----------Scorched Dawn----------
-----Prologue: Initializing-----
A grassy area, with some mud, stones, a mountain, and a small river in the background. It's a bit dark, with shadows, although it's not the creepy kind of dark. Exactly 1000 lums fly to a single thing, which is hidden in the shadows. It is the heart of the world. The lums appear from every direction, from very small cracks, from the sky, from everywhere, and they all merge with the thing, which starts to emit a yellow glow, that becomes brighter with every single lum that merges with it. All this happens in 5 seconds or so.
A planet, which emits a yellow light (coming from the heart of the world). Then, a shadow, which slowly falls over the planet.
Rayman and Globox, playing catch, with the Baby Globoxes running around them, and eventually jumping into Rayman making him fall, and thus look up, at the sky. Globox says:
"I've won!", but Rayman stares at the skies. Globox walks over to Rayman, but Rayman continues to stare at the sky. A shadow slowly moves over the screen. Globox askes:
"what's wrong, and also looks at the sky.
Again, the planet, but totally darkened, and the bright yellow light ray flickers a bit, turns darker and lighter, and eventually falls apart. A giant pirate ship moves into view, and smaller ones are launched from that ship, which race towards the planet. These 'ships' (actually partly wooden, partly metal pods) all crash into the planet, causing small explosions which you can see. A mechanical voice, from inside the giant ship, says:
"Operation: Scorched Dawn, initialized".
A week later. 2 damaged Henchman 800's are walking in some grassy area like the Woods of Light. They have a few small burns and holes into them, and their clothes are ragged. One has lost the left part of his head, the other has lost his hook. Then, a small pod crashes behind them, leaving a crater in the ground. The pod instantly collpases, and a huge fire emits. From within emerge 8 Henchman 800 "Grunt's". The 2 damaged pirates look around, and run away, but the 8 robot pirates run much faster, and easily catches them. 1 robot pirate touches 1 damaged pirate's head with his cannon, he waits a few seconds, and then fires, destroying the damaged pirate very brutely. Pieces fly everywhere. Then, another pirate moves his hook up, and crushes the head of the other damaged pirate.
A prison ship, which circles around the planet. This prison ship doesn't really look like a conventional ship but more like a space ship, and it is all made of metal. Inside that ship, a Henchman 800 "Zapper" comes through a door at the end of the hallway, and looks around, looking at thousands of cages, everywhere.
Rayman, Globox, 2 baby Globoxes, and a Teensie are running away from a group of all kinds of robot pirates (all upgraded Henchman 800's, but different versions). They all fire, and miss, all kinds of weapons. In the background explosions can be seen, with pods landing everywhere, even in front of Rayman etcetera. The area looks like the intro of Rayman 3. Shortly after the start of this scene, a Baby Globox is hit by a small bullet and explodes. The Teensie already was a bit far behind Rayman and co, with the Baby Globoxes a bit in front of him, but now the Teensie desperately tries to sprint and jump on Globox or Rayman's back. After a few seconds, one of his jumps lands him into the woods somewhere. Globox then looks behind him, just when the surviving Baby Globox copies the Teensie's movement and tries to jump on Globox. They both roll over, and some robot pirates surround them, while Rayman runs on. Some pirates run after him, but a yellow one stops near Globox. After casting a quick glance at him, he looks at the fleeing Rayman, and launches a barrel that was set on fire, like Molotov Cocktails, but different. Rayman is hit by the blast. He thus is also captured.
A small wooden prison ship, like those warships in the Bayou, has landed in a swampy area (like the Bog of Murk), and a quite large (12 or so) group of robot pirates carry Rayman and Globox inside the ship, which then starts to take of (it doesn't leave the ground yet, but the engines are working). Inside a group of bushes and trees, the Teensie which jumped accidently into the woods, is looking at Rayman and Globox, which are carried inside the ship. The Teensie sprints towards the ship, the pirates start to fire at him, and one bullet touches his body, but goes on (I don't know how to explain that, but you maybe get what I mean). The Teensie however is badly wounded and falls to the ground. The pirates capture him.
Inside that wooden ship, Rayman sits lonely in his cage like in the first level of Rayman 2. The Teensie then enters his cage. He says:
"Rayman, I can help you. I were put in a cage just like yours, right next to you. I am so small, I could crouch beneath the electric beams. I've come to help you. However, I'm weak. I feel like I'm going to die. Soon. Very soon. But first, I'll help you. Even if it's the last thing I do..."
