The Syndicate's Journey

by Nicholas Bogucki

  The Frochen looked as if they were in military uniforms. On their heads, they wore bronze helmets that covered their entire head except for their eyes and an opening for their mouth. The helmet's color was the same as the door. Their uniform looked as if it was made from dead carcasses of aquatic life. Around their necks, they wore a necklace that was made out of bone, nails, and teeth from creatures. Some type of fur coating was stitched together that covered their abdomen and down to their calves.

  The guards were in a formation, and the one in charge was standing in front of them all. The Frochen guard stood up straight as the Major Generals approached them and held the spear in its hand and hit the bottom of the ground with it. The rest of the Frochen guards followed its command, even the ones on top of the pillar did as well. The sound reverberated throughout the room. The Frochen guard in charge held the javelin and pointed it towards Major Generals Lokhorst and Brentari.

  The Frochen guard started to speak. “What are you doing here?” as it spoke the external gills by its mouth moved in the water.

  Major Generals Brentari and Lokhorst looked at one another then looked back at the Frochen guard.

  “I asked you a question!” the Frochen guard shouted. The guards behind him hit the ground with their spears again.

  “W-we got a ride here from the Froach.” Major General Brentari explained. “We hopped on their backs, and they let us off here. Well, in front of that thing.” She turned around and pointed at the translucent bubble that they walked through.

  “Ah, so you met the Froach, did you?” The tone of its voice did not sound pleased. “What business do you have here?”

  “Well, you see here... we are from another planet, Nuwurth.” Major General Lokhorst stated.

  “Nuwurth? What do you mean?” The Frochen guard shouted, and the guards behind him once again hit their javelins on the ground. The Frochen guards walked towards them.

  “Listen, we can explain! We’re Transhumans! We’re not Frochen like you are!” Major General Brentari shouted and moved her hands as she yelled.

  “Transhumans? What is that?” The Frochen guard stopped walking and asked.

  “We are not from this planet; we are from a different one.” Major General Lokhorst added. “We flew here.”

  “What do you mean you flew here? How did you meet the Froach?”

  Major General Brentari looked at Major General Lokhorst, and they knew that they would not be able to go anywhere until they continued with the questions.

  “So, there’s a King here then?”

  “Of course, there’s a King, King Byollywhog! Now, will you answer my questions?”

  Major General Brentari smiled and spoke. “Well, we flew here in something that we call the Drakdel, and we met the Froach when we walked on the surface and saw them sitting.”

  “Where is this so-called ‘Drackdell’?” asked the Froach guard.

  “We left it on the surface before we met the Froach.” Major General Lokhorst admitted.

  “So, how will you get back to the surface?”

  “I-uh...we...” Major General Brentari stumbled over her words.

  “We don’t know how exactly...” Major General Lokhorst admitted to the Frochen guards.

  The Frochen guard turned around, and the other guards came closer, and they huddled together and spoke softly. The Major Generals turned and looked at one another as they walked closer.

  “See, I told you that they have a King here!” Major General Brentari exclaimed with joy.

  “Yeah, you were right, you don’t have to gloat.” Major General Lokhorst continued. “What if the Frochen don’t let us in? I mean, we can’t swim back to the Drakdel. You saw those creatures in the ocean, we would be eaten before we got back to the Drakdel. They’re right, we’re stuck here.”

  “I wonder…” Major General Brentari swiped her hand to open her INH, and nothing appeared. “My INH isn’t working down here…”

  “What?” Major General Lokhorst muttered, “I’ll see if mine works.” She swiped her hand, and nothing appeared as well. “That’s great. We don’t have any communications down here, what if we are stuck here?”

  “I don’t know. No one knows we’re down here. Sure, General Deschner knows that our Drakdel is on the surface, but we are down here.” Major General Brentari stammered.

  Major General Lokhorst whispered to Major General Brentari. “Let’s not get hasty now, I’m sure we’ll be fine.” She noticed the Frochen guards disbanded their small huddle.

  The Froach guard said nothing, as it walked towards them, followed by the other guards until they were a few feet away from them. Up close, the Frochen were a few feet taller than they were. Their size was intimidating, combined with their weapons and demeanor.

  “What is stopping us from throwing you out of here?”

  The Major Generals looked at one another, then looked upwards on top of the pillars and saw ten Frochen guard archers aiming their bows with arrows drawn at them. Their eyes moved back to the Frochen guards standing in front of them.

  “Nothing is stopping you. You can throw us out and not allow us to come in. We just want to explore the Frochen Kingdom and talk to your King.” Major General Brentari explained.

  “Queen Mompawhog will hear you too. Are you aware of that?”

  “Queen Mompawhog?” Major General Lokhorst gasped as she looked over to the left and saw Major General Brentari smirk.

