Chapter One

Major Kane

Major Kane shot up his arm and firmly grabbed onto the rock above, scaling the uneven terrain. After a while, he had expected that his eyes would adjust to the dark, but he found that he could not be more wrong. He could barely see what was in front of him in the dark of night, and had purely relied on fumbling around in the dark. It would have been hard enough just to walk straight without tripping, but somehow he had managed to find his way up the cliff. Gunfire rung out all around him, but he ignored it, swinging up his other arm to latch onto another sturdy rock above him, and pulled himself up higher. He felt the torch in his belt holster jiggle precariously, and he quickly secured it, lest it fell into the depths below. More gunfire echoed from behind him, followed by blood curdling screams. He drew a knife from one of the compartments on his belt, and dug it into the rock above him. Hoisting himself up the last bit of rock, he reached the top of the cliff.

A pitch black cave towered in front of him, blacker than the night that surrounded him, and he could swear that he heard the cave beckoning him. Drawing the torch from his belt holster, Kane struck a match and lit it, holding the torch high to illuminate his surroundings. With one hand clutching the knife and the other wielding the flaming torch, he walked into the dark cave, and the cave seemingly swallowed him whole.

Walking along the dark passages of the cave, Kane moved the torch left and right, examining his surroundings. It looked like the cave had not been entered for many years, as there were cobwebs and dust everywhere. He had better find what he came for. He had spent years waiting to get his hands on the snake totem located in Motunui, one of the many islands in Hawaii. Five years. Five years practicing spells and enchantments would have all been for nothing if he could not find the snake totem to channel the black magic that he had grown a capacity for. With the snake totem, he could easily harness all that energy and focus it in ways that he could only dream of up till this point.

Major Kane pushed a handful of cobwebs out of the way and looked ahead. The passage seemed to be widening into a large opening. He reached the end of the long passageway and entered a spacious empty cavern. His eyes darted around the room looking for the snake totem, until they rested on a small statue in the corner of the cavern. Kane walked towards the statue, hoping that he had found what he was looking for. He latched the torch on a crevice in the wall, and the flaming torch was held in place, leaving both hands free. Reaching the statue, he surveyed it from top to bottom. It was dark grey, made out of marble in the shape of a snake, but it didn't seem to hold the totem that he was looking for.

Doubt crept over the Major, and he picked up the statue. He hurled it against the stony walls of the cavern and it dropped to the ground. Shattering into a million pieces, the sound of the statue breaking echoed throughout the dark cave. Kane walked over to the broken pieces, moving some away with his boot, and below the fragments of marble was a glowing red object.

He stooped down and brushed aside the fragments of the statue with his hand, not caring if his skin was scratched by the sharp pieces of marble. Sure enough, some of the stone fragments latched onto the skin of his fingers, leaving a couple of nasty cuts. Barely flinching, he ignored the pain and picked up the red object. Dusting it off, he looked at it. A thick metal ring with engravings on its side that textured it like snake scales, and on the front of it, a ruby carved in the image of a serpent. Yes, this was what he had come to Motunui for.

Without hesitation, Major Kane slipped the snake totem onto his left ring finger, and a visible aura of dark red energy circled around him. He basked in the field of energy surrounding him as he absorbed it into his being. The dark red aura disappeared completely into his body, leaving only the light from the flaming torch that illuminated the cavern. He felt different now. It was a feeling that couldn't be explained, nor should it be. However, there was something off about it that he couldn't put his finger on. A subtle gnawing urge for blood. No, it was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. The totem made him feel like nothing could stop him. He no longer needed the torch as his senses had been heightened, and he could hear, see and smell everything on a whole new level. Yes, he had what he came for. Now it was time to leave.

