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Nick Silverpen

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  1. Water’s Wish “That was incredible!” the Matoran gasped. Tuyet smiled at the Matoran. “How did you do that, mighty Toa?” “Years of practice, little one,” Tuyet insisted. It was a simple elemental trick for a Toa of Water, but to the powerless Matoran’s eyes, it appeared like a miracle. “Who taught you? I need to know!” asked the Matoran. “If I became a Toa one day, I want to be coached by the same one that coached the great Toa Tuyet!” Tuyet frowned, slightly agitated by the Matoran’s pestering. She had hoped the Matoran would move on with her day, but she persisted to hang around. As much as she wanted, this Matoran was annoying at best. Tuyet knew a little about fate— enough to sense that this Matoran was not destined to be a Toa. A thought popped into her head. The Toa of Water smiled. “The Great Spirit, in all his wisdom, taught me,” Tuyet lied. “because of something my Turaga taught me when I was a Matoran like yourself.” “What was it?” the Matoran cried, excitement leaping from her voice. “I must know!” The impatience of the Matoran was starting to wear on Tuyet. She did her best not to snap. “It was when the twin moons of the Great Spirit were full, and his gaze was upon my island,” Tuyet began. A wolfish smile grew upon her mask as she ‘recounted’ the tale. “I went to the water in between the riptides on the beach. The beams of the moon were shining down on the water. I made my way into the ocean, and scooped it up in my hands.” “Scoop up the ocean water?” the Matoran asked, confused. “Why would you do that? Was it blessed? Tuyet held up a hand for the Matoran to be quiet. “My Turaga had told me if I scooped water and held the moon, I would have caught the sight of the Great Spirit,” she explained. “If either of the moons had stayed in the water in my hand, I would have caught the Great Spirit’s eye. He would see that I was a skilled enough Matoran to become a Toa.” “…did you?” “I stand before you as a Toa, little one,” Tuyet snipped. “Of course it did!” “My apologies, Toa,” the Matoran bowed her head. “If I may, I have one question.” “What is it?” she asked. “How did this catch the sight of the Great Spirit Mata Nui?” “It is said that the cupping of the moon gives you a month of good luck, little one,” Tuyet explained. “And in that month, the Great Spirit looked down from the stars and showed me wisdom that to this day I cannot describe. With that wisdom I was able to figure out where to find my Toa stone.” The two were silent for a moment as the Matoran reveled in the ‘magic’ of the tale. “I need to try this!” the Matoran breathed, incredulous. “If you want to be a Toa, you may,” Tuyet said softly. “But I must give you some warnings, and you must heed them carefully.” “What are they?” asked the Matoran. “I will follow them as you say.” Tuyet smiled. The Matoran was taking her advice without any question. It was ridiculous, she thought, as to what these villagers would believe. “If you want the attention and blessing of the Great Spirit, you must do so under two conditions. First, only go when the moon is full. If the twin moons are not at their fullest and brightest, then go nowhere near the water. The Great Spirit’s attention is elsewhere, and you will not find it on that night.” “That makes sense,” the Matoran supposed. “And the second?” “Make sure you go alone,” Tuyet said, her voice grave. “Go alone, and tell no one you are going. If someone comes with you or is even knows of your plans, then they will distract the Great Spirit from you. This needs to be your night and your night alone. No one else can be there. If there is someone else present, the Great Spirit will not be able to put his attention on solely you.” The Matoran bowed deeply. “Toa Tuyet, you are a wise Toa, and I hope to one day walk with you as a sister. I am forever in your debt.” Tuyet smiled and offered a fist to her. “Heed my advice little one, and we will have many adventures together as sisters of the tide.” The Matoran clanked her fist, bowed once more, and ran along. She did not happen to see the wolfish smile on Tuyet’s mask as she ran away. *** Moonglow danced along the sand in the stillness of the night, casting a silvery shine along the coast. The Ga-Matoran’s feet wove through this shine and the shadows that intertwined with it as she made her way down the beach. Excitement pulsed through her system as she breathed in the crisp air of the eve. She could hardly believe what was happening— the moment she had been waiting for was unfolding before her very eyes. To her, everything looked and felt just as she thought it should. The twin moons were brimming full as they looked upon the night shore. Their light spilled into a miraculous pool out on the horizon line, before trailing their gaze towards the beach through long, matching columns of light. The shine of moonlight sparkled as it refracted in the ocean. Long lines of whitewater toppled in to shore. They tumbled softly over the sand, before washing back into the greater ocean. The Ga-Matoran’s pace quickened as she crossed the sands and shells, making her way toward the water. Her hands were in front of her as she walked, cupped almost as if in prayer. Her breath was ragged as she stepped from the sand to the sea, so nervous with excitement as she was. The surf tumbled lightly around her legs as she waded into the water. She walked through effortlessly, not allowing anything to deter her from her goal. “Oh Great Spirit,” she called into the night. “Please let me catch your gaze in these waters tonight. Please see me out here, so I might be graced with your blessing.” The ocean glimmered with white light as she waded thigh deep into the ocean. Moonlight danced all around the Ga-Matoran, surrounding her in a nighttime glow. She took her gaze off of the sky and stared solely at the ocean. The night sky was mesmerizing, but it was not where she needed to focus her efforts. She needed to look to the sea. The reflection of the moon was there, bobbing to and fro in the waves. The Ga-Matoran cupped her hands and dipped them into the ocean. She held her breath in anticipation, anxious to see what would come with her. Her hands emerged with a hefty scoop of ocean being held so very carefully by her hopeful palms. Moonlight came with her, glimmers visible in the sloshing of the night ocean. Little pockets of white light flashed in the water in her hands as she gazed as it, the moonlight sparkling into her mask. The moon itself though did not come with her. The orbs were still only visible in the surface of the water, not coming with her hands. She let the water spill between her fingers to join the rest of the ocean. Her eyes, so filled with starlight and hope, grew troubled. Did she do it wrong? The moon had been right there. She had scooped it, but it did not come with her. She would try again, she decided. Fixing her gaze upon the reflection of the moon, she dipped her hands once more. She then lunged into the deeper waters, scooping at the sphere with her hands… But when she brought it to her mask, the water was only glimmers of moonlight again. It came up for just a moment with her that time. She had seen it in her hands. She was almost there! Toa Tuyet had not told her this would be an easy task, she understood that. The Great Spirit was not an easy being to get the attention of. He was testing her. If she really wanted his full attention, she had to try harder. She pulled herself through the water, closer to the moon once more. Putting her hands out, she reached once more, only for a wave to wash over her. The moon seemed to grow closer in her grip as she persisted. As it grew higher in the sky, the moon seemed to travel less, the Ga-Matoran had more and more of a grip on it. It was as if the Great Spirit was making her chase him, she thought. She would play his game, she decided, and in exchange she hoped he would give her what she wanted. She kicked in the water, propelling herself toward the moon. Taking a stroke, she stroked underwater and pulled herself toward the moon… A wave washed over her, tossing the Matoran back under the water. She let out a yell of surprise, only to feel the salt water rush into her mouth. Her world spun as the water toppled over her. She popped to the surface, gasping for air. Her head went in all directions, until she could see that she was very far from the coast. The shore was but a thin line of white sand in the dark. She had ventured out very far. The wave washing over her had awakened her in a way, driving all thoughts of the Great Spirit from her mind. She needed to get back to shore, she knew. It was dangerous to be this far out in the ocean at night. The Matoran started to swim in shore. She pulled herself through the water towards the land, trying with all her might only to make no headway. She could feel herself fatigued as she stroked, no longer energized as she had been moments before. The Matoran’s strokes grew more frantic, as she tried fighting whatever was keeping her from the shore. She stroked and kicked rapidly, using all of her fading might. But her limited skill in the water and her efforts were no match for the riptides that were keeping her from the shore. She moaned in despair, utterly exhausted in her fight against the ocean. She wanted to keep paddling, she wanted to kick more, but she was so tired… A glimmer of moonlight caught her eye. The moon, now at its peak in the night, reflected right next to where the Matoran swam. Her eyes went wild, suddenly remembering what she had come out here for. She could reach for it, ask the Great Spirit for a wave—something, anything that would help her get to shore… The water was pulling against her, and the moon was only a few strokes away. The Matoran had to get it, to make her wish— not for Toahood or power, but for the safety of the shore. The Matoran took a deep breath. It was now or never. She plunged herself under, ready to kick and come up right next to the moon… And after that the black water was unbroken for the rest of the night. The twin moons, eyes of the Great Spirit, beamed down to look at an empty beach and a still, uninterrupted sea. FIN *** Just a little write off exploring a couple of concepts. Every summer during the full moon I try to catch the moon in the ocean to make a wish. I have written a few fairy tale and light sided pieces about the concept, but had an idea to explore a darker side of it. I feel like Tuyet would have been the type of character to pull this. Hope you enjoyed!
  2. Within the Reach The Ga-/Ta-Matoran Fishing Trip From the Journals of Takua the Chronicler: The Ga-Koroan call it “Beyond Mata Nui’s Reach”. It’s this point out on the ocean, way far to the east of the Naho Bay. The fishing vessels go out there on their deep sea voyages, at least a four day journey out. It’s there where the island of Mata Nui itself practically disappears. The island becomes a blip on the ocean and then whoop! it is gone, and you are surrounded by the endless ocean. Everywhere you look, there is only blue water for as far as the eye can see. The fishing vessels pick up more than enough food for Ga-Koro and its neighboring villages. But there are other things out here too. It seems like everything is out here, of both the biomech and the completely organic kind. But past the Reach is where there are creatures that I would truly call the dwellers in the deep. There are things out here that I can’t even put to words. You don’t run across them often, but when you do, it’s something that is imprinted on you. I’ve asked Turaga Vakama about them— his only response is that they are from the time before time, and they were probably ancient even then… *** On rare occasions did Matoran get sick. A villager in Le-Koro would occasionally ingest a poisonous herb. A Po-Matoran from time to time would come down with heat stroke. But these cases were as extreme as they were rare. Most cures and resources were not far away from the villages, and the Matoran were largely able to live their lives on the island of Mata Nui without too much worry for their health. As Maglya watched his crewmate Aodhan lean over the rail of the ship, he decided that seasickness was a whole other Kohlii game. The unwell Ta-Matoran clutched onto the rail of the ship, struggling to keep himself upright as it pounded through the swells. Each time the boat came crashing down, he lurched over the side, trying his best not to spill his organics into the ocean. Around them, Maglya and other more steady stomached Matoran worked furiously on the deck. A group of Ta-Matoran on one end of the ship sliced bunker for keras crab pots, while another group of Ga- Matoran sewed more bait into the lining of fishing nets. A third group in the middle of the deck sorted their most recent catch, pulling apart fish and crabs that clutched onto each other. The different types of catch were then cast down into chutes that led to the cargo hold below. The crew sang together as they worked, their tune thundering over the deck— and Aodhan’s seasick groans. Since I left the village of fire oh so dear to me I’ve ventured to the ocean and taken ship to sea! Since I left the village I’ve become a fisherman cast on a boat and sailed on out with many a Ga-Matoran! Gone ‘re warmth of home’s fire and the flame Came out here a thinkin’ the ocean waves were tame! Since I left the village and sailed out towards the reach I ‘aven’t seen Ta-Koro nor the black sand beach. Since I left the village hauling lines for better weeks Gather food for the people of the Spirit While he slumbers in his sleep. Whichever verse they thundered next was lost to Aodhan as Maglya clapped a hand on his fellow villager’s back. Aodhan looked to his side to see Maglya cast a large fish net off of the boat near where the two stood. The net fluttered in the breeze for a moment before hitting the surface and disappearing into the whitewater of the passing ocean. “How do you hold up?” Maglya asked as he secured the line. “Honestly….so lightheaded,” Aodhan groaned. He gripped the rail tightly as the ship cruised over a swell. “I should stayed on land… gone on the hunt with Jaller instead.” Maglya frowned. When Turaga Nokama had asked Turaga Vakama for a few spare hands, a number of Matoran, including Maglya and Aodhan, were glad to volunteer to help their sister fisherwomen villagers. The voyage had for many days been nothing but grueling work, which no Ta-Matoran was ever afraid of. But the voyage for some reason gone longer than anticipated, they were still a ways from shore. As much as he would be like the next Matoran and tell Aodhan to drink some lava and toughen up, Maglya could see his fellow Ta-Matoran was not getting any better or being of any use up on the deck. “A few hours below deck will do you good,” Maglya said. “See if you can get some of that Hareke to chew on. I heard it might help.” Aodhan nodded, and began to stumble towards the crew’s cabins below. Maglya watched him closely before throwing another net over the gunwales. *** Pelagia kept her hand firmly on the throttle of her ship, pushing the vessel at a steady pace along the ocean. While she did so, she stared intently out the window of the captain’s quarters at the endless blue ahead. The lens of her Akaku zoomed in and out as it scanned courses and channels that only she could see. Now that she was on her way, there was nothing that would deter her from her path. Behind her, her first mate paid no attention to the ocean outside. Her gaze was instead fixed upon the map of the island of Mata Nui covering the large table in the cabin. On it were the eastern grounds of the island, notably the details of the waterways they now traveled through. “So you plan to lure her… it… in,” the mate said, looking up from the map. “Aye.” The captain nodded, but did not take her eyes off her course. “Everything else has not worked. We will lure it in. There is no way to find it out there. But it knows where we are coming from and where we want to go. Make it come to us, and we will deal with it closer to our turf. The two of them were quiet for a moment as they watched the ocean go by. Lucky fishing vessels who were able to get beyond the shallow seas around the island of Mata Nui, a deep sea land, which some called “The Reach”, told of miraculous catches awaiting. Crabs and fish were out there in the farther reaches of the endless ocean, containing nutrients and awesome tastes that most of the Matoran seldom experienced. Pelagia had tasted some of those catches herself, and wanted to bring them home on her own ship. Unlucky ships, however, were catching the attention of a creature that would not let them pass into deeper waters. Pelagia, despite a few of her predecessors’ failures, was determined to put an end to this creature and free the way towards the far Reach. Silence hung heavy as hopes and fears ebbed to and fro in each of the two Ga-Matoran’s minds. They had traveled out here to help gather food for the villages, but real reason Pelagia had agreed to this voyage was the potential to hunt of this destructive and elusive creature. Down on the deck, the hired hands of the Ta-Matoran were hard at work with their fisherman sisters. All that they knew was that they were gathering fish for the Koro. They had no idea of what was truly out on the ocean. “These Ta-Matoran seem to have strength,” the mate remarked, putting those hopes into words as she watched the hired hands. “Hopefully it will be enough to help us subdue that… thing.” Pelagia nodded in agreement. “Go to the armories below and ensure we have all that we need be ready. If everything is prepared right, they will rise to the challenge, and we will be able to see if the firespitters live up to how much they bolster about themselves.” The door clicked behind the mate as she left. Pelagia watched her go down to the deck, then set her sights towards the blue ahead. Afternoon hung above the ship, but it would be night soon enough. And then the real fishing would begin. *** Nightfall a few hours later found the crew of Ta-Matoran workers following their sick crewmate to quarters below deck. Aodhan, curious as to what was going on above, eyed up each of them as they huddled in the galley together. “Have we stopped?” Aodhan asked. Maglya and a few others shook their heads. “It certainly feels like it, but the Captain is still pushing away at the throttle. The ocean is simply smoother sailing tonight than the afternoon.” “I hope this means we are close to port,” Aodhan grumbled. “She’s taken us out much further than past trips,” Maglya remarked as they passed around their dinner. “That she did,” another Matoran remarked. “I have been watching the Red Star, and I could see it in a place in the sky ‘ve never seen it before. We probably went several days further south than usual.” “We have been going north for a while though, so we have got to be almost home,” Aodhan said. “The Koro has to be within sight soon.” “Why are we out so far though?” a fourth Matoran remarked. “Are the catches around the island really that little, that we have to go all the way out where we did?” “Did anybody notice the eyepiece on her Akaku is different?” the fourth Matoran asked. Aodhan and Maglya both shook their heads and looked at each other. “I saw her looking at us from the window of her quarters. There is something… different about the Captain’s mask than before.” “Maybe she went to Turaga Vakama for an repairs,” Aodhan suggested. The Turaga of Fire was well known for fixing masks of Matoran from all Koros. “But what for?” the third Matoran wondered. “To help us find the fish better,” Aodhan said matter of factly. He didn’t see any reason to believe otherwise. “Although we can’t use mask powers, I’ve heard of that Matoro in Ko-Koro using his Akaku to scope out the mountain Rahi while on the hunt. The Captain is probably just doing the same thing here.” “Maybe there is something out there,” the fourth Matoran said, in a mock eerie voice. “Something more than just the fish.” “I sure hope not,” Aodhan said. “I am having a hard enough time just getting through this ocean. I don’t think I could stomach the thought of something else out here.” “There’s been… things that have washed to shore on Ta- and Ga-Wahi,” the fourth Matoran reminded them. “Don’t you remember those odd flower looking things that were lined with teeth? What about those pods of odd squid that Kapura was fishing up a few months back?” “I am not much of a beach Matoran,” the third Matoran shook their head. “Stay mostly in the village, keep to the lava flows.” “Well a bunch of stuff is definitely out there,” the fourth Matoran confirmed. “Perhaps she is looking for the thing that swallowed Marka’s ship. Heard it was a big squid with seven eyes and claws at the end of its tentacles that pulled the thing all the way–” “Don’t even go there,” Aodhan protested, cutting off the rambling Matoran. “I only came out here for extra work. The thought of anything else under the waves other than what we are catching will make me sicker than I already am.” “She has simply been working us hard this trip,” Maglya said. “She probably had her mask changed just so she can have a sharper eye on us.” The chatter died down, each Matoran no longer wanting to continue the increasingly uncomfortable conversation. The group sat there in silence, each focusing on their own meal and their own thoughts. However, as they sunk into the worn and beaten chairs and benches, they could not shake that feeling that they were being watched. *** The Ta-Matoran in the galley were actually the last thing in Pelagia’s scopes. She was in fact using her scope to stare down her mate in their current disagreement. Between them was the report of the day’s catch that the mate had given Pelagia. All of the catch they had for today, all they had collected during the trip… she thought it would be a quick crunch of numbers, but Pelagia’s new plan had made turned this into a tougher conversation that the mate was not sure she could be on board with. “You said that you had wanted to lure it in,” the mate said. “Now you’re saying you want to feed it… to put these villagers’ days, weeks of hard work down the drain… “We’ve gone the way we should have,” Pelagia said, gesturing to her maps. “only to have it not show. This is the last way to get it to come to us.” “What about food for the village?” the mate shot back at her. “What is the Turaga going to say when the ship shows up with nothing of the food promised to the village?” “They will have the sea for the taking if we take this thing out,” was Pelagia’s reply. The mate pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “There will be a mutiny if we do it,” the mate warned her. “Ga-and Ta-Matoran alike.” “Only if this doesn’t work,” Pelagia said. “When this works, though, they’ll be scared for their lives. Mutiny will be the last thing on their minds.” The mate looked over the carving of the report she had given Pelagia. She understood, but she didn’t support it. “This is the real catch we are going for,” she said to the mate. “Fish come every day, but an opportunity like this is years in the making. Mata Nui is not much further. We are taking the chance tonight.” There were a number of things that the mate did not say. They were still too far from the island for her liking. If this didn’t work they would be in a number of troublesome situations, one of more likely of them including ‘dead’. “Head down to the hold, and when you do it, be ready,” Pelagia commanded. “We won’t have much time once this happens.” The captain was dead set on this, and there was no changing her mind. Swallowing her pride, the mate nodded. “Captain,” she said. “I hope you are right about this.” *** It was nearing midnight, and Maglya was now worn after the long day’s work aboard the vessel. Yet he was still awake, enthralled by the night ocean that he gazed upon from the crow’s nest. By all means, he should have wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, before the next day’s long and grueling work retrieving the pots that they had spent today casting. But there was something out there that kept him looking for more. Perhaps it was promise that home was very close. Perhaps it was the blackness of the ocean after seeing it blue for so long. Perhaps it was the stars overhead. Maybe even it was the Red Star, casting an eerie scarlet shine on the sea and the ship that reminded Maglya of working on the Ta-Koro lava flows at night. He was no astrologer like Nixie in Ga-Koro or the crazy fellow fishermen he talked to below. As the boat drove through the ocean on this night though, Maglya could see that the stars were looking more like they did from their island home. Almost back to the Koro, Maglya thought with a smile. Somewhere out there were all of the nets and pots that they had cast off through the day. Tomorrow they would circle back and pull them up, as they had a number of times in this voyage, and see what they had caught. There were much of the catch that the Ta-Matoran had pulled up that they found familiar. There were many biomechanical Rahi out on the sea— from Takea sharks to young Tarakava to keras crabs and eels— that the crew had been pulling up in the crab pots. But there were also other creatures that populated the endless ocean– from a clear headed dolphin like creature and various completely organic jellyfish to a large thing in a shell that crawled along the deck with a claw the size of a Matoran’s body protruding from its head– which they were finding. It wasn’t as extreme as what the other Ta-Matoran down below had been rambling about, but there were a number of creatures that had spooked the Matoran. Maglya was not sure of what to make of them. None of the Ta-Matoran did. A glow from far off caught Maglya’s eye. Many of the bioluminescent sea life would follow the boat in the night, angler fish and feeder sea life, which had little sparkles of color that stood out from just under the ocean’s surface. However, the thing that rippled in the ocean nearby that glowed with a pink and yellow hue seemed different from the other creatures that trailed the boat. Whatever it was, it bobbed in the water, noticeably nearing the ship. It didn’t move like anything he’d seen before. As it came closer, approaching with growing speed, it almost seemed as if it were a ribbon of light rippling through the water. Its glow from below beamed to the surface, making the ocean almost sparkle in the dead of night. Maglya was transfixed, leaning further over the rail of the crow’s nest to get a better look. He barely noticed the growing sound of sloshing as the waves around the ship began to crash. But suddenly, the fast approaching glow seemed to fade. Whatever creature it belonged to, from what Maglya could tell, dove down in the water, heading to the depths. The water was suddenly dark, and Maglya, having leaned forward in fascination, was left scratching his head. “What in Mata Nui’s name was that—“ Maglya began. However, he was cut short as a sheer force slammed into the ship and rocked it violently. The Ta-Matoran clutched the rails of the crow’s nest as the ship swayed. The ocean, calm only a few moments ago, was now a mess. The growing, criss crossing waves that he had previously been ignorant to were everywhere, throwing themselves to create a mix of chaos on the night sea. The crow’s nest bowed as the ship rocked, leaning down as if to meet the ocean. Maglya found the planks beneath his feet sliding away. He gripped onto the rails of the nest to keep himself from falling towards the ocean not so far below. The ship straightened itself, bobbing slightly on the ocean’s surface as the approaching waves died out. The creature reappeared on the other side of the ship, illuminating the night with its glow. Maglya, from as high as he sat, was probably the only Matoran to get a clear view of the creature. An elongated serpent-like creature swam through the night waters, weaving from side to side as it passed under the ship. Beneath the glow that emanated from its entire body, a silvery sheen could be seen covering it. Its head— the bobbing blob that Maglya had originally seen— pushed upwards towards the ocean’s surface as it swam, but it did not break the surface of the water. A single eye looked at the ship as it passed over, in an expressionless but somehow still rage filled manner. “What kind of Rahi is that?” Maglya cried out. “No time to wonder or explain,” a Ga-Matoran called as she scrambled up the ladder, pressing a speargun into his arms. “Join your brothers below!” she called as she scrambled back down to the deck. The deck was suddenly bustling with activity. Ga-Matoran were dashing around, ushering Ta-Matoran into groups. Spear guns were thrust into the hired help’s hands. Maglya found himself bumping into his sleepy eyed companions, just as confused as they were. Everyone asked what was going on, but even after seeing the creature, the watchman only had a slight clue of what was to happen next. A cry came from the crow’s nest where Maglya had just descended from. He looked up in surprise to see the seldom seen captain, Pelagia herself, up there, bearing a massive trident. As Maglya listened to her bellowing speech, he tried getting a glimpse of the weapon that was strapped to her back. “Here she is! The real one!” Pelagia cried. “We came out here to fish the open seas, brothers and sisters. However, this creature, — the Oarfish— has kept us from the real seas out there and the real reaches. It is no Rahi of Makuta’s. It is something of this ocean, something of the deep seas that has thwarted us for months, years on end. Tonight is the night that we take it DOWN, and claim the far reaches of the sea for ourselves, the Matoran!” There was a cheer from the group as the Ga-Matoran threw their fists up. Several Ta-Matoran joined suit, but others looked around bewildered at what they had gotten themselves into. “Now ready your spears and your harpoons,” Pelagia called down to them, “for this is where the real fishing happens! Take—“ Whatever more Pelagia wanted to say was cut off by another blow to the ship. The creature had come around again for another ramming. Orders were barked amongst the deck. There was a lot pushing as a mix of red and blue armor rushed to the edge of the ship. Maglya and his brothers found themselves peering over the gunwales of the ship, their spearguns in hand. Each aimed their guns toward the water, waiting for the creature to break the surface. Another shift was felt in the boat. The water around the ship, almost blinding with the bioluminescent glow of the oarfish, was suddenly dark again. The Ta-Matoran, curious, lowered their spearguns for a moment. Something dark seemed to pour out from the ship, its dark outline covering the glow of the oarfish. Maglya squinted, trying to discern what the silhouette was against the glow of the creature. It was only when the dark mass began to drift in the swirling currents did Maglya realize that it was their catch. The doors to the catch container on the underside of the ship had been opened, most likely by something in the captain’s quarters, and all of their catch was swimming and scrambling free into the ocean. The keras, the fish of the endless ocean… everything in the hull that they had caught was now out there in the open. Several cries of disbelief could be heard. Long days of hard work and back breaking hauling of crab pots and fishing nets. Pulling of heavy fishing nets that left the Ta-Matoran sore and exhausted each day. All the food that they had gathered in hopes of feeding their village, released and out there on the ocean All of their hard work was done just so they could chum for this thing. The oarfish took the bait though, sweeping in and swallowing hundreds of pounds of fish. The ship was largely left untouched as it did so, the sea behemoth staying several bio from the ship as it scooped several mouthfuls of food. “Let them loose and grab her!” Pelagia called. The spearguns were fired, flying through the air and into the water. They sunk into the body of the creature, catching its hide. The oarfish immediately yanked against the impalements as it tried swimming away. It roared from underwater, trying to wiggle free of the grip of the harpoons and spears that had grabbed on to it. The hide of the creature glowed brightly in the spots where it was struck, as if it bled light instead of physical blood. The beast was strong, and the tension on the lines connected to the harpoons was almost immediate. The Ta-Matoran were pulled to the edge of the gunwales as the oarfish thrashed. But the Matoran were able to steady themselves on the deck. Ga-Matoran came immediately to help their brothers to hold the creature steady. Maglya used every ounce of his strength to