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writerfromtheshore · 5 years

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Ga-Koro and the Fog

The canoe slid down the beach, stopping at the water’s edge. An oar planted itself into the sand next to it. Its handler looked out to the scene before her, observing the day’s conditions.

Waves rolled onto the shores outside Ga-Koro, whitewater spilling onto the untouched sands of the morning. Just beyond the break, a fog engulfed the ocean. The haze hung over the water, stretching as far as the eye could see. Smaller puffs of fog rolled through as a faint breeze blew over the water. No winds blew strong enough however to clear the water for the day, and the ocean beyond the shores remained curtained.

“Can you… not go out today? Play some Kohlii with me instead?”

Kai did not raise her Kanohi to respond, simply talking into the boat as she tied in her equipment. “No,” said the Ga-Matoran. “It could be like this on race day. I have to train through the conditions.”

“Nokama would not allow a race to happen in these conditions,” protested Amaya.

“Yes she would,” Kai said. “It’s not even that bad out.”

“‘Not that bad’?” Amaya mimicked her friend. She rolled her eyes and threw her arm to the sand around them. “You cannot even see the top of the beach, and the fog is still rolling in. How are you going to be able to see out there?”

“I have to be prepared for whatever happens on race day,” Kai insisted, although as she looked out at the water she could hear the confidence leaving her voice. The fog was almost impenetrable to see through. But she was already here and rigged up. The waves were not rough at all. How could she miss out on this opportunity to row?

“Look, I know you’re set on this, and this is your chance to beat Macku,” Amaya said. “But can you not do your long row? Practice some starts? That will really help you come race day.”

There was a bitter silence as Kai tossed the decision around in her head. The water lapped at her legs as she held the stern of the boat in the shallow waters, holding it steady for a break in the set of waves. She had already practiced starts that week, and had not gotten to her long row. She had really been looking forward to this workout. Kai was someone who created a plan and stuck to it. But the more she watched the fog, the thicker she could see it rolling in…

“Fine,” she finally said. “I will work on starts.”

“Thank you,” her friend replied. Rummaging through her pack, Amaya brought out a lightstone. “I’ll just stand here with this, so you have something to look for on shore.”

Nodding thanks to her friend for the support, Kai jumped into the boat.

There really was no stopping Kai and her training, Amaya thought as she watched Kai. Macku was the best rower of the village, and something just burned within Kai to outdo her. The Ga-Matoran’s hotheadedness rivaled some of the Ta-Matoran that Amaya knew. But Kai was determined more than anything to be the best rower in Ga-Koro, if not on all of Mata Nui.

Kai could not beat Macku if she did not make it back to shore though. Amaya held the lightstone as high as she could, hoping her friend could see it clearly enough.

Kai though had rowed out of sight. Amaya felt a surge of panic. She hoped Kai would have stopped before going as far as she had. But before Amaya knew it her friend was swallowed by the fog. She waited several long moments, holding the lightstone as high as she could. But after what seemed like too long, Amaya realized Kai was not going to reemerge from the fog.

“Oh no,” Amaya managed to say as dread filled her.

It had seemed like Kai had only taken a dozen or so strokes before the shore disappeared. Amaya’s mask grew small on the shoreline as she launched. A few strokes later the fog slipped between the two Matoran, and even the greeen underbrush of the jungle was completely shrouded by the fog.

“No!” Kai cried, turning the boat around. She pulled as hard as she could, making her stroke rate high. Kai felt an immense resistance as she pulled, as if something were holding the boat still in the water.

The the boat moved, but not in the direction Kai wanted it to. One moment she was still, the next she was being pulled out to sea. Looking over the gunwales she could see murky seawater under a flurry of white bubbles.

I’m still in the rip! Kai thought. Her strokes grew frantic, and in her mind’s eye she could see the mapped out currents of Ga-Wahi. Several rip currents pulled out to sea from the beach, making their way to the whirlpools out on the open harbor. Kai had seen many a boat get sucked out and pulled down into some of these whirlpools. Frantically she rowed to avoid becoming the next Matoran to fall victim to these.

