I dreamed. Discordant, horrible things filled me. Passed through my soul and stole pieces of me with each passing glance.

I was trapped and struggling, suffocating as I tried to escape. Light broke the surface of my grave. I broke out, my hands pushed away dirt, and sand, and roots.

I climbed out and levered myself up. A dry, dusty landscape rolled before me. I looked behind myself, at my grave. A large white cocoon buried within the ground laid before me. Roots of white and green, spread out from it.

Like roots weaving out from a seed.

I knew I needed to touch the seed, but why? Something else beckoned me.

I turned back, looking away from the seed to what drew my attention. A women stood about twenty yards away from me. Her white hair wavering in the dry wind. Her loose white sundress bellowed out as she pointed a white gloved hand out to my left.

I followed her gesture and saw distantly a road snaking away from me. Beyond that were farms, and beyond those farms was a city.

Arden city. The major capital of that Ardenai-Prime that would become my home.

My world went black, red lights flicked on overhead. The smell of puke, shit and piss stank up at the whole dropship as we were jostled about.

“Ready up!” called the commanding officer. Within proximity to me were my friends and companions. We stood, check the person in front of us’ gear. Then patted their shoulder.

The ding and ring of shots pounding, skipping or bouncing off the dropships hulls did little for our nerves. The dropship jarred roughly as it set down. The rear ramp cranked down, and the CO called, “go, go, go.”

The ships rear exploded open as a hulking Orc rammed through it, shearing a path through the side of dropship. We fell back as the ship was sent spinning like a top on the ground.

Those of us who hadn’t been rolled over by the Orc, tumbled on top of one another. The ship bounced around, flames bellowing out the back as we smashed into another dropship and it exploded.

The world went black again.

A white glassy tree grew before me, towering up through the darkness. Going further through the beyond. Each branch stretched out like large sweeping wings.

The tree kept growing, reaching further heights than planes of possibility. I knew somehow that a giant shadowy wolf with one-eye guarded the top of the tree. On its back stood a blazing phoenix that more resembled a dragon.

Beyond them the void flexed. It tore open and sickly limbs creeped through it like strangling vines.

They fought the wolf and phoenix. Eventually killing them both. The phoenix blazed brightly and in its death cry, a flash encompassed both it and the dead wolf.

They vanished.

The vines crawled down the tree, weaving and strangling each branching limb. Making them whither. The glassy white of the tree going black as obsidian and the void.

I stared at the torn space in the void beyond, a black lidless eye deeper than the void was black glared down at me.

I gasped and shot up. My head smacked against the broken metal beam above me. “Fuck-ow, shit that hurt,” I croaked painfully and gently probed at my head.

“Marcus?” called a voice. It grunted from somewhere above me.

“Nikhara?” I called back. What had happened? we’d been fighting Makkian and then everything was just blinding-white-hot pain.

A thin strip of light beamed through a crack in a rubble ceiling above me. I tried to move but all I managed was to shuffle my arms. I couldn’t feel anything below my waist. I looked at my bare arms, they were burnt badly. The skin blistered and disfigured. My suit was gone and small pieces of it were melded with my scared flesh.

“I’m not in good shape,” I croaked more to myself.

“What? keep talking, hon. I’m almost to you,” I heard her grunt as the weigh above me shifted slightly. My mouth felt dry with each dusty inhaling of air.

“Did we get him?” I muttered weakly and leaned my head back on the rubble beneath me. My eyes closing briefly.

“No. The fucker got away. I’m- I’m here, honey. I-I’ve got you,” Nikhara told me, her trembling voice right above me now. She held me in her arms. Her face bruised, bloody and streaming with tears hung above me.

“I see,” I replied to her and tried to smile. It didn’t come though. “I-I can’t feel my legs anymore. Either they’re g-gone. Or- or my back’s broken.”

“We’ll fix you right up,” she told me and sniffled. Her tears fell on my face and I hissed as it felt like they sizzled on my skin.

“I need to move you,” Nikhara informed me. And I nodded my consent. She brace her back against some rubble and pressed back with her muscular legs. It shifted and slid backwards.

Something crashed nearby, and clattered down loudly. Wispy trails of heated smoke snaked into the air off scorched patches of debris.

“That’s … not good,” I rasped as I stared down my body to my missing right leg, my left a mangled mess. I didn’t even see the bulge of my penis anymore. It was all just melded scared flesh everywhere.

“We can- we can fix this. Just need to get you back to the Erebus,” Nikhara said shakily. I watched as she closed her eyes and pressed her trembling fists against her temples.

