After traveling by raft for two days, the Matoran finally made it to the Border Village. Along the way, Jaller and Takua took turns telling Hewkii and Macku about what happened at Turaga Dume's birthday party, about the Mask, and anything else that seemed important. It was well into the middle of the night and the sky was starting to downpour rain on them. Hewkii and Macku had to barrow some of Takua's extra cloaks but they did little to keep them dry.
The four Matoran hid in the tress near the gates of the village, both uncertain how to declare themselves since they couldn't tell anyone about their mission and making sure those creatures weren't anywhere near.
When Takua deemed it safe enough to cross the road to the gates, the four scurried their way through the mud to the gate. Takua knocked on the gates and a few moments latter, a small peephole high above them opened then slammed shut. Then another opened, nearer their eye level. The three saw a grey Akaku on an age-old Ko-Matoran in a black leather cloak peered out against the downpour.
"What do you want?" asked the Gatekeeper in the meanest, scratchest voice the four young Matoran had ever heard.
"We're heading for the Prancing Husi!" Takua answered
The peephole slammed shut as soon as Takua was finished and the gate opened a bit just enough for the Gatekeeper to go through. He held out a lantern to get a better look at the four.
"What business brings two Ta-Matoran, a Po-Matoran and a Ga-Matoran to—"
"We wish to stay at the inn," interrupted Takua putting as much warning as he could into his voice. "Our business is our own!"
The Gatekeeper took the hint. "All right young sir, I meant no offence. 'Tis my job to ask question after nightfall. There's talk of strange creatures abroad. Can't be too careful."
He ushered them inside.
As the four young Matoran make their way up the cobbled path into the village, they started to hold hands when the crowd got bigger. Takua wondered why so many people were doing out in the rain. But his wondering was cut short when the motley crowd of Matoran and Potency Toa started to jostle and bump them. One Potency Toa, a particularly ugly oaf holding a carrot, belched contemptuously over them. Macku wanted to right then and there throw up on that guy.
After almost being stepped on, Takua looked up and spotted the sign of the Prancing Husi. He pulled his friends after him and enter the Inn. Inside, it was crowded, noisy and poorly-lit but it was warmier and drier then it was outside. Hewkii and Macku breathe sighs of relief as the four pulled back their hoods.
Takua stepped up to the bar, which rised far above his head. He had to crank his head up as he called, "Excuse me!"
A moment latter, a black Onu-Matoran with a black Hau and had a nametag with the name Zemya printed on it, leaned down over the bar to look down at the four.
"Good evening, little masters!" he greeted "If you're looking for accommodation we've got some nice, cozy, Matoran-sized rooms available. Mister uh—" He paused.
Takua thought for a moment before coming up with a false name. "Lhii, my name's Lhii."
"Lhii? Yes." Zemya took out a wooden pen and started writing on something out of Takua's line of sight.
"We're friends of Takanuva the Light Toa. Can you tell him we've arrived?" asked Takua
Zemya paused. "Takanuva? Takanuva? Oh yes! I remember…not seen him for six months."
Takua's eyes widened slightly and his stomach felt like it hit rock bottom. He turned back to his friends who had the same shocked looks on their faces. They huddled together before Jaller asked, "What do we do now?"
Takua, once again, didn't have an answer.
After getting their room, the four Matoran were seated at a table in the taproom of the Prancing Husi, eating a small dinner and (in Hewkii and Macku's case) drinking beer. The air was dark and smoke-filled and drunken Toa and Matoran laughed raucously.
Jaller glanced at the door for the twentieth time before Takua said a bit annoyed, "Jaller…he'll be here. He'll come." But Jaller knew by his voice that Takua didn't really agree with his words. What was keeping Takanuva?
Hewkii sat down at the table next to Macku, holding a huge stein of beer. Macku glanced at the larger cup and asked, "What's that?"
Hewkii smiled and answered, "This my friend, is a pint."
"It comes in pints? I'm getting one!"
Macku rushed to the bar with Jaller yelling, "You had a whole half already!" But Macku, not surprising, didn't listen. Jaller sighed and turned back to his mug. After a moment, he nudged Takua and gestured to the corner of the room. Takua looked and noticed a dark cloaked Toa-shaped figure sitting alone there. His face was invisible inside his hood.
"That fellow's done nothin' but stare at you since we arrived," Jaller informed him.
Takua looked at the figure again. He did seem to be staring at him…or was it his hip bag where the Mask was?
Takua reached out and took Zemya, who was carrying a tray of empty tankerds, aside. "That Toa in the corner, who is he?"
Zemya looked at the figure for a moment then looked back at Takua. Keeping his voice low, he answered, "He's one of them Fire Toa. Dangerous Toa they are—wandering the wilds. I think his name is Tahu."
Zemya then headed back on his way to the bar.
