The Feral Plains/Volume VII

This article was written by Chondrya. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.

Volume VII

The Feral Plains/Volume VII

Story
Setting	Powai Nui
Date Set	Before the Great Cataclysm
Released	July 25 - August 11, 2017 (Gallery), August 11, 2017 (Wiki)
Writer	Chondrya
Timeline
Previous	The Feral Plains/Volume VI
Concurrent	None

The Feral Plains/Volume VII is the seventh and final volume of The Feral Plains. It was first written in seven episodes by Chondrya on the late LEGO Gallery, with Chondrya working under the alias "tomatopaste101", before it was proofread, edited, and combined into a volume to be released on the Custom Bionicle Wiki.

This volume depicts the duel between Keelo and Detras, as well as the events which transpire afterward.

Chapter 1[]

Eureka

Detras, Navahko, Corduk, Salvina, and Wreshi stood around the west side of the stone table. On the other sat Turaga Maroona, and her three Matoran assistants Omakah, Arvos and Shensii. Upon discovering secrets and new information from the captured enemy spy Jeko, they had begun creating a plan based on a plan which their enemy Keelo supposedly had made. It involved a duel with Detras and was planned to be trapped, acting as a way to rid the island of the Toa of Fire.

"So," Detras said to Maroona, "assuming that Keelo will even execute this 'Trapped Duel' plan, how can we be sure that he won't change it?"

"We can't," Maroona said. "We'll need a plan that can change to."

"Like, one that can adapt to any situation?"

"Yes. Just like we've done in the past. And if we're going to find such an idea, we'll need to do some brainstorming."

There was a pause as the Toa began thinking of ideas. Navahko began feeling weak, but he dismissed it as a symptom of fatigue and resumed trying to think of ideas.

"We will definitely need to use anything we can," Corduk said. "So, the Shrine and whatever foliage we might need to use."

The mentioning of using foliage and the Shrine gave Navahko several basic ideas. However, one seemed to pop into his head at random, almost taking him by surprise.

"I've got an idea," Navahko said. "it involves the Shrine."

"Let's hear it," Maroona said.

Navahko continued, "From what we've seen, Keelo acts as a sort of 'beacon of immorality' to everyone else. He's got those Matoran all under his command. This means that we should target him first. By surprise, I should add."

Everyone else seemed intrigued by what he had suggested so far.

"So," Detras said, "you're suggesting that all of us hide until some point, and then we all attack him?"

"His forces will attack us, then," Navahko said. "We need to incapacitate him in one quick action."

"And then, what will be done?" Maroona queried.

"Whatever needs to happen, I suppose," Corduk said. "If they attack, we attack. If they hesitate, we should try and convince them to stop fighting with us."

"And," Navahko finished, "my proposed way of getting rid of Keelo is by trapping him in the Shrine." The others all nodded in agreement.

"That would work very well, I say," Detras commented. "From there, we will guard the Shrine and try to make peace with the Matoran and Toa. If that doesn't work, we take the Shrine and fight them off."

"Without Keelo," Corduk said, "they will have lost much of their power, but they will not be leaderless. I presume whoever was leading them before Keelo will resume their leadership in his absence. If they choose to act hostile toward us still it will be just like a month-and-a-half ago."

"That," Detras said, "will be the point where we plan further. For now, the only goals we have are as follows: One, to capture Keelo using the Shrine of Salvation, and two, to minimize injury to anyone on either side, Powai Nuian and Leskya Nuian."

"What about Lewok?" Salvina asked from behind Corduk.

"What about him?" Detras said. "We'll be able to break him out."

"Good. We really need him back on the team."

Wreshi began to say, "You're just fond of him, aren't you?" but was cut off mid-sentence by Detras while Salvina gave the Toa of Stone a dirty look.

"You've been unusually quiet for the past several minutes, Salvina," Detras said. “You usually would’ve said something before now.”

"It's because I've been thinking," she answered. "I believe, based on what we know about Keelo's judgement that I've pinpointed several possible locations where the duel could happen."

Corduk stepped aside as Salvina began arranging rocks onto the table.

