I idly flicked my Orb of Vision when I felt a familiar presence crawl up my arm. I sighed mentally. “Hello, Jarvis.”
Hello yourself, sir. I mentally groaned. Jarvis was my sole Shadow Kraata, a Kraata that had through the will of destiny gained all of the abilities of the various Kraata species, all at level six. The same size of the other Kraata, he was a rich, vibrant purple colour, and currently, he was crawling up my arm in an attempt to annoy me. Bit like a really annoying cat really. As a being, he was polite, well-mannered, softly spoken… and also curiously disrespectful of me. I had no need of his services right at this point, and I didn’t really want to talk to anybody. I was wallowing in my melancholy.
“Jarvis, if you have nothing to do, then go away.”
I got the impression that the little bugger was smirking at me. But sir, you did say that I was to be near you at all times, just before you left for your final battle.
I nodded. “But Jarvis, surely you don’t think so highly of me as to see what it is that I’m doing in my own time.”
But my own fascination is what drives me to new heights, sir. It always has.
I was about to talk to him when I felt something. I looked, at the possible warlock approaching my Makuta stone and touching it with an aura of caution. With him was… what was that? An anthropomorphic horse woman and a morbidly obese whatever that thing was? Well, I had dealt with demons before now. “I will talk to you later, Jarvis. For now, I have places to go.” I removed my Kanohi Kraahkan, and placed the Olmak upon my head. Opening a portal, I replaced my Olmak with the Kraahkan and made my way over to the adjacent dimension, home to the one known as ‘Malideus.’ Odd name…
I arrived silently behind him. My presence was hidden thanks to a quick illusion and a silence field, so I quickly shapeshifted into a form designed to fuck with him- a toddler, with black hair, red eyes, a black shirt with my Kraahkan on it and grey shorts. That done, I listened in to his conversation with the other two, intent on gleaning some information on what sort of a man he was.
And yes, I could have gone home as my older form, but this form would have been detected the instant I had to step through a metal detector. I only shapeshifted into a smaller, robotic form that just happened to look like a toddler. Not solving the problem at all, and would in fact strike paranoia into the hearts of governing bodies should they find out about my shapeshifting powers.
“Hey, are you sure you should just be touching random stuff that falls out of the sky, especially after what happened last time?” I hear the rather strange anthro pony creature cay say, her voice full of a mix of caution and fear. And who can blame her? I certainly wouldn't touch any magical stone that fell from the sky. The dark wizard looks it over for a bit, thinking about it. I notice that he's curious about my little message that I inscribed. Maybe it was immature, but it separates the sheep from the goats, so why the hell not?
“Yeah, I know, Kinua… but I don’t know what it is, so what better way to find out than by touching it?” I hear him ask, invoking a sharp look from the other creature, obviously 'Kinua.' I note that the weird fat thing is looking in my vague direction. Huh, probably unable to really find me.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe NOT touching it, and walking away? For all we know, it could be a trap from Stargazer!” Kinua replies warily, but the dark warlock dude just blow a raspberry in response, waving her off.
“Ah, that’s boring. Besides, I have invincible armor, what’s the worst that could happen? Pyramid Head come out and try to kill me? I’ll just outrun him, it works every time.” He says it in a joking tone, but Kinua seems unamused. Definitely the more rational head between the trio, I think.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” She says, and he rolls his eyes in return, the dark green things that they are, picking up my Makuta stone and weighing it in his hands. Of course, he's never seen protodermis before.
“Hmm… it feels and weighs like granite… but it’s so dark, and I can’t seem to scratch it. Hey, Kinua, you’re old; you ever seen a rock like this?” he asks, and I can tell that Kinua wants to punch him out like a light right now thanks to the aura of anger that the Makuta stone is generating, but she humours her very unprofessional boss.
“Grmm… I don’t know what it is. It feels like a really bad thing, though, lots of dark energy. Maybe it’s enchanted?” Kinua says, her demeanor changing from mad to inquisitive almost terrifyingly fast. A magic sensor, eh? This could be interesting. Then, she snatches the rock from the wizard, and begins to stare at it, despite the wizard's comical attempts to reclaim it.