Prophetic words, as he creates a silver lums, which transforms into a yellow portal, like all Teensies can create.
"Quickly Rayman, I'm so weak, the portal will soon disappear. Walk through it, it will take you somewhere outside of this ship. I'm so weak, I dont know where...Exactly it will bring you...Not to the Hall of Gates, I'm...Not strong enough for...That. Please, go! I'll...Go to Globox...And create a portal...For him...Too...Now...G...Go..."
"Ok...But my powers...They have mostly disappeared...Make sure Globox is fine...Thanks for your help..." Says Rayman, before he enters the portal.
The Teensie, which is still very weak and badly burned, as can be easily seen and heard, dies just after Rayman enters the portal. When will Rayman realize, Globox is still on the ship?
-----Chapter 1: Fallen God-----
-A pinkish beach, near a huge mountain body, near the Precipice (although unknown to Rayman)-
On a pinkish, small patch of sand, near huge mountains, a yellow portal appears. Rayman appears from it. Then, the portal starts to flicker, and yellow sparks fly of it. Rayman walks away from the portal, wondering what's going on. The portal's shape changes, and then it simply disappears. The sand beneath it, is slightly burned. Rayman turns around, and looks up. It appears to be noon, a bright sun shines, and a few nice, white clouds hover across the sky. Rayman doesn't recognize the huge rocks, the light grey tinted mountain, but he does spot a small opening in it. Concluding that, since the Teensie wasn't able to create portals that lead to specific parts of the world, Globox probably wouldn't appear near by, Rayman decided to crouch down and enter the mountain via the small opening. After all, the pinkish beach, which was nearly surrounded by the mountain, was only a few meters long, and the only other way was via the water, in which he spotted various piranha's, and no sight of land. He hoped he would reach Globox soon, but he wondered what would happen to the Teensie. He was badly burned, and sweat was running over his body. He would probably die at the hands of the pirates, but Rayman hoped the Teensie would survive. First things first though, Rayman needed to know where he was, and where Globox was. The only way out of here was through the small opening, so he enetred the mountain.
-Inside one of the huge mountains-
In a small, circular, dark area, the Monarch sat on his cold, small, stone throne. He was asleep, or perhaps inconcious, or maybe even simply thinking, but the fact remained that he hadn't moved for a few days. No one knew, but ever since these new pirate robots had shown up, the Monarch hadn't moved. 4 Despot's surround him, also not moving. There was no way in, or out of this small cave.
-Inside the same mountain-
Rayman walked through the dark mountain. It was unnaturally dark, sometimes pitch black, sometimes very dark blue, and sometimes simply dark grey. Someone had made paths here, and skeletons, some even with pieces of their body, which resembled those of Knaaren's, lay on those paths. Near those pathways, strange pillars with strange markings could sometimes be found. Dark blue gemlike things lay across the paths, some still emitting a nice dark blue light. Occasionally, a destroyed robot pirate could also be found. They resembled the shape of a robot pirate, but the clothing and coloring was totally different. 'What is this?' Thought Rayman, observing a nearly fully intact Knaaren corpse. In the middle, however, was a robot pirate body, with Knaaren like arms and legs growing out of it. When Rayman had walked a good fifteen minutes, more and more pillars began to appear. Taller ones, with even more strange markings on them. Also, most of the paths were lit by dark purple light, instead of the occasional dark blue light, and that is if there was light. Rayman felt like he had walked on some paths multiple times, for the whole inside of the mountain was a maze, containing tenthousands of paths. Some very long, some very short. Suddenly, Rayman stopped walking. The purple light had slowly become darker and darker, and now it was pitch black again. Now, he truly couldn't see anything. He could turn back, but Rayman, being the hero he is, decided to go on. He fell right inside a hole.
-At the same time, inside the same mountain-
The Monarch awoke. Instantly, the 4 Despot's sprang to life, noticed that their master had moved, and resumed to do what they were doing, standing frozen around their master, watching every single dust particle (whatever the word is, in Dutch, it is stofdeeltje, or perhaps stof deeltje
), ready to capture, or kill, any intruder. The Monarch opened his eyes."Aaaaah...It feels good to move again." He hopped down from his small, stone throne. Then, he realized something, and froze. "Guardians, there is an intruder here! I am still very weak, although I've gathered enough energy to be awake. Protect me!" The Monarch ordered. He hopped back onto his throne, and a dark blue / dark purple forcefield appeared around him, with strange dark blue and dark purple marks in it, which changed, appeared, disappeared, and moved across it. This forcefield appeared just in time, because some small stones would have otherwise fallen right on top of the Monarch.
