The Annals Of Kemet Nui, An Epic by Toa_Ausar Options

[Toa_Ausar]

NINE

*****

Ånpu awoke with a start. His head was pounding and the glaring sunlight didn't help. He found himself behind a hastily constructed berm consisting largely of his overturned chariot, scattered supplies, and of course, the ever ubiquitous sand. And he wasn't alone. Somehow the Av-Matoran named Bast was with him as well, but she was completely unresponsive and appeared to be either in a total state of shock or in some sort of trance. Dishearteningly both the Burnak were no where to be seen, so even if they did somehow manage to repair the chariot, the Wha-Matoran knew with nothing to pull them they'd still be stuck in the unforgiving wasteland that was the Bekha Desert.

"She's coming just like I told you she would and you doubted me and said I was wrong and tried to ignore me even though you shouldn't have 'cause I'm psychic, pretty much" began Bast very suddenly, yet seemingly normal again and speaking quite rapidly.

"What are you talking about? Are you crazy?" questioned Ånpu.

"Of course not, how rude!" continued Bast. "I told you she would come and help us, but you said you didn't think so, of course you were knocked out at the time and didn't talk much, but you would've argued with me about it if you could've, I'm sure of it, anyway she'll be right here soon."

"What do you mean she'll be here soon? Do you have heatstroke or something?" Ånpu asked, growing more confused by the moment.

"She will be, you'll see I'm telling the truth and have to apologize for being wrong, I know I'm right 'cause I'm psychic, pretty much," retorted Bast.

"Eeee Ee Eeee Ee Eeeeeeee!!!" echoed the Het-hert battle cry across the desolate landscape.

"Eeee Ee Eeee Ee Eeeeeeee!!!" responded Bast in turn. "See, I told you my Sister would come to rescue us," she gloated.

"Rescue us from what?" inquired Ånpu. The reply to his query came in the form of a massive stinger being thrust deep into the compact sand between them. Against his better judgement he glanced up at the crest of the berm and for the first time caught sight of the mammoth Serqet-Jaga.

"Run for your life, we'll all be killed!" screamed Bast over her shoulder as she frantically fled in the opposite direction.

Ånpu didn't give it a second thought. He bolted out across the blazing sands after her. Luckily for them both the ground was extremely arid in these parts and the misplaced attack had left the Rahi momentarily trapped by the tip of its' tail. Over the lightly rolling dunes they stumbled and struggled in an effort to put as much distance between themselves and the mighty, dappled navy and alabaster arachnid as possible. Neither attempted to devise a more extensive plan other than the original one, which was, of course, to get as far away as fast as they could.

After they had run a countless number of bio eventually both Bast and Ånpu virtually collapsed atop a rather large sand dune as their legs finally gave out. There they lay, both sucking in great breaths of air, and both afraid to see just what the Serqet-Jaga was doing. At long last they gathered up the courage and looked across the desert floor to the place where the Rahi remained stuck. The beast, seeing that its' prospective prey was down, seemed even more intent on freeing itself and engaging in pursuit. Quite unexpectedly it grasped its' stinger with both its' massive claws and wrenched itself free from confinement. Satisfied with the outcome, the arachnid turned and began to scuttle towards the two Matoran at an alarming rate. Ånpu knew that although they had put an impressive distance between them and the Rahi, it was only a matter of time before the head start was nullified and the Serqet-Jaga would overtake them.

"Eeee Ee Eeee Ee Eeeeeeee!!!" resonated the Het-hert battle cry across the sands once more, yet this time Ånpu was able to discern where it was coming from. Off in the distance, mounted atop charging Burnak, advanced his former escort of Av-Matoran Guardsmen, and thankfully they were going to reach the fallen Matoran well before the Rahi beast would.

"I pretty much told you my Sister would come to save us, pretty much," crowed Bast.

The three arrived in short order, but had no time to spare. Sekhet gave a quick nod to her Sister and immediately began to prepare a defensive scheme. The desert provided them with virtually no cover and thus all they had to their advantage was the high ground, which wasn't much, especially up against a colossal creature looking for its' next meal. What she really needed were reinforcements. That's when the answer dawned on Sekhet, using the trick that Åuset had taught her, she reached out with her mind, just as Bast had done in order to contact her earlier that day. She entered into a trance and began to make a series of chittering noises, convincing Ånpu for certain that Bast wasn't the only Av-Matoran to have gone completely crazy in the sweltering sun.

Just great, Ånpu thought to himself as the Serqet-Jaga continued to advanced nearer and nearer, I'm going to die out here in the middle of this MataNuiforsaken desert, far away from everything I've known and loved in Tai-Koro, with a group of totally loony Av-Matoran.

