Yes, I'm aware that all eighteen Skeksis, urRu, and urSkeks have been revealed now. I've seen them on the official Dark Crystal website. Doesn't mean we still can't have fun with OCs.
skekTah, urTao, and TahTao belong to me. The rest belongs to Jim Henson.
The Dark Crystal: Visions of the Start and the End
Old
The golden being in front of him was almost blinding in its radiance. Tall, almost Gelfling-like in stature, with a large head and long spidery five-fingered hands. Its long, intricately decorated robes refracted golden light, spilling into pools of radiance along the floor. It was a dazzling and beautiful sight.
It made his yellow eyes hurt. He backed away, hissing warningly.
The golden being approached him soundlessly. No footsteps were required when you never had to walk. It reached out with those long hands to frame his beak. Its touch was warm and pleasant, familiar.
He pulled back and hissed, lashing his tail, flashing the claws on his two primary and two vestigial sets of arms. The spines on his tail rose, rattling against his graying skin in a song of danger. He snapped with his toothy beak, hoping to drive the being away.
The being was unfazed. It drifted forward, unafraid of the teeth and claws. He did not doubt that the golden being heard the song of his tail, saw the flash of his claws. The being simply did not care. There was no fear in it.
Only the urge to witness and touch half of itself.
He hissed, trying to back up further, but his hunched form collided with something solid behind him. This world was mostly featureless, a blank gray that made the being before him seem even more bright and beautiful. It made him sick with jealousy.
Yet it also reminded him of the imperfections that caused this being, and others like it, to be thrown from their home and onto Thra two Great Conjunctions ago.
The imperfections that inevitably destroyed them one Great Conjunction later.
The events were hazy in his mind. It was better to forget. This being no longer existed, only a figment in his mind and the mind of his other half. This was just a twisted apparition of what they once were.
Yet the long fingers tracing his beak felt real, gliding along the wrinkled flesh of his cheek that came with 300 trine worth of existence. Fingers darted along the simple lacy collar of his sleeping gown, devoid of his usual opulent layers of robes. He felt small and weak, powerless against this being of pure golden light.
"Two," the golden being said.
"One," he echoed, his voice a broken croak of terror.
He never wanted to be one again. He liked being two. He liked being him. If they became one, he'd stop existing. He'd die. He'd…
"skekTah," the golden being said. "Wake up."
skekTah opened his eyes. The canopy of his bed greeted his vision. The blank gray world and the golden being—TahTao, he'd almost forgotten their name, TahTao—was gone. He was back in his ornate room in the Castle of the Crystal, safe and sound and two.
Skeksis.
Not urSkek.
Skeksis.
He sat up, large hands running over himself. His gray flesh sagged in places from age, hidden by lotions and creams and oils of all kinds supplied to him by the Ornamentalist. His vestigial arms curled tightly against the sides of his curved spine, capable of so little motion now from hundreds of trine worth of disuse. The spines along his back curled down with gravity, the opposite of the straight motion-gifted spines that grew amongst the hairs on his long tail. His eyes were yellowed, his beak was short and curved.
He was himself. skekTah, a Skeksis, an esteemed member of the Skeksis Court, servant of the great Emperor skekSo. Two, not one.
He forced himself not to think about urTao in the Valley of the Stones. The urRu was gone, not here. He hadn't seen the other face to face in anything but dreams since the division 300 trine ago. He had no interest in seeing urTao again either.
The Dying Sun was rising high into the sky, chased by its brothers beneath the horizon. It was early morning, maybe an hour before the morning meal. No doubt the rest were up, with the exception of skekOk the Scroll-Keeper, the only Skeksis who came to events even later than he did.
skekTah rose from bed, fetching his robes. Like the rest, he wore many layers to cover up his aging, wasting body. No Gelfling or Podling would be impressed to see sagging flesh and bulging bellies and vestigial arms. No, they were used to the giant, impressive, powerful, well-dressed lords of the Crystal Castle that they had known and worshipped for 300 trine. No need to show them any different.
