The Rising Sun: Episode 4

by J Hawk

  Mantra regarded him with the same, completely unfazed look.

  “All the masters are dead!” yelled on Ion. “We’re the only three left among the Nyon. Redgarn’s just returned, and the Xeni order’s come back to its full power. What in the world are we even here for, right now?”

  His voice carried across the desert, lingering in echoes. His hands curled, he felt himself shake with grief and rage … But beneath it all, beneath the despair, what really tormented him was the knowledge. The knowledge that after living a life tainted with crime and villainy, he had failed to make up for it with something good. He had hoped to help the Nyon with the dark time they were now struggling against. But he had come here to achieve nothing. He had tried his best to erase the blotch of his evil past with something good in the present, but everything had come crashing down upon them…

  And now, he would go to the grave as the evil assassin he had been. Because that had been all his life had come to at the very end. That was all his existence in this world added upto.

  And it was that knowledge that was the real suffering.

  He felt a soft hand land on his shoulder. He turned to see that it was Dantox, who was gently patting him.

  “We need to keep our minds steeled.” the Brownling said. “Whatever comes, we need to brace ourselves for it, and do what we must. This is probably the darkest time of our existence. And for that one reason, we need to keep ourselves together. We can’t afford to lose it now.” He shook his head. “Unless you would rather let all of it, all the struggle we have bore with across eight millennia go to complete waste. Unless you would rather let the sacrifices of not only our present masters, but the entire legacy of masters who have striven to keep the Nyon up across eight painful millennia, go to complete vain.”

  Ion fought with himself for a moment, and then took in a deep, long breath, calming himself as best as he could. But whatever he did, the pain lay hardened at the base of his stomach. The pain of what he had just lost. He continued to heave deep, calming breaths, trying to forget the two of them. He knew he had to put them out of his mind. And focus on the task now. For if not, as the other two masters rightly said, their losses would go in complete waste.

  And Ion knew that he could not let that happen.

  For Vestra…

  A blaze awakened within him, scouring all else from his mind. He took a final deep breath, relishing the chilly desert air as it flowed into his lungs. Then, he stepped forward and turned to face the two masters. They came to a halt, watching him.

  “All right.” he said, feeling the iron in his own tone. “What’s the plan? … What are we to do now? They’ve just taken everything from us. And we’re left with the task of avenging them. All of them.” His hands behind his back, he paced back and forth as he spoke. “Exactly what is our goal now?”

  Mantra and Dantox exchanged a quick glance. Then, Mantra dug into his pocket and held out the crystal again.

  “We safeguard this.” he said, his voice just as steeled as Ion’s. “We’ve sacrificed too much in the course of protecting it from the Xeni. And we make sure our sacrifice does not fall in vain, as Dantox rightly said.”

  “We were very lucky to have escaped.” Dantox said darkly. “If the Xeni had actually gotten what they came for, we would have nothing at all left.”

  “Our duty now, is to safeguard the crystal.” said Mantra, and he pocketed the crystal. “We stay here and keep ourselves lying low.”

  “Here?” asked Ion.

  Mantra nodded. “This planet is by far a safer one than most others. And the Xeni have no means of finding us at all. We keep ourselves well hidden here.”

  Ion turned and looked down the desert expanse. It ran forth forever, merging with the dark starlit blanket overhead at the horizon.

  “What do we do here?” he asked, turning back to the other two. “This place looks almost dead. It’s probably uninhabited by man beings.”

  Mantra shook his head. “It’s better that way. A planet that is uninhabited is the best for hiding. It’s the type of planets that you’re least likely to run into trouble at.”

  “And in either case, it was not completely uninhabited at one point.” Illuminated Dantox. “Utakor used to have stray dwellers here a century or two back … though very faint numbers of them, though.”

  “How’s that going to help us now?” asked Ion. “Where do we stay?”

  “There will be abandoned homes, shops or something that we’ll find here somewhere.” said Mantra hopefully. “And we will find them if we keep on.”

  Ion spread his hands, gesturing to the endless desert around them. “It doesn’t look like we’re likely to find anything at all here.”

  Mantra smiled, nodding. “Patience, young one.”

  “We’ll keep walking until we do.” said Dantox, smiling. “And we’re bound to.”

  Ion tried to find the best solution to this mess. “But isn’t there a way to … get rid of the crystal?” He looked from Mantra to Dantox. “So that we can end this for all!”

  He had expected the two of them to shoot him down with a quick ‘no’, but to his surprise, they exchanged a knowing glance. But Mantra then looked at Ion and gave a heavy shake of his head. “As of now, no.”

  “What do you mean ‘as of now’?”

  “Right now, we cannot do anything at all.” said Dantox, also shaking his head. “Our current position does not give us such luxury. Right now, we’re in a situation where the best we can do is hide here, and keep the crystal safe with us. And that’s all we are going to do for now.”

