Create a new version of paste:

(7:39:09 PM) Earthflame: Within, the battlefield is as it always was, as it always shall be. A vortex of blood and death and memories and pain that surrounds the two... But something is wrong. Timur's image distorts and shudders, and it's not just the control device that's causing it- His shadow splits in two, grim faced ghosts looming over his shoulders, bearing a faint resemblance to him but... feeling ultimately 
(7:39:09 PM) Earthflame: Wrong.
(7:41:04 PM) Cyrus: Cyrus looks up at the split Timur. "What the hell is that thing?"
(7:42:31 PM) ***Timur looks over. "What the fuck?" He almost jumps, looking at the images.
(7:44:16 PM) Earthflame: One lets out a bloodthirsty roar... The other speaks quietly, but both speak the same words. "I am Timur."
(7:44:53 PM) Timur: "No, you're fucking not." He slashes at the roaring one with a bone knife.
(7:45:38 PM) Earthflame: It laughs, the violence only seeming to make it grow greater. The other sighs. "He is. He is what our legacy has become."
(7:45:54 PM) Timur: "Legacy, what do you mean?"
(7:46:01 PM) Cyrus: "Oh, I think I get it."
(7:46:41 PM) Timur: Timur stares at Cyrus.
(7:46:49 PM) Earthflame: "You would." The quieter one glowers at Cyrus, even as the raging shadow laughs again. "Forget weakness. Forget hesitation. Unleash yourself and destroy. Become the Timur history knows you to be."
(7:47:26 PM) Cyrus: "Around our time, there was a philosopher who spoke about the ideal form of all things, that out there somewhere there is one perfect version of everything, and all that exists in the world is a pale imitation of it."
(7:47:52 PM) Timur: "What."
(7:48:17 PM) Cyrus: "Meet your ideal form, as full of violence and hate as you like to pretend you are."
(7:49:12 PM) Timur: "Even if I thought that was true, what's the tiny one's deal?" He jerks a thumb at the quiet Timur.
(7:50:21 PM) Earthflame: "The man. Not the myth. Or a reflection of him, anyway." He glowers at Cyrus again, or... At something over Cyrus's shoulder? The raging one simply laughs, gesturing broadly towards Cyrus. "Why does he still exist? We should have erased him long ago."
(7:51:19 PM) Cyrus: "I'm not sure of that myself, especially in light of...recent events. Was I just a vehicle to trick people into thinking Shojaii's intentions were noble?"
(7:55:06 PM) Earthflame: "Maybe it's all you're good for!" The ideal image laughs as the man simply sighs, looking wearier by the moment. "We were never that much of a fool."
(7:55:42 PM) Timur: "I dunno, I agree with the psycho here, maybe you should go cry in a corner about it while I figure out what to do with my less pretty doubles and the stupid control device."
(7:57:24 PM) Earthflame: The shadowy figure seems to grow more, laughing. "We should kill the doctor, and take his machine... With more power, we could be even more complete!"
(7:58:23 PM) Timur: "At this point fuck that guy, I don't trust a single part of anything he's touched. We're definitely killing him though. And Stratos."
(7:58:36 PM) Cyrus: "No. You aren't doing any of that."
(7:58:56 PM) Timur: "Oh, wanna be the big man and stop The Despoiler again? How'd that go last time?"
(7:59:02 PM) Cyrus: "Stopped you, didn't I?"
(7:59:41 PM) Timur: "That was a one-off. I learned my lesson, I'm not going to make the same mistake again."
(8:00:08 PM) Earthflame: The tired Timur sighs. "Haven't we already?"
(8:00:20 PM) Timur: "You're...shut up!" He's getting agitated.
(8:01:07 PM) Cyrus: "At this point, I think we're all failures. We were never meant to succeed, just to be tools they understood. We were manipulated, promised the same things that drew us in a life they built for us, and then thrown away when inconvenient."
(8:01:14 PM) Timur: Timur gets quiet at that.
(8:03:36 PM) Earthflame: "So burn it all down! Let nothing stand in your way!" The raging manifestation crackles, while the tired one simply rests a hand on Timur's shoulder.
(8:04:12 PM) Timur: He shakes it off. "So, what then? Give up? Lay down? Let them win?"
(8:04:29 PM) Cyrus: "No, we have to do something way harder."
