User blog:TheSlicer/The Darkness Returns

This is one of my stories from CBW. It's part of what has become known as the Gigas Magna Storyline, and it's pretty popular over there. It's the sequel to two stories, The Leviathos Chronicles (which was immensely popular) and an old story, The Fairon Chronicles.

I also hope it can be a good stand-alone story (although it makes numerous references to past Gigas Magna Storyline events) and that's why I'm bringing it here, so people with absolutely no prior knowledge of my storyline can tell em what they think of it.

A few notes: Shadowdermis is an extremely powerful substance that was created a few years ago by Makuta Kunaku. The Order of Darkness was an organization that was created by Makuta Velnax, but was defeated by the Order of Mata Nui about a month before the story begins. (During the war, the Shadowdermis was destroyed, causing all shadowdermis in the universe to be annihilated, explaining what happens in the prologue.)

And one more thing: compared to the rest of the chapters, the first part of the prologue kinda sucks. This is because it was written months before the others, and my writing has improved since then.

Prologue
Nightwatcher's claw clamped around Shayla's throat. Hands tied behind her back, he led her down a long corridor.

"You are very lucky that you still live," he hissed to her. "We do not generally appreciate members of the Gigas Magna Resistance."

"But you are a bounty hunter, the little pet of whoever pays you most to do a job," she replied coolly. "Is greed all that inspires you?"

"Not greed," said the bounty hunter. "Revenge, which is something you innocent, peace-loving Resistance fools don't know about. I think Mordrax wants to see you."

A door opened, and there stood the bestial deputy leader of the Brotherhood of Gigas Magna. Mordrax sat there in a large chair; his prosthetic limbs were particularly obvious in the light. He gestured with one of them at a chair opposite his

Sit down, said a voice in Shayla's mind. ''Sit down. I mean you no harm.''

Do not listen, said another voice. Mordrax will not help you.

Sit DOWN!

Shayla sat down. Mordrax smiled.

''Since I was injured, I have not been able to use my vocal cords. That is just as well. My mind is more persuasive, is it not?''

"What do you want?" said Shayla.

''I want the total annihilation of your order. I want our takeover of the universe to be complete. But for both of those things, I need to know: WHERE IS BROMINAX?''

"I don't know," said Shayla quite honestly.

Mordrax emitted a sound that would have been a hiss, but since, as he said, his vocal cords had been damaged, it sounded like a gargle.

''You went to the Matoran Universe with him. You joined a secret organization there. Then my friend Velnax teleported you back, and Nightwatcher captured you. That is all I know. So where is your leader? I brought you to this isolated outpost for this purpose. Do not waste my time.''

"I don't know."

Then you are of no use to me, he snarled, readying his blade to plunge it into her body. With lightning-fast reflexes, Nightwatcher stopped it with his staff.

Well done, Nightwatcher, Mordrax gurgled. ''My prosthetic suit is powered by Shadowdermis, so it can anticipate almost anything. Clearly, you have mastered the art of quick thinking.''

"How do I know that you will not claim that one of your other bounty hunters, which offer lower prices for their work, captured her instead? With her dead, I shall have no proof that it was me that captured her until it is put on record."

Fine, Mordrax hissed. ''Besides, I have changed my mind about killing her. There is one more torture she can endure.''

He led a nervous Shayla into another room in the small building they were in. A large basin of a silvery, smooth substance rose out of the floor. Mordrax grabbed a large cup, dipped it in the pool, and held it to her mask.

''For a hundred years, our organization has used Shadowdermis to many purposes, most of which are oriented towards the annihilation of your order. We want complete control of this planet. Now, this is a little experiment of mine that I would like to use on you before you die. It has never been used on a sentient being before.''

Now, he gestured, drink.

Shayla shook her head.

DRINK! shouted Mordrax.

Several things happened at once. The pool of what appeared to be Shadowdermis exploded into flame. The same thing happened to the cup. Shayla managed to evade the fireball, but Mordrax was not so lucky. His Shadowdermis-powered prosthetic suit was aflame. He writhed in pain on the ground and screeched at her in her mind.

"Well," said Nightwatcher, "it certainly does not look like you are in a good condition to pay me." With those words, he fired his High-Energy Plasma Launcher at Mordrax. The fire spread around the writhing being. Within seconds, a large portion of the building was aflame. He pulled Shayla away and they rushed towards the exit.

"What happened?" asked Shayla.

"The Shadowdermis was annihilated. I never cared for that substance anyway."

"Is Mordrax dead?"

"Most likely. I do not honestly care."

"Why'd you save me?"

"It is hopefully worth some widgets," said Nightwatcher as they ran out into the desert of Gigas Magna, "because if not, your remains will be quite unrecognizable."

One month later...

The Bounty Hunters' Guild was an elite, prominent bounty hunting organization, so large it made the Dark Hunters look like a penniless bunch of Matoran living on the street trying to sell their services to passerby. They worked by sending two bounty hunters after a target at the same time, which was intended to put pressure on both of them to find the target first. Treachery and backstabbing were, of course, encouraged. Normally, these missions ended up one way: one bounty hunter won, being elevated to a higher position in the unofficial ranking of the Guild, and the other being forced into shame, until each was sent to another mission. However, in the rare case that both of the bounty hunters failed, or were decapitated, two members of the next rank would be called in to complete the job.

If all the bounty hunters failed, then Nightwatcher would be sent out. However, since Nightwatcher's method took a long tome and usually involved a large and complicated plan to bring down one or more interplanetary organizations, the Guild leaders found it best to keep Nightwatcher as far away as possible from the rest of the Guild. He was never paired with anyone else, as the last time that had happened, the other bounty hunter had ended up permanently fused to the bounty.

Rank One was mostly made up of amateurs, making a futile attempt to make a living by doing something they weren't very good at. Most of them never survived their first mission. They were usually considered expendable, and sometimes, just for fun, someone would pair a Rank One hunter with a Rank Three or higher and watch the beings they were supposed to be hunting beat the Karzahni out of them.

Rank Twos were mostly part-time workers, Matoran and Agori assassins usually, every once in a while a Toa or a Glatorian. These made up the greatest percentage of members, as these, unlike the Rank Ones, actually had reasonable life expectancies. They were not, however, often sent out to combat Resistance members; these were sent after low-profile targets such as Brotherhood political enemies.

Rank Threes were decent fighters, not good enough to combat most Gigas Magna Resistance members, but valuable all the same. these were almost all either massively powerful thugs or somewhat successful Toa hunters, often sent to other planets to keep the inhabitants in check. This was not technically bounty hunting, but as the Guild served as the unofficial military branch of the Brotherhood, and they were paid anyway, most of them didn't really care.

Ranks Four and Five were the elite, highly skilled mercenaries able to fight anything from Krahka to even, in some cases, Great Beings. Most of these were born fighters; powerful beings with great access to elemental powers, great swordsmen with legendary battle skills, and quite a few of both. These were the highest classes, unless, of course, you counted Nightwatcher, who was in a class of his own.

The skinny Rotaxian from Bota Magna was a Rank Four. He was also quite angry, and it is a very bad thing to anger a Rank Four bounty hunter if your intention is to remain alive.

The reason Varzinox was angry was because he was being paired with a bossy Kodax warlord who didn't look like he knew the first thing about bounty hunting, and a Makuta who didn't look like he could handle a Cordak blaster right. Yet here they were, together, being led down a hall by a small Lightning Rahkshi to whoever it was that had summoned them there.

"This had better be good," he murmured, "or someone's throat is going to get ripped out."

A major difference between Rank Fours and Rank Fives is that some Rank Fours are not as disciplined, meaning that if the bounty hunter becomes angry at his employer, it usually takes about the equivalent of a small city's army, navy, and air forces to bring him down.

The two beings standing by the door were pathetic-looking Kodax, one even skinnier than he was, the other a fat piece of Muaka dung that he estimated would last about two seconds against Slicer. Varzinox considering blasting them aside for fun, but decided that if he was going to take his anger out on someone, it would be his employer.

"Come in," said the skinny one, making a feeble attempt to pretend that he wasn't intimidated. Varzinox snorted at him reproachfully and walked inside the door.

A powerfully built Kodax awaited them inside, sitting in a chair, idly tapping his claws on the armrests. At last, here was a real warrior — no doubt, he had fought in the Kodax War, and probably a number of wars after that. Varzinox wondered how he had gotten so far from Bara Magna, but decided, as he had with the bossy warlord, that it didn't really matter. He did, however, reconsider his decision to take his anger out on him.

"Ah, Ralox, Valtrahk," said the Kodax. "You have returned. And who is this?"

"We found him on Gigas Magna, My Lord," said the Makuta, kneeling down. Varzinox noticed that the other Kodax was also kneeling, and briefly wondered whether he should kneel as well.

"Ah," said the Kodax. "Finally, a real warrior. Those two Makuta you saw guarding the door are Kutrax and Kunaku. Stupid creatures, they couldn't even defeat two Toa. I posted them on guard duty as a punishment. Tell me, Rotaxian; what is your name?"

"They call me Varzinox," said the bounty hunter through clenched teeth.

