The young Lightmoon Elven girl was feverish, and starving. Her bright pink eyes rolled in her head and her chest was bruised a sickly purple. The monkey-thing, ‘Polta,’ as my wives and Sidney were coming to call it. Had spent the night being seriously annoying and chatty.

I was certain it had alien flees or something.

The chattering had been nervous, and with good reason. The Phoban had roamed the city last night. I could hear them chuffing distantly in the streets and outside the building. There must’ve been hundreds of them, all chuffing and fighting with one another. Dragging bodies back towards the convention centre.

This planet was an absolute nightmare incarnate, seriously.

At one-point last night, Nikhara and I had gone up to one of the malls higher floors to look out. Two of the big pink-furred monkey-things had been fighting outside our building. We worried about them coming in or breaking the front entrance even more so than it already was. There were no bodies inside the mall, so I could only guess that they had already been dragged out.

The victor of the fight had torn the arm off the losing monkey and proceeded to beat the thing to death with it. Then the victor smacked its chest, chuffed, and starting eating the dismembered arm.

It then had to defend the dead carcass from the other pink-furred monkey-things. As they enclosed in like feral hungry scavengers. The victor had therefore after been torn apart himself. Its dismembered limbs fought over and eaten.

Now, as day broke the pink-furred-things had retreated to the convention centre and other building’s. The Lightmoon Elven girl, was still unconscious. Polta had kept close to her, as she slept and sweated. Mumbling in elvish for her momma.

Seeing her like that struck home all the times Elven children had treated me like shit. Yet now one lay weak and unconscious before me and all I could think of was helping her.

After so many years … I’ve finally grown up.

Nikhara, Sidney and I left a few hours after checking and making sure everything was secure at the mall before moving on to check the underground facility.

The psychiatrist pushed the button to call up the elevator as we waited.

“Where’re all the bodies?” I asked after a moment of looking around the platform. We had walked here as the mag-trains still didn’t want to stop for anything or anyone.

“We know that. The Phoban are taking them--” Nikhara started to tell me.

“No, not the civilian bodies. I mean the thralls, the knights, and hunters. I haven’t seen any of the ones we had killed here.”

“Huh, why didn’t I noticed that,” Nikhara grunted and looked around herself in surprise.

“Maybe It’s an effect of the Draugur,” Sidney suggested with a light shrug. “Their thralls disappear, so no trace of them is left behind.”

“Maybe,” I partially agreed. “Still, it’s strange though.”

The elevator slid open and we entered inside. Each of us taking the same position we had when coming up previously. I took the left wall, Nikhara the right, and Sidney the rear. I noticed how the psychiatrist’s shoulder were stiff and her breaths came shallowly.

The door slid closed and we descended.

“We’re okay,” I told the caramel-skinned beauty quietly, reaching out to tap her forearm.

“I know, I know. It’s just a mite claustrophobic in here… and down there.”

“I get it. But we’re here for you,” I smiled at her. Trying desperately hard to not eye the slender lines of her neck. Her blood still called to me, and with us in such a close proximity it was becoming difficult to not drawl over her.

On another note, I hadn’t had any need to feed so far since Nikhara had granted me some of her blood. My vessel was still dripping, and leaking magic but without using it for enhancements on my speed, reaction-time, and strength. I suspected I could go another day, without needing to feed again.

The elevator hummed as we rode it down until it finally settle at the bottom. Now that I thought about it. If we were to be stuck here permanently, living down here would be the best option. At least until the power ran out.

“How is the power still on down here, and in the security room?” I asked the psychiatrist.

Sidney’ amber eyes scanned around, wide and frightened. As if suspecting something to jump out of the shadows at us. “T-there’re wind turbines and solar panels connected by circuits running to this place. I don’t know where they are.”

“Interesting,” I nodded and carried on.

We walked slowly through the facility and I saw that none of the knight or hunter bodies were present any longer. Only the bloody, broken corpses of the people who had fought against them. Sidney’s colleague’s I realised and turned to see psychiatrist staring around with a twisted expression.

Grief plain across her features.

