Chapter Eight

Chaos erupted across the fields.

The Vorox column surged forward, forming a shield wall and firing their force blasters at the iron tribe forces. The iron formation broke, its soldiers falling back amid the metal pillars and hurling barrages from their mechanical slings. Although the gates of the ziggurat remained sealed, several of the earth soldiers managed to wriggle free of their iron restraints and free some of their comrades.

It was time for a new plan.

From his cover, Duluus spotted Zaria in a barnyard some distance away, visibly straining. “Cover me!” he barked at two of the sharpshooters. As they sprayed a barrage of cover fire, he crawled from his position over to the Toa.

“What’s the matter?” he demanded as he approached.

“It’s the Vorox,” the Toa explained. “They possess some device that suppresses my powers.”

Duluus frowned and nodded.

“We’ll deal with it.”

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Chiara had seen enough. Much as she respected the Element Lord of Earth, what she was witnessing now was nauseating like nothing she had ever seen before.

“You have to save your soldiers!” she snapped. “They’re helpless down there! Their armor has been turned against them!”

“The earth demands a price for its generous bounty,” the Element Lord replied briskly.

The Toa of Lightning braced as a chill ran up her spine. This was beginning to sound like familiar rhetoric.

“Do their lives truly mean nothing to you?”

The Element Lord smirked. “Let their bodies become one with the earth then - we can always grow more.”

“This is no way to lead your people!” Chiara retorted.

The ruler of the earth tribe backhanded her with such force that the Toa fell backwards, tumbling over the guardrail. “Do not defy me,” she snarled.

The Element Lord of Earth stepped to the edge of the platform, expecting to find the dazed Toa lying on the level below. But Chiara had vanished.

The Earth Lord whirled on her blue-armored aide. “Find her. Now!”

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With a pair of binoculars, Duluus surveyed the Vorox formation from a distance. It seemed reasonable that an inhibitor such as Zaria was describing could only work within a short range, or Zaria’s power would have deactivated well before the Vorox had arrived on the field. Nevertheless, such a device would have to be well-protected, and as far removed from the fight as they could afford.

That was when he noticed a cluster of Vorox hidden within the forest line. Most of them carried force blasters and were firing at the ground ahead of the advancing infantry, but just barely visible within the cover of the forest were a group of guards standing in a tight circle. At the center of the circle stood one as still as a statue.

That clinches it, he thought grimly. “All sharpshooters!” he bellowed, marking the trees. “Fire on that position!”

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The onslaught of sudden fire caught the hidden cluster off-guard, flattening several of them before they could pull back. Duluus hadn’t seen if the Vorox at the center of the circle had gone down, but he had no time to think about it – the distraction had allowed the Vorox infantry to surge forward and strike down several Iron soldiers.

Behind Duluus, the effect was quite different. Zaria inhaled as his powers surged back, as if he had just put on a Kanohi for the first time. With a roar of triumph, he contorted the Vorox’s armor, stopping them in their tracks.

Before he could gloat, a trumpet blasted from the ziggurat and the gates swung open. Legions of earth and water warriors marched into the field, moving in tight formation. Zaria attempted to stop them in the same way, but there wasn’t an ounce of metal on them. Instead, they had donned clay armor as hard and compact as it could be made. The Element Lord of Earth had acted fast.

“Zaria!”

The Toa whirled. Running toward him from the direction of the ziggurat – something he should have seen before, yet inexplicably had not – was Chiara. The Toa looked exhausted, and when she reached Zaria, she slumped over, trying to catch her breath.

“Who needs a Kakama?” she grinned. She stood and pointed to her Kanohi Volitak. “Comes in handy sometimes.”

“Brilliant,” Zaria snorted. “You can escape this valley while I get flattened by your new imperial friends.”

“Better than being the new weapon of guerilla fighters attacking this society unprovoked. This would not have happened if not for your attack.”

“This would not have happened if everyone were always exploiting Iron.”

“I…” Chiara’s voice trailed off. She frowned. “Do you feel that?”

