Krika kept his senses sharp as he approached the outpost. With the last of the drones gone and his people's safety secured, he had been able to take a moment to repair the damage done to his armor, but it was very much a rush job and he knew he needed to be careful. Knowing where he was going only made him all the more paranoid.

What was I thinking, telling her to decide? he silently bemoaned. She took her to Bitil? Of all Makuta, Bitil? Storming this den of freaks is going to be far trickier than smashing a few puppets, that much is certain…

He stopped as he saw movement. From a few dozen yards away, Charla waved to him, calling, "Makuta Krika! I am most glad to see you unharmed!"

Krika raised an eyebrow. "…Beg pardon?"

Charla came closer at a slow, steady pace. "Makuta Antroz and Lady Zaekura have already arrived—the situation has been explained to Lord Bitil, and he has agreed to grant them asylum. We were waiting anxiously to see how you fared against your opponents."

"Lady Zaekura?" he chuckled. "My word, she's ingratiated herself with Bitil somehow, hasn't she? Oh, if she wasn't already troublesome, now she's got that encouragement…"

"Please, this way."

Krika hesitated. Eventually, he let Charla lead him inside the outpost, though he didn't relax even when he saw Antroz and Zaekura standing next to Bitil unharmed.

"There you are, Krika," Antroz said. "I am relieved to know you survived."

"I'm glad one of us is happy," Krika grumbled.

"Yes, yes, I know you can't be pleased to be here, old friend," Bitil said. "But look, I've been nothing but helpful to your little band of fugitives—you can stop boiling your antidermis any time now."

"Yeah," Zaekura said, "we've got a new problem. Fangs here thinks it's a good idea to turn herself in."

"Of course she does, I expected nothing less," Krika said. "Though to be honest, 'Fangs', I'm feeling rather inclined to let you do it. Why don't you help me decide?"

"I am going," Antroz said. "Lord Angonce is in Xia, and if I speak with him I can—"

"Make the exact same mistake you made in Nynrah!" Zaekura interrupted.

"Please, listen to me," Antroz said. She waited a moment to be sure she had their attention. "I recognize the mistakes that I've made in handling this situation thus far. I offer my sincerest apologies for them. Rest assured I have every intention of helping, and my goal is simply to negotiate."

"But that still brings up the question of why you expect that to work, Antroz," Bitil said. "The rest of us all seem to have about the same idea of what'll happen if you go."

Using his Mahiki, Krika took on Angonce's appearance, and reached out his arms while donning an incredibly fake smile. "Oh, Antroz, there you are my beloved pet! Wonderful to see you again, really—now I get to kill you with my own hands for betraying me. Well, I say my own hands, but I still mean someone else's of course, I just had my gauntlets polished and you know how long that lasts if you don't keep an eye on it. Anyway, enjoy oblivion, I'll be sure to make the others' deaths extra painful just for you!" He returned to normal, snapped his fingers, and shouted, "BANG!"

"Spot on," Bitil said as he clapped his hands. "Really, it's like I was there."

Zaekura snickered. "Is that what this guy's like? Yikes, and I already thought the Great Beings were full of it…"

Antroz shook her head. "I predict things going very differently. Lord Angonce has always been the most approachable of the Great Beings—I am sure that he will be willing to have a civil conversation about this, now that we've both had time to cool down."

"Just for clarity, this is the same guy who ordered the attack on Nynrah, right?" Zaekura asked.

"Right you are, Lady Zaekura," Krika said.

"Ah, you heard. I'm nobility suddenly."

"Yes, we really must catch up once we get the chance."

"Once again," Antroz said, "I am going. And I will go alone. If I am wrong, then only I will suffer the consequences for it. Surely, none of you have any objections to that?"

Krika rubbed his chin. "Well, you have become quite a nuisance quite quickly. I certainly wouldn't shed any tears over your ashes."

"You'll do what you want, as always," Bitil said. "I won't strain myself holding you here."

"Excellent," Antroz said. "Now if you will excuse me, I—"

"Hang on!" Zaekura said. "I'm still not convinced here."

Antroz turned towards her. "…I apologize. You were the last one I expected to show concern for my safety."

