Conclusion

Teridax rubbed his face with his hands. “I was promised a chance to smash this dark mirror. But now you don’t want me to smash it?”

“You can smash all the mirrors you like in any other universe. But not here.”

“And what,” Teridax gestured to the fallen Toa, “Do you propose we do with them? The Shadow Matoran said he was cured by a Klakk—a very apt name for one of Mutran’s species, by the way. But just about all the Rahi have deserted this island.”

“Can you use your sonic powers?”

Teridax shrugged. “Perhaps, but I won’t have the pinpoint control a Toa of Sonics would. And I forgot to pack mine.”

Mazeka frowned. The Toa needed to be sent back to their own universes, but it would do no good to send them as Shadow Toa.

As the two pondered what their next step should be, help arrived in a most unexpected form.

“They’re in here,” a voice could be faintly heard beyond the doors. “Pohatu and I wanted to do something with them sooner when we were checking on the teleportation device, but Makuta sent the Exo-Toa to chase us out. And we were so pressed for time anyway. But I couldn’t bear to abandon them here…”

“I understand, I understand,” came a second voice, one very familiar to Mazeka. “But at least we’re here now, and, well… Maybe we can heal them, even if we don’t have a way to send them back to their universes.”

“We can figure that out later,” the first voice said. He hesitated. “Odd. This vehicle wasn’t here when I was here before.”

Toa Krakua stepped through the busted steel door, and his gaze fell at once on the unconscious forms of the Toa, which his eyes followed all the way to the large white Makuta. The Toa stiffened at once, and he raised his Sonic Vibration Sword.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Wait, Krakua, it’s me,” Mazeka stepped forward. “We were just wondering what to do with these guys.” He glanced around, a little embarrassed. They practically stood in an epicenter of strewn Toa bodies.

Now a gold and white Toa stepped through the steel doors, and although it took Mazeka a moment to recognize him, the realization hit him like a thunderbolt. Indeed, the Toa as an alternate version of the very Toa scattered around them.

Takanuva paused, his reaction much the same as that of Krakua.

“What happened here? Who are you?”

“I know the Matoran,” Toa Krakua gestured at Mazeka. “But the Makuta is unknown to me.”

“It’s Makuta Teridax,” Takanuva snarled. “I know him well… Though a white and gold color scheme doesn’t suit him.”

“No, it’s—he’s from an alternate universe. He’s here to help.” Mazeka insisted. The Ko-Matoran would have laughed at the absurdity of it all if not for the gravity of the situation.

“How do you know?”

“I brought him here myself.”

Krakua threw a glance at Takanuva. “What do you think?”

Takanuva started to say something, but then stopped and closed his eyes.

Concentrating for a moment, his mask flared a little as he focused his power into it.

Opening his eyes again, he nodded.

“My Avohkii… it can only sense light in him. Moral light,” he clarified. “I can’t imagine this could be the Makuta we knew. Or any Makuta we knew.”

Makuta Teridax smiled.

“Very well. Apologies for mistrusting you. Both.” Krakua looked at Makuta, then at Mazeka. He looked around at the fallen Toa forms. “I guess we’ll have to clean all this up. So, you say it takes a sonic frequency to return them to normal?”

Takanuva nodded.

“Very well. I’ll modulate for the right one again,” Krakua concentrated, and very quickly, a soft hum filled the air.

✴        ✴        ✴

Mazeka looked on as the last few Toa threw uncomfortable glances at the Olmak-bearing Makuta Tridax—as well as the various other Makuta of the world of the Melding. They weren’t enthusiastic about having to trust a parallel version of the very Makuta that had abducted them in the first place, but with the quiet assurance of the Toa and Mazeka, they knew it was better than remaining in the wrong universe for eternity.

As each Takanuva stepped through the portal, Tridax briefly scanned each Toa’s mind for a picture of the universe each had come from, then willed the Olmak to send them to that universe. At Toa Takanuva’s insistence, even the bodies of the dead Toa had been sent as much as possible to their own worlds, so that they could be buried by those who loved them.

The process moved slowly, and there was little that those native to the universe could do but watch. Takanuva seemed to be talking with the alternate Makuta, and although the Toa was wary, he seemed to relax the more they talked. Krakua was listening to the two, but when Makuta gestured at Mazeka, the Toa threw a glance at the Ko-Matoran, then went over to him and pulled him to the side.

“Would never have expected to see you here, old friend,” he grinned. “Makuta was explaining what you did down there. Whatever happened to killing all evildoers? Are you sure you aren’t from another universe as well?”

“Nah,” Mazeka shrugged nonchalantly. “I would have killed them, but it was strategically optimal for the Order to preserve the lives of these Toa. Sending them back intact means we have universes that will be grateful to us, should we ever need the allies.”

“Oh?” the Toa of Sonics asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m kidding,” Mazeka chuckled softly. “Mostly. But… I finally realized what you were trying to tell me, all those years ago. Maybe… maybe the Toa really were on to something.”

Krakua smiled and threw an arm over the Ko-Matoran’s shoulder, side-hugging him.

“I am glad, Mazeka.”

He hesitated for a moment.

“You know… a while back, I asked Helryx about the future of the Toa. After all, over the past fifteen thousand years, the Toa have been hunted to near-extinction, and precious few have risen from the ranks of the Matoran. Heck, the Makuta were assassinating Matoran that promised to be Toa before they could be turned.

