Chapter Twelve

Running quadrupedally through Le-Metru, Matau arrived at the vehicle factory indicated on the Makoki Stone map. He stood in a large room, with gears and belts visible on one wall. The floor of the room ended halfway across the space, with only long rectangular extensions of floor space stretching over the opening. The extensions ended in rounded curves. This place was used for assembling different kinds of mechatronic vehicles, with the scrap heap below. Using some nearby cable, Matau lowered himself halfway down the opening. Wedged in a wall crack along the shaft was the Makoki Stone.

Matau clambered back up on to one of the pit’s extensions of the floor, looking at the stone for a moment. With the rush of air behind him, he knew he wasn’t alone anymore. Turning over his shoulder, he saw a Vohtarak and Suukorak coming after him, and he doubted they were all. He immediately ran and jumped, moving speedily through the vehicle assembly line process. Using cross beams and pieces of equipment along the way, the Toa Hordika of Air rushed through, with the Visorak behind him. Occasionally, Matau had to stab his fang blades and using them to swing. His pursuers used their own tools—sticky feet to walk on walls or shooting webbing to stay close.

Finally, Matau made it to another Matoran operation station. He propelled himself over to the ledge, opened the door, and flipped through. On the other side, he pushed another button to lock it. But with no power, the button didn’t work. “Hard-fine,” he spat. He quickly spun with his fang blades to collapse to decorative posts on the side of it in front of the doorway, creating a barricade.

The group of Visorak that had been following him, numbering upwards of seven, began ramming the door and using different spinner powers on it to try and bring it down. Vohtarak charged and launched spinners, Keelerak tried to cut it with their sharp legs, and Roporak tried to use their own power deprivation spinners.

Amidst the spiders’ clatter, Matau saw his escape after scanning left and right. Overhead, a railed track system was designed to carry carts with cargo or parts for finishing vehicles. And away from him, at the top of the slope to one side, the carts sat idly. They were certainly big enough for a Toa Metru, and two arms on the front and back reached up to the beam’s rails for support.

Matau launched an air spinner toward the first one in line, the gust and energy impact causing the cart to roll forward, slowly at first, then gradually faster as it hit the downward slope. Matau jumped and caught on to the edge of the cart as it passed by him, just as the Visorak succeeded in breaking open the door and making it past Matau’s barricade. As they snapped their jaws angrily, Matau climbed into the cart, riding it to safety. They would have to pursue, they knew, in order to survive—Roodaka would have no tolerance for failure.

Riding at a high speed through the vehicle factory, Matau gripped the Makoki Stone tightly. “Yes! That was the final-last Makoki Stone!” he told himself. “Time to meet the others at the temple!”

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Safely reunited outside the Great Temple, the Toa Hordika and Rahaga gathered together. The Rahaga led the Toa to a particular room in one of the entry buildings leading to the Great Temple. “Now that you have found the Makoki Stones, it is time to utilize them and attain our goal,” Norik stated.

“Nokama, Matau, and Nuju, combine your three stones into one hemisphere. Vakama, Onewa, and Whenua, you three do the same,” Bomonga instructed. “Then place them in the two niches on opposite sides of the room.

The Toa Hordika did as they were told, finding to their surprise that each trio of pieces made a perfectly smooth hemisphere. Onewa, his keen, stone-familiar eyes noticed for the first time that there was some kind of ancient writing on the sides of the stone. But, if it was important, there would be time to figure it out later. The two halves of the Toa team slid the pieces into the wall’s openings. Doing so opened a new doorway in the chamber, which was secret and camouflaged before. The Rahaga walked quietly through the doorway, with six confused Toa Hordika behind them.

It wasn’t long before their underground wandering brought them to levels of the Archives. Norik and Bomonga led at the head of the group, while the Toa walked behind them. The other four Rahaga walked behind the Toa. Around them, the lightstones of the Archives still shown, impressively. They were designed to be so ingrained to the surrounding earth that no Rahi escape or activity could dislodge them. That was apparently the case.

The Rahaga stopped at a certain door. “Now put the two hemispheres together,” Kualus instructed. “And place the whole key into the lock to open the door.”

With a passing glance between each other, the Toa once again complied. Combing their Makoki pieces into one whole sphere, it fit perfectly into a system designed for it. It spat back out the Makoki and each Toa reclaimed their piece before the system disengaged, allowing the door to open.

The twelve beings walked inside to find a view that did not seem to belong with the rest of the Archives. A single bright, purple lightstone illuminated the room at the farthest position away from the door in the ceiling. The floor was manufactured and smooth, not just built-up earth. There was a table not far from the far wall, with six slots in it. But on that back wall was the most noticeable feature: a texturized three-dimensional pop-out carving of the Kanohi Avohkii, as tall as the entire chamber.

