Chapter Nine

Defilak, Gar, and Idris had gone mad — or so it seemed to the other denizens of Mahri Nui. With the fields of air cut off and the city menaced by a sea monster beyond all imagining, the three of them were swimming from place to place committing acts of vandalism.

“Smash them! Smash them all!” Defilak yelled. Then he swung his blade and shattered another lightstone, while the other two Matoran did the same. Working from one end of the city to the other, they broke every lightstone they ran across, plunging Mahri Nui into darkness.

“What are you doing?” Kyrehx demanded. “Have you lost your minds?”

“No, come to our senses,” Gar replied.

“Venom eels — think!” Defilak snapped. “They react to light and movement. Douse all the light and this one won’t see the city. Get everyone away from the borders and into shelters — especially the fortress. Anyone outside has to remain-stay perfectly still. The slightest motion will bring the creature back. Go!”

Kyrehx took off on her mission. She still wasn’t sure she understood the plan — were the Matoran supposed to remain motionless and in darkness for the rest of eternity? And what about the invaders? With no one to guard the borders, what was to stop them from conquering Mahri Nui? But she supposed it made sense to face one danger at a time.

She herded the villagers into their shelters, while getting another group moving into the fortress. As she did so, her eyes were drawn to the peak in the distance. It was a most unusual geographic feature, even for this place, for the very top of the mountain extended toward the surface with a narrow cord of stone. The mountain was riddled with caves, but those few Matoran who had tried to explore them had never returned. She often wondered just where that cord led to, and if she would ever see the world above the waves. Now and then, she would get a flash of memory of living on dry land, but the flashes never lasted long. She dismissed them as fantasies.

“Come on, get moving,” she said to a straggling Ta-Matoran. It was time to deal with reality again. Maybe later, if the city survived, there would be more time to dream.

The creature was troubled. Just moments before, there had been a lush, glittering hunting ground down below. Now all was darkness and stillness and it could no longer spot the site of its previous attacks. The only things moving were the keras crabs, and as small as they were in relation to its size, they barely constituted a meal.

Oh, there was one other thing in motion. It was a being that hovered in the water near the creature’s face, staring into its eyes. The being had strange eyes… There was something compelling about them… so that the creature did not want to look away… yes, best to keep staring so the being could not slip away without the creature noticing…

The venom eel suddenly started. It had heard a noise, then another and another, sounds that were not a natural part of the undersea world. They were coming from the stone cord atop the great mountain — no, they were coming from inside the cord. Was there some new enemy hiding in there? Or better yet, a meal?

This was much more interesting to the creature than the strange little being’s eyes. It shot forward, heading toward the cord, and plowing into the being in the process. The monstrous eel swam on, paying no attention to the unconscious Takadox spiraling swiftly down into the black waters.

Pridak spotted Mantax first. The Barraki was swimming as if every creature of the Pit was chasing after him. Pridak intercepted him before he could dive into a sea cave.

“Our prey is the other way, is it not?” the Barraki leader said. “Or have you forgotten, in the years we have been down here, how to advance toward a battle?”

Mantax hurriedly related all that he had experienced — the Matoran with the strange Kanohi, the monster that emerged from the cave, and his own valiant efforts to go find help for Kalmah.

“Help from whom?” Pridak asked, unconvinced. “The seaweed? The shells? That is all you will find here. Show me where this happened, and we will help Kalmah ourselves.” Then he smiled, baring his wickedly sharp teeth. “Or at least make sure he does not go to waste.”

The two Barraki made their way toward the cave where Dekar and the Mask of Life had been spotted. As they neared that point, Pridak’s keen senses picked up the approach of others. Two of the scents were familiar — Ehlek and Carapar — and one was not.

Pridak signaled for Mantax to keep going while he circled behind. If there was a newcomer to the Pit, it might be someone else seeking the mask. In that case, Pridak would make short work of him. Someone else to share the loot with would not be a welcome sight.

He spotted them quickly. The two Barraki were swimming rapidly with the newcomer between them, barely keeping pace. He looked powerful. Pridak decided to take no chances — bite now, ask questions later, if the stranger was still alive to answer them. He moved in, silently, his jaws aching for the thrill of the first attack.

The stranger glanced over his shoulder. He spotted Pridak, but the Barraki was confident his prey had no time to react. Then a sizzling bolt of energy shot from the newcomer’s sword and struck Pridak, sending spasms through his body. He managed to grab onto a rocky ledge and held on tightly despite the convulsions. If he sank to the bottom of the black water in this condition, he would never rise again.

When he regained control, he opened his dead eyes to see Ehlek, Carapar, and the stranger looking at him. No doubt they were waiting to see if I would die, so they could get to me before the carrion fish did, Pridak thought. How disappointed they must be.

“Who… is… this?” Pridak said, with some difficulty.

“He says his name is Brutaka,” Carapar answered. “And that we work for him now.”

“I have come for the Mask of Life,” Brutaka said. “Anyone who tries to deny me my rightful due will be an obstacle that must be removed.”

“I know… a little something… about removing,” Pridak replied, letting go of the ledge and starting to swim again. “Arms. Legs. Think about it.”

