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"But then what did it mean 'let one who loves you be your light'? Is that some kind of hint?" Cyllea asked.

"But a hint to what?" Eveser asked the others, stroking his chin thoughtfully. With wide eyes, he snapped his fingers and then looked at everyone with a gasp! "That's it! 'Let one who loves you be your light, for now your weakness is your plight'! Its--"

Kane burst through the front doors, cutting Eve off midsentence! Kane was out of breath and panicking.

"Kane what is it?" Holi asked, beginning to stand up along with the rest of the group.

"Outside...Teya...bad guy..." he panted. "C'mon!"

The others raced after him intently, sticking close to him. Kane lead them to the spot where he had left Teya and looked around...both of them were gone...

"They were right here! He must have taken her!" Kane's eyes glazed with anger. "I'll kill him! I'll fucking kill him!"

He raised his head to the sky and unleashed a near deafening screech of anger!

"Kane!" Eve shouted, stepping forward. He grabbed his friend around the shoulders and shook him back to coherency, staring into his eyes. "That's not going to help us now...I know you're mad, but the last thing we need is to have a furious gryphon raging all over the place. I need you to calm down and tell us what's happened...ok pal?"

Kane looked distraught, and then took a deep breath.

"Ok...ok, I'm ok," Kane said and exhaled. He smoothed out his head feathers. "I found Teya out here in this little clearing and we talked for like ten minutes. Then this guy--"

"Talked? Please, child...you would have done little more without my help," came a deep voice from the front of the cottage. Kane's eyes filled with rage again and he blazed out to Bezimen's front yard!

"Where are you?!" he cried.

"Kane!" Teya's voice rang through his brain. He turned towards the city and there, with his black cape flowing in the wind that was beginning to get stronger, was the tall creature, his hand clasped around the scruff of Teya's neck. She struggled and gripped the hand of her captor, but could do nothing to break it. Kane shouted at him furiously. "Let her go NOW!"

The only response was a quiet but permeating chuckle, which seemed to resonate throughout the night.

"Good delivery, bad setting," he laughed. Kane's eyes became enflamed with fury and he leapt at the man holding his love! The man held out his hand and Kane immediately stopped in midair, held by some invisible force. Dameon's pupils became a deep, yellow orange color.

"That's Carnian magic," he said quietly. "Wait! Disembros ilemak dekari!

Grimlock looked over at him with wide eyes.

"Dameon Swade," he muttered. He lowered his hand and Kane fell to the ground, slightly dazed. "It's nice to see you conscious this time. How is the recovery coming along?"

Eve's eyes widened. "That was the thing we saw in the warehouse yard..."

"Just peachy, thanks," Dameon snarled. "Would be going a whole lot better if I could lose a certain piece of dashing jewelry that seemed to find its way onto me..."

"I see you like your bracelet! Wonderful! I was really hoping that green was your color," Grimlock smiled brightly. Dameon's eyes pupils spun quickly for a second.

"So you did get this on me," he accused. Grimlock laughed.

"Oh certainly," he said, still smiling.

"How? A guard at the asylum stuck me with this thing...you weren't there...were you?" Dameon asked.

"Well, to be fair I suppose I wasn't at the asylum when it was activated...but I was at the asylum at one point. You didn't honestly think my Reaver agents were capable of successfully performing Carnian magic did you? Of course not! But there was that little visit with the director and Dr. Woods wasn't there? *Gasp* could that have been it?" Grimlock chuckled. "Yes Dameon, the Reavers are mine and the director is mine. They're all mine. The bracelet was their active part to play in this game, to stop you from cheating."

"Cheat at what? What pathetic game are you playing?" Dameon asked inquisitively.

"A game of my own creation! It's fun! Its a little challenge revolving around both mental and physical challenges, the best of both worlds," he said happily. Dameon chuckled heartily.

"I like games...so tell me, how does one compete in this little gauntlet?" he asked. "What are the qualifications?"

"Are you alive?" Grimlock asked. He didn't wait for Dameon to respond. "Then you can play!"

"I see, and how does one win?" he asked. The wind picked up and both of their cloaks began flowing like black water.

"Oh that's the easiest part," Grimlock said with a resigned smirk. "Disqualify everyone else!"

In midsentence, he voice became demonic, deepening to a feral roar. In an instant, there was a long barrel pointed at Dameon! He whirred for a second then stepped to the side to dodge a large-caliber bullet zooming towards his forehead! It struck Bezimen's house, leaving a smoking hole in the side. Bezimen, along with the rest of the group, then suddenly sprung into action!

They leapt at the creature from all angles, already in the midst of a prepared attack.

Grimlock 'humphed' and held one of his hands upwards, towards the sky with his palm facing the clouds. Darrow was the first to try and strike him. He was mere inches away from striking him with his blade when he was pushed back as though caught in a furious windstorm! All the others within range soon experienced the same. He couldn't be touched.

Eve looked determined. His eyes burned with defiance when they returned to meet Grimlock's stare. He stepped forwards slowly, the bizarre wind sensation resisting his every move like a hurricane and forcing every muscle in his body to strain and tense as he made the simplest of movements to reach his friend's captor. Grimlock noticed and, eyes also burning gloriously, twisted his palm to face the dragon approaching him.

In an instant, Eve felt an intense gust hit him so hard that he had to force himself to remain conscious...obviously distracting him from his previous goal as his footing gave and he was blown backwards into the nearby woods!

