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Fate of the Elders


Valrahk

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Preface

 

This story is meant to continue and conclude the storyline from my last RPG, Bionicle: Masks of the Elders. I'll post a link to the old topic for the game, or create a new one, soon. This story begins from the exact time the game's most recent version ended: Arikan and company have fled from the underwater Beacon, where Arkhus had created a portal to bring the Banished Ones back into the world. Arikan's company barely managed to escape in Arkhus' old airship, the Dark, as the Beacon flooded and collapsed around them.

 

 

Chapter 1: Homecoming

 

The Dark burst through the waves converging around the vortex where the Beacon once stood, now a collapsing tangle of metal at the ocean’s floor. For a second, Arikan thought they may have made it, just barely, as he clung with all his strength to the ship’s wheel. As much as Arkhus had schemed, as much as it appeared he’d brought back every evil thing once banished from the world, he hoped it would all have drowned with the wretched Matoran who brought them back.

 

Then, over his head, dark shapes swept, screaming under the darkening clouds, their shrill voices almost laughing as they flew past. Raika, Yorus, and Ikuria, still clutching whatever part of the ship their hands could reach, cowered, shaking on the deck of their commandeered airship.

 

It seemed like hours, or perhaps only a few horrible seconds, but the screaming faded, and only the sound of the vortex below remained. They all took a few breaths, relaxing as they flew straight and level for a moment. But Raika looked straight at Arikan, and they both had a sudden, terrible thought. Arikan’s hands fumbled around the instruments and controls as he tried to point the prow toward the northwest, toward Cho-Koro. Toward home.

 

* * *

 

Arikan watched The Dark soar past overhead as he surfaced just a few bio from shore. It was crazy, trying to dive out of an airship like that, but it was the fastest way, and nobody wanted to try and land the massive craft on such a small island. As soon as his eyes began to clear, his hope faded. It had only been a few minutes since they left the Beacon, but already his village burned. He crawled ashore, and found massive, clawed footprints sprinting in every direction, and Matoran lying wherever they landed, none of them moving. For a moment, he froze, his mind desperately trying to convince itself that this couldn’t possibly be happening.

 

A pained scream from uphill snapped him into focus – he knew that voice: Kohlni. He sprinted toward the Turaga’s hut, ignoring the crumbling, burning walls and roof as he dashed past the threshold. Inside, he found a tall, dark-armored figure, its mask contorted into a hideous smile, with pale, sickly-green wings folded behind its back. It held a clawed hand outstretched, and Kohlni floated in the air just past it, shadows crackling around his entire body.

 

“I knew you’d be here.” The creature said, its voice at once shrill and thundering. “Even before we’d returned, He told me about you – the naïve one, boldly dashing into whatever doom happened to stand in front of him. He told me to come here, to this rocky little sandbar hiding near Zakaz. He said it would destroy you even if He couldn’t.”

 

“You’d destroy an entire village just to hurt… me?” Arikan barely heard his own voice.

 

“Ha! HA!” The creature laughed, throwing its wings out to the sides. “I would wreck this place out of boredom. I was just trying to attract your attention. You, you look young, too young to understand what pain really is.

 

“It’s time you learned. Care to say anything to him, my wrinkled old friend?”

 

Even through the pain that covered Kohlni’s face, he still managed to turn and scowl at the creature, silent as he glared.

 

“I didn’t think so.” He lifted Kohlni up with the shadows, bringing him up to the top of the domed center of the hut. Then he turned, staring straight at Arikan. He clenched his hand, and the shadows retracted into Kohlni’s body. For a brief instant, the Turaga jolted from the pain, before falling onto the sand below.

 

The creature turned, stretching its wings. “This was never your world, Matoran. It was ours. Even when we were banished, it was still ours. Remember that. I would find a good place to hide if I were you. It might give my Brothers some sport before they destroy you.” It crouched, and leapt through the burning roof, screaming again as it flew away.

 

Kohlni let out a gasping breath, wheezing and sputtering. Arikan ran towards him, and knelt as close as he could. The Turaga’s eyes seemed hollow as they looked up at him.

 

“Arikan…” he whispered, pausing to take a tortured breath. “This… shouldn’t have… happened… “

“We failed, didn’t we? All that, and we failed…”

 

“No…” he coughed, “You haven’t… Your… destiny… just got more complicated…” He coughed again, and gasped for breath. “There is… so much… so much you need… to know…”

 

“About what? What do I need to know?” Arikan’s eyes widened and blurred.