"Okay, so this is an improvised map of the Plains. That tan rock closest to me is us, just there for reference. The white rock is where the River cuts into a meadow, the dark rock is the Shade Forest, where Navahko and Wreshi were, the gap in the table is Lake Faradi and the brown one is what was a garden."

"Excellent work, sister," Detras said, "now we can plan specifically for any of these locations."

A couple of days later, Keelo stood in his hall of trees with Lewok, Vandir and the Mask Maker's Tool. Vandir was now able to make audible noises, and according to Yedrin's studies, he was theoretically able to talk. However, he still hadn't said a single word yet.

Using the Tool, Keelo sent a mental message to Detras, while reading it out loud for Vandir to hear:

“Detras, Toa of Fire and leader of the Toa of Powai Nui, I have proposed and am informing you about a more civilized approach to this whole ordeal. I think it would be wise to leave the fate of the rest of this island in the hands of a duel between you and I, in the forest just East of my base of operations. Before you think that you would be outmatched due to my immense power, remember that you have much more skill in combat than I.

"If I win, you will give up what land you have left to me and work under my command. If you win, I will give you back some of the land which I have stolen and form a truce. In both situations, the war will end and your precious Lewok will be returned to you in some way. This duel will begin tomorrow at sunrise, and only you and I will be appearing, no spectators. If you do not appear in time the war will resume.”

After this, Keelo turned the Tool off and stared over to Vandir, who had a faint smile on his face.

“This is it, Vandir,” Keelo said, “this is how they will end. Fooled by their enemy into a false sense of fairness and captured. If I feel considerate enough I may give them more… heroic methods of leaving. Don’t you agree?”

Vandir shook his head.

“Why not?” Keelo asked.

Vandir simply lifted his hand before his face and closed it tightly as if to crush something.

“No mercy?” Keelo interpreted.

Vandir nodded.

“No mercy it is, then. Many things are going to happen tomorrow. This war will end. They will be without their leader. And, most of all, I will finally be able to consume this entire island. And then, upon doing that..."

"We avenge." Vandir interrupted. His voice was incredibly scratchy and hoarse.

"What?" Keelo said. He was startled at Vandir's voice. "What do you mean?"

"Antharahk. We do the same to him."

Vandir paused suddenly and tried to clear his throat before coughing several times into his black shoulder cloak.

"We crush him," he said.

Chapter 2[]

Havoc Part I

The sun was low. The Rahi were settling down to rest. All was quiet.

Strife had turned a beautiful plains into a war zone. But now, all was quiet. Not with rest, but with anticipation. It was as if nature itself were backing away in preparation of what was about to happen.

And what was about to happen?

A war was about to end.

Hopefully.

Detras walked defiantly up to the top of a small hill in the forest. On this hill was a chasm in the otherwise thick trees, an area of nothing but gray dirt, trodden branches, and gnarled roots. Detras, a hero in the eyes of those he protected, saw his opponent, the self-proclaimed Emperor Keelo, a guardian malformed into a monster by calamity and war.

"All I can say before we start," Keelo began, "is that you are very brave to have accepted."

"I thought you'd have much more to say," Detras snarked, "Knowing your unending vanity."

"I could say much more," Keelo replied, "and we could continue this conversation if you'd like to have more memorable last words."

After revealing his dual-bladed staff, Keelo reached behind his neck and his cape fell down into the dirt. Now, it was easy to see that he was not a normal Toa at all, as two wing-like protrusions folded up to add to his imposing silhouette. With no hesitation in mind, he hastily rushed at Detras, holding his staff firmly in both hands.

Detras raised his shield and the two clashed, sending sparks in all directions. Detras' feet tore up the topsoil as Keelo flaunted his greater strength.

Detras jumped to the right, and Keelo stumbled forwards. Turning to face his enemy, he made a jab with his staff, which Detras swiftly blocked again. Keelo's staff became locked in the shield, and he wriggled it out, damaging both his and Detras' weapons.

As Detras continued to hide behind his shield, Keelo lit up with an idea. he leaped back and sent an arc of lightning at Detras, who again blocked it with his shield.

"What?" he exclaimed. "You should have... how did you—"

"I'm brave like you said, but I'm not stupid," Detras said, "I knew to prepare for your powers. Greatgrass rubber grips do wonders for an electrically charged weapon."

