Planet Darcon
The atmosphere inside the dark room held the essence of evil that the cloaked figure sitting on the throne of skeletons just loved to deliver to his victims. He sat right back in the seat. His arms rested on the armrest of the chair. The hood on the cloak went right over his head so only his mouth was visible. His back was pressed right into the back of the throne. The throne was made from the bodies of all of his victims. On the top, above his head, was a large inverted cross with a circle running around it. He just sat quite still. In a deep trance. To the untrained eye it appeared that he was just asleep. However, he was in fact, in a deep vision quest. You see this man was the Warlock. He was a powerful sorcerer who had dark magic running through every fibre of his being. This man did nothing good with his powers. He only used them for evil purposes. Money. Power. Position. He could get all of them with a click of his fingers. He lived on a planet called Darcon. Darcon was just like Earth, with continents and humanoids living in a world of alliances and war. Darius, the Warlock, had positioned himself in the middle of the planet, giving him the perfect scope to see everything that was going on, on the planet from his central base, thanks to his magical powers and his network of followers and spies. His plans for this planet were simple. Get everyone to fight with each other, while he controls everything with covert actions and interventions. He was sitting in his throne room in his lair, Dark Fortress, which was situated in the middle of Death Valley. The whole of Death Valley has been filled with his dark magic. It snakes out from the heart like tentacles from an octopus. It had even turned all of the daylight into night. The sun never shone in Death Valley. There was only darkness. And, a thick fog that can choke the life right out of you. Nothing was what it seems. The throne room itself is a dark recess, at the top of the highest tower of the Fortress. The throne is the centrepiece of the room. Therefore, it is placed on a raised platform. The walls around the throne are made from stone, but when Darius is in one of his trances, they all seem to turn into liquid. While inside the room, Darius can project his spiritual self anywhere on the planet, witnessing events as they play out. He has the ability to see future flashes too—again by projecting his spiritual self, but on this occasion, through time. No one can enter the room while he is in one of these trances. The room becomes sealed.
The sky was a bright blue. The cloaked Darius drifted through the defensive walls of the castle grounds, right through the rock. None of the guards saw him. However, as it was his spiritual self, no one would see him except someone with some form of magic within them. He floated right through the courtyard. He ignored all of the children playing. All of the happy people working away. Laughter. Chat. All of the things that made life fun were just insignificant wastes of time to Darius. To him it was better to stab someone in the back than to laugh. He had never laughed. The day he did, his evilness would end. He passed right through the cheery crowds, telling himself that he would make sure that this happiness would not last for much longer. He passed through the walls of the castle keep into the heart of the banquet hall. It was completely empty. Darius stopped right in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard on this room. Suddenly future echoes started to appear as faint shadows in the room. They walked around like ghost images. Darius stayed quite still in the room, concentrating his mind power on to the ghost images of the future.
“Sir we have done all we can,” the Captain of the guards said to the King.
The King’s ghost image sat upon the throne at the far end of the banquet hall. Even this ghost image was pale. Darius knew that something was deeply troubling the King. He was glad that at least that part of his plan appeared to have worked. While he watched the ghost images continuing to talk over the current situation, Darius felt a strong chill run right down his spine. He flicked his head towards the door of the banquet hall. A woman with auburn hair, with a white streak, about one centimetre in width down the centre, came striding confidently into the room. She stopped just inside the door and stared right at Darius. Darius had never felt anything like that sensation. It was like she was staring right at him, although these were ghost images of the future and of the spiritual world. She stayed there for a few moments. The woman was dressed just like a Lillian. Lillian’s were a tribe of warrior women from the northern forest region. She had exactly the same dress as their warrior women, armed with all manner of weaponry. Darius did notice that his woman had a slave collar around her neck. She had been turned into a Lillian after being rescued from slavery somewhere. Darius knew that he had to find this woman before she destroyed his plans. The woman went right through him — Darius knew that it had been on purpose — he could sense the hatred in her for him, yet he had never seen her before. The auburn-haired woman moved confidently through the banquet hall.
“You haven’t seen what I can do for you yet,” she announced as she approached the two men at the far end of the banquet hall.
Darius wanted to get to know a little more about this woman when the scene changed.
