Infinity's Edge (Beta)

by Caldoric

3: Fyld Trippyng

Time quickly returned to normal, and I reflexively took a step back, blinking. Then I was suddenly jumped by Gresh, who pressed one of his blades to my throat.

"What's the big idea, blasting him like that?" He shouted at me, "you could have killed him!"

"I'm fine, honest!" Durath called calmly, throwing a hand in the air, still laying on his back. "Just startled is all."

"That's nice, Durath," called Gresh, "but I'm more concerned with the fact that Caldoric just blasted you across the courtyard with some sort of green fire!"

"That's not fire," insisted Ackar, pointedly.

"Yeah, well, what IS it then?" Demanded Gresh.

"Looks to me like plasma," I said as I stared at the offending hand, which was still engulfed, "but it's not hot, or even warm, which is not something indicative of plasma."

"It's magic," said Ackar, shrugging. Everyone looked at him with an exasperated "really?"-type look. "Yes, magic. I've occasionally seen Nova's hands do something like that when he used magic. Same with most of his teammates, though its manifestation seemed unique to each individual user..."

"Now that you mention it," I said, thinking, "I have seen something like this stuff in action before, around... the, uh, horn... of one of the locals..."

"You mean Celestia, don't you?" Asked Ackar, with genuine innocent curiosity.

My lips pursed as Nurhii began to freak out a little. "You know the princesses? OH boy..." he fretted.

"Kinda," I said, making a comforting gesture, "I only met them a couple days ago, before Celestia sent me here to train with Ackar. I wasn't going to MENTION it," I looked through my eyebrows at Ackar here, "but, hey, whatever. You got something to hide, Nurhii?"

"Ah, no, just... Y'know, normal shopkeeping stuff. They're like the head bosses of the whole country, and... Yeah..."

I chuckled. "I totally understand, man. I used to work retail like you, until my destiny took a Kanohi Olmak to the knee." Ackar and Gresh chuckled a bit at that. "I mean, seriously, mother glubbing CUSTOMERS, am I right?" Nurhii's mouth quirked up a smidge at the edges. "Like, they'd ask me if a specific type of bike came in a different color, and I'd tell them all we have are the ones on the racks, and they'd be all like 'but does it come in green?' And I'd say no, the ones on the racks are the only ones in the entire store, and there aren't any in the back either. Then they'd ask again, and I swear, that's about the point where you want to start screaming at them, just to try to make the stupid go away, but you can't. You want to gently encourage them to visit the garden supplies area, purchase a shovel, then return home and use it to assist in the indulgence of copious amounts of self-procreation."

Ackar's eyebrows shot up, Durath made a strangled snorting sound, Gresh tried to suppress a laugh and failed spectacularly, and Nurhii just kinda stood there, mouth slowly moving as he worked it out. I said his name, but he just held up a hand for a moment, before he smiled hugely, and began guffawing so hard he fell over... And kept laughing. We all joined in, of course.

Once we were done, Gresh pulled me up. "So," I said casually, "speaking of magic hands and Celestia, think we should message her about this? I mean, I wanna know if I can turn this off, so I don't have to walk around half on fire."

"Sure thing," said Ackar, and went inside. He came back with parchment, a feather quill, and a jar of ink.

"Um, I've never done quill-based writing before, and my handwriting's bad enough as is. Mind if I just... dictate it to you?"

"Sure thing, Caldoric," he said, and sat down, quill poised.

"Just so you know," said Nurhii, "I said the same thing about using paper and ink for the first time, and yet it's very convenient for storage."

"Yeah," I said, "I know, you guys used to carve on stone tablets. I mean, how is that even possible?"

"No idea," Nurhii supplied, shrugging. "More permanent, I guess."

"Let's focus, shall we?" Asked Ackar.

"Yeah, letter. Ok," I said, taking a breath, "here goes.

"Attention, High Princess Celestia. Training goes well with Ackar, and I have befriended another Glatorian named Gresh, along with yet another Glatorian named Durath, whom Gresh is training. In addition, it seems that, like Nova before me, (and possibly others, according to Ackar,) I seem to have developed/acquired the ability to wield magic, of some sort, manifesting as a nebulous shape around my hands, and a glowing between the scales etched into my outer armor, which I can't seem to get to go away. Any ideas? Sincerely, 'Noob-Toa' Caldoric. PS, the nebulous stuff has also shown up behind my ears, for some reason."

