#tftv

It won't surprise most who were familiar with the Chronicler to know that the final topic of Kodan's research was in fact one of the Toa Mangai themselves, but I do at least hope that this record can provide some much needed closure for those of us who knew those featured in the account, and have spent the last millennium waiting for the answers enclosed within.

As you can imagine, the record begins in Metru Nui itself, after three of the Toa Mangai had been summoned for a seemingly mundane mission by the city's Turaga…

Kodan entered the room quietly, stone tablet in hand, so as not to disturb the conversation already in progress. Turaga Dume, leader of Metru Nui, sat behind his desk addressing the three Toa in front of him with the details of their latest mission.

"So why exactly are we closing the Sea Gates?" Valtruu, Toa of Ice, spoke up.

"I fear the Dark Hunters are growing bolder by the day" Dume said, getting up from his seat and walking out in front of his desk. "If something isn't done to fortify Metru Nui soon, they will doubtless take advantage and try to make the first move. We wouldn't want another war in our great city, now would we?" the Turaga said.

"I s'pose that makes sense, but why not just have the Vahki do it?" Valtruu countered.

Kanae, Toa of Plantlife, let out a scoff. "Those machines can't find their way to a charging port without methodical instruction" he said, before Dume raised his hand to interrupt the Toa.

"They already tried" he said, tossing a scrap of Vahki armor onto his desk for the room to see, "it seems they met some resistance".

Motara, the usually quiet and reserved Toa of Stone, spoke up for the first time since Kodan had entered the room. "Any chance you could tell us what to look out for, then?" he asked, unsatisfied with the Turaga's brevity.

"Feral Rahi, in all likelihood. Surely nothing for Toa to worry about" the Turaga said, brushing aside the Toa of Stone's concern before continuing. "You have your orders, now follow them. I have no time for further questions," Dume said dismissively, showing the three Toa to the door. "The safety of Metru Nui is my utmost priority, as it should be yours. If you have concerns, I shall hear them out after you've returned, when I have more time. For now, my attention is demanded elsewhere." he continued.

Valtruu shrugged, and followed his brothers out of the Turaga's office, with Kodan making sure to keep up behind them.

As the group exited the Coliseum, Kanae waved to the others and began heading off in the opposite direction. "I'm late for a thing in Ga-Metru, you guys can handle this one right?" he said in his usual nonchalant way, now that they were no longer in the presence of the Turaga.

"Yeah, shouldn't be a big deal" Valtruu replied, turning to speak to the Po-Matoran following close behind them. "You sure you've got time to join us, little dude?" he asked.

"A long, boring boat ride alone with the two of you? I wouldn't miss it for the universe," Kodan responded, smiling beneath his mask, as the trio set out to borrow a skiff for their mission…

The vessel skipped against the waves as it began making its way further from shore, while Kodan sat back to observe the two Toa making preparations for the mission ahead. Valtruu was standing towards the back of their skiff, steering the motor with his attention focused on the dome wall far off in the distance, while toward the front of the skiff sat Motara, checking over the stone-carving claws attached at his forearms.

Despite the two having known each other for many years at this point, Motara was the Mangai least familiar to Kodan, and to many others in the city as well. There were rumors of course, everyone in the city had their own theory about the background of this strangely colored Toa clad in striking silver armor, but rumors were all they were. What really sparked their interest wasn't just how foreign the yellow and black colored Toa looked, but the mask he wore.

Motara adorned himself with a sharp silver Great Mask of Power Scream, a mask whose power was normally considered immoral by the standards of Matoran society. In addition to the mask's long history of association with the brutal and fearsome Brotherhood of Makuta, the unholy shrieks it made when used were enough to unsettle even the sturdiest of individuals, leading to its almost unanimous rejection by Matoran society.

Despite this though, Kodan had never seen the Toa be anything less than upstanding in all his years of service to the city, which just made his choice in mask all the more perplexing. And now thanks to this mission, Kodan had the perfect opportunity to ask the Po-Toa all about it, without interruption…

After finally striking up a conversation with the Toa of Stone, Kodan soon found himself eagerly writing down everything he was hearing.

