Toa Lujaka: Spirit of Air
Thanks for the review Lokacola!
Chapter 2: The Icy Mountain
A groan came from Lujaka as he came to, clutching his throbbing head.
His mind was a mess of images and sounds from monsters, weapons and a crazy Ko-matoran…wait-a-minute. The Turaga had sent him on a quest; he had to get to Ga-Vetra!
With a pained groan, he began to pick himself up.
'It's best to just sleep it off, trust me' a voice said.
Lujaka slumped back down and took notice of his surroundings properly. It was a cave, well stocked with food and other supplies it seemed, like someone lived in this cold place. A fire also crackled in the centre. Lujaka then locked eyes with the Ko-matoran that had rammed into him at a speed only Toa Pohatu could have achieved. Lujaka narrowed his eyes at the speedster who had a grin plastered on his grey Hau.
'Sorry 'bout the whole…you know, but I don't usually see many matoran from your village-coming down to Ko-Vetra' the grey masked matoran said.
'Ugh, well, I am afraid I can't stay. I must carry out a quest that my Turaga sent me on' Lujaka answered still clutching his mask, he was sure that there was a large dent on it.
'You could try, but I don't think running into the middle of a storm is a good-idea' the matoran said.
'Oh, Mata Nui…' Lujaka said, shaking his head at his misfortune. Now he had to wait for the storm to calm down before he could continue on. Bad luck was already following him around and he had just begun his adventure a few days ago.
'Hey, don't worry! I use this cave as a home away from home most of the-time, so I have food and everything a matoran-would need to hold out in a storm' the Ko-matoran said, beaming at his own ingenuity.
'Why do you talk like that?' Lujaka asked, realising that the matoran had been speaking almost like chute speak, but he was murdering it in the process.
'Thought this was-how all Le-matoran talked?' he answered sheepishly.
'Well, I live there and no one in my village has ever spoken like that' Lujaka said.
'My bad, kinda hard to pick up a new way of talking when all you got is a bunch of cross-wired geniuses who don't know the meaning of fun.'
'I take it you do not enjoy living in Ko-Vetra much?' Lujaka asked.
'No, I don't mind it, it's just most of the other matoran there…don't like me I guess' he explained.
'Why?'
'Well, there was that one time I accidentally hit the High Guard on the head, caused an avalanche…that one was really funny, but uh, well they don't really have a great sense of humour' the matoran explained, still with a grin, as if being something of an outcast didn't phase him at all.
'Ah…' was all Lujaka could get out, this one was the troublemaker of Ko-Vetra, obviously, but there was something about the way he acted that made him seem like he was…at peace with himself, as if he was without doubt of who he was. Lujaka then noticed that just behind him was metal and not rock, which puzzled him. Turning around Lujaka saw that it was a round door with a seam that ran down the middle and the symbol of the matoran's three virtues in the middle of the seam.
'What is this?' Lujaka asked, curious as to why a door would be in the middle of a cave.
'Well, I don't really know…I haven't been able to figure out how to open it' the matoran said, scratching the back of his head, 'oh, I'm Arconn, by the way.'
'Lujaka,' the Le-matoran answered back politely.
'Nice to meet you, Lujaka and sorry about the…mask bumping' Arconn said apologetically, although his grin still did not leave his Hau.
'Well, better get some shut eye, storm should be over by the time we wake' he announced with a yawn, grabbing a blanket from one of his supply boxes and almost immediately falling asleep.
'Strange matoran…' Lujaka said, shaking his head. Arconn was an oddball, but he was friendly and did not seem to possess any form of hostility. Grabbing a blanket for himself, he too fell asleep, albeit a lot slower than his new companion.
-[Toa Lujaka: Spirit of Air]-
{'Lujaka…'}
The Le-matoran slowly awoke, and looked around the cave, puzzled. The light stone still shone, illuminating the cave in the fires absence, so Lujaka looked over at the Ko-matoran, who was still sleeping.
'Hmm, must be the altitude' Lujaka reasoned, if Arconn was still asleep then it obviously wasn't him who called him, then again, Arconn could be feigning sleep and pulling a joke on Lujaka, he wouldn't put that past the Ko-matoran.
{'Lujaka…'}
There it was again, this time…it sounded like…it was coming from behind him. Lujaka slowly turned around and saw…the door. There was no one in sight, nothing. Where did the whisper come from then?
Realising he would not get anymore rest if he did not discover the source of the noise, Lujaka got up, throwing his cloak on quickly when he felt the chilly air. He looked at the door with curiosity, perhaps the whisperer was on the other side? But, Arconn did say he had never been able to open it. Although that just meant Arconn couldn't open it someone else could, but who would know his name in Ko-Vetra? This was the closest he had ever been to the ice village, as all the villages mainly focussed on their own survival and well-being, there where a few who travelled the island, but mostly all matoran kept to their specific regions.
