The bright white light of the vortex opened up in the middle of a wide open clearing. It was like the end of a tunnel suddenly appeared out of fresh air. A whirlwind went around the whole as the tunnel forced its way through the fabric of space. The centre of the vortex was a solid bright light, but the outer rim was a swirling mass of light, cloud and mist that cast strange patterns across a strobe-lighting effect. The whole creation was a very eerie and strange phenomenon in the middle of the wide-open space. If there had been anyone to witness the sight, they would have bowed down thinking that it was a God or other form of deity coming into their reality.
The first person to step through the light was like a deity. The Silver Lady was the Light Bearer. She was pure and wholesome right through to the core. She was the picture of goodness and brought peace and warm feelings to the planet. Larna and her new companion had just rescued Silver from the evil Devil Woman. Devona had wanted to sacrifice Silver to her Lord to help bring him into this reality. Larna had made sure that she failed in that mission. The Dark Lord would bring darkness and destruction. Silver looked around the clearing quickly to investigate where it was she had arrived. She had never been to this realm before, but it did not look any different to the land of Amona. Silver had long flowing silver hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. Her long silk dress was also silver. It hugged the lines and curves of her body like a second skin and made her look like a posh Victorian Lady. The dress forced her bosom up and together to make it look larger than it actually was. She was covered from neck to toe by this flowing stunning outfit. It did not give her much room to move. She was forced to take dainty small steps in her high-heeled silver shoes. Her face held a childlike innocence to it. It almost glowed with beauty. Her face could not show anything but love. Her eyes were a strange silver blue colour. On closer inspection, the silver seemed to shimmer right across the blue like a strange hologram effect. They were very striking, but again could not be threatening in the slightest.
Jezebel followed Silver out of the tunnel of light. She shook her head the moment she stepped clear. The whole experience had left her feeling sick and dizzy. She was not used to travelling that great distance in that manner. Jezebel was a Lillian Warrior. She had been sent to the land of Amona to help Larna rescue Silver. The pair had been instantly attracted to each other. It helped that they were about the same age. They were now very much in love. Jezebel was a novice Warrior. She had only just finished her training when she was selected for the mission. There was still a lot of doubt in her mind as to why she had been chosen. Jezebel had a very beautiful face, which held a distinct soft beauty and youthfulness to it. Her model looks were complemented with long, soft golden blonde hair. Not only was she stunningly beautiful; with a combination of youthfulness and fairy-tale looks, but her body would have been the envy of most fitness trainers. Her body had all the right amount of curves in all the right places. The Lillian leather and chain mail outfit displayed her body perfectly. Jezebel quickly walked across to stand next to Silver as they waited for Larna to come through the vortex.
Larna, who looked like the actress Hudson Leick, stepped through the light confidently. It was if she had been doing that kind of travelling all of her life. The truth was Larna had only been doing for four years back in her own TRES (Temporal Reality Event Sequence). Unfortunately for her in this galaxy and reality, her time travelling aid, the Thala, was useless. She had not used it once on this planet. Jezebel wondered how Larna managed to be so cool about it. The whole experience for her had been sickening. Yet Larna just seemed to take everything in her stride. It was water off a ducks back to her. Nothing seemed to phase Larna in the slightest. Larna wore the same kind of chain mail and leather outfit as Jezebel. The Lillian tribe that rescued her from the slavery enforced on her by Darius the Warlock gave her the outfit before they started to train her in the Lillian ways. It was the same Lillian tribe that Jezebel came from. The outfit consisted of a mixture of leather and chain mail. She wore heavy-looking leather boots on her feet. While they looked heavy, they were in fact quite light. They did have a worn and battered look to them. Each boot had a dagger attached to the outside. Her legs were bare from middle of shin up to middle of thigh. A short leather mini-skirt went around her waist and was held up by a strong broad belt with little silver circles on. These silver circles were a form of explosive device. A leather corset went around her waist and was done up tightly to reduce her waist by several inches. The corset emphasised her bosom by pushing it up. The effect of this on both Jezebel and Larna was extremely stunning. Chain mail went over the top. Her shoulders and upper torso were covered by chain mail that went from the top of the corset to the neck. Larna’s was attached to the slave collar that had been permanently locked around it. The slave collar was a clear identification mark of her slavery that Larna could not get away from. The cattle brand on her right buttock was another memento from her slavery. Apart from the leather bands up her forearms, her arms were bare. These bands were attached with tiny fasteners around the middle finger of each hand. Her weapons consisted of a Boomerang shaped weapon at her left side and a broad sword on her right. The sword was tied tightly to her thigh, so that it followed every move that she made. To finish the outfit off, Larna wore a long well worn and battered leather trench-coat that almost touched the ground. Apart from the slave collar around her neck, this was the only other difference between the outfit that Larna and Jezebel wore. Jezebel preferred to wear a cloak wrapped around her shoulders.
