Making our way back out of the Lamyan's underground city, the scouting party that Lord Aldorn had given us began to lead us in the direction of the Lupedorum's main camp. We streamed swiftly and silently through the forests - through the shade of the trees and brittle undergrowth, onwards through the rays of the bright sun that climbed down through the branches. We were like a river as it runs out of the mountain - springing along, weaving through the hill lands in perfect harmony and balance with the world. Eventually we reached an overlook which gave us a view of lower lands. There was a lake sitting down in the heart of this land - broad and glittering with the sun's fiery shine - and next to it a small funnel of smoke rose out of the deep woods, from what I assumed was a village, or something similar.

The three Lamyans in our that accompanied us seemed strangely anxious. Kaeman had said that he requested a scouting party because they knew the way to the Lupedorum's main camp, and he didn't, but these three seemed more and more reluctant to continue leading us. It was as though the fear of their enemy was an incurable sickness in the bottom of their stomachs; wrenching and lurching, making the blood in their veins speed up, making sweat run from their foreheads as they held their spears close to their chests. I guess it wasn't too hard to understand why they felt so nervous, after Jemma had told me what the Lupedorum would do to their enemies, and yet Kaeman evidently felt confident that we weren't going to be attacked whilst we were with him. But this vexation began to decrease in importance, as I realised and soon knew for sure that someone, someone or something, was watching us. I glanced and peered now and then into the densest foliage, each and every time feeling hidden eyes follow me from some unseen observer. I made my pace more brisk, seeking safety, and moved close alongside Kaeman.

'So. . . What are the Lupedorum like?' I asked him casually, as we began walking downhill into those lower lands.

'Feral.' he said simply, 'Shamanistic. Brutal, savage, merciless. They look like dear old homo sapiens. Until they turn into wolves.'

'Wait, what? Turn into wolves? You mean. . . You mean like werewolves?!'

'Yes! And no. Well. . . More no. But kind of. I guess. Maybe. If it helps you to understand the concept of them, then yes. But don't underestimate or misinterpret them - they are an entire civilisation, albeit a basic one. They're a race, a species. They are not inflicted with a disease, nor has it ever been considered as one. All of their actions are controllable.'

'Underestimate them? From what I've heard, they sound terrifying.'

'They are. . .' Kaeman said, before a vague smile drifted over his distant face, 'Until you terrify them.'

'You've scared them?' I laughed.

'How else do you think I got them to make a ceasefire?' he said, evidently satisfied with himself.

We carried on our journey through the woods, all six of us moving as silently as was possible, cautiously listening out for a tell-tale sign that we were being watched - the crack of a branch, the rustle of leaves or the faint sound of breathing - but to no avail. Whoever was following us blended into our surroundings flawlessly. We would have to find out later.

Though only our three scouts knew the path we were taking, it soon became clear that the village next to the lake that smoke was rising from was our destination - the tower of smoke looming above our heads as it wafted into the calm sky had remained dead ahead of us for a few minutes now, and was only coming ever closer.

A wooden palisade wall soon came into view between the trees. It was the Lupedorum's main encampment was right in front of us, so we nestled ourselves in a position behind some trees, from where we could see the open gate of the village from a distance, and watched. From what I'd heard of them, I had imagined their camp would be caked in blood and dust, corpses strewn everywhere and the smell of them rotting flesh tainting the air, the sound of howls and yowls resounding deep into the sky; or something hauntingly similar to that image. Instead I found civilisation.

'What's the plan?' one of the scouts whispered apprehensively to Kaeman, whilst not taking his eyes off of the village

'Aldorn said that a ship had landed in the vicinity, that an elder might be helping the Lupedorum, that Garas Lyvork, the Lupedorum military leader, has not been seen on battle and that they're playing things defensively.' Kaeman thought aloud.

'I thought you said they were "feral" and "brutal"?' I interjected his stream of thoughts, 'They look quite civilised to me. . . I don't know, quite orderly. Organised.'

