Maganar

+ 14 hours Skakdi eyebeams whizz over our heads, leaving an electric tang in the air. Every so often, an artillery shell sends up an eruption of seawater, but that isn’t as much of a danger. Those siege weapons were designed to attack buildings and large gatherings of enemy forces, not to land pinpoint shots on fast and small approaching boats. Enemy craft loom ahead. Our ship is a small transport, just large enough for us to fit in, but with a powerful ore-powered motor. It crashes violently over every single wave we speed into, blasting those of us inside with the salty tang of oceanic liquid protodermis. The Skakdis’ wooden war machines in front of us tower over the waves with artillery emplacements and large rigging assemblies to handle the sails the rise up towards the starry firmament above us. Mu takes a hit from the eyebeams, but they reflect off, leaving him unharmed. “Yeah, you can try that all you want!” Mu taunts, bellowing out over the sea as if the enemies might actually hear him. It is about this time that I am noticing that one of the nearer ships between us and the command vessel has set itself on an intercept trajectory with our little motorboat. As it gets close, the enemies can aim more precise shots. An eyebeam blast strikes the back of our boat and mangles the motor. Realizing we’re dead in the water, Mu, with his incredible strength, hurtles a grappling cable up onto the enemy decks. They sever the cable, but not before we’ve had a chance to use our brief attachment to their vessel to pull right up alongside it. I burn a hole through the wooden hull, but above the waterline. I don’t want to sink it; we’re going to have to overtake this vessel and use it ourselves. Mu tosses a second grappling hook up to the glowing, ember-rimmed hole that I seared into existence just moments before. All of the enemies are on the top deck, so we have a chance to shinny up the cable and enter the enemy vessel at a point one level below the main deck. A Skakdi launches itself down a ladder into our level. Skakdi are tough, but we’re fighting in the cramped hold of a boat and Mu is a Stormer, a true specialist in close range combat. He takes the huge crystalline falchion that he uses for his weapon and brings it down on the Skakdi’s head. The Skakdi is thrown to the ground, but doesn’t falter just yet. Being bashed in the head several times with Mu’s rock-hard knuckles changes that fact.Mu clambers up the ladder and we immediately hear eyebeams blasts lacing the air above. I quickly follow him and Neri is close behind. I make it up there to see flabbergasted Skakdi coming to terms with the fact that warriors from the Crystal Sect are truly immune to eyebeam attacks. Mu barrels into the nearest Skakdi and throws him overboard. Neri uses her Shaper powers to send a series of razor-sharp crystal shards scattering across the decks and into hapless enemies. I send fireballs hurtling through the air. Fire, eyebeams, and glowing crystals streak through the night everywhere around us.A Skakdi with a mace runs straight at me. I swipe my sword low, striking his legs. He crashes directly to my right. I use elemental fire to melt his metallic mace, which has fallen onto his back. He leaps overboard, screaming, in an attempt to cool the molten metal affixed to his backside. I turn to see Neri brandishing her dual scimitars with reckless abandon. Or not so recklessly, apparently. The nearest Skakdi falls, covered in lacerations from her attacks and a second Skakdi fails to see a shard of crystal that materializes in midair and then hurtles into his body. Like I’ve said, Shapers have power over crystal similar to a Toa’s over their element. The Skakdi struggles to remove the radiant crystal embedded in his torso, doubling over in pain as he does so. Mu, though, seems to be racking up the greatest total tally of defeated Skakdi. He is swinging his oversized falchion in wide arcs, thrashing Skakdi and sending them all around decks. The one time a Skakdi attempts to sneak up behind Mu, crystalline chains whip around him and trap him. I glance to the side to see Neri smirking at her handiwork. The Skakdi uses its incredible strength to break free, but Mu has already taken notice by now, so he lifts the Skakdi by its neck and tosses it overboard to join what by now must be countless others. Now that we have defeated the Skakdi onboard and have assumed control, I take to the helm and direct the vessel towards the command ship. Meanwhile, Mu takes care of the rigging and Neri checks in for an update with Elino’urtam. “Fuli’etor and her team have taken control of the tanker. The other ships in the vicinity are currently unaware of their infiltration onboard. Fuli’etor is waiting for us to enact the final diversion by attempting to take the command ship.” As the warships near us catch on to the fact that we have defeated all of their allies onboard our vessel, a wave of artillery shells pockmarks the decks, blowing holes in the surface behind me. Eyebeams fire upon the vessel. One eyebeam blast sets our sails ablaze. “This flaming wreck is only going to survive until we board the command vessel. If the tanker and command ship are going down together, how do we get off?” I ask. Neri, who had been thrust onto her back by the shudders that had just racked our vessel, rises to her feet and calls out over then din. “I don’t know yet. There’s no way back the way we came in, so maybe we can find an answer as we are destroying the leader’s warship.” “Isn’t that counterintuitive?” “I asked you the same thing when you insisted on going deeper into the tunnels you were already trapped in, hoping you might find a way out by proceeding to the bottom. So, I’m going to give you the same answer you gave me: ‘I’ll find a way.’” “Guess you’ve picked up on my style, Neri.” Several more fires are erupting around this ship, and the superstructure of it is being torn apart by enemy heavy weaponry. The three of us simply aren’t enough to return any consequential amount of fire. We’re just trying to make it to the command ship, which is now in sight, before this whole thing sinks. The torches illuminate a red symbol painted onto the sails. A serious blow strikes our ship and we list far to the left. The entire ship is tilting toward its side. I struggle to absorb some of the fire in what is now a raging conflagration on our vessel. Neri takes my place steering the ship while I perform this task, trying to mitigate the damage for just long enough. “Prepare for impact!” Mu warns. We’re about to collide bow-to-bow with the command ship. “By the crystals!” Neri swears. “We’re coming in way to fast!” “Neri’s right,” I confirm. “Prepare to jump as soon as we make physical contact.” The front of the lead warship is specifically designed for ramming; I can make out iron support struts designed to shear right through an enemy vessel. Like ours. Which is already in pieces. The front of our ship crumples into a burning mass of shattered wood upon impact, and Mu leaps clean over conglomeration of debris. He engages the enemies immediately, clearing the way so that I and Neri can replicate his jump, but our ship is sinking fast. I vault over flaming wreckage on our deck and scramble onto the other ship which is already a considerable height above ours due to the amount of water we’ve taken on. An explosion rings out. I turn to see the entire stern of our old vessel disintegrating and flaming wood flying everywhere. Neri is still trying to make it up to the command vessel. Since our ship was already listing far to the left, the bow of the lead warship is now riding clean over our old ship on its left deck, crushing that entire side of the ship. Neri leaps to try and reach the warship that Mu and I have already boarded, but only succeeds in gripping the edge of the deck; she’s hanging over the ocean on the side of the ship. She’s struggling to pull herself aboard, but her glowing armor has attracted a Skakdi’s attention and he rushes to prevent her from doing so.He fails to notice as I move to intercept him. I slam the full brunt of my body weight into him, sending both of us clattering along the deck… and toward the edge of the deck ourselves. Both of us lose our grip on our weapons in the process. Before I can get up, the Skakdi is on top of me. I manage to grab his arms before he can start punching me in the face, but he’s a lot stronger. He pushes my arms down, trying to remove my Kanohi to incapacitate me. He backs off some as I increase the temperature of my hands, trying to ignite a fire. His arms begin to smoke and smolder where I am holding them. Suddenly, a hail of glowing crystals slams into his side and I know that Neri has finally clambered aboard. Weakened by the pain of my burns and the Neri’s crystal shards, the Skakdi is now disadvantaged. I roll over and pin him below me. A fire-infused punch to the face takes him out of commission. As I rise, I see Neri toying with a Skakdi. She’s holding both her scimitars at the ready, one far to the left and the other far to the right. The Skakdi’s eyes dart between the two, trying to anticipate which direction the first blow will come from. Neri expertly deceives him by rapidly pulling her arms in and holding the two scimitars side-by-side, then thrusting forward right down the middle rather than on the sides as the Skakdi had expected. Both weapons connected with his torso. Mu has forgone his sword and has lifted a Skakdi against the mast. He slams his fist into its face again and again until the foe loses consciousness. All the Skakdi I can see are down for the count, but suddenly something goes wrong. Neri and Mu both freeze in place, immobile. A Skakdi rises from the deck below, holding a crystal, but it isn't like those of Capila'aris. It glows faintly and seems to be dark purple in coloration. As for the Skakdi, he is clearly the leader. A strip of red cloth is tied around his forehead as a headband. He is carrying a harpoon gun. “I don’t know who you are, or what you intend to do, but this ends now,” he declares. “You’re insane. No one can take on the might of the Crimson Nightguard of Zakaz.” So now I have a name for the opposing army, not that I really care. “Did the fate of the last Toa team not send a clear enough message? Ah, well. I can’t have you interfering, and the only thing I know for certain is that the dead do not interfere.” “I know what you’re doing here,” I threaten. “You’ve already failed; you just didn't know. I collapsed the mines. All the Hounds are dead and the living crystal will not be yours to harness. Not sure how you got it or what exactly it is, but I’m guessing that crystal you’re holding allows you to control other crystals. You intended to use that on the Gravity-Crystal biological war machine you meant to make. I guess you just found it convenient my friends had crystalline armor. You’ll keep them frozen until you’ve thrown them into the sea and watched them drown. Or you would. But you aren’t touching them.” “What… Who are you? How can you know all this!?” He raises his harpoon gun and simultaneously cocks it in an attempt to prove that he somehow still maintains the upper hand, but the truth is painfully obvious: he’s worried. “I know because the living crystal Capila’aris chose me to put an end to this. As for your first question, I am Tignioni, Toa of Fire.” I pause for a second. “No, better than that. I am Ti’ignioni, Guardian of the Crystals. You can let my friends go right now, and leave Modos alone, or I will stop this by whatever means necessary. This doesn’t have to end with anything worse than a couple destroyed ships if you choose wisely.” He turns his back to me, apparently in thought. I know better than this. He’s trying to avoid showing his true intentions with the look in his eyes. He doesn’t want me to read his facial expression and see that he plans to betray me. And he knows a Toa won’t strike a foe whose given them its back. Wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. I can’t get close enough to strike him with my Charger Sword, which I have now recovered, before he will presumably turn on me. With the expertise of untold years of practice, the Skakdi spins around and fires the harpoon gun. A harpoon sails through the air and strikes its target in the gut… and keeps on going. | | / /