With that, Ackar rolled up the parchment, sealed it with... something, it looked like it mighta been wax, and pressed a sort of signet ring that he had on his right hand into the waxy stuff. He then set it ablaze, and the ashes and smoke whisked away northwards. A few moments later, in which I began trying to figure out how to manipulate the thaumic aura around my hands, a scroll appeared in a flash of light, which I caught and opened, before reading it aloud.

"Dear Caldoric, I am glad to hear of your progress, though I would implore you to take heed when you send me a message to me, especially through Ackar. I had just finished speaking with Nova when this last one arrived. As one might assume, a message from the Prime Glatorian himself would be of obvious interest to him. I will be stopping by shortly with some reading material on beginner magic that I believe might be helpful. It's a now-standard set, given to any newly ascended Neu-Toa who shows magical propensity. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."

I looked up, to find Nurhii had hightailed it back inside, and he seemed to be cleaning everything with quite a passion, bordering on a vengeance. I was about to ask why, when there was an abrupt commotion behind me. I turned to see the others kneeling/bowing to Celestia, who was now standing in the courtyard, using her magic to hold up a collection of books, and the odd scroll.

I raised a hand as I returned outside, and said "Yo, Cel!" Her head turned my way. "Drem Yol Lok, eh?" I continued, and she nodded.

"Well met to you, too, Caldoric. Here are the books I mentioned. Mind if I take a look at the focal points you made note of in your message?"

"Sure," I said, as I took the proffered books, dropped them (carefully,) into a Hammerspace pocket, and let Celestia take a closer look at my hands and armor.

"Hmmm..." She said. Being curious myself, I raised an eyebrow. She noticed my look, and extrapolated. "It's... highly unusual magic that you've got, Caldoric. This shouldn't last too long, however. It's just excess power, which had previously continuously collected over your lifetime, being burned off. It's projection, though, is rather unlike Nova's, which took the form of flames. Yours seems to be more like magic when it was young; less bounded, more chaotic, yet powerful all the same. Both creative and destructive. It stems from a source that is, was, and has yet to be, existing beyond our perception of space-time."

"Lemme guess," I said, holding up a hand for dramatic effect. "It's called the Green Sun, isn't it."

The effect was instantaneous. Her eyes opened exceedingly wide, and her jaw dropped a few inches. "H-- how..?"

"Eh, shenanigans," I said. "Long story short, I saw it shortly after I accidentally used the magic to blast Durath flat on his back. And let me tell you, it's huge. I mean, despite having prior warning as to its mass, it still comes as a surprise. No, I tell a lie, it comes across as a giant fucking wall of green plasma that goes on forever in all directions, that's what."

"That's... Quite a colorful description, Caldoric."

"Sorry," I said, hunching my shoulders.

"So, how exactly do you know of the Green Sun?"

"Well... It's shown up in multiple works of fiction back home, an possibly a religion or two. The most notable appearance was in a webcomic called Homestuck, where it is described as having the mass of nearly two universes. This is paralleled in some of the other works, but only Homestuck describes it as the semi-sentient power source of the First Guardians, (long story,) and that its mass actually comes from two preexisting universes, which were 'destroyed' in order to fuel it . That's just the tip of the iceberg, however, and I'm sure I needn't say more."

"Yes," said Celestia, "I believe you are right about that, for now. But I would like to know more about it later, possibly."

There were a few other facts I'd neglected to mention at this point, which I could have just thrown in, but I'd kept them to myself because I had a few sneaking suspicions about... certain things, including my armor.

At this point, I noticed that the list of acquired masks on my HUD had gained a new feature: under each icon, there was a loading bar of some sort. Well, most of them had one. The Olmak just had the word "ERROR" scrolling across it in big, freaky red letters. But of the masks that did have loading bars, the closest to being full was...