Pulling on the heavy layers of black cloth, white cotton, and tanned leather that made up his robes, he reached across his table for his mantle. Covered in curved but sharp spikes and made from the thick, yet blessedly lightweight, black shelling of an ancient crustacean beast from the Silver Sea, skekTah had carved out holes into the spikes to bear shining baubles and hooks and trinkets. Last, he buckled his belt carrying various pouches and tools to his outer vest.
Lightly layering his face with creams to smoothen out his wrinkles and smearing a light oil across his beak to make it shine, skekTah collected his book of notes and his charcoal pencil and headed out of his room.
The faint light of the Dying Sun poured into the windows lining the long halls and large rooms of the castle. It was soft enough not to blind and bright enough to light the way for the hunched Skeksis. skekTah still needed to squint at times between windows to ensure he wouldn't trip over anything. He despised that his vision seemed to be weakening as he increased in age.
Age.
That was a thing that had begun to worry the Skeksis, the Emperor most of all. It was a thing none of them had thought about 300 trine ago after the division occurred and the urRu were driven from the castle. Now, as their flesh wrinkled and sagged, as joints ached and walking grew harder, it became a thought at the forefront of many Skeksis' minds.
skekTah was no exception here. With every lumbering step, his knees and hips sent out bolts of pain. It was not as crippling as skekNa's currently were, thankfully. The hook-handed Skeksis could scarcely get up on his own most mornings now, requiring the help of his allies—skekUng and skekTek—just to get out of bed.
skekTek the Scientist was scouring every available option as a means of reducing the pain in his fellows. Lately, whispers said that the Emperor had even tasked him to find a way to slow their aging down. That would certainly be a useful and celebrated solution.
If it was even found.
skekTah reached the dining hall, where most of the other Skeksis were. The scene before him was familiar. Things rarely changed in the castle.
skekSil the Chamberlain wheedled to the Emperor, reaping the benefits of being the favorite. skekAyuk the Gourmand and skekEkt the Ornamentalist also basked in the attention of being part of the ruling alliance. skekSo the Emperor, though tired, carried his voice with the strength of a creature who had ruled successfully and carefully for 300 trine. Nobody had dared to try usurping him after the cracking of the Great Crystal during the division. The Emperor had won every challenge waged against him, whether serious or in jest.
Closer to the dining tables laden with various dishes steaming from the Gourmand's kitchens was skekUng and skekNa, along with skekTek the Scientist. While most Skeksis bore titles, some did not yet do anything notable enough to gain one. skekUng and skekNa were two of these. Association with the Scientist tended to sway public favor into a more positive tone toward them within the court, naturally. Why the three of them had allied together was a rather large mystery, though many believed the Scientist went after skekUng and skekNa for muscle since skekTek was rather scrawny and weak on his own.
Near them was skekZok the Ritual-Master, tailed by skekShod the Treasurer and skekLi the Satirist. Of course skekOk the Scroll-Keeper, a member of skekZok's alliance, was missing. It was surprising to find the Satirist, usually drifting between alliances, sticking around skekZok. The stuffy Ritual-Master rarely tolerated the humorous jokes and pranks that the Satirist tended to pull on those around him. skekTah wondered if there was a deal between them currently.
It would be worth investigating later. skekTah recognized when he was being summoned and moved accordingly.
skekVar the General was waving him over. skekTah moved over to his alliance closer to the far end of the chamber, isolated from the rest. skekSa the Mariner, title-less skekGra, and title-less skekMal were with him. Close by was skekLach the Census Taker, who also drifted between alliances as skekLi did. Today, it appeared he had drifted to skekVar's group rather than skekZok's.
"Note-Taker," skekVar greeted.
That was skekTah's title—Note-Taker. He tended to work in conjunction with skekOk, sometimes even skekLach. Yet he was allied firmly with skekVar, who had nothing to do with his profession.
Early on after the division, skekTah hadn't been part of any alliance at all. He'd seen the rivalries between fellows, like skekUng and skekSil, and decided to not participate. This left him out for a lot of things but opened the castle up to his frequent free roaming. His loyalty lay to the Emperor and the Emperor alone.
