The Seeds of Doom

The Seeds of Doom is the third story in the arc, The Final Chronicles. It involves the events of the formation of the Toa Magnum and the resistance to the rule of Makuta Teridax.

What Came Before
In the span of time allotted, which we call life, I have experienced many things, things that are ordinary and things that would be enough to make the insane seem sane. My name is Arxtann by the way, and I tell you this because all I have told you has been experienced by me. I used to be a simple Ta-Matoran who lived on the island of Mata-Nui. I was one of the Ta-Koro guard but was a stargazer with a Ko-Matoran named Korxann in my spare time. Now fire and ice hanging out might seem strange, but we were the best of friends. When the Toa Nuva came arrived on Mata-Nui, I was overjoyed. They would finally free us from Makuta's iron grip! They defeated the Rahi under Makuta's control, overcame the Bohrok, and even the Bohrok-Kal! Finally, a friend of mine named Takua became the seventh Toa and defeated Makuta! It was then that our elders, the Turaga, told us of the land of Metru-Nui. Turns out we had lived there once upon a time. The reason none of us had remembered it was due to Makuta's actions (big surprise). So we returned to Metru-Nui and the Toa Nuva went off once more to fulfill their quest. That was the beginning of the nightmare.

Prologue
Metru Nui, once gleaming like a coveted jewel, now the atmosphere was shrouded by the hand of Makuta Teridax. Matoran bustled about their daily duties with a quick glance over the shoulder. Fear now ruled this city, fear enforced by Rahkshi and Exo-Toa. Hope was a fleeting feeling amongst the populace, especially one which had believed their oppressor dead, for they had seen him defeated by the Toa of Light, the mightiest of their champions. Yet, the Master of Shadows had plans within plans, this plan leading to his ultimate victory. Now he was the universe, now he watched everyone, now he was supreme. But the Matoran of Mata Nui were not ones to cower in fear, they were beings of action. The Turaga were in hiding, building a resistance in the archives, but they knew it could not last. With the Toa Nuva and Toa Mahri scattered, their options were disappearing rapidly, they needed power quickly. A group of Matoran decided to take it upon themselves to take power, to create Toa. However they had to work without the benefit of free movement or equipment. Utilizing a rundown, Ga-Metru lab, the six Matoran slowly gathered parts to create a machine that would split Protodermis into its elemental components. None of them knew whether the experiment would work, or if it was all for naught. But they were willing to try. The future of the Matoran could very well depend on it.

Chapter 1
"Why won't you relax?" Arxtann said, trying to comfort his friend. The hum of the chutes made for an eerie atmosphere to talk in. "We've almost finished the project."

"It's not the project I'm worried about," he replied tentatively, "It's what if we got the wrong equation? What if this is the completely wrong tablet? What if the process doesn't even exist and we're just chasing fantasies?"

"We won't know until we meet that translator Natru talked about," the crimson matoran replied. "She says he's the best of the archivers when it comes to languages." They slowed as a junction approached, Korxann staring into space before sighing.

The two Matoran eventually reached the Ga-Metru chute station, only to be greeted by a smug Le-Matoran.

"You're late fire-spitter," he said.

Arxtann glanced quizzically at him for a while. "Better to be late and get here than to not be here at all." He stepped aside to allow Korxann to exit the chute. "This is our friend from the knowledge towers. Korxann, allow me to introduce you to Luatu, Le-Matoran of know-nothingness."

Luatu shook hands with Korxann and chuckled. "Ah Arxtann. You always did have a way with words... But where are my manners!" He motioned for them to follow. "Come, fire and ice brothers, Natru awaits!"

Luatu led them along the canals and through back-alleys Arxtann had never thought to have existed. The suns had reached their zenith by the time they arrived at a small structure that looked as though a Kikanola herd had trampled it. Korxann gave Arxtann a nervous glance. He motioned for him to go inside. The room they entered was dimly lit, shadows cast by the lightstones dancing along the walls. Luatu gave a hurried motion with his hand to follow him into a small alcove. Inside it, he pulled off one of the lightstones. Instantly we plummeted. The crude transport zipped around like a nui-rama, and made about as much noise. It was over soon though, and the group came to rest in an alcove resembling the one back where they had begun. They stepped out into a room filled with buzzing equipment, flashing lights, and massive computers. Wires flooded the floor. In the middle of the room sat a chunk of Protodermis on a pedestal, surrounded by a small glass dome. Six tubes came out just below it, and hooked up to six individual machines. Inside each of those machines was an empty Toa stone. At a consol just in front of the group, a flustered Po-Matoran pressed buttons, pulled levers, and muttered incessantly. He didn't seem to notice them until Korxann tapped him on the shoulder.

