Chapter Twenty-Three: A Fork in the Road

Tahu stood on the sands of a far-flung island, flanked by Takanuva, with a fleet of Toa and Order agents at his heels. It was hard to believe that just weeks earlier, he’d been fighting for his life on Daxia. Now he was leading a battalion of every known Toa in the universe as they tracked Makuta’s Rahkshi further and further south. Where they were going, no one knew, but Makuta couldn’t be planning anything good for their destination.

As flying creatures, Rahkshi were notoriously difficult to track. Tahu had assigned every Toa capable of flight to search the skies, looking for sites where they might have landed. He was placing his bets, however, on this island. It was one of the volcanoes that he and Kopaka had quelled a few months ago, and the site of an old Brotherhood ruin. If the Rahkshi had passed through here, they were likely moving down the eastern island chain, and the Toa could save valuable time by narrowing down their search.

“I see them!” Takanuva called out, just as two blurs of motion came speeding towards them. On a dune up ahead, they stopped, revealing two figures: Kopaka Nuva and his new recruit, Chiara.

“Well? What did you see?” asked Tahu.

Chiara stepped down off the dune and handed Tahu a scrap of scorched armor. “They didn’t just pass through,” she said. “They left a rear guard. Of course, they didn’t last long against me and a Toa Nuva.”

Kopaka grunted. “She did all the real work.”

“Excellent!” said Tahu. “Then we know where to start looking. I’ll call back the western scouts immediately.”

“No,” said Kopaka. “That’s what Makuta wants.”

“What? That’s impossible,” said Tahu. “Trinuma did the numbers. That army is nearly all of Makuta’s forces - it’s too big to be some kind of distraction.”

“It’s also too big to require a rear guard,” said Kopaka. “They have us outnumbered; they don’t need to worry about an attack from behind. And there were only two dozen Rahkshi stationed in that ruin, barely enough to pose a threat to more than a few Toa.”

“You don’t mean…” said Tahu, putting the pieces together.

“It’s a false lead,” said Kopaka. “Makuta wants us to waste our time looking for Rahkshi in the eastern chain, but they’re not there. They came here to throw us off the trail, and have been moving down the western chain this whole time.”

“That’s just the kind of trick Makuta would pull,” said Takanuva. “Trust me - I’ve been in his head.”

Tahu frowned. All signs pointed to the eastern chain… but wasn’t that the hallmark of Makuta’s plans? You do what you think is right, and then find out you’ve been playing into his hands the whole time.

“All right,” he said, “I trust your judgment. Onua, relay these orders to the fleet: all ships in the eastern chain pull back, and travel to the western chain. We’ll reconvene off the shores of Artidax.” He turned to Kopaka. “Are you sure you eliminated all the Rahkshi on the island?”

“We cleared out the ruin. I can’t speak for the island.”

“Another order, then. Onua, keep one ship docked on this island, until Kopaka gives the send-off. Takanuva, you’ll stay here with him. I want you to sweep the island. Make sure no Rahkshi escape to warn the army we’re coming.”

He looked to the southwest and grimaced. “This will be Makuta’s last scheme.”

✴        ✴        ✴

How long is a fraction of an instant?

Long enough for Lewa Nuva to see the others in the chamber — Artakha, Helryx, Miserix, Tuyet, Axonn, Brutaka, Hafu and Kapura — starting to shimmer and fade… and long enough to realize he was not teleporting as they were. Teridax was leaving the Toa of Air behind, no doubt for some sinister reason.

Lewa wasn’t having it. Before that fraction of an instant was through, he had grabbed onto Brutaka. It was a risk — a big one — to try to latch onto a teleport in progress. But Lewa was determined that wherever the others went, he would go.

In the next split second, he found himself floating in the void of space alongside the others. Of them all, only Miserix wasn’t succumbing to suffocation, since antidermis didn’t need to breathe. But the cold of outer space would claim him eventually. Makuta Teridax had thrown some of the most powerful beings in his universe out like the trash, and it looked like they wouldn’t survive the experience.

Lewa summoned his elemental power, an effort in this environment, and created a thin bubble of air linked around the heads of all the castaways except Miserix. “Join hands!” yelled the Toa of Air, seeing the group members already beginning to drift away from each other.

Helryx turned to see the Mata Nui robot sailing away from them toward a planet in the distance. The world of the endless ocean was far beneath them. “Artakha, can you teleport us back inside?” she asked.

Artakha closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, shaking his head. “Teridax is blocking our return. I can try to get us to his evident destination, but I cannot guarantee any of us will survive the journey.”

“More likely we will all find ourselves materialized inside trees and rocks,” muttered Tuyet. “We’ll be just as dead.”

“This is no way for a warrior to die,” growled Axonn.

“Teridax must be stopped,” said Brutaka. “We must do whatever we can, regardless of the danger.”

Artakha nodded. But before he could use his great power, a hole appeared in space before him. An armored hand reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him, and the other along with him, into the portal.

The nine found themselves sprawled on a damp stone floor. Kapura was the first to realize that the stone was moving, not to mention breathing. He cried out and got to his feet, backing against a wall. The bricks in the wall reached out to embrace him, holding him fast.

An armored figure, his face set in a hideous grin, stepped into the light cast by the one window in the room. “Kind of rattles you until you get used to it, doesn’t it?”

Miserix’s eyes narrowed. “I know you. You were among my rescuers from Artidax. You were the one who never shut up. Where have you brought us?”

Helryx stood as best as she could on the moving floor, weapon at the ready. “Vezon,” she said. “Explain yourself.”

“Not even a thank you?” said the mad Skakdi. “See if I save you from the darkness of outer space again, even if I only did it because he told me to.”

“‘He’?” said Axonn. “Who?”

“Oh, didn’t I introduce you? How rude of me,” said Vezon. “Over there, in the shadows.”

The occupants of the chamber turned as one to look in the direction Vezon was pointing. They could barely make out a figure seated on the floor, chains affixed to arms and legs. The chains were writhing like serpents.

“Be careful,” Vezon added, in a loud whisper. “He’s quite insane, you know.”

“Matoran,” said a voice from inside the darkness, “amazing… and the rest of you… how proud I am. If I could, I would embrace you all.”

Helryx took two steps forward, saying, “Is this another of your tricks, Vezon? Who is this?”

Vezon put out a hand to stop her. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“You’re not me,” Helryx snapped, pushing him aside.

She had advanced as far as the edge of the shadow when her armor suddenly began to strangle her. The Toa of Water fell back, gasping for air.

“Would have been better if I were you,” said Vezon. “Less painful.”

Axonn slammed Vezon against a wall, pressing his arm against the lunatic’s throat. “Answers, Vezon. Now.”

“If you want answers,” choked Vezon, “you need to ask him. He’s the Great Being, after all, not me.”

A dry chuckle came from the darkness. “A Great Being, yes… that is what they called me… and my brothers and sisters. Angonce once said that name was the worst thing that ever happened to us, because we started to believe it was accurate. Perhaps he was right… perhaps that is why I am imprisoned here. But now you are here to free me.”

Lewa Nuva glanced out the window of the cell. He was stunned to see a forest that stretched as far as the eye could see, far larger than the jungle he had called home on the island of Mata Nui. “Where is here?” he asked.

“That’s right. You wouldn’t know,” said the Great Being. “Welcome, my friends, to Bota Magna.”