by SK Benton
Jennie was delighted with this gesture, and set about working with the castle seamstresses to hand-make a beautiful, white wedding gown. Of course, Liliana was also elated, especially after learning she was to be the flower girl and would also wear a pretty dress. Max resigned himself to conjuring a smart, black tuxedo with a pink cumber bun and matching bowtie, in honor of Jennie's favorite color. Upon seeing the groom's outfit, Krynos almost bit his lip off, trying to not tell Max he thought it looked ridiculous - but then again, Krynos had significantly different tastes in clothing and apparel.
On the day before the wedding, Max rushed around, helping in the preparations, but he had something on his mind. He had looked for Draagh, and called out to him mentally on various occasions, but the old mage had a tendency to sometimes pop out of the realm to care for duties in other locations.
The one material item of value that Max possessed was in a drawer in the galley of the Machu Picchu, and he knew he had to get it before the ceremony. Even though they were mated for life, he wanted her to have a perfect wedding, and in a wedding the two to be married always shared something of great importance that would signify their eternal bond. Unwilling to wait, and as Draagh was nowhere to be found (Draagh usually being either in the pocket-dimension office with Krynos, or off-world), he felt he knew enough about 4D time slips to safely get to the Machu Picchu and back, so he went to his new, expanded quarters that he was sharing with his lovely mate. He pulled his gear bag out from underneath their massive, wood-framed bed and retrieved his Stinger and comm, as well as his personal console. He put them in a leather backpack, which was made for him according to his specific instructions given to Dominion tailors. The, grabbing his katana, he then looked out his door, and making sure no one saw him, bolted down the hallway and entered Draagh's room where, to his good fortune, the mage's staff leaned up against the wall in the corner.
Bringing up an infoscreen, he tied into the staff and looked up its most recent coordinates, which were all readily available. Then, surveying the powerful device momentarily, he went to take it into his hand. Before he could do anything further, Socrates coalesced in the air right in front of his face, floating as if it had just come out of an ethereal mist.
"Query: Master Max, what is it you are attempting to do?"
"Socrates, don't say a thing. I need to get something from my ship for Jennie, and Draagh isn't anywhere around. He's been ignoring me. The ceremony is tomorrow, and I promised my mother if I ever got married I would give it to my wife."
"Master Max, I would not recommend that you attempt to do this, as-"
Max interrupted the electronic intelligence interface, saying, "No worries - I'll be right back!" and slammed the staff to the ground, creating a most inconvenient energy sphere that caused Socrates to instantly dissipate. It was only moments later that Max disappeared out of site.
"Oh my. This is not good," the usually monotone Socrates stated with some stress to his voice, once his face had reconstituted itself.
At that same moment, elsewhere in the castle, Jennie quickly approached Krynos and Draagh in the throne room, obviously concerned about something. Making a quick curtsey, she asked, almost breathlessly, "Draagh, Lord Krynos, have either of you seen Max? I can't seem to find him anywhere, and he's got me worried. I mean - I just completely lost his scent."
Before either Draagh or Krynos could even respond, Socrates appeared in front of the old mage.
"Lord Draagh, we have a problem."
The three stood in Draagh's partially destroyed quarters (as the 4D slip energy had basically laid waste to the room's furniture), along with Socrates floating in the air off to their side, looking at the mage's staff, which lay on the ground near the window.
Socrates then stated, in his typical monotone fashion, "He said that he needed to go to his ship and retrieve something for today's ceremony - something that was important to his mother. I tried to warn him, but he was gone before I could finish."
Draagh looked at his staff, and then bending down, picked it up and examined it for clues.
"Well, the staff is fine, as should be expected. However, I believe I may have been a bit remiss in my tutoring of Max on the complexities of 4D slipping. The ghanlo rejected him, as it will never leave my location in space/time. That being said, we will need to go find him before he manages to get himself into any further trouble."
