Chapter 5, a little shorter than planned, but I found what I considered to be a good cutoff point. At last, we reach the point I've been delaying for so long: Into the archives!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, but all OCs (minus Varia) are mine.
Advertisment: Want to add a little messed-up-Toa spice to your stories? No, me neither, but if you do, then just ask to borrow one of mine.
Chapter 5: Into the darkness
Lumen crouched atop the coliseum's outer wall, doing a passable impression of a gargoyle modelled after some ancient warrior. He knew he should really be heading for his bed, he would regret this later... he could barely keep his eyes open... but he needed to think. It was strange, since yesterday, he'd felt somewhat more kind, friendly and generally good-natured. And he didn't like it one bit. And he felt lighter, springier. He felt younger, and more energetic, which was saying something, as he hadn't been a Toa for too long, compared to some of the others. He was certainly among the last Toa of the Matoran Universe, if not the last. But still, he did. He felt almost like he would lift off from the positive upsurge. But, being a Toa of Shadow, it scared him stupid. "What's happening to me?" he whispered. This wasn't just some moral swing, he could tell. He really was changing. But into what, he had no idea. Glancing at his jet-black armour to reassure himself, he noticed the stain was still there. It shone, a bright, vibrant green, and it actually made him quite ill. As creatures of darkness, Toa of Shadow had an aversion to brightness, even if it was just vibrant colour. He motioned to scrub it off, closing his eyes so he couldn't see, and his exhaustion claimed him.
"Lumen..." Lumen jerked awake at the voice. He couldn't see anything. So instead he listened to the voice. "Lumen... please be careful..."
"Who's there!" Lumen cried, but the sound didn't seem to travel very far into the blackness weighing down on his eyeballs. Besides, he knew, somehow, that the voice wouldn't hurt him. It was benevolent, possibly even bordering on kindly.
"Please, boy, watch your step, and maybe some of you will survive..."
"What do you mean some?" Lumen cried. "Who's going to die? Who are you?"
"Please be careful... I am..."
"Lumen!" Tennis's face burst through the shadows as he grabbed Lumen by the neck and hauled him close...
"Aah!" Lumen cried, as he was literally pulled from his dream to find himself hanging over empty space, being supported by Tennis, who yanked him roughly back onto the walkway around the coliseum wall. Tennis was panting loudly, having just sprinted to save Lumen from a nasty splattering below, and Lumen could see where he'd melted a still smoking handhold from the wall. "Thanks..." he muttered; his thoughts still on the fast-fading dream. He knew he had to remember... Who had spoken to him? It was important, he was sure...
"Come on, you look dead on your feet." Tennis told him. "Come on, bed, now, or I'll smash you there instead."
"Hah hah, funny." Lumen said sarcastically.
"Oh, I don't joke about my threats. To do so is to remove their credibility." He said this with a perfectly straight face, and Lumen decided to hotfoot it back to his bunk before he flew there instead.
Tarsi descended into the depths of the great chamber that held Metru Nui, searching for Lumen, although in her heart she knew he would be long gone. Still, she had to try, if only for the inquiries later on. The burning city did not touch her personally, as she had never set foot here. She'd never even intended to go, unlike so many aspired to. But the psychic imprints of thousands of Matoran's fond memories and heartbreaking thoughts as they were torn from it, either by necessity or death, called out to her, and sent her reeling, so that she crashed into a Le-Metru chute. The ancient engines still ran, albeit at a slower pace, obeying their programming and, in the light of a vastly reduced power supply, had slowed to a crawl to conserve power until a time when the power was restored or a trained technician chose to return them to full speed. Not that that was ever going to happen. Tarsi, stunned by slapping into the chute, allowed the tide of memories to overwhelm her, and she sunk beneath it, oblivious to the real world. For now.
The next morning, Lumen was in the makeshift firing range set up in the coliseum for Toa who wanted to keep their skills sharp. Or felt the disturbing need to pump blasts into the targets till there wasn't much left of them. Lumen belonged to the former group, and in-between shots could be heard loudly expressing his displeasure at the second group reducing the number of targets for him to shoot at, employing a long string of language colourful enough to colour the air a very deep blue indeed. In the end, his tirade was ended by something smacking into his leg. Stooping to retrieve the offending lump and consign it to oblivion, Lumen was mystified to find a small green orb, covered in a thin layer of fur. "Oh, there it is." Tennis cried, jogging over to retrieve the orb. But Lumen held it out of his reach.
