Vengeance

[LokaCola]

So now that there’s a literature category and I’m sort of an aspiring writer who also happens to currently work on a Bionicle fanfic, I decided to share my work here because why not?

I originally started uploading it on Fanfiction.net back in 2012 and am continually working on it, but since my writing has improved since then I decided to go back and rewrite the older chapters to make the quality as a whole much better.

This is the story of a Toa who lost everything he held dear, and wants vengeance on the one responsible. Along the way, he meets another Toa who is trying to escape the past. What happens when these two Toa meet, and what future can they create together?

Prologue

The air was full with smoke and the scent of fire and death. He could hear the screams everywhere. Screams filled with pain and fear.

His village was under attack by an army of… whatever kind of species it consisted of. He didn’t know what they were, except they looked like Toa. Dead bodies lay everywhere, whether it was Matoran, Toa or Turaga. They simply didn’t care about who they killed. And the massacre had been perfectly planned, since on this very day all inhabitants of Kastra Nui had journeyed to his village, since it was their turn to hold the annual Midsummer festival.

He ran towards one of those beings, his sword raised high. He had almost drained himself of his elemental powers trying to stop these beings, but now he could only rely on the strength he still had left in his sword arm.

His sword clashed with the blade of the being, which had seen his attack coming. They locked blades, which gave him the opportunity to look straight into its eyes. And what he saw shocked him.

The beings orange eyes stared coldly at him, but there was no life behind them. He was caught off guard by this, which gave the being the opportunity to hit him hard in the gut with its fist. The punch felt quite a lot, and he fell to the ground. He quickly jumped back up and parried its next strike. He tried to find an opening to strike at, but no matter how hard he tried, the beings reflexes was too quick for him to get in a hit.

He jumped back a bit to avoid a strike that would have gone through his guts, and then he tried to disarm his opponent. He failed though, and only now did he realize that the being wasn’t holding the sword, it was protruding from its arm.

“By the Great Spirit, what are these things?” he thought, but that moment of hesitation was enough to give the being time to punch him hard in his face. He fell hard on the ground, and when he tried to stand up his body refused due to exhaustion.

As the being came closer to him to deal the final blow, and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop his imminent fate. But before the being could strike him down, a bolt of lightning suddenly hit it, stunning it for a few moments before it turned around to face the source of the lightning. The Toa of Lightning charged another bolt in her hand, and her other hand held her spear tightly.

The being seemed to have forgotten completely about him, and instead was making its way to the other Toa.

“Kirala, no!” he shouted, but the pain he felt just trying to speak made the words come out weakly.

It had been too much for him and he felt he was about to pass out in just a few seconds, but he was able to catch a glimpse of a being that was different from the others, and seemed to be the leader of the army. It was a Makuta, but it wasn’t just any Makuta. This one in particular was known as Narzhul, and of all beings known to him, there was none that were as psychopathic as Narzhul.

The Makuta saw the fallen Toa and locked back with a wicked smile on his face, a smile that made him sick to the core. Then the Makuta started to laugh maniacally. He couldn’t keep himself conscious any more, and as he heard one of his friends scream his own name, he passed out.

When he finally woke, he saw there was nothing left of his village. He managed to get up on his legs, and looked around him. All the buildings had burned down, and the only trace left of the massacre was the bodies of the islands inhabitants. 

The Matoran which he had sworn to protect. The Turaga that had guided him and the other Toa since the first day they had become Toa. The rest of the Toa which he had served with and considered as brothers and sisters, as well as Kirala whom he had considered his closest friend. 

They were all dead, and he had failed them all.

There were no remains of the beings that had attacked them; whether or not some had been defeated they had probably taken their fallen with them.

All he could do now was to gather all the bodies he could find and give them a funeral. But as he sobbingly and heartbroken gathered the bodies, he realized that a few bodies were missing, including one of his comrades and Kirala. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find any trace of them, and it seemed most likely that they had been captured. And if so… then they might as well be already dead, given what he knew of Narzhul’s treatments of prisoners. He could only hope their deaths would be quick and painless, but somehow he got the feeling it was too much to hope for.

Once he had gathered all the bodies he could find, he piled them up and set a fire. A burial worthy of the greatest Toa, which was all he could give the residents which he had failed to protect. As he witnessed the flames rising towards the sky, the sorrow he felt changed into anger, as he looked up in the sky and proclaimed:

“I swear to the Great Spirits above that I will have vengeance on the one who did this! I will find you Narzhul and I will kill you, even if it means I'm breaking the Toa code!”

All he wanted right now was to bring the monster down. He turned around from the scene and walked away. As he walked, he felt tears running down his cheeks. At first he was going to wipe them away, but he decided not to. Until now, he had been the Toa of Gravity from Kastra Nui. 

Now he was just Orxon, a former Toa that wanted vengeance on Narzhul. And nothing would stand in his way to bring the monster down…

[PekekoaOfJungle]

Good write, good read.

[LokaCola]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[LokaCola]

Chapter 1

She didn’t look back as she ran.

There was no need for that, because she knew they were still after her. She could hear them shout to another, and sometimes their shouts were directly aimed towards her.

If only they hadn’t managed to take her weapon away… Although with her lack of combat experience, it would probably have made no big difference anyway. Especially since she was being hunted by a group of ruthless Skakdi who had taken her captive, only because she had happened to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

She tried to activate her mask power, since speed would be tremendously helpful in this situation. Unfortunately, she had yet to learn how activate her mask. She tried desperately to activate it as she ran, but it didn’t seem to work even in the hour of need.

The fact that she was getting tired didn’t help at all.

Just my luck… she thought to herself.

It would have helped slightly if she knew exactly where she was. She was surrounded by a dense forest, that she was aware of, but what island she currently was on she had no clue of. Her captors hadn’t spoken much when they were sailing on the sea, and it was with sheer luck she had managed to escape.

But at this rate, her luck was starting to run out.

She took a quick glance backwards, and while she could still hear the Skakdi, the trees were obscuring the line of sight between them.

She took a chance, and darted to the side towards some bushes right next to a tree. She concealed herself as good as possible behind the bushes, hoping that they would just pass by.

They didn’t. Of course they didn’t…

There were two of them, scanning around them.

“Where’d she go?!” one of them exclaimed, looking furious.

“She can’t be far of…” the other one muttered.

They were about to continue forward, when she accidentally moved her foot and broke a twig. The two Skakdi turned towards her direction as they heard the sound. As they moved closer, she had no other option than to run again.

Luck really is not on my side. She dashed away, but she almost immediately tripped on root. Before she could get up, the Skakdi had come up to her with huge grins on their faces.

“There you are!” one of them exclaimed happily, while the other one put the bag back over her head. Next thing she knew, they gave a hard blow to her head, knocking her unconscious.

*Everything was dark, and he could barely see anything. He was battling an enemy, but he could only see the silhouettes of his foe. No matter how he tried, he was unable to hit his enemy as his attacks only got blocked one by one. As the battle dragged on, he felt he was getting more tired and weaker. Suddenly, his enemy hit his sword hand with his weapon, and he screamed as his hand fell of his arm.* 

*He fell on his knee, clutching the stub of his arm. As his enemy pointed his weapon against him, he knew it was over. The enemy raised his weapon and was about to struck it down with force. Suddenly, he heard a distant scream, someone shouted his name his name but he didn’t recognize who it was. As the tip of the weapon came close, time seemed to move slower, almost like someone was using a Vahi. He closed his eyes, and prepared for the strike that would take his life…*

Orxon woke up gasping. He quickly reached for his sword and rose to a battle stance in just one second. Soon he realized no one was attacking him, it was just a dream. He dropped the sword and sat on the ground.

That dream again… He couldn’t understand why he was haunted by that terrible dream, or what it could possibly mean. Was it a foresight of the future, or was it just something he was afraid would happen? Whatever it was, he shrugged it off.

Almost a year had passed since the massacre at his home island, Kastra Nui, and ever since then he hadn’t rested much at all. He had stayed true to his oath, he was going to find and kill Narzhul. But the Makuta surely didn’t want to be found. There had been no trace of where he had disappeared to. There wasn’t even any trace of his army, which was strange since it was a big one Narzhul had brought with him to Kastra Nui.

However, he was getting closer. According to some information that he had gotten from a… informant, a Skakdi mercenary warlord by the name of Akron just recently had fulfilled a contract with Narzhul, and he may have some information about Narzhul’s current whereabouts. Why a Skakdi would know of it was strange, over the course of the year he had tracked down several beings in contact with the Makuta, but so far he had no clue what the connection between them was.

He had it planned now. Finding the Skakdi wasn’t easy, but he had managed to find out a pattern in the warlords movements. If the pattern would hold, Akron would be with his little war party at the southern end of Xia, home Island of the Vortixx. Xia was an industrialized island, however the southern end wasn’t very populated, which made it a great hideout for mercenary’s like Akron. Since he was already awake, he decided it was best to get to where the Skakdi warlord was supposed to be.

When Orxon had arrived to the location Akron was supposed to be a few hours later, there was no one there except for himself. Fortunately, a part of his plan was to arrive before Akron and his war party so he could scout the area and know what positions was best to strike from.

Once he found a good spot, he sat down and rested by a tree nearby. If, or when, the war party arrived Orxon would see them, but they wouldn’t see him unless they knew where to look. Now it was just to wait until they arrived, and then wait some more until the Skakdi had let their guard down, and then he would strike.

As he waited, he once again thought back to the horrible day where… it happened. He could still hear the screams of Matoran being burnt to death, and swords that went through the ones who did not get burned alive. All Matoran, all Turaga, the rest of the Toa, and all his friends were dead.

They were dead, because a psycho maniac had decided to destroy the population on his home island. But there was one thing Orxon never could grasp, why did Narzhul do it? Their island had stayed well enough out of the ongoing conflicts around the universe, and was of no strategic value either. But there was no clear motive behind the Makuta’s action, or at least it wasn’t clear to Orxon.

And then, he started to think of his life before… that day. He remembered how peaceful it was, and the beautiful forests and the rivers going through the island. He also remembered his friends, who were part of his Toa team. Sometimes, some of them would get him laugh and smile, and sometimes he would just get annoyed by their childish pranks.

And then there was Kirala… who was the best friend that he ever could have asked for. She always made him crack up in a smile whenever they spent time together, and he could share almost everything with her. She was just so… calm and she really had a soft heart. The others would usually tease him for being straight up in love, but the truth was he never was in love with her. Sure, she was really close to him and he would do anything for her, but he never felt like she was his soul mate or anything like that. They had just been friends, and Orxon had been happy about it.

But the worst thing was, he never found her body, so he hadn’t been able give her the proper burial that she at least deserved to have. Although a small part of him hoped that she had made it out alive, he was pretty sure she never did. All he could hope for was that her death was quick and painless, but he guessed it was too much to ask for a victim of Narzhul.

Suddenly, he heard movements and voices. He looked up from his hiding spot, and saw four Skakdi setting up camp by a river. Three of them looked like an average Skakdi, but the other one, who was barking orders at the others, was a bit larger and looked more ferocious. That one was obviously Akron. Now he just had wait for the perfect timing….

[LokaCola]

Chapter 2

Almost an hour had passed, and he was still sitting in the same position. He was still watching the Skakdi warlord and his hirelings, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The four Skakdi sat around their little campfire, eating something that Orxon couldn’t see what it was, while they were talking to each other. He had hoped they would have removed their weapons, but it wasn’t really surprising their weapons were close to them. But it wouldn’t matter anyway. He could see that they were relaxed and unsuspecting, and he figured now was the right moment.

Orxon slowly rose from his sitting position and started to make his way to the camp very quietly. The Skakdi were too busy to notice him, and after what felt like an eternity, he had made his way behind their camp. The four Skakdi had their backs turned to him. As he drew his sword as quietly as possible, he overheard their conversation.

“What’s taking them so long?” one of the mercenaries muttered.

“Beats me, it wasn’t like they were given a hard task to begin with,” another one said.

“Yeah, that Toa girl barely resisted at all,” Akron said, and with a grin added “I can’t wait until they bring her here.”

Upon hearing this, Orxon felt sick right to the core. He had heard stories of this gang, but not of something like this. But it made him even surer of his plan with the warlord.

“I must say, you really disgust me.”

The Skakdi all rose up and drew their weapons. Akron was carrying a huge war hammer, while his hirelings were carrying swords axes. One of them even had both a sword and an axe in his hand. They were all shocked to see a Toa had sneaked up on them.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Akron said with a cruel voice. “Another Toa to bring us justice, or whatever. Oh, and it looks like this one is all alone too. You have a death wish or something, Toa? Actually, I don’t care. Bring him down, boys!”

The three Skakdi hirelings were moving closer, and Akron was obviously just going to watch his hirelings do the work for him. They were just thinking he was another, average Toa.

Too bad for them he wasn’t an average Toa.

He quickly rushed forward against the hirelings, and before any of them could react, he put his sword through one of the hireling’s stomach. He could see the shock and confusion in the Skakdi’s eyes, and the others were probably feeling the same thing.

He dropped the soon to be dead body and made himself ready for the other two warriors. Their shock almost immediately changed to a rage when they shouted their battle cries. Orxon prepared himself for their charge. He used his gravity power on the Skakdi that were dual wielding his weapons, since he didn’t feel like fighting a brute like that at the same time as the other. He knew however that he wouldn’t be able to keep the brute like this for long. Fortunately for him, the Skakdi rushing towards him was so blinded by rage, he didn’t see Orxon’s sword coming through his chest.

“This is too easy…” Orxon muttered himself. Skakdi were known for being though, but these ones were not living up to the reputation of their species. But then he released his power of gravity on the brutish Skakdi, and he smiled for himself.

This one should be a challenge. If there was something Orxon loved, it was a challenge.

The brute charged forward with both his sword and axe, and Orxon quickly dodged to the left. The brute attempted to strike his legs, but Orxon jumped before he could lose his legs. He then quickly followed it up with a slash against the brute’s arm, but it was easily blocked. Orxon quickly tried another slash against the brute’s head, but it was also blocked. And before he could react, the brute swung his axe against Orxon’s sword with a lot of power, sending the sword flying in the air and landed about three meters from them.

Orxon decided to once again use his power of gravity to hold the brute against the ground. He made a note about where his sword was lying, and then started to back his way to his sword. What he didn’t see though was the body of one of the dead Skakdi, and he fell against the corpse while losing control over the brute. As the brute began to rise up, Orxon knew he wouldn’t be able to use his power of gravity again; he would be cut in half before he could stand on his legs.