Larna joined the other two women at the edge of the clearing. Moments after she had stepped out of the vortex it disappeared in the blink of an eye. The wind died down instantly and the clearing was returned to calm and relaxing spot. Larna looked around at the trees and the scenery around her. The bright blue sky did not have a single cloud in it. She looked around trying to work out where in the land of Lycia they had arrived. She recognised the dark path leading to Death Valley immediately. But, it looked very different from the last time she had seen it. It was completely overgrown. By the look of it, Larna would have said that it had not been used for months. She glanced over her shoulder at the path that led down towards the village.
Silver could see the concerned look on Larna’s face immediately. With her telepathic ability, she picked up on the worry that was going through her comrade’s mind. “I am sure that everything here in Lycia is fine,” she expressed, but did not sound in the slightest confident about that statement.
“Why don’t I believe that?” Larna asked softly as she moved down towards the path.
Jezebel glanced between the two like she was watching a tennis match. She did not have any idea what they were talking about. Jezebel had never been to this land. She did not know what it had looked like, so she could not make any comment or comparison. Larna stopped when she got to the top of the path. She should have been able to see the village and the castle from this vantage point. She could not see either.
Larna turned to Silver with a confused look on her face. “This is definitely the land of Lycia right? That is the path to Death Valley?” she asked as she glanced at the overgrown pathway. “And this should be the path down into the village and to the castle?” she enquired to confirm that she was thinking about the right location.
“Yes,” Silver replied softly, her voice now filled with a sense of confusion and anxiety. “Why do you ask?” she finished in a questioning tone of voice.
“Because there is no village,” Larna replied firmly not holding back on the punches.
Silver walked across to join her swiftly. While Silver had never been to this place, she had seen in numerous times in visions in her head. She could also picture the valley thanks to the images that Larna had in her mind. She looked out into the valley in front of her. The valley appeared to be completely empty. Silver glanced around at Larna with a bewildered expression on her face before she started to walk down the path to go and investigate what had happened.
Jezebel started to follow. She paused briefly beside Larna. “What’s happened?” she asked with concern.
“We’ve just lost an entire village and castle, that’s all,” Larna replied softly before she started to follow Silver down the path in the direction of where the village had been.
The three of them walked down the remains of the main street. They had found the village. Or at least what was left of it. All of the buildings had been destroyed. All that remained were the bottom level of the huts. The whole place looked like an archaeological dig. Jezebel found this amount of destruction rather unnerving. She watched Larna and Silver closely. Jezebel then knelt down and picked up a discarded plank of wood. She looked over it then looked around the entire remains, as if trying to work out what had happened to the buildings. Larna glanced around at what was left of the buildings. It was quite upsetting to think what they had been like. Larna looked up the street to where the grand castle once had stood. The outer walls of the castle had been cut in half. The brick and stone work was jagged and uneven. The main buildings of the castle had been totally destroyed. The scene looked like the castle had been blown apart in a strange explosion. Silver’s face was extremely pale. Her eyes could not comprehend the destruction that was in front of her. What made it worse for her was the fact that she could sense the pain and suffering of the people that had been inside the village when it was destroyed. Larna slowly walked up to the gates of the castle. One was just hanging on to its hinges at the bottom. The other was on the ground and covered the uneven surface of the fallen bricks from the wall. Larna peered through the gates into the courtyard of the castle. It was filled with the debris from the main castle buildings. There were limbs sticking out of the debris too. Larna stopped Silver from looking inside and pulled her away. Larna was used to seeing death and destruction, but she knew that Silver was too sensitised to the way people felt. It would knock her off her feet if she looked inside that courtyard. Silver understood what Larna was doing without her having to say a word.
“I just hope that the villagers managed to get away before this happened,” Larna expressed hopefully.
“I can sense a lot of panic and confusion. This whole place has a cold sense of death lingering around it,” Silver replied glancing around the whole village with a deep sense of loss on her face.
Jezebel dropped the wood to the ground as she rose to her feet. “What happened here?” she asked in confusion. “It looks like the whole place has been laid flat by some sort of tornado,” she expressed sharply.
Larna glanced at Silver. Larna knew that she would be able to understand what she was wanting. She was telepathic.