Darius had not meant to change the scene. He did not even have any idea where his spiritual vision quest had taken him this time. The surroundings were strange. The sides of the room he was in had flashing lights. Strange square windows were flashing messages to him. He turned his head to see the stars outside the front window. He was shocked. His powers had taken him right off the planet. He had never been this powerful. Suddenly he felt the same cold chill run down his spine. He looked down to the floor. He saw Larna. Larna was twenty-one Erayears, one hundred and forty seven Chronoyears old. She stood five feet eleven inches tall and weighed nine stone. She was auburn-haired with hazel eyes. Her long hair, which was swept back and tied into a tight ponytail so only a tiny fringe was left down her forehead, had a white streak running down the middle. With measurements of 36B-24-35, she had the body of a top model of the nineties. Combine her body with the fact that she closely resembled the actor Hudson Leick, and she could be classed as one of the most attractive women on the planet. On the right side of her neck, she had a tattoo of the Chinese for Eternal Devotion, in memory and honour of her late husband. On her right bicep, she had got a tattoo of a Fox. On her left buttock was a tattoo of a black rose wrapped around a dagger, signifying her assassin background. Moreover, this assassin background was fully justified. Not only was she stunningly sexy, but she was extremely deadly too. Larna was the master of six Martial Arts. Darius bent his head to the right side to get a better look. She was the auburn-haired woman he had seen previously. Yet now here she was dressed in a completely different outfit that looked like some sort of all in one outfit. The link between how she had gone from this place to the banquet room was blocked from him by something. He took a closer look at the young woman. She was motionless. The closer he moved to her, the more powerful he felt. For the first time, he felt the power of the magic burning through his body. He knew that he had to get his hands on this young woman. She was the key to him unlocking unlimited power. If he could turn her to his side, then he would be unstoppable. However, she had to come to him willingly. It was no good if she fought him. A dastardly plan came right too him. She would never be able to fight him once she was following this plan. Darius looked around the ship. With his ability, he instinctively knew what he had to do on the bridge of this vessel. Although, he was still only there in spirit, with his magic ability he could interact with the scene that was playing out around him. He moved to the control panel beside the prone Larna. He then waved his hands across the top of the panel. Immediately the ship changed course. He had placed it on a direct course with Darcon. His spirit then returned to his body.
Darius slumped forward in the throne. His hands had to keep a tight hold on the armrests, otherwise he would have fallen right out of the chair. Two of his immediate servants came rushing inside the room, the moment that the trance had been broken. For the first time that they could remember, they saw that their master and lord was in a bad way. This time, the trance had drained all of the energy from his body. He was slumped forward in the chair, hardly able to maintain an upright posture. The two men rushed to his aid. Darius pushed them away, not wanting to accept their help. He rose to his feet then. He staggered at first, but soon managed to regain his composure and strength. The two servants watched their master wandering around the room. The pair of them was wondering what was going through his mind. They had never seen him so tense, or showing this much concern. The only thing that they could think about was the fact that his vision quest revealed disturbing news that he would not be able to handle. They found that very hard to believe though. The Warlock, as far as they knew, did not fear anything. Darius stopped pacing after several minutes.
“She is coming,” he announced unexpectedly, surprising both of the men stood watching him.
“Who the Devil Woman?” the man on the left of the two asked curiously, glancing all around the room with a real fear in his expression.
“No. Someone more powerful,” Darius explained, again astounding the two men with that detail. “She is someone, who has got to be stopped before she interferes in my plans for this planet,” he went on to point out.
“Where is she coming from?” the other man asked, curious to find out who this new foe was.
“She is an off-worlder. I believe that she has even come from a different reality. She has a strange power around her. An aurora. She is a magical little minx, who can destroy me if I don’t put an end to that threat first,” Darius expressed, showing a rather surprising sense of fear in his voice.
“Do you want me to get word to the Devil Woman to come and help us?” the man on the right asked, again referring to one of the spawns of the Warlocks dark magic powers.
“No,” Darius snapped firmly. “I need her to keep on fighting the Silver Lady so that problem doesn’t become unmanageable. Besides, I cannot afford to give the Silver Lady any inclination that there is a power on the planet that concerns me. Otherwise, she will use it against me. I’ve got to handle this new minx myself,” he added in a rather reluctant sounding tone of voice. His expression then changed. He did not smile, but the evil intent came waving over his face again. The stone cold hatred for anything burned behind his eyes again. “She is not going to stand a chance by the time I’ve finished with her,” Darius stated in a growling tone of voice.
Suddenly a burst of bright light filled the room. Both of the servants were forced to cover their eyes against the blinding light. A strange blue light generated from the middle of Darius’s body, expanded out to completely hide him. After a couple of minutes, the light disappeared. Darius had gone. The servants were not surprised. This happened often. They were serving the needs of a sorcerer.
