Set just before 'The Last Guardian' but before #SPOILERALERT# young Opal is killed. I disliked this book the most, and even ending left a bitter taste in my mouth, resurrections? No. So, I'm adding my ideas, plus, I reckon Werewolves would fit the AT world quite snugly.
I also have no idea what the year Artemis is born. What, in 2001 when the first book was released he was 12. Sure okay. So he would be 24 but he's actually 21 but in LG he's 15? So the books are going at a slow arse pace, so if he's 15 (actually 18) in 2013, he was born in 1995 right? I guess I'll write him as 15 but will be 16 during the events? We'll see... I guess.
Because I couldn't fit in the description, adult (I promise, there are no lemons, plus Holly is like a child, wtf man) as well as dark (the main reason this is rated M) themes, secret pairings (because fuck you that's why, no but seriously, its gonna be an awesome surprise.) hundreds upon thousands of OCs (I do try to use CCs, but there isn't enough, so I have a huge word file in my computer files listing each OC) and lots of flashbacks and its generally anachronistic.
Enjoy
Mack
"Rise! Its dog eat dog. Rise! Man versus beast. Rise! The strong will survive. Rise! I've got no time for the weak."
Back for More by Five Finger Death Punch
Few creatures are as dangerous, or as terrifying as Humans. Colloquially known as Mud Men, these primitive creatures procreate and breed on a mind-bending scale, compared to fairies anyway. The average number of offspring these creatures has lowered over time, at one point in history they would have up to a dozen children per partnership. It is even rumoured that almost a quarter of the population from the Asian continent are related to one man!
Of course, there are creatures that make Humans quiver in terror, including many non-magical ones. Unfortunately, Humans have the unorthodox habit to capture and even tame these creatures!
A troll, a troll rider and the goblin triad come as examples of creatures much more terrifying than the Human scourge.
There is one, however, one creature who is more terrifying than any monster below the Earth. These are known as Werewolves.
No, I am actually being serious.
Many have heard the tales of the formation of Rome. Remus and Romulus, the sons of Hercules, were actually the first Lycans – the correct name for werewolves. As the story goes, Romulus killed Remus with a stone over an argument about their cities. The truth is far from.
Remus wanted to spread the curse, and to build a magnificent army of Lycans. Romulus was distraught about not being human, and tried to kill his brother to prevent it from spreading. In the ensuing fight, Remus lost his left eye, but fled north to the Germanic tribes. Romulus could not doing anything. Spreading the rumours about killing his brother, he ruled his city, even expanding before disappearing mysteriously.
The true story was originally one of the rumours, but was discarded, as is human nature.
In actually fact, he found his brother. And with a selection of his best legates, he went to find and kill him. To Romulus' horror, lycanthropy had spread.
Lycanthropy is spread uniquely. To become to a werewolf, one needs to drink the blood of an Alpha Lycan, and then consume a human heart within the hour. Too early, and you will die. Too late, and you will become immune to the curse, and even your offspring will carry this resistance. Not all survive the process, and nightmares and visions can cripple Lycans. This, luckily, kept their numbers small. A common addition was for the Alpha to mark his charges by clawing the left side of their faces, in honour of Remus.
Contrary to popular belief, Lycans can transform whenever they want. However, the process is temporary and is extremely exhausting. Physically weak Lycans have being known to have being killed by this process alone. During a full moon is simply when the process is the easiest to control. To keep up their energy, Lycans must feed. They are not, for an unknown reason, limited to flesh and blood.
The process of the Germanic tribes to be lead into battle by a Berserker is actually a misnomer, they were actually Lycans.
Lycans have thick hides, along with the fur and skills of a wolf. While this is a form of the magic, they still have the same thought processes as humans, yet they are technically fairies. This means the laws of the mesmer actually apply to Lycans, and is illegal to be used on them. Lycans have a lifespan similar to that of Fairies, but have the pragmatic intelligence of humans. Known lycans generally have higher-than-average IQ for humans.
