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True Slaughter?


WhereFMF

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Chapter 1

Takanuva, Toa of Light, emerged from a dimensional gate onto an island that he could not identify. Not because the terrain was unfamiliar, but because he could hardly see anything beyond the light of the small campfire in front of him. There were no stars visible in the sky.

The campfire illuminated six figures. There was a Ko-Matoran he recognized vaguely as Kopeke; Johmak, whom he remembered from his time at the Order of Mata Nui; two Dark Hunters and a Rahi, whom Takanuva did not know; and most comforting of all, his old friend Toa Tahu.

“Hello,” he said uncertainly, knowing from previous destinations that they could very easily turn on them. Just to be sure, he held up his hands. “I come in peace.”

Some of the beings around the fire eyeballed him uncertainly. Others, Tahu in particular, stared at him wide-eyed. Then Tahu stood up and pointed his fire blades at the Toa of Light.

“So you claim, stranger, but I know you’re not Takanuva. Why have you stolen his form?”

“I’ve done no such thing,” he explained, a little panicked. “I come from…another world…another universe…where I did not die.” This did not seem to appease his alternate friend, so he raised his hand behind him and fired a beam of light into the darkness.

After a tense pause, Tahu lowered the weapon. He sighed heavily. “Very well. Even if you’re not the real Takanuva, we need all the power we can get.”

“Why?” asked Takanuva. “Is Makuta controlling the universe or something?”

The Toa of Fire looked at him quizzically. “Makuta? I’m guessing you mean Teridax. As far as anyone knows, he’s been dead ever since you — or rather, your other self — slammed the door on him on Mata Nui.”

Johmak spoke up. “That’s not entirely true. The Order of Mata Nui had reason to believe that his essence survived the incident, and later took residence in the body of a Maxilos robot in Mahri Nui.”

This appeared to trigger a memory for Tahu. “Right. Jaller said something about Matoro freezing a Maxilos robot. He said he came close to thawing it in trying to fight off an enemy, but noticed it at the last moment and chose another attack.”

Things clicked into place for Takanuva. He spoke out loud to help himself understand “So, Jaller never thaws Makuta, he’s probably killed when Voya Nui returns or when Mata Nui awakes…” He trailed off. “But…if Mata Nui awoke without trouble, what caused all this?”

Tahu gave a pathetic smile. “It’s a long story.”

Edited by WhereFMF
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Chapter 2

Takanuva had heard other stories of what had happened differently in his previous destinations, but this was one of the most interesting. Everything had happened as it had up to the present in his universe. The Toa Mahri had saved the Great Spirit Mata Nui’s life, and the Toa Nuva had successfully awakened him.

The Makuta Bitil, Mutran, and Vamprah had escaped from the energy storms about which Takanuva was trying to warn the other Toa. But their success had been short-lived. Once Mata Nui had gained control of his body and memories, he had immediately wiped out what little was left of the Brotherhood. He had also rewarded those who had supported him during his sleep, and vowed that he would never again neglect his universe.

A few weeks of great rejoicing had passed. Then, the universe had experienced a series of minor earthquakes. No one had been particularly worried about these. That is, until one night when the stars had gone out and the twin suns had not risen in the morning.

Then everyone started disappearing.

“The Toa were the among the first to go,” said Tahu, his head hung. “Gali disappeared without a trace. Kopaka and Lewa went looking for her and never returned. Your other self was last seen in the Archives; we presume him gone like the others. Onua and Nuparu were leading a group of Matoran to what they thought was safety, when the ground opened up and swallowed them and half the Matoran. The ones who survived said they knew what Toa of Earth were capable of, and they stood there for a long time, expecting them to come carrying their friends to the surface laughing…but they never did.

“It was Pohatu who finally brought word to us. He told us he’d seen it seize a few Le-Matoran — he couldn’t have hoped to interfere; it was too powerful. It was some huge robot, with the word ‘Marendar’ written on its side. He told us he was going to gather more information on it, and that he would meet us here, on Karzanhi, in a week’s time. He never did.

“I don’t know if I’m the only Toa left, but it seems likely.”

There was a long silence. Evidently, the story Tahu had just told held just as much emotional weight for this universe.

The female dark hunter broke the silence. “Krahka, where’s Kopeke?”

The other beings jerked their heads in various directions, but the Ko-Matoran was nowhere to be seen.

One of the unrecognized males stood and announced “Whoever you are, come out and face us!”

“Guardian, no!” Johmak said in a harsh whisper, but the Dark Hunter carried on.

“I’ve had quite enough of this secrecy! I think it’s high time you came out and faced us for what we are!”

Right on cue, a blade emerged from the darkness and sliced Guardian clean in half at his waist.