hold on as the creature resisted, pulling back with the rest of his brothers. He could feel the tension of the Ga-Matoran side by side holding the line with him. They both struggled and panted as they fought to hold the line. Maglya could feel his jaw clenched. Every part of his body ached, but somehow he and his brothers and sisters were resisting the raw muscle of this behemoth. The mate patrolled behind Maglya, handing out more harpoons for the gunners to fire. Several Ga-Matoran were tying off the lines to the cleats, in hope to free up the crew for the next volley. The boat itself groaned as it felt the pull of the oarfish’s strength, creaking and leaning starboard while its entire crew resisted the oarfish’s pull. The mate was worried, looking at the state of the battle so far; while the Ta Matoran were living up to their name, they were barely holding onto the stalemate that they had with this creature. Giving the command to fire, the mate watched, hopeful that the next volley would potentially help turn the tide. The next round of harpoons fired, sinking into the creature’s hide. It roared once more, thrashing about alongside the ship. Its rage was growing as it flailed about in the water. The crew grasped with all their might, holding onto the lines with their collective strength. The ship leaned hard starboard, dipping dangerously off keel. Cracking could be heard as the cleats endured the beast’s struggle. The ship swayed violently, and the mate jumped, grabbing hold of the rigging that led to the crow’s nest. The crew were holding their grip on the ship, but the ship was starting to move with the creature. Unable to wriggle away, it was now towing the ship in its frantic flee. “Captain!” The mate called, gesturing to the fracturing ship around her. “This is where we make our move!” Pelagia called to her with a smile. From her back she grabbed what Maglya had glimpsed earlier, a long and sleek disc launcher. The mate’s eyes widened. The Matoran usually fought Rahi with bamboo discs, but these metal ones— which the Turaga called ‘Kanoka’ were rare and rumored to be powered. These could give the crew an edge in fighting this Oarfish monster, the mate knew, and she watched as Pelagia loaded one into the launcher, her eyes twinkling with madness. The Matoran crew below struggled to hold on once more, and Pelagia wasted no time. Aiming the disc launcher, she fired the Kanoka. It flew towards the Oarfish, cruising in a way that the mate could hardly believe. Many bamboo discs were able to curve in their path to the target, but this disc that the captain fired seemed to move as if it were a Gukko flying through the trees. It went around the lines that crossed the deck, almost seeming to dodge any obstacle it encountered. The mate watched, almost unable to believe what she was seeing. Waves of power rippled over the oarfish as the disc hit. The glow of the oarfish shimmered as the Kanoka bounced off its surface, and whatever power it seemed to possess took effect on the creature’s body. The creature roared in protest, feeling its strength falter as it felt the disc effect it. The Matoran felt the strength of the oarfish weaken, and gave a hopeful heave to continue to pull it into submission. The oarfish was not done however. Even with its strength diminished, it was able to thrash violently against the ship. Whatever it had been hit with had truly angered it. The creature chose to switch tactics. Instead of pulling against the lines, the oarfish decided to change direction, and slammed itself into the hull that it was being pulled toward. The lines slacked for a moment, and the creature felt the pain in its hide subside as it collided with the ship. The Matoran were thrown about wildly, the lines slipping from their hands. They were scattered upon the deck like shells on a beach, landing on hard on their backs. Many of the crew tried to get back on their feet, to grab the lines and reel in this fish, but the Oarfish continued to ram itself against the hull and shake the deck so violently that they could not stand. A loud crunch could be heard below the deck, and many Matoran widened their eyes in shock. “You better have another disc like that, Captain!” the mate called from the rigging. With one hand, Pelagia held onto the rails of the watch post, while with another she rummaged through her pack for another Kanoka. “Grab the lines down there!” Pelagia called, as she reloaded the launcher. Her voice was hoarse and rumbling amongst the chaos. The Matoran below, caught between their fear of the behemoth and their fear of the captain, scrambled to grab any line they could. Pelagia took aim to fire again. The ship jerked, and her disc was misaimed. It went soaring into the water. She cursed, and went to reload— Below the water, the oarfish had enough. Turning itself, it swam headfirst toward the hull. Its size allowed it to break through the wooden and protodermic structure of the walls, and it thrashed as it entered the guts of the ship. For all the pain that it had caused the creature, the oarfish was determined to tear this interruption on the sea to bits. A great crack resounded throughout the ship. Heads whirled as the Matoran listened. The boards beneath their feet began to shift, and the crew scrambled. The boat, now a shell for the angry oarfish, was being torn apart. Above the deck, as they hung from the rigging, Pelagia and the mate themselves looked around in panic. “Where is it?” the captain roared, as she loaded another disc. The mate’s head whirled from side to side, unable to locate the creature. The crow’s nest shifted as the boat itself below cracked. The ship was sinking, and they needed to strike at the oarfish before it made the ship unsalvageable. The burning glow gave its location away, to their horror. The oarfish burst through the ship, emerging in the ocean on the other side. Both Matoran saw it at once. Pelagia fired, as the mate pointed toward it. The oarfish seemed to see the disc coming. It turned to face the ship, looking for the little villagers. As it did so, it caught the sight of the disc, and the two who fired it. It lashed out, charging at the ship once more. Whatever power was in the disc was negligible compared to the oarfish’s rage, and it bounced off the creature as it made a collision course with the ship. The mast cracked now, and the crow’s nest giving a sharp bow toward the sea. Pelagia and the mate tumbled from their post, trying to separate themselves from getting tangled in with potentially lethal rubble. Pelagia had a disc in hand, trying to load it for one last fire at the creature. However, the sea met her before she could get the disc loaded, and all she could see was the terrible nighttime blackness of the ocean. *** The mate woke with a start. Small waves of the coastal waters lapped over the broken edges of her “life raft”, jostling it enough to bring her back from dreamless darkness. She scurried to secure her grip on the piece of rubble as she bobbed in the water, newfound alertness flooding her consciousness. All around her in the water there were dozens of other Matoran floating. They laid sprawled on other rubble, small bouts of surf sloshed over them. The mate was not sure if any of them were dead, but many looked worse for wear. Looking around, she could see that they floated not far from shore, the tree line of Po-Wahi easily visible from the shallows she bobbed in. Had they drifted all the way to shore? It seemed too good to be true. Another thing drifted in the shallows with them, something that concerned the mate: although it did not glow like it did that night, a large chunk of the carcass of the oarfish could be seen in the water with them. Numerous holes from the spears and harpoons could be seen peppering the carcass. She eyed it up, confused and worried at the same time. They had clearly caused harm to the creature, but there had been no way that they had torn the creature apart. She looked around for more pieces, including the head, but could not see anything further than the dozens of shipwrecked Matoran and the rubble that surrounded them. Had they defeated the oarfish? Or was there something else out there that had done that to the creature? Review
  3. Interlude-- On the Bottom of the Ga-Koro Bay Shasa’s eyes scanned the bottom of the Naho bay as she treaded water. Her empty bag floated to and fro next to her, tethered to a hook on the underside of a Ga-Koro lilypad. Cowrie shells littered the surface of the bay floor below, much to the Ga-Matoran’s pleasure. Finding supplies had been hard to come by lately, and for once, right where she went looking was everything she needed. The Ga-Matoran dove downward, swooping towards the floor of the bay. The shells, full size, laid nestled in the mud as far as the eye could see. Whatever colony of hermit crabs that had lived in them had most likely outgrown them and moved into deeper waters as they looked for larger cover. Shasa scooped as many shells into her arms as she could, before pushing herself towards the surface. With her arms otherwise occupied, the Ga-Matoran was left to kick her way up to the surface. She did so with as much force as she could, excited to fill her pouch with as much supplies as she could. Shasa felt her kicks propelling her forward, and her bag was quickly coming into reach. As she kicked, she eyed the sunlight as it glimmered and danced off of the surface of the water. With the supplies that she wanted in hand, she was more than ready for that breath of air she knew she would heave in as she broke the surface. The shining daylight and fresh air were suddenly no longer within reach. She startled in surprise. Worry flashed through her mind as Shasa felt herself being lurched backwards. Her mouth opened up to yell in surprise, only to taste the salt water of the Naho Bay. Letting go of all of the cowrie shells she had gathered, her arms flailed as she reached for something to grab onto. But in the open waters of the bay, there was nothing to hold onto. Shasa hit the muddy bottom of the bay floor, feeling whatever had a hold on her pulling her along. She repeatedly kicked to get herself loose, but whatever held onto her had a firm grip. Her head whirled as she frantically snatched at rocks and seaweed while she was dragged through the mud. A shadow passed over her, and Shasa could see that she was passing under a lilypad. The base stem was coming up, and she grabbed ahold of it. Even though her lungs were aching for air, she held onto the root with a vice-like grip as whatever held onto her struggled as it met resistance. Now that she had some control, Shasa looked down at her ankle to see what sort of sea Rahi was dragging her off. The water was slightly dark, but the terrified Ga-Matoran needed to see what had its hold on her. Just seeing what the Rahi was could give her a possible advantage to escaping… Shasa though did not see anything. Her free leg kicked and squirmed, but her captured foot was still, clutched by something unseeable. Her eyes, already in shock, could not have widened more, but they did. Nothing was holding her foot, yet she could feel the firm hold of something on her. She was oxygen deprived, yes, but she definitely knew she was not seeing anything that was most definitely holding onto her ankle. Shasa madly clawed at the lilypad root in panic, mere seconds away from losing her grip. She struggled to hang onto the root while whatever it was pulled at her. The tension between the two forces was incredibly painful. Between the fear and the pain she was experiencing, Shasa did her best not to scream. She was weaponless, but there were rocks and shells around her. Reaching out, she grabbed ahold of whatever she could. Her grip slipped from the root, and she was being pulled along again. But slamming the jagged edge of a cowrie shell against her foot forced whatever was holding Shasa to lose its grip on her. Pain filled her ankle as she felt the edge of the shell cut into her muscle fibers. However, the relief of freedom as whatever it was lost its grip far outweighed the sudden pain. Wasting no time to see what the invisible creature would do, Shasa sped towards the surface. The first breath of air was the sweetest thing that the Ga-Matora had tasted, but she took no time to savor it. Hauling herself up, she scrambled out of the water and as far away from the edge of the lilypad as she could. Two Ga-Matoran fishing off of the side of the lily looked at her quizzically. “Get your lines out of the water!” Shasa cried. Hearing the alarm in her voice, the two did so without hesitation. “What is it?” asked one of the fisherwomen. “S-some-something dragged me!” Shasa gasped. “It too-took ahold of me and…” she trailed off, her mind racing too fast to make sense of what happened. A small sob escaped her as she collapsed on the lilypad. The Matoran exchanged glances before looking at Shasa again. “Something’s down there?” they asked. Slowly, Shasa nodded. “…was it big?” Shasa didn’t shake nor nod. Her eyes unfocused, trying to picture nothingness in the water. “I… couldn’t see it…” she looked at the two, whose expressions grew more concerned. “The water’s been calm all day,” the first Matoran said. “Not a ripple down there. Come look.” Shasa was hesitant at first, but the insistence of the Matoran got her within a few paces of the lily’s edge. She looked down towards the dark water, seeing nothing but her own Kanohi reflecting. “Whatever it is, it’s going for the wrong bait,” one Matoran grumbled. “Perfectly good Takea meat on our lines, and whatever’s down there likes Matoran?” “Just our luck…” the other agreed, shoulders slumping. Backing off and away from the two, Shasa left the two fisherwoman to their grumblings. Returning to the swimming hole where she dove, she fished her bag out of the water. She rung it out for a while, spending a long whole thinking about a creature that she could not see. *** The Aqua Mangan creature made its way through the water, bitter about losing that prey. The biomechanic creature it had in its grip had escaped, leaving it with an injured claw. It grimaced as it shook off the pain, picking the shards of the cowrie shell from its injured tissue. The muscle was tender. It had grabbed biomechanics before. Some it had succeeded in feeding on, other it had lost through other slippery grips and tricks along the shore. The hunt that one had given the creature was too difficult. The biomechanical creature had no doubt fled the water, and ever more alerted its lily pad dwelling comrades. The creature glowered. It was time to go towards easier prey. The creatures that usually dwelled in shells around the bay floor were all empty, but there was no doubt easier prey somewhere other than here. As it swam, it reminisced about things long buried in its dwelled mind. Once it had been a land dweller like the creature it had tried to capture, breathing air and walking above the water. It travelled on vessels of high technological capacity, and not by the power of its fins and muscles. But ancient calamities had stranded it to the water, and it had evolved beyond needing land or air. That was all the past. The creature now was nothing more than a hunting machine that navigated invisible amongst the shallow seas. So bitter was the creature thinking about its failed hunt, so absorbed in its own thoughts— the very thing a predator should not do— that it did not feel the tentacles of the Great Temple Squid wrapping around its form until it was too late.
  4. Hi everyone! I have an updated link as to what parts and sets I still have, and the main post is about to get updated. I will be messaging everyone momentarily about deals. thanks for your patience!
  5. When Takanuva and Darkness had made a break for the Coliseum, the Toa of Light expected that they would be fighting his way tooth and nail all the way to where ever the Hall of Masks would be. The amount of Toa that had spilled out of the place had suggested that the center of the city was teeming with more warriors who were armed to the teeth and ready to destroy the opposing rebellion. What he found though was quite the opposite. Instead of opponents and roadblocks, they found empty halls, silence, practically almost no sign of the massive confrontation that was taking place just one floor below. As they wandered the halls it seemed as if the Toa and Dark Hunter were kio away from the battle, and wandering through an empty building on some far edge of a Metru. This floor had not brought them face to face with Vahki, any of Tuyet’s Toa army, or even a single Matoran. If the two of them were not present, there would have been no sign of the occurring conflict. Takanuva forced himself to keep focus on the mission, but part of his mind could not ignore the creeping sensation that the empty halls were giving him. They came to the end of a hallway, where an elevator door stood nestled into the wall. The bell within rang and the door opened seemingly at their approach. The empty elevator box stood open, inviting them in. The two unlikely partners looked at each other. Darkness himself looked particularly unnerved. “A trap?” the Toa of Light asked. The Dark Hunter shook his head. “It may be a way for you, but not for me,” said Darkness. “I sense ill will with this door. Take it if you may, but I shall find another path to this Hall we seek.” The Dark Hunter slid away into the shadows before Takanuva could even say his name in protest. The Toa of Light breathed hard out of his nose. Typical Dark Hunter, he thought, not willing to risk his own neck. Takanuva was on his own he knew as he took a step toward the elevator. To the credit of Darkness though, Takanuva thought as he stepped inside, something did seem off about the structure; the way it just stood there, open and silently waiting for him. Beyond the door, the light inside shined down on the lines of gold that ran through green walls. The shadows did not flicker. No sounds of elevator music came from inside. Nothing seemed wrong with the elevator box, but at the same time, something Takanuva could not put his finger on definitely seemed off. It did not matter if it seemed off. The Toa of Light needed to get up to the Hall of Masks. Whatever way took him there, he would have to take it. A single bell from within dinged, and the door closed. However, the box did not move. Takanuva looked around at the — suddenly maroonish-purple— walls in annoyance. Shouldn’t the elevator be taking him somewhere? Maybe Darkness was right and another way was a better option. The color change of the interior was an unsettling surprise, but he was not going to let that deter him. This elevator would take him to the Hall of Masks. A light on the wall with the number four began to glow. Takanuva pressed it, and the elevator began to take him upwards. He smiled with satisfaction, his arrival to the fourth floor soon to come. The elevator bell gave a resounding ding! as the doors opened. However, the floor the Toa had arrived at looked no different from the one he had just left. Frowning, he took a step towards exiting the elevator. The Toa of Light paused mid-step. Something screamed in the back of his mind not to exit the elevator. Nothing around him looked wrong. Takanuva could not see any traps, but also something did not feel right about getting off at this floor. This was raw emotion from deep in the core of his mind, screaming, begging him not to get off the elevator. There was a certain sense about the fabric of the alternate universe of Tuyet’s empire, a feel about the very air, that was very different from his own home. This hallway in front of him had none of that same feel. The more Takanuva pondered it the more he felt as if he should not get off the elevator. What do I do then? The question echoed in his mind. As if in response to his thoughts, another button on the wall panel began to glow. Floor two. Takanuva pushed it, and the doors closed again. The Toa of Light felt the elevator lurch and begin to descend. He was a little more worried than when he had originally stepped onto the elevator. The same thing happened at floor two. Nothing was out there, but the Toa of Light felt as if it were simply not safe to get out of the elevator. The light for the sixth floor glowed to life, and he hit it. The elevator took Takanuva to several more empty floors, where his intuition told him not to get off. After the sixth floor was reached, the light for the second floor lit up. This was followed by the tenth floor lighting up, and then the fifth floor. Takanuva pressed each of these, hoping it was a secret code to access the Hall of Masks, but after the handful, he suspected there was something else at play. Takanuva paused before pressing the lit button for the fifth floor. Looking around he was equally annoyed as he was anxious. “Whoever or whatever you are behind all of this, I have a mission,” he told the elevator, concerned as he voiced his thoughts. “I do not have the time to play your game.” He hit the button for the fifth floor, and the elevator shuddered as it began to move. The lights flashed once or twice. The colors of the elevator walls changed again, flashing to a blue and then back to the maroonish- purple shade that they were. Something else rumbled through the elevator as well, the phantom of an emotion which left Takanuva from saying anything more. He expected the fifth floor to be empty, just as all of the others were. But the door opened to the sight of a smiling Ga-Matoran, who walked into the elevator and turned to stand next to the Toa of Light. Macku! Takanuva thought as he recognized the noble Kanohi Huna on her face. “Hello there,” she said. Takanuva relaxed at the comforting voice of his Ga-Matoran friend. No matter what dimension he came to, Macku had almost always been there, a certain guide to help beings from another dimension. To see her here— regardless of how corrupted this Tuyet-ruled universe was— brought him relief. He was about to respond when he saw her reflection in the elevator door. The silvery protodermic material did twist and contort his own Kanohi, due to the nature of the reflective surface. However, observing Macku’s reflection, Takanuva knew something was off. Her height was no longer that of around Takanuva’s thigh— she seemed to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Toa. The mask that reflected in the surface of the elevator seemed to be twisted and contorted, yes, but there was more. It seemed to be spiked and wild, the mask bending and appendages coming out in places where Takanuva was sure they couldn’t be, even in a trick reflection. Whatever he was looking at… seemed almost devilish. The reflection of her eyes flashing to a dark glowing red— a deeper crimson than the Makuta’s eyes— made him decide it was best not to answer. The button for floor one lit up. Takanuva hit it with as much haste as he could. He didn’t even care as the elevator lurched and went upward. He just wanted to get moving. The fear and worry that had washed over the Toa earlier was far more than anything he had felt from the Turahk’s staff or Makuta’s fear on his island home of Mata Nui. Those were simulated, artificial doses of fear. But the chilling fear and worry that he encountered from the elevator was incredibly real. And Macku— or whatever it was next to him— brought Takanuva sheer terror. The first floor button brought them to the tenth floor. As the door opened, Takanuva completely ignored the impulses and screams for him to stay on the elevator. He forced those voices down, using the calming power of the Kanohi Avohkii on himself, and stepped clear out of the elevator. “Where are you going?” asked the Macku-that-was-not-Macku. Takanuva ignored her as the doors shut. As the doors closed, he spun. Three elevators faced him— the one he had departed from on the left, another two directly to his right. The floor numbers on top of all three elevators, even the one Takanuva had migrated from, were dark and unchanging. Upon closer inspection, the symbols for the floors were all written in reverse, as if they were being looked at from a mirror. Macku-that-was-not-Macku was simply sitting behind that door on the left, waiting for him. He could not explain it, but Takanuva could feel it in his armor. Some internal force pulled him along as he walked the tenth floor. Hopefully this is the Hall of Masks, and I have simply gotten up here quicker than Darkness. Takanuva walked silently, his lance tight in his hand. The marble of the hallway echoed as his armored feet paced. After a while though, Takanuva began to think there was nobody here. No security, no masks, not even people. The halls were devoid of weaponry, carvings, even artwork. There was a certain feel about the place, a general vibe that was not Tuyet’s empire dimension. It was the same feeling he had experienced in the elevator— a creeping sensation along the back of his neck, a shadow escaping the corner of his eye, a shudder along his armor— but amplified tenfold. A faint red aura hung about the place that made Takanuva think the elevator— or whatever it was— had led him into a totally different reality. As he rounded a corner, he saw a window looking out into the city. Takanuva approached it, looking down into the vast sprawl of Metru Nui cityscapes. The place was incredibly still. No battle or rebellion was outside on the ground. No armies marched throughout the streets. No Matoran, no Rahi, not even the sea beyond seemed to move. The one thing that Takanuva did discern in the city came from the sky. A red cross like shape, which was casting its red, hellish glow, hovered in the sky, unmoving still. It was like looking at a picture of the city. Everything was still and peaceful, but there was something wrong about it. With no people, no movement, no nothing at all but that red, shining cross shape, there was an impression about the place that Takanuva could not describe which felt off. Whatever it was, it struck another bout of fear in Takanuva in this latest experience of terror. It frightened him in a way similar to how a Muaka cat was frightened when a villager would shove a flaming branch into its maw. Whatever hellish place this was, it repulsed Takanuva, made him want to whimper out loud and run away. The stillness of the city and the red of the light felt as if he was experiencing a very poisoned version of his home. Takanuva needed to get back. Even if it wasn’t his home dimension, the alternate Metru Nui with Tuyet was far greater comfort than whatever this place was. He whirled, tripping and stumbling as he strode towards the elevators which he had come from. He came to the elevator lobby and paused, frantically looking at the three elevators. Even though he was away from the window, the red glow bathed faintly over everything. It was burned into the Toa of Light’s corneas. He wanted to take another elevator rather than the one he had come up on. The other elevators would help him avoid the devil, that monster in the guise of Macku. But his intuition— which had not led him into actual harm yet— reminded him of advice he had learned what seemed not so long ago. In the tales of the Toa Metru, when fleeing the city to find a refuge for the Matoran, the then Toa of Air had approached a crossroads within the Great Barrier. Go left, Matau had insisted to his comrades. Going right had met with disaster and challenges that had almost gotten the group killed. But going left… as much as it seemed improbable that had been the safer path. Going left would take him back into the elevator with the monster. But what could the other elevators possibly lead him to? Not wanting to find out, Takanuva pressed the button for the left most elevator. As his finger drew away, he noticed that the symbol for it was backwards, just like the lights above the elevators. The door opened, and the Toa of Light slid in, trying his hardest not to acknowledge the too cheery Matoran standing beside him. Buttons on the elevator lit up, and Takanuva pressed them, curious as to where the elevator was taking him now. After a few floor selections, Takanuva noticed that it was the reverse order that he had originally pressed them in. Hopefully that meant he was heading back from whatever place he was in. Standing beside him, whom he still ignored with all of his might, was the shape and form of Macku, still silently humming. Takanuva could not wait longer for the fifth floor doors to open up. When it did, he knew “Macku” would leave, and he could take the rest of the elevator ride alone. He expected “her” to leave silently. Once the doors to the fifth floor opened, “she” took a step forward. Takanuva could have almost cried from relief as he felt “her” leaving his side. But “she” stopped half way through “her” stride, just as the Toa of Light had done earlier. “She” did not look at him, but at the same time he could feel the neck straining and twisting towards his direction. Takanuva avoided the gaze of the Matoran shaped thing— because that was definitely not Macku— at all costs. “It is really a shame,” Macku’s voice called. However, Takanuva almost jumped toward the back of the elevator box as he heard another voice as well. A contorted, twisted sound—that may have been one voice or several hundred or several thousand— spoke underneath the comforting tone of the Ga-Matoran’s cheery tone. It was nothing like the friendly tone she had spoken to him with, but at the same time it was. There was an accursed underlayer of the voice, one that spoke to Takanuva from not just the Matoran’s mouth but all corners of the elevator. “I really thought you would stay longer,” the thing-in-Macku’s-form said in hundreds of thousands of voices as she left the elevator. The doors closed, and Takanuva slouched against the wall, utterly spooked by the voice. She was gone now, and he was away from whatever she was, but something stuck with him in those nefarious undertones that he could not shake. The light for floor one lit up. Takanuva stared at it for a second, before hitting it. The elevator began to move upwards. He knew where it was taking him. “No!” he yelled in the closed box. His sobs of relief from moments earlier were turning to cries of distraught. He hit the button for floor one again, even though it did not light up. “I am done playing your game. Take me back. To where I came from this time!” The elevator grated to a halt briefly, as if to consider his words. Takanuva glared at the empty air front of him, hoping to stare down whatever was doing this. Then slowly, very slowly, the elevator began to move again. The doors opened at the first floor, and Takanuva barely breathed as he felt a whoosh of breeze fill the elevator box. He could not believe his eyes as he peered out of the doors, seeing the hallways of the Coliseum before him. He examined the walls, everything outside, before stepping out. Yes, this was Tuyet’s dimension. He did not know how he had gotten back here, but somehow he had managed to return from where he had been. Takanuva turned around to look once more at the elevator doors, not having heard them close. To his disbelief, he only saw a blank wall. There was no elevator, or even any indication of one having ever existed. Only a blank wall, its marbled surface grey and unrevealing. A shiver went up his spine. Takanuva turned back to the hall. Probably for the only time in his life, began to run towards the comfort of Darkness. **** A little story based on a paranormal blog that I read on occasion. Thought this could have fit in with the Dark Mirror Universe, taking it a step further.
  6. Hello! Time to downsize the collection a little. I have the following for sale: 2001: Turaga Completed turaga $5 apiece obo Nuju Whenua Onewa Matau x2 Nokama Incomplete: Vakama $1 Nokama and Nuju $3 obo Mctoran 2$ obo Huki Onepu Toa Mata $7 apiece obo Kopaka Tahu Pohatu x2 Gali Lewa Incomplete Lewa 6$ Incomplete and mismatched Nui Jaga: $10 2002: Korahk no krana $6 obo Levahk no krana $6 obo Korahk va $2 obo 2003: Bohrok Kal $6 obo Korahk Kal Parahk Kal Levahk and Galohk Kal— incomplete/parts swapped— $4 apiece Toa Nuva: $6 apiece for completes Kopaka Nuva Onua nuva Pohatu Nuva 4$ for part swaps/ incompletes Gali Nuva Onua Nuva Tahu Nuva Lewa Nuva Rahkshi: All are 5$, most are missing pieces or parts swapped out. 2004: Toa Whenua no brainstalk $7 Vahki—all vahki are $6 apiece Incomplete bordahk is 4 2007: Incomplete Kongu Mahri $5 2008: incomplete Tanma: $3 obo Masks: 50 cents apiece Bag of parts featuring Rahkshi, Bohrok, 03 Matoran parts, various armor and limbs: make me an offer or ask to see if I have certain parts Books: 03 Find the Power Live the Legend book: $3 obo Imgur Link for you to see the inventory: https://imgur.com/a/7uLaXqW If possible I'd like to sell the bags of pieces in bulk. Thanks and hopefully you guys want something from this!
