Conditions in Zilby were harsh. Industry had polluted the water, resulting in a painful disease that darkens and thickens the skin in patches, hair started falling out and finally, lesions would grow on the body before death.

Rumours abounded on the street that the Lowly Lady Leda, one of the high ranking Mamlish had been sent to Zilby to sell coffins. Others said that it was to find participants for cancer research trials. All agreed that her presence in Zilby was particularly nefarious, more so than the other Mamlish.

Despite the Lesser Lord's proclamation that consumer goods were necessary for a well ordered and functioning society, many people felt that they had too much. Or less politely many people said, "We only have crap that collects dust".

There were public chastisements for those who wore worn out clothes, people were expected to buy something new every week, people who did not keep the walls of their houses well painted were given warnings.

Even worse punishments were reserved for those who did not pay for the things that they were required to buy. It was virtually impossible to get a well-paying job in Zilby, most of the goods were imported from the mainland, where the slave owners lived. The slaves came over to ensure that the imports were made on time and this administrative work was done exclusively by the Lesser Lords and Lowly Ladies. These were the titles that the Mamlish gave the ruling slave class.

Upstream of the main town on Zilby island there were large orange orchards, these required many workers during the harvest season so people were not allowed to leave the island for fear that there will not be enough people during the harvest.

Downstream there was the harbour, citizens could frequently be seen harvesting mussels and other molluscs that clung to the rocks. Very often this was the only food that the citizens would eat because they had no money for food once they had bought all the hairclips and handbags that they were required to by the Mamlish.

Violence was accepted by the Mamlish as "just part of human nature" Rudeness was not. An insult was the greatest offence because they argued, that bruises and bones mend, even dead bodies eventually rot away leaving no trace of their existence, but words, words could be written down, therefore they were permanent and lasted forever. The Mamlish took great care to protect their name.

The Merchant Lords required that every word spoken in the inner chamber be transcribed, this instruction was written in the original contract and therefore was considered to be most sacred. The Lesser Lord George, therefore, did not allow any person to enter the inner chamber without foreknowledge of what exactly they were going to say. Whenever a disagreeable person came to see him, the keys would mysteriously go missing.

By the third episode the plot was in full swing. Phoenix had fought against guards, fought against dogs and most interestingly fought against his inner demons. The Lesser Lord George had captured Annabelle and placed her on top of a high column.

Phoenix rounded the corner on his motorbike. On the side of the river there was ramp, which might have served as a wheelchair ramp, were it not for the steep incline necessary for Phoenix's to make the jump across the river. Phoenix motorbike lifted into the air.

"Come save me" Annabelle cried out "Phoenix, Phoenix, I need you" The left shoulder of her dress started to droop a bit leaving the bra strap exposed.

The Lesser Lord George could be heard laughing maniacally. "You thought that you would make the world better for the ones you love by demanding clean water for them. But look, I have taken the one you love the most and do you think that things are better for her Phoenix now that you have tried to challenge me."

Phoenix landed on the other side. He jumped off the motorbike that went flying through a glass window that shattered with a fire blast. Nobody was nearby, so there were no shards of glass in anybody's eyes.

Phoenix ran to where Annabelle was situated. The Lesser Lord George had built a huge platform with a pole behind her and tied her to it.

"My love" he said and then using his teeth undid the bondages. "You don't need to fear anymore. I'm here."

"You can't take her home with you Phoenix. I have other plans for her." The Lesser Lord George said. "My dear" he addressed Annabelle directly "have you ever seen the city of Caidon, it has canals and gardens filled with pumpkins. There are rabbits hopping in the street. You, my dear, will love it there"

"She will never go there" Phoenix said with a roughness in his voice. "You will leave us alone and we will do just fine without your canals."

There was a blast of flames that came to Phoenix, he jumped into the air to avoid it. Then the finally releasing Annabelle, he took her hands. The contrast between his rough calloused hands turned black from all the oil and soot and her smooth white hands came into focus.

