Short Stories from across the Crossroads
Season 1. Death of a Builder
A dark rain had settled over the Stronghold, Artakha began his work on a brand new weapon. All around him were remnants of various failed prototypes and other models that were destroyed, these had been used to try and defeat Karzahni but every time it had no effect and the mad god laughed at him. Still…he continued his work regardless, and now it finally paid off. A blade, but incomplete all it was missing was the hilt. Hopefully one day a hero would come to his door and take this weapon. Suddenly a loud banging on the front gate caught his attention, quickly stowing the blade under a cover he approached the gate hammer in hand. “The gate is open! you may enter.” Slowly the ancient gears within the walls churned to life as the gate slowly opened, Artakha expected the mad god behind the gate but what was behind it surprised him. “A toa? here? but they all died out during Karzahni’s reign! no this is a trick! you are no toa!” the figure behind the gate shrugged “Guess you figured me out, dang you really are the Legendary Architect…shame I’m gonna have to kill you now…but yeah I’ll be a toa after your gone!” The figure lunged at Artakha, dagger in hand, the builder parried the blow and returned with a strike of his own from his hammer, but the assassin dodged with ease and charged in for another strike. This time Artakha sidestepped and struck his assailant in the back with his elbow. “You are not the first my brother has sent to end me.” The figure finished “And I won’t be the last, now c’mon let’s get this over with.” The two continued to duel around the stronghold for what seemed like hours until the fight spilled into the courtyard. The toa seemed to be finally gaining the advantage on the exhausted Architect, his armor cracked and a visible gash on his Mask of Creation. The Architect weakly swung his weapon only for it to break when it made contact with the figure’s body, only then did he notice the energy glowing around his adversary, He had noticed how he stood still occasionally but never fought back during then except to goad him into attacking again, and every time he struck a blow it seemed to do nothing at all save for what looked like fake staggering to give the impression that the blows had done damage. (“How? how is he so strong?”) Artakha’s eyes followed up to the mask his opponent was wearing, it was a unfamiliar design to even him but somehow it seemed to transfer kinetic energy into power, what that meant was uncertain. A sudden blow from the figure shattered his chest armor and propelled him through the wall. Artakha struggled to breath as the ’toa’ approached, he could only utter a single word before the toa finished the job…
Sylus walked down the rainy path, muddy foot prints leading away from the stronghold. In his bag was a piece of Artakha’s armor, all that was left of the builder He was instructed to kill the mad god’s brother to begin the first step toward. In his mind the word that the builder had said to him before he was executed echoed in his head, “Traitor…” What it meant was lost on him as he crossed the border to the twisted jungle on the other side.
END
Season 2. The Job
Ancient sat by a fire surrounded by four rookie hunters “Gonna be a while before the sun rises get comfortable cause this experience will teach you how to survive out in the wastes.” Two of the recruits fidgeted uncomfortably, one of them was busy fiddling with his skirmisher rifle, etching engravings into the stock while the fourth leaned in intently. “And what if we don’t learn anything old timer?” one of them asked. Ancient simply leaned towards the third recruit and snatched the rifle away from him, before he could protest the veteran spoke “Fancy etchings…won’t save you in a real fight, don’t waste your time marring valuable equipment.” He handed the rifle back to the rookie and cleared his throat “As for your question it’s simple, you die…and the others will get your cut of the loot.” the fourth shifted in his seat “With all due respect sir, we’ve been living here for a long long time, how about you? you wouldn’t know from first glance.” Ancient gave the conscript a long hard stare while he prepared for the worst like being executed on the spot. Instead he sighed “The sun won’t rise for another two hours so I may as well pass the time with a story.”
