They walked down the long dark spiral staircase. Matau wondered if it would ever end; it was impossible to see to the bottom. He didn’t really know if that was because it was so dark or if it was because it was so deep. He wondered why Toa Lhikan had summoned them to this place. There was nothing special about him. He looked at Nokama but her eyes didn’t meet his. He dropped his head in sadness. From what he had seen of her, he really liked her. Sure, there had been other Ga-Matoran that had been prettier than her but she was a nice person to be around, she was friendly and compassionate. Matau wondered what had come over him. He always measured Ga-Matoran on looks and not personality. It was useless in feeling anything for her though. After seeing the way she looked at Vakama earlier, it was obvious she didn’t feel the same way.

It felt like they had been walking for a millennium by the time they got to the bottom. Their feet ached and their legs were tired. The six of them were in a pitch black tunnel. None of them could see a thing, there was no light at all, besides the light stone that was placed above the staircase above. They could see nothing at all, the drips of water from the ceiling splashed against the floor. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was cold and damp and there was a distanced smell of wet stone.

Whenua felt around in his backpack. He pulled out a small wooden torch and some matches.

“Hold this”, he said to Onewa, passing him the torch. The empty tunnels made his voice echo. He lit the match and set it to the torch. The rock walls were black but the yellow and green algae that grew around it made them look like its natural colours too. They were standing on a half eroded wooden platform when the stair case ended. The water had formed puddles on most of the tunnel floor. It wasn’t like the crystal clear water that was found in Ga-Metru, this was a murky brown and had algae forming on the surface.

Their feet splashed and they trudged their way through the muddy puddles of the dark tunnel, lit only by Whenua’s torch. Onewa’s shuddered from both the cold and the fear of only being able to see what the torch lit up, which really wasn’t a lot

“How deep down do you think this place is?” Vakama asked.

“Hmmm” Whenua thought deeply for a moment, tapping his finger on his chin. Matau had no idea what calculations were going on his head and really didn’t care. Did it really matter how deep they were? Vakama did ask some stupid questions.

“I would say about 100 feet down”, Whenua finally said. “It’s a rough figure but it’s a good guess” He continued.

“Hey Onewa you’re being rather silent. It’s a nice change”, Matau half joked. Onewa looked deeply insulted for a moment. He glared at Matau as if he was going to murder him.

“How long did it take you to come up with that gem Matau? Don’t fry you brain cells”, Onewa responded harshly, almost spiting his words. “Oh but, my fingers are fine by the way. Don’t all rush at once to ask me”

“I think people would ask if they were genuinely interested”, said Matau. Onewa didn’t respond, he just crossed his arms and huffed, muttering some Po-Matoran curse word. Matau wondered what Nuju had meant when he said something to Onewa about looking manly in front of the guys. Whatever he meant it seemed to frighten the life out of Onewa. Mind you, that rock head would get offended by nearly anything that was said to him. Matau would probably ask Nuju later, although he didn’t really expect much of a lengthy response from a Ko-Matoran; they were always quite short with the sentences and didn’t really like to socialise. This was very different to the Le-Matoran, who would rarely be found alone and would spend entire nights partying before realising they had work in the morning.

The six of them stumbled across two passage ways. One was leading left and one was leading right. They were lit with torches but poorly. Many of them had died out.

“We should split up into two groups” Vakama suggested. He looked at the others for approval. He wasn’t much of a leader and wouldn’t fight for his opinion if it was against the majority.

“Good idea” Said Matau. “Me and Nokama will take the left and you guys can take the right”

“Oh Matau”, Nokama laughed. “You’re so funny”

“It wasn’t a joke” said Matau. He gave her a perplexed look. His eyes squinted in confusion and a lost look came over his face.

“Let me rephrase that for her”, said Onewa. “You’re so funny how much of a pathetic loser you are by trying to get me alone in a blatantly obvious scenario”, he spat.

“Onewa!” Nokama said. “Matau, you know full well I didn’t mean it like that”. Matau was ready to fly-kick that stupid little Po-Matoran.

”Matau, I think it would make sense if we evened out the sides. I think Vakama should come with us” Nokama said.