I'd be exceedingly surprised if Capila'aris' appearance did not seem abrupt, as well as his big "memory dump." For one thing, his appearance is supposed to be a surprise. Now, perhaps you got this and didn't mention it or maybe you just missed it because of high-speed cath-up reading, but Capila'aris' narration is sandwitched between "I lose control of my mind and-" and "I black out." If you put those together, it makes one sentence ("I lose control of my mind and I black out."). The entire mental invasion and subsequent transplant of information were supposed to have taken place within the time it would have taken Tignioni to formulate that one sentence. Obviously, that's more mental strain than one individual would normally be able to handle, which explains why he almost instantly blacks out. So I was aware of that much and I suspect that it was only such a jarring abrubtness because you were reading quickly. That would make sense to me, I wrote it with the intention of being abrupt and reading quickly could exacerbate that to the point of being problematic.As for your second complaint, I must say that is a legitimate shortcoming. I wrote that only shortly after finisihng Lightfall and some of the weaknesses of that epic bled into this one. I feel there were fewer, but that was one. (Another personal pet peeve of mine was using a pole-vault in an escape sequence. I was trying to keep the action up, but I feel like I was falling back on similar action sequences from Lightfall at that point. It didn't seem very original to me, because I know that I had Emeder pole-vault on the train in Lightall, and, seriously, pole-vaults are trite. Maybe that's just me, but I didn't like it and couldn't come up with anything better so it stuck.)At least I can rest a little easier this time, though, than with the "irony is here in case you weren't smart enough to catch on" narration you mentioned. That's because I did exactly what you mentioned and laced the entire battle sequence with vivid "glowing in the dark" imagery. I just overdid the whole thing and ended up defaulting into describing it in advance as well. Now, it risks becoming a slightly ad nauseum effect, but it's better than insulting the intelligence of the reader like I managed to pull off last time. So, my writing's improved, but I'm starting to see trends in where it is weak. Now I can eradicate them for good!My new saga for Bara Magna is over 30 pages long and nowhere near completion (I'm predicting four parts and a little over one part is complete right now). In this neew project, I've worked on trying to state things implicitly rather than explicitly when that is beneficial. That's been the main weakness I've seen cropping up in these prior works. I've always valued the ability of a good story to allow every individual reader to develop their own interpretations, but I am starting to notice that I have ironically forced my own interpretations of my work onto you guys at certain points. That has to stop, but I see it appearing less and less. I've let things be a little more open now, thankfully. Work in progress, I guess.Anyway, I was delaying putting up more until around Thanksgiving in order to give people catch-up time (which I see you took advantage of), so now I'm going to keep posting. ...and keep writing about Bara Magna. I really like how it's coming along, but it's a little demoralizing (not too much, though, don't worry) to right for over an hour and realize I've made it through only half of a chapter (Chapters are generally exceeding 4 pages and I'm using 10 pt font. Not Times New Roman, though. Can't remember what, it was just something that I thought looked cool .) It's a lot of words, anyway.

Well, I'm honestly not sure what to make of this. I'm torn between favoritism and idealism. Zaktan was always my favorite villain after he trumped the Irnakk projection on the 777 stairs, but I sure wish someone would stay dead. The Red Star thing didn't faze me too much at first, but with Zaktan cheating death even in his pit-mutant form... I'm starting to get a little irked. But if his mind is in control of the fusion... I'm so glad he's back! But it goes against my ideals, but I like him, but my ideals, but he's back, but...See what I mean? I'm totally torn!

+ 12 hours “Ti!” I groan. Is that Neri’s voice? Why is she even here… ah, I don’t care. “Ti!” Really, I could use some sleep right now. But I guess I’ll have to get to the bottom of this later… wait, the bottom. Oh Mata Nui above! Suddenly, all my recent memories about the current situation inundate my aching head. For that matter, so do the new memories implanted in my head by the ancient being Capila’aris. “I’m not sure he’s completely awake yet.” Cytus. Right. The Matoran I came to save. “Ti!” Neri repeats. “Come on Ti, please…” “I’m here, I’m here!” I shout as I shuffle over to the crystal, still quite dazed. “Ti, what happened down there? Cytus says you went and touched this freaky crystal thing and hurt yourself and –” “Hold on, Neri. The crystal under here is all part of one sentient being. Its name is Capila’aris and it shared some of its memories with me. Neri, I know exactly what’s happening now! Everything fits together now!” “You realize you aren’t making any sense, right?” “No, it all makes perfect sense! You see –” “Ti, I didn’t ‘see’ anything. Sounds like you did. Maybe you can help me out here.” Suddenly I realize just how confusing this is going to be to explain. “OK, let me take things one step at a time. There’s a tunnel nearby that this ancient crystalline life form has used for thousands of years for gas exchange. That’s my escape route. So, I’m not stuck anymore.” “Ok, that’s one thing sorted out.” “Next, I need to collapse the entire mine system, so I need you to –” “You are what?” “The Hounds have drained the life force from the ancient being. I need to collapse the whole thing in order to kill all the Hounds and return its lifeblood back into its crystal body. If I don’t, it dies. The living crystal you know, Neri, it all dies unless I do this. So yes, I am collapsing the shafts. Like I was about to say, you need to tell Tol to get everyone clear of the shafts’ entrances so that no one is injured.” “What about you?” “I’ll get out, don’t worry. Lastly, the pirates are the cause of this whole thing. This time, they really do intend to wipe out the entire settlement. They – wait, how long do we have? I don’t know how long I was blacked out for.” “Not long anymore…” she trails, then suddenly looks very afraid “…Did you say they were coming with genocide planned? Look, if you make it out of there too late, don’t come help us. Save the crystal being and run away. You don’t deserve to die today–” “Neri!” I just about scream. “What are you saying?” “Ti, the sun just set. We can make out the ships on the horizon, but there are a lot of them. I don’t think we can hold the position for long.” “No!” I shout. “I’m not going to be the sole survivor of anything ever again. This town will not fall!” My brain is running through idea after idea. “Hold on. From the memories this Capila’aris being left in my head, I know what they’re doing. They need energized protodermis to complete their task, and they have become nomadic ever since they started their quest. That means they must be taking it with them. They must have a tanker loaded with the stuff. It will be lightly defended, because they will expect us to try and neutralize the destroyers with the heavy weapons and they have no idea that we are aware of its contents.” “Where are you headed with this, Ti?” “There should also be a Toa of Gravity onboard the command ship. The Skakdi warlord in charge of this operation is keeping a personal eye on the Toa. If we crash the tanker into the command ship… well, tell me Neri: do you believe in destiny?” I’m grinning like a fool and I don’t care. As I look into the crystal, I realize that the inane smile is infectious; Neri has it too. “Honestly, I have no idea how this will turn out. I don’t know what the energized protodermis is going to do; I don’t know what will happen to our Gravity Toa; and I don’t know if it will even work at all. All I know is that by doing this, we might just be able to avoid any casualties whatsoever. It’s all I’ve got.” “Oh, it will work, don’t worry. With you in charge, we’ll manage, Ti.” Now… let’s see. I have a mine system to collapse. Cytus looks at me. “How do you plan on bringing this whole place down without killing both of us?” I consider the question. “I was figuring I’d mix things up just a tad – try setting off lots of explosions.” That answer earns me a skeptical glance. In my defense I say, “Come on, I’m already coming up with a couple of ideas…” | | / / + 13 hours I still have that old Kakama from the time I first ran across the Light Ravager. I get it ready and consult Cytus. It appears he has just finished planting all the explosive charges we found. By following the gas exchange tunnel of Capila’aris, we made it up to a higher level where we found the necessary supplies. “Is it all ready?” “I placed the charges in all the places with the critical support structures. It should all come tumbling down when you spark it. And we have all the ladders set into place so that you can climb them from this point out to the last working elevator that reaches the surface.” “And we have the elevator rigged correctly, right?” “The motorized system is disengaged and the oversized counterweight is attached. So yes, it should hurtle us up at unprecedented speed when we releasethe counterweight.” “Alright. Now look at me, Cytus. I’m going to need you to trust me. I’m carrying you under one arm while I do this superfast run. I don’t have a Kanohi Calix, so I can’t call upon impossibly fast reflexes if you fall loose. You just need to hold on and not move around.” “Are you sure?” “Positive. Remember what I told you; my schedule’s quite busy today. I don’t have enough time in the day to add watching you die to my list of things to do.” He smiles again. I just need to keep that attitude coming before the gravity of our situation starts to induce panic. I guess I picked up the method from that Vortixx, Guftivei, but I’d have probably given up or gone crazy by now if it weren’t for having my own lame jokes to listen to. “Ok, here we go,” I announce. I grab him around the torso under one arm, and he does his best to grip onto me. Then, I send fireball cascading towards the explosives. Before it even hits its target, I’m speeding off with the aid of the Kakama. Within seconds, I have made it up several flights of ladders, but rocks are already cascading all around. The entire shaft is collapsing in on itself, just like Cytus said it would. I am just reaching the last ladder when a boulder takes it out and crushes the whole assembly. I dodge collapsing assemblies that were once part of the elevator system and massive rocks, searching for a way to the next level. I notice a pole lying on the ground just as a rock as wide as I am tall goes rolling past it. I must be crazy. I thread the pole under the arm carrying Cytus and tell him to hold onto it with all the strength he has. I get him to hold it near the very top… well, the end, but it will soon be the top. I use the Kakama to sprint straight at the wall with the missing ladder and jam the opposite end into the ground. I successfully pole-vault upwards, but I must use both hands to hold on. Luckily, Cytus has obeyed my instruction and he does not fall off despite the fact I am no longer holding onto him. The absurd amount of force I apply due to my excessive speed allows me to sail upwards beyond the end of the pole, but I continue to grip it. Just barely, I clear the edge and land on the level above. I haul the pole over, with Cytus still hanging on for dear life. I grab him under my arm again and run for the elevator, then disengage the systems holding it in place. The massively oversized counterweight we’ve attached flings it toward the surface with an incalculable velocity. As we reach the top, I immediately leap out, bringing Cytus with me. Good thing, too, I realize as I turn back for a second. The huge counterweight proved too much for the system and the entire thing collapsed as soon as we had set our feet on the ground beyond it. We explode out of the mine, a huge earthen exhalation of dust following right behind us. The mine has collapsed and we are at the surface. Somehow, we have made it. I look out into the darkness of the night outside. I see the flames of the torches on the boats looming just beyond firing range. There are innumerable vessels, all inbound for our coast. “Gee… you really do have a busy schedule,” Cytus whispers. | | / / “Neri!” I cry, spying her. “What have we got?” “Pirates inbound and almost here. We’ve got two vessels ready and we’ve repurposed our task forces that we had prepared earlier. Mu is leading the two of us on a boat that will board the enemy command vessel to further distract them from the tanker, which our spotters have located. While we have a showdown with the leader of these pirates, Fuli’etor will take her group to hijack the tanker. We’ll have a crystalline communication link with that party, just like the one we kept while you were in the mines. I have our end of the line and Fuli’etor’s Shaper, Elino’urtam, will have the other end.” “I knew I could trust you to handle things while I was below, Neri. Now let’s go before they start shelling the shoreline.” “Agreed.” She searched around in the failing light to try and get a glimpse of Mu’urdnoc. “Mu! We’re starting this thing up!” Mu calls out to the other warriors. “This operation is a go, my crystalline brothers and sisters! Tonight we fight for the heart of the crystal that Ti found down below the earth. Tonight, we preserve the lifeblood of our power. Tonight, it will be the pirates that know pain, not this city!” The Crystal Sect rallies around, cheering. This is probably a good time to describe what is still actually visible in the falling night. The pirate vessels have torches, so we can see them blazing away out on the ocean. Additionally, the Crystal Sect warriors’ armor is made of that glowing crystal that I now understand to be originated from Capila’aris. This means that Neri, Mu, and all the other members of the Crystal Sect are actually visibly glowing away in the night. I, of course, do not emit light… until I use elemental powers. If I start blasting fire away, I too will become a beacon of light. So, this will be a battle to remember with some of the most striking sights a battle may ever provide. Eyebeams and fire will surge through the night as glowing warriors board ships with torch-wielding foes. It’s about to be madness, and apparently I can pretty much be considered to be the catalyst of the whole thing. Naturally. We board the vessels, which are powered by an ore we mine – Well, mined, since I just blew up the shafts. We speed off over the black water of the ocean, waiting for the chaos of battle to meet us. It obliges our expectations. | | / /

