Hello, there!
This is my and @Toa_Vladin’s collab series. It is a crossover between my universe (Infinity Requiem) and his universe (centered around the yet unpublished Heroes of Okoto Saga).
I hope you enjoy it, as we worked hard trying to make it as good as possible.
Also, I want to say, so sorry for the long wait but we’ve been busy and finally we managed to pull ourselves together and finish this, we sincerely hope you enjoyed!
And Chapter three will be posted by Vladin, so stay tuned! And without further ado, enjoy!
Darkseid looked on the window of his throne room, hands at his back. For the first time after a few millennia, the black titan was… smiling. He was happy. And then… He chuckled. Yoruk, a Turkish man that helped him fulfill his plan, was looking confused as he was staying down, next to him.
“Uhm… My lord?” the human asked.
Darkseid turned his huge head to him. “Yes, Yoruk?”
“Are you OK? I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“Oh, Yoruk. We, the Vestals are not beings that different by you, humans. Yes, we are omnipotent, but this doesn’t mean we can’t be happy too. And now that the first phase of my plan is finally done, I can move to my second phase.”
Before Yoruk could open his mouth and say something, the door of the throne room opened and a group of weird, colored beings, taller than him, but much shorter than the towering Darkseid, entered the room.
“Ah!” Darkseid said as he turned to the newcomers. “Yoruk, meet the Kaethronies. Now that a sizeable population of the two universes is scattered around two realities, nobody can’t stop me from bringing chaos about the two realms.”
In Darkseid’s targeted universe, Bambu was walking on the unknown streets of the City of Mask Makers. He was an Ysmaen, a species similar to the Toa, but their powers were very different. At that point, Bambu realized that something was not right. One purple portal brought him in this unknown city, with an architecture never seen before. Strangely, Bambu was also partially feeling weaker. He wanted to find the leader of the city as fast as possible so that he could finally understand what happened to him.
And by sheer luck, he ended up right in front of the Forge. As the Ysmaen was admiring the great building, he could hear a soft chuckle coming from somebody next to him. “What’s the matter? You’ve never seen the Forge before?” a voice said.
Bambu turned to the right. He was a little surprised to see one of the short specimens that were populated the city looking kindly at him, with his hands at his back. The short being had golden armor with transparent blue accents. His armor was definitely more expensive than the ones of the common villagers. He had a big saw shield on his back, with a hammer with crystalline, blue top attached on top of it. On the small Okotoan’s shoulder, there was lying an eagle with gray and golden feathers, looking curiously at the Ysmaen.
“Indeed I haven’t.” Bambu said to the short one. “Are you the leader of this place?”
The old Okotoan nodded. “Yes. I am Ekimu, the Mask Maker.”
“Where am I?” Bambu asked.
“You are in the City of Mask Makers.” Ekimu said, becoming a little confused.
“And where is this?”
“On Okoto.”
“Okoto? Is this some kind of isolated Portuguese province?”
“No. Okoto is our island. The only one from the Known Sea. Okoto is… Everything that it is known. Well, except for two or three islands at miles and miles away. But what about you? Who are you?”
“I am Bambu.”
“Toa of Jungle, I suppose?”
“I’ve never heard of something called Toa before, so I don’t think I am one. I am a Ysmaen from Ysmea. And your affirmation, ‘Okoto is everything that there is to known’ is wrong. You are either very narcissistic, nationalistic or never heard of the other realms like Zenthronia.”
Ekimu stayed silent for a few moments, before looking at Ysmaen again. “Let’s enter inside the Forge. Something tells me that you are not from here.”
Bambu nodded, and the two started climbing the stairs of the Forge. The small eagle on Ekimu’s shoulder flew off, entering inside the Forge through an opened window.
“So, tell me how you got here.” Ekimu said, curious.
The Ysmane nodded as he started telling the old mask maker his story: how he was meditating in his temple, when he was sucked in a portal somewhere in the center of the City of Mask Makers.
Mike, the small Lutherian from Darkseid’s universe, was walking in an Okotoan village from the Region of Fire. He was a small being, the size of an Okotoan. Mike didn’t have a passion in architecture or landscape, but he had to admit that the village build out of volcanic rock was something he has never seen before. While he was looking at the buildings around him, a few Fire Okotoans started eyeing him, or even pointing to him. This made the small Lutherian to feel uncomfortable. It was already bad enough that he was lost in a region he’s never seen before, let alone the fact that the locals were staring at him. Mike didn’t know this, but the Okotoans were a little scared by his face. It was similar to a Skull Bull Mask, the one wore by horrible villains, like Skull Basher, or some of the Skull Scorpios. The more Mike was being present in the village, the more the Okotoans believed that they are going to be attacked by the Skull Army. Some young Okotoans took some stones and threw them at Mike.
“Ow!” the Lutherian yelled when one stone hit him in the face. “What was that for?” he asked the Okotoans. However, instead of a response, more Okotoans threw more of the dark red volcanic rocks at him.
