Janus

Name: Januz Theme: A Canister Ashore Wordcount: 164 Link: The Legend

A canister washed ashore Bringing heroes to the fore Now darkness must they endure For now and forevermore Creatures bound, encased in stone Seek the heroes flesh and bone Heroes no longer alone Unseat the queens from their throne Powerless, the heroes fall United they conquer all The sons heed their father’s call Light shines, making shadows small In the past memories lie Once unknown now rise high Yet darkness draws ever nigh City lost, take to the sky. Fallen now to savage lust Their dreams have now become dust Yet, overcome broken trust They vanquish all the unjust Journey now to places far Receiving gifts from a star Deep within the islands scar Lurks a power from afar Now plunge into depths below To a world that warlords know To the world’s heart must they go And a life must they bestow Seek the mask, where it lies For answers take to the skies Victory comes with surprise God fallen, let darkness rise

I understand the concept behind these, and even the desire to keep them to a short length, but the 'warning' at the end of this one seems somewhat tacked on. I understand that what he did was a horrible thing, but the writing doesn't reflect that, and the way it suddenly ends it almost supports the man in his dismissal of the person who helped him. Again, while I understand what he did was terrible, looking at it objectively the story doesn't reinforce that idea, which makes the first warning fall a little flat. I feel that this is an intriguing concept, but something that could use a little more fleshing out. Let us feel for the characters involved, and have there be some form of consequence for when the man rejects the woman. Just my thoughts.

This MOC is so good that we should throw a party for you, a big party--and invite all your friends. We could even invite your friend companion cube...of course he won't be able to come because you murdered him. Jokes aside this really is a fabulous MOC, I don't even know where to begin praising it. I mean it looks like the subject material, that's pretty rare to find. Congrats on an awesome job.

Anything based off a tachikoma is a massive win in my book. But something this sleek and still adorable? Well, it's pretty much incredible.

I agree on the locations of Takadox and Carapar.

BOOM I'M JOINED

Honestly the only nitpick I have with this is that Pohatu's arms look like they're bigger than Onua's, which just doesn't make sense to me. Aside from that, though, this is just absolutely awesome. The rough sketchy style perfectly fits and creates an incredible amount of fluidity and gives a certain amount of natural movement to each Toa, and their Kanohi, while simplified, are also immediately recognizable. This is one of the most interesting takes I've seen on the Mata. Great job.

I just got to the same place in Leviathan and had the same problem. I changed weapons and had no problems. If that doesn't work I'd try save/reload. I've noticed that ME3 has way more glitches than previous iterations (at least on my end)

UFOS WAS BEST Y'ALL.

Also I forgot to mention the Free EC DLC is awesome and makes the ending not make me want to punch baby orphans.

Omega was all kinds of Ehn. I thought Aria would be awesome but she just got irritating. (Though it is pretty cool that she used to have a Turian girlfriend)

Don't know what else to say. I love it. It ad enough sci-fi elements to both brace and reinforce the human tragedy. The cold emotionless way the 'machine' analyzes the logs is perfect and really highlights the humanity in this story. Love it.

Ray I love you, and Becca loves you, and basically everyone loves you. HAVE A GOOD HAPPY JOYOUS RAYGFUL BIRTHDAY.

*Eyebrow* That's what they taught you?

Member Name: Janooz Theme: Surrender or Run Word Count: 495 Link: Vahki

A thousand specks of green light moved all across the screen, each representing a Matoran occupying themselves somewhere in the City of Legends. It watched all of these specks with interest, sending rapid commands to the Vahki forces all across the city. Short and curt orders were issued such as "pacify" or "neutralize" and still it watched the specks--some being pursued by other specks, these marked in red. Vahki. It paused a moment, allowing itself the respite of running only a few thousand processes. It hadn't felt this way in such a long time--it 'remembered' the formation of the Vahki. Remembered when Turaga Dume had first drafted the designs for his mechanical enforcers, and remembered the groups of Matoran who dismissed the idea entirely. "This is hardly feasible, Turaga" snorted one Onu Metru engineer. "Without a central controlling processor this plan is the stuff of dreams!" It remembered the Turaga's expression that day. Not anger or even disappointment, simply a deep, thoughtful consideration, tinged with sadness. It remembered how his aged voice cracked when he spoke next. "Our city is being overrun with crime…with disease…with violence," he said slowly. "And the Toa are too busy fighting off every creature in the surrounding area to even be bothered to care!" he shouted, his aged eyes flaring with anger. "Let me ask you, all of you," he said, flinging his arms wide to indicate the entire room, "what use is saving a city when its people are already lost?" A persistent beeping brought it out of its reverie. A new colour had appeared on the screen, this one marked in the vibrant blue of a Toa. It felt something like anger welling up in it, and before could consciously send the command, hundreds of Vahki were woken from storage and sent to deal with the interloper to its city--to the Turaga's city. It--the Matoran once known as Velun--paused a moment, studying the screen carefully inside its cocoon of technology. It remembered the damage done to it by the rogue Toa; remembered the searing agony as half its body was sheared brutally in half. Remembered the looks of shock and anguish on the faces of its compatriots, remembered the face of the Turaga. It hadn't taken much work to create: a safe point inside the coliseum where the station could be set up, and some minor 'modifications'. Granted, it hardly resembled a Matoran anymore. It hardly felt like a Matoran anymore, either. Velun was a thing of the past--and the Vahki? The Vahki were the future, its future. It and the Vahki were two sides of the same coin. As if to confirm its thoughts, a second blue dot appeared to help the first escape from the torrential wave of red that swarmed it. With a single thought, more Vahki were dispatched to take care of it. One directive carried those machines to their destination: "We are the Vahki. Surrender or Run."

