Chapter 4: Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound is the fourth chapter of The Mazkertis Paradox. It details Shattered Mirror Kakamu's departure from The Reformed Second Brotherhood of Makuta.

Summary
Shattered Mirror Kakamu touches down next to the portal he helped build with Dukamu on XTR-686. To his surprise, he finds the corpses of two warriors there, Marlon and Luux, neither of whom bear any similarities to previously encountered Dark Universe warriors. This leads SMK to believe that they had come through from a universe other than the Dark Universe, which meant that the portal could possibly be configured to lead to other universes, such as the Shattered Mirror Universe. He reflects on the ill-fated attempt to conquer the OU that he orchestrated several years ago, and decides that his people should be allowed to return home instead of hiding among the people of OU, because they were only trying to preserve their culture by coming into OU and making room for themselves. However, he realizes has has no way to contact the people of his universe, so he spends a while thinking of a way forward. Eventually, he remembers the thought-projection technology that he detected upon entering the TrSBoM base underneath Stelta-Stal. He teleports there, hoping that it had been left alone by Blackout's forces following his attack.

When he appears on Stelta-Stal, he is instantly attacked by the Rahkshi-Nui created by Xikella, as it sees him as a deserter. SMK manages to destroy one of its arms, but Kivalon commands it to stop before it crushes SMK's armour with its other one. Kivalon is also annoyed by SMK's desertion, but gives him a chance to explain himself. Upon learning that SMK has a number of powerful warriors loyal to him, and that the portal on XTR-686 can be calibrated to go to another universe, Kivalon suggests that they go to the UG and kill Dukamu's army "in their sleep". SMK is horrified by this idea, and suspects that Dukamu's evil is starting to rub off on his brother, which is the reason Kivalon fled to OU in the first place. Not believing he can stop Dukamu with or without his army, SMK pushes past Kivalon to get to the thought transmitter, making it clear that he would lead his people back home and leave him to fight Dukamu alone. Enraged, Kivalon tries to stop him but SMK blasts him with chain lightning and shoves him in a stasis pod. He then uses the thought transmitter to contact every Shattered Mirror native, and tells them to meet him on XTR-686 in three days.

At the end of the chapter, SMK buries Marlon and Luux and waits for the first of his kin to arrive. A ship lands nearby and five figures in spacesuits walk down the ramp... their leader being Shroom.

Characters

 * Kakamu (SMU)
 * Kivalon
 * The Rahkshi-Nui
 * Shroom (SMU)