Chapter 1

“There!” Tahu crowed triumphantly as the de-masked Rahi scurried away down the drifts of lower Mount Ihu. “The Great Mask of Water Breathing is mine. And that means —”

“— all the masks have been found,” Kopaka finished for him.

“Good,” Gali said shortly, hardly smiling at Tahu’s obvious glee as he placed the Kanohi Kaukau over his face and the dull gray surface of the mask suddenly gleamed bright red.

Kopaka was strangely pleased to notice that Gali and Tahu didn’t seem to be getting along. He wondered what had happened between them, though he wasn't about to ask.

“Now we come to the next question,” Onua said. “What are we supposed to do now?”

Tahu shrugged. “We have all our powers now,” he pointed out. “So let’s go take out the rest of the Rahi. Now that we know how to disable them —”

“Seems like timefoolery to me,” Lewa interrupted. “The Matoran know the secret now, too. With that knowledge, they should be able to safekeep themselves against the Rahi for the nowtime. And I have a hunchthought that other tasks lay in store for us.”

Kopaka winced at the Air Toa’s comment. Didn’t anyone else recognize how absurd it was to rely on hunches and premonitions? At the same time, though, he couldn’t help flashing back to the vision he’d had on the Lava Lagoon.

Did it have some kind of meaning, or was he turning into a foolish dream-follower like Lewa himself?

“Perhaps our next duty has to do with the golden-colored Kanohi my Turaga mentioned,” Gali said. “Does anyone know anything more about them? And do you remember the dreams we have all dreamed before we woke up? Did any of you see something about the golden Kanohi? Not bronze, like brother Pohatu’s masks, but shining gold like the Sun?”

“Not I,” Onua said as the others shook their heads. “What exactly were you told?”

“Not much.” Gali frowned, looking puzzled and frustrated. “I — I suppose we will have to go back and ask. All I really know is that somehow, we are supposed to find such a golden mask.”

Finally Kopaka spoke up. “I think I know where we might find it,” he said quietly.

The others glanced at him in surprise. “Huh?” Tahu said. “What are you talking about?”

“I had a vision,” Kopaka said. “Right before you found me on the Lava Lagoon, brother Lewa.” He glanced at the Air Toa, who had stopped leaping around for once. “In it, I saw a temple — a huge temple at the center of the island. I think we're meant to go there.”

Tahu snorted. “And when exactly were you going to let us in on this secret?”

“He just did, Tahu,” Gali pointed out quietly. “And that’s fine. There was no need of knowing it until now.”

Kopaka gazed at her, touched that she’d come to his defense. It’s just because she’s annoyed with Tahu over something or other, he told himself.

Still, he couldn’t help giving her a brief, grateful smile.

✴        ✴        ✴

“It looks just as it did in my vision,” Kopaka murmured, sounding surprised. The Kini-Nui rested at the center of the valley they now stood in. Four sets of stairs ascended on each side of a squat cone, upon which sat a round platform with a dome-like suva at its very center. Four curved pillars reached up to the sky, curving inward.

The others were already exclaiming over the grand temple. “This is where we begin our final task,” declared Tahu. “If any of you question our choice, or doubt our chances if we work together, speak now!”

“I have doubted you in the past, Tahu,” replied Kopaka softly, “but no more. I think I speak for all of us when I say that our only hope is to work together. So I will stand with you against Makuta.”

“We have had our differences, Kopaka, as have many in this team, but now our unity will prevail against the Makuta,” affirmed Tahu. “You are all in assent?”

All of the Toa nodded their heads in agreement.

“Then it is decided!” proclaimed Tahu. “Together, the Makuta cannot resist us!”

“Wait, Tahu!” Lewa interjected. “What about our return? If the Rahi attack the Temple while we are below, how can we escape?”

“I do not know, Lewa,” replied Tahu, glancing down. “But as grim as this mission is, we may not live to worry about it. I haven’t considered anything beyond our meeting with the Makuta.”

It was as he was saying this that Takua stepped forward, followed by his six companions. “Wait!” interrupted Onua. “Someone else is here!” Onua said, turning and looking upon them. “But… what is this?”

“Easy, Onua!” Gali urged. “It is the Chronicler, and his Company! Little one, you are brave, to have come all this way,” she said, turning to them. “And I see you have gathered help from all the villages around! Tahu, it is as I hoped,” she looked at the Toa of Fire. “These Matoran can guard the Kini-Nui while we descend, and see that no Rahi attacks us from behind.”

