//------------------------------//
// Act I Finale: Hunger, Has Consumed Their Duty 
// Story: Six Shadows 
// by Vicron 
//------------------------------//

Watching Antroz regain his sight was honestly anticlimactic.  Twilight had known the spell wouldn’t be flashy working inside of his body, but it was even less than she’d expected.  His eyes changed colour, shifting from a dull scarlet to a bright, piercing gold, then to the lavender of her magic, then down to a brighter red than it started as.  Light, almost yellow lines slid from the top and bottom of his eyes to meet in the middle, creating a slit pupil.  He blinked, and it was over.

He looked at her, and for the first time she felt truly seen by him.  It was an unnerving experience, her fur crawling like he was a predator that wasn’t sure if she’d be worth the trouble of trying to eat yet.  His eyes flicked over her wings and horn, his expression vacant for a long moment before he made a puzzled sort of noise.

“You’re even smaller than I thought you were,” he said, standing up straight.  “It really is a tundra out here.”  He glanced down at his hands, then to the twin sickles strapped around his waist.  He took off the one that was stained red with Takua’s blood and knelt down, wiping it off into the snow.

Twilight couldn’t help tensing a little bit, expecting him to at least yell at her over this.  Instead, as he stood and turned towards the squat building Frigid was waiting in front of he just glanced back at her and said, “I trust there will be no more problems regarding leverage?”  Twilight just nodded a bit numbly, “good.”

Twilight felt her mane beginning to stand on end and looked to her right.  Vamprah stood, regarding her curiously.

“Oh,” her horn lit again, “I’ll give you your eyes back, too.”  Vamprah shook his head, but didn’t take his piercing, blind eyes off of her.  “Can I help you with something else?”  She asked, backing away a bit sheepishly.  He stared for another long moment and shook his head again, moving to follow Antroz.  Twilight couldn’t help but shudder, she felt like she’d made a mistake other than the obvious and no one felt like filling her in on what it was.

“You hath made yourself quite the curiosity to them,” Luna spoke, making Twilight jump as she was pulled out of her thoughts.  “E’en between each other ‘tis obvious they put great stock on who holds power,” she gestured over to where Antroz had grabbed one of the hanging fangs of Mutran’s mask and seemed to be scolding him.  “‘T’would not surprise me if Antroz took great interest in you once this is over.”

Twilight sighed and shook her head, heading in after the Makuta.  She just needed to get her head on straight, she took a deep breath to try and relax herself.

The scene inside stopped that breath in her throat, she stumbled into a stock still Frigid Wind, who was also regarding the scene before them with horror.

There were ponies strewn around a gaping hole in the back wall, most wearing bits and pieces of guard armour, not that it had done them much good.  Many of the chest plates had been pushed concave, crushing whatever was beneath, others lay with their necks sitting at unnatural angles.  The bodies had been tossed around the room haphazardly, upturning the desks and tables around the room.

As Twilight gaped at the carnage, Antroz and Luna stepped forwards to inspect the scene.  Twilight swallowed heavily, trying to force feeling back into her legs to she could move again.

“Curious,” Luna said after a long moment of inspecting one of the destroyed chest plates.  “These plates were destroyed in an instant.  Thoughts, Noble Antroz?”

“This wasn’t intentional,” he nodded, standing up with his hand around the neck of one of the corpses, holding their limp body up like it weighed nothing.  “None of these are clean breaks, Tridax is neurotic, he wouldn’t have stood for this kind of sloppiness if it was on his orders.”  Twilight felt bile stinging in the back of her throat at the sight of it.  Evidently Twilight wasn’t the only one, as Antroz glanced around at the others his fangs twitched and his arm jolted slightly as he stopped himself from casually tossing the body aside, instead gently putting them back down.

“If I had my guess,” Mutran clicked his fangs, “considering he captured the other residents instead of killing them, those Toa oafs overestimated how sturdy these guards would be.”  He picked up a discarded piece of armour, clenching his fist around it with a metallic crinkle, “what is this, a Titanium blend?”  He shook his head, “that’s not gonna cut it against a Toa in a place like this.”

“What do you mean?”  Twilight asked cautiously, still having a bit of trouble stepping further into the room.

“A Toa’s power comes both from within and outside forces, including each other,” Mutran replied.  “It’s one of the things that makes them dangerous, given the right environment, or the right allies, they can go from something you hardly even have to concern yourself with to an immediate or even overwhelming threat.  This place, or, rather, this world is lousy with all kinds of power; and a group of Takua of all Toa working together?”  

He stopped for a moment, one of his claws going up to his mask.  “Well, that would be a threat to us even without his Light powers or Tridax’ direction.”

“It’s the kind of thing the Order would get involved with,” Antroz huffed, starting to carefully gather up the bodies and lay them down in less grisley positions.  “We have two advantages, though.  Well, three now.”

“And those are?”  Luna asked, her horn lighting as she gently nudged the bodies into funary poses.

“First, the nature of their power as Toa means once the sun comes up they won’t be able to use their Avohkii without incinerating themselves, which means Mutran and I will be able to turn anything ranged they throw at us against them and they’ll be without a panic button like he used earlier.  Second, what Tridax did to them is easy to reverse if we can clear some spaces in the fog; I’ll show you how.  And third,” he grinned, standing up straight again, his eyes blazing, “I have a plan.”



______



Mutran stood to the side as Antroz taught the guards the frequency needed to counter the Shadow Leeches.  He couldn’t help the grimace twitching at his mask, to think he’d be forced to counteract his own creation.  For Takua.  His claws clenched around air and he scoffed to himself; Tridax just had to be difficult, didn’t he?  Maybe he’d still get the chance to kill at least one of the Toa if the ponies messed up; he could hope.

He knew one thing, though, the only reason Tridax would call them traitors would be that Teridax had gone turncoat.  If that had happened, there wouldn’t be any going back for them.  A faceless fear settled into his mind.  He growled to himself, chewing at one of his claws, they were safe, and they wouldn’t be going back into whatever ambush Teridax had set up.  Antroz wasn’t a fool and not even Krika had the kind of self loathing needed to march to that kind of death; so why was he afraid?  They were going to have the Olmak that Tridax had used to get here, it was only a matter of tearing it from his defeated brother.

He glanced over to the Princesses, who appeared to be deep in discussion over something.  Would they actually have to leave, though?  This world had welcomed them with open arms, would they actually have reason to leave?  Would they really cast them out as readily as they had taken them in?  He narrowed his eyes, of course they would, it’s hardly like they would allow Tridax to leave, take his army with him and make himself a continual threat; so it would be an army of stranded Toa’s word against six Makuta.  Five, more likely, considering Krika’s disposition.

They were going to be forced out.  A tightness settled in his chest and he blinked, that was odd.  Another unknown yet familiar feeling, what was this one?  It almost felt angry but softer, less sure of itself.  Strange, indecision wasn’t like him.  He huffed and resolved to ignore the feeling, unlike the possessive itch from earlier this one would cause hesitation, not spur him to action.  They were going to have to leave, it hardly mattered, they would have the means to go wherever caught their fancy soon.

Why were they even helping?  He jolted slightly, feeling his claw bend sideways under his fangs, a flash of pain running through his armour.  There was something different about that thought, something that set his armour trembling, something that was him and yet not.  He corrected his claw with hardly more than a glance, his eyes shimmering blue so quickly it could barely be noticed as his armour returned to its proper shape.  Still, he considered the option.

They, in truth, owed these Equestrians nothing.  The closest thing to a debt they had was Krika, and that, as was always true of him, was more curse than blessing.  Why not join Tridax?  They’d worked together before, surely they could again.  They could conquer this place easily with an army of Shadow Takua.

He shook his head, Tridax had already demonstrated he wasn’t willing to work with them, he was hardly even willing to talk to them.  Not to even consider what would happen if they failed.  Like Antroz had said, having more than one world out for his destruction would be nothing but a nuisance; and if they didn’t help, they not only immediately lose the grace of the natives, they left Tridax running around with an army and a grudge against them, it was only common sense to help get rid of him.

He shot Antroz an irritated look, no doubt Antroz had already considered their options, there was ample opportunity for them to turn on the Equestrians, if Antroz hadn’t given the order or told him to be ready, it wasn’t in his plan.  His gut twisted like it always did when he was forced to admit someone else knew better than him, but he’d follow Antroz in this case.

The tremor in his armour calmed, and another feeling flitted through his mind, something like relief, but more solid, dependable.  He frowned, this one felt even more familiar, like slipping back into an old form.  His expression twitched tighter, did he, trust, Antroz?  He shook his head, surely not, he didn’t trust anyone, he hadn’t for a long time.  Yet, the feeling remained; he narrowed his eyes, he’d have to keep a close watch of this feeling.

He had just enough time to recognize that thought as Other again before he was interrupted.

“Mutran,” Twilight’s voice cut through his thoughts and he turned to face her, his expression still troubled despite his best efforts.

“Yes, Princess?”  He said, pressing heavily on the title in the hopes she’d get discouraged and leave him to his mind again, there were too many contradicting feelings going through him at the moment for his comfort.  She didn’t flinch, he blinked, usually she at least twitched when her title was invoked.  She was here for something important, her gaze on him hard- no, concerned.

“What is a Shadow Leech?”  She asked and another strange feeling took him.  He felt the overwhelming impulse to lie, she wouldn’t like the truth.  He had already opened his mouth to speak when his mind caught up to the feeling, another Other feeling.  His fangs clicked as he shut his mouth.  What was this Other?  It was like it was trying to sabotage him, they needed the local’s trust, at least for now, lying about something so obvious would only strain things.  Now this was a feeling he’d have to watch carefully.  He blinked, that thought felt like his, but they were so close, what was the difference?

