Felony

The Great Storm is a story detailing the events of the Great Storm on Zypvera.

Prologue
Hidden in sight, but beyond attention. Playing it safe. That’s how he liked it, although he wasn’t quite sure why. He walked through the busy streets of Drynr, the most crime-ridden city on the continent, even after the introduction of the negation fields. He was powerless, literally. He didn’t like having to rely on his fighting skills, especially when they could clearly give away his identity. And people like him were most certainly not welcome in this part of the city.

After the crime wave the people of the city had to rely on the belongings of unlucky travellers, one of whom he had to find. He was never told who this unlucky soul would be, but he was sure that he was looking for a corpse, considering the fact that they were stuck in Drynr for a few days. If not, however, then whoever he was looking for must have information worth paying for. But what kind of knowledge is worth fifty-thousand yhones? Terrorist plots, corrupt government officials, the usual everyday news that never seems to depart from television screens these days.

He tried not to think much more of it. He was paid to shake hands and listen; no questions, no deliberating. Working as a messenger of the Order did have its dangers, however. They were often hunted down by crime rings, warlords and corrupt businessmen alike, hoping one day that they would strike lucky. Anyone with any kind of storage on them was a target—satchels, bags, rucksacks, even over-sized armour put a target on your head. Luckily his armour fit perfectly, although his satchel carried an air of suspicion with him, especially in a place where people didn’t have anything worth carrying.

He casually looked down at his feet as he walked, still affected by the piercing eyes of the inhabitants of the slums of Drynr. His steps were paced, much like his breath, giving him the perfect opportunity to break out into a sprint if he needed to. He glanced up at his surroundings again. The sunlight only dimly lit up one side of the supposed street he was walking through. To his right a row of shabby buildings, basic piles of corrugated metal and stone bricks. Somehow people lived in these. He walked along the left side of the street, the side that the sunlight wouldn’t touch for a few hours. To his left was the same as his right, but the darkness made them much more ominous. They seemed to tower over him much more, and it was like people didn’t actually live in these.

People rushed passed him, some had a blaze a fear rush through them as they saw his satchel between the swinging movements of his arms while he walked. He knew this part of Drynr was often plagued by gun fights, a lot of which were caused by messengers. Gangs versus the numerous ‘protectors’ hired by the Order to watch over any messengers that pass through their allocated region.

He eavesdropped on numerous conversations between his glances up from the ground. Something about shopping, missing belongings, a messenger- He slowed down his breaths in order to listen to more of the conversation from a building not too far in front of him: first floor, open window, a skakdi and a vortixx. Then their conversation stopped briefly and light click was heard before the sound of moving chairs and shuffling feet. They were talking about him, and that was all he needed to know. He began matching his breathing with his walking pace again, no need to hurry. He was approaching the front door of the building they were in. His hand brushed the wall as he drifted closer to the building. The only weapon he had was two years of training under the Order, that and clenched fists. The door opened just a couple of bio in front of him. He kicked it shut to knock them over and buy him some time. He broke out into a run, weaving between the fleeing slum dwellers that had seen it all before.

His pursuers weren’t too far behind. He sped up after sighting a small alleyway behind a market stall. He dove into it, rolling along the floor and skidding across it as he righted himself. The skakdi and vortixx tumbled into the alleyway shortly after, but by that time he broke out into another run. He leaped over the skakdi, catching his chin on his knee, bringing him to the ground unconscious. The vortixx pulled a gun from the holster on his waist and began to shoot wildly. The messenger quickly hid behind a dumpster. Not knowing how to use a gun was just as dangerous as having one to your head. A faint clang of metal and then something hit the floor with a thud. As fast as he entered he darted out of the alleyway, leaping over the unconscious skakdi and injured vortixx.

Now that his identity was compromised he had to be inconspicuous. He found another alleyway, deeper than the other and much darker. Perfect. He recollected the events of the past ten minutes. Keeping mental notes of every detail he could remember. A skakdi clad in emerald amour; quite shorty, fairly muscular. A vortixx sporting azure armour; lean, tall, and couldn’t use a gun.

