CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: INTERNAL STRUGGLE
Vilak held up the four Shards of Akhar, his fanged smile glittering in their reflective surfaces. "Four, Kopaka," he said, "Four out of five!"
Kopaka heard him. It wasn't difficult, seeing as the voice thundered through Kopaka's prison, nearly deafening him.
"One more, Kopaka," said Vilak, "And then we'll see which of us is stronger."
Kopaka made a split-second decision. "I won't let you."
Vilak laughed, "And what will you do to stop me? You're trapped as a figment of my imagination! You can't do anything!"
Kopaka smiled sadly, "I can do one thing," he said, focusing his mind on the chamber around him.
The demon sensed something was happening. "What are you-"
Kopaka opened the floodgates to his mind. If he was truly trapped in his own head, this would definitely get a result. Seven years of pent up anger, emotion, and thought poured from his body like a flood. They filled the chamber, pushing on the walls that confined him. Vilak howled as he realized the plan.
"No!" he screeched, clutching his head, "You won't!"
Kopaka saw the walls of his prison begin to bow outwards. "Yes I will!"
Vilak forced his will inward, focusing on keeping the walls that held his host prisoner intact. Kopaka forced his will outward, bending the walls of his prison. They played a pushing match within Vilak's mind for the better part of several minutes before Kopaka won.
The walls came crashing down, and Kopaka slipped out of his prison before Vilak could react. He immediately secreted himself somewhere in Vilak's mind, praying he wasn't too late.
The area he hid in reminded him slightly of Ga-Koro. A river ran through a stone chamber that arced away from the center, and then back toward the center. If it had been a building, Kopaka mused, it would have looked like a mushroom.
He sank his hands into the river, knowing exactly what it was. He forced his thoughts into it, merging them with the thoughts that already swirled in the depths. Kopaka began to slowly lean further and further into the water until he finally immersed himself in it.
He had entered Vilak's consciousness.
"Did you harm Gali?" was the first thing he asked, riding the currents of the Thought River.
Vilak snorted, "I protected your little friend," he answered, "You should be thanking me, not pervading my mind like a parasite." He threw a vicious thought into the river, aiming it at Kopaka.
The agile white Toa dodged it, grinning mildly. He loved the adrenaline rush of things like this. He used to swim the rapids of the Frozen Pass River all the time back in Ko-Koro.
"Thank the one who imprisoned me within his own mind? I think not, Vilak."
The demon snorted again, "Well, you can't do anything to me from there anyway besides annoy me," he conceded, "I guess I'll just continue with my mission."
Kopaka dodged another piece of garbage that the demon flung at him, "Mission?"
Vilak laughed at him, "You've been tied to me for how long… twenty-four years… your entire life… and you still don't know?"
Kopaka dodged a series of debris clumps that hurtled his way. "No."
Vilak fanned his wings and flew off, soaring into the sky as he headed toward Ga-Ara. As he flew, he turned his thoughts inward. "I suppose I'll tell you, then."