“Go figure” said Matau under his breath, his teeth clenched.

“What was that?” Vakama asked, even though heard clearly what Matau had said. Well look at Vakama with his supersonic hearing. I bet Nokama digs that stuff, thought Matau thougt sarcastically.

“Nothing” Matau sighed. He couldn’t look Nokama in the eye in case she caught on to what was going on.

They said their farewells before splitting up. Matau, Nokama and Vakama all took the left while the others took the right. The tunnel was poorly lit and had uneven ground, making it easy to trip. This part of the tunnel was dryer. It was made of a different stone to the other tunnel. This one was a shiny black, it was beautiful. Whenua had given them a torch just in case things got really hard to see. There was a gloomy haze at the end of the tunnel so it was impossible to see to the other end. As well as being uneven, this shiny black rock was slippery to walk on.

“What type of rock is this?” asked Matau

“Matau, this isn’t rock”, Nokama said, “Its crystal”

“Whoa-”, said Matau. The flames light flickered off the many angles of the crystals, almost making them look like light stones. Matau then noticed they weren’t just a shiny black, but had white and silver lines laced into them. They were a sight to behold.

Matau looked at Vakama. He didn’t seem happy at all. Matau realised he may have been a little harsh on Vakama when he muttered that sentence earlier, and didn’t want that to rub off on what could be a good friendship. Vakama really did seem like a nice guy and Matau wasn’t the type to hold grudges.

“So Vakama what do you do for a living?” he asked. He smiled at him a put his hand on Vakama’s back. It was his own way of saying sorry.

“I forge Kanohi”, he replied, slightly embarrassed, as he had met Matau before when he made his mask. Obviously he didn’t remember.

“Oh right? Did you make mine?” Asked Matau, pointing to his mask and tapping it three times.

“Maybe, it’s hard to tell”, Vakama lied. Matau could tell he was finding the conversation awkward.

“Well whoever made it, did a darn good job.”

“Probably me then” Vakama joked. They both laughed. “What about you?” he asked.

“I…Wash vehicles” Matau said. He was ashamed and looked down to the floor. He knew exactly what the next question would be. He was going to ask why he didn’t fly them.

“So you don’t fly them? Vakama asked

“No… I didn’t pay much attention in class. I guess I paid for it.”

Vakama nodded his head in acknowledgement. He didn’t really know what else to say.

Nokama was up in front, scouting ahead. She didn’t really want to talk to them. They both seemed nice, but she really felt she needed some time alone. It was all too much seeing Lhikan be executed, and if she talked to them she would probably end up losing her temper, which wasn’t like her. She would normally either walk away from conflicts, or try and settle them with words.

“Hey, Nokama, need a hand?” Matau shouted up to her. She put her finger on her lips to silence him. It was only a short amount of time before one of them would have called her, she guessed. She looked back at them. Out of the group, they were the two she had the most time for, besides Whenua. She didn’t specifically dislike the other two, in fact she actually did like them, but their hatred for each other made her feel uneasy. She figured she would speak to Matau and Vakama. It wouldn’t hurt to talk about the situation to them. It was always better not to bottle it in.

The three of them regrouped.

“See anything?” Vakama asked.

“Nothing. It appears we’re down here alone.” she replied, “Besides the bats that is”

“It’s funny”, Vakama said. “With all that’s been going on just now it’s hard to believe what happened just a few hours ago.”

“I know”, said Nokama. A sadness washed over her face, and the illumination in her eyes seemed to dim. “Were you close?”

“Very” Said Vakama. “I used to travel with him; I thought he’d be here forever”.

“I’m sorry, Vakama”, she said. She frowned sympathetically.

“And you Matau?” She asked.

“Yeah, I used to talk to him a lot” He brushed it off. He wasn’t much of a negative emotions kind of Matoran. It hurt him deeply that Lhikan had died, but he thought best not dwell on it. “But what I don’t understand is, why us? Why are we so special to be summoned to the Great Temple?” He asked.

“Maybe he trusted us?” suggested Vakama.

“Really?” said Matau. “I wouldn’t trust myself with anything, let alone Onewa.