The others were in absolute shock. There was no way this creature could be so powerful that it could send such an equally if not more powerful dragon flying away at four-hundred MPH. They were wide-eyed...Holi ran over to Dameon and wrapped her arms around his torso.

Grimlock noticed and started laughing.

"How cute," he said quietly. "Oh! And while I have your attention, allow me to take this moment to say that I'm taking only the best care of your little bundles of joy!"

With that, Dameon's eyes flared a venomous, sickly red. He shook Holi off of him and walked menacingly towards Grimlock. Grimlock only chuckled and stood tall, still holding onto Teya's neck. Cyllea called from nearby.

"Dameon no! He's goading you! This is what he wants!" she cried. Dameon would hear nothing but the pounding of his own heart in his chest. Grimlock continued to half-smile as he slid one claw behind his back.

Dameon stopped within a two foot radius of the smirking lizard creature.

"I want to make sure your children get only the best care I can give them. Any nut allergies?" he raised an eyebrow. Dameon's eyes flared again and he reached out for him, only to hear a small yelp in response.

He looked down at Teya, who now had Grimlock's gun pressed against the top of her head! Dameon looked even angrier.

"Now now...let's not blow the top off of this situation eh?" he chuckled, unwavering. Dameon was furious. He ground his jaw together.

"What do you want?" Dameon growled.

"I want you to suffer like you made me suffer," Grimlock growled back, his grinding voice becoming demonic again. "I want your pain to echo through the mountains for centuries so I can hear it again and again...your family will pay the price of your cruelty and you cannot stop it."

Dameon's eyes erupted in an explosive red! He was merely seconds away from lashing out at the creature when he suddenly felt exuberantly weak...

He fell to his knees, shuddering, absolutely exhausted.

"For now your weakness is your plight," Grimlock said and then vanished, Teya and all, into the night.

The others, specifically Holi, rushed over to him while Eve made his way out of the brush.

"God damn...what was that?" he mumbled as Cyllea came over to him. Wordlessly, she tackled him to the ground and kissed him. Their tongues intertwined, they lay there on the grass. It was finally Cyllea who broke it. She looked down at Eve, her deep crimson eyes twinkling in the silver moonlight. Then they fired up and she smacked him in the face with her front paw!

"Ow! What the--" Eve dribbled angrily.

"What have I told you about being a hero?!" Cyllea asked, clearly frazzled.

"Only to be one when I'm saving you?" Eve laughed and wrapped his paws around her neck. Cyllea's anger melted away as her lover's strong arms held her tightly to his heavily rising chest. She closed her eyes and nuzzled him, curling up like a baby in its crib. It was a moment of bliss...

But that's all, just a moment, as Eve seconds later began to stand up. Cyllea made an annoyed grunt and half-heartedly tried to push him back down with her head, but then gave up and stood with him. They walked over to Dameon.

"He won't move..." Holi said quietly. Dameon kneeled motionlessly; his pupils were inside his skull. Even the usual jumps from his clockwork systems had gone from him. He was hibernating in his emotions.

"Dameon?" Eve asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

No response.

"Dameon...there's no sense in just giving up here," Holi said and draped her arms over his shoulders. "You feel guilty...I know...I understand, and you have a right to blame yourself. But I told you once and now I'll tell you again that you can't wait for your problems and your guilt to just disappear...you have to get rid of them yourself...you need to free yourself..."

Eve stepped nearer to him.

"I know you and I weren't ever the best of friends, we sorta got off on the wrong foot...but now I don't want anything more then to help you get your children back to you," he said. Cyllea got on the other side.

"Me too," she said and rested her chin on his shoulder. Kane and Bezimen even kneeled down around him as well. Darrow put a paw on his shoulder.

"We're all with you," Kane said, smiling. Dameon's pupils returned...they were blue...

"I'll hold you to it," he said warmly. "All of you..."

"Fine by us," Bezimen said with an alien smile. "Metal man, Bezimen has been thinking...Bezimen might have a way to aid you."

"Oh?" Dameon said, standing up.

"Yes. You are organic inside metal yes?" he asked. "Bones are metal, organs are not?"

"For the most part," Dameon said and poked his chest. "Why?"

"How do you prevent the synthesis from self-destruction?" he asked. Dameon blinked once. Eveser laughed and spoke up.

"He means how you keep both systems functioning without any negative effects?" the dragon explained. Dameon snapped.

"Ah! Gotcha...I have no idea!" he said almost proudly. Bezimen slapped his forehead and Eve laughed again.

"Magic," he said. "Dr. Allen explained to it to us that he devotes a percentage of his powers to constant regeneration."

"Ahhh, yes...Bezimen sees! Good very good," Bezimen rubbed his smaller arms together. "Magic is like a backdoor around technology, you understand? If a problem appears in mechanics, magic just bridges the gaps without actually solving the problem for the most part. Obviously it's the easiest way to go around any problems. But Bezimen can fix those problems! While organics are not my specialty, Bezimen has experience with biomechanical synthesis..." Bezimen said slyly.

"What are you saying?" Eve asked. "That you can stop his body from hurting itself?"

"Precisely!" Bezimen said with a clap. "Come!"

He grabbed Dameon's wrist and pulled him along, into the house and down into the basement. The others were close behind, but Bezimen's door shut before they could follow. His voice rang over an intercom.

"Forgive the rudeness friends! Bezimen likes to be alone with my projects," his buzzy voice rattled through the air. They sighed and sat down on the couches.

"Now we wait," Kane said and slumped onto a puffy cushion.