  Mantra let his white eyes peer across the desert stretch for a second. He then gave a sharp nod.

  “Let’s go.”

  And the three of them together ploughed on down the endless desert.

  As they treaded on in silence, Ion’s thoughts worked over the mess they were now in. A dark time had fallen upon them all. And they couldn’t be more helpless in facing it than they were now. He couldn’t help but strain his wonders as to what awaited them next in this dark, twisty path they were wading through. What lay ahead now? What more were they going to be forced to face, after this … after losing it all? What were the Xeni upto, as of now? What devious schemes could they be working on next? Ion gulped, hoping they didn’t have to find out.

  He knew that they were left now, with enough misery to last a lifetime.

  Trying his best to ignore the pain broiling within him, Ion walked on in silence with the other two. The three unfortunate ones…

  The three last survivors among the survivors.

  12

  The large desk placed in the middle of the lavish, hall like room had been Garnez’s stationed work spot for almost a decade now. He was now sitting in elegant comfort with his back leaning against the chair, his legs locked before him.

  The room’s window behind him gave him a sprawling, magnificent view of the city of Cratonar. Other towers went soaring up higher than this tower, the official one of the company Garnez worked for. Here, he was given a room in the two hundred and eleventh floor. But this was considered close to the basement – this tower, the tower of their company, was the tallest one there was in this planet. It rose up to seven hundred storeys, almost piercing the very first layers of space itself. The construction of this magnificent tower had invited slight opposition, for the dangerous height it was meant to peak to. And after countering the opposition, their company certainly had no easy time building it…

 

  Reclining against his chair, Garnez swung it to face the front of his office. His eyes fell over the opposite wall, where a large glass shelf lay. Inside of it, stored in a priceless hold, were a spread of guitars. Electric guitars, and a few acoustic ones too.

  Guitars and rock had always been Garnez’s greatest passion. And driven by this passion for rock, he had started a wide collection of electric guitars and other rock instruments. The ones in the glass shelf were a meagre fraction of his entire collection:
he kept a wide variety of the beautiful instruments in his showroom. And his passionate collection of guitars was ever keen on extending and giving room for adding newer ones.

  He gazed fondly at the guitars arranged across the opposite shelf. Then, stifling a bored yawn, he rose and walked over to the window by his right. As he looked out the window, his sight met the several other gigantic towers that shot skyward around his. They were all enveloped by the thinnest layer of mist, and cloud.

  The rest of the towers he saw out the window reflected the same slender build. With an artistic touch. Most of them were built to store offices like his, while some were also residential towers. Balconies extended from the residential towers, sprawling for a wide arena outside of the flats. Parked with hover cars and ships. Vehicles went zipping past in well regulated streams. Hover cars, bikes and small ships.

  Hanging in the middle of the sky, a large red orb could be clearly seen. This was a moon of this planet, and their closest companion in this state which comprised of seven planets. Haolo, the red planet seen upon the sky, was the closest moon there was to them, less than half the distance of the other two moons.

  Garnez had been used to the sight of the deep red moon tracing its path down his window for years now. Despite being small, Haolo was the second biggest hub in their state, after this planet. He looked at the deep red orb frozen in the sky for a moment. It was perched right opposite to a glowing orange orb, which was gradually sinking towards the horizon as dusk approached.

  Garnez continued to gaze out the window, relaxing for a few seconds, before realising that he had work to do…

  As if on cue, his z-com burst into screeching. An incoming call.

  “Yes?” he asked, looking into the holo screen that formed above the device as he answered the call.

  His assistant Crig was staring out of the screen. “Sir there’s a delivery for you. Seems like the electric guitar you ordered two weeks back has finally arrived.”

  About time. Thought Garnez, remembering the order he had placed for his latest guitar, from a store in a nearing planet. Almost half a month back.

  “All right, send him in.” he said, and Crig nodded.

  Cutting the link, he pocketed his z-com, and waited.

  It’s taken them two weeks for it, he complained inwardly. I thought they’d gone dead on the order.

  He sat back and yawned, throwing his hands out in a wild stretch. Less than a minute later, his Rash-con guards were carrying into the room a large plastic box shaped rectangular. They dragged the large guitar container to the end of his office, and gently laid it before him.

  Garnez rose from his seat and walked before it. The guitar’s casing was grander and larger than those he had ordered in the past. Something about it made him tingle with excitement.

  And here is the newest member to the collection. Heaving a quick breath, he bent down over the large container and opened the lid.

  And inside of the large container lay the dead body of King Xurin. The man everyone in this planet was now screaming for.

  13

  In all his days as the commissioner chief of the police forces of Sunatra, Ratino had never before been left so stricken … so wordless, as he was now.