Mike couldn’t understand why the locals were so rude to him. He ran away, hoping that they wil leave him alone.
“Look at that coward! He is running!” yelled one of the young Okotoans as Mike was leaving their street. The other Okotoans started laughing and cherishing, thinking that the Skull would not have the courage to return.
As Mike was running away of the Okotoans he accidentally bumped into an Earth Okotoan. Both of them fell down. Mike was the first one who stood up, preparing himself for battle in case the Earth Okotoan would start throwing rock at him too.
“Ouch. This will leave a mark.” The Okotoan said as he slowly stood up. The Okotoan then saw Mike’s mask, or better said lack of mask. “Why are you wearing a Skull Bull Mask?”
“Skull Bull what?” Mike asked, confused. “What are you talking about? This is my face!”
“Yeah, sure! Your face!” the Okotoan said, rolling his eyes.
“I am telling the truth!” Mike said as he dusted himself off. “Why were those Lutherians throwing rocks at me?”
“First of, those are no ’Lutherians’, but Okotoans. Fire Okotoans to be more exact. Second of, they were considering you a threat.”
“But why?”
“Because of your face. Not to sound rude or anything, but as long as you show this ‘face’ to them, the Okotoans will confuse you for a Skull.”
“A Skull?”
“Yeah, you know: The Skull Army. Bad skeleton guys that are rampaging our island from time to time. They even took it under control for a while. We are lucky that Vladin and his crew are saving us from them. Really now, since they became the Toa Crew of the island, the Skulls rarely showed up.”
“Skull Army, Vladin, Toa Crew! Really now! You are puzzling me!”
“What do you mean?” the Okotoan said, puzzled as well. “You are not from here?”
“Nope. I am Mike and I am a Lutherian. From Lutheria.”
“And where’s that?”
“Well a few hundreds of years ago it was called Australia, if that helps.”
“It doesn’t. I’ve never heard of this land.”
“What about the Prime Palace?”
“The hell is that? Actually, you know what? Doesn’t matter for now. How about you come at my place and explain me everything there?”
“OK.” Mike said, thinking that it would be better if he would follow the only Okotoan that was nice with him instead of the ones who threw rocks at him.”
“I am Krixton.” The Okotoan said as he leads Mike out of the village.
“Nice to meet you, Krixton.”
While the two short beings were leaving the small village, Octavian, the Toa Epsilon of Earth, was in a completely different world. He was, as well, teleported into the Vestal’s universe. He woke up in an enormous hallway, made out of cyan bricks, with pillars in front of the walls.
“Wow!” Octavian said, impressed by the scale of the hallway.
“Wow… ow… w…” responded the echo.
“Where am I?” Octvian asked himself. The only response he got was the whisper of the echo.
Suddenly, a booming voice could be heard all across the huge hallway. Octavian looked around, scared, before jumping behind one pillar, trying to hide himself.
“I really don’t know what to do anymore, Dormammu.” The voice said, now followed by the booming sound of giant steps. Octavian stokes his head out of his hideout and saw two giants walking on the hallway, talking. One of them seemed very worried.
“What do you mean, brother?” the other said.
“Haven’t you observed?” the worried giant said.
“The portals?”
“Yes.”
“I saw them. One of them teleported some mortals right before they would finish one of my new statues.”
“This is not funny brother. I am almost sure that this is Darkside’s doing.”
“And what do you suggest, Oros? The treaty we signed specifically said that we cannot accuse Darkseid of such things if we do not have enough evidence.”
“I don’t know…” the giant said, passing Octavian.
As the two giants were leaving, Octavian started following them from behind.
Meanwhile, back in the Vestal universe, Darven, a Okotoan of Jungle, was walking loosely in a dense forest. He was lost. Just like the others, a portal spits him into this unknown place that he has never seen before. After a boring hour of searching for the way out of the forest, he stopped and chuckled.
“Look at me! I am an Okotoan of Jungle! The forest is a jungle, right? I am either stupid or somebody out there really likes ironic moments!”
He looked upwards, at the sky. The sun was shining stronger than ever, in an orange-reddish color. This seemed weird at first for Darven. He shrugged and continued walking. After a few more minutes, he found a group of humans.
“Hi la— Wait, what the devil are you?” he asked, realizing that he has never seen a creature like them.
“What are we? What are you?” asked one of them with a strong German accent.
“Is he a Kaethroni?” asked another with a Dutch accent.
“He looks a little bit like Lord Ghabix!” the first one said. “But… Smaller!”
“It’s clearly a Kaethroni!” a third guy said, a Dane. “Attack him!”
The humans looked at each other, before jumping and attacking the poor Darven. The Okotoan was too tired to protect himself, so he quickly got overpowered, falling to the ground and getting unconscious.
“Now what should we do to him?” asked the German.
“Isn’t it obvious?” asked the Dane. “These monster killed our families for way too much! Let’s kill him!”
