The Rising Sun: Episode 6 Page 5

  Mantra’s lips creased in a mild smile. “I always know where he is.” He turned to look at Ion with the same tranquil depth in his white eyes. “I’ve kept an eye on almost all my apprentices since they left.”

  Right. thought Ion. I forgot who I’m talking to.

  They made their way down the rough land and arrived before Mantra’s brown cloaked apprentice. Sensing their presence, the man turned and faced them.

  It was Vonayz.

  “You!” gasped Ion, jumping back. Flabbergasted, he turned to Mantra and spat, “This was your former apprentice?”

  Mantra nodded. “And the large force that he leads, which I was talking about, is none other than Force one, the group of thousand or so mystics that he commands.”

  He turned and looked at a mortified Ion. “Now you see why I brought you along. Because more than being my apprentice … he’s your friend.”

  Vonayz stood there as still as a rock, his eyes glued to Ion. And a century seemed to pass as the two deadly foes stood there, staring at each other.

  This can’t be. Ion thought, thunderstruck. He had known Vonayz to be of uncanny powers. And he had, since being rescued by him, always wondered where he had gotten these powers, and how he had become such a strong mystic at such a young age…

  Well, he now had the answer.

  Mantra had trained Vonayz. Evidently, in the hopes that the boy would do good with his training and help the Nyon. But Vonayz had betrayed his master’s faith and, after finishing, decided to use Mantra’s training for the despicable, evil means that Ion had known him to.

  Vonayz had his eyes pinned to Ion, and a silent roar of fury slowly gathered within them. One that transcended all other emotions. Something seemed to corrode in the air around, as the echoes of a heavy and turmoiled past filled the silence between the two of them.

  As the century passed, Vonayz switched his gaze to Mantra and gave a loud laugh.

  “Wrong, master. I’m neither your apprentice,” His eyes flamed as he shifted them over to Ion again. “nor his friend anymore. Now, what in the bloody hell would the two of you come here for? What do you want?”

  Mantra took the space of a second to heave a deep sigh. “We want your understanding, Vonayz.”

  Vonayz raised an eyebrow, staring coldly at his master.

  “Understand,” went on Mantra. “that you are not what you think you are. You are more. Far more. I say this, because it was I who trained you. It was I who knew you. And I know you better than you yourself do.” He took a step forward, his voice dropping to a mere whisper. “You are more, young one. And today, I stand here to make you recognise the truth … recognise yourself.”

  Mantra turned and swept his eyes over the back of the roughened terrain they were standing in. “We are now in a treacherous time. One that will determine the fate of the entire world forever hence, and will bind us all to it. We are at the edge of a great war. One that has silently raged forever, but now awakened to the largest scale of reality. The war between good and evil … Elderon and Mezmeron. And the time has come for mankind to make its stand, to take its sides … and to fight for the cause they believe in. And among mankind, we are destined to shape the future of the world through this war. We, the ones chosen to fight this war.” His tone became gentle. “When I trained you, I saw you for a good person. I saw that side which you carried in you, and I see it now as well. And I ask you now to witness that side within yourself, and to do what it asks you to. For now more than ever, you are needed. We all are.” He drew in a deep breath.

  “The Xeni order has returned. And the world is about to be plunged into anarchy forever. In less than a few hours, they would have used the plague crystal to release the demon army, the force of Mezmeron, and enslave all of mankind.”

  Vonayz gaped at Mantra as the effect of his words faded.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he burst out, sounding positively puzzled. “Plague crystal? Demon army? Force of Mezmeron?”

  Mantra looked at Ion. “Would you mind helping?”

  Ion didn’t respond, but continued to hold Vonayz in a seething glare. Vonayz … on our side? Could he possibly accept that?

  He couldn’t … He couldn’t comprehend it. Everything within him revolted in disgust and fury.

  “Yes,” he replied bluntly. “I do mind helping. I’m sorry, but you’re on your own in this. And good luck.”

  And he stood there with his arms folded, glaring at Vonayz.

  Mantra gave a long sigh, and shrugged his shoulders. “Suit yourself.” He turned back to Vonayz. “All right, there’s quite a lot going on, which the outer world has no idea of. They threatened to blow off ten planets. But it was not for no avail: the Xeni were doing all of it for a reason, as a part of a plan. Nobody outside their order knows, of course. Except us.”

  Mantra explained everything, of the Xeni’s plan in releasing the army that they had kept sealed in another dimension for eight millennia, waiting for the ripe time to release it. But Vonayz showed not the meekest regard or respect for his master: while Mantra flowed on, explaining how Vonayz and the thousand or so powerful mystics he controlled in force one were desperately needed to join their side to fend off the Xeni’s uprising evil, Vonayz played with his z-com, paying him the least attention possible. He paused only to shoot scorching glares at Ion, and also at Mantra himself at intervals.

  But Mantra seemed perfectly unbothered, not a pinch of anger arising in his voice as he went on speaking.

  As Mantra finished, there was a brush of affection kindled within those white eyes, as he gazed at his former student. Meanwhile, Vonayz continued to throw his z-com into the air and use his powers to make it float there.

