Shadows of the Past

Shadows of the Past is a short story set within the Dark War Universe and follows the Nephthys as she attempts to evade capture at the hand of the Makuta.

Chapter 1
Silence. A word not often used in the past decade or so, but that was the only way to describe the Tren Krom Peninsular that night. For once no Rahi were hunting, no volcanos erupting, no warriors fighting. The peninsular almost could’ve been mistaken for a place of safety, but it would not remain that way for much longer.

Almost invisible and as silent as the night, a shadow darted through a forest of dead trees. Her pace did not slow as she scrambled across a pile of boulders, nor did she falter as a river of acid came into view. Without a moment’s hesitation, she leapt across the corrosive liquid, landing in soft mud on the other side.

Her own momentum made her loose her footing and she fell to the ground. Checking that the fabric hiding her leg was still in place, she stood and took a moment to wonder if her attackers had lost her. She got her answer as a blast of energy flew across the river and struck the ground less than a bio in front of her, sending the Toa flying backwards in an explosion of corrosive mud.

She scrambled to her feet and bolted into the night once more, the sound of her attackers flying across the river all too loud in her audio receptors. She slipped between tree stumps and brambles, leaping down small slopes of razor crystals, the tattered material tied around her waist gaining yet another tare in the process. Then, all of a sudden, she was in a village.

“Oh no, I won’t let them get caught up in my fight,” she said, to who? She wasn’t sure that she believed in Mata Nui any more, she wasn’t sure of a lot of things anymore.

Behind her the noises made by her pursuers grew ever louder and she knew that she could not turn back now.

“I was getting tired of running anyway,” she muttered.

The Toa turned and activated her Kanohi Volitak. The first of her pursuers flew out of the forest, a Rahkshi Guurahk, and she grabbed one of its arms as it passed, causing them both to fall to the ground. Upon impact the Rahkshi dropped its staff and, as it reached for it, the Toa yanked its Kraata tank open and impaled the slug inside with the spike on her gauntlet. Two more Rahkshi flew into view and landed a few bios in front of her. The first, a Rahkshi of Fire Resistance, ran at her and she enveloped its head in shadow, blinding it. As it stumbled about she brought her gauntlets down on its back, smashing the Kraata tank and killing the Kraata. The second, a Rahkshi of Heat Vision, fired two lasers from its eyes, just missing the Toa as she ducked. Then, taking advantage of the temporary blindness of the Rahkshi, the Toa lifted the staff of the Guurahk and stabbed it through the third Rahkshi.

The Toa turned and was aghast to see the lasers that had missed her had struck one of the Matoran’s huts, setting it alight. Matoran now ran out into the street, hearing the noise of the battle, some panicking and others attempting to put out the fire before it spread. The Toa began running towards the village, but was knocked to the ground by a Panrahk’s shattering powers. She groaned and rolled onto her back just in time to see another blast heading straight for her. Acting fast, the Toa used her powers to create a wall of solid shadow between her and the incoming beam of energy. Not a second after she had created it did it shatter into almost invisible black shards that rained down around her.

The Toa stood and sent a volley of shadow-spears flying towards where she believed the Rahkshi was hiding. For a moment nothing happened, and then two more Panrahks attacked and the Toa barely managed to roll out of the way of their blasts, both of which instead struck the nearest hut, destroying it in a shower of wood and straw. She ran straight at the two Panrahk, shielding herself from their attacks with walls of shadow. Then she was right next to them and one swung its staff at her. She blocked with her gauntlet and attempted to punch it, only to be knocked to the ground by the second. The first Panrahk stabbed its staff down and she rolled to the side, only to be kicked by the second. The first tried to stab her again, but this time she grabbed its staff, then hooked her foot around its ankle and took its legs out from under it, rolling to the side just in time to avoid the second’s attack. She stood and punched the second right in the head, with little effect. The first Panrahk stood and they advanced towards her.

The Toa thought of her options, but could see no way of winning the fight. Then a kanoka flew through the air and struck one of the Rahkshi, which instantly vanished. The Toa and the Rahkshi turned their heads in unison to see who had thrown the disk. Behind them stood a Le-Matoran holding a spear and a disk launcher. The Toa just had time to register this before a blast from the Rahkshi hit the Matoran square in the chest, causing him to explode, sending out a wave of armor and torn flesh. She turned back to the Rahkshi and ripped the staff from its hands, whirling and slicing of its head.

She turned back to the village, only to see more Rahkshi tearing their way through the streets. Not hesitating for a moment, she dived forwards into a sprint and made her way towards the nearest Rahkshi, smashing her armored fists into it before it even had a chance to react. The Toa turned and turned the night tangible around another Rahkshi, who was about to impale a Matoran, crushing the Rahkshi in a bubble of shadow. Many of the Matoran who saw her ran from her just as they ran from the Rahkshi, it seemed the stories of who she had been (and still was as far as they were concerned) had spread even to a place such as this. She did all she could to save the village, killing more Rahkshi than she could count and being stabbed in the side in return, along with receiving various other, less serious wounds. But it was hopeless, there were too many Rahkshi for one Toa to cope with.

