"How long had I been here?" I asked myself. "How could I have forgotten my own birthday?"
The answer to the last question, of course, was simple. I'd been so shaken by the events of my arrival here, and everything since, that the more trivial things of life were shunted onto the back burner. The former question was less easy to answer.
With my hands steepled in front of the nose of my mask, and my elbows resting on my knees, I counted back to my arrival. I'd been in the Everfree for five full days, plus the night I'd arrived, but that didn't really count... Then a couple days with Ackar... And another four with Gresh and Durath, including today... That was a grand total of eleven days. Of course, that was subject to scrutiny, seeing as I'd been discretely trying to adjust my already screwy sleep schedule to sync with local time, resulting in some sort of jetlag.
I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder, and looked up into Sans' face. "Hey, man," he said, concern evident in his complexion, "what's up? You OK?"
I shook my head, and stood up. "Oh, you know, I just found out that I turned 21 about four hours ago." I said, somewhat bitterly. "So nothing really important."
His eyes widened. "Oh, hey! Happy birthday, man! But, why do you seem so unhappy about it?"
I gave him a deadpan glare, and spoke a moment later. "Think about it for a second. I've been kicked several years forward in time, remember? And transplanted to another planet entirely in the process. I should have been at home, on Earth, with my family right now. But I don't have a way to get there right now without some sort of paperwork or public appearance involved. And even if I did, I doubt they'd even accept me after all this time. Not to mention all the shit that's gone down today. I mean, I STILL don't know what happened to Durath, among other things."
Sans blinked, then sheepishly broke eye contact with me. "Oh," he said, shoulders hunched, "sorry. I understand where yer coming from, though, and I shouldn't've asked. But hear me when I say this: you're not alone, Caldoric. You may not have your family right now, but you've got us to help you through this."
I looked sideways at him for a moment, before abruptly snaking my arm around his shoulder, and pulling him into a tight one-armed hug. Sans was surprised, but momentarily wrapped his arm around my back nonetheless. "Thanks for that, man," I uttered softly, "and I'm sorry for snapping at you guys like that. I need to get my head back in the game, and save the mental breakdowns for when we're in a less potentially lethal situation."
"Speaking of which," said Kapura, "moving on'd be a good idea. There may be worse things about."
"Yeah," I said, releasing Sans, "there's always a bigger fish." That got me thinking about Star Wars. I was lucky I'd even gotten a chance to watch The Force Awakens before I ended up here, despite the fact that my family had decided to watch it on Blu-ray without me earlier that day, while I was at work. There was a reason for that, but it's not important. Then I began musing on the last actual meal I'd "shared" with them, (Reuben sandwiches, which were a sort of comfort food for me,) and regretting that I'd missed the end of Homestuck, my favorite webcomic.
I shook my head, abruptly. That was a dangerous road right now. I mean, hadn't I just decided I shouldn't be doing that? We had to get somewhere safe before I could let myself go like that. Sans and Kapura moved to hand me back the rifles, but I declined. They'd need them more than I would.
"Alright," said Sans, as they stowed the weapons in their respective Hammerspace pockets, "let's get a move on." I nodded my agreement, picked them both up one last time, and took off.
The rest of our flight was uneventful. As we got close to the Codrex, the outer layer stopped moving quite so fast, and the circular hole settled into a position near ground level. I was a bit concerned, since the outer layer had never moved (that we ever knew of) in the original story. Then again, between the comics and the online animations, we were presented with two different visual explanations of how the Toa Mata entered the structure itself, so...
I landed us on the now-horizontal edge of the hole, face to face with an embossed depiction of a spread-eagled Bionicle, split into six pieces.
"What is that?" Asked Sans.
"It's the Makoki stones." At his blank stare, I extrapolated. "Key-stones. They had to be gathered in order for the Toa Mata to get in and do their stuff. Or anyone else, for that matter." I rubbed at where my chin would have been if the rebreather weren't in the way, muttering to myself. "We're lucky they're still here. But, how do we get it to open?"
I reached out my right hand to touch the embedded stones. "Surrender your hand to the heart of the warrior..." I said, with a half chuckle. When my hand made contact with them, the stones went from cold to warm, and the surface before us moved upwards, revealing another hole in its surface, and an additional layer behind it, which was moving, and it too yielded a hole...