“Erebus? Is Andrea alright?” I asked her, my eyes closing partly shut.

“I- I don’t know. I- I- I haven’t seen them yet. Just looked for you,” she cleared her throat. I didn’t even feel it when she picked me up and cradled me in her arms. It felt like I drifted for hours. The hot sun over Lios streamed down it glaring gaze, and seemed to fixate on me.

The ride was uncomfortable, hot, and dreadfully painful.

Before long Nikhara halted and I opened my eyes to see why. The Erebus was half buried through the roof of an mall. Fires and electrical sparks crackled over the roof and fell into the street beside the building.

“Damn,” both Nikhara and I chorused. My home was in ruins.

“It’s not that bad- HOLY SHIT, MARCUS!” Andrea walked out the front entrance of the mall, wiping her hands. She dropped the rag she’d been using and sprint over to us. She skidded to a halt and stared at me with wide horrified eyes. Her hands hovering over me, unsure whether to touch me or not.

“I’m okay,” I rasped at her. A clear sign that I wasn’t at all okay.

“You look fucked up!” Andrea gasped at me.

“Andrea!” Nikhara snapped at her.

“Right. Sorry. It’s just … bad … ya know,” She amended.

“It’s alright,” I said gently to her. I closed my eyes again. Thankfully, I still had eyelids. It felt as if they stuck every time I closed my eyes though. “Can we go inside please. The sun isn’t doing me any favours.”

“Sure,” the women said in unison. We walked inside the mall. Going through the broken entrance. The nose of the Erebus was an inch off the ground floor of the mall.

“How is this ‘not that bad?’” Nikhara asked Andrea, parroting her earlier statement.

“Okay. It is pretty bad. Just … not as bad as it could be.”

“Where’s Sidney?” I asked the blue-haired android.

“Oh the hot-ass doctor is unconscious over there,” she pointed off to our left. On a rolled-out mat, was the unconscious psychiatrist. She was also apparently half-naked, with her lab coat covering her up.

“Why are most of her clothes missing?” Nikhara cocked an eyebrow at the android.

“Oh, that… Uh- she lost them in the crash I think,” Andrea waved her hand dismissively about.

Nikhara sighed heavily. “Sometimes I wonder about you,” she muttered under her breath.

“Can we get Marcus in a medical-pod?”

“Yes we can. Just the problem of no power at the moment,” Andrea replied to the orc-dryad. “So it won’t work.”

“Fine,” Nikhara sighed gently and took me over to the mat Sidney lay on. The instant I got closer to her my heart began to speed up.

“Stop!” I growled, and my hands grip Nikhara’s arm tightly.

“What?” Nikhara asked me in surprise.

“I can’t be near her,” I explained. Blood pounded in my scarred ears. My mouth began to salivate, even though doing so was painful.

I shut my eyes. Was the pulsing in my ears my own heartbeat, or the sound of the unconscious Sidney’s. For that matter, why wasn’t I feeling this way towards Nikhara. The orc-dryad was practically half-naked carrying me around.

Yet Sidney’s blood, her essence. It called to me. Alluring symphonies that begged me to come ever closer. To take a bite and never stop biting.

I rasped out a deep wheezing breath.

“Okay,” Nikhara said gently to me. “We’ll rest you down somewhere else for the moment.” We moved away from the unconscious psychiatrist and my head started to ache. The blood calling me became more frantic in my ears. I closed my eyes again. And turned my thought to my dream’s.

The wolf in the dream seemed familiar somehow. I couldn’t quite place it, but my mind drew a correlation between the shadowy wolf. And the stylized wolf head on the pauldron of the man in my other dream. Rokkaia. Both also had one-eye as well. Why was I dreaming of any of this? I didn’t know. Maybe I could find him somehow using scrying table on the Erebus.

Nikhara gently laid me down on a padded bench. Unfortunately some areas of my skin had to peeled off of her. My wife took a deep breath and steeled herself as she did it. It hurt. In fact everything still hurt so this was nothing new.

I couldn’t imagine how bad I looked to them. I could only guess at what they were thinking. Wondering If I would stay permanently scarred for life. Could they stay with me through that? Yes they would. But at the back of my mind I knew doubts would form in my own head.

Were they staying with me because they pitied me? Or because they loved me, had loved me? Questions like that would run through my head, I knew it.

My eyes stung, and I could guess that I was crying. So I shut my eyes, to block out their horrified faces and curled up in a ball as best I could.

