#melum

With no other choice, and the island already ravaged, the Elemental Deities combined their strengths. With their pooled power, they created new land, a new island, and hurled it over Umarak, burying his entire essence beneath a newly-forged Okoto that laid atop the old one. Trapped beneath the weight of this new world, the darkness struggled and heaved, occasionally causing earthquakes, but in response the Elemental Deities merely added to this new island, stacking more foundations upon it until Umarak’s thrashing ceased, or at the very least escaped notice. Every now and then he’d summon forth a huge burst of energy to rattle the lands, and the people of Okoto would know these earthquakes as the struggles of The Darkness Below.

As a new generation of Okotans colonized the new surface, Umarak wasted away in the ruins of the old island below. Still, he refused to give up, and he was clever- So he changed tactics. Instead of trying to burst through the entire island at once, he decided to instead carefully, precisely, pinpoint and concentrate his darkness into one area. This threaded shadow would needle its way carefully, painstakingly, through the foundations and crust above, drilling through the earth and stone until it finally pierced the surface, allowing an opening for Umarak to unleash his shadows through.

It was a gradual, painstaking process. The results were imperfect- The farther his shadow strayed from his main essence, the weaker it got, until only a tiny pinprick of his power seeped into the deeply-grown roots of an ancient tree, infecting it with darkness. This tree continued to feed on Umarak’s shadow, becoming a physical, yet separate, vessel for his mind and power to operate through.

One day, a relentless, merciless hunter shot his quarry, a deer, through with an enchanted arrow. This arrow pierced through the deer and pinned itself into the cursed tree that Umarak had infected, pooling its energies into the vessel. Using the power of the arrow’s enchantment, Umarak forged his wooden vessel into a humanoid form, capable of independent movement, and became Umarak the Hunter.

Umarak broke his feet free from its roots, severing himself from his shadow. While he still maintained an inherent connection to The Darkness Below, he could only reliably maintain and function with his power from within this vessel, which sustained him with its magic. Otherwise, any darkness that attempted to breach the surface from below would become too negligible to make a difference.

Umarak slayed the hunter who had given him form, critical of their mindless killing, and as a gesture of kindness gave life back to that deer before it could die. Donning the hunter’s tools and absorbing his knowledge and skills, Umarak formulated a new, clever plan to free himself and defeat the Elemental Deities, his enemies, once and for all.

His current form, while powerful, was still no match for even one of the Elemental Deities. But Umarak realized that by utilizing clever ambushes, escapes, and guerilla tactics, he could slowly yet surely wittle down the Elemental Deities’ power by stealing it. Creating constructs of metal and shadow with the power of void named Shadow Traps, Umarak used his pack of fanged, mawed hounds to relentlessly chase the Elemental Deities. He would strike quickly, suddenly, and with his Shadow Traps drain permanently just the tiniest portion of the Elemental Deities’ life force. That life force in turn would be contained within a Shadow Trap, which amongst others containing elemental energy would be stored in a hidden cache from any deity’s eyes.

Umarak would repeat this process, over and over, again and again, gradually chipping off pieces of the Elemental Deities’ power. At first the six merely regarded him as an annoyance, but Umarak’s perseverance began to pay off. The change and loss was gradual enough that by the time the Deities realized they were getting weaker, Umarak in turn was getting stronger. He became more accustomed to his form, learned how to better strategize and use tools, and figured out how the Elemental Deities thought and operated. He predicted their every move, hunting and chasing them at every opportunity, never once relenting unless to hide for the timebeing.

When the Great Cataclysm occurred, the Elemental Deities were left dazed enough for Umarak to seize large portions of their power. Even more weakened, the Elemental Deities attempted to fight back, but found Umarak’s trickery, swiftness, and shadow-travel to make him an impossible opponent to strike. Inevitably, despite any pride, they began to fear every encounter with Umarak, knowing they’d lose another part of themselves to him, and began to run.

And so the chase, the hunt, began. Over the centuries, Umarak continued whittling away at the Elemental Deities’ souls, and with the Great Cataclysm having placed all other Deities in a coma, the Elemental Entities had no allies to turn to for protection. All the while, Umarak’s cache of Shadow Traps continued to gestate with the elemental energy they’d absorbed, digesting and formulating it into crystalline bodies of pure elemental energy.

Umarak’s plan from there was simple- He’d drain the Elemental Deities until they were either eradicated or too weak to fight back. With their stolen power, he’d reforge the energy he’d seized into a horde of Elemental Beasts, who in turn would use the same energy that built his island prison to destroy it. The Elemental Beasts would lay waste to Okoto, razing it, tearing away at the foundations until nothing was left but barren rock, and then even less. And with his earthen prison shaved away, The Darkness Below could finally burst free and Umarak could reunite his full power, freed, with no one to stop him from spreading his shadows.

