Chapter Eight - Hide and Seek
Lhikan and Turataga fell silent, their tale complete. Everyone just stared in silence, reflecting the story. The Turaga were especially silent, seeing the puzzle of Metru Nui's destruction begin falling into place. The fall of the city was a personal experience for them, and now they knew who the true culprit was. Makuta dealt the blow, but Makura drove the hammer. But Nuju, a seer of Ko-Metru, wondered who the real villian behind it was. Was it Makura, who created Makuta and invited the Visorak to take over the island, or was it the Visorak lords, Sidorak and Roodaka? It was their power that transformed Makura, replacing his mind with the will of darkness. It was a paradox, to be sure. The more he thought about it, the more perplexing the web of causes became.
Kopaka began staring at the entrance to the secret temple Toa Lhikan had led them to. It looked a lot like the entrance to the Great Temple in Ga-Metru, but it was eroded, and wasn't a free standing building, but seemed to be carved out of the wall. He whispered this to Onua and Pohatu, and they looked around. Pohatu, good at noticing things about stone, stared carefully at the walls of the temple. Onua was more interested in the walls of the cavern. He knew all too well the wearing effects of water over the years. Many of the tunnels in Onu-Koro on Mata Nui were made because of the eroding and eventual collapse of other tunnels. Onua had soon become an expert at finding where water had taken its toll. He peered through the gloom at the far corners of the cave, and he saw it. At about eye level, the walls rounded into a rough corner, curving outward to form the walls that enclosed the Toa. They appeared to be hand crafted corners from excavation. He looked slightly lower, and the sharp corners gradually rounded off, with thin gouges suggesting slow runoff from the "ocean ceiling." He then directed his eyes to the spot where the converging walls met the floor. It looked as if, during the digging, the builders had dumped some of their dirt in the corners, but the peaks matched the positions of the grooves on the walls. Onua guessed that at some point, water filled the cavern, up to about eye level, loosening the dirt and rocks. When the water subsided, the loose bits wore away, and runoff gouged ditches between the harder rocks, depositing the sediments in the corners. Onua studied the ground, and found it as dry as a desert, with the exception of a few drops that were dripping from their liquid sky. Obviously, the water had finished receding at least a century ago.
Pohatu gazed at the corners, noticing how the edges were smooth. There were no cut lines, no bricks, and no marks in the bedrock to suggest a foundation. In short, the temple, at least the outside, was carved directly from the cave itself. Eventually Onewa came over, and noticed what was drawing Pohatu's attention. He then joined Pohatu in analyzing the craftmanship of the temple. The door was detailed in its borderline display of the individual emblems of each metru, as well as the symbol of the virtues unity, duty, and destiny decoratively embellished above the entrance. All the others soon wandered over, and the information was passed on, though few really cared. What they thought mattered was what was inside. Tahu, getting impatient, reminded them why Lhikan brought them to the temple. Vakama mentioned that Tahu still needed patience, but motioned everybody inside all the same.
The interior of the temple was just as fancy as the outside. A shrine stood in the center of the main hall, and it depicted the island of Metru Nui, and it bore the legend foretelling the city's fall to darkness. Lhikan then said that the most important thing was in the next room. Inside sat a suva shrine, a centerpoint of Toa power. The two most intrigued by this were Nuju and Whenua. It was widely know, even back then, that the Toa Metru derived power from the suva in the Great Temple in Ga-Metru. Who, then, used this suva? Lhikan led Turataga into a shadowed hall, and both quickly returned. Turataga motioned for Takanuva and Vakama to join him, and they went back inside. The dark hallway quickly brightend, and Takanuva was most surprised by the large relief sculpture on the far wall. It was the Mask of Light. Vakama nodded. "I knew there must be more to your destiny, Toa of Light, but I did not know that your coming would be known this far back. This is indeed a wonder." Takanuva then glanced at an inscription below the mask. He couldn't read the ancient language, but he suddenly knew what it said. The inscription translated to: "The city will be put right into balance. Shadow destroys, but shall renew."
