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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

Makuta met Hahli's gaze without flinching... and nodded. "Every word you say is true. What I don't understand - what I've never understood - is why you Toa act like you're any better. The only difference between us is that you receive the praise you feel you deserve."

He shrugged. "As for Ahkmou... it's true, perhaps he could have been a great Toa. It's a shame we'll never know, as I cracked his skull against his own worthless element a few minutes ago. Internal bleeding will have claimed him by now. Your water power might have saved him... if you weren't so focused on killing me, that is." He smirked. "Everything revolves around me, Hahli. I make no secret of that. But it seems you could have benefited from your own advice."

A moment later, the wall behind him exploded.

Rocks again. Why is it always rocks?

He activated his dodge power and focused it on the falling rubble. "I've come too far to be felled by mere masony," he remarked as he darted forwards, away from the collapsing wall. "To kill a god, you'd need stronger weapons than--"

Skrrrncncchh.

Makuta stopped mid-stride. The last stone laid still behind him, and the dust settled slowly.

Blinking, he saw Hahli's mask glaring back at him... her Protosteel Talons, coated in greenish-black residue... and the three gaping wounds they had made in his torso, front and back. Already, his greenish-black essence began spilling out through the grievous holes, mingling with the mists of the Tesaran hot springs.

"...weapons," Makuta said slowly, "like... that."

He laughed weakly. "And I just had this armor made. Special commission! This will be costly to fix. But really, do you ever think ahead? You may have ruined my vessel, you brute, but no tool or power of yours can exterminate my essence. And..." He raised a gauntlet, curling its fingers. "While I am bound to it, even a ruined vessel can still focus enough power to kill you. I think you'll find your own impalement considerably more final than mine."

He stepped towards Hahli, not even bothering to defend his mangled armor. "Farewell, Hahli. Unity may have abandoned you, and duty was never your strong suit... but destiny comes for us all, in the end."

Makuta smiled - the smug, self-assured smile of a being who had planned and controlled this meeting so thoroughly, he could no longer even imagine any unpleasant surprises.

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

ask-toa-hahli:

“What’s that you said about ‘merely grasping at power you once had’?” Hahli boldly snarked as she watched the shadowy form twitching in the waves with some satisfaction. “Hasn’t that just been you, since your defeat from Mata Nui.”

She tried not to let her growing confidence get to her. The battle was far from over, and Makuta could pull any number of tricks, as he had done again and again with far too many Toa. Her eyes locked on the convulsing nearly helpless body in the lapping water, while his mask floated and drifted apart from it’s owner. An almost pitiful sight, a far cry from the nightmare of the dark looming monster that haunted her and her people for millennia which they had grown accustomed to fearing. The Toa of water refused to allow the sight to unnerve her into feeling any sort of sympathy, recalling way too clearly the memories of docile ‘Keto’ and his deception.

The thoughts fueled a burning intensity within herself from long having the incident trail her every action and second guess her every decision since then. “What was the point?!” Hahli suddenly abruptly demanded as her emotions within her surged within like storming ocean against the coast. Bobbing up and down in the water, the Hau’s vibrating shape began to start resembling a familiar mask of healing. “What was even the point of your deceit and destruction in Ga-Koro? You could have crawled away to some dark isolated hole to wait and regain your strength or have gone anywhere. Why my village?”

Pushed by the tides, the mask was directed into the shallower regions, in line with the Toa Mahri. Hahli kept on. “There wasn’t anything there that you needed. Was it just to take advantage of us and show how us how our hospitality, our kindness and offered unity mean nothing to you? Or were you just looking for a naive and weak Toa to trick for your own amusement?” She felt the dull sting in her own words, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t told herself many times before.

By now the mask had been shifted over and ended up onto the dryer parts of the ground, right in from of the water Toa. Without even bothering to look at it, she stomped her foot down hard onto it, smothering it into the wet dirt. Using her elemental powers, with a flick of her wrist, the waves then pulled themselves to the side. The liquid being held back and at the ready, but stranding the convulsing bundle of shadows back onto land.

Even after her recent barrage of questions, Hahli didn’t wait for an answer and she hadn’t expected any to be given. “I failed before, foolishly letting you in and being unable to stop you from escaping…” She said aloud clearly as she changed out her Proto-talons for her Cordak Blaster. “But I won’t allow that to happen again!”

The Toa aimed her blaster at the Makuta.

Wincing, Makuta straightened up and tried to regain his footing.

“Your village? How self-important,” Makuta spat. “I found myself in the body of a Toa of Jungle, who had long been welcome among Matoran of your type; indeed, he had lived among you for years in Ga-Metru, not that you would remember that. And I knew the sun-baked sea air of Ga-Koro would be ideal for my experiments in reviving the Morbuzakh.”

He activated his dodge power, nimbly twisting and ducking past Hahli’s storm of missiles. “You always have to make it about you, don’t you?” Makuta hissed. “Hahli, Hahli, Hahli. If I’m being honest? You barely entered into my calculations.”

A missile rocketed past his unmasked face, missing by mere inches. “After all, your version of heroism has never been particularly successful, has it? Just brute-forcing the enemy into submission. It doesn’t work like that - nothing ever does. Icarax, Gorast, and now you - all simpleminded fools who think all the world is just a catalogue of monsters to subdue, and helpless, mewling subjects who’ll thank you for it.”

“So yes, Hahli, if you must make it about you, then know this: I did chance upon a weak and naive Toa, one who I knew would hardly bat an eye at another Toa lending his aid to her village. For a Toa could never be your enemy, could he? Of course not! Is that why you partnered with this sad lump of clay?” He gestured to Ahkmou’s prone form. “A coward and miscreant who betrayed you a dozen times over, and yet you still choose him over your betters!”