  “Vonayz,” Mantra said, with an air of closure. “I know that there’s good in you.” He glanced at Ion. “As there was in Ion, too. I had secretly kept my faith in Ion, despite what he had done. And secretly, I kept my faith in you as well. And I know that you will do this as Ion did, to redeem yourself.”

  Ion was inwardly amazed that Mantra set so much store by Vonayz. After living and growing up with him, he had known him far better than Mantra. And that was why he felt that the words the elderly master spoke were hollow and meaningless. The boy standing in front of them would not put his selfish, brutal ways aside and come over to their side to help the world … And Ion was thankful for it. Because the last thing he needed was this creature ahead of him … A reminder of what he had once been, and the reason he had been so.

  “Can you put that away, and listen to me?” asked Mantra, with a bite in his voice, as Vonayz played with the z-com.

  Vonayz scowled at Mantra. “I’m not your student anymore for you to boss me around. And thank god for that.”

  Mantra simply sighed tragically. “Indeed you aren’t … as much as I wish you were. As much as I wished that I could go back to those days, so that my err in training you could be righted.”

  “There was no err in training me.”

  “Yes there was. Why else would you be what you are now?” Mantra took a step forward, placing a gentle hand on Vonayz’s shoulder. “Deep down, you know I tell the truth, when I say this: you belong with me … with us. With the noble cause of protecting the world, and not destroying it.

  Ion gazed across the land, at the cluster of huts near the large black ship. Overhead, dusk was slowly pulling over the skies like a blanket, as the glow of the morning faded in the blue skies.

  “What do you say?” asked Mantra finally. “Join us, because we need you. Force one has a thousand or so mystics that we could desperately use for our battle now.”

  Vonayz slipped his z-com into his robe pocket and finally held his master’s eyes.

  As he was the whole time, Ion kept his fists clenched, trying his best not to let his anger ruin this task. As much as he wanted it to.

  __________

  Flicking a strand of his black hair off his face, Zardin gazed into the holo screen over the z-com in his h
and. It was a verbal message. A verbal message from Vonayz:

  MANTRA AND ION ARE HERE. WITH ME, RIGHT NOW.

  YOU MIGHT WANNA COME GET THEM FAST.

  A cold smile gleamed on his pale features. Vonayz, along with the rest of force one, had come to join their side just recently. It was too bad Mantra and Ion didn’t know it. Too bad for them.

  He punched in a reply, and sent it to Vonayz:

  I’LL BE THERE.

  AS YOU KNOW, WE’RE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK.

  He turned and walked back down the metallic floor, pocketing his z-com.

  __________

  “The time is upon us.” said Mantra, his hand still over Vonayz’s shoulder. “We have very little time to gather our armies and if you join us, you and force one would be our most needed alliance.”

  Vonayz lifted an eyebrow, a look of dawning interest on his face.

  “Gather your armies?” he asked slowly. “And … how exactly are you doing this?”

  Mantra considered the question for a moment, and said, “With the aid of a most needed force we have by our side … the army of watchmen.”

  Vonayz’s breathing stalled as his eyes widened. “Watchmen? They’ve returned?”

  “Yes they have.”

  “You have the watchmen with your side now?”

  “Yes we do.”

  The shock lingered for a few moments on Vonayz’s face, before sinking back to the same uninterested look he’d been wearing. But Ion couldn’t help noticing that something in his eyes almost looked … unsettled. Troubled. He sank to a thoughtful gaze for a while. leaving Ion in front of him with his arms folded in contempt, and Mantra beside him with his hand still clutching his shoulder.

  The sky above dimmed slowly, as the final lights of the day faded. As the dusk wore through and the night formed, the mild activity around them was dying down. The people who’d been outside the huts were receding back to it, lighting torches within them.

  Ion noticed a group of people filing outside the large black ship near them, where they’d been all along. They disbanded, all of them spreading out to return to their respective huts.

  “So what’re the watchmen doing?” Vonayz asked finally.

  “We’ve sent them to gather our forces.”

  “Yeah, but what’s the plan there, exactly?” asked Vonayz, and Ion picked up a strange, sharp anticipation in his tone. He was being, in Ion’s opinion, overly curious all of a sudden.

  He wondered why…

  Mantra chuckled softly. “You know we can’t be giving out all our secrets to outsiders, right?”

  “Outsiders?” asked Vonayz, his lips parting in a grin.

  “Sorry, kid,” said Mantra. “But that’s what you are as of now … unless you decide to join us, of course.”

  “Give me one solid reason I should,” said Vonayz, a mild growl in his tone as he switched his gaze over to Ion.

  Ion had to fight the urge to unsheathe his sword and run it through Vonayz. But he contented himself with a tight smile, before turning and gazing across the lands.

  “Believe me,” said Mantra, his grip on Vonayz’s shoulder tightening. “If you refuse my offer … there will be a time when you will regret it.”

  “Believe me,” contradicted Vonayz. “I won’t.” He wrenched Mantra’s hand off his shoulder, turned and kicked dirt over to the fire, dousing it.

