Chapter 8: Here Comes a Thought
Voriki paces the main hall, aimlessly striding across different points of the room. Her legs were well past the point of fatigue, but she couldn’t get herself to stop.
Karzahni was still gone, she had no idea why he was gone, and the mystery of time skipping remained unsolved.
That had been hours ago. New thoughts had begun trickling into her mind; what if he never came back? What was she going to do by herself? Would whatever was causing the skips come after her next?
Panic continuously tugs away at her thoughts, but Voriki refuses to let it consume her. She will not let fear engulf her, not again.
Not ever again.
She thought of Karzahni; he never let panic overtake him, he was always calm in stressful situations and tried to think things through logically. Analyzing small details, carefully observing until he could craft a reasonable conclusion.
That’s what she was trying to do. But it wasn’t as easy as expected; there was nothing of note in the practice area, the various corridors, and the main hall she was in now. Everything was in its place, as if nothing had happened.
Except for her missing Great Being.
Voriki stops her pacing and sighs, “What the heck am I supposed to do?”
She leans against a nearby pillar and slides to the floor with a solid thud.
“Nothing is out of the ordinary. It doesn’t look like anything’s been here; so why are you suddenly gone?”
The hall doesn’t offer her a reply.
Voriki exhales in frustration, “I need a miracle here; how am I-”
A loud bang echoes through the citadel, the impact sending slight vibrations through the stone pillar she leans against. Within a second she’s back on her feet, eyes locked on towards the direction of the sound.
The eastern hallway… but it’s more towards the spire entrance…
She enters the doorway into the eastern hall, does a sharp left around a corner followed by a slight right. Sparks of electricity trail behind her.
So that means whatever made that noise must be…
Through another doorway, and she’s in a large open room.
The room with the galvanized protodermis, more formally known as the Pool of Restoration. She looks to the ceiling. The small hole that allowed natural light through was much bigger. Some of the coral structures on the central fountain were damaged, debris floating in the pool.
And slightly submerged in the healing liquid was a mass of green tentacles and boney thorns.
“Karzahni,” whispers Voriki, anxiety sprinkled in her voice.
Her creator is at his normal monstrous size, signalling old traumas to seize Voriki’s body. She clenches her teeth and resists the swelling fear coursing throughout her body.
This isn’t about me right now. Stop worrying over nothing.
She cautiously edges closer to Karzahni, who remains relatively motionless in the pool. The closer she gets, the more she sees that his regular body is almost non-existent; save for his mask and back, his body has reduced to a swarm of tendrils. His eyes are closed.
“Karzahni?” she tentatively calls out. “Can you hear me?”
Raising his head slightly out of the pool, he casually glances at Voriki.
“Oh. Hello Voriki.”
She takes another step towards him, “Are… are you ok? What happened to you? You just-”
“My brothers were the source of the time anomaly. A mask that affects time.”
His mandibles sink beneath the pool’s surface, his many eyes blankly staring in a forward direction.
Voriki inches closer.
“Oh. Should… should we do something? I mean, I don’t know if that’s just the normal for ‘great beings’ or-”
“Do you think,” Karzahni interrupts, “if I pick a form that only breathes air, I could drown myself in this pool?”
Voriki’s mind screeches to a halt.
“…what?”
“Though I suppose it wouldn’t really work anyways. I’m basically immortal. Oh, how about you blast a lightning bolt at me. That might work.”
The lightning matoran’s eyes are wide open, pure shock written over her features.
“Karzahni… What are you talking about? What… why…”
The deity sighs, “Or I could just use my old scythe and lob off my head. But honestly, I don’t think I have the effort to go find it.”
Slowly, Karzahni raises himself out of the protodermis pool, morphing back into his original form. He slowly sludges his way towards the exit, his tentacles tediously pulling him as if his body was a burden.
Voriki reaches towards him, “Wait, Karzahni…”
He pauses, but doesn’t face her.
“Don’t worry about the mess, I’ll deal with it later.”
She shakes her head, “N-no, I don’t care about that! I’m worried-”
But he’s already further down the hall, ignorant of Voriki’s concerns. Her raised hand limply falls to her side.
|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
Sleep evades Voriki.
She lays in her makeshift bed of wood and patched-together old cloaks, surrounded by the glow of the archival crystals littered throughout the room. A few months ago she asked to take over the unused archival spire as her own room, and ever since she’s made it her own. She cleaned up the dust and occasional fikou webs, moved some tools away or discarded them entirely (with permission, of course). She even got some furniture; a chair, the aforementioned bed, and a padded wooden dummy for training.
She pulls herself out of her bed and sheepishly makes her way to the dummy.
“Some exercise will tire me out, right?” Voriki mumbles to herself.
The first impact of her fist rocks the dummy back and forth. She launches another, then another. Her rate increases; sparks elusively dance around her arms as the dummy buckles under her relentless barrage. Some of the wooden components begin to darken and smoke.
