Inferno (Short Story)

Inferno: Wexl's Chronicle is a Short Story supplement to Fog: Korym's Annals of the Early Sunsets Arc that was co-authored by BZPower and C.I.R.C.L.E. members Cap'n K & Makar.

Day 1
"Come on, Wexl!" That's how my day started. I was laying on my so very comfortable bed of stone staring up at my eyelids when the piercing voice shattered my eardrums. "Kenzik!" I groaned, rolling to my side, "You're a Matoran of Sonics. That doesn't mean that you get to scream all the time." "Sorry," I heard him chuckle loudly. I opened my eyes and looked out my window, only to see the alabaster-white Kanohi Rau striped with chlorophyll streaks belonging to my loud friend Kenzik. "Don't you remember what day it is?" he shouted, disregarding my former complaint. I scratched my head and stared blankly at him. Kenzik let out a long sigh. "It's the day of the Solstice Festival! How could you have forgotten?" "Solstice Festival? Oh-- right. How could I have forgotten? ...Right. Because it's pointless, maybe?" "You really have no enthusiasm or respect, do you?" Kenzik darkly chuckled. "For plants? No, not that. It's just that the solstice is a really irrelevant time to celebrate, isn't it?" Kenzik paused and thought about my statement. "I guess you could think of it that way. But it's important to respect the plants, you know? They give us everything-- food, shelter--" "Yeah, I know," I groaned. "You're just looking for an excuse to oversleep." "Yeah, I know," I repeated. "Well get out of bed, you sleepy Matoran." He tossed a small rock at my head. I moaned in annoyance. "We need to find Zoryx," he added. I looked out my window perplexedly, and then glanced about my room. "He's not with you? And not hiding, trying to scare me?" "No, probably off rock lifting underwater." I typically wouldn't believe Zoryx wasn't prepared to jump out and scare me out of my armor, but I sincerely believed the rock lifting excuse. He was always off toning his muscles; the Matoran was always trying to improve his strength. You would think he was a Po-Matoran, if he wasn't doing it underwater. I stood up and walked towards my doorway, only to be knocked off my feet by a mass of muscle clad in aqua and navy armor. "Karzahni!" I hissed as I hit the ground, my heart racing. I looked up to find Zoryx's Kanohi Calix smirking down at me. "Ha! You believed Kenzik! That lie gets you every time. I'm surprised you haven't learned by now." He let out a low chuckle. The two Matoran proceeded to laugh hysterically as I inspected my sore body to ensure I hadn't broken a bone... or four. After the two got over their sick joke, I stood up and pushed the muscular Zoryx out the door. Or at least tried to-- he only moved a few inches. I would have thought that he would be angered at least slightly, but he only chuckled again. "Now look who's trying to be tough!" They both laughed at me-- again-- and we proceeded out of my house and towards the heart of Onurak Nui. Along the way, we passed Matoran of all colors, all streaked with their green chlorophyll lines that allowed them to photosynthesize, and all getting ready for the festival. The decorations were all extravagant, more intricate and superfluous than any year before. "Hey, there," a female Matoran covered in red armor shouted at us. "Karzahni, it's Rukoua," I muttered under my breath, "is she actually coordinating this thing again." "Yep, as always," Kenzik sighed a bit too loudly. He didn't realize that everyone wasn't hearing-impaired from too much loud music. "I heard that," hissed the Matoran wearing the Hau covered in green tentacles. I felt my heart racing as she moved towards our group, her breath becoming more potent in the air with every step. "Wexl. Zoryx. Deafzik. Morning. You guys can... bring some food. Don't screw it up." "Oh, really funny Rukoua," Kenzik spat. "We can handle food," I quickly said to avoid Rukoua's presence, and breath, any further. I turned to walk away, and heard a familiar voice behind me. "Bye, Wexl," said the cool voice of Amaran from behind me. My heartlight flashed and I spun around clumsily. "Oh... bye, Amaran," I gasped awkwardly, "I didn't see you..." "Yeah, she was blocked by one of those slimy appendages." Kenzik remarked with sarcasm in his voice. Rukoua's eyes narrowed at him. "I'll see you at the Solstice Festival," Amaran said sweetly. "Yeah... bye," I stuttered. Walking away, Zoryx sharply punched me in the arm. "You have such a thing for her." "I do not..." I groaned defensively. I decided to change the subject. "What about Kenzik's 'thing' for Rukoua?" Kenzik shot me a glare, his eyes like twin daggers. "I would never even talk to that squid-headed freak if I didn't have to." "He's in love!" I exclaimed dramatically, waving my arms wildly. He promptly pushed me and I fell to the dusty ground. My balance isn't