(This and all of this volume are a part of the old version of Howler. Look out for the remastered version in the next volume releasing late 2023)
There he stood, heaving his fractured limbs to his chest, choking on his breath. His petite, fragile body yearned for forgiveness as he limped towards the fallen figure. Suddenly, another figure towered above him; his face was a blur but his overbearing aura was undeniably familiar: "André!", he spat sharply, "You should know better!" The figure crouched down beside the young, battered boy. "I've told you countless times, child," the blurred man turned towards the fallen figure, "A battle is never won until one of you is dead!" His nefarious laugh echoed through the deserted meadow.
André awoke with a cold sweat. Everything was silent, and still, all but the buzzing of the mighty alarm clock. It was 8:00 AM. Beside the clock was an orange container and purple pills. Like a drunk, he stammered out of bed, groaning in at his agonising headache. 'Ugh! That dream again. Why can't I ever see his face? Why-'. His thoughts are interrupted by rambunctious banging from the door downstairs.
"Huh? Who could that be?"
He walked down the stairs, half-dressed with his toothbrush in his mouth. The banging never ceased.
"Geez shut up already, I'm on my way!"
Outside, there were two people waiting behind the sealed door. One was old, wearing a pure-white robe and had pure-white skin; the other appeared young, a child almost, wearing a jet-black outfit and had jet-black skin. The small girl kissed her teeth and tapped her foot impatiently.
"Lord Abadina, is this brat really the guy holding the fate of the world in his hands?"
The aged man stood silently with his fists held behind his back. His stare was stern and with purpose. "Reizora," he began, "This boy has the blood of Stewart's coursing through his veins. Not only that but his actions may have just been the tipping point of the war yet to come."
Just then, the door swung open violently. André, half-dressed, stood in the doorway amazed at who or what he saw.
"Huh? Who are you creeps?"
Lord Abadina and Reizora sprung into the formation that they had practised numerous times in an aura of liveliness as they greeted the flustered André: "Well, well, well, good morning. Mr Stewart, right?" Lord Abadina charismatically pulled a small business card from his robe pocket. The perplexed André took the card, cautiously reading it aloud, "The 'AbaZora Rescue Company'?" He stared blankly at the card for a while. He then looked up at their joyful faces, and with a sarcastic smile, explained, "Sorry, but I'm not interested in adopting rescued pets." He slammed the door, striding away with his hands in his pockets.
Instantly, the door whirled open, accompanied by a mighty gust of wind. André's body froze. The harsh breeze tickled the back of his neck. Slowly, he turned his head towards the all too familiar face of Lord Abadina.
"What the-? What's going on?"
Reizora, now fed up with the act, had a disgusted look on her face, with what looked like steam oozing out from her open palm.
"Curse you boy. Enough fooling around," She lowered her palm and sharpened her tone, "This isn't some stupid animal rescue agency." She folded her arms and shut her eyes slowly. "Besides are you really willing to reject..." She opened her eyes once more. Her leer was chilling and paralysing.
"... Your own child."
André's pupils shrank. A cold sweat trickled down the nape of his neck. His voice trembled uncontrollably.
"Wha-what did you just say?"
A bitter, dissatisfactory taste, lingered in his saliva.
"You heard me, brat, we have your son with us now." André stared at them blankly. He looked behind them and all he saw was empty space and his house's gates. All he could do now was a laugh. "Ha, you almost had me there! Ahaha!" André wiped a singular tear from his left eye, "I don't have a son or any child in fact. I'm still only 19 years old." For the first time Reizora bore genuine smiled, she was clearly amused. "Ha, yeah sure, a 19-year-old with a body count nearly at triple figures don't forget."
"Why you little-" André launched his fist at her, aiming straight for her jaw; when an old, pale hand intervened, swiftly catching André's blow.
Lord Abadina cleared his throat and hurled Reizora to the side, all whilst still holding André's captive fist. For the first time, Abadina had opened his eyes. The pale ocean glow sent shivers down the beholder's spine. After a while, he closed his eyes once more and released André from his grasp. The immense amount of power residing in his grasp, caused André to tumble over when he was set free.
Soon afterwards Lord Abadina's cheerful and carefree face had returned. He collected a small box from his robe pocket and placed it on the doorstep; it was burgundy and had an ominous glow to it. Next, he chanted an incantation and removed the lid of the box. All of a sudden, the weeping of a toddler echoed through the air. André's brow twitched and his mouth unintentionally fell open.
"Here," Abadina's expression softened as he pulled a small boy out of the even smaller box, resting him before André.
He then handed André a small pile of documents. "This is his birth certificate and will from his mother asking that her son should be transported to his biological father, André Stewart." André took the paperwork reluctantly. "After 14 months we have finally found you." André shook his head, sighed and stood up mournfully, 'I see... so, this kid, he has no mother. Damn it all...' His eyes then wandered to the birth certificate. As he read the name underneath the title 'MOTHER', his lips and body trembled.
"Leona..." a singular tear trickled down his cheek.
Regaining his composure, André sighed a deep, defeated breath, "Fine. Brat, old man, I'll take the kid," Lord Abadina's face grew warmer than before, as he let out a breath he never knew he was holding, "But, don't get me wrong though, I'm only caring for this runt for a short while until I prove he isn't mine with a DNA test to be exact. You're lucky I live alone. I'm only doing this for... her." He clenched his fist, tightly gripping the will of Leona Kitsannah.