"Well, at least you got rid of your useless code names," said the Kodax smoothly.

"Get to the point," spat the Rotaxian.

"Have I introduced myself? My name is Velnax. You see, we are having a number of... problems... with a Great Being. His name is Brominax. I want you to kill him."

"A Great Being?" asked Varzinox in surprise, wondering if his abilities would be nearly enough to defeat a member of such a powerful species.

"He did not vanish along with the others after the Kodax War," said Velnax, misunderstanding Varzinox's reaction.

Varzinox swallowed. "How much?"

"You bounty hunters," Velnax laughed. "That's the first thing you want to know. Well, we have quite a lot of funds at our disposal, so let's say... ten thousand?"

Varzinox would have gaped at him in shock had he not been trying as hard as possible to avoid looking like a fool. Instead, he merely nodded. "Dead or alive?"

"Dead, of course," said Velnax. "He's no use to us alive. Oh, and if there's a Toa with him..."

"Yes?"

"Kill him and you get an extra two thousand."

Varzinox nodded. "Of course, sir. I shall leave immediately."

The bounty hunter walked outside as calmly as he thought possible. Inside, he was shaking with glee. Ten thousand! He had never gotten nearly that much on any mission. This was a good day, he thought to himself.

Chapter 1
The two Toa walked calmly across the dark wooden floor of the Daxia fortress, followed by three hundred Matoran. The long procession marched through the corridors until it reached the massive chamber that made up Daxia's council room. The cheering and roaring of the Matoran echoed in the large room, and Fairon had to shout to make himself heard.

"We freed the Matoran!"

Helryx, a powerful Toa of Water with scratched, battle-worn armor, stood up and walked over to the two Toa. "Good," she said, obviously pleased. "At last, the final remnants of that horrible war with the Order of Darkness are accounted for."

"I think this calls for a celebration," said a voice nearby. Fairon looked in its direction to see a strong, yet clearly aged, Toa-sized figure. His armor was a bright yellow, which was neatly contrasted by his white Akaku. His name was Vinax; a respected Toa of Lightning and Helryx's personal aide.

"A celebration?" said Helryx. "No, a promotion. The two of you have done quite well."

A month had passed since Fairon and Rantu had defeated the Order of Darkness. Since then, they had gone on various missions to different parts of the Matoran Universe, freeing Matoran, Intellians, and Reptisapeans, survivors of the battle of Sacho Nui, from Order of Darkness prisons scattered across multiple islands. The last of them had now been freed after a lengthy battle with Velnax's robot minions.

As for Velnax himself, there had been no sign. The Makuta had vanished after Xa Nui. Some said he was dead; others, that he was injured and was spending his time trying to heal. Fairon suspected that he was only waiting to make his next move, whatever that might be. Whatever his fate, he wanted no more than to find the cruel murderer of Dorex and give him the fate he deserved.

"So," whispered Rantu to Fairon, "what do you think will happen to these Matoran?"

"They'll have their memories wiped," said Fairon. "A pity. They won't remember us."

"Or as Kondius would say, 'Oh, happy-luck. The short-Toa will ever-forget my heroic-deeds!'"

The festive mood dimmed as the Matoran, still celebrating their newfound freedom, were led away by Vinax and some other senior Order members. Helryx's face visibly darkened as she turned to face the two Toa. The cracks and scratches on her mask seemed even more prominent now that she looked at them that way.

"I need to speak to you in private," she said, gesturing to her quarters.

The Toa, looking at each other and wondering what she was going to show them, nodded and followed her to an all but empty room. The walls and ceiling were a sickly shade of gray that looked almost green, and there was no light in the room whatsoever. She shut the door and turned to face them, her green eyes shining in the dim light.

"I think," she whispered, "that there is a traitor in the Order of Mata Nui."

The two Toa gasped in surprise. Helryx looked at them both strangely, then continued.

"Remember that mission to Xia a week ago, where you found the Order of Darkness base? Everyone had fled hours before, as if they knew that we were coming. We found a transmitter in the wreckage. From what we can tell, it made several communications with someone on this island."

"How is that possible?" Fairon responded. "Don't all Order members undergo regular mental scanning to ensure that they're not betraying us?"

"No," she answered. "Not all of them. We can't scan the minds of beings going on covert operations. Your brains haven't been scanned since you defeated Velnax, one month ago. You've constantly been on missions."

"Are you implying that we're traitors?" Rantu growled.

"No," said Helryx. "We monitored you closely during the last few missions. We would know if you betrayed us. What I'm implying is that someone who knew about your missions sold us out."

"But that's only us and Brominax!" Rantu exploded.

"Exactly," Helryx answered.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Brominax would never betray us!" cried Fairon. "He couldn't—!"

"I'm not saying he did," said Helryx. "All I'm saying is that we need to consider all possible opportunities. Who knows; maybe someone found out about the mission without learning it directly from either of us. But we need to keep our eyes open."

"Yes, Helryx," said Rantu.

"Now, whoever the traitor is, it looks like they're trying to set the two of you up. If we let them think that I suspect you, they might let their guard down and make it easier for us to find them. Therefore, it must appear as if I don't trust you.

"I'm going to send you on missions separately from now on, so it looks as if I'm trying to keep the two of you apart. I'm also going to pair you with some others. I don't want you to reveal the details of this plan to anyone; just say that you don't think that I trust you.

"I'll give you the details later," said Helryx. "You can go now."

Fairon and Rantu exited quickly, whispering to one another, their footsteps growing fainter and fainter as Helryx listened. After listening for footsteps for a few seconds with her keen ears, she turned around and pressed her hand on an invisible panel on the damp wall. The wall slid apart, and she entered a large area which looked very much like a prison cell.

She walked up to the thing that lay on the wall at the other end of the room. Chained to the wall was a Toa of Water, her armor scratched and pitted. Her blue eyes glared accusingly at the impostor, and had she not been gagged, she likely would have spat in her face.

"Now, Helryx," said the being that had entered the room, "it's time to tell me what you know. All of it." She grinned coldly at the Order of Mata Nui leader.

"Because no one keeps secrets from Makuta Miserix."

Chapter 2
Velnax stepped slowly towards the strange chamber. The dark room was small and completely empty, save the large chair, the viewscreens, and the golden floating orb. All of these things had been brought over from the Dreadnought when his master had first arrived.

The sphere that levitated a bio off the floor was big enough for one being. It was slowly rotating, and the strange object gave off a dim but eerie yellow light. Inside, a dim silhouette was visible: that of a medium-sized humanoid, apparently in a meditative position.

"Antidax?" Velnax whispered.

The orb stopped rotating, the silhouette stood up, and the strange object opened up. The figure stepped out.

"Have I not told you enough times not to interfere with my meditating?" rasped the being.

He was muscular, but he was not physically imposing like Velnax. Wicked blades were held in place on his shoulders, reflecting the golden light of the meditation sphere. His red-and-black armor was thick, but somehow it suggested a strange sense of elegance. He generated an aura of pure power that even Velnax could not hep being impressed by.

He was Antidax, Brominax's deadly foe. He was a Great Being, the one who had betrayed the Order millennia before. He had been the instigator of every major conflict in the last thousand years; with his meditation, he could look into the abyss and undetectably manipulate every being in the universe.

Antidax wanted to rule the universe. Each small step, each minor detail of his plans, each day brought him closer to the day in which he did.

"Many times, My Lord," Velnax answered. "But you ordered me to tell you when the plan was initiated."

"There are many plans," said Antidax, pacing around the orb. "Which one?"

"The one involving Miserix, My Lord."

"Ah," Antidax said. "That plan. Fairon is a nuisance, and I am glad to hear that he will be disposed of. He cannot be allowed to interfere with the Underworld War."

"What of Brominax, My Lord?"

"The bounty hunter will not be able to kill Brominax. He is mine. All that matters is that he be... delayed. He cannot be allowed to interfere with Valtrahk's mission. But Fairon... Fairon is another matter. The only reason he isn't dead is because of a combination of extraordinary luck and that annoyingly powerful mask of his. He can be disposed of easily. The important thing is that we succeed in disposing of him."

"Is he truly that important?"

"Yes, Velnax, more important than you know. He has the potential to become a terrible threat to us."

"What do you want me to do, My Lord?"

Antidax stared at him for a moment, as if analyzing him. Then he looked away.

"I want you to make absolutely sure that he's dead."

Fairon looked up at the bright sky, exasperated, as he listened to Harini's incessant chatter.

"...And how does this work? So we go on the mission together, and we just teleport away to the place? How exactly do we stay together? Do we walk around the—?"

"For the last time, Harini," he said, pretending that he was actually trying to hide his exasperation, "we won't know until we get there. We have to find out if the rumors are true, and if they are, then we go straight back to Daxia to report to Helryx. No detours. Understand?"

Fairon was finding the job of acting as a superior officer to Harini, however low-ranking in the Order of Mata Nui hierarchy, very difficult. The Toa of Water had only just finished her combat training with Brominax (Dorex's temporary replacement, as no one had yet been found for the job of weapons instructor) and had her mental defenses established. This was her first mission as a Toa; all her other missions had taken place before her transformation.

