The Sculpture Fields were great, barren plains dotted with huge statues created by Po-Matoran carvers. The sculptures were so large that very few enclosed buildings in the city could house them, so they had to be created outdoors. Once finished, the statues were transported by fleets of airships to various parts of the city.
Portions of the Sculpture Fields had become unstable due to repeated Rahi activity. As a result, some of the statues had begun to sink into the soft ground, creating eerie monuments, impossible to remove. Certain areas were completely closed to Matoran and the statues residing there were considered lost for good.
Onewa, Toa of Stone, ran at full speed through the large Sculpture Fields. Unfortunately, 'full speed' was not all that fast. His new body was built for strength, not sprinting.
"l need a Mask of Speed," he muttered to himself. "If a Toa of Stone has to do this sort of thing, he needs whatever help he can get."
He pushed the thought of masks out of his mind. He had no idea what Mask of Power he was wearing, what it might do, or even how to make it work. He hoped that eventually that would change, but for now there was no point in worrying about it. Onewa had a mission to perform, so, legs aching and heartlight flashing rapidly, he kept running.
The Sculpture Fields were home to hundreds of statues, most of them far too big to fit in even the largest Po-Metru warehouse. Onewa's goal was one particular work of art, with a very unique feature: a Matoran named Ahkmou was sitting on top of it.
"Hey, Onewa," the Matoran shouted. "What gets harder to catch the faster you run?"
Onewa glared at him. "My breath! You can do better than that, Ahkmou."
"Well, hurry up and get me down from here!" the Matoran replied. "You can, can't you?"
"Just stay there. I'll get to you."
As he ran, the Toa of Stone thought back to how he had ended up here. His first stop had been Ahkmou's home, but the Matoran wasn't there. Carvings were scattered all over the floor, furniture was thrown about…Onewa had worried that Ahkmou had been kidnapped.
A visit to his workplace had turned up no sign of him either. The other carvers said that their coworker had been jumpy lately, especially after he got a visit from two strangers. One carver, Ahkmou's workmate named Hafu, had described one as having four legs, while the other was a giant, and neither looked like he was bringing good news.
Onewa frowned. The description sounded a lot like the hunters Vakama claimed to have seen. Still puzzling over that, he had opened Ahkmou's carver desk. Inside, it was a jumble of items. Onewa spotted not only Po-Metru carving tools but equipment from Ta-Metru, maps from Le-Metru, and assorted items from other parts of the city. It wasn't illegal to have any of that, of course, but why would a Po-Metru carver need it?
Then again, maybe it all means nothing, Onewa thought. The two strangers could have been some new kind of Vahki that Turaga Dume has put in service. The items in his station could be souvenirs of some kind. I mean, what are the chances Ahkmou has a Great Disk and hasn't told everyone he knows about it already? I don't think Vakama had a 'vision.' I think he was just seeing things. A former carver, Onewa was most comfortable with things he could see and touch; he learned very quickly he had little patience for Vakama's visions.
There were still questions to answer, though. At a protodermis warehouse, Onewa had stumbled on a hidden map of the Sculpture Fields on his way here. One spot was marked, and it was the very same spot at which Ahkmou was waiting now. Who wanted him to go there? And why?
Onewa reached the base of the statue. It was a very long way to the top. Taking a deep breath, he dug his two new tools, called proto pitons, into the stone and began to climb.
Ahkmou leaned over the side and watched. Then he said, "So how did you do it? Really?"
"How did I do what?"
"Make yourself look like a Toa."
"I don't just look like a Toa," Onewa snapped. "I am a Toa!"
"Oh," Ahkmou said, so quietly Onewa could barely hear him. "I see. You must be one of the six, then. And you were looking for me? Is that why you came out here?"
Onewa dragged himself a little farther up the side of the statue. "Yes. I came out here because a fire spitter has been standing too close to his forge and told me I should. He said you had a Great Kanoka Disk."
Ahkmou shook his head. "l don't know anything about any disk. I'm a carver."