 

“You…” Kohlni drew in a few more breaths, each one more and more painful. “Don’t… stop… Never… stop. They… fear you, Arikan. Arkhus… knew…  Ah… hrrrnh…” His body curled in on itself, slowly. “Take it, Arikan… Take… my mask.”

 

Arikan froze for a moment. “What? Why? Don’t say that—I…”

 

“Listen, Arikan… This… mask… you will… need… it. I… don’t…” Trembling, he lifted the Kanohi from the Turaga’s face, then looked back at that face. He smiled, even through the pain. “Thank… you…” he whispered. “May… the Great… Spirit… guide you… “

 

* * *

 

Arikan said nothing as all his companions around him put food on their plates. The bleak, meager provisions from the Za-koro inn seemed to fit somehow, and all of them could feel it. “We cannot simply hide forever.” Ikuria broke the silence. “All those… things… that Arkhus released will chase after us before long.”

 

“Okay, so we go out there, start running around, and then what?” Shoriis dropped a lump of stale bread back onto his plate. “We won’t last a day.”

 

Yorus looked at him, half scowling, unable to disagree. “If we stay here much longer, though, we’ll be found anyway. Nobody seems to care about Zakaz anymore, but that just makes it a obvious place to look.”

Lauenna leaned forward. “The Ruki that school as one will meet the Takea’s teeth,” she looked around at the rest of the Matoran, “but the Ruki that school apart will swim away from it.”

 

“What are you talking about now?” Yorus asked, exasperation filling her voice.

 

“Huh,” Shoriis said, rubbing his chin. “That’s not a bad plan. We’re probably a lot harder to find if we don’t stick together.”

 

“Indeed,” Ikuria added, “Six Matoran, from all the old tribes, will always attract attention, but one or two Matoran travelling… that will keep us hidden very well.”

 

Raika stood up, leaned his hands on the table. “Okay, so… we split up. What are we doing after that?” We can’t just go around fighting these things. We don’t even know how many there are, or how strong.”

 

“We need to search for answers before we can make any move.” Ikuria replied. “I will return to Xia and find out what I can from Xu. He knows far more than he has told any of you. Perhaps he knows more even than I do.”

 

“I’ll go with you,” Yorus chimed in. “If Xu’s going to say anything, I need to be there to hear it.”

 

Shoriis sighed, “I never thought I’d say this, but I think some of those old legends from Aigo-Kava might help us. You know? The ruined city, the caves that never end? We saw the Hives for ourselves. Anything could be down there.”

 

Raika nodded. “You can’t go there alone. It took four of us just to survive under that island last time. Mata Nui knows what you’ll find if you go deeper.”

 

Lauenna rose. “Kane-Ra and Muaka shall hunt together.” Shoriis smiled at her.

 

“Okay, that’s settled. But…” Raika looked at Arikan, who hadn’t looked up for a long while. “I’m not sure what we can do. Hiding here won’t help, but… I think there’s a couple of old Guardians on the Northern Continent. I remember seeing some temples there. If nothing else, they should be able to help us.”

 

“We should all be looking for Guardians while we’re away.” Yorus replied. “Any of them will help. They’re the closest we can get to backup.”

 

Raika nodded. “Okay, rest tonight, then tomorrow, we split up. Remember what you’re supposed to be doing, and get back here as quickly as you can.”

 

As the others left, Raika looked back at Arikan, his hand resting sullenly on his pack. He hadn’t told Raika about the mask, but he didn’t even have to tell him that Kohlni was gone. They both knew already. Raika walked away in silence, leaving Arikan alone with his thoughts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Chapter 2: Of the Mind

 

It had barely been two days since the Beacon fell, and already Xi-Metru had gathered a new, terrible stench around it: a dense, pervasive odor that blended primal fear, industrial fumes, and the perpetual reek of scum that until now been trapped in the sewers. The elevators to the Upper City were smashed, their cables cut near the top of each of the pillars. Around the base of the Lower City, a few Matoran hastily and worriedly cobbled a high barrier wall, none of them venturing to the outside of it even while placing each rubble-stone.

 

It took a long time for Yorus and Ikuria to sneak around to an unwatched point, a narrow gap near one of the northern pillars. As they pushed in a few stones to make way, a few Matoran with chipped masks and grimy armor glanced their way, then fled into nearby shadows like insects.

 

“We’ll follow these back-roads through to the main canal,“ Yorus whispered, ”We can cross there and sneak our way to one of the old sewer grates.

 

Ikuria’s feet shuffled along the ground as Yorus stepped silently around every piece of rubble. The buildings here, in the outlying slums, stood as ravaged, twisted pillars, with crude openings in the sides for doors and windows. Every few steps, they felt the eyes of a Matoran peeking out at them before darting back to where they were unseen, terrified that someone could walk so openly in their neighborhood.

