Chapter 11: Shadow of Destral

Takanuva kicked a rock and watched it bounce down the ruined halls of Destral. Nuparu had been and gone within the hour, and his visit hadn’t exactly improved Takanuva’s morale. “In my expert opinion,” he had said, “this teleportation machine is well and truly busted.” He’d apologized for not being able to help, of course. Takanuva forgave him, and wished him luck on his mission to Zakaz. It wasn’t his fault, and Takanuva knew it. That was why he was so disappointed.

“I guess that plan’s a no-go,” he said to the broken console. “Won’t be getting any help from other universes today. Or possibly ever.”

Thump. Crash.

Slowly, Takanuva looked around for a flash of brown armor. “Pohatu?” he called, to no response. The Toa Nuva of Stone had gone back to the rocky surface, hoping to find something that could be used against Makuta in the ruins left by the war. So that means… someone else is down here.

Takanuva formed an orb of light in his palm, illuminating the shattered ruins of the fortress, and ventured out of the console room. The corridor outside was just as empty as before: nothing but scraps of Rahkshi armor, smears of kraata grease, and chunks of rubble from the walls and ceiling. If he hadn’t imagined it, the sound had come from somewhere down the hall, to the right… and it sounded distant, as if it had floated up from far below.

Orb in one hand, lance in the other, Takanuva moved down the hall. I need a new weapon, he thought, not for the first time. The lance is strong, but it’s terribly hard to wield in close quarters. I need something smaller and easier to use. I can save the lance for mounted combat or something. He smiled. Imagine riding Pewku into battle! We’d put Onepu’s Ussalry to shame.

He put the thoughts out of his mind, reminding himself of the task at hand. At the end of the hall, his light revealed something interesting: the outline of a door, hidden in the wall. He pushed; it wasn’t locked. As the door slid open, he moved inside and saw what remained of the locking mechanism. Another casualty of the Order’s siege, he muttered. Thanks, Order. You left the place in tip-top condition. Especially that teleportation console.

Hiding behind the secret door was a long, winding staircase, descending a hundred feet or more. No torches or sconces lit the walls, but his own power showed the way. He continued down, checking the walls for traps at every turn, but finding nothing. Probably they had all been destroyed in the attack, but he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling at the back of his mind: Something wants me to come down here.

The staircase ended in a vast, metal door. Evidently, it was the only thing that had survived the assault intact. Pohatu could surely have helped, but Takanuva had come too far not to indulge his curiosity. He raised his power lance and pointed it at the door, and then the staircase ignited with light.

When the light cleared, Takanuva stepped through the sizzling hole in the door and into a massive, underground vault. The room was at least a hundred feet long, with walls forty feet on all sides. The size of the room wasn’t what staggered him, though; its contents were far more frightening.

Stasis tubes. The vault was filled with them. They lined the walls, covering them floor to ceiling. All were shattered to pieces, broken by the earthquake that had crushed the fortress. Their contents had spilled out below: Toa, lying bent and broken on the ground, the remnants of their masks wreathed around their heads.

“No,” Takanuva gasped. He stepped forwards, heading for the broken bodies, even though he knew he shouldn’t. “No, no, no, no, no!”

He knelt down by one Toa, lying face-down on the ground in white and grey armor. Its limbs were bent at odd angles, and he moved them back in place. Then, gingerly, hands shaking, he turned over the body.

His own maskless face stared back at him.

Takanuva stepped back and looked around. His own dead body lay before him. And behind him. More of them over there, to the left. In a corner, several were piled together. All him. And all very, very dead.

He heard screaming. A sharp, keening wail, building in the back of his mind and rising until it drowned his thoughts. He took a feeble step back, and stumbled over his own cold, dead arm. He shrieked, and turned to run - just before something slammed into him, knocking him to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back.

“Hey, brothers,” said a familiar voice behind him, “looks like we missed one!”

Takanuva craned his neck up, and saw black-armored figures standing over him. Vaguely, he could make out the angular, pointed shapes of their masks. He stifled a cry of horror as he realized what had happened to them.

“We didn’t miss any of them,” said one of the dark figures, and knelt down to inspect Takanuva’s mask and armor. “This one’s new. Pure of heart, dressed in shining armor… Absolutely disgusting. He’s giving us a bad name.”

“Look at that hole he made in the door,” said another. “We couldn’t do that, even with all three of us trying together.” He picked up Takanuva’s power lance and weighed it in his hands. “This weapon must be something special.” He swung the weapon around, muttering whooshing noises as he went.

“Put that down. You’ll take off my head,” said the one holding him down.

“And would that really be such a bad thing?”

“Shut up.” Takanuva heard his captor draw out a sharp piece of glass. “I have to thank you, you know. We’ve been trapped down here for days, killing the weaker ones to pass the time. We thought we’d die down here, but you just blasted us a ready-made exit.” He chuckled. “Of course, now that you’ve opened the way, you’re no longer of any use to us. Just an embarrassment, really.”

Takanuva saw the jagged piece of glass hovering near his neck. “Sure, it’d be easier to kill you with that giant lance,” said his captor, “but this is more personal. After all, we’re not just going to kill you. Oh, no. Once we get out of this dump, we’re going to become you.”

