Bionicle: Legacy- Chapter 15- Dreams

    Twilis stood in silence as he watched the sun slowly come down past the landscape; the rays of lights becoming fewer and fewer as sunshine washed away. The night was coming, and as the only Toa left in Zorrin Nui, Twilis had to make sure that the city’s inhabitants were safe. He was currently on the roof of the New Coliseum, allowing him to see every corner of Zorrin Nui.

    “You can let the guards know if you need to rest.” Twilis turned his head to see Kantis approaching him with a pleasant smile across his face. “I appreciate you keeping up your duties, but you are the only Toa here right now. Don’t strain yourself too much.”

    “I do appreciate it, Turaga,” Twilis nodded, “but I do not need the Agoran to take my place as the watchman.”

    “But Twilis,” Kantis sighed, “you’ve been up all day. Tiring yourself out will not help matters.”

    “Turaga, please,” Twilis sighed, shooting a glare at the older figure. Kantis could tell that the Toa of Light wouldn’t be convinced to leave his post.

    “You want to prove something, don’t you?” Kantis murmured. Twilis did not respond. “Very well,” the Turaga nodded, slowly walking away, his smile long gone. Twilis turned back towards the sun as it sank lower and lower.

    Twilis looked down as he pondered to himself, “Am I trying to prove something?” he thought. Before he could answer his own question, he was greeted by a murmuring voice. “What?” He turned around, blade out, but he didn’t see anything. The same sound came again. It was low and weak, and sounded like a legion of voices was speaking at the same time, all with different pitches and tempos. Despite trying to keep face, Twilis was clearly nervous, swirling around as he tried looking for the source of the commotion. “Sh-Show yourself!” He then heard the same sound right next to his ear. Then he fell unconscious.

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    “Is this enough firewood?” Livef grunted, carrying a large stack of dry wood and plants.

    “Should be,” Kratos nodded. “Put it with the others. I’ll light it in just a moment.”

    At this point in time, the group had been traveling for several hours, and the twin moons had risen. As Kratos shot a fireball at the pile of branches, the other Toa and Agoran began setting up camp. The only one who wasn’t with them was Lucarian, who stood several feet away from the campsite, keeping watch for intruders.

    Teluca sighed in relief as he sat on the ground and put his hands towards the fire to warm them “About time. It’s too cold out here.” He turned his head towards Lucarian. “You can shoot fire too, can’t you? How similar it is to regular fire?”

    “The only difference is the color,” Lucarian dryly replied. It was clear he was more focused on scanning the area with his eyes rather than having a conversation.

    “How much longer do we have until we arrive at our destination?” Vancus asked.

    “Hard to say,” Lucarian sighed. “I can only follow the trail’s scent. I can’t tell the distance.”

    “Is walking the only way to get there?” Tamina questioned. “The longer we take, the more danger Dongru might be in.”

    Lucarian was silent at first. He then turned to face the group. “There is one. But there’s too many of us.”

    “What do you mean?” Shina asked.

    “As you may have noticed, I can teleport between the shadows,” Lucarian explained. “Though I usually only teleport within my line of sight, I can teleport longer distances if I concentrate hard enough. But,” he groaned, “it is taxing on my body. The longer the distance, the more exhausted I become. Not to mention, the maximum number of beings that I have teleported at once is two. I have no idea if I would be able to transport all of us at once and be in one piece. And…if we did make it, I would be too drained to be of any assistance to you for a long while.”

    Livef tensed up. “So there’s a chance of death and/or one of our best Toa getting taken out? I don’t like our odds.”

    “But do we really have any other solutions?” Polden inquired. “Because unless someone else can think of a better idea, I don’t see any.” No one responded; everyone was either looking up to the sky or their feet, trying to form a plan. Then all then turned towards me.

    “I’m not saying what you’re going to do!” I yelled, getting frustrated that my characters would attempt to ask me for answers. “That’s what the next chapter is for!”

    “We do have time to think about it, don’t we?” Tamina asked, turning back to the others. “Perhaps some rest will allow our thinking abilities to be in full force.”

    “I am…” Lucarian sighed. “I am willing to try shadow teleportation.”

    “Yeah, but that’s only if push comes to shove,” Teluca groaned. “For everyone’s sake.”

    “Soooo….” Vancus whistled, “we have a campfire. Anybody want to tell scary stories?”

    “On a mission like this?” Poldren frowned, turning his head towards his emerald compatriot.

    “We don’t get that many opportunities like this. Besides,” Vancus grinned, “we need some sort of brevity for this serious mission.”

    “I-I think you’re mistaking ‘brevity’ with ‘nightmares’,” Livef stammered, slowly backing away from the fire.

