Trials of the Toa: Journey of Takanuva

Some days being a hero means you have to help old Turaga cross a river. Other days it means playing sports against a megalomaniac for the fate of the universe. Some days it’s peaceful. Some days leave you clinging to life. But most importantly, being a hero means being willing to take whatever steps were necessary for the greater good. It doesn’t mean you have to like it. Most of the time you won’t. But you do it all the same. Because it’s necessary.

But that didn’t make it any easier to accept as Takanuva fell through dimensions, screaming his head off.

It was enough to drive a normal being insane, and there was no telling what it would do to an insane being. For the first time since becoming a Toa, Takanuva found himself regretting the powers he’d been stuck with. What good was Light if you couldn’t break your fall when you landed? What good is a mask if it just imbues the power you already hold? He had not been a Toa for long, but as he fell, he found himself searching through his memories for something, anything that could help him now.

Next time some ancient Toa and her crazed minions wake me up and tell me it’s time to play ‘hero,’ I’ll whack them over the head with a kohlii stick.

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It had started out innocently enough. After being ambushed in Metru Nui, he had been awakened by several beings belonging to the enigmatic Order of Mata Nui. They had shown him stories of Tahu and his team after their creation, in the time before Mata Nui had been awakened. But with those stories came a message of warning: If the Toa Nuva, who were now fighting in Karda Nui in the greatest battle of their lives, succeeded in reawakening Mata Nui, they would unleash a storm that would destroy them all. If he didn’t reach them soon enough to warn them, it would be too late. To this end, he had been sent through dimensions on what was supposed to be a shortcut.

But things did not go as planned. The Kanohi used to teleport him had been broken and was barely functional. What was supposed to be a step through a portal to his destination had turned into a seemingly endless walk between worlds.

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Right as he was contemplating falling through dimensions for the rest of his life, Takanuva tumbled through a hole in space and landed hard on the ground of a strange world. He felt the grass beneath him, but the grass was rough and coarse, not soft and damp. This is new.

He got up and looked around. He was in the center of a forest, but it was the strangest forest he’d ever laid eyes on. By comparison, the Charred Jungle of Ta-Wahi seemed like warm, lively overgrowth. For as far as he could see, the trees were black and twisted, creaking as they swayed in the cold wind. The stary sky above was a vivid purple with splashes of green. What little grass existed beneath him was dying and turned to powder with every movement. Much of the ground was barren, etched with fissures and cracks.

“Ah, a visitor!”

Takanuva jumped at the voice, but when he turned to see where it was coming from, he did a double take. It was a floating, spectral Kanohi mask resembling a Hau. No one was wearing the mask, and there was no other creature around. The voice was clearly coming from the mask, but that made no sense. He had seen masks do strange things all his life, but none of them had ever spoken.

“And yet,” the mask continued, “not of any variety I recognize. Who are you?”

“I am a Toa,” said Takanuva. “A hero where I’m from. Can you show me the way out? I have a mission elsewhere that I must carry out, and not much time to get there.”

The mask smiled, a very strange sight. “Oh, if you are a hero, you are just what we need. Help us, and perhaps we can help you. There is a village on the other side of that hill that is in terrible trouble. You see, there is a—”

“All right,” Takanuva interrupted, already starting for the hill. “I’ll go and take care of the problem. Then you can help me get on my way.”

The mask looked like it was going to say something, but then just smiled instead.

“All right. Good luck to you, Toa hero!”

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As Takanuva crested the hill, he marveled at how the description given by the mask could not have prepared him for what now came into view. The “village” was more like a gigantic city, bigger than anything he had ever seen and dwarfing even Metru Nui. Towers of silver reached up to the sky surrounded by buildings made of gleaming crystal. It was more than beautiful. It was breathtaking.

But it was easy seeing what trouble the mask had been talking about. The city was full of small biomechanical beings wearing black and purple armor. Pitted against them was a giant monster that was tearing through their ranks and wrecking their city. The monster was at least twenty feet high, with pointed ears, huge metal claws, and a maw lined with of razor-sharp teeth. The villagers were fighting valiantly, but already it was starting to breach their lines. The sight brought back a flurry of memories when he and the other Matoran had fought to defend their homes against wave after wave of Rahi, Bohrok, and Rahkshi.

He knew what he had to do.

Takanuva fired a burst of light from his power lance, temporarily blinding the monster. “Get out of the way! Get back!” Taknauva yelled to the city’s inhabitants. “I’ll handle this—find cover!”

The monster growled. For a moment, the beast seemed to grunt and hiss, and the Toa almost thought he heard intelligible words. But when the beast bucked and rammed the Toa’s midsection, Takanuva decided he must be mistaken.

