Sightings - Dark Times, Day One

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Sightings - Dark Times, Day One


Sighting No. 1: Po-Koro

Scorched sands shifted as a soft breeze blew across the Motara Desert, the only sound on what was otherwise a quiet, uneventful day in the dry region of Mata Nui. Ally was keeping watch on the village wall of Po-Koro, leaning on a stone and playing with his disk. Every so often he would gaze at the seemingly endless desert stretching out beyond the village like a waterless ocean. Ally threw his disk in the air, watching as it flew up spinning and froze in mid-air, before falling swiftly back down for him to catch. He was starting to consider marching up and down the wall just to break up the monotony of guard duty. When he would tire, he would go back to disk-throwing and then back to marching, a horrendously boring routine he was keeping up from morning and which he would continue to keep up until his watch was over. That was part of being a guard – a little action and a whole lot of vigilance and waiting. As the afternoon sun slowly inched towards the horizon, it seemed to Ally that there would be no action today.

Sighing, he holstered his disk and walked closer to the wall to begin his march. As he approached the edge, however, he spotted a figure running across the desert, kicking up a large sand cloud as it went. He squinted. From his vantage point, the figure was too far to make out any details. From its posture it seemed like a quadruped. Its body was large and full. Was it a Muaka? Ally had heard of this creature from travellers’ whispers, but he wasn’t sure if there were any in Po-Wahi to be found.

Suddenly, the mysterious Rahi-like figure stopped moving. It looked around itself, as if lost on unfamiliar territory. Then, much to Ally’s shock, it looked up in his direction. As far as it was, the Po-Matoran could’ve sworn it was looking directly at him. Just as the figure had done so, it was engulfed by the cloud it had created with its run. Ally felt for his disk, unnerved.

But there were stranger things to come. The cloud started to drift in the direction of the village, carried by a howling wind. As it came closer and closer, it grew, until it was no longer a faint mist of sand but a giant impenetrable wall.

“Sandstorm!” shouted Ally as loudly as he could. “Incoming sandsto-.”

It hit him before he knew it. The wind was so strong, it carried him towards the edge of the staircase which led down to the village. Had Ally not grabbed a rock jutting out from the edge, he likely would’ve landed hard inside the village. As suddenly as the wind came it also disappeared. Ally climbed back up and ran back towards his vantage point. To his surprise, the desert was as calm as it was before. Nothing but scorched sands shifting in the breeze.

“Ally!”

It came from the village. Ally ran in the direction of the staircase. Looking down, he saw a familiar orange Kakama looking up at him.

“Ally, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Huki,” the guard responded. “Did you feel that?”

“We all felt it. What was that?”

Ally wasn’t sure if he had an answer.

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Sighting No. 2: Onu-Koro

The engineer carefully examined the disassembled digger, turning over each part of the mechanism. At last, he found the fault.

“Here it is,” he said, showing the mining captain a worn down-gear.

The captain took a closer look. “So, this little thing is why we can’t dig,” he said. “Do you have a spare with you?”

The engineer rummaged through his bag. Unfortunately, his search proved to be fruitless. “I’m afraid I don’t have one on me,” he replied. “I’ll have to go back to my hut and check.”

“I see. You can take my Ussal back to the village.”

“Thank you, Dosne.” The engineer climbed the crab. “I’ll try to be quick as I can,” he added and off he went.

“Be seeing you, Nuparu!” called the captain, then turned to the miners. “Listen up, boys. We’re on break until Nuparu comes back. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” shouted the miners in unison. Satisfied, Dosne dismissed them.

Aiyetoro, one of the miners present, stretched his arms. “It’s funny, isn’t it?” he whispered to Tehuti. “One small faulty component can make the entire machine inoperable. Quite the lesson in Unity, don’t you think?”

Tehuti simply huffed.

“Come on now, you grumpy Kakama-wearing brute,” responded Aiyetoro, throwing an arm around his colleague. “Turn that frown upside down! Not even the captain is as surly as you are.”

“What was that?” The miner’s remark didn’t fly by the captain.

“Nothing, sir!” hurried Aiyetoro. “I was only telling Tehuti here to loosen up a little.”

Still scowling, Dosne turned away.

“I don’t need to loosen up,” said Tehuti, finally. “All I need is a good rest and some peace and quiet. I won’t get the last part if you keep blabbering on.”

