by J Hawk
And it had…
Zardin now knew where he was.
Very shortly, they would be united.
And when they were … the world stood no chance. None at all.
4
For half an hour or so, the four of them had been roaming the magnificent temple. Ion followed Mantra and the other two as they now returned to the very basement, a large furniture – less hall. Masters were standing about in small groups and talking, while others casually strolled by. At the very front of the hall stood the double doored entrance to the temple.
Mantra had his hands behind his back, walking a few steps ahead of the three students. He had his eyes on the ground before him, giving the strange impression of being deep in thought. Ion, Qyro and Vestra walked along behind, observing a short spell of silence. Ion noticed two of the elder council at the other end of the large hall. He recognised one of them to be Dantox, the gold haired Brownling.
“Is something wrong, master?”
Mantra needed a second to register Vestra’s question.
“Of course not.” he said with a half glance back.
Vestra looked at him worriedly.
“The temple is completely off the grid of public transport.” Ion said. “when you guys go for missions – “
“How do we find transport?” Mantra completed, turning to face him. He smiled. “In all honesty, we try and worry about it only when we do go for missions.”
“And that leaves us pretty much nothing to worry about.” Qyro mumbled.
“Mostly we use the vehicle shed we have here in the temple.” Vestra illuminated. “It has a group of hover cars and bikes. Power drives are also available with it.”
“But this planet’s literally at the edge of the realm.” Ion cocked his head slightly. “It should take you longer to get to a mission and back than the mission does itself.”
Mantra chuckled and turned back ahead. “Like I said … we worry about it when we do go for missions.”
“You’re low on missions, are you?” Ion found it surprising to believe, in this age full of crime and injustice.
“No.” Mantra shook his head as he walked on. “We’re low on chances of returning alive.”
Vestra gave a short chuckle.
“It’s a struggle, pal.” said Qyro. “That’s what it is.”
“But even here,” Mantra said. “at a point in time where our survival is threatened, there have been those who have fought so hard against the injustice. Persevering to upkeep the Nyon’s spirit. And its fight against the breeding darkness … a fight against all odds.”
“Like yourself?” Ion asked cockily.
“No.” Mantra stopped and faced Ion again. The two of them stood facing each other for a quiet moment. “Like your master.”
“Jedius?” Ion said, eyebrows rising.
Mantra merely smiled, and then continued walking.
The three of them were now striding down the large hall towards its other end.
“There are some things that are far greater than they seem.” Mantra said suddenly. “Some things that are far honourable than they seem, and far more noble. But at the same time, by far harder.” He sighed. “And leading another in the right path is one of those things.” He shook his head. “There has been no task that I have faced, in eight thousand years of the brotherhood’s history, that is possibly harder than leading our younger ones. But there is nothing possibly more important than it either.”
“We weren’t that bad, Vestra and I, were we?” asked Qyro.
Mantra laughed softly. “There is no exception to the rule. We undertake the greatest burden to pave way for the newer generation. But out of our pain, we uncover the single greatest gifts at times.”
He stopped and faced them for the final time. His gaze slowly roved over the three of their faces.
“When I see the three of you, the younger generation of today … I see a reflection of yesterday.” His eyes found Ion, and a smile kindled upon his wizened features. “Jedius and Arigon. The two brothers were the gems of yesterday … and they have paved way for where we stand now.”
“Arigon?” Ion repeated, surprised. “Jedius never told me he had a brother.”
Mantra sighed. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t.”
“What do you mean?” asked Ion. “Where is he now?”
Mantra turned and continued walking. “A far better place.”
Ion was overridden with shock … the fact that Jedius had had a brother whom he had lost as well … It seemed to kindle some kind of connection between him and his passed master … a connection deeper than anything their years together could have forged.
“It was exactly one generation before you.” Mantra explained, as the three of them followed him from behind. “The Nyon were greatly diminished, and our ranks shrunken. We were facing a time where our existence was more of liability to the world than a boon, as it still is. But your master Jedius was unshaken in his faith. He was a man who dreamt of changing our world, and returning harmony to it. But alas … we were hardly at harmony within our own selves. We were hunted down and threatened. Nearly at the brink of collapse.”
“And we still are.” added Qyro, to which Vestra nodded.
“Jedius wanted to bring peace to our divided realm.” went on Mantra. “But alas, his dreams went in vain … Our world could not be healed by one man alone. The loss of hope in his goal caused Jedius great pain … But not nearly the pain of what fate hurled at him next.”
