Destiny
As the wave of speechlessness rolled over the bound Toa, Maerkon looked to the machine, horror slowly growing in his heart as the terrible sound grew louder and louder. He lowered his gaze, turning his eyes from it, as a single prevailing thought ran through his head over and over again; We have to stop this.
He frowned to himself, another idea running through his head. Maerkon’s eyes widened incrementally, as he stared at the ground, not daring to look up. Grillon, the Toa thought, projecting his mind toward his comrade’s own. Grillon, can you hear me?
A moment later he winced, his friend’s head snapping up and looking around the room rapidly as if searching for the source of the voice. The Toa’s mouth even opened, as if to call out “Who’s there?” but Maerkon thought quickly. No brother. Don’t react, don’t let them see you and give us away. It’s me, it’s Maerkon.
Oh. This again. Grillon quickly slumped back down, to look defeated, Have a plan?
Maybe. I’m going to link us up with the others now, just brace yourself. This is going to be… interesting.
Antroz, for his part, still stood over them smugly. He was enjoying this.
Maerkon was once again greeted with the strange sensation of his mind filling with too many voices at once.
I’m gonna kill that son of a-
Wait what? Who-
What?
Uh oh-
Everyone! One at a time, please. Maerkon grimaced, I know most of you are probably confused, and honestly so am I, but just… please, try to not talk over each-other, it’s giving me a headache.
Raincoat?
Yes, Vineon, it’s me. Maerkon had to suppress a light chuckle there at the nickname.
So did we all get powers, or what?
Powers? What? When did this happen?
Well of course you didn’t get any, you didn’t do anything!
Yeela, back off.
Fine.
Grillon’s gotten a lot more guts lately, huh?
Uhhh… I can still hear you Maerkon.
Oh, right. My thoughts aren’t private anymore, apologies.
Can we get to the point already?
Maerkon has a plan. There was silence, expectation heavy in the air. Right?
I’ll be honest with you, we don’t have much to work with here. I’ve been running this through my head, seeing if I can’t find some way out, some way to even the odds. But with the hand we’ve been dealt… I’m sorry. Maerkon couldn’t help but sag a bit lower in defeat.
Don’t be. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Vineon, can you grow anything down here?
Let’s see: can Vineon grow a plant in an underground cave with no light, no soil, and no water? Hmmmmmmm…
I’d assume he’s expecting a yes or no answer.
I can grow something from me, depending. What did you have in mind, Fire-spitter?
Remember the battle near the Spine, against Friana and Yeela? Where you rescued me?
Gee, that narrows it down…
You fed me a… Volo fruit, was it?
Oh, yeah, that. That’s probably doable. I’ll need a distraction, though.
Got it. Kerila raised her mask defiantly to face Antroz.
“All this talk of how powerful you are, and you still couldn’t prevent our existence.” The Herald’s eyes snapped to Kerila, narrowed and brimming with fury. “Your servants would whisper about how powerful you were, but you weren’t strong enough to destroy the Stones, were you?” Antroz snarled, and tendrils of stone reached up to ensnare Kerila. A flowered vine had begun to grow from Vineon’s back as she talked. “You couldn’t, could you?” A smirk worked its way onto Kerila’s face. “All of that power, and you couldn’t help but create your own worst enemies.” The stone began to move, squeezing Kerila until her armor began to creak. A volo fruit dropped to the floor and rolled, but Antroz was oblivious. Grillon strained down over the fruit and buried his mask into it, devouring it in two bites.
“You can’t control us,” Kerila continued, squeezing the words out on fading breath. “No matter how hard you try.” Grillon closed his eyes and focused, drawing on his renewed element. It was a simple matter to extract the light from the fire, leaving the heat to be used later.
“You thought you could break us, that you could forge me into a tool, a weapon for your plans.” Grillon channelled the light into his hands, travelling into his restraints, then the floor, then arriving at Yeela. It began to renew her even as another volo fruit filled her with strength.
“You failed.” Kerila spat, punctuated by the resonating crack of her armor breaking. “You can’t control me, you can’t control us, you can’t control anythi-”
“Enough,” Antroz hissed, and in a moment he was crouched down in front of her, his hand gripping the back of her head. “I’ve tolerated your insolence thus far, but there comes a time where I must curb your tongue, and teach you to learn your place, you insufferable child.”