“Maybe its destiny” said Nokama

“Destiny for what though?” Vakama questioned. Last week Vakama thought all his destiny would amount to was making masks for the rest of his days, and seeing as how he’d never really thought he’d be killed with the sort of life he led, that might have been an eternity, literally.

They carried on walking a little further. They had to walk half as slow to avoid slipping on the crystals. Not only was the floor slippery, it was also spiky. If you hit one of those spikes when falling, you would get a serious cut.

“What do you think of the others?” asked Vakama to both of them.

“They seem okay”, said Nokama. “They seem to argue a lot though”

“What?” said Matau, his face was in pure disbelief, with his eyes and mouth struck wide open. “You don’t find that entertaining?”

Nokama looked slightly irritated for a moment. She scowled at Matau.

“Not all of us get pleasure of watching people fight. I prefer the more peaceful approach to things. What do you think Vakama?” Her tone softened.

“Well, I mean it’s always good to solve things on a nonviolent way”

“She didn’t ask that did she, Vakama?” Matau provoked jokingly “She asked if you found their bickering entertaining”

He glared at Matau. “Well. I can honestly say I agree with Nokama”, he lied. He looked at Matau’s jealous face.

“That’s funny”, said Matau, playing along. “That’s not what you were telling me back earlier in the cave, Vakama” Matau lied. The two of them looked to each other and burst out laughing, realising they had just played each other at their own game. Nokama was confused, she didn’t seem to get the joke and narrowed her eyes in confusion.

“I haven’t got a clue what you two are laughing about” She said. The two of them shrugged it off and lied that they would tell her later.

With about twenty minutes of walking, the three Matoran travelled to the end of the main tunnel. Matau noticed there were six entrances. Each of the three had a light at the top. One blue, one green, one red, one white, one brown and one black.

“I take it we chose the one with our colour?” asked Vakama rhetorically.

“I don’t know man, what if it’s a trick question?” responded Matau. `Both the other Matoran looked at Matau. “What?” he asked.

“One, it’s not a question”, said Vakama

“And two, even if it is it’s not like we can’t just walk back out and take the right path”, concluded Nokama.

Matau shrugged. “Well don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

Vakama laughed. “We won’t because everything will be fine” He looked to his right. “I wonder how the others are getting on now.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m telling you, we’re lost!” Onewa shouted

“We’re not lost”, Whenua said. His face was expressionless and his voice was calm.

“I’m just saying, I know what I saw”. Onewa was looking around for another exit.

The trio had come to a dead end of the tunnel and were lost. Nuju looked around, scanning the area. He used his telescopic eye to zoom into the black crystals to see if there was anything to show them where to go.

“Maybe we took the wrong tunnel”, suggested Nuju.

“Or maybe you need to stop doubting me”, Whenua smiled.” I know this place like the back of my hand”

“Uh, yeah Whenua, because it’s not like were at a dead end” Onewa hissed, his tone was sarcastic. He was sitting down on a rock, almost dying of boredom and frustration. Nuju had been scanning the place for about twenty minutes now, and he had found nothing.

“I just don’t see how we’re in the right tunnel. It was a straight path and now we’re at a dead end”, said Nuju, still scanning the crystals. They were amazing up close, the white and silver lines appeared to be part of the crystals outer layer bit actually they were more like lightning bolts going on inside. Then he saw something. It was a little lever hidden away in a hole from a crystal.

“I see it!” Nuju said excitedly. He turned his telescopic eye back to normal.

“Nice touch Nuju”, Whenua said, squinting to actually see what Nuju had found.

“Yeah where did you get that thing anyway?” asked Onewa. He was trying to touch his hands but he kept flinching with pain every time he tried to do so.

“I used to be near blind”, he said. He had lost a lot of confidence when talking to Onewa since he broke his fingers. He felt bad no matter how much he deserved it, and could only imagine the pasting Onewa was going to give him when they healed. “I got one of these put in. My other eye is still as bad” He looked down at the ground and his words were almost a whisper. He knew Onewa was only being remotely nice to him because Whenua was with them both.