  Ion walked forward and sat behind where Mantra was. He inwardly felt that this was a lost cause the very moment he knew who Mantra’s student was. But Mantra apparently had other notions. Far off from where they were, the setting sun lay pressed to the horizon, a disc of radiant, glowing red. One of the cloaked men from the black ship was trotting towards them, making his way to his hut. And as he neared, Ion caught sight of his face … Zardin’s blank eyesockets were fixed steadily on Ion, his face alive with malice as he walked over towards them.

  As Ion rose, his tongue bone dry, he realised that the rest of the cloaked men who’d alighted the large black ship weren’t spreading out towards their huts … they were spreading out to surround him and Mantra.

  Vonayz turned back to face Ion, a grin burning on his face. “Sorry to say … I’ve already made my alliance.”

  Mantra paused for a second, and then turned to face Zardin as his footsteps neared. His calm look was just as dangerously unfazed as always.

  Walking on towards them, Zardin shook his head and spread his hands in a warm gesture. “What a pleasant surprise, I must say … for you.”

  Mantra turned back to Vonayz, gazing at him in steady silence. Wounded silence.

  Ion’s fear was blotted by the surge of fury that awoke inside of him. As Mantra stood there, gazing calmly at his former student, Ion walked forward and unsheathed his sword.

  “I swear do you,” he hissed, locking eyes with Vonayz. “before the end of this life … I will kill you.”

  Vonayz sneered. “Not if I kill you first.”

  He drew his saber and progressed. Approaching fast from beside them, Zardin shouted to the Xeni closing them all over: “Kill them!”

  “Time to leave,” Mantra said, tugging Ion from the back. “let’s go, Run!”

  With a final, seething glare at Vonayz, Ion and Mantra turned and took to their heals. The rough, sloping lands marked no difference to the two of them as they tore across it, with the Xeni sweeping in towards them from all sides, surrounding them.

  Ion’s hopes crashed: the Xeni swooped in from all sides, and there was no way in the world they could wriggle off their grasp.

  But Mantra threw both hands out as he had done when the Zelgron had attacked them: A violent shockwave erupted from where Mantra stood, soaring out to smash into the Xeni from all over, lifting them into the air. They sailed, airborne, across ten metres. Before they had landed, Mantra and Ion had hurtled across the distance and had passed them. A collective, muffled thud and a set of groans sounded right behind them as the Xeni’s bodies landed. Ion threw a split second glance: the Xeni were scurrying to their feet and, together, dashing towards the two Nyon dangerously fast…

  His heart hammering, Ion turned back and propelled himself forth alongside Mantra.

  8

  Redgarn strode down the large cave with quiet footsteps, another cloaked Xeni by his side. The only faint sound through the silence was the rustle of their cloaks scraping the cave floor behind them as they walked.

  “We’ve come far.” Redgarn said. “We are now closer than anyone had dared for ages. We owe our debts to many, both before us and with us now, to have helped us reach where we are now.”

  The Xeni walking by his side nodded.

  Redgarn continued. “But our greatest debt is to you, my fellow Xeni. You rank after Zardin himself, in the contribution made to our order’s victory.”

  “Thank you, my lord. You are very kind.”

  “Your continued assistance to us has been the greatest boon possible.” said Redgarn. “And it has fetched us a great heap of benefits. You have served with us for almost two decades, and these two decades formed the period of our rise … and of their fall. The fall of the Nyon. It’s no co incidence at all. But it was your most recent achievement that we could not have done without: your success in getting the Ensys to join us. For that, the entire order is truly grateful to you. The Ensys are a valuable ally, and you steered them away from joining the Nyon and got them to join us instead.” He shook his head. “But didn’t the Nyon ever suspect you?”

  “They didn’t.” Dantox replied, his smile seeming to glitter in the dark. “I was good at what I did.”

  Redgarn gave a loud, unpleasant laugh. “You definitely were. A spy within the Nyon is something is the one achievement we had craved for, but never could achieve. But you made that possible. For years now, you have lived among them as a spy, pretending, and hiding your deep secret well from them. I must congratulate you, for it must have been no easy feat. And now, after so long, your efforts have paid off … in our long awaited
victory.”

  “Thank you, my lord.” Dantox gave a mild bow. “I must admit, it was no easy feat. I was forced to hide my intentions in the most crucial way possibly. For the Nyon were not the sort that fell prey to deception with ease. And I was forced to arm myself with only the most advanced mind concealing training to undertake the dangerous mission.” He stopped and turned to face Redgarn, his eyes gleaming with triumph. “And it payed of. I proved myself worthy to them, and something happened which made my very own self question the enormity of my luck…”

  Redgarn nodded slowly. “Yes … you were made a member of the elder council.”

  Dantox’s smile widened. “Yes. And that was the turning point for the Xeni. With my entering into the elder council, I managed to redeem information of various sorts, to aid our rising conquest. I found the existence of file D from some of the other masters, who confided in the secret deeming me trustworthy now that I was a member of the council. Mantra, who had been there when the file had been created, had been aware of it all along. In time, I forged spy relations with a very, very crucial entity: the Naxim. And through this, I learned about the current secret holder of file D, and where he lives. And so, with that knowledge, Zardin went on to capture Derigor, to have the file procured from him.”