Tales from Turaga Ventax: Volume 2

Evil from the Depths

Written by Minirigby

For the first entry in this second volume of my records, I’ve decided to recount a story which my assistant Kopeke has been begging me to finally put to paper, as it were, for ages now. Before I begin the story of Ammeka, legendary Toa of Gravity, let me first provide the necessary background information to this tale of great sacrifice and powerful evil.

When the Great Cataclysm rocked our Great Spirit Mata Nui, more than one thousand years ago now, it had catastrophic effects all across our universe.

One of the most well known of these effects was when the land surrounding Mount Valmai, which would come to be known as Voya Nui, was propelled upward from the Southern Continent, breaking through the sky. And although Voya Nui’s ascent to the surface of Aqua Magna could certainly make for its own great story, our focus today remains down below, on the surface of the Southern Continent left behind in Voya Nui’s wake...

It had been almost a week since the ground beneath their feet shook so violently, when the land surrounding Mount Valmai shot up and broke through the sky allowing a stream of water to pour down, filling up the newly formed crater with a sizable lake, no doubt leaking down even further into Karda Nui. Ammeka’s thoughts still dwelled on an old comrade of hers, Aepio, who had been living on the mountainside as a Turaga for many years before the disaster, and had likely still been there when his home broke through the clouds.

Now was not the time for worrying however, Ammeka had been given a task recently which demanded her attention. A young Toa of Air named Carnox, once held prisoner by the Brotherhood of Makuta and experimented on against his will, had now gained abilities akin to those of a rare Toa of Shadow, and was in need of guidance and direction after being freed from his captors.

“Almost got you that time, master” the young Toa said, backing away from his teacher while moving from side to side in the training yard.

With her focus back on the present, Ammeka responded “good one Carnox, but remember not to go easy on me just because we’re training. I need to see just how far you can push your new power, if I’m going to help you learn to control it”. Ammeka used her powers of gravity to propel herself forward through the air, swords upward, towards her student.

“Now dodge this, using only your control over shadows” she said, as Carnox quickly threw a dark veil around himself, allowing Ammeka’s attack to fly right through him, as though his body were a shadow.

“I haven’t seen that move before. What was it?” Ammeka asked.

“I’m not sure” Carnox said, “When I thought about blocking your attack and braced myself, it just happened on it’s own.”

Before Ammeka could respond, she noticed a small figure rushing towards the two of them along the dirt path which extended into the sparsely wooded forest near their training ground.

“Wise Toa!” the small body said, shambling into view, “come quickly, there is trouble in the village!” Ammeka bent down to speak with the Ba-Matoran which she now recognized as one of the locals who had allowed the two Toa to stay near their village.

“What is it friend, is the ground rumbling again?” she asked.

“No, thank Mata Nui” the Matoran said, “but the village is under attack, strange creatures have emerged from Lake Valmai!”.

“Lake Valmai, is that what they’re calling it now?” Carnox said, listening in on the conversation.

“I understand” said Ammeka, “helping is the least we can do to repay your hospitality.” She shot a glance over to her student, “Carnox, you come too, but don’t get involved unless I say otherwise. Just watch me work.” Ammeka said, as the Ba-Matoran led the two Toa back to the site of the attack...

Ammeka and Carnox arrived at the Matoran village in time to see three disgusting creatures climbing up out of the water, bickering with each other about their next move.

“We need to find a vessel quickly” the black creature said to it’s companions, “before that Maxilos robot drags us back to the Pit”.

“Calm down” the red one replied, “did you see how far that drop was? No way the robot made it down in one piece! There’s no harm in having a little fun while we’re here. I wonder if I’ve been forgotten after all these years...” the red creature said, trailing off to a mumble as the one in black armor stopped paying attention.

“Klik-klik-klik” the silver creature said, trying to communicate with it’s two companions.

“How many times must I tell you to stop with that clicking Zazua? We can’t understand you!” The black creature shouted back in response.

“Makuae, forget him, I see Toa in the distance” the red creature said.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve killed a Toa. I think I’ll savor this, since you say we’ve got time, Dugar” the black-armored Makuae said menacingly.

Ammeka approached the trio as they made their way up onto the shore and introduced herself, “sorry to interrupt, but this village is under my protection. State your business and then kindly get lost, you’re scaring the locals”.

“The little Toa thinks it can intimidate us?” the red-armored Dugar said, laughing to his companions.

