Unwilling Restraint

[av.]

“Brooding again?”The being looked up from his perch overlooking the city, watching the sky fade from an copper-toned hue to the cold black of an obsidian shard. He shouldn’t have been surprised, after all. It seemed that the same conversation repeated itself, day after day.“As you seem to think I always do. Checking up on me again?” Kraeth could feel his lips turn up in a smirk as he visualized the look of annoyance that was probably on her face right now.“We’ve all told you about this time and time again. I’ve told you, Raipa has told you, Taikara has told you, even the Elders have told you. This is a waste of time. You know as well as I do that we can’t interfere.”The resigned look that Kraeth gave her as he stood up was a mixture of emotions much like a stew that hadn’t cooked properly, boiling, bubbling, and changing every so often. His face flickered from anger, sadness, grief, resignation, determination, and back again. “It’s not a victory, but I’ll take it.” Lasora thought. “Now maybe he’ll finally give up on this ridiculous ritual of sitting out here every night.”“But why?” She could feel her heart nearly break at the almost devastated look he gave her. “Why do we have the power to stop time, yet be cursed with the duty of making sure time runs according to plan in this universe?”“It’s meant to be.” His expression was unreadable, and he lifted his cloak up over his head and turned around, walking back inside their little “home” in an abandoned section of the Po-Metru Sculpture Fields.“How can you be so sure about that?” And again, the roles were taken up.“We can’t interfere for a reason. The Matoran are autonomous. They’re only meant to be influenced by Mata Nui, and only in dire emergencies, if necessary to complete his mission. We all know the rules and repercussions. That was what we signed up for.” Lasora felt herself slipping, her arms drooping ever so slightly, tired of the repetition of the endless conversation that would always happen, one way or another.“But can’t you see?” He turned, almost incredulous at how willing she was to obey a rule set down millennia ago at a far different time, by a far different generation. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t feel this is exactly the kind of time where we need to step in! Forget the ancient rules, they’re useless now! We should be stepping in to salvage what’s left of the situation now that Mata Nui’s gone!”Her thoughts churned angrily in her head. Couldn’t he see just how dense he was? Before she knew it, words were spilling out of her mouth uncontrollably. “You want to know why we don't step in? Why we give the Matoran free will, and why we let them choose what happens to their universe? It’s because of people like you, people who let their emotions control them, and everyone around them. You want to know why we do this? I’ll tell you.”His eyes widened as she finally realized just how escalated the conversation had gotten. “One Hundred Thousand years before the Great Cataclysm. The Xians have tried to rise up, and look to create an empire. A Watchguard named Xeratos steps in to “fix the problem.” He cleans things up his way, and we let him carry on, unconcerned with anything of unimportance. 5,000 years later, we end up with a power hungry Watchguard as the head of one of the most important groups in the Matoran Universe, the Hand of Artakha.” Kraeth dipped his head down, almost ashamedly.“Since you seem to find yourself lacking in words, I’ll continue.” She spoke swiftly now, letting the words flow like a rushing stream. “36,000 years later, we decide to step in and in our words, unify the Matoran. Long story short, we end up with the League of Six Kingdoms. And that wasn’t even the worst part. We ended up with Teridax, and now he thinks of us as little more than the world’s most powerful cockroach.”Lasora moved away from the ledge that Kraeth was perched on, and brushed the cloth entrance to the side, pausing momentarily to offer one last comment to him.“We do what we do, to protect them. We don’t give them Free Will as a gift for being so trustworthy. Every time we've tried to "correct" the problems in the Universe, we end up inadvertently making things worse. That's why things are just better left for them to handle. That's why we give them free will, because we simply can’t trust ourselves to Determine every aspect of their lives fairly.”----------Well, I'm back. Figured I'd use this to launch my way back into this forum. Hopefully as I get back into the flow of things, the writings will start to get better again.Anyway, comments and critiques welcome!

Edited July 6, 2012 by Kryzath

[fishers64]

“One Hundred Billion years before the Great Cataclysm. The Xians have tried to rise up, and look to create an empire. A Watchguard named Xeratos steps in to “fix the problem.” He cleans things up his way, and we let him carry on, unconcerned with anything of unimportance. 5,000 years later, we end up with a power hungry Watchguard as the head of one of the most important groups in the Matoran Universe, the Hand of Artakha.” Kraeth dipped his head down, almost ashamedly.

I think you meant to say "One Hundred Thousand" years, right? The giant robot didn't even exist One Hundred Billion years ago. I haven't heard of the Watchguards, so I'm going to assume that's something you've invented. Interesting.

We give them free will because we simply can’t trust ourself to Determine every aspect of their lives fairly.

