TNTOS

I'm not a very good artist and geography is not my strong suit, so no, I don't draw pictures of my characters or maps of my worlds. No reason to.Well, I did draw a map of the universe of one of my stories, but I am pretty sure it breaks a lot of rules of astronomy, heh.-TNTOS-

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head, Ced. Glad you enjoyed it so much . Although I would like to address a few points:

Despite the title of the Almighty Ones, it is clear that they are not All-Powerful Ones, and that they are still learning to comprehend life and interacting with it. Theirs is a tale that outlines the danger of hubris and the harm it can bring. They have a voice of regret, shame, insecurity, and most importantly, desire. They long for the power to undo their mistakes, while the conclusion of Dimension Hoppers seems to say that we have to go on with our lives. We should remember the past, but not remain fixated on it, and in turn, allow it to control us.

That is pretty much it. I loved writing the Almighty Ones, for even though they're so powerful they're still so helpless, in a way. I just thought it would be neat to write god-like characters who have no confidence in themselves (and for a farly good reason, too).

In the final lines, we are left with an ambiguous answer to what the future will bring. There is still a lingering obligation to one's duty, but there is a hint that this task will be left behind at some eventual point…or not. We aren't told, and I think there's meaning to that. It doesn't matter. Rather, it pales in comparison to what is really important: the present. The past is gone, the future is always on the way, and we need to focus on the here and now - because that's where we live. Not in a palace, not out at sea, not dimension hopping, but we live at home, doing what we are required to do.

Well, this isn't the last we've seen of Kiriah or the Almighty Ones, if that's what you meant. Both will appear in an epic I am currently planning, Dawn of the New Century, although you put it so eloquently that I almost hesitate to do so. Still, I have plans for them and I will go ahead with those plans anyway, although I think I will keep DiH's ending in mind to as to not somehow mess it up, heh.Thanks for the in-depth review, Ced. It's a real honor to have my work analyzed like that, like a college literature class studying one of the great classics such as Shakespeare or Homer. Really appreciate it .-TNTOS-

A good chapter, but the word "troop" annoys me for some reason. I would use "soldier" when referring to individuals, although I think "troops" works when referring to multiple people. I guess just use whatever you want.Anyway, can't wait to see what Lewa, Tahu, and Drarak get into on the moon. Maybe they'll meet the moon people, heh.-TNTOS-

Thank you for the in-depth review, Velox . Though I would like to address a few things:

The beginning was good, but I do have one suggestion: Try to flesh out the attack on the village. Nothing makes for a good, gripping start than some thrilling and moving action -- just a couple sentences describing the devastation unleashed by Makuta would do it (and the outcome of such). I really like to go into emotions when writing/reading, and this is a perfect opportunity to do so. Make the reader cry if you can at the horribleness of what Makuta did to these people. Of course, it is BZPower, so you can only go so far, but still. =P

Were this an epic, I definitely would have fleshed out the attack on their village, but I didn't see it as being extremely important to the story except as an explanation as to why Mohadias and the Matoran were on the run.But you are the second person (the first being a beta) who told me to flesh out the opening, so maybe I should have fleshed it out. Worth thinking about, anyway.

On the topic of characters, I also would liked to have seen more of them. They seem like interesting characters, but they weren't quite fleshed-out enough. Most notably the Turaga and the Toa team. For the Toa, I understand this is all told from the Turaga's perspective, and therefore impossible to put thoughts, feelings, etc., but I still would have liked to have seen more of them. I guess this goes back to the shortness of the story; maybe just fleshing out the legend would fix this.

The legend of the Toa Avha is already fleshed out somewhat in my other BIONICLE fics (such as my most recent one, Dimension Hoppers), so I didn't think I would need to flesh it out. But of course not everyone who read this story has read my other fanfics, so I probably should have made it longer and more detailed.

As for the Turaga, I know it's a short story, but I've always been a stickler for characters. As such I have to mention this. I thought the Turaga was quite interesting, and he makes a great character -- so much so that I simply want to see more of him; I want to know him better, if you will. And the Matoran, too -- you add a little bit of romance in here, but you don't really expand upon it. Again, yes it's a short story, but I'd still like to see more. Maybe that's just me. =P

Glad you like Mohadias. I liked him, too. Maybe I could write another story about him sometime.I didn't really expand upon the Matoran because I didn't consider them as interesting or important as Mohadias (save Nurmaz, obviously). I mean, there were six Matoran and one Turaga; seven characters total. I never like to focus on more than a few characters at a time with my short stories, simply because none of them would ever get developed if I tried to focus on several characters at once. You still make a good point, though, one I will keep in mind for future short stories.

I thought the ending was very well done. It not only gives us an interesting perspective of Mohadias, but it moves the reader to sympathize with the situation of the story and the Matoran. It's always important to end on a good note, so good job there. And excellent ending.

I am so glad you liked the ending. That was the part of the story I worried about the most, but I guess it turned out well, so there you go.Again, thanks for the in-depth review. I really appreciate it and I will remember your advice the next time I sit down to write a short story (or any story at all, for that matter). Thanks .-TNTOS-

Takadox: It needs glaze. It’s sad.Nuhrii walked by and shot some glaze onto the donut.

So I guess I made the donut happy again or something?

The ship shook, and Zaktan and Vezok stopped fighting as the potted plant fell over and broke.-Vezon: IS THAT KAZA?!

I think in the first sentence you meant Vezon, for I am pretty sure Zaktan and Vezon were fighting. And in the second I think you meant Vezok because Vezok was the one freaking out, not Vezon.

Kaza, Brekit, Narra, and Nuhrii all ran out onto the battlefield, Kaza in his white armor, all firing elemental blasts and the blasters they’d been provided with, followed by the similarly armed other Bionicles.

No real problems here, but I just now realized that Narra sounds like a girl's name when I am pretty sure Narra is a guy. At least, I think Narra is. If not, then the name is appropriate.-TNTOS-

i am guessing this will lead into the next epici am glad you mentioned the visionsit always bothered me how the toa just had visions like that

Yes, the things mentioned in the epilogue will be important in Dawn of the New Century.In fact, I can confirm that Kafor will be a major character in Dawn, but that's all I am saying for now. Don't want to spoil too much.-TNTOS-

i dont no what to say about thisbut i dont like the turaga now

*Shrug* The agreement they came to wasn't perfect, which is the point. Or were you talking about the fact that they deceived everyone for 100,000 years?Either way, Klio and Kolora aren't perfect and definitely made some mistakes.-TNTOS-

Epilogue

A week later, Nasis was back on his feet. Although he was not in the best condition he’d ever been in, Agos had decided he was healed enough to be allowed out of his room. As long as he did not do anything physically strenuous, Agos had said, it would be all right for Nasis to go wherever he pleased on Tanjo Nui.

When Nasis had first left his room, Laomos had immediately shown him a portrait of how Nasis and Tajah had looked after the Toa and Chofier found them. It wasn’t that accurate, in Nasis’ opinion, for he did not remember Laomos standing in the midst of the shadows, shining light into every corner of the Chamber like some kind of giant light stone. Nor did he remember Raider looking almost exactly like a snake cowering in fear of Laomos’ light, either, although he did not mention any of this to Laomos, who assumed by Nasis’ silence that the Toa of Iron liked the painting.

The other Toa had acknowledged his revival in their ways. Noros merely grunted his approval that Nasis was back on his feet, while Kijaka muttered something about how Ahova spent too much time talking about Nasis. Kicho had been more than happy to give Nasis back full command of the team now. (“Noros and Kijaka are a little difficult to work with, Nasis,” Kicho had said after she pointed at a hole the wall that had apparently been created by Noros after he got angry about something.)

The Chofier had not acknowledged that Nasis was healed up. He had heard that Tajah had gotten well enough to walk a few days before he did. He guessed that was good, because Tajah had essentially saved his life when Raider had attacked them. Nasis had just sort of got in the way, although he did not say this to any of the other Toa. They still did not like the Chofier and probably would not have wanted to hear their leader thanking the leader of the Chofier for anything, nor admitting that Nasis had not actually helped much in the fight against Raider.

Nasis had been walking through the streets of Tuyar Akam, merely to get some exercise and see how things had been since his recovery period, when a Le-Matoran suddenly ran up to him, a small stone tablet in his hand.

Nasis recognized the villager as Tover, the official messenger for Turaga Klio. The Le-Matoran always delivered important messages for Klio. Sometimes the messenger even delivered messages to people in other lands, all by himself, which made him pretty brave in Nasis’ eyes.

“Toa Nasis,” said Tover, bowing quickly before holding out the tablet. “Turaga Klio has a word-message for you.”

“Thanks,” said Nasis, moving to the right to allow a Tagiki to pass.He took the message and read it. It said this:

Nasis,I, Turaga Klio, Baiji Kolora and Chofier Tajah will be inspecting the Temple of Time today, in order to tighten security after the Dark Hunter attack. Please meet us at the entrance of the Temple within the next hour or so.From, Turaga Klio, leader of the Matoran of Tanjo Nui, former leader of the Toa Avha.

“Sounds reasonable,” said Nasis as he handed the tablet back to Tover. “Tell her I’m on my way.”

“Yes, sir,” said Tover, bowing.

With that, Tover was off.

Nasis stood there for a minute before turning to head toward the Temple. He was going to take an alternate pathway, one that would take a little longer than the path he thought Tover would take. He wanted to enjoy the scenery of Tanjo Nui a little bit more before having to return to the Temple, which he dreaded seeing again. Not that the Temple itself was a bad place, but he still needed some time to recuperate from Raider’s attack. The Temple would just bring back bad memories of a week ago, which he wanted to put off for as long as possible before he had to face them again.

-

Nasis walked alone through the forest between Tuyar Akam and the Temple before he stopped and listened. He thought he’d heard someone’s footsteps behind him. Was someone following him?

Then another thought occurred to him: What if it’s Raider? What if he’s still on the island and has come to finish the job? The others said that they hadn’t caught him, after all.

A long metal spear and an iron shield appeared in his hands as he listened for the noise. Whoever it was, Nasis wasn’t going to be taken by surprise that easily. If it was Raider, he’d go all out. He had already seen Raider’s power firsthand and didn’t plan to lose this time, especially since defeat would mean death this time.

Nasis turned slowly around and pointed his spear – which had an extra sharp tip – toward the trees and bushes of the forest. “All right, whoever you are, come out. There’s no reason to sneak around anymore; I know you’re there. You can’t fool me by hiding like that.”

At first, there was no answer from within the green trees and bushes. The wind blew in, causing him to shiver, but he didn’t turn or run. Whoever was there, he needed to deal with right now. If it was Raider, then he really did have no choice but to fight.

He saw a shadow moving in the trees and quickly took up a fighting stance, shield raised over his chest. Raider wouldn’t be able to hit his heart with his extra thick shield in the way, he knew. He waited . . . and then the figure emerged from the greenery.

To his surprise, it was a familiar orange and white female Skakdi, with a tri-bladed sword at her side. She looked extremely grim, like she really didn’t like being here.

It was Kafor, the same Skakdi Nasis and Ahova had meet in Stelt. What she was doing here, on Tanjo Nui of all places, Nasis had no idea.

“Kafor?” asked Nasis, although he did not lower his weapons. “What are you doing here?”

“Trust me, Toa, I did not come here because I wanted to see you,” said Kafor roughly. “I came here because Tanjo Nui is the only place where I can safely hide from the Dark Hunters. That is why.”

“But why are you hiding from the Dark Hunters?” said Nasis in confusion. “Why are they after you?”

“Apparently they learned that I sold you info on them back on Stelt a few weeks back,” said Kafor. “They sent a couple of guys to kill me. Fortunately my friend at the Tarakava’s Fist caught wind of them before they arrive and told me in advance what they planned to do to me. So I left Stelt for here, where I thought I would be safe for now.”

“You think we’ll protect you?” asked Nasis.

“Yes,” said Kafor, nodding. “Because you and your friends are Toa and Toa don’t turn down those in need. But that doesn’t mean I’ll like it here, though. Zakaz was much better, in my opinion.”

Nasis had heard descriptions of Zakaz before and it definitely did not sound as good as lush and green Tanjo Nui. But he didn’t say anything to contradict Kafor.

Instead, he said, “Well, if you’re going to be here-“

“I promise not to . . . ah, get in the way too much,” said Kafor, one hand on her heartlight. “I will find some remote or secluded place. I’ll be so quiet you won’t even know I’m here.”

Nasis highly doubted that, but he shrugged and said, “Are you asking my permission to stay here? Because you’d better ask Klio and Kolora if that is the-“

“Not necessarily,” said Kafor, shaking her head rather vigorously. “I don’t need permission from a couple of old bats to live where I wish. Rather, I came to you specifically because I had a troubling vision of the future.”

Nasis nodded skeptically. “A vision of the future. Really.”

“It is not at all strange, Toa,” Kafor insisted. “On Zakaz, there are legends of the Seer, a being granted the power to see the future by Mata Nui himself. If I am not mistaken, your own people have a similar legend, except narrowly applying it only to yourselves.”

“And you think you are the so-called Seer?” asked Nasis. “How do you know you’re not just going crazy?”

Kafor shook her head and walked over to a large tree, which she leaned against. “I don’t know for certain, Toa. All I know is that I occasionally have glimpses of the future that have turned out to be more or less accurate. I have predicted events such as the Toa-Dark Hunter War, the Great Cataclysm and the subsequent war between the Dark Hunters and Brotherhood of Makuta. No one ever believed me, even when events happened exactly as I said they would. Thus I usually remain quiet about my visions, but this vision I saw involves you, I believe, and thus you should know about it.”

Skeptical as Nasis was he became more interested when Kafor mentioned that he was involved. “Really? What do I do?”

Kafor shrugged. “My visions are rather general. All I saw was you – or someone who looked like you, anyway – chained up and watching a being of shadow fighting a white-robed being. What was even more disturbing was that I saw myself aiding the shadow being, but why I cannot say. My visions tend to be like that; they only show generalizations, rather than specific events or the reasons why these events are happening.”

