Withering Soul

"This monster says he's Kyric."

- Nix, Withering Soul

Withering Soul is the first installment in the Zelix Nui Trilogy by BZPower and C.I.R.C.L.E. member Makar.

Prologue - Disobedient Creation
The room was very dim; the only light was emitted through a small barred window. Antroz stood over a metallic table that was four feet off the ground. On it was the lifeless body of a Rahi, ready to be brought to life. Antroz slipped on his armored gloves and moved towards the vat of Liquid Protodermis in the top-right corner of the room. It had taken the Makuta several hours to blend the viruses into the substance so it would be ready to bring his Rahi to life. Taking a beaker into his hand, Antroz scooped it into the liquid and got the perfect amount. He returned to the lifeless Rahi and admired it. It was a bird-like creature with two night-black wings, two gray talons, and two bright red eyes. “Kahu, my precious creation, you will be brought to life as soon as this Protodermis enters your head.” Antroz took the Liquid Protodermis and poured it into an open hole in its' head, then closed it. Antroz said nothing as he waited for the Protodermis to get its' systems running. In a few moments he would discover if he successfully created a sub-species to the Gukko. This would be one of his greatest achievements in his Rahi-creation endeavors. He continued to stare at the Kahu, Come on, start moving. Antroz didn't have to wait much longer. One of the wings flapped a bit, then its' talons scraped the air, and finally the head peered around the room. “You're alive!” Antroz shouted for joy. “I did it!” The bright red eyes looked questioningly at the proud Makuta. Master?, it thought. After Antroz completed his victory shouts, he turned back to his creation and pondered over what command to give him first. “Stand up, Kahu.” The Rahi moved its' body up, using talons, and perched on the table. This Makuta commanding annoyed the Kahu. “Now fly!” Antroz commanded. Reluctantly, the Kahu rose a few inches off the metal surface. Its' master was overjoyed. “It's fully functional. Wait till the other Makuta see this, they will be jealous. Now descend Kahu so I can get the others to see you.” It didn't move. “I said descend.” The Kahu stayed in the air. Rage flourished within Antroz. Why isn't this thing listening to me? In anger, he powered energy into his hands and banged them down on the table, it withered at his touch. “I SAID DESCEND!” Antroz roared in anger. The Kahu replied with a piercing shriek. Then it swooped down on Antroz, swiping his face with its' talons. The Makuta's claws swung at the Kahu; the impact pushing it to the ground. In a mix of shock and fear, the Kahu rose to full height and shot at the window. Dark, black “bat-wings” formed out of Antroz's back. The Kahu managed to claw through two of the four bars on the window. When Antroz advanced, the clawing increased and the Rahi tore off the other bars. It forced itself through the small opening and got stuck after its' head and claws went through. Antroz came upon the trapped Kahu and clawed at its' wings and side. The Rahi swung its' tail into the side of Antroz's head, knocking him down in the process. The Kahu clawed at the stone wall below the window, crumbling it away until the Rahi could shoot out. Antroz got up and jumped at his creation. The Kahu flew out of the hole it made just before the Makuta's claw hit him. Cursing, Antroz crumbled away the wall and shot into the air after his creation. The Kahu flew over the stone wall surrounding Destral, heading to the northern section of the Dome. Antroz formed a ball of Shadow energy in his hands and shot it at the Rahi. The Kahu barely dodged the energy ball. The stone wall of the dome was coming into sight. I'll corner him at the wall, Antroz thought hopefully. The Rahi curved down and landed on a cliff extending out of the wall. Got it. Antroz formed another ball of Shadow energy and shot it at the Kahu. It saw the bolt of energy coming and jumped into the air. The energy ball went straight into the cliff and shattered it into rocks that flew in every direction. The Kahu was hit with a few and Antroz shielded his face. When Antroz uncovered his face he saw the Kahu missing and a black hole where the cliff had been. A hidden tunnel! The Makuta took no time second guessing and flew into the tunnel, following his malfunctioned creation. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Antroz's feet skimmed across the surface of the water at the bottom of the cave. The Kahu was flying twenty feet in front of him. Antroz threw energy ball after energy ball at the flying Rahi and it barely dodged each one. After being in the dark of the tunnel for several hours, a light appeared in the distance. A hidden dome? The Kahu left the tunnel and curved upwards towards the center, still trying to escape his master. Antroz followed, still enraged at his wayward creation and curious about this undiscovered Dome. An island appeared in the distance. It was shaped somewhat like a crescent moon, but fatter around the edges. The island was covered in a large forests, two mountains, a large volcano, and two villages. ''How can Matoran live here if the tunnel is blocked? Are there more tunnels?'' This new place was completely foreign to Antroz. The Kahu continued to dodge the Shadow balls as they got closer to the island. The Rahi was getting weak from all the flying and needed to land soon. When they were directly over the volcano, it descended and landed at the volcano's rim. Antroz followed. “Obey me, Kahu!” Antroz commanded while throwing another Shadow ball. It hit the Rahi's left wing. Another hit the right wing. It tried to fly but couldn't. “LISTEN TO ME!” Antroz screamed. An energy ball hit the Kahu straight in the torso; it fell over, motionless. It's bright red eyes went out. “Failed creation. I'll have to start over again. But...” He tilted his head from side to side, looking at the island landscape below the volcano, “in the meantime, I'll take a look around the island.” While Antroz was viewing the island, the Kahu's eyes flickered on again and it began regaining strength. The Rahi jumped up and flew straight at Antroz. Its' talons pointed at the Great Jutlin that adorned the Makuta's face. Before Antroz realized what was happening, the Kahu had both talons grasped around his mask. With a fierce tug, the mask flew off and Antroz was weakened. With the last of his strength, the Makuta swung his claw at the Rahi's head and sent it flying down into the lava of the fiery volcano. The attack caused Antroz to lose balance and fall down the mountain into the dense forest below. The Great Jutlin fell off the side of the volcano that faced the sea into the water far below, the current moving it away from its' owner... ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

ONE: Missing Matoran
The mines of Zelix Nui were basically a single tunnel spiraling downward into the earth. The Matoran that worked there were placed by their Element. The two Ko-Matoran were placed at the very end of the tunnel; the darkest and coldest part. Next to them were the eight Fe-Matoran, who had no trouble with their work, due to their nature, and happily hacked at the walls with their pickaxes. The three Po-Matoran came next. Because of their muscular build, they found hacking at the wall with a light axe the most tedious thing in the world. And finally, the five Onu-Matoran and the three Ta-Matoran were stationed closest to the exit. They were the most content with their job of the group; they neither hated it nor loved it. The Turaga of this mixed group only added to its' diversity, by being a Turaga of Gravity. It was rather strange for a Turaga of that Element to be leading this society, but he was all they had. Nix had saved them from wasting away to nothing by finding the Matoran and organizing them to work. As Nix made his way through the tunnel, checking the worker's progress, the nostalgic melody of the mining Lift, Swing, Hack filled his ears. It reminded him of the days when he watched over the Fe-Matoran on his homeland. Those were the closet things he had to “golden days.” Nix had just passed the Po-Matoran – he started from the bottom – when he caught a gap between two of the Onu-Matoran. Rage flared up withing him as he realized who it was, Kyric! Kyric – to Nix at least – was the biggest nuisance and annoyance in the Matoran Universe. This Onu-Matoran was – to everyone – the laziest and most hungry Matoran on Zelix Nui. It wasn't an uncommon thing for Kyric to ditch work and since this was his sixth or seventh time, Nix was not happy at all. Letting anger get the best of him, Nix roared, “Where's Kyric?!” The sound echoed through the tunnel, going to the entrance, and probably farther than that. All of the miners, falling out of their rhythm, looked up stunned at Nix's scream. This one was louder than usual. “Where's Kyric?!” he bellowed again. When the workers registered Kyric's name, their expressions turned from fear to relief. They had actually thought something was wrong, like someone accidentally hacked his mask off, but no it was only Kyric missing work. His ditching had become so hackneyed. None of the Matoran spoke. “Where is he?” Nix looked accusingly across the line of workers that formed in front of him. “He's probably off lying about, that weakling,” a female Ko-Matoran snickered. She was known for her icy personality. One of the Onu-Matoran, a little female one, spoke up. “Don't talk like that about one of fellow workers,” her quiet, sweet voice rang out. The Ko-Matoran, a dark looking female, stepped out of the line and made eye contact with the sweet Matoran. “Oh please Mallah, you don't always have to step up for him. Got a little crush?” The sweet Matoran named Mallah froze at the words, mainly because they hit home. She had never admitted it to anyone, but was she that obvious about it? Embarrassed, Mallah tried to come up with a response. “I don't know what you're talking about Lylex” was all she could mutter. Lylex and her fellow Ko-Matoran burst into tantalizing laughter while the other workers looked with sympathy at Mallah. None of them favored the Ko-Matoran. Mallah stared blankly, listening to their crude laughter as a wave of sorry came over her. “STOP!,” Nix interjected, concerned for Mallah. The laughter died down immediately. “Lylex, jeering at your fellow workers is prohibited by me. Punishment will be given if I catch you doing it again!” Lylex grimaced at him in disgust. “Now Mallah, go find Kyric,” the mention of his name made Nix clench his hands into a fist. “You're his friend, I'm sure you can find him.” Still recovering from the embarrassment, Mallah nodded. “Thank you.” She smiled and then gracefully left the mines. Nix smiled as she left while the other Matoran stared at him in amazement. He was actually smiling. Most of them were jealous that Nix favored her. The Turaga of Gravity noticed them. “Get back to work!” The Matoran shot back to their working stations. Nix continued his rounds peacefully. He had become very fond of Mallah. She's so sweet, just like Nikila... ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Mallah crossed the bridge that connected the giant boulder that housed the mines to the mainland where the village was located. There she frantically searched for Kyric in all of the places he usually hid, but found nothing. He wasn't sleeping behind anyone's hut, tasting from a basket of berries, or relaxing under a tree's shade. He's not here. Kyric's hut was located on the eastern edge of the village. When Mallah approached, she ran inside and found nothing. Giving up, she sat down on this leaf covered mat, added for comfort. Where are you Kyric? Something past the window caught her eyes. Of course! In the field behind Kyric's hut was a trail of withered apples, Kyric had sucked the energy out of them, that lead through the Protodermis Field and into the forest beyond. Mallah picked up one of them and smirked. You're not that smart Kyric. Chuckling, she started following the trail. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ The mid-afternoon sunlight shone into Kyric's eyes, which forced him to shield his eyes with a hand. “Why does the sun always bother my eyes?” He groaned and then repositioned himself on his handmade bed of leaves. He loved ditching work to relax in his sanctuary. Who needed work, the Great Spirit didn't care about tributes and hard labor. At least that's what Kyric thought. A quick rustling sound came to Kyric's ears from far down the trail that lead to his hideout. Oh no. Standing up, he ran to the closest tree and hid himself behind it. The sound came closer and closer until someone entered the clearing. Kyric recognized her at one. “Mallah!” he shouted as he jumped out from behind the tree. Mallah jumped at the sound of his voice and looking at him started. “Kyric! Don't scare me!” she squealed. Chuckling, he said. “Hi Mallah. Shouldn't you be working?” That made Mallah laugh. “Please, I think you should be the one working. Ditcher.” “Oh come on. It's not like I haven't done it before. Nix will be mad at first but then he'll get over it.” Mallah's face darkened. “I don't think so. He seemed pretty mad. We really should go back.” “He's such a hard-head and needs to learn to relax. Why don't you come sit with me? This place is so quiet and peaceful. You need to take a break.” Mallah pondered for a second, it looked so tempting. “No, we should get back, Nix is counting the seconds I'm not there.” Kyric didn't want to leave his peaceful sanctuary, but he also didn't want to get Mallah in trouble. “Alright, let's go.” Mallah started through the woods and Kyric followed. As they exited the woods, the sound of harsh waves crashing into the shore and the shrieking of Gukko ruined Kyric's serene mood. It never lasts. When they got to the Protodermis Field, Kyric became more alert. He had heard all of the stories about Matoran falling in and never coming out. “You know that they say Energized Protodermis can give you Toa Powers?” He asked to try and take his mind off the silvery clear pools. “Really?” Mallah asked, impressed. “Well, I don't know if it's true. Energized Protodermis has done crazy things.” “Yeah, I heard that it could kill you,” Mallah said somewhat darkly. “I guess it can have good or bad effects. Let's not fall in, now,” he chucked. Kyric looked at Mallah and noticed her purple Rau shining in the sunlight. A warm feeling came over him. He had never thought of her as more than a friend, but lately that had been changing. It didn't take them much longer to reach the entrance to the mines. “Well I better get ready to face Karzahni,” Kyric chuckled and the two of them entered, awaiting the fiery Turaga. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