"It goes back many years ago, during the great war between the Brotherhood of Makuta and the League of Six Kingdoms" Motara began. "I lived in a small village back then, and had only just become a Toa in the months before the war started. We were able to keep our heads down and stay out of it at first, but once the League caught wind of our settlement they sent someone over to plant a flag down, and started telling us we belonged to them."

Motara reached his hand up to soothe an old scar on his shoulder, as if by reflex, before continuing. "I tried to fight them off, but they were too strong for just one Toa to handle. We'd almost given up hope of getting our freedom back, until one night, when a great warrior clad in silver showed up and ran the League's governor out of town with a legion of Rahkshi." He looked out over the side of the skiff, breaking eye contact.

"I know most don't think too highly of Rahkshi, and in truth I didn't either, but after that night we saw them as our saviors. Mostly though, we were grateful to their master, the silver warrior." Motara turned back toward Kodan, "I'm sure you can guess by the company he kept, but he was a Makuta, who went by the name Aruke." Motara touched his kanohi lightly before continuing.

"Unlike most of the Brotherhood who were occupied with grand military campaigns, or pursuits of glory on the front lines, Aruke and his troops made a point of seeking out settlements like ours, who were actually suffering under League occupation, and freeing as many of them as he could. I was so moved by the man's skill, grace, and honor that I pledged myself to his service right then and there."

"Lemme guess, he gave you that shiny armor to match his?" Valtruu chimed in from the back of the skiff.

"Eventually, yeah" Motara answered. "Makuta Aruke and I continued freeing League occupied settlements for the remainder of the war, and when it was all over and 'heroes' on the front got their accolades and fancy medals, nobody paid much attention to all the work we had done. Still though, Aruke was grateful for my help. He had this armor made special, so the two of us would match. Said it was a promise, not a reward. A promise that we would always be there to stand up for the forgotten and the oppressed, and a promise to each other, that we would never forget everything we had been through", Motara finished.

"So where is he now?" Kodan asked, "Why didn't you stay with your Makuta if you two were clearly so close?"

"I did, to an extent", Motara said, "we stayed in periodic contact for quite a while afterward."

The Po-Toa got up to stretch after sitting in the skiff for so long. "Then, after the Brotherhood took up the responsibilities left behind by the Barraki and were eventually assigned their own dominions, my home village fell within Aruke's new territory, and I was offered the position of his right-hand aide, which I humbly accepted." Motara said, sitting back down as the skiff passed over rougher waters.

"Things went well, until Aruke was summoned to a Convocation- a meeting of the Makuta. He was only gone for a few days, but when he returned, there was something… different about him." Motara reached up to touch his Kanohi before continuing.

"He was acting paranoid, doubling the guard at his fortress, checking rooms before entering… When I finally asked him what had happened at the meeting, he told me only two things: no one was to be trusted, and that things were changing in the universe."

"Well, that's not ominous at all!" Valtruu shouted over the wind and waves, still listening in from the back of the skiff.

Motara's expression soured, but he continued. "It was only a few days later, before I had gotten the opportunity to pry further, that Aruke vanished. For three days the fortress grounds were alive with search parties, all silent, hoping we might hear if he called out to us. Eventually though I was the one to find his body, sitting alone in his study- where it hadn't been just the night before."

Kodan spent a short while trying to find words. "I'm sorry," the Chronicler finally said. "Did you ever find out?" he continued, failing to fight back his curiosity, "What happened to him, I mean."

"No," Motara said, in a voice that was somehow both small yet louder than the crashing waves. "I figured his paranoia was right… The universe had changed, and that change, whatever it was, swallowed him up. Afterwards, everything Aruke had was transferred to another Makuta, as though he never even existed." Motara sighed. "Everything except for me…" he said, gingerly peeling the gleaming silver Kanohi from his face, taking a long look at it for himself, "And his mask…"

Motara's gaze was transfixed on the mask for some time. Kodan noted that, despite the maskless state of the Toa of Stone, there was a steely resolve in his eyes that failed to betray any weakness.

"I've been wearing it for myself ever since. Not just to honor what he stood for, but to remind myself of his last words to me" the Po-Toa said, before placing the mask back over his face.