I practically never even glance at BBCs lately just due to a combination of being busy and somewhat lazy, but I stopped by when I saw the frontpage link. Even so, I still wouldn't have probably taken the time to write a comment if it weren't for the amazing quality of this MOC and the fact that I had to say something. I'm not sure what impresses me more: the overall quality or the fact that you used a System lamppost as part of a gun! That boggled my mind. Of course, that's always the thing with high-quality MOCists that humbles me - the boundless creativity in parts usages.I really don't have any business pointing out shortcomings (seeing as that it would take far more dedication than I have as-of-yet ever put into a MOC to create something of this caliber), but I try to make a policy of always helping locate points for improvement, so I'll say what little I have to offer. Interestingly, I wasn't too fazed by proportionality despite earlier complaints on that; while it isn't completely humanoid in proportion in the waist/hips/thighs sector, it is supposed to be a mysterious supernatural mecha. That doesn't really need to follow every rule. The one thing I did note (which no one has mentioned yet, it appears) is that those Nuva shoulder plates (from Krekka, I guess?) pop out of the shoulders quite a bit for what is otherwise a very sleek MOC. It's not noticeable on most of the Flickr pictures, but it shows up at a few angles - namely the posable-finger arm on the middle and right-most pose of your main image. If it were possible to smooth that out, not that I can see a way myself, I would be completely at a loss at finding any flaws worth commenting on and I would have to abandon my normal policy of finding something to say to help the MOCist improve! Even that might be a stretch; I could just be desperately scrambling for any potential points of improvement. Seriously, it's great. And you made a gun out of a streetlight and skis!

+ 9 hours The miners' tunnels have stopped, but Cytus uses his mining expertise to find me a wall that had little stone separating it from a naturally-formed cavern. I melt through to expose a natural tunnel, but it has a remarkable trait. Running along the ceiling is a band of crystal that looked almost like a tree root. It glows in the dark, but different from a lightstone. It is glowing with life. I don’t doubt it anymore; this crystal structure before me is alive. We follow the tunnel until it seems to widen slightly. We walk around a bend and – “Mata Nui above!” I exclaim. “How does this even exist? It’s seems so…” Cytus seemed ready to say something along the lines of “impossible,” but he instead says “beautiful.” Before us is a massive trunk, like that of a tree, four bios in width. It is comprised of pure, radiant crystal. While it is immobile, it is alive and we know it. It twinkles with bioluminescence deep in this cavern. I take a step toward it. “Tignioni! Is that safe?” “I don’t know,” I truthfully answer. Yet, I feel a sensation drawing me towards it. I don’t even look back as I speak to Cytus; my eyes remain riveted to the crystalline structure before me. I am walking towards it. It rises up before me, extending to the domed cavern ceiling and onwards into the rock above. It is of titanic proportions. I don’t know what I expect, but I lay my hands on it. For a second, nothing happens. Then images flay my mind. I see. And I know. I lose control of my mind and – In ancient times there was a planet threatening to roil over and erupt. And it did. And so the Great Beings created the contingency plan known as Mata Nui. A robot that carried within it the potential for a new future. The chance to recreate a planet and set the world right. Mata Nui had legs and arms that rose above mountains and that could propel it through inconceivable distances in space as it travelled the stars in a sojourn from its eventual task. It had a brain known as Metru Nui that thought and calculated and passed judgment – determining what was the right way to run a planet and what was not so that what had come to pass may never do so again. But moreover, Mata Nui had a heart – a central point that produced the power for the entire robot. It was Karda Nui, the universe core. The power core in Karda Nui passively radiated outward its energy to power up the systems of the robot. Through channels in the rock the power of its lightning storms leaked out and systems could run and operate as they were supposed to. Now, a certain type of rock exhibited an incredible ability to conduct this energy as it travelled outwards to power up the systems of Mata Nui. That rock was crystal. Using this knowledge, the first overseer of Mata Nui, an organic named Tren Krom, requested to the Great Beings that another organic be made. An organic made of living crystal that would lie under the Northern Continent, that would grow to permeate every continent, spreading its tendrils to touch every point, transferring the energy of the universe core to all major systems and helping to relieve Tren Krom in one of his two original tasks: holding the universe together. Hence, I was born. Tren Krom, of course, had just unwittingly signed his own decommissioning warrant. The Mata Nui program was always intended to replace his cognitive control over the robot of the same name and now he had just requested the creation of a being that would replace him in holding the universe together. He was now no longer needed in any respect and was therefore fused to a rock and left to rot and decay. As his replacement in the role of holding the universe together, I have fared better. I am living rock. I never had a name, at least not until recently. When a group of beings used my living crystal in harmony with their biomechanical bodies, I took delight in their practices. I decided to name myself, using the manner they used to name themselves. Hence, I became Capila’aris. I love those funny beings. There one of the few parts of creation I love, or at least as much so as I can. Speaking of which… The Great Beings, abusing their ability to create. Trying to make life, and look what they’ve done. The world above me is in disarray. Such fools, supposedly “Great,” thought they could create tame nanobots that would unquestioningly carry out simple tasks and never stop to ponder just why they were doing it by simply inhibiting all the emotions of sentient beings – then again, they were never supposed to be sentient. It was simple, increase the ratio of mechanical parts to biological ones until programming could be used to restrict the mental capabilities of the nanobots. They sleepwalk through life, never even understanding that there was once a time and place where a thing known as “love” existed. Hence, the disastrous world above me. Yes, I know about the emotional engineering of the Great Beings. I am from a time before such practices even existed. They were supposed to be fully emotionless servants! Instead, they constructed miniaturized sapient life forms that struggle and ponder why so much undergo such suffering. It appears the only emotion they did succeed in negating was true love. Of all the mishaps that could have occurred, how did they manage to fail in blocking out every adverse emotion while succeeding with one of the most wonderful ones? It’s not like any of this would have mattered for me, anyway. I was created genderless, a neuter. But it’s led to other problems. I, as I have pointed out, come from the very genesis of the Mata Nui robot. As far as I can tell, all the inhibition did was prevent them from experiencing possibly the most wonderful emotion that sentient life can experience, not that I would even now nor am I supposed care. Even for all their mechanical parts, though, these beings can still experience other emotions. What of the Makuta? If Teridax had known true love, might he have never gone on his rampage for power? I think so, but I am nothing more than Capila’aris, the living veins of a robot that’s supposed to, should it ever exit its watery grave on Aqua Magna, resurrect a dead planet. Teridax isn’t a villain, he is a victim of life without love, if I am correct – but I’ll never know. He could have been a protector … But no, the Great Beings do not consider what madness and lunacy can overtake the mind emotion is tampered with. War rages above, fueled by the hatred these nano-beings can feel; and the wars will continue endlessly as there is no love to temper the hate. Hence, I am in peril. Because of war, I am in peril. In the most hate-fueled, love-abandoned land, Zakaz, explosions unearthed my living crystal. A clever Skakdi warlord discovered it was living, but he lacked the pacifism that, generally at least, is possessed by the Crystal Sect. He wanted to create a biological war machine by hypnotizing a Gravity Toa from Modos that was destined to touch energized protodermis and then infusing him with my living crystal in a bath of the substance said being was destined to touch. A hypnotized overpowered crystal behemoth was his intended goal. It technically might work, but I don’t know. All I know is he took to piracy against a town directly above my heart-root to divert attention from his even more sinister motives. Hence, the raids. Every raid was carefully disguised to look like nothing other than a looting expedition. But it was not. With every single raid, he released the accursed Gorrellian Hounds, which perpetrated the tunnels around my heart-root. They ate my crystal. It gave them life. But beyond that, it infused them with my natural power. They are glowing with pure unadulterated energy. Combined with energized protodermis and a Toa, who knows what might result. All I know is that I am dying because of it. But now he is ready. The Hounds have eaten long enough and the miners whose lives he intentionally spared have dug deep enough. He is ready to harvest the Hounds and collect what he hopes will be a bountiful harvest of crystal power. Hence, today. Today he comes, prepared to wipe out all of Modos. Every last citizen of the war-torn city. Nothing and no one will be spared. Then he will descend into the shafts to collect the Hounds. I tried to collect my energy in a tremor to warn them that they must evacuate. More importantly, I sent those that had been friends to me, the Crystal Sect, to prevent the pirates from finishing their task. My lifeblood is now largely in the Hounds. If they are taken away from the local vicinity, I will die. They must either stay, or be killed to release my energies back into me. And now this Toa comes. Hence, hope. He has let nothing stop him. He has let no trial deter him. He has proceeded to my heart-root and come, willing to do anything necessary for the good of the innocents and the righteous. And so, I now impart him with a small parcel of the knowledge I have just run through. Just the part that pertains to the current situation, nothing about the Mata Nui robot or such. I will also provide him some help in escaping the shafts he is trapped in. I am Capila’aris, an ancient entity that is necessary to power this self-contained universe. And today, my life is in the hands of one small nanobot. Tignioni: the Toa who never knew how to give up. I doubt “give up” even exists in his repertory of skills. No, wait. Not simply “Tignioni, the Toa of Fire.” “Ti’ignioni: the Guardian of the Crystals.” – I black out. | | / /