Nikhara hugged her shoulder as I nodded in sympathy. Not trusting myself to be so close to the beautiful women. We moved deeper within, retracing our path back through the few studies. I remembered seeing a white cocoon like husk in a lab before the living quarters.

We stepped inside, and I instantly felt myself deflate. The cocoon in my dreams had been small, just a bit larger than the size of a ten-year-old child. The cocoon the researchers had been studying was man sized at least, and a part of me knew this wasn’t mine the moment I saw it.

“Here it is, the seed--”

“Its not mine,” I cut Sidney off immediately.

“Not yours?” she asked me in surprise, “how do you know?”

“I feel as if … if it was mine I would know it. This feels like nothing to me,” I said and reached out to touch the white husk of a cocoon. I jolted upright my head snapping up as my body went rigid. Images flashed through my mind. A dark silent place, housing hundreds of cocoons. Men in lab-coats walked across a bridge hanging over a chasm going between the rows of white cocoons. Making notations on pieces of paper and portable terminals.

A man in black uniform bearing no insignia walked leisurely behind them. My gaze focused in intently on the man. I could make out no features as his face seemed distorted somehow. A black sinuous shadow unfolded from around his head, and I felt it look straight at me.

Then the man stopped suddenly as his head snapped in my direction. I gasped as the sinuous black shadow shot for me, striking out like a scorpions stinger.

My hang flinched away from the white cocoon, and I made a fist as I panted.

“What happened?” Nikhara asked me, her hands steadying my shoulders.

“Is everything alright? you touched the seed and just went quiet. You wouldn’t respond to either Nikhara or I when we tried to speaking to you,” Sidney asked me and explained.

“I… I saw a place where they were housing more of these,” I gestured at the empty cocoon. “There were hundreds of them. But a man spotted me, like he knew I watching him.”

I paused for a breath and allowed myself to relax into Nikhara’s hands. “I believe this is, or was, one of my thralls,” I explained and nodded at the white bone husk of a cocoon. “They’re more, but they’re somewhere else. Somewhere I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Sidney nodded absently. She reached up to brush aside some of her dark-curly-brunette hair from her face. “We need to reach your home-world before we do anything else.”

“I agree,” I agreed. “Wait- we?” I asked with some surprise. “You’re coming with us?”

“Of course,” Sidney smiled brilliantly at me, her amber eyes drifting to my lips. “Your wives explained that it might be a good idea for all of us to stick together.”

“We did,” Nikhara mused her agreement. I suspected that their conversation had a lot more details than just that in it.

“So we’re taking the Lightmoon-girl and her flea-ridden-space-monkey as well?” I grumbled questioningly.

We left the facility shortly after I tried to touch the cocoon again. No images came to me this time, just a vague awareness at the back of my mind. As if my mind was trying to expand but was meeting resistance. I suspect that Draugur’s have an awareness of their thralls, like how many there are, and what they can do.

We stopped by the armoury and grabbed a few riot vests and stun rods. Then we made the ascend back up to the surface. A distant thump of air sounded shortly after stepped out the elevator. I frowned at Nikhara who shrugged in answer. We moved to the edge of the platform, and I looked out to see a ship, bearing Zarian colours making its descend through the atmosphere.

My HUD statically lit up as a com-link notification rang through.

“Andrea?” I asked, my brows pitching together.

“We got incoming, babe. I couldn’t see who they are. But they’re trajectory is heading right for us. Oh! the girl is awake as well. No clue what she’s saying though.”

“Okay. We’re on our way back now.” I hung my end up and frowned as my HUD glitched and went completely dark. Stupid thing.

Without waiting for the women to respond, I scooped Sidney into my arms. She was carrying a small knapsack, filled with essential items she had grabbed from her quarters in the Dawn Sect facility. Mostly it was filled with tight skirts, blouses, her portable terminal, and a pair of dark purple high-heels. I didn’t ask when she discreetly stuffed an enormous red ribbed dildo in her bag.

Honestly, how she managed to fit that, along with everything else in the knapsack was impressive.

She squeaked as I picked her up in a bridal carry, and started sprinting. Nikhara grunted from behind me, hefted her towering sword along with a few bags and followed closely on my heels.