Becoming increasingly annoyed, Keelo launched several more lightning bolts at his opponent, all of which met the same fate. He then rushed at his opponent and attempted to strike him with his staff, but was met with a vast amount of electricity coursing through his body. This gave him a jolt but didn't do as much damage as it should have. Detras then bashed the middle of his weapon with his own one-handed staff, causing it to sever.

"Looks like you need to reconsider your choice of metal," Detras said.

"It was built to do that, you ignorant lump." Keelo spat. He shook both of his blades before jumping into the air, commanding the earth beneath him to rise up rapidly, propelling him even higher. Detras stumbled back just as Keelo came crashing into the earth, narrowly missing his attack. However, his shield was thrown from him in the process.

As he rose, Detras activated his Kanohi. A layer of organic armor grew over his own, surprising Keelo. He rushed at the Emperor and swung his staff, but Keelo managed to grab it too. Detras used his newfound weight to swing Keelo to the left.

Keelo lost his grip, flying backward and breaking a large root in a flurry of disturbed dust. He slowly stood up, first starting to dust his armor off before starting to stumble towards Detras. After falling onto his knees beside the Toa of Fire, he expected him to make a move of some sort, but he didn't do anything.

"Alright then," Keelo said, "I suppose you think you've defeated me."

Detras was silent before saying, "It appears I have," in a somewhat unconvincing tone.

"That's where you're wrong," Keelo replied, and he raised his hand into the air. Vandir, Merdana, Hatar and four Matoran armed with blasters arose from behind the roots of a large tree, all weapons aimed right at him. Detras knew what he had to do and that he would be alright, but he still had a tingling sensation that things were bad for him.

"You were a fool," Keelo said, "to trust me. You really should've known I would've done something like this. Anyways, following up on what I said before this battle, any last words?"

"Yeah," Detras, "you were the fool for thinking I wouldn't have caught on."

Detras looked to the side, and out of the bushes Omakah jumped and threw the Shrine of Salvation, all of its lights glowing white. Keelo looked at it confusedly before it summoned a ball of white energy, which suddenly consumed him and shrank back into the machine. One of the lights on it was now glowing dark green.

Everyone present who had blindly followed Keelo not stood in shock as Turaga Maroona, Arvos, Shensii and four native Toa emerged from the foliage.

Detras decided to say something before Keelo's followers stopped gazing and attacked him. "We don't have to fight anymore, now."

There was no reply. He continued.

"You've been forced off of the path of righteousness by that crooked monster, and now you should realize that he was a very corrupted leader."

Most of them dropped their weapons to the ground, while the others relaxed them to their sides.

"If we are to repair the damage caused by this conflict," Detras said, "our best hope is to do it together."

Before Detras could raise his arm to prompt a handshake, he was suddenly forced into a crouching position by some invisible force. The Shrine was manually turned on, swallowing Detras just as it did with Keelo, and adding an orange light.

Both sides now stared in disbelief and awe as the Shrine was lifted up off of the ground and shattered into dozens of pieces. It was then that Makuta Hysterix turned off his Chameleon power, still holding parts of the destroyed machine in his awful claws.

Two of the most influential leaders on Powai Nui were now trapped with no known way of escaping.

As Hysterix turned his claw to watch the rest of the debris spill out into the dust, he began laughing wheezily. He then turned to face everyone else and opened his toothy grin. He began to speak slowly and melodically.

"How daft must all of you be to not have seen this coming?"

There was silence as he awaited a possible answer.

"I mean, even if you didn't believe I was alive, you should've remembered that I could persist without a mortal body! All this time, from the moment these poor refugees set foot on this island, I started messing with everything in just the right way that I could eventually destroy you all. I manipulated every single odd occurrence during the past couple of months, and none of you noticed that?"

Once again, there were no replies.

"If you don't believe me, let me show you some examples!"

He then revealed the Mask Maker's Tool and activated it. Power surged from it to his Kanohi Mask of Possession. It began to glow, and one could tell that his spirit had left his body. However, this time something else seemed to maintain control of his body for him.

