The Temple of Time

The Temple of Time was the oldest standing structure on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. and the most sacred site of the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived., the sanctuary in which the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. was kept and through which the Prophecy of HeroesThe Prophecy of HeroesThe dying instruction that the Mask Maker Ekimu pressed into the Protectors of Okoto, foretelling the coming of six Toa and the sign of the aligned stars that would let them be summoned. was twice spoken to call the ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm. into the world. It was the site at which EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. received the vision that warned him of the cataclysm to come, and the site at which the last generation of ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. gathered to summon the deliverers their ancestors had been promised.

Origins and standing on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors.#

The Temple of Time predated almost everything else on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors.. The ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. of all six regions, together with EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. himself, regarded it as the oldest building on the entire island, a structure that already stood before the City of the Mask MakersCapital CityThe former main city of Okoto, drawn into the Shadow Realm by the destruction of the Mask of Ultimate Power, leaving the Black Crater on the surface and a ruined court for Makuta in the dark below. was raised and before the office of Mask Maker took its mature form. No record survived of the temple's construction. No name was attached to its builders. It was understood by the Okotans of every later generation simply as a thing that had always been there, set apart from the chronologies of the rest of the island and from the family lines of the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. who tended it.

Its standing among the Okotans was correspondingly absolute. The temple was the most sacred of the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived.' sites, and the only one to which all six regions made common pilgrimage. The six tribes of OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. maintained their own shrines for their respective Golden Masks within the bounds of their regions, but the Temple of Time stood outside the regional system. It belonged to no tribe and to no single ProtectorProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived.. It was the place at which the regional offices set their local concerns aside and acted as one body for the island.

The temple's survival of the Battle of the Mask Makers reinforced its standing. The shock wave that drew Capital CityCapital CityThe former main city of Okoto, drawn into the Shadow Realm by the destruction of the Mask of Ultimate Power, leaving the Black Crater on the surface and a ruined court for Makuta in the dark below. into the Shadow RealmShadow DimensionAn alternate dimension sealed forever after Makuta was pulled in by the Mask of Ultimate Power's destruction, then trapped by the Toa's combined elemental assault. ruined a great many ancient sites on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. and rendered the City of the Mask MakersCapital CityThe former main city of Okoto, drawn into the Shadow Realm by the destruction of the Mask of Ultimate Power, leaving the Black Crater on the surface and a ruined court for Makuta in the dark below. uninhabitable for centuries. The Temple of Time was among the few ancient structures that emerged from the cataclysm intact. The fact of its survival was treated by later ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. as evidence that the temple was held by powers older and steadier than the forces released by the Mask of Ultimate PowerMask of Ultimate PowerA heretical Kanohi forged by Makuta of Okoto that contained the powers of all six elements and ruined the Mask Makers' civilization the moment it was worn..

The vault and the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart.#

The principal contents of the Temple of Time were not on display. The Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. was kept within a secret vault inside the temple, accessible to the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. and the Mask MakersThe Mask MakersThe two legendary craftsmen of Okoto, Ekimu and Makuta, who forged the island's Kanohi and whose rivalry ended in the cataclysm at Capital City. but never set out for public ceremony. The vault's existence was known to the senior offices of the island. Its precise location within the temple was not a matter of common record.

The mask itself was understood by the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. and by EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. to be a fragment rather than a whole. According to the ancient legends preserved by the temple's custodians, the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. was the upper half of a larger original KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe., the lower portion of which was not present on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. and was not in any known location. The mask's powers were correspondingly partial. Even the wisest elders of the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. did not entirely understand what the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. could do, and the formal teaching of the temple acknowledged the limits of that understanding rather than concealing them.

The mask was nonetheless treated as one of the most consequential artefacts on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors.. It was the only known KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe. on the island whose function was prophetic rather than directly elemental, and its presence in the vault was the principal reason the temple existed as a separate sanctuary rather than as an extension of the City of the Mask MakersCapital CityThe former main city of Okoto, drawn into the Shadow Realm by the destruction of the Mask of Ultimate Power, leaving the Black Crater on the surface and a ruined court for Makuta in the dark below.' forge complex. The custodianship of the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. was, in effect, the office of the Temple of Time.

EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness.'s vision before the cataclysm#

The first of the temple's two great recorded uses came in the period immediately before the Battle of the Mask Makers. EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. had recently learned that his brother MakutaMakuta (2015)Ekimu's brother and rival Mask Maker, who forged the forbidden Mask of Ultimate Power and was sealed in the Shadow Realm with Capital City. was forging masks that combined more than one element, a transgression of the foundational law of OkotanOkotanThe Okotans were the villager population of Okoto, six regional groups corresponding to the island's six elemental regions, who lived through the Battle of the Mask Makers, the long retreat into the lesser villages, and the recovery of the Ancient City after the defeat of Kulta and the revival of Ekimu. mask-craft. He had publicly reprimanded MakutaMakuta (2015)Ekimu's brother and rival Mask Maker, who forged the forbidden Mask of Ultimate Power and was sealed in the Shadow Realm with Capital City. at the last Festival of Masks, and shortly afterwards he received a vision of the Elemental CreaturesThe Elemental Creatures of OkotoThe six elemental animals of Okoto, partnered with the Toa to recover the Mask of Control, joined by Agil the Creature of Light as Ekimu's seventh. and an instruction to seek the Temple of Time.

EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. travelled to the temple in the company of the six ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. of the day. Within the temple he donned the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. and saw a vision of events that had not yet happened. The vision included the coming cataclysm that his brother's heresy would bring on the island, and the arrival, long after the cataclysm, of six prophesied ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm. who would deliver OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. from the consequences. The contents of the vision were the basis on which EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. afterwards forged the Golden Masks of Power that the ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm. would later wear, using the Elemental Crystals that the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. collected from the Creatures during the same journey.

