Jump to content

Kulta's Task: The Tale of the Lord of Skull Spiders and Skull Grin


Antony13

Recommended Posts

When I read Island of Lost Masks, I was really annoyed that there was pretty much no backstory for any of the Skull Creatures, they were just bosses for the Toa to defeat. So I decided to make this little short story to flesh out our villains a little more. You can even consider this Island of Lost Masks, Chapter 3.5 . There is a little exposition in the beginning but I felt like it was necessary to show the Creature's relationship with Makuta. Otherwise, enjoy! 

 

 

Kulta’s Task: The Tale of The Lord of Skull Spiders and Skull Grinder

 

By Anthony Cicchetti

 

The Lord of Skull Spiders was not pleased.

 

 

The Toa are on their way!! Those were the messages he was receiving from his minions through the Golden Mask of Skull Spiders, his most prized possession. It was through this dark Mask of Power that the Lord established a telepathic link with the numerous Skull Spiders to control them. For the past few years, he had the Skull Spiders terrorize the Islanders of Okoto and scout through all of the Regions to search for the fabled Golden Masks of Power in order to have complete dominion over the entire island.

 

 

It was all his master’s bidding.

 

 

For eons, the demonic Skull Creatures (Including the Skull Spiders and their Lord) have hidden deep in the bowels of Okoto, banished from the light by the former leaders of the Island during the Ancient Times. They were biding their time, waiting for the day when they would rise again to shroud Okoto into darkness. Their time had finally come when the dark spirit of Makuta awakened them to raise terror again.  

 

 

Makuta was a Mask Maker, an Islander with magic, god-like powers and one of the last leaders of Ancient Okoto before the Great Cataclysm, along with his brother Ekimu. He was jealous of being overlooked in favor of Ekimu, and decided to over throw his brother using a mask he crafted, the Mask of Ultimate Power. Their battle caused a shockwave that left the island in the devastated state it was in today, and sent both brothers into endless sleep.

 

 

For whatever reason, Makuta’s spirit survived, and has begun to gather monsters across Okoto to perform his dark deeds for him. Of all the Skull Creatures, he had appointed the Lord of Skull Spiders and his sprawling army of Spiders to be on the offensive against the Islanders and to steal the Golden Masks of Power. The goal was to destroy them so that the prophesized Toa Masters of the elements would never receive their full power and hope would become a thing of the past for Okoto.

 

The Lord already has Ekimu’s Mask of Creation, as it was sitting on a pedestal in front of the bridge to the City of the Mask Makers. With the Mask Maker’s symbolic mask in his clutches, the Lord of Skull Spiders should have felt unstoppable, but he didn’t. The Toa had arrived on Okoto and his Skull Spiders have failed to prevent them from getting their Golden Masks. Now they were heading to the City of the Mask Makers, which the Lord was appointed the guardian of, and he had to stop them from reaching the City and awakening the Master’s brother.

 

The Toa are on their way now. The Lord of Skull Spiders said to himself.

 

“Yes, they are.”

 

The Lord turned around to see who had approached him. It was none other than Kulta, the Skull Grinder, and the most powerful of all the Skull Creatures, even surpassing the Lord of Skull Spiders himself. In his hand was the Mask Stealer Staff, the most feared weapon in Okoto, and beside him was his hulking undead skeleton-beast minion, Skull Basher. Their horns signified their power amongst the Skull Creatures, though Basher’s were ridiculously large, since his head was the skull of a bull.

 

 

Skull Grinder, The Lord spat, What are you doing here? The City of the Mask Makers is my domain! Makuta appointed ME to guard the city and terrorize the Islanders with my Spiders!

 

 

“And look at how successful they were!” Kulta rebutted, “The Islanders and their Protectors now have the Toa to put their faith in and their ‘heroes’ are now on their way to awaken Ekimu. Makuta is not pleased with your army’s performance.”

 

WHAT are you doing here? The demonic arachnid repeated.

 

“To take this with me and fulfill our master’s wishes,” The Skull Grinder pointed with his Mask Stealer Staff at the Mask of Creation. “Makuta was never pleased with having this infernal Mask being placed in front of the bridge, available for even the most basic monkey to take. He told me that the only way to prevent Ekimu to reclaim his former glory is to destroy the Mask of Creation once and for all! A nice dip in a bowl of lava in the Mask Makers’ Great Forge will to the trick beautifully.”