TWO: Nix's Rage
Kyric and Mallah slipped silently back into the mines. As they passed the line of Matoran working, they didn't even notice because of how intent they were on working. When they got to Mallah's spot, she slipped in and Kyric went to his. He sighed and then moved his arm to grab his pickaxe, but before he had fully clasped his hand around it, the last voice he wanted to hear sounded. “KYRIC!” Nix bellowed from behind. Kyric slowly pivoted around, anticipating his fate. “Yes... sir?” Nix looked enraged to the extreme, maybe the most angry he'd ever been. His brow was narrowed and his eyes stared intently at Kyric with anger. Both of the Turaga's fists were clenched tightly and he was panting like he hadn't absorbed food for days. “Where have you been?!” he yelled. “I, um... was gathering berries?” Kyric lied uneasily, Nix intimidating him. Several of the Matoran were aroused by Nix scream and looked up from their work, waiting to see what the Turaga would do. Some silently laughed at Kyric's fate, Lylex was one of them. But Mallah wasn't, she was nervous beyond all belief. She was expecting the worst, which would be Nix banning Kyric from the upcoming festival. This worried her because she had been planning on asking him to accompany her to the festival, but it could all be ruined. Nix let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Lying, now? Please, I know you were slacking off again. This is the third time this month!” “Actually the sixth...” Kyric blurted out, but then cut out mid-sentence. He was only making it worse. “THE SIXTH!” Nix screamed, his bellow causing him to unintentionally release a burst of Elemental Energy. The Gravity in the mine shifted, causing the workers to float into the air. A clumsy Ta-Matoran had a look of shock on as he flipped in the air. Others let out annoyed groans. Kyric floated a bit off the ground as well, but he pushed his back on the mine wall, cowering away from Nix. His section had barely any dents, while the ones next to him had several trench-deep gorges. “I'm sorry, sir,” he squealed. “'SORRY! That doesn't cut it. You've barely made any progress in your mining this month and I don't even want to ask you about the progress of your tribute for the festival tomorrow!” Nix's anger lessened and the Gravity returned to normal. The workers stumbled as they hit the ground and some returned to working, while others watched the spectacle. The clumsy Matoran of Fire tripped as soon as he hit the ground. Mallah looked hopefully at Kyric and prayed to the Great Spirt that he finished his tribute. It might make Nix's thoughts about banning him disappear. Kyric cringed against the wall as worry and regret flooded over him. He had planned to make a statue for the tribute to the Great Spirit about three months ago. The stone slab he got for the statue resided at his hut, untouched. “I haven't... started.” Expecting to get hit by the Turaga's hand, Kyric looked with surpise when Nix tried to hold back his anger. “I'm... very disappointed with you Kyric,” Nix barely managed to keep it less than a yell. “I'm afraid you can't attend the festival.” With that, Nix rushed out of the mines to release the anger he had built up. He would have attacked him if he stayed and the Ta-Matoran heard loud shrieks outside a moment later. Mallah's hopes ceased as the last sentence left Nix's mouth. Oh no... Nix's words hit Kyric like a hard punch. His laziness had cost him the festival: one of the only times he got to relax without having to avoid work. It was also the only time he got to have deep conversations with the female Matoran, much different than the small talk before work. The statue had been the last thing on his mind the past months. Sadness spread through him. Nix returned, his breath much slower than before. “What are you all doing standing around? Get back to work!” The workers quickly rushed back to their stations. “Now Kyric, you're dismissed for the day, please leave.” Kyric mindless said sorry to the Turaga and walked, face down, out of the mines. Mallah, stunned by Kyric's solemness, ran out after him. Nix noticed her leave, but ignored it which got a sneer from Lylex. The bright light of mid-day met Mallah as she scurried down the steps carved in stone and caught Kyric just before he was going to cross the bridge to the village. “Kyric!” she yelled. Turning, Kyric's expressionless face met Mallah's. “What?” This face shocked her and stuck itself to her memory. “I was just wondering if you were alright?” “I'm fine,” he said then turned and started walking away, leaving the silent Mallah. Kyric arrived at his hut and fell onto the mat covered leaves. He laid back down on it and stared at the ceiling, expecting sleep to take him away. It didn't come until later that night and it only lasted a short while. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

THREE: Preparations
Mallah rolled over after a restless night. Sleep didn't greet her very much in the last couple of hours and the first rays of dawn had just entered her hut. Kyric's cold hard stare haunted her. She couldn't stop thinking about it. Opening her eyes, she noticed that it was just after dawn and got up. I can get an early start. Mallah was in charge of organizing the festival, mainly because she was the only one Nix trusted. Leaving the hut, Mallah made her way to the center of the village. Once there, she went to the storage hut and grabbed a bunch of baskets for the berry pickers. Then she made sure all of the Matoran's tributes were in another hut, ready to be brought to the temple. The other Matoran arrived within the hour. Nix had told them to be at the town square right after dawn. He does have a big influence over everyone. Mallah had all the baskets laid out and greeted them happily, “Hello friends!” Each of the Matoran greeted her in a seemingly happy manner. All except Lylex, who mocked Mallah's greeting with her fellow Ko-Matoran. “Alright guys. Time to do Karzahni's bidding,” Mallah joked. Laughter came over the line of Matoran; some were low chuckles, while others were loud bellows. “Okay, let's get to work.” In an orderly fashion, Mallah assigned jobs to each of the Matoran that would help prepare for the festival. The Po-Matoran were assigned to carry the tributes, including Mallah's, which depicted the Great Spirit taming a wild Gukko, to the Temple of Mata Nui on the north end of Zelix Nui. The Fe-Matoran's job was to craft and weld decorations made of Iron, while the Ta-Matoran's one was to gather wood to make torches. When all of the assigned Matoran cleared out, all that was left were the Ko- and Onu-Matoran. Mentally going over the list of things that needed to be done, Mallah discovered that gathering fruit was the only job left. “Alright everyone, the only job left is to gather fruit. Everyone grab a basket” As they came to get the baskets, Lylex sneered in Mallah's face, “I hope Kyric hasn't absorbed them all. Did your lover eat them all?” Mallah clenched her fists and instead of embarrassment, anger flared within her. I've had it with you. She was about to jump at Lylex, but suddenly someone moved in front of her. “Mallah, don't. She's not worth it,” said Isa, one of the Onu-Matoran. Breathing, Mallah calmed down. “You're right Isa, thanks.” Isa smiled, the two were pretty good friends. “Don't worry about her. Lil and I will go with Lylex to pick berries on west of town.” “Thank you Isa.” Mallah hugged her and watched her leave with Lil, Lylex, and the other Ko-Matoran. She heard Lylex say something like “Oh great, the rock sisters.” Isa just rolled her eyes, while Lil gave her a look that meant “How could you do this to us?” Mallah mouthed thank you to Isa once again and left with the other Onu-Matoran. They went east and they split up in opposite directions. She was happy for this because it gave her a chance to talk to Kyric. She picked berries on her way to his hut and it came into view within ten minutes. Picking berries from the bushed around it, Mallah slowly edged towards the hut. She wanted to make sure he was alright and hoped to see him in a better mood, to erase the image of his sullen face. Only one bio away from the hut, Mallah felt a slight, trembling tap on her shoulder. “Hi... Mallah,” a very nervous voice said. Mallah turned around and saw who the voice belonged to, a Ta-Matoran named Wexl. He was a strange Matoran that was always very nervous and rarely was able to keep his balance. Wexl had joined the Zelix Nui miners after his unconscious body was found on the beach. His armor was mangled in some places and he did not remember anything. Nix called for Ivoria, the village leader of Le-Koro on the eastern side of Zelix Nui, and she fixed him up. He also had these green spots blotched on his armor and had no memory of how he got them. This made him subject to teasing, especially from Lylex. “Hi Wexl,” Mallah greeted, “Why aren't you with the other Ta-Matoran?” “Well...” Wexl stuttered, “I kind of tripped on one of the logs where were using for fire wood and flew at Ignus, who was lighting the fire...” “You don't have to say anymore,” she interrupted, not wanting to hear the bad part. “Just go get a basket from the square and start picking berries.” “Um, alright,” Wexl started to move away but then pivoted back, almost falling. “Mallah, I, um, wanted to know if you'd... you'd... want to accompany me to the festival?!” His voice raised to a crescendo unintentionally. What?!, Mallah shouted in her head, ''WEXL?! Really? I don't want to hurt his feelings and there's no hope of going with Kyric. So what should I say?'' “Um... sure,” she answered nervously. “I'd love to go with you.” Her tone was rather solemn, mainly because she was lying about the “love” part. “Really?!” Wexl's face light up with delight. “Yes,” Mallah repeated, trying to sound excited. It didn't work. “Oh, thank you Mallah! I'm so excited!” He jumped up in the air but lost balance and fell on his back. Mallah rushed to his side. “Are you alright?” Wexl jumped up, still happy. “Yes I'm fine.” “Now get to work.” “Okay!” Wexl started sprinting to the town center, but then stopped after a trip lead to a hard fall. Mallah sighed. What have I gotten myself into? After standing there blankly for a few seconds. She remembered Kyric and went to his window. The floor of the stone hut was covered with apples and other fruits that had the energy taken out of them. Mallah looked for the culprit and found Kyric lying face up on his bed, just staring at the ceiling with an apple in his hand. He mindlessly squeezed the fruit and the energy flowed out of it into him. He tossed it aside and picked up another. Had Kyric really come to this?, Mallah thought, horrified at the sight. She couldn't stand to see him in this pathetic, weak state. He also had the same blank stare that haunted her greatly. I have to talk to him. “Kyric.” Mallah said softly, trying to get his attention. He didn't stir. “KYRIC!” she screamed with all her breath. The depressed Matoran sat up and looked towards Mallah. “What do you want?” a low quiet voice, foreign to Mallah, spoke. This was not his voice at all. ''He can't keep talking to me like this. The voice and the stare are just too scary.'' “I, um... just wanted to see if you were alright. Nix was really mean.” “I'm fine. Have fun at the festival,” Kyric said and then laid down, falling back into his empty trance. “Oh Kyric,” Mallah muttered. How could this happen to you of all Matoran? She left the hut, saddened, and continued picking berries. After hours of mindless picking, Mallah returned to the town center and met up with the others picking berries. Isa, Lylex, and their companions came back soon after. Isa had a look of extreme annoyance on her face and Lylex had a big smirk on hers. When Isa noticed Mallah's sad face, she mouthed, What's wrong? Mallah just shook her head and Isa didn't mouth anything else. All of the Matoran had baskets filled with berries and fruit and when they counted the inventory, there was over two-hundred berries. This was something that Mallah should have been overjoyed about, but that stare was still stuck in her mind. She just faked a smile and nodded with approval. In about an hour, the other Matoran returned from their chores. Ignus' hand was slightly charred, thanks to Wexl. When he came to Mallah, she just suggested that he waited until they met up with Ivoria at the temple. Not wanting to talk to anyone, Mallah went and sat on a tree stump while the others mingled in the town center, waiting for Nix to lead them to the temple. The silence didn't last because Wexl came up to her and started talking. Mallah reluctantly chatted with him, hoping it would take her mind off Kyric. Lylex caught site of the two and started making jokes with her Ko-Matoran friends. Mallah would have given her a look, but she didn't feel up to it. The sun was just setting when Nix came into the town center after a day of napping. He loved festival days because he could just throw the preparations into a Matoran's hands and do nothing. Ushering the Matoran to come, he called with a booming voice, “Time to go!” The Matoran were slightly shocked at the voice, but then started moving towards Nix. Once they were all behind him, they set off to the temple along a path that ran along the beach. It was time for the festival. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