With one last effort. Onewa pulled himself to the top of the statue. He lay there, panting for a moment, before looking up at the Matoran."So how did you get up here?"
Ahkmou stood up and backed away a few steps. Suddenly, he seemed nervous. "I—um—I just came up to…" The Matoran's eyes went wide. "Nidhiki!"
Onewa turned around just in time to catch a fleeting glimpse of a four-legged creature on the field below, vanishing behind a statue. "Who is—" he began, looking back at Ahkmou. But the Matoran was gone.
Onewa leaned over the side and saw Ahkmou climbing swiftly down on a series of spikes wedged into the statue. "Hey! Come back here!" the Toa shouted, but Ahkmou was already leaping from statue to statue, heading for the exit from the field.
Onewa gave a growl of frustration and started after him. He had just begun the climb down when he noticed something carved into the top of the statue. It read: PO-METRU CHUTE 445.
All right then, Ahkmou, the Toa of Stone said to himself. I may not be as fast as you, but now I know where you're going.
Getting out of the Sculpture Fields would be a great deal harder than getting into them had been, that much Onewa was sure of. The ground between his location and the exit was unstable, thanks to years of tilling the soil to recycle protodermis. Half the statues were sinking, and the other half had already disappeared in the marshy ground. Normally, only hopping from one sculpture to another would make for a safe exit.
Onewa paused halfway down the makeshift ladder and began whirling his proto piton. "Toa don't hop," he said. "Not when they can do this."
As smoothly as if he had been doing it for years, Onewa slung the piton toward another statue. The edge of the sharp tool caught the stone and held. After testing the high-tech grappling hook with a few tugs, Onewa stepped off the climbing spikes and swung through the air.
He looped in a wide arc around the sculpture, even as he readied his other piton. At the apex of his swing, he tossed the second piton and watched it bite into another sculpture. "Yes!" He bellowed, smiling. "Who needs chutes? This is the way a Toa should travel!"
X X X
High atop a Knowledge Tower, the air was crisp and clean, pure even. The towers of Ko-Metru reached so high into the sky that their roofs were capped with snow and ice. Inside, hundreds of scholars studied prophecies, made predictions, and watched the stars looking for signs of things to come. One could always find a sense of peace and the time for contemplation here. What could not be found, at least today, was any sign of Ehrye.
Knowledge Towers were some of the most unusual structures in Metru Nui, because they were not built; they were grown. Knowledge crystals about the size of a Matoran's hand were thrown into special cradles located in different places around the district. From there, they grew at a rapid pace until a new tower stood alongside the old ones.
Toa Nuju felt the weight of the crystal in his hand. He approached the edge of the tower, took a deep breath, and tossed the crystal out into space. It tumbled through the air, vanishing into the mist below. An instant later, Nuju followed.
As he fell, he let doubt creep into his mind again. What if Vakama was wrong? What if the Great Disks proved to no one that they were Toa? What if the Great Disks didn't exist at all but were just legends? What then?
Nuju twisted his body in midair. He could barely see the outlines of the new tower. An instant later, he landed feet-first on the top of the rapidly growing structure. It lifted him high in the air once more as it took its place among the other monuments to knowledge in Ko-Metru.
From this new vantage point, Nuju scanned the Metru. Off to the west, he spotted something that looked out of place. A Knowledge Tower's rooftop was littered with protodermis blocks. Since towers were grown, not built, there was no reason any construction material would be there.
He was about to dismiss it as one more strange thing in a city that seemed to be filled with them when he spotted movement behind the blocks. It was Ehrye! Nuju had barely realized that when he saw something much more frightening—a huge crack traveling up the side of the tower. The whole structure was about to fragment and take the Matoran with it.
Nuju got a running start and leaped off the tower. Using his crystal spikes, he swung from one chute to the next as fast as he could. When he was almost on top of the tower, he let go and dropped.
For once, the Toa of Ice tried not to think about the future. If he pondered the possible consequences of what he was trying to do, he would never be able to do it. He waited until his fall had brought him almost parallel to the crack in the tower, then held out his twin spikes and focused his ice power through them. Thin streams of ice shot from the tools, freeze-welding the crack shut as he fell.
