Not far away, Raanu sat in his chamber, deep in thought. He had half-expected this day to come ever since the villages had been united. After all, he knew far more about the Great Beings' creations than anyone else suspected.
Once, tens of thousands of years ago, Bara Magna had been part of a larger lush, green world called Spherus Magna. Then came the Core War, a global conflict that resulted in the shattering of the planet. During the dark days of that war, Raanu had briefly served the Great Beings as they attempted to stop the fighting. Just like before Ackar's match with Strakk, age-old memories recalled to him…memories of his true home.
Spherus Magna was an amazing place, a large planet with three major regions. One major landmass dominated the globe, and part of it was open, rocky, expansive land. This land, known as the Great Barren, was filled with vast cities. In one instance, stone and stucco dwellings formed the wall of a major city, outside whose walls lay an open plain of expansive dirt. Mountains rose to create cascading horizons, with one volcanic peak's column of smoke dominating the skyline.
Spherus Magna's amazements stretched to the Great Ocean, where living vessels sailed from shore to shore, sea to sea. Back then, a crew of beings quickly prepared to dock on the island of their arrival. Pulling ropes and tying knots, they pulled hard to fight the blowing sea wind and ocean currents. The sails they were changing, which were actually vestibular leaf-like wings on the back of an enormous beast, shifted to bring the crew portside. The large-bodied, long-necked, beast on whom they rode roared as it approached the land for their dock and business, shaking its purple body and rocking its unfazed riders.
Lastly, Spherus Magna was home to incredible creatures who dwelled in the deep forest of the Great Jungle, the other half of the landmass and brother to the Great Barren. Here, a heavy foot landed in the soft soil of the fertile grounds, with visible circuitry running throughout its skin. Planted on all four feet, the amazing creature stretched its long neck and called to others of its kind. As it made its echoing and multiphonic tone, the horns on its head and plates along its back flared up, the muscles stimulated from the vocal effort. Then it stalked off through foliage so dense as to be mist, whilst smaller creatures scuttled along tree branches and birds flew through mountain peaks in the distance.
And so, from its great ocean to its sun-bleached desert and its vast forests, jungles and mountain ranges, it was a wonder to behold. Eight tribes of Agori lived on this world, in peace and plenty.
Back then, the world of Spherus Magna was ruled by the a collection of men and women called the "Great Beings," brilliant scientist-kings who lived inside a fortress with no entrance. It could be accessed only with their assent. The fortress rose into the sky on an imposing column of stone. From points on the circumference of the pillar, spokes of stone bridges extended outward, connecting it to nearby peaks and cliffs. At the top rested a visible mystery—a dome, obviously where the Great Beings themselves resided. But the material constituting the glass-like dome, and the creations and plans inside it, were unknown for all time.
The Great Beings were wise and just, and for an age, their creations helped to make life better for everyone who lived on this planet. But over time, the Great Beings wearied of the daily rigor of running a world. They wished to be free to invent and experiment. But the people would still need government, and so they made a fateful decision that would one day lead to doom for an entire planet and its people.
Not wanting to be bothered with the day-to-day business of running the planet, the Great Beings used their vast knowledge and created seven powerful entities they called Element Lords to guide the planet for them. (At this point, one Agori tribe had already disappeared.) Each Element Lord controlled the power of one of nature's forces and would lead the various tribes. Each Lord watched over the Agori tribe whose choice of territory matched their element.
The Great Beings selected six members from the Glatorian species and one leader-class Skrall and endowed them with incredible abilities—the power to create, control, and manipulate their affiliated element to incredible levels. The warriors were summoned to the Cavern of the Elements in the Underground Lab of the Great Beings to undergo this transformation. This endowment left them bearing the image of the elements themselves, giving them armor and tools and changes their appearances to be of nature itself unleashed: one made of blazing fire; one of torrential water; one of sharpened ice; one of overgrown plant of the jungle; one of the hardest rocks; one of shifting sands; and one of the soil and dust of the earth. The Element Lords were to protect the Agori from threats, guide them through crises, and take on the responsibilities of rule so the Great Beings could live as they wished.
