The Rising Sun: Episode 1 (13 page)

The masters
sank back to silence, all of them looking deeply thoughtful. Dantox
slipped back to his seat, his hands on either side of his face as
he contemplated the situation. Galinor continued to stand there,
looking out the window behind Mantra.

After a while,
Galinor looked at Mantra and said, “Fine, maybe this is the only
way. But if they fail…”

“Then they will
go to their graves with the knowledge that they stood up for a
greater cause and that,” Mantra gave a nod. “is something that we
should rejoice for, in their part.”

Before the
other masters remonstrated, he went on: “But as for me … If they
fail and die trying, I will take responsibility for it, and the
guilt as well. For their lives.” He looked about the masters.

Finally,
through a thought absorbed silence, one of the masters stood spoke.
“Very well … I agree that this must be done. As grievous as it
sounds.”

He looked about
the room. The rest of the masters nodded slowly, one by one.

“Then do I have
all of your backing on this?” asked Mantra.

The rest of the
elder council nodded as one.

Mantra smiled,
looking at Galinor. “It’s done then. Bring the two of them.”

__________

Vestra and Qyro
wore looks of hardened resolve the whole while, as the plan was
being explained to them. They were both standing attentively, their
youthly fervour showing in their postures.

Qyro had his
arms folded in front of him, his bronze hair shabby and unkempt as
usual. The light from the dying sun, from the opposite window, cast
a livened touch on his red fur.

Vestra was
standing beside him, her hands behind her back. Her waist length
black hair was tied in a ponytail. Her skin was coloured light
brown, and there were no special features demarking the unknown
species she belonged to.

“The village
that you need to enter,” Galinor was explaining, while he stood
with his hands on the table with the Nyon emblem on it. “has been
overrun and taken over by a bunch of rebels. Now, these are
terrorists controlling the village. They will have a close watch on
it, and ensure that no outsiders get anywhere within it. But the
leader of the rebel is a man known as Razvol. He stays inside the
village all the time, and you will have to find him.”

“Find him?”
Qyro asked slowly. “So we don’t know where he is, in the
village?”

The masters
looked about each other uncertainly. They were clearly still
unconvinced about sending the two students for a mission this
difficult…

Mantra shook
his head. “No, we have no information of our target, Razvol, other
than the fact that he stays in this village. And that he’s the
leader of the rebel organisation. That’s all we know.”

“Don’t worry,
master,” Vestra assured. “We’ll handle it when we get there.”

Mantra couldn’t
help feeling proud at the resolve they displayed.

“Yes, I believe
you will.” he went on. “So your target, Razvol, is currently in
possession of a certain object. This object is the reason you’re
now going on this mission. You need to find this object, and
procure it from him.”

Mantra beckoned
to one of the masters, who rose and came forward with a z-com in
his hands. He placed the z-com on the table with the Nyon emblem,
and pressed a button on it. A holographic screen came to life above
the device, holding the image of a small, thin object. It was made
of crystal, and resembled nothing more than a splinter of
glass.

The two
students stared at the object in the screen for a long, quiet
second.

Qyro slowly
shifted his gaze to Mantra, looking perplexed. “You’re sending us
halfway into the inner spectrum, to the most dangerous planet
possible … to get hold of a toothpick?”

Mantra looked
at him for a second.

“This object,”
He gestured to the crystal piece on the screen. “has to be acquired
at all costs. The fate of our entire spectrum hangs over it.”

The effect of
his words left the air in the room to tighten.

“But what in
the world is it?” asked Qyro.

“And how can it
be so important when it’s the size of a blade of grass?” asked
Vestra, staring at the screen.

“I will explain
everything to it when you return,” said Mantra plainly.

“We’d like to
go to this task with the knowledge of what we’re going after.” said
Vestra.

“That knowledge
will only terrify you.” said Mantra.

Qyro and Vestra
exchanged intrigued looks.

“Well, if
you’re
terrified, then we guess it really is important.”
said Qyro.

Galinor stepped
forward. “Qyro, Vestra, listen. Make no mistake, this is a very
dangerous mission. We aren’t going to hide the truth from you. If
you you choose to accept it, it will indeed be a risk. For all of
us.”

“If you don’t
feel confident about it, we don’t expect you to attempt it.” said
Dantox. He looked at the object in the screen and heaved a quiet
breath. “The fact is that we are left with little choice. The
danger involved is paramount.”

“Dangerous
mission are my favourite type.” said Qyro.

“Don’t worry
about us, Masters.” Vestra said in a bold tone. “This is done.” She
looked at the crystal in the screen. “We’ll acquire this thing and
have it brought back.”

The masters in
the room seemed significantly relieved at the attitude the two of
them reflected. Some of them seemed to exhale silently, as though
having held their breaths for a long time.

“Very well,
then.” said Dantox, looking from Qyro to Vestra. “May luck be with
you, our young Nyon.”

“Who the heck
needs luck?” asked Qyro.

“We don’t.”
said Vestra.

__________

The two of them
were now striding down the corridor towards the vehicle shed to get
their hover bikes.

“What do you
think’s going on?” Qyro asked softly, turning to Vestra. “They
seemed strangely tense.”

“I noticed.”
said Vestra. “It was hard not to.”

“And Mantra
never hides anything from us,” Qyro’s voice dropped lower. “But
this time, he didn’t give us a clue of what this was about. I mean
what the hell is this thing, the crystal object that we’re going
after?”

