Part Two

Despite his doubts about ever finding the Artakha Refuge, Aodhan was glad to have something a bit more immediately practical to do. Gali’s last order for him and Tiribomba to travel to Ko-Koro and warn the residents there while also asking Kopaka about the Refuge struck a good compromise, in his eyes. There was one flaw with this plan: neither he nor Tiribomba knew how to navigate Ko-Wahi.

“You and your bright ideas!” he snorted, shoving Tiribomba.

“Well, I thought Ko-Koro was around here someplace!” the latter replied, shivering.

Aodhan pointed. “I think we’ve been this way already. I recognize that snow drift.”

Tiribomba shot him a look. “How can you tell one snow drift from another?”

“It takes skill!” Aodhan replied matter-of-factly.

“Okay, Ko-Koro must be somewhere nearby,” Tiribomba muttered. “I say we go right!”

“I say left. We have to choose!!”

Aodhan looked all around. “If we keep going around in circles, we’re going to end up Makuta bones… FROZEN Makuta bones!”

Tiribomba’s eyes narrowed, and he gasped. “Wait a second, I see footprints in the snow — looks like two Matoran. Maybe Takua and Jaller came this way!”

Aodhan followed his gaze. “Hey, Takua’s the Chronicler… maybe he knows something about the refuge! Or at least the way to Ko-Koro.”

“That may be,” Tiribomba agreed, more eager to get out of the wind than insist on a direction. The two turned left and continued down a “path.” The “path” had no footprints or signs to designate it as a route, but it was a narrow flat walkway between a steep slope leading off a cliff to the left, and a steep slope leading up the mountain to their right. They continued walking until they reached a small, open area, surrounded on most sides by stretching mountain walls. Looking upward, the snow-capped peaks of the mountains were indistinguishable from the whiteout sky.

“This doesn’t look like Ko-Koro to me,” Aodhan said flatly, “or the great refuge either.”

Even Tiribomba was about to give up when he noticed a tunnel in one of the walls. “Wait a minute! Look over there!,” he said, moving over to the tunnel. Next to the opening there was a rock with a carved message: TO ONU-KORO. Although this would lead them away from Ko-Koro, they needed to find any sort of refuge from the cold, and soon. Heading to Onu-Koro could let them spread word of the Rahkshi, and perhaps even bring them to a Ko-Wahi navigator. “We need to go to Onu-Koro!” Tiribomba declared.

A rumble passed through the mountain. “Hey, do you hear that?” Aodhan asked softly.

A second later, tons of snowfall came from the cliffs overhead. “Avalanche—run!” Aodhan yelled, as the avalanche came down toward them. He grabbed his friend’s hand and pulled the two of them into the safety of the tunnel as the tons of snow landed in and around the clearing.

✴        ✴        ✴

“Are you sure this is the way to Onu-Koro?” Aodhan asked, as Tiribomba veered off the path. “Maybe we should take the tunnels…”

“This is a short cut! Trust me!”

“What if you’re wrong?”

Aodhan glanced over at his partner. “Then you can tell it that next we’re there. This was all your idea in the first place, anyway. I was just trying to save us!”

“I know…good job with that, by the way,” Tiribomba offered.

“They say these tunnels lead everywhere on the island,” Aodhan said. “If you find one and walk it long enough, you’ll eventually reach the earth village.”

✴        ✴        ✴

The path went straight, then turned right. At the turn, there was a window, looking down into a cave. Sure enough, through the view, they could see the distant village of Onu-Koro. “Wow,” Tiribomba marveled. “Look at this place!”

“You look at it,” Aodhan muttered, trying not to show how impressed he was. “I miss Ta-Koro.”

Tiribomba tilted his head thoughtfully. “They say these tunnels lead everywhere on the island. Maybe there’s a tunnel to the great refuge!” he suggested.