“What are you doing!? Give that back!” He whined, trying to recover the Makuta stone from the weird pony lady, but Kinua keeps a firm grip, pulling it away from me with ease.
“Back off, I’m still looking. It’s got some kind of writing on it…” Kinua says, holding the stone away from him and his latest attempts. I can tell that this wizard is getting steadily angrier and angrier. Also, is she trying to decipher my code? If so, then good on her.
“It probably says ‘you’re a faggot’! Now give it back!” He retorts angrily, ready to destroy Kinua over my Makuta stone. However, I decided that enough was enough, and subtly manipulated the rock to let up on the psychic pressure. As expected, the wizard and her stop fighting, and start getting confused. Well, mr Wizard does. Kinua keeps going for a bit longer.
“Fuck off, Mal! I saw it… wait, are we seriously fighting over a dumb rock?” Kinua says warily, catching herself as she readied to slug him, and slowly lowering her fist. That's some pretty good control she's exerting right there. The kid seems to need constant watching. Probably was raised on a leash.
“I… I think so. Man, what is up with this thing? It’s like I want it, but just looking at it makes me pissed.” The wizard finally notes in a somber tone, holding the odd rock up.It was then, after all of this was done, that the fat demon finally stops thinking. He pulls his finger out of his huge aligator jaw, and with a slow, retarded voice, speaks for the first time since my stone fell from the sky.
“Maybe… you should ask that child… over there.” Gondon mumbles loudly, pointing directly at me. My eyes widened. Crap. My illusions, while excellent, couldn't exactly influence any other senses other than sight. Though I could mute my movements, I couldn't exactly stop my metallic body from smelling like metal, even if it was only a faint smell it could likely be tracked.
“Uh… Are you sure there’s someone over there, Gondon? All I see is a couple rocks and a tree.” Kinua finally says, but the wizard squints his glowing green eyes, and I drop the illusion and let him see me. His eyes then widen as he spots my tiny shadow.
“Hold up, Kinua. That tree over there. Gondon, shoot it down!”The wizard exclaims, and the massive demon yawns, nodding, and unhinges his jaw again, ready to open fire on my location. I had no idea what this demon was about to do, so I treated him as seriously as I would the alicorns or a similar unknown: use overwhelming force and always shoot first.
“No.”
As was planned, Gondon falls to the ground, pinned down by my gravity and I come out, hand held palm down for effect. “Fat guy, you’re being subjected to twenty times this planet’s gravity. I could increase it, but, well, I don’t want bits of demon all over me.” I pointed to his black shirt with my signature Kraahkan on it and chuckle. The wizard pauses, uncertainty in his body, before he focuses on me and makes himself seem as unthreatening as possible.
“Woah, woah, easy, kid. Let the ham-beast go, I kinda need him.” He says, gesturing to Gondon, who seems wholly unaffected by the sudden ordeal he was subjected to.I focused on the demon's thoughts, and discover that he's asleep, and not by my own doing. It's fitting, considering that it takes a lot more than this to permanently harm a demon.
Still, there were a lot of ways to miscontrue 'let go,' but because he's my first human contact in four thousand years, I'll humour him and obey it to the spirit. “Very poor choice of words, but I’ll humour you, little shadow.” Gondon gets up, and then I gesturesonce again. This wizard is wearing so much metal that I hoist him into the air with no real effort. I focus on his glowing green eyes. “Magnetism; you’re wearing way too much metal.” As soon as I'm done saying this, he struggles and squirms in my magnetic grasp, trying to break free.
“CRAP! Demon baby! Kinua, help your boss!” He cries, and Kinua seems to WANT to acknowledge, but she takes one look at me, evidently gauging my power, raises her arms, and backs off. A very wise move on her part.