Vestra looked
slightly troubled. She sent a quick glance back down the corridor,
as if to check if the other masters were anywhere nearby. Then,
with a deep breath, she said, “I think something really huge is
happening. And they’re obviously trying not to scare us about it.
Why else would they send us completely clueless to a mission?”

“And they’ve
gotta be pretty desperate too,” said Qyro, frowning as he
calculated the odds. “Desperate enough to send us to something
that’s more dangerous than it looks worth it.” He nodded. “I think
something really bad’s going up. And they’re doing a bad job of not
showing it.”

They arrived at
the door to the vehicle shed, and pushed it open to a completely
dark room. Vestra held up her hand, and with a crackling sound, a
fire blossomed over the torch hanging by the corner of the room,
blanketing its orange illumination over a large room with a group
of vehicles. Most of which were hover bikes or boards. Two hover
cars lay stationed at the corner.

At the back of
the room lay a pile of small glass cylinders with what looked like
a green liquid within them. Vestra walked up and scooped two power
drives from the stack, tossing one to Qyro. The two of them picked
up a hover board each from the group of neatly lined vehicles. They
were designed no different from regular boards, except with a
slender, elegant design. Their ink black metallic coverings gleamed
menacingly in the light from the torch.

“Well,” said
Qyro, as they exited the room and strode towards the entrance of
the temple with a hover board each held by their arms. “Let’s make
this one heck of a ride.”

__________

Minutes later,
the two of them were on their hover boards, ripping through an
endless black abyss. Cloaking both of them in large, bubble like
layer was a Plasmon shield.

Vestra felt her
mind drift over the current predicament, as the two of them voyaged
journeyed to the planet. It was obvious that there was something
grave going on. And whatever it was, the masters themselves were
clearly unnerved by it … Dispelling the distraction, Vestra brought
herself back to focus. It was evident that this was a task they
could not fail in. And she intended to ensure that they didn’t.

The inner
spectrum…

After so long,
they were finally exposed to a glimpse of adventure at long last.
Vestra remembered the last time she had been sent on a mission to
the inner spectrum. And as she did, her mind hovered over to the
strange incident that had crossed her in the midst of that mission.
And almost unconsciously, a smile touched her lips as that memory
flashed past her mind…

She still
remembered his name.

Ion.

Two years
ago

Dipping the
cloth into the herbal substance, Vestra smeared it over the deep
wounds on the boy’s tattered robes and the nasty red gashes running
along his exposed skin. He was lying on a straw mat, barely
stirring. He belonged to a strange species, with skin that carried
a tint of orange. His dense red hair was long and ruffled, falling
over the front of his face messily.

The place was
filled with the chatter of the rest of the patients, and the few
healers tending to them. Vestra fought back a twinge of concern for
the rest of the patients here, lying about this enormous green
field. With a scarce number of healers to tend to them. And some of
them were suffering from visibly nasty ailments and conditions.
Closing her mind to the distraction, she kept focus and smeared the
herbal substance over the boy’s skin, which was lined with cuts and
bruises.

A pair of
footsteps trotting over sounded from behind her. Vestra turned to
see the same aged healer standing behind her. Her concerned eyes
ran all over the boy’s body, checking the nasty state of his
wounds, and her face softened.

“That would do,
dear.” the aged healer said with a relieved sigh. “He’s better of
now than when you’d brought him here.” She looked at Vestra with a
warm smile. “Thank you so much.”

“The least I
could do.” responded Vestra. She looked over the rest of the field,
with almost a hundred or so patients spread over mattresses all
across it. “How are the rest of the patients?”

The aged woman
warm expression was marred by a shadow of anxiety. “We’re doing our
best,” She gazed across the field. “But there’re only a handful of
healers to assist me, and so many patients.” She ended with a
strained sigh.

Vestra turned
back to the boy lying before them on the mattress. After finding
the boy in this brutal state, teetering towards death, Vestra had
immediately taken him and rushed to find a healer. She managed to
reach this field, which was the closest thing to a hospital in this
village. As soon as she had reached, the aged healer standing by
her had provided an instant remedy for the boy’s wounds. The herbal
substance that she was now applying on him now.

But what the
aged woman didn’t know, was that Vestra was applying a bit of her
mystical powers into the healing. And it was probably going to be
the reason the boy survives, if he did … But no one could know
that, could they? Because even if they found a helpful mystic, they
weren’t going to loosen the reins of the law for her. But Vestra
wouldn’t let that keep her from helping people when it was asked of
her…

A groan sounded
from the boy, and the two of them turned to see him stirring
slightly. His eyes fluttered open, and slowly, through a blurry
vision, found Vestra. She held his eyes for a moment, sensing
something deepening within his startling orange eyes.

“I’ve healed
most of your wounds.” she told him.

The aged healer
took a step forward and bent lower.

“You’re lucky
this young woman here brought you to me in time.” She gestured to
Vestra, who nodded absently, stirring the cloth in the herbal
substance. “Or else…” The aged woman shuddered. “No other healer
would’ve been able to help you.”

The boy spoke
in a cracked voice. “You’re a … healer?”

“Lucky for you
that I am.” chuckled the aged woman. “Whatever it was that happened
to you, it was the nastiest I’ve seen in a while. I’d rather not
know how it happened, but let’s agree not to do it again, shall we,
son?”

And with that,
she turned and walked off to tend to the rest of the patients.

As Vestra
continued to apply the paste of herbal substance to what remained
of the boy’s wounds, he fixed his orange eyes on her, looking at a
loss for words.

“You … saved me
life.”

Vestra paused
to permit him a smile, nodding. “You’re lucky I chanced past that
place when it happened.”