Darkness

Introduction of the hero's nemisis

CHAPTER 6

     DARKNESS

           

The twin suns of Lokkii are starting to set as the seven candidates

disembark from the private space yacht to this forest planet. They are

to compete to become one of The Three and those that do not become

one of The Three, become prey. There are four tests that will need to be

passed. The first is a test of an individual’s strength; the second will be a

test of an individual’s cunning; the third will be a test of an individuals

Shadow power; the fourth will decide who will be The Three. Each of

these candidates has shown an affinity for Shadow powers, that is why

they were chosen. Being able to use the Shadow power in and of itself

does not make you one with the Shadow. It takes more, much more, to

become one of The Three. You must have a dark heart as well.

Once The Three have been chosen, they will undergo a year

of training in the Shadow Arts as well as the use of conventional

weapons.

Once trained, The Three will become as one; sensing each other’s

thoughts and movements. Individually they will be strong; together

they will be invincible. They will serve the Shadow Master as he sees

fit doing whatever he bids them to do.

After a six-hour journey into the heart of the forest they arrive at

the Shadow compound. The buildings are made of what can be found

in the forest; branches, twigs, vines and leaves. The floors are made

from rocks.

This first night they eat and rest. When the morning arrives

the candidates will each face their first trial; that of strength. Each

candidate’s test will be a test for him and him alone, no two are the

same. The candidates are well rested when morning arrives and with it

the first trial. Each of the seven are handed a sealed parchment as they sit

in a Circle facing away from the overseer. The first candidate opens his

envelope and heads out into the forest. He returns forty-five minutes

later carrying what appears to be a large boulder on each shoulder. No

words are spoken amongst the candidates regarding what the test was.

The candidate sits in the spot that he had started at around the Circle.

The second candidate heads out returns almost an hour later with a

multi-hued feather. He appears to have scrapes and gouges on various

parts of his face and neck. He too takes his place around the Circle.

Candidate number three opens his envelope and after reading it

heads out into the forest. An hour and ten minutes later he still has

not returned and it is announced that he will not be returning to the

tests. Candidate number four warily opens his envelope, reads the contents

and heads out into the forest. He returns carrying a small multi-legged

creature. Number five follows the same routine and enters the forest and he

returns with a small cat like creature.

Candidate number six opens his envelope and smiles a small, obscure smile. He has to go into the forest, climb a two hundred foot

tall tree that is marked with a black star, retrieve an egg from the nest

he finds in the tree and return. He feels the test is insignificant and

he will return unharmed. How hard can it be to retrieve an egg from

a nest in a tree? Chi’tas’ sprints into the forest and approximately ten minutes later, comes upon the tree. As he looks at the tree deciding which will be the

best route to climb to the top, he notices bones and skulls laying about

the ground. Seeing this he realizes this test won’t be as easy as he had

thought. Not having been allowed to bring weapons with them, he

looks around the floor of the forest in hopes of finding something to

use as a weapon. He spies a short piece of a limb that could be used

as a club. He secures it in the waistband of his trousers and starts to

ascend the tree. In a short amount of time he has been able to ascend three quarters of the tree, where he rests for a moment. While he rests he looks

around him, checking other nearby trees for any predator that might

be lurking about. He tries to look above, but due to the time of day

the suns are directly overhead which make it impossible for him to see

anything above him. As he reaches the top, a shadow passes over him

momentarily blocking the twin suns. Then, he sees it! It is nearly fifteen

feet long, with a body similar to a snake. It has the talons and wings of a bird of prey and a head like a bull with three horns. Two horns are curved and came out each side of the creature’s head. The third horn has a short spike coming out of the top of its head.

As it passes over, he can see that its tail consists of a large barb on the

end and for about a foot it is covered with smaller spines. It suddenly

turns and heads towards him and before he can react its claws scraped

his back! He’s only a short distance from the nest and his prize!

Using his prehensile tail Chi’tas’ grasps a limb above his head and

swings up grabbing the limb with his opposable toe feet. He is then able to pull himself up to his full height and peer into the nest. He reaches into the nest and is able to steal one of the half dozen multi-colored eggs. As he does, he notices the creature is heading back in for another attack. As it attacks, Chi’tas’ tail still has a strong grip on the limb he’s standing on, so he falls backward to avoid the creatures’ strike. It almost works except that the creatures tail strikes grazes his shoulder. Fortunately for him, the creature was unable to strike with

a killing blow. As the creature moves away Chi’tas’ simply lets go of the limb with

his tail and starts to fall towards the ground. With limbs and branches

rushing at him he reaches out and latches on to another limb with his

feet. He only rests long enough to get a good swing going and launches

himself to the next tree. When he lands, he quickly moves to the

opposite side of the tree and drops another twenty feet before stopping.

