Chapter 4 - Motion Personified Alpha
The ancient races. They are a sporadically occurring anomaly within the genetic code of all the citizens of this world. It's a commonly accepted theory amongst genealogists and geneticists within the scientific community that they are actually remnant DNA from the species that are the ancestors of the populace. When the right parents sire children, the traits attached to these DNA strands become apparent in the offspring. The increased physical and mental abilities of these ancient-born are often glamorized and glorified in traditional lore, with some religious denominations even seeing them as touched by divine forces, although modern science has not proven anything beyond chance genetics. The ancient races documented so far are fairly few. Seraphin are tan-skinned, white-haired derivations of humans. Saizun are offshoots of the vulpine species, commonly possessing orange, brown, or golden fur and angular features. Shurians are a melange of all the reptilian species; Dragon, lizard, chameleon, and serpent. Metallic minerals occuring naturally in this ancient race give them their telltale headcrests and large scales on their shoulders. A very unique characteristic of ancient DNA is that it can concieve and form offspring where normal species would not, forming half-ancient and hybrid individuals. Some have expressed concern about siring these offspring, as much more about these species is still unknown to the scientific community. The believers of religious lore, however, challenge their prudence, stating that if one of ancient race is born with different characteristics, it is not defect, but destiny. -A Brief History of Gadelica, chapter 7, "The Population" The high-pitched creak of an old mattress mingled with the boisterous hollers of a spotted hyena as the brown Equine hovering over her panted as he furiously thrusted into her, adding the wet slurp of their copulation to the cacophony in the small room. "Come on ooh Wesley!" The Hyena yelled, "Don't ah lose steam on me aahn now..." "I'm huff trying, Kelli!" He replied breathlessly, trying to keep up with the overbearing Hyena. Slowly, he began to turn down his pace, finally stopping, collapsing on top of her, still tied together. "Fine, catch your breath. I'll help you finish." Kelina said disappointedly, bringing her legs up to wrap around Wesley's waist, to get more of the horse's length within her. "Thanks, Kelly, I've...never gone so long before. You're absolutely insatiable someti-Ooh!" Wesley's words were cut off as Kelina tightened her grip around his loins and contracted herself around his shaft, eliciting surprised gasps from the tired equine. "Oh...wow...I don't ah know what you're doing, but ooh keep it up." Wesley moaned into her ear as the Hyena continued to pull him in even deeper. "If you think ah this is good...I've got something that's ooh...to die for..." Wesley didn't notice at first, but as soon as the words left her mouth, Kelina's brown corneas melted into menacing crimson slits that seemed to vertically bisect her eyes. And then the fangs materialized. It all happened too quickly for the horse to save himself, as with a chilling hiss, Kelina dashed her head forward and sunk the pointed teeth into his neck. He could only gasp in the clutches of this Black Widow, before losing consciousness, going limp on top of Kelina, still penetrating her. She just lay back down on the rumpled bedsheets, his head resting on her chest. "I do hope you didn't kill him." A voice said from a dark corner in the room, the source, a cloud of white mist, floating into the room through an open window. "I know you're into eccentricities...but necrophilia is going a little far." The voice continued, the mist eventually swirling and coalescing into a definite form, a humanoid one. The figure's brilliant white hair shone against the vibrant red of his coat, casting a stark contrast to the faded, muted colors of the dilapidated room. "That's funny coming from someone considered un-dead." Kelina chuckled, "And no, he's not dead...he just needs to ah..wake up." Her words were interrupted by the equine suddenly raising his head again, regaining awareness. "Ahh...I feel better now, Kelina." Wesley said, his snout curling up in a devilish grin. With one motion, pulled out and jumped back in, resuming his thrusts, a quickened, more powerful pace suggesting renewed vigor within him. The same red eyes and sharp fangs that Kelina had hidden now too adorned the horses facial features. "Ooh...ahh...unngh...that's better..." Kelina moaned loudly as her new Vampiric whelp pinned her arms down and took her forcefully, the worn bed underneath them squawking once again. "Okay..." Valdama sighed. "I'm not going to intrude further, but I do ask this of you. My messenger has been planted in the Guardians' domain. It has given them the location of the engine. No doubt they will investigate. I want you to take your new pet and wait at that location. If the Guardians themselves go, get out of there and report back to me. If the acolytes appear, kill them. Kill as many of them as you can." "I...ahhh...understand...master...oohhhh..." Kelina tried to speak coherently, but the revived Equine within her did not cease his activities, interrupting her with each gyration. "Hmph...and get yourself cleaned up before you go." And the red-robed humanoid once again dissolved into a cloud of white before wisping out of the open window and into the cold night sky, leaving his subordinate at the mercy of her enthusiastic new toy.