Now...

Lariska stood at the bow with Brutaka, watching the ship cleave through the water. Behind them, the other members of the team were keeping a careful eye on Makuta Spiriah—not that they could have done much to stop him if he tried to make a break. But Brutaka had done a little math and explained to Spiriah how many hours he was likely to survive once the Brotherhood of Makuta knew where he was. Then he assured Spiriah that if the ship and its occupants were all destroyed, the Brotherhood would be notified immediately where to start looking. That was a bluff, of course. But Spiriah had spent a lot of his life fleeing from his former comrades, and running and hiding get to be habits after a while. As Brutaka expected, Spiriah bought it and backed off.

The ship had veered away from Zakaz and was on its way south. There was one more stop to make before they headed for their ultimate target. This was the one Brutaka dreaded—it was time to arm the team.

The island that came into view was little more than a piece of barren rock. It was not the original site for this meeting, but plans had changed. Two Order of Mata Nui members, Botar and the nine-foot tall warrior named Trinuma, had been dispatched with a cache of weapons for a rendezvous on a small, wooded island just off the mainland.

But a Makuta named Icarax had spotted their appearance and attacked. The fight was furious, but brief. Botar was slain, crushed by the Makuta's magnetic power, and Trinuma barely escaped to tell the tale. In desperation, he stored the weapons at the first place he came to before returning to Daxia with the tragic news.

The ship dropped anchor just off the coast. Brutaka warned Takadox and Carapar he would be keeping a careful eye on them on the swim over, just in case they got any funny ideas about diving deep and escaping. Vezon was the first to react when they set foot on the rocky shore.

"There is something…wrong here," he said, his tone unusually serious. "Something beyond even my powers to cope with."

"You don't have any powers, freak," Carapar roughly reminded him.

"I don't?" Vezon said, seemingly confused. "Where was I when they were being handed out? Let me see…Makuta's lair…Voya Nui…tunnels…prison…how could I have missed the meeting, I was always where the action was."

"Quiet," said Lariska, dagger drawn. "There is one true statement in your babble. There is something not right in this place."

Brutaka approached, carrying the weapons. Takadox took a long, thin blade, while Carapar grabbed a broadsword. Roodaka pounced on a Rhotuka Launcher. Brutaka handed Spiriah a projectile weapon and warned him with a cold smile not to point it at himself…or anyone else. Vezon got a spear, which he turned over in his hands with no real enthusiasm.

"What's it do?" he asked.

"Nothing," Brutaka answered. "But with your powers, you don't need it, right?"

Vezon brightened. "Right," he agreed, having forgotten once again that he had no powers. Carapar growled in frustration and stalked away.

"We have what we came for," Takadox said nervously. "Let's go."

"There's something in that cave up ahead," said Lariska. "I can hear what sounds like breathing, but it's a…wet sound, as if the being were inhaling through mud. And there's something else…it almost sounds like…something slithering."

Spiriah took a step back. "I know where we are," he said, his eyes darting from side to side as if expecting an attack. "Mutran told me of this place, though it didn't look like this ages ago. We have to go—we have to go now!"

But it was already too late. Vast walls of rock suddenly sprang up from the shore line, forming a 200-foot high wall around the island and cutting the team off from their boat. "Blast it down," Brutaka ordered. But even the power of his blade was not enough to penetrate the stone.

Spiriah had shapeshifted himself some wings and was trying to fly over the top. A sharp spear of stone erupted out of the top of the wall and impaled one of his wings, sending him spiraling toward the ground. Lariska ran, leapt, hit the wall feet first, and propelled herself into mid-air to catch the falling Makuta.

There was no time to marvel at her athletic feat or make other attempts to escape. For now a voice was coming from the cave, but not a voice like anyone present had ever heard before. It sounded like the slimy, repulsive sound that comes when a nest of feeder worms is disturbed. Even Brutaka had to suppress a shudder.

"Visitors," said the voice. "At last."

"Who are you?" said Brutaka. "Did you imprison us here? I warn you, you don't know the power you face."