Now came the hard part. Most of the damage was repaired, but if he could not stop his fall, he would be an ex-Toa Metru very quickly. He spun, twisted, and dug one spike into the side of the tower. It carved a gash in the crystal and he continued to fall, desperately trying to hang on to the Toa tool. Finally, with the ground much too close for comfort, the spike held and he came to an abrupt stop.
No wonder we had to be chosen to be Toa Metru, he thought as he began the long climb to the top of the tower. No one would ever volunteer for this job.
X X X
Ehrye was still where Nuju had last seen him: trapped behind protodermis blocks at the very top of the tower. Worse, the blocks had not been stacked haphazardly. They were arranged, almost like a puzzle, in such a way that moving the wrong one would bring them all crashing down on the Matoran.
Nuju spent a long time staring at the blocks before he gently shifted one. Then he went back to analyzing the barricade. Ehrye, impatient, shouted, "Are you going to get me out of here? What are you doing?"
"Quiet," Nuju replied. "Someone did not want you walking away from this tower. But you are important to the future of Metru Nui, fortunately for you, so the Toa of Ice is going to get you out of what you have gotten into."
"Yes, I heard you were a Toa," said the Matoran grimly. "Now I'll never have a chance at a promotion."
The Toa Metru ignored him. This puzzle was highly intricate, but it was designed to defeat someone who could not think ahead. They picked the wrong Toa then, Nuju said to himself.
It took an agonizingly long time, but finally enough blocks were cleared for Ehrye to slip out. He stretched himself and looked up at his rescuer. "l suppose you're wondering how I got here?"
"Yes. You took many risks, Ehrye, and broke a number of laws. I should turn you over to the Vahki and be done with it. But I need you. Or, rather, I need the Kanoka disk you have located."
"Why should I give it to you?" Ehrye replied. "That disk could be my ticket to a Knowledge Tower position."
Nuju gestured at the pile of protodermis blocks. "It was almost your ticket to a tomb. Think about the future, Ehrye."
The Matoran spent a few minutes doing just that. Then he said, "l get full credit for finding it? And no Vahki come knocking on my door?"
"Vahki don't knock," Nuju reminded him. "They smash doors down. And they keep smashing them down until they find the one you're hiding behind."
"You have a point," Ehrye agreed. "Even if I didn't have to worry about them, there's still that big Rahi breath that walled me up here."
Nuju and Ehrye headed for the chute that would bring them back down to ground level. Still shaken by his experience, Ehrye wouldn't stop babbling. "I know why you're looking for that disk, Toa Nuju. It's the root, right?"
"Root?"
"The Morbuzakh plant—it has a king root. I found that out when I was researching the Great Disk. Stop the root, you stop the spread of the plant. But you need all six disks to do it."
"Then you will come with me to see the other Toa Metru now," Nuju said.
"There are more of you?"
"And then we will go get the Great Disk."
"Oh, I'll tell you where it is. I'll even go with you. But you're going to have to retrieve it. From what I've learned, no one but a Toa Metru has a chance of getting that disk from its hiding place."
"l see," Nuju said.
"In fact," continued Ehrye, "l might not get the Knowledge Tower job. But if the Great Disk is as hard to get as I think it is, your job might be open soon, Toa of Ice."
Neither one of them laughed at Ehrye's little joke.
X X X
When they reached the ground, Nuju gestured for Ehrye to follow him. To the Matoran's surprise, they did not head for a chute station but for the alley behind the tower.
"Where are we going?"
"Knowledge Towers do not crack by themselves," said Nuju. "Well, sometimes they do, but this one did not. I am searching for the cause."
Ehrye trailed along behind as Nuju walked up and down the length of the alley. Along the way, the Matoran peppered him with questions. "What are you looking for? Does that mean anything? What does it feel like to be a Toa Metru? Do you think the Morbuzakh plant will wreck the whole city?"
