Elements of Disharmony part 11

From unhallowed graves,

housing stillborn babes,

I hear a horrifying beat,

For solice I entreat,

My masters deaf ears

Ignore my growing fears.

By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.

 

>Your breathing begins to slow as you slowly regain your senses.

>Damn that Lich.

>Tzeentch take his hateful soul.

>He was more powerful than you had expected, his warpless sorcery allowing him far more endurance.

>His spells matched you, and in some cases it took a degree of split-second trickery to evade his more powerful attacks.

>And then there was his last-ditch bolt of black lightning.

>Damn that Lich.

>You wracked your mind, your memory, anything.

>In a single blow, he did what it took a sea of Daemons to do.

>He had not just attacked your body, but your mind.

>He stripped your mind of precious memories.

>You couldn’t even remember Ditzy’s face now.

>Every muscle ached from the strain, and you felt weak.

>You rip your helmet off, and let it clank against the stone floor.

>You look at the pile of bones and the slowly melting robes that cover it.

>How such a hateful creature could ever exist, you were unsure, what documents you had read were only sparring in information.

>Atleast it was now dead, of that much you were certain.

>The weak grip it held was gone, torn from this world by your blade.

>You rise from you knees, and mag-clamp your sword to your Gen-Pack, returning your Bolter to its mag-holster on your thigh.

>You begin to stumble back towards the study of the tower.

>As you stumble down the steps, you catch sight of a sleepy Shermanator slowly exiting his room, casting odd glances at you.

>”Wow, you look like crap Sorc. What happened?”

>You crack you neck, returning your helmet to its place on your head.

“I had a dispute with the Lich.”

 

>Shermanator whistles

>”Well now, good to see you’re alright. He’s not exactly the first person I’d want to get on the bad side of.”

>You shrug

“I’ve fought down tougher.”

>Sherm nods, and falls into step next to you.

>”So, he gonna be joining us for the Picnic today? Or is he going to be nursing a bruised ego?”

>You chuckle

“That scum won’t be joining us at all. I’ve disposed of that conniving Abomination.”

>Shermanator comes to a stop behind you.

>”Wait, you mean you… You killed him?”

>You look over your shoulder, taking a few steps down the stairs to the study.

“Yes, I uncovered his lies, and when I confro-“

>Your words are cut off first by the incredulous idea of this human trying to punch you, as he flies up into your face.

>Then your helmet shatters as you feel his knuckles slam into your nose, sending you flying down the staircase.

>Your head slams into the hard stone, a ton and a half of ceramite and muscle put on your delicate neck.

>Thankfully, your pack took the most of the force, and you come to a grinding stop, blood gushing from your broken nose, shocked that such a small man could pack a punch powerful enough to turn your helmet into little more than shards in your skin.

>You shake your head, getting the blood out of your eyes, and look up in time to see a crackling energy field around his right fist.

>And his bracer was glowing, the gemstone throbbing.

>Your sword began to vibrate, much like it did in the fight with the Lich.

>His Element was a Tzeetch-cursed Power Fist.

>You reach up for your sword, but are too slow, already a rabid and angry Shermanator is on your chest, fist raised high.

 

>You grunt in pain as another hook is slammed into your face, and you can see blood and teeth fly from your mouth.

>His fists wrap around your head and force you to look in his eyes.

>”Do you know just how bad you fucked up, son?”

>He is practically snarling in anger right now.

>”He may have been manipulative, he might not have been forthcoming, but that Chronicler, that Lich? Yeah, he was on our team.”

>You glare back up at this idiot.

“He wasn’t even honest about our reason for being here!”

>Shermanator holds his gauntlet up to your face

>”You see this? This used to be an Element of Harmony. Then, something fucked with it.”

”And who told you this?”

>Shermanator pauses, but you can tell you’ve not even scratched the pain on his fury.

>”There is something on this world that has the ability to alter these Elements. How else would they react to us as they do if they weren’t the real ones?”

>You still weren’t sold, that Lich was impossibly crafty.

>In some cases, it put to shame some of the most devious and cunning Sorcerers you knew.

“And what, exactly, would be able to do that?”

>You hope the answer isn’t what you’re expecting.

>You hope he says he doesn’t know.

>”Discord.”