* * * The beeps and flashes of cameras and the whirrs of video recorders intermittently illuminated the otherwise dark and grim scene. Smoke wafted from the charred metal tables and chairs, and pieces of burnt, unrecognizable flesh painted all sides of the room, a smoldering crater where one chair and one body had once existed. Ark and Jana stood looking into the room, through the hole that was once a one-way mirror, its remains scattered amongst the blackened debris. "What the hell happened here, Arthur!?" Ark exclaimed to the wolf by his side. "A decoy." the wolf replied, wrapping a bandage around his left arm, blood and singed fur staining the substantial gash along it. "That was not Valdama. It was a really good facsimile fitted with an internal detonation device; conventional plastic explosive from the looks of it." "Wait, he made a body double that got past our screenings!?" "Apparently...it's my guess that the explosive was in some sort of form that could be injected and evenly distributed throughout the body. There must have been some sort of remote trigger buried deep in a bone or in the brain of the host body." "So..." Jana interrupted, "what your saying is, he filled a corpse with explosives and snuck it into here?""No...I'll bet he used a recently vampirized victim, stripped him of his independent thought processes, and controlled his actions via mental link. If it were a dead body, nothing would have happened when he ingested Rin's poison." "Damn...well, anyone else injured in the blast?" "Well, the bits and pieces of bodies you see scattered around the room...those are Ernesto Mortinson, as well as of our military interrogators." "Shit...this is not going to look good on the news...'military complex attacked from within'...'lapse in security leads to soldier's death'...i can see it now." Ark Grimaced. "Only enough esplosive to kill two people and blow a window out is far from an attack. More like a strongly worded message." "Oh? And did this walking bomb have anything to say?" "Well, let's check the recording of the incident." And arthur reached over to a metal panel on the wall directly in front of him, sliding it open, exposing a small setup of audiovisual equipment, unharmed by the blast. Reaching into the recession in the wall, he pressed a small blue button, and out came a small silver disc. Holding it gingerly in his paw, Arthur said, "Perhaps this will show us what happened here..."* * * Drayk was still lost in his memories when his footsteps brought him to the gardens surrounding the complex's south side. The bright midday sun cast itself on a lush, colorful blanket of flowers that covered the patch of dirt on his right, along with the rows upon rows of various labeled herbs and small vegetables growing to his left. Breathing in deep to smell the ambient aromas, he continued walking along the cleared pathway between, when something attracted him out of the corner of his eye. Well, hello there... He changed direction, walking over to the colorful red and violet dots that caught his attention. Crouching down, his claw reached out and plucked one of the fruits from the shrub. Ahh, Blackberries...I missed you guys. Inspecting the plump, ripe berry he just picked, he tossed it lightly in his claw for a second, before throwing it high in the air, sticking his long, black tongue out to catch it. The quick flash of metal that sliced right through the berry almost catching Drayk's tongue. He instantly retracted the ebony appendage back into his maw, ducking down to avoid the blade completely. A single palm-blade locked into place in his right hand as he juked downward and rose back up to strike at whatever had attacked him. His thrust hit only air. Turning his head wildly to scan the immediate area, his eyes widened as a familiar voice resounded from behind. "Hey, I'm over here." Drayk spun around to face the other way, looking up toward the outer stone walls of the garden. There, perched on one of the outcroppings jutting from the wall, was a man in yet even more familiar blue clothing and turquoise hair. "Master Evan...don't scare me like that." Drayk grimaced. "I almost stabbed you." "Well, that certainly wouldn't have been a good way to be welcomed back from your mission." Evan laughed, "But come on, I was just testing you. Besides, you still have a long ways to go before you can take me by surprise." Drayk sneered facetiously as his Sensei pushed off from the wall, rolling in the ground with formulaic grace, standing back upright next to his student. Dusting himself off, he outstretched his hand