Lest We Forget Season 3

Creative Content Literature
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By Mata Nui, it’s an update! That’s right, season 3 of that story serial four (at most) people read is here! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, feel free to mosey on over to seasons 1 and 2, they should be easy to find.

Season 3 Episode 1:

Journal Entry Two, the First Age of Conflict:
It was an abrupt and violent event that brought upon the First Age of Conflict, and subsequently brought the role of “peacekeepers” to the Brotherhood. The event was something the Matoran Universe had not experienced since the beginning, before our Brotherhood existed. War. I don’t remember the reasons for it, nor do I care. The Matoran of Metru Nui had turned on each other, that was all that mattered. At this time, I did not truly understand the significance of Metru Nui other than its importance as a large population center, but Miserix was adamant that we remedy the situation. So we did. We ended the dispute in a matter of days. After the dispute, it was clear that the Matoran needed to be protected from themselves. We stationed a single Makuta to every major population center, and became the first peacekeepers of the Matoran Universe.

I should have been dead. I was certainly not in any position to be fighting, I was groggy and everything was spinning. Considering how brutal of an impact the first shadow bolt had, I assumed a second concentrated blast of shadow would be lethal. The lightstone that dropped to the ground glowed dimly, and I saw a familiar turquoise mask by it. Lanika. I pulled myself together and pushed off the wall toward the lightstone, wondering where the being that attacked me had gone. I found Lanika, completely still at the bottom, her body detached from her mask. It must have gotten knocked off when the four-armed beast attacked. I picked up the lightstone, and realized that I was breathing underwater. My Kanohi had decided to kick in, but as soon as I thought about it I began to feel short of breath. I tried to calm myself, but I began to panic regardless. Great, I thought. I avoid death by shadowbolt only to drown in my former home with the body of my dying friend.

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Seems like he got out of the frying pan and into the fire. It’s great to see you back with this series!

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Season 3 Episode 2:

Journal Entry Three, The First Age of Prosperity:
After the Matoran Civil War, the universe experienced a time of prosperity. The Toa were created as extra security, to help levitate our duties so we might focus on taking advantage of the peace and progress of the time. Every Makuta was assigned a team of Toa to help us feel safe and let us focus on our science, such as the discovery that we had become gaseous from our original solid forms. Many of my brethren used this time productively, but I personally thought the Toa assigned to us were keeping tabs on our activities more than they were protecting us. As enjoyable as the peace and prosperity was, I was beginning to grow bored of it. My juvenile, silent wishes for action were answered with the coming of the Usurper, the most safely guarded secret in all of the Brotherhood’s history.

Drowning is an experience I wish never to repeat. I have almost drowned twice, and drowning is not one of those things that gets better each time. I instinctively attempted to breathe, hoping my Kanohi would kick in, but I was met with a lungful of water. I forcefully coughed, but without any air to fill the gaps I struggled to get anything out. Then I felt the water around my head… change. In fact, there was no longer any water around my head.
“Next time, you should hold your breath longer.” I turned quickly to face the voice, and saw a Toa in dark green armor, with silver highlights that looked almost jade in color because of the lighting “…Nidhiki?”
“Do you know another Toa of Air as handsome as me?”
“I thought you said you trusted me to go alone.”
“Hey, don’t misquote me. I just said you should go to the Archives, Lhikan was the one who trusted you.” Nidhiki said as he swam toward the motionless body of Lanika, picking her up and extending the air bubble around himself to encompass her as well.
“I would be mad at you for not trusting me, but you did save my life, so… thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I never thought of you as the humble type, Nidhiki.”
“No, I mean it. Don’t mention this to anyone. As far as the others are concerned, your Kaukau worked fine and my being here was unnecessary. Got it? It’d be a shame if the first time Lhikan trusts you to go out on your own you prove you aren’t able to handle yourself.”
“Sounds like you have a soft spot.”
“It’s a tactical decision. We aren’t gonna beat the Makuta if each Toa doesn’t work independently, and Lhikan will insist on personally babysitting you if he doesn’t trust you. You’ll slow him down, and I don’t want our best warrior pulling the weight of a rookie.”

