Six Ways, Book 2: Duty

by the_bioXpony_guy

Chapter 5: So Close, yet So Far

“What does this scripture mean, though?”

“I think it has something to do with the Toa, but—”

“Don’t be ridiculous! We haven’t seen the Toa in a thousand years!”

“Don’t be ridiculous? I should be saying that to you, Iruni. The Great Spirit is still asleep even a thousand years after we last saw the last of our city's Toa migrate to Mata Nui.”

The one named Iruni snorted. “I’ll agree to that—but can we also agree that we just may as well get used to the idea that the Great Spirit just may be asleep for as long as we’re alive?”

A unified gasp filled the forgotten musty chamber. Four of the six elderly, beast-like figures exchanged dismayed glances with one another as silence filled the air. The tension of the situation showed no sign of erosion as a red fifth character emerged from a corner of the dark chamber, ready to tell the sixth elder off.

His voice surprisingly strong for someone of his age, the figure said, “Iruni, that is inexcusable for us to do! You know as well as I do that we all have a duty to the Great Spirit—and no matter how long it may take for us to meet our goal, we will never back down.” His frustration slightly alleviated, the red creature lowered his voice and concluded, “We never backed down as Toa; we won’t back down now.”

At that, Iruni blinked a few times, scratched his wrist, and hung his head. The green elder didn’t know what to say other than, “Sorry, Norik.”

Yet as much as Norik wanted to reply with something along the lines of, “It’s okay, Iruni,” he knew that—as the leader of the Rahaga in these rough times—he needn’t offer anything but tough love to his partners. He knew this well—even now as he stepped up to the others and examined the stone tablets and slips of paper on the table. He served as the last piece of the group circle—the likes of which observed and examined its recently-acquired scriptures. The few freshly-written papers—surely translations of the stone tablets—stuck out in Norik's eyes.

All the other Rahaga, even Iruni, held their tongues as Norik began reading what seemed to him a fine collection of riddles—one of which he read out loud. “Though otherworldly and mysterious, they come from protodermis. When all seems fair to us and horrific for them, another’s time shall come.” At that, he grunted and stood in thought for a good while.

Norik’s normally cooperative teammates remained silent as their leader lost himself within his own thoughts. “I take it this is what you all were just talking about a moment ago?”

In response, the other Rahaga nodded their heads. The blue female in the bunch took a step toward him and pointed toward another tablet—one with almost very little empty space left for any extra words. “As you can imagine, it took me a good amount of time to translate the tablet over to paper—but once I did, it still seems like a whole new language altogether!”

A few in the back chuckled.

The blue one continued, “Just—now I’m wondering what the tablet means when it says ‘all is fair to us?’ Could that mean how we are now?”

“Perhaps, Gaaki,” replied Norik. “I would argue that our situation has been fair ever since we found this chamber and exterminated the rahi living within it. Since then, our studies have been much safer than ever before; I’d say we’re safer now than we were with the last group of Toa that we teamed up with.” He paused and looked down at the cluttered table once more. “I’m more concerned about what it means when it says ‘another’s time shall come.’”

The Rahaga of Earth croaked, “Another Toa team’s approach, perhaps?”

Despite still being unsure of which direction to direct himself, Norik nodded his head. “That certainly seems the most logical thing to think. It’d be much easier to say for sure if we could find out what happened to the Toa Metru.” The bestial elder sighed and rubbed his temples at the sheer thought of trying to piece this puzzle together when so few pieces sat within his reach.

Each of the Rahaga seemed to lose themselves within their own individual thoughts for the following moment. Some of them considered waiting for a call to action whilst others wondered how they would bide their time, how they would greet a new wave of warriors, assuming Norik’s predictions were true.

Then, a clap of thunder yanked the lot of them out of their thoughts.

Iruni turned his head toward the source of the noise and commented: "Well, the Great Spirit sure doesn't seem too keen on us doing something at the moment."

Suppressing the urge to moan at his comment, Norik replied, "I suppose not, Iruni." When another round of thunder sounded, Norik sighed, "I guess I'll go ahead and see how bad it is." And with that, he began making his way out of the room.

Once he came up to a flight of stairs, Norik lifted himself off the floor with the helicopter propeller clipped to his back. Up he went—and the higher up he went, the louder the storm became. Before long he made out the sound of heavy raindrops pounding against the ceiling of the Rahaga’s study. Not much longer still, he lifted open the trapdoor at the top of the upward-spiraling staircase and introduced himself to an uncomfortably strong blast of freezing raindrops; for a moment he couldn't even tell if it was rain or hail.

The elderly half-beast covered his face whilst attempting to make out his surroundings. Taking a look to his left, he witnessed the sea of protodermis rocking and waving back and forth with the wind. The waves seemed to grow larger and larger with time—and the longer Norik peered down at this ocean, the stronger the waves’ impact.

“By Mata Nui,” he muttered, wiping his damp face with his forearm. “I feel sorry for anybody who—” At that moment, Norik was cut off by another great crash of protodermis—which was quickly followed by another clap of thunder. A flash of lightning temporarily blinded him as he struggled to look down at the tides.

All at once, the bright flashes of light combined with the darkness of night made it seem almost impossible for Norik to grasp the details of the storm. With every flashing light, he could see detail by detail of the splashing protodermis, the rising waves, the cavalcade of liquid protodermis moving back and forth against the shore.

Then he noticed them: six foreign creatures encased in rock washing up after what just might have been days at sea. Once ashore, they seemed to lock to the land sea, unwilling to return to the sea of protodermis. Had the stones permanently rooted themselves to the ground?

New Toa? thought Norik with a gasp. Are the scriptures' prophecies being fulfilled so soon? Just by looking at the stones, he felt a sense of familiarity—as he had received a smaller, yet similar sort of stone shortly before becoming a Toa. That in mind, the Rahaga of Fire immediately closed the hatch and rushed his way down the staircase.

Before his feet could even touch the bottom stair, Norik was already shouting, "Quickly—everyone! We have to help them!"

The others turned their heads as Norik flew from the staircase entrance. No one asked questions; just listened as their leader commanded, "Help them, quick!"

And with that, Norik went rushing out the front door of their establishment. The others followed suit, struggling as the full force violent wind came along with their first step outside.

Her voice raising just barely above the sounds of the wind, raindrops, and thunder, Gaaki turned toward Norik and asked, "Where are these people you were talking about?"

Norik took no moment to hesitate as he deployed his propeller and replied, "Follow me! They just may be the answer we've been looking for." The Rahaga of Fire then flew off toward the waters, his partners following suit, albeit with a bit more caution than their leader. Norik made sure to stay high up so the protodermis wouldn't crash down and swallow him whole.

Like the Great Spirit's once ever-present waking gaze, six silver crystalline characters glistened before Norik's eyes. Every single one of them slept peacefully even as the storm grew ever-stronger with passing time.

Now as Norik hovered by these stones, he couldn't help but feel as though feel the gems could survive the storm on their own. He could tell just by touching one of them, feeling the unmistakable cold touch of metallic protodermis—the likes of which the Toa of generations past used to seal Makuta. Perhaps the crystals would live through tonight's strange encounter, keeping alive the sleeping Toa inside. However, by the time such a thought popped into his head, Norik sensed the others coming behind him, their propeller whirs quiet, yet detectable against the sounds of the storm.

"I see them!" cried Iruni, noticing the strange creatures sleeping within the crystal protodermis. They were unlike any Toa he had ever seen—alien yet rahi-like in appearance: surely the result of Visorak infection.

After examining the Toa from afar, Iruni crashed back to reality and stammered, "N-Norik—are you sure we can get these things inside?"