[DRG2015] THE WOLF LORDS

THE WOLF LORDS

The Keeper was a position appointed by none other than the Mother of the Universe. The Universe has a Purpose and that Purpose has an Awareness and She is that Awareness. She cannot apply Power directly to make changes lest the Universe unravel. She works via dreams and she can affect children and provide them with Powers. Sometimes these things work out and sometimes they don’t.

The Keeper is known by many names. He is God Slayer and Demon Slayer. He is the Spear of the Universe Incarnate.

The Keeper was in actual fact, two entities. Titarth, a Great Dragon, the only Golden Male in existence, Master of his Species. His Rider, Tez, a Human with enough titles to fill three tomes and he was still collecting them. Well, he looked like a Human and acted like a Human but he was a little bit more than that. For one thing he was immortal. He could die, but only in battle or by chance.

Together, they were the Keeper. Unless they were called into battle against some horror, they were very pleasant entities, much like any other entity that counted themselves as sentient.

Today, they were flying at a reasonable altitude, going from one end of a long island to the other. With them was a Silver pair, the Great Dragon Lerinth and Sophia her Rider. It was a lovely day for a long flight and they were all enjoying it immensely. They were unhurried and thus were sometimes flying a little erratically, simply for the fun of it.

There were many updraughts and downdraughts and gentle winds to play with. Lerinth and Sophia also had many titles and they could not really care less. They were Arcane Wielders and Companions of the Keeper. They were also very nice, unless of course you met them in battle and then you would find out just how powerful they were.

Like Tez and Titarth, they were gentle, with a caring disposition. Sophia was also a Healer at times although she was usually in the battle rather than behind the scenes.

Flying with them were three AI Shells. They were sentient constructed beings. C5 was one such and was flying for the pure joy of it. He held the rank of Advisor to the Keeper. The other two were two versions of C50. They were assigned to serve Sophia and Lerinth. They were also having a lot of fun but as always, they scanned for any threats.

They were beautiful creatures, lithesome like a cat, but longer and sleeker. The face was sort of catlike with huge fangs. The wings were in two parts and were formed of spar materials with circles of thin see through membranes. With its wings folded, they were just as suited to the land as they were to the air. In size, they were probably about the same as a Lion or Tiger but longer. They had twin spines and twin tails and two thumb claws for ripping.

At one end of this island, they had all entered this world through an Arcane Portal. There, they had Transferred one of the AIs to a position above the plane of the Solar System. Between the star maps and direction, their Star Ships would find this world.

On many worlds they did not have spatial co-ordinates for their Fleets and other forces to find. Portals went through the Void and as such had no direction or distance. You walked in and appeared on another world.

Great Dragons also flew through the Void and they only knew where they were and where they were going with no thought of how far or what direction it is. If they, or another of their species had been to a place then they could travel to it.

Sophia and Lerinth had solved this problem by understanding how Elven Seeing Spheres worked. Seeing Spheres would send through the Void but they also had direction. The Elves had only ever used them as spying devices but Sophia had found many other uses. All of her AI Shells were fitted with them.

After quite an effort, enough of the Seeing Spheres were scattered around, first on Dreadnought Star Ships and then on every world that Great Dragons could Transfer to. All that was left, were the worlds connected by the network of Arcane Portals.

The ones they were doing now were the first of many. Tez and Titarth were along to ensure that Sophia was well trained to do this task. He was very proud of the Silver Pair. They were courteous when the situation called for it. They spent Gold in taxes or bribes as required. Sophia even flirted on one occasion using humor to get what they wanted.

When faced with one obnoxious bastard, she simply activated her Arcane Armor at full power, called her Staff from the Void and stood there blazing like a small sun saying, “Then prepare for your death!” The obnoxious bastard understandably gave in at that point and became instantly compliant. Tez had had to refrain from laughing, it was so damn funny.

This was the last Portal, the end of this Portal line. Through this one and they could go home via a single Draconic Transfer. So far, so good. As usual, this one was defended. It was like an inside out Castle.

The Portal was surrounded by a huge wall with a Castle at one end and turrets along the walls. The idea was to stop an invading army from establishing a beach head. It had worked well for eons on many worlds.

As soon as they saw it, they went invisible, the Great Dragons via an Arcane Spell and the Shells via a science based cloaking shield. This one looked very different. Since Sophia had lead on this mission, it was Lerinth that scanned the minds below.

She sent telepathically, “They are on alert. They are constantly prepared for an attack and they have been for a long time. There are also light and mid-level Arcane Wielders down there. Nothing for us to be concerned with though.”

They landed about a thousand metres away behind a cluster of trees. The two Great Dragons dropped their invisibility Spells and transformed into one of their alternative forms, in this case, big cats. Once they were all ready, they walked to the Castle, with the AI Shells remaining cloaked above them. It was a short and pleasant walk.