really acute. The day went by quickly as the three of us gathered random fruit from the forest outlining the village: bright red shuuna berries with their tart flavor, intensely sweet bluka berries with their impenetrable shells, soft orange laka berries with a surprisingly bitter taste, and anything else that grew on tree, vine, or bush. We also found the rather spicy helip berry that Kenzik claimed he would give to Rukoua. The scary part was that I believed him. We decided to veto the idea until after the festival. At one point I caught a glimpse of Amaran, her armor sparking in the sunlight, as she hung decorations on the trees around us. She noticed my stare and returned it with a smile. I turned my head away quickly, embarrassed. The day passed normally after that, and to my dismay I discovered that we had consumed more berries than we had gathered. I slapped the back of Zoryx's head as I caught him tasting a sweet siika, and showed him the meager supply of fruit in the container we carried. When we finished our almost pointless job, we had only gathered a dozen berries. The sun had almost reached the horizon, and I had decided it would be better if we stayed away from Rukoua rather than showing her our pathetic collection. We tried to sneak away back to my hut, but as we were about to go through the doorway, I heard that shrill ugly sound. "Let's see what you've accomplished." We all reluctantly turned to her, Kenzik holding the nearly empty container. Rukoua's brow furrowed. "Show me your tongues." We slowly opened our mouths, and revealed our tongues of red, blue, and orange to her. She looked as if she were about to burst into flame in her anger, but then cooled down. "Well, I expected this. That's why you weren't the only ones assigned to gather fruit. I just wanted to get rid of you all for the day. By the way, the festival begins at twilight. Be ready." Having a bit of time to kill, the three tossed a rock around with our feet. Zoryx claimed his tribe had already made up the game, and they called it "hackeyrock". After we had worked off the lethargy from overeating, and I had stumbled and fell my share of times, the sun had gone down. "Guys. The sky is purple. Shouldn't we--" "Karzahni, we're late!" Kenzik shouted. The three of us rushed to the town square, anxious to get the festivities. It was thankfully not more than a minute's sprint from my village-- I still managed to fall once or twice. Once we were there, the festival had just begun. Matoran played instruments made of bamboo, danced, ate, and played. The annual sapling had already begun to sprout in the center of the ground. It must have been planted already; the sapling was always planted and reached its' peak high in the sky by midnight, urged to grow by the chanting of all the Matoran Onuka. The three of us quickly diffused into the crowd, all doing different things. I noticed Kenzik toss a small pebble at the back of an attractive female Ko-Matoran's head. "Hey," he shouted, "Need me to oil your gears?" She took off her mask and waved it at him, a highly disrespectful gesture. "That's what I thought," he shouted, and angrily stalked off. I saw Zoryx at the start of an open field to the left of the square, challenging a few Po-Matoran to a rock throwing competition. "Ain't no Ga-Matoran never beat one of us," said a particulaly bulky Matoran of Stone. Zoryx let out a muttered laugh, then threw a large boulder farther than I'd ever seen. The Po-Matoran gaped at Zoryx who had a satisfied grin on his mask. Yet my two friends weren't the target I was looking for. My eyes darted about, searching for the Le-Matoran Amaran. After a few minutes of searching, I relaxed by a large woven basket, that was more of a cauldron, full of berries of all sorts. I glanced enviously at it, but took out a berry and tasted it in my mouth. I absorbed the energy and spat out the fruit's carcass. I then felt a friendly poke on the back and looked guiltily at the juicy skin I had just spat out. "Hey!" I heard Amaran exclaim. "Hi!" I said a bit too enthusiastically, pivoting around and hiding the gross consumed fruit with my foot. I practically slipped to the ground when I stepped on it, but managed to stay rooted to the ground to avoid humiliation. Amaran laughed politely and made nothing of it. "Nice festival, eh?" "Yes," I said, "It's great... the, um... decorations look nice." "Yeah, they took long enough to put up, especially with Rukoua yelling at us if we hung it up wrong." "Yeah, I saw you and the others... putting them up." "I saw you picking berries, you guys did a good job. Look at all the berries around us." I laughed silently at the fact that she didn't know we only picked twelve berries, while others did most of the work. "You put up the decorations... well," I commented, embarrassed by my awkward and slightly