Chapter 9

Illiera

One Year Earlier

Camouflaged in her scouting cloak, Valkyria watched her final opponent stride across the sands. The sun was setting over Illiera, and Valkyria was reminded slightly of her sparring match was Xhallin the day before her first raid. She smiled inwardly as she thought back to how naive she'd been then. So much had changed since that day when she'd been chosen for Khazin Thaer's raiding mission.

Valkyria had grown tall and coldly beautiful, as befitted an Ix warrior. She'd mastered more combat forms than any other apprentice, and become a skilled killer who had slain many older and more skilled than she in combat in the service of the Ix.

Now she stood on the threshold of becoming an Ix warrior. Her greatest dream had been realized.

Stepping out of the shadows, she smiled at the Kodax. Seeing her, he charged.

Suddenly the sun flashed in her eyes, momentarily blinding her. For a moment, the words of her trainers before they'd entered the Eternal Game training grounds had told her: Distraction can mean your death in the arena. As an Ix warrior apprentice, Valkyria had fought many deadly beings to the death, but she'd never faced such deadly ferocity.

With reflexes borne from years of rigorous training, Valkyria's dagger seemed to materialize in her hand. The Kodax trainer's scythe flashed past her line of vision, and she blocked the blow easily. She had no time to see her opponent's second scythe slash at her, just below her guard. Valkyria blocked the blow, but the Kodax's sheer strength tore the weapon from her hand. He reached out for the final blow with both scythes, blades flashing in the sunset.

Valkyria drew a second dagger from the sheath on her thigh and narrowly managed to block one of the blows, twisting to one side to avoid the second. As the Kodax, momentarily disoriented by the distraction, swung at her wildly with the knife, Valkyria tore the weapon from his hand.

"Very good," the Kodax said. An obvious distraction. His remaining scythe struck her shoulder, drawing blood. Valkyria tensed against the pain that shredsteel always caused, the horrible sensation of burning and freezing cold all at once.

At first, when she had been chosen as an Ix apprentice, she had been shocked that they would actually land real blows. Her mentors had told her, "Would a real enemy?"

No. And eventually you can become immune to pain, as well as all of the emotions. It gives the Veiled Ones strength. Strength to survive everything that has been forced upon us.

The Kodax was on the defensive now. Valkyria, now armed with two shredsteel daggers, had injured him badly with blows to the chest and arms. With his final weapon, a long, razor sharp scythe, in his bloodless hands, he could defend easily against her strikes with her far shorter daggers.

I must end this, soon, she thought grimly as she easily parried the blow. Valkyria knew she could not outlast a Kodax warrior in combat forever. She was far more slender and built more lightly then any Kodax, and could not compete with the Kodax's sheer strength.

Suddenly the Kodax switched to the offensive, his scythe swinging wildly. Valkyria blocked the first several blows, and, though disoriented by his sudden attack, managed to take a step back, avoiding injury. But they both knew that this was more than a simple training exercise. If Valkyria was able to win against a Kodax master, she would be accepted as an Ix warrior. If she failed...

I will not fail, thought Valkyria, pushing the distracting thoughts aside. As the Kodax's blade arced downward, the metal blade striking her dagger and nearly tearing the weapon from her hand, an idea sprang into her mind. It was risky. It would utilize her powers of Aura which, according to the rules of the Eternal Game training exercise, would allow him to respond with his own powers as well.

As the Kodax's scythe descended, Valkyria lunged forward, allowing the scythe to reach an inch from certain defeat before flinging out a hand. Her green eyes stared at the hilt of the weapon, and her aura reached out, for a moment holding the blade in midair. Then, using a technique she'd been taught by an Ix Aura warrior, crushed the weapon's own aura around it, shattering the blade.

It took the Kodax a moment to realize what she had done, and another moment to realize he was now allowed to use all of his powers. As Valkyria brought the blade down, aiming for a finishing blow over the heart, he retaliated with a barrage of chain lightning. Years of training took over as Valkyria leapt high into the air, using both her control over the Aura field and her inherent speed caused by the Ix blood flowing in her veins.