*****

Review

This post has been edited by Toa_Ausar: May 23 2009, 05:40 PM

[Toa_Ausar]

ELEVEN

*****

Following the discovery of his Benben, Heru had carefully gathered up the spilled supplies into his bag, before turning his full attention to the map on the bottom of the stone. It appeared to show directions, leading from a rather large secret chamber beneath his cavern home, to somewhere within the Tai-Koro city center.

Satisfied that he had done all there was to do within the small room, and certain that there was no way past the sleeping Vatuka back to his grotto, Heru started off down the exit path. The extreme grade of the passageway made travel slow and painful. It took great vigilance to stay upright and keep from sliding uncontrollably down the ever-steepening tunnel.

Eventually his strength gave out, as the shaft became practically vertical, sending him hurtling downward. Heru skidded along, gaining momentum, until he had reached an alarming rate of speed and all efforts to slow his pace failed. All of a sudden the walls of the duct were gone and the Uk-Matoran was free falling towards a strangely luminescent cavern floor far below. Still sore from the last fall, he could do nothing but brace for the inevitable impact.

But the anticipated collision never came. Instead he found himself caught in some sort of gravitational field which slowed his descent until he hovered just above the lightly glowing stone. And Heru wasn’t the only thing floating in the enclosure. Off to his right and apparently centrally located within the space was some sort of artifact, but exactly what it was he didn’t know. Slowly he drew his legs in and carefully righted himself. Much to his surprise the shimmering rocks began to dim beneath his feet, causing the energy field immediately around him to dissipate, allowing him to stand.

Heru surveyed the domed room, which he decided, must certainly be the very same hidden chamber shown on the map. Aside from the passage far above through which he had arrived, there seemed to be no obvious means of entry or exit. Cautiously he approached the object suspended within the cave. Although it appeared to be some sort of Rahi, it made no movement whatsoever. As he drew nearer he finally realized that the reason behind the stillness was due to the fact that it was not, nor had it ever been, alive. In reality it was some sort of archaic burrowing equipment.

Just then the entire chamber was cast into complete and utter darkness. Furthermore, Heru's bag began to vibrate quite distinctively. He lifted the outer flap of the satchel, in truth, more to fetch the lightstone inside than to investigate the movement. Suddenly a bolt of bright greenish energy shot forth from the Benben and struck the machine.

Slowly a hum began to permeate the air between the Uk-Matoran and the contraption. As the noise grew louder, it was joined by a hissing sound which, as Heru was quickly able to discern, came from a hatch that was opening on the machine, revealing a cockpit beyond only visible due to a faintly illuminated instrument panel within.

Carefully Heru entered the small craft. The space was cramped and obviously had room for no more than a single pilot. Everywhere the various systems of the vessel were coming online. Multiple readouts flashed across several screens, as the diagnostic scans were completed. And then, as quickly as all the commotion had started, it stopped. Yet the iron beast did not shut itself down by any means, instead it merely sat there idling in the darkness.

Now what? thought Heru. I have no idea how to operate this bucket-of-bolts.

"Please enter your destination," commanded a rather pleasing voice out of a speaker located near the main controls.

"And just how do you expect me to do that?" inquired Heru aloud. "What do you think I am, an Onu-Matoran?"

As if in response to his query the Benben in his sack again began to tremble once more and at the same time a tray folded out from the left-hand control panel. Studying this new feature, he promptly deduced that the notch in the device appeared to be of a similar size and shape as the stone in his pack.

Heru withdrew the relic from its place of concealment and placed it into the indentation. Immediately the entire surface area surrounding the stone undulated and transformed into an array of sensors and other equipment. Each carving on the various sections were scanned and analyzed within the ship's computer.

Specifically the lines on the map were intricately scrutinized and precisely traced by the navigational systems before the apparatus returned to its' previous, tray-like appearance, meanwhile the Benben was slightly ejected from the receptacle.

The Uk-Matoran reached out and scooped up the stone, once more placing it safely within his pouch.

"Well that was interesting," he offered. "You do realize that I'm still not sure how to drive this thing, don't you?"

"Oh, Heru!" responded the pleasing voice again. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you."

Then the tines on each of the four boring arms began to rotate at an ever-increasing velocity as the vehicle lurched forward and plowed headlong into the rock wall of the dome at an astonishing rate of speed.

*****

Review

This post has been edited by Toa_Ausar: May 31 2009, 03:27 PM

[Toa_Ausar]

TWELVE

*****

While Ånpu sat fearing for his wellbeing, Bast on the other hand, was completely calm. There were many reasons for this, not the least of which being that she absolutely trusted Sekhet, even with her life. Another aspect was that, unlike Ånpu, she knew exactly what Sekhet was doing, she herself had communicated with her various Sisters using the same technique several times per day over the past few aeons. Furthermore, she even knew precisely with whom the Captain of the Av-Matoran Guard now conversed. Bast had after all, in a strange and roundabout way, been the one to first introduce them, albeit wholly accidentally.

