Chapter 1

The mood was grim in the Odina recovery ward. Here, deep in the island fortress of the Dark Hunters, the halls usually rang with cracks and screams as the Shadowed One’s agents were pushed to recover… or die trying. But the Shadowed One’s moving fortress had so rearranged itself that the room had sealed itself off completely. The master of the Dark Hunters needed silence.

At his side stood one of his most reliable agents—Lariska, who had been recalled from deployment. The mercenary nimbly stepped forward. Gingerly, she lifted Gatherer’s arm off the pallet where he lay.

“Where was he found?” she asked.

“Shadow Stealer reports that he encountered him deep in the southern lands,” the Shadowed One replied.

“His investigation took him that far south?”

“Evidently so.”

Lariska frowned. It wasn’t uncommon to see Metru Nui, the northernmost tip of the world, was seen as the crown jewel of Matoran civilization, if aloof and disconnected from the wider world. Some distance to the south lay the two great continents, one in the north and one in the south, and an associated array of small landmasses across which most Matoran and non-Matoran society was centered, as well as flanking island chains some distance beyond. But it was to the south and the islands there that almost no civilization reached and no explorer dared go, where the most dangerous and most alien life resided. Many millennia could pass without anyone hearing a word about what transpired there. It was a place considered only suitable for Rahi and the most savage sapient life.

“Is that altogether unexpected?” she asked, turning to the Shadowed One. “Gatherer said he was on the trail of a third player, a secret society. Is it surprising that his investigation led him there?”

“On its own, I wouldn’t be unsurprised. After all, what better place to conceal a hidden organization than in those untamed lands?” the Shadowed One reflected. “There’s just one problem… Reporter had him off the coast of Nynrah not one day prior. How he ended up there, in a coma and with a telepathic seal on his mind, remains unclear.”

“He must have found something,” Lariska murmured. “So the rumors were true… A hidden faction to rival the Dark Hunters and the Brotherhood of Makuta.”

“More troubling still,” the Shadowed One continued, “is that his path had brought him in the vicinity of Tracker’s operation. Tracker was sent in pursuit of a rogue Brotherhood member, but although he’d been led to Nynrah, he hasn’t reported back in days. Head to Nynrah and learn what is afoot there.”