FOUR: Revival Trek
Another apple fell to the dirt ground of the hut as Kyric sucked the energy of it. Reaching for another, he noticed that the basket was empty. ''There goes my stash.... how many were in there? Twenty? Thirty?'' Thirty was the truth. Kyric sat up and looked out the window at the sky. The sun was just setting. ''It's already sundown? Wow, I've never been this lazy before.'' The past day seemed so far away... he slightly remembered Mallah coming over to visit a while ago. Had my mind been that blank? He suddenly felt a rush of joy. Probably from the buzz he was getting from all the energy. The other Matoran had already left, Kyric could tell from the silence of the town. ''What will I accomplish if I keep lying around? Who cares about the stupid festival and Nix. It's just one year.'' Feeling infinity better, he decided to take a walk. He had to burn off some of the energy. Kyric left his hut and set off. He walked carefully around the pools of Energized Protodermis, but then started sprinting when he reached the edge of the forest. He never felt so energized before. He felt like he could run mio. For once in his life, he actually felt like working. The running lasted a bit, but then he slowed down when the sun fully set. The night didn't bother him, mostly because he could see pretty well in the darkness. Although, he wished he could use his Kanohi Ruru because it would give him flawless night vision. But alas, he was not a Toa and couldn't use mask powers. After a while of brisk walking, Kyric decided to slow down. The energy was calming down and he just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the forest. Some Gukko lightly pierced the night air with their soft calls, while the sounds of Rahi crawling through the overgrowth sounded. There was also a cool breeze going through the trees. Kyric became tranquil and everything that happened in the past two days seemed to be a distant memory. After walking for what seemed like an hour, Kyric noticed that the trees were higher and the overgrowth was denser. He had to push a few bushes away to keep moving. Kyric had never been this deep into the forest before, Nix never allowed them to leave the village usually. He could also see the silhouette of the volcano looming above the trees. I must be close to the other village. He would find it empty if he stumbled upon it, because all of its' residents were at the festival with his friends. Pushing the thought away, Kyric moved on. Pushing away another bush, Kyric stepped onto sand and noticed that he had stumbled upon the eastern beach. He had never been to this beach before. It had much whiter and softer sand compared to the hard, brown sand of the beach by his village. Then he noticed the sea. It was even more beautiful at night because of the moonlight reflecting off of the ocean's surface. It was a dazzling sight. The waves rolled over each other and the water hit the beach with soft, swift movements. The sea by his village was rough and violent. Moving to the water, Kyric sat down with his feet covered by the incoming water. Then he laid back and watched the stars. The calm sound of the ocean met his ears and lulled him into a deep sleep. He was at peace. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Thump, something hard hit the heel of Kyric's foot and he kicked it away in his slumber. It was pushed back to the water, but it pushed the object back onto his foot with another thump. This continued twice more until he woke up. The night was still dark and Kyric sat up in his-coming-out-of-sleep trance. He looked down to see what had woke him from sleep and saw something dark red under the inch deep water. Moving his hand towards it, he pulled the object out of the water. There was a sucking sound when he removed because it was slightly stuck in the sand. Washing off the sand with water, Kyric was able to see the object clearly. It was a mask. It's color switched from black to dark red as Kyric looked at it from top to bottom. The mouth hole was surrounded by three spike-like teeth on the top and two on the bottom. It's eye holes were both placed at a diagonal. Kyric had seen lots of masks before, but none like this. It was too scary and abnormal looking. ''Somebody must have abandoned it. Who would want to look that scary?'' Chuckling, Kyric thought of a use for his new found mask. ''I can scare Mallah with it! As a joke when she comes back. I can show her that I've recovered... It would also anger Nix.'' He laughed at the thought of seeing his angry face. Excited to scare the others, Kyric rushed back into the forest, leaving the sea behind him. He had returned to his old self. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Not far from the beach, the weak Makuta Antroz stirred. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

FIVE: The Festival
The path along the beach was very rocky and the Matoran had to maneuver around several boulders. Nix just used some of his Gravity Powers to lift the rocks and push them out of the way. While the Matoran just looked at him with envy of his Turaga Powers. Other than the obstacles, most of them enjoyed the trip to the temple. Each of the Matoran were paired up with their accompanier, except for a few Fe-Matoran who didn't get a chance to ask anyone because all of the females were taken. They hoped to meet up with some of the female Matoran, from the other side of the island, there. Everyone was enjoying their conversations, except Mallah. It's not that she didn't like Wexl. She was just distant and couldn't stop thinking of Kyric. She wanted to see his happy face again. Wexl, on the other hand, was never better. He had barely tripped at all so far and was coming up with a lot of things to talk about. Since Wexl was so elated, he didn't realize that Mallah was only answering briefly and quietly. He was also getting a lot of congrats from the others about getting her to accompany him. Ignus even gave him a high-five with his unburnt hand. The sun had fully set by the time the Matoran reached the base of the small mountain that the temple was located on. Nix was generous and lifted some of the female Matoran up to the highest cliff, including Mallah. The rest of them had to climb up a couple of steep paths. Wexl made it up without completely falling, thanks to Ignus. When they were all on the cliff, Nix lead them up a short, carved staircase and into the temple. The temple itself had a floor made of stone bricks, walls made of stone pillars lined up close together, and no roof. In the center was a raised platform with a stone statue of the Great Spirit. Around the statue were all of the tributes to Mata Nui that the Po-Matoran brought up earlier. The torches were all lit and the Iron decorations were all put up. Standing in front of the platform facing them was the beautiful Ivoria with the Matoran she watched over. She was one of the prettiest Toa most of the Matoran had ever seen. Ignus practically dropped his jaw when he laid eyes on her. Her mask was green Pakari that shined in the fire light and she had a stern, yet sweet looking face. Her torso and legs were thin and her eyes were a bright blue color that somehow matched her mask. Ivoria was amazing looking, except for one oddity. Her left arm was light green and very slender, but the other one was bulky and a silver rustic color. The hand attached had chubby fingers and was much bigger than the left one. It was strange for such a pretty creature to have an abnormal arm, but Mallah knew the reason. Ivoria used to be a slave at a wicked place known as Karzahni. There she was experimented on by an evil creature, who gave her the arm. She learned how to fix Matoran by watching the creature work and eventually escaped. She was able to fix most of herself, except the arm. Ivoria never liked to talk about it and Nix made sure that no one brought it up. Behind Ivoria, there was about ten Le-Matoran, three Ga-Matoran, and two Hi-Matoran. They were a small clan that could not mine very well, so they cut down trees for huts and were taught how to fix up Matoran by Ivoria. They lived deep within the forest on the eastern coastline. “Welcome Nix, late as usual I see,” Ivoria said, a smile forming on her face. “Hello Ivoria, early as usual I see,” Nix said, a smile forming on his face as well. They moved towards each other and hugged. “Long time no see. How have you been?” Nix asked kindly. He was very sweet towards her. “Alright. And you old fellow? Haven't been screaming at your workers too much?” she joked. “Of course not,” the two chuckled. The Matoran were silent during their greeting. All of them were anticipating the festival to start. Ivoria turned away from Nix and faced his workers. “Thank you all for setting up this year. It looks great.” She smiled, which caused most of the male Matoran to forget to breath. Ivoria went back to Nix and exclaimed, “Let the festival begin!” At both ends of the temple, the Matoran moved to greet each other. Mallah and the others put the baskets down, leaving them for the hungry villagers. Three of the Le-Matoran got ready to play music. One pulled out drums and set a beat. Another pulled out a wooden flute and added a woodwind tune to the music. The third chose their voice and started singing a melody. The three started a song that had a catchy rhythm and several of the Matoran started dancing. Others stayed out of the ring of dancers that formed around the statue and stood by the pillars, chatting like old friends or tasting some berries. Mallah wasn't dancing, chatting, or tasting. She was just sitting against a pillar, thinking about Kyric. Wexl tried to get her to dance, but failed and just sat by her. Mallah noticed this and told him, “You can go and dance or something Wexl, I don't feel well.” “Really?” he said somewhat sadly. “Yea, I'm sorry.” “Oh, it's alright,” Wexl assured. He stretched and Mallah noticed something attached to the area under his arm. “Is that a dagger?” Mallah questioned suspiciously. Why did he have one? Wexl looked down and then said, “Oh, yeah.” He pulled it out and showed it to her. It glistened in the torchlight. “I have no idea how I got it. It was with me when I washed up here.” “Oh, alright. Well you can go. I'm just going to sit here.” “Okay. I hope you feel better.” Wexl put the dagger back, got up, and went to talk to a group of Matoran. Approaching them, he tripped and landed in a female Le-Matoran's arms. They started talking after that. Mallah laughed at Wexl's accidental stunt and continued to think about Kyric. After ten minutes in silence, she heard a voice. “Hey there Mallah,” a voice said above Mallah. She looked up and saw a familiar Le-Matoran. He was very muscular and much taller than her. His red eyes stared at her. “Hi Litch. Long time no see.” She hadn't seen him since last year's festival, where he swooned her with his dance moves and then left her for some Hi-Matoran. “Yea, it has been. So why are you here all alone? Didn't get anyone to accompany you?” Litch said with fake sympathy. Rolling her eyes, Mallah said, “I sent him away. I'm not feeling good.” “Oh really? Are you sure it wasn't just embarrassment? I saw him walking in with you. Quite the klutz, ain't he?” He asked with a big smirk on his face. Rising, she said, “Don't judge him! At least I came with one. Unlike you. I don't see anyone with you.” Litch looked taken aback. “Well, for your information, I was hoping to meet up with you.” “Oh.” Now Mallah was somewhat taken aback. “How bout a dance?” Litch interrupted her silence with a smile and grabbed her hand. “Hey!” Mallah resisted for a second but then just gave in. Litch lead her to the ring of dancers and they moved to a traditional partner dance. Mallah's thoughts of Kyric's flew away as she danced with Litch and a smiled formed on her face. Wexl looked at the couple with jealousy, but then lost the feelings as the Le-Matoran he fell into pulled him away for a dance. The dancing grew wilder as the musicians started to play a faster song. Out of the ring, Ivoria was standing in a corner with Nix and Ignus, who just got his hand repaired by her. It practically took his breath away. After a quick word with Nix, she moved to the musicians and told them to stop. “The dance is over, it is time to tell the tales of our arrivals!” Ivoria exclaimed over the Matoran. She moved to the top of the platform and Nix joined her. The Matoran gathered around, waiting for them to begin. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

