Chapter Two

As Kiina dove through the waters of the silver sea, the first thing she noticed was how steep the drop was. The crater that had been formed had torn through the earth, leaving a massive gap down to where the domed sky had finally rested in its crater.

The second thing she noticed was that whatever this water was, it was cold. It didn’t feel anything like regular water, and the taste was almost metallic.

She held onto her trident with both hands, and pushed it forward as she kicked her legs behind her, descending deeper into the cold depths. She knew that she would have to come up for air eventually; after all, having control over water didn’t mean that you could breathe in it. But she pressed on, not wanting to come up until she had found any clues as to the Matoran’s whereabouts.

As the water grew murkier, Kiina almost began mistaking the various bits of metal floating through for creatures. She hadn’t seen a real fish on Bara Magna, only the few amphibious creatures that resided in Tajun’s springs, and part of her was curious to see one. While she knew that the Toa Hagah had taken care of evacuating the wildlife of the universe, she still held out some hope that she’d get to see something.

Continuing forward, her wish was granted, in the form of a massive set of jaws floating onward through the darkness. She threw both her hands over her mouth in shock, still doing her best to keep the air in, before frantically grabbing her trident and kicking away to avoid being eaten by the creature.

Gaining some distance, she was able to see more of the beast, a massive serpent with an axe-shaped head that drifted through the depths. By all accounts, it seemed to be dead, its corpse left to this watery grave. Doing her best to calm down from the fright, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the creature, having died just before seeing the new world.

I only hope the Matoran didn’t share the same fate, she reflected darkly.

Doing what she could to ignore that thought, she plunged further down into the depths. She still wasn’t sure what exactly she would be looking for, just something that could give her a clue as to where the remaining Matoran could be. But as she went on, she soon found herself running out of air, and the waters were becoming too dark to see in. As much as it disappointed her, she knew it was time to head back to the surface.

Reaching one hand out into the open water, she felt around for something she could kick off of to propel her back up. But as she felt the metallic surface underneath her palm, it suddenly began to glow a brilliant orange, illuminating the area around her.

Kiina squinted, blocking the light with her right hand. As her eyes adjusted to the light, they widened with shock at what they saw.

Below her stood a half dozen mechanical drones, each activating one by one. Their mechanical limbs were coated in rust, with small crustacean Rahi clinging to their armor. They moved like puppets as they awoke, their limbs swaying about without intent. But as they spotted Kiina, their arms suddenly locked in place, as they readied their twin staffs. Despite their gaze being purely mechanical, Kiina could swear that she saw bloodlust in them.

Time to go, Kiina thought, as she kicked off the lead drone’s head and swam desperately for the surface. But one of the drone’s staffs hooked onto her foot, and the machine attempted to drag her down.

Whirling around, she struck the machine’s head with her trident, and summoned a current of water to form around the tip of her weapon. In an instant, the force of the elemental blast sent her rocketing upwards through the water, and pushing the horde of drones downwards.

Let’s take this to dry land, she thought as she neared the surface. I fight much better with the ground beneath my feet.

✴        ✴        ✴

Gresh struck a battle stance with his twin blades, practicing a series of blocks against the air. It was a training drill he had grown quite familiar with in his time as a Glatorian fighting for Tesara. By now, he had each attack within his arsenal memorized, and could block any attack his opponents threw at him. Only increasing his potential were the elemental powers Mata Nui had gifted him, allowing him control over the very wind. This opened up a whole new breadth of possibilities, and even after all this time, he was excited to see what all he could accomplish.

As he finished going through the motions of a spin move that once knocked out Tarix in the arena, he looked up to see Ackar, glaring at him with disapproval.

“Now’s not the time for training,” the elder Glatorian chided. “We need to be keeping a lookout for any sign of the missing Matoran.”

Gresh groaned, turning away from Ackar. “If the Matoran are in danger, I’ll need to have honed my skills to defend them.”

A bit more firmly. Ackar placed a hand on Gresh’s shoulder. “You’re a good warrior. Believe me, I’ve seen you in action. But right now, I don't need a warrior. I need someone to help me search.”

The younger Glatorian sighed, turning back to face Ackar. “Look I get it. You’re stressed out, either about Kiina coming back, or about the mission, and you’re doing this to help maintain some sense of control. But this is how I destress.” He gestured to his twin blades.

