The cave tunnel was dark beyond belief, an inky sort of blackness that pressed heavily on all sides of the two Toa. This far underground, the only light came from Kopaka's weapon. It emitted a faint, chilling glow that barely helped push back the darkness, and the two had to travel slowly. Every small rise and fall of the tunnel floor cast yawning shadows across the stone, creating phantom gaps and crevices that twisted and fluttered as the blade's light moved along. Kopaka had traveled through caves darker than this one in the past, he recalled, but those had all matched their gloom with an unearthly silence.
This one did not. "What's so important about this tablet, anyway?" Pohatu asked, matching Kopaka's cautious steps with long, relaxed ones of his own. The Toa of Stone had no trouble navigating the uneven terrain, and it seemed he was pouring his extra attention into asking questions.
I haven't learned any more about our mission since the last time you brought it up, Kopaka thought, choosing not to answer. They had been summoned to Po-Koro by the village elder, Turaga Onewa. According to tales, Onewa had said, there was an ancient stone tablet hidden in this cavern, and it was engraved with the secrets of a forgotten age. With the Rahi menace defeated, the two Toa were free to venture into the depths of the cave and retrieve the carving.
"I hope it's important," Pohatu continued, pausing for a moment as he stepped over a jutting stone crag. "It would be a real shame to come this far into this dark cave, all because the Turaga wanted to add another old rock to his collection."
The Toa of Ice maintained his silence, but this time Pohatu's words were enough to raise a sliver of doubt in Kopaka's mind. The Turaga were too mysterious for Kopaka's taste. Sometimes, he thought, it feels like they're hiding something from us. But of course the Turaga had nothing to hide from the Toa. Shaking his head to clear it, Kopaka turned his attention to other matters. The air in the tunnel had dropped slightly in temperature, a fact that didn't escape his notice.
"We've passed into Ko-Wahi," Kopaka abruptly announced. The thought gave him a subtle satisfaction. It felt good, knowing he had crossed into his own domain, even if they were kios beneath the surface.
"Great," the Toa of Stone muttered under his breath. "Soon, this tunnel will be half-filled with snow." Pohatu scuffed at a loose pebble, sending it skittering away down the sloped passage. He'd spent enough time wading through snowdrifts while looking for the Great Masks of Power a few months ago.
Kopaka chose to ignore the comment, keeping his gaze focused ahead. The Mask of Vision didn't help him see through the darkness, and it was better to give his attention to the cavern floor. Even as he thought this, Kopaka narrowly avoided a bump in the rocky path that his sword-glow hadn't quite illuminated. Frowning, the white-armored Toa channeled a bit more of his power into the weapon, making the glow flash more brightly for a brief moment.
The burst of cold, icy light revealed a change in the angle of the tunnel and a series of engraved pillars. Overhead, barely visible in the gloom, a great arch passed through the roof of the cavern. They had reached some sort of gateway, a spot where the floor leveled off and became smooth. "Be careful," Kopaka said, scanning the pillars with his Mask of Power and finding the same foreign substance laced within them. "There's something ahead."
Pohatu raised a hand to shield himself from the flash. "Finally. I was beginning to think the stone seal was placed there to stop Matoran from wandering into the endless sloped tunnel it guarded," he said, grinning even as he squinted in the sudden brightness.
Reducing the glow to its previous strength, Kopaka passed under the arch and into the next section of the tunnel. Here, the floor was impeccably smooth, as if a Matoran had spent years carving away every imperfection in the tough rock. What little of the room Kopaka could see resembled a sort of antechamber, the entrance or exit of an important place. Shadows pooled in the distant corners, out of the reach of the ice blade's shimmering light. There was only one way to proceed: straight ahead through the middle of the wide chamber.
"What is this place?" Pohatu asked quietly, stepping through the gateway to stand at the side of his ally. "It looks... ancient." There was a tone of wonder in the Toa's voice as he gazed up at the room's ceiling far above them. Embossed lines ran through the pillars and walls, and the sword-light warped and twisted them into jagged columns of darkness. The Toa of Stone reached down, tracing a hand along the floor with an expression of awe. "Whoever crafted this was a master," he murmured.
Was, Kopaka thought grimly, or is. He had an uneasy feeling that the creator of this strange tunnel might not have vanished only because of the passage of time. Loosely gripping his shield and holding the ice blade high overhead, Kopaka walked forward until he stood in the middle of the chamber. Across the wide space, a gap in the curved stone walls loomed in the darkness. It was a smaller arch, just taller than a Toa, and beyond lay only more shadow.
"There's the exit," Pohatu called out, his voice loud in the musty air of the chamber. "It leads to a larger area." Turning in a slow circle to take in the room another time, he stopped and glanced at Kopaka, waiting for the other Toa to continue moving.
