The Return of Talgroth
By Magus732
It started out as a typical day for the Storm Hawks; the sun was shining, the skies were clear, Piper and Finn were fighting over whose turn it was to use the record player, and Stork stood at the helm. Max and Starling joined the rest of them on the bridge, and they all turned to Max with a look of dread.
"What?" The Onyxian stared defiantly, not sure what happened. They resumed their normal activities, all except Aerrow, who stood up from the meeting table to approach the older pair.
"Max, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?" Max's eyebrow shot up, and with a commanding nod, Starling walked over to join Piper at the table. The pair of Sky Knights walked off the bridge, and Aerrow stopped in the hallway, waiting until after the door closed to start talking.
"What do you know about Talgroth?" Max stared with disbelief; no one talked about Talgroth, if they knew what was good for them. However, against his better judgment, Max spilled the beans on the name.
"I know enough to stay away... you should too, Aerrow..."
"I can't help but wonder what happened to him... I mean, he just vanished one day, and-"
"If you're suggesting he's still alive, think again... the bastard's been dead for 780 years..." Max, now fearing he'd said too much, tried to leave. Aerrow brazenly blocked his path.
"Who was he? Piper said something about his return being soon, but I can't find anything on him in any of our books..."
"Of course not... he was a ruler on Onyx... a very hated ruler..."Aerrow leaned against the wall, preparing for one of Max's notoriously long stories. When he realized the redhead wasn't gonna let this go, Max sighed and began.
"800 years ago, a man by the name of Talgroth came to power on Terra Onyx... don't bother looking for him in any books... you won't find him, and for good reason; he was a heartless, sadistic tyrant...
"In a span of only 4 years, he killed 60,000 men, women and children, trying to drive them away from his palace... historians believe he was not only insane, but extremely so... statues of Talgroth slicing a faceless victim's neck were put up all through the palace courtyard... a man-made stream, rife with blood, ran through his bedroom... and when, after 20 years of pain and misery, he was finally overthrown, he swore he would return one day, which will be in exactly..." He looked at a clock on the wall. "... 12 hours and 7 minutes." Aerrow eyed him suspiciously, but elected not to interrupt.
"It's been said that he was a Highlander, but no one knows for sure... almost all the records from that era have been destroyed, memories best forgotten..." He stood back up, and walked toward the bridge. Aerrow stopped him with a question that would come to haunt Max's dreams;
"How do you know so much about him? I mean, since there was so much lost-"
"I... don't know, Aerrow... I've never really thought about him until right now... weird... I must've read some obscure thing or something like that..." He shrugged, clearly confused by the ordeal. By tomorrow morning, their lives would be changed forever.