Should be "ourselves".

“But can’t you see?” He turned, almost incredulous at how willing she was to obey a rule set down millennia ago at a far different time, by a far different generation. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t feel this is exactly the kind of time where we need to step in! Forget the ancient rules, they’re useless now! We should be stepping in to salvage what’s left of the situation now that Mata Nui’s gone!”Her thoughts churned angrily in her head. Couldn’t he see just how dense he was? Before she knew it, words were spilling out of her mouth uncontrollably. “You want to know why we give the Matoran free will? It’s because of people like you, people who let their emotions control them, and everyone around them. You want to know why we do this? I’ll tell you.”

Whoa...that's a bit of a jump there. You've gone from the dismal state of Mata Nui to Matoran free will? Isn't the malfunction more about Makuta free will or Mata Nui's free will than the Matoran?Anyway, it's a nice explanation for why the Great Beings didn't interfere with the robot when it crashed on Aqua Magna. Aside from the above nitpicks, it's a decent story, if little more than a philosophical conversation. But a good one, for all that.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I really enjoyed the conversation between Kraeth and Lasora. Especially when the latter used some of the history of the MU to defend her argument. Though you also made Kraeth's argument valid too.I do have a couple minor complaints. One is that I'm not sure you exactly what these beings are. I believe they are Great Beings, since they say they can stop time. But I'm not 100% sure on that. It would be nice if this was clarified. Also, I think that the ending was a little abrupt. I did like it, but it would've been nice to see how Kraeth would've responded to Lasora's argument. That's just me opinion though.Those are just minor complaints. I did enjoy this story a lot and I thought it was really good.

[av.]

“One Hundred Billion years before the Great Cataclysm. The Xians have tried to rise up, and look to create an empire. A Watchguard named Xeratos steps in to “fix the problem.” He cleans things up his way, and we let him carry on, unconcerned with anything of unimportance. 5,000 years later, we end up with a power hungry Watchguard as the head of one of the most important groups in the Matoran Universe, the Hand of Artakha.” Kraeth dipped his head down, almost ashamedly.

I think you meant to say "One Hundred Thousand" years, right? The giant robot didn't even exist One Hundred Billion years ago. I haven't heard of the Watchguards, so I'm going to assume that's something you've invented. Interesting.Heh, whoops. Thanks for catching that. I've fixed it.

We give them free will because we simply can’t trust ourself to Determine every aspect of their lives fairly.

Should be "ourselves".Also fixed.

“But can’t you see?” He turned, almost incredulous at how willing she was to obey a rule set down millennia ago at a far different time, by a far different generation. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t feel this is exactly the kind of time where we need to step in! Forget the ancient rules, they’re useless now! We should be stepping in to salvage what’s left of the situation now that Mata Nui’s gone!”Her thoughts churned angrily in her head. Couldn’t he see just how dense he was? Before she knew it, words were spilling out of her mouth uncontrollably. “You want to know why we give the Matoran free will? It’s because of people like you, people who let their emotions control them, and everyone around them. You want to know why we do this? I’ll tell you.”

Whoa...that's a bit of a jump there. You've gone from the dismal state of Mata Nui to Matoran free will? Isn't the malfunction more about Makuta free will or Mata Nui's free will than the Matoran?Well, I was going for a bit of a different angle. Lasora's argument is that while things are still bad with Teridax running the Universe, but that's the result of the Matoran's actions, and it's still better then the alternative of having a Watchguard step in to "correct" the problem, which usually ends up doing more damage then it fixed.Anyway, it's a nice explanation for why the Great Beings didn't interfere with the robot when it crashed on Aqua Magna. Aside from the above nitpicks, it's a decent story, if little more than a philosophical conversation. But a good one, for all that.Thanks.

I really enjoyed the conversation between Kraeth and Lasora. Especially when the latter used some of the history of the MU to defend her argument. Though you also made Kraeth's argument valid too.I do have a couple minor complaints. One is that I'm not sure you exactly what these beings are. I believe they are Great Beings, since they say they can stop time. But I'm not 100% sure on that. It would be nice if this was clarified. Also, I think that the ending was a little abrupt. I did like it, but it would've been nice to see how Kraeth would've responded to Lasora's argument. That's just me opinion though.Watchguards are Great Beings, but their purpose is to "watch" over and observe the Matoran Universe, making sure Mata Nui's mission is still feasible.I agree, looking back on it, the ending was somewhat abrupt. But, it was just a warm-up, so I'm happy with how it turned out, nonetheless.qEDIT: I've made the ending flow a little bit better, in my opinion. Now it explains things a bit more.Those are just minor complaints. I did enjoy this story a lot and I thought it was really good.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Kryzath