The Syndicate's Journey

by Nicholas Bogucki

  The Wiffroga did not care about others, and instead only cared about itself. The Wiffroga was hard to control and label because any female Frochen anywhere could be Wiffroga. The Wiffroga knew how to fight, they were skilled, but their main mission was to survive off the hard work of other Frochen.

  The third group of Frochen was the loyalists to the Frochen Kingdom. Luckily for the Old King, the numerous Frochen living in the Frochen Kingdom outnumbered the Frochen dwelling outside of the Frochen Kingdom. King Phyollywhog knew of the Wiffroga and their antics and that they were a threat and that it had to be stopped.

  King Phyollywhog ordered a group of Frochen guards to find the Froach and the Wiffroga and make amends and offer the Froach and the Wiffroga a place to live in the Frochen Kingdom. The Froach were pacifists and did not want to fight due to their beliefs. The Froach instead made a treaty with King Phyollywhog, and he accepted. Now all that was left was to deal with the Wiffroga one way or another. Unfortunately for the Frochen guards, they had to fight the Wiffroga.

  The War of Wiffroga turned out to be the bloodiest battle in Frochen history. The Wiffroga were fierce, cunning, and swift with their movements. The Frochen guards, on the other hand, were just the opposite, but they were stronger and had weapons. When the battle occurred, the Frochen guards outnumbered the Wiffroga five-to-one. The battle took place on land and in the water.

  During the War of Wiffroga, the Frochen guards and the Wiffroga bodies were impaled, decapitated, and shredded pieces were tossed in the water for the fish to consume. Yellow blood and bones seemed to be everywhere in Varenok’s seas.

  Nearing the defeat of the Wiffroga, their numbers had dwindled down to five, and they were surrounded by nearly sixty guards. The Wiffroga sat down and surrendered. The guards brought the five Wiffroga back to the Frochen Kingdom and brought them to King Phyollywhog. He then made a treaty with the five of them that no Frochen would ever harm another Frochen again, and they agreed. He allowed them to stay or leave; what they wanted to do was none of his business. They ended up leaving and swam back to the surface.

  The War of Wiffroga was merely a front to show the Frochen that the Old King was not a force to be reckoned with for in his old age and that he needed to show dominance over the other Frochen tribes. He was twenty-one-years-old, practically a baby in Frochen years, and the battle was nothing more than a small operation.

  From that point on in his reign, the Frochen tribes stuck to their treaty and never interacted with one another. King Phyollywhog saw the Frochen Kingdom growing, and he knew that food was scarce living down in the depths of Varenok. King Phyollywhog had the idea to create a way that the Frochen did not have to search for food. He ended up introducing the Frochen Nursery underneath the Frochen Kingdom.

  The Nursery was a huge accomplishment for the King Phyollywhog, but the main reason was that the Frochen swam a lot to forage, which took a while to bring it back to the Frochen Kingdom. This way, with the implementation of the Nursery, the Frochen had no need to hunt or explore anywhere else in Varenok and could sustain themselves forever. King Phyollywhog commanded that a group of Frochen plow the crops and harvest its seeds and another group to excavate the ground. By working together, the Frochen community grew, and the livelihood and life expectancy rose due to the abundance of food growing underneath their home.

  After many decades under his reign, King Phyollywhog contracted viral hemorrhagic septicemia, which is a deadly virus to the Frochen with no cure. King Phyollywhog knew that he was sick with no way of treating it. Not even in all of the Frochen Nursery did they have a plant that could be used to treat it.

  King Phyollywhog knew that he was dying and asked for the Imperial Frochen First Guards to bring him to the surface to die. When a King or Queen perished, throughout the Kingdom, all the Frochen lined up near the pathway and watched the procession as eight royal guards held King Phyollywhog and swam him to the surface. They placed him on an iceberg that overlooked Varenok and found a stone where they laid him down to die.

  KING PHYOLLYWHOG – DEAD 511 EBA

  Moments after King Phyollywhog died, Prince Byollywhog was the only heir, and he immediately took the Throne. Now King Byollywhog was fifty years old and has been King of Varenok ever since. Many years passed, and King Byollywhog, now two-hundred and ninety-three years old, is still reigning Varenok to this day.

  King Byollywhog has been the longest-reigning ruler in Varenok’s history. To this day, he is found wearing his royal attire, a red garment that hangs from his left shoulder that drapes down in front of him and behind him on his right side down to his waist. He uses the color red in remembrance of his father, King Phyollywhog. King Byollywhog also wears a crown made from coral and seaweed. The crown is centuries old, dating back to the first King of Varenok.

  In the Frochen Kingdom, marriage is rare between the Frochen, most of them choose not to have a mate, and some are even asexual, but to be the King or Queen of Varenok, the Frochen have a choice to select another Frochen to be the King or Queen alongside them. King Byollywhog did not know who his mother was because his father, The Old King, never mentioned who she might have been, and King Byollywhog wanted to change that. Frochen typically does not like to stick to mates all their lives, but being the King of Varenok sure was promising to a very specific Frochen. In the year 545 EBA, King Byollywhog, and Queen Mompawhog married.