He threw himself against his sword, grabbed its handle and swung hard and fast against what he hoped would be the brute. He heard his sword make contact with the brutes flesh, and then heard a thud as its head hit the ground.

Orxon raised himself up and made his way to the Skakdi’s camp. Akron tried to run, but Orxon used his power of gravity once again to keep him to the ground. When he reached the warlord, he stomped his foot on the warlords chest. Akron screamed in pain, but was silenced when he realized Orxon’s sword was pointing against his throat.

“Wha… what do yo… you want?” the warlord stuttered. How shameful it was. Orxon had heard a lot of things about Akron, that he was one of the most feared Skakdi warlords. Before him, this same warlord was lying there with fear in his eyes.

“There are rumors that you just recently fulfilled a contract for a Makuta known as Narzhul. I want know where that worm is hiding” he simply said. Akron looked up to him, now with confusion in his eyes.

“Nar… Narzhul? I don’t know who he…”

“Don’t lie to me!” Orxon yelled.

“Okay, okay! Take it easy…” Akron swallowed, and then opened his mouth to speak again.

“If… if I tell you… will you let me go?” Now Orxon started to think this Skakdi started to become even more pathetic.

“Sure…” Orxon replied. This made Akron a bit more confident.

“I… I don’t know exactly where this… guy is, but he gave me the contract on Stelt. It was in an abandoned fort, a ruin, in the very northeast of the island. He said something about… that “it will end where it began”. I swear I don’t know what it means!”

“It will end where it began…” Orxon muttered for himself. Upon hearing those words, he had a feeling he knew what they meant. But why? Why would he go back to Kastra Nui? And why did he say these words to Akron? Did he know their paths were going to cross? And why would he want to be found after all this time?

It didn’t make any sense to him at all, but then again, nothing Narzhul had done made sense to him. And now, he had to care of another, less important matter. He looked back to the Skakdi warlord.

“Thank you for your cooperation” he said, and raised his sword. Akron’s eyes widened of both shock and fear.

“You promised you would release me! And Toa never kill or break their promises!” Obviously neglecting he had just before killed three of his hirelings.

“Who said I was a Toa?” Orxon replied with a calm voice and he struck down his sword through the warlord’s chest.

The dead Skakdi’s eyes stared up at him. He drew his sword out from the Skakdi’s chest, and looked at the blood on his blade.

This wasn’t the first time he had taken lives. In fact, at this point he had taken many. Sure, it was just mercenaries and rogue soldiers that made their living by others misery, but was he really right to take their lives? Normal Toa wouldn’t have killed them. But Orxon wasn’t a “normal” Toa; he had abandoned the Toa Code after the massacre on his home island. But as long as it brought him closer to exact his vengeance on Narzhul, it didn’t matter.

Or did it? Being used to killing was one thing, but his conscience growing with guilt was a different thing. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he could live with himself anymore. The only thing that kept him sane was his goal, but once, or rather if, he succeeded, then what? He didn’t have an answer for that, and he tried hard not to think about it.

He started to wipe the blood of his blade, and on the blade his own reflection looked back at him. A black Kanohi Arthron with purple stripes was placed over his face, and behind that mask shined yellow eyes that were showing tiredness. It was only now that he realized how tired he really was. He couldn’t remember the last time he had gotten a good amount of sleep.

With his… business concluded, he left the camp and ventured towards the woods. Right now, it seemed that the end was about to begin. Soon he would finally have his chance to get his vengeance on the twisted Makuta.

[LokaCola]

Chapter 3

The bodies of the four Skakdi mercenaries were just lying there. Orxon could have buried the bodies, but he decided to not do it. He had been a little surprised by the fact that there were only four Skakdi, but it was just to his advantage. Besides, if he would take the time to bury the bodies, he would get caught unguarded once the other Skakdi warriors appeared. He also didn’t want to waste time doing that either. It was a few miles to the closest town, and if he had any luck he wouldn’t run into trouble. But he never was a lucky guy.

It was only now he remembered they had mentioned a prisoner of sorts, and her implied fate. Hearing it had sickened him, but there was nothing he could do about it. Whoever the prisoner was still had her fate in the hands of a bunch of Skakdi’s.

Just as he entered the woods, he saw three beings emerge from within the forest. Two of them were brutish looking Skakdi, obviously in Akron’s war party. The third one however, seemed to be the prisoner. There was a bag over her head and her hands were cuffed behind her back, and by the rest of the body he could see that the being was a Toa. The blue and gold colors told him that it was a Toa of Psionics. The two Skakdi were looking angrily at him.

“Well, well. Another little, puny Toa” one of them said. Then he saw the rests of their camp, and his jaw dropped.

“How… in oblivion… What have you…?” He tried to say things, but he was so shocked he could barely speak. The other Skakdi had seen it too, and he was as much as shocked as his friend.

“Yeah, what you’re looking at now is the remains of your friends. And if you haven’t added one and one by now, it’s my handiwork. And if I were you, I would run as fast as I possibly could. Because otherwise you might get killed,” Orxon said.

He was hoping that they would actually run, but if not then two more bodies wouldn’t make a big difference… Killing was now a reflex of his and every battle would end with a death, whatever it was his own death or the enemies’ death. The two Skakdi just looked at each other, and suddenly they dropped their weapons and ran away really fast.

“What about the prisoner?” one of them shouted to the other.

“Forget the prisoner, just run!” was the answer. Orxon had a hard time trying not to laugh at this, he had never before seen two brute-looking Skakdi running away in fear. He was however brought back to reality very quickly.

“Are… are they gone?” the prisoner asked.

“Yes. Hold still for just a few seconds and I’ll release you.” He quickly untied her hands and removed the bag from her head. She turned around to face him.

“Thanks.” She was wearing a gold Kakama, the mask of speed, on her face. Her blue eyes gave a look of relief and a slight smile appeared under her mask.

“You’re welcome.” But then her expression changed to a worried one.

“Did you… kill these other Skakdi?” Orxon sighed.

“Yes, I killed them. It’s not something I’m proud of, but… it has become a part of me, unfortunately.” He didn’t really know what else to say. All she did was to nod. She looked like she was about to say something though, but she didn’t say anything.

Orxon hesitated for a second, not sure what to do really. On one hand he really wanted to just get away and continue on his path of vengeance, but on the other he couldn’t just leave her here. Although he didn’t consider himself a Toa anymore, he eventually decided to do what was right.

“You know, if you’d like too I could help you back to your home. I’m sure your village is worried about you…”

“I appreciate your offer… but I’m never going back home, ever.” He almost regretted asking that question, because she seemed a bit upset when she answered. He was silent for a while, curios of why she didn’t want to get back home but he figured she didn’t want to tell him.

“Do you have anywhere else you could go?” he asked.

“No, I don’t have anywhere to go…” she replied almost silently whilst looking away from him.

“Unless…” she started, but went silent before finishing.

“Unless what?” he asked. She gave him an odd look as she crossed her arms.

“Nothing… It was just a stupid idea.” Whether it was stupid or not, he thought it would still be better than nothing.

“Well, I’m not going to leave you here like this until you tell me what’s on your mind. I’m sure it can’t be that bad.”

She bit her lip as she considered sharing what had come to mind, and eventually decided to tell it before she would regret doing so.

“Um, this is really straightforward for me, and you’re probably going to think it’s a strange question, but… can I, um, join you? You know, as a… fellow traveler, I suppose.” Orxon was surprised by this question. For some reason, he really wanted to know more about her, what her story was and why she had been a prisoner. But at the same time, he didn’t want to bring her on a journey that might get both of them killed.

“I don’t know… the path I’m walking on is a dangerous one. I don’t want anyone to risk their lives for my… goal,” he said.

“Well… it can’t be worse than my so-called home.” This was not something he had expected to hear. He thought for a few seconds, and then made a quick decision.

“Alright, you can come with me if you really want to, at least for the time being. But, you have to do exactly as I say. Do we have an agreement?” She nodded to him.

“By the way, my name is Veerah. I… thought it could be good to know.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Veerah. You can call me Orxon.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Orxon. I can’t remember when I last met someone nice.” Orxon didn’t ask what she meant, because he had a feeling that she didn’t want to talk about it.

“The closest town is just a few miles away from here, and that’s where we’re headed. And excuse me if I’m not in the mood to talk, I… need to collect my thoughts. My mind is like a labyrinth right now,” Orxon said.

“I understand, I… kind of feel the same,” Veerah said. Orxon nodded.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said and started to walk in the direction of the town. Veerah followed him very closely, but far enough to give him some space. In the distance, Orxon could see the sun high in the sky.

He felt conflicted about letting Veerah join his company. On one hand, he was happy to have some company after mostly being alone for almost a year, even though they currently were not sharing any words between each other. But on the other, he couldn’t let her into the end of the line, but he supposed they would just have to part ways once they had to cross that bridge.

Besides, there was something about her… He couldn’t tell what it was though, no matter how hard he tried to put his finger on it. But for now, he decided to just be happy about his new companion, even if it was just for the time being.

[LokaCola]

Goods news! For the time being, I’m going to update with a new chapter on each week, as I have finally done all revisions I felt was needed for all the chapters that I’ve written so far. Hopefully I can keep this up as I get new chapters done.

Chapter 4

The sun was shining directly above them, and in the distance they could see a small port town. Orxon knew one of the ship captains, and was sure to fix a cheap boat ride. However, they decided to rest for a bit, since they had walked for a couple of hours. The grass felt soft, and the sun was shining in a way that could make you forget about all your problems in the world. While the port town could be seen from their location, it was still a few hours of walking.

None of them had said a single word since they joined together, which wasn’t really surprising, Orxon thought. They were strangers, after all. But since they would travel together for a while, he felt that he had to break the silence somewhat.

“So… how did you end up here? And why were you captured by those Skakdi mercenaries?” Orxon asked. Veerah seemed somewhat hesitant to tell him about her past.

“Well, honestly I don’t really want to talk about it,” she said. But after some thinking, she added “But… since you saved me from the Skakdi and decided to let me travel with you, I suppose you deserve to know why I want to travel with you. But I have to start from the beginning.”

“It… started pretty much the same day I was born. My parents were proud Matoran, and all thy wanted was to raise a child. But… luck wasn’t in their favor. My mother was devastated by this, and my father didn’t know what to. So he prayed, and he prayed, and he prayed. And then one day, they found out my mother was pregnant. Of course, they were both happy about it. Well, that’s an understatement… My father told me about my mother, how she was always caring for everyone she loved, she was supposedly kind and gentle.”

“I never had the chance to meet the person that brought me to this world, since she… she died while giving birth to me. This almost destroyed my father. He lost his faith completely, and who can blame him? He prayed for a child, but lost the woman he loved.
“But my life has been like Karzahni ever since I was born. My father blamed me for my mother’s death, and… Well, let’s just say I was punished, a lot. For a lot of things, especially for just existing…”

“But my life wasn’t miserable just when I was home, it was miserable all the time. No one really liked me, and I just kept for myself. And those that wanted to like me… well they were bullied just for that. But some years later, they all stopped care about me at all. It was just like… I did not exist anymore. I guess they got tired of bullying someone that didn’t respond to them at all.”

“For decades, the only thing that I was thinking about was death. I… was kind of suicidal. I never tried to take my own life, but… I was thinking about it a lot. I remember some days; I just stood close to a cliff on my home island, listening to the waves and the seagulls. I always thought about jumping from that cliff, but… I never did.”

“However, one day something amazing happened. The Toa on my home island had decided it was time to for others to continue their legacy as Toa. For some reason, I was one of seven Matoran they chose to become Toa. That was the best thing that ever happened in my life, and I hoped that my father would become proud of me. Well, he didn’t seem to care about me at all.”

“But aside from that, I thought my life would be more tolerable for me. The Matoran in my village always saluted me whenever they saw me, and I have to admit it was a great feeling. But the other Toa… they hated my guts to oblivion. And they always tried to make it seem like I was a horrible Toa and that they were the best Toa ever. I have no idea where that arrogance and hate came from, since Toa aren’t supposed to be like that.”

“Remember that cliff I told you about earlier? That cliff was the only place where I could be completely alone. No so called “brothers” that hated me, no father that didn’t care about me. Just… me, and waves beneath the cliff. That place was the only place where I could feel relaxed; as it was only there I could feel some peace.”

“But one day, one of my ‘brothers’ got there when I was just meditating. I’m not going into detail about what kind of business he had there, but let’s just say that… he wanted to do some things I didn’t want to. But it wasn’t like my word meant anything. We got into a big fight, he lounged forward at me, and…” Orxon could see some tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped off.

“I… I pushed him out from the cliff. I didn’t mean to do it, it was an accident. I panicked, and fled from the very island that had been my home. I tried to find a new place to call home, but as you can figure out, it didn’t go very well. That’s pretty much all that happened before you saved me from those Skakdi.”

Orxon didn’t have any idea what to say. What Veerah just had told him… he couldn’t even imagine how it would feel to have lived with the knowledge that no one liked or even cared about one. He was on the brink to walk over to her and just hug her, to comfort her. But he didn’t know if this was a really good move of him.

“Are you… okay?” he simply asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine, I just… I have never told this to anyone, and… It actually feels somewhat better after talking with someone. Even though we are strangers, you’re the first person ever that I could even consider a friend.” She looked up to him and gave a light smile.

“Well… it’s been a long time since someone called me a friend,” Orxon said and simply smiled back. Veerah’s smile disappeared, however.

“Can I ask you what your… goal is? Judging by the way you were skeptical to let me come with you, it seems you’re up to something dangerous. I’m not saying I’m quitting, whatever happens to me now… well, it doesn’t matter. But I’m just a bit… curios.”

“Well, since you told me about your life before… I think it’s only fair of me to tell you my own story.” So he told her about his home, Kastra Nui, his friends, and… the day it happened. When Narzhul attacked the island with an army of unknown, Toa-like beings. He also told her about most of the things he had done in the last year while trying to find the Makuta. When he finished, Veerah had a somewhat shocked expression on her Kakama, and she just sat there silent.

“I…” She couldn’t find the words. But he did feel a bit better after telling someone his own story.

“I can’t… I know I never saw my village as my home, but… I can’t imagine how it would feel to experience something like that… But… when you’ve killed Narzhul, what are you going to do?”

“Honestly… I don’t know. I just haven’t thought much about it. Or rather, I do not wish to think about for now.”