Major Kane stepped out of the pitch black cave, inhaling the fresh air. It was a welcome scent after being in the dark and musty cave for so long. He looked at the carnage below. The tribal villagers, armed with spears were still fighting against his mercenaries who were armed with muskets. Many had fallen from either side, and blood stained the beach that they were fighting on. Many villagers lay motionless, strewn across the beach. Some of the trees were on fire, casting a bright and strange warm hue over the tense and bone-chilling atmosphere, and some of the houses and cultural structures of the tribe had been burnt to the ground.

This was not what he had in mind when he brought the mercenaries with him. He had specifically told them not to kill the villagers, but to simply deter them from obstructing his mission. All this destruction and death… it was such a waste. Kane frowned.

Fighting alongside the tribal warriors, a brown jaguar bulldozed itself into a couple of the Major's mercenaries, sending them flying from the impact. In a flash of light, it transformed itself into a man wearing large palm leaves around his waist and carrying a large hook in one hand. The shapeshifter had long black curly hair and brown skin, and was extremely tall and muscular, making Kane's burly mercenaries seem like dwarfs in comparison. With one swing of the hook, the mercenaries surrounding the shapeshifter were catapulted across the beach and into the ocean. That had to be the legendary fish hook wielding, shapeshifting demigod Maui he had read about in his time training in the dark arts. There was no other logical explanation.

Amongst the tribal villagers, one stood out from the rest. A young woman armed with a spear made her presence known to the mercenaries, efficiently taking down a couple of them with swift and blunt strikes. Kane's interest was piqued. What would possess this girl to fight alongside the fully grown men? She certainly had courage. A red aura surrounded the Major, and he levitated off the rocky cliff, floating towards the heart of the battle where the girl was.

Touching down in the middle of it all, he lifted up one arm swiftly, with his fist clenched, his back toward his men. Instantaneously, the mercenaries froze, and knelt with their right knee to the ground. Then, in unison, their right arms crossed sharply to the opposite shoulder with clenched fists, their heads bowed. The tribal villagers stood back, shocked at the sudden intrusion of the man and the mercenaries' display of loyalty.

"At ease." The Major stretched forth an open palm towards his forces, and they stood up. He turned to one of his mercenaries. "Santos, get everyone to fall back to the Hanedale."

"What about you, Sir?" the mercenary named Santos asked.

Kane, facing the tribal warriors, ignored the question.

Santos looked down, realizing that the Major had acquired the snake totem and was wearing it on his ring finger. With a look of fear and awe written across his face, he motioned for the rest of the mercenaries to fall back without another word.

Kane's eyes darted across the tribal warriors. "Your people have fought valiantly and with honour. I wish to speak with the chief among you. Let us end this conflict without further bloodshed." To his surprise, the young woman that he had witnessed in battle stepped forward, looking him straight in the eye.

He sized her up. She had steely brown eyes, long wavy black hair and was extremely tan. This girl was slender with a muscular build, and did not have a single trace of fear in her eyes. He was duly impressed. "What is your name?" Kane asked.

"Moana." the girl replied, her stare steadfast.

Moana was brimming with defiance, her body poised to strike and her feet dug securely into the sand for a strong stance. How dare this man invade her village with mercenaries? She had been informed by the villagers earlier on as they saw the ship approaching the island, just as she was having dinner with her family.

As she now held the title of village chief at the early age of eighteen, the onus fell upon her to lead her tribe to defend the village. The village had always been peaceful and had never come under siege before, so this was a new experience that the leaders of times past had not prepared for. Hurriedly, she had rallied together the tribe's men and armed themselves with spears.

Although Moana had been trained in melee combat, that wasn't the only weapon in her arsenal. As part of her rite of passage as chief of her tribe, her father had given her a family heirloom, a necklace that could focus white magic. Only recently, she had begun to learn how to harness white magic to defend her people. She silently cursed, wishing that she had practiced more often so that she would have a better grip on white magic for a time like this, as her results were incredibly inconsistent.