-Again, at the same time, inside the same mountain-
Rayman stood on a very small stone platform, which was lighted by gems, alternating between dark blue and dark purple ones. The platform shook a little when Rayman landed on it. He was trapped between huge stone, unclimbable walls, he was unable to escape. Then, the platform shook again, and again, and then it crumbled. Rayman landed on top of a strange dark blue / dark purple shield. He bounced of it, right into the arms of a Knaaren like creature. It was the head of a robot pirate however, that looked at him.
-And yet again, at the same time, inside the same mountain-
The Monarch looked above, the entire cave was lit with purple and blue light that came from above. He never knew that the rock barrier was so thin. Then, he looked at one of his Despot's. The Despot who had Rayman in his hands, to be exact. They were all awaiting his command. A single word of him, could be the dead of this limbless creature. Just like old times. He looked inside the creature's eyes.
"Hey! You are Polokus!" Shouted the creature. The Monarch snarled, Polokus, how dare the creature mention him. Polokus, the one who supposedly created everything. Bah!
"SHUT UP!" Screamed the Monarch in anger. "Polokus is nothing compared to me! NOTHING!" To Rayman, it appeared as if this creature was totally mad. And evil. "Polokus! Hah! I guess you believe he is the god? His word is law? He created everything, his power is immense? Well? Do you believe that?" Shouted the Monarch, not expecting an answer. The forcefield disappeared, and he jumped down from his throne (his throne was only a few decimeter high). "Bah! How dare you mention that name. I will tell you the truth, so I swear. In the hope, that the world will remember me. Tell me, do you know me?" Asked the Monarch.
"No?" Said Rayman. He briefly noticed that the throne, which had simply been some sort of pillar, resembling Polokus' one but much smaller, a dark grey stone pillar to be exact, was very slowly gaining a purple / blue tint. The Monarch jumped back on his throne, and then realized something. Old memories came back, powers he thought he had lost a long time ago came back, his energy came back. He was a god again, and was willingly to share that fact with the world.
"Listen! You are...Rayman?" Rayman nodded. "Rayman. I am...Maleus!" Told the creature excited to Rayman. "I will tell you my history, and that of the world. Once, planets were simply that. Planets. Nothing more, nothing less. No living beings existed. Only simple bodies of stone, earth, and what else, inside an unlimited space. This unlimited space was filled with energy, and while technically not unlimited, it continued to expand at a rapid rate. It still does. This beings of energy created planets, and inhabited those. Over time, due to evolution, they slowly became creatures. Like, for example, Glute's. These creatures were formed by red energy, and eventually lost most contact with the energy. The energy, which is called a Lum by the people inhabiting this planet, sometimes didn't evolution into other creatures though. However, let's first explain what this energy is. First, only the red energy, Red Lums if you wish, existed. It could slowly changed into lifeforms when it wanted, to populate the bodies hovering into the space. Planets. Some Red Lums transformed into Blue Lums, to allow the offsprings of the creatures to live. Red Lums contain life, and when in their purest form, will give you immortality. However, as offsprings are made, a part of the Red Lum is transferred to the offspring. The Red Lum in the offspring loses most of its power, it only grants life. For how long, that is another question. Without Blue Lums, the offspring would die in seconds. Blue Lums give breath, and other vital things to lifeforms. It's only known purpose nowadays is giving air though. For this creatures to live, they needed balance. Gravity, peach, things like that. Purple Lums granted that, but in the present, they have been heavily mutated and aren't needed for those things anymore. Someone entirely made of energy, Lums, may use them to manipulate certain aspects though, like movement and time. Everyone could live, but Red Lums, Blue Lums, and Purple Lums together somehow caused the appearance of certain unintentional things, like emotions, or weather. Lifeforms didn't know how to handle love, anger, they didn't understand what it was. Some lifeforms still don't, like Chewysaurusses. To counter this however, Yellow Lums were created. They would, along with Purple Lums, keep everything in balance. More so, they would work as shields, protecting the balance. From these scattered Yellow Lums, the Heart of the World was eventually formed. Keeping the power of the Yellow Lums in one place greatly amplified its effect. Everyone was at peach, hatred simply couldn't exist. Many believe that Mister Dark destroyed the Heart of the World by himself, but it really was an accident. An accident that destroyed the balance of the world, for the Yellow Lums were protecting the balance. Creatures