Concealment

Concealment is a short story written by Toa Pozico about a Matoran called Ludir, and his encounter with a strange creature.

Story
Ludir hummed as he walked through the trees.

His axe was held at his shoulder, covered in rust and and scratches from the many times it had been used to chop wood for the village blacksmith.

He found a worthy looking tree, and began to hack at it with his axe.

After about an hour, he had a nice bunch of logs, ready to be brought back.

It was a hot day, and Ludir was tired from his constant work. There was a cave not very far away. He gathered up his wood, and marched towards the cool shade of the hole in the rock.

As he got near the cave, he heard a rumbling noise. He stopped in his tracks, dropping the wood on his foot. He winced in pain, but raised his axe as the beast stepped into the light.

It bore the appearance of a large, red dragon. It had thin, calculating eyes, and large hands.

It opened its mouth, but instead of letting out a roar, it spoke in a high hissing voice. Ludir didn’t recognize the words it was speaking, yet he somehow knew what it was saying.

"Are you the one? Can you hear?"

"Wh - what do you want… Rahi?" stuttered Ludir.

The creature let out a snort that might have been a laugh, "Rahi," it hissed, "I am not what your kind call 'Rahi'. I am no beast. We are an ancient race. We came long before you, and we will live on until you have been forgotten."

"Who are you?"

"That is of no importance, Ludir," it replied, "you are the one who can speak. The only one of your kind who can communicate with my kind."

"I don’t understand," said Ludir, "I’ve never heard of your kind before. And what do you mean? Why can I speak to you?"

"It has been known by our race for some time that there will be a Matoran destined to unite our two peoples. But they mustn't know your name."

"Who are 'they'?" asked Ludir, extremely confused, still with his axe held ready.

"'Them'," said the beast, "'The Dark Ones'. They mustn’t know your name. You are no longer Ludir. No one can know. You must be renamed, transformed." It stretched out its claw towards Ludir’s Heartlight.

He didn’t have time to step back. The large finger touched him, and he felt energy surge through him. He was growing. Shooting upwards.

He felt, larger more muscular. And he sensed an inexplicable sense of power, and control.

The creature spoke loudly, "you will now be called Markerian, Toa of Light!"

Characters

 * Ludir
 * An unknown dragon-like creature

Trivia

 * Toa Pozico had originally planned for Concealment to be the prologue of a longer story, but the idea for the longer story was scrapped, and the prologue was made to be its own story.