He was having a hard time keeping the headstrong female under control; she was hyperactive and somewhat unwilling to follow orders. Sometimes he questioned Helryx's judgment in making her a member of the Order, but understood the reasons behind it.

After the fall of Robotopolis, Harini had been brought here along with her companions from the city. While the others were sent to other lands to find new homes, Harini was kept because of her natural skill with the short blade. She was extremely agile and capable, and she could outmaneuver almost anyone in battle, save some of the higher-ranking members like Brominax.

Their job was to travel to Xa Nui to investigate rumors of a new Order of Darkness base, and Fairon smiled inwardly as he remembered the first mission of two young Toa as they encountered three Makuta on that very same island.

"So what do we do now? How do we get there? Is there an Olmak we get to use or something? Do—?"

"Helryx doesn't just hand out Olmaks," Fairon answered, trying and failing to look serious as he looked at the lean Toa of water. "We need to go through the transporter."

They had left the Daxia indoor gardens now, and were approaching their destination; the massive Daxia Gate. It was not a fence, as one would have thought, but instead a gate between dimensions. It was made up of two massive protodermis columns about thirty bio apart, with a crackling purple ribbon of energy extending from one tower to the other. Near the base of the gate was a small station, monitored by a minute Matoran in a swiveling chair far too large for him.

"Destination?" he asked the two.

"Xa Nui," Fairon answered.

The Matoran nodded, and pressed a combination of buttons on his control panel. The energy ribbon expanded, until it was large enough for a number of beings to walk into.

"You're very bad at this, you know," said Harini, grinning.

"Bad at what?"

"Assuming positions of authority," she said as they stepped into the swirling void between universes.

Chapter 3
Rantu and Brominax emerged from the void to stand on the base of a massive rocky cliff. It was vertical and perfectly smooth, with the exceptions of one or two small grassy outcroppings higher up.

"Why couldn't we just have teleported to the top of this thing?" Rantu groaned.

"We don't want to be seen," Brominax replied. "I think you've gotten too used to the idea of going to battle, where we completely discard all concepts of secrecy and just blast our way through the masses of foes, without caring who sees us, as we know we can track all the beings down and wipe their memories. Not here. We must be cautious."

"You're a Great Being!" Rantu cried. "You can do anything! You're certainly capable of keeping us from being seen!"

Brominax let out a hollow chuckle. "Apparently, you don't have much experience with my kind. Understandable, of course. They vanished a hundred thousand years ago; even I don't know where they went. We are not invincible, Rantu. We lost most of our powers after the Shattering, and you must understand that we were not extremely powerful in the first place. Believe it or not, but we Great Beings have our arsenal limited to whatever weapons we choose to take and a small set of parlor tricks. We are not fighters, or at least most of us are not. I am what you could consider a unique exception."

"Parlor tricks?"

"Yes," Brominax said, smiling sadly. "To put it more accurately, extremely powerful parlor tricks, but parlor tricks nonetheless. We may contain more control over our elemental powers than almost any being alive, but you must understand that underneath our powerful appearance, we don't have the strength of a Toa."

"I don't understand," said Rantu, confused.

"Nor do you have to," said Brominax. "But to return to our original topic: yes, I am capable of preventing us from being seen. It involves a new strategy that I have not yet tried, so would you please hold my hand for a moment?"

Rantu hesitated for a moment, unsure if he actually wanted to be the test subject of a Great Being's experiments, then decided to comply. His hand was gripped — not tightly, but powerfully — by his superior, and then he saw that neither he nor Brominax were there.

"Do you see what I have done?" said Brominax, letting go of Rantu's invisible hand.

"You've redirected the beams of light," Rantu guessed, "so as to make it impossible for us to be seen."

"You aren't as obtuse as you look, Toa," said the Great Being. "Follow me. We have been sent to investigate something, and I think it is time for us to do just that."

Fairon was silent as his bright green eyes took in the sight that lay over the next hill. The inhabitants were no longer at Luren Village. This, of course, was to be anticipated; they were all still on Daxia undergoing rehabilitation. Even though their Shadowdermis had been removed, their personalities had been influenced by the substance, and they needed to have it fully removed from their systems so that they could return to ordinary Matoran society.

Still, the island had changed measurably since Fairon had last visited a month before, namely due to the fact that a massive metal fortress was under construction. It was not nearly as large as Daxia's monolithic building complex, but the fact remained that it existed, and if it existed, it was a problem.

For once, Harini was quiet as she took the binoculars from him and scanned the bright blue horizon. Fairon could dimly see a large number of specks that he knew to be Vorahi patrolling the fortress. One of the more heavily-guarded areas was a section that was still under construction; Fairon could tell even from this distance that the building equipment was even now slowly moving another piece of the structure into place.

"Reinforced protodermis," Harini muttered.

"What?"

"They used that for Robotopolis' ore shuttles. They needed to be extremely strong to be able to go down to the bottom of the ocean. What the Order of Darkness is using here is more refined, of course. I doubt even a protino bomb could penetrate this thing when it's finished, especially not if it has an antimatter shield."

"How did you learn so much about metals?" Fairon asked casually.

"I worked the ore shuttles, of course," said Harini. "What, do you think all the Ga-Matoran worked in the meditation rooms? Oh, no. Kutrax and Velnax singled out all of the toughest Matoran to work with them, and I was one of them. Lucky me," she said bitterly.

"We'd better report to the Order, then," said Fairon, taking his transmitter in hand and preparing to activate it. Suddenly, there was a flash of light too fast for Fairon's eyes to detect, and the device was vaporized in his hands.

"Oh, no, you won't, Toa," said a voice from behind him.

Acting on instinct, Fairon jumped into the air just before the second blast hit the spot where he had been a moment before, and in that fraction of a second saw his attacker. It was a Makuta, that Fairon was sure of. His muscles were hard and lean, and his glinting eyes looked squarely in his. Another fraction of a second later, and the Cordak blaster fired again.

Fairon dodged this projectile as well, and saw that Harini had vanished. No doubt, she was sneaking up behind his attacker, ready to pounce on him with her short swords. But if she was trying to help him, it didn't seem to be working, he reflected; he had had to dodge all the Cordak bullets. The Makuta threw the blaster on the ground and jumped toward him with his jagged sword. Fairon parried, but the force of the blow knocked him out of balance, and he had barely gotten back on his feet when the second blow came.

Then there was Harini. She came from above, slashing at him too fast for Fairon's eyes to see, her twin blades a blur, thrusting at the eye here, going for the leg there, feinting and coming back around somewhere else. Somehow, the Makuta held his own with the crooked silver sword, but he had been momentarily distracted, and that was all Fairon needed.

A month ago, had he tried this in one of his battles with Kutrax or Kunaku, he would have been chopped to bits. But no longer was he the naive adventurer that had sought out battle with the Order of Darkness. No longer was he the reckless young fool. He was faster, stronger, and, most important of all, smarter. And now he was relying on his speed, strength, and intelligence to complete this task.

Quickly, he backflipped so he was directly over his opponent's head. The Makuta looked up, but by then it was too late. Fairon's staff was a shining, spinning blur, and it was heading to the part of the body which no fighter would ever thunk was necessary to defend: the very top of the head.

This was a very unconventional tactic, and Fairon knew it. He had become an expert at unconventional tactics over the past month.

Then, his foe vanished. Instead of separating the Makuta's head from his body, Toa Fairon landed on the sandy ground. However, he had lived on the island of Xa Nui for all his life, and he was absolutely certain that none of it was sandy.

"What the Karzahni is this?" muttered Harini, who was walking in his direction from a small grassy area nearby.

For once, Fairon agreed with her. They were standing in what appeared to be a desert, with golden sand stretching in every direction as far as the eye could see. And instead of the sun of the Matoran Universe shining above them, the desert sand was illuminated by a strange light setting over the horizon. Fairon had seen these once before, in the sky out of a glass window in the city of Robotopolis.

The twin suns of Solis Magna.

"Agreed," he muttered. "What the Karzahni is this?"

Chapter 4
By a strange coincidence, "What the Karzahni is this?" was exactly what Rantu was saying to Brominax at that moment.

"Nynrah," said Brominax grimly. "The Nynrah Ghosts' base. Or at least, what's left of it."

The large silver building that served as the Ghosts' headquarters had been completely annihilated. Bits and pieces of the walls and some prototype Ghost equipment lay on the ground within a hundred-bio radius of where the base had once been. far into the distance lay the remnants of what had once been a thriving marketplace, now reduced to ribbons.

Rantu frowned, bending down to pick up what looked like one of Nynrah's many experimental weapons. "This makes no sense. Why go after the weapons manufacturers? Whatever happened to this place, the being — or beings — that did this could certainly level Daxia as well."

"We should look for survivors," said Brominax. "Maybe they know what happened here. Who knows; maybe this was accidental. Maybe an experimental weapon just went wrong, and..." he gestured to the scene of devastation around them.

Rantu shrugged. "Maybe. We should send a message back to Daxia."