Larna crawled out of the crashed ship. The space ship had not crashed. Larna feared that it had even been landed on this planet. The landing was a little rough. The ship had nose-dived into the ground. However, she had been uninjured in the landing. The reason she was crawling was because her head was still thumping after she had hit the control panel on take-off. The world was spinning still. The grass was cool under her body. The sweet scent of fresh country flowers drifted under her nose. She peered up from her prone position on the ground to see the vast mountain ranges on the horizon. The snow topped mountains. The vast green fields stretching for as far as the eye could see. This planet was the picture of perfection, when it came to a relaxing, scenic splendour. Larna struggled to her feet. She was still dizzy, but a greater need was taking over. She needed to find out where she was. She also needed to find a way off this planet and back to Earth. A man on horseback then came galloping towards her. Perfect shining knight coming to the rescue—Larna said to herself with a sigh. She could just picture this world being straight out of a medieval romance novel that her life-partner would read. She held herself still as the man slowed right down to a trot. The horse was a magnificent, huge white stallion stead. The man himself had the rugged good looks of a Brad Pitt. His body seemed to be in a good trim as well. His leather clothes just added to the picture of the gallant rogue mercenary. The large broad sword of the side of the horse completed the image in Larna’s head. Larna folded her arms across her chest. The man slipped down off the horse in one fluent, graceful movement. He walked across to Larna with a real macho strut to his stride.
“Are you okay?” he asked, glancing towards the crashed vessel behind Larna with a slight look of bewilderment on his face.
“I’m fine thanks,” Larna replied sharply.
“What is that contraption?” the man asked curiously.
Larna instantly worked out that getting a ship off this planet was not going to be easy. This man did not have any idea that the ship behind her was a space ship. She did not want to tell him the truth that would just lead to more questions
“It is just an experiment of mine. It failed. Could you possibly show me the way to the nearest town?” Larna bluffed, playing the role of the helpless bimbo without a flaw in her act.
“The nearest town is Talane. But, I don’t think a stunning, single woman like yourself would want to go anywhere near that town,” the man explained in his rough, growling, deep, yet sexy tone of voice.
The man moved back to his horse after finishing speaking. He could see that his job here was done. The damsel did not need rescuing. Therefore, he had to find another rose to pluck. Larna moved swiftly across after him.
When the man turned around, he found her face to face with him. Larna stared right into his face, not flinching, or backing down.
“What way to Talane?” she asked sternly, displaying her determination not to be turned away from this course of action.
The man backed away, moving closer to his horse and further away from Larna. He started adjusted the saddle on his horse. It was more about finding something to do than out of necessity. He just anted to take his mind off Larna’s closeness. He turned his head to the right slightly after a few moments of silence.
“Let me explain something about Talane to you ma’am,” the man started, turning on his courteous charm.
“The names Fox,” Larna snapped bluntly, folding her arms across her chest in a defiant action.
“Fox, Talane is the heart of the slave trading in this realm. If you go anywhere near that place, you will be hunted down by the slavers and taken right to the training school,” the man pointed out bluntly, being as honest and open as he could and not holding back on the punches. “Now, four forms of slave come out of that school. There are those that have been born into it. There are those that have been sold into it. Then you have the ones who are sent there as a punishment for a crime. The final lot is those who are just picked up at random by the slavers, who are considered good catches. Most of those that are trapped by the slavers end up being badly treated by vicious masters, because they are considered worthless pieces of trash that could not defend themselves. Those that are bred into it fetch the highest price. Those that are sold into slavery are normally from rich families. These are used for breeding purposes. The ones that are there as punishment are basically no more than pleasure wenches,” the man explained, going into more detail than Larna really thought was necessary. “And you’re telling me that you really want to go to this town?” he asked again, now that he had explained a little more about the situation that Larna would find herself facing.
“Talane is my only hope for getting off this planet as quickly as I can. I need to go there,” Larna insisted. “Besides, I can take care of myself very well thank you,” she added, confident that her martial arts skills would give her the edge over any slaver that might decide to attack her in the town.
The man shrugged before swinging back up on to the horse. He did not even ask how she planned to get off the planet. He kicked the sides of the beast, to urge it forward. Larna moved to the side to allow him to pass. The man then waved to her, ushering her to follow him.
“It is your funeral lady,” he said without turning his head. “I’ll take you as far as the town boundary, then you’re on your own,” the man expressed, still not stopping his horse or turning his head.
Larna glared at his back with a distinct hatred for this person already. Do not put yourself out pal — she whispered under her breath, gritted her teeth to fight the hatred building up in her stomach. Suddenly she felt a strange wave of anxiety wash over her. She had had this sense once before. When dealing with an evil black witch from the year late 29th Century on Earth. Shadow’s presence always made her twitchy. It was like she could sense the magic running through the air nearby. As she watched the man, his image blinked between the handsome mercenary and a strange cloaked figure. It was if you were watching the television and someone was flicking between two stations. Larna shook the sensation off. Shadow was not going to be in this dimensional reality and certainly not on this planet. Shadow was dead. Larna moved slowly after the man on horseback.