“The Rahi are fearsome,” said Lewa. “May their hearts prove greater than their size would suggest!”

“Great power can be found in small packages…” responded Pohatu, “and aid can come from places least expected. And besides, we have few options.”

“So be it,” said Tahu. “Chronicler, remain here, and guard the Kini-Nui at all costs. This deed will be remembered as long as any remain to sing of it! Friends,” he said, turning to the other Toa, “we have much to do and little time. Let’s go!”

With that, the six Toa ascended the steps of the Temple, gathering in a circle at the top.

“Look,” Onua said, pointing to the life-size carvings of the six Toa cut into the face of the altar-like suva complete except that the carvings wore no masks at all. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I am, if you’re thinking our masks would fit perfectly over these carved faces,” Tahu said, ripping off his Kanohi Kaukau and holding it over the carved Tahu figure.

“Wait!” Kopaka said. “Let's not throw away our powers foolishly.”

Tahu frowned at him. “Who says we’re throwing them away?” he challenged him. “It was your vision that led us here. Now you say we’re being foolish?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Kopaka said.

Gali placed a hand on Kopaka’s arm. “It’s okay, brother,” she said. “I think Tahu is on the right track — this time.”

“Thank you, sister Gali.” Tahu smiled at her. “I appreciate the support.”

Gali smiled back, and Kopaka scowled in irritation. Whatever had been bothering those two earlier seemed to be over. Kopaka opened his mouth to argue further, but something stopped him.

Maybe this isn’t the wrong thing to do just because it seems impulsive, he thought. Then he frowned. What am I doing? Am I turning into Lewa or Gali, trusting passing whims and feelings?

Tahu pushed his mask onto the stone Tahu’s face. As the mask melted into the stone, he pulled off his Kanohi Miru, and then his other masks, placing each one onto the carving’s face.

Lewa and Pohatu followed Tahu’s lead. Even Gali stepped forward toward her sculpture, her Kanohi Akaku in hand.

Onua glanced over at Kopaka. “Normally I, like you, would be against this rush to move,” he commented. “But I’m getting the strangest feeling that this is what we are meant to do.”

Kopaka nodded. “I — I, too, am beginning to get that feeling.”

That was enough for Onua. He had already observed enough to know that the Ice Toa wasn’t one to make rash decisions — not without good reason, anyway.

The two of them walked over to their own likenesses. Onua pulled off his Kanohi Kakama. Taking a deep breath, he set it into place on the stone Toa’s face. The stone seemed to suck it in, swallowing it into itself. Onua fed it another mask, and another. Soon he was placing his last mask onto the carving. It melted into the carving like the others but remained visible, tinting the stone black. Without any mask at all, Onua’s face felt strange and vulnerable.

For a moment, nothing happened. Onua felt his heart sink. Had they just given away their Masks of Power for no good reason? Had this all been a trick of Makuta?

Then there was a peal of sound, like great bells blended with laughter. Onua gasped in amazement as a new mask suddenly appeared on the face of each stone carving — a Kanohi, glowing with light and power. For an instant it gleamed silver, but then it flashed and became golden.

Onua carefully lifted the golden Kanohi from the carving’s face and placed it on his own. He staggered back a step as waves of power blasted through him. Then he smiled. This new mask united all the powers of the other six — only it was even stronger!

“So this was what we were really seeking,” Gali said, sounding awed. “Now we truly have the power to take on the Makuta…”

“Very good,” Tahu nodded. “Now let’s each produce the Makoki stones, the keys said to unlock this Temple.”

Each held out a fragment of the Makoki stone they had collected on their journeys. The stone fragments levitated out over the center of the Temple and then joined together to form a ball. As they did, a mighty rumble emanated from somewhere deep within the earth. The Toa jumped back as a group, even as the ground began to shake and groan beneath their feet.

A chasm yawned open in front of them, right in the middle of the main temple area. The panels surrounding the suva had lowered and formed a winding staircase into the earth. It turned into a tunnel about two lengths wide.

Then everything stopped. The earth lay still again, as if nothing had happened.

The Toa stared at the hole in the ground. Then they stared at one another. There was a moment of silence.

Finally Onua spoke.

“Come on,” he said, retrieving his segment of the Makoki stone and stepping toward the tunnel. “I guess we’d better see where this goes.”