  7. I am selling several sets from mostly 2009. All sets come from a clean smoke free home and are relatively clean. A piece might be missing here or there but the sets are relatively in good shape and mostly have been sitting in storage. I live on the East coast of United States and am willing to ship these. Willing to trade for Kanohi Masks or older sets. If you are interested in any of these, we can talk. Lego Technic Motor Bike: $15, no instructions or box. Pretty Good condition, missing two pieces. 2009 Gresh: $9 Good condition, missing helmet, but canister and I believe instructions are good to go. a few cracks but he still stands. Cendox V1: $15 relatively good condition, the Agori has one hand that is cracked. Missing life counter. No instructions as of now but I can possibly find them. I also have a Keetongu in near perfect condition, but I would only be willing to depart with him for a good price or really good trade.
  8. I appreciate your comments! A big point was to develop Mata Nui a little more. It’s such a big island, and there was such a long time in story that we know nothing about. Why were the Matoran so afraid of the Makuta and the Rahi in the comics and early story material? I really wanted to explore that idea, of “how a character’s (villain in this case) actions can affect a setting”. The dangers I’ve come up with are scouring Biosector and brainstorming with Ghost Mantis on Tumblr. GM came up with some of this. But we know a lot of common dangers thanks to BS01, Ask Greg, etc, but never the nitty gritty of it. Plus, I wanted to think that Makuta could not be behind everything on the island; there are definitely some Spherus Mangan influences out there that I am dying to write more about. Bonkle, I appreciate your enjoyment of my corpses! :D. I just wanted to describe them enough to get a picture of it. I have two more Hauntings left after this, the last one being where the plot actually begins to work toward something in old lore. It has been an interesting study so far in the genre that will allow me to to something with an original fiction piece. Hopefully I can bust the other additions to this quickly and wrap this anthology up, one being half written and the other one pretty clear cut. Once again, I appreciate everyone's input!
  9. Caravans in the Desert Night Hearing the growl of his Hapaka hound, Golyo stirred in his sleep. Looking around in the darkness he saw the room was empty except for himself and the hound in the middle of the night. Rising from his cot, the Po-Matoran caught a glimpse of the stars outside his window, glimmering in the black sky. Yet for as peaceful as the desert looked, something was amiss. Screams of Rahi bleated into the night. Donning a cloak and grabbing a hand sized canister, Golyo headed outside to see what was the matter at this hour. The Hapaka followed closely. The Mahi pen was a bustle of activity. The steeds jumped around in the wider enclosure, having left their home stalls. They let out bleating yells as they rammed themselves against the rails. Bashing against the rails they stood on their hind legs and let out bleating yells. Golyo listened with worry as he heard hearing coming from the frantic animals. Reaching into the canister, the Po-Matoran produced a lightstone, raising it above his mask to bathe the Rahi in light. The Mahi, startled even more by the sight of the bright light, screamed louder. Taking a step toward the steeds, Golyo grabbed hold of one and held it against the rail in an attempt to calm it down. “Shush, Shhhh,” Golyo said, incorporating Mahi-like grunts into the conversation. At his touch its frantic bucking calming somewhat. Golyo continued to pet the one Mahi, letting the soft glow of the lightstone wash over it. Until the lightstone began to flicker. The lightstone faded, taking away the light from the pen for just a moment before returning. Golyo had sworn he had only blinked. But it happened again, and then the Po-Matoran grew concerned. Lightstones never faded. No matter what a lightstone never lost its glow. A campfire would change with the way the wind blew, but a lightstone was always consistent in its glow. Golyo frowned at the stone. Darkness surrounded him before the lightstone’s glow returned again. Golyo looked around, finding himself in the pen. He had no idea how he had gotten in there— he had certainly not climbed in. All of the Mahi stood at the walls of the pen, looking at him with their own manner of worry. Another Matoran stood across from Golyo, smiling at him from the dark beyond the stone’s light. “Mata Nui!” he cried, spooked by the newcomer’s sudden appearance. “Who are you?” “No one,” they said in a voice that was not a Matoran’s. Golyo’s eyes went wide with shock, before the stone extinguished and darkness engulfed him. When the light returned to the crystal again, Golyo was no longer in the pen. He stood outside the door to his home, looking out at night before him. His Hapaka cowered beside him. The screams of the panicked Mahi were gone. The Mahi themselves were gone. The night was quiet. *** What Aft could not shake was how dirty the Po-Matoran’s masks were. The Kanohi of his caravan escorts— and even some of their armor— were coated in grime, even rusted in some places. As they rode out of Ta-Koro the Ta-Matoran eyed the escorts, wondering how they could be so unbothered by it. The Ta-Matoran know he could not speak to be better. Lava farming was no clean job— there were many harvesting weeks when the smoke was so thick that it stained black the usual crimson of the Ta-Koran’s crimson armor. There was something about these caravaners’ own armor and masks though that seemed more than dirty to Aft. Aft had been told many times before his departure by the Ta-Koro Guard to keep his guard up on his trip. The journey was perilous, and it was essential that he get himself—and the tools they were trading to the Po-Matoran for—back to the village of fire safely. The Wahi was a dangerous place, they had reminded him, where a Matoran could easily be ambushed and dragged off into the shadows. Many Rahi lurked outside the gates of the village, deep under the control of the Makuta. Yet as they went down the road going from Ta-Wahi through Ga-Wahi, Aft found the night rather quiet and peaceful. He looked hard out into the dark, listening for the sound of beasts in the night amongst the wooded area. But he heard and saw nothing but the night, much to his displeasure, and glowered harder into the darkness. He took the word of the Guard seriously. There was definitely something out there, he was certain, just waiting to pounce. “You seem on edge tonight,” one of the Matoran said to Aft. “Just keeping a lookout,” the lava farmer replied. “That is not something you should worry about,” replied the Matoran from atop his Dikapi. “We are not traveling dangerous roads.” “The Ta-Koro Guard has been ambushed many a night by the beasts in hiding,” said Aft, unsure if he were to believe his host. The Po-Matoran laughed. “Your Guard’s stories are somewhat exaggerated,” he said. “They tend to be spooked by anything in the shadows beyond their torches.” Another Po-Matoran came up beside them on his Dikapi. “We night riders have different ways of dealing with Rahi beasts.” Aft farmed lava all night on a regular basis, so being up at this hour was nothing new to him. However, he could not help but feel tired tonight, almost as if he were weary from a hard shift. Slouching in the caravan, He let his eyes close for a single second as this strange adventure in the night overcame him. *** It was colder when Aft awoke. It wasn’t cold, but usual Ta-Koro heat which usually surrounded him was gone. The drop in temperature was a shock to his system and had awakened him. Picking himself up off of the floor of the caravan, he looked outside. He was immediately met with the whipping winds as the cold desert night air blow across his face. Aft wanted to retreat into the shelter of the canvased caravan as the wind whistled through the holes in his mask. But he remained out there, wondering where his Po-Matoran escorts had gone. The caravan was parked far from any path Aft could identify. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, the Ta-Matoran was able to see an outcropping of rocks. Trees and the usual shrubbery between Ta- and Ga- Wahi were gone. He was somewhere far away from either village, somewhere out in the Motara Desert. Firelight flickered beyond the caravan and the surrounding rock formation. Climbing down from the shelter of the caravan, Aft began to weave towards the light. He came into a clearing amongst the rocks, the inside of a ring of boulders where the wind could not reach. A campfire crackled in the center of it. The Po-Matoran escorts were conversing quietly as they sat around the flames. “Look who is awake, boys,” one of the Matoran called. All eyes went towards Aft. Several of the Matoran grinned as they caught sight of the groggy Ta-Matoran. “Where are we?” Aft asked. “Po-Wahi, a few hours above Ga-Koro,” said a Hau-wearing Po-Matoran. We are riding a few more hours north, and then we will cut west toward Po-Koro.” “Why are we so far north?” asked Aft. “Is there a blockade? What is keeping us from getting through there and getting to the village sooner?” “More like a living blockade,” said another Matoran. “The route requires us to take the long way to Po-Koro. If you want to walk straight to Po-Wahi and through the Den, be our guest. But I think my night brothers and I will chose this way.” “So the Ta-Koro Guard isn’t wrong,” Aft said. “There are dangerous Rahi out there.” “And we have survived every one of them we have come across,” said the Hau-wearing Matoran. “What has got you so scared of Rahi? Come across a nasty Kane-Ra or something?” “I almost became lava bones after a pack of Husi attacked a lava field once,” told Aft. “Another time I spend two weeks recovering from Kofo Jaga stings. It is part of the job, but the attacks are unexpected and frightening.” “Reasonable fears,” one of the Po-Matoran agreed. “Do you come into any close encounters with Rahi out here?” asked Aft. “We have been upended by sand Tarakava,” said the Pakari wearer of the group. “Stampeded on by Kikinalo. Once I was beat within an inch of my life when I crossed the cave of a Stony Spine Ape.” “And the mutated Rahi too,” said another Matoran. “They’re quite a treat.” “…Mutated Rahi?” Aft asked. “You’re just messing with me now.” The Hau-wearing Matoran shook his head. “Some are twisted versions of Mahi, Tunnelers to name a few. Others are unidentifiable and shoot wheels of energy at you. But there are sick twisted things out there.” “What could mutate a Rahi?” Aft was equal parts horrified and entranced now. “No one knows,” said the Hau wearer. “But they are out there.” “Some believe that they are freaks,” said the second Po-Matoran. “Others think that it is the work of Makuta. He takes the Rahi from their nests, and experiments on them until they are just ugly monsters.” Aft grew quiet, watching his escorts with skepticism. They stared back at him with small smiles. Firelight and shadows flickered along their masks, and Aft grew uncomfortable. They were not kidding. “We keep away from them by moving on,” said the Hau- wearing Matoran. “So we better get going, lest we wake any critters around here.” Aft nodded, breathing a sigh of some relief. The others extinguished the fire, leaving only a small torch alight. The Ta-Matoran hastily led the procession back to the caravan, listening to the dirt crunch under his feet. It only took him a moment to realize his footsteps were the only ones. He turned around to see the Po-Matoran behind him, staring stone faced at him. The one whom held the torch gripped it noticably tightly. “What is the matter?” asked Aft, somewhat worried. The Po-Matoran’s voice was grave. “Whatever you do, do not make any sudden movements,” he said. Something tapped Aft on the shoulder. Only then was he aware of the acute movement of somethings crawling up his shoulder. Fear shot through him. He felt something touch his mask. “They are called Kanohi crackers,” said one Matoran. He pulled a knife out of his belt ever so slowly. “They’re a weird scorpion that like the protodermis in the mask. If you are really really still I can get it off…” The Matoran was rushing at him, and Aft was on his back. Something hissed in his face, and Aft felt a sharp pain right above his mouth. Another pain on his cheek. Then the other cheek. The rapping pains came again and again, until something moved, and Aft felt a massive drain of energy from his body. One moment he was seeing everything clearly. The next everything was so fuzzy. He could see the black night of the sky, the fire flickering on the torch. But they were just blurs of color to Aft’s eyes. Around him, he could hear the Po-Matoran cursing and arguing, but he was only comprehending every few words. Aft could not tell where was going or the scene around him. He felt a dragging. Something was hoisting him up. “It is only a temporary mask,” a voice said. “One of our spares.” Aft heard, but did not understand. With his mask gone he rapidly into shutting down. “We were planning on getting to this place by morning, but I guess we have to get going and get you a real mask. If we do not get you there you will be spewing gibberish coding by the sunrise.” *** During the day work on the silent ranch was almost peaceful. Almost. But when the shadows of twilight began to crawl along the ranch was when Golyo began to feel unsettled. Dusk would come, and the statues around the establishment seemed to be looking down at him. The blank eyes of the Matoran statues, even the slits of the Mata Nui stones, seemed to become filled with a life of their own, a life that silently watched him. The Po-Matoran would feel a tingling along his spine as the presence surrounded his home, and although he could rarely prove it, he knew he was not alone. As Golyo coiled up a rope on this afternoon, he could feel the stares begin, and that he was not alone. I need some sort of charm to carve these statues with, Golyo thought to himself. Some new strategy to which he cannot get into the stone. “What is required of me?” Golyo asked into the air. He could feel the dark presence behind him. “Visitors,” a growling, rumbling voice said. Golyo did not turn, unwilling to see who was speaking. The voice shook the air around them. “They are on their way from the south, and will be here in the morning. Host them. And give them thissss.” It was just before midnight when Golyo heard them coming. They knocked on his doorway grinning, knowing something was about to happen. In between two of them was a maskless Ta-Matoran, barely conscious and hardly hanging on to the Po-Matoran that supported him. “You have the mask?” one of them asked. Reluctantly, Golyo nodded. They laid the Ta-Matoran down in the center of the room. Candles burnt low, a deep orange flickering around the body. Golyo swore he saw dark fingers in the shadows of the flame, dancing across the lava farmer’s body. “You are early,” Golyo said to the caravan escorts. “I thought you were coming in the morning.” “We had a run in,” said one of them. “Our timetable was escalated.” “A Kanohi Cracker spider got too close to him” said another of the escorts. “It came upon the Ta-Matoran, and we wanted to make no haste in getting here.” Golyo glowered at the mention of the Rahi. A easy pawn in their game, he knew. Grabbing hold of the mask the caravaners were promised, he raised it above his head as to smash it on his floor. “Why should I help you?” he asked them. “This villager deserves none of this. Why torture him like this? Why don’t I smash this mask to pieces?” Golyo felt a sudden burning in his hand. He dropped his arm, feeling a terrible pain rip through the limb. The metal seemed to warp, crushing the muscle underneath and burning in such a way he could hardly scream in agony from… But an instant later, his hand was normal, as if nothing happened. Golyo shook his head, confused and frightened. One of the caravan runners, eyes glowing yellow below his dark Mahiki, looked deep into Golyo’s gaze. “It is much easier to obey,” he said, offering his own hand. Upon close inspection, the hand was mangled, fused and corroded in a seemingly painful fashion. Travelling up the Matoran’s arm were markings and burns of what exactly the Mahi herder was certain the pain of that vision would have ended in. Golyo looked at it astounded. The Po-Matoran nodded, his cohorts looking in unison at the herder. The Mahi herder stared tight lipped. “Why can’t one of you do it?” “Our duty is to bring him to you,” said the Hau masked Matoran. “We are simply caravan runners.” Golyo glowered. There was no getting out of this. The Ta-Matoran still sat on the floor, barely functioning. Kneeling above his head, Golyo steadied the mask, and set it down upon the Matoran’s face. Mata Nui forgive me, he thought to himself. I am sorry to sentence you to this fate, fire spitter. But I have no choice. As he watched it click on, he fought every urge to rip the thing off and shatter it to pieces. If they were serious, then screwing this up for them would not bode well for him. Aft opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, feeling the energy flow back into his form as he felt the mask on his face. He last remembered being around the campfire with the Po-Matoran, and now he was here. He had felt utterly awful, but now as he rose, whatever mask on his face now, he felt much better. And looking at the caravaners, whom he felt he could not trust before, he felt as if he were on the same page now. “How do you feel?” one of the Matoran asked him. Aft nodded, rising from the floor. He moved with motions that were not his own, as if he were a puppet on strings. A wordless grin grew on his new Kanohi. Satisfied with the worrk, the party filed out of Golyo’s hut, leaving Golyo alone. “Never again,” the Mahi herder swore. “Find someone else to do your disgusting rituals.” Then you will not see your Mahi herd, a voice growled around him. Golyo jumped, looking around with worry. He did the deeds the shadows and the voices asked of him, yet he could not escape. What was he to do? “What will you do with him?” Golyo asked into the night. He was answered by nothing but the whisper of the night wind blowing by. *** The day at the bazaar was busy, but not busy enough for Ahkmou to not notice Golyo enterinh the the town square. It had been a decent hour’s trek to the village square on a cart pulled by a Mahi. Without his Rahi to pull him the journey had taken the better part of the morning. Golyo approached the bazaar, pulling his widgets from his pack. “What is it today?” the stall trader asked him. Golyo pointed to a few trinkets and necessary supplies, to which the bazaar piled for him. “It looks like you are going out for some wrangling,” said the bazaar. “And by the looks of how you got here I would say you have lost your herd.” “My Mahi are elsewhere, yes,” said Golyo. He glowered at the bazaar. Ahkmou’s comments on the surface were always sincere, but many Matoran knew under the surface that he liked to deliver cheap jibes. “Well I wish you best of luck in your wrangling,” Ahkmou said. He then gestured to a nearby pen of Rahi. “If you need some luck though, can I interest you in a lucky Ghekula? They are a Rahi from the jungles of Le-Wahi. The Le-Korans swear up and down their jungle trees they these are helpful in getting luck to manifest. My sales have been through the roof since I started carrying them. Your herd could be back to you before you know it!” “I sense that my Hapaka would not get along with that thing,” the Mahi herder said, turning away. “I will pass.” Ahkmou shrugged. “Your loss then,” Ahkmou said. “But… for the price of the Rahi, I can tell you where he took them.” Golyo paused, then turned back to the trader. Ahkmou simply smiled at him. Golyo looked back with slight concern. Did he know about the dark spirit? If so, what did he know? Golyo pushed half of the asking price on the table. “If I like what I hear, you get the rest,” he said to Ahkmou. “There is a canyon,” Ahkmou said. “Which lost things have been known to pass through in the night. You may want to show there tonight. For the rest of the price I can arrange a ride. There is caravan, a good supplier of mine, that can drive you to the canyon. You may have seen them before, they actually pass your way quite frequently.” Golyo did not like what he heard, the concern in his eyes quickly turning to fear. But he passed over the last remaining widgets anyway, wanting this nightmare to be over. Ahkmou grinned, ecstatic about the money on his table. “You pass through there and make it out in one piece, and he might even leave you alone,” the bazaar said with a wink. *** The Hapaka hound started to growl as it sensed something outside the hut that night. Golyo’s hand on its head did little to comfort it. Ever since the Mahi had disappeared and voices started sounding around the ranch, the hound had been on edge. It did not like nightly visits by those weirdly masked Matoran. Something was not right about them, the Hapaka knew. The Hapaka’s master looked at it, grim faced, and then set off to the door. The Matoran all grinned wordlessly in the doorway. Golyo looked at them, but they stared back glassy eyed. “You will take me to my Rahi?” Golyo asked. The Po-Matoran leading the caravan nodded. “And you will leave me alone after this?” “For a price,” he said in a voice that was not his. “But I already paid Ahkmou,” Golyo said. The Matoran shook his head. “There are different prices to pay than widgets,” they said to him. Golyo pursed his lips, worried about what that could mean. The Hapaka whimpered as its master went with the ones it did not like. Golyo knew his Rahi were not tied up to some single post, but he had to know where the night caravan was taking him. There was something in his throat that he had to ask, that had to interrupt the sound of the dirt crunching as the caravan rode in the night. “Where are we headed?” he asked. “To get your Rahi,” the Hau masked Matoran said. “Hopefully they haven’t made their way too far into the Den.” Golyo frowned. “The Den” was the nickname for a series of canyons out in Po-Wahi where numerous dangerous Rahi resided. Many beasts were said to make their dwelling throughout the canyon. Matoran always traded stories over campfires as to what they believed lurked in there. None were ever brave enough to take on a dare to go exploring there though. Some feared the stories were true. Others feared what they would find there was worse than any story they could imagine. The Mahi herder regretted asking anything. Knowing where he was going now, Golyo sat stone faced, a few creeping thoughts going through his mind. He turned towards the open back of the caravan, taking what he thought might be one last look at the stars. After a while the caravan came to a halt, having arrived at the entrance to the Den. The canyon mouth yawned before the group of Matoran, with nothing but darkness visible from either side. Hopping down, Golyo paced across the dirt before the entrance, nervous at his path before him. “If I go through here, he will leave me alone?” he asked. But the caravan was gone, and he was the only one out in the desert. He spun in every direction, looking for the outline of the cart in the night. Not even tracks could be seen in the dirt. It was as if it had never been there. The sudden disappearance alarmed him. Here Golyo was, in the middle of the desert by himself, wanting to do anything other than go into the dark canyon in front of him. But he knew that the key to his freedom was on the other end of the canyon. Only his two feet would take him there. Mata Nui, Great Spirit, if you can hear me, whatever they have planned for the Ta-Matoran, please keep him safe, he silently prayed. Golyo was terrified as he stepped toward the darkness. He wanted to go screaming in the other direction. But as he walked, that sensation seemed to silence itself. The feeling of fear faded away as he was drawn to the canyon’s depths, like he was being pulled in. He stared into the darkness, feeling as though he could see something on the other side. His feet seemed to move on their own. A shadow fell over him, and Golyo realized he could no longer see the stars. A further darkness had come over the canyon, surrounding him in shadow from all sides. Do not think about that, he told himself. Do not panic. Walk steady as far into the night as you can. The ravine was quiet except for the footsteps of himself. The wind blowing through the desert could not be heard anywhere, even as close to the entrance as he still was. Keeping his breathing steady, he walked, keeping an ear out for anything creeping up on him. The path narrowed as it went further into the canyon, the ground sloping up towards each enclosing wall. Boulders sat here and there, forcing him to weave his way off and back onto the path. Golyo kept his gaze forward as he walked, not looking at any movement he might catch a glimpse of around the wall. After a long while, Golyo could spot something in the middle of the path ahead. Whatever it was did not move. He walked steadily toward it, breath baited. Had a Rahi finally come out into the night, sensing the Matoran? Was this it for him? A pile of mechanical parts and bones littered the path. Golyo looked down on them, seeing the parts of his Mahi strewn about. The animals were strewn to pieces, utterly destroyed by whatever had gotten to them. Golyo kicked them around, a mix of emotions going through his head. He felt a loss for his Rahi, yes. But in his current predicament he was somewhat relieved. Having come through here probably sent the steeds to a far higher level of panic than which he could have controlled them. He could have never calmed down any portion of his herd and led it to safety, not without whatever lurked in these canyons finding them. Determined to get on with his journey, he stepped forward over the bones. But his foot touched something liquid. Golyo stopped, and looked down to see a dark pool before him. He leaned down to examine it, touching the pool. Blood, most likely from the Mahi. Sitting crouched for a moment, he watched the pool sit in the dirt. An idea struck him. If he did this, he thought, it might free him all the nonsense that brought him into this mess. Dipping his finger into the liquid, he grabbed a skull with another hand. Although he could not see what he was drawing, Golyo began to paint a symbol on the metal. He did not know what he was doing, but for some reason the symbol seemed to come clearly to him. He did not stop after one. Grabbing another skull, he painted the symbol again, and again, until he had a number of skulls decorated in blood. He placed the Mahi skulls in a circle, and then painted the symbol in the center of the circle. As he placed the last skull in the circle, Golyo suddenly felt an unseen pair of eyes staring at him. “I hope this appeases you,” said Golyo. “And convinces you to leave me and my ranch alone.” The ground rumbled. Golyo looked up. Well above him, at the top of the canyon, the moonlight shone. Before it a large winged creature flew up into the sky. For a moment he thought it was going to swoop back down and come his way. But it flew elsewhere beyond the canyon, cruising somewhere into the night. Golyo had never seen any Rahi with that hawk-like outline. He was fairly sure he did not want to know what it was. As his sense of unease lessened, the moon shone brightly along the canyon. Golyo could see his path before him. He continued to walk, hoping that he would soon find daylight, if not the desert plains outside of the canyon first. Review
  10. That’s the thing— if Artakha can do it, how did he do it? Looking at the visuals of the Toa Kaita in animations, there are a lot of “circuitry” themes around them. I would like to think that once the mask is made it needs some sort of chips and hardwiring to activate powers. If you go this route, then perhaps Artakha hardwired the Golden masks to hold more than one power “program”?