'Good point. And that, as well as everything else, on top of the nonsensical things that Xareia said to me and the fact that this ceasefire shouldn't have even been broken, I would say that something very, very suspicious is going on. But there's clearly only one way to find out properly. . .'

We all looked at him curiously but he carried on watching the village gate as he spoke, '. . .We need to go and ask them.'

'What?!' Jemma hissed as he stood up in what could have been plain sight to our enemy, 'That's suicide!'

'Nonsense.' he glanced at her, before he advanced towards their gate. Jemma and I took after him immediately, knowing being with him was far safer than not, and our three scouts followed cautiously behind us at a short distance.

'They're going to kill us.' Jemma muttered to herself, even though she knew no matter what she said, Kaeman wouldn't change his mind.

As we moved onwards towards the village and made tracks behind us in the dirt, the village gate seemed to menace over us, coming closer and closer. The two guards posted to the gate had spotted us immediately as we left our hiding place, and one had run off, presumably to alert the villagers of our presence. We stopped before the gate, Kaeman standing at the head of our group, and to us, the entire world went silent. Chill ran through my bones, a lump sat in my throat and I trembled.

Out of the crowded buildings of the village walked five Lupedorum, trudging towards us. Though the rest appeared human, the largest of all of them, who walked in the middle of their group, was clearly not. His thick, tough skin was a pallid gray colour, his pale brown hair was rough and shaggy, his face was filled with a hateful, hardened weariness, and he stood a foot taller and broader than his comrades. Every step he made was followed by a resounding thud, every breath he took was growled out of his rabid mouth, which foamed with fury, and his sanguine eyes shot barbed glimpses down on all of us. As he stopped only a few metres away from us, his lackeys standing firm behind him, Kaeman took a step forward.

'Garas Lyvork!' he spoke, feigning enthusiasm, 'It's always a pleasure.'

The anger in Garas' eyes seemed to explode in response to Kaeman's inappropriate and somehow sarcastic remark, as though mentally he was on the edge of ripping us all apart in one swift, foul attack. Instead, he held back mercifully and made a brief gesture to the four Lupedorum that stood behind him. In a split second, three of them leapt up in an impossible flash and darted down to the three Lamyans of our party, splitting the scouts' throats viciously as they landed. My own wretched eyes saw the life force leave our allies quickly and painfully. Their blood poured out into the dead dirt. I saw their souls disperse into non-existence. I saw their bodies limp and crumble away into the dust. My stomach lurched forward as I watched this, my vision broadened and I simply stood transfixed and gazed at the place in which they had perished. How could life be treated so worthlessly? I turned eventually to look at Kaeman. I saw a burning storm be lit within his fiery gray eyes as he watched them die, and when he turned back to the still silent Garas, I could see empathetical pain flit through him.

'They were innocent.' he croaked, 'Why did they have to die?! We're not here to fight! We're here to make peace!'

'There will be no peace.' Garas bellowed, clenching his fists, 'A new order comes to Hyperion. Our power is unstoppable.'

'But that doesn't even make any sense!' Kaeman cried, 'You speak of a "new order" like some prophet! You speak with words that forget the last Hyperiate war! You Lupedorum are aggressive and savage and you're fighting this defensively, Garas. . . What's going on here? Who's helping you?'

'Bring them to the plaza!' Garas gnarled to his men, ignoring Kaeman's questions.

We were led forcibly by the Lupedorum into their village, along their paths and through their buildings. Women and children watched at us from the open windows of their tall houses and soldiers marching through the streets stared, holding their weapons close, far too ready to kill us if the order came. The plaza that we were taken to was huge, but oddly empty. It stretched from the middle point of the settlement all the way out to the lake, which bordered the far side of it. This field of stone was inhabited by hundreds of Lupedorum soldiers, all lined up in formation. We were commanded to halt a short distance in front of this troops, who faced towards us, whilst Garas wandered away and ambled towards the lake. We waited in a curious silence for him to speak to us once more, and all the while Kaeman didn't dare take his eyes off of the Lupedorum military leader. Not once.

