The Rising Sun: Episode 5

  Galinor thought he saw lights shoot before his vision.

  As the Xeni’s foot came soaring in for the third, final time, Galinor experienced a split second of pounding, agonizing pain…

  And as it passed, the world flickered and died. And blackness swallowed all.

  12

  Qyro’s ignited sword came swooshing in from Ion’s right. Breathless and slightly panicky, Ion jumped back and swung his own just in time to block the attack. A fierce cling rang within the hull as their gleaming orange blades met, leaving a cloud of sparks to burst in the air around them.

  For an intense second, the two of them stood there with their swords locked, their eyes drilling into each other. Qyro’s red fur rippled, the light from his blade enlivening the snarl on his face. And his exposed, pointed teeth. Ion felt his own fury and grit reflect on his opponent’s face. They stood there, in the centre of the hull, with their blades clasped in a lock for a passing series of seconds. Both of them trying to heave the other’s strength off. But Qyro was just as strong as Ion, who couldn’t overthrow his might.

  Fierce as a flash of light, Ion withdrew from the clasped position and swung his sword across to the left. The orange light from the blade spewed lumination across the hull, the steamish vapour swishing behind it in a tail. The blade sailed over to the Redling’s exposed side, but Qyro twisted a split second’s gap later, bringing his own blade before to block it again. A growl built within Ion, with his attack parried again. But Qyro took advantage of the meanest pause in his focus, pushed him back, and lunged forth. His feet left the ground as he came soaring over Ion, his sword raised and ready to land for the kill…

  His breath stopping for the flicker of the second, Ion did the only thing possible: he threw all his weight behind, sinking to the floor to duck his opponent’s aggressive assault. Qyro’s eyes widened slightly as he missed his target and went gliding over further across the hull. Ion picked all his weight up, rose and turned to see the other land heavily to the ground a few feet off. But before he could catch Qyro off guard, the Redling turned and swished his blade across the air to parry a deadly blow Ion sent at him. Ion’s mind was steeled in its deepest focus: wasting not a breath, he turned, sidestepping the shot Qyro sent to his abdomen, carried his blade over the air in a wild swirl, and -

  Cling!

  Qyro’s blade flew off his hand as Ion’s clipped it from the base, loosening his hold.

  Qyro froze as Ion’s sword hovered before his neck. And then, his surprised expression dissolved behind a wild smile.

  “Bravo!” came Vestra’s voice from where she was sitting at the back of the hull, watching the sparring between the two of them. “That was so good, for a second there, I was dying to believe it was a real fight!”

  “Well, I’m lucky it wasn’t one.” beamed Qyro, as Ion lowered his sword.

  Ion doused his sword and sliding it back into its sheath behind him.

  As Qyro collected his sword and turned, Ion saw a quiet marvel in his eyes. “You know, for someone trained outside the Nyon, your powers are really developed.”

  “I had a good master.” Ion said. He looked at Qyro and nodded. “And you were with the Nyon for less than a year!”

  “I was.” said Qyro, sheathing his sword.

  “And your powers aren’t half bad either! You almost had me.” Ion gave an impressed nod. “You earlier master, tolgaor, he’s done a hell of a job for a stray mystic. He should start a training school or something.”

  Qyro gave a hollow smile. “He’s dead.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  Qyro nodded, carrying his eyes over to the blank screens upfront. Ion sensed the same melancholy in him as he felt when thinking of Jedius…

  “Was it the Naxim,” Ion asked, still watching him. “who killed him?”

  Qyro looked at Ion, frowning. “I wish it was.”

  Ion stared. “What do you mean?”

  Qyro looked at the pedestal enclosed in the bubble like shield behind them, thinking for a moment. Sighing, he looked up at Ion and said, “You remember those adventures I told you about … which me and Tralgor used to go in, across the outer spectrum?”

  “I do.”

  “Well, one of them went wrong.” His scowl deepened. “I always thought it would, but Tralgor was the sort that wasn’t afraid of anything. Even death. We ran into a horde of Incratys-”

  “A horde of what?” asked Ion.

  “They’re one of the many brutal non man being species living in the outer spectrum.” clarified Qyro. “They were in a nasty fit at the time. And like all non man beings, or most, they don’t entertain outsiders, and man beings among them. And like all non man beings, they hate mystics.” His voice darkened. “It got tense when the two of us ran into the horde. In the end, when a fight was going to break out…” Qyro looked at the four screens upfront again, at the glinting starlight spread over them. “Tralgor decided to distract them to give me a chance, though he was well aware he wouldn’t make it. He died to save me. Like I said, he wasn’t afraid of anything, even death.”

  He paused for a strained second. “And it was then that I decided that the life I would go on living, was meant to ensure that his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. To live upto his legacy … and so, I joined the Nyon, when they approached me just after.”