Silver shook her head the moment she sensed Larna looking at her. “I cannot see what happened. It is totally blacked out by a darkness that I am unable to remove,” she explained positively.
“So we know that Darius had something to do with this then,” Larna replied reading between the lines. “We need to find out what happened here,” she pointed out firmly. Suddenly the penny dropped as she remembered someone who might be able to explain what had happened. “Altar might be able to tell us,” she stated confidently before she started to run off back down the street.
Jezebel looked at Silver in confusion and bewilderment. Silver glided across to the other Lillian Warrior slowly. She guided Jezebel around so that they both started to follow Larna.
Larna stopped running the moment she saw the burnt out shell of the Warrior Inn. She slid to a halt then slammed her right fist into her leg. The whole Inn had been destroyed. The rafters were now a charcoal-black colour. The walls were barely standing. Pieces of burnt bar furniture were scattered around the outside. Silver and Jezebel slowly came up behind Larna several moments later.
“What was this place?” Jezebel asked as she glanced at the remains in front of her.
“It was known as the Warrior Inn. An old friend owned this place. Unfortunately it clear that he did not manage to avoid the destruction that has washed through this valley,” Larna replied firmly. “It was a shame, because he would have known what was going on,” she finished with a deep sigh before she kicked a piece of the burnt bar furniture away from her with her right foot.
“Fox!” a man’s voice, said from the side of the ruins.
Altar came rushing around the side of his old Inn. He went straight over to Larna and gave her a large hug. Larna did not know how to react. She was extremely glad to see him, but she was not prone to flamboyant expressions of emotion. Larna’s martial arts training had often called for her to mask her emotions from her enemy. It was now like second nature to her. She just let him hug her, but did not return it. Altar stopped when he noticed the two women with Larna. He backed away slightly embarrassed by his show of emotion. He could not help himself though. He had been overwhelmed with emotion at seeing Larna alive.
“You do not realise how glad I am to see you alive Fox. Where have you been?” he asked with great excitement to his voice.
“That’s a long story my old friend. I suppose the story about what happened here is equally as long. That one is more important though,” Larna replied firmly.
“Things have gone from bad to worse since you have left,” Altar expressed in a doom and gloom sounding tone of voice. “But we should not stay and speak outside. The patrols will be along shortly and we do not want them to see you,” he pressed firmly. “Let’s go inside and I will explain everything,” Altar finished before he walked around the side of the Inn.
Larna glanced around for these patrols, before she followed the others slowly around the side of the burnt-out building towards a new structure hidden around the back.
Altar quickly pulled three chairs up to the fire to allow his visitors to sit down. Silver was glad to get by the open fire. She was feeling rather cold. Jezebel remained by the door to keep a look out.
Larna moved swiftly to the chair. “What are these patrols?” she asked firmly not liking the sound of them in the slightest.
“Darius has set up a number of small patrols that go around the kingdoms that he has conquered and destroyed, just to make sure that there are no rebellions being planned. I am surprised that you have not run into one before now,” Altar explained with concern. He then started to shake his head in disbelief. “I preyed for the day that you would return. I knew that you would come back,” he announced with delight.
“What happened here Altar? Where is King Minda and the villagers?” Larna pressed firmly. She knew that it must have been something to do with Darius, but she needed to know the facts.
“It was terrible Fox. Everything started to go wrong shortly after you disappeared,” Altar started in a solemn tone of voice. “Things started off brightly too. Princess Mia returned. King Minda was so delighted that he could not see that Mia had turned into a dangerous vixen. He did not last long. His doctors said that he died of natural causes, but the whole thing did not sit right with me. Mia became Queen. All of this happened within the space of a quarter of a moon,” he explained in a calm level tone of voice.
“Let me guess, along came a new King,” Larna stated to continue the story.
“That’s right. Darius the Warlock,” Altar replied in amazement. “How did you know that?” he asked in astonishment.
“It was just the last time I saw Princess Mia she had been turned into a sex slave and wearing nothing more than a skimpy silk wrap and chains,” Larna reported bluntly.
