Chapter 8
“They’re not here,” Miserix growled.
“You sure this is the right cliff?” Hafu asked.
Miserix glared at the Matoran. “Of course I’m sure! This is where the others were when I left them. Now they’re gone.”
Clanik was talking with a few of his people, who had been scouting the area around the cliffs. “There’s a trail of a single large being going to the cliffs,” Clanik told the rest, “but none leading away.”
“Perhaps they teleported away?” Brutaka guessed. “Artakha’s teleportation works differently from ours; he could get past the lizards.”
“Then where did they go?” Miserix asked. “And why did they leave?”
“Uh, guys?” Hafu said, pointing up at the cliffside. “I think that’s why.”
Miserix looked up. At first, he didn’t see anything. Then, he noticed it, a vague outline of a massive, bat-like creature. The beast was nearly translucent, making it look like a part of the cliffside. It almost resembled the power of the mask of stealth.
“What… is that?” Miserix exclaimed.
“Quiet!” Clanik whispered harshly. “That’s a Volibat! It can’t see very well, but it might hear us.”
If the massive creature weren’t staring at him, Miserix might’ve laughed at it’s name, a combination of Volitak, the name for the Mask of Stealth, and the word bat. He wondered if that was what the creature was actually called, or if Clanik had just given it that name on the spot.
Well, if it hunted by sound… Miserix activated his power of sonics, making a sudden banging noise at the top of the cliff. The beast quickly scuttled to the top, its movements making it easier to see, and then dissapeared beyond the top of the cliff.
“We should leave, before it gets back,” Clanik said. “It’s going to be night soon. I can take you back to our camp, and we can search for your friends in the morning.”
Miserix grumbled. He didn’t really care about his allies. What he really need to do was find Teridax, destroy him, and then remake the Brotherhood of Makuta. But right here, right now, in this strange jungle, there was no way to do that. As much as he hated it, he would need to rely on Clanik’s help until he could find his way home.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll follow you.”
When he detected the presence of a massive creature nearby, about to attack, Artakha had had to act fast. He grabbed the others, and teleported him to the first location he could think of: the location he’d seen in Kapura’s mind, where Kapura had seen the Matoran.
The Matoran cried out in shock when the group appeared in front of them. Then, one of them shouted “Axonn!”
Axonn recognized the Matoran: they were members of the Voya Nui Resistance Team, who he’d helped fight off the Piraka not long ago. “Kazi! Dalu!” he greeted. “How did you get here?”
“Well, we walked,” Kazi said. “But it seems you chose a different means of travel. Where have you been, anyway? We haven’t seen you since before the Makuta took over.”
Axonn suddenly realized that, when the Order had called him back into the field to fight against the Makuta, he hadn’t had time to tell the Voya Nui Matoran where he was going. “I’ve been… a lot of places,” he said. “Including here, though I must confess that I don’t know where here is. Tell me, where exactly did you walk from?”
“We came from Mata Nui’s Village!” Dalu exclaimed. “Where else would we have come from?”
“We were out looking for a friend of ours, Velika,” Kazi explained. “He wandered off into the woods this morning, and we haven’t seen him since. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him?”
Axonn shook his head. “You’re the first Matoran we’ve seen since arriving in these woods.”
“Mata Nui’s village?” Helryx said, surprised. “Can you… take us there?”
“Of course!” Dalu replied. “Though we should probably find Velika first. It’ll be dark soon, and I don’t like him being out here alone in the dark.”
“He can handle himself,” Kazi pointed out.
Artakha shook his head. “These woods are home to dangerous creatures,” he said. “Perhaps our friend can help find yours?” He held up Kapura, who was still too wounded to move on his own.
“Sometimes, the Rahi you seek is closer than you think.” The voice belonged to Velika, who had just emerged from the woods.
“There you are!” Dalu said. “Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Velika just shrugged. Axonn, Dalu, and Kazi all knew that it would be pointless to question him further. Knowing him, he’d probably just been out exploring.
“Well, Axonn’s back,” Dalu told him. As if he could have somehow missed the group of people standing in front of her and Kazi. “We were about to lead him and his friends to Mata Nui’s Village.”
“With a name like that, it has to be a good place,” Kapura muttered.
With that, the group followed Kazi, Dalu, and Velika through the woods, into the unknown.
Far away from Artakha’s group, or any of the other groups, another being watched.
Vezon had to admit that he was surprised how everyone had found different people. Miserix had joined Clanik and his tribe of exiles. Lewa had joined the jungle Agori, and they’d headed off toward the mountains. Tuyet had been carried off to the Earth Tribe – that was a potentially interesting development. There were many ways that could go. And then Artakha and the rest had found their allies from the south.
As for Vezon, he’d found the strangest companion of all. When the tower had exploded, it had freed the Great Being held within. Maybe it was because they were both mad, maybe it was because they shared powers that they couldn’t control, but Vezon felt a kinship with the Great Being. In return for indirectly helping free him, the Great Being had allowed Vezon to see what had happened to those he brought to this world.
It was a fun show, but nothing held Vezon’s interest for too long. He turned away from the windows the Great Being had provided. “All right,” he said. “I’m done watching the others and what they’re doing. I want to know what you’re doing. You’re the Great Being here, after all; you should be doing something great, right?”
The Great Being was standing a ways behind Vezon, far enough that his powers wouldn’t reach Vezon’s armor. “Indeed,” he said. “I think it is time I found my brothers and sisters. I need to… thank them for keeping me in that tower for so long.”
“Oh, more Great Beings?” Vezon said. “Sounds fascinating. Need a ride? I do happen to have the power to go anywhere, if you’d be so kind as to turn it back on…?”
The Great Being considered. Vezon was a dangerous anomaly, one he’d gone out of his way to contain before. It wouldn’t be good to give him his powers back… but it would be good to keep an eye on him.
“Tell you what,” he said. “The same deal as before. I have powers I want to get rid of, and you have powers you want back. You help me… and I’ll help you?”
Vezon grinned. “Sounds exciting,” he said. “When do we start?”
To be continued…
Author’s notes: All right, this story was a lot of setting up stuff for the future. Tuyet with the Earth Tribe, Lewa with the Jungle Agori, Miserix with Clanik and his crew. Each of these arcs will be further developed in future stories. I’m already working on one that is all about Lewa.
For right now, though, there’s a certain red light drawing my attention, up in the sky. Looks like some sort of Star? I’m sure it’s nothing important.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hint so directly at the Velika thing this early, but I decided to do so because… everyone knows it’s Velika already. At this point, going out of my way to hide it would just be frustrating to the reader, I think.
The ending of this story was difficult to write. I rewrote it about three times, as I figured out what Vezon and A-- er, I mean, the Great Being would be doing, what type of agreement they would reach, etc.
The next story will start… soon. Probably.