In an hideously squalid location known as Wellington Trailer Homes, a quite bizarre scene was being played out. Inside one of the smallest of the trailers in which reside the execrably impoverished and woefully uneducated inhabitants of this particularly lower-class area of Waterbury, Connecticut, a man stood in a room clad in a kilt and a black t-shirt.
The man was of medium height, with long red hair and a full beard. He was in his late thirties, and his face showed a look of calculated madness. On his left arm was a tattoo of three interlocking inverted triangles.
In sooth, he was not alone in this room, for standing before him was a very young girl dressed only in a brief set of pyjamas. She was small and dark haired.
“Well now, Aurelie,” said the man, “you know I’ve been living with your mom for a while now, and it’s time we got to know each other better.”
“Yes, Danny,” said Aurelie, trembling slightly.
“You see,” he continued, “I’m not just a regular guy. You already know my name is Danny Greenwolf, but you should now know that I am a magician.”
“A magician?” repeated the girl.
“Yes, and no ordinary magician at that. You see, I am the Irish Magician, the greatest in the world, and I am right now working on a spell that will give me the power to hold the forces of life and death in my hands.”
“What kind of spell?” asked Aurelie.
“It’s a spell from the past of my people,” replied Danny Greenwolf. “A spell to invoke the god of the ancient Celts; the great god known as… Cernunnos!”
With the saying of this name, the eyes of Danny Greenwolf suddenly began to glow, forsooth to glow with a grotesque scarlet-red radiance whilst the young girl gasped in shock.
“The great Cernunnos has chosen me, you see,” Greenwolf went on. “He has chosen me and I have chosen you.”
“Chosen me?” trembled Aurelie.
“Yes, I have chosen you to be mine, and your name will no longer be Aurelie Briodagh. From this night forward you will be known as Aurelie Greenwolf.”
“Okay, Danny. Okay.”
“And now, Aurelie,” continued the possessed Danny Greenwolf as a look of perverse desire spread across his face, “since your mom is working late at the nursing home tonight and can’t interrupt us, you will help me in further calling forth the presence of our lord Cernunnos; a presence I shall use to gain the greatest power ever -- a power that I, Danny Greenwolf the Irish Magician, shall use to rule this world!”
“What… What do I have to do?”
“Kneel down before me, Aurelie. Kneel down and prepare to receive the blessing of our god.”
The girl got on her knees as commanded, and Danny Greenwolf then began to lift up his kilt.
“And now, Aurelie,” continued the perverted magician, “open your mouth and you will soon taste the communion of Cernunnos!!” …
My name is RUMANOS -- DOCTOR DANIEL RUMANOS, Extraterrestrial Espionage Agent and Intergalactic Man of Mystery. Even though I have the physical appearance of an human being, I am in fact several thousands of years old and do carry within my blood the vastly superior genes of the legendary Aeternusians or “Watchers” of the Daemon-Star ALGOL. Originating ninety-three light years from Earth, we are the most intellectually advanced race in all of the known galaxies, whose technology is so sophisticated it often appears to be “magic” and “miraculous” to lesser beings.
Whilst most Algolites tend to keep to themselves, preferring to live in elitist seclusion from the rest of the Universe and thus merely observing the goings-on of the myriad races of the vast reaches around them, I am an Operative for a secret organisation known as the KOSMIKOS or Cosmic Intervention Department, tasked with maintaining peace and order throughout the farthest reaches of Space and Time. You know, “plausible deniability”, and all of that sort of thing. It is our ongoing mission to defend the weak, the unfortunate, and the innocent from those who would harm or exploit them.
Currently assigned to Earth, I protect its people (both upon their own planet and across the eternal void) from the hideous manipulations of the arch-villain known as Magister Don Wingus, along with his dangerously-seductive daughter, Anastasia, and his occult terrorist organisation, Spectral Paranormal; as well as from alien invasions, mad scientists, and indeed all manner of menace. Assisted by my friends -- the beautiful young Hollywood starlet Miss Millie “The Girl From Beyond” Drake, and our catlike robot known as Kit-10 -- I am the living icon of Algol on this world. I am a Knight of the Eternal Spires. I am the professor of the impossible, the purveyor of Pure Mystery, the saviour of the Cosmos, and the sword of justice from the planet Daemonia. I am the cosmic crusader. I am the stellar swashbuckler.
These are my memoirs. This is my story.
I am -- THE DAEMON-STAR!!! …
In our secret metropolitan headquarters and laboratory, located as it is under the golden trapezoidal rooftop of a skyscraper, I sat brooding over a notice from the local daily, The Sunpaper. I was clad in my usual finery, including a frilled poet shirt, purple velvet suit, and military style boots. My panama hat and opera cape hung form a near by hallstand.