Wreshi stumbled backward and shook his head and limbs as if he had just emerged from some sort of hallucination. He looked at his hands and laughed to himself. It was apparent that Hysterix had forced his spirit into his body.

"Corduk," he said, suddenly turning to the Toa of Earth," please trust me again!" He fell to his knees and grabbed Corduk's ankle. "Please, trust me, I promise I won't be a destructive menace from now on!"

Wreshi seemed to reawaken, and Corduk's control of his body was stolen from him.

"No, Wreshi. I will never trust you because you scare me too much!" He shook his leg around, kicking off a mortified Wreshi like he felt impure after having been touched by him. "You're too big of a hassle to deal with, and you're not amusing! Not at all!"

Hysterix's spirit ejected from Corduk and possessed Jeko, who looked up at Merdana and Vandir like a scared toddler to its parents.

"Vandir, Merdana, help!" he said nervously. "Look, the natives! They're right there, and they're trying to make peace with me! I'm scared! Kill them please!" He was shaking uncontrollably, even after Hysterix left his body and entered back into his own.

"There you go!" he said. "I hope I did enough elaboration to wipe those stupid looks off of your faces, didn't I?"

He looked around to see that he had done quite the opposite.

"Lots of enthusiasm we have here, don't we? My goodness, I mean all of you have just been blessed with the gift of fun and laughter right? Look at all of you coherently understanding what I've been talking about! Maybe I shouldn't be wasting my time trying to communicate with you nimrods. I feel like there are even more... enthralling activities we could all join in on!"

His scythe, Subjugator, began to glow as he slammed it's tip into the dirt and used it to tear it up as he walked slowly toward the natives. Everyone began to assume a combat stance.

Chapter 3[]

Havoc Part Two

As the sun fell behind the horizon, calls of Rahi began to echo between the numerous hills of Powai Nui. They seemed to occasionally act as a choir of horror to accompany the brutal battle that had been occurring for dozens of minutes.

After seizing control of the Mask Maker's Tool, Hysterix used it to cripple everyone who tried to oppose him by sapping their Kanohi powers. Only just now had he realized that it had a lesser amount of control over any other powers, using it to gradually relieve his many opponents of their elemental energy.

Now, he stood menacingly, his clawed foot clamped down on the chest of Corduk, who was fruitlessly trying to take the Tool away. The Makuta had used his Scythe to turn several Toa and Matoran into his mindless drones. Salvina was defending herself from a snarling Vandir, Navahko became overpowered by the combined strength of Nepto, Yedrin, and Jeko, and Merdana was trying to find a way to survive as Tura aimed his arm cannon at her.

Wreshi sat up after being knocked away by Hysterix, his Recoiling Pickaxe firmly embedded in the soil.

Salvina managed to push Vandir off of her, throwing him to the side and using what little power she had left to trap him in the mud. She turned to face Hysterix, who had evaded a lunge from Wreshi and slammed the Toa of Stone into the forest floor. She rushed at the beastly figure, swinging her Torrent Staff as hard as she could. Expecting to do a good amount of damage to him, she was shaken by the sharp noise made when Hysterix effortlessly blocked her attack with his Scythe. As she tried to regain her balanced, her enemy swung Wreshi's body into her. This knocked both of them to the side, where a very dirty Vandir prepared to attack them.

Suddenly, Hysterix's eyes widened. He looked down to try and find the Mask Maker's Tool, which he had dropped without thinking, but could not find it lying on the ground. Instead, he found it in the hands of Arvos, who immediately began to tremble when the two made eye contact.

Hysterix seemed to burn holes in his very soul with his insane glare. Arvos nervously backed away as the creature slowly began walking toward him, making a terrible thumping sound every time one of his clawed feet slammed into the dirt and grass.

Their eye contact was broken by Omakah, who prompted Arvos to throw the Tool in his direction. Arvos did this, and Omakah positioned himself and caught it.

Hysterix whipped his head around and tilted it ever so slightly. No words came out, only an angry growl which was creepily fitting of his predatory stance. Whatever cynical and hysterical demeanor he normal showed off had now been thrust aside for something that was more like an animal than anything.

"Guys," Omakah said as he began to shuffle to the left, "we need to go."

