The Rising Sun: Episode 5 (14 page)

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, ramming 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.”

And then, dousing his blade, Ion slid it back
into its sheath, turned and walked off as the rest of the blazing
structure came tumbling down around him…

He stopped at the entrance, and turned to
glance back at the body lying under the wreckage.

“You killed my brother,” he whispered. “I
killed yours. Consider us … even.”

And with that, he turned and walked out the
entrance…

All that remained of the hut less than an
hour later, was ash and debris.

The crack of dawn was awaiting over the skies
above: the dark blanket of the night was illuminated with the
faintest trace of arriving warmth. On the expanse of the ground
below, a charred pile of wreckage released thin streams of smoke
into the night. The debris lay in a large, burnt clutter next to a
group of parked vehicles.

Though no longer on fire, the ashen residue
of the blaze that had ripped the hut apart survived, leaving trails
of black vapour emitted into the air.

There was nothing alive within the pile of
blackened wreckage. Everything inside of it was dead and torn…

But a few hundred metres from where the
remains of the hut stood, a faintly moving body could be seen. A
body that had crawled all the way from the burning wreckage earlier
on, all along fighting to stay conscious…

Left to die inside of the hut, Vonayz had
done all he could to escape certain death before the hut came
crashing down over him. Wrestling off the dizzying, unconscious
feeling, he had wriggled out of the portion of the hut that had
landed on him. Injured and weakened, with burns all over him, he
had struggled to crawl out of the hut. He was now lying with his
head on a small rock a few hundred metres away from the hut…

Unconsciousness was closing in on him,
leaving his vision flickering. But Vonayz kept the struggle up,
heaving off the weighty, spinning sensation. But he knew it was
futile. He had expended every bit of his reserves trying to remain
conscious all along. He would have to give in soon…

But even now, as the restful silence loomed
over him, ready to claim him, Vonayz felt no peace … no calm.

Only a burning sense of hatred and fury.

Ion would pay for it … Vonayz promised
himself that he would.

As darkness seeped into his vision, the
thought slowly sank into the deepest layer of his mind. Where it
ingrained itself with the force of steel…

A million miles away, in a plane far off, a
youth sat at the top of a large plateau with a hover bike next to
him. Spreading out on all sides of him was a coarse hilly
terrain.

Ion had his eyes on the horizon as he sat
there, his world gone mute … He wanted nothing more than to tear
out his innards and scream with all the might he owned … But he
knew it would be of no use. None at all.

For what was done was done.

As desperately as he tried to push it away,
he memory came rushing back to him … to haunt him with a fresh new
surge of horror each time. The memory of his brother dying in his
arms.

His stomach seemed to have stayed knotted for
the stretch of a few hours now, and Ion wondered if it would ever
unknot. He had killed his own brother. And only now, after all of
it, did the truth rise to his vision. The truth of what he had
become…

Eol’s last words survived as an unfading echo
at the back of his mind. One that would haunt him forevermore…

“
You killed them … you killed our
parents.”

Feeling his eyes blur in tears of frustration
and disgust, Ion shook his head.
What have I become?…

Almost unconsciously, he slid a hand into his
pocket and pulled out the poster that had him in it. As he unrolled
the poster, a shiver raced down his spine.

An evil smile … glowing red eyes … a
maniacal, dead look…

The creature he saw in the poster didn’t look
anything at all like him … but Ion knew it was him. This was what
he was.

This is what the spectrum views me as … this
is the image I have carved for myself … and now, I’ll take it to
the grave with me.

As it occurred to him, Ion felt a smothering
feeling grip him from within. A helpless, tormenting sense of guilt
and pain. He felt as though his very soul bore a blotch, a taint
that would now forever linger upon it…

Suddenly, disgust unlike anything he’d known
came gushing up within him.

“
I’m setting everything right, dear old
friend.”
He had told Vonayz. But that was where he was mistaken
… he wasn’t setting
everything
right at all. Something that
was horribly wrong still remained.

Him…

It felt as though he was opening his eyes for
the first time. And for the first time, he saw the inhumanity of
what he was. The wretchedness of the things he had done…

He had murdered his own brother.

Without knowing where the impulse came from,
Ion rose, and began walking down the large plateau. He felt ghost
like, strangely translucent to the world now. He trotted across the
length of the plateau, seeing what now needed to be done. The only
escape from the horror of his past. The horror that was
him
.

Arriving at the edge, he took a deep breath.
And then, in one fluidic motion, he hurled himself off the edge …
and into a fifty metre fall towards the merciless ground below.

He felt himself twist about in mid air to
catch view of the cliff above him, shrinking in his vision as he
plummeted. The cliff he had fallen from…

He spun about in mid air, whizzing like an
arrow towards the ground. His fall rapidly gained speed and
momentum. His heart seemed to have jammed in his chest, and the
sensation of wildly accelerating freefall hollowed his insides
out.

He saw the rough brown ground zoom upwards,
waiting to engulf him.

And then … a sickening, loud crash that
echoed across the place.

The impact of the fall, that left a web of
cracks over the ground, would have killed anyone else on the spot.
But Ion withstood it without dying for the fact that he was a
mystic … unfortunately.

He would have screamed, if not for the fact
that all breath had been scoured from his lungs, and he gasped in
helpless, slight hisses to re gather it. The fall had definitely
broken a fraction of the non vital bones in his body.

It was pain beyond pain. Excruciating. It
seemed to split him from head to toe.

He would lie here, helpless, in the middle of
a deserted, uninhabited region and watch himself die slowly and
painfully … he could feel the life slipping from his veins. But he
knew that he would endure an hour or so before he would finally die
… and every second that passed seemed to last for a century.