“Exile.” he said in a low voice, his eyes
scanning the group of nine shackled men. “Expulsion from the
brotherhood, and exile from the great empire.”
Across the hall, the three of them saw the
eight thousand year younger Mantra’s posture retain a sudden new
stiffness. The lines around his eyes tightened as he frowned.
“The nine of you,” went on Tesmor, “shall
temporarily be expelled from the empire, and from our
brotherhood.”
“Exile?” spat Qyro. “They murdered eight
people. They tried to assassinate the King for god’s sake! This
deserved far more than just exile.”
Ion scowled, looking down the line of
masters. This had to be very odd indeed. Such a type of crime would
surely call for a greater punishment in any ordinary establishment.
But in the great Nyon, how could it go so woefully unpunished?
Mantra bustled across the room and before
Tesmor, speaking to him in a hushed voice.
“Master, they’ve assassinated eight
important government members.” he said. “Surely this sort of a
crime deserves nothing less than -”
“I shall decide what it deserves, Mantra.”
said Tesmor, his voice pinched with a trace of anger. “Redgarn and
the eight others will spend their years in exile, striving to learn
the err of their ways.” He heaved a slow sigh, his eyes fixing over
Redgarn’s. “And when they do … the brotherhood will be more than
happy to let them return to us.”
Mantra’s mouth fell open, and he rounded to
look at Redgarn. His hateful red eyes were fastened to Mantra …
with a grinding force of scorn and fury within them. The fact that
this person was going to go on to live free was certainly the
blackest turn fate could have delivered them.
“Take them away.” commanded Tesmor.
His gaze followed the group of men as they
were dragged off. And as Ion looked at the face of Tesmor, he
suddenly realised it. He knew…
Tesmor was too attached, even now, to his
favourite student. His affection for Redgarn, whom he believed to
be gem of their brotherhood, had held him back and had blinded him
from delivering justice … and this would one day go on to fall in
history as the singularly most devastating mistake ever made…
The scene swirled.
As the now watched, standing in a night
worn, cold desert, and the nine cloaked figures ploughed down the
meandering land, all of them looking forlorn and demolished. They
had been banished to this planet of the outer spectrum, and they
were now reaching it, completely alone and friendless.
And Mantra’s voice, the real Mantra whom
they now knew, played over the scene:
“Redgarn and the small group of young Nyon
he had gathered as supporters were exiled. To the furthest reaches
of the spectrum. Master Tesmor, blinded by his own arrogance, and
his belief that Redgarn would see the err of his crimes and return
to them in a new leaf, had made the single greatest mistake of
history. A mistake that would demolish everything he and the other
masters had spent their lives guarding and protecting.”
The nine Nyon slowly trotted down the lands,
and at the very back, Redgarn turned to send his gaze down the
endless expanse behind them. And Ion saw his eyes possessed of a
fury like no other. Growling to himself, he turned and continued
on.
“The exile was meant to teach them the err
of their ways,” came Mantra’s booming voice. “But it did quite the
opposite. Humiliated and enraged by it, Redgarn vowed revenge
against the Nyon, and to tear down everything they stood for. To
tear down the empire… and make the entire world his. Sealed outside
of the empire, alone and guardless, the nine of them hatched their
plans in complete unguarded secrecy. Sealed in complete secrecy
outside of the empire, Redgarn’s mind bred with a growing insanity.
He began to seek the ways of dark, satanic arts … mystical arts
that had been forbidden in the Nyon, and anywhere else in the
empire. He started to follow the path of
Mezmeron
. Over the
years, he devoted himself to the darkest form of power … the power
of chaos and oblivion. And he slowly began to channel the spirit of
Mezmeron himself. The force of anarchy itself.”
Now, as the scene swirled again, Ion and the
other two were standing inside of a dark, pitch black cave. But
standing in front of it, amidst a circle of black cloaked men, was
undoubtedly the horrid creature who had grown even more devastating
in the years of his exile…
Redgarn’s skin seeming to flame with a
crimson red colour. His eyes were piercing red, small and bead
like. And his teeth seemed to have turned razor like. There was a
screech of madness in every pore of his deadly, blood red skin. He
was bent over a large table like object covered in a dark
cloth.
