A return to my lair
"Finally..."
It had taken me three days to find, but here I was. Only a simple, out of place door, covered in moss. With a mental command, the plantlife crawled off the seal, revealing the image of my mask. Here was the 'back door' to my secret lair, the one that I had often used. It was a bit small for my current form, but I was going to have to change my very being to a slightly smaller size anyway, just not right now. My black fortress of solitude and shadows, where I worked wonders and led an assault on the unsuspecting Equestria. Hopefully, I would still have each and every single one of my tools and minions. The alicorns couldn't have found my lair, otherwise this door wouldn't still be here. Besides my other agenda, I had an important announcement to make, if only for my own ego.
But before I did that, it was time to rebuild my fortress, for my more... fitting stature. I focused on my powers, calling on Gravity and Magnetism. My fortress groaned and tore itself apart in its urges to meet my desires. I mentally re-secured iron beams and lumps of black granite in fitting positions. That done, I walked through my significantly enlarged door. I could have shrunken down, shapeshifted to reduce my height, but I really didn't want to change my shape further.
Time is, time was, time will be when I was small enough that a seven foot hallway would be enough for me. Now, only an eleven-foot hallway is enough to contain my magnificence. Maybe I am proud, and haughty, and aloof. Maybe I am all those things and more. Yet, so long as I had the power within me to do so, I was going to be as haughty and prideful as I would like. I deserved it; I'd lived longer than most empires had lasted, and I wasn't sure if I even qualified as 'human' anymore.
I stalked in, seeing that everything was as I had left it. The huge, protosteel cover on my personal pool of a potentially rather dangerous substance. I hauled it off with my magnetic powers, and regarded the shimmering liquid. Protodermis, the basic building block of all of my tools. Forging had been one of my chief pleasures, and it would remain so for a long time. The Kraahkan had taught me a lot of forging techniques, and that had been how it had baited me along, promising a new design in exchange for my actions. Now that I had disciplined my mask, all its secrets were mine and mine alone.
Don't get me wrong; I still wanted a bit of revenge. But my schemes and manipulations weren't for me to retaliate for being imprisoned, oh no. They were about avoiding any more attention. You see, I do believe that I had served my sentence; four thousand years in an unpleasant prison cell, with other, unpleasant beings all around? No, I loathed Tartarus with a passion, and would do anything to avoid going back there. My machinations for the shadows had been necessary. As for manipulating that fool Ahuizotl... the less said about that, the better. A way of seeing into other worlds would be immensely helpful for me, even if I had to acquire the Orb with... less than legal methods.
The Orb of Vision would help me find others. But first... I had a mask to craft. The Kraahkan had, over millenia of existence, absorbed quite a lot of knowledge about the crafting of Kanohi for Makuta. And I had a specific mask that I wanted to craft. A... backup, as it were. Of course, this project would take a fair amount of time, but a mask of this calibre was exactly what I wanted for my own. I hadn't the skill or knowledge before, but now, after the Kraahkan had acknowledged me as its master, and I had made utterly sure that it understood that position, I had access to all its secrets. With that, I headed through the newly rebuilt hallways, eventually finding my forge.
Ah, my forge... all craftsmen have an innate understanding of their crafting area. Here was my anvil and my various hammers, there, my pool of raw liquid protodermis, along with a couple of chunks of its metallic form. And on a long rack of shelves, I had my selection of tools- the blast mask, the tongs, chisels, sand paper selection, welding torch, various bits and bobs... I will admit, were I capable of crying I would have been weeping profusely at the simple sight of my sanctum being unmolested. Thankfully, I'd made the ceiling in this place so much higher than the other places, even my personal sanctum. Another influence from the Kraahkan, perhaps? Or my own ego? Regardless, now was not the time to think about my mask, it was time to craft.
