Maitho let out a small laugh. Consciously, he had accepted Raiden’s words. The other man would never lie about something like that. Honesty was not just a rule he followed, but a principle he lived by. But despite Maitho’s acceptance, a part of his mind was rebelling against the idea. Another laugh escaped him. He shook his head, wondering if what Raiden had said was absurd or if his own reaction was more absurd.

“In this grand scheme of yours to kill every Guardian,” said Maitho, his eyes honed in on Raiden, “what are you going to get out of it?”

Raiden looked confused, as though he was just told that Earth was sshaped like a hexagon. “I get to complete my mission. But I’m guessing that’s not what you are asking.”

“Not at all,” said Maitho, shaking his head. “I’m wondering how you are going to escape your plans. How are you going to live?”

“Dinnae tell me ye havenae thought o that,” said Epona.

For a few blinks, Raiden looked from one to the other, before bursting into laughter. The reaction was so brazen that Maitho clenched his fist. He noticed Epona’s vein pushing against the skin of her forehead. Clearly, they both felt as though their words had no comical effect. Except that Raiden thought otherwise.

Despite how much Maitho wanted to snap at the laughing Guardian, he held himself back. He wasn’t about to burst into uncontrollable reactions just because of one ludicrous response from Raiden. This was not the time to show impatience. He had been losing control, throwing away his decision-making abilities to spontaneity and lack of control. All that it did was get him to consider throwing away his life.

Raiden finished his laughing fit with a few coughs into a fist. He cleared his throat and wiped a tear from one eye. “Oh, you guys are always suspicious.”

“Of ye?” said Epona, snorting. “Aye. Always.”

“And yet it was your own team who tossed you aside and me who chose to help you.”

Epona pursed her lips. She looked like she wanted to speak more, but at that moment, Raiden had made a point.

The Norse Guardian spread his arms. “I’m not going to start a confrontation. So once again, like always, let me be honest.” He sighed. “Though I wonder when you would go past your doubts and believe my words without hesitation.”

“Probably never,” said Maitho. “Although ever means less than two weeks for me.” Epona’s features softened. Before she could say anything, Maitho raised his hand. “I have to start accepting it now. I don’t have time to think about it. I definitely don't have time to wallow in pity about it." Epona's face broke into what Maitho could only describe as pride. He looked away, unable to form a befitting reaction to her reaction.

“Bravo,” said Raiden. He clapped slowly, his face showing genuine appreciation. For some reason, Maitho felt a tiny burst of accomplishment swell within him. It surprised him that he would be drawing on hope from someone he was meant to detest. “You’re like Joan Birman.”

By that point, Maitho understood that Raiden was once again going to use a roundabout way to get to his point. So instead of trying to shrug off what was being said, he chose to ask about it instead. “I know you’re going to tell me, so who is she and how am I related?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Raiden beamed. “Brilliant mathematician. Famous for her work in knot theory. Now, you might think that the woman had started early and was already making waves. But for unfortunate reasons, she didn’t get her Ph.D until she was 41. You remind me of her.”

Maitho understood. “Took me a while to realize something?”

“Absolutely. It’s like you have been making calculations all this time and now you finally graduated your thought processes with a degree. Great work. Took you long enough. But let’s not meander any longer.” He looked at them as though they were the reason the conversation took on a different route. “You want to know how I’m going to survive the mass death of all Guardians.”

“You spoke about honesty. So I hope you meant it.”

“I always mean it,” said Raiden. “Here’s the truth. I won’t.”

Maitho did not respond immediately. “You won’t?”

“Nope.” Raiden shook his head.

“You’re going to die.” Maitho allowed a moment to collect his thoughts. “Wait, you’re willing to die. This is suicide.”

Raiden shrugged. “And? You want me to exclude myself when I say that Guardians are going to be the end of humanity? I’m not going to do that. I believe in what I said. We are not here to save anyone. Everything we do is a step towards disaster, chaos, and genocide. Yet we are apparently made to believe that we are some kind of saviors." He shook his head. "All of us deserve to put an end to this. We do that by putting an end to us.”

Outside the window, Maitho recognized the road they were traveling on. It was one of the ways one could reach Cray’s mansion. Quinn had entered the area from the opposite side a few days ago.

“Question” said Epona.

“Ask away.” Raiden poured his attention to her, even twisting his body slightly to show that he was genuinely making sure to accept her words.

“Did ye ask any Guardian if they are willin tae die?” Her voice held the easily identifiable tones of repressed anger. “Because ahm not.”

“Yes, because I’m going to get a whole lot of supporters for the cause, right?”

“Whit makes ye think ye can pull thaim tae yer cause without their consent?”

“Should we ask the Guardians the same question about them pulling humans into their cause without anyone’s consent?”

Epona grit her teeth. “We didnae have a choice.”

“And so you decided to take the choice away from humans. How brave.”