I pressed on my vessel to push out a parcel more of magic to enhance my speed. We rocketed through the city, taking intermittent periods to walk instead of all out running.

The ship bearing Zarian insignia breached through into the sky and immediately touched down outside the mall, we’d been hiding in the last few days.

Nikhara, Sidney and I arrived just as the ramp at the back of the corvette lowered. Two people stepped out. One an older man, wearing the blue jacket of Zarian military. And the other was a short pink haired woman about Andrea’s height with a short-sword drawn.

Her armour was a sleek black, orange, and white. She turned towards us as we stopped. Her eyes locked with mine just as the man turned around to face us.

“Hazard,” he greeted warmly.

“Hey, Bill. What’re you doing here? I asked cautiously.

“He is of no concern to you,” the pink-haired woman cut in before Bill could reply. Was he a hostage? brought here to bargain with me. “I am Iridessa Liqwon. My mistress has sent me to bring you to her.” The woman’s bright green eyes flashed as her pupil blazed red like fire, her sword flecked with flakes of flames striking up its length. Then the edge of her blade ignited and super-heated. “No matter what.”

“What’re you doing?” Bill asked the woman in cautiously.

“Wait,” I called out, and held up my hand sighing. “Who sent you?”

“My mistress,” the woman—Iridessa—replied to me, her lips thinning slightly.

“Right, and does this mistress have a name and a reason for wanting me?” I asked and slowly lowered Sidney to her feet. I looked beyond Bill and the ship to see the front entrance of the mall open. Andrea and Lightmoon Elven girl, followed by the flea- I mean, Polta came outside.

“My mistress is Soshan of the Thorns Edge--”

Nikhara snorted and I looked at her with a questioning eyebrow.

“Do not mock my mistress and guild--” Iridessa began to growl as her sword glowed hotter.

“She’s my mother,” Nikhara cut her off with a dismissive way. “And his mother-in-law,” the orc-dryad threw a thumb at me.

I blinked in surprise, and almost laughed as the pink-haired woman’s sword puffed out, extinguishing. “I- I can see the resemblance,” Iridessa mumbled in obvious shock.

“Great,” I said and clapped my hands together shooting Nikhara a questioning glance. “Let’s take this inside. It’s hot and dusty out here.”

We all retreated inside. As we entered I pulled Nikhara aside, and she explained. Her mother though a dryad, and couldn’t leave her world. A world which I might add is currently tipping on the scale towards to total destruction. Apparently when a dryad dies, all life connected to their groves die as well. On a world where the main inhabitants are dryads, you get the picture.

Anyway, her mother Soshan is the mistress of the Thorns Edge. An ancient guild of assassins trained in various degrees of life magic. Which until yesterday Nikhara believed to be the only magic ever known.

“I’m not sure why my mother has sent an assassin to retrieve you though,” Nikhara mused to me. A throat cleared from behind us and we both turned to regard the pink-haired assassin.

“My apologies, daughter of my mistress. Your mothers orders were to: find him, and bring him to me no matter the cost. The soulless await this one.”

“The soulless? what does that mean?” I asked them. Nikhara shrugged while the assassin simply blinked at me. “So does that mean we’re going to have to see your mother?” I asked Nikhara after a moment of suspense.

“Its likely,” the orc-dryad mused. “I haven’t seen mom, well since dad dragged me away for clan rights and traditions.”

“She never spoke of you,” Iridessa added unhelpfully, “at least not to anyone I know of in the guild. She does have pictures of a small girl, assumedly her daughter in paintings around her quarters.”

“You’ve been in my mother quarters?” Nikhara asked with some surprise, then her lips curled in a sly smirk as her eyebrows bounced.

The pink-haired assassin, blushed and the ends of her hair flecked with fire. I wondered at what species she was, but thought better of asking right now. We moved deeper inside.

Everyone else was sat together in a rough circles. Bill introduced himself to Andrea. the pair had known of each other, but had never actually physically met one another.

“So, are you the third wife then?” Bill asked and cocked an eyebrow at Sidney.

