Power of the Cordakah, Chapter 10
Four hours ago…
"Don't scare me like that, Arbiter!" Teros said, attaching his Vahki Staff and Rohtuka Spinner to his skyboard, "I almost crushed you with that blast back there. Have you ever thought of knocking?"
"Were it so easy," the Arbiter asked, "since there is no place to knock?"
"I guess you have a point," Teros said, his arms on his hips, "This place could use some redecorating. Who are your friends?"
The Arbiter introduced Karaz, Dialgo, and Firenze. The three Saurion scouts began the traditional greeting to elders, when Teros held up his hand to silence them.
"I never liked greetings like that 90,000 years ago," he said, "and I certainly won't tolerate them now. You four had best come inside; even a Toa of Stone would find this heat unbearable, and they are a desert people to begin with!"
Teros led them through the door of the monolith. A Kanohi Hau that was carved into the stone above the door's entrance seemed to stare down at them as they walked in. The dwelling inside, even though it was entirely made of metal, was simple enough. The hallway led into a single room where a table, several makeshift chairs, and a bed were its only occupants. Another Kanohi Hau stood in the room, this one made from the metallic wall and facing the entrance of the room. Teros sat down on his makeshift bed and held his hand to the chairs, welcoming them to sit down. When the four travelers sat, Teros opened a simple makeshift cabinet on the ground beside his bed and pulled out four helpings of food, simple plants and berries combined with well-cooked and preserved fish, and served them to his guests. As the four of them ate, the Toa grabbed a simple meal piece of his own, which consisted of a simple bread-like substance.
Karaz could not help but stare at the Toa. Although all life forms unknown to the Saurions were called outsiders, Karaz seemed to guess what Teros was. Durana Dian had explained that Saurions had a similar hierarchy as that of the Matoran, where there were three general classes in a single group; villager, hero, and leader. As Matoran are villagers in their species, so are Saurions, while the Turaga were the leaders of the Matoran, the Durana were leaders of the Saurions. So if the Arbiters were the heroes of the Saurions, then this one…
Karaz suddenly realized that he was caught staring, as Teros was looking straight at him. Karaz bent his head in shame; like Matoran were told in a young age, Saurions were taught that it was rude to stare at anyone, whether they are outsider, elder, or even close friends. Teros simply smiled behind his mask at the simple reptile in front of him.
"What is it that you find so fascinating about me, young one?" Teros asked, his eyes full of wisdom and compassion for the curious Saurion.
Karaz looked up at the hero. He cleared his throat nervously. "Uh, mighty hero sir," Karaz began asking, "I was wondering, if you are who the Arbiter says you are, then you are truly a hero of legend worth honoring for years to come. Pray, tell me, how did you get here?"
Teros sighed, rubbing his hand on his head, as if remembering long things past. It seemed to Karaz and the others that many of the memories Teros had were those of pain and suffering. Finally, Teros began his tale.
"Once, long ago," he began, "in the time before time, I was known to the world as Teros, the Toa Cordakah of Gravity. I was one of the first recruits that the Toa Cordakah trained and accepted into their group, alongside a Toa of Plasma, and a Toa of Light. We, and three others, were to become the second generation of Toa trained by the secret organization called the Order of Mata Nui. We defeated our foes mission after mission, and for thousands of years we were unstoppable.
"That is, until one fateful day about 80,000 years ago. After we managed to aid the Brotherhood of the Makuta, a long time ally of ours, in the battle against the League of Six Kingdoms, there seemed to be a curse put upon us. It started when our Toa of Light was killed in a battle against a mighty beast of darkness. In his honor, we put his mask, the Kanohi Avohkii itself, in its forging place at Artahka. Since then, our team members began disappearing and leaving, until I and the original six were left. One day, the Great Spirit Mata Nui sent a message to the Toa Cordakah, telling them to come to Artahka to await a mission for the Great Spirit. In a separate vision, Mata Nui asked me to remain behind, so when I asked my friends if I would not accompany them, they let me be.
