"The Breaking of a Warrior"
Haku sat patiently as he watched the skinned rhoa browning over his campfire, slowly turning it at times. Each sizzle and pop of the animal’s skin filled Haku with anticipation, a hearty reward for another faithful day on The Karui Way. As the rhoa crisped, the night grew darker and a storm began churning in the blackened sky. The raindrops brought greater comfort, and Haku felt content. Haku dared a smile, even if he was still in Wraeclast, but the idea was interrupted by the sound of several pairs of footsteps in the wet sand. They approached his camp slowly until they were almost in the light of the fire, then they stopped. The blackness of the night hid their forms, but Haku knew they were there. A flashing bolt of lightning off in the distance displayed their silhouettes, some small, some large, and one gigantic.

“Haku,” said a female voice, “defending the innocents of Lioneye’s Watch doesn’t suit you.” He knew the voice just from it speaking his name. Catarina stepped forward into the light and sat across from him, holding a staff that he had never seen before. Haku stared at that staff for a moment and he almost felt drawn to it. He shook off the idea and grabbed his large hammer that leaned against the stone wall to his side.

“There are no innocents in Wraeclasts, Puppet Master,” Haku said, “but there are those who I feel need my assistance. It is The Karui Way to lend strength where strength is needed.” Catarina laughed softly in a mocking manner. Haku hated her laugh, she would always laugh at his beliefs. “Listen closely, Karui. If you do, this will be much easier on you,” Catarina said, rising from the stone she sat upon, “Forfeit your Gods and accept me as your Master, then we can build Wraeclast anew. I will give you purpose, Haku.”

Haku spat at the ground near her feet and tightened his grip on his hammer. “Karui have no master, you dishonor me for the last time, Pupper Master.” Haku couldn’t remember how many times Catarina came to him after the Ravenous God fell and offered him “purpose”, but this would be the last.

“This could have all been so easy, Karui,” Catarina sighed. “Hillock! To the front.” From the darkness came the gigantic figure that Haku had fought before, except... he had always been rotten, flesh falling off the bone and riddled with arrows and open wounds. Before Haku stood Hillock, reborn.

“What is the meaning of this, Catarina? What have you done?” Haku asked, fearing the unnatural power in Catarina’s hands. She smiled as she backed into the darkness beyond the campfire.

“Hey, I remember you,” said the towering giant, “you bashed me good, again and again. Just lookin’ at you makes me ANGRY!” Hillock’s long strides were unlike the shambling mass of flesh he used to be, but Haku wouldn’t be caught off guard. Hillock swung his large sword diagonally at Haku, allowing for Haku to dodge to the side. Haku swiveled and swung his hammer into Hillock’s ribs. With a sickening crunch, Hillock fell to the ground gasping and crying. “No, no… I was ‘spose to win, no…”, Hillock whimpered, “next chance I get I’m gonna RIP YOUR LIMBS OFF!”

Haku lifted his hammer again and brought it down on Hillock’s back, shattering his spine. Hillock tried crawling towards his sword, but he just flailed helplessly, crying pitifully in the sand. “There won’t be a next chance for you,” Haku said. “Your puppets are still too weak, Puppet Master. Rebirth won’t change that.”

Haku’s words hung silently in the night as the storm rolled in from the shore. “Swarm him,” Catarina said finally, “all of you.” From the darkness came men and women, one wearing a bear pelt and a wide smile, another wearing Brinerot armor, others cloaked in wet, black clothes. They formed a circle around him, but didn’t attack. Haku tried swinging sweeping blows at them to catch their vitals as he did Hillock, but they kept their distance. They would lunge forward then back off, forward and back, forward and back. Haku realized they were pushing him into a corner, and corners meant certain death to one outnumbered. Haku saw a green burst of energy from the darkness and all of those before him backed off slowly. Haku stood confused, but ready.

From behind, large arms wrapped around him with crushing strength. “I told you I’d CRUSH you!”, Hillock said happily, laughing and swinging Haku around in his arms. “Crush, CRUSH, CRUSH!” Hillock squeezed and Haku felt his torso bending inwards. Pain shot through his body like fire and his consciousness began to drift.

“Stop!”, said Catarina, “he’s not yours to kill.”

“But… but he bashed me, so MANY times,” said Hillock, “I said, I said next chance I get-“ “I said stop, fool. Do you wish to go back into the darkness?”

