The Rising Sun: Episode 3

by J Hawk

“I saved your life, Ion … Make it worth it for that one reason.”

  Ion gazed upon the stars resting overhead, sitting with his arms on the ground behind on the ground.

  The silence and serenity of his surroundings would have drawn a state of calm and peace in anyone sitting here now. Anyone but Ion…

  Sitting straighter, Ion ran his hands through his messy red hair, then placed them back on the ground. He wished he could erase everything within him, and set himself free of it all. Of what was now raging inside him: a multitude of forces seemed to churn within, fighting for supremacy over him. Of everything he had faced in his life, this was by far the strangest thing that had been forced to go through…

  Confusion.

  For years now, since he had joined Vonayz and the assassins, he had never dared look back. The rage of losing his parents and his brother Eol set his soul ablaze. The fire of anger and vengeance and possessed him, so that he hadn’t given a whisker of second thought to the life he had chosen for himself. Never before, after setting foot on this path, had he ever questioned himself.

  Until now.

  Until what had happened two days back…

  The girl he had met … she had sparked something inside of him, something that he wished he could tear out from within and cast away. She had sparked a conflict within him.

  For as much as he hated it, as much as he wished he didn’t, he saw meaning in those words she had spoken.

  “The only way to heal a cruel world is with love and compassion. And not hatred.”

  Ion could feel something invoked within him after that meeting, something that he knew would never let him free again. Now, as he looked back, at everything he had done, and at everything he had been planning to do, the life he was now leading … an inkling of his being seemed to cringe. Somewhere, at the deepest bottom of his own self, he could feel it … He could feel the meanest pinch of guilt.

  Whatever was now going on within Ion made him hate himself. And her as well for it.

  A pair of dawning footsteps rose to his attention. He twisted around to see Vonayz and his brother Alcrox striding up towards where he was sitting. The two of them dropped to a seat on either side of him, looking at him in a curious mixture of airiness and concern.

  Vonayz patted him on the back, smiling as he sat down by his right. Ion gave a feeble smile and turned back ahead, avoiding his eyes.

  “Something wrong?” Vonayz asked.

  “What do you mean?” asked Ion casually.

  “You’ve been…” Alcrox’s voice wandered as he searched for the right word. “Well, disturbed since you came back from Enro.”

  “Have I?” Ion chuckled, glancing at him and then turning back again. “You’re imagining things.”

  He could sense the two of them exchanging a quick glance, before Alcrox sat down by right, his legs before him.

  “I know you probably aren’t gonna like me asking this,” said Alcrox, an edge of hesitation in his voice. “But … well, what happened?”

  Ion looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  “You looked ravaged when you came back from Grando’s hunt yesterday.” Vonayz said. “With scars and bruises all over, with half of them healed. Did something go wrong?”

  “Oh, that.” Ion felt his voice relax. “Nothing much. I just ran into trouble. But that’s not the problem…”

  “So there is a problem, then.” said Alcrox “And we aren’t half wits not to notice it! You’ve seemed unusual since you came back.”

  “Ion,” Vonayz put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You know you can talk to us about whatever this is, right?”

  Ion scowled, still not looking at either of them. They were the last two people in the world he wanted to discuss this with. Because whatever problem he was facing now … they were the source of it.

  He had never dreamt that he would feel such. But for the first time in his time with them, he felt a spark of anger towards them. All of them. For they were the cause of all of this. They had tempted him, and led him into this life.

  “Oh, don’t bother with me, I’m fine.” he said, dusting his hands and getting to his feet. “I think I’ll just go for a short walk … alone.”

  Ion could feel the two others’ eyes follow him as he trotted off without another word. His hands behind his back, he wandered down the lands back towards the hut. Parked next to the hut were a group of vehicles, mostly hover bikes or boards. One of them was a car, and he knew this was Vonayz’s.

  Ion walked on with his hands behind his back, looking all about him. The moon had settled at the peak of the sky, bathing the land below in a pearly blue glow. A ring of burning blue encased it from outside. It was the largest entity in the black expanse that was the sky, with a million other glittering stars spread around it. The land before him was clean, wiped of a single structure or building. Their hut was the only one for hundreds of miles around. They would move from planet to planet, roaming over the outer spectrum steadily. Not lingering on any one planet too long. And they chose only planets which were mostly or fully uninhabited, prone to attract less attention from the Naxim.

  But the Naxim wasn’t all the enemies these group of assassins had.

