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Paradise Preliminary Poll - Destiny


Paradise Poll - Destiny  

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Vote here for your favorite Paradise story; entries have been randomized. Please MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL ENTRIES BEFORE VOTING.Voting begins now and will end on July 8th at 11:59 PM EST. Entries that do well will move on to the Paradise Final Poll, which will be posted at the conclusion of the 10th round preliminary poll.

 

Choice #1:

 

"Medicine Man"

“Fine — look — I’ll give you a roll from my dinner. I saved it.”Kenari’s lupine grin, visible as a gleam even in the darkness below the ship Rogue’s deck, was a clear rejection to the offer.The hunchbacked prisoner who had given the offer, a Toa whose face and body were covered in grime, tensed his shoulders in frustration and ground his teeth together. One twisted hand became a fist. A pause — “S’all I have to give,” he grunted, his fist uncurling but his fingers still tense.Kenari didn’t move from where he sat against the wall, not even as the ship shifted and water sloshed outside. “You’re in no position to bargain,” said the Toa of Lightning.The prisoner growled. “Karzahni’d have fun with you.”Kenari lifted his eyebrows, calling the prisoner’s bluff. “I’m sure he would.”Another growl; this time, however, a roll was pressed into Kenari’s hand. He held it to his face and sniffed. Satisfied it wasn’t old, he pocketed it and gestured for the Toa to sit beside him, then placed his hand on the back of the Toa’s neck and closed his eyes.“What do you want this time?”“An island.”“That’s awfully little for me to go on.”“Fine. Make it a small one — in the middle of the ocean — like, coconut trees or something. Gukkos. Daytime.”The prisoner’s brain, just like any other being’s brain, operated using electricity. Kenari took that electricity and rerouted the signals so they would return to the brain, then took control with his Great Mahiki. The combination was such that the prisoner, after entering a stupor, only twitched his eyelids and the corners of his mouth. He wasn’t even here, really, if you thought about it.Oh, the lengths people go to find a paradise...Though simple when outlined, the delicate maneuvers Kenari had to perform to maintain the hallucination were tiring. It was like a dance: a tweak here, a twist there, and match the Toa’s brain waves. That fellow prisoner could’ve just gone to sleep and hoped to dream, but he wanted a sure thing. That was how Kenari, otherwise an unassuming character, survived in the brig of the Rogue.If only someone could place him under...After the set time of seven minutes, Kenari released his concentration, gasping, and regained his composure before the prisoner fully awoke. The other Toa stood, gruff once more but faintly abashed, and strode back to his claustrophobic cot without saying anything to, or even looking at, Kenari.The Toa of Lightning remained where he sat before as if nothing had happened, smiling a bit as if enjoying a private joke. Illusions didn’t have to be mental.

------------------------------------

Choice #2:

"The Fall of Paradise"

"It will always be like this," I said. "Just the two of us together."

"Always!" she agreed.

She pointed suddenly off to the distance. When I turned, she pulled my Kanohi down over my eyes and ran off, laughing.

The first memory came back to me with a half-warm, half-cold jolt. What I experienced when I returned to Karda-Nui for the first time, I have never told anyone. The memories were too painful.

I had chased after her and caught her by the wrist, holding it tight.

"Always?"

Gavla straightened my Kanohi. "Always, Takua."

---

Those were the happiest days in my memory.

And what can I say about them now? It's strange, how good things are so difficult to tell of; yet things that are miserable are easy to describe, and take so much telling.

Those were the early days, when there was much work to do every day in constructing the universe; but Gavla and I would always find time together to walk through our gardens alone, in our private paradise. It was beautiful. And so was she.

I've inscribed countless words on the walls of history telling of terrible tragedies, but of the times of peace, what could I say? "They were happy . . . until, all too soon, they were not."

---

"What do you mean, we shouldn't let them put the Makuta in charge?"

"Exactly what I say!" she insisted. "We were here first! Toa should be masters and guardians over the universe, not these codeless shapeshifters."

"But why?"

"They have too much power. I don't trust them. If we became Toa--"

"Toa? Us?"

"Yes! If we became Toa, maybe--maybe--"

"Maybe what? Gavla, that's not our Duty. The Great Beings gave us our own purpose."

She scowled. "Forget it. I knew you wouldn't understand. Let's talk about something else."

I reached for her hand but she pulled away. Nevertheless, even in silence, we walked side by side through the gardens, and I couldn't help but cherish each moment.

---

As we became busier we saw less of each other. Still, when there were no other distractions, it was just her and me. And that was special to me.

I remember those days when we would walk, side by side; when we would talk, word by word; when we would laugh, smile by smile. And those days--oh, those wonderful days, oh so long ago, meant everything to me . . .

That's just it, isn't it? They meant everything to me, but they won't mean anything to you. Misery likes company. That can be shared. But it's hard to share bliss.

It's too bad that there aren't more words for joy, and fewer for sorrow.

---

"I have--unfortunate news--Takua, sir."

"Yes?" I turned to the messenger.

"She's--disappeared. And she's taken the Toa Stones."

Somewhere in my chest a spring tightened. "Who?"

---

The Toa Stones were recovered. But Gavla wasn't. Not really. She was never the same after that.

