The Matriarch read an old book about the Metalist. It was a copy of one of the original one that came from the long-lost era where humans and Metalist lived in the same world. She focused on an image of a young woman who wore a necklace with a jewel made of eight colors. She watched it silently, "It looks like that time is fast approaching."
A man who wore a golden robe nodded. His hood hid his face as he read one of his own, "With the Metalist showing themselves, it would only be a matter of time before that person will come into play. With the creatures also able to come back here, there is no way to prevent the upcoming chain of events."
"Yes. I already have an idea who might be the most likely candidate. I'm sure you noticed it too."
"Yes Matriarch. If someone like him managed to defeat Milla'iin with words, someone A M'arrillian chained by his master's belief, then he is surely the one who might prove himself," he glanced at her, "And what of the Elementalist who came. Are you really going to give to his demand?"
"I have no intention of sacrificing Milla'iin. His fate is clear. We need him alive, but we cannot let the Elementalist without anything," the old woman replied as he closed his book. She stood up with difficulty, "He is still stuck at the start of his journey."
"The Elementalist is also asking one of the four guides. He isn't aware of Remi."
"It is for the best he doesn't know about him," she grumbled.
The man also closed his book, "The Elementalist will be here soon. What is your plan?"
"We stall him. We need to stall as long as possible. He will use more radical option if we take too long. We have to speak with the two in advance," she said as she walked outside of the room.
The man followed her.
Chapter 26: Negotiation
The two walked in front of the portal that linked the Earth to Perim. They nodded at the visitors. It was the same water Elementalist as before.
The member of the council watched the old woman and the man besides her. He couldn't see the face of the man. He had no idea who this human was. He just had a feeling he was high in the rank of the Guardian of the Cothica, "I came and get my answer. Will you give me what I asked. I do not want to wound our relationship with the Light of the Cothica," he gracefully and respectfully bowed to them. That was despite his words sounding demanding.
The Matriarch nodded, "We are talking about it. For now, the government are refusing to release Milla'iin. His trial hasn't started. As for Tom, you know you are asking another one of them to disappear. One of the boys got capture by the Metalists."
The sapphire creature gasped, "W-what? One of them came here? I-I was certain they all perished," he glanced at the side. He then looked at the man face, "Even so, we have to make the creatures paid for daring to come back here. Those bastards thought they could control the Cothica and turn your kind into slaves. Surely you haven't forgotten about this crime. This unforgivable crime. They want to repeat the same. Without the guide, they won't be able to make any progress in their vile desires," he clenched his hands.
"We are more than ready to handle them. We always knew this day would come and we prepared for centuries. It came earlier than expected."
"I was certain I would die before this day would come," the old woman told the creature.
The Elementalist frowned, "So you are refusing the give the human away?"
"No," the Matriarch raised her hand in peace, "But we need to prepare him for his stay. He committed no crimes."
"How do you intend to 'prepare him'?" the creature curiously asked. There was a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"We will teach him how to awaken his power over the light. As he will surely be target of trouble and needs to defend himself," the man replied as he showed the light in his hand.
The water being watched the light, fascinated by the radiance of the light. He felt the beauty and peace coming out of the light. He pushed his attention away from it, "I have no problem to let him learn how to protect himself. He isn't a sinner who allowed the creatures to return. You told us it was Milla'iin and the M'arrillians who invaded the Cothica."
"And it will be for the best to let our kind judged him for his crimes," the Matriarch said before he could reply, "As for the other M'arrillians, they agreed not to come to our world until they are forbidden for their crimes. Many of them already been judged fairly, from what we got."
"Once he is judge, he needs to face our wrath for desecrating the Cothica," the creature stubbornly replied.
The two knew his actions made little sense and was driven by anger.
The Matriarch pointed out, "And what of the other members of the council? They didn't come last and didn't this time. You came on your own. What is going on among your tribe?"
"Is there a divide among your tribe?" the man asked.
"No. I came because I'm the one who is taking action," he raised his back a little, "The others don't do what must be done. We already have Tera Motus betraying us and helping the other tribes."
The man lightly lifted his head. A golden eye shined through the hood, "He also took action for what must be done. If he didn't the M'arrillians would have a chance to conquer the Earth, even with our direct intervention. The M'arrillians mind control ability is quite dangerous, even for us," he put his hands together, "So you shouldn't hold too much anger when you did the same as him."
"It is not the same!" the Elementalist grunted.
The two humans didn't argue with the creature who refused to saw the hypocrisy. They expected the water creatures to be creatures of wisdom and calm, but this one was the opposite.
