When he arrived back at his lab in Tenebrae he nearly collapsed from fatigue and the weight of the recent events. When he saw that Renee, or fake Renee, or whatever she was, was still in the chair be breathed a small sigh of relief. Terridus simply moved over to his machine and sat on one of the chairs and hung his head, holding it in his hands.
Things in the golden circle just become very unstable and he felt something he had not in a very long time. Fear. That primal sensation that drove him to his ends. He was so scared of what was to come now, he couldn't remember a time so uncertain. Things had happened so fast, all he could do was simply list them, he couldn't even analyze their true meaning yet. He figured he had to start somewhere:
Oberion was very possibly dead. Terridus wasn't even sure if such a thing were possible at this point, but now it seemed very likely. Terridus had attacked the king of amber, which would make him technically a traitor to the crown. Not that he wasn't already, undoing the punishment on Virgil and working to fix Renee as well, but, Terridus had attacked the king and what were the ramifications of that? If Oberion had somehow managed to survive, he may seek out Terridus and extract revenge on him, that would be bad. If Oberion were dead however, would he have used his blood curse? Did Oberion have a blood curse to use? There were just too many variables in that equation that were unknown to solve it yet.
Elmdor was claiming the throne of Amber, something that Terridus did not want to happen. He said he was going to gather the leaders of the golden circle to organize the ascendancy. Terridus wanted Renee to hold that position in the case of Oberion's passing but she was still unable to do so at the time. Since Terridus was a lord of the golden circle, would Elmdor come here and seek his support shortly? Would the rest of the family support him? Would there be a civil war in the golden circle? More unknowns...
Renee... Was that even her sitting over there in the chair. When they had gone into her mind and met that demon... Was it actually a trap? Could it have all been a lie? And that other visitor... more unknowns.
And the topic of everyone's worry; Virgil. That physco-path... Terridus had looked at his plans while he was in his mind, knew some of the reasons that Oberion had him censured in the first place. Terridus knew that what he was capable of. Just didn't think he'd go through with it and in the end, chances were, it wasn't under his control. Garrick and Terridus had just talked down the Courts of Chaos and then, bang, all was dust. It nearly killed Schala, thankfully Jubei was around and took her to safety. He vowed he'd go and find her, but, he was too busy right now.
The eagle, he knew now the true enemy of all. Supposedly holding Virgil hostage and acting through him. What a dangerous combination, A genius like Virgil being used by such a being. Why did the eagle seek him out in the place? Was it because of his mastery of Trump? Maybe, Virgil was working with things he didn't fully understand and some how brought this on himself. His blind drive towards mastering trump could have caught the attention of eagle who is now using him as an agent of it's destruction? Maybe he's not being held hostage at all, maybe he went willingly, maybe he likes the eagle's ends. Maybe Oberion was right to have him censured as he did.
Terridus's head was spinning. His mind was racked with so much that it was causing him actual pain. He tore off his mask and crushed it in his hands while yelling at the top of his lungs. He cast the mask away and tore off towards his work benches. enraged, he began to toss things aside and continued to yell. All the anger of his being poured up to the surface of his thoughts. Oberion attacking his brother, Virgil killing hundreds of thousands, Jubei's repeated insults, the trap that may be Renee, Schala's near death, Annalee's claim to have been able to stop it but not doing so. All of it came out in one huge, amberite temper tantrum.
After a few moments Terridus stopped and surveyed the destruction he had wrought upon his own lab and wiped a stray piece of his blond hair from his face. Over his ragged breathing he heard only one other thing, Renee. He slowly walked over to and came to stand by the chair that she was still locked into and looked down at her. What little recognition the Renee gave him was most likely fear, the very same thing he was brought back to himself.
He had so much to do; whether it was go track down Schala and make sure she was going to make it, gather the rest of the golden circle and help bring some stability to the royal family, join Annalee's Coalition of the hapless that will throw it's self at fighting to save Virgil and stop the eagle or just seeing if Oberion is actually dead. But with all that weighing on his mind, Terridus realized that he didn't care anymore.
Over eight years ago now, he swore to fix the crown princess Renee and he wasn't going to give up on that now. All of reality as he knew it could be coming to an end and right now, he literally didn't have the energy to care about it. Terridus gently stroked the side of Renee's face, or the fake Renee, well, he didn't care really now. He wasn't going to try one last time to save her. Again, the demon had told him this one was a fake, something that Rajani didn't confirm or deny when Terridus confronted her about it while he talked her down. He would find out one way or another, and nothing else would stop him.
He left her side and put on another mask. He moved out of the room and found a nearby attendant that he instructed the following:
"I will be busy. I do not know for how long. I am not to be interrupted no matter what."
Terridus said and snapped his fingers. His personal guard of Zombies arrived and he had them organize around the door to protect him. Terridus went back inside alone and paused again at the side of Renee. He looked her over again and then moved to sit in his master chair. He started up his machine and let his mind take over. He cleared his mind of everything he could and focused on the woman in the nearby chair.