All Toa and Turaga then entered the room, gasping at the mask inscription, and stared at Takanuva. Nokama saw the inscription, and tried to translate it. When she couldn't, Takanuva told them what it said. All pondered the meaning, and it was Tahu, the impulsive Toa, who provided a possible answer. "Maybe it means that the shadow that destroyed the city will repair it."
Kopaka jumped in with his train of thought. "But who is the real shadow?" "Makuta, duh!" said Tahu, then Nuju interjected. "Have you learned nothing from the tale of Makura? He created the physical embodiment of Makuta." They all nodded, and Lewa said, "But the shadow of the Visorak form-changed him. Wouldn't that mean the Visorak are the real cause-start of this destruction?" Vakama nodded thoughtfully. "True, but the power just transformed his mind, and it didn't tell him what to do. What a web of complexities." Gali, always one for pondering, thought of another, supposedly obvious answer. "What if the shadow that destroyed the city is nothing more than shadow itself?" There was an instant outburst of voices as all nodded their agreement. "So, to stop the shadow, shouldn't we stop the source?" Pohatu offered. Vakama nodded. "Yes, that seems to be the appropriate course. We should find the source of the shadow that has taken hold of this city. We must find and stop Makura." All cheered their assent, and headed out of the temple. They were stopped by a voice. "There's just one problem." Whenua turned. "And what would that be, time user?" Turataga looked at Lhikan, who stepped forward. "You can't stop anything if you don't know where your target is." They all groaned, feeling stupid for forgetting something so important and obvious.
At that moment, the mouth of the relief of the Mask of Light opened, and there was a light from within, a beacon to point the way forward, as if foretelling the Toa's triumph through the darkness. As they all gathered around the new opening, Whenua saw stairs, steps barely wide enough to hold a Toa. As he peered into the gloom, his mask glowed, illuminating the part of the downward spiral that the golden light didn't reach. Down at the lowest point he could see, before the wall on the left obscured it completely, the right edge of the stairs stopped curving to his left, and became a little more straight. That suggested two things: either the steps got wider at that point, or the stairs actually stopped curving, and became a straight path down. To him, either alternative was acceptable, but it was all irrelevant if this path lead nowhere. It was obvious that this path was meant for at least one of them, as it was behind the sculpture of Takanuva's mask, and opened while all of them were in the room. But the question was, why did it only open now? Why not when they first entered the room? These thoughts also weighed heavily on Nokama's mind.
Lhikan mentioned that he hadn't known about this hidden passage. Turataga put on a smile, and said, "We aren't going to find out what's down there by standing around together up here. Let's go. I'll lead." Lhikan took up the rear, and they all began the trek down the winding stair, marching single file to wherever the stairs would eventually end. A few feet down, the stairs widened to accomadate three at a time. They began whispering to each other, on various possibilities about this mission. Takanuva ended up at the back of the line, next to Lhikan. When he turned to study the Toa more closely, he was gone. Takanuva looked around, and looked to his side. At about waist hieght stood Jaller, the Chronicler of Mata Nui, and his best friend. Jaller smiled up at him, and expressed his excitement at being able to go with the Toa on a mission. They talked about Toa and legends until Turataga stopped, causing the whole group to halt at once, nearly causing a pile-up. All looked around Turataga to see a large cavern, much larger that the one that housed the temple they had apparently left. Here and there were stone pillars, large columns of solidified protodermis that supported a ceiling they couldn't see. The strange glow they had seen in the temple originated near this supposed ceiling, and they saw a small dark spot, presumably where the light entered to the stair column they had just exited. Ahead they saw a raised platform, with a dias standing alone, the only freestanding structure that didn't have a top to support.
As the group headed for the dias, a shriek erupted in the gloom. It was joined by many more shrieks and screams, the piercing sound dulled a bit by load and low growls. The sound reverberated around the whole cavern, and no one really had any idea just how big the cavern was. Jaller pulled out his weapon, and was instantly replaced by Lhikan, putting up his tools in a defensive stance. Forms dropped down from every concievable spot on the obscured ceiling, landing around the group, hissin and snarling the very sounds that had just previously challenged them from every spot around the cavern. Everyone looked around at their numerous opponents, and saw many Rahi, recognizable and unfamiliar. As one, all Toa pulled out their weapons, and formed a ring around the Turaga.