He realized he’d been standing frozen for almost an entire minute, the concern on Twilight’s face plain now, no longer stiff, almost nurturing.  He shook his head.

“Apologies, I was lost in my own head,” he said, “what was your question?”  She repeated herself, and he hummed to himself until he was sure he could trust his voice.  “A Shadow Leech is a creation of mine and Tridax’, a disgusting one, but effective.”

He popped the claws of his chest open, dropping the glowing orange Tridax Pod into his waiting hand.  He held it up to the light of the moon, letting Twilight see the leeches slowly squirming inside.  “Tridax created the Stasis Pods for them, I made the leeches inside.”  He placed the pod back into his chest cavity, the claws of it snapping shut to hold it in place.  “Their life spans are measured in hours, hence the need for Stasis Pods, but once released they will quickly search out the nearest living source of Light energy and latch on to feed.”

Twilight’s jaw was starting to go slack, but Mutran managed to keep going with only the barest hint of his eyes rolling, “they sap the Light energy out of a target, both physically and mentally, then insert a Block of something close enough to Dark energy to keep the Light energy from replenishing.  Because this creates an imbalance in the internal flow of energy it causes a good deal of… mutation, and renders the target incredibly vulnerable to suggestion.”

A familiar pride was starting to flush through him again, puffing out his chest as he kept speaking, “as such, each batch is created with a weak telepathic link to the Makuta it was made for, so they can take immediate advantage of this suggestable state and ensure the loyalty of the target.  I based the process on something that was done to me once.”  He hummed to himself, “usually the experience is incredibly unpleasant, and the target has no choice but to obey the orders of a Makuta after that, but there are a few exceptions.”

“E-exceptions?”  Twilight swallowed, taking a step away from him.

“Those already devoid of Light energy can be affected on a physical level, but not a mental one, and there was a strange one among the Av-Matoran of Karda Nui.”  He glanced over to where Vamprah was trailing after Princess Luna, both of their attention keenly on the guard’s continuing practice.  “Vamprah’s eyes, a Matoran named Gavla, was only under our direct control for mere six hours before she regained her senses.”

He waved a hand dismissively, “as the first of the Av-Matoran we turned she had been assigned to Antroz and was to be the leader of the Shadow Matoran we created, but once she regained her independence she refused to let anyone but Vamprah so much as touch her.  She proved useful and plenty loyal with her faculties intact, and Vamprah wasn’t overly bothered by her, so Antroz still positioned her as the Shadow Matoran figurehead.”  He couldn’t help the slight snarl that worked its way out of him, “none of the three of them would let me study her properly to find out what happened, though.”

“So... it’s mind control?”  Twilight said snapping him back to the present.  Her expression perplexed him, even among the Toa there had been a measure of awe in regards to the Shadow Leeches’ abilities, but there was none with her, just a look like she’d bitten down on something slimy.  He could appreciate that.

“Yes, hideous, isn’t it?”  He nodded, standing up a bit straighter.

“It’s Black Magic,” she snapped, surprising Mutran a bit, “and you mass produced it?  You used it on people?”  His eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” he said, a cold edge entering his voice.  She was pressing him for something, and her tone was starting to yank on an itch in the back of his head.

“After someone did it to you?”  She continued, “based on something someone did to you.”  He drew himself up tall, a sneer working its way across his face.

“Had some experience with that?”  He snipped, waving her off.  She recoiled, he’d struck a nerve, good.

“Yes, enough to know better,” she shot back.  He felt his temper roar, this girl, not even nearing a century old from what he could gather, dared to condescend him?  Dared to shame him?  The Other feeling and his own melded until he lost track of which was which and he didn’t notice the purple tint overtaking his vision.

“Don’t lecture me, Princess!”  He wheeled on her, wings flared and claws bristling as he poured as much derision into her title as he could.  “It took me almost half a millennium to get these disgusting things to work properly, I will not be shamed for the fact that they do!”  His vision narrowed until he lost sight of anything but Twilight, rage coursing through his Antidermis enough to make him want to burst out of his armour, he was still speaking, but he couldn’t keep track of a word that was coming out of him.

“Makuta,” a voice washed away the Other feeling, leaving only his own anger to contend with, much more manageable.  He suddenly realized he was leaning over Twilight, one of his hands clasped at the Tridax Pod in his chest and her face terrified.  He blinked, had he been about to unleash the Shadow Leeches on her?  “Makuta Mutran, stand down,” Princess Luna’s voice rushed through him, stripping away the cloud from his mind until he was left with mere indignation in place of the near blinding fury.

He shook his head and took a step back.  That Other feeling suddenly didn’t sound like him in the least, its voice was slithering and clammy, the kind of cold that came off algae slicked rocks as it continued to rage in the back of his mind.  He held in a groan and brought a hand up to rub at the side of his head to try and calm the jolts of something ricocheting across his skullplate.

He closed his eyes and centered himself, trying to smooth out the irritated edges of his psyche so he could speak again.  As he opened them he glanced to Luna, her eyes were wary as she studied him, Vamprah stalking back and forth behind her.  He forced his eyes to shift back to Twilight with a grimace.

“We needed,” he growled, less aggressive this time, more frustrated now than anything, “a non-lethal option.”  Twilight blinked, letting out a long breath he suspected she’d been holding since he began shouting.  “The Matoran were willing to fight to the death anywhere we fought them, and rebellion was always brewing anywhere we conquered; but we needed them to see to Mata Nui’s functions once the Plan was completed, genocide was never on the table, we couldn’t have them fighting us to extinction.  Well, we could if we had wanted to try, but that was never the goal.  We needed an alternative.”  He brought his hand up to his chest again, just cupping the pod this time, not grabbing at it, not threatening, no matter how satisfying that might have been.

No, that thought was the Other’s, he needed these creature’s trust, threatening them would be foolish and little else.  “I created that alternative, first in the form of a rather unwieldy and indirect memory erasing virus that Teridax turned on Metru Nui, and then in the Leeches.  I hate them, I’ve had my head rummaged through before and I still…” he bit his tongue, unable to parse out his thoughts on the subject, “they’re miserable, but they were necessary.”

“I… understand,” Twilight looked down, drawing Mutran’s eye.  Her expression was troubled, but the edge of it had worn blunt, “I don’t approve, I guess, but I understand.”  Mutran huffed and crossed his arms.

“I don’t, either,” he murmured, she glanced up at him, puzzled and he kicked at the snow beneath his feet.  “I’m proud of them for the fact that they work, not what they do.  It was incredibly difficult to narrow down their diet so they wouldn’t kill their victims, it was even more difficult to make them leave a piece of themselves behind to cement the process.  I worked for several hundred years to minimize the mutations to the point where they wouldn’t cripple the victim, and even now they’re still not viable for infiltration purposes.”

He huffed and gestured to Antroz, who’s eyes kept flicking over to them, “and it can all be undone by a paltry blast of sound.  Once a flawed but functional crowning achievement, now just another failure.”  He crossed his arms again, pulling his wings in close.

“You helped make the spell that restored Antroz’ sight,” Twilight said, drawing Mutran’s attention back to her.  “Perhaps that can be an achievement for good that no one can take from you.”  Her gaze was steely now, looking out towards the fog bank in the distance.  He hummed in reply, sparing a glance for Vamprah’s still sightless eyes.  Pompous hunter, of course he’d refused.

“Perhaps,” he murmured after he noticed Twilight had been expecting some form of reply.



______



Tempest woke up slowly, to the immediate protest of her throbbing head.  She took in a quick breath through her nose and almost retched, the smell of vomit hung heavy in the air around her.  Recoiling off the hard floor she shook her head and opened her eyes, blinking the bleary haze from them.  

She was in a cell, she didn’t recognize the material of the bars or the floor, but it shimmered with a dark, metallic glint.  The side of her face felt sticky and wet, but first thing was recon.  Looking outside of it she could see a thick fog hanging in the air, reducing the cells across from her to barely distinct silhouettes.  It was so quiet she could hardly even hear her own breath.

She looked down at where she had been laying and scrunched her nose, she’d been laying in a pile of, judging by the pattern across the floor, her own, sick.  Why would that have been?  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the smell as she gathered herself.  Her eyes went wide and a hoof went up to her chest.  It came down on something that made a disgusting crunching sound when she touched it.

She couldn’t contain the yelp this time, shoving whatever it was off of her.  It relinquished its hold with only a slight pinprick of pain as it fell to the floor.  She stared at the thing, what had that twisted creature called it?  The Shadow Leech, it had definitely seen better days.  The dead creature had shrivelled and sunken on itself, only the grotesque ring of fangs in the center of it helping its once gelatinous body to hold some form of shape.  It was circular, almost the size of her head and even when those creatures had pressed it to her chest it had been comprised almost entirely of mouth.

She glanced down at her chest, for something with teeth like that, the wound was remarkably shallow, more like it had just been using them to hold onto her instead of eat her.  She shook her head and groaned at another throb in it as she tried to take stock of the situation.

What had that thing done to her?  She took another deep breath, whatever it was, she was pretty sure it had failed.  It had bitten down and then things started to hurt, she began to recognize the headache.  It wasn’t the usual sort that throbbed in time with her pulse, it was slower, deeper, it felt like it was reaching up into her horn and trying to yank her out of her body through it.  This was magical backlash, something she was intimately familiar with, she spat out the taste of vomit, acrid yet strangely sweet on her tongue.  Black Magic, then.

That thing had tried to put some kind of Black Magic into her, but with her broken horn her body had rejected it.  She let out a mirthless huff, counting herself lucky; but if her old injury had been the only reason it hadn’t worked on her… 

She felt herself stiffen on reflex, looking out of her cell again and watching the one across from her carefully.  Another pony had stepped up to the bars, staring at her intently.  Their eyes were vacant, feral and sickly green, purple light streamed from their nostrils as they breathed, drifting off the corners of their eyes before dissolving into the fog around them.  They let out a sort of bray, almost halfway to a bark, and more toxic green eyes began to open in the mist around them.

