Epiphany/Part 6

Rayzok vanquished another warrior in the arena while Rayzok looked on, satisfied. A few weeks had passed since the two Rayzoks had announced the new order of their city, which was named Rayzodia. The Rayzok who had been the ruler for three years announced his presence to the Vendora inhabiting his city, and revealed himself to be an alternate version of the Vendora’s favorite gladiator. The ruler Rayzok announced that, as of that moment, he and his double would be the undisputed kings of the realm, with the gladiator Rayzok quelling rebellions by the warriors in the arena and the ruler Rayzok acting as the figurehead. With the identity of Rayzok now literally able to be in two places at once, the pair of them were able to achieve a tight grip on the city and had been preparing to turn it into an empire. Already they were setting their sights on the nearest mircoplanetoid, and outfitting the Vendora for any conquest that might be necessary.

Ultimately, the gladiator Rayzok ended up doing a lot of the dirty work for his double, but he was fine with that. He was used to it after having done dirty work for other Makuta for millennium upon millennium. However, this worker perspective allowed the gladiator Rayzok to gain a different perspective on the world than he had ever had before. After having been in the arena of the common warrior and seen Vendora life in the city, he had found himself wondering if the hierarchy was wrong somehow. True, it only made sense that the superior beings be in charge of the inferior ones, but it seemed…inefficient to have the Vendora do all the work. After all, Rayzok or his double could accomplish hundreds of times what the Vendora could, but they were merely the rulers and figureheads.

Gladiator Rayzok watched as his double descended from the stands. As time had gone on, as odd as it seemed, Rayzok had begun to hate himself. This pompous, extravagant version of himself balked at the very mention of doing any actual work, always calling upon his assemblage of Vendora assistants to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. Why the bigot couldn’t just use his power to get it done was beyond the comprehension of the gladiator Rayzok.

Furthermore, this alternate version of Rayzok seemed far too eager to annihilate any Vendora who failed to do their duty. It was wasteful and pointless to dispose of perfectly good workers like that.

Gladiator Rayzok walked over to Ruler Rayzok. One of the members of the warrior class was speaking to him. The conversation ended with Ruler Rayzok smiling and shaking the warrior’s hand. For the past few weeks the warriors has been rebelling fruitlessly against the two Makuta, but now it seemed they had struck a deal of some kind.

Gladiator Rayzok arrived at the exact moment the warrior left. “Ah, hello, my double,” Ruler Rayzok called. The fighters have bartered for their lives. They will function as puppet governors over the Vendora to save some effort on our part.”

“Excellent,” Gladiator Rayzok answered.

Ruler Rayzok sighed. “I’m not sure what to do about the Vendora. They just won’t do what they’re told.”

Gladiator Rayzok rolled his eyes. “I’ve told you a hundred times. You keep telling them to do things that are literally impossible for them to do. If you want to get something done, you have to give it enough effort for it to actually get done.”

Ruler Rayzok glanced at his partner. “They exist to serve us. If they can’t serve us as we wish them to, they don’t deserve to live.”

Gladiator Rayzok nodded. Something was wrong with his mind. His mind didn’t want to accept those words. It should have, but something was wrong. Those words didn’t seem to make sense for some reason. Of course the inferior beings existed to serve the stronger beings. It was the nature of things. It was why the strong were strong, to seize power from the weak.

Right?

Gladiator Rayzok turned and walked alongside his doppelganger to their shared palace. Along the way, the warrior continued to ponder. Was the real purpose of strength to gain power for one’s personal use? Or was it to do for others what they could not do themselves?

As he walked along, Gladiator Rayzok thought this through. That second reason seemed to make more sense. It was not only efficient, it was logical. Why waste the powerful ones on tasks that require no strength at all, while those lacking in power labored days on end to accomplish what would take the strong mere hours?

Suddenly it dawned on Rayzok. All this time he and his partner had been going on about the Vendora not fulfilling their purpose in life, while they ignored that they were neglecting their own purpose. The Makuta had been created to serve those weaker than them. They had been brought into existence to protect the Matoran and improve their lives by adding animals to the universe, all the while keeping the universe stable. They had never done any of this faithfully. This realization shamed Rayzok. All this time he had been catering to his own selfish desires, not once thinking about doing his duty. This true irony was, however, that, if he had been doing his duty, he would never have been serving Burtok in the first place, and would never have ended up here in the first place.

He was glad that he had, however. He had gotten a chance to see himself from an outside perspective, looking through this crystal-clear lens of an alternate self that walked beside him. This being with him was a picture of what he would become, and he hated the very thought of it. This being was a disgrace. He didn’t deserve to live.

Exactly, Rayzok realized. ''Already old Rayzok had died within me. Now he just has to die in reality.''

They had just reached the steps to the city hall-turned-palace. Ruler Rayzok gestured for his partner to enter first. Gladiator Rayzok shook his head.

“Me,” he said.

“Yes?” the mirror of old Rayzok asked.

“I would have you know I am not the same being you left the arena with,” Rayzok announced. “I know who I am, and who I was always supposed to be. You know how you were like a mirror of me from the future? I’ve got news. That’s not true anymore. I’ve had an epiphany. You’re not me anymore. I’ve killed the old self residing in me, and now I will kill him in reality.”

The Ruler Rayzok wasn’t sure how to respond. He thought at first that this was a prank, but when a blast of fragmentation power slammed into his chest he was clearly assured that it was not.

The dark mirror of old Rayzok dropped into his back, his energy essence flowing from his open armor in a tide of shadows. “I can’t believe this!” he cried in pain. “All this time, you pretended to be my ally! Now, as we prepare to make the most of our collaboration, you turn on me!”

Rayzok planted his foot on his double’s chest. He readied his heat vision power, preparing to incinerate his double’s essence. “I’m not the traitor here,” Rayzok said coldly, his face surrounded by the smoke-like essence of his counterpart. “You are. You’re the one who betrayed everything we were created to do. I’m the Rayzok who was always meant to be.” With that, Rayzok fired his heat beams, ending his old self’s life once and for all.