  11. Whispers in the Sanctum Matoro stared at the wall. It took him several moments to realize his eyes were open. So caught up in Seeking had he been that perhaps he thought the wall was simply a visualization of his thoughts. All of the images seemed to blend together, so the Matoran thought for a while that this was just another part of the process. Whatever findings had crossed his mind however were gone. The thing he had been seeking was now nothing more than a fleeting thought, and something else had taken over his mind. Something had directed his attention away from the Seeking. What particularly it was, however, he could not put his finger on. Something had permeated into his mindscape, breaking concentration. and bringing him from his meditation. Matoro looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the chamber he was in. The fire at the center of the room quietly crackled. Near him sat Turaga Nuju, his mind elsewhere as his mediation went on uninterrupted. His assistant however looked around, continuing to wonder what had disturbed him. Other than the few Matoran Seekers allowed to meditate with the Turaga, uninterrupted in their own deep meditative states, the room was still. There it was though. A sound reached his ears. A voice, calling to him. He could not hear what it was saying, the words being just out of earshot. But he could hear the voice, ominous and calling. He could hear it more definitively this second time, coming from the hallway beyond the chamber. Conversation was frowned upon in the Sanctum. No one would make disruptive sound like this unless it was for a purpose. Yet this voice sounded different, and it seemed Matoro was the only one to notice it. Perhaps it was part of a vision he was experiencing? Matoro found himself walking towards the hall, drawn towards the voice. He felt as though he were in an almost dreamlike state. Behind Matoro, Nuju opened his eyes. The Turaga had heard the Matoran rise, and came out of his own meditative state to see his translator making his way towards the chamber’s exit. Generally he would not follow, but something seemed off about Matoro’s manner. Rising quietly as to not disturb the other Seekers, Nuju followed Matoro out into the hall. Click, click-click. Matoro turned to see the Turaga, alert and on his tail. In his trance like state, it took the translator a few moments more to understand the language of the flyers that Nuju communicated in. Upon understanding the message, Matoro nodded. “Yes, Turaga, I am fine,” Matoro insisted. “I am still Seeking. A voice is calling to me, and I can hear it leading me to the answers I Seek.” Nuju whistled, confusion in his tone. His assistant nodded. “Yes, a voice. It is calling to me. If I follow it, it will lead me to the part of the Wall of History which has the answers.” Will it though? Nuju wondered. He too remembered a time when he thought he could follow a voice. His brow furrowed at the memory. His concerns were growing for his right hand Matoran. I have been warned about voices afar before, the Turaga thought. He grappled for a long moment on what to do. Nuju allowed Matoro to go ahead, although he followed him closely. *** Ehrye had been staring at the Wall of Prophecy all day. He now looked at the glyphs written on the walls with a hard squint. The sun outside was sinking into the late afternoon, making it harder to see. He should go to the center of the hall he was studying and light a fire, he knew, so he could see better. Yet he was so engrossed in his Seeking that the fading light did not matter to him. But none of this was why he could not concentrate. For years he’d studied the walls until his back hurt, with nothing but the glow of his eyes and heartlight to illuminate the prophecies. No, the rapidly changing lighting situation was far from what was distracting him. It was the little voice which reached his audio receptors. “Fire,” said the voice. Ehrye looked up from his translation, searching for whom had spoken. No one showed themselves. He should have looked back down at his work, but his curiosity was piqued. He looked around for a few moments, before lowering his gaze to his work once more. “Fire!” came the voice again, this time more urgent. Ehrye looked up again. “Fire! Fire upstairs!” The voice chirped. The Ko-Matoran set down his translation tablet, comprehending what the voice was saying. A fire? “Evacuate! We need to!” the voice called again. Ehrye then looked around, utterly confused at what was being said. No one spoke in these parts of the Wall of Prophecy, and if they did the urgency for them doing so had to be of the utmost importance. Seeing no one else moving, however, Ehrye cocked his head. He strode over to his neighbor, another Matoran translating. “Did no one else hear?” he whispered to his cohort. The Matoran looked at him, eyes wild. Talking in the Sanctum… no Matoran would break this oath unless it were urgent. “Hear what?” he whispered back, anxious of the dirty looks anyone within earshot might shoot at them. “We need to evacuate the building,” Ehrye told him. “There is a fire upstairs.” “A fire?” the scholar asked. “Says who?” “There was a Matoran in the hallway who called in,” Ehrye told him. “Didn’t you hear him?” The second Matoran shook his head, alarm forming on his mask. “We need to get out of here then!” the second Matoran insisted. The two began tapping the rest of the Matoran, urging them to evacuate. Without haste, they set down their tablets and began to evacuate. They looked odd as they trode through the Sanctum, a group of Ko-Matoran walking together. Scholars and Seekers noted them curiously as the group descended toward the main chamber, spreading word about a fire in the upper levels. One Matoran looked up at the oncoming commotion, far from pleased about the interruption. He listened for a moment, hearing words about a fire. Something did not sound right, so he stopped the group to understand the full story. “There is a fire upstairs!” Ehrye cried to him. “A fire?” the annoyed scholar asked. He looked towards the ceiling for a moment. “I smell nothing burning.” “It probably hasn’t come there yet,” said Ehrye. “Who told you there was a fire?” asked the scholar, rather agitated at all the fuss. “Someone outside our Prophecy room,” the Ehrye explained. “Did you see someone?” asked the scholar. “No,” the Ehrye said. “They probably were evacuating and just shouting a warning to us.” “So you did not see anyone,” said the scholar. A few Matoran in the small group began to give looks. “No but we need to go! Now!” cried Ehrye. “Go?” asked the irritated scholar. “Seeker, you are the first person I have heard talk about a fire in the Sanctum. And, icicle head, has it occurred to none of you that there couldn’t be a fire here, this place being made of ice?” No fire had been found, and the only thing that had happened was that the rest of Ehrye’s peers were mad at him.The other scholars glared at Ehrye as they filed back into their chamber. The Ko-Matoran stood with his head hung, embarrassed at the whole scenario, not able to look anyone in the eye. He had heard a voice, he knew that much. He could not prove it, but there was a voice that had called out about a fire. Someone in the halls of the Sanctum had called into the chamber of study, and Ehrye had been the only one to get the message. Someone had made a fool out of him. Somebody in the Sanctum had played a joke on Ehrye, and made him look like a raving, disruptive lunatic. Crossing his arms, Ehrye only glowered angrily down the hall, furious at whomever that trickster had been. Until the laughter began. Ehrye’s eyebrows raised. Laughter, in the Sanctum? The Matoran’s eyes glowed wide with shock. It was the trickster again, pulling some sort of prank on Ehrye that only he could hear. The Ko-Matoran set off down the hall then, determined to find this trickster. Whoever they were, they were about to get a scolding of a lifetime. The laughter was right around the corner— but when Ehrye turned into the hall, he found no one there. How could that be? Ehrye thought. He looked around, bewildered at the sourceless noise. The laughing was suddenly behind Ehrye. The Ko-Matoran tensed, his shoulders raising in fear. But then his fear grew exponentially as his feet were lifted off the ground. Something had grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him off the ground. Ehrye found himself yelling indiscernible words as he tried to bring himself back to the floor, kicking and writhing as he resisted whatever was holding him. A shadow passed over his eyes, and Ehrye dropped to the ground. Something clattered on the floor nearby. Feeling a drain of energy, the Ko-Matoran realized it was his mask, torn away from his face. He grabbed onto the walls as he stumbled forward towards it, feeling disoriented. All around him, the laughing continued. Whoever it was he did not care anymore. All the scholar wanted was his mask. Bringing his mask to his face, Ehrye felt energy seep back into him. His vision began to clear, and he glimpsed the scene outside a window as he stumbled. A forest of evergreens surrounded the clearing that the Sanctum was set upon. The afternoon light was fading rapidly as clouds began to cover the sky above Mount Ihu. And the snowbanks below looked unbroken. Before he was able to catch his breath, Ehrye felt a pair of hands shove him, and found himself falling out of the window. Finding nothing to grab onto, the Ko-Matoran realized he was going to find out how unbroken those snowbanks below were as he fell towards them. “Gravity hurts!” laughed a voice out the window as Ehrye fell. *** Ducking under a tree branch, Toudo stepped into the clearing. Before him stood the Sanctum, its icy white sheen standing boldly against the grey sky. Breathing a sigh of relief, Toudo brushed himself off, eyeing the building as he began to walk around the building, leaving the treeline behind. Toudo had been out checking his traps in the wilderness of Mount Ihu when he had sensed a storm approaching Ko-Wahi. The endless blue sky of Mata Nui had become grey, and the wind had begun to pick up. The animals had disappeared, more than likely sensing the storm and taking cover, the trapper supposed. Normally he did not mind being out in the squall, but having found so many of his traps empty he decided it would be best to head back to the village. As he walked around the Sanctum towards Ko-Koro, he looked to the sky to see a few flying Rahi flapping overhead, most likely making haste towards shelter themselves. His would follow their cue and head to his home until the mountainside was clear again. “Catch me if you can!” came a voice. The Ko-Matoran looked up, seeing noone around. Someone had called, but there was nobody in the area around besides himself. The area was quiet. Not even the growing winds on the mountainside permeated the natural borders that surrounded Ko-Koro. Squinting into the scenery, Toudo looked around for anyone. He even looked up to the windows at the top of the tower, but no Ko-Matoran could be seen. Perhaps it was just his imagination, he supposed. Toudo continued on his walk. “You can’t!” came the voice again. Toudo whirled again, trying to catch the source of the voice. “Not quick enough!” Again, there was nobody in the area except for him. The trapper looked around, annoyed now. Someone was playing a joke on him. He started to stomp through the snowdrifts, determined to find whoever was playing this game. No Ko-Matoran usually acted like this; those villagers who resided around these parts of the village usually studied in the Sanctum, where near silence was almost required. Toudo knew a few scholars who would have insisted on a Ko-Matoran making noise this close to the Sanctum could carry out their studies with Takua the Chronicler or one of the Le-Korans. Yet someone out here was carrying on like a Brakas monkey. Another sound made Toudo spin, and he found himself being showered with a spray of snow as something landed in the snowbank. Sputtering the drifts out of his mask, he dashed over to see what had created such an explosion. The snow which had been relatively unbroken a few moments before was now scattered, something having come down from the sky to crash into the snowbanks. In the center of the crater that had formed, maskless and bewildered, was a Ko-Matoran. One of the scholars. “What just happened?” asked Toudo. “Did you get a glimpse of who pushed you?” asked Toudo, concerned upon hearing Ehrye’s story. The scholar’s mask had been dented in a few places, and would need repairs, but it still attached to his face. Ehrye shook his head. “I just grabbed my mask before I was pushed. I could barely tell which way was up before I found myself falling. That was terrifying— I could have died!” “Disrupting the studies of the Sanctum is one thing, but nearly murdering a Matoran is a serious matter,” said Toudo. “So you believe me?” asked Ehrye. The trapper nodded. “I heard a voice as I came out of the forest as well, mocking me,” Toudo explained. “Someone here bears us ill will.” “We need to apprehend this person,” said Ehrye. “Before they hurt anyone else.” “Let us go to Turaga Nuju,” said Toudo. He will sort this out.” *** Toudo and Ehrye made their way to the entrance of the Sanctum, where the two guards stood at their positions. They gave a nod to scholar as he approached the entrance, only to wince as he went into a wild accusation. He informed them to be on the lookout for any giddy Matoran, repeating the experience he had told the trapper. The Guards nodded and assumed their guard as the two took shelter from the storm. The Guards of the Ko-Koro Sanctum were known for their vigilance. Always standing at their positions outside the temple with a watchful eye, Talvi and Pakastaa ensured that the sacred place was well protected from the dangers of Mount Ihu. Many threats lurked in the snowstorms of Ko-Wahi; if any of the monstrous creatures were allowed to run rampant within the Sanctum, many prophecies of the Ko-Matoran would be lost. So the two sentries took their duty very seriously, never wavering from their task even in the harshest of conditions. Makuta, however, had found something rather peculiar in his observations of the Matoran. As much personality that the villagers exhibited— or in some of the Ko-Matoran’s cases, didn’t— at the very core of their being, they still machines. They worked fluidly and flawlessly most of the time, but just like any computer or lab dummy, Matoran were subject to lag. Up on the top of Mount Ihu— colder than many of the regulated environments of the Great Spirit Robot— the Ko-Matoran experienced extreme cold, perhaps more harsh than anything they were designed to withstand. Even as snow and ice formed around their Kanohi, Talvi and Pakastaa stood outside. Sometimes though, Makuta would send Rahi to get close to the two, only for them to not even react. Sometimes, they simply stopped noticing and just stared forward, still as ice sculptures, even when something clearly stared back at them from the edge of the horizon. It was imperative that these Matoran did not stop working, Makuta knew. They were engrossed in their studies, yes, but if not stimulated, they would cease working entirely. Sound was a good stimuli, he supposed; while he could send the vicious Muaka and Kane-Ra or any other of the larger beasts of the mountainside to frighten the villagers and keep them alert, in his experimentations Teridax had found there were much more subtler ways of keeping the Matoran moving, if not somewhat distracted. *** Nuju followed Matoro through the halls of the Sanctum, as the latter listened to the voices coming from somewhere ahead. Matoro insisted that they were close to the source— at almost every turn, to the Turaga’s annoyance. He was moments away from knocking the translator over the head with his Badge of Office, if that meant getting the translator to knock off the nonsense and think straight. Two Matoran rounded the corner though, in a fashion Nuju thought resembled his and Matoro’s. Nuju recognized the form of Ehrye, his Kanohi for some reason battered and dented, followed closely by Toudo the trapper. The scholar seemed annoyed while he walked— although he was always annoyed at something, Nuju knew— his head cocked to the side as he seemed to listen to something. “Turaga Nuju!” Ehrye called, recognizing the elder. The sound rang down the hall. The Turaga frowned, insistent on the silence that the scholars of the Sanctum must keep for their studies. But given what happenings were going on today, Nuju figured it may be appropriate. The elder of ice nodded, listening to the pair’s story and growing alarmed with each passing detail. His eyes flitted to his translator, who had been hovering a bio or two away as he listened himself. Matoro now stood next to him though, a new sense of clarity in his eyes as he listened to the story. “I have heard the voices too,” Matoro admitted once they were done. “I was Seeking as well, and thought they were some sort of revelation.” “Far from it, unfortunately,” Ehrye said. “It is someone in here playing a prank. Thank the Great Spirit I found you, lest the same thing happened to yourself.” Toudo shot the scholar a look of scorn, but Ehrye did not notice. “So now we all know about this trickster. They seem to be several steps ahead of us at all times. They can avoid all four of us. So how do we find them?” Something whizzed over their heads suddenly, coming from the depths of the hallways Nuju and Matoro had come from. Whatever it was passed by in a flash before disappearing down the next hallway. The four of them ducked, protecting their masks as the blur flew by them once more. “What in Mata Nui!” Ehrye exclaimed, holding tight onto his own Kanohi. Another shape flashed by, and Nuju was in the air. Toudo whipped out his bamboo disc and hurled it in the direction the blur flew. The Turaga fell, and Matoro dove, trying to catch his mentor. The Ko-Matoran ended up blocking Nuju’s body from the full impact of the floor instead, the two of them ending up in a tangled mess. Nuju whistled and cut through the air with his hand, utterly enraged. “Your mask is fine, Turaga,” Matoro insisted. “There are a few scratches, but otherwise you are in one piece.” “Scratches?” Toudo asked. “Wait a minute…” he turned to Ehrye, looking at the top of his mask. At first they looked like random scratches from the fall, but upon closer inspection the white Mahiki the scholar wore had several claw like marks on the top of his mask. “I don’t think what attacked you was a Matoran,” said the trapper. “Who did I hear then?” asked Ehrye. “Rahi do not talk.” “I am not sure,” said Toudo. The quartet stood back to back, tense as they waited for the next attack from the creature. Nuju gripped tightly onto his pick, ready to swing; Ehrye clenched his fists. His disc unsheathed once more, Toudo watched carefully, ready to hurl the bamboo at whatever the blur was. Extending and retracting his eyepiece, Matoro looked around, hoping to get a better glimpse at whatever had just come through. No doubt it was some sort of flying creature; but it flew faster than anything Matoro had ever seen. The sound of Matoro’s eyepiece shutter clicking went off, and the group was in scrambles again. The bamboo disc went flying, Toudo flinging it with breakneck speed at the blur coming by. The shape went tumbling, and the creature fell to the floor. Nuju’s ice pick pinned down one of its bony wings, and the four of them were able to get a look at it. Its hide was white with streaks of blue, able to easily blend in with the icy walls of the Sanctum. The creature was unexpectedly bigger than they expected, its size clearly demonstrating enough strength to pick up a villager. Between its incessantly flapping bony wings two green eyes shined, its beak screeching a mix of Matoran and jumble. “Let me goooooo,” the thing cried. The three Matoran jumped, but Nuju kept his pick firmly on the bat’s wing, unperturbed by the voice. So this is the creature that has been causing all of the fuss, he signed to Matoro. The translator nodded. “What are you?” asked Matoro. “Your nightmare!” the bat called back, in Matoro’s own voice. “That is not an ice bat,” Toudo said. “This cannot be the only one of them though,” said Matoro. “There has to be more of them.” “There were,” Toudo said. “I saw a group of flyers when I came back from the woods— I thought they were just snowbirds, but it must have been these.” “What are we going to do about them?” asked Ehrye. “I cannot study with all of these distracting bats around.” “We will have to find where they are nesting in here,” said Toudo. “Then I can make some sort of net which we can put over the windows of this place.” Nuju nodded, agreeing with the trapper. He knew Rahi of this Koro best— he and Kualus would have gotten along well— so it would be appropriate to let Toudo make whatever he needed to trap all of these birds. “Now that we know what is causing the ruckus in here,” Ehrye said. “I can get back to my studies. Thank you very much Turaga.” Toudo grabbed Ehrye’s arm, raising an eyebrow. “How about before studying, however, we go down and address the horde of angry Ko-Matoran down in the main atrium?” *** The main atrium of the Sanctum was in chaos. Matoran argued with one another, raving about the sacredness of the place. Others, like Matoro and Ehrye, were raving about tales of voices of phantoms in the halls. Some Matoran even spat Ehrye’s name, accusing him of being the one to cause all of this disruption. “This was all Ehrye’s fault! The Ko-Matoran who cried fire!” “Just because he can’t focus doesn’t mean he has to distract all of us from our studies!” Pakaasta and Talvi had looked in as well at one point, utterly confused about what was going on within the building they were protecting. This was more noise than they had probably ever heard at their posts. It was not their place to question, however, they both figured as they turned away. It was only their place to guard the Sanctum. Matoro, Nuju, Toudo and Ehrye walked amongst the arguments, observing the chaos. Very few of the Matoran noticed them, continuing their accusations. Nuju banged the head of his Badge of office onto the ground so it made a resounding ring which reverberated through the room. All of the squabbling scholars fell silent, turning towards the Turaga. The Sanctum was a uniquely crafted place, but it did not echo. Certainly not the way these voices were reverberating. Above them though, voices still chattered. The gaze of dozens of masks turned toward the high ice ceiling, where the voices of the Matoran still rang about. Green glowing eyes stared back at them, the bats somehow mimicking the voices of the entire village. “Look!” someone cried. “What are they?” another Matoran nearby asked. “Pests,” said Ehrye. “I told you I heard something! It was them!” “How do you suppose we get rid of them?” Matoro asked Toudo.” The trapper pointed to Nuju, who bewilderedly looked at the trapper. Toudo then indicated the Badge of Office. The ringing that the tool had produced the bats seemed to like, so the trapper had an idea. Allowing him to take the ice pick, Nuju watched Toudo as he worked. “What are you doing?” asked Ehrye. “These appear to be creatures of sound,” said the trapper. “If I can find a frequency I can lure them in with, then it will be easier to trap them.” Toudo banged the ice pick on the ground, holding it up towards the ceiling as it reverberated. It grabbed the creatures’ attention, several of them flying down to screech at the Matoran. It did not maintain their attention, however, as the bats flew immediately back up to their roost. “It is not holding their attention,” the trapper said, dismayed. How was he going to bring them down here? He doubted the Rahi had an appetite for bula berries. “I need something else, something that can hold their attention. We need another tool.” Nuju however, emitted a series of clicks and whistles, to which the translator shook his head violently. “I respectfully decline Turaga,” said Matoro. “We are not doing that.” “What is he suggesting?” asked Ehrye. Matoro ignored him, clicking and whistling back at Nuju. “Please.” Nuju slammed the butt of his pickaxe into the ground as the two argued. Many expected the Turaga to emit a number of angry bird calls, but he simply stared at his assistant, close lipped and silent. His deep blue eyes stared menacingly at the Matoran. “Fine,” Matoro said. “But we are having a talk about this later.” The Ko-Matoran turned away from the translator. The lens on his Akaku clicked as he scanned the ceiling, finding where the bats were hiding. They blended in well with the ice of the building, but if one looked hard enough, they were discernable. Matoro glowered at them, pursing his lips with dissatisfaction. He assumed a bold stance, similar to how he stood when he was translating. But clearing his throat, a much different sound came from Matoro as he began to sing. I see your face before my eyes I'm falling into darkness Why must I fight to stay alive? Snow is falling Wake me, can't you hear me calling? Out of darkness, they come crawling The Sanctum grew still as Matoro’s singing drifted over the building. The Ko-Matoran fell silent, mesmerized, never having heard Matoro sing before. It was the smooth sound of the wind blowing on the mountain peak, and the resounding of a drip of water, but it was also unlike anything they had ever heard. The sound of the bats overhead grew as the bats responded as well, emitting tiny little screeches. They were screaming in delight, Toudo realized as Matoro looked at him. “Are they… enjoying it?” he asked. “It seems so,” Toudo confirmed. “Keep going!” Here I am I am lost in your land And I hope you will be Creeping in my soul Shadows fall, let me out Hear my call And I always will be Creeping in my soul I fade away into the night My eyes are closing in Shadows are fleeing from the light My nightmares can begin Wake me, can't you hear me calling? Out of darkness, they come crawling The bats had come down now, swarming just a few bio over Matoro’s head. They opened their mouth, bearing their fangs, but made no move to carry Matoro away or take his mask. Instead, they began to join him, singing in a chorus. Here I am I am lost in your land And I hope you will be Creeping in my soul Shadows fall, let me out Hear my call And I'll always will be Creeping in my soul Matoro grew silent, ending the song himself. However, the bats continued to play it back, all mimicking the Ko-Matoran’s voice. Toudo nodded to the translator, a new strategy already forming in his mind on how to capture the bats. “This… helps, so much,” Toudo said to Matoro, preparing a net from his pack. “Pretty soon the Sanctum will be at peace once more.” The trapper set off, his work cut out for him. Nuju put a hand on his shoulder, nodding his appreciation of Matoro’s voice. “Thank you, friend,” Matoro told the Turaga. “I wouldn’t be able to see clearly if you weren’t there for me.” “Clearly you remember, Turaga,” growled a voice from Matoro’s mouth. Nuju jumped, completely surprised to hear Makuta somehow speaking through the Matoran. “But apparently you don’t remember enough.” It only lasted a moment, but Nuju’s mind began to whirl. “Turaga… are you ok?” Matoro’s voice reached him. “Come,” said the Turaga, speaking in regular Matoran to his translator’s surprise. “I will help you see more clearly, as I must tell you a story about voices.” *** Artinken sat in his hut, working on a sculpture as the storm raged around Ko-Koro. The snowstorm had come unexpectedly to the village, interrupting a peaceful sunset. The Matoran had quickly moved his workings into his hut, so he could carve and be productive while the storm blew over. Sitting on a stool, lightstones illuminating his hut, he worked, listening to the wind blow around him. The wind whipped and Artinken listened to it howl as he worked. The sound, the steady stream of screaming wind, helped the sculptor concentrate, and he kept an ear to the wind as he worked. “Help!” He could have sworn it was his imagination, but Artinken looked up, just in case it wasn’t. Was that a voice outside his hut? “Let me in!” That was definitely a voice. Setting down his tools, Artinken strode over to the door to peek outside. Ko-Matoran were resistant to cold, but this was a particular snowstorm that he didn’t think anyone would want to be caught in. So who would be out there in a snow storm like this? “Help!” Artinken opened the door to his hut a crack, peeking out to see who was calling. Flakes poured from the sky, the scene outside his hut completely white. Being outside in the wind, he could hear how much it was actually screaming as it blew. Squinting, the Ko-Matoran could not see anyone. He pulled open the door a little more, to see if anyone there was standing off to the side. Seeing no one, Artinken closed the door. The wind must have been playing tricks on him. Picking up his tools once more, the sculptor resumed his carving once more. “Help!” came a voice above him. Artinken jumped, startled. Someone was in the room with him! But above? He looked up, to see a pair of green eyes and claws descending upon him. Review
  12. Ga Koro and the Fog The canoe slid down the beach, stopping at the water’s edge. An oar planted itself into the sand next to it, its handler observing the ocean’s conditions before her. Whitewater spilled onto the untouched sands of the morning. Just beyond the break, a fog engulfed the ocean. The haze hung over the water, smaller puffs of fog rolling through as a faint breeze rolled over the water. No winds blew strong enough however to clear the water for the day, and the ocean beyond the shores remained curtained. “Can you… not go out today? Play some Kohlii with me instead?” Kai did not raise her Kanohi to respond, simply talking into the boat as she tied in her equipment. “No,” said the Ga-Matoran. “It could be like this on race day. I have to train through this.” “Nokama would not allow a race to happen in these conditions,” protested Amaya. “Yes she would,” Kai said. “It’s not even that bad out.” “‘Not that bad’?” Amaya mimicked her friend. She rolled her eyes and threw her arm to the sand around them. “You cannot even see the top of the beach, and the fog is still rolling in. How are you going to be able to see out there?” Kai looked out at the water, not sure if she wanted to answer Amaya. “Look, I know this upcoming race is your chance to beat Macku,” Amaya said. “But can you not do your long row? Practice some starts instead? That will really help you come race day.” There was a bitter silence as Kai tossed the decision around in her head. As she held the stern of the boat in the shallow waters, water lapped at her legs. It seemed to urge her back onto shore, pushing at her so she would go back to the beach and leave the ocean alone for the day. But Kai really had been looking forward to this workout. Kai was someone who created a plan and stuck to it. But the more she watched the fog, the thicker she could see it rolling in… “Fine,” she finally said. “I will work on starts.” “Thank you,” her friend replied. Rummaging through her pack, Amaya brought out a lightstone. “I’ll just stand here with this, so you have something to look for on shore.” Nodding thanks to her friend for the support, Kai jumped into the boat. There really was no stopping Kai and her training, Amaya thought as she watched Kai. Macku was the best rower of the village, and something just burned within Kai to outdo her. The Ga-Matoran’s hotheadedness rivaled some of the Ta-Matoran that Amaya knew. But Kai was determined more than anything to be the best rower in Ga-Koro, if not on all of Mata Nui. Kai could not beat Macku if she did not make it back to shore though. Amaya held the lightstone as high as she could, hoping her friend could see it clearly enough. She had hoped Kai would have stopped before going as far as she had. But before Amaya knew it her friend was swallowed by the fog. She waited several long moments, holding the lightstone as high as she could. But after what seemed like too long, Amaya realized Kai was not going to reemerge from the fog. “Oh no,” Amaya managed to say as dread filled her. It seemed to Kai that she had only taken a dozen or so strokes before the shire disappeared. The fog quickly shrouded the beach from her view while she rowed out. What the Ga-Matoran could see of the jungle beyond the beach quickly disappeared behind a haze. The sight of Amaya standing on shore was quickly engulfed by the fog as well. The glow from the lightstone she held above her was lost in the mists, as if it were never there. Not even the sound of the waves lapping the shore could be heard from where ever Kai was, lost on the ocean. Kai stopped rowing as she saw her friend disappear, knowing at that point she had gone too far. Pulling her oars in, she let the momentum of the boat run out. She would hold water and turn the boat around so she could row back to shore. Kai listened to the boat as it ran over the water, hearing the ocean trickle across the hull. The boat, however, kept moving. Instead of slowing down, it seemed to be picking up speed. Kai cocked her head as she listened, then looked out at the water. She was in a rip current that was sucking her boat out to see, yes, but that did not seem to be the reason Kai heard the water becoming louder as she drifted along the ocean surface. The sound of rushing water was all around Kai, her boat dipping and turning violently. The ocean spun as Kai tried to get a sense of what was going on, falling to the high side of the boat in order to prevent from flipping. Anxiety grew in her mind at the change of motion, unsure of what was going on. A whirlpool raged around her, sucking in water at high speeds. The boat lurched back at forth as it spun with the whirlpool, threatening to overturn at any moment. Grabbing an oar, Kai thrust it into the water, using it as a rudder to turn the boat around. She grunted as she resisted the strength of the rushing water, prying on the oar with all her might.Sweat trickled between er mask and face as she held on tight, resisting the momentum of the whirlpool. If she were taken down into the center of the whirlpool sh would be a goner… The boat lurched, suddenly coasting over calming waters once again as it glided away from the whirlpool. Kai fell back into her seat, listening to the slight trickle of water running along the bottom of the boat. Her mind was racing, hardly believing what she had just done. Kai looked out of the boat, seeing nothing but fog. She could practically see Amaya’s mask looking back at her in the mist, so upset about what she had done. She should have listened to Amaya, stayed on land and played Kohlii. Now here she was, lost who knows how far off the beach. She could not stay here, she knew, lest the whirlpool dragged her back