I am back with the fifth installment of my 8-part short story series.
The Depths Below
Hydraxon, jailer of the pit, was lazily sharpening one of his wrist daggers. He glanced up as he heard it again, a faint scratching noise. He hurled the blade, and it buried itself in a wall on the opposite side of the room. There was a yelp of surprise in one of the cells as Hydraxon growled, “Quiet that racket Takadox. I’m trained to disarm a prisoner of any weapons. I should have listened to Botar when he told me that your teeth should be included in that category.”
He snapped his fingers, and his pet Energy Hound Spinax went to retrieve the dagger. Hydraxon sighed; he almost wished Takadox would escape, just so he could have some action - and an excuse to break some of the Barraki’s bones.
He thought of the Toa Mata, back when he was training them. He wished he could talk to one; the Maxilos robots weren’t much for conversation. Even Lewa would be good company, albeit his annoying grammatical errors that he referred to as “treespeak.”
He heard more scratching, and turned to glare at Takadox, preparing to hurl his dagger again, but soon realized that the blue Barraki was not the cause of the noise.
Hydraxon glanced up and dove to his left as a large slab of the ceiling fell and struck the makeshift desk that he had been sitting at moments ago. Water began pouring into the room, and Hydraxon slammed his hand down on a button nearby, sealing off most of the roof.
A great crack grew across the ground as the floor split and one side of it rose into the air, creating a sheer cliff in front of him and raising the Barrakis’ cells several bio above him.
Hydraxon watched as Spinax tussled with Takadox. The Hound managed to pin the Barraki to the ground, but a quick a quick bite from Takadox’s teeth was enough to loosen the Energy Hound’s grip. Hydraxon was about to give the Energy Hound a hand when the wall and ceiling behind him collapsed completely, pinning him under a pile of debris. The water began pouring in again, this time at an even faster rate than before.
Hydraxon tried to move, but found that his legs had been internally shattered by the wall. He looked up and watched as five of the Barraki swam through the hole in the roof.
Takadox soon followed, hurling Spinax at the ground. He was about to swim through the hole, but spotted Hydraxon pinned under the wall. He swam back down towards his former jailer, his smile growing ever so slightly wider.
Hydraxon spat as Takadox lowered himself so he was at eye level with his former captor. The blue Barraki picked up Hydraxon’s dagger and raised it high above his head, preparing to drive it into the jailer’s back.
Hydraxon spat again, and said, “You have no honor you piece of Hydruka dropping. Killing a foe when he’s already down.”
Takadox nodded and said susurrately, “I’m so glad you noticed. See, that’s the difference between you and me. I have the sense to kill whenever I get the chance; it’s what keeps me alive.”
Hydraxon shook his head, glancing subtly over Takadox’s shoulder as he did so. He didn’t want to draw the Barraki’s attention; he was stalling for time as Spinax recovered. As the Energy Hound rose again, Hydraxon pointed at Takadox and murmured, “Zya.”
Spinax growled, and Takadox whirled around in shock as he tried to block the new threat. Hydraxon grabbed Takadox’s leg, yanking it out from under him. The Barraki fell with a grunt as his chin hit the ground. Hydraxon grabbed the blue Barraki around the throat and said, “If anything causes a breech large enough to allow multiple prisoners to escape, I am authorized to execute every single one rather than have to chase you down again and take the chance of you causing problems.”
Hydraxon held his dagger to the Barraki’s neck, preparing to slot him, but before he could deliver the fatal blow an explosion went off behind him, causing him to loosen his grip, just enough so for Takadox to slip free. Hydraxon glanced to his left, catching a glimpse of Mantax out of the corner of his eye. Hydraxon looked up and said, “Like I said, you have no honor you worthless filth.”
Takadox frowned - which was just about the only thing uglier than his toothy grin - and said, “I have grown tired of your talk.”
He raised the dagger again, this time not hesitating the slightest bit as he plunged it into Hydraxon’s back…
I wrote this fifth story in January of 2013. It’s been awhile, but Bionicle’s return has rekindled my desire to finish this series. No guarantees, but I’ll definitely see if I can pick up where I left off. The sixth story was ironically the one I was most eager to write, I planned to call it: Monster - Mythor’s Short Story. Here’s the ‘cover’ photo I planned to use.
Would you guys be interested in seeing this? Lemme know in da comments below! (Hey…that rhymed)
