CHAPTER 1
Kazi
Kazi spat on the hard flooring of the Onu-Metru archive, where he was currently seeking refuge. The unpleasant sound echoed through the whole tunnel, resonating through the dusty piles of old Kanohi and rusty weapons. He chose that part of the archives as its primary function was a warehouse. No, a dump would be more appropriate. All equipment located there had been long since used and it wasn't of any value for the Toa Empire. Or the Rebels. Nobody cared about anything in that vault. Including them.
Kazi glanced at his friends scattered around in the darkness. He barely recognised them, as they decided to hide in the shadows just in case somebody came looking. Kazi himself occupied a ledge in the back of the archive, next to a pile of useless Kanoka. Thinking about it, he would be the first to get caught if anybody came down here. Even though the vault was practically abandoned, it was still highly possible. He pondered this and jumped off the ledge, crouching behind a decapitated Archives Mole.
A soft, weeping sound suddenly cut through the silence, making Kazi jerk uneasily. It was Nime, a small and sensitive Ce-Matoran, rebuilt weaker after being sent to Karzahni long time ago, before Karzahni was captured and his island got overrun by Rahi. Although he wasn't very captured at the moment, Kazi smirked.
Naturally, he had nothing against Nime. She was a good companion, sympathetic and patient. She was even mysterious in her own way, not that Kazi would care about mysteries. He knew damn well what Nime had to go through – he had walked the same road. Only if she were quieter, that would be practical.
Yes, practical. That was the one thing that kept Kazi alive. He had been against the Toa Empire a month ago and still was now, but he always knew what would happen if a rebel group managed to overthrow Tuyet. Chaos. When hell broke out, Kazi didn't bat an eye, just gathered some resources in a bag he had bought in Ga-Metru and raced to the archives. Well, not exactly, Kazi admitted to himself. It was a few days after hell broke out. The others found him along his way to the archives, and decided Kazi was the right kind of person to hand their destiny over to.
It was even funny, in a cruel way. For the first time in his life, Kazi lead something. Back in Metru Nui, before his heartlight broke and he was sent to Karzahni, he had been an Assigner. It wasn't a bad job – Scholars came to him and he decided in which Knowledge Tower would they be studying in. So he met a lot of Matoran, but he didn't get a chance to decide for himself. His destiny had never been in his hands.
A nudge in the elbow woke Kazi from his musings.
"She sleeps. And when she sleeps we need to watch over her, as she does not watch over us."
Kapura was right of course. Kazi had no idea how had he managed to sneak across the vault without him noticing, but he was getting used to it. Nevertheless, Kapura's concern puzzled him.
"I know. That's good. I'll be watching – not that I can sleep anyway."
Kapura nodded. "Do not sleep."
Kazi's second accomplice lived in a world of his own. Kapura's quirky personality was a change compared to the rest of his rag-tag team, and he didn't speak much – not by himself that is. Kapura was always aloof, scurrying either ahead or behind of the team, occasionally discovering corpses of Toa or Rahi. But he didn't burden Kazi, far from that. He was independent, even reliable in a strange way. If he refrained from speaking in riddles, Kazi would have nothing to complain about.
The archive hosted two more Matoran, speaking of those alive, of course. The first one was Taipu, a strong and cheerful Onu-Matoran that helped them open this vault. Taipu was now trembling in a corner, trying his best to fall asleep. He had been hoping for a better world to live in, one without the constant fear of being trampled by Toa. But his dreams were crushed when he witnessed the results of the revolution. He was in a poor state, but Kazi thought he would get over it. Everybody does, after all.
The last member of Kazi's team was staring at the dead body of a Po-Matoran lying on the archive floor. Vanak, a Fe-Matoran wielding a Great Huna, didn't tell the others anything about himself. He had a harsh personality and spoke without feelings or regret. But Kazi understood this. However unpleasant Vanak's personality was, it was close to that of Kazi's. The two had no trouble getting along.
A Po-Matoran got injured during the escape to this archive and bled out later inside. Nime tried to save him, but she had little healing skills and her attempts went in vain. That was the reason why she had been crying.