She could hear the whirlpools as they pulled her closer, somewhere still hidden in the fog. Kai pulled her oars in, giving up and listening for the whirlpool she was being pulled quickly toward. Several thoughts went through her head as she looked around, thinking of a strategy to save her boat.

The boat dipped as it entered the whirlpool. Kai kept her oar high side, the Ga-Matoran using it as a rudder. Get the bow and the oar face to meet, she thought as she use the oar to till. She could feel the resistance as the whirlpool sucked the boat in its momentum as much as it tried…

The boat was suddenly coasting over calming waters, gliding itself away from the whirlpool. Kai fell back into her seat, listening to the slight trickle of water running along the bottom of the boat. Her mind was racing, hardly believing what she had just done.

She looked up out of the boat into the water, to see the whirlpool was already gone. All Kai could see was fog and the ocean around her. Squinting as hard as she could towards where she thought the shoreline was, she could not even see any signs of land. The lightstone Amaya had brought proved to be impervious to the shrouding mist. Not even the sound of the waves lapping the shore could be heard.

Where in Mata Nui’s name is land? She wondered.

Bringing both oars out onto the water, Kai looked around before she started to row again, in a direction she thought was land. Maybe coming out here today was not such a great idea.

***

Nokama looked out from the edge of her lilypad, watching the fog hanging over the waters of the Endless Ocean. Not much, if anything, could be seen out there. She could feel the ocean was for the most part calm, but Nokama in her wisdom knew there were dangers in calmness. She could barely see beyond a few dozen bio. She could glean nothing out there. Why Kai thought it was a good idea to go out in this was beyond her comprehension.

She turned from the water, giving up on trying to see through the fog. Amaya was still standing behind her, nervously twiddling her thumbs.

“That was very ill considered for Kai to go out there,” the Turaga said.

“I know, Turaga,” said a very worried Amaya. “I tried to tell her that, but she is headstrong. She insisted she had to be out there.” The Ga-Matoran looked down at the floor, almost ashamed of herself.

“This is on Kai, not you, flax-maker,” said Nokama. “I will have a talk with her when we find her.”

“When we find her?” Amaya asked. “What are we going to do? Are we sending one of Marka’s ships out?”

“Goodness no,” Nokama replied. “I am not sending more ships, and more importantly more Matoran, out to get lost in this fog.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“Fog walks,” Nokama said. “There is a relatively fair chance Kai will make her way back towards land. When she does, you will be there to greet her. Gather the Guard and patrol the coastline. Bring lightstones. Take the Guard with you. Position yourselves as you see fit from the Great Telescope to the Charred Forest. Walk together in pairs. Until the fog lifts, you are on patrol.”

Amaya nodded, making her leave.

“And Amaya,” said Nokama, her tone softening somewhat. “Please be safe.”

***

Amaya walked down the beach, twin lightstone signalers in hand. Looking out at the ocean, she could only think of Kai out there on the water, rowing aimlessly and probably to her heart’s content. I hope you’re having fun, sister, Amaya thought. You have us all worried sick.

“What in Mata Nui’s name made her think this was a good idea?” asked Nireta. Amaya shrugged, unsure of what to tell her. Amaya and Nireta were not the best of friends, but these were the partners that were picked amongst the group.

“She was deadset on being out there,” Amaya said. “I got her to compromise— she said she would only do starts and not whatever workout she had planned.”

“She shouldn’t have gone out at all,” said Nireta. “Fog is just too messy to take chances in. You can mess with rain and wind, but fog… that’s just something you do not mess with.” Nireta proceeded to go into one of her cartography adventures, talking about how she stayed at camp when she was mapping out some region. But Amaya was not paying attention, fixated on the ocean as she was. All she wanted was for her friend to come rowing out of the fog, safe and sound. I would have like it better if you used common sense and did not go out there, she thought. I can only hope that you are safe.

