Chapter 9

It was Hahli who moved first, surging forward with the swiftness of a Tarakava and bringing her weapon down on Norik, who barely had time to activate his Kanohi and evade the devastating blow. As the blades tore through the space he had been standing, the Toa of Fire considered how easily Protosteel could pierce his armor. A series of well-placed Slow Rhotuka might subdue the Toa of Water, but her rapid attacks immediately placed him on the defensive.

Next to move was Hewkii, flinging his electric chains in the direction of Kualus, who hurriedly conjured a slab of Ice to protect himself.

“Looks like the Rahaga are back for round two!” taunted the Toa of Stone, shattering the construct with an eager swing of his Aqua Warblade.

With the first blows dealt, the Toa abandoned all hope of a peaceful resolution and charged their weapons. Even so, the five Toa Hagah paused for a reluctant moment of indecision. Could they truly take up arms against the Toa they had come to rescue?

Not missing a beat, Bomonga decided the answer was yes and raised his Seismic Spear. He used his command over Earth to blanket four of the Toa Mahri in a fine wave of dirt, aiming to blind them. Shrugging the sediment off with his own elemental powers, Nuparu faded from view while Jaller stood his ground, Mask of Echolocation kicking into effect. As a torrent of air pushed Kualus back several paces, it suddenly dawned on Norik that the Toa of Ice was being targeted.

“Pouks, you take Nuparu!” he yelled, blasting Hahli with a burst of Fire. “Gaaki, throw them off Kualus!”

Grunting in acknowledgement, Pouks raised a line of Stone pillars from the floor of the fortress, one of which crumpled beneath the resistance of Nuparu’s hidden form. With a rough approximation of the Toa Mahri’s position, he flung himself forward. Their two shields collided in a furious contest of strength.

Opting for overwhelming force, Bomonga called upon his mask power and grew to the size of the courtyard.

“Stand down, Captain! I don’t want to have to bury your team today… but I will if I must!”

Slamming a fist into the ground, he created a vibration powerful enough to disrupt Jaller’s Arthron. The Toa of Fire leered from side to side, using one hand to wipe at the dirt obscuring his vision.

“More than any other Toa, I’d hoped you would understand,” he snarled, steadying his Power Sword. “Our duty is to the golden one! Yours was to the Makuta. For all the atrocities he has wrought on our people, you still wear his armor and call yourself Toa Hagah in his name! Who are you, Bomonga, to lecture us?”

As the Toa of Earth wrestled with Jaller’s rage, Kongu propelled himself towards Kualus. Although his hands ached for the Cordak Blasters he’d left in Metru Nui, it felt good to be using disks again. The modified Kanoka launcher Turaga Vakama had crafted for him was a natural fit in his hands. As he opened fire on the Toa of Ice, he took pleasure in the sound of metal denting the polished armor of his enemy.

“I suppose you’re afraid to shout-call on the Rahi after last time,” he jeered, recalling their previous battle as he dodged the bladed tip of Kualus’ weapon. “I wonder what creatures will answer if I heed-call them instead?”

A wry smile entered Kualus’ features. He swung his arm and caught the Toa Mahri’s ankle with the edge of his Rhotuka shield, tripping him. Before Kongu could steady himself, mounds of Ice had formed around his ankles, locking his feet in place.

“Keep babbling that Chutespeak and you’ll be lucky to get a reply.”

“This coming from the Toa who chirp-talks to birds?” chuckled Kongu. With one mighty heave, he tore a foot free and shattered the block of Ice against Kualus’ thigh, knocking the Toa Hagah back a pace.

Sensing the shifting advantage, Pouks focused on the air around him. As dust particles drifted, he raised his Avalanche Spear to parry a blow that instead landed on his chin. Nuparu was visible only through the precise strikes he made with his Protosteel Shield. Even so, Pouks was learning to predict the attack patterns with his Mask of Emulation. After a few painful hits had landed, he was slowly adapting to Nuparu’s technique.

Beside him, Gaaki crouched low and spread her feet to sidestep Hewkii’s electric chains, which lashed across the floor with the intensity of lightning.

“When I’m through with you, I’ll have another copper mask for my collection,” snarled the yellow Toa.

Firing off a Dodge Rhotuka, Gaaki managed to strike the Toa of Stone in his shoulder as he lunged closer.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, Hewkii,” she said, ducking a swing of her opponent’s warblade, “but you’re not yourself.”

