by J Hawk
The man’s skin was a horrid, corpse gray. His hair was long and black, parted in frames before his face. But it was his eyes … it was what Pan saw beneath the creature’s eyes sockets that made his blood go dry.
For the man had no eyes.
Just two empty sockets that stared out into the room. With a swirl of darkness within both of them … His teeth, sharp like a shark’s, revealed themselves in a nasty smile. The creature looked directly at Pan and spoke in the same voice from the z-com, his soft words ringing over the death like silence:
“…cause you just might get it.”
Without warning, the man threw both hands up. As if hoisted by an invisible rope, the Rash-cons in front of him rose into the high, graceful and serene, as though flying. They paused there, floating in mid air. Then, with the sound of crunching metal, the group of robots were crushed in mid air. Their splintered remains fell back on the ground.
Time seemed to have frozen. The realisation landed upon the room with the force of a hammer blow:
These were mystics.
And the very next second, chaos exploded in the hall with a volcanic blast: the workers’ high pitched screams tore the air as they threw each other out of the way in a race for their lives, out of this room … and away from the five deadly creatures standing in the hall’s middle.
Forcing down the panic, Pan whirled around to look for Argos. But the security manager was lost somewhere in the blur of the raging crowds. Struggling to contain himself, he spun back around … and there, dead ahead of him, stood the eyeless creature, the leader of the five mystics. He was standing a foot away from pan. But his blank sockets were resting steadily over Pan. As though he could see him … despite having no eyes.
“If there is one miracle in our world,” The man held up both hands, gesturing to the roaring mayhem all over the hall. “It would be the miracle … of chaos.”
Whatever Pan could summon of his voice left him as a dry whisper:
“What are you?”
“The same thing you are.” The man’s shark like teeth exposed as he smiled. “Just without the side called sanity.”
There was a sudden sweep of wind as Pan witnessed the man’s fist fly into view … and his world was sucked into darkness.
__________
Zardin let his eyeless stare linger over the body of the unconscious director. With no eyes, he did not have external vision. But he had something far, far more powerful.
Inner vision.
And through it, he could feel the world around him and his surroundings crafted to the finest possible clarity. He could view every minute detail of the world around through his powerful mystical eye within. And every blur of the chaos storming the large hall around him fell to his grasp as he stood there, the seconds prolonged.
His four men stood by either side, their eyes scanning the entire place and the chaos immersing it.
“Well, let’s go get what we came for.” Zardin said, and the five of them swept down the hall, entering one of the passageways on the wall across the other side.
The high pitched squeal of emergency alarms were heard blaring all over the building. Zardin listened to the ringing of chaos, the sound like music to his ears.
As they reached the end of the passageway, emerging into another room, they stopped and scanned the place. The room was a pentagon shaped one, with desks aligned against the walls on all four sides. There was a door on each corner, shut. Sealed in glass containers that were mounted over the desks, were a group of floating devices, all of which were engineered by this company. Some of them were guns, others were mere remote control like devices.
The men walked to the centre of the room, their eyes carrying over the range of device floating inside of the sealed containers. They scanned the line of devices carefully, pausing for a second over each one.
But Zardin had drunk in every detail of that room, and its contents, the very second he stepped into it. As the men scanned the line of devices, he clenched his teeth. A growl of anger escaped him.
“It’s not here.” He turned to the others. “Let’s go check-”
But before he finished his sentence, the doors all around them swept open at once, and Rash-cons poured in from all sides, all of their guns aiming at the five cloaked figures at the centre. Before the men could move, the robots’ guns erupted. Jets of deadly blue light sailed at the five mystics from all directions as the robots closed in on them. Pelleting them with energy shots.
The men reacted at thoughtspeed, hurling themselves out of the way of the shots all at once. Zardin felt himself soar over the air, landing heavily on all fours. His hand flew to the handle emerging from behind him. He grasped the handle and pulled it, and a steely, metallic hiss filled the air as his blade left its sheath. Drawing the long, thin sword, Zardin twirled it once, then held it steady before him. The robots were pouring in from all doors and engulfing the place. Spurting jets of light all across it.
Zardin took in a quick breath, and let his mind go granite with focus and resolve. There was a dazzling flash of light before him. And the next second, his sword was ablaze: the blade of his sword was now shining in a bright orange colour. Wisps of a steam like vapour escaped the shining blade. Across the room, the other mystics had also drawn their swords, and had ignited them.
A group of Rash-cons closed in on Zardin, all of them shooting at him relentlessly so that jets of light flooded him from all sides. Zardin allowed the ghost of a smile to escape his lips. And then he began…
He swung his sword around at such an insanely fast speed that the ignited blade cut off every one of the shots sent at him. The feeble jets of light sent at him were no match for Zardin’s fierce swiftness, as he used his blazing sword to block all of the shots at the speed of wind.
