The Rising Sun: Episode 6 (4 page)

His gaze drifted into a dreamy state for a
meek second before he brought himself back and said, “This student
of mine is now under control of a very powerful force. And I will
try and win him over to our side to garner his support and the
alliance of the force that he controls. Meanwhile, you need to
focus on getting the Skrylis to join our side.”

“You said we’d have trouble reaching them.”
said Qyro. “Where are they, then?”

“The planet Quolnos, which is where we’re
heading.” said Mantra. He then gave them the directions to an
underground inhabitation which these creatures had constructed. Ion
had trouble remembering the headings, and he found that Mantra
wasn’t joking about these creatures being hard to find.

They walked on quietly through the desolate
city, finally reaching where Flamebird had been parked at the
outskirts of the city. They boarded the ramp together, entering the
ship’s hull. The ramp re sealed itself with a moist hiss.

“You take Flamebird to the planet.” Mantra
said, looking at the pedestal perched at the hull’s centre. “I’ll
drop off in the planet Jacova that comes along the way. That’s
where my former student will be. You can arrive and pick me up
after you’re done.”

They nodded.

“We’ve got nothing to worry about.” Qyro said
in a dark voice. “Let’s hope Dantox and the others fare well with
the Ensys.”

After a short pause, Mantra turned to him and
nodded gravely. “Indeed, let’s hope so. We’ll need them to.”

Almost a tenth of the entire army of watchmen
was here, on this important mission that couldn’t be allowed to go
astray. In the darkness, the fiery outlines of the batch of
watchmen, as they strode through the cavern, lit the path before
and around them.

Nano marched at the fore of the large group,
leading them deeper into the cavern. The Ensys would be present at
the very end of the deep cavern.

Dantox was trotting by on Nano’s right. From
the bloom of orange light flickering over his features, Nano saw
his face stern with focus. The orange glow reflected in the depths
of his eyes so that a strange gleam danced within it. He was
carrying a small black pouch within both hands.

In the silence, the footsteps of the hundred
or so watchmen was hard and resounding, like a clutter of stones
landing on a rough surface.

Nano kept his eyes narrowed as he led the lot
down it. He kept himself prepared for whatever lay ahead. Good or
bad. For he knew that this audience with these beasts was something
that might turn both ways. Depending on the mood they were now in.
there was a very slight risk that Rigmrr might not take to their
appearance too well. Rigmrr, or whoever it was that now led the
Ensys: the savage creatures’ ruler established himself through
sheer might, and there was a good chance that another had replaced
Rigmrr after waging war against him and his followers. Either way,
it didn’t matter who led them. Their mission was no easy one:
convincing the nasty creatures to join the Nyon’s side was going to
be hard.

Nano braced himself for the worst outcome:
the Ensys refuse to help them, and the watchmen leave.

But Nano was quietly aware that something
worse than that might happen as well, when dealing with these
creatures.

They Ensys refuse, and the watchmen
don’t
leave.

The chances that the creatures might attack
them were not frightening. But if it did happen, the army of
watchmen would lose almost a tenth of its number. It would be a
slight blow to them. Nano blocked out these strange forebodings,
admonishing himself.

The light from their forms cast an orange
glow that rippled over the cave’s walls and ceiling. The cavern
grew wider as they warily waded down it, seeming to open up for
them slowly as they progressed.

They were making their way down the cavern,
enveloped in silence, for a long time. And then, a noise broke
through the gloom, making the entire group halt instantly…

It was something of a high pitched hiss like
sound, but also sounding like a shrill roar. Nano inwardly nodded
to himself: they were here. The Ensys weren’t far away. That sound
was proof of it.

“We’re almost there.” whispered Dantox,
turning to Nano. His hands tightened on the small black pouch Nano
had seen him holding all along.

“Yes we are.” Nano replied, sending a sharp
nod to the rest of the batch standing behind. And they marched
forth, a new vitality in their stride. This was it…

As they marched, the noises of the Ensys
slowly rose louder. And then, a hundred or so metres down, they
found the first of the creatures lurking by the walls…

They were, in the simplest description, giant
spiders with a man torso sticking out from the front. The torsos
ended with a bald head with gleaming red eyes that latched over the
watchmen, watching as they walked past. Hungrily. The lower part of
the creatures, the part that was the body of the spider, was
supported by eight large, sharp pincer like legs. The body of the
spider would have surpassed the size of two hover cars placed
together. And rising from where the head would have bee, the torso
of the man was skinny and thin, the bones of their ribs stretched
over their flesh. Their hands ended, instead of fingers, with long,
sharp pincers that seemed to twitch as they gazed at the army that
marched into their home.

They might have been a truly terrifying sight
for someone who might wander into this place out of the blue,
unaware of what he would find in there.

As Nano waded on steadily, one of the
creatures stepped forth, blocking his way. The spider portion of
this Ensys’ body was smaller than most others, so that his torso
rose to tower only a few metres above Nano.

When the creature spoke, its voice seemed
sharp as the pincers in its hands, and it formed words in a slow,
rasping tone that would have made the hairs stand on end on any
man’s flesh.

“What … do you seek?”

“We come in complete peace.” Nano replied in
a steady voice. “We are messengers of the brotherhood of Nyon,
seeking an audience with your leader, Rigmrr.”

A total silence landed over the place, with
the creatures all gazing at the army, their gleaming red eyes and
faces inscrutable. Nano felt his pulse hike temporarily, wondering
if they had a new leader. Possibly, a new Ensys had waged a fight
with the Rigmrr, and had overthrown him … and if this was so, they
would have made the deadliest mistake by asking for an audience
with the old one – the entire batch would certainly be allowed to
tear them up and eat them by the new leader, for claiming to want
an audience with the old leader, a foe of his.

