Keeping his idle stare on the hut’s ceiling above, Vonayz mentally strolled past the events of the past week. he had been forced to keep up a rather hectic pace this week, going through almost ten assassinations and hunts all together within the pressing span of the past seven or eight days. The kind of lifestyle he now had afforded him little leisure time. Little space for comfort, relaxation, and for himself.
But Vonayz required none of those.
He had been raised in a tough means, one that had moulded his mind to a state of steel. And it was that steel that now made him what he was: a powerful, deadly mystic. And a lethal killing machine. At times, when he was alone and left to himself, Vonayz would let a sliver of his thoughts roam back to those days … his earliest days as a mystic. A different life…
But Vonayz would collect himself to the present almost instantly, admonishing himself for letting his mind wander. Because Vonayz knew he couldn’t afford to let it. He came with a past that was no longer his. And that past was now a disconnected portion of his, which he no longer associated with…
Although, at times…
No way! He scolded himself coldly. Don’t think that. Don’t think that. This is my life now, and I would’ve given nothing at all to be elsewhere.
Mustering the same, remorseless state of focus that he had lived with for years now, Vonayz drew himself upright on the cot and looked about.
The rest of the group were all lying around lazily, making use of the silence to go on with their own activities. Monaz was toying with the head of the chicken like creature he kept strapped around his neck: Sidro was lying curled up at the corner, snoring. His younger brother Alcrox was sitting by the bed next to him, also silently gazing across the hut. He pulled himself straight and yawned. Through the open door to their hut by the wall on the left, they could see the grass covered lands beyond, enveloped by the night sky above.
Vonayz looked at his brother by his side and said, “So, what’s up with you next?”
Alcrox shrugged. “There’s a crime lord in the planet Harakol with a job for me. A hunt. I’ve got a couple assassinations that I’d rather put on hold: I’ve gotten tired of assassinations lately.”
Vonayz looked about the rest of the hut.
“Fill me in on what’s up with the rest of the troop, won’t you?” he asked, turning to Alcrox. “I’ve been rather busy this week. Anything important lately?”
“Oh, nothing much.” replied Alcrox, as he surveyed the three others in the hut, from the kid playing with the chicken head, to the one huddled at the corner, snoring and drooling, and finally the open door by their left. “The same stuff’s goin up.” He paused, and something thoughtful deepened his gaze as he looked out the door. “Though I think Ion’s been rather … strange since he came back from a hunt Grando had for him, a hunt for some vigilante creep, and he hasn’t found the guy yet.”
Vonayz could feel a scowl settle on his brow slowly. “Yeah … I noticed as well.”
He drew himself straight on the cot for a better glance out the door. At the far end of the lands outside, they could spot a lone figure sitting quietly on the ground.
The prickle of concern that Vonayz had been feeling intensified.
Just a day back, Ion had gone to hunt down a target for Grando, his primary client and someone whom he had done countless jobs for now. He had travelled to the planet Enro where he had tracked the vigilante. But he had come back empty handed, scarred and wounded. But that was hardly what bothered Vonayz…
After returning, Ion had seemed hardly like himself.
There was something far off and thoughtful in the way he carried himself now, and Vonayz couldn’t help noticing it. He wasn’t acting like his normal self, and Vonayz picked up the mildest feeling that there was a strange internal turmoil that Ion had brought back with him, from the hunt he had set out for.
Something had happened in Enro. Something that seemed to cling to him.
Vonayz exchanged a thoughtful look with Alcrox, who shrugged again.
“Why don’t we go talk to him?” Vonayz suggested, looking at the lone figure perched at the end of the expanse outside. “See what’s troubling him.”
For a few seconds, Alcrox was silent, watching the dot on the expanse that was Ion. Then he turned to Vonayz with a nod. “Yeah, maybe we should.”
The two of them slid off their cots and strolled out the door, towards the lone figure sitting far out on the field.
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