He gave a soft sigh, while the three others followed him down the hall. “The Naxim had made a fine catch that day, when they tracked down and caught Arigon in the middle of a mission he had been sent in. And that fateful night, one of our greatest warriors was lost … And another great warrior saw himself reduced to half.”
Ion listened, feeling sympathy stir inside of him.
“Arigon was the one thing in this world that Jedius treasured more than anything life could have given him. Fate snatched from him what he loved most.” Mantra’s voice was traced with sorrow that echoed his own. “But through his brother’s death, Jedius awoke to a new vision … a more powerful vision. His dream of carving a better, safer world was renewed with fervour like no other. But he now saw what he needed to do. And it brought him the need to sacrifice much.”
“What?” asked Ion.
“He needed to sacrifice his dream, if he wanted to fulfill it.” Mantra said. “For the Nyon needed him in its present fight … But not as much as the future needed him. Jedius saw that only in finding and training younger ones could he fulfil his wish. And so, he left us … and found someone who needed him more.”
He turned and looked at Ion, who held his deep gaze for a quiet moment.
“And today,” His white eyes still fixed on Ion, Mantra nodded. “his efforts have paid off.”
Ion was temporarily speechless. Jedius’s life … the pain he had faced … the fact that he had lost a brother as well … the two of them now seemed linked in a way that went beyond what he had thought earlier. He now saw that he was on a path that his master had striven for, and lived for. And in no means at all would Ion see it go in vain.
Mantra gave another sigh, and Ion sensed something a quiet turbulence within the elderly master.
“Master?” Vestra asked softly.
Mantra nodded.
“Is everything all right? You seem a little…” She looked at Qyro hesitantly.
“Awry?” Mantra chuckled softly. “Yes, I usually am.”
He swept his gaze over the large hall, before looking at the three of them again.
“I think I’ll retire for the day.” he said. “Why don’t you two carry on and show Ion around the temple … I’ll head back to my room.”
Qyro and Vestra exchanged a glance, and then nodded. Beckoning to Ion to follow, the two of them turned and walked off down the large hall.
Mantra stayed where he was, watching the t
hree of them disappear at the end of the large hall. For a quiet moment, he surveyed the place about him. He then walked across the hall himself.
__________
Having reached his room, Mantra quietly stood gazing before his window. In the silence, he tried to wade through his own thoughts.
The train of events of the past day or so would have rattled anyone else in his place. Uncertainty and dread now blocked the path ahead, making it hard to see what waited ahead … Mantra could sense the turmoil and confusion both within him, and all around the spectrum. And all of it stemmed from one fact.
The Xeni have returned.
The thought came with the same pinprick of agitation. Mantra sighed softly, placing one hand on the glass surface of the window in front.
He had been seeing this coming for some time now…
For a few days, he had sensed a gathering agitation. Even now, through the silence, he could feel it churn within him. A disturbance unlike any he had felt before. There was a new shadow cast over the face of the world.
Removing his hand from the glass surface, he turned and walked over to the centre of the room, where he sank to a seat on the floor. Closing his eyes, he let his mind fall to rest steadily.
For a long time, Mantra sat there absorbed in the room’s silence.
“Interrupting, am I?”
Mantra slowly turned around. Dantox stood at the room’s entrance.
“Of course not.” Mantra replied. He beckoned to the spot next to him.
Dantox walked over and sat by his side. He surveyed Mantra for a quiet moment.
“I saw you with the three students just earlier on.” he said in a casual voice.
Mantra nodded absently.
Dantox seemed to hesitate for the meanest moment, before slowly asking, “Is something wrong?”
Mantra shook his head.
Dantox turned back, gazing at the forests outside the window for a while.
“Earlier on,” Mantra said. “I was so scared for the crystal’s safety that taking it to Nalzes, no matter what the risk, seemed the only prudent option. But now, there seems to be no need to worry at all.”
“What do you mean?” Dantox looked at him. “The temple is the safest place for the crystal. There’s no way the Xeni would find us here.”
“That may be true. But it almost seems like the Xeni aren’t interested in finding it at all.”
Dantox frowned. “What makes you say that?”
Mantra was quiet for a moment.
“For some reason,” he said. “it appears that they are uninterested with the crystal at present … that they are pre occupied with something else.”
Dantox continued to gaze out of the window, looking thoughtful.
“But the question,” Mantra said. “is what?” He looked at Dantox slowly. “What are they engaged in, at present?”
Dantox surveyed him for a long moment, before turning back to the window ahead.
“What makes you say all this?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Mantra laughed softly. “Maybe I’m just rambling.”
Dantox shook his head. “I think you’ve been a little on edge off late. Maybe you should stop spending too much time thinking over things you don’t have control over.”