{Kanohi Kualsi Status:}
{#Software: Updated}
{#Firmware: Updated}
{#Pigmentation: Initializing Setup}
{#§Primary: Black}
{#§Secondary: LGreen}
{#§Tertiary: N/A}
{#§Glow: LGreen}
{#Pigmentation Settings: Saved}
{#Jumpstart Completed, Internal Power Full}
{All Systems: Go}
{Initiating Preliminary Testing…}

"Oh... Shit..." I thought, looking in the general direction of Nurhii's shop as my mask switched over to the Kualsi. «Zip!» Suddenly, I was bouncing off part of the doorframe, as if I'd just charged at it full tilt, and I landed on my back. "Owwwww.........." I stared, groggily, up at the clouds. «Zip!» Once again, I was abruptly somewhere else. I was up in the sky, and falling fast. "Whoooooaaaah, shit!" I swore, not liking this situation. Down below me, I could see the grand skyscrapers of New Altero, swiftly rising to meet me.

"Well, well, what have we here?" asked a voice next to me, quite clear despite the air rushing past me.

"The hell?" I nearly shouted. To my left, keeping level with me as I fell, was a figure I'd only ever seen images of. He was lying on his back in the air, sipping some sort of drink from a martini glass, complete with a paper umbrella speared through a green olive. He seemed to be a regular Frankenstein' monster type of being, with each part of his body claiming origin from a different species than the rest. My eyes narrowed. "Oh, it's just YOU, Discord."

Yes, I was somewhat familiar with his identity and backstory. It's surprising what you come across when surfing your way across the internet. You find some cool things, and you also find other things you wish you hadn't. Some of the latter are harmless, like stuff from a fandom you're not following, for whatever reason. Others... Well, they SAY there's a dark side to the Internet for a reason, don't they? Definitely cringeworthy. One might even go so far as to call it nightmare fuel. Moving on...

"Yes, I know it's me. The question here is: who are you? And what are you doing here now? You're late!" With that, he was suddenly wearing a "Sherlock Holmes" style outfit, and looking at me through an absurdly large magnifying glass.

"Not important! I'm falling here, can you please do something helpful about it?"

"Oh, SURE," he said snidely, "I CAN, doesn't mean I WILL."

I snorted, and turned my attention back to the ground beneath me, which was fast approaching for a final reunion. I could see the courtyard, in which everyone was looking up at me, panic-stricken. In particular, I was focused on a sheet of corrugated metal leaning against a wall near one corner. "C'mon, Kualsi, don't fail me now..." I muttered. «Zip!»

Not a moment later, I was sent tumbling across the courtyard, and bowling Ackar over, having been "launched" from the sheet of metal. Apparently, momentum is somewhat preserved during transportation...

"See, there you go," said Discord, standing over the two of us, "you totally had it handled."

"Oh, hey Discord," said Ackar, "thanks for the help."

"He didn't help!" I interjected, "He just hovered there next to me, being annoying!"

"Um, excuse me? That's my JOB. y'know, Discord, spirit of Chaos."

"Yeah, Chaotic GOOD, not NEUTRAL!"

"Please stop, you two," said Celestia, stepping between us. "Resolve your differences later. I need to return to Canterlot, lest my absence be noticed." And without further ado, she vanished in a flash of light.

Discord looked to the skies, obviously sensing something we couldn't. "You all might want to head out too, Ackar. Take as many Spherus Magnans as you can to the far side of the city, and get there quick." Then he, too, vanished, with no further explanation. Of course, being himself, he left behind a hot pink mushroom cloud, which began precipitating a brown liquid that I couldn't identify. Trust me, there's nothing more disconcerting than seeing a man-sized, dayglo-pink mushroom cloud form out of nowhere.

As Durath and I looked at each other in confusion, Ackar and Gresh spoke into something on their wrists, probably calling in old favors or something. Nevertheless, I had a distinct feeling things had just gone to shit. And if we were headed to the other side of the city, I figured I might need to leave a HUD marker here, since I'd never been more than a couple blocks from the workshop. I'd seen just how big the place was during my little skydiving incident just now, and I didn't want to get lost if I had to walk back.