Umarak’s hunt continued successfully in the passing centuries, until the Elemental Deities became the most minor echoes of their former power, barely shadows of their old selves. However, they too managed to learn from Umarak’s tactics, and though they gre weaker over time, they also became harder for him to track down and pin down. All the while, the Elemental Deities searched for Umarak’s hidden cache of their lost power, hoping to one day reclaim it, even as they devised ways to destroy Umarak’s vessel on Okoto.

When Skull Spiders besieged Okoto’s inhabitants, neither Umarak nor the Elemental Deities paid any mind to the incident. They knew full and well the nature of the swarm from a glance and considered it inconsequential. Makuta, in turn, attempted to make an ally of either Umarak or the Elemental Deities, but both saw him as providing no help or not being trustworthy, and ignored him.

This would change following the Arrival of the Toa, and the commencement of the Okotan-Brotherhood wars. As Ekimu the Mask Maker returned and began changing Okoto back to its old ways of its Creation Era, the Brotherhood in turn began experimenting in new venues of Life energy. And as the conflict increased, inevitably, Umarak and the Elemental Deities were noticed and caught in the crossfire.

Both sides desperately needed an ally, an advantage over the other, and while the Okotans were certainly wary of Umarak, no side could afford to be choosers. With the introduction of his Energy Leeches, organic creatures that could drain and store Life energy, Makuta finally won over Umarak’s alliance. In exchange for supplying him with armies and Energy Leeches to better track down and drain the Elemental Deities, Umarak would, from time to time, provide assistance in various Brotherhood operations. With his experience and ancient power of shadow, Umarak proved to be a terrifying challenge to even all six Toa united.

As the war unraveled, it soon came to light that Makuta had another reason for desiring Umarak’s alliance- He himself was after the Elemental Deities as well, in this case for their knowledge of the Mask of Control. Makuta knew that after the Great Cataclysm had caused the Mask of Control to disappear, the Elemental Deities stumbled across the ancient, powerful artifact, and had hidden it away themselves. Makuta needed the Mask of Control to unite the scattered fragments of his soul, and with his alliance with Umarak, the Hunter would not only absorb the Elemental Deities entirely but also their knowledge.

Eventually, Umarak managed to decipher the location of the Mask of Control by hijacking Ketar’s mind, tracking it down the Labyrinth of Deception, also known in ancient names as the Skrall. With a team of Brotherhood forces, Umarak descended into the Labyrinth of Deception and succeeded in acquiring the Mask of Control. However, upon reporting back to Makuta, the Mask Hoarder made his intentions to turn Umarak into a pawn quite clear.

Betrayed, Umarak in turn rejected Makuta’s claims and donned the Mask of Control, only to be possessed by the mask’s power and a portion of Makuta’s soul that had been trapped inside since the Great Cataclysm. The Mask of Control’s ancient powers rendered Umarak a slave to Makuta’s mind, who in turn inhabited Umarak’s body and mutated its vessel into a hulking, beastial caricature of itself. Now armed with both the powers of shadow, as well as those of Makuta and the Mask of Control, Umarak the Destroyer departed to raze Okoto. He awakened the Elemental Beasts, unleashing them upon the island to tear apart the foundations with help from the Brotherhood of Makuta’s forces. As the island’s surface was torn apart, The Darkness Below began to thrash and awaken, even bursting through portions of the surface, tendrils of itself emerging and lashing about.

At the same time, Umarak gathered at the summit of the Elemental Beast cache and began using the Mask of Control to draw and gather the scattered fragments of Makuta’s soul, eventually uniting them into his body and granting the Mask Hoarder a proper, physical form for the first time in centuries.

With his sudden increase in strength, Umarak the Destroyer easily fought off the Toa, who had combined with Elemental Deities into Kaita fusions. However, the tides would be turned when Ekimu the Mask Maker would arrive, having fused the energies of the damaged Mask of Creation with his own soul to become a Toa of Creation. More powerful than ever, Ekimu’s support melded with the Toa Kaitas’, and Ekimu was able to use his Hammer of Power to tear the Mask of Control from Umarak’s face. Freed of Makuta’s possession, Umarak painfully reverted his vessel back to its original form, even as Ekimu donned the Mask of Control, using the power it had spread through the Elemental Beasts to shatter them.

All at once, the lost energy of the Elemental Deities returned to them, gathering into a single spot as they reformed back to their true power. The weakened Umarak, in turn, could only help but gaze upwards in despair as the fully-empowered Elemental Deities visited centuries of retribution upon him, crashing down and burning his form with pure energy. Umarak’s vessel dissipated, his essence severed from The Darkness Below as it retreated and crystallized into a drained Mask of Shadows. The Darkness Below ceased its thrashing as it sank back beneath Okoto, which was in turn repaired of its damages by the Elemental Deities.

           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.