And right then, all of the grief and pain vanished in the split second. And another emotion came surging up within him like a cataclysmic, volcanic blast…
Rage…
Ion now realised who was responsible for this. For what he had now become…
Vonayz and the hunters.
Ion went rigid as iron as anger like nothing before came coursing through his veins, pumping venom through him.
Vonayz and the others were the ones who had lured him into this life. They were the ones who had made him adopt this lifestyle …
They were the reason Ion was what he was now …
They were responsible for all the innocent lives Ion had shattered over the past few years he had lived with them.
They were responsible for Eol’s death.
And now, thought Ion, his insides ablaze like an inferno … They would share his pain.
They would die.
14
The hover car glided smoothly into the planet’s atmosphere, dropping through the first layer of the sky. It was night and apart from the clouds spread over in large, shadowy masses, the scene outside of the hover car mirrored the look of space. Inside the car, Vonayz kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the seat beside him.
As the car dropped in altitude, the Plasmon shield cloaked the effect of inertia. Nullifying the weightless falling sensation he would have otherwise felt. The hum of the electrical engine was now mingled with a sound of wheezing wind as the vehicle streaked down the airy skies.
Now that the job was complete, the thrill and adrenaline slowly melted away. Leaving Vonayz’s mind free again. When on any job, hunt or assassination, he would feel a chilling mixture of steel and thrill pulse within him. Only allowing him to settle to a calm when the job was finished. But this senseless rush of adrenaline was the very reason Vonayz was what he now was. Did what he now did. Hunting and killing. And he knew he would go on doing this for the rest of his life…
A squeaky, muffled sound drew from behind him.
“Keep it down, now.” Vonayz called without turning. “We’re almost there…”
He threw a half glance to the backseat of the car behind. Where lay an Iveling bound tightly in ropes, with his mouth gagged.
This was a target Vonayz had been hired to hunt by a mafia living close to this planet. It had been a rather easy affair, finding and bagging him. It had taken no longer than a couple of hours. Vonayz would deliver him to the mafia the first thing tomorrow.
As the ground came zooming upward, Vonayz ran his gaze through the large, empty expanse. He spotted their hunt, a meek dot on the giant earthen floor, and directed the car towards it.
A few seconds later, the vehicle floated to a gentle stop by the side of the hut, where the vehicles of the other hunters lay. As the engine died, Vonayz twisted around to look at his target, the gagged, bound man at the back of the car.
“Well, I promise you’re gonna have a good night’s sleep here in this car.” he told the man, who stared back at him with widened, terrified eyes. “I hope you do … it’s gonna be your last.”
Laughing cruelly, he exited the car, slammed the door so that the man lay locked inside of it, and then strode over to the door of the hut. Tossing the door open with a lazy push of his right hand, he walked in. The inside of their large hut was the same as he had always known it. The rest of the hunters were apparently away with their own hunts: the place was empty. He jumped to the bed by the right and threw his sheathed sword by the side.
Stretching his arms in a tired yawn, he leaned against the wall behind. He sat relaxed for a moment, allowing his mind to de compress. It had been a long day. As usual. And he took advantage of the solitude and silence to ease his fatigue.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Vonayz jolted back up with a start, his head snapping around to the back of the hut.
And there, he saw something he had missed earlier: a cloaked figure, his hood drawn, sitting at the corner over a group of large cushiony pillows.
Jumping out of the bed, Vonayz stared with a tilted head at the strangely eerie sight.
“Give me a heads up, before doing something like that next time, won’t you?” he said. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
Ion slowly pulled his hood back with both arms. His eyes were latched to the floor in front of him. Very slowly, he lifted his gaze and met Vonayz’s eyes. His burning orange eyes had a molten glow that Vonayz had never seen in them before. That, together with his crazed red hair gave him a near deranged look … For some reason, as Vonayz held his eyes for the a quiet span of seconds, a very faint squirm occurred inside of him. Very mildly faint…
Ion’s face re arranged in a strangely twisted smile.
“Sit back down.” he said so softly, Vonayz hardly heard him.
Something very odd was happening, and Vonayz could sense it like smoke burning in the air. Very hesitantly, he took a step forward, and asked, “Ion, is something wrong?”
Ion continued to look at him with his fiery orange eyes, his legs stretched before the large pillows he sat over.
“Where’re the others?” Vonayz asked him. “My brother, Monaz and Sidro?”
“I don’t know.” said Ion, a bite of fury in his voice. “Right now, you are my concern. And I’m yours.”
Vonayz stared. “What?” Frowning, he took a deep breath. “Listen, I know something’s going on with you. I sensed it when you came back from the hunt earlier on. Whatever it is-”
“What did you see?” Ion’s voice abruptly cut him across.
“What?” asked Vonayz.
Ion continued to hold his gaze, unblinking, and let silence crawl on for a few seconds.
“The day you met me,” Ion said slowly. “what did you see in me?”
His voice was strangely colourless … dark. Vonayz felt an unfamiliar twitch at the base of his stomach.
