The Rising Sun: Episode 6 (11 page)

The rest of the Xeni stood behind him in this
large hall, peering into the screen before them.

After having the watchmen destroyed, Dantox
and a few other Xeni had made their way here, to a city far away on
the same planet. They were now inside one of the city’s buildings,
where they needed to procure something before they began the
spell.

“When will the spell begin?” asked Dantox.
“The spell to release the demon army?”

“As soon as the day enters the regime of
Mezmeron.” Zardin smiled. “The blackest time of the night will be
the most fruitful time to begin the spell.”

Dantox felt a spike of thrill.

“We will reach there within a few minutes.”
He told Zardin.

“You know what you need to bring with you.”
said Zardin.

“I do.” Dantox nodded. “And that’s why we’re
here
.” He spread his arms, gesturing around where they now
stood.

“Good. Don’t return without it.” Zardin gave
a final nod, and the screen disappeared.

The Xeni behind him turned and strode about
the hall, examining the furniture and the things they saw around
it. Some of them strolled down the corridor by his right to even
further explore the place.

Meanwhile, Dantox looked at the group of
people tied together in a close huddle at the end of the hall,
their squeals of terror muffled by their gags.

The family consisted of five. Five innocent
people. The ceremony of releasing the demon army was to be grand
and enjoyable. They needed sacrifices for it and these five fitted
perfectly.

Dantox knew that they would have done far
better to have the two Nyon they had captured earlier on, but
Mantra and Ion had wriggled out of their grip, and were probably
dead by now. And so, this family would suffice. It was not actually
necessary, but Zardin thought it would appease the demons when they
were released, to give them something fresh to prey on. And that
was where the family of five tied up before them came in.

Dantox slowly walked over and bent before the
sweet, innocent bunch. The father was the frontmost of the group,
his eyes bearing a mixture of terror and rage. The mother lay
pressed from behind him, her screams dulled by the gag stuffed in
her mouth. The three kids were tied close on either side.

Dantox shook his head simperingly as he gazed
at the cute little kids. One of them, a boy, was no older than
three. The other two were girls of about nine, both of their faces
tear streaked and crumpled in terror.

They were the people who lived here in this
house. Or rather, they had been. They wouldn’t live here any
longer. As a matter of fact, they would live for long at all…

“Oh, don’t you cry,” he said, stroking one of
the girls by the chin, so that she shook her head violently, trying
to ward off his hand. “It’s gonna be over soon … all of it.”

He straightened up and turned to face one of
the Xeni behind him. An Iveling.

“You know what?” he said, looking
thoughtfully at the Iveling. “Five may be a heavy load to carry.
Why don’t we … trim the herd a bit?”

“I think so too.” The Iveling ignited his
sword and walked forward, a manic hunger in his eyes. “Let’s show
one of them the mercy of a painless exit?”

The muffled screams grew high pitched.

Dantox clicked his tongue, looking at him
admonishingly. “Dear man, we know that nothing is painless.”

The Iveling laughed cruelly.

The glow of brutal glee brightened within
Dantox as he turned back to the family.

“Stuff the chump down the toilet.” he told
the Iveling, beckoning to the three year old kid.

The screams sharpened like a talon as the
five of them struggled against their bonds. The Iveling walked
forward and plucked the three year old boy off the huddle, while
the boy thrashed wildly. He turned and walked down the corridor, by
the side of which was the puny toilet of this house.

It would be a memorable death for the boy -
being stuffed down a toilet bowl. Dantox forced back a mirthless
chuckle.

Carrying the screaming, thrashing infant, the
Iveling left the hall, vanishing into the corridor. Silence blared
in the hall as he disappeared, punctuated by the muffled, helpless
squeals of the four other family members.

And then, there was the distinct sound of the
toilet being flushed … and then a sharp breaking noise, as though
the toilet had been broken at the force of the three year old
thrust into it.

The muffled screams of the four surviving
members stopped abruptly, and a chill now rode over the air.

Dantox smiled.
Well, that’s one less brat
in this world.

The cold tingle of joy rising inside him,
Dantox walked out of the room, down the corridor and pushed the
toilet door open.

Mantra stood there with the boy safely held
in one arm, the Xeni lying dead over a smashed toilet. He had
apparently climbed in through the window sitting by the right.

Before Dantox had finished one blink of his
eyelids, Mantra had tossed himself over him, the toddler held
safely in one arm. Dantox hardly registered the air being blown off
his lungs as he slammed onto the wall behind him.

“Judgement day’s here.” Mantra snarled.

As he raised his ignited sword with one arm,
the other holding the infant safely, Dantox flew to his feet and
hurtled down the corridor, arriving at the room at the very
end.

As he ran into the room, he came to an
abrupt, jolting halt:

Ion, Qyro and Vestra stood in the room. The
dead or unconscious bodies of the Xeni littered the floor, steaming
where the Nyon’s swords had sliced them.The windows behind them
were wide open: apparently the three of them had snuck in without
leaving any sound.

His insides clenched, Dantox whipped around
to see Mantra standing right behind him.

“Nowhere to run.” said Mantra, cracking his
knuckles.

Pain burst along his spine as he slammed onto
the wall at the back of the room and slid down it. The four Nyon
stood before him, all of their eyes blazing brighter than the
swords in their hands.

“You’ve made some mistakes, old friend.” said
Mantra, bending down before him. “And we’re now here to rectify
them.”

“It wasn’t me!” squealed Dantox, shaking his
head wildly. “Oh, please! You have to understand. They
intimidated me
!”

“Oh, shut it.” said Mantra, raising a hand,
and Dantox felt as though his voice had been forced back down his
throat.