Chapter Twenty-Four: CaptivesWith slow, plodding steps we walked toward the massive steel shutter that marked the exit of the current chamber. Not foolish enough to touch the sensor pad this time, I simply raised my staff and let the flames flow out, turning the heavy door to a pile of molten slag—luckily enough there were no more creatures beyond it. Even luckier still it was a straightforward, decently lit corridor that seemed to lead directly to the heart of the ship!We walked slowly, awkwardly, unaccustomed to the bodies that we now wore. Since we had taken on the forms of the creatures the ship seemed strangely quiet—either the creatures thought they recognized us as their own, or the ship truly was deserted. I refused to allow any of the darker thoughts that passed through my mind to truly manifest themselves. Simply allowing them to glide through my conscious and quickly out again. Finally we came to an juncture where several other corridors and rooms attached to the central one that we walked along. Glancing through the smoky glass on some of the chambers I could see captured Matoran with creatures guarding them. In very few it was simply creatures guarding supplies or armor. At the very end of the corridor was a door to the left of the central one, a strange carved symbol imprinted on the metal and no window to allow any view into this room.Together, Neith and I pushed open the exit of the corridor and entered a room full of motion and sound, overwhelmed we almost drew our weapons to combat whatever menace it was that stood before us—and instead found massive holding chamber, filled to the brim with captive Matoran. We had finally arrived.It was a multi-segmented holding cell—the cell being separate from the actual room itself, with each Matoran having but a tiny, cramped space to call his or her own. Catwalks connected from various openings around the chamber to different ‘blocks’ of five cells, probably for the ease of those policing them—which were likely those creatures.The Matoran themselves didn’t look too bad off, while obviously not energetic or lively, they also didn’t seem to have been mistreated. No markings on bruises stood out on any of the prisoners as far as I could see.“Norik.” Neith whispered under her breath to me. I turned and nodded, doing my absolute best to stay silent. The second the Matoran started to realize something was wrong about these two creatures in front of them…the second the other creatures would realize as well.“We have to get them out of here!” she hissed, anger and disgust evident in her voice.“I know.” I responded in tones equally as hushed. “but we can’t do it alone.” This time it was her who nodded, the serpentine head that currently replaced her own bobbing awkwardly. I looked at the cell one more time, carefully cataloguing each entrance and noting that there were currently no guards to be seen. Then I stepped off to the side of the main path and drew the creature’s body which I currently held up to its full intimidating height, attempting to look like a guard.Neith clued in on my plan immediately. She turned, pivoting on her heel, and walked from the room with broad steps. Two Toa might not be able to do anything—but three Toa might just have a chance.Left to my own, I inspected the cells carefully: They were small and compact, with each Matoran having a space of only about half a bio by half a bio to reside in. The floors and ceilings were carved from the same black stone as made up the outside of the ship, and the walls were solid metal bars arranged so closely together that escape was an impossibility. I stalked closer to get a closer look at the workings of the prison—and also to hopefully find some of my own people. As I neared the monolithic thing I became aware that I only see a fragment of it. Due to the overhanging ledges above concealing its full size…I imagined it jutted all the way up to the very roof of the ship. Such a massive prison system could only mean one thing. This ship had all the Matoran, from my city and all the others! I felt my heart leap into my throat and quickly quashed my enthusiasm, maintaining a strict control of my face and body as I walked closer.“Norik!” I heard a hissing whisper. Raising my weapon, I whirled around to face the sound—but found nothing.“Norik!” I heard it again, from just above me. Craning my neck upwards I saw the form of the mysterious whisper. In a cell just two above the one in front of me was Wanderer. I put one clawed finger to the front of my face, mimicking silence. Wanderer understood immediately and fell quiet, moving his body away from the edges of the bars where he had stood.“Soon.” Was all I said, careful to keep my voice quiet. Then, with deliberate steps, I walked away from that cell, inspecting the entire lower row before looking for a means of transport to the upper levels.It wasn’t that hard to find, a small elevator tucked away in one corner, the metal of the machine matching the metal of the prison and everything else aboard the ship—a dark mottled metal with a rough, almost scarred, surface. I shuddered at its touch, but nevertheless moved onward, boarding the small contraption and allowing myself to ascend to the upper levels of the prison. What I saw took my breath away: thousands of Matoran imprisoned in cells with only a few creatures acting as guards. While the overhang had hidden much of the prison, I could see it now, massive and vast—stretching to the very walls and roof of the ship. While it was a separate compartment, it nevertheless filled the entire massive bay of the ship. Now able to see the entirety of the detention centre I barely held back a gasp. I had never seen this many Matoran in my life…and to see them in such conditions: trapped in small black cells and overseen by hideous lizard-like suits of armor piloted by worms…it made me sick.It was lucky for me, then, that at that moment there was a clamor below me that drew the attention of the guards. Each of them grabbing the guardrail in one hand and effortlessly leaping over the edge, only to land in a crouching, predatory stance on the floor below. I followed suit, hurling myself to the ground and landing crouched out of sight. What I saw would have under any other circumstances sunk my heart—but in this situation it was all I could do to keep the broad smile of my face.One of the creatures was roughly driving a Toa through the room, its stave stabbing into the Toa’s back brutally, and forcing the Toa to move quickly. The Toa’s armor was a deep green, and mostly clear from blemishes, only a few nicks and scraped evident—but his Kualsi was easily recognizable. And that meant that the creature holding him captive was Toa Neith. One of the guard creatures hissed viciously and moved toward the ‘captive’ Iruini, raising its stave high. Neith hissed back, her spines rattling as she shoved Iruini forward, driving him to his knees.The guards and creatures who had come in with Neith laughed maliciously, their hissing filling the air as the formed a circle around the weakened Toa. I joined them, getting as close to Neith as was possible. The creatures moved to attack Iruini, striking him with brutal kicks and strikes of their staves—but found that he had vanished from where he had previously lain! Growing agitated they whirled around, stretching their necks to find their ‘captive’ who appeared only a few steps away.“Duck!” Neith whispered in my ear, and I complied, flattening myself as low as I could go the ground and watching her do the same. The next second I felt a torrential wind blast overhead and saw the creatures go flying over my head, crashing into the wall behind us with a sickening thud and sliding to the ground. The impact snapped their carpace’s open and sent the worm things inside splattering into the ground. Iruini grinned tiredly, hefting his spear over one shoulder.“Well, that was easy.” He grunted, attempting to stand on unstable legs. I laughed and regained my footing, moving to help support him.Together as a team we quickly touched fists, scanning around the massive room for any sign of other creatures. Lucky for us we didn’t find any.“How do we do this…?” Iruini questioned, his voice filled with a dark awe at the incredible…yet terrible thing that had been done here.“We can’t.” Neith said simply. “Not yet.”“Why not?” Iruini practically shouted, his arms flailing in anger.“They could follow us too easily.” Neith stated curtly. “Unless we do something to this ship they’ll come back with more reinforcements. We need to stop them here.” Iruini nodded slowly, seeing the logic in her words. “But regardless, we need to get started.” I spoke, almost surprising myself. “If we focus on trying to damage the ship alone, we could lose our chance to rescue the Matoran.”“What do you suggest?” Neith asked, calmly.“I’ll explore the ship…find a way to cripple it. You and Iruini focus on freeing the Matoran and getting out of here. We’ll meet up after that.” I said, formulating the plan in my head as I spoke. Neith hesitantly nodded.“I can make an ice slide to get them to the ground.” She mused. Iruini looked upwards toward the peak of the prison complex and nodded.“My wind can help them escape as well. We’ll be fine, brother.”“Good luck.” I murmured, turning my back to them and looking at the corridor we had come from.“We don’t need luck.” Iruini laughed. “We’ve got destiny on our side.” ==============================================================================NOW I AM AMBAGE. That means you'll read and maybe review this thing, right?