    “Then join Lucarian on the night watch,” Shina sighed. “Either that, or cover your ears with a pillow and go to sleep.”

    “I think I’ve got a good one in mind,” Teluca smirked, showing off a slightly devilish grin.

    “Fire away,” Kratos grinned, leaning back against a rock. “We’re all ears.”

    As Teluca began his tale, Lucarian turned back towards the wilderness to keep watch over the camp. He didn’t think Teluca’s story would scare him anyway. Over his years as a Toa and a vagabond, he’d seen a lot that would make even a Skakdi run away screaming. Besides, he needed his two ears to listen for any footsteps or flying sounds. For now though, it was the ramblings of a Ta-Agoran and the night winds blowing through the grass.

    But then suddenly, another sound reached his ear. He turned his head around back and forth to find where it was coming from, but to no avail. It was soft, but also disturbed at the same time, as if many beings with different tones and pitches were saying random words and phrases at once.

    As he narrowed his eyes, Lucarian unsheathed his blade, ready for a potential fight.

    Tamina had turned her head to the side, noticing Lucarian’s cautious movements. “Is something the matter?”

    “Oh come on, don’t interrupt!” Teluca groaned. “I was getting to the best part.” His annoyance was quickly changed to confusion when the same disturbing noise reached his ears. And it was getting louder.

    “You guys do hear that, right?” Vancus asked, grabbing his Kanoka Disk Launcher from the side. The other Toa followed suit, looking around the perimeter for their unseen adversary.

    “Come out and fight!” Kratos shouted, his sword slowly heating up as flames began to emerge from said blade.

    Lucarian tried to keep his resolve, but not being able to find his foe was beginning to make him agitated. He took a few steps away from the campfire, hoping to finally find what he was looking before. The voices came closer and closer, becoming louder and louder, as if this enemy was right next to him.

    Then he fell into unconsciousness.

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    When Lucarian finally came to, he was greeted by darkness. As he slowly rose from the floor, groaning in pain, he noticed that he wasn’t where he once was. In fact, no one else was there. He was completely alone in an empty black room. There was no light, no sound, no sign of organic life. It was like he was in a void. He should have felt comfortable being surrounded in his own element, but instead felt uneasy and almost scared about the situation that he was in, as it seemed almost otherworldly.

    Lucarian slowly walked forward, his eyes moving all around, seeing if there was anything that wasn’t black emptiness. And then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an armored figure. The figure was too far away to confirm who it belonged to, but at this point, if Lucarian wanted answers, this was better than nothing. Cautiously, with his hand on his sword hilt, ready to draw, he walked up to his mysterious companion.

    Twilis could hear footsteps from behind him. It was faint, but it was slowly becoming louder. He turned around and saw a fuzzy black and silver figure coming his way. “It’s either a friend or friend,” he growled. “Well…” he sighed, “I suppose I don’t have much of a choice.” He readied his hand, just in case the being was an enemy, and walked forward.

    It didn’t take long for the two to recognize one another as they came closer and closer together. “Oh,” Lucarian noted. “It’s you.” While he was glad to see a familiar face, he wasn’t so happy about whose face it was. Twilis was silent, standing as if he was a stone statue.

    “I thought you had left with the others,” Twilis scoffed. Lucarian did not reply to the Toa of Light’s retort. While the two Toa could see one another, it was almost as if they didn’t see the same image of the other.

    Then Twilis saw Lucarian rush towards him, blade drawn.  “What?” Twilis cried in surprise, rolling out of the way before he was stabbed.

    Then Lucarian saw Twilis rush towards him, blade drawn. Lucarian gasped in surprise as he jumped to the side before he was sliced in half.

    “I knew it!’ Twilis growled, slowly getting back up as he drew his blade from his sheath, pointing it towards the ground. “You can’t be trusted. You’ll have my team killed, and I will never forgive you for that! Not while you’re in my sight!” Lucarian’s only response was pointing his sword at his foe, accepting the challenge.

    “So you hate me that much?” Lucarian growled as he drew his sword, pointing it at the Toa of Light. “Your team would be disappointed. I don’t want to kill you, but I won’t let you kill me.” Twilis’s only response was pointing his sword towards the ground.

    The two locked eyes before yelling at the top of their lungs and charging forward. Their blades clashed, creating sparks almost bright enough to illuminate the room. Both foes gritted their teeth as they pushed against each other with all their might, trying to forcefully put the other away.