Jennie had a panicky and extremely preoccupied look on her face, and desperately asked, "Can you find him? I'm going too!"
"Very well then, my dear," Draagh replied to Jennie, "Please change into something more appropriate to an expedition and grab your technical equipment, as you may have need for it. Remember, on Earth you have neither skills as a lycan nor as a pseudo-mage."
Krynos looked at Draagh and said, "I will inform all that the wedding will suffer a slight delay. We shall care for young Liliana Gunnarsson during your absence."
Jennie rushed off and quickly changed into battle leathers, returning in minutes with her gear bag in hand and katana slung over her back. The three departed the castle and went out to the north entrance, stopping at the open plains.
Draagh rested his hand upon his old friend's shoulder and said, "We shall be back soon."
Krynos then looked consolingly at Jennie and gave the girl a gentle hug, his massive frame overshadowing hers, and then backed up.
"Safe travels, my friends," he said as he raised his great hand to them.
Jennie and Draagh walked further out into the open field, removing their spectators from the 4D slip's sphere of influence. Once a safe distance was reached, Draagh slammed his staff to the ground, as he and Jennie disappeared from that world.
Arriving at the edge of the Urubamba River, in exactly the same location from where they had departed only months before, Draagh and Jennie were both relieved to see that the Machu Picchu was still hidden underneath its naturally occurring camouflage, as Draagh had waved off the invisibility cantus upon arrival.
Jennie ran to the craft, yelling out, "Max! Max! You dork! Come out here!" but she received no response. No longer able to smell things like she could on Earth of the future, she looked around helplessly. "Draagh!" she cried out. "Where is he?"
"There-there, my dear. We shall find him," he said as he strode over to the ship, waving his arm out and causing the loading ramp and bay doors to open. Entering the ship, Jennie ran ahead and searched frantically, while calling out his name, but no one replied. After a couple of minutes Draagh called Jennie into the ship's galley, where he held a small jewelry box in his hand - the same jewelry box Draagh had seen Max look at with a sad expression right before he first took off from Azul. Opening it, there was a beautiful 3-carat blue diamond ring in a gold setting.
Jennie looked at the ring for a moment, and then at Draagh. As tears filled her eyes she cried out, "That idiot! I don't need a ring. I only need him!"
Then, looking out of the open back of the Machu Picchu, she whimpered, "Max, what have you done?" as she wiped the wetness from her cheeks.
Draagh led the distraught woman out of the converted transport and, after conferring with Socrates, began their quest of visiting nearly every saved destination in his staff as they searched for the missing lycan commander.
###
Max Gunnarsson regained consciousness, his face down in a putrid puddle of contaminated water, human waste and oil - apparently in some sort of drainage tunnel. Disoriented and unaware of his location, he lifted himself out of the fetid muck, and shifting his vision to the infrared spectrum, looked for Draagh's staff. After determining it was nowhere to be found (although one of Draagh's chairs and some of his clothing were nearby, floating in the putrid waste), he crawled forward, coming up to an opening that exposed the night sky. Exiting the tunnel in which he had found himself, he stood up and looked out over a landscape he never imagined he would have seen.
Alien Vrol flyers soared overhead; looking like giant, demonic bats, while dozens of hominids of varying su
bspecies scrambled around and over the ruins of what appeared to be a mostly destroyed city. He smelled not only lycans and vampires, but also other beings he was unable to immediately identify.
Looking up at a fairly expansive hillside to the north he saw a large, man-made landmark, instantly familiar to him thanks to his studies of Earth's ancient past. His stomach soured as he scanned the horizon. He knew where he was, and he definitely wasn't supposed to be there.
"Oh, man. This is not good…"
Book Two
LIVES OF LOST ANGELS
Table of Contents for LIVES OF LOST ANGELS
LIVES OF FUTURE-PAST (Book One)
LIVES OF THE PROVECTUS (Book Three)
Chapter 1 - Rhönen Dominion
Chapter 2 - The Lost Angel
Chapter 3 - Field Trip
Chapter 4 - Feral Kids
Chapter 5 - Luigi Meets Krynos
Chapter 6 - Magic Man
Chapter 7 - Lessons and Memories
Chapter 8 - Max Parties Like it's 1999 - B.C.