I'd struck upon protodermis so very long ago. It'd been bubbling out of the ground for quite some time. Fortunately, I'd managed to separate the energised stuff from the rather stranger artificially produced mineral. I'd dug deeper and deeper, determined to find the spring from which the protodermis sprung, and when I found it, I personally built a pool, so as not to risk any living thing that I didn't agree with falling in. The substance was insanely dangerous, and even I was not willing to test my luck. The pool was covered at all times by a protosteel cover that was exceedingly thick, I regarded it with such caution.
Now, to work. I mentall called a large lump of metallic protodermis to me. It seemed to be large enough. After appraising it, I opened the furnace and shoved the large nugget in, unheeding of the flames. My Fire Resistance ability was such a useful passive skill to have. You'd be surprised just how many fire magicians tried to beat me in a one on one duel. I chuckled at that, then got back to work. One of the annoying things about forging a mask from protosteel was that you had to be totally focused on what you wanted to happen, and if you let up even for a second you'd get something totally worthless.
That said, the mask was coming along splendidly. I'd specifically stated that I wanted a nice, simple, Kanohi Olmak. Exceedingly difficult if you weren't a total master of the craft, but for somebody who was self-taught, the mask was almost complete and it seemed to have the required power. If it didn't then, well, I could always melt this one down for the metal. I focused, concentrating on this entirely not screwing up. Eventually, the mask cooled, and didn't crack. I carefully, reverently, took the mask and held it up so that the forge's light shone on it.
"Beautiful craftsmanship, if I do say so myself." I turned it over and over in my hands. Such a simple artifact, this mask... and surprisingly easy to manufacture. All you had to do was know the disc combination and then input what you wanted through your own elemental energy. Countless experiments with the possible combinations had eventually resulted in the perfect combination: Teleportation, Reconstitute at random, Enlarge, Shrink and Regenerate. No wonder only Artahka had made the only two in existence for that universe; it had taken dozens of failed attempts in order to make this one, simple mask.
"With this, then I could go back home..."
The longing for home hit me then like a tonne of bricks. I staggered, eventually leaning on a wall. I could do it. I could go home-
What home? I looked at my hands. Clawed, sharp, metallic. Not human hands. "I've lived too long..."
And with that, the depression kicked in and I slumped. All my energy and enthusiasm at finally getting my mask to work was gone. What home did I have? None. I'd lived for four thousand years; my friends, family, all dead; and even if I did manage to get back not long after I'd been taken by the Kraahkan, they would have never recognised me. I would have been forced to live on the run; not much different from here, I suppose. What made this annoying was that without the Kraahkan, I'd have never managed to go back home. And why had I lived too long? Because I'd wrecked my chances thanks to the Kraahkan's manipulations. I was a blind and arrogant fool, and only now have I discovered that I'm just an arrogant fool now.
"I could still go back. The planet's still there, is it not?" That cheered me up, until I remembered.
"...but even if it was, I wouldn't recognise it. I would be a stranger in his own home." I wallowed in my melancholy, eventually deciding to try and cope with the incredible loneliness that I felt. If I could talk, remind myself of what home was like, then I might feel slightly better about myself. I decided, after a pause, to start quoting Hamlet.
"To be, or not to be, that is the question- whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing..."
I lifted a small stone in my hand, contemplating it. I eventually decided on a course of action. "...end it." I crushed the pebble in my hand and looked back to my newly forged mask. For a bit of fun, I decided to speak in a fancy fashion to the mask. "Hello there, you rogue and charlatan. Do you bite your thumb at me? I wager that you do." Careful not to break it, I put it down and started pacing.
"So, you say nothing in your defence, Olmak? No word at all? Hmm?"
It was then that I heard a muffled thud off in the distance. That caused me to raise a mental eyebrow. "Who dares to intrude on my sanctum?"
With a mental thought, I teleported, causing several looters a considerable amount of distress with my sudden appearance. I looked them over. rather thuggish looking ponies, with violence and thieving related Marks. One of them looked rather roguish, frozen while appraising one of my torches. Probably curious about the metal itself, not really in the value.
This would not do. I mentally focused on the doors, and they slammed shut with a loud thud. The thugs tried to prise them open, but their combined weight and their newly magnetised nature meant that trying to pull it apart was completely and utterly futile. I advanced on them, slowly. Menacingly.