Thugs. He thought to himself until he remembered the logo on both of their arms: a clawed hand crossed over with a clenched fist, all black. Signature of the Black Brawlers, a crime gang that dominated this area of Drynr for decades. His meeting was scheduled for three and judging by the sun’s position in the sky he still had a few minutes to spare. He had to meet this ‘traveller’ in a tavern lying on the border between Black Brawler territory and rival Coh Clan territory. Much more dangerous than he anticipated.

He brushed the dust off his black and white armour as he stood up, a fine cloud settling around his feet. Realising that the tavern was only a few streets away he decided to walk the distance, make himself more aware of his surroundings and plan his escape route. Buildings, closed alleyways, more suspicious gazes from passers-by.

Finally at his meeting point he sat in the corner of the tavern and waited. The dull orange paint on the peeled off the walls like dried leaves. He took pieces of it off out of boredom while scanning the room. There were several coh’lhran sitting together, huddled around a table as if they were trying to conceal some sort of illegal deal. He noticed that each of them had a dagger strapped to either their hip or ankle. Most likely members of the Coh Clan, he deduced. Across from the coh’lhran was a lone qhutonnian sitting against the wall near a window. The light coming through reflected off of his silver armour. His right arm rested on the table in front of him, casually spinning a coin between his fingers. His left hand firmly gripped the dagger which he held below the seat of the chair. He and the qhutonnian exchanged glances. The qhutonnian simply nodded and continued to look around the room yet keeping close attention to the group of coh’lhran.

Slightly confused, he continued to analyse the people within the tavern. The bartender was a toa of earth. Tall and buff, clad in black and grey armour—not someone you would want to scuffle with. He was cleaning glasses while gazing at the door opposite him. He shook his head and continued to clean the glasses that lay on the counter. The messenger felt a brief wave of sympathy for the disillusioned bartender. He put his satchel on the floor between his feet. Looking towards the other corner of the tavern he noticed a couple of matoran happily chatting to each other, obviously drunk as indicated by the numerous empty glasses that filled the table near them. It seemed as if they were choking on their own laughter.

The bartender noticed the satchel by the messenger's feet and recognised him instantly. He put down the cloth and glass in his hands and approached him, pretending to take an order. His height emphasised by the fact that he put a hand on each end of the table. It groaned under his weight.

“What will it be?” his voice was deep and calming. Surprising pleasant considering he was in Drynr.

“I assume you have the information I need?” the messenger inquired, slightly intimidated by the bartender. That was the code sentence, all he needed to know. But this bartender wasn't a traveller, he was sure of that. Perhaps a lie to keep people off of the trail.

“Round the back.” he answered while grabbing his arm, “Don’t forget the money.” he added. With that he picked up the satchel and carried him off towards the door behind the bar. Playing along with it he pretended to protest. The bartender sighed and threw him towards the door, snatching the satchel off him in the process. He crashed into the doorframe and rolled through, holding his shoulder as he did. The qhutonnian quickly turned his head towards the bartender, who returned him a piercing glare. The silver-clad being quickly looked away towards the group of coh’lhran, who seemed to pay no attention to anything but their supposed deal.

He gripped his left shoulder, trying to hold back a scream of pain. He leaned against a wall and tightly shut his eyes. Finally looking towards the toa of earth standing in front of a closed door.

“You’ll be fine. It’s probably just dislocated.” his calming voice somewhat soothing the pain.

“You better hope it’s not broken, then.” he loosened the grip on his shoulder and was about to relocate it. He pushed it back into place, a searing pain burned his shoulder. He breathed deeply. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. He stood up, noticing an amused look on the toa’s face. “You find this funny?” he retorted.

Ignoring the glare the toa of earth folded his arms, the satchel dangling from his hand. He gestured for the messenger to follow him to the other room, which took him by surprise. The paint was merely cracked and much brighter than in the bar. A small table rested by a couple of chairs near the centre of the room and were surrounded by a plethora of boxes stacked up against a wall of the room.

“Have a seat.” the toa of earth said, tilting his head towards one of the chairs. He walked over towards one of them and sat down, slouching over the table. “So, Vluxx, would I be right in saying this satchel contains the fifty-thousand yhones I asked for?” his tone changed, his voice was no longer calming but rather oppressive. He demanded an answer, not taking his eyes off Vluxx the whole time. Clearly startled, Vluxx simply stared at the toa, whose fingers rhythmically tapped the table.

