Chapter Eight

There was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to hide. A tidal wave of energized protodermis was headed right for Toa Helryx and Keetongu. When it struck them, it would do one of two things: transform them forever into who knew what, or destroy them both.

Desperate, Helryx reached out with her elemental power. Despite many thousands of years of honing her control over water to perfection, it did no good. Energized protodermis, though in liquid form, was not water and was immune to her abilities. Doom was coming in a great silver wave.

Keetongu growled. Helryx glanced at him to see that his attention was directed behind them — specifically, he was looking at a hole in space that had just opened. Thoughts raced through Helryx’s mind. Had Brutaka come to save them? Where did this portal lead? But there wasn’t time for answers, only escape. Grabbing Keetongu’s wrist, she pulled him toward the hole. They dove in together with no idea of where they would emerge.

At the same moment, a figure appeared in the portal. He stepped out into the chamber. If anyone had been present to see, they might have recognized him as the mad criminal Vezon, his face hidden behind a Kanohi Olmak, the Mask of Dimensional Gates. And if they peered closely, they might have seen his eyes widen at the sight of a wall of energized protodermis coming right at him.

“Uh-oh,” he said.

Turaga Vakama walked slowly through the corridors of the Coliseum. It had been his workplace since his return to the city of Metru Nui. Now it was his home as well, along with that of all the other Turaga. Much had changed in the city in recent days, not all of it good. Despite his confinement, he had been able to pick up snatches of information here and there. The fortunes of war had evidently turned against the Brotherhood of Makuta. Numerous Makuta-held islands had fallen, including, rumor had it, Destral itself. It was almost too much to hope for — perhaps the Great Spirit would awaken to find his arch-enemies vanquished for good.

He passed his chamber and headed down a flight of stairs to a secure room. Here were kept weapons, memorials to the Toa Mangai, and one very important Kanohi mask. Although Vakama knew that it was one of the safest spots in the city, he still checked on it every day. If the contents of that room were to fall into the wrong hands… he didn’t even want to think about it.

He was halfway down the stairs when he heard the crash. He raced down to find a half a dozen, heavily armed Ta-Matoran, scattered like leaves in a windstorm. The door to the chamber had crumpled with age, and stepping through it was a being Vakama had hoped to never see again.

A little over a thousand years ago, when he was still a Toa, Vakama had battled a being called Voporak. Surrounded by a field that aged anything it touched, Voporak seemed impossible to beat, and it took a Makuta to do it in the end. Voporak worked for the Dark Hunters and sought one thing in Metru Nui: the thing he now held in his great claw, the Kanohi Mask of Time.

Vakama froze. He wanted to attack, to avenge his fallen friends, but he knew that no attack of his would stop this creature. Voporak knew it too. He looked at Vakama with something like contempt. Then he shrugged and turned his back on the Turaga, walking away. Vakama followed.

A few minutes later, he watched Voporak walk out of a hole in the side of the Coliseum. A four-armed warrior wielding a multi-bladed axe bellowed at the sight of the thief and charged. Voporak reached out and grabbed his attacker. In a matter of seconds, the warrior aged tens of thousands of years before collapsing on the ground. Voporak kept going, and there was nothing, Vakama knew, that could hope to stop him.

Kalmah moved warily through the main factory complex of Xia, flanked by Mantax and Ehlek. He did not want to be here. It would have been far more satisfying to be leading his new fleet against the Brotherhood of Makuta, but Pridak had contacted him and assured him that their old dream of overthrowing the Great Spirit might live again.

Up ahead, sitting on a makeshift throne, was the Shadowed One, leader of the Dark Hunters. He eyed the three Barraki coldly. Perched on the rafters above was Darkness, who watched over the Shadowed One, though not out of any desire to guard him. No, Darkness waited for a sign of weakness in the leader, to kill him so another could take his place.

“Shadowed One, we bring you greetings from Pridak,” said Kalmah. “And congratulate you on your seizure of this island.”

The Shadowed One simply nodded, his gaze never leaving Kalmah’s hideous face.

“It is Pridak’s belief that the Barraki and the Dark Hunters would be well-served by an alliance,” Kalmah continued. “After this chaos is ended, someone will need to pick up the pieces of this universe. We see an opportunity.”

“And what do you have to bargain with, besides your fearsome reputations?” the Shadowed One said, mockery in his voice.

Kalmah simply smiled. “Information. We know that Makuta Teridax struck the Great Spirit Mata Nui down, and we know how. We also know that a prototype of the virus used to do it was hidden on this island, and we believe you have it.”

“I?” said the Shadowed One. “I am the humble administrator of Xia, a mere servant of the people. Nothing more.”

Kalmah laughed. “You are a lying, treacherous sack of doom viper breath. But you are also very… thorough. Oh yes, we’ve heard all about you and your organization since our release from captivity. If that virus is on Xia, you have it.”

The Shadowed One’s expression darkened. A lesser being would have quaked with fear at the sight. The Barraki, though, were not lesser beings.

“And if I do?”

“You know where it is, we know how it can be used. And so, a bargain.”

The Shadowed One considered. He could just kill these three as he had Ancient, but if they really did know something about how the vials he had found could be turned against the Great Spirit, well, that was knowledge worth gaining. He could always kill them later, after all.

“On one condition,” he said. “Pridak and I will meet on neutral ground, the land of Karzahni. If I am satisfied with what he has to offer, then, perhaps, Dark Hunter and Barraki will walk side-by-side into a new dawn.”