Keeper of the Lost Cities: War

Chapter Seventeen

Tam wanted nothing else other than to die at that moment.

He knew sooner or later this was bound to happen- and yet he was powerless to prevent it.
The glowing cuffs around his wrists proved that much anyway.

Between the two of them, Tam knew he would kick Keefe's ass in a one on one battle, but what had his gut twisting was the fact he had no control over when he was going to stop beating Keefe.
For all Tam knew, the Neverseen would let him kill Keefe. Though that was unlikely given how important he was to their plans, just the thought of hurting Keefe with his own hands, aside from an occasional slap, made Tam sick to his stomach.

But now, the two stood in the room they had spent the past couple days in, going through Zlo's training regimen.
That had included basically wearing both boys down to the point where they were collapsed from exhaustion.

Failing to do as they were told meant punishment for Tam, and with the little sense of self preservation Tam had left, he tried his best to keep himself out of trouble, even if his only sense to keep himself alive was to keep his promise to Sophie and protect Keefe.

Though now that he thought about it, what he and Keefe were about to be forced to do meant not protecting Keefe.

So why was he still fighting? Why couldn't Tam just let go and let the Neverseen kill him?
He couldn't keep his promise to Sophie and protect Keefe, and he was making Keefe's life a lot harder by being in it.

But for some reason, Tam knew he had to see this through. He had to do whatever it took to make sure that the Neverseen didn't break Keefe.

At least not to the point of utter despair with a shattered mind.

He found it beyond frustrating that he actually cared enough about Keefe to make sure he lived through the living hell they both had to go through.

Even now, both boys, Tam and Keefe, were standing in the middle of their training room, inside of a circle drawn into the floor with some sort of chalk.

Tam figured it was bewitched or something because it glowed the closer he walked over to it, and the temperature raised drastically in mere inches closer to it.

"Now. Rules are simple, render your opponent unconscious and you will win, blood is allowed, though I'd suggest keeping away from the edges of the circle if you don't want any burns." Zlo explained in his passive voice, his unbreakable calmness one of many things that fueled Tam's rage.
"Also, should you somehow manage to break free of my grasp, or Glimmer's, then we will bring in one of our top members to make you pay the price for disobedience."

With that, Tam almost imagined an ominous beat picking up as though drawing the battle to a begin very slowly as he and Keefe circled the ring, their eyes locked with each other.

It wasn't difficult for either boy to tell that the other didn't want to do this, but both of their bodies weren't under their own control at the moment, so all they could do was watch as though their mind was chained down to a chair, disconnected from their bodies.

For Keefe it always seemed to be a different experience than Tam's, granted, Zlo himself had to manipulate Keefe's body, but the way he did it was more like he was possessing Keefe with his words.

Unlike how Glimmer's was more like a puppet approach with Tam.

Zlo and Glimmer must've found it amusing to have their pawns fight each other, almost like one had to prove to the other that their ability was stronger and more efficient.

The worst part was whenever this seemed to happen, Keefe would forget everything that would happen underneath Zlo's control, whereas Tam would remember every second of it.