Yet having no alliance meant having very few allies. skekLi had been a close companion in those many lonely trine, having never really joined an alliance either. skekOk had tempted him multiple times to join skekZok's alliance and to bring skekLach in with him so that all three were allied together. The rest of the Skeksis paid skekTah little mind, beaks buried in their own business.
It had been skekHak the Machinist who had brought him into an audience with skekVar. The Machinist, forever hidden in his workshop beneath the castle due to a head injury sustained during the division, had befriended the Note-Taker early on in their reign over Thra. Together, they passed information between each other and learned. It had been skekHak who had fashioned most of the baubles and trinkets that now hung from skekTah's mantle, as well as crafting the tools that skekTah fell back on to do the less pleasant parts of his job.
The General, swayed by skekHak, had promptly declared skekTah as part of his alliance. The Note-Taker had argued and threatened at first. It had been many dozen trine before he admitted that remaining alone, even with skekLi's company at times, was a tiresome chore. So skekTah surrendered his self-appointed loner status and became a close ally to the more militaristic members of the Skeksis Court.
It had been strange at first. Most alliances bore similarities in their members. skekSil's alliance brought out the primary necessities of castle life—food, clothing, and politics. skekZok's focused on religion and recordkeeping. skekUng, the most leader-like in skekTek's alliance despite being title-less, tried to focus his own alliance on assisting the Scientist's efforts in the laboratory. skekVar's was primarily based in military and travelling beyond Skarith, the land their castle occupied.
To have a Note-Taker amongst the military and not the recordkeeping alliance was certainly a shock. He'd received strange looks for quite a while from his fellows. skekOk had kept his distance and refused to speak to him for a trine before the rigors of their jobs forced them to reconcile and work together amicably. skekLach, thankfully, had never been an issue for the Note-Taker.
"General," skekTah bowed his head respectfully. skekVar was higher rank and more favored than him, so it was best to show much respect to the larger Skeksis. "You needed me?"
skekVar nodded, mouth furrowing into a frown. "I haven't heard from skekHak in a few days."
skekTah frowned too. He also hadn't heard from the Machinist, though it never usually was a point of worry.
To keep up the illusion that, like poor skekYi, skekHak had died during the division, the Emperor had set up a special system to keep the Machinist alive but undetected by the likes of Aughra. Food was brought down to him by a special group of Podling servants that were heavily monitored by the Gourmand, never leaving the castle or encountering anyone but Skeksis. Their sole job was to keep the Machinist fed, nothing else.
"Have you spoken with the Gourmand? Or the Podlings that visit skekHak?" skekTah asked.
"Yes and yes. skekAyuk hasn't seen him and the Podlings can't get into his room. The door is locked," skekVar explained. "skekGra, skekMal, and I went down yesterday to speak with him. We heard nothing."
"Nothing?" skekTah questioned.
"Nothing," the General confirmed. "No machines grinding. No metal being worked. I couldn't even smell anything burning in there. There's no sound, Note-Taker."
No sound wasn't good. skekHak's room was always a place of loud noise and acrid scents. For none of that to permeate those subterranean halls beneath the castle certainly brought up warning bells in skekTah's mind.
"Have you told the Emperor?" skekTah asked.
"Not yet. I thought maybe you could get in and see what was wrong first," skekVar reasoned, eyeing one of the heavy pouches on skekTah's belt. "In case we're overreacting over nothing. The Emperor has enough on his plate right now to be bothered by this."
"Good point," skekTah conceded. "I'll go after the meal and see if anything is wrong. I'll bring a Podling and send it to you if anything is amiss."
skekVar seemed to relax at that. He nodded, a grateful smile curling onto his beak.
