Disclaimer: Power Rangers do not belong to me; if they did there would have been more episodes of Time Force.
Note: Chapter is kinda chatty and jumps back and forth a lot, sorry about that, but next one will be more streamlined, I promise…well maybe…
Into The Darkness
A large building loomed before the humans, Thomas, Harris and Hannah all stood together staring at the building that appeared older than any of the others they had seen thus far.
Trini walked ahead of the group still in the Ranger uniform, Hayley walked beside her as they followed one of the guards to the entrance of the building.
"We wish to only speak with the warrior, the rest of you are free to roam the city, though we will assign a guide to lead you," the guard turned and spoke to everyone.
"Not likely, I'm not about to let her walk into whatever the heck this pace is without some sort of backup," Hayley said, louder than she had attended.
"Hayley, it's okay," Trini started, "I can handle…"
"Very well, if you so wish it," the guard seemed more agreeable than Hayley had figured he'd be.
"You two go on ahead; we'll keep Hannah out here. Maybe we can find something to eat…ya know, something that may not kill us," Harris told the two women with the group.
The guard motioned for Trini and Hayley to follow him in. A massive door swung inward, as an old air filled the nostrils of the two women.
"This is the Hall of the lords," the guard explained, "it is here that our people's knowledge is stored. The scholars and officials of the city are also located here."
Neither Trini nor Hayley responded, as the guard continued to speak, explaining the paintings and copies of scrolls that lined the walls. The building was 3 floors; each level visible from the center of the building, the overhead was a dome that exposed the sky. The guard and humans continued walking the building, climbing up to the top floor. They finally came to a stop in front of a large, glass door. Visible through the door were stacks of books and shelves lining the wall, it seemed that the entire floor was utilized as a massive library.
Entering the room they were greeted by an older looking female and a younger male, garbed in grey robes.
"So this is the Warrior that we were told had arrived in the city?" The younger male asked looking over Trini, "truly amazing."
"That it is," the older female agreed, "please come, sit with us." The female motioned for Trini and Hayley to sit across a long table from her and the younger male.
"So…what exactly is this place?" Hayley was the first to dive into the question she knew was egging Trini as well.
"This is Daemon's World," the male spoke, "A world formed on evil." The male didn't even pause, predicting the next question it seemed, "Thousands and thousands of years ago the world was dead. We are uncertain what the world was like in even more ancient times, but it seemed we assume it housed no known intelligent life. The planet itself seemed to attract an evil presence, and the life that arose was that of pure darkness. All answered to a single entity, known only as Darkness. Six entities though broke apart from the rule of Darkness, establishing a stronghold to stand against the being. They were able to tap into the essence of the planet's evil energy, warping it into something that was neither wholly evil nor wholly good."
The older female stepped in, "It was from these six beings that the ancient powers of the Warriors awoke. They were able to tap into an unseen force, granting them a power that no one on this planet had ever witnessed. The six warriors, were able to persuade some of the Darkness' followers to join them, these turncoats were our ancestors. After years of conflict against the Darkness the world slowly turned away from its evil past. A new planet began to form from remnants of the ancient world, the world was no longer evil consumed, but the Darkness still held large amounts of power and influence."
"So they were able to tap into the Universal Morphing Grid," Hayley spoke aloud.
Neither the male nor female seemed to recognize the term, but the male picked up again, "Eventually the Ancient Warriors, discovered a way to contain the Darkness. One Warrior focused the life energies of five others into a solid blast, banishing the Darkness from the land. The five warriors whose energies were used to power the blast slowly shriveled into weaker versions of themselves, their powers returning to the place where they originated. The one who had done the focusing disappeared into the wild, never to be heard of again."
"So you're saying Trini has somehow tapped into these ancient powers, and that's how she was able to morph into a Ranger, and if she was able to do it, does that mean someone else can tap into the other Warrior's powers?"" Hayley assumed.
"Well is there any way to un-tap into it?" Trini asked.
"I am sorry to say that we do not know, there haven't been sign of the Great Warriors since the long-ago war. Very few of our people even know the story of the Warriors; others believe it a fairy tale." The female replied.
"Basically we are still in a war with the followers of the Dark One, who we believe wishes to reawaken the ancient ruler of this world. The Dark One's followers are strong and his general's are harsh, monsters. This location is one of a few spread out over the world. We have very little
communication with the others, and there are countless acres of unsettled, primitive lands spread between the cities. " The male responded.
"How come this Dark One hasn't managed to conquer the planet, or awaken the Darkness?" Trini asked.
"He needs an adequate power source," the female said.
