The Rising Sun: Episode 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

the
main cause for the outer spectrum to be deemed to be such a deadly
place.
     
    “Did you run
into any of them?” the man repeated.
     
    Ion gave a lazy
shake of his head. “No, of course not.”
     
    The man gave a
grunt of laughter. “I shoulda guessed that. If you did, you
wouldn’t be alive, would you?”
     
    “Mystics aren’t
really what make the outer spectrum dangerous.” said Ion.
     
    “No?” asked the
Redling, his tone boding a whisker of scepticism.
     
    “No,” said Ion.
“There’re more deadly things out there than them. Try the non man
beings, for instance.”
     
    The man’s gaze
sharpened at this second out of bounds topic that they were now
delving into: If not mystics, the non man beings, the completely
inhuman life forms that inhabited the scarcest region of the outer
spectrum, boded the major cause of the fear people held for that
place. They were mostly uncivilised, beastly creatures who hadn’t
been seen for ages now…
     
    The mixture of
curiosity and thrill mounting on his face, the man bent even
closer. “Indeed. I’d agree with you on that, but non man beings
aren’t easy to find, even in the outer spectrum. They’ve gone deep
into hiding for long now, ever since the time of the empire.”
     
    “And we’re
lucky for that.” said Ion.
     
    “Blasted right
we are.” said the Iveling, shaking his horned head. “Imagine having
wretched creatures like the Ensys … or even worse, the Zelgron,
here in our planets.”
     
    Zelgron…
     
    The word left a
quick shiver to run through Ion. He fought off the dread rushing
up.
     
    “But having
said all of that,” said the man, pausing for a moment’s thought.
“I’d still hold the outer spectrum dangerous mainly because of them . Mystics.” He gave another grunt of laughter, slowly
raising his magazine again. “I’d rather face a Zelgron than a
mystic.”
     
    Ion frowned at
the man for a second, wondering if this topic was worth it. Then he
slowly said, “Do you really think that all of them deserve to be
condemned?”
     
    The man lowered
his magazine, turning to him with a look of dawning incredulity.
“Who, mystics?”
     
    Ion nodded. “I
mean … come on, surely there’ve gotta be innocent ones among them.
And surely they don’t deserve the prosecution they face,
right?”
     
    “Whether or not
that’s true, I really don’t care.” said the man. “But I’m
definitely glad they’ve been chased out of our world. We can’t risk
being enslaved by a tyrant like Redgarn ever again, can we? Even
now, the scars left by Redgarn and the empire that his mystic
followers brought about aren’t gone, kid. And in getting rid of all
mystics to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again, the
Naxim’s done a pretty bold and necessary move. We’ve gotta
be grateful to them.”
     
    Ion’s frown
deepened. He disagreed with the man in this. He knew that
condemning all mystics, good or evil, was nothing close to bold …
it was cowardice. The world had suffered because of the actions of
a few mystics, but prosecuting all of them for it was
oppression.
     
    “How can you be
so sure?” Ion argued. “What if there’re a good number of innocent
ones among them?”
     
    The man
frowned. “It’d be hard to find innocent mystics, and if we do find
them,” He shrugged his shoulder. “It’s too bad they’re a part of
such a lethal class of men. In either case, we’ve no need to worry
of mystics now that we’re at Sacrogon.”
     
    “Why’s that?”
asked Ion.
     
    The man shook
his head in a display of disbelief. “Come on, kid. This planet is
on the Naxim’s highest priority list. The Naxim’s lookout and
alertness in this planet’s sharper than in most others. They’ve got
a tight hold here, and anti mystic security is way too high. If a
mystic tries wandering into Sacrogon, he’d be risking every hair on
his body.”
     
    “Yeah, he
probably would,” agreed Ion, slumping back against his