“All right then,” spat Aiyetoro, deciding to grant his fellow miner’s wish and walked ten paces away from him. As he did so, he spotted a reddish shape scuttling out of a crevice in the shadow of the tunnel. It crawled in the darkness, making sure to avoid the glow of the nearby lightstone. Aiyetoro frowned. He recognized the fire scorpion immediately. The small Rahi were a major nuisance to the miners, though, thankfully, they never had to deal with more than one at any given time.

“Hey, captain!” he called. “Do we have any disks left? There’s a Kofo-Jaga in the tun-.”

That’s when all Karzahni broke loose. As if spurred on by the mention of their Matoran name, a swarm of scorpions erupted from the crevice, heading towards the miners. Screams of terror filled the tunnels. Aiyetoro wasted no time in running. An infernal scuttling filled the cave. The miner looked back and saw dozens of shapes pouring out of the darkness. One of the scorpions was hot on his trail. It pounced. Before it could strike Aiyetoro, it was thrown back by an unseen object.

“Why are you standing there?” The shout came from Tehuti. He was holding a disk in his palm. “Get behind me!”

Aiyetoro obliged. Tehuti was soon joined by the mining captain and other Onu-Matoran, all of whom threw disk after disk at the scorpions. The Rahi retreated back into the crevice, which was soon covered by a large boulder, carried by one of the miners.

“I’m glad I listened to you, Tehuti,” said the captain, hanging an extra lightstone where the crevice previously was. “If we hadn’t brought those extra disks, we might’ve been in a world of trouble!”

Tehuti nodded. The fresh silence of a battle gone by was broken by another type of scuttling, this time more benevolent – an Ussal was approaching.

“Ah, Nuparu, you’re back!” called Dosne and rushed to greet the engineer. Tehuti turned to Aiyetoro, who was still panting.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Aiyetoro was startled by his friend’s question. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, finally. “I’m okay.”

He was, of course, not okay. It just occurred to him that one of the shapes emerging out of that crevice didn’t look like a scorpion.

It looked like a set of claws.

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Sighting No. 3: Ga-Koro

“Oh, why did I have to tag along?!” thought Visola to herself as the boat rocked violently in the waters disturbed. She, along with Kai and Pelagia, had been on a fishing trip when they were ambushed by a group of Tarakava. Now they were desperately trying to get back to shore before they became the fishing bait. Pelagia was at the helm, steering the boat at full velocity, while Kai ran around, barking orders.

“Grab them poles, sailor!” she screamed madly at Visola. “There be no use to sitting here! Poke them boxing lizards!”

Visola tried to oblige, weakly pointing a bamboo pole at one of the Rahi, who seemed undeterred. One of them pounced from the water, its hideous face coming near inches of Visola’s dark blue Komau. Shrieking, the Ga-Matoran drove the pole into it. The bamboo pole and the face both evaporated into a black mist.

“By Mata Nui, did you see that?!” screamed Visola to her shipmates, amazed, alarmed and anguished at the same time. Neither Ga-Matoran seemed to notice – Pelagia was too busy steering, while Kai was at the bow.

“Land ahoy!” called the Kakama-wielding Matoran as the green village of Ga-Koro came into view. “What you be doing back there?” she added, eyeing Visola and the singed remains of her pole. “Grab another!”

Waking up from her shock, Visola did as asked. She grabbed another pole and tried to wave it in the Rahi’s direction. The Tarakava fell back slightly, but still in pursuit and closing in on the boat. Visola was starting to panic again.

“Eat them nets, bottom feeders!” bellowed Kai, appearing alongside her and throwing the group’s fishing nets into the water. One of the nets got caught in a Rahi’s treads, another wrapped itself around the face. The distance between the boat and the Rahi grew – Kai’s gambit was a success. The Kakama-wielder jumped and cursed in jubilance as Pelagia slowed down and parked the boat into the shipyard. Kai and Pelagia wasted no time in disembarking, while Visola was left petrified in the back of the boat.

“What happened with you?” called the shipbuilder, whose conversation with a Kaukau-wearing Matoran had just been interrupted.

“Terror lizards, Marka,” replied Kai. “Nearly devoured were we by them. But outrun them, we did. Alas…” she continued. “… we lost all our nets.”

