Chapter Six

The two Toa stared in shock at the living remains of their former mentor, frozen even as the horde of creatures behind Hydraxon lurched forward. While their instincts tugged at them to flee and think of a plan, their bodies wouldn’t respond.

Just as the first of the decayed beings got within swiping distance, the Toa felt themselves pulled backwards by Mavrah’s diminutive hands.

“This is no time to be standing around! We need to move!” His words broke Pohatu and Kopaka out of their shock, and the trio began to run.

“Where are we heading?” Pohatu yelled, looking back at the horde. It was difficult to see them well in the dim light, but it seemed that Hydraxon — rather, what was left of Hydraxon — had moved to lead the pack.

“No time to talk, just follow me!” Mavrah, still grasping the Toa’s arms, took a sharp left turn down a passageway. “Just don’t fall behind and we should make it.”

“Just tell me the next few turns, at least,” Pohatu insisted, nearly losing the Onu-Matoran at a fork in the path.

“We take the second right in this hall,” Mavrah explained breathlessly. “Then, right at the next two junctions, left at the next, then into a small room on the right side of that corridor. After that is a maintenance tunnel that will carry us most of the way to our base.”

“Understood,” Pohatu replied, a smile growing on his face. Willing his Kakama Nuva to act on his partners, the Toa of Stone began to increase their speed. “Brace yourselves!”

Before either of Pohatu’s unwilling passengers had time to react, he’d already activated his Kanohi and begun speeding through the darkened halls of the red star. They passed a number of the walking corpses that weren’t grouped up, ones that simply wandered alone making the same disturbing sounds as the rest of the horrors onboard.

Eventually, the three came to a stop at the entrance to the maintenance tunnel. “And here we are! Where to next?”

As Pohatu let go of Mavrah’s arm, the Matoran dropped to the floor, breathing heavily, unable to form words.

“Quite the way to treat our only guide.” Kopaka said, wresting his arm from Pohatu’s grip.

“I’m… fine… Just give me a moment…” Mavrah panted, getting up. “Just warn me next time. Through this tunnel we should only have two more junctions until we reach the city.” He then shot a look at Pohatu. “While I appreciate the boost, I think it’s best if I lead you there myself from here, if that’s alright.”

“If you insist,” Pohatu chuckled.

Mavrah took point in the narrow tunnel, Pohatu and Kopaka close behind. Even though they were no longer near the large group of creatures, every unusual sound or feeling made Pohatu jump, as if they had somehow caught up that quickly.

Eventually, they reached the end. Mavrah motioned for the two Toa to stop, then snuck forwards towards the junction ahead of them. He peeked around the corner, only to quickly pull back in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Kopaka whispered, moving to the Onu-Matoran’s side.

“He’s here.” Mavrah looked around the corner again for a moment. “The beast from the sea.”

“Beast from the sea?” Pohatu walked over to where Mavrah was standing and looked around the corner as well. “What does that—”

In the hall in front of them, blocking the path Mavrah intended for them to follow, was a tall, turquoise figure, leading another pack of the rotting creatures. From what Pohatu could see, it hadn’t begun to decay like the rest of the Star’s inhabitants, at least not on the outside. The being had four arms, in each held a different tool — its lower two arms held what looked to be limbs of the creatures roaming the halls, sharpened to work as weapons. In its upper two arms, it appeared to be holding some kind of projectile launcher, though it did not seem to be loaded. The being’s red eyes shone through the darkness, scanning the area and occasionally passing close to Pohatu and the others’ hiding spot. Its three-pronged jaw hung open, panting heavily and letting out low moans and, occasionally, laughter.

Pohatu recognized them almost immediately. He’d heard stories about the creature of the Pit. A brute cursed by the Mask of Life to cause death to whomever he touched.

Pohatu motioned for Kopaka to look as well, and eventually the three of them retreated back towards the tunnel to discuss.

“Fighting our way past Nocturn isn’t going to be an option,” Kopaka began. “We’re vastly outnumbered here.”

“This is the only path to the base from here,” Mavrah said, nervously looking back at the tunnel they just exited. “If we want to go another route, we’ll have to backtrack and risk running into the other group again.”

“That’s no good.” Pohatu peeked around the corner again. Nocturn hadn’t noticed them, and was still patrolling further down the hall. Looking around, he noticed another branching path a bit closer to them. “What’s down that way?” he asked.

“A dead end,” Mavrah answered. “Why?”

“If we trick him into going that way, I can zip us right by and make it to the base before he even notices we were here.”

The Toa of Ice sighed. “Not the worst idea.”

Smiling, Pohatu looked around them on the ground. Noticing a broken piece of metal wedged between two of the floor panels, he pulled it up and took aim at the hallway in the distance. Throwing it with all his might, the metal made a hard clang as it hit the wall of the other corridor and clattered to the ground further in.

At the end of the hall, Nocturn’s head whipped around just as Pohatu pulled back around the corner. Eager for prey, the towering brute stomped toward the distraction.

