Dungeon of Torment

1. Heavenly Light

Nailah remembered the day the Titans invaded. She'd been watching a cartoon - her parents still asleep in bed - when suddenly a news report had taken over the channel. Flicking through Nailah had found the news story on every channel. She'd left the TV showing live footage of a spaceship filling the sky above the White House as she'd scampered upstairs to wake up her parents. They'd been grumpy, slow to get out bed and to understand what she was babbling about. It was a morning they'd never forget - the beginning.

*

Now the sight of a spaceship in the sky wouldn't make Nailah or anyone bat an eyelid. The ships belonged to the Titans - an alien race that was far more advanced and powerful than humans. The Titan's demands were simple - obey us. There had been a war - a very brief war - and then human's had surrendered. Nailah sipped her coffee as the train rattled along the line. Advertisements flashed up on the screen above her head.

A Life of Gold.

The words illuminated Nailah's face. On the screen - people were smiling, seeming to radiate happiness and goodwill. They were golden. Uranus - ruler of the world - had introduced this concept. There were three types of humans. The golden, the silver and the iron. The steam from Nailah's coffee warmed her cheeks. Caffeine was Nailah's life support this early in the morning, it helped her to pretend that she was one of the golden. That was the most important thing for surviving life under the Titans - always be golden.

The advert changed - the words dissolving away to be replaced by a face.

Know your Titan Master.

The Titan male smouldered at the camera, his eyes burning hot like coals. His hair was bleached white, the long coils plaited around his temple like a crown and his skin glowed - casting rainbows of light across the wall behind him.

Hyperion was visiting - and attending the local welcoming ceremony was compulsory.

Tonight.

The words shimmered below him - reminding her of her duty. As if she could forget. People were buzzing with excitement over Hyperion's visit. Not many Titan's had ever personally made it over to the Rainy Island (the UK but - since countries were no longer recognised- Uranus had renamed it.) Nailah shivered, her stomach turning uneasily.

They said that Hyperion had power over the sun - he could blind you in an instant using his internal light to fry your eyes in their sockets. He could burn cities to the ground with only a glimmer of effort. Coffee finished, Nailah gripped tightly onto her polystyrene cup - crushing it.

At Lambeth North, Nailah vacated the train and joined the straggle of people slowly but steadily making their way out of the station. Her mind was elsewhere as she veered to the left to go via a bin to deposit her cup and then cut back in line a little ahead to make it through the ticket barriers.

Out on the pavement, Nailah was mentally running through Ramon's instructions as she set off at a brisk pace - weaving between slower groups of pedestrians. Getting a passport from the cowardly Valentine wasn't going to be easy - the expert forger was as slippery as an eel.

A van with tinted windows pulled up sharply beside her but Nailah was slow to notice. Those around her did and they gave her a wide berth as the door slid open and men in suits and dark sunglasses burst out. Nailah yelped in surprise as she was hoisted easily off her feet and flung into the back of the van. Registering that she was being kidnapped, she screamed for help. Strong hands pinned her against the interior of the van and she hissed in pain, her shoulder smacking against something hard as the van set off.