Just for assurance, Moana had also called upon her greatest ally and asset, Maui the shapeshifting demigod, to come to the island to aid her in her fight. She was certain that with her experience in warring against the Kakamora pirates and journeying to restore the heart of Te Fiti two years ago, she had gained some tactical prowess and could handle the impending danger. However, with all of her strengths and assets, apparently they were not enough. These mercenaries were well trained and formidable, and had slaughtered a great deal of Moana's villagers and defenders. Sure, she had managed to take down some of the mercenaries by herself, but it wasn't enough to stop the others from burning down houses and killing innocents.

Moana sized up the man in front of her. He was tall and packed quite a bit of muscle on his frame. She was fairly certain that even if she mustered up all her strength, she would not even be able to make him lose his balance. He looked as if he was past his prime, but yet was still a force to be reckoned with. Tactical gear, kevlar padding, combat boots, it seemed like he was well prepared for this battle.

Moana, however, was not. It simply would not be wise to engage him. She glanced down at his hand. Was that? It couldn't possibly be! It was the snake totem that had been buried in the cave for centuries! It had been hidden away because it tempted way too many men throughout history. It was said that whoever wielded it would be able to harness black magic so efficiently that anything one wished could be made possible, but it would give the host a terrible bloodlust. She hoped fervently that the man didn't know how to use it.

"Moana, you have my respect. My name is Major Kane." Kane introduced himself with a calm voice.

Moana glared at him. "What do you want? Why did you attack my people?"

The Major glanced over at the tribal warriors, still aiming their spears at him. "You can command them to put down their spears. It won't do any good."

"I've got them right where I want them." Moana retorted sharply. "Now answer the question. Why did you attack Motunui?"

"Your people attacked us. I had hoped that we could come and and go without any bloodshed. I guess I was wrong. You have my word, I will punish the man who gave the order to harm innocents." Major Kane assured Moana with sincerity.

Moana stared at the Major, with a look of mistrust written across her face. "Return the totem, it belongs to my people."

"I can't do that, I'm sorry." Kane clenched his fist tightly, making the snake totem glow red. "I've come too far to turn back now. My quest has just begun."

Standing alongside the villagers, Maui stood poised with his fish hook in hand. He seemed perturbed as he heard the Major speak of his quest.

"Well your quest ends here," Moana retorted in determination, tightening her grip on her spear. "Last chance, return the totem or we will have no choice but to take it back by force."

Kane looked unfazed and a little amused. "You have no idea what kind of forces you are dealing with. I'm warning you, stand down now. For your own sakes."

"Attack!" Moana screeched, and in a split second, the tribal villagers sprung into action. As all the spears converged upon Kane and it appeared that he would be impaled, the Major roared, and a blast of red energy erupted from his body. The shockwave catapulted Moana and the villagers backwards, and they fell hard onto the sand. Maui stood shocked at the display in front of him.

Kane sighed as his body slowly stopped glowing red. He wished that he didn't have to do that. However, he could feel a strange sensation coursing through his veins. It was as if a part of him felt satisfied in causing harm. He had never experienced that sensation before in his life, but to his dismay, he could feel the sensation and temptation getting stronger.

"Demigod, would you face me too?" Kane looked at the demigod, hoping that he would not need to engage him needlessly. He was similar in build to the demigod but slightly shorter and less bulky.

Maui narrowed his eyes, locked onto the man standing before him. He knew that attacking the Major head on would be foolish, but he had to. The people of Motunui were counting on him. Charging towards Kane, he bellowed a war cry before shapeshifting into a large bull. He collided with the Major head on, and Kane pushed back against him, his feet anchoring into the sand as he was bulldozed a couple of feet back. As Maui was slowed to a halt by the impact and the resistance, the Major drew a sword from his sheath and slammed the broad side of it against Maui's head with great force.

The attack sent Maui sprawling on his side, and the Major pointed the totem at him. A blast of red energy emerged from his hand and engulfed Maui, causing him to revert to his natural form of a man, his fish hook falling a few feet away from him. Maui writhed on the ground in agony, evidently hurt by the Major's counterattack.

