Superman Dark Times: Origins
Chapter 1
Salem, Oregon 1770 A.D. A lone cabin sits at the bottom of a grassy hill with looming storm clouds overhead. Four men on horseback sit at the very top of this hill, gazing down at the lonely cabin with a hint of disgust in their eyes. These four white men have sat on this hill for a few minutes, waiting and girding themselves for what they are about to do. The four men then don white, hooded masks and charge down the hill on their horses with shotguns and revolvers held high, ready to attack the cabin.
6 months earlier…
A slave trader parks his carriage on the side of the road, eager to meet his client. He is a slightly overweight man wearing a black colonial outfit. The slave trader steps off of his carriage and stands on the road. He motions with his hand, telling the slaves to dismount the carriage from the back. The slaves are all wearing sacks in place of clothes until someone buys them. Another carriage with a passenger's compartment pulls up beside the slave trader's carriage. The slave trader sees the man steering the carriage, a young man who seems to be in his early twenties. The young man has black hair tied back into a ponytail and has baby blue eyes with smooth skin. Nameless steps down from his carriage as the slave trader takes out a small black sack of money.
"So, are you ready to make this sale," asked the slave trader. Nameless looks at the slaves, seeing them wear nothing but torn up sack bags with chains on their arms and legs. He can't stand what he sees, people owning other people, but he has to play along for now.
"I'm ready. How much is it for one slave?"
"Twelve dollars. So how's about it, sir?"
Nameless walks over to the slaves, eying them up and down. He slowly walks by each of the ten slaves that the trader has. He stops in front of a young slave girl with light brown skin and long hair with a delicate face. Nameless stares at this girl as he makes his response.
"I'll take this one," said Nameless. The slave trader walks over and takes out his key, and then unlocks the chains for the slave girl. The slave girl stands beside Nameless, but he continues to look at the slaves. The trader notices this and makes a smirk. "Ah, are you interested in another one?"
"I'll take them all." The trader is surprised by this answer, but proceeds to unchain the slaves. Nameless walks back to his carriage and pulls out a gold bar from his money sack. The trader turns back around when Nameless hands him a gold bar. "Will this cover it," asked Nameless. The slave trader can only smile in astonishment at this man's wealth.
"Oh yes, I think this will cover it."
"Good, then we are done here." Nameless gives the gold bar to the trader and the trader takes off with an empty carriage. The slaves walk over to Nameless' carriage with one of the men addressing him. "Sir, what are you going to do with us?" Nameless reaches back into his money sack and takes out gold nuggets, handing them to each of the slaves.
"As of now, you are free. Take this gold and live your lives."
"But what will we do if this runs out," asked a slave.
"I'll have work for you, but for now you won't have to work." Nameless gets back onto his carriage when the slave girl jumps on with him. "What are you doing," asked a confused Nameless with a serious look on his face. "Take me with you. I have nowhere to live right now."
Later, the carriage arrives at a cabin at the bottom of a grassy hill. The cabin looks well-kept in shape with a lake behind it. Nameless steps off of the carriage and takes the girl's hand, helping her step down. He looks down at her as they stand face to face.
"What is your name," asked Nameless.
"Darla."
"Well then Darla, welcome to your new home, at least for now." The two walk inside the cabin and Darla sees the kitchen on the left as soon as she entered. Right in front of her is the door to the bedroom, but she is amazed by the highly polished wood floors in the cabin. Nameless escorts her into the bedroom as he peers right to the closet.
"Let me get you some clothes." Nameless searches through the closet aimlessly, searching for an outfit that would fit Darla. He takes out one of his nightgowns and hands it to her. "Sorry, but I don't have any women's clothes at this time. I live here alone, so I had no need to buy any. I'll go into town later and find something for you."
Darla stands by the lake in her borrowed nightgown, taking in the scenery of this nice and quiet spot; the clean fresh air of the woods, the ducks swimming nearby and the overall beauty of her surroundings. Nameless had given her a shorter gown, one he held onto just in case of a visitor and the gown she wears stretches down to right above her knees. Nameless returns from town, holding a blue dress and is holding it to her chest. "This should fit you." Nameless walks away a few yards and stops with his back turned towards Darla so that she has privacy. A hand then touches his shoulder as he turns to look at her. "I guess it fits," said Nameless smiling. Darla now wears a blue colonial dress with black plaid stripes and black slippers to cover her bare feet.
"So what should ah do first, Mr. Nameless?" Nameless steps beside her and puts his arm around her as they walk back toward the cabin. "I don't have anything for you to do right now, so for now just hang around here." Nameless releases his arm from Darla and walks over toward the woods.
Nameless has taken off his jacket as he is chopping into a tree with an axe. Though an ordinary man would be sweating from doing this kind of work for 10 minutes, he is far from tired. Nameless pauses for a moment to look around and make sure that no one is watching. With no one else in sight, Nameless drops his axe and with one chop from his hand, the tree begins to fall over. Right after impact, Nameless uses super speed to chop the tree into firewood. Just then, he hears a grunted gasp. Nameless darts over to where Darla is, seeing her sitting against a tree and trembling. Nameless kneels down and puts his hands on her shoulders.
"Darla, what's wrong," asked a concerned Nameless.
"I'm sorry Mr. Nameless; ah don't mean to bother you."
"You could never bother me. What's wrong?"
"Ah just had a nightmare, that's all." Nameless stands back up as he helps Darla to her feet. "I'm going to grab some of the firewood that I made. I'll see you back at the cabin." Nameless walks away from Darla, not noticing that her eyes are still full of fear because unknown to him, Darla saw everything…