Serenity

[Katuko]

SerenityWhat in the blazes...? According to my mind-reading friend, that was the first thought that came to the Toa of Iron, the same moment as the molecules of everything within his immediate view suddenly decided that sticking together wasn't fun enough anymore. As the world began dissolving around him, he apparently felt an uncomfortable sensation in his abdomen, for he looked down, only to find that where there once was full plate armor and metallic protoskin, there was now a gaping hole. His last thoughts, I know nothing of, but I hope they were filled with the dawning realization of what, exactly, it was that had killed him. Do not mistake me for a sadist, though. I don't care if my victims feel pain or not, and indeed: my method of attack this day caused no pain at all. I do, however, enjoy killing in and of itself, more than your average Rahkshi. I take no prisoners. I show no mercy. Having clawed my way through a platoon of my brethren in order to secure my position within the Brotherhood's army, it is hopefully clear to everyone that I am not someone they should mess around with. I guess it is, for they tend to stay far away from me. More than once have I found myself on the battlefield with no enemies left, only to turn my anger towards my own allies. Once I start killing, I can not stop. It is physically impossible for me, for as soon as the fight is on, everything becomes a blur. A blur filled with maddened screams, metal breaking, cries of pain and occasionally wet, squishy noises. By the time I calm down, everything around me is usually dead.I am a Rahkshi of Anger. I was created from a fully developed Kraata, and so my power is at its absolute maximum. My ability is to cause anger, quarrels and conflicts amongst others. As a side effect, I am also angry, all the time. I am the most aggressive, most brutal, most crazily berserking Rahkshi you will ever meet. You would do well to fear me. My dented, scratched, scorched and otherwise abused and maimed armor was once white. Today, it's more of a worn-down silver; with sooty black and muddy brown liberally scattered across its surface: a result of charging recklessly into ranks of Toa with powers far more flashy than my own. I don't even use a staff. The one I had was first bent around a Skakdi's skull, and later broken completely when I used it to smash through a Toa of Stone's rock barrier. My left hand is missing a claw and a half, after an unfortunate run-in with a Toa of Plasma. I have been told he burned them clean off with a stream of ionized gas. Personally, I didn't even notice until much later, after I was done grinding his Kanohi mask to dust by scraping it, Toa still attached, across half a mile of rocky terrain. It helps that the only organic parts in a Rahkshi's body is the Kraata, located in the head and spine, but they say even a fully mechanical being would notice their body parts being blown off. Not me. Once my berserker side kicks in, I lose all control. If a Toa as much as glances at me, I feel compelled to attack, and I won't stop until I've had my daily dose of murder.Today, another Toa met his end at my hands. From my description of the scene, you might be wondering how I could possibly use anger to make things dissolve. Truth be told, I technically didn't. When I saw him, he was still a distance away, and I realized that charging down there would have given him enough time to rip me apart with his elemental powers. Luckily I managed to contain my rage just long enough to pry a weapon away from one of my comrades: A Rahkshi of Disintegration. He protested, but to no avail. With his staff in hand, I unleashed a wave of energy upon the general area, which spelled the end for the Toa. My blood lust satisfied, I managed to calm down enough to hand the staff back to its owner in a somewhat civilized manner. He hissed at me, but didn't dare to do anything more. For a moment, I did feel the urge to attack him as well, but once again I managed to suppress my violent emotions. That's twice in one day. New record.The third party present was a Toa of Psionics. At the time I didn't care to know his name, but after I asked him a few days ago he told me it was Sifex. I know he defected to the Brotherhood of Makuta some time during the war between Toa and Dark Hunters, seeking an alternative to the violent conflict; a place where he could feel safe. Our fortress is definitely safe, but unfortunately for him, he no longer had a say in things at all, and our missions were certainly not pacifistic. My best guess was that he was placed on my team just to see his reaction to me. If he didn't follow orders, he would be killed by the Makuta. Loyalty notwithstanding, in my group he might actually get killed if he did follow orders, given my unstable nature. Sifex appeared to know this, and did his best to act friendly towards me. I suspected that he used his mind-reading ability to sense my feelings and motives and act accordingly. A good skill to have. At the very least, it would keep him safe as long as I was calm... and sane. We had another few Brotherhood members with us when we started the mission, but they were gone now. One, a Vortixx, had tried to bail on us. He was quickly vaporized for his betrayal. Another, a Skakdi, had been a bit too close to me during a heated battle. Sifex chided me for killing him, as if it was my fault that he couldn't see me swinging a looted pole axe around in a mad frenzy.It didn't take long before the three of us came across another group of Toa, and it didn't take more than the sight of their ugly masks before my rage broke loose again. I don't remember anything from this battle myself, but my Toa friend has filled me in on the details. As I began charging towards the Toa's camp, hissing and screeching like I usually do, the Psionic had realized that they were expecting us. One of them activated his mask of Shielding to hold me off, and I was thrown backwards onto the ground. Sifex quickly used his mental powers to knock the defender off-balance, and I have been told that by the time he fell down, I had gotten back up, more furious than ever. He, however, never got the chance to stand again. While I pounded the life out of the Toa, his comrades descended upon me with swords in hand. At least one of them were on fire. Having no concern for my own well-being – and definitely none for theirs – I grabbed said burning sword by the blade and wrung it from the Toa's grip. One of the others cut another gap in my shoulder armor, before I cut him in half with the flame sword. At this point Sifex didn't want to go into further detail, but from the curious sight that greeted me once my rage subsided, I got that I must have done a lot more than simply cut that Toa. In any case, by this time the Rahkshi of Disintegration had managed to kill two of the enemy group from a safe distance, which meant that only two remained. One activated her mask of Flight a moment before I could grab her, but she didn't get far. Another disintegration beam swiftly turned her into a nice shower of confetti. This left a Toa of Fire, who by now had recovered enough from the shock to unleash his elemental power. Fire doesn't really stop a metallic being who doesn't care about being burned, however. Moments later, the Toa was dead, and my sense of reality slowly came back, allowing me to study the aftermath properly. As usual, there wasn't much to see. A few more burns on my armor and a few shattered Toa. Nothing more.Sometimes, I regret not being able to remember my own exploits. Those who've seen me in action claim that it is a sight to behold. On rare occasions, when there are a few moments when I'm not angry at something, I also feel a bit frightened of myself. I have no control! Some day I will get myself killed in a frenzied battle. Partly due to this, and partly due to Sifex's insights, I have realized that I must learn to control my anger. He told me that even if I can't stop the anger itself, that doesn't mean I can't learn to focus it. If I just concentrate, he says, I can stop myself from going on rampages and instead utilize the rush I feel for more precise destruction. Controlled fury... a very interesting theory. I'm not sure if I believe Sifex when he says it will make me even more fearsome, but I agree that it will help me become more effective. As I sit here writing this, I can feel anger building once more: it takes too long, and it feels like a wasted effort, but Sifex claims that writing down my thoughts will help me focus on them and not lose my grip. Even so, these articulate sentences are beginning to grate on my patience, forcing me to crush a Matoran's neck with my left hand in order to relieve tension enough to type with my right. I can hear Sifex shouting something in the distance, barely audible over the gurgles of the Matoran. I believe he's upset that I'm killing our prisoner. He gave up on trying mental communication with me after he realized my thoughts mostly boiled down to murder and how best to perform it, so he's resorted to normal speech around me. But please, stop with the shouting already, I'm doing the best I can. Sifex, stop shouting. He's not even dead yet. All right, that's it, one more shout and I'll skjdfhIW7YoctIUHBJK5BN48ASJA;LgfvEW8OTFGVThe End