The canister smoked, the metal crackling against the ambient chill of the stone it was now firmly lodged into. The Toa it held sighed to herself as she leaned against a dark, rocky wall, recovering from the less-than-comfortable impact.
I was told these things are durable, she thought, checking over herself to ensure she was unharmed. With that confirmed, she took in her surroundings. From the beach that she stood on, a vast ocean stretched out speckled with large spiked mountaintops on the horizon. Inland, the beach quickly transformed to tall, rocky walls with dark crevices spread out all over. They looked challenging to climb, but still doable with a little help. She took a deep breath of the strange, hazy air, closed her eyes, and poured her focus into the mask upon her face.
When she opened her eyes, the path was clear as day to her. The Kanohi Mask of Direction she wore guided her - or others - in subtle ways. Thanks to it, she recognized the handholds as if she had climbed these unfamiliar crags a billion times, and swiftly clambered up along the mountainside. She could feel the cold through the metal surface of her fingers, although her armor plating was more than enough to prevent the rest from bothering her too much. As her handhold slipped, she snapped back into focus, her mind focused solely on moving upwards.
It took some time to climb, and as she mantled the top of the wall she let her attention slip from her mask, now unneeded as she stood upon the peak. The moment her eyes scanned what lay before her, she could barely believe them. It was as if she was on an island suspended in the sky! These small "islands", if they could be called such, floated in the air, craggy rock poking from the haze that hid far away from where the solid ground was. What is this place? she wondered, her eyes pouring over the sight, And how did I get here? As she took in the sights, her mind drifted to a distant memory...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hana." Artakha's voice was clear as day, as he presented her a large, weighty sword. "My gift to you." The blade was broad, tipped with a great hook, held together by an intricate handle and guard. Her eyes remained locked on his as she gripped the handle instinctually, causing bolts of arcing lightning to dance along the great sword's edges.
"Thank you." She said, her mask's stern brow hiding the slight smile evident in her voice. Years of training had led up to this moment. As she held the blade, buzzing with the electric power in her hands, she felt proud, and ready for anything.
"You are to lead them." He reminded her, nodding as he watched her mount the blade on her back, snapping into place with a quiet, solid click. "And you will do well."
"I take this duty bestowed upon me with honor, my lord." Hana gave a slight bow to her superior. “We will complete your mission with haste.”
"I’m glad to see your determination" Chuckled Artakha, “But now is not quite the time for that.” He turned to the rest of her team, each clad in the new armor that he had given them and inspecting the weapons they had received in this miniature ceremony. “Always focused on what’s ahead.” Hana looked over as Artakha did, watching her compatriots. Five other Toa stood, excited and proud like Hana, all looking to her to see how she would react.
"What shall we do then?" Hana asked, as her teammates excitedly whispered amongst themselves. They seemed as happy as she, some ecstatic, even. After years of training from the best in the universe, they were deemed ready to become the valiant protectors of Matoran that the Toa should be.
"You have proven your worth, in all measures." Artakha said, turning back to her. "It's time you rested, isn't it?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The memory faded from Hana's mind as she thought of what to do next. "Rest" did sound very good about now, after all. The crash had rattled her brain, most certainly, but there was one thing she could never forget - her team. And their mission...though that was a mystery for another time. As her feet shifted across the rock with a weighty whine, she knew she was in no state to find them… yet. She focused on the horizon once more, and began her search for a more suitable place to settle. She strode across floating stone after floating stone, as the near-endless landscape of gravity-defying islands stretched out before her. After the fatigue of the crash, the unwelcome world she travelled was wearing on her more and more. As she contemplated just stopping on the next island that she landed on, she picked up a sound. A bird’s cry. As Hana looked over towards the source of the sound, she struggled to identify it. Was it a lavahawk? She turned to the direction of the sound, determined to find it.
When she scrambled up the island that the sound had come from, she discovered the source of the sound - two Rahi fighting! A large raptor fought with a smaller one, pecking at it as the smaller one winced, dodging each strike and weakly screeching at its opponent. Hana drew her blade, and moved closer to the pair.
“Enough!” She barked, waving her blade to spook the Rahi. It turned to her, screeching in anger and hopping towards her. “I said enough!” Hana squared her shoulders and forced a burst of electricity through her sword, lighting it up with a loud zap! The Rahi turned and flew away in fear, with the other one weakly fluttering off in kind. Hana watched the smaller Rahi awkwardly flutter higher up, to a small rock floating above, adorned with a mess of sticks in a makeshift nest.
Something was off about that Raptor… Were those claws made of protosteel? I must be imagining things.
Hana sighed in relief. Even if said squabble was largely unimportant, she was proud to have at least saved a life. She took another look at the nest, and the Rahi resting within it, and looked out on the landscape she could see. From this height, fog marred her view, but she could see some signs of Matoran civilization. She sat down by a tree. Once she had a moment to rest and recover, she could find the Matoran - and hopefully the reason why she landed on such a savage land.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Was it thunder? Was it an earthquake? Was it the booming of a large Rahi’s footsteps? Hana pondered, as she calmly observed her surroundings, and slowly put down the pile of branches she had collected to make a fire and some semblance of shelter, should a storm come. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword, ready to unsheathe.
The ground beneath her began to shake violently, after hearing a thunderous sound, stumbling the noble Toa. A smaller floating island had crashed into the land Hana stood on. The soil cracked and the rocks shattered, isolating Hana into a now reduced chunk of land. Hana, clinging onto the tree she had made her temporary base, unsheathed her sword and thrust it into the chunk of land to anchor herself. Suddenly, the tremors ceased into utter silence. Dust and dirt filled the air because of the violent terraforming, blocking Hana’s view. Unsheathing her blade from the ground, Hana stood up and observed the situation. The dust had cleared, and much to Hana’s awe, she was not on the ground… so to speak.
