The Rising Sun: Episode 6 Page 10

  As the entire army vanished, Zardin trotted back in front of where the four of them lay, and his mirthless smile grew longer. “As for you guys, we give you many thanks for providing us the entertainment of this grand, ceremonious night.” He looked around the circle of Xeni and beamed. “Give them all our love, boys.”

  The circle closer in on the four of them. Ion could feel the paralysed bodies of Mantra, Vestra and Qyro heaved up by the men. Together, the batch of Xeni dragged the three of them across the cave, leaving Ion behind for some reason. His insides screaming, Ion watched as the group of cloaked wretches dragged the limp bodies of the three others across and disappeared into another, dark corner of the cave … where they would undoubtedly give them a slow, possibly excruciating death.

  Feeling his muscles sting with fire as he did, he craned his neck back. And saw Zardin standing before him.

  “As for you,” he said, his sneer stretching longer. “you’ve been … reserved.”

  And as he said it, Ion felt something move behind him. He tried to move his head to see, but it wasn’t needed: Frost slowly strolled up before Ion, the smoke emitting from his blurred form lingering in the air around. He stopped beside Zardin, his eyes fastened onto Ion … a raving, cold hunger within them. The hint of a leer awoke on his face, which was blurred amidst the mist escaping his form.

  Ion felt his insides go frigid…

  The very sight of that creature seemed to have plunged his mind back into a tunnel of horror and pain…

  This can’t be…

  It was going to happen again.

  The horror. The pain. The agony.

  It was all going to happen again. And this time, Ion knew there was no escape. Death was here, in its most horrific form.

  “Well, enjoy him while he lasts.” said Zardin, patting the demon’s blurry figure on the back, before turning and stalking off.

  Frost’s face burned with the same inhumane sense of glee as it had the last time when he had torturing Ion’s soul. He slowly walked forward, his form leaking misty vapours into the air around, and bent down over a helpless, crippled Ion.

  A soulless smile wove across his lips. “Missed me, boy?”

  He raised both hands…

  And once more, Ion’s world plunged into darkness and devastation.

  18

  Goj, Cluster 13

  The village of Arodra was slowly settling into the rythme of the night. The small, stout huts emitted a faint orange glow from their windows, light from the lamps lit within them. Stalls and other amenities closed down, and their owners could be seen walking back to their houses through the dimly lit streets. The sounds of chatter within the huts were heard louder through the silence filling the village streets…

  And cutting across the silence, a sharp whoosh occurred … and a thread of pale blue smoke shot down from the stars, landing at the dead centre of the village. And out of the blur of the fumes, the demon slowly formed shape.

  The creature threw its head back and uttered a shrill, piercing sound, that awoke the attention of the entire village, carrying for miles around. It was a shrill, unworldly sound. A sound of evil and chaos like nothing ever heard before, and its effect caused an eruption of pain and turmoil within every living creature that heard it. Caused their eardrums to throb unpleasantly.

  As the demon’s cry rang on, the villagers scurried out of their homes, all of them blocking their ears with their faces contorted in agony.

  The demon slowly ceased in the air racking, unpleasant noise, letting the air dissolve back into silence…

  And then, breaking the very brief second of silence, came the combined shudder of a hundred or so thuds, as every villager collapsed to the ground right where they stood, all of them unconscious.

  __________

  Arganor, Cluster 34

  The buildings lining both sides of the street were of concrete build and mediocre height. Overhead, the night’s black sky was tinged with a fair shade of maroon, an atmospheric effect that rendered this planet’s skies more beautiful than most others.

  But the beauty was to be shattered painfully: a tail of pale smoke shot out from the stars, landing in a cloud of fumes right in the centre of the city. The demon’s figure slowly revolved out of the swirl of smoke. All around the streets, a sudden, grinding silence had fallen as the faint trickles of pedestrians came to a stall. All of them turned to gape at this sudden, bizarre manifestation that had found their planet. An ancient evil that had been long forgotten in the memory of the world. An evil now re awakened.

  The demon slowly raised his right hand, gesturing to the line of buildings by his right … almost as though telling them to rise.

  And the very next instant, there was the sound of crushing, concrete breaking … And the entire line of buildings flanking the right side of the street was wrenched off the ground. Flabbergasted, the entire street watched in bounding horror as the concrete structures rose twenty metres into the air, where they hung completely undisturbed.

  The demon now turned to the line of buildings by his left, and raised his left hand just as serenely.

  Concrete blasting apart filled the night again, as the line of structures on the left broke from the ground and hovered over to the same height as the ones by the right.

  And with the entire city watching in mindless alarm, the demon clapped both hands together.

  And all of the buildings hanging over the air exploded, shattering to a million scrap pieces that showered over the city below.