She lands a solid punch and stops.
“A good outlet for stress, apparently.”
Voriki sighs and lowers her fist. She was definitely fatigued now, but that didn’t stop her mind racing.
Something had happened to Karzahni. Something so hurtful that he would rather end his deific existence than deal with it. Something that reduced the cunning God of Chaos to a dissociative mess.
And that frightened her.
She falls back on her bed, hands holding head. She feels the tears slowly well up around her eyes.
Because what could she do? She was a matoran; what good was she against the problems of a Great Being? What would she do, shoot lightning at it? Run fast? Become more traumatized and useless?
Frustrated, she balls her hands into fists and smacks her mask, as if she were trying to beat out the thoughts in her head.
She knows the relationship between her and Karzahni tended to be friendly at best and volatile at worst; but over the months the deity had strived to be more aware of Voriki’s feelings and welfare. Likewise, despite her previous grudges early on, part of her had begun to care about him. To have him open up more, to try to figure out the enigma that was Karzahni’s mind.
Which makes this situation even more infuriating to her.
She settles down her hands, wiping away the tears. A determined face etches upon Voriki’s face.
“If I’m going to try to solve this problem- I have to find out what’s really bothering him.”
She rolls over into her bed, staring up at the shining crystals above her.
“The only way to find out… is to ask.”
|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
Directly asking a monstrous god-like being who isn’t exactly the best representation of good morals and is prone to breaking things when angry and is the size of two-story building wasn’t exactly the smartest idea Voriki has come up with. But Karzahni, despite his tendency for cryptic nature, actually preferred being clear and concise. Thus, being straight-forward and just asking him what he was troubled by seemed like the best option.
So Voriki steeled her nerves and sought after Karzahni.
And that was the current problem.
For a monstrous god-like being the size of two-story building- Karzahni was very good at being elusive. Sure, being able to transform helped, but Voriki was sure she would have seen a trace of him by now. Something.
Anything.
After reaching the end of another empty corridor, she sighs and ungracefully drops herself to the stony floor. She pouts, holding her head in her hands.
“Come on Karzahni, where the heck are you? I just want to talk.”
The hall remains silent, the empty ambience of the citadel surrounding her.
She sheepishly chuckles, “I remember months ago when I thought it was impossible to escape your sight, that it felt like you could spring from anywhere at any moment.”
She sighs, looking down.
“It… was terrifying”.
Voriki peers up at the hall again, checking to see if he would appear. Alas, the corridor is still empty.
“Now it seems like you’ve never existed. Like you were never here,” she mutters. “Is… is that what you want? To hide from the world?”
She receives no answer.
|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
Deep within the bowels of the citadel, the God of Chaos shelters himself away from the surface. His tentacles curl around him like a protective cocoon, as his hand tightly grip to his mask.
How do I fix this…
Karzahni searches- so many realities, so many versions of him and his brothers; yet, in every one Ekimu stops trusting him.
“There has to be one, it’s- it’s impossible. There are s-so many timelines; there must be one where he trusts me. Where I can fix things.”
And yet Karzahni has no idea why he’s so fixated on fixing Ekimu’s trust in him. He liked his brother, but he wasn’t so dependent on him nor his opinion. His brother was a naive child who was easy to exploit- that’s all.
Then why does it hurt? Why do I feel betrayed? Abandoned?
…Alone?
Karzahni growls in frustration, claws digging into his face.
I have to keep looking. There’s a solution somewhere; there has to be. I have to fix this. I have to fix this. I have to fix this.
And he continues, searching within his own bunker of tendrils, hidden from his mistakes, his brothers.
And his own creation.
|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
It’s nearly a week when Karzahni finally emerges.
He slowly drags himself up from his secret lair beneath his citadel and into the familiar halls above. His form constantly shifts, as if he’s having a hard time keeping his form together.
He’s just so… tired.
Karzahni trudges into the main hall, where he is greeted by an interesting sight.
Voriki is wreathed in electricity, her eyes shining in a bright blue light as bolts cross across her body. Her body twists and turns, arms and legs flowing gracefully as if she were doing a dance. Lightning expels from the end of her pointed fingers, flying around to room- to targets on the walls, Karzahni now notices.
The wooden boards shatter one after the other, Voriki not missing a beat.
Karzahni stares at the matoran’s destructive yet beautiful display. As the last target falls, Voriki smiles and lets the electricity fade away.
“You’ve certainly improved.”
She whirls around, eyes wide.
“Karzahni!” I was getting worried that you ran off or…”
She pauses, “… or something worse happened.”
Karzahni opens his mandibles, expecting to retort with something witty- but nothing comes out. Voriki gives him an expectant look, cautiously stepping towards him.