Bereft of his mask, Makuta’s expression of contempt and rage was on full display. “I will tell you this now, Hahli the Barbarian, because you will never have the honor of seeing me again,” he seethed. “Know that I hate all of your kind, but you are distinguished only by your mediocrity among morons. You do not occupy my mind as anything other than a blunt weapon to be pointed in the right direction - and even in that capacity, you still err. You cannot defeat me with a brutish barrage of bullets!”

For a critical second, Makuta switched his focus from dodge to accuracy. His gauntlet darted out and caught a cordak missile by the barest touch, turning its momentum in his grasp. With a fluid motion, he arced his arm forwards - and sent the cordak missile hurtling inexorably towards Hahli’s mask.

“Die as you lived,” he snarled: “a bewildered buffoon!”

Ahkmou’s mind blurred, still reeling from the Makuta’s onslaught, eyes staring at him, voices whispering his name as he fought to regain his awareness.

For too long a moment, he felt like he was falling, deeper into the shadows, but as the sounds of battle and the former tyrant’s incensed growls pierced the abyss, his breath caught in his throat, and his eyes ignited, flickering for a moment as his vision began to clear.

He strained for a moment against the vines, but the thorns dug deep into his armour, piercing through in several places. He felt a lance of pain from his left arm, it seemed a cluster of barbs had speared into the softer parts of his elbow, and then it went numb.

He fought the urge to react verbally, and closed his eyes, breathing as tiny, sharp edges of rock grew from his body, all along his armour, cutting into the vines before another flex shredded them. He rolled to one knee, pulling the Midak from his still-numb left arm, using what little control over the numb limb to fix it to the opposite one. His Rending Blade formed alongside the muzzle of the blaster, and he rose, rock rising to support his unstable footing.

Toa Hahli leapt to her right just barely in time to avoid her own missile hurled back at her, feeling the heat of blast as the projectile exploded against the rock wall. Stones scattered and mineral dust clouded the cavern air. Her wing-fins gave her cover from the worst of the particles that rained down.

“You’re one to talk!” Hahli shot back as she quickly shook off the debris and regained her bearings. “You want to throw around who’s self-centered here, when you’ve never cared about anyone or anything other than yourself. When you’ve gone out of your way to turn your own personal strife into everyone’s problem and never minded the suffering its caused. When blaming others is the only time you don’t consider yourself.”

The anger from the Toa’s outburst from before was still clearly there, but it was no longer the abrupt overwhelmed emotional charge from before. There was more control behind it, the intensity wasn’t just being released, now it was being channeled. Her feelings directly fueling her determination to put an end to things. Taking her cordak blaster, she fired more rounds at the dodging Makuta, trying to force him to back up.

Even with the barrage of blasts, her voice continued to ring through. “You can talk all you want at being better, but you can’t even grasp simple empathy or understanding of anyone. You’re incapable of reflection, of excepting your own failings and faults. All you do is repeat the same vain attempts without learning anything, you refuse to ever change. Even Ahkmou for all he’s done has admitted to his own wrongs and is at least trying to atone for them. Which is far more than you’ve ever bothered with!”

Too caught up in her own focus to find herself surprised at her own praise towards the stone Toa; Hahli concentrated her firing, driving the Makuta towards a rock wall. “You’re nothing but a selfish hollow shadow, that can’t stand the thought that there are things in this world don’t revolve around you!” The shots then suddenly stopped and she lifted the blaster muzzle higher, aiming it over her enemy’s head. “-But that’s just the opinion of a simple brute barbarian.”

She pulled the trigger. The directed missile hit the old worn overhead stone dead on, sending down thick blankets of crushed and broken rocks. With air and sight compromised, the water user switched back to her Proto-talons. She then charged straight at the silhouette of the twisted figure and took a hard bladed swipe at their visage.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Hahli #Ahkmou #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

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Artwork for the False Flag megathread, courtesy of @nicholas-anderson

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #Hahli #False Flag #art

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

Wincing, Makuta straightened up and tried to regain his footing.

"Your village? How self-important," Makuta spat. "I found myself in the body of a Toa of Jungle, who had long been welcome among Matoran of your type; indeed, he had lived among you for years in Ga-Metru, not that you would remember that. And I knew the sun-baked sea air of Ga-Koro would be ideal for my experiments in reviving the Morbuzakh."

He activated his dodge power, nimbly twisting and ducking past Hahli's storm of missiles. "You always have to make it about you, don't you?" Makuta hissed. "Hahli, Hahli, Hahli. If I'm being honest? You barely entered into my calculations."

A missile rocketed past his unmasked face, missing by mere inches. "After all, your version of heroism has never been particularly successful, has it? Just brute-forcing the enemy into submission. It doesn't work like that - nothing ever does. Icarax, Gorast, and now you - all simpleminded fools who think all the world is just a catalogue of monsters to subdue, and helpless, mewling subjects who'll thank you for it."

"So yes, Hahli, if you must make it about you, then know this: I did chance upon a weak and naive Toa, one who I knew would hardly bat an eye at another Toa lending his aid to her village. For a Toa could never be your enemy, could he? Of course not! Is that why you partnered with this sad lump of clay?" He gestured to Ahkmou's prone form. "A coward and miscreant who betrayed you a dozen times over, and yet you still choose him over your betters!"

Bereft of his mask, Makuta's expression of contempt and rage was on full display. "I will tell you this now, Hahli the Barbarian, because you will never have the honor of seeing me again," he seethed. "Know that I hate all of your kind, but you are distinguished only by your mediocrity among morons. You do not occupy my mind as anything other than a blunt weapon to be pointed in the right direction - and even in that capacity, you still err. You cannot defeat me with a brutish barrage of bullets!"

"Die as you lived," he snarled: "a bewildered buffoon!"

mind-of-makuta:

ask-toa-hahli:

mind-of-makuta:

“The damage I’ve done?” Makuta scoffed. “I will confess, I’ve killed several Tesarans; you’ve seen my handiwork. But those Tesarans were loggers and poachers, criminals and poisoners. They would have torn down and paved over the natural beauty you and I are currently enjoying, turning these springs into a tourist trap. Which would be more damaging - their plan, or mine?”