Well, you know, they always could be. It's possible that Kongu's organic Suletu had a recessed portion there and Lego was trying to give the impression that gritted teeth were visible in the opening. Regardless, seems more likely that it really is just supposed to be an idiosyncrasy of the organic Suletu's outward appearance. As far as I'm aware, most Toa don't have viciously pointed teeth. Then again, most Toa aren't created by Red Star energies lashing out...I still think they aren't teeth. I do kind of like 1st Shadow's take on it, though. There might be something the teeth-like shape being an organic alteration on a pre-existing grill on the normal version. The main gist of it is probably that the designers thought it looked more fearsome, so they made it that way without bothering to ask the story department to cook up an explanation.

Even after everything that has been discussed about potential canon justifications for this in the most recent posts (well, not entirely: a lot seems to just be discussion of off-color examples whether they justify the blue Onu-Matoran or not in my opinion), this remains the dominant point. There wasn't a defined canon at the time. That's why we are all supposed to technically consider even such classics as MNOG to be pseudo-canon - Lego outsourced the production of these games to other parties. Those parties did not necessarily know the agenda of the Bionicle storyline and they did their best. If Saffire wanted an Onu-Matoran to be blue, that was their call.Of course, we're also technically allowed to call all this canon up until the point it is in direct conflict with later canon. But I feel that a blue Onu-Matoran is already in conflict with established storyline. When it comes down to it, this is just one of those subjective moments of Bionicle where everyone has to go with their own personal take on the matter....Wrote more than I meant to. I'll stop typing now.

+ 8 hours The air itself seems to be choking me, due to the oppressive dust that hangs idly in the stagnant subterranean atmosphere. Light, though, is starting tobecome available. Considering the fact that I’m underground, this seems absurd. The light is coming from crystals all around that seem to glow. Something seems off; there aren't that many lightstone deposits here. What is going on? Nevertheless, I don’t really appreciate it. It does far too well a job at barely illuminating the tunnels to the point at which I can just make out exactly how claustrophobic the confines are. Suddenly, I hear a drill running and Hounds growling. Cytus! He’s still alive, and fighting. I break into a run. I gasp as I look into the next cavern. Huddling in a corner is a wounded Matoran of Plasma with a drill that he’s using in a largely-futile attempt to keep the Hounds at bay. But the Hounds! They are the reason I gasp. They’re…crystalline. Almost like a Crystal Sect warrior appears. No time to think about it, though, I realize. I rush forward and attack the three crystalline canine Rahi. The first one is caught off guard. I bring down a flaming sword with massive force on its head. The crystal starts to shatter, but it still lives. I reverse my grip and drive the blade into the now weakened crystal over its skull. At this point, the trauma becomes to extensive for it to survive. The other two are now circling me. I notice that their bodies are sinuous and flexible, despite the exterior coating of crystals, and that these ones do not have stunted claws. Instead, crystalline razors gleam on the ends of their paws. Both charge me at once. I swipe my blade into the head of one, injuring it, but the other barrels into me and grabs my sword-wielding arm in its jaws. It starts thrashing its head around and I feel like my arm is about to break clean off of my body. I struggle to concentrate. Too late, the Hound realizes I have been melting the rock in a pocket beneath its feet. With all the thrashing, it breaks through the thin crust of rock separating it from the lava. The beast slips in and releases its grip on my arm as it opens its mouth to wail in agony. It vanishes beneath the molten surface. I try to locate the last Gorrellian Hound, but I can’t find it. Then I look up and discover why these particular Hounds can afford to have longer claws. It’s clinging to the ceiling directly above me, piercing the rock with its crystalline claws! It drops, pushing off, but I react quickly. I swing my sword and smack it across the gaping maw that is facing down at me. The force of its drop is redirected horizontally and it skitters across the floor and over a ledge, plunging into the central shaft. That's the last one, I guess. “You came for me?” I turn to face the weak voice. The Matoran of Plasma is in the corner. At a second glance, I realize his injuries could have been more substantial. He should be able to walk unaided. “I don’t leave villagers lost in the dark. You know Toa – we’re too stupid to know when to give up. Especially me.” He smiles weakly. “Just give me a second,” I continue before he has the chance to respond. “I have a friend I need to talk to.” I hold up the crystal and Neri’s face appears again. “Neri! I’ve got the miner, but I have something very important I need to talk about. I just found some Gorrellian Hounds down here that look like… well, they look like you.” “TI! How DARE you!” she shouts, taken aback. “No, not like that!” I rapidly reply, realizing that I have just compared her appearance with that of a Rahi not-too-infrequently reputed for its ugliness. “I mean it had armor that looked similar to Crystal Sect armor. It was largely crystalline.” “Oh…good! Be glad we go back a long ways. Anyone else and I would have cut the connection as soon as they’d said something that insulting." With a hint of sarcasm, she continues "I guess somewhere underneath my stone-hard armor, my crystalline soul has a soft spot for you.” “Ok, ok,” I say, trying to move on. “But might you know how that’s possible?” “Gorrellian Hounds? For something like that to take on those sort of properties, I’d have to say… by ingestion.” “They’re eating the crystals down here?” “They would only do that if it somehow acted like a food source. Ti… you know how the Shamans of my people sometimes say that the crystal… lives?” “I thought that was figurative.” “Me too. But I’m not a Shaman. Ti, this would all make sense now. If the crystals are alive and the Hounds are consuming them – tearing them all up and whatnot –” “ – then that would explain the tremor and the cataclysmic disaster Zo’apt warned about!” I say, making the connection. “Still,” she says, an unsure look on her face, “I feel like that’s only half the answer.” “No doubt about it. There has to be more to this. If the crystal is alive, this is beyond my current comprehension.” I pause for a second. “I have to go deeper.” “Are you sure about this?” “Neri, I can’t find any way back up from here regardless. I might as well keep on going down. Maybe I can even find a way back up by doing that.” “Isn’t that counterintuitive?” “Don’t worry. I made you a promise, right? I’m going to keep it. Like I said, I’ll find a way.” She sighs. “Ok, Ti. I’ll trust you. So far, that seems to be working.” “Thanks. That’s all I need from you.” I hear Cytus’ voice again as I sign off. “So there still isn’t a way back up?” “I already got your friends out, Steltian and all. But, no, there isn’t a way out for us…at least not yet.” “You intend to change that?” “If I don’t, we die. I don’t know about you, but my schedule is a little too full today for me to add that to the agenda.” He grins again. “I like the way you think!” | | / /