“You don’t have happened to thought that, um… that you would…” Veerah started, but was unable to finish her sentence.

“To take my own life?” Orxon said. Veerah just nodded.

“Yes, there have been times when that thought has come up,” he admitted.

“I understand, as I’ve had similar thoughts. But are you sure about that?” she asked. Orxon was silent for a moment before he answered.

“I don’t know… For a year, I have been killing a lot of beings. When I do commit the killings, I feel… nothing. But it’s afterward that’s worse. Every time I close my eyes, I can hear them. Their screams, they just feel so… alive. And I can see myself killing everyone I have killed, and again, and again. I don’t think I’m going to be able to continue with a normal life after I’ve dealt with Narzhul, that’s for certain at least.”

“But taking my own life? I don’t know, as I have yet to find another reason to live on I guess.”

“I see” Veerah said with a thoughtful face. She was silent for a while, before she spoke up again.

“You know, if you’d like to maybe I can help you with that. I mean, in trying to coup with your thoughts, the suicidal ones and your remorse, is it remorse?” He nodded.

“I figure that since I’m a Toa of Psionics after all, I could dig into your mind and see if I could help that way, if you are okay with that,” Veerah added.

“Well, I hope we don’t have to get that far. I’m not so sure I would be comfortable by having a stranger look into my deepest thoughts.” Orxon said. She nodded at this.

“Understandable, but… who says you won’t get to know me further as we go along?” she asked with a slight smile on her face. It was the first time he had seen her smile, and he could tell it was not something that she did very often. Too bad, is it was a pretty smile.

Orxon shrugged off the thought, surprised that thought had come up of all things possible.

“You may be right about that,” he simply said.

He looked up at the sky, and noticed that they had been sitting here for almost an hour.

“Alright, I think we have rested enough now. Are you ready to continue?” he asked.

“I’m ready to get going” she said. Orxon rose up to his feet, and helped Veerah up. He then noticed he held her hand a bit too long, which she noted as well.

“Um… sorry, I just…” He didn’t have a good excuse.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about that.” She just smiled at him. Orxon didn’t know how to react at all to this, so he simply smiled back. And with huge smiles on their faces, relieved by having told each other their own stories, they started to head for the port town in the distant.

[LokaCola]

Chapter 5

As they reached the port town, the night began to creep around them. Since the stars couldn’t be seen, it was obvious that this night would be very dark.

“Stay close, you never know what kind of creeps are lurking in the shadows” Orxon said quietly. While this port town was a good looking one, it was known for having the biggest crime sprees in all of Xia. And to make it worse, the town was completely corrupt. It was impossible to lay trust on someone, without getting robbed or possibly thrown into jail. The only way to not run into trouble was to have a lot of money, which of course very few in this town had. And they surely didn’t have much coin.

“This place is creeping me out… It feels like we’re being watched,” Veerah said. Orxon felt the same thing, but didn’t say anything. He was used to it by now. And if you felt like someone was watching you in this place, it was pretty much guaranteed that someone was indeed watching you. He tried to scan the area after anyone hiding in the alleys or on the rooftops, but couldn’t see anything.

But other than looking for someone, or something, he tried to just focus on getting to the tavern in the town. If they stopped beforehand, someone would probably try to rob them, and he was pretty sure that he would lose control over himself and kill the being. Thus, making them unwelcome in the town and getting the city guards on their heels, which could potentially end in more bloodshed.

After his talk with Veerah, he had realized that he had to stop the killing. He didn’t feel good after killing someone, so he just didn’t see any point of killing anymore. But before meeting with Veerah, he didn’t have any thoughts at all about stop killing others. But his thoughts had changed ever since he met her. It was amazing how a meeting with another person could make him think in another way than before.

Suddenly, several beings appeared from the dark alleys and circulated around the two Toa. What surprised them was the fact that it was a group of four Skakdi, and they recognized two of them. It was the Skakdi that had captured Veerah, and it was also the Skakdi that had belonged to a war party that Orxon thought he had destroyed. This couldn’t possibly end well.

The biggest of the Skakdi walked forward.

“So, I hear that you are the one that scared these milk drinkers,” he said while looking at the two Skakdi they recognized, who seemed to show shame in their faces. “I couldn’t care less about those weaklings, but what I do care about is the fact that you killed our leader. I care about it, because now I’ve taken control of what’s left of this little war party. So for that I thank you, but I’m afraid we have to get rid of you. You did after all kill four of our comrades, and you also took our price!” The big Skakdi pointed at Veerah, which didn’t make her happy at all since he just simply referred her as a “price”, a thing, and not a person. Orxon motioned for her to get behind him.

“So you want her? I’m afraid I have to say no to that, and if you really want her, you have to get past me,” he said while drawing his sword. He had no intention to kill these Skakdi, but he was prepared to do it if it became absolutely necessary. However, the big Skakdi just started to laugh, which confused Orxon.

“What’s so funny? I killed your leader… I mean your previous leader, and his three bodyguards I suppose, shouldn’t you be afraid of me then?” The big Skakdi just laughed at him.

“Our previous leader was the weakest of us, anyone could have killed him. You will not stand a chance against me, for I’m going to crush you like a little bug!” The big Skakdi then drew the biggest hammer Orxon had seen in his entire life.

He knew this couldn’t end well.

The three other Skakdi surrounded them, and thus cutting of any potential escape routes. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t worry too much about the situation, except for the fact that he could potentially be crushed. However, this wasn’t a normal circumstance. This time it was the Skakdi who had the advantage, they had surrounded him and Veerah. And that was another factor. He didn’t know how well the Toa of Psionics did in combat, and the Skakdi had also managed to get away with her weapon. Although she could use her Toa power to her advantage, it would be hard against these four Skakdi.

But Orxon had gotten an idea.

“How about this, we’ll challenge each other. Just the two of us. If I win, you will let us go. But if you win, I suppose you can take her,” he said. Orxon knew that if the big Skakdi accepted this challenge, the odds would be more even than before.

He caught a glimpse of Veerah, and she had reacted somewhat to his words. She didn’t say anything or show some expressions, though. He knew that if he would get them out of here, he would have to be very careful of his words. He would of course never let the Skakdi get away with her, and this was simply just a way to give the Skakdi a good enough reason to accept his challenge, so they wouldn’t have to fight all four of them at once. But he also hoped that Veerah wouldn’t be too offended by his words.

The Skakdi thought for a few seconds, before he gave a reply.

“Well, I guess I’ll accept your challenge, I doubt these milk drinkers would do anything good anyway,” the Skakdi said. Without warning, the Skakdi swung his hammer against Orxon. The Toa of Gravity barely dodged the big hammer. Although he had decreased the amount of Skakdi, this wouldn’t be an easy fight. The Skakdi swung his hammer again, and Orxon dodged the hammer again by jumping back. He tried to use his power of gravity to make the hammer become heavier, and while it seemed to work at first, the mighty Skakdi suddenly lifted his hammer with such strength that it caught Orxon off-guard. The Skakdi used this to his advantage and kicked the Toa hard, sending hem several feet away.

Orxon slowly rose back to his feet, but just as he prepared to strike the Skakdi with his sword, the Skakdi punched him hard in his stomach. Orxon collapsed to the ground, and before he could do anything else, the Skakdi put one foot on his chest. When Orxon saw the big Skakdi lift his huge hammer for the final blow, he knew it was over. He had failed his home island, his friends, and worst of all, he had failed Veerah.

All he could do now was to close his eyes and wait for it to be over.

[LokaCola]

Chapter 6

“How about this, we’ll challenge each other. Just the two of us. If I win, you will let us go. But if you win, I suppose you can take her,” Orxon said to the big Skakdi standing in front of him.

Veerah didn’t show any expressions, but she felt many different emotions. In one way, she felt offended that they seemed to talk about her more as a prize, a thing, instead of a person. Although the Skakdi in front of them had used pretty much those words to describe her, Orxon hadn’t said that she was just a thing, but still…

However, she thought she had somewhat of an idea as to why Orxon said this; it was purely so that he would only have to face this one Skakdi. Since he had killed four Skakdi, even if she hadn’t witnessed it and therefore couldn’t tell if those had been the weakest of them, their new leader seemed to be able to pack a lot of punch. So she decided to let it slide, for now at least. But she figured she would probably bring this up to Orxon later, if they managed to get out of this situation.

Their chances certainly didn’t look good. The big Skakdi had just kicked Orxon hard enough to send him to the ground several feet away, and once Orxon had gotten back up the Skakdi had punched him in his gut. He had collapsed on the ground, and the Skakdi had put one of his foots on his chest before Orxon could anything. The Skakdi lifted his hammer for the final blow, which with no doubt would kill Orxon.

Veerah knew she couldn’t let this happen, and while she couldn’t interfere directly, she knew she had no choice. She obviously didn’t want to be taken as a prisoner again, but she also couldn’t let Orxon die. They had just met barely a few hours ago, but it was something about him that just… Well, whatever it was she couldn’t really wrap her head around of what it was, except that he was important to her.

She closed her eyes, and concentrating on summoning her powers of Psionics. She could feel the minds of the three Skakdi and Orxon, and she plunged herself into the mind of the big Skakdi that was about to finish of Orxon. He surely was big and possessed a lot of might, but luckily his mind was nowhere as strong as his body, making it very easy for Veerah to get inside his mind. Given her powers allowed her limited mind control, she concentrated very hard on making the Skakdi drop his hammer, which hopefully would give Orxon enough time.

When she opened her eyes, the big Skakdi was about to deliver his final blow with his hammer, but instead he dropped it behind him. It worked! Veerah could see confusion on the Skakdi’s face. She saw that Orxon was also a bit confused at first, but he quickly took advantage of the situation and managed to push the Skakdi to the ground, probably with the help of his power of Gravity she thought.

Orxon quickly jumped upon the Skakdi, and she saw that he was about to rise his sword for the final blow. The scene looked very similar to the one just a moment ago but reversed. She quickly realized that Orxon was about to kill the Skakdi, something that was against the Toa Code. Sure, Orxon had gone rogue, but she knew he wasn’t acting like himself, not like his true self anyway.

“No!” she screamed. Orxon stopped his motion, and he looked right at her.

When Orxon saw the big Skakdi lift his huge hammer for the final blow, he knew it was over. He had failed his home island, his friends, and worst of all, he had failed Veerah. All he could do now was to close his eyes and wait for it to be over. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the blow that would end his life. It never came. When the Skakdi hadn’t killed him in the amount of time that would have taken normally, Orxon opened his eyes and saw something that he did not expect. 

The Skakdi had dropped his big hammer on the ground behind him and he had a very puzzled look on his face, something that he realized looked very familiar. He didn’t dwell on it for long however, and with what power he had remaining he used to make the Skakdi a lot lighter so he could push him off. He picked up his sword and then he jumped up on the Skakdi, the tables were now turned and Orxon lifted his sword arm to finish of the big Skakdi.

“No!” he heard Veerah scream, and he looked immediately to his left. First he could see the two Skakdi that were accompanying their leader, and both of them had a shocked face. They probably had never seen someone beating the Skakdi under his foot in singlehanded combat. But what really caught his attention was Veerah; she looked at him with a look of determination under her mask. It was right there it all came back to him. All the lives he had taken, how much he regretted it afterwards, how he had promised to both himself and Veerah that this would stop. 

As all this came back to him, Orxon looked back at the Skakdi on the ground. Just a moment ago, he would have killed him without a second thought, but now it was the last thing he wanted to do. He puts his sword against the big Skakdi’s throat, but he didn’t proceed with slashing it or cutting of his head. Instead he just stood there for a few seconds.

“Do you yield?” he finally said. The Skakdi looked back at him like he was going to give Orxon a big punch to the face, but he knew very well that he had lost.

“I… yield,” the Skakdi said after a moment of hesitation. Orxon sheathed his sword on his back and then he stepped off from the Skakdi. He still was on his guard, since his image of Skakdi weren’t really honorable. But, a deal was a deal, and the Skakdi just picked up his big hammer and walked away with shame. He probably never though he would be defeated by a Toa, Orxon thought. The other two Skakdi walked away behind their leader, whispering about something to each other where Orxon only managed to make out the word “mutiny”. 

He looked at Veerah, who managed a light smile for him. He smiled back at her, but when he opened his mouth to say something, the words just didn’t come out. He really wanted to say something at this moment, but all he finally managed to say “Let’s just get going, before…” before trailing off.

“Before we’re stopped by another vicious group?” Veerah finished for him. He nodded back.

“There’s an inn just around the corner here, we’ll spend the night there and then get away from this island as soon as possible,” he said.

“Sounds like a good plan,” Veerah said. “The sooner we get off from this island, the better.” He definitively agreed with her on that part. The started to walk towards the inn and it was right there where it finally hit him. 

He had spared a life.

[LokaCola]

Chapter 7

“There it is,” Orxon said and pointed towards the inn. At last they would be able to rest in a proper bed, something he would welcome since he hadn’t slept at all for over a day. As the thought came to him, he suddenly felt very tired and didn’t want to spend a single second longer than necessary to get to the inn and order a room.

He opened the door and motioned for Veerah to go in before him. While she still hadn’t brought up the reason that made him able to fight the big Skakdi they just encountered, he did feel a bit bad for it. A small act of chivalry maybe wasn’t much, but at the moment it was the least he could do. He took a quick glance at her, and she did actually seem to have some gratitude for this small act by the look in her eyes. But for all he knew it could very well be given how she had been treated in her past.

When they got into the inn, Orxon carefully looked around. This inn didn’t offer much, at least not on this floor, but it did have several tables that were occupied by different beings that either was drinking or playing some sort of card game. While this inn wasn’t safe from scum that would happily rob you blind, this kind of scum at least had some sort of code. They would never put you up against a wall and a knife to your throat, but they surely would take whatever money you had through these card games.

He looked towards the bar counter, and saw the innkeeper standing there. It was a male Vortixx, which wasn’t very common around here. Normally they would be assigned the dirtier and more dangerous jobs, but this particular Vortixx was lucky. It was very likely that were no females available to this position, or his kinsmen (or kinswomen, to be more precise) had no idea there was an inn run by one of their males.

Whatever the case may be, Orxon couldn’t really care much about this, but there was something that caught his attention when he looked at the innkeeper. He was standing behind the bar counter, and cleaning a mug. Could it just be a coincidence, or were all innkeepers really always doing that?

He shrugged the thought off while making they made their way to bar counter. The innkeeper looked up at them, while still cleaning the mug.