Epona raised her hand. Maitho knew what was coming. “Wait,” he said, noticing that an arc of energy circled Raiden’s arm. The two Gauridans were about to unleash their powers inside the car. “Before we talk about your plan, I need your help.” Both Epona and Raiden looked at him with varying levels of confusion. He knew that it wouldn’t be easy to come up with an answer for Raiden's beliefs. He had recently accomplished beating his own desire, which was to simply bring things to an end. Taking responsibility for his own life seemed like he had climbed the tallest mountain in the world. Choosing between the lives of Guardians and human beings felt like traveling around the oceans of the world in a raft with an oar as his only means of propeller.

Then there was his role in everything. What was he supposed to do? Why was he important?

“But I have helped you,” said Raiden.

Maitho nodded. He didn’t know how he was going to convince the Norse Guardian, but he had to try. “I need your help with something else.” He looked at Epona. “How sure are you that Morrigan will help us?”

“Oh my,” said Raiden. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. The last I heard, she was locked in a prison somewhere, am I right?” His eyes went wide with understanding. He looked at Maitho with what could only be appreciation. “Are you planning to break her out? Now that is adventurous. I would never have predicted that. I’m guessing the others won’t see it coming. But I’m sure that is your intention.”

Maitho didn't know how much to reveal to Raiden. Deep down, he knew that honesty would gain him more help than anything else. It was the only valuable currency he could offer. Nothing else would work or was worth more than the simple truth. “That is,” he admitted. “I need her help if I need Brigid to not attack me or Epona for one moment. And to force her to listen to me.”

“Why do you want her to pay attention to you?”

“Because she is as much a victim here than all of us.” Even though Maitho wanted to believe that it wasn’t true, the reality of it was that Brigid might be following the wrong influence. Whatever ideas she might hold, they might be warped. The question was, could it be that someone else had warped them for her?

Raiden showed his smile to Maitho. “You really do care about people. Well, I know one person who doesn’t deserve to be part of my plans." His face took on a solemn look. “But no matter the sentiment or sacrifice, a change only happens with a hundred percent commitment.”

Maitho understood the words, but he did not feel better about them. If things continued down their path, then the world would reach a fork. One side will lead to the end of every single Guardian while the other allows the exploitation of humans for the will of entities that never bothered to appear before their subjects. “I know our goals are not aligned. But none of it will matter if nothing we do will matter.”

Both Guardians looked at him with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. He could see that they knew something was wrong.

“Whit dae ye know?” said Epona.

“It’s bits and pieces, but I need to prove it.” He looked at them, realizing at that moment that he had two allies, one he was slowly coming to trust with his life and the other he was unsure of how much trust to place. It seemed like a difficult choice to make on whether he should reveal everything he knew or just enough. Until of course, he would get an opportunity to speak to Epona in private, when he would be able to tell her everything. In the end, he understood one thing. Raiden may not be on his side, but the man was honest. Maitho, losing his last bit of hesitation, revealed everything he knew. He made sure to let them know that all he had were theories. There were bits of evidence, but nothing concrete to tie them all together. When he was done, he looked at them. He didn’t expect them to believe him, though he was fairly certain that Epona wouldn’t doubt him. Not after what they had been through together.

“Ye have tae be more than sure aboot this,” said Epona.

“I know,” said Maitho, nodding.

“If you continue along this path," said Raiden, "then you are going to go against Cray. You’re going to destroy everything he has built. He will be your enemy. He might be all our enemies, for all we know.

Maitho nodded again, this time with a lot more urgency, and a lot less patience. “That’s why I need more people on my side.”

“Why?” said Epona.

“In case you didn’t notice, we are outnumbered. There’s no telling that someone could try and kill us even before I reveal anything. If that happens, we can’t fight back.”

“Sae ye are expectin a fight?” Epona looked troubled.

“I am hoping there isn’t one. You said that your pantheon heeds Morrigan’s command.” He was looking at Epona.

“Aye.”

“Even the leader of your pantheon?”

Epona hesitated. She frowned, looking at Maitho as though he was plotting to launch a nuclear bomb. Yet her expression faded away, a sign that her trust was never wavering. “He wad listen tae her her advice ay.”

“That’s all I want. I don’t want us to defend ourselves in a skirmish. I want to try to avoid a skirmish in the first place as much as possible. Now, I don’t know what Adhalia might do.”

“She will kill you,” said Raiden in a matter-of-factly voice. “Or at least attempt to.”

“There you have it,” said Maitho, pointing his hand at Raiden. His heart was banging against his ribcage. He felt as though he was looking into a future and all he could see was the darkness of uncertainty. “I can’t stop Adahlia. But I want to stop Brigid long enough to get an opportunity to speak. If Morrigan can stop your pantheon from attacking, then we won’t have to worry about them. That leaves us with just Adahlia and Erik.”

At the mention of the Norse pantheon leader’s name, Raiden’s eyes opened wide. “Hold on. You’re going to call Erik as well?”

“I want everyone there,” said Maitho, looking each of the other Guardians in the eye. “I mean everyone.”

For a moment, it seemed as though a stillness had settled in the car. The air was heavy with expectations, fear, and a hundred questions that were still unanswered.

Then Raiden laughed. “You are full of surprises, Maitho. Well, let’s do this. Let us three break a Guardian out of prison.”