I would like to join this dignified collection of intelligent authors. I may occasionally contribute some writings perhaps.

With a mournful cry Wenglestum cradles his fiance's body and vows that he WILL have a funeral (and it's going to be AWESOME. I mean, that wedding budget has to go SOMEWHERE right?) He's barely placed his beloved's body on the ground when there are MORE things to shoot (which honestly is pretty good, because he's kind of ticked. I mean not only did he lose his first squadmate EVER, but it just happened to be his FIANCE. What are the ODDS?) Anyhow he walks a bit, shoots a bit, yells at Kaidan a bit (dude will NOT be quiet) and then sees some crazy robot flashlight eye things. WHAT WILL HE DO, oh wait, they killed a human so I guess it's time to shoot them. So he does and they're dead, and then--oh dear. Oh dear is that human seriously wearing pink and white armor? Like pink and white armor? As in PINK? Yes unfortunately she is. Also she apparently got her entire squad killed by the robot geth flashlight things. Or at least her entire squad got killed by those things, and she maybe blames herself? Honestly, Wenglestum is kind of tired of all these people talking about things. HOW DOES HE RESPOND. (Also this one is a threefer because I AM NOT WAITING AROUND FOR ASHLEY) 1. Are you okay? - I mean seriously, she is willingly dressed in white and pink armor. If nothing else that is a sign of mental damage. 2. What happened here? - Pink. Armor. Wenglestum has to know how this happened. 3. We're on a Mission - Wenglestum can't stand to be around her, let alone look at her. I mean that armor. BONUS POINTS IF YOU ANSWERED 1. 2.1. What Happened to the rest of your unit? - Yeah, did your wardrobe scare them off? 2.2. Fighting these things? - I guess flashlight robot geth death machines are somewhat important maybe. BONUS POINTS IF YOU ANSWERED 2.1 3.1. Don't blame yourself - I Mean I guess she shouldn't feel bad about killing her squad. Her choice of uniform on the other hand... 3.2. What killed them? - Wenglestum reveals that he hasn't actually been paying attention to anything this entire time, or subtly indicates that he thinks that Ashley is a serial killer. 3.3. You abandoned them - Wenglestum is a butt, who does buttlike things because he doesn't like Ashley. Her and her pink armor. (It offends him because it will look so much better on him) "Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn" "Brush your teeth after every meal--this moral brought to by the American CANADIAN Dental Association"

I would just like to say that there a few authors in the library who really need to think about what it is they say and believe about writing. Many of the writers who many of us look up to and aspire to be like--were mavericks. People who bucked the status quo who refused to be one of those 'arrogant ivy tower' writers. I'm not saying that anyone here is being that, but the fact remains that even a universal favourite on BZP, Galigee got her start in comedies. And her comedies were uproariously funny while still maintaining some great wit. This entire thing that some writers or some styles of writing that are less deserving or worthy than other authors or styles is ridiculously offensive and smacks of privilege and arrogance. Also I'm kind of curious as to why this topic even exists. I mean it's great to talk about the experiences people who have in the library (though I'll say that the tone set in this topic is a combative one that makes me never want to visit the library again) but as for asking questions on improving the library? Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all suggestions for improvement supposed to be PMed to the forum leader who runs that forum? Why don't we have an RPG discussion topic? Or a Blog Discussion Topic? Why is the Library so special that it gets this all to itself, when it clearly goes against what has been set as a guideline since BZP's inception.

Honestly, one of the biggest things I've found about vegetarian eating is that seasonings are your best friend. Two pieces of bread, mayo, pepper, little bit of basil, some tomatoes and lettuce. simply heavenly. Also, there's actually a term for vegetarians who choose to still eat fish, it's Pescetarian. I simply say this because there are many people who will misunderstand when you say you're an Ovo-lacto vegatarian who still eats fish. I still have people who frequently misunderstand my diet, and cook fish for me to eat--so y'know, the confusion goes all the way around. Anyhow, congratulations! It's not the easiest diet (I mean a lot candy contains gelatin, and now that's right out) but it's rewarding and healthy in its own way. I've been doing it for over three years and I love it. Good luck!

Pat you are amazing and I love you. Also how many contests do I have to rig to get a LEGO coffee mug?

