Survivor

[a goose]

Yes, I'm writing another epic while I still have two that aren't finished.

Please don't kill me.

That said, this is going to be quite short. Both the Prologue and the epic itself. It's just a side project, really. Marked and The Eleventh Hour are my main things.

Link to the review topic here.

 

Prologue

 

---It all began with a simple argument.

---That’s all it was, really, just an argument. The Ta-Matoran and Po-Matoran had an argument over trade and boundaries, and then this happened.

---I’m not going to say I’m a master storyteller. I’m a Ko-Matoran. Our focus is on the future, not the past. As such, although I will give you the details, I will give you only the necessary ones.

---As I said, it began with a dispute between Ta-Metru and Po-Metru. I don’t know the exact details, you’d have to ask the people involved. I suspect no one really cared about it until the attacks.

---It began with a few Ta-Matoran sail barges sinking. A couple of Po-Metru Warehouses melted by Molten Protodermis. A furnace destroyed. A few statues brought to the ground. No one knows who started it; all we know is that it’s escalated into all-out war.

---That’s when people started taking sides. Onu-Metru joined Ta-Metru, and Le-Metru joined Po-Metru. We Ko-Matoran tried to intervene, but it was too late; eventually the majority of us sided with the Po-Matoran, only a few remaining neutral. The Ga-Matoran joined the Ta-Matoran shortly afterward, likely to keep some balance.

---It’s a strange thought, that there is some form of balance in all this. I don’t see any balance. All I see is chaos and destruction. Many Knowledge Towers have been brought to the ground by the Onu-Matoran, who were all too happy to use this as an opportunity to attack us – there has always been rivalry between Ko and Onu-Metru, due to the fact that they study the past while we look towards the future – and wild animals roam the streets. I’m not sure how they got there, but I suspect that it had something to do with the Onu-Matoran and those Archives of theirs.

---You’re probably wondering who I am, and where I fit into this. Well, I’ll tell you who I am: my name is Khryogen, and I am one of the last neutral Ko-Matoran.

 

---“Get in here!” Kyrus, a fellow neutral, shouts as I reach the knowledge tower we’ve made our base. I may have forgotten to mention that I’m currently running for my life. There’s a Rahi behind me, but it’s not like anything I’ve seen before; two heads, eight limbs, the back six walking and the front two reaching out toward me with clawed fingers. I look back for a moment to see how close it is, only to see one of the hands right behind me. This close, I can see that the palm actually has a mouth in it, which opens hungrily, snapping tiny, sharp teeth at me. What a lovely creature.

---I dive into the door just in time, and it slams behind me. I hear the Rahi crash into the door, and then scratch against it, struggling to make it move. We (the other neutrals and I) sit in the darkness, not moving, not even breathing, until we hear the monster finally walk away and give a collective sigh of relief.

---You’re probably wondering why I went out in a world this dangerous. Well, it was my turn.

---People have to go out every now and then, check the state of the city, see what’s going on. We take it in turns.

---We don’t always come back.

---This is our world. This is how things have been for the four hundred or so years since the war started, and this is how things will continue to be until we finally receive help from the outside world. After four hundred years, you would expect to have gotten some assistance, but apparently everyone else has better things to do, or fears to go into Metru Nui due to the nightmare it’s become. Given the importance of the city, I’d put my money on the latter.

---Word on the street is that there’s help on the way, though. Nothing specific, just rumours of ships approaching on the horizon. Until then, the others and I will have to continue to survive in this world, the never-ending nightmare that the City of Legends has become. Because that’s what we are, now; survivors. That is the only purpose of our lives. More of us die every day. I’m one of the few who has escaped Rahi more than once.

---We don’t live here, we survive. We go on, and we go on because we have hope that some day the madness will end. But hope is dying. And we are too.

 

Review Topic

Edited January 11, 2013 by Simply Vorex

[a goose]

Chapter 1 – Lambs to the Slaughter

 

---My turn again.

---It’s quiet today. Far too quiet. Something isn’t right. No armies, no Rahi, nothing.

---As someone who has wanted peace for far too long, its sudden arrival is surprisingly unnerving.

---Walking through the streets, I hear marching. No... not marching. Walking. As it gets closer, I duck back into a doorway, watching what happens next. Before my eyes, I see Ko-Metru’s army, walking slowly, sorrowfully, along the road. They’re keeping their heads down, and I begin to fear that we’ve lost. No, that they’ve lost – I’m neutral. I suppose it won’t make a change if I’m neutral or not if Ko-Metru’s side has lost, though; I’m going to get thrown in with everyone else either way. What difference will it make? This was all a dispute about trading in the beginning; it’ll hardly affect us too much.

---Slowly, though, I realise that the expressions of the Ko-Matoran aren’t expressions of defeat... they aren’t fallen, they’re scared. What could make them act against their own will like this? Some new kind of Rahi?