He then launches himself to a third tree and allows himself to drop

another twenty feet, descends to the forest floor where he immediately

heads back to the Circle. Upon arriving at the Circle, he returns to his

position and waits for the last to finish it’s challenge.

The second test consists of entering a maze, the walls of which

are ten feet high and three and a half feet wide. You must exit in the

shortest amount of time. The candidates enter one at a time, when

instructed by the overseer. Finally it is Chi’tas’ turn. He enters and

starts following the tracks of the previous candidates when it occurs to

him that it would be swifter to traverse the maze from above. He braces

one leg on a wall then places his other leg on the opposite wall using his

tail to help reinforce each time he moves a limb. In short order he is on

the top of the walls and can see where the opening is to exit the maze.

Prior to reaching the exit he jumps down and exits the maze through

the doorway. The overseer is taken aback by the short time it has taken

Chi’tas to cross the maze.

The challenges are suspended for the daily meal, which consists

of fruit, bread and water. Each candidate eats in seclusion. Once

the candidates have finished the meal they walk back to the Circle

and arrive just as the day is turning to dusk. They are told that they

are ready to move on to the next Circle and to do so they must travel

until the suns rise in the morning. They are also told that this

is their third challenge and that only the candidates that are strong

with the Shadow power will arrive at the second Circle safely. They

are each given a small backpack containing a compass, a hand drawn

map, rope and a knife. They are told they may travel together, in pairs,

individually or anyway they see fit. Chi’tas’ looks up to see that one of

the six remaining candidates has already left the Circle and that two

others are preparing to leave. He looks at the remaining candidates

and they decide that there is strength in numbers and that the three of

them will travel together.

Chi’tas’ two associates talk very little as they travel. One is

a female and the other is androgynous. The female whose name is

N’ky, is covered with tiny, multi-colored feathers and a long plume.

The plume starts at the top of her head and ends at the middle of

her back. The other, whose’ name is Larbi, has dull, light green skin

with a darker shade of green hair. It also has a web that runs from its

wrist to its armpit and is attached to its waist.

They travel for about two hours when they discover the

body of one of the candidates. It is found a few feet off of the trail as

they had prepared to sit and rest. His neck had been snapped, leaving

the head in an awkward position. It is one of the pair that had left

together. Chi’tas’ quickly scavenges some jewelry off of the corpse and

then they are on their way. As they walk, Chi’tas’ notices that

since darkness had fallen, it was very difficult to make out Larbi even

though it was only a few feet away. He surmises that Larbi must be

strong in the use of the power of Blend, which allows it to blend with

shadows. Chi’tas’ also was able to use this power but had to remain still

and concentrate. He also notices that he had heard no sound coming

from N’ky, which would mean that she is using the power of Mute.

He, on the other hand decides that when they are close to the second

Circle, it would be time to use the power that he is strong in to subtly

help increase his chances of becoming one of The Three. He  ‘feels’

that they are being stalked and starts to specifically target Larbi. He

does this by influencing the emotions of the creature stalking them into

sensing the fear that Chi’tas’ has started to churn in Larbi.

When they are fifteen minutes from the Circle, Chi’tas’ nudges

the creature into attacking Larbi. When it does, N’ky and Chi’tas’

bolt from the area and arrive safely at the Circle. This now leaves four

candidates vying to become one of The Three.

Each of the candidates is sent to a bungalow where food is brought

to them. They are allowed to rest until late afternoon. They are then

brought to the Circle where they receive their instructions.

This is the final challenge and one of the four must perish. They stand

in the Circle facing one another feeling through the dark emotions which one is radiating the highest level of fear. Individually, they are

brought to four different entrances to a cave. They are told to enter and

seek out the others that will form The Three and eliminate the fourth

and final candidate. The loner, N’ky and Chi’tas’ go in search of the

fourth one. By radiating the cave with the emotions of fear and doubt,

they are able to find him hiding in the shadows.

This causes the fourth to try and sprint out of the cave, hoping to

save himself. Chi’tas’ and N’ky stalk the fourth causing him to run

into the loner and his knife. The knife becomes embedded in his chest

causing him to gurgle, dribble blood from his lips and fall to the floor

of the cave. The Three have been chosen for training.