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As Tymon and I fell through the sky, I saw blasts of fire and pink lightning shake the laboratory high above us.

Who was that with the lightning? It had to be another Primordial.

The overhead clouds initially made it hard to see the person responsible, but they were starting to thin out as Tymon's power waned. As they dissipated, I caught a glimpse of a figure floating above the laboratory.

I would've tried to use my enhanced vision to get a closer look, but we were now plummeting at terminal velocity, and the ground was approaching at a sickening speed.

Can my compact board hold both of us? I asked myself. I'd done this because I saw it as the only way out of a bad situation, but I was praying that that decision wouldn't be the death of us.

If it couldn't hold us, my board should at least be able to slow our fall.

I reached back and placed my hand inside my spatial bag. There weren't any issues as I grabbed my board and positioned it underneath us. The problem was that we were in a nosedive. After turning it on, I struggled to turn it horizontally so we could descend slower.

Suddenly I realized this wouldn't work, and the ground was maybe a couple of hundred feet away now.

Not knowing what to do, I held Tymon tightly and shut my eyes.

Crap, this is it.

As I said my internal goodbyes, I felt Tymon's arms wrap around me. I looked up to see his face in pain as he covered us with what I presumed to be the last of his energy.

As soon as the energy surrounded us, we hit the ground with a shallow thud.

I could only see darkness for a moment, but as Tymon's energy let up and the dust settled, I could see that our landing had created a giant crater in the ground. There were broken trees, loose rocks, and dirt rolling downhill toward the crater's center.

Tymon had protected us.

No, he protected you, Viraa stated.

I looked at Tymon, who was now unconscious and looking pale.

"Tymon?" I said before shaking him.

There was no response.

Skeptically, I placed my hand on his chest to feel for a heartbeat, but it only confirmed what I feared; he was gone. Tymon had succumbed to his injuries.

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"No..."

Tears filled my vision and then spilled from my eyes as I stared at Tymon's lifeless body. My arms were in pain again, and one was bleeding through the bandages from breaking the glass. As the blood trickled down my arm, I sat beside his body, thinking how everything had turned left so fast. Trik was somewhere out of commission, Za'Fia was left to fight alone against Avarice, and Tymon was dead. This wasn't how I imagined any of it going.

I wished Trik was there to give me some advice.

Wanting to get him out of the dirt, I pulled Tymon's body out of the crater and laid him on a plush of grass.

Then, I heard a loud thud somewhere to my far right as something else fell from the sky. The impact created a slight tremor felt from where I was. When I enhanced my vision, I saw the area of trees there were now missing, and in their place was a stretch of flames the size of a lake.

I could feel the heat from the small inferno from nearly a mile away. Everything closer was starting to warp as they began to dry and ignite.

Rising from the center of the flames was Za'Fia in her hybrid form.

I looked up in the sky to see where Avarice and the others were, but I could no longer see the laboratory. However, there was a trail of smoke arching toward the ground somewhere far in the distance.

"How did that happen?" I asked aloud.

Perhaps she threw it, Viraa responded.

"She's that strong?!" I exclaimed.

Viraa laughed.

I was attempting a joke, but if I'm not mistaken, her strength in her hybrid form allows her to lift up to 61 tons. Perhaps she did do something of the sort.

I watched as Za'Fia extinguished the flames around the area.

Hey, Viraa, can you tell me anything about Za'Fia's cintracies? I'd been curious about Za'Fia's abilities since discovering she was a Primordial.

While watching her, I could see two dark rings around her wrist. It was shocking. I figured since Tymon had five, so would she. I guess their rank doesn't correspond with their cintracy count.

Let's see, she can give her spirit energy the qualities of fire, so she possesses the eutierric cintracy, Infernal Essence. As for the other, she has the mystic cintracy, Solar Presence. It allows her to convert her emotions into heat and power – in her case, it's easily triggered by anger, so the angrier she gets, the hotter and more powerful she becomes.

Wow, I said, genuinely impressed. So, under the right circumstances, she could become the most powerful Primordial.

Indeed, Viraa confirmed. It also makes her unique as a fire-type by giving her flames the potential to be hotter than magma.

So, she's already, physically, the strongest Primordial, but she also has the potential to be the most powerful, at which point she could generate flames even hotter than magma. And all of that happens if she's pissed off enough.

Correct, Viraa responded.

I looked down at Tymon's body lying before me.

That's terrifying, I said half-jokingly. It hurt to see him that way and not feel a ping of responsibility. Maybe had I not shown up....

There's no need to worry, Viraa stated, bringing me back before I could spiral.

Yeah, I know. I don't actually think she'll start destroying everything. It's just...Tymon and her were close for so long. It's gonna be tough for her to see him like this, I said back as I peered in the direct Za'Fia was.

She and the flames were no longer there now.

No, I mean– Viraa started before I felt something blow past me.

Suddenly, I could feel Za'Fia's presence behind me, along with an uncomfortable heat.

Turning around, I saw she was back in her normal form and was stark naked.

I watched as Za'Fia quietly knelt beside Tymon.