The guards at the gate just nodded to them as they walked through. The gate led to a short tunnel with another gate at the other end. In the roof of the tunnel were archer slits and holes to pour oil through. Pretty much what they had all had been like.

They walked out into an area enclosed by walls and the gates behind them boomed shut. Sophia sent telepathically, “Lerinth, Titarth, please be ready for a dual Transfer to medium altitude please.” High on the walls around then, a few guards appeared with cross bows. They were not aiming them, but still, it seemed to Sophia like they were just a little unfriendly.

They casually walked to the middle of the enclosed killing yard and waited. Five men came out, four Guards and a very young officer. They approached, stopped and in the low Elven Language, the officer said, “I am the third son of Duke Calder. Why are you here?”

Sophia answered, “To travel through the Portal.”

He replied, “You could not have walked the length of our island and not know what is on the other side of the Portal. So I ask again, why are you here?”

Sophia smiled and said, “We did not walk, we flew. What is the problem?”

The Dukes son replied, “Flew? Well, there are Demons on the other side of that Portal. We lost a great many of my Father’s guards a month ago. So unless you can convince me that you could survive on the other side, you may not pass through. You, young lady will have to impress me greatly. I know customs differ but we do not put young women in armor and expect them to fight. I disagree with the entire concept of women fighting. You are no doubt someone’s daughter and perhaps you should be home rather than trying to act like a man. No offense is intended.”

Sophia stepped back and said, “None taken.” She activated her Arcane Shield at full power and summoned her blazing Staff. Tez did the same. Their Great Dragons changed to their true form and also blazed Arcanely.

Sophia let her Shield display dissipate and said, “Thank you for your concern, we will be fine.”

The Officer said, “I don’t doubt that My Lady. Obviously you did fly on the backs of your Dragons.”

Lerinth sent openly, “We are great Dragons. I am Lerinth and I thank you for your concern.”

The Duke’s son was a little surprised at the show of telepathy saying, “It is difficult to get used to people talking to me on the inside of my head. Are you here to assist the Wolf Lords?”

Sophia answered, “Only if they have need.”

A gate opened at a hand signal and they were escorted through to the departure side of the Portal. Their escort stood some distance away and Sophia said to Tez, “Have you ever met a Wolf Lord?” Tez replied, “I don’t even know what a Wolf Lord is. I am really looking forward to regaining my ancient memories. Titarth?”

Titarth sent, “I have never met one either. I have heard accounts though of the few that have met them and survived. They were the second species picked by the Mother of the Universe to serve her. Invisibility is one of their strengths and they rely on it heavily. It is said that they guard the Portal system against any foe. I suggest caution.”

Sophia said, “I have read about them. It seemed a little romanticized to me. ‘They breath death and appear and vanish at need. They run faster than the wind. They are as large as small horses but have toes and glowing claws that rip armor asunder.’ On the other hand, the account of Great Dragons had very similar language so we should be cautious and courteous.

Sophia paused and then asked, “Tez, do you want to take over the mission?” He chuckled and replied, “I need to know you can handle this mission, so no. If you can handle this, you can handle anything. Just think of Titarth and I as muscle.”

Sophia called down all three IAs and said, “C50, I would like you to send one of your selves through first. As soon as you emerge, execute a vertical climb to high altitude. Use your Shields, I don’t want you knocked out of the air. I am going to give you some extra Shields just in case. Once you are in place, we will use your imbedded Seeing Sphere to find you and we can use a Draconic Transfer to get there instead of using this Portal.”

Sophia accessed the Shell’s imbedded Staff and set it for stacked Shields. Then she said, “OK, through you go, don’t hang around.” She turned to Titarth and said, “Prepare the ready Wing of the Seventh for immediate Transfer on my say so. Prepare a Draconic Legion for anti-Demon operations as backup should we have the need.”

It took Titarth a few moments for the long range Telepathy before he sent, “Done Sophia.”

Sophia waited until she could see through the Seeing Sphere she had sent through as Lerinth calculated a Transfer. They all took to the air and Transferred. They came out at altitude over another island. Sophia waited for the update from C50 and the sent telepathically to Tez, “We have travelled around 34 light years to get here.”

Lerinth sent, “The island below has 10 life forms, I am guessing they are these Wolf Lords. Their minds are guarded. Everything else I can sense is Demon Kind, several hundred of them. One level six, two fours and the rest are low level. The level six is guarding the Demonic Portal they came through, the two level 4s are commanding the lesser demons in two groups. They are all watching the castle which is where the Wold Lords are.”

Sophia sent, “Tez, keep the lesser Demons busy please. Lerinth and I are going to take out the level 6 and their Portal. I have a special Staff I want to try out and a Level 6 is a perfect target to try it out on.”