 

Off to the east somewhere, a loud crashing rumble, like the sound of metal falling on the street, echoed their way. Instantly, a swarm of steel limbs flew into motion, and dozens of swift, heavy footfalls sprinted toward the sound. “The Vahlkri are still here?”

 

“Looks like it.” Yorus replied, gesturing toward an alley that two leaning buildings made into a tunnel. “They’ve never been quite that aggressive before. Looks like the new ‘mayor’ reprogrammed them.”

 

Ikuria gulped. Since they’d arrived on Xia, he felt as though they had been watched, not by the Valkhri, or the Matoran, but by this new “mayor,” as though it lurked somewhere on the ceiling of the Lower City, perched to watch over the residents of Xi-Metru, or to hunt them.

 

They found their way to a railing on the far side, and below them, the street dropped down several bio to a hard stone floor. “Figures,” Yorus sighed. “Can’t let anyone have the luxury of stale canal-water…” She looked over to  her left, toward a bridge further down the canal. A crimson Valkhri stood guard, sweeping its head from side to side, scanning for any movement. “Okay, looks like it’s time for plan B.”

 

* * *

 

“Next time, Yorus, please allow me to choose plan B.” Ikuria brushed the mud off his arm, grimacing at all the gunk still left on him.

 

“Oh, come on. That was nothing. The sewers aren’t normally that dry, especially the new sewers.”

 

“Where are we now?”

 

“Well, if I still have my bearings, we’re…” Yorus looked around, noting the solidified gunk formations on the walls, “in the Old sewers now, about halfway to the southeast corner of the city.”

 

“Do we have much further to go? This is… disgusting.” Ikuria shook some more mud off his feet.

 

“A little bit, yeah. It should be fairly straightforw-“ Heavy thuds echoed around them, growing and fading quicker than Ikuria could judge what they were.

 

“No—not here…” Yorus quietly pressed herself against the wall. “Okay, they’ve definitely been reprogrammed. I’ve never seen them this deep in the sewer system before.”

 

From there, they walked as silently as they could. It took time for Ikuria to figure out how to step without making a telltale squishing sound, but after a few minutes, they were able to sidle their way through to the entrance of the Temple. There, they dared to hurry, and made a lot of noise running down the stairs. Thankfully, nothing followed them.

 

Almost immediately, they found a pile of shattered stones clogging the hallway. Yorus’ eyes went wide, and she immediately threw herself at the pile, tossing and rolling all the bricks away that she could.

 

“Yorus, stop for a moment!” Ikuria whisper-shouted, running over. “Look closer – I think this was caved in deliberately. We need to be careful about moving these stones, or we’ll risk another cave-in,” he looked up at the ceiling, “directly on top of us. This isn’t natural – it’s a trap. Do Vahlkri have this kind of foresight?”

 

“No,” Yorus replied, “But Xu does.”

 

For a long while, they paused, scanned over the pile of rocks in front of them, and argued over how precarious each stone was. “It seems as though every stone left is meant to hold up another,” Ikuria finally said, “We cannot move much more without all of the others falling onto us. Perhaps this is simply a natural cave-in.”

 

“No, the walls behind us are too clean for that… look, no cracks, no bricks out of place. You’d expect to find some damage there.” Yorus ran her hand along one of the walls, toward the pile, “Xu wouldn’t let himself get trapped this easily, he’d-“ she halted, staring at where the rubble met the wall. “Of course – that Matoran’s too clever: This isn’t a trap, it’s a riddle. Think about it – everything bad in Xi-Metru right now, the Vahlkri, the wild Rahi, that Banished One, they all have one thing in common.”

 

Ikuria paused, suddenly puzzled. “I do not follow.”

 

“They’re all a lot bigger than us.” She pulled a few stones out from where they leaned on the wall. “Anyone who would need his help would be a Matoran, someone who could fit in a small space, like right here.” She pulled a few loose stones from where they rested against the wall, and the larger stones above stayed in place. Ikuria stood gaping as she snuck her way into what now seemed too clearly a narrow tunnel, eventually pushing one last stone with a crackling thud into the passage beyond. He followed close behind, still astounded.

 

Their footsteps echoed through the still silence as they walked into the main chamber. A few stones from the vaulted ceiling lay strewn along the floor. Ahead, the stairs rose up to the same old platform they always had, though now the doors on the far side were caved in, their arched entryways shattered, keystones laying deliberately on the ground in front of them.

