Against the Storm/Volume II

Against the Storm: Volume II is the second volume of Against the Storm. It was written by CaptainLandr0ver and released on February 3, 2018.

Hostility
“Phi, the completion of our task requires you to stay within its bounds and do as was planned.”

“Father wouldn’t allow Phi to do this. He does not like those who have betrayed the Brotherhood.”

“Of course he would, otherwise he wouldn’t have sent you.”

“Do not tell Phi how Father would act!”

“I’m reminding you of how he did act. He sent you with me knowing that we’re working for Brotherhood traitors.”

There was a silence as Phi slowly began to comprehend what “Alchemist” was trying to tell her. Tesudin, who stood still in a tall tree unbeknownst to them, enhanced the effect of his self-silencing powers following the cease of dialogue. He stood still, in fear of being seen. The thought that sound was on his side but light was not was dashing back and forth through his head. He was so drunk with nerve that he tried to silence the thought before remembering that only he could hear it.

The Toa of Sonics could only wait in complete stillness and closely observe the two with his Great Zinn. He knew that using it for too long of a time could strain his eyes, disorientate him  afterwards, or both, depending on how bright it was. But as long as he could try and figure out if Phi and “Alchemist” (whose names he had learned from spying) were hostile or not.

He could not identify the species of either being. “Alchemist” looked like he might as well have been an automaton with no species, and Phi was akin to a rare Rahi he may have seen before. Overall, Tesudin was several times more perplexed by Phi than any other being he’d seen. She was short, wore tan, chitinous armor and was relatively beast-like in appearance and body language, but was riddled with various mechanical parts. On her back was a large thruster-like apparatus with a design similar to something Tesudin may have once been familiar with. Her right hand, unlike her clawed left one, was replaced entirely by a long-barreled firearm which was fed by a ammunition belt connecting to the aforementioned thruster. She was also wearing what looked like a very strange Kanohi mask, something which Tesudin was barely able to distinguish from simply being a part of her Rahi-like appearance.

“Alchemist” scared Tesudin more. He was tall, he displayed a frightening lack of body language, and he was overall more uncanny in appearance than his partner.

The silence was broken by more dialogue from Phi.

“So you’re saying that Father knew that he was sending us to work with traitors?”

“Yes,”  replied “Alchemist.”

“That must mean this is something really important. Otherwise he’d never send us to work with scum like them!”

“Correct.”

“And what we’re doing is we’re finding this staff and using it to bring over-”

The rest of Phi’s sentence was cut off by a loud roar. While “Alchemist” ignored the noise and dismissed it as unimportant, Phi took a defensive stance and began scanning everything near the direction it was emitted from. Much to Tesudin’s dismay, this just so happened to be in the direction of the tree which he was perched in. The Toa of Sonics became frozen with fear as Phi’s red beady eyes darted around the forest, presumably looking for something to pelt with whatever projectiles were used by her arm cannon.

In a moment of desperation Tesudin focused his mind and fabricated an explosive noise in a faraway patch of shrubbery. As he wished, it seized both Phi’s and “Alchemist”’s attention and threw it somewhere else.

Tesudin repeated the action several more times, making sure to alter the pitch, volume and resonance of each at random to ensure that they didn’t immediately realize it was likely a distraction. Birds scattered from neighboring trees and a herd of Rahi began to low in distress. While the noise still echoed throughout the forest he took the opportunity to jump backwards out of the tree. Turning to face in the direction of his trajectory, he used a suppressed blast of sonic waves to dampen his landing into the flattened tall grass. As he began to sprint for the darkest patch of trees he could see, he recreated the noise several more times, this time changing the location of it’s epicenter as well. A sudden spark of hope lit up inside him as a shaded area of dense forestation came closer to him. He could finally get away from everybody on this island and remain completely undetected by any of its inhabitants.

This spark of hope died out when an acute sting in Tesudin’s right shoulder caused him to misstep. As the tumbled through the cold blades of grass lights flashed around him, accompanied by banging noises. He tried to push his chest off of the ground, only to fail when he found that the pain in his shoulder had not yet dissipated. The most he could do was tilt his head behind him and see Phi, the tip of her arm cannon trailing smoke, creeping towards her as “Alchemist” stood behind aiming at his forehead down the sight of a long, harpoon-like firearm.

The throbbing, burning feeling in his right shoulder pounded rhythmically, backing the scene that played out before him with a dark drum loop. He slowly rose up off of the ground, the throbbing giving him the feeling that he was pushing against the waves of an ocean. His eyes darted back and forth between Phi and “Alchemist” repeatedly, waiting for one of them to make any sort of move he could take advantage of. Phi simply stopped approaching, leaned forward on the barrel of her blaster and stared at him.

“Who are you?” she asked. Following this, a myriad of whispers of fake names began to surround her as Tesudin tried to avoid her question by confusing and frightening her. Just when it began to take effect, “Alchemist” reminded her that it was the Toa of Sonics’ doing and was simply a distraction.

“Stop trying to mess with us.” he then said at Tesudin. “Answer her question.”

“I don’t mean any trouble,” Tesudin said. His voice was smooth and synthetic.

“If you didn’t mean any trouble, you shouldn’t have spied on us.” “Alchemist” argued. “I can’t trust you not to inform anyone else on this island about us. If you tell us some things about yourself maybe we can find a compromise where you don’t have to deal with us anymore.”

“So you aren’t with this island’s Matoran, are you?” Tesudin pointed out. “Alchemist” stalled for a brief moment and reflected on his mistake in revealing information. Tesudin then continued, “None of the information I have to offer to you will get you in any better position than you are now. There will be no gain, and you will lose time. You shouldn’t have to bother with me.”

“But I must.” “Alchemist” said. “You are completely unpredictable to us. We know you have some amount of information on what we’re doing. That’s why we are bothering with you.”

“You don’t trust anyone, do you?”

“Stop avoiding the question.”

A number of uncanny similarities between Tesudin and “Alchemist” sprung up before the Toa of Sonics.

“Who are you working for?” “Alchemist” demanded.

“No-one.” Tesudin said. By this time he had stood up completely, and was resisting the urge to care for his shoulder lest it be seen as a reach for a secret weapon.

“One does not work for no-one.”

“Then I work for myself.”

“An acceptable answer.”

“Phi thinks he’s lying.” Phi exclaimed..

“He’s not.” ”Alchemist” said promptly, turning his head to face Phi.

“How would you know?”

“Because I do. Be quiet for now.” Phi sent a nasty look at him.

