All the Pretty Things is a short story set in the V Osade Alternate Universe revolving Elisis, the Chronicler of Bo-Koro. Written for FireDrag1091.
The Southern Continent, V Osade Alternate Universe. Six months after the declaration of war.
War had been declared on the entire Universe. News had reached them about two weeks after the declaration of war by the Lykos Kinsman. They were just a simple Matoran village, they wanted no part in a war, but it seemed that war was about to seep in through the fuzzy white blanket they had cast over themselves. They couldnât live sheltered forever, that was for sure.
She sighed and turned away from the vast countryside that she had been gazing out on. They had also recently gotten word that the Northern Continent had been completely destroyed by the Kinsman, making it look like a swamp or wasteland.
She walked through the village as the sky above them flashed with lightning and crackled with thunder. The other villagers, mostly Bo-Matoran, ran into their huts or under a tarp to get clear of the rain. But she just kept on walking. She didnât care if she got wet or not, she ââwasââ a Ga-Matoran, afterall.
And yep, the heavens broke open and rain poured down on the village. The whole village got soaked almost instantly, including her. She embraced the rain, seeing it as a sign of hope. Even when it was dark and gloomy, rain was a beautiful thing. And after the rain was done, a rainbow would span across the sky.
She walked to her hut and opened the door. The Ga-Matoran stepped inside to find the room quite warm in contrast to the world outside. She grabbed a towel that was laying on the back of her chair and dried herself off so she wouldnât get her entire hut soaking wet.
That she cared about.
Elisis finished drying herself off and then threw the towel in a pile of other cloths. She went over to her desk and sat down in the chair. She turned on a lightstone lamp and looked through her papers as she fiddled with her hair after it had gotten messed up when she had dried it. As she finished straightening out her long black hair, the Ga-Matoran spotted an interesting piece of paper. She picked it up and took a closer look at it.
It was an older-piece of parchment, wrinkled and crumpled. On it was a hand-drawn picture of a tall, bulky figure which identified to the Ga-Matoran as a Lykos Kinsman. She hadnât actually seen one of them for five months now. She had been hiking in the forest with her friend, exploring, when they were ambushed by a a small group of three Lykos. They tried to run, and she escaped, but her friend didnât.
She crumpled up the paper and through it out the open window. It lay on the damp wood and slowly got ruined by the pouring rain. The ink began to run and bleed out onto the ground, making a stream of black fluid.
Elisis got up from her desk and went over to her bed and lay down, covering herself with the sheets. She remembered that horror-filled night as she drifted off to sleepâŚ
Far outside the village.
The former Lykos Commanderâs orange eyes scanned the landscape of the Southern Continent. By former she meant rogue, because they had defected from the Republic after they had declared war on the entire Universe, and she and her squad didnât want to be associated with such monsters.
She turned at the sound of her lieutenant arriving. She saw her lieutenant standing there, his yellow eyes glowing brightly.
âPeladivs, what news do you bring of the village?â
âTheir defenses are weak and they are vulnerable. The weapon is ours.â
âExcellent. We shall attack at dawn. Any sign of Lykos or Toa?â
âNada, my Commander. We will win.â
âAj, my lieutenant. Ready our weapons. The Lykos republic is about to fall.â
The lieutenant put his fist over one of his three hearts. âAj, my Necros Commander.â He turned and walked away from the clearing in the woods. Aalska looked back to the valley, a faint spec in the distant that looked only as a large tree or hill, but she knew it was much more than that.
She knew it was where her treasure lied.
Twigs crunched and snapped under his weight as he walked through the giant woods. He barely remembered how he had gotten there, or who ââheââ was. All he remembered was⌠nothing. Wait⌠something was coming back to him⌠something⌠horrible.
He was running through a woods just like these, but he was with others, but he couldnât rememberâŚ
They were running and yelling to each other âââhurry up!âââ as they tried to escape a horrific being⌠He couldnât remember who⌠They were tall and well armored, wielding a weapon that fired red hot liquidâŚ
He suddenly heard a branch snap to his right. Almost instinctively he dropped to the ground and rolled forward through the dirt and grass as a beam of plasma soared over his head. The blast hit a tree and burned through it. The tree began to fall forward towards him, the trunk snapping as it fell. He looked up just in time and rolled out of the way as the tree nearly crushed him.