“No… no, boss, I’m sorry…”, Hillock said, “I hate the dark.” Hillock loosened his grip but held Haku in place. Haku tried to catch his breath, but he could only wheeze and pant as his mouth filled with the taste of blood. Haku couldn’t talk, but he wouldn’t plead either. His entire torsos and arms felt like they were being stabbed with knives made out of fire.
“Gravicius,” Catarina said in a pleased tone, “for your faith and dedication to the Syndicate, I give him to you.” Out of the darkness, Gravicius’ golden masked shined in the fire light. He walked slow, orderly towards Haku. He walked as a man walking towards his final destination, his meaning to live.

Gravicius reached out a hand to touch Haku’s cheek, but Haku trashed in defiance. “Ah, ever the defiant one,” said Gravicius. “Your time has come, heathen. For all the rebellions, deaths of my Templar brothers, and the audacity of your ilk… I will savor this.” Gravicius placed his hands softly on Haku’s throat and smiled at him. “Just so you know, you will see your God. I did.” Gravicius’ grip tightened and Haku trashed harder. The little bit of air he could manage was finally cut off. “Enjoy it while it lasts… because you will come back.” Darkness filled Haku’s mind, an endless void of uncertainty lay before him. It stretched endlessly, yet not at all. Haku had never been afraid of the dark, but this was darkness. Greater in every way, overwhelming and numbing at the same time. He began to feel fear and isolation, but he saw hands coming towards him. Their presence felt tender, yet powerful. “Hinekora”, he said to himself.

From the darkness came a motherly voice, “Haku, my Warrior. What is it you desire?” Hinekora emerged from the darkness, taking the form of Haku’s mother. “I thought you’d want to see her after so long, my Warrior. Tell me, what do you desire?”

“Home.”, said Haku. Hinekora took Haku’s hand and he felt elated, fulfilled in every aspect of his being. She guided him through the darkness. In the far distance, Haku saw a coastline filled with people. Closer and closer they traveled, and closer and closer Ngamakanui became. Haku saw sons swinging on the arms of their fathers, trying to show off their strength to each other. Karui Warriors battling for sport, not blood or power. Women smiling and teaching their children. Home, as Haku dreamed of it. Home, as it was before the Templars came. Home, when it was still home.

“They need a King, Haku… King Haku. Does that suit you, my Warrior?”, said Hinekora. Before Haku could consider an answer, he felt a soft tug on his back, then another. Hinekora turned to look behind them and her face changed into a harrowing sight, her beautiful features changed to those that reminded Haku of Kitava. “No, you can’t.”, screeched Hinekora, “mine, MINE!” She grabbed at Haku with unseen arms, clawing to keep her grasp on him. The tug from behind became a pull and Haku was flying through the darkness again as Ngamakanui shrunk in the distance. He could hear Hinekora screaming for him, pleading in the darkness. “Come back, come back, Haku, my Warrior. Come back!”

Haku woke to the face of Catarina before him, softly saying, “Come back, Haku.”

“Send me back, Catarina,” Haku said, his heart racing from the fear of losing his way home. “She won’t be there waiting for you, Haku.”

“Just send me back!”, Haku yelled at her, feeling wild in his despair.

Gravicius stepped forward again and said, “You don’t see your God when the Lifegiver brings you back, heathen. You’ll see.”

“I’ll do it,” Catarina said. She placed her hand on Haku’s forehead, her eyes lit up with a sickly green hue. Haku felt pulled from his body, and he was in the darkness once more. “Hinekora!”, he called. “Mother, please. Hinekora?” Only darkness surrounded Haku. Haku felt a tug on his arm, then another on his leg. It wasn’t Catarina pulling him back this time. In the darkness, he could feel cold fingers with jagged nails digging at his soul. They were hungry, desperate. They found his face and tried pulling at his mouth, they tried squeezing in between his eyes, forcing their way into his nose and ears. They wanted to consume him. “Catarina, please!” The familiar pulling sensation brought him back to his body. He almost felt safe to be out of the darkness.

“Do you submit, Haku? Or do you with to go back into the darkness?”, Catarina said.

“Yes, yes. I… I submit.”, Haku said. Gravicius and Catarina was right. Hinekora wasn’t waiting for him. Haku wondered if he had been rejected by Hinekora, but it wasn’t his fault. He’d done everything right, the Karui Way. But the darkness… the hunger and anger, the cold hands that grasped every inch of him. He didn’t want to live through that horror again. “Good,” Catarina said, “come then, puppet. We have work to do.”

Hillock finally let go of Haku, letting him fall to the ground. “I hate the dark, too.”, Hillock said in a low voice, as if telling a secret. “We can be friends now.” Hillock and the others followed Catarina back into the darkness, leaving Haku alone. After a few moments Haku stood, but he couldn’t convince himself to stand tall. He felt broken and abandoned, like a Karui in shackles.