“Are you crazy?” asked the Dutch. “We can’t kill a Kaethroni! We are just a few puny humans! Let’s bring him to Lord Ghabix! He will know what to do with him.”
“Are you sure?” asked the German.
“More than sure!” nodded the Dutch, to which the Dane rolled his eyes.
“All right, if you say so!” the German said, trying to take Darven in his hands. “Gosh, this guy is heavy! Guys, help me!”
And so, the German, the Dane, the Dutch and the other three or four present humans started carrying the unconscious Darven together, towards their home village.
After half of an hour, they arrived. The whole village was now surrounded by a very tall wall made out of tree trunks. The Dutch knocked at a wooden door in the wall. A small compartment of the door opened, revealing a pair of blue eyes.
“Password?” the man said from the other side of the door.
“Ghabixreich.” The Dutch said.
The man nodded and opened the door, letting the group entered the village. There were wooden cabins everywhere. Humans were moving everywhere fastly, training of fulfilling their tasks. On their right, there was five man shooting their bows at some dummies.
The group continued marching till they arrived in front of a cabin bigger than the other ones. It was obviously better made, with an exterior garden delimited by a small stone wall, with a huge tree inside of it. Two sculptors just started making two big stone statues in front of the door.
The Dutch, once again, walked forward and knocked at the door of the cabin. The door opened, and from inside another Dutch exited outside.
“Yes, Reggy?” asked the new Dutch.
“Bartjan.” Reggy said. “What are you doing?”
“Lord Ghabix made me his consoler. Now, what do you want?”
“We’ve found this shorter being. He is about the size of a Lutherian, but he looks pretty similar to a Kaethroni. We thought that he is somewhat related to Lord Ghabix.”
“Aha…” said Bartjan. “Just one moment.”
Bartjan entered back inside and stayed there for a few moments, before returning.
“Lord Ghabix will let you in.” Bartjan declared.
Reggy motioned for the group to enter inside the cabin with Darven. They did so. The cabin had one big room made completely out of wood, with two doors on its sides, leading to other rooms. The room was mostly empty, except for two wooden thrones. In one of them there was Ghabix, and in the other one, there was a blonde woman with long, curly hair.
Ghabix’s eyes widen when he recognized the unconscious Darven. He stood up and rose his hands. “All of you! Leave my cabin, mortals! Bartjan, bring a bucket of water and throw it on my Kaethroni cousin.”
All of the humans ran out of the cabin, including Bartjan, who then returned with a bucket full of water. He then threw it on Darven, who instantly woke up.
“Wha-What? Where am I? Ghabix?” the Okotoan asked when he saw his Toa cousin.
Ghabix nodded, before looking at Bartjan. “Leave. Now. You too, Fillipa my dear!” he then said to the blonde woman.
The two listened to him and entered in another room of the cabin.
“My dear Fillipa?” repeated Darven. “Ghabix, what is happening?”
“Darven, this place is awesome!” Ghabix yelled, raising his fists in the air.
“What?” asked Darven, still confused.
“These humans think I am a Kaethroni!”
“What’s a Kaethroni? And what’s a human?”
“Right, right…” Ghabix said, sitting down on the floor next to him. “Let me explain. It all started a few hours ago…”
Yet another victim of the Vestals, John, a American human from the Vestal universe, was exploring the City of Mask Makers. Just like all of the other victims, he was looking at the new universe in owe, not recognizing any part of it.
“Not too shabby, if I can say it myself.” He said as he was admiring the great arena. However, he was not paying attention to his path, bumping into Rena, the Toa Epsilon of Water. Both of them fell to the ground. “Sorry!” John said, dusting himself off.
“It’s OK, I guess…” she said, standing up.
“No, really!” John continued. “I…” he started, before looking at Rena for the first time, checking him from top to bottom twice. “Oh, mamma…” he whispered for himself.
“What?” Rena asked, barely hearing his whisper.
However, John didn’t respond. He immediately fell for her. She was such a beautiful woman! The prettiest he has ever seen.
“What are you…” she started, before stopping and checking the stranger in front of her. “Wait, are you a Toa? You look like a Toa of Earth!”
“Of course, I am whatever you want me to be ba—“ John started, before being interrupted by Rena.
“Then please, I need your help!”
“With what, milady?” John asked.
“Vladin, the leader of my Toa Team, got sucked into a purple portal. I’ve searched him in the entire city, but couldn’t find him. I also tried to find my other teammates or other Toa, but so far you are the only one I could find.”
“Wait a second, a purple portal?”
“Yeah?”
“That happened to me too! I woke up here, in this unknown city.”
“Unknown city? This might be why I haven’t seen you before around.”
John nodded. “Call me John.”
“I’m Rena. Now hurry up! We need to see if we can find my other teammates. I tried to contact Ghabix and Octavian, but they are nowhere to be found. Come. Maybe Ekimu will know what to do!”