path, he dashed towards the side
of the line of buildings, where lay a large parking lot. With a
small group of hover bikes and cars, most of which were visibly
wrecked. Spotting a hover bike that wasn’t, Ion ran over and jumped
over it. This was a trick he had done before: using his mystical
powers, he altered the interior switches keeping the bike locked.
And as the lock broke and the bike revved to life, he shot his gaze
back down the lane. The Zelgron came racing down the lane towards
the field, their horrid faces hidden beneath their hoods.
The bike jumped off the ground with a dry,
lurching sensation, turned and shot off into the air. As Ion rose
higher and higher from the ground, he felt relief like never before
rush through his insides.
It’s over. he thought, his insides
unclenching. I’m saved.
But the glance he threw back stripped him of
all relief and joy in that very instant: The Zelgron had managed to
break into one of the hover cars, and were now sailing through the
air right behind him. Ion felt shock and alarm break out within
him.
“ They’re not the brutes of the sort you
met two years ago.” Eryx had warned him. “Carcasar’s sent
his very best. His most lethal. They’ll be on your tail wherever
you go. They’re as intelligent as man beings themselves…”
Ion inwardly cringed, realising that he
should have taken Eryx’s word for it the very moment he had told
him this. He sent another glance back. The hover car was tailing
behind him, about a twenty metres’ gap between the two of them.
Turning back, Ion spun the throttle harder. The bike shot forth
with an electric jolt, splitting the air with a new fury. It passed
towers higher than the rest of the buildings with a deadly speed.
The scrambled maze of the city, more than thirty metres beneath,
soared back speedily.
As the roar of the bike’s engine drowned out
everything else from his mind, Ion turned back for the second time.
And as he did, his hold on the throttle automatically loosened,
allowing the bike’s speed to dropped slowly: the Zelgron’s hover
car had fallen too far behind to make out, melting behind the haze
enveloping the entire city. Ion took advantage of the large gap
between them to make an unnoticed diversion: he dived lower into
the maze of structures and then cut left, gliding serenely between
lines of buildings rising to three or four storeys on both sides.
He turned back a final time, to find that the coast behind was just
as clear: he had lost them. Or so he hoped.
He slowed down and then took the bike through
the balcony of one of the four storeyed buildings which were
visibly abandoned. The bike gracefully soared through the large
open balcony, which was spread over an elegant area. Ion allowed
the bike to float to a stall by the side of the balcony, before
sliding off and staggering into the flat through its broken
door.
Without even trying to stop himself, he
stumbled and hit the floor of the large hall, where he lay panting
for a few hazy seconds, his head spiralling.
__________
The memory of the six black cloaked, hooded
fiends chasing him, almost catching him…
Ion kept shooting glances out the balcony,
terrified that the creatures might zoom in with the hover car and
find him here.
The shock of the realisation lingered within
him: he had just seen the Zelgron drive a car! The very thought
knocked off the boundaries of the world as he had known it, so that
everything felt less safe than before … and he felt more
vulnerable. Who knew what more they were capable of? Nothing at all
felt certain anymore.
Giving himself a minute to steady himself,
Ion slowly rose and walked down the large hall. The ceiling and
floor of the place were lined with cracks and seemed ready to fall
apart anytime now. Like the earlier flat, the furniture were coated
with what looked like dust gathered over years. He walked into one
of the doors at the end of the
of the line of buildings, where lay a large parking lot. With a
small group of hover bikes and cars, most of which were visibly
wrecked. Spotting a hover bike that wasn’t, Ion ran over and jumped
over it. This was a trick he had done before: using his mystical
powers, he altered the interior switches keeping the bike locked.
And as the lock broke and the bike revved to life, he shot his gaze
back down the lane. The Zelgron came racing down the lane towards
the field, their horrid faces hidden beneath their hoods.
The bike jumped off the ground with a dry,
lurching sensation, turned and shot off into the air. As Ion rose
higher and higher from the ground, he felt relief like never before
rush through his insides.
It’s over. he thought, his insides
unclenching. I’m saved.
But the glance he threw back stripped him of
all relief and joy in that very instant: The Zelgron had managed to
break into one of the hover cars, and were now sailing through the
air right behind him. Ion felt shock and alarm break out within
him.
“ They’re not the brutes of the sort you
met two years ago.” Eryx had warned him. “Carcasar’s sent
his very best. His most lethal. They’ll be on your tail wherever
you go. They’re as intelligent as man beings themselves…”
Ion inwardly cringed, realising that he
should have taken Eryx’s word for it the very moment he had told
him this. He sent another glance back. The hover car was tailing
behind him, about a twenty metres’ gap between the two of them.
Turning back, Ion spun the throttle harder. The bike shot forth
with an electric jolt, splitting the air with a new fury. It passed
towers higher than the rest of the buildings with a deadly speed.
The scrambled maze of the city, more than thirty metres beneath,
soared back speedily.
As the roar of the bike’s engine drowned out
everything else from his mind, Ion turned back for the second time.
And as he did, his hold on the throttle automatically loosened,
allowing the bike’s speed to dropped slowly: the Zelgron’s hover
car had fallen too far behind to make out, melting behind the haze
enveloping the entire city. Ion took advantage of the large gap
between them to make an unnoticed diversion: he dived lower into
the maze of structures and then cut left, gliding serenely between
lines of buildings rising to three or four storeys on both sides.
He turned back a final time, to find that the coast behind was just
as clear: he had lost them. Or so he hoped.
He slowed down and then took the bike through
the balcony of one of the four storeyed buildings which were
visibly abandoned. The bike gracefully soared through the large
open balcony, which was spread over an elegant area. Ion allowed
the bike to float to a stall by the side of the balcony, before
sliding off and staggering into the flat through its broken
door.
Without even trying to stop himself, he
stumbled and hit the floor of the large hall, where he lay panting
for a few hazy seconds, his head spiralling.
__________
The memory of the six black cloaked, hooded
fiends chasing him, almost catching him…
Ion kept shooting glances out the balcony,
terrified that the creatures might zoom in with the hover car and
find him here.
The shock of the realisation lingered within
him: he had just seen the Zelgron drive a car! The very thought
knocked off the boundaries of the world as he had known it, so that
everything felt less safe than before … and he felt more
vulnerable. Who knew what more they were capable of? Nothing at all
felt certain anymore.
Giving himself a minute to steady himself,
Ion slowly rose and walked down the large hall. The ceiling and
floor of the place were lined with cracks and seemed ready to fall
apart anytime now. Like the earlier flat, the furniture were coated
with what looked like dust gathered over years. He walked into one
of the doors at the end of the
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