Tempest had to contain the urge to retreat to the back of her own cell; each of the ponies in the other cells had been utterly saturated with Black Magic, reduced to little more than instinct and aggression.  They had noticed her, but there were two sets of bars between them and her.  As long as she didn’t panic or do anything else to excite them, she would be fine.

The more pressing matter was, were there any in the cells next to her?

She glanced to her left and let out a relieved breath at the sight of a wall comprised of the same dark metal as the floor and bars.  Looking to her right, however, greeted her with more bars.

She stiffened, looking through to see the inhabitant of her adjacent cell.

She didn’t recognize the insectile creature, but she could tell it was probably very injured, laying limply against the back wall, five limbs splayed out with no indication of comfort, two arms tangled together on one side and only one on the other.  Between the green plates of its exoskeleton she could see angrier green swelling, forcing the plates apart in some spots, especially along its abdomen and the shoulder joint of its singular, blackened left arm.  There was a bright red band fastened around its chest and its jaw was sitting at an odd angle, coated in something else’s blood if the green swelling contrasting with the scarlet coating its fangs was anything to go by.

Whatever this thing was, it had been brutalized before being dumped in here next to her.

She glanced to the many eyes watching her from across the hall and shuddered, her instinct said to leave the thing alone.  Anything that was in here wasn’t likely to be friendly if the other ponies were anything to go by; but she had no real chance of getting out of here alone, and she had to find Grubber, too.  This thing next to her might be her best chance.

She took a deep breath and pounded a hoof on the bars connecting their cells.  The sound was hollow, hardly even enough to make the ponies across the hall blink.  She snarled and pushed down her headache, focusing on her broken horn as she forced whatever magic it could gather through it.

An electric pop snapped through the air before she focused on one of the bars, releasing the unstable magic into it.  The blast was small, she hadn’t tried to make it big, but it was still enough to shake her cell, and hopefully the cell next to her, sending the green eyes in the mist across the hall scrambling back and then surging back forwards, snarls and whinnies drifting muted through the air.

The thing in the cell next to her stirred, blinking golden eyes open and groaning.  It brought up its two right arms to cup its jaw, forcing it back into place with a strangely mechanical click.  It snapped its teeth a couple times like it was ensuring everything was back in place before turning to her.

“Can you stand?”  Tempest didn’t waste any time, if the growing volume of the ponies across the hall was anything to go by she didn’t have much of it.  The creature nodded and got to its feet, swaying for a brief moment before it shook its head and let out a low growl.

Tempest nodded to it as it raised its left arm, grabbing at its hand with both of its right hands.  It must have been in a great deal of pain but if they wanted to get out of here they’d have to ignore that, “good, I’m Tempest Shadow, we need to get out of here and- what in the world are you doing!?”   She couldn’t help but hiss sympathetically as the creature took hold of its left hand and yanked, forcing it into two with the shriek of tearing metal, green blood splattering across the ground as it did so with little more acknowledgement than another snarl.

Its eyes swirled with black and orange as it stared at the wounds it had opened up on its hands, the red band around its chest glowed the same colours in reply.  It growled and shook its freed left arms before winding both sets together into two and speaking in a decidedly feminine voice.

“I know who you are,” she said, trying and failing to slip a claw under the red band.  “I came here with Twilight Sparkle to try and rescue you.”  She snarled and grabbed at one of the bars, “I’m,” she yanked on it hard enough that a stuttering sort of whirr came from her arms before giving up, “Makuta Gorast.”  Tempest blinked, standing up a bit straighter.

“Twilight’s here?  Did they get her too?”

“No, Tridax goaded me and I charged ahead,” Gorast swore in a language Tempest didn’t recognize, trying to grab at the red band again.  “Don’t worry, she’s smarter than me, she got away,” Gorast huffed and let her arms leave the band.  She looked Tempest over through the bars.  “What can you do with that?”  She gestured to Tempest’s horn.

“I-” Tempest had to suppress an indignant, defensive urge.  “I can blow things up, not a whole lot else.”  Gorast crossed her arms, glancing between the bars on the cell and the red band around her chest before shrugging.

“I’m already pretty beat up,” she shrugged, gesturing to the band, “think you can blast off this thing?  If we wanna get out of here I’m gonna need it gone.”

“Uh, I don’t know how good of an idea that is,” Tempest said dryly, “you can’t really do much if you’re in pieces.”

“You’d be surprised,” Gorast snapped back, “you want out or not?”  Tempest felt her brow furrow, looking her over with careful consideration.  Gorast was moving with a slight stiffness, her breathing heavy and slightly shallow, she was obviously still in a great deal of pain, even without the injury to the left arm she was keeping tucked close to her side.  She had a point though, if Tempest had to guess that thing around her chest was a sort of Magic Suppressor.  Gorast was injured, physically she was below her prime, she needed access to whatever sorts of magics she had at her disposal.

“Fine,” Tempest nodded, “come here.”  She stepped up to the bars, Gorast coming closer without hesitation.  Even if Gorast was sure she could handle it she didn’t want to hurt her.  Tempest closed her eyes and focused, drawing as much magic to the jagged edge of her horn as she could, trying to force the unstable power narrow.  Faint electric snaps and crackles filled the air as she wrestled with the magic, gritting her teeth with the effort of it.  She opened her eyes and took aim, releasing the magic with an almost deafening crack.  It impacted across Gorast’s chest, and even semi-directed as it was it sent her flying back into the other side of her cell.

Tempest shook her head to clear the spots from her vision and looked over to Gorast as she peeled herself off the bars.  Tempest blinked and looked around, the fog had been blown back, it swooped back in quickly, but for a moment she could see the ponies across the hall as more than just menacing silhouettes and glowing eyes.

As the fog swallowed them back up she turned back to Gorast in time to see her grab at a portion of the red band that had ben warped by the explosion and tear it off of her soot blackened chest, tossing the sparking, ruined band of metal away.  She unwound her left hand into two and glared at her oozing wounds, her eyes swirling with orange and black again.  There was a flash of heat and her hands stopped bleeding, the smell of burning metal and flesh filling the air.

“There,” Gorast huffed in satisfaction, clenching her fists and weaving them back together.  “Stand back.”  Tempest obeyed without hesitation, taking a couple steps back as Gorast marched forwards and grabbed at a pair of the bars between their cells, her eyes burning like fire, a pale yellow swimming against an almost scarlet gold.  The bars began to vibrate, humming faintly in the deadening mist as a reddish glow spread through them.

A faint slam rippled through the air past Gorast’s cell, somewhere in the mist.  Tempest forced her eyes away from the steady display of power to see if she could tell what had made that sound.  She couldn’t see anything through the mist, but she didn’t need to, to assume a guard was coming to check on all the noise.

“Gorast,” she hissed low, looking back to the Makuta.  

“Just a second,” she hissed back, her face scrunched up in concentration as the vibrations began to still, the bars completely glowing red.  A hulking shape began to form in the fog, its head almost scraping the ceiling.

“We don’t have time,” Tempest insisted.  The bars suddenly lost cohesion, crumbling to dust under Gorast’s hands with a snap like a twig breaking underfoot, leaving nothing but a small pile of faintly metallic dust in their place.

“Now pretend like nothing’s happened,” Gorast said, retrieving the red band from where she’d tossed it and slipping it back around her chest as the shape began to become clearer.  One of the things that had captured her stepped out of the mist, glaring down at them.  This one was slightly different from the one that had come for Tempest and Grubber.  The snarling gargoyle heads of its pauldrons were more squarish, as was its mask, harsher, more sterile lines than the one she’d seen before.  The creature glared down at them without even an attempt to hide its disdain.

Its eyes focussed on Gorast and it snapped something in its language at her.  Gorast just snarled back at it, launching herself at the bars of the cell and shaking them.  The creature watched her for a long moment, glancing down at the blackened spot on her chest and huffing out a chuckle.  Its voice was hard and sharp as the disdain in its gaze.

It said something in its language and gestured to Tempest, shaking its head.  It leaned in and reached between the bars, grabbing at one of the arms holding the red band up and yanking it through the bars to hold her pressed against them.  It hissed something in its language and Gorast snarled something back before her eyes flicked to Tempest.  “Light him up,” she said, her voice steady, sure and commanding, not an inch of room left for Tempest to hesitate.

Tempest let an old, fierce edge into her grin as she drew power in.  The creature tried to stand, yelling something at Tempest before Gorast turned her hand in his grip to grab at his arm, setting her feet and yanking him back down to her level to hold him in place.  The red band clattered to the floor without her holding it up and the creature’s face went slack in panic.  Tempest released the power, sending it sailing between the bars to impact across the creature’s face with a bang.

The mist was pushed away as the creature reeled back under the force of the explosion.  Gorast released his arm, her eyes swirling with black and red as she let out an ear piercing bellow.  The creature screamed and clutched at the sides of his head as he was shoved up against the cells on the other side of the hall by the blast of sound.

Then something strange began to happen.  The dark greys and tarnished whites of his armour shifted, retreating to make way for bright, polished gold and an almost ivory white, the harsh lines of his pauldrons and mask smoothed slightly, becoming ever so slightly more organic in appearance, his eyes shifted from a harsh, angry red to a softer, piercing green.  The ponies contaminated by Black Magic brayed and howled, clutching their ears and cowering low until Gorast stopped, letting the armoured creature fall to the ground.

He seemed dazed, almost unresponsive as Gorast stood up straight, grabbing at the lock on her cell, and nodding for Tempest to join her.  Tempest carefully stepped into Gorast’s cell as the lock began to glow the same red as the bars had.

