by J Hawk
Larovez, Selicron republic, Cluster 62
The earlier bustle and commotion in the hotel had now died out, leaving a piercing silence. Every face in the large, elegant hallway had its eyes strapped to the screen, watching the realm’s greatest horror now return to life…
“This day shall forever mark our return” Redgarn continued. “This is the day the spectrum suffers for its treachery, and its mistreatment of its own people – or rather, the greatest kind among its people. Today we release a wrath like no other, pent up through eight thousand years.”
Redgarn paused, and drew in a deep breath. “We have wired ten planets in the spectrum with high end electro bombs. And every one hour, we shall blow one of them off…”
He said this very slowly, as if giving space for every word to sink in, and stab his audience.
Redgarn’s smile stretched longer. “Oh, don’t just sit there: you never know, one of them could be your planet, couldn’t it?”
Suddenly, the silence was in the hotel was breaking, and panic and confusion were sparking. People looked about gasping and muttering, their faces all rising with alarm.
__________
Palem, Udro republic, Cluster 41
The air in the conference room was as cold as ice. Every pair of eyes sitting around the large conference table was gauntly stretched wide, watching the news channel. The holo screen that was showing this new madness hung before the wall at the back of the room. And Redgarn stared out with his bead like, red eyes from inside of the holo screen. Red eyes that seemed to sear the air in the room as they gazed out at it.
What he had just declared left a deafening blare in the minds of everyone in the conference room.
Ten bombs. In ten planets…
Could this really be happening?
“Let me repeat,” Redgarn cleared his throat. “There are ten unnamed planets in the spectrum which we have wired with high end electro bombs. Every one hour, we will blow one of them off…Every hour, starting with now.” He dug his hand into his robe pocket, pulling out what looked like a trigger, and pressed it…
As inferno ripped apart the conference room, the men in the room opened their mouth for the meanest split second to scream. But before their screams had left their throat, the entire planet disappeared behind a blinding, white hot flare that destroyed it, spewing its smithereened remains for thousands of miles out into space…
__________
Utakor, Outer spectrum
“One down,” said Redgarn, the insane glow in his eyes brightening. “nine more to go. They could be any planet. Anywhere.”
Ion’s jaw had been open the whole time. On either side, Mantra and Dantox stood with an icy rigidness, their eyes clutched to the small screen perched at the corner of the restaurant they were now inside of.
“Every hour from now on,” said Redgarn. “You will agree with me, that I’m a man of my word. Like no other. Until then, keep up the faith, gentlemen. And the let the hysteria … begin.”
With that, the screen dissolved back into nothing.
Ion needed a moment to wrench his gaze from the screen, and turning at Mantra by his right.
The silence seemed to carry a quiet screech of horror.
The cluster of dragonflies buzzed about the room harmlessly, the only living inhabitants of the place other than the three Nyon. Their wings were all varied in colour, so that it almost looked like a bunch of small, fluttering colours floated about the place. A perfect irony for the colourless, pitch black situation they were now in.
Mantra’s hazy white eyes lingered on where the screen had been for a long moment. And then, he slowly met Ion’s gaze and sighed. “I thought our position couldn’t get worse.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid I was terribly wrong.”
Dantox, whose mouth was still slightly ajar, shook his head in an expression of crushing disbelief. “There couldn’t be a worse position than now.”
Mantra beckoned for the two of them to follow. They moved to one of the restaurant’s tables, seating themselves around it in a circle.
“It’s happening.” Mantra said, his tone dark with foreboding. “To release the demon army, they need to fill the world with the life of Mezmeron first. They need to fill the world with anarchy. And it’s happening … they’re doing just that.”
They’re blowing off ten whole planets!” said Dantox, shaking his head. “They’re setting the anarchy level loose to the worst possible level: the entire spectrum would be in complete hysteria soon.”
Mantra shook his head. “They’re creating the worst level of hysteria by telling the people that they would blow off ten planets, and then blowing them off. That’s exactly what they need for anarchy. All over the spectrum, this message would have triggered a state of mass mayhem. There would be chaos like no other. And when they slowly blow off one planet after the other,” He heaved a tragic sigh. “They’ll send everything spinning well off bounds. Imagine the panic, confusion and hysteria that would grip the people. And it’s already started … the wheels are already in motion. And nothing can now stop them.”
Mantra was a little too right.
__________
Halox, Capital of Valdron republic, Cluster 34
The tense thudding of a group of feet echoed within the hallway, as a group of suited men stormed down it. The president was at the frontmost of them, surrounded by his two bodyguards, his defense minister and a few other government officials. The lot of them paced down the large hall that led to the president’s office, all of their faces masked with the same gravely intense looks.