"Come," he said, "You can trust me" She held on tight and at the count of three they both jumped into the river.

The water felt cool next to Annabelle's, it seemed to clear Annabelle's mind and as she looked to Phoenix a calmness rushed over her.

"You're safe now," he said after they had surfaced for air. "Safe from danger."

"Promise me that you will always be there to save me," said Annabelle with a choke in her throat.

"Always."

Phoenix leant in to and with his left arm pulled Annabelle closer to him so that there was no water between them. He stared into her eyes, eyes that the audience could see that they were dilated.

"You are so beautiful, so very beautiful." He now drew her face closer to his face. "Never forget that I love you" and with the music ramping up, he sealed the emotion with a kiss. "You are the reason that I do what I do, never change"

"How romantic!" said a small high-pitched noise. Just beyond a small fence that surrounded Annabelle and Phoenix, stood two small girls that were holding a teddy-bear close to their chest.

"I guess that this place is not as private as I thought" said Phoenix, with a lopsided grin.

"You are my hero" said the little girl "When I grow up, I want to be rescued by a muscular man just like Annabelle. The only difference between you and him, is that he will smell nice"

"And he will wear a clean white shirt," said a second smaller girl on the side of the first girl.

"Shh, Janie, he will not care about what he is wearing. He will be too busy fighting baddies, to worry about his t-shirt."

"I don't see why can't tell him what to wear, if you can tell him how he should smell"

"Janie, nobody likes a bossy little girl," said the older child. She looked around and then seeing that the Phoenix was still there said "How did you do it. How did you manage to escape from the Lesser Lord George? Boy he is going to be MA-A-AD. But you're not scared of him, are you?"

"True bravery is not feeling fear but facing your fears," said Phoenix. Annabelle ran her fingers across his cheekbone in a manner that highlighted the squareness of his jaw.

"The day is coming for you," said Annabelle with a giggle. "When you will walk down the aisle and the man of your dreams will be waiting for you. Then you will see that it was all worth it"

"Don't give up hope," said Phoenix "He will come for you"

**********************

The cocktail bar was filled with people. James was in the middle with a person on both sides of him.

"I love your show" said a slender younger man whose glasses rested in such a way that made his nose seem pointy. "Phoenix seems to always manage to reach into his inner depths to find the resources he needs to fight the Mamlish. They are so evil; how do you manage to write such a relatable world."

"I just write about what annoys me," replied James over his glass "You look to the top and you see what is holding you back. On the other hand, I also write what inspires me. I want to have a man that I can look up to, to admire. That's where Phoenix comes in; he gives us something that we can hope in."

"Do you think Phoenix is relatable?" said Alicia "He never has anything that really poses a challenge to him"

"Do you not think that having an entire alien civilisation trying to impose their culture on you is not a challenge?" asked the young man.

"It is a challenge but whenever he gets into a fight, you know that he will win and after he wins, he never seems to need to recover."

"A man needs to do what a man needs to do, there is no time for self-reflection" James shrugged the comment off.

"A hero should be someone who has had to face their inner demeans, a person who has gone through the valley of death, when there seemed to be no hope of rescue and somehow despite the odds has somehow managed to reach the other side." Alicia said.

"You think that a person is defined by their weaknesses rather than their strengths" asked James.

"A hero, not a person, is defined by what they overcome, their journey and their growth," said Alicia "Nobody wants to see a person without struggles"

"Many people turn to fiction as a form of escapism. They don't want to have hard problems to solve. That is what I offer them," explained James.

"Sometimes people turn to fiction to learn how to confront the world. They see what they can expect from life and what is normal. Having superhuman strength to draw from is not normal." Answered Alicia.

The young man looked leaned forward; crease lines formed in his forehead showing his agitation. "It's not normal to have an alien race come to earth and impose their belief system on you."

"Maybe," said James "Maybe not aliens, but it has happened in many times and many places that a new group of people have come from over the seas or from far away and have attempted to control the local population, that is one aspect of the story that I find realistic. People are expected to follow laws that they have never heard of."