  He looked as though having run out of words for a moment. As Ion looked at him for a second, he felt himself mirrored in him. A strange dawning connection formed between the two of them.

  “To live upto his legacy” … Like I try to live upto Jedius’s.

  Ion gently patted him on the shoulder.

  “I’m fine!” he said fiercely, holding both hands up. “But anyway, I know have every reason to hate them. Hate them all!”

  “Who?” asked Ion.

  Qyro’s face was blanketed by a seething rage.

  “Non man beings.” he spat. “They’re savage creatures, the entire lot of them.”

  Ion personally didn’t share this belief, but he said nothing, knowing that Qyro had a perfectly viable reason to uphold this hatred.

  Something he had said now struck Ion’s attention. “Why’d you say non man beings hated mystics?”

  “I don’t say it.” said Qyro. “The whole world does.”

  Ion looked at Vestra, who had been sitting there with her hands around her legs before her. She shook her head. “Non man beings suffered much during Redgarn’s reign. You’d remember Mantra telling you that.”

  “Yeah,” said Ion, frowning.

  “Well, most of them have been scarred badly by the evil empire’s reign.” she explained, while Qyro nodded. “Some of them were even driven close to the point of extinction during the Xeni’s reign.”

  “But why?”

  Vestra sighed. “Because Redgarn and the Xeni, being the twisted things they were, didn’t tolerate them, did they?” She frowned. “You remember the flashback Mantra showed us … you remember Redgarn trying to convince the other Nyon of his twisted belief that they were, as mystics, greater in the pyramid of creation. So the same belief went for man beings and non man beings as well.”

  “The Xeni tolerated non mystics, but only as slaves to them.” took over Qyro. “But in the case of non man beings …” He shook his head.

  “… They didn’t tolerate them at all.” completed Vestra. “The Xeni, with their demon army, tried scouring the entire spectrum and getting rid of all non man beings, whom they thought were unfit for even existing. And that’s the reason the non man beings hate all of us, now. Especially mystics. But even more than mystics…”

  “They hold a specially nursed hatred for them.” Qyro said quietly. “For the Xeni.”

  “Most of their kind haven’t forgotten at all, all the tyranny that they were subject to during Redgarn’s reign.” said Vestra. “Which is the reason they’re all now shattered, and left hidden deep in the outer spectrum.”

  Qyro gave a sigh, and looked at the pedestal. “Why don?
??t the two of you take a break … I’ll drive.”

  Ion knew he wanted a span of time alone, after talking about the loss of his master. And he didn’t at all blame him for it.

  He walked to the back of the hull, sitting beside Vestra.

  “Well, we’re halfway there.” she said, a small spark of excitement in her voice.

  Ion nodded absently, knowing she was referring to the journey to the planet Velrox. Where they would have it all ended once and for all…

  “I’ve been blinded all this time.” he said softly. More to himself. “I thought I’d seen it all. Guess I was wrong. This is a whole new world that I’ve now entered. A world that’s so far away from normal ones. A world filled with pain.” He turned to look at Vestra, who was listening quietly. “But a world that bears the courage to survive through it nevertheless …”

  Vestra was sitting with her arms around her legs in front. Silent in her own thoughts. The same heavy look moistened her gaze. The look she had had in the balcony earlier on…

  Ion watched the four screens at the front of the hull, through which they saw the four sides of the endless expanse of space they now were amidst. The pedestal enclosed in the shield sat in between, with Qyro sealed within it. He was driving the ship in a quietitude that the two of them sitting behind him shared.

  “Why?” asked Ion, looking at Vestra.

  She was quiet for a few moments. Then, her lead still leaning on one shoulder, she brought her eyes to him slowly. “Why did I join the Nyon when I wasn’t even a mystic?”

 

  She gave a quiet sigh, before flicking a strand of hair away from her face. “I had a … family.”

  Ion looked ahead, staring at the blank screens. Waiting.

  “A beautiful family, and I’ll never forget them…”

  Ion knew where this was heading, of course. “And … you lost them?”

  He turned to see, to his surprise, that she was smiling.

  “Of course not.” she chuckled. Staring ahead for a quiet moment, she drew her gaze to Ion and said, “They lost me.”

  Ion stared. “What?”

  Vestra shook her head, and Ion saw the depth of her black eyes now filled with a heavy sadness.

  “I ran away from home, Ion.” she said softly.

  “What?” asked Ion, bewildered.

  A long second passed between the two of them as Ion watched her with her head leaning on one shoulder, her long black hair falling down by the side of her face.

  “But … why?”

  She was silent for a second, before taking a deep breath and speaking in a brittle voice.