I hated being seen as weak. Mainly because I hated others pitying me. The roots buried deep from my days as a beggar and thief.

Sometimes I played on the pity so I could steal from those showing me kindness. Other times I would sit watching parents and their kids playing, and wanting their pity. If only for a little while at least.

I had been alone and afraid for so many years. I didn’t like the prospect of returning to a similar state.

I slept for some hours, until voices woke me up. The three women were talking in hushed tones nearby.

I cracked an eye open, which hurt and caused me to groan. They paused their discussion to glance my way. All three were now dressed in the lightweave flight-suit. Even Sidney, though she wore a singed lab coat over it.

“So how do we deal with him,” Andrea asked quietly.

“I could guess that he needs blood to regenerate?” Sidney asked the pair.

“We don’t know,” Nikhara admitted, and Andrea nodded her agreement.

“What do you mean, you don’t know. You’re his wives aren’t you?” Sidney asked them incredulously.

“We didn’t fucking know,” Andrea snapped at her in a growl.

“All this, that’s been going on with him. It’s only started today,” Nikhara clarified.

“But that can’t be right. From the few researcher’s I’ve had in sessions. Draugur’s are born like this,” the psychiatrist waved her hand towards me. None of them knew I was awake yet. I was also starting to suspect that Sidney knew more than she was letting on.

“Well not exactly like… this--” she amended.

“Yeah we get it,” Andrea waved her off, “look. Marcus has always had some small ability in healing small wounds. His current state now, would be completely beyond him.” My android wife explained to the psychiatrist.

“So what caused the change then?” Sidney asked in thought.

“Marcus explained it to me. Said that it was this Ardenai-Prime sample down in the facility.”

“It changed him? how?” the psychiatrist leaned towards the orc-dryad.

“He drank it… I think, and some of it absorbed into his skin,” Nikhara shrugged. “He said something like it felt right, that it belonged to him.”

“But that could only mean one thing,” Sidney leaned back and rubbed her palms on her knees. A nervous gesture.

“Well, what?” Andrea groaned.

“The sample, and the seed from Ardenai are down in the facility. If Marcus is indeed a Draugur … then that means they belong to him.” At the mention of the seed my mind flashed through my dreams and focused on the white cocoon.

Then my thought’s raced to passing by a lab that was studying a large white cocoon. Both of my eyes snapped open wide.

“I have to see it,” I croaked out. My lips partially stuck together at the corners. Sidney and Andrea jumped at my voice, while Nikhara grunted noncommittally.

“You are far too weak, hon,” the orc-dryad said softly as she came to stand before me.

“I know,” I nodded gently. “Are there any of Makkian’ thralls lying around that I can drain?” I asked them.

“Makkian?” Nikhara frowned at the name.

“The Draugur,” I clarified to her.

“Oh! I have not seen any. How strange…” she said slowly and trailed off.

“You need blood don’t you?” Sidney came closer. I noticed how the trembling scared woman she’d been before was now gone. Either that or she was hiding it well. We could use some new crew members and having a shrink on board may help in the long run.

“Yes,” I replied simply. And blinked as three women nodded at the same time. Then they drew away from me and sure as shit started a game of rock, paper, scissors.

“Hold up,” I said and grimace as my arm came unstuck from the bench I was on. “Why is Andrea playing? She’s a synthetic—no offense love.”

“Ah, shit. I forgot,” Andrea said and chuckled lightly.

“Of course you did,” Nikhara said.

“Well. While the two of you decide, who gets’ squeezed dry. I’ll get started on rerouting power through the ship.” The android spun about and flounced away towards the Erebus.

“It’s hard to believe that she’s a android,” Sidney noted with an amused tone. Then she turned to me, her amber eyes glinted as she looked at me. I didn’t at all detect any disgust coming from her. Only mild curiosity. How I knew that I didn’t know.

“Can you drink our blood? I know you tried to … uh, drink mine,” a blush redden her caramel skin, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Yes,” I answered immediately, it came out as more of a hiss and the psychiatrist swallowed hard. “It’s different between the two of you though.”

“How do you mean?” Nikhara asked me curiously, and Sidney nodded at the question.

“Well, I can drink your blood Nikhara. I’m certain of that, but it feels like there’s something in Sidney that’s calling to me,” I said and nodded at the psychiatrist. My word’s didn’t at all make the situation any more comfortable.

“S-something in me?”