creepy compliment. If she thought it was creepy, she didn't show it. "Thanks," Amaran replied. We stood silently for a moment more. "Well, the music is nice," I suggested, gesturing to a small group of Matoran of all elements playing bamboo drums and flutes. "Yeah," she said, "I used to play bamboo flute." "Really?" I said, "You stopped?" "Well yeah. I got busy with Gukko riding; it took up a lot of time and it was cheaper for lessons." "Really? I didn't know you could fly a Gukko... I'm actually not a bad Gukko rider myself." I didn't mention that I had only ridden a Gukko once, and that was while sitting behind a professional Le-Matoran pilot. "We should go flying some time!" she exclaimed, apparently surprised that a Ta-Matoran could fly. I was pretty surprised too. "...yeah," I said hesitantly. The conversation took off from there. She told me about all of her Gukko flying lessons and asked me what kind of saddle I used. I awkwardly lied, but she didn't notice. After that we began to talk about ourselves, our work, and even our friends. I mentioned the muscular Zoryx and the deaf Kenzik, who had lost his hearing from playing bamboo drums. She said that she usually went around with Rukoua, and when I asked why she told me that Rukoua was actually pretty likable if you got to know her. I didn't tell her, but I wasn't convinced that anyone could get along with Rukoua and her tentacled scalp. I got less awkward as the night went on, becoming more comfortable around her. We were in the middle of a discussion about the ceremonial vine that had grown up to a height of nearly five bio and already began to sprout bulbs by now that around midnight would begin to flash and change colors when the sky grew darker and more overcast. Eventually, thunder sounded in the distance and a light drizzle of rain began. I heard many groans from the various Matoran in the crowd when it happened, but they were assured by a shouting Rukoua that the Festival would go on, rain or shine. This prompted several more groans from the Matoran. "Let's get some shelter," persisted Amaran. I didn't argue. We retreated from the crowd in Town Square and ducked beneath two trees which grew leaning together, forming a shelter from the rain. Looking at the position and pattern of the trees made my heart skip. "There, this is better," Amaran said, "The chant is going to begin soon... once the vine reaches the sky. Do you want to join it?" "Not particularly," I chuckled, "I was never really a fan of the Solstice Festivals, really." "To tell you the truth," said she, "I haven't either. I only pretend to because Rukoua can be quite... convincing. If you know what I mean." I laughed, and told her I definitely knew what she meant. After a few minutes, the temperature grew considerably colder and I noticed that Amaran was sitting merely inches away from me now. Whether it was me or her moving, I have never been sure. What I am sure of is that she repositioned herself to be sitting right up against me, and I curled my arms around her to shield her from the cold. Amaran looked up at me with her violet eyes glowing intensely, and a grin spread across her face as the Matoran began to gather around the ceremonial vine. The bulbs had opened, revealing a dim white light in the center of each. The rain by now was a downpour, and the weather was icy-cold. I tightened my grip around Amaran to keep us both warm. "Well, I'm glad I got to know you," she said. "Yeah," I whispered, "me too..." Her face drew rather close to mine, and our eyes closed. Suddenly, we were interrupted by a loud noise. The chant had begun. Our eyes jolted open and Amaran laughed darkly. "They're starting." "Yeah," I said, my heart like a rock in my chest. Looking out of the shelter, I looked at the Matoran circling around the vine that now reached an incredible height. "Wow," I muttered, "look at that." "The vine... look at all the glowing buds on it, like stars... it's beautiful." "Yeah," I said in a daze. "The Matoran look pretty creepy, actually... like their eyes are on fire." The chant was unbearably loud by then. Midnight was approaching. The vine had almost reached its' full height. "You're right," I said, glad that I hadn't joined in the chant. "I'd hate to see what would happen if the vine caught on fire," I said morbidly. But suddenly, I regretted the uttering of these words. It happened so quickly that at first I thought it was my fault, that by saying it that it somehow happened, as if I had suddenly obtained Toa powers. The chanting grew, deafening to me and ear-shattering to a De-Matoran, I had no doubt. It all stopped at the sudden sound, like a thousand threads on a piece of cloth being torn at the seam. The peak of the vine burst into red flame, and all the Matoran stared up in horror at the spreading flame of the unexpected inferno.

