They had found the way out. A second entrance had been carved into the foot of the accursed mountain range. It was good to feel the suns warm rays again, but it would have been all that soother with their lost friends with them. The Toa had scoured the chasm and the nearby tunnels for well over half an hour and there was still no sign of Andrew or Golyo. Tom stared down the dark passage, the mine cart tracks sinking into the heart of the mountain. He almost considered searching down it, until a shadowy figure appeared, slowly walking out of the dusty air.

"It's Andrew!" Tom shouted to the others. They were so relieved, but what they saw next scarred their hopes.

Andrew held something in his hands. The Toa walked closer, ever so slowly, as if he was struggling to walk. At last the golden form of the boy Toa came into clear view, as did the object he carried. In his arms lay the lifeless body of Golyo. His face looked so peaceful despite what he had suffered. His right arm had been torn round by the fall and a large chunk of his chest plate was missing. The site was almost horrific, at least for another Bionicle. But what shocked the entire group, almost as much as the sight of their fallen friend, was Andrew's face. His mask was soaked from his tears. Not only that it was dented, scratched and blackened by debris and rock. The most troubling thing, this had not been done to him by someone else. In his despair, he had lost control.

All sense of a soul looked to have leaked away, consumed by the ever growing malice of Shadow's control on the Island. He wasn't the Andrew Tom remembered anymore. The broken Boy placed the lost Matoran on the ground and walked past the others, looking none of them in the face. He stood by the tunnel entrance and felt the sun's rays reflect against his armour. The body he was in was a sham.

"We… are not Toa." His voice cracked. The Boy was suffering from more than the death of Golyo. Everything that had happened to him, being lost in the jungles of Le-Koro, nearly falling to his own doom over the waterfall, watching the homes of the Le-Matoran go up in flames, seeing the vision of destruction the night before and now this.

He walked outside into the desert air. He kept walking, not stopping even as the Toa followed him and begged him to.

"Andrew, stop. It's not your fault." Takanuva made an attempt to appease him.

Tom grabbed his arm and hoped to find some form of his friend still inside the shell of a Toa before him. Every time Andrew would shrug him off.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get to him in time!" Tom shouted to try and get through to him.

Pohatu carried the poor Matoran from the awful mines that had taken so many of his kin. He placed his hand upon his soulless mask and prayed for Mata Nui to take care of him.

Andrew stopped at last, his vain attempts to keep control reaching the surface.

"He knows about Earth."

Tom's eyes shot open with disbelieve. "Earth… how? He doesn't know who we are, heck we don't even know!"

"The Bionicle attack in your house Tom! It wasn't Shadow. It was… something else. The Bahki creature bragged about Shadow's plan; how he has made contact with something called the Shadow Toa."

The rest of the Toa look just as clueless as Tom.

"The Makuta? No not even he could have done that." Tahu clutched at straws.

Hewkii wasn't so willing to leave him out. "Who knows what he's capable of? If he could place Mata Nui in deep slumber then what other power does he possess? There are other world's out there, Tom and Andrew prove that. Perhaps the Great Spirit knows that too, and so why not his brother the Makuta?"

Each Toa began to create theories; each one brought them no closer to an answer.

"How would that give the Makuta the power to send his servants to another world?" Onua asked Hewkii.

"Oh I don't know Hewkii, how do the dead rise and maul at your ankles? How do beings from another world become Toa? How can you fuse Vahki and Bohrok Together and turn them into beasts!? Shadow obviously knows more than any of us. These artefacts he spoke of. That was obviously one of them back in that house of horrors." Tahu pointed back towards the mine as he spoke. "…If these two are from another world, then what is there to deny the existence of others? What if these 'Shadow Toa' are from a third world?"

Pohatu joined the discussion that was quickly becoming a conglomerate of doomsayer theories.

