The Rising Sun: Episode 6 Page 7

  He sat up straight, his eyes darting between the four people he saw before him. And then he remembered what had happened before he had been knocked out.

  Mantra slowly trotted forward, leaning down over him with fury and resolve blazing in his white eyes. The other three youngsters whose names he didn’t know stood behind their master.

  Rygar’s hand twitched, longing to reach for his sword slung around his back, when he realised that it wasn’t there anymore: the Nyon had disarmed him while he’d been unconscious. And they had taken their ship from them. Rygar was the only Xeni here. And then the true hopelessness of the situation crashed over him.

  Mantra bent lower upon him and breathed, “Now, more for your own good than for ours … tell us everything.”

  Rygar steadied himself with all the effort possible, as Mantra glared down upon him with a look of steel in his eyes. As the silence between them drew on, he collected everything, weighing his options.

  After Zardin had taken the conch from Mantra, he had informed Rygar of the plan with which they would ambush the watchmen, the same plan which Rygar knew was now in implementation … Dantox, the spy they were having with the Nyon for a long time now, would be in Vorgos, a planet somewhere in the outer spectrum. And there, he would use the conch to summon the watchmen … right into the ambush. The trap. A trap that would have them all killed …

  It would be happening right now.

  Anytime now, the watchmen would be summoned by Dantox to the planet Vorgos. And minutes into their arrival, they would all be dead.

  Faced with no other choice, Rygar lowered his resistance and submitted:

  “The watchmen are being summoned into a trap … it’s happening in the planet Vorgos, in the far side of the outer spectrum.”

  Silence struck the hull after his words. A grim, tense silence…

  Mantra’s face remained just as unchanged as ever, but something in his posture had stiffened. The other three youngsters could be seen with visible looks of shock and alarm.

  “It’s happening right now.” Rygar said, shaking his head.

  Rygar had not lied: this was the plan … But, he withheld that one crucial piece of information.

  The one crucial aspect that had given the Xeni their true edge over the Nyon all along.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” mumbled Mantra, standing straight and looking around at the other three youngsters, one of which was the red haired boy who’d been with Mantra earlier. “The conch can only be used by a Nyon … only an initiated member of the brotherhood can sound it.” He turned back to Rygar. “Is there something else you’d like to tell us, pal?”

  Rygar had to summon every bit of his nerve to keep from flinching. “I’m swearing to you … that’s all I know. I’ve told you everything about the ambush.” Except the fact that Dantox is the one doing it. Rygar thought in the private confines of his own mind. Nyon master Dantox, or so you think …

  Mantra’s eyes continued to remain distant for a quiet moment, as he tried to place it all together.

  “But how will they sound the conch?” he demanded finally. “It can only be used by a Nyon master.”

  Rygar held his hands before him, pulling up as innocent a look as he could muster. “It’s no good asking me. I’ve told you all I know.”

  Mantra’s eyes narrowed slightly, as his thoughtful gaze intensified.

  Then, slowly turning to the other three, he said, “Set the ship to the planet Vorgos, to location he’s just mentioned … and hope that we aren’t too late to save them.”

  As Mantra had his back turned, Rygar allowed the shadow of a smirk to rub his innocent look. Good luck with that … because about just anytime now, the watchmen will all be dead.

  __________

  Vorgos, The Outer Spectrum

  Nyon master Dantox mounted to the top of a large plateau in the middle of a deserted terrain. He held the Grael conch in his right hand, lowered for a few seconds while he scanned the barren land in front of him. The crimson coloured earth was unlevelled and rough, scoured of a drop of greenery. It ran across for miles before entering with the horizon, a massless line separating the hard red earth and the soft blue sky.

  Dantox’s mind flashed back to the time when they had discovered the conch from Ion, and when the watchmen bad been re enlivened. It had been a place very much like this one where it had happened. And now, they would be facing their end in the very same setting. It was rather fitting, thought Dantox.

  Dantox heaved a final deep breath, relishing the cool evening air as it lapped into his lungs. Then, he raised the conch to his lips and sounded it…

  It felt like a thousand earthquakes smashing apart the silence as one … the ground and the air seemed to tremble for a handful of seconds. The sound seemed to reverberate through the air, making the world itself rumble like a volcano.

  Dantox lowered the conch, but the echo of the majestic noise seemed to hum over the air for many seconds…

  Anytime now…

  Dantox fixed his eyes on the deserted stretch of land in front of the plateau he now stood on. The watchmen would have all gathered there anytime now. He knew that wherever they all were spread over the outer spectrum’s many distant planets, they would all come rushing back here to answer the conch’s call. He estimated a maximum of three minutes, before all of them gathered here…

  To meet their doom.

