by J Hawk
“But you already knew that,” laughed Redgarn, the force of the wind pressing him hard against the wall nearby. His hair, tousled and wild, billowed about him, giving him a scary, deranged look. “Now, let’s finish what we started … in style, shall we?”
__________
One arm fastened tightly around the pillar, Ion fended himself from Zardin’s maddening assault. Leaning from the pillar next to him, his long black hair spinning wildly, the Xeni unleashed a rapid torrent of strikes over Ion.
The repeated clings of their blades meeting was drowned by the hysteria raging all over them: the wind flooded the place, senseless and brutal. The walls and the ceiling seemed to shake uncannily. The windows all lay smashed, and large chunks of concrete were sheared off the walls and pillars around them, leaving concrete and glass debris to fly around inside. Squinting to shield his eyes from the wreckage soaring around, Ion fought off the savage fury of the creature nearby him.
Zardin assailed him with a rain of strikes and blows, his shining blade flying at the speed of light. Ion had never imagined of facing such a scenario where his skill level was forced to stretch beyond ordinary borders. Fending death off by whiskers. Split second gaps. Keeping his mind concrete with focus, he let his blade spin viciously, fighting off the storm of jabs, strikes and slashes that Zardin sent at him, half smothering him. The wreckage bellowing all over them seemed of no importance, for the seat of all his attention was the sword that came flying at him rapidly, aiming to tear him senseless.
The temple seemed to have climbed to the top of the very sky, and the billowing wind was suddenly erased of all warmth: the gush of the air was cold, frigid, and the rattling of the walls and ceiling grew loftier. Now giant chunks were torn off the walls and ceilings, succumbing to the wind’s violent wrath. The broken debris and wall chunks went flying off out the temple, joining what looked like a ring of wreckage swirling around the temple.
__________
Two miles above the earth…
The Nyon temple, half wrecked, with a flood of debris spinning around it, came to a halt at the very edge separating sky and space. The chill of the air here bit into the very building. The wind now sweeping through the structure turned merciless, leaving large chunks of concrete to come sheared off from all over.
Inside of it, the titanic clash between good and evil had smashed past all boundaries … The Nyon and the Xeni fought through the half demolished structure, half clinging to life against the walls and ceiling all over them. The army brought by the Xeni had now won intense domination over their rivals. The Nyon was now fending off an inevitable doom inside of a half wrecked, demolished structure.
The scales had now toppled towards the Xeni. They raged over their long hated enemies, now pushing them to the teetering edge of collapse…
__________
Redgarn crept off the wall, with the cold blast of the wind still pressing him against it. Across the demolished remains of this corridor, Mantra clung to a wall, trying to move. His long white hair was swept backwards in the wind, which kept him from moving, for if he lost his hold even slightly, it would leave him flying off and into the mayhem…
Chuckling sidiously, Redgarn reached for the crystal, which lay pressed to the wall nearby him. He saw Mantra’s eyes widen as they followed him. The old man seemed to muster every ounce of strength and slowly inch forward. Redgarn locked his fingers around the crystal, and brought it closer. You’re now mine!
He turned to see Mantra still struggling against the crashing wind, trying to move forward but unable to.
“It’s over, old friend.” said Redgarn, shaking the crystal with one hand for Mantra to see. “This will be the end for you. And the beginning … for us.”
Without warning, Mantra launched himself forth. Redgarn felt his eyelids stretch open as the humble mass of black, with flying long white hair, landed over him. He felt the crystal slip his hold…
“No!” He landed back on the wall, Mantra’s body over him. From the corner of his eye, he saw the plague crystal blown off by the stream of the wind … it went flying towards the end of the corridor … and towards the opening into the skies.
Summoning all his might, he released a smash that sent Mantra’s old body tossed upwards violently. Mantra went crashing through three floors. Redgarn spun and held his hand out, bringing a steady flow of his mystic powers: the plague crystal stopped where it was, floating in the middle of the corridor against the blast of the wind.
His hair flipped backwards, Redgarn dived forward, feeling his body split the wind as he ran down the corridor.
“Aaaagh!”
The sound, faint initially, grew deafening, and all of a sudden, the roof right ahead blasted apart, allowing Mantra to land on the ground right before Redgarn.
Redgarn gritted his teeth. He ignited his sword and hurled it over. But, dodging it swiftly, Mantra lunged towards the crystal, his cloak flapping.
__________
Ion continued to clutch the pillar with one hand wrapped around it, his other hand holding his sword. The world had suddenly been plunged into frost all over them: the cruel wind seemed to pierce his skin as it washed over him.
How far up from the ground are we? He wondered. Feels like a few miles!
Zardin stood holding one arm over a nearby pillar, watching Ion hungrily. His blade was ignited, but held lowered slightly. Ion stood there, glaring into his dead eyes.
“Why can’t you accept the truth, Ion?” mocked Zardin. “Accept who you are?”