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Belly of the BeastWhere we actually were I could not tell. For the briefest of seconds we existed neither on the tower, nor inside the belly of the ship. We were in a plane of pure black with a cold wind that tore at us—Iruini faltered briefly but continued to push on, his entire body focused on only one goal. Then suddenly I saw the opening in front of us. Iruini stood, exhausted just inside the opening. I wasn’t so lucky, while my hand was still on his shoulder he had only enough power to get himself inside the ship, in the blink of an eye my feet went from standing on air, to plunging down and just barely managing to grab the outer lip of the opening we had made.I glanced down with a feeling of terror roiling inside of me. While I could barely see the combat from here, I could see the occasional flashes of weapons being fired, and the frequent uses of elemental powers—but I couldn’t see who it was that was using them. Not that I particularly wanted to at that time. My mind reeled, losing its calm and reacting in sheer terror, showing me scenario after scenario where I fell to my death. I stared intently at the black stone that made up the outside of the ship, desperate to take me mind off the fear that now tore through me. I barely pushed down a scream as I tightly gripped the edge.I looked upward with wild eyes, barely catching a glimpse of Iruini moving to grab me, before my hand lost its grip and I plummeted from my vantage point…and promptly struck a cool, slick surface. My head whipped around as I disjointedly tried to gather my bearings. Luckily for me I didn’t have to do it by myself. Toa Neith extended a hand to me, and as I took it, helped to hoist me to my feet. “I thought you might appreciate some help, brother.” She said pleasantly.“I thank you, sister” I responded, my breath coming in ragged breaths. Neith directed her glaive to continue to make her ice slide, using her own elemental powers to stay stuck to the slick surface. I held her hand to make sure I was able to do the same. Finally her slide appeared at the side of the ship and we stepped off and into the darkened interior where Iruini stood panting.“What happened?” Neith asked of Iruini, her face full of concern.“I’ve never…had to use my Kualsi on an object….so far away.” He gasped. “I was able to make it inside…barely. Norik wasn’t so lucky.” He looked toward me apologetically, his mask contorted in pain and exhaustion. Toa Neith put her hand on Iruini’s shoulder and gently guided him to the ground.“Sit here for now, brother.” She stated. “Regain your strength. Norik and I will continue alone.” He nodded thankfully, breathing hard, and leaned his back up against the cold metal wall of the ship.With that we left him, and continued on through the narrow corridors of the ship. It seemed as though it were as dark inside as it was outside, the only lighting coming from pale light stones inset in the low ceiling—but even they gave little actual light, only seeming to paint everything in a dark shade of grey. We wandered for what seemed like an eternity through the labyrinthine corridors that stretched through the ship and seemed to go nowhere. Finally, after another dead end, I remembered my experience in The Cave that bordered Ava-Nui. Was this a defense mechanism as well? To prevent any invaders from reaching the central part of the ship?I allowed some of my elemental energy to coalesce in my palm, creating a brilliant sphere of light to guide us. With this I could see that had been correct, and that the corridors had been designed to confuse and delay an enemy who was stuck in them. The dim lighting only aided in this. I led Toa Neith through the corridors slowly, both our weapons drawn, looking for something that marked an entrance to the central ship. Finally I found what looked to be a broad steel wall with a small control dome next to it. The control panel was made of the same black material as the rest of the ship, and without the light gleaming over its surface, it was practically invisible. I tentatively placed one hand over the dome and pressed down, a warm glow filled my fingertips but the door did not slide open. Instead a blaring alarm began to screech throughout the ship, echoing through the many corridors.Barely holding back a curse I allowed my elemental energy to flow through me, and with one quick motion I slashed both the control dome and the door, splitting the dome in two and creating a brutal gash in the metal of the door. I was just able to see through the hole I had made into the next room. Two creatures stood there waiting for us, their staves not yet crackling with energy. Without a word, Neith touched the tip of her glaive to the door, and I watched in amazement as the entire thing froze solid. Not just the door, but the entire chamber beyond it, and the two creatures inside.“After you” She said with a small laugh. I struck the door again, widening the hole, and then, as I had done in Ava-Nui, I scaled back my power and allowed a small tunnel to form out of the ice. We walked slowly through the tunnel of dripping ice and kept our eyes open, always on the lookout for more attackers. I suppose that’s why it was so shocking when a claw burst out just in front of my face, followed by another and then an angry face behind the ice. It was moving!While its partner remained frozen in the ice, this creature was able to move around as though it were water, and it seemed it was close to escaping! The creature glowed with a sickly yellow pallor and splotches of dark green were evident all over its body. It looked like a diseased thing—but it moved like a young Toa and had the power of a Rahi. Pulling back its fist it struck the ice again, causing a spider web of fractures to appear. Neith raised her glaive and applied a fresh layer of ice, but the creature’s angry eyes seemed to laugh at us.“Pointless.” I heard a dark voice in my head. Whirling around I stared in silence at the empty ice catacomb all around me. “I heard it too, Norik.” Came the perturbed voice of Toa Neith as she stared at the creature behind the ice. It was deadly still now, its eyes boring into her own.“Pointless.” It said again, not in any audible voice, but in a piercing sound that somehow penetrated directly into your mind. The creature suddenly drove its fist directly through the fresh coat of ice and glared.“Ice Resistance.” It growled, pointing at Toa Neith with long clawed finger. Then, with superhuman strength it grabbed the edges of the hole It had created and tore a massive opening, stepping through with ease.“Die!” it screamed, the voice in my head keeping perfect time with the creature’s own high pierced shriek as it launched towards us.Neith’s eyes widened as the monster lunged toward her, a moment of quick panic gripping her. Then, regaining control of herself, she inverted her glaive, allowing the blade to point downward. With a momentous swing she lifted the glaive high in the air in a strike that should have bisected the creature. Instead it leaped away nimbly, its hissing laughter filling the air.“Pathetic.” It laughed in my mind, and I could only assume in Neith’s as well. I paused, taking scope of my surroundings—if I used my fire powers it was possible I could release that thing’s companion…but in such a close quarter’s situation the thing was able to dance around our long weapons. I mulled these thoughts over, watching Neith desperately trying to land a blow on the creature as it danced away laughing.Finally a thought occurred to me. I hurled my spear at the creature with all my might, watching as it agilely dodged the projectile and hissed angrily, its spines rattling. Using that momentary distraction I slid behind Neith and whispered to her.