SIX: Tales of Arrival
“Now, I would like to officially welcome you all to the Festival of Arrival,” Ivoria's sonorous voice boomed over the listening Matoran. “You all should know that this festival is in honor of Mata Nui for guiding us safely on this island and having Nix and I find you all.” Nix picked up after Ivoria ended, “Now, in order to remember our arrivals, we will retell the tales to everyone. Ivoria and I will go first.” He motioned to the Le-Matoran drummer to come up on the platform. He moved and set a beat for the stories to be told by. “I used to be a slave of an evil creator named Karzahni. He performed terrible experiments on me and tortured me. After many years of planning, I escaped his foul clutches,” Ivoria told. “I was once a Toa protecting a faraway land and one day, my team went on a mission to fight a pack of Zyglak in dense overgrowth. During the attack, all of my team members were killed, except me. I was badly wounded and managed to crawl away into the sea. There I floated for what seemed like ages and washed up on a place called the Northern Continent. The only reason I didn't drown, was because I gave up my Toa Energy to help me swim,” Nix recounted. Ivoria picked up the story, “On this continent, I met Nix after I had been wandering for many years. I fixed his mangled armor and we traveled around the universe together.” “Then we stumbled upon this dome, after finding it's entrance behind a boulder.” “We found a bunch of mangled Matoran.” With this line, she pointed at the crowd. “And fixed all of them up.” Nix continued, “You all had no memory of how you got here or how you got injured. So we organized you into two groups and put you all to work.” “And that's the story of how we saved you,” Ivoria said. “Praise to the Great Spirt that guided you safely!” The crowd said in unison, a tradition of the festival. Then a huge round of applause came over them. They had heard this story for many years in a row, but it never got old for them. Since the story was taking her mind off of Kyric, Mallah started to have fun. Litch was sitting next to her and gave her a smile, which she returned it. “Now that our tale is over, who's next? I know we have more stories to be told,” Ivoria questioned as she and Nix went to sit down on the edge of the platform. Out of the crowd, two Fe-Matoran emerged and walked up onto the platform. Mallah recognized them as Cypher and Ferrous, two male Matoran that worked in the mines. They looked almost identical because they were both of gray and white coloring and had gray Pehkui masks. They were among the Fe-Matoran that landed on the island shortly after Nix and Ivoria came. Their story was more interesting than Nix and Ivoria's. “You can begin when you're ready,” Nix assured the pair, not bothering to get up. They nodded and Cypher began, “Me, Ferrous, and the others used to works on this island. We handled the Protodermis and stuff and worked under a bunch of smart Turagas.” “Then one day, this strange and rather eerie looking creature came to our workspace. He said that he was authorized to watch over us and that his name was Textral. He watched over us for a good many years,” Ferrous continued. “But then, he gots jealous of the Turaga and took us to some huge rocky thing out in the water. He mades us dig mines and work in them. We hads to work for lots a long time, without energy.” “Yes, he was rather vile to us. Then we planned an uprising against him and tried to attack him one day.” “We attacked and he started hurtin' and killin' a lot of us. It was scarys.” A look of horror appeared on his face, remembering the experience. “Eventually, the three Turaga that used to watch over us released their energies to encase the evil creature in a tomb of rocks. His tyranny over us ended with that.” “Then theres was only ten of us left, so we made floaty things...” “I believe they're called boats Cypher,” Ferrous interrupted. “Yeah. So we mades boats and came to a beach by Nix's Village.” “And that's the story of how we arrived here,” Ferrous ended. “Praise to the Great Spirit that guided you safely!” The crowd said again and then started another round of applause. The crowd started talking after the pair left the platform, including Mallah and Litch. They talked about the last story a bit, which was Mallah's favorite to hear. She was actually enjoying herself now. Ivoria stood up, silenced everyone with a hand, and asked, “Now that we have heard two stories, are there any more?” Silence came over the crowd, until someone rudely broke it. “I believe Wexl has a story to tell!” Lylex hissed from the back. Mallah turned around at the voice and gave her an evil look. Lylex just laughed at her angry expression. Looking at Wexl, Mallah noticed how much embarrassment covered his face. Ivoria found his face among the crowd and asked, “Of course, do you want to tell your story Wexl?” “Um...” Wexl stuttered. “Oh, come on Wexl! Tell us!” a voice yelled from the back. Mallah recognized it as Lylex's Ko-Matoran friend, Calv's. “Come on! We want to know,” Litch said next to Mallah, laughing. She gave him a mean look and he stopped. “Um... okay,” Wexl said, trembling. Ivoria motioned him to come up and he nervously walked up. When Wexl got onto the platform, he tripped and fell. Ivoria ran to his aid and picked him up. Many of the male Matoran looked at him with envy because of that. Once standing up again, Wexl started to speak and the drummer started pounding his drums, “Um... I don't remember much. I used to live... somewhere else. I had lots of friends there” He looked out at the audience at Mallah and pointed. “I had a friend that looked like you.” His hand moved to Litch. “And like you.” Then he noticed Lylex in the back and pointed. “You remind me of someone I knew, except she had tentacles.” “You little worm! You saying that I should have tentacles?!” Lylex interrupted with an angry expression on her face. Ivoria stood up and yelled, “Don't interrupt! He's just saying what he remembers.” Lylex scowled at Ivoria and sat down. “Continue Wexl,” Ivoria said, siting down. “Okay. So I had all these friends in this place. Then I was at a festival and... something happened. Oh yeah, a huge fire started and all of the villagers ran in every direction.” A few Matoran laughed, but Ivoria silenced them with a glare. “My friends and I ran away from it, but then a creature with an axe started chasing us and chopping one of us in half,” Wexl started talking faster. “Then we ran away from it and I heard the screams of dying Matoran everywhere. It was awful! A green Toa tried to help us, but he got attacked by another Toa. Then the second Toa moved onto my friends and I.” His breathing quickened and his speaking became more frantic. “My one friend threw me away from them... through a wall of fire and into a river. I got knocked out and then I woke up a while later.” When I woke up, they were nowhere to be seen. There were ruins everywhere I looked and I realized that everyone was dead. THEY WERE DEAD! I would never see any of them ever again. THEY WERE DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!” Wexl let a loud cracked scream and then started running in circles. “DEAD!” he screamed again. Then he started hitting the statue tributes and breaking them. “DEAD, CHOPPED IN HALF LIKE THESE!” Nix and Ivoria rushed towards him. Nix tried to hold him down, but Wexl thrashed out at him and fell on the ground. Shaking, Wexl continued to scream out “DEAD!” Ivoria was trying to talk to him while Nix was holding him down. Pushing Nix away, Wexl got up and started running towards the audience. He ran straight off the platform and onto the stone covered ground. He yelled “THEY WERE ALL DEAD!” one last time before fainting. Everyone had stunned looks on their faces and were completely silent, Lylex didn't even have a smart remark to make. Ivoria slowly got off the platform and went to his side. Examining him, she said to Nix, “His head is damaged. A piece of the armor is broken. He'll need to be brought to my village to be fixed” “Okay,” Nix said solemnly. He didn't even care that he was going to loose one of his workers for the day. Standing up, Ivoria instructed, “Litch and Ferra, come here.” Litch moved from Mallah's side with a brief wave goodbye. The Le-Matoran that Wexl fell into earlier moved. She and Litch picked up Wexl's small body carefully and left the temple with it. The silence stayed over the crowd. Mallah was so worried for Wexl. That outburst scared her and he got that solemn look on his face when he fainted. All of it reminded her of Kyric in his sorrow. After a couple minutes, Ivoria said “I'm afraid that we'll have to end the festival early. Let's give thanks to Nix's tribe for setting up.” Everyone clapped weakly. When it was over, Nix said, “We will now end the festival with the burning of tributes.” A Ta-Matoran brought Nix two lit torches. Then Ivoria and him set all of the tributes on fire, including the ones that had been smashed. The crowd watched them burn in silence. Mallah watched it solemnly and thought of how horrible the festival had turned out. She also thought of Kyric. ''I wonder what he's doing right now? He's lucky he didn't have to see this.'' ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

SEVEN: Molding
Antroz could barely see in the darkness of the night and the tall trees blocked out any moonlight that could light his path. He attempted to stand up, but his arms were too weak. “Ugh,” he groaned. ''Where am I? That stupid creation, where did it go? I want to rip its' head off.'' Regaining strength, Antroz pushed himself up to a sitting position. His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he studied his surroundings. He was in a small clearing that was connected to a worn path. The only thing that was in it, beside him, was a small boulder, which he moved to sit on. ''How am I going to get out of here? I can't do much without my mask. Where did it go?'' He tried to think back to the attack. Where did the mask land? After seconds of pondering, it came to him. ''It landed in the ocean! Argh, it could be anywhere by now... unless, it washed up on shore.'' With nothing better to do, Antroz got up and moved towards the trail. He was going to find a beach to see if his mask washed up on it. Right before his foot stepped on the trail, something shot in front of him. Antroz jumped backwards and fell. Landing on his back, he recognized the figure as a Matoran and he had something in his hands. The only reason Antroz could see it in the dark was because it was a dark red color. That's my mask! Jumping up, Antroz stepped onto the trail and started following the Matoran. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Kyric ran quickly through the forest, clutching the mask in his hands. He was really excited to show everyone the mask. For some reason, he felt like something was following him, mainly because there was this rustling sound behind him every so often. When he turned around to see what it was, there was nothing. He must just be imagining things. The forest thinned as Kyric got closer to home and the path beneath his feet got smoother. He saw moonlight up ahead and after a few seconds, he came upon the Protodermis Field. It looked beautiful at night, because the moonlight was reflected off the silver pools. Kyric would have stopped to admire its' beauty, but he was too intent on returning to the village that he just didn't bother to notice. He also didn't bother to be careful while maneuvering around the pools. Running quickly, Kyric moved around one pool then another. He could do it without looking because of instinct; he had taken this path many times while going to his hideaway. Kyric was almost through the maze between pools when he approached the last one. He caught a glimpse of the village and sped up. He couldn't wait to get back, event though he knew that they wouldn't be back for a while. Approaching the last pool, Kyric was practically speeding in his run and he was just feet from the pool. Right as his left foot went to swerve around it, it slammed straight into a rock. Tilting his balance, Kyric waved his arms to regain balance but it wasn't very effective. He started to sway forward, towards the pool, and then started falling fully that way. With no hope of regaining his balance, Kyric just shut his eyes as he fell into the pool of Energized Protodermis. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ “What?!” Antroz said as he watched the Matoran fall into the pool. Is that water, or something else? He was stationed in some bushes at the edge of the forest to be hidden from the Matoran he was following. Since it was in the pool, Antroz moved out of hiding and went to one of the pools. Leaning over it, he examined the liquid. It was silvery and clear and a dim light was being emitted from it. Is this... Energized Protodermis?, the Makuta asked himself. Horror came over him, as he realized what could happen with the Matoran and his mask. ''What if the substance destroys my mask?! I have to get it off that scum.'' Running towards the pool that the Matoran fell in, something jumped out in front of Antroz. He recognized it at once and starting edging backward. A large Gukko was there and it looked at him with blood thirsty eyes. Wishing he had his mask to fight, the Makuta just ran away into the forest. The Gukko chased him in flight. Antroz reached the forest in seconds and jumped under it's canopy, hoping to be safe. The Gukko followed and shot in next to the Makuta. Unable to dodge the Rahi, it flew straight at the back of his head with its' beak forward. Entering unconsciousness, Antroz fell into the overgrowth. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ''Help! Help!'' Kyric screamed out in his head, unable to speak beneath the surface of the Energized Protodermis. Panic flooded through him as he floated under it. He had lost grip on the mask and he was swinging his arms in all directions, trying to swim out of the pool. Suddenly, relaxation swiftly came over Kyric and he stopped moving. He also found that he didn't have to hold his breath anymore. Then a tingling sensation ran up his legs and went through his arms. The feeling reached his face and felt most vibrant there. It was practically pulsing. The sensation slowly became pleasurable and a smile formed on his mask. Feeling the smile, he noticed that the feeling was strangely distant. Like his face had been moved forward. Touching his face, Kyric noticed that it was bigger and bulged out further. Odd, he noted. The sensation ended abruptly and Kyric was suddenly pushed out of the liquid. Landing on the hard ground, he breathed long deep breaths. After a few seconds, he stood up, feeling oddly energized and opened his eyes. The landscape of the field met his eyes, but it looked different. It looked like he was seeing things through a short tube. Is there something wrong with my mask? Kyric panicked at the thought. He knew that the Energized Protodermis could alter a Matoran, but he hoped desperately that it hadn't happened to him. Moving his hands, Kyric touched his face and the surface felt foreign to him. It felt rough and odd shaped. This can't be my mask. Panic swarmed over him as Kyric ran to the pool that he had fallen into. Staring into the liquid, he gaped at his reflection. The red and black mask that he was holding before the fall was looking back at him. “Oh no, oh no,” he muttered in shock. Kyric clasped his hands on the sides of his mask and pulled. It didn't move, so he pulled harder. It didn't budge, so he attempted one last time with all of his strength. Nothing. Kyric gave up. He couldn't believe that he had been so stupid by not using caution around the pools. He stopped panicking and getting angry at himself. He needed to relax. Walking away from the pool, Kyric moved to sit on a rock. What am I going to do?, Kyric thought. ''I guess I'll just have to go back to the village. Nix could help, couldn't he?'' Suddenly, Kyric felt himself sinking into the rock quickly, followed by a hit the ground with a hard thump. “What?” Standing up, he saw that the rock had fallen into pieces. Then he gaped at the rock in disbelieve. Did I do that? He couldn't believe that the liquid had given him some sort of power. I have the power to wither things? To test this idea, Kyric jogged to a tree on the edge of the field. Reaching out, he pushed his arms onto the bark. Instead of them stopping at the surface, they sunk deep into the tree until they came out the other side. In shock, Kyric quickly pulled his hands out and ran from the tree to avoid getting hit with the severed piece. Grimacing at the sight, he watched the severed piece wither into dust as it fell onto the ground. The trunk deteriorated as well. ''This is impossible. A Toa wouldn't even have a power so evil.'' Still in shock, Kyric ran towards his home village, hoping to find solace from this newly acquired power. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