Once the tunnel had fully formed, I picked up the others, and we descended into the darkness, lightstones at the ready. By which I mean we slid down it, and I then kept us from falling to our death once it ended. And end, it did. It opened up onto a large semi-spherical room, containing several consoles, a large hole in the floor, and some sourceless ambient lighting, which was a slightly bluish color.
I looked at the hole, noting it's perfectly circular nature, before turning my attention to the consoles. There were screens, buttons, levers, and switches galore. One of them, a large, domed button, was placed in a conveniently central location and just screamed "push me," but I abstained from doing so. If I remembered correctly, this was the one Onua had pushed, which caused the platform that had formerly been in the middle of the floor to descend, leaving the hole that was now there.
Looking back to the controls, I found a medium-small button that bore a symbol I'd never seen before in the Bionicle 'Verse, but it was familiar nonetheless. As I came closer, I could have sworn it glowed faintly. I stuck my hands in my pockets, and took a moment to think about where I'd seen it before... And then it came to me.
Reaching into my Hammerspace, I pulled out a few fragments of the "egg" I'd been put into, back on my first day here. Sorting through them, I found the piece I was looking for, and put the others back. Yep, the images matched, although the one on the button was a bit smaller.
"Hey, guys," I called, "check this out." Kapura was there in a flash, with Sans sauntering after him.
"Wassup, Caldoric?" Sans asked. "Find somethin'?"
"Yeah," I said, and then brought them up to date on the whole "egg" thing.
"Whoa," said Sans, surprised, "any idea what that was about?"
"No clue," I replied, "but she did say something about the 'Hand of Makuta,' which I can only assume is some weird cult, or worse. And I think she might have been trying to use me to 'fuel' the creation or summoning of something. Whatever it was, it wasn't good."
"How do you know that?" Asked Kapura, in an unusually pointed manner.
"Well, like I said, she was talking to whatever she thought was in the egg at the time, calling it her 'Knight in the shadows,' whatever that means. Also, you sometimes find weird stuff in books and on various fanfiction websites..."
"So," said Sans, "d'ya think you should push the button?"
"Not sure..." I muttered, as I stared at it, brows furrowed.
"You look angry," said Kapura, after a moment.
"Huh? What do you mean?" I'll admit, I was getting a tad irritable, but that was because my face was a little itchy. I rubbed my mask against my shoulder, trying to alleviate the itch.
"Your mask. It's been more expressive lately."
I stopped rubbing. "How long has this been going on?" I asked, cautiously. "And are my eyes glowing, by chance?"
"Ever since ya put on the rebreather," said Sans, helpfully, "and nah, the eyeholes aren't glowing. They're dark as always."
That was interesting, I thought, as I turned back to the button. It was probably something my future self had built into the device. Useful, but dangerous all the same. As for the button...
"Ah, screw it," I said, and mashed it. A few seconds later, a new, differently designed console rose from a hidden hatch in the floor nearby. On the console were three adjacent miniature daises, arranged in an upward-pointing triangle. Each of these had multiple identical sets of interlocking and circumscribed segments of circular metal wire. I smirked, because I recognized the arrangement immediately. It was part of the final puzzle from "Myst III: Exile," which was one of my favorite computer games from when I was younger.
My smile faded. If that was from Earth, before this whole "Convergence" fiasco, then what was it doing here, in the Codrex? It must be coincidence...
I hesitantly prodded a few of the wires, and those I touched glowed reddish-orange, becoming warm to the touch. Doing so again merely reversed the process.
My concern grew. Experimentally, I punched in a series of four images on the topmost dais. Clockwise from the top, they were: a sort of wave/yin-yang hybrid, a sunset behind a tree branch, a frowning face next to a blade, and some sort of fruit (well, it looked like an apple to me, but whatever).
Dynamic Forces Spur Change, I thought, naming the concepts each image stood for as I pressed the last bit of wiring.
To my consternation, the glow of the combined symbols then went from red to white with a sizzling sound, and they grew very hot.
go to about 2:17 here, that's when the original devices are introduced, and about 13 minutes in for the actual symbol placement and color change...
Yep. This was the endgame puzzle, alright. I heard some machinery briefly fire up in the floor and walls around us.
"Whoa!" I heard Sans exclaim. "Caldoric, what was that?"
"Uh, nothing, really!" I turned, and found both him and Kapura sitting on the floor, their guns in various stages of disassembly before them. Sans' was basically a mess of parts, whilst Kapura's was neatly set out in a strange sort of grid. "Wh- How even?!" I exclaimed, in shock.