The Kodax, realizing almost instantly what had happened, fired a blast of dark energy at the Ix, sure that it would strike her. Valkyria easily twisted out of the way, landing on her feet while aiming both daggers at the Kodax's heart. There was no doubt in either of the being's minds that had the Kodax been a real attacker, he would be dead now.

Valkyria felt a rush of pride and ambition rise up from within her, which she quickly suppressed. While many Ix warriors could not utilize either Aura or any of the elemental powers, they were still highly sensitive to the emotions of other beings.

And as an Ix warrior, she would never be allowed to show emotion of any sort while around other beings. It was only when she was alone that she could revel in her success, the culmination of the ultimate challenge. She had won a great victory, one that had been achieved only by the greatest of all warriors.

"Very good." a new voice rang out over the field. Nasal and harsh, it spoke in the Ix's native language, not the common tongue spoken by the Kodax, Matoran, and Agori who had been lost when Illiera was forever cut off from the rest of the universe.

Three beings seemed to appear out of the dark forest surrounding the training area. One was a massively built Kodax carrying at least ten daggers and two longer maces. The other two, veiled in robes of the blackest night, carried no weapons, but at the same time seemed even more dangerous than the Kodax.

Valkyria bowed her head respectfully to the two powerful Ix lords. One stepped forward and walked over to her.

"Valkyria, Ix apprentice and Aura warrior." intoned the Ix in his nasal voice, this time in the common tongue. "You have done much in your apprenticeship to serve the Ix Empire. You have slain many deadly opponents in single combat, and proven yourself worthy of the title warrior."

Valkyria felt a shiver of anticipation as she waited for the Ix's final words. "Rise, Valkyria. Tomorrow you will be given your first mission as a full warrior, but, for now, you may rest and recover from the arena training session."

The Ix lord paused, then, almost as an afterthought, added, "I suppose you'll also need this."

He held out his hand, and Valkyria saw what he was carrying. It was a long, slender dagger with a hilt formed of pure obsidian, shot through with silver streaks of Shredsteel. The blade was curved slightly, and gleamed with a silver sheen. The blade itself appeared to be completely formed of molten silver, as though ripples of the metal were sliding up and down it.

Silverblade, thought Valkyria. She'd known her weapon would be returned to her now that she'd won her greatest battle.

"Your mentors tell me you also have a talent with the bow as well as the dagger. Take these as well." The Ix lord paused, and two Ix warriors stepped into the clearing.

One carried a bow, made completely out of the same materiel Silverblade had been fashioned from, the Xxyr, Shademetal, in Matoran. A set of arrows, as well as a quiver, were held in his other, and he handed them both to Valkyria, who was unable to control her surprise or delight in the Aura field. She had to make a conscious effort not to betray her surprise any further.

The second Ix was carrying six Shredsteel daggers, which were carried by both warriors and apprentices in case of attack. As she slung the quiver of her shoulder and picked up the bow and Silverblade.

Something must have shown on her face as she faced the Ix lord, for his eyes seemed to grow softer. Valkyria felt a brief touch, that of another aura coming in contact with her own, and tensed, waiting for the Ix's reaction.

"Do not suppress your emotions now, Valkyria." he said, surprising her by using her first name. "This is your last day as an apprentice. You will have the rest of your life to live without emotion."

Valkyria began to calm now, remembering what Vhokyn had told her during the torture resistance sessions she'd had to endure as an apprentice, in the event she was ever captured by an enemy.

The Ix are the masters of the universe. Any master must be able to put his own emotions aside for the good of the universe we rule. Without emotion, there is no love, no anger, no life, no pain, no death- only the single devotion to our ultimate goal.

Valkyria smiled inwardly, thinking of their raid on the Glatorian outpost built near the edge of the Veil. It had been there that she'd first taken a life, there where she'd been given Silverblade. It had been a grand victory, one that she had savored in its fullest.

Now, as an Ix warrior, she would win many more great victories, but she would not allow even the lighter emotions to cloud her judgment. Allowing, for one last time, her ambition, anticipation, and thrill of success to shine on her face, Valkyria waited for the Ix to finish speaking, then bowed her head one last time and, as the gathered Ix and Kodax began to scatter, vanished into the trees, her bow in one hand, Silverblade in the other.

Ready for her first mission as a full Ix warrior.