#botar

[sr-roto]

[outofgloom]

REPLACEMENT

The itch had begun an hour ago, somewhere down at the base of her skull. She'd thought nothing of it at first. She was deep in meditative thought, doing what she loved best: postulating graph nodes and arcs, verifying loops and connection-points and—

It wouldn't go away. She tried to maintain focus, but it was no use. At last she stirred, rolled her shoulders and clacked her jaws in discomfort.

The noise awakened two of her brethren who sat in alcoves nearby. Their eyes glowed in the dark of the deep cave, annoyed at the disruption of their own meditations. She bared teeth, and they left her alone. She wished that she could dismiss the itch just as easily.

To her left, down below her own alcove, another of her brethren appeared in a puff of closing vacuum and stepped out onto the vast Amaja which dominated the center of the cave. The flat area was intricately carved with cartographic notations: the accumulated efforts of many thousands of journeys through the pathways of warped space which made up the universe.

She watched as her brother stooped far below to scratch a tiny addition to one of the many offshoots of offshoots of paths that made up the Great Map. Her eyes widened, and a sharp anticipation filled her: Her duty and the duty of all her people, was to maintain this map and to refine it, to keep the fixed points true, and to keep the Void at bay. It had been so long since the last Addition. She would have to study this new feature, trace its contours, commit it to memory, and then—

No, not right now. Right now...the itch! It was a mounting pressure, pushing everything else aside. She slumped against the stone and writhed, trying to shift her body, trying to get away, but she couldn't. Her jaw clenched tight, and she raised clawed hands to her head....

Something changed. She sat bolt upright, and the feelers on her head twitched back and forth. Her jaws click-clacked involuntarily, and the two pairs of eyes glared at her again, but she paid them no heed. A door opened in the back of her mind somewhere, and she was hearing something...seeing...knowing something. It was a path, down by the south margin of the larger whorl of the Map. Had it always been there? She'd never noticed....

Abruptly, her mind was there, though her body was not: Her awareness traced the pathways and alighted upon a desolate island, flanked by crashing waves and jagged rocks. This was new to her...she had never fully projected before—that was an ability reserved only for the elders, wasn't it?

The landscape impressed itself upon her awareness—dull rocks and clinging, silver lichen—and somehow, it was all familiar. How could that be, when she'd never traveled there before? Or maybe...maybe she had forgotten? Impossible.

The itching sensation consumed her again, and her mind was pulled further: Now a decrepit fortress rose in her vision. Once more she found that she knew the path, all the way in, through the walls, into stone.

A blue-armored figure tapped its foot in a gray chamber. Its eyes turned round the room, turned, turned...then fixed on her.

Those eyes were familiar too.

Another rush of closing vacuum, and her body vanished from the alcove in the far away cave. The network of the Great Map opened, and she skipped from junction to junction along the clusters of warp-veins and capillaries. Down a side-path, she felt her awareness fixate for a moment on a small islet, where a crushed corpse lay under the daystars, and she understood....

By the time she appeared before the ancient blue-armored Toa, more memories had solidified. Memories of training, of testing...but were they her memories? They seemed real, but how could she know?

"Botar," the Toa said, frowning a little. "Took you three seconds longer than usual."

"The...the Botar is dead," she replied, her tone flat. The words simply came out of her, like a pre-recorded message.

The Toa's eyes widened imperceptibly. A moment passed.

"Well," the Toa said, "it's not the first time. Do you know me?"

Memories of training, of testing....

"Yes. You are...Toa Helryx."

"Just Helryx. I am no Toa. Do you know yourself?"

"I do."

"And who are you?"

A crushed corpse, under the daystars....

"I am...the Botar."

"And the Botar serves the Great Spirit."

"The Botar serves..." she trailed off.

"...Yes?"

To maintain the map...to keep the fixed points true...to keep the Void at bay.

"The Botar serves the Great Spirit," she said, and again the words seemed like they'd already been said for her. "The Great Spirit has called, and I have come."

"Affirmative," Helryx replied, smiling a little. "Hopefully you weren't in the middle of anything."

Postulating graph nodes and arcs...verifying loops and connection-points....

"No...nothing."

"Good. Then let's get back to work."

[ladyofspoons]

Botar…

[welele]

[datsmeyellin]

Visit Original Link

watch your mouth or you're going to make a grave mistake don't die for anything less than the best of life

[yokodash]

the restless wait begins

this will be the longest 76 days ever

[chaoskingcornerstone]

I just saw a post asking why the order of Mata Nui didn't send Teridax to the pit, especially while he was sealed away. I can't find the post to directly answer it but I believe that the order of Mata Nui likely suffered heavy damage during the great cataclysm which they had to deal with. Their headquarters were likely severely damaged which could've led to them not even knowing who comatosed Mata Nui. So by the time they knew who to send to the pit, Teridax was likely already on the island of Mata Nui.

Botar was easily killed by Icarax so if they sent him to Mangaia he would've been crunched by Teridax immediately. The Order knows how powerful he is.

Teridax's supposedly died in the mask of light and his survival wouldn't be known of until after the 2007 arc. At which point nobody had a clue where he even was, and when they did they couldn't fish him out of the core processor.

[arr-jim-lad]

I love how this guy just never got a name and just forever remained known as the guy who looks like, and had to replace, the awe-inspiring and fearsome Botar whom we loved and lost too soon