She was punished; she was forgiven; she came to be respected again. I tried more than once to make things right, but--how often the offended is the quickest to forgive, while the offender is pitiless!

---

"Gavla. We need to talk."

She ignored me.

"I'm leaving Karda-Nui."

"Good for you."

"Gavla, I'd like to say--"

"If you're expecting a tearful goodbye, save your breath."

"I won't see you again--for a long time. I'd like to think, before I go--"

"That was always the problem with you. Too much thinking! For once in your life Takua, don't look first, and don’t look back. Just leap."

---

Her words changed my life. I never forgot them.

Still, I can't help but wonder if I took the right leap. Destiny is whimsical. Would ours have been different, if instead of following orders I had followed her advice then and there, and took a different leap?

All these millennia--was that what she wanted?

---

For the first time since I had turned away from Karda-Nui, I was looking down on all I had once shared with Gavla. Things had changed--more than I ever could have imagined . . .

But had they--so much?

I was here to save the universe, but I was here for another reason . . .

---

"It will always be like this."

"Always. It's our Destiny, Takua."

------------------------------------

Choice #3:

"My Paradise"

Darkness.

Pitch, black darkness was all I could see, it surrounded me, engulfed me. More than that, the darkness was me and I was the darkness.

However those fools were unable to see the beauty, the truth I saw. They weren’t willing to accept that my darkness was a good a thing. They continued to cling to their heroes of light hoping they would drive me back. They had their own foolish definition of paradise and my own world was rendered a curse. They just couldn’t understand my joy.

The foolish Matoran only clung to my brother, even the one’s I saved abandoned me soon after. They were all ungrateful and they all traitors. No matter how many futures I saw, it was always the same. They always left me, they always refused my gifts.

So I sent them off to a different, lesser land but beautiful none the less. I had hoped that they would then see the beauty of the paradise I lived in. Unfortunately then the Turaga turned on me, once they had helped me help their Matoran, but now they had just abandoned me, refused to let me continue helping them.

They were all fools!

How could they not see how I was helping them, were they really that blind?

Then it began to dawn upon me, it must’ve been my brother’s fault. He was twisting everything, making it appear as though their world was a lovely place and making my own so horrible Matoran thought it was the worst place to possibly end up in.

What was wrong with them all!

Oh I can see it now, that arrogant brother of mine is always trying to rip everything away from me, he won’t allow the Matoran to see my land for the beauty it is. He was just jealous, so he claims that my darkness was an evil, terrible place.

He is wrong; my world is greatest land that has ever existed. I created this! I didn’t even need any help from some stupid mask. My land isn’t evil; my land is a place for Matoran to get better. They come here broken, but after my help, they leave stronger.

Yes, yes, yes!

My land is the best in the world, why would anyone ever want to leave, in fact I won’t let them! They love it here after all, they don’t want to leave so I won’t allow them to. They will love it here, more so than any land my brother has created. This is a beautiful paradise they will never leave!

Yes, I am Karzhani and I have carved out Paradise with my own two hands!

------------------------------------

Choice #4:

"Light"

If you asked a Matoran about what they considered “paradise,” they'd no doubt point to their own Wahi. Occasionally you'd get the odd one who called another Wahi paradise, and maybe one or two who preferred the exact opposite of what their compatriots did. But for the most part, everyone had a consistent definition of Paradise: the place best suited to my own natural elemental alignment.

And on Mata Nui, each Wahi was not lacking in its element.

Of course, one can only know as far as one has learned, and the extent of the Matoran's knowledge was Mata Nui. After the Matoran Sphere mass-mindwipe, no one remembered Metru Nui, or any island in the Matoran Universe for that matter.

Takua pondered his lack of knowledge. He was the only one out of all the Matoran on Mata Nui who did not consider anywhere “paradise.”

There was nowhere right for him. Ta-Wahi was too hot, Le-Wahi too jungle-y, Ko-Wahi too cold, Ga-Wahi too wet, Onu-Wahi too dark, and Po-Wahi too dusty.

Takua did not know it, but he was an Av-Matoran. His place belonged with light. So he absolutely hated Onu-Wahi. Ta-Wahi was the closest he could get to light.

But that's not what he was pondering. He pondered how he couldn't think of the best place for him. How his lack of knowledge about everything, even his twice-amnesiac self, prevented him from discovering the true paradise he sought.

“Guess it's time for an adventure.” How else was he supposed to find his paradise?

And so he strapped on his backpack, got his gear, and set off with his buddy Pewku.

The thing is, even amnesia can't stop internal tendencies. Av-Matoran will always try and follow the light. So when Takua decided to start at Ta-Wahi, he noticed light shining from behind a boulder. Rolling it aside (with considerable effort and a botched attempt at his new Kolhii move), Takua dropped into a cave. Lava flowed in a river in front of him, and beyond that...beyond that was the thing. The thing that his internal voice sought.

It was a rock. On a glowing pedestal. But something about the rock seemed...different. Like he could find his paradise if only he took it along.

Beckoning for Pewku to stay, Takua began hopping on rocks on the river. All the while nearing his paradise. He'd find his paradise. If only he got that rock.

His inner voice beckoned him further. Take it. Take the rock. It's your paradise. It's your destiny.

“TAKUA!”

------------------------------------

"As a writer you ask yourself to dream while awake." ~ Aimee Bender

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