“Well, you’re in luck,” replied Marka and pointed to the Kaukau-wearing Matoran. “Hahli here has just brought a pair of new fishing nets from Shasa.”

Kai eagerly took the nets. Visola wasn’t paying attention to the conversation. Her optical sensors were fixed on the sea, from which the same horrible face from before gazed back at her, before sinking slowly into the water.

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Sighting No. 4: Ko-Koro

Matoro had always admired Toudo’s tranquillity even in the most chaotic of circumstances. Spinning in the heart of a Huai Snowball Sling match, he remained calm. Lying hidden in a heap of snow as blizzard winds tore through the Wastes and the Rahi trap creaked, he remained calm. And running for his life from the monster that they nearly captured, he remained calm.

They were hoping to catch a Muaka. They spent the better part of an hour setting up the trap in what Matoro knew was a Muaka migration trail. They spent another hour waiting for one of the bull-like Rahi to get caught. When it happened, they caught something more. It growled like a Muaka, and it was certainly the size of one, but it also burned through the ropes of the trap, something no Muaka had done before. The two Ko-Matoran could barely get a good look at the strange Rahi, before they wisely decided to run.

Matoro looked backwards several times as he ran, disturbed by the fact that Toudo was falling behind. The translator had always admired the trapper’s tranquillity but in this instant, he wished he’d put it aside and run. He called his name several times, but the Rau-wielder didn’t seem to notice. As the distance between the two Matoran slowly grew, Matoro stopped. To his surprise, Toudo leaped forward, grabbing Matoro by the arm and pulling him directly into a snow mound. Instead of hitting a solid ice wall, they fell into an illuminated chasm, which they prepared for just such an occasion. A heap of snow fell and blocked the entrance.

They crouched. The creature above stopped and paced, too close to their hiding spot to be comfortable. Finally, it ran off. Composing himself, Matoro grabbed an icepick from the cave floor and crawled towards the entrance, carefully brushing away the snow to make a small hole through which he could look around. He saw the creature was gone. Then he turned back to the inside of the cave to check on his friend. Toudo sat with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, humming gently.

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Sighting No. 5: Le-Koro

Kongu had found a certain joy in vine-swinging. The wind rushing through his mask-holes, the cries of Gukko and Brakas rushing by as he swung, it was as exhilarating as it was relaxing. He let go of the vine he was holding and landed on solid ground. His arm was starting to ache. He sat on a stone while he waited for it to subside. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled, he slouched, embraced by the stillness.

“Nice-calm,” he mumbled.

He tried to doze off but quickly found that he couldn’t. Something was wrong, he felt it in his organic components. He surveyed his surroundings. To his frustrations, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Leaves rustled. Brakas in the upgrowth screamed as pairs of Nui-Rama flew past them. And there was a scratching sound coming from somewhere inside the jungle. Kongu walked carefully in its direction.

Soon enough, he found it – an Ash Bear sharpening its claws on a boulder, slightly obscured by the shadow of a nearby tree. But it was a strange looking Ash Bear. Its hindlegs were larger and stronger than its forelegs – it could easily stand upright if it wanted to. It also had two different sets of claws on each of its arms and tubes running from its hips to its head and from its back to its arms. It looked far more mechanical than any regular Ash Bear.

The Bear ceased to scratch and looked in the Le-Matoran’s direction, its facial features almost Matoran-like. It stepped away from the boulder, still obscured by the darkness. Silence enveloped the surrounding jungle. Kongu began to walk backwards, his steps becoming faster and faster as the Bear walked out of the shadow. Then they both paused as Kongu nearly tripped on a rock. For a moment, the Matoran and the Bear stared at each other. Then the Bear walked into the sunlight.

Kongu ran, launching himself off a log and grabbing the nearest vine. He climbed as fast as he could, the Bear running circles right below him. The commotion woke the jungle from its tranquillity, frightening the Rahi which began to panic and holler. Kongu started to swing back and forth on the vine so he could gather momentum. But before he could do that, he was struck by a Rama and was launched forward, barely managing to grab another vine. Taking advantage of his acquired velocity, Kongu swinged. More Rama came from behind him, the Le-Matoran barely managing to miss each of them. One of them he didn’t. Once again, he was launched forward. This time, he failed to grab a vine. Kongu began to fall.