As soon as he landed, he got up and started running like never before. Several more streaks of sizzling plasma followed him, each one getting closer and closer to him. A log was in his way and he jumped over it just as a plasma blast soared two inches from his head.
He landed and continued running. He saw light up ahead and ran through it and out into a gigantic field. He looked around for someplace to hide from his attacker, but only saw land for miles around. No caves, no hiding spots of any sort. Just tall grass for miles around.
Another blast of plasma came from the forest and hit him just as he turned. He dropped to the ground, hitting his head against the hard dirt. His vision blurred as he saw an extremely tall figure tower over him, plasma weapon in hand. He saw the being smile through several sharp teeth.
âOllah, opekun.â They said.
When the being uttered these words, the Toa knew, he didnât know how, but he knew what was now towering over him, what had captured him. They were the very same type of creature that slaughtered his team.
They were a Lykos Kinsman.
He then blacked out. And as he was dragged away, the sun began to rise.
She awoke the next morning in her bed. She stretched out and lifted the covers. The Ga-Matoran stood up and walking over to her desk. She sat down and began fiddling with her hair again after it had gotten messed up while she was sleeping. She finished fixing it and shuffled through her papers again, trying to find a document about the Lykos Kinsmen.
Seeing that drawing of the Lykos had gotten her obsessed with them.
'âDarn,â she through to herself. Just when I was about to forget they existed.
She stumbled upon a small scroll, about eight inches in length and encased in a ragged case covered in paper. She unlocked it and pulled it open. It was the message their sister village, Ba-Koro, had sent when they had gotten attacked by the Lykos. The messenger they had sent had severe burns and stab wounds. They healed him as best as they could, but he passed away a week later.
A tear slipped from her eye and down her Kanohi. She hoped that the Toa would attack Yermo, the Lykos Republic headquarters on Exusia and kill that darn Ultra Director. She didnât care if that was against the Toa Code, she just wanted this war to end.
The Chronicler was knocked off her chair by a massive quake that shook her hut and probably the entire village. The quake was followed by a huge explosion. She quickly crawled over to the door and pushed it open to be met by a wall of flame. Elisis shot backwards to avoid being scorched by the flames.
After the fire had dispersed she quickly ran out the door, grabbing her Chroniclerâs Staff as she left. She came out into the street of Bo-Koro. Matoran were running around screaming, fire everywhere. She looked outward towards the field to see a huge ball of flaming plasma coming right at the village. She jumped out of the way as the ball hit just feet from where she had been standing and exploded, red-hot plasma splattering all over the village, lighting everywhere it touched on fire, including her home.
She got up and ran forward, trying to find the Captain of the Guard. A beam of plasma whizzed past her audio receptor, but she kept running. Elisis ducked behind a crate as another ball of plasma struck the village, destroying one of the support beams. The village shook and slightly leaned to the left. She got back up and ran forward again.
At the front of the village, what remained of the Bo-Koro Guard was firing Zamor Spheres into the woods, where the blasts of plasma were coming from. Another beam of plasma came from the forest and hit one of guards and killed him instantly.
âWhereâs the Captain?â Elisis shouted.
âDead. He was one of the first to die-ARGH!â One of the guards said before a beam of plasma cut straight through his chest, killing him instantly. His limp body fell to the ground.
Elisis quickly ducked down and grabbed the Zamor Sphere the guard had been using. She turned it towards the woods and began to fire off the blue balls of energy. Another large ball of plasma soared through the air at the village.
âShoot at the ball! The energy will destroy it if we concentrate our fire on it!â Elisis yelled to the guards. They glanced at her for a second, and then realizing that they only had seconds before the plasma hit, they did as she said and turned their Zamor Launchers towards the giant lime ball of plasma and opened fire. The balls of energy hit the sphere, and just as Elisis had said, the ball turned blue and disappeared ââfeetââ from hitting the village.
