Hunger

[otter]

Hunger

Hunger. That simplest instinctual drive that would manifest in so many different forms.

Hunger for food.

For power.

For love.

For freedom.

For life.

Hunger is what drives me, it is even within my name. Hunger is what has given me the form I hold today, and still deteriorates, beyond any attempts of mine to stop it.

Hunger...Hunger is not just a power we hold. It has power over us. It consumes us, wills us to satiate it-though it never rests for long. It holds less power over some of us than it does others...but it still has us in an iron grasp.

I am Esuritio-high ranking within the Brotherhood, just under Teridax himself. Long have I tried to harness this hunger, to turn it to my will...And yet it seems unwilling to relinquish its hold.

Soon, though, it shall be my weapon.

And none can stand before me.

___________________________________________________________

Well, well, well...What's this?

Another epic?

Even though I have three others that have yet to be finished?

Eeyup.

That's what happens with my ideas-lose interest in one, another pops up, must write.

*sigh*

Ah well, maybe I'll actually finish this one. Who knows.

EDIT: Oh, here's the

review, by the way.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kal Grochi

[otter]

Discovery

"No...please, no, stay away from me!" the trapped Toa cried, backing up against the wall, terror evident in his voice and eyes. Faster than he could react my black hand reached outwards, grasping him by the neck. I began to crush down upon his throat, to kill him for his insolence, when I noticed something. A glow...an odd glow about my hand, a dark aura, it seemed, strands connecting from it to that energy which the Toa gave off, attempting to follow hidden paths to find more of that energy.

And then I noticed another feeling: Hunger. Not the same hunger as I normally felt when I needed food, no, this was...different. It went past that simple drive, to something yet more animalistic, a dark intent behind it. I focused upon this feeling, allowing myself to draw energy from this Toa.

Oh, what euphoria! My skin began to tingle, as though electricity were coursing across it, my thoughts were lost in a blinding feeling of momentary happiness, something I had not felt since first I was created. It was...hard to describe. Euphoria, blinding, empowering euphoria was all I could say of it.

But, as such things always do, the feeling ended too soon. I looked down at my hand, which still held the dark aura about it, and then at the Toa-his eyes and heartlight were dark, darker even than in a normal death-there was no residual energy within this body. However, I felt stronger than ever before, his own energy helping to supplement mine.

But the hunger, oh! the Hunger came back too quickly, I was not prepared for it. The feeling of emptiness racked my body, setting me shuddering-it was a wonder I did not collapse to the ground. I knew there was only one option to satiate it-consuming more energy, more life would be the only course of action.

But...no. I had to learn to control this new power, as before I had learned to control fear, and poison...and countless others besides.

Unlike with those, however, the hunger remained, constantly gnawing at me, like a starving rodent when it fines a corpse to feed upon. It would not stop, it was there, ordering me to kill for it, to feed...

No! What was happening? I am a Makuta, not some mere Toa to be ordered about! This power was my tool, not the other way around! I shook my head in momentary disgust, before opening the door to my chambers and moving outside. I must see if my brothers had discovered this power, if they had learned to use it.

Soon enough I came upon another Makuta, one of those I had hoped to see, more powerful by far than quite a few of our brothers.

"Teridax!" I called to him, catching his attention. "I need to speak with you." He turned to me, glaring with cold, baleful eyes.

"Yes?" he asked testily, not bothering to extend a greeting. I merely shrugged it off-he could act as he wished, we all could. No point to start an argument over something so simple.

"I discovered something-a new power, a hunger," I said, and his eyes brightened momentarily. Of course, that was the word: Power. I needed only to mention that and he would become curious.

"I just...accidentally drained the life from a failure of a Toa, brother. I wished to know if any others knew of this as of yet," I finished. The accidental part wasn't truthful, however. No, while I hadn't known what I was doing, I did do it with intent. It could not be called an accident.

Teridax nodded swiftly, the curiosity lending a new shadow behind his eyes.

"I shall gather the others, and you can tell us of this. Prepare." That said, he turned away, shifting his form to that of a swift Rahi he had recently created, moving off to find our other brothers.

Inward, I smiled. A new day would dawn for us.

[otter]

Presentation

Unperturbed, I gazed out over the group of Makuta before me, brothers of mine in name and species. Long had we striven together to fill this place with life, and long had we been discovering our own powers as we did so.

And today, I had another.