“Some weeds need to be pulled,” Makuta continued. “But please don’t pretend you’re bothered by that, my dear ‘Barbarian’. For a quiet flax maker, you’ve become drastically more violent in recent times. Rampaging through the Dark Hunters’ fortress, raising riptides… even adopting a hatchling of the poisonous scourge.”

Vines shifted and curled around the corridor, creeping over Ahkmou’s unconscious form. “I know you worry about measuring up to Toa Gali. My time in Ga-Koro taught me that your people don’t appreciate your newfound pragmatism. But I do. You act when you need to, fiercely and decisively, to protect your people and the natural world. One might say… you would make a fine Makuta.”

Makuta offered his hand, vines curling around it. “I am offering you a chance, one rarely granted, to make things better. To rebuild nature, and shore up its defenses against those who would rip it apart. Gali had this choice, but she ignored it - and in doing so, brought about my ascension to greatness. What do you say, Hahli… will you be foolish, like her? Will you follow so closely in her example that you squander your best chance of repairing this world? Or will you be better?”

“Since when did you ever care about the natural world?” Hahli shot back, the twisting waters in the springs began to turn into mini whirlpools.

“I was there on Mata Nui during your sieges, when we Matoran worked and lived in cooperation with nature. Back when you would readily poison our Vuata Maca, force peaceful Rahi to violently fight for you and battle us till our forests burned to ash. Did you ever care about it time after time we had to clean up the devastation or nurse the orphaned and injured creatures your attacks would leave in their wake? Were was this concern when you awoke the Bohrok swarms to wipe out everything in sight? Don’t try to pretend your some herald of environmental balance. You always chose to destroy our world when you couldn’t rule it!”

The swishing of liquid became more prominent as the watery force gathered and reared up together like a waiting fist behind the Makuta. His mention of Gali and the Ga-Matoran brought forth feelings of building frustration that mounted on her already growing fury towards him, of which she tried to internally taper. She couldn’t let herself just blindly lash out on emotion here; every hit needed to count…

“I’ll agree with one thing though,” the water Toa went on, voice almost being level again. A faint glow slowly began encompassing her faxon. The electric bug on her lightstone continued to buzz mildly. “I have become fiercer… I’ve needed to. So I could fight and protect everything against monsters like you.”

Which that, a copied charge of electricity erupted from the Hahli and directed towards the false Toa of plant-life. Taking aim to try to hit him at the same time as the heavy gusher of water fell onto him from behind.

Makuta frowned. He could hardly counter Hahli’s words when he knew them to be true.

With an effortless motion, he slaked the vines from his hand, then raised his open palm to catch Hahli’s electric attack. Bound by his power over electricity, the bolts wrestled helplessly in his clutch.

“Lightning? How droll,” he said, idly admiring its shimmer. “You are not a Toa Inika anymore, Hahli… merely a copycat, grasping at power you once held. It’s rather sad.”

At that point, a tidal wave slammed into Makuta from behind. His mask hit the floor as the electricity leapt from his hands, scouring his Toa-shaped body. Even as the flood carried him towards Hahli, his body bent in strange spasms amidst the tide.

The Toa aimed her blaster at the Makuta.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

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Makuta frowned. He could hardly counter Hahli's words when he knew them to be true.

With an effortless motion, he slaked the vines from his hand, then raised his open palm to catch Hahli's electric attack. Bound by his power over electricity, the bolts wrestled helplessly in his clutch.

"Lightning? How droll," he said, idly admiring its shimmer. "You are not a Toa Inika anymore, Hahli... merely a copycat, grasping at power you once held. It's rather sad."

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

ask-toa-hahli:

Hahli could now hear other noises up ahead; the sounds of blasts echoing down the long chamber, faint angry shouting, and rumbling vibrations from ignited elemental energies. Clear signs pointing to the erupting clamor of conflict…

Oh no.

Ignoring the danger of the sickly vines that could trip her or the thick surrounding darkness obscuring what could be seen, the Toa of Water began sprinting down the tunnel. As the sounds grew louder as she drew closer to the battle, she could only pray that she wasn’t too late.

Makuta’s eye twitched involuntarily. “Do you think that wasn’t my first approach?”

He slammed a fist into the stone walls and shattered them into shrapnel. Before Ahkmou could repair them, he pulled more flora into the corridor: not just vines, but moss, grass - even flowers and lilypads. “I was a creator, Ahkmou. I made a paradise for the Matoran to flourish in, filled with glorious forms of life, each one a labor of love.”

As the tide of plants spilled into the corridor, creatures issued forth from within them: Rahi insects, rodents, birds, and amphibians. “I made wondrous things to benefit your people - to help you with your work, to marvel in your free time - to provide food, shelter, light, transport, resources, even laughter. And no one was grateful!”

Unbidden, Makuta’s form bent and shifted, taking on a bestial hunch, long fangs, and claws. “I have made monsters, Matoran - so many. You claim I have become one. But if so, child, I am a monster of your making.“

He raised a clawed fist high - then slammed it into the ground. Flora and fauna alike spilled down the corridor, with fangs, claws, thorns, and roots bared to rip Ahkmou apart.

Ahkmou reeled back from the onslaught of corrupted life barrelling toward him, snarling as the claws and spines pierced his armour, drawing blood. He sliced a few vines and roots apart as he backed up, but quickly realised it was a losing battle. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he slammed one hand into the ground, ripping it up underneath him as it propelled him up and out of the throng.

Without taking a second to regain his footing atop the new column of stone, he fired another blast from his Midak at the Makuta, breathing hard.