“How do you know my name?” Vluxx asked, tilting his chair back from the table against the wall.

“I keep, records. I’ve seen you ‘round these parts before enough to know that you hate your job.” The toa stated, clearly irking Vluxx. “You used to work in Zutal as a postman, until your services were required elsewhere. You’ve trained under the Order for two years, only having recently been deployed as a messenger to work in Voeul and Karuga.”

“How do you know so much about me?” Vluxx asked, his eyes demanded an answer. “I know some people.” the toa answered, sharp and decisive. He sensed that Vluxx was becoming uncomfortable so he loosened up. Realising this, Vluxx sat upright, a small thud could be heard as the front legs of his chair hit the floor.

“Aegis, right?” Vluxx clasped his hands together. “I figured since your qhutonnian associate in the tavern has one of those special knives. What do you want with fifty-thousand yhones anyway? Surely your Aegis benefits could just whisk you off to some tropical Ayegan beach?” Words flew out of his mouth thick and fast. He thought he had the toa cornered but was taken aback by his composure.

“Former Aegis, actually. But you’re not far off.” His fingers stopped tapping. “The information I have regards the rise of a new criminal empire. You may have heard rumours about preparation for a turf war on your way here. Rumours obviously differ from the original story, you see. The Black Brawlers, Coh Clan, Three Moons and a collection of other gangs are definitely preparing for something, but it’s not a turf war. The news was right when they said that gangs have footholds in every section, but it seems as if they do in most cities nowadays. Whatever they are preparing for, it’s big.” Vluxx couldn’t believe what he just heard, but something told him there was something else the toa of earth had to get off his chest.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” asked Vluxx in a worried tone. More of a statement than a question. The toa shared his worried look, something people of his size don’t usually express. This made Vluxx feel uneasy, the last crime wave left everyone in a state of paranoia and hysteria. The comfortable world he once knew seemed to slowly unhinge itself, it sank below a sea of doubt. They had barely recovered from the last, and this one seemed much bigger.

“A lot of those bounty hunters and master criminals you hear about also seem to be preparing for something. They are just dropping off the grid. The only bounty hunter I know of that seems to still have himself up for employ is Grindigo, but I fear that he may succumb to peer pressure, that is, if people like him actually have peers.” the toa paused for a moment and stood up, knocking his chair over as he did so. He rummaged through one of the boxes stacked against the wall and pulled out a file. “It may be in your best interest to speak to him, but I suggest leaving that to one of your superiors—he doesn’t like middlemen you see, messengers to be more precise.” the toa slid the file across the table to Vluxx who caught it under his hand. “There’s all I have on him.”

“What will you do with the money?” Vluxx asked, clearly disturbed by the prospect of someone like him being afraid of a bunch of organised thugs.

“Buy my way out of here. I see no reason to stay in Drynr, the government would have pulled a Zandeech on this place had it not been built on open land.” With that his previous, calm demeanour returned. He turned around and returned to the bar, taking a Y-key out of the satchel with him. Vluxx looked down at the file under his hand. He shoved it into the satchel and returned to the bar, deciding to have a drink before departing.

He noticed the skakdi from before waiting for him as he walked out the door, sword in hand just at the other end of the bar. He sat on one of the stools as the toa of earth brought him a glass of ale. The skakdi shot him a glare, his eyes as cold as the steel of his blade.

“Sir, please sheathe your weapon. There’s no need to have it drawn here.” asked the toa. He knew it was futile as the sword quickly rose into view just in front of his chin. He raised his hands in surprise. The qhutonnian at the other end of the bar stopped flipping his coin and flicked the dagger upright into his fingers in an instant, staring coldly at the skakdi. Vluxx backed away from the skakdi who was now looking at him, almost falling from the chair.

The skakdi rubbed his chin and glared angrily at Vluxx, who continued to back away until he met the wall. He noticed that the toa of earth and qhutonnian going about their normal business. The skakdi lunged at him, sword first. Those years of training under the Order clicked and he swiftly dodged to the skakdi’s left, preventing him from following up from his first strike. The emerald skakdi lashed out with his fist, only to have his arm caught in Vluxx’s grip. He pulled the skakdi over the table behind him, kneeing him in the side simultaneously. He grabbed the skakdi’s sword arm and twisted it until the sword fell from his hand onto a chair. He kneed the skakdi in the face and brought his elbow down to the back of his head simultaneously. The skakdi groaned before falling limp on the table, his body like a rag dog.

