CHAPTER I : EDELWEISS IN SEASON
"Got to write a classic…got to write it in an attic…babe I'm an addict now…an addict for your love"…were the sentimental lyrics of a song chorus by Adrian Gurvitz which was playing on a shabby old jukebox in a mechanic's poky workshop sitting on the outskirts of Klagenfurt city, the capital of Austria's far southern region in the eastern Alps known as Carinthia. The 80s' melody got a young drifter's fingers tapping rhythmically on the hood of a rundown 1967 Plymouth Coupe as he was waiting for his own two-wheel ride to be fixed. "Almost done with this damn machine, Alexei!" exclaimed the crabby mechanic in Slovenian to a young man known as Alexei Gavril. Alexei was no stranger to these parts of the outskirts, being born and raised nearby in one of the many vast vineyards that girdled the shores of Klagenfurt's enormous and picturesque Lake Worthersee.
It was sometime in the month of July and the morning air was pervaded with the scent of edelweiss flowers, sweet and honey-like, intoxicating the senses to anyone's delight. For Alexei however, the sight and smell of the white furry-petaled edelweiss was sort of an aide-memoire, evocating vivid recollections of a woman so very dear to his heart, a woman so intertwined with the core of his being that even a spec of a second spent not thinking about her was unimaginable to him. Her name was Maria.
Maria played a profound role in most of Alexei's developing years, nurturing and molding him into the man he is today. In his eyes, she was the most loving and compassionate of mothers, with a kindly nature that extended to anyone who was in need regardless of their background or origin. She was a devout woman, strong yet meek at the same time and therefore she became endearing to all those who came across her path. She taught Alexei to embody those exact same values, raising him away from the careless and perverse way of life of unscrupulous people.
Alexei had very little memory of his beloved father, whom his mother often spoke about in her daily conversations with him. His father unexpectedly passed on when Alexei was a young toddler and his only affinity to this paternal figure was the many handmade woodworks which had been left behind, all of which were an evident exhibition of his father's astonishing carpentry skills. His mother used to say that his father was the talk of the region because of his unique adroitness in crafting woodworks without having the need of using conventional carpentry tools. His father was a Russian named Gavril which meant 'God is my strength' in Proto-Slavic or Common Slavonic language.
Upon Alexei's birth, his father had shared with his mother of a premonition he had when Alexei was conceived – that their son would one day grow up to be a man who walked the path of righteousness, an advocate of truth who would pave the way for the redemption of depraved mankind through his own great sacrifice.
Alexei's mother never quite understood what her husband meant by this but his words had stirred up unfathomable feelings within her. Mixed emotions of sorrow and happiness, agitation accompanied by hopefulness all came gushing forth simultaneously, overwhelming her as she held Alexei's tiny infant body in her arms while she looked at him with her loving tear-filled eyes. The agonizing thought of her son having to go through such sufferings and trials felt like a sword deeply piercing Maria's heart but she being a woman of persevering faith, took comfort in divine assurance and resolved to surrender her newborn's destiny in the hands of God and so she came to name him Alexei which in Slovenian meant 'defender of mankind'.
As Alexei's mind drifted further into an ocean of memories of a past life gone by, his eyes gazed sharply at the scenic Eastern Alps mountains which appeared so majestic in view from the lower ground of where he was standing. The sight of Austria's highest mountain, Grossglockner, was amazingly breathtaking, with blankets of cotton-white snow glazing its peaks while shrouds of misty clouds could be seen gently spiraling above from the mountain's piedmonts. The magnificent prospect didn't stop there as not far from the foot of the mountains laid vast fields of edelweiss flowers growing freely, insouciantly blossoming in the warm clement sunshine.
