|
This article was written by Abc8920. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.
|
| Shadow Play | |
|---|---|
| |
| Story | |
| Setting |
A parallel universe
|
| Date Set |
16,001 AGC
|
Shadow Play is a story serial written by Abc8920, detailing Raanu's attempt to overthrow Makuta Rotam in an alternate universe.
Story[]
Chapter 1[]
Raanu was silently working in a factory, his body shadowed, but his mind not. He was remembering his past times on Bara Magna. Truly, he currently was on Bara Magna, but it had changed so much that it almost seemed that he was in the middle of an insane nightmare.
After the Shattering, he took control of the Fire Tribe, and things were good compared to the current situation. But everything changed when a dark figure descended from the skies, the shadows arriving with him. The dark being took over the Rock Tribe, and started infecting the Bone Hunters and Sand Tribe members in order to form an army. The being claimed to be Makuta Rotam, and soon declared war on the other tribes living on Bara Magna. Many battles followed, leading to one final, bloody struggle, the Battle of Atero. Most of the Agori and Glatorian were exterminated by the battle, and those who survived were enslaved.
Rotam’s power and empire began to grow. The technology of the planet had changed: infamous metal cities had been constructed, powerful warships had been built, and much other technology had been introduced to Rotam’s empire.
Raanu suddenly returned to the present, as a Skrall struck him with a spiked whip. “Work, Agori! One more distraction and you will take a Kraata bath!”
“Yes sir. I will get back to work now.”
Raanu got back to his work. He hated it. He had to recharge the fuel of the various machines of the Piraka Virus Factory, created with the sole purpose of creating Piraka Virus. The virus had received its name from a Matoran word that meant "thief" or "murderer," as, if injected in large quantities, it made the being infected go insane, murdering every living being in its path.
The virus was also used on Agori workers in small quantities, but he hadn’t been yet infected. He knew why: Rotam had personally known Raanu once, before the fall of Bara Magna, and knew that keeping him to work without being infected would be a painful torture.
He recharged the fuel of the last machine and went to the main corridor of the factory, showing a tablet to a Skrall. The Skrall nodded, and gave him a metal target. Raanu walked to the exit door, and put the metal target in a machine, which scanned the target and opened the door. Outside, he saw the dirty streets, with hovering vehicles flying at high speeds.
Though his class was shunned from society, rock Agori and Skrall had gained privileges after the war. Rock Agori could have houses of their own, were free, and worked in bureaucratic jobs. Soldier Skrall were under Rotam’s army, but received a good payout for enlisting to it. Each time they conquered a new planet, each surviving Skrall in the conquest received a portion of the conquered territory.
Raanu decided to go to The Hammer, a slave tavern in the suburbs of the city. He began to walk through the darkened streets; the sun was falling, and the already-shadowy streets were becoming darker.
After half an hour of walking, Raanu arrived. The ambiance was somewhat cheerful, after all. Some Agori musicians were playing, and the Agori were enjoying their only rest hour. He went to the bar and asked for some hot Thornax stew. Natrix was sitting next to him.
“How are things, Natrix?”
“Bad, as always. Those Skrall have whipped me two times today because I was doing my job slowly.”
“Bad. They whipped me today too. I was remembering the times in which our race was free.”
“Remembering things will not solve the future, Raanu. Kiina had the same hopes as you--the hopes of being free, the hope to free the Agori--and she died from her injuries two weeks after the end of the Battle of Atero.”
“I still have hopes that someday, somehow, our race will be free again.”
“You dream too much, Raanu. And if you dream... the Skrall will not whip you. They will do you something worse. Now I have to go; my rest time has finished.”
“Bye.”
Raanu looked as she exited the tavern. He noticed that his glass of Thornax stew had become cold. Raanu cursed and drank that horrible soup. He then heard the sound of heavy steps coming to the tavern. When he looked, there was a purple Rahkshi standing. The musicians stopped playing, and the Agori were suddenly silent.
Raanu remembered that some months after the destruction of Atero, Rotam had found a pool of a silver liquid, and experimented with the Kraata that he had used before to enslave the Sand Tribe. He created the Rahkshi, powerful beings that wielded many of Rotam’s powers. That one was purple, so it meant that it controlled power screams.
The purple Rahkshi advanced through the tavern, staring carefully at every Agori. Raanu knew what the Rakhshi was doing: some Agori were late, and to be late to work was to be condemned to death in Rotam’s empire.
The Rahkshi seemed to smell something, and sent an ear-shattering blast at a part of the wooden bar, which subsequently shattered to pieces. A scared Agori was behind it, and was about to say something when the Rahkshi blasted the Agori with his powers, killing him. The Rahkshi then transformed into flight mode, and left the tavern.
The crowd of Agori looked at the lifeless remains of the Agori. The remaining Agori rushed back to the crowd, possibly wanting to go to work in case a Rahkshi came after them. Raanu walked out to the street too, wondering how many Agori and Glatorian would fall to Rotam’s empire. No--no more lives could be wasted serving Rotam, no more would the Agori live in fear. Raanu vowed that Rotam would pay, that he would make him feel what the Agori had been living through for thousands of years thanks to his shadow plays.
Chapter 2[]
Roxtus, the center of Rotam’s empire, was nearly impossible to attack. Soldier skrall who weren’t on war campaigns watched over slave work. Elite warriors were the owners of many of the factories of the city, though most of them spent their time conquering new lands in far away planets. The law, the very true law, was enforced by two lethal forces. One of these was the Rahkshi, powerful beings with dark powers. They were rumored to be born from Rotam’s essence, immersed in the silver substance that had caused the Shattering. The other force that enforced the law was even darker. Rotam had created a race of shadow warriors called “Shadow Toa”. They had powerful mental abilities, as well as strong shadow powers. The Glatorian survivors of the war with Rotam thousands of years ago, had been put to work in a lava river. Due to the chances of the Glatorian attempting to escape, each of them had two Shadow Toa assigned to watch over them. Scotar, former warrior of the Fire Tribe, had a squad of them watching over him. His job was simple, but it was rest-less. He had to fill two drums with lava and haul them to a far away factory in the outskirts of Roxtus before the lava cooled down. It was a hard work, and he had seen many of his companions killed by the Shadow Toa because they arrived late, their lava had cooled down, or killed by the lava they were hauling falling on them. Today he was doing his second turn of lava hauling, and he had Gelu and Malum as companions. The Shadow Toa were a few meters behind them, ready to kill them if needed. They were arriving to their destination. Scotar could see the dark sky, filled with smoke coming out from the factories. All the buildings were craved from a black and dark grey metal, so it gave the city a dark look. Soon, they arrived at the factory. The agori slaves there quickly carried the lava to prosteel conducts.
Their work done, the three Glatorian and their Shadow Toa guards boarded a small spaceship, which brought them to the slave camp in the lava mine. The glatorian had to bring the lava by foot because the cooling system of the spaceship would cause the lava to solidify.
The trip was short, but when Scotar, Malum and Gelu exited the spaceship the sun had already fallen. The slave camp was just a small group of huts surrounded by a short wall made of stone, with some Rahkshi and Shadow Toa watching over day and night. When Scotar entered at his dirty hut, he was surprised to see who was in.
“Raanu?!?! What are you doing here? If the Shadow Toa see you here they will kill you. Also, I bet that you are here on work time. Do you know what that means, Raanu? That means that when those Rahkshi find you they will make you something worse than death…”
“Oh, I know. But I’ve come here to talk about something that is worth my death. I’m here to talk about rebellion.”
“Are you crazy? Rahkshi, Shadow Toa, Skrall… this planet is full of people who are more than willing to have a motive to shred you to pieces.”
“Where are we, Scotar?”
“At the slave camp of the lava mine, you know that.”
“No, I’m referring to what it was.”
“This was the former placement of our village Vulcanus, which was destroyed by the Skrall after the Battle of Atero…”
Scotar now understood what Raanu meant. Scotar, having spent centuries in the slave camp, didn’t knew how slaves were treated in Roxtus, but if one looked carefully at Raanu’s armour, that could deduce that he, and the other slaves, were treated carelessly and violently. Raanu had many whip marks in his back, as well as many cuts in the arms and legs, and one or two bruises here and there. Raanu was right. The situation couldn’t be that any longer.
“I understand. But how do we do it? As much as I would like that, I don’t think that going around smashing Skrall would do any good, not as long as Shadow Toa and Rahkshi came moments later with staffs and swords ready to cut through your throat.”
“I have all planed. Just a bit of havoc here… some fight there…, and we will be able to take revenge on Rotam.”
“Ok. I will have to contact some other Glatorian, and you should have some agori with you. An agori and a Glatorian alone can take on a Makuta who has conquered every planet in the known space. Also, when do we start?”
“Now”
Upon saying those words, Raanu, Scotar, the Glatorian and the Rahkshi heard a big explosion hitting the camp.
Chapter 3[]
Once, a long time ago, the Vorox had been a tribe of proud warriors. That was until the Shattering occurred, when the Vorox started a mental regression. All of them lost their capacity to think as the agori did, they regressed to a primal sate, all minus one. And that was Teridax. Teridax wasn’t his real name, but Rotam had given it to him. To Teridax, Rotam was just a depreciable scrap of shadow. Back some millenniums ago, when he was a young leader of the nomadic sand tribe, Rotam approached him, and gave him an ultimatum; either he allowed his tribe to be infected by Kraata and put into Rotam’s army, or they all would be massacred. Teridax didn’t like war, but he had to do the best for the survival of his tribe. He accepted, and the Vorox fought in many battles… until the Battle of Atero came. In that massive battle he gathered all the Vorox alive, and along with the Zesk and Skrall, fought in the battle. Many lost their lives, but after their leader, Tollubo, fell in an attack of Zesk, the Glatorian armies were quickly defeated. The surviving Glatorian and Agori were enslaved, and after the battle Teridax had the feeling that Rotam would soon enslave his tribe too. However, Rotam gave his tribe a pact, which said that the Sand Tribe would be free, as long as they don’t interfered with the universal expansion of Rotam’s empire. Thousands years had happened since then, and pace had been constant. And now, he was celebrating the first meeting of the Vorox government in a recently build chamber in some underground caves. He, as the leader of the tribe, had the right to speak before anyone else.
“Bring me your reports”
A Vorox sitting next to Teridax started. As stated prior to the meeting, all Vorox would speak in turns, going from left to right.
“Our new weapons are functioning perfectly. Since we found that abandoned Great Being lab near Iconox, we have got to work some log range weapons, like an atomic gun and a sword gifted with lightning powers.”
“Good. And -Teridax looked at another Vorox- have we yet tamed those biomechanical creatures that we found the other day while hunting?”
“No, sir. They have proven to be hard to tame, as they are immune to heat whips. Also, they use their powerful legs to defense, and more than one Vorox tamer has got a bone or two broken from a kick of one of the beasts.”
“Hmm… I want at least three specimens tamed for next week. Now I would like to talk to all you. I want to thank you for your work into finding the abandoned great Being Lab. Thanks to this event, we’ve found a cure to Rotam’s kraata infection, and now you can thing by yourselves.”
Some of the Vorox was to say something, when Teridax pushed a button in the metal table. When he did it, the lights of the chamber went off. Only he and another Vorox sat on their chairs when the lights turned on.
“Good trick, isn’t it? I still have to put a name to this apparatus, but as you have just seen, it disrupts any artificial energy in the range that I choose. But why I am telling you this? After all, you’re not a Vorox.”
The Vorox silently groaned, and it slowly transformed. It’s coloration changed from tan and black to gold and blue, it’s legs grew, it’s arms shortened, and the thorax shape shifted to reveal the true being.