“You’re right,” said Nasis, shaking his head. “That is general. I have no reason to believe you, Kafor.”

“And I have no reason to trick you, Toa,” Kafor shot back. “Listen: Do you not remember how I acted when I first met you and Toa Ahova? I was not at all shocked to see you two, if you noticed.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” said Nasis. “So are you saying-“

“That I predicted you would come to me at some point?” Kafor finished for him. “Yes, Toa. A week before you two arrived I was given a vision of your arrival at my house. I could only guess it would mean the end of my time on Stelt, which is another reason I came here. My visions are always correct, if a bit unclear at times; for instance, I did not know why you two would be coming to see me, even though I knew you were going to meet me at some point.”

“Right,” said Nasis, still skeptical.“But that is beside the point,” Kafor said. “The point I am trying to make here is that I believe something big is about to happen, almost as equally big as the Great Cataclysm. You and I and someone else – who, I don’t know – are going to be involved in it. I don’t know when it will happen, but it will happen at some point. I have no idea what all of this means. I can only hope it won’t spell doom for us all.”

“I don’t like the sound of doom, but I think you’re being rather melodramatic,” said Nasis, now tapping his foot impatiently. He was almost late for his meeting with the elders at the Temple; he really didn’t want to waste any more time talking about the future to Kafor of all people. “Where Toa are, doom rarely follows.”

Kafor shrugged. “Toa were present in Metru Nui when the Great Cataclysm occurred, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that that is true, Nasis.”

“Yeah, but the universe is still standing,” Nasis pointed out. “Now I really have no more time to spend talking with you. I have to be somewhere and I am sorry but I cannot spend any more time talking to you.”

“Wait a moment, Toa,” said Kafor, holding out one hand. “I want my payment. I got you the information you wanted. I want my gold armor now. Didn’t order my Nui Rama to take it because I was already here when he delivered the info to you; I figured I could get the armor myself once I found you.”

“I don’t have it on me right now, sorry,” said Nasis, shaking his head. “I will deliver it to you later, especially because you’re on Tanjo Nui now.”

“Make some for me right now,” Kafor said, folding her arms. “You’re a Toa of Iron, aren’t you? Can’t you create some gold armor for me right now?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“It will be more convenient than giving me the suit of armor later,” Kafor insisted. “Besides, I don’t want anyone to know where I live on this island. Give me the armor now and I won’t bother you ever again.”

“I don’t want to make a whole new suit of armor for you when I just spent weeks making one for you already,” Nasis told her. “Look, if you don’t want anyone to know where you are, I will deliver the gold armor to you at this spot tomorrow morning.”

Kafor looked like she was thinking whether she should trust him, then said, “Okay, Nasis. I will be waiting here tomorrow morning, then. Make sure you bring the full suit here. I will take it and you will probably never see me again.”

“All right, then,” said Nasis. “We have a deal. Now I have to get going. See you . . . Actually, I am not sure I’ll see you later if you’re telling the truth.”

Kafor merely smiled, as though amused by Nasis’ confusion. “Oh, I will make sure to keep out of your way, Toa. I am a quiet Skakdi.”

Before he could say anything, Kafor was gone, running off deeper and deeper into the woods until she was completely out of sight. He just stood there for a second, looking at the spot where the Skakdi had stood, before turning around and continuing his journey to the Temple.

As he walked, his thoughts were on Kafor. He dismissed her predictions as nothing more than simple, lucky guesses. He knew there would be nothing as terrible as the Great Cataclysm happening in the future. There were no signs that such a thing was going to happen any time soon. He saw no reason to worry.

There were no signs that the Great Cataclysm was about to happen before it did, though, his mind said. So maybe Kafor is on to something after all . . .

His thoughts also strayed to the vision she had shared with him. Kafor had told him that she and someone else were fighting a white-robed being. Nasis had seen a white-robed being in his dreams a few weeks ago. Could they be one and the same? Could Kafor really see the future after all?

The thoughts sent a shiver down his spine, but he shook it off. Nasis ran, ignoring Kafor’s warnings. He thought about Ahova, about Kiriah, about the rest of the Toa Tanjo, even about Laomos’ bizarre drawing from earlier. Anything but Kafor’s prediction. It probably wouldn’t come true. It was just speculation; nothing more or less. He had nothing to worry about but getting to the Temple on time.

Review Topic.

Chapter 20: A Decision

It had been three days since I and Isarot’s corpse had returned from our dimension-hopping trip. As I sat in a chair at the funeral service we were holding for Isarot, I thought back to the events that had lead to this point.

As it turned out, the Almighty Ones had teleported Isarot and me to the beach that was located right behind the Temple of Time. Coincidentally enough – or perhaps not-so-coincidentally – Turaga Klio, Baiji Kolora, Toa Nasis, and Chofier Tajah had been inspecting the Temple at the time, which allowed me to easily find them.

I well-remembered how shocked those four had been to see me dragging a dead Isarot behind me, especially considering how we seemed to have come out of nowhere. After I hastily replaced the Time Stone in its rightful place (making mental notes to improve security around it later), I sat down and explained to the four of them what had happened on our dimensional journey, the true identity of the thief, and how Isarot died. I even briefly explained the Almighty Ones as well to help them understand Darranas’ motives.

Klio and Kolora were silent for a long time after I finished, refusing to explain to an enraged Nasis and Tajah why they had lied about Darranas for so long. I had never seen Nasis – who had greeted me with a hug, by the way – look so angry before in my life. Clearly he had felt betrayed by Klio and Kolora, which was evident even now, three days later, for I saw he sat as far away from the two of them as he realistically could, not even bothering to look at the elders.

Finally, Klio had said, without looking at any of us, “We have no excuse for keeping the true history of Darranas hidden from you all. It is only because . . . because he had been a close friend to both of us. We simply couldn’t imagine our heroic Toa Darranas going down in history as a villain. So we made up legends about him or exaggerated the stories that already existed about him until it was impossible to tell fact from fiction anymore.”

“We were fools,” Kolora had admitted with her face in her hands. I had never seen her look so weak and sad before. “Fools above all of the other fools. We were given an even greater incentive to keep the true Darranas a secret because we believed him to be dead. We reasoned that if he was not alive, then no one would ever discover – or need to discover – the truth.”

“The only other ones besides us who knew the truth were the rest of the Toa Avha,” Klio had said bitterly. “I had pleaded with Arcus, Omira, and the others to carry this secret to the grave. They agreed, although I do not believe any of them enjoyed having to lie about Darranas’ true fate.”

“With good reason!” Nasis had responded angrily. His scrap of metal that he always carried around had taken the form of a Toa showing off a very rude gesture at the two elders. “Why any honorable Toa would lie for so long, I cannot even begin to-“

“It troubles me that you were in on this plot, Baiji,” Tajah had said more calmly than Nasis, although his tone had sounded bothered just the same. “I do not know why you never told me this, for I would have kept it a secret unless you were to order me otherwise.”

“We have already apologized,” Klio had snapped, pointing at him angrily with her staff. “Getting angry at us will accomplish nothing. Understand that we both had . . . had loved Darranas at the time and could not think of letting his memory go down in history as a villain, even if it was true. We now realize it was a mistake, don’t we, Kolora?”

“We do,” Kolora had said in agreement. “It would have been wiser of us to tell you the truth before you set out, Kiriah, otherwise . . .” She had gestured at Isarot’s body.

“No,” I had said at the time, shaking my head sadly. “Even if you had told Isarot and me the truth, he still would have died. Besides, we would have thought he was dead anyway. It wouldn’t have done us much good even if you had been honest.”

“I am still infuriated,” Nasis had said. His mini-statue transformed into a warrior which brandished a small sword at the two elders. “Even if it would not have helped Isarot and Kiriah, it is still crazy. You deceived generation after generation of Matoran and Tagiki alike with the false tales of Toa Darranas. I do not know if I can forgive you for that.”

“You do not have to forgive us,” Klio had said, shaking her head. “But do realize we will have to inform the rest of Tanjo Nui about Isarot’s death, especially to the Tagiki people. They would demand to know what happened to him and I doubt we could keep lying to them for long.”

“You mean you couldn’t make up a lie to cover it?” asked Nasis harshly. “If you explain Isarot’s death, then you will also have to explain the theft of the Time Stone, which we’d kept a secret from everyone here for the whole four weeks Kiriah and Isarot were gone. We might get into big trouble if we tell them we lied to them about the status of the Time Stone.”

“I was gone for four weeks?” I had asked in amazement. “Surely it couldn’t have been more than a couple of days?”

“Time travels at different rates in different dimensions,” Klio answered quickly. “A day may pass in one dimension, while in another one thousand years may have passed. I thought you would have learned that during your travels.”

Then, turning to Nasis, she had said, “You raise a good point. The inhabitants of Tanjo Nui may distrust us if we inform them of the truth. And if do we that, then surely beings in other parts of the universe would soon learn of this tale and come to our island for their own reasons. It might raise so much controversy that Kolora and I would end up losing our jobs as top elders.”

“I never thought of that,” Kolora had said, looking terrified. “There is already so much tension between our two peoples; why, if they learn the truth, then only the Great Spirit knows what could happen. It might mean the end of our island’s civilization, for Toa Darranas is an important hero to both of our peoples. I think it would be for the best if we at least altered certain parts of the story so no one would know of Darranas’ identity.”

“So you’re going to honor Isarot’s memory by lying about the identity of his killer?” I had asked, unimpressed at the time. “You’re just going to say he was killed by some interdimensional thief and leave it at that?”

“Well, his real identity isn’t important, is it?” asked Tajah slowly. “I mean, that is what really happened, right? An interdimensional thief really did kill Isarot, so simply ignoring Darranas’ name wouldn’t hurt anything, would it?”

“Tajah, why are you suggesting this?” Nasis said as his metal statue transformed into a Tagiki that looked surprisingly like Isarot. “Aren’t you bothered by their lying? How will more lies solve the problem?”

“Although I believe honesty is a virtue, I also believe certain virtues must be ignored for the greater good at times,” Tajah had answered. “I don’t want our island erupting into civil war due to their trust in their leaders being broken, do you? Besides, it won’t technically be a lie anyway. The only thing we’ll censor is the real identity of the thief. We’re not denying Isarot died, right? We simply won’t honor the thief by telling everyone his name.”

I had felt extremely angry at that at the time. Even though Tajah had said they wouldn’t deny Isarot’s death, somehow it had still felt wrong to me. Looking back, there wasn’t much reason to be angry. It was better that Darranas not be mentioned or remembered. He wasn’t the hero who had died nobly saving the universe; Isarot was.

But I still had said, “But are we going to continue to let people think of Darranas as a hero? He was a villain. He killed Isarot and tried to kill me and planned to annihilate the entire multiverse. How can we let our peoples go on thinking he was the greatest hero of all time when we know for a fact that he wasn’t?”

Klio had looked troubled, but said, “Think of it this way, Kiriah. Although we know the Darranas of reality to be a villain, we can perhaps work to make sure that the Darranas of legend is different. He was how the real Darranas should have been; brave, heroic, kind, and willing to sacrifice his life to save everyone. We don’t have to acknowledge the real Darranas. The legendary Darranas can instead be a symbol of what all Toa should be, rather than a dark stain on our island’s history.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read or listen to another story about the ‘great’ Darranas without thinking about how the real Darranas killed Isarot,” I had answered sharply, so disgusted with Klio I wasn’t looking at her anymore. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it if we continue to produce stories about how amazing and awesome Darranas was, when in reality he was a psychopath who cared for no one but himself. It just isn’t right.”

“It’s either that or we lose the trust of the Matoran and Tagiki,” said Klio. “It would be difficult for us to lead our peoples effectively if all or even most of the population distrusted us. If they come to the conclusion that we haven’t told them everything, they may just revolt and overthrow us. It would be unwise for us to sacrifice the possible future of Tanjo Nui simply to make you feel more comfortable, Kiriah, although I do understand your feelings.”

“Won’t telling them this story be destroying their trust in you, though?” I had asked, bothered. “Even if you were to take out Darranas’ name, you guys kept the Stone’s theft a secret from the general public, right? Since no one knows the Time Stone was stolen, I think everyone will be nastily surprised by this tale.”

“I say we tell them anyway,” said Nasis, throwing an angry glare at Klio and Kolora. “Making up some cock-and-bull story about how Isarot died due to an accident or whatever would be dishonorable. If we tell them Isarot died, then we must tell them the Time Stone was stolen. Considering how far-fetched the story sounds, it wouldn’t surprise me if no one believed it at first.”

I could tell Klio and Kolora didn’t like it, but neither of them argued with Nasis. So Kolora had said, “Yes, that will do. We’ve been far too dishonest with this island’s peoples for too many years. In order to honor Isarot’s memory, we will tell them the truth of the Time Stone’s theft.”

“Except for Darranas’ identity,” Klio had said quickly. “That, at least, is something we must keep secret. It would cause even more of an uproar if they knew we lied about Darranas.” She looked at me and asked, “Is that all right with you, then, Kiriah?”

I wanted to argue about that, but I refrained from doing so. I knew it would be too much to ask them to also reveal the truth about Darranas. At least they were going to tell how Isarot died, even if they kept the identity of his murderer a secret. I secretly decided that someday in the future, I would make sure everyone knew the truth about Darranas. When that day would be, I didn’t know, but I would do it anyway.

For now, I had said, slightly reluctantly, “Okay. I suppose the thief’s true identity isn’t all that necessary. I’ll just try not to get sick in public whenever I hear a story about how awesome Darranas was. Can we also give Isarot a proper funeral soon, too?”

“As soon as possible, Kiriah,” Klio had said reassuringly. “He deserves it, after saving the multiverse.”

After that, the next three days seemed like a blur to me. Isarot’s body was taken to his room, where it was to be kept until a coffin could be constructed for it. Klio and Kolora sent out the message of Isarot’s death to the entire island, while Toa Nasis himself informed the rest of the Toa Tanjo of my return. (Tajah told the rest of the Chofier of my return as well.)