“Throw your glaive at it!” watching as a look of confusion passed across her face. Nonetheless she complied and hurled her bladed weapon at the creature. Again it dodged and hissed, this time mockingly.“Bad Aim!” it crowed smugly. I smiled predatorily. With the two weapons jutting out of the ice behind it, the creature’s movement was limited. My fists tightened inside the gauntlets I wore and I lunged forward, striking the creature square in its head. It recoiled and hissed angrily, drawing its stave up and blasting a jet of flame at me—but there was something different about this flame. I couldn’t absorb it—and it hurt!I pushed past the pain, using my left arm to strike a powerful uppercut on the creature’s jaw. It screamed and fell backwards, trying to move around and finding its movement blocked. Behind it our two weapons acted as a gate—and in front of it: Me. A panicked glow entered the creature’s fierce eyes and it attempted to fire its stave again, bright yellow flames leaping from the metal point. I narrowly avoided it, dodging to the side and feeling the ice compress under my weight. The creature moved away from the blocked entrance, trying to circle me in the narrow corridor, its spines rattling nervously. I lunged and struck a blow on the creature’s midsection, hearing a satisfying crack. I pulled away and saw with satisfaction that a large fracture had begun to form where I had struck. The creature screamed in anger and fired it stave wildly, yellow flames sparking out and filling the air. I ducked low to the ground and was relieved to see that Neith had done the same. We raised ourselves from the ground, Neith assuming a martial arts stance and me putting my gauntlets up ready for combat. The creature simply smiled at us, its eyes glowing with dark humor.“Fools.” It hissed. Suddenly from behind us there was another shriek and something launched itself at me, clawing at my back and my throat. Rough claws scratched their way across my throat scrabbling for the edges of my mask. Then I felt that sickening greyness as they caught the edges of my mask and pulled—not completely removing it, but weakening me nonetheless.I threw my body backward, landing heavily on the creature who had attacked me. With a heavy exhale the creature let go and I quickly replaced my mask on my face, regaining my footing and standing between the two creatures. This one was different, its body painted in a mottled red with splotches of black all across it. It stood and glared at me.“Foolish Toa.” Came a shrieking in my mind, then it lunged at me with its claws open, its stave laying forgotten beside it. I leapt to the side, and threw a punch at the creature. It struck its armored carapace and had no effect except causing the creature to laugh. There was a sudden clattering sound, and whirling around, I found that the ice holding our weapons had completely melted—meaning the other creature was free to move around. I cursed, and narrowly avoiding a brutal slash from the red and black creature’s claws, leapt towards our fallen weapons.Toa Neith had the same thought, lunging in from the side and just barely avoiding another surge of flame from the yellowy creature’s stave. Now sopping wet, we both stood, weapons in hand. “Ready?” I murmured, glancing at her armored form.“Ready.” She nodded, launching herself at the red and black creature and releasing a torrent of ice from her glaive. The creature stumbled and fell, its legs encased in solid ice.I leapt forward, driving my spear upward toward the weak point in the creature’s armor, and was unsurprised when it nimbly slid to the side, its baleful red eyes shining. We continued this dance for some time, my blade just barely grazing the creature’s skin, or missing altogether, and its flames only singing my armor. Finally I remembered the creature’s words to us. It had said it was “Ice Resistance.” Which meant…I stopped swinging my blade and focused inward, allowing a massive circle of fire to envelop the two of us. The flames crackled loudly and reached high all around us, creating an inescapable arena for the two of us. It also blocked off the sight of Toa Neith, but I could still hear the sounds of her conflict from just beyond the barrier. The creature’s eyes widened with fear as it looked around at the tall pillars of fire surrounding it. Then it angrily launched itself toward me, its stave glowing as brightly as its hate-filled eyes. I sidestepped the creature’s lunge and allowed my spear to drop to the ground, catching the thing’s long legs and causing it to tumble into one of the walls of flame. It screamed horridly as its carapace began to burn, molten metal from its head dripping to the floor. Furiously it launched a blast of its own yellowy flame at me, attempting to catch me off guard. Luckily for me I had already unholstered Toa Kyr’s shield and though nearly useless, I was able to stand safely behind it, the blaze simply glancing off the shield’s mangled surface. With another cry the creature came at me, swinging its stave like an axe. Barely dodging the gleaming blade I fell to my side, swinging my spear in a low arc and striking through the creature’s leg. Unbalanced with only one leg, the creature fell to the ground screaming in rage. I wasted no time, striking downward at the exposed weak point in the chest and fracturing the remaining armor. There was a small explosion and the thing’s chest began to leak that familiar greenish ooze.Then the worm thing inside attempted to crawl its way out. Screaming inside my mind as it slid out of the damaged carapace. I bent to retrieve the piteous thing, gripping in tightly in my hand—and was amazed to find the hate-filled screaming increase. These creatures, whatever they were, weren’t merely a partner of the larger beasts—they were the creatures themselves…some sort of neural network allowing them to control the large suits of armor that we fought against. I squeezed the soft thing tightly and listened to it cry out in my mind.“No! Stop!” it screamed plaintively inside my mind, its small form writhing in my hand as it desperately tried to escape. I looked towards its fallen shell, the mutilated skull-face still staring blankly upward. I saw in my mind what things like that had done to my city…Gaaki’s, Bomonga’s, Pouks’—what they were doing to this city. I didn’t hesitate, instead hurling the pathetic creature into the nearest wall of flame. I flinched as I heard the creature’s final scream of pain, remembering the oath I’d taken to never kill—but pushed it from my mind, focusing on the most immediate task at hand.With a wave of my hand, the towering walls of shimmering flames ceased to be, seeming to fold in on themselves as they slowly lowered their spitting tongues to the ground, finally disappearing altogether. As they faded I was able to see Toa Neith crouched over the prone form of the spined creature, its back hatch sticking high in the air and the hollow compartment completely empty. She turned to glance at me, her expression unchanging, but her eyes showing relief. In her hands she held a cube of ice, and in it was the worm thing, its liquid like eyes staring vacantly into space. It did not speak, or scream—instead it simply stared. Completely frozen.“I’d prefer we not have to do that again.” Neith said good-naturedly, still holding the cube with the parasite. “I’d imagine you feel the same, brother?”“I grow tired of these things, sister.” I said truthfully, wiping some of the slime from the fallen creature off of my armor. “So I see.” She said, her tone darkening as she saw the disfigured armor lying beyond me— and its lack of a pilot. “Remember, brother. You are sworn to an oath as are we all…”“I know.” I interrupted, holstering my spear across my back. “But those are pure evil. There is nothing that can be gained from allowing them to live a day longer.” Neith opened her mouth to retort, but I beat her to it.