The Rising Sun: Episode 5



  The Rising Sun

  Clocks

  BOOK ONE

  J HAWK

  Copyright © 2014 J Hawk

  EPISODE 5

  1

  As the night deepened, the three of them found it harder to find sleep than they normally would have.

  Dantox strolled across the restaurant idly, his eyes on the dusty floor ahead of him. Mantra sat over the same seat, his posture straight and focussed as always. His white eyes were fixed ahead, and Ion had the strangest feeling that the elderly master was meditating with his eyes open.

  Ion stood before the glass wall, watching the desert expanse stretching across outside. The blanket of the night rested overhead, serene and still as always, with a million glinting lights spread over it. The sight brought less warmth in Ion’s soul than it usually would have.

  He felt strangely stale from the inside as he stood here, trapped in this planet. Helpless. While across the spectrum, very soon, ten whole planets would bite the dust one by one. He felt like a caged animal, and the sensation of not being able to help when he so desperately wanted to … it was agonizing.

  His memory burned uncomfortably as he remembered those days when his ways had been quite the opposite of what they were now. His days as a brutal murderer. He had joined the Nyon to amend those days. To bring light to the world to erase the dark shade he had left earlier on. To ease the pain. To ease the guilt. But sitting here, watching the rest of the world suffer without being able to help only made the guilt boil harder within him.

  Unable to control his recklessness, Ion turned and paced down the length of the restaurant, staring at the ground ahead of him. He paused every few seconds to turn and glance out the window again.

  Mantra was sitting on the same chair, just as idle as always, while Dantox was standing in front of the glass wall by the left, his arms behind his back. The dragonfly like creatures were buzzing about over the place, the only sound heard through the silence. Dantox slowly came walking back to this side of the restaurant, and took a seat beside Mantra. Ion continued to pace back and forth for a while before he could finally contain himself, and came to a stop by their table.

  “This feels like the wrongest thing I’ve ever done.” he mumbled. “And that’s really saying something.”

  “We are not asking you to enjoy this, son.” said Dantox. “And neither are we enjoying it.”

  Mantra, who had his eyes frozen ahead of him, moved for the first time in minutes by shaking his head slowly.

  “I have been forced to watch worse than this.” he told Ion. “I guarantee you.”

  “I somehow doubt that.” said Ion.

  The faint crease of a smile came upon Mantra’s face. “I hope I don’t have to remind you that what you’re facing now … is just a repeat of what I’ve already faced.”

  Ion was quiet for a second, as he realised that there was no argument against that.

  The three of them grew silent again, and Ion resumed pacing the length of the restaurant. Where do things go from here? … Where do we go from here?

  He stood looking at the desolate lands surrounding them for a quiet while. And then he squinted, stepping closer to the glass…

  Something seemed to ripple at the far end of the desert expanse … The calm region before the horizon seemed to distort as something appeared upon it.

  Ion blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks…

  But he knew they weren’t.

  Rushing down across the desert expanse from the horizon, towards the restaurant, came a tide of what looked like … bodies?

  __________

  Feeling his lips curve savagely, Zardin patted the cloaked man on the back. “I think your forces should have reached the planet by now.”

  “They certainly would have.” Carcasar replied in the inhumane rasp he had for a voice. He slowly turned and looked at Zardin with his hooded face. And as he did, Zardin could sense the gleaming smile lighting his ravaged features beneath the hood.

  “My Zelgron would have reached them by now,” the Zelgron warlord rasped. “And when they do, I think Ion would be very delighted to see them again.”

  __________

  The tide of cloaked creatures came sweeping down the desert in a mad rage towards them. Towards the restaurant. The two masters had gotten to their feet, standing before the glass wall by Ion’s side. All three of them were gaping at what they saw outside with their eyes stretched wide.

  “Is that … what it looks like?” asked Ion, his voice constricted all of a sudden.

  Beside him, Mantra gave a slow nod without turning his head from what he was seeing. “I think it is…”

  “Zelgron,” breathed Dantox, his voice alive with a fresh fear.

  The effect of the word seemed to sink into the air like a dagger sinking into flesh.

  The three of them had their widened eyes fastened over what they were seeing outside: the mass of cloaked creatures flooded towards them from across the desert, racing onward at a dangerous speed. And as they neared, the silence was overrun by a nasty, scale prickling noises. A slowly loudening mixture of howls, roars and screams pierced the night.

  This can’t be. thought Ion, reeling in horror. His mind suddenly zoomed back to that day. That horrific day, two years ago, when he had faced those creatures. And instantly, his mind was seized by one cruel, deadly emotion far more dangerous than any other: fear.

  The tide of Zelgron came surging towards them, the distance between them and this restaurant shrinking rapidly as they dashed across the desert expanse.

  “We’ve been discovered by the Xeni,” said Mantra, snatching the crystal from the table and thrusting it back into his pocket.