During the Fairy-Human War, the Lycans were spilt into three groups. The Reformers, who believed that the Fairies could help them, the Loyalists, who believed that the Fairies were weak and humankind would decimate the fairykind. Finally, there were the Neutra, who believed in their own power to survive. This last group is biggest part of modern day Lycans, however, some of the other groups hold some clout, unfortunately, the Loyalists wield considerable power.
However, during the 15th century purges by the Humans severely decimated the Lycan numbers. Along with the scourge of 'witchcraft', the Humans, in a fit of terror, dropped the number of Lycans from a few thousand, to just over a hundred.
Modern day Lycans currently reside in hiding, and generally in Europe or North America. This is due to the fact that curse never spread from the Europeans, and it is generally assumed that this a genetic factor, but has never been proved.
Lycans follow a specific hierarchy. The leader is known as an Alpha, who keeps a council of five trustees, of Betas. They meet every seven years, and the event is watched by the Lower Elements Police. Lycans cannot see thought the shielding, but they can hear, and even smell a shielded fairy. This was found out in 1999, the first, and only time a non-Lycan heard, saw and finally identified the Alpha.
Captain Orland was brutally executed under the command of their leader Rudolf Gardner. Orland's sacrifice was not in vein however, as this was the first time that Fairies knew the identity of an Alpha.
All of this information is garnered from a group of pro-fairy Lycans.
Excerpt from The Complete Works of Wolfenkindby Dr. K. Kopple.
January 1999, The Salzspeicher, Lübeck, Germany
I don't think it was worth the overtime, thought Captain 'Speed' Orland.
After graduating with Captain 'Trouble' Kelp, both the elves went into the LEP. Unlike Kelp however, Orland got assigned to Section 8 almost straight out of the academy. His photogenic memory and general calmness in stressful situations made him the ideal candidate for operation 'Silver Bullet', the first ever agent to be literally thrown to the wolves.
After 70 years of planning, the plan was finally being implemented.
"Captain, just follow your training, if something goes wrong, get out right away." He was being given orders from an unknown Section 8 officer, so he turned the orders into a simple mantra, Follow training, get out ASAP.
"We're looking for their leader, if you can images of as many of the people there, we can run them by Mud Man databases."
Calming his nerves, Orland shielded and snuck into the building, making sure to get an image of the sign stating 'All are welcome!' to avoid the fairy hex.
Climbing in through an open window in the top of the building, he rested on a beam in the ceiling of the main room.
Mud Men were sitting around the room, and Orland's heart fluttered.
There was section which was obviously a makeshift stage, and there were 4 long tables which held about a dozen people. Orland was careful to take images of the Mud Men sitting down, as well as the people mulling around the stage.
Without warning, the room went dark with only a row of candles around the stage.
A lone Mud Man stood in the spotlight, and Orland was sure to take images of this one. To his surprise, the Mud Man was cheered.
After it died down, he spoke, "Suscipiat amici mei, and welcome to our gathering, I trust everyone is fed?" The mysterious man spoke with an understated arrogance, someone who knew they were playing their audience. Another round of cheers made the man smile.
If Orland had checked his surroundings, he would have noticed the creature behind him, but he did not notice until the heavy breathing was bearing onto the poor elf's back.
As Orland turned, the wolf let out a small growl, and the lights were back on. The creature had black fur with streaks that had a silver hue, and sported a deep single laceration on his left eye. In a blur, the creature grabbed the poor Captain and jumped down, landing next to the original speaker.
The original Mud Men who where sitting had now also become creatures, and the sound of cheering had become a chorus of howls.
The speaker raised his hand, and the howling subsided.
"Elf." It was not a question.
Orland did not answer. He had, however, stopped shielding, but he had released his bladder in a moment of pure terror.
The speaker dropped to one knee, and it was the first time Orland noticed the size of the creatures around him. The speaker was at least seven feet, and the wolf that had grabbed him was at least ten.