“Sister, I know of the oath. I am aware I have broken my oath—but I’m also aware that I’ve felt that thing in my mind…there was nothing but darkness and hate inside of it. Can you truly tell me that anything could come of such a thing living? When so many of our own have fallen?”Neith fell silent, her eyes gazing intently at the ground.“No, brother,” She said slowly. “there is nothing to be gained from allowing such a creature to live—but it is not we who are to decide who is to live and who is to die. All we Toa are is sworn guardians of the Matoran and those who serve Mata-Nui. We are not executioners!” I paused for a moment, allowing her words to sink in, and studying her carefully. She stood in a defensive position, her arms clenched to her sides and her legs barely shoulder width apart. Her white armor was scarred and scorched from the creatures and her mask too had taken some slight damage. Her chest heaved, though she tried to disguise her heavy breathing, and though attempting to stand evenly, she leaned slightly to the left side, her right side having obviously been struck during the conflict. The sight of this proud warrior covered in filth and grime—like that that covered my own body, caused a flame of anger to be fanned in my belly.“Maybe it would be best if we were.” I said coldly. “If evil creatures face the Matoran perhaps we should strike them down. To protect those that we are sworn to protect! We made the oath before the tides of war had come upon us, now that they have the oath is essentially…” I trailed off, unable to complete my sentence. A sickness stirring inside me already and a feeling of hollowness in my heart.“I pray that you never finish that thought, brother.” Neith murmured, her tone sorrowful. “When you do, I’ll know that you’ve lost more than your city, and your brothers. You’ll have lost your very spirit.” I felt warmth flush in my mask and felt the sting of embarrassment. She was right, of course—I didn’t understand why I’d even said what I had.“You are right, sister. I apologize. I don’t know what came over me.” I murmured in return, my head bowed in apology.I felt a light touch on my shoulder and looked up to see Toa Neith’s calm blue eyes.“Forgiven, brother.” She whispered, her mask serene and still. I nodded to her and gripped the hand that rested on my shoulder, thanking her for strength. “Now how best to continue?” she murmured, more to herself than to me. I glanced around the large chamber where the two hollow armor suits lay…to the rear of us was the entrance to the tunnels we had been lost in, and just ahead of us a few bio was a large steel door—obviously the entrance to a deeper part of the ship. But how best to make our way through the ship? Already we’d encountered two opponents who matched—and almost surpassed, our strength. It was madness to think we could take on an entire vessel full of them!My gaze fell on the shattered shell of the creature I had destroyed, the damaged face staring eerily forward. I shuddered and turned my head to look at Toa Neith, my glance lingering on her scarred Mahiki. Finally the two pieces clicked in my mind and with a whoop of elation I turned to Neith.“I’ve figured it out, sister. How we’ll pass through the ship!” Neith glanced at me, an inquisitive look colouring her eyes.“Oh?” I smiled and nodded, activating my Mahiki and feeling its power surge through me. Then I stood in my changed form, feeling the strange new limbs that now replaced my own. Neith’s mouth opened in shock and I laughed, my voice coming out as hisses.“Brilliant, Norik,” Neith said briefly, activating her own Mahiki and transforming into a mirror image of the creature she had defeated. I felt a shudder of revulsion seeing the beautiful form of Toa Neith morphed into such a cruel and twisted form—but if we were to get around the ship as quickly possible, it was something that had to be done. We needed to rescue the Matoran.Where we actually were I could not tell. For the briefest of seconds we existed neither on the tower, nor inside the belly of the ship. We were in a plane of pure black with a cold wind that tore at us—Iruini faltered briefly but continued to push on, his entire body focused on only one goal. Then suddenly I saw the opening in front of us. Iruini stood, exhausted just inside the opening. I wasn’t so lucky, while my hand was still on his shoulder he had only enough power to get himself inside the ship, in the blink of an eye my feet went from standing on air, to plunging down and just barely managing to grab the outer lip of the opening we had made.I glanced down with a feeling of terror roiling inside of me. While I could barely see the combat from here, I could see the occasional flashes of weapons being fired, and the frequent uses of elemental powers—but I couldn’t see who it was that was using them. Not that I particularly wanted to at that time. My mind reeled, losing its calm and reacting in sheer terror, showing me scenario after scenario where I fell to my death. I stared intently at the black stone that made up the outside of the ship, desperate to take me mind off the fear that now tore through me. I barely pushed down a scream as I tightly gripped the edge.I looked upward with wild eyes, barely catching a glimpse of Iruini moving to grab me, before my hand lost its grip and I plummeted from my vantage point…and promptly struck a cool, slick surface. My head whipped around as I disjointedly tried to gather my bearings. Luckily for me I didn’t have to do it by myself. Toa Neith extended a hand to me, and as I took it, helped to hoist me to my feet. “I thought you might appreciate some help, brother.” She said pleasantly.“I thank you, sister” I responded, my breath coming in ragged breaths. Neith directed her glaive to continue to make her ice slide, using her own elemental powers to stay stuck to the slick surface. I held her hand to make sure I was able to do the same. Finally her slide appeared at the side of the ship and we stepped off and into the darkened interior where Iruini stood panting.“What happened?” Neith asked of Iruini, her face full of concern.“I’ve never…had to use my Kualsi on an object….so far away.” He gasped. “I was able to make it inside…barely. Norik wasn’t so lucky.” He looked toward me apologetically, his mask contorted in pain and exhaustion. Toa Neith put her hand on Iruini’s shoulder and gently guided him to the ground.“Sit here for now, brother.” She stated. “Regain your strength. Norik and I will continue alone.” He nodded thankfully, breathing hard, and leaned his back up against the cold metal wall of the ship.With that we left him, and continued on through the narrow corridors of the ship. It seemed as though it were as dark inside as it was outside, the only lighting coming from pale light stones inset in the low ceiling—but even they gave little actual light, only seeming to paint everything in a dark shade of grey. We wandered for what seemed like an eternity through the labyrinthine corridors that stretched through the ship and seemed to go nowhere. Finally, after another dead end, I remembered my experience in The Cave that bordered Ava-Nui. Was this a defense mechanism as well? To prevent any invaders from reaching the central part of the ship?I allowed some of my elemental energy to coalesce in my palm, creating a brilliant sphere of light to guide us. With this I could see that had been correct, and that the corridors had been designed to confuse and delay an enemy who was stuck in them. The dim lighting only aided in this. I led Toa Neith through the corridors slowly, both our weapons drawn, looking for something that marked an entrance to the central ship. Finally I found what looked to be a broad steel wall with a small control dome next to it. The control panel was made of the same black material as the rest of the ship, and without the light gleaming over its surface, it was practically invisible. I tentatively placed one hand over the dome and pressed down, a warm glow filled my fingertips but the door did not slide open. Instead a blaring alarm began to screech throughout the ship, echoing through the many corridors.Barely holding back a curse I allowed my elemental energy to flow through me, and with one quick motion I slashed both the control dome and the door, splitting the dome in two and creating a brutal gash in the metal of the door. I was just able to see through the hole I had made into the next room. Two creatures stood there waiting for us, their staves not yet crackling with energy. Without a word, Neith touched the tip of her glaive to the door, and I watched in amazement as the entire thing froze solid. Not just the door, but the entire chamber beyond it, and the two creatures inside.