“Wait a second,” ventured one of the other
high council members standing beside Evander. “This flat’s gotta
have a security surveillance, right?”
Evander hadn’t thought of that. A flame of
hope kindled within him. “It should!” He nodded, turning to the
police officers. “Check the security recording.”
They walked over to the large desk at the
centre of the hall. As they tapped a button on the table, a
holographic screen rose over the air above it. They made it replay
the events of the past few hours slowly, from the beginning … and
when it reached the end and had finished showing everything, a
speechless, ringing silence was left in the room.
Evander found it slightly difficult to find
his voice again, and break the stunned silence.
“It was him…” he said in a whisper, looking
around the room at the other two high council members and the
policemen. “It was the one who had blown up the cruiser, and
attacked the Mech laboratory!”
The police officers had no knowledge of
this, but the video of the gruesome eyeless creature kidnapping
Derigor was enough to stun them senseless.
The video had showed the pale faced, eyeless
man slipping into the room hours back, and waiting … And when
Derigor had arrived, the madman had knocked him out, taken his body
and had coolly walked off.
Evander fought back the choking sensation
slowly building within him.
This can’t be!
Feeling everything spin around him, He
reached for a chair nearby and sunk to it.
As the speechless silence descended over the
room again, a voice of one of the police officers, suddenly alive
with excitement, called:
“Master Evander, there’s something amazing
we’ve got here!”
Evander, along with everyone else in the
room, turned to look at the officer at the far end of the room. He
was stooped over something on the floor that he was blocking from
view. Turning around with a beaming smile, he announced: “Whoever
that lunatic was, he sure is going to regret coming here and
attacking Derigor.”
Feeling a spark of curious thrill, Evander
rose and walked towards the man, as did the rest of the people in
the room.
“Why’s that?” asked one of them.
The man scooped up whatever he had been bent
over, and waved it before them.
It was a z-com.
“He left his z-com!” exclaimed the man,
getting to his feet. “The mystic probably dropped it on his way!
Now, through this z-com, we can-”
“Know all his contacts and get far more
details through it!” finished Evander, whose panic had been
instantly replaced by delight and excitement.
The man hurried forward and handed the
mystic’s z-com to Evander. Feeling all else erased from sight,
Evander pressed a button on the z-com. A holo screen leaped out
over the air above it.
Evander frowned, reading the words displayed
on the screen … The holographic screen hovering over the mystic’s
z-com had the words:
‘GENTLEMEN, THIS IS HOW HOT IT GETS IN
HELL.’
The rest of the crowd gathered behind him
had fallen to a puzzled silence.
“What does that -”
Before the policeman could finish the
sentence, the bomb that Zardin had implanted in this room went off
… the entire structure was ripped apart by a bellowing blast of
orange. The fire raced outwards, tearing through the walls, floor,
ceiling, frying everything in its way … And the entire place was
left in flaming smithereens.
The Nyon Temple, Farnor
Mantra had been sitting here, staring out
the window in front, for an hour or more now. For the first time in
so long, he was unable to get a grasp over himself, to find
composure in the speedy thoughtflow running through him.
The room door opened behind him, and two
pairs of feet could be heard striding in.
“We’ve just heard from them,” said Galinor,
standing behind him. “From Qyro, Vestra and Ion. both their
cruisers had reached their respective planets some time ago.
They’ve now re united and reached the outer spectrum, the planet
Otawna.”
Mantra felt himself ease slightly as he
heard it.
“Good.” he said, nodding. “That means
they’re in safe waters now. Off Naxim territory.”
Dantox walked up to before Mantra, his hands
tucked within the folds of his sleeves.
“They would be reaching here in less than
half an hour, now.” he informed Mantra. “With the crystal safe with
them.”
“Excellent.” Mantra slowly rose, turning to
face the two of them. “Phase one is complete: we’ve procured the
crystal. Now for phase two.” He looked from Galinor to Dantox.
“What do we do with it, now?”
The two of them exchanged a quick
glance.
Mantra stroked his chin, thinking.
“I think,” he said slowly. “That we should
have it taken to Nalzes. He’ll do what needs to be done with
it.”
“Nalzes?” asked Dantox, giving a moment’s
thought. “The priest who lives in Velrox?”
Mantra nodded. “A
mystic
priest. And
a very old acquaintance of mine. If we take the crystal to him, all
problems would be solved.” He turned and looked out the window
again, mapping out the entire plan in his mind. “And this would be
the best course of action, because close to where he lives, we have
a mystical tablet. A tablet that I’m familiar with.”
And no
ordinary one at that.
“Nalzes is well versed in the spells of
eld. He can do what needs to be done with the help of the mystical
tablet, and the problem posed by the crystal would be solved.
Forever.”
Dantox’s brow sank in a thoughtful frown. He
walked before the window at the end of the room.
“Mantra, in the end, our purpose is just to
keep the crystal safe, to keep it off the reach of undesirable
forces, isn’t it?” he asked, looking out the window
“It is.” said Mantra.
Dantox turned slowly and faced him again.
“The Nyon temple, if you ask me, is the safest place for the
crystal to be right now. In the entire spectrum. The crystal would
be perfectly safe here. We’re taking a rather unnecessary risk by
plunging into another voyage across the spectrum with the crystal
to get it to Nalzes when we’ve had a tough time getting it in the
first place. Wouldn’t you agree?” He looked between Mantra and
Galinor.
Galinor, who appeared to have been thinking
on the same lines, nodded. “Acquiring the crystal was not easy. And
the three of them faced a huge risk in the journey to reach here
safely with it. After all of it, do we need to face another risky
endeavour? because as we’re well aware, Velrox is on the other side
of spectrum, and getting the crystal there safely would be a
dangerous mission of its own. And what with the Naxim now
tightening their hold over the entire spectrum … in the light of
the recent terrorist attacks.” He gave a firm shake of his head. “I
really wouldn’t think it’s advisable.”