They then used this tactic on all the plasma-based projectiles that came at them, and it worked. But the Ga-Matoran wondered how long they could keep this up.
ââShe hoped their attackers would run out of ammo soon.ââ
He didnât remember much about his past, but he did remember what it felt like to be blinded by the sun. He opened his eyes and turned away from the blinding light of the sun. The being surveyed the area surrounding him and saw that they were once again in the woods and that he was bound to a tree. To his left he saw the Lykos Kinsman sitting up against a tree sharpening a silver knife, his plasma rifle on the ground next to him. His yellow eyes looked up at him when he noticed that he was awake and grinned, his razor sharp teeth showing.
âOllah, Toa,â he said in broken Matoran.
ââWhat the name of Mata Nui is a ââToaââ?ââ he thought. ââThe name does sound familiar, though. Maybe I can get the Lykos to keep talking.ââ
âWho are you?â
âOh, you remember me, Toa. You nearly killed me.â The Lykos pointed at a scar on the side of itâs head.
âAre you the one who killed my team?â The Toa asked.
âNada, Toa. We did not kill your team, but we did stumble across their remains.â
Suddenly a new voiced joined in. âYes, but there was hardly anything to salvage from their corpses. The Lykos who had slaughtered them stripped them of all their supplies.â
The Toa turned around and saw a female Lykos clad in black and navy blue armor. She stood with a hand on her hip and her other resting on the handle of a plasma saber.
As soon as the Toa saw her a thousand memories hit him like a wrecking ball. He remembered her along with five other Lykos burning down a village, ââhisââ village. He had tried to fight them off, but they overpowered him. He remembered these Lykos. They had defected from the Republic at the beginning of the war and had become thieves trying to find a weapon that could destroy Yermo and the Republic.
âAalska, the Necros Commander. Youâre wanted on high treason against the Lykos Republic.â
âKilling countless Matoran just to conquer the Universe is insane, Toa. You should appreciate that.â
âAnd you can justify killing countless Matoran in search of a legendary weapon to kill the Lykos who are killing countless Matoran. And who even knows that this weapon even exists?â
âIf you want to make a sword, you have to crack a few hammers.â
âYouâre insane.â
âWell, if you donât want the Matoran and the rest of the Universe to survive, then yes, you can call me insane.â She leaned down towards him. âAnd I guess if you want to kill one of the Universeâs last chances to stop this war, then I guess youâre the real monster here.â
The Toa looked down. âSo, why am I still alive?â
The female Lykos Commander leaned back. âWell, I was going to ask you to help us obtain the weapon from a Matoran village, but I guess that was a long shot from the start.â
She began to walk away. She walked past her lieutenant, the Lykos leaning against the tree, and said to him, not even trying to conceal her intentions from the Toa. âKill him.â
She walked into the forest and disappeared. Her lieutenant got up off the ground and readied a plasma pistol and came over to the Toa. The Lykos aimed the gun at the Toaâs head. His finger wrapped around the trigger, ready to fire. The Toa closed his eyes and waited for the eternal darkness to engulf him forever. It seemed time slowed down for him, he heard the sound of the plasma crackling in the barrel, the faint lime light on his eyelids.
Memories began to flood his mind, like his entire life was flashing before his eyes. He saw himself as a Matoran, a Toa giving him a glowing stone, a flash of light, himself as a Toa. He saw himself with three other Toa, a Toa of Iron, a Toa of the Green and a Toa of Lightning. They went on many adventures together, saving many. But when news reached of them of the war, and they took a call to arms. The Order of Mata Nui employed them to try and sneak into Yermo and assassinate Polemistis, the Ultra Director, leader of the Lykos Republic.
It had been a suicide mission from the start. They had gotten to Exusia, but didnât make it very far into the island. A Lykos patrol had spotted them and chased them trough a wooded area. The Lykos shot and killed the Toa of Iron and the Toa of the Green as they had ran. The two remaining Toa just kept on running, not looking back at the horrors that were the deceased forms of their teammates, their friends.