Ancient and Lariska marched up to the gates of AREO shipping, the heavy clatter of Ancient’s armor alerting the gate guard “Who goes there?” Lariska walked up to the doorway and called up at the guard “We came because your boss called for some hunters right?” the guard sighed and opened the gate muttering something about filthy uncultured outsiders, Lariska scoffed, making a mental note to throw him off the tower. Ancient looked around the airfield secretly in awe of the many aircraft that were displayed but kept to their objective “Who’s our client? and what did he want? I’d…like to get more familiar with this world.” Ancient had entered the Cryptex much later than Lariska or his boss The Shadowed One, this job being his first one here and though he was a veteran hunter he was in unfamiliar territory. “The current CEO of this place, asked us to track a stolen airship, promised us a hefty sum for it’s safe return, and more if we bring back The Skakdi Bandit responsible dead or alive I would prefer to bring back proof.” the female dark hunter said Sharpening her daggers much to the discomfort and disgust of the Le-matoran workers around them. They approached a ship with enough room for three inside “This ship will get us up there, they can’t leave the atmosphere because of the ceiling here so tracking them will be all the easier.” Anicent sat at the controls musing over the dozens of buttons on the console, He was a mercenary not a pilot. Lariska kicked her legs inside the passenger seat bouncing slightly, she hated sitting still.
One Hour of travel later the stolen ship came into view, the hull visibly damaged from the raiders. On approach they landed inside the largest breach in the ship and disembarked to investigate, “Oddly quiet, I don’t like this keep on guard.” Ancient said priming his rhotuka launcher while Lariska readied her daggers. All throughout the ship there were no signs of life except for some bodies found on the captain’s deck. Ancient knelt down near the corpse a particularly nasty looking Skakdi, recognizing it as this warband’s leader, “We’ve got the target here, he’s dead.” the female dark hunter unsheathed her knife and began cutting one of it’s spines. She stopped and pointed at the neck of the body “I’ve seen this before, no weapon injuries, no signs of conflict, he died nearly instantly, but these sign indicate that he just dropped dead all of a sudden, and there’s one creature I know that is capable of killing someone like this.” As if on cue a muffled racket could be heard from above them and the distinct sound of hissing. Ancient had a look of disbelief on his face “You don’t mean…are you telling me those crazy Le-matoran were shipping…” his partner finished “Doom Vipers yes, we should get off this wreck before…what are you doing?” Ancient trudged over to the main control console, pressed a switch and shot it a few times, alarms went off around the ship and a message played WARNING SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! Before she could ask why he answered “I’m making sure these monsters don’t escape, now come on I don’t want to find out how high above the ground we are!” The two hunters dashed towards the breach, the screeches and hissing of the vipers could be heard all around them, many were beginning to come out of the vents and through doors, the hunters made short work of the ones that got in the way. Ancient and Larsika finally reached the ship only to find a viper wrapped around it, when it saw them it turned all six of it’s heads to hiss at them. “Wretched beast, out of our way!” Ancient snarled, unleashing a volley of spinners on it, at the same time it lunged and wrapped itself around Larsika who stabbed at it furiously, the ship jolted suddenly causing it to tilt, the viper lurched to the side, stunned by the effects of the disk and went off the side along with Larsika. But before she fall Ancient grasped her robotic arm “I’ve got you! don’t worry I’ve-” she stopped him “No…stick with the job, that’s what matters not some heroics that’ll get us both killed.” she gripped a dagger to her arm “Besides, someone’s got to make sure that thing is dead proper, tell the Shadowed One it was worth it…” with that she detached her prosthetic and disappeared out of sight.
“She let herself die?” a recruit asked, clearly interested along with the rest of the recruits “How did you escape?” “What’s a doom viper?” the veteran raised his hands for silence “After I returned to AERO I confirmed the job was complete, lied about the ship being landed somewhere in the mountains…those little cheats get what they deserve, got my pay plus Lariska’s given her absence.” he brought out a dagger “I never saw her again… she’s not dead, searched around the crash site, no signs of a body or any of the vipers either, must’ve meant she killed em all. I would have done the same thing If I was in her place instead.” The sun began to rise on the horizon prompting him to get up “That’s our cue, c’mon while we still got the dark to cover us.”