"Agreed," said Brominax. "And we should try to focus our efforts on finding out what happened to this place."

"What about survivors?" said Rantu, then realized the stupidity of his question. No Matoran could have survived the cataclysm that had taken place here.

Brominax ignored the question and turned to the east. He took out one of the Order of Mata Nui's prototype molecular scanners. Rantu had heard about them; they were supposed to be able to take readings of various things, such as radiation levels, nearby technology, and it was supposedly also able to scan for life-forms. Brominax shook his head.

"No beings other than us on this island," he reported, "which is to be expected."

Rantu looked over Brominax's shoulder, a difficult feat, since the Great Being was at least twice as tall as he was. The device possessed a screen, upon which unintelligible symbols were moving about rapidly. Brominax somehow made sense of the readings and looked back towards him.

"Interesting," the Great Being muttered. "There are unusually high radiation levels here."

"Dangerous?" said Rantu.

"Barely detectable," Brominax responded. "These readings are just above normal, and they're marginally higher in some places than others, just by an infinitesimally small amount. It's as if something had high radiation emissions when it was created, but the emissions were lowered over time until they became negligible, and are still lowering at a small rate."

"Some kind of weapon, perhaps?" suggested Rantu.

"The Nynrah Ghosts don't work with any radioactive materials," said Brominax, frowning. "If it were a weapon, it would have had to come from somewhere else."

"But why take out the weapons-makers?" said Rantu.

"Maybe someone found a better weapons-supplier somewhere," Brominax answered. "Since they no longer had any use for the Ghosts, they wiped them out so no one else could use have the possible advantage of the use of the Ghosts' services."

The two beings patrolled the area for a while, inspecting the wreckage of the town to look for possible clues to its destruction. Brominax took reading after reading, and when he decided to check the topography reading, he finally discovered something of interest.

"Look here," said Brominax to Rantu, indicating a dark patch on the topography map, which was a patchwork of reds, yellows, and greens. "This is a low area. The green around it represents a high area. The low area is where we're standing right now."

"Okay," said Rantu, not fully understanding.

The display zoomed out. Splotches of dark riddled the bright green landscape.

"Dozens of these," said Brominax. "Impact craters."

"Impact craters?"

Brominax sighed, exasperated. "They're distributed at a regular pattern. If these are impact craters, then they would have had to have been made by some sort of weapon. Most likely, this weapon was dropped from somewhere high. Perhaps an airship."

"An airship?" Rantu pictured fleets of Brotherhood of Makuta airships bombing Daxia with this mystery weapon. "What organization uses airships?"

"Not the Brotherhood of Makuta," said Brominax. "Not the Dark Hunters. Neither of them would be capable to create weapons of this power, either."

"Who, then?"

"Well," said Brominax, "either it's an organization we've never heard of that has somehow managed to slip under our radar, or it's the Order of Darkness."

"Nice guess," sneered a voice from nearby.

Both Brominax and Rantu swerved around to find themselves looking into the eyes of a being wearing a large, rounded hat. As the dimensional portal closed behind him, thirty Rahkshi stepped to his side.

"Hello, Brominax. Hello, Fairon," said the being, removing his hat and looking right at them. "I am Varzinox of Bota Magna. Now, it would be much easier for the two of us if you surrendered, and I could blast your heads off without much trouble. Sadly, we all know that's not going to happen, so I am going to be forced to resort to the violent method." He turned to the thirty bright crimson Rahkshi.

"Overwatch Rahkshi," said Varzinox, "attack."

Chapter 5
Nightwatcher was content at last. After a month of pointless wandering, including an incident with a hidden planet, a small splinter faction of the Brotherhood of Makuta, a large group of Dark Hunters and Order of Mata Nui members, and a rather annoying Noctian, Nightwatcher had finally managed to break through Shayla's mental defenses. Even to him, that had been quite a challenge; her mental blocks had been erected by Brominax, the leader of the rebellious organization known as the Gigas Magna Resistance.

During a small... complication... both Nightwatcher and Shayla had been mutated: she into a disgusting Toa of Water and Shadow; he into a form of Skrall. Neither of them were very good-looking in their present states, but Nightwatcher had luckily still retained most of his awesome power after the mutation.

Shayla, however, while she had been gifted by new powers of shadow, had had her mental shield broken down by her mutation. This made it terribly easy for Toa Nightwatcher to reach into her mind and find what he had been looking for all along: the location of the Resistance base. Curiously, it turned out to be on exactly the same hidden planet where he had been the last week or so: Noctxia Magna. Unlike most of the planets in the system, it had been lucky in the fact that it had not yet been annexed by the Brotherhood of Gigas Magna. This was due to the fact that it was enveloped by a field that prevented it from having any effects on the surrounding areas. It could not be seen from any other planet, and even its gravitational influence had somehow been muffled.

He had made two deals with two different beings already in which he had promised not to reveal the location of the planet to the Brotherhood. Nightwatcher was, despite his reputation, an honest being, and he would probably have decided to keep his promise had both of the other beings in question not broken their side of the deal.

The Brotherhood would probably be happy to learn of the existence of a new planet to conquer. Most likely, he would receive a very, very, very rich reward.

Especially since the planet in question contained the hidden base of the Brotherhood's most hated enemy.

Now, he was looking at the large metal Resistance base, hidden partially by a massive clump of foliage, Shayla next to him, unable to move due to an energy field that he had erected around her. Massive plasma cannons located at regular intervals on the walls pointed themselves at him, but he knew that they wouldn't fire if it meant hitting a senior Resistance member. At least, not until they had verified that killing their target was more important than keeping Shayla alive. Of course, being who he was, they could not possibly have harmed him; he could have simply turned them aside with a wave of his hand, and they would have shot back at the fortress.

Of course, they don't know who I am, Nightwatcher thought. ''Too bad for them. People die for mistakes of this sort.''

He continued his pace, the motionless Shayla bobbing up and down in the air beside him. Then he stopped, looked at the fortress again, and said, in a booming, magnified voice:

"I have Shayla. I am willing to offer her back to you for a reasonable price. Try to kill me, and things turn out badly for you. Negotiate your terms, and things turn out marginally better. Of course, that's not to say that I won't go to the Brotherhood of Gigas Magna and tell them that this planet exists. Then again, you could always pay me extra..."

He waited for a moment. The former Enforcers were known to be honorable beings, and a hundred years ago, they would probably never have associated with lowlife scum such as bounty hunters. In these times, though, they had grown more desperate; he had even heard that the notorious bounty hunter Zirahk had joined their cause. And now that Brominax was gone, in the Matoran Universe on some ludicrous mission which had ended up with him in a coma, they had been left utterly leaderless. He had little doubt that if keeping their organization's base from being revealed to the Brotherhood meant choosing to ally with a bounty hunter, they would do so.

Little doubt. Not no doubt.

"Very well, bounty hunter," said a deep voice, which Nightwatcher knew belonged to Odresk, who was probably the acting commander of the Resistance now that Brominax and Fyxan were off on their mission. "Name your terms."

Nightwatcher smiled to himself. The Resistance would be willing to pay a ludicrous amount of widgets to keep him from revealing their base's location. Of course, they had no idea that mere minutes before, he had sent a message to the Brotherhood headquarters saying that he had discovered the Resistance base. No doubt, their starships were even now readying themselves for the hyperspace journey to Noctxia Magna.

He would be incapable of revealing something to the Brotherhood that the Brotherhood already knew about.

Nightwatcher was staying true to his reputation. He never lied. Only deceived. And at deception he was very good indeed.

Chapter 6
The Kanohi Ihaka was a powerful mask indeed. It permitted the bearer to transform into any being in the universe, so long as he or she had seen them before. In theory, that could allow one to, say, turn into the Mata Nui robot. In practice, however, it was much more complicated: it required immense mental control, and was more difficult to use if the being one was trying to copy was extremely powerful.

And now it was broken.

Fairon's mask had apparently been grazed by the Makuta's sword. Of course, it was a testament to his fighting skill that his head didn't come off with it, but the mask was now useless. He had been entrusted with it by Helryx herself, and he was supposed to have taken care of it well. But now it was completely useless; he was feeling weak now, which, as even the most obtuse Matoran knew, meant that the Kanohi had been broken.

He removed it from his face, and saw that it had turned gray. He was tempted to discard it, but instead decided to hold on to it in the case that they were to encounter some kind of place where it could be fixed, which did not seem all that likely in this barren wasteland. A pity; such a powerful mask could have been useful at a time like this.

He turned to Harini, the baking heat already taking its toll on him. "Any ideas?"

She looked questioningly at him. "I thought you were in charge."

"Yes, I am," said Fairon briskly. "And I am asking your opinion."

Harini frowned. "So. We're on a distant planet who knows how many mio away from where we were, sitting in a desert—"

"Standing."

"Standing in a desert. Well, if I may suggest something..."

"Yes?" said Fairon, irritated, with a river of perspiration streaming from his brow.

"Why don't we start with finding out if there's anywhere for us to go that isn't a desert?"

"And how do we do that?"