“What’s wrong, Daniel?” enquired Millie Drake, who was seated near by perusing some old movie magazines. “Something in the newspaper seems to be troubling you.”
Millie is an exceedingly beautiful young lady, petite and perfect, with rich chestnut coloured hair, lovely blue-violet eyes, sun kissed skin, and a sensuously wide mouth. The tight, short, powder blue dress she wore only served to highlight the soft curves of her slender adolescent figure.
“Just something about this advertisement, hmmm?” I responded. “Here, have a look at it.”
I handed Millie the paper and she looked at the item in question. It was a full-page advert promoting something called the “State Celtic Festival”, illustrated with photographs of several of the entertainers that were scheduled to perform there.
“‘Danny Greenwolf: Irish Magician’,” read Millie, looking at the photo I indicated. “He looks silly, but what about it?”
“Look closer, Mills,” I instructed. “Notice the tattoo on his arm.”
“Oh my gosh!” exclaimed the girl. “Isn’t that… ?!”
“Indeed it is,” I affirmed. “The symbol of Spectral Paranormal -- and apparently this ‘Greenwolf’ person is an agent of that horrid occult terrorist organisation!”
“It says he is performing there today!”
“Yes, and we need to get over there as soon as possible. Nevertheless, let us do just a bit of research first so we can know what we are actually dealing with.”
“I wish Kit-10 were working properly again,” said Millie, indicating our catlike mobile computer. “She’s still recovering from that Chaldean assignment.”
“Unfortunately, yes,” I agreed. “I will set the computer system to scan the area of the Howard County Pavilion, where this festival is being held. From that we can see if Danny Greenwolf has brought any particular otherworldly power with him.”
I made some quick adjustments to the controls of the computer banks, and soon some information appeared on one of the monitor screens.
“By the Daemonian Spires!” I swore. “This is worse than I had imagined!”
“What is it, Daniel?” queried Millie concernedly.
“The results show that the Howard County Palladium area is currently experiencing the presence of Cernunnos energy!”
“Cernunnos? Isn’t that the name of some Celtic god?”
“Quite so, love,” I confirmed. “But before he was worshipped by the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles, Cernunnos was something else entirely. He was the swarm leader of a species of psychic energy insect beings that once infested one of the outermost worlds of our own Algolite systems. It is little talked about amongst the Watchers now, due to the perceived shame of such an advanced race as ours being sent on a literal ‘bug hunt’, hmmm? Cernunnos and his swarm were eventually banished into Space, but ages later they turned up on Earth, which is how they came to be worshipped by the ancient Celts. The antennae of Cernunnos were mistaken as stag horns on the old pagan iconography.”
“What happened then?” asked Millie Drake.
“The Kosmikos took action,” I explained, “and again banished the Cernunnos swarm. None the less, they were not completely destroyed -- and now have returned!”
“We need to stop them!” announced the girl.
“Quite right,” I said. “If Cernunnos were allowed to re-establish the psychic energy swarm upon Earth, they could destroy the human race and then go on to ravage all life on the planet.”
"What about 'Danny Greenwolf'?" enquired Millie.
"According to the database, he is just a low-level 'mystery performer', thirty-eight years of age, originally from small-town Connecticut," I pondered, twiddling my frills. "Hmmm."
I walked over to a cabinet containing some of the many relics we have collected in our travels throughout Space and Time. I opened it and picked up an ancient coin on which was engraved the face of Emperor Augustus.
“The Romans wrote of the Celts and their horrid ‘gods’,” I continued. “It is some of the most grotesque imagery to be found in ancient literature. We will need to be cautious, my dear Millie. This will indeed be a dangerous mission!” …
A short time later, Millie Drake and I were on the Beltway, racing along to-wards the Howard County area, located as it is to the southwest of the city. Having donned my hat, cloak, and sunspecs, I was driving our specially modified canary-coloured Edwardian roadster, affectionately known as “Lizzie”.
“So, Daniel,” said Millie, “you haven’t told me yet. How could this ‘Greenwolf’ person have managed to call forth Cernunnos?’
“One shudders to think,” I replied. “To call forth the powers of the Cernunnos swarm, as he in sooth appears to have done, would have required an act of extreme and most unholy perversion. It had to have been an action against all that is good and pure, an unhallowed calling of the horrific deities of the most debased heathen peoples.”
“Gosh,” shuddered the young lady. “He must be a terrible person to do that, and to work for such a group as Spectral Paranormal.”
“Quite so,” I agreed. “That horrific cult of evil and iniquity continues to recruit operatives, whether they be from the dregs of society -- like this Danny Greenwolf -- or the more elite classes, that have given themselves completely to extreme satanic wickedness, and… ”
“Oh my goodness!” Millie suddenly interrupted. “Look!”