“So, what can I get you? A meal, a drink, a room, you name it,” he simply said.

“A room for two, please,” Orxon said.

“You’re just in luck then,” the innkeeper said immediately, which surprised Orxon. Not many innkeepers knew exactly how many rooms they had available without having to think or pull out some sort of list. “I have exactly one room remaining that should suite your needs.”

“We’ll take it,” Orxon said.

“That would be 20 widgets then,” the innkeeper said. Orxon gave him the widgets, whereupon the innkeeper gave them the number to their room and the key. Orxon nodded and then climbed the stairs with Veerah right behind him. They got to the second floor, and then eventually found the room they were going to stay. Orxon opened the door, and when he saw the interior of the room he just stood there with a puzzled look on his face.

“What? What is it? Is something wrong?” Veerah asked, before she peeked inside the room. As far as she could tell, there was nothing extraordinary with this room. She did see what Orxon had reacted to, which happened to be a double bed.

“Oh,” she simply said upon seeing it.

“That’s not… what I had in mind,” Orxon said. “I’ll go back and…”

“Do what, exactly? I mean, you heard him,” Veerah said. “This was the last room he had. And besides, I doubt he would give us a refund either way, so we don’t have a lot of options now”.

“You’re… right,” Orxon replied after a moment of silence. “I guess I’ll sleep on the floor then.”

“Why? It’s not like there isn’t enough room for the both of us.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be…”

“Weird and awkward? Sure, but it beats having one of us sleep on the cold floor.”

Orxon looked right at her, and she looked right back at him with a perfectly neutral expression. He then thought for a few seconds before he nodded. There was another silent moment before Veerah spoke again.

“Besides, why would it have to be you that would sleep on the floor?” she asked. He looked thoughtfully at her for a few seconds before he answered.

“Because… it just felt like what I should do.” He replied.

“But, why?” she asked again. “Because you wanted do another act of chivalry?” So she had noticed… He sighed.

“Well, sort of. But… that’s not the real issue,” he said, and sat on the bed.

“It’s because… of what I did earlier. I just feel bad about it,” he said, referring to when he not even an hour ago had “offered” her as a prize for the Skakdi in order to even the odds. She sat beside him with a softer look on her face.

“I guess you should feel bad,” she said. “But… I think I understand why you did… what you did. It’s just that… all my life I’ve been treated as if I have been useless…”

“Which you are not,” he said. “You did a pretty job with that big Skakdi earlier.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked him. He smiled at her.

“I recognize the look one has when a Toa of Psionics has been in one’s mind.” She sat silent for a few seconds, and then she also smiled.

“Back on Kastra Nui, one of my friends was a Toa of Psionics, and since we didn’t have a whole lot to do back then, she used her powers on us more than I can count on my fingers. She was actually the one that finally convinced the others that I weren’t in love with my best friend. Of course, she had to go into my mind, which wasn’t very pleasant I can tell. Let’s hope that you’ll never attempt to do that on me…”

Veerah chuckled, but then she though back to Orxon’s battle with that big Skakdi. How he was on the verge to kill him, and yet he had spared the Skakdi. Whatever Orxon thought of himself, he was not as cold blooded as he imagined.

“Is something wrong?” Orxon asked her. She shrugged off the thought immediately.

“No, I’m just… tired,” she replied.

“Well, that makes the two of us. We may have another long day before us, so we should get as much sleep as possible,” he said. They said good night to each other and, then lied beside each other. Veerah now realized that Orxon had been right; it did feel a bit weird. But there was also something else, something that felt… good.

The last thing she did before she drifted off to sleep, was to smile.

[LokaCola]

Chapter 8

In the darkness, he couldn’t see his opponent very well, but he could see good enough to see where his opponents’ sword came from so he could block it with his own. The only sound that could be heard was the clashing between their weapons. Whenever he tried to hit his foe, his attacks were blocked. As the battle drew on, he started to feel tired, but he knew that he couldn’t give up, not now when he was so close. His opponent made a thrusting strike, which made him dodge backwards into the light. As his foe emerged from the darkness, the familiar smirk on Narzhul’s face told Orxon that the Makuta in front of him were enjoying this.

Orxon prepared for another strike against his foe, but before he could react, Narzhul slashed against his hand. His sword fell to the ground, and as the Toa screamed in pain, he dropped on his knee, clutching the stub on his sword arm. The Makuta placed himself in front of him, and raised his weapon to deal the final blow. So, he had finally lost. He then heard a distant scream, it was Veerah and she was creaming his name. He knew that he had lost and that there was nothing he could do about it, and he closed his eyes and waited for the final blow to strike him…

Orxon woke up, his eyes frantically searching the room for any danger. When his senses finally came together and realized that it was just a bad dream, he noticed that his Kanohi Arthron had activated its mask power as well. He could feel some slight movement right next to him, but he knew it was just Veerah. He deactivated his mask power and tried to calm down from the dream. 

It was the same dream he had been having for almost a year now, but this time it was different. In this dream, he had finally seen that the foe was indeed the Makuta Narzhul, and that scream… It had been so distant before, but now he had heard that it was Veerah screaming his name. He couldn’t make any sense of it, since he hadn’t met her until a day ago, and he knew that he couldn’t see into the future.

He tried to just let it go, since it was after all just a dream. But he couldn’t help but feel troubled about it. That was until he looked to his right and saw Veerah sleeping next to him. She was facing him, which made Orxon a little bit uncomfortable since they had been sleeping in the same bed during the night. But that feeling, as well as his thoughts of his dream, vanished by just looking at her calm expression on her golden Kakama. He focused just on the features of her mask, and couldn’t do otherwise but to admire her beauty.

He then thought back to her story that she told him, how she had been treated by her father, her fellow Toa and pretty much all of the inhabitants on her former home island. It was something that made him feel very sorry for her, for no one should suffer through a past like that. But her calm, relaxed and smiling face, at least he thought it looked like she was smiling, didn’t give the impression of everything that she had gone through.

And now, he felt that odd feeling again. He had felt that since he first had met her, at the hands of two Skakdi that had taken her a prisoner. He had been confused by this feeling, and discarded the possibility that it could be… love? No, it couldn’t be, for he believed it to be impossible to fall in love at first sight, that was just something that some believed in, and that it would be nothing but happiness ever after. Just like in the stories…

He had thought about this feeling, and he now came to the conclusion that it simply had been about actually having some company. For the last year, he had been very lonely, but now with Veerah at his side, he had someone to travel with and talk to. Which had made him cheer up a bit, and started to think more positively.

Yep, that must be why, he thought. It made sense, so why shouldn’t it be it?

He couldn’t tell what the time was, since there were no windows in their room that could show him how it looked outside. But he presumed it was early in the morning, because his nightmare always woke him up at the same time in the morning each time. He got up from the bed, had one final look at Veerah’s sleeping form, and then got out of the room. He considered leaving a message for her in case she woke up before he got back, but given the lack of papers and something to write with, it was kind of a moot point anyway.

Orxon walked down the stairs back to the main floor. Unsurprisingly, it was almost empty at this early hour, which he could see now since there were windows down here. He scanned the room quickly, and soon he found the one he was looking for. He approached the table, which was situated at the wall, and then sat down and nodded to the small being in front of him.

It was a Matoran, a Ta-Matoran to be precise. Unlike most Matorans he had met before, this one had some scars on both his body and his red Pakari. His left eye was shining brightly like the sun itself, and the other eye was hidden behind a black eyepatch. This Ta-Matoran certainly gave the impression that he had been part in quite some adventures. Orxon also noted that he was drinking something, probably something that shouldn’t be drunk at this early hour.

“Hey, Orxon! Long time no see, eh?” the Ta-Matoran said.

“Yes, it has been quite some time, Rurak,” he replied. In fact, they hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks.

“Hey, you may be my friend, but I’m still Captain Rurak to you!” the Matoran exclaimed. And it wasn’t the first time he did so when they would meet.

“Sure, Captain Rurak,” Orxon said with slight annoyance while trying to emphasize that particular word as much as Rurak always did.

“That’s better! So, how have you fared since last time? Still haven’t found that Narzhul fella yet, eh?”

Orxon then told him everything that had happened since last time they met, most notably how he had dispatched the Skakdi mercenary Akron, gotten a possible lead on the Makuta he was after, and how he had saved Veerah. Once he was finished, the Ta-Matoran just smirked at him.

“Well, sooner or later the hero of the story meets the girl,” he said with amusement in his voice. Orxon knew exactly what he meant.

“That’s not… I don’t see her that way, I’m just glad to have some company after being so lonely for so long.”

“Sure, sure… then why are you blushing like that?” When Rurak saw his Toa-friends confused expression, he couldn’t help but laugh. But suddenly, his laughter died down and he looked more thoughtful.

“So… you believe the Makuta you’re after has gone back to Kastra Nui? But why? That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“I’ve been asking myself that very question” Orxon said, glad that his friend had dropped the subject of Veerah, at least for now. “No matter how much I think about it, I just can’t seem to make any sense of it… But then again, he is not really known for making sense either.”

“True, but still… Even in the maddest lunatics in this world, some sort of predictability can be found,” Rurak said.

“Maybe, but Narzhul is more mad then the maddest and craziest beings I’ve encountered before.” Rurak nodded to that, knowing that he couldn’t really argue with that. Not that he had met Narzhul personally himself though. 

“So, all that stands now is returning to your home, kill this Makuta and live happily ever after with that girl, eh?” That didn’t last long, Orxon couldn’t say that he wasn’t surprised this topic coming up again. He sighed.

“I told you I don’t look at her like that…” he started.

“Somehow, I don’t really believe you,” Rurak said with a smirk on his face. “Believe me, that look on your face, I’ve seen it many times before.” Before Orxon could answer to that, he noticed that a certain someone was looking at their direction.

The first thought that came to her mind when she woke up, was that she couldn’t remember the last time she had had a good sleep like this. It was almost to the point where Veerah didn’t want to wake up at all, and instead just continue to sleep. But she knew that she couldn’t do that, so she did open her eyes grudgingly.

That was when she noticed that Orxon wasn’t in the bed anymore. Her first reaction, albeit paranoid, was that he had abandoned her and was continuing his quest by himself. But the rational side of her figured that he probably had just went out to conclude some business, for instance getting a boat so they could get out of here. She knew that neither of them wanted to spend more time than was necessary in this town.

After some hesitation, she got up from the bed and decided to get out as well. She didn’t really feel comfortable alone, not after having spent a day with her new friend. She got downstairs and was about to head out of the inn, when she noticed that Orxon was sitting at a table in a corner with someone else. It was a Ta-Matoran, she recognized by his color, and he was wearing a Pakari. She also noticed that this Matoran had an eyepatch over his right eye, and on both his mask and his body, there seemed to be a quite a few scars. One thing was for certain, this wasn’t your average Matoran.

They were talking about something, but before she could make out what they were saying, Orxon noticed that she was looking at them and stopped talking. The Ta-Matoran stopped talking as well and looked at her, and it seemed that he was wearing a smirk over his mask. She took their silence as a sign to walk up to them, which she did.

“Ah, so this is the Veerah girl you mentioned?” the Ta-Matoran asked, his smirk growing bigger. “Orxon and I were just talking about y…”

“About how I found you,” Orxon interrupted. The Ta-Matoran was grinning from ear to ear, and Orxon blushed lightly. Somehow, she got the impression there was something more to this that Orxon didn’t want to reveal. Maybe she could figure it out herself with her psionic power…

“So… are you going to introduce us?” she asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.

“Hm? Oh, yes!” Orxon gestured for Veerah to take a seat at the table.

“Veerah, this is Rurak…” The Ta-Matoran named Rurak coughed and gave Orxon an unpleasant look. Orxon closed his eyes and sighed, clearly annoyed.

“Captain Rurak,” he then said with a tone of annoyance. Rurak didn’t seem care about it though. “He’s a friend of mine, and he is our ticket out of here,” Orxon then said. Veerah simply nodded, grateful they had already gotten some transportation.

“Good, the sooner we get out of this place, the better,” she said. Orxon nodded in agreement. “But…”

“Why is a Ta-Matoran a captain of a ship, eh?” Rurak interrupted, Veerah was surprised that he knew exactly what she was going to ask. When he noticed the surprise on her face, he simply said, “I get that question a lot.”

“Yes, I’m fully aware of the irony, but I can’t help but feel the call of the sea and the call of adventure, and of both I’ve seen plenty of. Don’t believe me? Take a closer look on my scars!” Rurak seemed quite confident of himself, while showing off the scars he was wearing. Veerah figured that this Matoran was confident, and possibly thought himself a womanizer, believing that females would flock around him like hungry Muakas. Maybe it worked for some, but it surely didn’t for Veerah, she knew better then falling for such simple tricks.

“But the best one – well, at least the one with the best story behind it, is this.” He pointed towards the eyepatch covering his right eye. “That, my friend, I got when I fought against the Great White Takea Shark. Takea Sharks are quite ferocious on their own, but this one…is really special. It’s bigger and even more ferocious, and with its white scales and red eyes, it looks like something from a nightmare. I got lucky that I just lost an eye, for that thing could have swallowed me whole…”

The Ta-Matoran captain had a serious tone in his voice, not like the tone he had just a moment ago. Maybe she had judged him too quickly.

“Aye, I was lucky. But mark my words, one day I’ll find this beast again, and I will take out my vengeance against it!” Veerah winced slightly when Rurak said this, instantly thinking of Orxon and how he had said that he would have his vengeance against the Makuta that had killed his friends and the Matoran he had sworn to protect. The way the Ta-Matoran had worded this was almost similar to how Orxon had said it.

Silence broke out between the two Toa and the Matoran, until Rurak put a smile on his face.

“So, when do you want to leave? My drink is finished and I’ve used my last widgets, so there’s nothing stopping me from going now.” Now Veerah noticed the bottle the Matoran had been drinking from, and by looking at the label on the bottle, she instantly knew it was way too early for such a drink.

“Soon, but there is one thing we need to do before we can leave,” Orxon said, and then he looked at Veerah. “We need to get you a new weapon, so you can fight for yourself. And don’t worry, I’ll pay for it.”

She was surprised to hear this, but she immediately felt glad. She had lost her weapon when she had been taken prisoner, and while she understood the reasoning behind Orxon’s decision in the fight against the Skakdi, she didn’t want to feel like some sort of prize again. Having a weapon of her own would prove that she could fight for herself just fine.

For some odd reason, Rurak smirked.