Lujaka looked at the door with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out what had made the noise. He placed a hand on the seam and trailed down; maybe there was a trick to opening it. His hand glided over the symbol, which soon began to glow a gold colour at his touch, causing Lujaka to step back and gasp in fright. The symbol rolled up the seam and split apart as the door opened.
Lujaka stared in astonishment, behind the doors was a small room, with words written all over the walls, but they were in an older dialect and Lujaka was not so knowledgeable in it. Also, on the walls were carvings of six faces that stared blankly ahead, as if waiting for something. What caught his eye the most; was in the centre of the room. On a small shrine, was a gold shield and armour, almost like a Toa's, except, it was in a matoran's size and had a strange stone in the chest area, that glowed softly with a green light. Walking up to the pieces of metal, Lujaka admired them.
'Amazing' Lujaka said; his eyes filled with wonder.
He retrieved the shield, shaped similar to the tools of the bohrok and held it; it was lighter than what it looked like and on the underside was lettering, but it was still in that ancient dialect.
Lujaka searched the room for any signs of the person who owned these pieces of magnificent metal, but found none at all. No names or anything to identify who owned them. Lujaka put the shield back; he could not take something that was not his. The moment he had placed the shield in its original place, the door shut, plunging the tiny room into darkness.
Lujaka was dumfounded, and just stared at where he thought the door was. Then, before panic set in, his hand searched for the shield and lifted it up. The door opened. Lujaka looked to the shield then to the door and put the shield down again. The door closed. He lifted it up once more. The door opened.
The Le-matoran blinked, his eyes were blank as he slowly took in his predicament. He had to take the shield, at least, for him to leave. Sighing he walked towards the door, hoping that if the original owner came back he would at least be happy to still have the armour. As Lujaka took a step out the door, the shield grew incredibly heavy, and clanged on the ground.
He grunted as he tried to lift it back up, but he couldn't move it and his hand was still stuck to it. After several more tugs and pulls, he had motioned around it to try pulling from a different angle and had ended up back inside the room. When he pulled it this time, with all his might, the shield flew in the air and caught his mask, making the poor Le-matoran fall to the ground and cry out in pain.
'Gah…' Lujaka clutched his once again throbbing head. Now he had another problem, he couldn't leave the room without the shield, but the shield clung to his arm the moment he set foot outside the room. He thought about throwing the shield or jumping with it, but decided against those ideas as they would probably only end with him in pain again.
His gaze soon wondered onto the armour and he guessed he couldn't leave the room without it as well. With a sigh, he picked up the armour, it also felt lighter than it looked and put it on, over his green, simple armour. It fit perfectly and didn't feel like it would encumber his movements. Lujaka stopped his walking when he needed one more step to be outside the room. Gulping, he took one step forward…and he was alright. No unbelievably heavy shield and the new armour was still as light as it had been.
Lujaka turned around and saw that the door had just finished shutting itself. Lujaka touched the symbol, hoping it would open again. Nothing happened.
'Hey…what's going on?' said Arconn, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
'You're only awake now?' asked the astonished green, and now gold, matoran.
'Yeah, somethi-…whoa, where'd you get that armour!' asked an amazed Arconn.
'It was behind the door…'
Lujaka then explained the strange events that had happened when he retrieved the items and that he was now unable to open the door again.
'Aw, wish I could've seen the inside of the room at least' said a dismayed Arconn.
'Well, maybe after I have finished my journey we could see if we can open the door' Lujaka suggested.
'Yeah, that'll be fun…huh, storms over' Arconn said when he noticed that the wind had died down leaving only snow to fall softly onto the mountainside, 'come we'd better hurry on to Ko-Vetra, before the Rahi start looking for a morning snack'
The two matoran obtained their belongings, Lujaka grabbed his bag and cloak, and Arconn retrieved his small shield similar to the gold one Lujaka had just found, but it was a dull grey, and Arconn used it mainly for skiing. He also searched his boxes for a small ice pick and a cloak of his own.
-[Toa Lujaka: Spirit of Air]-
After attaching their equipment the two headed off, up the icy mountain. Lujaka was surprised to discover that the chill of the air felt as if it had been lessened, although he decided it was because of the storms passing.
'There it is the great and amazing wall of Ko-Vetra! In all its dull and boring splendour' Arconn commented, pointing towards the large wall that was just a short way from them.
'Didn't it take a hundred years to construct?' Lujaka asked, remembering Oruwa talking about the wall that was built to keep Rahi out.
'Yeah, someone thought, "hey guys, everyone thinks we're boring and only enjoy doing work, let's prove them wrong and build a wall!"' Arconn said, huffing, remembering the long work hours that those hundred years had held.
