The Rising Sun: Episode 6 by J Hawk Page A

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.

 
     
14
     
     
     
     
    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