"Like this," she said calmly, and all of a sudden a massive tidal wave engulfed them both.

Ralox walked, head high, into the central chamber of the Xa Nui fortress. Velnax sat in the chair, looking quite annoyed, and Ralox knew that most of the annoyance was likely directed at him.

"You failed to kill Fairon."

"The Toa of Water—"

"I know about the Toa of Water."

"Fairon would be dead if you hadn't instructed me not to kill her."

"Not likely," said the Kodax in the chair. "From what I understand, you'd be dead if you hadn't desperately teleported them away. That Toa is quite a fighter. Where are they?"

"My lord," said Ralox, "they are not five kio away from the Guild base."

"Gigas Magna?" Velnax frowned. "Why of all places did you choose Gigas Magna?"

"I imagine that the Guild will make short work of Fairon. He is no match for the Slicer."

"You imbecile," said Velnax in a perfectly calm and level voice. "We don't want the Brotherhood of Gigas Magna to be involved in this. Either he is to be killed by us, on our own turf, or not at all. That applies until Harini completes her mission. Do you understand how important that is?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Follow them. Remain out of sight of Fairon. Make sure that Harini keeps Fairon alive... or at least that the Brotherhood doesn't get the body. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Get out," said Velnax. Ralox willingly complied, and Velnax turned away.

He rose from the chair and sighed. Ralox may have been powerful and loyal, but he was a foolish pawn with no more brains than a Kane-Ra. They were all foolish pawns: Valtrahk, Ralox, Kutrax, Kunaku... Every last one of them. He was waiting for the day that someone who could be genuinely useful would join the Order of Darkness, someone with both brains and power.

Despite what Antidax had said about the fact that Fairon was alive was only due to luck and his Ihaka, both he and Velnax knew it wasn't true. He had both brains and power, and not only that, but he knew how to use them.

Velnax was waiting for the day when Fairon joined the Order of Darkness. And that day, he knew, was growing ever closer.

Chapter 7
Rantu and Brominax were standing back-to-back, with swarms of crimson Rahkshi slicing at them. Rantu had never seen this kind of Rahkshi before (though they bore a distinct resemblance to Turahk) but he knew that if he had the choice, he would most definitely pay never to see them again.

Sadly, he didn't have the choice, and the vicious horde was coming at them by the dozens. Screeching loudly, they swung their staffs at Brominax and Rantu in swift and vicious strokes, the sunlight reflecting brightly off of their silver weapons. Rantu was having a hard time fighting their attacks off, and he was a fully trained Order of Mata Nui member. He would likely have been skewered already had it not been for Brominax.

Rantu had seen Brominax fighting too many times to believe the old saying that Great Beings were peaceful, or at the very least he knew that the saying didn't apply to all of them. Brominax was a whirlwind of light, almost literally — he hacked off Rakhsi heads here, easily parried the Rahkshi's deadly thrusts like he was swatting flies, and every once in a while focused his light powers to fry one of the kraata to cinders. His arms were moving too fast for the eye to see, and Rantu, gifted with the power of Aura, could see that Brominax was glowing. It was not a visible glow; it was the glow of power, and he could see that Brominax was still holding back, even now, possibly to prevent himself from tearing the island to bits.

But Rantu had more pressing concerns than that. Swiftly, as he stopped one Rahkshi's internal mechanisms and turned around half a second later to block a quick blow with the middle of the Rahkshi's staff that would have smashed his head had he been a moment too slow, he saw that more Rahkshi were coming out of the portal, sprinting past Varzinox to join the battle. The being from Bota Magna (wherever that was) was simply standing nearby, cracking his knuckles, waiting for the Rahkshi to finish them off.

The knowledge that his foe was simply sitting out of the battle and waiting for him to die sparked rage in him, and the rage gave him strength. He was a whirlwind too now; not nearly as powerful as Brominax's vortex of fire, but a leaping, dodging, stabbing, thrusting, ball of green light.

Suddenly, Rantu jumped away from Brominax, flipping over the Rahkshi's heads so quickly that their mechanical bodies were too slow to react, and as he landed he chopped three of them apart, then sliced the kraata in pieces while parrying another Rahkshi's attack. He continued on his path through the horde, slipping under the Rahkshi and thrusting his weapon through their bodies, then spinning his weapon and lunging through another one's defenses, all the while moving towards Varzinox. Brominax had seen his plan by now, and Brominax, too, was somersaulting over Rahkshi's heads, and as he came down he unleashed his terrible twirling claw blade upon them, severing six of their heads at once, then coming back for more.

Varzinox saw what they were doing, as well, and, abandoning the portal which still more Rahkshi were coming from, ran for his life. But Brominax and Rantu jumped over the last of the Rahkshi, sliced one or two apart for good measure, and raced after him. The remaining Rahkshi took a moment or two to adjust to the situation, and then activated their hovering mechanisms and flew after them.

Oh, wonderful, thought Rantu. His feet were moving rapidly, a blur in the chilly air of Nynrah, and as he watched Brominax run along beside him over the devastated village they were rapidly leaving, he wondered how close Brominax's legs were to terminal velocity. In front, Varzinox was tiring, which was good; behind, the Rahkshi were not, which was obviously very, very bad.

"On my back!" shouted Brominax. Wondering what the Great Being had in mind now, he decided to follow his superior's instructions and leap onto his back. All of a sudden, they were moving faster that Rantu had ever moved before, with the possible exception of the time he had been on a massive space city that was rapidly plummeting through the planet's atmosphere. Varzinox was behind them now, or so Rantu thought, but a quick look at Brominax's powerful hand told him that they had... picked up... a new companion for the time being.

The other end of Nynrah was rapidly approaching, and as Rantu looked over his shoulder, he saw that the rahkshi were no longer in sight. Brominax's pace began to slow down, and finally stopped mere bio away from the edge of the great cliff that surrounded the island on all sides.

"They'll catch up to us soon," said Rantu to Brominax, whose body looked like it had been on a short walk down the road instead of a sprint across an entire island.

"Ready?" said Brominax, who had apparently decided to completely ignore Rantu's previous comment.

Rantu didn't know what Brominax was talking about, but decided to respond "sure" anyway.

"Hang on," said Brominax. "Try to stay on your feet."

Rantu decided that it had been a very bad idea to pretend to understand what the Great Being was planning, and that he really needed to know what was about to happen, and how to keep from dying while it happened, and that he should say so, and thus began to.

All he managed to say was "ow."

Brominax had aimed his arms at the wave of oncoming Rahkshi headed in their direction, and released a colossal blast of pure energy that shook the island to its roots. Rantu and Varzinox, who had still been trying to regain his senses, were blasted to the ground, but the shockwave hadn't been aimed anywhere near them.

The Rahkshi a few kio away were completely pulverized by the blast. All that remained a few seconds later was a nasty-looking sludge on the ground that was what the kraata had been turned into, punctuated every once in a while by small crimson bits of armor.

Brominax lowered his arms, and Rantu, feeling the effects of the shockwave pass, decided that it was safe to stand up. Varzinox tried to run, but he fell to the ground again after Rantu grabbed him and pulled him down.

"Who do you work for?" Rantu hissed.

Varzinox spat in his face. "I'm a bounty hunter. What does it matter who I work for? All that matters is that I get the money, eh?"

"Bounty hunter?" said Brominax with interest, looking down at the Rotaxian. "Oh, I see. You're from the Guild, aren't you?"

Varzinox tried to spit in his face, but Brominax glared at him intensely enough to make him shut up.

"You're a Great Being?" Varzinox whispered, a note of terror emerging in his voice.

"Of course I am," said Brominax placidly. "My life is dedicated to ridding the universe of beings like you who murder for money. You're just going to be one less."

"Okay!" Varzinox whispered. "I'll tell you who hired me. It was the Order of Darkness. Okay? The Order of—"

"That's enough," said Brominax grimly. "Contact the Order of Mata Nui, Rantu. We're heading back to Daxia."

Chapter 8
The being named Gor watched the three beings teleport away. Unlike the rest of the Brotherhood of Makuta, he knew perfectly well of the existence of the Order of Mata Nui, and he cared little for it. He had never revealed its existence to anyone, but that was only because no one had ever asked. He was a shrewd, unreasonable being, and those were very good qualities for a member of the Brotherhood to have.

He wasn't a Makuta. He considered himself to be one, and no one else thought different. But in truth, he was a Kodax. He had been a Matoran once, but those were days long gone. After he had suffered a fatal... "accident"... he had been rescued by a mysterious robot named Baterra Magnus. He — or it — had kept him alive, and he had been transformed into a monster to serve the robot's bidding. A powerful monster, but a monster nonetheless.

Monster — that was what he was. The Kodax and Makuta were all monsters. He had learned that firsthand during his years of service in the Brotherhood. The Kodax were the Makuta prototypes, and they had been even worse. They had betrayed their creators, the Great Beings, and declared war on them. The conflict had gone of for ages before at last they had been defeated, and they had left a terrible scar upon the universe.