"Don't go getting a swelled head about it. I'm just thinking that if a couple of Makuta are the only things standing between me and the Great Beings, I can't afford to lose even one. Seriously though, how do you see this as anything other than a bad idea?"

"Zaekura, if I do not go, the fighting will only continue. And it will escalate. Given the chance, this will become a war fought over custody of you, and that is something that we must do our best to avoid." Antroz shivered. "War with the Great Beings…it is impossible to know what horror and bloodshed that would entail. Are you prepared to follow such a path?"

Zaekura bit her lip, staring hard at Antroz. It wasn't long before her eyes fell.


The air of Xia was not as welcoming as Antroz remembered it. Most of its citizens were indoors, and those that did see her ran the moment they did. She had an idea of why, but it still pained her: these were people she had nurtured and protected for as long as she had existed, and now, after mere days, they regarded her as a thing of fear. However, she knew she could not allow herself to remain distracted.

"Welcome back, Makuta."

Antroz stopped in her tracks. "Hello, Emsar. I appreciate the greeting."

The Vortixx casually crossed the street behind her, barely concealing her protosteel dagger. "I must admit, Makuta, I'm quite confused as to what's going on. The things I've been hearing don't sound like you at all. But, loyalty to the Great Beings must come first. You used to say something to that effect, didn't you?"

"I did."

Emsar twirled the blade around her fingers. "I don't know if you've heard, but Lord Angonce is back yet again."

"I have, actually."

"Good. He wishes to see you."

"That is why I'm here."

"Well then, don't let me keep you."

Antroz resumed walking, now with Emsar only a short distance behind her. Eventually she reached the tower she called home, finding the doors unlocked and ajar—and beyond that, Angonce stood in the center of the chamber, with none other than Gorast positioned between him and the entrance. The other Makuta sneered at Antroz as she entered, one of her four arms reaching for the cache of weapons on her back.

"Lord Angonce," Antroz said.

Angonce sighed heavily. "Great, I guess I have to do this now…" He spun around, arms outstretched. "What are you doing, Antroz? Really, what—this is such a simple thing, and you…my gosh, where do I even begin?"

Antroz knelt and bowed her head. "It is most regrettable that we should meet again like this, my lord. I have come to discuss our dispute in greater detail. It is my dearest hope that we can resolve this in a way that is acceptable to all parties, and avoid anyone else coming to harm."

Gorast unlimbered a sickle. Angonce waved her off, saying, "No, no Gorast, just give me a moment. Antroz, I've already told you our stance on this. Why didn't you just bring the girl with you? It would've been so much simpler that way, I can't tell you how utterly simple that would've made it."

"Lord Angonce…I do wish to apologize for my previous rudeness, but nevertheless, my feelings on the matter remain the same. I do not feel that killing Zaekura is right."

"And I told you, right and wrong are what we say they are! This shouldn't be news to you!"

"Forgive me, Lord Angonce, but I believe the issue to be more complex than that."

Angonce ran a hand over his face, taking a few wandering steps to the side. He pulled his hand down over his mouth and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then, he turned back, pointed at Antroz, and said, "This is about our visitor, isn't it?"

Antroz inclined her head. "…I'm sorry?"

"You know, 'the visitor', that person from the other world where Makuta are evil, Vulture or whatever his name is. I know how shaken up you are about that—so now you're clinging harder than ever to this whole bit about righteousness and justice, to prove to yourself that you're different from Otherworldly Evil Antroz. That's what this is about, isn't it?"

She thought back to her meeting with the visitor, and suppressed a shudder. "I…I admit to be disturbed by the revelations the visitor brought. But my lord, this matter is not about another world: it is about our own. You are asking me to knowingly take part in the execution of an innocent—"

"She is not innocent!" Angonce shouted, stalking a few steps forward. "Get with the program, Antroz: I am a Great Being! I am right! I declare her guilty, so that's what she is! Now do! Your! Job!"

A stunned silence was all that came from Antroz. Even Gorast turned a nervous glance in Angonce's direction. He spun in place, muttering mostly to himself.

"Honestly, you're the last one I thought I would ever have to explain this to! Maybe we should've just had Krika do it, I don't know, I'm sure it wouldn't have gone well but this is just so unbelievably taxing…"

Taking a deep breath, he faced Antroz again.