(The Underworld)
"Thrax, Trakeena it seems another one of these Rangers have been awakened," the Dark One said to his two generals.
"Of course, it never seems to fail, cursed Rangers always showing up to ruin something perfectly good," Thrax kicked the ground fiercely, "shall I send my pawns after him?"
"I've a better idea, I believe I shall send someone who personally answers to me to meet him, someone who I can trust completely," the Dark One said.
"Milord, you have my unyielding trust, I shall be honored," Trakeena bowed.
The Dark One merely laughed at the suggestion, "I said someone I can trust Trakeena."
Thrax just laughed at that comment. Trakeena looked stricken, as if she had just been dealt an unsuspected stab in the back.
(Foils' City)
"So how do we know whether or not the food here is, ya know edible?" Harris asked as he, Thomas and Hannah made their way through the grey, stone streets.
"Good question? I guess we just have to try it and see if we die or not," Thomas was not thrilled at the aspect.
As they continued down the street, eventually they came upon a building that had several of the Foils sitting around tables outside. Figuring that was what passed as a restaurant, they entered. The smell that met their nostrils was definitely that of food, and the smell just made them all the hungrier.
The inside of the restaurant wasn't atypical, even by Earth standards. There were booths with varying Foils of all ages and sexes, all still wearing similar shades of grays that filled the cities. Overhead several inverted lights decorated the ceilings; apparently these people did have some means of electricity. The patrons of the restaurant stared as the humans walked into the door, no one daring to say anything, unsure of what these Foil-like creatures were doing in their town. There were several whispers of demons, other whispers of Warriors, though nothing was certain about these people.
"So who's first?" Thomas looked to Harris, who returned the look, neither wanting to make the decision.
"It won't hurt you," a male voice said from the background, it sounded like an older voice.
"Excuse me?" Thomas looked at the source of the voice.
The person who had spoken was an elderly man, or at least looked that way. He was smaller than the others, wearing a full beard, 2 feet in length, and braided the full length. His eyes were not as bright as the others; in fact one looked to be blinded. He spoke again, "The food son, it won't hurt a human."
"How do you know that?" Thomas questioned the old man again.
"Hehehehe," the old man laughed, while shaking his ragged head, "Humans are never trusting are they?" He didn't wait for a response before he spoke again, "It was years ago, I wasn't much older than the girl there. I lived in an enwalled city weeks walk from this compound, two very strange creatures showed up just outside of the wall, they were ragged, and looked like they had been without food for days. The guards showed the creatures in, assuming they were Foils from another village perhaps. After they were brought in, my father slowly put some food in front of them; the strangers were so ravished that they immediately devoured the plate. Eventually they were able to speak clearly, they showed no sickness and remained with us for quite some time, telling about who they were and where they came from, it was all quite amazing, albeit unbelievable."
"So others have been here before?" Harris asked the old man.
"Many if you believe the legends from my village, but here, sit with me and we can talk. Bring three house specials," the old man ordered a man behind a bar.
Harris and Thomas both agreed, though not initially, sitting down with at the table they motioned for Hannah to join them. After a few minutes three plates were brought, and sat before the humans. Looking unsure, eventually the hunger won out and they each bit into the meat and vegetables that were presented, nothing happened, so they took the old man at his words and continued to eat, leaving nothing but empty plates.
"This was actually really good," Hannah was the first to speak up.
"Yup, and you're all three alive, so all the better," the old man joked.
It was obvious this old man wasn't the same as the others in the village, he was friendly, jovial, and didn't grace them with curious, uncomfortable glances. The others in the restaurant looked at him with oddity, wondering how he seemed so comfortable with these creatures, but once again no one approached them.
(The Hall of the Lords)
"If the power of the ancient Warriors has chosen you as its new vessel then it must have recognized something in you," the female continued her conversation.
"Well on Earth Trini was one of the first team of Power Rangers," Hayley pointed out, "that may have something to do with it."
Neither the male of female of the Spoils recognized what Hayley meant by Power Rangers. The term seemed foreign to them.
"I don't think they understand what you mean," Trini whispered to her friend.
"I got that," Hayley replied.
"Of course the arrival of a new Warrior could mean that the beings of the Underworld area amassing their forces, something very bad could be arriving. Though we do not know you well Trini of Earth, we must ask that you grant us your aid if something dark is coming this way," the male looked solemn, his young face looking older.
"I can do what I can while I'm here, but truthfully we just need to find our way home," Trini answered.
"That is all we have any right to ask. If we can find anything that can help you we will let you know," the female responded.
