Preparation of Rites

Preperation of Rites is the first story by BIONICLEToa set in the 2015 storyline for Okoto. It features the journeys of each Protector getting their way to the Temple of Time to summon the Toa.

Chapter 1
The Protector of Stone couldn't take it much longer. He had been walking across this blazing hot desert all day, and it seemed to him more sand was the only outcome of all this walking. He fell to his knees and hands and took some shuddering breathes.

I can't take this any longer, thought the Protector of Stone, oh, Ekimu, please just kill me, I can't take this anymore.

It was two days ago that the Protector of Stone got the message from his fellow Protector, the Protector of Fire, that the time had come to summon the Toa in order to do something about the sudden influx of skull spiders and the sudden force of evil that had come upon the island. The stone guardian only accepted this because he was tired of those rather annoying skull spiders clinging on the faces of the villagers.

The Protector of Stone took off into the desert in order to travel to the Temple of Time, which was hidden somewhere the Skull Spiders couldn't find. However, he had the cross the desert in order to get to the said temple. He knows he can't take the mountain route; a skull spider ambush is the surest fate you'll have if you travel up there. So the tired protector took the flattest route possible in order to get to his destination.

But one problem occured along his journey. While walking on the road, a legion of Skull Spiders (or, more accuratly, skull scoroions) had attacked him. He had to fight his way off with his elemental blaster he carried with him. Unfortunatly, it ran out, and he had to flee in order to keep himself from being pocessed by the vermin.

Now the protector lost the road, and couldn't find his way around. He was tired, hungry, thirsty, and ready to die. The protector fell from his position and layed in the sand, with the hot sun beating on his back.

I'm a disgrace for a protector, he said to himself. I get lost in my own region, and now I am about to die.

The protector of stone couldn't bear this pain of sunburns, bruises, and cuts any longer. He scurried slowly and weakly across the ground to find any rocks in order to bash his head into, and hopefully knock himself out as he dies of starvation.

He found a flat rock, but it was buried too far into the ground to pick it up. So he sat on it, and contimplated his position.

I could have eaten the skull spiders, he thought to himself, and laughed bitterly as he knew this could not happen. The sun started setting in the horizon, and he watched the blazing bright ball settle into the ground slowly. The sky started as yellow, then orange, settled to pink, and ended with a purple as the sun finally started disappearing.

The sky wasn't dark like he would have liked it for his final moments. It was filled with stars, making out galaxies and constilations that filled the night sky with blue and yellows gems. The weakened protector watched the planets overhead turn very slowly as the hours passed. Maybe this wasn't such a bad way to die.

The protector yawned, and felt sleepy. He began to lean back and rest, but a sudden thought kept him awake. Sleeping out in the middle of a desert is a way to get a skull spider on your face, the protector noted to himself. But then the Protector thought of this a little deeper, and developed a small plan to get him out of his terrible situation.

They protector leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. He consentrated on keeping himself awake as he waited for his plan to come into place.

An hour later, he heard some scurrying in the background. Just what he wanted to hear. He waited until the skull spider approached his body until he did anything. The sound soon doubled as he heard two spiders creeping in the background, then three. Soon, the counted to at least 10 that he heard. Finally, when one came about two feet away from his body, he jumped up and started slashing his blaster at the skull spiders.

The ones that jumped at him were not too wise. They were hit by his blaster, which impacted them like a bludgeoned weapon, and sent them flying. The others tried to crawl up his legs, but they where flung off by his feet, or shook off. Finally, after the Protector defeated the skull spiders, he looked at their foot prints in the sand that they came from.

Finally, a way back, the Protector of Stone thought to himself in relief. He figured he might have tried to follow his old trail earlier, but it only lead him in confusing loops. Hopefully these skull spider trails would lead him back to the road.

Closely following the trails, the Protector of Stone ignored his tired, aching body in order to finally get back to the road, or some other civilzation. He thought of everything that went wrong in the past few days as he walked, and figured he could have done better. But he could not fix that now. The past was the past, and now he focused on the future.

As he walked down the road, he thought about the events that took place in the past, before these terrible days. The days when he was younger, and listened to Ekimu for guidance. The days when they didn't have to deal with skull spiders. The days he was energenic, and didn't have to take the responcibility as "Protector of Stone." The days before Makuta experimented with the Mask of Ultimate Power...

But that was why they needed the Toa, right? Since the protectors could not help fix these things, the Toa where the only way to fix this whole mess. All the Protector needed to do was steer him in the right path. But the comes the question: What if his path isn't the right one? And what if the Toa fail, and Makuta wins? Surely the unconscience Ekimu can help?

The hardened Protector of Stone thought of all this while on the road. He eventually found a nearby village on his path, and helped himself, as the leader of the Stone Region, to the hospitality of the villagers.

The villagers washed him off, fed him, let him sleep in the extra rooms they had in their houses, and other things. The Protector of Stone appreciated all these things as he layed down in his bed during the night, in a small room, lit by a flickering tourch, giving the room a sleepy aroma.

Now that he looked onward to things, the protector learned to appreciate life again. No longer did he want death; he wanted to appreciate life, and appreciate the good things that happen, even in the bad.

Kinda like those stars during his last night in the wilderness. The flickering light of hope in the dark sea.

Characters

 * Protector of Stone
 * Skull Spiders/Scorpions

Trivia

 * TTV Message Board Moderator Nyran suggested the title for this story.
 * Originally, this was going to be a series of several different short stories, but BIONICLEToa felt it would be better if he just compiled it into one story.