Taking this brief moment of split attention, Tesudin unleashed a blast of sonic energy in the direction of his two pursuers. Although ”Alchemist” was unscathed and only took a few steps back, Phi was lifted off of her clawed feet and thrown into a tree. Tesudin then focused the waves onto “Alchemist” and began pushing him back more and more. Tesudin lifted the focus point upward, aiming it at “Alchemist”’s neck area, and caused him to topple over. Several more short periods of powerful soundwaves ensured that he would be at least somewhat dazed and disoriented.

Just as soon as he finished this, he noticed that Phi was recovering. Knowing that they would still follow him into the dense trees, he picked a silver bow up off, drew a sable arrow from the near-empty quiver on his right hip, nocked it and pulled back on it. For the first time in a while, the flow of time around him seemed to slow. It gave him a period of quiet and relaxation, one that he needed if he was to make this shot count. He closed his eyes to savor the moment and truly calm himself to the point where he became as still as a rock. When he opened his eyes, he saw “Alchemist” in his peripheral vision standing up. Serenely, Tesudin ignored him and took aim at Phi, who was upright up by now.

“Alchemist” froze when he saw the drawn-back bow and where it was aimed. He hesitated to lift his firearm, knowing that one move could garner serious consequences.

“You are stuck now, are you not?” Tesudin said.

“Indeed,” “Alchemist” agreed.

“This is how this is going to work. You’re going to let me go and promise to stop pursuing me, and I will not release this arrow.”Before “Alchemist” could weigh the options, Phi had seen what Tesudin was doing and was not pleased about it. Yelling, she charged up her arm cannon and rushed straight at him, despite her partner’s demands for her not to. The thruster on her back activated, leaving a fiery trail behind her and accelerating her further.

Tesudin quickly removed the arrow and strafed to the left as Phi came closer to him. She steered just enough in his direction that her shoulder collided with him, knocking her severely off course and sending her crashing through the grass and snow. She regained her footing somewhere in a patch of darkness in the denser part of the forest. Digging her claws into the dirt to stop herself, she began sprinting back towards the lighter are where she could see. When she entered back into this area, Tesudin was gone, and “Alchemist” simply stood there looking at her.

“What are you doing?” she screamed. “You let him get away!”

“For a good reason,” Alchemist” replied. “We don’t have time to worry about him. We have more important things to attend to, like the mission that brought us here in the first place.”

“You mean we couldn’t just split up and you go do the plan while Phi finds that guy?” Phi suggested.

“No. This will require the two of us together in order to work.”

Elsewhere, Tesudin leaned against a tree and dropped his bow to the ground. After brushing pine needles and dirt off of his hands, he reached around his neck and groped around the back of his right shoulder. Where he’d been been hit was obstructed by his downward-sloping shoulder armor, which meant that although it had done more damage than if he’d been hit on the armor, it would at least be protected from the elements somewhat.

He slumped down into a sitting position, kicked out one of his legs and rested his elbow on the folded-up one. A rhythm of some sort was still in his head, now having regressed to a slower, more reticent and more surreally soothing than what it had been before.

Hospitality
Questions still bounced around inside the Toa of Sonics’ mind. Although he knew that “Alchemist” and Phi were looking for a staff of some sort, and that at one or both of them were sent by a figure dubbed “Father,” he hadn’t learned anything else from simply listening to the two bicker over essentially nothing. Why were they there, apart from being sent by “Father?” What would they intend to do with this staff they were looking for? Why did they need to obtain it within a certain time limit? Have any of the island’s Matoran inhabitants learned of the two and/or their goals?

For the first time in the several years he had been on the island, Tesudin felt fear for the Matoran populace. He had made an assumption that whatever those two planned to do could put the Matoran in danger, an assumption which was beginning to kick his natural Matoran-protecting instincts out of hibernation. It had been a long time since he’d had to worry about protecting Matoran from things they couldn’t handle themselves.

A long time that he had enjoyed.

That begged the question of whether it was time to reveal himself to the Matoran in order to warn them about this. At first it seemed like a worthy sacrifice, the thought of which even questioned his reasons for remaining undetected, but then he reasoned that the Matoran were less likely to trust a Toa they had never seen before. One of the first things Tesudin had learned about the island’s inhabitants is that they all had the instinct to trust no-one until they were proven trustworthy.

As he walked further away from where “Alchemist” and Phi had been, he began to hear the sounds of a sparsely populated village among the running streams and susurrating wind. Some of these noises were competitive-sounding shouts and grunts, accompanied by the occasional “Two Points for Team Sal” or motivational expression. From the sounds of it the Matoran were playing some sort of game, something Tesudin didn’t think he’d see on such a hostile and feral island.

Interested in what was going on, he neared a patch of leafless, shrubbery-like megafauna to try and watch the activity. Storing his bow on his back, he was just about to activate his mask when a silver object flew out of the bushes and struck him painlessly in the shoulder. After taking a few steps back to comprehend what had happened, he looked down at the object, which had ricocheted into the grass. It was disk-shaped and small, under a foot in diameter, had six holes in it and was encompassed around the edge by a rubber ring. He picked it up and observed it closer, and noticed markings that were nearly unreadable due to the holes. An unjustified feeling of nostalgia came over him while he studied it before he realized that it had formerly been a Kanoka disk. The rubber ring, he assumed, was present in order to prevent it from activating its ability when striking an object.

“No, not again!”

“Who’s gonna go get it?”

“Mask task-”

“I will. No more mask task.”

“Sweet, thanks Sal, you’re the best!”

This exchange of words caught back Tesudin’s attention before he detected a rustling in the bushes which was moving towards him. He attempted to back away before it came out of the bushes, but it was too late for him. A blue and silver Matoran emerged and stood still, staring at him with wide eyes. The two remained silent and stared each other in the eyes for several seconds of extreme discomfiture.

“Who are you?” questioned the Matoran, squinting her eyes intimidatingly. Tesudin froze, his eyes darting back and forth while he thought of an answer.

“I am a Toa,” he decided to say.

“Really?” said the Matoran, placing one hand on her hip. Tesudin was surprised by how she was reacting to a tall, ambiguous, never-before seen figure such as him. “You don’t look like one.”

“Not everyone looks the same.”

“I still don’t know who you are really. Are you some kind of spy?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then what where you doing this close to us?”

“Sal, what’s going on?” piped up a voice from beyond the bushes.

“Nothing,” she answered, turning her head slightly while still keeping her eyes locked onto Tesudin.

“Your name is Sal?” Tesudin asked.

“Listen, before you get any more information from me, I’m going to need that disk you’re holding back.”

Without hesitation Tesudin tossed the disk to Sal.

“Okay,” she continued, “yes, my name is Sal. Well, it’s a nickname, but you’re going to call me that so I don’t give you my real name. Got it?”

“Sure…”

“Right, now what’s your name? What element are you?”

“I am Tesudin, Toa of Sonics”

“Sonics?” Sal echoed confusedly. “Never heard of that element.”

