The nasty older man tried to run, but Laz was right there before he could get out the door.

"Nah eh. You’re not getting out of this. I’m not opposed to being tied up by a cute girl, but that’s usually more about being handcuffed to a bed. Can’t always be the one in charge you know. Got to let the girls get out their crazy sides every now and then. But not what I’m talking about right now. What I’m really pissed off about was you stabbing your boy in the back. That’s just not something I can condone. Kind of pisses me off cause I would have stopped you if I had known what you were going to do... But fuck man... you stabbed it right into his heart and with that injection of energy, blew it up, decimating both his blood flow and his internal world. That’s cold, like real cold. So now I’m sitting here knowing that your useless self is alive and someone who could have been of help to us is now dead. So... yeah.... better brace for this. But don’t worry. I won’t kill you. Not outright anyway. I’m sure your princess here would enjoy that pleasure more," Laz said before he began beating the shit out of him.

It wasn’t even a fight as the nasty guy gave up without even fighting, knowing that he couldn’t win. Still though, by the time Laz was done, there were fewer intact bones in his body that there were broken ones.

Laz let the bloodied man drop to the ground, his face unrecognizable. But for good measure, Laz sealed the man with a rune himself, the black flames scoring it deep into his flesh.

"Well now princess... what shall I do with you?" Laz asked, walking over to the woman who was still restrained and unable to speak.

"Yeah. I don’t recognize this rune. So... we’ll have to do this the old fashion way. Sorry about this... but you did kind of do this to yourself..." Laz said, bringing out the black flames and using it like an eraser to burn away the remains of the rune that had been cast. The problem was the rune had been burned on her person so the only way to remove it was to burn it off her person which caused her great discomfort.

When Laz had finished, Tamesis sat up and brushed herself off before glaring at Laz.

"How did you get free? That should have been impossible," Tamesis asked first.

"Well... you’re welcome for saving your sorry ass. And as for your question, nope. Won’t answer since I obviously can’t trust you not to just fly away when we are facing a destruction. So for now... I guess you’re stuck with us," Laz said with a shrug.

"I can help you. This fortress has defenses that can be used to fight your demon beasts."

"One, I don’t believe you will help us. And two, as you can see... the fortresses defenses aren’t exactly as good as you claim."

"Well... they should be... something must be wrong... If I can find out how you escaped, I should be able to figure out what went wrong with the system..." Tamesis said, thinking deeply.

"Well... if you really want to know..."

"Yes. It’s the only way I can figure out where the problem lies. How did you escape? Did the binding fade when you moved? No... they should be independent from the spot. The energy, once released, wouldn’t just fade like that...."

"You need to ask me really nicely, then I’ll tell you. You did attempt to tie me up and abandon all of us. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were going to let me go, you would be sharing the floor with your boys right now," Laz said.

Tamesis turned a bit red at this but looked Laz in the eyes.

"Please tell me how you were able to escape?" She said, her eyes clear and her voice pleading.

"Well. When you put it like that... I simply broke them. They were weaker than strings if I’m being honest with you."

"That’s impossible...." Tamesis waved her hand in the activation gesture and another light spat out the binding lights at Laz again, tying him up once again.

"I’m starting to think you have a real kinky side..."

"I don’t know what that means. Now break these again?" Tamesis said.

Laz shrugged and moved his arms, the bindings of light fading away.

"That.... shouldn’t happen...." Tamesis again waved her hand, except this time, the lights bound her up.

"Yep. Kinky," Laz commented.

Tamesis moved around a bit as though testing the restraints before she too was able to lift her arms and break them easily.

"That... no... that’s impossible," Tamesis said, retrieving the book which had fallen to the floor and reading through it as though looking for the answer.

"It’s... no. Not this... Nor this.... Uh... wait... wait... something... If this is what is happening. Then it’s because we are missing the power source. It seems like the power source is either missing or has run out. But according to what my father wrote... It shouldn’t... but he wasn’t sure either...."

"So your fortress is out of batteries?"

"What’s a battery?"

"Talking in your language is hard when I want to keep using my own words for stuff you don’t have a word for. Ok... so your fortress is out of power?"

"That’s what it seems like. Let’s see," Tamesis said, walking over to the dais while looking at the book. She moved a few levers and pressed a button. A display popped up, showing a screen type projection. While Laz didn’t recognize the letters, it was easy to tell based on the picture that the energy of the fortress was almost out.

"Well... With this, not only are you stuck here, but you’ve also lost all your ability to really be a help to us. Especially since your two best warriors are now dead. Well then..." Laz said, turning to leave.

"Wait. WAIT!" Tamesis said, reading more through the book.

Laz stopped and turned back to the now desperate looking woman.

"There’s got to be something we can use. Maybe.... if... we can find something in this world, we can use it as a power source...."

"We are surrounded on all sides. How exactly do you expect us to go looking for a power source considering the circumstances?"

"I don’t know... I DON’T KNOW... Alright? I’m sorry. It seems... like I really have lost all value....Please.. I’m sorry. I am. I’m just trying to protect my people. The last of my people. But I don’t know what I’m doing. Look here. Ok? It says that the power source was a branch... or a twig... from something called the world tree. The amount of energy in this little branch was so immense that only something like that could power this fortress,. It said it had four leaves total and was a present from the great Fae people. My father guessed that the branch would power the fortress enough to make four shifts, one for each leaf. Perhaps... the branch just fell out or something? If... maybe if we can find it... maybe we will have a chance?" Tamesis said, pleading with Laz while Laz got a strange look on his face for just as moment.

"A chance to leave again?" Laz asked, his voice turned slightly cold.

"No... No.... Look. Even if we were to run off, it’s obvious that we would have no where to go and no one to go too. We would just be waiting around for our own deaths by not knowing the state of the universe. So no.... If we can find it, I promise to fight with you and your people. Then we can all leave here together. At least then... my people won’t be so alone...?" Tamesis asked, looking into Laz’s eyes.

While Laz wasn’t sure he believed her, he wanted to give her another chance. He could understand her hesitation to trust him as it did relate to the fact that she was just trying to keep her people safe.

"The swear to me. Swear to me on something that i can trust and I will help you," Laz said, starring at the little ruler.

"Bring out the sword. Just for a moment."

Laz summoned the white bladed- red handled sword from the space it occupied around him and held it towards her.

"I, Tamesis, last princess of my people, do by swear to do everything in my power, even at the cost of my life, to help protect the people of this land and to help..."

"Lazarus Crowe."

"And to help Lazarus Crowe to safely lead everyone through this battle and into the world outside." Once Tamesis finished her oath, a sliver of ice cold energy shifter from the blade to wrap around her wrist before travelling straight to her heart.

Laz knew that with this vow sworn on the sword, that her life would be forfeit if she went against her word.

With that, Laz reached around and pulled the branch out from his belt at his back to a stunned princess.

"To be fair, I didn’t know what it was for when I yanked it out... so.... you can’t be mad.... ok?"