A great many years ago,
A great many ages.
The Great Spirit's isle
cradled his nation.
The brave Toa Metru
who vanquished Makuta
had built this new refuge
this tree-riddled haven.
But the black brother's evil,
is never suppressed.
Though his dark arts were stayed
one stone-carver was lost.
The monster's dank cavern,
was where he fell aside.
And the fear-peddler found him
and sold him his wares.
"The turaga have left you.
Here with the sea-beasts."
The false savior lied,
"But I give you my help."
"Follow my cause,
give word of my enemy
And I avenge you
of the vile deserters."
And on that day,
the gullible villager,
the foolish stone-carver
sold his life to the monster.
For centuries onward,
he lived in the village,
his pact with the devil
all but forgotten.
The wicked beast-master
stayed hidden for years.
His messenger came
to peddle his fear.
The Great Spirit's symbol,
he wore on his face,
scarred by the work
of the black brother's hand.
His armor was rusted
like his mask it was worn.
Blighted his spirit, since
the same marks it bore.
The fear-peddler's prophet
came to restring his puppet.
And remind him his bargain
was never complete.
So Ahkmou came
to the present day,
knowing the dark herald
was never away.
He sold his trinkets,
knickknacks, and toys
while informing the courier
of the elder's deeds.
But his spirit was light.
The villain's visits were short,
His mind seldom thought of
the dark angel's bargain.
He met a friend
in the village of water,
A right cheerful lady,
of his own occupation.
He first met the lady
when he left his dark master
in the land now protected
by the sea-queen, named Gali.
The Turaga greeted him,
his alleged betrayer,
and brought him to the village,
to rest and revive.
"To Po-Koro" she said,
was where he should go.
To the village of Pohatu,
the great stone-titan's realm.
But a boat he would need,
and a boat they had not.
And the great whale-road's surface
was the only way out.
Though at first he was spiteful,
for what the Turaga once did,
His stone heart soon softened,
and he doubted the villain.
The sea-people were kind,
and bore no ill will.
So he followed their plan,
and accepted their aid.
To find the supplies,
to build the wave-skimmer,
he entered the shop
of the sea-people's vendor.
The lady was joy-filled
when he entered her store
for stone-carvers hardly
traveled this far.
"Okoth's my name"
her smile shone bright
and waved towards her sales-stock
and mentioned their price.
He asked her questions
concerning her store.
Enjoying her voice
and the skills of the trade.
For the next week coming,
he returned every day
More for her smile
than for boat-parts he came.
They finished the boat,
and he sailed to the desert,
though for centuries later,
he would make return visits.
But for each time he saw Okoth,
the herald came twice.
For each moment of pleasure
he was recompensed evil.
When the Toa first came,
the great titans of legend,
The messenger came with
his most dark proposition.
"The light-bringers come.
Your debt still unpaid,
but the black brother requests
one last payment today."
Ahkmou stood tall,
this was the day
to be free for all time
from the fear-peddler's pact.
His poorly made bargain,
would now lay to rest,
he would forgive the Turaga,
and abhor the beast-master.
"The black brother's darkness
must extinguish the light.
You must peddle his poison
to be free from his chains."
No, he could not!
Ahkmou fretted within.
The mage-monster's poison
was too great a sin.
But if there was a cure
some health-giving herb,
Perhaps he could save his
friends and his kind.
Then he could live
pure, whole, and good,
but still, the price seemed
too treach'rous for him.
But If he rejected the offer,
he would still be a slave.
He could not live full honest,
to his people and friends.
"Will they survive?"
He asked he dark prophet.
"Of course," he replied
"As Makuta does wish it."
"How will I do it?"
He asked of the mage.
"With kohlii balls tainted
within by the plague."
Ahkmou agreed,
justifying his crime
for his redemption was hung
in the balance this time.
He crafted a sphere that
was light, tough, and quick,
that his sport-loving brothers
would find best for the game.
He made many others
and gathered them plenty,
to store in the cave
of a dark monster's living.
The scorpion's poison
infected the spheres,
which Ahkmou then sold
betraying his brothers.
The stone-village fell sick
the greatest bedridden
by the dark villain's poison
and by Ahkmou's dark bargain.
He left for a time
in he peak of the plague,
to sooth his conscience
with a visit to Okoth.
He arrived at the village,
to find the shop closed.
He stopped a boat-builder
to ask what 'twas the cause.
"She fell ill this past week,
after a game of Kohlii,
with your new Comet balls
that she bought from a traveler."
Ahkmou rushed to the shop,
and broke open the door.
And smote his chest
for the evil he caused.
He leaned down to his friend
and confessed in her ear
the dark plague he had caused
for the black brother's pact.
She wimpered, unspeaking,
and he rushed from the hut,
entering the cave
where his bargain was struck.
"Come out, come out!
Heal me my friends!
Curse me for my part,
but spare all of them."
The cavern was silent,
'til a hollow sound creaked
the black brother emerged
and his darkness creeped.
But wait! This was the herald,
not the master he sought.
"Where's the dark master?"
Ahkmou did shout.
But a shudder did follow,
as he heard him speak
with the voice of the villain,
dark, grating, and deep.
"There is high cost
to low living." the dark devil said.
"I peddled my fear, and
you purchased my wares."
"You are less than a maggot,"
the black brother laughed.
"One way or another,
my plan would stand fast."
Ahkmou softly stammered,
but all words would be naught.
The crime was his own,
but his friends paid the cost.
"The plot's been uncovered."
The black brother warned.
"Now you are an exile,
from all those concerned."
The demon then vanished,
leaving Ahkmou alone,
the poor, fearful fool,
again lost, all his own.
Edited by LewaLew, Oct 20 2012 - 04:03 PM.