"They had tools 'n a manual on field-strippin' in this little dimensional pocket thing," explained Sans. Kapura seemed to be in his own little world, too involved with his own weapon to notice us. I rolled my eyes as I calmed down. I'd have to look into the whole "gun pocket" thing later.
Whipping out my phone and pulling up my image gallery, I turned back to the console. It took me a bit to find the image I was looking for, but find it I did. It had a red background, depicting the four symbols I'd punched in, and many others of a similar nature. Each had a word underneath it. I picked out eight of them, and focused on the bottom left dais. They were as follows: a curled vine ending in three leaves, (or was it a three-pronged leaf? I couldn't tell...) a ball above an upturned cup/scoop, two oval beads on a string, and another ball beneath a downturned cup/scoop.
Nature Encourages Mutual Dependence...
As the second set of symbols turned white, more machinery began rumbling, and Sans again voiced concern, I quickly replicated the final four symbols I'd selected on the bottom right dais. A fancy capital "E" with a barb hanging off the top, a fragmented pair of opera glasses, something that I could only describe as looking suspiciously like a bubble-butt, and a lowercase "e" with an apostrophe.
Energy Powers Future Motion...
"Hey, Caldoric, whatever yer doin' over there, I think ya should stop!" Said Sans over the third bout of grinding and rumbling, concern very evident in his tone.
"Don't worry, I'm done here," I quipped, as I pressed a button that had popped up betwixt the daises. This caused an even greater rumble, and a massive grinding sound came from the big hole in the floor. It seemed to be receding from us as well. I quickly dashed over to the hole and peered downwards. A set of spiral stairs had emerged from the side of the hole, starting at the top and progressing lower.
"I don't trust these stairs," glowering at the stairwell in question.
"Why not?" Asked Sans, downing a swig of ketchup through a special port or something on his rebreather. "Aside from the creepy rumbling and such?"
"Because," I replied, eyeing him and smiling, "they're up to something."
His reaction was nigh instantaneous. His eyes went wide, made a strangled snorting sound, and lurched forward. As he did so, most of the inside of his visor went red with ketchup that had just come out of where his nose should be. As I fell over laughing, (away from the stairs, thankfully,) I could hear Sans chuckling weakly between coughs. I could just see Kapura, whose expression was torn between concern and bemusement.
"You OK, man?" I managed to ask. "Did I blow your mind with that one? Cause it looks to me like your head just exploded." I lost it again, as did Sans.
"Yeah," he eventually said, "I'm fine. But now I can't see anythin'."
"I can see that," I replied, smirking.
"Ha, ha," replied Sans, arms crossed good-naturedly. "Now fix this."
"It should already be fixed," I said, "I mean, future me should have–" but I never got the chance to finish, because suddenly, something like a cross between a rubber spatula and a windshield wiper ran across the inside of Sans' visor, clearing most of the mess in a single arc.
"Um, Sans?" I asked.
"Yeah?" His eyes were wide, following the wiper's progress back across the transparent surface.
"Do you, as a skeleton, have sinuses, and/or the ability to produce any sort of nasal excretions?"
"Uh... Not sure about the first one, and sometimes on the second. Like, when I'm sick, for example."
Kapura had returned to his disassembled gun, with a sort of glazed look in his eyes.
"Well, then," I said, "assuming future me was smart, you should be able to either finish drinking what was wiped off the visor, or dump it if your not sure it'd be safe."
"Yeah," said Sans, looking a little put off, "I think not."
Without warning, a sort of capsule popped most of the way out of his mouthpiece, filled up with the offending ketchup, and dropped into his lap.
"Oooooh...Kay..." Said Sans, holding it up for inspection.
I shook my head. "Guys, let's get going, eh?" I asked, as they quickly packed up. "And, seriously, I'm warning you guys, be careful around stairs of any type, not just these. It's all too easy to fall down them without provocation."
We descended along the stairwell. There wasn't much light, though I was sure I could see a faint purplish glow far beneath us, and I was pretty sure as to the identity of its source. We got to the bottom of the hole, and found it opened up about 30 feet above the floor, with the final segment of stairs having been extruded from the floor in a great sweeping arc. And just inside the curvature of the stairs were six tall, slender crystalline spires, which glowed faintly from within. It seemed that their energies had been somehow drained, because I distinctly remember them being brighter in the comics.