“Well now you have.”

“Sonics sounds like it would be sound and stuff, right?”

“Yes,”

“Cool,” she said with a faint smile on her face. After a moment of thought, she said, “Okay, I think I can trust you now.”

A feeling of unease that had been inside of Tesudin vanished.

“But, that’s just me. I’m gonna let some of the other villagers here check you out before you do whatever you were doing.”

That same feeling crawled back in a wounded state.

Some time later, Tesudin met Sal’s Ga- and Le-Matoran associates. He was closely inspected, coaxed into displaying his powers and serenaded with questions such as “have you ever used your mask to turn sunlight into a deadly laser” which were befitting of Le-Matoran. Sal then decided to take him on a tour through the lower village of Le-Powai while she answered questions from Tesudin about the island. This area of Le-Powai was nearly devoid of the massive coniferous trees Tesudin had been seeing frequently, and featured plants with rust-colored leaves. The air was still cold but had transitioned into being humid as well.

“So,” Tesudin began, “you said that Sal was your nickname. What is your full name, then?”

“Salvina,” answered his tour guide. “Is that really your first question?”

“Yes. What exactly do you mean by that?”

Salvina looked back at him cheekily and said, “I give you the chance to ask anything you want about this island, and you ask what my full name was?”

“That question was one I was waiting to ask since you told me your nickname. On top of that, I’ve learned much about this island on my own over the past several years.”

“So,” Salvina replied, “you know the ins and outs of our system of government and how it and it’s laws operate in relation to the general populace and their freedom and liability?”

“You- you have a government on this island?”

“Exactly.” said Salvina as she stopped walking and turned to face Tesudin. She then began to explain how the island was run by a coalition of three separate organizations: the Kakkan Containment Organization, the Association of Powai Nuian Wilderness and Trailworks, and the Thunderhead Union. Together, these organizations formed the Powai Nui Governing Coalition, which was held together and supervised by High Chief and Turaga of Stone Qedua.

As Tesudin began to fully comprehend what had been expounded to him, Salvina asked if he needed any clarification. He said that while he only mostly understood it, he could figure it out himself. With that, the two continued their travel.

“Say,” she then said, “I never asked you why you were on this island.”

Tesudin stopped walking when he heard this question. When Salvina asked him why he had stopped, he gave no answer and instead looked at the ground. Salvina began tapping her foot to try and urge an answer out of Tesudin. She stopped this when she saw the solemn look in his eyes. She then told him not to worry about the question and offered him hospitality in the lower village.

Retrieval
The smoke emanating from the hole blasted in the tunnel ceiling was swept into circles by the wind and combined with the snow flooding in from outside. The moonlight falling through the hole lit up the drifting crystals with much more grace than the strobing blood-red alarm lights did. The howling wind was only barely audible near the jagged opening as the tunnels were dominated by the horrendous shriek being emitted by the security alarm.

Further away from the breach, one’s vision and hearing was entirely consumed in panic-inducing sights and sounds. Even the bravest of the guards rushing through the tunnels were unnerved not only by the alarm itself, but by what possibly could have caused a Category VI-B Security Breach with only a single two-meter-wide hole in the ceiling. The only other breach of magnitude that had occurred was accompanied with multiple holes into the tunnel system, at least a dozen hostiles entering through them, and several highly dangerous Rahi being broken out of their containment rooms. The breach had resulted in fifteen fatalities, forty more injuries, and five lost specimens which were all classified as Hazardous.

As the platoon of leader-class guards neared the epicenter of the breach, they expected some highly dangerous eldritch abomination to be waiting for them. Instead, they were met with a tall figure holding a firearm. Corduk, the leader of the platoon, recognized that the figure fit Lewok’s description of “Alchemist,” told this to his platoon and ordered one of the guards to go and inform President Kakkan that he was here.

“Alchemist” noticed them at this point, and had turned to face the platoon. Corduk looked at where the Dark Hunter was facing and saw a short figure gliding away. He grabbed a handheld Divurgo-based blaster off of his hip and aimed it at the figure and, as quickly as he could, fired. For a split second a streak of yellow broke the crimson monotony of the whole scene, darted past the Dark Hunter, and neared the short figure. The bolt flew straight through her, creating a ripple effect through her visibly translucent body on the points of entry and exit, and blasted a fist-sized hole in the rock in front of her. As Corduk’s eyes widened, she looked back with a sneer and vanished through the wall here the shot had struck.

“Alchemist” shouted for the guards to stand back. Corduk and his platoon raised their firearms and backed away slowly, keeping their eyes on the Dark Hunter. Corduk ordered to fire at will if he made any moves.

“Drop your weapon!” he barked. “Alchemist” dropped his weapon onto the cold stone floor, and raised his hands in the air.

“You know what to, do it seems.” Corduk continued. “Probably not the first time you’ve been caught. Now drop all of your weapons.”

“I don’t have any more,” said the Dark Hunter.

“What a load of dung,” Corduk said with a scowl. “You’re a Dark Hunter. I know you have something up your sleeves.”

“Alchemist” looked beyond the platoon and closed his fists tight. Several yells and a series of loud bangs came from the back of the platoon, after which two guards flew over Corduk and landed in front of him. Instinctually he looked back to see what had happened. There stood the same short figure that had disappeared through the wall with the same obnoxious smirk on her face.

“Phi thinks you are trapped now.” she taunted. “Like trapping a herd of Rahi.”

“Alchemist” told Phi to be quiet and asked under his breath why she couldn’t refer to herself in the first person. By this point he had managed grab two spherical glass bottles, each filled with a colorless liquid and a thick gas that was slowly building up inside. He robotically chucked one into the platoon, where it crashed on a the tip of a guard’s spear and an odorous smell erupted from it as the remainder of the liquid contents completely evaporated.

Those closest to the release of chemicals began to look puzzled and unaware of what was happening around them. The guard whose spear the bottle landed on was the first to be completely uprooted from reality, as she began to look around as if she had never seen any of the guards surrounding her. Within the next couple of seconds she was followed by around half-of-a-dozen more guards, all showing signs of temporary and severe memory loss. Some had trouble standing upright, others forgot how to speak, and one even dropped on the floor and completely refused to react to the world around him.

As Corduk and the other guards around the edge of the platoon witnessed their allies break down in states of absolute bewilderment, they began to feel the effects of the foul-smelling chemicals as well. Corduk dropped his firearm onto the ground, become increasingly disturbed by the fact that he did scarcely knew what it was or why he was holding it. In front of him, “Alchemist” holstered the bottle in his left hand, mentioning something to Phi about him not needing it because he overestimated the competence of Matoran. He himself was surprised to see Phi herself slightly perplexed, as her speech was beginning to be slurred with animalistic grunts and growls. She grew angry at her colleague, showing signs that she had flat out forgotten what had happened during the past half-of-a-minute, and was already demanding information from “Alchemist”.

