Bionicle G2: New Legends, New Heroes

Chapter 6: Frozen in Time

A voice rang off the icy walls, sounding boyish and curious as ever. "So, how far are we?"

Hunarr groaned at what was perhaps the hundredth question for today and continued down the tunnel. He didn't bother to answer the question nor face the questioner, not when the icicles on the ceiling shivered slightly. The voice sadly didn't stop and went on, "You know, it would help if you told me where we're going."

"I've already told you," Hunarr finally replied.

"Yeah, but I don't know what this great 'City of the Mask Makers' is like. A description might help... Maybe a history lesson...?"

There was time for neither. Using the man-made tunnel under the Great Divide was already time-consuming. It took Hunarr about a quarter of a day to get to the Temple of Time, and the journey to the City of the Mask Maker became twice as long, thanks to the constant stalling of his questioning companion. Speaking of whom, a strange tink, tink, tink of metal drew the Ice Protector to the Toa, the tall being's bronzen form clashing against the pale surroundings.

Hunarr noticed the sickle in the Toa's black hands. "Why do you have that?"

The Toa peered from atop the copper-colored half-mask on his lower face. "Oh," the Toa said, no longer tapping his finger on the crystalline blade, "it was just something I found back at the Ice Region... I thought I'd take it with me since, you know, I don't really have a weapon..."

Annoyance rose in Hunarr's voice. "And I thought I told you leave it. We can't bring such things with us."

"Why not?"

"Because where we're going is a sacred place. Weapons and the like must be left behind."

"But why?"

Hunarr shot an icy glare. "Has anyone told you not to ask too many questions?"

"Um, no," the Toa spoke up. "Other than your wife, you're the only person who has ever talked to me."

Something that Hunarr was quickly regretting as he returned down the path, his cloak breezing behind him. Four days ago, when the Toa first appeared on the frozen doorstep Izotor's Glacier, everyone had kept their distance. This Toa easily clashed against snow, with the copper hourglass sign in the center of his bronzen body. Those legs of his, also covered in copper, carried him from one crystalline building to the next, waving his blackened arms around and asking the residents why he was even there and-more importantly-what he was.

It was only the intervention of Hunarr's wife that the Toa received a few of the answers he wanted. It sadly didn't stop the Toa from talking, even when Hunarr offered to take him to their destination a day ago. "This tunnel is very helpful," said the following Toa after sometime. "Do the other Protectors know about it?"

"No, they do not."

"Maybe it would help if they did-"

"Absolutely not," Hunarr cut the Toa off, whirling to the taller being. "If the others knew, they would fight over it, and this place would be lost. The secret of this passage has been handed down from one Protector to the next for over three hundred years, and I won't let it fall in the hands of those who had no hand in caring for it!"

The shuddering stalactites brought Hunarr back to reality. He glanced up to see nothing had fallen, yet he suspected the ceiling wouldn't merely shake from his voice. He looked back to those white eyes frowning at him as the innocence in the Toa's voice echoed softly on the freezing walls.

"But... they're your allies, right? Your friends?"

It was at that point Hunarr kept silent. His feet strode down the tunnel, trying to distance himself from anymore questions. Fortunately, the Toa followed in hallowed silence. It made the rest of the walk quick and easy for Hunarr taking the lonesome path. It dipped slightly then rose increasingly to a bright light at the end of the tunnel.