The Rising Sun: Episode 6 by J Hawk Page B

over
Mantra.
     
    Ion was speechless, stumped.
     
    He hadn’t dreamt that it would end this way …
his quest to redeem himself for his evils … it was over. He had
achieved nothing. Only the dark taint of his life as a criminal
would survive after him. And that was what he would hit the grave
as…
     
    He remembered this entire journey crawl past
his head … a flow of images crossed his head, starting with when he
had met Mantra and the masters in Sacrogon, to now. He blurrily
recalled everything, as the images sped past his head…
     
    But one of the images paused before him,
swelling and engulfing his mind…
     
    Jedius…
     
    For a moment, as the three of them stood
there, feeling the weight of the situation press upon them,
something arose within Ion…
     
    Something powerful.
     
    “All odds have been thrust against us.” he
repeated, facing the three of them. “But isn’t that the very reason
we’re here?” He felt a smile flash on his face. “To fight all odds,
and to do what must be done?”
     
    He brought his gaze from one of them to the
other, looking at them all intently.
     
    “The brotherhood of Nyon endured for eight
millennia.” he continued. “We’re all that remains of the age of
Elderon, and we ploughed on to the very end. To stand guard to the
world. Our journey wasn’t easy … and it couldn’t have been harder.
But we did it: we fought our fight for eight thousand years, and
we’re still here . The four of us were spared for a reason.
And I think that reason is this. The moment is here for our
brotherhood to make its stand … for Elderon to make his stand.
Through us.”
     
    They were quietly listening, but Mantra gazed
at Ion with something twinkling in his clear white eyes.
     
    “Even if we’re all that’s left in the way of
the Xeni,” Ion felt his voice go sturdy with resolve. “We need to
show them that we are. That we will do what we must whatever the
cost may be. And that no matter how far they push us, and how
helpless we may be … we aren’t gonna step aside and let them take
control. Even if the price is getting slaughtered by them for it.”
He gave a sharp nod. “I’m in.”
     
    Mantra continued to hold him in a serene
gaze, before his lip curved at the corner.
     
    Ion turned at the other two.
     
    “I was always with you, master.” Vestra said,
turning back to Mantra. “Right from the start, when I found you and
came to you years back. And I still am.”
     
    “If the empire’s swallowing the world
anyway,” Qyro gave a complacent shrug. “We’ve really got nothing to
lose. Let’s take some of the Xeni with us where we’re heading at
least.”
     
    Mantra looked about the three of them
steadily, something kindling in his eight thousand year old pair of
eyes.
     
    “Very well, then.” he said softly, making no
attempt to hide his smile. “I see now that our brotherhood is not
long dead after all. Its spirit still lives. It resides within you,
our only three apprentices. My apprentices.”
     
    He turned to face the inside of the room, at
the far end of which lay Dantox. “Very well, Dantox. We’ve found
you a reason to live. You’re going to lead us to the Xeni’s
lair.”

 
     
15
     
     
     
     
    The darkness which had enveloped the cave
earlier was gone. The air seemed to simmer with a blood red glow
that spread across the walls and ceiling. And red lights streaked
the inside of the cave in ribbons.
     
    A sensation of quiet rumbling came over the
entire cave, and seemed to slowly stretch over the entire world.
The roar of an ancient evil bound and caged for eight millennia,
and now … waiting to be released once more.
     
    Redgarn’s incantation’s boomed over the
entire cave as he waved his hands over the tablet on which the
crystal lay.
     
    The red lights swirling within the cave grew
rapid. And the flare of red soaking the inside of the cave grew
brighter … almost blinding.
     
    Zardin stood lurking at the corner of