“Is, uh, he, going to be alright?”  Tempest asked reluctantly, watching the downed creature carefully.  Gorast didn’t look up from the lock.

“Yeah,” she grunted, “that thing you saw with the lantern was controlling him, I undid it.  He’ll be up in a minute and he’ll be more agreeable,” she spat to the side as the lock gave way with the same brittle snap.  “Or I’ll kill him, either way, it’s one down.”  She shoved the door open, missing hitting the creature in the face by a hair.

This was apparently what he needed to come to, recoiling from the door and groaning as he forced himself up to a sitting position, hands cradling his head.

Gorast snapped her fingers, “Takua,” she said firmly, drawing his attention back to her before she rattled off something in his language, gesturing to Tempest as she did so.

Takua stared at Gorast for a long moment before his eyes flicked to Tempest and he nodded.  Gorast hummed to herself as Takua rose to his feet and gave them each a quick bow.  Gorast turned back to Tempest, “Tempest, Takua, he’ll cover you, you’ll cover him.”  She turned back to Takua, and repeated their names alongside another quick burst of their language.  Takua nodded and said something back; even his voice was different, boisterous and almost immature, like a colt trying to sound like his father.

Tempest glanced into the other cells.  Now that Tempest and Gorast were out of their cell they’d gone silent, the ponies inside retreated to the back of the cells and just watching with their glowing eyes.

“Gorast, you were able to reverse it in Takua, could we help them?”  She gestured to the cells, Gorast looked them over, her face betraying no opinion before she shook her head.

“They’re just average people, right?  Citizens?”  Gorast asked, Tempest nodded.  “Then they’ll be dead weight, and if we restore them but then fail we’ll have done nothing but give them time to panic and lose hope.  We’ll come back for them once we have a clear exit route.”  Tempest nodded again.

“Do you know the way out?”  She turned to the Takua before she remembered the language gap.  “Oh, sorry, Gorast, would you mind translating?”  Gorast grunted noncommittally but said something to Takua.  He made a face for a moment and nodded, gesturing towards the door and saying something.

“He remembers,” Gorast confirmed, “he can lead us out.”

“Then show the way,” Tempest said, gesturing for Takua to take the lead.



______



Takanuva felt unsteady; back home he’d only ever heard stories of the Makuta, defenders of the Great Beings’ Fortress, and now one was leading him around and referring to him only by his Matoran name, Takua.  Part of him was grateful for that, he’d never quite felt like his Toa name fit him, it was like an overlarge mask that everyone insisted he had to wear.  Not having to helped calm his nerves, which he desperately needed when he thought back on why he was here at all.

Another part of him wanted to correct her, even if it fit awkwardly he was still a Toa, and that part was suspicious she wasn’t avoiding using it to set him at ease, but more as a sign of disrespect.

The organic creature with them- Tempest, Gorast had called her- was scanning the mist with keen, jaded eyes.  Even if he couldn’t understand her she still gave off a familiar, dependable bearing; it made him wonder how Jaller was.  Would he be looking for him?  How many people even knew he was gone?

He shook his head, he’d be getting home soon, he knew what had brought him here and they were going to make that mutant, Tridax, send him home.

The complex they were moving through was full of strange, counterintuitive twists and turns.  Luckily Takanuva could remember his time as Tridax’ thrall quite clearly, including the maps of the lab they had all been shown to make sure they didn’t get lost.

The real problem was avoiding the others stalking through the mist filled halls.  It was hard to believe the towering forms they were narrowly avoiding were all him.  There were a few even taller than he was now, some shorter, but even just looking down at himself he could tell he’d been changed drastically.  It was hard for him to wrap his head around this many monstrous versions of himself walking around.

They reached another crossroad and Gorast looked up at him, he hummed and thought for a moment.

“We go left here,” he gestured to the left pathway and Gorast grunted an affirmative, moving towards the right branch while he stepped forwards to deal with the one going straight ahead.

He drew his staff from his back and let his power flow through it, condensing the Light down to a powerful laser he turned on the floor once he’d measured out as many steps as he was tall.   This had apparently been Tempest’s idea, to block off any paths that didn’t lead out so the other organics could safely escape when they went back for them.

He reached down and grabbed at the gap in the metal he’d created, his hydraulics and muscles straining as he tore up a sheet of the floor, bending the slab up until he was standing back on the crossroad and the hall was blocked.  He glanced to his right, seeing Gorast haul her side of the floor up.  She didn’t flinch or wince, but her movements were still stiff, she kept repositioning her left hand and her shoulders heaved with her breaths, even if she was keeping them quiet.  The others really had done a number on her.

He looked down at his own hands, if Tempest hadn’t been with her in the cells, would she have been able to overpower him so easily?

“Takua,” Gorast’s voice cut through his thoughts and he looked back up.  She nodded towards the unblocked path and turned to move on, still taking the vanguard position despite her injuries.  He couldn’t quite tell if she was trying to be a comforting presence by pushing herself regardless of pain or just trying not to show weakness.  The way she looked at him made him think it was the latter.  She was hardly sparing him a glance, and when she did it was with a disdainful glare that made the armour on his arm where she’d grabbed him crawl.

“Coming, Makuta Gorast,” Takua said, shaking his head and following, he was worrying too much.  Even with his newly restored armour he still looked like one of the people who put her in here.  She was still a Makuta, trusted of the Great Beings, even if her body wasn’t at its peak she had her other powers to fall back on, and if that body failed she could move to another.

Something in the thought rubbed wrong, if she could have bailed out of that crippled body, why hadn’t she?  He glanced down at Tempest, Tempest had been the only one of the organics they had released.  Had Gorast gotten herself captured on purpose to find her?  What was so special about this organic?

Tempest looked up at him and for a split second her eyes were steel, the kind of hard, assessing stare he’d only ever seen on mercenaries.  He looked away first, trying to ignore the chill running down his spine.

He was beginning to feel like he’d jumped from one bad crowd to another.



______



Gorast was on her feet primarily through sheer stubbornness and she knew it.  Every movement sent jolts of pain through her body, the only real saving grace of her condition was that nothing was outright broken.  Still though, she forced her entire body taught with each movement in an attempt to force the pain to burn itself out, her next visit to Mutran was going to be murder.  

Fixing her hand would have just forced her to consume more light than normal at her next meal, but now she may as well just let it heal on its own with how badly getting him to force the process would drain her.  She had plates all along her chest and abdomen that were just barely hanging on, and she could feel herself leaking Antidermis somewhere on the inside

As far as she could tell Tempest hadn’t realized just how bad off she was, but Takua was eyeing her strangely.

“How much further?”  She growled at him.

“We’re coming up on the lobby,” he said back, his voice growing steadily more unsure.  “We’re going to have to be especially careful, it’s not likely he left it unguarded.”

“Be on guard,” she said to Tempest, turning to face forward again.  “The room we’re coming up on is going to be huge, Tridax is too full of himself to have it any other way.”  Tempest winced.

“We’re about to walk into a killbox, aren’t we?”  She hissed through her teeth, Gorast just gave her a begrudging nod.

“If things get ugly stand behind me and Takua, you’re squishier than we are.”

Gorast had expected the hall to open up into a larger room, but instead an enormous, if unadorned, door blocked the path.  She growled under her breath; of course, he couldn’t just let them slip in, he had to make them announce themselves.  “Get ready,” she said, pressing at the door as gently as she could manage.

It moved with surprising ease, sliding open a crack for her to peer through without a sound.  Looking out into the room beyond she couldn’t see anyone.  The far end of the room was obscured by fog, but she could make out the faint outlines of scaffolding across the far wall.

She opened the door slightly further and glanced up, the room extended up four floors, with balconies along the walls to allow people to look down into the main lobby from each of them.  Gorast hissed through her teeth, “definitely a killbox.”  She brought her eyes back down and glanced to either end of the room.  To the right a set of windows extended up the wall, starting at the second floor and extending up to the top floor, shafts of daylight piercing through the gloom but doing nothing to stop the fog from keeping everything shrouded in obscurity.  To the left, Gorast couldn’t help the way her breathing stilled.  The orange glow of Tridax’ lantern shone bright against a windowless wall.

She swore under her breath and jerked back from the door, having to restrain the urge to slam it shut.  “He knows we got out, he’s waiting for us.”  She wheeled on Takua, “is there another way out?  He’s a Makuta, he’d never design a building with only one way out.”

“I-I don’t know,” Takua put his hands up, taking a step back.  “If there is he never told us about it.”

“Are you going to stand there all day, Gorast?”  Tridax’ detestable voice slithered through the air, making Gorast’s hands clench.  “I have places to be, you know.  Don’t make me come get you.”  Gorast felt her expression twitch into a snarl.  This was bad, but her reaction was good, she could feel rage pouring into her body, driving away the deep aches and sharp pains in her.  Her breath began coming more heavily, but easier, less deliberate.  

How dare he condescend to her?

“Tempest, come here,” she commanded, “Takua, when I give the signal I want you to light this place up, bright as you can.”  Tempest didn’t move, whether through hesitation or refusal it hardly mattered right then, Gorast wheeled on her, Tempest flinched.

Gorast scoffed, “I have a plan, just obey and we don’t die.”

Silence reigned for a long moment, the expression on Tempest’s face conflicted, the one on Gorast’s trembling with the fury she was fanning in her chest.

How dare he assume the upper hand mattered when he was so close?

Tempest nodded, taking a step closer, “if you’re sure you know what you’re doing.”

“Of course I do,” Gorast snapped back, grabbing Tempest around the base of her neck and hauling her off her hooves.  Tempest yelped and struggled for a second before going still, likely on instinct, Gorast didn’t have the peace of mind to bother with it beyond keeping her grip.

