Chapter 12: My Brother, the Dragonslayer
The blood red glow of the sunset creeps across the landscape. The once-green trees now appear as a sea of fire, the gray stonework of the palace now gleam like rubies. The violet clouds overhead draped in a crimson blanket that stretches to the horizon.
To many, it would be a beautiful sight to behold; one to savor, to ingrain into one’s memories.
But to Makuta, the vista around him is meaningless.
The broken stone pillars and cracked walls are meaningless.
The coughing, battered form of Ekimu on the floor is meaningless.
No, it is what’s in his hands- a gold, engraved mask that morphed the light around it- that’s what mattered to him.
The Vahi.
In his massive hands, the golden mask seems so delicate, he could crush it in his palm. But the Overseer knows better, he knows the power this mask wields, a power that surpasses he and his brothers.
Maybe even…
His grip tightens around the mask. He’s wasted enough time already.
Makuta has had enough in indulging Ekimu’s wishes. Unlike his naive brother, he doesn’t need to constantly visit the villages of the matoran to know the state of the island.
He knows of the seeds of doubt, planted there by those infuriating elemental spirits. The questions. The mistrust.
Those simple homunculi dared question the role of the Great Beings. But he can’t totally fault them; after all, it’s understandable to lose confidence in your rulers if one were to look at Ekimu and Karzahni. How many times had he slain legendary beasts that tore through the island, created on Ekimu’s whim? How many times has he been pestered by those annoying gnats about their missing brothers and sisters, with the culprit not showing their revolting forms for nearly a year now? And of course, it lies with the Overseer to clean up the messes of his lesser brothers.
But Makuta is responsible; he knows his duty.
The golden mask gently rests on his face; the sights and sounds of the world around him fade into darkness.
So he shall.
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The world desaturates around Ekimu, the crimson sunset fading into a dark gray. The only color remaining in his eyes radiates from the Vahi upon his brother’s face, emitting a brilliant golden light.
With a sharp inhale, Ekimu tries to push himself up. He manages to get on his hands and knees before his torso convulses in pain. He grits his teeth.
“Makuta… brother,” he wheezes out, “you have to stop…”
Ekimu knows it’s unlikely his brother could hear him, even more so that he would listen.
Turning his body, he collapses his back against the wall, his limbs going slack. He feels the effects of the mask tightening around his body- he may not be able to move, but he can still think.
And all Ekimu can think is why. Why did this happen? What caused his brother to finally snap? Did he do something?
Perhaps it was as that ice spirit- Melum?- warned. Perhaps Makuta wanted control, to have not only the matoran, but the brothers be subservient to him.
Ekimu’s vision begins to blur, consciousness slipping away into darkness. It seemed, regardless of the motive, Makuta will get his way.
With that last thought, Ekimu’s eyes go dark.
But…
If Ekimu had stayed awake for just a moment longer, the Creator would have witnessed a mass of giant wings and thorns rush past him, claws outstretched, aiming for the supposed victor.
The God of Chaos has arrived.
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Karzahni’s sharpened fingers clamp onto the Overseer’s head, yanking the Great Being backwards. Before Makuta can react, he is greeted by his face being dragged across the stone floor of the palace, followed by a sharp impact of going through a stone wall.
Karzahni watches his brother’s body tumble over the debris and slide across the polished floor. Karzahni, a monster of tentacles and thorns and claws, pulls himself through the hole.
He stands in the main hall; a beautiful cathedral of ornate pillars, rich murals and detailed sculptures of the Great Beings.
The deep red of the sunset trickles through the overhead skylight, starkly contrasting with the acidic green glow of Karzahni’s eyes.
Those eyes are locked onto Makuta who, with an annoyed grunt, picks himself off the floor. He pulls the Vahi off and turns towards his monstrous brother.
“Of course; it would have been too easy if you didn’t show up.”
Karzahni’s mandibles widen, baring his teeth.
“Give me the mask,” he hisses.
Makuta extends his right arm forward, palm facing downward. Purple flames emerge from his hand.
Makuta darkly chuckles, “If you desire the Vahi, then you will have to take it from me.”
A plume of purple fire springs from Makuta’s hand; when it dissipates, a massive greatsword stands in its place.
“… but you already knew that.”
