|
This article was written by Praestanti. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.
|
Dead Honor follows Toa Kapra after his sudden, mysterious appearance on the shores of the island of Aoris Nui, the site of ongoing battle between Toa and others, those who stick to the Toa Code, those who fight purely for the safety of the villagers caught in the crossfire, those who seek to use the Matoran and those who seek purely to dominate or destroy.
Chapter 1:Arrival[]
Wind. Clouds. Air rushing. He could make out nothing. Only that he was falling, and fast. Very fast. He opened his...arms? and his rapid flailing and spinning slowed. For a fraction of a second he made out an island.
Kapra's telescopic eye opened before anything else. He lay on a muddy beach, the occasional wave coming in and washing over his armor. Slowly and carefully he pushed himself up. The beach was not large at all, less than five metres from the water to the sudden start of a jungle. In the distance, Kapra could narrowly make out the points of two mountains, close together. Moving himself back he sat on his knees, observing his surroundings. For as long as he could see on the island, the beach sand suddenly cut to jungle. He would have initially thought they were a kind of mangrove, before he spotted the raise in the ground from the sand, which was thick dirt. To his right was a cliff. With his telescopic eye he made out a crude set of stairs leading up the side, but it was just wide enough for a Matoran, let alone a Toa. To his left he saw a small tent, with a campfire burning outside. He rose to his feet and, stumbling as he got used to his limbs, approached the tent.
As he got near, he hear a loud click click. If he wasn't mistake, that was a gun. A small figure, their head around the same size as his, with a small body and tiny limbs which had no visible elbows or knees, although Kapra assumed they would have, stepped out of the tent, pointing a small weapon with a large, wide barrel at him. The figure did not lower the weapon. He recognised them as a Matoran.
"Uhm...hello!...there." Kapra cautiously pieced the words together.
"Who are you?" The small Matoran asked.
"Uhm..."Kapra looked down. His body was black, with white armor that almost resembled a foot. His upper legs were similar, with black armor, but his shins and feet were a clean white, their pigment only broken by some patches of wet sand. He immediately recognised his anatomy, and realised he was a Toa. "Toa...Kapra." he blinked, returning his gaze to the villager. He almost expected the villager to lower their weapon as soon as he said 'Toa'. Again, they did not.
"Yeah, and? Being a Toa holds no weight in our eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"Toa attack our villages all the time. That's what happened to Lookout Point. Band of the evilest people I have ever met attacked the place, nothing but a ransacked ghost town now."
"I've never come across an evil Toa."
"And? What about you?"
"Right now I'm more concerned with where I am then how to dice up the first Matoran I see."he shrugged. Cautiously, the matoran lowered the weapon.
Kapra and the green villager, whom he recognised to be wearing a powerless Kanohi Mahiki, were sat around the fire.
"So where did you come from?" the villager asked.
"Not a clue."
"Did you know anyone?"
"No idea."
"Any idea how you got here?"
"Haven't the slightest."
"You don't know anything about yourself, do you?"
"Other than my name, no."
"Toa Kapra? And...you look like a Toa of Ice, right?"
"Seems that way."
"I'm Lerdix. I'm the cartographer for the Northern Village, Noxa-Koro. Well, for the island, really, none of the other villages have one."
"How many villages are there?"
"Well, there's Noxa-Koro, where I live. Also Jada-Joro, a few minutes south. If you're fast. Then there's Galaeia, the water village, built on a weird rocky plateau over the water. There's Onurel, as well, the underground mining village. Jada-Koro, at least, relies on Onurel for it's building resources. There used to be a couple others..."
"Such as?"
"Well, there was another mining town, which traded frequently with Noxa-Koro, but the tunnels it was built in collapsed. There was also one in the mountains, but there was a fight between the good Toa here and the others that led to an avalanche. The village was in it's path. There was a village completely underwater, but one day it just stopped responding to our messages, and nobody is brave enough to try and swim down there."
"Right. And if you're the cartographer, you're out here making maps of all this, correct?"
