by SK Benton
Sally sniffed the air, and then looked in the direction of the clan's encampment.
"Miles, Max isn't back there. He's at the camp. Can't you smell him?"
Everyone pointed their noses in the air and then looked at each other. Without another word they all took off running back to their home in the woods, finding Max Gunnarsson sitting at the fire pit, stoking the flames with some freshly chopped tinder.
"Welcome back, guys," exclaimed Max, having an obviously happy tone to his voice. "I can see you're all safe and sound."
"You wanna tell me what the hell happened, Max? How did we get back, and why's my cave blocked?" Miles still had no real idea what had happened, but was talking tough as usual. Max looked at the pack leader while wearing a thoughtful expression, and displayed a soft smile.
"Well, I brought you all back. And as for your cave, I sealed it up."
"What give you the right to touch my property?" roared Miles.
Max stood up to look Miles directly in the face, while the clan leader still waited before making any sort of move, not fully understanding the gravity of the situation.
"Well, Miles. First off, it was never your cave, nor your property. You were right when you guys said it was left over by a mage. In fact, I could tell you the exact methodology used to create the slip mechanism."
"Wrong, asshole - it's all mine. So, what happened to my cave, Max? Answer me what I wanna hear, and I'll maybe let you live."
Max snickered at Miles' comments. The man had no idea what he was up against, but Max was about to show him. It was bad enough that he was an arrogant prick, but Max couldn't tolerate wanton violence against innocents. His short time during the raid showed him that their victims were not a formidable enemy, but a peaceful group living together and trying to survive.
"Miles, it's simple. I sealed the cave after I got you all out of there. You see, I've never had a stomach for violence against the innocent. That's what I saw so that's what I did. You're done, Miles. I didn't mean to show up here, but if I see injustice, well, I stomp on its face until it's dead."
"Who do you think you are, kid? You walk into my world and tell me what to do? I'm gonna kill your punk ass."
Miles quickly moved forward in Max's direction, but as he ran towards the smaller newcomer he couldn't make physical contact - it was like he involuntarily slid around Max, who had actually created a vertical gravity field around his body.
Sally spirited Sheeva to the main lodge, as Indie and Jason surrounded the young lycan visitor. Max walked around the fire pit with an absolute air of impunity. He had matured much since he began his adventures in the Rhönen Dominion, but at times he did enjoy sticking it to really bad people - and Lykanrol was full of nasty, bad types.
Keeping a sizeable distance between himself and the three men, Max shook his head and responded to Miles' taunts.
"No, Miles. You aren't going to kill me. In fact, you're lucky I have morals, or I would kill you where you stand. What you did tonight was totally reprehensible, and I intend to-"
"Repre - what?" Miles interrupted with a growl. "I don't understand that word. You made it up to sound fancy, didn't you?"
"Not even. That's a perfectly normal word. You're just a retard who preys on the weak. You see, where I'm from, vampires are the predators and lycans are noble - protecting humans and young ones. But you guys are slime. I pity your offspring - really. So I'm going to let you live, but yes, I closed off your cave so you can't bother those poor people again. It was all I could do to shuttle them to safety while you guys ran around with a bloodlust, killing so you could steal their supplies. Now I'll be going on my merry way. Think I'll head up north this time. I have a feeling something's up there."
"No, asshole. You ain't going nowhere," hissed a recently-returned Sally as she threw some liquid on Max, followed by a quick flick of a burning log, lighting him on fire.
Miles started to laugh as he saw Max explode into a ball of flames. The four then grabbed their swords and started hacking away at the glowing figure, while guarding their faces from the intense heat.
Max screamed in pain and flailed his arms helplessly, as Lykanrol hacked away at any exposed areas of his burning body. Sally laughed while she poured more flammable liquid on him, causing the flames to shoot even higher.
Lykanrol appeared to revel in the demise of the newcomer who had betrayed them. They laughed and howled as they slashed swords and smashed clubs down into where they thought Max's head would be. The more they hacked the more elation they felt. Finally, after having apparently brought about the demise of the unfortunate lad, they stopped swinging, each one breathing heavily, exhausted and having spent all of their resources.