+ 6 hours This is it. The point of no return. I know from the scratch marks here that the Gorrellian Hounds definitely took Cytus one or more levels below. Just in front of me is a one-way jump; the floor of the level below is too far down to jump back up. If I drop down through the hole in the floor, there is no guarantee whatsoever that I will ever find a way back up. I think I already know what my decision will be, but I want someone to talk to. A familiar face. Hence, I consult the crystal. “Neri?” “Ti? Are you alright so far?” “Yeah. Did the miners I sent you make it?” “They just got here a few minutes ago. They say that the Matoran you’re going after is the only one still unaccounted for.” “How are things on the surface?” “Good. The townspeople tell me you trained them to defend. You must have done a good job from the skills they’ve been practicing in front of me. All barricades are in place. We figured out a way to alter classical Crystal Sect war methods in order to better suit the terrain. Rather than send us Shapers up front to soften up the enemy before Stormers finish them, we’re reversing the order. There’s too much open space and the Stormers can take more hits. When they’re hurting, we Shapers are going to burst forward and use our crystal powers, which the enemy should have no idea we are capable of. If it works, we can overwhelm them. The villagers will hold the middle ground and we’ll flank the pirate ground forces on either side. Mu’urdnoc is leading the left-flanking party and Fuli’etor the one on the right.” Personally, I don’t know Fuli’etor as well, but I know she’s one of the Stormers that has grown long blades that protrude from her arms as natural weapons. “Excellent. How long do we have? I’m finding out the hard way that it’s actually quite difficult to tell what time of day it is when you’re in a deep subterranean structure.” “Hah! You’re quite the joker now, aren’t you, Ti? It's been a few hours. You still have plenty of time to sort out whatever you’re up to. Speaking of which… what are you up to?” “I’ve tracked the Matoran’s captors to a one-way path. I can’t see a way back up if I go down further. Not that I’m going to let that stop me.” “I trust you, Ti, but be careful. We don’t want to lose you.” Softer, she adds “You mean a lot to us, even if you’re liable to disappear for centuries at a time. Swear by the Crystal Springs that you’ll make it back in one piece?” “Yes… wait, no. How about a maximum of two pieces and somehow still alive? Deal?” She smiles and I can see her shaking her head through the crystal. “I’ll take what I can get with you. Now you go get that Matoran and come back, hear me?” “Sure thing. I’ll find a way.” I let the crystal fade and then look over the drop. From this point on, I’ll be making things up as I go along… not that I haven’t been already, I suppose. I jump. \ \ | | / /

Yeah... about it being linked. It actualliy is, but I did nothing to indicate such was the case (massive fail ). It's in the banner at the very top. I'll edit that first post to make it obvious. Angel Bob had the same issue with locating this topic and ended up replying on the Lightfall topic. I quoted it below so no one has to worry about checking over there to see what he said.Originally, this was going to be a short story, but then I realized it was ten pages long and the plot was only just starting to get its show on the road. That's when this ended up becoming an epic. So, yeah, short chapters. However, after I knew I was writing an epic, I just let loose. By the end, I had sincere difficulty finding places where I could cram in chapter breaks because it all became so continuous. So I hope you will find that the short chapter problem fixes itself as the story progresses.Word to the wise, I consider my MOCs to be as much so "to scale" as the Titan Special Edition Toa Mata Nui set was "to scale" with the other sets that year. Size of MOC bears no significance to story size. Actually, I should add a more obvious link to the review topic (I haven't always been on top of things lately )....[digressions]...I'll address your feedback in my next post on the legitimate review topic.OK, now everyone's the same page. Literally. Same webpage, get it? Bad pun, never mind.The Hounds, the Hounds, the Hounds. Originally something ever-so trivial that I developed for a gladiatorial battle, now an integral part of the spin-off's plot. What is it with these Hounds?! Seriously, though, I always liked envisioned lithe, oversized canines rampaging as a source of sheer terror. You can't keep up with those animalistic reflexes and those slavering jaws will tear you apart painfully, agonizingly... so I reused them. And made them important. So maybe you are right? Perhaps I really have gotten a little obsessed over my mind's invention. Either way, they're here and they're ready to cause more trouble!Oh, we will see more of the Crystal Sect. No fear of them disappearing without any significance. But that's as much as I'm saying.

Actually, I should add a more obvious link to the review topic (I haven't always been on top of things lately ). For now, the review topic for The Sordid Shafts is linked via the banner at the top of the actual epic. It looks the same as the one in my sig, but instead of linking to the epic (which you are obviously already on if you can see it) it links to the review topic. I'll add a the words review topic in parentheses underneath it sometime tonight and extend the link to include those words as well. And I might as well put a link RIGHT HERE too.I'll address your feedback in my next post on the legitimate review topic.

+ 5 hours I wake to find a few Matoran hovering over me, as well as one member of the Steltian slave class. “Easy, Toa,” the Steltian says. “You took a bad blow there. I grabbed you as you went falling past us.” “Thanks,” I respond, grimacing. “What’s the situation?" A Matoran answers. “The elevator is gone. As far as we know, we are trapped down here. You can look around to see what we have at our disposal.” I oblige him. Scattered around are unattended mining implements, including one pack of explosives. At my feet are my belongings; I can’t remember, but they must have been strapped to my back. So I still have my weapons, the communication crystal, etc. A couple tunnels branch off in other directions, but they are probably arranged laterally. The central shaft and its elevators are the only vertical mode of transportation. A thought occurs to me. “That tunnel,” I explain, gesturing to the one on the far right, “leads underneath an encampment a level above. I remember seeing the structures as I came down. That means that rock is stressed. If we widen that tunnel on the sides, the local area might collapse. Then we can climb the rubble to the level above and get one of those elevators.” The proposition is risky. Any intentional attempt to weaken the already compromised mining tunnel is a gamble at best, but we have no other options. They consent. “How will we keep anyone from being crushed?” “Leave that to me. Just weaken it; I’ll bring it down personally. I have one question, though. Is anyone else trapped down here?” “No. Well, no except for… ah, forget I said anything.” “What do you mean?” “Fine, have it your way. There was a Matoran of Plasma, Cytus. A bunch of Gorrellian Hounds came through here earlier and he tried to fight them off. They dragged him off. There’s no way he survived.” “You owe him your lives… and I’m finding him.” “How do you expect to –” A frenzy of howls and growls cuts him off. “Don’t worry about that right now! Get everyone working on that tunnel and let me know when it appears weak. I’ll keep the Hounds off of you!” They all scurry off down the tunnel. Quickly, I fumble for the crystal Neri gave me. I rub its lustrous form and look into the flattest face of the crystal. “Come on Neri… give me something here.” “Ti!” Her face is visible within the crystal, almost as if she is standing right where I am and her face is being reflected back. “What’s up?” “Put simply: a really hectic situation.” She sighs. “Naturally, Ti. Whenever you become involved, things seem to get complicated.” “I have almost all the trapped miners and we might have a way out. I want you to get Tol and meet them when they get up there.” “Tol’s right by me. He’s listening in on my crystal. We’ll be there, but why do you need us? Aren’t you going to be there yourself?” “I’m not. Something is going on here that we don’t understand, Neri. I think the answer lies deeper in the shafts. Additionally, a lone Matoran of Plasma has been dragged deeper by Gorrellian Hounds. I’ve got to go down. I’m finding out what’s going on here.” Suddenly, Tol interrupts. While I can’t see his face, his voice is still projected through our crystal communication line. “Don’t go rushing down deeper for one Matoran, Tignioni! We need everyone we have for nightfall.” I smile. “That’s why I’m rescuing our Matoran, Tol. He’s one more asset on our side.” “He’s not worth as much as you, Tignioni. You’re more important.” “One life for another? No, there is never a right answer to questions like that. I’ve made up my mind. I’m sorting this all out. I can do it, don’t worry.” “Tignioni!” Tol protests. Neri, who had seemed thoughtful while listening to our interchange, now speaks up again. “Tol, listen to me. Ti’ignioni came to our land and settled a crisis we could not ourselves. I back him on anything he says. If he claims he can do it, he’s going to get it done.” Then she addresses me. “Just be careful down there, Ti. You never –” I hear a growl, too close to me for comfort. “Later, Neri. I have some Hounds to fight.” Without even waiting for a response, I shove the crystal away and ready my sword. I spot four pairs of glistening eyes in the dark. Four deadly Hounds waiting to go in for the kill. As I said, these Rahi are highly adaptable, and these particular ones have become bleached in the subterranean tunnels and their bodies are stockier, allowing them to fit in confined areas. The claws are slightly stunted, so as not to become scratched on the rocky floor, but the teeth are even larger and more fearsome to compensate. I back up towards the ledge of the central shaft. That would seem unwise, considering a hard blow would send me falling to my death, but that is only true in a conventional duel. Rahi do not fight like Toa. I can use that against them. The first Hound pounces at me, but I drop to the ground. The Hound sails clean over me and; with nothing to break its momentum, continues to travel straight over the edge of the central shaft. With a pitiful wail, it tumbles into the abyss below. The next Hound charges forward rather than make the same mistake as its predecessor. I lace my Charger Sword with elemental fire and bring it down on the head of the beast, expecting to defeat it. Such is not the case. The blow is crippling, but not fatal. It snarls and rears onto its hind legs preparing to throw itself on top of me. I try to evade, but an outstretched paw connects with my arm. Claws rake my armor, but I manage to avoid going underneath the bulk of the creature or taking a more serious blow. I ram the creature shoulder-first, flipping it onto its back. I bring my blade down on its exposed underside and tear down the length of its body. It does not survive the combined injuries. Two more of them still remain. I see a cable lying on the ground and trace it with my eyes. Upon determining where the cable leads, I get an idea. However, this deviation from the battle diverted my attention for too long. One of the Hounds has gotten directly in front of me. It raises a paw and I try to avoid the blow, but too late. It strikes me in the torso and I am flung back, skidding along the floor. As I recover, I realize I have lost my grip on my sword. No matter, I think and lift the cable up off of the ground. As the second remaining Hound tries to attack me, I run at it and pass the cable between its jaws. The cable snags among its oversized teeth. As it frantically struggles to get the cable loose, I melt the support structures for the pulley assembly in this level’s link of the elevator system by using elemental fire. The assemblage and the cable ensnared within it go crashing over the precipice and the Hound is swept off of its feet and over into the depths. The last Hound charges me, but the Steltian erupts onto the fighting scene and tackles it to the ground, using his weight to pin the vicious Rahi. I look around to see that the Matoran are all clear of the tunnel and they must be done weakening it. I pick up the explosives pack I had taken note of earlier and throw it deep into the tunnel. No sooner have I done this than the Steltian’s strength gives out and the Hound throws him off. I use my Mahiki to create an illusionary depiction of myself, which I direct to sprint directly in front of the Hound. It falls for the trap and chases the non-existent version of myself into the weakened tunnel. Time to finish this. Calling upon my elemental power, I produce a single spark on the explosives package. With a massive explosion, the tunnel collapses and a cascade of stone buries the Hound, crushing it. An opening to the level above is visible. Now, time to get these miners out of here! \ \ | | / /