The speaker had a snarl similar to that worn by the black wolf behind Orland, and the captain did not know who was more terrifying. As the speaker looked into his eyes, he spoke, "Why do your kind disturb the sanctity of our gathering?"
There was the voice in his ear, but Orland could not focus on anything other that the Antichrist in front of him. Even if he had not been petrified with pure terror, he wouldn't have wanted to to stop the speaker from removing his helmet. With the skill of an elven engineer, the speaker removed the camera, earphone and microphone from the helmet.
The earphone and mic were a single entity, and he spoke into it, addressing the fairy folk as well his lycan audience. "Live and let live."
The speaker clenched his fist, and the black and silver wolf engulfed the Captain's body with one claw while he ran his other across the Captain's throat, his jugular spraying blood over the speaker.
The howls of his audience drowned out the gasps of the elves.
"Let this be a lesson!" He shouted. The wolves howled.
"Humans rule the world, not the earth pixies!" With emphasis on the word 'pixies', the creatures howled again. The last thing the fairy camera saw was the menacing face of the speaker, who would be identified as Rudolf Gardner, and the curious Wolf still holding the elven corpse in silence.
One of the terrifying skills of the Lycan race is that of magic absorption. If an elf tries to heal while having physical contact with a Lycan, the magic will be absorbed by the Lycan. The workings of this process are unknown, but it thought that Lycans are simply conduits for magic, like a magical battery.
Excerpt from The Complete Works of Wolfenkindby Dr. K. Kopple.
25th December 2012, A Gated Community, Texas, USA
The first signs of the massacres were the howls.
The haunting sounds came closer and closer to the village, the local sheriff, while shinning his torch into a group of trees was killed before he even realised what was happening.
During a production of the Nativity at the local school, where almost every child and parent was attending. They broke through the fire escapes first, then howled. In the ensuring chaos, more of the wolves broke into the large auditorium.
The pure silver wolf laughed with glee at how his minions jumped at the chance to slaughter.
"Don't you agree Levi, the new bloods are simply adorable with their lust?" He growled, glancing to one the wolves flanking him.
Leviticus Dunkeld was a black wolf with silver streaks, and was one of the five British Lycans left. He had also been a beta for almost two hundred years and earned the nicknames of both 'Levi' and 'Silver Stride'. He was a body guard for Rudolph Garner and had been since he originally transformed. Silver Stride was known as the cautious, and had the habit of preferring to stalk in the shadows than to go all out.
Next to him was Gardner's son, Nick 'the Ravager' Gardner.
This Lycan was piece of work, and much more ruthless than his father. Nothing less than success was tolerated. He was also silver like his father, but he did not have the facial scar that marked him as a member of the Lycan council. While the title of Alpha was not hereditary, it was passed to the strongest member of the pack, and Nick was determined to be the next Alpha.
"It's seems so... senseless..." Levi growled. Nick returned a growl of his own.
"You are a walking killing machine, yet you do not slaughter?" He laughed at Levi, who simply ignored him, "You do not deserve the title of Be-"
Before he could finish, his father held him by his throat.
"Levi is four times your elder, and you would be wise to keep your opinions to yourself." He roared, gaining attention from the nearest wolves feasting on a small wise boy as well as a man with camera.
Nick returned the throaty growl, and Levi laughed.
"Leave the boy alone Rud, he can think what he likes."
Levi was the only person who could call Gardner 'Rud', as the two had been partners since Levi became a Lycan in the early 1800s.
"Four times his elder? You make me sound so old." Levi laughed.
"The lad's only 50, I'm almost four hundred myself, we're all old." Gardner laughed with him.
Without warning, the hairs on every wolf stood on end.
Some of the younger wolves went crazy with the feeling of the time stop. Gardner simply grinned.
"Now the party starts."
"Were there any scouts?"
"Negative sir."
"It's not like them to be so careless." Commander Trouble Kelp pinched the bridge of his nose.