Then he hit something hard. And moving. The large bird on which he had landed writhed and shrieked, flapping its energized wings to try and shake off its stowaway. Kongu held on. The Rahi nosedived, nearly reaching the jungle-floor, then shot back up. Still holding on, Kongu pulled left and found that the bird was also pulling left. Then he tried to do the same on the right side, the bird obeying his command. Having gained control, the Le-Matoran made his way towards Le-Koro.


***

They touched down on a clearing, the bird nearly tripping on its own legs but coming to an otherwise comfortable stop. Kongu dismounted. He found the village ransacked. Smoke billowed from holes punched through huts. Broken tree branches covered the floor. Matoran ran back and forth. Kongu hailed one of them, a wielder of a turquoise Akaku.

“Orkan!” he called as the Matoran came closer. “What dark-bad thing happened to singsong Le-Koro?”

Orkan’s reply was brief but haunting: “Rama.”

Kongu gulped. “Rama?” he repeated.

“Yes, Rama. Swarm come and Matoran hide. Village destroyed, peace broken, Matau serious.”

“Rama-Swarm,” thought Kongu grimly. Nui-Rama never went near the village and even if they did, they never did so in groups. A group attack on Le-Koro was a troubling development to say the least.

“You wind-ride that Kahu to here?” inquired Orkan, pointed at the large bird sitting calmly behind them. Kongu nodded and Orkan was struck by awe.

“Ever-smart and spirit-brave you are, Kongu!” he replied. “High-sky-fly and ever-quick!”

Kongu tried to smile but found that he couldn’t. The ransacked village gave him no cause for celebration. And there was another thought he kept returning to: “Was that …”

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Sighting No. 6: Ta-Koro

“… a mutated Ash Bear?” Kalama could scarcely believe his auditory sensors.

“That’s the rumour,” continued Keahi. “Travellers report of sightings from all over the island. Even Ko-Koro!”

“What’s an Ash Bear?” chimed in Agni.

“Hey!” yelled the wielder of a black Komau from the front. “Pipe down! The captain would not approve. We’re not here share stories, we’re here to-.”

“Thank you, Nuri, that will be enough.” That came from Jala at the very head of the procession. With the captain’s words spoken, everyone fell quiet.

For his part, Turaga Vakama had been silent for the entire trip. He was being escorted by the finest members of the Ta-Koro Guard through a forest in Ta-Wahi, en route to a Turaga meeting in Kini-Nui. The elder of Ta-Koro had felt a strange unease ever since they left the village. Something was wrong but he had no idea what it could be. Frustrated, Vakama sighed and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was enveloped by darkness. The guards were nowhere to be found. Before he could ask himself, where they could have possibly disappeared in that instant, he heard the ominous sound of branches breaking.

“Who goes there?!” called Vakama, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He got his answer sooner than he’d liked. A strange creature resembling a mechanical Ash Bear emerged from the darkened forest, eyeing Vakama with interest. It stood on its hind legs, grinding the mismatched claws on its forelegs. The Turaga tightened his grip on his Firestaff.

He had no time to react. Before he knew it, the Bear was on top of him, having pinned him to the ground and kicked away his badge of office. The elder tried to writhe himself free, but to no avail. Then, the Bear slightly loosened its grip, although it was still pinning the Turaga to the dirt. It now stared straight into Vakama’s eyes, mere inches from his Noble Huna. What happened next, he could’ve never envisioned – the Rahi-like creature smiled. Even worse, it spoke, with a voice that Vakama found all too familiar:

“Time’s up.”

With that, the talking mechanical Ash Bear released his grip, leaving Vakama panting on the ground. The Bear turned and disappeared into the shadows of the forest. More familiar voices could be heard now.

“Turaga Vakama!”

Jala. Jala and his guards.

“Turaga Vakama, where did you go? There was a sudden darkness and then you were gone!”

The Turaga could barely talk.

“I … I’m sorry, captain. I seemed to have wandered off the path. Let’s continue on our way.”

Still rattled, the captain ordered the guards into formation. Vakama lost himself in thought. He knew what, no, WHO he saw. And what he meant by what he said.

“Of course,” he whispered, too quiet to be heard. “The one year of peace is over.”

The Dark Times were about to begin.

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