  Screams of terror erupted from the citizens watching below. They all darted off from where they stood, arms flailed, screeching in the senseless terror of whatever had just happened. And panic and chaos descended over the entire place like a bird of prey.

  Amidst the raging mayhem, the demon raised his hands again, and the two lines of buildings coming beyond this one followed suit, tearing off the ground and rising to the air…

  __________

  Haigro, Cluster 12

  The city’s towers were built with a grandeur and magnificence. They rose several hundred metres into the sky, ascending towards the heavens. A steady stream of ships and vehicles glided in between them.

  But amidst the polished elegance of the great city, nobody managed to notice the sudden stream of pale smoke surging down from the night sky and landing right over one of the shorter towers. And slowly, the demon formed out of the pale smoky mists. Waiting for a second more to relish what followed, the demon raised both hands onto the air, clapping them together.

  The very next second, a sickening, metallic crunch rose over the bustle of the city: ten of the giant towers surrounding the one where the demon stood had been torn off in their mid section by a powerful, invisible force. The towers swayed slightly, before all of them toppled sideways, crashing onto another line of buildings as they fell, and bringing them down along with them. The stream of vehicles was hampered all across the region as hover cars, bikes and ships crashed into the falling towers, and explosions shook the air in many spots as they did.

  The demon howled with delight, his voice striking across the entire city. Then, he raised both hands and clapped them again.

  And another ten structures broke apart and fell…

  __________

  Together, Mantra, Vestra and Qyro were thrown into a large, pit like depression in the cave. Their frozen bodies slammed to the ground hard, rolled over and then stopped on the cold surface of the earth, motionless. The large pit was almost as large as a crater in a moon, spread with large black openings over its walls, and some even on the floor around them

  The Xeni who had thrown them into the pit stood at the top, watching them with their jeering faces ablaze with excitement.

  Vestra and Qyro sprawled a few feet to Mantra’s right, both of them motionless on the ground. Panic simmered in both their eyes as they lay there, unable to move … barely able to think with the effect of the freeze shot.

  Mantra tried contro
lling himself, pulling his mind back into focus, but it was of little use: the freeze shot’s effect also stretched to paralyse his thoughts, so that they were cluttered and useless…

  The Xeni lingered over the top of the crater for a few minutes, before slowly turning and walking off.

  Mantra could feel his breath heaving, even the mildest movement of his chest leaving a searing pain through his muscles over it.

  The crater they were now lying amidst was just as dark as the rest of the cave. The large holes spread over the walls were almost indiscernible. One of the large hole like openings lay on the ground about a few metres to Mantra’s left.

  For many seconds, as Mantra worked his mind furiously through the freeze shot’s effect, he wondered what was going on. What were the Xeni trying to do with them? He was under the impression that they would now celebrate their victory by torturing and killing them, the last members of their long hated enemies. Then why were the three of them now lying here? A part of his concerns flowed off course, towards Ion. But he knew that there was no hope for the boy this time … he would die. Alone, and as painful as possible.

  And the three of them would as well…

  Right then, his attention snapped to his left, where the sound came from … The distinct, sharp sound. Mantra felt his calm waver slightly, for this was a sound he could place…

  And slowly, climbing out of the large hole on the ground by his right, came the creature. It had the giant body of a spider, with the torso of a human stretching in place of the head.

  Rigmrr stopped as his giant eight footed body reached the top of the opening, and perched himself by the right of the hole. Excitement swept through him as he carried his eyes over the three motionless, wide eyed bodies lying feet away from him…

  And all around him, exiting the holes across the large crater, more Ensys slowly scuttled forward, all their gleaming red eyes locked over the three prey bodies they were left. Rigmrr cracked his knuckles, a gleaming smile forming on his lips.

  A few feet away, Mantra locked eyes with the creature with the gleaming red eyes standing metres away from him. He turned his head sideways to see Vestra and Qyro gaping wide eyed at this new horror, both their faces drained of blood.

  But even in this ghastly situation, with the ring of doom playing over the atmosphere, Mantra re gathered his inner calm. And, gaining utter control over himself, he did the only thing there was now left to do…

  He braced himself.

  __________

  A thousand corpses were climbing over the large mountain at the peak of which stood Ion, trembling. Corpses of the people he had killed. The lives he had shattered in a previous life.

  They all slowly climbed up the hill, all of their eyes locked over him, hateful, scornful, and accusing.

  “Please,” he gasped, his head lifting from the ground back in reality. “Enough…”

  The fumes surrounded him from all over again, drenching his surroundings. And at the front of where he lay on the ground stood the demon, his outline fazed in the swirling fumes. He slowly strolled forward and bent before where Ion lay on the ground, shivering. Broken.

  “Enough?” the demon hissed, his voice carrying the same, icy tingle. “But the fun’s just begun!”

