The Rising Sun: Episode 6 (14 page)

Screams rent the night as the villagers in
the burning huts tore out of it with their arms flailed, some of
them heaving their children with them as they ran.

The demon stood on the spot, laughing
maniacally, and continued to rain the place with his cruel orbs of
fire.

And in no time, the entire village was
ablaze, in the grip of panic like no other, with the villagers
pelting about madly with screams tearing their lungs.

__________

Aores, Cluster 29

The city’s large concrete buildings rose to a
few storeys, with streams of air vehicles flowing about over the
air above.

Then, shooting down from the black sky above,
came a strange smoke like entity. It landed right in the middle of
the street. As the demon took shape, he allowed his gaze to travel
over the place around him for a few seconds, while the entire
street around him gaped at him, wondering what in the world this
strange new abomination was.

Then, the demon clapped his hands in front of
him. And as he did, his form suddenly vaporised. And in place of
where he stood, a slight whirl of wind remained, leaving a pale
coloured mist leaking. The whirl of wind swelled in size, seeming
to magnify and grow. The people all over stumbled back and ran,
coming to the realisation that this was something beyond the
borders of the natural world they knew.

And the whirl of wind expanded in size within
a few seconds, swelling into a giant, raging tornado…

A tornado of boundless, infinite
strength.

And as it spun over the place, the city’s
buildings nearby tore off the ground and came soaring into it. The
stream of air vehicles went distorted, all of the ships and hover
cars suddenly breaking their flow of motion, swerving and flying
right into the tornado. Which swallowed all in its path.

The demon’s tornado grew even larger, so that
the city’s structures for miles around were all ripped off the
earth and sucked into it with the force of an opened air vent in a
ship.

And as the tornado swirled on, moving over
the entire city, destroying everything dead or alive that came in
its wake, the demon’s high pitched, shrill laughter rang over the
raging mayhem. It was an evil, terrifying sound … the sound of the
newly awakened Mezmeron himself. And it boomed over the entire
city, magnified a thousand fold by the devastation wreaked all over
it.

__________

“Shall … we … begin?” rasped Rigmrr, his
smile widening.

The rest of the Ensys, about seven of them
altogether, slowly came out of the shadows of the crater’s
entrances, moving forward very slowly. Their faces were all mirrors
of the same, savage joy as they closed in upon the three helpless
man beings lying on the ground amidst them, limp and unable to
move.

One of the three man beings was an old one,
his face emotionless as he witnessed the onset of his doom slowly
approach from right in front of him. His gaze was steady, almost
unusually calm, as if he had embraced what lay ahead of him. His
white eyes were watching Rigmrr closely as he took a step forward,
and another.

The other two were young ones, their forms
lying rigid on the ground. Their eyes were wide, and they looked
half dead with panic.

Rigmrr savoured the sight, feeling the glow
of delight brighten within him.

He licked his lips and clicked his pincers.
Then, looking around at the seven others of his kind, Rigmrr
called:

“Dinner’s … served. Get them!”

And as one, the entire batch of large spider
like creatures bounded forward towards the centre, where lay the
three helpless man beings…

__________

Everything around Ion had gone cold,
dry…

He was lying in the middle of a blank, black
expanse, devoid of light …warmth.

And over him, playing like a long lost voice
that had returned to haunt him fresh, came the laughter. The
laughter of the man with the glowing red eyes. It rose over the
entire blank realm. The creature’s face slowly came to life before
Ion, hovering over him, looming like the call of fate ready to land
anytime now.

“
I’ve returned for you, Ion…”

And as the voice shrieked again in a cold,
high pitched laughter, Ion covered his head with his arms pressing
his ears, feeling his face contort.

“
Make it stop.”

But everything replayed within him as the
maniac’s laughter sounded, his tone bearing the darkest events of
his life etched over it: and as he laughed, Ion could hear the
screams emanate along with him, from his cold laugh. The screams of
the dying people. All those innocent, dying people … killed by his
hand. And among them, came a familiar voice, which Ion knew he
would never ever forget.

“
You’re not my brother…”

“
No…” he moaned.

“
You’re a monster…”

Ion heard himself release a wail of agony
that seemed to drown out the maniac’s laughter. And then, as the
pain split his soul from the inside, unbearable, he felt himself
drift …

Drift into oblivion…

It was all over.

Mantra, Vestra and Qyro were surely dead by
now.

And as for him, he knew that even if he
lived on through this, it would be only to endure it all over
again. Agony, and turmoil…

Because it would never leave him, and Ion
was certain of it.

The guilt of his past, and the regret … it
would never leave him, and he would have to live through all the
suffering again as he had for two years now.

All was lost … the entire spectrum itself
had bowed to defeat now, to the greatest defeat ever.

Why shouldn’t he?…

As the acceptance slowly drew over him, it
wrapped him in its folds like a cozy blanket.

And as he accepted defeat, as he embraced
the inevitable, he felt himself fade…

Everything ceased. Warmth. Light. Joy. The
ringing laughter of the killer, the person he had been two years
earlier, was the last thing he remembered, before the world he knew
came to a complete, cruel stop.

And blackness swallowed it all.

The King stared for a long time without
speaking.

The impact of what he had just been told had
robbed his voice for a few seconds. Around his office, the rest of
the ministers were all staring pale faced at the screen over his
desk.

The King took a step forward towards the
screen, looking out of which was the commander of their armed
forces.