 

 

The Lord looked at the Mask in surprise. It was the greatest icon of Okoto for so much of the island’s history and to learn now that it will soon cease to exist was…strange. It was like a piece of a puzzle that will never be found, rendering the entire puzzle incomplete. But he understood why it had to be done. It held the enemy’s greatest powers, and Makuta’s will was law now.

“And I hope you don’t mind me having a little back-up guarding the city’s interior if the Toa do get past you. My Skull Army will be a good force against them.”

 

By back up, Kulta meant the zombie Skull Creatures that he can reanimate from the dead, like Skull Basher. Was Skull Grinder trying to say that the Toa would defeat the Lord of Skull Spiders? Never! This offense was too much for the Skull Lord.

 

 

My Skull Slicer can bring them down just fine! The Lord spat out. Skull Slicer was a champion in the City Arena in the Ancient Times of Okoto, loved by all the Islanders, even if he was a bit deformed, being born with four arms instead of two. The Lord saw potential of having a minion in the City, and reanimated his corpse with a Skull Spider Mask.

 

 

“You’re little undead Arena champion? I’m sure he’ll be cooperative as a lieutenant in my army, along with Skull Basher.” Kulta grinned. “I have already sent some of my Skull Scorpio scouts into the Regions of Earth and Stone to fight the Toa in their quest, for some good measure. And my Skull Warriors are as numerous as your Spiders; so don’t tell me they won’t work well against the Toa if they reach the City. I’m sure the heroes will not stand a chance against proper Skull Creatures, Arachor.”

 

 

The Lord stared in surprise. It has been centuries since any being had spoken his true name.

 

 

“Well, I must leave now. The Toa are almost here with their Golden Masks and I must hurry to destroy the last shred of hope for Ekimu and Okoto.” Kulta snatched the Mask of Creation off of the pedestal with his Mask Stealer Staff. He then turned to leave. “Oh, but don’t worry, Lord of Skull Spiders, I’m sure that you can defeat the Toa just fine. Maybe my Skull Army wont be of use after all,” he chuckled. “Come, Basher!”

 

 

The Skull Grinder and Basher left the entrance and walked into the fog covering the bridge to the Ancient City. The Lord of Skull Spiders was fuming! How dare the Skull Grinder insinuate that the Lord and his Skull Spiders cannot defeat the Toa, so much that he sent his Scorpio beasts to the Regions to do the Spiders’ jobs! The Lord will show him, and his legion of zombie soldiers! Then he will return to master Makuta’s favor, and Kulta will look like the arrogant fool that he is.

 

 

The great spider heard a noise and fled to the cliff side underneath the bridge, ready to spring a trap to any trespasser. A red and gold figure appeared before the gateway to the bridge.

 

 

It was Tahu, the Master of Fire.

 

 

Seeing him with his Golden Mask of Fire infuriated the Lord, but he had to bid his time and wait until all of the Toa come. Tahu looked around his surroundings, and then decided to hide behind the gateway, watching who would appear next.

After some time, five more figures appeared before the entrance to the bridge of the City of the Mask Makers. A blue woman, a black and purple hulk, a pompous looking white warrior, a brown-armored warrior with a serious look, and green warrior who looks without a care in the world.

 

 

The Toa had arrived.  

```

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

An interesting piece of work; it's certainly the first imagining I've seen where the Lord of Skull Spiders is given understandable thoughts. The idea of the Skull Creatures not getting along is fun as well, and the idea that the Lord of Skull Spiders brought Skull Slicer back to life is a neat idea given his use of the Skull Spider mask; well done.

Voicing your opinions with tact is the best way to keep a discussion from becoming an argument.
So far as I'm aware, it's pronounced like this: We're ee ah moo.
 

Check out my Creations:

Epics

G1 Battle for Spherus Magna - G2 A Lingering Shadow


Short Stories

G1 Fallen Guardian - G2 Shadows of Past and Future (The Legend Continues Entry) Head of Stone, Heart of Jungle


MOCs

Mask Hoarder, Desert Scourge

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...