Soon enough, Ackar had brought both of us (Gresh had stayed behind to protect Nurhii in the event of something going horribly wrong,) to an literal flying ship of some sort, where many various biomechanical beings were waiting. We boarded, and were off within minutes.

In an effort to conceal my identity to a degree, I had switched to a Kanohi that covered my entire face, tucked my hair down the back of my armor, and became engaged in conversation with Durath. We spent nearly half an hour playing Q&A about our respective homeworlds, before our little session was broken up by a loud BANG, a sudden lurch, and a very annoying alarm going off.

Ackar's voice crackled over the comms: "We've been hit, guys! Buckle up back there, it's going to get bumpy!"

I got really nervous right about then. I mean, my first flight on an alien world, and we get shot down? Bad luck doesn't cover it.

"Shouldn't this thing have had some sort of shielding?!" I yelled. "Seriously!" There were some muttered agreements from the others amongst the clatter of buckles being latched, as gravity's attention to us seemed to wane.

"Normally, yes," said Durath, semi calm, "they might have had it off, expecting---" He didn't have the chance to finish as the ship suddenly impacted with the ground, hard. I was shaken up pretty bad, but made it out in one piece. We all loaded up with what looked to me like some sort of military-grade firearms, with some modifications, and faced the cargo bay door. I was near the back of the group, with Durath.

The door opened and those in front fanned out, only to take heavy fire from unseen sources. Some of the rounds I saw looked a tad familiar, like the pinkish-purple crystals that were embedded in that one unfortunate Toa over to the left... Or the hissing blue sphere that hit the head of Vortixx on the right, and then exploded...

"Shit, we got Covenant..." I said. I'll admit, those who survived the initial onslaught (and there weren't many of us to begin with, being a hastily assembled group at best,) fell back, taking cover where they could, be it in or around the ship. On Ackar's order, they parted momentarily to allow two Equestrians, a Po-Matoran, and a... um, a Lower Steltian, I think, to pass through and take cover near me, under a large metal plate that had come loose in the crash. I was never really sure what species the Dark Hunter known as Krekka had been, but this guy looked like him, give it take a few things, including a recolored set of armor.

Suddenly, the rate of plasma fire increased dramatically, before halting abruptly. A very self-important, slightly tinny voice called out to us: "Spherus Magnans! You have defended yourselves gallantly. But, in case you haven’t noticed, the battle still rages on elsewhere in your city. Soon, all will fall to the might of the Conquest Alliance. But I am a merciful Shipmaster; surrender now, and I will grant you all swift, honourable deaths, and mentions in the history books."

"We will never surrender to the likes of you!" one of the Toa in the group shouted back, with some muttered agreements from the others.

"Very well," the unseen speaker replied, "Prepare to die." This was followed by the sound of something heavy, tall, and presumably bipedal approaching the ship. Of course, I chose this point to have a bit of a panic attack. I was going to die. Plain and simple.

I was shaken from my brief doom and gloom session by the sight of Ackar running after Durath, the latter of which had run out, sword drawn. I didn't remember what happened after that, though... I think I blacked out, or my mind just shut down at whatever horrible thing happened next. That, or I got minor amnesia from being propelled through several walls. The next thing I DO remember, though, is waking up on my back amidst a pile of debris, staring at said series of vaguely me-shaped doorways through said walls, and my chest HURT. Worse than I'd ever felt before... It hurt to breathe... and suddenly Luna was there, her horn glowing, my pain fading away, and I could breathe again.

"Please," she said, her voice full of sadness at seeing me in my present state, "I need thee to stay here once I'm done, I can't stay long. Nova's here, and he's still unaware of thy existence for now. Once we've left, thee must go back to thy base in the woods."

"But... How will I get back there? It's half a continent away..."

"Not nearly that far, Caldoric. But I hear thy Kualsi is working now, so thee could try putting it to use. Alas, I must leave thee now, lest Nova come investigate. And, just so thee knows, we head south, to the ancient home of the Matoran, though I would advise against trying to follow us, and instead head back to Nurhii's shop. Fare thee well, Caldoric, and safe travels." She looked down and to one side. "I am sorry this happened to thee..." And with that, she left, acting for all the world as if our encounter hadn't occurred.

