The Rising Sun: Episode 3 Read online



  The Rising Sun

  Clocks

  BOOK ONE

  J HAWK

  Copyright © 2014 J Hawk

  EPISODE 3

  1

  Two years ago

  The rough crackling of the fire was the only sound heard through the silence. Dyano leaned with his pillow against the wall behind his bamboo cot. Going days without bathing could prove bad for a Blackling: he felt a mild itching sensation in the short black fur all over his body. Dyano rounded his thoughts back to his current situation, reminding himself that his black fur was hardly what mattered now.

  He gazed at the small fire he had built a few feet to the side of his cot. The fire was meant not only to keep him warm, but also to keep away unwanted beasts that might happen to come prowling nearby. He was now at the far edge of the village, and a jungle like, part wilderly region was opening up at the end of the expanse he was now amidst. Behind him, at the other end of the sand strewn expanse, the faint outlines of the first huts of the village could be seen. The village was one of the numerous cluttered all over the planet of Gornos. This happened to be one of the few planets in the outer spectrum which had a non negligible inhabitance of men, and the reason being it came at the first layer of the outer spectrum … far away from the more barbaric section that came in the deeper layers.

  Dyano reached to the ground beside his cot, and felt his hand land on a clutter of firewood - the stock he had kept gathered for keeping the fire on through the night. Scooping up one of the unused branches, he twirled it absent mindedly, his eyes now carrying overhead, to the star sprayed chasm above. The night had wrapped across the planet like a dark blanket, immersing the world in another quiet slumber…

  If given the choice, Dyano would not have chosen this type of life, but he knew better than to grumble over things that couldn’t be changed. His attitude was what had kept him up against the tough pace of the world around him. Any other man would have withered in the intensity of the glare that life had put him under through his years. The challenges of his day were far beyond ordinary ones … But Dyano had been moulded with a strong spirit, which had helped him keep up. He would not allow his will to bend when facing life’s hindrances. No matter how impossible, or momentous they were.

  He threw his hands back in a wide, muscle flexing stretch, yawning sleepily. As his head sank into his pillow, he felt a familiar cozy sensation tugged at him…

  Well, so long to another day…

  He spent a moment to focus on the fire seething a few feet away. The warm glow of the fire seemed to melt right through his bones. He considered the twig in his hand, then looked at the pile of branches lying gathered beside him. The sleepy side of him wanted to forget about the fire and just go to sleep. But reason kicked in, reminding him that he was now in the middle of a half grown forest, and that the fire was his only solace in safety.

  As he usually did, Dyano submitted to the greater side of him. Fighting off the sleepiness spreading through him, he slowly drew himself up. Then, gathering the pile of firewood with both hands, he slowly trotted over and dropped them one by one onto the fire, giving a moment’s gap between two of them.

  When all the wood had been swallowed by the fire, it was now almost twice the size it had been before. Now capable of enduring through the entire night. Spreading his hands in another yawn, Dyano turned and walked back to the cot. Now able to peacefully surrender to the drowsiness, he prepared to fling himself over his cot.

  But there was someone else on it.

  “Hello there,” said the red haired boy with burning orange eyes, staring at Dyano with a creepy, twisted smile. “Have a seat, won’t you?” He beckoned to the other side of the cot.

  Dyano had frozen to the spot, attempting to free his mind from the shock clutching it. After the stretch of a few long moments, he said, “Who are you?

  “A messenger.” the boy replied.

  Dyano stood just as still, watching the boy unblinkingly. “A messenger?”

  “Yes,” said the boy, cocking his head mildly. “You’ve made enemies all over the spectrum, Dyano … a lot of enemies. And you’ve been hiding from them for quite long now. But not anymore. Your time’s come to an end.” His smile widened. “That’s why I’m here.”

  Dyano’s mind had raced halfway ahead of the entire situation. “So you’re one of them … my enemies?”

  The boy sat straighter on the cot. “Like I said … I’m just a messenger.”

  Dyano steadied himself, knowing that he had just wandered into one of those situations that needed all his presence of mind … and all his courage.

  “You’re making a mistake, kid.” he hissed, trying to infuse as much menace into his voice as possible.

  The boy continued to sit stand there, his molten coloured eyes searing into Dyano. Something seemed to churn within them, a wrath powerful as it was deadly. Dyano felt a prickly tingling of his intuition, warning him … telling him to back off. Suppressing the feeling, he stood in front of the messenger of his enemies, feeling the bravery of his old days gush back to him.

  “I don’t make mistakes.” The boy’s smile stretched longer, and something within his orange eyes seemed to burn brighter. “But when I do, I make them real big.”

  Dyano knew the moment had come … and his mind jolted into high speed.

 

  He whipped out the small, slightly blunted knife from his back pocket and flung it at his opponent, who lay sprawled on the cot. As though without the meanest care in the world.

  The boy’s eyes fell to focus over the knife, watching in elaborate slow motion as it slowly came gliding towards him. And then, an inch from his chest, the knife fell dead in motion - it stopped in mid air, and stayed frozen just before his chest.

  Dyano’s mouth fell open. It’s a mystic…

  The mystic slowly took hold of the knife frozen in the air an inch from his chest. Rising from the cot, he strode upto Dyano who stood there, senseless with dread and panic.

  “It can’t be…” breathed Dyano, as the boy slowly walked before him.

  “I once thought so too.” The boy said, nodding.

  And the boy sent his fist flying into Dyano’s face … and with a shudder, Dyano felt the entire world go blank.

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