Chapter Ten: Realizations

The rest of the crew caught up with Timothy, and he snapped his head toward Valtor, tears of anguish and fury in his eyes.

"This is your fault, you put Zenith's most valuable person at risk and you killed her! I only wanted to find Zenith in order to restore it to its original location in the Magical Dimension, and now because of you I've done more harm than good! You're just lucky that portal didn't claim anything else in the process! I wouldn't be surprised if the king had us electrocuted!"

"You had feelings for her, didn't you Windez?" Valtor chuckled slyly.

"So what if I do, that's not the point!" Timothy yelled furiously, "this was all about the money for you people, Layla, I'm sure you'll be able to put money in your family's pockets now, be able to help your dad with his injuries. And Brandon, maybe you can help your family open up more flower shops, you'd be filthy rich then! But I guess you don't give a damn about the lives of an entire civilization, as long as you're for yourselves."

"Taking the moral high road doesn't get you anything, Windez, you've lost." Valtor interrupted, snatching the fairy dust pendant from Timothy's hands and suddenly punching him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Now, lets go, we've got everything we need!" Darcy demanded, but the rest of the crew just stood there, hesitant.

"That was not a suggestion, people, move it!" Darcy barked once more, but Layla was the first to walk towards Timothy.

"Hey, we're behind you." She told him kindly, helping him off the ground. Then, Brandon joined them, walking toward the two. Then Riven and Samuel Darkar followed, even Griselda gave in, knowing she would be doing the right thing by sticking by Timothy.

"No good deed ever goes unpunished." She sighed.

"Are you seriously going to back down after we are this close to getting the biggest paycheque of our lives?" Valtor shouted angrily.

"This is the wrong thing to do, we're not going to help you destroy an entire civilization just for wealth!" Layla shot back, "We can find a better way!"

"We've done some things in our lives that we regret, but nobody got hurt." Brandon added, "This time someone did get hurt, someone very important, and a lot of other people are going to follow if we do this, totally innocent people!"

"Fine, if that's the way it's going to be, We'll take this back to Magix on our own!" Valtor yelled, walking toward Zenith's power source with the fairy dust pendant in his hand, and it began to glow once more.

"Wait, you can't do this!" Timothy protested, however Brandon stopped him in his tracks.

"Hold on man, it's dangerous." He warned him, just like before when Tecna disappeared, Valtor and Darcy managed to activate the power once again, but it deactivated once he backed away with the fairy dust pendant.

"Fantastic, now we have a way out of here." He replied, "Darcy, let's get the rest of the stuff from the ship wreckage and get back to Magix!"

Timothy, Brandon, Layla and the crew returned to the throne room to see the King looking very furious. He could sense that his kingdom was weakened, and was completely unaware of what had become of his daughter.

"Tecna, where is she?" He demanded.

"I can explain, your highness, this is all Valtor's doing, I wanted no part of it!" Timothy begged.

"He manipulated us and turned us against Timothy, he was only trying to find a way to restore Zenith to the Magical Dimension!"

"I have told Tecna this and I will tell you, this is the exact reason why I didn't want Zenith to be restored, Tecna was the only one who could activate the power source after so many years, and now that she has done it.., the Omega portal claimed her."

"I know that the great force of Zenith's power was too strong to keep out in the open, that's why you kept it hidden, so history couldn't repeat itself and Zenith wouldn't be destroyed entirely."

"Yes, and for my sweet Tecna not to suffer the same way her mother did.., unfortunately I didn't take enough precautions." Electronio sighed, "She was all I had left.., and if you are able to find a way to bring her back, the realm of Zenith and I will be forever in your debt."

"Well, what's it going to be, Timothy?" Cordatorta asked him after a moment of silence, "it's your call."

"Oh, really, let's sum up just how effective my decisions have been this entire time!" Timothy snapped, "I've led a complete psychopathic wizard to the lost civilization of Zenith only in an attempt to restore it to its former glory, but instead I caused the murder of the heir to the throne, the theft of its power source and the collapse of said civilization! Does that make my decisions the best way to follow?"

"Timothy..," he snapped his head toward the king, "I know you had great intentions, and you never wanted to bring any harm to this realm, I've made a mistake, I have total faith in you and I know you can fix this." Timothy walked up to a nearby window, despite everything the sky was clear enough to see the stars. He looked up, and remembered what Tecna's voice told him after the portal claimed her.

"Everything will be fine, don't fear for me..." he translated the words softly under his breath, suddenly, a shooting star flashed across the sky, and a spark of hope filled his eyes, "Tecna, I know you're alive, and I'm going to find you.., I promise."

Timothy marched boldly out of the palace and met the rest of his friends with fierce adrenaline in his eyes.

"Timothy, where the Oblivion do you think you're going?" Layla asked him.

"I'm going after Valtor, and I'm going to get Tecna back dammit!" He responded.

"Have you gone insane!" She shouted back.

"Listen, whether I like it or not, all my logical thinking went right out the window when I met Tecna.., so yes, maybe I have gone insane, but it's for the greater good." Timothy told her, heading toward the small hiding space where the Wind Rider was kept. Everyone followed him, and watched him place his hand on the pad, and type in the code.

"There's one for everyone, just enter your Wind Rider code into the pad while your hand is on it, and use the controls to steer!" He instructed, "Tecna and I figured out how to make them work."

"Let's do this thing!" Riven shouted, hoping on a Wind Rider of his own, and an entire army formed in a matter of minutes, consisting of Zenith's royal guards and soldiers, as well as Timothy's crew.

"I'm going to find you Tecna, restore Zenith, or die trying!" Timothy announced as the battle begun.

I had to put that Timmy quote in here, it was just a perfect determination booster and so romantic! It will always be in my heart forever.