“This is where we had to bring it,” Pouks said, starting to answer some of the Toa’s questions. “Using a tool known as the Makoki Stone, we hid it in a place where no one could ever find it but us.”

“That was actually the problem,” Iruini said. “It’s here for someone. And we need them to have it when it is ready.”

“How are we supposed to know who this mask is for?” Nokama asked.

“The time will come all its own,” Norik said, “but we need to leave the mask in the hands of new Toa. You can keep it safe for us, and transport it along with the Matoran to the new island.”

“Just as the Matoran are the future, this mask is part of that future,” Gaaki implored. She gestured to the large carving of the Avohkii. “We are sorry that this had to come before rescuing the Matoran.”

Iruini pointed to the table. “Now, place your Makoki Stones separately into the correct slots,” he instructed. “Unlock the resting place of the Mask of Light!”

One final time, the Toa prepared their stones. They gathered around the circular table, exchanging quick glances. Then, Vakama, Nokama, Whenua, Onewa, Nuju, and Matau placed their Makoki Stones down. Matau looked back and forth before hearing a rumble come from the carving behind them. The eye holes and cheek pores lit up with a golden light and then the carving split down the middle. Each half moved outward and a platform extended from the wall. On it rested the most brilliantly shining Kanohi Mask of Power any of them had ever seen.

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In fact, the Avohkii’s dormant energies were so great, the light flooded out of the dark room, down the corridors of the Archives, and for many miles underground. Reflecting off of any solid surface, the golden rays even reached up to the blackened surface of Metru Nui. Through grates in the streets and water runoff locations, gentle light began to glisten.

Visorak patrolling the streets near the area stopped, confused. Light? There wasn’t supposed to be any light here, not after Makuta’s plan had been enacted. And with the recent pursuits with the Toa for the Makoki Stones, the two lined up: the Kanohi Avohkii had been revealed. That was the bad news.

The good news was that it was now exposed—exposed, and vulnerable.

Hungry to get revenge for their encounters over the stones and eager to redeem themselves in the eyes of Roodaka, scores of Visorak began flooding the Archives, following the light to its source.

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“Gaaki, what do the stones mean?” Nokama wondered.

Gaaki gestured toward the two halves of the table, and the Toa that stood by them. “Keep these Makoki Stones safe as well, Toa. They, too, have more significance than you could now know. The two hemispheres used at the Great Temple show that elements of wind, water, and air shall be united into wisdom, and that the elements of fire, stone, and earth shall similarly be combined into the warrior of valor.”

“At the doorway,” Bomonga continued for his sister, “all of you had to use your collected Makoki Stones. But at this opening, you used them individually.”

“You are six heroes…with one destiny,” Kualus said, causing Vakama to scowl.

“And so shall it be,” Norik stepped in. “There is a prophecy that follows the Legend of Eternal Shadow. Six heroes will one day rise to conquer this new threat—they will come to you, fighting the shadows. They, too, will be six but one. It is said they will remember little but fight nobly to awaken the Great Spirit, Mata Nui, from his slumber.”

Whenua nodded. “The Toa Mata.”

Iruini stepped into the midst of the Toa, making eye contact around the group. “And one day…” he turned back to the glowing Mask of Light. “…a Seventh Toa, hidden from all knowledge and sight, will rise to claim this mask.”

A moment of reverent silence followed. Finally, Whenua broke it with gratitude. “Thank you all, Rahaga.” He took a step toward the Kanohi Avohkii. “We’d better find a good way to hide this until we can get out of the city, though. We’d hate to attract any more attention than we want.”

Pouks suddenly became frantic. “Yes! And do it now! We should have realized that light will bring the enemy to us!”

Even as the Rahaga of Stone said this, scores of Visorak poured through the doorway. The first ones to enter crawled up the walls and onto the ceiling, and several began spinning webs that let them descend on the assembled group. The Toa backed into a defensive circle, with the Rahaga inside their protective formation.

For a second, no one moved. Then the battle began with a fire Visorak jumping at Onewa. The Toa of Stone jumped backwards himself, slamming the Vohtarak into the ground with his claw clubs as he launched a Rhotuka. The spinner flew to the doorway, causing a wall of stone to appear and at least halt the influx of Visorak. The rest of the Toa followed, Nokama using her fin barbs, Matau kneeing a Visorak in the teeth, Whenua using his thumpers, and the others using their own tools to keep the Visorak from the Rahaga.