The girl was indicating something that seemed to be behind us, so I looked at the car’s rear-view mirror. What I beheld then was an horror indeed. For approaching us from behind, hovering above the highway, was what appeared to be a blob of energy somewhat larger than our vehicle. It was a bizarre flashing scarlet and emerald of hue, and from it seemed to be emanating a grotesque buzzing sound that continuously alternated between a low sepulchral register and an high-pitched piercing whine.
“Daniel, what is that?!” asked Millie Drake.
“Cernunnos energy,” I informed. “Apparently Greenwolf -- and the terrible forces with which he is in contact -- know of our interest in this case. Hold on!”
I immediately put Lizzie into an higher gear and we increased our speed, easily passing all of the other motorists around us.
“It’s still following us!” said Millie, who glanced back again at the horrid energy. “Gosh, it’s getting closer!”
Whilst keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out an object somewhat resembling a large writing pen; an object that is actually an highly advanced scientific instrument known as the transonic turnscrew.
I lifted the device aloft and activated a certain setting, causing it to emit a whirring sound. At this, the Cernunnos energy began to blur and shake, then slowing down and soon falling far behind us, until it was out of sight.
“That did it!” said Millie Drake. “So the transonic will work against Cernunnos?”
“Not that easily, love,” said I, returning the device to my pocket. “What we saw there was only a small manifestation of what we are dealing with. The full force of Cernunnos energy, especially when amplified through an host like Danny Greenwolf has apparently allowed himself to become, will not be so easily defeated.” …
At that same time, at the location of the State Celtic Festival, the event was underway. Forsooth, on one of the stages was Danny Greenwolf, clad in his kilt and with his chest bare, with his long red hair and scruffy beard, proclaiming the opening of his act to a group of curious onlookers.
“Look at the crowd that has gathered here today!” shouted Greenwolf into his headset microphone. “You people are awesome! Today I bring you magic and fire, and just possibly -- hot doomity death!!”
At that very moment, the eyes of Danny Greenwolf began to glow an eldritch glow of scarlet red and, as a laugh of unholy evil escaped his lips, his body shot forth waves of buzzing scarlet and emerald energy in all directions.
“And now, my fans and friends,” he went on, “I bring you the power that will make me master of life and death itself! The power I will use to rule this world! The power of the great god Cernunnos!!!”
With this, the energy took unto itself a vague form -- forsooth the form a a creature insect-like in shape, with grotesque twisted antennae! …
Millie Drake and I arrived at the grounds of the Howard County Pavilion and parked Lizzie, then making our way on foot to the area of the State Celtic Festival. We walked past the various vendors and games and, as the sound of bagpipe music blared in the distance, headed directly to-wards the stage area where the “magic show” of the execrable Spectral Paranormal agent known to eternal infamy as Danny Greenwolf was already in progress.
Whilst a small group of onlookers watched him dubiously, Greenwolf was juggling balls of fire. The fire in question, however, was not that of any ordinary flame. In stead, it was formed of the bizarre otherworldly energy of the Cernunnos swarm.
“Now, fans and friends,” said Greenwolf, “as I present this spectacle to you, this spectacle of the arrival of the great god Cernunnos, an enemy presents himself. Yes, joining us here at the Palladium today is none other than that harassing Algolite agent known as Doctor Rumanos!”
“So, Greenwolf,” I said back to him, “you do recognise me. That is no particular surprise, given your training as an operative of Spectral Paranormal, along with the extraterrestrial insights that the Cernunnos swarm has granted you.”
“You and your little assistant have been expected, Doctor,” he returned, the alien energies now swirling around him. “I am Danny Greenwolf, the Irish Magician, and the great god Cernunnos has given me power; power undreamed of -- power I shall use to rule this world!”
“Give up this madness now, Greenwolf,” I warned. “The Kosmikos will not allow you to bring back the worship of the heathen gods to this planet. They are horrid and filled with immorality and unholy vice. Stop this foolishness and surrender yourself now.”
“Oh no, Doctor, oh no,” he countered. “You see, the power of Cernunnos is great beyond even what you can imagine. Why? Because it’s the power of my great people! It is the power of my race, the great Celtic ginger people, and gingers do it better!”
“Racism as well, I see. Not surprising from one such as you, Greenwolf.”
“And the power that I -- I, Danny Greenwolf the Irish Ginger Magician -- have gained, will not only give me the ability to conquer this world, it will now also give me the means to destroy you!!”
With this, the horrible magician and occult terrorist known to everlasting shame as Danny Greenwolf made a strange gesture with his hands; a gesture that caused the grotesque scarlet and emerald energies to suddenly shoot forth from him directly to-wards Millie Drake and me!