“We didn’t know!” He spat back. “The first most of us saw you was the massacre! How were we supposed to be grateful for things we didn’t know you did? How were we supposed to view you when the only times your presence was felt were the times you were hurting us? If you didn’t want to be an unsung hero, maybe you should’ve stepped into the light instead of shunning it and operating from the darkness!”

He steadied himself, pressing both hands against the pillar to add more stone to it, reinforcing his position.

“The way you tell it, I was one of the lucky ones. Rewarded with the coveted role of being the fallible, mortal face of your oppression, the surmountable figurehead to your reign of terror! Only avoiding assassination because I convinced Tanma that whoever you chose to replace me would be worse. But that was better than what the others got, I guess. Better than what you did to Gavla, with my hands!”

Ahkmou took a deep breath, calming himself as he began to stand. He reached out to the shattered remains of the walls, whipping them up into a small sandstorm, which grew and grew as it blew through the ravaged tunnel, slicing at the Makuta’s attack and his body.

“You used my body to hurt the only person I could call a friend. The only person I’ve ever loved. And because that wasn’t enough for you, you seared the event into my skin and damaged my brain on the way out! You… you broke me.”

He shook his head, standing up to his full height now, as the eyes and the stones set into his armour shone through the wall of sand as it swirled up around him, arms spread wide as larger chunks of stone joined the storm. A faint laugh echoed from behind his emotionless mask.

“When I learned that you had survived, I was terrified. I still am. But I’m a Toa now. And I think I finally understand my place in this world. My destiny.” His fists clenched, as the sand eroded each of the larger rocks into sharpened points. “I wasn’t made to be a catspaw for every would-be tyrant or conqueror that showed up. No, I was made to kill you.”

His arms raised, as he prepared to launch the entire storm at Teridax.

“And I may never be a true Toa. I may always be a monster… but I will never again be your monster. And you will always be the god that failed.”

The Toa of water could feel the shaking in the ground and walls as she hurried down the tunnel, getting closer to the commotion at hand. She continued choosing to disregard the thorny vines that were now moving and twitching erratically like nerves whose connecting source was receiving too much stimuli. Her pace picked up as she thought she could make something out that was coming up quickly.

It was finally then, that the glow of her lightstone revealed an end point. A thick wrinkled curtain of intertwined dead and decaying plant life, blocking away whatever the passage had led to, the sounds of battle culminating just behind this purifying veil. The surrounding rock shook and seemed to ripple at the hight of the disturbances just beyond.

Without even stopping to worry if this would be just be as impenetrable as the plant walls before; Hahli slashed at the barrier with her proto-talons. Her Toa tool actually managing to rip it apart to green and brown tatters, strewing it down to the ground. Before letting it get a chance to possibly regenerate, she ran forward to wherever this -

Suddenly, Hahli found herself on the outskirts of a raging sandstorm. Swirls of minuscule stone particles flying around obscured the glow from her lightstone, making it even more difficult to see in the oppressive darkness. She put up her arm to shield her eyes, as she tried to make out anything through the scattered view.

“Ahkmou!” Hahli shouted, trying to find the stone Toa. “Ahkmou, are you here?!”

Mata Nui… please don’t let her be too late again…

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

"The damage I've done?" Makuta scoffed. "I will confess, I've killed several Tesarans; you've seen my handiwork. But those Tesarans were loggers and poachers, criminals and poisoners. They would have torn down and paved over the natural beauty you and I are currently enjoying, turning these springs into a tourist trap. Which would be more damaging - their plan, or mine?"

"Some weeds need to be pulled," Makuta continued. "But please don't pretend you're bothered by that, my dear 'Barbarian'. For a quiet flax maker, you've become drastically more violent in recent times. Rampaging through the Dark Hunters' fortress, raising riptides... even adopting a hatchling of the poisonous scourge."

Vines shifted and curled around the corridor, creeping over Ahkmou's unconscious form. "I know you worry about measuring up to Toa Gali. My time in Ga-Koro taught me that your people don't appreciate your newfound pragmatism. But I do. You act when you need to, fiercely and decisively, to protect your people and the natural world. One might say... you would make a fine Makuta."

Makuta offered his hand, vines curling around it. "I am offering you a chance, one rarely granted, to make things better. To rebuild nature, and shore up its defenses against those who would rip it apart. Gali had this choice, but she ignored it - and in doing so, brought about my ascension to greatness. What do you say, Hahli... will you be foolish, like her? Will you follow so closely in her example that you squander your best chance of repairing this world? Or will you be better?"

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

ask-toa-hahli:

Oh no.

Makuta’s eye twitched involuntarily. “Do you think that wasn’t my first approach?”

He raised a clawed fist high - then slammed it into the ground. Flora and fauna alike spilled down the corridor, with fangs, claws, thorns, and roots bared to rip Ahkmou apart.

Without taking a second to regain his footing atop the new column of stone, he fired another blast from his Midak at the Makuta, breathing hard.

He steadied himself, pressing both hands against the pillar to add more stone to it, reinforcing his position.

His arms raised, as he prepared to launch the entire storm at Teridax.

“And I may never be a true Toa. I may always be a monster… but I will never again be your monster. And you will always be the god that failed.”

“Ahkmou!” Hahli shouted, trying to find the stone Toa. “Ahkmou, are you here?!”

Mata Nui… please don’t let her be too late again…

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

Makuta shrugged. “Eminently sensible. There’s no reason to allow him to invade our private discussion further.”

He approached Hahli, raking one of his fingers along the wall of the hot springs and carving a line through its glowing green moss. "It’s been so long, hasn’t it, since our halcyon days together? I must thank you for the accommodations; that cabin was a truly valuable beachfront property, and the garden? To die for. I may have left in a hurry, but worry not - it’s all water under the bridge.”

His eyes gleamed green. “I’d like to repay you for your hospitality, Hahli.”

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

ask-toa-hahli:

Oh no.

Makuta’s eye twitched involuntarily. “Do you think that wasn’t my first approach?”

