Я первый, я первый перевожу!!!!!!!!!!

PROLOGUE
A formless wisp of greenish-black smoke slipped silently through a tunnel made of stone. To anyone watching, it might have seemed a cloud of oddly colored dust, and no more. But if they could have sensed the malevolent intelligence that drove its seemingly random movements, they would have fled in horror.
The Matoran villagers of the island of Voya Nui had known this hated substance by the name “antidermis.” The evil Piraka who had seized control of their island had used it to enslave most of the population, before finally being defeated by a team of heroic Toa. The crystal vat that contained the antidermis was smashed in battle and the substance scattered into the air.
But this was not the end. The tremendous willpower behind the antidermis forced its molecules to come together again. Now it was once more whole – and yet far from complete.
Once, in another place and time, the antidermis had been known by another name. Then it was housed inside black armor, its essence concealed by an infamous mask of power. Just as now, it was the intellect, the memories, the twisted ambitions, and the very life force of a legendary being.
And he was called Makuta.
Hungry for power and worship, he had led his Brotherhood in a rebellion against the Great Spirit Mata Nui and actually defeated that mighty entity. But his plans extended far beyond just one victory. His continued pursuit of his goals led to an unfortunate encounter with a Toa of Light, during which his armor was shattered. It was no longer able to contain his energies, causing them to leak out into the atmosphere.
Frustrated, but not defeated, Makuta had influenced the Piraka to seek out the object of power he needed: the Mask of Life. For a time, it looked like his pawns would succeed, until Toa once again interfered.
First the Rahi beasts of Mata Nui, then the Bohrok swarms, Makuta thought as his essence drifted through the tunnels. Now the Piraka. When will I learn to stop working my will through others? All other beings are weak and pathetic fools who cannot begin to comprehend my plans. I, and I alone, must take matters in hand if my grand design is to succeed.
There are obstacles, of course – there always are. The Mask of Life is not a prize easily won. But this game I play now is different from all others … and this time I cannot lose, for my long-time enemies will be my unwitting champions.
A soft sound touched the minds of those who fought in the tunnels, so gently that they dismissed it as a trick of the senses. It was the sound of Makuta’s laughter.
The Toa will get the Mask of Life for me … and doom their own kind in the process, thought the master of shadows. And what a perfect revenge that will be.

ONE [Note: Not where chapter 1 actually starts]
“We’re … alive?” muttered Kalmah. “What an … unexpected surprise.”
The tentacled being rose unsteadily to his feet. In his lifetime, Kalmah had been a conqueror, a ruler, and a prisoner. Most recently, his existence had been spent as a monstrous resident of the ocean’s depths. Never before had he experienced anything like what had just happened.
Even now, it was hard to recall the events and still keep his fragile hold on sanity. He and his fellow warlords, the Barraki, had journeyed to a network of undersea caverns in search of the fabled Mask of Life. They had found it, all right, along with a venom eel mysteriously grown to 300 feet in length and a Matoran determined to smash the mask to pieces. The eel found better things to do and left, and the Barraki managed to stop the Matoran from carrying out his mission.+ But the second a Barraki laid hands on the mask, there was an explosion of light and energy that seared both eyes and minds.
How much time had passed since then, Kalmah did not know. He got to his feet, tentacle wrapping itself around a rock to steady him, and looked around. Two of his allies, Carapar and Mantax, were half-buried in the sand – no doubt they had crawled there, trying to get relief from the intense light. A third, Ehlek, was flat against a rock wall, babbling like a lunatic. But Pridak – where was Pridak?
The self-proclaimed leader of the Barraki, shark-like Pridak had been the one to grab the Mask of Life. It was right after he had proclaimed that he intended to use the mask against all of the Barraki’s enemies that the blinding light had appeared all around. If that light came from the mask, then Pridak would have been the one closest to it. Kalmah had no great love for Pridak – he had, after all, lost an eye to “the Shark” long ago – but if anything had happened to him, it might have happened to the mask as well.
And we need that mask, he reminded himself. With it, we can shed these freakish forms, breathe air once more, and escape this undersea Pit. Then we can be again what we once were: absolute rulers of vast empires, masters of every land we walk upon.
The small tentacles on the back of Kalmah’s head detected sudden movement. He whirled in the water to see the Onu-Matoran, the one who had tried to break the mask, swimming frantically away. For a moment, Kalmah considered grabbing the Matoran and squeezing until something cracked. Then he decided against it. After all, where could the little one go -- back to his home city, Mahri Nui? There was no safety to be had there.
Kalmah probed the cave with his tentacle. When nothing grabbed, bit, or burned the limb, he felt it was safe to go in. It didn’t take long to find Pridak. The stark white Barraki was stretched out on the ground, a mask gripped fiercely in his claws. Kalmah could see a large crack running from the top edge of the mask all the way down one side.
“You’re going to shatter it,” he said, reaching down to pry the mask out of Pridak’s hands.
Pridak flashed his sharp jaws and lashed out at Kalmah, landing a kick that would have pulverized a lesser being. “Stay away! It’s mine!” he raged.
Kalmah backed away slowly. He could see the madness in Pridak’s eyes. If someone didn’t calm the white Barraki down soon, the mask would wind up in pieces, along with all their hopes of escape.
Where’s Takadox and his hypnotic gaze when I need him? Kalmah thought. There’s nothing wrong with Pridak a good will-sapping wouldn’t cure.

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