"That's enough Tahu. We need to focus on what we do know, and what we know is that we need to retrieve Andrew and Tom's Toa stones and defeat Shadow." He placed a reassuring hand on Tahu's shoulder, but it was rejected with a shove.

"Get off. You would have us walk blindly into Shadow's lair knowing nothing of what he can do? Look what happened last time! That knight monster almost killed the two Boys, and us! Shadow could have destroyed us there and then but he ran, and why? To spring the trap when all the mice gather." Tahu's voice was stern and unforgiving.

"Brother calm yourself. Pohatu was not suggesting we storm into Shadow's realm with no knowledge. We will plan." Takanuva tried to maintain the peace, but the emotions of the Toa were like a loose boulder atop a tall mountain, and Golyo's death was the lightning bolt that caused the push.

Onua was becoming angry now, not at the Toa but at the situation. "And then what? If what we've been told about the attack on Le-Koro is true then Shadow has hordes of Bahki at his disposal. What else could he have concocted in his lair in the North? Hewkii lead the Ussalry against Bahki reinforcements from Po-Koro so he has had plenty of time to build his forces."

Takanuva thought of something that struck fear into his heart.

"By Mata Nui." He whispered.

"What is it"? Nuparu asked him.

"…Po-Koro village is in danger. We were lucky at Le-Koro but if he strikes Po-Koro now it will burn. We need to muster a defence."

Takanuva was interrupted by Andrew walking across his path towards Pohatu, who still held the Matoran. The boy placed his hand upon his head. He was done.

"…How many people have died because of Tom and I?" He stared at Golyo and thought of the people he had tried to save by betraying the Toa. Andrew, even with his new body could not save him. In his heart he felt the traitor.

"They haven't died because of us Andrew. Shadow would have done this without our presence." Tom spoke with an understanding manner.

Andrew removed his hand from the Matoran and clenched it into a fist. All emotions faded into anguish. He span round towards Tom.

"Open your eyes! Shadow's made contact with these Shadow Toa, he starts building an army to wipe out the Matoran and the Toa, we are supposedly some 'Toa of Legend', Bionicle start coming to life and attacking us and we end up here! It's all linked! The vision we had, it looked like Earth! Someone wants us dead!"

"Andrew… I saw Mata Nui, not Earth." All grew silent until Takanuva spoke.

"Maybe this vision is telling you that both worlds hang in the balance?"

Andrew didn't believe this.

"Or maybe it's the future. After all… What use is a teenage Boy against Gods?"

When Andrew had finished his sentence both of them saw a flash of another vision. It was for a mere second but clear enough. Five figures stood upon a flight of stone steps as everything around them fell. The dead lay everywhere and the darkness descended. Something was coming.

Both Boys were scared by this vision, but Andrew was driven mad. He ran out into the desert, abandoning his comrades. He held his hands over his ears, the screams from the vision echoing all around him. Surrounding him were the sandy hills of Po-Koro but to him they were falling towers.

"Andrew!" Tom shook himself back into reality and sped after his friend.

The others began to follow him when Pohatu looked into the distance.

"Brothers, a sandstorm approaches!"

"Oh holy mother of Spinax!" Tahu yelled in frustration.

Tom could see the storm descending on them from the horizon but Andrew was oblivious to the danger. The boy struggled to retain his sense of reality. The vision clawed at his brain, never letting go. Further and further into the wasteland he ran, scratching his head to make the visions go away. Screams stabbed at his sanity as the endless death he could see replaced the sandy grains beneath his feet with corpses. Some were Matoran, some were human, and others were something else…

"Andrew!" Wait! It's not real!" Tom's yells became faint from the roar of the wind, but to Andrew it was the roar of engines.