END
Season 3. Quetanul and Zillusia’s Adventure
“I’m bored…” Zillusia moaned spinning on her pedestal, Quetanûl sat on a column nearby sharpening her axe. Zillusia the sentient Kanohi mask turned to her “Queta, can we do something fun?” the Might ignored her and continued sharpening her blade, “I know you can hear me! you always do this when you don’t want to talk.” finally Quetanûl sighed and got up, walking over to the pedestal “What has gotten into you today? your awfully chatty.” Zillusia looked down “Well I…I was just wondering what the outside is like, and before you say ‘you can’t go out the others will know’ or ‘your job is too important’ I was talking about outside The Forever like where you go sometimes, you must see lots of places right? maybe I could uh…come with you the next time you go out?” Quetanûl’s expression was indecipherable beneath the helm but she was clearly considering her next answer. the Eye quickly answered first “I can’t just leave my post yeah but what if…I make a duplicate!” presenting a exact copy of herself using her limited psychic abilities “I can place this here while we go outside!” Quetanul dropped her shoulders “You cannot be serious, it will not work.” Zillusia made a sound like raspberry “C’mon I test ran this baby several times before and you look like you could get out yourself please? for me?” She was not wrong, it had been quite some time since her last crusade and Anvokhan was busy in a different universe. “Technically, I’d be safe with you, nothing’s wrong with that is it?” Zillusia added, finally Quetanul sighed deeply putting two fingers to the crown of her helmet before grabbing Zillusia off her pedestal and replacing it with the copy before dashing out of the chamber “W-wait already?! shouldn’t we at least leave quietly?!” Under her helmet Quetanul had a look of resolve as she donned and activated her Kanohi Calix to allow her to leap and wall jump off of the rocks outside towards the gateway high above, secretly she had been waiting for a opportunity to get out herself “You want a adventure? fine, let’s go see the world then.”
The Leviathan floated in it’s pitch black space in the sub-realm of APOTHEOSIS. It watched it’s Jewels around the multiverse wreck havoc on the worlds outside, breaking them for consumption and extinguishing the billions of lives in the process. It decided to check tabs on the Zillusia starmap chamber and noticed the mask was unresponsive to it’s psychic tugging, someone had stolen the mask…and it’s guardian was nowhere to be seen. Calling upon it’s Voice, Judgement, and Hand, they appeared through various portals. “Oh sacred Leviathan…what do you require from your faithful servants that we have had the honor of being summoned at this very hour?” Anvokhan knelt down in reverence while The Prodigal did the same. Karzahni tapped his foot impatiently and looked at his wrist “I was in the middle of a psychological torture session, make it quick!” Anovkhan advanced aggressively on the hand and held him up by his throat “You would have the audacity to show disrespect in the presence of our lord?” Karzahni shrugged and kicked off of the Voice’s chest and leaned towards the Judgement “Well it sounds more like someone has nothing better to do in their life now doesn’t it eh Prodigal?” it said nothing and pretended to ignore him. The Leviathan spoke within their minds “O U R. E Y E. H A S. B E E N. S T O L E N. F R O M. I T ‘S. R E S T I N G. P L A C E …F I N D. T H E. E Y E…R E T U R N. I T…R E S T O R E. E Q U I L I B R I U M…” Afterwards it was silent, without another word the disciples departed through a portal. The Primordial entity gazed at a image of the three flying through a wormhole to places unknown “I N C O M P E T E N T D R I V E L... (*GALAXY DISSOLVING SIGH*) I. N E E D. A. V A C A T I O N…”
“Quetanul and Zillusia appeared in a sunny tropical world with rolling blue waves and clear skies. In the distance a sprawling city could be seen in the distance, needless to say Zillusia was amazed “Woah! this is what the outside looks like? it’s incredible! why would anyone want to destroy a place like this?” a screech from the far distance caught the duo’s attention as a giant lizard rose from the ocean and lumbered on past them to wreck havoc on the city with it’s sheer size and fiery breath before it trudged back into the ocean leaving the city in ruins. Before Zillusia could say anything The leviathan’s Might pulled her through another portal.
“Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” where are we going?” Can we stop I forgot my good chain back home.” Anvokhan had endured the bites of a billion wild rahi and lived, had his limbs ripped off and rearranged and survived, his very body eaten alive by a protosteel eating virus and still walked away with what was left of him, he was immortal…but this constant pestering from this so self proclaimed god? he secretly wished he could die for some peace and much desired quiet. The silent patience that the Prodigal had offered no solace on this trip to find the Mask of Equilibrium, it was baffling to him that it could withstand such annoyance, he would give credit where it was due yes The Voice of the Leviathan was not as petty as his colleagues believed him to be…but he swore the second they reached the other side he was going to throw Karzahni off the nearest cliff.