“I’d give him a few hours.” the qhutonnian exclaimed, balancing the coin on the tip of his knife. Vluxx noticed the group of coh’lhran unconscious on their table. Their daggers by their feet or on the table by their hands.

“I’m impressed.” the toa applauded. “Name’s Ughon by the way.” Bewildered, Vluxx took a step towards the bar to finish his drink and looked at the qhutonnian.

“Reller.” he stated sharply, not even bothering to look at the messenger. Vluxx shrugged and took a sip of the ale, soothed by the cackling of the drunk matoran in a corner of the bar behind him.

“You are to deliver the information and file to Helryx and Ekh at Ïarghul tomorrow. Be there any time before midday, Helryx is less grumpy then.” Ughon chuckled, still cleaning the glasses on the counter. Vluxx thought to himself for a moment, quietly deliberating about what Ughon told him as he chugged down the ale in his glass.

“Organised crime.” he quietly mumbled to himself as he put the empty glass down on the table.

“Precisely.” replied Reller, twirling the knife around in his hand, completely focused. It wasn’t Vluxx's average day, but he feared that he would have to get used to it.

Chapter 1: Initiation
Her presence was almost as large as the building she stood in front of. Her eyes were sharp and slightly faded, a blistering blue paralyzed whoever she glanced at. A mace hang loosely from her waist, its end as sharp and cold as her gaze. It had seen the blood of a thousand foes, and like her eyes began to fade. She was clad in navy and sapphire armour, protosteel of the highest quality glistened in the light. She was fairly short, not much shorter than a skakdi in fact. Surprising for someone of her demeanour.

“Organised crime.” she muttered, somewhat unimpressed. Her voice smooth and ancient, like a river.

“What should we do, ma’am?” asked the being next to her. A young, but experienced voice. He towered over his superior and had the authority to match. His armour was like ablaze; red, orange and yellow shined brilliantly in the light. It seemed to burn the eyes itself.

“Spread the word among the Order, but make sure this doesn’t reach the ears of anyone outside our ranks. Last time that happened we ended up with a problem that almost cost us our reputation.” she remarked with a slight distaste.

“Right away.” her advisor replied before walking into the building. Vluxx looked up, it was a knife cutting through the clouds. It seemed to arch over him, although that may have just been its height.

Ïarghul. He thought to himself. Completely taken aback by its size he stood back just a little in order to appreciate it more. It was made almost entirely out of glass, bar the protosteel frame that marked it edges. He noted its shape; faintly resembling a sword reaching into the heavens. Now he could see why the clouds parted.

“The best part is that it’s even bigger underground.” a smug voice stated next to him. He snapped out of his bewilderment, embarrassed. How long was he standing there looking up?

“Sorry, Helryx, ma’am.” Vluxx blurted out, shaken.

“That’s quite alright. But I sense there’s something else you have forgotten to tell me.” she uttered, gesturing towards the satchel that dangled from his shoulder.

“Oh. Oh! Sorry, ma’am.” he said as he pulled a creased file out from the satchel. The words stumbled out of his mouth. Helryx took the file off him and read it briefly before closing it.

“What does Ughon expect us to do with this?” she asked in annoyance. “I’m sure he knows that we have our own, detailed records of people like him.”

“He told me that we’d need to contact him seeing as he’s the only bounty hunter still in service. He probably knows a lot more about this problem than we do, and, with all due respect, we may require his services in future should this get out of hand.” Vluxx finally garnered some composure, although he was sure it wouldn’t last. Helryx simply looked at him. No expression, just a blank stare. She knew he was right but she didn’t want to admit it.

“Follow me.” Helryx demanded as she walked through the entrance of the building. Glass, again. Almost like a dent at the base of the impossibly tall, towering structure. Vluxx followed her in, completely surprised by the inside. The lobby was huge, bigger than most houses, in fact. It had all the indications of some large corporation: fast elevators, a massive reception desk, stairs and doors leading to goodness knows where, lots of people rushing about, and a large sculpture in the centre. A large golden Hau rested on a podium, surrounded by a pool of water that glistened with the golden mask. Elegant simplicity.

