Wheua Mīti [Dark Data]

[Skeletor]

Skeletor watched the Bio-mech fall with a perplexed look. The Toa had for the first time in their quest hesitated, and it had led to his plummeting death.  And it soon would their own if they stayed any longer. Skeletor grabbed the girl’s shoulder, they needed to leave now. The Huntress followed him with a forced stillness as the two primes began to scramble up the collapsing slope. Wiess’s comment was directed far more to herself than to him, but her declaration sent the Warlock’s thoughts churning.

His eyes were blue? Skeletor had assumed that the power of Nebula had over-taken the Toa, but if this was true then the Toa had accepted, perhaps even chosen to plummet to his death in a collapsing world. A large rumble drove the point home, as the ground shook beneath the runner’s feet, halting them in their tracks as they pushed against the tides of loosened snow. A deafening crack split the air behind them, and Skeletor turned to see the peak of the lodge’s mountain spewing forth molten lava. The remaining denizens of this Nebula verse would find no shelter from this place.

The Toa had just given up. He had been tainted by the darkness that cloaked Nebula, his precious morals compromised in order to maintain their survival. And he had chosen death as a result. Skeletor’s rage at the Toa’s cowardice redoubled his energy, and he began to struggle forward against the tide of mud and snow that streamed down at them. Was the Toa so fragile that he could not adapt? “I had my face melted from my very bones…” the Warlock growled to himself, uncaring whether the Schnee girl heard his words, “I was exiled to a wasteland of brimstone and ash, forced to do party with cretins, idiots, beasts and dullards!” Skeletor planted his staff into the eroding ground, taking another step forward against the onslaught of Nebula’s mountains. “YET I ENDURED!” he yelled.

Through the rapidly disintegrating mountainside, Skeletor could see the glowing light of the portal. Escape was within reach. He took another step forward, one hand wrapping around a stubborn tree that had yet refused to surrender to the tide. Glancing behind him, Skeletor saw that Wiess was struggling to withstand the avalanche, the glyphs she summoned faltering and failing to give her any forward progress. The girl was bleeding badly from her side, and it seemed that her resolve was starting to ebb under the weight of exhaustion.

“That’s what you do, Huntress!” Skeletor shouted, his indignation refusing any further surrender, from himself or his allies, “You MAKE DO! The world is harsh and unforgiving, you walk the path and when you fall, you GET BACK UP!” Skeletor reached out the havoc staff, planting his stance to give Wiess a handhold. She took it with a grimace at the garish design.

“Seek whatever sources of power you need. Allies, artifacts, magic or armies! No depth is too low, no path too dark to take if it gives you the power of control!” Skeletor marched doggedly onwards, “That Fool sought his own death by refusing to face his own consequences. Look your journey in the face, and overcome it with whatever tools are given you! OVERCOME! NOT! GIVE! UP!”

Skeletor and Wiess marched their way slowly and painfully up the slope of the mountain, the purples of Nebula cast into nightmare orange by the glow of lava. They could see the portal, and the station where they had first encountered The snowboarding yeti. They were nearing their exit.

A violent tremor shook their mountain, causing Skeletor’s footing to slip as he began to lose traction. Above the portal, the peak of the mountain was cracking and viscous bubbling liquid was leaking out with ever-increasing velocity. The moorings of the cable station strained, wood cracking under the strain of the avalanche. The Nebula space was not willing to let go of them so easily.

 659 words according to MS word. All you Wiess! Let's get out!