Into the Darkness

Into the Darkness is a story by Varkanax39, detailing the beginning of the Xaterex Civil War.

Prologue
The dark Elemental stood at the helm of the Corpse Fighter, watching the thousands of glowing lights flash by the starship. His eyes gleamed in the darkness, and he stood erect and tense. He gazed at their quarry disdainfully, as if he was pondering snuffing out the life of an inesectoid Rahi. His body was quadrapedal, and his armor shone a deep jet-black.

A large number of Corpsians stood beside him, their black robes concealing their faces and bodies. Only their Corpse-like hands could be seen, gray and tinged with green, like those of a corpse. Their eyes shone red in the darkness, deep pools of garnet. They radiated a fierce, dark charisma and shadowy power crackled at their fingertips.

"Lord Skorpix, we are closing on the Xaterex Starcraft. Soon we will run them down and destroy them." The Corpsian's voice was nasal and devoid of all emotion. A thin, long scythe suddenly materialized in the Corpsian's hands. It was made of Obsidian that shone as bright as the Elemental's armor plates and gleamed in the darkness.

"No! Do not destroy them." The Elemental snarled, lashing his scorpion's tail from side to side. "We need the Shadow Orb. Our masters instructed us to find and return the Shadow Orb fragment. We cannot fail." The Corpsian nodded in acnowledgement, and returned to his post. In the clicking, nasal language of the Corpsians, he relayed Skorpix's orders to the other groups of Corpsians. The Corpsians made no sign of acnowledgement, but turned as one and readied their scythes.

Beams of pulsing blue light streamed from the Corpse Fighter and slammed into the Xaterex Craft, smashing the starship off-balance. The Corpse Fighter fired again, slamming into the ship's port fender. The Xaterex ship was flung off-balance, and the Corpse Fighter readied to ram the smaller ship.

"Crush them." Skorpix snarled. "They shall be examples of what happens when anyone defies the might of the Empire. The sleek Corpse fighter slammed against the dangerously drifting Xaterex Starcraft, and both the ships were flung off-balance.

"Crush them!" Skorpix screeched, and the Corpsians charged onto the Xaterex Ship. It was a small, realatively weak ship, that could not hold up to the might of a Corpse Fighter. Skorpix boarded the ship last, watching as the Corpse Fighter struck the Xaterex Craft, causing flames to erupt across the Xaterex ship. The Corpse Fighter did not burn. It was impervious to fire, and most of the other elements. Skorpix watched as fire danced along the edge of the Corpse Fighter before vanishing completely into smoke, then dissapearing. He then rasied his jet-black hands, and twin blades materialized in his hand. They glowed with power, dark black tipped with silver. Skorpix watched as his shadowy power spread along the tips of the weapons. The Corpsians raised their scythes and charged onto the burning starcraft, scythes extended. Skorpix followed.

Three Toa of Ice stood guard at the edge of the ship, and turned in shock and terror as they saw the Corpsians. A tall, black-robed Corpsian rasied his scythe and cut down a Toa before the others could even move. The Toa collapsed dead to the ground, and the other two attacked. Their swords glowed an icey blue, and bolts of hail rained from their swords, striking the Corpsians dead on and felling three. The Corpsians raised their scythes, and red bolts of shadow were flung from their sickles, cutting down the Toa in seconds. More Toa of all types charged from all sides, engaing the Corpsians in melee combat. Their leader, a tall toa of fire, stood at the edge of the battlefield, watching grimly as his forces were cut down by the Corpsian's merciless Scythes. Skorpix smashed the Toa he was fighting to bloody shards, then charged the Toa, his blades raised. The toa cried out as the blade buried deep in his chest, and Skorpix raised the other above his head. Skorpix glared at the Toa, and a mental ray of immense power invaded the Toa's conciousness, crushing out all hope of escape.

Where is the Shadow Orb?! Skorpix screeched telepathically into the Toa's mind.

"I'll tell you nothing, traitor!" the Toa snarled.

