“Deep Shadows”

A cold breeze blew onto the cliffs of Odina. A Dark Hunter, Devastator, was overlooking the sea from them. Just a few minutes ago a fleet of Dark Hunter ships had sailed away to battle the Brotherhood of Makuta forces. Since the leader of the Makuta, Teridax, had dared to kill two Dark Hunters, they were at war. The Brotherhood was strong, but Devastator was confident that they would win. He then walked to the fortress’ main entrance. Just as he walked in, a green figure materialized at his side. It was Zaktan, a Skakdi who had rebelled against the Shadowed One some time ago. Though Devastator considered himself a being of extreme power, the presence of Zaktan, who had survived the Shadowed One’s wrath, always disturbed him.

“The Shadowed One wants to see you.”

Then Zaktan’s protodites formed a green cloud, and flew somewhere else on the island. He continued his walk, and came through many corridors. Zaktan had told the truth, as the Shadowed One had made the passages shift so Devastator just had to walk forward to find the throne room. However, the center of the fortress was still far from his position. He walked past many storage rooms, and saw Savage going mad in his containment cell. Finally, he arrived at his destination. Devastator bowed, and then stood up from the ground. As usual, the Recorder was prepared to write down on a tablet everything that the Shadowed One said, and Darkness stood behind the leader watching over him.

“Devastator, you do come from Karzahni, right?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“I’ve heard rumors that a Matoran who had a scroll with our battle plans for the war against the Makuta has wandered into your homeland.”

“I’ll kill that Matoran gladly, if that is what you wish.”

“No, Devastator, it won’t be necessary. The Matoran is already dead, but we have heard that another Matoran of Karzahni, who I like to call ‘Builder,’ has found those plans. Your mission is to go to Karzahni, find the plans, and destroy them.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Alright then, you are going there alone; you have the weapons you will need in the boat that you will use.”

“I am going alone?”

“Yes. We don’t want Karzahni to turn his attention to the world outside his island. You are going alone, because if Karzahni discovers you, he will think that you have just been hiding all these years. Do you have any objections?”

“No sir.”

And with that, he went out of the throne room.

A Matoran of Lightning watched as a storm raged in the sea in front of the coast of Karzahni. She had seen an abandoned boat on the beach where she was. Though it had been a long time since she arrived on Karzahni, she had been one of the last Matoran to arrive there, and she hadn’t completely lost her personality. Many Matoran, especially the ones that had been there way more time than her, were just workers covered in dust, with nothing that could identify them from the others except for that each had a different Kanohi and armor color. She didn’t want to end up like them. The boat was her chance of escaping, and she would not hesitate in using it.

She climbed on the boat, and saw that it was made of high quality protodermis. Whoever had abandoned it had a high status. The boat was also full of weapons and other strange artifacts. And the strangest of all, there was some sand on the floor of the boat. She thought that it had arrived there brought by the winds of the storm, and then she walked away to the rudder. However, when she turned, she saw the sand in the floor of the boat shifting, and forming a tall, armored figure. And that figure smashed its fist on her Kanohi, and she fell to the shallow waters, as her vision blacked out…

Devastator got out of his ship. He didn’t have any qualms when the situation demanded killing Matoran. He had also been a slave on Karzahni, and he didn’t have any compassion with them. The landscape hadn’t changed a bit since he was recruited into the Dark Hunters and he abandoned that island. The skies rained fire. Gray clouds filled the sky, and lightning bolts fell all day, though the thunder made no sound. He had to find Builder, an insane Matoran that was working somewhere on the island. After some time walking, he came by a group of poorly built huts. He smashed the door of one, and found Builder inside. He had been lucky.

“What do y-you want?”

“Where is the scroll?”

“W-what scroll?”

“You won’t fool me. Show me that scroll or I’ll tear your only good leg apart!”

“O-ok. I remember now. It’s hi-hidden in a canyon no-northwest of here.”

“You are coming with me.”

The pair walked for a long while, until they arrived at the canyon. While a heavy fog covered the zone, the heat was suffocating. The trip through the canyon was long and silent. After half an hour, they reached what seemed like the wall that ended the canyon.

“Are you sure that there is a scroll here?”

When Devastator turned, there was nobody in sight. The Matoran had tricked him. He began to run in the direction in which he had come, but he was stopped by a claw. The fog cleared, and Devastator then saw his situation. He was cornered in the dead end of the canyon by a group of Manas.