became maddened, fueled by anger and hatred. Some of the more pure creatures, like Ray's or fairies, weren't affected by this, but others did. Like Mister Dark. Green Lums are merely evolutioned Red Lums. Red Lums had overtime lost their capability of creating life. They still could give it back though, provided that the one who would receive it was still alive. They also could still change into other lums, as was proven by André, but eventually their was the need for Green Lums to give life back. They again couldn't create life, but it could bring back life. Only to the purer creatures though. It was the closest thing to the former Red Lums. So, life existed, and everything was well. The Lums were gradually disappearing however, and the moment they did, a massive change would happen through the world. As can be seen on Earth, the planet were they first disappeared. Thus, a few Lums merged to create a godlike being. Polokus, to slowly prepare the world, to keep it into balance. He represented the good, the light. But that upset the balance, so a few other Lums merged, and created me. Maleus. I represented the darker side, the evil side, if you wish. Remember though, evil is a relative concept, I am not evil, like those robot pirates. Speaking about them, the Robot Pirates came from a planet much like the Earth, but a much more advanced one. One that is now reduced to dust, due to atomic warfare, cybernetic revolutions, things you wouldn't understand, Rayman. They, like the people living on Lumless planets, don't rely on Lums anymore, and as such, can't use them too. Polokus and I sort of ruled the world, but we realized we would eventually die. Well, not really die, but it's sort of the same. Except that we could wake up when asked. So, we created a heir, to say it so. Jano. Unfortunately, the Heart of the World exploded at nearly the same moment, and Mister Dark rose to power. Jano was affected by this, possibly because he wasn't even 30 seconds old, and he turned evil. Sort of. He retreated in a cave, I've heard, and let's nearly no one near him. Inside he's a good guy though. However, instead of creating a single heir, we created a whole race dedicated to protecting the world. The Teensies. They have limited godlike powers. Besides us, the Lums created other species that would watch over the world. The species closest to the Lums, simply solid forms of them, are Electoons. Some of them have changed to Antitoons when the Heart of the World shattered, and they still hide in the depths of the world. Then, there are the fairies, Betilla and Ly being 2 of them, and the Magician is simply a male version of the fairies. The last, but the most important, are the Ray's. The While the Electoons are the closest thing to a normal Lum, it are the Ray's which are capable of using the Lums. Long ago, everyone was able to do so, but now only the Ray's can. It is true that for example the Fairies can create special Lums, which aren't really Lums, but energy spheres which can give the user special powers. You've received quite a few of those. All seemed well. However, I became more and more dark, and although it was simply in my nature, Polokus imprisoned me inside this mountain. For this, I hate him. I slowly lost my powers, my memories, my will to live, and when the Heart of the World shattered, I lost all of them. As I've said, I can't die, nor can Polokus. You, the Electoons, and maybe Jano, also can't. Those 3 species each are in their respective ways the closest thing to Lums, although the Electoons are considered to truly be teh closest, as I've explained. The robot pirates invaded this mountain body, slaughtering many creatures, Knaaren descendants, which have chosen to live in these mountains instead of beneath the desert. I was able to stop them, with my reduced power. I fear that this has reduced my power for ever, and I was recreating my power on this throne, one much like the one of Polokus, as you've probably noticed. I fear I'll only be as powerful as you are, maybe slightly more, though. When you destroyed the thin rock barrier above me, this place was once again connected to the outer world. As such, my throne was able to gather more energy, and thus I received more energy. Before you arrived here, I didn't remember this whole story. I know how to beat these new pirate robots. At least, I think I do. But as I've said, my powers are still weak. I can't leave these mountains, I have to gather energy here. And even then, I need even more energy. You have awoken Polokus, I believe? Then you're a true warrior. A hero, perhaps. I also have 4 masks, hidden around the world. Bring them to me, to restore my energy, to fully awake my powers, memories, and everything. Perhaps, I can fight with Polokus one more time. But do understand, I hate him with so much hatred, no one could possibly feel so much hatred. And still, I don't wish him dead, or harm...Go now, get my masks." With those words, Maleus jumped back on his throne, created a portal, like Polokus did, and Rayman disappeared. Then, Maleus slept again...
