He was tired. He carried the weight of lifetimes, each with its own choices, its own consequences. He was exhausted. Spent. It pulled him down, tugging at every muscle, every limb, until it took everything in him not to collapse. The memories of pain swirled like a fog in his mind. But it was within his heart that it penetrated deepest, every beat a reminder of what was lost. It was black, to be sure. He'd never seen it with his own eyes, though he'd prayed during every endless night that he could tear it from his own chest and bury it at sea with them. He could feel the darkness raging inside, his very own tempest.

And then, with no warning, she was there. She was a means to an end…the key to finally enacting the revenge he'd devoted every remaining lifetime he had left to achieving. Until suddenly, she wasn't. Until for the first time in longer than time would allow him to recall, he wasn't alone. It started in his muscles, pulling him up…one twisting vine at a time, one swing of his sword, one turn of the wheel. She cleared his mind, an open book for him to read one moment and a vexing enigma the next. But it was his heart that took some time…time that he never knew he was giving but that he had more than enough to offer. With every beat, he came back to life, the light destroying the darkness.

There was an emptiness within him. Always a piece missing. A puzzle cursed to spend an eternity incomplete.

He was tired. Until suddenly, he wasn't.