Chapter One

Turaga Dume surveyed the city from the top of the Tower of Toa. The city was still, covered in fog that hid the constant battle of Visorak against the Rahi. Far below, a Visorak hunting party was chasing some sea spiders and cable crawlers through the streets. After all his years struggling to contain the Rahi rampages in the city, Dume now finally understood why they had fled to the city. His heart wanted to intervene, but his head knew there was nothing he could do. And Dume’s head had always prevailed.

He looked up. The light of the twin suns was as dim as the twin moons at night, and one had almost completely faded. The Coliseum was visible, surrounded by Visorak defenses. Dume looked at it with a pang in his chest. As he surveyed the city from his position, he scowled, considering that from his private quarters, Roodaka and Sidorak were doing the same.

A loud clatter shattered his thoughts. Dume hurried from the balcony in the direction of the disturbance, moving quickly through the tower.

It wasn’t long before he found it. Vakama had his foot trapped in an Airship grate and was kicking violently at it trying to get it off.

“Vakama! Calm down!” The Turaga snapped.

The Hordika whirled to face the Turaga, his eyes wide with bestial rage. Dume didn’t know what Vakama would do, but the elder didn’t flinch.

They stared at each other. By degrees, Vakama forced his temper down. He had long known the face of the Turaga as a source of paternal, if stern, wisdom and guidance. Seeing Dume brought him back to a time long ago.

“It’s the others,” he growled, reaching down and pulling his leg free. “The Coliseum is within reach. We’ve never been closer to saving the Mator—the heart of Metru Nui! All they care about is themselves and looking like Toa again. Matau won’t shut up about how ugly he was—as if he wasn’t before!”

Vakama was working himself up again, so Dume put a hand on his shoulder, bringing him sheepishly back to reality.

Dume waited a moment before he continued.

“They wish to find Keetongu, don’t they?” he said. “He is the last thing you must seek out in this city… besides the Matoran themselves.”

“Yes. But the airships are ready now,” Vakama insisted. “There’s no time to waste. But Norik has started talking about Keetongu again. If I weren’t around to keep them on track, they’d run off on their wild Rahi chase.”

He began pacing anxiously. “We agreed when all this began that saving the Matoran took priority over reversing our transformation,” he added. “If they just stick to my plan, we’ll be safe and out of here within days.”

“Be careful, Vakama, that your haste to defeat your enemies does not cloud your judgment.”

The Toa growled dismissively. He had heard much the same from Onewa, in fact. Once the Tower of Toa had been liberated, Vakama had wasted no time laying out his “plan” for conquering the Coliseum… If you could call it a plan, anyway. While Whenua and Nuju left to tie up loose ends in their Metru, Vakama had lost his patience and ordered Matau and Nokama to attack the Visorak gate guarding the Coliseum.

It was Onewa who tried to make the most of Vakama’s rash plans. The Toa Hordika of Stone managed to talk Vakama into letting it be a simple reconnaissance mission, privately gambling that Nuju and Whenua would be back in time for a main assault.

Turaga Dume walked away from Vakama, to a makeshift suva. Resting on top of it were the Great Kanohi that Nokama had collected, together with the stone totem containing the Mask of Light and the Makoki Stones. With the Tower of Toa liberated, the Hordika and Rahaga had been quick to relocate their recovered treasures here with the Airship supplies. When they sent word to Dume, the Turaga rapidly sought them out, volunteering to man the defenses while the Hordika and Rahaga were out. He had hoped to use rebuild Vahki to help in this, but even if they hadn’t all been thoroughly destroyed by the Visorak, the Toa Hordika had quickly vetoed the idea.

With all their recovered items gathered here, it was a critical point to defend, but Turaga Dume was equal to the task. He picked up one of those treasures now, looking at the Avokhii’s stone totem.

“The Mask of Light,” muttered Turaga Dume, turning the stone over in his hands. “It is not every day I see a legend up close. Although, it sure seems that way as of late.” He looked up to Toa Vakama. “You were wise to encase it in stone. Now our enemies will have far worse luck recovering it.”

The Toa of Fire rubbed his head. “Thank you, Turaga,” he said, “but that was Onewa’s call.”

“And I am grateful to Onewa,” Dume said. “But do you not lead this team?”

Vakama looked away dejectedly. “If it is a team, it’s one that doesn’t think it needs a leader.”

Dume sighed. “They must come to trust your leadership.” He couldn’t help the hollowness in these last words. The trust of the Matoran in the Turaga’s leadership had led to the situation they were now in.

“If that were possible,” Vakama asserted, “they wouldn’t keep talking about chasing some foolish legend.”

“You know just as well as I that there is always truth in legends,” said the Turaga. “The hour of darkness, the Mask of Light. Even the Toa Mata.” He grimaced. “You are wise not to be reliant on legends. But do not be so quick to cast them aside. Let their lessons guide you.” The slightest of smiles spread across his face. “Who knows. Perhaps one day, you will be a legend of your own.”

“I will place my faith in my actions, not some stories,” Vakama said, a slight growl tinting his voice. “I’ve decided to take Onewa and Norik to track down Nuju and Whenua. Then our final attack will commence.”

Dume shook his head. “Whatever you do, Toa of Fire, be careful. Arrogance has been the downfall of too many Toa already.”

Vakama scoffed, and turned away. “When the time comes to attack the Coliseum, will you be joining us?”

“No,” Dume said, “I will wait here, keeping our treasures safe. And I will watch as the legend unfolds.”

