Morvak's Story



Morvak's Story is a short serial written by. It details the early life Lesovikk and his transformation into a Toa, as well as the large-scale battle between his mentor, Morvak, and the insane, rogue Makuta known as Shadow.

Prologue
Lesovikk, Toa of Air, swam through the waters of the Pit. By his side were two Matoran. One was a Ta-Matoran named Sarda, the other a Ga-Matoran known as Idris. These Matoran were residents of the undersea village known as Mahri Nui. However, unlike their Matoran brethren, they and their Toa friend were not breathing air inside of bubbles produced by Air Weed plants. Instead they were breathing water like the many fish that surrounded them due to the effects of the Pit Mutagen, a mysterious substance that mutates almost any living creature exposed to it into a water-breather. They were hot on the trail of a feared tyrant known in Matoran mythology as Karzahni.

Karzahni was once a healer of Matoran who became a twisted and insane tyrant. He recently entered the Pit in search for the fabled Kanohi Ignika, Mask of Life, so he could gain power and expand the borders of his nightmarish realm. However due to a battle with another monstrous being known as Makuta, Karzahni has been wounded and forced to retreat. Now Lesovikk, Sarda, and Idris were tracking him down so as to put an end to the tyrant's rampage.

As they searched, Lesovikk thought back to his days as a Matoran. Life was much more simple back then, and rarely involved such evil beings. As he thought Lesovikk remembered his hero and mentor: Morvak. Morvak was the one who inspired Lesovikk to be a hero and protect others. With the memory of Morvak other memories of Lesovikk's Matoran life flooded back to him. He remembered Morvak, Nikila, his Matoan village, and many more such things. He was remembering a time long past. A time when Lesovikk was still a Matoran and another Toa acted as his guardian.

Chapter One
Morvak watch with amusement as a Matoran tried in vain to tame a temperamental Ussal Crab. While they were one of the few Rahi that were trained to obey Matoran, this one wasn't in the mood to haul a large load clear across the island. As the soul Toa of this island, Morvak rarely had time to take in such an amusing sight, as he was always need for one reason or another. At that moment the Ussal damaged three Matoran fruit-stands as well as knock over several Matoran. Morvak had had enough laughs for one day and decided to help out. The Rahi crab ran this way and that as it tried to shake off the Matoran. Suddenly, a double bladed sword embedded itself in the ground just feet in front of the angry crab. Startled, the Rahi screeched to a halt just as Morvak scooped up the frightened Matoran. The Ussal Crab then turned tail and ran for the Ussal pen where others of its kind were kept.

"I told you that would happen," said the Toa of Air. The Matoran grumbled as Morvak gently lowered him to the ground. He was sure the Ussal would have responded to his commands. But, as usual, the Le-Matoran named Lesovikk was wrong.

"Thanks Toa. As usual you where right", said Lesovikk.

"Don't mention it", said Morvak as he retrieved his weapon. "By the way, have you seen Nikila? She said she had a surprise in store for me."

"Yeah", said the Le-Matoran. "She is in the newly built shrine in the center of the village."

"Lets travel there together. That way I can protect you from any more rampaging Ussal Crabs", said Morvak, a smile spreading across his Mask of Focus, which allowed its wearer to concentrate under the most extreme and stressful of circumstances.

"Yeah, yeah very funny Morvak", said Lesovikk as he and his Toa friend walked toward the center of the village.

When they arrived, they entered the small building. When they walked trough the door they saw an unexpected sight. Nikila, along with a Ga-Matoran named Idris and the Matoran of Iron named Vooka, putting the finishing touches on a large, dome-like structure. There were six smaller domes lining the sides of the larger one. Suddenly Nikila spotted the two new-comers and stopped working.

"Oh!", exclaimed Nikila. "I didn't know you would be here this soon. Oh well, take a look at your new Toa Suva."

Movak was speechless. He had no idea this is what Nikila was working on. "Thank you Nikila, I was wondering where I was going to keep my extra masks and tools when that Kikinalo stamped destroyed my other Suva."

"No problem", said Nikila. "Oh, by the way. Lesovikk, I have a message for you. You need to take a load of weapons and Kanoka Disks to the the Matoran village on the other side of the island."

"It can't wait until tomorrow?", asked the Le-Matoran.

"No. You know that they need all the protection from those Rahi beast they can get when Morvak isn't around."

Lesovikk growled in frustration and said, "Fine. I'll take one of the Ussal carts." He then stomped out of the room. Later, Lesovikk loaded up his cart and attached it to a Ussal Crab. As he was climbing aboard Lesovikk heard someone shout. He looked over his shoulder to see Nikila and Morvak approaching. "What is it Nikila?", asked the Le-Matoran. "I've got to get going."