  “Of course! She is sitting next to him, after all. She listens to every single request that he does.” The Frochen guard replied. “Was your plan to meet them?”

  “I…we would have liked to meet them yes. Maybe someday our leader could meet them, too?” Major General Brentari asked.

  “Your leader? Who is this leader you are talking about? It is not King Byollywhog?” The Frochen guard asked as it stepped forward.

  “No! Our leader is General Koba Deschner. He is the leader over us transhumans, just like how King Byollywhog is leader over you, Frochen.

  The Frochen guard made a grumbling noise and looked at the other guards next to him, and they mimicked the sound he made. The guard turned to look at the Major Generals and spoke.

  “You know that the Royal Throne Room has more Frochen guards there, yes?”

  “What does that mean?” Major General Lokhorst asked.

  “What that means is that you cannot hurt King Byollywhog, nor Queen Mompawhog.”

  “Oh no, we have no intention of hurting anyone! We just want to introduce ourselves.” Major General Brentari replied.

  The Frochen guards turned around as they grumbled and walked to the door. The Frochen guard still stood in front of them and asked. “You’re allowed to meet King Byollywhog and Queen Mompawhog.”

  The Major Generals' eyes lit up, and Major General Brentari smiled widely. “We are?! That’s great news!”

  “Come forth, then!” The Frochen guard raised its hand and moved it down, signaling the guards standing upon the pillars to not shoot at the Major Generals. They walked behind the Frochen guard as they walked up the marble pathway to the Frochen guards, and as they reached them, they parted to the side of the pathway. The Frochen guard stood in front of the door and spoke. “Go on and explore the Frochen Kingdom. Just remember there are Frochen guards everywhere. You will always be watched.”

  “Oh, wow, thank you!” Major General Brentari beamed.

  “Why are you letting us in?” Major General Lokhorst asked. “I thought you weren’t going to and just leave us.” Major General Brentari looked at her with her eyes wide open.

  “Frochen can all talk to one another through our mind. When a Frochen does not tell the truth, our gills change color to white, and we all tell each other in our minds.”

  “Wow, that is…something else.” Major General Brentari rejoiced. “Thank you!”

  “Yes, thank you!” Major General Lokhorst smiled at them.

  “Go on in the Frochen Kingdom.” The Frochen guard stepped aside and allowed Majo
r General Lokhorst and Brentari to pass them by. “Just push the doors open.”

  The doors in front of them were massive, they were a little bit taller than the Frochen, and it had raised letters and markings on half of it. Major General Brentari stood on the left, and Major General Lokhorst stood on the right, and they looked at one another and pushed the two sides of the door open, and it slowly moved and opened outward. Before their eyes, they were blinded by how bright the Frochen Kingdom was. A blue aura emitted throughout the Frochen Kingdom. They stepped forward, and the doors closed on their own.

  Their eyes looked upon the vast amount of Frochen hastily swimming back and forth from one area to another. Some were bargaining, and others were talking and swimming from one area to another. The marble pathway continued and split off into many pathways leading various ways throughout the Kingdom. They noticed that one pathway led upwards, and they saw that was heavily guarded by many Frochen guards. From far away, they seemed much more intimidating than the ones that they had just encountered.

  “Where do we go from here?” Major General Brentari asked.

  “I don’t know.” Major General Lokhorst replied. “It’s very calm and beautiful here. I wasn’t expecting the Frochen Kingdom to look like this.”

  “I wasn’t either. I have a feeling that we should go introduce ourselves to King Byollywhog and Queen Mompawhog.”

  “Why right away? You sure you don’t want to explore?” Major General Lokhorst asked. “I’m sure the Kingdom has a lot of neat things to see.”

  “I’d rather not explore first, think about it. We stick out here because we’re the only transhumans, and there are hundreds if not thousands of Frochen around here. Word will soon travel that we are here, and then soon, every single Frochen will watch us. I think we should go and meet King Byollywhog and Queen Mompawhog first.” Major General Brentari requested. “I’d rather ask for permission than forgiveness.”

  “That’s a well-thought-out plan, Brentari.

  Major General Brentari turned her face and looked at her, annoyed. “Gee, thanks.” She looked back at the Frochen swimming all over the Frochen Kingdom and looked upwards at the Frochen guards on the marble pathway. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Major General Lokhorst looked around then looked up at the guards as well. “Sure, let’s go then.”

  “Think we’ll have to answer as many questions with them?”

  “Absolutely.” Major General Lokhorst replied. “If not more.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Major Generals Solbrig and Reingle have been asleep for a little over twelve hours. They were exhausted from the adventure that they had with J’uhleesa and the discovery of the Azuard. A low buzzing noise was heard and would not cease. The sound became louder, and Major General Solbrig lazily swiped his hand and opened his eyes and saw some words appear distorted. He closed his eyes then realized he wasn’t dreaming. He opened them again, and the words were in view.