Chapter 9 - Recon Time Parte Dos
Chapter 10 - Welcome to Lykanrol
Chapter 11 - Hello, Gabe
Chapter 12 - Rage
Chapter 13 - Gabriel Meets the Gang
Chapter 14 - Back in Sins
Chapter 15 - Loser
Chapter 16 - Welcome Home, Mickey
Chapter 17 - Healing
Chapter 18 - Skills
Chapter 19 - Loose Ends
Chapter 20 - Warp
Chapter 21 - Going Away
Chapter 22 - Revelation
Chapter 23 - Tongass or Bust
Chapter 24 - Rhönen Reboot
Chapter 25 - Welcome to the Fourth Dimension
Chapter 26 - Hi, Mrs. Wong
Chapter 27 - Get Outta Town
Chapter 28 - Mr. Chairman
Chapter 29 - Hidden Treasures
Chapter 30 - Inoculated
Chapter 31 - Mischief
Chapter 32 - Sonic
Chapter 33 - Dissent with Double Cheese
Chapter 34 - Melt
Chapter 35 - Plans
Chapter 36 - Prep
Epilogue
Chapter 1 - Rhönen Dominion
Jennie Gunnarsson sat on a small, grassy hill, gazing out over the vast southern hills and forests behind her castle home in the Rhönen Dominion. A light, cooling wind gently lifted her dark, lustrous hair as she watched her adopted daughter, Liliana, run around chasing rabbits, playfully shooting sparkles of light at them with her wand. Even though the child didn't need it, she still loved to channel energies through the small device - mostly because it was a gift from her mother. She had learned much in the six months since her father's disappearance, but still missed him, sometimes softly crying at nights due to her loss. The break from the day's activities was a welcomed respite for them, as they both needed the distraction.
Jennie enjoyed going to the grassy hill to relax away from the business inside the castle walls, which consisted of training soldiers in her unique and devastating fighting method - a style forged on-the-fly, in the heat of battle. As she sat watching the sun set over the horizon to her left, Liliana flew by her in pursuit of another rabbit, the unfortunate creature running in fear for its life, even though the girl had no intention of killing it - at the moment.
Shifting her position slightly, her hand brushed up against the enhanced katana on the ground at her side, bringing her to recall when her husband had first handed her the formidable weapon. He and a recon team had just rescued her from a dank, putrid dungeon in the bowels of Vladros' dilapidated castle, where she was being held captive. The sword was a constant reminder of when she realized she had fallen in love with him. Even though she didn't tell him until much later, that was indeed the moment, despite the fact that she fought off the sentiment until it was overwhelming. The Battle of the Blood was the final straw, and she gave in to true love and dedication to the young scientist, as he had already long before done to her.
Of course, they had first met under completely different circumstances, with her more than willing to use her Stinger charge pistol to create lethal holes in him for non-compliance of a federal order (she was aiming for his face). But that hardly ever entered her mind anymore. She just wanted to be back in his arms.
"Lili, sweetie, it's time to go in for dinner," she called out to her mischievous daughter, who had begun to create invisible walls in front of the fleeing rabbits so she could watch them comically bounce off upon collision.
"Ok, Jennie. I'll be right there," responded the little lycan.
Liliana was a well-behaved girl - to a certain extent - and made her mother very proud with her advances in school and skills of magic. Besides her typical studies of English, German, math, and the werewolf language that all lycans spoke when in death mode, Jennie was teaching her Rioplatense Spanish. Liliana had nearly five months with her father to learn various scientific principles; but that all came to a screeching halt the day he took a little side trip to retrieve his mother's ring for Jennie on the day before their wedding. He left and never came back.