"But Omakah," Shensii spoke up from beside him, "the Toa..."

"Now," Omakah interrupted.

Omakah and Shensii began running to their left, and Arvos scrambled away as Hysterix began following them. The pair ran down a hillside, both struggling to see in the twilight. The brightest light source was the unholy glow of Hysterix's eyes. The only sounds they could hear now was yelling far behind them, their own footsteps and breathing, and the frequent thump of a clawed foot which drowned out everything else.

Shensii and Omakah were incredibly reluctant to look behind them to try and see how far behind the creature was, seeming to fear that merely looking into his eyes would spell doom for both of them.

As they exited the forest a wave of humidity hit them hard. They were startled to find themselves running on flat, carved stone. Shensii looked up and realized that they had somehow reached Lake Faradi.

Festive lights tinted everything yellow as Matoran stood around, having waited for Keelo to come back and say that they had finally defeated the natives. They all stared at the two rival Matoran who were standing still on the other end of the lake. Tyria, who was attempting to fix the wiring for half of the lights, walked to the edge of the lake to say something.

"What do you think you're doing here?" she asked loudly, her expression beginning to switch to a scowl.

"Run," Omakah answered, panting.

"From what?" Tyria said. "And what's that weird thing you're holding?"

"Run!" Omakah repeated. "All of you need to run!"

Tyria exclaimed that somebody needed to find the guards to capture them. Omakah was overwhelmed by a fusion between anger and fear.

"Don't be stupid, all of you!" he yelled as loud as he could. "All of you need to get away from this place! Your lives depend on it!"

After several seconds of chattering, the once hostile Matoran began to slowly walk away from the lake. When they heard a roar erupt from the forest, they scattered screaming and panicking. In the absence of Tyria, the lights nearest to Omakah and Shensii broke down, leaving only a minuscule amount of yellow light to light the ledge they were on.

Both of them heard thunderous noises emanating from the trees they had escaped from.

"Omakah," Shensii began, "what are we doing? We need to run and hide!"

"I know him well enough," Omakah said, "to know that we can't hide from him forever. The Toa have been drained of their power, so it might take days until they will be able to take him down."

"Don't talk like that!" Shensii said.

"I have a plan," Omakah said, "a plan to stop this."

"What? What is it?"

Omakah was silent, only staring into Shensii's eyes. Shensii stared back for a while, her darting eyes notifying him that her mind was working vigorously before she became quite distressed.

"Omakah, no! There has to be another way to do this."

"I know," Omakah said. "It's the only way. The only way that will work for certain."

"Maroona needs you, Omakah! I need you!"

There was a moment of silence between the two, the only sounds being the calls of Rahi, the panicking of the Matoran and the impending arrival of their hunter. The tears flowing down Shensii's mask glistened, first in the dull artificial lighting and then in the fresh, pure moonlight.

"I love, you Omakah," she said quietly, her voice shaky, "and I don't want you to go. After all that happened to my home island, and everything that happened here... I know you love me too, right?"

"Yes," Omakah said in a more reassuring tone, "I love you."

"Then why—" Shensii began, before Omakah cut her off with a quick kiss. They embraced each other, both knowing that it would be for the last time.

Omakah let go of Shensii, allowing her to fall back into the water below. He turned to see Hysterix, running toward him with open claws.

With a stern look, Omakah turned on the Tool, and it began to make revving noises. The blue light on the end wasn't glowing, but it rapidly began to heat up. He could tell that it was beginning to destabilize.

Hysterix tripped on a root but immediately continued clawing his way toward Omakah with an insatiable look in his eyes. Omakah looked him straight in the eyes, and for the first time, didn't feel any bit frightened while doing it.

Upon surfacing, Shensii looked up. On the cliff she'd fallen from, she could only see the air begin to warp from extreme heat, and beyond it, a bright light was beginning to shine. With an accompanying loud noise, a concussive heatwave forced her back under the surface of the lake as unidentifiable fragments flew through the sky, glinting in the moonlight as if they were shooting stars.

Chapter 4[]

Songbirds A breeze began to pick up, rocking the tree branches back and forth. Spots of sunlight faded in and out of the space below the pine trees.

