Patience worn out, Terence stomped through the portal, with Al and Cynthia right behind him. The rest of the creatures followed suite, though no humans were with them - it was assumed the team was protected enough as is.

On the other side of the portal, all they found was a machine...which was loading the humans into some kind of storage container.

Before any of the creatures could react, though, the machine launched itself and its container into the air, and within seconds had disappeared over the horizon.

For a moment, the creatures of the park stared impotently at where the machine had vanished, minds still trying to process what had happened. When they finally did, however, the result was rather shocking - instead of roaring and howling in anger, all of them turned toward one of the prehistoric dragons, which began flying after the machine. The rest soundlessly followed, hoping the flying predator knew where to find their companions.

To a less informed observer, it would appear as if the beasts were possessed by some higher power, following orders for a mission. Not that dinosaurs could do that...could they?

XXXXX

Groaning, Tristan awakened. Immediately, he noticed how much his back ached. As he moved to massage it, though, Tristan found his arm hitting something metallic in nature. Instantly going from groggy to alert, Tristan took in his surroundings, and found himself trapped within a cage. All around him were his kin and Cassandra, also restrained in cages.

Other details gradually came into focus: the group had been placed on the walls of an arena, with seats occupied by many people, all of whom were focused on an odd contraption within the center of the ring - an elevated platform containing a girl in a cage similar to their own, while nearby was a crate full of weapons and armor, likely hers.

Finally, on the far end of the arena (well, relative to the group) were two other cages, containing the forms of Melissa and Phil. Both had been subjected to further...'precautions' toward escape than the group and the girl had. The two were not only caged, but were adorned in a cross between armor and a straight-jacket, with metallic gags placed over their mouths.

Groaning to his right told Tristan that Sean had awakened, as had Cassandra. Another set of groans to his left told him that Elise was also shaking off the grip of sleep.

Glancing at his brother, Tristan's gaze fell. "I suppose this is the part where you call me out for taking stupid risks?"

Sean stared at his brother in incredulity. "...You do realize there is literally no way you could have predicted this would have happened? And that even being genre aware of the kind of self-insert this is would still have not helped, since they are almost entirely power-fantasies?"

"Yeah, but it was my idea to go on the other side of the portal to see Phil and Melissa off."

"And we had no reason to assume whatever caught us was there," countered Elise. "Don't try and beat yourself up for something you could not have expected."

"...Alright. Any ideas on how to escape this?"

"How about 'you don't'?"

Instantly, all eyes fell upon a cloaked figure standing to their right, face obscured by a mask. Their voice, however, was both masculine and strangely synthetic in nature, and when the figure tilted their head, a sound like motors adjusting could be heard.

Cassandra was the first to get her bearings. "Who are you?"

"I have gone by many names among the locals, but you may call me Null."

"Funny name."

"True. I do suppose you are wondering why you are here, though? And, of course, where here is?"

The group nodded.

"Well, you are in the city of Sunfall, capital of the Carja-in-Shadow, otherwise known as the Eclipse. Here, in the Sun Ring, you are to be sacrificed in the name of the Sun."

Everyone flinched, causing Null to chuckle. "Oh, I admit that really, there is no specific need to kill you - the Nora Huntress suspended above the arena has proven far too great a threat to be allowed to live, and the commander and his associate are also to great a threat to survive, but you? You're nothing. The only reason you are to die is to eliminate witnesses...and besides, the Eclipse will want many sacrifices to be made."

Null then leaned in so that he was only a foot from Elise's face. "So please, die well."

Wordlessly, Null turned and walked toward the largest box in the arena - likely the seat held by the ruler. The group could only stare at him in silence, utterly stunned by his total lack of empathy.

Finally regaining his composure, Tristan immediately threw out a suggestion for escape.

"Does anyone have any hair pins or loose straw on them?"

A tapping sound turned all eyes onto Cassandra, who wordlessly pulled out three such pins from her hair, along with several bobby pins.

"Let's get to work."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Unnoticed by the group, pterosaur eyes stared down at them, watching as they tried to escape their changes.