The visit to the temple was therefore the hinge of the entire OkotanOkotanThe Okotans were the villager population of Okoto, six regional groups corresponding to the island's six elemental regions, who lived through the Battle of the Mask Makers, the long retreat into the lesser villages, and the recovery of the Ancient City after the defeat of Kulta and the revival of Ekimu. preparation for the Toa. Without the vision the Golden Masks would not have been forged, and without the Golden Masks the ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm. would have arrived on an island that had no means of arming them. The architecture of the rescue of OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. was set in motion at the Temple of Time, by a single use of the mask kept within its vault.

The summoning of the ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm.#

The second great recorded use of the temple came centuries later, after the Skull SpidersSkull SpidersThe arachnid swarm that raided the villages of Okoto, clamped infection masks onto its captives, guarded the City of the Mask Makers under the Lord of Skull Spiders, and broke against the arrival of the Toa. had emerged as a threat that the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. could not contain on their own. The most recent generation of ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived., comprising Narmoto of Fire, Izotor of Ice, Vizuna of Jungle, Kivoda of Water, Nilkuu of Stone, and Korgot of Earth, gathered at the temple when the stars aligned as the Prophecy of HeroesThe Prophecy of HeroesThe dying instruction that the Mask Maker Ekimu pressed into the Protectors of Okoto, foretelling the coming of six Toa and the sign of the aligned stars that would let them be summoned. had foretold. They recited the prophecy around the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart., each ProtectorProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. speaking in the role assigned to the office of their region.

The act of summoning was a formal one. The prophecy itself had been given to the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. of the day by the lifeless body of EkimuEkimu the Mask MakerEkimu was the legendary Mask Maker of Okoto, brother of Makuta, and bearer of the Mask of Creation who struck down his brother's tyranny at the cost of his own consciousness. immediately after the Battle of the Mask Makers, and it had been transmitted from each generation of ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. to the next as the principal teaching to be recited in times of peril. The temple was the only site at which the recitation had the desired effect, because the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart. was the only artefact through which the prophecy could be answered. The recitation drew the six ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm. from the sky and onto the six regions of OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors., each landing in the territory of the element they bore.

The journey of NilkuuNilkuu, Protector of Stone of OkotoNilkuu was the village elder and Protector of Stone in the second age of Okoto, wielder of the Elemental Sandstone Blaster, rescuer of Bingzak, and guide who led Pohatu across the desert to the Golden Mask of Stone. of Stone to that summoning illustrated the temple's pull on the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived.. Nilkuu became lost in the Region of JungleRegion of JungleThe rainforest region of Okoto, home of the Jungle Tribe and the Protector of Jungle, ground over which Lewa sought the Golden Mask of Jungle and bonded with Uxar, and the coast from which the Labyrinth of Control rose offshore. on the way to the rite, and was guided to the temple by a young OkotanOkotanThe Okotans were the villager population of Okoto, six regional groups corresponding to the island's six elemental regions, who lived through the Battle of the Mask Makers, the long retreat into the lesser villages, and the recovery of the Ancient City after the defeat of Kulta and the revival of Ekimu. named BingzakBingzakBingzak was a young villager from the Region of Jungle on Okoto, sole apparent survivor of a Skull Spider raid that destroyed his village, rescued by Nilkuu in the forest and the guide who led the Protector of Stone to the Temple of Time., who had been driven from his village by Skull SpidersSkull SpidersThe arachnid swarm that raided the villages of Okoto, clamped infection masks onto its captives, guarded the City of the Mask Makers under the Lord of Skull Spiders, and broke against the arrival of the Toa. and attached himself to the ProtectorProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. on the road.

Connections beyond OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors.#

The teaching held within the temple included a claim that the ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. themselves treated with appropriate caution. The temple was believed to connect OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors. mystically with other places, including distant worlds across time and space. The claim was not elaborated in the recorded doctrine. No record was kept of any traveller who had passed from the temple into such a world, and no ProtectorProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived. had ever recorded such a passage in their own term of office. The connection, if real, was understood as a property of the temple itself rather than as a power that could be invoked at will.

The claim was nonetheless consistent with the temple's other anomalies. The structure was older than the rest of the island. Its principal artefact was a fragment of a larger mask whose other half was elsewhere. Its visions, when granted, were of events that had not yet happened. The ProtectorsProtectorsThe six elders of Okoto's villages, each wielding elemental powers and guarding their regions before the Toa arrived.' teaching on this point treated the temple as a place that sat partially outside the ordinary categories of OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors., and the doctrine of mystical connection was the formal expression of that intuition rather than an operational claim about any particular destination.

The Temple of Time therefore occupied a unique place in the OkotanOkotanThe Okotans were the villager population of Okoto, six regional groups corresponding to the island's six elemental regions, who lived through the Battle of the Mask Makers, the long retreat into the lesser villages, and the recovery of the Ancient City after the defeat of Kulta and the revival of Ekimu. record. It was the oldest building on the island, the only sanctuary common to all six tribes, the keeper of the only prophetic KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe. known on OkotoOkotoOkoto is a world whose known inhabitants include the Toa, the Mask makers, and the Protectors., the site of the vision that prepared the island for the ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm., and the site at which the ToaThe Toa of Okoto: The Six Heroes Summoned to Save the IslandThe six elemental heroes summoned by the Protectors of Okoto, who recovered the Golden Masks, woke Ekimu, fought the Skull Army, and twice banished Makuta to the Shadow Realm. were ultimately summoned. Its survival of the Battle of the Mask Makers, alone among the great ancient structures of the island, was the structural condition that made the second of those two acts possible. Without the temple, the prophecy could not have been answered.