There were also three vehicles around the central area, and I recognized them. The Rockoh T3, the Jetrax T6, and the Axalera T9. Far, far beyond those were the walls, which had circular holes interspersed randomly around it's perimeter. These were probably the tunnels that Lewa and Pohatu had chased Antroz through. As awesome as this all was, my attention was drawn more strongly to the crystals.
I approached the nearest pillar, and moved to touch it. However, my hand came to a stop a few inches away from its surface, held by some invisible barrier. I moved my head closer to get a better look, and allow the few sensors that were still operating in my helmet to collect better data. Upon closer examination, I saw that the glow inside the crystal was slowly moving, with small arcs of electricity snaking their way through it, only marginally faster.
I tasted something metallic, and felt the cold presence of metal pressed against my tongue. I looked down inside my helmet to find that, without my realizing it, I had stuck my tongue out, where it had just run into the inside of the rebreather. In the moment that I noticed this, the forehead of my mask brushed the surface of the crystal.
I was abruptly blasted backwards by a surge of energy from the crystal, and went sliding on my side for several yards, until my back came softly to rest against another console, which had just risen from the floor.
My whole body was sore and tingling, my back more than anything else, and my teeth ached, and the rest of my mouth felt like a cactus had just detonated inside of it. "Thun of uh bit'th... Wait, wuht thuh thuck?" I said, thickly. My tongue had become swollen, and was sticking out between my teeth. It had, apparently, taken the brunt of whatever energy had surged through my frame at the moment of contact. "Ah, thit."
"Caldoric!" Sans and Kapura rushed over, having just gotten past their shock, and began trying to help me up.
Looking down at my body as I regained my former verticality, I saw my armor had acquired a sort of glittery, golden aura to it, but it was fading even as we watched.
"I'm thime," I said, leaning on the console.
"What...?" Asked Kapura, concerned.
"Mah tung ith thwollun. Happun'd when I got blathded. It wuth thticking out of my mouth an' tut'thing my mathck when it made contact with the crithtal."
"I didn't understand any of that," said Sans, giving me a sideways look, "and I had to deal with Gaster's particular speech differences, so that's saying something."
I rolled my eyes. "I'll eckthplain later, then, when my tung'th back to normal." Turning to the console, I found that it was similar to the one on the floor above, but with just the one miniature dais, and a little lever-shaped knob. The knob pointed to one of two symbols: a sort of dome-shaped thing that looked similar to Tahu's Suva in the movie "Mask of Light," and a circle containing a stylized number 7 (or a canted ">" symbol?) with an off center dot. I left it on the 7-looking thing.
I punched in four final images on the mini dais: a backwards capital "S", a twisted vine with two leaves in the middle, a crystal ball depicting two clouds obscuring the sun, and a sort of mushroom-shaped waterspout thing.
Balanced Systems Stimulate Civilization...
Off in the distance, beyond the three great vehicles, I saw a disturbance in the otherwise flat floor, causing fluid ripples to spread in all directions. Something tall, and vaguely bullet-shaped, shot up in the midst of this, and bobbed vertically, as if floating on a sea of mercury... Or protodermis...
Moments later, it turned and began moving in our direction. Soon it was close enough for me to make out details. The "nose" of the object was a deep shade of purple, and it looked remarkably similar to the canisters the original Toa Mata came in, but without the face in the center that the others once bore.
"C'mon!" I said around my uncooperative tongue, waving, before I rushed off towards the approaching canister. I stumbled a little over the wake-like fluctuations that were rippling through the otherwise solid floor as I came around the back of the canister, and began pushing, urging it to go faster. "Come on, guyth, help me beach thith thing!" My tongue had deflated a bit by now, so I could speak in a more natural manner.
Kapura showed up a moment later, and began helping me push. "Who do you think's in here?" He wondered aloud. "Another Toa?"
"Yes, I believe so," I said, smiling at the Matoran, my lisp mostly gone, "he's sort of a 'legendary seventh' type. Or, he's supposed to be."
"Really? What kind is he? What's his name? What----"
I cut across him, saying, "I don't know for sure, Kapura. We don't even know if it's him in there, or something else."
The canister was abruptly enveloped in a blue glow, and began moving much faster. Sans had just decided he'd help out, it seems. I had to run to keep up, and was shocked to see Kapura keeping up, pushing as well.
"Hey, how're you--"
"Vakama once told me that I must slow down in order to become faster."
