Part 1

“They’re back.”

“So I heard.”

Helryx’s eyes narrowed as she stared out a narrow opening in a camouflaged portion of the Daxia fortress. On the beach below, a small raft had drifted to shore.

Well, if you could call it a raft, anyway — it was really more of a long plank, little more than driftwood, blown off the side of what was once a large galleon. A large stick had been jammed in the middle and some cloth was tied to it to catch the wind. Two voices had caught the wind and drifted up to where Helryx was watching.

“And oh, oh, what’s love you see?

It’s love is what I have for this here sea.

I see me sea!

This sea see me!

It’s love is what I have for this here sea.

“Aaaand then she asked what romance is.

What romance is?

What romance is.

And then she asked what romance is.

To see if I could see.

“I thought real hard

And tapped me chin.

And then I said what did me in.

What romance is?

What romance is.

Ro-mance is what I have for this here sea.

“Romance is what I have for this here sea!

I roam an’ see!

You roam an’ see!

Romance is what I have for this here sea.”

“I still don’t quite get that song,” Axonn said, turning to Brutaka who shrugged.

✴        ✴        ✴

Up above, a towering four-armed giant folded his arms and Helryx’s eyes narrowed.

“If our island was secret before, it’s not anymore.”

Some footsteps came into earshot as a messenger ran up the stairs and hurried down the hall to them.

“Toa Helryx! A report just came in!”

“What is it?” asked Helryx, turning to him.

“It’s… It’s General Tybus.”

✴        ✴        ✴

“General Tybus,” Helryx said grimly, now pacing in the ready room. “I thought he was taken care of.”

A female tactical officer with antlers nodded gravely. “I’ve already looked into it, and I specifically looked into that trip to Stelt that was puzzling us. That merchant he met apparently had a line on Mohtreks, and it seems like Tybus picked one up. This whole time we’ve been keeping tabs on a past version of him.”

Helryx cursed.

“Who’s available?” she asked.

“Everyone’s out on mission.”

“Not everyone,” Helryx sighed. “Brutaka and Axonn are back early.”

“Oh? They weren’t cleared to return to the island…”

“It’s fine,” Helryx waved, exasperated.

“Well,” the officer replied. “We can have them briefed, refitted, and deployed in a matter of hours. But Axonn was in the Hand — does he—”

“If he doesn’t understand… he will be made to.”

✴        ✴        ✴

Axonn and Brutaka loosened their armor additions and unstrapped the weapons holstered at their sides as an armorsmith scanned a tablet.

“…four daggers… eighteen throwing stars… one polearm blaster… the axe is yours…” The armorsmith’s eyes narrowed at Brutaka’s waist. “Are those little arms or—”

“Mechanical additions. Holsters,” Brutaka quickly clarified. “And these throwing knives are mine.”

“Hmm,” the armorsmith looked down at his list, sounding unconvinced. “Very well.” His eyes tilted up at Brutaka’s weapon. “And the sword—”

“Look!” exclaimed Axonn suddenly, snatching it from Brutaka’s hands. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He thrust it into the armorsmith’s hands. “Look at this craftsmanship! The sleek polish! Press here and—you do it, press here. Yeah, like that. Do you hear the buzzing? It’s an electric current. If you were touching the blade right now, it would be impossible to let go. I got this for him. I had it specially made, too—so much better than the old clunky warhammer he was hauling around.” Axonn beamed. He said all this like he’d been waiting years to say it, not that he had.

Brutaka took the blade back. “Yes, well,” he grunted, trying to hide his smile. “I was rather fond of that warhammer…”

“Axonn! Brutaka!” shouted a messenger, running into the room. “Report to the ready room at once!”

The pair exchanged glances. “Right now?” Brutaka asked.

“We just got back,” Axonn added.

“You are needed,” the messenger replied before running out again.

Confused, the pair looked at the armorsmith who shrugged.

✴        ✴        ✴

By the time they reached the ready room, Helryx was standing with her back to the door, and the tactical officer was unconsciously tugging at her antlers. Axonn planted his axe in the floor and leaned on it while Brutaka took a seat.

“We don't have much time,” Helryx said, turning immediately. “I know you two are just coming off your last mission, but we need boots on the ground and you two are the only ones we have at the moment. Botar is watching the island, but I will need you two to go in and track someone down. Once you identify his location, send us your coordinates and Botar will be dispatched to your position.”

“We understand,” Brutaka nodded. “We’re ready.”