“Where are we going?” he asked, still distracted by the whiteness of the lobby.

“There are a few things you may need to see before you contact Grindigo.” she responded as Vluxx followed her into an elevator.

“Contact Grindigo? Please tell me you’re joking. He could kill me! Or worse…” he blabbered worriedly, waving his arms around in a frustrated manner before finally landing a look at Helryx, who, unsurprisingly wasn’t at all phased by his panic.

“Unfortunately he doesn’t trust higher ranking members of the Order. People such as yourself are the only kind of people he deals with.” she snarled. It hadn’t calmed him at all, but he just had so many questions.

“Why is the elevator going down?” Vluxx asked feeling light-headed. He leaned against the wall of the descending metal box, realising he was too distracted by Ïarghul to remember why he preferred stairs. The doors opened and the light flooded his eyes. His vision blurred, then returned to him as he adjusted to the light. He regained his sense of balance, only just, and stumbled out of the elevator. After finding his feet he began to take in his surroundings.

So this is HQ. He thought to himself. The ‘walls’ were made of glass. The floor was smooth and dark, much like the ceiling, which was illuminated by light stones instead of the ordinary light bulb. Order members everywhere, he even noticed some of the more higher ranking Order members who were rarely seen at any of the other bases.

“This is HQ,” Helryx added, “Please, continue following me.” And he did so, for several minutes. He wondered if he was still in the same section, Voeul was a pretty big section. Bewildered, again. Two years of training in Karuga did not prepare him for the amount of shocks he had today.

Many corridors later.

He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the training facility. Helryx called it the training centre, but it was more of a room. Just a room. The light from the light stones glared off of the smooth black floor as he walked towards the small group of trainees being briefed by Ekh. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was being trained again. Hopefully not another gruelling two years of endurance tests and obstacle courses.

“I know you were all expecting a massive room filled with goodness knows what. But I assure you, it’s definitely quality over quantity in this room.” Ekh’s voice became somewhat imposing. Vluxx wondered whether or not he knew he was talking to experienced messengers. Or could this somehow be more intense? “Now if you’ll all look at the wall behind you we can begin.” They all turned in unison towards the wall. A noise that could only be described as mechanical buzzed and hummed for a few seconds, then, silence.

The wall suddenly exploded into life. Weapon racks popped out of the wall. The gleaming metal of all kinds of weapons was just as impressive as the amount of them. Vluxx noticed that the weapons were arranged into groups based on the ancient combat forms, even some of the more uncommon forms, such as nakalare. Messengers were only trained in hand to hand combat, carrying around weapons would only slow them down. Vluxx was no longer a messenger.

“Pardon the noise.” Ekh shouted as the machine began to whir. “Poor thing hasn’t been used in months. Now, I think you’ve all realised that you are being prepared for something much more than what a messenger with your training is capable of, hence this short test.” The trainees looked puzzled and grimaced. “Just to test your proficiency with weaponry so we can focus on you individually rather than have to deal with you as a group. The system will assess you all individually and give you points to improve on.” And with that everyone rushed towards the weapon racks. Vluxx eyed the other trainees as they jumped from weapon rack to weapon rack, weighing the various weapons in their hands and swinging wildly to determine their strength. One even went for the largest weapon on display; a massive war axe, much larger than most beings. Vluxx watched as he tried to lift it in futility.

Ekh stood behind him, knowing they shared the same thoughts. “May I make a suggestion?” he asked, voice wispy. Vluxx turned his head to face the weapon racks, hand behind his head.

“There’s so much choice!” the toa of twilight remarked, a little disturbed by the number of weapons on display.

“There’s no choice. Only one weapon is right for you.” Ekh retorted, he’d seen this before and he knew what he was talking about. He took a small step back to give Vluxx some space.

“What is it then?” Vluxx demanded, “Everyone else seems to have chosen.” He looked lost and walked slowly towards one of the weapon racks. Ekh simply egged him on, his question needed no answer. A small glint of a black metal caught his eye, it almost called to him. He edged towards it, hand reaching out. The blade was sharp and curved. He brushed his hand along the side of the metal, impossibly cold. He picked it up with his right hand. Normally a two-handed weapon, but it was far too light. The hand was sleek, to say the least.