So he had been made one of them. He should have been grateful to that disgusting robot for saving his life, but if he could have traveled back in time to the point where the Baterra had transformed him, he would have let himself die. But he couldn't, and he wasn't going to. Besides, he served a purpose now in the plans. He did not know what purpose, or why the purpose was important, but he cared little for that. All he wanted was to someday get his old body back.

The robot, Baterra Magnus, had come from the future. He had gone back into the past to try to prevent something important from happening. Gor didn't know what it was; nor did he care. All he knew was that it had something to do with Brominax being dead, and time running out.

The robot was dead now. He had been killed about a year ago by some lunatic Toa of Shadow, or so he had been told. Now that it was gone, someone else had to assume leadership of the project.

And who could possibly have been better than Antidax?

He shook himself. It was time for him to resume his role in the plan. He would learn the location of the base of the Order of Darkness. The Brotherhood — naturally, not knowing Antidax was manipulating them — had sent him once already to destroy the little rebellious group known as the Order of Darkness. Of course, the Order of Mata Nui had done his job for him; they had destroyed Velnax's floating city, then gone to his base, defeated him, and annihilated the Shadowdermis substance. Of course the Order of Darkness just had to rise again and destroy the best weapons suppliers in the universe.

This time, though, he wouldn't let those bumbling Order fools do the job for him. This time he would fight Velnax personally, remove his head, then remove all his disloyal subordinates' heads, then get hid of his annoying Vorahi army.

Sounds like fun, thought Gor. He was going to genuinely enjoy this.

He mentally deactivated the cloaking field that surrounded hm — he wanted the Order of Darkness to see him coming— and stepped over the remains of the city with his clawed feet. He spared not even a glance at the devastated landscape around him; all he thought about was what the look on Velnax's face would be when he smashed his sneering face into the ground with a powerful heel...

And because, as he slowly walked on the direction of the portal the Rahkshi had come from, peices of the ruined city being ground to dust info his feet, he spared not a thought for anything else, he only had half a second's reaction time when he noticed the shadow that had passed over him...

The waters churned around him, Fairon bobbing up and down in the swirling liquid. He tried to take a breath of air, but another wave hit him and he exhaled. He tried to swim and keep himself from falling in again, but another, more powerful wave knocked him beneath the surface.

He looked around underwater. He could not see anything; the sand had been stirred up, and the water was nothing but an impenetrable mass, with nothing behind it but itself, as unending as the sky. He came to the surface again, and, finding that the waves' strength had diminished somewhat, looked around at the lack of landscape around him.

He was in a sea in the middle of the desert, where, he suspected, there had been no rain for thousands of years, let alone a flood. Beneath him, he saw that the sand had finally settled down, and yet he still couldn't see the bottom. The water faded away into blackness, and there was no bottom to be found.

What, he thought grimly, was Harini thinking?

''Harini. Where is she?''

As if to answer his question, a hand reached out from above him — above him? How was that possible? — and held on to his shoulder. Fairon swerved around in the water, and saw Harini standing on a pillar of water as if it were solid ground.

"What were you—?" he began, more shocked than annoyed, but all she did in response was grab his hand, and suddenly, the pillar of water the two of them were on rose into the air.

"Don't you think that this is a nice way to get out of being in a desert?" said Harini calmly.

"You ridiculous — lunatic — are you insane?" Fairon spluttered.

"Admit it," said Harini. "You like how I think."

The pillar rose higher and higher, until they were at least a kio above the ground. Beneath them, Fairon could see small imperfections moving around in the water, which he recognized as waves. To the east and west lay not desert, but a sea of what looked like volcanic rock. The south was filled with sand dunes, glistening in the light of the sun. To the north lay a massive black volcano, and at its roots —

A city.

They were likely many kio away, and they could not see it in much detail, but Fairon knew instinctively what it was. It was no mirage; it was no trick of the light. Such things could not happen this far off the ground. It was a city, with great pillars of silver light—

It reminded him of Robotopolis.

In fact, one of the buildings, though Fairon couldn't see it in much detail, looked exactly like one of those Fairon had seen on the collapsing city.

He was being paranoid. It had to be that. There was no other possibility.

None that made sense.

"Well," said Harini, "it seems like that's our only option."

"Agreed," said Fairon. He remained silent for a moment. "How did you know there was a city there."

Harini looked uncomfortable for a second, but it vanished so quickly that Fairon assumed he had imagined it.

"Lucky guess," she said. "Come on, now. We'd better go before we die of thirst, shall we?"

"How nice," Fairon muttered.

Chapter 9
As the saying goes, you know you've made it big when you have something named after you.

Slicer had an entire job named after him, and he had most definitely made it big. The word "slicer" now meant "weapons master," and he was the one and only slicer on Gigas Magna. He had earned it, too; he had worked for nearly a hundred thousand years refining his skills as a swordsman.

But never in his hundred thousand years of combat training had anything like this happened.

He walked, attempting to look calm, out into the desert sands to the south. Crowds of bounty hunters followed behind him, whispering as his dark red feet stepped onto the burning ground beneath him. Gigas Nui, the main base of the great Bounty Hunters' Guild, was now filled with the eerie buzz of many beings whispering. All weapons drills had stopped; each of the five main massive complexes, one for each Rank, was now either empty or emptying. Even the fully-trained bounty hunters, who, unlike the rest, lived in the massive crystal spires spread thinly across the black landscape, were gathering out here to watch what was happening.

A lake had been born in the desert. And Slicer wanted to know why.

His eyes were as sharp as they had ever been, and as he squinted into the distance, he saw two tiny specks approaching through the haze. He knew enough to tell that it was not an optical illusion. And, more importantly, he knew that the two Toa who were approaching the city were not allies of the Guild or the Brotherhood; if they had been, they would have come directly to it in one of the many transports that came in and out of there every day. Whatever motives they had for creating a lake, Slicer did not know.

All he knew was that they were not his allies. And if one was not Slicer's ally—

He was his enemy.

"All of you," Slicer barked, "back inside. Except you, Scorpius. I want some bounty hunters to practice their Toa-hunting skills. Gather a group and ready the Bowl."

Scorpius' Vorox eyes gleamed in anticipation. "Of course, Slicer."

Slicer made a quick not, then turned around. "Go back to your practice fights," he ordered. "Those of you who aren't back in the building complex within thirty seconds are going to be the subjects for my next lesson in target practice. The thirty seconds start now."

The bounty hunters nodded and quickly ran towards their complex, where the senior bounty hunters would give them lessons, save the small group led by Scorpius, which was assuming positions around the city. Gigas Nui was a place full of activity, and the bounty hunters were many in number, but Slicer felt no love towards them.

He was no longer sure he felt anything. Not after what he had done during the Kodax War. He would forever have to live with what he had done a hundred thousand years ago...

He hated himself. He hated everything he stood for. The being who had once been Apoplex was gone forever, replaced by this towering, evil Kodax. He hated the Guild, hated verything he had done in the last hundred thousand years...

But, as he reflected, he realized he didn't hate it enough.

Brominax had issued a full report to Helryx. He had provided every minute detail of their battle with the Rahkshi, provided her with all the radiation scans of Nynrah. There was nothing he had not done.

He had completed his job quickly so he could interrogate the prisoner. Brutaka had found him on Nynrah, apparently following Brominax. He looked like a powerfully built, silver Makuta, but unlike most other members of the Order, Brominax knew the subtle difference between a Kodax and a Makuta, and this specimen was a Kodax.

"What," said Brominax gruffly, "were you doing on Nynrah?"

He had seen this Kodax before too. It had been so long ago, it seemed, that he had last been on Gigas Magna, acting as the leader of the hidden Resistance, losing to Ixtil again and again in arguments over how the next attack should proceed. And it seemed even longer since he had last seen the Kodax.

Brominax had first thought that the Kodax was a spy of the Brotherhood of Gigas Magna, but that had turned out not to be the case. He had been working for a mysterious entity known as Baterra Magnus. But that entity had been destroyed, according to the Twilight Guardians, and he saw no reason to doubt them. So perhaps, without a master to serve, this Kodax had gone to the Brotherhood of Makuta, hoping to find a new purpose in life.

That still didn't explain why he had been following them on Nynrah, though. Or why he was in possession of a concealment field that even a Great Being could not penetrate.

"Working," spat the Kodax.

"For whom?"

"I work for whom I choose to work," the Kodax sneered, "just like everyone else."

Brominax narrowed his eyes. "You work for the Brotherhood, is that correct?"

The Kodax scoffed. "The Brotherhood? Of Makuta? Are you absolutely mad? The big bunch of bumbling idiots doesn't even know you exist, and they certainly wouldn't get me to follow you of they did. If they knew you existed, they would make a poorly-orchestrated military assault on your base, not watch you defeat a horde of Rahkshi."

"So," said Brominax, "if you weren't going after us, then what were you doing? If you don't work for the Brotherhood, then who sent you there?"

The Kodax blinked at him, his bright red eyes gleaming defiantly. "And why should I tell you? For all you know, I could have just been there to watch a show. The destruction of Nynrah was pretty entertaining. Watching Valtrahk prance around like some sort of—"

He blinked again. "Please ignore my previous comment." Brominax looked down at the silver being in the silver chair. He bent down until he was looking the being squarely in the eyes.

