BIONICLE Legends: Invasion

Chapter 9

Written by Jeff Douglas

Mahri Nui

A lone Deep Sea Snake maneuvered along the seabed, desperately hunting for food. Under normal circumstances, this was prime feeding time. Most of the larger creatures would settle down to rest after eating, so many of the smaller Rahi would emerge from hiding to feast themselves. These Rahi did not realize that the Deep Sea Snakes were among the only species to take advantage of these periods to snack.

But something had upset the waters, and the snake did not know what. The sharks, insects, crabs, eels, squids, and manta rays had all left their natural domains and were openly moving in broad daylight. The Rahi marched among the rest of their species and did not hesitate to collaborate in preying upon the lesser races. No time or space was sacred. Something had loosed the reins of nature itself. And those not powerful enough to devour had fled underground to wait out the torrent.

The lone sea snake was the only sign of life for as far as it could see. At least, until it whirled and saw a white figure making his way in its direction.

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Barek was well beyond the outskirts of Mahri Nui and he knew it. He’d been out for a few hours, and if he didn’t pay attention to his time, there would be no chance of returning to Mahri Nui. But he had found Reysa’s tools lying buried in the sand. Having come this far, he had to see it through.

The ocean was a cauldron now. The sea life that had once forged a relatively peaceful existence here was nowhere to be seen. Predators were unbound by safe hours or safe zones. Life itself had been thrown off.

The Ko-Matoran felt a ripple in the ocean behind him and he dove for cover in a nearby cave. No sooner had he done so that schools of Plasma Rays, known for their capacity to inject plasma into the circulation systems of a living being, shot by overhead. The bright orange-glowing mantas were accompanied by a legion of mutated Preying Water Mantises that marched along the ocean floor. One mantis walked particularly close to Barek’s small cave. The Water Mantises were infamous for emanating a particular chemical into the water that they were able to “smell.” Deviations from this stench generally indicated to them the presence of life. As the mantis scanned the cave, Barek held his breath and inched as far back as he could.

A Plasma Ray diverted from the course of his school and swam over to investigate. At that very moment, the eyes of the mantis flared, and it plunged its long limb into the cave. Barek gasped and pressed himself further back. But the floor caved beneath him and he found himself tumbling head over heels down a long, wide cylindrical hole.

The tunnel opened into space, and Barek was falling, unable to stop his descent to the ground. Thankfully, the density of the ocean and the wet sand padded his fall when he landed headfirst in the sediment and tumbled over.

The Ko-Matoran stood up and shook the sand free of his mask. There was no sign of the Preying Water Mantis, or the other creatures of the two underwater armies. It seemed they had been tasked with hunting the ocean for something or someone they needed.

The Ko-Matoran looked around him. It seemed he had stumbled upon some sort of pen. Rahi were imprisoned in cages all around the valley he now found himself in. The cells themselves did not appear to have been constructed from any material native to the ocean, but Barek could not imagine where they would have come from.

The Rahi themselves appeared vicious and nasty. Pit War Tortoises, Spider Crabs, and dozens of other species could be heard yelping and hollering in a rowdy underwater squalor. Barek had no doubt that those who had captured them and placed them here had tortured them to train them to be more vicious. For a moment, Barek considered freeing them, but as he approached a cage, one of the tortoises snarled and snapped at him, and he realized it probably wouldn’t be wise. Besides, the Rahi would just go serve their masters now.

As he moved through the pens, he couldn’t help but notice one pen in the Spider Crab section had been torn open from the inside and its contents were empty. A yelp far above him diverted his attention to the rim of the underwater valley where he could vaguely make out a Spider Crab viciously fighting a Stinger Whale. But the fight tumbled over the top of the rim and out of sight. Barek’s heart sank as he realized the giant Rahi were heading in the direction of Mahri Nui.

The Ko-Matoran feared what would happen if they attacked the city, but he knew he couldn’t focus on that now. Pushing such thoughts down, he grimly resumed his search.

The rock wall of the sea valley was completely solid except for one hole that appeared to lead to an adjoining trench.

As Barek moved along, he observed strange equipment buried within the sediment, just visible, as though it had been unearthed somehow. When Barek gently brushed some sand off of what appeared to be a projectile weapon, he noticed an ancient inscription that he knew he had no hope of deciphering.

