#onezu

An Excerpt from Onezu Nuva's journal:

I could get used to being a god.

An excerpt from Onezu Nuva's journal:

The lab's previous inhabitant left a lot of... debris lying around.

Most of it I've left alone. But there's one particular specimen tucked away in the corner that I'm more and more tempted to make use of. How it remained here, so well preserved for presumably hundreds of years despite just lying on the floor, is still unclear to me.

I know only one thing can truly complete my evolution, but so far it has presented many problems. Compared to my predecessors in the Brotherhood, my shapeshifting power is very limited. I have a toa's body. I am, frustratingly, constrained by my flesh and blood.

I have to get my wings from somewhere.

Several excerpts from Onezu Nuva’s journal:

I found something out in the desert.

I wasn't even aware I was searching until now, but as soon as I arrived in this place I knew I had found what I was searching for. There is a particularly large fragment of our old world that somehow landed all the way out here. And inside it is... what appears to be a personal sanctum of some sort. There is a veritable maze of tunnels past the main chamber, but what I have explored so far contains a library and what I can only describe as a laboratory of some kind. And several items of... interest.

This place creates a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. There is a shadow that clings to it. Yet I find myself incapable of simply walking away.

I must uncover the secrets of this place.

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I have become more comfortable in this place as the days have passed. Which is strange. By all rights I ought to be quite disturbed by the discovery of who this place used to belong to. Or rather, what.

A Makuta.

The very name has rung with evil for 1002 long years. I and everyone I know has suffered horribly under the tyranny of the Brotherhood of Makuta at some point since the Cataclysm. They betrayed their duty to the world. I ought to hate them. I have hated them for a long time. So why does it intrigue me now to walk their halls and see into their minds through the gift of this place?

I think I had almost forgotten that they were once a race of scientists. Iif the texts in the library are to be believed, it seems they never really stopped being scientists, even after their bid for conquest.

I was a scholar once too. So very, very long ago. I must admit, for all I have suffered due to the Brotherhood's actions... I can appreciate power earned through the search for knowledge.

Perhaps I should return to my scholarly ways...

A letter that has been delivered, opened, read, and discarded in the sands of Bara Magna:

Dear Toa Onezu,

I was so happy to get your letter! Of course I'd love to come visit. All of us other toa from the Northern Continent had been wondering where our Great Hero of the Tren Krom Breach dissappeared to since the Rejoining. We didn't get to introduce you to any of our new friends!

You know, I feel like you left so fast that I never got a chance to properly thank you for all you taught me back when we worked together. If you hadn't taken me under your wing when we met I don't know if I could have ever learned how to be a great Toa like you. Though I'm sure you're still a better toa than I'll ever be!

But I'll shut up now. Gotta leave something to talk about when we meet back up. Hopefully while I'm there I'll be able to convince you to come back and visit everyone in the city! I'll see you in a week.

Your Humble Apprentice (and biggest fan, just because I know you hate when I say that),

Toa Varresk

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An excerpt from Onezu Nuva's Journal:

I've been scouring the library looking into alternate uses for the significant collection of kraata I've amassed. I knew that they were often used to infect Kanohi masks, which is fascinating of course. But even more so is the mention of certain experiments made late in the lifespan of the Brotherhood, the very beginnings of which are documented here. It seems that the shadow leeches that plagued us so during the Reign of Shadows were nothing more than modified kraata. Curious.

I believe I have successfully reproduced shadow leeches in the lab. It was surprisingly easy, after having gleaned enough data from the library's records. Initial tests are promising, but it's hard to measure the mental effects of the transformation from mere sand bats and the like. I need a more sentient test subject.

On another note, I've decided to reconnect with an old colleague from before the Great Rejoining.

In the ruins of a universe. A shattered village in a rocky canyon. Among the rubble of what was once a turaga's hut. A courier's tablet:

Dear Brother Venmak,

Yes brother, unbelievable though it is, what you have heard is true. In all the long centuries since the Cataclysm, the matoran of my village have never once been free of the tyranny of this war. And yet, now we are! The Dark Hunters and the Brotherhood both have turned and fled!

Our saviors came from the West, across the Mengar plain. They were a group of wandering toa; not quite a proper team, but you have no idea of the hope it inspired in my tired old heartstone to see them all together! They chased away our Dark Hunter "guardians" and continued on to meet the Brotherhood's assault at the Tren Krom Breach. All of the toa fought bravely but... there was one in particular, a toa of earth who bore a Pakari. Brother, I have never seen a toa fight the way he did that day! The brotherhood's war rahi dropped like protodites by his hand! And when all was said and done, our toa stood, and not a single bio of ground had been given!

They have since left to fight elsewhere. But remember this story, brother, and tell it to the matoran of your village. There are still heroes in this desolate world!

An Excerpt from Onezu Nuva's Journal:

Apologies for the long absence, old friend. It's been a while since I had time to write down my thoughts like this.

This new world is strange.

As I write this I am sitting in the shade of a giant piece of shrapnel. Debris from what was once our universe. Our home.

Surrounding me are the sands of a seemingly endless desert. "Bara Magna", the locals call it. There is simply so much *more* of it than I ever thought possible.

I suppose the locals would think me foolish for venturing out here on my own. They warned us all against it. The other toa are still back in the camp, happily making new friends, rebuilding, being as selfless as they have always been.

I left last night under the cover of darkness. I just had the feeling there was nothing there for me. I have exhausted that life utterly. It has exhausted me.

I am so very tired of playing the part of the toa.

An excerpt from Onezu Nuva's journal:

I don't understand what would drive someone to just up and abandon a laboratory like this one. It has everything. Lost knowledge... arcane technology... and this "antidermis". What a fascinating substance.

In the ruins of a universe. An abandoned library on a once stormy coast. Tucked away inside the wall behind a loose stone. A tattered journal:

My latest line of study continues to frustrate me. Even the apocryphal records are running dry. There are certainly enough contemporary accounts so that I know what I seek is real; people tell of warriors of the Barakki Ehlek's armies using kanohi masks of terrifying power, unlike anything seen today. But that set of information is where the consistency between accounts ends.

Of course there is the distinct possibility of intentional censorship. Information about the League seems to be particularly prone to that.

I miss Naho. If I had her to help sort through my thoughts I'd have cracked this in a week. Ever since they made her a toa she doesn't even have time to talk.