The Rising Sun: Episode 5 (3 page)

Having finished with the Zelgron, the army of
fiery men gathered in a large pack before the plateau, waiting for
the ones who had summoned them to descend and meet them.

“Let’s go,” called Mantra, and the three of
them descended down the plateau the way they had climbed it. They
reached the ground to find the watchmen standing still in a large
spread before the desert before the three of them, waiting.

A daze robbed Ion as he witnessed the
watchmen from close range, now face to face with them.

They seemed to be robed the same way Nyon
apprentices were, but with robes that seemed to be formed purely of
fire. The flaming contents wrapped over them to form a solid
figure, with their head taking the shape of the Nyon’s wrapped
scarf. Two beady drops of orange hung in the middle of the opening
left in the scarf, their burning eyes.

The sight of the army of fiery beings made
marvel swell within Ion: he knew that their forms crafted out of
the torch that light the universe since the beginning.

The foremost of the soldiers walked up to
stand right before Mantra, who met the man’s gaze calmly, with a
light smile on his lips.

“Well, well … we meet again, Nano.” he said
to the fiery man.

Nano, the fire solider standing before
Mantra, made a deep bow. “It has been far too long, Nyon master
Mantra.”

His arm, though glowing, was no longer the
burning whip that it had been earlier on: he held it out, and
Mantra shook it without having his palm burned.

He turned to Dantox and repeated the
gesture.

Dantox nodded as he shook the man’s hand.
“It’s an honour above all to meet you, Nano, leader of the
watchmen.”

“An honour matched my mine, Nyon master.”
Nano said, giving Dantox a deep bow as well. “I realise that we
have been summoned after eight millennia. How fares the
brotherhood?”

“The brotherhood’s dead.” said Mantra flatly.
“We’re the only three survivors.”

Nano and the other watchmen, as Mantra had
pointed out, had normal mortal shells which were not invulnerable
to shock and other disastrous emotions: he could feel Nano’s
posture stiffen, as those of the other watchmen. The two orange
beads he had for eyes grew wider for a moment’s pause, before
shrinking to their normal size again.

Nano was quiet for a moment. The rest of the
watchmen stood as still as stone, their figurines bathing the land
in a mild orange glow. Nano turned, his hands behind his back, and
walked forth for a few feet, before coming to a stall. He turned
sideways to them, and nodded.

“I see … that explains the surreal aura of
the world. I could sense it … darkness abounded. Anarchy pitched to
levels like no other.” The fiery beads that made his eyes seemed to
burn stronger. “And I also sense that it will only rise,
uncontained, if we do not act now.”

“Well, you’ve sensed right.” said Dantox.
“Redgarn has returned. The Xeni are intending to blow off ten
planets, one every hour, to fulfill their long dreamt of goal.”

“With each planet,” said Mantra. “They’ll
mount the anarchy tenfold. And when they’re done,” He paused to
heave a short breath. “the force of Mezmeron in this world would
have climbed to its peak. Anarchy would have reached the level
desired to release the army of Mezmeron … the cursed demon
army.”

“Well, looks like we’re in a better off
position than we’d dreaded.” said Ion, running his eyes across the
entire army, who numbered to a thousand as he knew. “What do we do
now?”

Mantra turned to Ion with a steely glint in
his white eyes. “We do something we should have done a long time
ago…”

Ion raised an eyebrow. “Which is…?”

Mantra withdrew the crystal and held it
before him, examining it silently.

“You’d remember asking me if the crystal
could be destroyed once and for all?” he said, raising his eyes to
Ion at last.

“I do.”

Mantra and Dantox exchanged a glance.

“Well, it can.” said Dantox. “It can be
destroyed once and for all.”

“What?” asked Ion.

“There is a priest by the name of Nalzes,”
said Mantra. “Who lives in the farthest reach of the outer
spectrum. He is an old friend of mine … and he’s just as old as I
am. He is the only other member of our original brotherhood alive
today. He has powers of incantation which you’d remember me telling
you, are a specialised field in our world. They are needed to
perform a spell before a tablet.”