She nodded to Takua and turned to the door.  She let the rage seize on an impulse and kicked at it.  The metal shrieked as it was torn from its hinges, flying into the room beyond.  She allowed himself a savage smile.

Her gait was sure, her gaze narrowed and pitiless as she marched into the room, Tempest held high and Takua trailing behind her.  As she passed beyond the balconies above on this side of the room she heard the readying click of a Skyblaster, but the metallic clang of Tridax’ spear hitting the ground rang out through the air before anyone could fire.

“What is this?”  Tridax growled, stepping forwards until his frame was outlined in the mist.  “What are you doing?”

“Tempest called the Princesses here,” Gorast snarled back, squeezing at Tempest’s neck slightly harder.  “If she dies, they’ll raze this place to the ground.”  She took a step forwards, “and now that Antroz has seen your little stunt with these lightbound fools he’ll be teaching them how to rob you of your army.”

“A minor setback,” he snapped at her, “put down my prisoner.”

“No.”

“If you think a hostage will help you escape, you’re sorely mistaken.”  He slammed the butt of his spear against the ground again, the sound echoing through the room.  Gorast closed her eyes to mask their glow and reached out, gathering the coiled rage in her gut to fuel the grasp of her power.

She felt her Magnetism snag against each of the fifty foes in the balconies above.

How dare he assume she came here to escape?

She released Tempest and clenched her hand into a fist, grasping at Tridax’ firing squad and tearing them down from their posts.

“Now!”  She roared, not waiting for the burst of Light power to fire off before she was blanketing herself and Tempest in a cloak of Darkness to shield them from it.  She heard screams and the impact of metal hitting the ground more quickly than it was able to take.  Not yet.  She felt her shield buckle under an onslaught that was burning it away just barely faster than she could call it up.

Now, how dare he believe she was the one who should be afraid?

The second she felt the Light stop straining at her shield she burst out of it towards the dark spot that was Tridax’.

She was a soldier, a warrior, he was a scientist, it wouldn’t occur to him that he should wait a moment longer to lower his shield, and so he didn’t.  Gorast’s pounce landed the moment he stripped away his shield.  Tridax howled, in fear or rage she didn’t care as she unclipped her arms, shoving him to the ground with her lower pair while her upper moved to tear at his mask; stiffly, she wasn’t reacting as fast as she should.

He had enough bearing of mind to raise his hands to block hers, holding her at bay with the haft of his spear and bulk of his lantern.  Gorast bared her fangs, the pain lancing up her left arms as she shoved and leaned closer to bite at his face only fueling the furious haze of battle.  She saw panic flash through his eyes before they glowed grey and yellow and his body lost coherence.  His form seemed to melt beneath her, slipping through her grasp and leaving her teeth to snap closed on nothing.

She shoved herself back to her feet as Tridax reformed behind her and the colour of his eyes shifted to a swirling bright yellow and red. 

“Takua, protect me!”  He shouted as Gorast pounced at him again and he slipped down into his shadow.  She landed on all six, growling and snapping, the rage kindled into hate and her vision tinting violet.

The orange glow of Tridax’ lantern reappeared a good distance down the hall and Gorast’s gaze locked on it.  “Leave your brother and the organic alive, I don’t care which way Gorast ends up!”

She spared a second to check how many of the dark Takua were getting to their feet, less than two dozen; Tempest shouted something, all of it was below her notice.  She had a fool to punish.

Shadow rose to heed her call, snarling with the same animal intent she felt shivering through her teeth as it cloaked itself around her.  She snapped her teeth and charged, surprising Tridax with her speed; still too slow, bogged down.  He hardly had enough time to throw himself out of the way before she was upon him.

She pivoted on her talons as she reached where he’d been standing, focusing her momentum into a punch that connected against the haft of his spear.  Pain flashed through her knuckles and all the way up into her shoulder at the impact but the force of it shoved Tridax’ arm aside and he shouted.  An opening.

Ignoring the pain she kicked out at him, her talons raking across his chest as he was shoved to the ground again.  The wind was driven from him as he hit the floor and began scrambling away from her.  Her eyes bore down against his as she loomed over him, drinking in his terror.

She was Makuta Gorast, Deserter’s Bane, even injured and diminished as she was he should have understood, this is how he should have seen her all along.

“My loyalty,” she snarled at him, “is and has always been to the Brotherhood, to Teridax!  I am no traitor.”

“What?”  Tridax’ expression shifted in bewildered confusion.  “That’s-” his eyes flicked over hers and he faltered.  “You really don’t know…”

Then his gaze broke from hers to something over her shoulder and she saw hope kindle in his eyes.  She snapped around, raising a tide of Shadow as a flash of silver caught her eye.  One of the dark Takua stood over her, bearing down on her with his lance.  She heaved against his pressure, the sound tearing out of her throat a roar of vicious rage; the slight flinch was all the opening she needed to shove him off of her and retaliate with a howling swath of Darkness.  

He screamed as it smashed across his mask but managed to hold his footing, swinging wildly with his lance.  Easy enough to avoid; she caught another flash of silver in the corner of her eye and her claws reached out to grab it, her arm weaving back together as her hand wrapped around the blade of Tridax’ spear.  She felt it bite into her palm slightly, but it was a simple flash of pain, there and gone in an instant.

She yanked on it then whipped her arm around to throw Tridax aside, he landed with a clatter as she turned to deal with the dark Takua.  He straightened his mask and set his stance as she did so.  Gorast snarled and bared her claws, unweaving her arm again.

The crackle of electricity snapped through the air, a flash of blue flickered past her head and impacted across the dark Takua’s chest.  An explosion tore through the air in front of her and she had to brace herself to hold her ground.

Right, Tempest; she shook her head, her senses returning to her as the dark Takua reeled back and the mist was pushed away.  Her eyes swirled with red and black as she unleashed a Power Scream at him, the howl hitting home and driving him to his knees with his hands on his head.  He fell limp as gold began seeping back into his armour and Gorast took the opportunity to glance over at her Takua and Tempest.

Even tough as it was to see through the fog, she could tell they weren’t faring very well.  They’d been pushed back towards her from where they’d started, and each time she caught a flash of Takua’s white light it was formed into a barrier, the blue spark of Tempest’s horn flashing erratically out at the dark mass of opponents.  

Gorast swore under her breath and glared back to where she’d thrown Tridax.  He’d vanished, scanning the room she didn’t see the orange glow of his lantern either.  She clicked her tongue, another flash of anger pushing away the pain fighting for her attention.  She gave the rest of the room another searching look, but Tridax’ lantern still eluded her.

“Fine,” she huffed, turning back to where Tempest and Takua were fighting.  

Slipping close under cover of the mist she watched for the right opportunity to strike.  Tempest was doing her best to keep them at a distance with her faulty magic, but the windup on her strikes were too long and flashy, so she wasn’t having much luck actually striking any of the dark Takua; the one that had opened Gorast’s opponent up for a finishing blow had probably been a stray shot.  The restored Takua was running defense, keeping shields of Light up and moving them to where they were needed to keep their opponents from landing any dangerous hits, too many foes bearing down on them for him to risk striking back.

Gorast suppressed an irritated twitch, she’d forgotten to think of their capabilities when she’d charged ahead.  Even the Takua she had faced in Karda Nui had been inexperienced, he’d likely never had to fight against a crowd before, Tempest was experienced and powerful, but that power was damaged, unwieldy, and she had no experience facing opponents like these.  She’d left a novice and someone who could only just manage crowd control right now alone.

Tempest’s horn began to spark again and Gorast moved.  She leapt and grabbed one of the dark Takua by the shoulder as she passed over his head, yanking him off balance with her momentum before she released him.  “Here’s a shot, take it,” she murmured to herself as she landed, containing a wince at how her body protested to the sudden stop.

Tempest took the shot, a lance of blue magic flashing past Gorast’s head to slam into the dark Takua’s mask.  His surprised shout was cut short by the boom of Tempest’s unstable power collapsing on itself, exploding out and driving both him and the Mist back.

Gorast’s eyes flashed as she released another Power Scream, not bothering to stay in place longer than it took for the sound to hit home and start its work.  She jumped back towards Tempest and her Takua.

“About time you got back,” Tempest snapped at her, ducking behind another of Takua’s Light shields as his dark counterparts recovered enough from their surprise to release volley of Shadow bolts.  Gorast considered snapping back, but settled on a vaguely acknowledging grunt.

“I’ll get them on the defensive, you pick them off,” Gorast gave Tempest a sidelong glance.  “We’re almost out, we’ll turn this around.”

“The exit’s-” Takua’s voice broke into a grunt as he had to fend off another volley, “-over on the side with the windows.”  Gorast gave him a nod and slipped out a gap in his shields, darting back into the mist.

She chose her target and charged, claws spread and ready to tear.  He set his stance in preparation and she couldn’t help her vicious grin.  She dove to the side at the last second, avoiding another lance that was being swung from behind her.  The crack of Tempest’s magic flickered and exploded against her chosen target, driving the mist away as Gorast rose and released another howl, already on the move before it started its work.

She settled easily into a rhythm with Tempest, clashing blades or running down opponents just long enough for Tempest to line up a shot, then finishing them off with a Power Scream and darting away before any of the dark Takua could rally for a counterattack.  Time and distance passed quickly, until they could actually see the door out through the mist past the twelve remaining dark Takua.

Her current target had caught wise and raised a Shadow shield between his fight with Gorast and Tempest.  Gorast swore as she darted around, three other dark Takua seized the opportunity and charged in to join the fight.  She wouldn’t be able to keep moving much longer.  Everything was burning and her movements were sloppy.  

She braced the armour of her left forearm against a swing and her shoulder let out a crack; though her guard stayed up it was all she could do not to scream.  Something had snapped in her shoulder, she dropped beneath the other two swings coming at her, trying to gather herself against the pain radiating out from it as she rolled away.