They had come out of the woods only to be met by cliff into the treacherous waters below. The Lykos guards had confronted them. They were about to shoot them when the Toa of Lightning pushed him off the cliff into the water. He fell hard and was knocked unconscious by the impact and drifted away. The last thing he heard was her scream.
He had then awoke on the beach of the island he was in now. His entire team was dead, and he was the sole survivor. Now he had to make it right. Now something else was coming back to him: he was a Toa of Plasma. And if most Lykos projectile weapons were plasma-based, then he had a certain advantage.
He grinned.
He quickly opened his eyes and focused on the plasma in the Lykosâ gun. He pulled back the trigger to fire it, but the Toa held it in. The lieutenant knocked the gun to try and make it work, but nothing happened. The Toa then forced the plasma backwards in the gun violently, making it shoot out the back end and hit the Lykos in the face.
He stumbled backwards and tried to get the boiling plasma off his face. The lieutenant dropped the gun and plasma poured out onto the ground and burned the leaves that laid around it. The Toa concentrated on the plasma and brought it towards him. He dropped it on the ropes and it began to melt through them. He cut down with the plasma and the bonds were broken.
The Toa of Plasma jumped up and fired Plasma at the Lykos, striking him in the chest. The lieutenant fell to the ground in agony. The Toa took the plasma from his gun and threw it at the Lykosâ face. It burned through the circuits and flesh. He struggled on the ground for a few moments, and then died.
He looked down at the deceased form of the Lykos, a fire burning inside of him like never before. He turned towards where Aalska had gone and ran after her, ready to take her down before she killed anymore Matoran. Trees blurred as he ran past, wind threatening to blow his Kanohi clean off his face.
As he ran he heard an explosion ahead of him. The Lykos must have a cannon and were now firing on a Matoran Village to try and get to the ancient Lykos weapon.
He ran faster.
He came into a small clearing in the woods right on the boarder between field and trees. Five Lykos were there, four soldiers and and their Commander, Aalska. One of them was manning the cannon while the other three were holding plasma rifles and firing them out into the field. The Toaâs eyes followed their blasts to a small village, which was on fire. Blue blasts, Zamor Spheres, were coming in return from the Matoran guards. Some said Matoran were weak, but really, they were as strong as a Toa.
Aalska turned and saw the Toa standing there, a frown on her face.
âSurprised to see me, Lykos?â the Toa smiled.
The three soldiers stopped firing and turned on the Toa, Aalska herself pulling out a pistol. They opened fire on the Toa and he deflected each of the projectiles and threw them back at the former Necros soldiers. They attempted to dodge the boiling fluid, which most of them did, except for one of the soldiers. The neon plasma cut clean through his face, killing him instantly. His limp body tumbled to ground.
The remaining Necros members fired beams of neon plasma at the Toa and he deflected them towards the cannon. One hit extremely close to the part of the weapon where the plasma was stored. The Toaâs eyes narrowed and fired a neon laser at the compartment and cut clean through the metal, ââallââ the way through. Plasma began to ooze out of the hole and the Toa began to pull it out. Aalska came up behind the Toa and struck him in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground.
His vision was fuzzy and his ears were filled with noise. He looked up and saw the cannon being rolled forward by the soldier manning it, and Aalska and her two remaining soldiers following him. He tried to manipulate the plasma inside the weapon, but he was too weak to.
He then fell unconscious.
âWe canât keep this up much longer!â one of the Bo-Koro guards yelled to Elisis as he dodged a blast of plasma.
âWe have to, otherwise weâre all dead!â
âOur ammoâs running low, too. Weâre screwed.â
Elisisâ lime green eyes looked towards the ground, before one of the guards yelled.
