GENESIS - THE BEGINNING. Book 1

CHAPTER 13 ...Katya Berotivich, Planet Overlord

Fear and tension permeated the air.

"Does anybody hear that," asked Tobor as she stopped and stared into the distance, her ever-present blonde pony-tail bouncing about behind her neck. "It's faint but sounds like..."

"...metal on metal." Wyatt said. He had also stopped to survey the scene. "We may be near that village we were told about."

"Out here in the middle of nowhere? Where will it be? I can't see anything." asked Megan looking about.

"Could be possible," said Tobor. "We have been following a foot path for the last half hour and it seems to be taking us towards that large thicket." She pointed towards the thicket in question ahead of them. All eyes followed the widely meandering footpath that lazily headed towards the small-forested area. "Whoever made this path must have been drunk."

They had left the Mining spaceport after having had an early meal with the mining management some hours before and trudged in the direction given to them. They were told that - as the crow flies – they were a few hundred kilometers from Signature, the capital of Overlord.

"Let's follow the path and see where it leads then." Said Wyatt walking at the back of the group. Tobor was in front, her senses stretched to the limit. Her eyes darted about trying to come to terms at the scarcity of this world's natural wilderness. Open plains with knee high grasslands stretched out in all directions and vied with farmed and irrigated patches that in turn vied with towns and villages. Progress was the order of the day when it came to Overlord as she had seen from the cargo carrier on entering the planet's atmosphere. Overlord was a stable planet. Almost flat in its design with rocky mountains to the north that stretched thousands of feet high. Skyscraper metropolises hundreds of kilometres apart in all directions. Early morning sunlight glinted off the buildings. Smaller towns and cities dotted the area. From small woodlots to forests and wide rivers and streams that ran like veins across the almost level landscape. As they descended from the stars, she had seen small villages and patchwork farmlands with what looked like thin pathways leading to each other. Overlord was a picture of settlement, of completion, of balance and permanency.

Signature, their ultimate destination, was situated somewhere between those mountains to the north.

An odd clump of trees stood forlornly here and there. A small group of animals grazed to the east not more than two hundred meters from where they passed. The animals ignored them except for one who stood some distance from the small herd and watched as they trudged by. In the distance, low, blue shrouded mountains packed together like sharp teeth. The air was clear, morning sunlight warmed them. The temperature would climb sharply come early afternoon. She noted the sounds of this world's nature and wondered where the dangers lurked. Just what those dangers would be.

In Hades, one had to be on the lookout constantly. It was a world where nature had gone into overdrive. Where trees were tall and forests stretched from horizon to horizon and seemed to touch the heavens itself. Mountains with their white capped peaks stretched up into the heavens and valleys dipped deep. A world where animals evolved at such a rate that from year to year one could actually see small changes. Changes in ear shapes or hide coverings. Animals and creatures that looked like figments out of nightmares to strange - almost humanlike – winged sprites that fluttered about, never alighting for long. Hades was a world of continuous change from the smallest insect to the largest snake. A world where humans were another meal. One had to constantly be on guard for it wasn't only the big animals - some with large teeth - that wanted to chew. No, there were some small buggers too. One of them was the size of a thumbnail that foraged in packs of a few hundred or more. Perfectly round in shape.