort of an insane dimension cleansing, you might say. Anyway, by then, one of their pureblood scientists created an elixir that would preserve both their youth and accumulated knowledge indefinitely. It seemed to be a very logical solution to the problem of a new generation repeating the mistakes of the previous one.”

“Does the book say who invented the elixir?”

She didn’t need to glance at the pages. “Alick Tobhor.”

Nick froze. If his hunch about the fountain of youth elixir was correct, then the scientist-sorcerer might still be alive and kicking at four thousand years of age!

57

“U

nbelievable!” Nick exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “I can’t believe my remote viewing episode took me back
four thousand year!
?”

Glenna shot him a sharp glance. “What remote viewing experience?”

Nick was mildly surprised that the all-knowing, all-seeing Glenna Guttentag wasn’t aware of his excursion into the past. He summarized his experience, concluding with Alick Tobhor’s terrified expression.

“Oh dear,” she said, clearly agitated.

He leaned over the table again. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s . . . it’s just that after all these millenniums, none of us actually knew what happened to the poor soul.”

Nick drew a blank. Could the description of his remote viewing episode have solved the disappearance of Alick Tobhor? Until now, he wasn’t even aware that Alick Tobhor had mysteriously disappeared back then. This was all news to him.

“So what happened to Alick?” Nick asked.

“It’s perfectly obvious now. The dear is still alive and trapped in his Florida fortress.”

“We didn’t see anybody but the demon guardian.”

“The who?”

“Not a who – a what. A monster that protects the fortress from intruders.”

Glenna laughed. “You mean the Zyloux. Alick was one smart cookie. He must’ve conjured him from the other dimension to protect him and the elixir.”

“Right.
Zyloux
. So where’s Alick?”

“He was a crafty one.”

“I’m happy to hear that, Glenna, but I still don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you see, he
is
the fortress! The fountain of youth is what keeps him alive. It’s his life’s blood. He sealed the elixir and himself away from the world. That way, no one could force him to reveal his secret recipe for your fountain of youth.”

“That’s incredible! But down in Florida, where the elixir was recently stolen . . .”

“He was in bad shape after the elixir was taken, I’m sure of that. It’s sorta like throwing a plastic bag over someone’s head and expecting them to breath.”

“So that’s why the stones darkened,” he recalled.

“Sounds reasonable.” Glenna paused. “From everything I’ve read about Alick’s genius, I certainly would have expected him to have a backup plan,” Glenna said. “After all, he must have the means of producing the elixir inside.”

“I didn’t see anything like that.”

“Nick, dear, you don’t know what to look for.”

He had to agree with her. “So who was trying to kill Alick and steal his elixir?”

“That gets us back to your history lesson,” she said solemnly. “The four destroyers stole some of Alick’s elixir in hopes of reviving the beast.”

“I thought it was sealed in the spaceship at the bottom of the Atlantic.”

She sighed. “I’m getting to that.”

“Right.”

She lowered her eyes to the book once more. “It seems that the prevailing ocean currents had carried it all the way to a North American peninsula.”

“Florida!”

“Uh huh. They were the only ones who knew its location. The purebloods later learned that the destroyers infused the beast with the elixir, and it returned to life. Those four discovered a way to control it, and when they returned to Europe, they began destroying the coastal towns. Twenty-three towns and villages were wiped out before the pureblood elders heard about it. They acted quickly. They sent Gabriella’s father, Grand Wizard Xavier Yorick Wolfe, to kill the demon beast and the destroyers.

“He was the most powerful wizard of them all, and all the destroyers feared him. But the battle odds were four against one, and the destroyers were confident they could defeat him. They figured wrong. During the defense of their coastal encampment, the destroyers fought savagely, combining their magic powers to kill him. Even then, they were no match for Xavier. When the outcome was apparent, three of the destroyers retreated. The remaining destroyer and Xavier waged a fierce battle for weeks, using all the magic weapons at their disposal.”

“During my remote viewing episode, I witnessed their power. We think our modern weapons are sophisticated, but they wouldn’t hold a candle to their magic,” Nick stated. “Their lightning bolts alone could level most cities.”

“Interesting,” she muttered thoughtfully and then returned to her history lesson. “Anyway, Xavier wore down the destroyer and finally got close enough to kill him with a Duneden Dirk. Then came the savage beast. It had grown much taller than ten feet by the time it had consumed most of the coastal tribes while Xavier fought the destroyers. The historians estimated that its height eclipsed twenty feet. Its physical strength and steely armor were bad enough, but now it radiated some kind of protective force field that repelled Xavier’s attacks. In the process, the beast seriously wounded the grand wizard.

“Finally, when Xavier became too weak to continue the fight, pureblood and human armies converged on the beast. They tried to drive it into the sea.” She dabbed the welling tears in her eyes. “They were all slaughtered. My great-grandfather was one of the many generals who died.”

“I’m sorry,” Nick said softly.

“Thank you.” She sniffed, gathered her composure, and continued. “Just when it looked like the beast was invulnerable, it suddenly showed signs of rapid aging. The remaining soldiers backed off and watched. Gradually, the great beast shriveled amid its deafening roars until, hours later, it crumbled into dust.

“With their stolen elixir depleted, the three remaining destroyers kidnapped poor Alick and took him to Florida. From the little information my ancestors were able to gather, they forced Alick to adjust the elixir to a longer-lasting potency,” she read, “and demanded that he make it toxic to humans.”

“Alick could have added DNA from the small creatures that accompanied the Cumalodin on its hunts,” Nick speculated. “That would explain why humans are transformed into the little killers when the elixir reaches their bloodstreams.”

“There’s nothing mentioned about that in this book, but from what you’ve told me, I’d say your idea holds water.”

“So, when Alick got the chance, he built a magic fortress that would effectively prevent anyone from ever using his elixir again.” He closed his eyes and attempted to sort through all the facts.

“It also says here that several early Florida tribes reported seeing a great god that fit the description of the Cumalodin. It supposedly devoured every animal and human it found in the local jungles. According to tribal folklore, this god sank into a lake one day and was never seen again.”

“Is there any more information on the three destroyers?” he asked.

“Nothing, other than that their whereabouts are still unknown today - if they’re still alive, of course.”

“Why didn’t one of your scientists duplicate Alick’s elixir formula?”

“Believe me, they tried. If they had succeeded, I wouldn’t look like . . . this,” she lamented. “Only Alick new the secret process, and while we did have some success replicating the formula, its effects were fleeting,” she replied. She peered at him musingly. “I know what you’re thinking, Nick. You’re wondering if the three destroyers could’ve duplicated the formula and still be alive today.”

“That would explain a lot of things.”

“Like what?” she pressed.

“Like why Aspirations, Inc., a world leader in anti-aging products, would appear to be the force behind a world takeover scheme.”

“Uh huh. Go on.”

“And why they stole some of the elixir from Alick’s fortress in Florida.”

“To make themselves young again?”

“Maybe make themselves younger longer.”

“That’s a good thought.”

“So what will they do with Neo tonight beside that lake?”

Glenna smiled. “Why, dear, the answer is staring you in the face.”
“Oh no,” he groaned. “They’re not going to revive the Cumalodin, are they?”

“Looks that way,” she replied.

“And you want me to kill the Cumalodin?”

“You’re the best qualified.”

He pointed at the book. “But it doesn’t even tell us how they killed the damn thing the first time.”