“While you’re at it, you should probably buy an enga…” he started, but stopped when Orxon sent him an angry glare that could have stopped a Kikanalo dead in its tracks. Whatever that was about, Veerah had the feeling it had something to do with what they had talked about before, which made her even more curios of the conversation. Using her psionic powers felt very tempting right now… Although she realized that she didn’t feel comfortable about digging through one of their minds to find out about a private conversation, but she had the feeling that it was in some way about her, making her use of her powers seem justified. At least in her mind.

But before she could decide, or simply just ask what they were referring to, the doors were slammed open. Oh great, the Skakdi is back, she immediately thought while turning around to see who had decided their presence to be of great importance. At the hallway, two Toa-like beings were standing there, seemingly scanning the room. But while they shared the same height as the average Toa, these two beings were clearly not any Toa. Their bodies were completely grey, and they didn’t wear any Kanohi masks. Their eyes shone brightly orange, but there was something odd about them, they didn’t seem to have any life in them.

Intrigued and slightly disturbed, Veerah used her powers to try getting into their minds, only to discover there was nothing to find. It was like the beings didn’t have a mind of their own. She turned around to face her company again, thinking that maybe it was best to pretend those beings weren’t there. But when her eyes caught Orxon, she froze.

The Toa of Gravity was sitting upright, and he was staring directly at the two beings. His hands were clenched, and his facial expression was full of hate. This sight made Veerah feel uneasy and quite scared, as she had never seen him like this. But it was at that moment she realized what the beings were.

They had been part of the army that had massacred his home island.

[LokaCola]

Whoops… I have completely forgotten to upload the latest chapters here for a few weeks. You can blame my forgetfulness, and to some extent my terrible internet for having an impact on my activity here.

Chapter 9

Orxon was quite angry, to say the least. Just as soon as Veerah had joined their company, the Ta-Matoran known as Rurak seemed to enjoy teasing him about his female company. But Orxon wasn’t developing feelings for her, at least he didn’t think he did, but still for some reason he didn’t like what Rurak was trying to say since he felt it was completely unnecessary. However, this time the Ta-Matoran captain actually went silent when all Orxon did was sending him an angry glare, which quite frankly surprised both of them.

Suddenly they heard the doors were slammed open. Curious of whom or what felt the need to disturb at this early hour, they all turned towards the source of the sound. When he caught the sight of the two beings that entered the inn, he immediately froze still, with his hands clenching and a look of hate and anger spreading across his mask. He recognized the two beings as part of the army that Narzhul had brought with him to destroy his home island, Kastra Nui.

The two Toa-like beings were scanning the room with their orange and lifeless eyes, and while they didn’t seem to notice him, his sight was so caught up with these arrivers that he never noticed when Veerah turned back and shock fully saw the anger and hate in his eyes. The two beings walked up to the counter, with the male Vortixx bartender cleaning a mug behind it. Which he always seemed to do, Orxon noted.

“Orxon!” Veerah whispered to him, snapping his attention away from the beings and turning it towards her instead. His hands opened up again and his facial expression turned to something more neutral.

“Are those…?” She didn’t finish the sentence, but he knew perfectly well what she asked. He neither answered nor nodded his head, but the look in his eyes told her everything.

“If that’s the case, I think we should get the Karzahni out of here!” Rurak said as quietly as possible. Orxon agreed, while there were only two of them, at this moment he was the only one able to fight them, and even then there was the possibility that Orxon would completely lose his temper and if that happened… There was no way of telling how that would go. Besides, even just one of those had turned up to be enough against a Toa.

The trio got up from their seats and made their way to the doors as quickly as possible. Before he went out, Orxon looked back at the two beings and saw that one of them was holding a tight grip on the bartender’s throat, who consequently was pointing at their direction. The two beings turned around to face him, and the one who held the bartender threw him away.

“Run!” Orxon yelled, and when he saw the two beings starting to walk towards him, he used his power of gravity to hold them up on the spot before turning to catch up with Veerah and Rurak. He knew it wouldn’t stop them for long, but hopefully he had been able to buy them some time.

Rurak had taken the lead, since it was his ship they were going to after all. Unfortunately, while he certainly was running as fast as he possibly could, his much shorter legs meant neither Orxon nor Veerah were able to run at their fastest. It didn’t go as fast as he would have liked to, and he looked back every once in a while to see if the two beings were after them. They were not, which troubled him more than if they were right behind him.

Orxon also noticed that, while there weren’t many up and going about at this hour, the ones who did cast looks of suspicion at them but didn’t react anyhow aside from that. He could only hope that they wouldn’t catch the attention of any guards, since that would complicate matters greatly.

They ran through the alleys, making sharp turns when possible in order to hopefully confuse their pursuers (although they hadn’t seemed to catch up them thus far). They were lucky that not too many others were out at this time, since it usually was pretty crowded. Things were going almost too well, and finally they arrived at the docks.

Rurak’s ship was easily spotted, since it was the one that looked to be in worse condition of all ships at the dock. How it still hadn’t sunk was honestly a mystery, but it was the best they could get for now and at least it would float. It wasn’t the biggest ship around either, but it was still quite large considering that Rurak was the only crew of that ship. How it all worked out made no sense for Orxon, but if it worked for his friend then he wouldn’t question it.

Orxon looked back, and when he did he could feel his heart sink. He saw that one of the mysterious beings had picked up their trail and was heading for the docks as well. The other one was nowhere to be seen, which troubled him a lot. But there was nothing he could do about the disappeared one; however he could deal with the one charging towards him.

Orxon decided it was time to stop running and time to fight. He knew there would take some time for Rurak to cast his ship off, probably not much but enough so that the charging being could cause some problems. He drew his sword, and locked his eyes on the incoming target. Last time, it had been with screams and the smell of fire around him, and with complete surprise at what had just happened. But not this time, for this time he was prepared to fight this… thing.

Veerah had noticed that Orxon had stopped, and she stopped as well. She was about to get back to him when he turned his head around towards her.

“Help Rurak with making the ship ready to go, I’ll hold it off as long as possible,” he ordered her. She stopped for a second, thinking about ignoring his words. But she knew that she couldn’t contribute to this fight, she had no weapon and her power of Psionics was most likely useless against these… what seemed to be lifeless beings. She turned back around to catch up with the Ta-Matoran, all the while wishing that she hadn’t lost her weapon…

As the being came closer to him, he saw how its right hand transformed into a blade, which it raised in the air before striking it down at the awaiting Toa. Orxon blocked it with his own sword, and quickly made a thrust against his opponent. The being dodged out of the way and at the same time sliced its blade against his upper left leg. He winced slightly in pain, but fortunately for him the blade hadn’t gotten very far in, making just a light wound.

He kicked against his opponents gut, but it barely moved at all while showing no reaction whatsoever. Instead, it grabbed his leg and pulled it towards itself with enough force to make Orxon land on his back. He quickly rolled to his left, just barely missing the blade that had headed towards him. He used his power over Gravity to make his opponent lighter, and managed to push it back a little. He quickly stood up, sword held tightly in his grip, and circled around his foe. It just followed him with its head, its lifeless eyes looking into his, making him feel uneasy.

It struck against him without warning, but thanks to his reflexes Orxon managed to block it just in time before it impaled his chest. He pushed his foe back a bit, creating some space between them, and then he did something that Toa wouldn’t do. He pretended that he would strike at its chest, which it prepared to block, but then he quickly made a swipe against its leg. It fell on its knee, creating an opening for him to do something else that Toa wouldn’t do.

The head of the being landed heavily on the ground, but what Orxon saw next shocked him. There was no blood or anything like that; instead several sparks flew from both the body and the head, while also showcasing what looked to be cords. The eyes on the head were flickering, and the body was slightly twitching before completely dying.

Orxon gaped at what he just had seen, for it wasn’t like anything he had seen before. He had figured that these beings weren’t really alive, judging mostly by their lifeless eyes, but he wasn’t really sure if this was what he expected. He turned around to get to the awaiting ship, but he stopped and looked back at its head. If this being was entirely mechanical, he figured there would be some sort of database or something like that in its head, which despite his lack of knowledge as far as technology was concerned could still prove useful. Mulling over his options quickly, he picked up the head before heading towards the ship.

The other mechanical being hadn’t shown up yet, but he wasted no time getting to the ship. While the wound on his upper leg was light, it did hurt and prevented him from running at his fastest speed. Maybe the blade had struck deeper then he fought, something he didn’t rule out since he felt the adrenaline from the battle slowly fading. When he got close to the end of the dock where Rurak had placed his ship, Veerah ran up to him.

“Are you alright?” she asked, while glancing towards his newly acquired wound.

“I’m fine, it’s just a minor flesh wound,” Orxon replied, completely leaving out the part that for a minor wound it was still somewhat hurting.

“Is that…” she then said, noting the head he was holding in his hands. The look on her face was of slight disgust, which he couldn’t really blame her for. Seeing someone carrying a decapitated head was probably not the most pleasant sight.

“Well, it did turn out these beings are mechanical, hence why they didn’t seem to be…”

“Lookout!” Veerah screamed. Orxon turned around, to see the other mechanical being running straight at them. Without thinking, he grabbed Veerah and threw them against the dock. The being ran past them and before it could stop or turn around, it fell off the dock and landed in the water with a splash.

Orxon saw how the being had fallen from the dock, and couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. It was then he became aware that he was lying on top of Veerah. He quickly scrambled up on his feet and being too embarrassed to even look at her when he helped her back to her feet as well.

Both of the two Toa were blushing hard, while neither of them noticed the other was blushing as well. They walked up towards the edge of dock to try and catch a glimpse of the mechanical being. The water was too dark to see through however, but they somehow doubted it would resurface. Then Orxon finally broke the silence.

“Let’s go.”

For now, there wasn’t anything more to say. They got up on the ship, and Rurak casted off to sail away from the docks and towards the open sea. As the ship was sailing on, Orxon walked to the ship’s stern to take one final glance of Xia as they departed. He was simply standing there, taking in the sight, until Veerah walked up right next to him. He turned to look at her, and couldn’t help but to smile. She was smiling back. They seemed to both have forgotten the recent and embarrassing moment. Neither of them said anything, but the look in their eyes told them enough. They were glad to have each other’s back, as well as finally leaving this island.

Above them, Rurak was looking at the two Toa standing next to each other. He was grinning from ear to ear, knowing that he had been right all along. Did Orxon really believe he could fool Captain Rurak of all people so easily?

“Just a matter of time…” the Ta-Matoran mumbled to himself. He then turned back to the task at hand, which was navigating on the sea. He smelled the air, taking in the scent of the ocean like he always did. His home was truly out in the sea, despite the ironic situation given the fact he was a Ta-Matoran.

Now, where might that Great White Takea Shark be at, he thought to himself. If he had turned to his right and carefully looked out at a certain spot, he would maybe have spotted a white fin cutting through the surface. But he didn’t.

[LokaCola]

Chapter 10

For the life of his, Orxon couldn’t tell why it hurt so much.

He was inspecting the wound he had acquired from his battle against the mechanical being, no doubt sent by Narzhul to find and presumably kill him. At first glance, it looked like just a minor wound and not something to think too much about. But for seeming like just a light wound, it hurt much more than it should have had.

The blade that had caused the wound had looked fairly ordinary, aside from the fact it appeared out of nowhere from the beings hand. He wasn’t sure what material it had been forged with though, but whatever it was it hadn’t looked like anything special. The wound had still been cut deeper than he had thought, but aside from that the wound didn’t look too unusual so the blade couldn’t have been poisoned.

He simply couldn’t wrap his head around this, and thus decided to just drop the matter and take care of the wound instead. He applied some salve to the wound and then bandaged it quite thoroughly.

“Now then, let’s attend to another matter,” he thought.

At his feet lay the severed head of the being, which he picked up and scanned. Since the being had been entirely mechanical, it had to have some sort of database located in its head which may hold some information about these beings and possibly where they were made. Tracking down Narzhul, who had seemed to return to Kastra Nui, was still his top priority. But finding the place where the army had been created would serve his purpose as well, and he thought that in the event that he failed his quest of vengeance, at least he may have stopped the production and thus what had happened to his home island wouldn’t happen again. That is, if he managed to figure it out where this place was located in the first place.

He carefully checked every inch of the head in search of something that would let him open it up, and finally he found some sort of small button. He pressed the button, which made the top of the head open up and reveal what was inside. There were several cords that presumably functioned like veins for this being, but the rest of the stuff he had no idea what it was.

He had no real knowledge of how technology really worked, since they had lived a simple life on Kastra Nui. Perhaps it would be better to show it to someone in Metru Nui, which wasn’t too far from Xia, but they were headed for the opposite direction. Venturing there first could perhaps help revealing the location where the army had been produced, but now that he had a possible lead on Narzhul’s whereabouts he couldn’t risk delaying for too long.

He found some sort of button and decided to press it. What could possibly go wrong?

“Self-destruct protocol initiated,” some voice from the severed head said.

“Oh no, I shouldn’t have done that.” The head gave off some red blinking lights. Frantically he pushed the same button again with no result. He then pressed another button, and luckily the lights went off.

“I think that’s enough for today,” he sighed and put the head back on the floor. It seemed that he had to find a technician after all. He sighed again, and then went thoughtfully into his own mind.

The sun was setting, casting its orange light on the ocean. Orxon had to admit, it was quite beautiful and very calming. It didn’t take long for him to forget about his frustration just by taking in the scenery. There were no other islands near in sight, just their ship and the ocean. That did really put some perspective of how big the world was. He had never felt the call of adventure outside of his own home island, just content with the life he had had on Kastra Nui. So when he was chosen as a Toa that would protect the island, he hadn’t really minded that.

Yet here he was, in the middle of the ocean having had traveled to different islands to track down the Makuta. His relaxed mind then went back to the very day where his home had fallen alongside everyone living there, including his brothers and sisters.
Luckily, he was disturbed from his thoughts when someone approached him. Orxon looked up, and couldn’t help but smile when he saw who it was.

Veerah had decided to give Orxon some space throughout the day. She had proposed to try to patch up his wound after the recent battle with the mechanical being, but he had turned down her offer. He also mentioned that he would try to figure out if he could get some information from the beings severed head, and she felt that she would just be disturbing him.

But there wasn’t really anything to do here, aside from maybe talking to Orxon’s Matoran friend. But she didn’t feel comfortable with him just yet, since when whenever she saw him, he had looked at her rather… strangely. She couldn’t tell what it was, but it really made her feel uneasy.