“Thank you,” Helryx exhaled, her weariness appearing briefly through cracks in her hardened demeanor. “You two will be sent to the southern islands again where a cult has been formed in direct opposition to the will of the Great Spirit. Word has already been relayed to Hydraxon who has prepared a cell for the cult leader in the Pit.”

“Serious, huh?” Brutaka mused. Axonn pursed his mouth.

“Indeed,” Helryx nodded. “If you cannot capture him alive, you cannot fail to kill him.”

“But why? What makes this cult so special?” asked Brutaka, leaning back.

Helryx said nothing for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Brutaka threw a questioning glance now at the tactical officer who, though she said nothing, was unconsciously pulling at her antlers so hard they looked like they might snap off. Seeing Brutaka’s gaze, she started, then folded her hands behind her back. Within a moment, she was anxiously pressing her fingers backward.

What’s with them? wondered Brutaka.

“The leader,” Helryx articulated thoughtfully, “is a fanatic and possesses powerful secrets on the nature of Mata Nui’s universe. He is someone many in the Order of Mata Nui have a personal history with… and someone I had hoped I wouldn’t have to tangle with again.” She looked at Axonn. “He is General Tybus.”

Axonn inhaled sharply. “General Tybus,” he repeated, speaking for the first time.

Brutaka looked between them.

“He is a powerful warrior, trained by the very best,” Helryx continued. “He doesn’t belong to a species. He was sentient long before the rest of the universe, created by the Great Beings themselves.”

“Let me guess,” Brutaka realized. “Hand of Artakha?”

Axonn and Helryx nodded.

“We have our work cut out for us, then,” Brutaka said, turning back to Helryx.

“Tybus was one of the reasons I and the Hand’s other leaders disbanded it,” she nodded. “He refused to follow anyone’s orders, only following directives sent straight from the Great Beings in Artakha. He claimed to be in direct communication with Tren Krom. Even then, his soldiers gravitated to him and his cult of personality, and no one stationed under him was ever recruited into the Order.”

“Why was he allowed to stay in the Hand?” asked Brutaka.

“He did his job well,” Axonn said, turning to him. “At the time. We were sentient creatures dealing with non-sentient ones. His… methods were logical… at the time.”

“At the time, yes,” Helryx agreed. “But now he cannot be allowed to continue his operations.”

Brutaka reacted. “At the time? What do you mean at the time? What sort of stuff was happening back then?”

Helryx smiled thinly.

“It’s… complicated,” she said. “Too complicated to explain now. Axonn can explain on the way.”

“Suit up,” the tactical officer finally said. “Be ready to go in two hours. We want to have you there by nightfall.”

“One more thing,” Helryx added quickly. “We suspect Destral has also learned about their existence and has dispatched a team to investigate. Under no circumstances can Tybus or the information he carries end up in anyone else’s hands. Even those of the Brotherhood.”

“Understood,” Brutaka and Axonn said.

✴        ✴        ✴

Nightfall had come. A sturdy boat had brushed against the sand, and the two steering it jumped out and pulled it to shore that bordered a large cove. Their strong hands grasped the frame and their powerful legs dug into the sand, pulling it safely to shore.

The pair exchanged glances and nodded.

In the boat, three more figures rose and grabbed their equipment. With expert precision, they slid over the edge of the boat and slipped silently into the ocean, followed by a large, gangly creature and made for the treeline of the island’s small jungle.

There wasn’t an abundance of cover for them, however — most of the island was constituted of a giant volcano. What jungle existed only skirted the base around the steep slopes. A single peninsula jutted out from the volcano, and on it a cliff rose high above the ocean. The cove was on the side of this peninsula, and the treeline lay just before the long stretch of cliff.

By now, the original pair who had been directing the boat had formed a long cord with some vines, tying one end to the boat and the other to the boulder. Submerging the boat in the shallow waters of the cove and anchored it with some large stones before starting for the treeline as well. But the one in blue armor threw a glance at the volcano and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” asked his companion, stooping low.

“Something is wrong with the air,” muttered the blue-clad assassin. “It… feels like our Rahi… but more vile.” He looked at his companion with a grimace. “It’s no good. We need more intel — our mission directive—”

“We improvise,” hissed the white-armored strategist.

“Mekrani, we have to abort—”

“Whatever they’re doing here, it’s not enough to abort. Remember what we discussed, Noxis. In and out.”

