Chapter 4

The two Toa Kaita were a worthy match for the powerful Manas, and this time, the battle raged more furiously than ever.

Wairuha fended off a frontal assault, but he was caught unaware by an attack from behind. A Manas struck him a mighty blow, and Wairuha fell to the floor.

Wairuha got back up on his feet. Another Manas leaped at Wairuha, but Akamai had arrived and swatted it away. The victory was minor however. The two Toa Kaita were too evenly matched.

“This, then, is how it ends, Wairuha,” said Akamai.

“For these monsters also, Akamai!” replied Wairuha. “We will not go down without a fight!”

Another Manas struck, and Wairuha was knocked backward into one of the small metallic tower-like columns lining the chamber, destroying it. Sparks flew, and then one of the Manas went temporarily limp.

“Wairuha, wait!” shouted Akamai. “These strange towers… maybe…”

Soon, the two Toa Kaita were carving up control towers left and right. The Manas appeared staggered and, if such a thing was possible, fearful. The unnatural strength afforded to them by Makuta’s devices was quickly stripped away.

But then the infected masks attached to them glowed brighter, and the Manas redoubled their efforts. Wairuha’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

✴        ✴        ✴

Akamai fended off one with a series of powerful blows. “What, you scurry away like a tiny Hoto bug?” he cried with a roar of laughter. “You are frightening to perhaps a lame Fusa, Rahi. But I fear you not.”

“Do not taunt them, Akamai,” Wairuha said. “Remember that they are unwilling servants of Makuta, no worse than the other Rahi we have conquered. Let us finish this quickly.”

The words had hardly left his mouth when one of the twin Manas leaped at him. Despite his immense strength, the strike sent Wairuha staggering backward a few steps as the enemy clamped its pincers onto him. Using all of his strength, Wairuha managed to rip the Manas free and fling him against the wall.

The Manas hit the stone with a solid crunch. But it's hard shell had protected it from any serious harm, and it recovered quickly and skittered back toward the battle.

Turning toward the Manas that was scurrying toward him, Wairuha sucked in a deep breath, feeling his powers — of ice, water, and wind — expand and merge within him. A moment later, a raging blizzard erupted in the cavern.

Akamai, too, was using his combined powers. A giant crater exploded in the cavern floor, spraying stone, earth, and lava in every direction. Another crater appeared, and another, until the Manas were trapped on an island of solid floor surrounded by a moat of boiling lava.

Wairuha focused his energy through the blizzard, controlling it. He concentrated with everything he had — logic, instinct, and impulse guiding him all at once. Soon he had compressed the might of the storm into a single, focused beam of pure cold energy.

He turned it toward the trapped Manas. As the beam passed over them, the creatures froze solid.

“Nice work, brother,” Akamai said. “But I fear it will take more than that to kill them.”

Wairuha was already moving toward the lava moat. “There is no need to kill them, brother,” he said. With one acrobatic leap, he crossed the moat and stood beside the frozen Manas. “I'll need your assistance to remove these masks.”

Akamai nodded and leaped over as well. Touching one finger to the mask of one of the Manas, he soon melted the ice surrounding it. Wairuha reached out and pulled it free, dropping it into the lava, where it sank out of sight.

The Toa Kaita turned to the other Manas, repeating the process. Soon both Manas were free of their controlling masks.

“There,” Wairuha said, leaping back across the moat. “That takes care of that.”

“Not quite.” Akamai bent and touched the ground at the edge of the lava moat. There was a rumble, as the edges moved toward each other, closing off the moat as if it had never existed.

Wairuha looked around. Except for the frozen forms of the Manas, the cave looked as empty and peaceful as when the Toa had arrived.

“We have survived!” declared Akamai.

“For now,” Wairuha replied. “We were lucky. Wisdom provides only when valor is in its service.”

The two Toa Kaita moved toward a large, engraved door. It opened at their approach and they walked through it.

“I feel… strange,” said Akamai. “Feels like – being torn apart!”

✴        ✴        ✴

Tahu opened his eyes. Is it really me? he wondered.

Yes. He was himself again. Becoming part of Toa Kaita Akamai had been electrifying, but it was nice to have his own mind and will to himself again.

Glancing around, he saw the other Toa standing nearby, all of them looking as dazed as he himself felt.

Lewa was the first to speak. “Well,” he said, stretching and bending. “That was a powerfeeling that you don’t get every day.”

Laughter bubbled from Gali like a spring. “Brothers,” she cried, stretching her arms wide. “We did it! We became a part of something larger — and did what we never could have done otherwise.”

“But how was it that the Toa Kaita were disunited?” Onua asked. “Our unity was strong, the strongest since we arrived at this island.”

“We were fine until we crossed the threshold and passed into this chamber,” Kopaka observed.

“What has happened?” asked Tahu.

Gali answered. “The spirit of Makuta… is the spirit of destruction. This is his inner realm. The Toa Kaita cannot exist here.”

“The Manas nearly destroyed the Toa Kaita,” fretted Pohatu. “And the Makuta is ten times greater than they. What hope do we have?”

“The Toa Kaita merely gave physical form to the force of our unity,” Gali said. “We still possess it, in our hearts.”

“But the Toa Kaita’s wisdom and valor were unmatched,” Lewa interjected.

“Where wisdom and valor fail,” replied Tahu, “all that remains is faith. And it can overcome all.”

He looked around. “Gali is right. We must go on.”

All of the Toa nodded in agreement.