The Judge

The noonday sun took its place proudly at the top of the sky, heating up the desert with its brilliant rays. It was a rather plain desert. Monstrous dunes stretched across the land. Life was scarce, consisting mainly of little critters that scuttled back and forth, shuffling into the shade of whatever they could find. But amidst this ordinary desert, which seemed relatively uninhabited, there was a lone person who made his way across the endless inferno. And his name was Darek.

  All he did was groan as the sweat of his skin sizzled off. He had never been in a desert before. But he hoped that this first experience was his last. The desert was far too inhospitable for his tastes. This is torture. If he was going to die anyway, a painless and quick public execution sounded more appealing. Displeased with his own grim thoughts, he slapped himself in the face. No, no, no. I must stay optimistic. I must be as cheery as can be. This boiling heat feels great! It’s so great to be alive!

  After traveling for a while he finally came across a small boulder. It was the only boulder in the middle of the desert and struck his mind as peculiar. But things like its life’s history or how it got there was none of his concern. Darek took the pleasure of resting under its shade. But what was he going to do now? There was nothing to quench his growing thirst. It wouldn’t be long before he’d succumb to dehydration.

  With no end to the heat and no place to go, Darek lay there, thinking something good might happen if he simply waited. As he closed his eyes, several possible scenarios crossed through his mind. Maybe, if he were lucky, someone would walk over, see him lying there and take him to a nearby village where he could eat and drink his fill. But that was a bit of a stretch, even for wishful thinking. It would be more probable for a rainstorm to conveniently pass over with its deliciously cool droplets—except there was not a single cloud in the sky.

  Darek opened his eyes and sighed. He hissed out plenty of unpleasant curses at the ITD. Why was there no function on the darn thing to steer clear of death traps? Going to a remote planet to hide was, in theory, a good idea. However, why—out of all the millions of possible places on this huge planet—did he land in the middle of a desert? On the worst day of his life, this was the worst place to be.

  Darek sat up and checked the ITD. He was not going to stand for this. There had to be somewhere else he could go—anywhere but here. The ITD’s screen came up blank. He impatiently pushed a few buttons and tapped the screen, hoping it was merely turned off or that it had a standby function. There was no response. It was out of power.

  “This sucks,” he muttered, falling back into the sand. “This really sucks.”

  He was stuck on this planet. All he had was an ITD that didn’t work, a pair of daggers and a wooden board. The wooden board was useless now, so he tossed it aside. There was no food or water. And this little slice of shade wasn’t going to save him from sweltering under the sun. Death seemed ever so close now.

  But if he gave up so easily, he knew his friends would never forgive him. Darek sat up and scanned the vast desert as far as his eyes could see. He took off his thin ragged jacket and put it over his head in an attempt to avoid a heat stroke. Since there was nothing for him in that place, staying there wouldn’t help him at all.

  Darek began on a long trek across the desert. He would look up at the sky from time to time, searching for rain clouds. But every time he looked, there was nothing except for the clear bluish-green sky. He constantly grumbled. His muddy sneakers were now filled to the brim with sand that painfully rubbed between his toes. An occasional strong gust of wind blew coarse sand into his eyes and teeth. The blazing heat radiated all around. His view of the land was distorted and warped, making him feel very dizzy as he walked around in circles.

  Darek walked on for half an hour. Even though it had only been a short time since he began his walk, his parched mouth desperately craved water. Darek thought his tonsil was going to dry up and crack apart. Filled with so much frustration at his dire situation, he yelled to the sky, “Even a little droplet will do, just give me anything! Please!”

  No droplet fell from the sky. But, seemingly as if his request had been granted in an unexpected way, he stumbled across a small field of cacti. He had seen pictures of cacti in television shows and magazines, but this was the first time he saw them in person.

  But there was something strange about these cacti, like a possible mutation of some sort. Each cactus was round, plump and extremely large, like giant green spheres. Darek estimated them to be more than ten feet in height since they were nearly double his size. Despite their staggering size, the brown prickly needles that protruded from the surface were tiny, like fine hairs, almost giving the impression of a cactus having fur.