"Well, I was wondering if I could go with you.", said Nikila. "I have a friend in the other village I haven't seen in a while."

"Well, I don't know...", said Lesovikk.

"Um, I was wondering if I could tag along as well", said Morvak. "I have business I need to tend to there as well."

Lesovikk thought for a moment and gave a nod. Nikila found a place to sit next to Lesovikk, while Morvak sat in the cargo area of the cart. When everybody was on board Lesovikk pulled the reins and urged the Ussal to start moving.

Chapter Two
The Matoran of the second village were enjoying a rare occurrence: Peace. No snarling Rahi have been lurking outside the village walls for some time, nor have there been any of the strange, yet fearsome, creatures known as Rahkshi trying to scale the walls. Yes, nights like this were the what the Matoran truly loved. However, it won't last.

Suddenly the Matoran heard a loud booming noise. They looked toward the north gate and discovered a huge crack in the stone gate. Agian the sound came, along with another huge crack, indicating some powerful being was striking the door. Finally, the third blow caused the entire gate to crumble. When the dust settled the villagers saw a huge, dark figure standing in their presence. The being's glowing red eyes never blinked as the figure moved toward the Matoran like a dark ghost of shadows. The being's every movement inspired fear within the Matoran.

The days to follow would be the Matoran's worst nightmare come true.

Chapter Three
After roughly two days of traveling Morvak, Lesovikk, and Nikila finally reached the village's gate. Lesovikk urged the Ussal Crab to come to a stop. He then called out for the gate keeper to open the doors. When nobody answered he climbed off of his cart and pounded on the large doors and said, "Let us in! We have your delivery out here!" Still, nobody answered.

"Maybe they are all gathered in the center of the village with the Turaga.", suggested Nikila.

"No", said Morvak. "Even if they were having a meeting they would have left at least a few sentry on guard for intruders."

"Well, we need to see what's going on.", said Nikila. "Can you get us up there Toa?"

Morvak chuckled and said, "You know I can."

Moments later, Toa and Matoran were rising into the air, using the flying board function of Movak's Toa Tool. As they rose above the walls they saw a horrible sight. Many of the village's buildings were damaged or destroyed. Several wounded Matoran were scattered around on the ground, but it seemed that most of the Matoran were missing. As they descended they noticed wisps of shadows drifted close to the ground.

Before they managed to reach the ground they were blasted with what seemed to be a bolt of pure darkness. While Morvak's quick reflexes allowed him to land on his feet, the two Matoran weren't as lucky as they hit the ground hard. When they got back up they saw Morvak standing a short distance away from a large powerful being. The stranger was clad in black and dark red armor. Covering his face was a large, evil-looking mask that was as jet black as the cape wrapped around his neck. Clutched in his right, three-fingered hand was a large double-bladed staff that crackled with shadow energy. To complete the being's frightening appearance, his piercing red eyes gleamed with madness.

"Who are you?" asked Morvak.

"And what do you want with this village?" asked Lesovikk.

A chilling smile appeared on the stranger's mask. He then said, "I don't like telling others my name, so you can just call me 'Shadow'."

Nikila frowned and said, "Well 'Shadow', you are about to be kicked off of this island and -"

Suddenly a small blast of pure darkness knocked the Matoran of Lightning off of her feet. She hit the ground hard and blacked out. Stunned by what he saw Lesovikk unlimbered his two knife tools and charged toward the mad being and said, "You'll pay for that monster!"

Chuckling wickedly, Shadow released another shadow blast, except this time it formed a shadowy hand that clamped onto the Le-Matoran and threw him aside easily.

"Lesovikk!", shouted Morvak. "How dare you!"

Shadow simply laughed. "He and the other one was lucky. They could have ended up like the village's other Matoran."

"Where are they?", asked Morvak.

"With the exception of the few you see scattered around the on the ground most of them are gathered in the largest building, waiting for their inevitable fate."

"What do you mean?", demanded Morvak.

The mad being laughed. "Once I gather the rest of the Matoran, I will use my power to absorb them into my essence and add them to my great power", said Shadow. "With each Matoran my power will grow, until I become the most powerful member of the Brotherhood of Makuta in history!", He then began laughing evilly, madness apparent all the while.

Morvak was horrified by what he just heard. Then he realized what Shadow just told and said, "Your a member of the Brotherhood of Makuta. Your a Makuta?!"