Mantax joined them. If Brutaka was concerned that the odds were now four against one, he didn’t show it. He simply followed the Barraki as they made their way down to the sea caves.

Once I have the mask, it won’t matter how many of them there are, he thought. It might even be amusing to see what the power of the Ignika would make of these… monstrosities.

The creature circled the stone cord, eyeing it with suspicion. The noises were still coming from inside. It sounded like many living things inside, not just one, and all of them locked in battle. The creature had no idea if the cord contained land animals, sea animals, Matoran, Toa, or something else, nor did it care. It did not believe in discrimination. If they lived, it would eat them, whatever they were.

But how to get at them? There were no openings in the cord large enough for a venom eel of its size. And it wasn’t very likely the prey would be accommodating enough to come out where it could be eaten.

Then the bestial brain of the monster got an idea. It wrapped its coils around the portion of the cord closest to the top of the mountain and began to squeeze. It would take only the smallest exertion of its strength to shatter the cord and spill out its contents into the sea. Whoever or whatever was journeying through the cord was about to have their trip stopped dead.

The Barraki and Brutaka found Kalmah first. He was just recovering consciousness after the attack by the venom eel. Unlike Mantax, the experience hadn’t left him wanting to find a safe haven. Instead, it made him that much more determined to get his claws on the mask.

“Spread out,” Pridak ordered. “If the Matoran and the mask are still in that cave, there’s no telling what other surprises might be waiting in there. Carapar, clear away some of that rubble.”

The crab-clawed Barraki looked at Pridak for a long time before complying. Sometimes the group’s “leader” forgot that all six of them had been rulers in their own realms. They were not servants to be ordered around. Of course, saying any of that wouldn’t be wise if Pridak was anywhere within earshot.

Carapar pulled some of the rocks aside. He could see a mask glowing inside, illuminating the Po-Matoran who was holding it.

“Get back!” said Dekar. “I’ll destroy it!”

Pridak glanced around. His army of Takea sharks had begun to gather in the waters nearby. Then he turned back to Dekar, saying, “Is that mask really worth your life, Matoran?”

“You’ve probably seen what it can do by now,” Dekar replied from the darkness of the cave. “Is it really worth yours?”

“Let me handle this,” Brutaka whispered. Then he swam toward the cave, treading water where he knew Dekar could see him. “Matoran! You can see I am not one of these foul creatures — my name is Brutaka. I am a member of the Order of Mata Nui, an organization dedicated to following the dictates of the Great Spirit. If you give me the mask, I vow by Mata Nui that the Barraki will never get their hands on it.”

Brutaka waited. Nothing he had said had been a lie. He was a member of the Order of Mata Nui, just a fallen one — and he had no intention of giving the mask to the Barraki.

Inside the cave, Dekar pondered. Was this Brutaka telling the truth? Was there any point in trying to resist, when the Barraki could just come in and take the mask if they wanted it? Should he just hand it over and hope they wouldn’t kill him?

“No,” he said finally. “If you were destined to have this mask, then you would have been the one to find it. You want it? Come and take it.”

“Well handled,” Pridak said to Brutaka, all the while signaling to Kalmah. “Order of Mata Nui indeed — who would believe that?”

“Stand back,” Brutaka snarled. “I will go in there and get the mask myself.”

“No,” Pridak answered. “I don’t think so.”

“Right,” Carapar added. “Save your strength. You’re going to need it.”

Before Brutaka could respond, he felt powerful tentacles wrap around his arms and legs. Despite his own great strength, he found himself being dragged away from the Barraki, helpless in the grip of a gigantic squid. He looked over his shoulder to see that the creature was pulling him toward the edge of Mahri Rock, beyond which was nothing but the black water.

“Wait!” Brutaka shouted. “You can’t do this! Do you know who I am? Do you know what I am?”

“Sure,” Carapar replied. “Lunch.”

The Barraki watched until Brutaka and the squid had disappeared. Then they turned their attention back to the cave. Carapar tore the rest of the rubble away from the mouth. Then Ehlek moved in, hurling electric bolts toward Dekar. One struck the Matoran, causing him to drop the Mask of Life. Pridak was there almost before it hit the ground.

“No,” Dekar said weakly. “Please. You don’t know what it can do. You’ll destroy it… if it doesn’t destroy you first.”

“Oh, there will be destruction,” Pridak answered. “Of that, I can assure you. But it will not be the Barraki or this mask that goes down to ruin — it will be the Brotherhood of Makuta, the Toa, and the Great Spirit himself!”

The Barraki reached out and touched the Mask of Life. It flared up, its glow filling the cave. Then the light grew brighter and brighter, spilling out of the cave and blinding the Barraki. Dekar shielded his eyes, but the intense light was still visible even through his hands. Incredibly, the light hit like a physical blow, forcing the Matoran against the wall. He could hear the Barraki yelling in shock and anger.

The light continued to grow. It spread across the entirety of Mahri Rock, throughout Mahri Nui, up the mountain peak and the stone cord menaced by the venom eel. It looked as if a sun had appeared beneath the waves to illuminate the entire ocean with a painfully bright white light.

Throughout the Pit, every eye was closed against the glow to keep vision from being lost permanently. Thus, there was no one to see just what the light did, or how it had changed the course of destiny.