"I spent the next few years moving around a lot, helping out wherever I could." Motara turned to the chronicler with a solemn look, before continuing. "Trying never to stay in the same place for too long, for fear that whoever killed Aruke would catch up with me too. That is, until I heard the Turaga's request for help, and came to this city." Motara said, looking back at the now tiny Metru Nui skyline behind them.

"For the first time in as long as I can remember, living in this place, being a part of this team… It's made me feel like I have a home again." He finished…

After Kodan had recorded Motara's story on his stone tablet, the trio sat in silence, reflecting on the Po-Toa's words, until they came in eye shot of the Sea Gate. As their skiff was slowing down on approach to the towering doorway, Motara noticed another vessel parked along the edge of the dome wall, and pointed it out to his comrades. Toa Valtruu, with his Great mask of Water Breathing, decided to dive beneath the sea of protodermis to get a closer look at the strange ship.

After a few minutes with no sign of the Ko-Toa, Motara was about to stand up and take a better look for himself. Before he could leap over the side of the skiff however, a towering monster of black and purple armor, with a grotesque face and four extra arms sticking up from behind its shoulders, stood up out of the water, igniting energy that crackled between its fingertips…

The record cuts off after that, though I think it safe to assume what happened next. As someone who lived in the city for many years, I've spent more time than I care to recall thinking on what I could have done differently to prevent the tragedies that occured, both to Metru Nui itself, and its honorable protectors. I often wonder, if I had stayed in the city rather than being convinced to set out on my travels by the false Turaga, if perhaps his deception could have been uncovered before it was too late.

Her first instinct was to protect me, like always. Mata Nui, I use to hate that about her.

After all the years we'd been working together, she still treated me like the rookie I was when we first met.

The Makuta's spear only grazed her armor at first, she was tough after all, but that didn't deter the bastard. He called out his Rahkshi dogs and the next thing we knew they had us surrounded.

I'd like to say we fought our hardest, but we were holding back. It was in the Toa code after all; no betrayal, no cowardice or dishonesty, and most importantly, no killing.

When the first Rahkshi grabbed her leg I figured she'd be fine. We'd fought much worse than a pack of Makuta-spawn and still made it out in one piece. But when the second one got her, and I saw that she couldn't move, that's when everything went wrong…

I stopped what I was doing and made a mad dash over to her, but it was too late. I got there just in time to see his spear, with its large bladed tip pointed down, pierce its way through her armor as the Rahkshi held her down.

When my brain caught up with my eyes and I realized what I was seeing, it all just went red. The Rahkshi were sent flying out in all directions, as their master levitated up into the air. I knew what I was doing, I knew it was me. But somehow, in the moment, I felt like an onlooker watching someone else's actions. I used my power to lift him up off the ground and began squeezing in on his armor. His chest plate got tighter and tighter, cracks beginning to appear as horrible green gas leaked out from every escape it could find.

I had totally lost any awareness of what was going on around me, until the haunting final crack of his shell shook me out of it…

I let his body fall back onto the ground and began to notice a crowd had formed behind it. In my anger, I must have made a lot of noise and commotion, as it looked like most of the village was there now, standing at the mouth of the valley, watching as I knelt there surrounded by clouds of gas, broken armor, and her body lying where the Rahkshi had left her.

I noticed our teammates at the front of the crowd and began to stand up, to go to them, to explain what happened. But as soon as I went to move, they pointed their weapons at me. At me.

That was when I first noticed, the way they were looking at me. All the years we had spent together, fighting side by side, defending the weak and the innocent. In only a moment all that shared history was gone. No matter what I might have said, no matter how much I might have tried to explain, it didn't matter.

The harsh sun bore down on Kopeke and his taller companion as they made their way through a settlement of hastily constructed shelters and metal wreckage half buried by the sand. He should have been used to the heat by now, after more than a year of living in the oasis near Ventax's archive, but memories of life in Ko-Koro weren't so easily forgotten.

"Breach sure has grown a lot since the last time I passed through" Kopeke said, turning to Kopaka Nuva while holding his hand up to block the sun from his eyes. "But I suppose opportunity brings settlers, and there's plenty of that to be had here" the Matoran continued.

"If you can ignore the sandstorms and Vorox attacks, that is" Kopaka said sarcastically, as the pair continued moving through the settlement.