Ackar frowned. “Am I that easy to read?”

“Like a book,” Gresh smirked. “Now relax. Fretting over it isn’t going to solve anything.” He leapt into another attack, slashing at the air next to Ackar. “Besides, I’ve been trying some new things with my Air attacks. Maybe one of these days, I’ll figure out how to fly.”

A smile finally lit up Ackar’s features as he snickered. “Wouldn’t that be something,” he mused. “Let’s hope that your flying doesn’t take as much time to master as your fighting.”

Gresh looked offended. “But– you just said–”

“I said you’re a good warrior,” Ackar chuckled. “Just don’t forget, everyone was a rookie, once.”

Their conversation was interrupted, as the sound of rapid splashing slowly grew louder and louder as it echoed throughout the room. In unison, the two turned to the silver sea, and beheld it.

Kiina was running across the water.

At least, that was how it appeared. She was forcing a torrent of water from the tip of her trident to propel her along the surface, rushing to the artificial coast.

“Get ready!” she called out, racing as fast as she could.

“Kiina?!” replied Ackar, baffled. “What’s going–”

His question was answered before he could even ask it. Just inches behind Kiina emerged a horde of mechanical drones, skimming across the water’s surface as they flew towards the Glatorian.

At last, Kiina landed beside her allies, whirling around to face her attackers. Chirping excitedly, Click leapt into her left hand, and glowed brightly, before taking the form of a shield in her hand.

Racing forward, the drone in the lead unfolded its legs, just before landing on its feet atop the coast. One by one, each of the machines came in for a landing, surrounding the Glatorian in a circle. The three of them stood with their backs to one another, each with their weapons drawn.

At last, the leader of the drones stepped forward, and a metal disk formed within its mandibles. Its armor was bronzed by the rust, and panels of machinery were hanging from its skeletal frame, but it made for an intimidating opponent nonetheless. Leaning forward, it stared down the Glatorian, and prepared to fire.

“Surrender,” it said in a cold, robotic tone, “or run.”

Gresh shrugged. “Go for a third option?” He jested.

The drone was unamused.

“Guess not,” he sighed. “Hang on!” Slamming his blades down into the ground, he summoned a whirlwind around the group, kicking up dust from the metallic floor. The cloud of dust briefly obscured the three Glatorian from sight, confusing the enemies’ scanners.

Only a moment later, Gresh shot out from within the cloud, pouncing upon the drone and slashing at it with his weapons.

“Nice, Gresh!” Kiina cried out, holding her shield to block the advances of two of the automatons. “Wanna let us in on the plan?”

Gresh chuckled, and flipped back away from the downed machine. “Once I have one, I’ll let you know!”

A tight circle of combat quickly formed, each of the Glatorian rushing to improvise and taking on two of the drones at a time. Kina held up her shield to deflect as two of the attackers slammed against it, swinging their arms left and right. In unison, the two of them leapt backwards, and began charging disks of energy within their mandibles.

“What do you think they’re doing?” Kiina asked aloud.

Gresh grunted, kicking his opponent to the ground. “Don’t know. And I don’t care to find out!” Turning his head, he swung his blades into another enemy’s midsection, only for its spine to twist in an unnatural direction, avoiding the path of Gresh’s blades.

As the other drone fired off a disk, Kiina brought up her shield to defend herself, and winced as it struck. Soon after, her shield glowed brightly and dissolved back into the scarabax beetle, falling to the ground as it flailed wildly.

“Click!” Kiina screamed, kneeling down beside her fallen companion.

The beetle screeched, as a strange energy pulsed through its body. Scrambling around, an extra set of insectoid limbs began sprouting out from beneath its exoskeleton. Kiina watched the transformation in horror, unable to do anything but watch and defend the beetle from any attacks.

“Don’t let yourself get hit!” Kiina cried out, hoping desperately that someone would hear.

“Not a problem!” Gresh responded, as he dueled with another opponent. Tackling it to the ground, he chuckled as he looked straight into the drone’s eyes, only for it to stab Gresh in the midsection with its twin staffs.

Gresh looked down, confused. The staffs weren’t sharp at the ends, and hadn’t managed to pierce his armor. But a moment later, a sharp pain ran through his body, aching to the bone as he screamed in agony. He fell to his knees, doing what he could to move, but the pain was overwhelming each one of his senses.