By dawn the village was little more than a smouldering wreck. Bodies littered what had once been streets, both those of Rahkshi and Matoran. Kraata were smeared across paving stones, weapons stuck from the corpses like miniature spires, competing to see how far they could reach upwards and away from the pools of blood.

Sitting against the one remaining wall of once had been a house, covered in blood and Kraata goo and ash, clutching at a wound on her side, sat the Toa. Her eyes were empty of all emotions, her mind blank of all thoughts. She remained so still one could mistake her for another dead body, if it weren’t for the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

Finally deciding it was time to move once more, before anymore Brotherhood troops arrived, she rose to her feet, every movement bringing her pain and reminding her of her tiredness. She was exhausted, she had been since the war began and she wondered how much longer she could keep on going.

Walking slowly between the burnt husks of houses, easing the stiffness from her joints. She attempted not to look at the bodies, desperately trying not to count how many had died because of her. Once she had killed been evil, now she was not, bust that made no difference in the slightest if people still died because of her. The Matoran still feared her and they had good reason to, if she had not come to this village then it would not now be a pile of rubble.

These thoughts would’ve continued, if she had not spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. She whirled, instantly ready to fight once more, but forgetting about the wound at her side which was opened by the sudden strain and began to bleed once more. Trying to ignore the pain, she searched for the source of the movement, but saw nothing.

Assuming it had just been some scavenger Rahi, she decided to continue, only to notice the tiniest of details that made her stop once more. A Su-Matoran lay in a pile of debris piled against the doorway of a house, the rest of which had collapsed. As Nephthys looked closer, she noticed a slight motion. He was still breathing.

She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She knew that staying here was not an option, she was surprised that no more Rahkshi or worse had arrived yet, but moving him would only slow her down. She turned to leave, then stopped, groaned to herself, and turned back to the unconscious Matoran. She walked over to the small white and orange body, and carefully lifted him up into her arms, carefully making her way through the wreckage of the village.

“I just hope I don’t end up regretting this,” she said to the Matoran who couldn’t hear her.

Chapter 2
Fironak awoke with a groan, as his sense returned to him, bringing a wave of pain crashing over him. The Su-Matoran blinked his eyes into focus and took a moment to study his surroundings. He was in a cave, though he had no idea how he’d gotten there. As he turned his head to the side he saw a pile of makeshift bandages and various plants, along with several strange looking pastes lying in large, curved leaves. As he turned his head the other way he saw a fire smouldering slowly, each stick dry and stripped of its bark, meaning that little to no smoke was being given of. He also saw the entrance, beyond which he could just make out a narrow ridge and then a drop, though whether it was a small slope or steep cliff he would be unable to tell unless he got up, which he doubted he could do given his current state.

Fironak managed to prop himself up slightly and looked down at his body. His armor was dented and split, and covered in grime. It was clear that someone had attempted to wash the worst of the grime of, but with little success. There was a bandage around his right shin, beneath which he could just make out a nasty looking wound, to which had some of the paste he’d seen had been smeared on. The sight of it made him gag and he looked away.

All of a sudden he could hear footsteps coming towards the cave and he dropped back to the ground. Unfortunately, he did so too quickly and could not help but let out a groan of pain. He shut his eyes, keeping them open just enough to see and remained as still as possible as the being he had heard came into the cave.

The being in question appeared to be a Toa, a female Toa. Though she was like none he had ever seen. Her armor was black and silver, and had several spikes protruding from it. She wore a Volitak and had a piece of dark fabric tied around her waist, covering her right leg. There was also a wound on her side, which it appeared she had tended to with the same substance as he presumed she had his. The strange Toa dropped her supplies down at the far end of the cave and sat opposite him, rapping her arms around her legs.

“I know you’re awake,” she said.

Fironak did not react for a moment, as he considered his options. But, upon realising that he only had one, he sat up as far as he could and spoke.

“Who are you?” He croaked.

“Who am I? That depends on who you ask; To the Matoran I am a monster, to the Toa I am a traitor, to the Makuta I am a failed experiment and to you, I am the one chance you have of staying alive,” she replied.

“Ok,” Fironak said, not sure as to whether she had answered his question or not. “What are you?”

The cave suddenly got darker and the flames of the fire paler as shadows danced along the ground and up the walls.

“I am a Toa of Shadow.”

“… Then, you’re behind the attack on my village?” He gulped.

“… Yes,” she sighed in response. “Once I was evil and now I am not, but that does not matter in the slightest while Matoran still die because of me.”

“You’re not evil?”

“What is evil but a difference of opinions, I had my light drained and my opinions changed, I killed because I thought my victims were evil, and in doing so I was evil. Now my light has returned, I think, but shadow still runs through me like a sickness. Nobody believes me when I tell them this and why should they? I still cause death, only under different circumstances…”

Fironak took a moment to take all of this in.

“Who… who are you?” He asked once more, after a slight hesitation.

“I am Nephthys.”