Like normal wolves, Lycans had the pack mentality, most the time anyway. And today, after the followers of Gardner found that they were hunting, Kelp and some of the LEP's finest had time stopped the small school and where on the look out for the wolves.
Captain Holly Short strolled up to Kelp with a snarl on her face.
"There's children in there Trouble!" She growled.
Kelp looked at her with a look of empathy. He knew there were children in there. But if they blindly ran in, they wouldn't last seconds.
"We can't run in guns blasting Captain."
Almost every creature could be captured alive by the Lower Elements Police. Lycans were one of the exceptions. Rogue Lycans were generally sorted by Lycans themselves, but occasionally the LEP had to bring one down themselves. It never ended well. Twice had the LEP had to deal with rogues, and twice they took heavy losses. The first time, they underestimated the power of the wolves and lost almost the entire task force. The second time, they lost the officers who were sent in to stun the creature. They learnt that the wolves are not stunned with normal equipment.
Now, Section 8 would deal with the wolves, but this was a special case. A time stop team was put together, and the group had access to some of the world's deadliest weapons.
"Let me go in and scout then!"
"Captain... Holly, the answer is no." He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, put his hands behind his back. "We need to use a bio bomb."
He knew what her reaction would be. "Trouble no! There might be sur-"
"No one survives the wolves." He interrupted sombrely.
There was an explosion at the front doors of the school, and two wolves jumped out, snarling.
At the sight of the group of elves, they charged.
The Electrino V4 was an upgraded version of the standard LEP arms, and fired a directed beam of electrons instead of neutrons. If the deadly beam did not kill, the pure ionisation would.
The first wolf did not stand a chance. If the second wolf had not fallen in step behind him, then he would have died as well. Holly was there in an instant, firing her gun at the beasts, but a lucky shot from of the officers closer to the action tore apart the wolf's head. He did not get to celebrate however, as the second wolf bit the officer in the torso, and tried to spin him around in the air. Another officer managed to hit the beast's legs, toppling him, allowing the injured officer to heal. A final blast finished the creature.
"When can we have a bio bomb ready?!" Shouted Kelp over the eerie silence.
No one replied. The sight of three huge wolves at the door of the school was enough to silence even the people watching through the cameras.
In the next few seconds, the rest of the wolves stood behind them. It wasn't many, only about a dozen wolves behind them, but that was terrifying in itself.
"Ah look, the little elves want to play..." The biggest wolf growled.
The wolves behind him laughed, they felt invincible. Only Levi did not laugh. He was the only one to notice the two wolfen corpses and the distinct lack of elven ones.
"Can we now father?" Since the first taste of fairy flesh, the magical sensations were practically legendary amongst wolfen kind. The Ravager had never tried it, but a small female elf glaring at him made him drool.
"In a moment son, you know the signal." An indignant snort was the Alpha's reply. The Alpha slowly stepped forward, wary of the raising of weapons against him.
"Who is in charge?" He boomed, making the nearest elves jump.
As eyes turned towards Kelp, the wolf raised his claw. Within seconds, a flood of wolves charged out of the school.
Holly was instantly in the action. She killed two of the wolves with quick blasts, but the group got to the main group of techies and warlocks too quickly. The group were slaughtered, causing a chorus of screams.
Kelp joined Holly, firing at the beasts. Both of them noticed the Gardner still standing with a huge grin on his face in the same spot as before. He lost his grin however.
The slaughter of the warlocks and techies soon turned into a massacre of werewolves. They were simply feeding, and even the roar of Gardner could not drag the new bloods from their magical meals. The section 8 and LEP forces killed almost half of the new bloods before both the Ravager and a new blood jumped towards Kelp and Holly.
As quick as a bolt of lightning, Holly annihilated the head of the new blood, while Kelp punched at the young Gardner.
With a snarl, he bit into Kelp's leg causing the young Commander to cry out in pain.
Holly, with a gasp, shot another burst at the Ravager but to everyone's surprise, a silver blur took the blast.
"Father!" Roared Nick.