“I see you’ve found the scythe.” Ekh proclaimed, “Give us a whirl.” And with that he spun the scythe round in his hand, this was the right weapon for him. Vluxx’s eyes narrowed as he continued to examine the weapon. “Now, I can see we’ve all got a pretty good balance of weapons here.” the toa of fire stated as he looked across the group of former messengers. “Let’s see what you can do.” he continued as he dropped into a defensive stance.

With a petulant growl one of the trainees charged, katana in hand. He launched himself into the air with the sword raised above his head. He brought it down like a sledgehammer, a slow yet powerful arc. Ekh brushed the incoming sword to the side with the back of his right hand and caught the trainee’s wrists with his other. He brought the sword down to the trainee’s neck and sighed. Ekh pushed the trainee away with his foot, tossing the blade to him as he recovered. “Go for a hammer.” he suggested to the trainee who gulped and began rubbing his neck.

“Anyone else fancy a go?” the toa of fire snarled. Just then two other trainees burst from the small group. They both wielded dual blades, a slight ring coming from them as they lunged forward towards Ekh.

This will be interesting. Vluxx contemplated as he watched Ekh dance around the trainees. He circled them like a hungry takea shark. One of the trainees left a clear opening in his defence—both arms rose above his head, swords pointing away from him. Ekh swiftly took advantage of this opportunity and thrust his hand forward, offering a small explosion of white hot flame in his palm to the trainee’s sharp sense of danger. He jumped back and the flame disappeared in an instant. The trainee crashed into the back of his partner and they tumbled to the ground, their swords clanged and rang when they hit the floor. The rest of the trainees let out a simultaneous gasp followed by whispers that filled the silence.

Ekh, arms crossed, watched the two trainees crawl back towards the group. His eyes flickered as he brought out another flame in his hand and held it out to his side. It burned white like the coldest snow. It flickered with his eyes, dancing about on his palm. “You’re all messengers, right?” he called out to the group, his voice raised ever so slightly but just enough to keep them attentive. His query was shortly followed by a series of nodding. The toa of fire sighed and shook his head. “That means you’re all quick, resourceful, intelligent. Use those traits!” he shouted, trying to inspire confidence in them once more.

It worked.

The trainees nodded in approval, giving each other encouraging looks as they did. Ekh smirked at the reaction his words received. The smirk, however, turned into a mischievous grin as the trainees blissfully blanked him out, clearly too immersed in the praise of their skills as messengers. The toa of fire clenched the fire in a fist and threw a punch towards the trainees, a crackling bullet of flame left his fist. Vluxx was the first to react and released a short beam of twilight from his hand to counter the blast as he turned to Ekh. The flame dissipated on contact with the twilight blast, releasing a small flush of heat at the trainees. They all stumbled back, somewhat surprised by the intensity of the fire blast.

“Now that I have your attention…”

And the first of many training sessions was to begin.

The room was dark, dank and dreary. The only light was a dim glow protruding from an ajar door. The silence was stagnant and the smell, pungent. Like rotting flesh lying in the middle of the room the stench swelled, almost unbearable.

“Did you both have any trouble getting here?” her cold and sinister voice broke the silence. It seemed to linger, almost possessing the short quietness which followed.

“Not at all.” another voice echoed slightly. His voice like thunder: deep and meaningful. “I assume you intercepted the message without detection?”

“He was rather… taxing.” she answered with slight hesitation. “They train them well.”

“Light, please?” hissed a third being, his voice was hoarse. “I’d like to see who I’m talking to.” A small flame quivered into existence after a gentle click, half illuminating the left side of the female’s face. Half of her crimson Avsa was revealed, her deep-set emerald eye glimmered as the flame flickered.

“Moving on,” continued the third being, still hidden in darkness. “Did you dispose of the body?” he queried.

“Not yet.” her voice even more sinister than before.

“What are you doing? The body should have been disposed of immediately!” snarled the first, the thunder-like quality of his voice become more apparent.

“Do not worry,” she answered calmly, “He is close.” The emphasis on ‘close’ caused a slight shudder among the other two beings, followed by silence. “Does that explain the putrid smell?” she asked. That question was best left unanswered.