Day 2
Fire everywhere. Nobody knew how the flames started, but it was instant paranoia. The flames quickly spread down the vine, causing each of the bulbs which had not yet fully grown to explode like fireworks. Amaran and I looked in horror as the fire spread, both of us planted to the ground, unable to move. Matoran shrieked as the fire spread to nearby trees, alighting the forest. Villagers frantically ran around, trying to escape to the burning inferno. Some were engulfed by it and sprinted off, burning to a slow death. I caught a sickening glimpse of the Matoran that had insulted Zoryx running in circles like a living fireball, his armor and flesh rapidly melting together. Amaran tugged on my arm. "Come on Wexl! We have to go! The tree we're leaning against is on fire." "We have to find Zoryx! And Kenzik!" "There's no time!" she cried. I was relieved to see the muscular blue Matoran dashing towards us. For a moment, I saw a flicker of levity in his eyes when he saw me with Amaran. It instantly faded, and he screamed that we had to run. He took off quickly with us following. Zoryx was too fast for us and we had to strain ourselves to keep up. He turned a corner into a pathway between several huts. I was shocked when I spotted Kenzik curled into a ball, shivering. "Kenzik!" I yelled. "What's wrong with him?" Amaran said. "He's afraid of fire," I explained, "...really afraid. Once his house exploded, and he couldn't get out. His only hope was to curl up and hope someone would come and save him... he was in luck when Zoryx showed up and got him out. He can't even stand the sight of torches ever since." "No time to talk!" Zoryx yelled, "We have to save Kenzik and get out of the fire!" "Right," I agreed, and yelled, "Kenzik! It's okay! We need to run." There was an ominous booming from somewhere in the distance. Whether it was thunder or something caused by the fire I had no idea. The black smoke was so thick that I could barely see five feet in front of me. Zoryx lifted Kenzik to his feet, causing him to jump in surprise. "We have to get out!" Kenzik nodded in a daze. By then, the booming grew. There was something huge coming towards us, I knew it. Those were footsteps. ''Boom. Boom. Boom.'' There was a nearly five-bio silhouette visible through the smoke now, backlit by orange flame. It was humanoid like a Toa, only twice as tall. I could see its' red eyes burning through the smoke, and an axe taller than me in its' hand. "Kenzik! Run!" Zoryx screamed. Kenzik only had time to turn around before the axe came down upon him, the ground shaking thunderously. I happened so quickly, that it appeared as if the giant being had missed. "Run!" Zoryx screamed, but then noticed that the axe had not missed its target. The entire front of Kenzik's body fell forwards to the ground, revealing his internal wiring, skeleton, and organs. My stomach dropped, and Amaran screamed. It was worse than seeing the living fireball. There was no time to be sick, no time to feel sad for our fallen friend. Zoryx grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me along. I clasped onto Amaran's and did the same. Our "train" of Matoran made its' way through the village, now a deathly inferno with burning houses and living fireballs. They were barely visible through the smoke, only a faint outline. "What the Karzahni is going on?" Zoryx asked rhetorically. "I have no idea," I replied, "The vine just... caught fire." "That's really weird. Plants don't just go off spontaneously combusting," Amaran stated. "They do now," Zoryx said darkly, "We have to get to water." "Are you crazy?" I yelled, "We're miles from the sea." "Miles from the sea, yes, but there have got to be rivers and lakes along the way. I say we go the same way we've been walking. I don't want to see that... axe-wielder again." I could hear him shiver through the black smoke. We continued through the smoke covered area, dodging walls of fire along the way. The smoke became lighter as we left the village and ran into the open field of grass. I could hear the faint sound of rushing water about seventy-five bio in front of us. Zoryx began to slow and then eventually stopped completely. "Zoryx! Why are you stopping?!" I shouted. "The heat..." he panted, "...it's too much... I need water." I noticed that Amaran was also panting beside me. I was a Ta-Matoran, and forgotten that the others were sensitive to heat... especially Zoryx, a Matoran of Water. "We're almost there!" I yelled, "We can make it! If you sit here, you'll be... fire-bones! Or something much worse!" Zoryx nodded in agreement and slowly sat up, his breath short. Even though I could see the pain in his face, he still started pulling me along again. We continued through the field, a somewhat short walk seeming like