“But then she responded, saying that she herself had seen most of her brothers and sisters killed since the early days of the universe, with only a few still alive—and that only because most of them had abandoned the Toa Code, or never followed it to begin with. Then she had me wear a Kratana, and I saw something:

“I saw a new order of Toa rising. Matoran would rise out of Metru Nui, more would rise out of the Valmai region, the Tren Krom Peninsula, and Karda Nui. And these would just be the first to come. The old world might pass away, but the new Toa would guide the world into the future. I turned out to be the first of these, followed by Takanuva and the Toa Mahri. But I have long wondered who the rest will be. I think I very much hope you will be one.”

“Thanks, but I don’t really think Toa is my style,” Mazeka laughed. “I’ve achieved my destiny. I’m fine with just being an ex-Order operative.”

“We’ll see,” Krakua shrugged. “But I think destiny may surprise you yet.”

To the side, in a truly bizarre twist of fate, Takanuva seemed to smile at something Makuta Teridax said.

Now only one alternate Toa remained, the one that had previously led the army and borne the Staff of Darkness. This Toa had deliberately placed himself at the back of the line. Now that he was up, he turned to gaze sadly at Takanuva.

“Takanuva… I have peered into a dark mirror. One that consumed me whole. I have seen my spirit corrupted with darkness and rot, and my former spirit transformed into something ugly.”

“I know. I was… almost what you were,” the native Takanuva responded.

The alternate Takanuva grasped the other’s arm. “You must see the Shadow Leeches destroyed. They only corrupt and disfigure the mind. I… I have come to realize that a being is not naturally good or evil, but those things… all they do is warp and mangle the spirit of a being. The Hordika venom as well.”

“I understand,” Takanuva vowed. “Everything in Destral has been destroyed, but I will hunt down anything that remains.”

“Good,” the alternate Takanuva nodded. “Good.” With that, he gazed at Mazeka and the alternate Teridax in turn, before moving into the portal and vanishing.

Makuta Teridax stepped forward and glanced at the other Makuta. “Thank you, brothers. Our work in this world is at an end. You are free to leave, but let’s not forget our own gift to this universe.”

The various Makuta bowed respectfully and stepped through Tridax’s portal. Tridax himself entered, but the portal did not disappear.

Teridax glanced at the two Toa remaining. “If I may have a moment alone with Mazeka…”

“Certainly,” Takanuva nodded. “Mazeka, Krakua and I have a skiff roped on Destral’s southern port that Eegur’s watching over. If you want to ride with us back out, you’re more than welcome to.”

“I appreciate it,” Mazeka nodded. “I’ll be right there.”

As the two Toa started off, Teridax turned to look at Mazeka.

“We have something for you. A lesson in redemption, if you will.”

Makuta Gorast stepped out of the portal, the unconscious form of a Ta-Matoran in her arms. His heartlight glowed softly as Gorast rested him on the ground. The female Makuta nodded gruffly at Teridax, then returned into the portal.

“You cured him!” Mazeka inhaled. “And healed his mind as well?”

Makuta nodded.

“Balance has been restored. What is yours is yours again.”

“Thank you, Makuta,” Mazeka found himself saying—a phrase he never imagined himself ever uttering. “Although your kind was never the most beneficial to ours, we could not have righted this wrong without your assistance.”

“I could say the same about you and yours, Mazeka,” the ghost of a smile passed over Makuta’s mask. “As it were, most dimension travellers are eager to learn the fates of the parallels in the worlds they cross into. But you have not asked once. I think deep down you have already guessed it.”

Mazeka said nothing, but looked down.

“You became a vigilante, Mazeka. With all the powers and mantle of a Toa in that world, you found you could not abide by the law of the Great Beings, and you fled to a region that they neglected. There you abandoned the title of ‘Toa’ and took it upon yourself to exercise the murderous hand of justice. In our world, Vultraz was your brother in arms. We sent Krakua to end your warpath, but you… ended him.”

Mazeka merely stared at his former fellow villager.

A grim smile again flashed across Makuta’s face. “As I said. ‘A turn to the left instead of the right,’ The Great Beings and I were most invested in seeing how you would turn out in this world, and I, at least, have been most intrigued. It gives me hope for both of our dimensions. By the reckoning of our world, and by this one, you have earned yourself the title of ‘Toa.’ For better or for worse. Probably for worse, knowing the state of this world,” he added to himself.

Mazeka chuckled. “I appreciate it, Makuta. I have never given the Toa enough credit. Nor you this universe.”

“Maybe it has a bright future in store after all,” Makuta nodded in agreement. “Farewell, Mazeka.”

“I’ll see you in another world.”

As Makuta stepped through the portal, and as the void sealed shut behind him, Mazeka threw a glance at the unconscious form of Vultraz. Eegur, no doubt, would be glad to see him. Part of Mazeka still found it difficult to believe that the former Shadow Matoran could have possibly changed for the better, but Mazeka shook his head and dismissed the thought. Hadn’t everything he’d learned pointed against that?

Still, something about Makuta’s words still ate at him. Had the Great Beings’ experiment really been about redeeming Vultraz? Or had the experiment been one performed on Mazeka? Had Teridax deliberately manifested in himself everything the Ko-Matoran had believed—deliberately reflected the natural endpoint of the Matoran’s own beliefs? Mazeka’s thoughts grew sour at the idea of the Great Beings experimenting on him. If the Great Beings in this world think they can play us like puppets, I’m going to have to have a serious word with them.

The Ko-Matoran shook his head. No. If conflict ever arose with the Great Beings or any other faction in this new world, Mazeka would deal with it then. But now he was no longer alone.

By the three virtues and the Toa Code, no matter what came their way, Mazeka and the Toa would steer this world into the bright future it had in store.