The Rising Sun: Episode 6 (13 page)

As Ion watched with gnawing horror, the
entire army of smoke figures suddenly uncoiled into vapours and
shot off, through the opening in the cave. The ones who had been
standing outside of the cave joined the procession, melting into a
puddle of vapour that took off from the ground and streaked into
the skies of the planet.

As the entire army vanished, Zardin trotted
back in front of where the four of them lay, and his mirthless
smile grew longer. “As for you guys, we give you many thanks for
providing us the entertainment of this grand, ceremonious night.”
He looked around the circle of Xeni and beamed. “Give them all our
love, boys.”

The circle closer in on the four of them. Ion
could feel the paralysed bodies of Mantra, Vestra and Qyro heaved
up by the men. Together, the batch of Xeni dragged the three of
them across the cave, leaving Ion behind for some reason. His
insides screaming, Ion watched as the group of cloaked wretches
dragged the limp bodies of the three others across and disappeared
into another, dark corner of the cave … where they would
undoubtedly give them a slow, possibly excruciating death.

Feeling his muscles sting with fire as he
did, he craned his neck back. And saw Zardin standing before
him.

“As for you,” he said, his sneer stretching
longer. “you’ve been … reserved.”

And as he said it, Ion felt something move
behind him. He tried to move his head to see, but it wasn’t needed:
Frost slowly strolled up before Ion, the smoke emitting from his
blurred form lingering in the air around. He stopped beside Zardin,
his eyes fastened onto Ion … a raving, cold hunger within them. The
hint of a leer awoke on his face, which was blurred amidst the mist
escaping his form.

Ion felt his insides go frigid…

The very sight of that creature seemed to
have plunged his mind back into a tunnel of horror and pain…

This can’t be…

It was going to happen again.

The horror. The pain. The agony.

It was all going to happen again. And this
time, Ion knew there was no escape. Death was here, in its most
horrific form.

“Well, enjoy him while he lasts.” said
Zardin, patting the demon’s blurry figure on the back, before
turning and stalking off.

Frost’s face burned with the same inhumane
sense of glee as it had the last time when he had torturing Ion’s
soul. He slowly walked forward, his form leaking misty vapours into
the air around, and bent down over a helpless, crippled Ion.

A soulless smile wove across his lips.
“Missed me, boy?”

He raised both hands…

And once more, Ion’s world plunged into
darkness and devastation.

Goj, Cluster 13

The village of Arodra was slowly settling
into the rythme of the night. The small, stout huts emitted a faint
orange glow from their windows, light from the lamps lit within
them. Stalls and other amenities closed down, and their owners
could be seen walking back to their houses through the dimly lit
streets. The sounds of chatter within the huts were heard louder
through the silence filling the village streets…

And cutting across the silence, a sharp
whoosh
occurred … and a thread of pale blue smoke shot down
from the stars, landing at the dead centre of the village. And out
of the blur of the fumes, the demon slowly formed shape.

The creature threw its head back and uttered
a shrill, piercing sound, that awoke the attention of the entire
village, carrying for miles around. It was a shrill, unworldly
sound. A sound of evil and chaos like nothing ever heard before,
and its effect caused an eruption of pain and turmoil within every
living creature that heard it. Caused their eardrums to throb
unpleasantly.

As the demon’s cry rang on, the villagers
scurried out of their homes, all of them blocking their ears with
their faces contorted in agony.

The demon slowly ceased in the air racking,
unpleasant noise, letting the air dissolve back into silence…

And then, breaking the very brief second of
silence, came the combined shudder of a hundred or so
thuds
,
as every villager collapsed to the ground right where they stood,
all of them unconscious.

__________

Arganor, Cluster 34

The buildings lining both sides of the street
were of concrete build and mediocre height. Overhead, the night’s
black sky was tinged with a fair shade of maroon, an atmospheric
effect that rendered this planet’s skies more beautiful than most
others.

But the beauty was to be shattered painfully:
a tail of pale smoke shot out from the stars, landing in a cloud of
fumes right in the centre of the city. The demon’s figure slowly
revolved out of the swirl of smoke. All around the streets, a
sudden, grinding silence had fallen as the faint trickles of
pedestrians came to a stall. All of them turned to gape at this
sudden, bizarre manifestation that had found their planet. An
ancient evil that had been long forgotten in the memory of the
world. An evil now re awakened.

The demon slowly raised his right hand,
gesturing to the line of buildings by his right … almost as though
telling them to rise.

And the very next instant, there was the
sound of crushing, concrete breaking … And the entire line of
buildings flanking the right side of the street was wrenched off
the ground. Flabbergasted, the entire street watched in bounding
horror as the concrete structures rose twenty metres into the air,
where they hung completely undisturbed.

The demon now turned to the line of buildings
by his left, and raised his left hand just as serenely.

Concrete blasting apart filled the night
again, as the line of structures on the left broke from the ground
and hovered over to the same height as the ones by the right.

And with the entire city watching in mindless
alarm, the demon clapped both hands together.

And all of the buildings hanging over the air
exploded, shattering to a million scrap pieces that showered over
the city below.

Screams of terror erupted from the citizens
watching below. They all darted off from where they stood, arms
flailed, screeching in the senseless terror of whatever had just
happened. And panic and chaos descended over the entire place like
a bird of prey.