His name was Onewa.
Vanak stood up and grimaced at Kazi, ignoring the others in the vault.
"We are gonna leave him here? Not clever at all."
Kazi waited for a moment, wondering whether someone else would like to answer. Not surprisingly, Taipu stayed silent, Nime slept and Kapura decided not to participate in this.
"Of course not," Kazi replied, his voice sounding strangled, "If anything, he deserves a proper burial. We cannot leave him here to rot. I'd clear the end of the archive, dig up a hole and use the rubble to cover his body. It's the least we can do for him."
Taipu's eyes watered. Kapura blinked slowly.
"Sure," Vanak affirmed.
To Kazi's surprise, Taipu went first. He grabbed a digging tool from a shelf on his right and marched swiftly to the end of the vault. The ground cracked under his labour, revealing strange, black, metallic soil under the concrete flooring.
The grave was dug peculiarly quickly and had neatly crafted round corners thanks to Kapura's efforts. Vanak used old Kanohi to get rid of the soil fairly quickly. With combined efforts, Kazi and Kapura carried Onewa into his grave, crossing his hands across his chest. They covered it in no time.
Nobody said anything, not during the burial, not during the rest of the night. All four of them crawled back into their uncomfortable hiding places. Yet they were glad for the little protection Archive O37-C provided.
Kazi eventually drifted off to sleep, desperately trying to think of a plan not leading to their doom. But there was some hope. There was some hope.
He woke up to a soft, irregular knocking coming from the entrance to the archive. Kazi got up, treading softly across the vault. It was probably morning already, but they couldn't know. A few lightstones flickered the same way they did the other day.
It turned out the knocking sound was Vanak.
He acknowledged Kazi's presence with a short nod while tinkering with a Proto Piton he salvaged earlier. It had been broken and thus had been thrown away.
"So, how was the night? Anything happened?" Kazi asked, trying to strike up a conversation. He was already sick of silence.
"Nah," Vanak grunted dismissively. "I didn't sleep. There was a guard here a few hours ago, said he was looking for you."
"Yeah, sure." Kazi looked around the tunnel behind the vault's entrance. It looked exactly the same as before, which was a testimony more reliable than what the Fe-Matoran said. Kazi knew already he should keep him around, but not trust him.
"Any luck with the Piton?
"You bet," Vanak looked at Kazi for the first time, but his expression remained unchanged. "Give me an hour. Just one thing – it ain't very sharp, we'll have to go for the soft bits."
"Well, it's your anyway. I don't care how you use it, once you get the work done."
Kazi was a little proud of himself. He didn't like leading people, but once he had this role, he decided to make the most of it. Besides, why should he mess with Vanak? He'd probably earn more respect with this behaviour anyway.
He woke up the others, prepared to have a long conversation over their future.
"Yay! What a great idea!" Taipu exclaimed, as his eyes lit brightly up and pumped his fist in the air.
Honestly, that was nothing like the reaction Kazi expected.
"So, you agree then?" He looked almost puzzled. "Nobody scared that we're going to die?"
Kapura looked up: "Why be scared here when we can go be scared somewhere else?"
Nime nodded and smiled. She was the first person Kazi saw smiling in the last three days, which made him believe that his risky plan was not just worth a shot – it was even good.
It wasn't even that difficult. For starters, they had to get out of Metru Nui. Fast. This could be the hardest part. Metru Nui was heavily patrolled by Kralhi, once known as Nuparu's Folly, today known as Nuparu's Demons. They did more than a good job law enforcing – crime was a thing of the past little after Tuyet decided Nuparu was a genius and gave him huge assembly lines. One could even say there was more of them than Matoran. Tuyet didn't care that Kralhi harmed Matoran and Nuparu remained loyal to the Empire.
The whole city was surrounded by a massive dome as far as the eye could see, even when looking up. And even if you could reach it, nobody was sure how to penetrate it. Toa knew the way, Matoran didn't.
But luckily for Kazi, some Matoran were cunning enough to find a way out. A group of skilled navigators and mapmakers formed a small company in Po-Metru called the Matoran Refuge, hiding themselves in one of the Assembler's Villages. They knew the location of the gate, even borrowed boats and gave helpful maps for survival outside Metru Nui. It didn't come off cheap, but Kazi had that covered. Plus, he had a good friend there.
