PROLOGUE

Life is a nightmare. For the Eyelanders, at least. It isn't scary, per se, if you don't count the skeletal enforcers of the law that don't mind bringing workers close to death, only to have the others work harder when the "victim" quits building and dies. Death is a sweet mercy compared to the agonizing minutes after the shrapnel is embedded into your muscles, bleeding out your life energy as you are told to work harder, weld more, and thank the Makuta of the island that death will come quickly.

The Makuta, overseer and creator of the laws that govern the barren island. No one has ever seen him, and the hope of ever doing so decreases daily as more die by the hands of the Rahkshi enforcers. The closest that one comes in contact with the Makuta is through one of the few spineless Rahkshi that can communicate in a non-growling language. These Rahkshi shout out orders to the Eyelanders, "encouraging" them to build the Makuta's fortress.

Sure, there was time to rest, but the settlements of the Eyelanders were guarded by the Rahkshi to ensure that there was no escape. One could flee by sea, but they could only tread so much water and the nearest island was hundreds of miles away.

In short, there was no hope of ever leaving the island. There was a volcano to the north, but the steep climb up the slope would likely kill anyone trying to scale it, as there were loose rocks and boulders that could hinder or flatten potential sightseers. Fortunately, these quick roads to death were somewhat viable to those who were fast enough, at least. The fortress site was positioned on the opposite side of the island, so there was the long, arduous run filled with dodging blasts of shrapnel until one even thought of reaching the volcano's base.

On the right side of the island, miles away from the volcano, was a digging site in order to create the fortress that the Makuta had "commissioned" the Eyelanders to create. There was no set time in which it should have been completed, but it seemed that the faster that they worked, the more Eyelanders stayed alive… Or at least, able to socialize. Whenever a worker got distracted from their job, they got a reprimand. When they were distracted a second time, the Rahkshi would send bolts of chain lightning at the repeat offender in order to "wake" them up. If they were distracted a third time… Things… For lack of a better phrase… "Got ugly."

The Rahkshi would screech, calling over another Rahkshi with a clawed staff. The clawed staff Rahkshi would then fire on the Eyelander in front of the others, not caring about who is around or not; a killing machine at work… "Nothing to see here… Keep working." After that, either everyone will forget about what just happened or more shrapnel would fly, spilling life energy onto the soil, creating greenery that would be forgotten as well after the semi-mute Rahkshi zaps it to a crisp and stomps on it. The Rahkshi then checks the Eyelander for vital signs. If he is lucky, he is dead. If he is not… An empty existence awaits him.

That Rahkshi who killed him and then saved his life, only to destroy it yet again, would take him to the volcano. The Eyelander would come back to the digging site after a few days, good as new, except… Different. More drive, more work ethic, more willing to follow the Rahkshis' every command. When one also looked into their eyes, they seemed off-focus, off-track… Glassy.

To the left of the digging site, on the other side of the island, there was an abundance of large stone domes. Each was exactly alike and they all carried the same thing: a stone rectangular prism. A bed. There are no luxuries on this island, except for a soundproofing stone door on the side of the ten-foot dome, allowing for privacy or a place for insanity to set in. One could leave his home, but that would mean being followed by a Rahkshi personally assigned to that specific Eyelander, and it was worse than being alone because the Rahkshi were watching your every move and were silent as the grave, unless an Eyelander did something wrong, of course. Only then would they shriek and alert other Rahkshi who will carry out the punishments with pleasure, their semi-mute comrades watching the torturous acts with hungry eyes.

These Rahkshi are different than the speaking ones. They don't talk. They shriek. They scream. They roar. Their heads split open and a large slug-like Kraata pops out, opens its mouth, and makes this myriad of frightening noises. Another difference is the spine found on the mostly-mute Rahkshi, compared to the talking Rahkshi that have none, as well as the staffs that the spineless ones carry: a claw on a stick. Some Eyelanders have regrettably seen the staffs in action, shooting shrapnel at their fellow species, first breaching armor, then going deeper into the metal, shredding muscle and damaging vital organs.

The Eyelanders themselves were all the same, seven feet of black and silver armor, large, elongated heads, except for one key difference: their eye colors, as well as the quirks and talents associated with them. Emerald-Eyes, for example, were guards and the brute force within the population of Eyelanders. They did the toughest jobs and the toughest work in order to impress the Rahkshi. One couldn't tell if it was for survival or they thought that Rahkshi could actually display emotion, yet either way, they pulled off living the longest.

The Sapphire-Eyed Eyelanders weren't so lucky. They all seemed so fascinated with the sky, more so at night, when the stars were high over their heads. It often distracted them, and as a result, the Rahkshi had to tell them to get back to work more often than the others. They were astronomers, as most figured out, and the Makuta even caught on, ordering the Rahkshi to skip to punishment level two for any Eyelander, especially an Sapphire-Eyed one, that was visually distracted from their work.

If that edict had included vocalization, Sulfur-Eyes would be in the volcano daily. The Sulfur-Eyes were keen observers that always mumbled to themselves. Most thought that they were driven insane by the workload or the Rahkshi, but they actually took copious mental notes about anything interesting and they repeated it all day long, taking their breaks at night by scratching out their journals on the walls. This lead to insomnia and eventually hallucinations that stopped work long enough to get the shrapnel staffs firing. The Makuta and his Rahkshi gave up on trying to placate them, instead taking them straight to the volcano to be "glassed."

Besides, the Rahkshi were too busy capturing the escaping Azure-Eyes to pay attention to the lost cause that was the Sulfur-Eyes. The Azure-Eyes wanted out for the adventure, to taste the sea air, to breathe its salty fumes, to travel the oceans and be freer than the birds that landed on the coastal shores near the huts of the Azure-Eyes. Only if the Rahkshi hadn't shot at the birds would the freedom be kept alive. Instead, just like the Eyelanders, the birds were made prisoner as well. No free will, just work, sleep and death that came quickly for some. The Eyelanders were assigned a Rahkshi each, and not the talking ones either, to accompany them on any occasion they should leave their domes. The Rahkshi were the shadows of the Eyelanders, keeping watch over them to make sure they didn't do anything stupid… Or brave. Any attempt to escape or try and kill a Rahkshi was met with shrapnel, and the Amber-Eyes had ways to deal with that…

Amber-Eyes were healers. Not supernatural, but physical, patching different pieces of armor together and exchanging it with the shrapnel-ridden parts that could at least be saved. This meant that armor needed to be separated from the tender muscles, ligaments (and sometimes, internal organs) that were all underneath the protective metallic coating that made up the Eyelanders' form. This lead to unbearable pain and screaming that was quickly muffled. Since digging the foundation of the fortress, the Rahkshi have been more lenient about saving the lives of the Eyelanders, letting the Amber-Eyed Medics set up household infirmaries. There was no way to quell the patients, they just had to grin and bear it. Before the fortress structure was complete, however, they used the so-called healing waters off the coast of the island to try and alleviate their patient's pain. Unfortunately, it caused paralysis and as it nullified any attempt to save the Eyelander in order for them to work on digging or building, one Medic suggested stuffing dirt in the mouth of the victim.

The soil is one of the most valued possessions on the island, besides the precious metals hidden beneath the earthen material. It had several uses such as being a source of food or being porous enough so that it can be caked on one's face and they would still be able to breathe. This was useful when one needed to scavenge the volcano's slope for metals to build the fortress with. One would absorb the nutrients and minerals within the food by hand, fashion the now-rubbery clay to fit the mouth, and continue the search for fortress materials. This is what one Ruby-Eye did as he walked towards the titanic volcano… unaided…