Chapter Ten

Here you would lose your mind hearing the specters of your fallen comrades, for amid these Fields of Mist their cries and screams ring still.

The Skrall Sister’s words rang in Gelu’s head as he walked. He’d never been susceptible to the power of suggestion, and he was confident that despite her foreboding, his intellect and keen senses would prevail against superstition. It was what made him reliable as an escort in the Bara Magna desert – and talented as a Glatorian fighter before that. Fiction, for Gelu, was easily discerned from reality.

Which is why he jumped when he saw a flash of red armor appear in the mist… and then fade.

“Something is in here with us,” he muttered.

“It is nothing,” the female Skrall responded.

Gelu gritted his teeth. He was never so easily deceived.

“I saw it too,” Chiara piped up.

The ice Glatorian relaxed, if only a little.

“Commander Tarix!” came a ghostly shout from the right. A pair of water tribe warriors galloped by and were lost to sight. There was a loud crack, and a volley of force blasts tore through the trees above.

The ice warrior inhaled and took a step forward, only for his foot to land in soft, red-hued mud. Several soldiers lay strewn around them.

Gelu stopped in his tracks. Unbidden, the world of Bota Magna fell away as he returned to the days of the war and memories that he didn’t even realize he still had. The sight of rumbling ballistas. The screams of full legions charging at each other. The smell of rotting flesh.

He trembled violently. The ice slicer fell from his grip and landed in the mud below.

“What’s with him?” Chiara asked.

“Remember this sight, young Toa, when you hear tell of the Core War,” the Sister of the Skrall replied. “His mind is not with us, and he is held captive by the past… as are all people in their own ways.”

Orde touched Gelu’s forehead, and his trembling ceased. The Glatorian reached down and picked up his weapon, but his calm expression appeared blank and distant.

“Keep going. I’ll shield him,” the Toa said.

The female Skrall nodded. “Come quickly.”

✴        ✴        ✴

The sounds and sights of war did not stop as they passed through the long valley. Gelu did not react any longer, and Orde’s tranquilizing effect seemed to work. Like reliving someone else’s memories, the visitors to the land observed snapshots of the battle that had transpired here. Some snippets were clearly understood. Others left their imagination to interpret what they were seeing. Chiara seemed the least affected, but Zaria and Orde were each thoroughly unnerved.

When the veil of mist seemed to lift, they found themselves high on a ridge overlooking a small string of settlements on the edge of a sprawling tundra. The horizon beyond was obscured, but from their perspective it appeared as nearly-uninterrupted white. A blast of cold air told them they’d arrived.

Gelu stirred and shook free of the haze clouding his mind. One glance into his eyes revealed a renewed darkness that had not been there in many years, but he said nothing about it.

Instead, he pointed at the settlements. “Those… are new.”

“Yes,” the female Skrall smiled wryly. “They are only 92,000 years old.”

“What are they?”

“The forest of Bota Magna has always held more than enough resources for every inhabitant present upon it after the Shattering,” the Skrall explained. “But many did not see it that way. In the intervening years, a struggle for power erupted over the forest as tribes, coalitions, and factions all fought for control over the resources of the forest. Those who could not assert their power within it were pushed into the cold of the tundra. Some managed to jump back into the fray, while others remained ever in the wastes. In the time since, the number of refugees here has grown and grown.”

The female Skrall gestured to the camps. “The kingdom of the ice tribe initially fought against these refugees, seeking to drive them back into the forest and out of their native lands. It took the efforts of Veonai, leader of the Skrall following our civil war, to convince the ice tribe to allot a buffer territory between the jungle and the tundra where the refugees could settle. Under her guidance, those fleeing from either direction could take shelter… albeit under the hawkish glare of the ice tribe.”

“Why couldn’t some arrangement be made to divide the forest equally?” Gelu asked. “If we on Bara Magna had even a fraction of this sprawling forest, we would never have had to fight in the arena!”

“Scarcity is relative,” the Skrall replied, “And it is easy to invent conflict where none exists. No doubt boredom plays a role. And greed. And a need to demonstrate that dictatorial, militaristic ways of life remain both necessary and desirable. The Element Lord of Earth, Kabrua, and a handful of others over the years have played this game well at the expense of their enemies. Abundant resources can be a curse of their own.”

Gelu was overwhelmed with revulsion and disgust. The beings on this world had craved resources simply for exploitation rather than necessity, and the very thought of this was unbearable. Part of him wanted to burn the whole forest to the ground, just to show them what it was to truly struggle.