Noxis looked thoroughly uneasy, but he begrudgingly conceded. Instead, as his gaze swept their surroundings, they landed on the horizon.

“Look,” he muttered, barely audible.

Mekrani followed his gaze out beyond the edge of the island. Squinting in the night, she observed that thick clouds were moving to block out the stars. “Storm’s coming in fast.”

“No. Horizon.”

The second being lowered her gaze to the horizon. She couldn’t quite see anything in the night, so she looked to the side and used her peripheral vision. A small shape was gliding along the waves.

She looked at the other and grunted. The two darted off.

✴        ✴        ✴

At that moment, Axonn and Brutaka were racing against the storm and were fighting the large waves.

“I’ll be happy once we’re rid of this thing,” Axonn called over the gale.

Brutaka nodded. The plan was to sink the boat as soon as they landed and use the Olmak to return home. They needed the boat to get there because they only had a rough idea of where the island actually was, much less what awaited there.

“Like those in our own Order who built Daxia, Tybus and his followers know how to cultivate islands from nothing,” Helryx had said. “If not for our vigilance, theirs would surely have been as secret as our own.”

Now they had arrived. Volcano Island.

Fortunately, the instructions had proven accurate. The towering silhouette of the volcano loomed over the horizon. Apparently the volcano, if it ever had been alive, was completely dormant, and its veins had been hollowed out by Tybus’ direction over the years. The general had been relaying directions to those who had followed him out of the Hand, even as he led the Order operatives who were keeping tabs on him on a wild Rahi chase.

Axonn squinted. On the shore, he could see a pair of lightstones held up, and behind them were two sentries. It seemed they were looking in the direction of the boat.

“Think they’ve spotted us,” Axonn shouted.

“Oh, they’ve seen us alright,” Brutaka replied, pointing. “Look.”

Axonn followed his gaze. To the right of the island, he could see a large blob moving through the darkness. It looked like a large corvette, and a large searchlight mounted on the top was swinging in their direction.

“Let’s take our chances on the beach,” Brutaka called over the wind.

Axonn nodded. Lifting his heavy axe, he brought it down hard on the base of the boat, tearing open a large gash. As water began seeping in, Brutaka opened a portal and the pair jumped through.

Moments later, the spotlight finally caught its last glimpse of the hull as it sank beneath the waves.

✴        ✴        ✴

General Tybus lowered his Akaku.

He watched the seas from below the mouth of the volcano, in a thoroughly camouflaged watchtower. The sentries had not been able to tell if someone had been on the boat, and Tybus himself had not spotted anything. But the Great Beings had granted him intelligence for a reason, and he had always used his to its fullest potential.

“Keep a very very close eye on the shores,” he instructed a lieutenant. “Attack first. Questions later. Understood?”

The lieutenant saluted. “Yes sir!”

Tybus turned and hurried down the staircase. It had been a long, long road to where he was now. But the plan was coming together perfectly.

At the bottom of the staircase was one of his civilian followers, a large brown-armored fellow whom Tybus had taken a liking to, in spite of himself. Shokdon was youthful, enthusiastic, and energetic, even if his grasp of the full picture was quite limited. Unlike many of the general’s followers, Shokdon didn’t seem to take much interest in Tybus’ crusade for its own sake. But he recognized the raw potential of what the general had built and the power the general had accumulated, and for him that seemed to be enough.

“General Tybus,” Shokdon bowed. “The, er, device is nearly ready. They’re just doing final checks.”

“Very good,” Tybus replied. “We’re just waiting to hear from our deepsea team, in that case.”

Shokdon nodded, but his thoughts seemed elsewhere. Something was weighing on him. “What is it?” the General asked.

“Sir,” he replied, “With the sort of equipment we have here… It’s beyond anything anyone out there has ever seen. It would be like magic to them — we could be conjurers, we could rule like great spirits, quite apart from—”

“It is not our place to rule like great spirits,” the general replied sharply. “There is only one Great Spirit, and we will restore the order of his world. Do not speak like this again.”

“Sorry, my lord,” Shokdon bowed.

Tybus could tell his subordinate wasn’t satisfied. But he would obey, and in time he would see.

“Remember,” Tybus said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “The Great Spirit Tren Krom will know how you have labored for him when he returns to this world.”

“As you say.”

✴        ✴        ✴

The island was now swarming with sentries and patrols, and it was only the thick overgrowth and the dense canopy that protected any of the new arrivals from discovery. It took what felt like an eternity, but the strange pair that had hidden the boat had caught up to their four companions on the island’s peninsula.