  “What?” asked Ion, facing him.

  “They’ve found us.” said Dantox, just as grimly. “And they’ve sent their worst possible to finish the job.”

  The very worst possible. As Ion turned back he realised that the Zelgron were faster, far faster than they appeared. They came raging towards the restaurant, hundred metres from it. And Ion registered the skin crawling sight he had met two years back, now fresh and anew.

  They were tall, thin and cloaked. Their yellow eyes were all ablaze with the same inhumane fury as Ion remembered two years back. Their skin had patches of black over it, and parts of it was torn off and peeled, giving them a sickened, disgusting appearance. And their mouths were all wide open in a roar of rage. And the combined sound of their roars rang unpleasantly in Ion’s ears.

  A nightmare had just sprung to life.

  He looked sideways at Dantox, and then at Mantra. Their eyes were fixed at the glass wall, watching the oncoming oblivion race closer. A shadow came over both their faces.

 

  “Brace yourself.” said Mantra, and as one, the two masters drew their swords and held them before them.

  With a quick, steadying heave of breath, Ion drew his own. The three of them slowly backed away as the oncoming tide of Zelgron washed over the land. Coming dangerously close … and closer. And then, as the three of them backed up against the counter, the tide of creatures crashed over the restaurant.

  __________

  They smashed right through the glass walls, hurtling towards the three living creatures inside of it.

  As one, a blaze of orange filled the room as the three Nyon lit their swords. Their blades now gleaming in bright orange, the three of them pounced into action. The mass of bodies dashed at them, their claws slashing at the air viciously. Ion twisted about madly, running his glowing blade right through five of the creatures before another giant batch overtook them, replacing them.

  The horde of Zelgron were definitely numbering to well over a thousand…

  Dread numbed Ion from within.

  He slashed away with his blade wildly, cutting down Zelgron after Zelgron … But he knew that it was of no use at all. The monsters’ horde surrounded them from all three sides, clogging at the sides of the restaurant, all of them yearning to enter it and rip apart the three living creatures in it.

  And as they came smashing in through the two sides, the roof above them gave way and tumbled…

  Mantra swung his sword to lash across a final Zelgron, and then leaped out of the group surrounding him. As the roof came down over them, he hurled over Ion and Dantox, throwing all three of them to the far corner of the restaurant. They landed on the hard ground behind the counter, while the roof crashed down over the rest of the restaurant. The corner portion was held up by the counter so that the three of them were safe.

  The rest of the Zelgron, all trapped beneath the rubble and wreckage, groaned and howled in their relentless fury, which had risen dangerously now.

  Mantra heaved the other two up with both hands, and held up his hand: the back portion of the restaurant right behind them caved in and fell right out, leaving the expanse of the desert to stretch out in front of them.

  Without even turning to see if the Zelgron crushed beneath the rubble had picked themselves up, the three Nyon pelted right out and into the open, the cold air lashing at the front of their faces.

  __________

  The three of them had managed to put a good hundred or so metres spacing between them and the Zelgron horde: they had escaped through the back, and the rest of the creatures had failed to notice this while they were helping their brethren who were crushed beneath the rubble. Now, with their entire horde now back intact, the swarm of Zelgron came raging at them from across the distance, furiously hot on
the three Nyon’s heels. The distance between them, a hundred metres or so, was dwindling shorter and shorter … shrinking dangerously as the monsters dashed behind them.

  Ion had never felt time go as painfully slow as it had now … Every footstep seemed to span a few decades as he thundered through the deserted land with Mantra and Dantox by either side. Behind them, the tide of Zelgron came inching closer and closer. He had definitely been right: there were, by the look of it, thousands of them. They came tearing down the land behind them, their howls of rage piercing the night’s cold air.

 

  Ion cast a mean glance back. The creatures swept down the empty plain wildly, propelled by a savage fury. They almost appeared to hurtle forward, some of them tripping, some shoved out of the way by others in their mad race for the three targets lurking ahead of them. Ion turned back, now twice as terrified. The half second glance he had given them was enough, to leave their hideous faces engraved in his mind.

  The combined thudding of their footsteps carried closer and closer to them, and their unceasing screams bellowed louder as the distance between them and the Nyon dwindled…

  We’re never gonna make it out of this. thought Ion. Not alive, that is.

  The land before them was flat, completely unblemished for as far as they could see, save for a stout plateau like figure that could be seen at the distance. The inch deep layer of sand little helped their progress: running on sand took twice the effort of normal solid ground. But the Zelgron seemed completely unaffected by this. The collective pounding of their feet seemed to grow heavier and heavier as they neared, their speed unhampered by the sandy ground.

  “We’re never gonna outrun them,” panted Ion. “they’re way too fast.”