A small figure emerges from the shadows. "Who do you think," Reizora growled dusting herself off, "Who do you think you are, calling me a BRAT!" With a swift and efficient chop to the back of the neck, Reizora plunged to the ground defeated. Lord Abadina catches her petite body in his arms. "I apologise for her rash and rude behaviour. We shall now take our leave; I believe your first lecture will begin in an hour."
"Wait you can't just-"
"One last thing, now that he is out the box, his life is at risk. I'm sure they are coming for his life. Please protect him. For Leona."
And just like that, as swiftly and mysteriously as they came, so they left, as if by the wind. They made no noise. Their movements were agile, enough that even an eagle's eye couldn't locate them. André stood, baffled at the sudden appearance and disappearance of his most recent guests. Now it was just him and a crying infant.
Meanwhile, in a ship somewhere in Earth's orbit, chaos erupted, "The disturbance field has been terminated general, sir, initiating scanners! The location drones are being deployed!" soldiers were buzzing around in a hectic swarm of panic. Technicians were tapping away at computers at an alarming pace, "Scanners at 20%, 35%, scanners now at 50%. Approximated time for launch is eleven seconds."
The automatic doors parted, allowing the majestic, muscular figure to stride into the room. He walked with authority and pride, his posture was perfect and he clenched his fists behind his back. His tail was like one from a Brachiosaurus, his eyes were onyx-black and contained no sclera. By his right ear, he had long, berry-blue hair whilst the rest of his hair was short and slicked back neatly. His lilac skin had a malevolent glow to it.
"General," one of the technicians called whilst saluting, "All scanners are online and are ready to launch, sir!" The muscular figure paused his movement but never commenced the unnecessary action of turning to face to the interlocutor, "Begin search," he commanded bluntly. Instantly, technicians resumed their desperate tapping on the keyboards. After about five seconds, one of the technicians rose up suddenly with a satisfied look on their face, "General, sir, scanner 804116 has successfully located the Howler, sir!" The general resumed his stride towards the extensive window portraying a sector of the Earth, "Deploy the 'Ichiro Triplets' to dispose of the Howler." All the troops began to race around the ship in a hectic manner. 'Soon. Soon, the time will come where the Howler will be removed from existence.'
Hours had gone by on Earth, and now André had finished his final lecture. A substantial, swarm of students pursued him, captivated by him: "André," one girl shouted, grabbing hold of his arm, "When are we next having our, 'study session'?"
"No way! Don't tell me you and André-" another girl exclaimed. Envy oozed into the atmosphere.
Next, an army of athletes clung their feet to André's shadow. Each of them begging him to join their sports team; however, André rejected them all majestically and brutally. Their walk turned into a stride, their stride to a jog, jog to a chase!
After about 5 minutes of endless sprinting, André's speed began depleting; luckily for him, he was saved by a hand, which drew him behind a corner. His saviour was a tall young man with long, wavy, blond hair.
"You saved me," André gasped bent over in pain, "Thanks Tai, you the man."
Tai smirked at the exhausted André gasping for oxygen: "You really are something Dré. You should be more careful." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, carefully he placed it in his mouth and ignited it. After a puff or two, he resumed speaking.
"One of these days all of the messing around you do with every female that breaths near you, will stab you in the ass" he paused again, inhaling deeply then exhaling like a mystic dragon, "STI's, broken hearts, shoot, for all we know you could have a lil munchkin running around somewhere." Tai began to chuckle but when he realised his friend wasn't retaliating as he expected, a concerned look crept onto his face. André adjusted his posture and turned his back to Tai, "You have no idea..." and just like that he left in dead silence.
'Dumb ass Tai, he thinks I don't already know all that,' André wandered towards the day-care, sighing the whole way. As he approached the vibrant building, he paused. A strange scent had struck him. It was foreboding, yet familiar. He kept moving onwards slowly, inching closer to the gates.
"Is that blood?"
He rushed towards the stain, crouched then inspected it vigilantly. Immediately, he heard a desperate screech, ring out from inside the day-care, 'Crap!' He sprung to his feet and sprinted through the gate only to witness the remains of a massacre. Visions from his nightmares flash before him, bringing with them a headache beyond compare.
"Damn it! Leoandré! Leoandré!"
He screamed out pathetically, searching for the child he was given only hours ago. Ignoring his migraine, he dashes through the hallways and over the corpses of slaughtered men and women. After what felt like an eternity of running, he heard the scream of a child coming from a room not far from him. His pace increases tremendously. Finally, he arrived. He was shocked to see three almost identical adults rounding up the toddlers like herding dogs. Even more shocking, however, was the toddler in front of the others, attempting to protect them.
It was none other than his own 'son' Leoandré. "Is this the one brother," the woman in the middle questioned, grinning deviously. She was by far covered in the most blood both visually and by scent. "Indeed, sister this child is the Howler," the man farthest away from the door nodded with his arms crossed. He seemed to be the most powerful of the three. 'Howler?' André took a step closer to the door, his palms moist. It was just his luck that an ant happened to cross paths with him. The faint crackling of its exoskeleton shot through the ear of the man closest to the door. He became alert instantly and leered at the doorway where their eyes met. "Brother, sister," he had a deep and uninterested voice, "We have a new guest." He rose his pale finger and directed it directly at André.