"He's dead, I say. Whatcha think, Indie?" asked Miles, looking at the smoldering corpse on the ground.
"Oh yeah, boss. He's definitely dead. Shame though - he needed to feel more pain. I hate it when they die so quickly."
"Sally!" yelled Miles, "get rid of the body. It stinks, almost as bad as a Vrol."
But before Sally could even make a movement towards the body, it moved. Not only did it move, it went up vertical again, as if it were standing. Max's body was a smoldering, nuked-out corpse, but it was up on its feet. Lykanrol all stood shocked as the figure spread its arms out and started to groan in agony.
"What the hell is that?" asked Indie, as he watched in horror.
"It has to be demonic magic. No other way a body could come back from the dead," said Jason.
"I need my flamethrower," grunted Sally, as she made a move to depart. However, before she could, Max's corpse reached out and took her throat into its hand, squeezing tightly. Then, almost as if by magic (which it actually was), the body shed its scorched exterior, revealing a perfectly normal Max Gunnarsson, who just happened to be wearing a devious smile.
"Sally, you really enjoying burning people, don't you?" asked and obviously untouched Max.
"You know it, you bastard. Die!" she screamed as she went to throw more flammable liquid onto Max, but this time he waved his hand and caused it to fly off to either side.
"Sally, Sally, please my ugly friend, don't try to light me on fire. It didn't work the first time, so you can be well assured that it will not work on the second try."
Max watched astonished Lykanrol packers, unable to move due to mass confusion. Laughing, he released Sally and slowly levitated himself into the air while looking down at them. He had no more need to keep truth from them.
"Kids, here's what it is. You see, not only am I a lycan, I'm also a mage, and a real one - not one of those fakers. I come from far away, and in my universe the Vrol didn't allow Earth to survive - the planet was decimated, so you should feel lucky."
Max was about to continue with his monologue, when a loud bang cracked through the night sky. Shocked, he looked down and saw blood seeping from a small wound in his shoulder, and then gazed over to see Sally pointing an old rifle at him.
"Asshole! I'm gonna kill you!" she screeched as she cleared the chamber and attempted to load another round. Max slowly lowered himself to the ground as his wound cleared, pushing the bullet out and healing itself. Miles, Indie and Jason looked on with astonishment as Max stepped over to Sally, and pointing a finger at her forehead, caused her to freeze in place. Then, with a look of concentration, Max quietly said, "Goodbye, Sally."
Her head exploded, covering the three Lykanrol men with brains, skull fragments and blood. Max had microwaved her brain with a cantus that manipulated electromagnetic energy. He was personally untouched by Sally's splatterings, as he had kept a protective barrier around himself since Sally had shot him. Her body dropped to the ground, making a soft crumpling sound as the three men backed away, watching as torrents of blood spurted out through severed arteries.
"You're a demon! Evil!" screamed Miles, now obviously afraid but still trying to act macho. "Why are you doing this to us? We fed you and decided not to kill your ass!"
"Miles, you're a dick. This entire world i
s messed up, and I was willing to leave it be, but what you did to that group of people has no excuse. I'm done with you all. Oh, and I don't like being lit on fire. I gave Sally a bit of her own. Now, here's a special treat for you."
Max lilted his head backwards, groaning as the muscles in his back contracted and salubots raced through his system, effecting changes to his musculoskeletal system. Whipping his head forward, he stared at three terrified men while the bones in his face reformed, pushing forward into a muzzle. His legs elongated, but didn't break and form a stifle. He retained a semblance of his bipedal form, yet still more resembled a wolf than a human. Max screamed as his skin was shredded from his body, quickly replaced by fur, and his human teeth popped out of his mouth with sickening crunching sounds, only to be replaced by razor sharp lupine teeth.
A werewolf/lycan hybrid stood in front of Lykanrol, and if the men were not so terrified they would have probably kneeled down to worship Max, he so perfectly represented their ideal - enhanced lycan death. But this was not the case. Max had done something he had never heard of before. He had voluntarily transformed to an all-new form, and not even during the full moon. This was in-between his phase 2 and phase 3 forms, bring the best of each together, all while maintaining sapience - something that had eluded him during over a half year of full moon transformations.