A few moments later, I heard something nearby taking off under fire, which died down. Looking about the place where I was resting, I saw my sword and one of the strange guns lying nearby. I carefully moved myself, wary of the many bruises covering my body, and picked them up, stowing the sord in my Hammerspace.

The way the gun was designed sort of reminded me of a P-90 assault rifle, (which I was only familiar with because of Stargate SG-1,) due to the style of grip, and how it was more forward on the weapon itself than other grips tend to be, though it was definitely a bit behind where a P-90's grip would go. Aside from that, it was almost completely different. It didn't have the unique top-insert style of clip typical of a P-90, opting instead for a more normal "banana clip" plugged in near the back, and slightly to one side. And there were several addons, like a couple scopes, a flashlight, a longer barrel, etc. I noted an inscription on the side, which read "AR150." I heard the crash of something falling over in the cargo bay, (at least, I HOPE it was that,) which shook me out of my inspection of said weapon.

"Enough faffing about," I said to myself, "let's get the hell outta here." I stood up, quickly checking myself over to ensure that all my stuff was still there and undamaged, and then frowned at the nasty gashes in my chest armor. "What the hell HAPPENED to me?" I asked, wondering how I'd get that fixed... "Oh, wait. Dume's mask, the uh... Regeneration or whatever! That might work..." I summoned it, placed my hands over the holes, and concentrated.

{Torso Armor: Damaged, 7.238%}
{Initiate Repair: Y/N?}

I gave the mental equivalent of a nod, and the area around the holes began glowing, then shrinking. I wasn't sure if the Mask's power was bringing back the missing bits from thin air, or if it was just redistributing what was already present in my armor. Either way, it was a bit disturbing.

Once it was fixed, I got up and carefully made my way back to the cargo hold. Whilst there, I took the liberty of stuffing all the ammunition clips I could get my hands on into Hammerspace, as well as about 10-12 more AR150s. Hey, you never know.

"Ok," I told myself, after I'd grabbed what I could, "time to head out, face whatever's out there, and head home." Yeah, I was probably going to get killed out there, judging by the distant weapons fire I could hear. I cautiously summoned the Mask of Shielding, and left the ship. As I made my way back towards Nurhii's shop, I saw the death and destruction left behind by the Covenant's attack, and I got a weird feeling in my gut, and in the back of my mind. I was angry that this could have happened, and scared shitless that it might do so again, with me as the victim.

The thaumic burnoff around my hands and within my armor, which still hadn't stopped, began rapidly giving off purple bubbly bits, and turned burgundy, then a shade of black that was so deep it made the normal black armor around it look merely medium grey. My eyes prickled strangely, my right one more than my left, and I could suddenly see multiple spectrums at once: thermal, x-ray, sonar, etc. I counted about seven or eight, but I couldn't identify them all.

With my now-altered vision, I could see a strange black-and-purple Rahkshi, wielding a shadowy double-ended trident, (or "2x3dent," as I liked to think of it,) and terrorizing a group of Matoran and Equestrians around the corner about a block down. I ran as fast as I could, tore around the corner, and slammed into the Rahkshi, sending staggering back a few meters. "Run!" I shouted at the group, and all but one obliged. In hindsight, the ones who ran were probably more afraid of me at that point. "Go, now!" I yelled at the remaining Matoran, and turned my attention back to the Rahkshi, which opened its head, revealing the ugly yellow face of the Kraata inside the casing, which screeched at me.

"Two heads are better than one," said the crimson Ta-Matoran, who was now standing beside me and holding a short blade. "And one is better than none."

{Great,} I thought, {it's Kapura. Ah, well, he might be helpful nonetheless, or he might get killed.} I opened fire on the Rahkshi, but the strange, glowing rounds merely ricocheted off, leaving nary a scratch. {Useless,} I thought, and put away the gun. This was bad. As I drew my cutlass, black crystals poked up from the ground around me, like plants sprouting. One grew to a rather decent length, before my "magic" took hold of it on its own, and yanked it out.