in. Shipping her oars back into her oarlock, Kai almost begrudgingly began to row, starting her workout. Where in Mata Nui’s name is land? She wondered. *** Nokama looked out from the edge of her lilypad, watching the fog hanging over the waters of the Endless Ocean. Not much, if anything, could be seen out there. She could feel the ocean was for the most part calm, but Nokama in her wisdom knew there were dangers in calmness. She could barely see beyond a few dozen bio. She could glean nothing out there. Why Kai thought it was a good idea to go out in this was beyond her comprehension. She turned from the water, giving up on trying to see through the fog. Amaya was still standing behind her, nervously twiddling her thumbs. “That was very ill considered for Kai to go out there,” the Turaga said. “I know, Turaga,” said a very worried Amaya. “I tried to tell her that, but she is headstrong. She insisted she had to be out there.” The Ga-Matoran looked down at the floor, almost ashamed of herself. “This is on Kai, not you, flax-maker,” said Nokama. “I will have a talk with her when we find her.” “When we find her?” Amaya asked. “What are we going to do? Are we sending one of Marka’s ships out?” “Goodness no,” Nokama replied. “I am not sending more ships, and more importantly more Matoran, out to get lost in this fog.” “Then what are we going to do?” “Fog walks,” Nokama said. “It may not be at where she left, but Kai will make her way back towards land. When she does, you will be there to greet her. Gather the Guard and search the coastline. Bring lightstones. Position yourselves as you see fit from the Great Telescope to the Charred Forest. Walk together in pairs. Until the fog lifts, you are on patrol.” Amaya nodded, making her leave. “And Amaya,” said Nokama, her tone softening somewhat. “Please be safe.” *** Amaya walked down the beach, twin lightstone signalers in hand. Looking out at the ocean, she could only think of Kai out there on the water, rowing aimlessly and probably to her heart’s content. I hope you’re having fun, sister, Amaya thought. You have us all worried sick. “What in Mata Nui’s name made her think this was a good idea?” asked Nireta. Amaya shrugged, unsure of what to tell her. Amaya and Nireta were not the best of friends, but these were the partners that were picked amongst the group. “She shouldn’t have gone out at all,” said Nireta. “Fog is just too messy to take chances in. You can mess with rain and wind, but fog… that’s just something you do not mess with.” Nireta proceeded to go into one of her cartography adventures, talking about how she stayed at camp when she was mapping out some region. But Amaya was not paying attention, fixated on the ocean as she was. They had taken up a post at one of the beach chairs off of Ga-Wahi beaches, watching the waves lap the sands. Nireta told several more stories— this mapmaker had enough hot air to keep the talkative Takua the Chronicler occupied. But Amaya was only half listening. She was more preoccupied with the fog. Her friend’s safety was really the only thing on her mind. Nireta’s stories were just noise to her. She looked out at the fog with her Kanohi Akaku, the telescopic lens on her mask zooming in and out as the fog rolled by. Even with the advanced sight the mask gave her, there was nothing she could see. The fog obscured all, so thick that it was. “I thought fogs like this burned off by the afternoon,” said Nireta after a while. Maybe she realized that Amaya was not listening, and was trying to change tactics to get her to talk. “I thought the same, but this must be some strong cool front to keep it here,” Amaya said glumly. The worst part was that it was sunny as well. High in the sky, shining through the haze was the sun, a single burning ball in the sky. Amaya watched it for a few moments, able to look at the sun without squinting her eyes. The ball of light burnt steadily, but as much as it tried, it did nothing to incinerate the fog. It just hung up there, in the middle of the sky, a white ball of useless light. Amaya glared at it, as if expecting it to say something, but it just sat up there. She glared harder. But to her frustration, a stray patch of fog floated across it, obscuring the sun even more than it already was. Useless, she thought. I give up. “This breeze is nonexistent,” Nireta pointed out. She was turned around, watching the leaves of the palm trees not far off. More than twice the size of a Matoran, big leaves hung in the heat of the day, casually swinging in the air. The breeze really was nonexistent. Little puffs of fog rolled along the water, they both observed, but the mist shrouding the landscape was not moving anywhere anytime soon. Nireta hopped of the stand and went for a dip in the water. She took a few strokes out, and then came back in to Amaya. Even in the quick swim she took, Amaya was losing sight of her in the fog. “I am going to see who is adjacent to us,” Amaya said as Nireta climbed back onto the chair. “And yeah, I know the way around this beach.” It was Kotu who was stationed north of them, sitting on the sand and staring out to the ocean with her arms crossed. She sat slumped in another chair along the coastline. Kotu sat with no partner, just by herself. Amaya cringed as she realized whom she was approaching; Kotu was known not to be the friendliest of Matoran. Perhaps sticking with Nireta was not so bad. “This day is shot,” Kotu said. “If Kai could think sensibly for once…” “Macku is your best friend and just as much of a competitor,” said Amaya. “Are you telling me that she never wandered into dangerous weather when she should not have?” “Not in a manner that costed the entire village a day of work,” said Kotu. “I have Rahi to tend to. They have needs, and they power the village.” “Everyone else is anxious too,” pointed out Amaya. “I have been worried sick. Kai’s my friend, and I told her all morning that she should not go on this row. I saw her disappear and have been anxious all day. I just want her found and this stupid fog gone.” “I have never seen it this bad,” Kotu replied. “This fog is absurd. It’s thicker worse than the darkness in Onu-Koro or the heat in Ta-Koro!” The two stared out into the mist, having nothing to say for a few moments. “Who is your fog walk partner?” Kotu said after a moment of silence. “Nireta,” Amaya told her. “Does she have a lightstone?” asked Kotu, noticing the twin handles in Amaya’s hands. “I’m not sure, actually,” Amaya said. She turned from Kotu to see the path of the beach she had come from the fog floated through, and the path was even more obscure than when she had left. “I’m going to head back and check on her,” she said, taking a nervous step in the direction of her post. Kotu nodded, bidding her farewell. It only took a few steps for Kotu’s stand to be encompassed by the fog. Amaya turned to watch the phenomenon, growing slightly more concerned than she already was. Visibility on the beach basically was down to nothing now. The fog was so thick that she could not see a few bio in front of her. Even with the telescope of the Kanohi Akaku she wore, albeit powerless, it was getting harder to see. How in the world was Kai going to make her way back to shore? She would follow her footprints back to her post. They were still a good marker of her path. Amaya trudged back along the path she had come, tracing the relatively fresh prints that would lead her to the stand. She kicked shells as she walked back, idly curious about each one as she passed. She was trying to get out of her head, paying attention to what she was seeing on the beach rather than putting the full extent of her worry on her friend. Amaya spotted something on the beach that took away all worry from her friend. Her footprints were still in the sand, but a fresher set of tracks abruptly cut up the beach. Amaya froze, staring at the print on the sand. A singular wide track travelled up the beach, cutting directly through one of Amaya’s footprints. She froze, knowing exactly what those tracks came from. Tarakava. She gripped her tools fiercely, listening as best as she could for the sound of the Rahi’s approach. The Tarakava were largely a water hunting species, so whatever had drawn it to shore was not a good sign. A roar came from behind her, and Amaya spun, only to be sent flying. The punch of a Tarakava had sent her flying across the beach, crashing headfirst into the sand. Fear enabled her to spring to her feet in no time at all. Amaya jumped to her feet, comign face to face with the Rahi. It towered over her. It remained where it had appeared, growling as its forearms grew tense. She could not outrun a Tarakava, Amaya knew that much. But she also knew she did not want to meet her end at the means of this Rahi. So to outsmart it? For now, she knew she could do that. But what was she going to do? She saw her lightstones were not far away. If she could just get to them in time… The Tarakava growled, winding up for another punch. But as it charged, the Matoran threw a fistful of sand at its eyes, throwing off its aim. The creature roared as its eyes were hit with the sand. The punch missed, and Amaya went diving sideways for the lightstone. Amaya got a hold of the mineral and chucked it at the Rahi’s gears. The Rahi tried to launch itself forward in a rage, but it could not, its gears jammed. It fell to the ground, the stone in its gears throwing the creature off balance. By the time the Rahi’s struggling, flailing body hit the ground, Amaya was gone running. *** Giving one last hard stroke, Kai watched the puddles her oars made disappear off into the fog. Bringing the paddles into the boat, she sat in her seat, bent over and weary. She had completed her long row that she had originally intended on accomplishing. Secretly though, she had hoped partly through the workout she would stumble upon land and be able to call it a day on the water. No signs of land though kept her going, stroking the ocean and sending the boat deeper into the endless fog. Rummaging through her pack in the bottom of the boat, she produced a fruit snack that she had put in her bag that morning. The workout had depleted her of energy. She absorbed the energy from the fruit, feeling if only a little replenished. The nutrition from this small snack was not much, and would only temporarily sate her. Yes, Amaya, I should have listened to you, Kai thought to herself. She could practically see her friend’s face in the fog as she gazed off, telling her this or that about the risk she took. Something burned in her, this desire to row to her heart’s content, and she could not think straight sometimes until after she rowed. This hardheadedness was just something inside her hardwiring, she supposed. You were right. But please, friend, I will be back soon enough. I hope you did not go to Turaga Nokama about this. As she ate, Kai listened to the ocean around the boat. Little ‘bloops’ in the water could be heard as the ocean rose and fell around the shell. Other than that, it was quiet. No sound of the waves crashing could be heard anywhere. There was no discerning direction out here, something Kai found odd. One moment the sea rose to push the boat starboard side. The next moment it sent her drifting towards port. On her usual rows far off the shore there was a consistency in where the waves pushed. But this overlap was far beyond her understanding. She was out in the far seas, a long way from shore. What is it going to take for me to find land? Kai asked herself. Grabbing the oars and shipping them back out into the water, she began to lightly pull and get the boat moving. Kai began to get into her groove once more as she began to blindly look for land. A large thunk from the underside of the boat sent the vessel lurching upward. Kai fell backwards off her seat. The Ga-Matoran immediately crawled to the gunwhales, peering over into the water. What had she just hit? Something drifted in the water a few bio away from the boat. Kai peered wide eyed at it, wildly speculating. It looked like a Kanohi mask, but what specific one she could not tell. The waters around it were dark, shrouding half of the shape from view. Grabbing hold of the oars, Kai paddled over to it, hoping to scoop it out of the water. When she reached the spot where she saw the shape, all she saw was dark ocean water. The shape had disappeared. Kai looked around, confused. Where had the mask gone? Whom had it belong to? Had she hit someone swimming? Slightly quieter voices whispered in her mind of alternate possibilities, but she shook her head, shrugging them off. Kai looked around again, hoping to find that the mask had drifted in the wake her boat made. Her scans produced no results. The Ga-Matoran turned her head to see the other side of the boat to see if the mask was over there, but something caught her eye. A shape moved in the fog. Kai was not sure what exactly it was, but she squinted hard at the patch where she thought she saw movement. Was that…? It had to be her imagination. There was no way she was actually seeing a face made out of the fog, staring back at her, was there? The more she looked at the spot in front of her boat though, the more she could see a face coming into clarity. Two circles that could have been eyes were forming above an oval that could have been a mouth. Facial markings formed on the shape as several lines cut through the fog around the ‘eyes’ and ‘mouth’. The configuration could have been a bio or two high, but Kai was really not sure. She had thought she was getting lost in her imagination and picturing Amaya’s mask in her mind’s eye. But the more she looked closer at the shapes forming in the mist, the more she realized that she was not simply daydreaming about her friend. This was another face entirely. “W-wha-t-t are you?” asked Kai, not even sure if the thing could speak. The shapes twisted and contorted as if it were speaking, but no noises could be heard. More shapes began to form in the fog around the ‘face’. Several long columns, twisting and contorting until Kai recognized that they were fingers, reaching out over the air, coming into the boat, looking to grab her… A slight breeze tickled over Kai’s neck, making her scream. Looking again the area around her was blank, just shapeless fog around her. Feeling a pain in her hands, the Ga-Matoran looked down to see she had been holding onto her oars with a death grip. Letting out a rattled breath, she relaxed her grip. Kai then set up the oars, preparing to continue rowing. She had no idea what direction she would be going but anywhere was better than here. Grabbing onto the water with her oars Kai began to row away from this spot. She hoped that the shore was close. *** Kotu met Amaya somewhere in the fog, having heard the roars of the beast. “What in the Great Spirit’s name was that?” asked the Rau- masked Matoran. “Tarakava!” Amaya yelled. “Tarakava? On land?” Kotu repeated. Her eyes lit up wild at the mention of the Rahi beast. She cocked her head in confusion. “How did you outrun it?” “I jammed its gears,” Amaya explained. She panted as she caught her breath. “But that will not hold it for long.” “What? Where is Nireta?” “I didn’t even get to her after I left you,” Amaya said. “We need to get to her before it does!” “Hold on,” the Rahi tender said, dashing back to her post. Amaya stood slack jawed and confused until Kotu came back with several ropes over her shoulder. “Let’s go,” she said, a small smile on her mask. Nireta met them at the remnants of a crushed lightstone, where Amaya quickly caught her up to speed. The other lightstone was nearby, but the Rahi was nowhere to be seen. Kotu kicked sand over the glowing remnants and strode over to the other lightstone, plunging it deep in the sand. “No use letting the monster know where we are,” she said. The tracks led up the beach, towards the Le-Wahi jungles not far off. Kotu unwound her ropes, conjuring a lasso . She cast several of her tools across the beach. Fiddling with several knots here and there, she set a trap to her liking. She stood up, pleased with her work. “Aren’t we following the tracks into the jungle?” Nireta asked. Kotu looked at her skeptically. “Tarakava are primarily aquatic creatures,” Kotu informed her. “It will come back to its home soon.” “So we just wait now?” Amaya said, looking at the trap Kotu had set. The Rahi tender nodded. “Or we could lure it out, if you would rather prefer that method,” Kotu said to her. “And if you have sufficient bait.” Amaya looked at the two Matoran, then shook the idea from her head. “We will wait,” she agreed. *** Far below Ga-Koro, Makuta smiled at the controls of his machine. He could telepathically sense what unfolded on the beach, feeling the high levels of anxiety in the inhabitant’s minds there. It honestly brought a smile to his mask. “That is enough for today, I suppose,” he rumbled to the machine in front of him, shutting off the controls. The natural winds of the oceans above would blow away the fog, but it would take time. He would sit back and wait, letting the rest of the show play itself out. *** A slight breeze drifted through the trees, bringing the scent of Matoran to the Tarakava’s nostrils. It could not see them, however, as hard as the creature peered. Looking out at the beach, it glared, searching for its prey. It could not see them, but it would find them. The Makuta which controlled the Rahi’s mind wished it so, and so it would find them. The only thing that it did see on the beach was the fog, and the lightstone which shone on the foggy beach. It was shiny. But it was not food. The Tarakava knew that this was somewhat valuable to the Ga-Matoran. The voice of Makuta inside its head also told it that this was a trap of some sorts. The Ga-Matoran would not leave an object of value so open in the sand. It was a trap, the primal voice of reasoning in the Rahi’s mind knew. But the only way to get the Matoran to appear was to go into the trap. It would punch its way out if it needed. The Tarakava slowly crawled out of hiding, eyes fixated on the shining lightstone. As it crawled out, the beach remained still, and there was no sign of any Matoran. The Tarakava crawled closer, inspecting the stone’s quiet glow. Sand flew up, and a line appeared. The Tarakava whirled to see the line leading to the top of the trees in the jungle, where it travelled downward from a branch. But what it was connected to it could not see, as a net came up to obscure the Rahi’s vision. “Now!” shouted Nireta, holding as tight as she could to her end of the rope. The end was tied to the base of the tree they were hiding near, but she pulled to secure the net.The net came up around the Tarakava, and the trap was sprung. The Tarakava flailed, immediately throwing out its powerful forearms as it tried to escape the net. A roar came from its jaws. One forearm was stuck in the netting, and it pulled, trying to free itself. “It’s going to tear the net!” Amaya said, dashing onto the sand. Kotu shook her head, throwing her lasso at the beast’s forearm sticking through. The rope held, and she pulled. Amaya readied a bamboo disk, throwing it at the Rahi’s face where the infected Kanohi sat. It thunked against the rusted and pitted mask, knocking it askew but not off. “Watch yourself!” Kotu barked as she tugged on her rope. The Rahi struggled to reach for Amaya as she cautiously strode over to retrieve the disk. The next disk hit its target. It hit the infected Kanohi head on. As soon as the mask dislodged from the Rahi’s face, its roars dulled in ferocity, instead becoming whimpers as it struggled against the bonds the Matoran had on it. Kotu nodded, letting her rope slack. At Kotu’s signal Nireta did the same, letting the net fall from around the Rahi. The Rahi did not wait for the Matoran to clean it up. It went screaming away, darting back into the water from which it came. Only the discarded mask remained of it. “Turaga Nokama would be proud,” said Nireta. “Three Matoran, taking down an infected beast!” Kotu nodded, picking up the infected mask. “I will have to turn this into her upon our return to Ga-Koro.” “Wait a second,” Nireta said, looking out to the ocean. “Do you think the fog has let up a little?” *** Kai had finally found land. She was still lost in the fog out on the water. But she knew where she was going now. After Mata Nui knew how long she had been rowing in the endless void, she began to hear the sound of the shoreline. A breeze had began to form and blow the fog away, the visibility on the water getting better with each puff of wind. She still could not see clearly, but Kai was able to see more and more with each moment the breeze continued to blow. Waves could be heard crashing somewhere and Kai knew at that point the beach was near. Bringing up her stroke rate, albeit as tired as she was, Kai began to sprint towards the shore. She did not care where it was she was coming in to, even if she had wandered as far north as the Po-Koro coastline. Kai was simply grateful to have found land. The sound of the waves was extremely close now. The boat began to rise and fall, entering a small set of waves. Bringing up the rate even more, she chopped short strokes at the water, getting ready to ride any swell that might break early and bring her into shore. She caught one, and leapt up in her seat as she tilled the boat in. The beach came into sight, and Kai nearly wept tears of joy. She was maybe half a kio south of the village, on a beach not too far from the boatyard. Several Matoran were on shore, she saw, pointing at her in the water. It would not be that much longer of a day, she knew. Taking a few more strokes, she rode the wave into where the Matoran were. The wave brought her in smoothly as could be, and she was nearly grinning as the boat came into the shallows. Throwing her oar down into the boat, Kai jumped out into the water to push it onto the sand. As her feet touched the bottom of the shallows however, something wrapped around her ankles, and she went under. Kai screamed with alarm, but the sound did not even make it past her lips before she was underwater. Something held onto her, pulling her below the surface. She could feel an ice cold grip around her ankles, keeping a tight hold and keeping her on the ocean floor. Kai thrashed, fighting to break free of an invisible grip. Her thoughts initially pictured the foggy fingers she had encountered, but as she saw nothing holding her ankles her every being went into screaming to get to the surface, and get a breath of air… She broke the surface, several pairs of hands wrapped around her torso and arms. Now able to breathe, Kai screamed, scrambling to get free. The grip of these hands much weaker than whatever held her down, she was able to get free. Scrambling onto the sand, she panted heavily. “Are you ok?” asked one of the Matoran. Kai said nothing for a few moments, panting heavily. Eventually she looked up to see Nireta staring down at her, very concerned at Kai’s mannerism. “I- I j-ust-t sl-i-pp-ped,” Kai chattered, curled up in a ball. “It’s much colder than I th-ought.” “Next time, seaweed brains,” came Amaya’s voice. Kai looked up to see her relieved mask. “let’s just play Kohlii.” Kai nodded. “I will never go out in conditions like this again,” she assured Amaya. “It was much worse out there than I thought.”
  13. Kraata Hunting “So what was it?” asked Matau, impatient for answers. The other Turaga looked at Whenua with similar expressions, anticipating his answer. “The Matoran said it was some sort of ship,” said the Turaga of Earth. “Like the Vahki transport we drove?” asked Vakama. Whenua shook his head. “No— as in an actual ship. Some sort of warship. I have not been out there myself, but from the descriptions my scouts gave… definitely something used in war.” “What did they find on there?” Nokama asked. “Weapons, charts, all sorts of things,” Whenua said. He placed a parcel on the Amaja Nui storytelling circle. A series of very thin tablets, very flexible in nature as compared to what the six of them were used to. Paper. Passing it around, each of them looked through it, eyeing the peculiar text on the pages. Nuju clicked and whistled incessantly as he squinted at the contents of the parcel. Any attempt by Nokama with her mask of translation provided to be useless. None of them knew what the writing could mean. “Takua ranted about weapons when he returned to Ta-Koro,” said Vakama. “Something about wielding a sword with what seemed to be the power of a Toa.” “He does not even know what a Toa is,” the Ko-Matoran Matoro said, translating for Nuju. “I have never whisper-heard of power-charged elemental weapons before,” said Matau. “What super Toa could possibly have these?” Onewa asked. “I do not think what the Chronicler encountered was from a Toa,” Whenua said, the unease apparent in his voice. “Unless some other society south of Metru Nui that we did not know of which immigrated to the surface, it seems as if these weapons, this ship, all of it— comes from somewhere else. We may not be alone on this ocean up here.” “I second our earth brother,” said Matau to everyone’s surprise. Pulling something from his pack, he placed a mask on the table alongside the notebook log Whenua produced. “What kind of Kanohi is that?” asked a bewildered Nokama. Vakama, the only one familiar with masks from the group, shook his head. The shape was totally alien to him. “That is the thing, teacher-sister,” Matau said. “This is definitely not a Kanohi. I can think of all the masks I have spot seen in my life—add-including the ones the Toa Mangai wore-sported— and this resembles nothing I have seen.” “This isn’t even protodermis,” Whenua agreed upon closer inspection. “Where did you find it?” “A Matoran brought it to me,” Matau began. “The last time Nokama and I potion brewed, when Makuta spurred a sickness upon us— I sent my Gukko Force into the jungle for one of the ingredients. They said they ended up in the Fau swamp, and found a figure buried under the mud. This was what it was wearing.” The six of them sat in silence for a moment, each feeling uncomfortable in their own way. All were certain the figure Matau spoke of was not a Matoran. “This place was never on any maps of the universe, was it?” asked Vakama. Whenua shook his head. “There could be others, south of the sea gates, who came up through the Great Barrier as well,” said Whenua. “But no language like this— to my knowledge— was ever used in the history of the universe. Skakdi, Vortixx… nothing comes to mind when I look at this journal.” Onewa frowned. This discussion was getting them nowhere. “If there is someone out there coming to this island, let them come,” snapped Onewa. “We will deal with them then. There is no need to get worked up about something that may simply come to pass. We can sit around Amaja Nui all day telling ghost stories, or we can discuss more pressing matters. There was something else you brought us together for, Whenua, was there not?” The Turaga of Earth nodded. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a long cylindrical container. The other Turaga leaned in, but could not identify the contents of the container. “You may want to step back for this,” he suggested to the group. The rest of the Turaga looked uncomfortably at each other before heeding Whenua’s advice. Twisting the lid of the stasis tube, he unscrewed it and placed it on the circle before all of the Turaga. A chilling hiss came from the tube as whatever was in there woke up. Onewa, Vakama, Nokama, Matau, and Nuju all peered suspiciously at the opening, only to withdraw in disgust when the creature within slithered out into the sand of Amaja Nui. The snake like thing peered groggily at each of the Turaga. Then it gave a hiss, recognizing what it was that stared at it. The creature coiled up and lunged at their masks. It only got its head in the air before it jerked back to the sand— if not for Whenua’s badge of office pinning the creature’s tail, it would have latched itself onto the Kanohi of one of the elders. “Seven levels of Karzahni!” Matau swore, brandishing his Kau Kau staff. The little buzzsaw on the Turaga of Air’s badge of office began to whirl. “What is that thing?” “Do not kill it!” insisted Whenua. Matau looked at him incredulously, buzzsaw whirling, before lowering his staff. “Kraata,” growled Vakama. “Where did you find it?” “In a mine, trying to corner one of the workers,” Whenua said. “As soon as I captured it, I knew the six of us had to talk.” “Another ugly Rahi beast,” Matau said. He watched the Kraata scream as it tried to writhe out of the grip of Whenua’s drill. “So what?” “These are not just Rahi, Matau,” Whenua shook his head. “Remember the Rahkshi from the Fikou Web, brother?” asked Nokama. “These are what pilot them.” “So they are Makuta spawn,” the Turaga of Air said. “Have any Rahkshi been spot-seen on the island?” Four of the Turaga shook their heads. Vakama, on the other hand, stared at the Kraata with an empty eyed gaze, his mind elsewhere. The Turaga looked at each other, familiar with this expression. “No, they are not here,” Vakama said. “But one day they will be. Makuta has made Rahkshi with several Kraata before, in one of his lairs between here and Metru Nui. One of his thousand contingency plans.” “Another vision?” Onewa asked. The Turaga of Fire nodded, frowning at the creature. “And that is not the only concern with these Kraata,” said Whenua. “Vakama, you brought the mask, as requested?” Vakama nodded, producing the requested item from his own pack. Even though he did not have his forge anymore, he did still produce masks, on the off chance they did run out of the cache they had retrieved from Metru Nui. He placed the Kanohi within the sand circle, near the still struggling kraata. The painful screams changed as the Kraata noticed the nearby mask. Whenua looked at his cohorts, and then lifted his drill. The Kraata squirmed free, slithering in a beeline for the mask. The grey silver sheen of the unworn surface became rusted and pitted where the creature touched it, infection coming over it as quickly as a passing shadow. The Kraata slithered though and around the mask while it changed, the screams a moment before now gentle growls. It was almost as if it were cuddling it. The Turaga watched this happen, repulsed— the perverse affection the infectious creature had for the mask made the elders feel uneasy. “Just as I thought,” Whenua whispered. “Is that—“ Matoro said, translating for Turaga Nuju as well as asking of his own accord. “That is how the Rahi here have come to serve the Makuta,” Whenua said. “Kraata can corrupt the masks they wear. I believe since these come from Makuta himself, it gives him the ability to assume control over the mask and the Matoran wearing it. Or in our cases, the Rahi.” “So what do you suggest we do?” asked Nokama. “Look for them in and near your Koro,” said Whenua. “I have more than enough stasis containers to store these things in.” “And just leave stasis tubes laying around for the Matoran, or even the Makuta, to find?” Vakama asked. “There are several caves in Po-Wahi, far enough away from where any Matoran would venture,” said Onewa. “We can store them there.” Whenua nodded thanks to the Turaga of Stone. “We need to find and capture these things before they infect the entire island.” Several of the Turaga nodded in agreement, accepting their new mission. “Why can’t we just kill these things?” Matau asked, raising his buzzsaw in confusion. “Because we need to study them,” Matoro said over the clicks and whirls of Turaga Nuju. “Like Turaga Whenua just said— I am not calling him that, Turaga Nuju—we need to figure out what they can do to the island.” “If they can corrupt Kanohi with just a touch, who knows what other havoc they can wreak on the island,” Whenua added. “It will be messy if we do just kill them, brother,” Onewa said. “We can’t leave our mess for the Matoran to find.” “There is still a lot we do not know about these things,” Whenua said. “The records in the Archives exhibits were vague at best. Aside from cutting them up, how else can they be killed? Can they infect masks even if they are dead? What other powers do they have?” “It sure seems you are skip-missing an opportunity-chance to experiment-test,” Matau grumbled, crossing his arms and nodding at the Amaja Nui circle before them. “The more we can capture, the more we can study,” Nokama advised. “Matau, this is more than Whenua wanting to play Archivist,” Vakama said. “The Kraata pose a danger to us. These are the Makuta’s creatures. After all we did to escape him, his Visorak, and all the other stuff he threatened us and the Matoran with, we are just going to let another one of his creatures slip into our villages and ruin all our hard work?” Matau looked down at the creature. “You’re right, firespitter,” he said. “Whenua is right. We’ve collect found the Great Disks, homes for our village people; what’s another scavenger find-hunt?” “Thank you Matau,” Whenua smiled. “May each of you go back to your villages with a sharp eye. I will have stasis tubes sent out to each of you. For now, Onewa, you can show me some of your caves on the trip back north. May your villagers be safe from the Kraata’s reach.” “And the Great Spirit watch over us all,” added Nokama. *** Matau swung through the trees of Le-Wahi, grabbing vines as he travelled back to his village. The meeting was on the forefront of his mind, very much annoying him. But why? He had collected a lot of things over the years on this island. Various fruits, types of bark, all little knick knacks in nature that caught Matau’s attention. What was one more scavenger hunt? he thought to himself. This collectible you cannot leave lying around your hut, a little voice in the back of his mind told him. That was the uncomfortable part. Matau enjoyed collecting fun things… but this was business. More serious business than just an ivy that made his organics itch from time to time. And on top of all the Rahi attacks they had to look out for, this was just more than a simple challenge. The Turaga of Air forced himself to stop thinking for a moment and enjoy the jungle around him. Rahi could be heard in the distance, but for the most part, it was quiet. The sun shone from some hole in the jungle canopy. The day was good. Perhaps he would go food hunting to lighten his mood. Collect something fun, and ease into it. There had to be some bush, some tree, something around here which grew some food for him to collect. Matau swung, grabbing onto each vine as he looked around for crop… Look up— no one ever looks up, he thought to himself. Matau looked up, eyeing the vines he grabbed. Each line was tough and firm, but coarse, the outer skin of the vines like a hard leaf. He grabbed them skillfully and he swung through looking for fruit— The next thing he grabbed was definitely not that. Instead of the firm, rope like texture of a vine, his hand closed around something soft and slippery. Matau’s eyes