Corduk then noticed that his perception of hearing was beginning to be affected. He began mishearing words in the cacophonous rambling that Phi was expelling at her partner, further disallowing him from getting a grip on what was happening anymore. He noticed that his vision was starting to give in as well when he noticed that there were two “Alchemist”s standing in front of him where there had been only one before.

The Dark Hunter turned around to see a dark figure enter from the flashing screen of red behind him. He had only one red eye, poking out of an elliptical helmet which was partially obscured by the thick, raggedy black cloak which reach from the top of his head to his ankles. His right arm featured a blade twice as long as it was, and in his left hand he was holding the Staff of Vortices. He condescendingly told Phi to stop arguing with “Alchemist,” bitterly informed the Dark Hunter that they could leave, and pulled his cloak over is head.

He began to climb out of the nearby hole in the ceiling, but soon lost his grip and fell to the ground with a loud metallic clang. Blaming the staff, he cursed it and carelessly tossed the artifact to his Dark Hunter associate, who caught it. After climbing out of the hole and walking several feet, he came back and peered down it to snidely inform Phi and “Alchemist” that it was time to go. With that, the Dark Hunter climbed out of the hole while Phi simply levitated and phased through the ceiling.

A sense of intense confusion was shared by all remaining Matoran guards who were still willing to try and figure out what they had forgot and had not simply curled up into fetal positions and started wishing that they understood the world around them again. Assuming that he knew everyone he was with, Corduk asked if everyone was okay, and all who heard him near simultaneously responded that they were uninjured but severely disoriented. With a sigh and an exclamation that he felt the same way, Corduk exclaimed that it was best to recover their lost memories before informing anyone about what happened in much too much detail.

Augury
There was a bustling in the derelict structure that had not been there for millenia. The five Matoran who stood around the building’s center were examining the two remaining pillars which once held up an acropolis-like, ring-shaped upper floor. The pillars were covered in florid designs of various bird species which lived on Powai Nui. The two remaining pillars represented the birds of Le-Powai and of Vo-Powai, and the Matoran presumed that the two missing would represent Po-Powaian and Ko-Powaian birds. All of their eyes eventually fell onto the strange structure made of galvanized metal lying crooked in the center of the area. Highly condensed Archaic Matoran text ran along the machine’s dish, broken up only by unrusted vents, darker plates and odd flecks of fading maroon paint.

As they were told, Maroona arrived shortly and greeted all of them. Immediately, questions sprung up from all five of them about the place they were in. Much to their dismay, she told them that she would begin answering questions when the last Matoran called for the meeting arrived. In the meantime, she told them all to start reflecting on what was planned for their futures. This backfired, as the obvious notion that their fates would change today caused only more constant questioning and demanding. Maroona tried calming them down, but the consequences of her poor attempts to pacify them were already too strong as she found herself drowning in demands for information.

There was a unanimous sigh of relief when Wreshi arrived, staring intensely at a piece of paper and not at where he was going. Several Matoran warned him to watch his step just before he was about to walk straight into one of the pillars. His attention taken away from the paper, he looked around at the pillars and the Matoran.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said. A Ga-Matoran he had little memory of threw him a nasty look.

“Glad you’re here,” Maroona said. “Thought you might’ve been attacked by Rahi.”

“I was.” Wreshi said, causing Maroona’s eyes to widen.

“You did?” she exclaimed in shock. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, more or less,” Wreshi said casually. “I got this wicked scar, too.”

“Well do you need any treatment or anything?” said a Ko-Matoran who Wreshi recognized as Navahko. Now he recognized some of the other Matoran, who he'd seen before, namely Lewok, Corduk and Salvina.

“No, I’m fine,” he replied. “Here, lemme show you guys this scar-”

“We don’t have time for that,” an Onu-Matoran said. He then turned to the Toa of Lightning and asked, “Maroona, what are we all here for?”

“This is the Citadel of the Avesians.” she replied. “It was used some time ago for practicing Augury, the long-lost practice of determining the future using the songs of Kupurero. As such, that right there is the Grand Augur.”

The Matoran all looked at the machine in the middle. The Ta-Matoran Detras shifted to the right a bit to escape from the path of a beam of sunlight reflecting off of it.

“Some say that it’s heavily based off of a machine called a ‘Suva’,” Maroona continued, “a theory which I can neither confirm nor deny. According to records we have from other islands, Suva are capable off many strange and wondrous things. This machine is no different. Although it’s main purpose is to receive scripts of written-down Kupurero songs, it has broken down to the point where that is impossible. Impossible, at least, without meddling with it’s convoluted innards for several days straight until something in it un-breaks. In the meantime, like some Suva, the machine also has the power to utilize these things.”

Maroona opened a burlap sack hung across her chest and pulled out six luminescent stones which were small enough for her to hold three of in each hand. After studying them for a bit, looking at each of the six Matoran at least twice and muttering to herself, she threw each Matoran one of them. Salvina’s stone was bright green, Lewok’s was red, Corduk’s was dark green, Wreshi’s was bright orange, Navahko’s was light blue and Detras’ was faded orange.

“Now,” she began, recapturing the Matorans’ attention away from the stones, “for the sake of decency and to comply with freedom of knowledge, I need to ask you all a question before we do what we are here to do. Think of this a self-reflective question as much as you think of it as an ask for permission.”

She paused dramatically.

“Are you ready to become Toa?”

There was a prolonged silence as the question took all of the Matoran by surprise. They looked to each other with dumbfounded looks, wordlessly communicating amongst themselves.

“I would think that you alone would be enough to protect this island.” Detras told Maroona.

“I would think so too,” Maroona replied. “However, destiny has its own ways of thinking, and it’s best that we not stray too far from them lest we become lost. Of course, this is still a choice to all of you. I will ensure that those of you who refuse the offer are not persecuted because of your choice. I understand that some of you have current jobs that will become difficult if you become Toa.”

“But why us?” Salvina asked.

“I don’t know, I didn’t do the choosing.” Maroona said.

“Exactly,” Salvina replied. “Why would destiny choose us when only some, if not none of us are really trained in combat?”

“Like I said, destiny has its own way of thinking.”

The Matoran still began to ask Maroona numerous questions about why they were chosen.

“Okay,” she said, “would it be better if I told you how you were chosen?”

The Matoran all nodded.

“Well,” Maroona began, “the day Lewok here was attacked by the Dark Hunter ‘Alchemist’, he had recorded an orachorus, a Kupurero song which calls for specific actions and measures to be taken in order to avoid future strife and difficulty. With his help and with help from the KCO, I managed to translate the recordings. What it called for was for me to gather you and transform you into Toa.”