Devastator used his mental powers to throw one of the Manas away. The other ones noticed this, and in a moment, he found himself attacked by the whole group of Manas at the same time. Devastator turned to sand and escaped the lethal sting of their claws. Using his telekinetic powers once more, he began to throw rocks from the canyon’s walls. He expected to have finished them all, but out of the rocks every one of them rose.

However, the Manas didn’t advance any further. They slowly retreated to the walls of the canyon, and then he heard the sound of a massive body advancing through the canyon. The grunt of the beast echoed, and finally it went out of the fog. Devastator was impressed by the sight. There, in front of him, stood the dreaded Mana-Ko. He had only heard about it in legends, and legends told that it was one of the most fearful creations of the Makuta. The Mana-Ko had strong, muscular arms, a solid body and powerful claws.

Devastator mentally threw two Manas at the Mana-Ko, but a disintegration blast from the beast ended them. Nothing could deter the Mana-Ko’s advance. It shot its disintegration power again, and the rock wall of the canyon fell onto the Dark Hunter. Devastator, pinned at the ground by the rocks, could do nothing as the Mana-Ko advanced on him, and he lost consciousness.

Devastator slowly awoke, and saw that he was no more in the canyon. The Manas and the Mana-Ko were gone. He violently shook in his chains in a desperate attempt to free himself. He still didn’t remember how he was captured. It didn’t matter, as now he was chained to a wall and in front of him was his enemy, former ruler and the tormentor in his nightmares.

There, clad in a purple and green armor, was Karzahni, the insane tyrant of the island. He hadn’t changed since the last time he had seen him. His mask still looked like four Kanohi patched together, he still had his chain weapons, but worst of all, Karzahni still was as insane as always, if not more. He was chained to a wall of the Hall of Statues, one of Karzahni’s favorite places in his realm. It was a hallway leading to his fortress, and at the sides of the road there were petrified Matoran, their faces still with the same horror expression as the day that they had been turned to stone.

“Don’t try to escape, my dear…”

“Don’t even dare to say my name. I left that identity long ago, forgotten in the fog of the past. Now I am Devastator, one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and your death sentence.”

“Well, then, Devastator, do you know why you are here?”

“You want to take revenge on me because I’ve been hiding out all these years.”

“I guess that your mental powers are more developed than your ability to lie. I, my realm and my Matoran slaves have been sealed off from the outside world for thousands of years, but I’m not stupid. I’ve been here all my life, but I know that there is a world, an entire world, outside the barriers that limit my land. I haven’t known anything about that universe since the Turaga stopped sending me their Matoran. And you haven’t been hiding out, Devastator. You have contacted the outsider beings; you have lived in the outside world. A world I swear to conquer.”

“And where do I enter in your plans?”

“Haven’t you yet understood? If I attack this universe now, I’ll be quickly defeated by an invisible opponent.”

“I don’t think an opponent like that exists.”

“It does, and it’s called ignorance. I have no knowledge of anything outside Karzahni except for what some slaves have told me and my experience with my brother, Artakha. To invade the universe, I need to know what their forces are, their leaders, their weakness… and the best way to strike them.”

Devastator tried to pull himself out of the chains, but to no result. Those chains were as strong as Makuta armor. He should delay Karzahni until he has weakened the chains enough. “You could have interrogated any of your Matoran slaves.”

“It wouldn’t be of much use. The Matoran fear me, and their minds have been twisted after being imprisoned so many years in this land. That’s why I needed someone who had recently been in the outside world, someone who had been involved in an organization. That’s why I brought you here.”

“You didn’t. I came here because someone else ordered me to do so.”

“I did. And it wasn’t easy. First, I had to convince one of my Matoran to carry out a dangerous mission. He had to go to the outside world, and spread word that a Matoran in my realm had a scroll with the battle plans of your organization. Of course, that scroll has never existed. I knew that after doing his job the Matoran wouldn’t return here, so I promised him freedom, and before he left, I poisoned him. He should be dead by now. After that, it was sure that your leader, who has eyes and ears spread everywhere in the universe, would soon notice this rumor. And, assuming that you hadn’t gotten killed before, I was sure that leader would choose you to come here and destroy the scroll. After all, who could do better a mission regarding Karzahni than someone who originated from it? Before you arrived, I also had to prepare my Matoran. I told them that you were returning, and that your return would mean that they would have to work twice as hard as they use to. They quickly agreed to collaborate to eliminate you, and they were ordered to bring you to the dead end of a canyon, where the Manas could capture you. I see that one of them did a good job with this. After that I only had to bring you here, and extract all the information out of you that I could get.”