Thud.
A couple of thugs shakily started pulling out knives in a futile effort to defend themselves.
Thud.
A unicorn tried to teleport the group out, only to discover that my anti-teleporting array was still functioning.
Thud.
The main rogue himself started whispering prayers in a futile hope to not get my rage up.
Thud.
For a while, we stood still. Then, I spoke, in quiet, polite, yet in an unmistakeably menacing tone. Politeness isn't so hard to do, even if it is for a gang of no-good looters.
"Who dares enter the fortress of Teridax, the Emperor of Shadows?"
The group of rogues didn't answer. I frowned, and their gravity turned off. They floated through the air, screaming in terror. The leader, who I had purposefully not levitated, stared at me with absolute fear in my eyes. I hadn't even used that power on him. I directed the full force of my red glare on him. "I want an ANSWER!" Several ponies were swung about with force, slamming into each other. Soon, I would have to make the damage fatal, though I didn't really want to do that.
The leader trembled, then he seemed to relax and just sighed. "Haven't you heard of me at all? Well, then again, I do not ask the defences of an ancient tomb if they have heard of my name."
A Spanish accent. So I was looking at a rather less dignified René Belloq, eh?
I crossed my arms and glared at him. "Your name, please."
The leader sighed yet again. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't matter." He brushed off his shirt.
"My name is Caballeron. Doctor Caballeron, if you please."
I chuckled. "Very well, Doctor Caballeron. What business have you in my fortress?"
The good doctor regarded me with a half-lidded stare. "Truthfully, this is a huge find. So many discoveries, like this metal... most curious-"
I hoisted him in the air with Gravity and glared at him. "You will not report this fortress to ANYBODY. Do you understand?"
He struggled in mid-air. "But... this discovery! There is so much money I could make-"
With a roar I threw him against the opposite wall. "Money? Is that your sole motivation... what about the love of your craft?"
He nodded. "I do it for my love of archaeology, but at the same time, a stallion must make a living, no?"
I admired his surprising resolve in the face of adversity. Still...
"Tell you what, Doctor. If it is money you want, then I will be perfectly happy to pay for your silence..."
I gently dropped him to the floor and then called on my stores. Magnetism was a useful power; especially when you understood something of its workings. Thanks to a bit of my personal study, I'd learned of diamagnetism- using an external magnetic force in order to create an opposing magnetic force in a metal that would not normally be magnetic.
Such as gold.
I pushed out a small quantity of the gold that I had mined with gravity and passed him a portion. "Does this quiet your academic curiosity?"
He nodded. "What ancient fortress? I do not know of such a place."
He turned to leave, but I shook my finger. All instances of protosteel were removed from his person and his henchmen. I looked at him. "No traces. You can keep your map here, but sell it to anyone and, well... I'll be forced to kill you." It wasn't really a threat; rather, it was a simple statement of fact. He gulped and nodded. The group went to my doors, which now swung open easily. I let them go, and then I left for my... secret chamber.
I teleported into the furthest room I had, and examined what remained of my forces. I loved putting all of myself into a project. Whether that was simply crafting a mask or waging a war, I put my all into it. And the result stood before me. Forty two small (in my current form) humanoid figures, all awaiting a special... something. I walked over to the simple glass cases and put the combination in. Out popped several glass jars. I checked the status of the Kraata held within.
Leech-like creatures as long as a man's forearm, these little critters could corrupt just about any pony or object they stayed in contact with for too long. Forty two; one for each type, all level six. I pulled them out of stasis and slapped them into their armours. My Rhakshi activated, staring at me with their glowing red eyes. They knew it was I who was their master; they were simply confused about my appearance.
I cleared my throat. "Ah, my loyal servants. It has been a long, long four thousand years, me being away from my base and summoning you to be my new attendants."
