Sarhab

Sarhab is a Toa Khrodak of Iron from the Hidden in Deepest Shadows storyline.

Matoran
Little is known about the earliest stages of Sarhab's life, but at one point he learned of the Makuta plan to wipe out all Fe-Matoran and Toa of Iron, eliminating the risk of such power to the Makuta species. All a Toa of Iron had to do was rip open a Makuta's armor and let the Antidermis slowly dissipate, killing the Makuta. He ran from his village and hid, only returning after many years. He found his village destroyed and many of his friends dead. He went back into hiding, always on the run.

During one trip, he met the Dark Hunter Phantom, who had once been a Nyrah Ghost. Phantom had been transformed into a larger form by his fellow Ghosts to protect their village, because there were no Toa. He had been different from the other Nyrah Ghosts, and that was why he had been the one transformed. He was mainly focused on Kanoka and Kanohi, something which not an interest of the other Ghosts. Horrified by what they had created, the Nyrah Ghosts exiled Phantom from the village, eventually to join the Dark Hunters. Since he still had morals, Phantom feared that one day he would lose his usefulness, and be eliminated by the Shadowed One. This fear spurred him to tell Sarhab all that he knew. He took Sarhab in as his apprentice, slipping away between missions to teach him. He and Sarhab together made one of the masks he had been hypothesizing about: the Kanohi Aachon. Soon after this, Phantom was sent on a long mission to a far island. They parted ways, but Sarhab continued searching for an opportunity to forge the rest of Phantom's creations.

Toa
A few years earlier, he had been given a Toa Stone by a Toa of Magnetism he met on his travels named Khrodak. The Toa was being hunted as well, and gave Sarhab the Toa Stone in case the Makuta caught up to him. Sarhab carried it with him for a couple of months. Then one day, the Makuta found the Toa of Magnetism. The stone was activated and Sarhab became a Toa, one of the last Toa of Iron. He was able to disguise himself as a Toa of Stone using his Mahiki, hiding in the shadows and even breaking the Toa Code, killing to defend himself. Despite his efforts, the Makuta soon caught on.

Death: Like a Great Stone
A small team of Makuta, composed of Vamprah, Tharil, Tonok, and Rahona, was sent to kill him. The four Makuta cornered him near an entrance to Karda Nui, though they did not know it. Using his elemental power of Iron, he had modified his armor previous to their attack, and was more prepared than they had anticipated. Three of the Makuta had their armor torn apart before they could even attack, and the fourth, Vamprah, was badly damaged and leaking Antidermis. He launched a devastating blast of Chain Lightning at Sarhab, almost killing the Toa, and vaporizing what was left of Tonok and Rahona. Hesitantly Vamprah approached the unconscious Toa, but before he could finish him off, a large winged Rahi swooped down and swept up the Makuta, blowing away Tharil in the process. Traveling at high speeds, they were soon out of range for many of Vamprah’s powers, and so he resorted to combining his powers and starting an avalanche, which would hopefully reach the Toa.

Fortunately, there had been an Av-Matoran in the area, who was attracted by the sound of the chain lightning. The Matoran raced to the prostrate Sarhab, and whisked him away from the avalanche using his power of Quick-Travel, which could only be activated when in contact with a Toa. After multiple jumps, the Matoran brought Sarhab to his village, where he was nursed back to health. When he was better, he discovered that it was a young Av-Matoran disguised as a Ta-Matoran who had saved him. His name was Mivu, and Sarhab could tell that this Matoran had the potential to become a Toa. As a reward for saving his life, and since he didn’t want the Makuta to get their hands on it, he gave Mivu the Aachon.

[Toa Odutuk section to be added]

He then went back into hiding, eventually taking refuge in the Archives, where he set up a makeshift forge and was able to craft a few of the other masks theorized by Phantom, including the Kanohi Nuuk.

Hidden in Deepest Shadows
He came to the Archives shortly before the inhabitants of Mata Nui returned. Concerned that he might be discovered, he secretly contacted the Turaga. They helped him to section off the couple of rooms containing his makeshift forge, tools, mask storage, his bedroom, and a large supply of Kanoka Disks. Only Onua was informed, as they needed assistance digging hidden channels to feed molten protodermis for the forge and water for cooling the masks, an essential step. For a while, he stayed in his isolated rooms, successfully forging 5 theoretical Kanohi: the Nuuk, the Karad, the Tairu, the Taltir, and the Havelle (which, along with the Aachon, were later called the 6 Masks of Sarhab).

One day, he heard outside his walls a series of loud noises, as if a Matoran were rolling around and groaning. Concerned that the Matoran was in peril, Sarhab lifted aside a small portion of the wall, which had been molded around a few levitation disks to make it easier to lift. He crawled through the hole just in time to see a deformed Matoran shuffling around a far corner, groaning and holding his head. Sarhab followed, not willing to get too close in case he was a Shadow Matoran. He soon realized that the Matoran was in fact a Shadow Matoran, but was somehow resisting the mental effects. But the Matoran couldn’t last for long, and he knew it. Sarhab could hear him muttering up ahead, and soon realized that the Matoran was trying to commit suicide before he could hurt anyone. Luckily, this portion of the Archives was mostly Rahi in stasis, and the noble Matoran was reluctant releasing one, as this might also hurt someone.

The Matoran decided to go to the Great Temple, where there was a weapons cache. He found a Toa Stone farther up the tunnel among some relics. It was unlikely to have any Toa Power in it, but he decided that it would probably serve well the purpose of unlocking the cache. Sarhab continued to shadow the unfortunate Matoran all the way to the Great Temple. Here, the Matoran pulled out his last resort: the Kanohi Aachon, Great Mask of Defense. Sarhab was shocked to realize that this was Miivouh, the Matoran who had saved him in Karda Nui, his name elongated in honor of that good deed. The doomed Matoran put the mask on, in a hope that he could some how access its power in a desperate pitch that the power could save his life. Sarhab, though, knew that, in fact, the power of the Aachon would be able to save him. But the Matoran could only access the power if he was a Toa. Sarhab snuck up behind Miivouh, adding a very small amount of Toa Power to the Toa Stone from where the trembling Matoran had left it. Miivouh inserted the Stone into the Toa Suva, opening the cache. All Sarhab could do was hope. Miivouh grabbed a barbed broadsword, preparing to stab himself. In fear and anticipation of what was to come, he let a little of his mental control go. The Shadow began to take him. And then he was flooded with Toa Power. Only a fraction of Sarhab’s energy, but immense in comparison to a Matoran. And suddenly Miivouh was a Toa, the only good Toa of Shadow, for the mask protected him from being taken over mentally by Shadow.

Matoran, having heard the noise, began to approach the temple, but Sarhab closed the doors off. His elemental Power was slightly weaker, and he felt older and more mature, but otherwise he felt unchanged. After all, he had only given a tiny portion of his Toa Power, not even enough to turn Miivouh into a Toa, just enough to wake up the Toa Power that was inside, left dormant for thousands of years, assumed empty.