Despite its
moderate size, the room’s lack of furniture seemed to expand it
from within. A lonesome torch clutched the corner of the room, its
billowing flames shedding a rich golden light over the entire space
of the room. Sitting in the middle, his still figurine casting a
flickering shadow on the ground before him, was an elderly man. He
lay squat legged on the ground with his eyes closed. His stiff
posture hosted not the meanest flinch of motion.
After an hour
or so of undisturbed meditation, Mantra slowly emerged from the
deepest reaches of his self. He lifted his eyelids slowly,
revealing the hazy white eyes beneath them. But the serenity and
calm that those wizened pair of eyes were known to always bear was
suddenly shaken…
Mantra was not
the type of man swayed easily. He had endured much, and he always
managed to keep his steadiness in the face of any situation. Any
catastrophe.
But this one
made a very clear exception.
The signs were
bad. Very bad.
Mantra’s
mystical intuition tingled, warning him of something grave ahead.
Something dark. For the first time in so many years, his inner calm
was tarnished with an unrest, a fear. For a disturbance like no
other had descended upon the realm. And was waiting to consume them
all.
Mantra inhaled
long, slow and deep, allowing the tension to ebb slowly. And then,
rising, he headed for the door.
__________
After attacking
the terrorist base, Ion had rescued Racowl, who had grievous wounds
that needed tending, and had taken him to the nearby village. He
had delivered an unconscious Racowl to a healer in the village, who
had promised to tend to his wounds.
Ion was now
striding down the village’s lanes, which had ground to a complete
halt with the fall of the night. Stretching on both sides of the
lane he was walking through were rows of short, shabbily built
buildings. Occasionally, the row of houses would be broken with a
restaurant, or some other rare amenity found in the middle of this
rural layout.
Scouting and
finding the healer had taken much of the evening. The onset of the
night was now drawing overhead as darkness stirred in the clear
blue sky. The sun had vanished behind the horizon, sucking most of
the day’s light along with it.
As Ion strode
down the lane, he drew out a crumpled yellow chit and unwrapped it.
The chit had carried the efforts of many months. It was all
culminated in the information that lay jammed inside the piece of
paper. This information was what had led him to this day, this fine
day … for which he had worked so long. He had long sought to kill
this one hated enemy of his. And it was now done. The knowledge
that Grando was dead, and that Ion had been the one to kill him,
was blissful. There were few moments in life where Ion had felt
such a bright glow of satisfaction.
After so long,
one of his most hated enemies was dead.
But there was
one other, who remained.
Ion felt his
fists slowly tighten as he remembered his name … the name of that
one living person whom he hated more than even Grando himself. The
one living creature whom he hated more than anything.
Vonayz
…
He crushed the
yellow chit and stuffed it back into his pocket. Suddenly, all of
the delight of his victory had vanished behind a newly awakened
veil of seething fury.
Grando had been
his primary target for him, one he had been seeking to kill for
quite long now. But the truth was that he was actually nothing …
compared to Vonayz. The two of them went long back. And the solid
barrier of hatred between them was harder than anything else in the
world.
But beneath the
fury, Ion felt the meanest trickle of fear, when he remembered his
ancient hatred.
And he was
right in feeling so…
Two years
ago
Thick black
fumes engulfed the burning hut.
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…
The
present
This was no
ordinary enemy, which Ion had made. A part of him was almost
grateful that the two of them would never meet again. For if they
ever did, Ion’s luck might have run out.
Shaking himself
out of his daydream, he brought his attention back. Night had
landed, and the village was now in utter silence. He barely found
people walking about by the lanes. The shops by the side of the
street were all closing down, and people were sealing themselves
inside their houses.
As he slowly
fell back to focus, a new worry clotted at the back of his mind.
And as it did, the joy of victory died away, replaced by a quiet
sense of foreboding.