“And…” pressed Ion, feeling the tug of
anticipation go stronger with every word.

“He has ancient powers of incantation,”
repeated Mantra, bringing his eyes before the crystal again. “ones
that can destroy the crystal once and for all.” He nodded. “It was
made before a mystical tablet by a well versed incanter, Redgarn.
And it can also be destroyed just the same way. This man, Nalzes
has the mystical powers required to get rid of the crystal once and
for all.”

“Well, then why didn’t we do it?” asked Ion,
spreading his hands. “All along, we could have ended this so
easily!”

“There’s the catch, dear boy.” said Dantox,
smiling. “It is no easy venture.”

“The planet Nalzes lives in is at the very
deepest of the outer spectrum.” said Mantra. “And a normal ship
would take five hours at least to get there.”

Ion was struck speechless as he grappled with
the distance this was…

“Five hours?” he breathed.

Dantox nodded gravely. “Five hours in which
everything in the world could go wrong … from the Xeni to the
Naxim. And so, deciding not to undertake this huge risk at this
greatly tense time, we had dropped the idea.”

“But now,” carried over Mantra. “I see that
the need is greater than we thought it was: seeing what the Xeni
are prepared to do to get the crystal,” His eyes roved over the
ground beyond them, littered with the remains of the Zelgron horde.
“and seeing the dangerous level of commitment they show, I was
mistaken to ever think that the crystal could be kept safe with us.
I know now that until it is destroyed once and for all, there is no
such thing as a peace for us: the Xeni are far more deadly than we
had imagined, and they just proved it to us. This is something we
should have done earlier on … and now, we will do it.”

Nano stepped forward, and Mantra and him
exchanged a swift nod.

“Also,” continued Mantra, looking at Ion.
“this is a venture we can now afford to undertake. Because we’re
now given tools that will make it easier.”

“What do you mean?”

“With the army of watchmen now released, we
have a certain tool available to us, which will be of aid should we
decide to undertake such a perilous journey. A great aid.” said
Mantra. “As a result, if we decide to now go forth on this journey
to the planet Nalzes lives in, it will be considerably safer. But
even there, nothing at all is certain. And dangers along the way,
both from the Naxim and the Xeni, still persist. But this is a
venture we have to take.”

He scowled, looking from Ion to Dantox. “But
what we need to realise is that even if we get the crystal
destroyed successfully, those ten planets will still be blown off.
And we cannot allow that to happen: we’re now in a position where
we can try and save them. As a result, the journey to the priest
Nalzes will have to be undertaken by one of us. In the meantime,
the remaining two of us will have to take the army of watchmen, and
try and stop the ten bombs going off.”

“I’ll do it.” said Ion, nodding at Mantra.
“I’ll take the crystal to the planet where this priest stays, to
have it destroyed. In the meantime, the two of you go and find
those bombs.”

For the first time since the battle of the
temple, Ion felt a steely sense of purpose like never before. Now
that the caged, helpless feeling he had experienced earlier on was
gone and the time had come for action, he felt his urge to act, to
help the world, livened and ablaze again. He knew that whatever
dangers and threats lay ahead, he would be more than willing to
face them.

Mantra, Dantox and Nano were all looking at
him after he had said it.

Mantra gave a nod. “Good. Very good. Ion will
take the crystal to Nalzes, to have it destroyed.” He turned to
Nano and then to Dantox. “In the meanwhile, myself, Dantox, Nano
and the watchmen will scour the spectrum and do whatever we can to
stop those bombs from going off.”

“So what’s this great tool you were talking
of?” Ion inquired. “Which is supposed to help me in this
journey?”

Mantra smiled. “Nothing more than a
ship.”

Nano turned and nodded at the army of
watchmen, all of whom looked identical to him. The entire army of
thousand or fire moulded soldiers held one hand out, pointing into
the sky. As one, a long orange ribbon shot out of every one of
their arms, streaking into the sky. The orange ribbons touched the
heavenly abyss and began swirling and coiling again, as they had
earlier. A second or two passed mesmerisingly, and the flaming
cords seemed to gain speed rapidly, so that all that was seen of
them was a hazy swish of orange.