"We aren't going to torture you. We aren't going to starve you. What we are going to do is slowly wheedle the information we want out of you, even if it takes a thousand years. Understand?"

The Kodax returned his gaze, but Brominax saw that he did not appear nearly as sure as he had moments before. Then the being sighed.

"My name," he said, very slowly, "is Gor. I was sent to exterminate the Order of Darkness."

"Who," said Brominax, "sent you?"

Gor looked up at him, clearly making as much effort as possible to look annoyed. "Antidax."

Brominax reeled back as if struck. His bright green eyes looked squarely into Gor's. "You are sure?"

"Absolutely," said Gor, grinning, his mouth open wide as if he had just made a funny joke. "He said you'd find that interesting."

Brominax looked at him once more and ran out of the interrogation chamber. He did not understand the whole extent of Antidax's plot; he was certain that Gor didn't either. But he knew that it was time to end it, once and for all.

He looked back at the room he had just left, and stopped. Gor would be useful, and if he were leyt out, it was possible that he could lead them to Antidax. "Release him," he said to Gor's guard.

"Wha—?"

"I said, release him. He's no use to us sitting in that chair. I assume you've already deactivated his cloaking device? Good. Give him a weapon — nothing too deadly — and send him to me. I want him prepared in thirty minutes."

He was going to find Antidax now, whatever it took.

Who should he take with him? Fyxan was gone — away on his mission. Dorex and Colix were dead. Shayla had vanished. None of the members of his original strike team remained.

The answer sprang to his mind. Vinax.

He was a senior member of the Order of Mata Nui. He could be useful.

And what about Rantu? said a voice in his mind. The training would be good for him.

No, Rantu was a novice, inexperienced. He could not possibly had stood up against Antidax—

Then a memory came to him of the young, naive Great Being named Brominax who had fought against overwhelming odds in the Kodax war, and the answer came to him.

Why not?

Chapter 10
The Skrall had gone. Shayla had been returned to them. The bounty hunter had agreed not to reveal the Enforcers' existence, and Odresk thought that that was all that mattered.

Ixtil, however, knew better. He had been recruited by the Gigas Magna Resistance ninety years ago, after he had publicly exposed the Brotherhood's attempts to conquer other worlds. He had led a large resistance movement of Matoran and Agori, but the movement had been crushed, and Ixtil had been forced into hiding when a large number of bounty hunters had begun looking for his hide. Luckily, he had had contacts in the Resistance — the group of six bounty hunters known collectively as the Twilight Guardians — and he had moved to Noctxia Magna.

Officially, he was dead. Of course, the Brotherhood knew better; he had been a very public foe of the Resistance, and they knew that the Resistance would accept him. But he had grown accustomed to his new environment, and his analytical method of thinking had saved many lives over time, causing him to continue to grow in rank.

So when Brominax, Fyxan, Shayla, and Colix left on their mission to the Matoran Universe, Ixtil had been left as the second-in-command to Odresk. As soon as the Skrall had arrived on their base, Ixtil had analyzed the situation and reached his conclusion: that there was an 84% chance that the Skrall had used some sort of trickery.

He was not technically the second-in-command anymore; Shayla was currently the highest-ranking of the Enforcers. But she was still recovering from her previous encounters, and Ixtil was still permitted walk-in access to the leader's quarters.

This was something that Ixtil would usually have denied: he usually preferred to knock. But now, the calm Ko-Matoran was as distressed as a being purged of emotion could possibly be.

He did not walk in to Odresk's quarters. He ran in.

Odresk had to give the order to evacuate the base.

But now, as he was knocked back by a sudden explosion, he realized that there was a 98.9% probability that, for once in his life, Ixtil had been too late.

They could see the city clearer now that they had approached it. It was made of five massive, one-level buildings, all of which were exactly identical: cold and gray. Their design was not inspiring or tasteful: they had been built for the purpose of housing things. Nearby, however, were a series of massive silver towers jutting out into the darkened sky, crystal spires reaching into the heavens, their peaks reflecting what little light remained.

"What is this?" Fairon whispered. The towers were majestic, but there was something... eerie... about the place, as if it were the home of ghosts. "What lives here?"

"No footsteps," responded Harini in an equally quiet tone. "Either no one's lived here in a long time, or—"

"They've covered their tracks to prevent us from seeing anything," Fairon answered. "But why? They don't even know who we are!"

"Exactly," Hairini answered, looking up at him, her bright green eyes a placid sea as the chilly wind whipped around hem both. "They're being cautious. It's the logical response."

"Then we find them," said Fairon, looking defiantly up at the highest tower.

"Toa fools," said a voice. "So confident..."

Fairon looked around. Nothing stirred, save the great winds that were sweeping about them. "Harini, do you know where it's coming from?"

She looked up at him, her eyes conveying the fear her face hid. "I thought you were in charge!"

"You know," said Fairon, "you need—"

The sandy ground shook beneath them, and Fairon stumbled and fell onto the earth. Harini had managed to retain her footing, and she rushed Fairon to his feet, beginning to drag him away. A chasm was opening up in the ground, perfectly rounded, and sand was falling into it as it expanded.

"It's a trap!' Hairini yelled, but her voice was all but drowned out by the fierce wind and the creaking of ancient metal gears. They ran, towards the desert, away from the ever-expanding chasm that was rushing to catch them. It was much larger now — many bio from end to end — and at the rate at which it expanded—

"Look out!" she said to him, and she grabbed him, only barely keeping him from falling into the new hole that had opened up in front of them in the ground, and was now expanding just like the first one. It was cutting them off from the desert, and now there were only two ways to go—

Towards the mysterious buildings—

Or down.

"Let's go!" shouted Fairon, and the two Toa ran towards the buildings as yet another hole in the ground opened in the place where they had been before, and Fairon looked down for a moment into the unending blackness. He could not tell how deep it went, but he decided that he would raher take his chances with their unseen antagonists.

But yet another chasm opened, preventing them from going either way. All the sand had now fallen into the pit, and now Fairon could get a good look at his surroundings. The ground had not been made of sand; that was just the upper layer. Beneath it was the layer which they were standing on, a strange metal surface.

But it would not be there for long. They were standing on what looked like a pillar, and the edges were shrinking around them quickly. Fairon and Harini stood back to back, and both of them had a very good look at what lay around them. It was a massive pit, a monolithic void, that streched down for dozens of bio. And it appeared that that was where they would be heading.

"Harini," he whispered, "use your Kanohi Faxon. There might be a way for you to survive the fall."

"But—"

The hexagonal metal pillars which made up the "ground" were dropping down into the abyss, interlocking with the hundreds of others in the faraway bottom of the hole. There was little time left, Fairon knew; only the hexagon he and Harini were standing on remained to drop catastrophically down into the—

Strange, he thought. I always expected to die in battle.

He braced himself for the inevitable fall—

The fall never came. The hexagon remained above the chasm. Breathless, Fairon and Harini looked around them, but nothing stirred. The wind had grown in intensity, and threatened to blow them off into the abyss.

"This," said the voice, "is our welcome to those who enter Gigas Nui uninvited. And this is our welcoming committee."

A dozen or so beings rose into the air, their jetpacks allowing them to hover slowly. Most of them were species Fairon had never seen before, but one looked much like a Matoran. All of them drew wickedly sharp blades, and they activated their jetpacks, rushing through the sky towards them.

Maybe he would die in battle after all.

"Why," muttered Fairon wryly, "does everyone always want to kill us?"

"They're being nice," said Harini, winking at him. "Let's be nice to them back."

Chapter 11
Nightwatcher stepped into Tetrack Nui's private chamber. The massive, perfectly circular room was a smooth jet-black, the only light a small light in the ceiling, which was not nearly enough to cover the entire chamber. Save Nightwatcher himself, that was one of the two things there which was not perfectly black.

The other was Tetrack Nui.

The massive being stood six bio tall, his dark-and silver armor a twisted freak of nature, his massive head and large, pointed teeth reminiscent of those of a Hordika Magna. He sat upon a massive black throne, which some believed he had not left since the assassination attempt on him more than a year before.

"Nightwatcher."

He remained in his throne, looking down with his almost contemptuous and clearly half-insane green eyes at the bounty hunter.

"What is this?" Tetrack hissed, raising his hand to indicate his new Skrall form. "Had any problems, Nightwatcher? My spies have not been monitoring your progress."

"Your spies," Nightwatcher answered calmly, "are off doing other things. The last time you sent spies after me, I sent what was left of them back to you in a small matchbox. I believe it was your decision that you waste no more time condemning able infiltrators to death."

"Ah," said Tetrack, who was, Nightwatcher saw, attempting to hide his confusion. The madness that had come upon him a year before had left a great many things missing from him, his memories no exception. Gone was the charismatic leader of the Bounty Hunter Wars, the cunning planner of the Gigas Magna Civil War, the chilling mastermind of the Underworld War. He could see now why Baterra Magnus had wanted him dead.

