Origins (The Story of Maethor)

Origins is the story of the Toa Torbur. It takes place on the island Torbur Nui after Matoro used the Mask of Life to revive Mata Nui.

Chapter 1: Ice
Torbur  Nui was practically an island paradise. Rarely were the Matoran who made the island their abode disturbed or threatened in any way. Most of them went peacefully about their daily tasks of farming, sculpting, studying and other such chores as were deemed fit by the Matoran. No Turaga resided on Torbur Nui and the Matoran chose leaders of the village as they saw fit. Methods of choosing varied from village to village but this method of leadership never seemed to cause problems. Neither were there any Toa, so defense of the villages was operated by the Matoran themselves. Rarely was such a defense needed however, as threats were virtually non-existent. It was on this island in the northernmost village, Ko-Koro as it was named by the island’s denizens, there happened to be a disturbance. It was not among the usual landslides or blizzards the Ko-Matoran expected on a daily basis, it was rather a direct attack on the village.

The sky was filled with rolling clouds, appearing as puffs of smoke. It would have been a beautiful sight had the clouds not been obscuring the sun’s golden rays. As a result, the sky was dark and looked as if, at any moment, a torrential downpour might burst forth from the clouds. The Ko-Matoran were used to blizzards and the like so a storm as the clouds seemed ready to produce was nothing to concern themselves over, or so they thought.

A young Matoran named Tior was standing at the village gates on guard duty. He had only recently joined the Village Guard and was standing at his post with his superior officer, Maethor. Maethor had aspired for some time to become Captain of the Guard, however the Captain was always chosen by the leader of the village, and every Matoran considered Maethor to be a poor choice for Captain. He still held on to a shred of hope that he might someday be able to lead the Village Guard but it was little more than a hope.

It was on this bleak day that the first real disturbance on Torbur Nui occurred. It was almost unnoticeable but Tior saw what appeared to be a black cloud, moving along the ground at very high speed. Tior panicked; Of course, first big thing to EVER happen on this island happens on my first day of guard duty.

“Maethor,” Tior began, “do you see that?”

Maethor strained his eyes until he too could see the coming cloud.

“Sound the alarm!” he shouted and both he and Tior ran back inside the gate, not before Maethor retrieved his bow and arrows though. Tior was one of the fastest Matoran in the village and he sprinted straight for the warning bell. Maethor dashed up the steps of the village wall and fitted an arrow to his bow-string, ready for whatever might come. Tior continued to ring the warning bell for several minutes as the cloud came ever closer. After the first few rings of the bell, Aloro, the current Captain of the Guard emerged from his hut, with his blade in his hand, prepared to fend off an attack. Maethor tried his best to keep his animosity toward Aloro under control. Aloro was best in the village at nearly everything and Maethor hated him for it.

The cloud came ever closer with each second and Aloro trotted up the steps to the top of the wall. At the top of the village gate, there was a telescope, which the Ko-Matoran used to perceive any potential threats or friends from a great distance. It hadn’t been used in over a thousand years however. Aloro looked through the rusty piece of equipment, barely able to see anything through the eyepiece. What he did see, though, was appalling. Swarms of spherical creatures were rolling toward the village at what appeared to be top speed, all of them a sickly shade of green.

Aloro dropped down from the wall and stood in the middle of the gate, ready to challenge this foe. Fearless he seemed but he was able to mask his emotions exceptionally well. The swarms came closer and Maethor pulled back the arrow on his bowstring. Tior continued to sound the alarm bell as the rest of the Matoran were pouring into the underground roadway built by the Onu-Matoran. It was not created for mass exodus though and the going was slow. Portions of the tunnel were caved in and had to be cleared away again. Many of the Matoran knew that their time was coming. A group of Ko-Koronan archers marched up the stairs to the wall, fitted arrows onto their bowstrings and prepared to fire. While Maethor hadn’t yet achieved the rank of Captain of the Guard, he at least had achieved the rank of Captain of the Archers.

“Ready arrows!” Maethor shouted to his archers. They all drew back their arrows and aimed for the incoming swarms.

“Fire!” Maethor roared. A volley of arrows sailed from the top of the battlements and stuck into some of the creatures, freezing them in place however some arrows missed their marks and there were far more creatures than there were archers. The unfrozen creatures continued moving and plowed through the village wall as if it had been air. The foundations of the wall were destroyed and the entire defense crumbled into dust, crushing some of the archers. Most of the survivors sprinted for the underground highway but some escaped the rubble and readied another volley of arrows. Maethor was the last to emerge and the first to actually pay attention to what the swarm was doing inside of the village. The spheres had unfolded and appeared as round, insect-like creatures, blasting an acidic substance from a claw-like shield on the end of their arms. The acid ate through everything it touched. Maethor saw three of the creatures moving toward the fleeing Matoran and knew that he had to do something.

Without any forethought, Maethor leapt into action. Readying an arrow midair, he fired into the first creature he saw which froze it in place. Landing, he scooped up a handful of rocks and hurled them at the next creature which turned the attention of the two creatures onto himself. He ran for a section of the wall that appeared ready to collapse at any moment. The two creatures turned into spheres and chased after him. Maethor fitted another arrow into his bow and dived through a gap in the wall, firing the arrow into the rock which caused it to collapse, crushing the creatures beneath it.

Maethor had barely stood up and watched the dust clear when he heard screams of pain. He turned to see that Aloro had been pinned down and one of the creatures was pouring acid onto him; Aloro’s right hand and left foot had already been melted off and the acid was still eating through him. Maethor fitted his last arrow into his bow and fired at one of the creatures. The arrow hit its mark perfectly and froze the creature in place. This caught the attention of some others and three of them curled up and began rolling toward him.

Maethor had to lead the creatures away from the escaping Matoran and the only way he knew to escape was down the side of the mountain that the village had rested on. He made a dash away from the path toward the nearly sheer side of the mountain but he lost his footing and slipped, sliding down the mountain at high speed. The creatures tumbled after him but they soon lost track of him as what little light there had been was beginning to fade and the Ko-Matoran’s color was blending into the snow drifts well.

Maethor had slid far away from the creatures. The last ten feet of the mountain was a sheer ice wall. Before Maethor slid off the side and hit the solid ground, he noticed a small glowing object but when he landed, his consciousness was lost.

Characters

 * Maethor