“Demon baby? I’m a toddler, little shadow.” I raise an eyebrow, and my eyes briefly glow with their own inner light. Damn, this shapeshift is hard; my eyes keep glowing at random times, but I'll perfect it yet. Whatever the case, the wizard decides to go for his trump card.
“GOBLADA!” He shouts at the top of his lungs, and the result is that a large volley of dark earthen blades spring up from the ground and point at me. I idly examined them. They seemed to be dangerous enough for me to be mildly worried. I decided to reveal myself to him properly.
I yawned; it'd been a long introduction. “Well, this was fun and all. Now, for the sake of getting this little cliche over with, allow me to introduce myself.” With that, I initiated the shapeshift back to my Shadow Titan form. My flesh bubbled around my shapeshift as I prepared to go back to a larger form. The wizard seemed unaffected, but the horse thing was about ready to vomit.
“I am the Makuta.” I gripped the outer layer of my shapeshift and tore it off, revealing a black, metallic visage, almost like an insect really when I think about it. I looked at them with my truly glowing red eyes. The wizard finally speaks, in a tone of repressed horror, confusion and trying not to vomit in a closed mask.
“What… the… fuck..?”He mutters, and I laugh quietly. It's been a while since I've heard that expression, after all. I finally reply in my new voice, which personally sounds a bit like an earthquake. “I am the Emperor of Shadows. All other beings of Darkness do not understand. I am not a manipulator of shadows.”
My tiny child body explodes outwards, the torso elongating and turning into a dark, gunmetal steel build with minor red undertones. I shoots up to ten foot tall, and my tiny arms and legs quickly turn into red, black and gunmetal coloured steel limbs about half as thick as a tree. A massive, two-pronged spear appears in a hand big enough to envelope the wizard's puny head and crush it like a grape, and my red eyes burn down into his own green ones.
“I am shadows. I am fear. I am anger. And I… am nothing.” I say as soon as I've finished, and at this point, three things happened, all at the same time: Kinua fell unconscious out of sheer terror, the wizard let out a loud fart in fear, and Gondon woke up, staring at me with mild interest.The wizard looked at me, and I probed into his mind slightly, enough to get a feel for things.
“Eh… Cool, I guess. Can you put me down now, mister Makuta? I kinda don’t like heights, and you are really… you know, I’ll just stop at ‘put me down, please’.”
My eye turned blue briefly. “Put you down, please? That’s very polite, little shadow.” I dropped him like a sack of potatoes. I continued talking, to clarify to him what exactly had happened. “As you’ve found my Makuta stone, I am obliged to help you, fellow human.” I finished with that, and I then examined the wizard's mind. Relief was predominant at first, until he realised that I'd said that I was 'human.' Then again, I could hardly believe it myself.
“Wait… You? Human? No offence, guy, but you look more like a bionicle reject than a human…” he begins. I was mildly insulted, until I remembered that he hadn't been able to translate my Makuta Stone's message, and I took a bit of exception to that. Still, I decided to explain things to him in simple words.
“Oh, little shadow, I am NOT a Bionicle reject. In fact, I have taken the form of the main villain of Bionicle, Makuta. But I was once a man.” An illusion pops into existence, of a rather skinny human finding the mask he wore, putting it on, and then going to Equestria. I felt mildly uncomfortable telling him what basically amounted to my origin story, but otherwise I didn't really care.
“I fought the sisters, and at my final battle, I was imprisoned in Tartarus, a prison designed for me. I was still a man then.” An image of me being thrown in a cell as a human appeared. That was what really made me uncomfortable, but it was good to be done. However, before I could continue, he interrupts.
“Yeah, great story and all, but what does this have to do with your Makuta stones and why YOU are in MY world?” He asks. Further probing through his mind reveals that he believes that I will steal his 'humanity.' Ah, a Dark Souls junkie. Next thing I know, Giantdad is going to come here and start taunting everybody.
“Invading?” Another eye turning blue. “I did not invade, I came because, well, you touched the Makuta stone. It’s an ancient stone, imbued with my dark aura of anger. Oh, and when my eye turns blue, it’s me raising an eyebrow, in case you were curious.” Oh boy, he reads minds now. Fucking wonderful. Can this guy GET any cheaper? I mentally grinned.