He raised a clawed fist high - then slammed it into the ground. Flora and fauna alike spilled down the corridor, with fangs, claws, thorns, and roots bared to rip Ahkmou apart.

Without taking a second to regain his footing atop the new column of stone, he fired another blast from his Midak at the Makuta, breathing hard.

He steadied himself, pressing both hands against the pillar to add more stone to it, reinforcing his position.

His arms raised, as he prepared to launch the entire storm at Teridax.

“And I may never be a true Toa. I may always be a monster… but I will never again be your monster. And you will always be the god that failed.”

“Ahkmou!” Hahli shouted, trying to find the stone Toa. “Ahkmou, are you here?!”

Mata Nui… please don’t let her be too late again…

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

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“...the god that failed.”

The sandstorm howled, yet the corridor seemed as if it had fallen deathly silent. Then, with a sudden burst of motion, Makuta charged directly into, and through, the vortex of rock. A field of molecular disruption turned sand to dust, and dust to atoms, as Makuta rushed headlong down the corridor, leaving nothing - less than nothing - in his wake.

In an instant, Makuta had leapt out of the sandstorm and grabbed Ahkmou by the throat, squeezing his fingers at the edges of Ahkmou’s mask. With a furious glare, he activated his powers of absorption, sapping the full might of a Toa of Stone and adding it to his own.

Grabbing the Toa by the mask, he plucked Ahkmou from the ground and swung him against the walls. His arm stretched elastically as he did so, whisking Ahkmou back and forth like a Rahi chew toy. Makuta whipped his arm upwards, sending Ahkmou soaring - then yanked his arm back and called upon another power.

As Ahkmou hurtled to the ground, gravity’s hold increased on him tenfold, slamming him into the ground as if falling from a building. Makuta was right there with him, slamming his head once, twice, three times into the stone, increasing the crushing weight each time. Bedrock fractured around the Toa’s body with each blow.

Despite it all, Ahkmou was still stirring. Makuta kneeled down, bringing his mask close to Ahkmou’s - and roared, releasing a power scream that echoed through the hot springs and chilled the bones of every soul in Tesara.

The Toa did not stir again.

Makuta rose to his feet, as his bestial form reshaped itself into the body of a Toa of Jungle. Quietly, he adjusted his mask to sit properly, and turned to face Hahli.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said softly. “As for the matter of your punctuality, you are right on time. This was my own private business, which has lingered far too long for anyone’s liking.” He smiled. “I’m pleased you received my invitation, and charmed to have your company. Please... let’s begin.”

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

ask-toa-hahli:

Oh no.

Makuta’s eye twitched involuntarily. “Do you think that wasn’t my first approach?”

He raised a clawed fist high - then slammed it into the ground. Flora and fauna alike spilled down the corridor, with fangs, claws, thorns, and roots bared to rip Ahkmou apart.

Without taking a second to regain his footing atop the new column of stone, he fired another blast from his Midak at the Makuta, breathing hard.

He steadied himself, pressing both hands against the pillar to add more stone to it, reinforcing his position.

His arms raised, as he prepared to launch the entire storm at Teridax.

“And I may never be a true Toa. I may always be a monster… but I will never again be your monster. And you will always be the god that failed.”

“Ahkmou!” Hahli shouted, trying to find the stone Toa. “Ahkmou, are you here?!”

Mata Nui… please don’t let her be too late again…

#BIONICLE #Ahkmou #Makuta #Teridax #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

Makuta’s eye twitched involuntarily. “Do you think that wasn’t my first approach?”

He raised a clawed fist high - then slammed it into the ground. Flora and fauna alike spilled down the corridor, with fangs, claws, thorns, and roots bared to rip Ahkmou apart.

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

Makuta took the hit straight-on. A chunk of his mask cracked and crumbled, falling to the ground and dissolving into loamy soil. “Why you?” Underneath, he stretched his rotting jaw into a grin. “Well, Ahkmou, surely you’re familiar with my mask power.”

He wriggled out of Ahkmou’s space, twisting into a vine-like shape to avoid the blasts of light. “I can see the shadow lurking within every being I come across. Some beings take time to study… I must spend precious minutes analyzing their flaws, the paths to break their defenses that convince them they are righteous.”

Moments away, the thorny thicket began to move, propelling itself along the corridor towards Hahli - shepherding her towards the place where Ahkmou and Makuta now battled.

“But you, Ahkmou?” Makuta laughed, dodging Ahkmou’s attacks with perfect poise and posture. “I barely needed a glimpse of your mind to see how wretched you were. Oh, I worked the shadows in your spirit for some time, twisting them into the shape I desired - but your soul was already stained black as night when I found you. Filled with resentment, jealousy, and self-serving fear.”

He whirled and kicked out at Ahkmou’s legs, trying to break his stance. “Faith is a virtue of the Matoran, not the Makuta. Ehrye and Kai may have believed in me, Ahkmou… but you have never believed in anyone but yourself and your own pathetic desires. Even this ‘heroic’ revenge quest is an ego trip to avenge your own wallowing self-pity.” Makuta laughed, towering above Ahkmou. “You have good reason to hate me, Ahkmou. But everything you hate about yourself,? I didn’t put it there. You did.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t erased everything about me and then poisoned the well before I could recover, I might’ve had a better chance to improve…” He noted bitterly, jumping back slightly. His feet skidded against the damp ground, which shifted upwards behind his heels to catch him.

“So it comes back to the ‘kindred spirits’ thing again, does it? Well find another lie, because we’re nothing alike!” In spite of the force he put behind his words, his eyes actually seemed less angry for a moment, more sad. “You were brilliant. You were a genius with so many contingencies that five separate generations of Toa couldn’t stop you from reaching apotheosis. You could’ve been so much better.”

Thrusting his arms outwards, he reached deep into the walls that surrounded them, wrenching them inwards toward the Makuta.