"Get on with it, Esuritio," I heard one of my brothers say, and I looked to him. Ah, Chirox. Never did he have time for anybody else-no, it was always his expirements that mattered, his creations were always the best, and nothing anybody else did could come close. Just like his twin, Mutran.

I smiled.

"Well of course, Chirox," I said to him, specifically, before I turned to the others. "Brothers," I said by way of greeting. "I come to tell you, as our elder Teridax has already let you know, of a power I have discovered today-the power of hunger." As I said that, I had been drawing an open hand in closer, before punctuating my words by clenching my fist, the mechanical parts of my hand creaking and whirring for a moment as they resituated themselves.

"Earlier, I was chastising a failure of a Toa-" this drew some smiles from the others-oh yes, they all had problems with Toa once in a while. "However, I let myself get carried away for a moment. I let my mind wander, as I gazed at what seemed to be happening, as though my very soul were connecting to the Toa's, and grasping it, drawing it out like a kicking, screaming Archives Mole is dragged from it's den by a Kavinika...for food. Yes, I fed upon this Toa's essence, his life...and as you can tell," I said after a moment, grasping the heavy table beside me and lifting it up with one hand, "It has done nothing but make me stronger."

A few of my brothers still seemed skeptical..."Demonstrate," one of them said, Miserix himself. He wouldn't believe anything without cold, hard proof.

That made me stumble for a moment. Demonstrate? On what? Who? Another Toa? One of my brothers? However, I did not allow this to throw me off too much.

"Of course, honorable Miserix," I said with a slight bow to appease his pride. "I merely need something to demonstrate upon." He nodded, and signalled to Mutran-the green-armoured Makuta sighed theatrically, before opening the door to the room. Soon enough a rahi had been brought in, it looked to be a Mahi, and it was obviously struggling.

"Very well," I said, smirking. Time to show them the proof. I stepped towards the Mahi, held out my hand, and concentrated, focusing upon that dark aura that surrounded me, and the lighter one which pervaded the Mahi's being. It looked at me for a moment, before it turned aside, while I continued to struggle with this new power. Why would it not do as I said?

Soon enough, the others were moving about, obviously getting bored and annoyed.

"Are you going to get on with it?" my Felnas-wielding sister, Gorast, hissed. "Or are you not Makuta enough to control this power of yours? We mastered every other power within minutes, and yet...you cannot even use your new discovery upon this simple Rahi?" she spat in disgust, standing up. I glared at her, letting my hand fall as an anger seemed to course through me.

"Perhaps, Gorast, I do not have this mastered because I came to let you know of it first," I said, nearly silent. "Perhaps I thought it might be best to let you know before you grew suspicious of me...unlike what you did, when you discovered that laser-vision." I shook my head. "Well, Gorast, what shall it be?"

She hissed, still one moment before she flew at me the next. A sword of shadow manifested in my hand, as I used it to fend her off. Something I didn't notice, however, and neither did she, was that I was now draining small amounts of energy from the plants about me. Nothing major...but others noticed.

"Enough," Miserix said calmly, the both of us turning to him like naughty pups caught stealing food from the alpha Kavinika. Miserix gestured to me, and that was when we all noticed-the energy I was draining from the plants wasn't visible in the air, but it was visible upon me. There was a slight glow that pulsed in my veins, more energy than I normally had traveling through me, and the various plants about seemed to wilt in my presence.

"We have seen his demonstration-be it intentional or not," he told the others. "Gorast, I shall see you later. Esuritio, thank you for alerting of this. We shall all look into it, and report our finds to you, being the original user. Dismissed, Makuta," he said, somewhat disdainfully, and the others began to file out.

Except me. I was stuck staring at the plant beside me, a beautiful Vuata Maca tree that had been trimmed to grow no taller than three feet. More a Vuata Maca bush, really, but that didn't matter. Slowly, the lights within its fruit dimmed in my presence, the energy slowly draining away, as they began to wither and rot. Then, the tree itself seemed to fall under sickness, deteriorating and dying much faster than it would had this been any normal disease.

Soon enough it had died, those other plants that were slightly farther from me on the edge of death.

And through it all, Teridax watched me, making mental notes as to what I could do, even unintentionally.

I fear that one. I fear what he might do.

I fear that he may master this power before me, that he may just feed upon me to further his own plans. But...no. Teridax had proven trustworthy to everybody, and yet...there was a feeling about him I couldn't shake off. A certain darkness he had that we didn't share.

Shaking off the thought, I stepped out of the room, back to my own expirements.