“What did you do to the family?” Mantra asked
with a half glance at Ion, his white eyes clinging to Dantox the
whole time.

“I set them free.” said Ion. “They’re gone
now.”

Mantra brought his attention back to Dantox,
his gaze now erased of the calm serenity it always held … Now,
there was an inferno churning within his hazy white eyes.

“I’m telling you, I-!”

Mantra raised his hand, and Dantox’s voice
extinguished once more.

“Here’s your chance to live,” he said,
bending closer over Dantox. “Tell us everything.”

“What do you want?” squealed Dantox.

“Where is your lair?” asked Vestra. “Tell us
where the Xeni are hiding … where is the spell going to
happen?”

Dantox fought back the panic and steadied
himself.

“Our lair is in the planet Synistros, the
second level of the outer spectrum.”

“How far would it be from here?” asked
Mantra. “How long will the space jump from here to Synistros
take?”

Dantox gave a second’s thought. “Not more
than a few minutes. Synistros’s in the outer spectrum too, and it
isn’t too far from this one. We couldn’t waste time, so we had the
ambush planned in a planet not too far away.”

“Good,” said Ion, with a quick glance at the
other three. “Cause you’ll be taking us there, to your lair.”

Dantox blinked, his look fazing slightly in
confusion. “Taking you there?” he asked weakly. “To our lair? For
what?”

“Do we have to drill everything into that
thick head of yours?” snapped Qyro, his arms folded. “So that we
stop the Xeni from performing that spell before they start!”

“First,” said Mantra, stepping a little
closer. “Let’s find out how much more time we have. When are the
Xeni beginning the spell?”

Dantox stared at them without answering for a
second.

“When the regime of Mezmeron begins.” he then
said softly. “The darkest hour of the night.”

“Good,” said Ion, nodding. “Now, listen
closely. You’re getting us to your lair, and we are going to put an
end to this madness by stopping their cursed spell before it
begins.”

“You can’t.” Dantox carried his gaze through
all four of them, and gave a pained smile. “Because the darkest
hour, in the planet the Xeni’s reside in … is
now
. The spell
has already begun.”

__________

A billion miles away, in a dark place where
the air carried the scent of acid, Zardin gazed with his hollow
eyes at the beginning …
their
beginning.

The tablet, Valicros, stood at the centre of
the giant cave, with Redgarn sitting on the floor behind it. His
eyes were closed, and his hands drawing circles above the tablet,
placed over which was the crystal. As he wove imaginary designs
over the mystical tablet, a silent hum seemed to fill the cave’s
insides.

The rest of the Xeni stood lurking in the
shadows of the cave, their dark forms robed by the darkness. But
Zardin knew that every drop of attention within the cave was pooled
on the man sitting behind the tablet, at the centre. Watching
hungrily. Waiting for the new age…

Zardin flicked a file of his long black hair
falling upon his face, feeling his lips part in a humorless
grin.

In a few minutes from now … the world would
be changed.

Forever.

Dantox’s words seemed to echo inside of the
room for a few hours after he had finished saying them.

Qyro and Vestra’s postures had gone
rigid.

Mantra gazed at Dantox with an unnatural
stillness, not the most feeble twitch crossing his expression.
“It’s already started?” he repeated softly.

Dantox gave a trembling nod.

Ion looked sideways at Qyro and Vestra, and
saw the shock in their faces slowly fade, leaving utter
hopelessness take over.

Mantra continued to pin Dantox in his
unnaturally still gaze, nothing betrayed in his wizened features.
His calm demeanour hadn’t faltered, but Ion had the strange
impression that there was some very heated thinking occurring
beneath that unfazed expression.

He slowly turned and trotted over to the
other end of the room, leaving the other three staring after
him.

Then, arriving at the door, he gestured for
them to follow him. Without a sideways glance wasted, the three of
them headed after Mantra, stopping at the door to the room.

Mantra looked about the three of them,
pausing to gaze serenely into each one’s face for a quiet, clear
moment. A clear moment where his hazy white eyes seemed to study
them with a depth like never before.

“I will be ready to lead you to this final
crusade.” he said silently. “If we decide so, then we will brave
this one last battle. Whatever be the cost. I guarantee you I will
stand by it. But this is a decision that I shall not make. This is
a decision that
you
must now make.”

The three of them exchanged a quick glance,
before turning back to him.

“As of now,” continued Mantra. “there will be
a grand force awaiting the release of the demon army, in the Xeni’s
lair. The spell has already started. It will end anytime now. The
first of our worries is reaching the planet in time, before the
spell is concluded. And our second worry is facing the Xeni’s
force, to stop the spell from completion. The first part may be
accomplished, though the chances are slim. The second part … is one
that is beyond chance. For the four of us against an entire order
of them.”

He paused to let the words’ effect settle in
them. “I won’t lie to you about this. But our situation could not
have gotten any bleaker that it is now. And whatever feeble hope we
stood of stopping them died with the watchmen. Now, if we decide to
continue, to move on in this path regardless of what may come …
then we should proceed with a true vision of the reality. And so,
let me have you known that if we now go on … we would be fighting
all odds. Because right now, literally all odds have been thrust
against us.”

As his voice stopped, the silence falling
after it seemed to compress upon all of them. Ion, Vestra and Qyro
all stood with the same unblinking faces, their eyes fastened over
Mantra.

Ion was speechless, stumped.

He hadn’t dreamt that it would end this way …
his quest to redeem himself for his evils … it was over. He had
achieved nothing. Only the dark taint of his life as a criminal
would survive after him. And that was what he would hit the grave
as…