“It’s very nice of Rotam to send a shape shifting Rahkshi to spy on the Vorox. Your nasty Makuta must have heard rumors that we have discovered an abandoned Great Being lab. Well, if you are wondering if that is ture, unlike this false meeting, then the answer is yes. We got the energy disruptor apparatus from there, as well as the hologram projectors that I used to make you think that there really were any Vorox in the chamber except me. You’ve made a mistake. I knew that there was a spy in my tribe. And, if the spy was enough intelligent, it would go to the first meeting session, where confidential things would be discussed. But, you don’t have as much knowledge as I have. The cure to the infection wasn’t the cure to our regression, unlike Rotam thinks. No Vorox has had his intelligence restored, and that is something that only a Vorox would know. And, as you can see, your trick is no longer working, Rahkshi. It’s time to end your mission.”
And after saying that, Teridax grabbed an axe from under the metal table. The Rahkshi waved its staff, prepared to fight. The rahskshi moved first, and jumped into the air, landing in front of Teridax. Vorox swung his axe, but the rahkshi stabbed its staff on Teridax chest, making the Vorox loose grip of the weapon. The rahkshi prepared to strike again, but Teridax grounded the Rahkshi, and punched it on the shell, hoping to hit enough hard to crush the kraata inside. He punched the rahkshi three times, but then it shape shifted into a snake like creature full of horns, and Teridax had to drop the rahkshi. It, using the distraction, transformed back to its regular form, and he stroke Teridax in the head with his staff. Teridax, enraged, kicked the Rahkshi aside, and tore the table from the ground. Before the Rahkshi could even blink, Teridax threw the metal table at it.
Teridax let a victorious smile, and headed to the door. He grabbed his axe from the floor, and opened the door of the chamber. However, he looked behind, and saw the Rahkshi in mid-air preparing to stab him. Teridax jumped too, and hit the Rahkshi with his axe. Teridax hit with so much force that the axe sliced deep in the Rahkshi’s armor, and the impact of the axe made him loose grip of its staff. The Rahkshi fell to the floor, and Teridax sliced through the Rahkshi’s armor with his axe in madness. When all that rested of the rahkshi was a pile of metal scrap and some rests of shredded Kraata, Teridax left the room. He had a rebellion to start.
Chapter 4[]
The slave camp in the lava mining location on Vulcanus was in fire. An explosion had just hit the camp, and the slaves, having passed through thousands years of slavery, wouldn’t miss the chance to escape and take revenge. One of this glatorian was Scotar, who still couldn’t believe what was happening.
“You caused the explosion, Raanu?”
“Yes. Now we should get out of here, if we don’t want to die burnt”
Raanu was right. The roof of the hut had just started burning, and smoke already was filling the room. Scotar punched the door, which was locked by the Skrall at night to prevent the Glatorian from escaping, and he broke it to pieces. When the pair got out, they looked at scene that could be qualified of nothing but chaos. Glatorian were running through the camp, fighting with Shadow Toa, while the soldier Skrall were trying to extinguish the fire. Raanu was running to some place in the center in the camp, while Scotar focused on the Skrall. From the three went to confront Scotar, only one was alive now. That Skrall was named Lahkar, named because he was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Atero. Lahkar new that his enemy, Scotar, was strong, being able to take on a Skrall patrol and returning barely injured. But Scotar was just fighting with his fists, and Lahkar had a Zamor Gun and a sword. He didn’t think it twice. He slashed his sword directly at Scotar’s stomach. Scotar didn’t have time to block, or even dodge, and the Skrall sword sliced deeply through Scotar’s wrist. An evil grim appeared at Lahkar’s face as he saw the legendary Glatorian clutching his wrist will falling at the floor. He prepared to fire his Zamor Gun. It had the power of disintegration. If it hit Scotar, half of the glatorian would be turned to ashes. Now he had a dilemma; kill Scotar with the disintegration zamor, or let him die slowly in the camp, waiting for the blood loss kill him? He chose the first option. After all, watching beings disintegrate had always been one of his hobbies. He pointed to fire, but as he had been distracted, he hadn’t noticed that Scotar had a chain in his hands, and when Lahkar was pressing to fire… a master hit by the wounded Glatorian made the rifle fire in the opposite direction, and the disintegrated head of Lahkar fell on the ground.
Gelu saw Scotar, and immediately brought him in a half-buried hut.
“Stay here, Scotar. You can’t continue fighting.”
“Yes, I can. Just put me some bandage here in the wrist, and give me a sword.”
“You are crazy. You are only sealing your tomb from the inside. But if you wish to die in battle, then I’m with you.”
The two exited the hut, and saw that most soldier Skrall had already fallen. Now the two Glatorian were facing three Shadow Toa, the strongest enforcers of the Empire.
Raanu ran through the burnt battlefield, avoiding many laser blasts. In the distance he could see Scotar and Gelu, who were having trouble with some Shadow Toa. He didn’t have time to help them. He now was just in front of where he wanted to go, the hut in the center of the slave camp, the home of the leader of it. The leader was a rock agori, and was the one tasked with buying food for the guards and the slaves, and to choose the guards. But Raanu soon found a surprise, a displeasing one. In front there was a Shadow Toa, wielding the usual Shadow Rotating Swords and the Zamor Rifle. Raanu knew that he had no chance to beat him, but he tried anyways. He strongly gripped his dagger, and jumped on the Shadow Toa. The Toa just threw him aside, making him crash into a hut. The hut, made of hardened volcanic mud, crumbled when the Agori impacted with it. Raanu rose once more, but he was greeted with a shadow blast. The Shadow Toa approached Raanu in one jump, and rised his sword high in the air. Raanu threw his small dagger at the Toa’s arm, making him lose grip of the sword. Raanu jumped at the Shadow Toa’s head, pretending to strangulate the Toa. However, the Toa fired his laser eyebeams, which sent Raanu flying to the dusty floor. The fall had hurt Raanu somewhat, but he wasn’t going to abandon now. When the dust cloud had cleared, what he saw made his jaw drop.
The slave camp had turned to what was before, the mighty village of Vulcanus. The combatants, both Glatorian and Skrall, had disappeared, and now fire Agori worked happily in the village. The Shadow Toa that he had been fighting wasn’t anywhere in sight; instead, there was Ackar, the skilled prime Glatorian of Vulcanus.
“Is there anything wrong, Raanu?”
“What has happened? Where is Scotar? And the slave camp?”
“Scotar is having a match at Roxtus, currently. And what slave camp are you talking about? In Bara Magna there aren’t slaves, as far as I know…”
“At Roxtus? Scotar is at Roxtus? The empire’s capital ruled by Rotam?”
“Roxtus isn’t a capital of nothing, Raanu. It’s just a village, like ours is. And Rotam isn’t going to attack us anywhere soon, as we defeated him at Atero. I recommend you going to a hut; you must have been too much under the sun.”
“Wait, where are you going? I have a lot of questions to ask.”
Scotar dodged the blast from one of the swords of a Shadow Toa. Gelu and he had managed to kill two of them, but the third one still stood. The glatorian were having trouble with the fight, as they were fighting only with broken chains and swords from the dead soldier skrall, while the Shadow toa carried strong weapons. Gelu slashed at the Toa, though it knocked the Glatorian out with a mental blast. The toa then pointed at the unconscious Gelu, and Scotar ran from behind the toa, ready to impale him. However, the Shadow Toa turned, and fired the explosive Zamor at Scotar. It hit him in the chest, and Scotar found himself flying backwards, and landing in a pile of dead Skrall corpses. Scotar knew that he had to change the tactic. The Shadow Toa were beings of darkness, who were gifted with psionic powers. He turned one moment, and saw Raanu walking alongside with a Shadow Toa. Scotar knew that it was just a trick to make Raanu suffer more, and he had to help him. But first he had to end with the Shadow Toa that he was confronting. The Toa could read his mind, and he had to evade being killed. He was badly wounded. Apart from the gash in his wrist, now he had his chest armor damaged and burnt, and he was feeling pain in every muscle of his body. Scotar looked up, at the Bota Magna moon. When the sun arose once more, they would be doomed. But now he had to focus on the fight, and that concentration was what made Scotar unable to notice a squad of Rahkshi flying straight to him, battle staffs ready.
Chapter 5[]
The rock agori and leader of the slave camp of Vulcanus, Rokuunt, watched with please the battle that was taking place at his camp. Now he had full confidence that the Skrall would win the battle, though at first he had been worried about the attack. Many Glatorian had already fallen, and the ones that were still fighting wouldn’t resist much more. He sat in his chair, in front of the metal window, prepared to watch the massacre.
“Ackar, where are we going?”
“To the Arena of Vulcanus. A match between Certavus and me is taking place, and I have to arrive before it starts. See you in the arena, Raanu!”
Raanu was still confused. Had the thousands years of darkness only been a nightmare? He couldn’t tell, it could be a vision, but it was very real. And he wanted it to be real. Every fire agori worked in harmony, happily traded swords and tools to other tribes, and lived peaceful lives.
He climbed some stairs, and finally, Raanu could see his reserved seat. It was in a privileged position above the arena, though it was the nearest one to it. All the other sits were behind him. Raanu then remembered that he still was the leader of the fire tribe. He hadn’t remembered of his title in a long time. The trumpets sounded, as a sing that the match was about to start.
Scotar was panting. He was loosing blood, and he would soon be finished either by a Shadow Toa or by a squad or Rahkshi. He suddenly felt sad, despaired. The rebellion was just a crazy project, that couldn’t be finished. He had put his life into risk for nothing, and soon every Glatorian in the camp would be dead for his stupid actions. Scotar grabbed a part of a broken Rahkshi staff from the floor, and prepared to cut his own throat, and closed his eyes. When he was going to do it, he heard a familiar voice, and then the sound of a disintegrator being fired and claws and fists shredding through metal armor. He opened his eyes, and saw Malum fighting with the Shadow Toa, who hadn’t excepted the enraged Glatorian to attack him.
“Ackar! Don’t kill yourself! It’s just an emotional control trick of this monster!
Scotar then regained control of his emotions, and used the rahskhi staff to slice through the wounded Shadow Toa. Now only one of those dark beings lasted, the one that was trapping Raanu in a vision. But first they had to take care of the Rahkshi.
The match was intense. Ackar was doing excellent moves in the match, but Certavus still had the upper hand of the match. The ice glatorian swung his sword, and Ackar had to do a backflip and then roll on the floor to evade being hit by the blade. Ackar arose, and jumped to blast Certavus with the side of his flame sword. Certavus didn’t have time to block, and the sword struck him in one arm, tearing through the exsidian armor. Ackar attacked again, this time kicking Certavus in his helmet. Certavus tried to arise, but a punch from Ackar prevented him from doing so. Then the fire Glatorian put his sword in the ice warrior’s neck.
“Do you concede?”
“No”
Certavus grabbed his sword from the ground in a flash, and struck one of the Glatorian’s hands, and Ackar lost grip of his sword. Certavus jumped, and hit with the back of his sword at the back of the fire warrior. Ackar fell on the floor, and fired a thornax at it. A dust cloud rose with the explosion, and both the combatants couldn’t see anything. For a moment, the two Glatorian paused. They knew that trying to attack blindly was just a way to waste energy. The cloud cleared, and before Ackar could swing his flame sword, Certavus stroke the fire glatorian in the head at full force. Ackar fell on the floor, stunned. Certavus was going to deliber the last blow, with enough force to make Ackar loose his senses, but not enough to kill him. In the last moment, Ackar instinctively grabbed his thornax launcher, and fired at Certavus face.
The trumpets sounded again, the match had ended, and Ackar had won. Raanu still watched confused from his sit. He hadn’t watched a Glatorian match in thousands years, and he didn’t remember the thrill of watching one. A fire Agori, Cromata approached him.
“Nice match, wasn’t it? Ackar used the thronax at the last moment. Thornax are dangerous, they do can kill you.”
