Puppets of Tragedy

by Iridescence T Wind

Ice to See You Again.

I was briefly aware of intense pain as well as a yell of 'Warrrrgh' in my black realm of nothingness. I briefly caught a glimpse from GLaDOS's view point, my own body being carried by a pair of orks in technological garbage, before I blacked out again. I was prodded again and again, for a while, before I remained long and out.

When I came to, it hurt to breathe. I was barely aware of a buzzing sound, and I couldn't quite feel my good arm, and my bad arm felt like it was encased in something. Briefly I could hear the sounds of conversation between a male and a female voice, the first was Skargor, "Ah' said lass he was worse when I foun' 'im. He'll wake up in due time, what he was doin' was a ta' bit foolish for a firs' absorbtion."

The second voice was Amber, "What if he doesn't wake up? What then?"

"'He will, don' worry, look, he's already stirrin'."

Just because I was stirring didn't mean I wanted to be conscious, or alive for that matter as pain wracked my body. Before it felt like I was hit by a pickup truck, now it was like I was hit by a thrown barn. However, I got the uncomfortable feeling of being breathed on, and I cringed at the smell of it, forcing me to open my eyes and meet Skargors face as he grinned at me. "See, told ya."

I remained silent until Skargor was out of my face, and tried sitting up, while groaning, "What happened?"

Amber was disgruntled, "That's what I keep asking, one second I'm enjoying my morning, and the next second this strange creature knocks on our door with your unconscious body Boss. He keeps saying stuff about magic mumbo jumbo and you absorbing something."

"More like nearly gettin' possessed." Skargor muttered, "Tha' Windigo king nearly had ya, lucky you summoned me when you did; else it mighta been too late."

"How did you stop it?" I asked him, and I felt violated as well, but I didn't know how.

"Look at yer good arm." he gestured with a thumb towards the arm that wasn't in a cast. My arm, well from the hand to the elbow, had become marble white. I could still feel it but there was something different about it, it felt cold, and from that cold I could feel it reaching much further than where it was on the service, like a cold chill was going through my chest.

Skargor nodded, "noticing it now? Now try something for me, try concentrating on this." he put down an apple, "imagine that apple lifting up into the air, and use your hand to do so."

I nodded, and focused, pointing my hand towards it, palm outstretched and concentrated. For several moments nothing happened, but slowly, I could see a dark blue tinge start to form over the apple as I kept focusing, my attention diverting from checking up on my other puppets and refocusing into one objective. Instead of lifting up, the aura suddenly became a solid color and crushed the apple. Skargor chuckled. "Keep practicing, you've gotten a lot stronger magically, though it ain't without its own price for being improper."

I let go of the crushed apple, which had taken a scrunched oval shape, juice slowly spreading out from its ruined form. Quickly I tossed it into an incinerator and asked, "What price?"

"Well at the price of your arm now bein' white and havin' a blue crystal at the back of it..." Skargor paused, as though trying to remember it, "That and if your arm is ever cut off, that magic will go elsewhere 'till it regenerates."

I deadpan, "Humans don't usually regenerate entire limbs."

"Well now you will if its the white bit, watch out for over using your magic though, once you deplete the excess magic, if you deplete your own natural reserves of energy as well, there is a chance of mutations from the ambient magic and your unnatural magic upon your body. Could range from becoming a pony to getting an extra limb or splitting in two. That or nothin' could happen. What you get for trying to absorb magic without me."

I sighed, "Great..."

"Speakin' of magic, I can sense that you have collected quite a bit of it nearby. Someone took my advice."

"Yeah." I muttered, "That stuff and a Basilisk."

He looked surprised, "As in a giant snake that turns things to stone with its gaze?" when I nodded he laughed, "Oh wow, there was not but a few flies and stone statues when I went there in my own world."

I sighed, "Yeah, well all the statues on mine were ponies killed by its gaze."

He grunted, dismissing it, "Well you still have the artifacts, no?"

I nodded, and pulled them out of their hiding spot, Aperture science momentarily turning my room into a robotic arm forest as it moved the stuff onto my bed in front of me. He whistled again, and started explaining, "Now would probably be the best time to tell ya how to drain these things of their magic. Well properly, rather than grabbing a being and accidentally reactivating its central intelligence."

I stared at him, and this time managed to bring myself fully upright rather than leaning on the nearby wall. Now I could see the bandages around my chest as well. "What do I... Need to do?" I asked, my voice halting as my lungs gave me a sucker punch for breathing too fast.

"You're goin' to need a lot of rest after this, but yeah, here goes." Skargor then launched into an hour of explanation and teaching. Amber fell asleep about halfway through it, and I think I got the gist of it though, the fact that when I tried to drain one of the artifacts, the staff first, it slowly lost all color and I felt quite a bit stronger, more capable.

Once all of them had been drained he told me, "Unless you want the chance to lose that new magic, always remember, destroy the previous vessel, else some do-gooder or holier-than-thou priest type will try to reverse your power back into the vessel." He promptly threw the remaining grayed out artifacts into the incinerator I opened, and nodded to me, "I would recommend staying in bed for a few weeks, that and if you did have to move, not to strain yourself. Provided that your new magic doesn't hasten it along, mind you. Still you should keep that cast on until at least until... What day is it here?"

The question and nudge to Amber awoken her from sleep, "Huh?"

It took her a moment and the question being asked again before Skargor had his answer, "So about a night before Nightmare Night then." He nodded, "Yeah, sounds about right. Until we meet again, I have a horde to manage." he bid me goodbye and we bid him goodbye as well as he vanished back into the portals he came from the first time.

Once he had left, I was placed under a bone crushing hug by Amber. "You big idiot!" she shouted at me, "Don't you dare scare me like that again you jerk!"

I squeaked. In Pain. A lot of Pain.

"Oops... Sorry." She said sheepishly, letting go, "Forgot about the whole five broken ribs thing."

I glared at her, but after a few moments let out a sigh. "Its alright Amber, and to be fair I didn't know I was going to have that whole fight until after I touched the blue diamond and ended up somewhere up north about to fight a crazy psycho ice horse."

"Sounds like quite a story." The voice of a newcomer said, and we both looked back to my door, there was Trixie, with Cass noticeably hiding behind her legs as she stared in with us, "Care to share?"

The Aok quest system has been disabled due to sudden changes in your biology, The power tutorial unlocks is no longer restricting your being. Please see the manual for any more questions regarding your tools. Goodbye.

Comments

[Omega Delta]

[Deus42]

[Cheesejellycommander4]

I certainly approve of your higher frequency of updates, good sir.

[Slayer 10321]

[Moongaze14]

Nice chapter.

[WezzaHD]

Took me a bit of time to understand, but I see what you mean. Shame he has to rest through Nightmare Night, though.

[Mad Maudlin]

Hmm.. Could he make a Darth Vader suit for our Pegasnake? Complete with force choking action!

[light snow]

Nightmare night such possibilities!

[TwistedSpring]

8663536
But...I liked quest system

[Direct Access]

Did you seriously made her have crush on him out of the blue just to use this cliche situation?
Did you seriously made him make so much stupid decisions just to have an excuse to give him new power?
Did you seriously just went and overturned again major plot line because you wanted to change stuff around, without even bothering to connect stuff properly?

[Tenebris Lucifer]

10756972
Yes, yes they did and they has every right to as it is their story.