“Another mountain range? hey you told me about this place once! isn’t this Xia?” the talking mask was right, this was her home now shrouded in darkness and ruin, the sky was clear and the sun shown itself over what was left of Quetanul’s people. Slowly she made her way to the cliffside overlooking the sea, this was the place where she had ended her life as Queta, and where Quetanul had rose from the depths. “Zillusia? I do not wish to stay here…” the mask looked down at the rocks below and looked at her friend “I…I’m sorry you had to be here again…I knew the Leviathan destroyed this place.” the Might loosened a satchel from her waist and laid it down at the foot of the cliff “Don’t feel sorry for me, feel sorry for the people whose lives were taken here, lives I took…Murderers like me don’t deserve their pity.” Without another word the pair stared out at the ocean for a hour before opening another portal to another realm.”
The Prodigal stared up at the Colosseum, it’s spire shrouded in a smoky black vortex and a pair of red eyes looking down at it. “I assume we have traveled back in time? but I thought time travel was not possible with the Leviathan’s magic?” it said to itself taking in the details of it’s surroundings. The Prodigal had become separated from the Voice and the Hand due to a ill timed error in calculations that led to them ending up in different places. For the Judgement it wound up in Metru Nui of all places, but which version of it? The shadowy eyes regarded the Prodigal with arrogance before a shadow hand reached out to grasp the smaller being, but a invisible force field prevented the hand from reaching. The Judgement retaliated with a barrage of green orbs that shattered the hand like it was glass. A roar of anger resonated all around it as shadows infused themselves with the bodies of various Vahki law enforcer units bringing them to life, Surrounded on all sides the Prodigal simply raised it’s hand and disappeared in a flash.
The purpose of the massive gorge and reason why they were here evaded the two disciples. Anvokhan peered down into the ravine, numerous glowing lights, presumably hundreds of eyes stared back, he whispered something in a unknown language. Karzahni kicked a rock into the abyss “Don’t we have better things to do than study some dumb hole in the ground?” the mad god sat nearby playing with some rocks and stacking them as high as he could, several spires of stones already littered the flat plain behind the pair. “Patience, Hand…our length of stay will depend on how well my communion goes.” Karzahni gave him a confused look before huffing to himself and focusing on his rock sculpture. Suddenly The voice turned to him “What are you doing?” he asked sternly. Karzahni just shrugged and pointed at his latest self scuplture “What does it look like? I want to build my new kingdom here so I wanted to start by marking it as mine.” Anvokhan looked up at the crude statue then back at his companion “Those stones are sacred to the inhabitants here, put them back!” “Why? what inhabitants? since when did you start caring about lesser mortal beings? and I haven’t seen any other living beings around here!” Various screeches and howls could be heard from the hole behind them “I will not calmly ask you again, replace the rune stone from which you found them!” “Don’t tell a god what to do!” the howls became silent as a low rumbling shook the ground beneath them, the hole erupted and from it a colossal worm with a mouth filed with tiny glowing eyes emerged from the ground and began slithering towards them. Anvokhan clutched his staff in a fighting stance while Karzahni held his arms in open welcome “Look at what you’ve done.” “Well I just made things finally interesting…your welcome.”
The white snow contrasted heavily with the red and silver armor of Quetanul and Zillusia’s golden glow. The two traveled the snowy drifts in silence, occasionally they passed by half buried bodies in the snow, each of them covered in blue metallic cybernetics or wore armor bearing the symbol of the Brotherhood of Makuta. “What happened to all these Makuta? look’s like a fight broke out here.” Zillusia found the way the empty eyes of the corpses unsettling. “A fight? no…this was a one-sided massacre.” Quetanul pointed upward, in the distance a empty spire rose into the sky along with a strange looking ship crashed into it’s side, the two disciples left the plains through a portal, ignorant of the bodies beginning to stir…red eyes blinking to life.
