Author's Note: I edited the beginning of chapter one to "Cradle of the Snake" to where it has the ending as seen here. Just so you know.
Chapter Ten. The Still Point (Epilogue)
The Great Snake had arrived at the cave with Lon all dressed up and ready for the ceremony.
The Doctor, Nyssa and Chela made their way out of the ruins as the director's assistant guided the Time Lord and the Trakenite to the cave, where the ceremony would take place.
"Who will challenge the Mara?" the man with the mega phone boomed, "Who will pluck the Great Crystal of knowledge from between the Mara's jaws and set us free?"
"Lon." Tanha whispered to her son.
"Not yet, my lady." Ambril replied.
"For the second time, I ask it." the man with the mega phone boomed again, and then again after no response came out, "For the third and final time."
"I will!" Mara!Lon stood up from his seat. The crowd applauded in response.
"Bring the stranger forward!" the man exclaimed with excitement.
Two men brought Mara!Lon forward to the parade like version of the snake which was named the Great Snake.
"You dare to challenge the power of the Mara?" the man boomed.
"I do!" Mara!Lon answered.
"And in whose name do you wish to do so?" the man asked.
"In the name of the Federation," Mara!Lon answered, "and in my own."
The crowd cheered and applauded in response.
"First, the stranger must prove his worthiness. Prepare him for the test."
One of Mara!Lon's gloves were removed.
"Are you ready to face the triple temptation?"
"I am ready."
"The first temptation is fear. I offer you fear in a handful of dust."
A man poured some dust on his hands and the possessed man appeared unfazed by it.
"I do not fear." Mara!Lon declared as he dusted the dust from his hands, "I spread my fingers, and the dust trickles away. I know that whilst I live, my hand is clean, my eyes are bright. That is enough."
"The second temptation!"
"I am ready."
"The second temptation is to despair! I offer you despair in a withered branch."
The same man who handed him the dust, gave Mara!Lon the branch.
"I do not despair." Mara!Lon stated as he dropped the branch, "I turn my hand, and the branch drops to the earth. I know the sap will rise again and the roots will sprout. That is enough."
The crowd gave another round of applause in response.
-Doctor-Who-
"Come on," the Doctor told Nyssa and Chela, "jump!"
The Doctor grabbed the Trakenite as Chela joined them.
"Thank you." Nyssa told the Time Lord, "but it wasn't necessary."
The Time Lord, the Trakenite and the director's assistant all entered the cave where they started to hear sound.
"Shhh." Nyssa silenced the two men.
"The ceremony must've started." the Doctor stated quietly.
"Well," Chela replied, "let's hope we're not too late."
The Doctor, Nyssa and Chela would have to deal with a guard to get to the ceremony to stop the Mara from being released to the world.
-Doctor-Who-
"The third and final temptation is to succumb to greed." the man on the mega phone declared, "Stranger, you must look into the crystal without greed for knowledge. I offer you greed in the hidden depths!"
The guard escorted Mara!Lon to the Great Snake where the possessed man tried to grab the blue thing that looked like the crystal.
The crowd all gasped and exclaimed in shock.
"No," the man told him, "my lord, you mustn't touch it. Not yet."
"Why mustn't I?" Mara!Lon asked.
"Because the knowledge has hidden depths!" the man used his mega phone to explain to the crowd.
"What do you mean hidden depths? Where are they? Show them to me?" Mara!Lon stated before grabbing the fake crystal, "It's just a fake. Your whole ceremony is a fake! Look."
Mara!Lon removed the glass, "It's nothing. It's just glass."
He dropped the fake crystal which shattered in the process and the crowd exclaimed in shock again.
"A childish fake at the centre of a farce," Mara!Lon continued, "created by a civilization that has gone soft. Today, I bring real knowledge. Real knowledge and real power. It is even more powerful than the great crystal itself!"
"Lon what has gotten into you?!" Tanha exclaimed.
Lon removed his other sleeve, revealing the mark of the Mara on his arm.
"What is that?" Tanha gasped in shock. Not answering, Mara!Lon used that arm to open the secret passageway to reveal both Mara!Tegan and Mara!Adric side by side as the former is holding a real life snake in her arms and the latter is seen with the mark of the Mara on his arm as well, just like Lon's and not only that, his face and neck were blood red in color.
"Behold!" Mara!Adric exclaimed with excitement, "The power of Homeostasis! It is about to be used to release the Mara into this world of yours."
"The Great Crystal may have been removed from its socket by my ancestor," Mara!Lon added with his face also red, "when the Mara was banished to the dark places of the inside. Now, with this boy's power of Homeostasis, the Great Crystal will not be needed to return the Mara to this world!"