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Season 3 Episode 3:

Journal Entry Four, The Age of Disruption:
No one outside the Brotherhood knows of the Usurper. It was a horribly embarrassing time for us, and Miserix made sure no one would hear of what happened. An ambitious Makuta scientist called Mutran discovered the pool of Antidermis all Makuta were born from. Mutran was foolish and insane, a dangerous combination. He began to create Makuta in secret, but alas, Mutran was not as gifted in the creation of complex life as the Great Spirit that created us. Mutran’s Makuta were sentient, but deformed, abominations of nature. Another scientist, Chirox, discovered Mutran’s work and informed Miserix. He was, of course, furious, and he personally led a team of loyalists to kill Mutran. I was not with them, but upon returning Chirox told me “Never before have I faced something that truly made me fear. Fear is the most unpleasant feeling I’ve ever had, I don’t wish to experience it again.” They succeeded, but what happened to the pool is a secret known only by Miserix and his most loyal servants.

“What are you doing, Krika!?” We shouted at the white and red Makuta after he blocked our shadowbolt with his body. {He dragged me to the side as well, I didn’t appreciate him pulling me around like that}
“Stopping a disaster. Do you have any idea what that Toa is destined to do?”
“Yes, that’s why it is necessary to kill him in order to further Teridax’s plan!”
“Teridax? Is that who you work for now?”
“We work for the strongest, {you know that}”
“I only told you to take that mark because Miserix was getting antsy about how long it was taking me to find another one. He cannot die, for the sake of all Makuta.”
“What are you talking about, Krika? {He is destined to stop Teridax’s plan!} Killing him wins over Miserix’s favor and helps Teridax, {it’s good from every angle}”
“You are close-minded, you don’t see that the Brotherhood is more than it’s leader. I stalled the flood as long as I could to let that Toa survive, because he is the last hope for us.”
“You… you’re the reason we didn’t kill him? {I should kill you just for that!}”
“I don’t have time to bicker with you, I’m going to go save our species. Have fun dying.” With that, Krika disappeared. Our former contact on Matoran-hunting, is now a traitor? {But he isn’t aligned with Teridax either} We will have to worry about that later. For now, we have to find a different way in, the Toa and Krika are two separate loose ends we cannot tie up, and Miserix won’t accept failure again.

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Season 3 Episode 4:

Journal Entry Five, the Second Age of Conflict:
The League of Six Kingdoms. What fools. They sought to challenge Mata Nui’s leadership, as if they could challenge something that was larger than their entire kingdoms combined. They, of course, knew nothing of the Great Spirit. Even though I did not fully understand how it worked, I knew that the entire universe we knew was a part of Mata Nui’s body. They reached too far, and so we Makuta crushed them underfoot, and banished the League to the Pit. The Pit was a prison, and the warlords in the League deserved to be there for their stupidity. How could they possibly hope to defeat Mata Nui? They knew nothing of the universe. But… I did. I learned more and more about the universe every day, and… the thought hit me like a stampede of Kikinalo. Seemingly out of nowhere I understood. They had no chance, but someone who understood more about the universe, someone with an entire organization of powerful beings backing them, someone like that could change the universe. No, become the universe.