EIGHT: Banishment
Silence was all Mallah heard as the Matoran made their way back to the village. Lylex didn't even have a smart comment to make. Falling into her thoughts once again, Mallah thought of Kyric and hoped that he would be in a better mood when they returned. She also thought of Wexl. She also noticed Nix on the way back. He didn't seem to be affected by the whole Wexl thing. Weird, she thought. I guess he just doesn't show emotion. Rounding a corner on the trail, the village came into view and most of the Matoran looked up, glad to be back so they could get to bed and forget about the past night. Nix was among this group as well. Mallah wasn't among this group, because she wanted to go and see Kyric. As they approached the village limits, something jumped out in front of Nix who was at the head of the procession. It was the size of a Matoran and had a... devilish looking face. Mallah and some others screamed at the sight, including a frightened Calv. The creature was shouting something out, but it was muffled and unclear. Mallah thought it was saying, “Help! Help!” Nix was just gaping at the creature with a surprised look. After a few seconds, he noticed all of the Matoran staring at him, waiting for him to do something. He answered them by swinging an arm at the creature. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Nix's arm hit Kyric straight across his forehead. The force of the blow caused him to fall back onto a bush with his arms outstretched in an attempt to keep balance. Oh no. The bush that he had fallen in slowly withered away to dust in front of a crowd, whose faces became horror stricken. “Monster! That thing can melt things!” one of them said. Kyric recognized it as Lylex's. “Get rid of that thing Turaga Nix!” another voice yelled, most likely Lil's. “No!” Kyric tried to yell clearly. “It's me. Kyric! I fell into an Energized Protodermis pool!” He stood up an moved in front of Nix. “It's me, Kyric,” he said very slowly, so he would be able to understand. The Turaga stared at the masked Matoran while his mind registered what he had heard. “This monster says he's Kyric,” Nix told all of the Matoran. Turning to look at them, Kyric saw a crowd of shocked faces. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Gaping at the monster she now knew was Kyric, Mallah couldn't believe what she was seeing. ''What has he gotten himself into? Or what has he gotten on his face?'' The other Matoran looked appalled at this new discovery. “Look at Kyric, everybody. He's managed to make himself look like more of a freak than usual,” Lylex teased, with her cackling laughter following. No one laughed at the joke, including Calv, her only friend. Some of the villagers gave her an annoyed look, while others just stared at Kyric. Nix was processing the thought with a confused and shocked look on his face. It looked like he was trying to figure out what to do. Should he help the Matoran? Sitting still on the ruins of the bush, Kyric stared at Nix, waiting for an answer. It only took him a minute to decide. “Kyric...,” he said slowly with a rising coldness in his voice. “From what I'm observing, it appears that you have stolen a mask from a Toa and somehow fused it to yourself. Is that true?” In disbelief, Kyric stood up and faced the Turaga while sputtering out a few words, “I didn't steal it. I found it.” But all Nix heard was, “I did... steal it.” Other than that, he just heard muffled speech. “So you admit to it? In that case, I'm afraid,” his cold voice began rising in volume, “that you are banished from this village. Get out of my sight!” Before Kyric could respond to this inaccurate conjecture, Nix's large palm knocked him into the dense foliage behind the remains of the bush. The fall came upon his head hard and he had to fight to remain conscious. Not bothering to look back, Kyric just ran through the bushes and away from the village, his feet withering what they stepped upon, mostly leaves and bushes. I'm not wanted here anymore, he told himself. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ After Kyric had run off, the Matoran slowly returned back to their huts in silence, including Nix, who walked away in anger. However, Mallah had remained plastered to where she stood, confused and in disbelief. So many questions flooded through her. ''How had Kyric gotten the mask? How was he able to wither things? How had the mask gotten fused to him? And why didn't Nix help him?'' The images of the evil looking mask on Kyric's face and his body withering a bush to dust would now be permanently attached to her memory. They would haunt her more than his sullen face ever would. Mallah couldn't bare to live without Kyric and she was deeply worried about his wellbeing out in the forest with all the Rahi. She wanted him to be back in the village, safe, but she couldn't defy Turaga Nix's orders. But, maybe, she could persuade him to let him back in. Kyric probably hadn't stolen the mask and Nix probably misunderstood Kyric when he “admitted” to it. Plus, Mallah was his favorite worker. Determined to change Nix's mind, Mallah briskly walked towards his hut. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

NINE: Nikila's Mask
Entering his hut, Nix flicked a finger and the stone door moved shut. Then the Turaga moved to a torch on the other side of his home and lit it with a flint stone. Relaxing, He let the mask of anger on his face dissolve away. He had no reason to keep it on, the Matoran were all in their huts. Nobody would see. A smirk appeared on his face as thoughts of the past ten minutes flooded through his head. Kyric had somehow found a mask and that meant that a Toa or... Makuta was on the island. If his memory was correct, then the mask was called a Jutlin and one belonged to a Makuta named Antroz. ''A Makuta... just what I need for revenge.'' Energized by the thoughts of revenge, Nix moved to a floor tile colored differently than the ones around it. Moving his hand, he lifted the tile using his limited gravitational powers. Under the tile was a small, box-shaped hole in the ground and inside was a variety of masks stacked on top of each other. Nix picked up the first, a Kanohi Plicate, Noble Mask of Replication, and moved it aside. After moving three more secondary masks, Nix picked up the mask at the very bottom of the hole. It was a Kanohi Xaea, but it looked abnormal because the mask was pulsing with gray light. It was as if some energy was stored into it. Nix did not move it away like the others, but instead, he held it against his chest with his arms wrapped around it. It looked like the Turaga was hugging it. After putting the four other masks back under the discolored tile, Nix went to his bed and laid down. He put the mask on his chest and started petting it. “Hello Nikila,” the Turaga purred sweetly, “miss me?” He talked to it as if the mask was his old friend. In his mind, he heard a response from the mask and continued, “You wouldn't believe what happened today. That lazy Matoran I told you about, Kyric, didn't go to the festival because I banned him. When the Matoran and I came back from it, he jumped out in front of us, wearing a Jutlin.” He thought he heard a response and then continued, “Yes, the Mask of Corruption. He must of stole it from Makuta Antroz, who I recall is one of the few that have such a mask. But that wasn't the weirdest part. He was able to use the mask's power of corruption. I don't know how he obtained them from the mask, but oh I don't care. Kyric must of stolen it from Makuta Antroz and that means he's on the island. Finally I've found a Makuta. Perhaps he could help me get revenge.” Nix heard another imaginary response from the mask, from an imaginary Nikila. It went something like, “Who do you want revenge from and for who?” Smiling, Nix answered the imaginary question, “For you, silly Nikila, against that demon Toa leader of ours... Lesovikk,” hatred flooded through his voice as he spoke the name. “The one that killed you. I'm sure you'll say that he didn't kill you, the Zyglak did, but that's false. He's the one that lead us and the rest of our team into that overgrowth with those monsters in it. Lesovikk killed our entire team, except me of course. He didn't know I lived. He didn't know that I tried to save you by giving my Toa Energy to your mask to try and bring you back to life. He didn't know that I cloned my body and your mask to escape to this isolated place. He doesn't know that I still have your sweet mask and it's not on my chest. There's so much he doesn't know.” The imaginary voice spoke again, saying something like “''That's so sweet of you. How will you do it?''” Nix answered again, “I'm going to find Kyric, who's probably lost in the dark woods at the moment, and take the mask from him. Then I'm going to find Antroz or whoever the mask belongs to and ask them for help. Then the two of us can track down Lesovikk and I can kill him. I'll avenge you, my precious Nikila.” With that he embraced the mask and held it tight. The imaginary voice asked another question in a saddened tone, “When will you leave me?” “Oh don't worry about that my love, I won't leave till just after the sun rises. The Matoran won't be up for a couple hours after that and I can sneak out. Who cares what will happen to the Matoran when I leave? Hopefully they'll eat each other.” Nix started chuckling at that thought and in his head, the mask was doing the same. “Also, I'm taking you with deary. I want you to see me rip off Lesy's head,” he said the last sentence in a very dark tone. Glancing out the window, he told the mask, “I've talked to you for quite a bit my love. We need to get rest for tomorrow. Hopefully our revenge will come soon after that.” With that, Nix got up briefly to extinguish the torch and went back to the bed. Holding the mask tight, the Turaga drifted off into sleep with fantasies of ripping off Lesovikk's head with his imaginary Nikila watching. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Letting out a long breath, Mallah sat down against the stone wall of Nix's hut. She had just been eavesdropping on his conversation with the imaginary Nikila. The only reason she was listening was because when she came to talk to him, Mallah found the hut door closed and heard voices coming from the window. She had been carefully listening to everything he was telling the mask. Appalled was an understatement for how she felt. Mallah's head was practically exploding with everything she's experienced and all of the information she had to process. First Kyric's depression, then Wexl's outburst, then Kyric's mask problem, and now finding out that her elder was insane. Mallah had to take a few seconds to breath. After calming down, her mind began to process what she had just heard. So Nix was insane from loosing his friend Nikila, who he was “talking” to. They had been on the same Toa team and their leader, Lesovikk, had lead them into a dangerous situation that killed most of them. Now he wanted to use the mask Kyric had “stolen” and the Makuta, or whoever it belonged to, to get back at their leader. Nix was crazy! He was going to leave all of the Matoran alone to go off and get revenge. And he wanted to get a mask from Kyric. What if he resisted? Nix would hurt him, badly probably, since he was so crazed for revenge. I have to warn Kyric. Then another thought popped into her head. ''Ivoria. She needs to know. She needs to know that Nix is crazy.'' Mallah would have to find them both before Nix hurt any of them on his storm for revenge. She had to warn her fellow workers as well, but how would they take it? They might not believe her or be too scared to do anything. I should just tell a couple, so they can lead the Matoran when Nix runs away. That's what she would do. Standing up carefully, Mallah slipped away from Nix's hut, leaving him asleep with the precious mask that he thought was Nikila. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