  Darek’s imagination ran wild with the ideas of a massive reservoir of water that lay untapped under the surface of the cactus. He was so eager for a drink that, no matter how unwise and painful it might be, he was compelled to chomp down into it for that refreshing thirst quencher. Fortunately for him, the risk for that one life-threatening bite of water was unnecessary because he had his daggers to work with as a tool.

  He glanced across the field of cacti and found one suitable to his liking; it was the biggest of them all and appeared most ripe. Of course, Darek had no knowledge of how to determine the ripeness of a strange, alien cactus, but it appeared best because of its darker green color.

  He casually walked toward it. With every step he took, the ground shifted slightly—something he found very odd. Even more surprising was that the cactus had a reaction to his advance. As he neared it, the cactus started getting bigger and bigger. It wobbled and swayed like a pendulum. Darek had a bad feeling about it. Crouching down, he brushed away the sand at his feet and found a large network of fat squishy roots that fanned out far from the cactus.

  With his finger, Darek poked the moist root and every time he did so, the cactus responded by ballooning. It swelled up so much that it looked like the plant would burst at any moment. Darek gawked at the sight. Whatever was happening, it looked dangerous. Fearing for his life, he ran away, trying to put as much distance as he could between him and the cactus. But in doing so, he stomped carelessly over the underground network of roots. The giant cactus was now over fifteen feet tall, stretched and expanded beyond recognition like a bubble about to pop.

  All at once, thousands of tiny needles burst out of the surface of the skin. It literally created a massive barrage of needles, like shrapnel, that flew in all directions. Darek cried when hundreds of these tiny needles penetrated the back of his body from head to heel. He fell facedown in the sand, helpless. First there was pain—then the pain faded and his vision went blurry. He pushed against the ground, trying to get up, but there was no strength left in his arms. Darek collapsed, slowly drifting out of consciousness.

  A gust of bone-chilling air found its way inside the cave. Darek woke up, agitated by the frigid temperatures. He rubbed his arms frantically to stay warm. While observing his new surroundings, he shivered uncontrollably, his teeth chattering.

  The last thing he remembered was being in a field of cacti; at that time, he was nowhere near any kind of shelter. Also, when he had passed out, the sun was still shining, but now the sun was long gone. Only by a sliver of moonlight was he able to see anything in that dark cave. How long had he been asleep?

  The cave was shallow and narrow. Darek could just barely make out where the end of the cave was and it was only a few yards from where he was sitting. The cave was large enough, however, that he could stand up straight and not hit his head against the ceiling.

  His only clue as to how he got there was the crusty remains of a fire. Someone must have carried him inside. There weren’t any other manmade items around, but the embers still gave their soft orangey glow, leading him to believe that the fire was snuffed out not too long ago. Even the scent of the smoke still lingered in his nostrils.

  From the corner of his eye, he noticed several small logs along the ground that he could use as firewood. Since nobody was around, and Dar
ek had no idea when or if anybody would ever return, Darek decided to start up the fire again.

  Now Darek was no expert on making fires. During his days at the orphanage, Miss Kurt would give certain duties to the four of them, but since Slade was the oldest he was the one in charge of making the fires. Darek had never done it before, but there was a first time for everything.

  Darek took the logs and placed them neatly on top of the charcoal. He ran into his first problem when he realized he didn’t have any matches or a lighter. Taking several sticks, he scraped them together, thinking he could start up a spark. To his dismay, Darek did this for about ten minutes without any results. Darek stopped when he heard a loud shuffling noise.

  Darek swallowed. “Is someone out there?” The wind howled at the entrance. Darek took a few steps back. “Hello? Is anyone there?” Darek watched the entrance closely.

  The sound of soft footsteps gently prodded Darek’s ears. Was it his imagination? He was did not see anyone coming inside, yet the footsteps could still be heard.

  Darek continued to watch, waiting patiently for something to happen—and something did happen, but not what he expected. Darek gasped and gagged. He felt like he was being choked. Struggling, he could feel his entire body being lifted off the ground. He was not able to see anyone or anything around at all. Darek dropped the sticks in his hand, reached for his dagger and swung it wildly, trying to break free from the mysterious grasp on his neck. A howl, full of pain, resounded throughout the cave as Darek fell to the ground.

  Darek scrambled to his feet. The sound of bodiless footsteps began once again, inching closer to him. Darek threw a dagger ahead. He watched in horror as the daggers were deflected in midair. What is this? A ghost? Huddled against the back of the cave, Darek stared at the cave entrance. His heart skipped beats when he heard and even felt the warm breath of his invisible assailant.