"Tahu?" Takua whispered.
Takua suddenly found himself stroking his hip bag, feeling the Mask inside. He felt himself slowly losing himself in the rhythm of stroking the Mask, when suddenly snapped out of his reverie when he heard Macku say his name.
Fearfully, he looked over to the bar and his eyes widened when a slightly drunk Macku pointed at him. "That's Takua," she said to the drunks around her.
In panic, Takua rouse from his seat and started to run to Macku to keep her from saying anything else when he slipped on someone's foot and felled forward. The Mask flew out of his bag and was tossed the air. Takua reach up to catch it but missed and the Mask fell onto his own.
Takua looked around bewildered. He didn't seem to be in the Inn anymore yet at the same time he was. Everything was hazy and dark. He then saw an immense singular orb. A lidless eye, wreathed in flames, staring down at him.
"You cannot hide!" a voice from the eye said. It was the evilest voice Takua had ever heard in his life. It was full of poison, hate, and everything else Takua never wanted to hear or see. He backed away, terrified. "I see you! There is no life in the void, only death!"
Takua groped the Mask on his face, unable to tear his gaze from the hideous Eye. Finally he wrenched the Mask off, reappearing back in the Inn. He was about to gibe a relieved sigh when a red hand grabbed him from behind.
"You draw far too much attention to yourself Mister "Lhii"!" said a young but deeper voice then Takua's
Before Takua knew it, he was tossed up the stairs, into his and the other's room, and falling on his knees in front of the fireplace. The stranger that hulled him up here shut the door behind them.
Takua looked up at the stranger while shoving the Mask back into his hip bag. He was surprised to see it was that dark cloaked Toa named Tahu.
"A little more caution from you," he said "That is no trinket you carry."
Takua's eyebrow rose. Did he know about the Mask?
"I carry nothing."
"Indeed," scoffed the Toa as he walked over to the window, and put out the candles with just a wave of his hand. "I can avoid being seen if I wish. But to disappear entirely, that is a rare gift."
He pulled down his hood, took off his cloak and for the first time Takua saw what Tahu looked like. He had a Hau like Jaller only his was bright red and his eyes were red as well with a slight pinkish tint in them. Takua noticed that his body was red like his mask but his built unlike the other Potency Toa he had ever seen. His built was almost like Takanuva's. On his back was a sword, twisted into the shapes of flames.
"Are you frightened?" the Fire Toa suddenly asked, startling Takua out of his thoughts.
"Yes," he answered. It was ture. He was frightened.
"Not nearly frightened enough," Tahu said "I know what hunts you."
Before Takua could ask, the door suddenly burst opened, making both the Toa and the Matoran jump. Tahu was quick to draw his sword.
Standing there ready to fight was Jaller, Hewkii and Macku. Jaller had his fists clenched ready to fight. Hewkii had a Matoran size stool in his hands for a weapon. Lastly, Macku was holding a lit brass table candleholder over her head for light and a poker knife she took from the bar.
Tahu smiled amusingly at the three Matoran that he knew as Takua's friends. He sheathed his sword. "You have a stout heart little ones, but that will not save you."
Confused, the three Matoran lowered their weapons.
Tahu turned back to Takua. "You can no longer wait for the Light Toa, Takua. They're coming."
Suddenly Takua knew who "they" were.
It was two hours before the dawn broke, when inside the gatehouse of the Border Village did the wizened gatekeeper hear something on the other side of the gate. He got up to investigate and opened the window in the gate. He had a second to gasp before four strange creatures, one a rich dark brown, another a bright red, the third a deep blue and the last one a sickening green, crashed through the gate, crushing the gatekeeper underneath it.
The creatures ran to the Prancing Pony, screeching. They entered the Inn, staffs drawn. Zemya, who had been cleaning up to taproom, had heard the screeches and hid behind the bar, terrifed.
The four creatures made for the room that Takua and his friends taken for the night. One by one the creatures went to one bed and silently, they raised their staffs high above them to plunge into the beds.
After five minutes of stabbing at the still forms in the beds, the creatures pulled back the covers and realized they have been attacking stuffed bedclothes and pillows. They screamed in anger.
Meanwhile, in the building on the other side of the Inn, Tahu watched from the window as the creatures stormed out of the Inn. They fell for it for now, he thought.
Takua, sitting on the foot of the bed in the room that his three friends had been moments ago resting on were now awaken by the creatures' cries, leaning wide-eyed against the headboard.
"What are they?"
Tahu looked over at the Matoran and answered, "They were once Toa. Great kings of Potency Toa. Then Makuta the Deceiver gave to them six Masks of Power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question. One by one falling into darkness. Now they are slaves to his will. They are the Rahkshi, the Makuta "sons", neither living nor dead. At all times they feel the presence of the Mask. Drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you."