lit up with shock as he looked up to see what he had grabbed. You have got to be joke-kidding me! the Turaga of Air thought, as the yellowish Kraata screeched under his grip. The initial shock of grabbing something living made Matau jerk back, letting go. His momentum carried him forward though, and having let go of the previous vine, he fell fast toward the grounds of Le-Wahi. *** As a general rule, Onu-Matoran did not take well to brightness. Spending most of their time underground left their eyes weak in sunny circumstances— having adapted to seeing in the dark, daylight was almost painful. Their Turaga was no exception. Whenua's eyesight was terrible in comparison, if not worse than, his villagers. And having used a Ruru during his time in the caves of Onu-Wahi made his tolerance for the desert sunlight almost unbearable. Much to Whenua’s dismay, the journey back to his home in the Great Mine ventured through Po-Wahi. He and Onewa ventured on Mahi steeds over the desert, looking out onto the very sunny horizon. Onewa had said there were caves he knew of where they could store the captured Kraata. Whenua was eager to see them, so they could begin this new project. The brightness did not settle well with him, but nevertheless, he followed atop a Mahi steed. The Turaga of Stone led the way, dead set with a particular destination in mind. The majority of the venture through the canyons had passed almost wordlessly. Onewa hardly stopped to check for direction or rest. “You know Po-Wahi well, brother,” Whenua remarked. “Is this near where…?” “No, but I first ventured out this way when I looked for a way back,” Onewa said. “There were a few spots where I wanted to settle Po-Koro. When we returned with all of the Matoran, I spent a lot of time surveying the land. Spent the better part of ten years figuring out which tunnels connected to below, and which were just caves. Helped me figure out where exactly to settle Po-Koro— far away from anywhere a Matoran might figure out a passageway to below. I know this entire region better than the Makuta knows even his own shadows.” Ten years. Whenua raised his eyebrows. They had already been here on Mata Nui for a few centuries, but ten years in of itself…that was a long time to be cave exploring. “So this cave, for the Kraata… where exactly is it?” Onewa turned on his steed and smiled at his brother. He could see the Turaga of Earth’s eyes were straining in the bright light. “Not far now, Whenua,” Onewa smiled. Whenua spent the rest of the ride staring narrow-eyed at Onewa’s back. *** The Turaga of Earth was more than relieved when the canyons rose around them, shade finally falling onto their path. Whenua glowered for a bit as his eyesight adjusted, almost able to see Onewa’s smirk from behind him. They dismounted after maybe an hour of riding, somewhere deep in the winding crevices of the canyon. The two of them looked around, seeing the empty area around them. No Matoran was anywhere close to here. Besides their steeds, no Rahi roamed around the place. This was not somewhere one would roam to by accident. Definitely somewhere where you would go to hide something, Whenua thought. “Not even Takua could find this place,” Onewa said, satisfaction in his voice. Petting the Mahi, he nodded for Whenua to follow him just a little further. The cave mouth yawned open for them, a veil of deeper shadow hanging over the entrance. Whenua nodded his approval of the place. Isolated, protected from the elements, it could be the perfect hiding spot. Small little lights wandered over the walls of the cave, but Onewa dismissed them. Electric spiders. Natural guards, he insisted, in case the Kraata found some way to escape their tubes. Whenua nodded, remembering his Archival days where he put Electric spiders into stasis. Even after several transformations, he could still feel the shock on his fingertips. Whenua took his drill and traced it along the cavern walls. Just as he did in Onu-Koro, he sensed the walls for empty pockets, places unwelcome guests could nest in. The drill, combined with his connection to the element of earth, could sense tunnels and cavities in the walls. But here, he found none. “Well?” Onewa asked. “Do you approve?” Whenua withdrew the stasis tube from his pack and set it down against the wall. He was more than satisfied with the place. Smiling, the Turaga of Earth shuffled to the entrance of the cave. Raising his drill to the canyon wall, he carved in a quick sketch of the Kraata. *** The sound of chiseling was practically music to Whenua’s ears. After wandering with Onewa to Mata Nui knew where in the Motara desert, he finally had a sense of where he was. The pair had almost reached to Po-Koro— and better yet, in Whenua’s opinion, a tunnel that led back to Onu-Koro. After years of excavating for raw carving material, the area surrounding the Po-Koro Quarry was riddled with cavities, the result of years of Po-Matoran mining material for their statues. Little alcoves littered the open pit mine, as Matoran over the years would pull from anywhere and everywhere for stone to use. This had caused quarrels between carvers every so often, some Po-Matoran accusing others of toppling their greatest creations for material. (Hafu was a frequent complainer, to which a time came where Onewa was given him his own private section of the quarry-canyon.) The Turaga dismounted for a rest from their ride, having been traveling on the Mahi for the better part of the day. Onewa took a moment’s leave from the Turaga, going around to inspect the carvings his villagers were producing. Whenua watched as the Turaga of Stone dolled out advice to the craftsmen. He would point here or there on a statue, gesturing with his hammer to show how they could carve out the details they desired. Whenua surveyed it all, feeling satisfied with his day. He had traversed a good part of the island, and more importantly, accomplished something with the other Turaga. Other than the matters of the ghost ship, he felt as if they finally were competent overseers of their Matoran. Setting his staff down, Whenua smiled. A reverberation alerted Whenua. Looking around, he could feel something in the earth, something moving through the ground around the carvers. It was faint, it was small, but still, it was something. The Turaga of Earth looked over at his guide, whom was still occupied in teaching a Matoran. Another Matoran caught his eye. The carver was standing back from his creation, tools held up in a menacing manner. His carving however, looked far from finished. Whenua, curious at the observation, made his way to the carver. “What goes wrong with your creation?” he asked. “There is something— something coming out of the stone!” the Matoran said. “I was chiseling a detail on the lower part of the Kanohi, and my chisel went through the rock. Then dust came out— a lot of it— and something popped out! But it ducked back into the stone, and another hole formed!” Upon closer inspection, the Matoran’s confusion was clear. The carving, a larger rock, was slowly falling apart. The Turaga looked over the carving, concerned. There was something inside, slowly eating away at the rock. He placed his staff on the stone. The drill of Onua was not best when inspecting a stone removed from the ground, but it was still able to pick up some things. By this point, Onewa had come to the Matoran’s side, equally concerned as Whenua about the rock. Putting his hand to the rock, he nodded. “There is definitely something in there,” he said. “I am sorry carver, you have done wonderfully on this piece. But whatever it is, I need to do this.” “By all means, Turaga,” the Matoran said, stepping back. Onewa nodded, appreciating the Matoran’s understanding, and kicked the mask. With a solid blow, it crashed to the floor of the canyon. The stone rolled over to its side, where several holes bore into the back of the statue. Whenua’s eyes lit up as he saw the tail of… some sort of creature… slither into the back of the statue. He frowned, not liking the look of what he saw. “Get your brothers away from their carvings,” Onewa ordered the Matoran. “Who knows what this is, and what others may be in the stone. Turaga Whenua and I will deal with it.” The Matoran nodded, running off to his nearby cohorts. “It’s one of them,” said Whenua. “A Kraata.” “You act scared of them, brother,” Onewa said, brandishing his hammer. “I can take care of them with this.” Onewa concentrated hard on the stone, feeling the structure of the carving. With his hands on the structure, he could feel the space inside, the stone being eaten away from the inside out. He listened to the holes, listening for slithering noises coming from out of it. And before he knew it, two of them popped out of the structure. Two slimy, screeching Kraata, baring their mandibles at the one who disturbed their new home. Onewa pursed his lips, bringing his hammer down on the yellow and metallic colored one. The second, sand blue one sunk back into its hole as it listened to the hammer come down on its brother. But the rock rang as he missed his target. “What?” Onewa asked no one in particular as he raised the hammer. No concussed Kraata was underneath as Onewa lifted the face off the carving. “My aim never misses!” he cried out angrily. “Try again, brother,” Whenua urged. The Turaga of Stone did not look his way, simply focusing on the holes in front of him. Hand on the rock, he felt the Kraata slithering, coming up to check if it was safe… This time a light grey one poked its head out, before sneaking back into the stone. Onewa slammed the hammer down on the spot where it had been, completely missing the window in which the snake poked its head out. A second too slow to capture this one. “Your drill,” Onewa barked at the Turaga. “It can sense the changes in the stone?” Whenua nodded, noticing Onewa’s curt manner. “Place it on the side,” Onewa told him. “And tell me when they are coming up. There are three of them.” “Three?” Whenua asked, barely hiding the joy in his voice. Onewa frowned. “Yes, you lucky archivist you. You’re getting your Naming Day presents early. Just let me know where they are coming out. I will take care of the hitting.” Whenua nodded, standing to the side of Onewa with his own badge of office. He could feel the Kraata within as they forced away the stone, trying to find a new way out of the rock to avoid the hitting menace. “Ready?” Whenua asked. “Left!” “Down!” “To your right side!” “Up!” Whenua barked each time, and Onewa swung, but each time the Kraata dodged his attacks. The Turaga of Stone grew more frustrated with each miss, becoming more curt and erratic with his strikes. Soon he was not even hitting a hole, just wacking the stone at any point he could. Whenua noticed the carvers had gathered in a group not far off from them, watching the show. “You know what?” Onewa said, throwing his hammer to the ground after several dozen attempts. “Forget this. We are going a different route.” “I’m not sure if that’s—“ Whenua tried to caution. Onewa ignored him, his Komau beginning to glow. He stared at the rock hard, until almost as if on a string, each of the three Kraata slid out of the structure. Staring at them with an intense hatred, he smashed his hammer on each of them, knocking the first two unconscious. Whenua watched wordlessly, wincing as his fellow Turaga hit each of the specimens. The last one however, Onewa’s hammer froze just inches above. Whenua looked at his brother, then at the Kraata. “Why are you hesitating?” asked Whenua. Onewa gave no answer. Instead he just stood there, in a trance, hammer hovering over the creature. A moment passed, and Onewa brought the hammer down on the creature. The final Kraata went limp, and Onewa lowered his tool, using its staff for support. He breathed heavily. “Are you alright?” asked Whenua. “The Makuta,” Onewa panted. “He has a telepathic link with these creatures. One is stronger than the others. But he can feel their thoughts.” Whenua’s fingertips suddenly felt tingly. It was moments like these he wished he had archival tablets to write on. “What did you see?” he asked. “A bunch of things, things I couldn’t describe even if I wanted to try,” Onewa said. “But then I heard his voice.” All joy from the moment before flooded out of Whenua, leaving him with a sense of dread. “What did he say?” “He knows we are hunting the Kraata.” Whenua swore. *** He didn’t know how long he was out, but Matau jerked awake with a shock. Sitting up he gasped, and then immediately groaned. He was limber for a Turaga, yes, but sometimes he forgot that he was not a Toa anymore—despite how briefly he had been one— and that his current body did not take to impacts as well as a Toa did. Still getting used to this frame, even after a century or two, he thought to himself. As the pain subsided the Turaga of Air looked around, momentarily forgetting why he had fallen to the forest floor. He fell from vine swinging! Oh, how the Le-Matoran would laugh at him if they ever heard of this… He had been swinging, and grabbed onto a vine. Except it wasn’t just a vine, he remembered, the incident coming back to him. There had been… a Kraata on the vine. And if he remembered correctly, the Kraata had fallen off of the vine to the jungle floor with him. But his mask… with a cursory inspection, Matau took off his Noble Mahiki to see that it was fine. A few dents and scrapes over the years, but it was otherwise perfectly uninfected. No Kraata had touched it. If the Kraata hadn’t touched it, was the creature still around? Putting his mask back on, Matau looked at his surroundings. The snake like creature he had grabbed on the vine was a handful of hues of yellow, yet he only saw green around him. Picking up his Kau Kau staff, the Turaga looked around. But more importantly, he listened. The area around him was quiet. He could hear his breath and the sounds of the Rahi in the distance. But the sounds in between the two… There was faint breeze that blew through the jungle, and Matau stood attentive as it rolled over the plants. Yes, there it was, rustling much of the plant life, lightly but slightly… and the sound of shuffling on the underbrush made by a creature trying to stay hidden. Oh yes, it is still around. Matau smiled as the sound reached his audio receptors, his eyesight sliding towards where the sound came from. He raised his staff noiselessly to the brush, and gave a quick whirl of the buzzsaw to scare the creature. The Kraata shot out of the brush, frightened. In a blur, it snaked toward a tree. Matau lunged after it, swinging his badge of office at the creature. Hold on, he thought as it slid under another bush. The creature spawn I grabbed on the vine was yellow. This one… this is green? The Kraata had slipped through the bush, and was making a beeline for a tree a few bio away. Matau darted after it, swatting at the creature with his staff. He watched it as he chased, amazed that now the Kraata was taking on the color of the tree stump. Never mind what color it is, just grab the forsaken thing. Reaching the tree a few seconds ahead of Matau, the thing began to climb up the tree to allude capture. Matau was faster though, grabbing the thing by the tail. It hissed as it was pulled back towards the ground, the Turaga yanking hard at the creature. It hissed and looked back at Matau. “Get— back— here— you—slimy— piece— of—“ he grunted. The Turaga was unable to finish his sentence. The Kraata, not taking too kindly to the tug on the tail, forgot about its ascent on the tree and lunged at the Kanohi of the green one. Matau fell on his back for the second time that afternoon. The Kraata was in his grasp fully now, albeit an arms length away. It writhed and screamed whilst trying to wriggle free. The Turaga grabbed the creature with as much of a vice grip as he could, trying to keep the thing away from his mask. The Kraata refused to submit, resisting any attempts to be subdued by Matau’s hand. What was he going to do with the thing? “Don’t you ever tire?” He yelled at it. Getting to his feet, the Kraata still thrashing around in his grip, Matau went over to the tree it tried to climb and did the only thing he could do. Giving a solid swing, he swung the thing’s head at the tree it so desperately clung to moments before. That did the trick. The snake went limp, suddenly stopping its struggle. The brown hue of the creature’s skin changed, until it was back to the yellowish color Matau had originally seen it bearing. “So, you can camouflage-change,” the Turaga of Air said. He thought back to what Whenua said about the Kraata possibly having powers. “Well, earth brother,” Matau said aloud, “looks like you were right about that.” Kongu wandered through the village square of Le-Koro, helping transport goods from one end of the village to the other. He looked very surprised when Turaga Matau came bursting from the trees, swinging in to land on the platform. For his advanced age, it was always impressive to see the Turaga performing acrobats as if he were one of the Matoran. “Turaga Matau!” Kongu cried, excusing himself from the transport for a moment to greet the Turaga. “You have returned! Did the council-meeting with the other elders go well-fine?” The Turaga nodded, but there was clearly a sense of stress on the noble Mahiki the elder of Le-Koro wore. “As well fine as it could have gone, vineswinger,” Matau said. “Can you get a Gukko and a carry messenger ready? I have something to ship-send to Turaga Whenua.” *** Far beneath the Po-Koro Quarry, Makuta brooded. In the brief moment Onewa had tried to control the Kraata, he had glimpsed Makuta’s mind. In reciprocation, Makuta had sensed the Turaga’s simple thoughts, and seen what he and the others were trying to do. Now he contemplated the information he had gained. “The Turaga wish to eradicate my Kraata from their paradise,” rumbled Makuta. “They seek to capture the seeds of my sons.” “But Onewa,” Makuta said as he looked upwards to the ceiling of his lair. “Turaga of Stone… for being such a solid leader, your understanding of the situation is like the rocks you strike. Very hollow.” Makuta approached a control panel deep within the recesses of the Mangaia. The lair was his, yes, but the cavern predated him by many millennia. This panel, an ancient piece of technology, was one of the mechanisms original to the cavern. It allowed him to manipulate the island above, in ways that his powers could not yet achieve. Makuta now tapped into it, preparing to counter the elder’s plans. “I wish for the same things you do, Turaga,” Makuta rumbled as he activated the systems of the panel. He had great powers on his own, yes, but devices like these had power on another level. “The Kraata… they allow me to control the Rahi, and I do so in our best interest. They guard the tunnels, the ways back to Metru Nui. I keep the Matoran far away, in their villages, until the time is right— a time that I have chosen— for you to return to the City of Legends.” The panel whirled to life, and Makuta manipulated the controls with glee. “So, Turaga, you wish to hunt,” Makuta said. “But how can you capture what you cannot see?” Review
  14. The Ship from the Far Seas The ship started out as a dot on the endless ocean. A simple speck far out off the the shores of Onu-Wahi, which was barely distinguishable to the naked eye. Midak caught sight of it a few days after it appeared on the horizon, during a walk along the shores of the Papa Nihu Reef. He was out collecting the shells that would wash up, and noticed the speck as he looked out beyond the waves. Perhaps it was one of those deep sea creatures that would occasionally break surface far out there, he supposed. The Onu-Matoran looked at it curiously as he walked, not thinking much of the sighting. When he walked again a few days later, he began to think it might be something other than a sea Rahi. The speck was still there, larger this day than on his last stroll. He could still not tell what it was, only that there was definitely something out on the horizon. His curiosity kept him coming back to the beach, where he would watch for a few hours atop the ring of eight boulders. Even after days of watching, he could not make out what the speck was. But he could tell that it was something. After the northern winds began to pick up was when it really began to come into view. The ocean breezes which blew to the island began to carry the speck, its shape coming closer with each passing day. There were times where Midak believed he could almost distinguish an outline of the speck’s shape, and there were other times where it looked no more than a dark dot on the horizon. Either way, he knew it was something. The rest of the Onu-Matoran rolled their eyes when Midak marvelled about the speck coming toward the island, during a rare trip to the underground markets. No one believed him— even as the veiled and shadowed speck, whatever it was, came closer to the island each day. “Several centuries we have lived here on Mata Nui, Midak, and nothing has ever come to our shores before,” scoffed Onepu upon hearing about the speck. “Why would something suddenly show up now?” “Maybe it just took time to get here,” was Midak’s reply. “It could be a very big ocean.” “Your eyes have simply seen too much sunlight,” another Onu-Matoran insisted. “You need to not go above ground so much.” *** Eventually the speck disappeared in the storms which the northern winds had brought. The usual serene skyline one day was obscured by clouds and rain, and Midak could no longer distinguish anything out on the horizon. Once the storms passed it came back into sight, closer than it had ever been before. When it finally came into sight, Midak could not remember how much time had passed since he had first seen it on the horizon. It did not matter anymore. What mattered was that it was here, and he could finally glean what it really was— a ship on the horizon. It came to rest at the edge of the shallower seas off of Onu-Wahi, much to Midak’s glee. There were reefs out there, which most likely caught the bottom of the ship, giving it its first anchor in probably a very long time. He could immediately tell that it was not manned— the ship had drifted in haphazardly, its course directed by only the currents. “Maybe two kio out?” said Takua, estimating the distance to the ship one day when he came to visit Midak. “Too far to swim out to…” Midak muttered. “But with a boat we could easily manage to get out there,” said the Ta-Matoran, a mischievous smile coming to his mask. “It is a beautiful day out here,” said Midak as they cruised along in a boat towards the ship. “The sun seems to just come down perfect out here. It is the perfect amount of cloud cover too. Quite unlike Po- or Ga- Koro, where the sun comes down too brightly. Have you ever noticed that in your travels, Chronicler?” Takua shook his head, but smiled as the eccentric Matoran continued to ramble on about the marvels of pure light, as he was known to do. The Onu-Matoran was obsessed with the beauty of light… but the adventuring nature of Takua was more curious about the ship Midak had brought him out here to see. As they came into its shadow, its age and wear were apparent to them; The vessel looked ancient, rusted in most places and worn away in others. Lines of rust travelled up the seams of the metal panels that kept it together. Large bolts the size of a Matoran were equally as pitted, dried salt deposits sitting atop the surface. A small Keras crab scuttled up the side and over the deck. The waters of the endless sea had clearly not done any favors for the vessel in the years it had been out to sea. No flags or symbols stood out on the metal of the ship— perhaps they had been there once before, and worn away over time. And with the condition it was in, the two supposed it was not very well kept. Whatever this ship was and whomever owned it, they were either gone or very, very, ancient. “Do you think someone is on it?” asked Midak. He knew nothing of ships and boats. “I don’t think so,” Takua shook his head as he threw a grappling hook towards the deck above. “And I hope not, for their sake. I’ve seen Marka in Ga-Koro tidying her boats…. if anyone is up there, and she gets wind of the condition this thing is in, Marka will be having a very pointed conversation with them.” The weight of the two Matoran climbing aboard made the ship creak, and even shift a little. Under their feet the deck groaned, breaking a sense of stillness hanging over the ship. A bird fluttered past them, spooked by their arrival disturbing the quiet of the afternoon. In some places, a few empty nests could be seen. “Be careful of your step,” advised Takua as he walked forward. He winced, his voice seeming unnaturally loud on the quiet deck, even for him. “This metal could give out anywhere.” Time on the ocean had worn on the ship. Rust covered parts of the deck. Links of large chains— presumably for an anchor— had clearly rusted away, leaving stains where they had laid. The remains of barnacles and the waste of birds littered the rails, creating a crusty layer of crud aboard the ship. In some spots, on the deck were clear indicators of lightning strikes which had occurred some time in the past. The deck was largely empty, many of the structures having most likely been blown away by the winds of the far seas. Many of the rails were rotted through. A large tower stood at the stern of the vessel, its upper half missing. A large, long cylindrical structure ran the length of the deck, to what purpose Takua had a faint inkling. A cannon? he wondered. They explored further, finding a portion of the deck punctured by weapons. A flagpole stood behind the tower, wisps of what may have been a flag flowing slightly from side to side in a light breeze. A long slender sword was stuck in the hull. Turning his attention from Takua, Midak grabbed ahold of the hilt. Wrestling it with all of his strength, the sword fell free, albeit taking some debris still stuck on the blade. Midak went to clean the blade, but a tap on the shoulder found him dealing with another, this one with the tip at his neck. “Fight, ye darkness crawling coward,” Takua said in a growling, gravelly mock voice. Midak turned around, swatting at Takua’s blade with the one he had shaken the debris from. The two of them laughed as they play-parried, pretending they were pirates. They jumped and slid through the narrow hall between the gunwale and the remnants of a tower. The ship creaked as they ran around, but the deck remained stable. Neither of them had ever seriously held a sword, and fumbled with the tools as they made the blades collide, but either way they enjoyed it as the metal blades came together with a satisfying ring on deck. “You dare challenge the mighty Captain Takua?” asked the Ta-Matoran. “Conqueror of the endless sea, master swordsman—“ Before he could say anything more the hilt Takua’s sword rotated. The blade began to ominously glow. The playing stopped, Midak immediately dropping his blade to his side as his ‘opponent’ figured out what was going on with his weapon. A greenish hue began to emit from the weapon, which caused them to look at each other with concern. “What is going on with this?” asked Takua, his tone somewhat nervous. “What did you do?” asked Midak. “I don’t know!” the Ta-Matoran answered, lowering the blade. “Don’t point it at me!” said Midak. The Ta-Matoran looked worried as the weapon glowed even brighter. The hilt of the sword suddenly rammed into Takua’s stomach, and he went flying backwards. Midak felt a very strong breeze puff past his mask. The kickback of the weapon sent Takua careening through the wall of the structure they had found the weapons near. He flew into the darkness within and out of sight. “Takua!” Midak shouted as he leapt toward the dark hole the Matoran had flown into. He tripped, however, the deck of the ship shifting abruptly. The metal frame of the vessel gave a heaving groan as everything jerked violently. The ship seemed to give, and it felt for a millisecond as if the floor was giving out and he had nowhere to stand. It lasted only a few seconds, but it made Midak proceeded more carefully. He found the Ta-Matoran on the floor, wide eyed in shock. “Are you alright?” “That thing…sure packs a punch,” Takua groaned, rolling onto his side. Midak offered a hand, but Takua refused for a few moments, the wind totally knocked out of him. He them took clasp of his friend’s hand, stumbling to his feet. It was not that Takua had not been blown through a wall before. It still hurt every time. “Did the sword do that?” asked Midak. “I think so,” Takua croaked. “Something fired from the blade that I could not see… oh that hurt.” “What was that weapon?” asked Midak, bewildered and at the same time excited. Takua put his hands on his hips for a few seconds as he regained his breath, and thought. The pain was gradually leaving, though his stomach still hurt. “I’ve never seen a sword do something like that!” “The Toa who were prophesied to come,” said Takua. “They are said to control the elements and with Great Kanohi and tools.” “So maybe that was a Toa tool?” Midak asked. “I did not think the Toa would come on a ship though,” said Takua. “The way the legends tell it, they would come to Mata Nui… more heroically is the best way I can describe it. More nobly. Some other way.” Getting to his feet, Takua and Midak began to look around to where they were. Panels lined a wall of the room, with strange knobs and buttons and shattered screens. A few of the buttons near where Takua had been blasted into were glowing. Elsewhere in the room was a chair in the corner, half fallen apart and on its side. Beyond the chair was a doorway leading into further darkness, which Midak’s natural night vision could not glean what lay beyond. “Maybe it wasn’t the weapon,” Midak said. “Maybe the ship is haunted, and it was a ghost— the ship’s captain or someone who used to be on here.” “I hate ghost stories,” Takua glowered at him. “Just saying,” Midak said. He looked at Takua, surprised. “I never said I liked ghosts either. But wait— The explorer hates ghost stories?” “I like the unknown,” Takua said. “I never said I liked everything I find there.” From beyond the doorway came the sound of multiple footsteps. The Onu- and Ta-Matoran looked at each other alarmed. They thought they were alone. Who else could be here? “Ok, then, if it is a ghost,” said Takua his voice heavy with sarcasm, “how do we appeal to it to not fling us through more walls?” To their relief, familiar Kanohi emerged from the darkness.Coming from behind the glow of the lightstone, two Matoran made themselves known. Takua and Midak breathed a sigh of relief. It was more Matoran. “Chronicler!” exclaimed a purple masked Onu-Matoran. “How did you—?” “Hello, Damek,” Midak said, waving to his fellow Onu-Matoran. The guard nodded curtly to him. “What brings you two here?” asked Damek. “You know me, just can’t stay away from anything,” said Takua sheepishly. “Midak and I saw the ship, and wanted to explore it. What are you doing here?” “Turaga Whenua sent us to look this over. Onepu went to him about what Midak was saying, and the Turaga wanted a formal investigation,” Damek said. “He wanted to know what was coming.” “And you brought along a Po-Matoran?” asked Midak, confused at Damek’s partner. “A few Po-Matoran north of here saw it too,” said Hewkii. “I’m part of the Po-Koro Guard, and we protect the Koro from outside dangers. This is definitely qualifies as an outside danger.” Alarm had appeared on Damek’s mask. His head swiveled, and he shined the lightstone he carried into the dark hall they had come from. “Tehutti is with us too,” said the Onu Matoran, looking back into the dark doorway. “He was just behind us as we were coming—“ “You haven’t seen him, have you?” asked Hewkii. Midak shrugged. “We thought the ship was empty.” Damek had backtracked into the dark hall, calling Tehutti’s name as he looked for his fellow Onu-Matoran. Hewkii however looked at the lit up control panel behind Takua. Midak slipped next to the Ta-Matoran, nudging him in the side and mouthing,“The ghost took him.” Takua nudged him hard in the side. “None of this was on when the three of us passed through here,” said Hewkii. He stepped up to the series of knobs and switches that glowed. He then cast an eye at the hole in the wall. “What just happened?” “There were these swords on deck,” Takua said, pointing to the hole in the side of the room. “Midak and I were… looking at them. Then one of them turned on and sent out some blast that sent me through the wall.” “‘Turned on’?” Damek repeated, having come back into the control room. “How does a sword ‘turn on’?” The two of them shrugged. “These technologies are beyond our understanding,” said Midak. “So you two must have been what rocked the ship,” Damek said. “This place is not stable. We cannot be on here too long. Who knows how unsteady the ship is.” “Wherever it ran aground on must not be stable,” suggested Midak. “But what about Tehutti?” asked Takua. “You must have hit something important,” Hewkii said, having studied the panel long enough. “and whatever that was, it made Tehutti disappear. Maybe you opened some sort of door.” The Po-Matoran turned to Damek. “Did you see any doors back there?” Damek shook his head. “Did you explore the entire ship?” asked Midak. “We were just heading to the lower levels before we heard the crash you made,” said Damek. Midak and Takua looked at each other with a grin. “Oh so we didn’t miss much,” said the Chronicler. “I’m not the best with mechanics and switches, but it doesn’t look like we hit anything important,” said Hewkii, stepping back from the panel. “Let’s continue on. Maybe Tehutti just went on ahead of us.” Damek nodded, shining his lightstone down the dark hall. The darkness stared back at him. He only hoped that Hewkii was right. *** Tehutti was not just ahead of them, much to Damek’s concern. The group slowly walked down the hallways, finding nothing but the dark emptiness of the ship. The ship creaked and groaned around as they proceeded carefully, trying not to cause another abrupt shift.There were no doorways, nor passageways diverging from the hall they walked on that hinted at somewhere their companion could have wandered into. The purple masked Onu-Matoran led the way, shining his lightstone in hopes that at any step Tehutti would come into the light. He had just been by our side, Damek thought. What could have taken the miner so suddenly away from us? As the group ventured, Takua and Midak whispered amongst themselves. “You don’t think that maybe the ship is haunted? Spooked?” asked Midak. Takua gave him a skeptical look. “You are really insisting on this,” he said. Midak nodded. “Lots of miners talk from time to time about spooky sounds in the tunnels,” he said. “Tunnels that you can hear groans coming from as you walk by. You have to think about this sometimes, even a little, Chronicler— you