CHAPTER 8 - When Extremes Meet
"....But... How?" Crystal uttered breathlessly, looking around her in wonder. Everything she had ever heard about The Mountain of Whispers had been true up to this moment, now suddenly, it was just a regular mountain?
Tahu and Kopaka continued staring out across the land, occasionally turning their heads to look in another direction. Tahu had his hand up by his forehead, shielding his eyes from the blare of the sun. At last, he sighed and shook his head, turning to look at the other Toa and Matoran as they emerged from the cave. "It's no good. Nothing looks familiar." he said. The other Toa joined him on the edge of the cliff, looking out over the land for themselves.
"Perhaps we might see-spot something if we were higher." Lewa suggested.
"Higher than this?" Tahu asked skeptically.
"The Mountain of Whispers is the tallest mountain anywhere." Crystal said offhandedly, still perplexed by the sudden change in climate. "Hey Kopaka, did you make the storm disappear?"
Kopaka looked at her, his telescopic lens adjusting as he did so. "No." He said flatly.
"There was no storm." Tahu answered, folding his arms and looking down at her.
"Oh... Okay." Crystal muttered, twiddling her hands timidly. It didn't make sense! How could the Mountain of Whispers just suddenly stop doing what it has always been doing?... Unless... Unless the storm and the whispers were somehow caused by the Toa and Matoran sleeping inside of it. The light and warmth of the cave had been, maybe the blizzard and the whispers were too.
"Hey, who's complaining? Not me! I'm glad there's no storm." Maku cheered, running to the edge to join the Toa and breathing deeply of the fresh air. "We can go now, right? I mean, if there's no storm, then we don't have to stay here."
The Toa looked at each other. "I think we should know more about this new world before we go venturing out into it, Maku." Gali said, "With a Toa-hunting Makute in power, it is far too dangerous to play it by ear." Maku heaved a sigh but did not argue. Instead, she turned and sulked back to the others. Gali continued; "Crystal. You are our only connection to this world. What more can you tell us?"
Crystal put her hand on her chin and pondered the question for a moment. Everything in this world was already normal to her, she was born and raised in it, she grew up learning how it worked one step at a time. How could she distinguish different aspects of it for people who were complete strangers to it? Dangers seemed like the most important topic, but Crystal didn't want to dwell on only those-- If she did, these poor Toa and Matoran would be cursing their existence before sunset! "I don't know where to start." Crystal muttered, "What exactly do you want to know about?"
Gali opened her mouth to speak, but at that exact moment, a beam of ice was shot directly at her!
It barely missed her and struck the ground at her feet, causing her to fall over. The beam was followed by another and a torrent of water and fire at the others! Crystal gave a shout of surprise and recoiled. Tahu leaped to the defense of those in the line of fire, crossing his swords in front of him and activating an energy shield. The fire collided with the shield wall, but scattered around Tahu and the others harmlessly. Meanwhile, Kopaka also reacted. Without moving a muscle other than his arm, he grabbed his sword from his back and pointed it toward the water headed in his direction. The whole torrent froze on contact and fell harmlessly into the snow.
Quickly, the seven Toa rallied around Crystal and the other Matoran, readying their weapons and preparing for a fight. Crystal was surprised when she saw the identity of their attackers: "No Magma! River! Glacier! Stop!" she cried, dodging around Tahu and stepping forward with her arms outstretched.
The Toa knights stood in attack formation, ready to launch another series of blows. Upon seeing Crystal, they seemed surprised, but did not relax. "Don't worry, Crystal! We won't let them hurt you." River said, glaring at Tahu who glared in response.
"No wait! They are not our enemies!" Crystal insisted. "They don't work for Makute Doom!"
"Are you sure?" Came the voice of Nori. She, Steel, and Leachan had positioned themselves in the overhang above the cave, ready to strike the Toa from behind.
"Yes, I'm sure. They won't hurt us!" Crystal replied.
"Lower your weapons." Comet spoke suddenly. He emerged from behind the lineup that River, Magma, and Glacier had formed. The Toa seemed unnerved by his appearance, and by the fact that three assailants had gotten above them without being noticed, but relaxed their positions. The Toa knights, however, exchanged glances and remained defensive.