Lewok was awoken to the sunlight shining in his eyes again and again and repositioned himself so that he could see. He saw only the same things he'd seen the last several days, but what he heard was remarkable.

Songbirds.

The Kupurero songbirds of Powai Nui were famous for predicting the outcome of the next few days through the volume and tone of the songs they sang in the morning. The songs Lewok heard from them were unusually... cheerful this morning. Things definitely were not as they were yesterday. Things were better, which was very unusual considering what Lewok expected today would be like. He thought it would be another ten hours awake chained to a hardened tree limb, but the songbirds seemed to say otherwise. The birds had to be lying this morning.

The only noise that interrupted the birds was the sound of a voice Lewok knew very well.

"Lewok!"

The Toa of Air looked to his left to see Salvina and Navahko coming to him. The songbirds never lied after all.

Navahko froze Lewok's binding chains, weakening them until the two of them could break the links apart. Without any hesitation, Salvina grabbed both of them and embraced them tightly, which was a bit too uncomfortable for both of them.

"Thank you," Lewok said, "for releasing me." He was talking about them releasing him from the chains that bound him, but he realized that it just as much sounded like he was thanking Salvina for not embracing them for any longer.

Before Navahko could reply, Salvina said what she wanted to say.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! Are you hurt? You probably need food and water!"

"That... that would be pleasant," Lewok replied.

"We have Maroona waiting outside the forest with sustenances for you," Navahko said. "We should get going. She will have much to ask you."

Before they began to leave Salvina pointed behind Lewok. He and Navahko looked and saw Vandir, Hatar, Merdana, Jeko and two armed Matoran, many aiming a firearm at the three. There was a moment of awkward silence as both parties expected words from the other.

"Where do you think you're going?" Merdana asked stonily.

"Are you guys crazy?" Salvina said. "What are— I mean— What on this island are you doing?"

"I need you to answer my question first," Merdana ordered.

"We're taking breaking Lewok out, what does it look like?"

"We can't let you do that," Merdana replied.

"You should," Navahko said. "There's absolutely no reason for us to fight anymore... implying that there was a good reason in the first place."

"Silence," Vandir croaked. The hoarseness of his voice startled everybody. "Lewok stays until we find out what we do with him. Both of you leave."

Behind him, Hatar used his powers to rip Jeko's gun out of his hand and aimed it at Vandir. The Toa of Air trembled for a bit.

"Brother," Vandir said, "what are you doing?"

"I'm doing what I should've done long ago!" Hatar exclaimed. "All of this strife has proven to be a fruitless waste of time and energy. We should be allying with the natives."

"I will never ally with them. They are savages."

"You are as much of a savage as you think they are. Now if you excuse me, I'm joining them to help rebuild their civilization, and you can join me in doing that if you so desire."

"My only desire is to destroy Antharahk."

"Your only desire should be to protect the Matoran." Hatar threw the gun on the ground and walked over to the natives. "If you desire anything above that, then leave this island alone while you pursue."

"Fine. I'll leave then."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Goodbye, Vandir."

Chapter 5[]

Dawn "For too long, all of us have strived for something." Maroona proclaimed. "Some for peace, some for dominance, and possibly some for war. But what we all shared in common was a strive for survival. That was what drove all of us against one another. Fear was used as a weapon to justify our fighting, and none of us are innocent of it. Not even I. But if we forgive ourselves, only then can we see what we really must strive for: restoration.

"The state of both of our communities lies in ruin, meaning that if any of us are to recreate what we have lost, we are going to have to do it together."

Maroona stopped. The Leskya Nui Matoran looked around with polarized expressions, some utterly confused and others in utter agreement.

"In short, I propose that we put aside any reasons to fight with one another and join forces to rebuild both of our communities as one."

Now the Matoran were agreeing more.

"Each and every one of you has a duty and a destiny, and at this point, it is apparent that they can only be achieved through unity."

The Matoran began to cheer, although some were not as agreeable as others. However, it began to die down after about a dozen seconds.

Maroona waved her staff, and Hatar walked up to her right side. Maroona prompted him to speak.

