Chapter 33 Imamu's cave (M)
Imamu's cave
“Oh my head...” Spike tried to rub his head, as if it would have made the headache any less painful.
“My arm...” he screamed as he tried to move his arm to rub his head.
More and more pain came through his body. At first it was his head, then his arm as he tried to rub his head, then his chest and stomach as he screamed in pain because of his arm, then his other arm as he tried to place it to his stomach, followed by both his legs as he tried to curl up into a ball, and finally his tail. Spike has tried to bring it between his legs so that he could stroke it later, but it did not came. He tried to flex his tail muscles but they were unresponsive.
“My tail!” Spike screamed.
“What happened to my tail?” he screamed again, trying to turn to his side so he could get a look at his apendice, but even the slightest move made him feel like he was being struck by lighting.
“My tail!” again he screamed, for it was all that he could do.
“Oh shut up you!” a stern voice said, but it out of Spikes field of view, so Spike did not know who was talking to him. “Stop screaming, you are going to wake the dead.”
“If that were the case, then let him scream as much as his can,” a second voice was heard.
“I’m sorry Imamu, I did not meant to...”
“It’s alright little one,” Imamu said laughing slightly.
“Thank you Imamu,” the first voice replied.
“How are the preparation going?”
“Slowly. Sunset is close, and the circle is still not finished.”
“I see... Worry not, I have taken care of everything.”
“But Imamu, the effects will be permanent after the sun will set.”
“Not really.”
“What?” Kirabo ashed, Spike sharing in his confusion.
“The spell, as you so crudely call it, can only be reversed in the presence of the same sun it was cast upon.”
“Right,” Kirabo agreed, a bit confused by Imamu’s choice of wording. “So if the sun goes down it will be permanent.”
“Unless...”
Imamu had left the sentence unfinished intentionally, he was waiting for someone, namely Kirabo, to finish it for him.
Kirabo was deep in thought, he wondered if there was something else, something he did not though of, a loophole of sorts, if there was, it must have been in the hidden in the explanation, or, to be more precise, in the way Imamu explained how the spell worked.
“What?” Spike demanded to know. “We can still save them even after the sun goes down?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Kirabo?” Imamu asked, hoping that Kirabo figured out what he was trying to tell him.
“I... I do not know. Apologies Imamu, I just do not know what I have missed.”
Spike looked around the room. It was dark, not pitch black just moonless night dark, thank to a fire that burned somewhere close, but far enough that neither Spike nor Kirabo could see it, but they both could hear it. Barely any of its light reached them.
Spike took a closer look around. On the wall, there were blue crystals, but something was off about them, so he squinted his one good eye and tried to take a better look, true enough, there were crystals, and they were blue, only, that they were not hanging on the wall, in fact it was more like they were sticking out of it. The light of the fire was reflected by some of them, making it seem that there was a firefly trapped inside, they amplified the little light that the fire provided and also carried it further, lighting more of the place than the fire could on its own.
He eye moved down a little as Spike tried to better comprehend the place he was in. First he could only see his snout, but after a bit of forcing and a great increase in his headache intensity, he could see where he was, in a bed... sort of. He saw that he was tucked under something large, heavy and... it was kind of furry or fuzzy or hairy, Spike was still too baffled to tell the difference at that moment.
“It smells, oh sweet Celestia does it smell.” For Spike the smell was almost unbearable, and that was coming from a dragon who, during a single day was bathed in hydra dung, took a quick dip in manticore waste, took a squirt of venom to the face, as well as a bath in bubbling sulphur lake, and he did not want to know what happened to him while he was out, but, at the same time, the smell was a bit familiar, a bit too familiar for his taste, it had a sort of old pony smell to it, with a bit of rotting food, and a smitch of something... metallic? for the lack of a better word.
Looking around for something to take his mind from the disturbing smell Spike saw an old ragged blanket hanged from a rib.
“A rib? Huh. That’s new.”
That was only slightly less disturbing than the smell, Only slightly, since after a day like today Spike was pretty much saying “meh”, completely indifferent and unimpressed by most things and choosing to ignore almost everything else, except his own pain, and Apple Bloom, and Zecora, and a few other things.
He continued to look around, by now his eye had adapted to the semi-darkness that was around him, and he could see much more clearer. However he quickly wished he hadn't. As he noticed earlier there were crystals around him, but they only seemed to emerge from the ceiling and continue down until the halfway point of the walls.
