"I've no regrets left, do what you have to do." Nalrond closed his eyes, finally at peace with himself. For the first time in months, the images of his village burning down didn't flash in front of his eyes.
Nalrond would never forget the agonizing screams of his friends and family, but those sounds had stopped haunting his ears. All he could hear now was silence. He had always imagined that revenge would make him happy, but he felt empty instead.
His life had no meaning anymore, without revenge he was just a lonely man.
"It's funny, you know." Nalrond chuckled at the irony of his situation. "Once you kill me, the only people to remember my name will be two cursed objects. Life sure has a twisted sense of humor."
"How many times do I have to tell you that we're not a cursed object?" The creature was calm, yet the tinge of annoyance in their voice was enough to make the ground quake.
Lith wanted to kill Nalrond until a few minutes prior, but now Solus was one with him, forcing Lith to look at things through her golden eyes. When she looked at the disheartened hybrid, she didn't see an enemy.
Solus saw Nalrond as Derek McCoy, and in turn as Lith. They both had suffered an unjust fate, losing their loved ones and ending up on a quest for revenge. Like Derek, Nalrond was now seeking death after achieving his goal.
'Is this who you are?' Solus asked. 'Are you still the same angry man whose only gift is death?'
The upper mouth of the creature opened in a snarl while the lower was bent down in a mournful expression.
"If you really want to die, you don't need our help. We will not carry your burden." The creature said after a long second. "If you seek life, instead, if you want to take your time and rest while you decide what to do next, follow this map."
A piece of paper appeared out of their pocket dimension, with the location of Protector's house marked.
"Tell them that we sent you. They will not care about who you are or what race you belong. They'll give you a place to call home and more trouble than you can imagine." The creature chuckled at the idea of how happy Selia was going to be having someone that would keep her company and help her with the kids.
"Now go." They handed a few clothes and a small bag of money for the travel expenses to Nalrond. It was more than Lith would have given him but less than Solus would. Yet neither of them minded because it wasn't a compromise, they were one.
"The army will be here any minute now." The creature waved their hand, Warping the hybrid right outside Zantia. They were shocked by their own prowess. Opening a Warp to such distance with the same ease as if it was just a Blink was beyond their wildest dreams.
Yet there was no time for patting themselves on the back, their situation was quite dire. They weren't aware that Acala was still alive so they expected that the death of a Ranger coupled with the absence of dimensional blocking arrays would cause the prompt intervention of the army.
They had already concocted a perfect explanation for everything, yet there was still a problem that even their combined might couldn't overcome. The creature had no idea how to go back to being two separate entities.
Even after Warping out of the cave, outside the area of effect of the mana geyser, they were still fused. Their body was much smaller now, back to 3 meters (10 feet) of height, but that was it.
The Wyrmling was genderless, but they were afraid of finding their privates mixed if they reverted to a human appearance.
"Fuck us sideways. This is bad as it is, but there's still plenty of room for things to get even worse. How can we…" Their trains of thoughts derailed when Lith's army amulet pulled at his consciousness.
Kamila's rune was blinking. Lith and Solus shared plenty of things, but his feelings for Kamila weren't among them. Their fusion came undone the moment her image popped into their minds.
"Well, it's been way easier than I thought." Lith sighed in relief at the sight of his body exactly as he remembered it. Solus was at his finger and her life force was brighter than ever.
'Are you alright?' He thought.
'My body is in tip-top condition, but my mind is royally messed up.' Their fusion included sharing all their past memories and thoughts. Even those that they had chosen to keep for themselves.
Unlike when they decided to perform the mind fusion alone, they wouldn't be forced to relive all the past events from their other half's point of view, but such memories could still be accessed as if they were their own.
When Kamila's rune had blinked earlier, they had instinctively accessed to their now shared most recent memories. For Solus was just the worry that being a Royal Constable could be too much pressure for her, but for Lith, it regarded his intention to move their relationship forward.
The news had been so shocking for her that it had broken their fusion.
'Let's promise to not look into each other memories as long as the experience is still vivid in our minds.' She said.
'Oh, my. Have you been a naughty girl in my absence?' Her request didn't make much sense to Lith. He never looked into her memories and when he thought about something, he always looked for something specific.
He always had too much at hand in the present to wander in his past.
'You're not funny!' She sounded angry, but her mind was in the telepathic equivalent of violently blushing up to her ears. 'I never wanted to peek at your alone time with your girlfriend, just like my experiments on my own body were meant to remain private.'
'Oh, my! You've experimented on your body?' Lith kept teasing her, enjoying her turning purple from embarrassment.
'Shut up and answer the damn amulet. But first promise me you won't try anything funny.' Solus cursed her slip of the mind.
'I promise.' He replied while taking the call.
"Ranger Verhen, do you copy? Is this a good moment?" The handlers had waited a few minutes after the amulets belonging to their respective Ranger had become active again before trying to make contact.
That way, no matter if the mission was already accomplished or had they been forced to escape, the two Rangers would have the time to hide. Acala wasn't picking up so Kamila was relieved hearing from Lith.
"Affirmative. The threat has been dealt with and I'm currently in a safe zone." He replied.
"Is Ranger Acala with you? Why isn't he answering his own call?"
"He's alive?" Lith and Solus couldn't believe their own ears. They searched the night sky, almost expecting Dawn to pop out of thin air and attack them.
"Affirmative. His rune is still active and available. Do you need to go back and search for him?" Kamila started to arrange for a rescue team and a field hospital to prepare for what she considered to be the worst-case scenario.
One or both Rangers maimed and in a near-death condition.