As the robots surrounding him prepared to fire a second tirade of shots, Zardin leapt forward, his sword slashing at the air ahead in two quick swipes. Three of the Rash-cons standing ahead of him fell prey to his sword, falling to the ground in chopped robot pieces. Zardin spun to his right, sending his sword straight through a line of three more on his right. Before they hit the ground, he leaped backwards, slicing at the group behind him in mid air. His feet met the ground before them, and the last trio of Rash-cons clattered to the ground, sliced.
Wherever his sword had cut the robots, an orange radiation glow lingered, releasing puffs of steam. Zardin drew in a slow breath, then raised his attention. The four others had finished off the remaining swath of robots around the room. All that remained now of the Rash-cons lay littered over the floor in a pool of sliced robot parts that were still steaming where the mystics’ swords had cut them.
Zardin doused his blade: the fiery orange glow as gone, leaving it in its normal silver gleam again. As he slid the sword back into its sheath slung behind him, the four others followed, and gathered by him. The men looked about the room, their eyes travelling over the sealed glass containers one last time.
“It isn’t here, master.” one of them said as he finished looking over the desks, averting his gaze to his leader.
“I know it isn’t.” said Zardin. “Let’s go.”
And they bolted towards one of the exits, their cloaks flapping behind their heels.
__________
The entire facility lay shredded in havoc. The workers sprinted out of the place, their screams mingling with the high pitched blare of the alarms all over the place.
The air of enthusiasm and anticipation that had pervaded just minutes earlier was now completely overturned … and now, a sense of unreality and horror had clutched the entire laboratory.
Argos was one of the last to make his way out of the hall and down the hallways that led to the exit. As he ran, his blood thundering, he felt his mind reel with shock at the event of the last minute or so.
We’re being attacked by mystics. He thought. This can’t be bloody happening!
He tore down the long tunnel, towar
ds the exit to this building. Doubts and confusion exploded within him, but right now he kept them at bay, knowing that getting out of here alive was the topmost and only priority. The tunnel curved, and a set of large double doors appeared at the end. Argos stopped before the doors, punching in the password on the digitboard by the side of the board. A clearance beep ensued, and the double doors slid in with a rush of air.
A large basement parking lot spread out before him. Almost all of the vehicles were gone. The workers and engineers had almost all fled. A large open door stood at the very end of the parking lot, spreading outside of which was the cold night’s desert. Feeling his heart pound as he ran, Argos pelted towards the last vehicle in the lineat the end of the line. His hover car, a black coloured four seated vehicle, was waiting at the end of the line.
As Argos neared the vehicle, he plunged his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a small device. He clicked a button on the remote to his car, and the front door swung open. Without pausing for a glance, Argos threw himself into the driver’s seat, and slammed the door shut. Before he could start the car, his eyes fell on the seat next to him, and a death like stillness robbed his insides…
“Nice ride,” said Zardin, as his eyeless sockets roamed over the vehicle. He turned back to Argos, whose eyes seemed to bulge with terror. Before the man could make another move, a pair of arms sprang out from the seat behind him, wrapping his mouth shut. One of Zardin’s men was on the backseat. He held the security manager to the spot, covering his mouth so that his screams went dull.
As Argos thrashed about, trying to rip himself free of the man’s clasped hands, Zardin dove his fist into the man’s stomach. A muffled gasp of pain, and Argos doubled forward.
“No need to worry, silly boy.” Zardin whispered, bending to his ear. “We aren’t here for you. We’re here … for something a whole lot greater.” He thrust his hand into Argos’s pocket and drew from it, a shiny pen shaped device.
The mineral detector.
Zardin held the device before his face, feeling a smile stretch over his lips. “Excellent.”
The pair of hands holding Argos’s mouth released, and Argos gasped for breath. As Zardin surveyed the mineral detector, Argos stared at him, looking thoroughly confused.
“The mineral detector?” he blurted, clearly as perplexed as he sounded. “That’s what you came here looking for?”
Zardin slowly turned to the man, feeling his unpleasant smile grow longer. “No. we came looking for the truth. And the truth,” He bent closer to the man, whose face was aflame with shock and terror, “is that there is no escape … from the pain.”
He shot his elbow into Argos’s face, and the man slumped on his seat, unconscious.
Zardin and the other mystic on the backseat exited the car, and saw the three other mystics glide over towards them from three corners of the parking lot. The group gathered by Zardin’s side, while he continued to gaze at the mineral detector keenly, twirling it between his fingers.
“Mission accomplished.” he said, pocketing the device.
The men stood behind him, their hoods still drawn over their faces.
“It has now begun, men.” said Zardin, striding over to the entrance of the parking lot, sprawling outside of which was the lifeless desert. The velvety sky spread overhead like a vast dark mast, sprayed with tiny dots of silver.
