Introduction

Turaga Vakama knelt before the Amaja Circle. Before him sat the six Toa Nuva, Takanuva, and Hahli, the Matoran currently serving as Chronicler. All of them were waiting for him to continue a story he dreaded having to tell.

“You know, not long after the Matoran came to this island of Mata Nui, their memories of the past disappeared,” he began. “All that had happened in the city of Metru Nui, the good and the bad, was lost to them. Sometimes… sometimes I think they were most fortunate in that regard.”

Hahli looked down at the tablet on which she was carving Vakama’s words. She had never heard the Turaga sound so defeated, as if the weight of a thousand years was on his shoulders. She could not imagine what happened in Metru Nui that could so affect him. For the first time, she found herself wishing someone else was the Chronicler.

“We had escaped Metru Nui, we six Toa Metru, with a small number of Matoran. Each of them was locked in a deep sleep, induced by Makuta as part of his grand scheme of conquest. We had found a new land — this land — where the Matoran would be safe. Now we had only to return to the quake-ravaged city and recover them all.”

Vakama scattered a number of small black stones in the sandpit. “What we could not know was that, in our absence, the city had been seized by the spider creatures called Visorak. Due to our… my… overconfidence, we were captured shortly after we returned there. Trapped in cocoons, we were mutated by Visorak venom into half Toa, half beasts called Toa Hordika. Only the actions of six strangers, the Rahaga, saved us from death.”

The Turaga’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Better we had perished… that is what some of us thought at the time. The Rahaga told us we must find a cure for our condition within a limited time, or risk remaining as Hordika — or worse — for all eternity. Instead, we chose to focus our efforts on saving the Matoran, worrying about ourselves when they were safe.

“It was a difficult decision. The rage of the Rahi ruled our hearts, and in none more than mine. We faced enemies of great power and great cunning, and we had to do it stripped of our mask powers, stripped of our traditional Toa tools, yes, stripped of our very selves…”