So out of boredom, and that she saw that Orxon was just gazing out towards the horizon, she walked up to him. When he noticed her approach, he turned around and smiled at her. There was something about his smile that always made her smile back.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, since it had looked like he had been deep in thought before she approached.

“Just how calm it is out here,” he replied, but it looked like there had been something else that he didn’t want to share. She nodded in agreement and looked out towards the horizon for a few moments, before turning her eyes back on him.

“How’s the wound? Is it any better?” she asked out of concern.

“Well, truth be told, it hurts quite a bit.” It looked like it hurt more than that though.

“But I’ll manage; I have survived worse than that.” She didn’t take her eyes off him for a moment, and then asked him another question.

“Any luck with that… head?”

“No, I have no idea how the thing works. Besides, technology isn’t really my area of expertise,” he said. It looked like there was something else that he didn’t mention, again, but since she didn’t have any knowledge on the subject either it was probably of no big importance. Even then, she might not have completely understood it.

“I see…” She then leaned against the railing next to him, and silence lay between the two Toa. Veerah enjoyed the quiet moment.

“Can I… ask you something?” Orxon broke the silence with.
“Of course,” she said.

“Back on Xia, when I… fought against that Skakdi, there was a moment when… I’m not sure what happened, but… for a moment, it seemed that… I…” He then trailed off.

“Yes?” she motioned for him to continue.

“There was a moment where I… I did not think at all. You saw that I was… very close to killing him. But it was like… I went on an automatic response, like it was my natural instinct. I almost killed him… I almost got another life on my consciousness.”

Then another moment of silence passed before Orxon spoke again.

“What if it’s too late for me to stop? What if it’s too late for me to steer away from that path?” It was there that she put a hand on his shoulder, which made Orxon stiffen up a little bit and unless she was seeing things it looked like he was blushing.

“I don’t think it’s too late, not yet. If it were, you wouldn’t have spared that Skakdi’s life.”

“I suppose...”  She didn’t take her hand away from his shoulder, and Orxon just stood as still as he could. The sun had almost disappeared from the sky, casting an orange light on the surface of the ocean. Veerah finally took her hand away from his shoulder, and they both turned around to watch the sunset.

“That sunset is really beautiful,” Veerah said, changing the subject.

“It really is,” he agreed. The only sunsets that she had ever appreciated where the ones that she could see at her special spot on the island she used to live on, but this one took the price. There was nothing else around them, just the ocean, which really gave the feeling of how big the world was. Besides, she wasn’t alone anymore but now had a friend at her side.

She glanced towards Orxon, when she saw that he was looking right at her. When he saw that she was now looking back at him, he quickly turned his gaze back to the sunset. Veerah did as well, all the while feeling some sort of warmth spreading inside of her and blushing quite heavily.

What was that about? She thought to herself, confused of the emotions she felt now. And why had he looked at her in that way? She didn’t know what to think of this, so eventually she didn’t and concentrated back on the setting of the sun.

They just stood there while taking in the view until the sun had gone completely down and replaced the day with night. Once the first stars appeared on the sky, Orxon turned against her.

“I’m going to get some rest. It’s been a long day, and I don’t think it wouldn’t hurt my wound either.” She nodded, as he bent down to pick up the severed head and then he went to the small cabin of the ship to get some rest. She wouldn’t say no for some rest too, but she felt like watching the stars for a bit. There was also something else that she needed an answer for, but she doubted that Orxon would give her one…

What they didn’t notice was that Rurak looking from above, with a big smirk on his mask. If he wasn’t sure before, he surely was now…

“How can they be so blind?” he murmured to himself.

“Well, soon enough at least one of those bone-headed Toa will realize what’s going on,” he thought to himself. He then went back to fully concentrating on steering the ship towards Kastra Nui where his friend Orxon might finally take his vengeance.

After a few minutes, he saw that Veerah was climbing up the steps up to him. Their introduction had been very brief, and he had noted that so far she had mostly stayed away from him. She was pretty though, he had to admit.

“Hey,” she simply said. Rurak nodded back.

“What’s on your mind?” he simply asked. She seemed slightly taken back that he knew her intention, but since that seemed to be one of his talents she nevertheless asked him her question.

“Back at the inn… on Xia, I saw that you and Orxon were talking to each other. About something that apparently Orxon didn’t want to let me know anything about it. I don’t know, but I kind of got the impression that it had something to do with me.”

“Ah, I see,” Rurak thought. No doubt, females always wanted to know what were said about them. He could of course tell the whole truth, since he thought it was very obvious that the two Toa felt something special about each other, so really he would just give them a push. But on the other hand, he figured that it could be funny, as well as more “true” he supposed, to let them figure it out by themselves.

Besides, Orxon would probably kill him if he told her.

“Aye… When our friend first mentioned you I immediately made some remarks about your gender, not in the way you’re thinking, mind you. More of the classical “hero meets the girl” stuff, you know. He just didn’t want to give you the wrong idea and scare you off because of me, so… Well, that’s basically it really. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Veerah looked thoughtfully at the Ta-Matoran, and from what he could gather from the look on her mask she didn’t seem to be sure whether she would believe him or not. She better be, for he knew that if she wasn’t satisfied with his answer, she would probably user her Psionic powers on him to force the right answer out.

Luckily for him, she finally decided that the answer was good enough.

“Thanks, I suppose.”

“You’re welcome,” he grinned at her. She then turned around to go down to the cabin for some rest presumably.

Rurak grinned from ear to ear for the thought that popped up in his head, and then went back to steering the ship once again, all the while whistling an old sea tune for himself. And for the ocean as well of course, no proper sailor wouldn’t pay respect to the great ocean in some way. And maybe even that blasted Takea shark, if it were anywhere near. Which it better not be…

[LokaCola]

This is probably gonna be the last chapter in quite some time, as I’ve yet to start writing on the next chapter and with college eating up a lot of time, I don’t expect to finish it let alone start on it anytime soon.

Chapter 11

When Orxon woke up, he was trying to piece together what his dream had consisted of. It had felt the most unusual, since it hadn’t been his nightmare with Narzhul again. No, this dream had been much more… happier. But aside from the warm and fuzzy feeling he now felt, he couldn’t remember what his dream had been about. Confused, he sat up in his bed and looked across to the other side of the cabin.

He saw that Veerah was still sleeping, and with Rurak nowhere to be seen he was presumably still up on deck. He looked back at Veerah again, and noted that while sleeping she looked very calm. He had noted that on Xia as well, but he found it impossible to look away.

Eventually, he did have to turn his gaze elsewhere. He couldn’t tell what time it was, but he presumed that it was morning. Maybe the sun was still rising, which was a sight he wouldn’t mind seeing. As with the sunset, while both events were beautiful, there was something special when witnessing them on the ocean where it was just you and the sea around you.

He still remembered the lovely sunset from the previous day, but something weird had happened at that time. When Veerah came up and watched the sunset with him, his eyes had slowly drifted from the horizon and towards Veerah instead. He couldn’t tell how long he had just stared at her, but once he realized that her head had turned towards him, he had quickly set his eyes towards the sunset.

It was very unusual the way he had felt. Time had almost seemed to have moved slower, and his heart had skipped a few beats. It was a strange experience, and he had trouble figuring out exactly what had happened with him. He had never experienced anything quite like this before.

His mind then drifted back to the previous day, when he had first spoken to Rurak that day. He remembered the remarks his friend had made when he had told him about Veerah. He had simply brushed them off, and made repeated attempts to make him stop doing that.

“But what if… he’s actually right?” he then thought. At the time, he was very sure that he didn’t have any feelings for his companion. But now, with the strange experience of yesterday, he wasn’t as sure.

He got up from his bed, while his mind really tried to comprehend the happenings of the last day. He supposed that Rurak could possibly be right about this, but on the other hand he felt really unsure if it really was the case. He took one final glimpse at the sleeping Veerah, and sighed.

“But even if that would be true… it wouldn’t change anything.”

And with that final thought, he walked to the door of the cabin and went out.

As he came up to the deck, he saw that the sun had risen almost completely from the horizon, casting its bright light everywhere. Unlike yesterday, he could see land towards in the distant, but he had no idea what island it was. It surely was a beautiful sight, but seeing it made him think about the sunset from yesterday, which he now felt he couldn’t think about anymore.

He then went up to where Rurak was steering the ship. He wondered if his Matoran friend had gotten any sleep at all, but from what he could see it wasn’t a problem for the captain. He always had a look of alert when he was on the sea, for as much as the Ta-Matoran ironically loved the open sea, he knew as any other experienced sailor that the sea was not to be taken lightly.

When Rurak saw Orxon coming up to him, he had smirk on his mask. Again, Orxon was reminded of things that he for the moment didn’t want to think about.

“Good morning to you, slept tightly eh?” Rurak asked, with the smirk still on his Pakari.

“Good morning to you too, and yes, I’ve gotten a decent amount of sleep,” Orxon replied. But then Rurak’s smirk went wider and wider.

“So… nothing interesting happened?”

“What are you…?” Orxon began, until realizing what his friend was meaning. Now he just felt annoyed.

“I’ve told you already that I don’t…” he began before getting cut off.

“Please, I know love when I see it. And for someone who is denying it all, it didn’t look like it was nothing yesterday when you two gazed at the sunset.”

Orxon didn’t know what to say, because deep inside he knew that there was no way he could try to dispute that. He still wasn’t sure himself, but he could tell that at this point, there would be no way to change Rurak’s mind.

“Listen, I don’t…” he began but was once again cut off before he could finish. This time though, it wasn’t by Rurak.

There was a loud smash, and the ship was rocked violently. Orxon struggled to keep his balance, and Rurak held on tight to keep his balance. When the ship settled back, they were both scanning around their surroundings.

“What was that? Did we hit something?” Orxon wondered.

“Nay, I think something hit us,” the captain replied with what seemed to be slight fear on his mask. Orxon had never seen him like this before, so it had to be very serious.

“Wait, what do you…?” Once again Orxon was cut off by another loud smash which made the ship rocked again. When it stopped, Orxon made his way to the railing to try to spot whatever it was that seemed to want to sink their ship. What he saw made him gasp in horror.

He saw a big white fin sticking out of the ocean, and while the whole creature was hidden beneath the waves, he immediately knew what had targeting the ship. It was the Great White Takea Shark, and it was swimming towards them. As the creature came closer and closer, it popped out from the waves and displayed itself in full glory. It was easily bigger than any Takea Shark he had seen and the white scales and red eyes made it look like something from his deepest nightmares.

He had seriously thought that maybe Rurak had exaggerated somewhat in his stories. Clearly, he had been serious all this time.

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” he shouted to Rurak, before the shark hit the ship again. Orxon held tightly against the railing as the ship rocked once again. When it stopped, he frantically looked around but couldn’t see the shark or even its fin anywhere. But he knew it was far from over.

“Hey, what’s going on?” For a little while there, Orxon had actually forgotten about Veerah, who must have woken up thanks to the boats violent movements.

“Veerah, grab something and hold on tight!” Orxon said as she was getting up the stairs to them.

“What are you…” she began, but then there was another smash against the hull of the ship, she managed to get hold of the railing before she could get thrown in the sea. When the ship stop moving again, Orxon thought that Rurak’s ship was surprisingly steadfast and hadn’t seemed to be taken any major damage thus far.

“Okay, what is going on?” Veerah’s tone had turned from confused to worry.

“Remember that Takea Shark in the story Rurak told?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, it seems that we’ve run into it.” Veerah looked around trying to catch the sight of the shark, but couldn’t see anything.

“I don’t see anythi…” she began, but as if on a cue the Great White jumped out of the water, jaws wide open, and lunged into the ship once again. The two Toa held on tight to stay aboard the ship whilst it moved violently.

“That thing… it’s much bigger than I imagined!”

“You’re not the only one thinking like that… Wait, where’s Rurak?” Orxon had discovered that the captain was gone when he glanced over his shoulder.

“You don’t think he’s…” Veerah couldn’t bear to finish that sentence, but they both knew what she was about to say.

Quickly, before the shark would lunge again, Orxon ran to the other side of the ship and searched in the water after the Matoran with his eyes. But his friend was nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, grief struck him. While Rurak was quite pretentious and annoying, Orxon had always regarded him as a friend ever since Kastra Nui was destroyed, and for a long time he had also been the only friend he had. And now he was… gone. Lost in the very ocean he loved.

As he was about to turn around and confirm to Veerah what she already suspected, he heard some steps coming up from the stairs, and when he did turn around he saw the last thing he had expected to see at this moment.

Coming up from the cabin was Rurak. Orxon couldn’t help but look in shock. For a second, he had really thought the Ta-Matoran had fallen overboard, but as it turned out he hadn’t.

“Rurak, you’re alive!”

“What… why wouldn’t I?” he asked confused like it was the most obvious thing.

“I… never mind about that.” Then he saw that Rurak was carrying a harpoon in his hand, which explained where he had gone. The harpoon was of a relative size though, for Rurak it was probably your average harpoon, but for a Toa it looked incredibly small. And he hadn’t even factored in the size of the shark.

“Is THAT the best weapon you got?” In just a few seconds, Orxon’s emotions had changed completely.

“Well, it’s not like I can afford a Cordak Blaster!”

“There’s got to be a better idea,” Veerah interjected. Orxon fell silent for a moment, thinking hard how to get out of this situation.

“I think I do…” he simply said, before searching around for the shark again. The attacks had stopped momentarily, and now the Great White was circling around their ship, with its fin sticking out of the waves as if it was trying to scare them into defeat. Now was the perfect time to execute his plan, the question was just if it was really going to work as good as he hoped it would.

He reached out his hands and pointed them towards the swimming shark, whilst concentrating really hard. Since the creature was swimming around the boat, he had to lead his hands just before where it was going to make sure that his Gravity powers would hit it. He knew that gravity was still a factor even in the deep blue sea, but exactly how useful his powers were in this situation, he was about to find out.

At first, it seemed that his efforts were fruitless. But eventually, he saw that the shark was slowly but surely getting deeper down in the ocean, and its movements got slower and slower until it practically stopped, and he could see how the Great White was struggling against his power until it got deep down enough to not be seen.

“I suggest we get out of here, I don’t know for how long the shark is unable to follow us!”

“Aye, aye… well, me I suppose,” Rurak awkwardly remarked once he figured it his response wouldn’t work at all since he was the captain. He took control of the ship’s wheel and in a matter of moments, the wind unexpectedly picked up as from nowhere and they were on their way. Orxon just hoped that they would be able to get as far away as possible before his gravity powers couldn’t hold the shark down anymore.

