Chapter 2

It was just over a day later that the Onu-Matoran stood outside a tangle of vines and brush. Between the footprints in the dirt and the broken branches, there were clear signs of the scuffle between the Boxors and Bohrok-Kal.

Nuparu himself sat perched in a Boxor, upgraded with a few of the Bohrok-Kal parts. He hadn’t had a chance to analyze the new Bohrok-Kal technology, but some surface-level additions had been made. As it was, this was the only useable Boxor, for none of the others could fit the Matoran, who had been themselves upgraded and enlarged on Naming Day.

The Onu-Matoran had already surveyed the area, but he did not see any signs of a cave, much less a Bohrok-Kal hub.

He directed the Boxor forward, off the path. He had taken perhaps three steps when the left foot gave out from under him and the machine lurched forward, landing in the mud with a thud.

Nuparu extracted himself quickly, shocked to find he had landed in a gaping hole. Punching forward with the arms of the Boxor, he threw himself backward, back onto his feet. Then he hopped out of the cockpit.

The hole had been covered with long branches and leaves. It was a wide hole, large enough for a Bohrok to sneak in and out, and it was only because his machine landed on several thick branches covering it that had prevented him from falling in. It was perhaps twice as deep as Nuparu’s Boxor, and at the bottom there was an opening into a deeper tunnel.

“Leave it to me to dig myself into a deep hole,” Nuparu muttered.

He cleared the debris, then crawled back into the Boxor. Directing it forward, he slammed one of its claws into the rim, then the other one slightly lower. Lowering the machine was slow progress, and he was about a third of the way down when the claw landed at a bad angle, causing the whole machine to lose its grip. The Boxor fell fast, landing with a cacophony. Fortunately, the springs in its feet prevented any serious damage.

“Well, if they didn’t know I was here before…”

Etched into the stone wall around him were six powerful figures resembling the Toa Nuva. Beside it, carved in an archaic version of the Matoran script, were three letters.

Kal.

That settles it, then.

The hole he had seen before was indeed a tunnel, and large enough to admit even his large Boxor. To his shock, the walls beyond its opening were smoother than anything any tunnel Matoran or Bohrok had carved.

But who carved it? he wondered.

✴        ✴        ✴

He descended along the tunnel for a while, leaving the daylight far behind. He’d had the foresight to equip a lightstone, but it was all the illumination he had. For some distance he could not see beyond the light’s glow, and he feared he would be descending for hours.

Fortunately, it was not quite that long before the tunnel opened into a massive chamber resembling the tunnel he had just emerged from, before narrowing again into another tunnel. To his shock, there were two hulking forms on the far wall, lifeless. They appeared to resemble Bohrok, and as he peered closer, he guessed they had to be two Bohrok Kaita. Perhaps they had been active when the Bahrag were active, but of they were of no use when the Bahrag weren’t. Not that they were needed when the Kal were active.

Niches in the floor resembled each of the many variations of krana-kal, and all except eight were represented here. Those that were missing had to be the ones that had been used on the surface.

Nuparu ejected himself and placed his ear to the floor, then tested the earth. But it did not seem hollow, and nothing he saw suggested anything existed beneath the chamber. This seemed to be all there was to it, unlike the Bohrok tunnels, which had opened to reveal the Bahrag.

He gently, gingerly prodded one of the krana-kal. But it merely jiggled at his touch, completely dormant.

Nuparu scrambled back into his Boxor, then started toward the far wall. As he proceeded between the Bohrok Kaita, they made no move to stop him, not that he was sure what he could do if they did.

Like the tunnel behind him, this new path was smooth. But unlike before, he could see the far wall. Marching toward it, he was pleased to see that this appeared to be the end of the line. Dimly, he could make out a few of the Bohrok-Kal nests.

So excited was he that he did not hear scuffling beneath the sounds of his machine’s treads.

And as he emerged in the Bohrok-Kal nests, he was patting himself on the back for another successful mission.

That’s when the giant spider leaped at him.