Moana looked on in shock as her best friend and strongest asset fell before the formidable Major. She got up from the sand and ran over to Maui, who lay on the sand motionless. "Maui! Maui, come on. Get up. You're alright. Get up!"

Kane stood over both of them. "I warned you. Don't try to stop me."

Unbeknownst to him, one of the villagers crept up behind the Major, spear in hand. From the corner of her eye, Moana noticed the villager, and to her horror, she realized that it was her father. She silently willed that he would reconsider his current course of action and flee, but it was too late.

The sound of the spear piercing through flesh could be audibly heard. "Get off my island." Her father growled as he shoved the spear deeper into the muscular back of the Major.

Kane staggered, dropping to a knee and grimaced in pain. He slowly stood up and turned around, with the spear still sticking out of his back. The Major reached his arm to the back and with a swift move, removed the spear from his back, blood spilling onto the sand.

A red aura surrounded Major Kane as he exhaled in relief, the wound on his back being miraculously healed by the black magic. The strange sensation engulfed him, urging him to kill the man standing in front of him. After all, why shouldn't he? The villager was the one who had tried to kill him in the first place. Major Kane clutched the blood-stained spear in his hand, and buried it into the heart of the villager.

Abruptly, the strange sensation left Kane, and he immediately felt relief coming over him, realizing that it was a bloodlust. Along with the relief came a different sensation. Guilt. Now he had murdered a man needlessly.

"NO!" Moana cried out in anguish as she witnessed her father collapsing to the sand. He gasped for air, his gaze fixed on his daughter. Moana ran up to her father, and held his hand gently. "No no no please!" she sobbed.

With whatever remaining strength he had left, he lifted his hand and touched the heirloom necklace that she wore around her neck. "The light," he uttered softly. "It's yours now."

"No," Moana choked as she watched the life drain away from her father's eyes, and buried her face in his chest.

At this point, Maui had begun to stir and attempted to stand, collapsing under the weight of his own body. Moana put her father's pendant around her neck, and looked away from her father's lifeless body at her surroundings. The village was in ruins, the trees were on fire and bodies were strewn across the island. There was no winning this on her own. Even her strongest men had been defeated, and her father was dead, and most likely so was the rest of her family. This was a battle she could not win, an opponent she could not overcome, but she could still buy her best friend some time to escape.

Grief stricken, she staggered over to where Maui lay. "Go. Get away from here as fast as you can." Maui looked at her as though he wanted to disagree, his body wrecked with immense pain but unwavering in his devotion to her.

"Go." Moana gently cupped her hands around Maui's cheeks. "You can still make it. Go!" She turned away from Maui and picked up her spear, glaring at the Major in anger as she walked towards him. She felt the anger surging through her body channelling itself as magic within her, and the magic manifested as yellow streaks of energy that sparkled around her remaining free hand.

Maui reached feebly for his fish hook and used all the remaining strength left in him to shape-shift into a brown hawk. He lifted himself off the beach and into the air. As he flapped his wings as fast as he could, wincing in agony with every movement, he could hear Moana let out a blood curdling cry of rage as he soared away from Motunui.

Writer's commentary:

Hi there. It's Red, the writer of this crossover story. Just a little insight about my story and what was my inspiration for writing the way I did. When I was thinking of a villain for this story, I listed out some character traits of the more complex villains from various shows / movies / comic books, such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Thanos, General Zod, Reverse Flash, Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter etc (I'm a huge fan of DC, Marvel and Star Wars btw).

I took some character traits from each character and kind of mashed them together to create a new villain. He went through various iterations and rewrites and re-characterizations before I settled on the name Major Kane. It took me quite a few drafts, but I finally settled his entire character arc, goals and his big plan for his quest, and I gotta admit, I'm pretty proud of creating my first villain. So I decided to start my first chapter with a bang, by introducing this big military man into the world of our protagonists, starting with pitting him against Moana and Maui. I hope that I delivered for my first chapter, and stay tuned for more :)