"What!? Oh. It's you three." The Po-Matoran glared at Korxann and then turned to Luatu.

"Are you sure you picked up the right Matoran? They could be spies!"

Luatu chuckled. "Don't go getting your head in a twist stone carver. They're on our side all right. Arxtann, Korxann, allow me to introduce you to Marnd, our all-round wise-crackin jump-startin technician. He's the one who built the devices you see before you."

Marnd puffed his chest out and smiled at the pair.

"Well, I wouldn't flatter myself that much--" A siren cut him off. "Blast! It's overheating!"

Marnd immediately grabbed a hammer and banged mercilessly on the console. Then he ran around in a frenzy, pulling levers at random and spraying the computers with a cooling agent. When he was done, Marnd dusted himself off and grinned sheepishly. Korxann twirled his finger around his mask at Marnd’s behavior. Arxtann nodded in agreement. Marnd then led the group down a hall filled with ancient Matoran markings. Arxtann soon realized that they must be underneath the silver sea. If he listened carefully, he could hear the sound of Protodermis flowing gently above. The hall led into a smaller room that had to be a library. Tablets lined the shelves, and computers were in every other alcove. Displays of statues and paintings were everywhere, but we were drawn to two Matoran in the center of the room, a grumpy-looking Onu-Matoran and an exasperated Ga-Matoran. I recognized the latter as Natru. She turned and smiled at me and then motioned for us to come over. "Arxtann, Korxann! Wonderful of you to join us." Luatu nudged me over to where Natru was sitting with the Onu-Matoran. Natru glanced at Korxann. "Do you have the tablet?" Korxann took a small tablet, with carvings of ancient Matoran scripts written all over it, out of his pack. "I wouldn't leave home without it." He handed it to Natru who in turn handed it to the Onu-Matoran. The Onu-Matoran took it and sat, staring at it intently, almost as if he expected it to jump out of his hands. Slowly, a smile crept along his face. He glanced up at the group, staring steadily at each face. Finally, he said, "Gentlemen, and lady, we're in business.



Later that day, Arxtann found himself holding a lightstone for Marnd as he shuffled between a wall and several bios worth of equipment, fixing the fuse to the lighting system. He held his lightstone out more, hopefully allowing the Po-Matoran to see what he was doing. The a flash of energy sparked as he put two wires together and the lights finally came back on. With that, he struggled out of the small space and set down his tools.

Turning to Marnd, Arxtann smiled, "Next time we activate our Protodermis divisor, make sure all our power is not routed to it."

Marnd simply shrugged, "I wasn't able to calculate how much energy it would need."

Arxtann rolled his eyes and followed the engineer.

Meanwhile, Korxann, Natru, and Luatu were busy resetting the Protodermis divisor after it had shut down several power grids when they had initially activated it. Marnd, Arxtann, and the Onu-Matoran named Terhetti walked in.

"Now that we’ve fixed our energy problem," Terhetti said, "let's see if the machine will finally work."

Marnd took a seat in his "command chair" and began flipping switches and running a diagnostic on the device's systems. Finally, a chunk of raw, unrefined Protodermis was lowered into the device.

"Cross your fingers," Marnd said nervously as he threw the final switch. The machine rumbled and then glowed with a bright, searing light. In theory, the machine was designed to break raw Protodermis back into its six component elements, safely, but as the divisor's hum got louder, Arxtann was unsure that this would be anything but that. It was then that a warning light flashed on Marnd's console.

"No no no!" Marnd's eyes raced across that panel, desperately searching as to what the problem was. His eyes widened when he saw the results of his diagnostic.

"The divisor," Marnd exclaimed, "its energy output is causing our system to overheat!"

"No no no!!!" Arxtann rushed to help Marnd just as the divisor exploded.

Chapter 2
It didn't feel as bad as Arxtann thought it would. There was a glow, then a warm feeling as though you were lying on a beach as the suns shone down, then nothing after that. Is this it? Arxtann thought. I thought it would be more painful. He felt powerful, bursting with energy and life. Wait. How am I still thinking if I'm dead? The answer to this was given when he opened his eyes. "Oh," he said and sat up. Looking behind, he saw a crater in the earth where he rested. The impression his body had made looked nothing like Arxtann. It was all tall, armored, and... wait. Arxtann paused his train of thought for a moment and examined his own hands. They were well protected, fiery red, almost claw-like. He then moved his gaze towards his legs. They too were well armored and much longer than they should be. He stood up to better examine himself, his hands moving across his body 'till finally touching the Great Kanohi he now wore. It actually worked! The elements extracted from the Protodermis actually turned me into a Toa! Just, not as expected. Arxtann began walking, each step a shaky endeavor. Then it came to him. What happened to the others!? He immediately began searching the rubble of the lab for any sign of the other Matoran. He almost gave up in despair when he heard a groan from behind. A white armored hand jutted out, with an arm attached. Hopefully the rest of the body still was. Arxtann rushed over and began removing most of the rubble to reveal a Toa that he instantly recognized as Korxann.