A warning shout from Iruini caused Onewa to look back at the main goal, the Mask of Light. A Keelerak was dangerously close to removing it, and if that happened, their chances of recovering it became next to zero.

“Onewa!” Pouks shouted. “If you would…?”

The Toa of Stone let loose another energized wheel, spinning through the air. The Rhotuka spinner struck the Kanohi Avohkii, encasing it in a tall pillar of stone that reached down to the floor. Shocked at the elemental action in front of it, the Keelerak scampered away. Not only had its threatening claws been kept off the mask, but the stone encasing had also been tight enough to conceal its light, making it possible to carry around the artifact without a giant sign that read, ‘Please kill me.’

Nuju used an ice spinner to freeze an oncoming wave of Visorak, but Vakama saw that no victory would be won here. “We need to get out of here!” the Toa Hordika of Fire shouted. He dashed over and jumped at the Mask of Light’s stone prison, shattering off the top portion that held the Great Kanohi. He held it tight under one arm.

“Then let’s go!” Whenua shouted. He charged a Rhotuka and let it fly, hitting one of the sides of the room. When it struck, it visibly released its energies, beginning a frightening earthquake. The tremors were so concentrated by the Toa’s spinner that portions of the ceiling collapsed away. The shaking and destruction of the ground made most Visorak flee through those openings, eager to get out of the collapsing room that would otherwise be their tomb. The Toa, too, held tight to their respective Rahaga mentors as they jumped through the roof into the room above. In the ensuing chaos and destruction, they managed to escape the swarms and exit the Archives.

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“I do not like it, Roodaka!” a voice bellowed in the Coliseum. The voice’s owner stepped forward to a display of Toa Metru Vakama’s Kanohi Huna. The being smashed it to pieces. “Not at all!”

Roodaka came over to the throne room and bowed her head in respect. “What troubles you, my king?”

The armored being known as Sidorak spun to face her. “Toa. Rahaga. I should have crushed them all when I had the chance, instead of allowing you your…experiments. Now, they are a plague upon us!”

Roodaka kept her face low so Sidorak could not see her eyes narrow at his comment. “My ‘experiments’ in the effects of Visorak venom serve the shadows, as you well know…and plagues can be eliminated.”

“And what have you learned with these that you have not already learned from the many Toa that preceded them?” Sidorak spat, his temper growing shorter. “The Toa Hagah, Nidhiki or any of the other of those loathsome monsters that wander the universe and the halls of the Shadowed One?”

Roodaka remained calm, her lip curving upward as she replied. “I have learned much, dear king. And the information I collect is of great value to our superiors, unless you have forgotten…”

“And what will our superior think of your ‘experiment’ when he has learned that the very Toa that prevented his takeover are even now actively plotting to reclaim the Matoran and drive his hordes back out of the city? That they have not only reclaimed Dume’s sphere, Makoki fragments, and the missing Avohkii? All while evading our every attempt to stop them or determine where they’re stashing these items…What will he think of your ‘experiment’ then?”

The Viceroy waited patiently for her king to finish speaking, and smiled. “He is of a scientist race. I’m sure he will understand.”

Sidorak sharply inhaled, before releasing his breath. Deciding not to reprimand his queen, he began to turn away. “See that he will. And when the Hordika and Visorak clash next, I will personally oversee the battle.” At this, he turned back to face Roodaka, his glare smoldering with rage. “I do not want the legacy of the Visorak in Metru Nui marred by failure… and I do not want any distractions as we pledge ourselves to each other at last.”

With that, the king of the Visorak stormed out of the throne room, leaving Roodaka with only a lone Vohtarak to accompany her. She hummed, looking at the shattered model of the Kanohi Huna on the ground, before she turned her gaze to her loyal Visorak servant. “He is a buffoon,” she said, “but even now he serves his purpose. He falls far short of the one who is above us. Who sees everything, even that which has not yet come to pass.”

She rose to her feet and strode forward, making her way to the window as she gazed out at the moonless night sky. “Vakama and his allies made two great errors. The first was thinking Makuta helpless. Though his body is frozen, though his power is stalemated, his mind is free to roam. His thoughts reached out to us and now Metru Nui is ours.”

Gripping the guardrail of the balcony, she smirked. “The second… They should have fled far from this place. They should have traveled to a star of which even Mata Nui never dreamed. Now there is no hope for them. In a matter of hours, days at most, the hordes will track them down.”

The Vohtarak chattered uncertainly. Roodaka raised up her right hand, and wisps of shadow energy danced across her fingertips. “Metru Nui’s last hope will be dashed to pieces,” she mused.