+ 3 hours Flames playfully course up and down my arms, lighting the shafts. Near the surface, the damage from the tremor is minimal. From here, I find an undamaged elevator. I take it down several levels, admiring the courage of the miners. The guardrails are minimal and the lightstones do little to illuminate the shafts. All I can see over the edge as I descend is blackness. I come to a stop at a mining camp several levels below the surface. Scattered around are the lightstones that had been used to light it. I see a couple support struts that have given out. That is a bad sign. I better work quickly and carefully to prevent getting caught in a collapse. I wander into the center of the camp. Suddenly, I hear a growl. It’s a Gorrellian Hound. We don’t know how these dangerous pestilential Rahi keep getting down here, but we do know the pirates used them for war beasts. Apparently some have been left behind by their masters. They’re highly adaptable and eat just about anything. They continually adapt to their surroundings, these changes based on the food they consume. It paces back and forth, before crouching in preparation for a leap. I project a column of fire as soon as I see it preparing to jump. It appears startled by the sudden heat and light. I take advantage and run straight at it, Charger Sword raised. It easily bounces clear of my attack. I should know better than to try a frontal assault on such a lithe creature. As I spin around, it pounces straight at me, throwing me to the ground. As it prepares to engulf my head with its mouth, I jam the hilt of my blade into the aperture. It bites down on the solid protodermis of my Toa tool. Dazed, it staggers back. I charge up a fireball on my fist and punch the Rahi in the face. It drops my sword and flees down an auxiliary tunnel, smoke trailing from its seared wound. All the more reason to hurry, I realize. The Hounds are normally driven off by the sound of pounding machinery. Now they might be swarming the tunnels… and the Matoran won’t stand a chance against something that can provide a challenge even for me, a Toa. After descending down a few more elevators, I hear a call for help. “Is that someone? Hello?” A Matoran of Gravity, by his voice. He seems to be on the level below. I am overlooking a seemingly-bottomless shaft, and I can only see blackness beyond the edge. It drops into an abyssal void. “It’s Tignioni. I’ve come to get everyone out.” “We’re right below you. The elevator won’t work.” I examine the pulley system, which is on my level. The cable is caught on a piece of malformed metal, damaged by the tremor. I free it… and then see it go slipping over the edge. The counterweight has been severed and there’s nothing holding it in place! Just in time, I seize the falling cable, only to realize that the elevator is still attached on the other end. The weight slams me forward. I crash headfirst into pulley mechanism and black out. \ \ | | / /

Ok, a couple things to say here in response. To start, I actually felt that part four was one of the weaker parts in general of this epic. Later additions (intro, Order agent interchange, and some other little things in the fights) made it better overall, but nothing was done to ameliorate the ending. Now, I should say that the ending was abrupt by design. It was meant to close off quickly and show that the trials to accomplish a task can sometimes take on a greater meaning than the completion of the task itself. There was originally something to soften the rapid closing... and that is the fact that while the battle was still this short in my original manuscript, there are several chapters following what currently sits as the final chapter. However, these throw us headfirst into the sequel, which, as I said, I am putting on hold (though not abandonning - just to clarify). Those will be included as a final addendum to this epic as a countdown to the release of the sequel. But that will be awhile.Angel Bob, if I don't change my final idea for the sequel, you're in for a treat. The last part is essentially one, massive, extensive final battle that concludes with the fall of a major antagonist. Unlike your epics, though, it isn't entirely "berserker vs. forces of evil." It's different. That's all I'm saying for now. And it is still subject to change. While I am addressing you - if Semitra is one of Lariska's race, then it's getting a name . So, no, the intention was not specifically to bring in another member of that race. If it even is that race, which I suppose I will leave up to you to decide as the reader. Oh, and I just thought of something. Shafts has a pretty crazy final battle. That will probably suit your taste as well. You'll just have to see when I post it.None of the three knew much anything about the Realms prior to entering. However, Emeder's direct connection with shadow allowed him to manipulate the Realm itself (as all substance in that Realm is made of either light... or shadow). With that comes comprehension. So he rapidly came to understand the Realm, whereas the other remained oblivious to further details aside from obvious observations ( OMG I'M DISAPPEARING! "epiphanies").Oops. I didn't mean to make Takua sound grumpy, just airy-headed. Like he was confusedly bumbling around and unable to keep his mind on anything germane. However, I will not be following this up with a story of Takua. Those closing lines after he woke up were adapted directly from the opening lines of the MNOG walkthrough. It was meant to connect with (pseudo-)canon and leave it off right as that main storyline installment began.I believe I said something about how the abandonned city of Metru Nui lied "through the Sea Gates," but that was "not their destination." I can't remember for sure (and I don't feel like looking it up at this moment), but they were only approaching that part of the world. They didn't need to pass through the Gates, so getting there should have largely been a non-issue. They could care less about Metru Nui itself. As for timeframe, it was meant to be in the final weeks of the 999 year mark in the penultimate chapter and practically the very start of the new year in the final chapter. Unfortunately, with my method of subheading the chapters with a value in years, there was no way to accurately reflect this. And, in retrospect, it could have been a little better elaborated (maybe with an introductory paragraph giving a cursory glance at their route) at the start of the final chapter.Not to worry, this final reception to what I had considered a problematic plotline (it was just messy avoiding canon inconsistencies and giving an adequate conclusion while still successfully represent the "trials sometimes more than completion" thing) was, albeit not as "YAY!" as I may have hoped for, still a bit better than I had expected. Plus, this was my first and there is plenty more to come and I hope future endings may prove more satisfactory. I personally feel that the ending to Shafts definitely is and I expect to feel similar sentiments with my other works considering how they are currently shaping up. :fonz:Overall, my main point is that this finale wasn't as coherent as I personally had meant to make it , but I'm pleased that no one felt that I crashed the whole epic into the ground. I am more confident with my future works and I hope you guys will stick around enough to see it: I think you will find that improvements have been made to my writing style, endings included, and that you will enjoy what I have. Either way, thank you for sticking this one through to the end, guys, and helping me learn what I needed in order to make these upcoming works as good as I feel they are!