“I don’t know how to describe it. Its calling to me is all,” my voice sounded smooth and dreamy to my own ears. Something behind my eyes tugged on Sidney’s amber ones. She leaned towards me, even though she was two metres away.

I blinked and felt that odd tugging cut off. Sidney blinked and cleared her throat as she leaned back away from me. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes like she was tired.

“Do you have to drink from the neck?” Nikhara asked me, all business. Choosing to ignore whatever had just happened.

“I’m unsure. Maybe,” I shrugged and winced as it felt my fragile skin was tore doing so.

“Let’s try it,” Nikhara got up and retrieve her knife from its thigh sheath. She cut her palm without hesitation and came over to me, holding her hand out above me as she titled her palm.

The instant she cut her skin the scent of her blood filled the air. Her essence was that of a cool spring day, I tasted it before it even trickled from her hand.

A thin stream of her blood, coated my lips and I breathed it in. My tongue sought it out and lapped it away. More trickled down. I wanted to sink my teeth in as pleasure coursed through me. If I could form one, I was certain I’d have a rock-hard erection right now. Yet my genitals need reforming.

For now, this pleasure went deeper than carnal lust. It breezed through my very soul. Cooling the heating temperatures of my body immensely.

I shivered in bliss as the stream roamed across my mouth, hitting my upper lip, nose and cheek. I smeared it across my face. Felt the delight, as it breezed over my skin. I wanted to bathe in her blood.

My hand closed around Nikhara palm and I pressed my open mouth to it. I didn’t need to sink my fangs in, as the blood flowed freely. Almost as if it wanted to rejuvenate me.

I heard a gasp and opened my eyes to see Nikhara biting her lip from beside me. Sidney stood just over her shoulder, watching us. The psychiatrist was biting her own plump bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood.

Her blood, still sung to me. But Nikhara’s essence filled me like fresh spring water.

“Marcus,” Nikhara gasped at me, her mouth parted as her tongue darted out. She shiver as my eyes settled on her.

I pulled my mouth away from her bloody palm and looked her over. All else faded and only she remained in my sight.

“I want you,” I said to her. My voice as honeyed as smooth silk and I felt that strange tug from behind my gaze pull her in.

Her mouth was on me then. Her parted lips opened further as her tongue roamed through my mouth. I made sure to retract my fangs and not hurt her yet her tongue sort them out anyway as if daring me to.

As I returned her kiss, my own tongue invited into her embrace. I gave a quick glance downwards and blinked. I was fully healed. My erection amassed itself and pressed up jabbing Nikhara in the stomach.

“I’m- I’m gonna go,” Sidney cleared her throat, “oh god!”

I moaned as Nikhara firm hand found my penis and rubbed gently along its length. I was so painfully erect it hurt. The sensation of her hand made me both grimace and close my eyes from the pleasure of her touch.

She stroke my shaft, as she broke our kiss and move to my jaw and then neck. Trailing kisses down my regenerated body until she settled on her knees between my legs.

I gasped and shuddered as she swipe her tongue across the head of my cock. My hands curled through her thick silken tresses as she took me into her warm mouth.

I bucked unconsciously forward sinking more of me inside her moaning mouth. Her tongue wriggled against the underside of my shaft, and she gagged as I entered the entrance to her throat.

“Mmm- Marcus, I need you,” the orc-dryad moaned softly as I slid out of her mouth and she ran her tongue along the side of my dick.

I glanced at a squirming Sidney. The psychiatrist hadn’t left, but stood there panting heavily with lust as she watched us.

“Help her undress,” I commanded, and flicked a hand from Sidney to Nikhara. The psychiatrist bit her swollen lip and glanced from my rock-hard cock, to my eyes, to Nikhara’s. Her gaze roamed over our bodies as she slowly moved to stand behind my wife.

My orc-dryad wife slowly stroked my dick, pushing the head of my cock into her mouth and pressing it against the inside of her cheek.

Her lavender eyes flashed at me, as the psychiatrists hand roamed her neck, slid down her shoulders around her back. Then more of Nikhara’ jade green skin revealed itself to me as Sidney peeled the lightweave flight-suit down her glorious body.

Her large firm breasts bounced weightily as the suit flicked over her erect dark green nipples and darker areola’s. I reached out as Sidney move more of the suit down Nikhara’s wondrous figure. I cupped one of her large breasts and rolled the rough pad of my thumb over her nipple.

Nikhara bit her lip to stifle her moan. I looked past her shoulder to see Sidney watching my hard cock flexing with need. A drop of precum peaked the head and my mind screamed at me to tell the psychiatrist to taste it. Instead I pinched Nikhara’s nipple roughly, and Sidney managed to move the flight-suit down past the orc-dryads hips.