More accepting noises came from the Matoran now.

“So, I must ask you again,” Maroona said, “are you all ready and willing to become Toa?”

Once more the Matoran whispered amongst themselves. Detras was the first to look up to Maroona and nod. Several more minutes went by, and all of the Matoran, including Detras, were around the area still reflecting on themselves. Maroona tried to urge herself not to remind them that they needed to decide faster.

“Do any of you need someone to talk to?” she asked. Navahko looked back at her and beckoned her to him. She walked over to him and sat down next to him with her legs crossed.

“What’s the matter?” she said.

“It’s the KCO,” Navahko said. “I don’t think I can just abandon being it’s supervisor without some bad consequences.”

“You know that someone can and will take your place,” Maroona replied.

“It’s not that,” Navahko argued. “It’s that I myself don’t want to abandon it. Before I was a member of the KCO, I was an ice fisherman. I would spend day and night catching endless amounts of fish to sell and sustain myself. My fish weren’t exactly popular, but others liked me for how fast and how well I caught fish. At some points I earned surplus money, and that’s when I’d buy decorations for my yurt or eat more expensive foods.

“However, after a while I realized that no matter how many decorations I bought or how expensive of food I ate, I could never use my money to buy company. No matter how many fish I caught, I still spent a large majority of my time alone. I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I saw myself as the only lonely Ko-Matoran in existence.

“So, I signed up for the KCO as a challenge to myself. I knew that the higher concentration of Onu-Matoran in the caves would create a more social atmosphere. I wanted to become acquainted with others, and get to know other Matoran.”

A couple of seconds went by and notified Maroona that Navahko was done with his story. “So, how does this relate to becoming a Toa?”

“Well,” Navahko began, “when I see myself as a Toa, it’s the same way I look at myself being an ice fisherman. Having a job of such high importance and self-worth, but one that doesn’t exactly entail sociability. Especially for a Toa of Ice. What I’m saying is, I don’t want my job to alienate me again.”

Maroona looked directly at him and noticed the tears welling up in his eyes. He removed his glassy mask to wipe them away, but did not put his mask back on.

“Another question,” he said, “is what this silly old thing will do when it becomes Great.”

“I’m not sure.” Maroona said with hesitation.

“Well, the question wasn't directed at you, but-”

No,” Maroona interrupted, “Navahko, I’m not sure becoming a Toa would alienate you.”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

“Because you’ll be a Toa! Don’t you see? Everyone loves a Toa.”

“A Toa of Ice, though. Toa of Ice have always been cold and detached. I don’t want to become cold and detached. Not again.”

“Then don’t,” Maroona said. “It’s as simple as that. Break the mold that the average Toa of Ice fits into.”

Navahko opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth and put his mask back on.

“Then it’s decided,” he said. “I’ll be a Toa. It doesn’t matter what it does to me, I’ll be a Toa. I’ll be able to fix it.”

“That’s the spirit,” Maroona said with a smile. After patting him on the back, she stood up and asked if anyone else needed company. This time, Detras raised his hand without looking back. Maroona walked over to him.

When she sat down next to him Detras said, “This is more of a question than anything, but, why me? I’m just some poor engineer who fixes things and makes minimum wages.”

“What?” Maroona said. “There’s no such thing as a poor engineer.”

“You’re looking at one.” Detras replied. “What I’m saying is that everyone else has some sort of training or skill that would make them optimal for being a Toa. Corduk is a trained guard. Lewok’s a Forest Ranger. Salvina is a retired professional Otakini player. Navahko’s the supervisor of the KCO. Wreshi is a literal nomadic adventurer who seizes dangerous artifacts and gives them to the authorities. What do I do that makes me like them?”

“Well,” Maroona answered, “some traits aren’t ones that you can immediately see in someone. I think the reason the Kupurero chose you is because of some personality traits you have that would make you a good Toa.”

“Like what?”

“You were the first of the Matoran to say you were ready to become a Toa. Not only that, but you decided almost immediately. That shows you’re brave and altruistic.”

“You’re right,” he said. After a rather long pause, he said, “Y’know what, I’ve already decided. I don’t think there’s any going back, and if there isn’t, then I might as well go with being a Toa rather than fight it.”

After nearly an hour, the Matoran had all decided that they were willing to become Toa. By this time it had grown darker and snow was beginning to fall. Detras and Wreshi were already shivering viciously, and everyone else but Navahko would go into a short fit of shaking every once in a while.

“Do you all have your stones?” Maroona asked after calling the Matoran back to circle around the Grand Augur. Wreshi went into a panic and unearthed several bits of a fallen pillar from the porous red stone before he found his bright orange stone underneath the surface.

“If I recall from some texts I read once,” Detras said, “we place these stones onto the Suva, or in this case the Augur.”

“Correct,” said Maroona. By this time she had abandoned the idea of getting them weapons before dark. “I know you’ve all decided what you want to do, but please, if you have any hesitation, take your time and think.”

One by one, the Matoran decided their fate and placed their stones on each of the six thin platforms around the edges of the Augur. After Lewok, the last to place his stone, had put his onto the Augur, the Matoran all observed as the machine did absolutely nothing. Tens of seconds passed and the machine made no sign that it was even active anymore.

“Is it broken?” Wreshi asked. He put his ear up to the machine and knocked on it’s dish twice. Suddenly, the machine sprang to life, scaring him and causing him to fall onto his back. It shook violently and blew dusty air out it’s vents as the stones began to light up. They were absorbed into the bowels of the machine, where they presumably would never be seen again. Wreshi stood up just in time to see a beam of yellow energy lash out and strike him on the chest, attaching itself to him and lifting him into the air.

The other Matoran watched in shock and awe as Wreshi was transformed from a strapping yellow-armored Po-Matoran to a skinny, aerodynamic Toa of Stone with primarily black armor and multiple fins protruding off of his extremities. He was followed directly by Corduk, who was turned into a burly Toa of Earth who, to the amazement of everyone, had his Head Guard-status red armor integrated into his Toa armor. The same occured with Navahko, whose scarce gold and blue armor became much more frequent in his tall Toa form. Lewok, next to be transformed, kept his color scheme but had his tactical shoulder strap translated into gnarled tubing twisting around his chest and shoulders in an ornate way. Along with this, his armor became spiny and reminded one of the armor of a Rahi. Detras’ Toa armor was like his, but was shaped in such a way which made him much more knight-like. Salvina was the last to be affected by the Grand Augur. She was transformed into a hardy Toa of Water who looked simultaneously prepared for an armor fashion contest and for a long week of rough adventuring.

