Chapter Ten

“This… isn’t what it looks like,” Lesovikk said slowly.

The three Toa remained motionless above Lhikan’s prone form. The Turaga’s eyes still glowed, as if by some miracle. But they were dim. His feet had been reduced to misshapen stubs, and he seemed to be missing his right hand.

Pohatu glanced around. There were no other living beings in the immediate area. A large control panel dominated the shadowy room, and to its side lay two canister-shaped glass pods, one glowing blue and the other red. The entire setup had seen better days, however, for much of it appeared to have been gutted and dismantled.

“Ihu,” the Turaga shuddered. “How could I have let them take you?”

Pohatu stepped forward, but Kopaka put a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s a shell of himself,” the Toa of Ice said. “He must have been like this for some time.”

The Toa of Stone knelt by Lhikan. “Turaga. Turaga Lhikan. Hear me!”

“I tried that,” the Toa of Air added. “But that’s not Lhikan. Not anymore.”

“Ihu,” the Turaga groaned. “The only friend I had left…”

“He’s still alive,” Pohatu insisted. “There has to be a way to reverse it.”

“No, he isn’t,” Lesovikk retorted. “Look at his heartlight.”

The Toa looked. The heartlight was extinguished.

“Ihu…”

Before their eyes, Lhikan started to change. This time there was no seizure, no raving. Just a slow, inexorable creep of stiffness. Then, his muscles relaxed. His eyes opened, a sickly purple.

Kopaka wasted no time. Seizing the thrashing, howling Turaga by the shoulders, he hauled him the length of the room and hurled him into one of the pods. Before Lhikan could leap out again, Kopaka slammed the door shut and coated the canister in a layer of ice. Behind the glass, the Turaga threw himself repeatedly against the enclosure.

Pohatu shook his head. “I didn’t want this to be my memory of Lhikan.”

Lesovikk looked on.

“You have some explaining to do, Lesovikk…” Kopaka frowned. “Particularly why your idea of ‘taking care of Karzahni’ ended with him dead in a canyon.”

Lesovikk nodded grimly. “I’ll explain… When I left you, I followed Karzahni’s trail to Iron Canyon, where I found the tyrant fatally wounded. I hurried to make sense of it, but as I was running, someone hit me from behind and knocked me unconscious. When I awoke, I’d lost my sword—”

“You didn’t see it a stone’s throw from the body?” Pohatu asked.

“I swear I didn’t,” Lesovikk raised his hands. “Maybe someone planted it later, or maybe I just missed it. But the trail was hot, and I had to pursue. But though I never caught up to him, I was always just close enough to see each destruction he wreaked fresh.”

“So you never saw his face?” asked Kopaka.

“I never did. He was always just out of my grasp, as if he knew I was on his heels and wanted me to be there.”

“Making it that much easier to frame you,” Pohatu frowned.

Lesovikk nodded.

“I soon arrived at a river on the cusp of volcanic lands. Here there was a large archway with the words ‘Spirit’s Wish’ carved into it. It looked like it had been damaged in battle, but recently rebuilt,” Lesovikk continued. “As I was looking around, I passed under it, and all I remember is that I was wondering where my quarry had gone. The next instant, I found myself in this room, beside this body.”

The Toa Nuva exchanged glances.

“The murderer’s up here somewhere,” Pohatu realized with a chill.

“If he is, we’ll still be unable to confirm his identity,” the Toa of Ice mused. “Unless our suspicions about the Kestora are correct and we catch him…or we see him carrying teleportation equipment.”

“When will we find a Kanohi that ends this adventure?” Pohatu lamented. He turned to the Toa of Air. “Come with us, Lesovikk. There is a Turaga here who claims to know you. He will help us determine the truth of this matter.”

✴        ✴        ✴

“You’re never going to believe this.”

“We have believed many things others considered lunacy.”

“Still. This one you won’t believe.”

Brutaka shouldered past Axonn. Peering through the hole in the brush, he frowned.

Pulling his head out, he looked at Axonn. “Perhaps you were correct.”

“What are you two going on about?” Helryx demanded. Now she shoved the two warriors aside and studied the view.

It was Lewa, without a doubt. Clad in a tunic of vines, with a rough-hewn mask and flowers embedded in his armor, he was dancing in a ring around a fire with two dozen other villagers.

“Is he hypnotized?” asked Artakha from behind her. “Is he bound?”

“Worse,” Helryx pursed her mouth. “He seems to be having fun.”

Axonn crossed his arms. “Do we just storm in there?”

Helryx felt a cold feeling on the back of her neck. It wasn’t natural, and most living beings wouldn’t experience such a sensation. But having fought so many hard years and experienced so many harrowing battles, she knew when she was being watched.

She whirled to see a company of camouflaged jungle warriors emerging from the surroundings, spears aimed at her heartlight.

✴        ✴        ✴

Lewa’s face lit up as soon as he saw the newcomers.

“Friends!” he grinned. “Heart-welcome to this little slice of Mata Nui!”

“What is this place?” Helryx demanded. “Who are these people?”

“They’re some of the residents of this land,” Lewa explained. “Nomads. But you may want to study-watch your tone. They’re still jitter-wary of me, though they seem to like my powers.” He summoned a small whirlwind, and some of the smaller Agori seemed to giggle and laugh.