Breach was a desert town that, as the name would suggest, had popped up around an opening in the old Great Spirit robot. Once tensions on their new world had settled down and methods of safe passage in and out of the colossal body had been mapped, scavengers and junkers came from far and wide to settle Breach and other towns like it in search of any treasures or wealth that had been left behind during the evacuation.

And as it just so happened, an artifact of particular value to Kopeke's new mentor had been recently recovered from The Shadowed One's vault in what was left of Odina…

Just as the pair were starting to feel lost in the maze that Breach had become, a hulking tailed figure clad in black and blue armor spotted them and began moving in their direction.

"Forager!" Kopeke shouted, waving his arm out from under his thin cloak to grab the attention of the former Dark Hunter moving through the crowd toward them.

"Ahh! Just the little friend I was looking for, how are you today Kopeke? And you too, brave Toa Kopacker!" Forager said.

"It's Kopaka" the Toa replied.

"Sure Kopoko, whatever you say" Forager said, paying little attention to the Toa. "Now Kopeke, I apologize if I've kept you waiting. I had some business with that Norik fellow that ran a bit longer than I expected, Toa are very serious folk you know. But I think you'll be very pleased to hear I have the artifact you're looking for right here with me!" Forager said, as he pulled out an old stone tablet from the pouch around his waist.

Kopeke reached his hand out to take the tablet, but Forager was quick to hold it back.

"And am I to expect my payment from that old Turaga once you make it back with this, as was agreed?" Forager said, still holding the tablet firmly in his claws. "I understand it's quite valuable to a chronicler from Metru Nui like yourself…"

"Of course" Kopeke said, "we'll send someone out with your supplies once I'm back safe at the archive."

Forager loosened his grip on the tablet and allowed Kopeke to safely store it under his small cloak.

"Well!" Forager exclaimed, "it's been good doing business with you again my little friend, and you too brave Toa! But I'm off now. Other customers to attend to, I'm sure you understand".

Kopaka Nuva nodded in Forager's direction, as Kopeke began to speak.

"Of course, be in touch if you find anything else you think we'd like!" Kopeke said, waving Forager off as the crowd parted to let the tall being through.

"Now that that's over little one, I have other business here. But I can escort you back home later if you don't mind sticking around for a while" Kopaka said.

"That's alright" Kopeke said, "I think I'll risk it. There's nothing between here and the archive but empty desert anyway, what's the worst that could happen?"…

Only a few hours had passed since Kopeke set out from Breach, and yet already his legs were growing tired of treading through the endless dunes of Bara Magna.

"I hate sand" he said to himself, "snow I can get behind, it's cold and fluffy and when it's not, you can just walk right over top like it's solid ground" Kopeke thought.

"At least it'll be worth the journey when I get this back to the Turaga though" he said, examining the old stone tablet Forager had given him back in town. "After all these years, we'll finally be able to read the last written record of the Chronicler Kodan! I'm sure it'll be a great weight off Ventax's shoulders to finally know what happened, I hear he and Kodan were good friends back in the day."

Just as Kopeke's patience was starting to run thin, and he was considering reading the tablet himself to help take his mind off the journey, a strong wind began to howl in the distance. The kind of wind that only meant one thing in a place like this…

Kopeke was about to find himself caught in a sandstorm.

Struggling to make his way through the desert winds as the sandstorm picked up, Kopeke brought the hood of his thin cloak up over his head, to try and shelter himself from the desert's wrath. As he continued pushing through the sandstorm, Kopeke thought he spotted a figure in red armor off in the distance through the wall of sand now pelting his mask from all directions.

Before he could focus in on the figure however, Kopeke noticed the dunes beneath his feet starting to slide away more than usual, as though some extra weight was being placed on them, followed by the sound of strange footsteps coming from behind him. Before he could turn his head around to try and peer through the sandstorm and see whatever was making the noise, something lunged at Kopeke through the violent wall of sand, hitting him directly on the mask and knocking him out cold…

Kopeke woke up tied to a tall rock on the inside of a small sandstone cavern, near enough to its entrance that he could still hear the howling wind of the sandstorm outside.