“After you” She said with a small laugh. I struck the door again, widening the hole, and then, as I had done in Ava-Nui, I scaled back my power and allowed a small tunnel to form out of the ice. We walked slowly through the tunnel of dripping ice and kept our eyes open, always on the lookout for more attackers. I suppose that’s why it was so shocking when a claw burst out just in front of my face, followed by another and then an angry face behind the ice. It was moving!While its partner remained frozen in the ice, this creature was able to move around as though it were water, and it seemed it was close to escaping! The creature glowed with a sickly yellow pallor and splotches of dark green were evident all over its body. It looked like a diseased thing—but it moved like a young Toa and had the power of a Rahi. Pulling back its fist it struck the ice again, causing a spider web of fractures to appear. Neith raised her glaive and applied a fresh layer of ice, but the creature’s angry eyes seemed to laugh at us.“Pointless.” I heard a dark voice in my head. Whirling around I stared in silence at the empty ice catacomb all around me. “I heard it too, Norik.” Came the perturbed voice of Toa Neith as she stared at the creature behind the ice. It was deadly still now, its eyes boring into her own.“Pointless.” It said again, not in any audible voice, but in a piercing sound that somehow penetrated directly into your mind. The creature suddenly drove its fist directly through the fresh coat of ice and glared.“Ice Resistance.” It growled, pointing at Toa Neith with long clawed finger. Then, with superhuman strength it grabbed the edges of the hole It had created and tore a massive opening, stepping through with ease.“Die!” it screamed, the voice in my head keeping perfect time with the creature’s own high pierced shriek as it launched towards us.Neith’s eyes widened as the monster lunged toward her, a moment of quick panic gripping her. Then, regaining control of herself, she inverted her glaive, allowing the blade to point downward. With a momentous swing she lifted the glaive high in the air in a strike that should have bisected the creature. Instead it leaped away nimbly, its hissing laughter filling the air.“Pathetic.” It laughed in my mind, and I could only assume in Neith’s as well. I paused, taking scope of my surroundings—if I used my fire powers it was possible I could release that thing’s companion…but in such a close quarter’s situation the thing was able to dance around our long weapons. I mulled these thoughts over, watching Neith desperately trying to land a blow on the creature as it danced away laughing.Finally a thought occurred to me. I hurled my spear at the creature with all my might, watching as it agilely dodged the projectile and hissed angrily, its spines rattling. Using that momentary distraction I slid behind Neith and whispered to her.“Throw your glaive at it!” watching as a look of confusion passed across her face. Nonetheless she complied and hurled her bladed weapon at the creature. Again it dodged and hissed, this time mockingly.“Bad Aim!” it crowed smugly. I smiled predatorily. With the two weapons jutting out of the ice behind it, the creature’s movement was limited. My fists tightened inside the gauntlets I wore and I lunged forward, striking the creature square in its head. It recoiled and hissed angrily, drawing its stave up and blasting a jet of flame at me—but there was something different about this flame. I couldn’t absorb it—and it hurt!I pushed past the pain, using my left arm to strike a powerful uppercut on the creature’s jaw. It screamed and fell backwards, trying to move around and finding its movement blocked. Behind it our two weapons acted as a gate—and in front of it: Me. A panicked glow entered the creature’s fierce eyes and it attempted to fire its stave again, bright yellow flames leaping from the metal point. I narrowly avoided it, dodging to the side and feeling the ice compress under my weight. The creature moved away from the blocked entrance, trying to circle me in the narrow corridor, its spines rattling nervously. I lunged and struck a blow on the creature’s midsection, hearing a satisfying crack. I pulled away and saw with satisfaction that a large fracture had begun to form where I had struck. The creature screamed in anger and fired it stave wildly, yellow flames sparking out and filling the air. I ducked low to the ground and was relieved to see that Neith had done the same. We raised ourselves from the ground, Neith assuming a martial arts stance and me putting my gauntlets up ready for combat. The creature simply smiled at us, its eyes glowing with dark humor.“Fools.” It hissed. Suddenly from behind us there was another shriek and something launched itself at me, clawing at my back and my throat. Rough claws scratched their way across my throat scrabbling for the edges of my mask. Then I felt that sickening greyness as they caught the edges of my mask and pulled—not completely removing it, but weakening me nonetheless.I threw my body backward, landing heavily on the creature who had attacked me. With a heavy exhale the creature let go and I quickly replaced my mask on my face, regaining my footing and standing between the two creatures. This one was different, its body painted in a mottled red with splotches of black all across it. It stood and glared at me.“Foolish Toa.” Came a shrieking in my mind, then it lunged at me with its claws open, its stave laying forgotten beside it. I leapt to the side, and threw a punch at the creature. It struck its armored carapace and had no effect except causing the creature to laugh. There was a sudden clattering sound, and whirling around, I found that the ice holding our weapons had completely melted—meaning the other creature was free to move around. I cursed, and narrowly avoiding a brutal slash from the red and black creature’s claws, leapt towards our fallen weapons.Toa Neith had the same thought, lunging in from the side and just barely avoiding another surge of flame from the yellowy creature’s stave. Now sopping wet, we both stood, weapons in hand. “Ready?” I murmured, glancing at her armored form.