The Tendrils of Darkness
By Kitanga
Disclaimer: Four words: I don't own Bionicle.
Author's Note: Hi all! I'm back, and I've completely restarted my story Roots of Evil, now The Tendrils of Darkness. If the title doesn't fit, don't blame me, since I'm not very original with titles. If you happen to come up with an astounding title, please tell me so, and I shall ponder over it. Thank you, and enjoy!
Prologue: Resurrection
A shadow drifted across the damp, grimy floor swiftly, twisting gracefully around several stone pillars, most of which were cracked and ready to fall to pieces. The gloomy cavern seemed alive…yet dead for centuries. No light penetrated the darkness. No happiness reached its bowels. Only centuries of gathered darkness and despair dwelled within the walls.
And now, evil had once again returned to it.
"I was all-powerful…"
The voice drifted up into the silent air, the gravelly tone seeming to fit in easily with its surroundings.
"…I was the Ruler of Shadows…"
Shadows swirled around a half-standing, half-collapsed pillar, and out of the swirling vortex glided a hulking figure, moving swiftly, yet he seemed to be taking his time.
"I had everything I wanted, needed…and now, I have nothing…"
He continued on, walking forward determinedly towards a pile of rubble. He stopped a few feet away, and a clawed hand rose slowly to touch a large stone…and suddenly, all the rubble disappeared.
Not without commotion, though, for it had all been blasted away, every single stone, down to the very last pebble vaporized. The enormous figure ploughed on, each footstep muted, yet the steady clomp…clomp…clomp of each footfall was heard in time with the steady vibration in the ground.
"I am weak, now…but I will soon rise to power again, as I did years ago…"
He moved on, never stopping, never faltering. Heading straight for a pool of gleaming silver liquid, he stopped only an inch from the edge and stretched his arm out as far as it could go…and he opened the fist.
A single miniscule seed fell, tumbling end over end until with a soft plop, it hit the liquid and slowly sank, leaving no trace of its existence. The being remained motionless for a while longer, then he abruptly turned and walked to the centre of the cavern, between six pillars filled with green substance, to the end of the pillars, and sat.
Red eyes blinked slowly, dwelling upon the glistening silver liquid before closing completely.
"I shall need a strong servant…powerful, yet obedient…starting as a small seed, as insignificant as you look, you shall soon grow into one the most feared creations of death. And when you do…"
The eyes snapped open, two bright red pin-pricks of light.
"Toa of Light, I will have my revenge!"
The first sign of disturbance was the rumble.
Gali Nuva was jolted back into reality from her relaxing meditation by a sudden shudder rippling through the earth. Concerned orange eyes snapped open, darting around quickly by force of habit. She waited, ready to spring up at any moment, hands ready to withdraw her axes.
Nothing.
Gali stood up warily, and observed her surroundings carefully for a few more minutes, but nothing else happened. She sighed, and her tense shoulders sagged. The blue Toa suddenly felt exhausted and sank back down onto the hard ground. She ran a hand over her gleaming mask tiredly, feeling older than the earth.
Weeks had passed since the discovery of the Toa of Light, the downfall of Makuta, and, more importantly, the awakening of Mata Nui, the Great Spirit. But much had changed as well, for better as well as worse.
Firstly, the Turaga had dropped a bombshell on them, revealing to the six – no, seven Toa Nuva that they themselves had once been Toa, on an island called Metru Nui, where the matoran had come from as well. The Toa Nuva of Water could remember her brothers' initial reactions well, as well as her own, but it didn't shock her as much.
For one thing, she could still remember quite clearly the carving in the rock under the sea, more specifically, in a hungry-rahi infested cave. A carving of six Toa she had never seen before, but now she was certain that they were what the Turaga had once been.
Still, the news was quite a surprise to her, more so to her brothers.
"What?!" A shocked Lewa Nuva was actually standing still, and gaping at the six Turaga. "You speak-mean to talk-say that you were Toa-heroes?!"
Turaga Vakama chuckled dryly. "Yes, Toa Lewa, I do mean it that way. We were protectors of an island…the City of Legends, Metru Nui."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," her Stone brother Pohatu was shaking his head disbelievingly. "Are you for real? Or this some kinda joke?"
"What is so hard for you to comprehend?" Turaga Onewa spoke now, looking up at the brown Toa. "We were Toa. On an island called Metru Nui. And we protected the matoran!"
"As good-best as we could," Matau muttered between himself and Nokama. The Turaga of Ga-Koro shushed him, forlorn eyes looking out from beneath her mask. The Toa didn't notice their small exchange, nor did the other Turaga, and so Vakama went on, leaning on his staff.
"During our time as Toa, unlike yours, we…were branded as criminals, not heroes…" Vakama sighed deeply, his gaze drifting to the window sadly. "...branded as the impostors responsible for the disappearance of Toa Lhikan…"
The stunned silence that followed beat down on the room's occupants' ears. Then…
"Okay, now you're joking, right?"
Gali chuckled quietly to herself, shaking her head. She came here, to the Kini Nui much more often, now, as there were hardly any more threats to defend the villages from, with most, if not all, rahi freed from their infected masks, the bohrok nearly wiped out, and the Makuta destroyed. She sighed.
