• In the beginning there was a dusty wasteland, with clusters of bare vegetation in places, rising from the many mountains of golden sand grains made warm from the sun. Suddenly the wind picked up and quickly conceived a desert typhoon sending clouds of dust tumbling and churning everywhere covering the whole sky in a thick peach coloured mix of dust and desert mistral. And through the army of the sandstorm a figure could barely be seen, hair as black as the starless night sky standing steadily opposing the danger, his colossal physique baring down each flyspeck soldier with his muscular right arm raised above his mouth and his hand clenched in a fist.

    ****

    The test tube bubbled and turned a purply blue colour dispatching a hodgepodge of humid steam around the lab. Steadily spooning a piece of magnesium ribbon into the mixture, Dr Stanley Bekk watched intently as the piece of metal slowly dissolved into the solvent leaving a silvery, blue goo in its place.

    ‘Perfect, 100% results, now if only my new worker would hurry up and come back I can finally finish this’ he said pulling up a chair at his work table in the middle of the room. Automatically he reached out between a pile of toppled science books, and produced a mouldy old mug filled with thick brown coffee and began to drink. Sighing with boredom the doctor glanced up at the only clock in his lab and before he knew it began staring at the second hand ticking happily round and round the face.

    ****

    He stomped through the entrance to Amnisha city, his shadow casting a huge bumpy silhouette on the cobbled streets. His small black eyes squinted against the beating sun, and his face was as stern and serious as someone who had just been told that the vase they had thrown out was worth millions. However this was his way, the ever grumpy yet reliable twenty five year old Bambino Dalry, master of self defence, whether he knew it or not, and the only employee of Dr Bekk the single researcher of ancient ruins and their artefacts.

    Feeling hunger grip his stomach, like a tormenting demon. Bambino hastily changed direction and headed for the local – in fact the only - inn. The building itself was just a simple wooden shack with the word ‘inn’ painted in large black letters.

    When Bambino reached the door without any ounce of care, instead of opening it, he walked straight through it, leaving nothing but jaggedly splinters hanging from the frame. Of course this was a big mistake as it attracted the attention of a gang of rough hooligans slouching nonchalantly in their chairs while engulfed in a giant grey cloud of smoke. Bambino took a place by the window on the other side of the room, perfectly unaware of the scoundrels as he waited for one of the maids to come take his order. Oddly enough he still did not notice them even when a pair, wearing mud smeared waistcoats and green ripped trousers, sauntered up to him deliberately pulling out glinting knives from inside their ripped sleeves.‘ Oi ain’t seen you e’re before’ Said the one picking his teeth with a wooden tooth pick. Bambino just ignored him and continued staring blankly into space, his arms casually stretched out across the table. ‘ Oi am talk’ in to you matey’ the same thug said again slowly leaning forward, blasting him with a foul stench of alcohol, then clumsily slamming his knife hard into the table right by Bambino’s arm. Bambino however continued to show no emotion, but instead - much to the shock of the rouges – rose quietly from his chair, picked both of them up by the scruff of their collars and threw them headlong across the room, sending them crashing through the wall on the other side. At the sudden impact of body and wall, everyone in the inn shot a quick, terrified glance at Bambino who casually dusted off clouds of debris from his shirt and sat back down in his chair.