Before Karzahni could say anything else, Devastator pulled the strength of his muscles to the extreme, and fell on the ground. His hands were still tied by the chains, and he was dragging a portion of the wall with him.

“That is how you pretend to fight me? Bringing down walls?”

Devastator didn’t think about his actions twice. With much effort, he rose from the ground, and smashed the portion of the wall at Karzahni’s Kanohi. The tyrant of the realm hadn’t expected the attack, and flew towards a statue, breaking it to pieces. Devastator used his telekinetic powers to destroy his chains. A dust cloud had risen, and Devastator stood silent in his position. He started to walk away, but suddenly a chain flew through the air, and gripped Devastator’s neck. He desperately tried to break the chain with his hands, but then it began to burn. He had to pull his hands apart from the chain, but the chain was still burning, and he couldn’t get it off of his neck. Finally, the chain dropped, and Devastator fell to the floor, screaming in agony.

“You’ve dared to confront me. You’ve dared to break my law. You’ve dared to attack me. You are going to have a slow and painful death.”

The dust cloud finally cleared, and Devastator could see Karzahni with a maniacal grin staring at him. He turned his body into sand, and concealed himself with the dust of the ground. Karzahni quickly trampled the ground in front of him, but then he felt a fist smashing in his back. Karzahni turned, and saw Devastator, whose rage seemed to spark from his red eyes.

Karzahni raised his chain again, but Devastator flung the titan with his telekinetic powers to a nearby wall. He then ran to Karzahni, and punched the tyrant in the face. The wall that Devastator had smashed was from a factory, and the Matoran, upon seeing the battle, ran away. Devastator continued punching Karzahni, but then he reached for his flaming chains and slashed them at Devastator’s back. Devastator grunted, and using the distraction, Karzahni threw him away. He fell onto the roof of a storage room, and Devastator’s weight combined with the force of the impact brought it down. Devastator got to his feet, and when he tried to smash the door, he had to pull his hand off in a moment, as the metal was burning. Karzahni was using his chain once more. However, he transmuted himself again into sand, and got out of the storage room through the hole in the roof. He rematerialized himself again once he was on the floor and threw himself to Karzahni. The insane ruler repelled the attack by punching Devastator in the face, and the Dark Hunter fell on the floor.

“Here we are again. No matter what you do, no matter what you try. You are doomed, Devastator.”

“You’ve won this time, Karzahni, and you’ve failed at the same time. You have defeated me, but you haven’t accomplished your goal. I won’t tell you anything.”

Karzahni threw his flaming chains at Devastator, only for him to transmute to sand again and fly away. He tried to grab the dust cloud with the chain, but Devastator escaped.

Now in his boat, Devastator sailed away. He had been defeated, but he had accomplished his mission. Though he was already far from the nightmare island, he still had his mind there. One day, he would return, and take revenge on Karzahni. But those were future plans. For now, he had to fight against the Brotherhood of Makuta. The war between them and the Dark Hunters was still raging, and at the moment it was more important than the ancient ruler of a forgotten island.

A twisted Matoran was working on something important. It was told that on every island of the universe, six toa canisters had to be built to remember the legend of the Toa Mata. He had already built three, and was in the process of building the fourth. He wondered if someday he would have the chance to be free. Maybe someday a group of Matoran would wander into his land, and could offer him a chance of freedom. And most important of all, if that day arrived, would he be prepared to leave? But he had no hope of that happening. After all, why would a group of Matoran wander into Karzahni, the land of the dead?

Karzahni sat on his throne. He had been planning Devastator’s arrival for a long time, and his plan had failed. The Dark Hunter had escaped before he could have extracted any information from him. So he should have to wait, until someone fool enough dared to step foot on his realm… and when that day arrived, he would make sure to acquire all knowledge that he could, and then he would start universal conquest. And he would take revenge on the Turaga that had decided to stop sending Matoran to his realm, on Artakha and his realm of light, and on Devastator. But at the moment, he would have to wait, and continue his despotic rule over his island. Dark times lay ahead, but his time would arrive, and everybody would remember his name again, and they would whisper it with fear.