Ackar exited the arena, and started to climb up the stairs that lead to the Agori’s sits. Then the fire Glatorian walked further and sat next to the Raanu and Cromata. Raanu’s mind went blurry. He knew that something was wrong. Something related to thornax. Then he realized.
“This isn’t real, Cromata. You talked about Thornax, and it caused me a strange sensation. You are dead, you, along with Ackar, were killed in the Attack on Roxtus. You both were killed by Thornax”.
Then Raanu felt his word spinning, and saw the reality again. He was in the half-destroyed slave camp, Ackar was a Shadow Toa, who had been casting him in a vision, Cromata was the remains of a dead Rahkshi, and Certavus was a white armored Glatorian, who had half of the head burnt by a disintegrator blast. Raanu knew that he was next. The Shadow Toa was ready to fire his disintegration zamor, but before he could do so, a Rahkshi thrown by Scotar made the Shadow Toa to fall off of the edge of the southern cliff of the camp, and fell to their deaths in the lava bellow. But Raanu didn’t have time to give his thanks to Scotar. The fire Glatorian, along with an injured Gelu and Malum, were trying to fend off a squad of Rahkshi.
The former leader of the fire tribe stopped running to think for a moment, and then saw his original objective, the hut in the center of the camp.
Rokuunt was still looking through his window, in his hut at the center of the camp. But now, unlike before, he was disgusted with the sight. All the Skrall in the camp had been killed or knocked out, as well as the five Shadow Toa assigned there. However, to his relief, a squad of Rahkshi had appeared, and the Glatorian were having problems to avoid being massacred. Still, Rokuunt felt like if something worse would happen soon… For in case, just for in case, he grabbed his laser gun.
He had been ruling the slave camp under Rotam’s law as far as he could remember. A group of rebel Glatorian didn’t have any right to take it from him. He had been present when the slave camp was being constructed on the ruins of Vulcanus, and knew its shape and mechanisms. The camp was a circular chunk of volcanic stone, which stood above a lake of lava, held by a stone cord. The lava lake was about ten meters under the surface of the desert while the rock that housed the camp was at ground level. Only one bridge connected the rock chunk with the desert, and it had been destroyed when the alarm had first rung that night. He still had some tricks guarded in secret, for in case he was attacked.
A loud crack was heard. Before Rokuunt could even fire his laser gun at the attacker, it already had pinned him on the floor. Rokuunt tried to ground his attacker, but he soon found a battered zamor desintegrator pointing at his throat. The attacker was red armored, with yellow feet and a dusted helmet and armor. Though he had first though that the attacker that had broken through the window to be a Glatorian, when he had clearly observed he realized that it was just an agori. Whatever the attacker pretended, he would have to buy time until a distraction of the agori allowed him to get his laser gun.
“What do you want!?”
“Is there any way to escape this camp?”
“No. The stone bridge is broken, as you stupid Sand Worms activated the security system when you caused the explosion. There is no way to escape this camp, agori. Everything has been chosen so you can’t escape. Have you even noticed what types are the Rahkshi? I guess that you haven’t. Half of the squad is black armored, and wield the power of hunger. The other half is aquamarine, and has the power of fire resistance. This camp was designed so escape is impossible, as you are going to see right now.”
The rahkshi seemed to be restless. They didn’t seem to feel the fatigue of the battle, the fear of the fight, the rage of the battle, or any emotion. They were perfect killing machines. Icius knew this, and had problems fighting the Rahkshi. He could see his partners fighting to death with the Rahkshi. Scotar and Malum were facing a group of Fire Resistance Rahkshi, and he had to help them. He ran to their position, but he was intercepted by a Vohrak. He blasted the Vohrak with a broken Skrall spear, but before Icius could strike twice, the Vohrak blasted him with its own spear, and began to drain energy. Icius felt weaker and weaker, as his strength was sucked out of him. Icius managed to reunite all his remaining strength and willpower, and punched the Rahkshi in the head. Icius screamed in pain, as he saw his broken fist, full of blood. He wasn’t fighting an organic opponent; he was facing a metal nightmare, with the essence of Rotam’s evil and hatred. However, he had distracted the Rahkshi long enough so he could stand up, ready to strike again. But, the Rahkshi was quicker, and in the blink of an eye the Vohrak had delivered a sense taking blow with his staff at the Glatorian.
Scotar and Malum weren’t having luck, either. The Fire Resistance Rahkshi were though opponents, and had great fighting skills. Malum always liked to fight. It was a way in which he could vent out his temper without breaking any rules. But that night it was different. They were less in numbers, less in strength and less in weapons, but he knew that the Glatorian wouldn’t stop fighting to death. However, it seemed that that would happen soon, unless they found a way to destroy the squad of rahkshi soon. He kicked a rahkshi in the leg, and with a strike at full force with a scrap of metal from the floor, the Rahkshi’s shell broke, and the Kraata fell to the ground. Malum crushed it with his foot, and turned to face the next Rahkshi. However, he saw Icius in the ground, and he couldn’t tell if his friend was dead or alive.
“Scotar! Go to help Icius while I stay here fighting these Rahkshi!”
“But you will not stand alone against six Rahkshi!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t die tonight, and I won’t until I know that these stupid monsters are dead!”
And with that, Scotar hit a Rahkshi, and ran to Icius. Malum jumped on the floor, and raised a cloud of dust with his claws, and began to slice them wildly at the Rahkshi, knowing his very thin possibilities of coming out alive from the fight.
“I don’t believe you, Rokuunt. There must be a way. There is always one.”
“No. You will die, it’s inevitable. Don’t you realize it yet? Just look at your big red armored friend. He is called Scotar, he is one of the best lava miners I’ve had. But look at him now. He is fighting a Vohrak, trying to save a friend of his from the Rahkshi, but the Vohrak overpowers him. There is nothing you can do. You are doomed.”
Raanu was going to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of one of the walls rumbling as the heavy body of Scotar hit it. If it hadn’t been because the walls were made of metal in the inside, the hut would have fallen on Rokuunt and Raanu.
Rokuunt used the distraction to kick Raanu in the chest, and jumped to where his laser gun was, and fired it. He hit Raanu, but the fire agori had already fired his disintegrator, and the powerful blast disintegrated most of Rokuunt’s torso. Raanu was heavily injured, with a gash in his stomach armour. He fell on the floor, in pain, and when he looked at Rokuunt, he saw that the rock agori was pressing a button under the table in his last moments. The button pressed, the rock cord that held the slave camp above the lava lake exploded, and it fell with Glatorian and Rahkhsi downwards to the lava.
Chapter 6[]
Raanu slowly opened his eyes. He was in a state similar to trance. Pain blurred his vision; blood loss was making him feel very cold. He moved his arm a bit, and saw that the ground that he was in was much hotter than last time he remembered. He raised his head, and saw that he was surrounded by rubble. Moments ago, the now dead Rokuunt destroyed the stone cord that held the slave camp above the lake of lava. Raanu wondered what happened to the others. He, despite the pain and that his muscles were beaten, managed to climb the pile of rubble, and discovered that the floor was a bit inclined. When he finally could see the battlefield, he was horrified. The floor of the camp was now just some separate chunks of stone floating on the lava. Most of the Glatorian that had survived were just rising from the volcanic chunks. Raanu noticed that there were no Rahkshi in sight. He though that the lava could have engulfed them. Victory cries were heard all across the magma lake as Glatorian claimed victory. It was their first victory over the empire. Raanu would have wanted to join them, but he was too weak to move. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. If he remembered well, Rokuunt had said that the Rahkshi that guarded the camp had been scrupulously selected. There had been two types; Vohrak and Rahkshi of Heat Resistance. Then Raanu then realized that the battle wasn’t over.
The Glatorian had rejoined themselves in one of the biggest chunks. Luckily, only ten out of the thirty that originally worked at the slave camp had died, as far as they knew. Scotar couldn’t hide his joy, despite he had been injured.
“We have been lucky, Gelu.”
“I know Scotar. Has Icius survived, Scotar?”
“There is a Glatorian here called Wakamahu who says that he won’t last a long time if we don’t heal him. But here we don’t have anything. She also says that if we don’t get out of here soon Rotam will send Rahkshi squads to see what happened, and if that happens not only Icius, but all of us, will die.”
“Let’s go then. We should find a way to escape this place quickly.”
Gelu looked at their position. The slave camp had been an enormous rock held by a stone cord over the lake of lava. The walls that limited the desert with the cliffs were circular, and gave it a pit-like appearance. Though they were at the biggest rock, they were still far from the walls of the cliffs. They would have to jump from rock to rock until they were near the walls, and still then it would be very difficult to escape as they were very smooth and hot.
“Scotar, how will we climb these walls?”
Gelu never got his response. Scotar couldn’t hear him. The fire Glatorian was staring at the lava, with a face that irradiated fear. Gelu first didn’t understand why the mighty Scotar was scared, but when he looked at the lava he was too. Some metal spines began to emerge from the lava. Slowly the metal spines emerged more and more, to reveal the shell of a rahkshi, and then ten more did the same. The Glatorian watched with horror as the armored metal warriors started to advance to their rock chunk, their armor still steaming and melting in some points. And without any of the Glatorian trying to prevent it, the Rahkshi jumped on the chunk and surrounded the Glatorian. Scotar knew that they were defensless. Only a few of them still had their weapons, and it was for sure that they couldn’t try to fight the Rahkshi with their fists, as the armors of the soldiers of shadow were still burning. It was like a nightmare, only that they couldn’t wake up. But he wouldn’t give up. He grabbed a piece of rubble, and his companions did the same. And then the suicidal battle started.
Back at the ruins of what once was the biggest hut of the slave camp, the only one with protodermic windows and air refrigerant system, Raanu wished that he could help the Glatorian in their unfair battle. But there was nothing he could do. The disintegrator that he had grabbed from a Shadow Toa had fallen in the magma, but Rokuunt’s one still was in the rock chunk, but was buried under rubble. Raanu doubted that he could move those stone blocks to get the gun, and even if he managed to get it he doubted that he could give it to the Glatorian.
Scotar was the strongest out of the surviving Glatorian. He was twice the size of an average member of his species. Before the Battle of Atero, while the arena match system still worked, he fought for his village against vehicles, as other tribes saw making Scotar fight with regular Glatorian unfair. His muscles were bigger and stronger, and the Rahkshi knew it. Scotar knew for sure that he was going to be their preferred target in the fight. But he had to take advantage on this. If he could distract the Rahkshi long enough for his teammates to escape, he would succeed.
They were slowly being cornered at the center of the rock chunk. Scotar knew that the Rahkshi would make the circle around them smaller and smaller, until their staffs had impaled all of them.
“Malum, I have an idea. But I need your help. You are the only one who still keeps his weapons after the Atero incident.”
Malum darkly remembered that fact. Thousands years ago, after the Glatorian army was defeated, Rotam melted down the Glatorian’s weapons. He had refused to give up his fire claws, and as a response, the Skrall had fused them to his hands with a blowtorch. Malum would never forget that day.
“What is it about?”
“Tell the other Glatorian to scatter through the small chunks of stone that are spread over the lava lake. It will give them an opportunity to escape.”
At Scotar’s signal, he started to spread word of the plan. Some disagreed, but they weren’t in a situation in which they could argue. As a distraction movement, Scotar tried to fight one of the Rahkshi. It blasted him on the stomach, where he was still hurt, but Scotar grounded the Rahkshi. The other ones noticed this, and in a moment Scotar found himself facing the ten Rahkhsi of Heat Resistance at the same time.