The Shadow shield suddenly gave way, blinding light blazing across her assailant's bodies.  Gorast spared a glance to where the restored Takua stood and blinked.  Eight more stood with him, weapons glowing as they covered her and Tempest sent out another blast, catching all four of the dark Takua that had been focusing Gorast down in its radius.

As the mist was pushed away from them, Gorast returned her attention to the task at hand.  She unleashed a longer Power Scream, spreading it across all four of them before the mist could mute it.

She was panting, fighting every inch of her body as she kept moving, her left hands were starting to go numb and limp, whatever she’d just broken was important; her legs burned with the effort of another charge and her lungs were stinging at her with every breath; but they were close, if she could just keep going a little longer, could just make it to the next target.

As her focus narrowed something blindsided her, it impacted across the side of her face, sending stars flashing through her vision and driving her down to the ground on her back.

“That’s far more than enough of that,” Tridax’ voice spat as a weight settled on her chest.  Her vision was still swimming with spots, it was taking too long to recover.  Perhaps she really had pushed herself too hard.

The first thing she could make out was an orange glow hanging over her head, Tridax’ lantern, no doubt it was his foot on her chest.  She snarled, but it was weak and hissing, damned wetware.  “Anybody moves and she loses the only viable vessel for kios,” Tridax continued.  Gorast scoffed and took a swing towards the orange light with her right arms, her left weren’t responding at all now for some reason.

She couldn’t hold in the howl of pain that tore its way out of her this time as something dug deep into her right shoulder.  Her vision cleared as she writhed under the pressure on her chest, her left arms twitching to join the right scrabbling at the haft of the spear embedded in her torso.  Looking up she saw Tridax leering down at her for all of a second before his face twisted in shock.

“Blood?”  He gaped at her, her gaze flicked down to where his spear was set into her body, dark green fluid bubbled up around it, leaking down her shoulder and onto the ground, liquid Antidermis, her blood.  “What didn’t you give up for The Plan?”

“My Duty,” she growled up at him, stronger now, more sure, she glared at him with all the defiance she could muster.

A wistful, amused sort of smile flitted across his face before he spoke, his patronizing voice dripping with false pity.

“Not even that, then.”

Then the door behind him exploded inwards.



______



The maneuver Antroz had shown them for the purification of those tainted by the Shadow Leeches was a tricky one to pull off, to say the least.

Luna pulled her wings in tight as she corkscrewed away from a bolt of shadow.  She let her momentum carry her towards her target, her horn flashing with power as she readied the first spell.  She released it and snapped her wings open, slowing herself just enough to not get caught in the ensuing blast.  The dark Takua reeled back as the mist was cast aside and she entered the newly formed bubble.  The second spell was launched in the space of a blink as she swooped past, a sonic blast surging forth from her horn and making its mark across the dark Takua’s body.

She was already wheeling back into the sky before the mist swallowed up her collapsed foe.  She flew low over the buildings, searching for her next opponent and doing her best to keep watch on the progress below.  The mist made it beyond difficult, even from above, but she could make out the hulking shapes of the dark Takua and flashes of Light and magic below.

They had made commendable progress through the morning, though, steadily forcing their way through Tridax’ forces.  Assisted in no small part by the fact that once cleansed of the Shadow Leech’s dark influence the Toa were all too eager to assist them in defeating their tainted brothers.  With patience and their help, the center of the shrouded town was beginning to take shape in the fog.

A grand building had been placed down where this town’s meeting hall had once been.  It reminded almost of a cathedral merged with a factory.  Great, ridged spires rose high off the sides of the main building, each ending in a hole from which billowed forth clouds of the silencing mist.  It was hard to make out further detail from this distance, yet Luna was disquieted by the idea of flying ahead of the main forces.

She spotted the flitting forms of Antroz and Mutran flying their way across the rooftops opposite her.  It had been decided that other than Princess Twilight, those who could fly among them would survey the higher grounds and prevent the dark Takua from gaining an advantage of position.

Luna spotted one of their foes hauling himself up onto a rooftop, but Antroz had already swerved to intercept him before she could react.  She lost Antroz’ smaller form in the mist, but caught the flash of light brown energy preceding an explosion that would render his target vulnerable.  Luna nodded grimly to herself.  With his sight restored, Antroz was an even more formidable presence than he had been before, his performative confidence lacked its previous fragility, and he responded with a fluidity that before had been marred by hesitation.

Vamrah was nowhere to be seen, but that was nothing less than expected.  He was the sort to blend into the chaos of a battle, only appearing when he struck and gone before any could draw him to attention.  The difference between the manner with which Vamprah moved and carried himself blind and Antroz had was enormous enough that Luna had to wonder if Vamprah hadn’t been blinded long before his brothers, or perhaps even born that way.

The air took on a worrying edge on the final approach, a heavy scent of acidic honeysuckle draping itself about her as surely as the fog.  Black Magic, a powerful sort at that.

She swooped down low beneath the buildings, Twilight Sparkle was better at identifying magics than she, they would need to confer before entering to be best prepared.

Luna cast a shield as she approached, gutted as the Shadow Toa’s ranks were, they had not shown any sign of a break in their resolve.  She had to commend this Takua for his strength of will, as the restored Toa of Light shared in it.  Those among them who carried themselves with the surety of experience were proving themselves excellent vanguards, gathering the attention of their former allies and ensuring the guards had clean shots to take by engaging the dark Toa with skill and power.  The Takua who’s hands shook with anxiety each time a strike almost made its mark remained close to the crowd of ponies, shields of Light protecting those that had freed them from Tridax’ influence, frightened but standing their ground.

It was directly behind one of these shields, shouting directions as loudly as she could to be heard through the mist, that Luna found Twilight Sparkle.

“Left side, they’re pushing!”  Twilight turned her head back forwards, her eyes were afraid but her voice was steady and sure, Luna nodded in approval.  “We’re almost there, just a little further!”

“Twilight,” Luna landed next to her, Twilight jumped a little and let out a huff.

“Yes?  Sorry, you startled me.”

“T’is of no concern, Twilight.”  Luna scanned the area ahead of them, “nay, we may have greater concerns, do you smell that?”  Twilight stopped for a moment and sniffed at the air.

“That’s…” she took another deep breath, “oh no.  Hatred level Black Magic.  Where is that coming from?”  Luna gestured ahead with a wing.

“The intensity increases the closer we approach, t’is coming from the foul structure Tridax hast summoned from his world.”  Twilight swallowed.

Vamprah seemed to materialize out of the mist at Luna’s side, a slight prickling of the paranoia he carried with him afore he appeared all that kept her from jumping as Twilight had.  “Vamprah, any sign of your sister?”  She asked, turning to face him but keeping her attention to the front so she could keep track of what was happening.

He gestured up towards the great foreign building, “inside?  How can you tell?”  He tapped at the side of his mask, his eyes shimmering brighter crimson for a moment.  He could feel her mind.  “How does she fare?”  His expression darkened and he shook his head, not well then.

Luna turned back to Twilight, “we must hurry, Vamprah has located Makuta Gorast; she is within, and injured.”  She glanced to Vamprah, “does she fight still?”  He nodded.  “Then make haste, help us clear the way as quickly as we can.”  His wings snapped open and he launched himself skyward, melting away into the mist once more.  They were close, just a little longer.

They clawed their way forwards as quickly as they could, the Makuta and Luna harassing the Shadow Toa from above while on the ground Twilight, the guards, and the Toa cleared them away.  Soon they stood before the grand front windows and door of the building, a sparse few of the corrupted Toa remaining to block the way.

The taste of Black Magic had faded from the air in the time it had taken them to get this close, curious, but a mystery for once all was said and done.  Yet even without it a feeling of dread sat coiled in Luna’s gut.

Makuta Antroz landed between the Shadow Toa and the gathered forces come to defeat them.  He stood tall and barked out a command in his tongue, gesturing from his allies to the building behind them.  The Shadow Toa glanced between each other for a moment, defeat imminent but tension mounting.

A scream.

A howl of terrible pain erupted from the building behind them, echoing as nothing but Tridax’ voice had in the fog, Gorast’s voice.  It pulled at her even as it stunned all others into stillness, setting the Darkness of her swirling mane coiling and snapping.  A strange, possessive urge filled her, spurring her forwards before anyone else could move.

She charged, wings flared and horn trailing power.  The Shadow Toa rallied and braced themselves, firing off bolts of shadow towards her as she crossed the space.  She jumped and pushed with her wings, flying over their attack and picking up speed.  She had to get past them, there wasn’t time.  Her power erupted as she reached their midst, scattering the corrupted Toa on a wave of shadow magic.  She landed in front of the door and gathered power, catching a snippet of Tridax’ voice from the other side.

“-even that, then.”

She released a blast of magic against the door.  It crumpled like paper, exploding inward with a great, dull boom.  She heard Tridax shout from within and entered at a run, the sounds of further battle breaking out behind her.

The mist was pushed back and away from the door when it was blasted in, leaving a puddle of clear air in which Tridax stood, hunched over Gorast’s prone form, his spear sticking out of Gorast’s chest.  Gorast was still struggling, however weakly it was enough to set Luna’s teeth on edge with a mixture of relief and fury.

The smell of Black Magic hung heavy in the air inside, but she ignored that for the moment.  Gathering her power once more to her horn she pressed the advantage of catching the fiend off guard.  To risk him tearing the blade out of Gorast’s chest and wounding her further was unthinkable, so her first strike was to the back of his hand holding the spear.  A jolt of magical lightning lanced out at him, striking his hand.  He released the weapon with a gasp and jerked away before wheeling to face her.