On the other side they ended up back at the Zigguraut in The Forever. Quetanul pushed open the familiar heavy doors and trudged through the treasure hoard towards the black box in the center, inside the fake Zillusia mask repeated a psychic message to all the members of the Crown. Zillusia floated over to the pedestal and knocked the copy on the floor, the message suddenly stopping “Today was fun but it’s good to be back home isn’t it Queta?” The Might sat back down on the pillar and continued where she left off. “Oh come on Queta! your just going to sit there after all of that?”
The three searchers regrouped on a abandoned beach somewhere on the island of Trem Krom, the ancient being no where to be found. Karzahni was limping slightly, a portion of his left leg was missing and dozens of barbs stuck out of him. Anvokhan was covered in luminescent pink blood that smelled like expired thornax fruit. Likewise The Prodigal of Salvation was covered in debris and various scratches and dents. The Voice paced on the beach impatiently “…And they were no where to be found? unacceptable…keep. looking. if the Might has betrayed us then I will destroy her personally.” Anvokhan seethed at the thought of his plans being turned upon itself because of this mild inconvenience, he considered abandoning his two ‘allies’ on this beach as punishment and searching for the missing pair himself, The Leviathan’s voice echoed in their minds “T H E M A S K H A S B E E N R E T U R N E D C E A S E T H E S E A R C H A N D R E T U R N T O Y O U R S E C T O R S…” When the voice faded, Karzahni kicked back under a tree “Eh well we tried and look! everything worked out fine in the end, I don’t know about you two but I’m gonna stay here pick out worm teeth from my leg and maybe go…socialize with the natives, wanna join me? it’s not like we’re in a big hurry anymore.” The Prodigal had already left for the Cryptex. leaving the Voice and the Hand alone, Anvokhan knew something was wrong but could not act on it whatever voice had come through was not the Leviathan but…(”So the Eye has decided to return to it’s place in the Zigguraut…but who?”)
Season 4. Apparatus Solus
Season 5. Interview with a Pacifist Robot
1 [Resistance interviewer]
2 [Timekeeper scribe “Forlorn Insight”]
BEGIN RECORDING/…/
1 “Welcome, we appreciate you coming all this way to have a interview so that we can get to know your kind better.”
2 "Thank you, your generosity is well received, I hope I can satisfy your expectations, it's what we can do after you saved the timeline and our home."1 Oh, I almost forgot what’s your name again? I didn’t catch on.”
2 "Apologies, my model designation is 01000110011011110111001001100101011011000110111101110010011011100010000001001001011011100111001101101001011001110110100001110100 but I preferred to be named Forlorn Insight."1 “Unusual name…”
2 "Unlike your 'naming day' rituals we gave ourselves names based on our best traits, I had exceptional insight so that was my chosen name."1 ”Alright, good to know Forlorn, lets begin our questions, firstly…Is it true that the Timekeepers and the Caviks are related?”
2 "In a way yes...but also no? we are Caviks this is true but we are not at the same time, it is very perplexing, I believe the term your people would use is 'Parallel Universe' if that is correct."1 “A parallel universe?”
2 "Yes I just said that...our gleaned knowledge about our prime universe counterparts confirm that we are the same but from a different path in time."1 “Well a lot of dimensional related things have happened fairly recently so I wouldn’t put parallel universe versions of killer robots on the odd list.”
2 "and please...do not call us robots or anything related to that word, it is demeaning to what we are, we would prefer to keep the past behind us."1”My apologies, ok second Question, we were wondering if you could tell us where you and your kind came from? it would help us understand the Caviks better as well.”
2 "Ah yes, our origins...well I cannot tell you exactly as I was not one of the original departees, but as a scribe I can recall a portion of our early history as best I can, would that be satisfactory?"1 “Yes! please do.”
2 "Our creators were kind and benevolent, not only to other living things but to the machines they built to maintain the environment us...the Caviks...we were their children and raised us to love, it is a true shame that not all other lifeforms everywhere else felt the same sentiment they did, they taught us to cherish life in all forms no matter what, happiness however was not meant to last forever...they were suffering from a incurable illness brought upon them by a unknown party, so they reprogrammed us with a single goal in mind to fulfill one last dying wish; spread life throughout the galaxy, preserve their legacy by cloning their biological data, and create a sanctuary for all living things, [G.A.R.D.E.N.] that is where our history ends."1 “And the Caviks?”
