The Rising Sun: Episode 3 (20 page)

Vonayz could feel a scowl settle on his brow
slowly. “Yeah … I noticed as well.”

He drew himself straight on the cot for a
better glance out the door. At the far end of the lands outside,
they could spot a lone figure sitting quietly on the ground.

The prickle of concern that Vonayz had been
feeling intensified.

Just a day back, Ion had gone to hunt down a
target for Grando, his primary client and someone whom he had done
countless jobs for now. He had travelled to the planet Enro where
he had tracked the vigilante. But he had come back empty handed,
scarred and wounded. But that was hardly what bothered Vonayz…

After returning, Ion had seemed hardly like
himself.

There was something far off and thoughtful
in the way he carried himself now, and Vonayz couldn’t help
noticing it. He wasn’t acting like his normal self, and Vonayz
picked up the mildest feeling that there was a strange internal
turmoil that Ion had brought back with him, from the hunt he had
set out for.

Something had happened in Enro. Something
that seemed to cling to him.

Vonayz exchanged a thoughtful look with
Alcrox, who shrugged again.

“Why don’t we go talk to him?” Vonayz
suggested, looking at the lone figure perched at the end of the
expanse outside. “See what’s troubling him.”

For a few seconds, Alcrox was silent,
watching the dot on the expanse that was Ion. Then he turned to
Vonayz with a nod. “Yeah, maybe we should.”

The two of them slid off their cots and
strolled out the door, towards the lone figure sitting far out on
the field.

__________

“
I saved your life, Ion … Make it worth
it for that one reason.”

Ion gazed upon the stars resting overhead,
sitting with his arms on the ground behind on the ground.

The silence and serenity of his surroundings
would have drawn a state of calm and peace in anyone sitting here
now. Anyone but Ion…

Sitting straighter, Ion ran his hands
through his messy red hair, then placed them back on the ground. He
wished he could erase everything within him, and set himself free
of it all. Of what was now raging inside him: a multitude of forces
seemed to churn within, fighting for supremacy over him. Of
everything he had faced in his life, this was by far the strangest
thing that had been forced to go through…

Confusion.

For years now, since he had joined Vonayz
and the assassins, he had never dared look back. The rage of losing
his parents and his brother Eol set his soul ablaze. The fire of
anger and vengeance and possessed him, so that he hadn’t given a
whisker of second thought to the life he had chosen for himself.
Never before, after setting foot on this path, had he ever
questioned himself.

Until now.

Until what had happened two days back…

The girl he had met … she had sparked
something inside of him, something that he wished he could tear out
from within and cast away. She had sparked a conflict within
him.

For as much as he hated it, as much as he
wished he didn’t, he saw meaning in those words she had spoken.

“
The only way to heal a cruel world is
with love and compassion. And not hatred.”

Ion could feel something invoked within him
after that meeting, something that he knew would never let him free
again. Now, as he looked back, at everything he had done, and at
everything he had been planning to do, the life he was now leading
… an inkling of his being seemed to cringe. Somewhere, at the
deepest bottom of his own self, he could feel it … He could feel
the meanest pinch of guilt.

Whatever was now going on within Ion made
him hate himself. And her as well for it.

A pair of dawning footsteps rose to his
attention. He twisted around to see Vonayz and his brother Alcrox
striding up towards where he was sitting. The two of them dropped
to a seat on either side of him, looking at him in a curious
mixture of airiness and concern.

Vonayz patted him on the back, smiling as he
sat down by his right. Ion gave a feeble smile and turned back
ahead, avoiding his eyes.

“Something wrong?” Vonayz asked.

“What do you mean?” asked Ion casually.

“You’ve been…” Alcrox’s voice wandered as he
searched for the right word. “Well, disturbed since you came back
from Enro.”

“Have I?” Ion chuckled, glancing at him and
then turning back again. “You’re imagining things.”

He could sense the two of them exchanging a
quick glance, before Alcrox sat down by right, his legs before
him.

“I know you probably aren’t gonna like me
asking this,” said Alcrox, an edge of hesitation in his voice. “But
… well, what happened?”

Ion looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“You looked ravaged when you came back from
Grando’s hunt yesterday.” Vonayz said. “With scars and bruises all
over, with half of them healed. Did something go wrong?”

“Oh, that.” Ion felt his voice relax.
“Nothing much. I just ran into trouble. But that’s not the
problem…”

“So there is a problem, then.” said Alcrox
“And we aren’t half wits not to notice it! You’ve seemed unusual
since you came back.”

“Ion,” Vonayz put a gentle hand on his
shoulder. “You know you can talk to us about whatever this is,
right?”

Ion scowled, still not looking at either of
them. They were the last two people in the world he wanted to
discuss this with. Because whatever problem he was facing now …
they were the source of it.

He had never dreamt that he would feel such.
But for the first time in his time with them, he felt a spark of
anger towards them. All of them. For they were the cause of all of
this. They had tempted him, and led him into this life.

“Oh, don’t bother with me, I’m fine.” he
said, dusting his hands and getting to his feet. “I think I’ll just
go for a short walk …
alone
.”

Ion could feel the two others’ eyes follow
him as he trotted off without another word. His hands behind his
back, he wandered down the lands back towards the hut. Parked next
to the hut were a group of vehicles, mostly hover bikes or boards.
One of them was a car, and he knew this was Vonayz’s.