“Me? I’m a trader so weak and cowardly that I bowed and scraped to every stronger being that barged into my life, just to survive, even if it destroyed my life and ruined every bond I had with others in the process. And yet… I’m the one putting my life on the line to protect the people that you’re threatening. Your people.”

Another beam loosed from his blaster, as he hoped to catch Teridax while he was dealing with the walls.

The Toa of water continued following down the dark path laid before her. With the ever growing vines all around the walls, constantly moving and withering, it made her feel like she was descending further down the bowels of some living gigantic monster. Not the kind of monster I should be worrying about right now, Hahli thought as she proceeded down the unknown.

As she kept her eyes peeled, carefully trying to observe all the small sections of spaces her lightstone would reveal, she kept hearing a faint sound that began fading in and out. It was discernibly different than the softer sounds of animated plant matter slithering over rock and stone on all sides. The noise hummed, it source and loudness jumping sporadically from place to place as she tried to keep moving. Soon its notes becoming more recognizable, an insecta type buzzing that was clearing almost surrounding the Toa.

Hahli became more tense and alert, stopping as she prepared for some kind of sudden ambush. She waited for something to jump out as the buzz was nearly on top of her, but no teeth, claws or dark shadows came out. The noise was certainly still there and with her, but nothing appeared to accompany it. Only then, did she notice the small dot of bluish light that was hovering in circles around her lightstone.

“Oh,” Hahli exclaimed, her tension easing as she identified the electric bug. “You almost scared me there…”

In truth it relieved her to finally see another living creature in these ghastly passages, no matter how small the rahi was. The big itself buzzed and circled around her hand a few more times, before it landed and settled itself on her lightstone.

“I guess you’re coming along then,” she commented as she started walking down the tunnel again. Although she felt a twinge in her heart as her sudden new companion made her realize how much she missed the company of her beloved spiderling. I’ll see her again soon, she told herself.

“I’ll get us both out of here.” Hahli said aloud to herself and the rahi in forced determination.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

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Makuta pushed back against the crushing walls of stone with his gravitic power, but kept an eye on the Midak skyblaster at all times. When he saw it fire, he ducked and twisted away from the scorching light, allowing the walls of stone to lurch ever closer. Makuta focused his power over plants, calling on the flora of the hot springs to hold back the tide of stone.

All the while, Ahkmou ranted and raved. Makuta gave a wry smile. “Flattery, after so long? You surprise and delight me, Ahkmou. Of course, you're right; I am brilliant. And, it's true, I could have been better - I could have dodged death." He chuckled. "Oh, wait - I did."

Makuta wrenched roots forth from the soil, holding back Ahkmou's walls and coiling around him to provide cover from the blaster. "But I sense you have more to say, Po-Matoran. Well, for now, you may consider me a... captive audience."

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

Moments away, the thorny thicket began to move, propelling itself along the corridor towards Hahli - shepherding her towards the place where Ahkmou and Makuta now battled.

Thrusting his arms outwards, he reached deep into the walls that surrounded them, wrenching them inwards toward the Makuta.

Another beam loosed from his blaster, as he hoped to catch Teridax while he was dealing with the walls.

“Oh,” Hahli exclaimed, her tension easing as she identified the electric bug. “You almost scared me there…”

“I’ll get us both out of here.” Hahli said aloud to herself and the rahi in forced determination.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

He wriggled out of Ahkmou’s space, twisting into a vine-like shape to avoid the blasts of light. “I can see the shadow lurking within every being I come across. Some beings take time to study... I must spend precious minutes analyzing their flaws, the paths to break their defenses that convince them they are righteous.”

Moments away, the thorny thicket began to move, propelling itself along the corridor towards Hahli - shepherding her towards the place where Ahkmou and Makuta now battled.

He whirled and kicked out at Ahkmou’s legs, trying to break his stance. “Faith is a virtue of the Matoran, not the Makuta. Ehrye and Kai may have believed in me, Ahkmou... but you have never believed in anyone but yourself and your own pathetic desires. Even this 'heroic’ revenge quest is an ego trip to avenge your own wallowing self-pity.” Makuta laughed, towering above Ahkmou. “You have good reason to hate me, Ahkmou. But everything you hate about yourself,? I didn’t put it there. You did.”

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

A dark chuckle billowed through the wisps of greenish steam, echoing from every twisting corner of the springs. I see you couldn’t stay away, Makuta hissed. But what is this talk of ending things? Coming alone to face a god of destruction… have you crawled here to beg me for death?

A scraping sound crept ever closer. Out of the shifting fog, a figure appeared: the semblance of a rotting Toa of Jungle, vines sprouting from behind his broken mask. Makuta lurched out of the darkness like a creature on clumsy strings, dragging his sharp, jagged fingers along the walls of the maze.

“Allow me to lay your fears to rest, Ahkmou,” said Makuta. “You are a worn-out, broken tool, with no use left in your hollow shell. I would be happy to grant you the demise you desire.”

Ahkmou’s breath hitched in his throat for a moment. This time it was no vision or nightmare. He stood, face-to-face with Teridax, no way out, no backup, just him, his powers, and his weapons against the Makuta.

He’d always chosen flight before, but there was nowhere to run. Time to fight.

“No. I came here to kill you.” He spoke as passively as he could manage, raising the Midak toward the rotting Toa and opening fire, the radiant beam lighting up the halls.

Makuta staggered at the sight of Ahkmou’s weapon. His body stretched and twisted, shrinking back from the light blast like water surging in the wake. For the brief moment he used his dodge power, his control over plants in the hot springs withered.

“Kill me? Then you truly are a failure,” Makuta commented. “You were given the power and responsibility of a Toa, and your first act is to break their most crucial rule? I knew you lacked honor, but this… this is a new low, even for you. Is that how you wish to be remembered - as a killer and coward?”