“I guess it’ll have to wait,” Kerila wheezed. Antroz turned to find Yeela standing, her former bonds floating around her. The Toa extended her arms and they flew, reshaping into stone knives as they hurtled towards him. The Herald stood with a flick of his wrist, and the makeshift projectiles scattered into a fine powder. Yeela stomped, bellowing a war cry that drew the attention of the other Heralds. Kerila’s prison fell away before surging up to strike at the Herald. Antroz snapped, and the attack was gone, stone turned to a mere cloud of smoke. Yeela raise her arm to strike again, but didn’t get the chance. It wasn’t a counterattack from Antroz that stopped her. No, it was laughter.
He was beside himself, the cruel sound echoing throughout the cavern, and even drowning out the ever-growing rumble of the device. Yeela clenched her fists tightly.
“You really are stubborn, aren’t you?” He smirked, looking around at the Toa, free once more. Battered and bruised, indeed, but still standing. Just. Icarax started to advance, a hunger in his eyes, but Antroz barred his path with another melding wall.
“Icarax, not yet.” He warned, like he was scolding a pet, “Where’s the fun in beating you down again with such ease, hm? Look at you all, you can barely hold yourselves together! Tell you what: as I’m feeling generous today, I’m going to give you one final chance.” Even before he finished speaking, the ground between them was shifting, changing, coiling and spiralling upwards. Stone turned to bark, and roots, and branches. Leaves blossomed forth, and so did the fruit: ripe and full and filling every branch, “Besides, would it really be a true victory if I never got to fight you all at your peak? I think not. Eat up, replenish your strength, before I change my mind.”
The Toa hardly needed much encouragement, rushing forward to devour the energy-rich volo fruit.
“Antroz, what are you doing!?” Icarax roared.
“Worry not, Icarax.” He cut in cleanly, “Even at their best they cannot defeat us, and even if they were able, they still wouldn’t be in time to destroy the machine. Everything is under control. Besides, I’m sure you would agree that one final, definitive battle would do us good?”
Icarax grins cruelly, nodding, “Well, when you put it like that…” He cracked his knuckles, an eager grin splitting his mask.
Chirox simply rolled his eyes, a noncommittal shrug accompanying his battle stance. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Light emanated from the Toa’s side as Grillon helped restore the other’s bodies to their peak. Yeela especially had taken quite the beating, and she couldn’t help but stretch as the Light Knight did his work.
“Thaaaat’s better.” She smirked.
“Ah yes, and before I forget…” Antroz added, something seemingly melting out of the floor, “Your weapons.”
Sure enough - Maerkon’s axe, Yeela’s armory and Friana’s bow, arrows, and assorted knives lay before him. The three cautiously paced over and picked them up, eyeing Antroz suspiciously. He chuckled a little as they returned back to their group, never taking their eyes off the Heralds.
“What, you think I would strike you down unarmed? I have no need for such tricks. Even at your strongest you’re no match for me.”
“You know, you said that before,” Grillon quipped, “Which makes me wonder why you stayed holed up in this cave. I think someone feels the need to prove something.”
“And you think that someone is me?” Antroz replied evenly. “As I recall, only one of us was rejected by his people and betrayed by his only friends.” He smirked as Grillon fumed silently. “Oh? Still a touchy subject? How it must hurt to be such a failure.”
“You’re about to find out,” Grillon snarled.
“Perhaps. But now is not the time for words: now is the time to fight. And you can be assured that we shall not hold back.”
Go! Grillon shouted through the link, and he was already moving, a mere blur as his power carried him across the room before the others could process the thought. He didn’t stop as Antroz raised a barrier to impede his path, bounding up and over in a soaring leap at Icarax. The Herald’s power tugged at him, forcing him to roll in a premature landing. The Fire Toa struggled forward, all but crawling as gravity increased tenfold. Icarax raised a hand to strike the Toa, but recoiled in surprise as a beam of light flashed in his eyes. Grillon glanced over his shoulder to see Kerila, a tiny lens of ice redirecting the meager light of the room into Icarax’s face. Friana followed up with a flurry of arrows at the Herald’s chest, and Grillon was free to add his flaming fist to the assault. He leaped back before Icarax could retaliate, razor-edged shield slicing the ground where he had once stood.
Various thoughts filled the mental link, fragments of ideas mingling with raw emotion in a rushed flurry. It seemed effective enough, however; Maerkon and Yeela pummeled Antroz in tandem, even as Kerila turned her attention to help Vineon fend off Chirox’s electricity. It was with a burst of panic and a thought that wasn’t quite his name that Friana warned him of the next attack, and that Grillon ducked inside Icarax’s blow, driving another flaming fist into the Herald’s chest. The great being only grinned, crushing Grillon in a bear hug before flinging him across the room. He would have crashed into Yeela if it weren’t for Vineon’s quick thinking, who snagged the flying Toa with a vine and sent him hurtling for Chirox instead. Grillon fell feet-first, his improvised kick caught on the lazy Herald’s gauntlet. The Light Knight rebounded, narrowly missing a blast of lightning and landing next to Vineon.