kio and kio. Eventually, the grass around us grew dry and textured like hay, and it wasn't long before the grass was waist-high and on fire in small patches around us. I tried to shout out, but my throat was dry and parched. "We're--almost there," I rasped. "No," Zoryx cried, "I can't--" He either didn't continue speaking, or he was too faint to hear. Either way, he slumped to the ground and fell into the burning grass. "I won't be able to last much longer, Wexl, I wish I..." Her hand was suddenly really heavy as Amaran's body slumped down to the ground, being enveloped by the tall plants like Zoryx. I knew I couldn't make it much further either, but I had to. It was even boiling by my threshold of heat, but I began dragging the two limp bodies through the cauldron of smoke and fire around me. I almost gave up several times, but I pressed myself with happier thoughts... I imagined Zoryx and Kenzik and Amaran and all my other friends and I in a field of snow in Ko-Koro, building sculptures out of snow in the likeness of various Matoran. I impressed Amaran with my sculpture of her, but I fell on it and caused it to collapse. Everyone laughed, and Kenzik dumped a bucketful of snow on my head. We all fell to the ground laughing and bathing in the cold, making figures of angels in the snow around us, the cold intense but safe and harmless, and we were laughing beneath the cloudless blue sky without a care... but then I was on fire, and the snow melted around me, and Amaran and Zoryx were unconscious instead of laughing and I was crawling on my knees, breathing in vile smoke. I was burning. I was on fire. I couldn't make it any further. I'll see you all in Artakha, brothers and sisters... Everything was black. For a while. Then I felt my body being shook by two hands. I strained to open my eyes and when I did I saw a Toa of Air looming over me. Fear bubbled inside of me. "You're causing the fire!" Sudden realization came over me giving me the strength to speak. It all made sense. Toa rarely appeared on Onurak Nui, and now it was in flames. They were the only ones who had the power to do this. Why were they attacking? I thought they were supposed to protect us? "I didn't know!" the Toa cried. He shook the expression of guilt off his Mask of Shielding, and then yelled, "We have to run! You're almost to the water, but your friends won't make it much further!" He lifted up the limp body of Zoryx, and I stumbled to my feet and lifted Amaran, barely getting her off the ground. A light cyan color illuminated us, and I realized I was inside a shield created by the Toa's mask. It didn't do anything to combat the heat, though. I struggled forward, as did the Toa. "I'm Toa Makar," he said, "And I had no idea this would happen. The Order assigned me here to destroy the island which was apparently harmful to Mata Nui, but I didn't know it was inhabited! The Order is... treacherous! This can't be!" His words hit me like hard blocks. Mata Nui would never want to harm innocent Matoran! "I'm Wexl, Matoran of Fire. Are the other Matoran...?" "Dead," Makar said darkly, "The island is covered in plants. There are Toa of Fire all over the place, and the whole island is an inferno by now." A dark outline of trees appeared in front of the sound of the rushing water. We were almost there! A flare of hope ran through me. I noticed that Zoryx had begun to regain consciousness in Makar's arms. We were less than one bio away when the trees in our path violently burst into flames. Makar struggled to maintain his shield as we hit it dead on. The cyan glow immediately vanished, and Makar cried in pain as he flew forward. Zoryx was hurled inches from the flames. I turned around, and saw the Toa who had stricken down Makar looking over his body with a wicked grin on his face. "On the Matoran's side, now? You never made much sense, brother." "Don't call me brother!" Makar shouted, and shot a jet of wind at the Toa. The Toa stood his ground and was only pushed back a few inches. He chuckled as Makar shot at him and wildly threw punches and gusts of air at him. The Toa of Fire wasn't deterred. He returned Makar's punches with one solid blow that sent the Air Toa several bio away into the dark canopy of smoke. "Wexl! Go!" Zoryx screamed, and pushed me through the flaming trees. I couldn't do anything but fly through the trees and see the Toa of Fire approaching the weak form of Zoryx and the limp form of Amaran. Then they were completely out of my view, and I felt a cool sensation envelop me. For a moment, I imagined laying in the snow, and then realized that I was in the water with the world burning above me. I heard a snap and then a flaming tree trunk came down on top of me. After that all I saw was darkness, and the world of sleep consumed me.