As the silence wore on, the entire batch of
creatures looked at each other, while the one in front steadily
gazed at Nano. Who returned his gaze in unwavering earnest.

He had the strangest feeling that his hunch
was correct… the name ‘Rigmrr’ had left a very nasty, pronounced
silence over the entire lot of creatures. There certainly was a new
leader, Nano realised. And if so, this would be the last day in
this millennia for Nano and the other watchmen.

And then, the creature slowly rasped, “Rigmrr
… is not in a position … for meeting with outsiders.”

This kindled Nano’s curiosity.

“Why is this?” he asked slowly.

The creature shook his bald head slowly, and
said, “Our leader Rigmrr … has off late fallen prey to a great
illness … Which saps into his life … and will soon leave him
dead.”

Nano exchanged a glance with Dantox, and he
knew both of them were remembering what Qyro had told them earlier
on, of this illness that Rigmrr had fallen prey to.

A short, heavy silence hung, before the
creature went on:

“His life is eroding … And our people have
greater worries … without unwanted outsiders adding to it.”

Nano knew that he might be pushing his luck,
but he was prepared to risk it.

“In thinking so, you make a great mistake.”
he said, and the creatures all looked at each other with the first
traces of indignance appearing upon their terrifying faces.

But the one in front watched him
unwaveringly, listening to him as he spoke. “Our world is now
facing a far heavier worry. A war. And when it descends upon you as
well, your leader’s illness would be nothing to you.”

His words dissolved in a stiff, loud
silence.

The creature ahead of Nano continued to gaze
at him, his gleaming red eyes seeming to glow brighter. Some of the
other Ensys slowly inched forward, their pincers twitching, as if
yearning to sink into the lot of watchmen intruding their home.

The Ensys before Nano gave a faint nod, and
said, “Explain.”

Nano took in a deep breath, and then plunged
in. He told the Ensys of the rising of the Xeni, and how they would
soon unleash their demon forces upon the world again. And of how it
was inevitable. He explained that they needed to gather their
armies to stand against the invasion of the Xeni’s demonic
force.

When he finished, there was a pin drop,
speckless silence, and he had the distinct impression that the
Ensys were stunned by what they had heard. Stunned enough not to
kill them, at least.

“The demons…” rasped the creature, and there
was a sudden outburst of pincers clicking, and the hiss like voices
as the Ensys broke into a tense conversation with each other. Their
hiss like voices combined to fill the entire cavern, leaving sharp
echoes behind them.

“What about them?” asked Nano. “The
demons?”

“Our race … has suffered much because of
them.” The crimson gleam in his eyes brightened as he spoke, teeth
clenched. “They have cast a black taint on us… which endures for
eight thousand years.”

The creature plunged into a story, while the
rest of the Ensys stopped to listen to their forlorn tale. It spoke
of the war eight millennia back. When the Xeni had unleashed the
demons, men weren’t the only ones who fell to suffering. The demons
believed themselves to be superior to not only men, but to all
other non human creatures, which they deemed unworthy of life.

The creature held its gaze over Nano for a
long moment, before saying in a soft voice, “I see … that you are
right after all. There is … a greater cause to worry of.”

He slowly stepped aside, and spread his hand
out towards the inside of the dark cavern, where the tribe of the
creatures could be seen gathered about, moving in dark shapes
across the gloomy expanse.

“Rigmrr … will be at the very end of the
cavern,” said the Ensys. “Go forth. And you shall meet him in
person … to inform him of this terrible new threat that has arisen
over our world.”

Nano, Dantox, and the other watchmen
progressed down the place. The tribe of Ensys parted to pave way
for them. Backing to both sides of the cavern, and watching them
closely as they went forth.

They marched on for at least a hundred or so
metres before stopping at its end. And here, sitting with his
pincers folded, his torso bent slightly forward, was quite possibly
the largest of the entire batch of Ensys. Rigmrr’s body would
easily have come close to the size of a small ship: the lower half
of his form, made by the headless body of the giant spider, could
have occupied half a large house. Sitting over it, the lonesome
torso of the man was long and slim. There were dark black patches
painting his skin so that it looked gruesome and sickly … This,
Nano guessed, was the strange illness that he was surely suffering
from.

His torso was bent forward slightly, and his
eyes were closed, but Nano had the faintest suspicion that he was
as alert as could be, despite the half asleep, semi conscious look
he gave.

Before Nano could begin speaking, a harsh,
hiss like voice spoke, leaving the mouth of the large creature
before him.

“They … demolished our entire race,” said
Rigmrr, his eyes now slowly growing open. “eight thousand years
back … they hunted us all down, and attempted to scour us from
existence … since then, we have lived on as a meek shadow of what
had been earlier on … and we will never, ever allow the Xeni’s
empire to rise again for what had happened the last time it
did.”

“The Xeni’s and the demons’ onslaught
affected all.” said Nano. “The entire world suffered for it. Now,
you realise that we are on the same side. Join us.”

Rigmrr kept his eyes levelled with Nano’s,
before letting a devilish smile rip across his face.

“That … is exactly what we will now do,” he
breathed coldly. “To join your side … and to fight the Xeni and
their evil forces is what we must now do. To avenge our lost
ancestors, to repay them with the blood that they took from us. And
also,” His tone grew quiet. “Because once they are released … they
will come for us. To finish their job. The Xeni’s forces … will
undoubtedly scour the lands, and attempt to finish us, the last of
the Ensys, once and for all … To protect ourselves, we must join
hands with you.”

“And you are wise in doing so.” said Nano,
nodding. “By joining us, you are allying yourself with the oldest
establishment that resists your ancient enemies. And you will be
wrapped within our protection as well. I guarantee you that as no
one else could.”