For a long time, this new system worked. The Element Lords became the new governors of peace and business. Although they were never particularly fond of each other, they had no reason to fight. The tribes continued to thrive. Life on Spherus Magna was peaceful, if not always easy, until the day two Agori of the Ice Tribe made a discovery more than 100,000 years ago, and everything changed.
One Agori bent low over the strange substance. Behind him, his friend approached nervously. "What…what is that?"
"I've never seen anything like it," the first answered, tilting his head to get a better look at a spring of silvery liquid leaking from the ground. It was unlike anything they had seen before. "It seems to be coming up from inside the planet."
"I don't like this," the other said, taking a step back. Something about this felt off, something that authority should handle. "We should tell the Element Lord about it."
But the other Agori was too taken. "It's beautiful. And the power…you can feel the power radiating from it! I have to touch it…" Reaching out slowly, his finger was just over the surface of the frothing, slightly viscous material. Then he brought it down, and touched it.
Too late, the two villagers discovered that making contact with this strange new substance was a fatal mistake, as the Agori began to glow and deteriorate.
"No!" the other Agori cried, running up to the sight of his rapidly dissolving countryman.
But nothing could be done. With a long, hollow, and ghoulish cry of anguish, he soon melted away without a trace. Terrified, his friend fled.
Word quickly spread of this frightening discovery. In the days that followed, the curious flocked to the pool. It was one these vacations and visitations that they discovered the liquid could do more than simply destroy…sometimes with shocking results.
Under orders of the Element Lord of Fire, Ackar oversaw a Fire Agori and two Ice Agori prod a large, four-legged reptile closer to the pool. He wasn't sure what diplomacy had led to this point, all he knew were his orders and what would happen if he didn't follow them. The Element Lords had collectively agreed to see just how large of a beast this new substance could destroy, and between that and his life, or the lives of his soldiers, Ackar had to comply.
To keep himself from thinking about it any longer than he had to, he gave one final shove with his blade, pushing the spined reptile into contact with the pool. He braced himself for the cries of pain and death, but the sounds it made were…different this time. With a bright flash of light, this did not appear to be the same consuming destruction that they had all witnessed several times before. The animal still made cries and snorts, but not of death. In a matter of seconds, the beast had actually transformed into a whole new creature!
It still bore the same aqua colored skin, but the plates running down its back had shifted to its arms, its tail had elongated, and—most impressively—it now walked bipedally with long swaying arms.
Again, news spread quickly. The potential power of this substance captured the imagination of the Element Lords. At a neutral meeting table, the kingly warriors discussed their new thoughts after this little experiment.
"Whoever controls this liquid could do…anything," the Element Lord of Fire said greedily.
"Perhaps even rival the Great Beings," the Element Lord of Rock added.
The Element Lord of Ice brought his right hand up in a clenched fist of crystal. "Rival? You think too small, brother. With this substance, one could dwarf the Great Beings with ease."
The other Element Lords began voicing their agreement, but that sentiment quickly turned into debate and argument over who would get the powerful new resource. Ideas of rationing fairly, splitting up proportionally by tribe, and even competing for it were all mentioned, each time raising the tone of the argument. The Element Lord of Earth was mostly silent, but her fellow ruler of Sand voiced her opinions as much as any of the others among the commotion.
The Ice Lord had had enough. Slamming his fist on the table, he shouted over the other lords, "It was found in my lands, by my people. I claim it as mine! I bear ownership!"
The other Element Lords were not happy to hear that. They insisted that the liquid was obviously flowing from deep inside the planet, and they all had claim to the planet—therefore, it should belong to all of them.
