For the meanest moment, his thoughts zapped
back to that moment, more than an hour ago, where he had crushed
them all. Crushed the entire Nyon like bugs beneath his foot. The
sight of the temple plunging from the skies and smashing to
smithereens … it was a sight that Redgarn would treasure for all of
time.
It happened over an hour ago, and yet Redgarn
re lived it every moment since. And he revelled in it.
He knew that despite their failure to recover
the crystal, things were still proceeding in a good direction. The
plan was going rather well.
But the crystal is the key element to the
plan … and we’ll be needing it.
Redgarn scowled, slightly irked at the
thought. He knew this was true. And the fact that they didn’t have
the crystal obtained when they were so easily suited to, left him
annoyed. He pushed the thought away, not letting himself be
bothered: he knew that the crystal would be re obtained very soon.
As of now, there were other things they needed to cast their focus
towards.
Redgarn’s scowl deepened as he mentally ran
over the next stage of the plan. A plan eight thousand years in the
making. And now, the time was here at last.
Their
time was
here. Nobody would ever see them coming.
“Well, enough time for thinking.” He decided,
getting to his feet and sweeping around to face the other Xeni.
“The clock ticks, and the world awaits us.”
He strode down the hull, pausing before
Zardin to beckon him by his side. The two of them exited the ship’s
hull, and went striding down the corridors outside of it.
“Well, the plan’s all set then.” Asked
Zardin. “I presume the time has come for action.”
Redgarn smiled as the two of them treaded
down the unlit, gloomy corridor. “Indeed … We are now proceeding
with phase 1 of the plan.” He turned to Zardin. “The
beginning.”
Zardin smiled. “The beginning of the
end.”
They arrived at the end of the long, dark
corridor, and stood facing each other for a brief moment. A small
cupboard lay by the wall of their right, beside where the two of
them stood, looking meaningfully at each other.
Smiling, Redgarn wrenched open the door to
the cupboard, allowing the bound, gagged body of King Xurin to
collapse sideways, landing on the floor by his feet.
“They think,” said Redgarn, bending low over
the gagged body of the King. “that some stupid separatist group is
responsible for your capture.”
Zardin let out a low hum of laughter.
“Who do they think they’re kidding?” asked
Redgarn, so close to the gagged face of the bound King that his
breath would surely fall hot on the man’s face. “We just kidnapped
you without leaving the meanest trace of evidence, or any sort of
lead behind … and they think some pathetic non mystic separatist
group’s behind it?”
Zardin bent down and plucked out the man’s
gag, so that he gave a gasp of surprise and long contained
breath.
“What –” he started, his breath rattling.
“What do you – want with me?”
The two Xeni exchanged a fleeting grin, then
turned back to the man below them.
“We require a certain, err…” Zardin trailed
off, pretending to search for the right word.
“A certain
service
from you, my dear
King.” Finished Redgarn, and in the darkness, his smile would have
appeared to flame with viciousness.
Since landing, the three of them had been
ploughing across the vast desert worthlessly. They had walked for
well over an hour now, only to find nothing at all here. Ion peered
as far as he could, but the gloomy sands seemed to stretch all the
way upto the horizon and nothing at all, no structure, was faintly
visibly anywhere out there. Mantra and Dantox were walking by his
right and left, both of their eyes fixed ahead. The three of them
had been trotting through the desert soil in shared silence.
But it was the silence that was unbearable.
Ion racked his brains to find some way, some hope to cling to … to
believe that the impossible could have happened. And Vestra and
Qyro were not dead. But in all his honesty, he knew that it
couldn’t be. He knew that he had to face the reality. And reality
was that the two of them were gone. As were the rest of the
Nyon.
Forcing down the upsurge of emotion, he
turned to Mantra.
“What now?” He felt like he was speaking for
the first time in a few dazed centuries. “It’s all over. There’s
nothing left for us. Everything’s gone. What do we move on for
now?”
Mantra slowly unfroze his gaze from ahead and
turned to him.
“We move on to protect what our brotherhood
stood for.” He turned back ahead, shaking his head. “To protect the
cause they died for … and die for it ourselves, if need be. We move
on because we are destined to be greater than the twists and turns
of fate.”
His soft voice carried the weight of a new
sorrow, but it hadn’t lost the resolve ingrained in it.
“We are but facing a repetition of history,
Ion.” He went on. “And the last time this happened, we were in a
brighter position than we are now. The last time, the Nyon had a
strength like no other, and we fought with the might that we bore
during those ancient days. The last time, we had the Grael conch,
the entire army of watchmen by our side. And lastly,” He turned and
fixed his white eyes on Ion. “the last time, the spectrum was a far
more friendly environment. And our struggle was supported, instead
of being opposed. We were well known and revered, instead of being
hated and prosecuted. The last time, we were at an age of light.
But now, if you look around you, you will find nothing at all but
darkness and gloom.” He stopped for a dry sigh. “
But
we have
the one tool that we haven’t lost across eight millennia. The one
tool that has allowed us to stand for eight millennia. And I
believe this tool will suffice however dreaded our fate may
turn…”
Ion cocked an eyebrow. “What tool?”
A weak smile flickered on Mantra’s wizened
features. “The greatest of them all … Endurance.”
“Yeah?” Ion felt his jaws lock. “And exactly
where’s endurance left us now? In ashes!” He bellowed, feeling the
anger spill out of him. “Everything we know, everything we’ve
worked for … it’s all gone, and we’re standing here as helpless as
the ants beneath our feet now!”
Mantra regarded him with the same, completely
unfazed look.
“All the masters are dead!” yelled on Ion.