Onewa was the only Matoran here that Nuju had known before all this, but it was for a negative reason. At first it started with general name calling. Nuju could handle that, for a while at least. It wasn’t unusual for Po-Matoran to pick on Ko-Matoran a little bit, but Nuju seemed to get it really bad. Nuju then once tried to punch Onewa. It was a big mistake. He blocked it of course; as he was by no doubt the stronger Matoran. The only thing was that Onewa’s attack then became physical. It wasn’t so much punching. There was rarely any of that unless Nuju hit first. It was more sort of shoving, or just petty stuff like kicking the back of his legs lightly so he would fall over, the sort of stuff that goes unnoticed. For some reason Onewa just had a massive hatred for him, there was no real reason for it, he must have just woke up one morning and thought “That’s what I'm going to do today”. Nuju hadn’t really told anyone, besides Keerahk, the Ko-Matoran Vahki. He loved Keerahk, how he just wanted to hold her and kiss her. She would never find out though. Nuju was just no good at talking to girls, especially ones that he liked. The only problem was, she didn’t see I'm for who he was. To her he was just “Little Nuju” That’s what she called him, “Little Nuju”. Atakha how he hated that. He was so intelligent yet all she saw him for was how small his body was. He’d love to tell her how he felt; she was the closest friend he had.

He walked up to the lever and pulled it. A hidden door had disguised itself as just another wall of crystals. Their happiness was short lived, for the thing they saw would stay with them for as long as they lived. It was a Matoran. He was strung against a wall with two nails ledged in his hands; his feet were dangling off the ground. He was silver all over with silver feet and silver body. He wore no mask and his head was down as if he was dead.

“Is…Is he alive?” asked Onewa. His eyes were wide open, as if they were being held open by someone and couldn’t be shut.

“I uh…” Whenua couldn’t get his words out. His face looked paralysed in fear. Nuju walked over slowly, ready to have a closer inspection at the tortured Matoran. Nuju’s heart was pounding in his chest so hard; he thought it would tear out of him. The silver Matoran’s head shot up. There were hollow sockets where his eyes should be, yet he seemed to be staring into every single one of their souls. Just as Whenua was about to speak, the thing started to scream.

Its scream was terrifying. It had two pitches; one low and one high, one in pain the other one pleasure. It stopped suddenly. It turned its head to Whenua and cocked it to the side. It gave him a creepy smile. Whenua looked absolutely terrified. He didn’t think he had ever been this petrified in his life. His knees started to tremble, if he had of cried then, it would have been his very first time.

“Hello there.” Its voice used two pitches like the one in had its scream. “You are…” Its smile turned into a terrifying face of pure hatred and evil,

“Metru! I spit on your blood!” It screamed.

“We can help you” said Nuju, his voice was trembling. He turned and moved his head to face Nuju.

“You are afraid” It said to him

Nuju cleared his thought. “Afraid of what?” he asked.

“Everything” The creepy Matoran voice changed to only the lower pitch.

“And you?” It turned his head to Onewa who was shivering uncontrollably.

“Wh...what?”

“Wh…wh…wh…what?” It mimicked him, briefly changing to just high pitch. It laughed, although it was more a gargle as if liquid was in its throat. “The secrets you keep won’t get you into Atakha!” It went extremely low pitch. A strange red liquid poured out its mouth.

“It’s funny isn’t it?” The Matoran asked. “I am more alive than you will ever be”. He looked at Whenua.

“Especially you” He smiled. More red stuff spilled out its mouth.

“What are you?” Onewa asked. He was backed up against the wall.

“You biggest fear” It replied.

“Ma…Makuta?” gulped Nuju. The thing started to laugh uncontrollably; the red liquid pouring out its mouth, dribbling down his silver body.

“Worse” it said “Kar-zah-ni” Those three syllables sounded as if they wore coming from right within the three Matoran’s brains.

“Fear me!” It screamed. “Fear me!”

“Kill it” Onewa said. He seemed like going to collapse from fear.

Whenua broke off one of the crystals.

It put on an innocent voice. “Please no!” It cried “I'm just a Matoran please”. It sounded so genuine it made Whenua almost sympathised with him.

