THE VROL TRILOGY (35 page)

Once done with the majority
of his explanation, which included how one could not simply travel
back in time and change something, creating a paradox, he took Max
to a small number of those so-called
parallel worlds
. One was an Earth
where man had concentrated less on the tools of war, and more on
the development of electronic communications. In that particular
world, global governments had managed to implement a pure
democracy, where the will of the majority reigned
supreme.

As he gazed out at a landscape of death
and utter desolation, Max wore an expression of confusion and
astonishment.

"If a pure democracy was created here,
why is the planet so trashed?"

"My boy, a pure democracy lets those of
the greatest numbers rule over all, with the wishes of the monitory
never being taken into consideration. As there were numerous poor
and uneducated, they voted to give themselves riches, without ever
having to earn them. The end result was this society's crumbling to
dust."

Max looked around in all directions,
seeing nothing but decaying structures, with the random person
climbing over piles of rubble.

"Why wouldn't they vote for what was
right for their world? It's hard to believe."

Draagh sighed and placed
his hand on his grandson's shoulder, saying, "My boy, there was a
wise individual in Earth's past, his name long-forgotten, who once
said
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb
voting on what to have for dinner
."

Max winced at the notion of wolves
being the antagonists, but Draagh cut him off before the young man
could say a word.

"My boy, the person whom I
am quoting did not carry the recessive lycan gene, thus his
irrational choice of animals in which to make his analogy. I
believe a more accurate selection of creatures would have
been
two hyenas and a
kitten
. Anyway, although he was a normal,
he was quite a brilliant one. Yes, quite brilliant indeed. As we
are on that subject, did you realize that most of the founding
fathers of the former United States of America carried the
recessive lycan gene? Yes, it is true. Oh, and Benjamin Franklin
actually became quite an accomplished minor-mage - once he was
taken to a place where he was able to craft his skills, while on
sabbatical of course."

Max started laughing, knowing well the
history of Earth's past, but of course never having learned that
particular factoid in school.

Ben Franklin traveled to a
world where he learned magic… sounds about right
.

They slipped to a couple more parallel
worlds - one where dolphins, and not man, had evolved as the
dominant species, and another where quadrinium had never been
discovered, nor had the Vrol ever attacked, resulting in a
still-existing, but unstable society that teetered on the brink of
annihilation - and had no Exodus to Azul. They then returned to
their training hall and delved further into Max's
lessons.

###

Out in the training grounds, Jennie
sailed over obstacles and avoiding moving targets, decimating each
one with her katana, while taking care not to deplete her resources
by using a methodical combination of skills and magic. Liliana sat
on the grass off to the side and watched, clapping her hands with
delight, as her new friend impressed everyone (mostly males) in
attendance. Although the majority of lycans who fancied the
beautiful young warrior resigned themselves to the rank of mere
spectator, there still remained those who had the courage to
approach her and ask for her hand. Of course, they were immediately
shot down, much to the laughter of their fellow soldiers - and
Liliana, who privately thought that Jennie should be with Max.
Lycan children tended to be quite opinionated, and often possessed
a wisdom that surpassed their few years of life.

As lunch hour approached, Jennie took a
towel and wiped her face and arms in an attempt to remove some of
the disagreeable scent that had built up during her intense
training. Taking Liliana's hand, she walked with the young girl to
the mess hall, where they found both Max and Draagh
seated.

"Ah, Jennie! I see you have brought a
friend!" exclaimed Draagh. "And who might this lovely little lady
be?" he asked with a great smile, looking at a beaming
Liliana.

Curtseying as she had done when she
first met Max, she responded, "I am Liliana, kind sir. Are you not
the great mage, Lord Draagh?"

"Why yes I am, although I have been
known by many other names, such as…"

Draagh started gurgling and clicking
something in an odd, alien-sounding language that only he
understood. It was so comical that all four burst out in laughter,
with bright-eyed Liliana giggling uncontrollably and bouncing in
her seat.

As they sat at the table, eating their
meal, Max noticed that Jennie was actually using a fork and a
knife, making a clumsy attempt at proper table manners.

For the little
girl
, he thought to himself, when he was
startled by a voice in his head that responded,
"
Yes, my son, those are her innate
maternal instincts coming into play. She will make a fine mother
one day
."

Max was shocked at hearing
Draagh's voice in his head, but thought back to him,
"
You can hear me and I can hear you?
Whaaat? What else do you know?
"

"
Fear not my young one, as you are my grandson we share a
genetic connection, but I will not pry, as your mind is quite
active, and I can only do so with your permission. As you remember,
magical objects can also facilitate the same connection, and that
is how I located Jennie in Vladros' castle. However, without the
aid of an object, our connection is only available in a small
radius - within the castle walls. We will need for you to study a
blocking technique, as there are some who command devastating
mental powers from which it will be necessary to defend yourself
when in enclosed spaces
."

Max sighed in relief, and then tried to
push the fact out of his mind that their sleeping quarters were so
close together. He also made a mental note to not think about
Jennie so much at nights - and most certainly not imagine the two
of them together, which he would do when his mind drifted off to
lazy sleep.

The four finished their meals and were
preparing to depart, when Draagh asked Liliana, "So my dear, are
you off to your studies, or are you going to watch Jennie create
more work for the men and women who build the targets and obstacles
for training?"

"Neither, my Lord. We must prepare for
the coming moon."

Jennie's expression lit up as she
quickly asked, "Liliana, are we going to change with you? We could
be in facing cells and watch each other and howl at the
moon!"

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.