“Presuming the plan is already underway, my forces are prepared to take control of the Zutalan border gates, provided that the first phase follows our predictions.” With that she extended her arm and dropped the lighter. The small flame fell to the floor but suddenly erupted into a ball of fire. It settled quietly under the sound of muffle cries of agony and light shuffling. A devilish grin spread across the female’s face, her slick dark red and black armour now visible. She brought her tail just above her shoulder, it appeared to have a mind of its own as it hovered like a ghost above her. The cries soon faded.

“We shall be waiting for you in Oryna where we can plan for the next stage.” said the first, slightly shaken by the warmth of the fire in front of him. He was bore a silver Suletu, his blue eyes gazed into the fire. The toa sported a heavy blue and silver armour that shone by the fire’s light.

“I’m already preparing for the assault on Ïarghul. The introduction of some trainees—former messengers, I believe—has distracted some of the security personnel.” snorted the third, clad in green armour that glistened in the fire’s eerie glow. His red skakdi eyes burned with the fire as warmed his face. “I hope your push on the border gates will be enough.”

“Have no doubts that it will.” replied the coh’lhran confidently. “When this concludes, the only force capable of standing in our way will have crumbled.” she chuckled, her eyes brimmed with assurance as she looked at the other two beings.

“Now that that’s sorted,” stated the toa, “We still have some other business to take care of.” he continued in an annoyed tone. “I have recently acquired that all of those bounty hunters we contacted have indeed complied with our request, in exchange for a small fee of course. Greedy buggers.” the silver and blue armoured being continued, “There is still the matter of Grindigo, however, who has left no response to our offer.”

“Let’s just hope he’s clever.” added the coh’lhran threateningly, her green eyes ablaze. She shifted her stare to the centre of the fire, her attention divided between the conversation and the lingering glow of the fire.

“You’re quite a full-head, aren’t you?” stated the skakdi, finally breaking the short pause left by the coh’lhran’s words.

“Aren’t we all?” replied the toa, a meaningful quality in his voice. “I expect our actions will lockru some form of retaliation from the government. I think their way of solving criminal problems will only further provoke our forces to take over.”

“We’re criminals, not warlords.” retorted the skakdi, “I don’t see why you call your gangs armies.”

“They soon will be.” replied the coh’lhran with a confident, sinister tone. She was still staring deeply into the now fading fire. They returned her aplomb with a brief nod as the fire disappeared, leaving only the sound of retreating footsteps fading into the distance.

Chapter 2: Torturous Words
Ïarghul was known more to the outside world as a prison, among other things. Its reputation had stemmed from the stories of many released prisoners; however, as with most rumours the tales of Ïarghul were lost as urban legends that travelled with the storytellers of the world. Despite the legends it still maintained its reputation as one of the harshest prisons to have ever been built. Just the name was enough to drive some criminals away from their petty crimes.

Ïarghul itself was much more than just a prison; in fact, the prison was one of the smallest sections of the base. Although it would soon get much larger. Rando tried not to think too deeply into it. Rumours had been flying around about the rise of a new criminal empire and that the sudden disappearance of almost every well-established bounty hunter was related. Not many rumours worried the seasoned traveller for he had seen them all. But of all the rumours to have forced their way into his head, that worried him. A lot. He hated it. Of all the feelings he was used to hiding, worry and doubt were the most difficult. They occupied his thoughts too much, affecting everything he did.

He attempted to block the feelings, instead settling to just push them to the back of his mind. He walked casually, suppressing the worry beneath a blank shell of a face. He knew others were harbouring the same feelings.

The wall opened just ahead of him, two panels sliding away from each other with a whirr. Out of the door struggled two caaldurin guards, obviously having trouble with a meddlesome skakdi. He scornfully swore at them and flailed his chained limbs about as they tried dragging him along the corridor towards the prison. Rando simply stood still as the guards dragged him along the corridor, the skakdi’s rioting slowly fading into the distance. A little bemused Rando continued to walk aimlessly through the lengthy passages of Ïarghul. He somehow found himself at the viewing platform above the training room several minutes later.