“I know who I am.” Ion hissed “Now you will, too.”
He heaved himself forward and struck with his blade. Zardin’s reflexes were uncanny, too quick for Ion: He didn’t even tilt his head to look where the shot was coming. But, as though in alignment with his surroundings, as though drinking in every pore of what went on around him through some other, far more efficient means, he twisted around almost reflexively out of the way, smiling.
Ion felt a chill ripple through him. How’s he doing that? How does he know what’s going on around him without having eyes?
“I know who you are, dear boy.” said Zardin. “You are a fiend. A murderer. I never dreamt I’d say this, but the things you’ve done,” He gave an impressed nod. “they make me pale in comparison, boy. And that’s really saying something.”
Ion stored the fury bellowing within, and he struck again, letting it erupt out of him…
__________
Dantox tore down the hall, his speed hampered by the dashing wind. The entire temple was coming to ravages: the walls, ceiling and floor were now strewn with cracks, and giant chunks broke off from all over, floating around the insides.
Behind him, the sound of their billowing cloaks masked by the rage of the wind, came a group of masters. They covered their eyes as they followed him. The group passed a gaggle of Rash-cons led by a Xeni, and took to slicing them down.
As they battered down the dozen or so robots, knocking the Xeni leading them, Dantox felt his attention deviate: two cloaked figures came hurtling down the hall from the other side. Mantra, and behind him, apparently chasing him … Redgarn!
Mantra was clutching the plague crystal in one hand, evidently trying to keep it from the hands of the menace behind him. The masters saw what needed to be done. As Mantra passed, without needing a second prompt, they all jumped in the way, blocking Redgarn. Their swords’ light, combined as they stood opposing tyranny, seemed to suddenly leave a gleaming radiance to light the entire hallway.
Mantra stopped for a quick call to Dantox, who stood behind the group of masters. “Come on, they’ll handle him alone. I need your help!”
With one sweeping glance at Redgarn and the masters waiting to fight before him, Dantox turned and headed after Mantra…
Mantra and Dantox rocketed down the corridor, knowing that all else was now off importance … Getting the plague crystal out of this Xeni infested place was all mattered now. They rounded a turn and found a batc
h of Rash-cons tackled by a group of Nyon. They streaked on, knocking the robots out of their way, but not stopping to fight them.
As they rounded a turn at the end of this hallway, they grabbed two hover boards from the vehicle shed on the right. The only vehicles left – all others had been smashed, crumpled, or blown away by the wind. A hover car lay at the corner, but they left it, carrying the two boards and storming forth.
The entire structure was now rumbling and shuddering. Giant pieces came ripped off the walls and ceiling all over, so that they had to swerve out of the way at lightspeed to avoid colliding with any of them. They found another duel raging at the end between two figures, both of whom were clinging to two pillars to avoid being swept by the wind. Ion struck, dodged and kicked every ounce of his energy forth against a deadly looking, pale skinned Xeni, whom Mantra sent flying with a smash of his elbow. He grabbed Ion before he went charging after his opponent, and they continued down to the end of the corridor…
“What the –” began Ion, trying to free himself from Mantra’s grip. “Lemme go – I wanna –”
“It’s over, boy.” Yelled Mantra, over the thundering carnage. “Game’s up. We’re leaving.”
And they arrived at the very end of the corridor, with the walls completely racked apart, and they glimpsed the ring of debris swirling around the temple, threatening to engulf them. Without stopping, without even considering it, ignoring Ion’s gasp of shock and preparing themselves for the sensation of weightless elegance that followed, they jumped…
__________
Amidst the roaring wreckage all over the temple, amidst the chaos and confusion that engulfed the structure as it hung two miles above the ground, three lonesome figures could be seen hurling themselves off the edge of the place. Their motions were elegant, woven in a graceful arc – they went sailing forward for a mean second, before dipping slightly and finally swerving completely groundward … And then the three Nyon went plummeting in a death defying soar towards the ground.
__________
Ion felt his eyelids flutter at the force of the wind as he rushed towards the ground…
Two miles below.
The clouds rushed upwards, letting a splash of moisture hit him hard as he shot right through them.
Beside him, Mantra soared along in a serene freefall, almost scarily unbothered. Dantox had drifted further off, and the master seemed just as unmindful as Mantra of the fact that the three of them were now plummeting two miles down to the earth. The expanse of greenery unfolding below them seemed to rise upwards slowly, as the three of them dropped faster and faster.
Mantra suddenly flapped his free hand, swimming closer to Ion.
“We’re gonna die!” shrieked Ion.
Clutching the plague crystal breathlessly with one hand, Mantra reached behind him with the other. And he unslung a large board that Ion had only noticed now. A hover board.
“I wouldn’t count on it.” he said, holding Ion by the arm, and setting the board below the two of their feet. They stood over the board, Ion behind Mantra, before the electric engine roared to life. And the fall broke stiffly, all of a sudden, so that Ion felt a heavy jerk hit him from below – an impact of inertia. He twisted his head around and saw that Dantox, too, had been carrying a hover board, and was now soaring off on it.