"Crystal, are these the friends you mentioned before?" Tahu asked. Crystal sighed in relief, grateful that Tahu had addressed her instead of the knights. His remark confirmed her claim for them, and they were put at ease upon hearing it.
"Yes." Crystal confirmed.
Nori riding Steel, and Leachan, both jumped from the overhang and landed next to their companions. Upon landing, Nori hopped off Steel and ran forward, embracing Crystal in a quick hug. "Where did you disappear to? We were worried!" She asked, standing back and shaking her for a moment. Crystal pulled away from her grip.
"Me? You are the ones that disappeared! I paused for a second, but when I looked back, you were gone." she replied. The Toa knights approached, still watching the other Toa cautiously. Crystal felt explanations were in order. "After you disappeared, I followed one of the whispers to this cave, and inside I found these Toa and Matoran."
"Just sitting inside a cave, huh?" Magma asked skeptically, eyeing Tahu suspiciously.
"No, not sitting. They were in some kind of stasis. They woke up when I touched Takanuva's staff." Crystal said, "Here, let me introduce everybody. This is--"
"Tahu, Kopaka, Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, Whenua, and Takanuva." Comet interrupted. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"H-How did you know that?" Crystal stuttered.
Comet stepped forward. He was much taller than the Toa and the Toa knights, so they all had to look up to see him. "It was foretold: The Legend will awaken and defeat Makute Doom." Comet said, smiling at the new Toa.
"Foretold? By who? I've never heard of this before now." Leachan muttered. Comet ignored him.
"My greetings to you, noble Spirits. I am Comet, a star Toa. I have long awaited your reawakening. The world has greatly changed since you've been asleep." He said, regarding Tahu and the others.
"A star Toa?!" Crystal and the knights voiced in unison. Comet did not answer them.
"How do you know of us?" Tahu asked, speaking in a soft tone for the first time since Crystal had met him. He seemed to regard Comet with great respect.
"And how come you never told us this before?" Nori blurted.
"It wasn't necessary for you to know, but now the time has come for many secrets to be revealed." Comet said simply to Nori, then looked at Tahu. "I know of you because I helped guide you in your time as well. Do you not remember?"
"You are not familiar to me, no." Tahu replied.
"That is because you have never seen me like this. Think back, my friend. Think back to the stars.." Comet urged.
Tahu was silent for a moment. One by one, Crystal watched recognition come to the faces of the Toa and Matoran behind him, then at last, it dawned on his as well. "Yes, now I remember!" Tahu exclaimed.
"The spirit stars! One for each Toa!" Jaller added, looking to the other Matoran to see if they remembered like he did. They smiled and nodded. Nori, on the other hand, looked at the group with a doubtful expression.
"That's right, Jaller. The stars did guide us. Sometimes they even warned us when bad things were going to happen." Hahli added, coming forward and smiling up at Comet.
"It was you the entire time?" Pohatu asked. Comet confirmed this with a nod. All at once, the Toa and Matoran seemed to look at him as though he were an old friend they had known all of their lives. The Toa knights, however, were now beginning to look at him like a stranger.
"You have lost your memories, I see." Comet observed after eyeing each Toa for a moment. "Well, I cannot say I'm surprised. You have been asleep for many thousands of years."
"But why were we asleep?" Maku asked.
Comet looked at her, but he did not open his mouth to respond. A second later, Magma interrupted anyway. "Look, this is great and everything, but we have to go. In case you didn't notice, the storm is gone, and it won't take folks long to notice that. Crystal is not 'safe from Makute Doom here' anymore. We have to find another place." Both Toa and Matoran looked at Magma as he spoke and seemed confused.
"Safe for Crystal?" Whenua repeated.
"Er.. Why Crystal?" Pohatu added.
"I guess it's important that you know that Makute Doom is not only hunting Toa." Crystal said sheepishly, "He's kinda hunting me as well."
"Why? What did you do?" Hafu asked.
"I didn't do anything.. I don't know why he wants me, I just know that he does." Crystal said honestly, shrugging to illustrate her confusion.