I was left alone in the Temple so I could mourn Isarot’s death, which didn’t make me feel any better. Still, I knew that any day now, once the message was out, people would be coming from all over Tanjo Nui to talk to me, which I wasn’t so sure I would be able to handle.

And come they did. At first, only a few beings came to talk to me, such as our Chronicler, a De-Matoran named Baciza, who had been sent by Turaga Klio to have our dimension-hopping quest written down in the annals of Tanjo Nui history. I spent the better part of a day recounting as much as I could remember about our adventures, much to Baciza’s confusion. Evidently no one had told him about our adventure or the theft of the Time Stone. His reaction of shock and confusion was a prelude to the reactions of the rest of the islanders.

After Baciza left, people started coming to the Temple of Time in droves, all of them asking me if there was any truth to the strange message the top elders had sent out to every part of the island. I tried my best to answer their questions and queries, but soon so many people kept coming that I was forced to retreat to a place where I had some peace and quiet from everybody (which turned out to be Turaga Klio’s tower).

Now it was the day of the funeral. Hundreds of beings – Matoran and Tagiki alike – had gathered for this event, although due to social conformities they kept themselves segregated from each other. On one side was the Matoran; the other, Tagiki. I didn’t like it, since I knew firsthand that Matoran and Tagiki could live peacefully together and even be friends. But because of the prejudices held by both sides, they kept away from each other.

There was not much talk in the crowd, for this funeral was a solemn event. However, even a cursory use of my telepathy powers revealed to me that there was much annoyance about the sudden revelation of the truth of the closure of the Temple. Most of them seemed skeptical of the supposed theft of the Time Stone, since there was little proof that it had happened besides Isarot’s corpse. I felt angry at them for their unbelief, for it seemed to me like they were suggesting Isarot had died for no reason at all.

The funeral itself was taking place just outside of the Temple, in the graveyard where deceased guardians of the Time Stone were generally buried. The place was so crowded that some people had to stand outside of the cemetery because there was no room for them. Meanwhile, Toa Kicho, Toa of Earth, had already created a suitable grave for Isarot thanks to her power over dirt.

Turaga Klio, Baiji Kolora, Tajah, the other three Chofier, Toa Nasis, and the rest of the Toa Tanjo, along with me, sat on chairs on an erected platform above the rest of the crowd. Normally I would have felt honored to sit beside the Toa Tanjo, but I was so distracted by the thoughts of everyone, the presence of so many people at one time, and my own misery over Isarot’s death that I did not pay much attention to any of the Toa in particular.
I just sat there trying to organize my thoughts, which was very difficult for me to do in my current state of mind.

There weren’t many decorations, mostly because this funeral was being held on such short notice. I didn’t care. Isarot wasn’t the kind of guy who liked things fancy and complicated. I remembered how he always preferred things simple and straight to the point. Making a funeral look like a party seemed awful inconsiderate anyway, in my opinion, considering what a funeral is supposed to be about in the first place.

Isarot’s coffin had yet to be brought out. I knew that, once his Tagiki brethren had finished preparing the body for burial, it would be brought out of the temple and then be buried after the eulogy. I hadn’t seen the coffin yet, although I knew that Toa Laomos, who was a pretty good artist, had helped design it under the supervision of Kolora and several other Tagiki who knew what a ‘proper’ Tagiki coffin ought to look like.

But as I looked over the Tagiki gathered in the cemetery today, I wondered whether Isarot ever really considered any of them brethren. After all, he, like me, had had to stay in the Temple all day every day. Neither of us was allowed to go out and socialize or visit friends unless given special permission from the elders. Had he, like me, felt separated from his people because he had been chosen for a job of supreme importance? I had never thought to ask him whether he had ever wanted to be a normal Tagiki and live among his people like anyone else. I had been so caught up in my own desires to be part of a real Toa team that it had never occurred to me that Isarot might have similar feelings or wants.

That’s not to say I didn’t know Isarot. Oh, no. I knew him very well, since we both had to live in the Temple all day, keeping it in shape, protecting the Time Stone, upholding our duties and occasionally assisting the Toa Tanjo or Chofier when necessary. It is difficult not to get to know a person whom you are forced to live with day in and day out, but I still felt bad for never asking him whether he had ever thought about what life would have been like had he not been chosen as guardian of the Time Stone. I suppose I had always assumed he never even thought about that, since he had always taken his job very seriously and showed little-to-no interest in having a social life outside of the Temple.

Instantly, everyone in the chattering crowd grew quiet. So did the Toa Tanjo, Tajah, and the top elders. I looked around, not sure what was happening, until I noticed the doors to the Temple had opened. I immediately knew that it was time.

Four Tagiki slowly descended the stone steps of the Temple, carrying between them an ornately carved coffin just about the size of Isarot, which made sense since Isarot’s corpse was inside it. No one said anything as the carriers walked down the aisle between the Matoran and Tagiki and climbed up the platform, which they put the coffin upon. There was absolutely no sound besides the wind that blew in from the west.

Then Baiji Kolora rose from her seat and walked over to a tall wooden podium. She looked over the crowd with her old, aging eyes, like she regretted everything she had ever done in her life. I thought that was a bit overdramatic, although perhaps it wasn’t totally unfounded, considering how badly she and Klio had lied to everyone.

“Fellow Tanjo Nuians,” Kolora began. “Today we honor the death of the Tagiki guardian of the Time Stone, Isarot, who died not only protecting the Time Stone, but also while saving the multiverse itself from destruction.”

There was some muttering in the crowd at this, its tone disbelieving. I wanted to go down there and beat up the guys who didn’t believe how Isarot died, but I restrained myself. Fighting wouldn’t accomplish anything, although I thought that Isarot, if he were still alive, would have walked straight down there and smacked whoever didn’t believe that or at least glare at them with those intense yellow eyes of his that would make anyone shut up.

“We know his death has came as a great shock to many of you, most of whom did not even know of the quest he and Toa Kiriah, the Toa guardian of the Time Stone, had undertaken to retrieve the Time Stone from an interdimensional thief,” Kolora continued, ignoring the disbelieving mutterings of the crowd. “But he did indeed die doing a noble thing, which I am sure is how he would have wanted to go out.”

For a moment I thought Kolora had glanced over her shoulder at me, as though wondering if I agreed. If she had, she must have done it very quickly for she was now speaking to the crowd again, as though she hadn’t done anything like that.

“Isarot was a brave warrior, one of the most courageous Tagiki guardians of the Time Stone which this island has ever seen,” Kolora went on. “He went on what was perhaps the most dangerous and unpredictable journey any being could ever go on. He had no way of knowing what lay ahead, yet he and Toa Kiriah went forth anyway without a hint of fear in their hearts.”

That wasn’t exactly true. I’d felt fear plenty of times while dimension-hopping, but I knew she was just trying to make Isarot and me sound good.

“And so we shall honor his sacrifice with a traditional Tagiki burial,” said Kolora, gesturing at the coffin. “Once his coffin is lowered into the ground, we shall set it ablaze to allow the Great Spirit to collect his body so he may live peacefully and wholly in the afterlife. But,” she added with a small smile, “I am sure that the Great Spirit will not waste any time making sure this hero’s body is reunited with its soul.”

She then turned to the Tagiki that had brought out the coffin and said to them, “Lower the casket into the grave. Then set it on fire.”

Nodding, the four Tagiki lifted the large coffin and slowly and gently lowered my friend’s body into the grave. I almost stopped them, for I wanted to get one last look at Isarot’s body before they burned it, but I knew that Tagiki never opened the coffins of their dead once the corpses were inside, so as to not disturb the body’s spirit. Isarot wouldn’t have wanted me to do that, but somehow I thought he would also have wanted to see me one last time before his body was burned.

Once the coffin was safely in the pit, a Tagiki in blue and purple armor named Henol stepped up to the grave. He prayed a silent prayer and then, raising his hands, fired a large bolt of fire into the grave, immediately filling the pit with roaring flames, its heat so hot I could even feel it from where I sat. I imagined Henol’s flames burning through the wooden coffin of Isarot, slowly burning up my friend’s corpse. Eventually Isarot’s body would burn to ashes and the grave would be filled with dirt and appropriately marked with a tombstone.

After that, Kolora spoke a few more words of praise for Isarot, but I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes were diverted to the orange flames which were consuming Isarot’s coffin in the grave. Isarot truly seemed gone now. I mean, I knew he had been dead for a few days (there was no way I couldn’t), but at this moment I realized he was truly, finally gone. I would no longer be protecting the Time Stone with him, nor would we hang out together in the Temple anymore. He would no longer tell me to stop dozing off when we were performing our daily rituals and I wouldn’t have to wake him up anymore whenever he slept in late. I would even miss how he had threatened to punch my Kanohi in if he found me reading his mind without his permission.

Yes, it was true Isarot would be replaced. Kolora would pick out a Tagiki to take Isarot’s position as official Tagiki guardian of the Time Stone. I doubted the new guardian would replace Isarot for me, but I supposed I could still be friends with him or her. I just wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get used to not having Isarot around anymore.

-

After the funeral service, I was in my room in the Temple of Time, lying on my bed, exhausted. All of the excitement of the past few days had finally caught up with me and now all I wanted to do was sleep. Turaga Klio had told me Kolora was already picking out Isarot’s replacement and was going to announce the new guardian within the week. That seemed a little too fast to me, but I understood how important the Time Stone was to the Tagiki and so I didn’t say anything against it.

There was a sudden knock at my door. I said, somewhat sleepily, “Come in.”

The door opened and in came Toa Nasis. I sat up perhaps a little too quickly as he closed the door behind himself. Wide awake now, I said, “Oh, Toa Nasis! What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Toa Kiriah,” said Nasis as he took a seat on a nearby chair. I noticed he didn’t have his little scrap of metal that he was so fond of playing with anymore. “I just came by to see how you were doing. I know you and Isarot were best friends, so his death must have severely affected you.”

I wasn’t so sure I wanted to talk about Isarot considering how sad I felt, but since Nasis rarely ever visited me I said, “Yeah, it did. I don’t know if I want to talk about it.”

“That’s okay,” said Nasis. “I lost a good friend of mine once, too, when I was a Matoran. I was badly affected and still haven’t gotten over it completely, although I suppose I don’t cry about it as much as I used to, heh.”

“I never knew that,” I said curiously.

“Well, now you do,” said Nasis. “Anyway, actually, there was something else I wanted to talk with you about in private. Something important.”

“What’s that?” I asked, leaning forward. “What’s so important that you have to talk to me about it in private?”

“Two things, actually,” said Nasis, as he straightened up in his chair. “The first is that Toa Ahova and I discovered, through our investigation, that the Dark Hunters were not connected to the theft of the Time Stone in any way whatsoever. In fact, they themselves heard rumors about the theft and sent one of their own men to Tanjo Nui to find out if the rumors were true.”

“Really?” I said. “Well, of course I knew the Dark Hunters had nothing to do with it, but the fact that they found out about it and even sent one of their own agents is surprising to me.”

“Yeah,” said Nasis, nodding. “They sent some guy named Raider, supposedly one of their best agents. Sure gave us a heck of a time while you were gone, but we managed to beat him and sent him back to the Shadowed One with his tail tucked between his legs.”

Knowing Nasis’ tendency to exaggerate things, I figured that meant that Raider had left the island only after the Hunter had learned everything he needed to. Didn’t say anything like that, though. I just listened.

“Anyway, I’ve got something else to tell you about, Kiriah, something I think you’ll be very pleased with,” said Nasis, smiling broadly.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Well, Kiriah, the rest of the Toa Tanjo and I have been having some serious discussions over past few days,” Nasis began. I saw his hands twitching, like he didn’t know what to do with his hands without his little statue. “We all agree that you displayed remarkable bravery and courage setting out on that quest to retrieve the Time Stone, more than the rest of us combined. We have now decided to offer you membership in the Toa Tanjo, if that is what you would like.”

As you can probably guess, my heart kind of stopped for a minute as I let those words sink in. Then I said quietly, “Wait, you mean you want me to join the Toa Tanjo? As a real, full-time member? Not honorary or anything?”

“Indeed,” said Nasis, nodding again. “You will be considered a full-time member just like the rest of us. You will get to go on missions with us, discuss potential threats to Tanjo Nui, train with us, and do everything else a member of the Toa Tanjo usually does. We believe you deserve it after all you’ve been through.”

“That’s great, but isn’t it against the rules for a Toa Time Stone guardian to be a full-time member of a Toa team?” I asked uncertainly.

“That’s why there is going to be a swap, Kiriah,” said Nasis. Then I noticed a new ball of metal had formed in his hand and was rapidly changing shapes now, too fast for me to identify them. “Toa Kijaka has offered to give up her place on the team if you want to join. She’ll take your place as guardian of the Time Stone if you choose to accept our offer. Turaga Klio has already approved the idea, since there are no ancient laws that speak against such a swap. So? What’s your answer?”

I vaguely recalled, before going on the dimension-hopping trip, how I thought volunteering to go would impress Nasis enough so that I would be allowed to join the Toa Tanjo. Of course, I had never believed it would actually work, but now here was Nasis, offering me to join, to become a full-fledged member of the Toa Tanjo, precisely because I had gone on such a dangerous journey and survived. It was almost too good to be true, yet it was one hundred percent genuine. If I said yes, then I’d be an official member of the Toa Tanjo, which had been my greatest dream ever since I had first become a Toa.

But then, before I could open my mouth and say yes, I hesitated. I remembered Isarot, who had always been happy with his job as a guardian of the Time Stone, even if it kept him from hanging out with other Tagiki too much. It occurred to me that he would probably not approve of me joining the Toa Tanjo. He would have wanted me to remain a guardian of the Time Stone until I retired or died, which is how he had chosen to live his life.

I didn’t have to follow in his footsteps, though, did I? Just because he had been satisfied with being a Time Stone guardian doesn’t mean I had to be. This could be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I was being offered here. If I said no now, would Nasis or any of the other Toa Tanjo ever offer me this again? It seemed too risky to say no if I did not know whether this was a one-time offer or not.