I paced around as I continued my speech. "You see, four thousand years ago, I led a charge into Equestria with my army. However, I was hoisted by my own petard- my darkness was used against my frail eyes so that they could take out my army. You are the last of the Forty-two centuries. I am not reconstructing the Centuries, unless the situation is dire enough for them to resurface. Hopefully, it will not come to that."
I levitated in the air. "Equestria has grown fat and lazy during the time that I have been away. They do not fear the darkness at the borders of their empire, believing that Celestia will protect them all. I say... that I no longer care." My Rhakshi watched me with neutral expressions. I continued talking. "You see, I've been thinking about what I most love about life. And what is that? I cannot eat. I cannot breathe. I cannot sleep, or go to the toilet, or smell, or even shiver. I am fully mechanical, a form of energy held within a shell of powerful armour. What, then, do I love? I love creating things."
I pulled out my staff and examined it. "This is one of the first things that I created, this staff. I forged it from protosteel that I myself had purified. The Kraahkan made me into a master smith, knowledge gleaned from centuries of observing. But now, it doesn't rule me. I rule it." I looked out over my forty-two minions. "From here on out, I am separated from the troubles of the world."
With that, I left them, telling them mentally to go back into their pods and await further instructions. That done, I left my fortress, intent on meeting Ahuizotl at the agreed meeting point. Hopefully, he would have my Orb of Vision.
I made Teridax a more cultured guy. We really don't have the kind of villain who quotes Shakespeare in the LoHAV; Teridax is going to introduce some classiness to this bandwagon.
Like so.
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oh the fun that is coming
more please!!!
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I SAY!
Evil robots. Do I need to say more.
AWSOMENESS
This story sends chills of excitement down my spine. MOAR!!!!!
Never seen a fic that's quoted Hamlet's Soliloquy before very nice
This is a really well written story, and I definitely want more, but just one thing...
Um, the verb is breathe. Breath is a singular noun. Normally I don't point these things out, but literally every time I've seen someone use those words, they screw it up.
4452786
Ah. That's rather embarrassing.
More. Now. Or I will jump.
Oohh... Teridax. I love Teridax. He was the first villain I ever encountered that actually made me genuinely afraid.
I was just at the age where I was still young enough to be more easily intimidated by appearance, yet old enough that I was beginning to look deeper into a character's personality, motivation, nature, etc.
Teridax gave me chills. He wa huge, dark, sinister... the movie made him a tarnished, monstrous thing, and his voice was like an earthquake tearing apart mountains. (I may be romanticizing things a bit.) Then as the story progressed, I learned just how evil and beyond morality he was; he basically became the universe.
To sum up: Teridax is amazing, so you had best do this right.
Forty two creatures in need of some somethings?
Rahkshi are best henchmen. You get the upvote I'd been saving for a few chapters in just for remembering that Rahkshi exist. Slightly disappointed that you don't have the six named Rahkshi (who I am going to name for the sake of people who don't know what the hell the Rahkshi were), but I can deal.
Red TURAHK, wielder of the STAFF OF FEAR - Could make Toa lock up in terror.
White KURAHK, wielder of the STAFF OF ANGER - Loved to make people kill their buddies.
Black VORAHK, wielder of the STAFF OF ABSORPTION - Did Tirek's thing before it was cool.
Brown PANRAHK, wielder of the STAFF OF FRAGMENTATION - Brought the boom with his boomstick.
Green LERAHK, wielder of the STAFF OF POISON - Didn't have ranged powers, was still nasty with that acid/poison.
Blue GUURAHK, wielder of the STAFF OF DISINTEGRATION - More or less flat-out un-made things.
(Yeah, Bionicle loves those six colors. It's one of those times you can't tell who's good and who's bad from color alone.)
</gushing over Rahkshis>
Where did the extra four minions come from?
4453217
DAMN!
Well, I'm only watching this cause of the author. And the fact that I remember When I got 'Mr. Shadow' (Teridax) For my birthday when I was six. And I Freeking LOVED Mr. Shadow.
I'm sure I can find him in my closet somewhere. Probably....