What happened next, neither could explain, at least in the moment. It was as if someone was compelling them, propelling them. Acting in perfect unison, Zaria directed his powers at the ground, shattering the iron ore and winding the veins together until a grid formed, inches beneath iron, sand, and earth soldiers alike. At the same time, Chiara hurled her lightning energies at the grid, cascading electrical energy at all three sides and knocking them into oblivion. They collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

As the Toa were regaining themselves, they became aware of two figures running toward them.

Orde and Gelu.

“We have to get out of here! Now!” Gelu was shouting, grabbing Zaria’s hand. The Glatorian looked like he had been trampled by a Tahtorak horde. Gelu had positioned himself behind the Vorox with the elemental inhibitor, and right as he’d been preparing to ambush them, Duulus had attacked, leaving him to deal with the fleeing survivors. It had not been in vain, though, for in his hands was a glowing cube pulsing with energy.

“Come on!” Orde added, shoving Chiara forward. “We don’t want to be anywhere near here when their forces recover.”

Zaria and Chiara exchanged glances and ran after the other two. Chiara watched the ground carefully with every step, expecting fists to erupt to grab them from the earth, but was surprised when there were none. Zaria threw a glance back at the fallen iron Agori, positioned between the Vorox and the earth tribe forces. He raised a thick iron wall that could shield their escape, but as the four travelers escaped the valley, he knew he was leaving a part of himself behind.

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From her lofty position atop the ziggurat, the Element Lord of Earth watched the retreating figures coolly. She made no effort to oppose them. There was little point when, at least for now, Zaria’s power could counter her own.

In the field, both the Vorox and the iron Agori stirred. As both sides had been battered and beaten, and were not eager to face the earth soldiers when they recovered, they too retreated. For a moment, the Element Lord considered stopping them, but this too she rejected. A new enemy had arrived in the forest. If, in the coming weeks, she played her cards right, perhaps the sand and iron tribes would consider a temporary truce with the earth tribe. Unknown enemies were far more fearsome than known ones. She had been merciful on these fields.

Nevertheless, she would take precautions. She turned to her advisors, Sonlu and Theras. “I want all our resources dedicated to replacing our armor and weapons. The new creatures in the south can control metal, and I refuse to let that factor stand in our way.”

“We will make this our highest priority,” Sonlu, the brown-armored aide assured.

Beside him, the brown-armored Theras bowed. “As always, the water tribe supports you.”

The Element Lord held up a finger. “There is no ‘water tribe.’ I dissolved it millennia ago. Water ‘tribe’ would imply there is something other. That they exist outside of me. They do not. The water villagers support me. The water villagers are mine.”

“As always, you are correct.”

“How generous of them,” the Element Lord snorted. “On the subject of water, where is this new toy I’ve heard so much about?”

Sonlu turned and whistled. An instant later, two attendants stepped outside onto the platform with them, depositing a dripping, muddy mass of flesh and blue armor unceremoniously in front of the Element Lord.

“This is what was found in the new lake that appeared days ago. The cranium was lost and our scouts couldn’t find it,” Sonlu said. “It may have been either destroyed or stolen. As for the rest, it appears salvageable. We don’t have Great Beings to consult with, but our engineers can make do. It will be refashioned as you desire. Either the body can be reanimated and tethered with your implants remotely… or the whole thing can be rebuilt and integrated into your armor.”

“Long have I coveted the power of water, earth’s only true counterpart in nature,” she muttered, taking in the azure form. “Lightning may fly, but she could fulfill few more purposes than this will. Divine providence, that a lake should appear carrying the greatest bounty of the Great Beings.”

Sonlu nodded solemnly. “The tides have turned.”

“Indeed.”

Theras cleared his throat. “Then it seems our strategy of manipulation is over? That we are to play an active role in the affairs of the planet?”

“It is not one or the other. Our strategy has served us well so far. But power vacuums fill fast. Our patience from before the Core War has paid off. The time to move is now.”

“You are so wise,” Tharas said. He glanced down and away, seeking a way to make his point without arranging his own execution. “The world must really be changing if we are to change our approach so drastically.”

The Element Lord of Earth smiled. “I saw a messenger from the heavens; a forerunner with a torch that lit the sky and set fire to the forest. There’s a simple fact they must not have taught you in ‘water tribe’ school: Lightning always comes before the storm.”