Chaos erupted immediately. Tahu extinguished the fire, but Takanuva thought he saw Krakha and the Dark Hunter beginning a stand against their unseen foe. Flashes of energy lit the darkness, and Takanuva first saw Krahka cut down, then the female Dark Hunter blasted to pieces. Before he could intervene, Tahu had grabbed his arm and dragged him behind a rock. The sounds of battle died quickly.

Then there were only footsteps. Heavy, metallic footsteps. Clang. Clump. Clang. They were getting closer to their hiding spot. Takanuva so desperately wanted to jump out and fight, but he knew that he did not stand a chance. He heard the air hissing from something being swung, and—

A great clang of metal on metal, right in front of their faces. “Go!” shouted Johmak. “Run, Toa! I’ll hold him as long as I can!”

Tahu and Takanuva ran. The Toa of Light took one last look back and shone a beam of light from his hand. Johmak was a formidable fighter, dissolving and reforming in a strangely beautiful rhythm, but Marendar was clearly superior, and she was already struggling.

He turned back around to focus on his escape. Behind him he heard Johmak cry out “MATA NUI!”

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Chapter 3

How long had he and Tahu been travelling? Weeks? Months? However long it was, they had gone far south of any charted part of the universe. On the water they were usually safe, save for one particularly nasty incident that had nearly resulted in Tahu losing a leg.

But Marendar always found them. No matter how many times it seemed they had given him the slip, or even when th'ey sighted him travelling to some other part of the universe, he came back. There had been so many narrow escapes and adventures; both of them had given the beast multiple direct hits and yet it still trudged on, focussed on nothing but the destruction of a universe.

There had been an Onu-Matoran, Zemya, who had joined them for a time. He and several other Matoran had been taken to temporary safety on Daxia. He told an interesting story of the Order of Mata Nui’s last stand—how Toa Helryx had tried to mount a defense in spite of Marendar’s formidable reputation, how she had been torn limb from limb and caused the beast only a scratch, and how Brutaka, holed up in the innermost room, had opened a portal and told him to get to safety. Takanuva had winced at this part—how would he ever continue his journey with the Olmak gone in this universe?

It was not Marendar who had killed Zemya. One morning Tahu and Takanuva had awakened to find him gone without explanation. Had it been Marendar, none of them would have awakened.

Now they had nowhere left to run. Tahu and Takanuva stood silent, defeated, at the southern tip of the southernmost island in the universe. A Toa’s life cannot end like this! thought Takanuva, but there was no other way.

Tahu said, “Is that a door?”

It was. There was a small door, sideways relative to the ground, set in the wall that marked the end of the universe. Whether it was a dimensional gate or a simple door could not be determined.

“Yes. It is.”

“Should we go through it?”

“I suppose so.” The weary heroes had little energy or will left for dialogue.

Takanuva went first. As he lay on the ground and rolled sideways through the door, a strange thing happened: he was suddenly not lying down, but standing. He was on the sand of…another world, perhaps? There was only one sun here, and it had almost set. He looked up, and saw only metal, metal as far as the eye could see.

A green-armoured being, whom they had already spotted, now came running across the sands towards them. “Toa! Toa!” he called out.

Not about to take any chances, Tahu and Takanuva lifelessly raised their weapons. “What do you want?” asked the Toa of Fire.

“Wait, don’t hurt me, I want to help you,” he said, skidding to a stop. “My name is Gresh.”

He began speaking very rapidly. “I’ve heard what the Great Beings are doing to you. I don’t think it’s right. There are rumours all over Spherus Magna about you being sentient and all. Since you survived, I think I should take you two to them. They need to know they’re not just cleaning robots out of there. They’re cleaning intelligence.”

Tahu and Takanuva exchanged a look. Then Takanuva extended his hand. “Very well, Gresh. Take us to the Great Beings, if you know where to find them.”

“Thank you, I – I don’t, but the others—” That was all the green-armoured being could say before he fainted dead away.

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Chapter 4

Once he regained consciousness, Gresh was able to speak to them more coherently as they walked through the desert. “In truth, we—my village—weren’t totally sure that you Toa were intelligent. So we we decided to send someone to the robot to find one, if we could, and I was picked as the rookie. I was a bit nervous about, you know, getting burned or chopped in half, so I had to get all of that out quickly.”

“Hold on, hold on,” said Tahu. “I understand your reluctance to associate with us, but what’s this about a robot?”

“See for yourself,” said Gresh, gesturing behind them.

Tahu and Takanuva turned and were both awed. A great robot, whose scale they could not have hoped to comprehend at its base and was still far from imagination, stretched millions of feet into the sky.

“Mata Nui, we called it.”

Then the Toa understood. The universe, their universe, was Mata Nui.

“That thing repaired our planet; it used to be just barren desert, but now there’s water and plants everywhere you look, and our lives are a lot easier. Of course, it’s because of our lives that we unleashed Marendar.”

