PMD: Times of Strife

Chapter 9

"I'm sorry... What was that you said?" Zen asked in astonishment.

"Nightshade is the one who destroyed Zocarive," Tamao responded taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "The tablet from here was just stolen a few hours ago, that's why I look like I got roasted above an open flame."

"Oh... Is that bad?"

"Extremely, one of the tablets alone isn't horrible. But if you were to combine all of the tablets together... Well, let's just say Zocarive was a good example of that."

"Oh... That's really bad. But It'd take years to reach every single temple, and most of them are probably still undiscovered."

"I don't like the idea of Nightshade being able to find all the tablets before I do, I let him do it once and I can't let him do it again. If we can find one and keep it safe we can keep the world from being destroyed long enough to defeat Nightshade and whatever army he has by then."

"Well the closest one we know of is a week away by walking, probably only two days by flying since you'll be able to skip over all the mystery dungeons. You know what, how about we talk about this in the morning when we're all well-rested and in our right minds? We can go get breakfast at the diner and discuss things further." Zen recommended as he yawned.

"That sounds like a good idea, good night Zen, Shade."

"Goodnight you three." They both responded as they went to their respective room.

As Tamao and Inari arrived in their room with Ayla they realized something. Where was Ayla gonna sleep?

"I assume you want your own bed Ayla?" taamos asked her as she sat down looking at the two of them.

"P-preferably y-yes."

"What do you think Inari?"

"She can have her own bed."

"Alright, that was easier than I expected. Me and Inari can take the far bed and you can have the closer one."

"Sounds good," Ayla responded before curling up on the soft mattress.

Tamao crawled up on the other one with Inari following suit as they both laid down trying to keep a little bit of space between them, even though it would prove to be ultimately fruitless as soon after Inari fell asleep she subconsciously rolled over and put her head in Tamao's neck fur.

Tamao didn't mind it, he also couldn't deny his neck fur probably made a better pillow than most pillows since he made sure to keep it soft and clean. Otherwise, normal tasks would become more difficult than they needed to be. Tamao quickly fell asleep to dream the night away. If only those dreams were nice and peaceful.

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"So you have finally fallen asleep." A distorted voice sounded from the black abyss that was Tamao's surroundings.

"Can I just have peace for one moment!" Tamao shouted into the distance.

"So you do not wish to learn about the tablets of this world?"

"Okay, you have my attention."

"The tablets in this world are different from Zocarive, firstly there are twice as many. They also all cause a different disturbance to happen if deactivated. Each of which has a weird but simple solution to fix."

"Wait these tablets can deactivate?" Tamao asked panicked.

"Yes, but only by removing them and proceeding to break them in half. So don't break them and you're fine."