A massive tentacle shot out of the cave, wrapping itself around Brutaka and pulling him inside. The next moment, he was in the presence of something so horrible, so alien, that it took all his willpower just to hold on to his sanity.

"Now," said the entity that held him in its grip. "Now tell Tren Krom of your power."

X X X

Gali Nuva couldn't believe her luck. No, she hadn't spotted the Mask of Life, but she had seen what appeared to be a keystone. The Toa Nuva had discovered some fragments of an ancient tablet in the Matoran villages above. Inscribed on them were directions for how to awaken the Great Spirit Mata Nui. But the fragments were of no use unless all six of them could be collected and read together. The Matoran told them they would need to find the six keystones in Karda Nui. She hovered over the swamp waters with her ankle rockets, moving closer to her find.

The reduced distance showed her that retrieving it would be easier said than done. This particular stone fragment was wrapped up in the vines of a huge swamp plant. "I've never seen a plant like that one before—it clings to the keystone like it is guarding a treasure," she commented.

She was tempted to jet in and grab it quickly, but memory intruded. She recalled tales the Turaga told of an evil, intelligent plant called the Morbuzakh that once tried to crush the city of Metru Nui. I've heard enough tales of powerful and hungry plants… she thought. There was no telling what the plant life was like down in this strange place. Better to approach with caution.

X X X

Makuta Gorast couldn't believe her luck. Stuck in this miserable swamp, mutated by the waters, and no longer able to shapeshift, she had begun to question her role in the Brotherhood's Plan. Surely she was meant for something better than wading through mud, feeding off the small reserves of light in Rahi? Perhaps Makuta Icarax had been right all along…this grand Plan involved too much waiting and not enough killing.

She swiftly rejected that notion. The Plan was what mattered, nothing else, and certainly not the needs of any individual Makuta. But now, fate had sent her a Toa, no doubt brimming with light. She was tempted to glide in silently on her wing blades and attack, leaving this Toa of Water a corrupted husk in the end. But she had heard tales from other Makuta about how Toa were sometimes the most dangerous when they seemed most vulnerable.

Better, she decided, to approach with caution.

X X X

A mini-tidal wave of swamp water smashed into the plant, shaking its thick trunk. When the wave subsided, the keystone was still firmly lodged in its tendrils. Gali summoned another high-pressure embodied fist of water with her elemental powers, arching and targeting it right at the spot where the stone was trapped, showing it the power of a Toa Nuva of Water. This time, the fragment actually moved slightly, starting to work its way loose of the plant's grip. Another three attempts, and the tree bent, shattered, and the stone fell to the soft earth.

Gali went to retrieve it. It wouldn't be long now.

X X X

Gorast watched as the Toa of Water harnessed her elemental power to dislodge a piece of rock from a plant. She vaguely recalled Antroz telling her that if she saw such a stone, she should gather it up and deliver it to him. But her hunger for light had driven that order from her mind until now. Better and better, she thought. I will drain a Toa and carry out my orders at the same time.

The keystone was finally loose, and the Toa was headed for it.

Gorast dove to attack. It wouldn't be long now.

X X X

Gali's fist closed on the stone even as she remembered something else. It was a hazy recollection of something said to her long, long ago. She had been in a barren, unbearably hot place, she recalled. There had been a battle, and she had lost, though not to an enemy. Someone was standing over her. "The danger isn't always what you see," he was saying. "Often, it's what you don't see, until it's too late."

The thought made her turn from the keystone's new resting place just as she heard the first sound of her attacker. Some hissing, four-armed, green-and-black creature was bearing down on her.

"What—?" Gali didn't bother to think, just reacted, sending a pile driver fist of water out of her new weapon, slamming into the Makuta. "Back off!"

Gorast spun crazily through the air, finally latching onto a tree with her four clawed hands. Holding on amidst the torrent, she sneered, "So, you wish to die then…I will be happy to oblige!" Hissing angrily, she rocketed toward Gali. The Toa hurled another water blast. Gorast dodged and plowed headfirst into Gali's midsection. The move had such speed and power that Gali smashed into a tree, tearing it out of the ground and sending it toppling into the swamp.