“Are you ok,” she asks tentatively. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
He gives a humorless chuckle, “What’s wrong? Nothing is wrong.”
Voriki frowns, “Karzahni, that’s not true, I know-”
“You know? You know?! HA!” Karzahni seethes. “You don’t know anything!”
His tendrils twitch anxiously as Voriki seems taken aback before glaring at him. She’s about to bite back at him, but he continues.
“But heck, it’s not like I’m doing any better! Here I was spending all this time trying to find a solution for the inevitable, yet I was too stupid to accept failure.”
He sighs, his tentacles sinking to the floor around him.
“So, nothing is wrong at all,” he hisses, “because this is how things are supposed to be.”
It’s silent between the two of them. Voriki takes a breath, relaxing her temper.
“Karzahni, please. Tell me what happened.”
Karzahni looks down at the floor, as pitiful as a kicked ussal crab.
“My brothers… Ekimu. He doesn’t trust me anymore. He and Makuta kept the mask a secret from me. And I feel… angry. Guilty. Sad. Lonely.”
He peers back up at Voriki, her teal eyes locked with his heterochromatic red and green ones.
“And… and it seems as if it was fated to happen. I tried to search for a remedy in different realities, but to no avail. I… I don’t know what to do.”
Voriki’s expression softens. Karzahni, a Great Being who relished in being ahead of everyone and in control of everything, seemed so lost. If he weren’t literally the size of a small house, she would say that she had never seen him so small before.
She takes another step towards him, “Do you remember the promise I made to you months ago? The one about being a hero?”
Karzahni smiles mirthlessly, “You mean the one about wiping me off the face of this planet? By all means, go ahead and end my torment.”
“No! No, jeez,” Voriki facepalms. “I want to be a hero to help people, to help you. And I know I don’t have the knowledge or power of a Great Being, but if I can least make you feel better, then I’ll do everything that I can.”
The deity stares at her, almost puzzled at her conviction.
“Why… Why are you determined to help me? Have you forgotten how much torment I’ve put you through? You should hate me as much as my brothers do.”
“I haven’t forgotten, even if I wanted to. But I’ve seen you change, I’ve seen you strive to be better. You’re nicer to me, and you’ve helped me become stronger with my abilities. So even if you don’t think so- I care about you.”
Something… warm, resonates within Karzahni. Something foreign, but… nice.
“You really care about me? I admit; you might be the only one who does now.”
“That’s ok,” she smirks. “One person is still a person.”
“True Voriki, true.”
Karzahni pulls himself up, his body more stable. Voriki shoots him a smile.
“So, you feeling better?”
Karzahni returns a smile back.
“Indeed. I’m starting to realize… that if this is how my destiny is fated to go, I’d rather just have your comradery rather than Ekimu’s.”
Voriki’s eyes widen, “Are you sure? I mean, they are your family-”
“No, they aren’t,” Karzahni sighs, “and honestly? They haven’t felt like family for centuries.”
His body shifts and collapses, until he’s in his bi-pedal form near Voriki’s size.
“You are my only family Voriki, the only one I have some sort of attachment to. And now, with the start of the second phase-”
Voriki jolts, “Oh yeah! You were mentioning that when the weird time stuff was happening. So… what’s phase two?”
Karzahni places a hand on her shoulder, a grin spreading across his face.
“The second phase… is to expand.”
|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
Night falls in the forest village of Rediaka.
A Tiro-matoran, Branar, makes his way down the forest path, rolling a cart of firewood in front of him. The nights of Tiro are filled with the sounds of the nocturnal Rahi, a symphony of sounds lulling the matoran who hear it into a comfortable sleep.
That is, save for the sudden sounds of distress ahead of the matoran. Branar peers ahead and sees a fellow matoran cradling their leg further down the path.
Actually, their coloration was more green than a Tiro-matoran- perhaps a Kanae flyer who crashed to the forest below?
Branar puts down the cart and hurries to the injured matoran’s side.
“Are you alright?”
The matoran winces in pain, “I-I need help…”
Branar peers into his pouch on his waist, “I don’t know if I have any medical supplies on me, but my village is not far from here. I can take you to-”
“No no no,” the matoran shakes their head, “I don’t need treatment.”
Suddenly, the injured matoran’s body violently convulses, horrible cracking noises as tendrils rip through plating. Branar stumbles back in fear as many glowing eyes stare back at him.
“I just need you.”
^^^^^^^
Last time I was here there wasn’t a pandemic going around; crazy how fast the world can change, eh?
As I stated in earlier entries, this is going to be finished. I hate when fanfics are incomplete, so even if Brickonicle is long dead I’m finishing this.
That being said, I might move this (along with my other stories) to Archive of My Own or something; kind of want to move away from TTV permanently. Plus, won’t be limited by restrictions there.
Anyways, enjoy I guess.
-DarkMaestro