Conclusion

The room was silent. A thousand emotions swirled and mingled as its inhabitants marveled at the encounter.

For Gelu, it was like meeting an old acquaintance again. The blame he had harbored for Surel’s fate, the wonder at the technological brilliance, the fear he had held… all these and more he had ascribed to the Great Beings all his life. Even before the Shattering, he had not stood in the presence of one in tens of thousands of years.

For Orde, it was as if a veil had been lifted from his eyes. From his foggiest memories before the spark of intelligence had lit his mind, he knew he had once seen the faces of the Great Beings. Here in the Spirit Forge with Helryx and the others, he and the first of his kind had been tested and tried. To see one again now…

Zaria, too, could not identify the truth of what he felt. He had seen the suffering of the iron tribe, and he had learned of the Great Beings’ apathy toward them. In fact, of the travelers, only Chiara held unambiguous marvel at the sight of Angonce.

For Angonce himself, his emotions were unambiguous as well.

“When Mata Nui tasked you with finding Great Beings, you could not anticipate what you would learn about us along the way. When you were raised all your lives in awe at all the ways we had provided for you, you could not have known all the ways we had failed you.”

Angonce gestured in the general direction their attacker had gone.

“That creature is Marendar. It was designed as one of an untold number of failsafes that we created. And this failsafe was for the extermination of the Toa if they were turned loose and ran amok upon the planet. It was sealed beneath the Black Spike Mountains… until now.”

Zaria’s fists balled, and metal formed around them. Emotions exploded that moments ago he hadn’t even realized were there.

“You designed a machine… that would exterminate us? That would facilitate our genocide?!”

His eyes ignited with rage, and he advanced on Angonce. Orde put his hand on his shoulder, but the Toa of Iron wheeled on him.

“Have my kind not been persecuted enough?”

“You will get nothing from acting on pure emotion,” Chiara snapped. “Pull yourself together.”

Now Zaria turned toward her, even as a nimbus of lightning crackled around Chiara’s hands. Orde quickly stepped between them, holding each of them at bay.

“Now is the time for answers,” he snapped. “I suspect there is far more to this story than any of us have ever known.” Turning to Angonce, he asked, “Is that true?”

Angonce nodded.

“We were flawed individuals like each of you,” the Great Being responded. “In our delusion, we set ourselves apart, withdrew, and acted like we were something more. But it was our mistakes that shaped you. Now, even as one of the Great Beings now threatens your civilization… it is our responsibility to set it right.”

“Why do you care about them?” Zaria demanded of Orde. “You’re one of their mistakes too.”

“Orde has already started to see the larger story he fits into,” Angonce cut in. “For one, we always intended to match the Ce-Matoran templates more closely with the female Skrall upon whom their element was based. Orde was not responsible for this.”

“There are answers here, Zaria,” Orde urged. “Answers some of us have been waiting lifetimes for.”

“Then tell me, Great Being,” Gelu said, now himself stepping forward. “My best friend was lost guiding a pack of iron wolves in the war. Like Perditus, Kabrua’s Vorox, and many others, he wielded the weapons that one of your kind had equipped him with. Who was responsible for this? And if he died, who will be made to atone? The crimes of the Shattering are not yet paid for.”

“Each Great Being will bear the cost of their mistakes,” Angonce replied. “But there is one in particular who must face justice for his crimes. This is the one who gave Surel his wolves… and who hid himself in Mata Nui’s universe.”

Angonce turned and started back to the door. “The Great Beings are not here. They rest deep within the jungle, in a lost city even the denizens of Bota Magna do not know… the Veiled City. Because I did not go with them, I cannot gain access. There may be a way in, but to get there we must descend deeper into the Spirit Forge, to levels where our experiments roam free. Even my brothers and sisters would balk at descending into them.”

“We have to do it,” said Chiara. “We must find a way into the Veiled City. Mata Nui asked us to find the Great Beings.”

“I will take you to them,” Angonce replied. “Because sooner or later they will be found. But when we do, it will be unlike anything you expect… and when they return to this world, I fear they will bring with them the worst of our world… and the worst of yours.”