Guest: Welllll…he CAN teleport…
Um, despite her determination she's kinda out of practice walking. It was pure luck that she got to her armor crate and back without breaking something more. Maybe her luck will continue and let her get outside…you'll just have to wait and see!
Guest: Thank you so much! I have much planned…too much planned. Thank you! I really appreciate it.
Voltron has always been seen as a beacon of hope. A sign of liberty, of justice. But never had it been so close to destruction then now, especially without realizing it.
Behind his mask, Macidus grinned at the foolish Paladins as the followed him into his house. These fools! Soon, he would have them trapped, and he would kill them, and would feast on Paladin blood tonight. And maybe he would save a few of them, watch them write in agony as he tortured them, slowly killing them. And he would force them to watch Kolivan die, or perhaps vice versa.
Unaware of the approaching demise, the Paladins studied his cavern with a critical eye.
"This place is disgusting." Romelle sniffed, eyeing their host. A dead warknok head hung from the ceiling, green blood still dripping from the spot where it used to be connected to its body.
"This place," the man hissed. "Has been my home for the past two deca-phoebs."
"Ow, well, disgusting is Altean for lovely. You don't speak Altean, do you?" Romelle asked, slinking away from him and sitting nervously onto a log that sat around the fire.
Macidus felt no need to point out that he did, in fact, know Altean, and the word for lovely was quite different from what she said it was.
He neared the fire, frowning at it uneasily. "Thank you for coming, Paladins."
"How did you recognize us, even when we first showed up?" Lance asked, easily the most friendly with the cloaked man.
"Your suits gave it off." Macidus mused, tapping his chin. "I advise a change of costume of you want to blend in…but, oh, what do I know? A lone survivor of a massacrer…you've been gone a long time, you know."
"Yeah. We…uh…just found that out." Lance mumbled, thinking back to Acxa and sending a teasing glance at Keith.
The leader didn't notice.
"Hmm…after you disappeared, the Galra empire descended into chaos, warlords and pirates ruling the ashes of the once nightly empire."
"And of Zarkon's witch, Haggar?" Allura demanded, taking a step beside Lance.
Krolia checked Pidge's gauntlet, flashing it downwards. Biting the inside of her lip, she peered at the results curiously, then noticed a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye. She approached nervously, reaching out a hand.
Macidus didn't notice, focusing on Allura's question. "She vanished, but her Druids remained to complete her final order, to wipe out the Blades."
Krolia ignored him, touching the curtain gingerly, hesitating only a second before thrusting it open, eyes flinging open in horror. She grabbed her gun, pivoting sharply as she pointed it at the stranger. The man of untrustworthy origins. "What are you planning on doing with these?"
Now that the curtain was fully pulled aside, everyone could see the hundreds, if not thousands, of swords and knives littering the wall. But they weren't just tools or weapons. No, they were all blades, the Blade of Marmora insignia carved into the hilt of each one, the lights seeming to be on sleep mode for each one.
But, despite their unfamiliar form, clad in shadows, the Paladins all recognized them at the same time, grimacing.
"I hang them," Macidus slowly began, pretending to feel sad, "in honor of their sacrifice. After the Druids received Haggar's final wish, they spread out to conquer them."
"After Lotor arose to the throne, all known Blade locations were revealed." Allura murmured, shutting her eyes against the image of the terrible fates many had come to. Her mind flickered back to Antok, a Druid smiting him with a mightly blow, the former deputy succumbing.
"Indeed. Most Blades were called away from their missions and brought here, where Kolivan swore to protect my people. But the Druids arrived much sooner then we planned. They besieged the city with magic. My people were the first to flee, but they were slaughtered." Macidus sat quietly for a moment, thinking. "Only I remained. Kolivan, the Blades and I all took on the Druids, but for every Druid we over came, over a hundred of us fell. During the last attack, I was hit into a building. When I regained consciousness and emerged from the rubble, I was the last survivor."
"That's why the base we found was deserted." Hunk sobbed, letting his body sag in mourning.
"Indeed. I have been running the signal Kolivan gave me in hope of finding the last remaining Blades."
"There's still a few of us out there." Keith assured him, closing his eyes with pain.
"Good." Macidus rumbled.