It was at this unexpected point in time that this supernatural world I had been unwillingly brought into surprised me beyond belief once more. It started with a roaring sound in the far distance, from a part of the woods that we couldn't see. A loud, fluid roar and a hiss, a long way away, but reaching us all way over here, and it kept changing tone and pace. It was then it appeared, from the other side of the lake, demanding both our attention as well as the attention of every single Lupedorum. It shot through the sky - an airship - long, sleek, shiny, with the sun's gleam glowing and glittering off of its fine, pure black metal surface. It skidded towards us, decreasing its speed and altitude as it approached us, before landing perfectly in the half of the plaza which remained empty. Its extensive structure stretched a great distance - it was easily large enough to fit in all the buildings of the village in and more - and the engines at the back of the craft were colossal and seemed to be of immense power, evident enough by how easily it had crossed the vast lake.  I thought what would trouble me most about this ship was how overly out of place it was - it was a craft that would be seen with wonder and amazement on Earth and yet it was here, on Hyperion, a world which mostly seemed a millennium in the past to my modern day. But here it was, right in front of us. Right here on Hyperion. Yes, I thought this would trouble me most, but then I saw Kaeman's reaction to it.

It was an expression he'd never shown before. It wasn't a reaction of surprise or shock, which is what I had anticipated, it wasn't one of anger or exhaustion, and it wasn't one of anticipation or relief. It was a look of fear.

'Are you alright?' I whispered into his ear over the sound of the ship, taking his shoulder with my hand in order to break his hypnotised gaze. His gaze was drawn from the ship onto me, but the expression of fear didn't pass. He was speechless, dumbstruck, but more than anything he was confused.

'I-It's. . .' he stuttered, 'It's him. . . How can it be him? Why?'

'Kaeman!' I said sharply, 'Pull yourself together, you're making no sense! What's wrong? Who is it?

As I said those words, a hiss escaping from the ship that rested before us caught our attention. A broad doorway opened downwards, folding outwards and becoming a ramp down onto the plaza, and in the entrance stood the most intimidating and unnerving man I had seen yet. He wasn't fat or thin, tall or short, he didn't appear strong or weak, but his figure was nonetheless wholly ordinary. An ordinary human figure. I had seen Xareia, queen of the ghosts, the Lamyans and the Lupedorum - all three of the supernatural races - and though they were all, for the most part, physiologically non-human. None were as detestably eerie as this man. Strangely enough, he wore a suit seemingly identical to the one that Kaeman was wearing, with the only difference being that his clothing was pure, unblemished white - a colour which his hair and godly eyes also shared. Despite him standing with his back straight, his posture was strangely relaxed, as though he felt confidently in control over everything that was laid before him, further confirmed by the way he strode down that metal ramp with an air of complete indifference to either the Lupedorum or us. Though every step he took and every gesture he made only suggested that nothing here was of importance to him, that everything was below him, he did study his surroundings promptly, briefly, but precisely, and when he stole a glance over my eyes, the two of us shared a connection. Our eyes were linked for literally less than a second, but even in this  minuscule space of time I could feel the power seeding from them - the immense and awful internal strength this man held - merely from his meagre eyes. It was during this brief connection we shared, as I sensed him observing and reading me, that I swore I caught a slight, devilish smile playing across his deceptive, dishonest and deceitful face.

'Hello everybody.' he spoke in a calm, light tone and crossed his arms, 'How are we all getting on?'

'E. . . Elder Null?' Kaeman responded in the most hopeless voice I had ever heard.

The stranger's daring eyes brought themselves decisively and contently to Kaeman's. 'Ahh,' he said as his faint smile was fuelled, 'Once again, I have the immeasurable pleasure of your company, Thanatos.'

'What are you doing here!?' Kaeman demanded, with anger seeming to bubble up inside of him and rise to his dry throat, seething and convulsing inside every atom of his existence.

