Chapter 9: The Dark Hunter's Gambit

Onua slammed his quake breakers into the ground and brought down a seventh mountain on Makuta’s army. Hundreds of troops were buried, but before the dust had even settled, he could already see Rahkshi and Visorak crawling out of the rubble. The landfalls had crushed many of Makuta’s troops, but failed to scatter them. The survivors were still massed in tight defensive formations. A glance to the sky wasn’t promising, either: hundreds of Rahkshi had taken flight, and were now combing the collapsed mountains for any sign of the rebels. Kopeke had taken cover several minutes ago, but if they kept up their search, there might be nowhere left to hide.

Krahka, in the form of Toa Nokama, looked down at Makuta’s troops and snarled. “These ambushes tire me,” she announced. “I will crush the enemy myself.”

“That’s suicide,” said Onua. “We have to stick together, or else they’ll overwhelm us. Right, Lariska? …Lariska?”

He looked to his left, but Lariska was long gone. Probably fled the scene when she realized the odds we’re up against, Onua mused. Can’t say I blame her.

“With or without you, I am going,” said Krahka, hovering with the powerful wings of a Nui-Rama. Onua looked around at the shattered mountains, teeming with Rahkshi, and the ruined fortress below, filled with Exo-Toa and Visorak. Kopeke and Lariska had fled, and Tahu and Johmak had not emerged from the tunnels. If he ran now, he could certainly survive to fight another day. That would be the logical thing to do. But he would be leaving Tahu, Johmak, and Krahka to certain death, or worse. Onua looked up at Krahka and made his choice.

A few moments later, flying furiously down the mountain in the claws of a Nui-Rama, Onua began to regret his decision. He had flown in Karda Nui, but that was under his own power, and he’d mostly stayed in the swamp. He’d never gotten used to the ground being so very, very far away, and having only air beneath his feet. They took another dive, and he fought the urge to scream.

Krahka, who seemed to be quite enjoying herself, let out a primal war cry and swooped over a legion of Exo-Toa. Onua aimed his weapon, now a Nynrah Ghost Blaster, and fired down at several of them. Where he struck, the Exo-Toa shuddered and turned on their allies, shooting their electro-rockets on his command. The other Exo-Toa responded in kind. The confusion within the ranks cost dozens of units and threw the legion into disarray.

Onua looked ahead, and saw a squadron of Rahkshi flying straight at them. “Incoming!” Krahka swerved to avoid them, but the Rahkshi maneuvered just as quickly, and stayed on her tail. Visorak massed below, and filled the air with rhotuka spinners. Onua’s body swung wildly as Krahka ducked and weaved through the crossfire, passing dangerously close to several spinners. “Careful where you’re going!”

Krahka ignored his protestations and continued to fly in loops, zigzags, and maneuvers for which Onua had no names. After just a few moments, he felt as if every part of his body was upside down, or at least not where it was supposed to be. “Put me down!” he yelled over the rushing wind. “I would rather take the whole army than this!”

Krahka made a buzzing noise that sounded like laughter. She went into one last spiral, hurtling down towards the ground. Onua shut his eyes, preparing himself to be dashed against the rocks - but as Krahka swooped low, she slowed down and tossed Onua to the ground, where he rolled for a dozen meters before stopping.

Groaning, Onua opened his eyes and watched the rocks oscillate around him. Eventually, he cleared his head enough to remember: I’m in the middle of a warzone. Hurriedly, he forced himself to his feet, only to start his whole frame of vision spinning uncontrollably. By the time he had steadied himself enough to see, he was surrounded by a swarm of Visorak.

“Well, that’s not exactly ideal,” he muttered, preparing to die honorably.

Then a shadow passed over him, and a tremendous claw slammed down into the horde, crushing dozens of Visorak beneath its bulk. Onua staggered back, and stared up at the enormous form of the Zivon, snapping its mandibles and roaring.

“My thanks!” he shouted up at the monstrosity, though he doubted Krahka could hear him. As she tore into the horde of Visorak with claws, stingers, and jaws, Onua turned and surveyed the enemy. It didn’t look good: six legions of Exo-Toa, hordes of all kinds of Visorak, and a sky swarming with Rahkshi. He would put up the best fight he could, but he knew this was not a battle he could win. I can only hope Tahu succeeds. And by the Great Spirit, he will!