After a brief moment of confusion, panic began to set in as Kopeke realized the situation he was in. Looking around the cave for anything that might help him break loose, his attention was drawn to a sleeping Vorox, of all things, directly across from him. Next to the Vorox, however, lay a collection of old broken weapons and scraps of armor, the kind Kopeke could use to cut himself free, if he could reach them.

Careful not to wake his captor, Kopeke slid his body down as far as he could while still restrained by the rope around his torso, moving his short leg toward the pile of loot in front of him. After a few failed attempts to grab on to something with his foot, Kopeke finally managed to get hold of a small bone knife, which he carefully pulled toward himself and kicked around to reach his hands. Grabbing hold of the knife, Kopeke sawed his way through the rope tied around him, letting it fall loosely to the floor.

Still careful not to make too much noise, Kopeke got up off the ground and began moving out toward the cave's exit, before being struck once again with panic.

Remembering why he was out in the sandstorm to begin with, Kopeke began searching frantically under his cloak for the artifact given to him by Forager, to make sure it hadn't been taken by his captor, or worse, lost out in the desert for good. As he continued to search his person with no luck, Kopeke turned back to face into the cave in case he had dropped it during his escape, when finally he spotted where the artifact was.

Past the tall rock where he had been tied up just moments earlier, Kopeke's gaze turned to the slumbering Vorox he assumed to be his captor. Lying on the cold cavern floor next to the Vorox, at the base of the pile of loot and scraps from earlier, was the artifact he had travelled all this way for in the first place…

Inching closer and closer to the sleeping beast, Kopeke was careful not to make any sound or sudden movements that might awaken it. As his hand neared the base of the scrap pile where the artifact lay, Kopeke grabbed the old stone tablet and lifted it up off the ground, placing it safely back under his cloak.

As Kopeke turned around to make his way out of the cave once more, his foot caught on an old piece of armor at the bottom of the Vorox's hoard, sending the whole pile crashing down to the ground.

"Uh-oh" Kopeke thought to himself, as the clatter of metal against stone filled the small cave.

Before Kopeke had time to make his escape, the Vorox had leaped up from its slumber, let out a terrible screech, and grabbed the nearest weapon it could find. As the beast made its way toward Kopeke, the Ko-Matoran began running for the exit, before tripping on the cavern floor.

Rolling over to face his pursuer, Kopeke prepared for the worst as the Vorox lifted its blade up above its head and prepared to make a slash at the helpless prey below it.

Just as the blade of the Vorox was about to make contact with Kopeke's mask, a blur of red armor rushed in to block the attack with its spear. Before Kopeke could process what was happening, the warrior in red armor had already engaged the Vorox in battle, and began pushing it back into its den.

"Quick, get out of here!" The warrior shouted to Kopeke, as he slashed open the cavern's sandstone ceiling and ran out behind Kopeke, leaving the Vorox trapped in the rubble.

The two made it out of the cave safely as the sandstorm outside was beginning to die down.

"Hey, you're that figure I saw in the sandstorm earlier!" Kopeke said, "thanks for saving me, I'm Kopeke. What's your name?"

"Rykos…" the red armored being said, "Rykos of the Fire Tribe".

Kopeke looked over the warrior and realized his species was familiar to him.

"Oh, you're a Glatorian then?" he said.

"A what?" Rykos asked. "I'm a warrior of the Fire Tribe, I was in the jungles of Bota Magna when our world shattered, leaving me separated from my kin" he said.

"Oh, I see" Kopeke said, "well, I'm really grateful for your help back there. I'll be able to make it back home with this now" he said, pulling out the old artifact to examine it for any damage.

Rykos looked over the tablet before speaking again.

"That thing you've got there, it's valuable?" He asked.

"To my boss and I anyway, yeah. It's an old record written by a friend of his" Kopeke said.

"Say, you wouldn't mind heading back with me, Rykos of the Fire Tribe, would you?" Kopeke asked. "I've had my fair share of desert encounters for the day. The archive where I live shouldn't be too far from here, but it would really put my mind at ease if I had company."

Rykos considered the request before answering. "Hmm, I don't see why not. If this archive of yours is the same oasis settlement I've been hearing about lately, I'd like to see it for myself."