"Off the coast of Artahka, I saw with horror as a great beam of light struck Artahka, destroying my six companions, along with a Makuta who accompanied him. I was the only one alive on our boat, carrying a sealed box that the Makuta left behind. Out of instinct, I sailed to the secret location of the Order, where I gave them the strange box and told them all that had happened. Disbelieving my explanation of a separate vision, they believed that I knew of my companions' demise and chose to remain behind out of fear, without telling them what was to happen. Although the rest of the order called for my death, Helryx, the first Toa and the compassionate ruler of the Order of Mata Nui, had chosen a different punishment. She stated that because of my actions, I was to be transformed into my Matoran form, to forever walk the universe in guilt, and perhaps find a means of penance for my actions.
"When I was transformed, I was devastated. For years, I walked the lands that I had saved, watching them transform over time from great paradises to empty wastes, from mighty and sprawling empires to savage lands of darkness. I grew old enough to watch empires rise and fall with the passing tides; even old enough that only a small fraction of Matoran, Toa, and Turaga could vaguely remember my name. It was devastating to me, and I felt all hope was lost.
"Suddenly, I was taken by Makuta slave catchers. I was taken to this place, a land that I had once saved long ago, where I was forced to work as a slave. It was here that I began receiving visions from Mata Nui once again, and for the first time in over 70 millennia, I felt hope rise in me once again! I chose this as a place where I could give hope to those who needed it, I helped forge a small resistance force for a time, and watched it grow tremendously. I took on many apprentices, but it wasn't until a recent vision that I felt that the time was right to leave my sanctum. I asked my last apprentice, a Ko-Matoran foolish enough to think he could rebel the Makuta with peace, to toss me off the edge of the cliffs, where I would succumb to my fate."
Teros slouched a little, his voice heavy from speaking so much. Karaz, Dialgo, and Firenze stared at the Toa in awe, hanging to every word that he spoke, their eyes wide in admiration.
"That is all that I will tell you for now," Teros said, sitting upright once again, "I believe that the Arbiter had brought you here for more than just simple bedtime stories, didn't you friend?"
The Arbiter got up from his seat and told Teros everything that was seen and reported by the three Saurion scouts, and stated that the outsiders, along with the Matoran Resistance, were planning a full scale assault that very night.
"This attack," Teros began when the Arbiter completed his tale, "when does it begin?"
The Arbiter took a quick peek outside, detecting the single orb of sun that glowed through the green mist, he popped back inside. "The attack should begin in about four hours," he said.
"Then we must be a part of it," Teros said, getting up from his bed, "If what you say about the outsiders is true, then Mata Nui has chosen my day of forgiveness at last."
The end of the battle, five minutes earlier…
Teros flew up the center plateau's cliff side on his skyboard, with the Arbiter hanging tightly by his side. Karaz, Firenze, and Dialgo followed closely behind on their jetpacks, their bodies almost completely invisible in the gloom of the night.
For the last half an hour, Teros and the Arbiter could vaguely make out the sounds of battle above. As they rose higher and higher, they watched as a great quake seemed to shake the plateau, and the sound of rushing water seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly, everything seemed to stop, as if some unseen force had dissipated the water.
"What do you think that was?" the Arbiter shouted through the rush of wind from the speeding skyboard.
"I cannot say," Teros shouted back, "Could it be that the battle is over?"
"Were it so easy..." the Arbiter asked.
Suddenly, a great roar shook the very air that the five were travelling on.
"Kuma Nui!" Firenze shouted in surprise, "What kind of Rahi or Makuta-Beast could make a sound like that?!"
"Nothing that was made in this universe," Teros said solemnly. Before the others could reply, a tremendous buzzing sound filled the air, as if the air was filled with gigantic insects.
When the Arbiter looked up, he realized that the sound was made by something worse.
The sky, which was once filled with stars, was almost completely blotted out by swarms upon swarms of Vahki and Karakash robots that flew high up into the air. Upon hearing the roar they had begun descending onto the fortress, murder in their wake. The Arbiter watched as a Karakash came zooming down towards them.
Quickly taking action, the Arbiter turned himself invisible before the Karakash could identify its prey. The beetle-like construct flew advanced quickly towards Teros, its jaws snapping open and shut like a tremendous pair of deadly hedge clippers!