Shadow smirked and said, "Took you long enough." He then raised his staff and fired a powerful blast of shadow. Morvak managed to dodge and counter with a powerful cyclone blast. The insane Makuta didn't even try to dodge and simply used his power to create a cyclone himself. The two whirlwinds collided and canceled each other out.

Then Morvak asked, "Why are you doing this? I thought the Brotherhood was supposed to protect the Matoran."

The Makuta looked disgusted by Morvak's words and said, "My brother and sister Makuta might want to waist their lives protecting Matoran, but I want to use them to achieve power beyond anything anyone has ever known."

"You disgust me", said Morvak, as he picked up his sword and readied himself for battle.

Shadow chuckled as he hefted his staff, "Well, I'll make sure I don't 'disgust' you any longer."

Chapter Four
Even as Morvak prepared for battle he knew the odds were against him. As skilled as he was, even he, an experienced Toa, was at a disadvantage. His opponent was much larger and stronger then he was. Plus, being a Makuta, Shadow possessed many different powers. Despite this, Morvak knew he couldn't fail. The life of every single Matoran on this island was counting on him. Suddenly, Morvak charged, ready to end this threat.

Seeing this, Shadow charged at his opponent. When Morvak was mere feet from the Makuta he planted one end of his weapon into the ground and flew over his opponent. When he passed over Shadow he released three small blasts of concentrated air. The blasts met their mark and forced the Makuta to his knees. Morvak landed a short distance behind Shadow and threw his weapon like a javelin. He threw it with great accuracy, as it manged to damage the organic tissue in his shoulder. Ignoring the intense pain, Shadow whirled around and racked the Toa's body with a powerful blast of lightning. The blast sent the Toa of Air flying over fifty feet.

Morvak hit the ground so hard that he had to fight to stay awake. He also had to fight off the agonizing pain induced by the Makuta's electrical attack. The Toa forced himself into a kneeling position, with one knee and one foot on the ground. When he looked up he saw Shadow stalking toward him, an insane gleam in his eyes. In moments Shadow was upon the Toa. Determined to finish his opponent, Shadow lifted his bladed staff and brought it down on Morvak. However, instead of the satisfying sound of a blade slashing through an opponent's armored body, Shadow heard the clang of weapons striking each other. He looked down to see Morvak holding Shadow's blade back with the two extra swords that were attached to his back. While he managed to buy some time, Morvak knew he was in trouble. Then he was struck with an idea.

Gathering the last of his will power, Morvak activated the power of his Kanohi Mask of Focus, allowing him greater concentration. He used this new focus to create a powerful twister that sent Shadow flying over two-hundred feet until he was slammed into a building. When Morvak deactivated the cyclone Shadow's body sagged and slumped to the ground where he collapsed.

After several long moments of resting, Morvak rose to his feet. He glanced at the prone form of his foe. When he returned to the village he would need to send a message to the Brotherhood of Makuta so as to alert them of their insane brother's activities. With that he turned around to find Lesovikk and Nikila. Suddenly, he heard a sound. Lesovikk stumbled toward the weary Toa. But before he could reach him a hand of shadow seized the Le-Matoran and brought him back to its owner: Shadow. Shadow retrieved the Matoran from it and held Lesovikk high into the air, despite Lesovikk making a futile attempt to escape. The mad Makuta then began to squeeze, forcing Lesovikk to scream in pain. He then said, "Two choices Toa. Either you surrender and meet a quick demise, or live with the fact that you let this Matoran die."

Morvak simply starred at the Makuta.

Confused by this, Shadow said, "Make your choice Toa. Now!"

This time Morvak simply gave a smile that chilled even the Makuta. A moment later Shadow knew why he was smiling. While the Makuta was ranting, Morvak mentally commanded a powerful cyclone to descend from the sky and slam into Shadow's back, causing him to loose his grip on Lesovikk. The Le-Matoran quickly got to his feet an ran to stand behind Morvak. He then looked up at his village's guardian and said, "For a second I thought you would let him kill me."

Morvak smiled and said, "I couldn't do that Lesovikk. Then who would I save from those 'viscous' Ussal Crabs."

Before Lesovikk could respond, he and Morvak heard Shadow painfully get to his feet, a murderous gleam in his eyes. "Get behind me", said Morvak. At that moment Shadow charged.