“What’s… happening?” he asked weakly, before the metal foot of the machine slammed into his chest. Collapsing to the ground, he closed his eyes, feeling powerless to rise back up.

“NO!!!” Kiina cried, spinning her trident in a circle to bat away the spears of the drones attacking her. Acting quickly, she kicked the two of them to the ground, gently carrying Click within her hand as she rushed to her fellow warrior’s aid.

Gresh groaned in pain, barely able to look up to see Kiina as she blasted his attacker back with a torrent of water. The drone stumbled back, before falling back into the silver sea. Moments later, its spear pierced the coast, and it pulled itself back up above the surface.

“This is getting nowhere!” Kiina complained, hoisting Gresh up over her shoulder. “Ackar!”

Ackar, meanwhile, was getting ready to test out a theory he had about these opponents. Pressing his blade into the drone’s twin staffs, he stared straight into its mechanical eyes as a disk slowly materialized within its mandibles. Almost, he told himself, holding tightly to the handle of his sword. Not yet…

Now! In the instant the drone fired off its disk, Ackar released his grip on his sword and ducked down low, avoiding the machine’s path of fire. Instead of hitting the Glatorian, the disk traveled to the other end of the circle of battle, and struck another of the attackers, instantly coating it within a thick layer of ice.

Staring in shock at what happened to the other drone, Ackar rose up to his feet, swinging his sword behind him and cleanly slicing off the head of the first machine. As it clattered to the ground, sparks flying from the point where it had been severed, his eyes widened with realization.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed. “Their strength is in numbers! Use it against them!”

Kiina looked up, and spotted two of the drones circling her. Frowning, she set both Click and Gresh down, and raised up her trident once more.

The first of the drones raced forward, preparing to pounce on Kiina. Leaping into the air, it spun around, waving its staffs like fan blades, only for Kiina to grab it by the ankle, and swing its body forward. The other machine looked on, but could not dodge in time as its fellow automaton was flung into it, causing both of them to crash into a nearby rock.

“Woo-hoo!” Kiina exclaimed, leaping up in triumph. Holding the two in place with her trident, she made way for Ackar to point his sword at them, heating them up to such a degree to weld them together. Before long, they were both rendered immobile.

“Last two,” Ackar groaned, turning to face the final pair of drones. “Let’s make it count.”

If these two were threatened at all by the destruction of their fellow machines, they didn’t show it. They each whirled around, patching back fallen metal panels on their armor to repair themselves.

Ackar cast a pained expression to Gresh, lying on the ground with Click in his hands. The beetle had returned to its normal form, and the Glatorian seemed to be powering through the pain, but neither were in any condition to fight.

“Alright, you machines,” the elder Glatorian growled, turning his attention back to his opponents. “Let’s finish this.”

The duo prepared for anything, but before either of them could attack, a Thornax fruit was flung from out of nowhere, sailing into the space between the two. Kiina and Ackar watched with confusion as the explosive fruit came to land just by the drones’ feet.

As it did, it instantly burst into a ball of flames, tearing apart the two drones in an instant and creating a large cloud of dust where they had once been standing.

Ackar coughed, squinting to do his best to see. Slowly, the dust settled, and all that remained of the machines was broken pieces.

From within the cloud of dust, a familiar Agori came forward, holding up a bag full of Thornax fruit.

“Berix?!” Ackar asked, astonished. “What are you doing here?”

Kiina simply smirked, and extended an open hand to Gresh. “Three widgets, please.”

The Agori held up his hands. “I was just coming here to see what I could get my hands on. At first. But then, we came to meet the Vahki.”

“Vahki?” Kiina asked.

“We?” Ackar pressed.

Berix nodded. “The Vahki are those machines you faced.” His eyes lit up. “Oh, and yes,” he added, gesturing behind his back. “We.”

The Agori let out a sharp whistle, and moments later, a small hatch on the ground lifted open. From within, two Matoran emerged, looking around with frantic expressions. But as they spotted the pieces of the Vahki, they quickly calmed down.

Ackar frowned, turning his gaze back to Berix. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

✴        ✴        ✴

The story that the Matoran and Berix had to share was difficult to believe.