A flash of light in the corner of Amaya’s eye brought her back to shore. Two lightstones could be seen up ahead, moving up and down. It was another Matoran fog walking, spotting Amaya and Nireta. The signal was a question, asking the pair if they had seen anything. Amaya swung one lightstone up and down, the agreed code for no. The signaler ahead flashed a thanks, disappearing as they turned and walked the opposite direction.

They had taken up a post at one of the beach chairs off of Ga-Wahi beaches, watching the waves lap the sands. A few Matoran wanderers paced by, watching the two with an odd curiosity. But they said nothing, and continued walking.

Nireta told several more stories— this mapmaker had enough hot air to keep the talkative Takua the Chronicler occupied. But Amaya was only half listening. She was more preoccupied with the fog. Her friend’s safety was really the only thing on her mind. Nireta’s stories were just noise to her.

She looked out at the fog with her Kanohi Akaku, the telescopic lens on her mask zooming in and out as the fog rolled by. Even with the advanced sight the mask gave her, there was nothing she could see. The fog obscured all, so thick that it was.

“I thought fogs like this burned off by the afternoon,” said Nireta after a while. Maybe she realized that Amaya was not listening, and was trying to change tactics to get her to talk.

“I thought the same, but this must be some strong cool front to keep it here,” Amaya said glumly.

The worst part was that it was sunny as well. High in the sky, shining through the haze was the sun, a single burning ball in the sky. Amaya watched it for a few moments, able to look at the sun without squinting her eyes. The ball of light burnt steadily, but as much as it tried, it did nothing to incinerate the fog. It just hung up there, in the middle of the sky, a white ball of useless light. Amaya glared at it, as if expecting it to say something, but it just sat up there. She glared harder. But to her frustration, a stray patch of fog floated across it, obscuring the sun even more than it already was. Useless, she thought. I give up.

“This breeze is nonexistent,” Nireta pointed out. She was turned around, watching the leaves of the palm trees not far off. More than twice the size of a Matoran, big leaves hung in the heat of the day, casually swinging in the air. The breeze really was nonexistent. The fog rolled along the water, they both observed, but it was not moving anywhere anytime soon.

Nireta hopped of the stand and went for a dip in the water. She took a few strokes out, and then came back in to Amaya. Even in the quick swim she took, Amaya was losing sight of her in the fog. This was thicker than anything Amaya had ever seen.

“I am going to see who is adjacent to us,” Amaya said as Nireta climbed back onto the chair. “And yeah, I know the way around this beach.”

*** Kai had finally had enough. She was stuck out on the water with no idea of which was was shore bound and which was seaward. She had done her long row which she originally intended on doing, secretly hoping that partially through the workout she would find land. Her secret hope had gone unfulfilled, and she had undergone her whole workout. Now that she was finished, she was done rowing for the day. She wanted to be off of the water now, to continue about her day. She had no idea where she was, however. Now she was stuck on the ocean. So she had to keep rowing.

Kai really had not thought this through this morning.

It was a slight annoyance, but she went with it anyways. Lightly stroking the calm ocean, she paused, letting the boat run out over the water. She pulled her oars in, simply sitting and feeling the ocean rock the boat. Little ‘bloops’ in the water could be heard, and the boat rocking back and forth, but the ocean was quiet.

Kai supposed she must be pretty far beyond the shores. No sound of the waves crashing could be heard anywhere. And she could not tell which way to start headed anyways. One moment the sea rose to push the boat starboard side. The next moment it sent her drifting towards port. There was no discerning direction out here.

Kai gave a half groan as she out look onto the fog. This is not good, she thought. Amaya, please do not be mad at me. Yeah, I should of listening to you. It was a good workout, yes, but you were right, I’ll admit it… please Amaya, just do not go to Turaga Nokama about this.