They were even less happy when the Element Lord of Ice responded by fortifying his borders and barring anyone outside his lands from entering. He posted warriors at the borders and round the site of the spring, forbidding all members of other tribes from approaching. Other members of the Glatorian species, such as Strakk and Gelu, patrolled the icy walls to protect the Ice Tribe from intruders.
This proved to be the spark that ignited all the old jealousies and hatreds between the Element Lords. Over time, anger led to arguments…and arguments led to skirmishes. On one night, in the dark, thundering rain, Strakk found himself exchanging quick blows with a fire warrior named Malum in response to his disrespectful and challenging remarks about the Ice Tribe.
But with more time, skirmishes led to a conflict that spanned the planet, each faction either warring for control of the substance or drawn into the conflict involuntarily. Now Gelu found himself in an all out-battle with Malum, dodging a swipe from his fiery claws and striking back with his ice blade. Elsewhere, Ackar avoided a Thornax launched at him by Strakk from an elevated ridge.
Each Element Lord mustered an army of warriors, with the initial plan to seize control of the Ice Tribe's lands. But any thoughts of an alliance quickly shattered as each Element Lord made clear that he or she intended to control the spring when the fighting was over. Once that became known, a planet-wide civil war on Spherus Magna was inevitable.
They called it the "Core War," as six tribes battled for possession of the power that presumably flowed from the heart of their world. (Oddly enough, the Element Lord of Earth and her Earth Tribe were the only forces that did not fight in the Core War, professing wishes for peace. By retreating into their subterranean regions, they remained largely removed from the conflict.) Battles raged in every corner of Spherus Magna, as ancient cities crumbled and the land itself was torn apart by warriors and war machines. The Ice Tribe was driven from their strongholds, but no side seemed able to seize control of the spring and hold it for very long.
Meanwhile, the Great Beings viewed what was going on with horror. They first requested, then demanded, that the Element Lords sit down and negotiate peace. But it had been so long since the Great Beings ruled directly that they had little influence with their creations. The six warring rulers agreed on one thing: the Great Beings should stay out of this dispute, if they wished to remain safe and healthy.
As the war continued to spread, so did the Great Beings' concern. They sent two Agori—Raanu and Kyry—to obtain a sample of the strange liquid that had sparked a war for their study. Prior to the Shattering, Raanu was employed in the fortress of the Element Lord of Fire and later served as support staff for the fire army during the Battle of Iron Canyon. After the war broke out, Raanu was horrified to see the scale of destruction. So when an emissary of the Great Beings approached him with the request that he provide a service to his world, he agreed.
"I'm freezing!" Kyry complained, trudging through the shin-deep snow of the ice region. Paths of dotted footprints in the otherwise undisturbed snow showed their recent progress behind them. "Maybe the Great Beings should have sent Ice Agori for this job."
Raanu shook his head as he followed a few paces behind. "Ice Agori would have said no. They aren't going to defy their Element Lord in the middle of a war."
Kyry took another step, not knowing that the ground (and snow) was deeper. He awkwardly stumbled a bit, his leg now up to his thigh in snow. "Right, Raanu. Plus, with our red armor, we fade right into the background around here."
Raanu quickened his pace, casting Kyry a glance as he passed. "Enough. We're almost there, but they're sure to have the spring guarded."
The two undercover Fire Agori crested another icy hill and stopped short. As they resumed their pace, Kyry muttered grimly, "Well, they had it guarded."
Raanu eventually pulled his eyes from the sight of an ice warrior estranged by contortion and strangulation from jungle vines. "The Jungle Tribe…they got here first. Come on!"
"We'll need to find some way to distract their warriors so we can get the sample," Raanu suggested, running in front of Kyry. The two stopped short again, this time looking up to a cliff of ice upon which stood several Fire Tribe warriors. They had nothing to fear from their own tribe—aside from some questions they'd rather not answer—but behind them and around, they could hear the sound of Jungle troops rallying.
