Yes, I know, wildly inconsistent release schedule for this story. This week’s been very busy, so it’s been hard to keep up with this.
Chapter 8
Chiara had wanted to go see what had happened to the Star, and even Orde had to admit to being curious – especially when he caught a flash of worry from the Great Being’s mind, upon seeing the Star fall. But there were bigger problems to worry about, and Orde still had a secret to share.
Fierah stared at the Toa of Psionics, her arms crossed, a deep frown on her face. Orde had told her what he’d learned from Kabrua’s mind, about a Great Being hiding in one of the people from the Matoran Universe, and even for her, it was a lot to take in.
“I think I know who it might have been,” she said. “Though I have no idea whose body he stole. If his plans are as dark as you say…” she shook her head. “And I thought Marendar being loose was bad. Maybe it was this Great Being who set him free?”
“That would make sense,” Orde said. “So, how do we stop him?”
“Well, we start by stopping Marendar,” Fierah said. “And luckily, we have the key to doing that.” She held up the paper that Atakus had tried to steal, and began to unfold it.
“What is it, anyway?” Chiara said. “You said it was the plans of a weapon. Was it Marendar?”
“A part of him,” Fierah said. “And with any luck, it will allow us to track him down. Hopefully, with my help, you can–”
“Uh, guys?” Chiara said. “Lesovikk’s… his heartlight isn’t…”
The group turned to look at Lesovikk. Sure enough, his heartlight had gone dark. The Toa of Air was dead.
There was a moment of silence, finally broken by Fierah. “That’s… unfortunate,” she said. “The only thing we can do now is carry on in his name, and try to stop Ma–”
“Shut up,” Orde said abruptly.
Fierah stared at him, shocked. “Excuse me?”
“This is your fault,” Orde said. “You and your think-headed secrets. You know all there is to know about how Toa work, don’t you? You could have saved him earlier, when we brought him to your lab. You were hiding there the whole time. But no, you sent an exiled Glatorian to clean up your mess, and when Lesovikk needed help, you just let him die.”
Fierah glared daggers at the Toa of Psionics. “You don’t know the–”
But Orde wasn’t finished. “And that’s not all,” he said. “You know how to bring him back, don’t you? As soon as we realized he was dead, you let your guard down, and I saw what you were thinking. You thought about that star. Something there can save him, but you don’t want to tell us, because of your stupid secrets. Well, I’ll tell you what.” Orde waved his hand, and a wave of psionics yanked the paper out of Fierah’s hand and into his. “You and your secrets can go to Karzahni. Maybe Mata Nui was wrong. We don’t need you.”
The rest of the group stared at the two, stunned. Fierah stared at Orde, and Orde stared back, undeterred. “You dare to talk to your creators like that?” she said. “Would you talk to your Turaga that way?”
“If she were as stupid as you, yes,” Orde replied.
Fierah met his stare for a moment, and then shook her head. “I only tried to help you at my brother’s behest,” she said. “I was happy to let Marendar wipe you out, but he convinced me you were worth saving. I’m not sure what he saw in you.”
“Maybe he saw people who were willing to fight for each other,” Orde said. “Instead of putting their ‘secrets’ over the life of their creations.”
“Look, even if you take him to the Star, there’s no guarantee that usable revival tech will have survived the crash,” she said. “And what about Marendar? You just going to let him run around killing Toa while you try to save the life of one Toa? If Marendar gets to them, the Red Star won’t be able to bring them back.”
“Why don’t we do both?” Gelu said. The rest of the group turned to look at him. “Way I see it, you need materials to make something for us to track Marendar. Can those materials be salvaged from the Red Star?”
Fierah blinked. She hadn’t considered that. “It’s… possible? Assuming that the death sensors survived, I might be able to rewire them using parts from the Ignition Protocol, tracking the energy from…”
“So, does that mean you’re going to help us?” Orde said.
Fierah pondered for a moment. She had told Angonce she would deal with Marendar. No matter what she might think of these Toa, she had a promise to keep. “I’ll help,” she said. “But let me tell you something, Toa of Psionics: if I feel you probe my mind again, I can and will turn your powers back on you. Permanently.”
“All right,” Orde said. “I’d say our first mission was a success; we found a Great Being, even if she is quite possibly the most Mahi-brained one around. New mission: Save Lesovikk, and then track down and defeat a weapon designed to kill Toa. Sounds easy enough. What about you guys, you in?” he turned to look at Chiara, Zaria, Strakk, and Gelu.
“I’m down,” Chiara said. “Let’s go kick Marendar’s butt.”
Zaria simply nodded, and Gelu shrugged. “Might as well. Beats walking back home by myself, through a forest full of Vorox.”
Strakk shrugged. “How much are you willing to pay me?”
“Now there’s the Strakk I know,” Gelu said.
“Then let’s get to it,” Orde said.
“You lost them?”
The voice contacting Atakus through his high-tech gear was harsh, angry.
“They’re buried, along with the Toa team looking for you guys,” Atakus said. “They cornered me, so I–”
“You ruined our best chance at fixing this mess,” the voice growled. “Perhaps our allies from the sand can dig them out and fix your problem.”
There was a long moment of silence. “As for you, Atakus, I have a new task for you. The Star has fallen. I want you to find out who has survived. Make sure you’re not spotted. Try not to fail again.”
The voice went dead. Sighing, Atakus changed direction, heading to where the Star had crashed.
Power. Marendar could feel the Power. The strongest source of it. He’d already taken down one source of the Power, but there was a bigger one out there. It was the biggest threat, which meant it needed to be dealt with first.
But suddenly, he paused. Something was coming. Lots of power, not all in one source like the big one he felt, but several smaller ones, descending to the surface… with that red light from the sky. The red light was falling, and with it, it brought the power.
The big power could wait. This needed to be dealt with. Turning, Marendar started heading toward where the Red Star was about to crash…
To be continued…