Of course, Baterra Magnus no longer wanted anything. Nightwatcher had killed him on Kodax Magna a year before. But Nightwatcher was certain that his followers still existed somewhere; perhaps, one day, he would bother to seek them out; for now, he was content with his bounty hunting job.

"Where," said Tetrack, "is Shayla?"

"Shayla," responded the bounty hunter, "is currently in the hands of the Resistance. I held her for ransom, and they agreed to pay me a rather large sum in exchange for her return. Of course, once your fleet arrives, there won't be enough left of her to fit in anyone's hands, but that's beside the point."

"That is an act of treason," Tetrack growled, his massive fists, large enough to crush a Toa in, clenched tightly. Nightwatcher returned his gaze, looking bored.

"Why, that's nice. Go ahead, then. Give the order to execute me. You know perfectly well that no being on this planet is capable of even scratching me. So now, why don't we skip the annoying details? I assume you know what I do when I'm annoyed..."

"I know perfectly well," said Tetrack. "I assume you are asking me how much you're going to be paid for the discovery of the new planet."

Nightwatcher gasped mockingly. "No, I was asking how many balloons there were going to be at the Metru Nui coliseum tomorrow during the festival—!"

"Absolutely nothing," said Tetrack.

Nightwatcher looked up in surprise. He had been lazily reading Tetrack's emotions since the beginning of their conversation, and yet, somehow, there had been no hint of deception.

He had not been fooled by anyone for over fifty thousand years.

"I suppose you are wondering," said Tetrack, "why you have been fooled. I shall present the answer to your question now."

A being appeared by Tetrack's throne, whom even Nightwatcher's powers had not been able to sense. It was a dragon-like Kodax in a mechanical suit, with the right half of his face burned away.

"Hello, Nightwatcher," said Mordrax. "I suppose you're surprised by all this. You do remember my shadowdermis-powered mechanical suit? It is far more powerful than I originally imagined. Even more powerful than you."

"I wouldn't bet on that," said Nightwatcher coolly.

"Oh, but I would," said Mordrax. "Nightwatcher, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Overlord Mordrax."

With that, Mordrax revealed a hidden cannon in his arm. The shadowdermis which flowed through his body channeled its force into the weapon, and meanwhile, it placed an invisible restraining force on Nightwatcher, so he could not break free from the inevitable conclusion.

"What—?" said Nightwatcher, absolutely shocked by the idea that there was now a mortal being more powerful than he.

And with that, Mordrax fired.

Here they were again: Brominax and Rantu together on a mission, going off to hunt the Order of Darkness. Only this time, they were accompanied by the Toa of Lightning Vinax and what looked like a deranged Makuta.

If only Fairon were here, Rantu thought. He'd enjoy this.

Fairon. It already seemed so long ago that they had parted in Helryx's chambers for the last time. So far as he knew, there had been no news of Fairon; of course, he wasn't exactly a high-ranking official, so he couldn't expect to receive all of the news...

But if Fairon had successfully completed the mission, then wouldn't he have sought him out by now to have a friendly chat in the halls of Daxia or have a practice match together?

He blinked, sorting out his thoughts. There were an infinite number of explanations as to why he hadn't seen Fairon. Besides, the two of them had only left on their missions twelve hours previously. Still, to Rantu, that had seemed like an eternity.

"Are you coming or not, Rantu?" said Brominax.

Rantu blinked again and looked across the stream to the Great Being. "Yes, of course I am."

They had been sent to Nynrah again, but now they had Makuta Gor with them as a guide. Brominax appeared certain that they could discover those who had destroyed the village. Vinax, however, did not share his confidence.

"He won't talk," Vinax hissed in Brominax's ear. "He has no intention of talking, he has no interest in talking, and if i were him, I wouldn't talk either if I were in his position."

"You are not him," said Brominax, indicating the hunched Makuta who had been clearly trying to slip off, but when he realized that Brominax knew exactly where he was, he rejoined the group without requiring persuasion. "And besides, we will know if he is telling us lies. Correct, Rantu?"

Understanding immediately what was being asked of him, Rantu nodded. He closed his eyes and left his body.

He was no Toa of Psionics; he could not read minds or move objects through telekinesis. His power was much simpler: that of aura. Each being, each object, has an aura of energy about them. Tapping into that power allows one not to read minds or control them; he was able to sense emotions, ideas. It was simple, and that was his power: simplicity itself.

He allowed his mind to drift, sensing the presences of Brominax and Vinax. Vinax was a bowl of great golden energy — which Rantu recognized as elemental power. But while Vinax was a bowl, Brominax was a cauldron — a great force of light, kept in a physical form. But he did not intend to concentrate on either of them. Instead, he allowed his energies to pass through the body of Makuta Gor.

There was fear, which was understandable; being threatened by an immensely powerful Great Being is not something to be taken lightly. But he sensed another kind of fear: a deeper, more penetrating fear.

He tried to concentrate on it, but instead of succeeding, he almost last his connection to the aura field. Stopping himself, he instead let his mind drift again, and then he saw it — it was not an immediate fear, not a present fear, but rather a fear that had been with him for a very long time, almost—

"Rantu?" said Brominax. "Is he going to tell us or not?"

Ah, yes, thought Rantu, and he finally remembered who he was and what he was doing. He let his mind slowly leave the chasm of Gor's fears, and instead slowly directed them to find out what Gor intended.

There was fear, as he sense earlier. And there was deception, but not enough to suggest that Gor was going to lie to them. And then, once again, he caught upon something else — a tremor in the aura field. Not coming from Gor, but instead coming from Nynrah itself.

He slowly guided his mind towards it, and he sensed that his mind was traveling towards one of the impact craters filled with radiation that Brominax had seen. He felt a powerful wave of pure fear coming from it, and at the same time, he felt a strange force, something he had never felt before: a blank slate of pure evil. A mind, if it could be called a mind, fully bent on destruction—

Then, something that had never happened, happened. A visual image came to him; not an idea of what he was seeing, but an actual image—

''"Away!" he yelled frantically, but he was no longer Rantu; he was a strange green Makuta ordering a group of crimson Rahkshi towards him. "You can't—!"

''An enormous shock, almost like a rupture in the ground itself. He was thrown back five bio by the shockwave, and as he got up, limping, groaning, and blood-spattered, he saw that a massive crater had formed almost exactly where he had been standing moments before.''

''"Stupid Rahkshi," he muttered, looking down at one of the fragments of red armor that had landed beside him. Then he saw a massive shadow passing over the ground around him, and hastily spread his massive silver wings and few away far enough to avoid being annihilated in the resulting shock. However, the shockwave carried him over a few more bio, and he landed painfully the roof on one of the few buildings left on Nynrah.

''"Rahkshi," he ordered, "retreat!"

Then the dust cleared, and he got a good look at the cause of the destruction—

Rantu's eyes rolled back in his head. His multicolored body fell to its knees on the ground, his head fell face-first in the dust. Rantu and Vinax rushed over to him; Gor too advantage of the moment ad tried to escape, but without even looking, Brominax activated his Kanohi and froze him in his tracks. He picked up Rantu's limp body and passed his hand over him, initiating a release of moral light that could cleanse a being of any poisons.

Rantu coughed, and his eyes wearily opened.

"What happened?" Vinax urged.

Rantu motioned for Brominax to let him down, and the Great Being did so. Rantu stood up on his legs again, a bit unsteady, and as he regained his balance, be began to recall what he had seen.

"Gor's not planning to lie to us," he coughed, "but that's beside the point. I think I know what happened here."

Brominax looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Rantu hesitated, and began again. "I had... a vision. Nothing like this has ever happened before, and I don't know why, but I saw what happened to Nynrah."

"Tell us what you saw," ordered Vinax.

"I was... a green-and-black Makuta," Rantu began slowly. "There was a pair of wings on my back, and I had a pair of claws on my hands..."

"Valtrahk!" said Vinax excitedly, his battered and weary face as youthful as Rantu had ever seen it. "So maybe this was an Order of Darkness superweapon! Go on, Rantu!"

Rantu shook his head. "I don't think so. He and his Rahkshi were trying to defend themselves from something. That's what caused all of these impact craters. I never got a good look at it, but I felt something... it was just so evil and irrational... it was like some kind of Rahi..."

"So maybe the Order wasn't the perpetrator after all." Brominax frowned. "But why—?"

"The Coliseum," Gor croaked.

The three Order of Mata Nui members looked around at the Makuta suspended in midair.

"What did you say?" said Brominax, releasing the Makuta from his telekinetic grip.

"Valtrahk said something about being at the Coliseum," Gor said once he had stood up from the hard fall he had made on the ground. "I don't know what he meant by that, or why."

Vinax and Brominax looked at each other. "The festival," Vinax muttered.

"Precisely," said Brominax.

Rantu looked from Vinax to Rantu. "What festival?"

Brominax looked at him with his penetrating green eyes. "The annual Festival of Metru Nui. Now that it's been repopulated by the Matoran, I assume they'll continue the tradition."

"The entire population of Metru Nui," Vinax added. "All gathered up into the Coliseum."

Rantu's eyes widened. "Holy Mata Nui..."