“It appears your fear was unfounded, Nidhiki.” Lhikan’s voice was full of pride, not in himself, but in me.
“It appears so, brother. I think our friend here can handle himself.” Nidhiki replied.
“Apparently he can’t handle any more than that, though.” Tuyet said, referencing Lanika’s severe condition.
“He was caught off guard by a being ten times his might, and he survived. If his mission was any more successful I would think it a lie.” Lhikan retorted. He clearly had a lot of faith in me, and was not going to let this victory be soured. “He may not have found the Makoki stones, but he did discover a Makuta in the Archives, and now we know that they have an entrance there. As such, I am placing Tuyet and another Toa as guards to the Archives entrance. Tuyet, I will trust you to pick a suitable companion for this duty.”
“I may think guard duty is unfitting of my skills, and that we should be attacking while our enemy is weak, but seeing as the Archives are flooded currently I guess having a powerful Toa of Water around can’t hurt.” Tuyet responded dismissively, before mumbling “Well, it can’t hurt us, it’ll definitely hurt any Makuta dumb enough to cross me.” As Lhikan handed out assignments, he left me out. At the end, he told me to come with him, and pulled Nidhiki aside.
“Do you think me gullible, brother?”
“What do you mean, Lhikan?”
“I know Umaia has not mastered his Kanohi, even if you say he has. Why lie to me?”
“What? Of course he hasn’t mastered his Kanohi, that takes years! But he can definitely use it when he needs to, he isn’t helpless.”
“Umaia still has much to learn, and I am not comfortable leaving him by himself.”
I remembered what Nidhiki told me, about dragging down their best warrior. I debated whether I should trust Lhikan’s guidance or Nidhiki’s strategy. Lhikan was usually right about these things, was he not? I thought about it for a moment and spoke up.
“I can handle myself. Assign me to a position that needs help instead of having me follow you.” Being a Toa is about being selfless, I would be a burden to Lhikan, and it would be selfish of me to drag him down in the fight to come… right?
“Umaia, are you sure? You nearly faced an early death, this is not something to be taken lightly.” Lhikan responded.
“I survived a fight with a Makuta that should have killed me. I am needed elsewhere, not by your side, Lhikan.” Lhikan stared at me for a moment, and after a short pause, he spoke.
“So be it, join up with Nidhiki in Po-Metru; I have a particular Makuta to confer with. I’m afraid we’re now in the calm before the storm.”

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Season 3 Episode 5:

Where to go, what to do? The Archives were the best option we had, and for all we knew, the Toa would plug that entrance {The Toa are probably draining and repairing the Archives already} No matter what’s happening, we can’t afford to take any risks. We needed to find a new entrance, {and I needed to find it fast, Miserix was impatient these days} The Great Barrier was obviously out of the question, they had two Toa of Water, a Toa of Stone, and now two Toa of Earth. The elements would be at their disposal {in other words, it would be suicide} That position is simply too defensible, we would need twice our numbers to have a victory there {and our numbers were lacking. The original one hundred Makuta had depleted over the years, starting with the Usurper and now with the schism, leaving only sixty or so left} We continued to search, but moving within the city became too difficult. We needed a different solution {a solution I couldn’t provide} We decided that it was time to return to Destral, there was no more we could do lurking around here.

We needed to prepare for anything, and keep the Matoran calm. This was, as you might expect, a difficult duty. We called a Metru-wide meeting, going over emergency procedures and reassuring everyone that things would be fine. The Po-Metru Guard was put on alert, however, and the Matoran were clearly more jumpy. Lhikan had told me of the Dark Hunter War in the past, where the Matoran were all evacuated to the Coliseum. If Nidhiki had not pretended to join the Dark Hunters and lead them into a trap, the war would have been much longer, and many more Toa would have died. Even though Toa Naho bravely snuck behind enemy lines and gathered as many reinforcements as she did, the war was looking grim for the Toa. Nidhiki saved dozens, if not hundreds of lives. It sure would be nice to have that kind of advantage this time. If hundreds of Toa fought against the Dark Hunters and were still forced to retreat to the Coliseum, then I did not want to picture how this war would turn out.

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I’m afraid I’m gonna have to pull another “season .5” here, after this intermission I’ll be on hiatus, and then I’ll release the latter half of Season 3 at a later date. Thanks for reading and for your incredible patience!

Season 3 Intermission:

Toa Lhikan’s discussion with Teridax left him with many questions, and even more doubts. As he walked out of the Coliseum he questioned his loyalties privately. Despite Lhikan’s loyalty to the Matoran of Metru Nui, his battle with the Kanohi Dragon and the following war with the Dark Hunters caused him to doubt exposing his brothers and sisters to danger yet again. He had served with hundreds of Toa, and he still remembered the faces of every single one he lost. The face beyond their physical appearance, beyond the mask or the face that all Toa shared. Lhikan remembered their spirits, but even now they started to fade. The coming battle would be the end of more Toa, Lhikan knew that. They wouldn’t make it easy, from their defensive position they could hold out for days, but that didn’t matter. In the end, Toa would die, and Lhikan would feel responsible as their leader. He was a natural protector, down to his Fire Greatswords that could become a shield and his Kanohi Hau. He walked toward Ga-Metru, gazing upon the Great Temple from a distance. He made a decision in his mind, and headed to visit the monument one final time.

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