  The King and Queen would sit in the Royal Throne room and instruct orders from there. King Byollywhog sat on his throne, and next to his throne was another throne, a much smaller one, that Queen Mompawhog sat upon. She had little to no power in the Frochen Kingdom; she is just a figurehead. In the Frochen Kingdom, King Byollywhog makes all the decisions domestic and foreign.

  Luckily for King Byollywhog, the Kingdom was moving smoothly and had been for many centuries all because of his father. The Frochen Kingdom was self-sustaining, no other Frochen tribes attacked them due to the peace treaties, and the Frochen were happy.

  In the year 732 EBA, Prince Hyollywhog was born to King Byollywhog and Queen Mompawhog. King Byollywhog named him after his father, King Phyollywhog. Prince Hyollywhog was the only Frochen that King Byollywhog fathered. When he was old enough, King Byollywhog taught Prince Hyollywhog everything he needed to know when he took over the throne as King one day. He taught him various strategies; he showed him diplomacy and how treaties worked, and how to rule a kingdom. He showed Prince Hyollywhog the Royal Throne Room. A Frochen could enter either by marriage or through their bloodline.

  In the Royal Throne Room were the secrets, notes, and stories that have been passed down since the beginning of Varenok. The Royal Throne Room was a dimly lit room behind the Thrones. In the middle of the room, there was a table made out of coral that held numerous conch shells on top of it. King Byollywhog explained and showed Prince Hyollywhog how to listen to the shells and what to learn from them. Blood was the key, and to listen, King Byollywhog cut his hand and dripped blood into the shell and moved it up to Prince Hyollywhog’s ear for him to hear.

  Only the blood from the active King or Queen would allow the shells to produce the secrets. Prince Hyollywhog was not a fast learner like his father, but he did not give up. He strived to be like his grandfather, The Old King. Being the heir meant an immense responsibility, and he did not want to let his father down. It wasn’t long until he enlisted as one of the Imperial Frochen First Guards and was active for many years to learn what life was like as a guard of the King and Queen to further his knowledge and expand on it when he became King himself one day.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Major General Reingle laid back in his chair, resting with his hands behind his head as he looked out of the window watching the Drakdel fly through Snakardekus’ atmosphere.

  He heard a soft noise and looked to his left and noticed Major General Solbrig snoring on the bed. He shook his head and laughed to himself, then he looked back at the window. His eyes slowly closed as his INH appeared, and it read:

 
INCOMING CALL FROM MAJOR GENERAL BRENTARI

  Major General Reingle instantly almost fell off his chair, he couldn’t believe what he was reading.

  Lokhorst! Brentari! It seems like forever since I’ve heard from them.

  He shook his head and slapped himself to wake up, and then he swiped his hand and accepted the call.

  “Hey, Lokhorst and Brentari! How are you?!” he exclaimed as he saw them appear on the screen.

  “Hey, Reingle.”

  “How’s it going?” asked Major General Brentari.

  “Oh... you know not too bad.” He continued, “Snakardekus is something else, let me tell you.”

  “So is Varenok.” Major General Brentari replied and became silent, hearing a noise coming from Major General Reingle’s side.

  “What is that noise, Reingle?” Major General Lokhorst asked. “It is getting louder as we speak!”

  Major General Reingle looked around and saw Major General Solbrig sleeping with his mouth open, snoring loudly. Major General Reingle had almost forgotten about his companion since he saw that they called him.

  “Oh... uh...” Major General Reingle shook his head, “That’s Solbrig snoring.”

  “He’s sleeping?” asked Major General Brentari

  “Yeah. We put the auto-pilot on which said it had six hours until our destination, so he wanted to sleep, which is fine with me.” He explained.

  “No, wake him up. I want to talk to him!” Major General Lokhorst shouted.

  “Yeah! Come on now!” shouted Major General Brentari through the INH

  “Okay, give me a minute!” Major General Reingle stood up from the chair and walked over to the bed and softly shook him

  “Reingle, is he waking up?” yelled Major General Brentari through the INH

  “Hey, Solbrig, come on, man, wake up,” Major General Reingle shook him.

  Major General Solbrig moved slightly and mumbled in his sleep. Reingle continued to shake him. “Brentari and Lokhorst are on the INH right now if you want to talk to them.”

  “Hmmm... what?” Major General Solbrig mumbled. “Wha-was that?”

  “Brentari and Lokhorst are on the INH.”

  Major General Solbrig shook his head and wiped his face and sat up. Major General Reingle backed up and walked back to his chair and spoke to Major General Lokhorst and Brentari. “Okay, I think he’s awake now.” He looked to his left and saw Major General Solbrig walking towards him, and he sat down. Major General Reingle swiped his hand and projected the INH to the computer screen.

  “Well, hey there, sleepyhead.” Major General Brentari smiled.

  “How are you doing?” He sleepily spoke.