Yes, in retrospect, Kai supposed she should have known better. But something burned in her, and she could not think straight sometimes until after she rowed. It was just something inside her hardwiring.

Kai leaned into the bottom of the boat to her pack. She had packed a snack to her pleasure. The workout had depleted her of energy. The nutrition from this small fruit was not much, and would only temporarily sate her. She absorbed the energy, feeling if only a little replenished. Maybe if she started to track back, and listened really hard, she would be able to find her way back to shore. Grabbing the oars and shipping them back out into the water, she began to lightly pull and get the boat moving.

***

It was Kotu who was stationed north of them, sitting on the sand and staring out to the ocean with her arms crossed. She sat slumped in another chair along the coastline. Kotu sat with no partner, just by herself. Amaya cringed as she realized whom she was approaching; Kotu was known not to be the friendliest of Matoran. Perhaps sticking with Nireta was not so bad.

“This day is shot,” Kotu said. “If Kai could stop being tempted by the lure of the ocean for once…”

“Macku is your best friend and just as much of a competitor,” said Amaya. “Are you telling me that she has not made a mistake or two in her time?”

“Not one or two that costed the entire village a day of work,” said Kotu. “I have Rahi to tend to. They have needs, and they power the village.”

“Everyone else is anxious too,” pointed out Amaya. “I have been worried sick. Kai’s my friend, and I told her all morning that she should not go on this row. I saw her disappear and have been anxious all day. I just want her found and this stupid fog gone.”

“I have never seen it this bad,” Kotu replied. “This fog is absurd. It’s thicker worse than the darkness in Onu-Koro or the heat in Ta-Koro!”

“Who is your fog walk partner?” Kotu said.

“Nireta,” Amaya told her.

“Does she have a lightstone?” asked Kotu, noticing the twin handles in Amaya’s hands.

“I’m not sure, actually,” Amaya said. She turned from Kotu to see the path of the beach she had come from the fog floated through, and the path was even more obscure than when she had left. “I’m going to head back and check on her,” she said, taking a nervous step in the direction of her post. Kotu nodded, bidding her farewell.

It only took a few steps for Kotu’s stand to be encompassed by the fog. Amaya turned to watch it, seeing the phenomenon, growing slightly more concerned than she already was. Visibility on the beach basically was down to nothing now. The fog was so thick that she could not see a few bio in front of her. Even with the telescope of the Kanohi Akaku she wore, albeit powerless, it was getting harder to see. This was very concerning. How in the world was Kai going to make her way back to shore?

She would follow her footprints back to her post. They were still a good marker of her path. Amaya trudged back along the path she had come, tracing the relatively fresh prints back to where she knew would lead her to the stand. Amaya kicked shells as she walked back, idly curious about each one as she passed. She could not think in anger or worry about kai anymore, any longer— she just had to go let her thoughts go and get immersed in what was around her as she waited.

Except that which she thought were her footprints were abruptly cut off by a fresher track of prints.

Amaya froze, staring at the print on the sand. A singular wide track travelled up the beach, cutting directly through one of Amaya’s footprints. She froze, knowing exactly what those tracks came from.

Tarakava.

She gripped her tools fiercely, listening as best as she could for the sound of the Rahi’s approach. The Tarakava were largely a water hunting species, so whatever had drawn it to shore was not a good sign.

A roar came from behind her, and Amaya spun, only to be sent flying. The punch of a Tarakava had sent her flying across the beach, crashing headfirst into the sand.

Fear enabled her to spring to her feet in no time at all. Amaya jumped to her feet, comign face to face with the Rahi. It towered over her. It remained where it had appeared, growling as its forearms grew tense.

She could not outrun a Tarakava, Amaya knew that much. But she also knew she did not want to meet her end at the means of this Rahi. So to outsmart it? For now, she knew she could do that. But what was she going to do?