As they were approaching, a red-armored hunter was crouching near the gangly beast, staring at it intently. The Rahi was a large biped, clad mostly in silver with some blue coloring on its torso. Nothing escaped its piercing yellow eyes which were now darting around the island.

“Is the Nahtarki picking up on anything?” asked Mekrani, the white-armored strategist as she drew near.

The red hunter said nothing. His focus remained on the Nahtarki Rahi, even as his team in turn focused on him. After a long, silent moment, the Nahtarki looked at him and tilted its head. Then it grunted twice and sat down.

“What is it, Trakka?” asked the black-clad leader.

“Hmmm…” the red hunter said thoughtfully. “There’s… a familiar scent.”

Mekrani leaned forward. “The Rahi?”

Trakka shot him a sarcastic look. “No, me. Of course the Rahi.”

“I… huh?”

The blue assassin grinned. “I think what Mekrani means is… does Nahtarki smell our Rahi. The one we came here for.”

“Ohhhhhh…” Trakka grinned sheepishly. “Well, yes. But also something else… A different familiar scent.”

“Good familiar or bad familiar?” asked Mekrani.

“Can’t tell.”

“‘We’ll improvise,’ huh?’” Noxis, the blue assassin said, shooting a glare at Mekrani. “Whatever… I’ll prepare a toxin and an antidote. If it’s someone we like… they’ll understand if I throw a poison in their face.”

“Good idea, Noxis,” replied Mekrani with a smile.

The black-clad leader nodded in agreement.

“Nahtarki,” the red Trakka said, stroking the Rahi, “Where are you sensing these?”

The creature perked upright. Its eyes fell on the forest directly below the volcano. Then they shifted and moved to the volcano itself. Trakka almost explained the gesture, but the others had watched and reached the obvious conclusions.

“One will be easy to get to,” decided Mekrani. “Noxis and Trakka can move the fastest, so they should be the ones. The other… we’ll have to break in. Maybe Grraka will do the honors of knocking.”

“We’ll see,” the large, sullen green bruiser grunted.

“In and out,” Mekrani continued, ignoring Grraka. “And then the others can handle the rest.”

Trakka nodded, as did Noxis. All three looked at the black-armored leader.

“How’s it sound, Wracko?” asked Mekrani, addressing him.

Through all this, Wracko’s gaze had not turned from Nahtarki, even for its gestures. Now he exhaled and turned to the looming mountain.

“Let’s get our Rahi,” he said softly.

✴        ✴        ✴

Axonn and Brutaka had found themselves teleported into a tree, where now they watched impatiently as sentries below them argued. A veteran mercenary, a seeming ex-Hand operative was trying to keep her temper with some volunteers.

“Everywhere?”

“Yep! Everywhere everywhere.”

The professional pointed to the shoreline. “You checked the whole promontory? Hydruka Reef? And the Gafna Gorge?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

The Hand veteran looked out further. “And your teams scoured the peninsula? Scoured.”

“Yeah, we did a few passes. Couldn’t find anything.”

The soldier said nothing, and Axonn guessed she was keeping her temper in check. Fortunately, the distraction prevented her keen senses from noticing the two infiltrators above.

“Keep circling,” the soldier finally said. “Rotate your patrols all night. The General wants every inch of the island scoured. Remember, there are no Rahi outside the volcano. If anything is out there, kill it.”

“Yes sir,” the volunteers said, giving a slightly sloppy salute.

The soldier watched them shuffle off, then started back to the volcano, her fists balled.

Axonn and Brutaka exchanged intrigued glances. They waited until they were certain she was gone, then dropped from the trees and stealthily started along the path she had taken, keeping to the shadows and the cover of the trees. They followed for some distance, up and down along the side of the volcano, moving for what felt like an eternity in complete silence — a time prolonged by the moments they ducked for cover from passing scouts. This diversion wasn’t part of the plan, but they were each curious where it would lead.

They’d almost reached the opposite side of the island by the time they nearly stumbled onto her again. In the rear of the volcano was a large valley, one they had arrived at the top of.

In the very crevice of the valley, the veteran was standing before two guards, demanding entrance to a towering rear gate. The gate itself was an oddity in an otherwise natural volcano, being polished smooth and inscribed with strange symbols. The two guards appeared as competent as the earlier sentries, and after some strained discussion, the gate opened and a second veteran stepped outside. The two ex-Hand operatives spoke tersely with the guards before entering the gate and leaving the guards by themselves.