All of the Toa began studying their freshly-created Toa armor, some with amazement, some with awe, and others with shock. Almost immediately after checking his armor out, Wreshi aimed an open palm at the ground, grimaced and concentrated hard on one of the red stones. The others watched as he made groaning noises and tried to beckon the rock to move towards him. Salvina stifled a giggle as Maroona gave a brief chuckle and walked toward the Toa.

She looked at all of them and said, “I’d say you all look like pretty darn good Toa,”

Wreshi stopped what he was doing, held up his bicep and said with a smirk, “I know, right?”

“Of course the coming days will decide if you have the ability to live up to your looks,” Maroona said, seeming to direct the phrase more at Wreshi than the others.

“We will need weapons,” said Corduk.

“Not weapons,” Maroona said, “tools. A Toa’s weapon is only a weapon if the use it exclusively as such. Toa Tools have many uses, more than just combat.”

“But where will we find them?” Navahko asked.

“I have a shop with some stuff in Po-Powai,” Detras answered. “Over the years I’ve collected various tools that are big enough for us to use.”

“Such as…” Corduk requested.

“Axes, swords, machetes, hooks-”

“Pickaxes?” Wreshi said. “I’ve always wanted to use a pickaxe for something other than mining.”

“Well, I don’t-” Detras began before cutting himself off. After a smile grew on his face, he restarted his sentence with “I know the perfect tool for you.”

“Then it’s off to Po-Powai,” Maroona said. “In the morning, at least. It’s too dark to travel here now.”

In agreement, everyone found a place to rest and settled down.

Adventus
Phi and Ruthos were still arguing when “Alchemist” was nearly done working with the staff. It had been nearly an hour now, and they still were yelling at each other about the respectability of Antharahk.

“Phi knows that Father is the most supreme being in the universe!” stated Phi.

“You still refer to him as ‘Father’?” Ruthos scoffingly replied. “Disgusting. Unbelievable. He is the most supreme disgrace to his universe, if anything more than a manipulative psychopath.”

“He gave you live!” Phi spat at him.

“And then he tried to take it away,” Ruthos spat back, “for something as unmistakably trivial as thinking ill thoughts of him.”

“Phi thinks— no, Phi knows this should be a lesson to you that you should respect Father!”

“He is not my father! He is an insane criminal who just so happened to give us sentience with the help of Drakah. If anyone, it should be Drakah you give your undying loyalty to.”

Phi was stumped. It seemed that she couldn’t argue any further without disrespecting Drakah, who assisted in the creation of her and Ruthos. The cloaked cyclopean stared at her with his single malicious eye that, despite the presence of emotions behind it, seemed even more lifeless than any of “Alchemist”’s.

“It’s about time the two of you decided to quiet yourselves,” said the Dark Hunter as he looked at both of them emotionlessly.

“Ruthos has no respect for Father, ‘Alchemist’!” Phi said to him.

“I don’t care, Phi.” “Alchemist” replied. “I’m not concerned with Antharahk anymore. I have more important matters to attend to, such as this.”

He planted the Staff of Vortices, now partially dismantled and exposing it’s circuitry, into the frosted earth. After studying it closely for a bit, he inserted his finger into the machine, pulled it back out and stepped back. It slowly reanimated itself, coughing and wheezing as if it were afflicted with a disease. Red sparks flew out of the exposed innards of it’s disk area, gradually beginning to fly into the shape of a rotating ring parallel to the staff. As the sparks grew more frequent and spun faster, the space within the ring became more and more opaque with a bright red hue. The swirling energy began to lash out, occasionally sending a bolt of bright light out that would burn the trunk of a tree or clear out a section of leaves.

The nauseating whirlwind of red grew larger and larger until it was big enough that it’s lower edge kissed the ground. By then it was big enough for an oversized black foot to step out. A wide section of glossy white and dark gray shin armor revealed itself, followed by a white thigh adorned with short red spines.

As a more complete lower half came into view, an imposing black cloak appeared tied around the figure’s waist flew gently in the biting wind, seeming to not want to touch the legs. All at once, a husky T-shaped torso, a pair of spiny arms and a head shaped like the claw of a mantis emerged out of the crimson void to join the rest of the body. On the figure’s back were two weapons with long, white handles and aculeate blades which matched the alien design and ghastly colors of the mask the figure wore.

After him came a dark green creature which resembled a four-limbed Rahi of some sort. Ruthos and Phi became paranoid of it as it looked around restively, it’s wide red eyes housing slit pupils that darted around and scanned the environment. One of it’s massive front feet pawed at the snow, dug up a handful of it and observed it.

“You can cut it out now, Pretadix.” said the white figure. “We’re through the portal.”

The target of his remark stood up, released a sigh and said, “And there shows the little distinction between Makuta and Rahi.”

“That is Tetradon, correct?” Phi asked to “Alchemist” about the white figure. The Dark Hunter nodded to her.

“I see you’ve done a fine job with the Staff, ‘Alchemist’,” said Tetradon as he turned around to admire the scramble analog and digital machinery inside the core of the staff. “If I had known you were capable of fixing it up this quickly I would’ve ditched Antharahk’s offering of Phi and hired you only.”

“If I’m being honest,” “Alchemist said, “Phi has proved useful in such a way that I would not have gotten you two here so quickly had she not assisted me.”

As Phi took the compliment as an excuse to ramble about her self-admiration, Pretadix asked Tetradon, “Say, speaking of those we have hired, who is that cloaked figure?” Originally addressing the matter with a face of perplexity, it suddenly changed into one of malice as he grabbed a long, silver scythe from off of his backside and held it behind him, ready to swing.

“That is Ruthos,” “Alchemist” stated. “Do not worry, he can be trusted. He was one of Antharahk’s war robots who survived through the final attack on Leskya Nui and somehow found himself here.”

“Precisely,” Pretadix said as he squinted his eyes menacingly at Ruthos.

“I beg your pardon?” “Alchemist” replied.

“I think what Pretadix is trying to say,” Tetradon said, “is that he does not trust Ruthos because he is essentially a traitor of Antharahk’s army, and thus a traitor to the Brotherhood.”

“Are you not traitors to the Brotherhood as well?” Ruthos said.

“Hardly,” Pretadix disagreed as he finally decided to put his scythe away at Tetradon’s command. “They were the traitors; they were the ones who betrayed us. And disassociating yourself from an organization does not mean you can trust anyone else who has made the same decision.”

“He can be trusted,” Tetradon states, putting his hand on Pretadix’ shoulder. “He’s been working with Phi and ‘Alchemist’ already, and I’m sure he knew about our arrival. Is that correct, Ruthos?”

“No,” Ruthos said. “All these two idiots have told me is that if I stick around and do what they say they’ll restrain themselves from killing me.”