Day 3
I awoke to the sound of voices, an eerily calm breeze blowing over me and filling my nostrils with the scent of ash. I'm... alive...? thought I. "They're all gone now?" came a booming voice that woke me from my unconsciousness. The voice was coming somewhere on the shore. I tried to lift the tree trunk that pinned me to the bottom of the shallow stream, but it didn't budge. "Yes, Capko," a high obnoxious voice hissed, "all the freak Matoran were burned in the inferno, the others were taken care of by the axe wielder, you included. Great job. Some of them are split in half." "And what of the traitor?" "Toa Makar, I presume you're speaking of? He's imprisoned at the moment, and sentenced to death. None who sympathize with the enemy can serve the Great Spirit." "Did you find any remains of a short, little Ta-Matoran by the river? His Ga-Matoran friend sent him flying through the flames by the river. I never got a chance to chop the weak creature into pieces." I cringed beneath the heavy tree trunk. "No, we have not. We assume that he had been burned beyond recognition." "Good. We can't have any survivors. They impose a great threat to Mata Nui." "Agreed, my lord," he nastily chuckled. "Agreed? Were you not the one who planted false information in Daxia's records?" "My lord, I didn't--" It sounded as if the underling had been lifted off his feet and held by his throat. "You know well of what you have done, scum. And now that the island is burned to ruins, I have no further use for you." There was a sickening cracking noise, but no scream. His neck had been broken. I instantly became afraid when I realized I took morbid satisfaction in the deaths of one of the agents who had murdered my friends and my home. Capko laughed loudly, and whistled a merry song that I heard until it faded away in the distance. I waited several minutes--which felt like hours--after the whistle faded. Carefully and silently, I pushed with all of my strength. It didn't budge. I pushed harder. It moved a fraction of an inch, just enough for me to wriggle my body to the side and slide out from beneath the burnt tree's tremendous weight. I climbed up onto the rocky ground, and slowly made my way through the charred trees I had been thrown through. I could see the light of day on the other side, and a light mist that had settled on the burnt ground. I pushed my way through the last of the black branches, and looked at the expanse of ravaged, burned land before me. And then I saw them. I saw four lifeless eyes staring at me from charred skeletons that were practically indistinguishable as Matoran. But I knew well who the bodies belonged to. And I knew instantly that I would never again be tackled to the ground by Zoryx, or tell Kenzik to quiet the Karzahni down. I would never ride on the back of a Gukko with Amaran, or wonder why I had to attend the Solstice Festival. I wouldn't even get to make fun of Rukoua's tentacles or her breath, or her potential love for Kenzik. I would never see any Onuka again, or live like I had merely two days before. All that remained was the barren landscape around me, and the charred skeletons of lost friends. I felt my knees go weak and then was on the ground. All the sorrow I had for my friends burst out into dozens of water droplets. A cool wind blew past me, and the silence around me was practically deafening. I was Wexl, the Matoran Onuka, alone on an island that could have been long-abandoned. I was Wexl, but I would never be the same... Ever again. The End?