"Enough!" Nuju snapped. "The future will bring the answers to your questions, but only if you stop speaking long enough to notice them."
"That's what you always say," Ehrye grumbled.
"When it stops being true, I will stop saying it," Nuju replied.
The Toa of Ice moved around to a shadowed portion of the tower. There, just below eye level, was the beginning of the crack that had threatened to bring the whole structure down. Peering closely at it, he looked for any sign of the tool that had been used.
What he found was something quite different. The edges of the damaged area were melted and fused. In many places, the crystal had turned black. No Matoran tool had done this. It was a surge of energy.
Troubled, Nuju knelt down to examine the ground. Crushed knowledge crystals littered the pavement. The Toa of Ice carefully sifted through them to reveal scrapings on the ground below. They were the marks of a four-footed being who had stood right in that spot while he no doubt set his trap.
Vakama was right, Nuju thought, this time. But who is this monster? Why is he doing this? Is he working for someone else, or does he stand to gain somehow by all this damage?
He rose and walked toward the mouth of the alley, not saying a word to Ehrye. The Matoran kicked at the knowledge crystal fragments before following. His thoughts had gone back to the missed opportunity of the Great Disk. If he could have gotten his hands on it or maybe somehow tricked Nuju into getting it for him, Ko-Metru would have been at his feet. Now it would be back to running errands. Unless, of course, he could still find a way to get the disk after Nuju found it.
Ehrye was still pondering that happy thought when Nuju stopped short. The Toa of Ice bent down to pick up an artifact, but Ehrye could not make out what it was. After a moment, Nuju turned around and held the item out. It was a small, intricate carving.
"What's that?" Ehrye asked.
"l thought perhaps you could tell me," said Nuju coldly. "This came from Po-Metru. It's signed by Ahkmou the carver."
Ehrye shrugged. "So?"
"At the chute station, the attendant said he saw you talking with a Matoran before you left for the Knowledge Tower. He couldn't remember who it was, but I think I know. It was Ahkmou, wasn't it? That's why there was a Po-Metru carving tool in the station. He was careless…must have been in a big hurry."
"Okay, so it was Ahkmou," Ehrye replied. "We're friends. We play Akilini together sometimes. What does this have to do with—"
"Listen to me," Nuju said, leaning in so close that Ehrye was chilled by his frigid breath. "We are not playing Akilini now. All of Metru Nui is at stake. Now, what did Ahkmou want?"
Ehrye broke and ran. Nuju frowned and used a minimal amount of elemental power to block the alley with a wall of ice. Stymied, the Matoran turned around.
"Wrong answer," said Nuju.
"All right. He said he wanted to carve replicas of the Great Disks as a gift for Turaga Dume. He wanted to know all about them and figured I could get information from the Knowledge Towers."
"Is that all he said?"
"Yes," Ehrye answered, his eyes on the ground.
Nuju could tell he was not revealing the whole truth, but there would be time to uncover it later. For now, they needed to return to Ga-Metru and meet with the other Toa. He turned and walked toward the chute station, confident that Ehrye would be wise enough not to try to run again.
"What are you going to do about that ice wall?" the Matoran asked. "Will it melt?"
"Eventually."
"Won't there be questions? I mean, how many Matoran know there's a Toa of Ice around?"
"It will give the scholars something to ponder," said Nuju. "And before all is said and done, all of Metru Nui will know that Toa Nuju has arrived."
X X X
Orkahm had made straight for a long-unused chute that went even deeper into Sector 3. Matau was about to follow when he noticed something on the support struts beneath the chute. Something had been scratched into the solid protodermis.
Matau knelt down to take a closer look. The carving was relatively fresh, made with a short, sharp instrument. It had left behind protodermis dust in the scratchings, but not dust from the strut. This looked more like dust from Po-Metru. Carved into the strut was a single word: PUKU.
Matau read it once more to make sure he wasn't mistaken. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have dismissed this as some Matoran's idea of fun, leaving a mark behind on a chute. Matau had done that sort of prank himself in the past, along with hundreds of others.