“Alert every squadron there is in the entire republic,” the president was saying, his head half turned to his defense minister who strode along by his right. “And get them to pull in every officer there is – on duty, off duty – and get them working now.”
The defense minister nodded hurriedly, his stride unfaltered as he walked down in a dashy pace with the entire group of them. “Our armed forces have been called in an immediate alert. We’re going to send them across all seventeen planets.”
“Do it, do it now.” rushed on the president. “Send them in now.”
Another of the suited men who was gazing at a screen before him, atop his z-com, spoke in an equally tense tone:
“Sir, we’re using satellite imagery to give us electro radiation spikes in any of our seventeen planets. They’ll send us a scan in a minute.”
“Good, good.” said the president, as the entire group of them swept down the hall. “We’ll need it all.”
“It’ll be no use.” Pointed out the defense minister. “The terrorists would’ve covered the bomb, to shield its electro radiation.”
The president knew this was true.
“We’re having extra forces called upon,” said another of the suited men. “to aid the army in scouring the seventeen planets.”
For the first time since he had seen the ghastly newsflash that had been telecast across the entire spectrum, the president stopped himself to heave a deep breath.
“Men, we’re facing crisis. A crisis like no other. Our republic consists of seventeen planets. One of those bombs could be on any one of them.” He glanced across the others walking along with him. “We’ve seen that these terrorists are true to their word: they blew off Haolo, and Palem. If we lose any of our planets…”
He didn’t have to finish the sentence. All of them nodded in agreement, their expressions as grim as could be.
One of the suited men by the president’s right was attending a voice call in his z-com, his tone as anxious as possible.
“Get all the heads of the planets,” he was saying. “And have them report to us about the developments –”
Before the president could hear him finish the sentence, a fierce beeping emitted from his suit pocket. He hastily drew his z-com, and pressed a button to answer the incoming call. The entire lot of them peered into the holo screen that rose above the president
’s z-com. Inside of it was the commander of their special forces. The Iveling wore a grave frown, giving a faint nod at the president before hurriedly saying, “Mr. President, we’re facing real trouble across the republic. The citizens of Harog, Menzo and many other planets are calling for immediate emergency action. They want us to dispatch our troops to their planets for scouring traces of the bomb.”
“But the Special Forces are already doing all they can!” came the tense voice of the defense minister.
“They’re panicking,” said the commander, shaking his head. “and protests are breaking out over many planets. They want us to attend to them each personally … but we’re far too short of men to scout through all seventeen planets to search for the bomb.”
For the first time in his entire term in office, the president felt a choked, helpless feeling. One that he had never before given in to. No matter how large the crisis … But this time, he couldn’t help it. He let hopelessness smother him.
“All right,” he said with a shallow nod. “Do your best to calm the protests. Tell them we’re doing all we can, to see if one of the bombs is –”
Before he could finish it, another tense beeping emitted from his right: the defense minister was having a call.
As he pulled out the z-com and answered the call, they saw their chief commissioner of this planet’s police. The defense minister tilted the device, so that the screen over it faced the president. Still holding the screen with the commander of the Special Forces, the president turned to the other screen. Without bothering with niceties, the chief commissioner burst forth in a tense voice:
“Mr. president, the situation in the capital’s bad, real bad! The citizens want emergency evacuation … they’re expecting us to send vessels to carry them off to the outer spectrum, which they believe is safer right now!”
The president could feel the tension in the atmosphere climb rapidly.
“But we don’t have that many vessels!” he exclaimed, his pulse zooming as he came to face the full scale of the disaster they were now in. “we’ve hardly got enough transport for –”
“I know, but all over our cities now, the protestors have put a block in public transport. They’re attempting to break into the ships and cruisers and use them for fleeing … we’re seeing similar mayhem all over the republic!”
The president looked front, feeling a bloodless, gaunt expression slowly stretch across his face. This is a nightmare come to life…
“Just do all you can, commissioner.” said the defense minister, turning the screen back to him. His voice carried a forced calm that the president’s wouldn’t have managed.
“Yes, sir … but I doubt if it’ll suffice.” And with that, the link disconnected and the holo screen faded back to thin air. The defense minister pocketed the device and followed along with the others as they headed on towards the president’s office. As the group of them approached, the door slid open by one side, revealing the large, elegantly decorated room that was his office.
Forcing in another deep breath, the president turned to face the rest of the suited men, who came to a stall behind him.
“Gentlemen … what we’re seeing is the worst possible day of our lives. The entire republic is in chaos and hysteria. And we’re going to have to put an end to this madness whatever it costs.”
The lot of them gave a firm nod. But the president knew he wasn’t imagining it when he saw the shadow of hopelessness in all their eyes. He knew it for the exact same feeling gripping him from within.
