#akida

           Still, Life is not stagnant. It is ever-growing, ever-changing, and so inevitably the Elemental Deities developed their own identities, their personalities, their thoughts and views. They interacted with other Deities and the mortals, either choosing to ignore them or answer their prayers; Even occasionally tormenting them as a form of humility. Due to their ever-encompassing nature, the Elemental Deities preferred to be neutral when it came to most conflicts, but should Okoto ever be threatened, they would rise to defend it.

           When Umarak, Deity of Shadow was left unchecked, he attempted to engulf Okoto with his darkness. The Elemental Deities battled him, but unable to defeat the dark god, they instead opted to craft a new island, a second Okoto, over the current one. With this new island, they slammed it down onto Umarak, burying the shadows alive and imprisoning him within a newly remade Okoto. The Elemental Deities gave life to the new surface, even as Umarak was trapped in the foundations, the will of the Elemental Deities keeping Okoto’s lock on him eternally strong.

           The Elemental Deities continued their existences, developing as individuals. Clear personalities were made, with Melum of Ice becoming cold and distant, a mysterious loner who did not wish to be seen nor understood; Whereas Uxar became lively, youthful, and energetic, happily putting aside conflict to interact with others and even play. Terak was grounded and stern, Akida was wise, Ikir was bold and powerful, and Ketar was sharp and razor-tongued.

           The efforts of the Elemental Deities to contain Umarak would not last, however; The Darkness Below thrived and thrashed below, held in place by Terak and Ketar’s strength, but eventually it succeeded in corrupting one of Uxar’s trees, constructing a new body to roam the surface with, the Hunter.

           Umarak the Hunter formed a plan to raze Okoto by permanently stealing the power of the Elemental Deities. He set out with his pack of Shadow Traps, as well as the occasional ally, and launched a series of guerilla attacks on the Elemental Deities. Of course, each one easily fended off the hunter, but with each attack, Umarak succeeded in siphoning and infinitesimal sliver of the Deities’ souls.

           These small thefts, while offensive, were left unnoticed as the Elemental Deities kept to more important tasks. But as time came on, Umarak’s successful hunts slowly, gradually drained the Elemental Deities, who didn’t quite realize how much weaker they were getting until it was too late. By then, Umarak was outright chasing the Deities as they fled, occasionally adopting more physical forms to better evade and even fight back against the Hunter. And yet, inevitably, Umarak would always seize another part of their energy.

           When the Great Cataclysm occurred, most Deities were left in a comatose state; However, the Elemental Deities remained, due to their inherent, primordial connection with the six elements themselves, which were only represented greater through the newly made Elemental Regions. However, Umarak also continued his existence, the Darkness Below unaffected by the Great Cataclysm, and with many friends and allies incapacitated, the Elemental Deities were forced into an eternal chase as they fled from Umarak.

           Of course, plans and tactics to fight back against Umarak and hide from him were made. At one point, the Elemental Deities sealed themselves away in the hopes of evading Umarak, but the Hunter, ever-clever, succeeded in destroying their seal and forcing the Deities back into reality. And as the Elemental Deities grew weaker, they began to look towards the only other possible allies left for assistance; The mortal Okotans.

           To their hurt and shock, the Okotans they approached for help declined to assist. The Okotans were more concerned with repairing and surviving the effects of the Great Cataclysm, and couldn’t be bothered to help the Elemental Deities; What was in it for them? How much time and effort and resources would it take? Their lives would be risked challenging Umarak, would they not be?

           Spurned, the Elemental Deities were left alone and abandoned in their flight. Some of their hurts turned cold, embittered; They had done so much for the Okotans, heeded their worship, sacrificed genuine energy and effort for them. But when asking the Okotans to return the favor, they refused?! Some of the Deities tried to remain impartial, and indeed none of them would ever directly take their rage out on the Okotans… Still, resentment built and lingered. The Deities Melum and Terak (and especially Ketar) grew to dislike the Okotan mortals as opportunistic, selfish, and ungrateful. The fact that the Elemental Deities blamed them for the Great Cataclysm certainly didn’t help. And when the Brotherhood of Makuta emerged and assaulted Okoto with its Skull Spiders, the Mask Hoarder Makuta even attempted to capture the Elemental Deities for his own purposes as well! Of course, he failed miserably, lacking Umarak’s cleverness and experience, and quickly gave up- But terrible impressions had only been worsened by the attempt.

           Centuries would pass, and then came the arrival of the Toa, who fell from the stars. Curious phenomena to the Elemental Deities, the Toa helped the Okotans in fighting back against the Brotherhood of Makuta, and during a key phase of their war, became aware of Umarak and his eternal hunt for the Elemental Deities.

           Learning about the situation, the Toa made strides to become allies with the Elemental Deities. While some considered their offers graciously, such as Uxar, others were bitter and would rather reject them, such as Ketar or Melum. To them, it seemed rather convenient that when theyneeded them, just now the Okotans would suddenly clamor and rush to make an alliance with the Elemental Deities! Bitterness and pride formed a rift between the two groups, and as the Brotherhood war continued and worsened, the sworn nemesis Umarak allied with Makuta.