But . . . I had grown so attached to the Time Stone and this Temple. I had lived here for a long time and had risked my life to get the Time Stone. I had a feeling that, if I were to join the Toa Tanjo, I’d be coming here every day just to make sure the Stone is safe and sound, rather than enjoying my new life as a member of the team.

I also wanted to train the new Tagiki guardian. Chances are he or she would be very inexperienced. I knew that when I had been appointed new Toa guardian over the Time Stone I appreciated having Isarot – who had been guardian slightly longer than me – there to guide and train with me. He had helped me learn the ropes and to better understand what a guardian of the Time Stone really is. I figured the new Tagiki would want someone with experience to guide him or her and I was probably the best candidate for that job.

And yes, I still believed it was important to protect the Time Stone, despite knowing its true origin. I would have to be on hand for whenever the Almighty Ones might contact me again and where better a place to be than the Temple, where I had complete and open access to the Stone every day?

As much as I did not want to admit it, I realized that remaining a guardian of the Time Stone – at least for now – was probably the wiser choice to make.

So I said to Nasis, “Thanks, but no thanks. I think I’m going to remain guardian of the Time Stone for now. As much as I want to be a member of the team, I believe that protecting the Time Stone is far more important at the moment. Maybe you can ask me again in the future, but for now I am satisfied with my job.”

Nasis nodded, almost like he expected it. “I see. Well, if you ever change your mind, call me. See you later, then, Kiriah. I’ll tell the others you said no.”

The Toa of Iron got up and left, leaving me all alone in my room. I felt a slight tinge of guilt at saying no, but I also realized I had ultimately made the right decision. I would have to help the new Tagiki guardian learn what it means to be a true guardian of the Time Stone . . . and maybe, after that, I would rethink Nasis’ offer.

Review Topic.

Ra is completely unexpected, at least for me. Really didn't expect them to reprint the card so soon.-TNTOS-

Nuhrii: How’s that? Tasty enough for you?Lehrahk: No offense, but fail one-liner. What you SHOULD’VE said is-

I think that was a pretty good one-liner myself. And I am not saying this because Nuhrii was my character and I am therefore very defensive of him. Where did you get that idea ?Good chapter over all. Season Two as a whole was decent and I am interested in seeing what Season Three will be like.-TNTOS-

not much to say about this chapter but it was goodsoooooooooo...keep up the good work

Thanks .-TNTOS-

well first i looked it up on the bionicle wiki and it said they can only have one maskbut in the first book i think kopaka questioned if his new mask covered his old masks powersas for the books i will message you because its off topic

You have remember at that time the Toa Mata (olds whatever you want to call them) could change mask powers. I think that power was limited to them.I haven't caught up with the story lately life seems to have me in its choke hold. I'll see if I can review it sometime.Nice to see you got an avatar, no me and Ced are not the only ones who've posted here with avatars. Yay.

I am a fairly sure any Toa can switch out masks over long distances, as long as they have a Suva to hold their masks they aren't using. Could be wrong, though.-TNTOS-

Fire flew out of the hole, singing Kaza’s Toa Simulation Suit as some explosion came from the room down there.

Um, I think you meant singeing, as the sentence doesn't really work with "singing" (unless it's part of the humor, although I am not sure that's the case here).

Then Carapar, who also ate one hanger, and Mantax. Luckily, there’d been an extra hanger because Pridak had anticipated this kind of situation.

Clever.Anyway, good chapter. Lots of cryptic Great Being talk at the beginning, but that's not a problem (unless you never elaborate on it, that is).-TNTOS-

first of all you were right about the masks (now the first bionicle book confuses me)hen we believe it is time for you to go home now,then! not female chickenthis chapter reminded me of my favorite wrighters (Bryan Davis) current booksespecially the part about the ally

I figure each writer portrays how Toa handle multiple masks differently, so I am technically not "right" in the sense that my way is better than how another writer does it. I just thought did it the most dramatic and logical way possible, or at least what I thought dramatic and logical. That's all.Ah, I did not see that spelling error. I will definitely edit that. Thanks .Bryan Davis? I've never heard of him before. Any books of his you would recommend me to read?-TNTOS-

Chapter Ten

 

“He’s going to be okay.”

“Really?”

“Yes. He was badly wounded, of course, and those bullets were difficult to remove, but he’s recovering rapidly thanks to the Mask of Healing.”

“Oh, thank the Great Beings.”

“He still needs to rest, though, so don’t go dragging him out of bed for another week at least.”

“Sure, sure. I’m just glad to hear he’s all right.”

All of these voices sounded strange to Nasis, like each word was being sounded out very slowly so he could understand easier. He felt warm and comfortable and did not want to wake up. He momentarily wondered why he was in bed until, without warning, all of the memories from last night returned to him. The ambush at the Temple . . . Raider . . . he and Tajah nearly dying.

His eyes suddenly flew open. He took a deep breath of air. His lungs felt itchy and worn, like he had run for a very long time without rest or drink.

At first, his vision was blurry until he shook his head. Then he could see that he was in a small stone room paneled with metal. He noticed a work bench with loads of tools on it and on the opposite wall a rack of weapons. He realized he must be in his own room, which meant he was not dead, fortunately.

He also noticed a handful of beings standing inside the doorway, clearly having a discussion. He blinked hard and realized the beings were a Toa, a Tagiki, a Turaga, and a Matoran. He wasn’t sure who they were, though, but he knew that they were the beings he had heard speaking earlier.

“Hey, look,” said the Toa excitedly, who had the gray and blue colors of a Toa of Magnetism. Nasis realized it was Ahova. “He’s awake!”

The four beings entered his room quickly and Nasis suddenly felt claustrophobic. His room wasn’t very big and there wasn’t much room for so many beings, especially for the large Tagiki.

“Are you okay, Nasis?” asked Ahova as she drew closer to him. “You’re doing okay? Feeling good? Are you-“

“I’m okay, Ahova,” said Nasis, his voice very weak. “Just tired.”

“You should be,” said the Matoran, whom Nasis recognized to be the island’s doctor, Agos. “After what getting shot twice, I’d be surprised if you had the strength to do anything but sleep. Which is what you should be doing, you know.”

Nasis nodded and then looked at the Turaga. He recognized the Turaga as Klio, Turaga of Lightning and leader of the Tanjo Nuian Matoran. It was no surprise that she was here, for he knew that Klio would probably want to hear all about Raider’s attack from last night.

“Good to see you are awake, Nasis,” said Klio approvingly. “It is even better to see that you are still alive.”

“Yeah,” said Nasis, his voice still weak. “But Tajah-“

“Is healing well, Toa Nasis,” said the Tagiki, who towered above the others. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lifero, deputy leader of the Chofier. Tajah ordered me to come here to check on you, for he wanted to make sure his efforts to keep both himself and you alive were not in vain.”

“Guess it wasn’t,” said Nasis with a faint smile. “Unless I happen to be in some kind of bizarre afterlife, that is. How is Tajah?”

“As I said before, he is healing up from the bad injuries he sustained from the Dark Hunter Raider, just like you,” said Lifero.

Nasis nodded, but then realized he had about a million questions. Because he didn’t know what to start with first, he asked, “How long have I been out?”

“About two days,” said Ahova, holding up two fingers. “They were two long days for me and the rest of the Toa Tanjo, though. We’ve all been so worried about you, you would not believe it. Laomos even stopped reciting epic poems at random times we were worrying that much. Of course, he then started planning an epic poem about you if you died, but the point is we were all worried about you.”

Nasis liked the idea of an epic poem about himself, but he didn’t say that. Instead, he asked, “What happened after you guys burst into the Chamber of Time?”

“Well, we took you and Tajah out of the place as soon as we saw how badly injured you were,” Ahova said. “Noros and that one Chofier girl-“

“Iaras,” Lifero supplemented.

“Iaras, right,” said Ahova, nodding. “Anyway, they took off after that Raider guy, but he got away. We think he’s no longer on Tanjo Nui anymore, but we’re still looking.”

“They brought you and Chofier Tajah straight to me,” said Agos, pointing at himself, “for I was the nearest doctor at the time. Tajah is with a Tagiki doctor right now, but he did thank me for helping him. We had to perform a little bit of surgery on you two – you guys were full of bullets – but thanks to the Mask of Healing your wounds have mostly healed.”

“So I’ve only been out for two days?” asked Nasis. “Is that all?”

“Pretty much,” said Ahova, nodding.

“That’s not all,” said Turaga Klio. She pointed at Ahova’s face and said, “Ahova here used her Mask of Healing to help speed your healing process up. From what I’ve been told, she hasn’t left your side since.”

Ahova looked a little embarrassed as she said, “Oh, that’s just a big exaggeration Turaga. I didn’t spend all of my time with him. Agos worked on him, too, you know.”

“Thanks for your help anyway,” Nasis said to Ahova. “You and Agos did a good job fixing me up, I think.”

Agos smiled. Ahova looked even more pleased than the Matoran, at least to Nasis anyway.Nasis remembered something else. “Oh, have Kiriah and Isarot returned yet?”

“Not yet,” said Klio, shaking her head. “If the Dark Hunters weren’t involved with the, ah, problem, then that means the guy they are chasing is probably behind it all.”

Nasis understood Klio’s vague speak perfectly. Agos hadn’t been told about the Time Stone’s theft or of Kiriah and Isarot’s dimension-hopping journey to track down the thief whom had stolen the Stone in the first place. In fact, the general public did not know of the incident. This was done to prevent the people from panicking, for everyone still believed the Time Stone was safe and sound in the Temple. Whether it was better that way was another question, but because it was still supposed to be a secret Klio could not speak explicitly around Agos.

Agos looked slightly confused and asked, “Turaga, what are you talking-“

“It is nothing you need to know about, Agos,” said Klio, patting the Ta-Matoran on the shoulder. “It is unimportant right now.”

“Uh, sure, Turaga,” said Agos, nodding, although he still sounded curious. “Anyway, I think you all should leave Nasis alone right now.”

“Why?” asked Ahova.

“He needs rest,” Agos insisted. “The Mask of Healing healed up most of his wounds, so he just needs some rest now, with minor applications of the Kanohi Inino every now and then.”

“I can get up,” Nasis insisted as he tried to sit up and failed. “Okay, maybe I do need a little rest.”

“Then everyone, out,” Agos ordered. “Doctor’s orders.”

Lifero left first, followed shortly by Klio, who promised to keep Nasis informed and up-to-date on any news regarding the Time Stone (which she merely referred to as the ‘problem,’ much to Agos’s confusion).

Ahova left last. She had looked like she wanted to hug Nasis, but clearly she thought someone in his state might actually be hurt by a hug. So instead she patted him on the arm and then left, although Nasis would have preferred it if she had stayed.

“So just rest,” said Agos to Nasis. “You may be a big and strong Toa, but you still need to sleep. Also, keep drinking lots of water. Shouldn’t be difficult, since you have a Toa of Water on your team and all.”

“Right, doc,” said Nasis, nodding. “I can still use my elemental powers when I want to, though, right?”

Agos shrugged. “As long as it isn’t as powerful as, say, a Nova Blast – which would kill you if you used it now, by the way – it should be all right. Just don’t overexert yourself, okay?”

Nasis nodded again and then Agos departed, closing the door behind him as he left.

As soon as the Matoran was gone, Nasis held out his hand and a lump of metal formed in it. Then it transformed into a crude replica of the Dark Hunter Raider. He remembered feeling so helpless when Raider had struck. Nasis believed most of his ineptitude had been due to a lack of experience against Dark Hunters. Raider was the first Dark Hunter on Tanjo Nui since before the Great Cataclysm, although even during those 1,000 years the Tanjo Nuians had made precautions to keep the Hunters off the island.

As he began to relax in his bed, he recalled the old stories of why Dark Hunters were outlawed on Tanjo Nui. According to the legends, it had been shortly after the Dark Hunters’ organization was founded that the Shadowed One learned of the Time Stone and what it supposedly could do. The Shadowed One then sent two unidentified agents to steal the Stone, but was met with such fierce opposition by the Matoran and Tagiki of Tanjo Nui that they had been forced to retreat. One Dark Hunter had been caught and killed by the Tanjo Nuians, which caused the Shadowed One to ignore the Time Stone for many years.

Of course, as Nasis remembered the tales going, the Shadowed One did not give up that easily. He sent more and more agents over the years, even during such major events such as the Dark Hunter/Toa war on Metru Nui. Even though there would be stretches of silence in which no Dark Hunter tried to steal the Stone, the Shadowed One would always try again at some point or another.

Although he did not exactly like the Chofier, Nasis was thankful that they were also helping defend Tanjo Nui. The Dark Hunters were a powerful force and if the Shadowed One ever decided to simply try to seize the island like he almost did with Metru Nui and like he had done with the island of Shika Nui, the Toa Tanjo certainly would not be enough to stop the Hunters by themselves.

Of course, with the Dark Hunters’ most recent war against the Brotherhood of Makuta, he doubted the Shadowed One would ever try to seize Tanjo Nui, at least any time soon. He hoped never, but knowing the Shadowed One, he doubted that.

His thoughts then drifted to Ahova. She had been looking after him during his coma. The thought made him happy and he wished she was here with him right now, but he didn’t know whether to act on these feelings. Ahova was a teammate and a friend. He wasn’t even sure if she liked him back the same way, but Klio had said Ahova had never left his side, so perhaps she did like him back to an extent. He didn’t know, although he decided to keep an eye out for any hints of her feelings toward him just the same.

Review Topic.

Chapter 19: The Weeping Gods

I carefully laid Isarot’s corpse on the ground. I reached out and shut his eyelids. I couldn’t bear to look into his lifeless eyes any longer than I had to. It was just too painful.

Then I stood up. I noticed his axe lying not far away. It flew toward me via telekinesis and I caught it with ease. I then placed Isarot’s axe on his body and repositioned his arms to be holding it. It didn’t look very professional, but there wasn’t any need for it to. I just figured that, since Isarot had liked that axe, he would have wanted to be buried with it.