Without waiting I moved forward, and Sidney backed off. I spun Nikhara around and pressed her forward, so she leaned over the bench.

Her muscular back arched under my hand as her breasts smushed heavily on the bench. “God, you’re so fucking sexy,” I muttered as my free hand parted the folds of her sex to slide two fingers inside her wet clenching pussy. The walls of her vagina rolled against my fingers as I slid them slowly in and out of her.

“Stop… playing around, hon. I’m wet enough as is,” Nikhara moaned and shuddered. I obliged her wants, snaked my fingers in deeper, curling them, then withdrew. As my fingers slid out of quivering sex, I lined up my shaft with her entrance and nudged inside.

Her sex devoured me, pulling me in and roiling over me with such muscle control it felt like hundreds of tiny tongues running and lapping over my stiff cock.

“I-I love you--”

“I love you too, hon,” Nikhara breathed as I started thrust in and out of her tightly clenching sex. My cock spearing in and out as my hands ran up her spine and around to cup her breasts. She pushed back and leaned against my chest. Bringing her back flush as I bucked inside her.

My left hand released her breast and roamed down the contours of her fit toned body to cup her quivering mound. My fingers peeled away the hood of her clit and ran counter clockwise over the sensitive nub.

“Oh! Oh- god… I’m gonna- gonna cuumm!” Nikhara moaned and I thrust my hips forwards burying myself deeper, and deeper with each slam against her. Her ass clapping against my pubic-bone as her pussy tightened around me and her juices gushed around my painfully throbbing dick.

The walls of her vagina massaged along my length and the coil deep within my abdomen unwound abruptly as I buried myself to the hilt and came inside her. Pushing my hips forwards in the hope my seed would shoot deep into her womb.

The release was agonisingly pleasurable. My lips graze along Nikhara’s neck, and up her jaw. She turned her perspired face towards me and flicked out her tongue to run along my lips.

I kissed her and breathed in her hot and cool breath.

“That was amazing. Thank you,” I told her gratefully as we parted our mouths and she sighed against me.

I slid myself out of her with a shudder and stood to help her up. We kissed again and held each other. Then she got dressed back in her flight-suit and pointed out one for me. We looked around and saw no sign of Sidney.

“Hey, guys,” Andrea greeted us, as we came around a corner. The android had just finished welding something that I didn’t recognise. “What’s up with the mewling doctor?” she asked us and pointed her thumb back over her shoulder.

We looked past her and saw the ladies toilets and I could hear the psychiatrist swearing up a storm and she masturbated. I swallowed thickly and turned my acute senses away from that direction.

“I have no idea,” I said innocently. “But I’m all healed up, thanks to this one.” I thumbed Nikhara, and the orc-dryad smiled coyly and licked her bottom lip suggestively.

“Greedy bitch,” Andrea snickered and wacked me in the leg as she stood from her crouch. “Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?”

“Bad news first,” both Nikhara and I chorused in sync.

“Bad news is that the Erebus is majorly fucked and there’s another sandstorm on the way.”

“Okay, damn. What’s the good news?”

“I can fix her up, not perfectly but at least enough to get her flight worthy. The automated bots will help with repairs. Though I do have some concerns…” she trailed suddenly, her brows creasing together.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Nothing in particular. Say, did any of you see any flight worthy vehicles?”

“I saw a few at the docking bay we landed at before--"

“On the streets I mean,” Andrea clarified.

“Uhhh- no. I didn’t see one. Now that you mention it, that is strange.”

“There’s nothing space worthy here, other than a few old model delivery ships that are without power.”

“So what’s the plan?” Nikhara asked me.

I rubbed my chin in thought and pondered for a moment. “We need the Erebus back up and running. We need to send some form of message or distress beacon out. We also need to explore the underground facility a bit more. We need answers’ as to what the hell was actually going on here.”

“There’s the thing in the convention centre also,” Nikhara pointed out.

“The what?” I asked her in confusion.

“The thing in the convention centre,” she parroted again.

“That’s sounds dreadfully delightful to see. I’m not going anywhere near that area then,” Andrea chirped with false cheer.

The ladies toilet flushed, and a heavily blushing Sidney walked out to see us staring at her intently. “W-what?”

“You’ve got one filthy mouth on you,” Andrea blurted out and snickered as the psychiatrist looked away. The blush pinkening down her neck.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]