A bell rang and the Gourmand shuffled away quickly to the kitchens. Breakfast was ready. Gelfling guards of various clans, mostly the umber-skinned Spriton, brought out steaming dishes of flesh and plants found all over Thra—roasted Nebrie, sweet mintvine, and delicious Crawlies were just some of the delectable dishes. skekAyuk had outdone himself once again.
skekTah gratefully partook in some mintvine. The sweet plant was a personal favorite of the Note-Taker's and worked much like a calming agent on him. With the worrying news about skekHak, the Note-Taker didn't dare withhold himself from indulging in the plant.
He didn't participate in any of the political chatter that engulfed a good portion of the court. The Chamberlain was concerned about the upcoming winter months and the low crop output that some of the Gelfling tribes had brought in. The Ritual-Master brought up the issue of a small rebellion still thriving in the eastern mountains under the influence of Aughra's troublemaking son, Raunip. The Scientist reported about a mixture of fizzgig blood, crystal dust, and Nebrie milk that seemed to take some of the edge off of their joint pains, though no veritable progress was found for any long-lasting pain relief or anti-aging serums.
skekTah regularly finished last during meals, preferring to slowly savor the taste and flavors in respect for skekAyuk. Today was an exception. He rather swiftly inhaled most of his meal, took a fistful of mintvine for later, and vacated the table. He gained a few odd looks for his likely-rude behavior but the Note-Taker did not care. His concern for skekHak, his first true ally, was overwhelming.
He left the dining room and circled the halls around the Crystal Chamber, where the now-dark Great Crystal hung suspended by its own gravity. He did not step into the chamber. There was no need.
Breaking from his path, he went down a series of corridors that began to gradually slope downward until he reached a set of stairs carved into the rock beneath the castle. Being careful not to slip or overbalance himself, skekTah slowly went down them as he descended into the depths of the mountain that the Crystal Castle had been formed from over 1000 trine ago when they were one. The temperature dropped here, away from the light and warmth of the three sun brothers, making skekTah shiver despite the many layers he wore.
He reached a long corridor extending into the darkness. Most required a torch to see down it. Without sunlight, skekTah could use his other unique gift.
The other Skeksis did not bear the spines on their tails that skekTah had. A unique gift, if a dangerous one. skekTah frequently stayed at the back of lines or processions to avoid having his tail tread on and stabbing others' feet with the spines, which rose based on emotions or if pressure was applied to them. So far, nobody knew about his tail.
The other Skeksis also did not have the night vision that skekTah had. Or at least, he had yet to hear of anyone else saying they had such a thing. The world was tinted slightly green as he advanced, his eyes adjusting to the total darkness. He could already see the intricately designed iron door on the other end of the hall, depicting glorious battles and various beasts clashing against armored Skeksis and Gelfling fighting side by side.
skekHak the Machinist's room.
He reached the door and knocked once. The sound reverberated loudly against the stone walls, bouncing around before fading on its way up the stairs. skekTah shifted, pressing his slit of an ear against the cold iron and straining his hearing, listening closely.
No sound, just as skekVar had said.
He knocked twice more, waiting for a minute in-between in a bid to hear anything moving within the room. There was still nothing. He growled before turning to address the Podling.
…Which he had forgotten to grab on his way down…
skekTah growled in frustration. He'd let his concern swallow him so much that he forgot such a critical detail! How foolish he felt now.
Fine! Forget the Podling! He would just go in and check on skekHak himself. He had planned to, anyway. He would just have to make the slow journey back upstairs to deliver his findings to skekVar on his own. That was fine. skekTah was certain he could do this.
He dug through one of his pouches until he pulled out a few dark-colored metal keys. Though he was the Note-Taker, he also served as an impromptu spy and information broker at times. He'd learned the art of metalworking from skekHak a century ago and from it, he managed to fashion keys to get into locked rooms. He had quite a few to get into the rooms of other Skeksis, particularly his allies if they needed to deliver things to one another without being caught by others. skekTah thanked his unremarkable nature and the others' tendency to ignore his presence.
Though the keys had initially been made from a desire to help check up on skekHak.