Gorast stood over Gali, who was pinned on her back. The Makuta used her two lower arms to steady herself over the Toa. Slowly, she scraped a claw along Gali's adaptive Kaukau Nuva. "And so you fall. No one can stand before Gorast, ruler of the Tren Krom peninsula, mistress of the acid falls, conqueror of the Visorak!"

"Oh, no? Then I'll just have to beat you sitting down," Gali answered, bringing her blaster to her chest and shooting Gorast with another river of water.

Gorast landed in the mud and raced toward the fallen Toa again. Still dazed, Gali managed to throw a sphere of water around Gorast's head, cutting off the Makuta's air. This would usually not be a problem for Gorast, as she was a Makuta whose essence was pure energy and did not need to sleep, eat, or breathe. However, the mutagen had turned her into a partially insectoid form, with the unfortunate necessity of air being a backward step. Gorast tried to shake it off, but the sphere held fast.

Gali glanced at her weapon again, finding it had morphed into a virtual duplicate of what Gorast carried, though plus a laser sight and sniper scope. She banished the sphere even as she fired, using its own energy instead of using it as a channel for her elemental powers. This time, the weapons own strength not only blew Gorast away, but also made chains of energy coil around Gorast like snakes. "Surrender. Or would you rather go for another swim on dry land, Makuta?" Gali said. "That is what you are, isn't it? Another Makuta?"

"Gorast," said her captive. "Makuta of the Tren Krom Peninsula of the Northern Continent, mistress of the acid falls, conqueror of the Visorak horde—and you are Gali Nuva, Toa of Raindrops." With a seemingly effortless shrug of her green-armored form, Gorast snapped the chains that bound her. "And Makuta do not surrender, ever…for the same reason Toa do not kill. It is not in our nature. It is our Code, and the way of things; Makuta win…and Toa lose."

Gorast fired her Nynrah blaster. Gali dove, narrowly avoiding the shot, and fired quick bursts of water even as she slid through the mud. Gorast batted away the projectiles with her four arms and advanced. Gali fired another energy missile, but Gorast deflected it with one of the wing blades on her shoulders. "We are warriors by nature!" the Makuta yelled, "and you are weaklings!"

"Mercy isn't a sign of weakness, Gorast, but of wisdom," Gali replied. Thinking quickly, she used another, more subtle use of her elemental powers, as Gorast would find out. "Any fool can kill—I'm sure you're proof of that. Oh, by the way, I've increased the amount of moisture in the ground beneath your feet. You might want to watch your step."

The Makuta began to sink into the ground, weighed down by her armor. She tried to fly out, but the mud clung to her as if it were alive and hungry. Even without Gali's continued influence over the waters, the sticky swamp would have been difficult to escape.

"Whoops. Too late."

Gorast hissed again, "This can slow me, but it will not stop me!"

"I'd say you're stopped cold. Give me your hand and I'll help you out of there—we need answers, and it's easier to get them from a live prisoner than a dead enemy," Gali said, rising and walking on the patch of land to where Gorast struggled to be free. "You Makuta think we're weak because we don't kill our enemies. But sometimes, killing can be a mercy. Sometimes the worst thing you can do to an enemy is let her live."

Gorast nodded. "And sometimes the worst thing is to deprive your enemy of that satisfaction. The choice is mine to make, Toa—not yours." With that said, Gorast shut her eyes and plunged beneath the mud pool. Gali started forward, stunned that the Makuta was committing suicide rather than surrendering. There was no sign of Gorast, not even an air bubble breaching the surface.

"Stupid," muttered Gali. "Stupid…didn't life mean anything to her, even her own?"

There was an explosion of mud behind her. Gorast tore out of the ground like an avenging spirit and drove her stinger into Gali's back. "My life doesn't matter," said the Makuta. "Your life doesn't matter! Only the great Plan matters, and it will—it must!—succeed!"

A huge fireball flew into the sky then, illuminating the horrible sight of a Toa's light being drained away…if there was anyone around to see.