Mantra assimilated the situation, allowing
himself a few seconds of silence. He knew that taking the crystal
to the priest, Nalzes, would be the best of all options … but as
the two of them rightly pointed out, Nalzes lived secluded in a
distant planet. And reaching him with the crystal would take a
reasonably long voyage. One where many things could go wrong in
between. And what was the point, when the Nyon temple provided the
safest haven for the crystal?
We’ll save this for later on.
he
thought.
At a time where it would be safer for us to make such a
voyage. When the Naxim’s current rigid protocols have loosened
slightly. As of now, undertaking such a mission may end up
compromising everything we’d struggled for in the past few
hours.
“All right.” he said, nodding.
Galinor drew his z-com, checking the
time.
“They’ll be here soon now.” he informed the
two of them as he pocketed the device.
“And when they do … we have a lot to brief
them on.” said Mantra. “Because after what they’ve done, they have
a right to know of course.”
__________
“We know our way down here, cause we’ve been
along a hundred times now.” Qyro told Ion, who was walking along
with the two others as they made their way down the thick green
forest.
Ion felt lost as he looked about him, at the
trees and greenery drenching the place all around. It was hard to
believe that anybody could find their way down this wild forest.
“Do you? That’s gotta be an achievement.”
“If you stay long enough with us, you will
too.” said Vestra. “It’s actually not all trees and grass once
you’re familiarised with it.”
Both of their cruisers had landed at two
different planets. And from there, after contacting each other,
they had taken another round of public transport to a planet
closeby in the outer spectrum. After re uniting there, they had
made this final space jump here. To the forest planet Farnor, where
the Nyon were hiding. This was a planet cut off from all public
transport routes, making it even more secluded than most the
planets in the outer spectrum. The three of them had hired a random
hover car taxi driver, whom they had payed to take them through
this short space jump to this planet. Having arrived here, they
were now making their way to the temple, led by Vestra and
Qyro.
They were walking for almost ten minutes
now, and Ion was relieved to be rid of those thick furcoats which
they’d been forced to wear as mild shields to their mystical energy
auras.
“When the Nyon arrived here, they placed a
load of mystical spells as shields to the planet.” Qyro explained,
as they walked on. “These shields are meant to capture the aura of
non mystics, in case any of them came near here. The masters’ll be
alerted immediately.”
“Is this anti Naxim security?” asked
Ion.
“Of course it is.” answered Vestra. “We
can’t get enough of those, can we?”
“Wait…” Ion said slowly. “Did you just say,
‘
when
the Nyon arrived here…’?”
“The brotherhood’s had to re locate about a
hundred times since the past eight thousand years.” illuminated
Vestra. “Either because of being discovered, or for fear of it. But
the Naxim’s still hot on the hunt for us.” She sighed. “We’re lucky
to have made it this far, as a matter of fact.”
“The temple that you’re about to see is a
structure that’s endured for eight thousand years.” said Qyro with
a silent awe in his tone.
Ion gaped at him. “That’s impossible.”
“We thought so too.” said Qyro.
“But it isn’t.” Vestra shook her head. “The
Nyon temple was made more than eight thousand years back by the
founders of our brotherhood. And they rose the building and sealed
it with mystical spells that gave it an untarnishable built like
nothing seen before.”
“Yup,” said Qyro, pushing away a tree bark
that stuck out before him as he walked on. “The Nyon temple has
stood for eight thousand years.”
“But you said they re located a hundred
times.” pointed out Ion. “so every time they moved … they took the
temple with them? Like some kind of moveable trailer?”
“The temple is a non grounded structure.”
said Vestra.
“Non grounded?” asked Ion, bending to avoid
a branch twisting out from a thick, large tree by his right.
“The building can be detached from the floor
of the earth and taken elsewhere.” clarified Vestra. “The masters
move the structure with spells that the original, olden members of
the brotherhood knew of.”
“But the olden members were here eight
thousand years ago -”
“We’re almost there, now.” cut across Qyro,
pointing to a large clearing in the middle of the vast green field.
Ion peered into the end of the canopy they were heading towards,
into the clearing.
It was empty.
“Where is it?”
“It’ll be there, don’t worry.” said Qyro
enigmatically.
Ion stared at him. He turned back, trying to
spot something he couldn’t see clearly from here. A large,
glistening lake stood somewhere at the centre of the enormous
clearing. Its flawless surface shimmered in the light from the mid
day sun.
As they approached the clearing, as if
forming out of an invisible haze, Ion saw it…
The temple’s outline slowly carved itself
out of thin air, exactly opposite to the way a mirage would
dissolve into thin air as one approached it.
The building had been there all along, but
only after walking closer could they see it, apparently.
“As we said,” Vestra turned to Ion with a
smile. “we can’t get enough anti Naxim security.”
“So … it reveals itself only when you walked
close enough?” asked Ion, looking between the two of them.
“Provided you’re a mystic.” replied Qyro.
“It stays invisible to non mystic eyes. It’s a spell that the
masters placed, like all others.”
And a bloody good one at that.
thought Ion, inwardly dazed as he looked at the giant building that
had slowly appeared out of nowhere. The two of them stopped at the
front of the large clearing, gazing at the giant structure for a
quiet moment. It was a large, majestic structure that rose to about
the height of five storeys, spreading over an elegant area. Windows
large and tall could be seen spread all across its polished,
concrete surface. It was separated from them by the distance of the
lake that came between them.