“Did I hear right?” The King felt his voice
leave him as a whisper. “
Two thirds
of our entire army have
been destroyed?” As he said it, the air around them seemed to come
to a stall for a moment. The rest of the ministers were looking
positively alarmed at whatever was happening.

The commander nodded grimly. “Whatever this
strange entity is, it’s nothing we’ve ever faced before. It seemed
to be deadlier than anything we could have imagined … And all nine
of our Kingdom’s planets have fallen prey to it.”

“What in the world is happening?” the King
said under his breath, feeling his cold sweat gather behind his
neck. “We’ve lost two thirds of our armed forces to a strange enemy
we aren’t even able to know?!”

“Do we have any idea what this threat is,
commander?” spoke one of the ministers, a plea of desperacy in his
voice. “What information are we gathering from it?”

The commander seemed to need a moment to
steady himself.

“Whatever it is,” he finally said. “We aren’t
alone. Every planet … every republic and state in the spectrum is
facing chaos and hysteria like no other. And whatever this strange
force is that is waging attacks upon us,” He gave a shake of his
head. “It’s nothing like ever before. And it’s swept across the
entire spectrum … Our entire realm is now facing something we can’t
ward off.”

The King needed a second to digest all of
this. “And nobody is able to fend them off?”

The commander shook his head. “All states in
the spectrum have come under the grip of chaos like nothing before
… mass mayhem and panic far worse than we’d imagined possible.”

The King looked around the room. The rest of
the ministers were standing as still as ice, their horrified gazes
latched to the screen before them.

“Whatever it is,” the commander’s voice
dropped very mildly. “the only thing we can pick up about it … is
bad. Very bad.”

“What do you mean?” asked one of the
ministers.

The commander heaved a deep breath. “The
strange entity is made … of a mystical energy field. An
incredibly
strong mystical energy field. More powerful than
anything the Naxim’s radars have ever picked up.” He shook his
head. “But we’re sure it’s not a mystic. It can’t be. It’s
something far, far more deadly. Something nuclear in its scale of
power. And it consumed almost all of our armed forces in the span
of a few minutes.”

“It’s Redgarn and the Xeni.” the King
whispered, the dark revelation rising within them. “This is their
making … whatever madness this is that they’ve set loose on the
world.”

“But whatever it is, how in the world do we
fight it?” shrieked one of the ministers, looking between the King
and the commander in the screen.

The commander’s voice seemed to falter, and
he needed a second to pull himself together before answering.

“There’s no way we can fight this. Whatever
it is, it crushed almost all of our army. We don’t stand a chance …
none of the spectrum’s planets do. Around the entire spectrum,
every republic and Kingdom has fallen. Chaos has overrun them
all.”

The ministers gaped at the commander for a
lingering few moments. The very space in the room seemed to have
shrunken in these last few seconds…

Finally, as the dreaded effect passed, the
ministers slowly turned to face the King. All of their faces
mirrored the same helplessness and confusion.

“What are your orders, sire?” one of the
ministers asked.

“What are we supposed to do?”

The King had his eyes on the floor ahead of
him for a long, quiet second. His insides writhing…

And then, taking in a deep breath, he looked
up at the rest of the room.

“There’s nothing we can do.” He gave a weak
shake of his head. “It’s over.”

The rest of the ministers’ faces remained
just as unchanged, as they listened to the final and undisputable
declaration of their doom.

“We should have known this was coming the
very moment we learned of the Xeni’s return.” the King said,
walking over to a seat at the back of the room and sinking to it.
“And now, God help us all. Armageddon is here.”

The world had gone dull. All thoughts,
sounds, sensations. Everything had faded, leaving an emptiness like
no other. There was nothing but bleak darkness, and it engulfed
Ion.

But then something moved.

Very mildly.

A motion so faint in a world that had
stopped.

Through the silence, the voice came as a
meek sliver of sound. And yet Ion heard it. It was a voice he
knew.

“
I know I may not make much of a
difference here, right now … but I’ll make myself heard anyway. For
I now come to remind you,” The voice paused, and suddenly,
something welled within Ion. “of a world. A world you once knew
before. A world I taught you to see.”

Suddenly, there was light…

And through the endless darkness, Jedius’s
clear green eyes were the first thing falling in Ion’s vision, as
he stood in the same forest the two of them had spent two years in.
His distant voice now growing into an echo, gathering might, he
went on:

“
I come to remind you of a world where
there is warmth … where is light. I come to remind you of a world
where man’s heart can brave even the mightiest of storms. A world
where you are never alone, where a companion and a guide lingers
within you eve. A power beyond the might of our universe. An
ancient force ever awaiting your command. Ever within you.”

Jedius held an arm out, the fire in his
voice brightening.

“
I come to remind you of the world you
knew when you were here with me … when we were one, you and I. A
world of fearlessness. Of strength and courage. So hear me out, for
I now remind you that behind the veil of even the darkest of nights
… awaits the rising sun. And I now remind you of a world that
unites the two of us, Ion … For we are one. And we always will be.”
He shook his head, his smile radiating. “You and I have not been so
apart as you think … and we shall never be apart again. My voice
shall always remain in you, and remind you. And my soul shall
always stay with you, as the courage that carries you forward. The
courage that guides you across the gravest of storms, the courage
that shall show you the true beauty of life … and the courage that
now tells you to
get up and fight!
”