Panic rippled through Lewa as he hung there, tears streaming down his paling face as he fought to pull himself free of the thick webs he'd flown into. Now stuck with his back facing his attackers and his axe hanging on his belt where he couldn't reach it, he knew full well that this was a very bad situation to be stuck in. If only he could get his hand free! He fought harder, his breathing uneven and shallow as he managed only to shake the sticky material that held him like a fly on flypaper. It was then that he heard the clicking. With every passing moment is grew louder and louder, which only made the panicking Toa Mata even more terrified than he already was. As a last resort try to get free, the fourteen year old started beating his wings frantically, but no matter how much stress he put on the web, it held fast. Too terrified to do anything else, Lewa let out an ear-splitting scream, now crying harder than ever before.
Suddenly, stabbing pain shot through him as what felt like sharpened spearheads punctured the skin on either side of his torso, just below his ribcage. The Toa's body went rigid, twitching and jerking violently every now and then as he choked and gasped for air. In a matter of moments, the boy went limp, his body numb and his mind phasing out of clarity and into a hazy tiredness that demanded him to close his eyes and succumb to the unnatural drowsiness. Struggling to stay awake, he could barely make out the blurry shape of whatever captured him as it steadily bound the rest of his weak and presently numb body with web, intending to trap him for good within the confines of a cocoon. It wasn't long before all that remained of his 'window of vision' was barely even a foot long, and half a foot wide. The clicking by now was drowning out as though his ears were submerged in water.
The web shook a bit now, and the creature that was stringing Lewa up vanished from sight. The shaking grew more violent for several seconds, and was followed by a hissing noise that faded away, as though it was pulled out of range. After a few moments longer, something moved into Lewa's view, blocking the little bit of light he had been able to see. A distant, yet familiar voice spoke, the web still shaking around somewhat.
"Lewa… Lewa, can you hear me?" The green eyed boy blinked sleepily, trying to focus on the voice.
"Kopaka…" He mumbled faintly. "Is…is that you? C-can't see…so tired…" The voice responded as the cocoon ripped a little, opening the 'window' a bit more.
"Yes, it's me. Just stay quiet for now and don't move. Balancing isn't easy up here as it is, and I don't need you jerking around and making it worse." Lewa had to remember just why losing balance where they were was a bad idea, but it soon came to mind, and he opened his mouth to speak. A cold hand covered it before the Toa of Air could talk, however, and said, his tone mildly irritated.
"I said stay quiet. The less you do and say, the better off we are." More of the cocoon was ripped away, and Lewa slumped forwards, nearly knocking Kopaka off the two strands of webbing that he was balancing on. Catching the Toa of Air and pulling his weak frame closer, Kopaka soon discovered that he had a serious problem. How was he supposed to get down safely, with Lewa's numb body, without getting killed, caught, or knocked off the rope-like material. The web started to shake again, almost throwing the precariously balanced Toa of Ice and his barely conscious Brother off the thick strands and down to the hazard-strewn ground. Lewa dazedly tried to look around.
"Why is everything quake-shaking… What's going on?" Kopaka grimaced, struggling to shift his weight according to the moving of the web. It was then that he got an idea.
"Lewa, activate your mask power. See if you can get off me." The Toa of Air struggled with this. Making him focus on something for extended periods of time was hard enough as it was, but throwing dazed and sedated into the mix made it seem impossible. That is, until Kopaka threatened him with grave severity.
"If you don't and we make it out of this alive, I'll tell the others that you were crying." Lewa shivered faintly, squeezing his eyes shut as he forced himself to concentrate. After a few moments, the Toa's eyes began glowing, and his limp frame floated off of Kopaka's shoulder, hovering nearby.
"I think it's help-aiding in waking me up, Toa-Brother…" He said quietly. "I'm not as dizzy or light-haze minded…"
"Well that's encouraging." The Toa of Ice muttered, readying his sword and shield as the first of the massive, spider-like creatures moved into view. Thinking fast, Kopaka tapped his blade on one of the webs, coating it with ice and sending the creature sliding off and down into the street, barely visible through the fog. Clicking now came from up above, alerting him of the oncoming hazard. Reacting fully on impulse, he slashed at the creature that hung barely even a foot or two above his head… only to miss and throw himself off balance. Scrambling to get himself steady once more, he ended up falling off, fingers barely managing to catch hold of the thick material. Now hanging by the arm he normally carried his shield on, the Toa Mata was an open target, and he knew it.
