Night marched its way across third earth, casting an
orange glow on anything not trapped in shadow.
The day had been hot, but the evening brought cool winds, signaling an
approaching storm from the east.
In the Robear Berbil village things were grinding to a
stop. It had been a successful day, with a small group making great progress in
getting a well dug in the town’s center.
Women and children were greeting the laborers with warm hugs and hot
meals.
“Yes, today we made much progress,” Robear Bill said to
himself as the sun disappeared behind a bank of clouds. Tonight he would rest,
and after the rains came the ground would be soft, and they would dig again.
Screams pierced the air.
Thirty meters away at the village’s entrance, a throng of Berbils sprinted
as fast as their tiny legs could carry them, small rotund bodies tumbling over
each other. From behind one of the small shacks a figure moved with a fluid
grace, dancing into view. Robear Bill had only seen exhibited by his friends,
the Thundercats.
But this was no Thundercat.
The creature twirled two brilliant blades of red light in
massive arcs; metal covered it’s body, a black shiny encasement with strange
markings and red trim. A red glow came
from a visor set above where a feline maw would normally be.
It somersaulted in front of the retreating Berbils and
sliced downwards with it’s glowing blades.
Staring in horror, Bill watched the blades pass through
the throng of Berbils, reducing them to gore.
The creature then sprinted from hut to hut, slicing down whatever was
nearest. Finding his legs, Bill ran for
his own hut..
He reached the door when something jerked him
backwards. Struggling against a vice
grip on his neck, he was hauled up-and dangled in the face of the monster.
“You see what has happened to your village. You see the destruction I have brought,” it
said, the metallic voice rolling over Bill like a ice bath. Slowly bill was turned to take in the sheer
massacre the creature had achieved in just seconds.
Bodies lay strewn across the square like so much
trash. Limbs, torsos, heads of all
manner of Berbil littered the dusty ground. Bill began to shake uncontrollably.
“Tell Lion-O he
had this coming. Tell him Balthazar
will be waiting for him at the Volcanic Temple in the East.” The thing let him
drop, and the leader of the now decimated Robear Berbil village landed on his
knees amidst the corpses of his people.
Mumm-Ra made sure he was at least a kilometer away when
he let the illusion drop. The once
large armored cat-like creature now stood in his true form-a cloaked bandaged
humanoid dripping with evil and the satisfaction of freshly slain Berbils.
“All too easy,” he snickered to himself. The Ancient
Spirits of Evil had devised an ingenious plan this time to rid Third Earth of
Lion-o. He’d watched with glee as it
played out in his reflecting pool…a deadly warrior who matched Lion-O’s
ferocity and guile like no other. This time, he was sure it wouldn’t fail.
With an evil snicker he strolled off towards his
pyramid. He couldn’t linger for long-he
had an appointment to keep.
Baal dropped into the throne room and hit the ground
rolling. Springing upright he
immediately ignited his twin sabers, red energy flashed to life and he kneeled
in a defensive position.
Seconds before he was about to take out an Imperial probe
droid armed with thermal detonators.
Now he was in a cavern with a wizened old man watching him from a
distance. Baca-1, his enhanced armor housing a droid brain, gave him a heads up
display of the portal that was quickly closing behind him. Turning, he moved towards it but it was too
late. Slowly he approached the older man who now advanced from the rear of the
cavern.. A tattered Jedi tunic hung from his delicate frame and his gray hair
pulled back in a severe topknot.
Dangling from his belt a silver cylinder slapped his knee and he wore a
crooked smile as comfortably as an old scarf.
“You won’t need those, my Jedi-Friend,” he said. He approached Baal and held his hands out to
his side. “I am Farbu ar-Mum, Jedi
Knight and Historian.”
Baal shut down one of the sabers and clipped it to his
black and red armor.
One blade remained humming at his side as he stood his
ground. “I’ll determine whether or not
I need my weapons, Farbu.”
The older man nodded and gestured to cavern. Four large grotesque statues stared down on
the duo; each had a body reminiscent of a dog, with heads ranging from
serpentine to mammal.
“Can you feel the evil here Baal?” he asked. He placed his hands on his hips and regarded
the statues. Everything about Farbu was
unassuming and Baal felt his adrenaline ebbing away.
“Why did you pull me from battle?” he asked, lightsaber
still humming at his side.
“This used to be a pyramid for an ancient religion you
know,” the man continued ignoring the question. “A religion I think you are all to familiar with-the Mew Tao.”
Baal’s heart caught in his throat and he shut down his
saber. “Mew Tao?”
“Yes. This temple
was built to house a weapon of great strength and power; a weapon crafted by a
Mew-Tao Priestess who dabbled in alchemy and metallurgy,” he said turning.
“Baal, the sword was called The Sword of Omens, and was reported to hold every
secret of the Mew-Tao Alchemists and their religion.”
Questions raced through Baal’s mind. He had long searched for information of the
Mew Tao, trying to unravel it’s secrets and mysteries. Even the High Priestess he met on Fibuli was
unable to teach him much. “Well, where is this Sword of Omens?”
Farbu walked towards the area when the portal deposited Baal. A large balcony revealed a sprawling valley
beyond; a great Volcano rose in the distance.
“I used my energy to bring you here Baal. A Sith warrior named Lion-O has the sword,
has been using it and this temple for evil. He is of an evil order called the
“Thundercats”, their evil has stained this place, and has stained this land,”
he said, taking in the vista with a grand gesture.
BACA-1 was
already calculating distance to the Volcano and the rapidly changing
thunderheads rolling across the plain.
Shaking his head, Farbu turned a sorrowful gaze on the
young Trianni Warrior. “He is much too
powerful for me-I am but a scholar. I
didn’t want to have to summon you Baal, but I didn’t know where else to
turn. He sometimes houses himself in a
temple carved into the side of that volcano…”
“You did the
right thing Farbu…I’ll take care of this dark creature and bring back the Sword
of Omens. It belongs in the hand of a
Mew-Tao Protector.”
Farbu nodded. “That is what I was hoping,” he said.
Staring towards
the volcano, unease crept into his stomach. The creature would pay, he would
see to that.
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