CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: VILAK

Kopaka folded his arms across his chest, the bloodlust urge leaving him. "You can't have him – period. He's as much a part of me as your arm is to you. Whatever happened to your demon? Did he flee from you?"

Malak snorted, "I lost mine after becoming a Geni. Enough talk – hand him over."

Kopaka laughed, and Gali realized it was the first time she had heard the stark-white Toa actually laugh. "You'd have better luck asking me to hand over my arm."

The dark Toa drew a wickedly curved blade from on his back, pointing it at Gali, "That can be arranged. Do you hand over your little buddy, or do I slice your friend?"

The threat had the desired effect. Kopaka's hands tightened into fists as his eye went from blue to red. They did not, however, stop there. His eye went from red to a deep purple, and Gali backed away as she saw his back beginning to ripple.

Malak, on the other hand, was thrilled. "Yes, Kopaka, that's it. Hand him over to me."

A pair of frost-white wings burst from Kopaka's back, spraying the area behind him with blood. His eyes narrowed into slits, and icicles began to grow from his forearms.

"Vilak…" he moaned as his inner demon took over, "…listens to no-one." Malak frowned, "Then I slice your girlfriend, which will it be?"

Kopaka's newly-formed wings flapped once in annoyance. "Try your luck, Malak."

Needing no second invitation, Malak leapt toward Gali. She was about to jump out of the way when a white wing blocked her vision. She heard a thump as Malak thudded against it, bouncing to the ground.

"Do you not remember my discussion with you, Malak?" asked the being that had once been Kopaka, "You cannot kill me."

Malak jumped up and swung his scimitar at Vilak's head. The entity raised a hand and caught the blade with it. He snapped his wrist to the side, flicking the sword from his opponent's hand. Malak took two large steps backward. "What the hell are you?"

Kopaka-Vilak laughed again, and it sounded (to Gali) like two voices laughing. "I am Vilak, just like I was Kopaka."

Malak stood up, turning his back on Vilak. "Master was right about you, then," he said, "I'll have to inform him of this."

In the twinkling of an eye, Malak was gone. Kopaka-Vilak slowly began to change again, returning to his familiar Toa Nuva form. He turned to face Gali as his visible eye became blue once again.

"And that, Gali," he said, "Is why I should have come here alone."

Gali didn't understand, and Kopaka could see confusion stamped on her features. He sighed, "That was only a half-transformation between myself and the demon known as Vilak. Each Ko-Aran, as I've explained, has an inner demon, do you follow me?"

Gali nodded, so Kopaka continued. "Mine so happens to be Vilak. On occasion, or when the need for survival pervades my mind, he transforms me into that… thing you saw."

"So he's a defense mechanism?" asked Gali, looking at Kopaka with her yellow eyes.

"In a manner of speaking…" he said, "…he's more like…" Kopaka seemed to look for the right word for a moment.

"Imagine if your Aqua Axes were inside your body, and only came out if there was no way to defeat a foe without them," he said at length. "That is basically the relationship I share with Vilak."

Gali nodded, "So he won't come out and attack me, then?"

Kopaka shook his head, "No."

She sighed, "But if that was Vilak, then what happened with the Kuma-Nui?"

The cold Toa twisted his head slightly, allowing his vertebrae to pop. "Vilak emerges in three stages. The first, Gali, is the bloodlust you witnessed with the Kuma-Nui."

She nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"The second was what you just witnessed, and the third…" he paused, "…the third is a complete and irreversible transformation from me," he patted his chest, "Into Vilak."