"I don't think that distraction is going to be a problem," said Kyry, as he and Raanu surveyed their surroundings. "But we're about to be caught between two armies!"
Suddenly, more footfalls could be heard off to the side. White forms could be seen marching and running toward the scene of battle, to defend their precious spring of the powerful liquid; the Ice Tribe was now closing in on the other two.
"Make that three," Kyry said in despair, as the two took off again. They couldn't be far, now. Behind them, a three way conflict began—red, white, and green armored troops fighting in a free-for-all for military control of the spring. Meanwhile, the two small Agori ran for the source while the armies were distracted.
"Any second, someone's going to notice us," Raanu called. "And if it's someone who isn't in red armor, we're dead."
Amazingly, the two small, lightly armed fire beings made it to the source of all the commotion, all the fighting: a spring with a bubbling silvery liquid. Kyry stood watch while Raanu got down to his hands and knees. He leaned carefully over the surface of the forming pool; the depth had to be large enough for him to get a sample for the Great Beings. He lowered the special container to the surface to collect some.
Kyry looked around nervously. "Hurry up!" he whispered harshly. "They're coming this way!"
But Raanu wouldn't be distracted now. "Careful…careful…" he said softly to himself, keeping a tight enough grip on the cylinder without bringing his fingers in contact with the powerful stuff. "If I drip this on my hand, I'm transformed or destroyed. Not much of a choice…"
Finally, he filled to the point where it was mostly full. Raanu captured some of the mystery liquid in the vial the Great Beings had created for that purpose. Sealing up the container, he and Kyry scaled the nearest wall and escaped the ice spring. Under the cover of darkness and led by moonlight, the Agori made their escape and delivered their sample.
The delivery was made in a way such that the Agori never met, saw, or spoke with the Great Beings. Once the sample was in their possession, the Great Beings anxiously studied the substance.
They did not like what they saw.
Somewhere in the recesses of the fortress seen only by the Great Beings themselves, a mechanical arm slowly, cautiously, precisely dropped another liquid onto a sample of the mysterious liquid obtained from the ice realm. Immediately, the unstable reaction blew apart the lab room, destroyed the mechanical arm, and caused the table to combust upward in flames.
Calculations were checked and rechecked, stacks of paperwork and computer calculations performed, but the shocking result never changed, and it was a very grim truth. The substance was so powerful and so unstable that efforts to drain it from the planet itself would cause an explosion that could shatter Spherus Magna. If any one of the Element Lords' warring factions were to hold the spring long enough to try and collect the liquid, and unknowingly tap the full power of that spring, the stresses inside the planet would grow…until the world itself was destroyed. It would mean the end for the world itself. Armed with this information, the Great beings again tried to persuade the Element Lords to cease fighting, but it was in vain.
In desperation, the Great Beings began building one of their more powerful creatures—a small army of shapeshifting robotic, mechanical warriors who would one day be known as "Baterra." Armored in white and blue plates, with spiked heads, and hunched bodies, their most notable features were their razor pointed claws. The Baterra were programmed to seek out, defeat, and eliminate any armed warrior. With these, the Great Beings hoped to force a halt to the war by wiping out the opposing armies before it was too late.
By the time they unleashed their "doomsday weapon" legion of machines, the planet was in dire danger. For a time, they wreaked terrible havoc on the battlefields of Spherus Magna, slaying scores of combatants on all sides and cutting into the ranks of the various armies. But even that was not enough to stop the Core War that was raging. The Element Lord of Fire had conquered the outskirts of the Ice region and was closing in on the spring.
At the same time, the Great beings decided on a new strategy. They sped up another project by reviving an old experiment that had failed years before: the construction of a massive robotic space vessel capable of exploring other worlds. A prototype of this had been tested in Bara Magna's desert long before, but it had exploded and its parts still littered the desert. Its original power source was still housed in their vast fortress complex, located in a valley to the north of the Black Spike Mountains.