Above the lost boy was a great ship. Floating above him were bulwarks of destruction, unleashing impossible energies upon the city he had been absorbed into. Homes disintegrated around him and servants of the machine above hunted the city of those still clinging to life. Andrew screamed, yelling for help from anyone who could here. He closed his eyes and put his hands to his face. At last all grew silent. No longer were the living leaving the world and no longer were buildings vaporised. Andrew dared to remove his hands. He stood atop a great tower, below him was a city unlike the one he had seen overtaken by killers. This one was a beauty to behold. It was advanced and its people thrived. Great spires rose into the sky and the people lived in happiness. Andrew smiled, but even this was nothing but a vision, and he wasn't alone.

"Soon the time will be here."

The ungodly, deep voice startled him. He span round quickly to see this thing that spoke to him. It was cloaked. Red eyes stared back at him. The Boy wanted to run but something draw him to the being's eyes.

"You see them below. I will liberate them from their prison. The folly they call life will be torn asunder. I will give them something else, something glorious." Never moving nor blinking it spoke.

"What?" Andrew dared to ask.

"…Death…"

A mighty roar filled the sky as thousands of ships began their descent.

"No… No! What are you? Leave me alone." Andrew continued to be driven mad by what he saw.

"You know who I am. Everyone knows who I am."

"What!" Andrew screamed at him.

The creature drew the cloak away and revealed himself. He was over ten feet tall, his body covered in black armour, runes burning across it. He had no face say for his red eyes and yet it petrified Andrew.

"Toa… Humans… Great Beings… You will all burn." The being held out his hand. Andrew wouldn't take it willingly, but there was something drawing his hand out. He pulled it away with all his strength and yet it continued until it met the creature. He grasped Andrew's hand firmly. The Boy Toa screamed as his hand dissolved into dust from his touch. He closed his eyes and waited to die… but reality began to draw him back.

The tower disappeared and the deserts of Po-Koro returned. The creature in front of him was gone, but danger refused to leave. Where the black being once stood was a cloudy silhouette. It wailed its battle cry as Andrew realised what was happening. More silhouettes appeared around him through the churning desert. Leaving his prey no time to prepare, the first creature lunged with great speed and intent to incapacitate the boy. Andrew desperately reached for his sword but he was left using his arm to shield against the blow.

The dark hunter's blade was unable to pierce the would-be Toa's metal skin but the attack brought him to his knees nonetheless. The second beast joined the assault with a quick jab at his shoulder. This time his assailants found a vulnerable part of his armour. The weapon stuck in his shoulder, causing him to grimace with pain and anger. Andrew grabbed the blade protruding from his arm and refused to let go. The hunter struggled to gain control of his weapon as the others swung their own swords and daggers at the Toa, all of them were repelled by his mask power of shielding. Wailing, the beast pulled the weapon with great force, doing exactly what Andrew hoped.

Still the weapon would not be released but the boy was pulled up with the Bahki's strength and brought to his feet. Finally Andrew let go and subsequently punched the hunter clean in the corrupted face. Its face crumpled from his attack, leaving his eyes sockets sealed. It roared and tried to reposition its face to no avail. That would be Andrew's only chance to fight back however as four hunters took revenge. He felt himself being sliced and stabbed from every direction. Falling to the grainy ground Andrew spotted even more silhouettes through the dust. They held their arms up to the sky. They were channelling the wind, the storm was of Shadow's design!

Andrew cast his shield around him as he rolled up into a ball. He had not the speed or strength to fight the Bahki alone without his Toa Powers. He closed his eyes and tried to think of home, but when he did the visions seeped back into his mind. The dark being he had seen before on the roof top stood holding Golyo by the neck with a single hand, choking the life from him.

"You failed him Andrew." He could hear the demon-like voice again.

"…no…"

"…Too slow… Too weak…"

"Leave me alone!" The Boy begged.

The tower faded from his view and was replaced with his own room. Everything was there, from his bed to his T.V. Nothing but the chirping of the birds outside and the swaying of trees could be heard. Was this real? Perhaps he was ill. Maybe he had been asleep all along? He was no longer a Bionicle. With hesitation he left his quite room and looked around the landing. Everything seemed normal, that was until he started making his way downstairs. Along the wall to his right the wallpaper was torn, as if it had been cut with a knife. Further along the stairway he could see red stains leading to something. On the window was written a message.