and opened his palm. "Damn it, that was my blackberry!" Drayk huffed, looking at the two halves of the fruit in Evan's palm, its juices already leaking out, dripping to the ground below. Drayk defiantly plucked the pieces out of his hand and hastily tossed them into his mouth. Evan smirked as Drayk gulped down the bisected blackberry, a quasi-spiteful grin on his face. "Ah, I've missed you around here. Not as much fun without your quirky behavior." Drayk's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, quirky?" "Nothing, just been a while. That's all." "Hmph...Eric almost found out today..." "You mean your..." "Yes. That. He saw me get kicked in the groin and not react to it. He got a little inquisitive." "Ha...I wouldn't worry. Eric's a good soldier, but he's not the most observant outside of battle. It's almost like half his brain shuts off when his life isn't in danger." "You mean like the time he almost set his room on fire with that toothpaste in the faulty flux capacitor?" "Yeah, like that." Evan rifled through his pocket, pulling out his cellular phone. "Well, I've been out here for a while, I should see if the higher-ups are going to yell at me again for turning my phone off." flipping the lid open, he tapped a button on it, bringing it to life. Almost immediately, a loud, cacophonous ringing blasted forth from the device, starling both Evan and Drayk, the both of them jumping back in surprise. "Ack, what the fuck was that!?" Drayk snapped, wincing. "Shit...I know that sound. That;s the signal that something really bad just happened." Pressing a few keys on the pad, Evan held the phone to his ear. "Hey, it's Evan...what to you mean 'where have I been!?' I'm always in the garden on Saturday mornings!...and you know i like my phone off while I'm meditating!...wait, what?...oh shit...Valdama?...explosion?...the engine!?...You have got to be shitting me...we'll be right there." "What the hell's going in?" Drayk asked as Evan flipped his phone shut, turning tail quickly and bolting towards the entrance of the massive edifice. Drayk groaned and followed close behind. "Evan! What's twisting your panties all of the sudden!?" "I'll tell you when we get there," Evan yelled back, "And you should be the last person to be talking about panties, y'know." "You may be my master, but I'll get you back for that one!" Drayk snarled back.* * * The five assembled figures in Arthur's office stood in darkness, the only light cast on them coming from a screen on the wall. Within the screen, black & White footage rolled on, capturing the final moments of those once in the interrogation room. "Wow..."the interrogator said, "I can't believe we caught two high priority criminals in one night. That's pretty lucky I'd say." The interrogator, a groomed yet scruffy looking black rat, fixed his gaze on the restrained Valdama, glowing bindings restricting his hands and feet, keeping him seated in his chair. To his right sat an equally bound Mortinson, head bowed down, not saying a word. "Heh heh heh...lucky, you say?" Valdama asked, a psychotic grin painted on his face, "I actually feel sorry for you, government stooge." Valdama's snide remark elicited a chuckle from the rat. Turning his back to the two detainees, he shook his head, grinning...before whipping right back around and throwing his fist into the Vampire's face. "What the fuck!" Mortinson yelled, snapping his gaze up to see Valdama's head jerk to the side, the force of the punch jarring his entire body. The five observers winced as the interrogator grabbed Valdama by the collar. "How's this for a government stooge!?" The rat yelled in the vampire's bruised face, just before shoving him back into his chair, causing it to fall back, cracking under Valdama's rapidly descending weight. "You can't do that to him!" Mortinson shouted, "There are laws against that, you bastard!" "You wanna be next, scale-boy!?" The rat snapped back. "Ha...don't waste you strength on that one." Valdama choked out from his position, "Besides, none of us have long to live." The rat quickly jumped over by Valdama's head, kneeling down. "What did you just say?" he growled, raising his fist, ready to strike him again. Valdama coughed and sputtered before uttering the final words, "Just know this...Algramir Island...the engine...Phant...They're all there...come if you dare..." The rat glared inquisitively at Valdama as his head fell backwards, a blank stare in his eyes. He gasped, stepping back from the comatose form. "A corpse dopplega..." was all the rat could speak before a loud, brilliant flash engulfed the screen, quickly dispersing into static. The static was the only thing heard in that room for what seemed like an eternity, all unsure of what to make of the impostor Valdama's message. They knew what he referred to, but not of it's intent. They knew of the Island, the engine...and of Phant...but there would be only one way to find out if these claims were truth, or a malicious ploy. Arthur picked up his phone, and took a second to catch his breath before punching in a number.