He pulled Takanuva’s head up, angling him to face the beings who had captured him. “Meet the new you… Takanuva.”

Takanuva stared up at himself. Three of him, their armor as black as night. On their faces, his mask looked different… sharper, somehow. Harsher. Ready and willing to kill.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “There’s a hole in your heart, and you think violence will fill it… but it won’t. Killing will only-”

“Shut up!” His counterpart delivered a brutal punch to the face, knocking his mask askew. “Did I say you could talk to me?”

The two other Takanuvas stepped forwards, curling their fingers into fists. “This is going to be fun,” said one. “Won’t it be nice to have this loose end all tied up?” said the other.

Takanuva tried to struggle, but the screaming was still in his mind, tearing his head apart. Even closing his eyes, he could still see flashes of memory: the shadow leech, the Makuta, the Olmak. And he could feel the flashes of white hot rage… and the cold, unrelenting urge to kill. They’re going to kill me, he realized. And I can’t do anything to stop it.

“Hey, brakas!”

All four Takanuvas turned to see a brown-armored figure stepping into the room, holding his Midak Skyblaster at the ready. “I don’t know who you are, or what’s going on,” said Pohatu, “but whatever this is ends now.”

“Pohatu Nuva,” snarled a Takanuva. “We finally meet again. I’ve been looking forward to killing you for a long, long time.”

A torrent of shadow blasted from the power lance, and obliterated the wall behind Pohatu. But Pohatu wasn’t there anymore. A blur of brown zipped through the room - then that Takanuva dropped like a rock, and the power lance was in Pohatu’s hands. “I hear this weapon amplifies elemental power,” he said. “Wanna find out what it does with stone?”

The other Takanuva roared, and plunged the room into shadow. Somewhere in the darkness, Takanuva heard the sound of blows connecting. “You’ve got a mean left hook,” came Pohatu’s voice. “My turn.”

Another blow. The darkness vanished, and Takanuva watched his other self fly half the length of the vault, before slamming into the wall and dropping to the ground. The first Takanuva rose to his feet, but Pohatu - wearing his Pakari Nuva - swung the lance and sent him sprawling. “Takanuva!” he called. “The real one, I mean! Fight back! You’re stronger than them!”

“He’s lying,” hissed the dark Takanuva in his ear. “You’re weak. You aren’t even willing to kill us. What kind of a warrior are you?”

Takanuva watched Pohatu pummel his alternate selves. He fought with all the raw power of a Toa Nuva, but kept himself in check, and never aimed to kill. Watching him fight brought back the memories of everything he believed in… everything he stood for.

Takanuva’s mask shimmered, and then released a burst of light. His double cried out in pain, and his grip slackened. “You’re right,” he said. “I won’t kill you. I’m going to do worse.” He looked into his alternate self’s eyes not with fury, but with mercy and compassion. “I’m going to help you.”

The dark Takanuva laughed ruefully. “There’s no going back for me. You really don’t understand anything, do you?”

Takanuva shook his head. “Takanuva, listen to me. I might be the only being who can understand.” He reached out a hand. “Your light can still be returned.”

Bathed in the light of the Avohkii, the dark Takanuva’s expression began to soften. He balled a fist, but never swung it. “How?”

Then a bolt of shadow hit the dark Takanuva from behind, blasting him into the ground. Across the room, another double was sneering at them, shadow still curling from his fingertips. “Time to go, brothers,” he called, even as his body began to dematerialize. “Makuta has greater plans for us!”

“No!” Takanuva cried. He lunged for the downed Takanuva, but it was too late - as he watched, his three doubles vanished under Makuta’s teleportation power.

Pohatu approached gingerly. “Back on the island, we fought dark versions of ourselves. Of course, that was just an illusion, just like this one.” He looked to Takanuva urgently. “Please tell me it’s an illusion.”

Takanuva shook his head. “They’re all real, and all me. Dozens of me, all drained of light,” he explained. “Alternate universes… I thought they could be used for good. I never imagined they could be used for such evil.”

“Who in their right mind would have?” said Pohatu. He looked around the room and shuddered.

“There are more empty cells than bodies,” said Takanuva, counting. “There’s more of them out there, serving the darkness because they think it’ll fill their hollow spirits. I have to save them. Lend me your mask power - we need to go, fast!”

“And what about the Matoran?” Pohatu said firmly. “They belong to our world, and they’re in danger, right now.”

“So are they,” Takanuva retorted. “Every second that Makuta has his claws in them, they’re closer to–”

“Dying?” said Pohatu. “Like the Ta-Koro squadron?”

“We don’t know that,” Takanuva stammered.

“No, but we shouldn’t lie to ourselves,” said Pohatu. “Your copies can take care of themselves - they’re under Makuta’s protection. But he’s killing and torturing Matoran every single day, and saving them has to be our top priority.”

“You’re… right,” Takanuva said. “We can worry about saving ourselves later.”

Pohatu nodded, but Takanuva could see the hurt in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I hate having to think like this,” said Pohatu. “But I guess that’s the world we live in.”

Takanuva attempted a smile. “For now, Pohatu.” He opened the door, and beckoned to go. “Let’s see if we can’t change that.”