  INCOMING CALL FROM GENERAL DESCHNER

  “Ah-no!” he shook his head and wiped his face with his hand and rolled over to the side of the bed. He moved his legs to the front and stood up. He turned around and shook Major General Reingle to wake him up.

  “Reingle, General Deschner is calling us!” he stammered. “I’ll answer it, but wake up.”

  “Mmm yeah?” Major General Reingle mumbled.

  “Wake up. General Deschner is on the line.”

  “Wha?!” Major General Reingle sat up instantly and swiped his hand, and then he read the same words that Major General Solbrig just saw.

  Major General Solbrig walked over to his chair and sat down and swiped his hand and accepted the call. “Hello, General Deschner.” He talked, trying not to sound tired.

  “Did you just...wake up?”

  “Uh, yes, General.”

  “I apologize that I woke you up.”

  “Oh, it’s alright, we needed to wake up anyways we slept for...” his eyes darted to the time at the corner of his INH “Twelve hours!?”

  “Oh, wow! You two must’ve had an eventful day yesterday, huh?” General Deschner asked.

  “Uh...actually, yes we did.” Major General Solbrig admitted as he moved his fingers over his temples and rubbed them.

  “You’ll have to tell me all about it. Where is Major General Reingle?”

  “He’s uh...” Major General Solbrig looked to his right to see that he was in his chair, which startled him.

  “I’m right here, General.” Major General Reingle waved his hand as he spoke.

  “I can’t see you.”

  “Hold on a moment.” Major General Solbrig swiped his hand towards the screen, and General Deschner appeared on it.

  “Oh, now I can! Hello there, Major General! We were just discussing yesterday’s events as to why you two are so tired.” General Deschner inquired with a smile.

  “Oh, yeah... where to start.” Major General Reingle, he yawned and covered his mouth.

  “Well, I’ll let you think about it, but until then the reason why I called is that I sent a supply drop to your location, and it should be arriving within the next hour.”

  “Oh, wow, really?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “Wow, well, thank you!” Major General Reingle replied. “What exactly are you sending us?”

  “I’m sure you’re dying to find out what it is, but I am not going to ruin your surprise.”

  “Surprise, huh?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “Yes, it is a surprise. I’ll only tell you how to open it because it is securely locked so that way only the two of you can open it, and it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Major General Reingle remarked.

  “We thought so too.” General Deschner agreed. “When the supply drop appears, on top of it is a circle, and in that circle, one of you will place your hand, which then it scans your hand and matches it to what we have in our database. There is no other way of opening it, which allows for only you two to gain access.

  “Wow, that’s pretty smart.” Major General Reingle replied.

  “How long will we have to wait for it to recognize our hand?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “I’m glad you asked that.” General Deschner leaned forward in his chair, and his face was close to the monitor and continued. “It shouldn’t be too long, here on Nuwurth it is instantaneous but there on Snakardekus...who knows? A minute? An hour? Hopefully not much more than that.” He leaned back in his chair.

  Major General Solbrig nodded. “Good to know.”

  “I think you’ll like what’s inside.” General Deschner smiled really wide as he spoke.

  “I’m sure we will, General.” Major General Reingle agreed, then he looked down and noticed his OBA was on the counter in front of him. “Oh, hey, General?”

  “Yes?”

  He reached down and picked up the OBA and held it up for him to see. “We noticed that these OBAs have more functions than just a breathing device.”

  General Deschner tilted his head, he asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Well...” Major General Reingle began to speak, and he looked at Major General Solbrig’s face to continue the conversation. “Well... we found out that a full charge lasts quite a bit of time.”

  “I told you that, isn’t it nice, though?”

  “Oh yes, indeed it is nice, but we also found out something that you might be interested in… the OBA’s can translate languages as well.”

  “How do you know that?” General Deschner asked.

  “Well... General... we made contact with the Snargde, and we were able to speak to them.”

  “Y-you... what?” General Deschner exclaimed as he leaned forward in his chair. “You contacted them? How?”

  “Well, we stumbled upon a cave, and the Snargde were in there.” Major General Reingle stated.

  “This is fascinating!” General Deschner shouted. “Tell me more, go on!” he moved his left hand over his mouth as
he listened.

  “Well, we met the leader, and his name is J’uhleesa. None of the other Snargde spoke.” Major General Reingle turned to Major General Solbrig, “Would you say that was weird?”

  “Now that you mention it, it is a little odd. Maybe this is how the Snargde is, though? One speaks while the others obey and listen?” Major General Solbrig asked.

  “When we met J’uhleesa, we asked him a few questions, and he asked us questions as well. He is very sophisticated and intelligent.”