 

Yorus wandered around the room, checking every detail, poring over the ruined gateways. She tried desperately to find some clue where to go next, another hidden passage into even one of the three chambers beyond. She started slowing, at last wandering toward the center of the hall. “Where are you?” she whispered.

 

“He most likely fled.” Ikuria replied, “The contents of this temple are valuable, and very dangerous if anything evil were to obtain them, but he most likely knew that this place would not be easy to defend if it were attacked… so he most likely sealed what he could and left it as a ruin, perhaps as a trick to make them think it has been emptied. It is a desperate ploy, but one that shows great wisdom.”

 

Yorus shook her head. “No, no, he wouldn’t just leave. This isn’t just a storehouse. This is his home. It may not seem like it, but it is. I guess it was mine, too, in a way.” She walked over to the wall on the side, and drew her hand across the bricks as she made her way along it. “It’s kind of strange thinking that… and realizing it now, when the whole place is ruined like this.”

 

She heard something then, something quiet, soft – a shuffling, lined up with her footsteps. She kept walking, and a few steps later, stopped just short of the ground. A clear shuffle echoed then. Yorus sighed, “Okay, take off the mask. I know it’s you.” She rolled her eyes as a Ta-Matoran holding an old, battered Huna in his hands appeared a few bio away, gently smiling.

 

“I had wished you would realize this sooner.” Xu said, putting his old mask back on. “Unfortunately, now is not the time to discuss something so personal. Nobody seeks me without need, and from what I have seen in the city above, there is a very great need right now.”

 

They told them what had happened at the Beacon, of the shadows that scattered as they flew away. Xu nodded at every dark detail, and Ikuria kept his gaze on the old guru, noting every minute change in his face. By the time they had finished, Ikuria’s face held a look of concern mixed with a little bit of confusion.

 

Xu glanced his way. “You are wondering how much of this I knew before, aren’t you?” Ikuria started at the question, and Xu sighed in response. “You are known to be a master of ancient lore, one of the most knowledgeable Matoran on this entire planet, no doubt… but there are a few of us left who have one advantage over all your studies – we were there, all those eons ago. I know the name of the Banished Ones, a black stain on my heart and an old terror in my mind: Makuta. The Brotherhood of Makuta, rulers more corrupt than any have ever seen. We could not best them. We tried, but they somehow snuck away, still living, plotting, scheming despite the best efforts of all the forces of good and even a few more evil…

 

“They were banished from the world because that was all we could manage to do. There were even those who thought that was more than the world could handle. Some said that Mata Nui would not allow it, that Destiny would keep on its course… oh, my apologies. I haven’t spoken about such things for a long, long time. Now, I suspect you came to find something that would help you defeat them, didn’t you?”

 

“Perhaps not so bluntly, but yes.” Ikuria replied.

 

“Then I am sorry.” They stared at Xu, shocked. “I have nothing more in this hall to give you, much less anything that could stand up to such a force as the Brotherhood.”

 

“So that’s it?“ Yorus threw her hands up, ”All this way, and we just end up… losing the whole world?”

 

Xu gave a knowing smile at her as she started to walk away. “After all I was trying to teach you, for all those years, and you are still so impatient, Yorus, so eager to surrender when you see something impossible. Have you learned nothing from me?”

 

She stopped, paused for a moment, “Wait- you said, it’s been a long time, but you said to me once that there’s only one thing that’s impossible, now you’re saying something else is?”

 

“Perhaps it has been too long, Yorus, if you have forgotten that…”

 

“No, I didn’t forget – ‘The only thing that is truly impossible is impossibility,’ Mata Nui, even Lauenna makes more sense sometimes.”

 

Xu stood up. “I did not say that this situation is impossible, nor did I say that fixing this broken world was… You were the one who thought that. You saw it that way.”

 

Yorus turned back around, and took a few steps back toward him. “So tell me, what are we supposed to do? I don’t have time for any more of your riddles, Xu. None of us do. So please, just tell me – what do we do now?”

 

Xu looked her in the eye. “The Brotherhood of Makuta is one of the oldest organizations known to us, and easily the most powerful. There are none alive today who could ever hope to face them… so you must look to those who are not among the living.”

 

Ikuria pulled a Kanohi out of his bag, looked at it – remembered the Guardian who bore it – Gera, they called him, one of the last of the Toa. Xu eyed the mask, then glanced back at Yorus. “Look to your Guardians – find them, and they will follow you into battle, an army that can no longer die.”

 

He rose, and started walking slowly back up his stairs. He stopped with one foot on the last step. “There are many places to start, but look first to Aigo-Kava. By now, your friend Shoriis must know that it is not quite as abandoned as you may have guessed.”

Edited by Valrahk
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