“As for your world… well, you were the first to touch it. And yes, I can get cheaper.” I idly examine my fingers while waiting for an answer, which I expect from him. I could just read his mind. I was also mildly annoyed that he thought I was the 'ugliest bug that he'd ever seen.' But I decided not to comment on it, for the mild fear that he'd wet himself.
“Well, that’s kinda cool… but if you’re the ‘god of all black and evil and death’, then why are you helping me? I’m just your everyday warlording wizard, I’m a dime a dozen. Why help me?” he asks, but I probe into his mind and discover that he's actually trying to lull me into 'something.' A small vocabulary is the sign of a small mind, though it can also be the opposite.
My right eye turns blue, and he visibly panics. “First, the word you’re looking for is ‘submission.’ Second, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a fellow human being… a very long time. And isn’t it an instinct of our species, to help each other out when we really need it?” I asks, and he raises an eyebrow of his own, caught by surprise.
Huh, never really thought of that. Besides, I made WAY too many enemies for anyone else to randomly want to help me, what, with all the people I mindlessly murdered. But hey, maybe he’s into that… or she. I might have to ask that... I thought it was pretty clear; I'm a guy.
“I’m a guy. Couldn’t you tell from the illusions?” i chuckle at his silliness. “You must understand, Malideus. In this form of Makuta, I am simply… well, I hate to use the term, but I’ve evolved into this form. I was powerful before, but in this form… I am, not to brag too much, on terms with a physical god.” Images of his evolution process appear. Pictures of gears appearing under his skin, patches of skin turning to metal, an inside view of his body turning into mist within a shell of armour… a part of my past that I would rather forget. He seems a bit repulsed by that.
“Alright, you answered that for me… a bit too much info, but whatever, the more I know, the better. But, what I want to know is this: Despite all you know about me, you still seem like you want to help me out… why? What’s your angle, robot?” He asks in a slightly impetuous tone, possibly due to my aura of anger that I generate. Maybe I should give him another demonstration.
“It’s one of my powers, little shadow. How about a taste of fear?” And then, a wave of fear energy came crashing on him, and I watched his worst fears unfolding. It was… Stairs. That got me mentally blinking. Of all the things he fears, it's stairs? It was then that zombies came climbing up. That's understandable. As well as... an orange-masked human in a long black coat, and a green cyber-ninja thing with a glowing green katana. Why on earth were these guys so terrifying?
That did it for both of us, and he suddenly started screaming like a maniac, causing Gondon to give him a weird look, and Kinua to finally wake up. I just sighed. Figures that a weird guy like Malideus would have strange fears. “Enough.” And like that, it stops. “Too much fear and your heart might have stopped.” I was pretty blasé about that, and from his thoughts he considered me slightly worse than him. He then thought about how, since I had the form of a character from Bionicle, that I would share his fate. He then remembered that I could read his thoughts, and then images of kittens came up, a bit too slowly.
I glared at him, and he seemed to shrink away from me. “I may have assumed his name, little shadow, but I am not Teridax. Though I am just as intelligent, as cunning, as black-hearted, I am not he.” Without even moving, I flung Malideus into the upper stratosphere. While his comrades watch me in fear, I project my voice using my power of Sonics. “Little shadow, I have a thousand ways to kill you for that thought, and 941 of them hurt.” With that, I sent him down at high speed, only to stop him just before he hit the ground. I then sent him flying back up, to repeat the cycle a couple of times.
Eventually, I just dropped him on the ground from a safe distance, dizzy and rather humiliated. I pick up the thought that he's not going to be repeating those thoughts. That was good.
“Ai’ight, You made your point… uh, Teridax, was it? Or do I just call you Makuta?”
At that, I felt a wave of depression hit me and I just slumped to the ground. “Call me what you wish, little shadow. I don’t care. I don’t care about anything much anymore.” I sat on the ground and idly doodled, Right now, I was not in the mood for Malideus' bullshit.