"Now please, Antroz. I won't give you another chance. Tell me where Zaekura is, and just maybe, we'll be able to put this whole nasty incident behind us some way or another. Doesn't that sound great?"

The silence dragged on. Eventually, Antroz hung her head again, but she now rose to her feet. "Lord Angonce…I cannot do that. Please, let us have a reasonable conversation. There is no need for more of this—"

Angonce slashed his hand through the air. A second later, Antroz crumpled in a heap.

"…Lord…Angonce…?"

"You really were my favorite," Angonce said. "I guess all that's left now is to hope you take to recalibration. Ugh, how did it come to this?"

"No…" Antroz groaned. "No…this can't be…they were…right…?"

Gorast's eyes widened. "Recalibration? She should face death!"

Angonce rubbed his neck. "Yeah, but…she's still got some key information in that mind of hers, and we can't let an opportunity to get it slip us by. We'll try a partial overwrite, hopefully she'll come back more dedicated and tell us where the girl is hiding. If that doesn't work…"

Gorast reluctantly put away her weapon. "We could always break her down and extract the memory data."

"Yeah, but this is a really good model we have here, I'd hate to scrap it like that unless we absolutely have to. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Angonce walked out of the tower, not giving another look to Antroz. He stopped next to Emsar, who still waited in the doorway, and said, "Emsar, was it? You're being named Temporary Guardian of Xia. With luck Antroz will be back to her usual self…someday…or we might just make a new Makuta to take over, I don't really know right now, just continue holding down the fort if you would."

"Of course, Lord Angonce," Emsar said with a bow.

Taking another step, Angonce called, "Gorast, collect her and let's go. Sooner we start on this thing the sooner I'll know how many centuries of my life are going down the drain here."

Emsar watched as Gorast knelt to scoop up the disabled Antroz. However, she found that her hands passed right through her.

"Huh?"

"You were right," Antroz murmured. "You were all right…"

Driving her fist through Antroz's arm, Gorast said, "No, he disarmed you—you can't be phasing…what is this?!"

Angonce turned, giving the Makuta a curious look. To his surprise, Antroz began to move, and was soon back on her feet and facing him. Gorast and Emsar leapt away with their weapons drawn.

"Lord Angonce…really will not listen to me," Antroz said. "And if not him…then there is no way to resolve this peacefully…"

Angonce walked forward. He waved one hand through the immaterial Antroz, saying, "What is this, some kind of illusion? But that can't be right. Antroz, explain."

"I had hoped this was an unnecessary precaution," Antroz said. "I had hoped we could avoid any more violence…but, if that is what it will take to end this…then I suppose I don't have any choice, do I?"

Angonce narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I don't think I like the sound of that."

"…Good bye, Lord Angonce."

With that, she vanished. A small, roughly-spherical device floated about a foot off the ground where she had been, bobbing slowly for a few more seconds before falling to the ground and emitting one loud clicking sound. Angonce gently picked it up and furrowed his brow.

"Huh. I swear I've seen this somewhere before, but…"

"Lord Angonce," Gorast said.

He looked up. "Hm? Oh, right, right I, uh…hoo, how am I going to explain this one to Heremus…"


At the same time, in Bitil's outpost, Antroz lifted a helmet-like device off of her head, setting it down in her lap and sitting in silence for a moment. Around her stood Bitil, Krika, Zaekura, and one of Bitil's Rahkshi, one with blue and yellow armor that looked no different from a normal Rahkshi. When Zaekura had insisted on finding a way to carry out the meeting without Antroz physically being there, Krika had mentioned the possibility of recreating the lure that Mavrah used and finding a way for Antroz to link herself to it. Antroz had been concerned about how long it would take, but that was when Bitil called in Kameter, a Rahkshi of Slow who he had created with a total absence of Slow power, a process which actually inverted his ability into the power to speed up time in a limited area. With help from him, Zaekura and Krika had completed the device in minutes, and Antroz had been forced to relent.

"Sounds like you made the right call, Lady Zaekura," Bitil said. "We narrowly dodged a deathblow."

Zaekura massaged her temples, sitting down at a nearby table. "Yeah, go me. I feel great about how this turned out."