But this was no joke—this was a message. Puku was the name of Orkahm's favorite Ussal crab, the one he had been riding for as long as Matau could remember. The Toa doubted Orkahm would have taken the time to scratch this in the strut.
Someone else, then, he said to himself. As a code-sign? A threat?
Without hesitating even for a moment, Matau jumped into the chute and began to follow the trail of the missing Matoran.
X X X
The farther one traveled into this portion of Le-Metru, the more buildings, chutes, and cables seemed to crowd in. The residents were fighting a losing battle against the Morbuzakh here. It was obvious that even the Vahki were not venturing this far, because Matau spotted at least two nests of insectoid Nui-Rama on rooftops. Normally, they would have been netted and shipped off to the Archives long ago.
Matau could see the chute change direction sharply up ahead. To his trained eye, it was obvious that the chute had not been built that way. Someone had rerouted it and not done a very good job. Still, the cylinder of energy held as he tore around the corner and went flying into the air.
Of course. Badly fix-patched chute, cut-severed end…why am I surprised?
He landed hard amid a tangled nest of transport cables. These cables helped feed energized protodermis into the chutes and chute stations, not to mention being great fun to swing from. Matau was puzzling over how he would ever untangle them when he noticed something in the center of the tangle, looking like it had been caught in a Fikou spiderweb.
It was Orkahm!
"Rider!" Matau said. "How did you get yourself in this trap-snare?"
"l didn't! Someone put me here!" the Matoran replied. "Now, please get me away-out!"
Matau worked as quickly as he could, unknotting the cables but being careful not to tighten them around Orkahm in the process. When he was done, the Matoran practically fell into his arms. "What happened?" Matau asked. "Where is the Great Disk?"
"Not here. I deep-wish it was! I wish I could throw-give it away right now, with all the trouble it has caused me," Orkahm said, his voice filled with exhaustion. "Ever since I found it, I've been fear-followed by two beings, one huge, one with four legs, not to mention having Ahkmou on my back about it. Then I got this message." He handed Matau a small tablet. It read:
The disk you found is vital to the security of the city. Bring it to Moto-Hub Sector 3 and take the marked chute.
"But you didn't bring the disk," Matau said.
"l thought it might be a dark-trick. Maybe they wanted to follow-tail me to where it was lost-hidden. No sooner did I get here than these cables snapped tight-hard around me. I heard a far-voice say that someone would be along soon to talk-chat to me. But no one came until you, Matau."
"You sure-know who I am?" Matau said, surprised.
"Of course! Only you would be silly-foolish enough, reckless enough, to come after me here. You were a harm-danger to everyone on the road as a rider, and you will probably be a danger as a Toa-hero, too…but thank you."
For the first time in his life, Matau found he had nothing to say. It was just as well, too, for if he had spoken he would never have heard the slithering sound coming from among the cables. He shot a look at the web only long enough to see three Morbuzakh vines working their way toward them. "We have to get out of here!" he shouted.
Now Orkahm saw the vines, too, and was backing away. "How? The chute only goes in one direction, and it's too high-up to jump to anyway. We're trapped!"
"Toa-heroes are never trapped," Matau said, doing his best to sound the way he imagined a Toa Metru should. He grabbed Orkahm and yelled, "Hang on!" as the twin aero slicers on his back began to whirl.
It wasn't easy getting off the ground with the extra weight of Orkahm, but they managed it with barely an inch to spare. The vines wrapped themselves around the chute struts and snaked their way after the two, but by now Matau was flying too high and too fast for them to catch.
"How did you know this would work?" Orkahm asked.
"I'm a Toa-hero. This is what we do," Matau answered. He decided it was best to keep to himself the fact that he'd had absolutely no idea whether the stunt would work and just took the chance.
Maybe that is what being a Toa-hero is really about in the end, he thought as he flew over Le-Metru. Taking the chances you have to take. Doing the things no one else is able to do. Matau banked sharply and headed for the center of the Metru. I think I could get to like this, he said to himself with a smile.