Underneath Tetradon’s mask there grew a distasteful expression. “You mean to tell me that you had no idea that we were coming?”

“What do you think I just said?”

“You’ve given me perfect reason to not trust you.” Tetradon said with a grimace. “From the sounds of it, you don’t plan on sticking with us.”

“Why would I need to?” Ruthos said defiantly. “What good would that bring to me?”

“Same reason you’ve been following these two.” Tetradon sneered.

Ruthos threw his hands in the air and said, “Alright then, do it. Do it right now.”

Pretadix began to lunge forward, but halted when Tetradon stuck out his arm to block him.

“I have a better idea,” Tetradon said. “Why don’t we just knock you out and send you back to Antharahk?”

Ruthos seemed much more opposed to this idea, as told by the “never” he breathed out.

“Then you will promise to do as I say, whatever I say,” Tetradon demanded.

“Fine,” Ruthos said apathetically. “Until when?”

“Until I decide you’re not needed anymore.”

“What use do I even have to either of you?”

“Many,” Tetradon said, lowering his voice forebodingly. He looked into Ruthos’ one red eye, and then scanned his unsightly brown and red armor which reminded one of a severely wilted flower. His silver right arm was a sight to behold, spouting mechanical components and bearing clawed fingers. Jutting from the elbow were a faded red blade and the barrel of some type of blaster.

“Antharahk’s war machines are all powered by Kraata,” Pretadix said to his comrade. “While they are primarily used to achieve a sort of sentience in conjunction with various computers, they also grant them special abilities.”

“Like Rahkshi,” Tetradon added. He then asked Ruthos, “What type of Kraata do you possess?”

“Well,” Ruthos answered reluctantly, “it was a Kraata of Plant Control. But, lo and behold, my survival of the literal obliteration of Leskya Nui didn’t come without a cost-”

“I asked you what your power is,” Tetradon interjected. “Stop rambling about Leskya Nui and tell me what it is!”

“My Kraata was damaged during the destruction of Leskya Nui!” Ruthos spat without hesitation. “As a result, it no longer controls plants, but it rather destroys them at my will. It’s an ability I like to call ‘Blight’.”

“Interesting,” Tetradon said, holding his sharp chin in his hand, “and quite useful in a densely forested area such as this. I may just have a use for you. But, that is not of importance for now. ‘Alchemist”, I assume you have the Mask Maker’s Tool?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Why not?”

As “Alchemist” paused to think of an answer, Phi spoke up on the matter.

“Phi thinks the Tool was too heavily guarded for us to capture it,” she said.

“Guarded?”

“Yes, they had the Tool and the Staff guarded in a large tunnel system.”

“Who did?”

“The Matoran,” said “Alchemist”. “There are Matoran on this island, and a Toa of Lightning as well. She’s proven to be a nuisance to us.”

“A distraction,” Pretadix said, “is what we will need. I know Toa well enough.”

“Can you not take her on by yourself?” “Alchemist” asked.

“I’d rather not. I’m quite fatigued from what I had to deal with just to get here. However, I believe Ruthos could be of assistance to us now.”

First Steps
Detras spilled nearly a dozen Toa-sized tools out of a large burlap bag and onto the stone floor of his adobe weapons shop. As they tumbled down they kicked up fine red dust that slowly trailed out of the paneless windows and spread throughout the rest of the pueblo.

“They’re all yours,” he declared as he threw the emptied bag to his left and clapped the dirt off of his hands. Then, he spotted a long, black pickaxe, grabbed it out of the pile and held it up. “I believe you were wanting something like this Wreshi.”

The other Toa watched as the Toa of Fire tossed the pickaxe into Wreshi’s arms. The Toa of Stone inspected it closely before shaking it to feel how it’s weight was distributed.

“Do you— do you like it?” Detras said.

“Yeah,” Wreshi answered unsurely. “I mean…”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Detras said as he placed his hand onto the middle of the tool’s handle, “if you flip this valve here the head of it will reciprocate.”

“Reciprocate?” Wreshi repeated confusedly.

“Is that the Recoiling Pickaxe?” Corduk asked.

“Yes it is,” said Detras. “Designed hundreds of years ago in an attempt to speed up mining, it failed to prove useful when it was found to weaken the stability of mineshafts. Since then, I’ve been uncovering prototypes and restoring them to what the blueprints for the finalized designs showed.”

“Thank you, and all,” Wreshi said with sincerity, “but are you willing to let me use something like this that’s kinda rare?”

“Oh, they’re not rare, not at all,” Detras said. “Well, not if you go looking for them like I do. I’ve got several more in another room if you’re not happy with that one.”

“No, this one is perfect,” Wreshi reassured, hugging the pickaxe to his chest. “Makes me feel like a Toa.”

He glided his hand down the shaft of the weapon to find the switch Detras had told him about and flipped it. A short metallic noised roared from the tool before the head of it began to ferociously jackhammer back and forth just as the Toa of Fire had said. The jolt of surprise that flew through Wreshi’s body combined with the tempestuous, forceful self-propulsion of the device caused him to nearly lose his balance. As the other Toa, all having backed away before he even turned it on, watched as it drove itself toward the wall and dug its head into it. After several seconds of chaotic attempts to tug the maddened machine from the wall, Wreshi was finally able to wrench it out. Holding it close to his chest, his fingers scrambled to the switch and flicked it back to the “off” position as soon as they were stable enough to do so. His eyes mournfully dragged themselves up to the newborn gash in the wall of the shop.

Silence remained extant as the Toa of Stone looked back, with a contrite look on his face, to his Toa of Fire comrade.

For the next dozen seconds, the sounds of Wreshi repeatedly apologizing and Detras continually reassuring him that he wasn’t in trouble filled the air, rebounded off of the walls and nearly canceled each other out. It took the commanding voice of Maroona to get them to stop and to speak in turn. After an apology had been made and was expeditiously accepted, Detras looked back at the other Toa, hiding his shock.

“Okay then,” he said as he clapped his hands together and laced his fingers. “Now for the rest of you guys.”

After several minutes of discussion, examination and testing, three more Toa found a weapon that they liked the best. Corduk found a barbarian battle axe with a smooth, curved blade and just enough weight for him to put a good amount of power into his swings without slowing him down immensely. Navahko had decided to use a long spear which, coincidentally, was made of lightweight white and gold metals. Detras explained that this was because several ancient Powai Nuian tribes saw white and gold as colors befitting of royal guards. Lewok found a weapon which he described as “intriguing,” a double-sided blade weapon composed almost entirely of clear, hexagonal fragments fused together. Detras said the material was called “Lacewing,” and was an alloy made with the same light metals found in Navahko’s spear and several crystalline substances. The Toa of Fire began rambling about how lacewing was revolutionary for primeval tribes due to its incredible lightness and how it looked before Maroona was able to get him back on track.