Learning from the past in a short amount of time, the current project was based on the failed prototype: the creation of a giant robotic being with immense power, one capable of escaping the planet before its destruction. Standing an impressive 40 million feet high, the work-in-progress skeleton of the robot colossus towered over an expansive forest region of construction.
The Great Beings were as efficient as they were genius. Some more of the substance from the sample was used as part of the construction of the robot, and the actual building was primarily done by nanotech wonders called Matoran, who would one day inhabit the vast robot and keep it functioning properly and smoothly for its intended lifetime.
It was they who would construct an island "city" called Metru Nui, which would act as the robot's brain. The Great Beings marveled at even the nanotech bots as they achieved their own creations and building, most notably the Metru Nui skyline, complete with the iconic Coliseum tower.
Knowing the end was imminent, the robot would be given two missions: to find, visit, and study other worlds and their cultures to learn from them, so that what happened on Spherus Magna would not happen again…and, when the time was right, to one day return and make right what had gone so terribly wrong here. It would return to the remains of Spherus Magna and heal the planet's wounds.
It was during that time that Raanu saw firsthand something the Great Beings were constructing. It was the massive robot, apparently with the power to fly into space. At first, he thought that perhaps it was intended to carry all the Agori away to safety. When it turned out that wasn't the case, he rejected it as one more idle experiment by rulers who had lost touch with those they ruled.
The Great Beings also ordered some of their Baterra to construct an impenetrable maze around their fortress, so that no one—especially the Element Lords—could claim the secrets and seize the power hidden inside. (The Agori later named this area the "Valley of the Maze.") The mechanical beings went right to work, bringing stones, weapons, and traps provided by the Great Beings. Then, once the Maze Valley was complete, they went into hiding in the neighboring areas.
Meanwhile, the war went on. The forces of the Element Lord of Fire had seized control of the spring. Knowing they could not hold it for long, they planned to tap its power as quickly as possible, and were going to do so soon.
The Great Beings had to act quickly.
The Element Lord of Fire was pleased. Even as he threw his skull of fire back in triumphant laughter, time was running out for Spherus Magna.
Of all the Agori, only Raanu and Kyry saw the disaster about to happen. "Stop!" Raanu cried, racing toward Malum, who was standing watch over the pool. The pool had grown in considerable size since his last visit. "You don't know what you're doing!"
Malum planted himself between the Agori and the spring, which was enough to stop them in their tracks. "We know exactly what we're doing, villager," he said with a predatory smile. "We're winning the war."
The moment had come. The Great Beings rapidly finished work on their new robot vehicle, which they called "Mata Nui," and launched it into space, in hopes that one day he would succeed where they had failed. The newly created robot flew off the planet of Spherus Magna's surface of water, jungle, and open land.
What the Great Beings feared came to pass, as violent and ominous tremors shook the planet and cracks appeared in the earth. Raanu, Kyry, Malum, and even the Element Lord of Fire himself stumbled and fell from the planet-wide tremors. Beneath their feet, the very ground cracked and more the silver liquid rose to the surface, as the actions of the Element Lords brought about the final cataclysm.
Deep in the molten core of Spherus Magna, the energies of the strange substance ran wild, building to inevitable disaster. A chain reaction began in the core of the world which built in strength until the planet could not contain its force. Compressed to a pressure and temperature of autoignition on a global scale, the planet blew apart from its own unstable core.
In later years, Agori would call this "the Shattering"—the moment when their world exploded into pieces and their old lives ended, forever. Though much debris would be lost to the claims of space, three major fragments carried the material and memory of the original planet. Over thousands of years, these would eventually begin to morph into their own planetoids.
Thousands died in the disaster and the chaos that followed. Amazingly, some survived, but they were trapped on whatever piece of the planet they had been on when it shattered. Most of the Agori, who had lived in the flatlands of the expansive Great Barren, were consequently marooned on that fragment. Without the global ecosystem of the ocean and jungle fragments, the fragment quickly became a dehydrated and harsh desert. For some, this meant adjusting to a new climate, new terrain, and a devastating shortage of resources.