'The flesh hacked and blood spilled,' the man started, his voice soothing and rhythmic, 'The fields wrought, harshly tilled,
Fires lit and passions burned,
Eyes drift and weapons turned,
Shouts blaze and clamour raised,
Shadows lose -- Death is praised.'

His verse had barely finished when confusion suddenly struck the plaza. From outside the confines of the village, several metal spherical objects were thrown, piercing through the sky with a high-pitched whistle, before landing with a crash in the ranks of the Lupedorum warriors. At first they stayed in their spherical shapes, but they fizzled and sparked, aching to burst, rocking back and forth impatiently on the tiled plaza, and in a flash of light they exploded. The Lupedorum around the bombs were thrown back, thrown into disorder and chaos. The explosion must've been harmless as none were dead or even injured. I began wondering what the point of these explosives was, but that's when the Lupedorum began to change. Their once smooth, human skin began to shake and crumble brutally as it transformed and sharp hairs began to bristle all over them and thrive, drowning them in an animal fury. Their human spines and skulls wrenched and twisted madly, manically, their shapes being stretched and thinned forcibly, and where their human mouth and nose had been, a snout ripped its way out of their flesh and replaced them. Where their hands had been were now paws, armed with razor claws, and buried in thick fur. Where groups of Lupedorum had been thrown to the ground, looking like ordinary humans, were now packs of wolf men - werewolves - whatever the hell they were.

Clamour and cries were raised outside the village, but came closer and closer into the streets, before echoing loudly across the plaza when the source - small contingents Lamyans - appeared from every direction. The newly metamorphosed feral animals leapt up. They turned their eyes to the nearest prey and galloped unstoppably towards them. A battle developed around us, the Lupedorum around us trying to fend off the Lamyans, Garas had voluntarily turned himself into his wolf form and was joining the fray with vigour, but more Lamyans kept arriving from the forests and joining in the battle. The stranger who had appeared briefly and scared Kaeman so much fled the scene, walking hastily up the ramp into his huge ship, before the engines started to rumble with energy once more. Kaeman, making all of his decisions in a split second, grabbed mine and Jemma's arms and sprinted towards the entrance to the ship. We ran that distance at a supernaturally swift speed and strength - a pace which would've been impossibly quick for me to achieve on my own, but at the time I chose not to question how we were doing it, and just concentrated on what was important - our target.

Fortunately, we crossed the sturdy ramp just in the nick of time - as our feet took their place into the entrance corridor of that craft, the ramp shut firmly behind us and the ship began to pulse powerfully, leaving the stone ground of the plaza beneath it as it took off. It occurred to me only here that we had trapped ourselves in a tremendous danger - one which would not be as easy to escape as the Lupedorum village might have.

'Kaeman. . .?' I breathed heavily, slightly worn from the sudden running, 'What's happening?'

'The man. . .' he still looked slightly fearful as he spoke, 'He is a very old enemy of mine. Another elder. He is the most dangerous of our order. He's most likely responsible for the outbreak of war.' Kaeman shook his head drowsily and leaned against wall of the empty corridor we had arrived in, grasping his own wretched head desperately in his hands.

'We can't return to Hyperion.' he said finally with great regret, lowering his hands, 'We have to find out what Null's up to, what he's scheming. If he was intervening in the affairs of Hyperion, then he must be plotting something big. .. And that's really disconcerting.'

'It'll be fine.' Jemma said softly, taking Kaeman's hand to comfort him, 'We're on his ship, we'll find out what he's up to. Why don't we look about a bit?'

'Yeah,' Kaeman nodded, 'We should. But a ship this size, he'll have a fairly large crew. I know I was very forward when it came to the Lupedorum, but we really can't let our presence be discovered here. It's vital for our survival that they don't find us.'

'Well then,' I announced and moved to the end of the corridor, where three doors were hustled around its short expanse, 'Let's go.'

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