So the first step was to get to Po-Metru and to find the Matoran Refuge without getting impaled or blown up by Toa, Kralhi or other bizarre beings that were now running all over Metru Nui. Nime told them earlier that Po-Metru was already terrorized by Charger and Devastator, so Kazi had a lot to look forward to.
After fleeing Metru Nui they would race somewhere south, probably to the South Continent or the island of Visorak, as the whole horde had been wiped out by Toa Tuyet. If they left early enough, they might arrive before rogue Toa and Dark Hunters reached the rest of the Matoran Universe. If not, well, they would have to fight a little bit.
Kazi decided to ask once more.
"Nobody has any concerns? Comments? Agree with the island of Visorak?"
The team nodded in unison.
"Alright then. We set off in ten minutes."
They tiptoed through out of the vault, into a tunnel that connected to Rahi Archive number 7. Although it might seem a bit dangerous, most of the Rahi had already escaped or killed off for sport. The archive wasn't very frequented, so it seemed like a good idea to escape that way.
The tunnel was monotonous and dimly lit and didn't correspond at all to the small freshness the Matoran were feeling after their rest.
A painting of a Kraata on the wall disturbed their comfort.
"White paint. How did they get this here?" Taipu asked, tapping the picture with his hand.
"It goes off in Ga-Metru for six widgets. Besides, tracking down the culprit's pretty easy," replied Vanak. "This kind of stuff is all over the place. Some Matoran were disgusted by the Toa Empire so much that they are now calling the Makuta to wipe the Toa out. It's still not certain what exactly the Makutas' plan is, but it sure ain't another Toa Empire."
Nime doubted it. "Seriously? That's like going to a pool of lava to protect you from hail. Who would do this?"
Vanak smiled. "You won't believe this, but the movement started in Ko-Metru." He looked at Kazi, who said nothing. "But to be fair, now it's made up mostly of Ta-Matoran."
"They're insane!" yelled Nime in disbelief.
"Everybody is," replied Vanak nonchalantly. "Sometimes it's a good thing. Besides, that's not the craziest movement Metru Nui has seen these days."
The have already missed the drawing by miles, but it was still in their heads when Taipu said:
"So we have a chance of bumping into mad, Makuta-worshipping Matoran?"
He looked at Vanak, who confirmed his fear by a nod accompanied with a sardonic grin. Then he looked away, not doing anything to reassure the poor Onu-Matoran miner. Nime took the honor.
"Don't worry, Taipu. We've already got past some crazy Matoran. They're just insane, not powerful. I bet they're a sad excuse of a Matoran, if they view the Makuta as their redemption."
"That's true," added suddenly Kazi, "making graffiti in abandoned archives makes it look more like a strange social reform group than a gang of criminals. We'd take them out any day."
Vanak pulled out his Piton to demonstrate and support Kazi's words, crushing a discarded Toa statue lying in the archive.
"Hey, I wrecked your memorial, Toa Iruini. Sorry not sorry."
They scuttered onwards, zigzagging through the narrow tunnels of the Great Archive. The place reeked of waste, because apparently the waste pipes had been damaged by the escaped Rahi. Although they were nearing the Rahi Archives, Rahi were nowhere to be found. Nobody minded though.
"Why the Rahi Archive, Kazi?" asked Taipu when recognizable signs started showing along the tunnel.
"The elevator." Kazi said simply. "There's an elevator at the end of the vault, probably for quick escapes if Rahi went wild. And coincidentally, it emerges at the very border with Po-Metru."
"How far is it to the end of this walking?" Kapura made the others notice him after all this time. In the eyes of others, this even enhanced his mysteriousness levels.
"Not that far. We have an hour to go." Kazi figured. "In fact, now is a good time to make a small break."
"Nice!" shouted Taipu, yanking a huge rock from the wall and placing it in the middle of the tunnel.
"Here – a rock to sit on."