Reaching out with a clawed hand/paw, Max grabbed Jason and snapped his neck, tearing out his esophagus at the same time. Miles stood paralyzed with fear, covered with even more blood as Max stared directly into his eyes. Then, without looking away, Max pointed at Indie as the man tried to back away. The lycan growled as Indie looked down as his groin area, which had started to bleed profusely. Frantically screaming and scratching at himself, Indie pulled his pants down to see that his reproductive organs had fallen off into his underwear, filling his tighty-whities, along with ample amounts of blood. He fell back, screaming and trying desperately to put his bits back into place, all to no avail.
Max Gunnarsson, phase 2.5 werewolf mage and the son of an archangel, had just gone beyond anything that any other lycan had ever done. He had become a fully-functioning, bipedal, sapient humanoid werewolf with devastating magical abilities. To top it off, he had just turned an enemy into a eunuch via magic. He thought that was pretty cool, and really wished that Jennie was there to see it. But he wasn't done. Not by a long shot. He started rampaging through Lykanrol's camp, tearing down structures and melting any sort of supply he could see simply by willing it. The only thing he left standing was the main lodge, where Sheeva was hiding. Max hated what Lykanrol was, but he could never harm a pregnant woman, as that would bring harm to her unborn child.
After roughly ten minutes of wanton destruction, Max sat off to the side of the encampment, casually licking a hand/paw and watching as Miles stood in the middle of flaming destruction.
"Why did you do this? What are you?" screamed Miles, as he tried to understand why any of this had happened to him. Before he could continue, Sheeva emerged from the lodge, looking around frantically and in a state of shock.
"Yiouuuu tuuuu. Carrrre for baby. Be kind. Learrrrn," growled Max, this time a bit more understandable. Then, he suddenly took off southbound into the wilderness, with the intention of never being seen again by Lykanrol.
###
Dons and Pandy were sitting on the front stairs entrance to Seven Sins, watching people mill about, going in and out, but mostly hanging out in the street around various fire pits. Adam hadn't shown his face all day, ever since Dons confronted that same morning. As the fake mage kept hidden, Jessica was inside attempting to cook a meal for her clan mates, but being as her cooking skills basically sucked compared to Max's no one really ate what she produced - except for Cassandra, who would eat anything - even scat, which everyone found disgusting.
"Boss, you think he'll come back or even if he's ok?" Pandy asked Dons.
"Don't know, sweetheart. Time will tell."
Marko was out in the street with his pack, being supported by two of his subordinates, and even though he was still injured he maintained a sneering look on his face. It was already common knowledge that something very wrong had happened to Max, and although Marko didn't see Max's transformation he was well aware of it.
"I thought Max was a very nice fellow, and his cooking was excellent. I do hope for his safe return," Pandy stated eloquently. Before she could continue, she detected a scent in the air. It was apparent that all other lycans and nekos in the vicinity also smelled something. Nudging Dons, she smiled and said, "That was quick. Max is back. Be on alert. We may need to defend ourselves."
Individuals started screaming and running in various directions as a still-phase 2.5 Max approached at high speed, skidding to a halt in the middle of the street near a very alert Dons, his sword at the ready.
"Hi Donsh," Max struggled through his non-human mouth, "yiouuu mish me?"
"Um, hi Maxie. Are you ok? I mean, you don't fancy eating any of us, right?"
Max looked around at everyone. Marko wasn't able to clear out as quickly due to his healing injuries, and simply stood, unsupported, with a look of utter terror on his face, and a very obvious wet stain on his pant leg. Max smelled Adam, who was lurking behind a building.
"Yesh. Guud. New form now. I likesh."
Max leaned his head backwards and started to change back to his day form, which was nearly as painful as his transformation to his phase 3, and now his new phase 2.5 forms. After roughly a minute, a human-appearing Max stood before his friends, fortunately still barely clothed, as his phase 2.5 form maintained a bipedal configuration, albeit quite larger.