“You mean…”

“Exactly. Once Spherus Magna was restored, the Great Beings came out of hiding and told us they had created very powerful robots to ensure the safety of this giant robot. They believed that you might rebel and try to conquer the Agori—they’re the villagers of our planet, you call your villagers ‘Matoran’, I believe? Anyway, they said that this was all for our protection.

“There were rumours, of course. I think they all stemmed from a single report—Marendar sent word back that it had encountered difficulty clearing one of the islands, as a female foe had put up quite a fight while others made their escape. It wasn’t a lot of evidence for sentience, but we wanted to believe—and now here we are.”

“We’re not quite there yet,” said Tahu. “We need to find the beings who can end this.”

“I mean we really are here,” replied Gresh with a smile, gesturing to a doorway that blended into the sand quite a lot. His face then turned darker. “But be warned—they don’t like visitors.” He started to walk away.

“You’re coming with us,” Takanuva said simply.

“I am?” Gresh thought it over. “I mean, I already brought you here…Yeah, I guess I am.”

They entered the passageway, but Takanuva noted that Gresh brought up the rear.

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Chapter 5

The passageway was long and winding, and Takanuva eventually stopped counting the steps to pass the time. Gresh was making uneasy glances towards the surface, but in fairness, all of them were. Tahu walked as if he carried hundreds of pounds of burden, and he did, only emotionally. He had seen his team, his universe, the ones he was sworn to protect, wiped out. Takanuva was not immune to these effects.

At last they came to a large chamber that looked rather like a workshop. There were curtains at the far side of the room, from behind which the wonderful noises of creation were emanating. They stopped when the travellers entered, and were replaced by whispers.

“Toa…TOA…here?…one of ours…believe…”

At last, a powerful voice spoke three words. “You. Glatorian. Leave.”

Gresh looked helplessly at the Toa. For a moment they thought he might abandon them, but Gresh said “No. I stand with my friends.”

“It was not a request.” Gresh disappeared.

There was a tense silence. Takanuva began, “You must stop this slaughter at once! The—”

“No.” From behind the curtain, a sizzling golden beam came hurtling directly at Takanuva.

Once, when the Toa of Light had been a Matoran, his friend Jaller had taken a blast for him. Jaller was now a Toa, and in this universe he was probably dead. Takanuva had vowed never to let a friend die for him again, which is why it caused him such grief when Tahu leapt forward and activated his mask of shielding. The beam passed right through it unchanged.

When the weapon made contact, it enveloped Tahu in a golden plasma that evidently caused the Toa of Fire great pain. Even as Takanuva watched, Tahu’s adaptive armour melted under the strain. Then, somehow, his Nuva transformation was reversed before Takanuva’s eyes, leaving him in his Toa Mata form. Finally, the Toa of Fire collapsed, clearly very weakened.

“His powers are gone,” said the voice.

Takanuva dropped to his knees and held his old friend in his arms. “Tahu…are you…”

“Don’t know…how long…I can hold. So weak…” He tried to get to his feet, but couldn’t move his legs beyond a twitch.

You’re going to be fine,” said Takanuva, choked by emotion. “You’re going to be fine, Tahu!”

“Easy, friend,” the Toa of Fire said with a cavalier chuckle. “At least this…is a way…for a hero to die.” His eyes grew dark and his heartlight went out.

Takanuva stood. He had had enough. “YOU CALL YOURSELVES GREAT!”, he screamed, and unleashed blasts of light and shadow from his hands to the ceiling that threatened to bring the chamber down. Consumed by a towering rage, he smashed through a table in the centre of the room stacked with equipment and drew back his staff to rip open the curtain—

“Stop.”

And everything stopped. Takanuva was frozen in place, unable to move; a rock falling in front of him ceased its process of breaking in half; the curtains were perforated in impossible places.

A voice appeared in his head. Valor? Sacrifice? Grief? These are not the behaviours of nanotech creations.

I’m not just a — whatever that is! Takanuva thought back. I am a Toa!

There is no difference between those terms.

You must call off Marendar at once! The Toa, the Matoran, we mean no harm to you!

A pause. We have made a grave mistake. In saving our world, we destroyed another.

The voice continued, Shut Marendar down. We must save what we can.

Another thought-voice interjected, There are perhaps two hundred of the Universe’s inhabitants left alive, and the failsafe may not work—

Do it! thought-shouted the other great being.

Time resumed, and Takanuva did not strike but fell on the floor, his mask touching the curtain.

“We will send a party into the robot to find the survivors.”

“Are…are there any Toa left?” Takanuva asked hopefully.

“That is not your concern.

“What is your concern is that you are not from this universe.”

“I am not.”

“You wish to return to your own.”

“I do. I have urgent news I must deliver there.”

“We can take you where you need to go immediately—but you have seen too much in this universe.”

There was a flash of light behind the curtain, and Takanuva found himself in interdimensional space again. He thought about the Toa Empire ruled by an insane Tuyet he had just escaped, and there was a feeling of some great thing forgotten, but it passed immediately.

END

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