His bulky fingers wrap around the handle and he lifts the greatsword in the air. Makuta looks over his blade; a simple, geometric design, save for his insignia at the hilt. But his sword has brought many monsters to an end. Zivon. The Rahi Nui. Spirah.
And now…
Makuta, after attaching the Vahi to his hip, grabs the sword with both hands, tilting the point to his brother.
“Karzahni; we have fought countless times in the past, but only with words,” Makuta says casually. “You know that you cannot best me in a battle of the body.”
Karzahni growls, “Give me the mask before I tear off your limbs, Makuta.”
“Your shape-shifting abilities do not give you the advantage you think it does,” Makuta replies, seemingly ignoring the threat. “Do you recall the beast Krahka? No matter what form she took, she could not best me. Perhaps if she fled she would have lived to see another day.”
Makuta’s eyes glint in anger, “You should do what she did not; flee now, brother, or you will suffer.”
Karzahni’s claws dig into the marble floor, the tendrils around him poised to attack. His singular red eye glows like a wild flame.
“Sorry, brother; but I believe that mask belongs to me!”
By the time Karzahni launches forward, Makuta is already winding back his greatsword. His purple eyes narrow with hatred.
“The mask is MINE.”
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The sun has set in the horizon.
The still form of Ekimu lies on the stone floor, unaware of the destructive conflict within the walls of the Palace nearby.
As the structure shudders, as horrific screams echo throughout- something unusual occurs. Stone tiles near Ekimu break from their mold and slide away, revealing the earth beneath. Rising from the dirt is a sapling, rapidly growing and spanning out until a budding tree has formed.
Next to Ekimu now stands the hazy outline of two figures. One is orange in color, adorned with crystals and stones. The other is a burly figure, tree roots wrapping around his legs and flowers blooming upon his large shoulders. The two figures study the unconscious Great Being.
Finally, the stone-being turns to their companion, “I still don’t think this is a good idea, Terak.”
The one called Terak hums in thought.
“Perhaps not- but perhaps some good will come of this as well.”
“It would be easier if the Great Beings wiped themselves out!”
Terak glances at his brother, “Ketar, I think you’ve been spending too much time with Ikir’s followers…”
Ketars sighs, “Apologies, but still! The Three are dangerous! Why are we saving one?”
Roots peel from the ground and wrap themselves around Ekimu. Slowly, and gently, they begin dragging Ekimu away from the Palace.
Terak sighs, “It is true that the Great Beings are… unpredictable. And it is true that they should relinquish their grasp on the matoran.”
Terak eases Ekimu to the perimeter of the palace grounds, away from the conflict.
“… but we will not be the ones who dictate their demise. I think they still have a role to play in this story of ours.”
Ekimu lies on the soft earth of the surrounding forest. The two elemental beings stand over the Creator once more.
“Well,” Ketar starts, “at least this guy. But-”
A horrible screech radiates from the palace as a portion of the roof collapses. Nearby Rahi flee the area as the ground subtly shakes. The two elemental beings share a solemn look.
Then, Ekimu is alone.
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Makuta narrowly dodges another massive tentacle as it crashes down beside him. With a twist of his torso, his greatsword cleaves through the limb. The remaining stump recoils back in pain, accompanied by a monstrous screech from Karzahni. Makuta doesn’t have time to appreciate his counter attack as two more tendrils begin closing in on him.
Surprisingly, for a being his size, Makuta can move fast. Usually someone with that much armor would be perceived to be a slow powerhouse; an assumption Makuta often takes advantage of.
Makuta dashes behind a pillar just as it’s pelted by boney thorns. Makuta exhales.
Something seemed different about Karzahni.
While the two brothers have never come to blows, there were things Makuta could assume about his brother. Karzahni was a strong being, no doubt; but Makuta deemed that Karzahni preferred psychological warfare rather than physical. He certainly knows that for all the shapeshifting abilities Karzahni has, it mostly is a bluff. At least towards him.
Anytime things got heated between the two; sure, Karzahni would grow and get more spikey and rabid. But it never exceeded that. Karzahni was all bark and no bite; the minute he saw an out he took it, preferring to scheme rather than a direct confrontation.
Makuta ducks as a spindly clawed hand grasps the pillar he’s hiding behind, cracking under the pressure. Pieces of the ceiling fall around them as the integrity of the pillar collapses. Makuta swings, the blade nicking Karzahni’s boney arm as the Overseer dodges the now falling roof.