Ten trine ago, he'd found skekHak collapsed on the floor of his room, barely able to breathe. He'd only gotten into the room back then because skekVar and skekUng had torn out the bolts and hinges in order to collapse the door, it having been locked to keep others out. skekHak liked his privacy.
It had nearly cost the Machinist that day. skekTek had said that if they had come a hour later, skekHak would've died. Back then, nobody was quite sure what had caused skekHak to collapse. Today, age was pinned to blame for the incident.
Shoving the key into the lock, skekTah twisted it and smiled when a sharp click unlocked it. Withdrawing the key and returning it to his pouch, the Skeksis pushed the heavy iron door open and walked in. His night vision painted the scene in the dark room for him.
skekHak's tools were left on a table. Pages were scattered about, on the tables and the floor, in a haphazard manner. Some worked metal sat in buckets of water, cooled into their desired shapes by the temperature change. The melting cauldron had its lid on and still radiated heat, warming the room against the chill of the underground. Most of the objects looked like they hadn't been touched in days, covered in a fine layer of dust.
The low cot in the far corner bore a large lump on it, covered thickly in the faded browns and blacks that marked skekHak's usual decor. skekTah approached the cot warily, straining his ears. Wheezed breaths greeted him, soft but painful-sounding. It made skekTah's heart shoot into his throat.
He reached the cot and moved to pull the blankets—and robes, he noted most of these were skekHak's heavy outer robes—back to reveal skekHak. The other was curled into the best ball that a rickety old Skeksis could manage. The Machinist was shaking, face hidden in his clawed four-fingered hands, beak open to try and drag in more air. He looked far older than the rest of the Skeksis did by a mile, bearing more wrinkles and body pains.
"skekHak," skekTah said gently, grasping a bony shoulder. "skekHak, wake up."
"Huh?" skekHak jolted, joints creaking as he uncurled, only to curl again with a violent shiver. He was drenched in sweat. "What? skekTah?"
"You've been down here for days. The Podlings couldn't get in. Why did you lock the door?" skekTah asked, going slow to avoid swamping his fellow with too many questions. "skekVar came down a few times and said you never answered."
"He did? When? I…" skekHak blinked, eyes straining through his eye coverings. "I… skekTah, I can't…"
"Can't what? skekHak, are you hurting?" skekTah asked, ready to haul the Machinist up and carry him to skekTek's laboratory if he needed to, aching limbs be damned.
skekHak nodded, waving skekTah away weakly when the Note-Taker moved to help him up. "No point. Over. Done for. Just go."
"What are you talking about? skekHak, get up," skekTah urged, again trying to pull skekHak from bed. "Get up. I'm taking you to skekTek. He'll help you."
"Can't help me. Too late. Should've known. We all should've known. Ten trine. First clue. Can't, can't, can't!" skekHak choked, buried his beak in his hands with a ragged gasp.
"skekHak, what are you talking about?" skekTah demanded. He wished he had a Podling here. He didn't want to leave the Machinist alone now, not with him like this. "skekHak, for the love of Thra, get up!"
"Can't walk. Can't move," skekHak said.
"skekHa—"
"skekTah, what's going on?"
The Note-Taker spun in relief, overjoyed to hear another voice, however gruff and harsh it sounded. Standing in the lit doorway of skekHak's room was skekMal, looking baffled. The other Skeksis moved deeper into the room, freezing when he saw skekHak.
"Go and get skekTek! skekHak says something is wrong with him but he won't tell me," skekTah begged. "He says he can't walk or move! Hurry!"
skekMal wasted no time, leaving the room and lumbering up the stairs as fast as his aching legs would go. He didn't just tell skekTek. He screeched it into the Crystal Chamber where the rest were. They echoed his message to every corner of the castle until it had reached every Skeksis ear. When skekMal returned to the dark room below the castle, torch in hand, he was followed by the rest of the court.
skekTah had to squint until his night vision was replaced with his regular vision. skekHak had thrashed and cried out when skekMal left. Now the Machinist lay flat on his back, breathing labored, sweat peppering his wrinkled face. The Note-Taker had dabbed it away with the sleeve of his outermost robe but the fluid refused to stop leaking from skekHak's skin.