Ion walked on with his hands behind his
back, looking all about him. The moon had settled at the peak of
the sky, bathing the land below in a pearly blue glow. A ring of
burning blue encased it from outside. It was the largest entity in
the black expanse that was the sky, with a million other glittering
stars spread around it. The land before him was clean, wiped of a
single structure or building. Their hut was the only one for
hundreds of miles around. They would move from planet to planet,
roaming over the outer spectrum steadily. Not lingering on any one
planet too long. And they chose only planets which were mostly or
fully uninhabited, prone to attract less attention from the
Naxim.

But the Naxim wasn’t all the enemies these
group of assassins had.

Their ventures to the inner spectrum and
their assassinations and hunts for various organisations inside of
it had bought them to the most wanted list of almost every republic
and state there was in the inner spectrum. Although the republics
were not fully aware that they were
mystics
. And as a
result, their details were not famous with the Naxim yet. But Ion
knew that he topped the list. He would definitely break to the very
top of their most dreaded criminal archives. Of almost every
republic and state there was.

That had been the glory of what he had been
… and that was the prowess he had been destined for.

Why leave all of this?
The granite
hearted side of him asked, the monster growling within constantly.
This is the life. And all that rage, all that anger, unleashing
it … it feels sooo good.

This is not the way we’re meant to
live.
replied a softer voice that Ion had never heard before.
And he knew this was a voice that had grown only after his meeting
with the girl. It was
her
voice.
We are meant to live to
help others … not to destroy and shatter them.

He was drawn back in time … to the days he
spent with his family. His
true
family. An upsurge of grief
took place within him, instantly replaced by a burst of rage.

He would forever remember that day.

The day he returned to the village after
being freed from the Naxim … to find gravestones awaiting. All that
remained of his family. A sharp squeezing sensation pressed upon
Ion’s chest.

He would never forget what had happened to
them.

They had died of grief…

Marion and Selia had died of the grief of
losing their two foster kids, their precious twin children, Ion and
Eol.

And Eol…

They had claimed he was a mystic when he
wasn’t. They had dragged an innocent person away … And his body
hadn’t even been recovered from the Naxim station. They hadn’t even
been able to bury him!

Feeling his vision blur, Ion walked faster,
reaching for his sleeve. He fought down the sorrow and grief, as he
had trained himself to do for years now. But it slumbered within
him, subconsciously propelling his actions in his waking stage. But
was he being propelled in the right direction? If he was using his
family as a motive for everything he was doing now, was his family
being used for a good motive … or a horridly evil one?

He kept walking, his stride unfaltered. He
kept his eyes on the ground before him while his mind lay hard at
work.

“
Hatred turns us into the very people we
hate…”

“Does it?” mumbled Ion. for the meanest
second, his thoughts flashed back to that fine day, when he had
unleashed all of his hatred against the man
he
hated.

Commander Rox.

The familiar savage joy swelled within him
once more, as ripe as it had been that day … the day when he had
killed the man who had made his life hell. The one who had tortured
him, and taken everything from him. The man he had hated.

And as he remembered it, he knew that there
was no feeling in the world as sweet as hatred … as sweet as
revenge. Against the ones he hated. And as he realised it, the
brutal side of him rumbled once more. The brutal side which he was
now beginning to question…

Ion yearned to free himself from whatever
was churning inside of him.

A small side of him, a newly born side of
him, wanted him to forgive this world for the pain he had been
through. And to stop the twisted life he was now leading. But the
monster within him that had controlled him for so long raged on
relentlessly. Wanting him to stay numb and to go on. The two of
them fought for dominance within him, almost making him ache from
within.

And then, a screeching noise split the
silence around him. Frowning in irritation, Ion dug his hand into
his cloak pocket and produced a z-com. He answered the call and a
holographic screen slid into place right over it. And looking out
of it was a familiar face.

“I thought I’d hear from you by now.”
complained Grando, frowning.

As the split second of irritation passed,
Ion shook his head. “Well, you thought wrong. And by the way, the
hunt for the vigilante went pretty bad.”

“I know it did.” said Grando. “But you
usually don’t give up so fast.”

“There again, you thought wrong.”

Grando raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued.
He waited for a few seconds before slowly asking, “So, you’re
letting the job go?”

“As of now, yeah.” replied Ion. “I’ve got no
heading on where this guy is, and trying to find him’s gonna be a
bit of a prick. And even otherwise, I -”

“Well, I’ve made your job easier.” said
Grando, smiling. “Some of my compatriots at the Incrag republic had
him tracked just a few minutes back. And they know he’s there to
handle something, and won’t be leaving soon. I’d have sent my own
men, but we’re a little busy as of now, and even otherwise, we’ll
have trouble covering our tracks if we get there and kill him
ourselves. This is something I know you’re reserved for.” his smile
widened, and he shook his head sweetly. “Something you were
made
for
, as a matter of fact.”

His words felt like butter, melting through
Ion…

“So what do you say?” asked Grando. “Finish
the job. Return with the vigilante, and you can still have the full
pay for the job. Take my efforts in locating him for you as a token
of our long forged friendship.”

Ion stared at the screen for a few seconds,
feeling something squirm within him. It was tempting … but at the
same time, he couldn’t forget that there was another entity within
him now, one that he knew wouldn’t leave him if we went on with
this…

Grando scowled. “Oh, all right. I’ll give
you a minute. Think about and call me back.”

The line disconnected, leaving the holo
screen to fade back to thin air.