Amidst the raging mayhem, the demon raised
his hands again, and the two lines of buildings coming beyond this
one followed suit, tearing off the ground and rising to the
air…

__________

Haigro, Cluster 12

The city’s towers were built with a grandeur
and magnificence. They rose several hundred metres into the sky,
ascending towards the heavens. A steady stream of ships and
vehicles glided in between them.

But amidst the polished elegance of the great
city, nobody managed to notice the sudden stream of pale smoke
surging down from the night sky and landing right over one of the
shorter towers. And slowly, the demon formed out of the pale smoky
mists. Waiting for a second more to relish what followed, the demon
raised both hands onto the air, clapping them together.

The very next second, a sickening, metallic
crunch
rose over the bustle of the city: ten of the giant
towers surrounding the one where the demon stood had been torn off
in their mid section by a powerful, invisible force. The towers
swayed slightly, before all of them toppled sideways, crashing onto
another line of buildings as they fell, and bringing them down
along with them. The stream of vehicles was hampered all across the
region as hover cars, bikes and ships crashed into the falling
towers, and explosions shook the air in many spots as they did.

The demon howled with delight, his voice
striking across the entire city. Then, he raised both hands and
clapped them again.

And another ten structures broke apart and
fell…

__________

Together, Mantra, Vestra and Qyro were thrown
into a large, pit like depression in the cave. Their frozen bodies
slammed to the ground hard, rolled over and then stopped on the
cold surface of the earth, motionless. The large pit was almost as
large as a crater in a moon, spread with large black openings over
its walls, and some even on the floor around them

The Xeni who had thrown them into the pit
stood at the top, watching them with their jeering faces ablaze
with excitement.

Vestra and Qyro sprawled a few feet to
Mantra’s right, both of them motionless on the ground. Panic
simmered in both their eyes as they lay there, unable to move …
barely able to think with the effect of the freeze shot.

Mantra tried controlling himself, pulling his
mind back into focus, but it was of little use: the freeze shot’s
effect also stretched to paralyse his thoughts, so that they were
cluttered and useless…

The Xeni lingered over the top of the crater
for a few minutes, before slowly turning and walking off.

Mantra could feel his breath heaving, even
the mildest movement of his chest leaving a searing pain through
his muscles over it.

The crater they were now lying amidst was
just as dark as the rest of the cave. The large holes spread over
the walls were almost indiscernible. One of the large hole like
openings lay on the ground about a few metres to Mantra’s left.

For many seconds, as Mantra worked his mind
furiously through the freeze shot’s effect, he wondered what was
going on. What were the Xeni trying to do with them? He was under
the impression that they would now celebrate their victory by
torturing and killing them, the last members of their long hated
enemies. Then why were the three of them now lying here? A part of
his concerns flowed off course, towards Ion. But he knew that there
was no hope for the boy this time … he would die. Alone, and as
painful as possible.

And the three of them would as well…

Right then, his attention snapped to his
left, where the sound came from … The distinct, sharp sound. Mantra
felt his calm waver slightly, for this was a sound he could
place…

And slowly, climbing out of the large hole on
the ground by his right, came the creature. It had the giant body
of a spider, with the torso of a human stretching in place of the
head.

Rigmrr stopped as his giant eight footed body
reached the top of the opening, and perched himself by the right of
the hole. Excitement swept through him as he carried his eyes over
the three motionless, wide eyed bodies lying feet away from
him…

And all around him, exiting the holes across
the large crater, more Ensys slowly scuttled forward, all their
gleaming red eyes locked over the three prey bodies they were left.
Rigmrr cracked his knuckles, a gleaming smile forming on his
lips.

A few feet away, Mantra locked eyes with the
creature with the gleaming red eyes standing metres away from him.
He turned his head sideways to see Vestra and Qyro gaping wide eyed
at this new horror, both their faces drained of blood.

But even in this ghastly situation, with the
ring of doom playing over the atmosphere, Mantra re gathered his
inner calm. And, gaining utter control over himself, he did the
only thing there was now left to do…

He braced himself.

__________

A thousand corpses were climbing over the
large mountain at the peak of which stood Ion, trembling. Corpses
of the people he had killed. The lives he had shattered in a
previous life.

They all slowly climbed up the hill, all of
their eyes locked over him, hateful, scornful, and accusing.

“Please,” he gasped, his head lifting from
the ground back in reality. “Enough…”

The fumes surrounded him from all over again,
drenching his surroundings. And at the front of where he lay on the
ground stood the demon, his outline fazed in the swirling fumes. He
slowly strolled forward and bent before where Ion lay on the
ground, shivering. Broken.

“Enough?” the demon hissed, his voice
carrying the same, icy tingle. “But the fun’s just begun!”

And he held out his hands, and the world
around Ion dissolved once again, letting agony and mayhem take
over.

__________

Valgon, Cluster 65

The entire village lay blanketed in the peace
of the night. The straw huts glowed with the orange fire of the
lanterns lit within them. And the faint murmurs of chatter from the
various houses all over were the only sounds heard through the
silence.

And then, a tendril of pale smoke shot down
from the heavens, landing right amidst the cluster of straw huts
that made the village. The demon formed out of the murky fumes and,
his eyes blazing coldly, he threw one hand towards the hut by his
right. A ball of fire erupted from his smoky fingertips. As it hit
the hut, the entire structure exploded with flames.

The demon shot another ball of fire into the
hut next to it, and then one on his left. His pale face filled with
relish, the demon flung his hands about wildly, shooting orbs of
orange all across the place, and blasting every hut in the
vicinity.