Chapter 46 Metru Nui sea gate, 1,000 years after the Great Cataclysm To most beings, it would have been unnoticeable. A sliver of energy, suspended in midair over the ocean just beyond the Sea Gate that led to Metru Nui. Metru Nui: a dead city, now long abandoned by its Matoran inhabitants that once called it home – 1,000 years ago to be precise. Yet, that was not where they were headed. Near the Sea Gate on the glassy and pacified protodermis sea was as far as they needed to go. Having been so close to the Ravager, they could feel its influence on the area. “What do we do?” Guftivei asked, clutching the shadow bolt launcher. The sliver of energy seemed to be a dormant portal. It was hard to imagine it as the door to the Realm of Light and Shadow. “I’m…not sure,” Imegna conceded. “Stand back,” said Emeder. He walked forward to the bow of the ship. The sliver was just beyond that point, floating over open water. Emeder reached out with his mind. Within an instant, the sliver suddenly seemed tangible to him. He closed his eyes in concentration. He opened them when he heard Imegna gasp. Where the sliver of energy had been, a swirling vortex of light and darkness hovered. “Now… this ends.” It wasn’t just a hope or a dream. It was a declaration. Emeder took a flying leap into the vortex and vanished from sight. Gufivei and Imegna looked at each other, then locked arms and replicated Emeder’s jump. Nothingness. That’s what they were. It was true: light and shadow were the physical matter and substance to this dimension. They were floating idly through waves of alternating light and darkness, projected at random directions across a neutrally gray void. That which would be tangible in their Realm was simply energy here. Imegna looked down at her body. It seemed ghostly, transparent even. An ethereal thing. She waved her hands in front of herself…and then she noticed her hands had just passed through each other. That’s when she realized she was starting to…dissipate. “Concentrate. You need to use your own psychic energy in order to hold together. Otherwise, your body will fade, turning to pure energy.” Emeder vocalized from…everywhere it seemed. His voice echoed off unseen surroundings. She stared ahead to where Emeder and Guftivei drifted through the void, equally translucent. She concentrated on everything that represented herself: her ideals, her friends, her attitude, her morals. Her body remained intact. “Weird…just weird,” Guftivei said. The shadow bolt launcher he was holding was similarly composed of energy, but it had a rigid core: the shadow power that it focused. “Imegna,” Emeder requested, “I don’t know where to find the Light Ravager. Find its location – if this Realm has anything analogous to a ‘place.’” Careful to remain concentrating on her own form, Imegna began to search for the Ravager’s psionic signature. She found it with ease. She projected a mental snapshot of her discoveries into Emeder’s head, uncertain if they even made sense. This reality made little sense in general. Emeder, however, seemed able to make understand it. “Now,” he announced, “we take a trip.” Tendrils of shadow reached out from Emeder, through the neutrally gray void, and grabbed Guftivei and Imegna. Then, Emeder, by using his shadow powers, began to propel himself through the fields of light and darkness. And then they saw it. An orb of malevolent light, reaching out with luminescent tendrils. All surrounding fields of light or darkness were absorbed by it, making the surroundings a complete field of the neutral gray that served as nothingness here. No one wasted a second. Not a word had to be said – they all knew their tasks and they didn’t need, or want, to discuss it. They wanted this over with. Imegna masked all their psychic signatures. The Ravager was now blind as to their presence. Emeder grappled outward with shadowy tentacles, snaring the beast. Shadow blasts from Guftivei perforated it, and then tore on through. The shadow bolt launcher had done little the first time, but with the Ravager hopelessly trying to counter Emeder’s shadow energies, it was now devastating. The Ravager started to become less of a sphere and more of a mesh. It was full of holes and losing. All the previous battles with the Light Ravager had been one-sided; nothing could hope to stand up against it. This battle was one-sided for the opposite reason; the Ravager was now the one without hope. Finally, it gave out. Without ceremony or significance, the Ravager collapsed in on itself. A pulse of light burst out…and then the entire Realm seemed to become distorted. Everyone was being uncontrollably hurtled in an unknown direction. Emeder! What’s happening?! Don’t panic. Just concentrate on yourself and what it means to be you so that you don’t dissipate. But what’s happening now? The Ravager was the only thing holding open the portal to this Realm. The portal’s giving out, but everything foreign, like us, is being sucked out first, kind of like a whirlpool, with the portal at the bottom. So we’re going to be alright? Yeah. It’s over. With that, they were hurtled out of the Realm and launched into the protodermis sea. They began to tread water, their boat in sight. Finally, the Rift closed off, but it did so with a bang. A ray of pure light blasted out, seemingly straight up… Chapter 47 Mata Nui, 1,000 years after the Great Cataclysm [i suspect you're either going to love or hate this finisher. I'm just saying, I always figured that there was [u]waaaaay[/u] too much energy coming from those little rocks. So here's my answer to that... in the form of the conclusion to an epic.] The Kini-Nui. Alright, time to get it over with – get rid of these stupid rocks. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Well, six, to be exact. Hey, the Matoran thought, maybe they’ll even let me back into Ta-Koro again for getting this job done. How about this: he noticed, I’m going to do something important for once and each of the Turaga will be here to witness it. There it was: the Kini Nui. Turaga Vakama had directed him to place these six…stony-thingamajiggers on the Kini Nui. He stepped forward, carefully trying to balance all six stones in his arms. Due to his intense focusing, he more or less ignored the gathered Turaga around him. Why did he get all the ridiculous jobs, again? Oh, wait, he actually knew the answer; he just didn’t want to admit it. He got all the ridiculous jobs because he’d been kicked out of Ta-Koro for day-dreaming. Of course, that wasn’t how they’d put it – laziness and neglect is what they had branded him with – but really, that’s what had gotten him kicked out. Honestly, he thought to himself as he started to lay the stones down in the sacred temple, he just wanted to be part of something interesting. The work around the Koro was just so…boring! He wanted adventure. And now he was carrying around a bunch of rocks for Mata Nui knew what reason. Of course, it had been a bit of an adventure obtaining all these allegedly important rocks, but that didn’t count, did it? Had Vakama even told him what was the deal with these dumb rocks? It was something to do with those no-show saviors called Toa that the Matoran had been waiting on for a full millennium already, but would they even come? The Matoran couldn’t honestly guess, nor did he care to. The stones were in place. The Matoran didn’t know it, but they began to do the specific task they had been made for: sending out a signal, a signal that had been awaited for an inconceivable length of time. At sea, six Toa canisters turned to face the shore. It was time for six heroes to rise after a very, very long sleep. Coincidentally, in the dome of the universe one level below, a beam of pure light energy released by a collapsing dimensional Rift shot upward…but at a slight angle. It homed in on a single point, attracted to the energies being released from that area. The six Toa stones sending out their signal to their respective canisters had served as a focusing point to attract the radiation released from the collapsing Rift just as metal is attracted to a magnetic field. Far underground, the beam of light struck the upper dome of the giant robot upon which the island of Mata Nui rested. Travelling along crevices in the bedrock that lied above, the energy, dissipating from light into heat and from heat into kinetic energy, kept on moving toward its destination. Finally, it struck the center of the Kini Nui. The disguised Av-Matoran known as Takua had no time to react. The energy that struck the Toa stones he had just set in the Kini Nui blasted outward throwing him into the air. He sailed far into the distance. When he crashed into the ground, it was on the edge of the island, by a beach in Ta-Wahi. The impact instantly knocked him unconscious. He remained that way for several hours. He awoke to find himself on the beach. He recalled that he had seen this island from far overhead in a dream, just before the sound of the waves washing upon the shore and the birds flying about the sky brought him to consciousness. Indeed, it felt as though he himself had fallen from the sky and landed there… The journey to destroy the Light Ravager had finally ended…but it had just started the journey of Takua…

+ 2 hours The female Vortixx perched atop a pile of rubble calls out to me.“Toa, we have contacts!” Barely any time has passed since the tremor. What is going on now! “What can you possibly mean? Don’t tell me the pirates sent scouts ahead!” “Uh, no Tignioni,” she reports. “Unidentified beings on foot, coming over the mountain rise from further inland. We have no idea what or who they are. We’re taking no risks. I’ve requested that villagers be prepared to fight.” “Hand me that,” I order, gesturing to the handheld telescope she has. I look through it and see – No way! How could they possibly be here? “Tell them to stand down! These are… they’re friends of a sort. I helped them a long time ago and I have no idea why they are here or what their plans are, but I might be able to get them to help us. This might be just what we need.” Like I said, I have no idea why they are coming. The tall, glimmering warriors that approach are a group I last saw over one hundred years ago... or was it two hundred?. I’ve lost track of the time that has elapsed. I met them on my travels to hunt down the Light Ravager. They call themselves the Crystal Sect, and, if I can call in a favor with them, Modos might just stand a chance. The Crystal Sect was involved in one of the strangest incidents along my travels. Following rumors, I found what were reputed to be survivors of a Light Ravager attack. When I got there I found these warriors who seemed to be covered in crystalline protodermis. Indeed, such is the case. Their armor is an amalgam of crystalline and metallic protodermis, primarily the crystalline form. In appearance, the armor is very organic. The Light Ravager had come, but they were immune to its attacks. Apparently, the light-based attacks of the Ravager were harmlessly refracted and reflected by their armor. Obviously, there was little I could do to harness this knowledge as a weapon against the Ravager, but it was interesting news and it gave me hope. It was good to know the Light Ravager was not omnipotent. Unfortunately, there was a schism among the Crystal Sect right as I arrived and I had nothing better to do at the time. I determined what the situation was and ended up settling the dispute… with force rather than finesse. It had gone beyond peaceful options before I’d gotten there. I look up in front of me. They’ve just reached the outskirts and I rush to meet them. There’s maybe a dozen fighters among them. I can already recognize some faces. Their names, at least in my opinion, are all rather unusual. I suppose that’s what isolation does to a society. While they were aware of the rest of the world and new about major happenings, they mostly kept to themselves. “Zo’apt,” I call, seeing a Crystal Sect Shaman I recognize. “What are you doing here?” He stares at me strangely. “Do you remember me?” I ask. “Of course we remember you, Ti’ignioni.” Naturally. They always try to make my name like theirs, out of custom. “But the surprise is mutual. We came here because I have seen foreboding visions through the crystal leylines. Something is wrong with the world, Ti’ignioni, and the leylines have guided us to this spot. The earth is not at rest, and there is a reason for that. All our power depends on the health of the earth and the crystal; you know that. We need to fix this… upset of the natural balance.” The tremor. Of course. It must not have been natural. Whatever is happening to the crystal leylines that the Sect communes with, we are at its epicenter. “We just had a tremor here,” I offer. “It must be related. What do you know about this situation?” “Only that it is awful and we must stop it. Nothing more.” Wonderful. We have no idea what is going on, but it is disastrous and we are the only ones who can stop it… and we simultaneously have miners lost in the shafts and pirates inbound… wait, the pirates! “Zo’apt, we need your help, too, and badly. We have until sundown to prepare for an invasion of pirate marauders. We are impossibly outnumbered, but if your forces protect the civilians, we can save the inhabitants of this town. Look around you, Zo’apt, the devastation is absurd. They won’t make it without your help… Please, Zo’apt.” “Ti’ignioni, you have more than earned our allegiance after your help all those years ago. You didn’t hesitate to leap into a conflict that honestly didn’t concern you, just because you saw that we needed help. And here you are doing it again, helping others just because you can. Of course we’re with you.” Well, that’s relieving. I guess it’s good to have a friend once in awhile. I find Tol and explain to him that we have reinforcements the pirates will never expect. The odds are still against us, but things are improving. After that, I search for someone I know. There she is – ah, perfect, she’s talking with another Crystal Sect acquaintance of mine. “Neri’ict?” “Ti! We never expected to see you again. And you know you can call me Neri.” Neri’ict is a Shaper. The Shapers are Crystal Sect warriors that have become so attuned to crystal they have obtained abilities I can only describe as being what a theoretical “Toa of Crystal” might have. They don’t directly commune with the leylines like the few Shamans, but they’re something relatively close. “Fine, Neri. Do you remember that thing you did with the crystal back when we last met? How you used it to communicate? “Yeah, definitely. Oh, I see. I heard you were going into the shafts, alone. You want to be able to communicate with us up here, don’t you?” “Exactly.” A translucent crystal with a waxy luster shoots up from the soil and into Neri’s outstretched hand. After a moment of concentration on her part, it emits a flash, and she lobs it in my direction. “There. Now you don’t have to worry about getting lonely down there. ‘Cause I know you totally won’t be able to stand a few hours of separation after over 246 years roaming on your own.” Two-hundred-forty-six years? Has it really been that long since I last saw them? At her joke, the warrior next to her gives a gravelly laugh. His name is Mu’urdnoc. “Good to see you, too, Mu’urd–” “Mu. You think I’ll let you run around calling her ‘Neri’ while you get all official with me? Come on, Ti, it’s Mu.” Mu’urdnoc is a lumbering hulk, one of the Crystal Sect’s Stormers. The Stormers have used their connection with crystal for the sole purpose of enhancing their physical traits. While this does mean they forgo the ability to control crystal as if it were an element the way Shapers can, it means they can grow an excessive coating of rock-hard armor and some even grow natural weapons – crystal protrusions from their bodies that can be used with stunning lethality. Mu’urdnoc stays simple, however. He’s just settled for a nearly-impenetrable coating of crystalline protodermis and unnatural height. He fights with a massive crystalline falchion or his bare fists. On the matter of physical appearance, I should clarify that Neri’ict is an unusual Shaper. At a glance, it appears she has strapped long shards of crystal to her back. This is an erroneous assumption. Looking at her backside, one can see that they are actually fused to her body. In reality, she grew them out of her back after a painstakingly long amount of time spent in the Crystal Springs. The Crystal Springs are springs that naturally produce a chemical solution that encourages the growth of the crystalline armor and allows the warriors to become attuned to the crystals. The spikes are purely aesthetic and bear no combat enhancement. Then again, they do serve a utilitarian purpose. The spikes are skewed slightly at different angles, and for a very specific reason. She actually uses the spikes as a scabbard of sorts for her two crystal scimitars. Even now, I can see the two blades interwoven among the seven crystalline shards. Nevertheless, she did once boast about the spikes’ apparent beauty, so the aesthetic factor clearly does tally into the equation somewhere alongside this more practical purpose. Most of the workers are out of the mine shafts by now, but some are still trapped. I suppose that it’s time to finally make my descent. With a deep breath, I enter the sordid shafts. \ \ | | / /