“I suppose we will have to introduce ourselves, allow me to go first...” The black being said. “I am Makuae the Sorcerer, scourge of Artidax, and this little village will make a fine first step in my return to power!”

“Enough of that,” Dugar said, “I am Dugar the Feared, famed slaver and pirate captain, greatest nightmare of all who travel the seas around the Northern Continent!”

Ammeka looked amused, having a vague recollection of their names, “strange I’ve never heard of either of you, for a pair so apparently well known” she said. “And what about the little guy behind you there, who’s he?” Ammeka asked, pointing toward the smaller winged silver creature who was still trying to make it’s way out of the water.

“Klik-klak-klik-klik” it responded, flapping it’s wings with unfamiliarity as it began to lift itself out of the water and into a hovering position.

“That’s Zazua, a mercenary who fought in the Matoran Civil War” Makuae said, “who it would appear has been robbed of his speech by our new forms”.

Just as Makuae was about to finish speaking, Carnox flew past with his bladed glider, slamming into Dugar, the biggest of the three, knocking him back into the water. “I’ve heard enough, these guys are trouble master, let’s take care of them!” he said.

“Carnox!” Ammeka shouted, “I told you to hang back and watch, you’re not ready for a real fight, you’ll only get hurt... or worse-” she said, pulling Carnox back through the air using her gravity powers.

“Well too late for that, I’m here now” her student said, cutting her off while preparing to make another dive at the creatures...

“You think two tiny Toa are enough to stop us? To stop ME?” Dugar shouted, as his voice boomed out from his newly enlarged body casting a shadow over most of the village below.

Ammeka propelled herself through the air using a combination of her control over gravity, and the small engines attached to the back of her waist, as she dodged the squid-like tentacles flailing out from Dugar’s back.

“Carnox, can you see anything from your side?” she shouted, hoping to find a weak point to bring the giant down.

“I’ve got my hands full with this guy, sorry master” Carnox shouted back, swooping around with his glider to dodge the long tendrils of shadow coming from Makuae.

Ammeka landed down on Dugar’s back and sliced through one of his tentacles with both of her blades, cutting it clean off. To her dismay, he didn’t react. The wound immediately began to regrow, both the severed and newly-formed tendrils writhing in pain as if they weren’t even part of him.

Ammeka had recalled, vaguely, hearing about a Dugar the Feared once before, but chose to lie to further antagonize the brute during their introduction. One thing she was certain of however, was that growing to this massive size and regaining severed limbs weren’t traits found naturally in the rest of the pirate’s species, meaning whatever made the trio look as they did now must have changed them in other ways beyond just appearance.

Who knew what kind of damage they could cause if she allowed them to escape the village, Ammeka thought. They would have to be stopped here, all three of them, no matter the cost, even if it meant using that move.

Just then as Ammeka was lost in thought, Dugar’s massive hand reached around to try and grab her from off his back. Before the monstrous claws could grab hold of her though, Ammeka flung herself out of the way and back into the open air surrounding the mass of mutant flesh and red armor. Realizing it was too dangerous to try and analyze Dugar up close any longer, Ammeka decided to use her optical scopes, which she had installed on her Great Calix as a Matoran, to examine the colossus from a distance.

As she began analyzing Dugar for any exterior weaknesses however, Ammeka’s attention was called away by a cry for help from Carnox. She quickly moved her head downwards toward the direction of her student’s voice, seeing him injured and unable to defend himself, cornered in an alley between two village huts by Makuae and Zazua both.

In an instant Ammeka shot herself downward, combining her own natural weight with accelerated gravity from her Toa powers, slicing toward the black and silver armored foes with her twin blades, cutting an arm clean off the black-armored Makuae. Ammeka lifted Carnox up off the ground and shot the both of them up into the air above the village skyline, as Carnox looked back to see the damage his master had inflicted on their foes. Not wanting to put her student’s life in danger any further, Ammeka elected to ignore the village, for the moment, as she flew back toward the training ground where they had been staying, where she hoped Carnox could be left to recover in safety...

“How bad is it?” Ammeka asked in a worried tone, trying to examine the wound on Carnox’s side under the shade of their training ground hut.

“I think I’ll be alright,” her student replied. “That black one got me in the torso with one of his tendrils, but it’s nothing I can’t recover from”.

Ammeka was relieved that Carnox would be alright, in time, but with her backup down for the moment she knew she would no longer have an opening to look for weaknesses. If she went back out there- no, when she went back out there, all three of those monsters would be on her at once. There would be no time to think or plan her next move, just react and hope not to get cut down.