Kopaka had no idea how his counterpart knew what lay ahead, but he was willing to trust the Toa of Stone. He mentally readied himself and, taking a few echoing steps through the empty chamber, passed under the exit arch, instinctively dimming the power flowing through his weapon.
If it hadn't been for Pohatu, he would have walked right over the ledge. Suddenly, Kopaka felt his ally's strong grip around his shoulder, yanking him back. Right in front of them was a yawning precipice, deep enough that Kopaka could feel a faint draft moving down into the chasm. Below, only blackness waited.
Back in the relative safety of the arch, Pohatu cast his friend a worried look. "You almost fell!" the Toa said, concern obvious in his voice. Pohatu hadn't yet let go, and his hand stayed, large and heavy, around Kopaka's shoulder armor for another moment. "Maybe I forgot to mention this," the Toa of Stone added sheepishly, "but there's a drop-off ahead." Despite the levity of his comment, there was concern in Pohatu's yellow eyes.
Gently away brushing his counterpart's grip, Kopaka lifted his weapon again and peered over the edge. "I noticed," he brusquely replied. The two Toa stood on a thin outcropping of stone, and from what little of the massive space Kopaka could see, it looked like the cavern stretched out circularly in all directions. To either side, the small walkway spiraled downwards and out of view into the murk.
"Down we go, then," Pohatu chuckled, seemingly relieved that Kopaka was fine. He was already making his way towards one of the curved ramps. "We'll take the slow, safe route."
Though he didn't show it, Kopaka wrestled with the idea that he'd been too careless walking through the archway. Pohatu won't always be there to catch you, he thought as he followed the Toa of Stone down the sloped path. It disconcerted him. This was a mistake he would expect of Lewa, maybe, or Tahu the hothead. But all Kopaka could do was vow not to make the same slip-up twice as he moved through the darkness.
The spiraling ramp seemed to go on for ages, and Kopaka counted three full circles in his head before they finally reached flat ground. Here, the sword's weak light revealed an open expanse of stone, an area that would have been dotted with shrubs had they been back on the surface of Po-Wahi. Behind them, a massive pillar of rock reached up into the shadows, the thick cord of stone wrapped by the very path they'd just descended. Pohatu crouched and examined the floor, drawing Kopaka's attention.
"Huh," the brown-armored Toa murmured with a frown. "If I didn't know better, I'd say this whole cavern was carved by hand. The marks in the stone..." Trailing off, Pohatu dragged a finger across the rock, following some tiny path that Kopaka couldn't detect. After a few seconds, he stood upright and shook his head. "It can't be, though. You would need a thousand Matoran to carve away something this massive, even given a decade or two."
Before Kopaka could reply, a faint buzz echoed through the darkness. It was a chitinous sound, the chittering of insectoid wings fluttering to life. But, more importantly, it was a sound Kopaka knew.
It was the sound of a Nui-Rama taking flight.
"Nui-Rama!" Pohatu hissed, looking around for a makeshift weapon. During the quest for the Great Masks, the flying Rahi had caused no small amount of trouble for the six Toa. But Nui-Rama are native to Le-Wahi, Kopaka thought, momentarily puzzled. What is it doing here...?
Then the time for thinking was over as the nimble Rahi buzzed into view of Kopaka's light. Unlike the Nui-Rama they'd battled before, this one didn't have an infected Kanohi mask – it was a wild beast and not under the control of Makuta. But that didn't mean the creature would be any less hostile towards strangers invading its home. The Nui-Rama's stinger twitched, and the Rahi buzzed again as it swooped towards Kopaka.
Pohatu's thrown rock clipped it out of the air seconds later. Heavy stone smashed into the Nui-Rama's fragile wings, driving it to the ground. Screeching, the Rahi flailed aimlessly for a few moments, its hook-like beak quivering back and forth. "Ha!" Pohatu proclaimed, dusting off his hands as he looked down at the subdued beast. "I think we can handle a lone Nui-"
The rest of his words were drowned out by a warbling, piercing cry, loud enough to make Kopaka wince after the silence of the descent. It was like an echo of the Nui-Rama's wounded scream – an echo responding from hundreds of directions at once. A faint buzzing began in the darkness, but it didn't stay faint for long.
Kopaka realized what it was in a heartbeat, and a cold shard of doubt split into his gut. We might be able to handle a lone Nui-Rama, he thought, summoning his elemental power and readying himself to strike, but can we handle an entire nest?
Note: This is my first fan-fiction and really my first foray into creative writing. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
It's so much fun to think like Kopaka, though. *frostily walks away*