✴        ✴        ✴

From the window of a factory tower, the Shadowed One looked over the city of Xia, and saw potential… immense potential. True, the city had seen better days. Most of it was leveled, and the place was crawling with displaced Vortixx and roaming Dark Hunters. But the city was still choked in the smog of a thousand factories, and the Vortixx had been kept alive, along with all their knowledge and blueprints of weapons and war. True, Helryx had bid him occupy Xia, and halt any and all production on the island. But Helryx was not here, and her precious Order of Mata Nui was as good as dead. He would put Xia back to work, on his orders.

Makuta’s reign was a temporary annoyance. With the viruses he held, the Shadowed One could strike down even the Great Spirit. And once Pridak had shown him how to do so, and his armies had finished their conquest, the Barraki would no longer be of use to him. When all is said and done, he mused, the Dark Hunters will be the last left standing. And then… then the universe itself will be mine.

He became aware of his breathing. It was coming slowly, and the air felt thin and weak. He had grown accustomed to the heavy smog of Xia, but this was something different - this was no air at all.

Makuta is pulling the air from the room, he realized. How… amusing.

The Shadowed One raised his staff and shattered the window before him. Smog and soot rushed in to fill the void, and he took a deep, long breath of it. The Shadowed One raised his eyes to the heavens, and laughed.

“A pitiful attempt,” he sneered. “You have all the power of the Great Spirit, and you use a simple vacuum?”

There was silence before the sound of Makuta’s voice. “I need not indulge in catastrophe to dispose of you, Shadowed One. You are vastly overestimating your importance to my schemes.”

“Hardly,” said the Shadowed One. An idea had occurred to him, an idea that he found tantalizing and, should it be true, gloriously amusing. “You know what I possess, Makuta… what I could use against you.”

“Xia?” replied Makuta, laughter in his tone. “Xia is a worthless rock. Half of it was leveled by the Kanohi Dragon, and the other half by your Dark Hunters. It poses no threat to me.”

“You know I do not speak of Xia!” the Shadowed One snapped. His heart-light was flashing rapidly. If his calculations were correct, then his next words would deliver him divine immunity - but if he was mistaken, they would surely lead to his death. “I speak of the viruses of Makuta Kojol!”

When he spoke, Makuta’s voice was laced with danger. “You know that I could destroy you right now,” he rumbled. “One earthquake, one flood, one lightning storm. I could obliterate you in a single instant.”

“You could indeed,” the Shadowed One acknowledged. “But you won’t.”

“Your old age has made you mad,” said Makuta. His voice boomed through the skyscrapers and factories of Xia. “Do not test my wrath!”

“You’re afraid, Makuta!” the Shadowed One cried. He opened the box, and removed a single vial. “Afraid of these! Certainly, you could destroy me… but doing so would risk destroying these vials, and releasing their contents into your body. You would never allow that… and so you will never move against me.”

“You underestimate me,” said Makuta, and the smog of Xia curled into coils of smoke, poisonous to the touch. Dark, toxic smoke slithered towards the Central Factory, reaching out its tendrils. “Your last gamble will end in death.”

The Shadowed One watched the dark clouds approach, and held the vial high. “This is your last chance, Makuta!” he called. “Back off, or I will destroy Xia!”

The clouds came closer… and closer… and closer. The Shadowed One tensed his arm, and waited… until the clouds stopped a meter from the window, slithering uncomfortably against an invisible barrier.

“I knew it,” the Shadowed One hissed.

“Very clever,” Makuta growled. “But you cannot keep this act up forever. Surrender that box, and I will spare your life… perhaps even reward you with a title of rulership. Surely you can see reason.”

“I see… opportunity,” replied the Shadowed One. With that, he threw the vial from the window, to shatter on the streets far below.

“No!” Makuta roared, but the green gas of the virus was already spreading through the island. It first touched a Vortixx peddler scavenging the ruins. She had barely taken a single breath before her body cracked and shattered into fragments. Across the city, more Vortixx followed after her, pulverized into ebony shards. Makuta was silent, but Xia’s atmosphere trembled with rage.

The Shadowed One stood, laughing, at the edge of the balcony. “It is you who have underestimated me, Makuta,” he said to the emptied streets. “Now you must fear my wrath.”

He made haste from the factory and moved swiftly through the ravaged districts, Sentrakh following closely. Here and there, crystalline fragments drifted on the wind behind.