TEN: Seeking Help
Mallah moved quietly through the dark village, not wanting to wake anyone. It only took her five minutes to get the the western side of the settlement, where Isa's hut resided. She did not have a stone door like Nix, only a curtain made of leaves. Mallah knocked lightly at the door and called her name. Sounds of Isa getting off her stone bed came to Mallah's ears and the curtain was ripped open. Looking annoyed at being awoken, Isa asked, “Mallah? What are you doing here?” “I need to tell you something,” Mallah said somewhat nervously. Isa gave her a stunned look. “It couldn't wait until the morning?” Mallah just nodded and said, “I'm afraid it couldn't.” Noticing something was wrong, Isa's expression changed and she ushered her friend inside. They sat down on the dirt floor and Mallah told her everything she had overheard between Nix and his imaginary friend. Then she revealed her fears about the Turaga hurting Kyric and if Ivoria knew of his intentions. When she was finished, Isa looked shocked, almost as much as Mallah had been. “Wow, that's just... messed up. What are we going to do?” Not knowing the right answer, she said, “I think the first thing I have to do is warn Ivoria, she can probably do the most. I should also find Kyric, to keep him safe from Nix. That's why I came to you. I need to go away and do these things and I need you to lead everyone while our Turaga is off seeking revenge.” “What's with this 'I' thing. You can't go alone, I'm coming with you,” Isa said strongly. Staring in disbelieve, Mallah said, “What? Why would you want to come with me? It's dangerous.” “Because... I care about you Mallah and all of the others in our village. I couldn't stand to see you or any of them hurt... except maybe Lylex.” The two laughed at the joke, but at that moment, Mallah truly valued Isa as a friend. “If your coming with me, then who's going to stay and be a leader?” Standing up, Isa smiled and said, “I think I have an idea.” ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ The pair of Mallah and Isa sulked through the dark village. They had found sacks in the storage hut and filled them with food and other provisions. They were ready to leave, but they still had to get Isa's replacement. Coming upon a hut near the town center, Isa knocked lightly and urgently on the house's wall. After a few seconds of “getting out of bed noises”, a sleepy faced Ignus came to the door. When he noticed Isa, his slacked posture straightened immediately. “Um... hi Isa, Mallah. What exactly are you doing here?” The two briefly told him everything about what Mallah had heard from Nix and what they were off to do. They also asked him if he could stay and lead the Matoran. “Can you do that Ignus?” Isa asked sweetly. Staring into her eyes, he said, “Of course.” With that, the pair said there goodbyes to him and said thank you. Ignus watched the two walk away, paying special attention to Isa. He then went back to bed, not fully registering what he had agreed to. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Opening his eyes, Antroz looked up, disorientated. He was still in the same place, a small section of overgrowth and trees near the Protodermis Field. After a second, he remembered where he was and pounded his fist upon the ground in anger. ''Stupid bird Rahi! Why do they keep getting in my way?'' Standing up, the Makuta looked over the bushes and didn't see the Matoran in the field. ''I can't keep doing this without some sort of mask. I need help.'' Antroz didn't want to resort to calling the others and showing off his failed creation, but now he had too. Reluctantly, he grabbed a sphere-shaped metal object that was attached to his waist. He pressed a button on it's surface and the sphere opened up. Inside was a robotic bird, a Gukko Messenger. It was one of the Makuta's inventions. The messenger's metal exterior shined brightly in the moonlight. He flipped a switch on the machine's back and lights flicked on in its' eyes. Coming to life, the machine craned its' neck up to look at Antroz and it asked, “Who is your message going out to?” The Makuta thought over who to ask for help. If he asked Teridax, he would be furious that Antroz was crying out for help. The leader of the Brotherhood was also pretty busy with plans for raiding and such. After a couple seconds, he thought of the perfect member to ask. Mutran! Mutran wouldn't mind leaving the Southern Continent to help him and he hopefully wouldn't tell Teridax. “To Makuta Mutran on the Southern Continent,” Antroz told the messenger somewhat weakly. The robot paused, processing the location of Mutran. Then it asked, “What is your message?” After a second of thinking, Antroz told it, “Mutran, I'm trapped on an island in a hidden dome. I was working on a new Rahi creation on Destral and it turned out to be dysfunctional. It defied me and I chased it to a boulder on the wall of the dome. I destroyed the boulder and discovered that the rock was blocking the entrance to a passage. The Rahi flew in and I followed it to this isolated island. Then the creature attacked me and ripped off my mask. Now I'm powerless in this place. I would really appreciate if you came and helped me. This island is north of Destral. Thanks in advance, Antroz.” Right when he finished, the bird processed the information and flew away from Antroz. Reinforcements were on their way. Lying down, the Makuta realized all he had to do was wait. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

ELEVEN: Lesovikk's Find
Green-colored feet stepped over piles of debris and walked over burnt hills. The feet belonged to a Toa of Air, but this protector believed he was not fit for the title. His expression was sullen and his mind was filled with guilt. His name was Lesovikk. He was a Toa with a very dark past. Back in his homeland, he used to be a leader of a team. But he made a fatal mistake in leading his team into a seemingly easy fight with a pack of Zyglak. All of them were brutally murdered. It was not something he liked to dwell upon, but most of the time, it was all he thought about. Since that event, Lesovikk had wandered the universe on an endless journey, trying to make up for his mistakes. He had fought the Rahi Nui, becoming the first being known to defeat the beast. He'd even freed an island from a group of Visorak. But these good deeds were not enough to amend that one mistake. Now his travels had brought Lesovikk to the charred island, known as Onurak Nui. After overhearing something about the island in a village on the Southern Continent, he had decided to visit it. He heard that the island was once home to a population of Semi-Matoran, like regular Matoran, only with strange powers. These Matoran were considered a threat to Mata Nui by some unknown faction and so they burned the island with all of the inhabitants on it. Now that he was seeing the ruins of the island, Lesovikk was appalled that anyone would do something so vile. During a walk across the island, the Toa of Air took in all of the sights of burnt buildings and charred pieces of Matoran armor and body parts. This is awful. Leading his team to death had filled him with so much guilt. He couldn't imagine intentionally killing anyone, especially defenseless Matoran. Coming upon the western coastline, Lesovikk spotted something beyond it. There was a sea of boulders, some broken up and some not, that went on for several bio. Curious, the Toa jumped to the first one and started moving across the chain of rocks. It went on for a while and along the way, he saw the front end of a sunken ship sticking out of the water around the boulders. After stopping to examine the spectacle with little interest, Lesovikk continued on until the chain lead him to the edge of the dome. There, a huge boulder was placed against the smooth rock wall, towering over the rest. Observing it, he noticed something strange about how the water hit the rock. Instead of the waves getting pushed off of the stone, some of them went under the rock, then was pushed back. Is there a space beneath the rock? Testing his theory, Lesovikk dived into the water and swam towards the rock. He saw that there was a medium-sized hole in the boulder that water was flowing into. Putting his head inside, Lesovikk discovered that the hole was actually an opening to a larger tunnel. Intrigued by the find, the Toa pushed himself into the hole. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ His body erupting out of the water, Lesovikk sucked in a long awaited breath. The tunnel had taken longer to get through than he expected. Breath had never felt so good. After recovering, the Toa of Air noticed his surroundings. The tunnel had led him to a dark space, with nothing but blackness in each direction. Lesovikk waited for his eyes to adjust while treading in the deep water, but gave up after he couldn't see past the darkness. Swimming to one side, the Toa felt around until his hand brushed across a rock surface. But the surface didn't feel like that of a rough cave wall, it was much smoother. Then it came to him, '''I'm in a... a tunnel to another dome!'' It seemed strange that a tunnel would be hidden like this, with a boulder covering it. In all his travels, he hadn't seen anything like it. ''Did the tunnel lead to a secret dome? Was there some secret hidden with in it?'' The only way he could find out was by following the tunnel. Hoping he was facing the way opposite of the barricaded wall, Lesovikk channeled his Powers of Air into his hands. Unleashing the power, Air shot out of his hands and propelled him forward. He continued releasing energy to propel himself through the water, like a fast ship. It would probably take him quite a while to swim through. Good thing, Lesovikk had no obligations to attend to. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ It had felt like days since the Toa of Air started moving through the tunnel and now a light had appeared in the distance. Lesovikk was now walking. At the end of what felt like the first day, the water had become so shallow that he was able to walk in it. Dry ground came soon after that and he was able to sleep on it. Ever since he awoke, the Toa had been sprinting with the help of his Air powers. Now the end was near and a little bit of excitement flared up in the sullen Toa. Something that hadn't happened in ages. The light became brighter and the ground began to slant upward as the exit became closer. The light reached its' peak as Lesovikk stepped out of the tunnel. He immediately started blinking as he exited to get used to the blinding sunlight. After his vision returned to normal, Lesovikk found that the tunnel's exit was situated behind a tall cliff that was virtually inaccessible from the water below. ''Wow... someone must of really wanted to keep this place, um... what's the word? Isolated...'' Moving to the edge, the Toa looked out over the water and spotted two silhouettes. One was very round and bumpy. It looked like it was of a giant boulder protruding out of the water. The other one was harder to identify. It looked like an island with two peaks, but he couldn't be sure. Lesovikk dived off the cliff and started swimming to the silhouette in curiosity. As the Toa of Air swam closer to the silhouette, the sun began to set, making it hard for him to identify shadows. When he was less than seven bio from his destination, he was able to identify it as indeed an island with two large mountains. Do Matoran live here?, the Toa wondered. He also noticed a forest along the coastline and several sandy beaches on the shore. Swimming the rest of the way, Lesovikk left the water and felt his feet press into the sand. Something about this place relaxed him, making his guilt ridden thoughts float away briefly. Maybe it was the cool breeze that came from the sea or the lack of loud noises? No Rahi cried, there was just the sound of the water and the wind. Lesovikk could not remember a time there had been just that. In tranquility, he sat down and watched the sun finish setting. It was a glorious sight to watch and he enjoyed it. A rare thing for the guilt ridden Toa to do. Suddenly, a loud shriek sounded from within the woods. Snapping out of his relaxed state, Lesovikk jumped to his feet and paused, not sure whether or not to pursue the noise. ''It sounds too tame to be that of a Rahi, yet too wild for a villager. What could it be?'' The need to protect innocence welled up deep within him and began to rise as Lesovikk plunged into the forest. The shrieking sounded twice more, leading Lesovikk to a small clearing. Looking down, he saw the source of the noise and didn't like the sight. In the center of the opening was an Onu-Matoran screaming while trying to pull its' mask off. The screams were filled with agony and despair. One strong pull caused the Matoran to fall forward, landing on a pile of leaves. Shock coming over him, Lesovikk watched as the pile of leaves beneath it slowly withered to dust. What?, he thought confused, How does that Matoran have corruption powers? Then the Matoran stopped shrieking and the silence of the night returned. Lesovikk moved to the Matoran and carefully flipped him over. Touching the villager didn't wither his armor at all. The power must not corrupt creatures. He discovered another oddity about this villager. Instead of having a darker-colored mask, like other Matoran of Earth, this one had a deep red-colored mask that looked slightly devilish. Something was definitely wrong with this Matoran and Lesovikk knew it needed help. Scooping it up in his arms, the Toa of Air started moving through the forest again, looking for help. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

