Redgarn crept off the wall, with the cold
blast of the wind still pressing him against it. Across the
demolished remains of this corridor, Mantra clung to a wall, trying
to move. His long white hair was swept backwards in the wind, which
kept him from moving, for if he lost his hold even slightly, it
would leave him flying off and into the mayhem…
Chuckling sidiously, Redgarn reached for the
crystal, which lay pressed to the wall nearby him. He saw Mantra’s
eyes widen as they followed him. The old man seemed to muster every
ounce of strength and slowly inch forward. Redgarn locked his
fingers around the crystal, and brought it closer.
You’re now
mine!
He turned to see Mantra still struggling
against the crashing wind, trying to move forward but unable
to.
“It’s over, old friend.” said Redgarn,
shaking the crystal with one hand for Mantra to see. “This will be
the end for you. And the beginning … for us.”
Without warning, Mantra launched himself
forth. Redgarn felt his eyelids stretch open as the humble mass of
black, with flying long white hair, landed over him. He felt the
crystal slip his hold…
“No!” He landed back on the wall, Mantra’s
body over him. From the corner of his eye, he saw the plague
crystal blown off by the stream of the wind … it went flying
towards the end of the corridor … and towards the opening into the
skies.
Summoning all his might, he released a
smash
that sent Mantra’s old body tossed upwards violently.
Mantra went crashing through three floors. Redgarn spun and held
his hand out, bringing a steady flow of his mystic powers: the
plague crystal stopped where it was, floating in the middle of the
corridor against the blast of the wind.
His hair flipped backwards, Redgarn dived
forward, feeling his body split the wind as he ran down the
corridor.
“Aaaagh!”
The sound, faint initially, grew deafening,
and all of a sudden, the roof right ahead blasted apart, allowing
Mantra to land on the ground right before Redgarn.
Redgarn gritted his teeth. He ignited his
sword and hurled it over. But, dodging it swiftly, Mantra lunged
towards the crystal, his cloak flapping.
__________
Ion continued to clutch the pillar with one
hand wrapped around it, his other hand holding his sword. The world
had suddenly been plunged into frost all over them: the cruel wind
seemed to pierce his skin as it washed over him.
How far up from the ground are we?
He
wondered.
Feels like a few miles!
Zardin stood holding one arm over a nearby
pillar, watching Ion hungrily. His blade was ignited, but held
lowered slightly. Ion stood there, glaring into his dead eyes.
“Why can’t you accept the truth, Ion?” mocked
Zardin. “Accept who you are?”
“I know who I am.” Ion hissed “Now you will,
too.”
He heaved himself forward and struck with his
blade. Zardin’s reflexes were uncanny, too quick for Ion: He didn’t
even tilt his head to look where the shot was coming. But, as
though in alignment with his surroundings, as though drinking in
every pore of what went on around him through some other, far more
efficient means, he twisted around almost reflexively out of the
way, smiling.
Ion felt a chill ripple through him.
How’s
he doing that? How does he know what’s going on around him without
having eyes?
“I know who you are, dear boy.” said Zardin.
“You are a fiend. A murderer. I never dreamt I’d say this, but the
things you’ve done,” He gave an impressed nod. “they make
me
pale in comparison, boy. And that’s
really
saying
something.”
Ion stored the fury bellowing within, and he
struck again, letting it erupt out of him…
__________
Dantox tore down the hall, his speed hampered
by the dashing wind. The entire temple was coming to ravages: the
walls, ceiling and floor were now strewn with cracks, and giant
chunks broke off from all over, floating around the insides.
Behind him, the sound of their billowing
cloaks masked by the rage of the wind, came a group of masters.
They covered their eyes as they followed him. The group passed a
gaggle of Rash-cons led by a Xeni, and took to slicing them
down.
As they battered down the dozen or so robots,
knocking the Xeni leading them, Dantox felt his attention deviate:
two cloaked figures came hurtling down the hall from the other
side. Mantra, and behind him, apparently chasing him … Redgarn!
Mantra was clutching the plague crystal in
one hand, evidently trying to keep it from the hands of the menace
behind him. The masters saw what needed to be done. As Mantra
passed, without needing a second prompt, they all jumped in the
way, blocking Redgarn. Their swords’ light, combined as they stood
opposing tyranny, seemed to suddenly leave a gleaming radiance to
light the entire hallway.
Mantra stopped for a quick call to Dantox,
who stood behind the group of masters. “Come on, they’ll handle him
alone. I need your help!”
With one sweeping glance at Redgarn and the
masters waiting to fight before him, Dantox turned and headed after
Mantra…
Mantra and Dantox rocketed down the corridor,
knowing that all else was now off importance … Getting the plague
crystal out of this Xeni infested place was all mattered now. They
rounded a turn and found a batch of Rash-cons tackled by a group of
Nyon. They streaked on, knocking the robots out of their way, but
not stopping to fight them.
As they rounded a turn at the end of this
hallway, they grabbed two hover boards from the vehicle shed on the
right. The only vehicles left – all others had been smashed,
crumpled, or blown away by the wind. A hover car lay at the corner,
but they left it, carrying the two boards and storming forth.
The entire structure was now rumbling and
shuddering. Giant pieces came ripped off the walls and ceiling all
over, so that they had to swerve out of the way at lightspeed to
avoid colliding with any of them. They found another duel raging at
the end between two figures, both of whom were clinging to two
pillars to avoid being swept by the wind. Ion struck, dodged and
kicked every ounce of his energy forth against a deadly looking,
pale skinned Xeni, whom Mantra sent flying with a smash of his
elbow. He grabbed Ion before he went charging after his opponent,
and they continued down to the end of the corridor…
“What the –” began Ion, trying to free
himself from Mantra’s grip. “Lemme go – I wanna –”
“It’s over, boy.” Yelled Mantra, over the
thundering carnage. “Game’s up. We’re leaving.”