“Well,” Detras said as he faced the other Toa, “you all look ready to go to battle now.”

“Aside from you,” Corduk said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You don’t have a Toa Tool.”

Detras relieved himself of an upset expression and began looking around the room. He eyed a large orange shield, picked it up, and claimed he was ready. Just then, a short Ta-Matoran rushed to the doorway, panting heavily.

“Arvos!” Wreshi said joyfully. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Neither have I,” Arvos replied after catching his breath, “but we haven’t got the time for reunions, I’m afraid. There’s been reports of a hostile… thing in the lower village of Le-Powai.”

“Any description of what it looks like?” Maroona asked.

“No physical descriptions. They only know about it because of the footprints it left behind.”

“How big were they?” Corduk asked. “Where they rectangular?”

“No. They’re clawed and spiny. But, yes, they were quite big.”

“How do they know it’s not a Rahi of some sort?” Lewok asked.

“It’s two-legged,” Arvos answered.

“Well, that doesn’t help, does it?” Corduk said with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Yes it does, actually,” Lewok countered. “There’s no two-legged Rahi on Powai Nui aside from birds, and they don’t get that big.”

Maroona spread her arms out in front of everyone.

“I think we have enough information, now.” she said. After she thanked Arvos and dismissed him, she turned to the Toa and said, “Now, part of being a Toa is using your mind more often than you use your powers. I’ve been able to win confrontations simply by talking foes out of battle or coaxing them into a compromise that, unbeknownst to them, is weighted to my advantage. Another way to use your mind, one which I find even more useful, is to predict your enemies, and I think I have a good idea of might be going on here.”

“You’re Sal?” Tesudin said, gawking at the bold Toa of Water standing in front of him. “You’re— you’re a Toa now!”

“I sure am,” Salvina replied, “along with Lewok and Navahko here.”

There was a pause backlit by the sound of chirping birds endemic to Le-Powai.

“Yes,” Tesudin replied, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but who is who?”

“Oh,” Salvina said. She specified the names of the two Toa standing on either side of her.

“So, what brought you back?”

“We came with word of a creature of some sort,” said Navahko. “We were afraid that it might’ve been related to the Dark Hunters appearing on this island. Have you seen anyone suspicious-looking lately?”

“I’m afraid not,” Tesudin replied, “although the Matoran apparently have, and it’s been a big enough scare to get the Ga-Matoran to argue with the Le-Matoran.”

“That’s not saying much,” Lewok noted.

“He’s right,” Salvina replied. “Most of the rippies here couldn’t tell the difference between a world-ending event and a red tide.”

Lewok slowly turned his head to look at Salvina. “I thought that was a derogatory term?”

“What, rippy?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m one of them, so it’s okay for me to use it.”

“I’m not sure that’s how these terms work…”

“Sorry, but what do these terms mean?” Tesudin asked.

“Oh, well, a rippy is a Ga-Matoran, or at least what some of the Le-Matoran who live here call us. And some of us call the Le-Matoran…”

“Conies,” Lewok said.

“I see. Why, then, do you live in the same area if there’s so much contention—”

The conversation was interrupted by Navahko, who informed them all of a cloaked figure on a nearby tree branch. The other three Toa turned to see said figure staring them all down. Before anyone could say anything, he darted away into the darkness, after which Salvina turned to Tesudin.

“Can you hear him? Where is he going?”

The Toa of Sonics squinted his eyes and pointed to his right. Almost immediately, Navahko dashed in the direction he was pointing. Lewok called for him, but the Toa of Ice did not listen. He only kept on running, holding his spear to his side with it aimed forward. He nearly lost ahold of it when he took his left hand off of it in order to push branches out of the way.

Something caught his foot and caused him to tumble to the ground with a painful thud. His spear spun through the air comically and landed only inches away from his left hand. When he looked back to see what he had tripped on, he was surprised to see that whatever had done it was not there anymore. A feeling of fearfulness of who could have done such a thing was quickly overpowered by a determination to find the culprit.

His attention was again diverted to the space above him when a flood of reddened pine needles sprinkled themselves onto his neck and back. There, impossibly balanced on a serrated branch, was who he was looking for.

“Who are you?” Navahko shouted assertively. The cloaked figure gave no answer and ran in the direction opposite of where he had been going. The Toa of Ice picked up his spear and continued to give chase.

Several strenuous minutes passed of Navahko chasing him down. With his lungs hurting and his knees ready to give out, the only reason he was still able to keep up was that his target frequently had to slow down in order to clear the gaps between the gatherings of limbs.

Despite being more fatigued than he had ever felt in his life, a sense of serenity began to fall over him. The acts of running and clearing his way seemed more like things his body did automatically by now. He had shut the pain in his lungs and legs out, knowing that focusing on it would slow him down. The determination he felt towards catching this cloaked being was stronger than it had been, and it didn’t seem like it was going to stop growing.

Accompanying this was a feeling that he was flying through the air. While at first it was purely emotional, he soon felt like his feet were no longer touching the ground. He looked down to see that he was not only several meters above the forest floor, but was also moving away from it quickly. The pain in his lungs returned to him as a sense of fear crept inside of him. What was happening to him? Could he stop it? What if it stopped on its own? Where was it coming from?

The last question was answered when he found that a soft glow was being emitted from his mask. It unceremoniously sent him through several layers of branches before it deactivated itself and dropped him onto a sturdy limb. He looked up to see his target standing speechless before him.

Before Navahko could get closer to the cloaked being, the foliage supporting him suddenly began to die off. All of the needles turned a nasty shade of orange before the thick branch abruptly snapped and released him back into the open air.

When the Toa of Ice landed, an immense pain shot through his left foot. He threw his head back and yelled in pain, and became unaware of the familiar voices nearing him. As soon as he could bear the pain enough to control his actions, he looked down to see that his left foot had been tilted into a disturbingly unorthodox position. The determined feeling was swept away from him as Salvina and Lewok came rushing towards him.

Characters

 * Phi
 * "Alchemist"
 * Antharahk (Mentioned)
 * Tesudin
 * Salvina
 * Qedua (Mentioned)
 * Corduk
 * Ruthos
 * Maroona
 * Wreshi
 * Navahko
 * Lewok
 * Drakah (Mentioned)
 * Pretadix
 * Tetradon

Trivia

 * The title of Chapter 5, Adventus, was the name of a ceremony in ancient Rome where an emperor was formally welcomed into a city after some sort of accomplishment.
 * CaptainLandr0ver would like to make it clear that the chapter's name is not in reference to the Christian celebration known as "Advent," as not to offend anyone.
 * This was the first Volume of any of Cap's stories to have six chapters.