"What on earth's this?" he asked.
"It's a tennis ball. You hit it with rackets." Tennis replied, snatching the ball back and bouncing it on his racket.
"Isn't that the game you claim to have invented?" Lumen asked. "It sounds rather dull to me." The ball fell into Tennis's hand with a thud, and for a moment Lumen thought he'd gone too far, something he felt inexplicably guilty about. That was new. But then Tennis's stony face cracked into a broad grin.
"Oh really? Well why don't you try it and see...?" Tennis asked, walking away before throwing in a parting shot. "Unless you're afraid of the idea of having an orb being hurled at you."
"What? Of course not. It'll be you who's afraid when I'm done with you." Lumen snapped back.
"Alright then, if you say so. Catch!" Tennis called, tossing a racket to Lumen, who caught it uncertainly. Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea...
"Ready?" Tennis called from across their makeshift 'court'.
"'Course." Lumen retorted, juggling with the racket. "Give it your best shot with your daft furry orbs." They didn't weigh anything, so how could they be dangerous?
"Alright then. I'll serve first." Tennis called back, hefting an orb that looked rather metallic. It glinted in the morning sunlight, before suddenly glowing a searing orange. Along with the wires of his racket.
"Um, actually, I think I can hear Lhikan calling..." Lumen began, but he was forced to throw himself aside as the searing ball flew the length of the court, smacked into the wall behind him and bounced back to Tennis, who whacked it high into the sky before batting it at Lumen once again. Lumen swore some more as he dodged, and Tennis laughed hysterically, so much that the power behind his strokes diminished considerably, so Lumen at last felt confident enough to attempt the hit the ball back. "Take this!" he yelled, smacking it towards Tennis, who somehow managed to catch it and throw it back to him. Lumen hit it again, and Tennis threw it back to him again, although Lumen missed. After several more throws, Lumen was hitting it much more often, almost every time, and Tennis smiled as he watched his first successful pupil in the art of tennis. This really could catch on; He decided. If I could just convince Varia to join us for a game...
He was then brought back down to earth from this appealing fantasy, before it reached its eventual conclusion of Varia hitting him with the racket instead of the ball, after a spectacular volley by Lumen collided with his cheek.
Later still, they found themselves in the council chambers once again, being briefed by Lhikan. Lhikan looked round at the assembled faces condemned to death alongside him: Varia, who was clearly not a Toa despite her claim to be one, Lumen, the bizarre, bat winged creature who'd appeared only a few days ago, and had somehow managed to single-handedly defeat the Dark Hunter lieutenant Lariska. Tennis, the Toa who spent his free time trying to get the other Toa to play his game. And another new face, a Matoran by the name of Zual, who had worked in most parts of the archive, and currently worked as a guide, so he knew the place fairly well. He would also be the team's chronicler. Such a waste... Lhikan thought sadly, before fixing his thoughts on the mission. "Right then, team," he began. "You've all been chosen," Lumen snorted at this. He didn't know about the Matoran, but everyone else on the team had demanded they went, including Lhikan himself. Save Tennis, who'd simply tagged along. "As I was saying, you've all be chosen to go on this scouting trip. We'll be in unknown territory here, against an enemy that is extremely deadly on familiar turf, let alone unknown. We will remain there only as long as is necessary to confirm a Dark Hunter presence, and locate their base. We have a week to do this, and if we do not return before then, the Toa Army will march on the archives, taking our death as conformation of Dark Hunter presence. I won't lie to you, this will be extremely perilous. But it does not matter how many of us perish, we must complete the mission. We will go on until there is no one left to do so. Do you all understand?" Lhikan wanted to turn away and sob. This was abominable, how could he say this? He was trading their lives for the lives of the other Toa. But actually, it would probably be better if... "actually, if one of us is left, then they must attempt to return to the surface to report back. No sense dying for nothing." There, now he could sleep a little easier. If at all.
"Now prepare your weapons, Kanohi, and anything else that will help us. This is a scouting mission, but well-armed is well-prepared. So take anything of use. We'll assemble at dawn tomorrow, at the Coliseum entrance." Lhikan finished, glancing round at the four Kanohi looking back at him, gave them a curt nod, and walked out of the chamber.
