As Above So Below

Deep in the heart of the Bota Magna forest, in a city veiled to all outside observation and untouched by wandering travelers, a lone mind stirred. Dimly, it had sensed what was transpiring above. The chaos of the great battle had ended, and a tentative peace seemed to be settling. Now the mind pondered the meaning of what it had seen.

And it pondered those who now sought a place on a world they had never known.

Is there a place for you now that your world has burned out?

Much had changed. The planet had been restored to its original form. And yet, as Tahu had surmised, Spherus Magna would not be truly healed until atonement for the Core War had been made. The Toa and the denizens of Mata Nui’s universe had acted out a grand simulation—an experiment to teach the Great Beings the lessons necessary to make amends. But the free will these denizens had gained caused the experiment to spiral out of control. And now the Toa ironically undertook the task of stopping new evils spreading on the planet.

These machines were never built to make things right.

A pair of eyelids twitched for the first time in millennia. Their owner stirred and attempted to move. The tubes and wires lining his prone form jumped and shook. And as an unconscious being fought to surface out of the depths of his own mind, the pull of his self-induced slumber proved too strong. Straining against the power restraining him, the mind of the Great Being screamed.

The world outside is dying while we slowly drown… Not living… just surviving.

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Far to the north, Angonce’s thoughts turned once more to his brothers and sisters who had sealed themselves away eons ago.

Locked in your paradise, he thought bitterly. A sanctuary burns while you play god. As above—

✴        ✴        ✴

—so below, Heremus’s thoughts finished, resigned. So below…