Max, I wish you were here to see her. She's amazing, Jennie thought to herself.
Liliana managed to scatter all of the rabbits, and having tired of chasing them, went to her mother, giving the gorgeous woman a big smile.
"I'm super-hungry, Jennie. Wanna eat?"
The little girl was born into a world quite different from Jennie's. But subtle linguistic differences slowly faded, as she gradually adopted her mother's way of speaking, using certain contractions and slang terms. But despite everything, she was still a very polite and proper little girl, as were most lycan children.
In the main dining hall, the two lycan females who looked very much alike - even though they were not blood relatives - sat down to a steaming-hot meal of grilled venison and purple potatoes, both taking care and eating with proper utensils. As they ate, Jennie's grandfather-in-law Draagh, a large but kindly Viking-looking immortal mage, took a seat next to the older of the two.
"Good afternoon, my dear girl. That looks absolutely scrumptious, if I do say so myself. I believe I shall join you, if you do not mind."
He raised his arm and waved over a servant, who brought him a similar platter of the basic, yet nutritious cuisine. As he dug into his plate he glanced at Liliana, who was attempting to properly use her knife and fork together. Then, clearing his throat, he addressed the two at his side.
"My girls, it seems like the two of you have acquired quite an appetite. Especially you, Liliana."
"Mmhmmm," responded the child, not speaking as she had her mouth stuffed full of food. She had recently experienced a decent growth spurt, bringing her head to the height of her adoptive mother's bust. Lycan children typically started gaining height very quickly when they neared puberty, but Liliana was an early growth case.
Jennie finished a mouthful of the undercooked meat and looked to her grandfather-in-law with a bit of sadness on her face.
"Pops, it's been six months to the day since Max slipped out. Have you found out anything - anything at all? I mean, I can be strong and continue waiting, but Lili misses Max so much. I've been letting her sleep with me about every night, and I…" Her eyes started to water up a bit, but she sniffled and regained her composure.
"Jennie," began the old mage, having a calm and serene look upon his weathered face, "I am most certain that Max yet lives. There would have been signs to show the contrary, as I am able to see into the depths of even the collection of souls that wander without form - even the shards, and he is fortunately not among them. However, finding him is an altogether different thing. Socrates and I have determined that he may have been thrust into a previously logged destination. I have checked each and every one, as you know, having accompanied me on the majority of those quests, only to come up short. The one location we never checked was where I had banished Marnn's staff, but as universal law is explicit, that data is unavailable for extraction
on my own staff."
Jennie finished another mouthful of venison and washed it down with some mead.
"Isn't there any way to get that data? I mean, Socrates has powerful computational abilities, doesn't he?"
"He does, my dear. He does. And I only wish that I had not been so adamant about following the law when sending the staff away. It is not like I have never bent the rules in the past."
Draagh thought for a moment, and in retrospect really wished he had paid Max a bit more attention, especially on the days approaching the planned nuptials. He would have never told Jennie the truth, which was that on the day Max disappeared he was in Krynos' sub-dimensional office playing video games with the lycan king (they were both Tetris fans), and he had left his staff in his chambers, which Max then used with disastrous results.
Distracting himself from thinking about his grave error in judgment, Draagh looked at little Liliana with a gleam in his eye, as well as great pride. He had determined that she did indeed have mage genetics, thanks to her maternal biological great-grandfather, and the child was absorbing her lessons like the proverbial sponge. He knew without a doubt that one day she would be able to perform great feats of skill. She would never be as powerful as Max, who's biological father was the Taxiarch, but what skills she did have she would utilize with purest of intentions, even though she had a tendency to electrocute the castle cats on occasion.
But her mother was a different story entirely - Jennie needed a change of pace, and the particular date was not helping her in any way. He then brought up something that he had been considering for quite a while. It was not in the plan, but he was never one to follow plans anyway, preferring to make little adjustments and let it all play out.