Knowing exactly where they were, Kukulkan the Quetzalcoatlus turned his attention toward relocating his compatriots - it was time to bring the rain. Already, he had let out a cry telling his fellow fliers to form up on him, so that they could make a concerted effort to rescue the humans.

As they zeroed in on their companions, though, the fliers saw a metal bird descending toward the ground, where it stood beside a dark skinned human. Said human then projected an image in front of him, showing various people that had been within the Sun Ring.

Said man had almost fallen over in surprise when he saw the fliers converge on him, and flinched in shock when the various ground walkers joined their winged friends. When none of them attacked, though, he saw that they were staring at the image he projected, which now depicted the siblings and Cassandra in their cages.

Before he could speak, though, another set of odd creatures converged upon the motley group's position. All of them looked utterly alien, which was further reinforced by the fact that they could speak.

"Greetings, one known as Sylens. We known you are trying to rescue the Nora Seeker known as Aloy, and we believe these beasts wish to rescue the other humans that shall be sacrificed with her. We were sent forth to rescue the two restrained separately from the others. "Perhaps we can broker a deal?"...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

None of the team had managed to free themselves by the time the leader of the Eclipse arrived to commence the execution, though not before taunting the girl, and destroying some trinket of hers. Before there eyes, a pair of spider-like machines attacked a rhino-like one known as a behemoth, driving it berserk, at which point the girl was dropped into the arena, ostensibly to be slaughtered by it. Yet she proved to be a tenacious fighter, tricking the machine into destroying the pillars holding up the platform, and stealing back her weapons. From there, it had taken her little effort to destroy the behemoth.

Enraged by her victory, the ruler had order the spider-machines to put her to death. Before they could complete that order, though, a gate was burst open, and from it emerged a dark skinned man wearing clothing accented blue. Riding in atop a horse-like machine, she threw his staff to the ground and charged toward the girl, another horse machine at his side. As she mounted the machine, a familiar roar echoed thorugh the air, and Terence charged out of the dust, throwing a third spider machine at the first two before ramming the wall, sending the group tumbling over. Amazingly, despite their cages being shattered, they were unharmed, and swiftly boarded onto Terence, who began running toward the exit. Two mishappen bipeds, meanwhile, rescued the commander and his companion, while a trio of catlike machines assaulted the enemy robots, keeping them from pursuing.

As soon as they were out of the arena, Sean turned his attention toward their human savior. "Thanks for the rescue, may I have a name to which we can offer our gratitude?"

"I am Sylens, the girl is Aloy, and I believe it would be best to wait until we are out of Shadow Carja territory before discussing anything else."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Said discussions ended up postponed when Aloy decided to have a rather heated conversation with Sylens, during which the group heard a...rather surprising number of facts that left them somewhat conflict and confused. It was only at the end of the conversation that Tristan cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"Sorry for butting in, but I want to get this straight: that man, Helis, attacked Aloy's people, the Nora, because an evil machine called HADES, a machine you woke up, is now trying to wipe out all life on Earth, because it thinks the Earth is not suitable for human habitation. Correct?"

"Yes."

"And he sent an army to massacre the Nora?"

"Correct."

"...I'm kind of disappointed that I am not really that surprised by this absurdity."

"Well, if you are finished, then I have a question for you - all of you, except the two who were bound in armor."

"And that is?'

"What will you do now?"

Tristan didn't even need to think about that. "We're going home...wait, no one is going to object to this?"

Sean shrugged. "We have no personal envestment in this conflict, so I see no reason to get involved right now."

"Yeah," agreed Elise, "and it sounds like there is going to be a lot of fighting coming up soon, and I don't think any of us have the mentality needed for fighting and killing people."

"Perhaps we could offer supplies," suggested Cassandra, "but commiting forces to this battle seems...stupid."

Phil just sighed at that. "Well, then I guess this is where we part ways. I have to seek out my allies to prepare for this."

"...Well, goodbye then."

With no reason to stay, Terence headed back toward the portal, the rest of the creatures following him. It was time to head home.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: There are going to be about five more chapters before this arc is over. But the endgame is coming.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!