They had not been going for long when Larna heard a woman screaming for help from over the rise in front of them. She instantly sprinted right passed the man on the horse, charging up the slope to get a clear view of what was going on over the rise. The man on the horse trotted slowly up, not showing much concern for the events taking place close to them. Larna stood on the top of the hill, desperately searching for the screaming woman. After a couple of minutes, the woman came running across the field, coming into view as she passed out of the trees blocking the view. Her screams were continuing to sound out. Larna glanced over her shoulder to the man on the horse.
“Are you just going to sit there, or are you going to go and help her?” she barked viciously.
The man lent forward on his horse, giving himself a better view of what was happening down the hill from them. Five men now came running out from behind the trees after the young woman. All of the men were dressed in similar outfits. All of them were leather. Every man also carried a length of rope, with lassoes tied into the end of them. The two men nearest to the young woman were already started to swing the lasso around above their heads. Larna stared at the man on the horse over her right shoulder. What are you waiting for—she thought to herself, trying to work out why this man was just sitting and waiting there. She had pictured him to be the knight in shining armour type. However, that analogy was falling apart at the seams while she watched. She turned back to the scene playing out in front of her. The young woman screamed out hysterically when both lassoes dropped around her body. The men roughly pulled her to a halt, yanking her backward until she crashed down to the ground on her back. She was helpless. The lassoes held her prisoner. Larna looked around at the man on the horse again.
“You’re just going to sit there and let them do that to that young woman?” she asked, finding that hard to believe.
“I do not get involved with slavers,” he announced proudly.
Larna shook her head. Well, I do — she thought to herself, before sprinting off down the slope in front of her. The man on the horse did not stop her. He did not even try. In fact he turned the horse around and started back the way he had come. The horse only took a couple of steps before both the horse and the man disappeared into fresh air.
Larna did not realise that this whole scene was just the evil plan of Darius to trap her and get her out of the way. He was hoping that she would also become easier to handle and easier to turn to his side, after her little encounter with these slavers. Larna did not stop running at her top speed until she was right up with the men. The young woman was kicking, squirming and fighting as best a she could on the ground, but the men were too strong for her. They outnumbered her too. The men had their hands all over her body, more feeling her up than restraining her. All of them were laughing heartily at the obvious fear, panic and loathing that their victim was going through at their hands. Larna coughed loudly the moment she was close enough to get their attention.
“Excuse me, but I don’t think she wants to go with you,” she shouted out, just to get the slavers attention.
One of the men glanced over his shoulder. His eyes nearly popped out of their head when he saw Larna standing confidently not far from them. She was either very brave or very stupid to be standing there—he thought to himself, before turning to thoughts of how much money he could make from catching this prize. He rose to his feet, leaving the other four men to handle the other woman. Larna had to smile. One against one was an easy bet. The man moved up to her slowly. He was only about the same height as her. His build was not that impressive either. Larna had never found herself in a situation that was this easy against the bad guys. She pointed to the young woman still being molested.
“I suggest that you let her go,” she stated firmly, the determination and confidence that she could handle this situation clear by the tone of her voice.
“Why don’t you make us?” the man in front of her growled through gritted teeth.
Larna sighed. Why were the bad guys such idiots all of the time—she asked herself, before moving forward. The man stopped her, by pushing his hand into her chest. Larna looked right into his eyes. He then swung his left hand around to slap her across the face. Larna ducked under the swinging hand, before punching him across the face with a hard right hook. Larna cringed in pain as nearly every bone in her hand broke. Her fist had just bounced off his face. The man then got his slap through. Larna was sent flying ten feet at least. She crashed down to the ground face first. Blood poured from her mouth. The man moved across swiftly, moving like lightning. He slammed his boot down on to Larna’s back, knocking the wind right out of her. Larna slumped motionless down to the grass. Two blows had beaten her. Something that had not happened since she had been trained in the martial arts. It was nothing that Darius had done to these men. These were just the above average man on this planet. They were just stronger, fitter and had more power in their smaller bodies than Larna had. Larna was an off-worlder and would not have the same physical qualities that the people of Darcon had. Indeed, on this planet, Larna would find it extremely hard to beat a child, let alone an adult male. She did not know it yet, but this would be the toughest challenge she had ever had to face.
While escaping in a space shuttle from the Overlord’s hell-camp of a prison, Larna is forced to crash land on a forest planet. She is tricked by an evil sorcerer, who forces her into a tortuous slave camp. She is trained as a slave, being sold in a market like a common animal.