“Ready.” She nodded, launching herself at the red and black creature and releasing a torrent of ice from her glaive. The creature stumbled and fell, its legs encased in solid ice.I leapt forward, driving my spear upward toward the weak point in the creature’s armor, and was unsurprised when it nimbly slid to the side, its baleful red eyes shining. We continued this dance for some time, my blade just barely grazing the creature’s skin, or missing altogether, and its flames only singing my armor. Finally I remembered the creature’s words to us. It had said it was “Ice Resistance.” Which meant…I stopped swinging my blade and focused inward, allowing a massive circle of fire to envelop the two of us. The flames crackled loudly and reached high all around us, creating an inescapable arena for the two of us. It also blocked off the sight of Toa Neith, but I could still hear the sounds of her conflict from just beyond the barrier. The creature’s eyes widened with fear as it looked around at the tall pillars of fire surrounding it. Then it angrily launched itself toward me, its stave glowing as brightly as its hate-filled eyes. I sidestepped the creature’s lunge and allowed my spear to drop to the ground, catching the thing’s long legs and causing it to tumble into one of the walls of flame. It screamed horridly as its carapace began to burn, molten metal from its head dripping to the floor. Furiously it launched a blast of its own yellowy flame at me, attempting to catch me off guard. Luckily for me I had already unholstered Toa Kyr’s shield and though nearly useless, I was able to stand safely behind it, the blaze simply glancing off the shield’s mangled surface. With another cry the creature came at me, swinging its stave like an axe. Barely dodging the gleaming blade I fell to my side, swinging my spear in a low arc and striking through the creature’s leg. Unbalanced with only one leg, the creature fell to the ground screaming in rage. I wasted no time, striking downward at the exposed weak point in the chest and fracturing the remaining armor. There was a small explosion and the thing’s chest began to leak that familiar greenish ooze.Then the worm thing inside attempted to crawl its way out. Screaming inside my mind as it slid out of the damaged carapace. I bent to retrieve the piteous thing, gripping in tightly in my hand—and was amazed to find the hate-filled screaming increase. These creatures, whatever they were, weren’t merely a partner of the larger beasts—they were the creatures themselves…some sort of neural network allowing them to control the large suits of armor that we fought against. I squeezed the soft thing tightly and listened to it cry out in my mind.“No! Stop!” it screamed plaintively inside my mind, its small form writhing in my hand as it desperately tried to escape. I looked towards its fallen shell, the mutilated skull-face still staring blankly upward. I saw in my mind what things like that had done to my city…Gaaki’s, Bomonga’s, Pouks’—what they were doing to this city. I didn’t hesitate, instead hurling the pathetic creature into the nearest wall of flame. I flinched as I heard the creature’s final scream of pain, remembering the oath I’d taken to never kill—but pushed it from my mind, focusing on the most immediate task at hand.With a wave of my hand, the towering walls of shimmering flames ceased to be, seeming to fold in on themselves as they slowly lowered their spitting tongues to the ground, finally disappearing altogether. As they faded I was able to see Toa Neith crouched over the prone form of the spined creature, its back hatch sticking high in the air and the hollow compartment completely empty. She turned to glance at me, her expression unchanging, but her eyes showing relief. In her hands she held a cube of ice, and in it was the worm thing, its liquid like eyes staring vacantly into space. It did not speak, or scream—instead it simply stared. Completely frozen.“I’d prefer we not have to do that again.” Neith said good-naturedly, still holding the cube with the parasite. “I’d imagine you feel the same, brother?”“I grow tired of these things, sister.” I said truthfully, wiping some of the slime from the fallen creature off of my armor. “So I see.” She said, her tone darkening as she saw the disfigured armor lying beyond me— and its lack of a pilot. “Remember, brother. You are sworn to an oath as are we all…”“I know.” I interrupted, holstering my spear across my back. “But those are pure evil. There is nothing that can be gained from allowing them to live a day longer.” Neith opened her mouth to retort, but I beat her to it.“Sister, I know of the oath. I am aware I have broken my oath—but I’m also aware that I’ve felt that thing in my mind…there was nothing but darkness and hate inside of it. Can you truly tell me that anything could come of such a thing living? When so many of our own have fallen?”Neith fell silent, her eyes gazing intently at the ground.“No, brother,” She said slowly. “there is nothing to be gained from allowing such a creature to live—but it is not we who are to decide who is to live and who is to die. All we Toa are is sworn guardians of the Matoran and those who serve Mata-Nui. We are not executioners!” I paused for a moment, allowing her words to sink in, and studying her carefully. She stood in a defensive position, her arms clenched to her sides and her legs barely shoulder width apart. Her white armor was scarred and scorched from the creatures and her mask too had taken some slight damage. Her chest heaved, though she tried to disguise her heavy breathing, and though attempting to stand evenly, she leaned slightly to the left side, her right side having obviously been struck during the conflict. The sight of this proud warrior covered in filth and grime—like that that covered my own body, caused a flame of anger to be fanned in my belly.“Maybe it would be best if we were.” I said coldly. “If evil creatures face the Matoran perhaps we should strike them down. To protect those that we are sworn to protect! We made the oath before the tides of war had come upon us, now that they have the oath is essentially…” I trailed off, unable to complete my sentence. A sickness stirring inside me already and a feeling of hollowness in my heart.“I pray that you never finish that thought, brother.” Neith murmured, her tone sorrowful. “When you do, I’ll know that you’ve lost more than your city, and your brothers. You’ll have lost your very spirit.” I felt warmth flush in my mask and felt the sting of embarrassment. She was right, of course—I didn’t understand why I’d even said what I had.“You are right, sister. I apologize. I don’t know what came over me.” I murmured in return, my head bowed in apology.I felt a light touch on my shoulder and looked up to see Toa Neith’s calm blue eyes.“Forgiven, brother.” She whispered, her mask serene and still. I nodded to her and gripped the hand that rested on my shoulder, thanking her for strength. “Now how best to continue?” she murmured, more to herself than to me. I glanced around the large chamber where the two hollow armor suits lay…to the rear of us was the entrance to the tunnels we had been lost in, and just ahead of us a few bio was a large steel door—obviously the entrance to a deeper part of the ship. But how best to make our way through the ship? Already we’d encountered two opponents who matched—and almost surpassed, our strength. It was madness to think we could take on an entire vessel full of them!My gaze fell on the shattered shell of the creature I had destroyed, the damaged face staring eerily forward. I shuddered and turned my head to look at Toa Neith, my glance lingering on her scarred Mahiki. Finally the two pieces clicked in my mind and with a whoop of elation I turned to Neith.“I’ve figured it out, sister. How we’ll pass through the ship!” Neith glanced at me, an inquisitive look colouring her eyes.“Oh?” I smiled and nodded, activating my Mahiki and feeling its power surge through me. Then I stood in my changed form, feeling the strange new limbs that now replaced my own. Neith’s mouth opened in shock and I laughed, my voice coming out as hisses.“Brilliant, Norik,” Neith said briefly, activating her own Mahiki and transforming into a mirror image of the creature she had defeated. I felt a shudder of revulsion seeing the beautiful form of Toa Neith morphed into such a cruel and twisted form—but if we were to get around the ship as quickly possible, it was something that had to be done. We needed to rescue the Matoran. ==============================================================================Right now I'm reading creepypasta. If you're reading this, please leave a review.

Hey man, you know that whatever's going on I'm always here to talk to. *hug*