After being left at the altar, Brad escapes his family and well-meaning friends by going on an unexpected, unplanned road trip. His journey takes a dramatic turn when he gets involved in a serious car accident. When he comes to, Brad is somehow on the harsh and strange desert on the planet Ferrum.
Captured and treated as a spy, Brad gets thrown into one of the mines. Caught in the clutches of deep despair, he can’t see a way out this misery. He has no chance to escape until he meets another prisoner who will change Brad’s life.
Lyran, from the planet Xander, has been a prisoner on Ferrum for more than a year. He is quick to assist Brad and teaches him how to survive on this plant under the rule of the Iron King.
Soon they have a plan to escape. Fleeing together, they reach the outpost of a group of rebels rising against the king, and on the way, Brad and Lyran develop a tight bond that deepens into something more.
Will this feeling last, though? How can they stay together and fight side by side when Brad feels the call from Earth in his bones? Will he go back and leave beautiful, faithful Lyran behind?
The air was thick with the scent of metal and sweat, a suffocating blanket over the cavernous space. Brad stumbled through the darkness, his bare feet scraping against the rough, cold floor. His vision, still blurry in the near dark, struggled to adjust to the flickering torches that cast long, grotesque shadows on the walls. He was surrounded by the guttural sounds of labored breathing and the rhythmic clang of metal against rock.
He was in the mines, a place of harsh labor and perpetual twilight, and he was a prisoner.
His body ached, the memory of the accident a throbbing echo in his head. He hadn’t a clue how he’d ended up on Ferrum, a planet he’d had never heard about, and didn’t even know existed. He’d been driving through the Arizona desert, feeling the sting of a recent breakup, when his car swerved, the world spinning into a chaotic blur. And then, he woke up here, in the belly of this alien world. Yet, the world reminded him of his own novel, yet this wasn’t a dream.
He tried to remember what happened, but the details were elusive, hazy edges of a dream. He only knew that the car, his car, was gone, and he was surrounded by creatures unlike anything he’d ever seen.
“You’re a human, too,” a voice rasped, startling him. The voice came from a figure in the shadows, he stepped forward toward Brad. He held a pickaxe in his hand, his movements slow, yet powerful. It was his fellow human from the cell across from his.
“Yeah,” Brad said, his voice shaky. “What ... Who are you?”
“Lyran,” the figure replied, his voice laced with cynicism. “Been here for over a year, then you arrived, a human like me. You’re the first one they’ve sent in a long time. Though there are others here, but they don’t usually send us down here.
“A year?” Brad choked out, a wave of fear washing over him. Over a year in this ... this prison. The thought of being trapped here for that long sent shivers down his spine. Lyran snorted.
“You think it’s easy? They work us to the bone, strip us of everything. This place is hell, and it’s about to get a whole lot worse.”
Brad could see the lines of weariness etched on Lyran’s face; the time of hardship etched into his pale skin. He had a wild, untamed look in his eyes, a look of someone who had seen too much darkness, too much pain. He knew that Lyran had been through hell, but there was something about his voice, something in his gaze, that hinted at a hidden strength, a resilience that had allowed him to survive.
“Why am I here?” Brad asked, his voice barely a whisper. “What did I do?”
“They believe you’re a spy, that’s what you did,” Lyran said, his voice cold.
“They think you’re here to steal secrets, to sabotage. The Iron King’s orders, you see. He’s paranoid, that one.”
“The Iron King,” Brad muttered, the name unfamiliar yet chilling.
“Yeah, the Iron King. He rules Ferrum with an iron fist. He’s a tyrant who wants to control everything. And humans? He sees us as slaves, as weapons. We’re his pawns in his game.”
“So, what happens now?” Brad asked, his voice trembling. He felt small, insignificant, a fly caught in the web of this alien world.
Lyran didn’t answer right away. He just stared at Brad, his eyes filled with a mixture of pity and disdain.
“You’ll be put to work,” he finally said. “You’ll mine for the minerals, work until your bones ache, until you can’t stand anymore. That’s what they do to us. That’s what they do to us all.”
The thought of endless labor, of being broken down, of being reduced to nothing more than a tool, filled Brad with dread. His mind raced, searching for a way out, a glimmer of hope in the suffocating darkness.
He looked at Lyran, who was studying him intently. There was a flicker of something in his eyes, something that Brad couldn’t quite define. Curiosity? Hope? Or was there something deeper?
“Is there a way out?” Brad asked, his voice laced with desperation. He had to believe there was.
Lyran remained silent for a long moment. Then, he turned his gaze away, his shoulders slumping.
“Maybe,” he said finally, his voice barely a murmur.
“But it’s a long shot, human. A very long shot.”
“Can you help me?” Brad asked, his voice filled with a desperate plea.