The chill cloaking him from all around felt soothing to his skin. And to his soul.
“Prepare yourselves,” he hissed, turning to the men who stood behind him. “This is just the beginning … we have work to do.”
And together, they strode out of the entrance, into the cold desert that meandered outside.
2
A place far, far away … A haven, an abode of beauty and perfection … The flowery fragrance wafting the air … The beautiful, sloping hills filled with greenery … The sky brimming with light with the freshly arisen sun…
The boy gazed across the sloping hills, his beautiful orange eyes gleaming. His tidy crimson hair rippled in the gentle wind as he stood there.
He could hear two elderly voices from the cottage hut behind where he stood. The two most beloved voices he knew in this world … And then, as the soft padding of feet on the grass came behind, he corrected: two of the three most beloved voices he knew in this world.
He turned to see his twin brother Eol walking up to him, stretching lazily and yawning. He thumped Eol on the back, and the two of them walked back into the hut where their elderly parents, Marion and Selia, awaited with a steaming breakfast.
Ion let his gaze carry over the three of them.
His brother Eol.
His father Marion.
His mother Selia.
The four of them seemed branded in that speckless, beautiful moment … one beautiful, happy family. And life was as it had been meant to be.
And then, darkness ripped the world.
Marion and Selia’s forms were frozen before him. But as Ion watched in horror, they slowly faded … withering into the nothingness that now consumed everything. They were gone, but their cries of grief lingered as a lasting echo in the sudden darkness. An echo that thundered through Ion’s mind.
And he whipped around to face Eol … But Eol, too, was gone. He was falling down into the darkness that swallowed everything. For an eternity, Ion watched his brother Eol fall through the darkness … and for an eternity, their eyes were locked, watching the breadth of blackness abound between them.
And then the darkness wrapped Ion’s brother, engulfing him too…
And Ion was alone, in the middle of a boundless darkness. His parents were gone. Eol was gone. He was alone. And he had now grown. His tidy hair was now long, messy and unkempt. His skin was tightened over his bones, and his orange eyes burned from within, no longer tender and beautiful as they’d once been.
Everything was gone … And all that remained was the blackness.
And then came the laugh…
The world rumbled around him as the voice laughed. A cold, mirthless voice that rang with a force like no other. Contained with an evil like no other. It was like listening to a group of hyenas shrieking as one.
He looked around. There was nothing, but out of nothing, a face formed, swirling out of the blackness. A face that Ion had known for years … dreaded for years. Hated beyond all else, for years. For this was the face responsible for tearing everything from him.
The man had glowing red eyes, and wild black hair.
“I’ve returned for you … Ion.”
“No!” Ion flailed his arms as he ran from the face, dashing mindlessly into the dark. But the soulless hyena like voice followed him, seeming to resound through his very soul:
“You can’t outrun me, Ion. I am a part of you … You can never outrun me!” The man ended with another burst of his ghastly hyena laughter.
And everything spiralled into madness, as the world tumbled out of reason, logic, and rationality. And it all dissolved back into nothing. It was over.
Ion jolted forward on his seat, sending beads of sweat flying forward.
Frozen as ice, he sat there for many unpleasant seconds, unable to grasp any meaning in what lay around him, or where he was: logic and reason eluded him, trickling past his mind’s hold. And time itself seemed to have blurred. For a few moments, the only sensation reaching Ion amidst the chaos of his thoughts was a loud, incessant banging somewhere nearby. It took a while before he realised it was coming from within: his heart hammered against his ribs with a ruthless force.
The haze enveloping his mind slowly cleared, and clarity struck him … bringing a relief welling revelation:
It was just a dream!
Warmth flowered within Ion, and the panic clutching him vaporized. He slowly reclined against his seat, listening to the rhythmic hum of a large engine from somewhere nearby. He was in a hallway with five lines of seats, of which his was the one
on the extreme left.
Ion looked out the circular window hanging by the wall on his left, and gazed out of it for a few seconds. As his eyes met the sight spreading out the window, the final traces of agitation left by the nightmare he had just had instantly died. A gripping sense of entrancement filled Ion as he gazed upon the ocean of darkness…
Space.
The one sight in the universe which could invoke such a beautiful sense of stillness in him. A serenity matched by nothing else. The expanse of darkness was showered with fine crystal dots. Powdery light that had voyaged legions to reach him…
A minute or so passed before Ion drew his attention back to the hall he was in. The space cruiser he was travelling in had numerous halls such as this one, each with a vast capacity. A cruiser, unlike a regular space ship, was a giant vessel built for carrying an enormous capacity of travellers in it. Ion knew that the number of passengers in this one easily numbered to a thousand.
Having dozed off for how long he knew not, Ion was lost to the thread of the journey. He turned to the man sitting on the nearby line.