    Twilis finally let go of the struggle, and swung his left fist at Lucarian, punching him across the mask. Lucarian backed up from the impact, and raised his left hand, shooting a blast of black fire at the Toa of Light. Twilis ducked before he was roasted, and fired a beam of light from his blade in retaliation. Lucarian managed to slide it in half with his own blade. He tried concentrating, hoping he could shadow teleport behind Twilis, but to no avail. Apparently, the room was not made up of darkness, as he had thought.

    Lucarian looked up to see Twilis charging towards him, blade first. The Toa of Shadow quickly raised his left hand, creating a shadowy bubble-like shield around him, blocking the Toa of Light’s blade. Enraged at the sight, Twilis raised up his blade, which started glowing with an intense light. With a powerful swing, he brought it down, destroying Lucarian’s shield. The Toa of Shadow backed up from the force, quickly raising his blade to block before Twilis’s sword could cut him in half. The two swung their weapons over and over, deflected each other’s blows as they moved around the room, almost performing a ballet of combat.

    Eventually, Lucarian formed a shadowy whip in his left hand and swung it at Twilis, catching onto the Toa’s right foot. Giving a small smirk, Lucarian pulled on the whip, causing Twilis to fall onto his feet and slide towards the Toa of Shadow. Twilis swung his blade towards the whip and cut in half. He fired a beam of light at Lucarian, but the Toa of Shadow jumped to the side.

    As both Toa got back on their feet, they stared at one another, their eyes sending a message of hatred towards one another. At the same time, they both got into fighting position, with their blades out and ready to strike. With one swift movement, they charged straight towards the other. Then they stopped right in front of one another, right after the sound of stabbing blades filled the room. Both Toa didn’t look down, but they could tell that they had stabbed one another. They then collapsed onto their knees and lost consciousness.

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    “Guaah!” Lucarian cried. He panted heavily as he saw the Toa and Agoran surrounding him.

    “Y-You’re awake!” Tamina gasped. She was both relieved and terrified. “A-Are you alright?”

    “I…I don’t know,” Lucarian groaned, rubbing the back of his head in pain. Unbeknownst to anyone, a small, shadowy slug-like creature came out of the Toa of Shadow’s right ear, and slithered down his back. Once it reached the ground, it burrowed down into it, leaving no trace of its existence.

    “It felt...” Lucarian continued, “It felt too real to be a dream. I felt pain when fighting…”
            “F-Fighting who?” Livef nervously asked.

    Lucarian sighed. “Twilis.” No one responded, not sure how to react.

    “Maybe it was just the sun,” Vancus replied, finally breaking the silence. “A hot sun can do a number on the mind.”

    “I doubt it,” Poldren answered. “We did hear something right before he was knocked out. Something, if not someone, was here.”

    “Well whatever it was, we never found it,” Kratos sighed, looking around the campsite for a sign. “I don’t see it now.”

    “Keep looking,” Lucarian groaned, slowly rising up. “We can’t let it get away.” Before he could get back up completely, he felt Tamina’s hands pushing him back down.

    “You’re out of it,” Tamina frowned. “We’ll look. Take a rest. Besides, if we do use your idea, we need you at full strength.” With that, she rose up and started walking around the campfire. Lucarian wanted to protest, but he knew that she was right. With heavy thoughts weighing down his heart, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

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    “Aaah!” Twilis yelled, rising back from consciousness. He turned his head around, noting that he was back where he was before. No one seemed to have heard his scream either, as no one was around him, and he couldn’t hear the footsteps of anyone approaching him. As he slowly got back on his feet, a shadowy-slug like creature silently crawled from his right ear and slid down his back and down the side of the New Coliseum, all without the Toa of Light noticing.

    “What…What was that about?” Twilis groaned. “Was it a dream? Or was it a vision?” He looked up towards the heaven, as if he was looking for a sign to tell him what to do. “No matter what it takes,” Twilis growled, clenching his fist with determination and rage, “I will kill him if I must. I believe that I will need to when the time in right.”

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    Elsewhere, both scenes were being played at the same time through two large portal-like devices floating in the air, which appeared to be made of a black and red energy. In front of them stood a tall armored figure, surrounded by heavy shadows. As the events unfolded before the entity’s eyes, he began to faintly radiate a dark aura, as if he was receiving a surge of power.

    

“Excellent,” the being hissed in glee, happy at the boost in energy. The voice was deep, monstrous, and unnatural, as if two different voices were speaking in unison and echoing off the chamber walls. “More hatred, more sin to make me stronger. And now that the rift has been widened, it will only become worse for them. And better for me…” With a wave of his hand, the portals dissipated into thin air, leaving no trace. The figure turned around, his long, black, flowing cape swirling behind him, and walked away. He was satisfied with his results, and eager to see what would become of his prey.