Chapter I: Kasu Village
   

100 Years later…

    The winds breeze was cool and calm as it explored deep into the mountain side, swirling and whirling with a happy carefree life. It scampered deep into a green valley, bringing its livening extra boost as it circled a little tree that hung by a waterfall, thriving with small little pink flowers. The tree’s branches moved steadily with the wind, and a small flower was plucked from its place by the sudden movement. It twirled in the emptiness of the sky, soon to be followed the path of the wind until it roughly landed onto of a smoothed out rock. A delicate hand picked it up carefully, looking at it with her light brown eyes.
Kaila smiled thoughtfully at the flower as she put a finger on it and neatly patted one of the petals. She was in a daydreaming mood as she gazed from across the small balcony that she stood on, staring out at the tree from where the flower had come from. Her unique golden-red hair gleamed and swirled around as freely as her flower had danced in the wind.
Kaila shook her head as she pulled back her hair and turned around coincidently when she saw another figure come walking up to her, calling her by her nickname.
    “There you are, Kay!” Vahiki said, waving his hand. He went over doing a half serious, half mocking bow. “How fares your mysterious daydreaming?”
    Kaila giggled quietly, clearly in an amused mood. Vahiki Whung-Hi was a tall boy around 16 years of age that held an inner heroic expression. His messy hair was of the blonde sort, and he had slightly tanned skin: an interesting mix that Kaila was fascinated by, though she knew he would never reveal much about himself. He was very closed up about his past, and Kaila did not bother him about that.
    “Oh, I was just heading to the training ground and got distracted by this blossom. You are going too, I assume?”
    “Of course,” Vahiki replied as he motioned Kaila to follow him. “Your uncle is leading the training today… Exciting, is it not?”
The last few words were clearly sarcasm. The entire academy…No, the entire village knew of Hakaru, who was one of the old senseis and part of the council that helped lead the Academy. He was a powerful fire bender, but he was low on patience and cool manners.
    As they walked through the streets, Kaila fell into deep thought once again. She mostly received the sudden thoughts of this small village’s purpose, hidden deep within the Makashi Mountains. Before the Emperor had betrayed the Bionicle over 100 years ago, the academy― originally built to teach the youth the way of elements― had been a special school supported by the Emperor himself, and taught by a long line of wise leaders. However, after his great act of treason, it had mysteriously disappeared, and since then it has never been disturbed. It is the “Eye of the storm,” some of the villagers would say.

    The village itself, called Kasu lay outside of the small academy’s walls, was a haven for people from all over the world. Humans who were convicted of treason for helping the Bionicle; or simply because they did not agree with the way the modern world had cruelly shaped out to be. There were also a few Matoran who busied themselves in the shops of their own, timidly concerning themselves with these few sympathetic humans.
    Kaila had never been outside of this sanctuary, or at least she had never remembered what it was like. She knew her father, who made a living as an soldier in the island of Onar. Though she could not remember her mother clear as day as she could her father. She had died when Kaila was only a small child.
    She remembered the day she met her mother’s brother who she would know as Sensei Hakaru, an older and fierce warrior discovering that the young girl could control ice, and offered to take her away to a safe haven where she could master the gift. She left with him excited, yet scared of not knowing what would come of her. This had taken place when she was 5.

    There were many other students with the same, or even worse troubles of their past. To live a life like this was not as secure as the normal children who peacefully followed the Emperors ways.
    Kaila quickly shook her head and escaped her thoughts, coming back to the present. She turned to see they were nearing the academy, passing a small yet busy street of the innocent village, nicely decorated with all manner of colors, based after the Makashi traditions, yet with a wonderful mix of Bionicle architect. Toa Iroik, the only Toa accounted to be anywhere near Makashi told her this is how it used to be years ago, where both races harmonized together.

    They were entering a small gate, a small path that led upward to the training grounds. Familiar faces walked by, villagers or the ones studying at the academy. Kaila and Vahiki waved at their friends, as the continued to walk up the stone carved walkway. As they neared some entrances further up, she could already hear the noise of the other students training…Or arguing?