Makuta raised a hand, summoning his power over magnetism to try and wrest the blaster from Ahkmou’s grasp. “Those who do not play well do not deserve their… toys. Give that here.”

Ahkmou felt the tug against his forearm, and staggered forward slightly, letting it pull his body rather than wrestling against it and risking it giving way. For now the connection held firm, but he still reshaped the jagged shards of obsidian that formed his left-hand Rending Blade to wrap around the barrel, forming a rocky harness of sorts.

“Well, I was a failure of a Turaga, I thought I’d keep the trend going!” He sneered. “But if we’re talking job descriptions, I’m pretty sure ‘take over the universe and torment the people you were sworn to defend’ wasn’t in yours.”

At the same time, his other hand struck the ground beneath him, a blue glow penetrating the floor and cracking the stonework, breaking it apart as it tore up into a barrage of sharpened rocks, spearing toward the Makuta.

There! Finally, a sight of something ahead that wasn’t just stone. The water Toa picked up her pace, she was still aware that anything could be a trap here, but she was just glad enough to see something different. As she drew closer, the Toa’s lightstone illuminated more clearly what lay before her.

Vines.

The same kind of sickly thorned vines that had separated her and Ahkmou, where growing along the walls, overhanging the ceiling and covering the floor of the path ahead. Worst of all, they were clearly moving. Slow sluggish movements, without appearing to have an intentional purpose; much like the tentacles of a dying coleoid stranded upon the beach.

Hahli stopped and looked over the only way forward. With some hesitation and tremendous sigh, she pressed on. Taking great care to watch her steps as she sought out the rock bare patches scattered through this prickly garden.

Through the shifting plants as she walked by, every so often Hahli would catch a glance of different clumps of tendrils tightly curled and enclosed around something not immediately identifiable. She only perceived them to be simply debris or thick branches that the vines were growing around. As she went on and began to see them come up more frequently, along with their grips around their prizes becoming more loose and viable, the pit in Hahli’s stomach grew bigger.

The vines held armor and bones.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

“I don’t care a whit about the duties assigned by my treacherous brother!” Makuta hissed. Focused on his magnetic power, he staggered back from the first few spikes, but one lanced into his leg, raking into his armor.

He grunted and shattered the spike with a glance, then seemed to catch himself. “So little respect for rules and duties. I must have been a greater influence on you than either of us knew. But too much arrogance, too little wisdom... it makes for a poor combination.”

Noting the stone harness, he focused an electric charge into the blaster’s metal, to electrocute Ahkmou as long as the blaster remained bound to him.

“Do you really think the Toa would forgive this proud, foolish, sloppy attempt at murder? Make an exception for you, the traitor among Matoran? Why? Because your feelings were hurt?” He leaned closer and sneered. “They’ll only care that you would break their code and defy their precious virtues - once again, proving you unworthy. I have watched the Matoran for years, Ahkmou... and they treat me more kindly than they treat their own. Stain yourself with murderous intent, while wearing the mantle of Toa... and they will hunt you like you have never known before.”

Sparing a thought, Makuta opened a passage amidst the vines elsewhere in the maze, making a path to this corridor. As Hahli investigated the bodies of his victims, the vines suspending them suddenly lurched upwards.

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

toa-ahkmou:

mind-of-makuta:

“Allow me to lay your fears to rest, Ahkmou,” said Makuta. “You are a worn-out, broken tool, with no use left in your hollow shell. I would be happy to grant you the demise you desire.”

He’d always chosen flight before, but there was nowhere to run. Time to fight.

“No. I came here to kill you.” He spoke as passively as he could manage, raising the Midak toward the rotting Toa and opening fire, the radiant beam lighting up the halls.

Makuta raised a hand, summoning his power over magnetism to try and wrest the blaster from Ahkmou’s grasp. “Those who do not play well do not deserve their… toys. Give that here.”

Vines.

The vines held armor and bones.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #Hahli #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

“Kill me? Then you truly are a failure,” Makuta commented. “You were given the power and responsibility of a Toa, and your first act is to break their most crucial rule? I knew you lacked honor, but this... this is a new low, even for you. Is that how you wish to be remembered - as a killer and coward?”

Makuta raised a hand, summoning his power over magnetism to try and wrest the blaster from Ahkmou’s grasp. “Those who do not play well do not deserve their... toys. Give that here.”

toa-ahkmou:

ask-toa-hahli:

Hahli shrugged in return. “No, that sounds like a good place to start.”

Taking the incentive, she approached the gate…

~~~

In the last few hours the had questioned several locals; some were willing enough to give up information and many more though were more wary. Two strange unknown Biomechs coming in and asking about troubling business that was clearly none of theirs, didn’t exactly align with many residents. A few others simply tried to pass off whatever could be going on, a sense of fear and dread hiding behind a joke or comment as they attempted to swerve away from the topic.

Either way, no matter the reluctant answers, the passive aggressive warnings and the mix of rumors with off contradictory gossip. There was one constant link. The springs and the maze.

“Well I think that’s enough to prove that Macku was right about what she heard about those spots.” The Toa of water stated once they had left the presence of their last Agori they asked. Considering that one’s attitude and the potted plant that they had tried to throw at the two Toa. She rather preferred that they didn’t try interviewing anyone else.

Ahkmou seemed relatively unbothered by the frosty reception. It was all rather familiar to him, and he’d long since stopped taking low-flying objects personally.

“Yeah. Honestly, now that I’ve gotten a look at this place, the maze seems… well, about the right place for him to hide,” He nodded. “Teridax and excessive complexity are practically synonymous.”

As they approached the path down into the maze, he fixed the Midak Blaster to his arm. The walls didn’t look wide enough for him to adequately swing his scythe, but that wasn’t part of the plan anyway.

The water Toa felt uneasy as they came to the maze’s entrance. A foreboding sensation seemed to emanate from it as they got closer, feeling like it was creeping out from deep within the labyrinth.

A plain simple archway stood around the opening. It was long cracked and falling apart, some stone pieces littered around on the ground. The two Toa stopped in front of it, Hahli could only see a few feet inside, darkness from there awaited them further.

Hahli took out two lightstones from her satchel, handing one to Ahkmou. “Remember to stay by me at all times. I don’t think I need to say that neither of us wants to get lost in there,” she said.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

“Allow me to lay your fears to rest, Ahkmou,” said Makuta. “You are a worn-out, broken tool, with no use left in your hollow shell. I would be happy to grant you the demise you desire.”

toa-ahkmou:

ask-toa-hahli:

Hahli shrugged in return. “No, that sounds like a good place to start.”

Taking the incentive, she approached the gate…