Then her head snapped back up again, hearing a scraping sound, somewhere beneath the earth. She rose slowly, quietly, and drew her axes, ready for combat. The scraping noise grew louder, until it seemed like it was only a few metres away. She tensed when the earth just in front of her suddenly shifted slightly, as if someone or something was trying to force their way up.
Gali took a few cautious steps back, and was just considering whether to strike or to wait when the earth exploded in her face. She immediately fell into a defensive stance, even as dirt rained down on her, and it was then that she saw who her presumed assailant was.
Onua, her brother and Toa Nuva of Earth.
"Onua!" Gali exclaimed in surprise.
The Earth Toa looked equally as surprised, his lime green eyes blinking in the harsh sunlight. He placed his quake-breakers behind his back, and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. His surprised expression quickly slid off his face, replaced by a small smile.
"Greetings, sister Gali," he bowed his head slightly.
"Onua," Gali replied with a smile. "It's a pleasure to see you again. What brings you here?"
Onua shrugged slightly, and brushed some dirt off of his broad shoulders. "Turaga Whenua asked me to call a meeting here, at the Kini Nui with the other Turaga and Toa. I stopped in at your village but Turaga Nokama said you had gone out. I headed off for Ko-Koro when…" he faltered, something Gali had never seen him do. She cocked her head curiously, and questioned him softly, frowning slightly.
"When what, Onua?"
"…when I felt a disturbance not far from where we stand now." He finished simply. Gali's eyes widened.
"You felt it too?" she asked in an excited, hushed voice, even though there was no-one else to be seen for kios around. He was taken-aback for a moment, and then nodded. She frowned.
"I had thought it was my imagination, but now…"
Onua nodded. "Unless we're both imagining things, something did happen."
"And they're usually never good things." Gali finished gravely. They stood in silence for a while; pondering the rumble they had both felt. Then the Water Toa shook her head.
"We'd better ask the Turaga about it, after the meeting. Who've you left to tell, brother?"
"I've told Pohatu, Turaga Nokama, and was just heading for our icy friend, when I stopped here." Onua replied. He was still troubled by the disturbance in the earth he'd felt, but pushed it to the back of his mind. Gali nodded, thinking things over.
"I'll spread the word to Ta-Koro and Le-Koro, and we'll meet back here."
"A sound plan," Onua nodded his approval and smiled. "Farewell for now, sister Gali. Take care." And he disappeared, a hole suddenly having appeared in the ground. Gali blinked.
"…farewell," she said, and smiled. She had forgotten how fast Onua could dig, especially with his quake-breakers. She turned and followed the well-worn path to Ta-Koro, no longer as exhausted as she had been when she had arrived at the Great Temple.
Being re-united with her fellow Toa, if only one, had lifted her spirits, and she walked all the way to the fiery village with a little spring in her step, unaware that deep beneath the earth, something terrible was growing, bigger and bigger with every passing moment. Unaware that the Shadowed One had merely been weakened by their last encounter, not destroyed, and was planning his revenge.
Kopaka Nuva skied down the slope effortlessly, cold blue eyes calculating every turn, every change. He spotted a snow-covered rock barely two bios away, and leaped over it after a split-second decision. He landed in a slightly crouched position, and skidded to a stop several bios away. He looked back up the mountain, and saw that time had flown by.
The sun was nearly setting, and the Toa of Ice realised that he had been so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't realised that he'd been out for over an hour. He cursed himself for being so distracted, and set off for his village at a brisk pace, although he soon found himself walking subconsciously and delving deeper into his own thoughts.
After defeating Makuta and waking the Great Spirit, the Toa Nuva had found themselves facing shocking revelations. For instance, the Turaga's pasts. During that specific conversation, Kopaka hadn't said three words, but he had been equally as shocked as the other Toa. It was then that his thoughts took an unexpected turn.
I wonder what the other Toa are doing now?
He abruptly realised what he was thinking and his stomach lurched.
Why am I thinking about them? Why would I care? I never needed or wanted to know of their daily life!
But the fact was still there. He did miss his fellow Toa. He did want to know more about them.
Before he could delve further into his thoughts, though, an unusual sound reached his ears. He stopped dead, listening attentively. The cool breeze whistled softly, and there were a few rahi cries overhead, but that – and his steady breathing – were the only sounds that reached his ears. He frowned inwardly, and brushed it off as a trick of his sleep-deprived brain.
He started walking again, the powdery snow crunching softly beneath his feet, and had barely gone two bios when he heard it again: a hissing sound. He stopped again, and held his breath, waiting…
There. It was very faint, and muted, but it seemed to be coming from…beneath him. Beneath the snow and rocks. He stepped back, and activated his Kanohi Mask of X-Ray Vision, tightening his grips on his shield and ice blades.
His view changed, from pristine white snow to several different minerals of rock, and beneath that, more minerals, a cluster of bones from a Muaka cub, and finally…
A tunnel.