She saw her lightstones were not far away. If she could just get to them in time…

The Tarakava growled, winding up for another punch. But as it charged, the Matoran threw a fistful of sand at its eyes, throwing off its aim. The creature roared as its eyes were hit with the sand. The punch missed, and Amaya went diving sideways for the lightstone. Amaya got a hold of the mineral and chucked it at the Rahi’s gears. The Rahi tried to launch itself forward in a rage, but it could not, its gears jammed. It fell to the ground, the stone in its gears throwing the creature off balance.

By the time the Rahi’s struggling, flailing body hit the ground, Amaya was gone running.

***

Fortunately Kotu was already on her way, having heard the roars of the beast. “What in the Great Spirit’s name was that?” asked the Rau- masked Matoran.

“Tarakava!” Amaya yelled.

“Tarakava? On land?” Kotu repeated. Her eyes lit up wild at the mention of the Rahi beast. She cocked her head in confusion. “How did you outrun it?”

“I jammed its gears,” Amaya explained. She panted as she caught her breath. “But that will not hold it for long.”

“What? Where is Nireta?”

“I didn’t even get to her after I left you,” Amaya said. “We need to get to her before it does!”

“Hold on,” the Rahi tender said, dashing back to her post. Amaya stood slack jawed and confused until Kotu came back with several ropes over her shoulder. “Let’s go,” she said, a small smile on her mask.

Nireta met them at the remnants of a crushed lightstone, where Amaya quickly caught her up to speed. The other lightstone was nearby, but the Rahi was nowhere to be seen. Kotu kicked sand over the glowing remnants and strode over to the other lightstone, plunging it deep in the sand. “No use letting the monster know where we are,” she said.

The tracks led up the beach, towards the Le-Wahi jungles not far off. Kotu unwound her ropes, comjuring a lasso . She cast several of her tools across the beach. Fiddling with several knots here and there, she set a trap to her liking. She stood up, pleased with her work.

“Aren’t we following the tracks into the jungle?” Nireta asked. Kotu looked at her skeptically.

“Tarakava are primarily aquatic creatures,” Kotu informed her. “It will come back to its home soon.”

“So we just wait now?” Amaya said, looking at the trap Kotu had set. The Rahi tender nodded.

“Or we could lure it out, if you would rather prefer that method,” Kotu said to her. “And if you have sufficient bait.”

Amaya looked at the two Matoran, then shook the idea from her head.

“We will wait,” she agreed.

***

Far below Ga-Koro, Makuta smiled at the controls of his machine. He could telepathically sense what unfolded on the coastline, feeling the high levels of anxiety in the inhabitant’s minds there. It honestly brought a smile to his mask.

“That is enough for today, I suppose,” he rumbled to the machine in front of him, shutting off the controls. The natural winds of the oceans above would blow away the fog, but it would take time. He would sit back and wait, letting the rest of the show play itself out.

***

A slight breeze drifted through the trees, bringing the scent of Matoran to the Tarakava’s nostrils. It could not see them, however, as hard as the creature peered. Looking out at the beach, it glared, searching for its prey. It could not see them, but it would find them. The Makuta which controlled the Rahi’s mind wished it so, and so it would find them.

The only thing that it did see on the beach was the fog, and the lightstone which shone on the foggy beach. It was shiny. But it was not food. The Tarakava knew that this was somewhat valuable to the Ga-Matoran. The voice of Makuta inside its head also told it that this was a trap of some sorts. The Ga-Matoran would not leave an object of value so open in the sand. It was a trap, the primal voice of reasoning in the Rahi’s mind knew. But the only way to get the Matoran to appear was to go into the trap. It would punch its way out if it needed.

The Tarakava slowly crawled out of hiding, eyes fixated on the shining lightstone. As it crawled out, the beach remained still, and there was no sign of any Matoran. The Tarakava crawled closer, inspecting the stone’s quiet glow.

Sand flew up, and a line appeared. The Tarakava whirled to see the line leading to the top of the trees in the jungle, where it travelled downward from a branch. But what it was connected to it could not see, as a net came up to obscure the Rahi’s vision.