  The office was buzzing with police officers, with journalists and media representatives bursting to enter it from the corridor outside. They were all staring, their faces gaunt, at the coffin lying amidst the room. The coffin holding King Xurin’s dead body.

  Ratino stood facing the desk in the office, hanging over which was a large holo screen with the defense secretary’s face. The only man now reliable for what looked like a scenario fast escalating towards a crisis…

  “When did this happen, Ratino?” asked the defense secretary, looking at Ratino from inside the screen.

  Ratino turned to the man owning this office, Garnez, who looked rattled by what had happened.

  “Less than ten minutes.” Garnez answered in a small voice, looking at the screen.

  The defense secretary’s eyes sank to the coffin by the floor below the desk, a mild frown settling on his brow.

  After the ghastly incident had sprang to the surface, the authorities had been called in instantly by a terrified and panic stricken Garnez. At first, when Ratino had heard Garnez recount what had entered his office, disguised and hidden in a coffin, he felt his heart stop momentarily. His first passing thought was that this was some lunatic’s idea of a joke. He even went to the extent of threatening to throw Garnez into prison for making what he thought was prank call. But Garnez pressed on, and Ratino found that the note of trepidation in his voice unmistakable…

  And so, Ratino and his police forces swept into swept into the place, their hearts pounding. And they realised that it was no joke. It had all been real. Their King had been kidnapped by an unknown entity. Murdered. And then sent back in a guitar shaped coffin…

  Twisted as could be.

  Ratino looked back at the defense minister, ignoring the slight thudding sensation within his chest. “So … the separatists weren’t involved in this after all?”

  He looked out the window as he asked it, looking beyond the many other towers rising beside theirs, merging into the clouded skies above. Somehow, for the first time in his days here, the scenic sight of this high tech city melted from his mind’s grasp, bearing no amusement or awe that it would have otherwise. The red orb perched in the middle of the sky, their closest moon Haolo, seemed to boil in a furied red colour … a veil of foreboding and horror had risen over the world.

  The defense minister nodded gravely. “Apparently not … so, who, then?”

  Ratino kept his grim gaze latched to the coffin, his hand below his chin. He was quietly grappling with the impossibility of what had just happened…

  Around him, other members of his police squad were involved in their own grave discussions.

  “-but who?”

  “-surely they would –”

  “- wasn’t the separatists –”

  Ratino firmly turned and held up an arm, and a hushed quiet filled the room instantly. He turned to one of the cops beside him. “Search the entire coffin.”

  The man nodded and bustled forward towards the coffin. He bent down and searched the large container, trying to find anything else hidden in it other than the body. And as he finished, to their utter bewilderment, he found that the lunatics responsible for this had left something else for them in the coffin…

  A toy doll.

  They had found it hidden behind the King’s body.

  A toy doll?! Ratino felt everything trickle out of his grasp, out of his understanding. What the hell’s going on here?

  As the cop who had searched the coffin held it out to him, Ratino took it very warily. Feeling as though something was very, very wrong here.

  The entire room had frozen in a state of stunned, slightly edgy silence, as Ratino considered the toy doll in his hands, twisting and turning her around. All eyes in the room were widened as they watched the doll, as though convinced that it wasn’t what it looked like. As Ratino himself was. But as a puzzled Ratino scanned it closely, he realised that it was exactly what it looked like – a completely normal toy rag doll.

  “What the hell is this?” The defense minister’s voice broke the stunned silence. He was staring at the doll through the holo screen, just as perplexed as everyone else in this room was.

  Ratino responded without taking his eyes off the doll in his hands. “We were all wondering the very same thing, sir.” He looked up for a second to meet the man’s eyes. “And I have the feeling we’re about to find out.”

  Turning the key sticking from the back of the doll, Ratino wound the doll and placed it on the floor.

  The toy walked about, with some kiddish tune playing from its speaker at the back … a tune that made Ratino’s scalp prickle for some reason. In this current scenario.

  What’s going on here?

  The entire room was fastened in utt
er silence, watching the doll. It was the most bizarre few seconds in the lives of the people in the room. The toy continued to trot about, the toddler’s tune playing from its speaker.

  As a few seconds passed, the doll’s wounding stopped. The toy came to a halt and the childish tune playing in its speaker died…

  As though on split second cue with the doll’s stopping, the red planet seen on the skies outside was engulfed in a bright, orange flare. Their moon Haolo disappeared behind a violent explosion, a flash of orange that seemed to shoot outwards, turning white hot. Appearing to illuminate the entire skies for the briefest span of a second or two. And then the white light then sucked itself back to the spot it started with, and vanished. But the red planet was no longer there. Haolo had been destroyed.

  Ratino stood rooted to the spot, the entire room around him struck dumb in silence. Unblinking, he stared at where Haolo had disappeared – for a moment, everything around seemed to have swirled into a haze.