TWELVE: Medical Attention
The room that Wexl was laid in had walls made of logs and a dirt floor. The ceiling was composed of many large leaves and other foliage. The bed he laid in had a wooden frame and a pile of leaves for cushions. He had been laying there since the night before, when the Le-Matoran brought him to Ivoria's Village. No light came from the dark night, so the room was lit by three scattered torches. The one over his bed illuminated the figure of Ferra, the lean female Le-Matoran that brought him there. She was sitting on a wooden stool, watching him as she had been for hours. The Matoran had been unconscious since he fainted at the festival. Ivoria told Ferra that it was called a coma. A coma?, she thought, What an horrible sounding name. She thought the name was better suited for a vicious Rahi rather than what Wexl was going through. Something inside of her was forcing her to constantly watch the clumsy Matoran. She didn't know what it was called because she'd never felt it before. It started at the festival, when he started talking to her. Something about Wexl's clumsiness and nervous sounding voice made her want to be around him. It was intensified by watching him in this coma. No one else asked why she was constantly watching him. Ferra was Ivoria's apprentice for fixing up Matoran, and the Toa had instructed her to check on him periodically. So she did... pretty much all the time. A groan sounded from Wexl, causing Ferra to stand up over him. “Wexl,” she whispered, “are you awake?” He groaned again and Ferra became hopeful that he would awake. Wexl's hands quickly shot to his face, causing her to jump back in shock. After rubbing his eyes, they opened and stared at Ferra in surprise. “Ferr...rr...a,” he muttered. “Is th... that you?” Suddenly feeling breathless and incredibly happy at the same time, she responded, “Yes, Wexl. Are you okay?” She sat back at her stool and grasped his hand. “Ye...yeah. I'm just a b... bit tired,” he said, still not able to talk without a stutter, “My hea...head hurts a bit too.” “Don't worry about that,” she assured, “When you fell off the platform, you dented part of the armor covering your head. Ivoria fixed it this morning. So you'll be fine after some rest.” Still dazed looking, Wexl said, “Okay.” An awkward silence followed because Ferra was trying to figure out what to say. “How long have I been asleep?” Wexl asked, breaking the silence. He had recovered from his stutter. A tad bit surprised by the abrupt line, Ferra responded, “About a day.” Shocked, Wexl responded, “Wow, that was some fall I made. I don't think I've ever managed to make a fall like that.” He chuckled. Ferra did as well, but kind of nervously. There was a question she wanted to ask him. “Wexl, what happened to you? Like why did you start freaking out?” she finally asked. Wexl was silent for a moment as he thought of how to answer. When he finally did, he said, “I know this sounds strange, but I had no memory of what happened to me when I woke up here on Zelix Nui. While living in the village, the people I mentioned at the festival seemed so familiar to me. Like I knew them before. But then, while I was standing on that platform, a voice inside my head told me about the fire and my friends dying. It was a low dark voice that I had never heard before,” he said the last line slowly and solemnly. Taking it all in, Ferra said, “I believe you...” “How's the patient Ferra?” A stern professional voice sounded from the doorway. Wexl and her looked to the door and found Ivoria standing there with an apple in her hand. “He just woke up and has mild head pains, Toa Ivoria. I was about to come tell you.” A smile appeared on the Toa's face, “Good. Then my procedure worked. Glad to have you awake Wexl. I was starting to get worried. We'll get you back to your village as soon as possible.” Wexl nodded and was about to say thank you, but was interrupted by a knock on the hut's wooden door. “Now who could that be?” The Toa of Air muttered to herself as she moved to open the door. It opened to reveal Zapil, a Matoran of Lightning standing there. “Matoran Zapil, what are you doing here? Why aren't you on watch?” Zapil was breathing rather quickly due to running to the hut urgently. She finally said, “There's someone at the village entrance, a visitor. He says he has a Matoran that needs help.” An urgent look came over Ivoria's face as she said, “I'll be right there.” She gestured to the Hi-Matoran to leave and then turned to Ferra, “Come with me Ferra.” The Le-Matoran nodded and then the Toa of Air spoke to Wexl, “We'll be right back. Just rest. Also, take this.” Ivoria tossed the apple she had been holding to Wexl. With that gesture, Ivoria and Ferra left the hut. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ A lean Hi-Matoran stared at Lesovikk with longing eyes. He was standing at the entrance of Ivoria's Village, which was marked by two trees. The unconscious Matoran was still in his hands. There had been two of the Hi-Matoran, but one left to get their elder. The Toa of Air was getting very uncomfortable with the other one watching him. Her armor was yellow and dark blue and she had a sash that had the words, “Electra Guard” written on it. Lesovikk couldn't remember the last time a female Matoran had looked at him like she did. Lesovikk moved his gaze from the staring Matoran to the villager's huts scattered out in front of him. He spotted three figures approaching the gate. One was the other Hi-Matoran Electra Guard. Another was a normal looking Le-Matoran. But the other one was just amazing looking. She was a lean Toa of Air with strangely beautiful blue eyes. She had a strange looking arm, but that didn't stop Lesovikk from dropping his jaw at her approach. “Hello visitor,” The Toa said. Her voice was very sharp yet kind. Lesovikk almost skipped a breath hearing it. The Toa slowly formed words, it had been a while since he had last talked. Maybe six months? “H... h... hello.” Ivoria examined him and then asked, “Toa, may I ask your name?” The word Toa seemed foreign to him. That name didn't belong to him anymore. “My name is Lesovikk.” “Nice to meet you Toa Lesovikk,” Ivoria said warmly. “Please, just Lesovikk.” She gave him a confused look and then just nodded her head, “Okay, just Lesovikk.” He started to chuckle a bit and Ivoria joined him. “Thank you.” “My name is Ivoria, Toa of Air.” “Pleased to meet you,” Lesovikk said awkwardly. Ivoria's gaze moved to the unconscious Matoran, her face changed from that of a greeter to a worried protector. “Who is that in your hands.” Lesovikk jerked out of his gaze on her and remembered why he had come to the village in the first place. “I found him in the woods,” he said worriedly, “he was trying to pull of this red mask and then fell forward onto a pile of leaves. He passed out... right after the leaves withered to dusk.” The last words seemed to confuse Ivoria. “What do you mean by that?” Trying to find to words, he just blurted out, “When his body met the leaves, they dispersed to dust.” More confusion flooded into her face. “This Matoran obtained Toa-like powers?” Shrugging his shoulders, Lesovikk said, “I guess so. I can't think of any other reason.” “Strange, It must have something to do with this strange mask. I don't remember any Matoran on this island having such a mask. I will have to examine him more closely. Ferra.” The Le-Matoran turned her attention towards the Toa towering over her. “Yes, Toa Ivoria.” “Take this Matoran to the medic hut and lie him in the bed next to Wexl's,” she instructed. The Matoran named Ferra moved to Lesovikk and he laid the body on her out stretched arms. Then she started walking in the direction that they had come from. Ivoria turned her attention to the Hi-Matoran that she had come with. “Zapil, return to your watch and tell Astra to do the same. She seems to be enjoying our visitor's presence too much.” The Hi-Matoran that was staring at Lesovikk abruptly stopped and turned her gaze back to the forest. Zapil moved and did the same. The female Toa of Air turned to Lesovikk and told him, “I'm going to examine the Matoran and see if I can do anything at the moment. You can go to my hut, the closest one to the sea, and start a fire. I'll be there within the hour and then you can tell me about yourself.” Before Lesovikk was able to respond, Ivoria started briskly walking away. He watched her go and felt a warm feeling within him. Something very foreign to him that he couldn't name. Then something that had not happened to the Toa in ages occurred. The feeling made him smile. He didn't remember how nice it felt to smile. The Toa of Air didn't spend to much time pondering about Ivoria because he knew that she wouldn't be late. I have to go start that fire. On that thought, Lesovikk started walking through the village, towards the sea, where Ivoria's hut would be waiting. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ “Ouch!” Mallah rolled her eyes at Isa's shriek. She had been dealing with this all day. Every time her companion stepped on a crooked rock or slipped, she screamed. Mallah was beginning to re-think her decision of bringing her along. “What's wrong Isa?” She didn't even bother turning around. “I think I crushed my foot on a rock, I can barely feel it,” she whined. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Mallah stopped and turned around to face her friend. Isa had somehow fallen two bio behind and was practically invisible in the darkness. She was only identifiable by her lavender Miru. Approaching her, Mallah noticed that Isa was lying on the ground. “Let me see it,” she said, going down on one knee to look at it. “I didn't even see it coming. Why can't we stop and sleep for the night? We've been at it all day,” Isa mumbled while Mallah checked her foot. After examining it, she looked up in annoyance. “Isa, you barely scratched your armor. It's not like you need medical attention. We'll stop once we find the village.” “Really? But it hurts so much...” Holding in an annoyed yell, Mallah said, “Did you try standing up?” “That will just make it worse,” Isa stood up. “Oh, it's fine now,” she smiled as she said the last sentence. Mallah didn't even bother saying anything about the instant recovery. “Come on, let's go.” She continued walking in the direction they had been going. “Hey Mallah, isn't that the village?” “No, that's not. This way is west. That's the direction the village is in.” “Are you sure? I see a fire and a hut. I kind of see a bit of the sea too.” “What?” Mallah said somewhat surprised. Isa had actually found something. She was the one that lead them so far north that they hit the plateau earlier that day. Investigating, the Onu-Matoran went back to Isa and looked in the direction she was pointing. “Your right Isa,” Mallah said, smiling, “That looks like the beginning of the villager's huts.” “Let's go, so we get some rest.” Mallah was too happy to roll her eyes. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