Malum saw this, and jumped on the back of a Rahkshi. The heat that it irradiated made him drop it, and he fell to the stone floor. That Rahkshi turned, and stabbed the floor with his staff, Malum having difficulties to dodge. He kicked one of the Rahkshi’s legs, and the Rahkshi fell to the ground. Malum then started to slice his claws, but the protodermis that made up the Rahkshi was much stronger than his Exsidian weapons. The Rahkshi blasted Malum with its staff in the chest, and it rose again, ready for the kill. Scotar saw this, and rammed at the Rahkshi. Malum jumped out of its position as Scotar crushed the Rahkshi with his full weight. The impact had smashed the Kraata inside.
Both of the Glatorian jumped on the nine enraged Rahkshi of Heat Resistance again. Malum charged at one of them but another intercepted him while he was running and kicked him in a leg, making him roll on the stone floor. Malum saw the world spin, and when he could finally get himself to his feet, another Rahkshi stabbed his left arm. Malum threw some sand at the Rahkshi’s eyes, and used the moment of distraction to torn a part the arms of the Rahkhsi. The body fell to the floor, and Malum crushed the protodermis shell with the Kraata inside. But there still were eight more to kill. He jumped, and in mid air, he intercepted two Rahkhsi that were flying straight to him and he broke their necks. The heads fell to the lava, and thought the Kraata were still alive, it couldn’t command a broken body.
Three Rahkshi swung their staffs at him, and he wasn’t able to dodge any of the blows. The Rahkshi screeched in joy, and Scotar watched in horror as the mouths of the Rahkshi opened to reveal the Kraata, whose screech was blood-freezing. Scotar rose to his feet, and delivered a strong punch at one of the Rahkshi’s open mouth, and the blow made Scotar’s fist penetrate through the Rahkshi’s shell until it had curshed the Kraata. He separated the torso from the limbs, and began to use it as a mace. Now he had a weapon as strong as their body.
Malum and Scotar cornered the remaining five Rahkshi to the edge of the chunk. Throwing them to the lava would only make them stronger. Two of the Rahkshi grabbed Scotar by the neck, and in flight mode, they began to fly straight to the walls. Scotar was about to hit the wall, but he managed to smash the Rahkshi to it. He then fell downwards a small rock cunk. Malum was now left alone with three angry Rahkshi. He was angry too. Malum had never been the kind of person that could be described as a born hero. He did what was best for his interest, and for his Glatorian teammates. A long time ago, he had been known for his anger issues. And now, he was going to make sure that the Rahkhsi acknowledged that too. He sliced with his claws at the same time at the three, who hadn’t predicted the attack. However, he was easily repelled. Malum remembered that once one of the strange agori who had arrived at Bara Magna some time after Rotam took over the Rock Tribe had told him a legend. It was about six heroes, who wielded the power of the fundamental elements of the nature. However, six Rahkshi managed to defeat them, and if it wasn’t by a seventh toa they wouldn’t have survived the fight. But Malum didn’t have any type of power, was weaker than those heroes. He closed his eyes, and began to attack again, no matter what the result was. However, before he could feel the cold of the metal in his claws, he heard one shot. It was the sound of a disintegrator being fired. He opened his eyes, and saw as one of the Rahkhsi with its back open, and the Kraata burnt. The other two Rahkshi turned, only to have their shells disintegrated. Malum saw that his savior was a female Glatorian, Wakamahu. In her back was the injured Raanu.
“I though that you needed some help.”
“Thanks. Where is Scotar?”
“He’s fine. He fell in a rock chunk, and isn’t as hurt as the man that I have in my back. He gave me the disintegrator; he says that he borrowed it from Rokuunt, the slave camp leader. Let’s go now. The others have found a way to escape through the ventilation system.”
After passing through a net of metal conducts, they finally reached the surface. At Raanu’s command, they started to walk to a burnt forest. Those who remembered knew that it was the remains of the village of Tesara. Scotar approached to talk with Raanu.
“You have been elected as the leader of the rebellion, Raanu.”
“Me? Why me? Any of the Glatorian who fought in this battle could deserve this title.”
“But you started this. It’s their choice. We have won Raanu, you should be proud of it.”
“I’ve always fought for the safety of the agori, Scotar, and I think that by destroying the slave camp I sealed the fates of all of you.”
The two didn’t cross any other word in the rest of the travel. Both knew that Raanu spoke the truth. But the rebellion had started, and now there were very few things that could crush it.
Chapter 7[]
Rotam, ruler of the Emprie of Darkness, sat in his throne room. The roof of the room was made of crystalline protodermis, but if Rotam wanted it could turn opaque, so he could be surrounded by the shadows. And now, at midnight, he was looking at the sky. It was black, with millions of white dots scattered all around it. It was the favorite moment of the day for Rotam… watching the stars, knowing that each star had some planets orbiting around it… and that each of these stars and lands were his. He was the emperor, and that meant that he was the absolute ruler. His will was the law, and those who dared disobey it were executed immediately. There was no habitant in the galaxy that wasn’t his own property. He had the strongest army that the universe had ever seen, with Skrall, Rahkshi and Shadow Toa. Every territory that had dared to oppose his conquest had been crushed. His palace was as big as the village of Roxtus had been thousands of years ago. New Roxtus now covered half of the planet’s surface, and it was still expanding. In the center of the empire there had never been a single rebellion… but Rotam knew that the most dangerous rebellions were the ones started in the heart of the capital. Rotam pulled those thoughts aside, and continued to watch the stars.
In one of the corridors of Rotam’s palace, there was a being breaking the laws. That being was running through the corridors, turning the attention of every guard present. He was Prhiatt, and he was in a very bad mood. Normally, the Shadow Toa would have stopped any being that disturbed the peace of the palace, but even those stepped aside when they saw Prhiatt. He was a high ranked lieutenant in Rotam’s army, and aspired to be the general. The current one was already too old for its charge, and it was obvious that Rotam would soon name Prhiatt the new general of the empire. Though he was from the soldier class, he had been promoted many times for his devotion for the empire and for his great strategy skills. But that currently wasn’t the biggest one of his worries. Scouts from the desert had reported that the Slave Camp of Vulcanus had just been destroyed. The survivors of the battle said that the attack had been organized by a group of rebel Glatorian and Agori. That’s why he was in a bad mood. He didn’t mind a little rebellion, but he hated having to tell his master that a small group of Glatorian and Agori had been able to kill four Skrall soldiers, three Shadow Toa and a squad of Rahkshi. Some Skrall had survived the attack, but those had already had been executed for incompetence.
Prhiatt opened a door, and stepped onto a lifter. He pressed a button, and immediately, the platform started to hover at a great speed. After a few seconds, he had arrived to his destination. Rotam’s chamber stood in front of him. Interrupting Rotam during his hours of meditation was a crime, paid with death, but he would have to try.
He opened the massive metal doors, and saw that the room was clocked in darkness. However, when he looked closer, he distinguished the shape of a powerful armored warrior in the shadows. Its eyes glowed red in fury, and before Prhiatt could do anything, two volts of heat vision struck him. The Skrall general fell to his knees, and slowly lifted his head to see his master. Rotam’s eyes still were emanating pure rage.
“My master… What has happened?”
Rotam stepped and closed the door behind Prhiatt. Then, the Makuta grabbed the Skrall and threw him to a wall.
“Do you think that I don’t know? You came here, reporting bad news. You were going to try to mask your failure with euphemisms and half truths. Remember that I’m not like you, a powerless little Hapaka scum, but a Makuta. In my world, that word was a synonym of power, though of monster as well, many times. I have mental abilities, and I know everything that happens in this palace. Now, let’s get to where I wanted to go. Can you explain me why you failed?”
Prhiatt had to carefully choose his words. If he enraged Rotam again, he would surely be turned to ashes.
“While I had just returned from some war campaigns at the periphery of the galaxy, I was informed that the Slave camp of Vulcanus had been destroyed. And worse, that the attackers were Glatorian and Agori rebels.”
“This is impossible. The camp was guarded with three Shadow Toa, six Skrall and an entire squad of Rahkshi. You must be lying.”
Rotam grabbed Prhiatt, and pinned him to the floor.
“I don’t like liars.”
“Scan my mind, master. You know that you will find out that what I’m saying is the truth.”
Rotam loosened his grip on Prhiatt, and allowed him to stand up.
“And how do you think that a small group of Agori and Glatorian could defeat so many guards?”
“We are not sure, my master, but we think that the Shadow Toa had not been enough trained, that the Skrall had never battled a real enemy, and that the Rahkshi were weak. But I think that there is something more. We think that there is the possibility that another being helped them.”
“What do you mean by ‘another being’?”
“I’m not sure, master. Maybe a powerful being, but I fear something worse.”
At this point Rotam was so enraged that his expression through the Kanohi Caan would have scared even a Tahtorak.
“Talk clearly!”
“If I recall correctly from the history lessons, you, along with four other Skrall, went to search for a powerful being north of Bara Magna before destroying the villages of Tajun and Iconox.”
Upon hearing that, Rotam sat in his throne and his expression changed.
“I presume that whatever that being was, it had mental powers.”
“He’s returning… Prhiatt, do whatever you want but go and crush the rebellion. Don’t create a massive mobilization of warships, I don’t want anyone else than you know what happened at Vulcanus. Execute the explorers that gave you the info, and manage to don’t turn the attention of anyone when you are attacking. Also, bring me the Skrall that took part in the mission at the north of the Black Spike Mountains ten thousand years ago.”
When Prihatt had left the room, Rotam cloaked himself in the shadows, and the image of remembered the image of that horrible being. He knew that hearing Karabak was only the herald of an imminent destruction.
Chapter 8[]
Sun finally rose in the desert of Bara Magna. Teridax, leader of the Sand Tribe, watched it from the entrance of the cave that was the main stronghold of the Vorox and Zesk. It was early morning, and small clouds of dust flew on the ground. As far as his eye could reach, there were only dunes. It looked like a sea of sand, whose power could not be matched by anything else. The sight was breathtaking, but to a desert dweller like him, it wasn’t so impressing. So he went inside the cave again, and headed to his personal room. He had been informed moments ago that an incident had taken place the night before at the slave camp of Vulcanus. The Skrall hadn’t said anything about that, but Teridax commanded the Sand Tribe, and it had eyes and ears everywhere. The slave camp had been destroyed, and many of the guards had been killed. That pleased him as it was something that would make the Skrall focus on the Glatorian rebellion, and not on the one that he was about to start. He still hadn’t clear why he had though of starting one. He, and all the Vorox and Zesk, had wished to rip apart the Skrall and their empire since the war at Bara Magna had ended, but somehow he had decided to start it a day ago, after he discovered that Rotam had sent a Rahkshi to spy on him. But that didn’t matter now.
After going through many tunnels, he finally arrived to his room. He went inside, and started the computer. Quickly, the machine lighted up and a low hum filled the room. A message appeared on the screen, and Teridax opened it. It was what he wanted to see, the map of Bara Magna. After some moments, a tridimensional model appeared on his metal desk. He saw all Bara Magna, from the city of Roxtus to the factories at the south of Tajun. He typed a few letters, and then colors filled the map. There was a black sphere that covered most of the territory of what once were the black spike mountains. The black color meant that it was the city of Roxuts, the residential zone to the highest functionaries of the empire. Compared to its power, the city was relatively small; there were bigger cities even in the Bota Magna moon or in the faraway planet of Jadax Magna. But it was logical, since Bara Magna, even being the center of Rotam’s empire, was still a worthless pile of sand. But it was worthless to the Skrall, who, unlike the Vorox, didn’t appreciate the vantages of living at the desert. The majority of the map was covered in red, which was the color that represented zones full of factories. In green, there was a zone in which only lived a few desert creatures. It was small, located near the southern door of Roxtus and circled a part of the Skrall river, in which only flowed sand. And finally there was a part covered in blue, the region controlled by the Sand Tribe. It comprised of the region of the dunes of Treason, and some terrain in the Creep Canyon. When he looked at that map, he always dreamed of all Bara Magna being his. He didn’t desire the entire galaxy, just like Rotam did. He just wanted the deserts in which his people had lived millennia before Rotam even had stepped at the desert.