A gentle breeze caressed Alexie's shoulder-length long wavy hair which were in shades of chestnut-brown that seemed to shine like lustrous bronze tresses in the sunlight. "Shall we put this one on your tab?" abruptly asked the mechanic interrupting Alexei's trail of thoughts. Turning away from the scenic mountains, Alexei shifted his gaze to the mechanic, his amber colored eyes brightened with a beaming smile on his clear complexioned face. "No, I'll pay off this one!" Alexei replied cheerfully as he dug into the back pocket of his navy blue denim jeans for his leather wallet. "Take care now while bein' on your way…" said the old mechanic softly as Alexei slipped a bunch of notes into his toil stricken hands. Without saying a word, Alexei got onto his Ducati Scrambler and went on his way. The old mechanic and Alexei have known each other for so many years that they mutually saw no need for the exchange of complimentary greetings or words for farewells.
Driving past a field of edelweiss meadows, once more the potent scent of these mesmerizing blossoms carried Alexei adrift into deep contemplation. This time his thoughts intensely reflected on the knowledge of his dark ancestry and his father's occult genealogy, all of which was revealed to him by his mother as she spent years unravelling the writings in her husband's family journal after his death. The journal itself had an eerie appearance. Its covers were akin to that of desiccated animal skin, colored in shades of ashen grey while its corners and spine were lined with thick borders of pure gold and decorated with patches of glossy black fur-like material.
The beginning pages start off with passages written in Archaic Latin, an early version of written and spoken Latin which dates back to periods even before 75 BC. As the pages progress to the middle of the journal, the style of writing gradually changes to the more literarily recognized Classic Latin with certain pages towards the end of the book containing entries written in Russian and Slovenian. His mother, Maria, was very fluent in written and spoken Russian and Slovene and was quite knowledgeable in Classic Latin as well, which was why she could easily translate and explain certain portions of the journal to Alexei once he was old enough to comprehend.
It seemed like a long drive towards Alexei's intended destination, passing by unending acres of hay grass and wild flower fields, verdant meadows and a number of scattered vineyard ranches some of which have been rundown for years and were either sold off or left idle by the owners due to the soil's low natural vigor which made it an onerous task to yield good quality grapes.
Approaching a goat ranch, he brought his bike to a sudden halt. The very sight of the goat ranch immediately transported him back in time, refreshing his memory of an incident which took place at a small barn near his home when he was about twelve years old. It was a late Friday evening when darkened black rain clouds amassed in the sky, obscuring a full bloomed moon from eyes' view. Echoes of thunder and strokes of lightning came precisely one after the other while furious winds intermittently battered the wooden doors of a goat shed. Young Alexei was on his knees with his blood stained hands clenching the soil on the ground beneath him. His left eye was swollen shut with streams of blood oozing from a deep claw-inflicted wound that streaked across from his left cheek up to his mid forehead. His right eye was like burning amber, staring blankly into the eerie darkness at the edge of the shed.
Panting heavily and out of breath, he could barely stand up as the stench of dead goat carcasses overwhelmed his senses. He was unaware of the changes that had occurred to him – his face and body were covered with patches of thick hair similar to that of animal fur; his canine teeth were sharp and protruding, dribbling with blood and his fingernails were that of elongated claws whetted and ready to shred anything to pieces.
He perceived an odd taste in his mouth, something that tasted like chunks of bloodied raw meat. "Oh no! Did I kill my neighbor's goats?! What have I done?!" were the fearful thoughts that raced in Alexei's mind. He was so consumed by confusion and fright that he was unaware of the loud bleats of restless goats that were clamoring to escape and the deafening scream of the neighbor's young teenage daughter who was scampering away from the barn crying for help. "Could it be me she's running away from??" thought Alexei anxiously to himself when suddenly from behind him, a soft shivering voice of a child could be heard saying "Please…help me…don't leave…the hideous beast is still here… watching us…please…" Alexei could sense the trepidation in her muffled sweet voice as she struggled to speak while holding back her tears.
She was the neighbor's second daughter, a six year old child, hiding behind the shed's wooden post concealing herself with loose hay. Alexei was even more confused. "What is she hiding from then if not from me??" he wondered obliviously until a monstrous sight caught his eye. There it was, the most frightening creature he had ever seen in his life and all this while when he was staring blankly into the darkness, he hadn't realized that at the very same time it was staring right back at him, quietly watching from a distance, observing all of Alexei's reactions.