Without warning, the Arbiter turned visible. In his four fingered hand was what looked like a simple rod with a button on it. The Karakash, surprised at the sudden mass-extension made by its prey, quickly snapped out of it and began to overtake the pair.
When the Karakash was within a few feet, the Arbiter pressed the button on the rod. With a flash of blue light, a pair of blades made of protodermis sprouted from the rod's ends, creating a sword that pointed forward with his arm. The surprised Karakash could only watch in what seemed to be mechanical horror as the blade materialized and cut through its chassis, splitting the Vohtarak shell that made its head in half! The Karakash fell like a stone for 4,000 feet, never to be seen again, except in pieces.
The Arbiter looked back to the forward end of the skyboard. Teros kept guiding his mighty vehicle up and up and up to the top of the plateau, when suddenly the cloud of robots hit the fortress. Screams, shouts, and roars of pain could be vaguely heard above their heads. Karaz, even though invisible, could feel his face cringe in pain and sorrow. They were too late.
A Viso-Jaga with a Matoran rider suddenly plunged beside them. Teros stopped his skyboard for a moment, causing the rest of the party to stop moving as well. They watched the supposed unfortunate pair fall a great distance towards the ground. Suddenly, a series of explosions on the sides of the plateau, invisible from the tops, caught their attention. A portal as big as a Muaka opened up beneath the falling pair, swallowing the Rahi and rider whole. As the portal closed, a similar one could barely be seen, a mere dot in the distance, below the mists in the wasteland.
The Arbiter sighed in relief. He looked at Karaz and the others, and motioned Teros to keep moving. The Durana had remembered to activate the dimension gateway. A simple construct designed by ancient hands, the gateway connected to a device that had absorbed the powers of a Kanohi Olmak, the Mask of Dimensions, allowing any construct, biological or mechanical, to pass through it and end up in a specific destination unharmed. In this case, the destination was the ground. It was the reason why so many Matoran, Skakdi, Dark Hunters, etc. had survived the tremendous fall from the plateaus of Makuta Nui.
Suddenly, there was a tremendous crack. A huge ledge had just collapsed right above the heads of the five would-be fighters. The Saurions, the Arbiter, and Teros managed to dodge it in time, but Teros gasped when he saw who was on the ledge as it fell…
Six Toa, their bodies covered in silver and/or gold armor, were falling off of the edge of the plateau!
Without a word, Teros dove. The Arbiter barely managed to grab a hold of him as they dropped. Teros watched anxiously as five of the Toa managed to enter the portals, but one of them, the Toa of fire, was going to miss the barrier cleanly. Teros dove as fast as he dared, determined to get to the Toa of fire before he passed by the dimension barrier. As they dove, the Arbiter motioned for their Saurion companions to enter the barrier as well, indicating that they could be of no help in this matter.
Above them, an entire squadron of Vahki had noticed their descent. They broke off from the main army, and dove swiftly like sentinels of death after the falling pair. The Arbiter spotted them quickly, and grabbed Teros's Zamor rifle from the sheath on his back. He aimed the Zamor rifle at the dimension former on the cliff wall, praying to the Great Spirit that his aim would be swift and true.
As Teros flew down, he barely managed to grab the Toa of fire from behind and dragged him into the barrier just as the Arbiter and Teros had entered. The Arbiter fired the rifle, sending a miniature black hole into the dimension former, destroying it as the portal closed. The Vahki flew down expecting to breach the barrier, only to pass through thin air. The squadron flew about for a moment, curious as to how their prey managed to escape them. As they flew off, none of them noticed the tiny blue dot go out near the wasteland floor.
To be continued…
Kerian: This has got to be one of my favorite chapters. Teros explains about his past life, and the Arbiter, along with the three Saurions, witness the final battle and lend a little hand themselves.
Teros reveals a little more about himself, which he also does later on in the story. Since this is the last chapter left to edit, I will try my best and post the other four that I made, as well as continue with the story. I am estimating that I may have somewhere between 18-20 chapters when I am done. Those of you who like this story, hold on tight, because the Cordakah have a long way to go before they realize their destiny here in the universe of Bionicle! Until next time, me out!
-Kerian