Axonn and Brutaka scrambled back behind cover.

“Ex-Hand operatives and regular cultists don’t mix well, it seems,” Brutaka muttered under his breath.”

Axonn shook his head. “I don’t know why the general would have brought on so many incompetent… non-Hand followers. It’s very unlike him… he must have manipulated them into being his laborers.”

“Alright, now’s as good a time as any,” Brutaka murmured, almost low enough to be inaudible. “Who’s this general?”

Axonn glanced in the direction of the valley, then back at him. “You’re asking now?”

“As opposed to when we meet him? Yes. What did you and Helyx mean earlier?”

“What was I saying earlier?”

“That his methods worked back when—”

“Right, right.” Axonn nodded. “General Tybus… like I said, he is a product of his time. He mostly predated me, but his reputation was pretty well entrenched even before my creation. Everyone praised him for the work he did. Even higher-ups like Helryx. He and those he led were capable herdsmen and skilled mechanics. If a Matoran unit stopped working properly, he could repair it and get it back to work right away. He was always good with Matoran and Rahi, which outside of those who worked directly for the Great Beings, were more or less the only things that existed in the early days of the universe.”

“Interesting,” Brutaka mused. He suddenly tilted his head. “Now I want to meet this Tybus fellow. And I would love to see how much thought he’s actually put into this.”

“Don’t,” Axonn urged. “You heard what Helryx said. “He’s a captivating orator. His cult—”

Brutaka scoffed. “I have a feeling he’s not as compelling as you two give him credit for. I doubt he’s ever had to defend his view from someone like me… I’ll test his wits, and we’ll see who’s the wiser.”

“No, Brutaka. This is one guy you can’t afford to be cocky with,” Axonn shook his head. “Anyway… There was something about him — I don’t know if he was always like this or if it developed over time — but he didn’t care about the Matoran or Rahi so much as he loved the recognition he got for his work. They were tools for his skill, and his skill was the tool for his ego.”

“Well, it sounds like even the Great Beings were praising his work.”

“So the rumor goes, anyway.”

“So what got him upset?”

“Well, put yourself in his armor. Tren Krom’s reign ends and Mata Nui becomes the Great Spirit. Mata Nui brings dozens of new sentient life forms to populate the universe. What was once Tybus’ well-oiled machine is haywire with thousands upon thousands of living beings all thinking for themselves and operating on their own behalf. Soon even the Matoran have full sentience and abandon the tasks the Great Beings originally set for them.”

“Ahhhhhh. And full intelligence isn’t for the Great Beings’ chosen few anymore, eh?”

“Look at the Rahi coming out of Destral,” Axonn gestured north. “Some of them can be smarter than a lot of ‘sapient’ species. Where does the line get drawn? How does this new universe work? What is the order? The General was convinced it was his job to restore some version of what had existed before.”

“Hmm,” Brutaka smiled broadly. He looked at Axonn, “And you? How do you feel about that?”

“Remember when you met me?” Axonn asked.

“Like it was yesterday. It’s why I’m asking.”

“It was my dream to take his vision for order and make it practical in a world where everyone is sapient. Tybus wanted to revert the universe to an old state. But in my… admittedly grandiose vision, I wanted to reestablish that order by carving it out in the new world.”

Brutaka nodded, reflecting on his own experiences. “The universe… it really has changed so much in such a short time. Even the Makuta aren’t the newest Rahi in the pen anymore.”

“All of us from the Hand had a vision for what it was meant to do. Our purpose was to combat everyday threats and safeguard the work of the Matoran, but the rising generation of Toa was less violent and more disciplined than many of our own teams. Meanwhile, our leaders were squabbling over their conflicting visions to move the group forward. We became… defunct.”

“So if I understand what you’re saying… the general doesn’t care about sapient beings for their sapience or free will.”

“Yep.”

“He just wants them to do their job. And the techniques you were talking about… are good for machines. Not for living beings.”

“Pretty much.”

“Got it.”

“Understood.”

“Makes sense.”

Brutaka and Axonn froze, and their organs suddenly felt cold as ice… They were not the ones who had spoken.

Even when they thawed, they could not move… for two blades were touching their backs.

Trakka leaned forward, speaking softly into Brutaka’s ears.

“Resurrected, have you?”