What the hell is this?
“What’s going on?” he demanded, feeling his frown sink lower. “What’s this all about-”
“Cause if you saw something like you,” Ion rose from the pillows he’d been sitting on and stood facing Vonayz. “Then you were dead wrong.”
Vonayz stood on the spot, feeling his entire body tense. The air around them seemed to swell with a nasty unpleasance.
He then turned to the side of the hut as something suddenly occurred to him. Something that made a tingle of horror emanate from within him.
“Wait,” He turned back to Ion, his heart speeding. “When I arrived, I saw the others’ vehicles parked by the side of the hut.” A sharp silence sank into the air. “Ion … where’re my brother and the other two?” He could the tenseness in his voice. “I saw their vehicles outside when I came.”
The same twisted smile crept over Ion’s face. He slowly turned and heaved one of the large pillows he had been sitting on. And he tore off the top of the cover to reveal a dead face that had been concealed inside the sack all along. It was Monaz. Throwing the sack with the dead body on the ground before a mindfreaked Vonayz, and turned to pick up a second sack. He tore off the top to reveal a second dead face. It was Sidro.
“He put up a good fight, Vonayz.” Turning, Ion scooped up the last of the three dead sacks … and ripped off the top to reveal…
… Alcrox. Lying dead inside of it.
“But sadly,” carried on Ion, his voice horribly sweet. “in the end, the better man won … the better mystic.”
He hurled the sack with Alcrox right to Vonayz’s feet.
Something seemed to have scooped out Vonayz’s insides as he stood rooted to the spot there. Gaping at the sack lying by the front of his feet, with his brother’s body inside.
“Share my pain, Vonayz.” hissed Ion, an edge of madness in his voice. “Because it was all your fault. That day, when you found me in the Naxim station, you should have just left me alone … for both of our sakes.” His horrible
smile went wider. “And now, you join me in burning for our sins.”
But Vonayz wasn’t listening. His widened eyes lay clasped to the body by his feet … and the world seemed to revolve around him. He raised his gaze slowly, and watched the crimson haired, wild eyed creature standing before him.
And suddenly, a red hot, lava like substance came gushing up within him. It was rage like Vonayz had never known before … and never would.
And it was directed at the boy before him … who had once been his best friend.
“What … have you done?”
“I killed them.” said Ion, his orange eyes blazing with madness. “I killed them all. Because I saw that we were all wrong … And things that are wrong in this world need to be set right. I’m setting everything right, dear old friend.”
Vonayz’s breaths grew racy as he stood there with his fists curled, his jaws locked.
“You … killed him.” he said, his voice a bare hiss. “You killed my brother.”
“And I’m not finished.” Ion said, shaking his head.
“You killed my brother … I’LL KILL YOU!!”
In a flash, Vonayz had snatched his sword from his bed and unsheathed it. Ion had his out and ready as Vonayz launched over him, and a dazzling orange flare lit the inside of the hut as both their blades ignited as one.
Cling!
The steely ring of their swords meeting cut the air, and the two of them stood facing each other, their ignited sabers knotted in a deadly clash.
Ion stood there, his teeth ground, his nerves coursing with an electric fury. He could feel a raw sense of hatred and power emanate from Vonayz as he stood there rigidly, holding his ground against Ion. His eyes were lit with a maniacal gleam.
Uttering a savage war cry, he thrust all his strength forward, pushing Ion off balance. And then he struck, his blade as fast as a furious orange blur. Ion swiped his own across the air, so that he parried the shot only at the brink of the moment. Sparks showered around them as the blazing swords clashed. Ion jumped to the side and slashed his sword across the air, aiming for Vonayz’s side. But the other was, as he well knew, far too fast. He twisted about and caught Ion’s sword with his own, before moving faster than Ion thought possible … and jabbing at Ion’s torso.
Ion followed the blade as it came gliding in towards his exposed stomach, feeling his eyes widen. He threw himself back, but his enemy’s blade came swiping the air from the side … and the tip of the blade brushed his stomach. Ion felt the air rush from his lungs as a sizzling, white hot pain cut open his skin where the blade met it.
Feeling a guttural gasp escape him, he landed with a heavy thud on his back, the force of his leap having carried him to the end of the hut. His sword had flown off his hand, and through the corner of his eye, he saw it land by the corner of their hut. Unable to rise, he clutched the front of his stomach, where the sword had cut it. Though not too deep to inflict a serious damage, the wound burned like fire compressed within him. And Ion’s eyes stung painfully at the agony of it.
Hardly able to move, he saw Vonayz’s shadow surge forward over him, and he knew he had a mini second left to live. Tapping into all the hidden energy reserves known and unknown within him, he hurled himself out of the way. Rolling over the ground just in time to miss his enemy’s sword.
Pushing back the dreadful agony of his stomach wound, Ion stood upright, facing Vonayz as he too straightened up. But his eyes widened, and so did Vonayz’s as the two of them focussed at the corner of the hut behind Vonayz…
There, Ion’s ignited sword had set fire to the hut’s wall, where it had fallen.