Karzahni screams, the falling rocks battering his body; but as quickly as it started, the God of Chaos rears his spiked head and roars at Makuta.
This… was something Makuta didn’t expect.
Determination.
His body moves for him as his mind races. What happened to his brother? Why was he acting as if he had something to lose? As if he had… something to fight for.
The point of the greatsword skids across the marble floor as Makuta swings through incoming tendrils.
Impossible. Karzahni doesn’t care for anything but himself. A megalomaniac trapped in the machinations of his own mind.
Yet…
Makuta raises his blade to block Karzahni’s clawed hands, his brother shrieks in agitation, and he can see it, the look in the many eyes of the monster before him. Of course there was malice, hatred for him- but there was determination, a resolve to win this fight, one Makuta had never seen before.
Makuta buckles under Karzahni’s weight, but holds his defense. With a growl, Makuta’s mask begins to glow with a purple aura.
“S T O P”
A flash of purple illuminates Karzahni’s eyes as his entire body goes rigid. Makuta pulls himself away from his claws, his mask now illuminated in a violet aura.
He readies his greatsword, “I do not know what you fight for, Karzahni, but regardless of your intentions, you…”
Makuta’s eyes trail down the frozen form of his brother, towards his left clawed hand. Within his palm, a star of discoloration flares out against Karzahni’s natural plating.
A scar.
Something…
Something harmed a Great Being?
All it takes is a moment, one second of Makuta losing his concentration for Karzahni to break free of the Mask of Control’s power and entrap his brother in tentacles. Makuta tries to swing the sword, but soon finds his body locked into position by a swarm of writhing tendrils.
Karzahni lowers his head to the eye level of Makuta.
“The Vahi.”
No smugness; just anger.
Another surprise.
Makuta grits his teeth and thrashes in the hold as he feels the Vahi be pulled off his person. Soon, the golden mask is in Karzahni’s claws. Without so much as a glance, Karzahni flings Makuta across the hall, smashing through the rubble, his sword clattering to the floor nearby.
Makuta slowly rises from the debris, his armor dented and cracked, before stumbling to the floor.
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If he weren’t engulfed in anger, Karzahni would have taken petty satisfaction in watching his “indomitable” brother tumble to the floor.
But there were pressing matters.
Karzahni looks down at the shimmering mask in his hands. Such a powerful artifact, now in his position.
But now what?
His objective was to stop the time shenanigans, to ensure that Voriki and all his matoran weren’t reversed out of existence. Now he has the mask… what next? Should he destroy it? It would prevent a situation like this ever happening again. But the Vahi was a powerful tool; the possibilities before him…
“…You…”
Karzahni glances up at his fallen brother. A low growl emits from his throat.
“You and Ekimu can’t be trusted with this power. I’m taking the mask to make sure no more reckless mistakes are made.”
Makuta props himself up on one of his knees, glaring.
“Your hand…” Makuta heaves, “Something hurt you.”
Karzahni stiffens.
“No… someone hurt you.”
Karzahni’s tentacles twitch anxiously as Makuta rises.
Makuta’s eyes are wide, “Karzahni, if you have encountered a being that can hurt us, you must tell me now.”
“No.”
Makuta’s fists shake in unbridled fury.
“KARZAHNI! You WILL tell me NOW!”
The purple glow returns to Makuta’s mask. Karzahni stares for a moment, before peering down at the Vahi in his hands.
Then…
A sadistic smile creeps up Karzahni’s twisted face.
“Let me tell you something, BROTHER…”
In the encroaching darkness, teeth shine in the golden light.
“… I hate you… I HATE you. I HATE Ekimu. I don’t care if Artahka rots, burns, sinks into the ocean! You all mean NOTHING to me!”
“Cease this nonsense-!”
“And I!” Karzahni barks, “have found a new home! A new purpose! Without ANY of you!”
The mask glows in his hands.
“I was never going to come back. But you… now I must deal with you.”
Karzahni’s last glimpse of Makuta is a Makuta with a very unusual face. A face of uncertainty, of betrayal, of fear…
Good.
The glow of the Vahi obscures his sight; then, the world is plunged into darkness.
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The world becomes gray.
