The Rising Sun: Episode 3

by J Hawk

The final step…

  Zardin sat there in the darkness of the cave, his mind now in the grip of purpose like nothing before. The entire journey, from when he had been contacted by the creeper, to now … the entire journey zoomed past his head a second time. He had met the creeper years back, and had been given this mission by him. And Zardin had carried forth in the mission to this day. He had done everything as he had been told. And today, at long last, he was nearing it. He was nearing the end of the goal that the crippled mystic had entrusted him years back. He was closer to finding and liberating the creeper than ever before. He had left Zardin the mission of finding and joining him, after which they would together finish what the Order of Xeni started eight millennia back. And nobody at all would be able to stand in their way … once he found the creeper, and once they were united, Zardin knew nothing could stand before them.

  He revelled in the glory of the thought for a few moments …

  Everything they had done, starting from the attack at Mech facility at Tansof, to the cruiser attack, and the kidnapping of the Naxim official Derigor … All of it had been done with the goal of reaching the creeper. Zardin didn’t know where the dark mystic was, and he knew that finding him would be a task of its own. The creeper was undoubtedly unable to move by himself, and had no precise knowledge of his own location either. And so, it was solely upto him to find him and reach him. And all that he had done till now, the series of events that had triggered such panic in the spectrum, had been done with the aim of finding the location of the dark mystic, so that he could reach him. And conclude this journey at long last…

  And Zardin knew that the end was here. Closer than it seemed.

  Very soon now, Derigor, who was lying tied up somewhere in this very cave right now, would aid them with finding the last piece… and they would then be able to find the creeper.

  Zardin stroked his chin absently with a long fingernail, while his idle mind continued to wander. Along the course of this journey, he had taken the Xeni to a new height. Their allies had grown greatly and terribly thanks to him … and today, they were ready for it. Ready for this final step, after which the entire realm would be theirs.

  A slight flicker of irritation arose within him, as he remembered an event from a few hours back.

  I tried to make a new ally … but this one was not what I had thought.

 

  He dug his hand into his cloak pocket and withdrew a crumpled piece of paper. Unfolding it, he stared into the poster of the most wanted criminal, an assassin, in this spectrum. A terrible face with glowing red eyes. But Zardin knew that this was no more than a boy. A boy going by the name, Ion.

  An interest specimen. he thought, amused.

  Upto this day, Zardin had tracked down and gone after mystics whom he believed, qualified to join them. Who were driven by the same vicious forces that the Xeni lived to serve. And this boy was one of them.

  After identifying a potential candidate for their order, Zardin would first go into a small study about the person. Learn everything there was about them and their life. He had his sources, through which he could garner information about other people’s pasts … and their personalities. And see them for truly who they were. And only then, only when satisfied with what he saw in them, would he go on to find and recruit them.

  But Ion’s case had been different: after finding this poster, Zardin had taken a personal interest in this criminal … a dreaded, most wanted criminal. He had gone into an indepth research into the boy’s past. And everything in his life, that had shaped him to what he saw in the poster. He had learned how the boy suffered greatly due to the Naxim’s cruelty. How he had been tortured for years, how he had lost his family … and how it had all propelled him into an evil, brutal life. The life of a cold blooded killer.

  Zardin had learned all of it through the many terrorist and criminal organisations that the Xeni bore ties with. The many terrorist and criminal organisations whom Ion had worked for during his days as an assassin … including Grando’s terror organisation.

  And so, through all the boy’s earlier clients, Zardin had learned everything about the boy … delved into the very interesting past he had.

  And as he did, he found something very unnatural.

  They were similar. The two of them.

  He had found a genuine fascination to this boy. A genuine liking. And so, just hours back, when Ion had appeared in the Naxim’s radar, Zardin knew the time had come to act: He sent one of his men, Xare, to find the boy and get him to join the Xeni. But the Nyon had gotten there first. And the boy had joined them instead.

  He was now one of them … an enemy.

  Ion’s life as an assassin brought great fascination in Zardin … but more than his time as an assassin, it was the end of his time as an assassin that caused the greatest fascination in him. The event that ended his streak as a cold blooded killer.

  It was an event that would undoubtedly have tormented the boy ever since. Zardin almost felt sorry for the boy when he had learnt it.

  Almost.

  Zardin crumpled the poster and stuffed it back into his pocket. He then rose to his feet, turned and strode back into the dark abyss of the cave.

  __________