✴        ✴        ✴

“Click-click… wheet… click… wheet-whoot,” chirped Kualus.

“What in Mata Nui’s name are you doing?” asked Nuju, his impatience growing by the moment. They were supposed to be moving quickly through Ko-Metru, but Kualus’ delay meant they were bound to get an earful from Vakama once they returned to the base.

Kualus pointed toward some broken chutes. “Talking to those Rahi up there. You might want to try it sometime.”

“I have nothing to learn from birds.”

Kualus smiled. “They are flying free up there,” he said, trotting after Nuju. “You are down here, mutated into a Toa Hordika and on the run from the Visorak horde. Maybe it is them who have nothing to learn from you, Nuju.”

✴        ✴        ✴

High above the Rahaga and Toa Hordika of Ice, two Visorak watched them pass, peering out from behind one of the chute support towers. The irritation of the travelers was palpable, and one of the spiders trembled eagerly. Turning to the other spider, it tapped one of the webs lining the chute twice.

It was a clear message, and one the other spider understood well. Their tone is angry, it was saying. Now is the time to strike.

The other spider shook its head. Too simple.

It crawled over the edge of the chute, screeching and clicking softly in the Visorak language. “Nothing in this city is worth hunting. Sidorak promised us good sport, remember?”

The other followed quickly after. “I remember. I remember what Roodaka did to the last one who complained, too.”

✴        ✴        ✴

“You sound like Ehrye,” Nuju grumbled, peering around a corner. All he could see were more ruins and a broken-down Vahki Transport. That won’t do us much good, he thought.

“Who?” Kualus asked.

Nuju pulled back behind cover. “A Matoran I used to know. He always insisted that scholars were not as wise as we claimed to be.”

“Nuju…”

Nuju froze.

“Help me… Nuju…”

The muted voice was coming from around the side of the building.

“That is Ehrye’s voice!” Nuju hurried into the open. “How could he be free?” He stopped at a small cave created by a fallen Knowledge Tower. Two slants of a broken crystal window joined together to make a small alcove, which quickly deepened into darkness.

Nuju pointed. “It came from in there. He must have escaped the Coliseum and been hiding in here all along.”

The Rahaga stomped ground. “Nuju, you aren’t thinking like a Toa… you are feeling, like a Hordika. The Visorak will use that against you.”

The Toa wheeled on Kualus. “I am sick of hearing about the Visorak!” he yelled in the Rahaga’s face. He turned back and marched into the cave. “Saving all of the Matoran begins with saving one, and to blazes with the Visorak!”

“But—”

“I see him moving in there,” Nuju squinted hard, looking for Ehrye’s white form against the darkness. “Ehrye? It’s Nuju, come out.”

Two shapes flew at Nuju, but neither was the Ko-Matoran he was expecting. They were two black Visorak, the kind called Oohnorak. They bit at the Toa’s leg, but he scurried back. “Nuju…” said the voice, coming from their mouths. “Help me… Nuju…”

“Oohnorak can imitate the voices of those you trust, stolen from your very thoughts,” Kualus snapped. “I tried to warn you!”

“Next time, try harder!” Nuju shot back. One of the Oohnorak jumped at him again, pinning him to the ground. He dodged his head left and right as its jaws snapped at him. “I endured your venom creature… and your webs…” the Toa grunted. “But one thing I will not endure—”

The Toa brought his feet up and managed to kick the Visorak off of him, into the other, stunning it.

“—is your breath!” Nuju finished. He looked at the Rahaga. “Get behind me!”

“What are you doing?” Kualus asked.

Nuju’s Rhotuka powers roared to life. “Buying us time!”

Spinners shot in every direction, as ice barriers formed between them and the spiders. The Oohnorak tried to circle it, but the ice spinners made quick work as the ice wall grew, encircling Nuju and Kualus and rising high above them. The spiders tried to mount the wall, but ice formed a ceiling, encasing the pair in a tall dome of Nuju’s making.

The Toa stepped back. “That ice dome will delay them, but we have to get out of here. And we can’t go forward, backward, or up…” On accident, he stepped backward onto a metal grate. Nuju looked at it, looked at it again, then looked at Kualus.

“So we go down,” the Rahaga finished for him.

✴        ✴        ✴

Nuju and Kualus landed with a thud below, finding themselves in the protodermis and water waste removal system. Gutter water dripped down all around them.

The Metru Nui sewers.

“Not the nicest of refuges, but it will do,” Nuju frowned. Some water splattered on his head.

Kualus shrugged, “I don’t mind. We Rahaga lived down here for years, and none of you ever knew.” He chuckled at the thought. “You really need to be more observant.”

More waste water fell on Nuju, and he brushed it away. “Why were you hiding here?”

“Norik said he was sure the Visorak would come to Metru Nui, eventually. This would be our last chance to stop Sidorak, Roodaka, and the hordes,” Kualus answered. “Our plan is to beat them here, then try to retake the other lands they have overrun.”

Another drop fell on Nuju’s shoulder…

Nuju froze. The drop burned at the touch.

Venom!

Kualus had seen it too. Horrified, their eyes met, then rose to the ceiling as a giant, twelve-foot-tall shadow fell over them… crawled toward them.

Kahgarak.

“I don’t suppose you have a Plan B, do you?” Nuju whispered.

“Defeat. Mutation. The end of all life in Metru Nui.”

“I was afraid it would be something like that.”