“Four thousand years alive, and a brat like you has to be uppity… I tell you, right now I just don’t care.” I say with a bored tone, and he starts to feel guilty. He then thinks that I might be manipulating his emotions. A bit of further probing reveals that he has an issue on his mind.
I could just see the issue, of course, but without the Kanohi Komau to boost my powers, I run the serious risk of rendering Malideus a braindead vegetable. Or mentally a woman.
“I can’t control guilt, little shadow. Now, you have a problem. It’s in the back of your mind, and I could access it, but I would rather not risk you becoming a mentally retarded moron, or simply a vegetable.” Malideus shrugs.
“Well, you’re right… and I thank you for not turning me into a vegetable, by the way. As for my… plight, as it were, I have a slight… uprising in my ranks. But, you seem like a… trustworthy-ish guy, so I’ll probably need some help from you… If you’re cool with killing a bunch of usurping, traitorous criminal scum, that is.” He says it just to get my interest, and I have to say that he did his job well.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a fight… hang on.” I turned to a tree and scowled. “JARVIS! Come out where the nice wizard can see you.” I knew that the little Kraata had been watching this entire spectacle unfold.
As you wish, sir.
Malideus whirled around to find the source of the telepathic voice. The tree shimmered, and in its place was a large purple Kraata, with glowing red eyes. Curiously for such a monstrous-looking thing, Jarvis had a very British-sounding voice. It slithered over to us.
What do you want, sir?
I jerked a clawed thumb at Malideus. “You, stick with him. I’m not dealing with your annoying British butler attitude.”
It seemed to be smirking. Of course, sir. By the way, should I remind you that, while you are technically my creator, you are not my boss?
I glared at him, then I pulled off my Kraahkan and replaced it with my Olmak. Focusing, I tore a hole back to my chamber, and I looked around. I looked at the dimly lit chamber beyond, and sighed. Should I bring some of my Rahkshi out, they who should never see the light of day? Eventually, I decided to err on the side of caution.
“LEERAHK, GUURAHK, PANRAHK! GET IN HERE!”
Of course, I could have said it telepathically, but then again I was interested in keeping my ally reasonably well-informed as to what I was doing. I jerked a thumb at him, indicating his presence. “Accompany Malideus, ensure that he doesn’t kill himself while I deal with his uprising.” They nodded, red eyes glowing. Malideus steamed mildly, annoyed that I was being all 'smarter than him.' Then again, I was significantly older than he was or ever would be without inducing immortality.
I lifted my staff. “Do me proud boys. Do me proud.”
--=====--
A miniature war, eh…? This would be fun. I trusted in Malideus to direct us properly, and thus, we had arrived at his hideout. I turned to him, an idea turning over in my mind. “Tell me, any of your minions good at perceiving things at high speed? Like, near the speed of sound?” Malideus seemed to think on this, and, like usual for the sarcastic little sorcerer, he came up with the snarkiest comment he could:
“Only one I can think of is Mizzy, that girl can see anything, I bet… That, or at least Otsuna… Maybe Kherrie, but I’ve never tested that. Why?”
“Loyal?”
“Mizzy’s pretty loyal still, Kherrie and Crush are too, Oh, and Hezafen. But I would not try going after him, anyway: I tested it: dude’s pretty much immune to godmodding… er, magic and stuff. Just don’t hit them, and you should be fine.”
I hmmed. Such a shame I wouldn’t be able to absorb them… I wanted high speed perception. I gripped him. “Guurahk, Panrahk, Leerahk. New mission: kill anything other than ourselves that tries to leave the caves.” With that, I activated two abilities: Intangibility for me and Malideus, and Teleportation, and we teleported… right into a wall. I wanted a surprise attack from an angle that they wouldn’t even consider.
“Huh… Agh, what was that?! Did you put something else into my head!?” Malideus cried out, and I actually could feel his fear of the event: Seems he had a bad run-in with two other humans ‘helping’ him.