“We’re the only three left among the Nyon. Redgarn’s just returned,
and the Xeni order’s come back to its full power. What in the world
are we even here for, right now?”
His voice carried across the desert,
lingering in echoes. His hands curled, he felt himself shake with
grief and rage … But beneath it all, beneath the despair, what
really tormented him was the knowledge. The knowledge that after
living a life tainted with crime and villainy, he had failed to
make up for it with something good. He had hoped to help the Nyon
with the dark time they were now struggling against. But he had
come here to achieve nothing. He had tried his best to erase the
blotch of his evil past with something good in the present, but
everything had come crashing down upon them…
And now, he would go to the grave as the evil
assassin he had been. Because that had been all his life had come
to at the very end. That was all his existence in this world added
upto.
And it was that knowledge that was the real
suffering.
He felt a soft hand land on his shoulder. He
turned to see that it was Dantox, who was gently patting him.
“We need to keep our minds steeled.” the
Brownling said. “Whatever comes, we need to brace ourselves for it,
and do what we must. This is probably the darkest time of our
existence. And for that one reason, we need to keep ourselves
together. We can’t afford to lose it now.” He shook his head.
“Unless you would rather let all of it, all the struggle we have
bore with across eight millennia go to complete waste. Unless you
would rather let the sacrifices of not only our present masters,
but the entire legacy of masters who have striven to keep the Nyon
up across eight painful millennia, go to complete vain.”
Ion fought with himself for a moment, and
then took in a deep, long breath, calming himself as best as he
could. But whatever he did, the pain lay hardened at the base of
his stomach. The pain of what he had just lost. He continued to
heave deep, calming breaths, trying to forget the two of them. He
knew he had to put them out of his mind. And focus on the task now.
For if not, as the other two masters rightly said, their losses
would go in complete waste.
And Ion knew that he could not let that
happen.
For Vestra…
A blaze awakened within him, scouring all
else from his mind. He took a final deep breath, relishing the
chilly desert air as it flowed into his lungs. Then, he stepped
forward and turned to face the two masters. They came to a halt,
watching him.
“All right.” he said, feeling the iron in his
own tone. “What’s the plan? … What are we to do now? They’ve just
taken everything from us. And we’re left with the task of avenging
them. All of them.” His hands behind his back, he paced back and
forth as he spoke. “Exactly what is our goal now?”
Mantra and Dantox exchanged a quick glance.
Then, Mantra dug into his pocket and held out the crystal
again.
“We safeguard this.” he said, his voice just
as steeled as Ion’s. “We’ve sacrificed too much in the course of
protecting it from the Xeni. And we make sure our sacrifice does
not fall in vain, as Dantox rightly said.”
“We were very lucky to have escaped.” Dantox
said darkly. “If the Xeni had actually gotten what they came for,
we would have nothing at all left.”
“Our duty now, is to safeguard the crystal.”
said Mantra, and he pocketed the crystal. “We stay here and keep
ourselves lying low.”
“Here?” asked Ion.
Mantra nodded. “This planet is by far a safer
one than most others. And the Xeni have no means of finding us at
all. We keep ourselves well hidden here.”
Ion turned and looked down the desert
expanse. It ran forth forever, merging with the dark starlit
blanket overhead at the horizon.
“What do we do here?” he asked, turning back
to the other two. “This place looks almost dead. It’s probably
uninhabited by man beings.”
Mantra shook his head. “It’s better that way.
A planet that is uninhabited is the best for hiding. It’s the type
of planets that you’re least likely to run into trouble at.”
“And in either case, it was not completely
uninhabited at one point.” Illuminated Dantox. “Utakor used to have
stray dwellers here a century or two back … though very faint
numbers of them, though.”
“How’s that going to help us now?” asked Ion.
“Where do we stay?”
“There will be abandoned homes, shops or
something that we’ll find here somewhere.” said Mantra hopefully.
“And we will find them if we keep on.”
Ion spread his hands, gesturing to the
endless desert around them. “It doesn’t look like we’re likely to
find anything at all here.”
Mantra smiled, nodding. “Patience, young
one.”
“We’ll keep walking until we do.” said
Dantox, smiling. “And we’re bound to.”
Ion tried to find the best solution to this
mess. “But isn’t there a way to … get rid of the crystal?” He
looked from Mantra to Dantox. “So that we can end this for
all!”
He had expected the two of them to shoot him
down with a quick ‘no’, but to his surprise, they exchanged a
knowing glance. But Mantra then looked at Ion and gave a heavy
shake of his head. “As of now, no.”
“What do you mean ‘as of now’?”
“Right now, we cannot do anything at all.”
said Dantox, also shaking his head. “Our current position does not
give us such luxury. Right now, we’re in a situation where the best
we can do is hide here, and keep the crystal safe with us. And
that’s all we are going to do for now.”
Mantra let his white eyes peer across the
desert stretch for a second. He then gave a sharp nod.
“Let’s go.”
And the three of them together ploughed on
down the endless desert.
As they treaded on in silence, Ion’s thoughts
worked over the mess they were now in. A dark time had fallen upon
them all. And they couldn’t be more helpless in facing it than they
were now. He couldn’t help but strain his wonders as to what
awaited them next in this dark, twisty path they were wading
through. What lay ahead now? What more were they going to be forced
to face, after this … after losing it all? What were the Xeni upto,
as of now? What devious schemes could they be working on next? Ion
gulped, hoping they didn’t have to find out.
He knew that they were left now, with enough
misery to last a lifetime.
Trying his best to ignore the pain broiling
within him, Ion walked on in silence with the other two. The three
unfortunate ones…