As soon as Nocturn stopped moving, Pohatu took one last peek around the corner. The beast from the sea was nowhere to be seen.

“Now!” he whispered to the others, grabbing onto them. Activating his Kakama Nuva again, the hallway disappeared in a blur, Nocturn none the wiser.

Not just Nocturn, but Hydraxon as well… Pohatu thought to himself. Just our luck.

As soon as they were safely out of the way, Pohatu came to a stop and let Mavrah lead the rest of the way. The remaining tunnels, though still as threatening in appearance as all the others, held none of the creatures. And eventually, the two Toa began to hear voices down one of the halls, panicked and pained, though recognizable as speaking their language. Finally, turning one last corner, their destination finally came into view.

“Welcome, Toa,” Mavrah said, “to your new home.”

✴        ✴        ✴

Far, far below them, amid the bustling camps in the former desert of Bara Magna, Tahu stared up at the night sky. As his eyes drifted toward the red star, he wondered, for a moment, about the living things Gali had seen inside of it.

Another mystery in a planet of them, he thought.

He turned his gaze to the civilization that had sprung up around the dilapidated, lifeless corpse of the Mata Nui robot. Over the past week, an untold number of scavengers had descended upon the fallen mechanical form, rapidly dismantling it. Supervised by the Agori engineers who had a month ago united the mega-village, the masses were beginning the process of disassembling the Mata Nui robot. Small cities were cropping up along the robot’s exterior built around the economy of scavenging materials.

It was all proceeding at an almost dizzying pace. Matoran naturally delighted in their work, and Agori had been waiting millennia for the resources now at their disposal. Most of the other species had responsibilities they were naturally suited for owing to their work in the Mata Nui robot. But the distribution of those resources was now in question, and with mysterious deaths and disappearances stacking up, tension was building.

Takanuva’s voice cut through Tahu’s thoughts. “Brooding again, Toa Kopaka?”

Tahu snorted. “Don’t call me that.”

“You’ll put our finest astrologers out of work at this rate. What’s the Wall of Stars saying tonight?”

The Toa of Fire’s expression darkened. “That I have one more task left before the night’s work is done. An important one, but one I’ve been dreading. Care to join me?”

“How could I refuse? You make it sound so enticing.”

✴        ✴        ✴

A lengthy trek found them approaching one of the most sophisticated facilities in the entire camp. Although it had been constructed out of salvaged robot pieces, great care had been taken into its construction, for it housed some of society’s greatest villains.

As Tahu drew closer, he realized his companion seemed to hold back.

“It’s safe,” Tahu assured him. “Some of our finest craftsmen have overseen its construction. Nothing can break out.”

“Tell that to Karzahni. It didn’t seem to stop him.”

“Well…that’s what we’re here to solve. And with any luck—”

Takanuva gasped, and Tahu whirled around. Clattering and shouting emanated from the prison, and dark figures were running out of its main entrance. As the Toa raced forward, the last escapee, a tall, red-armored figure, was sprinting through the gate. The Toa of Light didn’t hesitate before he gave chase.

The Toa of Fire turned his attention to the building. Lying beside the large doors were the lifeless forms of Glatorian guards and shattered, irreparable Maxilos robots. Tahu darted to the nearest Glatorian and checked for vital signs, with no success. He tried another and another, all with the same results. It was only once he was inside the facility that he could find one clinging to life.

The Glatorian coughed hoarsely. He seemed groggy at first, but when he looked around at the carnage surrounding him, it all seemed to come back at once.

“He came!” the guard panicked. “Attacked them all! There was nothing we could do — he moved so fast. Nobody could stop him!”

“He was fast,” came Takanuva’s breathless voice, “and he had an escape plan figured out, too. Flew off on one of the sand stalkers.”

Tahu glanced at him. “Did you see what he looked like?”

“Looked like a fire Glatorian, but I couldn’t make out anything specific.”

“So many runners,” Takanuva frowned. “But who can we send after them?”

Tahu stood up. As he stepped over to the cells, he lit a fire in his hand – and saw that all the gates had been ripped off their hinges. Society’s greatest villains. Pit inmates. Roodaka. Nektann. Skrall and Skakdi prisoners. All escaping into the night without a trace to wreak havoc and despair. Tahu would have to order their capture, but the fallout of what had happened – the distrust of his leadership, distrust of the other species, the fear of the murderers, the fear of what they would do – he could already see it coming. This would not be an enemy the Toa could defeat in a fight like before. This was something infinitely worse.

“The execution of Karzahni. Tren Krom’s remains discovered in the north. Rumors spreading like wildfire to tear our new civilization apart. Now this… This isn’t random, Takanuva. This is happening far too rapidly to be natural. Someone is working to rip our society apart from the inside out.”

Tahu met Takanuva’s gaze, a fire burning in his eyes.

“We must find this murderer now.”