After evacuating the city in the wake of Makuta’s downfall, Berix had decided to make an expedition to the ruins of Metru Nui, hoping to find something useful to scavenge. Soon enough, he formed a salvage team of five likeminded Matoran, and took an Ussal crab to explore the remains of the city.

That was when the Vahki attacked. Emerging from a hive that had fallen into the depths of the silver sea, the mechanical drones quickly got to work at enforcing order the only way they saw fit; destroying anything living in sight. No one knew why the Vahki were here, and no one had a chance to ask. The Matoran did their best to fight off the drones, but their attacks were too strong, forcing them to go into hiding within the ruins of a toppled skyscraper that had fallen to the coast.

“That is, until you showed up,” finished Tehutti, the Onu-Matoran. “And got rid of those ghosts.”

Kiina cocked her head to the side. “Ghosts?”

“That’s all that they’re supposed to be,” Ehrye noted. “I don’t know how the Vahki are back. They were supposed to be destroyed when the Visorak took the city. Surely if any survived, Makuta would have used them against us during his rule.”

Tehutti nodded. “I was wondering the same thing. Their hive is likely buried under rubble down there.”

Berix frowned. “Well, if someone uncovered it and flipped their switch, I’d like to have some words with them.”

“Not necessarily someone,” Ehyre replied. “Maybe an aquatic Rahi bumped into it.”

A scoff escaped Tehutti’s mouth. “I find it a bit hard to believe that a Rahi could do something like that. More likely one of the salvage teams activated it by mistake.”

“If that was the case, they surely would’ve reported it to us.”

“Unless they didn’t notice,” Tehutti replied. “You’d be surprised how many treasures got overlooked in the Great Mine.”

Ehyre chuckled. “Maybe you should’ve had a Ko-Matoran scholar or two with you. Someone with a more careful eye.”

Tehutti’s eyes widened, taking offense at the statement. “I’d be surprised if they could see in the darkness. All that time atop Mount Ihu got your eyes too accustomed to the sun.”

“Better to look up than bury our heads in the dirt,” Ehyre shot back.

“Doesn’t matter now,” Gresh grunted, stepping between the two before the argument escalated. “Now that you’re safe, we can get you home, and–”

“Hold it,” Kiina interjected, holding Click gingerly within her hands. The scarabax beetle was still clearly shaken from the experience of being reconstituted, but she gently pet him in an effort to calm him down. “You said that there were five Matoran. I only count two here.”

“Five Matoran and an Ussal, yes,” the Ko-Matoran Ehrye replied. “That’s the bad news…”

A downcast look colored Ackar’s expression. “No…”

Tehutti widened his eyes. “They’re not dead,” he explained, catching onto what the Glatorian was suspecting. “Nuhrii, Orkahm, and Vhisola. That’s who’s still missing. And we can’t leave until we’ve got them back.”

Kiina looked confused. “Well, where did they go?”

Tehutti didn’t speak, knowing better than to try and explain the complicated situation. Instead, he simply pointed upwards.

Ackar cast a baleful gaze to the sprawling metropolis that awaited him on the ceiling, hanging upside down like stalactites. Slowly, a simple fact dawned on him.

This mission was going to be much more complicated than it at first seemed.

“Up there?” Gresh asked, still confused.

“I don’t fully understand it either,” Ehrye explained. “All we know is, the Vahki hit them with Levitation Kanoka, and they started floating upwards. We tried to get ready to catch them, but they never came back down.”

Tehutti came forward, holding a decent sized rock within his hand. Looking to the sky, he chucked it upwards, and watched as its arc traveled forward towards the silver sea. The three Glatorian followed it as it flew forward, but as it reached the peak of its arc, it seemed to be caught by some sort of pull. Instead of falling back down, it hovered in place for a second, before falling upwards toward the Coliseum.

Gresh stared in awe, trying to make sense of the gravity defying sight he had just witnessed. “That’s… weird.”

“Something up there is pulling things towards it,” Tehutti explained. “My best guess is that the artificial gravity has kicked in, but somehow, not for the full dome. It seems to be functioning as some sort of gravity well.”

Ackar stood up suddenly. “Regardless, If there are Matoran trapped up there, we need to go up there too.”

“How exactly do you propose we do that?” Kiina asked.

“Leave that to me,” Berix said with a smile. “I happen to have a plan.”

Gresh’s eyes narrowed. “Why doesn’t that fill me with confidence?”