"What are you going to do with Annabelle" asked Alicia's friend Catherine who had joined her in the bar. "She seems so wispy, such a non-entity. Is she going to give Phoenix trouble?"

"No, why would she?" replied James.

"It would make the show more interesting if she had a backbone – I might be even be tempted to watch it." Catherine went on

"Of course, I do watch it, because my little brother is still the best, but lately I have been finding the stories on the television so bland," added Alicia.

"And you think that Annabelle could change the dynamic?" asked James.

"Well not as she is at the moment," responded Catherine.

"At the moment she just a typical love interest girl. You know nothing about her except she's beautiful and he loves her" Alicia paused. "What does she like? – She likes him, what more is there to do. – What does she think about – Nothing much except about how great he is – Why does she do the things that she does. – Why do you keep asking these questions – don't you know she's beautiful and he loves her – that's all that you need to know." It was like Alicia was having a dialogue with and then getting annoyed with herself at the lack of progress that she was making.

"Not everything needs to be about her. This is the hero's journey. Not hers, she gives him something to fight for," said the man with a bit of a sneer towards Alicia.

"Yes, but why her? What has she ever done to give him something to fight for? As far as I am concerned Annabelle could be replaced with Jezebel and the audience wouldn't even notice." said Catherine.

*************

James arrived at Paul's house carrying a bottle of wine and a box filled with games. Paul came out to greet him.

"I'm so pleased you came" said Paul "Welcome to my humble abode. There's coffee in the pot, unless you think it's too late for that. We can always just drink your wine"

"It's always a pleasure," said James. He started setting up the game by unpacking all his carefully packed up bags. He had made the packs as a form of relaxation.

"Alicia invited herself over, I hope you don't mind," said Paul, over his shoulder.

"Oh, no worries, I am used to her always being around by now" said James, although actually he was feeling a little bit annoyed that Alicia had invited herself to his unofficial boys' night.

"You don't mind talking work, do you?" asked Paul "Because I have been looking over the script and I want to understand a little bit more about Ferne'. I want to know him as well as you do, so that the audience can also know him."

"Well, I guess I wanted a little bit of a less buff version of Phoenix. Phoenix is all muscle. I needed a bit of an intellectual to give the audience a break, but I didn't want to have a nerd. I wanted a strong muscular man who also likes to read, and who cares about his philosophy."

"You want there to be more intelligent conversation in the series?" questioned Paul.

"No, absolutely not, the show is all about the punches, we can have talk, but never forget Paul, the show is all about the punches. We are not trying to change the world."

"That's a useful tip" replied Paul while pouring James a glass. "I always imagined Ferne' to be Phoenix's protégée"

"You can say that, the man is always ready to fill Phoenix's shoes, but the relationship is not a spoken one. Ferne' is learning from Phoenix, but Phoenix is not teaching Ferne', if you understand. Phoenix knows what Ferne' is doing and doesn't let him bother him. But he also is touched by Ferne's admiration, not that Phoenix would admit it. If that makes sense?"

"Do you ever have these conversations with Andrew?" asked Paul.

"No, I can't say that I do," said James in repose. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I am just interested in the whole process," said Paul. "Like are you satisfied with all the attention that show is getting?"

"I've never done it for the attention. That said, having written much that nobody has been interested at all in reading, it is nice to know that somebody other than Alicia cares."

"Surely people have always loved everything that you have done. Nothing I have read of yours even has a word out of place."

"No, I have plenty of three stars reviews. I can tell you, even worse, there are people who stop watching after seeing two episodes. That means they've considered it and been like "Nah""

"Have you finished the script yet?"

"I actually spent the entire afternoon working on scenes where Phoenix is together with Annabelle. "

"Vanessa is a sexy beast" said Paul "You are lucky to have managed to get her, she can only do good things for the show"

"I want her to be a breath of fresh air" saidJames. "I want Phoenix to be a rock and Annabelle to be feather floating by.