And they arrived at the very end of the
corridor, with the walls completely racked apart, and they glimpsed
the ring of debris swirling around the temple, threatening to
engulf them. Without stopping, without even considering it,
ignoring Ion’s gasp of shock and preparing themselves for the
sensation of weightless elegance that followed, they jumped…
__________
Amidst the roaring wreckage all over the
temple, amidst the chaos and confusion that engulfed the structure
as it hung two miles above the ground, three lonesome figures could
be seen hurling themselves off the edge of the place. Their motions
were elegant, woven in a graceful arc – they went sailing forward
for a mean second, before dipping slightly and finally swerving
completely groundward … And then the three Nyon went plummeting in
a death defying soar towards the ground.
__________
Ion felt his eyelids flutter at the force of
the wind as he rushed towards the ground…
Two miles below.
The clouds rushed upwards, letting a splash
of moisture hit him hard as he shot right through them.
Beside him, Mantra soared along in a serene
freefall, almost scarily unbothered. Dantox had drifted further
off, and the master seemed just as unmindful as Mantra of the fact
that the three of them were now plummeting two miles down to the
earth. The expanse of greenery unfolding below them seemed to rise
upwards slowly, as the three of them dropped faster and faster.
Mantra suddenly flapped his free hand,
swimming closer to Ion.
“We’re gonna die!” shrieked Ion.
Clutching the plague crystal breathlessly
with one hand, Mantra reached behind him with the other. And he
unslung a large board that Ion had only noticed now. A hover
board.
“I wouldn’t count on it.” he said, holding
Ion by the arm, and setting the board below the two of their feet.
They stood over the board, Ion behind Mantra, before the electric
engine roared to life. And the fall broke stiffly, all of a sudden,
so that Ion felt a heavy jerk hit him from below – an impact of
inertia. He twisted his head around and saw that Dantox, too, had
been carrying a hover board, and was now soaring off on it.
The two of them went gliding over the sky,
one board with an aged and young man, the other with a lone, middle
aged one.
__________
Forcing down the boiling sensation inside of
him, Redgarn stepped past the stirring bodies of the five Nyon. The
foolish Nyon who had blocked his path. They had come in his way,
thinking they could hinder him. But he had cast a mere wave of his
hand, and they had all been tossed to the side. He would have, in
any other predicament, ripped them apart. But he needed to go after
something else now, and that filled the priority.
My crystal!
Just as he walked, he saw a cloaked figure
emerge at the turn at the end of the corridor, his cloak fluttering
madly in the wind. Zardin slowly walked upto Redgarn, and calmly
said, “Two of them ran past me just now, knocking me as they went
by. They jumped out, before flying out on hover boards … One of
them was carrying the plague crystal.”
Redgarn stopped where he stood, unmoving.
Unblinking. But he could feel something crack within him.
“You saw this?”
“I can’t see.” said Zardin. “I
felt
it.”
Redgarn allowed his gaze to slowly move past
Zardin to the smashed walls at the end of the corridor, seen
outside of which was the swirling ring of debris. Then, slowly
rounding about, he fixed his flaming eyes on the five Nyon behind
him, who were getting back to their feet, the ones who had blocked
him from Mantra.
“I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!” he roared, hurling
himself onto the group of five Nyon. “I’LL KILL EVERY ONE OF YOU
FOR THIS!!”
__________
As if in response to the temper exploding
inside the Xeni leader inside of it, the Nyon temple shuddered
nastily. The senseless trembling shook the entire structure to its
core. The walls and ceiling and floor of every room, every storey,
quaked with a might like no other … Breaking apart, tearing …
__________
The front of her hand coated with sweat,
Vestra stepped back, hesitating for the first time.
The situation, all of a sudden, seemed to
escalate. The trembling of the temple seemed to grow maniacal, and
the walls and ceiling seemed to rumble around her. A wrath like no
other seemed to erupt through them.
Her hair spinning wildly, Vestra walked down
the wrecked hallway, shielding her eyes from the debris flying all
over. And then, piercing the mayhem and wreckage, came a distant
scream … a bellow of mad fury. Someone was really angry.
And the shuddering of the place was suddenly
aggravated … with a thundering new rage.
__________
Through the black expanse of outer space, two
hover boards wrapped in shields went zipping past.
The two of them were streaking past the
vacuum chasm with their course set, their journey and its route
automated. The two boards stayed in line with each other, keeping
the distance of a few metres between them as they travelled.
In the hover board on the right, Dantox gazed
ahead, keeping his feet fixed on the board’s surface. The effect of
the neckbreaking speed held no effect as a result of the Plasmon
shield encasing the board. He felt almost as though he were
standing on still, unmoving ground. Not even a ripple formed on his
cloak from the effect of inertia.
He turned to his right, where the hover board
on which Mantra and Ion were, was, sailing at the same level as
his. The two of them kept the same line, the distance between them
holding throughout, as they blasted through space.
Standing at the back, looking tense, rigid
and anxious, was Ion. His sword lay slung over his back, but as he
looked in front, there was a blankness in his stare. He seemed to
be holding down a raging inner turmoil. Standing in front of him,
Mantra was watching the blackness ahead, his hazy white eyes
playing with a quiet melancholy. As always, the calm look was
unfaltered on his face, but the master’s usually strengthened gaze,
as he stared ahead, seemed to bear a new weight. And Dantox knew
why, of course…
Sighing softly, Dantox turned and looked
ahead again.