The assault course was rising up from the middle of the floor, small jets of steam spewing out from the corners of the floor as it did. The trainees were stunned. The multi-level assault course towered over them; the shadow it cast wasn’t enough to hide the despair on their faces. Rando examined the course, surprising himself at the difficult obstacles it had on show. The spinning gates were the first thing he noticed and immediately afterwards was a section of moving pillars, which drifted across the floor at random. The second level of the course was based on acrobatics: numerous rope swings, jumps, nets, even the moving pillars of the first floor were used as steps to advance to the third level. Based entirely on balance the third level was simply a tightrope across the length of the course, however, the rope tightened and loosened at random times.

Rando was just as shocked as the trainees were and took a step back. He could feel the intimidation and hoped for their sake that the course was easier than it looked. He put his hands on the sill and watched through the angled window. Rando may not have been able to hear Ekh speaking to the trainees from the other side of the room, but he was fairly certain it was something to encourage them. One of the trainees stepped nervously stepped forward onto the designated starting area. His eyes drained of the fear and filled with determination.

The trainee leaped forward and sprinted across the first section, ducking under several low-lying bars as he did. Rando cringed as the trainee approached the spinning gate and covered his eyes with his hand. He looked back towards the assault course and saw the trainee fly off to the side and roll across the floor. He then turned towards the other trainees who had backed away from the assault course considerably.

Among the body of frightened trainees Rando recognised one of them. Vluxx. He thought to himself. He remembered him from the introduction of several new messengers two years ago. He was frail and nervous back then, and although toughened by two years of training as a messenger Rando realised why he remembered him. The frailness and nervousness caught up with the toa of twilight.

“Difficult, isn’t it?” asked a voice from behind him, disrupting his train of thought. He turned to see Helryx; her unimpressed complexion was not at all surprising to him. She walked towards the window next to him as he turned back to watch another trainee attempt the course. He didn’t need to answer that question.

“We had changed it since you last trained here all those years ago.” the toa of water continued.

“I see.” Rando added loosely, his voice trailing off. He finally remembered why he was worried, the sight of the trainees only masking the true cause of his supressed anguish. All those years ago. Those words spoke volumes and echoed in his head, a deluge of memories were cast upon him.

“Rando,” Helryx paused for a moment, “it won’t happen again.” She attempted to assure him, but failed as Helryx saw him drop his head. He clenched his fists and took a deep, drawn-out breathe, silencing the room for what seemed like the longest few seconds of her life. Rando unclenched his fists and pushed himself away from the window.

“I’m tired, you know.” he sulked while putting a hand to the back of his neck. “I really am. I’m exhausted from all the times I’ve had to relive those few moments of my life.” The regret in his voice soon filled her head. She tried to keep her composure, but sympathy was all she could feel for him.

“You can’t go back and change it, Rando.” her voice was now like a rushing river, water everywhere. “You can’t keep blaming yourself for this.” she retorted, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“I broke a promise.” Rando said simply, the torment building up inside of him. His voice was shattered like a fractured bone. He held back an outburst of emotion as he slowed his breathing. The last wave of crime that faced the continent had left him scarred and broken inside. His mind was a battleground for suppression and regret, the muffled emotions just kept at bay.

“There was nothing you could have done. You could not have done any more.” Helryx argued vainly. That had done it; those last two words pushed him to his limit.

“Exactly.” Rando’s voice was suddenly cold and dark. He walked straight past the veteran toa of water in silence. Her eyes burned with disappointment, it pained her to see anyone like this. Helryx sighed what she hoped would be her last sigh for a long while. She regained her peace of mind. The toa of water put her hands over her eyes before quickly dropping them by her sides; trying to rid herself of previous emotions. The leader of the Order of Mata Nui was not one for letting lingering emotions getting in the way of her stride and she certainly wasn’t one to let the same happen to others.

Chapter incomplete.

Characters

 * Vluxx
 * Skakdi Black Brawler
 * Vortixx Black Brawler
 * Ughon
 * Several Coh Clan members
 * Reller
 * Two drunk matoran
 * Helryx
 * Ekh
 * Several trainees
 * An unnamed coh'lhran
 * An unnamed toa
 * An unnamed skakdi

Trivia

 * This story is written by RandoMaster07.
 * This story has undergone several rewrites.
 * The infobox picture was made by RandoMaster07.
 * There is some Jarúvian in the dialogue.