Chapter Five
Even as his opponent ran at him, Morvak remained calm. Morvak had tried his best to defeat his Makuta opponent without using deadly force. Now Morvak was left with only one option. It seemed to happen in slow motion. As he activated his mask power of focus, Movak raised his right hand. Suddenly, a miniature cyclone came into existence in the palm of his hand as Morvak gathered as much air as possible. In his many years of being a Toa, Morvak had mastered virtually every trick a Toa of Air could learn. Everything from creating a simple breeze to releasing a mighty Nova Blast had been learned by this Toa. However, what he was about to do was something no Toa has ever done or would ever do. Morvak gathered a massive amount of air and concentrated it into a single ball of raw elemental energy that fit in to the palm of Morvak's hand. At that moment he knew it was time. Shadow was upon them now, ready to demolish this Toa and his Matoran friend.

At that moment Morvak acted as he clenched the energy ball in his hand and forced it forward. He then unleashed the orb's power onto the Makuta, and released more power than Shadow thought a Toa could possess. The massive blast of air then sent Shadow flying high into the air. Both Toa and Matoran closed their eyes, for they knew what was to follow. As the Makuta sailed into the sky, the raw force of one thousand hurricanes caused Shadow's body and armor to be ripped apart, effectively killing him. Then the Makuta's remains continues to soar in to the sky, propelled by winds measuring thousands of miles per hour, until they reached well beyond the horizon line of the island.

After many long moments of unleashing elemental energy, Morvak finally collapsed, exhausted. Lesovikk bent down to examine him for injuries. At that moment Nikila rushed from her hiding place and came to Morvak's side and said, "Are you okay, Toa?"

"Yes", said Morvak. "I'll be fine, but you need to be worrying about the Matoran and the Turaga of this village. Lead them back to your village."

"Already done Toa", said Nikila. "While you were battling Shadow, I rounded up the Matoran and Turaga and sent them there."

"Good. Now, catch up to them and tell them that the Toa of Air will be there shortly."

"Consider it done Morvak", said Nikila. She then dashed off to catch up with the group.

When she was gone, Morvak looked at Lesovikk and said, "Listen Lesovikk, I want you to know that since the day I met you I sensed a great gift within you, even if you didn't always show very much potential. But now it is time for you to realize your destiny."

"What are you saying Toa?", asked Lesovikk.

Morvak gestured toward a group of small rocks and said, "Bring those rocks to me Lesovikk."

Puzzled, the Le-Matoran did as he was asked and brought the nine rocks to Morvak. The Toa of Air then raised a hand over the rocks. Suddenly, a glow escaped from his hand and enveloped the stones in its aura. Then Morvak cut off the power, however, the stones continued to glow.

"What did you do?" asked Lesovikk.

"Insuring you will have teammates Lesovikk", Morvak said in his weakened voice.

"Teammates?" Lesovikk said in a confused tone. "What do you mean by that?"

Morvak stretched out his hand and said. "Give me you hand Lesovikk."

The Le-Matoran gripped the Toa's hand. At that moment a glow surrounded both Toa and Matoran. Suddenly Lesovikk felt a massive surge of energy rush through his form, even as his body transformed into a larger and more powerful form. When it was all over Morvak released his grip. Lesovikk then stood up taller then he ever had before. He was taller and stronger then before. He was a Toa. He then said, "What in the name of Mata Nui to you do?!"

He looked down at the unmoving form of his hero and said, "Morvak? Morvak!" But the Toa of Air didn't respond. After a brief inspection Lesovikk learned that giving up his Toa power in such a weakened state was just to much for the old Toa to handle. Morvak, Toa of Air, protector of Matoran, and Lesovikk's mentor was dead.

Chapter Six
Two days later, Toa Lesovikk returned to the village with the body of the island's former protector. He told the Matoran and Turaga everything before laying Morvak to rest. A message was sent to the Brotherhood of Makuta which contained all of the details of Shadow's actions as well as the details of his demise. Lesovikk would later give the stones containing Morvak's Toa power to Nikila, along with eight other Matoran. Those Matoran soon became Toa and decided to form the universe's very first Toa Team. Though that is a story for another day....

Epilogue
Lesovikk's mind suddenly snapped back to the present. It was hard to believe the events of the Toa's past flashed through his mind in mere seconds. As he and his Matoran friends trailed after Karzahni, Lesovikk couldn't hep remembering Morvak's battle agianst Shadow. Was Lesovikk headed for a similar fate? He decided it didn't matter. If giving his life to protect the ones he cared about was what had to be done then so be it. As Lesovikk, Sarda, and Idris swam after their greatest opponent, Lesovikk gave a silent thanks to his old hero for giving him the power to protect his friends.

Characters

 * Lesovikk
 * Sarda
 * Idris
 * Morvak
 * Nikila
 * Vooka
 * Several Matoran
 * Shadow