I felt empty as I looked at his corpse. He was dead . . . my best friend in the whole entire multiverse was dead. He had been killed by a merciless maniac and had suffered great pain before dying. I wished he were still alive, as much as I realized it was stupid, wishful thinking, but I was somewhat comforted by the fact that he had died happily. It was better than dying sad, anyway.

I had no idea where I was going to bury Isarot now. I couldn’t dig up the stone floor of this storehouse. I thought about taking him outside and burying him out there, but somehow I didn’t want to bury him in this dark, desolate and depressing land. Although Isarot was never the most happy-go-lucky type of person, I doubted he would have liked to be buried in this place.

I’ll just bury him when I get home, I decided, before I realized that I was no longer wearing the Olmak anymore. I had forgotten that I had discarded it when Darranas had punched me in the face, but with little effort I found it.

It looked horrible now, although not as bad as Isarot. There was still that fist-sized hole Darranas had made in it and I realized with dread that it probably did not work anymore. However, I was determined not to be stranded here in this storehouse and so, putting it on my face, I attempted to activate the Mask of Dimensional Gates once more and get out of here.

But no matter how hard I tried, the Olmak didn’t open any kind of dimensional portal. It was just as lifeless as Isarot and Darranas now. I knew that even the slightest crack could render any Kanohi mask useless, so it came as no surprise to me that the Olmak – with a big gaping hole in one cheek – didn’t work, however disappointed I was by that.

Now how was I supposed to return home? With no Olmak, I was totally stranded. I had no way of going back home. Did that mean I would die here, just like Isarot had? Would I slowly starve to death in here, with no one knowing of Isarot’s noble death or that we had succeeded at all?

Isarot may have died happily, but I still had plenty of things I wanted to do before I kicked the bucket. For one thing, I still wanted to join a real Toa team at some point. But now that I had no way to go to any dimension that had Toa, I was frustrated. So frustrated, in fact, that I threw the Olmak on the floor and crushed it beneath my heel, breaking it in two. The sound echoed throughout the storehouse, until it gradually faded away in the building’s immense vastness.

It was at that moment that I felt a sudden wind blow through the place. Except, I could tell it wasn’t any ordinary gust of wind. It felt like a powerful presence was sweeping the place, searching and scanning the place, perhaps to find out what occurred in its domain. It was so strong that I was nearly knocked over, but I regained my balance and looked around for any sign of the presence. I saw none, although I could still feel it in the air.

Then reality went black and I was floating in emptiness. I could see nothing at all in the shadows. Was this death? Had that powerful presence back there somehow killed me? Was I going to see Isarot soon?

No, young one, came a voice . . . or a multitude of voices speaking as one. You are still alive. You have merely encountered our presence in the only way your finite mind can comprehend it.

So what, I’m experiencing an out-of-body experience or something like that? I asked, although it was more like I was using telepathy, for my mouth did not move as I spoke.

Something similar, yes, the multitude responded.

Then who are you? I asked, although simply by the sheer force I was experiencing I already knew the answer to that.

We are the Almighty Ones, said the multitude. We have come to see who has broken into our storehouse of secrets. It is a task no one has accomplished in all of our eons of existence; thus, it is only natural we would want to learn who had done it.

Well, you’re late, oh so Almighty Ones, I said scathingly. A maniac named Darranas – one of your former servants, if you don’t recall – stole billions of Time Stones from all over the multiverse and broke in. He wanted to steal your power and become a god so he could reshape the multiverse in his image.

We know that, the Almighty Ones said sadly. We were aware that our once faithful servant betrayed his purpose and sought power for himself. He was supposed to bring your Time Stone to us and then return home; but, it turns out we made a mistake by touching his mind.

Why do you want the Time Stone for? I asked suspiciously. And if you wanted it so badly, why didn’t you get it yourself?

I wasn’t afraid to talk back to these guys. I didn’t like them and wasn’t in a good mood after Isarot died.

It appears, then, that our former servant did not learn the true purpose of the Time Stone, the Almighty Ones said, sounding intrigued. Besides that it could be used as a key to our storehouse, he failed to realize that the Time Stone is a recorder.

A recorder? I repeated incredulously. What’s it supposed to record?

The history of an entire universe, of course, the Almighty Ones answered simply. It records all of the major and minor events that go into shaping a universe. Simply by studying its records we could discern what brought about the current state of a dimension.

I tilted my head, puzzled. But why do you want to record a universe’s history? Do you guys just like studying history or whatever?

No, the Almighty Ones replied. Studying history for the sake of history is one of our interests, but certainly not our primary reason for constructing the Time Stone in the first place. We study history in order to understand our own universe better . . . and to right what once went so terribly, terribly wrong.

Now I was confused. The Almighty Ones sounded quite sad, regretful almost, like they’d done something they weren’t proud of. I contemplated telepathy, but I figured that my mind would probably get incinerated by their own if they felt me trying to intrude upon their thoughts. If a normal being got angry at having their privacy invaded, I shuddered to think what beings as powerful as the Almighty Ones would do if I tried telepathy.

So I took the safe route and asked, What happened to your universe? Is there any way I could help?

I heard a loud, grating noise that startled and frightened me, but then I realized the Almighty Ones had just laughed at my suggestion, as though I were a little child trying to butt into the elders’ business.

Unless you happen to know how to give life to a universe – which with even a cursory scan of your mind we can disprove with ease – you cannot help us, said the Almighty Ones. Only we can correct our mistakes; we do not need help from mere mortals such as you.

I felt a bit annoyed by that comment, but I said, Well, can you at least tell me what happened to your universe? Maybe I can’t help, but I would like to know what you have done, at least. That is, if you think a ‘mere mortal’ like me could comprehend it.

At first, there was no response. It was clear to me that the Almighty Ones were deciding whether to answer me or not and how much they should share about their past. I didn’t blame them; they did not know me, so naturally they could not trust me. I didn’t particularly trust them, either, considering they hired maniacs like Darranas to steal things from people.

Finally, after what seemed like forever and a half, the Almighty Ones began: Once, long, long ago, we ruled a prosperous and highly advanced world. We were loved by our subjects and created many, many different inventions to help make life better for our people. It was a happy time, a time of peace, and for many years there we thought nothing could go wrong. Until that fateful day, until the day the destiny of not only our world, but our whole universe took a turn for the worst . . .

Immediately, the empty blackness I had been floating in exploded into color and images, until I was standing in an icy area that was completely unfamiliar to me. I looked around and saw two Matoran-like beings in white armor working at a rock wall. They appeared to be mining some kind of metal from the rocks.

“Look at all of this exsidian we’re getting,” one of the villagers said, gesturing to a large cart that was filled with the metal. “Lord Xocion will be pleased.”

The second villager nodded. “I agree. This kind of exsidian looks even better than what we usually mine. We’ll be able to trade it for just about anything, I bet.”

A faint bubbling sound interrupted their conversation. The villagers looked confused, glancing around the area for the source of the noise. I, too, searched, since I didn’t see any water around here that wasn’t frozen.

Finally, one of the villagers spotted something. “What is that?”

I looked where he was pointing and saw a strange, silvery liquid bubbling out of the ice. It looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen it before. It looked harmless enough, but I realized it was far more dangerous than its appearance let on.

Unfortunately, neither of the villagers appeared to know what I knew, for the second villager approached the bubbling liquid, saying, “It looks so strange, yet interesting, too.”

The first villager looked cautious as his friend reached out to touch it. “It might be dangerous. I think we should leave it alone and tell someone about it.”

But his friend didn’t appear to heed his warning. Instead, he said, in a kind of mesmerized voice, “So beautiful . . . I must touch it . . .”

It was at that exact moment I remembered what that liquid was and what it could do. I tried to cry out, to tell him to leave it alone, but I couldn’t speak. All I could do was watch as the tips of the villager’s fingers made contact with the energized protodermis.

Then, without warning, the second villager exploded. He screamed painfully as the energy consumed him, while his friend could only cry out, “No!”

But it was too late. I and the first villager watched as the second villager totally evaporated into nothingness, leaving only the energized protodermis bubbling up as a small pool. I was too horrified by what I’d seen to react. I had seen energized protodermis before and knew exactly what it could do. I felt like I’d seen Isarot die again; powerless to save him. I could only watch as the villager died, leaving his friend alone and unsure of what to do next.

Then suddenly, everything flashed forward and I was in the middle of a battlefield between two opposing armies. Both sides appeared to be made of Toa-like warriors; one side red, the other blue. They were fighting in a mountain pass, the reds trying to keep the blues from passing. It was a gruesome battle and it didn’t make me feel any happier.

Once this substance was discovered, news of it spread all over our world, the Almighty Ones continued, their voice echoing as though they were speaking from far away. The six rulers we had designated to keep order in our world – known as the Element Lords – wanted to use the power for their own purposes. But, as they could not agree with one another on exactly who should control it, they went to war. Six tribes, one mighty source of power coming from the core of their planet; the Core War ripped Spherus Magna apart. None of our efforts to stop the war worked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small, hunched over, silver-colored creature with two blades on each hand. It was sneaking up behind an unknowing red-armored warrior. I knew what was going to happen before it did. I only closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see what the creature did to its prey. The warrior’s final scream of terror was enough to tell me what happened.

Eventually, we managed to secure a small amount of the silvery liquid through the bravery of two villagers, Raanu and Kyry. We tried to use the power ourselves. We learned it could not only destroy, but transform. So we exposed ourselves to it, hoping we would gain enough power to stop the Element Lords and their insane war. Instead, this is what happened . . .

The scene changed again, almost too abruptly for me. Now I was standing outside a huge tower that appeared to have no entrance of any kind. It appeared to be made out of crystal and metal and looked absolutely magnificent, if a bit imposing. Clearly, whoever had designed this thing had put a lot of thought and effort into it.

Then I heard something. Turning around, I saw a large group of warriors – this time made up of mixed colors, ranging from blue to red to green and beyond – advancing on the tower, carrying weapons that seemed to glow with elemental energy. They all looked ragged and battle worn. Their armor was scratched, dented, and outright broken in several places and their eyes reflected the crushed spirits of those who have suffered a great deal of pain in a short time. They looked like they wanted to end whatever they were going through and attacking this tower was the only way to do that.

But, as they drew closer, a huge thunder cloud expanded into existence above the very top of the structure and began floating toward the multi-colored army. Now the soldiers all looked tense, some even frightened. They aimed their weapons at the cloud, which I didn’t understand. Sure, it was strange that a cloud would just pop out of nowhere like that, but I doubted it would do anything worse than rain a little, perhaps thunder slightly. They looked like they needed the rain anyway, considering how dirty their armor appeared.

Of course, I was totally wrong to assume the cloud was harmless. It was far, far from harmless, as I soon discovered.

I watched as the cloud advanced until it hovered just above the army, which had stopped and was aiming its weapons at the nimbus. Then – with the loudest clap of thunder I’d ever heard in my life – a gigantic lightning bolt exploded from the sky, directly striking the center of the army and creating the biggest explosion I’d ever seen in my life.

When the flash of white light and loud noises ceased, I looked at the spot where the lighting had struck and immediately felt my heart fail. There was no one – not a single soldier – left of the army that had once stood there. Only blackened soil and the charred remains of armor bits revealed that there had been any sort of army there at all. The cloud was gone, but it was unfortunately all too easy to see the destruction it left behind.

You see, although we managed to stop the war and rid ourselves of the Element Lords, our power was too much, the Almighty Ones said sadly. We became just as tyrannical as the Element Lords, if not more so. Any time there was even a hint of rebellion against our rule – or whenever an army of unhappy warriors gathered, like that one – we would simply use our power to utterly annihilate it. We believed power could solve every problem on our world . . . and so, in a way, we became even worse than those we did away with.

The scene shifted again, and now I was standing in the middle of a barren wasteland. There was no sign of life here; just barren rock and sand for miles around in every direction. No living beings, not even plants. It was an empty, dead, and miserable place. I even liked the realm of the dead better than this place, for the voices of the fallen gave at least the illusion that there was life. There was no such hint in this wasteland.

This is what happened to our world because of our irresponsibility. Eventually, we wiped out all life through the continued use of our power. Not a single living creature inhabited Spherus Magna anymore, besides ourselves and our twisted creations that we cannot seriously call ‘life’ anymore. So we moved on to other worlds, to see if we could find a way to restore life to our own. This is what happened when we made first contact with the inhabitants of a new world . . .

Now I was standing on a mountaintop, overlooking a small village nestled between two high cliffs. The inhabitants of the village all appeared to be tall, lanky organic beings, completely unlike anything I had ever seen before. Some were chatting, others working hard at whatever tasks they were given. It was a quiet, peaceful sort of town, which I figured, based on the Almighty Ones’ words, wasn’t going to last.

As if on cue, a dark cloud appeared high in the sky overhead. It was so huge that, despite being far away, the people noticed it. Almost everyone stopped whatever they had been doing before to watch as the cloud grew closer and closer, flying down at a gradual pace.

As it got closer, I realized the ‘cloud’ wasn’t a cloud at all. It was a ship, a huge one that looked like it could travel from planet to planet with ease. It was saucer-like, except with two giant lights sticking out of the domed roof. I could see six beings moving around inside the domed area, but I could not make out any details of them except that they appeared humanoid.

It was also incredibly loud, which seemed to frighten the people of this world, for many ran into their homes and locked their doors. Only a few brave – or perhaps really stupid – people stood their ground, gazing up at the flying machine as it drew ever closer to them.

I honestly had no idea how this could go wrong. After all, surely the Almighty Ones learned their lesson back on Spherus Magna? Wouldn’t they try to peacefully contact the villagers and tell them about their problems?

But, to my horror, a huge laser beam exploded out of the bottom of the ship and struck the village, totally annihilating it and its inhabitants in the blink of an eye. When the smoke cleared a few minutes later, there was no sign that a village had ever been there before.

We were arrogant back then, the Almighty Ones said mournfully. We believed these people would stand in our way, force us to leave their world once they learned what we had done to ours. We feared rejection and failure and so we tried conquest. We annihilated hundreds of settlements just like that one and wrecked many cities, until we had eliminated all life on that world and yet found no answer to our problems. We greatly regret ever committing such atrocities now, but back then we saw it as necessary in order to fulfill our own goals.