Bitil turned to Krika. "And you are sure there's no way for them to trace the psychic link back here?"

Krika nodded. "I must've disassembled and reassembled Mavrah's lure a thousand times over the years—I perfectly replicated the dampening module, and Zaekura did a flawless job wiring it into the mechanism."

With a grin and a nod, Bitil turned to Kameter and set a hand on his shoulder. "Well done, Kameter! It was your help that made all this possible."

Kameter gave a few excited hisses in reply. That was when Antroz finally stood, and everyone went silent. She stepped forward and deposited the transmitter helmet on the chair she had just been sitting in. Then, she made her way towards the room's exit.

"Where are you going?" Krika asked. "I think it's only appropriate we begin formulating our strategy."

Antroz stopped with one hand on the door. "I am sorry…I require a moment to myself right now."

She left the room, and Krika rolled his eyes. "Well, here's hoping we have a moment. Once Angonce gets back to the Maze, I'm sure the Great Beings will waste no time scouring the area for any trace of us."

Bitil crossed his arms. "…I shall ready my Rahkshi for battle. If more of those drones arrive, we will need to be prepared. They shall not breech my walls!"

"Good," Krika said. He tapped his fingers for a moment. "Well then…if you've got that under control, then I suppose that frees me up to take care of a personal matter."

"Personal matter?"

"If Antroz gets a moment to herself, so should I, don't you think? I need to pay a visit to Ga-Koro, make sure Kojol is taking good care of my citizens. And, of course, if I should happen to convince her to join our cause while I'm there, that's just fine with me."

Bitil thought for a moment. "Having Ga-Koro's army as reinforcements does sound appealing. But, the Great Beings will likely start their search in Nynrah and the surrounding areas—you could very easily be captured."

Krika's mask shone as he shook his head. He seemed to disappear in the next second, but then Bitil saw movement: an extraordinarily tiny insect was buzzing about in the air before his face.

"Alright, that could work. Just don't dawdle, Krika. We won't know for sure when Angonce will make it back to the Maze, or if they could already be searching."

Krika returned to his normal self. "Really? Here I was planning to go sightseeing. But alas, if you insist, I suppose I mustn't drag my feet."

Bitil grumbled to himself as Krika left the room next. Zaekura looked up and asked, "So, uh…what should I do?"

The Makuta shrugged. "You look like you could use some more rest. Other than that, I can't say I have a task in mind for you. We'll need more information, not to mention our allies, before we can cook up a war plan."

Zaekura set her face down on the table's surface. "…Is it really…going to be a war?"

Bitil closed his eyes. "I'm afraid it looks that way."

After a moment, Zaekura quietly said, "Bitil, I…I barely know how to throw a punch. I never wanted to actually get into a fight. And, if this does become a full-on war, then it really is all because of me. People are going to get hurt, and even die…because of me. I don't…"

She trailed off. Bitil turned and looked at her for a moment. Then, he sat down across from her and said, "You are not the aggressor, Lady Zaekura. It is the Great Beings who are spurring on this conflict."

"Not sure that makes me feel better about it," came Zaekura's muffled reply as she pressed her face harder against the table.

Bitil sighed. "Then I don't know what to say. But there's no way we can stop it now. The best we can hope to do is to reduce the intensity of the fighting, or search for a quick route to victory—something to lessen the inevitable damage. Rest assured that the three of us have that goal in mind as we proceed." As he got up, he added, "Four, if we can sway Kojol."

He left next, followed by Kameter, and Zaekura was left to sit in solitude. She remained that way for she knew not how long before finally deciding to get on her feet. She stepped outside and looked around, wandering aimlessly through the moonlit outpost until she spotted Charla. The Rahkshi pointed to one of the walls—following, Zaekura saw a figure standing atop the barrier, and then she turned and nodded her thanks to Charla. It was a bit of a climb to reach the top of the wall, but she didn't stop until she was standing right next to Antroz.

"I suppose I should apologize again," Antroz said. "I am in your debt, Zaekura. If you had not insisted I take precaution, then right now I would be…"

Zaekura crossed her arms, turning to look at the stars.