  Their ventures to the inner spectrum and their assassinations and hunts for various organisations inside of it had bought them to the most wanted list of almost every republic and state there was in the inner spectrum. Although the republics were not fully aware that they were mystics. And as a result, their details were not famous with the Naxim yet. But Ion knew that he topped the list. He would definitely break to the very top of their most dreaded criminal archives. Of almost every republic and state there was.

  That had been the glory of what he had been … and that was the prowess he had been destined for.

  Why leave all of this? The granite hearted side of him asked, the monster growling within constantly. This is the life. And all that rage, all that anger, unleashing it … it feels sooo good.

  This is not the way we’re meant to live. replied a softer voice that Ion had never heard before. And he knew this was a voice that had grown only after his meeting with the girl. It was her voice. We are meant to live to help others … not to destroy and shatter them.

  He was drawn back in time … to the days he spent with his family. His true family. An upsurge of grief took place within him, instantly replaced by a burst of rage.

  He would forever remember that day.

  The day he returned to the village after being freed from the Naxim … to find gravestones awaiting. All that remained of his family. A sharp squeezing sensation pressed upon Ion’s chest.

  He would never forget what had happened to them.

  They had died of grief…

  Marion and Selia had died of the grief of losing their two foster kids, their precious twin children, Ion and Eol.

  And Eol…

  They had claimed he was a mystic when he wasn’t. They had dragged an innocent person away … And his body hadn’t even been recovered from the Naxim station. They hadn’t even been able to bury him!

  Feeling his vision blur, Ion walked faster, reaching for his sleeve. He fought down the sorrow and grief, as he had trained himself to do for years now. But it slumbered within him, subconsciously propelling his actions in his waking stage. But was he being propelled in the right direction? If he was using his family as a motive for everything he was doing now, was his family being used for a good motive … or a horridly evil one?

  He kept walking, his stride unfaltered. He kept his eyes on the ground before him while his mind lay hard at work.

  “Hatred turns us into the very people we hate…”

  “Does it?” mumbled Ion. for the meanest second, his thoughts flashed back to that fine day, when he had unleashed all of his hatred against the man he hated.

  Commander Rox.

  The familiar savage joy swelled within him once more, as ripe as it had been that day … the day when he had kille
d the man who had made his life hell. The one who had tortured him, and taken everything from him. The man he had hated.

  And as he remembered it, he knew that there was no feeling in the world as sweet as hatred … as sweet as revenge. Against the ones he hated. And as he realised it, the brutal side of him rumbled once more. The brutal side which he was now beginning to question…

  Ion yearned to free himself from whatever was churning inside of him.

  A small side of him, a newly born side of him, wanted him to forgive this world for the pain he had been through. And to stop the twisted life he was now leading. But the monster within him that had controlled him for so long raged on relentlessly. Wanting him to stay numb and to go on. The two of them fought for dominance within him, almost making him ache from within.

  And then, a screeching noise split the silence around him. Frowning in irritation, Ion dug his hand into his cloak pocket and produced a z-com. He answered the call and a holographic screen slid into place right over it. And looking out of it was a familiar face.

  “I thought I’d hear from you by now.” complained Grando, frowning.

  As the split second of irritation passed, Ion shook his head. “Well, you thought wrong. And by the way, the hunt for the vigilante went pretty bad.”

  “I know it did.” said Grando. “But you usually don’t give up so fast.”

  “There again, you thought wrong.”

  Grando raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued. He waited for a few seconds before slowly asking, “So, you’re letting the job go?”

  “As of now, yeah.” replied Ion. “I’ve got no heading on where this guy is, and trying to find him’s gonna be a bit of a prick. And even otherwise, I -”

  “Well, I’ve made your job easier.” said Grando, smiling. “Some of my compatriots at the Incrag republic had him tracked just a few minutes back. And they know he’s there to handle something, and won’t be leaving soon. I’d have sent my own men, but we’re a little busy as of now, and even otherwise, we’ll have trouble covering our tracks if we get there and kill him ourselves. This is something I know you’re reserved for.” his smile widened, and he shook his head sweetly. “Something you were made for, as a matter of fact.”

  His words felt like butter, melting through Ion…

  “So what do you say?” asked Grando. “Finish the job. Return with the vigilante, and you can still have the full pay for the job. Take my efforts in locating him for you as a token of our long forged friendship.”

  Ion stared at the screen for a few seconds, feeling something squirm within him. It was tempting … but at the same time, he couldn’t forget that there was another entity within him now, one that he knew wouldn’t leave him if we went on with this…

  Grando scowled. “Oh, all right. I’ll give you a minute. Think about and call me back.”

  The line disconnected, leaving the holo screen to fade back to thin air.