---I hear a hissing out on the street that seems to freeze my soul. It’s not an animal; it’s something more, as though Fear itself is walking the paths of Ko-Metru. And as the monster reaches the doorway and turns to look at me, its fiery eyes burning into my very soul, I can see for myself that that is the only possible solution.

---The creature is tall, clad in grey and red, with a snakelike head and spiked spine which stretches down its back, finishing in a small tail. Its reptilian eyes are filled with an intelligence beyond what its appearance would suggest, and in its hands it carries a long staff. I try to run, to get away from this unnatural monstrosity, but it’s as though my feet are frozen in place as it slowly walks towards me, its staff and eyes glowing red, as it hisses a simple order: “Follow.”

---Suddenly, being frozen in place seems better than movement, but my feet are once again beyond my ability to control, walking out after the creature and joining the crowd of fearful Matoran. There are others like Fear, in every colour from gold to purple. They guide us through the streets, and as we walk the ice slowly clears, giving way to a darker, more industrial landscape; Onu-Metru. Its appearance is nothing compared to Ko-Metru, although I have to wonder why we have been brought here. There are bridges over the water, below the chutes, which explains why we had to walk – the war obviously damaged the chute system to some degree, and it would be unsafe to bring us anywhere using it. However, that still doesn’t explain why we have been brought to Onu-Metru of all places, but as we reach a large building I see a large gathering of Matoran – green, red, brown, blue... all the districts seem to have given up their armies – around a massive building that could only be one thing: the Archives, Onu-Metru’s most famous landmark.

---On a raised platform, a Turaga stands, looking down upon us, one of the snake-creatures on either side of him, and a taller being behind him. The other being stands proud, with his arms folded behind his back, and he’s grey and rusted, with crimson eyes that look down upon us as simple insects. It’s obvious that he’s one of the Rahi Creators, the Makuta, who I’ve heard whispers about among the other Matoran, although I don’t know who in particular it is.

---The Turaga, though, I recognise only too well. Arkeis, Turaga of Earth, placed in charge of keeping the peace in Metru Nui, a task at which he has failed miserably. Rumour has it his reaction to the war was barricading himself inside the Coliseum and waiting for it to end.

---The Makuta walks forward and clears his throat, and everything becomes silent. “Matoran of Metru Nui; you have all fought in a Civil War which has had terrible consequences far beyond your island city. I have decided, as Metru Nui’s new Overseer, that there is only one true solution to this war, and that is to remove those who caused it.”

---Even as the Makuta finishes speaking, a Ta-Matoran and a Po-Matoran are led up on to the platform to stand beside the Turaga. One of the snake-creatures moves behind them, and forced them on to their knees, and slowly the realisation of what is about to happen dawns on me as I see just how sharp the end of the second creature’s staff is, an axe-like blade that now rests above the Ta-Matoran’s neck.

---“The only way to make something memorable,” the Makuta continues, “Is to make it associated with pain and horror. And so this day will forever be remembered, and the people of Metru Nui will never again step out of line.”

---With a thump, the blade comes down, and the Ta-Matoran’s head rolls along the stage without a sound. The Po-Matoran receives a similar fate, and to the credit of those gathered, not a sound is made as we watch this disgusting display. Then the blade lops off Arkeis’ head. A single, high-pitched scream rings out. Then chaos. The Matoran are scattering, running everywhere, and the snake-creatures are killing and pushing back those who try to escape back into the groups, slowly forcing us all into one big group.

---“Obviously,” the Makuta begins, looking down at us with distaste clear in his eyes, only to find that he can’t be heard over the armies. “Obviously,” he repeats, raising his voice and earning the silence of everyone watching, “This execution was not brutal enough on its own to warrant peace. No matter; I did plan for such an occasion.”

---Suddenly, I feel the other Matoran pushing me, as the creatures lead us toward a gaping hole that must be the entrance to the Archives. Yet it seems rougher, newer than the rest, as though it was recently cut into the ground alongside the other entrance – a shortcut to the lower floors. The Makuta may say that he meant to finish with the beheadings, but there’s too much effort involved in this for it to be as simple as that. No, he knew what was coming, he planned to lead us down. What will happen to us? No doubt we’ll be sealed inside, left for dead. I feel strange feelings building up inside me, hatred of the Makuta, of Arkeis, of the people of Metru Nui for bringing everything to this. I did nothing wrong, and yet I’m being left for dead. My eyes narrow as I am led through the tunnels, and I see the Rahkshi moving back, followed by hearing a loud rumbling. Then everything is silent and pitch-black, the only light provided by the eyes of the other Matoran. I pace my breath, trying not to use the little air we have. Then the silence is broken by a single, animalistic growl, and I see other eyes appearing in the distance. I hear gasps as the others come to the same conclusion as me: leaving us to starve wasn’t quick enough. We were left to be massacred.

 

Review Topic