The words rang
at the back of his mind:
“
This planet
is on the Naxim’s highest priority list. The Naxim’s lookout and
alertness in this planet’s sharper than in most others. They’ve got
a tight hold here, and anti mystic security is way too high. If a
mystic tries wandering to Sacrogon, he’d be risking every hair on
his body.”
Earlier on,
when the Iveling in the cruiser had told him this, he had been
slightly shaken: he hadn’t been aware of the fact that the planet
he was entering now was so dangerous for mystics. But he reasoned
with himself that this was the final stage of a long struggle, one
which would finally end when he had Grando killed. And now that he
was here at the end, it would be foolish to back out. And so,
pushing his fear away, he had decided to go on and enter Sacrogon
to do what he had come here for. Despite the heavy risk involved.
But with the task now over, the earlier fear came gushing back to
occupy his headspace…
He was now in
one of the most dangerous planets for a mystic to be in.
It’s all
right.
He reasoned with himself.
This is a village. I’ve
only gotta be afraid of a place where there’s a Naxim base. There’s
no way there’s one anywhere around here for miles around.
Everything’s fine. All I need is to get out of here as quickly as
possible, and make sure no one knows I’m a mystic.
Though there
was truth in this argument, Ion knew that his fear was well
asserted: getting out of the planet was the hard part. He had used
public transport to arrive. And he would use public transport to
leave. He only hoped that there was a ship station closeby for him
to catch the next ship out of the planet: The station he had
arrived here in was literally on the other side of the planet, and
it had taken him an arduous task to cross the planet from that
station to get here. He now needed one that was closer and easier
to reach.
He wandered
down the dark lane for a few minutes, before coming to a stop by
the house of the village headman. Which he identified through a
large banner propped by the side of the house. The village had come
to an end here, and a vast barren terrain ran forth beyond the
Headman’s humble two storey house. Sitting in front of the door in
a rocking chair was a man playing a small hand sized guitar. He was
cloaked, with the large lopsided brown hat over his head covering
the upper half of his face. A large silver bag pack rested by the
side of his rocking chair.
“I’m looking
for the village headman.” Ion said, stopping by the man’s side.
The man lay the
guitar on the ground beside the silver bagpack and looked up. He
was en Elfling, with prominent slanting eyes and pointed ears which
were half covered by the large brown hat he wore.
“You’re talking
to him.” said the Elfling, adjusting a small, silver badge on his
breast that said, ‘NOVIO – VILLAGE HEADMAN’
Novio drew
himself up from his rocking chair which creaked slightly, and held
his hand out towards Ion. “Name’s Novio. How can I help you,
son?”
“I need
directions to the nearest ship station there is.” replied Ion.
Novio continued
adjusting his badge for a second or two, as though affronted that
Ion hadn’t noticed it. Then, looking back at Ion, he muttered,
“Ship station … hmm. We folks here don’t travel a lot, so … there
isn’t one.”
Ion lifted an
eyebrow, slightly thrown by this piece of information. “I arrived
to this planet at a station that’s literally at the other side of
the planet. Are you telling me that am the only ship station this
planet has?”
The Elfling
surveyed Ion for a moment, looking deep in thought.
“I think it
is.”
Ion blinked,
feeling slightly edgy now. He knew that leaving this planet wasn’t
going to be easy if this was so…
“Well, is there
a fast way I can get to the other side of this planet?” he asked,
hoping that there was a quicker route to reach the ship station
that he had arrived in.
Novio looked
away, frowning as he thought. Then he said, “There’s a place nearby
where you’d get public transport. A hover bus arrives every fifteen
minutes or so. That should help you reach the planet’s
station.”
“Right. So how
do I get there?”
“It’s about
twenty miles northeast,” Novio jerked his head towards the desert
lands sprawling beyond. “Out there.”
Ion gaped at
Novio. “Twenty miles?” He looked towards the barren lands
stretching out beyond. “Out
there
?”
He turned back
to Novio, staring at him with disbelief. “But you said it was
nearby!”