“Relax; we’re in your hide-out. The wall, to be precise. One of them.”
“The WALL!? What are you trying to do, sneak up on them? Thats… actually not a bad plan. But how the heck are you doing this? It took me months to master minor teleporting, and you’re doing it at the snap of a finger!”
“Teleportation and Intangibility. And for HOW, I’ve had four thousand years of practice.” I probed.
“Now, tell me which ones are loyal to you.”
“Simple: I’ll just walk in there, and you follow me. If they attack you, destroy them, if not… leave them to me, I’ll deal with them myself. You think you can handle that?” The wizard asks, eyeing me with a look that said he didn’t think I understood. Impetuous child. Were it not for him being human, I would have absorbed him into myself and taken the power.
Still, we burst out of the wall, ready to fight any adversary. The only problem with that?
There are none.
This cave was entirely empty. They must have evacuated relatively recently. I looked around, probing for minds. Malideus' mind is filled with confusion.
“Huh..? Where… Wait, I hear fighting…” he says, and I heard them as well, from outside the cave. My children must have found them. A shame; I was hoping to have a little fun.
“Hey, Makuta, what do those… things of yours sound like when they fight?” He asks, and I pick up that he's... afraid that my children are being beaten. I snorted in my head. How utterly ridiculous; my troops are more than enough to deal with any threat.
So I chuckled. “That is them winning, my friend. Hopefully, they won’t damage your friends too much. Panrahk is the Fragmenter, capable of demolishing most of a town. Guurahk is the Disintegrator, reducing to dust any opponent. And Leerahk is the Poisoner, who lacks in close range but possesses a highly potent poison.” Still, Malideus had his doubts.
“I doubt that. I have a demon, an overpowered wolf, and a freaking super-crazy mage working against me… I think your guys are going to have to wait a while before they…” he doesn't finish that sentence, as a blast of magic comes at him, forcing him to dodge.
“Bwaoh, shit!” he yells, startled. Then, of course, a bespectacled unicorn comes into the scene,with a swaggering gait and a confident smirk on his face. I crossed my arms and looked at him. I'm not impressed by this bullshit.
“Well, Malideus, I knew you’d show up sooner or later, but I didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to bring more golems. Honestly, can’t be bothered to fight me without the help of some useless robots?” He says arrogantly. Wait... if he's still alive, then what did he do to my children? Outside, my impassive facade hadn't changed, but inside my fury had briefly gotten red-hot, then turned back into an icy-cold wrath. He was going to suffer.
“Robots? You mean you survived them.” I was enraged beyond all belief at this unicorn, but I masked my emotions, quite literally with my mask. I turned to Malideus, still keeping my facade up. “How quick is his perception time, by the way?”
“He wears giant glasses, you tell me.” He says, pointing to the now-annoyed Stargazer, who is very quick to retort:
“They’re prescription!” Malideus rolls his eyes at that statement. I have to agree; this would not make a good subject of absorbtion.
“Yeah, whatever four-eyes.” he says, causing him to growl slightly. I examined him minutely. An exclusive magic user; how limited in his scope. “Hmph. One question: wait, no, nevermind.” I'd plucked the details out of his head. He'd stowed the prisoners away somewhere far away, about a mile away to be exact. That done, I turned to Malideus. “Be thankful that my children were feeling rather cautious around hostages. The hostages are…” I focused slightly, reconfirming the details in my head. “About a mile thataways.” I pointed to the northeast. Malideus was pleased by that quick answer and looks at me.
“Alright, Makuta, You got four-eyes over here. I have other traitors to… discipline.” he says, and then he turns and walks, trusting in my strength to deal with this situation.
Makuta’s P.O.V
I focused on the glasses-wearing unicorn with a snort. This weakling thought he was a match for my children and I? What a fool. I gripped my Staff of Shadows. “Boy, I have one word for you: run.” A wave of pure fear emanated from me. I was going to enjoy this. However, as if to spite me, a shield appeared around him, to both our curiosity, it seemed, and it sure didn’t look like HIS magic. Still, though it blocked the first wave, it would not block the second.
