The Rising Sun: Episode 4 (9 page)

“Look out!”

Without a flicker of conscious thought, he
threw both hands out and shoved Qyro and Vestra to the ground by
either side. He threw himself flat on the grass not a moment too
early: a crisp slice of wind hit his face, and then one of the
spears shot across less than an inch above him. All around them,
spears and arrows buried themselves into the grass field.

As the three of them looked across the bank,
Ion went wild with panic: emerging from the tree trunks they were
hiding behind of, pouring into the open, came a fleet of men in
black cloaks. Some of them were holding bows, reaching into their
trove of arrows slung behind them. But most others were drawing
long, thin swords … the greenery of the forest was suddenly lit
with bright orange flashes as the mystics ignited their swords.
Their blades were then shining in orange. In a spiralling moment,
the revelation collided with the three of them as they saw
this.

“Xeni…” breathed Vestra, the blood draining
from her face.

The mob of black robed mystics charged at
them from the other side, dashing through the shallow waters of the
lake ahead of them. The spear wielders raised a second spear,
waiting to hurl it, the archers strung their arrows into their bows
and pulled …

The three of them acted in almost telepathic
unison: they held up their hands, and the combined flow of their
energies conjured a
shield
right ahead of them. Ion funneled
his thoughts into a razor like sharpness as their combined energies
struggled to hold up the
shield
: the shimmering glass like
surface took a heavy impact, a dozen spears and arrows smashing
against it and breaking.

The gang of black cloaked Xeni abandoned long
aim and plunged into the lake, swimming across with dolphin like
swiftness.

The three of them left the shield to melt
back into thin air, turning and dashing back into the temple. They
sprinted the length of the building’s side, evading stray spears
and arrows sent at them by the first Xeni who emerged from the
lake’s waters.

“We have to warn the masters!” Ion panted, as
he ran alongside the other two.

Their breaths storming, the three of them
arrived at the entrance of the structure. There were masters
sitting around the centre of the large hall. Before the three Nyon
could raise the call and alert them of the attack, Rash-cons
flooded the hall from the entrances spread around its corners … The
Xeni had brought what looked like an army along with them, a
deviously large one.

The robots swept the hall, surging in from
all sides. A rain of Sparkler shots filled the hall as the
Rash-cons opened fire at the masters, who sprang to their feet,
reaching for their swords in realisation of what was going on…

Mayhem erupted like a nuclear blast.

Before they knew it, the masters were spread
over the large hall to face the enemy onslaught, all their swords
drawn and ignited. Ion turned and was shocked to see that Vestra
and Qyro, who had been standing right behind him, were now dragged
off to two different corners, both of them surrounded by Rash-cons.
They had their ignited swords cutting down three of the robots in
one slash, both fierce as the light blazing from their swords.

Ion reached for his own sword, turning back.
But before his head finished spinning around to face what was ahead
of him, a sharp pounding pain hit him by the centre of his chest …
and he was flying back. His half drawn sword slipped and went
flying off his grasp.

As he hit the cold ground, he saw the cloaked
hooded figure who had punched him standing over him … drawing his
sword and igniting it. The Xeni lunged at Ion before he could pick
himself up, forcing him to roll over on the ground to miss the
man’s saber by a deadly inch. The man stumbled forward, having
missed his target. Ion had the fraction of a second: without
raising himself, he curled his fist and sent his knuckles slamming
into the man’s face. The force of the blow heaved the man off his
feet, and he landed feet away from Ion, unconscious.

The battle now mounted in ferocity, with
black cloaked figures locked in saber duels all around.

Now triggered into lightspeed alertness, Ion
picked himself up, snatched his sword back from the floor, and
ignited it. Less than a second later, he was surrounded by a
cluster of seven Rash-cons, their guns spurting jets of light at
him. Ion used his sword to block two of the Sparkler shots, lunging
off the way of another two. He then sent a sideways slash that
ripped through three of the robots’ bodies. The remaining four
continued to pour Sparkler bolts out at him, forcing him to dodge
and duck insanely. One of the shots clipped him by the forearm, and
a seething pain exploded where the shot hit.

He stumbled backwards with a sharp gasp,
while the four Rash-cons continued to rain shots at him. Summoning
every ounce of his will, he ignored the pain of the shot, using one
arm now to spin his sword and block the oncoming jets of light. The
Rash-cons gained dominance, pushing Ion back. He heaved an enormous
breath and flung both arms forth towards the four Rash-cons. A
smash
exploded into existence and glided towards the robots.
As it hit them, the four Rash-cons crumpled and soared back in a
clutter of broken body parts.

Ion steadied himself with another deep
breath. The pain of the Sparkler shot son his right arm had faded
slightly. As he scanned the hall, he spotted a fallen Nyon master,
surrounded by a Xeni and five other Sparkler wielding Rash-cons …
The Xeni raised his shining blade, moving in for the kill…

Ion turned and sprinted towards them. He
slammed into the Xeni from behind him, and the man tripped over the
fallen master painfully, his sword clattering to the ground. The
five Rash-cons slowly re focussed their aims to the new target, but
before any of them opened fire, Ion let fly two clean slashes of
his sword. The robots, sliced in more than one part of their body,
fell to the ground. Where Ion’s sword had cut them, a mild orange
radiation glow lingered. As Ion reached for the fallen master, the
Xeni behind him rose, summoning his sword to his hand with his
mystical powers. Ion pushed the master back to the ground as the
Xeni launched towards them, his sword raised.

The man’s blazing sword landed over Ion’s
with a loud, metallic
cling
, and the two of them stood
there, their sabers locked, for a long moment. Their eyes drilling
into each other. And then, Ion pushed the man back, releasing his
sword, and jabbed at him. The Xeni blocked his sword with a
sideways swipe, and Ion had less than a fragmented second to pull
his sword back before him to defend his chest from the Xeni’s razor
speed attack.