  “I came from a village in one of the lesser developed planets of the inner spectrum. And my family, like most others there, were facing much difficulties. They were in a terrible state. But they ploughed through with it for the ones they loved.” She stopped for a deep breath. “I saw the world through their plight. I saw that they were just a reflection of the many pains this world was facing and straining to fight. And I knew that if anything, my life’s purpose was sacrificing myself for them, the family that I so loved. The family that showed me what we were all going through. For if I truly valued my own family’s pain, it meant for me to value this world’s equally.” As she spoke, Ion could feel her voice strain to hold back tears. “And so … I ran away. Knowing that I had to help bring a solution to the mess this realm was in. When I spent my days travelling through the outer spectrum, I came to hear of the Nyon through some mystics I’d met. And I found them, asking to be joined so that I, too, could share a place in the struggle they were putting up … a struggle for a better world.”

  She ended with a sob, her eyes sparkling with tears that she held back.

  Without knowing where the motivation for it came from, Ion put an arm around her, patting her by the side. He felt himself flash back to that day, two years back. When the two of them had met.

  He continued to pat her while she steadied herself with deep breaths.

  “Well, you were right.” he said finally, as she gained a hold over herself.

  “What do you mean?” she sniffed.

  “Your sacrifice did build a better world.” He smiled as looked at her. “It did for me.”

  She looked at him with the same softness in her deep black eyes as a silent moment passed.

  “That day,” Ion continued softly. “two years ago … you changed my life. You showed me the world through your eyes. And after that,” He shook his head. “I was never the same again. You gave me a chance that day, and since then, there’s a piece of you that’ve been holding ever since. And it’s the reason I’m no longer what I was back then. The reason … is you.”

  They sat there, their eyes held for what felt like an eternity. Vestra’s grief seemed to melt beneath a dawning warmth in her expression. She smiled slowly, wiping her face.

  “I was right when I took a chance with you.” she whispered, and then wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug.

  “Because you are a good person.” she said, as they withdrew. “If you can’t trust yourself with that … at least trust me. Because I know I’m never wrong.”

  “I hope so.” Ion said.

  As the three of them sat there in silence, Qyro sitting within the bubble like encasing over the pedestal and the two others on the seats behind him, Ion stared at the four black screens at the front of the hull. In less than twenty or so minutes, they would have reached Velrox. Found the priest. And it would all be over…

  Their struggle would be over…

  But Ion wondered if it his struggle would ever be over.

  For his was a struggle that no amount of resistance could win. No amount of warfare and rebelling. His was the worst struggle possible. The struggle against the inevitable … against who he was.

  As much as he tried to wrestle against it, as much as he tried to resist it, and to deny it … He couldn’t alter what had already happened. It was done. And he was left to live with the crushing guilt of it all for the rest of his life.

  13

  Two years ago

  All had ceased.

  Nothing at all existed. No motion, no movement. No thought, no emotion…

  Just the pain.

  And it had consumed the world. It was now all there was for Ion as he knelt there, holding his twin brother’s dead body in his arms.

  A numb silence had stolen over the entire world.

  But through it, thundered a ring of agony. Agony that bored into Ion’s soul, seeming to cleave him in two.

  “No, this can’t be happening.” he moaned, unable to move his eyes from the unblinking, hollow ones of his brother. “Eol…”

  But he knew that his brother was no longer here. That he had left this world forever.

  And the reason for it was him. Ion. He was the one who had done this. He had killed his own brother.

  The realisation swelled within Ion, pushing away every other thought in his mind … and he felt every inch of him trembling as he held his brother’s body on the spot.

  Eol was dead. Killed by his own brother, a cold, merciless creature.

  Make this stop. Ion pleaded.

  But it didn’t stop … The agony went on as Ion knelt there, hoping that this was all a dream, hoping he would wake up from it anytime now. But he knew this was as real as it would ever get: The dream had stopped…

  And this was the moment of awakening.

  “You killed them … you killed our parents … you killed what they stood for.”

  As the words replayed inside his head, they seemed to engrave upon his soul…

  Suddenly, everything Ion had always known was gone… eclipsed by a storm of guilt, and grief.

  What have I become? … What have I done?

  His hand trembling, he slowly reached for his brother’s hand, and pulled the parchment off. The poster … of the deadliest assassin in the spectrum.

  Unrolling it with one hand, he let his eyes fall on the g
hastly picture he saw, and he almost felt like something inside of him had been carved out by a sword.

  For the first time, Ion wished he could cease to exist. He wished to die … for he couldn’t live with himself. He couldn’t live with what he had become…

  An upsurge of remorse stronger than any emotion he had felt his entire life shook him from within.

  Haphazardly folding the poster with one hand, Ion stuffed it into his own pocket and continued to sit there with his brother’s body in his arms.

  “You killed what they stood for.”

  His vision blurred, Ion stared down at the lifeless face of the last of his family … the family that he had once loved. And the family that would torment him forever now. For he had, as Eol rightly said, killed them. They were ideals that had survived after their death, but Ion had seen to it that they were undone even there … Ion had killed them. He had killed his own brother. And he had killed his parents as well.