"Um, hi guys," Max sheepishly said. "I didn't make too much of a mess, did I?
"Max! Buddy! You're back! So glad to see you!"
It was Lennie, out of all people, a vampire, greeting Max and extremely glad to see he was safe.
"Hey Lennie - yup, I'm good, my friend. Had a bit of a transformative experience, if you know what I mean."
Max started laughing, only to be joined by Lennie, Dons and Pandy. The girl ran over and hugged Max tightly, causing him to put his arms out and embrace her awkwardly.
"Heya Pandy, yeah, I'm good. Found some things out about myself, and it's actually kinda cool." Then, turning to Dons he said, "Um, let's go inside. I have some stuff to tell you."
The three went inside, leaving Lennie to his own business, and relaxed in Dons' new seating area, with Max taking a seat in the middle. Leaning back with a large chunk of meat in his hands, he took a bite, enjoying the halfway decent cut. Jessica came out of the kitchen and joined them, taking a seat at Pandy's side.
"You guys - I'm so sorry. You see, I have only told you half-truths because I was afraid that you wouldn't understand. But now that you've seen how different I am, I guess it's time to fess up."
The other three just sat there looking at him, not appearing to be upset, but having looks of curiosity on their faces.
"Where are you really from, Max?" asked Jessica. "I always knew there was something different about you."
"Well, that's complicated, Jess. You see - I'm originally from another planet, called Azul. In my world there are no demons or magic or even lycans or vampires."
"Oh my goodness, you're not human then?" exclaimed Pandy.
Max nearly burst out in laughter, barely containing himself, "Oh, I'm human. That much is certain. I'm also lycan, but where I'm from lycans and vampires don't know what they are. You see, I'm from an alternate timeline where mankind emigrated from Earth to a distant planet. Unfortunately, in that timeline, the Vrol, those who you called demons, invaded Earth and destroyed all life on it with a sickness. These Vrol aren't demons - they're actually an alien race from a distant part of the galaxy."
"But you say that lycans and vampires don't know what they are? I'm confused, Max," Jessica stated plainly.
"Well, you see, that's where it gets complicated. My actual title is Commander Maximilianus Gunnarsson, PhD, of Azul Scientific Military Res
earch. I'm a scientist, and I invented a way to travel faster-than-light and returned to Earth to test my theories. Upon arrival I found a desolate Earth, with no one left alive. It was also there that I met my grandfather. He's a… god, for lack of a better word. And that makes me, besides being a lycan - a mage… and a demigod. But also a real mage, not a faker, like your buddy Adam."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Dons. "Max is a scientist and Adam's a total fraud. What's he got? And tell me, what didja do to him that day he crapped his pants?"
Max stifled a snicker and composed himself, taking another bite of meat before continuing.
"Well, he has what's called a magic-enabled device - a wand, and it provides the user with some abilities, but nowhere near what I am able to do. He pissed me off so I basically gave him the beat-down of his life in the kitchen. Magic isn't what everyone believes. It's actually naturally-occurring technology that has been around since the dawn of time, created by Jah."
Max waved his hand out and conjured an infoscreen, which made a hologram that showed a magic particle - his so-called rolling ball of death. Everyone looked at the hologram, stunned with silence, the two girls sitting with big eyes and their mouths forming little o's. He then waved the imagery off, causing it to slowly dissipate into the air.
"Anyway, to go on, my grandfather took me to Earth of the distant future, the 43rd century, where the planet had been restored and magic had been re-enabled. It's there that I have a wife and daughter. You see, I made a mistake while traveling between worlds and ended up stranded here. It's only thanks to you guys that I am still well."
"Oh Maxie, mate. I think you woulda done just fine wherever you ended up."
Dons seemed to be taking Max's whole revelation quite well as he sipped some tea. "So tell us, where did you go when you…changed?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. You see, where I'm from - the future world where I come from - lycans transform into werewolves on the full moon. That's why I was asking what you guys all did during the lunar cycle."
