Chapter 1:
The Paradise Island of Makuta
Section 1: The Pain Machine
The being’s first conscious experience was agony. As it laid on the shore, the dwindling flame in its chest threatening to go out at every lapping of the waves, it felt double the pain for each scattered limb. Just as its body was separated, so was its mind. It was the arm and the hand that desperately searched for something to hold on to, it was the legs, both unable to stand up and walk on their own and it was the head and torso writhing and winding like a dying worm.
But as the blind arm finally got hold of the head, it made the torso rolled over and onto it, popping it back into the shoulder socket; they felt more complete than before. And the legs knew what had occurred, and each of them they crawled towards the body just as the body used its new arm to frag itself towards them. And with each snap of the thighs into the hip, he felt more whole.
Yet, when he stood triumphantly – putting on his mask – he was not whole, for his right arm was still missing and nowhere to be found. In his frustration he let out a scream so full of pain and rage that the metal of his mask started to shake and vibrate and it echoed back one word of which he knew not the meaning: “Tahu.”
Gazing upon the horizon there was an angry mountain spitting fire and he knew that it was his brother. Maybe that was where his arm had gone? Thus, to make himself one again, the biomechanoid set out towards it.
As he left the coarse sands of the shore and entered the dense Green of the Jungle, the underbrush beneath his feet turned to ash. Every leaf he touched with his two-fingered hand would burn up and die as he held it. Ash followed him everywhere he went and everything that crossed on his path would either die or flee out of fear.
But when he stepped out of the flammable forest and onto the volcanic earth of the fury mountain, he met a being that would not yield to him.
“Halt!”, a tiny, squeaky voice commanded, “You stand before Jaller, captain of the Ta-Koro Guard. You have no right to ascend our holy Mangai volcano. Turn around at once, intruder!”
Section 2: Runaway
He ran because there was nothing else left to do and because it was the only thing he was good at. His mask was the Kanohi Kakama and it gave him great speed; Hewkii had told him that. But even without his mask, he had still been faster than any Matoran in Po-Koro. But it didn’t matter anymore. They were all dead now. He was their Toa and he had failed them. So, he ran.
He ran with the swarms, tracking and mapping their movements, taking out as many of these mindless bugs as he could before they would overwhelm him, never confronting them head on. He had learned not to underestimate the swarm. It had been a costly lesson. The Matoran had tried to warn him of his mistake, but he did not understand back then. In the same way that he had only truly learned the rules of Kolhii not after Hewkii explained them to him but after playing and making many, many mistakes in the process. Was that his destiny? To make one mistake after another after until there were no mistakes left to make? No! He would not allow it. He was the Toa of stone for Makuta’s sake! And guess what? Now that the swarms had ‘cleansed’ the fields and grasslands of Ko-Wahi there was nothing left but stone. He had tracked their path over the past few days. They were headed for a narrow gorge. He would wait for them there and when they finally showed their ugly, insect-like faces, he would show them the true power of stone!
It had been days since he arrived at the valley. He had kept himself busy practicing Kolhii and running some more. But today was the day. From atop the canyon, he could see the fire accompanied by the clouds of dust and smoke that followed the swarm’s never-ending killing of everything good and beautiful.
As the swarm entered the gorge, Pohatu steadied his feet against the canyon’s stone. Shutting off the loud and droning noise of their terrible destruction, he focused on every rock, boulder and pebble around him. He let himself become one with the stone, letting it guide him as he commanded it to form walls at either end of the valley, making escape impossible. Then, the ground itself opened up underneath the swarm, as if it were the frightening mouth of Makuta himself, ready to swallow them all whole. And as they fell to their deaths, Pohatu thanked the canyon for its sacrifice, before making its very stone crumble to pieces and crush the swarm underneath it; burying this evil once and for all.
In the end, he alone was left standing, atop a tall pillar of stone. He had finally avenged his friends and now he could rest. He could stop running for a while, so he drew in the fresh air and enjoyed the silence.
But it was not to last. An unnerving rumbling made itself known underneath him, it slowly grew louder until it was almost deafening. And as he looked down, he saw Bohrok digging their way out of the rubble! Even though he had killed myriads of them, he did not kill all. And now they sought to avenge their fallen brothers.
One by one, they made their way to his pillar and started hammering away at it. And Pohatu had nowhere to run. He could only watch as the swarm made him pay for his mistake once again. Finally, he fell. He fell because he made another mistake. A whole lot of mistakes. In his grief, he had deluded himself into thinking he could beat the entire swarm on his own in one stroke. He had left himself exposed and vulnerable atop his thin pillar. And most disastrous of all, he had allowed himself to rest after he thought the swarms destroyed.
Now they would make him pay once more for his final mistake.