  “Outrun them?” panted Dantox, running on without turning. “Of course not.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Ion. His heart banged against his chest as he ran, furious and relentless.

  “That was never going to happen.” said Mantra, as he raced along the other two. “These are Zelgron. They’ll catch us.”

  Ion glanced back. The swarm of monsters were nearing. The distance had been cut down to less than a hundred or so metres now. The Zelgron seemed to have thrice the speed of even the strongest mystic.

  “What’re we gonna do?” he asked in a raised voice, now with the roars of the creatures growing louder.

  “We’ll fight.” answered Mantra, his voice boding a note of grave acceptance. “Run as far as we can hold them off from reaching, and fight when they catch up.”

  Ion felt them hurtle towards a fast closing end. Fight? There was absolutely no way they could put up a fight against an entire horde of these things. They were done for…

  They were almost at the hill, when the first batch of the Zelgron had caught up with them. Without breaking pace, the three of them drew their sabers and ignited them. A group of seven of the creatures had come within feet to them, their arms thrown forward wildly. One of the monsters lunged forward. Mantra’s sword whirled to the side and the Zelgron gave fast stifled yell of pain, thudding to the ground in two chopped pieces.

  Another of the creatures made a quick jump forth, grabbing Ion by the back of his cloak. Twisting around in motion, Ion sent his sword right across the beast, slicing his torso in a slanted angle. The Zelgron crumpled and fell, but another from the batch of seven took his place. He collided with Ion from the side, sending him off balance for a second. Ion stumbled, almost falling at the impact. But Dantox caught him by the side, steadying him, while Mantra cut down the six Zelgron which had just had caught up with them. Without stopping, Mantra turned and sent a loud smash at the horde which was closing in fast. Twenty times as powerful as Ion’s powers could have mustered, the large wave like motion collided violently with the batch of Zelgron, sending the first among the tide flying backwards and crashing onto the ones behind them. The entire horde took the beating of Mantra’s smash, with half of them either meeting the impact of the smash and flying back, or being crashed over by another who had. And thus starting a chain reaction that spawned the entire mass. The tide of Zelgron slowed down, slowly falling back. Without glancing back, the three Nyon dashed forth…

  The groans of the monsters slowly died out, replaced by their unearthly screams again. They had picked themselves up, and came exploding at the Nyon with a doubled, renewed fury.

  The threesome’s unbroken, mindless sprint had now carried them to the plateau, a giant, grotesque outgrowth on the smoothened land. The shapeless plateau was about as large as three storeyed mansion, with jagged, sharp edges and a roughness in its outer layering. Without even thinking, the three of them launched over the rough coated plateau and began climbing over it. The Zelgron, having lesser stealth and intelligence than them, were unluckier, unable to mount the plateau as fast as the Nyon could. In less than a minute, the three of them had reached the top of the giant plateau and were heaving deep, loud breaths to refill their wearied lungs.

  The vicious screams of the Zelgron seemed to claw at the air from below them. While the three Nyon stood huddled at the centre of the top of the plateau, the creatures slowly climbed their way up. Seconds from the top.

  “Well,” said Dantox, with a heavy air of closure. “Nobody would’ve dreamt that this would be the end.”

  Mantra gave an ironic chuckle. “The end for us all. The entire spectrum goes down with us, men.”

  The first of the bunch climbing could be heard groaning savagely, now seconds away from reaching them.

  It doesn’t matter anyway. Ion thought. They’ve won. They’ve already sent the anarchy level spiralling well out of control. And now, they’ll have the plague crystal as well.

  The first of the lot climbing could be heard almost breaking to the surface now … The three Nyon stood with their backs pressed against each others’, their swords raised and blazing, ready to take how many ever of these creatures they could with them, to where they now knew they were going…

  Now with the end looming over him, Ion felt himself fly back in time to witness a multi second flashback of his life … He remembered his days as a bloodthirsty bounty hunting killer with an stab of regret: he had never managed to find redemption, right his wrongs by doing good to the world … He remembered Vestra with another stab of pain. Wherever she and Qyro now were, he was joining them soon … And he remembered Jedius.

 

  He slid his hands beneath the front neck of his cloak, and drew out his master’s token - the strangely shaped fang like object. Plucking its chain around his neck, he held it upon his palm. For if this was the end, he would go to the grave holding onto this … the object that summed up everything in this world for him.

  The howls of the Zelgron mounted as they slowly reached the top … the first of them could be seen throwing their hands over the plateau’s top all over, anchoring themselves slowly. Preparing to rise and head in for the kill.

  Mantra glanced to Ion, and his eyes froze over what he saw held within his palm. A strange look found his wizened face as he stared at the fang for a few seconds. Then, without warning, the old man’s hand swished across and snatched Jedius’s token from his palm.

  He surveyed the fang silently for a long moment, while Ion stood in front, jaw slackened open. “Err, master, what’s the matt-”