Tez acknowledged as Lerinth dived down. Sophia swapped Staffs. She had only started to develop this new one. It was a merger of science and Arcane. It was a concentric Staff, almost two Staffs in one. Lerinth dropped her cloaking Spell and sent Arcane Fire down in a massive burst to get the attention of the level 6 Demon.

It Shielded quickly and sent an energy bolt in return. It impacted the Great Dragon’s Arcane Shields harmlessly.

Sophia sent a burst of Arcane energy from the outer ring of her Staff. It impacted the Demon’s Arcane Shield, seemingly with little affect. The feedback energy was read by the science portion of the Staff and the circuit determined the exact frequency of the Demon’s Shield and reset the outer Staff’s energy to match.

Sophia sent down a moderate blast and the Demon’s Shield’s unravelled. The Demon screamed in defiance and sent blast after blast to uselessly impact Lerinth’s Shield. Sophia used the core of her Staff to send down a moderate stream of Arcane energy and once again, the science side of the Staff identified the Demon’s core frequency, matched it and Sophia sent in some serious energy.

The Demon exploded!

Tez sent, “What was that?” Sophia replied, “The level 6 exploded.” Tez replied, “Demons implode, they don’t explode! What the hell are you using?” Sophia just sent a visualization of a smiley face in return.

She sent a stream of energy to the Portal, read the frequency and sent in a potent stream of Arcane energy. The Portal exploded dramatically.

Tez’s mind chuckled and sent, “Again with the explosions!” Sophia felt his mind scanning as he added, “Sophia! Portals are supposed to be difficult to destroy. You did that in a few seconds! You and I need to have a talk about your development work. You rock Silver Rider!”

Sophia and Lerinth flew to where Tez and Titarth were blasting Demons. The two level 4s were gone as were most of the others within range of their Staffs. The new Dragon sized Staffs were so powerful, Titarth was taking out the lesser Demons with single blasts.

Lerinth had no sooner started blasting with hers and the Demons decided to run away in all directions. Sophia sent, “That will do for now. We could spend weeks chasing down those lesser Demons. I think we should have gained some respect from the Wolf Lords so it may be a good time to drop in and say hello.”

Tez sent, “I agree and well done with the new Staff.” Sophia replied, “Thank you. It was just a theory I had, now I know it works.”

They flew to the castle which was an almost exact duplicate of the last one and landed in front of the Portal. The Great Dragons folded their wings and Tez and Sophia dismounted. Above them on the parapet were four of the Wolf Lords while another walked over to them and sat waiting.

Sophia walked to meet it. It was a male and it was huge, so huge that it could look Sophia straight in her eyes. On its forehead was a white Crystal, lightly pulsing with Arcane energy. It was telepathic and sent, “Greetings Great Dragon Riders and greetings also to your Great Dragons. That was an impressive display. Together we could have destroyed the one that guarded their Portal but it would have taken time. You did so easily.”

Sophia replied, “We all serve the Mother of the Universe. Perhaps we could destroy the remaining Demons together and then we could talk about a future where we help each other.”

The Wolf Lord replied with a tinge of sadness to his thoughts, “We tried once with Elven Kind. They did not treat us as equals. We tend to keep to ourselves. A few species serve the Mother of the Universe and other claim to. Only a few serve Her directly as we do. It is our belief that She has separated those that serve Her for a reason. Our species is currently engaged in three Demon Incursions. This one must wait until we have available recourses. Our mission is to simply guard the Portal until help arrives.”

Sophia considered his words and then said, “I know that the Mother of the Universe wants all of Her forces to work together. What will it take to convince you of Her wishes?”

The Wolf Lord replied, “I can read your Aura easily and so I know the truth of your words. You believe what you have just said. Sadly, the Elves believed what they said also. I mean no disrespect to you, none at all but it is only your belief.”

Sophia smiled and replied, “May I at least try to prove it to you?”

The Wolf Lord replied, “Of course you may. But sadly, unless you can speak to the Mother of the Universe Herself, I doubt you will convince us.”

Sophia nodded and planted the foot of her Staff on the ground and concentrated. She sent her mind down through the levels until she reached the source. Here existed the energy that bound the entire universe together. She sent out a single pulse of energy that was the mental signature of the one she thought of as Mother.

She was answered quickly. Mother read her thoughts as She had many times before. When She came to the current memories, She was overjoyed. A tinge of sadness at the damage done to the Wolf Lords by the sheer arrogance of Elven Kind overlaid Her thoughts and then together they went up until Sophia was once again aware of her body.

Now, however, the awareness of the Mother of the Universe overlaid Sophia’s. Sophia’s Staff erupted in an awesome display of pure Silver energy that was Mother’s signature. Sophia allowed Mother to access her entire self.