He went out of his room, and went to the main hall of the cave. Big flags with the Sand Tribe insignia hung at the roof, and bellow the activity was flourishing. Many Vorox and Zesk traded with each other things that they had found in the desert, both weapons and food. Before he had found the cure to the Kraata Virus, the Sand Tribe had just been slaves or the Skrall. Rotam had been clever. After the Battle of Atero he had given the Vorox a small portion of land at the desert, telling them that they were free, but in reality they never were. The Kraata Virus made the Vorox and Zesk loyal to Rotam and the Skrall, and while infected they only lived and died to serve the Skrall. But, now that they were cured, what could the do? And, would Rotam notice that, and destroy them?
Then he heard an alarm, he ran to the control room, and in a screen he saw five small flying vehicles. The fact that they were armed with cannons and that they wore the Skrall insignia at each side of the vehicle showed that they were Skrall.
“Activate the laser cannons!”
There were many ranks in the Skrall army. There were the soldiers, the captains, the commanders and many more low ranks. The highest were the lieutenants, and there were two of them, Prhiatt and Raddunk. Then there was the general, Kassedor, and finally, the emperor, Rotam. But there also was another rank, between the general and the emperor. It was the second in command in the empire, Rotam’s disciple, and the successor. Mulon, Toa of Shadows, had the honor of occupying that rank. And while generals, and commanders and high ranks usually didn’t go to the battle camp, he did, because he loved war and bloodsheds. And now, driving a small but heavily armed aircraft, followed by five other, he was going to erase the Sand Tribe from the surface of Bara Magna. They had recently found a cure to the illness that kept them loyal to the empire, and now they were useless. They would be exterminated, like the Glatorian race had been ten thousands years ago. He saw his objective. There was a small rock formation between the dunes, with a cave bellow it. It would be an easy job. As the Vorox didn’t have any technology, they would just have to bombard the zone until it burnt.
He prepared his cannons, and prepared to fire a bomb. However, he saw something moving in the sand that made him hesitate. Quickly, half a dozen of laser cannons emerged from the dunes, and fired at their ships. Mulon did a power dive, and dodged the blasts. However, the two air crafts behind him couldn’t and were destroyed. This made the attack force just three ships.
“This is just getting how I like it.”
Teridax watched with satisfaction as two of the ships fell to the floor and exploded, killing the two Skrall drivers inside. There were still three more, but they wouldn’t be a problem. He left the screens and went to the landing port, and looked for his own battle craft. He jumped inside, and looked through the crystal window. Then, a massive explosion was heard, and the roof of the cave shook. Another explosion struck the roof and it fell. Teridax quickly started the engine of the air craft, and shoot off at the highest velocity that he could. Rocks fell to the ground, killing many Zesk and the Vorox drivers that hadn’t escaped at time. He would have to turn the attention of the three airships, make them pursue him and then he would think of something. But the priority was to save his tribe.
He pulled the accelerator until he was in front of the attacking airships. His own airship was smaller, older and dusty, but it was perfect for fighting in the desert.
Teridax dived into the battle, and fired his rotating guns madly. He didn’t care of the consequences; he just wanted to avenge ten thousand years of slavery and misery, even if that meant the doom of him and his tribe.
Chapter 9[]
Laser guns were not officially used anymore in the Empire. While in the first five thousand years after Rotam’s rise to power they had been common, after the invention of the Disintegrators they had fallen out of use. The energy that the Disintegrators used was much more common and cheaper than the one used by the Laser weapons, and the effect was much cleaner. However, there was still a reduced number of people who used them; the Sand Tribe. Scavengers by nature, rebels by condition, they had been gathering anything that served as weapons for months. Since they had been cured of their infection, the Empire had secretly been spying on them. The Sand Tribe members, with the patience of a Skopio waiting for its prey beneath the dunes, waited for weeks, with their weapons hidden. And now that the Empire had attacked, they had started using them. And one particular specimen, maybe the one with more power of them all, was regretting that he hadn’t though of stealing more powerful weapons.
Teridax cursed in the Zesk language, and shouted loud while looking at the screens that showed the scenario behind his small airship.
“That Sand Bat scum is on my heels!”
At the screen he could see one stylized, black airship, belonging to the dreaded Mulon. Why hadn’t the Toa of Shadows attacked yet? Teridax knew that the speed of the airships of the Empire was much higher than the one that he was using. He looked through the glass window, and then saw the answer came to him. The other two airships were in front of him, waiting for Mulon to pressure him to go into their direction.
It was time to eject from the ship. If he had luck, he would fall, in a soft, hot sand ground. He looked for the lever in the roof of the airship, and found it behind his sit. He prepared. Maybe he would die, but he pulled it anyways.
Then something that Teridax hadn’t expected happened. He hadn’t been thrown to the sky, neither anything else. He had just torn it apart from its position.
It was too late. Mulon was on his heels, and the two were at ten meters from him. From that distance, Teridax could see the two airships in front of him with detail. They had a triangular shape. Unlike his airship, the ones that the Skrall used didn’t have any window. He was sure that they had some sort of sensors that informed the drivers about their surroundings. The engines were on the back of the vehicle, and there was an exhaust tube along the back of it. Then Teridax realized what he had to do. He pulled the accelerator to the maximum, and soon he was side by side with the two airships. Before the two Skrall drivers could even blink, Teridax broke the window of his airship, and threw the broken lever at the airship in his left.
Teridax didn’t miss his target, and the scrap of metal hit the exhaust tube, obstructing the path of the excess raw energy. In a matter of seconds, the airship exploded, sending of burning pieces of obsidian-like metal everywhere.
This would have given him time to escape; however, he, after remembering the pain of being enslaved for so many centuries, faced his airship behind the clouds of burning steam and ashes that had been formed. He waited, and prepared to use the laser cannons. His determination was stronger than his fear. His hate and his hunger for revenge were stronger than anything. He looked at the still turquoise sky of the dawn, only disturbed by the ashes of the explosion. Hot air was entering through the hole in his window. He felt the adrenaline rising inside him. And then the two shadowy airships appeared from behind the flames. Teridax activated his laser cannons, and began to fire madly.
The two Empire airships dodged the blasts, and Teridax pursued them. Mulon’s ship suddenly turned, and fired its disintegrators at Teridax’s ship. The blast hit the engine of his airship, and it started to fall, leaving a trail of smoke. But he hadn’t lost all hope. He pulled the accelerator, and dived towards the ground. Teridax was where he had wanted. The Creep Canyon was below him. And like a Spiked Worm introducing in a crack of a rock, he entered the shadowy canyons.
Through the communication link of the two airships, an enraged Toa of Shadows and a Skrall talked.
“We’ve lost him! Do you know what that means, Branar? We will have to go down there, at the Creep Canyon, and risk been crushed against the walls of it.”
“Sorry, my master, but we will have to go down.”
“Then you go first.”
Mulon cut the communication link and descended to the ground, hovering a few meters from it.
Branar did the same, but slowly descended into the canyon. The walls were a bit too close for his airship. He was ashamed. Ten thousand years ago, he had been a prominent member of the Rock Tribe. His name was feared even by the soldiers of his own army. He had fought in the war against the Glatorian, and won. And then, millenniums later, he found himself following orders from one of the enemies, Mulon. Branar had once dared to ask Rotam why the Makuta had chosen Mulon to be the second in command, and after blasting him with a bolt of shadow, the Emperor had responded “I chose him because he has shadow. The shadows are at his command, and he will use them to spread famine and rouge. I don’t fear his rebellion, as Shadow consumes the user into Darkness, and I’m darkness.” Branar pulled those thoughts aside, as he was getting distracted. Teridax could be hidden anywhere in those rocky walls. He caught a glimpse of rusted exsidian metal, and of glowing red energy… and that was the last thing he saw in his life, before he was engulfed by fire.
When Mulon heard the explosion, he knew that it was the time. That foolish Branar had accepted a certain doom. But his death had been necessary. Now Teridax had discovered himself, and Mulon would easily find and destroy his ship. Mulon descended into the canyon, and saw Teridax’s airship right in front of him. Teridax quickly sped to a turn in the walls. Mulon smiled.
“You cannot hide, stupid Vorox. You are leaving a nice trail of smoke behind you.”
Mulon followed the smoke, and fired at every corner that he passed by. In various occasions, he had been very close to disintegrating Teridax’s airship. Then both ships arrived at a long, wide section of the canyon, perfect to end with Teridax’s existence finally. But first, Mulon wanted to have some fun. He watched as Teridax’s airship slowed down, as the broken engine was loosing power. He communicated with it.
“What’s up, Teridax?”
“Here waiting for something to happen.”
“I know. Have you ever seen someone being disintegrated?”
“No, though it would be a pleasure if you allowed me to try it on you, Toa scum.”
“I’ll explain it, so you will be ready for the time in which I have to kill you. First, you will see a bold of blue energy coming right towards you. The sensors of your airship will give off an alarm, in the unlikely case that you have them. Ignore it, it will be too late. It will strike your ship, and then pass through its armor. If you are lucky, you won’t be hit by it. But the blast will have caused shrapnel fly right to you, and the explosion will set the airship in fire. Then there will be a second, and a third, if needed, disintegration blast, which will hit you. You will feel your skin burning away, and a vacuum forming inside you as your organs and flesh are disintegrated. Then you will die. And when I’m done with you, I will go back to bombard your village, and kill every member of your damned species. Imagine it. Isn’t the sight just breathtaking?”
Mulon cut off the communication, and prepared the disintegration cannon. However, when he looked at the screen of the ship’s computer, he saw the battered Vorox airship facing him, and firing its laser rotating guns. Too late to maneuver, every single blast hit Mulon’s ship. His ship shook, and the alarms started to ring.
“How have you dared? You have damaged my airship, and increased my rage.”
“Go hell, shadow dung!”
At that point, Teridax accelerated his ship towards Mulon. The engines would surely explode, but he didn’t care. Mulon fired various disintegration blasts, and some of them hit Teridax’s ship, but the Vorox impassively continued flying at a great speed. At that point only a few meters were between the two airships. Most of the armor of the ship had been blow away, but it didn’t matter. The effect would be the same. Mulon tried to pull his airship out of there, but there was no time. Before Mulon could even pull the emergency lever both airships collided.
A big explosion followed. Pieces of armor and metal plates flew everywhere. A column of superheated ashes raised in the skies. The broken remains fell to the rocky ground, creating another explosion.
And a figure lied on the ground. Mulon reached for his rusted Kanohi Matatu, and tried to rise to his feet. However, most of his muscles were still burning and aching in pain. Mulon tried to stand up again, and moved a few steps. Soon, he fell to the ground, panting. He began to cough smoke.
“You see, Mulon... things haven’t gone as you planned. I jumped out of my airship just before the crash. You will die now, in this miserable state.”
In the ground, Mulon slowly turned his head and saw Teridax. Mulon accessed to his Suva, and accessed a Kanohi of Healing. He used it, and felt revitalized. It hadn’t completely cured his wounds, but it would be enough to allow him to fight.
“Now we can end this.”
“Of course… I don’t want to die here in this dirty floor. You will be the one to fall, Mulon, even if you use your mask tricks.”
Both painfully rose. Teridax got out a sword that he had attached to his back, and Mulon materialized one made of shadow. The two were about to lunge at each other, but then a cold breeze blew through the canyon, extinguishing the fire of the broken remains of the airships. When the clouds of ash had cleared, a white armored figure appeared.
“None of you will get out of this canyon alive. I have been waiting for millennia, ever since the Empire rose to power. But now I have the opportunity to end this madness now. Finally, after ten thousand years, I return. No more oppression to the innocent; no more Agori lives will be wasted serving your empire.”