love to explore the unknown.” “Ta-Matoran try to face things with courage,” Takua replied. Hewkii frowned as he listened to the other two squabble. It seemed as if there were no immediate danger to the island, but something did not sit right about this place with the Po-Matoran. It was so unnaturally still. He did not like this one bit. Part of him wondered who commanded this ship. The Turaga had never talked about any peoples outside of the Matoran of Mata Nui, so he had never given any thought about life beyond the shores of the island. But here was solid proof that there was someone other than them on the endless ocean. The hallway led them to a set of stairs descending below. Damek was reluctant, but he led the procession onward— he was worried for his fellow Onu-Matoran. They found a single room below, which extended the length of the ship. The level was largely empty, save for the wooden barrels and crates littering the perimeter of the room. At one point they had probably been stacked neatly and orderly, flush against the walls; now however, they were mostly decayed. Upon inspection, some of the more intact barrels contained pools of foul smelling substances. A few harmless Rahi crawlers whom had recently made this place home wandered through the lumber, growing accustomed to their new home. As they explored, the Matoran continued to argue about where the hard to find Onu-Matoran had gone. “He couldn’t have fled,” Damek insisted as they wandered the room. “We would have seen him go.” “The only other place he could have gone is deeper into this ship,” said Midak. “Maybe he found something that we missed, and is following it.” “But why would he go without us?” asked Hewkii. There was something more about this place than its initial stillness seemed to suggest. It made no sense to Damek. Nothing seemed to suggest that Tehutti had left. And he was not the type to disappear as a prank. Damek tried to keep himself of thinking of any alternate possibilities. Many miners disappeared in Onu-Koro, taken by Makuta’s Rahi, but there was no sign of a struggle to hint that Tehutti had been taken. The ship seemed to pose no immediate danger, he supposed just as Hewkii had. But that it made Matoran disappear did not bode well with him. At the far end of the hall, long bundles of cloth hung from the ceiling. Hewkii strode over to one and reached with his disc throwing arm, trying to see what was within. A flood of bats burst from it, disturbed from their resting place. The Po-Matoran ducked as the Rahi swarmed over him. The bats paid him no mind, instead flying away to some other undiscovered cove in this place in which they could rest peacefully. Something else clanged to the floor from the ceiling, to everyone’s surprise. The cloth had fallen from above, and the outline of a shape could be seen against it from underneath. With the bats gone, Hewkii lowered his arms from his mask. The others, quiet and wide eyed, looked at him but unwilling to step toward the cloth. Hewkii hesitantly strode over and slowly peeled back the cloth to see what was beneath. The skull of a figure looked back at them, eye sockets empty and jaw hanging slack. A hand flopped toward them, pulled by the tarp. “Ah!” Hewkii screamed, jumping back half a bio. A few seconds of non movement from the corpse determined it was not alive. It was a skeleton, they began to realize, bundled in what must have been a hammock. Slowly they stepped closer to examine the corpse. “Well at least we know now who was on this ship,” Damek said. “Even if they are odd looking,” he added. “This must be the sleeping quarters of the crew,” Takua said as he cast a glance around the room. “So this is a crew member,” Midak nodded. “But what kind of Kanohi is it wearing?” “It looks like a Le-Matoran party mask,” said Hewkii. “But I have never seen anything like it.” The ship creaked, and the four of them looked up. They could hear footsteps coming from below. “Tehutti?” called Damek. The footsteps picked up in pace, until out from the staircase emerged the Kakama masked Onu-Matoran. “Damek?” he asked. “Hewkii? Chronicler? Midak? Oh thank goodness.” “Where did you go?” asked Damek They clanked fists in embrace. “You disappeared into thin air!” “I was following you upstairs,” Tehutti said. “I was with you, until I felt… something pull me backwards. Before I knew it, I was somewhere else, in some sort of control room.” “We were in a control room too!” Takua exclaimed. “There must be a lower level one we haven’t gotten to yet,” Hewkii said. “Did you find anything there?” “Oh yes,” Tehutti said, looking at them wide eyed. “I’ve been trying to find you guys, because you need to see this.” *** Whereas the control room above deck was inoperable, the one which Tehutti had found was alight with activity. Complex systems and keypads abound glowed. Buttons and switches flashed, the panels beneath them humming. Screens, cracked in some places produced maps of the island of Mata Nui not far off— depth readers, heat signatures, information reports, all sorts of infographics— in a language the Matoran could barely discern. Regardless to however old the system was, it was still in somewhat working order. “I would not touch anything,” Tehutti advised. Takua jerked his hand away from the keyboard he was running his fingers across. Tehutti brought them all to a central display, which showed the side of Mount Ihu, amongst other parts of the island. A scope built into the screen was trained on the mountain. Midak and Takua cocked their heads quizzically, but Damek and Hewkii looked at the scope symbols with alarm. “Is this what I think—?” asked Damek. “The ship has something aimed at the island,” Tehutti nodded. “There are barrels on deck and along the sides of the ship that we found when we arrived—I think they are some sort of weapons system.” “What kind of weapons are we talking about?” asked Hewkii. “Definitely more high tech than Madu Cabolo,” said Tehutti. Damek’s eyes lit up wildly. “Explosives?” Tehutti nodded his head. “So are you telling me we are on some sort of warship, and Mount Ihu is targeted?” “Not intentionally,” Tehutti said. Damek stepped forward to the controls, taking a hard look at the panel below the screen. The symbols were all foreign to him, but taking some sort of stand made him feel better. “I don’t think pressing the right button would be good for the mountain,” Tehutti said as he watched. “We need to shut this system down, now,” said Damek. Hewkii nodded in agreement. “But how?” asked Midak. The others looked at him. None of them knew the language the keys and panels were in, nor what switches did what. The Matoran looked at each other anxiously; they could try to switch this off, but one slip, one wrong button and they would be sending friendly fire to Ko-Koro. “How then do you suggest we disable it?” asked Damek. “In Marka’s ships, there are mechanisms below deck,” Takua piped, coming to Midak’s aid. “They control things in the boat, like the rudder, steering—“ “So we switch the ship off manually,” Midak said. Takua nodded. “I don’t follow,” Tehutti said. “If this ship operates on the same principles as Marka’s ships, there has to be a mechanical room somewhere below,” said Takua. “We just need to find that room, find the right levers, and we can shut off whatever weapons systems this rust bucket has.” Damek looked at him skeptically. “So we have to continue further into this ship, just to find a room you think might be here.” “Hope,” Takua corrected, trying to be optimistic. Damek looked around as he pursed his lips. They had three options, the way he saw it: They could try to blindly figure out what switch shut off the systems. They could wait for the place to short circuit and accidentally activate whatever weapons systems were on this ship. Or they could venture further down and use a Ta-Matoran’s rudimentary knowledge of ships in a gamble. Damek was no engineer— he was a guard. He had not the skills to tinker. But without someone on board who knew this type of technology, he had no other options to turn to. “Downward we go,” he said. *** They ventured down multiple levels, finding more parts of the ship. But nothing appeared to be what they were looking for, simply more relics in an already ancient place. As they walked down the stairs to a the deepest levels of the ship, however, something odd came to their ears. “What is that noise?” someone in the back of the pack asked. Damek looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raised; upon listening closely there was indeed a sloshing and slapping sound coming from the bottom of this staircase. “I’m not sure,” Takua said back. “I can’t see anything.” “Wait,” came Hewkii’s voice. “Maybe my eyes have finally adjusted to the dark, but doesn’t everyone admit that they can sort of see?” Damek nodded to no one in particular. They still needed their lightstones, but not as much as the last few levels of the ship. It was not blinding bright, but there was a faint light coming from somewhere below. And it was not a technological light either— it seemed to be the sunlight from the outside. Noone seemed to move, so Takua burst through the line, taking the charge into the unknown. “Be careful,” Damek advised as he proceeded. They listened for a few moments to footsteps as he continued down the steps, and then the Ta-Matoran cried out. “Agh!” Takua gargled. The Matoran remaining on the staircase could hear him fall, and something else— a splash. “What happened?” called Hewkii. “It is flooded down here!” exclaimed Takua. “Flooded?” asked Damek. “It must have run aground on the reef when it came in,” Midak suggested. “Perhaps the the reef cut through the bottom of the ship.” “It’s not that deep though,” said Takua. “I am at about… knee to waist deep? Thigh deep. Definitely thigh deep.” “Can you see where the water is coming from?” asked Hewkii as the rest made their way down. “No,” the Chronicler called. “But it’s not rushing by. Perhaps wherever it is coming from got plugged with debris.” “Do you see any levers?” asked Damek. “I think…” Takua said. “I need more light to see. Come down, it isn’t that bad.” The group made their way down, sloshing through the water. Shining their lightstones, they looked down the flooded corridor. Pipes ran the length of the hall, numerous wheels and levers hanging from the ceiling. It was a narrow way compared to above, barely wide enough for a Matoran to walk with his arms extended. “Any idea on what we are looking for?” asked Hewkii. “Most of the pipes are probably connected to motors,” said Takua as they made their way down the hall. “But… I think—” Whatever Takua thought was cut off by a splash further down the corridor. The five of them were silent for a moment. “…That was you, right Takua?” asked Damek. The Ta-Matoran looked at him with eyes nearly as wild as they were afraid. As Takua shook his head, Damek’s expression turned to nearly incredulous. They slowly shone their lightstones down the hall, looking at a spot where water had just splashed. Ripples were starting to still. But slowly, they could see a fin raise out of the water, circling the flooded corridor. Below the water’s surface, two orange eyes could be seen dimly shining, eyeing its new visitors. “Takea,” Takua breathed. Hewkii whipped a disc from his back, but Midak grabbed his arm. “Don’t!” he cried. “Oh, so you planned on being shark bait this afternoon?” Hewkii said, his voice rising as it filled with panic. “I must not have gotten the memo. Did any of you get it? Because I surely did not.” “It’s not coming after us,” Takua said, observing the shark’s path. “Whatever hole the water came in through, it must have come through there as well,” said Midak. “This is probably its home now.” “We need to get past it, and find that lever,” said Damek. “Shut off whatever valve is controlling the computers upstairs.” “It will come after us if we go any further,” said Takua, continuing to watch the Rahi’s movements. “We are right on the edge of the territory it has claimed.” “So, we are just leaving the ship here?” Damek asked. “Leaving everything upstairs on, and hoping that it doesn’t go off?” “Given our options, we are going to have to,” Tehutti said. “There is nothing we can do here. We just have to hope… that the Great Spirit sees it in his sleep and protects the island.” “Then let’s get out of here,” said Hewkii. “I have had enough of being where the sun doesn’t shine.” The group turned around, only to see something drop from the ceiling and land on the stairs. Something flew through the air, rocketing past the five Matoran and hitting the wall behind them. The wall began to creak as a corrosive substance began to eat through it. “WHAT SURPRISE IS THIS NOW?” bellowed Damek. He was officially fed up with all the surprises he was finding today. “Makika!” was Tehutti’s cry. A large toad looked down at them from the steps. “There must be an infestation of them here. They must be making this their home, just like the Takea.” The disc Hewkii was holding launched from his hand, the Po-Matoran determined to strike before the acidic Rahi attacked again. The Rahi was struck by the bamboo, flying off the side of the stairs. “I am not going to meet my end in a ship taken down by a toad,” he grumbled. “That Rahi is definitely angry now,” Takua said as he heard it splash into the water. “If it spits again, it may bring this whole place down.” “We need to get out of here,” said Tehutti. The group broke into a run, sprinting as fast as they could to get out of the creaking and shifting ship. The weight of so many Matoran moving throughout vessel that was so precariously balanced on the reef below caused it to continually rock. They hit wall after wall as they stumbled to get out, trying to avoid being pinned or left behind as the ship slowly tilted. “The ship is definitely going to collapse,” said Midak as they made it to the top level. “Shut up and keep moving!” Damek ordered as they ran. Bursting onto the deck, the Matoran scrambled to the gunwales, where their boats awaited on either side. The ship had definitely shifted in their frantic climb back up, the deck making its way towards being parallel with Mount Ihu. “At least we don’t have to worry about the cannons anymore!” said Midak as they scrambled towards the edge. “Our boat!” said Damek. “It’s over there, but the ship is going to crush it!” “Go high side!” yelled Takua. “Jump!” said Tehutti. “Jump?” cried a bewildered Hewkii. “That’s almost an eight bio drop! The fall could kill us!” “No it won’t,” reassured Takua. “To water though?” asked Hewkii. “I’m a Po-Matoran!” “It’s not that deep out there!” Midak said, grabbing the Po-Matoran’s arm as he jumped. Hewkii cursed the Onu-Matoran as they fell towards the water. *** The five of them sat in the sand on the beaches of Onu-Wahi, utterly exhausted from the journey back to the shore. Nearly dodging death and then having to half swim, half wade almost three kios of shallow water had been a struggle for the group of them. Nevertheless they made it. They now looked out at the rolled vessel out on the reef, bleak and tired from the journey. “I really need to take swimming lessons,” said Hewkii. Water dripped from pockets in his mask but he was too tired to shake it out. The rest of them were covered in sand and sweat and seawater as well. “This is going to be one for the Wall of History,” said Takua. “Others better not come out here to explore it though,” Damek said. “You better put that in your writings, Chronicler. That place is too dangerous for anyone else to go out to. We shouldn’t have gone out there.” “But we got something from it,” said Midak. “And what would that be?” Damek asked. “And please don’t say an adventure.” “We at least found this,” Tehutti said, a parcel in his lap. In the setting sunlight of the afternoon he was paging through it, despite not being able to read what it said. “What is that?” Asked Damek. “Some sort of log, or a journal,” said Tehutti. “I found it in the second chamber. We will give it to Whenua, and maybe he can make sense of what it says.” *** Over the next few centuries that the Matoran lived on Mata Nui, the ship would disappear from their sights as it became part of the reef itself. Nature would eventually claim the ship. It would sink and become overgrown with brush and other sproutings that came from the shallows of the Papa Nihu to cover the vessel. Many Rahi would immigrate here and make it their own, finding it a safe haven from the intruding villagers whom constantly trampled over their territories. The affair would eventually be pushed to the back of the minds of the five Matoran, preoccupations with attacks from Makuta’s minions taking up their attention. But occasionally they would remember, and look out onto the horizon of the endless ocean. As they did so they would wonder sometimes—who else was out there on the far seas? Review
  15. Hi Aderia! Appreciate your reply. There were definitely a lot of things in the "Dark Time" that Makuta was involved in, but I don't think he could have spent every hour of every day terrorizing every aspect of the Matoran life on Mata Nui. There are some stories he is involved in, but there are some other things he has no connection to. The official dictionary definition of "Hauntings" is I want to see what is creepy, what could happen. I've explored some ghost stories and scoured Biosector for some stuff that is within the realm of possibility of happening on Mata Nui. Process wise, I feel as if the first few chapters I'm putting up are edited enough where I don't need to do a line by line edit/analysis. All of that work was done a while ago. Glad you're enjoying it!
  16. The jungles of Le-Wahi were dangerous, especially at night. There was always the threat of the fall from the trees, which could kill a Matoran unfortunate enough to slip from their perch. There was the marsh itself. If you fell into that, it would take more strength than that of a Great Pakari to get yourself out. There were also the plants, some of which were poisonous, and others which hankered for the taste of protodermis. And then there were the Rahi of the jungle— some wild on their own, some touched with madness from the evil Makuta. Any way you looked at it, the jungle region of Mata Nui was a hazardous place. Kongu held tightly onto the reins of Ka as he flew through the night, each of these dangers on the forefront of his mind. The bird rode through the jungle with absolute glee as he led the Gukko Force toward their destination, gleeful for the chance to ride through the darkness. But as the Gukko flew with gleeful thoughts, Kongu glared forward, anxious about what could be between himself, the rest of the Force, and their mission. The roar of a Rahi beast could be heard in the distance, yet it was the quiet in the immediate area which made the Le-Matoran anxious. Le-Koro was sick, many of the Matoran having fallen ill to a virus. The lethargy and illness the virus spread was felt especially in the Air village, a group of Matoran known for their vibrant personalities. The effects of it rippled throughout the village; Tuuli had not been out to trade for days, and no music had been heard from Sanso and his band in almost a week. Kongu felt rather run down himself, and had prayed to Mata Nui all week that he remained out of the virus’s infectious reach. No one knew where the virus came from, but Turaga Matau insisted it was the work of the Makuta. Whether it came from Makuta or not, a cure needed to be found. Matau and his cohort, Turaga Nokama of Ga-Koro, had determined a handful of plants, when stewed together, that would produce a healing aroma. The last few days and nights had been spent retrieving the necessary ingredients. All that was left now was this last ingredient, a leaf which could only be found in the depths of Le-Wahi. The leaf glowed, and could only be discerned from other plantlife of the forest by night. Kongu watched ahead of Ka’s beak, where he could see a glow emerging in the dark. The Le-Matoran breathed a sigh of relief as they drew closer, their goal finally within reach. The six of them landed. Dismounting their birds, five of their number made their way to the plants, filling empty burlap sacs they had brought with the leaves. Vira hung back with the steeds, chirping at the birds in Turaga Nuju’s language of clicks and whistles. If Makuta’s beasts were out to get the Matoran while they were on their mission, they needed eyes keeping watch out for their safety. “Does this look ripe?” asked Boreas. “It doesn’t matter,” Kongu said. “Just grab-seize as much as you can.” Boreas nodded, working as fast as he could. They stuck in pairs as they ventured where the plant grew, snatching as much as they could. To Kongu’s pleasure, he could already see new buds starting to form as they picked the plants. Much of the flora on Mata Nui were like that. Kongu sensed that the rapid plant growth on the island was somewhat odd, even though he was not an expert on botany and knew life nowhere else. “Either way, I cannot wait to breathe-smell whatever Turaga Matau and Nokama are going to concoct-brew with all of these ingredient-pieces,” said Boreas. “The air-smells of things they stir-make make my mask tingle with life-joy.” “This will definitely help-cure our leaf brothers?” asked Shu. “Have hope-faith,” Kongu replied. “The Turaga are doing what they think will work.” They continued picking quietly, something hard for Le-Matoran to do. Soon the deed was done, with six burlap bags stuffed to the brim with the leaves. “Bound-tie them to your saddles, and let’s go-leave,” Kongu said, mounting Ka once more. Tying his bundles to the bird, he readied for the signal from Vira that the Gukko could fly. “Vira, did you not see-find anything?” Vira put his sickle away, having cleared a path for the birds to launch down. “Deep-jungle is safe-empty,” the marshall signaler nodded. “Prepare-ready for take off!” Kongu nodded, looking at the darkness in the jungle beyond with almost a sense of relief. Perhaps Makuta and his forces were not out to get them tonight. With their packages secured, he felt far better than when they had set out tonight. Grabbing the reins of Ka, he nodded to Vira. The propulsers on the bird began to fire up, and Ka took off. They had soared for only a few moments when Ka lurched to the side. Something big had collided with him. The bird screeched in panic. Kongu yanked sharply on the reins, hoping to straighten out, but whatever hung onto the Gukko would not shake off. “Ka!” Kongu exclaimed. A screech that was not Ka’s made Kongu’s heart sink. As limbs flailed, Kongu could make out the shape of a Brakas monkey clinging to the side of his companion. “Orkahm! Shu! Look out!” Kongu cried into the darkness behind him. “Visit-company! Of the funky monkey kind!” Reaching into his pack, Kongu found a bamboo disc. He slung it, and it whacked the Rahi in the head, distracting it for a moment enough to stop clawing at Ka’s side. The Le-Matoran reached for another one, but the monkey leapt at Kongu, teeth and claws bared. Ka thrashed as he tried to stay aloft, suddenly supporting the weight of two instead of just Kongu. Before he knew it, Kongu was wrestling with a monkey in midair. The Brakas threw a punch at Kongu’s mask, hoping to dislodge it. Kongu caught the punch, struggling to maintain his balance while resisting the Rahi’s strength. Staying in his saddle as best as he could, Kongu lashed out with his free arm to throw off the wild beast. The Brakas stayed, screeching in his face. “Get far-lost, swamp-breath!” Kongu yelled at it. The Brakas screeched again. His eyes now having adjusted to the dark, Kongu could see the infected mask on the Rahi’s face. He could feel the rotting smell coming from the mouthpiece. The Le-Matoran retched at the stench. He threw a punch with one hand, fumbling with another to grab the reins. Ka crashed blindly through the branches as the fight continued. The limbs of the trees knocked Kongu in the mask, the shoulders, the arms as they tumbled through them, headed in a direction the Le-Matoran knew not where. The others would have helped Kongu, but were caught scraps of their own with more of the monkeys. Boreas lashed out with a knife at two Brakas on his mount, while Shu slung discs accompanied with roaring battle cries in response to the shriekers surrounding him. Orkahm tugged fiercely on his reins to try and outmaneuver the onslaught of Rahi, getting his Kewa to fly up and subject his attackers to the forces of gravity. Kongu was on his own for his fight. And suddenly it was quiet again. The Brakas vanished, and the Gukko force were tumbling through open air. Ka twisted and turned as he tried to straighten out. Kongu tugged hard on the reins, the world whirling past him as they plummeted downward. The world came up to meet Kongu, and suddenly all movement stopped. “Unf!” he grunted. All Kongu could feel was the blunt force of the landing rock through his form. He lay there, the wind knocked out of him, and closed his eyes, letting the pain envelop him. After what seemed like an hour, his eyes opened again. He could start to feel other things. Wet. Pointy. Muddy. Looking around, he realized he was in a marsh. Sitting up in the mud, Kongu looked around. Little trees could be seen here and there, but most of the region out here was mostly marsh and mud. The Fau Swamp, he realized. It was still Le Wahi, but something else other than what the Le-Matoran traditionally considered their region. They did not necessarily enjoy the region, preferring the treetops where you could vine swing instead of walking. But in the full moon and clear sky that shined tonight, Kongu had to admit it was kind of beautiful out here. A screech from afar brought Kongu back to his senses. The Brakas were still there, in the jungle not far away. They jeered at him from the darkness, like the cowards Brakas usually were. Tough-brave Matoran survive falls from the forest, Kongu thought. Silly-weak monkeys already screech when falling to another branch. Even with the Makuta controlling them, they are still cowards. “Is anyone out there?” Kongu called. “Ork? Boreas? Shu?” A hand came into his vision to pull Kongu to his feet, and he could see the mask of Vira. Beyond them, Ka and Vira’s Kahu bird were uprighting themselves, ruffling their wings. “Hard-rough crash-landing for you as well?” the marshall asked. Kongu nodded, rubbing his back. He gave a few twists. Something popped, and suddenly his back felt better. “Where are the others?” “I spot see someone over there,” Vira pointed north, to where a Gukko was picking itself up out of the marshes. Kongu mirrored his statement, seeing another of their band to the west. Making their way over to each of their members, the Gukko Force slowly picked themselves up from their brush with the wild. Taiki was the last to be found. They found him closer to the forest than everyone else. He was frantically digging at the mud, his bird pecking at the mud as it tried to help. “Help!” Taiki cried as he saw them. A hand could be seen in the moonlight, sticking out from the mud. The five of them immediately joined in, scraping at the mud. The birds were not far behind, With a click and whistle from Vira, the Gukkos were pecking at the area with their beaks to loosen the mud for their riders. “There is someone buried here! Trap buried!” “But Taiki,” Kongu said. “We are all here. Who could be buried?” Taiki stopped digging, looking at the masks around him. Everyone else slowed as well, a sense of dread coming over the group. The hand in the mud still stuck out, motionless. “If we are all here…” he said, panic entering his voice. “Then who is buried?” They all looked at the hand, and then at each other, anxiety running high through the group. Kongu swallowed hard, and strode over to grab the hand. He pulled, and was met with some resistance, but the mud broke, loosened by their digging. The moonlight however, did not help the Matoran as they looked at the figure. It was a Matoran, but at the same time, it was not. Short, wearing dark armor, if just with a different body type, the figure strongly resembled the Gukko Force members standing around it. But there were things off about the body. It was swollen with water, and partially rotted. But the amount of armor, the tissue sticking out. The ratio of mechanical to organic parts. None of it was right. The thing looked like a Matoran, but there was a lot of evidence to suggest it was not. And from what Kongu felt, it felt nothing like the bodies of Matoran. As if the person was made of something totally else from protodermis. But the most distinguishable feature that made them certain it was not a Matoran was its mask. “What make-kind of Kanohi is that?” asked Orkahm. “That is not a Kanohi,” Shu insisted. Could it even be a Kanohi? Kongu wondered. Kanohi usually attached to the front of a Matoran’s or Turaga’s face. Perhaps helmet was a better term. This sat on the corpse’s head more like a helmet than like a mask. Three prongs protruded from the back of it, almost snake like in appearance. The mask— if you could call it that— resembled flower and bamboo decorations which the Le-Matoran would adorn on their own Kanohi during one of Matau’s parties, in mock resemblance of a warrior costume. This helmet was metal, however, and definitely not for decoration. “What is this? Some sort of alien?” asked Vira. “It has to be a mutant,” Boreas said. “What if…” Orkahm said. “What if something lived on Mata Nui before us?” “No,” Kongu insisted, dismissing Orkahm’s comment. “This has to be some sort of mutated Matoran.” Any more guesses on the corpse’s identity were interrupted by a scream in the night. The Le-Matoran whirled to see the Brakas monkeys coming from afar, leaping across the marsh toward them. Each of the Le Matoran scrambled for their packs, whipping out discs and preparing themselves for combat. Vira whistled to Ka and the other Kewa and Kahu, which fluttered their wings in response. “See-look over there!” Orkahm cried. In the moonlight, there could be seen the Brakas scrambling toward the smaller Matoran— but also to the left, there was a single, larger shadow breaking the horizon. A large, tiger like animal could be seen leaping over the marshes, making a beeline for the loud and brash animals that more than likely interrupted its sleep. “Muaka cat-tiger!” Boreas exclaimed. The Brakas were so consumed with the Matoran almost in their grasp that they did not see the Muaka before it was too late. It pounced into their group, immediately breaking their formation. A number of the smaller monkeys were scooped up into the tiger-like creature’s jaws. The rest of them were swept aside by the Muaka’s claws, scattered on the marsh just as the Gukko Force had been minutes earlier. Growls and roars emitted from the Muaka rolled over the marshes as the beast reveled in the night’s victory. “Mount-climb your steeds,” demanded Kongu. “Let’s fly leave of here before we are battle fighting that Rahi. Those are just quick snacks for that tiger.” “What about the body?” Orkahm asked. Kongu looked at each of them. “Whoever… whatever that is,” Kongu said. “it has been here without anyone’s concern for a while. I will discuss with Turaga Matau, but we cannot take it home tonight.” “At least take it’s mask,” Shu insisted. Kongu frowned, but complied. They arrived back at Le-Koro in the early hours of the morning, greeted only by the night folk that guarded the village during sleep hours. Kongu approached the door of Turaga Matau’s hut, where a small light shined into the night. The rest of the Force had retreated to their huts to join the sleeping village. Only he remained awake in order to deliver the night’s bounty. He felt awfully tired as he knocked, more tired than he had felt in a number of nights. This was not sickness, he knew that much— this was the night catching up to him. The Turaga was apparently still up, for Mata Nui only knew what reason. A small grin was on the noble Mahiki at the sight of one of Matau’s favorite villagers, eager for the night’s tale. “High Flyer, welcome,” Matau said, “What adventures did you have tonight?” The Matoran handed over the bags of leaves, putting the helmet on top of the pile. “Turaga, what kind of Kanohi is that?” Review
  17. The Dark Time on Mata Nui was a thousand year period in which Makuta infected his darkness throughout the island paradise to the Matoran of Metru Nui. However, in a new and strange land, on an unknown ocean, there were bound to be odd and eerie occurrences which the Matoran experienced besides the Makuta. In an anthology of canon-compliant short stories, I hope to present a series of occurrences I've brainstormed that happened in the Dark Time. I've already posted a majority of this on Tumblr and Wordpress and AO3, but I thought it fitting to put it on here. (Also, I know it has been a while since my last posting, and I know I owe some people some stuff from Holiday contests, which I will get to posting. But for now, know that it will be here soon) The Hauntings
  18. Prologue: The Hauntings There were peaceful moments in living on Mata Nui. There were times where the Matoran would sit around the fires, or wander the beaches, marvelling about the paradise they were so thankful to live in. But for as much as the Turaga made the island— named in honor of the Great Spirit himself— out to be a paradise, there were times when the place was a living nightmare. The Makuta terrorized the Matoran of Mata Nui for a thousand years. He created infected masks to control the Rahi, turning relatively docile creatures into fearsome beasts. He sent out the signals to awaken the Bohrok swarms, trying to destroy the lands the Matoran called home. He created diseases and plagues to weaken the peoples whom would not bow to his rule. He even at times took control of the island itself, to show the might of his powers. The Makuta operated from the deepest of the shadows, using his extreme tactics to keep the Matoran in their villages, around their campfires, and as far away from Metru Nui as possible. Not only were there threats from the Makuta. There were other things lurking in the shadows that did not come from him. As domineering and sinister Makuta was, there were things that were not of his origin. Many of the threats the Matoran encountered bore the signature style of the master of shadows; However, there were eerie occurrences—few and far between— the Matoran encountered, deep within their Wahi, which were from some other origin entirely. Other events the Makuta could have not possibly have had a hand in. Terrors and odd happenings that the Turaga, despite all their secret keeping, could not hide that they had no explanation for. Makuta was responsible for many things on Mata Nui which would live in the nightmares of the Matoran for the rest of their days. But there were other unsettling things that happened on the island that haunted them even more. Review