"Yeah, I'm familiar with that. Soon after, I hear, you developed a sort of teleportation ability of your own, and have been using it ever since."
"That is correct," said Kapura, focusing his attention abruptly on the canister. Based on my observations of characters in books and movies, I was pretty sure this sharp clamming up was because I'd broached a topic he didn't like or want to talk about. But my social skills were never good at the best of times, so I let loose the question I'd been dying to ask.
"Ok, I see you're uncomfortable with this topic, but... D'you think you could teach me?"
"No." His expression was very steely. He was staring not just daggers, but other melee based weaponry as well. I could have sworn I saw a corkscrew.
"Alright, if you say so," I replied, jovially, "then I'll try not to ask you again."
For my troubles, I was rewarded by smacking face-first into the back of the canister, seeing as it had just stopped abruptly. Yeah, thanks for that, Sans.
As Kapura and I came around to the front of the canister, I readjusted my mask. "Alright, let's get this thing open," I said, and pulled out my sword, intent on using it to try and pry open the lid. I handed Kapura one of my knives. "Ok, when this comes off, it'll do so explosively, and will be going at speed, followed by a bunch of parts, if I'm correct."
"Uh," said Sans, raising a finger, "shouldn' we move these vehicle things, so they don't get hit?"
I looked at the angle that the canister made with the dais and vehicles, and was about to say it would be fine the way it was, when I heard a "thunk," followed by an abrupt hissing sound beside me. It appeared that Kapura had sunk my knife into the gap between the lid and body of the canister, setting off the release mechanism in the process. "Get down!" I yelled, and dove for safety. I was immediately glad that I hadn't made it behind the canister, because it jerked back violently with an explosion that sent the lid flying.
I heard a couple loud, metallic-sounding collisions, several shattering noises, and a crash behind me, and turned to see that the Rockoh T3, which had been on the left of the canister, was now several yards further to that side. The Axalera T9, however, had been hit pretty hard, and was now laying on its side, having been knocked off the dais, with a large dent in its hull. The stairs were unharmed, fortunately, but five of the six crystal spires had been broken by the canister's lid in flight. The lid itself was some good distance away, and I watched it roll, smoking, before it fell over and oscillated like a dropped plate. I could also see a burning rubber tire bouncing along in the distance, though I couldn't figure out where that had come from.
"Whoops..." I said, nervously rubbing the back of my head. "Wish I'd gotten that on camera. Woulda been a great 'Fus Ro Dah' moment..."
"I told ya," said Sans from behind me, startling me greatly, "we should'a moved 'em first."
"Dude," I said, clutching my chest, "don't do that."
He shrugged. "Eh, it looks to me like you need to work on your--"
I grabbed his collar, brought his face up to mine, and stared him dead in the eye. "I don't care how little HP you've got, If you so much as THINK the words 'situational awareness,' I will not hesitate to chuck you across this room." I then set him down, and walked over to the scattered pieces, looking for the head. It took a few minutes to find, since some of the parts had been flung off in one direction when the lid glanced off the Rockoh. Turns out, it was sitting in the seat of the Jetrax. When I picked it up, its eyes were closed, and it seemed to be having trouble breathing...
Eyes wide, I panicked. What could I do to help? Then it came to me. The fourth rebreather Dave had tossed me. The purple one. I jammed the rebreather in the head's mouth, and held it facing away from myself and the others. "Guys, get all the pieces together, now!" I said, but I needn't have worried. The scattered parts had already gathered, and begun reassembling themselves.
I set the head down near the pile, still facing away from us, and then dragged the other two to the far side of the canister to watch. Soon, what had once been a pile of practically useless pieces had formed the visage of a new Toa, though without a Mask or tool. Those were still lying near the newly awakened stranger, who merely flexed his fingers as the organic portions of his anatomy regrew with shocking speed, looking around with great curiosity. I could see that his glowing yellow eyes weren't focused on anything around him, though. No, he was thinking, trying to remember his past, if I was correct.
"Uh, what's going on?" Asked Sans, whispering.
"It's just like when the Toa Mata arrived," answered Kapura in a hushed tone.
I pulled them back behind the canister, got out the confiscated Rahkshi staff, and activated my Kanohi Mahiki, Mask of Shapeshifting and Illusion. My body shrank, and I felt weaker, as the staff changed into something like a miniature scythe of sorts, with a hammer on the bottom: a modified Kolhii staff, of my own design.
"What...?" Said Sans, but I hushed him. Kapura stared at me in excitement, clearly understanding what I was doing.
