Prologue
The air was full with smoke and the scent of fire and death. He could hear the screams everywhere. Screams filled with pain and fear.
His village was under attack by an army of... whatever kind of species it consisted of. He didn't know what they were, except they looked like Toa. Dead bodies lay everywhere, whether it was Matoran, Toa or Turaga. They simply didn't care about who they killed. And the massacre had been perfectly planned, since on this very day all inhabitants of Kastra Nui had journeyed to his village, since it was their turn to hold the annual Midsummer festival.
He ran towards one of those beings, his sword raised high. He had almost drained himself of his elemental powers trying to stop these beings, but now he could only rely on the strength he still had left in his sword arm.
His sword clashed with the blade of the being, which had seen his attack coming. They locked blades, which gave him the opportunity to look straight into its eyes. And what he saw shocked him.
The beings orange eyes stared coldly at him, but there was no life behind them. He was caught off guard by this, which gave the being the opportunity to hit him hard in the gut with its fist. The punch felt quite a lot, and he fell to the ground. He quickly jumped back up and parried its next strike. He tried to find an opening to strike at, but no matter how hard he tried, the beings reflexes was too quick for him to get in a hit.
He jumped back a bit to avoid a strike that would have gone through his guts, and then he tried to disarm his opponent. He failed though, and only now did he realize that the being wasn’t holding the sword, it was protruding from its arm.
“By the Great Spirit, what are these things?” he thought, but that moment of hesitation was enough to give the being time to punch him hard in his face. He fell hard on the ground, and when he tried to stand up his body refused due to exhaustion.
As the being came closer to him to deal the final blow, and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop his imminent fate. But before the being could strike him down, a bolt of lightning suddenly hit it, stunning it for a few moments before it turned around to face the source of the lightning. The Toa of Lightning charged another bolt in her hand, and her other hand held her spear tightly.
The being seemed to have forgotten completely about him, and instead was making its way to the other Toa.
“Kirala, no!” he shouted, but the pain he felt just trying to speak made the words come out weakly.
It had been too much for him and he felt he was about to pass out in just a few seconds, but he was able to catch a glimpse of a being that was different from the others, and seemed to be the leader of the army. It was a Makuta, but it wasn’t just any Makuta. This one in particular was known as Narzhul, and of all beings known to him, there was none that were as psychopathic as Narzhul.
The Makuta saw the fallen Toa and locked back with a wicked smile on his face, a smile that made him sick to the core. Then the Makuta started to laugh maniacally. He couldn't keep himself conscious any more, and as he heard one of his friends scream his own name, he passed out.
When he finally woke, he saw there was nothing left of his village. He managed to get up on his legs, and looked around him. All the buildings had burned down, and the only trace left of the massacre was the bodies of the islands inhabitants.
The Matoran which he had sworn to protect. The Turaga that had guided him and the other Toa since the first day they had become Toa. The rest of the Toa which he had served with and considered as brothers and sisters, as well as Kirala whom he had considered his closest friend.
They were all dead, and he had failed them all.
There were no remains of the beings that had attacked them; whether or not some had been defeated they had probably taken their fallen with them.
All he could do now was to gather all the bodies he could find and give them a funeral. But as he sobbingly and heartbroken gathered the bodies, he realized that a few bodies were missing, including one of his comrades and Kirala. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find any trace of them, and it seemed most likely that they had been captured. And if so… then they might as well be already dead, given what he knew of Narzhul’s treatments of prisoners. He could only hope their deaths would be quick and painless, but somehow he got the feeling it was too much to hope for.
Once he had gathered all the bodies he could find, he piled them up and set a fire. A burial worthy of the greatest Toa, which was all he could give the residents which he had failed to protect. As he witnessed the flames rising towards the sky, the sorrow he felt changed into anger, as he looked up in the sky and proclaimed:
“I swear to the Great Spirits above that I will have vengeance on the one who did this! I will find you Narzhul and I will kill you, even if it means I'm breaking the Toa code!”
All he wanted right now was to bring the monster down. He turned around from the scene and walked away. As he walked, he felt tears running down his cheeks. At first he was going to wipe them away, but he decided not to. Until now, he had been the Toa of Gravity from Kastra Nui.
Now he was just Orxon, a former Toa that wanted vengeance on Narzhul. And nothing would stand in his way to bring the monster down…