It was then that several pale green feathers floated down past Kopaka's face. Looking up in alarm, it soon became clear what the problem was, though why it was happening was unknown. Lewa's wings were moulting at an unnaturally fast rate, and every now and then a small patch of the boy's skin would fall away with the feathers. The Toa of Air whimpered in pain as more feathers and pieces of shrivelling flesh fell away. It didn't take long until all that was left of the now crying and moaning Toa's wings were the barely connected bones, which fell away after a sickening, popping noise, followed by an agonized wail that escaped Lewa's lips.
Unfortunately, this distraction had been just long enough for the spider-like Rahi to close in, leaving Kopaka with one of two fates; to either fall to his likely death, or remain where he was, helpless, and to be strung up the same way Lewa had. Sheathing his sword, the Toa of Ice tried to pull himself up onto the web again, only to have his hand slip, nearly making him let go completely. Up above, Lewa started coughing, and the droplets of crimson that splattered against Kopaka's shield indicated all too clearly that he was coughing up blood. The spider-like beings clicked and chattered as one moved closer, nearly standing over the dangling Toa of Ice.
"Lewa, a little help would be…" He didn't even get to finish his sentence, as the fourteen year old hovering above him suddenly dropped, falling on the web his Brother was hanging onto, and snapping it. With a yell of shock, Kopaka found himself swinging uncontrollably towards a large wall. Barely having time to even brace himself for the impact, the Toa of Ice coughed loudly as he hit it and let go of the web, falling towards the rubble-strewn street below. Too dazed to even cry out, Kopaka closed his eyes, waiting for the landing that would most likely spell out death in his own blood. But he never hit the ground.
Gasping for breath as his drop was abruptly halted by something large and scaly wrapping around him, the fifteen year old opened his eyes, and saw the ground slowly seeming to drop away, becoming shrouded in the fog and vanishing from sight. Looking at himself as best he could at the moment, he saw that most of his frame was gripped in the claws of a pale, silver-blue scaled creature, though he couldn't even begin to guess what his new captor was. He could also hear the steady, rhythmic beat of wings somewhere above him, proving even further that this being was some sort of Rahi, or at least something like one. Questions flooded Kopaka's mind faster than he could sort through them. What was holding him? Where was it going? Could it speak? What was it? However, instead of asking these, the Toa asked dazedly.
"Where is Lewa?" He got no reply. "Where are you taking me?" Still nothing. Giving up on getting an intelligible answer, Kopaka closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep…
Only to end up jolting awake moments later as he lightly dropped onto a cracked and rather dusty floor. Shakily pushing himself to his feet, the white-haired boy felt a firm hand grip his shoulder, turning his frame as though the owner was giving him a thorough looking over. Eventually he got to see who owned the pale skinned hand… and discovered it belonged to the white-feathered creature that'd saved him seven years ago. Shivers rippled down his spine as he surveyed the being's features in clear detail.
He wore a smoke colored hoodie without sleeves, allowing the long, pearly white flight feathers on his arms to fully show, as well as the peculiar mutations that effected his elbows, making them double jointed. The hood of his vest was up over his head, hiding his hair and forehead, mostly, from view. Silvery white hair vaguely framed what could be seen of his pale face and a light grey cloth concealed everything from the tip of his nose to the base of his neck, where his hoodie's neckline was. The creature's hands were very much like a regular person's hands, as were most of his legs, as far as Kopaka could see, but somewhere below his knees, they changed, resembling the talons of a falcon or hawk, covered with light yellow scales. He wore a pair of faded blue jeans, ripped off at three quarters down his pant leg. His tail feathers were easily noted as well, long and as white as the ones on his arms.
At this closeness, two things were prominent in particular to the fifteen year old. First was the creature's height. While Kopaka was already pushing six feet tall, the being before him was almost head-and-shoulders taller, something that he found alarming. The other feature was the feral blue color in the creature's eyes. The shape and color looked so familiar, and yet, somehow foreign. After staring into the creature's eyes for several moments, Kopaka asked finally.
"What are you? Who are you?" For a little while, his questions went unanswered, until, after seeming to think it through, he replied.
"Those are questions that would mean little at the present time. Your Brother, Lewa, is of far more importance right now." As he spoke, it could be noted that he occasionally made clicking and whistling noises, like a bird.
"But I don't even know why you saved me seven years ago! I don't even know anything about you!"
"Toa Kopaka," He responded with firm and serious tones. "My motives aren't of importance right now. Your Brother is dying because of the Visorak. His life is far more important than pointless facts you can't even use." He put his hands on the Toa's shoulders and started leading him away.
"Can you at least tell me what's going on?" He asked, desperate for answers.
"I will soon enough. Just have patience."
