Chapter 3: Freedom

Freedom is the third chapter of The Mazkertis Paradox. In this chapter:
 * In the UG, Kakamu meets his sinister counterpart from the Dark Universe.

Plot
Kakamu finds himself in a control station in the UG, forced to wait for the arrival of Monarch's "master".

Not wanting to do that, Kakamu attacks Monarch from behind, intending to damage his suit with shattering power, but finds that he has been stripped of his powers. Monarch responds to the punch by elbowing Kakamu across the room and reminding him to stay down. Kakamu defies him again, running up to him and climbing onto the back of his suit. Kakamu manages to remove Monarch's helmet by digging his fingers beneath the neck, revealing that Monarch is actually human, like the last Monarch who abducted Kakamu thousands of years ago. Monarch chokes and dies due to the absence of air in the room, which irritates Kakamu, because he had hoped to get information out of him before letting him die. Because of this, Kakamu begins meditating, recalling the first time that he had been kidnapped by a man named Monarch and seeing if there is anything in his memories that could explain his present situation.

Kakamu's meditation is eventually interrupted by a voice entering his head and a trail of black smoke slithering towards him from an open door. Kakamu converses with the voice via his own thoughts, as a physical conversation between the two entities would be impossible due to the absence of air in the room. The voice reveals itself to be Dukamu, who lectures Kakamu on several things, such as the curse of immortality (after which Monarch is resuscitated by his own power of immortality) and why it leads to more suffering (Monarch suffocates again due to the lack of air in the room). When Kakamu asks why he is there, Dukamu says that he has captured Kakamu in order to bait a higher power. When Kakamu asks what that higher power is, Dukamu shows him a telepathic image of User Kon.

Before Dukamu can reveal too much to his counterpart, User Kon appears in the control room to silence him. Kakamu witnesses the beginning of their battle, but is promptly teleported back to the Claws of the Phoenix's camp on Malchior IV by User Kon. Kakamu takes a moment to process what just happened, coming to the conclusion that the multiverse must be saved due to it being favoured by the Users, but the Users are too busy holding back a larger threat to save it themselves. Running across the beautiful fields of Malchior, Kakamu absorbs the air around him to enable him to fly, and the light from the planet's sun for his battle with Mazkertis. He takes off into the sky, hoping to be reunited with the Claws of the Phoenix on Saskana.

Characters

 * Dukamu
 * Kakamu
 * Monarch (DU being)
 * User Kon