The bottom half looked like a mixt between the interior of Zecora’s hut and the manticores lair. There were all the masks, the vials of all shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the strange plants one would expect to find at Zecora’s, but there were also bones and skulls, and a lot of them, not as many as in the manticore’s cave, but it was an impressive collection nonetheless. Unlike the manticore’s lair, they were not discarded or thrown away, they were arranged, some were decorated with bright and colorful paints forming intricate patterns and designs, while other seemed to be transformed, or in the process of becoming, works of art, dark and macabre works of art, but beautiful nonetheless.
Art had never been very important for Spike, except if you consider Rarity a work of art, but even he could tell when something beautiful was beautiful, and these were, despite their gruesome origins, beautiful.
“Whoever made them must have had incredible steady hands, and a great deal of free time.”
Spike could only see a part of the cave, but, in the small part he saw, there were thousands of such works all around, and all of them painstakingly carved and decorated.
Kirabo came close to Spike to inspect his injuries, lifting the furry blanket off of him he revealed his body and proceed to examine it.
For the most part it looked the way it did before he passed out, missing or burnt scales, bruises and other small wounds were all over his body, some in various stages of scarification, a few blisters from his sulphurous bath, one almost dead eye and of course his clearly visible neck wound. But there were new ones too, wounds that Spike knew nothing about, but still felt them, a few chipped claws and one or two that were completely gone, broken or torn straight off, in addition there now were deep cuts in the palms of his hands, as well as on his feet. Claw marks were present on his tights, fortunately none were too deep. But, by far in the worst shape was his tail, well that would not be exactly right, his tail was more or less fine, at least what remain of it, a couple of vertebras, some exposed muscle at its base and some scales were all that remained of it, but these were in pretty decent condition, compared to the rest of its body.
Since Spike was more or less unable to move and he could not see it, which was a good thing, the poor baby dragon was in a whole deal of pain, and the shock of actually knowing that his tail, the thing he held onto for comfort when he was scared, worried or just tired, was gone, would have been too much both for his will and for his heart.
“Give it to me straight, doc. Am I going to make it?” Spike said half joking half serious.
Kirabo started laughing, Imamu joined him shortly. Spike tried to laugh himself but, the sudden movement of his chest and abdomen only caused him more pain.
“You will be fine...” Imamu said stared at his face. “Mostly.”
To Spike, that did not seem particularly encouraging.
“I think we may need to replace it,” Kirabo added, also looking at Spike’s face.
“We shall take care of it later, right now we have to deal with Adanna. Go and check if she is almost done,” Imamu told Kirabo in a somewhat commanding tone.
“Yes, Imamu,” Kirabo instantly responded, standing in attendance before running out of Spikes sight.
Bonus image New Zealand bone carvings (author unknown)
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He got fuuucked up, didn't realize the severity.
Aww.. poor Spike. He keeps getting worse for wear. Also, I wonder what Twilight is thinking about Spike being gone.
2621714
things usually get worse before they get better
and your question will be answered,
but unfortunately not soon
guess this a 75-76 fav story, since whenever someone favs it someone un-favs it
2624965
well you're still in the introduction part of the story, and every character is acting as he/she would in the series (to the best of my abilities) so, grammatical errors aside, there is very little that I could get wrong there.
The thing that worries me, and I want opinions about is how one views the rest of the story, the action, the drama, the conflict, the characters and their actions, the locations, the dialog, THE PLOT, to name but a few.
EDIT:
also I would like if maybe you would have some insight why there are those who consider the story to be 'meh...'
Is it the setting? The characters? Is there just no love for Spike? Is the writing inadequate? Or, is it something else entirely?
I, and a few others (those who faved it) like the story, and such can't be trusted to give honest criticism. Therefore I chose a review trade group, where, a random person may judge it, analyze it, and tell me what works and what doesn't. (at least according to him)
Also Derpy,
Because do I really need a reason?
Le thumb up. Came from Free Thumbs Up group.
2628840 le thanks
Oh wow... poor Spike. Yeesh, you really don't mind holding back do you?
2628840 Cold Blitz!
"Pokes"
:D
I feel like this story is missing parts. There are sometimes unexplained jumpcuts between chapters. Oh well.
This is annoying me, in all the crucial moments spike is just controlled. He's learning nothing.