Now he could see it so very clearly as it slowly moved towards him from out of the dark shadows. It was a towering beast of almost seven feet in height with pointy attentive ears, standing upright like a man with broad shoulders and muscular stature. Its entire masculine body was covered with sleek black fur and its murderous eyes were scintillating red. Its fangs were long and as sharp as spears, dripping with drops of fresh blood. It growled and grunted as it walked in confident strides towards Alexei with its upright hind legs. "You can't deny what you are halfling!!" exclaimed the beast. "How long do you think you can suppress your natural instincts, those inherent urges for sweet tasting blood and succulent flesh?!" it asked in a sarcastic and ridiculing tone. Alexei could not believe his eyes let alone his ears. "Did this animal just speak to me?? How could this even be??" thought Alexei frantically not realizing that the creature was already standing directly in front of him.
With a condescending grin, it disparaged Alexei even further. "Such a puny weakling and here you are, deemed as the savior of mankind?! Ahahahaha!...Why burden yourself with the fate of insignificant livestock when you were born to reign above the kingdom of Lycanthropes in the underworld!" Its articulated words were both intentionally intended to patronize and anger Alexei yet at the same time to entice him into surrendering to the temptations of the dark side. The beast however was unaware that Alexei was genuinely clueless as to what it was rambling on about. "Come, join arms with me and you shall have dominion over mankind! I shall show you things far more captivating than the mere human mind could ever possibly comprehend..." After saying this it instantly vanished from the dark, seemingly to have disappeared.
It all happened in a split of a second and Alexei could hardly react, only to find himself in a very perilous situation. His limbs froze in terror and great drops of sweat began trickling down his face as he heard the little girl behind him choking in despair. "Can you hear that young Alexei?... Aaaahhh, the melodies sound of her little trembling heart pounding…Can you smell the exquisite stench of fear reeking from her feeble flesh? And ooohhh, my ever most favorite thing… if only you could turn around and see the frightful look in this child's eyes… aah haa… then you would understand what it means to be pre-eminent and to have enormous power!" saying this it gave a great howl while having its arched black claws firmly wrapped around the child's fragile neck.
A flood of thoughts came engulfing Alexei's mind. "What do I do now?! What can I do?! I'm just a boy, how can I possibly fight this gigantic beast?! How does it even know my name?! Should I just runaway?? No! No! I'm shall not be a coward!!"
"Tik..Tok..Tik..Come now halfling…surely you are not contemplating on challenging me??" remarked the beast interrupting Alexei's racing thoughts. "You don't even have the courage to fight me and save this child…what will you do then when I snatch and butcher your precious mother?!"
Hearing its mockery provoked an uncontrollable rage within Alexei. His eyes began to glow like burning flames of fire as adrenaline and fury began coursing through his veins. His whole stature completely transformed; his body was now entirely covered in fur, with undulating hairy spikes coming out from his back. His shoulders widened and his muscles started to bulge and become well-built. His outstretched posture resembled that of stealthy panther that was waiting to pounce on its opponent. He no longer looked like a twelve year old boy but resembled more of a well-developed, recalcitrant adolescent werewolf that was hungry to pick a fight with a Lycanthrope elder.
Momentarily, it seemed like the continuum of time and space had instantaneously come to a halt yet Alexei could still see himself moving swiftly forward towards the diabolical creature. It was as though he was moving faster than the speed of light, far more agile and nifty than any human or earthly animal could ever possibly move. Everything took place like a flash of lightning. Alexei's chest tightened as he breathed heavily, expelling vapors of hot moist air from his nostrils while he found himself kneeling in front of the shed's entrance with the young child lying unconsciously in his arms, unhurt and unharmed.
A loud screeching howl shook the entire barn followed by sounds of painful whimpering and pitiful whining as the creature now severely wounded with a severed forearm, cowardly withdrew into the shadows and hurried off towards the overgrown grass fields beyond the goat shed. Alexei then began to remember certain details of the incident that took place prior to this attack and how he came to be at the goat shed in the first place. It all started when he was outside his home collecting some branches for the fireplace and he happened to see two grey wolves aggressively chasing both the neighbor's daughters as they scurried into their father's goat shed, screaming hysterically. He dropped the branches and quickly ran after the wolves carrying only a 10-inch dagger in his right hand, hoping that wielding a knife would be good enough to scare the wolves away.