Fulfill your own goals? I asked as I looked at the smoldering ground where the small village had once stood. How can committing genocide help fulfill your own goals?

As we have said before, arrogance was our primary motive for committing genocide, the Almighty Ones answered, their tone still sad. And we repeated this scene on countless worlds all over our own universe. We would arrive on a new planet in search of a way to repopulate our own, but instead end up destroying all life simply because we did not trust the planet’s inhabitants. It is only after we eliminated the peoples of the last known inhabited world in our universe that we realized what we’d done . . . and we wept sorrowfully. One of us even committed suicide because he could not forgive himself.

I wanted to say he deserved it, but I realized that would be bad. I mean, two wrongs don’t make a right, right? Killing himself because he killed whole species seemed rather backward to me, but since I didn’t quite know how to react to that I didn’t say anything about it.

Instead, I said, So, what’d you do after you . . after you destroyed all life in your universe?

We discovered alternate universes, the Almighty Ones said. We realized that, although our universe did not appear to hold the key to recreating life, there might be some answer in another universe somewhere. It was our last desperate hope. If we could not find the key to recreating life in another universe, then all hope was lost.

So, er, did you ever discover a way to bring everybody back to life in your universe? I asked. I was a bit taken aback by how such obviously powerful beings could sound so sad and helpless.

No, they responded. Not yet. We have been studying other universes for eons, but we have yet to find an answer. We knew it would be fruitless to study each and every individual universe, so we crafted the Time Stone, which would scan a universe’s history for us. And, due to the fact that new alternate universes spring into existence almost every second, we knew that by simply creating the Stone there were an infinite amount already in existence out there.

But why didn’t you try to import people from other universes to repopulate your own? I said. I mean, wouldn’t that be easier than trying to-

No! said the Almighty Ones angrily. Their voices were so loud that my head felt like it would burst open inside out, if that were possible. Two wrongs do not make a right, young one. We were already guilty of genocide. Do you honestly believe we would stoop to something as lowly as stealing? Those people, although similar to ours in many ways, did not belong to us and we know it would be wrong to steal. It is a shame, however, that we were not aware it would be wrong of us to eliminate whole species, otherwise this whole mess would not have happened in the first place.

I was beginning to feel sorry for the Almighty Ones now. True, they had destroyed all life in their universe, but they seemed to be genuinely seeking a way to fix their horrible mistake and redeem themselves of their sins. Darranas had said the Almighty Ones were foolish for not using their great power to purge the multiverse of evil. I thought it was sad that, despite all of their great power and wisdom, the Almighty Ones had not used any of it to save their own universe.

Well, then I suppose interdimensional conquest hasn’t crossed your minds, either, I said.

It has, but we have chosen against it, said the Almighty Ones in agreement. We do not seek to conquer other universes, even though we do have the power to accomplish that. It would be pointless to conquer other universes, not when we do not deserve to rule them in the first place. It brings back bitter memories of when we destroyed our own universe.

That’s a relief, I said. I wouldn’t want to have to defend my own universe from you guys. Anyway, if the Time Stone is a recording device, then why was Darranas able to use its power to grant life to those skeletons in that last dimension Isarot . . . Isarot and I were in? Saying Isarot’s name was hard, even here, and I got sad just remembering him.

He did? Interesting, the Almighty Ones said. He must have some mysterious power of his own, then, because we did not design the Time Stone to do that. It is possible, however, that we may have accidentally slipped a bit of our own power inside the Stone during the creation process and as a result he was able to grant fake life to those skeletons. We do not know. We need more evidence before we can come to a conclusion.

A sudden, hopeful thought filled my mind just then. It was a crazy idea, but now that the Almighty Ones were here, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Hey, um, Almighty Ones? I asked hesitantly. I wasn’t sure how they’d react to my question, but I had to ask it anyway. May I ask something of you? If that’s all right with you?

You may ask.

I just wanted to ask if, somehow, you’d be able to bring my friend, Isarot, back from the dead. He died shortly before you arrived and I was wondering if it wasn’t too late-

We are sorry, young one, but there is nothing we can do for your friend now that he is dead, the Almighty Ones said, sounding sad. If we could but bring even one person back to life, we can assure you that we would have found a way to apply that power to everyone within our own universe first. We wish we could help, for your friend appears to be another death as a result of our arrogance and mistakes.

The last bit of hope that had burned within me was extinguished. I was now thoroughly depressed. If these ancient, god-like beings couldn’t bring Isarot back to life, then he really was dead. He wasn’t coming back. He was gone for good.

Okay, I said, feeling hollow inside. I . . . I understand. If I were in your situation, I guess I’d try to bring my own people back to life first.

You do not blame yourself, they observed suddenly. Unlike us, you do not blame yourself for your friend’s death. Is there any reason why?

I was taken aback by that question and wasn’t sure I could answer it, for the thought had never crossed my mind before.

But I answered anyway, Well, I suppose it is because I know I was in no position to save him and that I had not set him up to die or anything like that. He died because Darranas – that servant of yours – killed him in cold blood, trying to steal your power so he could reshape the universe in his own image.

We would like to say that our once faithful servant was driven mad by exposure to our power, said the Almighty Ones sorrowfully. Just like our other servant, a being named Brutaka, who gave us the Time Stone of his universe once we had deemed enough time had passed. He was stronger willed than most, but even he couldn’t withstand our power. Unfortunately, we cannot say that the same happened to Darranas.

A thought occurred to me at that moment and I asked, Did you also, er, ‘touch’ Ehlek’s mind? Darranas said you did.

No, we did not, the Almighty Ones answered, almost in disgust. For one, the Time Stone had not yet recorded enough of that universe’s history to be worth studying. For another, we would never have chosen Ehlek. It appears Darranas was attempting to fool others into thinking we had contacted them, when we had not.

But how’d he do that? I asked, tilting my head in confusion. Ehlek claimed to have received dreams and messages from you. Did Darranas somehow do it?

We are aware of Ehlek’s claims, young one, said the Almighty Ones, sounding troubled. We have investigated them and all the evidence points toward someone as powerful as us aiding Darranas.

An ominous feeling washed over me as I said, Wait, there is someone as powerful as you guys out there? And he was helping Darranas?

The thought troubles us as greatly as it does you, said the Almighty Ones. Despite all of their great power, they actually sounded worried. We must still investigate further into this. Such a being – if it exists - is far more of a threat to the multiverse than Darranas or any other dimension-hopper.

I wanted to ask more, but it was clear to me the Almighty Ones knew about as much as I did regarding this mysterious being, whoever he or she was.

So another thought suddenly occurred to me and I asked, Were you the ones that saved Isarot and I from being killed in the Brutaka universe? When those Anicans that were supposed to execute us suddenly malfunctioned for no apparent reason?

There was no answer at first, until the multitude replied slowly, That was us, yes. We kept careful progress of you and your friend’s dimension-hopping quest to stop Darranas, whose goals we were well aware of. We sent you both dreams to help you discern the identity of the thief which you were chasing. We hoped you would succeed and so helped you in whatever ways we could while still keeping ourselves hidden from you.

But if you’re so powerful, why’d you rely on Isarot and I to stop Darranas? I asked, somewhat frustrated. Couldn’t you have blown him up or something so none of this would have had to happen?

We were not particularly worried about him succeeding. Even if Darranas had killed you, he himself would have died shortly afterward anyway, the Almighty Ones answered.

Why is that?

No one being could possibly contain all of our power, they answered, as if it were obvious. Darranas’ body and soul would likely have been obliterated if he had tried to absorb our power into his own form. Not to mention he was completely mistaken about where our power was hidden in the first place. Although we were confident that our storehouse could never be broken into, it had never occurred to any of us – individually or collectively – to store even the tiniest portion of our power there. All vaults can be broken into if one is greedy enough, as Darranas himself proved, and we knew it would be unsafe to leave our power just sitting around like that for anyone to take. It is perhaps the only wise decision we have ever made during our long, arrogant lives.

I see, I said, feeling angry now. So basically, Isarot died for no reason?

Not necessarily, the Almighty Ones said. There were plenty of other dangerous artifacts and weapons Darranas could have used to wreck untold destruction upon the multiverse once he learned obtaining our power was impossible. It is why we were glad that you and your friend defeated him, even at the cost of your friend’s life.

Hmph, I said, looking away, although I couldn’t be sure which direction the Almighty Ones were actually in. I was still too angry at them to say anything nice, even if they did offer a reasonable answer. He’s still dead. You could have at least intervened before he died, couldn’t you?

We were busy elsewhere and only arrived just now, they answered angrily. We were dealing with a threat much worse than Darranas. Had we not, both you and your friend would be dead.

A threat worse than Darranas? What was that?I asked, my anger forgotten as I looked straight ahead even though I couldn’t see them.

It is unimportant now, said the Almighty Ones shortly. It will not be a threat for many, many years, perhaps never if we are lucky. As long as Darranas’ powerful ally remains ignorant of its existence . . .

Their thoughts ominously trailed off before suddenly picking back up. What is important is transporting you back to your home universe, young one.

There’s no way I can go home, though, I said miserably. My hands balled into fists as I pushed away my frustration and misery. Darranas damaged my Olmak so badly it can’t function anymore. I’m completely stuck in your storehouse and I’ll probably die there, too.

Not necessarily, young one, the Almighty Ones said. We have the power to cross dimensions. We can also teleport beings anywhere within our reach, and fortunately for you, young one, your home universe is easy for us to find. We will even allow you to take your Time Stone back with you, for that is the whole reason you started this journey in the first place, is it not?

But don’t you need to study its contents or something? I asked quizzically.

It has not yet recorded enough information for us to need it just yet, the Almighty Ones explained. Once it does, however, we will allow you to bring it to us, if you wish.

Then why did you want Darranas to bring it to you in the first place? I said.

False alarm, said the Almighty Ones, almost sheepishly. Somehow the timer set in your Stone was set off much earlier than it should have been and we believed we had to take it. It was only after two others from your universe took it back from Darranas that we realized the mistake and reset the timer. It will likely be many more years before we will need it. Could we ask of you to return the Stone to us once its designated time has passed?

I suppose so,I said, although I could care less either way. As long as you don’t cause me to go insane, I’ll do it when the time comes.

Then we suppose that that is all we have to discuss, young one, said the Almighty Ones. We will now-

Wait, please, I said quickly. I still don’t understand why you’re talking to me now. Why did you feel the need to explain your history to me and stuff? Not that I don’t find it interesting, but I find it strange that you simply choose me out of everyone in the whole wide multiverse to talk to about this.

We felt that you deserved an explanation, after the death of your friend, said the Almighty Ones. We realized your friend’s death was indirectly caused by us and our ineptitude. Thus, we believed that you deserved to know the truth. And yes, you may share this with your friends back in your home universe, but we would like it if you shared it with only a select few, lest evil people attempt to use their knowledge of us to manipulate or even destroy us in some way.

Well, I guess that makes sense, I said. I couldn’t understand how anyone could manipulate or destroy these interdimensional entities, but I figured they knew more than I did, so I didn’t say anything. Don’t have any more questions on my mind right now, I guess.

Then we believe it is time for you to go home now, the Almighty Ones said satisfied. Good bye, young Toa. Remember what we said about contacting you when the time is right. It would be wise of you to expect us to call you at all times, lest you end up in a situation where you are unable to bring us the Time Stone. Be ready to drop whatever you doing at the time in order to bring the Stone back to us once we call you.

Without waiting for me to answer, the blackness around me vanished, leaving me standing (with Isarot’s corpse next to me) at the beach of a familiar island I knew and loved well: Tanjo Nui.

Review Topic.

Cufem: Finally I got to use that thing. You know, sometimes I’d fire a blank just for show, then blow the smoke away from the barrel in slow motion.

Don't we all do that?Anyway, good chapter. Looks like Nuhrii's going to be a major character in Seaon Three if that vision meant anything. Be interesting to see where this goes.-TNTOS-

As a rule, I try not to reply in review topics unless I have something valid to bring up. On occasion though, validity comes in a small package. And by that I mean, I really, really did not expect your ending to Chapter 18. I just wanted you to be aware of that. Excellent writing as always, and with Dimension Hoppers having two chapters left (and your posting frequency of one chapter per week), expect a more in-depth review in mid-January. -Ced

Glad you didn't expect the ending. Those types of plot twists are ones I always try to keep secret so that when they do happen, they trigger a much more emotional reaction from the audience.

“I’m so sorry I broke your favorite toy,” I said. “I’ll try to be gentler next time you let me play with your stuff.”love this quoteI reached in my pack and pulled out the Mask of Healing.i always saw the masks as all being on at once but only one active at a timebut how you have it makes it more interestingsad ending but there was true sacrifice thereoff topic nice avatarnow i realy need to get mine to work

Yeah, Kiriah's quote was pretty good. I've always thought Isarot got the best lines, but Kiriah occasionally gets one, too.@masks: I am pretty sure in the official story that Toa only have one mask on a time. If they want a new one, they either have to physically take off their current mask and replace it with the new one or else summon the new one from a Suva while sending their old one back in the new one's place. But as Kiriah did not have a Suva, she was forced to switch masks physically. Your idea is interesting, though.@avatar: Thanks. Not sure if you know, but profile pics and avatars are now the same, so if you want to change your avatar you have to change your profile pic instead.-TNTOS-

Chapter 18: The Final Battle

Kiriah.

Isarot and I entered the storehouse of the Almighty Ones as silently as we could. Although it was extremely dark, Isarot was not using his light powers. I didn’t need telepathy to know that he did not want Darranas to notice us, although considering how obsessed Darranas had been with this place we probably could have invited the entire multiverse here for a party and he still wouldn’t have noticed us.

Darranas . . . something about his true nature made me feel weird. I had heard stories about how great a Toa he had been all of my life, ever since I was a Matoran. He almost always outshined the rest of the Toa Avha in the stories, so much that I thought at one point that he had been leader of the whole team rather than just deputy leader. I’d heard how he had fought bravely and heroically against the forces of evil, defended innocent Matoran from harm, and was in general a pretty awesome guy. He hadn’t necessarily been my idol, but I had held him in high esteem because of the stories.

