The Rising Sun: Episode 4 (4 page)

“We weren’t that bad, Vestra and I, were we?”
asked Qyro.

Mantra laughed softly. “There is no exception
to the rule. We undertake the greatest burden to pave way for the
newer generation. But out of our pain, we uncover the single
greatest gifts at times.”
He stopped and faced them for the final time. His gaze slowly roved
over the three of their faces.

“When I see the three of you, the younger
generation of today … I see a reflection of yesterday.” His eyes
found Ion, and a smile kindled upon his wizened features. “Jedius
and Arigon. The two brothers were the gems of yesterday … and they
have paved way for where we stand now.”

“Arigon?” Ion repeated, surprised. “Jedius
never told me he had a brother.”

Mantra sighed. “I’m pretty sure he
didn’t.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ion. “Where is he
now?”

Mantra turned and continued walking. “A far
better place.”

Ion was overridden with shock … the fact that
Jedius had had a brother whom he had lost as well … It seemed to
kindle some kind of connection between him and his passed master …
a connection deeper than anything their years together could have
forged.

“It was exactly one generation before you.”
Mantra explained, as the three of them followed him from behind.
“The Nyon were greatly diminished, and our ranks shrunken. We were
facing a time where our existence was more of liability to the
world than a boon, as it still is. But your master Jedius was
unshaken in his faith. He was a man who dreamt of changing our
world, and returning harmony to it. But alas … we were hardly at
harmony within our own selves. We were hunted down and threatened.
Nearly at the brink of collapse.”

“And we still are.” added Qyro, to which
Vestra nodded.

“Jedius wanted to bring peace to our divided
realm.” went on Mantra. “But alas, his dreams went in vain … Our
world could not be healed by one man alone. The loss of hope in his
goal caused Jedius great pain … But not nearly the pain of what
fate hurled at him next.”

He gave a soft sigh, while the three others
followed him down the hall. “The Naxim had made a fine catch that
day, when they tracked down and caught Arigon in the middle of a
mission he had been sent in. And that fateful night, one of our
greatest warriors was lost … And another great warrior saw himself
reduced to half.”

Ion listened, feeling sympathy stir inside of
him.

“Arigon was the one thing in this world that
Jedius treasured more than anything life could have given him. Fate
snatched from him what he loved most.” Mantra’s voice was traced
with sorrow that echoed his own. “But through his brother’s death,
Jedius awoke to a new vision … a more powerful vision. His dream of
carving a better, safer world was renewed with fervour like no
other. But he now saw what he needed to do. And it brought him the
need to sacrifice much.”

“What?” asked Ion.

“He needed to sacrifice
his dream
, if
he wanted to fulfill it.” Mantra said. “For the Nyon needed him in
its present fight … But not as much as the future needed him.
Jedius saw that only in finding and training younger ones could he
fulfil his wish. And so, he left us … and found someone who needed
him more.”

He turned and looked at Ion, who held his
deep gaze for a quiet moment.

“And today,” His white eyes still fixed on
Ion, Mantra nodded. “his efforts have paid off.”

Ion was temporarily speechless. Jedius’s life
… the pain he had faced … the fact that he had lost a brother as
well … the two of them now seemed linked in a way that went beyond
what he had thought earlier. He now saw that he was on a path that
his master had striven for, and lived for. And in no means at all
would Ion see it go in vain.

Mantra gave another sigh, and Ion sensed
something a quiet turbulence within the elderly master.

“Master?” Vestra asked softly.

Mantra nodded.

“Is everything all right? You seem a little…”
She looked at Qyro hesitantly.

“Awry?” Mantra chuckled softly. “Yes, I
usually am.”

He swept his gaze over the large hall, before
looking at the three of them again.

“I think I’ll retire for the day.” he said.
“Why don’t you two carry on and show Ion around the temple … I’ll
head back to my room.”
Qyro and Vestra exchanged a glance, and then nodded. Beckoning to
Ion to follow, the two of them turned and walked off down the large
hall.

Mantra stayed where he was, watching the
three of them disappear at the end of the large hall. For a quiet
moment, he surveyed the place about him. He then walked across the
hall himself.

__________

Having reached his room, Mantra quietly stood
gazing before his window. In the silence, he tried to wade through
his own thoughts.

The train of events of the past day or so
would have rattled anyone else in his place. Uncertainty and dread
now blocked the path ahead, making it hard to see what waited ahead
… Mantra could sense the turmoil and confusion both within him, and
all around the spectrum. And all of it stemmed from one fact.

The
Xeni
have
returned.

The thought came with the same pinprick of
agitation. Mantra sighed softly, placing one hand on the glass
surface of the window in front.

He had been seeing this coming for some time
now…

For a few days, he had sensed a gathering
agitation. Even now, through the silence, he could feel it churn
within him. A disturbance unlike any he had felt before. There was
a new shadow cast over the face of the world.

Removing his hand from the glass surface, he
turned and walked over to the centre of the room, where he sank to
a seat on the floor. Closing his eyes, he let his mind fall to rest
steadily.

For a long time, Mantra sat there absorbed in
the room’s silence.

“Interrupting, am I?”

Mantra slowly turned around. Dantox stood at
the room’s entrance.

“Of course not.” Mantra replied. He beckoned
to the spot next to him.

Dantox walked over and sat by his side. He
surveyed Mantra for a quiet moment.

“I saw you with the three students just
earlier on.” he said in a casual voice.

Mantra nodded absently.

Dantox seemed to hesitate for the meanest
moment, before slowly asking, “Is something wrong?”