...I thought I had proofread the first half of this epic. Must have been when I was half-asleep, as I am now. A lack of verb agreement and an ambiguous pronoun within the same sentence is not a good sign. I was going to do a copy-paste of the next portion right now, but I'm going to have to search for errors after noticing this (thanks to you). I'll put it up sometime tomorrow (it'll be a "today" by the time you read this considering I'm up so late right now - wasn't tired for a while but the fatigue just now hit me). And that is actually a promise for once! Not like my hundred-and-one intended goals I neved fulfill in terms of chapter releases...Anyway, I won't delay too much (I almost wrote "to" and we're talking about grammar. Ironic. Told you I was half-asleep). I know what it's like to be on the waiting end and I have been keeping this saga coming out in very slow and sporadic releases. I'm going to try and shape up my game. We'll see what happens. Be back tomorrow (or today, whatever...)!EDIT: Yeah, I was definitely half-asleep when I proofread this. Finding errors scattered throughout.

It's up!That's right, the spinoff is out!I meant to put up the conclusion today, but I just realized there was one last thing I needed to alter slightly. Mostly just a writing thing I want to sort out and clean up. In the meantime, I wanted to get you guys started out on this continuation. Enjoy!

Alright guys, here it is: The Sordid Shafts. This one-part epic is quite the opposite of Lightfall (the parent epic from which this is a spinoff): it takes place in one location over a continuous amount of time and is narrated in first person from everyone's favorite Lightfall Toa of Fire - Tignioni. We'll get a little glimpse at the ramifications of Tignioni's countless centuries of wayfaring and meet an entire race that guards one of the deepest and most wondrous secrets of the Matoran Universe. Are you ready to descend into the Shafts under the war-torn and devastated town of Modos? Or does fear of the Gorrellian Hounds and the impending return of piratical marauders leave you ready to flee? Whether you are prepared or not - the gaping earthen maw of the shafts awaits...Confused? Maybe you should catch up on Lightfall. The review topic can link you to all four parts.Pronunciation Guide:Tignioni - Tig-NYUN-eeTol - TOHLZo’apt – ZOH-APTTi’ignioni – Tee-ig-NYUN-eeNeri’ict – Nah-REE-EEKTMu’urdnoc – MYOO-URD-nokCytus - SITE-uhsCapila'aris - KAP-ih-LUH-AHR-issFuli'etor - Foo-LEE-AY-torElino'urtam - Eh-LEE-no-ur-TAM

[Review Topic] Prologue + 0 hours Modos was in a state of decay when I first arrived there. It had lost its previous defenders in a series of pirate raids. One had been abducted by the pirates for some reason none of the citizens could fathom, the rest had been killed. After that, well, that’s what I witnessed when I arrived: some archaic elemental called the Light Ravager shows up and blasts half the city into oblivion. They were desperate. As sure as I am the Fire Toa Tignioni, I was going to do something to help them. My team as a whole could never have afforded to stop on our task. It was our goal to destroy the Ravager and prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again. I was worried, though. What if, out of desperation, the townspeople here in Modos turned to the wrong people for help? I couldn’t abandon them. I’d been at my task for long enough. I left the others to finish the quest; I was staying behind. They weren’t going to make it with just one Toa as their entire defending force, however. I trained the townspeople how to defend themselves enough so that any one part of the town would be able to hold off attackers long enough for me to deal with the other fronts first. The villagers were more capable than you might expect. They aren’t all Matoran. We have a fair number of Vortixx that act as overseers and merchants. There aren’t many, but we have a few Steltians, including members from each level of the social ladder. Our elitist Steltians handle trade negotiation; the others remain local and rarely venture beyond Modos. It’s a good thing they can fight: I just wouldn’t be able to be everywhere at once in a major engagement. They learned well. It was pleasant work, teaching them. I enjoyed every day of it. That’s what brought me to today. And today is about to change everything for the devastated town of Modos. \ \ | | / / + 0 hours The leader of the town, Tol, is at my door. He speaks to me. “Tignioni, we’re going to need you soon. The pirates are back.” He looks at the floor. “The attack force is bigger than ever before. We don’t know why. They took out all our defenders last time. They don’t need the same amount of muscle to rob us blind anymore. You know what I’ve told you. They would charge in and send some of their numbers to preoccupy the defenders while the rest looted everything of value they could snatch. It’s bad. What do they want this time? To wipe us all out? Because they have the firepower to do it with no problem this time. I don’t know what to say.” He looks into my eyes. I see desperation there – hopelessness, too. He seems to think I’m going to give up on them and leave. That isn’t happening. “How far out are they? Did the sentries just find out?” He releases a sigh of relief, but then remembers that the odds are still hopelessly stacked against us. “Yes. According to the signals, we have until sundown before they make it here. It will be a night battle.” “Ok, spread the word. I need to formulate a plan to deal with this.” He looks at me like a dead man walking. I don’t blame him if what he says is true. The sentries are on a series of lookout posts. These tall towers are placed on the highest peaks of the surrounding mountainchains. They have telescopes that are used to survey the sea for impending marauders and mirrors to send light signals to one another. The farthest outposts are a long distance down the shoreline. That’s why the warning was able to make it here as soon as it did. It’s still the early morning. We have a whole day to prepare thanks to the well-organized system in place. \ \ | | / / “What I’m suggesting is that we take the scaffolding from the repair effort and lay it down horizontally, facing the direction of the attackers. Bolster it by using rubble – we certainly have enough of that lying around! – and you have a barricade.” I’m doing my best to organize an effort to erect a defensible perimeter along major venues in Modos. There will be no way to defend the entire area, so it’s going to be a matter of prioritization: get everyone to the most defensible locations, then hold those with everything we have. Anything hard to defend must be abandoned. We can always rebuild, but we can’t raise dead townspeople. “I will notify the workers,” drones a Matoran of Gravity. Many of the members of his elemental affiliation speak in such a manner, at least the ones around Modos. We have a major mining operation in Modos; it’s what supports our economy. We export ore, stone, and metals – even some precious minerals – all across the known world. The Matoran of Gravity work most of the shafts and perform a lot of the strenuous labor. Matoran of Plasma typically work the heated machines and manage the slag in refineries. They are more experienced in these functions. Suddenly, a major tremor racks the earth. I barely manage to stay on my feet. Luckily, there are few tall structures left on Modos that could be damaged by the tremor. It wasn’t really an earthquake, just an isolated... tremor that passed by like a shockwave. Almost immediately, I see a Matoran of Plasma running towards me from the entrance to our mining shafts. “Tignioni, Toa, protector, Tignio-” “Calm yourself,” I say. “What’s going on down there?” “The shafts, Toa! We think they’re all about to collapse. Everyone down there might die! Please, Toa, please; you have to do something. Toa-” “Don’t worry, my friend,” I say attempting to mollify this distraught Matoran. “There is nothing I can do to help fight the pirates until they get here. I will attend to the mines in the meantime. Tell those that are able to get out to evacuate the mines. I will come soon to rescue the ones that are trapped.” “Thank you, Toa, thank you!” I stop for a moment to collect my thoughts. I’ll give the evacuation process some time to get underway before I rush into the shafts. Until the majority has gotten themselves out, I’ll only get in the way. This is an unforeseen complication. Now I will have to descend into the mine shafts, get the Matoran miners out, and then return to the surface, all before sundown as the Matoran need me to protect them from the pirates. In Modos, I snidely remark to myself, there is never a simple situation. \ \ | | / /

Woah, BS01 has swallowed its own words since I last checked. I need to stop using it so much as a reference. "Ni-" definitely is not a canonically accepted prefix as of the current day. I need to remember to stick with concrete paper references when possible, since - as reliable as it usually is - BS01 still is a division of Wiki and can occassionally have fallacious or non-canon info leaking in. Not paper made of concrete, of course. Just paper references that possess what we concretely know to be canon. I think just invented a word. Con...crete...ly. Huh.Oh yeah, Ancient can't do the portal-thingy; that's Botar. I still think it would have been way funnier if it had been Ancient. I have no idea why, I just do. I think that may have been the one part of your epic where comic relief didn't lead me to chuckle or have a tongue-in-cheek moment, I was just outright laughing. Oh no, wait - I laughed all silly-like when Ilikia was being antagonized by her former comrades. (Something about only having to hook her up to a capacitor to power the entire village? Yeah, that would have been it.) OK... that's what I thought. Just didn't want to blurt out my "great epiphany" and awkwardly be told that they were not among the members of Ehlek's species. That could have been more explicitly stated (if you want more criticism, since I'm too kind!), but yes, I did guess as much, but I felt unsure. Oh course, I did blurt out my Ancient cameo epiphany... and uh, so yeah. Whatever.Nothing wrong with the equally lengthy reply, by the way. Normally, you would get the chance to make little replies as necessary to my points over the course of reviewing during posting. But with one mega-review at the end, you had to do this to explain things.Anyway, your opening words - "lively and wondrous" - that sums up the whole work. I'm done here! Time to move on and into your later works!