As the two powerful creatures exchanged blows, the Toa felt the darkness well and surge within him. Once only months ago, Tahu’s team of Toa had faced their inner darkness and incorporated it into themselves. On this occasion, Takanuva would have to do no less.

The monster retracted its claws and swiped fast at Takanuva, but the Toa of Light was too fast for him. With a few more bolts of alternating light and darkness from the Toa’s weapon, the beast began to stagger. It growled again, more loudly. This time, Takanuva was sure he heard the monster saying, “Wait, stop! You’re wrong!”

It’s trying to trick me, Takanuva knew. If the island of Mata Nui taught me anything, it’s to recognize an evil monster when I see one.

Takanuva hurled one more light blast from his lance and this one hit the monster square in the face. It roared in pain and ran off into the woods.

Takanuva smiled and turned, expecting to hear cheering from the villagers. But to his shock, all he got was laughter. Then they slammed and barred the gates.

The Toa of Light was puzzled, confused, and a little hurt. He had risked his life to save them, but they hadn’t even said thank you! He knocked on the gates, but nobody answered.

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By the time he’d made it back to the floating mask, his confusion had simmered into a dull anger.

“Well, I did it,” he grumbled. “I defeated the big monster and saved the city. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“You defeated the big monster? Oh no,” said the mask. “What have you done?”

“What? What’s the matter?” snapped Takanuva.

“That ‘monster’ was the last of the mighty race of beings that once lived in that city,” the mask sighed. “The little armored ones were invaders who took it away from him. They were the source of the trouble. I started to tell you, but you were in too much of a hurry to listen.

“But the Rah—the beast had sharp teeth and claws,” protested Takanuva. “And he was so big, and they were so little, so I thought…”

“Good does not always come in little packages, or evil in big ones,” said the mask. “My giant friend is gentle and kind, and uses his teeth and claws only to defend himself. I’m sure he would have told you that if he’d had the chance.”

Takanuva frowned, his right-hand balling into a fist. “He tried,” said the Toa, turning to leave. “I didn’t listen.”

“Where are you going?” asked the mask.

“To correct a mistake,” the Toa shouted back.

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It took a while to find the wounded beast, and longer still to convince him that Takanuva meant no harm. The mask had been right. The beast didn’t want to harm the invaders, just get them out of his city.

And Takanuva knew how to do just that.

An hour later, the Toa stood on the top of the big hill about half a mile from the city gates. There was a trick he’d been eager to try, inspired by the fireworks of the Matoran. He’d never been able to pull it off before, but now this beast depended on him.

Summoning the fullest extent of his powers, he sent rays of light cascading into the air. These rays split and arced in dozens of directions and he pulled the light back to himself in a wonderous display. Again he fired his powers, directing the lights to dance to his will. It was crude and uneven, but as he mastered the trick, they grew steadily more elegant and spectacular. It was like he was directing an orchestra of light, and before long they were the most amazing fireworks show anyone had ever seen.

It wasn’t long before Takanuva saw one of the invaders pop his head over the ramparts. This was followed by a second, then a third. As he flexed his control, the Toa directed the light to shine in more colors than he’d ever known.

The gate swung open. The small invaders, tentatively at first, and with weapons at the ready, warily took their steps out of the city to watch the bursts of light in the sky. Soon, there was a whole crowd of them, all looking up in wonder.

So caught up were they in the light show that none of them noticed the beast emerging from a tunnel into the center of the city. It had taken him a long time to dig his way home, but now he was back. Striding to the huge gates, the beast slammed them shut, trapping them outside the walls of the city. The invaders flooded back to the wall and tried to force the gates back open, but to no avail.

Takanuva wasted no time, taking the opportunity to escape before the invaders turned their wrath on him. As he hurried back down the hill, he reflected on the poetic justice of it all. When he first arrived, he had made the terrible mistake of judging someone by how he had looked. Now the invaders had done the same thing, by thinking fireworks were just fireworks. As a result, they had lost the city they had stolen and would never get it back.

By the time Takanuva returned to the floating mask, it seemed pleased with him. “All beings make mistakes at some time,” said the mask. “But part of being a hero is admitting you were wrong and fixing them. You have done that well.”

A hole appeared in space next to the mask.

“Is this my way out of here?” asked Takanuva. “Hate to defeat and run, but I need to get to my friends before it’s too late.”

“Yes, it is the way you must travel,” said the mask. “But beware—you may find that not everything is what it seems on the way. Remember, good and evil can be found in deeds of others, not in their appearance.”

“I’ll remember,” said Takanuva, lingering to hold the mask’s gaze. “And… thank you.”

With that, the Toa of Light dove through the hole and into the space between dimensions. Where his journey would take him, he didn’t know—but he did know that he was much wiser now than when it began.