(8:04:35 PM) Cyrus: "We have to change."
(8:06:37 PM) Earthflame: "Weak! Force the world to change, never compromise!" The tired Timur though looks toward Cyrus seriously... Glancing over his shoulder again.
(8:07:43 PM) Cyrus: "Never compromising is why we both died. And we'll just fight the same battle over and over again, with the same result, as long as we refuse to change." He catches the second timur, and looks over his own shoulder.
(8:08:32 PM) Earthflame: ...Seeing a familiar face. His. Not the face now, or from the simulation, but the man... More weathered, more tired, and far fainter than either of Timur's shadows. He doesn't speak, but he does nod.
(8:09:11 PM) Timur: Timur sees it too. "Getting a little crowded around here." He mumbles.
(8:09:31 PM) Cyrus: Cyrus nods back to him. "I don't actually think you're wrong on that one, Timur."
(8:09:38 PM) Timur: Timur shoots him a look.
(8:10:34 PM) Earthflame: The tired Timur frowns a moment, and then glances to his parallel... Cyrus, now his awareness is there, gets a glimpse of his second echo, too- More like the one in the simulation, the silent visage of the almighty King... But unlike Timur, his seem less discordant, less fractured.
(8:11:29 PM) Cyrus: Cyrus gives that one a nod too. "We are all of these things, Timur. At the same time. But we have something they don't."
(8:11:43 PM) Timur: "Yeah? What's that?"
(8:12:51 PM) Cyrus: "We're alive. We can still grow. They" He gestures to the shadows. "Cannot change. Not ever. They're the real men, who gave us our names. And the real legends, who gave us our story. But they can't change anymore."
(8:16:45 PM) Earthflame: All but the raging Timur nod at that- Although the tired one stops as he realises the Cyrus's are doing it. The raging one is still ranting on without saying much new or informative.
(8:17:21 PM) Timur: "That's great and all but it doesn't fix our actual problem. Our body is still that asshole's puppet, and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it."
(8:21:36 PM) ***Cyrus thinks for a moment. "You're right, that is the main problem, but we need to settle this while we have a moment. Because otherwise there's gonna be a free for all the second that device goes down."
(8:23:02 PM) Cyrus: "I'm not here to jail you, but I will if I have to. If you can behave...I don't see a reason that you can't have some time to roam around for yourself. And I'm going to get my friends to watch you."
(8:23:20 PM) Cyrus: "Otherwise, they're just going to smash the body and drag it to the Hyperion Outreach Center, where they'll probably try to delete you outright."
(8:24:24 PM) Timur: Timur thinks for a moment, then sighs. "Okay, fine. Fine. I'm enough of a damn failure without getting embarassing about it. But I'm gonna make you regret it if you go back on your word."
(8:24:41 PM) Cyrus: Cyrus extends his hand to Timur. 
(8:24:57 PM) Timur: Timur looks at it, sighs, and takes it, shaking it in agreement. "Okay, now the control device."
(8:25:06 PM) Cyrus: "Yeah, I was gonna ask you. Any ideas?"
(8:25:37 PM) ***Timur stares at Cyrus. "You'd better hope you're right about being able to change, because you're just as much of an incompetent planner as you were in life."
(8:28:06 PM) Earthflame: The tired Timur looks up, and then down at himself. "...We're power. In the form of ourselves, but none of us are real." They look to the shadow of Cyrus the man, who nods slowly. "...The young ones are right. We can't change. But at least we can at least do something with our strength."
(8:28:50 PM) Timur: "Overloading the control device? Not a bad plan."
(8:29:44 PM) Cyrus: "Thank you. All of you." He looks at the shadows. "We'll do right by you all."
(8:31:33 PM) Earthflame: "No! I refuse, I-" And then the ideal of Cyrus moves forward- Grabbing the ideal of Timur and putting them in a headlock. The reflections of the men shift forward, nodding and clasping hands... And then they begin to dissolve into blazing lights, arcing into the sky... Final words echoing over them both, hard to say exactly who said them. "We will be watching."
(8:33:59 PM) ***Cyrus looks up. "Alright, I'll take over from here. When this is done, we'll figure out specifics after this."
(8:34:30 PM) Timur: Timur nods as Cyrus fades off of the battlefield.