We’re lying to ourselves if we think we can control the situation that’s breaking loose now. he thought, unabashedly honest. All structures have now fallen apart … and we’re still trying desperately to hold them together.
15
For longer than it seemed, the three Nyon were seated quietly around the same table. The silence immersing the place seemed to boil with a new tension.
Floating about the air around them were the strange dragonfly creatures. With their radiant wings, they looked like colours glimmering about in the air, zipping from spot to spot upon it. One of them with brilliant gold wings was hovering just over the table.
Ion sat with his eyes blankly fixed on the glass wall by the side of their table, watching the night’s desert that surrounded them. He looked back inside the abandoned place, drawing himself back to the gloomy silence within it. One of the dragonflies with radiant gold wings hovered to a stall at the edge of the table. It was a rarely beautiful sight, but one that Ion couldn’t bring himself to appreciate at the present climate.
Mantra and Dantox had both sunken deep into thought. Ion could tell that even Mantra himself was struggling to fight the same hopeless mass that threatened to crush them all.
And that particular struggle was faring badly for them all.
Ion couldn’t wrench the image of Redgarn, as he had seen it in the screen, proclaiming that ten planets were now wired with bombs. This was the finale that they had been working towards … It all came down to this. Everything converged to lead to the victory of evil over good that Redgarn had worked for over eight millennia:
The army of Mezmeron, that was hidden in the other dimension, could be released when Mezmeron’s life was strengthened to its peak in this dimension. When anarchy was at its peak … and the Xeni were achieving just that with what they had just done. They were destroying ten planets, and proclaiming it to the world. Billions of lives would now be shattered. And when it was done, Mezmeron himself would have awakened to seize the world … And the demon army, made of his life, would be ready to be unleashed full fledged again…
“But we have the crystal!” Ion suddenly exclaimed, turning to the two masters.
Mantra slowly came out of his thoughtful reverie and brought his calm white eyes upon him.
“They need the crystal for releasing the army!” exclaimed Ion, looking from Mantra to Dantox.
“Yes,” Mantra gave a nod. “the crystal is the key to releasing the forces of Mezmeron. They can’t do without it.”
“So whatever they’re planning now is pointless, isn’t it?” Ion could feel the strain of frustration in his own voice. “No matter how much anarchy they wreak, they can’t release the demon army without the crystal.”
Laughing softly, Mantra lowered his gaze to the golden winged dragonfly hovering at the edge of the table.
Dantox fixed Ion with a sad grin. “Ion, do you honestly think they’re just going to be sitting there and doing nothing about retrieving the crystal?”
“These are Xeni.” Mantra said in a dark voice. “We may have prevented them from getting the crystal back at the temple, but they certainly wouldn’t have given up looking for us … and trying to retrieve it.”
“We’ve given them nothing more than a prick … an itch, that they believe they will manage to overcome at the end, and get what they want.” said Dantox.
“What do you mean?” asked Ion.
Dantox bent closer to him and, “They need the crystal to open the demons’ dimension. They most certainly have not given it up from their sight. But they clearly don’t see us as much of a threat: they probably believe they can retrieve it in time for the performing of the spell.”
Still looking at the golden winged butterfly, Mantra nodded. “Indeed. That the plague crystal is now with us does not bother them much, apparently. They’ll do what they have to, which is spreading the life of Mezmeron through anarchy. But in the meanwhile, they will obviously have a very sharp lookout for the crystal.”
“You aren’t viewing things from their angle.” Dantox told Ion. “They have just crushed the entire brotherhood of Nyon. Wiped out their sworn enemies forever. They have just gotten rid of the only, and most dangerous threat for their cause. At this point, do you think they would feel threatened by us? They realise that their most vital threat has just been erased. Although the crystal is not in their hold, they don’t see it as a cause of concern, because they know there is nothing that could tru
ly stop them now.”
“The scales have just completely topped to their side.” Mantra said grimly. “Whatever feeble resistance we place for them at this point is no resistance at all. At least, not in their eyes.” He rose his gaze from the butterfly, meeting Ion. “And after having crushed the entire Nyon, would finding and retrieving the crystal from three lucky survivors appear to be a problem to them?” He shook his head. “They obviously believe that they will easily search and find us. And get the crystal back.”
“And if we’re not careful, they will.” Dantox said darkly.
“But whatever happens,” Ion said. “they will have to get it back at the end. To finish what they’re planning.”
“Obviously.” said Dantox. “The crystal is the key to the dimension where hide the demon army. So how much ever mayhem and hysteria they spread, at the end of it, to release the army of Mezmeron they’ll be needing the crystal.”
“And that,” Mantra said, a trace of light seeping into his tone now. “is the single greatest fortune for us. We have an edge over them now. One that we need to work hard to keep up.”