Chapter 10

Bomonga kept working on Jaller, conjuring a series of tremors to disrupt his Arthron then obscuring his vision with a constant dusting of Earth. It was enough to keep the leader of the Toa Mahri off balance, but Jaller was accustomed to fighting in dark waters and was still formidable with his Power Sword. For every blow that failed to land, his enemy managed to strike metal.

“Takadox called,” jeered the Toa of Fire, blasting his enemy in a volley of fireballs. “Even he thinks you’re a coward!”

“Toa these days,” grimaced Bomonga. “Always with the oneliners…”

Nearby, a burst of air blew Kualus’ scarf up into his eyes, offering Kongu all the opportunity he needed to strike the startled Toa of Ice with a powerful elemental burst. Righting himself, he shot his adversary a glare normally reserved for Iruini’s antics.

“Try that again, see what happens!” he snapped, fabric billowing.

Caught in the gale force of a localized tornado, Kualus was thrown across the courtyard and pinned against the farthest wall. No longer fighting at close quarters, it slowly dawned on him that Kongu was intentionally building the necessary distance between them. As low-level Kanoka continued to bombard him, he soon discovered why.

Faring no better, Gaaki found herself suspended uncontrollably in the air above the battlefield, drifting higher and higher into the night sky. While Hewkii was unable to strike her, the effects of the Rhotuka would wear off eventually. For now she could only lash out with wild bursts of elemental energy.

“Bomonga, I could use a hand here!” she yelled, grasping wildly for the vanishing walls of the fortress.

“If I had a hand to spare, it’d be all yours, sister!” snapped her teammate, pinned behind a column of molten earth. “Can anybody cover me?”

A crimson haze now obscured much of their surroundings. In the distance, the Skakdi grunts could be seen rolling and writhing in agony, ensnared in psychic tendrils. Thriving on the chaos and keen to prove their worth to the golden being, the Toa Mahri started to shift their focus.

Sensing the change, Kualus flung himself to the side and dodged a spread of Kanoka, at last firing off one of his Stasis Rhotuka at Kongu. If the spinner landed, he could at least pin the Toa of Air in place, opening up the battlefield for a brief but crucial moment. Before the spinner found its target though, it was batted aside by Toa Nuparu, who shimmered back into view.

“I don’t wanna play with you guys anymore,” said Kualus, lifting his shield higher.

“Good. We didn’t wanna soft-play with you anyway.”

The two fights now spilled into one as Kongu and Nuparu set their sights on Kualus. They sought to separate the weakest player on the field.

Realizing this, Pouks stepped forward to cover his brother from Kongu’s attacks, making a sound not unlike a Kane-Ra snorting.

“You want him… you gotta go through me!” he roared, swinging his Avalanche Spear like a club.

“Don’t trouble-mind if we do!” grinned the emerald Toa.

As his teammate braced, Kongu conjured a powerful torrent of air. The charged windstream caught Nuparu’s webbed armor and propelled him forward. An instant later, his Protosteel Shield slammed into the Toa of Stone, backed by enough concussive momentum to stagger a Tahtorak.

“Dirty… rotten…” muttered Pouks as his leg buckled and he fell to one knee.

Another psychic shockwave rocked the foundations of the fortress and the ground lurched beneath them. Hahli turned instinctively in search of the source. Instead she spotted the distant silhouettes of three figures clad in strange armor, charging towards the heart of the golden being's sanctum, past the collapsing fortifications and droves of maddened Skakdi. They looked like no Matoran she'd ever seen, but she knew firsthand the danger that even one villager on a quest could possess.

You don’t have to be a Toa to be a thorn in my side, she thought.

When she turned back, she found Norik had shrunk away from the fight, no doubt licking his wounds. The first wise decision a Toa Hagah had made all day.

Ignoring the cowardly Toa of Fire, Hahli set her sights on the airborne Gaaki, who had reached an impasse with Hewkii.

“Try your new move?” asked the Toa of Stone.