"I have to earn his trust, and get him up to speed," I told Sans, my voice now huskier and somewhat older-sounding. I looked around the canister to see the stranger placing his mask over his face, and I felt the surge of power that flowed through him, even from several meters away.
As the energy wracked his grey frame, his armor changed color, becoming a violent shade of purple. I walked out from our hiding place and hobbled nearer to the Toa, as he picked up the strange staff/scepter thing near his feet. Its topper looked similar to Tahu's original sword at the base, but the rest seemed comprised of multiple bent bolts of lightning. I smiled, as I heard Kapura explaining to Sans, over the radio, about Turaga and their role as guides for a Toa's destiny.
"Greetings, oh great Toa," I said to the purple stranger, amicably. As he turned to look at me, I got a better look at his mask, as well as the shocked expression it now carried. His Kanohi Mask looked like a Pakari that had been badly Photoshopped into the shape of a five-pointed star, and then had four lightning bolts stuck on for good measure.
"Wh-- who are you?" Asked the Toa, pointing his staff at me, which was now crackling with small arcs of electricity.
I leaned casually on my staff, saying, "I am Caldoric. And you are--"
"Why is your mask glowing?" Demanded the purple Toa, suspiciously. I had to hand it to him, he was quite perceptive.
"That is because I'm making use of its powers," I responded, doing my best to hide my concern. This did not seem to be going well.
"I can see that. You've changed your form, for whatever reason. I don't know much except my name, but I'm pretty sure that I don't like deception."
"I am sorry for that, then," I apologized. "I only meant to present myself in a way that would put you at ease. I know you have many questions--"
"Cut the crap. How do you know I have questions?" Demanded the Toa, very nearly irate. "And reveal yourself, before I blast you clear to Karzahni." For the merest moment, a look of confusion flickered across his face, but he retained his threatening demeanor.
"Ok, Ok, hold your Rahi!" I exclaimed, before anyone (including Sans and Kapura) could do anything rash. I could just see Sans trying to jump out and defend my honor or whatever in my mind's eye, only to get blasted himself. I refused to let that happen. I was, however, glad to have a reasonable use for that phrase. "I was getting tired of this form anywho." I winced, and continued. "Word to the wise, if you ever have the option of becoming a Turaga, don't take it lightly. The arthritis isn't worth it." With that, I let the power of the Mahiki fade, and stowed the staff as I regained my previous form. Sort of.
"Thanks for complying," he said, lowering his staff, and then began looking me over. "Your legs are... strange." Observed the purple Toa, critically. "Are they normally like that?"
I looked down, and was shocked to see that my legs had been restructured. They were now distinctly digitigrade. "No, that's new," I said, concerned. I'd have to take a closer look later. Returning my attention to the other Toa, I spoke once more. "As I said, my name, here, is Caldoric. Something about this world prevents me from utilizing my real name, so... yeah. Your name, if I'm not mistaken..."
"Voriki," said the Toa.
"Right, thought so. Moving on; you are Voriki, Toa of Energy." I said, and then cut across him as he went to ask a question. "Please, I'll explain any terms or phrases you don't understand later, once we've gotten outta here, and my phone has reception again, OK? It'll go faster that way." Voriki nodded, but he didn't seem happy about it.
I then walked over to the console from earlier, which was thankfully unharmed. "So, as a Toa, Voriki, it was supposed to be your job to protect and assist the Matoran as they went about their daily lives. Fortunately, one of my companions is a Matoran, so I can at least show you that." I turned back to the canister, and spoke into the radio. "Hey, guys, you can come out now." And so they did.
"Um," said Voriki, confused, "which one's the Matoran?"
"Me!" Exclaimed Kapura, raising a hand. "My name's Kapura."
"My other friend here is a skeleton, name of Sans," I said, tilting my head in Sans' general direction. "Long story, and I don't even know the half of it. Now, since we're all here..."
I turned to the console, and flipped the nob to the dome-like symbol. Immediately, the canister and lid dissolved into splashes of... whatever the floor was made of, and became part of it once more. The center of the dais opened, and a domed shape similar to the symbol on the console rose from said hole.
"That," I said, surprised, "is a Suva, I think. Voriki's, to be precise."
"What's a Suva?" Asked both Sans and Voriki.
"It's where Toa, and occasionally Turaga, store masks and tools," I explained, and Voriki reached out to touch it...