He cleared his throat and said, "I have all of the desire to avenge our home as you do. All of the hatred you hold for Makuta Antharahk is shared by me. I want to see that barbaric excuse for a sentient being destroyed. But listen to me when I say that the path we have been traveling on to achieve that was not the right one. It was one full of war, loss and vain sacrifices. By allying with the natives of Powai Nui, we will be able to redirect ourselves toward a brighter future, one in which we can live in peace.

"Do not hear me wrong. It will not be easy. What I propose is that we help them rebuild what they lost to the Brotherhood, and only then will we have justified residency on this island. But the rewards at the end of all of it will be much greater.

"The last thing I have to say right now is that this is your last decision. Vandir, Merdana, and Jeko have all decided to leave the island on the Horizon Breaker and seek vengeance. If you want to leave with them, now is your last chance."

No Matoran walked away, but some seemed to be deep in thought.

"I repeat, this is your last chance to leave with them."

Upon saying this, several Matoran separated from the small audience and walked away as a group. One other Matoran in the audience shouted the name of another and caught up to the group.

Hatar stepped aside to let Maroona take control again. She signaled for all of the Toa to come up, and they all walked up and stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind her. Lewok, Salvina, Navahko, Hatar, Corduk, and Wreshi all looked into the audience. Hatar caught several beaming expressions directed at him.

"Finally," Maroona said, "it has come to my attention that Hatar here wishes to join the Toa Powai. All of the reasons I had to accept I have already stated, so starting today, Hatar will be an official member of the Toa of Powai Nui."

At this point, the crowd was in unanimous agreement. They all cheered and clapped for not only Hatar but for the rest of the Toa too.

As the clapping began to die down, Maroona said one last thing.

"All I can say now is that the future looks bright."

After Maroona's speech, Shensii saw Hatar approaching her to say something.

"I noticed that you were a bit... gloomy up there," Hatar said. "Is everything alright."

"Well," Shensii said, "I guess..."

Hatar realized how awkward this whole conversation already was. "I guess you don't really want to talk about it?"

"Yeah," Shensii said as Hatar sat down next to her. She watched as Maroona led the rest of the Matoran up the Desolation River.

"You'd probably want to talk to someone like Detras about it," Hatar said, "but unfortunately he's gone..."

The only two Shensii had really gotten to know from this island were both gone now. One who inspired her, and one who loved her. One who might return, and one who will never come back.

Hysterix wasn't even dead. The massive release of energy had only killed Omakah and had only left Hysterix in a weakened, powerless and slightly wounded state. Why did it have to happen that way? Why did she have to lose him, on top of nearly every other thing she ever held dear?

"He was brave, Omakah was," Hatar said. "That's for sure. He was very valiant for a Matoran."

He was valiant for a Matoran.

He was brave.

He was alive.

Not anymore.

He's dead.

A dead love.

He's never coming back.

He's gone forever.

Along with all of the adventures they were going to have.

All of the dreams they had.

All of the plans they had.

All because of Hysterix.

All because of him.

But all was not lost. The Matoran of Leskya Nui and of Powai Nui had finally united.

Mostly.

Things weren't all bad. Everything was not gone. Powai Nui was not smoldering rocks.

It was going to be rebuilt. It would be just like home, but warmer. There would be places to explore.

After everything that had happened, Shensii's dream still remained intact and its fulfillment was infallible.

She could still be an explorer.

Characters[]

Trivia[]

This Volume incorporates many ideas and plot points Chondrya had conceived in advance for the finale of the story:
- Detras and Keelo being trapped in the Shrine Dimension
- Omakah's destruction
- Hysterix using his mask to mock the interpersonal struggles of some of the characters
- Hatar joining the Toa Powai

This is the first time that Hysterix's Berserker Scythe is mentioned by name, and also the first time he has been seen using its special ability.
The pictures for Chapter 3 were not planned to be as dark as they were, however, Chondrya really liked the lighting and thought it would be better to keep the nighttime pictures.
The ending of Chapter 5 was made to resemble the end of the fourth chapter of Dirge, and it features several references to the serial, mainly Shensii's dream to be an explorer.
The mentioning of the Horizon Breaker is the first instance of something appearing in the serial Dirge before The Feral Plains.