“And you’re leading us to these camps?” Orde asked. For once he could not ascertain the answer on his own. Gelu had charged him with watching the Skrall’s mind, but though he occasionally caught glimpses of her mind, much remained safely guarded — not that he wanted to admit it. The female Skrall did not have the mental barrier that Ce-Matoran naturally possessed, but her mind was like a vault at the heart of a maze surrounded by a fortress. Trying to learn anything was like running through it, trying to chase a playful Kinloka — earlier she had somehow picked up on his attempt to penetrate it. Clearly this Skrall had been taught to restrict information from prying minds.

“Yes, I will take you there,” the Skrall replied. “There you will find what you need to complete your journey.”

✴        ✴        ✴

The camps and settlements stretched on for miles, and while there were no hard boundaries distinguishing one section from another, most fell into one of a handful of clusters. At a glance, these were not categorized by elemental affinity like many of the lands the Toa and Glatorian were accustomed to. On Bara Magna, Atero was the closest thing to an exception that Gelu could think of, and even that had elemental districts.

The Skrall Sister directed the party hastily to the largest of the camps. Leaving her biosaur at a stable just inside the settlement, she guided them to a rustic courthouse that dominated the landscape. Villagers and warriors observed them curiously as they passed, stopping their work to look. Zaria and Chiara pressed on, eager to do their business and leave, but Gelu was taken by how bizarre life like this was in light of all he had experienced, and no less on the outskirts of his original home. Orde, meanwhile, remained completely silent, observing more mazes in the minds of these female Skrall.

The guards outside the courthouse bowed slightly, then turned to open the door as the group’s wayfinder approached. The entrance opened to a long, brown, rustic hall filled with hundreds of empty seats. Arches resembling those towering over Bara Magna’s arena held the high roof aloft. The only individual in the room was another female Skrall, standing at the center of the room. As the travelers had been looking around, their wayfarer had moved ahead and spoken in whispers with the female Skrall.

“This place would be terrible for arena combat,” Gelu muttered.

“Is that all you can think about?” Chiara asked.

“That's all I’ve known,” Gelu shrugged. “For 100,000 years, at least.”

The second female Skrall turned. “Our land is one where people of every tribe must be brought together to find a new life,” she said softly. “Where new solutions must be found… or else we will revert to the brutality of the past… Here in this arena we strive to moderate and mediate our conflicts.” She smiled. “I, Veonai, welcome you to our home. I hope Drutka…”

Her voice trailed off. A look of puzzlement came over her, and she looked at Orde.

“Your powers…”

“I felt them too,” said Drutka, the wayfarer.

“You two are impressive,” Orde remarked. “Such secure minds are rare even where I come from, much less here on Spherus Magna.”

“As telepaths, skill of the mind was necessary for us to learn,” Veonai replied.

“Telepaths?” Chiara interjected. “Why would these Glatorian hold psionic powers? Mata Nui never ventured to Bota Magna.”

“From birth, the female of the Skrall kind were granted special psionic abilities. Powers unique even compared to the elements of Spherus Magna.”

“Only the females?” Orde asked.

“Indeed,” Veonai nodded. “Only the females.”

Orde staggered.

“But as quickly as it was given, it was taken away,” Drutka added softly. “All at once, not so long ago. It is why I can no longer protect Gelu or other Core War survivors as we travel through the Field of Mists.”

“There must be a way for us to unlock our latent powers once again,” Veonai mused. Nodding at Orde, she said, “You are obviously a creation of the Great Beings… which means that the legend of the Elder Sister of Psionics is true, and they did reverse-engineer our skill.”

Drutka’s eyes widened. “We have to send scouts to the Valley of the Maze.”

“Can you guide us to the Great Beings?” Chiara asked. “We seek the Spirit Forge, but Drutka says our guide won’t be much help in the tundra.”

“We wouldn’t have even known about the Spirit Forge if I hadn’t led us into the Vorox trap,” Gelu muttered fiercely.

“Creations of the Great Beings seeking to return to them,” Veonai frowned. “Few on this planet seek the Spirit Forge. Most would sooner see it and its occupants fall off the edge of the world. As for the tundra, it is not nearly so harsh and unforgiving as before the planet was healed, but it still holds its share of danger.”

She gestured to Drutka. “You will be led through the most hostile stretches of the ice tribe’s land. When you have reached the outskirts of the Forge, you must proceed alone.”

✴        ✴        ✴

As the travelers were leaving to get supplies, Orde could be heard turning to Chiara. “Now I know there’s more to the story of the Ce-Matoran than I’ve been told… We must get to the Spirit Forge. I have to know the truth.”

When they were gone, Drutka looked at Veonai. “They have come in search of the Great Beings. But the Great Beings do not lie hidden at the Spirit Forge. None knows where they went.”

“The Spirit Forge will not help them in this, no,” Veonai nodded. “But something tells me that the quests that lead them to the Spirit Forge are ones they have each been on for most of their lives. For their sake, not their mission’s, they must be brought there.”