He recalls entering the shed and being ambushed by one of the grey wolves but after that all his memories seem to be foggy and unclear. He vaguely recollects seeing the bloodied remains of a dead grey wolf lying on the ground amidst the scattered flock of stampeding goats while the body of the other wolf was weighing down upon him, drenching him in its blood as it slowly slid down the blade of his dagger. At this point, terror had taken hold of him. His vision soon became blurry; his heart was pounding loudly in his chest like a kettledrum as he started to feel faintish and almost lost consciousness.
Even with his disorientated senses, he could still hear the screaming voices of the two girls amidst the bleating sounds of the goats and strangely, he could also hear another sound – the heartbeat of another living entity, whether of a human or animal, he was then unsure. The rhythmic sound of the heartbeat was steady and unyielding as though unaccustomed to fear. Pushing the dead wolf which was impaled by his dagger to the ground, he then gathered courage to slowly peer at what or who it was that was also present among the flock of goats.
For a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as he witnessed a tall, dark shadow-like creature moving swiftly between the goats, mercilessly slaughtering them and gorging on their flesh and blood. He could sense the danger that was about to befall the two girls so he quickly jumped in front of them, protecting them with his dagger held up high. Alexei then instinctively closed his eyes, bracing himself as the shadow lunged towards them. The dagger however fell to the ground as he felt his fingers being crushed and there was an unbearable pain like that of a sharp hook-shaped claw digging into the flesh of his left cheek, tearing across into his left eye up to his mid forehead. The sudden attack triggered off a mysterious transformation within Alexei, an incomprehensible change. Unconsciously, he had reacted by biting violently into the beast's fleshy forearm, causing pieces of its flesh and some blood to mingle in his mouth.
Still pondering in guilt, on whether in his rage he too may have killed some of the neighbor's goats, Alexei's body began to feel weak, his strength tremendously drained. He collapsed to the ground with the young girl still safe in the folding of his arms. With his blurred eye sight, going in and out of consciousness, he could only remember seeing the neighbor and his daughter yelling and hurrying towards him while his mother who just arrived, leaned over him and picked him up in her gentle arms while calling out his name.
That was Alexei's first encounter with his so-called relative from the dark side, a Lycanthrope elder whose name was also inscribed in one of the pages of his father's family journal as Lel meaning 'Taker' in Proto-Slavic. Lel was Gavril's half-brother, Alexei's distant uncle. He was depicted in the journal as an arrogant pathological egotist, who took great pleasure in the sadistic torture of humans and despised the very existence of werewolves whom he deemed as incapacitated or weak. He took great pride in his name Lel, taken after the ancient Slav mythological god of erotic passions.
The afternoon sun was indeed hot yet not quite of an excruciating heat. Alexei continued with his journey until finally reaching his intended destination which was his former family home, a derelict double-storey wooden house with a small vegetation farm on the left and on the right, commensurate acres of grape vines. About a hundred meters from behind the house was a giant Austrian oak tree which stood alone and mighty, a silent observer of the many years of changing seasons that have gone by. Beneath it were two identical headstones, one marked with the name Maria Svatoslav and the other was marked as Gavril Miroslaw. The pink Austrian briar rose was his mother's favorite flower.
Every year without fail, Alexei would never miss the opportunity of visiting his beloved parents' grave site. As he knelt down and prayed, he said unto his mother's grave, "Dearest mother… a hundred and fifty-three years have gone by since you departed from this earthly realm… oh how quickly these years have taken flight… and here I am, a lone orphan wandering this world, like a solitary beast roaming the wilderness. Every year, during this very same season…I am reminded of our memories together, of how we cherished living the days of a worriless life… a life lived in the many blooming seasons of my favorite scented edelweiss..."
~ There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief ~
Aeschylus