"It's still so hard to believe that all this is happening. For the first time, I…I'm not sure what I should do. My path always seemed so clear to me. I could always act decisively, single out my goals and bring them to fruition, and know exactly who I was making myself out to be." She raised and clenched her fist, but then slowly relaxed her fingers. "But now, all that is gone. And I can't help but wonder who I am without it."

"At least you had something," Zaekura mumbled. "My whole life, I've never had a clue who I was or what I was doing. Gotta tell ya, it's…a bit hard to feel like I'm really worth all the trouble I'm causing."

Antroz turned her head.

"I mean really, I'm nobody. And people are going to die just so my worthless life can continue? Doesn't seem entirely fair, when you think about it." She sighed. "Maybe you should've just taken me in after all."

"Don't say that, Zaekura. Just because you don't yet know the meaning of your life does not mean that it has none."

"Sure, whatever."

The conversation lulled briefly.

"If I want to stay alive, then I guess I'm stuck with you Makuta, whether I like it or not," Zaekura said. "So tell me. Are we gonna fight back, or are we just going to run?"

Antroz shook her head. "I think our chances are slim either way."

"Okay, well…suppose we run. If we can get away, what do you think the Great Beings would do?"

"Their search efforts would persist. It's also possible that they could put several cities on lockdown, or even send for the Odinans." After a pause, she finished, "And when another generation goes by, and someone else like you is born…they would call them in to die. And then again, with the next generation. And on, and on, and on."

Zaekura threw her head back. "…Yeah, guess there wouldn't be anything we could do to stop that. And if we fight?"

"Even if we did our best to restrain ourselves, it is still possible some combatants would die. We cannot risk thinking the Great Beings would not send Toa and Glatorian to fight us, and to defend ourselves, we may be left with little choice."

"Isn't that also possible if we run, though?"

"…I suppose so."

"Either way people are probably going to get hurt. And, not much of a chance, but if we were to fight and come out on top, then we could put an end to it—no more fighting, no more hunting, and no more offing innocent freaks like me."

Antroz said nothing.

"I don't know, I'm still not convinced. I'm just trying to work this out somehow."

Antroz sighed. "I don't know either, Zaekura. When the time comes, I will make a choice…but, I don't think that I can right now."

Zaekura stared at her for a few moments. Eventually, she turned back towards the stairs, saying, "I'm going to bed."

Antroz didn't reply.


ADDENDUM:

-Between skimping on the description of Gorast and calling back to Vultraz, this Section is fairly reliant on The Gargoyle Knight, but hopefully it's clear enough that things still make sense.

-Also seen in The Gargoyle Knight, I thought it would make sense for the Great Beings to have some device that "disarms" Makuta, as a failsafe in case of…well, something like this. Now that I'm trying to think ahead, though, I am feeling I might've made this a bit more difficult than it needs to be…our heroes have their work cut out for them.

-The original plan was to have Zaekura quickly whip up a countermeasure for the disarmament, but upon further reflection I thought that would be a bit too sudden. Bringing some more relevance to Mavrah seemed to make more sense given Zaekura's current resources and experience.

-Not every Rahkshi has an inverted power, but Slow to Speed seemed reasonable enough so I wanted to try it out. I was going to give Kameter some gear designs and maybe a pendulum-like weapon, but then I thought that Bitil couldn't have been sure this process would even work, so it would make sense that he just created a normal-looking Rahkshi and directed all his focus on messing with the power. Also, "Kameter" comes from "Kakama" and "kilometer".

-A bit of an early reveal, but the dialogue would have awkwardly danced around the point otherwise: Ga-Koro is watched over by Kojol, who in this universe is female for the same reasons as Antroz. Kojol was actually a last-minute addition, after I had found places for all but two or three of the Makuta we knew and figured I may as well put in the effort to place the rest, but I think it worked out well. Prime Kojol watched Artakha, spoken of in legend as a paradise, and now Melding Kojol is watching over this world's renowned sanctuary.

-The ending does feel a tiny bit…unfinished. I opted to leave it that way because I thought it would help reflect the way Antroz and Zaekura are feeling right now, and because I thought moving onto another scene (such as Ga-Koro) would be bad for pacing. I will try to get Section VI out soon so that feeling doesn't drag on too long.