The caramel-skinned beauty frowned in confusion for a second before realisation struck her. She blushed deeply and began to stammer as Andrea started to laugh.

“We recused Sidney from the Dawn Sect facility where this whole mess started,” I explained, saving the psychiatrist from further embarrassment. Bill had a tendency to be a little blunt.

“Dawn Sect? What… exactly did happen here. We did a vital routine scan on approach through orbit, and couldn’t find anything other what we have here.”

So I explained as best I could to them all. As I neared the ending of my explanation, I started to see a noticeable weariness radiating off my old friend. I pressed on my vessel, and my hearing attuned towards him. His heart beat was erratic. But that could be amounted up to my tale of events.

I pressed down more on my vessel. Willing the flow to stream instead dribble. I blinked as the contours of Bill’s body blurred, and I suddenly saw every veins and artery in his body. Circuit lines of red and blue blood, spread throughout every inch of him. Then I saw the mass on his brain, and I closed my eyes. Seeing it for what it truly was. Did he even know himself? I shut off the flow of my vessel and noticeably sagged as the drain suddenly hit me.

I would need to feed later. My eyes trailed across the collection of friends and new companions to land on Sidney. Her blood called to me the most even still. Followed by Iridessa, though the call from hers felt heated with good reason.

Sidney blood called with the promise of sugared butter and honey. My eyes finally fell on the small Lightmoon Elven girl. Her blonde-white hair was in twin braids on either side of her face. Her pointed ears stuck out through her hair, and her large pink eyes watched me with an intense amount of interest.

“Dimia’shar, Light-one,” I greeted her, using the formal phrase all humans on Ardenai-Prime were taught to use when near an ageless elf.

“Neri’ sadni. Fon’arikai domo,” she replied quietly with a slow blink and looked away from me. Polta, the pink-furred monkey stood up from behind the girl and looked at me threateningly.

Which was to say, his fur gleamed fluorescent and he growled squeakily. I didn’t speak elven, so I couldn’t understand the girl’s reply. Nor did I speak flea-ridden monkey.

We sat and talked for most of the day.

“We may have a problem on my end though,” Bill said after a moment of quiet contemplation. “I suspect someone within Zaria is helping to nudge this ‘Makkian’ fellow’ plan along. And I don’t mean Jessica,” Bill explained and winced slightly as he said my dead ex-wife’s name.

“There was a special ops operative that came to interrogate me,” Iridessa explained further. “He had an ability to view memories, to copy and devour them. To know you’re exact thoughts. And there is one other thing…” the pink-haired assassin trailed off.

“He asked me if I knew of what happened on Ardenai-Prime.”

“So not only do we have some vampiric newly-born running about and starting his conquest over the galaxy. But we’ve also got a secretive corporation: Dawn Sect. Who were researching the Draugur seed, and potentially me, in disconnect. But we’ve also got an assassin hiring mother-in-law, and potentially rogue agents inside—maybe—the biggest territory in the galaxy.”

“There’s more,” Bill noted, and I looked to my old friend warily.

“More?” I groaned audibly

“Yes. As we were leaving Zaria--”

“Escaping,” I corrected.

“There was some breaking news running across all the established channels,” he carried on as if I hadn’t interrupted him. “The emperor is dead.”

Yeah, that knocked the wind right out of my sails.

“Shit. That definitely isn’t good,” I said and closed my eyes. “We need to get to Ardenai and soon.”

“Why though?” Sidney asked me. I blinked at her for a long second. She had been mostly quietly as we all had discussed recent events.

“I’m not entirely sure. But I’m certain something is there waiting for me,” I explained unhelpfully. Recalling my vision when I touched the bone white cocoon. “If the galaxy is going to shit, then the Draugur is going to have an easy time conquering us.”

“What are his motives?” Bill asked.

“I’m unsure. I think he was sent here a long time ago. And whatever their plan was, they’ve started the count down on it now.”

“Who sent him?” Iridessa asked me, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know. I remember him mentioning someone called the Architect. I’m unsure.”

“Then we should get started on repairing your ship,” she suggested, and I nodded, completely agreeing with her.

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]