    “Why do you still think Vahiki will make it in the battles? He’ll be owned before he even is able to send out a blast of fire!”
The offender was Brogen Tee, a cool headed stone bender with easy to say the stubbornness as hard as a rock. He looked keenly into the eyes of the other who he was arguing with, which was none other Veno Young.
    “Oh come on, he has serious talent that hides within those blue eyes of his. Just look at him! He’ll kick your sorry butt in 5 seconds… if I don’t get to you first and handle the job myself.”
    Brogen puckered up his lips and frowned deeply, trying to withstand his anger. Veno knew how to argue, and most of all, he knew almost everyone’s explosion button. Veno was an overly insane sarcastic boy with a strange attitude if you added The Makuta and Mata Nui himself together. One moment he was calm and wise, the next… Well, just hope that you won’t be his victim.
    “You!?” Brogen continued as he spat on the ground. “You don’t even have an element! You couldn’t beat me even if my feet were cut off!”
    Veno just smiled, which agitated Brogen some more. “Elements are for sissies.” He proclaimed to his friend, “You guys are spoiled and don’t know how to fight like real men. And you happen to be one of those sissies.”
Brogen growled and tore at Veno in an attempt to strangle him, but suddenly a figure popped in between the two.
    “Ok, you two! Stop it!” Kaila snapped, “You guys better get along. I know you guys are true friends, but when this whole ‘Who’s gonna win?!’ debate starts, you keep acting like you could destroy each other!”
    “I will!” Brogen argued. “I will!”
    “Sorry, but no…” Kaila was about to continue the scolding, but felt an odd presence from behind her, she twirled around to be face to face with a smirking figure.
    “MOO!”
    Kaila screamed and fell backward. If it hadn’t been for Kaden Rapius, who was watching this issue and ran up to catch her before she fell, Kaila would had fell flat on her head. She was relieved and for a second forgot about what had scared her. She looked up at Kaden who helped her up in an instant. He was a silent fellow that had browned hair and authentic glasses, who kept a lot of his time in the library reading and studying.
    Kaila’s face turned redder than her hair, and she jerked out of Kaden’s grasp and strode over to the wide grinning Sensei.
Ivan Tetsuo was one of the strangest sensei in the Academy. He was at the suitable age for many of the teachers, but he frequently had the heart of an annoying 8 year old. Kaila had to admit, however, that when there were times to be serious, he acted like a whole other person. Usually.
    “Thanks, Sensei! You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Kaila retorted in a sarcastic manner, biting her lip.
Ivan grinned brightly. “No problem at all!” he cheerfully spoke. “There’s nothing better to start the day than scaring a few random people!”
    Brogen and Veno stood silently in the back, and looked at each other.
    “…what’s the deal with that guy?”
    Veno carelessly shrugged. “Yeah, an iron bender with an immature mind that runs around and scares little children clearly has issues.”

    A loud booming voice came from behind, and the group turned around to see the other Sensei who would be teaching: Hakaru Kanjou.
    “Alright now, that’s enough screwing around. Lets get these lessons started!”
He walked over slowly with hands behind his back, looking at the group of students as if he was inspecting soldiers.
    “You bunch of scrawny children really think in a matter of days you could walk up and defeat the Emperor by acting like this?!”
    There was silence, and then Veno raised his hand and replied, “Yeah, probably. Why?”
    His response left Hakaru’s forehead buried in his own palm.

    A candle light flickered in the small dark room, wavering about as it cast shadows along the walls and above to the high ceilings. It was silently placed on a large desk in the center of the room. Then suddenly a light grew brighter, but it was not from the candle.
    Markus stood in silence as he held out his hand, examining the small ball of light which he held in his grasp. He then walked over to a small lantern and let go of the light, watching it float peacefully into the lantern and hide within there. He repeated this process with the three other lanterns before he finally sat down. They glowed brighter than fire and did not flicker, making it easier for Markus to study in silence…
    The door nearby cracked loudly, and the noise of feet against the cold floor padded in. When the figure strode into the light, it was revealed to be Kokua, one of the council members. She smiled softly as she held a tray of tea to Markus.
    “Hiding again?” she questioned jokingly, setting the tray down by him and glancing around at the lanterns.
    “Just deep in thought again.” Markus responded calmly, “so many things to worry about these days.”
    Markus Ying was the academy leader. And with all the suspense these days from the Makashi army, Markus also felt like he was slowly taking charge of the simple village. He was busy organizing missions to spy on the Emperor, to search out any Bionicle survivors or important artifacts. And most importantly to him, was to make sure everything here was protected. It was a risk living in the heart of an Empire, but was needed.
    Kokua nodded gravely. “The Emperor will find us sooner or later,” she said, “and the risk grows greater with Sai on the loose.”
    “Shaman and Iroik should be back by today to report his whereabouts… hopefully.” Markus sighed and rubbed his head as he tapped his pen against the paper he was staring at.
    Kokua pressed her hands against her hips, “You are really out of it today, aren’t you, Master Markus? You’re the head of the entire academy foreseeing everything works out for the world to be saved, and you didn’t even notice a tall muddy Toa of Air, followed by that young scruffy man come walking in a few hours ago?”
    Markus stood up slowly, staring silently into one of the lanterns. He admitted inside he wasn’t getting enough sleep. Worrying too much could be a problem, but as a leader he felt much of the responsibility on his shoulder. The Kudoku academy had hidden deep within the mountains for over 100 years, and it had lasted over 300 years when it was once part of the Emperor’s control. Nearly 500 years this Academy had been run by the Ying dynasty, around when the first humans had set up a successful settlement.
    “Well, make sure they are cleaned up, and then get them into the meeting room. I will be there shortly; we have important issues to discuss.”
    Kokua bowed, and exited the room.
    Markus muttered something, running a hand through his messy brown hair and looking quietly over a large map of Makashi. The humans came into being nearly half a millennia ago; how they did he was always irresolute to reveal. And in that time, and now, a new age had come. It was the same world as those thousands of years ago, but now different, and all formed under the corruption of an Emperor. An Emperor who seemed so inhuman to Markus, he had lived for a 100 years, his strategies and war skills were unmatched, how could this all come to place?
    It was not just about saving the Bionicle, Markus admitted to himself on several occasions. There was a much bigger issue at hand, and if he didn’t find a way to deal with it now, there would be nothing left on this earth except surviving savages clawing their way for power.