âTheyâre Lykos! Lykos Kinsmen and theyâve got a huge cannon! And theyâre coming right at us!â
"Darn it. Darn it. Alright, get everyone out of the village right now. Thereâs no other way to beat these guys. Weâre just Matoran, we canât fight a Lykos head-on.â
âSo weâre just going to run and leave our village behind?â
Elisis turned towards him, a smile across her Kanohi Kaukau. âDid you not hear ââhead onââ?â
âIt appears the Matoran are abandoning the village. Good, that will make it easier for us to collect the weapon.â
âAj, our Necros Commander!â The remaining soldiers said, placing their hands over one of their hearts.
They rolled up to the ramp of the village, a sinister smile across her face. She turned to the soldier manning the cannon.
âLeave the cannon here, we wonât be able to bring it up this ramp. The weight will destroy it.â
âAj, my Commander.â The soldier said and hopped off the cannon. They walked up the ramp and into the village. They looked around for where the weapon could be hidden.
âSpread out, my soldiers, for the prize we seek could be anywhere here. They could be hiding it in one of their huts. If we donât find it there, we search underneath. We must find this weapon.â
The walked through the village, looking into the abandoned huts, knocking down walls, breaking boards. One of the soldiers came to the edge of the village and looked behind some crates when he heard something skitter behind him. He turned and pulled out his plasma rifle, the tip glowing green. He walked forward, his yellow eyes scanning all around him.
The Lykos soldier walked in between two large crates, but what he didnât notice was a thin piece of wire, almost invisible, tied between the two crates, about ankle-high. He kept on walking and walked right into it. The soldier tried to regain his balance as he fell, but it was fruitless and he tumbled to the ground, his arms breaking the fall. He got on his knee and looked around as a rock hit him in the side of his head. It impacted and knocked the Lykos out cold, his unconscious body falling to the ground and off the side of the village.
Elisis and one of the Bo-Matoran guards came out from behind a crate and clanked fists.
âOne down, three to go. Itâs going to be a long day.â
The two Matoran left down another alleyway of the village, making sure not to alert the remaining Lykos to their presence. They came to the armory where a Lykos Kinsman was tossing the place in search of the âweaponâ. The two stopped outside the window and waited until he departed to move on to another hut to toss. And that he did. As soon as he was out of the way, the two Matoran jumped in through the open window and grabbed two Zamor Sphere launchers.
They then jumped out the window again and ran down another back alleyway.
ââHopefully they could do this before the Lykos found what they came here for.ââ
His head was spinning, his ears were buzzing, and his vision was like looking through a frosted glass window. He crawled to his feet and looked around. The Lykos Kinsmen were no where in sight, probably had gone to the village to retrieve the weapon. He recovered from the blow to the back of his head and quickly grabbed the plasma sword from the fallen Lykos and ran towards the village.
He came to the ramp that lead up into the village and saw that the cannon was there. He looked at it for a moment and an idea came to him, a great idea.
The Toa was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a Matoran screaming. He turned towards the ramp and ran into the village and saw one of the Lykos soldiers trying to abduct a Ba-Matoran. The Toa stepped forward and fired a blast of orange plasma at the Lykos. The Kinsman looked up as the plasma hit him right in the eye, burning right through it. The Lykos fell dead to the ground, dropping the Matoran as he fell.
He was about to come over and help the Matoran up when he yelled: âWATCH OUT!â
The Toa turned as Aalska descended down upon him. He tried to react but the Lykos was fast and she pinned the Toa to the ground, her plasma saber in his face. The Toa expected her to kill him on the spot, like any Lykos would do, but Aalska didnât, maybe she was weak. She hadnât killed him herself in the woods, she hadnât killed him when she knocked him out. She ââwasââ weak. Her honor was broken.
He took advantage of this weakness.
The Toa of Plasma fired neon-green lasers from his eyes, grazing the side of the female Lykosâ face. She fell backwards onto the soaked wooden ground. The Toa flipped up onto his feet and blasted a plasma laser at Aalska as she got up, striking her in the chest, knocking her to the ground again.
The last soldier sneaked up behind the Toa and armed his plasma rifle, ready to kill the Toa before he killed any more of his brothers.
Three⌠two⌠one-.