  __________

  They used the chains that had bound Ion and Mantra earlier on, to bind the Xeni up and leave him at the back of the control room. Qyro had set the ship on autopilot to Vorgos, and the four of them were now standing with their arms folded inside of the ship. They had no idea what was going on in Vorgos, but whatever it was, they would be reaching it in a few minutes to find out…

  “Can we reach there to stop the ambush before it happens?” Vestra asked Mantra, her voice strained with anxiety.

 

  “Let’s hope we so.” said Mantra, sounding just as calm as always. But Ion knew that Mantra’s calm was a painful deception to the true depth of the grave situation they were now in. As the ship zipped through space, panic racked Ion’s nerves, leaving his stomach writhing.

  The four of them stood facing the blank abyss of space seen through the window, and the only sounds seeping through the silence were the rhythmic hushes of their breath and the hum of the vessel’s engine.

  Qyro leaned over the control desk, reading one of the holo screens over it, and turned.

  “We’ll be there in less than a minute now.”

  Mantra nodded, some of the tension draining as he exhaled. “Good. Because that’s all we-”

  Before he finished his sentence, an almighty shudder shook the entire ship. The four of them inside were tossed to the side violently. Ion felt his body faintly rise to the air before slamming painfully onto the wall by the right. Stars popped up before him.

  He shook his head wildly, opening his eyes to look for the others. They were all lying on the floor, groaning in pain as he was.

  A holo screen rose over the control desk, blaring with red lights.

  Ion looked into the screen, and his blood froze like ice: the screen showed another ship tailgating them from behind, pelleting them with orbs of light. Apparently one of the shots had hit their ship.

  Mantra jumped to his feet, his face now stripped of the faintest shred of its usual calm.

  “The Xeni…” he breathed.

  The two words seemed to leave a ring of shock and horror in the air after them. The Xeni in Jacova, whose ship they had just stolen, had apparently acquired another one and were now coming after them … And this was happening now, of all the possible instances … Now, when they needed to reach Vorgos and save the watchmen from the ambush.

  This was the worst possible time for fate to throw one of its cruel twists…

  Qyro bounced over and stopped before the screen. “We’ve taken heavy damage. They’ve clipped our -”

  But be
fore he finished, another almighty rumble wrenched the peace in the world, sending the four of them flying again. Another set of metallic thuds ensued as they all slammed into the walls and the floors, harder than the first time.

  Before Ion knew what was happening, he felt the ship’s speed plummet rapidly. And on the window in front, enlargening like a zoom-in, came a planet…

  The ship was making a crash landing.

  __________

  Zeliov, Outer spectrum

  The night wind breezed over the desert sands of the planet. Leaving a weak howl to play in the air behind it. Above, starlight glinted over the black chasm that filled the nightsky.

  And then, zooming out from the black abyss, swelling rapidly in size, came an object … it would have appeared as any normal object, except for the fact that two of its wings were blazing, roasted in flames. The ship’s tail had been blown apart, and the rest of the vessel was soon to be devoured by the infernal blaze, or wrecked in the crash landing that it was now tearing down towards…

  Its black metallic skin gleaming in the fires from its wings, the ship rocketed downwards at a deadly speed, so that the desert sand hundreds of metres below swum with the buffeting wind currents it left.

  The ship sailed over the air for almost three miles, dropping slowly through the sky … And then, as its bottom touched the ground level, the ship crashed onto the earth with the force of a bomb, the sands around it exploding at the impact.

  Then, through the fire enclosed door, four figures came flying out, as quick as the wind.

  Mantra and the other three landed on the cold ground of the soil. Ion was carrying the unconscious body of the chained Xeni. When the ship had begun to zoom into the planet, heading for a crash landing, they had strapped themselves into the seats with fastened seatbelts. That, and Mantra’s mystical shielding ability that dulled the impact of the crash, were responsible for the fact that they were still alive now.

  As the three initiates stood by the wreckage, Mantra sent a glance at the ship, with its flames now spreading to engulf it whole. He yanked the three of them and roared, “It’s gonna blow! RUN!”

  Ion hoisted the man’s body higher and joined the four of them as they dashed off. When they were a mere fifty feet from the ship, a colossal blast blew the entire machine apart, sending its shattered, flaming smithereens everywhere. One of the charred scraps bonked Ion on the head, leaving a stinging pain. But he ignored it and ran on with the three others, holding the unconscious body over his shoulder.

  They slowed to a stop when they had put a hundred feet between them and the wrecked remains of the ship. Ion let the body slip from his hold and hit the ground. For a few seconds they all stood stooped, panting heavily. After shooting them down onto this planet, the Xeni’s ship had abandoned them and flown off.

  In a few seconds, as the full impact of what had happened hit Ion, he slowly turned to face the burning remains of the ship far ahead. We’re stranded…

  The other three were standing speechless by his side, with Mantra’s calm white eyes dancing with the blaze of the devastated ship far ahead.

  This can’t be happening. Ion thought, demolished.

  There was an ambush waiting for the watchmen at that very moment, and the four of them were the only ones who could have warned them of it. But now, they were stranded here, shipless and helpless.