"The why is not important." Tahu said grimly, "When a Makute wants a Matoran, the reasons are never good."
"I agree. Don't worry, Crystal, we can protect you." Pohatu said.
"We're already protecting her and we don't need your help to do it." Magma snapped.
"Yeah? Well, Crystal is our friend now too!" Maku snapped back.
"But she was our friend first!" Nori countered.
Crystal covered her ears and winced, feeling ready to explode in anger for herself. She sensed another fight brewing and couldn't handle it. First the Toa would start arguing with the Toa knights, the Matoran would join in, and soon this would be the Mountain of Angry Shouting...
"We understand." Gali said suddenly. Crystal opened her eyes in surprise. "We do not know much, if anything, about this new world... But it is our duty to the Matoran that puts us at Crystal's service. We only wish to help."
"From the looks of it, you've got your own set of problems then." Magma replied snidely, leaning slightly so as to glance around Gali at the herd of Matoran behind her. He then stood straight again and looked her in the eye. "You've already got a bunch of them, why bother with ours?" The question was not a sincere one.
"Isn't duty to Matoran reason enough?" Gali asked.
"Duty? You're doing this because of some imaginary duty? Who ever heard of that?" Magma snapped, "Look, like I said, we've got to move before Makute Doom finds us."
"Then it is agreed." Comet put in suddenly, "We will take them to our camp for tonight."
"What? I didn't say that!" Magma argued.
"Great idea!" Crystal put in quickly.
"What!?" Magma repeated, but it was no use anymore. He was ignored.
Crystal beckoned to the Toa and Matoran to follow her passed the Toa knights, which they did, albeit a little awkwardly. Nori and Steel followed suit, and soon the knights did as well. Comet remained in the back, watching Takanuva closely. As the Toa of Light moved to join the group, Comet stepped in front of him.
"Makute Doom is a force that never should have been, and his actions have caused an imbalance in this world." he explained in a low voice, "It is foretold that the seven of you shall defeat him."
Takanuva briefly glanced at the others who were moving away, then met Comet's eyes. "We will do everything we can." He said resolutely.
Comet smiled and nodded. "Good." He said, then his smile fell, "But I must warn you, the task will be harder than it currently seems: It is not just battle that awaits you..."
Tahu and Kopaka continued staring out across the land, occasionally turning their heads to look in another direction. Tahu had his hand up by his forehead, shielding his eyes from the blare of the sun. At last, he sighed and shook his head, turning to look at the other Toa and Matoran as they emerged from the cave. "It's no good. Nothing looks familiar." he said. The other Toa joined him on the edge of the cliff, looking out over the land for themselves.
"Perhaps we might see-spot something if we were higher." Lewa suggested.
"Higher than this?" Tahu asked skeptically.
"The Mountain of Whispers is the tallest mountain anywhere." Crystal said offhandedly, still perplexed by the sudden change in climate. "Hey Kopaka, did you make the storm disappear?"
Kopaka looked at her, his telescopic lens adjusting as he did so. "No." He said flatly.
"There was no storm." Tahu answered, folding his arms and looking down at her.
"Oh... Okay." Crystal muttered, twiddling her hands timidly. It didn't make sense! How could the Mountain of Whispers just suddenly stop doing what it has always been doing?... Unless... Unless the storm and the whispers were somehow caused by the Toa and Matoran sleeping inside of it. The light and warmth of the cave had been, maybe the blizzard and the whispers were too.
"Hey, who's complaining? Not me! I'm glad there's no storm." Maku cheered, running to the edge to join the Toa and breathing deeply of the fresh air. "We can go now, right? I mean, if there's no storm, then we don't have to stay here."
The Toa looked at each other. "I think we should know more about this new world before we go venturing out into it, Maku." Gali said, "With a Toa-hunting Makute in power, it is far too dangerous to play it by ear." Maku heaved a sigh but did not argue. Instead, she turned and sulked back to the others. Gali continued; "Crystal. You are our only connection to this world. What more can you tell us?"