Thus it was, as the blistering sun beat down and the Serqet-Jaga drew closer to the five Matoran currently stranded deep within the barren and scorched wilderness of the Bekha Desert, that Bast found her mind drifting. Yet her thoughts did not wander in order to escape the current situation, rather instead they strayed to another place and time, when the chittering sounds, which Sekhet now made, were about to first be discovered.

* * *

Ten Thousand Years Earlier . . .

Bast sat alone on one of the many red, sandy beaches on the Isle of Punt Nui. Located far to the south-southeast, yet still within the same dome as her island home, the terrain was ecologically very different from anything found on the Isle of Kemet Nui.

After much pleading, her friend Sekhet had agreed to let her tag along on the current adventure, but now her Sister was no where to be seen. Earlier that morning, before heading off into the dense jungle that choked the landscape of the island, Sekhet had made Bast promise to stay behind and keep a watchful eye on their small sea transport, which was their only means of transit back home. Yet, at this point Bast was beginning to suspect that maybe Sekhet was off having fun, and that she was stuck back on the beach, missing out on all the inland festivities. Besides, Bast mused, were we not both sent here to jointly deliver the important message from Kemet Nui's Holy Order of the Sisterhood of Het-hert?

And so, a short while later Bast decided that she could probably both adequately watch the vessel and, at the same time explore the nearby foliage. Therefore, without any further consideration, she implemented this new plan. It took just a few quick strides for her to cross the beach and disappear into the thick undergrowth. The pounding of the surf was swallowed by the symphony of the rainforest as she looked up into the towering canopy, spinning 'round with delight at all the new things to discover. And that was when she tripped and gracefully fell flat on her backside. Rolling over Bast discovered a large, all but perfectly round, orange stone. It was simply enchanting as the light trickled down onto it through the gently swaying leaves. Suddenly the serene moment was disrupted by the sharp snap of wood splintering. Realizing that someone, or worse, something, was coming her way, she quickly scooped up the gorgeous rock and carefully wrapped it within her robes. She then looked for a good place to hide, but before she could decide on one, Sekhet burst out of the tangled vines at a virtual dead sprint.

Much to her Sister's surprise, she did not stop to chat, rather Sekhet yelled, "Run for your life, we'll all be killed!" as she continued her mad dash towards the sea. Something massive was crashing through the trees in hot pursuit and Bast decided she didn't really want to stick around and find out what exactly it was or what was going on at this particular moment, thus she wisely followed Sekhet's rapid retreat.

The two Av-Matoran scampered across the beach at a breakneck pace. They both climbed aboard their skiff and Sekhet immediately manned the controls where she began to propel the ship away from land. As all this was happening Bast looked back and witnessed a gigantic horned Rahi emerge from the jungle onto the sand. The creature hurled chunks of driftwood and other debris at the boat but the craft was far enough off the Punt Nui coastline that it was out of range of the makeshift missiles. Realizing that its' quarry had escaped its' grasp, the Rahi bellowed out of both rage and frustration.

"Do you mind telling me what exactly is going on here?" asked Bast.

"That?" replied Sekhet. "Oh, that's pretty much nothing really, just a minor misunderstanding to be sure. Besides, I'm certain that you're not especially interested in hearing all the boring details anyway. I can however assure you that I was able to deliver our message to Toa Sāh Kheperå personally. He and the Matoran of Punt Nui are overjoyed to hear of the other Toa Sāh's triumphant victory over Āpep and his hordes of Beţshu back on Kemet Nui. Oh, and Toa Kheperå told me to tell Toa Atemu that, with Makuta Aso's help, all secondary objectives are nearing completion as well."

Unexpectedly a strange cracking noise permeated the air and Bast knew instantly that it was coming from the stone that, until now, she had forgotten she'd wrapped in her cloak. Desperately hoping that she hadn't damaged the rock she slowly unwound her garment but much to her dismay a crack was indeed spreading rapidly across the surface. Sensing a change in the lighting, and utterly without warning, some sort of larva burst forth from the sphere and firmly latched itself onto Sekhet’s lower leg.

"What the heck is this thing?" implored Sekhet, as she frantically attempted to pry the Rahi off of her limb.

"That?" replied Bast. "Oh, that's pretty much nothing really, just a minor misunderstanding to be sure. Besides, I'm certain that you're not especially interested in hearing all the boring details anyway, pretty much."

*****

Review

This post has been edited by Toa_Ausar: May 23 2009, 05:41 PM