When several minutes had passed and there was no sign of the Great White, Orxon finally felt relieved and when he looked up he saw that Veerah had a similar look on her Kakama. Rurak though, had a somewhat different expression. Orxon could see on his face that while the captain was happy to have come out of this alive, there was something else as well. Exactly what his expression was off Orxon didn’t know, but he had a feeling that it had to do with Rurak’s first encounter with the Great White.

He couldn’t blame him; in fact he held a deep understanding for his friend. While of different reasons, they both wanted vengeance for something they had lost. Orxon for having lost his home and all his friends to, and Rurak for having lost his eye to the creature. He would have helped his friend without a single hesitation, if only Rurak had possessed a weapon that was not made to harpoon much smaller creatures.

He then swore to himself that as soon as he had gotten his vengeance on Narzhul, he would help Rurak enact his vengeance against the Great White.

“Hey Veerah, could you just check quickly if we’ve gotten any damage?” Rurak asked her.

“Of course!” she replied. She leaned over the railing to where the shark had lunged at their ship and made a quick check on the hull.

“It doesn’t seem to have taken any damage, at least not any major. What is this ship built by? Something that large should have made a big dent on a ship this size.”

“Well, let’s just say that I made some upgrades after my first encounter,” the captain replied, not wanting to go into any more details for some reason.

“Hey, wasn’t it very timely for the wind to pick up just as soon as the sail was set?” Orxon asked.

“Aye, it was, but the great sea works in…” he began, but was cut off by Veerah.

“Or we’re about to sail right into a storm!” she said and pointed towards the approaching clouds. As they got closer and closer, the sky went darker by the second. Soon the wind was howling loudly, and they could hear lightning strikes in the distant. It was almost eerily how quick this storm had appeared out of nowhere.

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire…” Rurak remarked, but they could barely hear him over the howling wind.

“We need to get out of this storm!” Orxon shouted in order to be heard.

“Aye, and in my experience the best way out of a storm is right through it!” Rurak said almost cheerfully.

“What, are you crazy?!” Veerah exclaimed.

“Crazy is my middle name,” the Matoran replied as a grin grew on his mask. “Now, I think the two of you should get back into the cabin, and make sure everything is tied up… well, at least everything that hasn’t already flown across the room…”

“What about you then?” Orxon asked.

“Don’t worry about me; I’ll get us out of here! Now go!” Without hesitation, the two Toa went to the cabin as quickly as they could. Before Orxon walked down the stairs, he looked up to make one final check on Rurak, who he saw was tying himself to the boat’s wheel. Undoubtedly this would stop him from getting washed overboard if a huge wave would hit them.

Once back in the cabin, both Orxon and Veerah made their best to tie everything up so every object wouldn’t start moving in case of a violent movement, and the things that had moved when the shark attacked were placed back where they had been before.

But once their task was fulfilled, there wasn’t anything else they could do other than to sit down and wait for Rurak to take the ship out of the storm. They sat close to each other, but neither said a word to each other. But eventually, Veerah broke the silence.

“Do you think that… he’s really going to get us out of the storm?”

“Yeah, I’m sure of it…” Orxon said, but even he wasn’t entirely sure.

“You don’t sound too convinced,” Veerah remarked.

“Well, I’ve never been out on the sea during a storm, but… if there’s anyone that can sail through a storm like this, it’s definitely Rurak,” he said, while giving a slight smile of assurance. Veerah just nodded, and then they both went back to silence. Now they could only hope that their captain would indeed successfully manage to take them out of the storm alive.

“He has to,” Orxon thought to himself.

[LokaCola]

I apologize for the long delay since the last chapter, but I’ve been very busy due to college. Anyways, here’s the latest chapter for this story which I hope you’ll enjoy!

Chapter 12

As Orxon’s eyes started to flicker open, the first thing he noticed was that they were not moving anymore. That must mean Rurak have managed to steer the boat out of the storm and presumably made a stop somewhere. Either that or they had sunk in the storm, and if that was the case Orxon could not tell the difference between the living world and the afterlife.

He scanned his surroundings, and saw he was still in the cabin of the ship, which definitely ruled out the possibility of this being the afterlife.

He felt a weight on his left shoulder, and when he moved his head to check what it was, he froze and blushed heavily. As he and Veerah had fallen asleep, something Orxon couldn’t remember when it happened now that he thought about it; her head had been resting on his shoulder.

This posed a dilemma, since he didn’t want to wake her up, but he also needed to check out where they were. He gently pushed her back, rose up and then carefully laid her on the bench.

As he was about to leave the cabin, she mumbled something in her sleep. He couldn’t pick up what it was, but for one second he thought she had said his name. He shook his head, thinking that it was probably just his imagination.

The first thing he noticed was the abundance of trees in front of him. When he looked down, he saw a lot of sand. It seemed they had stranded on a beach, and when he jumped down from the ship, he saw Rurak chopping at some trees nearby. When the Ta-Matoran finally noticed the Toa approaching, he started smirking in a way that Orxon had gotten used to during the course of these last days.

“Why didn’t you wake us up when we landed?” he asked the Ta-Matoran captain, now having seen there was a hole in the ship.

“Sorry, but I just couldn’t bring myself to wake you love birds up” he said, his grin growing wider. Orxon sighed for what felt like the millionth time these past days.

“There’s no way I’ll convince you that I don’t have feelings for her, I take it?” he asked with defeat in his voice.

“Exactly,” Rurak nodded. “The signs are there, even if you can’t tell it yourself.”

Silence fell as Orxon considered his friends words, and thought back to how he had felt as of lately, and he could tell he had felt happy for the first time ever since he met Veerah. That was something he couldn’t argue against.

“I don’t know… maybe you’re right after all.” The words were like a whisper, but it was enough to make Rurak stop what he was doing.

“So you’re finally admitting?!” he asked in surprise.

“I said I don’t know,” Orxon replied. “But I can’t deny that I’ve felt happier ever since I met her. But even if you’re right, it doesn’t change anything.” Rurak looked a bit puzzled upon hearing this.

“What does it not change?” he asked.

“Well… I hardly doubt she feels the same about me. In fact, if there’s indeed love, I’m pretty sure you don’t fall this fast for someone you just met.”

“Maybe so, but there’s nothing wrong or unusual with it either. Besides, I can tell that she does care for you.” Orxon’s heart beat a little bit faster upon hearing his friend’s words. He shook his head, clearing that thought.

“Well, I suppose that maybe I’m the first one that she can consider as a friend. But I doubt she feels that way about me.”

“I think you’re just afraid of asking her out,” Rurak said, grinning again.

“It’s… It’s not that…”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I… I can’t… I can’t promise her a future together, if I can’t guarantee one for myself,” he finally admitted a thought that he only now realized had dwelled within him.

“Am I really talking like I’m admitting I have feelings for her?” Orxon thought to himself after hearing his words come out of his mouth.

“I see your point,” Rurak said after a small moment, nodding thoughtfully and surprisingly enough being serious. “So you won’t back away from getting your vengeance on that Makuta fellow?”

“I can’t,” Orxon replied. “I’ve come so far now… if I give up, then… all the lives I’ve taken… it would have been for nothing. A giant waste, because I was angry and felt the bloodlust.”

Silence fell between the Toa and the Matoran, as the gravity of Orxon’s words were felt by both of them. For the first time, Orxon only now thought there was a very real possibility he would die by going up against Narzhul the Makuta. Of course, he had always known that possibility existed. But then it had felt so far away, and now the thought that this could be the last days in his life hit him hard.

“So… I saw the hole in the ship…” he said, changing the subject and pushing his thoughts away. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Well, your gravity powers could prove useful, but I had another task in mind,” the Ta-Matoran captain replied. “For the both of you actually.”

Orxon turned around, and spotted Veerah walking up towards them. She smiled at him when she came up to them, and Orxon smiled back. When she turned to Rurak, he frowned thoughtfully back to his earlier conversation with the captain and his admission. It didn’t seem like she had overheard their earlier conversation, at least she didn’t show it.

“So what actually do you have in store for us?” Veerah asked, bringing Orxon back to reality.

“I saw some puffs of smoke a while back from there,” he said and pointed towards that area. “I want you two to go check out that area and see if you can find anyone there. Partly because I don’t have all the tools necessary to repair the ship, and… well, I frankly don’t know where we are…”

“Wait… You have no idea where exactly we are?” Orxon asked.

“I’m afraid not, that storm forced us into territory where I haven’t been in before.”

“Well, alright then. Are you ready to leave now?” Orxon asked Veerah. She nodded.

“Then let’s go.”

They had traveled for approximately three hours, and they were going through a thick forest. The terrain was not easily navigated and occasionally they would hear movements presumably from Rahi, but it didn’t seem like they wanted to be spotted.

Orxon was noticeably on guard, as even though the wildlife seemed to leave them alone, the forest had a rather dreary atmosphere to it. It didn’t scream like a death trap of it, but if Veerah would have decided herself, they would have tried to find another way.

Orxon wasn’t very talkative right now either, she could tell. Throughout the whole journey today, he hadn’t spoken a single word since they left Rurak with the ship. She didn’t know what it was about, and despite not having dug through his mind, she could still feel how something were radiating inside of his head.

The temptation to use her Psionic powers was there, she had to admit. But no matter how hardly she wanted to, she wouldn’t let herself do it. If she did, he would have noticed due to his previous experience with that particular power. But even if he wouldn’t have noticed, she couldn’t do it. She considered him a friend, and after all this time, she couldn’t risk losing the very first person that she could actually consider a friend.

She had time to think now, and she realized that deep within her, there was a longing for something more. But why? They had met just a few days ago, and even that would be considered very quickly for making friends. But for wanting to spend the rest of her life with him? Does that even make sense? Or maybe she was just mistaken, and she was just overjoyed for having a friend.

The silence and her thoughts were about to eat her up, so she finally decided to break the silence between them.

“So… um, what Kanohi is that you’re wearing? I’ve never seen it before.”

Orxon looked a little bit confused at first, presumably because of how long they’ve been quiet. It didn’t take long for him to catch on though.

“Oh, this? Well, it’s a Kanohi Arthron, the Mask of Sonar. It’s… well, the way it basically works is that I can sense objects or beings when they move, kind of similar to how bats find their prey. I’m actually having it activated right now, and I can sense all the Rahi moving about in our general area.”

“Oh, wow! That sounds very useful.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“It looks good on you too.”

“Wait, did I just say THAT?” she thought to herself right after the words left her mouth.

“Um… thanks…” Orxon looked embarrassed and like he didn’t really know what to say, but it didn’t look like he was as embarrassed as how Veerah felt right now. It was so bad, she almost whished for the ground to open up below her.

Now the two Toa were silent again, but this time it just felt incredible awkward. The fact that she couldn’t come up with anything to say right now made it worse.

“I haven’t seen you use your Kakama yet, but I’d imagine that’s a really useful mask too,” Orxon finally broke the silence.

“Yeah… I… I suppose…” Veerah said with some doubt in her voice, which seemed to show as Orxon looked confused at her. It was only after a few moments that Orxon looked like he had realized what she had meant.

“You haven’t… you haven’t been able to use your mask power yet?” She only nodded to his question, as it was something she was ashamed to admit. While Orxon certainly was different to the other Toa from her island, she was still waiting for him to laugh at her. But he didn’t.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that, you know. It is after all the hardest part to do when you’re a new Toa, and when you also don’t get a lot of support…” He stopped his words as he almost touched on the subject of her past. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that there’s nothing wrong with that, in fact I was also very late to find my mask power amongst my brothers and sisters.”

“So it’s… normal?” she asked.

“Definitely,” he replied. “And if you ever want to talk about it, or if you need some help along the way, don’t be afraid to ask me.” She nodded gratefully at him.

“Thanks,” she said. 

Despite what she already knew of him, he always managed to surprise her expectations. Her past must really have been something else, in comparison to Orxon’s past, for her to have such low expectations of other being’s thoughts and reactions. To her, it was unbelievable how someone could be so kind and understanding. Especially when that someone had lost everything because… why had he lost it all?

Only now, Veerah realized that Orxon hadn’t told her the reason why the Makuta known as Narzhul had decided to massacre his home island. But from what she could understand, it seemed that there hadn’t been any real reason as to why Kastra Nui of all places had been devastated. 

Seemingly this Makuta had just woken up one day and decided to obliterate a random island. Veerah thought that she had seen evil amongst her so-called “brothers” back home, but this… This was just someone who wanted to watch the world burn.

After a while, Orxon stopped and Veerah followed suite. Looking forward, they saw the end of the forest and a clearing through the trees. There was also a small hut located atop a hill, which seemed to end with a cliff.

Orxon looked concentrated towards the hut, probably using his mask power to sense if there were any living beings in the hut or in the near vicinity. After a few seconds, Veerah asked “Do you see… I mean, sense anything?”

“Not really,” he replied. “The hut doesn’t look big though, so I don’t think it belongs to even a being of our size. But I think we should be careful regardless, we don’t know what to expect.”

“Good idea”, she said, and they went towards the small hut. Once they approached it, Orxon walked up to the door and knocked on it, all the while looking ready to draw his sword. Veerah stayed a bit back, considering that the only weapon she had currently were her psionic powers.

The door opened, and out walked an old Turaga. The blue color on the Turaga marked her as of the water element, and she was holding a cane with a small ball on the top supporting her frail body. Wisdom seemed to radiate from her aura, but what caught Veerah’s attention were her eyes behind her Kanohi Rode. The white haze on them showed the Turaga was blind, but despite this she looked directly at her visitors.

“Ah, Orxon, Veerah! I have been waiting for you!” the Turaga said. The two Toa looked confused at each other, and Veerah couldn’t decide whether she was more surprised that the Turaga could see them despite her blindness, or that she knew who they were.

“How do you know our names? And how did you know we were coming?” Orxon asked the obvious questions that were on both of their minds.

“The Great Spirit whispered your names to me in my sleep and showed me when you were going to appear.” The Toa were of course familiar with the Great Spirit, but neither of them seemed to recollect that Mata Nui ever spoke to anyone directly. Veerah started to think that maybe this Turaga was just a crazy person, as that seemed to make far more sense.

The reason she thought it made more sense, was because after the Karzahni she had went through she honestly had lost faith in the Great Spirit of Mata Nui.