Crystal put her hand on her chin and pondered the question for a moment. Everything in this world was already normal to her, she was born and raised in it, she grew up learning how it worked one step at a time. How could she distinguish different aspects of it for people who were complete strangers to it? Dangers seemed like the most important topic, but Crystal didn't want to dwell on only those-- If she did, these poor Toa and Matoran would be cursing their existence before sunset! "I don't know where to start." Crystal muttered, "What exactly do you want to know about?"
Gali opened her mouth to speak, but at that exact moment, a beam of ice was shot directly at her!
It barely missed her and struck the ground at her feet, causing her to fall over. The beam was followed by another and a torrent of water and fire at the others! Crystal gave a shout of surprise and recoiled. Tahu leaped to the defense of those in the line of fire, crossing his swords in front of him and activating an energy shield. The fire collided with the shield wall, but scattered around Tahu and the others harmlessly. Meanwhile, Kopaka also reacted. Without moving a muscle other than his arm, he grabbed his sword from his back and pointed it toward the water headed in his direction. The whole torrent froze on contact and fell harmlessly into the snow.
Quickly, the seven Toa rallied around Crystal and the other Matoran, readying their weapons and preparing for a fight. Crystal was surprised when she saw the identity of their attackers: "No Magma! River! Glacier! Stop!" she cried, dodging around Tahu and stepping forward with her arms outstretched.
The Toa knights stood in attack formation, ready to launch another series of blows. Upon seeing Crystal, they seemed surprised, but did not relax. "Don't worry, Crystal! We won't let them hurt you." River said, glaring at Tahu who glared in response.
"No wait! They are not our enemies!" Crystal insisted. "They don't work for Makute Doom!"
"Are you sure?" Came the voice of Nori. She, Steel, and Leachan had positioned themselves in the overhang above the cave, ready to strike the Toa from behind.
"Yes, I'm sure. They won't hurt us!" Crystal replied.
"Lower your weapons." Comet spoke suddenly. He emerged from behind the lineup that River, Magma, and Glacier had formed. The Toa seemed unnerved by his appearance, and by the fact that three assailants had gotten above them without being noticed, but relaxed their positions. The Toa knights, however, exchanged glances and remained defensive.
"Crystal, are these the friends you mentioned before?" Tahu asked. Crystal sighed in relief, grateful that Tahu had addressed her instead of the knights. His remark confirmed her claim for them, and they were put at ease upon hearing it.
"Yes." Crystal confirmed.
Nori riding Steel, and Leachan, both jumped from the overhang and landed next to their companions. Upon landing, Nori hopped off Steel and ran forward, embracing Crystal in a quick hug. "Where did you disappear to? We were worried!" She asked, standing back and shaking her for a moment. Crystal pulled away from her grip.
"Me? You are the ones that disappeared! I paused for a second, but when I looked back, you were gone." she replied. The Toa knights approached, still watching the other Toa cautiously. Crystal felt explanations were in order. "After you disappeared, I followed one of the whispers to this cave, and inside I found these Toa and Matoran."
"Just sitting inside a cave, huh?" Magma asked skeptically, eyeing Tahu suspiciously.
"No, not sitting. They were in some kind of stasis. They woke up when I touched Takanuva's staff." Crystal said, "Here, let me introduce everybody. This is--"
"Tahu, Kopaka, Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, Whenua, and Takanuva." Comet interrupted. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"H-How did you know that?" Crystal stuttered.
Comet stepped forward. He was much taller than the Toa and the Toa knights, so they all had to look up to see him. "It was foretold: The Legend will awaken and defeat Makute Doom." Comet said, smiling at the new Toa.
"Foretold? By who? I've never heard of this before now." Leachan muttered. Comet ignored him.
"My greetings to you, noble Spirits. I am Comet, a star Toa. I have long awaited your reawakening. The world has greatly changed since you've been asleep." He said, regarding Tahu and the others.
"A star Toa?!" Crystal and the knights voiced in unison. Comet did not answer them.
"How do you know of us?" Tahu asked, speaking in a soft tone for the first time since Crystal had met him. He seemed to regard Comet with great respect.
"And how come you never told us this before?" Nori blurted.
"It wasn't necessary for you to know, but now the time has come for many secrets to be revealed." Comet said simply to Nori, then looked at Tahu. "I know of you because I helped guide you in your time as well. Do you not remember?"