The Shadow around her hissed and writhed at the sight of him, whispering of how he trespassed in her domain.  The Makuta were hers, he had no right.

“Who do you think you ar-” Tridax’ voice caught in his throat as the mist closed back in around them, his expression caught in awestruck terror.  Luna blinked and the fury lifted; her mind stilled, and with it the Darkness around her fell quiet.  He was disarmed and frightened, to drive him back would be simple work.  “Who are you?”  His voice was small this time, free of the keening derision he heaped upon every word she’d heard him speak thus far.  She could work with that.

“I am Princess Luna of Equestria,” she took a step forwards, letting the dark, star studded mass of her mane and tail float out into the air around her, “Mistress of the Night,” he took a step back as the miasma of void began to reach for him, “Warden of Dreams,” she marched forth, steadily backing him away from Gorast’s panting form, “and Guardian in the Dark.”  She felt movement next to her and called her mane back to herself.

Antroz shot past her head like a bullet, tackling Tridax with a hand around his throat.  Antroz’ eyes swam with grey and an almost neon blue; the air around him shimmering with heat as a glowing orb matching the blue in his eyes materialized in his free hand.  The guards streamed into the building around her.  She turned her attention from Tridax to tend to Gorast and the spell over him broke.

“Hah!  You found a Kraahkan!”  He laughed, “I’m impressed.  Guess I’m still Makuta somewhere in here after all.”  He nodded to Antroz’ hand around the blue orb, “if I try to get away that’s going into my head, isn’t it?”

Luna focused her attention on Gorast.  Her expression was twisted in agony, poorly hidden beneath a weak attempt at fury.  Her body was twitching weakly, trying to force her upright but neither sets of her arms would support her weight.  Luna’s brow creased and she gently pressed a hoof to the ridge above Gorast’s brow.

“Be still, your injuries are great,” she murmured low as not to startle her.  Gorast tensed, only relaxing back down to lay flat under the force of Luna’s insistent touch after a hiccuping breath forced its way out of her.  She shuddered regardless, her claws still scratched restlessly at the floor; weaker, slower on the left side as if she was having to force those to move at all.  Her armour was disjointed and loose about her chest, angry green veins pulsing in the black flesh beneath, and across her left forearms her armour was dented almost flat.

Luna lit her horn, calling on a pain nullification spell she’d not used in an age and letting it wash over Gorast’s still softly shaking form.  Her breathing slowed, the pain on her face slowly unwinding.  “Calm yourself, Noble Gorast, you hath done well, we can push forth from here.”

“Tempest,” Gorast forced out, moving to push herself up again, “I need to-” her voice cut off as her limbs collapsed beneath her again, leaving her still forced onto her back.  Luna extended a wing, resting her feathers against Gorast’s chest.

“We will retrieve Tempest, thou must rest.”  Luna insisted, catching a slowly softening glare from Gorast in return.

“I’m here,” Luna glanced up to see Tempest Shadow stepping out of the mist, one of the purified Takua at her back.  Tempest’s gaze was still scanning, keen yet belied by the exhaustion her heaving breaths showed.  By contrast, the purified Takua at her back’s gaze was focused entirely on Gorast.  “We made it, Gorast, you need to rest.”

“This is why you don’t run off on your own,” Mutran’s voice sounded behind Luna.  Gorast scoffed and turned her head away.  “I don’t even know if I can fix all of this without killing you,” Mutran tsked and reached over Luna’s shoulder, grabbing onto the haft of the spear still embedded in Gorast’s shoulder.  Gorast hissed in response, her eyes closing tight, Luna turned to give Mutran a scolding glare.  “Just checking,” he murmured, having the decency to look chastened as he removed his hand.  Luna took a deep breath.

“And?”

“And it’s in there nice and tight,” Mutran moved like he was about to tap the spear, but his movement faltered and changed course at another glare from Luna.  “It hasn’t gone through the supports for her arm, but it might be embedded in them so while we can remove it without taking her arm off someone is going to have to hold her down while we do or it’s not coming out.”

“I can take it out mysel-”

“Nay, you cannot,” Luna interrupted her firmly, “the battle is done, Gorast, allow us to tend to you.”  Gorast snarled and looked around, only to find Luna, Tempest, Takua, and Mutran’s expressions troubled.  She glanced over to where Antroz still had Tridax pinned, Luna followed her gaze to find Antroz glaring back.  He gave her a nod.

“Fine,” she growled and let herself lay flat.  Mutran crouched next to her, looking over her wounds carefully.

“You snapped some of the supports in your left shoulder, didn’t you?”  She growled out a vague affirmative.  He poked at the back of one of her left hands, she didn’t react.  “Broke some of the sensory receivers in there, too.”  He looked up at the purified Takua nervously hovering about and said something in their tongue, gesturing to Gorast.  The Takua hesitated until Gorast added something.

Takua kneeled down and offered Gorast the haft of his spear, she locked her teeth around it.  Mutran began pressing the blunt sides of his claws against Gorast’s abdomen.  Gorast’s breathing started coming harder, her brow twitching in pain.  Luna began to gather the pain cancelling spell anew but Mutran raised his other hand for her to wait.

“She’s bloated,” he murmured as his claws continued to explore, “which means she’s bleeding somewhere inside, too.  If she doesn’t react when I press on it I won’t be able to tell what’s damaged.”  Luna nodded, but kept the spell ready.  It was a few moments longer before he pressed on a spot in her left side just under her chest and she howled into the haft of the spear braced in her teeth, the metal of it creaking under the force of her jaws.  “There it is.”

He drew back, looking her over again.  “I don’t know if I can help with this.  She’s already exhausted, our Quick Healing requires energy from our bodies, and the sunlight is too muted by the fog for her to gather enough of it to fuel the repairs, not to mention the regression to biotech she's stuck with is more energy intensive to begin with.  If I tried to fix all of this right now it would starve her out.”  Gorast tried to huff around the spear, but it came out more of an embittered cough.  Mutran’s eyes flicked up to the Takua still standing over Gorast.  “Unless…”

“Unless?”  Luna pressed, only for Mutran to ignore her, shooting off another quick phrase in his native tongue to the Takua.  Surprise flicked across the Toa’s features before his brow set in resolution and he said something back.

Mutran nodded and kept speaking in his native tongue, holding out a hand.  Takua took his hand and was guided to hold it in front of the stinger on Gorast’s chin.  Gorast threw the both of them a suspicious look and the Toa spoke, a shaky sort of smile on his face.  She huffed, setting her head back against the floor.

“That numbing spell will be greatly appreciated,”  Mutran said as his eyes began to glow blue and yellow.  Luna hesitated, but lowered her horn to touch Gorast’s chest, allowing the spell to flow through her body.  Gorast let out a long breath as her body relaxed under the influence of the spell.  Takua drove his forearm down against the spike, hissing between his teeth, and Mutran grabbed the spear, yanking it out of Gorast’s shoulder with a quick movement and pressing a hand over the open wound left behind.

The blue glow of Mutran’s power spread out from his hand as Takua’s white armour began to dim, grey creeping up his arm and turning to black around his fingers and pauldrons.  His mask shone weakly, sputtering as Takua’s face screwed up in concentration.  A grisly snapping sound emanated from several places within Gorast’s body, each of them twitching as it did despite the magic numbing them.

“Tempest?”  Twilight swooped down through the opening, landing next to Tempest, who nodded firmly.  “Did Gorast get you out?”

“With a bit of help,” she responded, nodding towards the right side of the hall, “I know where the townsfolk are being kept, come on, and bring somebody who can do that sound spell.”  Twilight nodded back, following Tempest.

Takua yelped as the Shadow reached his mask, his eyes wide as it spread across it.  He yelled through clenched teeth as he tried to hold firm a little longer.  Luna turned the spell’s attention to him, hoping it would hold out across two people.  He jerked back with a gasp, no hole appearing in his arm where Gorast’s stinger had entered, Mutran removed his hand shortly thereafter, grumbling to himself.  “You should be held together now.”

Takua’s armour returned to white and gold after a few seconds as Gorast forced herself into a sitting position.

“Art you well?”  Luna asked, letting her horn fall dark.  Gorast huffed, winding her arms back together, opening and closing her left hand a couple times.

“Better… thank you.”  She shook her head, standing a tad unsteadily.

“Good,” Antroz’ voice cut through the air, Luna turned to look at him.  “Now then, Tridax, you have a fogbank to get rid of and some explaining to do.”  He forced Tridax back to his feet, keeping one hand around his throat and gently tossing the glowing orb in his other.

Tridax’ expression twisted in frustration for a few moments before his shoulders sagged.

“Fine, I know when I’m beaten.”  He threw Antroz a bitter glare, “you’re not letting go, are you?”

“Not for a second,” Antroz snapped back.  “First, what in Mata Nui’s name happened to you?”  Tridax’ shoulders came back up as he bristled under the attention.

“I told you!  Your precious-” he shook his head firmly.  “You know what?  You want me to clear the fog, I have records that can show you what happened without me losing my temper and getting a ball of plasma shoved down my throat.”  Tridax’ upward face let out a wheeze that sounded distinctly amused, “stop that, damn you.”  

He raised his lantern to his mandibles before speaking.  “All remaining troops stand down.”  His voice seemed to boom through the air, almost as if it came from the mist itself.  “We won’t be interrupted, my computer is in the back wall here.”  He gestured to the other side of the expansive front hall of the building.

“Not good enough, send them home.”  Tridax opened his mouth to protest, but the blue in Antroz’s eyes glowed brighter, the orb in his hand hissing against the air around it.  Tridax groaned.

“Fine, just, don’t let him touch anything.”

“Him?”  Antroz started just before Tridax’ head rotated ninety degrees with a sound like snapping gristle, making Luna  and several others flinch at the sound, the apelike face now facing forwards.  The already wide grin spread as the new face rolled its jaw, rubbing at the exposed hinge of it.