4452911 I'm more of a Bohrok man myself, but to each his own I suppose.
i was surprised by the fact he didn't ended killing the ponies, i mean.. i don't think it was a good idea to let them alive even with a bribe.. you know as an Emperor of the shadows, i would not be too happy to be discovered so early in my lair after having broke through the Tartarus (even if Teridax don't like to kill by pleasure)
I wonder, there will be Bohrok in this story ? i know about the hive mind but well it could be Fohrok..
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NOW
Ive waited for a bionicle story but it seems to be a bit disengaging
Still can't wait to see what he'll do next
4454497 Atleast we have a new one, the last one I was reading got cancelled after the first 3 chapters.....
4452786 Ohaidere.
Great! Perfect that you know the proper spelling for different Bionicles. I'm a huge collector of them, and the fact that this uses lore from the Bionicle kingdom is a great hook for me. Keep up the good work!
Gathered friends, listen again to our legend of the Bionicle.
In the time, before time. The great alicorn descended from the Heavens, carryin' we, the ones called; Matoran to this paradise. We were separate and without purpose so the Alicorn princess illuminated us with the Elements of Harmony...
...Wait, that's not right
Also, yeah, Bionicle was the manifestation of my childhood
And I curse Lego everyday for cancelling it
4451387
To be fair, Tirek's threat level varied. When their response was "wait for him to show himself", he could only affect unicorns, and seemed quite weak otherwise. He was also not doing any damage that couldn't be undone when he was caught. The only real mistake the sisters made was to send someone gullible once he was found.
Bionicle....oh my god. This was literally my childhood. So nice to see people who remember it as it is: the most epic and in-depth storyline of any children's franchise.
good work here!
4457590
They didn't cancel it, the series simply came to an end. It had a distinct story, and everything was resolved; Spherus Magna was restored, the Makuta are all dead (except Miserix, but he's not really a bad guy), and Mata Nui has left the matoran to their own devices. That's as close as one can get to "happily ever after" in that universe.
In fact, LEGO was reluctant to let go of Bionicle. They created Hero Factory in an attempt to continue drawing from the popularity of Bionicle, but that didn't turn out how they wanted.
where is the guy that did the original voice of Makuta?, we need to have him quote Shakespeare in Makuta's voice
Oh hey! I remember these! Bionicle! Man that was fun... looking forward to more.
In the 2nd chapter,
should be Rahkshi. Perhaps elsewhere, too, I haven't read the rest. Yet. Well done for the moment, though I have a little difficulty imagining Teridax spontaneously quoting Shakespeare. *shrug*
4461621 believe it or not, Lee Tockar, the voice of Makuta in the first two Bionicle movies, voices Snips in the show.
A Wicked Cultured master of the shadows? COUNT ME IN, MUTHAF*CKA!
4489968
I drink tea in whisky glasses.
4593765 I drink ER PPCs in wine snifters.
Nice, I'm liking how he is op.
4489968 Huh. I never knew that!
6446880 its like darthvader saying FUCK THIS I HAD ENOUGH!
4459649
Actually, they had plans to keep going for another couple years, but they cut it early. Also, there were several cliffhangers left unfinished in the serials, with some of the Toa Nuva stuck in other, foreign places (including on the Red Star itself, with no means of return.)
There was also the issue of Velika, the Great Being that was secretly disguised as a Po-Matoran inventor for the entire storyline, who'd started going around killing folks like Tren Krom and Karzahni for some unknown reason.
He kind of reminds me of Lex Luthor. Knowledgeable and kind to his underlings, but utterly ruthless to enemies, but he cares not about what happens to his enemies. I also like how he still has a human side, and not a completely overloaded evil core. (Evil core? Does that make sense?) He is capable of normal interaction. As much as I believe he hates the ponies, I think, evidenced by his conversation with Caballeron, he can still talk rationally to all of his enemies. I believe if he sat down with Celestia and talked, he would be reserved enough not to kill her immediately, and ride it out.
Sorry for the wall.
That's one classy lump of metal.