  Darek buried his face in his arms, too terrified to look up. “What do you want? Go away! Leave me alone!”

  A loud snarl cut him to his heart. Despair gushed in his mind. This was not the sound of a human. Before he could let out a scream, he heard the voice of a young woman.

  “Sorry I’m late!”

  A woman entered the cave and, with a bucket, tossed wet sand along the back of the invisible creature in order to reveal its hideous form. With only its back visible, Darek could tell that it was quite large, much bigger than he was. He couldn’t really make out its shape. It looked to him like a hornless bull with a huge head.

  She kicked the beast aside and walked up to Darek, saying, “I’ll deal with this.”

  The girl, who was not much older than Darek, had long dark blue hair. Her attire consisted of loose fitting garments that bore a lion’s insignia on her back. She had a strong demeanor and stared down at Darek with a condescending smirk. Her eyes gleamed from the moonlight, revealing sharp, catlike pupils. She turned around and faced the monster.

  The hungry beast charged toward her head first, but she easily sidestepped its momentum. The monster spun right around and rushed at her again, but this time she slipped away, just barely dodging its head. Poised for her counterattack, she landed a swift and sharp chop at the back of its neck.

  Knees buckling, the beast froze in place. Her opponent now stunned and defenseless, the young woman pulled her fist back. With one explosive punch, she sent the beast flying into the wall. A large crack formed along the wall of the cave where the beast was felled. The strange creature did not appear so terrifying anymore as it lay there unconscious.

  Darek watched as the woman stood over the beast. She fumbled around with her hands until she got hold of the slightly visible head of the monster.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Darek almost felt sick to his stomach and winced as she let out a loud crack from the beast’s neck. At first he was still quivering from the incident but now he was just disturbed by what she had done. “You didn’t have to kill it, did you?”

  The young woman raised her brow. “Did you bump your head or something? This thing tried to eat you! I’m just returning the favor.”

  “Of course it’s going to try to eat me. The creature was hungry.”

  “Well,” she said with a grin, “I’m hungry too. Now be a good boy and hand me your knives. I want to clean up the meat.”

  “You’re not serious are you?” The thought of eating some weird monster made him want to puke.

  “Oh, I’m quite serious.” The woman set some kindling upon the logs. Within a few seconds of igniting a spark with flint, she was able to get a small fire going. A few more steady puffs of air and the flame started to look like a strong fire. “What’s your name, kid?”

  “I’d appreciate it if you stop calling me kid. You don’t look much older. The name’s Darek…Darek Wayker.”

  “Oh,” she said, sounding uninterested. “Not much older, huh? How old are you?”

  “Fifteen,” Darek replied.

  “Well, I’m twenty,” said the girl, “and that’s enough for me to keep calling you kid.”

  Darek had a look of disdain at her comment. He was quite bitter at her attitude.

  “Lighten up,” she said, laughing, “I’m only kidding.” She set up a rough construction of moist sticks to hold up the meat along the flames. “I’m Azura. Nice to meet you.” She grabbed one of Darek’s daggers that he had thrown before and started to slice off some of the meat.

  “Don’t do that!” Darek protested, snatching his dagger away from her. “I don’t remember giving you permission to use it.”

  Azura shrugged. “Fine, have it your way.” She picked up a lump of meat and simply chomped down on it, tearing off the bits of meat with her teeth. After a few chews, she spit out a wad of hair. She licked her lips saying, “Not bad. Not bad at all.” She glanced at Darek. “I was pretty surprised to find someone in this desert. What were you doing out there?”

  He glanced at her with a careful eye, thinking of how to reply. “Just waiting for my friends,” he lied. He didn’t lie for the sake of lying, but on an unknown primitive planet, it was taboo to speak of other worlds. There was no telling what might happen.

  “Friends? There’s no one around for miles!” Azura let out a hearty belch and tossed aside the meatless bone.

