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[color=9e0039][i]Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.[/i][/color]

Abdel’s head pounded to the systolic rhythm that hammered relentlessly, causing him to rudely wake up. His heart was not beating fast, but it was beating [i]hard[/i], so much so that it overshadowed the intense prickling in his feet that caught up quickly enough.

It was impossible that he felt those so early, he had taken an aberration just a few days ago! His hands hastily reached for his limbs to find a wound, only to come out empty. He was, in fact, feeling [i]las hormigas[/i] with the painful dullness that came with their endless gnawing. Distraught, her smacked his palms over his face to wallow, only to find a wetness on them.

[color=9e0039][i]Blood …?[/i][/color]

From his nose he found some of it still leaking. It then came back to him, the sacrifice he had done for the others to keep the Arch Zeno in check. It all made sense. Dayanara went to lick his face as he recognized what had happened. Quickly he drew toward their last known location.

[color=#DAD001][i]Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub …[/i][/color]

Just one heartbeat, one that came with a less familiar energy signature than the others. 

[color=9e0039][i]Zarina, Tku, Rikard? Where are you?[/i][/color]

No matter where he searched, he could find them. And yet Alassa Tojarra, the reason they had risked their lives, slowly awoke from a chemical coma without an ounce of resistance put onto her. Something had happened. He had to intervene. 

[color=9e0039][i]Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub …[/i][/color]

[color=9e0039]“We’re going.”[/color]

Abdel pushed himself off with his arms and took a step- 

[color=9e0039]“Argh fuck!”[/color] he growled and slammed his fist onto a nearby surface. The ants were far more intense than he had estimated, leading to an acute pain that quickly vanished. It wasn’t so much difficult to walk as it was unusually uncomfortable. He could only imagine the damage going on down there.

He soldiered on, Skuggvars in tow, until he infiltrated the ruined Enclave.

[center][h2][url=https://youtu.be/3WQkx4yW1Oc]♫[/url][/h2][/center]

Once in range, he stomped onto the gravel with his final step to get the magicless Arch Zeno’s attention, hiding the pain induced wince from the gesture. He stood a good thirty yards away from her. 

[color=9e0039]“What did you do to them?”[/color] he asked, one hand on Qadira’s shoulder to keep her close, while Dayanara circled around Tojarra.

[color=#DAD001][i]Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.[/i][/color]

Alassa Tojarra was unafraid and her regular pulse was proof of it. Even magically naked, pillaged and defeated she did not falter. It made Abdel a tad tachycardic.

The Arch Zeno shrugged. [color=#DAD001]“They’re gone. Far away from here.”[/color] she rubbed her bruised chin. [color=#DAD001]“If you’re here to avenge them, make it quick.”[/color] she barely acknowledged Abdel, and only gave a cautionary glance at the nearby dragon.

[color=9e0039]“I can’t let you go.”[/color] Abdel, in an attempt to look stern and immovable, looked rather green with his typically teenage voice. One thing he did nail was a proper stance, but even that looked so little to Alassa’s stone hard posture.

[color=#DAD001]“I will not bring them back.”[/color] she spat back viciously as she turned around toward one of the violet buildings. [color=#DAD001]“Kill me or leave, [i]darhannic[/i], but don’t waste my time.”[/color]

[color=#DAD001][i]Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.[/i][/color]

Even in her hate and haste, she never faltered. Abdel was intimidated. This wasn’t like Niallus, an easily impressed young man that hardly thought his actions through. This was a titan, even without magic.

[color=9e0039]“I’m not Darhannic.”[/color] he corrected, sounding like a petulant child called a no-no name.

[color=#DAD001]“I recognize your type. And the way you do things. Like that detestable girl.”[/color]

[color=#DAD001][i]Lub-dub-Lub-dub-Lub-dub-Lub-dub-Lub-dub.[/i][/color]

[color=#DAD001]“That’s what you savage sand apes do.”[/color]

Abdel recognized the heartbeats, the tone and the sentiment. For a moment, he almost thought he had been talking to his shower-thought self. The aggressive voice he consistently argued and fantasised with in his alone time. And there it was, under the form of a hateful woman. Such clarity was short lived as his feet ached once more. Or perhaps this interruption only accentuated his increasingly extreme feelings.

[color=9e0039]“I can’t kill you. You will bring them back.”[/color] he answered somewhat meekly, but made a show of force with a light surge to her nerves, to which she inhaled deeply and flexed her muscles.