Yet now, I didn’t know what to feel. I was horrified at what the real Darranas was trying to do. He was so far removed from the stories that I wondered if there had been another Toa of Plasma who had gotten confused with him or something. I wondered why Turaga Klio and Baiji Kolora had made him out to be a hero who had died in the line of duty rather than as a villain who sought to cause untold chaos in the multiverse.

I felt stupid for believing all of those stories, but I guess that I had no reason to disbelieve them until just now. Still, I felt foolish. More importantly, I decided I would ask Klio and Kolora why they wanted to idolize such a person when they had known the truth about him. I could not think of any justification for that, not even one.

“Kiriah!” whispered Isarot suddenly.

“What?” I said, stopping quickly to listen. “Did you see or hear something?”

“No,” said Isarot. I could tell he was frowning even in the darkness. “I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Remember, we’re facing a guy who could melt us into slag if we aren’t careful. Get your head out of the clouds and become fully aware of your surroundings. Understand?”

“Yes,” I said, somewhat annoyed, even though I did understand his concerns. “I was just thinking about Darranas, how different he is from the old tales I used to hear about when I was a Matoran.”

“Yes, he is different, I agree,” said Isarot quietly as he looked into the shadows. “But now’s not the time to ponder about that. If we don’t move fast, everything will be destroyed.”

I nodded, and then we continued, this time moving a little faster. My mind would stray back to the subject of Darranas every now and then, but generally I forced myself to ignore those thoughts and focus on my surroundings instead.

It seemed like forever, but eventually we reached a large metal door. It looked like it had been locked pretty tightly, but a certain someone had apparently melted a hole through it. The hole was big enough for me to slip through, but Isarot had to chip away at the edges a bit to enlarge the hole so he could fit through.

Once Isarot got through, we traveled a few more feet before we emerged into a huge room, much bigger than any chamber I had ever seen in my life. It could have probably held an entire city in it, maybe a whole island even. The ceiling was so high that I couldn’t even see it, while the walls were so far apart that they weren’t visible to our eyes. It was so immense that I thought I saw a couple of clouds hovering near the top, but I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me, for there was no way clouds could form inside an artificial structure like this.

You know I said it looked like you fit an entire city in it? Well, there seemed to be a city all right, except it was a city of crates and boxes piled high on top of each other or on shelves that filled the place. The containers all appeared to be covered in extremely thick layers of dust, as though no one had moved or touched them for a thousand years. There were hundreds of thousands of aisles between the huge stacks and shelves, but they went on for so long it was impossible to see the end of them. Long catwalks stretched above us from one end of the storehouse to the other, though they were so lengthy it was impossible to see where they ended or where they began.

“Wow,” I said, staring at the room in awe. “I mean that’s just . . . I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Admire the scenery later,” Isarot said as his eyes swept the room or at least the small portion of it that we could see. “I don’t see Darranas anywhere, but he’s here somewhere. Let’s keep searching. We’re bound to find him eventually.”

“Can you be so sure of that?” I asked incredulously as we began walking down the first aisle that was before us. “This place is so huge we could probably walk around for days and days and never see him even once, probably.”

“If that’s how long it’ll take, so be it,” said Isarot as he stared down an aisle. “He might get lost like us. Therefore, he is less likely to find the power of the Almighty Ones, which gives us more time to track him down and stop him before he can destroy even one universe.”

“I hope so,” I said.

So for what felt like hours we wandered up and down the many aisles of the Almighty Ones. It was eerie how quiet the place was, so to distract myself from the quietness I tried to read the labels on the boxes. Unfortunately, they were written in a language I did not understand. I asked Isarot if they were in a language he knew of, but he merely shook his head and told me to get my priorities straight. I was a bit annoyed at how he snapped at me, but I figured he was right. With a crazy megalomaniac bent on destroying the multiverse lurking around here, it would probably be wise to keep my eyes open for any sign of Darranas rather than trying to decipher the labels of a bunch of mysterious crates.

So I began thinking about what was inside the boxes. There must have been a lot of things of varying sizes, for some boxes were about as small as the Time Stone, while others looked large enough to fit an entire team of Toa comfortably with room for another Toa or two. I wished I had a Kanohi Akaku, for then I would be able to examine the contents of each and every one of these boxes to my pleasure.

As we rounded a corner, I noticed something at the end of the aisle. I saw what looked like a box that had been knocked over, its lid off and contents spilled all over the floor. Curious, I quickly walked over to it, Isarot close behind.

“Hey, Kiri,” Isarot said warningly as we walked. “Don’t just walk over there and start picking through that stuff. Darranas could be nearby and-“

“What are these?” I said, bending over to pick up one of the tablets.

I tried to read the stone tablet, but it was nigh impossible because it was written in that same strange language as the labels were. Only one word was decipherable: Masqouth. It looked fairly recent, like someone had just written it just a few minutes ago. If I remembered correctly, ‘Masqouth’ was a Matoran word that meant ‘the echo that lives,’ but I had no idea why that word was here. There was a faded drawing of some kind of being beneath the word, but it was too old and I could barely make out any details on it, except the face of the being appeared to be entirely featureless. Even on this carving it was pretty creepy in my opinion.

“Do you think Darranas was looking through these?” I asked as I discarded the unreadable tablet.

“That would explain why they are just sitting here open like this,” said Isarot as he looked around. “But it doesn’t matter. If this is Darranas’ handiwork, then Darranas himself must be close by. We’ll have to be very careful if that is the case.”

We journeyed through the huge storehouse for . . . I don’t know how long, it was impossible to tell here. All I could tell was that we were lost. It occurred to me that even if we did somehow manage to find and defeat Darranas, how would we ever find our way out? Would we end up being lost in here forever and die without anyone knowing that we had just saved the entire multiverse? Or would the guys who owned this place – those Almighty Ones that Darranas mentioned – eventually discover that someone had broken in and come to investigate? Where were the Almighty Ones anyway? And why weren’t they stopping Darranas, not us?

Isarot abruptly stopped and held out his hand to halt me. He had his head tilted to one side, like he heard something.

“What is it?” I asked in a whisper. “Do you hear something?”

“Yeah,” said Isarot, nodding. “I hear footsteps, not far from us, but not too close, either. They’re heading in the opposite direction.” Isarot looked at me curiously and asked, “By the way, is there any reason you haven’t been able to locate Darranas’ mind yet?”

“He has it shielded,” I answered, frustrated. “Somehow he’s developed a mental shield so powerful I can’t even find it. Otherwise, I think I would have found him by now.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have advanced hearing, then,” Isarot replied as we began walking in the direction of the footsteps. “Otherwise we’d never find Darranas.”

All the while we could not see the owner of the footsteps. We could only hear the sounds, which kept a steady progress north. (I think it was north, anyway. My sense of direction seemed messed up in here for some reason.)

We wounded our way through several dozen aisles of shelves and boxes until finally we reached a wide open area where there were no boxes or shelves. It was a circular place, with many strange markings on the ground. The markings appeared to be part of some kind experiment, but again I couldn’t decipher them because they were written in that unknown language everything else was written in.

Glancing up, I noticed what looked like a giant cannon hanging from the ceiling, aiming right at the middle. It was huge, so large that I thought it must be capable of blowing an entire continent to pieces. Was it a weapon? If so, it looked quite nasty. I decided to remain out of its line of fire, even if it wasn’t active at the moment.

It felt good to be in such a wide open place, as I had been beginning to feel claustrophobic with all of these boxes and shelves everywhere. I felt like I could actually breathe and for a moment I forgot we were tracking down a merciless, justice-driven Toa who could benefit from some therapy.

“That’s odd,” Isarot commented, looking around the area. “I don’t hear the footsteps anymore. They stopped when we got here.”

Snapping out of my relief, I looked at Isarot in fear and asked, “Does that mean Darranas has found what he is looking for?”

Isarot shrugged. “That, or he somehow figured out we were following him and is watching us from the shadows to see what our next move will be.”

“Or perhaps both,” said Darranas’ voice from somewhere, catching us both by surprise. The Toa of Plasma, still clothed in his cloak, walked out from behind a huge crate, arms at his sides as he approached the center of the circle.

“Ugh, do you have to keep appearing when we least expect it?” I complained. “I mean, seriously, it’s getting so old and cliché by now that-“

“Kiriah, be quiet,” Isarot snapped as ice energy began gathering at the tip of his axe. “This is not the time to complain about his lack of imagination. We’ve gotta beat him before he can get that power and destroy the entire multiverse.”

Darranas stopped in the very center of the circle – right underneath the canon, I might add, which I thought was stupid even if it was off – and then looked at us not with hate, but with curious eyes.

“Why do you wish to stop me?” asked Darranas. “What wrong have I committed that has caused you to fight against me?”

“We’re fighting against you because of what you’re about to do,” Isarot said, raising his axe. “You’re going to destroy this multiverse and everyone we love in it, just because you don’t like it the way it is. That’s absolutely evil, even if you do plan to recreate it.”

“But surely you must agree that the entire multiverse is beyond redemption,” said Darranas, folding his arms. “You saw with your own eyes the corruption inherit in the Republic that sprung up after King Brutaka’s untimely death. You saw how Ehlek had abandoned his own kingdom simply to satisfy his own selfish desires. Did you not know that, shortly after Ehlek went on his voyage to World’s End, the other five Barraki attempted to conquer his unprotected territory and as a result ended up destroying one another, creating total universe-wide anarchy? I myself have witnessed universes even worse off than those. Wouldn’t it be better if we could erase it all and try again, Isarot?”

I glanced at Isarot, who seemed to be struggling with something. He replied, “Well, I guess maybe you’re right, Darranas. I mean, the multiverse is a rotten place. Maybe it would be better off destroyed.”

At first, I was puzzled as to why Isarot was agreeing with Darranas. That made no sense to me, since Isarot had been extremely opposed to Darranas and his ideals right from the start. Then I realized Darranas must be using his Mask of Charisma on Isarot, which was the only logical explanation for this sudden turn of events. I only vaguely recalled how I had been when Darranas had tried to influence me with his Kanohi and I realized that, if Darranas managed to get Isarot totally devoted to him, I’d be in a very bad spot.

So, without ever hesitating, I flung a huge crate at Darranas with my telekinesis powers. Taken by surprise, Darranas raised his hands and unleashed a devastating burst of plasma that totally annihilated the box. It appeared to break his concentration, for Isarot seemed to be back to his normal self again.

“You can’t fool us with that mask of yours, Darranas,” I told the Toa of Plasma, who was glaring at me like he was picturing how my head would look as a melted stump. “If you try that stunt again, we’ll-“

“Kill you dead,” Isarot finished for me. The energy at the tip of his axe seemed to be growing larger and I knew he was about to unleash it any minute now. “Not that we ever planned on sparing you, but-“

“But you still have not answered my question,” Darranas said. “Why are you against me? What makes you fight for such an imperfect multiverse? Can’t you see how much better off everyone will be dead? Don’t you know that I could remake it as a peaceful and happy place, where no evil shall ever live?”

“We’re not against that,” Isarot answered. “I think Kiriah and I would both like a multiverse where there was no evil, pain, suffering or any other bad thing. However, unlike you, we realize that the destruction of the multiverse isn’t going to solve the problem of evil.”

“Why is that?” asked Darranas.

“Because if you’re the one ruling it, then the problem of evil will always survive,” I said. I hadn’t read Isarot’s mind, but that seemed to be his line of logic. “You’re just as imperfect as everyone else and gaining immense power won’t make you any more perfect than us.”

Now Darranas looked angry. “But I am the only one fit to rule the multiverse! If no one else will do something about it – if not even the Almighty Ones themselves will act – then I must do it. I have waited one hundred thousand years to solve the problem of evil once and for all, and if you two decide to stand in my way, then I must brand you friends and lovers of evil that must be vanquished. You are lucky; you two shall be the first to die in the new multiversal order!”

Darranas slammed his foot down on the ground, sending a wave of plasma hurtling toward us. Isarot unleashed a blast of ultra cold ice that collided with the plasma and exploded, creating a haze of heat and cold that felt unreal. I could see Darranas through the haze and charged him, just as Isarot did the same by my side.

Darranas shot more plasma bolts at us, but I deflected them with my telekinesis. I slashed at Darranas, but he deflected my sword with his own shining silver blade. Isarot swung his axe at the thief, but Darranas narrowly dodged it. With surprising strength he pushed me back, sending me stumbling backwards as Isarot tried to cut him down again.

Upon regaining my balance, I dashed back into the fight. It was two on one, me and Isarot versus Darranas. Logically we should have been winning, but Darranas was so skilled with a sword that he was capable of blocking both of us with ease. I swung my sword and Isarot slashed with his axe, but Darranas’ own blade somehow managed to block both at the same time, even if we attacked from two different angles. It almost seemed like Darranas’ weapon was capable of growing in length, for sometimes it looked longer than it should be.

“You are both arrogant,” Darranas snapped as he blocked both of our attacks again. “I have been fighting for one hundred thousand years against many villains that used a variety of different weapons and powers to try to kill me. Do you honestly think you can defeat me when they failed?”

“No, we don’t think that,” Isarot replied, swiping at the Toa of Plasma with his axe. “We know that we can beat you.”

“We hope so, anyway,” I added as I jumped back to avoid a blow from Darranas. “We’re not that weak, you know.”

Isarot, too, avoided another attack by Darranas and, lifting up his free hand, countered with a bolt of light that struck Darranas directly in the chest. I thought it would be enough to defeat him, but Darranas merely staggered backwards, shook his head, and then lunged at Isarot with extreme speed and ferocity.

Darranas raised his sword and brought it down on Isarot, who caught it with his axe. I tried to help, but Darranas unleashed a burst of plasma at me that caused me to jump back to avoid being melted into slag. Then, with his free hand, Darranas reached out and grabbed Isarot’s wrist. At first I wondered what he hoped to accomplish, until I saw plasma explode from his hand and cover Isarot’s wrist.