Realizing what needed to be done, Ammeka set out from the hut overlooking their training ground and into the air once more, as she began charging up her elemental energy over the short flight back, in preparation for the worst.

Arriving back to the village, Ammeka could see from her vantage point in the air just how much damage had been sustained while she was away, even for that brief moment. Nearly half of the structures in the village had been leveled by the massive Dugar, while the other two chased down any remaining Matoran through what remained of the village streets. Luckily most had fled the village when the monsters first arrived, so casualties were low, but even one death on her watch meant Ammeka had failed in her duties as a Toa.

Distracted by her thoughts once again as she overlooked the village from the air, the shadow tendrils of Makuae the Sorcerer shot upward, nearly grabbing hold of her legs. Ammeka snapped back and dodged in time to avoid them. This quickly drew the attention of Dugar, who lunged his massive arms forward trying to grab her. Ammeka dropped herself down toward the village to avoid Dugar’s grasp, and began flying in between the remains of village buildings trying to avoid the two attempting to grab hold of her.

Just as expected, the monsters were relentless in their pursuit of her, Ammeka had little time to think or process her surroundings once she had caught their attention.

Perhaps it was because of that then, that she would soon fall into their trap so easily.

As Ammeka flew through the village streets dodging the movements of Makuae and Dugar, she neglected to notice the silver-armored Zazua, who lunged out towards her from the direction she now realized the other two had been herding her toward. As the creature clicked savagely Ammeka felt the large bladed limbs of Zazua plunge deep into her body, she knew this was the time, the only time, for the ability she had hoped to never need.

Resigning herself to what was about to happen, Ammeka charged up the last bit of elemental energy needed after stockpiling it on the flight back to the village, and began her most devastating move, the Gravity Nova Blast.

The air around the village became dense as it grew harder and harder to move through, as a small black orb began forming in the air above Ammeka, pulling it’s surroundings towards it. Feeling the orb’s pull on her body, Ammeka used her last bit of energy to plant her swords firmly in the stone of the village streets, tethering herself and the silver monster clinging onto her to the ground.

Without realizing what they were about to fall victim to, Makuae and Dugar began feeling gravity pull them towards the orb, they resisted only lightly at first, but the pull was too strong.

First Makuae the Sorcerer, scourge of Artidax and master of the undead, felt his body being sucked into the orb. Screaming and pleading for his life, Makuae went in legs first, silenced at last when his hideous mutated face finally joined the rest of him.

Seeing his comrade disappear, Dugar began to panic more, deciding to increase his size even further in hopes that his weight would keep him in place. Unfortunately for him, this orb was a small black-hole, the likes of which could only be created by the Nova Blast of a Toa of Gravity. The more mass he gave himself, the stronger the orb’s grip on him became. Dugar’s massive form was dragged into the orb, as huge pieces of his armor and body began warping and tearing off of him as though they were eager to join the orb’s pull.

Finally, as Dugar’s massive form had been entirely torn apart and engulfed by the orb, Ammeka made her final sacrifice. To destroy the last of the three monsters, who still clung to her body with his sharp bladed limbs, and cut off the elemental energy being supplied to keep the black hole active, Ammeka let go of her swords and detached them from the ropes on her waist, throwing herself and Zazua both into the orb.

As the brave Toa’s body disappeared finally, the orb had no elemental energy source to sustain it, and began shrinking before finally disappearing, ending it’s destruction before what little remained of the village outskirts were consumed as well...

Many years later, after the Battle of Bara Magna had concluded and we of the Matoran Universe had settled into our new lives here on Spherus Magna, Toa Carnox himself told me this story, of his master’s sacrifice, and asked that it be recorded here in my archive so that her actions never be forgotten. Something I also learned from the Toa was that, in the aftermath of the battle as the Matoran began returning to their devastated homes to rebuild what was destroyed, Carnox discovered a box of possessions in the training ground hut where he was still staying, which had belonged to his mentor Ammeka.

Within were many small trinkets and mementos of Ammeka’s past missions and the comrades she had left behind along the way, including the revered Toa Valmai. Most importantly though, Carnox found a small signal receiver that appeared to have been wrapped with the most care out of everything in the box, which he decided to keep with him long after he had moved on from the temporary home he shared with his teacher, and which would go on to shape his future destiny in ways he could have never imagined...