  And he held out his hands, and the world around Ion dissolved once again, letting agony and mayhem take over.

  __________

  Valgon, Cluster 65

  The entire village lay blanketed in the peace of the night. The straw huts glowed with the orange fire of the lanterns lit within them. And the faint murmurs of chatter from the various houses all over were the only sounds heard through the silence.

  And then, a tendril of pale smoke shot down from the heavens, landing right amidst the cluster of straw huts that made the village. The demon formed out of the murky fumes and, his eyes blazing coldly, he threw one hand towards the hut by his right. A ball of fire erupted from his smoky fingertips. As it hit the hut, the entire structure exploded with flames.

  The demon shot another ball of fire into the hut next to it, and then one on his left. His pale face filled with relish, the demon flung his hands about wildly, shooting orbs of orange all across the place, and blasting every hut in the vicinity.

  Screams rent the night as the villagers in the burning huts tore out of it with their arms flailed, some of them heaving their children with them as they ran.

  The demon stood on the spot, laughing maniacally, and continued to rain the place with his cruel orbs of fire.

  And in no time, the entire village was ablaze, in the grip of panic like no other, with the villagers pelting about madly with screams tearing their lungs.

  __________

  Aores, Cluster 29

  The city’s large concrete buildings rose to a few storeys, with streams of air vehicles flowing about over the air above.

  Then, shooting down from the black sky above, came a strange smoke like entity. It landed right in the middle of the street. As the demon took shape, he allowed his gaze to travel over the place around him for a few seconds, while the entire street around him gaped at him, wondering what in the world this strange new abomination was.

  Then, the demon clapped his hands in front of him. And as he did, his form suddenly vaporised. And in place of where he stood, a slight whirl of wind remained, leaving a pale coloured mist leaking. The whirl of wind swelled in size, seeming to magnify and grow. The people all over stumbled back and ran, coming to the realisation that this was something beyond the borders of the natural world they knew.

  And the whirl of wind expanded in size within a few seconds, swelling into a giant, raging tornado…

  A tornado of boundless, infinite strength.

  And as it spun over the place, the city’s buildings nearby tore off the ground and came soaring into it. The stream of air vehicles went distorted, all of the ships and hover cars suddenly breaking their flow of motion, swerving and flying right into the tornado. Which swallowed all in its path.

  The demon’s tornado grew even larger, so that the city’s structures for miles around were all ripped off the earth and sucked into it with the force of an opened air vent in a ship.

  And as the tornado swirled on, moving over the entire city, destroying everything dead or alive that came in its wake, the demon’s high pitched, shrill laughter rang over the raging mayhem. It was an evil, terrifying sound … the sound of the newly awakened Mezmeron himself. And it boomed over the entire city, magnified a thousand fold by the devastation wreaked all over it.

  __________

  “Shall … we … begin?” rasped Rigmrr, his smile widening.

  The rest of the Ensys, about seven of them altogether, slowly came out of the shadows of the crater’s entrances, moving forward very slowly. Their faces were all mirrors of the same, savage joy as they closed in upon the three helpless man beings lying on the ground amidst them, limp and unable to move.

  One of the three man beings was an old one, his face emotionless as he witnessed the onset of his doom slowly approach from right in front of him. His gaze was steady, almost unusually calm, as if he had embraced what lay ahead of him. His white eyes were watching Rigmrr closely as he took a step forward, and another.

  The other two were young ones, their forms lying rigid on the ground. Their eyes were wide, and they looked half dead with panic.

  Rigmrr savoured the sight, feeling the glow of delight brighten within him.

  He licked his lips and clicked his pincers. Then, looking around at the seven others of his kind, Rigmrr called:

  “Dinner’s … served. Get them!”

  And as one, the entire batch of large spider like creatures bounded forward towards the centre, where lay the three helpless man beings…

  __________

  Everything around Ion had gone cold, dry…

  He was lying in the middle of a blank, black expanse, devoid of light …warmth.

  And over him, playing like a long lost voice that
had returned to haunt him fresh, came the laughter. The laughter of the man with the glowing red eyes. It rose over the entire blank realm. The creature’s face slowly came to life before Ion, hovering over him, looming like the call of fate ready to land anytime now.

  “I’ve returned for you, Ion…”

  And as the voice shrieked again in a cold, high pitched laughter, Ion covered his head with his arms pressing his ears, feeling his face contort.

  “Make it stop.”

  But everything replayed within him as the maniac’s laughter sounded, his tone bearing the darkest events of his life etched over it: and as he laughed, Ion could hear the screams emanate along with him, from his cold laugh. The screams of the dying people. All those innocent, dying people … killed by his hand. And among them, came a familiar voice, which Ion knew he would never ever forget.