The chunk of land she stood on was still floating. Around her, a great void of mist and floating terra formations filled her view, with no solid floor bottom to be seen. Massive rocks, enough to fit a small population of Matoran, drifted quietly and slowly through the misty terrain. Old vines hung from the rocks’ feet, and deciduous trees perched on their bosom.
“An entire region of floating mountains for mios. How astonishingly beautiful…” Hana whispered to herself, as she looked down to the haze below.
“... and dangerous.”
Looking around once more, Hana noticed the pile of branches she had collected were gone. The chunk of land she stood on had been reduced to a size no bigger than the canister she arrived in - and it didn’t seem to be stable either.
“This isn’t good.” Hana exclaimed to herself as she closed her eyes, and activated her Kanohi Fokunu.
Find me solid land, oh Great Mask. Lead me. Despite her snark, her mask did its work, the gentle response in her mind as familiar as ever. The glow on Hana’s mask faded as she opened her eyes and looked to the distance to her right.
“Thanks, I guess.” sighed the exasperated Toa as she looked to the large floating boulder, topped by a large tree with fruits on it, half a Kio away from her current position. The crumbling underneath her signalled that she needed to act fast.
“Artahka, this is where your training pays off.” Hana whispered as she looked to the sky, snapped her eyes shut, and gripped her large sword.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“She’s gonna kill herself trying to do this.” a Toa clad in silver armor exclaimed, sitting far away from the action, spectating his fellow Toa rocketing through the room and slamming into the dark, solid wall again and again. Sounds not unlike thunderclaps echoed through the room, each causing him to flinch a little as his fellow Toa ignited the air, tiny electric blasts propelling her as she struggled with the training course.
“Of course she can do this! Have some faith, brother.” replied a Toa in slimmer, light green armor standing next to him.
“Again, Hana.” The Toa's mentor said, his voice calm and measured.
“But!” Hana whipped around in frustration, her voice full of emotion. “My lord! It’s impossible! My current handle of the element lacks the combustion required to prop-”
“What did I say about doubting yourself, child?” His calm, smooth voice reminded Hana to keep herself from growing too enraged.
Hana sighed as she got up from the ground, using a large, weighty, crude, and horribly dull metal sword as support.
“If I have the capacity to doubt myself, then I have the capacity to imagine what is possible.”
“It’s about spirit, Toa. You do not lack the aptitude to channel your elemental energy. You lack the clarity to keep focused on your goal… and some minor adjustments to your footwork. Keep trying, Hana. Do not doubt yourself, simply act.” Artakha shifted in his standing pose, still stern and serious as ever, just looking to be more comfortable. “Your spirit is intertwined with the elements that make up the world. You are the master of your environment, and you can command it. Nothing truly stands in your way.”
Taking a deep breath, Hana waved her sword around, and stabbed it into the ground at a slanted angle. She laid her foot near the tip of the blade, her other foot at the guard, and her hand at the pommel.
Nothing stands in my way.
Hana’s mask began to glow a bright blue, as her heartlight crackled with electricity, sending surges of lightning throughout her body into her hands.
I am… the… master…
“Launch, Hana!” Artakha’s voice boomed.
With a thunderous roar, riding her broad metal blade, Hana propelled herself into the air in a bright blue trail of lightning, energy crackling in the air behind her. As she rocketed to the wall at the other end of the training room, Hana twirled in midair, stabbed the wall with her blade, and launched herself once more.
Gracefully and swiftly, Hana scaled to the top of the training room, bouncing from wall to wall. She finally made her approach to the bell at the top, and with one final wall jump, she propelled herself through the air, much to her comrades at the bottom looking on with anticipation and excitement, and punched the bell to signal her win for the day.
Breaking her fall with a final burst of lightning, Hana landed at the bottom of the training room with an elegant pose as her comrades at the bottom cheered for her victory.
“Well done, my dear Hana.”
“Thank you, my lor-”
Hana was interrupted by the bell crashing to the floor right in front of her. The silver-armored Toa that watched cringed, the loud sound causing him pain.
“Now begins your brother’s turn.” declared Artahka as he looked to the upset Toa in the room with a smile. “Your task? Put back the bell.”
The Toa he had spoken to looked to the bell, then to the top of the room, again and again in disbelief.
“Are you kidding me?!” yelled the annoyed Toa clad in silver armor, as everyone in the room broke into laughter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Let’s do this.” Hana whispered as she stabbed the chunk of rock she stood on. Readying her stance, she stood on her blade like it was a hoverboard, and closed her eyes.
Without falter, Hana’s electricity flowed smoothly from her body into her hands, illuminating her claymore. With a thunderous boom, Hana launched herself onto the large boulder Kios away as the land she once stood on exploded into debris, and used her blade as a hook the second she landed on the other side. Scaling the boulder, she made it to the top, and rested once more under the large tree, as the small floating island slowly drifted through the night.
Using her claymore’s hooked tip to pull some branches from the large tree, she gathered them into a pile and began building some shelter in case of rain, and a bonfire so she could see as the night fell. Shadows slowly fell across the landscape, strange patterns forming as the islands around her rose and fell. Looking around and consulting her mask once more, she confirmed that the place she sat upon was stable enough to establish some sort of camp. She sighed, letting the tension flow from her as she looked to find some sort of good news from the circumstances.
Such is the life of a traveling Toa. Hana thought, a grin forming under her mask. If nothing else, she was safe. She had confidence that her brothers were too - they were trained with the same rigor as well. Tomorrow, she would find her team - and remember the true reason they were here.