The two continued on in silence, trudging through the snow towards their destination, but Arconn suddenly told Lujaka to stop and he searched around their area. The snow was coming down faster now and visibility was not so great, at least not for Lujaka.
'Uh-oh' Arconn said.
'What is it?' Lujaka asked.
Arconn peered through the snow, making out a large, hunched figure that was running towards the two matoran and it had oversized forearms and hands, 'one word: RUN!'
Arconn bolted, leaving Lujaka standing still for a second, but he decided his companion knew the area a lot better than he did, so when he said run, he probably meant it.
Both matoran ran, trying to make it to the safe zone, inside the wall of Ko-Vetra, but it was still quite a distance away. Curiosity soon crept into Lujaka and he turned to catch a glimpse of what they were running from. His eye's went wide at the sight of an oversized creature running on all fours, its hands clenched and thumping on the snowy ground as it made its way towards them.
'What is that creature!'
'That, is a Yetta and trust me, you don't want one of those to get you!' Arconn said, still running and starting to pant.
Unfortunately, Arconn's talking made him not look where he was putting his feet and he caught a rock and tripped, falling face down into the snow.
'Arconn!' shouted Lujaka, noticing his friend's fall and scrambling back to him.
He helped him to his feet, but heard a loud roar that sent a chill down the back of his armour. The Yetta was right behind them, and would be upon them in a few seconds. Drawing the launcher from his back, Lujaka took aim at the large Rahi and fired a kanoka at its face.
The Rahi used its arms to protect itself, and it did not look happy with Lujaka. It roared once more and swatted him away, making him lose his grip on the weapon and sending him tumbling down the snowy terrain.
'Yikes!' Arconn said, seeing the large creature right in front of him. He rolled and grabbed the fancy launcher that Lujaka had dropped and fired at the Yetta, the disk flew and smacked the ugly things face.
It fell on its side, but recovered quickly, standing up on three limbs, its other hand rubbing the paining side of its head. It threw its fist down at Arconn, who rolled out the way and fired again, missing this time.
'Arconn, hold on!' Lujaka shouted, feeling fear grip him, but he steeled himself. His friend needed him.
He retrieved his hatchet and attached his gold shield to his arm. He charged at the creature with his shield facing his front, the Yetta turned in surprise and was struck in its side by the gold shield, and then cut with Lujaka's hatchet on its chest. It roared in pain and was about to lash out at the gold armoured matoran, but a kanoka disk to its injured chest made it think better of fighting more, it could find better, easier meals elsewhere.
'Thank you Arconn' Lujaka said, holding his knees and panting from the exertion.
'Thank me? Thank you…phew that was close' Arconn said, panting as well, as he picked himself up and brushed off the snow on his armour and mask.
'Here's you're launcher back' Arconn held the weapon out towards the gold matoran, who shook his head in response.
'No, thanks you keep it. I have my new armour, and I need to pay you for saving me…twice' Lujaka said with a smile.
'You sure, 'cos this looks pretty expensive' Arconn asked, happy to receive such a gift, but still asking politely if the Le-matoran was sure.
'Of course' Lujaka said, 'come, we must hurry to Ko-Vetra, I do not think I can handle another one of those attacking.'
-[Toa Lujaka: Spirit of Air]-
The two found themselves outside a large door on the impressively built wall that kept the village of Ko-Vetra safe from harm.
Arconn stepped up and banged on it, 'hey, open up, special delivery!'
A slit in the door opened, revealing a pair of orange eyes.
'Arconn, where have you been?' asked a cold voice from behind the heavy door.
'Round-and-a-about, can you please let us in Utakki, don't know if you've noticed but its cold out here!'
The one called Utakki rolled his eyes, but shouted something and gears could be heard moving and clicking. Soon the doors slowly began to open inwards, revealing a matoran with pale blue and white armour and orange eyes behind his noble shaped mask of translation. It was Utakki, and he regarded Arconn with an icy glare.
'Hey, long time no see, huh?' Arconn said to the glaring matoran.
'What is a Le-matoran doing here?' Utakki asked, looking at Lujaka with annoyance.
'I…uh, bumped into him on my way back and we took shelter from a storm, fought off a Yetta, that kind of thing' explained the grinning matoran sheepishly.
'Yes, he…"bumped" into me and a storm had arrived. I need to speak with the head of Ko-Vetra, Turaga Ganji says that the island is in danger' Lujaka explained.
'The Turaga…' Utakki repeated, scratching his lower mask then he sighed, 'very well, Arconn take him to see the High Guard, he can also deal out your punishment.'
'Oh come on' Arconn said dramatically; slumping his shoulders, then he looked at Lujaka and beckoned him to follow, 'off we go to see the wonderful High Guard of Ko-Vetra.'
-Chapter 2: end-
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please remember, any ideas, tips or hints you can leave in a review, I don't mind at all.