Fironak gasped, he had heard of this Toa before. A Toa of Shadow who wore an Avsa and drained her victims of their strength through physical contact, usually by biting them. A Toa who was wanted across the universe. A Toa who had killed and tortured countless Matoran for the Brotherhood of Makuta.

“So, are you going to join with those who believe me to be a vile, evil creature? Or will you take a chance and trust me?” Nephthys asked, as if she already expected him to run away screaming.

“Why, why would you help me if you were evil?” He finally concluded.

“Maybe I need you to live, so I can rip every scrap of information you have from you.”

“So that is what you are going to do, then?”

“No.”

“Then why bring it up?”

“To answer your question.”

“How do I know that I can trust you?”

“You can’t know to trust me, nobody can know to trust anybody! But you can choose to trust me.”

“So I can choose to trust a murderer, or risk dying at the hands of this forsaken peninsular?”

“If it’s any consolation I’ve survived worse odds.”

“You don’t seem like the person I’ve heard stories about, but then again this could all be an act, or some foul Makuta mind trick.”

“I hate the Makuta more than I have ever hated anything, and not because of what they did, but because of what I did. I would do anything to change what I have done, I would rather have died than done any of those things. But that doesn’t change the fact that I did them, and the Makuta were the ones who made me do them.”

Firanok was silent as he tried to make sense of his situation. His village had been destroyed, presumably leaving him as the sole survivor, and he had been rescued and tended to by an infamous murderer who was now telling him to trust her.

“I’m going to take a look around while you make your decisions,” said Nephthys, standing and walking swiftly out of the cave.

Now was Firanok’s chance to escape. If he left now she would have no way of knowing where he had gone, or be able to follow him. But where would he go? His village had been destroyed, Dark Hunter and Makuta forces roamed the universe, along with many thieves and other unsavoury individuals. Not to mention his wounds, which would need further attention than they had already been given, and were he to come across someone or something with a desire to kill him, he would be unable to run. Trust a murderer who had yet to kill him, or risk running into a murderer who would be less hesitant in killing him. There was no choice to be made, and he knew it. No matter what her intensions were, Nephthys was his only chance of surviving this ordeal, whether he liked it or not.

As he swept his gaze across the cave once more, he noticed some scraps of paper which had fallen out of Nephthys’ pack when she placed it down with her other supplies. Firanok stared at them for a few moments before his curiosity took hold, after all they could tell him more about his strange acquaintance.

Listening carefully to the noises coming from outside the cave, Firanok carefully reached for the papers once he was sure Nephthys really had left. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he finally managed to reach the nearest few and picked them up, leaning back against the cave wall and relaxing. The paper scraps appeared to have once been bound together, but had since been separated. Paper was far weaker than the stone tablets most commonly used for writing upon, but far lighter in weight. Holding the pages in the light of the fire, Fironak began to read what had been scrawled across them:

''... At first I expected help from the Toa. I believed I was finally safe, after so long, but apparently it takes more than ones words to gain another’s trust after committing such atrocities as I have, even if those acts were done unwillingly. The curse the Makuta put on me will not so easily release its hold on me, which I learned when being tortured by my fellow brothers and sisters, for what I have become...''

''... Nowhere in this universe is safe for me. I know that now...''

''... When everyone wants you dead, it is hardly polite to deny them that. Every day it grows harder to continue, when I have nothing left to fight for. I fear that this isolation will slowly drive me to insanity, and I will become the monster everyone thinks I already am...''

''... I can never be trusted, not by anyone, those who do are putting themselves and everyone they know in great danger. The Makuta hunt me for sport, I am sure they wish to finish their experiments, or perhaps just finish clearing up the last one. A Matoran village, where I was offered sanctuary, was destroyed today. I cannot ever set foot in another if I do not want any more blood on my hands, I do not want any more death on my behalf...''

“Have you found what you were looking for, little one?” Asked Nephthys.

Firanok jumped, amazed to find that the Toa had entered the cave without his realising.

“Mask of Stealth,” she said, as if having read his mind.

“I...” Firanok started.

“Did you find your answer?” She asked once more.

“What answer?”

“The answer to whether you should trust me.”

“I... I think so.”

“Good, then we can get moving.”

“What?” Asked Firanok, bewildered.

“This cave is only a few kios from your village, it is not safe to remain here any longer, in truth I should’ve moved on long before now.”

“But my leg...”

“You should be able to walk,” said Nephthys, interrupting him. “You have been unconscious for several days now. Besides, if we do not leave now I fear we never will.”

Firanok took a moment to consider this before he was yanked to his feet by Nephthys. The pain of weight suddenly being put on his injured leg made him cry out.

“Sorry, but at least you can stand,” said Nephthys.

She handed him a wooden pole to help him walk and gathered her supplies into her pack. Nephthys gestured for Firanok to leave the cave and stamped on the dying embers of the fire, putting out the last of the stubborn flames, before joining him at the cave mouth, where they were swallowed up by the shadows of the night.

Chapter 3
TBA

Characters

 * Nephthys
 * Firanok
 * Several unnamed Matoran