I walked forwards. “Interesting shield, little one.” My steps shook the ground he was on, and though protected, he still took a step back.
“But you did harm my children, and for that… for that, I will make you suffer.” A second wave of fear slammed into the shield, breaking it. A minor bit of terror shot through to him, causing him to scramble backwards.
“What… what are you!?” the pitiful unicorn asked. I picked him up with gravity, causing him more fear. “I am Makuta. And you cannot defeat me. No more than you can defeat the sea, or the wind. Or… the Void.” I flung him against a wall and stalked forwards, slowly. Menacingly. Inducing a tiny bit of fear to prolong the terror. Maybe I am a sadist, or maybe, I like toying with my prey. But, with that, the little unicorn seemed to be struck with something, and got up, as if now unaffected by fear. Then, grabbing a discarded stalagmite, he swung at me wildly, as if possessed.
The stalagmite shattered on my protosteel carapace. I frowned, probing into his mind delicately. What I saw interested me. A rather arrogant and foolhardy mind entirely, how very… foolish of him, if he didn’t even really put a barrier up. “Well, well, well, little fool. You dare to challenge me? You’d best have some power to back your claims up.”
“You think you’re all that, you invasive pest? I am a top-ranking mage, even better than the princesses themselves! Fate has decided ME to be this world’s new ruler, and you will fall just like the golem, the dragon, and your freakish, insectile pets!” The impetuous unicorn finally shouted, gathering his feeble magic for one last charge at me.
“Weak. Oh, so weak.” I grabbed him by the throat. I examined him. Not even worth an honourable death. I simply… drained him. Hunger pulled all of his power out, leaving him barely conscious. I then walked outside, holding him up.
“Well, new ‘world ruler,’ do you have the strength to take my power? Do you even have enough strength to stand?” I dropped him to the ground, drained of all his strength, a feeble wreck drained of any power.
I then attended to my pets. Leerahk’s legs had been torn to pieces, Guurahk’s upper and lower body had been separated, and Panrahk was missing his arms. This was going to be an annoyance for me. I magnetically pulled the protosteel towards the Rhakshi, and got to work repairing them. Nothing hurt my loyal minions. Not even me.
Once Leerahk was done, he stalked over to the unicorn, still barely conscious. Leerahk then simply touched him with the tip of his staff, letting the greenish glow of his poison seep through the unicorn. I then leant down. “How does it feel, little ‘ruler?’ To have Leerahk’s poison pumping through your veins?” In response, Stargazer only screamed in pain and dismay, loud enough to be heard all the way in Canterlot. But, even though it was loud, it wasn’t louder than the roar that came after it, a horrible, metallic roar.
“KIIIIIIILLLLLL YOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!” It screamed, and I loathe to know what it was… until I saw for myself. There, crashing from the other side of the cave, was a demon bigger than either of the other two I saw, and it looked something like a bionicle itself. Long, black body, kind of sleek, with undertones of machinery in that weird form, but all organic. Fire seemed to blossom underneath, as if it was perpetually burning. But even more disturbing, was that it seemed to be holding a dead changeling in one hand, while going on a rampage. I probed, and what I found shocked me.
“Malideus, eh…?” I readied myself. This would be interesting. Suddenly, the thing that was Malideus turned it’s head to me, and it opened its mouth, shouting some form of obscenity I didn’t quite catch, and it charged me, giant claws outstretched.
I didn’t want to really harm him, so I let it phase through me. I would need some serious backup. As it turned, I quickly locked eyes. “Stay.” My god, was I thankful for that stasis field. I was barely holding this thing. I quickly pulled on the Olmak. I was going to need a finer tool than my own natural telepathic powers.
“ KILLLLL YOU ALLLLLLLLL!!!!” it screamed again, and I managed to get the mask on just as it broke stasis, ready to kill.