“Of course,” said Hahli, flexing her Protosteel Talon. “It’s what the audience came for!”

Hewkii grinned and cupped his hands together as she charged towards him, pushing upwards and launching his teammate into the air. For her own part, Hahli somersaulted into Gaaki’s side and tackled the helpless Toa of Water.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” snapped Gaaki, squirming against her grip. “Voya Nui?”

“Ta-Koro.”

The two Toa of Water tussled in the sky before gravity caught up with them and they fell crashing into the brickwork in a clatter of wings and weapons. After a long moment, Hahli rose from the rubble and pressed her blade down on Gaaki’s shoulder until she felt it sink beneath the armor.

“Stick to translating old legends,” she snarled. “You’re out of your league.”

Shrunk down to the size of a pebble, Norik took a moment to reassess the strategy. He searched desperately across the battlefield and felt an open gash spanning the width of his thigh. Already he could sense the shifting advantage as the Toa Mahri dominated his teammates. Pouks was down to his knees, fending off Nuparu and Kongu with all his wavering might. Gaaki and Kualus were faring no better. Their strength lay in their unity, and their enemies knew it. They were being pushed apart and locked into separate battles. These were not the tactics of ordinary Toa.

Reaching the same conclusion, the leader of the Toa Mahri wrestled his way free from a knot of earthen columns and bathed Bomonga in a jet of molten flame, his sight now fully returned. Forced onto the defensive, the Toa of Earth was pinned down at regular size beneath his Rhotuka shield. Flames lapped at the edges of his armor, which was growing slick from the exposure.

“Nuparu, focus on Kualus!” barked Jaller, increasing the heat. “Hahli, help me take down Bomonga! Hewkii, find Norik! Matoro, cover--”

The Toa of Fire froze as the name escaped his mouth. For a moment… he had forgotten.

Exploiting the opening for everything it was worth, Norik reverted back to his full size and slammed the flat of his Rhotuka Shield into the Toa of Fire’s chest, sending him hurtling into a nearby wall. Before he could recover from the impact, Bomonga sent the leader of the Toa Mahri into a sprawling heap with fists the size of a Matoran hut. Steam simmered from his gilded armor.

Matoro…

The flow of the battle suddenly shifted at the mention of the fallen Toa’s name. Kongu felt his audio receptors prick before shame overwhelmed him. Hahli lost a moment hoping beyond all hope that her brother had somehow returned. When realization dawned on her, it was too late to predict the torrent of water that struck her from behind.

Something within Gaaki had finally snapped.

“So, you want to swim with the sharks?” she challenged. As she rolled to her feet, she clutched her injured arm.

Before Hahli could retort, the Toa Hagah raised her Tidal Spear with tempestuous fury and conjured columns of Water, encircling the entire battlefield like the bars of a cage. The other Toa looked up from their own squabbles to see the torrenting pillars rise. Suddenly the flames of the battle felt very small.

“You raise puddles against Toa Hahli!?” she laughed, drawing her own weapon back to impale. “And here I thought you were the wise one.”

“All that time paddling in the Pit and you still don’t understand the first thing about sharks,” countered Gaaki. “You tread in my depths now, Chronicler, and you will learn at last that Takea never swim alone!”

Within an instant, the walls of Water crackled and transformed into solid, reflective slabs of Ice. As Toa Kualus lowered his Sub-Zero Spear, it slowly dawned on Hahli what the Toa Hagah were planning. She’d heard enough of Turaga Whenua’s stories to know what came next.

“You’re in a field of mirrors,” chuckled the Toa of Ice, charging a spinner and launching it towards her, “and Rhotuka are wheels of energy…”

Hahli hit the deck, narrowly dodging the whirling projectile. The spinner sailed past her mask and rebounded off one of the frozen constructs. It ricocheted twice before striking Nuparu in the shoulder. The Toa of Earth staggered then froze in his tracks, the effects of the Stasis Rhotuka swiftly taking hold and locking his joints in place. Pouks was upon him in seconds, striking him so hard that he went limp and sagged to the ground, falling flat on his shield like a sack of plump Bula berries.