The Lykos was suddenly covered in blue energy, and then he was on the ground, unconscious. The Toa heard him fall and turned to see what had happened. Two Matoran, a Ga-Matoran and a Bo-Matoran were standing behind a fallen Lykos with Zamor Spheres in hand. The Ga-Matoran yelled at him: âGET OUT OF THE WAY!â
The Toa quickly hit the floor as the two Matoran fired blue balls of energy the again rising form of the Necros Commander. She tried to knock them away with her plasma sword, and she did deflect a few, but they hit and grazed her, knocking her back down to the ground.
The Toa got up and walked over to the two Matoran.
âThanks. Who are you?â
âThis is Orta, one of the guards here, and Iâm Elisis, Chronicler of Bo-Koro, or, whatâs left of it.â She looked around at the destruction of her village.
âI am sorry about your village. Where are the other Matoran?â
âI ordered them to evacuate the village due to the Lykos strike. I guess weâll also have to go and make a new village as well.â
âI could help you rebuild your lives, and protect you as well from these devils.â
âSpeaking of which, what are you going to do with her? Kill her?â
âNo. That would be too merciful. Iâm going to put her somewhere where she will never see the light of day again.â
âAlright. Sheâll be out for a while. Can you help us get anything worth salvaging out of here?â
âYes maâam.â
They began to look around the village for anything they could use for the next village. But their mistake was simple, but grave. Rule number one when dealing with Lykos: âânever turn your back on them.ââ
The defeated and dishonored form of Aalska lay on the damp wooden ground, looking up at the clouded sky. She was weak, very weak from the energy blasts. She looked around the village as her vision slowly began to blur. The Necros Commander saw flames burning around her, destruction everywhere. It was beautiful.
She looked at the floor she lay on, cracks and splinters on it from the impact of the plasma balls. Aalska was about to look away when she saw something silver underneath it. She slowly pulled back the board, making sure not to alert the Toa. She pulled back the board and there it was; the ancient Lykos cannon. It was among the first plasma-based weapons designed by the Lykos. Its power was unimaginable, but also extremely unstable. Hence why only one was ever produced. It had been stolen by rebel Lykos and brought here, apparently.
They had probably built the village to keep it hidden. Those Lykos then disappeared, lost to time. She couldnât get it out of here before she regained full strength, since the Toa was probably going to put her deep underground, because the ââIâm going to put her somewhere where she will never see the light of day againââ part.
She grabbed her plasma saber and readied it, pointing where the blade would come out right at the energy compartment.
âIf I canât have this weapon, no one will.â She uttered.
The three turned to see what she was talking about. She activated the sword and it cut right into the compartment. She was instantly covered in purple lightning that fried and killed her. But that was the least of their problems.
The ground above the weapon began to shake and it turned lime and disintegrated, revealing the weapon covered in a bright lime glow, coming from the inside.
âItâs going to blow! RUN!!!â The Toa shouted. He grabbed the Matoranâs hands and they ran out of the village as fast as they could. They jumped off the edge and down onto the grass. They ran towards a large rock and quickly ducked behind it. The cannon suddenly exploded, a huge fireball of plasma consuming the village.
The Toa quickly made a plasma shield around them and the rock to deflect the explosion. The plasma passed around them and disappeared just as it was about to hit the woods. The plasma faded and the Toa absorbed the shield back into himself.
The three got out from behind the rock and looked at the completed destroyed form of Bo-Koro.
âWelp. I guess weâll have to start from scratch then.â Elisis said.
âIâm sorry about your village, Elisis.â
âWhereâs the Lykos?â Orta asked.
âDead. Killed herself. She did it to preserve her honor.â
âAt least that weaponâs gone and she is as well. Thatâs four more Lykos out of the world.â
âCome, my friends, itâs time to go.â
The Toa and the Matoran walked away from there, towards a crowd of Matoran who had just come out of the woods to see what had just happened.
As they walked, Elisis looked back at her ruined home. She felt like something inside of her had broken. But then she realized that every ending is merely a beginning waiting to be born.
But those were just all the pretty things.