An huge blast of the Cernunnos energies hit me square in the midsection, sending me careening several metres backwards and tumbling to the ground. The pain of this was excruciating, and it was only my Algolitish strength that allowed me to maintain consciousness after this terrible barrage.
I lifted my head just as I heard Millie Drake scream. I looked and beheld that more of the horrendous alien energy had surrounded her and, in stead of affecting her as it had me, it rather began to lift her upwards into the air.
“Help!” I heard her scream again. “Help me, Daniel!”
I began to stand up and to reach for the transonic turnscrew in my pocket. None the less, before I could succeed in doing so I was suddenly hit with a blow to the head. It was from the fist of Danny Greenwolf, who had come down from the stage.
Greenwolf then jumped upon me and began pummelling me hard, hitting me with repeated blows. I fought back, but my recently having been weakened by enduring the blast of energy gave him an unfair advantage.
“You’re finished, Doctor Rumanos!” exalted the abominable Danny Greenwolf. “You’re finished!”
Do you even begin to see and to recognise the extreme satanic horror, in truth the horrific demoniacal terror of this unholy situation, my dear friends and oh so loyal readers? My beloved Miss Millie Drake was being carried aloft by the grotesque Cernunnos energy -- carried to an unknown fate. At the same time, I was, in my temporarily weakened state, being pummelled by the sickening magician known as Danny Greenwolf -- that same individual who intended to utilise the alien powers he had obtained in order to return the world to heathen idolatry, thus making it a planet over which he would have supreme rule!!
It was then that, from within the pain and anguish, I concentrated deeply. I thought of the planet Earth, and of how it would be ravished by the forces of Cernunnos. I thought of the human race, so oblivious to the macabre powers of obscene darkness that threaten them. Most of all, I thought of Millie Drake, that beautiful young Algolite girl who has become my friend and companion and so much more, and of the extreme peril to which she was currently being subjected. I thought of her -- and with this I obtained the ability to rally my senses and to do what had to be done.
I then quickly took something from my pocket. It was not the transonic device, but rather the coin with the image of Caesar Augustus that I had brought from our headquarters. I pressed the coin against the forehead of Danny Greenwolf.
“Veni vidi vici,” I invoked.
At this, Greenwolf suddenly shuddered and screamed and attempted to break away from my hold. Nevertheless, I held firm to him and, within a few moments, the buzzing energy waves had all again re-entered his form.
Near by, when the energy had been dispersed from around her, Millie Drake had dropped gently to the ground.
The body of Danny Greenwolf then began to disintegrate and, with one final shriek of anguish, he crumbled away to dust.
I stood up and looked around, returning the old Roman coin to my pocket. The Cernunnos energy had completely vanished. It was all as if it had never been.
I ran over to Millie and helped her to her feet.
“Are you all right, love?” I enquired with concern.
“Yes, I’m all right now,” she replied. “What happened?”
“The powers of the Celtic ‘god’ could not stand against the forces of Rome, forsooth the very power that defeated them all those years ago,“ I explained. “It was the Roman Legions that did it back then -- with some help from the Kosmikos of Algol, hmmm? The Cernunnos energy swarm has now again been banished to the depths of Outer Space. As for Danny Greenwolf, he has been destroyed -- utterly annihilated by the very energies he sought to control. Since the swarm no longer has him as their host and conduit, they cannot possibly return for thousands of years.”
“That’s so good to hear,” said Millie, looking around the festival. “All these people seem to have already forgotten what happened.”
“Typical humans,” I mused. “They think it was all just part of the ‘stage magic act’. I say Mills, look at that!”
“What is it, Daniel?” enquired the lass.
“They have real imported Irish lager on tap at the concession stands! That should be worth sampling, hmmm?”
“Well now,” giggled Millie, “I guess not everything about Celtic culture is all so horrible.”
“Quite so, my dear,” said I as we strolled arm-in-arm over to the nearest concession stand. “Quite so, indeed.” …
Later that same day, a woman named Vanessa Briodagh returned to her home at Wellington Trailer Homes, there in the town of Waterbury, Connecticut, still clad in the uniform she wore as a nursing assistant.
“Aurelie!” shouted the woman, “I’m home and will get your dinner ready after I take a shower.”
“Okay, mom,” came the girl’s voice back from the other room.
Vanessa Briodagh then went into the bathroom and closed the door. In a few moments the noise of running water from the shower could be heard, a noise that kept the woman from hearing the sound of soft yet strangely-otherworldly laugher coming from her daughter’s room.
In that room, Aurelie Greenwolf lay upon her bed stark naked. She lay there caressing her own slender young figure and giggling darkly. On her face was a look of lust; of lust not only for pleasure but also for power -- and in her eyes was a glow of wicked scarlet-red radiance.
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