“Oh yeah?” snarled Kongu, hefting his disk launcher in both hands. “Well, two can cheat-play that game!”

In retaliation, he fired off the most powerful Kanoka in his arsenal. It struck the closest wall of Ice, which rebounded squarely back in Kualus’ direction. In the moment before the disk hit, the Toa recalled the wisdom Ackar had imparted during their arena match and adjusted his angle. Instead of blocking the disk, he allowed it to reflect harmlessly off his shield and clip Hewkii’s wrist.

“Kongu!” bellowed the Toa of Stone. “I’m gonna take that disk launcher and shove it right up–”

Before he could finish, Hewkii’s right arm reconstituted itself as a knotted mass of thorny tendrils. He cried out as his hand vanished, replaced by bleached and jagged vines in a nightmarish approximation of fingers. Clutching his arm in horror, he fell to his knees, the tendrils flexing and throbbing at the end of his wrist.

Kongu’s mouth hung open and he moved immediately to help his teammate. Perhaps if he applied another disk he could reverse the effects? Before he could even line up a shot though, he found his entire chest flash-frozen. Next came a burst of Fire that struck him like thunder, shattering the Ice and throwing him into the path of Kualus. He felt something hard and metal slam into the back of his Kanohi, then saw only darkness.

“I hate to admit it,” sighed the Toa of Ice, withdrawing his Rhotuka shield and hobbling over the unconscious Toa, “but I haven’t wanted to hit anyone that hard since Sidorak.”

With two of their teammates hitting the ground in short succession, Hewkii and Hahli staggered back to their feet, running low on energy but far from willing to back out.

“Let me guess: Surrender or Run?” mocked Hewkii, glaring at Kualus while he nursed his mutated arm. “Not that we expect anything different from Makuta’s muscle.”

“That choice is yours to make,” cautioned Norik, recalling a time he had stared down Makuta himself and enjoyed it more than this. “But you’ll make it far from the walls of this fortress.”

“Then it seems the choice is not ours at all,” bristled Hahli, her fins unfurling. “We serve the golden being’s cause and will not abandon our posts as you once did!”

A fist of Water rose from the ground, striking the Toa so hard that her head rocked to the side.

“You should choose your words more carefully, Chronicler,” snapped Gaaki. “Lest you drown on them!”

Still adjusting to his arm, Hewkii considered calling upon the power of his Kanohi Garai again. With but a thought, he could sever the gravitational pull on any Toa Hagah he caught sight of and send them hurtling off to a slow and agonizing death in the planet’s exosphere. Beside him, Hahli was cycling through options of her own. Surrounded by the oceans of Aqua Magna, she had the fury of a starved Ruki and the strength of a Razor Whale at her disposal. It would please her greatly to cut into these Toa and present their heads to the golden being.

As Norik raised his spear, he felt the resistance of Bomonga’s hand on his shoulder. The Toa of Earth held him back.

“You Toa Mahri have spent too long in the company of mercenaries and warlords,” he said. “They’ve soured your perspective. Filled your heads with lies and desires that aren’t your own. You should come with us, before the golden being notices you’re gone. Make the right choice!”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” sneered Hewkii. “But we know the real reason you’re here! Perhaps he’ll give you the vengeance you’ve always wanted to visit upon Roodaka, or the life of a Toa you traded to be Makuta’s lap-Rahi. The golden one’s talents would be wasted on you…”

“Our dreams have already been dreamt,” snorted Pouks. “Besides, this golden guy doesn’t have anything we’d want.”

A sinister shade overcame the yellow Toa’s features. In the chaos that surrounded them, he sensed something was amiss.

“I understand,” continued Bomonga softly, and they knew his words to be true. “The Toa Nuva may not have been there to guide you on Voya Nui or in the depths of the Pit, but you have learnt the teachings of the Great Spirit from the Turaga and carried them this far.”