"Korxann!" he shouted. "Speak to me. Say something!"

"Something," Korxann mumbled and spat out a wad of dirt. "Remind me not to do that again."

Arxtann laughed with delight and helped his friend to his feet.

"Hang in there old friend. Let's see if the others are in as good a shape as we are."

***

It didn't take long to locate all the Matoran turned Toa. Terhetti was so stunned that he still couldn't speak, Natru kept on tripping over her own feet, Luatu wouldn't shut up, and Marnd was to busy calculating and recalculating how this could have happened without a Toa stone. Their lab was totaled; nothing they could find was salvageable. Korxann picked his way through the rubble towards Arxtann.

"We should move quickly," he said, "it will not take long for the Rahkshi or Exo-Toa to turn up, and I don't want to stick around for that."

"I agree," Arxtann replied, "But we do not have any Toa tools. So we need to stay a little longer, see if we can find something."

Marnd walked over, shaking the dust of his hands in clouds.

"Nothing over there. You guys find anything?"

Arxtann shook his head. Marnd cursed and turned around to gather the others.

Terhetti was investigating where the walls had been when he spotted several dots across the sky. A closer look revealed them to be dagger-like beings. Just the way a Rahkshi looked when it flew! He stumbled back and dashed towards the other Toa. They understood his meaning instantly. Arxtann went into action.

"All right, we need to split up. Let's meet at the Great Temple and go from there. Luatu, Natru, you go together. Terhetti and Korxann will pair up and I will go with Marnd."

They clanked fists together and went their separate ways. Arxtann beckoned Marnd forward. The Rahkshi Guurahk landed amongst the rubble and began searching for who caused the disturbance. Now more than ever they had to get out of there. The two Toa took back-alleys and rooftops, anything to avoid the more populated streets. By now the rahkshi have probably figured out what happened and are now on our trail. Arxtann's lack of focus led him right to the middle of the busiest street in Ga-Metru. Azure Matoran stared at the crimson Toa, followed by a brown one. Rahkshi Guurahk flew down from the sky and surrounded the two Toa, staffs raised.

Arxtann glanced warily at the rahkshi that surrounded them. He knew that they could not be reasoned with and he assessed that they would take both Marnd and him down before they could escape.

"On my mark," he whispered to Marnd. The Stone Toa looked eager for a fight. "Go," Arxtann mumbled as he raised his hands in the air. Marnd was astonished.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Surrendering," Arxtann replied naturally. "Take me to Ahkmou!" he said to the enforcers. This certainly confused the order sons of Makuta. These were the mighty Toa, they were not meant to surrender. This hesitation cost them.

"Now!" Arxtann yelled and unleashed a wall of flame at the unlucky Guurahk, frying most of them. Marnd caught on and caused the ground underneath them to become soupy, allowing the Rahkshi to sink to their midsection. With that they dashed back the way they came. A buzz above them gave away the fact they were being pursued. Marnd sent up several fists of stone, knocking some of the Rahkshi out of the sky. Arxtann felt exhilarated as they led the Guurahk on this wild chase, bolts of energy flying from the sky and landing just in front of the two Toa. Arxtann turned his head to check on Marnd and stopped suddenly. The Toa of Stone was surrounded by about ten Guurahk, staffs of Disintegration about to turn his brother into a pile of atoms. Time seemed to slow as Arxtann ran back to help, the currents of the air and movement of the earth seeming to show themselves. He knew exactly where to jump, where to run, and where to land. He leaped and ran along the wall and pounced amongst the Rahkshi, executing a split-kick that disabled two Rahkshi. Angered, they turned their fury upon Arxtann, loosing bolt after bolt at the acrobatic Toa. Arxtann knew exactly where to role, duck, weave, and loose a burst of fire. Soon only five remained standing. Arxtann and Marnd stood back-to-back, the Rahkshi hissing furiously.

"Wanna try to make waves?" Marnd whispered nervously.

"What do you mean?" Arxtann replied. The Guurahk looked like they wouldn't wait much longer before they began slagging the two rookies.

"Can't we make lava again?" Marnd asked, his voice tinged with impatience. A light-bulb dawned over Arxtann's head and he nodded.

