Chapter 10

Fairon, Fyxan, and Leviathos looked on in silence as the fire spread through the trees. They were at the edge of the forest, and it appeared that they were the only ones in the area.

As they watched in silence, the glistening moon rose higher into the darkened sky. Fairon, Fyxan, and Leviathos looked towards one another, and slowly began to walk away from the scene of death and devastation, their heads bowed.

"This Eternal Game has changed us," Levaithos muttered. Fyxan looked at him, and Leviathos nodded knowingly. "We're murderers now, brutal killers. We've become the very things the Enforcers of Gigas Magna hoped to destroy. And for what?"

Fyxan did not answer. He looked up into the sky again, but saw that the moon was hidden by a cloud of smoke emanating from the wreckage of the ship. "How many others are left?"

"If Ixtil were here, he'd be able to calculate it in one instant," Fairon joked, then, remembering that their friend had fallen in battle, bowed his head. Leviathos came over to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"We've all lost companions before," said the Great Being gravely.

Fairon finished counting on his fingers. "Including us, I'd say about twenty. Give or take a few."

"Twenty to go, then," said Fairon, raising his weapon slinging it over his shoulder. He nearly dropped it when Fyxan grabbed his other shoulder tightly with his fingers.

"Did you see that?"

"Did I see what?"

Leviathos was already in a battle stance. "The moon. It's gone!"

"What?"

"Something's happened," said Fyxan, preparing for battle himself. Leviathos cast a great beam of light in that direction, and what they saw was nothing less than unimaginable.

"Holy Mata Nui..." gasped Fairon, who had abandoned all pretense of discipline and dropped his weapon on the ground his mount and eyes wide open, staring at the terrible apparition.

Around the gameboard, twenty other beings looked up into the heavens and gasped at the horrible sight. The thing that had been blocking the sun had been a massive pyramid, which had sprung up among the cover of darkness. Clearly, the Toa, Makuta, and Kodax were not the only beings who had decided to make alliances.

In his own section of the playing field, Leviathos blinked in Leviathos's light and looked upward. "Holy Mata Nui. It's a..."

"Massive..." said Speewaa...

"Pyramid..." gasped Millennium...

Even the Treknerrok was astounded. "Of Scarabax."

He turned to his minions. "We dare waste no more time. We shall conquer this entire arena. And then, we shall be free forever of this accursed Eternal Game!"

Millennium and Benjarmin readied their weapons, looking down from the cliffs upon the massive army. The Baterra stood motionless, awaiting their orders, though had they been sentient, they would have cheered.

Nightwatcher looked down at the burning grass and saw Girahk, in his miniature, Scarabax-size form, approach him through the flames. The Toa of Shadow gently bent down to pick it up in his hands.

There is no turning back now, he smiled. The final battle is coming to a head far too quickly.

Now, time to deal with Brominax and the others...

Serrakaan twirled his weapons elegantly, slicing off the heads of a pair of Kodax. More Kodax surrounded him, but with a single wave of his hand, blasted them all with lightning. One managed to break free of the tendrils of blue flame and charged at the Makuta. Serrakaan chuckled, and while still blasting the remaining Kodax into burning corpses, he outmaneuvered the one that was charging at him and stabbed him through the heart.

He stopped blasting his foes with lightning, and strode calmly over the field of corpses. He looked up momentarily at the massive pyramid of Scarabax, which some of the more foolish contestants were attacking vainly, but decided not to worry about it. It held no danger for him at the moment. He would instead tackle some more worthy opponents.

He turned around, his sharp eyes looking into the distance. Far away, in the opposite direction as the army of Scarabax, lay a small mountain. He looked closer, and he could see a strange silver figure marching in his direction, accompanied by a large army of strange robotic beings. Interesting. Perhaps he should investigate.

By "investigate," of course, he meant, "destroy everything in his path."

Yes, he decided. That sounds like fun, he thought, unaware that two other parties already had their own plans for stopping the Element Lord...

Meanwhile, Crystillix was inside of the world of his dreams.

Not his good ones.

He and Zaeron were fighting back-to-back, trying to keep from being crushed under the weight of four dozen Baterra. Speewaa was next to them, battling valiantly against her mechanical foes despite her small size. Still, a plasma blast from a Baterra threatened to overwhelm her. Blast watched as she ducked another blow from a huge Baterra, then stabbed at a second warrior.

Dredzek and Millenium tore apart a Baterra, and then crushed another. However, Zaeron was tiring, and Speewaa would not hold out for much longer. Blast watched as Zaeron shapeshifted, becoming a huge being with a huge claw in one hand.

As a Baterra sprung, Zaeron decapitated it with his claw, then morphed back into his natural shape and took out another with a blast of both light and shadow. Blast winced as Speewaa was struck by a plasma burst fired from a hulking gray Baterra. She thudded against the wall of the cavern and fell limp to the ground.

Several Baterra immediately closed in around her. However, within moments, Millennium, Dredzek, and the others had eliminated every one of the Baterra.

"Is that all?" asked Millennium, as though disappointed.

"No. There's still Treknerrok," said Crystillix.

"In any event, the Baterra are dead. This alliance is at an end." Said Millennium, and before Crystillix could respond, he charged at Speewaa, Axe of Eternity raised.

Dredzek lashed out with a Shadow Hand, and hauled Speewaa to the ground. With a roar, Crystillix sprang at Dredzek, hauling the Makuta to the ground. Dredzek lashed out with his claws, tearing open a gash in Crystillix's shoulder. Crystillix winced and lashed out again, flinging Dredzek against the wall and grabbing Speewaa. the Matoran was wounded, but ran beside him, matching him every stride. A gray blur flashed by Speewaa and Crystillix screeched in pain.

"More Baterra!" Crystillix screeched, as hundreds of mechanical shadow soldiers came charging out of the caves around them. Blast was a scything wirlwind of power, cutting down his enemies faster than the eye could follow. But for every Baterra he felled, he was hit again and again by the soldier's swords.

Then Millenium and Dredzek emerged from the tunnels, followed by an incorporeal entity Speewaa believed was Zaeron, and Speewaa realized they were fighting a losing battle.

"Run, Speewaa!" Crystillix screamed as Dredzek struck him with a blow from his claws. "Find Fairon! He'll help you!" Then there was an explosion of carnage as the battle began.

Speewaa ran from the battle, persued by a small group of Baterra, with only one thought in her mind: Find Fairon.

And below in the caverns, the final battle below the arena began.