"Well...yeah. I'd be heading back now if it wasn't for the Muaka prowling these jungles."
---
"A Muaka, you say?" Kapra looked out over the open, unbroken ocean, after Lerdix had explained his encounter with the Muaka. "Remind me what those are."
"They're big, and mean. They have sharp teeth and can extend their necks to bite you. They only have two legs, behind that is a tread, but their feet have big, sharp claws. They're bigger than a lot of things on this island."
"How easy is it to take one on?"
"Us Matoran generally try to keep them out, rather than fight them. But Toa Jedaros says he's fought a couple before, without too much difficulty."
"Toa Jedaros?"
"One of the few Toa on our side. He's a Toa of Magma, and it's hard to hide from him, because of his Kanohi...Ar...Arton, or something. He's sort of like a leader for the two or three that fight for us, but they're not really a group."
"And where is he now?"
"Hunting. Rahi. Among other things. Also, I think you dropped this. Somehow." Lerdix stood up and went to the side of the tent for a moment, dragging a large, bulky sword into view. Kapra reached over and grabbed the handle, examing the sword.
"Yes, this seems good."
"Right. Seems like a cool sword, could probably hurt something bad."
"Indeed. Tell me, whereabout is this Muaka, roughly?"
"Just head into the path through the jungle, it'll jump you soon enough."
---
Kapra made his way down the beaten path. Slowly, but surely. For its size, this sword felt oddly light. He had been walking for about twelve minutes now, and no Muaka had appeared. He stopped at the sound of a branch snapping. From his limited knowledge of Rahi, there were few that could snap a branch in two by stepping on it. And from Lerdix's explanation, Muaka were one of those. He slowly turned towards it, pointing his sword at the thick jungle. After a gut-wrenching moment of silence, a pair of large yellow eyes appeared, staring straight at him. He tightened his grip on his sword. Another moment of silence. Enough waiting, if it wasn't going to do anything he was going to make it. Intending to scare it more than anything, Kapra fired off a brilliant cone of small, fragile but sharp icicles towards the creature. He wasn't entirely aware he could do that. The creature roared, before lunging towards him.
The titanic beast cleared the jungle foliage and slammed into him, knocking him down. Kapra instinctively rolled, landing back on his feet. It matched the Matoran's description perfectly. It was a Muaka, and a big one. It roared at him, and Kapra took the opportunity to strike, bringing his sword's blade down onto it's face. It shook its head, roaring in mild pain, before snarling and lunging, grabbing his blade in its jaws. It did indeed have huge teeth. He failed to let go, and the beast swung its head, throwing him to the opposite side of the foliage, slamming him into a tree. As he tried to bring himself back to his feet, it swiped him with his claws, knocking him down again. Before it could make another move, a red, orange, yellow and grey Toa leapt from the trees, firing a large rifle into the back of its head before landing on its back, firing yet more shots from his gun. It screeched in agony before flailing, barely managing to force the Toa off of it, before turning and fleeing. The Toa did not make chase, instead turning his attention to Kapra.
"Well, it's running away from the Villages now, so, I guess I could thank you for your help." The Toa helped Kapra to his feet.
"How do you know that?" Kapra asked. The Toa tapped his mask.
"Kanohi Arthron. Sonar." the Toa responded. Kapra thought for a moment.
"Are you Toa Jedaros?"
"Yes, why?"
"A Matoran on the beach mentioned you. I was trying to fight the Muaka so he could return to the village...Noxa-Koro or something."
"Ah yes, Lerdix, the cartographer. You should head on to Noxa-Koro, I will get him there and make sure the Muaka does not return."
"By the way, how did I help at all?"
"I've been tracking that beast for a while. You kept it in place for just long enough for me to strike."
"Ah...okay. I'll see you at the village, then."
"Indeed." Jedaros nodded before turning and walking briskly down towards the beach. After a minute of pondering, Kapra turned and headed down the path he had been following, towards Noxa-Koro.
When I have written the next chapter, I will post it.