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Tymon's eyes fluttered open as he sat forward, momentarily unaware of his surroundings. Slowly, he looked around to ascertain his location. He was in a dark cave...
His eyes widened with sudden realization as he remembered how and why he was there. He had been in an internal struggle for control of his power....It had taken a while, but he'd finally done it after setting his resolve to protect what was important to him. He may not be close to the other primordials in this life, and they may not see him the same way, but with over a thousand years of memories with them, he'd grown somewhat attached to them. Even Alissia and Trik's presence helped him regain his identity. He was going to do whatever was necessary to ensure that none of them would suffer from Avarice and his club of sadistic zealots.
An image of Za'Fia flashed across his mind as he remembered she had been there to ensure he wouldn't leave the cave. Gradually, what he had initially droned out became audible gasping noises from somewhere nearby.
Standing up, he instantly found the source of the noise and saw Za'Fia bleeding as she sat against one of the cave walls.
"Za'Fia!" he exclaimed as he rushed over to her.
"I'm...fine," she wheezed as she adjusted herself. She had multiple deep lacerations running across her arms, chest, and legs. She caught Tymon eyeing her wounds. "It's fine, it wasn't your fault. I made a dumb gamble. It was harder to fend you off without using my hybrid form than I thought."
Tymon looked at her, stupefied.
"You didn't transform?! Why would you do that?" he inquired in a mixture of genuine concern and slight anger.
"I didn't know if the PRP here could handle both of us transformed. Luckily, you were weakened and fought more instinctively with less intelligence, so I managed to get through it."
"Barely." Tymon retorted.
"Now that you're awake, I just need to heal myself. But first, how do you feel?"
Tymon looked down at himself, feeling his presence for the first time since waking. "I feel whole."
He examined the cave around them and saw that most of the PRPs were cracked or destroyed.
"Sorry about your cave," he said, feeling a twinge of guilt. It was once a beautiful cave, but he'd ruined it.
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"It's okay; it should be able to hide us, at least still."
"How long did it take me?" Tymon asked her.
"Three full days. You were cutting it close."
Damn. Three days...
Tymon had hoped he'd overcome it in less time than that. Anything could've happened while he was out of commission. He'd be sure to check on everything while he was out.
"You focus on healing. There's some things I want to look into in the meantime." He told her.
"Okay, but don't do anything rash before I'm done."
"I won't," he reassured her as she closed her eyes and began floating. Her body gave off a warm red aura as she began to levitate.
After Tymon left and returned, about six hours had gone by. Tymon returned as the last of Za'Fia's wounds mended themselves, and she opened her eyes to see him materializing from a shadow.
"You're healed, good." He stated. Tymon eyed Za'Fia's body, glad to see all the wounds he'd inflicted on her to have disappeared.
"Yep, good as new."
Za'Fia went back into the hidden corner to change into plain clothes and wore the flame-colored cloak she'd received from the Hearts.
Tymon decided to sit on a nearby stone as he waited.
"Before we move forward, remind me of your plan. I know you want to prevent the Watchers from dying..." she mentioned as she stood before him.
Tymon took a moment to consider his next word before responding. He hadn't been one hundred percent certain when he first arrived there three days ago, but now he knew what he had to do.
"The plan is to kill every Holder and Sub Deity, then destroy every base of operations Avarice has," he said with conviction. "Without either of those, he loses his army and resources necessary for his war."
Za'Fia sighed, unsurprised.
"Right, I figured it was something along those lines....That's a lot of bodies, Ty. I know you still grieve over the last time you took that many lives. Are you sure you want to put yourself through that again?"
Tymon stood.
"It won't be pleasant, but it's a burden I'm willing to shoulder. Each of Avarice's men chose to support him for their self-serving reasons, knowing Avarice's true intentions. Better I take them out before they kill everyone else," he stated steely. "Besides, there's something I want to test out."
"Okay, well, I'm not about to let you shoulder this alone. I'm helping."
Tymon looked at Za'Fia, stunned, and saw that she was serious.
"You know what that means, right?" He asked for clarification.
"Like you said, they chose their path. They're willing to follow Avarice's agenda just for money and a drop of power, so we'll do what needs to be done to prevent billions from dying. Without remorse. I'm doing this."
Tymon gave her an ever-so-slight smile, appreciating her support in his difficult decision.
"Okay, well, I've tracked down our first target." He stated. Tymon used his shadow path to relocate them to somewhere populated. A child had witnessed them materialize from the shadows and was trying to get its parents' attention. Not interested in the unwanted attention, they both instantly moved to a position on top of a four-story building where they wouldn't be seen.
"Why are we here?" Za'Fia asked curiously.
"While searching for something to go on, I bumped into one of Avarice's Holders here. He's an idiot who likes to boast about his high-paying job and benefits, so it wasn't too difficult to guess who he worked for."
"That's him over there," Tymon said as he nodded toward a guy in a grey military-esque uniform, leaving a pizza place with multiple boxes and getting into a company truck labeled TekTra Services.