He stepped aside, making way for the Scientist and the Emperor. skekTek examined every inch of the ailing Machinist, poking and prodding and judging skekHak's reactions based on tests performed on aging Gelfling and Podlings. His expression was grim when he turned to face the rest of the court.
"He's dying," skekTek said.
Death was something the Skeksis had witnessed many times before. It happened to Gelfling and Podlings, to fizzgigs and other creatures. Plants died frequently. Most of their meals were alive before skekAyuk received them to make their meals, butchering the beasts to make a delectable assortment of dishes from their remains.
The only Skeksis death to occur was skekYi and that was 300 trine ago during the division. His urRu counterpart had plunged down the shaft beneath the Great Crystal and was incinerated in the lava far below. skekYi had combusted in front of them. There hadn't even been a scream.
But this was different. It was no fast death. This was from age. 300 trine and skekHak was dying because of it. There was no cure and no relief. Just death.
"Fix him!" skekVar suddenly roared, shaking the Scientist.
"I-I can't! There's no cure! It happens to everything!" skekTek squawked.
"Then we will die like this too?!" skekVar demanded.
That sent a chill through the rest. All eyes fell on skekHak, whose breathing suddenly turned shallow. His wretched frame, hidden only by a gray gown, looked so thin and small without all of his robes. The wrinkles on his face, the way the skin seemed to cling and accentuate every bone, every vein, it was all so horrible.
Nobody wanted that. Not age. Not death. Never. Not like this. It couldn't end like this.
skekTah slowly inched forward, grasping one of those bony hands in both of his. He couldn't look at his own hands now, knowing they looked similar to skekHak's. If he looked in a mirror tomorrow, without all of his fancy robes, would he look just like skekHak did now?
skekHak was saying something but it was so soft that it was borderline inaudible. The Note-Taker moved closer, straining his ears. skekHak's yellow eyes swiveled to him and his beak opened to repeat the message.
A croak escaped the Machinist's throat before he went limp. The fingers lost their grip on skekTah's hands. Breath ceased to come.
skekTah quickly jumped back, releasing skekHak's hand when the dead Skeksis' beak suddenly cracked, splitting in two. The rest of the court stood back, eyes wide, fanged jaws gaping, as they watched skekHak crumble into sour gray dust and empty robes.
skekHak was gone.
Panic brewed. skekZok, keeper of rituals and ceremonies, moved to gently collect the remains. The Emperor led the procession slowly up the stairs into the throne room. While the Ritual-Master returned to his own chambers to formulate how best to honor their fallen brother, the rest of the court let their fears fly loose to the open air.
"skekHak is dead!"
"We're going to die like that too!"
"Why must we, lords of the crystal, be afflicted with this condition?"
"skekTek, do something!"
"Emperor, there must be a cure!"
"SILENCE!"
The Emperor's bellow silenced the rest. He turned, swinging his scepter like a sword. His gaze landed on the Scientist, who cowered on trembling legs.
"We will not need to panic! skekTek is working exclusively on a cure for this!" skekSo declared. "This will be cured! Have no fear! Another will not die from age as skekHak did under my rule! This, I decree!"
The Emperor punctuated this with a heavy slam of his scepter against the floor.
skekTek quickly raced away to put aside the rest of his research. He had been tasked to cure this aging condition and he could not afford to fail under the Emperor's decree. If another died under the Emperor's rule like this, the Scientist would inevitably be brought down with him.
skekTah had lingered behind the rest of the pack, still in shock. Only minutes ago, skekHak had been speaking to him, touching him. Now…skekHak was dead…
And urHom along with him…
Did urTao mourn urHom, as skekTah was mourning skekHak right now? Did emotional states carry over the same way pain did? Somehow, he really hoped so.
He barely registered skekVar patting his shoulder, muttering condolences for the other's death. skekTah didn't really register anything. The Note-Taker felt numb.
It was an emotion that the future Schemer would learn to take in stride, several hundred trine from then…