Mantra shook his head.

Dantox turned back, gazing at the forests
outside the window for a while.

“Earlier on,” Mantra said. “I was so scared
for the crystal’s safety that taking it to Nalzes, no matter what
the risk, seemed the only prudent option. But now, there seems to
be no need to worry at all.”

“What do you mean?” Dantox looked at him.
“The temple is the safest place for the crystal. There’s no way the
Xeni would find us here.”
“That may be true. But it almost seems like the Xeni aren’t
interested in finding it at all.”

Dantox frowned. “What makes you say
that?”

Mantra was quiet for a moment.

“For some reason,” he said. “it appears that
they are uninterested with the crystal at present … that they are
pre occupied with something else.”

Dantox continued to gaze out of the window,
looking thoughtful.

“But the question,” Mantra said. “is
what
?” He looked at Dantox slowly. “
What
are they
engaged in, at present?”

Dantox surveyed him for a long moment, before
turning back to the window ahead.
“What makes you say all this?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Mantra laughed softly.
“Maybe I’m just rambling.”

Dantox shook his head. “I think you’ve been a
little on edge off late. Maybe you should stop spending too much
time thinking over things you don’t have control over.”

Mantra chuckled. “Is there anything we
actually have control over?”

He turned and looked at Dantox. “But that’s
the last thing that should concern a man. What should concern a man
is his
response
to his lack of control.”

Dantox heaved a deep sigh.

“I can see what you’re going through,
master.” he said. “Eight thousand years have passed … Their evil
empire fell, and the survivors were left to die in Taurandor. But
the enormity of the evil that they had wrought survived since,” He
shook his head. “It has haunted this realm till today. And our
brotherhood as well. Redgarn and the original members of the
wretched order may be gone, but as long as their order still
stands, this world will never be free.”

Mantra simply nodded and continued looking
out the window.

“And neither will we.” he said.

Dantox placed a hand on Mantra’s shoulder. “I
know you’re a little concerned off late, my friend. I don’t pretend
to completely understand why, but perhaps you should free your mind
from all of this, engage yourself in something else.”

“Maybe I should.” Mantra replied. “As much as
I hate to admit it.”

Dantox continued to gaze at him in a slightly
concerned look. With a nod, he rose to his feet and headed for the
door. He paused at the door and asked, “Where are Ion and the other
two, by the way?”

“They’re still showing Ion around the
temple.” Mantra said. “Giving him a feel of this place and its
lifestyle.”

__________

“Coming here revolutionised our ways.” said
Qyro, as he strode down the long corridor with Ion and Vestra by
either side. “First off, this is a world where there’s nothing at
all but precision … and discipline.”

They were walking down a corridor in the
third storey. By the wall on the right, large windows hung, through
which the forest outside could be viewed. Ion gazed out them as the
three of them walked down the corridor.

“Our schedule starts at four in the morning.”
went on Qyro, glancing back at Ion. “We wake up, get freshened and
begin our training in less than half an hour.”

“Basically,” said Vestra. “we’re just going
through an extension of the training we’re pretty sure you been
through.”

They were right. Ion remembered the days he
had spent with Jedius. They had not been very different at all.
Disciple had been rigged into his ways the very same way it was
here. And the steel of those days, which Jedius trained him with,
was what helped him cope with everything he had been through, his
dark past, and to help move past it.

Qyro stopped for a moment and looked out one
of the windows. He turned to Ion, gesturing to the vast clearing
outside. “That’s where we usually go for combat practice. It goes
on for hours together.” He stepped closer to the window, trying to
get a glimpse of something by the side. “And there’s a lake by the
front … we can’t see it from here.”

“Yeah, I know.” said Ion. “We crossed it on
our way to the temple.”

“Well, that’s where we meditate.” said
Vestra.

“Who trains you?” asked Ion. “Mantra?”

“We have more than one master.” replied
Vestra. “And yeah, Mantra’s one of them.”

Ion looked at her in surprise. “That’s odd. I
can’t imagine being trained by more than one master at once.”

Qyro stopped trying to glimpse the lake and
turned.

“I thought so too, when I first came here.”
He nodded. “But there’s the difference, see. The way stray mystics
are raised, and the way mystics are raised here in the
brotherhood.”

“What’s the difference there?” asked Ion.

“In the world of the stray mystic, the
training of a young person isn’t given much importance.” Qyro
explained. “At least not as much as it deserves. To a mystic
outside of the Nyon, finding just one other mystic is usually more
than enough. One mentor is more than they can afford, in the
threatened state of life they lead. And the attention given to the
student would be compromised because of that fact.” Qyro glanced
out the window again. “But here, we have all the attention to give
to a student. Cause that’s the greatest priority the brotherhood
has of now. We’re hard finding students, and if we do, we need to
train them in our ways, and well.”

“And that isn’t hard doing for us,” said
Vestra, who had her arms folded before her. “because that’s the
most we can do for now.”

“And so,” continued Qyro. “The Nyon are keen
on devoting their focus to a student that they get. And to add to
that, they have a practically overwhelming student teacher
ratio.”

“We’ve got only masters, and almost no
students.” said Vestra. “And so, the masters devote all they can to
the students they get. We have different masters for different
aspects of our training.” She gave a moment’s thought. “For
instance, Mantra teaches us the most important of them all:
meditation. Galinor takes us for combat.”

Ion looked down the wilderness coming at the
far end of the green expanse out the window. The sun was still hung
high on the sky. It lay obscured behind a large puffy cloud, so
that only a meek portion of its dazzling orange was visible.