As the two of them duelled, the chaos around
them seemed to climb, towering beyond control. Agitation, discord
and panic thundered all around them. Loud, groundshaking blasts
sounded at distant areas of the temple, revealing that the battle
had now swarmed over the entire temple to engulf all regions of
it.

Ion felt himself gain a sliver of dominance
over his opponent, and pushed him back step by step, blow by blow …
But just when the scale had begun to tip towards his side, another
Xeni leapt into the fray from the confusion around them, taking up
arms against Ion.

Now forced to fend against two opponents, Ion
couldn’t spare them the splinter of a moment: his every move raced
death by mini seconds as he fended off two cloaked, hooded figures,
parrying two ignited swords and trying twice as hard not to die.
Ion could have defeated both of them in a single, one on one match,
being shades stronger than both of them. But now, with both of them
now pitted together against him, the enemies gained the upper hand.
His spirits ebbed slowly, with the duel now dragging him backwards:
every blow the two Xeni sent him carried Ion a step back. Before
they knew it, the three of them had exited the hall, and were
fighting in one of the temple’s corridors, the orange light of
their blades seeming to dance over the walls and ceiling.

__________

It had been building…

The agitation that Mantra had been
experiencing off late had been building steadily.

But just less than a few minutes ago,
something had cracked … The chaos he was feeling had spiralled well
off limits. A sudden turbulence like nothing before had swept
through Mantra. Possessed him.

It was the worst he had felt in eight
thousand years…

Now, as he sat in the same room calmly,
listening to the rumblings of the battle all across the Nyon
temple, he knew…

He knew what the source of this chaotic
disturbance that he had been sensing was…

“So, you’ve returned,” He turned his head
mildly to one side as he said it. “old friend.”

Redgarn slowly stepped through the balcony
outside, walking into his room. A dull shudder rocked the place as
another explosion took off somewhere elsewhere in the battle torn
temple.

“You must have missed me,” said Redgarn, a
mad smile hanging on his lips. “a

very great deal.”

He looked half deranged, with strands of
thick, tousled hair falling over both sides of his face. His skin
was crimson, and his eyes bore the same maddened red gleam that
Mantra had seen him last with.

“I missed the side of you that had died eight
thousand years back.” said Mantra, now standing and facing his
ancient nemesis, who had rushed back across the ages to haunt him.
“And that side remains dead.”

Redgarn’s grin spread longer, and he held his
sword loosely in one hand, standing where he was.

“It’s time to learn my pain, Mantra.” he
said, his voice sinking to a whisper, but growing louder with
menace. “The anguished pain which
you
thrust over me. And
the pain which I was forced to carry for eight thousand years.” He
took a step forward, and ignited his sword, so that the dazzling
orange flash lit the air in the room for a mean moment. “Now, you
will feel the fire that
you
ignited in my soul.”

He raised his sword and pointed it at Mantra.
Who stood as still as ever, his hazy white eyes unflinching. “It’s
finally time, Mantra. Time to finish it. Today, we will finish what
we started eight thousand years back … We will become
one
.”

“That, we will.” Mantra nodded.

“One,” said Redgarn. “shall stand. One shall
prevail. One shall emerge at the end of this day, and the other
falls. To oblivion.”

Eyes locked with those of the minion standing
ahead of him, Mantra slowly rose. Time had gone stainlessly slow.
He clasped his sword’s handle, and the slithery rush of the blade
being drawn filled the room. Mantra felt his heartbeat. Every one
of it. Timed with a large, elegant pause between each other. He
brought his raised sword to point the right wall, his eyes fastened
over Redgarn’s.

A crisp, orange flash lit the room as Mantra
ignited his sword. And the familiar, bright orange light consumed
the sword’s blade. For the first time after eight thousand
years.

They stood there, eyes boring into each
other. One’s hazy and white, calm. And the other’s maniacal and
red, glowing with madness.

That second seemed to expand into a
century…

And then, the two ancient enemies swept their
swords around at once, and launched onto each other with a wild
battle cry tearing from their throats…

__________

Ion parried the blow at the speed of sound
and spun about to block the other’s. He felt the dominance of his
two opponents cast over him like a net, dragging his spirits down.
They were now moving further down the hall. Wild shudders broke
over the walls around them, as though some other part of the
massive temple had just been blown.

One of the Xeni lunged at Ion, who had the
split second to toss himself off the way. He gained advantage over
the other by smacking his chest hard with his flat hand, so that
the man yelped and staggered back. The other one spun about just in
time to take the place of his companion and brought his blazing
sword in a heavy sideways slash at Ion. His knuckles white with the
grip over his sword, Ion raised it just in time to block the shot,
leaving a burst of sparks in air around them as the two blades
met.

The second Xeni ran at him from the side, and
Ion withdrew his blade and stepped back, letting the first trip
forward. He twisted around and struck the second Xeni by the side.
A heavy
cling
sounded in the air as their blades fell over
each other for the hundredth time, emitting the same shower of
sparks around.

As the duel heated up, they found themselves
slipped into one of the doorways, and in a large room. Ion felt
himself pushed back behind the room, dodging and fending for his
life from the two deadly Xeni.

But in a second, it was over: Ion had been
thrust to the ground, with his sword having flown off his hand. His
two duel opponents stood over him, sneering at him in the glow from
their swords, allowing themselves the moment to bask in the glory
of their triumph over one of their long hated enemies. Ion lay on
the floor, helpless, as the two men clutched blazing swords. As he
watched his doom seal itself, he felt no fear, no melancholy … he
felt a sense of calmed acceptance.