"I recognize every single one of the Blaces. I trained many of them personally." Krolia whimpered, running her fingers along a row of hilts. "Ilun. Vrek. Lando. Furita. Shonka. Zanfor. And…Kolivan." She pulled her leader's blade out, tears threatening to spill over her eyelashes as Keith joined her.
Suddenly, before they eyes, a blue shimmer alit the light ports across the sides for a brief instant. "Huh? Kolivan's blade!"
"What is it?" Keith asked staring at shock at it. He already knew what it was, he just…it was almost too good to be true.
"Our Blades are connected to our life forces. I just saw Kolivan's blade flicker. He must be alive!" Krolia sounded relieved, though she stiffened and turned to face Macidus angrily, her mouth open to fire a challenge at him.
Macidus beat her to it. "Just…barely."
The Paladins gasped for the second time in as many minutes.
"Your hand is looking better." He bluntly admonished, tilting his head in a strange way that seemed oddly familiar to Keith.
"My…hand?" Keith blinked.
"Surely you don't remember our duel?"
Keith zoned out for a brief moment, causing confusion for all the Paladins.
"You!" He shouted, activating his Bayard in anger.
"I will enjoy killing you." Macidus grinned(or probably would have) and disappeared from view, a small device dropping from his pocket as he did so.
Time seemed to slow, Krolia's voice opening in a pained "No!"
A light appeared around the device as it cracked, and a fine explosion appeared from the rift, stretching towards everybody, threatening to freeze them in time.
Kosmo suddenly appeared before Keith, touched his leg, then vanished with his master.
Pidge gasped, tumbling out of bed. She groaned, pulling herself slowly back onto the crates as she risked another risk at her holo-screen. The Paladins had a time-bomb coming straight for them, and there was nothing she could do. As she watched the view point from Keith's helmet, the scene shifted to a blank, rock wall. Then Keith looked down at Kosmo, scratching his ears for a second before her heard the sound of teleportation somewhere behind him, and he froze, Kosmo changed their location.
Pidge relaxed, but only slightly. Only one Paladin was free from the Druid's curse, but he wasn't out of the woods-uh, CAVE-yet.
Keith was now crouched under a cave, one hand against Kosmo's fur.
Pidge tensed, as did Keith, listening to the sounds of the Druid, Macidus drawing closer.
Pidge scrambled from her bed, landing on the ground as she let out a cry of pain, groping for her armor when she realized everything has stopped on her gauntlet.
She froze, looking at it. Everything was still.
Suddenly, the sound of electricity buzzing through the air could be found, and Pidge's heart clenched suddenly. No, no! Keith-!
Keith was fine. The Druid must have heard something else, for he continued on his path, footsteps fading.
Keith exhaled in relief, turning to go, before a metal object suddenly appeared in front of his face, and he screamed. Well, not screamed, or yelled, he more of gasped in surprise.
Tossing his arms around Kosmo, his coordinates changed again.
Pidge grabbed her leg pieces, cramming them on with some effort, then pulled them off to put on her jumpsuit. Then pulled them back on, one eye trained on the projection as Keith let out horrified pants every time he turned and found Macidus standing there.
Pidge remained frozen as Keith ran down a tunnel, often teleporting ahead several meters to stay ahead of Macidus, who chuckled evilly whenever he just barely missed Keith.
Keith finally got into a big cavern, halting abruptly as he tried to collect his breath. They must've lost Macidus…
Pidge felt a surge of relief, letting out a puff of relief as she squeezed on her helmet. She mentally cursed the space pirates that messed with her helmet and ultimately broke her coms.
Keith took a deep breath, glancing around him nervously. It was then that he noticed the body hanging by its arms and legs above a pool of water, slowly dripping as it let out haggard breaths.
"Kolivan." Keith gasped, eyes stretching wide in worry.
"He has been…useful." A croaky, rough voice said behind Keith. Macidus.
"What did you do?!" Keith yowled, turning tail to face him.
Macidus only frowned in consideration. "Nothing much."
"I'm going to kill you." Keith growled, activating his Bayard.
"Haggar has forsaken us because of your treachery. But after I kill you and the other Paladins, hopefully she'll allow me back into her ranks."
Keith screamed in fury, trying to hit Macidus, rage in every swing.
Macidus only chuckled, and went in for the kill.