Roots 2
Davnis slowly crept through the ruined city, the sunlight, what little of it that could make its way through the dark clouds was fading and there was nothing more terrifying than Denebria at night.
"Why are the food stations so far away?" cursed Davnis as he ducked in to the shadows of a doorway in order to avoid a gang heading towards the food stations. It wasn't uncommon for people to be attacked for their food rations and there was no way to get any more until the next ration cycle.
Once he was certain that the gang had long pasted by Davnis stepped from his hiding place and hurried on his way. With the weight of the food rations tiring him out Davnis almost failed hear the sound of a land cruiser approaching. But it wasn't the sound of the engine that sent fear through him, it was the sound of laughter coming from the land cruiser. The sound was cold and full of malice it sounded like metal being scraped along metal. The sound could mean only one thing, Body Snatchers!
Body Snatchers were Denebrians, deformed by the radiation in Denebria's atmosphere and transformed in to mutants but they were unlike the mutants that ruled Denebria, like Brakk and his followers. The Body Snatchers didn't care about politics or Denebria and its war with Primus, all they cared about was themselves. They hunted in packs attacking anyone out on the streets after the sun went down. It was rumoured that the Body Snatchers would use parts of their victims to enhance their own bodies. It was also said that even Brakk's mutants steered clear of these monstrosities.
As the sound got closer Davnis began to panic, he had stumbled in to the city square, there was nowhere to hide as all the buildings had collapsed a while ago during a battle between Brakk's mutants and the warriors from Primus, the area was swallowed under a ton of lava from the centre of Denebria. The square was open space and once the Body Snatchers reached the square Davnis was doomed.
With panic beginning to take over, Davnis raced as fast as he could manage across the square and hoped that he wouldn't be spotted by the Body Snatchers or drop the food rations he was carrying.
Davnis had just reached the other side of the square when the Body Snatchers' land cruiser rounded the corner.
"Well, Well look at what we've got here!" Davnis' hear sank as he heard the words coming out of one of the Body Snatchers' mouth. "Looks like we got some spare parts!"
Davnis shuddered and cringed as he heard the sickening laughter coming from the rest of the Body Snatchers in the land cruiser. Yet he forced himself to carry on across the square as fast as he could.
"Nah," said one of the other Body Snatchers as the land cruiser turned towards the fleeing Davnis. "Look at him. What use could he be to any one of us?"
"He's right," said another Body Snatcher, this one had three eyes, the third eye larger than the other two was focused on the Davnis. What he saw made him lick his lips. "He's no good for parts, but he's got rations in his arms."
Hearing those words surprising filled Davnis with more dread than he felt over his own safety. The buildings at the edge of the square were mostly ruins but at least the Body Snatchers land cruiser wouldn't be able to follow him, spurred on by this thought Davnis made one last ditch attempt to reach the edge of the square.
"Hey! He's getting away!" snapped the first Body Snatcher slapping the one driving the land cruiser across the back of the head. "Put your foot down idiot."
The drive grunted and did as he was told.
Davnis didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that the land cruiser had gotten faster, he could tell by the growl from the vehicle's engine. Davnis forced himself to go faster even though his body was screaming for him to stop.
Davnis reached the edge of the square, as he stepped over the small rise of rubble before him his foot slipped and he fell. By some miracle Davnis kept a tight grip on the rations he carried, struggling Davnis got to his feet, but the Body Snatchers had closed the gap and were getting out of the land cruiser. Davnis could clearly hear their screeching voices calling out for him. Carefully but as quick as he possibly dared Davnis scrambled over the uneven surface of the ruined buildings desperate to put as much distance between himself and the Body Snatchers as possible.
Davnis could hear the Body Snatchers getting closer their taunts and shouts getting clearer, pushing himself harder to get away Davnis failed to notice that the ground underneath his feet change from the rough surface of the ruined buildings that he was racing through to the smooth almost glass like surface of the cold lava that covered the remains of Brakk's command base. Davnis lost his footing and fell.
This time Davnis wasn't as fortunate as the last time he fell, the rations that he was carrying flew out of his hands as he hit the ground. Davnis wanted to let out a cry as he watched the rations bounce and roll down a dip in the lava's surface and down towards a hole.