[color=#DAD001]“You’re the one that stopped me. Tethered and strong.”[/color] she smirked. [color=#DAD001]“I can see you tremble. You’ve done all that just to get me.”[/color] Tojarra opened her arms to taunt him. [color=#DAD001]“If you’re not going to kill me, then you may as well let me go. They won’t execute me - not after this. Not with what's become of the world.”[/color]

[color=#9e0039][i]Lub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dub.[/i][/color]

He could barely hear her anymore. His heart was killing him from all the anxiety and hesitation he was feeling.

[color=9e0039][i]Just put her to sleep. You must![/i][/color]

Abdel drew to capacity quickly enough. Tojarra didn’t even flinch despite her lack of defences. She only turned her head to grin his way. 

[color=9e0039][i]She’ll never give them away. I can see it. She’s suffered everything I could do to her before.[/i][/color]

The tethered clenched his fist, only to then suddenly fall onto his knee and wheeze out a grunt of pain. His legs shook in overexertion, prompting her Skuggvar to poke his side with her snout.

[color=#DAD001]“You’re finally getting it.”[/color] uttered Tojarra with a voice that mellowed from her taunting and resentment demeanour. [color=#DAD001]“You won’t ever find them if you kill me, and giving me to the new administration won’t provide the justice you want. All you can do is …”[/color] she began to walk. [color=#DAD001]“Let me go.”[/color]

[color=9e0039][i]I need to keep her here! I need to do SOMETHING! I need to-[/i][/color]

Drops of blood fell from his nostrils once more. In his overthinking he had pushed himself once more. All for nothing. Lost and forlorn as a child that thought himself more mature and harder than he truly was.

[color=9e0039][i]-for them![/i][/color]

[hider=For Them …]
[center][url=https://youtu.be/_PlRyio8-GA]♫[/url][/center]

Abdel walked into the Merchants’ dorm’s kitchen, sweaty and with a sleeveless green top going along with old, brown shorts.The young teen seized a cup of water and drenched his head to cool off as he took a seat.

The budding handiman had been making extensive use of his regained mobility to work his masonry and carpentry. An art that one would believe magic had made obsolete, but oftentimes the finesse and meticulousness of the art were lost to the grand scheme of things. Much like the overly ‘perfect’ gems many binder counterfeiters made, the same would be said about the genetically adequate works commonly made by mages. Good money was found to those who kept the practice alive and even more so to those who married magic into it seamlessly.

He didn’t do it without help, as Maid Melana followed soon after. She had been the help - the one to keep the materials in order and helped the builder when requiring more than a single pair of hands. [color=9e0039]“Thanks for the help.”[/color] said a still nearly heatstroked Abdel as he regarded the puppet, although he clearly wasn’t addressing the inanimate object.

A pair of hands clasped the jug as Maura came forward to fill the boy’s glass up again. [colour=C0C0C0]“There is something to be said about watching a strong man working hard with his tools; how could we allow the possibility slip us by?”[/colour] She smiled with that cheeky charm as she considered the words. It was nice to spend time in Abdel’s company, and even if they were just casually interacting, just feeling his presence near her made her feel happy, content even. They have been together for nearly a year now, and with others already vividly discussing their marriage plans, such thoughts were not lost with her, especially as she was assisting Ashon and Penny with their wedding arrangements. They were still young, but perhaps one day… she smiled shyly as she moved to pass him a towel so he could dry himself off. [colour=C0C0C0]“Have you given thought as to your plans for your special project?”[/colour]

Abdel couldn’t get enough of the freshwater, both to wash himself and to drink. It really was that hot! [color=9e0039]“Ahhh.”[/color] he forgot his manners and went full commoner in his indulgences, if only briefly. [color=9e0039]“Actually,”[/color] he leaned forward, elbows resting over his thighs, as he looked at Maura. [color=9e0039]“I have. I got inspired yesterday.”[/color] his eyes shifted to the helper puppet and gestured for it to come closer. [color=9e0039]“They keep hammering the use of healing in binding classes, and here I am building stuff. So I thought …”[/color] with the puppet at arm’s reach, he seized one of the delicate, wooden hands to study it. [color=9e0039]“Why not meet them halfway?”[/color]

With that cryptic response, he reached for his bag with his free hand to reveal an arm similar in dimensions to the puppet’s, albeit a tad thicker and clearly made of a new material. Furthermore, there were goma tubes sticking out of the stump. [color=9e0039]“It took me all evening to make Ironwood work, but I think it came out alright. I was thinking: If weapons can have these manas flow through them, why not puppets? Like people do with blood.”[/color]

