With one final
glance at the dreadful poster, Ion crumpled it and stuffed it back
into his pocket. He let his back slide over the thick tree trunk
behind him, and gazed up at the stars above. The night’s blissful
aura subdued the grief and regret that had just re awakened within
him. He lay slumped against the tree, staring at the beauty of the
scenery around him, able to lose himself at last.
Two years
ago
Ion was
falling. A giant, fifty meter fall. 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.
Ion was facing
hell itself.
All sensations
had ceased, except for the mindless, throbbing pain all over. Ion
couldn’t move. Couldn’t twitch a nerve. He couldn’t blink without
leaving his eyes streaming…
He was all
alone in this lifeless region, with no one to even cling his hopes
to … He had never imagined that this would be his way of
exiting…
He felt himself
drift … floating between consciousness and unconsciousness. It
sharpened the pain cracking open his body ten fold. And Ion yearned
for it to stop. The world seemed to flicker on and off, and lights
popped up over the back of his closed eyelids.
And suddenly,
the swishing of cloaks shrouded what remained of his vision. He
thought he was surrounded by someone … or some people. And before
he knew it, as his consciousness slipped, he was being hoisted
upwards painfully. And he was then gliding … flying … or was he
dreaming? The sensation of leaving the ground and gathering
speed…
And before he
knew it, he was on a soft, mattress like surface. And the world
seemed had fallen to a blissful tranquility. And it almost felt
like the pain had uncoiled from his limbs … the agony had melted
away, sparing him. Silence, peaceful and serene, enveloped all. And
he felt as though all dreams had come true in the silence. But
where was he? Was he even alive?
And a voice
slit the silence from above him.
“Son, can you
hear me?”
Ion’s eyelids
fluttered open. But he immediately closed them to shield from a
blast of light from in front. But in that split second he had
opened them, he had seen a figure, a man in a black cloak, standing
in front of him.
His eyes still
closed, he groaned, “Where am I?”
“It doesn’t
matter where you are.” came the voice of the man in front. “What
matters is that you’re alive. And your body is intact again.”
A jolt passed
Ion as he heard it. As if on cue, the sensation of his bodily
control returned full and new to him. He realised that his limbs
were moving perfectly. Completely tended. He opened his eyes again:
this time the bright sunlight streaming in through the window
opposite to him was bearable.
He was lying on
a straw cot, in the middle of a small hut. He sat straight and
looked at the man in front of him. He was a tall, thin man dressed
in a black cloak. His sharp Elfling eyes were of a rich green
colour, and his long black hair fell over his shoulder behind
him.
“My name is
Jedius,” the man said. “You’re lucky to be healed from that nasty
fall you’ve had.”
__________
The planet they
were in was Vanodar, located somewhere at the beginning of the
outer spectrum. It was a rich rainforest planet, covered in
brimming greenery. The hut Jedius lived in was built somewhere in
the middle of the dense forest.
Awe welled
within Ion as he looked at the figure opposite to his cot, sitting
deep in meditation. They had met almost two days back, but Ion
still couldn’t get over the sheer wonder he felt when he gazed at
the man who had saved his life. Jedius was a mystic, and Ion knew
he was a very, very powerful one at that: he had healed almost all
the broken bones in Ion’s body, bringing it back to a functional
state. But even his advanced healing powers couldn’t bring Ion to a
full recovery. He needed a few days’ rest to be nursed back to
health. And Jedius insisted that he stayed with him until he
was.
After viewing
the man’s simple, hermit like lifestyle for two days, Ion was both
stunned and deeply impressed. His sheathed sword lay by the side of
where he sat opposite on the hut. Like all mystic swords, it was
long, thin. But it had a fine curved blade that was longer than
Ion’s, with a slightly larger hilt.
Ion was sitting
idly on the cot. And next to him, taken from his pocket … was a
poster.
Ion had never
thought that something could invoke such fury in him his entire
life. The lunatic killer stared out of the poster with his glowing
red eyes and his horrible features. A rage of emotions churned
within Ion as his eyes fell on the poster. Anger. Grief. Guilt…
Warding it all
off, Ion turned and looked at the man sitting with his legs folded
opposite to him, as still as stone in meditation. After coming
around two days ago, Ion had told Jedius everything. The man had
saved his life, and he had a right to know. Ion told him how the
criminal in the poster was responsible for what had happened to
him. How he was the reason Ion was now sitting in this hut with a
load of half healed bones. He told him everything about that
killer, and how Ion’s life had changed because of him.
Jedius had
shown Ion nothing but sympathy, and had given him courage to face
the demons of his past, and to destroy them.
Stuffing the
poster back into his pocket, Ion sat back against the wall behind
him, looking out the window. Streaks of boiling red coloured the
morning sky. The dawn exacted a glowing radiance to the forest
outside, and the effect filled the inside of the hut as well. An
aura of deep calm had settled around Jedius, as he sat meditating
for almost an hour now.
Feeling
slightly bored, Ion hopped off the bed and walked towards the door
by the right.