“Ah, but where are my manners? Come in, come in!”

Veerah looked unsurely at Orxon, who seemed to not know what to make of all this. Nevertheless he shrugged and followed the old Turaga in to her hut. Veerah hesitated for a moment, but reluctantly she followed after Orxon.

[LokaCola]

That awkward moment when it took over a year to finish the next chapter (I apologize, but I’ve been really busy).

Also, that awkward moment when you are finished with the thing and feeling great… and then you forget to upload it.

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 13

”Please take a seat! I have some hot beverages that I cooked up just before you arrived.”

The Toa took their seats and waited for the Turaga to bring the beverages. She didn’t tell them what it was, and when she put the cups on a table before them Orxon thought it looked odd. He politely thanked and took a sip, but almost spat it out from his mouth. It was too strong for his liking, and although he tried to hide his expression Veerah noticed it and decided to not drink from her cup.

Once the Turaga of Water had taken her seat, she looked expectedly at her two visitors. An awkward silence erupted due to the dissonance between the Turaga who already knew they were coming, and the Toa that had no idea what was going to happen.

Finally, Orxon cleared his throat.

“So, um… why don’t we start with… who you are?” he asked.

“My name is Vilah, but some have called me the Seer, and I’m the sole inhabitant on this island. My people… well, I shouldn’t bother you with my troubles, but I’m all that is left on this island. Except for the Rahi, of course. But you are not here to listen on the ramblings of an old Turaga; you merely want some help to get off this island, am I right?”

“How… did you know we were shipwrecked?” Veerah asked the Turaga.

“If not because I saw it in a vision granted by the Great Spirit, then I would have known since it’s the only reason this island gets any visitors these days.” Orxon noted that Veerah rolled with her eyes slightly when Vilah mentioned the Great Spirit, which seemed odd to him.

The Turaga also seemed to have noticed this.

“My dear, I am sorry that your faith in the Great Spirit has dwindled, and I can’t blame you for that. No child of the Great Spirit should have to go through what you have.”

Veerah just looked at the Turaga with her mouth gaping, failing to muster a single word.

“Did… did the Great Spirit tell you that too?” Orxon asked instead of Veerah.

“No,” the Turaga answered while shaking her head. “The Great Spirit may tell me of times to come, but as for what has already happened… Well, all I can say is that when you have lived for as long as I have, you start to recognize some eyes.”

“Recognizing eyes?” Orxon asked confused.

“Yes, the eyes of a being can tell you so much about them for anyone who knows how to read them. They’re like an open book, except very few beings know how to read it.” Vilah rose from her chair and walked close to Orxon and looked right into his eyes, which made him nervous.

“When I look into your eyes, I see someone that has lost everything he once held dear and wants to have justice served on the one who killed your friends. I see someone that has spilled more blood than he would like to admit. And I see someone that is torn between accomplishing his personal quest or following his…”

Orxon had been so shocked at the Turaga gathering his deepest thoughts just by looking into his eyes, that he didn’t noticed he had dropped his cup before it hit the ground. It brought him and the Turaga back to the reality, as Orxon mentally face palmed himself.

“I sincerely apologize,” he said.

“No need to apologize, my dear,” the Turaga replied as she gave him a piece of cloth to wipe the floor clean.

“Anyways, you needed some help to get off this island?”

“Correct, we crashed with our ship and need some repair tools. You don’t happen to have any?” Orxon asked.

“Of course, I should have some tools lying around here somewhere. At this rate, maybe I should start charging for repairs, don’t you think?”

“I… suppose so,” Orxon said.

“Well, I don’t really have any use of widgets anyway, and besides, it would be against the will of the Great Spirit if I started acting for my own interests,” the old Turaga mumbled while looking for the tools. Eventually she brought the tools to them, and they left with the promise to return with the tools once they had finished repairing the ship.

As they traveled the way back, Orxon couldn’t help but think back to what the Turaga had said when she had looked into his eyes. While she hadn’t finished her reading of his eyes, he had a pretty good idea what she was about to say.

“The Turaga…what did she mean when she said that you were torn between accomplishing your personal quest and following your… what exactly?” Veerah suddenly spoke.

Orxon was quiet for a while, as he tried to figure out what he should say. Should he tell her the truth about his inner conflict and what he truly felt about her? Or should he lie to her? Neither option was comfortable to him, as he couldn’t muster to spill out his deepest thoughts to her, yet he knew he couldn’t lie to her.

She walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, which made him completely stop.

“Look, I get it if you don’t want to share whatever she saw in you, and especially at this moment. You don’t have to say it, but I just want to let you know that… The way you have been there for me, despite the fact we first met just a few days ago is something I can’t thank you enough for. I just want you to know that I’ll be there for you the same way you’ve been there for me.”

He took a long look at his friend.

“You’re right that I don’t feel ready to tell you about it, not now at least. But… thanks. I appreciate your kind words, I really do.” He said as he gave her a quick smile, but he couldn’t muster to keep up the appearance for very long. She seemed to understand this though, as they continued walking along.

The rest of the trip back to the ship was a silent one, as the Toa both seemed to mull about their past once again. When they returned to Rurak and the ship, the Matoran had taken just one look at them to see that something was not right.

“What’s with the long faces? Lost a bet against an Ash Bear?” Rurak asked. Orxon told him of the Turaga they had met, and upon hearing the full story Rurak seemed to drop his usual smirk.

“I see… I’ve heard a story about some kind of being living alone on an island that could read the past and the future, but… I didn’t think much about it. It’s best to just forget about it and move on. I know I don’t have much of a tragic past myself, so I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like to carry such a burden, but dwelling on your past won’t do you any good, nor will thinking about the future. Let’s just get back to repairing the ship and take our minds neither on the past nor the future, but rather on the present.”

Rurak was not a being you usually went to for a motivational speech, but sometimes his word brought some much-needed wisdom. He was right, because now they had to focus on the present if they were to leave this island, and eventually reach the end of Orxon’s quest for vengeance.

As the sun was setting, the trio had finally managed to mostly repair the ship. A few more things had to be fixed and checked, but since they didn’t need the tools provided by Vilah any longer, Orxon had offered to return those while Veerah and Rurak stayed with the ship.

The main reason Orxon had volunteered to return the tools were however of a different nature, as he suspected the old Turaga was the only one who could answer a question he did not know who else to ask.

When he finally arrived at the Turaga’s hut, the stars had started appearing on the sky. As he walked up to the door, Vilah opened the door before he could even knock, and he presumed she had already known when he would return.

“Thank you again for the tools,” he said as he returned them to her.

“I’m glad to see you managed to repair your ship, but I take it you’re here for a different reason?” Orxon had presumed right that she already knew a being’s real intention.

“Yes,” he admitted, “there’s something that’s been on my mind which… well, I just don’t know who to ask of this.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning, and I’ll see what I can make from it.”

Orxon then told her about how he was seeking revenge for Narzhul after he killed everyone on his island, which seemingly was the cause for the recurrent dream he had had for the last year. The dream where he was fighting against some unknown being and was losing, and how he heard someone scream his name, yet everything felt very vague.

“And then, the last time I had this dream it was… the same yet it was different. Suddenly all those vague details that I didn’t make any sense of appeared crystal clear. That the mysterious being turned out to be Narzhul I suspected all along, but the fact that Veerah’s voice was in my dream long before I even met her… I just don’t know what to make of it.”

There was silence as Vilah looked thoughtfully, until Orxon spoke again.

“I don’t know, is this some kind of vision or have I just turned into a cross wired freak?” he asked.

“Well, I can tell you right away that there is nothing wrong with you,” Vilah replied. “You could be having visions of the future, or at the very least a possible future. Or maybe it’s just your deepest fear coming up to you when you are unable to suppress it in your sleep. But no matter if it's a message from the Great Spirit himself or not, I'm pretty sure you understand what this message brings you.”

Orxon was in deep thought as he processed what she said, feeling both more confused and clear in his mind at the same time. He still had no idea what made him dream the same dream repeatedly, but at least he now knew what it really meant.

“So… my destiny is to… die?” he asked. Vilah looked thoughtfully before answering his question.

“If that is the message you get from your dreams, then… yes, that is how your journey is very likely to end.” Orxon sighed, as deep down he had always known that it was going to happen.

However, he had already pretty much accepted this path. To him, any thoughts of what was going to happen once he had confronted Narzhul simply didn’t exist. After all, they always said that if you were going for revenge, you should dig two graves.

“And I presume that is where the heart of your conflict lies, am I right?” Vilah asked. Orxon looked up from his thoughts, and then nodded.

“Yes… Had I known this just a few days ago, I probably would have shrugged and just accepted it. I knew what I was getting myself into, I’m not a fool. But now, I… I’ve started to question my quest for vengeance,” he said.

“Because of your love for your friend?” He nodded in response.

“And yet,” he continued, “I know I can’t let the Makuta just go… I know killing him won’t bring back my friends and my home, but all the lives I’ve taken throughout the journey… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully live with myself for that, but if it all was for nothing… I just… I just wish I had taken a different path, or if there was another way…”

“What if I told you, that there might be another way?” Vilah asked the Toa of Gravity, who seemed to spill out his deepest thoughts like they had been very old friends. 

“What do you mean?” Orxon asked, as a confused yet hopeful look spread across his mask.

“Vengeance isn’t just about a life for a life, although it is for most beings. However, most beings don’t consider that sometimes, there are more hurtful things than death. If you kill Narzhul, what have you really accomplished? Most likely not much. But what if you take out his army, destroy it, and make sure he will never be able to use such a force again? I would imagine that deals a much higher blow than simply killing him.”

“Besides,” she continued, “your island was not the first one to be destroyed by that army, and it will certainly not be the last.” As she said those words, a sigh of sadness left her. Orxon thought for a moment or two, until he realized it.

“Did… did that army came to your island as well?” he asked the old Turaga, who nodded in response.

“In many ways, my island was just like yours. Remote and isolated from the main islands of this world, just minding its own business. But one day the Makuta came, leading an army of mechanical beings to destroy all the life that the Great Spirit had created and held so dear. How I managed to survive I don’t know, but I’m all that is left of this island’s population.”

“I don’t know the true purpose of this army, as it has only destroyed two islands that shared nothing in common. There’s no sign for a grand master plan, it’s just random occurrences at random times.”

“Wait a second,” Orxon said as something clicked in his mind. “What if this is some sort of a prelude of things to come? As you said there are no relation to our islands, and as far as I’m aware there doesn’t seem to be any strategic importance for them either. They were destroyed, not conquered! What if… What if this is just a… test, of some sorts. A test to see what these… beings are capable of. A test to see any potential problems, so it can be fixed until… until a full-scale invasion!”

“I think you are on to something,” Vilah said. “I had suspected all along that there was more to this. What will be invaded I don’t know for certain, but I believe that it will affect all of us.”

“But if that is the case, then… then I can’t back down from this!” Orxon said.

“There is always a choice, but you are correct. If you don’t continue with the journey you have started, there is a great consequence. Your journey may have started as an act of revenge, but I think you have realized that you are to serve a greater purpose than you imagined.”

“If I… we, are right about this, then I need to find out where this army comes from and destroy it… But how I can accomplish such a task alone? I don’t even know where to start looking!”

The Turaga put a hand on Orxon’s shoulder before she answered him.

“First of all, you are not alone. You have your friends with you. And I dare say that you may have the will of the Great Spirit behind you, even with all the things that you have done in the past. As for your other point, don’t you have something that might help in that regard?”

Orxon was confused for a bit, until he realized she had meant the head of the being he had kept. He hadn’t even been aware that he was still carrying this head with him. He brought the head out and gave it to the Turaga, who inspected it thoroughly. 

“Ah, I should have expected as much,” she said after a few seconds. “It seems to me that these beings are created by an extremally rare material, and there are only a few locations where these materials can be found. There is an island not far from here, which used to be unpopulated, where you will find the materials… and maybe where you will find where the beings are being created.”

“It will end where it all began…” Orxon murmured.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand what you mean.”

“It was something that the Makuta had passed on to the… the last being I killed, a message for me. I thought it meant that it would end back on Kastra Nui, but… is it possible he could have meant the place where he had created his army?”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. It’s possible he could have foretold that you would find the birthplace of his army, but one has to wonder if that really is part of his plan.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway, I can’t even begin to thank you for… everything. You have given me something that I haven’t truly felt in a long time, something I never thought I would ever feel again,” Orxon said.

“And what is that, my dear?” Vilah asked.

“Hope.”

[Styrofoam]

Cool story so far!
I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten any attention

[LokaCola]

@Styrofoam

Cool story so far!

Thank you for your comment, it’s much appreciated!

@Styrofoam

I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten any attention

I guess it depends on several factors, and also how you want define attention. If you (like me) usually think of amount of likes and comments, then this hasn’t gotten much attention. On the other hand, this topic has 962 views which genuinely surprised me.

I think the main thing though could be the length (on FF.net it’s probably fine, but I would imagine it might be a bit too long for these boards). I will admit that this story is not written with the message boards in mind, I just happened to start posting it here as well once I discovered the literature category.

Also, my incredibly irregular updates probably doesn’t help. That however should be less of a problem, since I will try to find more time to write than previously. But regardless, even if there’s just one person enjoying it, I’m a happy writer!

[Styrofoam]

Yeah, I definitely have had a fun time reading it thus far. The Literature category in general doesn’t grant many likes and comments, unfortunately- but as long as you enjoy doing the writing, that doesn’t really matter, does it?

[LokaCola]

I have been hesitant to post any updates, since I’ve initially wanted to just post the new chapters whenever they were ready. However, since the format of these message bords are better suited to give updates in comparison to fanfiction.net, and of the fact that it’s been about half a year since the last post, I would like to give a short update on what’s going on.

Work on Chapter 14 is still in effect, and I have no plans to abandon this story anytime soon. Unfortunatley, I kinda hit a bump with my writing as when school started, it literally went into overdrive for about two months, and I’ve been having trouble to find both time and energy to write anything at all.

However, as of today the first draft of Chapter 14 is finished, and I’m going to revise it as quickly as possible. I’m aiming to have it done within a few days, at most a week, which means I will start the new year with a new chapter to post, which hopefully will have an effect of the rest of the year!

Edit: Oh, one more thing! The latest chapter will be shorter than previous ones, as it’s not an eventful chapter and I managed to find a good ending for it quite early. This will probably just be a one-off though, since with the ideas I have in mind, later chapters will have to go back to the longer length.