Maura simply smiled as she watched him. There have been many Yasoi refugees recently fleeing the war in the south, and it is not uncommon for the casualties to be maimed in some way. She mused as she imagined him feeling that empathy in his heart to help them, and after engaging with the puppets; it made sense. [colour=C0C0C0]“There are prosthetics in Segonia where you have to use the gift to mobilize. They are very difficult to manage, and are inanimate. We don’t know of any that allow manas to flow through them, though…”[/colour] she raised her eyebrow in curiosity, hoping he could expand his thought process. [colour=C0C0C0]“Are you thinking of helping others with them?”[/colour]

Abdel’s eyes flickered between Maura and the puppet. He drew, just mildly, to observe the many functions that occurred within himself and his beloved. The blood flow, in particular, had his interest. He imagined the same could be done to puppets, and eventually to people with new limbs. [color=9e0039]“I think so, yeah.”[/color] he beamed at the part-Segonese puppet master. [color=9e0039]“I think the first step is to see if it works on things that aren’t alive. Don’t you think?”[/color] the hand he had been holding was then twisted, and his magnetic pull caused the elbow joint of the maid to loosen enough for the forearm to be carefully extracted.

[color=9e0039]“Would you mind opening her for me, love?”[/color] he inquired with a sweet, cotton-like voice he often employed to calm Maura in one of her monologues. [color=9e0039]“I’d like to see the core.”[/color]

[colour=C0C0C0]“Now, what is the magic word~?”[/colour] Maura cooed in return, simply to prolong the interaction to tease him. She allowed the puppet to bend to allow comfortable access to its innermost workings for maintenance, otherwise known as its core. [colour=C0C0C0]“Though, if you damage her, we are placing the repair bill on your tab.”[/colour] in a gentle reminder to be careful.

Abdel rolled his eyes playfully. [color=9e0039]“Pretty please.”[/color] he uttered right before diving into the complex workings of the prime puppet. Fascinated but by no means surprised, he immediately got to work. The wires he had crafted stretched from the bicep, through the shoulder and snaked through the metal structural beams to eventually reach the mana-filled container serving as a means to increase the capacity of the puppet and a base to reconstruct it in the case of destruction. [color=9e0039]“It’s kind of like a heart, isn’t it?”[/color] he remarked, nose still dug deep into his work. 

The main conundrum was making an opening to connect the tubes. [color=9e0039]“... You won’t get too mad if I make a mess, right?”[/color] he looked up to Maura sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes as he asked that question, as she gave him a playful smile. [colour=C0C0C0]“If we did, we certainly chose the wrong boy to be dating.”[/colour] She stuck her tongue out towards him in that mischievous manner. [colour=C0C0C0]“Just as long as you clean up afterwards.”[/colour]

Abdel chuckled and shook his head. He got to work, meticulously creating an opening onto the metal haul. The carving was slow, minute and did not go all the way. Instead, he made enough of a gap to fit the tub in before locking it in place. There was blood magic used to finish the hole, very minor but still blood magic nonetheless, prompting Abdel to look up to his partner if there were any objections. 

Once the tube was plugged in to serve as the puppet’s fire artery, he observed the mana-charged liquid flow … For a second. [color=9e0039]“Ah.”[/color] he looked disappointed. [color=9e0039]“There’s nothing to really [i]make[/i] it flow, is there?”[/color]

Maura simply shook her head, [colour=C0C0C0]“Puppets don’t have a beating heart inside of them, even if they can be lifelike.”[/colour] She paused for a moment, [colour=C0C0C0]“You could use a waterskin, connect it to both sides, then you could squeeze it like a heart, probably. Might need some refinement.”[/colour] She used her chair to go backwards, then head over to pick up a waterskin and bring it back for Abdel to use.

Abdel drilled a second hole to allow the other extremity of the artery within the unbeating ‘heart’ as none of the fluid ever made it to the end. [color=9e0039]“You’re right,”[/color] he agreed, lips pursed as he rethought the process. [color=9e0039]“if we could actually make that core take the consistency of a waterskin, then maybe you could make it work like a heart?”[/color] with the item in hand, he carefully approached it to the metallic nut in the centre of the puppet. [color=9e0039]“Ideally, we make the material change without removing anything.”[/color] with a lack of chemical magic, however, he relied solely on binding magic. And he was no Trypano when it came to memorising all materials. 