Teridax tightened the grip of his sword.
“Who is he?”
Mulon dropped his sword to the floor in shock, and was able to only mutter two words.
“Toa Matoro.”
Chapter 10[]
The sun continued advancing higher towards the sky as the swords of three warriors clashed deep in the Creep Canyon. They made a strange group. The leader of the Sand Tribe, Teridax, fighting with Mulon, a corrupt Toa of Shadows and the second in command in Rotam’s empire, and both battling with Matoro, a mysterious Toa of Ice. And Mulon was having the edge of the fight. As he blocked a sword swing from Teridax, and after dodging an Ice blast from Matoro, he jumped on a boulder.
“This is far too easy! I’m just skirmishing with you with a sword made out of Shadow. Imagine what I could do if I had my disintegrator here!”
Teridax rammed on the same boulder, making Mulon fall to the ground.
“Your ego is too big for your armor. Care if I make a gash for it to relieve it?”
He then jumped on the Toa of Shadows, and punched him on his Matatu. Then he prepared to slice Mulon through the chest with his stinger. However, he suddenly felt very cold, and then hundreds of electricity bolds electrocuting him.
Mulon threw the block of ice that contained Teridax away, and rose to his feet. He looked at Matoro, and then recovered his Shadow Sword from the ground. Matoro ran at him, and after he was grounded by the Toa of Shadows, he sent a hail of ice daggers at him. Mulon redirected them to the walls to the canyon with his Matatu, and then delivered a powerful kick on Matoro’s chest, which sent the Toa flying away, landing hard on some rocks. He then turned, and saw Teridax in his ice block. What should he do? Let him die from Matoro’s ice, or have the pleasure of having his sword slash through the Vorox’s throat. Without second thoughts, he chose the second option.
With a strong punch, he easily broke the ice cage. He looked at the eyes of the still stunned Vorox. He scanned them searching for a trace of fear, but he just found hatred and thirst for revenge. Unnerved, he stopped looking at Teridax’s eyes, and swung his sword. However, a bolt of ice struck his back, freezing half of his back and electrocuting it at the same time. He turned, only for Teridax to stab him in the back with his stinger.
Mulon fell to the floor, as he felt an old scar opening. It wasn’t physical, but rather mental. He remembered the last time that he had been stabbed in the back, and then rage boosted his strength, and he was able to jump in the air and deliver a pair of kinetic punches to Matoro and Teridax with his Matatu.
He landed on the floor, and then started to run at Matoro. The Toa of Ice was his strongest enemies. Mulon didn’t have any enemies, at least alive ones. And, as many Skrall in Rotam’s army could confirm, Mulon made sure that none of the ones that opposed him lived enough to threaten him.
The Toa of Shadow dissolved his sword, and then prepared two bolts of powerful darkness energy. What he didn’t expect was to slip in an icy floor and fall face-first to the ground just before launching a shadow bolt that could have ripped Matoro’s chest apart easily.
Matoro laughed at the sight.
“The general of the Empire of Darkness has been grounded by some ice covering the floor. Imagine how good it will sound when some of your soldiers discover your rotting corpse down here and tell Rotam.”
Mulon got up, and created two Shadow swords.
“That’s the best part. The only corpses they will find will be the ones of you, and your Vorox friend.”
“I don’t have friends, Mulon. It’s been a long time since I had one. Either way, none of you two will get out of here.”
Teridax, who had recovered from Mulon’s attack joined the conversation, gripping his sword tightly for incase it transformed into a death duel in an unexpected moment.
“Ally with me, Matoro. We are fighting the same enemy. If we join forces, we stand a chance against Rotam’s army. We could- ”
“Stop, filthy Vorox. You are a corrupt. You surrendered to Rotam once, so you may betray me again. You are a Piraka. You might say that you just want to claim what is yours from Bara Magna, but I know your true intentions. After Bara Magna is yours, you will decimate all the members of the other tribes, Skrall and Agori alike.”
Teridax, enraged, threw Mulon aside to the canyon’s wall, and then swung his sword at Matoro. The Toa of Ice blocked the blow with his own sword, and then allowed extremely cold temperatures run through it, and into Teridax. The Vorox fell to the ground, paralyzed.
“I have no interest in joining you. Besides, I am a Toa, and my sole purpose in life is protecting the interests of the Matoran species, and defending them. I’m just one of the two remaining of that species, a specimen that wants to be the only one in existence.”
Mulon grimly grinned, and then charged a shadow bolt.
“Then, I see, Matoro, that we share the same interest.”
The two fighters lunged at each other, prepared for the clash. Matoro swung his blade, but then Mulon dropped his sword, and encased the Toa of Ice in a sphere of darkness. Mulon landed on the ground, and kept Matoro suspended in the air by the shadow energies.
Mulon then looked at Teridax. The Vorox was getting up, but still shacking from the cold. The Toa of Shadow stared at Teridax as the Vorox hopelessly threw his double-bladed sword. The weapon hit some rocks behind. But Teridax knew that he hadn’t missed his target. He had a biggest knowledge on his environment. So he knew that he had just struck a weak section of the canyon wall, something that Mulon didn’t know until he was buried under an avalanche of rocks.
Matoro, free from Mulon’s power, landed hard on the rocky floor, and charged up his sword with elemental power, but before he could attack Teridax a massive bolt of shadow struck both him and Teridax. The two flew away, until they crashed on some rocks.
An explosion of darkness energy followed the attack, which shattered the rocks that covered Mulon. The Toa of Shadow approached Teridax and Matoro, and then materialized two swords.
“I have enough of this. Your heads will look good mounted on the walls of my room in the Palace at Roxtus, along with that of the members of the Agori rebellion. As you imagine, so much decapitation will take a lot of time, so, why waste more hours fighting when I can start right away, with your heads?”
Matoro launched an ice bolt, followed by an electrified hailstorm. Mulon simply created a wall of shadow flames around him, and then he made it explode, throwing Matoro and Teridax to the ground.
Matoro got up, but was immediately struck down by a shadow bolt.
Teridax threw a rock at Mulon, who deflected it with his Matatu. The Vorox lunged at the Toa of Shadow, followed by Matoro. The three started clashing their swords again, in an exhausting melee combat. Mulon knew what he had to do. As he parried a blow from Teridax he stared Matoro in the eyes, and then kicked him in the chest. He had seen insanity in the eyes of the Toa of Ice. That would help him demoralize Matoro, making him weaker. With the Toa of Ice out, Teridax would just be a small nuisance.
The Toa of Shadow struck Matoro and Teridax with a bolt of darkness, making them retrocede a few steps.
“We both are Toa, Matoro. But there is a difference between us. I’m an assassin. I’m a murderer. I kill for pleasure. But I never intended to be a hero, like you do. Once you were the great Matoro, Toa of Ice, survivor of the destruction, savior of the weak. Look what you are now. You are a victim of your own anger. Insanity sparks from your eyes.”
Matoro laughed hard, and dropped his sword to the ground.
“You” –said Matoro, pointing Mulon with his finger- “You are the one tricked by shadows. You are like the Rahi I fought on Mata Nui. Just pure strength, the mind taken away by a Makuta.”
“He is right, Mulon. You are so stupid that you haven’t yet noticed in the millennia that have followed your defeat. Today you know that Rotam can create Kraata, as you knew ten thousand years ago and even twenty thousand years ago, when you were still in your own universe. You knew that he infected my tribe before the war, turning them into mindless slaves. You knew that he infected Gresh, who nearly killed you. But you didn’t realize that he also infected you. Look at your Kanohi, you will see I’m right.”
Mulon created a wall of shadow flames around him for protection, and saw that the dirty Vorox was right. His Matatu was scarred, and it was stained with the colors of putrefaction. He had always though the strange appearance of his Kanohi was due to his conversion to darkness, but then images came to his mind. He saw the Vorox, he saw Gresh, and he saw them all wearing helmets with the same aspect as his Kanohi. Morally beaten, Mulon fell to his knees.
Realizing that he had lost, he prepared for the worst. He raised his amrs, and allowed his energy to flow. The power inside him roared, like a Muaka tiger before charging into battle. It roared louder and louder, until he felt that he could not longer control it. He was ready for the Nova blast.
Teridax was the first to realize what Mulon was doing, and started to run – but it was too late. Matoro then expected darkness to engulf him, to greet him, to be consumed by it. But he just saw light flooding the canyon, and then, nothing more.
Chapter 11[]
The council room was full of shadows. The only light came from Rotam’s eyes, which shone a burnt red, contrasting with the blackness around. However, though unseen, the room was full of luxuries. Swords craved from the most precious metals from Cxirn 27-v hung from the wall, and tapestries from the finest weavers from Esceleus covered the walls and the floor. But it was all engulfed by darkness. Makuta Rotam kept it like that because it was only in darkness where he could find a proper place to meditate.
Now the Emperor was in that room, sitting in his throne, his second in command and one of his two lieutenants sitting around a protodermis table in front of him. On the center of it, laid a prosteel candelabrum, with a single lightsone attached to it. The lightsone didn’t give off any light, but Rotam didn’t have it for that purpose. Rotam kept it because it was the last lightsone in existence, and because it didn’t shine, it remembered him of what he had done; it reminded him that he had destroyed an entire universe.
“So”- Rotam began, his red eyes pointing Prhiatt -“What do you report?”
“Kassedor has reported me that the campaign in Storr n-3 is nearing to completion, my lord. However, the extremely low temperatures may delay the full conquest for two months, when the deadliest part of the winter will be over.”
“Inacceptable. Tell Kassedor to finish the job in a month, no matter the weather conditions. Now” – the red eyes faced Mulon now- “do you bring any news from the attack on the Sand Tribe?”
“We lost five airships, with their respective pilots, except me, my lord. But we succeeded in destroying their base. Now they are all scattered around the desert, and they are no threat to our army staying in New Roxtus.”
“Good. Do you want to report anything else?”
“Yes, my lord. When my airship was destroyed, I fought the leader of the Sant Tribe, Teridax, and an old enemy that had been hiding out, Toa Matoro. I killed them both.”
“Excellent. So, it is now official that the Sand Tribe is beheaded, Mulon?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Then, my second in command and first lieutenant, you know what to do.”
Upon hearing those words, Prhiatt and Mulon made a reverence, and Rotam teleported them to another chamber. He stared at the black lightstone, remembering past times.
---
The second in command of the empire and its lieutenant were now in a smaller room, and with more light. It had six walls, each one of them covered by screens, which showed different locations of Bara Magna. Mulon walked around the room, looking at the screens without saying a word.
The presence of the Toa of Shadow disturbed Prhiatt. When he was younger, he had been one of the three thousand skrall soldiers to participate in the conquest of Bota Magna, the green moon. At the time, they still used laser-based guns, and their fleet was small. Mulon had planned little resistance to the Skrall army, but he was wrong. While the Agori and Glatorian of Bota Magna were fewer than them, they had a much better knowledge of their environment. They had been expert in tricking the soldiers, making them fight in swamps, were their land vehicles were rendered useless.
What could have been solved in two months had been going on for three years. In New Roxtus, Rotam was loosing his patience, and demanded Mulon to end the campaign as soon as possible. So Mulon tried out another tactic, much more aggressive than the one they had been using. One day, he ordered Prhiatt, and the other skrall to burn the forests and jungles. The natives could not stop this, as the fire grew bigger and decimated more and more kilometers of jungle. Two years more passed, and we continued advancing, feeding the fire with trees we cut and the combustible of our own vessels. Prhiatt remembered when the last forest was being burnt, and the agony screams of the agori, glatorian and the other beings trapped in the forest fire. And in the middle of that, there was Mulon, with his mask of Scavenging, enjoying the carnage as he grew stronger. The green moon had become the black moon.
That image had been recorded into his mind, and he remembered it every time he saw Mulon.