“The first
thing you need to learn when controlling your mystic powers…”
Ion whipped
around: Jedius had awoken from his meditation out of the sudden,
and was now looking at him with a serene smile.
“… is
patience.”
Ion cocked an
eyebrow. “Patience?”
“Indeed,
patience.” Jedius strode upto Ion’s side, his eyes surveying the
forest outside the hut. “Because you need to understand and accept
that all things will not fall in place the way you want them to in
life. And with that acceptance, you will find peace.” He turned and
fixed his powerful eyes on Ion. “The courage to face pain is, in
the end, the source of
all
power.”
you will find
all powers. Rebelling against what happens in life and trying to
overthrow things that cannot be changed will only weaken you from
within.”
“What does this
have to do with me?” asked Ion, in a rougher tone than he had
intended.
Jedius laughed
softly, shaking his head. “Everything.” He looked at Ion, his
expression softening. “What you told me two days ago … I do not
presume to understand what you had faced. But I have faced life
too, Ion.” Jedius’s tone turned darker. “The man responsible for
what happened to you, the one in that poster … He is a figment of
the ever enduring evil that lives in our world. We have
all
faced it … the dark side of life. And we will continue to. Never
tire from the demons of this world. Because to face it is what we
are here for. “
Ion felt his
insides clench in anger, as he remembered everything. Everything he
had tried to forget. He tried to look away from the man’s tranquil
eyes, but he realised that Jedius’s gaze was a little too
understanding…
He patted Ion
on the back and cocked his head, “Let’s go for a walk.”
__________
They strolled
down the dense wilderness, with Ion drinking in the beauty of the
greenery around. Scenic and mesmerizing. Of all the planets he’d
been to, he had to admit that this was the singularly finest … and
the most entrancing of them all. The fragrance of the jungle caught
within his lungs as he breathed in slow, rhythmic inhalations.
Something within him seemed aligned with the natural beauty around
him. Jedius trotted along his right with his hands held behind. The
calm glow was still on his face. Ion walked on in equal silence,
letting his gaze wander over around them.
Jedius stopped
for the first time and turned to Ion. “Can I ask a favour of you,
Ion?”
Ion faced him,
feeling slightly curious. “Of course.”
Jedius bent
down and plucked a blade of grass from where they were standing,
and held it out in his outstretched palm. “Can you explain
this?”
A flame sparked
to life over his palm, devouring the grass blade in seconds, and
leaving a trail of charred remains.
Ion held his
sparkling green eyes for a long moment, wondering what this had to
do with anything.
“You used your
mystical powers.” he answered finally.
“No, Ion.”
Jedius shook his head. “You know what I mean. Can you scientically
explain it?”
“Scientifically?” Ion had never heard such a question related to
him before. He stared.
“Let me
re-phrase,” said Jedius. “Where do our powers, these mystical
powers that we have … where do they come from?”
“Does it
matter?”
“I would say it
matters more than anything.” Jedius clenched his fist with the
charred remains of the blade. “Tell me, Ion. How did you find your
powers?”
Ion frowned,
contemplating the question for a moment. His thoughts flashed back
to when he was younger. When he had treaded upon these unseen
powers. At a very early age itself, Ion felt almost as though there
was a certain, strange sensation that came with his every thought …
a strange power. Waiting to be tapped into. He had the feeling as
though his mind, his
being
itself, contained a reservoir
hidden within, waiting to be channeled into the outer world. And
when he did manage to, when he did manage to direct and channel
this potency within him, strange things, very strange things,
unleashed themselves through him: he could make things move without
touching them. He could move quicker than any normal child his age.
And he came to accomplish feats of strength even greater than
adults could.
But why? And
how?
For some
reason, the two questions had always eluded him. He simply
did
these things. Something from inside of him seemed to
flow out, to make these supernatural feats occur. But why and how …
he never found out. He knew he was different. He was not like the
rest. But the reason was one he had accepted to be beyond his
reach.
He looked up at
Jedius. “I don’t know, and I never bothered finding out. So where
do these powers that we have come from? Where did
I
find
them?”
“You found them
the very same way we all did,” answered Jedius. “You found them
within
. And that is also the reason it’s the hardest to
find. Because only a few gifted ones among men can actually know
the treasure within.” He turned and walked slowly down the green
expanse, surrounded by a canopy of wild trees. “Let me now complete
your vision of the mystic mind.”
He took a quick
breath and went on.
“The secret to
our powers is simple, Ion. Our thoughts bear energy. And we can
accomplish feats by releasing the energy borne in our thoughts into
the outer world. And for this, the trick is the same as for all
feats: concentration. Focus. Thoughts, like rays of sunlight, can
unleash blazes if focused. They are pure rays of light, and the
ones who can focus them can use them to do anything … because
they’re infinite. Our mind is infinite in its potential. All we
need to harness the potential is believe in it, and place ourselves
to focus.”
He reached for
the sword slung behind him and slid the blade off the sheath.