Two Rahi and A Hordika

Prologue

"What was that—?"

"It meant you no harm"

The Toa Hordika of Fire turned to see Norik approaching. The Rahaga had been silently trailing Vakama since he had left the camp. In time, Vakama's Hordika senses would make it impossible for him to be followed.

"I beg to differ," Vakama replied.

Norik glanced in the direction the Muaka had gone. "It was just frightened. Muakas are loners by nature, and uncomfortable being close to others." He gestured to Vakama. "There's a bit of them in you."

It was then that the Rahaga noticed Vakama's Rhotuka spinner was still active and waiting to be launched. "Careful with that," he said quietly. "It's a most powerful tool."

Vakama had not even realized the fire spinner was there, but now he willed it to dissipate. Still, it gave him some satisfaction to know it could intimidate the Rahaga just as it had the Muaka.

"I'll be sure to learn how to make good use of it...wise one," he replied, with more than a little sarcasm in his voice. Then he turned and walk away, only to be stopped by Norik's voice.

"And what about your friends?"

Vakama spun on his heel, growling, "former friends. They think being a leader is so easy. They can try it themselves."

"True," Norik said, nodding. "But they won't succeed without you. Or you without them."

"And how do you know that?"

"I don't" Norik conceded. "But the Great Spirit does. Unity, duty, destiny. It starts with unity. If you Toa are to rescue the Matoran, you must do so together. This is something you can't change"

Vakama stared at the Rahaga for a long moment, digesting his words. Then he turned again and stalked off into the shadows.

"Watch me" he snapped

Norik watched him go. Yes Vakama, that will I do, he said to himself. You bear watching in these dark days, perhaps even more than you know

—

Vakama continued to walk aimlessly. He kept replaying his conversation with Norik over in his head. Unity...what does that even mean? Were the other Toa showing any unity when they kept criticizing the job I was doing? Okay, so I made some mistakes...like Onewa never has, or Matau — he's the king of mistakes

I did what Lhikan would have wanted me to do, he said to himself. I put saving the Matoran first, above personal safety or anything else. It just...didn't work out. And considering what I learned — that Lhikan's choice of the six of us as Toa was inspired by Makuta, not the Great Spirit — why should anyone be surprised that we — I — fouled up?

"I can do it alone," he said aloud. He pictured the shocked looks on the faces of the others when they saw that he had rescued the Matoran all by himself.

"I'll show them all!"

But as soon as he was able to see the coliseum from a distance, something started to glow underneath the ground Vakama was standing on. "What in the Great Spirit-"

And then before he knew it, he promptly fall into a portal that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

After he fell, it vanished in a blink of an eye.

All the while that had happened, a decently-sized squadron of Visorak that Roodaka sent to capture Vakama saw the scene. They're now fearing how their queen was gonna respond when they told her that one of the Toa had seemingly disappeared

—

The Toa Hordika of Fire has been falling for what seems like forever. Painful memories of him falling from the Metru Nui Coliseum after his transformation came out fresh again to him in the midst of it. On his way down, he saw what seemed to be a huge land divided by lines that also had words on top of them akin to that of a map.

But after a long while, he landed on a large bale of straw in the middle of a very strange Metru

And that my friends, is where our story begins