“And with the use of a mystical tablet, a
greatly powerful instrument in the realm of the mystic, Redgarn
spent years tapping into the spirit of Mezmeron and using it to
avail a dark force like no other.” went on Mantra’s voice. “It took
years, and meanwhile, the Xeni were growing steadily stronger in
their exile. Many stray mystics of a twisted nature like Redgarn
were beginning to fall to the lure of the power that the Xeni
promised … and they joined them. Over the years, the Order of Xeni
bred, growing steadily stronger, while Redgarn spent all his
reserved in the task of unleashing Mezmeron to his aid.”
Redgarn pulled off the large black sheet
covering the table, and Ion saw, through the darkness, a large
table. He took a seat on the ground behind the table, closed his
eyes, and began chanting … And through the darkness, a sudden new
burn of red lights occurred … The black pits of the cave were
suddenly lit in a swirl of blood red lights that shot about like
cords, twining about the inside of the cave … Redgarn continued to
chant, waving his arms madly in front of the table.
“Redgarn had locked himself for years,
learning the darkest of mystic arts.” said Mantra’s voice. “The
darkest of spells and powers that had been locked off bounds for
the Nyon. With the help of the mystical tablet, he used these
spells to channel the spirit of mezmeron, with which he summoned a
force of chaos like no other into this world. To aid him. Years
after he had started this long, dark process, he succeeded … and
through the life force of mezmeron, he had woven an army of evil,
an army of terror, for his aid … and this army that he summoned,
was a horror like never seen before.”
At the last word, the scene shifted. The
three of them were now standing in the same dark cave with Redgarn
in front of them. But standing between them and Redgarn was a
strange, smoke like entity…
This being, Ion could somehow tell, was not
like any other known … He seemed to be half solid, half smoke. As
the three of them stood and watched, the creature walked over
beside Redgarn and turned … And Ion’s heart froze within his chest
at the sheer horridness of what he was viewing.
He was nothing like anything they’d seen
before.
His skin was pale blue, his eyes ice like.
His form seemed to be made of something between solid and gas, and
what could be seen of his body was shaped through his smoky
outline. But the creature seemed to exact a cold, lifeless aura
around him. So that any life form chancing close to him would have
withered and died. As Ion watched it, clouds of darkness invaded
his mind … it was a creature that stirred anarchy within anyone who
set sight upon it.
“With Redgarn’s knowledge of the dark
mystical arts, the Xeni mustered an army like no other.” said
Mantra’s echoing voice. “Through his black spells, he managed to
create and take control of the darkest of creatures ever known to
walk this realm.
Demons
. “
The demon they were looking at, who stood
beside Redgarn, smiled as he spoke:
“I see you need our aid,” he said, his words
leaving a slight shiver in the air after them. “And we are the
lifeblood of Mezmeron, and we will live where there is chaos and
anarchy. The forces of Mezmeron have long awaited the chance to
test the boundaries of sanity of your kind.” He shook his head at
Redgarn, who stood just as still with his red eyes unmoven from the
demon. “And we see that we haven’t scraped the surface of the
amount of sheer chaos man beings can bring about.”
“You will now.” replied Redgarn. “I now give
you the chance to break all borders, to use your powers of Mezmeron
to plunge the entire realm into dishevel.” He grinned. “Frost the
demon, you and the rest of your kind, the kind of demons, shall now
join us. And we shall bring about a new order in this universe. An
order of
chaos
.”
The demon, Frost, threw his head back and
laughed. It was a cold, icy sound that almost made Ion’s insides
writhe.
“My good man, I
live
to serve
madness.” said Frost. He turned and gazed at where the three of
them stood. And Ion felt all three of them freeze as those icy blue
eyes focussed on them. But they then realised that he was gazing at
the entrance of the cave, which they were in front of.
“You have moulded us through the life blood
of Mezmeron,” the demon hissed. “And serve Mezmeron we shall.”
