Kora: Mata Nui
Chapter Six:
Earth Spirits
"I can walk you know." A soft female voice said in the darkness.
There was a rumble like and unlike a bear and a much deeper, rough male voice said, "Would you rather walk on your own here sister?"
There was a pause.
"No." The soft voice was more tiny, nervousness tingling the edge of it. A moment or a minute later, time flowed different underground, there was a squeak of protest. The steady steps that should have been heavy and thudding but were strangely whisper quiet finally stopped after what seemed like a good hour, "Onua?" a pause, "...brother?"
"Shh," Onua rumbled again as he knelt down, well able to see in little light. Like the Onu-Matoran the Toa of earth also had an acute hearing and all the other senses were heightened. It was one of the reasons he didn't like bright lights since he was more sensitive to it.
Right now the biggest and oldest of the Toa Nuva eased down into a crouch, lifting a hand to hold it over his Kora as a shield against what ever had caught his attention in the darkness. He felt Kara shift slightly in the crook of his right arm before she heard it to.
The soft scraping of metal claws on stone.
A faint but still audible growl.
With barely a sound Onua reached back over his shoulder and his hand dipped into his deep space pocket and pulled out his drill. At the same time moving out of his kneeling position to a crouch, altering his center of balance enough so he could move in any direction.
What ever Rahi creature was out there paused, it was close enough that the Toa could make out the outline but thankfully not so close he could see details. A wedged shaped head turned to him and bright yellow optic like eyes opened, casting and eerie glow over the Toa's armor and mask. A lower jaw dropped before splitting down the middle, a single killing fang unfolded from each half of the lower jaw before a hissing sound came out of the Rahi that turned into a growl.
Onua's own softly glowing gaze brightened and he stood, pushing Kara over his shoulder in the same movement. A deep, vibrating growl came out of the Toa as his other drill dropped into his free hand from deepspace.
Apparently the black and grey giant was just too big or too scary for the Rahi's lower jaw clicked closed and it backed up. The yellow glow faded before the eyes closed as well and in the new dark there were sounds of the thing moving off.
Onua sighed and relaxed once he was sure the Rahi predator was gone, "That was close." He made a mental note to come back and track that predator as soon as he saw his Kora safe in the village. "Are you alright sister?"
"I'm fine Onua," Kara said from where she was doing an exigent impression of a starved leach on the Toa's back, minus blood sucking that is. She was between the equivalent of Onua's shoulder blades, under the level of his neck, and oddly seemed to know where to brace her hands and feet with out catching them in his armor.
"Hang on, we're getting back to the newer tunnels." Onua warned as he started off, lengthening his already long stride from that leisurely walking pace of before into a truly ground eating one. This was how he could cover distances without actually running. The Toa was mildly surprised the younger elemental could hang on so well. But then this was for first time she was more hitching a ride rather then being carried, although Onua had glimpsed the girl on the shoulders of a Matoran once or twice.
"Why are we going back Onua?" Kara asked as their direction clicked in her mental map of where they have been.
With in no time at all there were star like speckles from bioluminescent plant shuts at the bases of the walls. They had an aqua glow to them and with a few more long strides of the Toa was in a tunnel with painted on algie that glowed a much brighter shade then the plants and were in a decorative pattern.
"Yes little one." Onua said and turned his head to peer over his shoulder but Kara was out of his line of sight. The Toa slowed but before he could stop the Kora had already climbed down and hopped off. Onua knelt down, reached out to brush his fingers down the girl's side.
Kara, small by human standers was virtually tiny in comparison to the black guardian spirit. She, like the other Kora on the island had gray skin, a darker shade not unlike Storm but that comparison wouldn't be until later. A long ago she had longer hair but it had been cut short for a few years now. Kara was bare foot and wore black slacks and a purple long sleeve shirt that was hidden under a grey hoodie. Once dark brown eyes were fading to a gold hue now as her skin thickened with each passing day.
"I will bring you to my Kini after I have taken care of that Rahi." Onua promised, "Right now though let us get you back to Turaga Whenua."
The Kora smiled, having already formed an attachment to the elder. It helped that the girl had been and still was intrested in any book as well as history before finding herself on the island of Mata Nui. That was one of the things that had gotten her into the Onu-Koro's Turaga's good graces, that and she hid from Onua behind Whenua many times to start with, thus triggering the Toa instincts he still had (though only six beings on the island knew of those instincts, Whenua included).
"Come sister." Onua said as he stood, motioning his Kora to fallow him.
"I'm coming!" Kara said as she trotted after, keeping up with the earth giant's longer stride. Her keen eyes taking in the details of the wall including many of the carved in messages the Matoran wrote for each other.
The Matoran written and spoken langue, as well as sub dialects up to and including those of the Toa, had actually been programmed into the Kora according to the Turaga. Kara herself had puzzled over that before deciding she really didn't want to know how she was 'programmed.' She just excepted the fact she could read what was written and strangely it took a bit of concentration to speak English or the other two human languages Kara knew.
Something, a phrase really caught the girl's attention at a tunnel junction.
Onua was ten passes ahead when he glanced down and there was no Kora. Spinning a round with more speed then something near thirty feet and several tons should be able to do, the Toa tensed...and relaxed. "Kara what...?"
"Zaro!" The Kora pointed at something on the wall before turning her wide eyes to Onua, "I remember! Zaro! He was another Toa of earth!"