“Well no one put it together until it was too late. The wedding should have given some people a clue, especially due to the state of undress that Mia showed during the ceremony,” Altar expressed sharply. “What material she did wear was nearly see through. No one knew that she was following Darius’ orders completely and willingly. By the time we did get a clue, it was too late to stop it. With Captain Stax missing, Darius went about destroying the army piece by piece and introducing his own people into the ranks. Mia just allowed Darius to destroy the castle and then the whole village. No one was in a position to stop him,” he reported with regret to his tone of voice. “He just went through this whole valley like a plague of death. Villagers were killed or scattered. Buildings were turned to dust. Then, when he had wiped out the entire valley, they moved on to the next kingdom,” Altar pointed out firmly. “It has been the same pattern every time. Mia acts the innocent party and gets taken in by the ruling family of the kingdom. She seduces her way into the King’s heart and bed, then kills him. She takes over as Queen, introduces Darius as her King, then they destroy the realm. All of this is done under the flag of Death Valley and for the greater purposes of evil,” he expressed sharply. “Until you came back there was no one who was able to stop their path of destruction,” Altar finished with delight and confidence in Larna’s ability.
“Where are they now?” Larna asked choking on the words and really trying hard to hold back on the anger and rage that was running through her.
“The last I heard of them they were trying to take control of the great city of Talane,” Altar expressed softly. “Mia has already been taken in by the King and their marriage is set for the next full moon,” Altar reported swiftly.
Jezebel watched Larna closely. She knew all about Larna’s experience in that city. Silver did too.
Silver moved forward in her seat so she could catch the attention of Altar. “What happened to the rest of the villagers who survived?” she asked with concern.
“They all relocated,” Altar replied positively.
“I’m sorry Altar, I am being rude,” Larna stated when she suddenly realised she had not introduced her comrades. “This is Jezebel and Silver,” she pointed out waving her hand at each of them in-turn.
“You’re the Silver Lady,” Altar expressed with a deep sigh as he looked deeply into Silver’s eyes.
“That’s right,” Silver replied with a broad and warm smile on her face.
“Then hope is not lost,” Altar exclaimed with a deep sigh. “You will be able to stop them before they bring their Lord into this realm,” he stated with confidence.
“We are going to try,” Silver replied in a soft and calming tone of voice as she briefly glanced in Larna’s direction.
“We need to get help though,” Larna expressed firmly. “The three of us are no match for Darius and his black army. And if we are going to venture in Talane, then we definitely have to go fully prepared,” she continued resolutely. “Thank you Altar,” she then finished before she went to the door to the building.
Jezebel went straight out of the building after Larna. Larna instantly went to the debris of the burnt-out building and started kicking out at the pieces of wood and burnt furniture. She sent numerous pieces flying in all directions as she vented her frustration. Jezebel gently placed her right hand on to Larna’s left arm.
Larna stopped what she was doing immediately. “You just don’t understand Jez,” she started in a solemn tone of voice. “I left Princess Mia with Darius. I had the chance to free her, but saved my own skin first,” she finished bluntly.
“I cannot believe that you would do that if you knew what they were going to do. It is not your fault that they came back here and went on a path of destruction,” Jezebel expressed trying to be sympathetic to the concerns of her lover.
“I should have realised that Darius was not just going to sit back in Death Valley and not use Princess Mia to do his bidding. He is a power hungry monster. Princess Mia is the perfect tool for his dark desires. Once he had turned her into his willing slave, it should have been obvious to me that he would exploit her beauty as much as he could,” Larna finished sharply. “I doomed numerous realms and allowed them to be conquered and destroyed by this duo. It has now left me in the awkward position of having to save a kingdom that tried to destroy me,” she snapped hating the thought of having to rescue the rulers of the realm where she was enslaved and put through a harsh and perverted slave training school.
“Where are we going now?” Jezebel asked changing the subject from the sensitive issue of Talane.
“As I said inside, we still need to find an army that can help us defeat Darius. I can only think of one place where we can do that,” Larna expressed firmly.
“Home,” Jezebel said with a bright enthusiasm to her voice referring to the Lillian tribe’s home in the Northern Forest realm of the planet.
Larna flashed her usual sexy smile across her face. She was just as glad as Jezebel to be returning to that camp. It was really the only safe and secure place on the planet. Darius could not attack that place, not while Mystic was protecting it. Silver then came out of the hut. Altar had a warm beaming smile on his face. His furrowed brow and anxious expression had totally gone. Silver had transformed him from a man wracked with guilt about not seeing the truth of the situation that had faced them, to a man happy to be alive and full of life. Silver kissed him lightly on the cheek before she joined her comrades at the start of the mountain path. Larna moved across to a pen of horses. There was very little time to waste.
The Warlock gets his final chance to finish Larna in this story. She returns to the land where she first arrived. The Prince of this land takes an immediate shine to her. When Larna loses her memory again, a kick back to #22, the Prince and the Warlock try to take complete control of her mind and body.