“Not very sporting of you,” he snapped in response, the effects of the Rhotuka already beginning to take effect.

With his coordination disrupted, the laws of probability leveled the playing field, causing his attacks to either glance off the Toa of Water’s armor or arc wide. For as long as he could remember, Hewkii had prided himself on his accuracy. Unable to land a blow, he knotted his brow and considered the vanishing few strategies available to him.

An instant later, Gaaki found herself untethered from Spherus Magna’s gravitational pull and began floating into the air.

“Dodge that!”

As the swirling crimson mass touched down on the far side of the fortress, the Toa lost themselves in the frenzy and tore into each other. Hahli brawled with Norik, pushing the Toa of Fire further and further onto the defensive, intent on splitting her second Toa Hagah spear of the evening.

Twisting to the side, Norik offered his adversary a shoulder instead. Hahli obliged, twisting her blade and slicing at his thigh, finding the delicate components beneath his armor. The leader of the Toa Hagah clenched his jaw against the electric pain radiating from the blow.

“Tahu might have a soft spot for you Toa Mahri, but if you put so much as a dent in Iruini’s armor…” he snarled, narrowly missing Hahli’s throat with his Lava Spear.

“Let me guess,” finished the Toa of Water, delivering an upward swing of her blade that drew sparks. “You’ll rain fire?”

“Not fire,” said Norik, his features growing dark. “Magma…”

✴        ✴        ✴

Cold sweat overcame Iruini as emerald energy began to bleed from his armor. On the other side of the swirling hellscape stood the golden being, relishing in the wish he had just given voice to.

“Then so it shall be,” chuckled the golden warlord, the vapors coalescing around his clawed fingertips, nourishing him. “Your destiny… shall at last be your own.”

The Toa breathed in and felt his resolve sink away, replaced by something else. The part that was still Iruini raged beneath the surface. He closed his eyes, but somehow that only made the sensation worse. When he opened them again, he saw a different expression on the golden being’s face. His features were almost hurt, as if he couldn’t understand being refused.

“I don’t know if anyone’s told you this before… but you have a lousy sense of destiny,” he growled, wrestling for freedom against the mental hold he was still trapped in. “And too many teeth!”

The slight shape of a frown touched the golden warlord’s forehead.

“I have gifted you that which you desire most,” he said, raising a hand to focus his powers. “I have removed the tether that shackled you to your teammates. Whatever lonely path you were meant to walk before, know that I have given you the horizon.”

Iruini glared at the golden being. He was ancient and innocent, powerful and proud, his smile fierce and full. As he edged closer, he felt raw power thrumming in the air.

The Toa clung to his vanishing resolve. He nurtured a storm within his chest. He thought of the life he had lived, the countless causes he had championed against the Brotherhood, the Toa Hordika, Keetongu, Dume.

Kualus. Pouks. Bomonga. Gaaki.

Norik…

He held their names as though they were armor. Then, in a psychic flash, he felt the golden warlord’s influence shake and shatter, leaving only anger to hang in its place. He conjured currents of wind around him.

A crimson rage burned within him now, for the choice had been his all along and he had realized all too late.

“Get out of my head!” he yelled.

Balling his hands into fists, Iruini pulled breath from deep within his chest and roared, willing a wall of air that engulfed his captor, flinging him backwards through the wall of the chamber in a tangle of golden talons and armor.

The golden being faltered, flung from the room. He ascended back to his feet an instant later, intrigued by the dark desires of this emerald Toa. Such fresh passion, such rage, so unlike the stale guilt of the Toa Mahri. This was a subject worthy of his attention.

And yet… there was another.

He felt something ancient and unknowable hurtling towards him. A creature with a consciousness unlike any Skakdi or Toa. She came riding the horizon to meet him, razing his fortress in a wave of psychic resonance. In that moment, he knew her name was Annona and that she had come to feast on the dreams of his people.

It felt almost like the mind of a Great Being brushing against his. Part of him yearned for the bigger prize, another for the simplicity of conquering the Toa of Air already within his grasp. But one voice in his mind roared louder than all the others. That part of his mind that had once been called Zyglak raged against its shackles. It bristled at her presence.

If this creature truly was some forerunner of the Great Beings - those twisted despots of creation - then she would have him to answer to.

Marshaling his strength, the golden being fulfilled Iruini’s first wish and released the Toa Mahri from his hold. It saddened him, as though he were relinquishing the treasured playthings of his past, but he knew even then he would need all his might for this battle.

Besides, there would be other toys to play with.