One of the villagers beside him spoke in a tongue that neither Helryx nor the rest recognized. Lewa frowned as he listened intently. When the villager finished, Lewa made similar noises, as well as gesticulating for emphasis. The villagers nodded.

Once he was finished, Lewa looked back at the rest. “I’m starting to get a grasp on their language. I think I just told them that you’re with me. What happened to the rest of you, though?”

“Miserix wandered off on his own accord, as did Vezon and the Great Being if they survived,” Axonn said. “And—” he looked around, “Kapura keeps vanishing and reappearing.”

Hafu tilted his head. “He does that a lot.”

“Come with us, Lewa,” Artakha said. “We must get out of here and find our way back to our universe.”

“If we haste-learn their language, these villagers may help,” Lewa offered.

From one of the trees above a horn blared, and at the same moment Kapura seemed to step out from behind Brutaka.

“The journey ahead grows fraught with danger with each moment,” the Ta-Matoran reported, “for a column of tan-armored warriors hastens to our position. Each is armed to the teeth, and they ride engines of war.”

“How far away are they?” Artakha asked.

“Vakama says that distance does not matter so much as the journey. But for them, their journey will take about half a day's march.”

“Then we have to get ready,” Artakha said. “And let’s hope to Mata Nui your translation skills are as good as your vine-swinging, Lewa.”

✴        ✴        ✴

When the Toa and Matoran reached Jovan’s settlement, the Turaga beckoned them to the antechamber outside the gates where they could speak in seclusion.

“Ihu… he was one of the few links Lhikan had left to his old team,” Jovan sighed. “If the Kestora dismantled Ihu, and Lhikan had witnessed it, then the disease indeed would surely have claimed him… I wish the void had claimed every one of us rather than condemning us to this living death.”

“It gets worse,” Kopaka said gruffly. “The teleporter was ransacked. Even if we could repair it, it would take weeks, perhaps months trying to scrap together the equipment we need.”

“There’s a chance our adaptive armor could work in space,” Pohatu mulled, “but I don't know if we'd still be able to fly, or survive the descent down to the planet's surface. Still, if we could find a way down, we could bring back help.”

Jovan smiled sadly.

“Turaga,” Lesovikk said, stepping past the Toa Nuva. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

The Turaga nodded. “It’s been a long time, Lesovikk. I hope the years have been kind to you.”

Lesovikk’s mouth pursed wryly. “No more and no less than they ever were. I just wish destiny would finally take me. Turaga, I understand that this facility is a place for resurrection. This may seem—”

Jovan’s gaze fixed on Lesovikk with an expression of frankness and pity.

The Toa of Air sighed heavily, his face impassive and resigned.

Kopaka looked between the two ancient figures. As there are occasions where a change in subject is necessary, he sensed the time was right.

“Jovan, against the odds we have had a breakthrough in our mystery,” he said, placing his hand on the shoulder of the Av-Matoran canister builder. “This one says that a Great Being disguised as a Matoran passed through Karzahni. As the leader of a major settlement of relocated Matoran, did you ever meet anyone who may have been…more than he seemed?”

The Turaga’s eyes darkened, and he looked away. “A Great Being? Disguised as a Matoran?”

“There may have been dozens of villages where he could have ended up,” Pohatu added hastily. “You may not have met him at all, but—”

“A Matoran who was more than he seemed…” Jovan said slowly, “Such as the one who killed me?”

Pohatu started to say something, then did a double take. A stunned silence followed.

“Turaga,” Kopaka shook his head. “Didn’t you die because of the Great Cataclysm?”

“Because of it, yes,” Jovan laughed. “But wouldn’t it be odd if my villagers survived and I perished? No, Toa, I was murdered.”

“Tell us, Turaga,” said Kopaka.

A humorless smile stretched across Jovan’s features. “I sensed the disaster that was to come. I knew the signs. Once I had ensured that my villagers were safe in the Nui Caves, I ran to the Chamber of Life, hoping to use the Ignika and save Mata Nui. But when I arrived, I saw one of my villagers skulking about in the shadows… When I demanded to know how he knew of the Chamber and its secrets, or how he’d possibly managed to get here, he struck the cave walls with his tools, and brought a boulder crashing down. Then… I arrived here.”

Pohatu winced.

“A villager who knew of the Chamber of Life?” Kopaka rubbed his forehead. “Impossible that it wasn’t the same one that this canister builder spoke of.”

Pohatu nodded. “Everything is starting to point in the same direction. The murderer Lesovikk was following… the Matoran Tren Krom sent to identify the Great Being that could kill him… a Great Being that passed through Karzahni… and Jovan’s killer.”

“Yes,” Jovan smiled grimly. “Perhaps my death would not have been so painful if I hadn’t known the one who ordered it. It was—”

“Velika.”

Jovan gasped. Standing in the gate to the halls beyond was the Po-Matoran himself. Straddling his shoulders was a machine built out of the pieces taken from the teleporter.

“You!” the Turaga inhaled.

Velika smiled grimly. “When a Crystal Climber hears an Ice Bat scream it comes running – but not for help…”