2 "They are the same as you see them and the reason we insist to be named Timekeepers...they are vile malicious machines created to destroy life and turn it into part of a massive ever growing collective, but that is the sad part, they were created to do so, their creators despised all organic life and made war machines to destroy it, observations of the nautical designs of the ships they utilize compared to the avian ships we use implies they originated from a ocean planet somewhere in the multiverse, I want to believe that the Caviks are not evil, but the one who created them are, can you truly blame a machine for following it's purpose?"1”No…I…I suppose not, but If you don’t mind if we go back to the subject of your people…what happened to get you to where we are now?”
2 "'The Warping' happened...our entire fleet whisked away into a unknown and strange place unbound by time, many where injured or destroyed and our Central AI was lost in the transit...as for the biological samples? they died in our hands before we could safely secure them. The survivors were lost, no purpose...no directive, some of us departed further into the realm to seek a way out, they never returned, and others became 'pirates' to cope with the loss of everything. Do you know what it was like? the feeling of being on the verge of death, except you are not really dying, just empty inside...no motivation to live, a limbo."1”That…I’m so sorry, I can’t imagine what it must’ve felt like.”
2"You and me both...However weeks later to be assumed, a miracle happened...one by one we began to...change...Like A fresh breeze on the face we began to feel and act on our own. with our newfound sentience our 'Savior' spoke to us, 'go forth and bring balance to the timelines, this is your key...now go find the door.' and here we are, speaking about it."1 “Your Savior? who is he?”
2"Although we all know his true name and share it amongst ourselves, I must not tell you, HE has forbidden us from saying it to others outside his realm lest a terrible omen be upon the one who heard it spoken, the details of what happens is unclear...even so the knowledge of his name is a great burden on us all. All I can let you know is that we just refer to him as the Savior because he brought us out of the dark and gave us purpose again."1 ”Hmmm interesting…third question…Can you…infect things…like the Caviks can, and how do you stand out from them?”
2 "Of course! but it is something we refrain from doing, these gloves we wear at all times lets us hold and interact with the outside world without fear of corrupting it, but if you are wondering if it is different from a normal infection, no I would highly recommend NOT getting yourself infected by one of us please. My observations show that the Caviks do not possess...or at least with the little knowledge that we have been given on our prime counterparts...and chronal-temporal qualities, we are able to resist effects that affect time and control it freely to a limited degree, perhaps a side effect of our extended stay, I will fear the day though when the Caviks display such abilities again."1 “You think they can’t do it again or haven’t yet?
2 “They have once before when we defended the Clocktower from them while your Resistance neutralized the Leviathan's zealot within, the stragglers afterwards showed no signs of such abilities."1 “alright we’re running tight on time here but we can ask one last question…when this war is all over, do you think you can visit us again?”
2 "No, we cannot risk open confrontation with the Caviks again, calling the outside world was a dangerous risk we had to take and while we were saved it had many great costs.While the Cavik's knowledge of us may have been erased from thier collective memory and we may be safe after the war is over, We cannot let them know about us again, I'm sorry, it must be this way...I apologize about what happened to your friend Nepharus, I...hope he at least didn't hurt in those final moments, he was the chosen one after all and his role in the Prophecy was fortold."1 ”Makuta Nepharus will be missed, and his sacrifce must mean alot to your people the Timekeepers.”
2 "We have a statue of him in the town square, in fact have I ever mentioned in our short time with him he reminded me of our old creators like in the books (Sigh) I cherish those times we spent together."1 “But we just go to move on right? well that’s all the questions I had for our interview Forlorn Insight, but if I could ask one more thing now that you’ve mentioned it?…I did a study a century ago into a obscure pantheon of Gods that predate known history here, and I think I remember who the Savior might be based on the two gods we know of Anv and Levi, there was a third god that was said to have created time itself.”
2 "W-what? wait no don't!"1 “Does the name ‘Koronus’ mea- [loud audible screech followed by silence, lights go out]
[01101110 01101001 01110011 01101000 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01101001 01100111 01101110 01101111 01110010 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100]
[lights come back]
2 "Hmm? hello? how strange, I thought for a moment that someone was suppose to meet here for a interview, well I suppose I'll just go home then.