Even as the two of them watched, transfixed with alarm, the molten flames rapidly spread across both adjacent walls. Black fumes filled the inside of the hut.
Vonayz rounded on Ion, unperturbed, and lunged…
Ion jumped back, avoiding his blow, and held his arm out towards where his sword lay: the blade lifted off the ground and came spinning towards him at the call of his mystical powers. He aimed to impale Vonayz from the back, but the other twisted about and parried the flying sword, which spun around and landed on Ion’s outstretched arm.
The crackling of flames grew madder, now drowning out all other noises: the flames were sweeping across the walls and ceiling, spreading to swallow the entire hut.
Ion felt his heart flutter as a new panic clutched at him.
Vonayz’s form grew murky amidst the black fumes engulfing both of them. He walked forward, his sword’s light piercing the haze. Amidst the choking fumes his breathing came in harsh rasps. But his strength remained just as devious and unfaltered: Ion had never seen anyone so mindlessly enraged. Vonayz was stronger than him by a shade in a normal day … but the lunatic fury which Ion had triggered in him now bolstered his powers to a deadly level.
He swept his sword across the air, and Ion slid his into place to block it. The two of them locked blades again, but the sparks bursting about them went dull in the blaze that was now rapidly spreading to devour the entire hut. The two of them stood there with their sabers clashed amidst the roaring fire, trying to wrestle each other’s weight off.
Ion grew wary of the sweat coating his face and arms: The air around them was simmering in the raging flames that enveloped their hut. The blistering heat seemed to press in from all sides.
In a flash of suddenness, Vonayz relinquished his sword, swinging it about. The hilt of the blade came flying out of the groggy smoke in an arc. And crashed into Ion’s face painfully. Stars bursting before his vision, Ion flew back a few feet and landed with a shudder on the ground.
As he looked up slowly, he saw that the thick black fumes were all that could be seen inside the burning hut now.
Ion raised his glowing sword, covering his mouth with his other hand. Struggling with all his might, he heaved himself up slowly from the ground. But the feeble slash across his stomach left his insides scorched, so that he could hardly mind anything else…
Gritting his teeth in the terrible pain, he rose.
And just as straightened up, he felt something hurl at him from amidst the smoke. Not a second too soon, Ion launched out of the way of the body that came flying out of the fumes at him.
Vonayz landed on all fours, straightening up to face Ion.
In a lightspeed motion, he raised his ignited sword and lunged at Ion, who had a split second to raise his own. The steely cling of their blades meeting rose over the raging of the flames.
The two mystics stood there, their swords locked, for a second that seemed to stretch. Ion stared into Vonayz’s black eyes and the dark patches below it. His long, tousled hair looked ravaged, with two horns sticking out on either side of his head.
In a flash, Vonayz pushed Ion back, freeing his clasped saber, and made a speedy jab. Ion sidestepped the shot, and swung his sword at the Iveling’s side. Vonayz’s eyes widened slightly as they followed Ion’s blade. Faster than any normal man, he jumped back, bringing his own sword forward in a defensive slash. A fiery shower of sparks emitted as both their blazing swords clashed again. Vonayz sent a lightspeed swipe at Ion’s neck, which Ion ducked not a second too early.
Before he straightened up, Vonayz’s sword flew at him again from the side. Ion twisted around, his sword slicing across the air in attempt to block his enemy’s.
Cling!
Their ignited swords clashed again and again in a fierce duel, both their movements blurred as they danced at speeds unbelievable to normal man.
Cling! Cling! Cling!
Sparks flew every time their swords met, as the two mystics fought with a mindless ferocity, both to kill…
Ion felt a concreteness of focus like no other as he ducked, sidestepped, slashed and jabbed. But Vonayz was too strong. He couldn’t gain the upper hand against such a powerful mystic…
Vonayz slashed across Ion’s sword in an effortless swing, and then, before half the second had died, hurled his leg forth in a wild kick. Ion felt a hard, r
amming sensation in his chest as Vonayz’s foot landed there, and then he was airborne. He felt himself soar backwards, the fire’s groggy black fumes shifting about him. And a heavy thud sounded as he hit the floor, his sword flying out of his hand. Before he picked himself up, he felt a heavy foot stamp his chest, pressing him to the ground. Vonayz stood over him, his face torched like the burning house they were now in. A maniacal glow shone in his eyes.
“Time to die.” he whispered, holding the sword high. His mouth opened in a war cry as he dove his sword down at Ion…
And then, with a swoosh of wind and a loud crash! It was all over…
Ion opened his eyes.
Vonayz lay on the floor next to him with a large, burning portion of the roof having landed over him. He stirred feebly, his sword beside Ion. Ion slowly picked himself up, reaching for his own sword. He felt a roar of inner fury as he locked eyes with the fallen mystic on the floor of this burning house.
He bent down over Vonayz and whispered, “You wrecked my life. I wrecked yours.” He stood back up, dusting ash from his shoulder. “Consider us even.”