Section 3: Face Off
The Onu-Matoran valued strength above all else. And Onua was the strongest of them all. When he had arrived at Onu-Koro, he had burst out of the ground beneath their feet, surprising the miners in the shaft. At first, they had tried to kill the massive, hulking figure that had come tunnelling out of the deep, dark rock. They launched their hammers at him and tried to drill through his armour. But Onua was strong. He was even more strong in recognizing that those frightened little beings were not attacking him out of malice but out of fear.
It didn’t take long for them to see his strength and the gentleness that came with it.
They wanted to make him their new king within the day. Onua refused. He’d much rather dig in the mines with the other working Matoran and be one of them.
“Hey big guy, you down watch the Ussal race later?”, Taipu was the only one who would talk to Onua without being spoken to first. Still, it was a bit awkward.
“Well, to be honest, I was planning to visit the archives again,” Onua answered stiffly before going back to digging.
“That old place? You know, nobody’s been down there in over ten years! What’s in there that could possibly be more exciting than the Ussal–”
Taipu didn’t get to finish his sentence. A loud, incessant rumbling filled the entire mineshaft, growing ever louder. The ground and even the walls began trembling violently.
“Taipu, get back!”, Onua warned him, but it was too late.
From out of the wall there burst a vicious beast covered in sharp, metal spikes with a long, club-like tail and it’s claws were deadly, each digit a blade unto itself.
Onua instantly recognized it for what it was: Blade Burrower! He had read about them in the archives. Yet, before he could use the strength given to him by his mask to subdue the beast, he was hit by its armoured tail and knocked back against the wall.
The Rahi was on him in seconds, Onua defensively held up his hands to keep it from knocking off his mask. As he wrestled with the beast, its sword-like claws were slicing through his armour and scratching the Kanohi Pakari.
I can’t lose the mask, Onua thought to himself, I won’t be able to beat the Burrower without it!
But just in that moment a claw caught onto the Kanohi’s eyehole and as the beast was overpowering him, the mask was slowly being lifted off his face. It sat askew on Onua’s face, covering his eyes so that all he saw was darkness. It made him remember something he once read.
“Taipu!”, he shouted for his friend, “Throw me a Lightstone!”
He heard the distinct “clink” of the crystalline Lightstone coming down on the rocky ground somewhere left of him.
■■■■ you, Mata Nui, he silently cursed. He still couldn’t see and he would have to reach out with his arm in order to grope for the stone. But he was currently using his right arm to keep the Blade Burrower from crushing him underneath it and – more importantly – his left hand was holding on to the Pakari.
Caught in an impossible dilemma, Onua was forced to make an unthinkable decision.
He let go of his mask, his left arm immediately reaching out for the Lightstone. But in the few moments that it took for him to locate it, he could already feel his strength waning and his physical form diminishing. Quickly he held the stone up to the beast’s face and it let out a pained roar that could almost be mistaken for a yelp. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the Blade Burrower was gone.
But all that Onua could think about was his mask. Where did it go?
“Whoa how did you know it would be scared off by the Lightstone?”, Taipu was mighty impressed.
Onua swiftly tossed the stone back to him, while trying to keep his feeble, gaunt body hidden in the shadows. His thin, fragile arms were weakly feeling around in the dark as he searched for the Pakari.
“Please,” he begged, “Don’t look at me.”
Section 4: The Good of the Many
“Why are you doing this, Kopaka?”, Matoro asked. There was no fear in his voice.
“It is what must be done. The stars demand it”, Kopaka’s voice was trembling.
The Toa raised his sword, preparing to strike down his little friend.
It was Matoro who had found him and brought him into the village. Kopaka had been wandering the snowy mountains of Ko-Wahi for days at that point. He knew that this was where he belonged, yet it had not felt like home.
But when Matoro took him by the hand and led him into Ko-Koro, he knew that he had found his people.
He was brought into the Sanctum, there Kylma taught him of how they study the stars and inscribe their messages on the Wall of Prophecy.
“You are a Toa”, she had told him, “It is your duty to follow Makuta and his will which he has written in the stars for us to read. This is how we knew you were coming; it was Makuta who promised us to you. A warrior to defend our ways.”
Even though Kopaka was a warrior, he preferred being a friend. He was friends with many Matoran.
He was friends with Talvi and Pakastaa whom he would greet every day when he entered to the Sanctum to receive Makuta’s latest commands. They would always tell him what a great friend he was for being willing to fight for Makuta.
He was friends with Jaa who never stopped chiselling away at the wall of prophecy. And Jaa would also tell him what a good friend he was for studying Makuta’s words.
Most importantly, Kopaka was friends with Kylma, whom he would always have long talks with after their study sessions. Kylma always told Kopaka he was a good friend, because he knew to do as he was told.