Lies

This couldn't be real. But now Andrew had no sense of what was 'real' anymore. Blocking out any sense of fear he made it downstairs, but upon reaching the living room he wished he hadn't. All around him the message was repeated. Lies…Lies…Lies. The word whispered continuously in his head. He nearly convulsed when he saw the sight of his family lying lifeless in the centre of the room, the words around him in their own blood. The boy turned to run but he was not alone. In front of him stood Tom. He was smeared with blood across his Toa form. He frowned at Andrew who looked on with horror. Tom's blade rested in his hand, stained crimson.

"Tell me Andrew… Who betrayed whom?"

Andrew screamed.

"…All you have to do… is wake up!"

Andrew heard a snap as Golyo's pleads for help stopped.

His eyes shot open and immediately the vision was gone. No Golyo. No blood, but still the Bahki kicked and slashed at his shield. Imagination and reality had come together to form one horror and Andrew could find no solace in either. He gave up any sort of hope and slowly let his shield down. After all, he thought, better to die sooner than later. Yet death didn't come for him.

The closest hunter stood still in front of him and Andrew could smell burning metal. Suddenly a red dot began to appear through the Bahki's head. His brain broken the creature fell forward. Letting out a battle cry and with blade in hand Tom fought off the Hunters.

"That's my friend you disgusting brutes!" Tom shouted as metal clanged together.

The hunters were momentarily caught off guard, but Tom was alone and ripe for overwhelming. Andrew's wounds prevented him from joining his friend, but he was still determined to help. Using his shield he blocked whatever blows he could before they reached Tom. Every second both of them felt weaker. The horrors of their visions and Ravenholm Mine had drained them of strength and spirit. The defence was at an end when Andrew felt a sharp blow fall down on his head. A bahki Brute knocked the Toa out and grabbed his falling body. He flung Andrew over his shoulder and waited to collect the other. Outmatched Tom soon fell too.

…

"I can't believe we've lost them!" Tahu shouted through the storm as the Toa carved through Bahki and Bohrok.

Shadow's forces had deliberately separated the Toa of Legend from the others.

"We've got to get through!" Takanuva unleashed rays of light from his staff, each felling a Bahki Hunter.

Hundreds of the creatures were now upon them, as well as two Bahki Brutes. The Toa fought on still, never letting hope slip from their grasp.

"There's too many!" Pohatu shouted to his brothers.

He was right. Shadow had timed his trap perfectly, but as for every factor one still alluded him…

One brute found himself over come from a hail fire of bullets, each ripping through his skull. Soon this fire power was turned on the rest of the Bahki. Someone or something was helping them.

"Don't give up!" Jaller spurred on the group.

Being prone to panicking in ambushes the Bohrok and Bahki began to flee. The Dark hunters were different, knowing no fear they continued on their rampage. One by one however they fell to this helper. At last he revealed himself. Wielding a great spear in hand and a Gatling cannon on his wrist he took down the hunters like they were nothing. His skill was nothing short of magnificent and easily rivalled any Toa. The final Hunter stood surrounded by the Toa.

"Nowhere to run." Tahu taunted him.

"My death matters little, Shadow will still…" The helpers spear put an end to his comeback.

The sandstorm faded away as the Bohrok fled back to their master in failure. The helper looked on into the distance, knowing what he had to do. He stood with spear in hand, his golden body shining in the bright sun. He had vowed to watch and observe as his mask had commanded, but now it showed him that he had to intervene.

"I can show you." He spoke with a wise voice.

"Show us what?" Takanuva asked approaching him.

"I can show you where he is. Where they are. Shadow wants the Toa of Legend for something… of what I do not know."

"Who are you stranger?" Tahu asked rather gruffly.

He turned to face the party.

"My name… is Artakha."