The Stories of Xhio: Book 3: Darkness Falls

Book 3 of The Stories of Xhio.

Prologue
It had been a few months since their arrival, but the Toa Hagah were making progress.

Trudging through the sands that slowly turned into mud, caused by the rainfall of the past few days, the Toa slowly became adapted to the then-harsh environment. Norik, the leader and the Toa of Fire, covered his mask with his hand to shield the glare of the sun. Gaaki, the Toa of Water, glanced curiously at him.

"Do you see anything?" asked Gaaki.

"Yes, what appears to be a small village," came the reply.

"Norik, for the sake of the Great Spirit, we've been through a bunch of small villages, and none of them were the right one. Are you absolutely sure about this one?" griped Toa Bomonga of Earth. Toa Kualus of Ice and Toa Pouks of Stone nodded at this.

"I can sense his energy. I know he's there," said Norik.

"Well, there's no use arguing. Let's go see," said Gaaki.

And off they trudged once more.

Where was he?

Where was Iruini?

Chapter 1
Cylan quietly hung from the shackles on the wall, her senses attempting to adapt to the few months she had been abducted. Her gun had been taken, and her friends had no idea where she was. She had no idea if they were even looking for her.

"You do realize no one's coming for you, right?"

Zharena, the mutated Toa of Psionics, quietly stood in the doorway.

"What do you want..." muttered Cylan.

"Oh, I just want to watch you suffer, like I did."

"Excuse me?" asked Cylan.

"My entire team. Killed in action. By him. As for me, he spared me, he took me in. He helped me realize my true purpose, how corrupt the Toa were, what my true power lied in," said Zharena.

There was a moment of silence before Cylan spoke. "I am sorry for your loss."

"You don't need to be. I'm over it," said Zharena, but her voice seemed to say otherwise. Or was that just Cylan's mind messing with her?

"Are you going to kill me? Just get it over with," sighed Cylan.

"I'm not going to kill you," said Zharena. "Not yet. There's work to be done, boss' orders."

"Well, then let me help him a bit," said Cylan before kicking Zharena between the legs.

Zharena groaned in pain, kneeled on the floor.

"Tell your boss that my friends are coming for me. Expect resistance," said Cylan.

"A-alright then..." groaned Zharena, slowly walking out.

---

"So they ARE coming for her."

"Y-yes, Teridax," said Zharena. "She's said that her friends won't go easy on us, that we should expect resistance."

"Good. Good. Let them come. We will be ready for them."

Mitalma, who had been standing in the corner quietly, spoke up. "What about the General?"

"He was useless. Weak. Pitiful. So I disposed of him," said Teridax.

Tazerok leisurely strolled in, grinning to himself about his accomplishment. He immediately stopped and walked back out upon seeing Teridax. He'd had many bosses over the years, many targets and many bullets had been fired.

But this boss was one he didn't like.

Chapter 2
Siela and Neia quietly sat in their hut, lamenting over the events of the past few months. Cylan had been taken, and some of the Toa had gone missing looking for her. Tezun and Jekkai had went out and had not returned. They had been presumed missing in action, but was it possible they were...

''No, don't think that. They're alive somewhere'', thought Siela.

But what if...

No, that's not possible.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?" Ferrum's voice came in through the doorway.

"Oh, hey, Ferrum. Any news on the others?" asked Neia.

Ferrum just hung his head.

"Don't worry. We'll find them. We'll find all of them," assured Siela.

"I hope so..." sighed Ferrum.

All of a sudden, a villager came up to the hut. "Guys! Guys! There's some Toa in the village square!"

"Are they our friends?" asked Neia.

"No, they look different. But they want Iruini," said the villager.

"Iruini? Why?" asked Neia.

"We're not sure, but bring him anyways."

---

They were not five steps into the village square before Iruini audibly gasped.

"What? What is it?" asked Ferrum.

"It... It can't be..." said Iruini in disbelief.

The large red being turned to Iruini and his eyes grew in shock and surprise.

"Iruini?"

"Norik?"

There was a moment of silence before Iruini walked over to them and grinned.

"I can't believe it, you're all here! You're all here!" said Iruini. Siela and Neia were pleased, they had never seen him so happy.

"We're glad to see you too, brother," said Kualus.

Pouks spoke up from the side. "We've been walking for days, weeks even, maybe a month, trying to find you."

"We were a bit worried. It's not like you to just go off like that." said Gaaki.

"I was helping these Toa," said Iruini, pointing to Ferrum and Akirak, the latter who had just shown up.

"You must be the Toa Xharios. We've heard about you, but we didn't know he was here." said Norik.

"We never knew he even had a team before us," grinned Akirak.

The two teams exchanged greetings and introductions.

"Oh, and this is Siela, and Neia," said Ferrum. The two Matoran waved.

"So, you were saying you have a bigger team normally." said Bomonga.

"Yes, two of our members have went missing, and another is captured." grimaced Iruini.

"Maybe we can help you. You've been there for us when we needed you, whether it was fighting the bugs, or the Dark Hunters. Now we're going to return the favour," said Norik.

The other Toa Hagah agreed in unison.

Iruini grinned at his teammates, old and new.

"Well, then," he said, "Let's get started."

Chapter 3
To be written...

Chapter 4
To be written...

Chapter 5
To be written...

Chapter 6
To be written...

Chapter 7
To be written...

Chapter 8
To be written...

Characters

 * Siela
 * Neia
 * The Toa Xharios
 * Ferrum
 * Akirak
 * Tezun
 * Jekkai
 * Iruini
 * Cylan
 * Makuta Teridax
 * Makuta Navlax
 * Tazerok
 * Zharena
 * Mitalma
 * "General" (mentioned)
 * The Toa Hagah
 * Norik
 * Gaaki
 * Kualus
 * Pouks
 * Bomonga
 * Villagers

Trivia

 * This, depending on if Maccy wants to continue, may be the conclusion to the Stories of Xhio storyline.
 * The original Generation 1 Toa Hagah missions were referenced in Chapter 2.
 * Maccy has said that some characters will die.