  There was no way they could now reach the watchmen in time to warn them … And they would never reach them again.

  11

  They were all here.

  The entire army.

  The watchmen stood spread in a large clutter that went on for a hundred or so metres in front of the plateau that Dantox was now on. The entire lot had trickled in batch by batch over the past three or so minutes. And now, they all stood before Dantox, giving him their unwavered attention.

  The watchmen had been in the midst of forging relations with non man beings and building alliances for their army, when Dantox had sounded the conch … And so, they had all been forced to abandon their attempts midway and rush to answer the call… The thought made sadistic delight well within Dantox: Now the Nyon were also stripped of any alliances they could have made otherwise. The trap was so beautiful: it ensured that there was nothing at all left for their enemies’ side. No watchmen, and no alliances either. Powerless.

  The Xeni’s victory was sealed. This was the day they had awaited for millennia now, and it was here. The moment was here at long last.

  As the silence lengthened, the watchmen slowly diverted their gazes from Dantox, looking at each other and around them, waiting. Dantox took a precautious step back from the front of the plateau: whatever was waiting to come very soon now was meant to claim only the watchmen. And not him.

  Pushing back the savage glee, Dantox cleared his throat and called to the audience of nine hundred or so flaming warriors spread before him:

  “Watchmen … I bear the heaviest regret in having to tell you of the demise of Mantra, and the three young students. As of now, all of you and myself are all that remains of the ancient legacy that was the Nyon.”

  He gave a fake sigh. He knew that the speech he was now making was merely intended to keep the army engaged just long enough for the trap that was about to fall over them and slay them all. And that wasn’t long at all, now.

  __________

  Meanwhile, about a mile overhead that place, a large ship was perched frozen in the sky. But hanging outstretched beneath the ship was a nuclear canon, and it was aimed right at the large clearing where stood the nine hundred watchmen. The canon needed a brief span of seconds to steady itself and empower itself. The nuclear beam that would soon erupt from its tip would soar down to meet the stretch of land occupied by the watchmen … and blast them all to oblivion.

  The ship pumped energy into the nuclear canon which armed itself, preparing itself to release the deadly ray that would wipe out the watchmen. The energy fed into the canon slowly. And as the canon slowly absorbed the energy, it started the countdown to emitting the blast, aimed at the dead centre of that large clearing … In fifteen seconds, it would release the nuclear blast that would destroy the watchmen.

  Fourteen…

  Thirteen…

  Twelve…

  __________

  Down below, a heavy silence had taken over the clearing filled with the watchmen, as Dantox gave a brief pause to his speech.

  The watchmen, though spirits of Elderon, were made with mortal shells that came with normal emotions. And the grief of what they had heard seemed to weigh down over the entire clearing. Stunning them all to silence…

  They had entered the world to set everything right, but now, it almost seemed like nothing was right at all. If they were hearing correctly, and then it meant that there was only one remaining survivor of the Nyon, and he was standing before them. And together, they were all that now remained to protect this world from Redgarn and his evil empire…

  All nine hundred soldiers were fighting at that moment to keep themselves contained, not let their resolves dissipate. They knew that it was never as bad as it seemed. And at least they, the watchmen, were there as the last armor for the world, right?

  Up over the plateau, Dantox was beginning speak with a strangely slow pace, a deliberate slur to his words. He kept flicking his eyes above towards the puffy field of clouds hanging high over them all. And from time to time, something nasty seemed to glitter in his eyes as he spoke to them of this new development, and what they were now to do…

  And then, piercing through the present, reaching them like a ray of golden sun … it came.

  A message.

  A message sent through telekinetic means. This was something only the most revered and most powerful of mystical minds could have accomplished. And the same message reached all of the watchmen, lasting for the splinter of a moment:

  Mantra’s face vividly shimmered before all of their faces within their minds. He slowly moved his lips to form thre
e plain words:

  “It’s a trap!”

  And then, as soon as the elderly master’s message had come, it had gone. Melting back to leave the present to move back over their minds.

  As one, air gushed into the nine hundred warriors’ lungs as they gasped in utter shock, their eyes now spotting the deceit. It was standing in front of them, pretending to be their ally.

  Dantox was the deceit…

  And they were all now amidst an oncoming ambush … the message reverberated through all of their minds with the force of a tidal wave, and it wiped every other thought from their minds.

  The next second, the nine hundred watchmen had taken to their heels, and were scurrying from the giant clearing that they were standing in. Realising that the place they had been gathered around was some sort of a target zone, the entire army pelted away from the clearing as one. They fled the clearing and, sprinting with all of the mystical energy they had been given, escaped the region coming within the blast radius of the nuclear beam. And just as they did, a dazzling green coloured tunnel of light shot from the heavens and hit the ground where they had been a few seconds back. And a giant golden semi sphere arose as the region within the blast radius went up in a fuming blaze…