Neither taking my eyes off the Rahkshi, nor knowing why I was doing what I was, I reached out and grabbed the crystal near its base, even as my rogue "magic" reshaped it into... a sword? Yes, a sword, whose dark blade was between that of a longsword and a katana, with an angular tip. Gazing at the blade itself, you would swear it was a window in time and space, allowing one to look upon a starry expanse filled with strange, unfamiliar constellations... Running up from the base of the blade was a pattern of translucent green flames that moved in an eerily slow manner. Below the blade, another type of crystal, very dark teal in color, was set into the crossbar, which itself was a dark steely grey. The hilt was wrapped in what felt like black petrified stingray leather, which felt both warm and cold at once in my hand. The pommel was identical to those found on old Viking swords.

"Frostbrenne," I said, naming the sword on the spot, and smiled. I turned to Kapura. "I got this. Get somewhere safe." I then turned back to the Rahkshi, in time to dodge a thrust of it's staff.

"What, you think I'm just going to stand here and TAKE a hit like that?" I shook my head, smiling. "It's a beautiful day," I said casually, deftly sidestepping another swing with dark satisfaction. "The birds are singing..." (duck,) "the flowers are blooming," (jump over a low swing,) "and things like YOU..." (stop downward overhead swing with crossed swords,) "SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL!" I thrust the staff aside with the cutlass, then used the flat of Frostbrenne's blade to whack the Rahkshi upside the faceplate. The kraata opened it to shriek at me again, and I took the opportunity to swiftly reach up, grab it behind its head and start pulling.

It didn't like that one bit. Nope. It tried to close the head around my wrist, to little avail, and then the Rahkshi's arm came up and grabbed ME by the throat, lifting me several feet above the paved road. Its staff came around, ready to turn me into a fresh Toa shish kebab.

"Not today," I choked out, then sent a flood of magic up my arm and into the Rahkshi, via the Kraata controlling it. Tiny black crystals began poking out of the Rahkshi armor, spreading from the head and Kraata chamber outwards. The Rahkshi armor slowly ground to a halt, trying to bring the pointed end of the staff into contact with my chest, as the Kraata I held voiced its vengeful wrath to the world.

Using the mask of Telekinesis, I pried open the claw holding my neck just enough for me to breathe, brought my feet up to brace against the frozen armor's chest, and shoved off as hard as I could, yanking on the Kraata as I did so. With a slithering sound, the Kraata finally parted ways with the armor it had been inhabiting, and I was propelled into a decent backflip, which I landed, still holding the writhing Kraata in one hand. It was mostly a bright yellow, with noticeable reddish-gold accents and spines.

{Weird,} I wondered to myself, {I always thought that the Kraata was supposed to match the color scheme of the Rahkshi armor it piloted...} I filed that info away for later. To be honest, calling a Rahkshi "armor" was a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a humanoid mechsuit, in the respect that there was a cavity for the Kraata to sit in and pilot the Rahkshi, while the rest of it was just made up of robotic parts. Y'know, gears, pistons, wires, servos, that kind of stuff.

I stowed the Kraata in one of my Hammerspace pockets, (not necessarily wise, but I wasn't about to just let it run loose,) and placed a hand on the Rahkshi's chestplate. With a thought, the thousands of tiny crystals vanished, and the Rahkshi ragdolled. Picking up the discarded staff, I stowed it in Hammerspace as well, and swept my cloak over the fallen Rahkshi. Once the cloak's edge had settled, I saw that the armor had vanished, stored inside my Hammerspace. I honestly don't know how I knew to do that then, but hey, I now had something to play around with when I got back hom... Back to base...

Without warning, Kapura hit me in a flying tackle, and we were unexpectedly, (but not unexplainedly,) 300 feet down the street from where we had been. Which... suddenly wasn't a good place to be anymore, because it had just exploded. Violently. Michael Bay would've been proud. And I saw why it had exploded, as two twin giants, armed and armored to the teeth, came round the corner. I didn't know much about Halo, but I recognized these brutes. "Hunters..." I muttered, and then (scooping up Kapura,) I booked it as fast as I could.

