Uther was heavily wounded, unable to move on his own, and as Tex carried him, a sense of foreboding washed over him. He didn't know what to expect from the next few moments of his life so for once he chose to reveal the fear he felt.
"This might be the end of the road for us," Uther muttered, as he struggled to maintain consciousness.
He could feel the impending danger, knowing it was only a matter of time before their pursuer caught up with them to finish what he had started.
Although Uther wasn't fully healed and was low on energy, the thought of facing that monster yet again entered his mind. These thoughts sent a chill throughout his whole body. He didn't want to burden his comrades with this weakness, especially now.
"Tex, I need you to stop for a moment," Uther spoke in a strained whisper.
Tex hesitated, aware of how close they were to where Tayaire was, but the pain in Uther's voice compelled him to come to an abrupt stop.
"Sir, with all due respect, we don't have time for this nonsense," Tex replied, urgency flooding his tone.
His heart raced in his chest, and he couldn't mask the rising panic he felt. They needed to distance themselves as quickly as possible from their current location. Tex couldn't shake the sense that their fate was drawing closer, and an uncertain future laid ahead for them.
"I just need you to sit me down for a minute so that I can catch my breath. It won't take long," Uther spoke while coughing violently.
His body was on the urge of a breakdown and he felt like he couldn't withstand the pain for that much longer.
Tex had pulled Uther from the top of his shoulders and leaned him up against a tree hidden from the path.
"Sir, what is the matter? Do you need me to try to restore your health again?," Tex asked while checking their surroundings for any incoming threats.
Paranoia filled every fiber of his being, causing him not to think with a clear mind.
"Tex, you need to relax" Uther said clearly, seeing the man acting frantically, "I'm fine, and I have a plan that would at least get one of us out of here alive."
Tex stared at Uther Stoically,
"At least one of us," he murmured under his breath in confusion.
He didn't know what Uther was planning but he already didn't like it. Uther was a stubborn individual but he never had a selfish personality and Tex knew that more than anyone else. Though some people saw Uther as an evil person, he always thought of those who had followed him before himself, and wanted to avoid the loss of lives no matter what. This caused even more of a panic within Tex.
Uther stared at Tex with anticipation, knowing that he wouldn't agree with his next words.
Uther took a deep breath and began to speak, "Do you have any more restoration pills in your pouch."
Restoration pills were a medication used to restore a percentage of the user's energy, allowing them to recover from injuries by a small to moderate amount, depending on the grade of the pill. Tex shook his head in disapproval as he began to fumble through the medium sized pouch on his hip in search for the capsule that contained the medicine. As he located the medicine, Tex pulled out a hand-sized rectangular box that had six separated sections. Inside three of the six sections contained a sphere-shaped green pill that was not much bigger than a small coin. These were second grade restoration pills.
"I have only three pills left sir. What do you plan on doing with them?" Tex asked with an impending sense of curiosity, even if he felt like he had already known the answer, Tex wanted confirmation.
Uther struggled to hold out his hand, asking for the box that Tex was observing.
"I'm going to take them of course," He said with a weak smile.
Once Uther held the box in his hands, he tilted his head back and poured the remaining three pills into his mouth. As soon as the pills had entered Uther's mouth, he had swallowed them all without hesitation and threw the box to the ground.
Tex stood in horror, losing his composer and not thinking before he spoke, "Uther, you know that taking more than two pills at once could cause major damages! What are you doing?"
Tex grabbed Uther by his armor yanking him up into a kneeling position.
"Are you in that much of a rush to die you fool?!" Tex yelled at Uther with his eyes full of rage.
Tayaire stood over the man holding his sword to the man's throat.
"I never expected for you to put up that much of a fight. Looks like someone's been holding back their true talents," Tayaire said as the man laid beneath his feet.
"What's that to you?" The man said in a smug tone.
The man wasn't really harmed during his fight with Tayaire. He felt that this was due to Tayaire either holding back or underestimating his abilities. The only damage that he had sustained was two critical strikes to one of his legs, causing him the loss of his ability to stand.
"Nothing much really. It's just if you would've displayed your full potential while I was fighting your leader, we probably wouldn't be in this position," Tayaire said as he looked into the distance, thinking of the other possible outcomes.
"I mean that seriously. I could be in your position and our roles could have been flipped. You guys could have actually been able to kill me." He said with a slight chuckle.
Tayaire knew that this comment was a little bit exaggerated due to his capabilities in battle, but the young man did show promise and he wanted to compliment him on his prowess in combat.
Tayaire looked over the man observing his facial features, noticing how young his appearance actually was. The man looked no older than seventeen years old and he bared a scar over the right side of his head. He had short dreaded hair that was dyed blonde at the tips.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's your name child?" Tayaire asked the man in a concerned tone.
"My name is Shoda Morguni," The man replied.
Shoda was in confusion, "Why did he want to know my name. Isn't he just going to kill me the same way he did the others," he thought as he stared back at Tayaire.
Tayaire turned away from Shoda and began to walk away from him, but before he got too far he looked back.
"I planned to kill every single last one of you but I guess you could say I've had a change of heart," Tayaire said as he continued to walk forward.
As Shoda watched Tayaire walk away he felt a sense of relief, but something that he saw shocked him. While Tayaire was walking, his body seemed to glitch and eventually disappeared completely.
"Huh? That was strange." Shoda thought while dragging himself to his feet, "Teleportation? Or a clone maybe?".
A small time after Uther had taken the restoration pills, his wounds finally began to rapidly heal. At one moment he was at the brink of death, but now the man was full of energy and revved up for his next encounter with Tayaire. Uther hopped up on his two feet and began to stretch as he relayed the rest of his plan to Tex.
"Okay, so this is the plan. I'm going to stay here and wait for the timekeeper to arrive. You need to report what happened here to Mada immediately," Uther spoke in a stern and determined tone.
"With all due respect sir, that is a stupid plan. If you couldn't defeat him before on your own, what makes you think that things would go differently this time around," Tex spoke hysterically while looking at the partially healed Uther.
He didn't have no faith in Uther's plan at all, he felt that his leader was being naive to think that he could win a battle that he already lost moments ago.
"Don't worry about me Tex. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. It won't go the same way that it did last time, I promise you that," Uther said with a slight grin appearing on his face.
Uther's grin vanished as he looked behind Tex, he stood frozen in fear as he stuttered his next words.
"H-h-how did you find us s-so quickly," Uther spoke while staring at Tayaire.
Before Tex could eventually turn around to face Tayaire, he was knocked down due to a quick strike to the back of his head. Tex laid on the ground, though he wasn't unconscious, he couldn't move to stand up. His body was in a short stage of paralysis due to Tayaire attacking him at the base of his spinal cord, causing a disruption in his nervous system. After leaving the man discombobulated on the ground Tayaire moved his head to look at Uther who had fell to the ground in a stage of shock.
"We need to talk," Tayaire said as he kneeled down to look the man in his eyes.