Maura spent a good few moments considering what they could use, taking some inspiration from their surroundings. [colour=C0C0C0] “We have an idea, though we might need some prototypes first. We need to make an internal structure, and this could be binding some springs together, then we surround this by thin sheets of metal. We would need a value to prevent the liquid going back the wrong direction. Then, we wield the sheets and tubes together, so it is a tight seal. If we squeeze it, it should pump around in one direction, and drain back into the heart.”[/colour] She tapped her chin thoughtfully, [colour=C0C0C0]“Do you think that is something you can put together?”[/colour]

Abdel thought about it. In his musing and having his marble presented physically before him, he realized his masterwork needed far more work to be done. [color=9e0039]“I can.”[/color] he confirmed. [color=9e0039]“But it will take some time. A lot of it.”[/color] with that concession, he manipulated the tubes and made the fluids return into the core before he quickly sealed the holes. He did not remove the tubes, however. [color=9e0039]“The arm should still work, but you would have to learn to use it.”[/color] he warned, just as he employed his magnetic magic to make the puppet’s fingers wiggle and the forearm to expand ever so slightly into something that resembled a metal buckler. [color=9e0039]“It’d work much better if it had a steady and direct stream of power but …”[/color] he gesture his index finger to prompt the puppet to punch the floor, prompting the stone to leave a small fissure on impact. [color=9e0039]“I suppose ironwood with mild enhancement will do!”[/color] he grinned impishly at his girlfriend. [color=9e0039]“She might even be able to lift you up, now!”[/color]

[colour=C0C0C0]“Why would we need her for that, when we have you~?”[/colour] Maura teased as she held her arms out towards him.

Abdel tried to hide his big fat smile, but there it was. He [i]leapt[/i] at her and caught Maura out of her chair for a mighty lift. His noodle arms weren’t so weak nowadays with all that carpentry and masonry. [color=9e0039]“Downside with me is I don’t take orders!”[/color]

She smiled mischievously, [colour=C0C0C0]“The best ones don’t need them.”[/colour] as she leaned forward to place a fond kiss on the boy’s lips.
[/hider]

[center][color=#DAD001][i]Lub-dub.[/i][/color][/center]

[center][url=https://youtu.be/9GfaY-_Po6Q]♫[/url][/center]

In the endless ringing to tinnitus in his ears, the merciless pounding of his distressed hard and the cruel pricking of his feet, he found some sort of clarity. No other sounds could penetrate his mind. None except the heart of the woman he had no real control over.

[color=9e0039][i]No.[/i][/color]

The blood that ran through her body flowed so perfectly. The answer to a question that gnawed at his mind for days was right before him.

The silence enlightened him: There was nobody to cast judgement. Nobody could see what was behind the mask. Nobody other than a prisoner deemed kindred, and the Gods - the very ones that cursed him and his tethered friends into this pitiful existence.

[color=9e0039]“It’s not for them. Or for [i]their[/i] Justice.”[/color] he muttered, barely audible to Tojarra but enough for her to stop and turn. [color=9e0039]“I don’t wanna kill you. Or give you away. Because I agree with what you stand for.”[/color] it was still Abdel’s voice, the non-threatening cracked one that oozed of awkwardness, but it was charged with [i]purpose[/i]. And his intense gaze under his worker’s beret matched the Arch’s. 

[color=#DAD001]“Another one of these pathetic games? Or are you serious?”[/color] she shook her head and reconsidered even the notion of entertaining this. 

[color=9e0039]“But I can’t let someone like you just walk free.”[/color] he shook his head like she did. [color=9e0039]“It makes me so angry to see how vapid and cruel this effort for Justice has made you. We could have done good work together if you weren’t such a resentful hag that would sooner see the world burn than let a few clueless peons run free in their sand dunes. Or denigrate someone for where they were born.”[/color]

[center][color=#DAD001][i]Lub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dubLub-dub …[/i][/color][/center]

The tachycardic melody only drove him more as he reached into his only pouch where something [i]uneasy[/i] wiggled more and more.

Tojarra chuckled into a laugh. [color=#DAD001]“You don’t know a thing ab-”[/color] she quickly turned to the right to face an unusually close gurgle.

Qadira was merely staring at her with no signs of hostility.

With a deep exhale, Alassa Tojarra straightened herself and looked back, only to be greeted by a massive, leathery maw that sucked in the entirety of her head. She couldn’t utter a word, and a few seconds in, she lost consciousness.

The Arch Zeno fell unconscious once more.

Although this time, there would be no friendship circle or ambitions for a brighter tomorrow. 

There was only fire and malign inspiration, as the heartbeats silenced themselves into a bitter murmur.

[color=9e0039][i]Like my friends, I won’t give up on you. Nor will I let them, or yourself, ruin the work you’ve done, Arch Zeno Tojarra.[/i][/color]