“Now!” shouted Nireta, holding as tight as she could to her end of the rope. The end was tied to the base of the tree they were hiding near, but she pulled to secure the net.The net came up around the Tarakava, and the trap was sprung.

The Tarakava flailed, immediately throwing out its powerful forearms as it tried to escape the net. A roar came from its jaws. One forearm was stuck in the netting, and it pulled, trying to free itself.

“It’s going to tear the net!” Amaya said, dashing onto the sand. Kotu shook her head, throwing her lasso at the beast’s forearm sticking through. The rope held, and she pulled.

Amaya readied a bamboo disk, throwing it at the Rahi’s face where the infected Kanohi sat. It thunked against the rusted and pitted mask, knocking it askew but not off.

“Watch yourself!” Kotu barked as she tugged on her rope. The Rahi struggled to reach for Amaya as she cautiously strode over to retrieve the disk.

The next disk hit its target. It hit the infected Kanohi head on. As soon as the mask dislodged from the Rahi’s face, its roars dulled in ferocity, instead becoming whimpers as it struggled against the bonds the Matoran had on it. Kotu nodded, letting her rope slack. At Kotu’s signal Nireta did the same, letting the net fall from around the Rahi.

The Rahi did not wait for the Matoran to clean it up. It went screaming away, darting back into the water from which it came. Only the discarded mask remained of it.

“Turaga Nokama would be proud,” said Nireta. “Three Matoran, taking down an infected beast!”

Kotu nodded, picking up the infected mask. “I will have to turn this into her upon our return to Ga-Koro.”

“Hey,” Nireta said, looking out to the ocean. “Do you think the fog has let up a little?”

***

Kai looked around now, feeling slight excitement as the winds began to blow. She could feel the breeze on her neck as she rowed along, but could not see the fog letting up. Sometimes the haze would shift, and she thought she could make out a few shapes here and there in those moments. The shape of the domed seaweed huts, or a larger more mountainous shape. She would row in that direction, only to find it being a fog cloud.

A motor sounded in the distance. Kai’s head perked up, and she immediately stood. She tried to raise her arms but lowered them, feeling the soreness in her shoulders.

“Hey!” screamed Kai. “HEY! HELP! I AM OVER HERE!”

She stumbled as the words escaped her lips, falling back against the gunwales of her bat. But the Kai continued to fall, the rails not stopping her momentum. Fear overcame the Matoran as she hit the water…

… and promptly sunk to the ground barely a bio below the underside of her boat.

Kai broke the surface, treading frantically as she panted for air. She had made it to land! And she had been that close the entire time? It made her mind race.

Kai collapsed upon reaching the shore, one arm pulling the boat until it caught the sloping ground of the beach. She sat on her hands and knees, feeling utterly exhausted. It had been a long day.

Voices slowly reached her ears, and Kai looked up to see a handful of Ga-Matoran looking at her.

“Have a good workout?” one of them said.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry…” Kai apologized profusely, picking herself up despite her exhaustion. Her limbs had never felt heavier. “I will never go out in conditions like this again.”

“Next time, seaweed brains,” came Amaya’s voice. Kai looked up to see her relieved mask. “let’s just play Kohlii.”

A pile of ropes thumped onto the sand at Kai’s feet. “What are these?” she asked.

“So you can tow the boat back to where you found it,” said Kotu. “I will speak with Nokama, but this is fitting punishment for the stunt you pulled today.”

“How far away is the boatyard?” asked Kai. She hung her head. She was so tired.

“Maybe half a kio down the beach,” said Kotu. “Good thing the sun is out, so you know where you are going.”

Kai looked at her boat, and then back to the ropes. She could not row another stroke, so it looked as if this was how she would spend the rest of the day. Fair enough, she thought.

#bionicle #hauntings #Mata Nui Hauntings #Ga-Koro #Makuta #Rahi #rowing #Fog #bonkles

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