"You are not familiar to me, no." Tahu replied.
"That is because you have never seen me like this. Think back, my friend. Think back to the stars.." Comet urged.
Tahu was silent for a moment. One by one, Crystal watched recognition come to the faces of the Toa and Matoran behind him, then at last, it dawned on his as well. "Yes, now I remember!" Tahu exclaimed.
"The spirit stars! One for each Toa!" Jaller added, looking to the other Matoran to see if they remembered like he did. They smiled and nodded. Nori, on the other hand, looked at the group with a doubtful expression.
"That's right, Jaller. The stars did guide us. Sometimes they even warned us when bad things were going to happen." Hahli added, coming forward and smiling up at Comet.
"It was you the entire time?" Pohatu asked. Comet confirmed this with a nod. All at once, the Toa and Matoran seemed to look at him as though he were an old friend they had known all of their lives. The Toa knights, however, were now beginning to look at him like a stranger.
"You have lost your memories, I see." Comet observed after eyeing each Toa for a moment. "Well, I cannot say I'm surprised. You have been asleep for many thousands of years."
"But why were we asleep?" Maku asked.
Comet looked at her, but he did not open his mouth to respond. A second later, Magma interrupted anyway. "Look, this is great and everything, but we have to go. In case you didn't notice, the storm is gone, and it won't take folks long to notice that. Crystal is not 'safe from Makute Doom here' anymore. We have to find another place." Both Toa and Matoran looked at Magma as he spoke and seemed confused.
"Safe for Crystal?" Whenua repeated.
"Er.. Why Crystal?" Pohatu added.
"I guess it's important that you know that Makute Doom is not only hunting Toa." Crystal said sheepishly, "He's kinda hunting me as well."
"Why? What did you do?" Hafu asked.
"I didn't do anything.. I don't know why he wants me, I just know that he does." Crystal said honestly, shrugging to illustrate her confusion.
"The why is not important." Tahu said grimly, "When a Makute wants a Matoran, the reasons are never good."
"I agree. Don't worry, Crystal, we can protect you." Pohatu said.
"We're already protecting her and we don't need your help to do it." Magma snapped.
"Yeah? Well, Crystal is our friend now too!" Maku snapped back.
"But she was our friend first!" Nori countered.
Crystal covered her ears and winced, feeling ready to explode in anger for herself. She sensed another fight brewing and couldn't handle it. First the Toa would start arguing with the Toa knights, the Matoran would join in, and soon this would be the Mountain of Angry Shouting...
"We understand." Gali said suddenly. Crystal opened her eyes in surprise. "We do not know much, if anything, about this new world... But it is our duty to the Matoran that puts us at Crystal's service. We only wish to help."
"From the looks of it, you've got your own set of problems then." Magma replied snidely, leaning slightly so as to glance around Gali at the herd of Matoran behind her. He then stood straight again and looked her in the eye. "You've already got a bunch of them, why bother with ours?" The question was not a sincere one.
"Isn't duty to Matoran reason enough?" Gali asked.
"Duty? You're doing this because of some imaginary duty? Who ever heard of that?" Magma snapped, "Look, like I said, we've got to move before Makute Doom finds us."
"Then it is agreed." Comet put in suddenly, "We will take them to our camp for tonight."
"What? I didn't say that!" Magma argued.
"Great idea!" Crystal put in quickly.
"What!?" Magma repeated, but it was no use anymore. He was ignored.
Crystal beckoned to the Toa and Matoran to follow her passed the Toa knights, which they did, albeit a little awkwardly. Nori and Steel followed suit, and soon the knights did as well. Comet remained in the back, watching Takanuva closely. As the Toa of Light moved to join the group, Comet stepped in front of him.
"Makute Doom is a force that never should have been, and his actions have caused an imbalance in this world." he explained in a low voice, "It is foretold that the seven of you shall defeat him."
Takanuva briefly glanced at the others who were moving away, then met Comet's eyes. "We will do everything we can." He said resolutely.
Comet smiled and nodded. "Good." He said, then his smile fell, "But I must warn you, the task will be harder than it currently seems: It is not just battle that awaits you..."
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