Finally, Mulon stopped looking at the last screen, and started touching some things in it, making it change the coloration.
“What are you doing, sir?”
“I am passing a filter to this image.”
“Why, may I ask? It is the image of Tesara, which was destroyed and burnt even before I was born. There is not anything there; just black rocks and burnt tree trunks.”
“Do not underestimate your enemy, Prhiatt. Remember that they know that satellites are watching every inch of the desert, looking for them. Probably they have built their own base out of the same burnt wood that covers the landscape of Tesara. Now I’m using a heath flitter.”
The colors of the image changed again, and most of the screen was filled with yellow and orange colors.
“As I expected, sir, the sun makes the sand hot, so we can’t track them by their heath.”
“We can, Prhiatt. Look at the center of the image. You will see a zone colored in dark yellow, surrounded by a light orange. This is where they are. Normally, this zone would be in a pale yellow, as the inside of the hollow great tree trunk is the coldest part in the image. But now, there is an abnormal level of heat. It can only be explained that way.”
Prhiatt nodded, and went to the center of the room. He stepped on a circular button on the floor, and then the projectors that were located at every one of the corners created a tridimensional map of the surface of Bara Magna. Prhiatt stepped out of the image, and looked at Mulon.
“Can I suggest a battle plan, sir?”
Mulon looked at him with indifference and then continued staring at the tridimensional map.
“Go ahead, Prhiatt.”
“Well, I think that the easiest and fastest way to crush the rebellion and destroy their base at Tesara would be doing a direct hit from the sky. We can bombard the zone until they give up.”
“If you think that, you are making me doubt of your qualification of lieutenant, Prihatt. Though we have not seen them in the satellite images, I suspect that the resistance may own some laser-based weapons as well as some disintegrators. Remember that the rebellion members are not just the slaves from Vulcanus – many more have joined since the attack. You may not know, but I have heard that Glatorian and Agori from factories are disappearing lately. They go out of work in rest time, venture in the desert and do not return. The government already has given orders to keep a squadron of Rahkshi patrolling the limits between the industrial zone and the perimeter of the factories.”
“Then, what do you suggest, sir?”
“I’m inclined towards a surprise attack. We were able to destroy the Sand Tribe quickly because we caught them by surprise. But for Tesara we will do something a step farther.”
Mulon walked to the opposite wall of the room, and slid his finger under a screen. Immediately, it retracted into a square screen of no more than ten centimeters wide. The dark Toa then pushed some buttons from where the screen had been, and took a cylindrical tool.
He aimed it at the tridimensional map, and drew a red line that went from Roxtus, circled Tesara through the Dunes of Treason and finally went through what once had been the entrance of the village of the Jungle Tribe.
“Who are we meant to send through that route, sir? A squadron of bombers would end it quickly.”
“No. But the bombers are a good idea. The ones that will follow the red route will be a group of walking Skrall that are meant to distract the Glatorian forces. This will make them reveal their position, and our land vehicles will attack then. And once the forces are down, we will bombard the zone until all that is left of Tesara is a black stain on burnt sand.”
Prhiatt nodded, and then left.
Mulon, now alone in the room of the screens, took of his Matatu, and switched it for a Mask of Mind Control. He scanned mentally the room in search for intrusions, and detected Rotam’s mind. He pushed with his Kanohi, and set the limit of Rotam’s range out of the doors of the room.
Now he was really alone, how Mulon wanted it to be. He turned off all the screens. The toa pressed a few buttons in the wall in front of him, and a retractable metal table self-assembled in front of him. He put his Matatu at the center of the table.
Then he walked around the table for minutes, staring at every inch of the Kanohi. Was it infected, like Mulon had said? Was Rotam treating him like a Vorox?
He couldn’t really tell. When he had the Kanohi on his face, he felt no strange sensation, but again, was that another of Rotam’s tricks?
Again, he didn’t found a reasonable answer in his mind. But what he knew was that from that moment, somehow, the time for treason was nearer than ever.
Chapter 12[]
The elevador went down more than fifty floors in seconds, giving off a low hum. Finally, it stopped on the 4th plant, and Prhiatt stepped out of it. He looked for a moment at the window and saw the black clouds of the polluted sky of Bara Magna. In front of the elevator was a long corridor, with many other branching from it. He walked all the way down the main corridor, and then turned left. He let a small flying device scan his eye, and then green light flashed through the door. He opened it, and entered in an office with a single Rock Agori doing paperwork in a metallic desk, with a lamp illuminating the papers.
“I want to solicit a call to the captain of the Roxtus guard, Kriecar.”
“I will do it right now, sir.”
The rock agori got out a metallic object with a discoid shape from a drawer, and put it on the table. Then the rock agori took a keyboard out of the same drawer, and started giving orders to the discoid computer. A holographic message formed on the discoid, and Prhiatt saw words flashing intermittently. Finally, the hologram turned green, meaning that the connection process had been successful, and the image of a silver armored Special Forces Skrall behind a stone wall appeared. Prhiatt nodded, which meant that he was giving him permission to speak first.
“We can not talk with that public behind you, sir.”
Prhiatt held up a palm, ordering Kriecar to shut up. Then he looked at the Rock Agori.
“Kriecar, shall I remember you that Rock Agori are the lowest rank of the society? We should not care of his presence.”
The rock Agori looked for a moment at Prhiatt, and then continued filling up paperwork.
Kriecar grunted in disgust. Being a Special Forces class from birth, he felt that the situation was humiliating. He had to receive orders from a Warrior class Skrall, which in past times had been under his, and with a Rock Agori watching it all.
“My decisions are not your burden, Kriecar. And besides, if I see that the Rock Agori shows too much interest, it will not be difficult to shut him up.”
“Ok, sir. What do you want me to do?”
Prhiatt grabbed an exsidian chair and put it in front of the hologram. He then sat down.
“May I have your permission to sit too?”
“Standing up is what you were doing since the holo-call began, so until further notice, no. And know that my orders are direct ones delivered to me by the Second in Command.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Then listen. Rotam wants a squad of Skrall, fully armed with Disintegrator rifles and Zamor grenades, to go all the way down from Roxtus to the Twin Graveyard.”
Kriecar knew what the Twin Graveyard was. Not far from Roxtus, it was a location near the Dunes of Treason, which had two burnt giant trunks and black sand all around it. He had heard that there was the place where the bodies of the combatants of the Skrall war fifteen thousand years ago had been buried, in mass graves.
“Ok, sir. Has Rotam told you who is going to show them the route? Once they reach the sea of dunes, the patrol might get lost. Or have you though of a guide?”
At that point, Prhiatt had to repress a smile.
“Bring Leeb.”
As Acid Rain fell on the streets of a section of New Roxtus near the North Tip, inside a small warehouse there was a female Skrall, looking as the sick-green drops formed a rain curtain outside.
“Perfect weather for conspiring, isn’t it, Leeb?”
A green Agori revealed his position from behind some crates. He walked to a table with two chairs around it, limping as he did. The Agori helped himself with what in the past could have been a lime green shield, though now it was so oxidized that only a few green stains revealed its graceful past. He sat in one, and signaled the female to sit in the other chair. He let the shield on the floor, and stared at the black figure covered in ropes in front of him.
“Show me your identification.”
The female removed the hood that covered her face, revealing a cauterized gash on the front of her gray head. Leeb signaled the female to cover her face again, because there could be spies watching, and because the sight was horrendous. He remembered what that scar meant.
Back in the early times of the empire, Rotam had realized that before he could launch his universal conquest, he would have to unify de Rock Tribe. So the Makuta made a pact with the leader of the Sisters of the Skrall; the Sister members were granted high status in the Rock Tribe society, and in return the Sisters had to give up their mental powers.
The leader of the Sisters of the Skrall agreed, but it wasn’t until the neutralization process when she realized her mistake. Rotam himself carried out the neutralization, using mere daggers to extirpate certain parts of their brains, without even caring of using anesthesia. Then the Sisters were exposed to a virus, which was meant to destroy part of the genetic information from them so their sons wouldn’t have any telepathic abilities. One third of the sisters died from a virulent strain of the virus. Rotam then had to match his part of the deal, so he placed the Sisters in a high status. But only the ones that had been born after the neutralization. The original members of the Sisters, like the one that Leeb was talking to, ‘Message’, were placed even lower than the Rock Agori.
“Do you remember what caused this Acid Rain, Leeb? Certainly, the Empire’s attempt to create a wetter climate on Bara Magna turned out horribly.”
Though Leeb knew that what ‘Message’ was saying was true, he also knew that she was talking in code. She was meaning that the Skrall Patrols had been unable to track down her movements so far.
“Indeed. We have luck that the Exsidian alloys of the roof protect us from the acid rain. But the pavement isn’t. A few days ago, a whole street near here was completely destroyed.”
‘Message’ nodded in agreement. It wasn’t good news. She and Leeb were safe for now, but a new member they had recruited not so long ago had been executed.
The rain outside stopped, and was replaced by the toxic steam coming out from the burnt pavement that normally came after the rain. ‘Message’ went to close the window, but when she turned she had to stop dead in her tracks.
A whole guard patrol of Skrall was pointing at her.
And Leeb was grinning at the sight, drinking a glass of a Bota Magna liquor that he took from a drawer under the table. When he finished it, he made eye contact with ‘Message’ again.
“I think that we now can talk without minding the code, ‘Message’. My friends here won’t bother.”
“You spiteful traitor! None of you will be able to take a word from me.”
Leeb looked at a Skrall next to him that carried a disintegrator.
“Power at 2.6, shot straight at the chest.”
The guard aimed at ‘Message’, firing where Leeb had pointed. He fired, and the female Skrall fell to the floor screaming as she clutched the burnt skin on her chest.
“Speak.”
The female raised her head from the floor to look at Leeb.
“Go hell!”
“Power at 5.7, aim at the hands.”
The skrall did as Leeb told, and both hands burned with violet flames.
‘Message’ screamed again, and tried to stand up and escape, but two more shots at full potency left here without legs.
“Speak.”
“I prefer to be reduced to ashes rather than revealing you anything!”
“Then that’s what you will have. Aim at the chest.”
The energy grew up inside the disintegrator, until it was ready to shot. The Skrall had almost pulled the trigger of the disintegrator when Leeb heard ‘Message’ speaking. At that point, he drank another glass of Bota Magna liquor, and went to search his contract behind the crates. He didn’t want to hear what the female Skrall had to say. As every time he had done something like that, the victim would give up the information, and then would be killed. He finally found his contract.
Leeb returned to the table, only to find that there was nothing but ash on the floor. Leeb gave his contract to the Patrol leader.
“Did you discover anything useful?”
“Yes. As we speak, the organization members are being executed in their base, under the east Space Port.”
Leeb took a small electronic device from his backpack.
“Introduce my payment there. You have to pay me 20 widgets.”
“20 widgets, minus the Agori Tax, minus the fee you have pendent for cheating in the Interplanetary Market, makes it 7 widgets.”
The Patrol Leader of the guard introduced the numbers and a code in the device, and then gave it back to Leeb.
“Have a nice day.”
The Patrol Leader of the guard left the warehouse, followed by the rest of the Skrall. Leeb turned, and found that there was a still a Skrall in the room.
“What do you want?”
“I’m taking you to the Captain of the Roxtus guard. Your presence is required and can not be delayed.
The Rock Agori working in the palace, whose name was Criva finally finished her turn. She had witnessed that morning a conversation between one of the Lieutenants of the Empire and the Captain of the New Roxtus guard. She hadn’t paid any attention to the conversation, but the sound-recording device in the shape of a lamp that she had in her desk had.
And she was going to sell it to the Resistance.
Chapter 14[]
A map of the surface of Bara Magna was in a screen in the interior of a ship. Leeb was observing it, and thinking that the mission he was being commanded to do was just a stupidity and a great waste of time.