Davnis quickly scrambled to his feet and leapt after rations, his fingers brushed the edge of the rations as they disappeared down the hole. Davnis slapped the ground in frustration again trying to keep quiet as possible to keep the Body Snatchers from locating him. Davnis examined the hole, it was just large enough for him to squeeze through. Davnis hoped that the hole wasn't too deep and that his rations hadn't fallen too far. Without a second thought Davnis slipped in to the hole. Meanwhile the Body Snatchers drew closer.
The hole was tighter than he expected but Davnis persisted and squeezed himself in to the hole.
"HEY! There he is!" shouted one of the Body Snatchers as he came in to view. Davnis panicked at the sound and lost his footing and slipped in to the hole.
Davnis didn't know how long he was falling but it felt quite a distance, he then came to an abrupt stop as he hit the bottom knocking the wind out of him. Slowly Davnis managed to pull himself up to find himself within a small cavern under the lava. The cavern was bathed in an odd red glow. Davnis slowly looked around the cavern to find the source of the glow. To Davnis's surprise he found the source of the light. Sat half buried in one of the wall's of the cavern was a glowing red jewel. Davnis stared at the jewel almost hypnotised by it's pulsing light, slowly he crawled across the cavern and reached out for the jewel.
Davnis's hand grasped the jewel, suddenly his mind felt like it was on fire. Davnis closed his eyes tightly trying to block out the sudden explosion inside his skull. When Danvis reopened his eyes he found himself outside the ruins that he and his family unfortunately called their home. He also found his arms loaded with food rations, blankets and clothing, more that enough to mean that he wouldn't need go risk going out on another supply hunt for a while. Though he could remember doing so Danvis figured that he must have sold the jewel, it was the only explanation for why he had so many supplies.
"Tara!" Davnis called out his wife's name as he made his way in to the ruins, when no reply came he called out for his daughter. "Kera! I'm home, I have supplies."
Again no answer came from the ruins. A sudden sensation of dread crept over Davnis's heart. Slowly Davnis placed the supplies down.
"Tara! Kera!" Davnis called out again. Again now reply was forthcoming.
Fear started to gnaw at Davnis' insides and he started to fear what lay ahead of him. Davnis slowly headed further in to his home. The inside of his home was exactly as it had been when he had left to go to the food station, in fact it scared him even more how much things seemed to have been untouched while he was away. Davnis made his way in to what they called their family room. For one brief moment Davnis expected to see Kera laying on the floor staring in to the small computer monitor that he had salvaged from what had once been a military, he had altered the programming to teach Kera lessons rather than expose her to the military propaganda that Brakk constantly bombarded Denebria with. But the family room was empty and the monitor was blank.
Davnis listened for any sound coming from elsewhere, but he was only greeted with silence. The feeling of dread grew and turned in to terror, Davnis unwilling found himself making his way to the room where he and his family slept at night. Slowly he pulled back the blanket that hung above the doorway and was greeted with darkness, Davnis stepped in to the darkened room slowly his eyes adjusted to the dark. The sight before him chilled Davnis to the bone. Huddled together were the still forms of Kera and Tara, Davnis reluctantly reached out and brushed away the cobwebs that shrouded the bodies of the two people that he cared for the most on Denebria. Fighting back the terror that threatened to spew from his body Davnis touched the desiccated skin on his wife's face.
Davnis quickly pulled his hand away. Unable to take his eyes off the scene before him Davnis slowly backed away holding a hand to his mouth in an attempt to stifle the scream that was building at the back of his throat. Slowly he sank to his knees his mind on the verge of collapsing.
"I-I'm so sorry," croaked Davnis finally finding his voice. "I-I've been away too long." tears flowed freely down his face. "I've failed you!"
"No you haven't," as voice sounded from the darkness behind Davnis. "At least not yet."
Davnis got to his feet and spun around and suddenly found himself standing among the ruins above the cavern where he had found the jewel. A tall powerful figure stood before him. Davnis couldn't see much of the figure as the shadows seemed to surround him like a dark cloak.
