The Moletopoi and the Box of Mystery

This is my entry for the 2020 Lightbox Expo Challenge. It inspired me to create a story with this characters that I hope becomes my first children book in a near future.
https://www.artstation.com/contests/lightbox-expo/challenges/83/submissions/55531

The Moletopoi are a civilization that used to live mostly underground through their “Iron Age'', in the deep forest and swamps of Bombúes. They were hard working miners and constructors in that period of their history. As they didn't have a good vision, they had to work harder than other civilizations.

The oral tradition says that many generations ago, they made a discovery as they were digging deeper and deeper down the surface of the earth. They found a source of magical purple colored energy that flows deep underground and gives life and energy to all kinds of both living and inanimate objects, brings light to the dark, can be used as fuel and even makes things magically grow out of almost any element. They called it "Mother Energy". They started building a system of pipes to channel this energy and build new amazing houses, power vehicles and illuminate their villages during the night, instead of using fire. During this period the population grew, the invention of energy based ingenuities, vehicles, machinery and even apparatus that helped them in everyday lives changed even their morphology. Their paws became smaller and they could even see a little better in the dark, losing their connection to the earth that witnessed their birth as a species.

For 100 years all was enjoyment and the tasks were notably easier as the Mother Energy was the propulsion of the entire system. But little they knew that this energy was limited. During the government of Asaganup III, the energy was nearly depleted and the people started to worry. The food scarce and the commodities and the way of life was transformed. Restrictions were taken and in some cases, the Moletopoi police had to intervene to avoid major problems between the protestants that demanded a solution. And the fact that the governor retired to the House of Parliament where the reserves of energy were stored didn't help a bit to avoid further complaints.

A few years this situation started escalating, a group of Moletopois that called themselves "The Movement" started to lead the protests to find a solution seeing that the Mother Energy became scarce. This movement wasn't new. They were around for centuries and always followed the ways of the elder, the communion with nature, instead of the indiscriminate use of it. That was mainly the reason they were forced to live outside the city, even hiding for some periods, and welcoming all other tribes and citizens from other cultures, traditions and ethnicities.

when things started to get really complicated and the government was unable to come to a solution, the Movement took the initiative. They had a book written by the elders that described a Box of Mystery, a box that in theory was capable of producing and amplifying Mother Energy. But it wasn't a physical box, it was an energy box that needed to be "activated" in a certain place, "The Cavern of Light" as they called it. Eight pieces of a reflective rock called "Betúm", guarded by generations, needed to be taken to the cavern and put in a particular position to form the "Box of Mystery" and restore the Mother Energy flux.

So they choose 4 of the most skillful and brave members of "The Movement" to perform this ultimate task. These four members were Guidaí, the leader, Ibar, the serious, Imau, the joyful and Babu, the brave. Each of them would carry two vertices of the Box and take them to the "Cavern of Light". They were the Moltopois last hope.