In a hugely augmented voice and using Sophia, Mother said, “The Universe has a Purpose and that Purpose has an Awareness and I am that Awareness! Harken to this one I speak through, she knows My wishes. She is one of My Daughters and she is Companion to the Keeper, my Spear Incarnate who stands next to her. You will not believe her, so what must I do to convince you, Wolf Lords! I have dealt with the Elven Ones, they now serve with humility as I intended. Answer!”

Sophia looked around. The Wolf Lords went down on all fours with heads lowered. The one before them sent, “Nothing further Mother of the Universe, nothing at all. Your desires are like laws to us. We will follow this one you speak through and we will follow the Keeper as you wish.”

Sophia’s voice said gently, “That is good. Know that I am extremely pleased with the service you freely give unto me. You do well. The burden is not yours alone. I am saddened when one of you loses your life. Treat these two well, they serve me directly and I am well pleased with them.”

Sophia shuddered as Mother’s presence faded and she was once again herself. She sagged a little and found Lerinth’s head right next to her to lean on. It was always like this after Mother left. She needed a little time to recover.

The Wolf Lord walked up to her and placed his right paw on her shoulder sending in life energy that quickly restored her. He sent, “Have no fear Sophia, we are convinced. Startled, but convinced. I never expected to meet Her, not even in my day dreams as a cub.” His mind showed concern and a deep abiding respect.

Sophia recovered and said, “I am pleased Wold Lord. Now, if you can continue to guard this portal and we will stay and help, others can sweep the island clear of the remaining low level Demons.”

The Wolf Lord replied, “As you wish, although it will take a while to destroy them all.”

Lerinth had already sent the call. Directly above them, with a crack like thunder, an entire Draconic Legion appeared. One thousand Great Dragons and Riders in full battle array roared in unison and started to peel off to attack.

Titarth sent, “At them my children. Purge this island of Demon Kind. Destroy them all!”

The Wolf Lord sent, “On the other hand, this may not take as long as I thought!”

P

a reply to: pheonix358

Pheonix this is Fantastic!!! Truly awesome!!! I Love It!!! Syx.

a reply to: pheonix358

Beautifully written. S&F.

a reply to: SyxPak

Thank you Syx, glad you liked it.

P

a reply to: pheonix358
S&F for this awesome story !!!
For sure such Great Dragons are able to manifest a 1000headed dragons army. Seem to be invisible, gathered dragon power.
The rescue is coming now finally for the Wolf Lords, may be they'd almost lost hope for such help in their bad situation surrounded by that ugly demon stuff.
I am curious about hearing something about the life in the Wolf Lord's society and especially how the inside of the Wolf Lords castle is looking like. For sure it is fantastic fully beautiful with a couple of super sweet baby Wolf Lords playing around there, too.
Phoenix, thank you for this great story, may be we will hear more from you one day about the Wolf Lords life and destiny and how they are celebrating their New-Union-Wolf-Dragon=Power.

yours faithfully
lotusaugen

a reply to: pheonix358

When faced with one obnoxious bastard, she simply activated her Arcane Armor at full power, called her Staff from the Void and stood there blazing ...

That's what I do!
Amazing story, really powerful phoenix. Loved it

S&F

originally posted by: beansidhe
a reply to: pheonix358


When faced with one obnoxious bastard, she simply activated her Arcane Armor at full power, called her Staff from the Void and stood there blazing ...

That's what I do!

S&F

This method is ultimately and works. Also obnoxious bastards won't forget about that.
I agree. LOL

a reply to: lotusaugen

a reply to: pheonix358

Hey pheonix!
Well, that was great...and I'm not surprised, lol.
You have a knack for story-telling.

(I must admit I'm partial to ANY story that has a "Sophia" in it.)

S&F
jacy

Ah, finally! Well done my friend! The wolf Lords are always such interesting beasts and add in some dragons well....awesome!

a reply to: jacygirl

Thanks. She has an AI Ship called Fia.

You should like her as well. One of my little jokes, it is the same name.

P

a reply to: Night Star

Well, I had to add the Dragons and besides, what is a story without a thousand dragons. Lol

P

a reply to: lotusaugen

No they don't. Strange how compliant they get though.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

So incredibly well developed and detailed. There must be a larger story they fit into. I would love to read it. Excellent!!

a reply to: grayeagle

Thank you.

Check out my sig line below.

Your story is very cool, I enjoyed it.

P

I did not want this story to end.

Absolutely stellar! Flag and Stars all the way down.

CdT

a reply to: CirqueDeTruth

Expanded, that will fit into the first chapter of the next book I start. Writing two now, one is being published and three are published.

Thank you and I am always very happy when people like my work. It is why I write.

P