And then, as the swirling of the ribbons
slowed down, there was a giant orange mass that had taken shape
amidst them, hanging densely in the middle of the night’s pitch
black expanse.

It slowly descended from the sky, with the
watchmen all gazing at it as it lowered. As if hoisted by an
invisible rope, it lowered slowly, steadily, and thudded to the
ground right ahead of the three Nyon, where the watchmen had carved
a clearing for it.

Flamebird seemed to shimmer with radiance,
its orange skin bright and brilliant. Shaped like a giant orange
falcon, it stood large and magnificent before them. The bird’s
eyes, narrowed and focussed, were fixed over the three Nyon,
waiting for them to board it. Its wings were stretched out on both
sides, elegant and sprawling. It was a medium sized ship, but there
was a quiet power pulsating in its ancient depths. Ion knew it was
woven by the energy of the watchmen.

“A ship, but in no way an ordinary ship.”
said Dantox. “This, Ion, is the fastest and greatest ship ever
made.”

“The planet where the priest resides is known
as Velrox,” Mantra informed Ion. “And it is in the farthest reaches
of the outer spectrum. But in this ship, the journey will take just
over an hour, I estimate.”

“Why can’t Nalzes come here, instead of us
taking the crystal all the way there?” asked Ion. “That way,
wouldn’t it save us all a lot of trouble and risk?”

“We would love for that just as much as you
do,” said Dantox. “But Nalzes has gone into a hermit lifestyle,
severing all ties with the entire world. Though we know the planet
he lives in and the approximate region in it, we cannot contact
him.”

“What did he do that for?” asked Ion.

“Nalzes is just as old as I am, Ion.”
explained Mantra. “He fought alongside us through the war. And he
endured all that it came with. But after the war was over, with the
fall of the empire and the grave period that came after it, he
decided to leave the world, losing interest in it. He has lived as
a renunciate for almost eight millennia now. However, I kept a
faint contact with him over the time. And I know he will definitely
help us if need arises. I have been aware of the planet he lives
in,” A faint frown entered his expression. “… although I don’t know
his location in the planet, right now.”

“Then how the heck am I gonna find him?”
asked Ion, dazed. “I can’t search the entire planet to find this
hermit, we don’t have that much time!”

“You don’t have to find him.” said Mantra.
“He’ll find you.”

Ion was starting to feel slightly perplexed.
“What do you mean?”

“He has the same sensing powers that I have,
and more.” Mantra said with a smile. “And his hermit style
lifestyle has led to a further deepening of his mystical sight: he
is well attuned to the aura surrounding his planet, and the
spectrum as well. As I have been sensing chaos rising over the past
few days, so has he.

“By now, he would be well aware of everything
that’s going on. He would be well aware of the rising force of
Mezmeron, and the struggle we’re now undergoing. He has been kept
well aware of everything transpiring within our brotherhood over
the past few days, and he would most certainly be alerted to our
precarious position now.” He nodded. “When you reach the planet,
wherever he is, he would have been alerted to your arrival through
the shifting energy fields. And he would know what you’re carrying
with you.” He pulled out the crystal and held it before Ion. “He’ll
sense the dark force that you land with, and know why you’ve gone
there. When you reach the planet, wait patiently for him to reach
you from wherever he is.”

“Wait patiently?” Ion repeated, feeling his
eyebrows rise. “How long would I have to wait? And how will I know
if he’s aware that I’ve arrived?”

“Patience, young one.” said Mantra.

“He will sense your arrival, through that of
the crystal as well.” said Dantox. “When the crystal enters his
planet, he would be alerted of it through the shift in the aura
around him, and he would reach you as fast as he can, for he well
knows that the gravest threat to the world is the crystal. And he
will want to stomp that threat out as fast as possible.”