Isarot screamed as he wrenched his wrist out of Darranas’ hand, which looked like it was melting. He dropped his axe and gripped his melting wrist with his other hand.

This gave Darranas exactly the moment he was looking for. He ran forward and stabbed his sword straight through Isarot’s stomach until the tip of the blade pierced my friend’s back.

“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as Darranas, smirking, withdrew the now-bloody sword from Isarot’s stomach. “Isarot! No!”

To add insult to injury, Darranas kicked Isarot in his wound, right where he’d stabbed my friend, causing Isarot to shout in pain as he hit the ground. Isarot was barely moving as he lay there in an ever-widening pool of his own blood, not screaming, although he didn’t need to yell to make it clear how much pain he was in.

“You monster!” I said as I leapt over the plasma-charred floor and stopped in front of Darranas. “I’ll . . . I’ll kill you for hurting my friend!”

I swung my sword with all of my might, but Darranas easily caught it with his own blade. I was putting all of my strength into pushing him back, but he didn’t appear to be even trying to hold me back as he smiled.

“Your friend will be the first to die in the new world order,” Darranas told me triumphantly. “And soon, you too shall join him. This is what happens to those who fight against the powers of justice and righteousness; they die in vain, trying to further their own selfish agendas.”

“Selfish, am I?” I growled as I swiped at him with my sword, but he just blocked it again. “I am selfish because I love my best friend in the whole multiverse? I am selfish because I don’t want to see everyone I love die just because you deem them imperfect? Is that what you’d call selfish?”

“Stupid villain, don’t you understand?” Darranas responded fiercely as he swung his sword. “It is because I care about this multiverse that I wish to see it perfected. It is imperfect as it is, but if I can recreate it, there shall be no more evil anywhere in any universe.”

“At the cost of countless lives?” I asked angrily as I blocked one of his attacks. “To me, it sounds like you’re the evil one here!”

Now that really ticked him off, for Darranas’ face contorted with rage like I’d never seen before in any being’s face. He snarled, “Evil? You are calling me evil? How dare you! You are nothing but a witch who must be put to death!”

Darranas swept my legs out from underneath me, causing me to fall. I hit the ground hard and looked up in time to see Darranas’ sword coming straight toward me. Without thinking I used my telekinesis to stop the blade midway and I rolled several feet away from him. Then I allowed his sword to strike the ground. He’d thrust with his sword so hard that the tip of his blade actually snapped off upon connecting with the stone floor. An ugly crack ran the length of his blade, which probably wasn’t too good for him.

“Curse you, villain!” Darranas roared as he lifted up what was left of his sword. “This sword was given to me by my patron himself!”

“I’m so sorry I broke your favorite toy,” I said. “I’ll try to be gentler next time you let me play with your stuff.”

Yelling in rage, Darranas hurled his broken blade at me. I easily sidestepped it, but the sword had been a distraction, for the next moment Darranas came charging at me and he punched me in the face as hard as he could.

It wasn’t just any old punch, though. He seemed to have charged elemental energy through it, for I felt severe heat as his fist connected with my mask. Crying out in pain, I stumbled backwards and dropped my sword. The punch had left am melting gap in my mask and the only way to relieve myself of the pain was to rip the Kanohi off of my face and throw it aside, which I did with haste.

But that was a mistake, for as soon as the Olmak left my face I suddenly felt weaker. I was so stupid. I had forgotten that Toa are at half strength without their masks. And now all of the blows and pain I had taken up to this point seemed to have finally caught up with me, for I was too exhausted to do anything. I fell to my knees, struggling to keep my consciousness – or perhaps my life – from slipping away. I couldn’t afford to fall unconscious, not in this battle.

I looked up and saw Darranas standing not far from me, plasma energy swirling in the palms of his hands. He looked mad, crazy, and triumphant. I was barely aware of anything now. All I knew was that Darranas was about to kill me, here and now, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“You fought valiantly for a being as evil as yourself,” Darranas said as his plasma grew hotter and hotter. “If you had only rejected your Tagiki friend and joined me, I would have spared you and perhaps even shared some of the ultimate power I will soon possess. But because your heart loves evil, you have chosen to die.”

“Even if you . . . even if you did spare me, I would never want any power from you,” I snapped, breathing heavily. I remembered the Mask of Healing I had in my backpack, but I was too weak to pull it out and put it on. “I don’t care if you think I’m evil, either. I’m doing what I think is right, and so was Isarot.”

“But so am I,” Darranas insisted. “Except, of course, I am right. Villains always think that they are doing the right thing, when in fact they are simply making things worse for everyone, perhaps including themselves. It is that sort of evil I fight against, as well as every other form evil takes. It is my duty as a Toa to save the multiverse from itself.”

My mind was wandering again – a dangerous thing here, but because of my fatigue it seemed to be wandering more than usual. I noticed Darranas’ broken sword lay nearby. It still looked sharp, even when broken. It might even be strong enough to . . .

I had an idea, but I had to distract Darranas first in order for it to work.

“You’re . . . you’re not a Toa,” I replied defiantly, my eyes constantly darting between him and his discarded sword. “Toa don’t save things by destroying them. They save them by defending them from evil beings such as you.”

Darranas snorted. “Again you accuse me of being evil. That is simply wrong, you villainous excuse for a Toa. I am a true Toa because, unlike you, I have recognized the true threat to the multiverse and have gone to meet it head on. This is the only way to destroy evil once and for all.”

“You might destroy evil beings, but you’ll also destroy a lot of good people, too,” I answered. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Darranas’ sword beginning to float due to my telekinesis. Weak though I was, I figured I had enough elemental power left to stop Darranas for good. “Besides, it is impossible to create a universe of beings that are good all the time. You can’t force people to be things they aren’t, at least not always.”

“That is why I will always be enforcing order in my new multiverse,” Darranas answered. “Unlike the Almighty Ones, I shall constantly watch over my people. I shall punish any evil deed as soon as it is committed. People will be so afraid of sparking my anger that no one will do even one bad thing.”

“That doesn’t sound like a perfect multiverse,” I remarked. Darranas’ sword had stopped shaking in midair; I held it steady now. All I would have to do now is aim and thrust as hard as I could. “It sounds like a multiverse-wide dictatorship. No one will do good things because they genuinely want to; they will only do good things because they don’t want you to kill them.”

“It doesn’t matter to me whether they do good because they want to or not,” Darranas said, his cold tone sharply contrasting with the hot plasma forming in his hands. “If they follow my ordinances and guidance perfectly, then they will live happily and without fear of death or evil.”

I was extremely skeptical about that, but I said nothing. The sword was at just the right height and now, without warning, I sent Darranas’ sword flying straight through the air toward him. It wasn’t as fast as it normally would be, but it was quick enough that Darranas only had time to turn around and say, “What the-“

The blade, although broken at the tip, went straight through his mask. Blood exploded out of the back of his head as the sword pierced his skull and brain. He didn’t even cry out as he fell over backwards, the plasma energy in his hands dissipating as he hit the floor.

Gasping for breath, I reached in my pack and pulled out the Mask of Healing. I slapped it on and immediately felt my energy go back to its normal level, although I still felt tired and weary after so much fighting.

Then I looked at Darranas’ cold, unmoving corpse. I admit, it was a gruesome way to go and I regretted that I had to be the one to do it. As a general rule Toa weren’t supposed to kill, especially in such a horrible way. I wondered if I still counted as a Toa or not – particularly after killing a fellow Toa – but I forgot about that, for I heard a loud groan coming from somewhere nearby.

Oh, crud. I had completely forgotten that Isarot lay dying in a pool of his own blood. Stupid me, I thought as I hastily got to my feet, worrying about whether I was still a Toa or not. My best friend was dying and I was worrying about my own status when there was no one around to criticize me! Was I messed up or what?

I hurried over to where Isarot lay as quickly as I could and turned him over. He looked horrible; his armor was covered in blood; there was a gaping wound in his stomach that was impossible to ignore; and his right wrist looked half melted. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of pain Isarot was in right then, nor did I have any idea how he was still alive.

“Isarot . . .” I said, tears forming in my eyes as I held him in my arms. “Don’t die . . .”

Isarot looked at me with half-closed eyes. I could tell he was trying to hide his pain and be tough, like he always does, but it was easy to tell that, no matter how tough he may have looked, that pain was as real as anything.

“Kiriah . . .” Isarot gasped, with one hand on his stomach. “I am afraid . . . I am afraid I don’t have much longer, Kiriah.”

“Don’t say that,” I said tremblingly, holding him tighter. “Look, I’ve got the Mask of Healing. Maybe I can heal you. Maybe I can . . . maybe I can save your life.”

“Not possible,” Isarot replied weakly as he rested his other hand on my arm. “Already, I can feel my life slipping away. I doubt even the Mask of Healing could fix me up.”

“Let me try,” I said as I activated the mask. “Even if I can’t save you, I can at least alleviate your suffering a little.”

I set to work, but my inexperience with the Mask of Healing made it difficult to do anything. I healed his wrist somewhat, but it was impossible for me to heal the gaping wound in his stomach. No matter how hard I tried, the wound was still open, which frustrated me beyond measure. It did close a little, but not enough to halt the flow of blood.

“What’s the point of a Mask of Healing if you can’t use it to save somebody’s life?” I muttered, frustrated, as tears began streaming out of my eyes. “Seriously, what is the point?”

“Kiriah, I thank you for . . . for trying to help me,” Isarot said. He breathed deeply and continued, “But I believe my life is coming to an end. No one can reverse death once it overtakes its victims.”

“But it’s not fair,” I said. “Why should you die? You were always the one trying to get the Time Stone, and you were also the one who sought to stop Darranas when we learned what he was trying to do. You should be allowed to live a long, happy life now that you’ve completed what we set out to do.”

“I do not see it as . . .” Isarot coughed loudly and grabbed his wound and for a moment I thought he wasn’t able to continue. But then he said weakly, “I do not see it as unfair, myself.”

“What?” I said in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re dying just as we completed our mission! The mission you risked your life several dozen times to complete. If you can’t live to enjoy the fruit of your success, then what was the point?”

“Kiriah,” said Isarot, gently though firmly, “That is the . . . that is the point. I have completed what I was supposed to do . . . and now, I can peacefully die. I don’t need to enjoy . . . I don’t need to enjoy the fruits of my labors. You and everyone else can. I don’t need to. I can go on knowing I have completed my destiny.”

I wanted to argue with him, tell him he was wrong, that he shouldn’t die, that there was no reason he should die . . . but I knew, deep down, he was right. He had finished the job, stuck with it to the very end, and now was ready to depart. He was going to die protecting the Time Stone, which I knew was what he wanted. There was no way I could save him, especially since the Mask of Healing didn’t work.

That didn’t mean I liked it, though. I wished Isarot would stay alive a little while longer. He was my best friend – my only true friend – and he had saved my life several times during this journey, and vice versa. I just couldn’t accept that he was dying and there was nothing I could do about it.

So I said to him, “All right, Isarot. You’re right. I know this is how you would have wanted to go, so you really can die peacefully.”

“I’m lucky,” Isarot said softly. I noticed his heartlight was fading in and out. Any minute now it would go out for good. “Few people die happily like me. It is the best way to die, knowing that one has completed everything one has wanted to do in life. And don’t cry, Kiriah, because someday I know we will be reunited again, in the next life. Good bye . . .”

And . . . with one last flash of his heartlight, Isarot died, there and then, leaving me all alone holding his bloody corpse in my arms.

Review Topic.

Yes, the HP books - not just the first two books - pulled off mysteries excellently. In fact, that was what drew me into the HP series in the first place. When I saw how well Rowling planned her mysteries, to say my interest was piqued is a dramatic understatement.Anyway, I use mysteries all the time in my stories. What I like to do is sprinkle little hints and clues here and there, enough for the reader to start guessing, but not enough for the average reader to figure it out before the reveal (unless they're very careful readers). If the readers figures out the mystery well before it happens, then I probably revealed too much hints.Note that I said well before it happens. If the reader figures it out, say, about a paragraph or two before the reveal, then that is perfectly okay because they were going to find out soon anyway, regardless of whether they figured it for out or not. But if you plan to answer the mystery in Chapter 20 and your reader figures it out in Chapter 4 or 5, then it is probably not a good mystery.Good mysteries keep the reader guessing and theorizing. Sometimes, the reader figures it out before the reveal; other times, their theories were completely wrong. Or they figure out some of it, but the rest of it is unclear until the reveal. Speaking as a reader, I always have fun guessing and theorizing when reading stories with mysteries in them. It makes me want to keep reading them even if the rest of the story isn't that good.Not that that means you should write a cruddy story and focus solely on the mystery. A mystery is but one part of a story; it may be a major, maybe even integral, part, but a part nonetheless. Don't get so caught up in your mystery that your plot fails, your characters are cardboard thin, and your setting is vague and unrealistic. The mystery should be incorporated into the story, along with everything else, and if it isn't and is just tacked on to a bad story in the hopes of making it good, then the story must be rewritten and the mystery incorporated more smoothly. If you can't do that, you should probably cut the mystery out altogether.So yeah. There're my two and a half cents of thoughts about mysteries. My word's not final, obviously, but this is what I have found works for me and for fiction writers in general.-TNTOS-

Got Raw-Jaw. He's pretty cool.-TNTOS-

I pulled a Secret Rare Tempest Magician from one of the Crossroads of Chaos booster packs I got for Christmas yesterday. As I don't run a Spellcaster deck, I have put her in my binder, although I think it's pretty cool I managed to pull a Secret Rare card like that.-TNTOS-

This alternate universe stuff hurts my head, not to mention is slightly off-topic. So I think we should stop, unless you have something else to say directly concerning the story itself.-TNTOS-

of course, but I always try to go the extra mile when completing missions. For instance, I don’t just steal a treasure. I kill the guards, steal anything else of value, maybe cause a couple of fires and then leave.”if only going the extra mile in school was that much funnothing else to say

You'd probably get kicked out of school if you did that, heh .-TNTOS-