“We’re not carrying the weight of the Turaga any longer!” yelled Hahli, slashing her blade through the air in frustration. “This is our home now, and this is our cause! No more lies! No more secrets! No more sacrifices!”

Bomonga nodded his head sympathetically, a knowing look in his deep green eyes.

“You wear a mask worn by many heroes before you.” As he spoke, he pointed to his own Mask of Growth, carved in the same shape as her Faxon. “As do I. We are both burdened with the legacy of heroes’ past, Toa Hahli. More than any Toa who have come before, you have seen the horrors born in the darkness. You rolled from one battle to the next, picking up the pieces of heroes who came before. You inherited a broken universe to save without even understanding your place within it. You had the weight of an island shackled to your ankles and were told to swim. How could you know peace when all you have ever known is struggle?”

Sympathy had never sat well with Hahli, and she didn’t care for it now. As her expression knotted and her muscles tightened, she felt a hand grasp her ankle. Regaining consciousness, Jaller was reaching for her. He looked… different. His eyes had regained the focus they had been missing of late.

“Hahli…” he wheezed, slowly rising from the ground. “I think… they’re right… I remember it all now. The golden being, the fortress, the visions… he’s been using us! Toying with our thoughts, making meals of our grief!”

The seething tempest that had broiled within the Toa of Water slowly began to cool. Deep down, she realized that Jaller was right. These were dark and dangerous waters to be swimming in.

“Fishing for your darkest impulses,” added Kualus, “and feeding on them. After the trials you Toa have weathered… I don’t imagine he was left wanting.”

Watching the resolve of his teammates vanish, Hewkii whirled around and found Nuparu easing back to his feet, held upright by Pouks.

“Come on, Hewkii,” said the brown Toa Hagah. “You of all Toa should recognize rotten kolhii comets when you see them!”

Nuparu gazed back at him remorsefully, his features softened with regret.

“Think of Matoro,” he winced, clutching his side. “Is this what he’d want from us?”

“Oh, don’t trouble-bother with that,” groaned Kongu, pulling himself upright. “Think of Macku…”

The Toa of Stone missed a beat entirely and the breath escaped him. When the sobering realization finally washed over, he had no strength for battle left in his muscles.

“Macku…”

He repeated the name and felt the final vestiges of control the golden being had over his heart dissipate.

Picking themselves off the ground, the five Toa Mahri returned to their feet. They looked to each other for answers but found only the crushing emptiness of regret. They didn’t dare meet the gaze of the Toa who had come to rescue them.

“Gaaki…” stammered Hahli, finally noticing the Toa of Water’s injuries. “I never – by Mata Nui, your shoulder!”

She rushed forward and pressed a healing hand on the Toa Hagah’s ruptured armor, channeling elemental energies to undo the wounds she’d inflicted.

As all thoughts of victory and conquest dulled to distance, Jaller found his eyes resting on the broken Cyclone Spear. The two halves lay on the cracked stonework, half-buried in debris from their battle.

“Iruini…” he murmured, his thoughts turning at last to the missing Toa of Air. “By the Great Spirit… what have we done?”

He gazed up at the keep of the golden entity, where he’d dragged Iruini and left him at the mercy of forces he couldn’t comprehend. What had the golden warlord done to him? How could he have so carelessly shepherded another Toa to his demise?

A righteous flame began to burn within his chest. Nurturing it, he clawed himself back from the edge of despair.

“We will repay this debt to you, Toa Hagah,” he vowed. “But right now, we have a brother in need of rescue! Let’s find him before this whole place comes crashing down over our heads.”

As the other Toa clammored together, Kongu turned to find Kualus standing beside him. It seemed the Toa of Ice had something he wished to say.

“You should’ve used your mask power,” he finally muttered. “Summoning a Rahi would have surely evened the odds, no matter how monstrous.”

“Who says I didn’t?” Kongu said sweetly. “After all, you showed up, didn’t you?”