THIRTEEN: More Tales of Arrival
The night air was cool as Lesovikk made his through Ivoria's Village. Several woodcutters and boat carvers were returning to their village for the night. Some of them gave the Toa of Air weird looks and others were too tired to. A musician plucked his last notes as the Toa reached the village's central plaza. He observed that the huts were wooden and many trees were planted around them. It gave the village a homely feel. Something that Lesovikk hadn't felt in ages. After taking time to explore the village, he came upon the seashore. The moon was still shining off the water's surface and Ivoria's hut was just a bit farther up the shore on a small cliff that loomed over the sea. Moving towards it, Lesovikk noticed that it was set in front of the forest's edge and a dense collection of foliage was situated next to it. The site of the overgrowth brought back a bad memory that the Toa mentally pushed away immediately. Ivoria's hut looked different than the others. Instead of being solely made out of wood, It had a rock foundation with stone pillars holding up the structure at each corner. The walls were made by logs placed in between each of the pillars. A curtain of leaves served as the door. It was a very strange hut, like no other he had saw before. But he didn't take too long to admire the site, the fire had to be built. Avoiding the overgrowth, Lesovikk went shallowly into the forest and picked out a couple sticks and a few logs for firewood. Finding the ruins of a previous fire on the cliff, he placed the wood on it and found a flint stone in Ivoria's hut. He sparked a flame and used his Air abilities to enlarge the fire. Once the fire was at a comfortable level, Lesovikk sat upon one of the unused logs and waited for Ivoria. Staring into the fire, reflections of the past days flooded into his head. Lesovikk couldn't believe that he had found this place and had met her. Nostalgia swarmed through the Toa as he thought of his old life as a Matoran, when he tended to a garden. Those were the simple times. Being in this village brought that feeling of simplicity back into him. And he liked it. “Good work visitor,” the stern voice of Ivoria said, snapping Lesovikk out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw the Toa of Air standing over him, “Hello Toa Ivoria.” “Oh, just call me Ivoria. We're not that formal here,” she said while causally sitting down on another spare log. “Really?” he inquired. Lesovikk had always addressed other Toa and elders by their title. “This island's culture seems to be very different.” Ivoria seemed to be confused about the comment at first, but then said, “Well, this place is very different than other Matoran settlements. Matoran of all elements are meshed together and a Toa can be an elder here. This settlement was founded when a Turaga and I found a group of mangled misfit Matoran here and organized them into two villages. Neither of us really remembered our Matoran days, so we created our own customs and rules.” “I see,” Lesovikk said, nodding. “So, how is the Matoran?” “He's alright, but still knocked out. I have Ferra attending to him. The other Matoran in the Medic Hut, Wexl, recognized him as Kyric, an Onu-Matoran from the other village. I've rarely seen him, but heard a lot of complaints about him from my Turaga friend.” “Oh, I see. Did he know anything about how he got the mask fused to his face?” Shaking her head, Ivoria said, “No. Wexl hasn't seen Kyric since he left for the festival yesterday. He was banned from going to the festival and stayed in the village alone. And somehow he managed to get that mask stuck to his face.” “That's strange,” Lesovikk commented. An awkward silence followed, until Ivoria broke it, “I just remembered a big custom we have on this island.” “What's that?” “Whenever someone new comes to the island, they are asked to tell the story of how they arrived here. We refer to it as their 'Tale of Arrival'.” “Um... what exactly does that consist of?” Lesovikk questioned, confused as to what she meant. Ivoria looked at him strangely for a second and said, “Why it's the story of how you ended up here and why.” Not knowing what to tell her, he just said, “Well, I found the entrance to this place under a rock.” Confused as to why he was being so vague, Ivoria said, “That's interesting, but not quite what should be a part of a Tale of Arrival. Start from the beginning. Tell me about your past.” Lesovikk cringed at this suggestion. He had never talked about his past to anyone before and he didn't know where to begin. There was no reason to hide it from Ivoria. She looked to be the understanding type. After a bit more hesitation, he began, “I used to live on an island in a dome west of here. There, I worked as a tender to a tree called the First Vuata Maca Tree...” “Oh really? Those are very rare trees. I haven't seen one since... I can't even remember,” Ivoria interjected, “sorry, continue.” Still hesitant, Lesovikk continued, “Well, Zyglak threated to attack our island, so our Turaga was given six Toa Stones to start a team of protectors. I was chosen and became a Toa of Air. Then my fellow Matoran, that also became Toa, joined with two other Toa and we became a team. Then after our training, I was chosen to be the leader of our team.” “That's quite an honor,” praised Ivoria. “Yes, it was back then. But then, I... I lead... I lead my team to their deaths, by instructing them to fight a pack of Zyglak in an area of dense overgrowth,” his voice became more frantic. “They were hard to see in the foliage and all of them went down quickly. It was painful to see their dead bodies lying amongst the bushes. It was all my fault,” Lesovikk said the last lines solemnly. It wasn't full of anger or guilt, just sorrow. Ivoria was silent for a couple minutes, taking it all in. Then a sympathetic look came over her face as she said, “I'm sorry.” Accepting her sympathy, Lesovikk said, “Thanks. Well, soon after that, the Turaga on my home island went crazy and sent all of the Matoran to some place called Karzahni.” “Oh,” Ivoria said, a bitter memory flashing through her head. Nodding, Lesovikk said, “Yes and I've been wandering the universe ever since. That's how I stumbled upon this place.” The pair were silent until Ivoria said, “Well that's quite a Tale of Arrival. You've had an interesting past, Lesovikk.” “Yea, my past has been interesting, but far from being great, or even alright.” Ivoria was silent for another moment, not knowing how to react. Then she said, “Well since you told your tale, it's customary for me to tell you mine.” Lesovikk opened his ears and prepared to comprehend her tale. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ The pair of Onu-Matoran, Mallah and Isa, moved rather loudly and quickly through the overgrowth of the forest floor towards the fire in the distance. As they moved closer to it, Mallah saw two silhouettes sitting around the fire... One of them must be Ivoria, she thought hopefully. Then a crashing noise sounded behind her. Isa, she sighed. Turning around, she saw her companion lying on the ground. “Get up, we're almost there.” She whined, “sorry, I tripped on a root and...” “Halt Strangers!” some low deep voice shouted at them. Turning around, Mallah saw that the voice belonged to a broad shouldered female Hi-Matoran walking towards them. She held a Lightstone in her hand and had a sash on with the lettering “Captain of the Electra Guard”. Shining light onto Mallah's face, the Captain said, “What business do you have in these parts at night?” Not knowing what to say, Mallah just blurted out the truth, “We need to see Toa Ivoria immediately.” The Hi-Matoran chuckled deeply before saying, “Oh please. Even I, Bolta of the Electa Guard, do not get to see Toa Ivoria on request. Only in dire situations. What is your name?,” she asked Mallah and then turned her gaze to Isa, “And her name as well? Do you two live in the other village? And why is she lying on the ground?” “My name is Mallah,” she said, very annoyed at this delay, “and that's Isa, she just tripped. And yes, we're from the other village. We have something very important to tell Toa Ivoria. I needs to be told to her right now.” Laughing again, Bolta said, “If you want to talk to her so badly, you can come back to the village with me through the front entrance and you can talk to her in the morning.” Anger flared within Mallah as she heard the last line. She didn't know where it came from, perhaps from the ever growing fear of Kyric being alone in the forest of Zelix Nui. He could of already been attacked by Rahi or been hurt by a falling tree. Whether or not it was that, she still did not want to deal with this guard. Isa, almost as if she heard Mallah's thoughts, stood up and shoved the Hi-Matoran. The force caused her to fall on the forest floor, cursing. “Go!” Isa shouted at Mallah. Not taking any time to wait, the pair both started sprinting towards the fire, hoping to get to Ivoria, before Bolta got to them. For Kyric, Mallah thought. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ “So then, we we fixed up the Matoran and organized them into two groups. The Turaga took the Matoran suited for mining and put them to work on the western side of the island. I took the ones not suited for mining and set up a village here. We've been living on this island ever since,” Ivoria finished her tale. For some strange reason, she seemed to leave Nix's name out of it. It was probably just a coincidence. Lesovikk took in the story, before saying, “That is very good tale. You are very noble for helping these Matoran. They all seem very happy working under your guidance. I saw that from merely viewing them as they returned to their huts. Not a complaint among them.” Feeling a tad bit bashful at his comment she said, “Well it wasn't just my nobility, it was Turaga Nix's as well.” “Oh that's his name, it sounds kind of familiar...” then he remembered who that the name had belonged to. This memory hit him like a heavy boulder. Could this really be the same Nix?!, he panicked. ''Ivoria said that he was a Turaga of Gravity and I'm sure that there aren't many of that element named "Nix". He must be the same Toa I lead, but how on this universe did he survive. His body was there, I burned it with the rest of them! This can't be real, this can't be real.'' Noticing the panicked look on his face, Ivoria became very confuse and asked him, “Lesovikk, what's wrong.” He didn't stir, just keep staring off into space with memories and confused thoughts pulsing in his brain. ''What is wrong with him? Did I say something?'' the baffled Ivoria thought. “Are you alright?” Slowly coming out of his trance, he asked her, “Nix... the name... where did you find him? What was the name of the island?” “It was on the Northern Continent, why? Have you meet Nix before?” “Why?” she responded yet again, still incredibly bemused at his demand. “I think... I think... he was the Matoran of Gravity on my old team,” Lesovikk slowly let out. “What?” Ivoria's confusion only grew stronger as he muttered this statement. ''How could Nix have been a member of Lesovikk's Team. I thought they all died?'' But before she had time to respond, rustling sounded in the bushes by Ivoria's hut and her and Lesovikk looked towards it. Then two Onu-Matoran shot out of the bushes and tumbled onto the ground. A sound of someone yelling came after them, and Bolta, one of the village's guards, shot out of the bushes as well. Exchanging a puzzled look with Lesovikk, Ivoria said, “I hope you have a good tale of arrival.” ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

FOURTEEN: The Deal
A rock skidded across the water, rippling its' surface. Antroz picked another one out of the pile he had gathered and skipped that one too. Boredom had caused him to resort to this silly process. ''Ugh, I know those messengers take a while, but it's been a day. That should be enough time. That fool Mutran is probably too busy cutting up Matoran to respond to my call. He only cares about those silly little experiments. Oh, he's a-'' “Hello Makuta,” a sleek voice said nearby, breaking Antroz out of his ranting thoughts. Looking up from the water, Antroz spotted the voice's origin, a strange creature hidden within the shadows of the forest. “Show yourself,” the Makuta barked. It moved out into the moonlight, revealing itself as a Turaga with gray armor and a Noble Kanohi Matatu adorning its' face. Laughing immensely at this sight, Antroz jeered, “Ha! A Turaga of Iron has the guts to come and visit me? What do you want to do? Kill me?” Ignoring the Makuta's comment with a blank face, the Turaga said, “No, not really and my Element is Gravity, not Iron.” ''How dare this leech correct me. I can crush it without my mask, any day.'' “Oh aren't you special. You do realize how powerful Makuta are? I could probably kill you with one stomp,” he said threateningly. Keeping its' cool expression, the Turaga let out an awkward breathy laugh, “That threat doesn't really work for me. I wouldn't really care if you killed me. It would actually be a blessing.” Antroz was slightly surprised at this creature. It showed no fear. Did it have nothing to be afraid of? “Oh, you think you're brave, don't you?” “Oh no. Why would I be afraid of a maskless Makuta. You're not very powerful without it, weak actually,” it said tantalizingly. This sparked a rage within Antroz, “How dare you call me weak! And how do you know that loosing a mask makes a Makuta weak?” The thing let out more breathy laughter, “Do you take me for a fool, Makuta? I am well-learned. I know a lot of things; I know that your kind watch over domes, I know that your kind like to experiment, and that your name is Antroz. I even know where your mask is.” ''How did this creature learn so much about us? But it knows where my mask is! And he better tell me.'' “Tell me where it is or I'll interrogate you. I can make you feel pain. The worst pain you've ever experienced.” “Pain is nothing to me. I've already experienced pain like no other and you know my view on death. But I will tell you, for a price,” a smirk covered his face as he said the last line. “Who do you thing you are? Asking a Makuta to follow your demands,” Antroz said angrily. It laughed once again, “My name is Turaga Nix, elder of this island. And I think that you need the information, since you've resorted to skipping silly rocks. And you have what I want, so I believe a deal can be made here.” ''Ugh, this Matoran has got me cornered. I could kill or torture it, but then I would loose the information. I can see what it wants, I can always pretend to follow it and then dispose of it when I get what I want.'' “Fine. What is it that you want?” “Well, in exchange for the location of your mask, I need you to help me... commit a murder,” the last lines were tinted with a lust for something. Probably blood. Offended by this question, Antroz roared, “What do you think I am?! I'm no one's assassin!” Staying calm, Nix responded, “Oh no. I don't trust assassins. I want to kill the creature myself. I just need help locating him. I do believe that you Makuta have that kind of technology?” Annoyance was flooding through Antroz. ''This vermin would have been much better off not knowing about everything around him. Ugh, his demands are annoying, but what choice do I have?'' “Why do you want to kill someone. I thought that Turaga had higher standards than that?” he asked laughing at the thought of their morals. Nix paused, before saying, “Well that's a stereotype, Makuta. I believe in fighting fire with fire, getting revenge. You know what I mean?” This question gave Antroz a chill. Thinking about a Toa and Makuta having the same morals disgusted him. ''This is one messed-up Turaga. If I was a caring being, I might feel sorry for it. I'll agree to his silly proposition and play along... for a while. I can always drop the curtain early.'' “Yes I do,” he lied, “I accept. No joy came over Nix's face, the blankness remained, “Good. Well isn't this funny. I never thought a Makuta would ever have to submit to a 'lesser being', I find it quite funny.” A smirk returned to his face. [i]Who does this Gafna think he is?! He felt the urge to lash out at the being, but didn't because he needed the information, no matter how much it bothered him to have to submit to a Turaga. “Yes, it is funny,” Antroz lied for his act. “Good, I'm glad you think so. I'll lead you to the place in the morning. I'm sure you have allies on the way. You were probably just their scout for an investigation of this island. I know the ways of the Makuta. We'll wait for them in the morning. I'm going to rest now. You know the consequences of disposing of me.” Before Antroz could yell out in anger, the being moved back into the woods to rest. ''Oh, he just assumed I had allies on the way. Ugh, I never willingly submit to anyone, especially a Matoran. Oh, I can't wait to tear apart that scum once he reveals where that Matoran and my mask are. Oh, he's going to get it.'' ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~