The two of them went gliding over the sky, one board with an aged and young man, the other with a lone, middle aged one.
__________
Forcing down the boiling sensation inside of him, Redgarn stepped past the stirring bodies of the five Nyon. The foolish Nyon who had blocked his path. They had come in his way, thinking they could hinder him. But he had cast a mere wave of his hand, and they had all been tossed to the side. He would have, in any other predicament, ripped them apart. But he needed to go after something else now, and that filled the priority.
My crystal!
Just as he walked, he saw a cloaked figure emerge at the turn at the end of the corridor, his cloak fluttering madly in the wind. Zardin slowly walked upto Redgarn, and calmly said, “Two of them ran past me just now, knocking me as they went by. They jumped out, before flying out on hover boards … One of them was carrying the plague crystal.”
Redgarn stopped where he stood, unmoving. Unblinking. But he could feel something crack within him.
“You saw this?”
“I can’t see.” said Zardin. “I felt it.”
Redgarn allowed his gaze to slowly move past Zardin to the smashed walls at the end of the corridor, seen outside of which was the swirling ring of debris. Then, slowly rounding about, he fixed his flaming eyes on the five Nyon behind him, who were getting back to their feet, the ones who had blocked him from Mantra.
“I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!” he roared, hurling himself onto the group of five Nyon. “I’LL KILL EVERY ONE OF YOU FOR THIS!!”
__________
As if in response to the temper exploding inside the Xeni leader inside of it, the Nyon temple shuddered nastily. The senseless trembling shook the entire structure to its core. The walls and ceiling and floor of every room, every storey, quaked with a might like no other … Breaking apart, tearing …
__________
The front of her hand coated with sweat, Vestra stepped back, hesitating for the first time.
The situation, all of a sudden, seemed to escalate. The trembling of the temple seemed to grow maniacal, and the walls and ceiling seemed to rumble around her. A wrath like no other seemed to erupt through them.
Her hair spinning wildly, Vestra walked down the wrecked hallway, shielding her eyes from the debris flying all over. And then, piercing the mayhem and wreckage, came a distant scream … a bellow of mad fury. Someone was really angry.
And the shuddering of the place was suddenly aggravated … with a thundering new rage.
__________
Through the black expanse of outer space, two hover boards wrapped in shields went zipping past.
The two of them were streaking past the vacuum chasm with their course set, their journey and its route automated. The two boards stayed in line with each other, keeping the distance of a few metres between them as they travelled.
In the hover board on the right, Dantox gazed ahead, keeping his feet fixed on the board’s surface. The effect of the neckbreaking speed held no effect as a result of the Plasmon shield encasing the board. He felt almost as though he were standing on still, unmoving ground. Not even a ripple formed on his cloak from the effect of inertia.
He turned to his right, where the hover board on which Mantra and Ion were, was, sailing at the same level as his. The two of them kept the same line, the distance between them holding throughout, as they blasted through space.
Standing at the back, looking tense, rigid and anxious, was Ion. His sword lay slung over his back, but as he looked in front, there was a blankness in his stare. He seemed to be holding down a raging inner turmoil. Standing in front of him, Mantra was watching the blackness ahead, his hazy white eyes playing with a quiet melancholy. As always, the calm look was unfaltered on his face, but the master’s usually strengthened gaze, as he stared ahead, seemed to bear a new weight. And Dantox knew why, of course…
Sighing softly, Dantox turned and looked ahead again.
The stillness of space enveloped the three Nyon on the two hover boards as they shot across millions of miles. They voyaged across the pitch black abyss for ten minutes or so in the same gloomy silence. The same airless silence that seemed to constrict from all around.
On the hover board in the right, Ion stood with a sense of anxiety choking him from within. The electric buzz of the board’s engine seemed to have been drowned by the pounding within him. The rapid pounding of his heart, fuelled by fear and panic like no other … but not for himself.
“What about all the others?” he asked through the still silence, placing a hand on Mantra’s shoulder from behind. “What about the masters left in the temple?”
Mantra was quiet for a moment, not even showing signs of having heard Ion.
“Master -?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He said, and Ion could feel the suppressed regret in his voice. “What matters now is safe.”
He slid his hand into his pocket and drew out the crystal, holding it from behind for Ion to see, before pocketing it again.
Ion gritted his teeth, his temper rising. “We can’t just leave them all behind!”
Without turning, the elderly man shook his bald head slowly.
“We have to. If we go back to try and save them, we risk losing what matters most now.”
“But –”
“Ion, we need to safeguard what the brotherhood stood for,” Mantra said quietly. “And the plague crystal being kept off the Xeni is something any number of Nyon would have gladly died to achieve.” His voice bore a painful mixture of sorrow and regret.