"You know nothing." snarled Skorpix. His Kanohi gleamed with power, and blood exploded from the Toa's body as Skorpix cut the Toa to the ground. He turned to the Corpsians, who had overcome the Toa, and readied his gleaming Shadow Blades. The twin swords crackled with evil energy as Skorpix unleashed his shadow power, crushing a nearby table to dust.

"Come" snarled the Elemental, and the Corpsians followed, gliding over the ground like spectres rather than walking. Their darkness pervaded the Xaterex Starcraft, and the stench of death clung to them. The Corpsian's robes were stained with the blood of the Toa they had killed, and red lightning crackled from the tips of their scythes as they readied to kill once more.

Listra could not believe how fast things had gone from good to worse. She and her group, under orders from Atarus, had taken control of a new-class Xaterex Starcraft owned by the Empire and taken the Shadow Orb fragment, the heart of the Corpse Empire's power.

The Empire was ruled by an inner circle of seven dark lords known as the Shadowy Ones, who owned the great Weapons of Evil, dark tools created by a dark Makuta for his old empire. The three items of the Weapons formed the Core of the Shadowy Ones' power. Then came the Night of Fire and Death, when one of the Shadowy Ones, Arcturas, turned on the others and scattered the Weapons of evil, destroying the power of the Shadowy Ones in a single swift stroke. Then came the rise of the Empire, which secured the last of the Galactic Universe that still resisted the Shadowy Ones, and recovered most of the Weapons of Evil. However, the Shadow Orb, the most powerful of the Aligned weapons, had been shattered, and one of the fragments had been taken by Listra and her group, who worked with the Elemental Prince Atarus, who was one of the few Elementals who had not pledged loyalty to the Shadowy Ones. They had made good progress, and had almost reached the Solis Magna System when the Corpsians had come. Listra rasied the Shadow Orb to the light, and realized even in light it was still darker than the darkest obsidian, and at its core, a single ray of fire shone at the center of the stone.

There was a clatter and screams, followed by the clash of steel on steel. A tall, slender Toa of Air charged toward her. He held a Tri-Bladed Scissor in one hand, a golden mask in the other.

"Corridax?" Listra asked. "Do you have the Olmak? Corridax rasied the Kanohi. "I found it just as the Corpsians charged us." His voice broke. "Vaerak was killed."

"We have to get out of here." Listra said. "We don't stand a chance against so many. Use the Olmak to teleport us out of here."

"And leave the rest of the Toa to die?" Corridax asked. "There's someone else here, with the Corpsians. A tall, dark, quadrapedal being."

"Skorpix." snarled Listra. "So the Empire sent a Shadowy One to recover the Orb."

"It seems so." Corridax hissed, activating the Olmak. The Kanohi shimmered-

The door was flung off its hinges as a tall, dark being entered the chamber. His mask gleamed with power, and his eyes were twin pits of merciless red.

"Kill him." snarled Skorpix. A Corpsian materialized out of the shadows and struck Corridax a blow to the side. Listra saw the Shadow Orb vanish into the darkness as Corridax fell, unconsious, to the ground. Skorpix did not.

WHERE IS THE SHADOW ORB! Skorpix screamed at her mentally.

Listra raised her twin daggers in a hopeless effort to fend off the Elemental. Skorpix's Kanohi gleamed, and Listra was flung to the ground.

Skorpix did a quick mental glance at the chamber, and felt no sign of the Orb.

"Take her!" He snarled at the Corpsian. "And the Toa as well. Then use a Shadow Lightning to destroy this ship. We can at least make a demonstration out of it."

Skorpix's eyes drifted to the Olmak, lying broken and smashed to pieces on the ground. His Kanohi glowed and touched the Olmak, and Skorpix quickly acessed the Shadow Orb's location.

Xaterex IV. Skorpix thought. ''My homeworld. Ironic that the Toa would send it there.'' Bolts of shadow rippled from Skorpix's fingertips as it smashed through the Starcraft, crushing it apart. Skorpix strode to the damaged Corpse Fighter, the Corpsians following him. The dark spectres watched as the Xaterex Starcraft disintegrated into nothing and disspear into the Wall of Stars

Skorpix glanced at the Corpsians. "Take the prisoners to the hold. We have the Shadow Orb to recover."