  19. Scrapping 2 different outlines so far if that counts
  20. They will probably go out within 24 hours. Tufi is probably just busy with holidays.
  21. Submitted my entry. Definitely promising something better than last year! Looking forward to round 2
  22. 91. A lot of Toa and matoran over the years, plus I've never really sold anything, more just bought. A lot of stuff is in bins disassembled under my bed though.
  23. My only qualm is the crime that Krekka is being executed for— smashing machinery is penalized by loss of life? I’ve read this story several times, but I feel like it is missing an element to it. There could be something more that he was persecuted for, something more personal to the city. Besides the Great Beings and their creations being so great to the people, why does some security device in the mountains far away being smashed resonate so hard with the people of Xia? I like the character— it’s funny how most of us picked Dark Hunters for our stories— and appreciate the relatively unexplored bad guy. It was just lost on me as to why you picked that crime. Other than that, I loved this. I’ve never really looked beyond the serials in regards to the Melding Universe— always saw it as a great twist on the main story, “if the Great Beings managed to do things smoothly the first time around,” but never pursued exploring it further. Thank you for developing it into an awesome read! It’s amazingly interesting this Utopia that you’ve whipped up. I love how it’s placed on Spherus Magna and a polar opposite of the main universe city. It’s a utopia, but its not this holy “ in your face” place. It’s the place that I think the movie Tomorrowland was striving to be. Yet… there still is this burden that Antroz has on her shoulders. She’s a complex character at that she isn’t complete, and I don’t mean on just her sight. While she has accomplished much in this way of running the city, she still doesn’t see herself a full ruler, a decisive one like the Antroz of the core universe. It makes the interactions between her and Angonce’s— who is a wonderful bubbly character by the way— fun to read, because she knows what she’s doing but has this incompetence mentality, if I am reading it right. The little bit of dialogue leading to the central plot of the core universe is throwaway but done so well! I thought the cast you chose was very well written. Gorast is a savage yes, but she is quiet here, and I think I needed that. Your choice of the Great Being— he characterizes just the way a Great Creator should be, so curious about the results and interactions. And he doesn’t look down on them, he sees them as equals, which says something good about him as a ruler. Ugh there were so many good things about this story that I appreciate. And didn’t even know I wanted. Very well done, and thank you very much for writing this. If you are ever looking to continue this, please let me know.
  24. Part of the Fanfic Exchange for ReeseEH. You were interested in Dume and his early adventures as one of your prompts; I did my best to try and get a little slice of his Toa-hood butting heads with the Dark Hunters. I took older protector names and threw them in as Toa team members, because in the face of the countless Toa who'd been in the MU, who is to say they couldn't have been Toa? Clocking in at 3842 words, (and last minute, apologies) I hope you enjoy it! ________________________________________________________ The Dark Hunter ducked under the jet of water, a look of absolute disgust on his face as he retreated behind a hut. Toa Dume looked at his partner, nodding, and together they charged either side of the building. He could not get away, they would not let him this time. Hefting his Kanoka fire hammer, Dume charged left, ready to bash the Dark Hunter from here to Stelt. What the Toa of Fire met, however, was a jet of water to the face, his partner relentlessly firing on him. The Dark Hunter was not behind the building. He was not anywhere at all. “Kiv-od-a!” he choked as he found a pocket of air. Upon realizing whom she was firing at, Toa Kivoda’s stream died, leaving two confused Toa. “Where did he go?” asked the Toa of Water, looking all around. “Must have teleported away,” Dume replied, picking himself off of the soaked ground. With a dismayed look on his mask, he looked over the aftermath of their battle. The village had suffered a considerable amount of damage. But at least nobody was killed this time, Dume thought. “Any signs of his partner?” Kivoda pointed toward the path of rubble leading out of the village, not a dozen huts further from where they had been battling this Dark Hunter. “Looks like he made the retreat as well. Are you injured, brother?” “As long as the Turaga is still here, I am fine,” Dume said, coughing up some water. “Go check up on the others… I will start repairs to the village.” His Toa sister nodded, addressing some Matoran nearby waving for their help The Kanohi Kiril required concentration to use for such a large amount of repairs at hand, but Dume looked around with a troubled look on his mask. Was this a win or a loss against the Dark Hunters? He wanted to call it a success, but he was not sure whether chalking it up in that category would be right. Some huts had their roofs totally blown off. Others were disintegrated to dust. Half of the paths of the village were torn up, imprints dotted everywhere where Toa and Dark Hunter alike had been slammed into the ground. The village was a mess— a repairable one, but nevertheless, this fight had been a disaster. “There is a fine line between protecting and fighting, indeed,” said a voice behind him. Dume looked to see Turaga Narmoto walking up behind him, his Kanohi Suletu grim as he surveyed the scene. The Turaga looked physically fine, but the Toa of Fire could tell he had been unsettled by this attack. “But you fought valiantly, Dume, and for the umpteenth time, thank you for that.” “No village should have to pay this price for protection,” Dume insisted, gesturing to all of the destruction around him. “If the Hunters get what they came for, there is no reassembling the village from that,” said the Turaga. “You can put this place back together. You are here, and thank Mata Nui for you and your mask.” The Turaga gazed up to the peak of the volcano far above. Dume followed his eyes, but squinted at where he thought the Lava Crystal Temple was. The crystals, for some odd reason, or to at least what Narmoto and his predecessors believed, kept the fury of the volcanos in check. IF the crystals were taken, the lava would pour out of the volcano, traveling in all directions until it took what had been taken from it. However the Dark Hunters believed in principle of profit, not mythology. The composition of the lava crystals was apparently a powerful source for a weapon the Dark Hunters had, and the Shadowed One was bent on obtaining these crystals. This had been at least the fourth team of Hunters that Dume and his team had faced in the last several months. “If they get a hold of any of the lava gems, then that’ll be it for us,” Narmoto said. “Asking for permission doesn’t come to me as a standard Dark Hunter procedure. They’ll be back again until they get what they want,” Dume replied. He looked at the Turaga grimly. “Hopefully the Great Spirit smiles on your team then,” Narmoto said, as he watched the Kanohi Kiril mend the street back together. *** Several kio from the village, Ravager’s tail flew through the air, cleaving the top of a boulder clean off. Growling in rage, he attacked the stone again, claws scraping at the fallen slab. He intended to smash the great rock to smithereens, but it appeared to raise up on its own, floating just beyond his reach. “Destroy our hiding spot and alert the Toa to where we are all at once,” Conjurer said to his partner, controlling the rock with his telekinetic powers. “Your plans are truly brilliant.” “You know I don’t take boredom well,” Ravager spat. His unbridled rage was gone for a moment, replaced by disdain for his partner. “If I knew this would have been my part of the mission, I would have taken some other assignment.” “Think of the opportunities though,” marveled Conjurer, as he leaned against one of the surviving boulders to their campsite. “Three other teams of Hunters failed to complete this task. If we are the ones to succeed—if you can hold your patience just a little while— the Shadowed One will let you smash a whole chain of the southern isles.” “You just want to show your flair, you delusional magician,” Ravager said. “Shadowed One doesn’t care for fancy tricks— he cares that this rock comes back with us.” “Perhaps it is flair that is needed for this mission, if whatever our predecessors were doing wasn’t getting the job done.” “Maybe somebody just wasn’t hitting hard enough,” Ravager shrugged, sending his fist into another boulder. “Mata Nui must have had a laugh when he made you— all the grandeur of the Toa and Turaga, but too ugly of a maw to be one of them.” “You’re lacking reasoning, barbarian,” Conjurer sighed, dropping the telekinetic field around the rock. He ignored the insult. Ravager’s tail twitched, sending the rock into a million pieces in another million directions. The Shadowed One had a knack for pairing up Hunters whom could seldom stand each other. The pairing of himself and Ravager, two completely opposite beings— himself an intellectual, Ravager a straight up brute with no thought for anything but destruction— really had been another of their leader’s finest decisions. “The time will come to smash everything again, once our other comrade needs to be extracted. For now, try to have a little bit of self control.” Conjurer practically watched the words go in one ear and out the other of his partner. He didn’t know why he tried, the brute would never understand. Best to just keep him on his leash until Silence gave the signal, and it was time for brute force as a distraction once more. The brown armored Dark Hunter’s eyes drifted to his staff of disintegration to his side, studying the weapon. Ravager wasn’t the only one who needed patience. The lava crystal they were here to retrieve… he didn’t know what use the Shadowed One had for it, but Conjurer had his own plans for the crystal. A simple bribe for the two Dark Hunters, a lie that they never found the crystal, or the Toa destroyed it, but he had almost figured out how to integrate the crystal into his tool, to make his magic even more formidable. A trick that the Shadowed One would not anticipate, Conjurer thought. He has revealed all of his powers to us, a first— and vital— mistake. *** “That Arthron would serve you better if you used it,” Dume told the Toa of Air at the temple, whom looked at him with a surprised look on his mask. “It’s annoying,” told Toa Jagiri. “I get alerted to every change in the lava flow at the bottom, and after a while it gets to me. If there’s a Dark Hunter coming, I will see him, don’t you worry.” “I’d rather have someone use it,” Dume said, frowning. “If it annoys you, then switch with someone else.” The other Toa looked at him, unwilling to trade the Toa of Air their masks. “Korgot and I can hear you coming half a kio away,” said Nilkuu, Toa of Stone. Dume’s deputy stepped down from the temple to talk with his team leader. Dume frowned. “It is still better to have three Toa on board than two,” he said. “I understand Jagiri is younger than the rest of us, but four Hunter attacks in this short of a time— the learning curve needs to be shortened for him.” “He’ll learn, but you need to focus your energy on the Hunters,” Nilkuu said. “It does no use to try and forge a sword if the minerals are not purified.” “Something Narmoto would say,” Dume scoffed, rolling his eyes at the adage the Toa of Stone threw at him. “Even raw coal can still be used as a bludgeon. It just needs to do the job.” “You are suggesting a new strategy,” Nilkuu noted. Dume nodded. “Why? What we have done has worked before.” “Tacticians in the Dark Hunters are few, but eventually they’ll send someone,” said the frustrated Toa of Fire. “The last thing I want is for them to be able to anticipate our moves.” “Go back down the mountain,” Nilkuu said. “I will talk to the others and we will send someone else down, if you are really concerned about manning the front lines.” *** Silence crouched in the shadows above the path, watching Toa Dume walk his way back down the mountain. Once assured the Toa of Fire was long gone down the path, he leapt down from his hiding spot, taking care to keep out of sight of the temple ahead. Living targets were usually his specialty, but every now and again the Shadowed One would send the kidnapper after artifacts. He would never protest, though he preferred the missions where he had to continually keep the target quiet. That was half of the fun of the mission—the struggle, the protests, the continual use of force with his powers. But having to simply swipe an object, that made no noise whatsoever? That ruined the best part of the job. Still, he did not object to the leader of the Dark Hunters— this was an increasingly high profile mission for them. Silence figured if they succeeded, there would be plenty more missions made available to him where there were living victims abound. The Temple was elevated, and he was able to easily slip to the rear unnoticed. The Toa at the front gate looked bored, so cooped up with nothing to do. No other Dark Hunters had made it this far, so the guardians here had no reason to be on alert. Many others who would’ve been the first to the temple would go out of their way to pick a fight with Toa, to antagonize, but Silence kept his mind on the job. He knew Ravager would be looking for a fight, and he was not to deny his restless partner a fight. Creeping up the back of the temple, he made his way in undetected. The sound field projecting from his body muffled him from the Toa’s notice, so focused they were on anyone coming at them head on from the front entrance. Silence pressed himself against walls as he crept through, using the shadows the lava cast to get to his target. The room the crystal was actually in shimmered with the shadows from the lava that ran through it, providing him cover to slip through the center of the room without the Toa’s gaze catching him. Lava coursed around the perimeter of it, and Silence followed the darkness as it travelled with the flow of the stream. He swiped the crystal as he crossed the room, quickly retreating back to the shadows on the wall. As he pressed himself towards the rear of the temple, his eyes looked up to the ceiling. Silence did not believe in the Matoran myth— no crystal could actually control the temple of the volcano, could it? but he was curious. He wanted to wait, see if anything would happen, but there was also the pressing matter if the Toa discovered the crystal was missing. His moment of observation over, he made his way out of the temple. *** “Something is wrong,” Toa Nilkuu muttered, the brows on his Pakari furrowing. He gave a light shove to Jagiri, who was off daydreaming on the steps. “Did you hear me?” “What could be wrong?” asked Jagiri. “What do you feel?” “Tremors,” Nilkuu replied. Jagiri looked at him, feeling nothing. The Toa of Air doubted the Matoran superstition, but did believe in his brothers troubles. If that makes any sense, thought Jagiri. “Tremors from what?” he asked Nilkuu. “What would cause tremors?” The Toa of Stone said nothing, merely left Jagiri out on the steps of the temple. He went in to check on the other two guarding the crystal, only to find them coming out to him. Their masks did not look well. *** Dume was not far in his trek down the path as he felt the disturbances Nilkuu had sensed. The lava flows coming intermittently down the sides of the mountain, flowing smoothly one minute, began to writhe and boil the next. Reaching out with his elemental power, he felt the lava begin to rage. Dume frowned, unsure what could have caused it. Everything had seemed alright when he checked on his teammates… but something had happened. A tingling up his back made him realize something was definitely wrong, and the Toa of Fire had a good suspicion he knew what had happened. Instead of turning back up the mountain, he continued on his trek back to the village. Not only the lava flowed differently, but there was something else about the environment around him that was disturbing. It wasn’t what he would hear during the calm before the storm on his home island…but there was a silence about. “I should have figured you Hunters would try something like this,” Dume said as he reached for his Kanoka hammer. He whirled around, firing weaken disks at the Dark Hunter following him from a distance. Dume missed, not knowing initially where he was firing, but the Hunter’s disk was straight and true. On impact, a coat of ice leapt from the disk, freezing him from mask to toe. Caught unawares, Dume could not use his powers to thaw himself. He was helpless as he watched Silence walk around him, throwing the lava crystal up in the air as though it were a ball. A violent curse was the first thing that escaped Dume’s lips as Toa Izotor thawed him out. He thanked the Toa of Ice, but then spun on his heel, leading the charge to the village. “One of you flanking me would have prevented this.” “Or two Toa would have been frozen. We didn’t even see him,” Nilkuu said over the growing rumble of the volcano. “He was nowhere in sight of the temple.” “A stealth field, it extends from his body,” Dume informed his brother Toa. “The way he approached me… it was too quiet.” “I think I can get him to make some noise,” said Jagiri, wielding his twin axes. “There are two in the village now, causing a ruckus.” “Now you choose to use your mask?” Izotor asked. The Toa of Air ignored the jibe. As they reached the village, they could see Jagiri was right. Homes the Kanohi Kiril had repaired just a short while ago were reduced to rubble, the one Dark Hunter with the tail destroying everything in his path. The other one with the staff that Dume had been chasing earlier was locked in combat with Kivoda, the Toa of Water trying to remain out of reach of the crackling energy on his staff. “I’ll cover Kivoda,” Dume barked, already loading a disk into his launcher. “Jagiri, Nilkuu, subdue that beast of a Hunter before he destroys the whole village. My mask is going to crack just thinking about all of the repairs I’ll have to do when we’re done with him. Korgot, find that third hunter. Izotor, see to the villagers’ safety.” The Toa broke formation, leaping into the battle. Dume wasted no time as his Kanoka sailed toward the Dark Hunter, hammer swinging. Conjurer felt the weaken disk hit him. His arms fell as his back muscles were no longer strong enough to raise the staff. The Toa of Water took advantage of the weakness, blasting him with a jet of water that carried him far from their dueling grounds. I hate water, he thought as the blast carried him away. “Sister!” came Dume’s voice as roaring streams of water died off. Kivoda looked over to see her Toa brother, loading another disc. “There was another Hunter!” She cried, pointing beyond the huts. “These two—“ “Were just a distraction, yes,” he nodded. He grabbed the Toa of Water’s arm. “Let’s find him before he gets any further!” Leaving Conjurer to choke on water for a bit, Kivoda activated her Kualsi, taking Dume with her through a series of jumps to the village’s edge. He passed right by them as they appeared, Dume’s hammer swing missing the Hunter by inches. He fired another freeze disk, but it was batted aside, its power not able to activate. The Toa hurled his hammer at the retreating Dark Hunter, landing a solid shot in the back. The Hunter went down, tumbling on the rocky ground for a minute before leaping back to his feet. However, Kivoda was right there, pulling the lava crystal out of the Dark Hunter’s claw. “I believe this stays with us,” Kivoda said, wielding a trident at the Hunter’s throat. Thinking their stealthy cohort had made it out of the Toa’s reach successfully, Conjurer and Ravager had begun their retreat as well, appearing at the edge of the village dashing away rapidly. Not willing to let the three of them go, Dume ran to meet Conjurer. Soon the three Hunters were surrounded by the Toa, weapons and elements wielded and ready to go. “You make a move on us,” Korgot growled, a Cordak blaster cocked and ready. “and it’s your last.” “So what now?” Conjurer asked. Ravager snarled at the Toa, bound by stone and unable to lash out. “You kill us, the Hunters come after you. You let us go, more Hunters will be sent for that rock your Matoran admire so much.” “Hunters appear here again, and their ashes will eventually make their way back to your base,” Dume said sharply. “I don’t want to see any more Hunters on this continent, let alone this village.” Conjurer was about to say something, but a Cordak rocket blasting the ground in front of him shut him right up. He looked to the others… Silence said nothing, as per usual. Conjurer expected some sort of sneak attack out of him, but the Toa had stripped him of any Kanoka. Ravager was incapacitated. His disintegration staff would not be quick enough to outmatch the Kualsi wearing Toa holding the crystal. As much as he envisioned the victory of being the one team to successfully complete this mission, the Dark Hunter knew they would have to report another failure to the Shadowed One. “We’ll bring back your message, but there will be no promises,” snarled Conjurer. “No Toa will ever have authority over the Dark Hunters.” “For today, a few Toa will,” Dume said right back. He stepped aside, to where the countryside lay before the Dark Hunters. In addition to being loaded with a Kanoka, his hammer crackled energy. “It must be a long road back. Might as well get started.” *** Kivoda placed the crystal back before the tremors around the volcano became any worse. The Toa were all surprised that they were wrong, and that the tales of the Turaga were right. Arriving back in the village, they came back to the village almost reluctant to look the grateful Matoran in the eye. “What other Matoran legends are true, then?” asked Kivoda to the group when she had returned. “It cannot be the crystal, it simply cannot,” Jagiri said as he left for his hut. “It simply was impossible.” One by one the others peeled away, until Dume was left standing in the center of the village, looking up at the volcano on his own. “You weren’t foolish to doubt the myth,” came a voice as he pondered. His mask focused back on what was around him to see Narmoto walking up to him. “You merely stuck to your principles, that you were here to protect us, no matter what. And for the umpteenth time, I thank you for that.” “I feel like you don’t need a mask of telepathy to know we didn’t believe in the myth,” Dume said. “Nor do I need one to tell you are troubled by your team,” Narmoto said. “There are different styles of leadership. Yours is fine, and people will learn to listen.” *** The Shadowed One listened to the report silently. He wasn’t sure what to think— disappointment at the failure of such established, veteran Hunters, or the humor at their crushed pride. Conjurer looked the most damaged, as if the Shadowed One was making him spill all the secrets to his “magic”. Ravager brooded behind Conjurer, while Silence stood to the other side, an apathetic expression on his face. But the Shadowed One knew that under that mask of apathy was a gaunt fear for what the leader of the Dark Hunters would do to him as punishment. “Schedule a calling of all of those whom have failed this mission,” were his only words when the report was finished. “There must be a re-education session for those whom have shown their incompetence on this simple mission.” Next to the Shadowed One, the Recorder scribbled the note down on a tablet. When asked what he was to list the individual punishments of the returned Hunters, the Shadowed One thought for a moment. “They will be decided later. Keep your ears open for the re-education, but be warned— failure again is not tolerable.” He knew he had their minds racing as they left the room. They would sweat it out, be fearful of what was to come. But their punishments were not what bothered the Shadowed One. These Toa, they’d been bothersome on not just this mission, but several others as well. One name in particular stuck with him…. Dume. The name caught, and the Shadowed One knew it was not in a good way. This Toa sounded like he would be a thorn in the side of the Dark Hunters for an age to come.
  25. I'm wondering if Dume is worthy or not. But if he isn't, what if it's on the elevator at the Coliseum with him and the elevator goes up.... Is the elevator worthy?
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