Sometimes Makuta would not have a Mission for Kopaka, and he got to visit Matoro and Kopeke and they would practice disc throwing together. He liked being with them, but they never told him what a good friend he was.
On one of those days, where the stars had not said much, Kopaka found himself in their company once more.
“Good shot, Kopaka!”, Matoro cheered. Instead of throwing ice discs, like the others, he was using his shield to hit targets. It was larger and heavier, but Kopaka was also stronger than any Matoran. They had never managed to beat his record, but still, every time he hit a target, his friends were not mad that he beat them, instead they cheered for him.
Their hurrahs were cut short by Talvi and Pakastaa who were not here for disc-throwing, but for their Toa.
“Kylma wants to speak to you,” Talvi announced.
“But I thought the stars were silent today?”, Kopaka was confused.
“We were not told of the content of this matter, only that it is important”, Pakastaa replied.
So, to his dismay, Kopaka had to leave his friends and listen to what Kylma had to say, because it was his duty.
When he entered the Sanctum, it seemed colder than usual. Jaa was not there and he realized that he had never been in here fully alone. At the very end of the hall Kylma was standing with her back turned to Kopaka. She was looking at the wall of Prophecy. It seemed so dangerously large in front of this tiny Matoran. Like it would topple over and crush her at any moment.
“The stars have revealed a terrible truth to me, Kopaka.”, Kylma said.
“I thought you read nothing new in the stars today?”, Kopaka didn’t want to go on another mission, he wanted to go back to Matoro and Kopeke.
“I did not tell you of this, because I didn’t want to believe it true. But it is the word of Makuta and thus it is true.”
“What is it?” He would never admit it out loud, but sometimes Kopaka could not stand Kylma’s endless talking.
“The stars have told me of a demon amongst us. One who is destined to free the great devil Mata Nui from his chains. We cannot allow this to happen,” it felt as if Kylma was drawing this out deliberately. Why was she teasing him like this?
“Whoever it is, I will deal with them swiftly. It is my duty to protect Makuta.”
“I hope so, dear Toa. It is important that you stay true to your duty, now more than ever.”
“Just tell me who it is,” Kopaka’s patience was wearing thin.
“Yes, you are right. I can no longer deny the truth. The demon in our midst, the one who is said to doom us all, is Matoro.”
Kopaka could not believe it. Matoro was his friend! How could he betray him like that?
“So, tell me, Kopaka,” Kylma continued, “will you do as you are told?”
And so Kopaka went back to Matoro, took him by the hand and went out into the Drifts with him, because it was his duty. And Matoro followed him unquestioningly, because he was his friend.
Section 5: Prey and Predator
Komii had never known what it felt like to really hate someone with your whole being before. But as she sat there next to her Gukko high atop the trees, watching this abomination weightlessly glide from branch to branch, she could not feel anything but hate. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard the screams of her Gukko Force’s soldiers, and she saw Afa dying in her arms. Over and over again.
Usually a whole troop wouldn’t to be sent out just to investigate the disappearance of a few Le-Matoran, it wasn’t unheard of for Rahi to abduct careless Matoran. But ever since the Ga-Matoran all disappeared, the whole Koro was on high alert. As it turned out, there were worse things than Rahi and mysteriously disappearing tribes out there. Far worse.
Komii tried to shake off these thoughts. There was no point in lingering on the past. Not until she had her revenge. She saddled her Gukko and rose above the tree line, ever careful to not lose the demon’s trail. “Good girl, Paku”, she encouraged her bird, “I know he is like wind sweeping through the treetops, but we’ll get him.”
It had moved, like it was one with the air. She had turned to Boreas to inquire about something. But when she faced him, his mask was split open, with an axe sticking out of his head. All hell broke loose. It pains her to admit it, but she was the first to break formation. Her Matoran needed a leader, but all she needed was to know Afa was safe. She could see them all around her, being torn to pieces by a silent shadow of wind. Their cries filled the night. They were screaming in agony, desperately trying to figure out what was going on. Then, when no answer came to make sense of this mindless slaughter, they cried, asking why their leader had abandoned them.
But all that Komii could do was to hold her love and watch as the life faded from Afa’s eyes and her body went heavy and limp in her arms. She had sat there, numb, for a full day and night, before finally laying Afa to rest and beginning her hunt.
Komii directed Paku to land on another tree. She could not let herself become distracted; she would rest here until she had cleared her head again. Komii looked out to see where the monster had gone, trying to keep her mind on the matter. There was no trace of it anywhere. Then she heard rustling behind her and Paku squawked and screeched in panic. Her cries were cut short by the horrid crunching sound of her neck snapping, followed by the thump of her body hitting the ground. Komii dared not to turn around, for she knew death had come for her in the form of this supposed Toa of Air.