He left Kelp writhing on the floor, and stalked over to his father. He fell to his knees with a blank look on his face.
Holly took a step back, realising she had just killed the Alpha. She had heard of his son's ruthlessness, so she ran.
As she looked over her shoulder, she saw the rest of the officers killing the new bloods, the ravager threw his father's body over his shoulder and ran in the opposite direction. She stopped and watched him run.
A shiver ran down her spine. Fairy Intuition is never wrong. As she glanced over the battlefield, she saw the black and silver wolf still standing at the school door.
Watching her.
His eyes were a mixture of green and red. As she met his gaze, he glanced towards the other officers. Who were looking at the wounded and not the school gates. With a snarl, he sprinted towards her.
With a terrified scream, she turned and ran again. She did not look back, if I do he'll catch me. To her horror, he did anyway.
A single swipe of his claw lacerated her hamstrings, and fell, rolling onto her belly.
A single moan of pain escaped her lips before the beast placed a claw on her body, covering her whole. Her head looking ridiculous between his thumb and fore-claw.
He was the one who killed Orland. The revelation shook her.
This was the end.
No saving me.
No Butler to save me.
No Artemis.
She frowned. Why did that last one hurt her more than anything.
He'll need me.
She glared at the beast holding her down. He returned her glare with a pant.
"Get off me... you... fleabag..." She rasped. A simple distraction and she could reach her weapon.
The beast did not laugh. With a cold growl, he held the elf down, slowly applying more pressure. "You killed my only friend..." His growls were strained, he's sad?
Holly felt her bones being crushed. She also felt her magic trying to heal her, but it was being absorbed by the beast.
A loud howl made the beast glance up sharply.
Another howl, and the beast on top her went to crush her fully. To her surprise, he was threw himself back, clutching his head in pain.
A moment passed and the pain seemed to subside. Holly tried to rise, but her legs were bent at unnatural angles.
With another growl, the beast swung his claw at her head, only to have him recoil in pain.
Following a look of confused anger, the wolf sprinted towards the howling.
As the darkness took Holly, a single thought came to her, Nopal and Artemis are gonna love this.
Silver Stride's thoughts were in turmoil. Why couldn't I kill her?
He kept replaying the events in his head, putting my weight on her tiny frame... a bit more and she will die... only to have the glaring pain in his brain.
He shook his head violently, almost swerving into a tree in his musings.
Even before he got to the clearing, he could hear the soft sobs of the Ravager and his heart lurched.
Nick was the first Lycan born from purely Lycan procreation. Sex during while a wolf was notoriously painful for both parties involved. Gardner and his wife were the first people to actually survive the process and Nick was born a year later, his mother dying at child-birth.
This gave Nick some benefits. He could turn much easier, he was more wolf than human and was a natural leader. However, he lacked many human emotions, and love for his father was the only one he accepted.
As Levi approached the young lad, who was in human form, he looked up with a demonic rage in his eyes.
"You killed her."
The pain in his brain once again surfaced. What?
Nick noticed him flinch, and he had questioningly look. "What happened?"
Levi, as a Lycan, looked away. "Do you know... the pain of disobeying an order from an Alpha?"
Nick knew all too well, and he nodded his head warily.
"Order me to do something." He stated.
Nick looked at him and waved his hand towards the body of his father. "Bury my father."
"No."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a sharp pain brought Levi to his knees.
Nick looked on with undisguised intrigue. "Bury him."
"N-" this time he could not even think of the word. The pain was like something trying to escape his brain.
Silently, Silver Stride stood. He crawled over to the corpse of the old Alpha and buried hi friend.
Lycans would be become ash when they died, so it did not matter too much about where he was laid.
Nick knew what this meant. Because I have my father's wolf blood, I am Alpha by right.
When the deed was done, Levi muttered some choice words, and Nick put his human hand onto the creature's furry shoulder. The beast did not react.
"With my leadership, we will be able to avenge him. Together."
Had Nick not being imagining world domination, he would have noticed Silver Stride's sigh.