           At this point, the Elemental Deities were split, with half wanting to form an alliance with the Okotans, and the other half not trusting them and still bitter with rejection and resentment. When Okotan attempts to recruit them became too aggressive, the Elemental Deities even fought back at times against them, as well as the Brotherhood of Makuta.

           Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and when push came to shove, the Elemental Deities –somewhat- swallowed their pride and agreed to the Okotan alliance. A genuine friendship had formed between Lewa and Uxar, the former earnestly, unironically wanting to help the Deities at for no benefit whatsoever beyond the act itself, and many of his fellow Toa agreed on this principle. Touched, the Elemental Deities finally relented and agreed to ally with the Okotans… or more specifically, just the Toa, just this once.

           One by one, old grudges were eased and hearts softened when Lewa and Uxar’s bond persisted to the point where the two fused their souls together in unity, becoming a Kaita in the process. Other Kaita fusions were later made with the Toa and their respective Elemental Deities, save for Pohatu and Ketar, who remained prickly and hostile towards one another. With their alliance with the Toa, the Elemental Deities also revealed the location of the Mask of Control, which they believed would be a key asset in combating Makuta and Umarak. Knowing it was contained within the Labyrinth of Infinity, the Elemental Deities, then unable to navigate the maze to find the Mask of Control, teamed up with the Toa and Okotans to find the golden prize.

           Despite best efforts, the campaign to seize the Mask of Control would fail when Brotherhood forces intercepted them and seized the legendary mask, with Umarak exploiting Pohatu and Ketar’s hostile relationship to his advantage. But at the end of the day, the Toa and Deity of Stone also learned from the experience of their failure and put aside differences, forming a mutual respect with one another and forming a Kaita fusion.

           When Makuta possessed Umarak in a forced, unorthodox Kaita fusion, he gave rise to the Elemental Deities’ stolen power in the form of Elemental Beasts and had them raze Okoto. As efforts were made to fight back, it was quickly discovered that destroying an Elemental Beast would release its energy, which in turn would return back to the Deity it was stolen from, drawn like a magnet to their soul. Elated, the Elemental Deities helped tear through the Elemental Beasts, reclaiming their lost power and growing all the stronger as they rallied for retribution against Umarak and by extension, Makuta.

Uniting with the Toa into Kaita, the Elemental Deities helped them clear a path directly to Makuta, challenging the Mask Hoarder. Although they failed to keep Makuta from uniting his soul, the assistance of Ekimu, now newly-christened and empowered as the Toa of Creation, allowed the group to defeat Makuta. The Mask of Control was severed from his face, freeing Umarak from the Mask Hoarder’s thrall. Ekimu donned the Mask of Control, and with Elemental Horde under his power, he shattered every Beast, releasing all of the Deities’ stolen energy at once.

Even as it surged back into them, the Elemental Deities split from their Toa hosts, recognizing that they may not be able to handle the huge influx of power, and began reforming overhead in the skies above. Wounded, their foe Umarak could only help but look to the skies helplessly as he saw his age-old nemeses restore to their old power, and all-mighty once more, the vengeful Elemental Deities surged down upon Umarak. They burned his form, reducing him to an inert Mask of Shadows.

Following the incident, the Elemental Deities have somewhat cut ties with the Okotans. With their power reclaimed and Umarak defeated, the Elemental Deities have no need for any further alliance, and indeed some old wounds can’t be fully recovered from. Still, they remained somewhat amicable with the Toa, and are willing to provide a favor here or there; However, they are very much busy with trying to heal Okoto from the damage of the Elemental Beasts, as quickly as possible. Umarak’s consciousness may have been imprisoned, but the instinct of the Darkness Below continues to thrash against Okoto, weakened from the razing. Thus, to keep it contained once more, Okoto must be healed of its wounds… And maybe after that, the Elemental Deities mightreturn to helping the Okotans full-time. None of this, of course, stops Lewa and Uxar from still maintaining a bright and cheery friendship.

As the embodiments of the elements themselves, the Elemental Deities manifest purely as the energy they represent. Ketar can become a raging sandstorm, Ikir is a travelling fire that leaps from forest to forest, Akida is a sudden wave that upends a ship, etc. They ARE the elements, and the consciousness of the Deities can just as easily, just as quickly move through their essence. When interacting with others or for formal events in general, the Elemental Deities can compress and concentrate their energy into smaller, compact bodies resembling animals sacred to them. Though small, these bodies are still of immense strength and power.

When Umarak began draining them of their power, the Elemental Deities began losing their grip, their control over themselves as the power their consciousness was bound to began to dwindle and diminish. They lost the ability to hold themselves together; Even if Umarak had fully drained them as he’d originally planned, the Deities would still EXIST to an extent… But spread out too thin to really function or act. After all, they were the elements themselves, so to truly destroy the Elemental Deities would be to destroy Life itself, which is something nobody desires.