Aodhan was about to respond when he noticed a symbol marked low and out of sight by the walkway. “Hey, look at this…”

The symbol depicted Kini-Nui with other structures and chambers underground. Tiribomba’s eyes widened “That’s it! The refuge must be beneath Kini-Nui! No wonder Makuta was there—he must have been keeping us away!”

Aodhan considered that. It seemed reasonable. But the monsters they had seen at Kini-Nui were recent proof that Makuta was still here, too. How would they get there now?

He was still thinking about this when he saw something else he hadn’t expected to—three Toa Nuva, reaching them from another conjoining tunnel. He bumped Tiribomba on the shoulder. “Look, it’s Toa Tahu. What’s he doing here?”

Tahu, who was traveling with Gali and Lewa, spotted the Matoran and came over. Gali related how the Toa had tracked the monsters she and the Matoran had seen at Kini-Nui, known as Rahkshi, from their last sighting. Their travels had taken her from Kini-Nui to Ta-Koro to here.

“What brings you two to these tunnels?” the Toa of Fire asked. The tint of green in one eye and the darkened color of his mask made him look almost like a different person.

“We’re trying to find the great refuge,” Tiribomba said, excitedly.

“Well, he is,” Aodhan corrected. “I’d be just as happy going back to Ta-Koro.”

Tahu looked away. “Of Ta-Koro…there is little left for you to go back to now. But your place is with the other Ta-Matoran, not here!”

Aodhan looked at Tiribomba. “Toa Tahu is right.”

Tiribomba shook his head, determined. “No, we’re going to find the refuge!”

“I have no time for this!” the Toa of Fire grunted, brushing past the Matoran. “But find your way out through the tunnels. Don’t take any shortcuts. And guard yourselves—it is not safe.”

With that, Tahu marched forward to Onu-Koro. Lewa and Gali exchanged glances, then followed after.

✴        ✴        ✴

“Brrrr! I don’t know how the Onu-Matoran live down here,” Aodhan said, his voice echoing through the tunnel. “Did you bring a lightstone?”

“I thought you had it!”

As if the temperature could dip any lower, a frigid chill swept through the tunnels, and a dark voice laughed.

“No lightstone can pierce my shadows.”

“Makuta!” exclaimed Aodhan.

“You still search for a refuge for the Matoran,” the dark lord replied. “But there is no place they can hide from me.”

“If there’s no refuge,” Tiribomba cried, mustering his courage, “then why do you keep trying to scare us off?”

“He’s not trying — he’s doing it!” Aodhan snapped, breaking into a run. “And stop making him mad!”

Tiribomba sprinted after him. As they raced through the tunnels, Makuta’s voice boomed after them.

“Run, Matoran! You will find no safety on Mata Nui!”

They ran fast for what felt like a kio. Once they were at a safe distance, they paused to catch their breath. “Well, now what?” Aodhan asked.

“We can’t give up,” Tiribomba said, quiet and tired. “There has to be something we missed at Kini-Nui. I’m going back.”

“After all that Makuta’s said to us?”

“Now is when we need it more than ever,” Tiribomba said, marching on. “C’mon. I’m following this to an exit and then going to the temple.”

Aodhan sighed. “You’d better go with a buddy, then…”

✴        ✴        ✴

“Hey!” realized Tiribomba, “It’s Takua!”

Takua grinned, holding up some glowing lightvines. On the ground before him rested some luminescent Lightstones. “Hey, look at these crystals I found! I’m going to play a joke on Jaller with them.”

Aodhan stepped closer. “Takua, we’re trying to find a refuge for all the Matoran, where we can be safe. Do you know of such a place?”

Takua frowned. “Oh, I’ve heard the stories. But with Rahkshi on the loose, anybody out searching for it might wind up lava bones!”

“Can’t you give us any hints?” asked Aodhan.

The Chronicler considered this.

“Welllll…” he said finally. “If you haven’t already tried Onu-Koro, you could ask there. Otherwise, you might find the Turaga at Kini-Nui. They would know. In the meantime, I have to help Jaller find the Seventh Toa. Jaller’s the Herald, you know.”