“Out of the Shadows”

“Quicklook!” Toa Lewa cried, pointing across the huge underground cavern. “The Manas are thawing. Once Makuta sees his hardluck creatures running for their lives, he’ll be out of our way everquick.”

Pohatu glanced where the Air Toa was pointing. He and the other five Toa watched as the mask-free Manas thawed from the deep freeze that Toa Kaita Wairuha’s icy power had put them in and scuttled away, disappearing into the darkness of a nearby tunnel.

It had been a hard-fought victory for the Toa. A moment worthy of celebration. Somehow, though, Pohatu found it impossible to relax and enjoy it. There was something — a shudder of stone against stone, the faintest tremor in the rocky ground — that told him there might be more to come.

The Toa of Earth was thinking along much the same lines. “Don’t be so certain that we have truly defeated the Great Evil One,” Onua warned Lewa solemnly. “While these Manas were powerful, they were but guardians. Makuta himself —”

“What’s that?” Gali interrupted. The Water Toa was staring intently toward the back of the cavern. “Something moved back there. Onua, can you see anything?”

Kopaka peered into the darkness along with the others, gripping his ice blade uneasily.

Drip. Drip.

Water trickled onto stone somewhere far off — or was it nearby? Down here it was hard to tell.

“Does anyone see anything?” Lewa’s whisper broke the near silence.

“Shh!” Gali chided him. “Did you hear —”

CREEEAAAAAAAAAAK!

The sudden sound exploded through the cave.

“Toa…”

Pohatu spun around. Had he really just heard that whisper?

“Toa…”

“Who is it?” Tahu called boldly. “Who’s there? Step forward and reveal yourself at once, or suffer the wrath of Toa Tahu!”

Mocking laughter echoed through the underground chamber. “But of course,” a low, reverberating voice hissed with delight. It seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. “Toa Tahu, with a heart of fire and a temper to match. Just how hot can you burn?”

Makuta. Without knowing how he knew, Tahu’s mind formed the name.

This, then, was the Dark One they had sought for so long.

There was a glimmer of movement in one of the tunnels leading off from the larger central chamber. Tahu leaped toward it instantly and struck with all his strength. But his fire sword sliced through empty air.

“Wait!” Pohatu cried, even though it was too late. “Tahu, wait a moment. We don’t even know what it is we face yet.”

Once again, laughter filled the chamber. “Ah, and this must be the famous Toa Pohatu, with a mind like a stone,” the mysterious voice cooed. “Always ready to wait and watch and ponder — even as Mata Nui crumbles around him.”

“It is easy enough to mock us from the shadows,” Onua said evenly, stepping into the center of the chamber. “But your words will never defeat us.”

“No doubt,” the voice responded silkily. “But it matters not, as I have only to sit back and watch as you defeat yourselves.”

Confused, Gali waited to hear more. But the voice had faded away, as if it had never been.

“What was that supposed to mean?” Lewa asked, breaking the silence.

Before Gali could answer, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Spinning to face it, she saw a dark figure racing toward Tahu, wielding a deadly-looking sword.