When the Shattering happened, Raanu was left on the barren fragment and came to live in Vulcanus. At the time, it was a village in turmoil. Many of its residents had fled into the desert, while others were hiding in what was left of their homes in fear. Raanu helped to organize efforts to rebuild the village and suggested ways the heat of the lava flow could be used to repair metal tools and weapons.
Warriors and Agori worked together to build villages where none had been before. For example, the Jungle Tribe built their civilization on a rare oasis. Vastus personally oversaw much of the construction, alongside the Agori elders.
When the legendary fighter of the war named Certavus first proposed a system of arena matches to settle disputes, Raanu stood up and declared his support for the idea. This, plus his other services to the village, led to his being named elder after the death of the previous ruler (slain by Vorox).
The veterans of the Core War became Glatorian, fighting on behalf of their villages in matches and preserving the peace of their new home…Bara Magna. Even friendly competitions, like those between the Fire Glatorian, Ackar, and the Water Glatorian, Kiina, were held to compete for resources.
Of the Great Beings, there was no sign, only the remains of their works. Their whereabouts remained a mystery, to this day. Even in a harsh land of vulnerability where time was as valuable as water, Glatorian and Agori alike would pause to marvel at the great towers and portions of constructions left behind in the sand. And over 100,000 years, even much of the remains disappeared, lost to history with the erosion of time or claimed by the desert sands.
The Element Lords are believed to have survived the disaster among the Agori. In truth, some already know that they did. With the liquid they sought dissipated in space, they turned their attention to the maze and the power it protected. But none of them have been able to solve the Great Beings' last riddle.
The Core War was a fading memory as well, but new dangers have arisen to threaten the Agori. Several thousand years ago, the Skrall clan migrated south abruptly from the northern regions of the Black Spike Mountains. Marching in a disciplined file, the Skrall army carried swords, shields, maces, spiked halberds, and their own flags as they took new lands. The reason for this was unknown, but they fought with such strength and ferocity that they settled unchallenged in the abandoned city of Roxtus.
As for Raanu…he had never heard the name "Mata Nui," and had no idea that the Great Beings hoped to one day restore Spherus Magna to its former greatness. In the struggle for survival after the Shattering, he had forgotten all about that robotic experiment—sent off into space, never to return.
Then, the warrior named Mata Nui arrived. Raanu began to hear tales about his exile from another universe, his knowledge of the Great Beings, and plans he had uncovered for a huge robot. Kiina said he seemed to recognize them, and more, to have some connection to them. That was when Raanu began to suspect there was more to this visitor than there at first seemed to be. Then, he saw the outline of the prototype robot formed by the assembly of the villages.
Now he knew. The "universe" Mata Nui had been exiled from was the body the Great Beings had built—he didn't know how or why such a thing could have happened, but then he never understood the Great Beings' science in the first place. Now Mata Nui wanted a new body to replace his old one, even if that body was the city of the Agori.
Could he say no? After all, without Mata Nui, there would be no city. The Skrall would have enslaved all the Agori, slain all the Glatorian, and hold Bara Magna in an iron grip. He couldn't deny it was Mata Nui's heroism and inspiration that saved his people.
Yet, how could he say yes? With no city, the Agori would be little better than Vorox or Bone Hunters, forced to survive in the harsh desert with little protection. And all for what? Mata Nui acted like this was a matter of life or death, but never specified whose life and whose death he was concerned about.
Raanu had consulted with the other Agori leaders and some of the other Glatorian. They had all agreed that they would leave the decision up to him, confident that he would choose the wisest course.
The Agori rose to leave. He would have to talk to Mata Nui—he owed the warrior that much. And he would have to be prepared for whatever might happen, if he told Mata Nui no.