And as Ion and the other two twisted around
to meet the demon’s gaze, they could feel their hearts stop as
one…
Outside, down the expanse of the cold
desert, a hundred … a
thousand
smoky figures slowly
materialised, all of them forming out of thin air and hovering on
the spot, faced towards the cave. And then, the entire army of
demons, as one, came floating towards where the three of them
stood, towards the entrance of that cave, where Redgarn and Frost
were…
An army of demons.
An army of terror like no other…
Ion was, for the first time, thankful that
this was only a flashback and not reality that the three of them
were now standing amidst.
“And together,” said Mantra’s voice. “They
unleashed their evil. Their revenge. Redgarn brought the Xeni,
aided with many other stray mystics they had garnered support of
over the years in exile our of hiding. And together, with the
unmatched terror of the demon army, they unleashed their onslaught
against the empire, and against the Nyon.”
The scene changed…
Now, they were floating in the sky, and
through the clouds … But below them, a terrible battle was raging.
On ground, mayhem seemed to have broke beyond all limits as two
forces clashed with a titanic might. The sounds of the battle
reached him from where he and the other two were, hovering a mile
above the ground.
“Taking the pursuit of his goal, and of his
revenge, to a new storm, Redgarn accomplished the greatest of all
evils.” played Mantra’s sorrow stricken voice, over the scene,
dulling the sounds of the battle and its explosions around them.
“He killed master Tesmor, who once stood up for him and protected
him, and several others among the elder council that governed the
brotherhood. Then, as the Nyon lay plunged in chaos, he fulfilled
his long dreamt goal. He took control.”
And then, everything around them fell to a
soothing, sudden calm … and the three of them were suddenly
enveloped in blackness. “He brought down the ancient empire, having
overcome and brushed aside its armies, and having killed the King
and destroyed his heirline as well. And the world was consumed in
darkness. For the age of gold had come to an end. And the age of
Iron … had begun.”
They were now standing in a planet. And all
around them, there was a quiet like no other. A quiet that seemed
to blare with the screams of a thousand agonized voices. Ion felt
his jaw land open as he realised what was going on…
They watched in horror, as lines of
civilians stood around, moving step by step. All of them chained,
and shackled. They were all wearing expressions of anguish as their
fates sealed itself. Standing around the lines of shackled
civilians, watching them, were the demons. In their fiendish, smoky
forms. Their cruel blue eyes were all fixed on the lines of
shackled prisoners that they were now masters of, watching them
hungrily. There were also robots, but these were not of Sirengard …
they, Ion could tell, were of the new evil empire. The Xeni’s evil
empire. Together, the armies of the empire stood spread over the
land, watching the lines of shackled, enslaved people move
slowly.
“Having enslaved all of mankind,” rang
Mantra’s heavy voice. “Redgarn sealed himself as the King. With the
Xeni under his command, to do his bidding … and to the demons’
forces to keep the world clenched within his hold. The power
hungry, cold hearted tyrant allowed grief and turmoil to grind
forth for centuries of his rule … centuries of pain, misery and
darkness.”
The scene swirled, and now, Ion and the
other two stood inside of a semi dark room. With silent, cloaked
figures around. Nyon. One of them was standing right in front of
them, his back faced to them.
They could sense an atmosphere of focus in
the room, dampened by a shadow of loss and fury.
“When the Xeni’s victory had been sealed,”
came Mantra’s voice. “and when they had thwarted the ancient
empire, what remained of the Nyon, now broken and ravaged, was
forced to flee. Taking what remained of the Nyon temple after the
battle, they hid themselves deep in the outer spectrum. While
Redgarn’s dark rule deepened, the Nyon slowly worked against him
and his empire, where they lay concealed. Working in complete
secrecy, the Nyon slowly built their forces, to one day return to
the open and save the spectrum from the evil clench of Redgarn and
his empire. But … they knew that they were at a grievous loss. For
the demons’ army was terrible beyond all, and they had not the
slightest glimpse of hope that there was any force in existence
that would stand against them, and win …”