"Go on." Mara!Lon told the possessed Alzarian.
"Do it now." Mara!Tegan added.
"No!" the Doctor shouted as he, Nyssa and Chela barged into the room, "No!"
"You are too late, Doctor!" Mara!Adric declared as he started to glow and his eyes turned red. Unlike his normal Homeostasis glow, he was glowing a blackish gray color, "The Mara is about to be freed!"
"That's what occurs when Homeostasis is corrupted. Oh Adric." the Doctor stated to himself before regaining focus. Mara!Adric submitted energy to Mara!Tegan which would allow the snake to grow, and for the Mara to gain its true form once again.
The entire crowd in that ceremony fell into despair, as they were giving into the Mara, including Nyssa and Chela. However, the Doctor was not having any of it. He was not going to let the Mara have its way.
The snake hissed as it fell out of Tegan's arm and it grew up to her height as it roared, gaining its strength from Adric's powers. Lon and Hawker only watched as the crowd save for the Doctor all was in despair. The Alzarian would soon join them once the Mara got the energy it needed from the fear and panic of the crowd.
"No, don't look!" the Doctor exclaimed, shouting to everyone, "You must not look! The Mara is feeding on the fear and panic, it needs it, but you must not believe what you see! Homeostasis is absorbing the belief and creating the Mara! Don't look! Reach inside yourselves and find the still point!"
The Time Lord saw that his last remaining companion was giving in to the despair of the Mara as well as the rest of the crowd, "No, Nyssa! Nyssa!"
The Doctor grabbed his crystal to try and combat the Mara with it, refusing to submit to the Mara. The snake appeared to be absorbing Tegan and it got to the point to where her face was seen in the gap of the snake's jaw.
"What...is...happening?" Mara!Tegan spoke through the snake, "Who dares to interrupt the becoming? Who does not believe?"
The Doctor stood up as he looked at the crystal in his hands.
"Submit." Mara!Tegan continued speaking through the snake, "All minds must submit. Look at me. You must look at me! You cannot resist. It is impossible."
She gasped upon seeing the small crystal in the Time Lord's hands.
"No!" Mara!Tegan exclaimed, "Stop him! He must be stopped! Help me. Doctor? What's happening to me? Please, look at me, Doctor. I need your help!"
"No." the Doctor replied, "I will not submit!"
The small crystal then shown the image of Dojjen at the center of the crystal.
"No!" Mara!Tegan exclaimed through the snake, "The crystal! Destroy the crystal! It will prevent my..."
Hawker tried to grab the crystal but he screamed as it burned his hands and fell to the ground. Lon tried to do the same but he would end up getting the same results. Then, Adric faced the Doctor.
"No, Adric!" the Doctor spoke to his possessed friend, "Adric!"
"Doctor." Adric weakly spoke to the Time Lord as he tried to regain control again, "Let me try something."
A bit of Homeostasis energy emitted to the crystal. It glowed a bright white color. The Mara screamed from the impact. Tegan collapsed, as the results freed her from the possession along with Adric and Lon. The snake was now shrinking and dissolving as well.
"Thank you." the Doctor quietly told Adric, who collapsed to the floor along with Lon and Hawker.
The crowd was now freed from the Mara's influence, including Nyssa and Chela and Dojjen walked away from the ruins.
"I'm sorry." Adric looked up as he faced the Doctor, "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop it. I had no idea."
"It's not your fault." the Doctor assured the Alzarian, "the Mara is more powerful than you think."
The Alzarian took a deep breath before he hurried to look for Nyssa who was recovering from her ordeal with the Mara along with Chela and the rest of the crowd.
"Nyssa," Adric walked over to his Trakenite friend/lover, "are you alright?"
"Yes." Nyssa nodded, "I think so."
"The Mara is powerful. That was the thing in Tegan's head?"
The Doctor went to comfort Tegan, who was back to her Aussie self as she was weeping.
"It was awful." Tegan wept, "It was awful."
"It's alright." the Doctor assured his companion, "It's all over now."
"The feelings of hate and rage." Tegan continued, "It was terrible. I wanted to destroy everything."
"Well, you're free of it now." the Doctor hugged his companion.
"The Mara's gone forever?" Tegan asked.
The Doctor nodded and answered, "Yes. The Mara has been destroyed."
Author's Note 2: Of course it has been stopped, but not destroyed. The Mara would later return in the Coexistenceverse version of "Cradle of the Snake" where the Mara tries to take over Tegan again but that backfires and it results in Adric becoming the Mara's primary host! That story is ongoing so be on the lookout for it! Till next time! Cheers!