Time Maze

Keep treading on the same rake

"Tyson?" Marcus called out mere moments after Tyson had closed his eyes in a vain attempt to fight off the headache.

"Mhm?" Tyson mumbled without looking at him.

Keeping his eyes shut didn't chase away the pain, but at least it felt like it made it milder somehow. Thus, he refused to open his eyes unless there was an emergency.

"Will we really have to kill some people?" Marcus asked tentatively.

"What?" Tyson asked as his eyes flew open and his body lifted itself from the ground in shock.

"Well, you said that we would have to fight, and I don't want to kill anyone. I know that I caused some of the bad things to happen in the past, but I don't think I can murder someone just like that," Marcus said with a trembling voice.

"Marcus, we aren't going to kill anyone. I would never ask you to do that. Also, if anyone ever did, you would refuse, right?" Tyson asked, worried that his friend might be just a bit too susceptible to suggestions.

"Of course I would, but you said that we would have to fight. And I thought you knew better about this history stuff, that maybe you didn't mind killing those people because they were the bad guys," Marcus said.

"Marcus, we talked about this before. Just because I say or think that something is right, you don't have to do it if it doesn't feel okay to you," Tyson said, trying to carefully word his explanation. "You have your own rules and values, and you shouldn't break them for anyone. Not even me. I don't want that for you. All I want is to help you, help us."

Marcus nodded vigorously, as it was a familiar topic they had often discussed. Still, more often than not, Marcus agreed to do things just because he didn't want to hurt someone's feelings. At times that meant he ended up doing the things he disliked or even those that went against his beliefs. Tyson always found it sad to see what his friend would do to please the others and did his best to encourage him to follow his own path.

"As for the fighting, there won't be any killing, at least not by us. First of all, we don't know how to shoot, and even if we are forced to do it, I doubt we will hit anything. Secondly, I think we can pull off not firing our weapons at all as there is probably no way for them to tell either way," Tyson said.

"So, what do we do?" Marcus asked, confused.

"We pretend we are part of their reinforcements and keep our heads low," Tyson said.

"And then?" Marcus asked.

"Then we hope the portal appears on time to save us," Tyson said.

"I don't like that plan," Marcus said, frowning.

"I don't either, but that's all I have for now," Tyson said, dropping on the ground again.

Then he proceeded to firmly shut his eyes to all the possible dangers that awaited them.

"Fine," Tyson heard Marcus grumble before he fell into a restless sleep that was made even more disorienting by his pulsing headache.

Marcus saw that Tyson needed to rest, but he didn't feel tired himself in the slightest. As a matter of fact, he felt more energized by the unfamiliar place as it was more to his taste, old and cool looking as it was.

Instead of resting before the fight that was bound to happen, he just sat on the ground, mindlessly digging small holes in the sand.

"This is so boring. What am I supposed to do? Sit here and watch him sleep like a creep," Marcus mumbled under his breath.

He started looking around for some distraction. As luck would have it, he found the most perfect one in the shape of a beautiful young woman that seemed to be checking him out. She walked around the building and out of sight. Seconds later, she appeared again and gestured for him to follow her.