“Come on, come on…” I muttered, throwing it away with gravity to buy some time. Eventually, I found it- the Kanohi Komau, the Great Mask of Mind Control. I slipped it on, and quickly hit his mind, tearing at the foreign consciousness and stabilising parts of his mind. Rage, grief… I suppressed those emotions and continued, his brain fighting my own mind. Eventually, though, I saw the red lights that I assumed were the demon’s eyes turn blue, and knew I’d done it. Malideus was stabilized… but I have a feeling I didn’t get rid of whatever turned him into… this.
“Ehhhh....” The thing said, and it collapsed into dust, revealing Malideus himself, unconscious, though. I picked him up and dusted him off. I then turned to the body he’d been dragging with him. “One of the hostages?”
If merely seeing the changeling dead was enough to set him off… well, it didn’t bear thinking about. I examined the body. Teenager, badly mauled by something with big teeth. I checked for any signs of life. Changelings were durable little buggers, but not durable enough to survive something like this… hang on.
I might be able to save her. Or at least, do something. “Hang on, little one. This might help.” I poured the power of High speed regeneration into her body, hoping that some spark of life remained. I saw some of the organs reconstituting themselves and I had a bit of hope that, somehow, this might work. But then, the body just gave up. I stared for a bit, then sighed. No life; I was regenerating a corpse. All I could do was fix the body up, at this point. A little earlier, and I might have been able to save her.
“Even I have limits.”
After a while, after all the traitors either ran or were dealt with otherwise, I heard a groan, and saw Malideus wake, clutching his head.
“Ooogh… What hit me…? What…? Makuta? What happened here?” He asked, clearly not remembering his ‘ordeal’.
I stared at him. “You turned into a demon thing, remember?” If he didn’t remember, then I really didn’t want to trigger a relapse into whatever had caused him to flip out.
“Uh… yeah, I think so. But I don’t remember why… Well, no point dwelling on it. Is everyone taken care of?” Malideus asks.
I nodded. “Yes. By the way… you may want to see this.” I took out the body of the Changeling and instantly hit his mind with suppressing waves. I did not need another appearance of that demon. “I’m afraid that she died before I could heal the body. If I’d managed to get there, I might have been able to save her.”
Malideus stared at the body. I patted him awkwardly on the back. “If it’s any consolation, you might not have been able to save her. Now, I think the terms of our agreement are at an end.” I opened the portal, and my three Rhakshi flew through. I then reopened it, preparing to make the jump. But Malideus’ hand shot out, grabbing my arm and holding me there.
Malideus looked at me. “You’re a god, and you couldn’t save her?! Or were you just exaggerating your abilities?”
I sighed. “Malideus, there are some things that even the gods themselves cannot fix.” In that moment, feeling his mind plummet back to darker places, I honestly pitied the dark mage more than anything.
“Why? Why do there have to be these limits on your powers?! Why?!” The dark wizard cried, and I saw that he was really a teenager, having never really dealt with loss like that. I suppose I wasn’t much better myself; my children were born of me, and when they were harmed, I dealt with the wounder harshly. With a wave of my hand, a large chunk of earth was torn out. I then moved her body in, clumsily. I then gently dropped the earth back down and smoothed it over. “I’ve done all I can. Jarvis?”
The Shadow Kraata seemed surprised. Yes sir? I had a special assignment for him.
“Jarvis, I think you need a holiday. Stay with Malideus, as his… assistant, yes.” Jarvis looked at me, then back to Malideus.
“I feel that you need a companion. And Jarvis, for his faults, will serve you well. Jarvis! Tell Malideus a complete list of your powers later, but now, I must leave.” I replaced my Kraahkan on my face, then turned to Malideus one more time.
“Malideus… you have a dark power within yourself. Try to keep it under wraps from now on. If it gets out again… you might lose yourself entirely.”
And with that, I left for my lair, closing the portal behind me. Today… had not been the best of days, for me, for Malideus, or for that changeling girl. I slumped in my throne.
Still… had I actually possessed a mouth, I would have grinned. It had helped me shake off my depression, and now I felt my schemes flowing, all over that poor teenage changeling. Yes… that plan would work.