Dawn the next day was, in Lumen's opinion, rather depressing. It was also an artist's dream vista, a panorama of deep hues of red and orange, beautifully blended together in an arc across the sky, becoming brighter and brighter as the sky sank into the burning sun. On the other hand, the blood-red was the sort of thing that made Psionics Toa turn over and go back to sleep, cancelling any plans they had that day. Superstitious lunatics... Still, Lumen didn't like the look of that sky. He was standing just inside the main entrance, slowly turning into a frozen Toasicle, and briefly wondered how that would taste. He was just asking himself why he didn't forgo the traditional behaviour of a Toa of Shadow and simply move out of the shadows to warm up when Lhikan emerged, a small flame dancing merrily in his hands. Lhikan still looked like he was haunted by their potential deaths, and Lumen, already touchy, snapped "Hey, Lhikan!" Lhikan looked over at him, puzzled. "We're not dead yet, you know, so could you please stop acting like you're in mourning?" Lhikan, not a morning person, hurled the fireball at him, but instead of dodging it, Lumen let it sink into his chest, and he sank to the floor, blissful, "Aah... That's better." He sighed, feeling the heat spreading through his icy body from his chest, and earning a completely mystified look from Lhikan, who definitely hadn't expected him to let it hit him. He shrugged, deciding to leave the strange Toa to it and bemoan the lack of something to wake him up in the morning. Like a drink or something convenient. Lumen, on the other hand, was completely mystified to see Lhikan bemoaning the nonexistence of coffee; then remembered that, a few decades ago, coffee had been a novelty to him. It was a Bota-Magnan thing. It had been quite funny for a while, watching all the hyperactive Matoran go about their work like watching a sped-up film. Unfortunately, the increased speed with which the Matoran set about their task was offset by the fact that they were constantly shaking and kept dropping things.
Tennis emerged next, bouncing a tennis ball on his racket with only the occasional glance at it. Lumen wondered just how long he'd been playing the game he'd invented, and if anyone else had agreed to play with him. A short way behind the Toa of Plasma came the archive tour guide Zual, which just left Varia... "Aargh!" Lumen yelled as Varia leapt from the coliseum and landed not even a millibio from him. Had he been standing, he would have toppled over, but as it happened, he was on the floor, and therefore unable to be embarrassed that way. He quickly scrambled to his feet as Lhikan began to speak. "You all know our mission. To penetrate the archives and find out whether the Dark Hunters really have taken the archives, and if so, where they are operating from. Zual will serve as our guide. If only he and one Toa are left, then abandon the mission and return to the surface. It will do no good for us all to die down there." They stood silent for a while, then: "Right then, if everyone's ready, let us go, and, by the grace of the Great Spirit, return." There was muttered agreement to the sentiment, and then they set off towards Ga-Metru, where Lumen had fought off Tyrant to maintain control of the Metru. But when they arrived, they were wary. The Dark Hunters had already attempted to take this area of Ga-Metru, they might do so again. But they encountered no-one as they made their way to the harbour to board a pre-arranged boat. Lumen remained confused as to why on earth they were going out to sea, but said nothing for the moment. They cast off and sailed for a short while, and then Lumen saw it, the construct looming out of the darkness.
"The Archives stretch out into the sea. Well, under it anyway. So we have a few of these rigs to get down to those parts quickly, to plug leaks and such." Zual told the four Toa. "But to make them economically viable, their primary function is as a Lightstone Mine. At least, that's what we tell Dume. But in actuality, we use them to dig into the bedrock, as part of our ongoing geological research. We lock them up when we're not using them." Zual stared at his feet now, avoiding the stern gaze of Lhikan.
"Were it not wartime, Archivist, there would be an inquiry into this." He growled. Then he relented. "However, given the situation, I am prepared to overlook it. For now. But after the war, I want these drills earning their keep."
"Yes, Toa Lhikan." Zual replied, as he moored the boat and began to nimbly scramble up the access ladder.
The four Toa followed him up the frozen ladder and into the rig itself, dark, sodden and dripping. Zual led them through the maze of machinery to a lift shaft. Zual wrenched open the door of the lift and they call clambered in and the lift began to descend. But Zual was surprised. "I haven't pulled the lever yet!" he cried, looking around at the walls rising up past them. Lumen looked past him to the open door.
"Zual... you said these places are under lock and key, correct?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Yes." Zual replied.
"But you just pushed the door open." Lumen replied. Then he yelled "Out, everyone out!" but by then it was too late, and Lumen could only watch as the Dark Hunter loomed over the edge of the shaft and cut the chain. Suddenly the descending walls became nothing more than a blur, and they found themselves plunging down, faster and faster, into the darkness.