Grillon dashed in once more, his power carrying him safely past the Herald’s electric bursts as he slid right through Chirox’s leg. The being stumbled, falling right into Vineon’s volley of thorns. Electricity surged around the Herald with an apathetic sigh, and both Toa were forced to keep their distance. Vineon fell back another step, a wayward crevice created by Antroz separating him from the battle and leaving Grillon alone with Chirox. The Herald advanced, his armor sparking ominously as he cornered the lone Toa. A mental image of a flying boulder caused Grillon to duck, and the chunk of stone hurtled right over his head and square into Chirox’s mask. The Herald stumbled back, and Grillon brought one foot crashing into his knee, sending him to the ground.
He left Yeela to finish up the fallen Herald, dashing to join the other Toa. Antroz and Icarax had joined forces now, fighting back to back amidst the flurry of elemental attacks. Antroz turned a blast of water to acid, whirling away and leaving Icarax to redirect the attack at Vineon. The Ironwood Knight barely managed to dodge in time, leaving a smoking pit where he had once stood. Grillon rushed past his teammate, charging full speed at Antroz. The Herald merely had to point in his direction and the floor beneath him turned to sand, sending him slipping and almost falling on his mask.
A small whirlwind surrounded him, the sand whipping into the air with it. Grillon rose, torching the sand and transforming it into a storm of glass that Friana sent hurtling towards the twin Heralds. Icarax cast the shards aside with his shield, scowling at Grillon briefly before turning to swipe at an advancing Maerkon. The Toa of Fire gathered the rest of the heat in his hands and fired, blasting away a defensive wall Antroz had erected to ward off Vineon. He backed off as Yeela’s weapons joined the fray, a glance finding Chirox bound quite nicely in a stone prison.
Kerila appeared at Grillon’s side, and she did not need to even think to communicate her plan. The Light Knight’s gauntlets glowed with power, and Kerila’s ice lens refined it into a devastating blast. Antroz tapped Icarax’s shield, transforming it into a mirror as the two traded places. Icarax blocked the blast easily, sending it in a blazing arc through the other Toa before Kerila or Grillon could correct their mistake. Antroz, meanwhile, took the time to focus, pulling wickedly pointed stalactites out of the ceiling with a slow sweep of his arms. Icarax’s fist rose and fell, tearing at the ceiling with a wave of gravitic force. The deadly points of stone fell free easily, falling nearly sideways to come crashing down around the stunned Toa. The room quaked and rumbled, and even Grillon and Kerila were caught in the maelstrom of rock.
When the dust and noise cleared, the Toa lay defeated amid the rubble.
Coughing lightly, Antroz stepped over a few of the Toa as he approached the machine, brushing aside Grillon’s feeble attempt to grab his heel. He turned to Chirox’s predicament, motioning for the stone cage to melt away. Icarax laughed mirthlessly as Chirox shook himself off in annoyance, “Having trouble with the prey, weakling?”
“Buzz off, Icarax.” He snapped back, before slipping back into his lazy slouch and strolling over as Antroz gestured for the pair to follow. “See? What did I tell you, Icarax? Even if they had beaten us…”
He paused, to look down contemptuously at the fallen Toa. “They would never have stopped us before-”
The sound of the machine suddenly came to a crescendo, a horrid aura of light streaming out from it. The Heralds staggered back, as if overcome by the sudden light, and a few of the Toa turned to face it, squinting their eyes in the cutting beams. The light grew brighter, and brighter still, and then-
-in the midst of the light, there stood a figure, clad in ancient, almost alien-looking armor, their head craning upward as they looked around the interior of the temple. The figure turned their gaze down, two iridescent eyes staring almost tiredly out at the assembly before it.
Slowly, Antroz lowered himself to a knee, staring at the figure with glassy, unfocused eyes. Behind him, Chirox followed suit, and after a moment, Icarax as well.
The Toa that remained conscious strained to move, Yeela managing to flip over and stare at the machine, with Maerkon closing his eyes and instead trying to focus his thoughts.
Does… does anyone see? What is-what is the machine doing-
Maerkon heard no reply, and actually prepared to ask again before another thought cut through. Echoed through his Toa brethren, echoed out loud by the Heralds’ wonder-struck voices, echoed as if by the very walls of the temple themselves.
A single sentence, holding all the weight of the world in it.
The Eternal has risen.