~~~

Either way, no matter the reluctant answers, the passive aggressive warnings and the mix of rumors with off contradictory gossip. There was one constant link. The springs and the maze.

Ahkmou seemed relatively unbothered by the frosty reception. It was all rather familiar to him, and he’d long since stopped taking low-flying objects personally.

The water Toa felt uneasy as they came to the maze’s entrance. A foreboding sensation seemed to emanate from it as they got closer, feeling like it was creeping out from deep within the labyrinth.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #False Flag

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mind-of-makuta · 3 years

Text

Condemned

chik–chik–chik–chik–chik...

Far below the Northern Frost, a steady clicking echoed through a long tunnel of ice. A swarm of Tahnok worked with single-minded purpose, using their fire shields to bore deep into the depths of a mighty glacier. Leading the excavation, at the head of the pack, was a tall, dark figure brimming with shadow.

“This world has an... infestation,” said Makuta Teridax. He turned to a Tahnok which stood near him. “No offense intended. I refer to the Toa. They know I have returned, and now that the Shadowed One’s insipid viral threat has been dealt with, they will turn their attention to me. My existence is a threat to their notion of ‘paradise’, and they will not stop until I am no more.”

He paused, looking at the Tahnok, which remained focused on its task. A web of fractures spread throughout the ice. “Yes... yes, that’s correct,” he murmured. “The Toa will not let their defenses slacken... unless, of course, I were no more.”

The ice seethed and broke up ahead, and Teridax stepped forwards. Where the layers of ice had thinned, he could see a figure up ahead, locked in the ice as if in stasis. It was a tall, sleek, powerful form, with a single fist outstretched. It had gone down fighting.

Teridax smiled and turned to the Tahnok. “Exactly as foretold.”

With a sudden motion, he jammed his hand under the Tahnok’s faceplate and wrenched it open, yanking the krana out of its robotic body. He crushed the organic creature until juice and slime spilled out of his black gauntlet.

“Now, be a good pawn and stay,” he bid the empty shell. "My business here is done, and other meetings demand my attention. I hear it’s lovely in Tesara this time of year.”

Teridax turned to go, climbing out of the glacier cave. He left behind him only a derelict Tahnok, the cooling remains of a krana, and the frozen body of the Marendar. Then, once again, the chamber was as silent and still as the grave.

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Marendar #Bohrok #Tesara #Toa

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mind-of-makuta · 4 years

Text

toa-ahkmou:

“Not… anymore!” Ahkmou snarled, as his hand gripped the handle and squeezed the trigger, the room lighting up as the beam erupted from the end as Ahkmou gripped it tightly.

Normally a fight between a Toa and a Matoran would be one-sided, but then normally a rock wouldn’t be able to smash a Kanohi. Whether Makuta’s form was influenced by Ahkmou’s own knowledge and perceptions, or he’d chosen to look this way from his unending addiction to putting on a show, the Master of Shadows’ rotting body had given him half a chance.

“Onewa was a bully, and I’ll always hate him for it, but behind his repugnant attitude he at least had a moral compass, and he cares for his people as a collective. The fact that he allowed me to live there at all despite what I did to my brothers and sisters is proof enough of that.” Ahkmou retorted. “And I never believed everything he said. I knew about our real home. The home you forced us from. So I listened with scepticism, and eventually, his, and Vakama’s version of events proved accurate. And that’s why you opted to use my fears against me when you recruited me to be your so-called Turaga!”

Ahkmou wrenched the blaster sideways, twisting it against the Toa corpse’s rotting fingers. He could do this. Po-Matoran were the mightiest of their kind, and even as one of their lesser examples, he wagered he could overpower some decayed tendons.

“It was a smart choice. I’ve let my fears rule me for most of my life. Because even as one of Mata Nui’s ‘chosen people’, living in his shining City of Legends, I felt small, weak, insignificant,” Ahkmou gritted his teeth, planting his feet as firmly as he could against the ground. “And all the while, you sought to keep me that way. Sought to show me that any attempt I made to break that mould was futile, and would only hurt people. That’s why you let me save her before you revealed yourself. That’s why you cast me back to my Matoran form in this vision of yours…”

He gave an almighty pull, tugging the Midak back against his chest as the stonework beneath him shifted.

“But I’ve helped people now without you ruining it. Some in small ways, others in big ones. I’ve formed bonds you don’t have the power to tear apart, not like you did with her. Because you aren’t in power here. Not on Spherus Magna, and not in my head. And I’m not a weak little Matoran anymore…”

He stood, taller and taller, heartlight burning bright as his now-larger hands gripped the barrel of the weapon, before he turned it downwards, levelling it at his tormentor.

“I am Ahkmou, Toa of Stone… and I want you out of my fucking head.”

Makuta stared down the barrel of the blaster. After a long pause, he turned to Ahkmou and spoke plainly.

“Wish granted,” he said, beginning to fade into shadow. “After all... it would be foolish to linger in dreams, while the shadow encroaches on those you hold dear.” His eyes flared red. “Your move, Ahkmou.”

#BIONICLE #Makuta #Teridax #Ahkmou #The Return

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