He frowned. It was small, about the same approximate size of a Matoran, and very, very deep. What was more intriguing about the tunnel was that it appeared to have only been recently dug, maybe only two, three hours ago. He ran calculations through his mind, and dismissed it as the work of a burrowing rahi.
Kopaka stood still for a moment longer, before turning and continuing on his way, back to his own village. Normally, with Ko-Koro in shambles, he wouldn't have torn himself away from the village, partially because of his want to protect the village, but more-so that he wanted to help rebuild his home. In every spare moment of his time, he would be at Ko-Koro, repairing collapsed huts, or rebuilding the fortress walls around the village.
However, Turaga Nuju had had different ideas.
The elderly Turaga had obstinately insisted that he had done more than enough for the village, and also that he relax, practically pushing him out of Ko-Koro with his ice pick.
"Turaga…"
The elderly Turaga whistled and clicked, waving his hand around for emphasis.
"Turaga Nuju says 'you have done more than enough, and you should take some time for yourself. The village will be safe, and you are exhausted.'" Matoro translated obediently, standing behind Nuju. He paused as the village leader continued, waiting for him to finish before speaking up again.
"'Don't argue, Toa, this is what you need; rest and relaxation. You haven't had a full night of sleep since your triumph over Makuta.'"
Kopaka scowled inwardly. Not their triumph; it had been Takanuva's triumph. He was glad that Makuta had been defeated, and he respected the Chronicler's help, but the way he had brushed away their help, as if they were inferior and of no use, irritated him. It was like as if Turaga Nuju replaced him without warning, saying that he was getting old.
Kopaka scoffed inwardly. As if, he thought. All of a sudden, he saw the village right in front of him. He picked up his pace immediately, marching briskly over the ice bridge, the ice crystals crunching softly beneath his feet. He waited for the sentry to open the gates before continuing on his way, threading through the throng of matoran bustling around, carrying building materials.
To his left, a few matoran were having an intense game of Kolhii, with a small crowd surrounding the players. He glanced around carefully, alert for danger, heading for his hut. A matoran fixing a hole in the roof of a hut waved to him enthusiastically, receiving a curt nod in response. Kopaka suddenly felt drained, and decided on a short nap, setting his sights on his hut.
Kopaka had just reached his hut when there was a shout behind him.
"Toa Kopaka! Toa Kopaka!" He turned to see Matoro running over to him, clutching a Kolhii stick. The matoran skidded to a stop and bowed respectfully before speaking breathlessly, "Turaga Nuju…said to tell you…that there is a…meeting with the other Toa and…Turaga…" He wheezed, leaning on his Kolhii stick for support. Kopaka felt unease at the prospect of leaving his village alone wash over him, but he ignored it.
Kopaka nodded, and then turned. "Tell Turaga Nuju that we'll be heading out soon," he replied, all previous thoughts on rest pushed away. Duty first, he stubbornly told himself.
Matoro frowned, replying, "But Turaga Nuju has all ready left with Toa Onua, who brought the message." Kopaka paused, then turned back, looking intently at Matoro with his cold blue eyes. Matoro shifted uneasily under the Toa's gaze, his breathing somewhat laboured. After a tense pause, Kopaka looked away and spoke.
"All right then. You're in charge until we get back, Matoro, make sure all the matoran are accounted for, and put everyone on maximum alert for danger. Make sure all entrances are locked down and place guards in every tower. Most importantly, do not let anyone besides myself and the Turaga back in. Understood?"
Matoro nodded. "Yes, Toa Kopaka." He hesitated, before he questioned, "May I ask as to why we need all those security, Toa?"
Kopaka stayed silent, before turning the matoran around by the mask, "Safety precautions, Matoro, nothing else."
As the matoran ran back, shouting orders aloud, Kopaka strode for the gates. His orders had not been safety precautions, but in fact were based on his terrible gut feeling. Something was going to happen soon, he knew. And it wasn't going to be good.
But why am I listening to a hunch? He passed the gates, ignoring the matoran bustling about. Am I turning into Lewa? Or Pohatu, listening to feelings and hunches? He shook his head, brushing away all thoughts. No, what I did was for the safety of my village.
As this thought passed through his mind, he didn't notice a dark-coloured root twitch and vanish back into the snow behind him. There was a soft hissing beneath him, but the Toa didn't hear it, as he was concentrating on where he was going and not collapsing. It twisted through a series of complex tunnels, travelling faster than any known rahi, following the unsuspecting Toa Nuva of Ice. It stopped at an entrance to the surface, waiting patiently. Soon, a foot came down right next to it, and its intended victim walked by.
The Toa passed, and the predator waited for a second, before it reared up behind the white being, towering above the prey. The sun had set, but the powerful light of the full moon cast the shadow outline of it across the ground, which the Toa saw and took in immediately, whipping around with his shield and blades ready, eyes widening in shock at the massive, black, brown and dark green root, processing what he was seeing, but he was too slow, and the predator lashed out.
Its prey fell, soundlessly, limply, collapsing onto the snow.
Author's Note: Well, how was that? Bad? Good? Fantastic? Lame? Let me know what you think, by clicking on that little blue button on the bottom left-hand of this page. Thank you!
P.S. Yes, I realise this is rather long for a prologue...