Unbidden, a memory flashed before Barek’s eyes. The Ko-Matoran’s eyes widened as he was vaguely reminded of an occasion he had once had before the Great Cataclysm. He and his good friends, Velika and Dezalk had once stumbled upon some ruins on the continent Voya Nui had come from that originated from perhaps before Matoran had walked the land. The Matoran had not known what to make of it — but as Velika pointed out as only he could, the original inhabitants had no more use for it. The technology had gone to good use in Matoran hands.

The Ko-Matoran stood and continued down the tunnel, a chill running up his spine. Here and there, bones were visible, some covered in armor that angled and streaked back, away from the limbs and helmets that left the face exposed but sometimes stretched out behind the skulls.

As Barek stepped through the far end of the tunnel, he was almost worried to see what awaited him. No Matoran had ever seen anything like this because they were pent up in the city, and chances were the Rahi and whatever else lived down here didn’t know what to make of it.

Sure enough, the trench before him opened into a wide valley lined with ancient ruins and equipment.

But what could possibly have left it here?

Barek pressed on, wary of this seemingly alien world he now found himself in. Most of the buildings were in ruin, but one or two structures held up by stone columns indicated what the civilization had likely once looked like. Most of the buildings were small, but close to the center of the ruins, a large, cylindrical structure resembling a recreational center of some variety dominated the landscape.

To its side, a stout pyramid held up above the earth by columns sat in its shadow. The pyramid was caved in, however, and many of its contents were spilled out before it. As the Ko-Matoran drew closer and leaned over, he saw what appeared to be a fallen tower that conveyed blueprints for a giant mechanical man of some variety. But it was like nothing Barek would have recognized.

Standing straight again, he saw a blank screen resting in the dirt beside it. Pulling it out of the sediment, Barek rubbed the dirt off the screen. His fingers brushed something sensitive, and to his shock, the screen flared to life. A series of images flashed by at mind-numbing speed: schematics, calculations, notes, details of design and construction he had never seen before. It all went so quickly it was impossible to consciously focus on any one thing, and the Matoran was almost overwhelmed by the sheer information flowing into the Ko-Matoran’s head as if from a memory crystal.

He saw ancient beings, before whom stood a giant robot that stands miles above any other. He saw tribes of warriors more flesh than machine, relentlessly warring against a substance that changes destiny itself. There was a giant sphere against a black canvas exploding, shattering into three pieces. The blue piece, a world of a seemingly endless ocean, exploding from the surface and blasting into space. Sprawling, floating cities that had floated for untold millennia above the waters capsized beneath the tumultuous, cataclysmic waves. The ancient species that had once lived there now lost beneath the seas, buried for one hundred thousand years. And this machine had recorded this and waited for someone to stumble upon it.

As the rapidly speeding images began to slow, one sentence was seared in his brain.

Here lies what once was the greatest city to have floated on Aqua Magna, sunk in the cataclysm that tore us from our world.

The machine sputtered and died. Barek shook it, trying to get it to play the message again, but it was no use. Millennia beneath the waves had destroyed the mechanism. It was a miracle it had worked in the first place.

The Matoran dropped the mechanical archive on the ground and stared around him. He didn’t know if it was thanks to the images, but now he recognized the rubble. The remnants of homes, buildings, crushed armor, vicious robots, the skeletons of creatures resembling Toa and Matoran but almost completely biological. Before, Barek could not have begun to understand the meaning of the debris. But the vision had explained so much.

So how did it get here? The Matoran wondered. Was the Great Cataclysm truly responsible for unearthing this and bringing it to this place? But how…

A crimson movement to the side caused him to start. As he turned, he saw a tall, powerful red mechanoid with a particularly vile looking sword walking along the ocean floor. To its side, a large wolf-like Rahi threw a glance at Barek, but soon turned and continued walking with the machine. The two looked as though they were looking for something, or someone, perhaps an owner. They paid the Matoran no heed, and yet as a cold feeling gripped him, that reminded him of the rising danger he himself was facing the longer he stayed out here. His airbubble would barely last until he returned to the city, and although he hadn’t given up on Reysa, Barek would do them both little good to die out here.

There were many mysteries the Ko-Matoran knew he would probably never know the answers to—who had designed the machine that spoke for the creatures who had dwelt within the city, where the city had originally come from, and what the images in the vision were supposed to represent, among others. But those were mysteries for another time. Instead, he would have to settle for thanking Mata Nui that Mahri Nui had not suffered the same disastrous fate. With one last glance at the ruins and bodies, the Ko-Matoran began the long trek back to his own lost city.