I felt something closing fast behind me, so I leaped forward, pirouetted in midair, and made a slashing motion with my free arm. Black energy trailed behind my hand, and the fuel rod round that had been mere feet away suddenly rebounded, returned to its senders. I didn't stay for the resulting explosion. I switched to the Mask of Speed, and sped all the way back to the shop, whizzing past several skirmishes between Covenant forces and the various locals. I could have sworn I saw a beefed-up Brutaka at one point, but I didn't have time to double check.

Soon, I had returned to Nurhii's shop, which seemed lucky enough to have been missed by the Covenant. Nurhii let Kapura and I in the back way, and brought us behind the counter, where he'd been hunkered down with Gresh after the initial Covenant landing party had been reported on the city's emergency radio broadcast system. Speaking of which...

"Attention citizens of New Altero. We are happy to report that the Covenant appear to be pulling back. Repeat, the Covenant appear to be pulling back. Whilst this is a good thing, we encourage you to remain in safe hiding locations until a city-wide sweep has been conducted, and the all clear is given."

The three of us heaved a great sigh, and were then startled by the thaumic burnoff around my hands going out with a loud FWUMP, like a burner on a gas grill that's just been turned off. Between the engraved scales of my armor, the purple bubbling ceased, and the über-blackness faded to maroon, then back to the normal lime green, and finally dissipated entirely. Frostbrenne, which was leaned against the counter next to me, stayed where it was, unaltered. I was glad about that, because it was a cool sword, and perfectly balanced, near as I could tell. Something began niggling at the back of my mind, but I let it be.

"Hey Kapura, you OK?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied, "I am holding up just fine. But I've been wondering, what element do you wield?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I'm only familiar with a few of the different types available, but not their specific colors. You got any idea, Nurhii?"

"Huh? What? Oh, um..." He blinked, obviously distracted. "Uh, no, can't say I'm familiar with your particular color layout, and the manifestation of your elemental energy is new to me as well. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance."

The feeling that had been growing in my mind peaked. "Um, where's Gresh, by the way?"

A different radio transmitter than before suddenly burst into life, a voice on the other side asking Nurhii for a status report. From the sounds of it, the speaker was Ackar. Nurhii scrambled over and fingered the transmit button. "This is Nurhii speaking. The new guy just showed up a minute ago, with an old friend of mine. They're both just fine."

"Ackar, you OK?" I asked, temporarily commandeering the radio.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The Toa Nova showed up and brought us to a hospital, then headed south. Don't worry, nobody told him about you. I'm just glad we didn't lose you, too."

On that note, I was about to ask about Durath, but Ackar spoke again. "Listen, as good as it is to hear you're doing OK, I gotta go before people ask questions... Go home. I'll talk to you there, later." And the radio cut out.

"Well," I said, "I guess that's it for me. What's the quickest way to get to... Eh... Ponyville? And where's Gresh?"

"He's at the hospital, with Ackar. He left once he heard about Durath being in critical condition, after the ship went down. They're not sure he'll make it..."

"I have a friend who might know a shortcut back to Ponyville" suggested Kapura, effectively taking my mind off Durath. "He's helping the Onu-Matoran build a chute line from here to there."

"Great! Um, is there anywhere I can get some sort of electricity-based generator on the way?"

"Yes, next door," said Nurhii, "I can get the guy to cut you a deal."

So, I got my stuff together, bought an arcane generator or three, and we left for the chute station. On the way, I turned on my phone again. I noticed in the bluetooth menu that there was a device available for pairing named "NTA-C:001.5," which none of us recognized, but I paired to it anyways. When we got to the station, I couldn't help myself: I began singing, but soon stopped, having just run into someone short, wearing a blue hoodie.

"Hey, watch it buddy. Do you wanna have a bad time?" The figure asked, in a slightly deep, yet otherwise friendly voice, and if one judged by the smile on his head, you'd think he had been joking. Suddenly, a jaunty yet somewhat menacing piece of music filled the air...

Author's Note:

Hooray, finally finished number three!

After a couple more chapters, I will begin building up a buffer, so it'll be a while between then and the upload after then.

Enjoy! And stay DETERMINED!

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Uh oh... Wait... Gilgamesh?! How did he get there!?