  “Not too bad. We were just seeing how you two were doing on Snakardekus.” Major General Lokhorst replied. “We almost died; you know the usual. Did you two find anything?”

  “Wait, you almost died? What? Well, we found this... this... blue-ish metallic liquid, but it was in a cave and looked like something had got into it recently.”

  “Blue-ish liquid? Huh... What do you think it was?” asked Major General Lokhorst.

  “Not a clue. We haven’t seen anything.” Major General Reingle replied.

  Major Generals Brentari and Lokhorst looked at one another and then looked back at Major Generals Reingle and Solbrig.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Major General Reingle.

  “Like we said, we almost died...”

  “I thought you were joking.” Major General Reingle remarked.

  “Not at all! If it weren’t for Lokhorst pointing it out, we would not be here right now.”

  “Wait, what?” asked Major General Solbrig. “I am so lost.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in,” Major General Brentari replied.

  “Yeah, so…Brentari almost had her face eaten by a fish... and then...” They laughed while reminiscing and talking about it.

  Major Generals Reingle and Solbrig were confused and looked at one another.

  “Sorry, just thinking about it now. It is kind of funny.” Major General Brentari responded.

  “No, no, it really was.” Major General Lokhorst responded. “Don’t apologize, plus it was your face it wanted to eat.”

  “You woke me up for this?” asked Major General Solbrig.

  “Oh, you know you missed us.” Major General Lokhorst smiled.

  “Yeah yeah yeah...” Major General Solbrig responded. “Come on, tell us the story.”

  “Anyways, we landed on an iceberg, and then a fish-like creature jumped out of the water... and its teeth were long and sharp, too!” Major General Brentari explained. Major General Reingle’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped as he heard the story.

  “Wow... you don’t say...” Major General Reingle was awestruck.

  “That’s not the best part, you see after we scanned that fish-creature-thing... whatever it is! We started hearing a popping noise... and then Lokhorst over here...well, why don’t you tell them?”

  “I heard a popping noise, and then I figured it was the ice underneath our feet that was cracking. So, I had the idea to run back to the Drakdel. We were a few feet away from it, but far enough that it felt like forever to run.” She explained. “We both got into the Drakdel, and we hovered in the air for a moment to catch our breath. We watched below us and saw this gigantic creature appear from the water. The creature broke the iceberg that we were just on.”

  Major Generals Reingle and Solbrig’s mouths fell open, and they could not believe what they had heard.

  “Are you serious?” asked Major General Reingle.

  “Dead serious.” Major General Brentari stated.

  “Well, not dead serious... more like alive serious...” Major General Lokhorst mumbled, trying not to laugh.

  Major General Solbrig shook his head.

  “Are you two okay?” Major General Reingle asked. “Are you hurt?”

  “We’re both fine, thankfully.” Major General Brentari smirked.

  “Well, good to hear!” Major General Solbrig noted. “Be careful out there.”

  “You too! Who knows what lurks on Snakardekus.” Major General Brentari replied.

  “We’re hoping to find out.” Major General Solbrig continued. “Reingle here thinks there is activity.”

  “There probably is!” Major General Brentari spoke. “Oh hey, we have to go, General Deschner is calling Lokhorst.”

  “Oh, alright, sounds good! Be safe!” Major General Reingle waved.

  “You two as well! Goodbye!” Major General Brentari smiled.

  “Goodbye.”

  The computer screen emitted the words:

  CALL ENDED WITH MAJOR GENERAL BRENTARI

  “Well, that was a nice surprise, wasn’t it?” asked Major General Reingle.

  “Sure was. It was good to see them.”

  “Yeah, they seemed more... what’s the word... Cheerful than before?”

  “Eh, they’re enjoying themselves... I wouldn’t worry about it, Reingle.” He continued. “Anyways, where are we? How long was I asleep?”

  “Well...” Major General Reingle swiped his hand and opened the INH, and the map of Snakardekus appeared in front of them. On the map, it showed that they were near their destination point. “So roughly...” he tapped the screen, and the “Estimated Time of Arrival” appeared on display ‘43:38 until Destination.’ “Five hours and some change, Solbrig.”

  Major General Solbrig looked at him then looked back at the screen. “Well, so much for a short nap, huh?”

  Major General Reingle smiled at him and then laid back in his chair as before, and he closed his eyes. Major General Solbrig stood up from his chair and walked over to the window and moved his hands behind his back as he looked out of the window.

  A moment later, Major General Solbrig’s INH popped up with a notification.

  INCOMING CALL FROM GENERAL DESCHNER

  Major General Solbrig swiped his hand and accepted the call.

  “Hello, Major General.” G
eneral Deschner greeted him.

  “Hello, General.”

  “How is the mission going?” he asked.

  “It’s going well, General Deschner. Well, how about I put you on the computer, so you can talk to both of us?” asked Major General Solbrig.

  “Sure, go ahead.” General Deschner agreed.

  Major General Solbrig walked over to the computer and sat down in his chair and connected to the computer screen. Major General Solbrig reached his arm out and slightly shook Major General Reingle to wake up.