"Now!" Marnd shouted as he raised a wave of stone from the ground. Arxtann fired a burst of heat that instantly turned the stone to molten magma, the wave sweeping over the Rahkshi, entrapping them as it cooled. Arxtann grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him into a nearby alleyway.

The two Toa finally came to the final walkway to the Great Temple, their brothers gathering around them.

"Good to see you still with us!" Terhetti panted as they ran the last few legs to the Great Temple.

"I'm a perennial," Arxtann replied breathlessly.

"I hate to tell you this," Korxann started, "but we're going to have to take care of these Rahkshi before we enter the temple."

"He's right!" Marnd groaned.

"Very well. Toa, give them Karzahni!"

That was the voice of Natru who had joined them at the last minute along with Luatu. The Toa struck as one, Arxtann melting them for scrap, Marnd and Terhetti combining their power to make an undulating landscape, Korxann freezing the bots, and Luatu made a hurricane with Natru. When all was done, naught but a heap of scrap lay on the ground.

"Well, that was fun," Luatu said, a large grin on his face. "I didn't know that Ga-Matoran could be so violent!" Natru's frown threw off the Toa of Air's smile.

"They were only suits of armor, so we should deal with them thusly."

"Guys," Korxann said, "let's remember why we're here." They all nodded their consent and made their way down the walkway to the Great Temple. The entrance to the Temple was not hard to find, it was locating the Toa Suva inside that was the problem. Despite everyone knowing it was in there, no one actually knew where it was. Several hours passed before an exhausted Marnd stumbled upon a lever that opened the entrance to the Suva. He practically stumbled in and promptly landed on his face.

Luatu stepped through next and remarked quite sarcastically, "You need to work-out more brother." Marnd's only reply was a grunt. Terhetti pushed Luatu aside and helped the dazed Toa of Stone to his feet.

"C'mon brother," he said, "this is no time for a nap."

"I beg to differ," Marnd slurred as he tried to jostle his mask back into place. Arxtann raised a questioning brow at Natru who answered with a shrug. Meanwhile, Luatu had been oohing and ahhing at everything inside the Suva. He was spouting some gibberish about having his statue placed at the entrance and everyone kissing its toes to get inside until he received a swift smack in the back of the head by Korxann.

"Hey!" Luatu grunted in indignation. "Who are you to strike--?" Korxann's icy glare cut off the rest of his sentence. "Zip it Luatu," Arxtann warned as he scanned the Suva itself for anything of use. "Natru, Terhetti, you're the ones most familiar with places such as these. Any idea where Toa-weapons would be held?" Terhetti only shrugged as Natru began searching the walls.

"Perhaps we are missing the obvious brothers," she finally remarked after combing the entire room. "Perhaps the start of our journey does not begin here.."

The room went silent instantly, except for Luatu tapping his toes. Korxann looked at Natru quizzically, and she stared back at him, like she had just commented about the weather.

"Sister," Korxann began, "just what do you mean?" Natru sighed and pointed to the Suva.

"We came here expecting guidance, since the Turaga are currently imprisoned."

"And super cool Toa-weapons!" Luatu interrupted. This got him a glare from the others. Natru continued.

"The Suva should be giving us weapons, as Luatu pointed out, but is not the Suva controlled by the Great Spirit? Like it or not, I do not believe we shall find help here since Makuta is now our "Great Spirit"". Terhetti and Korxann instantly broke into conversation about the possibility of this while Marnd tried to look like he knew this the whole time. Luatu wasn't paying attention as usual. Arxtann rolled his eyes and clapped his hands, creating a short burst of fire. This got their attention. Luatu threw his mask off and bounced it around in both hands, trying to cool it off.

"Carefull fire-spitter!" Luatu snapped. "We're all on the same side here!"

"You've probably just alerted the Makuta to our presence if he didn't already notice it!" Marnd yelled. Arxtann just shrugged.

"Then we had better figure out a plan before his minions get here, now that I have your attention." He motioned to Natru, but the Toa of Water dismissed him, and said, "You lead them." Arxtann nodded and turned back to his brothers.

"Here's what I think. The Toa Nuva separated because to many Toa in one spot will eventually attract unwanted attention. But their purpose was twofold: to distract the Makuta and raise resistance against him."

"And you're point is?" This of course was Luatu.

"Let us do the same, but we'll need to meet up with other Toa, as well as anyone else who is against the Makuta, be they a friend or past enemy."

Terhetti nodded. "Good idea fire-spitter, but what--?" He was cut off when the temple rumbled.

Characters
These are the characters that have appeared in the story so far.
 * Toa
 * Arxtann
 * Luatu
 * Korxann
 * Natru
 * Marnd
 * Terhetti

Trivia

 * This has been in the making since 2012
 * It was the first book written despite being the third in the series