“Please free me.” It croaked. “Karzahni has held me here again my will. I've been here for trillions of years, please”

“Free him”, Whenua said to Nuju. Whenua felt sorry for the poor Matoran. What if he was telling the truth and they just left him there to rot.

“Are you crazy!” shouted Onewa. “It’s going to kill us!”

Nuju obeyed Whenua’s orders and pulled the nails of the Matoran’s hands. The Matoran landed on its feet,

“Would your legs not be a lot weaker than that if you hadn’t used them in a trillion years?” trembled Onewa. His eyes still fixated on the demon. The Matoran looked at Onewa and smiled with is mask-less face. It then turned to Nuju. It pounced on him. Razor sharp teeth grew from its mouth. Nuju was trying frantically to keep the jaws from sinking into his face. Whenua was watching in horror. The crystal was still in his hand, but he was frozen solid.

“Do something!” Onewa screamed frantically to him. “Please, or Nuju’s going to die!” He was crying. He grabbed the crystal from Whenua’s hand. The bones in his fingers snapped as he held it tight in his fist. The teeth stated to scrape Nuju, causing his scratches in his mask. He screamed in agony as the acid bubbled away. The Karzahni’s teeth were fangs of acid! Onewa ran towards him, screaming and crying at the same time. Bang! The crystal went straight into the back of Karzahni’s head. The red liquid spilled out of its mouth onto Nuju’s face. The “life” went out of Karzahni’s face and Nuju’s acid burns and bite marks disappeared.

“Thanks.” Nuju said, his eyes were still wide open, struggling to take in what had just happened.

“Don’t, I only save you so it didn’t turn on me afterwards” Onewa’s tone was harsh and cold. He wiped the tears away from his eyes. “This changes nothing”. Nuju looked at his face for any giveaways that he might be lying. There was nothing. Maybe he really was telling the truth.

“We never speak of this to the others”, said Whenua. The other two looked at each other.

“Whenua?” asked Nuju. “What did it mean when it said especially you?”

“It doesn’t matter”, Whenua lied and shook his head. He still felt half paralysed to the ground. “We have to keep moving”. The Matoran that had been strung up to the wall was actually hiding a door. It was just a regular door, white and ordinary looking. They tried to open it. Locked.

“There’s a key hole here”, said Onewa. The bloody crystal was still in his hands as he was unable to move his fingers to let it go. He many had paralysed them for good saving Nuju’s life.

“Well if, you know, was hiding the door, maybe he’s hiding the key too” Nuju suggested. The liquid was still on his mask, dripping on to the floor. Out of the three, he was ironically the most calm. Onewa was understandable to be shaky, but tough old Whenua? He had probably been the most scared when he saw the thing, Nuju thought to himself.

Nuju picked up the things body cautiously; not wanting it to surprise him with an attack to the face again. It definitely seemed dead. He inspected it to see if it was hiding a key anywhere. There was no luck. Just as he was about to tell the others when there was a glitter. Something shiny reflected from the light of Whenua’s torch. It was inside its brain, where Onewa’s had hacked at it. Nuju closed his eyes and reached his hand in, to find the metal object.

“What are you doing?” Onewa asked, almost gaging.

“Hold on” Nuju said. He pulled it out. Sure enough it was a key

“Wow”, said Onewa. “I think I am actually going to be sick now”. They fitted the key into the lock and the door opened. Standing there was the other group, all their faces un-tensed in relief. Whenua quickly kicked Karzahni out of view. The three of them walked out and slammed the door shut.

“Your alive then” Matau said. He looked at the liquid on Nuju’s face and the Crystal in Onewa’s hand. “What the Karzahni happened to you?” He was looked at them through wide eyes.

“Please, don’t say that word. Ever again Nuju panted. Vakama and Matau looked at each other, their eyes narrowed in confusion.

“It was a bear”, said Whenua finally. Onewa looked at him.

“Yeah, a really big bear” he said.

“Well are you alright?” Nokama asked, her eyes scanning them. None of them responded. Nuju looked at the six tunnels.

“So, I guess that’s what’s next”