Mantra chuckled. “Is there anything we actually have control over?”
He turned and looked at Dantox. “But that’s the last thing that should concern a man. What should concern a man is his response to his lack of control.”
Dantox heaved a deep sigh.
“I can see what you’re going through, master.” he said. “Eight thousand years have passed … Their evil empire fell, and the survivors were left to die in Taurandor. But the enormity of the evil that they had wrought survived since,” He shook his head. “It has haunted this realm till today. And our brotherhood as well. Redgarn and the original members of the wretched order may be gone, but as long as their order still stands, this world will never be free.”
Mantra simply nodded and continued looking out the window.
“And neither will we.” he said.
Dantox placed a hand on Mantra’s shoulder. “I know you’re a little concerned off late, my friend. I don’t pretend to completely understand why, but perhaps you should free your mind from all of this, engage yourself in something else.”
“Maybe I should.” Mantra replied. “As much as I hate to admit it.”
Dantox continued to gaze at him in a slightly concerned look. With a nod, he rose to his feet and headed for the door. He paused at the door and asked, “Where are Ion and the other two, by the way?”
“They’re still showing Ion around the temple.” Mantra said. “Giving him a feel of this place and its lifestyle.”
__________
“Coming here revolutionised our ways.” said Qyro, as he strode down the long corridor with Ion and Vestra by either side. “First off, this is a world where there’s nothing at all but precision … and discipline.”
They were walking down a corridor in the third storey. By the wall on the right, large windows hung, through which the forest outside could be viewed. Ion gazed out them as the three of them walked down the corridor.
“Our schedule starts at four in the morning.” went on Qyro, glancing back at Ion. “We wake up, get freshened and begin our training in less than half an hour.”
“Basically,” said Vestra. “we’re just going through an extension of the training we’re pretty sure you been through.”
They were right. Ion remembered the days he had spent with Jedius. They had not been very different at all. Disciple had been rigged into his ways the very same way it was here. And the steel of those days, which Jedius trained him with, was what helped him cope with everything he had been through, his dark past, and to help move past it.
Qyro stopped for a moment and looked out one of the windows. He turned to Ion, gesturing to the vast clearing outside. “That’s where we usually go for combat practice. It goes on for hours together.” He stepped closer to the window, trying to get a glimpse of something by the side. “And there’s a lake by the front … we can’t see it from here.”
“Yeah, I know.” said Ion. “We crossed it on our way to the temple.”
“Well, that’s where we meditate.” said Vestra.
“Who trains you?” asked Ion. “Mantra?”
“We have more than one master.” replied Vestra. “And yeah, Mantra’s one of them.”
Ion looked at her in surprise. “That’s odd. I can’t imagine being trained by more than one master at once.”
Qyro stopped trying to glimpse the lake and turned.
“I thought so too, when I first came here.” He nodded. “But there’s the difference, see. The way stray mystics are raised, and the way mystics are raised here in the brotherhood.”
“What’s the difference there?” asked Ion.
“In the world of the stray mystic, the training of a young person isn’t given much importance.” Qyro explained. “At least not as much as it deserves. To a mystic outside of the Nyon, finding just one other mystic is usually more than enough. One mentor is more than they can afford, in the threatened state of life they lead. And the attention given to the student would be compromised because of that fact.” Qyro glanced out the window again. “But here, we have all the attention to give to a student. Cause that’s the greatest priority the brotherhood has of now. We’re hard finding students, and if we do, we need to train them in our ways, and well.”
“And that isn’t hard doing for us,” said Vestra, who had her arms folded before her. “because that’s the most we can do for now.”
“And so,” continued Qyro. “The Nyon are keen on devoting their focus to a student that they get. And to add to that, they have a practically overwhelming student teacher ratio.”
“We’ve got only masters, and almost no students.” said Vestra. “And so, the masters devote all they can to the students they get. We ha
ve different masters for different aspects of our training.” She gave a moment’s thought. “For instance, Mantra teaches us the most important of them all: meditation. Galinor takes us for combat.”
Ion looked down the wilderness coming at the far end of the green expanse out the window. The sun was still hung high on the sky. It lay obscured behind a large puffy cloud, so that only a meek portion of its dazzling orange was visible.
Ion drew his eyes back inside the hall and looked at the other two. “You guys really are an achievement.”
“What?”
“The fact that Nyon survived for eight thousand years, through all these tough times…” He shook his head. “It’s nothing short of an achievement.”
Qyro gave a chuckle. “We all know it is.”
“But it’s not the achievement it should have been, is it?” asked Vestra darkly.