“Whoo!” It shouted, stretching out the body’s arms.  “They really don’t give you Makuta enough credit in the whole mental fortitude department, Tridax really knows how to keep a guy down once he’s got em.”  Antroz crooked an eyebrow, tightening his grip on the back of Tridax’ neck.

“And you are?”  Antroz sighed.

“Vezon, ex-FoF agent.”  He puffed out his chest slightly.

“FoF?”  Antroz asked, his voice as much bemused as it was cautious.

“Federation of Fear?”  Vezon said, deflating a bit at the lack of recognition in Antroz’ eyes, “we were the Order of Mata Nui’s suicide squad.”

“The Order doesn’t do suicide missions,” Gorast spat, “Helryx doesn’t so much as lift a finger unless she knows it’ll get results.”

“Wow, the seven of you really are out of the loop,” Vezon chuckled, “course, it’s been like six months since everything went down and Tridax hadn’t heard from you until you all rammed maskfirst into this gross little dirtball.”  Vezon shot Luna a look that was half amused half revolted.

The golden face began to pulse with light, Antroz brought the blue orb closer to Vezon’s face.  “Whoa, whoa, he’s just doing what you told him to, there’s a lot of these meatheads running around.”  The orb was pulled back again, “I’m crazy but I’m not stupid, give me some more credit than that.”

The Takua that had helped heal Gorast stepped up behind her, giving Gorast a soft pat on the shoulder and saying something in their language.  Vezon cackled, “wow, never thought I’d see a Toa of Light getting chummy with a Makuta.”  The Takua looked over to him, a puzzled expression crossing his face before he was swallowed up by a flash of golden light and vanished.

“Tridax spoke of being as a parasite upon you,” Luna said, drawing the creature’s attention.  His eyes were strangely dull for one from the Makuta’s world, almost seeming flat in his face.  “What did he mean?”

“Exactly what he said, we’re stuck together cause I got his mask fuzed to the back of my head with him inside.”  The mandibles of Tridax’ upward facing mask clicked in annoyance but Tridax himself remained silent.  “The Order incinerated the rest of him right before the place came down around my ears.”

“Why did he call us traitors?”  Antroz pressed now that this Vezon had made himself a viable method of gathering information.  The flashes of light from Tridax’ mask slowed as Vezon began to laugh, long, loud and wheezing.  He almost doubled over with it, clutching at his stomach.

“Hoo, boy, this is going to be a show,” he choked out between guffaws.  “Tridax is gonna have to fill ya in on that one, I’m just gonna sit back and enjoy.”  Tridax’ head turned again, silencing Vezon and letting Tridax glare at the lot of them.

“If we could, now?  It’s going to be beyond difficult to get all of them back, I’ll have you know.”

“You’re not getting them back,” Antroz snapped, his ire obviously roiling beneath the surface, “now hurry up.”  Tridax murmured something under his breath but led them to the back of the room.

The mist was held back in a line a good distance from the back wall, letting them all see clearly for the first time since entering it.  The back wall was dominated by three great glass panels above a machine that similarly stretched across the wall, covered in buttons with various unfamiliar symbols on them.  Vamprah slipped close to Luna’s side, his brow furrowed.  There was a tension, a dread choking the air more effectively than the mist ever had.

Tridax approached the machine and pressed several of the buttons in rapid succession.  The glass panels came to life, glowing with more symbols before two of them went blank, glowing faintly while the one in the middle displayed several strings of the symbols.  Tridax sighed and pressed his hand to a space in the middle of the machine.

“Review emergency communications log,” he said.  The machine let out a hiss and the two screens that had been blank flared back to life as all three of them changed to display armoured creatures that Luna could only assume were other Makuta.  “I went back after I took control of this idiot’s body to recover my research, Destral was in complete ruins, everyone was dead, and this was recorded by what was left of my equipment, along with a dozen other distress messages all sent at the same time.  Computer, play last three logs.”

The three images all began moving at once, sounding off in concert.

“This is the Brotherhood base on Stelt-”

“-Daxia-”

“-Artidax, we are under attack.  Come in Destral, repeat, we are under attack.”  All three were silent for a long moment as the images shook and a low rumbling sound came through.  Two of the Makuta just watched through the glass with frightened expressions, but the third kept speaking.  “It’s raining fire out there, Tridax; pick up, you self absorbed Skakdi, we’re being slaughtered!

A low roar of a laugh echoed from all three, causing them to look up, their eyes flashing with hope.  “Teridax?”  They called in concert, “thank the Great Beings, help us-”

“-Then the Plan-”

“-You can stop whatever’s happening out there!”

Luna glanced to the Makuta, Gorast’s expression had lifted, a triumphant, if longing, smile on her face.  Vamprah’s expression was grim to match Antroz’, and Mutran seemed confused more than anything.

“And why would I help you?”  Teridax’ voice rumbled, Gorast flinched at the same moment as the three Makuta in the images, her mouth drifting open in disbelief.  “Your services are no longer required.”

“But, you promised!”

“Fools, did you honestly think I would share this,” all three images shook violently, sending the  Makuta sprawling to the ground.  “With pathetic, lowly creatures like you?  Especially now that any of you could follow in my footsteps and overthrow me?”  He laughed again, “I have ascended beyond anything, especially you petty degenerates; and I refuse to have that threatened by creatures like you.”

“Please, spare me!”  The image on the right pleaded, rising to his knees and bowing low to the ground.  “I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?”  Teridax chuckled, the image on the left’s face began to twist  in fury while the image in the middle’s expression went slack in disbelief, the walls around all three of them began leaning in.

“Anything, my Makuta,” the image on the right spoke again.

“Then perish.”  Teridax spat, the walls around the three Makuta hurtling for them.

“Brother!”

“Traitor!”

“Mercy!”  All three of the images went black.  There was a moment of stunned silence.

“They all go something like that.”  Tridax broke the silence, throwing a glare over his shoulder.  “You seven were his most trusted, somehow you’re alive when everyone else is dead, and you expect me to believe you didn’t know?”  Antroz released Tridax and stepped back, his eyes fading to red, obviously at a loss for words.

Mutran’s eyes were wide, his hands shaking; Vamprah stood more still than Luna had ever seen him, the feeling of his mind gone.

“It’s- it’s not true, it can’t-” Gorast sputtered, shaking her head, her expression twisted somewhere between rage and grief.  “No, nono, no…”  She curled in on herself, “he promised.  He wouldn’t.  He couldn’t…”

“He can and he did,” Tridax sneered, “you of all people, Gorast?  With how many of our brothers and sisters you slaughtered-”

His voice cut out as Gorast’s head snapped to focus on him.  Luna’s shadows roared in her ears, grief the likes of which she’d only felt once before howled out from where Gorast stood.

“Lair!”  She screamed, pouncing at Tridax.  He yelped and dove out of the way, Antroz stepped forwards again to put himself between Gorast and Tridax, but he needn’t have bothered.  Gorast fell upon the machine with a savagery unheard of, screaming and howling as she tore at the machine with her claws.  The panes above went dark as the machine sparked and sputtered.

She reared back and brought both of her arms down on it again and again, everyone took a step back, all too frightened or shocked to say anything as she continued to ravage it.  Her eyes shimmered with red and black as she howled, power rippling off her form as her screams smashed whatever part of the machine she couldn’t reach with just her hands.  The sounds of anguish, shattering glass, and twisting metal filled the air.  The glass panes were shattered by her cries, falling to the ground around her in a shower of sparks and broken glass.

The remains of the machine smoldered and still she raged on, shaking her head wildly as she screamed and tore at the machine’s remains.  Mutran stepped forwards and grabbed at one of her arms as she pulled back to bash the computer again, but she turned and kicked at him, sending him flying back into the mist with a shout before she returned her attention to the mess of mangled metal in front of her.

“Gorast, stop!”  Tridax managed to recover, regaining his footing.  “All of my research is in the-” his voice died in his throat again as she turned to face them.  Her eyes were wide, almost feral, tinged with green around the edges and streaming purple smoke around her head.  “Or, you can- ah!”  Gorast lunged for him.

Luna was finally able to force herself to move, throwing herself at Gorast and catching her around the middle.  It wasn’t enough to stop her, but it made her miss her mark as Tridax scrambled away.  The sound of his head turning rang out again and he vanished in a flash of gold.

“Gorast, please, peace, you’ve forgotten yourself,” Luna gasped out as she struggled to retain her grip.  Gorast just snarled and thrashed in response, bracing her arms against Luna to try and force her off.  “Gorast!”  Luna’s vision flashed with stars as Gorast pounded a forearm into her face.  As she tried to reorient herself Gorast’s claws wrapped around her barrel, digging into Luna’s skin as he was torn off of Gorast’s side and thrown away.  Luna couldn’t stop the yelp that forced its way out of her as she felt Gorast's talons rake through her skin.  

The wound was minor, considering the rage that Gorast was in, but as she landed it burned nonetheless.  She regained her footing and looked back to Gorast to find her panting, the streaming smoke of Black Magic gone from her eyes.  Gorast’s entire body shook as she stared blankly out at nothing.

“Gorast,” Antroz stepped forwards, holding out a hand placatingly.

“Get away from me,” she murmured, swatting away his hand and snarling at him.

“Gorast please,” Luna said softly, Gorast’s eyes drifted to her, then to the gashes she’d left along Luna’s side.  Gorast flinched back, the Darkness snarling as she gathered it to herself.

“I said get.  Away.  From me!”  She roared, blackness erupting out from where she stood, blinding Luna and the others.  A crash sounded out and by the time Luna and the other Makuta were able to bring the raging Darkness back under control, Gorast had vanished.


End of Act 1