The figure took a step towards Davnis and the feeling of dread crept up his spine.
"I believe you have something of mine," said the figure stepping one more step closer to Davnis.
Slowly the shadows seemed to fade away and terror flooded through Davnis as he found himself staring in to the soulless evil eyes of Skeletor. One of Brakk's warriors. Rumour had it that while Skeletor looked like one of Brakk's evil mutants the skull faced warrior was in fact a non-mutant. For some reason this terrified Davnis even more.
"I suggest you hand it over to me," hissed Skeletor as he held out his hand.
Davnis stared at the jewel then back at Skeletor then back at the jewel. Davnis' mind raced back to the vision of his family entombed in cobwebs huddled together waiting for him to return, waiting forever.
The jewel's light began to pulse in his hand growing faster and brighter with every heartbeat. A thought came to Davnis as he continued to stare at the hypnotic light.
'It was a vision,' thought Davnis. 'Kera and Tara are still alive! This jewel must have caused it. Showed me my greatest fear.'
Skeletor growing impatient stepped closer to Davnis. Davnis looked up from the jewel and another thought crossed his mind.
'It works on fear!'
Davnis thrust the jewel out towards Skeletor. Skeletor's glowing red eyes grew wide with fear as he saw the Jewel of Amara. Then to Davnis' horror Skeletor's fear turned to laughter. Skeletor's gaze turned from the jewel and focused on Davnis. The laughter stopped.
"That will not work on me," hissed Skeletor. "I have mastered my fear."
As fear began to overwhelm him all Davnis could think about getting back to his wife and child, suddenly he bolted from Skeletor, clutching the jewel to his chest Davnis raced from the ruins. Davnis burst from the ruins and franticly raced towards the city square.
Fingers of sunlight pushed through the permanent black clouds that hung over the city, at the back of his mind Davnis wondered just how much time had past. Davnis skidded to a stop when he saw the Body Snatcher's land cruiser sit sat at the edge of the square.
Davnis wanted to scream, not only was he fleeing from the terrifying figure of Skeletor but the Body Snatchers hadn't left the area, they were still waiting for him. Davnis then realised that the Body Snatchers hadn't attacked, that or they hadn't spotted that he was heading for them.
Slowly Davnis crept towards the land cruiser, he kept looking back over his shoulder for any sign of Skeletor pursuing. But so far Skeletor hadn't left the ruins. When Davnis reached the land cruiser he almost puked up at the sight he saw before him. Each of the Body Snatchers that had been chasing him earlier had been dismembered, their body parts neatly stacked in a row in front of the land cruiser.
Davnis backed away form the horrifying scene his heart pounding in his chest. Finding a desperate need to flee Davnis began to run again and almost ran in to a skull faced staff that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Davnis stood paralyzed with fear as he stared in to the empty eye sockets of the staff. Davnis was then gripped by a powerful force that spun him around. In the distance Skeletor stood among the ruins near the square's edge, he was barely visible among the shadows. The only thing that gave away Skeletor's position was the blood red glow of his eyes.
Davnis struggled to move but found that his limbs were frozen solid.
"You have courage, for such a pathetic mortal," hissed Skeletor, only this time the cold voice came from behind Davnis. Skeletor had moved in a blink of the eye. "It is rare that I have been impressed so I shall show you a small amount of mercy." Ice crept down Davnis's spine. "You will be my harbinger. You will be tasked to tell the hapless citizens of Denebria that there will be a new ruler. And I Skeletor shall accomplish what Brakk has failed to do so many times."
Skeletor then stepped around to the front of Davnis and placed a clawed hand on his face. Davnis screamed in pain as Skeletor's fingers burned in to his flesh. When Skeletor pulled his hand away a smouldering skull was branded on Davnis' face. Davnis' mind turned blank all thoughts vanished even the ones of Kera and Tara faded in to non-existence.
Davnis mindlessly let go of the jewel and let it drop. Skeletor swiped the jewel out of the air and with one swift movement snatched up his staff.
"Now go and spread the word," commanded Skeletor. "Tell them to fear the Lord of Destruction!"
With that Skeletor vanished in to a cloud of purple smoke.