Makuta feels his limbs get heavy as time bends around him. His own mask flickers before returning to its normal state.
It was a longshot that the Mask of Control would affect a fellow Great Being; he only planned to use the moment to finally finish the fight.
But I wasted that opportunity, Makuta bitterly reminds himself.
He trudges forward to his brother, who seems immersed within the mask’s power.
Perhaps… there was still a chance.
Time to clean up this mess.
His fingers wrap around the handle of the greatsword.
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It’s dark.
Dark, yet darker.
Karzahni thinks for a moment that perhaps he messed something up and managed to kill himself, but suddenly a beam of light ripples across the dark void around him. It stretches around him, far into the distance in both directions. Like a strand of silk flowing in the breeze, the strand of light gently ebbs and flows in the absent current of the void.
Karzahni reaches his hand towards the strand, before stopping. His once green and bone plated arm was one of shining gold and emerald.
“Fascinating,” Karzahni murmurs to himself.
He reaches for the strand once more and cautiously, with the tip of his claws, touches the golden string.
Like pollen from a flower, images fly off the strand and around Karzahni. He can see a few as they twirl around him-
Some of those fire matoran, engaging in a duel-
A Kewa in flight over the trees-
Ekimu, lying in the dirt.
Karzahni pulls himself back.
“I wonder…”
He closes his eyes and concentrates. A green aura begins to surround him.
He opens his eyes-
And, now, there’s strands everywhere.
What was once an abyss of darkness was now an intricate web of gold, stretching far into the infinite horizon. Karzahni can’t help but grin.
“My mask seems to interact with the Vahi,” Karzahni muses, “and now I can see not only our timeline, but the timelines of alternate realities.”
Oh, what Karzahni could do with this knowledge, the research he could conduct. Truly, it was only fitting for someone like himself to wield such an artifact, unlike-
A scene pops up in front of Karzahni.
A rocky cliffside overseeing a churning ocean, dark clouds swarming overhead. Two figures stand on a plateau; a figure in bright red and orange, determined. And the other; a large winged figure of dark reds and sickly greens, fists clenched in anger…
“Without the Mask of Time, it will take a lifetime’s journey to find both our destinies!”
Karzahni pulls back, sneering. It appears his brother had an attachment to Vahi in alternate timelines as well. Revolting. If he could, he would rip the Vahi from Makuta from every timeline to ensure his control-freak of a sibling would never-
Karzahni stops.
Go a step further.
Why not just remove Makuta?
His mandibles clicked in thought:
Firstly, he had to see if it was even possible to remove certain events/ objects without totally destabilizing the timeline. Obviously, the past was off-limits; no doubt any changes there will alter future events. But present onwards? Nothing was set in stone, right?
All he had to do was erase the Makuta of the present, and everything Karzahni cared about would be safe. And hey- why stop there? Get rid of Ekimu as well, ensure absolute no one could interfere in his life again.
And then, why not do the other timelines a favor? Clearly in that last scene, Makuta was causing trouble again- why not help that Fire Toa out?
Karzahni smiles.
Oh, this is exciting…
He reaches towards the timeline in front him.
“First though; let’s see if I can figure out how to use this mask in the first place-”
There’s a sound of glass shattering that pierces Karzahni’s skull. He gasps in pain.
In front of him, a section of the void shatters like glass, revealing a blinding light. It is as if reality itself was a window pane being broken. And through that blinding light, a massive steel obelisk surges forward, obscuring a portion of Karzahni’s sight.
No, not an obelisk.
A greatsword.
Agony etches itself into Karzahni’s face as the blade comes down.
Voriki-!
He screams.
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Makuta holds his blade tight as it cleaves through the Vahi. Karzahni writhes in pain, tentacles spasming around, unearthly screams emitting from his throat. Reality seems to distort around the monstrous Great Being, but the Overseer holds his ground.
“The future will be mine, even without the Mask of Time.”
His fingers wrap closely around the handle.
“And you… you will have nothing.”
In a swift motion, Makuta tears the greatsword from Karzahni’s screaming head. Cracks run though the Vahi, beams of light blasting in all directions.
Makuta falls to the floor, shielding his eyes from the blinding light.
Then, the screams stop.
Slowly, Makuta lowers his hand, looking around.
Karzahni, and the Vahi, are gone.