Kriecar had told him to ride the ship – an unarmed merchant ship- to Tesara, were supposedly the scanners hidden among the dunes would just detect an Agori and some frozen goods stored inside a fridge. The Agori rebels would let his ship land into their base, thinking that the cargo was food, only to find that the true cargo was a troop of Shadow Toa placed in stasis.
This wasn’t a bad tactic at all, but there were far more effective ones, like an orbital strike aimed at Tesara, that would turn the charred trunks into dust and the rebellion into nothing more but a memory. But Mulon had designated the tactic thinking that discretion was the highest priority. What he wanted to achieve with the attack was a swift and clean strike, one that would kill the leaders of the rebellion, effectively disorganizing and scattering the organization.
That way, the rebellion would become an urban legend, instead of a memory in which Agori could cling on for hope. But Leeb preferred a quicker tactic, as it had always been his way.
Turning his attention back to the holographic map, he found New Roxtus, occupying most of the crater where Aqua Magna had once being, before the Shattering, in the South Pole. He was one of the few that remembered that Roxtus had once been located on the opposite pole, nearby the Black Spike Mountains.
The route they had to take started off in the outskirts of New Roxtus, passed by the factories of Tajun and Vulcanus and finally crossed the Dunes of Treason to reach the Tesara graveyard. However, something on the back of his mind stung at him, telling him that there was something more to have in count than just dunes and Cendox snakes. His chances of having time to think about the problem vanished when Kriecar opened the outer ramp of the ship, bringing with him some ice agori slaves, who were carrying stasis tubes with Shadow Toa inside. The ship was so small that he had to get out of it and wait outside.
The spaceport where Leeb had landed the ship was the one with the worst rating in New Roxtus. In fact, the complex just consisted of some runways and a square, flat terrain to park ships. When the Agori were finished installing the tubes in the storage room of the ship, they awaited outside for Kriecar, who got out moments later and chained them. Before leaving, though, Kriecar walked to Metus, and gave him the access codes of the ship’s computer.
“I’ve got one question, Kriecar. Why did you choose me for the job? Anyone with little skill could drive the ship. It’s nothing more than setting the route and waiting for the ship to reach its destination.” The Skrall looked angrily at the Agori. Obviously, he didn’t like to answer questions, and even less questions from Agori.
“Haven’t you realized that once the Glatorian discover the deception the first thing they will want to do is destroy the ship? That is the most important matter, since most of our soldiers are busy looting other planets of its resources and we can’t afford to waste them like that. Also, there’s the fact that the driver had to be an Agori, and you are perhaps the only one that would volunteer to betray your own kind.”
“No one said I’m going to do this for free.”
“We’ll see about that if you return.” Kriecar started to walk away, but halfway to the chained Agori, he stopped and turned on Leeb.
“Before leaving, know that the failure of the members of my patrol is met with death. Given that you are not one of them, your punishment, in case that you fail and survive, will be worse than death.”
Leeb preferred to ignore the threat, so he just walked into the ship, ready to leave.
Leeb also ignored another threat, this time coming from the map he had been observing beforehand – a sandstorm was growing in the desert, just above the dune sea he had to cross. But the Agori was too busy to notice that, and just shut down the map computer as it beeped in warning mode.
A figure awoke half buried in the sand. He didn’t know how he had got there, but he knew two things – there was a huge sandstorm all around him and he had his mouth full of sand.
Teridax looked around, trying hopelessly to identify any trait in the sky that could indicate which time in the day they were, but around him there was just sand and more sand, flying at tremendous speeds, obscuring everything. He got up, shielding his eyes from the sand, and started walking. The sand hit him like a meteor shower on a desolated moon, slowing him down even more.
While walking, he thought about how he had actually arrived there. The last thing he remembered was fighting the two battleships in the Creep Canyon, then fighting Mulon and the insane Toa of Ice, the Nova Blast… and then nothing. He couldn’t see anything, but he already was starting to discover where he was. Obviously, it couldn’t be the Creep Canyon, for he still hadn’t hit any wall. He had to be in some kind of open plain, in a sandy desert. This ruled out the northern plains, which had more rock than sand in them. It could be the Sea of Liquid Sand, but the more he thought about that option, the more he realized that it was not possible. The sand where he was walking on was too much cohesioned to be from that place.
He could only be in the Dunes of Treason. He knew where he was, but he still didn’t know how he had arrived there, neither how to escape the sandstorm.
But then, as if answering his questions, he heard the loud roaring of some aircraft’s engine above his head. Who would be the fool who had dared to fly right into a sandstorm? Teridax has spent many years in the Sand Tribe camps in the desert, but he still knew a few things about aircrafts- and one of them was that if sand, volcanic ash or anything else entered the turbines, the ship would inevitably crash.
It was his opportunity. He stopped a moment to hear the sound of the dying engine between the furious winds, and then he started running towards the source of the sound.
After a few seconds, he heard an explosion not far away from where he was. Then the ground shook, and Teridax knew it was time to accelerate. He ran even faster, and was met by the warmth of the flames from the rests of the crash. He finally opened his eyes, and even though the sand still hit his head and blurred his vision, he saw the remains of the aircraft. He entered it from a hole in the hull, and observed that it was a small merchant aircraft – there was just a storage room at the back of the ship and a control room next to it.
The engines had exploded, and were burning in flames.
Teridax kicked the door of the storage room, which easily fell, weakened by the explosion. Inside, he saw six stasis tubes, all of them broken, and their disgusting content sprawled on the floor. Seeing dead Shadow Toa was never an enjoyable sight.
Anyway, now that he had a place to stay until the sandstorm ceased, he could think about other things. He didn’t want to meditate about the lapse in his memory again; the more he thought about that, the pain of his headaches increased. He went to the control room, and searched for anything valuable. He was lucky. Still sitting in the pilot chair there was a jungle Agori. Whoever the Agori was, he had died in the crash.
So without thinking it twice, he threw the Agori’s helmet to the ship’s floor, and started to enjoy the feast.
Things had happened fast even since the rebellion began.
Raanu always thought that way, even though he knew that probably it was just that in the past fifteen thousand years he had lived as a slave.
But he was right in the fact that events had precipitated from the moment in which he had decided to start the uprising in Vulcanus. Two weeks after the battle, the Sand Tribe was attacked by three small Skrall aircrafts, which destroyed the temporary base. Oddly enough, the leader of the Sand Tribe had decided to divert the attacker’s attention, and had the Skrall follow him to the Creep Canyon. What happened there, nobody knew. It was known that the fight had been between Branar, Mulon and Teridax. Mulon was seen the next day on New Roxtus, but of the other two, Raanu knew nothing of their fate.
It had been two days since the attack at the Sand Tribe base. He now was in a room inside the gigantic dead trunk of Tesara. Once there had been two trunks, but the other one had not resisted 15,000 years of sand and wind.
Raanu was watching a computer that showed a video of the security cameras, but nothing was outside the doors of except sand. A door on the opposite side of the door opened, and Esora walked in. After the Vulcanus incident, Raanu had found himself leader of the rebellion almost unwillingly, but the one who had planned all the strategies was actually Esora.
She had created a group of agents – Agori slaves, scattered among the factories and New Roxtus- with the purpose of bringing more Agori and Glatorian to the rebellion, and also gathering information. The spearhead of the project was Engger, an expert on mixing with the crowds of New Roxtus, but he hadn’t heard anything from him for a day.
“Raanu, I’ve got some good news. Today, we were able to contact with an organization of smugglers. They’ve agreed to trade more weapons in exchange of some of the artifacts we found on the underground of Tesara.”
“That’s good. Was any of our equipment affected by the sandstorm?”
Esora now wasn’t looking at Raanu, but at the screen of his computer.
“No, but… have you seen that one on the screen?”
Raanu immediately turned to the screen and saw a Vorox walking to the entrance of the base.
“What is Teridax doing here?”
The leader of the supposedly beheaded Sand Tribe approached the black trunk. There were no entrances. But he knew that over the past week the Agori had worked on inhabiting the abandoned village inside the trunk and installing defenses under the sand.
He then saw that a hatch opened on the ground in front of him, and an Agori got out. “Will you let me in or will I have to wait outside and fry under the midday sun?”
The Agori said nothing, and went down the stairs of the hatch. Teridax followed her, closing the hatch behind him. When finally he was in the tunnels of the base, he noticed that apart from installing computers and security systems, the main structure of the underground jungle village remained the same. Those tunnels had once served as storage for the food reserves of the Jungle Tribe. The Agori accompanied Teridax to some stairs, at which point a Glatorian named Scotar checked him to see if he carried any weapons. It was a pretty useless check in Teridax’s opinion, since he could kill Raanu with his stinger if he wanted.
Finally, he arrived to a section of the base in which the walls were made out of burnt wood. He opened the first door he found, and saw Raanu and a female Glatorian inside.
Before Raanu could offer seat to Teridax, the Vorox grabbed a chair and sat on it. This was a message to the Agori; he hadn’t come there willingly, and definitely not to have a courteous talk with him.
“May I ask why have you come here, Teridax?”
“It’s a long story. Maybe I’ll answer, but first I need to know how many days have happened since the attack to my underground base.”
Raanu still felt strange talking with the Vorox. He was supposed to be dead. Mulon never gave mercy to his enemies, and he had with Teridax.
“Two days. The members of your tribe have relocated to some caves in the White Quartz Mountains.”
“Good, now, the first thing you need to know is that I’m not here to unite forces with you in your attempt to give freedom to your race… the attempt to break Rotam.” -Teridax paused for effect, and then continued- “About your question, apparently I’ve been knocked out during two days, and I don’t remember anything about it. I awoke today in the middle of the Dunes of Tearson, and the only logical explanation is that I arrived there thrown by Mulon’s Nova blast.”
Raanu looked at Teridax with an expression of surprise, but the Vorox decided to ignore that. He wasn’t going to retell the battle between him and the two Toa in the canyon.
“The thing is, I awoke in the middle of a Sandstorm, and I heard an airship crash, so I headed there. I examined the ship, and found all the passengers dead. Six Shadow Toa, and one Agori pilot. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? So, after I had lunch, I started walking in the direction that the airship was taking before it crashed, and this is how I arrived here.”
“This is a strange story. But I guess makes sense, more or less. Is there anything you would like to do during your stay in Tesara? You will be treated well, as the important figure you are.”
“Stay here, are you crazy? I just came here to get some water. After I get it, I’m going to run as quickly as I can from this place.”
Raanu was starting to understand what the Vorox was saying, and he didn’t like it.
“Why is that, Teridax?”
“The ship I found had a squad of Shadow Toa inside. They were coming straight to Tesara. But they were just the scouts, meant to activate and reveal your defenses to the real threat, which may be already on its way.” Raanu didn’t respond, but instead switched the camera that was showing images of the entrance to one of the sky, and what he saw made a shiver run down his spine.
A hundred Rahkshi, led by an airship which he identified as a Skrall Bomber, were flying straight to the base. There was no point on trying to evacuate, everything was set up so death was the only option.
Characters[]
- Raanu
- Some Skrall
- Natrix
- Kiina - Mentioned (Deceased)
- A Rahkshi of Power Scream
- An Agori who was killed for being late to work
- Some Shadow Toa - (Deceased)
- Scotar
- Gelu
- Malum
- Teridax (Vorox)
- A Rahkshi of Shapeshifting - (Destroyed)
- Ackar - (In a vision)
- A squad of Rahkshi Vohrak and Rahkshi of Fire Resistance - (Destroyed)
- Lahka
- Rokuunt
- Icius - (Deceased)
- Cromata - (In a vision)
- Certavus - (In a vision)
- Wakamahu
- Rotam
- Prhiatt
- Karabak - Mentioned Only
- Mulon