Nime and Kapura gladly welcomed Taipu's efforts; Kazi leaned against the tunnel wall. Vanak eyed the rock before saying:
"A good piece of barricade."
Kapura nodded. "If you were to move this, you could block off the entire shaft by moving the boulder a few bio left. After we get off, of course."
Taipu looked questioningly at Kazi, then repositioned the rock with Kazi's confirmation. The tunnel was sealed from all possible followers or attackers. They couldn't return, but they weren't planning to.
Vanak reached out to a small bag he had been carrying with him. It was strapped neatly to his side, hardly noticeable until one looked really close. He unzipped the pouch, pulling out a small bundle of plants and a heat stone. He looked around, instinctively.
"Want some?"
"What is that?" Nime asked, not recognizing the plant Vanak rolled into a cylinder, covering it with soft paper to hold the shape.
He smiled, igniting the cigar and inhaling a gust of the thick, black smoke the cigar made. He breathed out, closing his eyes in a pretentious manner. He emerged out of his smoke cloud seeming happier than before.
"What? Oh, this…. Never heard of Daxia Oil Leaves? There's trees there that got leaves with lots of oil. It's useless and pretty annoying by itself, but when harvested and dried, it can be rolled and smoked – like this. It's really a Fe-Matoran thing. But I like it, it's relaxing. Ya want some?"
Kapura politely declined, Taipu didn't reply. To everyone's surprise, Nime reached out for some. She lit the roll, inhaling the smoke less confidently than Vanak, but correctly.
"Good job, girl. See, it ain't that bad, just sort of expensive." He looked at Kazi. "And ya? Want some?"
"No, thanks," Kazi said back, looking a bit concerned, but not in disapproval. "I've got to keep a clear head. We've got a Rahi archive ahead, after all."
Vanak nodded: "Sure thing."
"So, where do you get this stuff?" Nime asked, breathing out heavy black smoke and looking a little dazed. "I've never seen it at trading posts, but that's understandable."
"Yeah, 'twas illegal under the Toa Empire, had to get it in the south of Le-Metru. Barges of Fa-Matoran smugglers sailed there trading goods from Daxia and Nynrah, using a route only known to them."
"Could we have used them in this plan?" Kazi asked, bewildered by the knowledge of drug smugglers entering Metru-Nui without anyone knowing.
"If you were willing to sell the Mask of Life to them, maybe!" Vanak laughed. "The whole thing is so expensive that if you wanted to make them bring along five Matoran, you'd have to give them the whole of Metru Nui. This packet I have here," he tapped the pouch that kept his Oil Leaves, "cost me six hundred widgets. And I bought it off cheap."
"So you're practically a millionaire." Taipu added.
"No, not really. I sold them some stuff I scavenged, made a good deal and got this as a result. But it's this expensive only on Metru Nui. Trust me, there's no problem finding it on other islands. The Matoran of Daxia get it nearly for free."
"There's Matoran on Daxia?"
"Oh, sure. Fa-Matoran allied with Su-Matoran when Tuyet took over and moved to Daxia. There was no Toa to boss them around, no Makuta to cause trouble. Some other beings made a fortress there, too, but they didn't bother them and the Matoran did the same."
Vanak's voice sounded slightly softer when intoxicated, Kazi noticed. He didn't mind, it was a welcomed change to see him more open. He ordered them to get moving, so they were finishing their conversation and their cigarettes along the way. The route had been fine so far, his team looked good. Vanak and Nime smoking happily, Taipu hooked on every Vanak's word and Kapura looking at his hands for some reason. But he knew it hadn't really begun yet.
"So, are we going there?" Taipu asked again enthusiastically.
"Where? Daxia? Sure, why not?" Vanak looked at Kazi before he made the promise, but Kazi didn't reply back. "We're going to the Southern Continent, right? So, that's close. Ya want this, or?"
Taipu shook his head. "No, but I want to see an island with oil trees. And free Matoran. That is something I haven't seen for a long time."
Vanak slowly realized the sincerity of that statement and didn't reply back. Taipu started humming as they finally reached the door of Rahi Archive 7. Kazi smashed the security system and the door swiftly opened.