(A lakeside elsewhere)
"Is it bad?" One of the four humans who had arrived asked Cole, the White Ranger.
"It could be a lot worse," Cole answered as he bathed the wound with water from the lake, "but we need to get somewhere away from here before something else shows up."
The young girl looked down at the wound on her leg, yet remained calm, a fact that Cole was thankful for. It would've been even more trouble for him to try and keep someone from freaking out after being attacked by some type of dinosaur-like creature, at least all he had to worry about was cleaning the wound and carrying the girl.
"Where are we gonna go?" Another person asked the White Ranger.
"The same way we've been going," Cole answered.
"But it hasn't lead us anywhere yet," a middle-ages woman spoke up.
"No one said you have to follow me. I'm going this way with the girl, if you think you can do better, be my guest," Cole was harsh with his words, the harshness surprised even Cole, but something about this place had changed him, and the more he thought about it the more it bothered him. He chose instead to ignore the thoughts for now, and started walking. The others followed.
The walk proved no easier, even with his new found strength, the weight of the girl was slowing him down, and Cole knew this, but he also knew that he was the only one capable of the burden. He toyed with the thought of having her carry her own weight, but the bite seemed to worsen, becoming swollen and discolored, obviously the bite was infectious. The most surprising part was that the girl never whined or complained, despite the amount of pain she had to be feeling, she even offered to walk on her good leg, and just support herself on someone else's shoulder.
"You're resilient aren't you?" Cole spoke to the girl as they walked, even under the weight he remained ahead of the others.
The girl smiled, but the smile quickly vanished as her face showed a grimace of pain instead.
Yet no matter how much land they were covering, there was still no sign of life in any form, and unless they had somewhere that could treat the wound, and found it soon…well even Cole hated to think of the consequences.
"We rest here, I'm going to scout ahead a little," Cole looked towards one of the other humans, and pointed to one, "You, come here. Keep an eye on her."
The other person, a short man with dark tan skin, nodded and settled beside the fair-skinned girl.
Cole moved ahead much faster without the weight of the teen. His new found strength letting him move rapidly up the side of a large boulder. He scanned the area, hoping to see any sign of anything, but saw nothing…at first. As he looked over the landscape again he noticed something new, it was smoke, and where there was smoke there was fire, and where fire was there was often people. Swiftly he moved back towards the small group of humans, all sitting wide alert, in case the lizards came back.
"Let's go, I think I may have found something," Cole called back.
The others immediately stood, no longer as tired as they were. The slight possibility of any type of life seemed to re-energize everyone. Cole returned to the girl, lifting her as he motioned for the others to follow him.
Cole moved in the direction he'd thought the smoke had come from, trying to find the best way for the others to follow. After what he figured had to be about a half mile he noticed something new…voices. Not just voices, but they seemed to be talking, and even more shocking they were speaking English. He figured it had to be two or more persons, and only hoped they were natives, or at least someone who could help.
Against his better judgment Cole called out, "can you help us?" He knew that if it wasn't for the young girl's leg getting worse, he would have preferred to observe the people for a time, before approaching.
"What the…" one of the voices responded, male, "who's there?"
"My name is Cole, and I have someone injured," was Cole's response. He wasn't sure how far the others were behind him, but he left an obvious enough trail for them to follow, if they didn't show soon he'd return to look for them, "myself and several others are lost."
"Well no need to hide in the shadows boy, come clear, let us look see at the girl," the second of the two voices replied, this one female.
Without hesitation Cole came forward and got a clear view of the two people, the male was human and the female was human-like with brown skin, red eyes and slightly pointed ears. They were set up in a small camp, several items that resembled hunting weapons lay neatly to the side. A small tent was set up nearby, and beside it what looked like other supplies.
As he emerged the two strangers first glanced at his clothing, but after seeing the girl he carried focused solely on that, his story could wait until later.
"What happened to her?" The female asked.
"We were attacked by large lizards, one of them managed to bite her," Cole explained, "it tried to clean it the best I could."
"Good thing you did to, otherwise this could be much nastier had the saliva settled in much longer," the human male said as he examined the wound, "that's not to say it's not bad now, but it could've been much worse. Anyway set her down…oh and let your friends know it's safe to come out, we won't bite."
The others had caught up with Cole, but remained out of sight until they thought it safe, though their attempt at not being seen had apparently not worked.
"Betta, could you fetch me my bag," the human man motioned to the grey skinned woman.
"No problem," the woman disappeared into the nearby tent.
She appeared moments later with a small duffle bag, on the side of the bag something caught Cole's attention, a symbol that he recognized, the symbol of the Silver Guardians…
TBC