The Rising Sun: Episode 2 by J Hawk Read Free Book Online

over to the
door, which slid open automatically to let him through. Pausing at
the room’s entrance, Derigor flicked on the light by the side of
the wall.
     
    And his eyes locked onto something that stood
calmly in the middle of his room, apparently in wait of him.
     
    “Hello there,” said Zardin, smiling. “I’ve
been so eager to meet you, my good man.”
     
    For a second, Derigor felt as though two
words had just clashed … real and illusion. And he was now
grappling to separate the two of them … for the evidence suggested
that the creature they had seen in the picture earlier, the
one responsible for the attack on the cruiser, was now standing
right ahead of him in his house…
     
    Zardin slowly walked over towards him, his
smile unfaltering.
     
    Raw horror and panic clutched Derigor to the
spot. His brain gone numb, he stared as the man walked over to him
and stroked his chin with his long, black fingernail.
     
    “What do you want?” he breathed, backing away
towards the door.
     
    The man threw his head back and laughed.
     
    “I want the age,” hissed Zardin. “And in
return … I give you a new one.”
     
    Clutching both sides of Derigor’s head,
Zardin rammed his forehead onto the man’s, who staggered and hit
the floor.
     
    Zardin’s gaze settled over the Naxim
official’s unconscious body for a few seconds. Then, he pulled the
man’s body over his shoulder and strode out the door, which shut
itself behind him as he walked through it.
     
     
     
     

 
     
8
     
     
     
     
    Tragedy upon tragedy…
     
    With his hands behind his back, Mantra stared
out the window of his room. The usual magnificence of the greenery
outside seemed to hold no charm for him all of a sudden.
     
    A few minutes ago, word had reached him that
Vestra and Qyro had failed. But more than the mission’s failure, it
was the fate of their two young members that left Mantra stricken.
A fate which he was responsible for. Vestra and Qyro were
gone, because of his presumption. He had failed in his
judgment.
     
    The dead weight of guilt knotted around his
insides, twisting them painfully. he knew that the consequences of
this wrong decision was far more deadly, and more far reaching that
it seemed … the failure of Qyro and Vestra now left them in a
terrible state. Terrible, and precarious.
     
    Mantra focussed on his breath as he walked,
ensuring that his agitation was kept under check. We cannot lose
control now … not now.
     
    The door of his room slid open, and a pair of
feet scuttled inside from behind. Mantra knew who the entry was
before he’d even turned around to face him.
     
    “There’s something huge that’s just come up.”
panted Galinor. His two short horns went amiss in his maroon hair,
which lay slightly tousled from what looked like a mad sprint.
     
    “What is it?” asked Mantra, raising an
eyebrow. “Just in case you haven’t noticed, we’re facing something
huge by itself now. Vestra and Qyro failed … you have heard of
that, I presume?”
     
    “Forget that, Mantra!” said Galinor, a rush
in his tone. “We’ve just got word of something that’s far bigger,
far, far more important for us to attend to! And we’ve gotta attend
to it now !”
     
    Mantra stared. What could possibly be that important? “What is it?”
     
    Galinor heaved a deep, steadying breath. And
then he told Mantra…
     
     
    Mantra was not the type of person easily
swayed by circumstances … but this was a circumstance that made a
clear exception.
     
    “It can’t be…” he whispered, feeling stunned
by what he had just heard. What Galinor had just told him.
     
    Galinor gave a sharp nod. “It is … and we
need to attend to it now, Mantra.”
     
    Mantra erased all else from his mind,
gathering himself. Galinor was right … this really was big. Bigger
than anything else that lay before them now. And it needed all
their attention. Right now.
     
    He closed his eyes and took a split second to
gather all the