  “I got a little lost.” Darek averted his eyes as he changed the subject. “And what are you doing here?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Azura brushed the sand off the meat as she took another bite. “I’m eating.” Within a few minutes of voraciously snacking upon the invisible meat, she began explaining. “You see, it’s hard to find a decent meal around here—too many poisonous little creatures. The larger monsters also seem to avoid me. So when I found you unconscious, I thought of a great idea. Since you looked so defenseless, you’d work great as bait!” She smiled to herself, looking pleased that the idea had worked so well.

  Darek gaped at her, awestruck. “You used me as bait? What kind of person would use a defenseless person as bait for a monster?”

  She ignored him and kept on eating. Darek sat there silently, examining her like some kind of weird animal. Her appetite was unfathomable to Darek, for she was able to eat the whole body of the monster, eyeballs and brains included, and still clamored for more. The sight of it totally grossed him out but he held back all urges to retch. After she finished eating, she got up and walked toward the exit of the cave.

  “I’m full enough,” she said. “Ready to go?”

  “Go where?” asked Darek. “There’s nothing out there.”

  “Are you from this planet?”

  “Of course. Where else would I…” His voice stopped as soon as he realized what she was asking. That question was not something a native would ask. They would usually ask about where he was from, but not if he was from another planet. Sensing no hostility from her, he gave in and revealed the truth. “No. I just got here. I kind of came here on accident.”

  “Ah, so that explains it.”

  “Explains wh
at?”

  Azura looked him straight in the eye. “This is no place for travelers,” she warned, her face darkening. “You should leave immediately.” She left the cave.

  Darek followed after her. “What do you mean?”

  She tried her best to explain in a calm voice. “I was sent by the Legion of Heroes to investigate this planet because of mysterious reports. As you probably know, this area of space is far from Federation territory. There was a recent spark of activity in this sector. It was odd for activity in a remote area. Upon exploring we found remains of an advanced civilization.

  “We thought this civilization had reached an age of space exploration. But I’ve been investigating for several days and have found nothing—well, nothing but monsters that is.”

  “Monsters? You mean like that weird invisible thing?” Darek turned pale.

  She nodded. “Yes, the existence of monsters is rare. Their existence and birth are shrouded in mystery, but since they are few, it was never a problem. But that is different here. I cannot even begin to grasp the magnitude of the infestation.”

  “Then help me get off this planet,” Darek demanded.

  “Why? Can’t you just leave the way you came?”

  “Well…no.” Darek scratched his head. “You see, my teleport is out of power and my friends won’t be coming after me, so—”

  “Can’t help you,” Azura interrupted. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why not?” Darek was frustrated and a little scared. The thought of staying on a planet full of dangerous monsters, like the one she had just eaten, was not his idea of an escape. He’d much rather be hiding from people, who want him for crimes, rather than be hiding from monsters that want him for a snack. “You must have some way out. A ship! A teleport! I’ll take anything!”

  “Well, to tell you the truth,” there was sadness in her voice as she spoke, “I came here with a partner. He was proficient in anti-law and knew the power of teleportation. But when we landed…let’s just say, we landed in a bad spot. I barely escaped, but he wasn’t as fortunate.”

  “Anti-law? What’s that?”

  “The power to defy the laws of nature,” she explained. “The common and simplified term is magic, though it’s not really the same.”

  “Wait,” said Darek, “does that mean you’re stuck here too?”

  Azura shrugged. “Pretty much.”

  Darek was at a loss for words. There was no place for him to go, and from her description of the situation, it seemed it wouldn’t be safe anywhere.

  Azura saw that Darek was pretty upset over the matter and pitied him. “It’s not all hopeless. Come with me. There might still be some human villages. It’s always possible.”

  “Really?”

  Azura smiled and said, “I’m sure we’ll run into someone eventually. If worse comes to worst, my friends will come for me when they find out I haven’t returned.”

  Darek found comfort in her words and presence. Before she had mentioned that the Legion of Heroes had sent her to this planet. Ever since he was little he was taught to trust the Heroes. They were the protectors of good. He had heard courageous tales of how they fought against monsters and villains, all for the sake of keeping the peace. He also had witnessed the greatness of her strength first hand.

  Then he took a moment to briefly think about his situation. Did he really want to be stuck in this cave alone in a dangerous world full of man-eating monsters? The answer was an obvious no. Darek quickly grabbed his satchel and said, “All right, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  Azura snapped her fingers. “Yeah, that’s the spirit! Let’s go!”