The Matriarch went on, "Do you agree to wait until Tom is ready before we let you take him with you?"
"It will take a time to learn something he didn't know was possible."
"I will wait for a while. I won't wait forever. And you will bring Milla'iin with you," he ordered.
"We will find a way," the old lady said with a small smile, "However, you must let our kind get the satisfaction that justice has been served. If not, you would put the Cothica a bit against you."
The water being let out a nervous groan, before he nodded, "Fine. I do not want to turn the Cothica against my tribe. How come it hasn't even been done already?"
"Busy with fixing everything and adapting with the creatures coming to Earth. They never knew they existed for real. The exception are the players."
The man walked closer to the creatures, "It is a slow process, but the trial will come in the next month. I'm sure it can happen," he glanced at the Matriarch.
She knew he had a plan in his mind, "It will be Tom training that will take a while. We need to convince him to consider that at first anyway."
"Fine. I do not mind to wait for too long," he warned them.
The negotiation was over and the creature left them. He walked away towards the portal and left the two humans alone.
"And now, we need to talked with Michel and Annette," the Matriarch said.
"And let them negotiate with the military then," the man chuckled as they were going to transfer the headache of the situation to someone else.
"Yes."
The two walked away from the portal and went to the communication room. It took a few minutes for the old lady to reach it, as they needed to climb quite a few stairs.
The communication room was small. There was a large screen in front of them with a keyboard. They pressed on it and the face of a black man appeared.
The man was surprised at first, before he took a stoic stance, "Matriarch. What do I owe you the please of this call? You are lucky I wasn't busy with someone."
"We called you because the member of the council of the Elementalist came back. He wants Milla'iin and Tom Major to be sent to his tribe. We are busy stalling for some time," she told him.
The man crossed his arms as he noticed the frown expression on the black man face, "We are in a bit of a situation with that creature. As we told you, he would come back for his demands. For now, we are stalling for some time before he might consider some… dramatic actions we could say."
"We cannot just send a human to their world because a creature is angry. Not only that, Milla'iin needs to face a fair trial before we could consider anything like that."
"How long before the trial began?" the Matriarch asked.
"It will start in a week. Everything is ready. It's not announced yet," Michel commented.
The old woman let out a small smile, "Maybe we can do something. We told him the trial would start in a month. Since you haven't announced it yet, we might be able to do something to win some time and plan everything, in case the Elementalist do something radical."
"Well…" the man sighed as he put his hand on his forehead, "I'm open to suggestion. As long as it won't be anyone in danger."
"We will need Tom to participate in this. It is more important than just letting him get the boy, the real Tom, and Milla"iin," the man said as he glanced at the woman by his side.
"You are asking way too much. Tom father is an important member of the military and we have no intention of putting a teen in danger voluntarily and we won't do it in a quotation way either. We might get into trouble with the entire army," he warned them.
"We wish we wouldn't have to do this, but the creature made his choice. The Elementalist somehow guessed who the four guide to the Cothica's are," the man said with a hint of a guess how it would be possible, "We have no idea how they got it."
"Maybe you told him," Michel looked at them suspiciously. His face tensed and his veins could be seen under his black skin.
The Matriarch nodded negatively, "We didn't give him any clue about them. He told us his name the first time."
"I doubt you are telling the true. I am thankful for your help in the past and the access to Chaotic, but we do not know any of your true intentions. Give me many good reasons that we should ask Tom Major to go there. He will endanger himself. It's not his code who would go there."
The man took off his hood. His long blond hair was visible. He had a scar under his left eye, "It will be better Tom joins willingly than captured by the Elementalist himself. He will be able to get a few clues about the Metalist who kidnapped Peyton," he held a small sphere in his hand and tapped on it with his finger. The little sphere had a little white light coming out of it, "They are difficult choice to make."
"You will tell me everything that is going on. You will show me your true intention right now. The Codemasters will listen carefully to what you have to say. I refuse to hear any little lies. Why do you help us from the beginning? Why are you asking Tom to put his life in danger. What more secrets are you keeping from us?"
The man grunted as he clenched his hands.
The Matriarch chuckled, "Fine. We will tell you. However, this will stay between us and the Codemasters. No, a word outside of it until we tell Tom about it. Understood?"
"Fine!" the man and the Codemasters replied.
AC: This is the end of this chapter. No answer yet for you.
Next: How Is Everything Evolving?
Remi went to visit the M'arrillians and watched how things were changing, also asked them if they knew anything about something.