>You blanch a little.

>Discord, on this world as well, and now you were trapped here.

>Worse yet, it would seem that the Elements of Harmony were… Broken.

>This was not good, even remotely.

>”Now, we can sit here and keep this hockey up, or we can try and work together, and maybe, MAYBE, we can do this without Chronicler.”

>You nod.

>You liked Shermanator, simply as he was, he was honest and blunt.

”Alright. I’ll help you see this through.”

 

>Besides, if you didn’t, you’d likely never see home again.

>You’re not sure what hurt more, not remembering Ditzy’s face, or some of your memories with her, or knowing that you had lost them.

>You shake your head, keeping your emotions in check.

“Get off me, I need to reset my nose.”

>With a sheepish grin, Shermanator gets off of you, and you grunt from the pain of resetting the cartilage in your nose.

>”So, c’mon. We have to introduce ourselves to the Ponies here.”

>You shake your head.

”Without the Lich, I’ll need to do a lot of research inorder to find out how to move us across time and space.”

>You look over at Shermanator from your sitting position, almost eye-level.

“What’s worse, I’m not even sure I can properly replicate his manner of magic.”

>Shermanator looks at you sideways.

>”I thought all magic was the same.”

>You chuckle, and rub your sore neck.

>Damn he could through a punch.

”Not so. Unicorn and my magic is based on the Warp, a realm of emotions. What the Lich does…”

>You pause.

>You read his books, detailed manuscripts detailing exact processes, words of power, and ‘Mana’.

>And it was absolutely nothing like what you knew.

>It required a deep bond with the land, and a large amount of study.

>And it was unnerving to no end.

“… What the Lich does is practically impossible. He doesn’t use the Warp, and none of his spells respond to the Warp.”

>Shermanator leans back and looks at his feet.

>”Huh. Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, then?”

>You nod.

”It would seem so.”

>With a grunt, he begins walking down stairs.

>”I’ll see you later today. Keep safe, alright? I’m gonna go talk with the people around here.”

 

>You nod, already moving to the scroll rack.

>You open it, but pause.

>Slowly, you return to the table, and examine your feet.

>You look ahead, at the vacant throne, and lean forwards, putting your hands on the table.

>Looking down, you keep a finger on the book your hand rests on, and sit down in the throne.

>You gently lift up the cover, and look at the name.

“Master’s Guide to the Manipulation of  Interplanar Travel.”

>Well now, looks like that devious bastard of a Lich would be of some use after all.

>You put your eyes on where your finger was.

“In order to fully prevent Etherial bleed, Systentic sigils must be…”

>What in the Warp was this jargon?

>You look around, and make yourself comfortable.

>You were going to be here for a whi-

>”Yo, bones! Ya home?”

>Your head perks up as there is a flash infront of you, a young man in his teens standing before you.

>You contain your surprise at this development.

”I must apologize that this ‘Bones’ is not present.”

>You make to go back to your book, when the teen turns to face you.

>And you realize he’s missing most of his face.

>”Eh, no problem, I’m sure he’ll be back later.”

>The angle, plus the freshness of what remained, gave the illusion of a healthy human teenager.

>Your hand flies to your bolter and it’s up in a flash.

“Explain yourself, Abomination.”

>He quirks his remaining eyebrow, before chortling.

>”Aaah, put that away, we’re all good here. So, you’re one of those guys Skeletor was looking for?”

>The undead creature puts it’s face against your Bolter, ignoring it.

>”Oh, the advanced stuff huh? Yeah, never could figure this out. Skeletor said it took him a couple centuries to account for a lack of a Spark.”

 

>What a bewitching creature, it didn’t even bother acknowledging you were about to blow its head off.

>However, this thing knew a pointer or two on what you were looking at.

>You return your bolter, still eyeing this… You assume it was also a Lich, oddly.

“You are intimately familiar with this form of spellcraft?”

>He scoffs

>”Well, no, I mean well… Yeah, there was that one time, but yeesh, that was Bones being an ass.”

>You shake your head, trying not to think about what he just said.

“Do you know these spells?”

>He looks at you, incredulous

>”Are you kidding me? I’ve been studying under Skeletor here for a few months now! Don’t know how to do some of the crazier stuff, but I can teleport and cast a few special spells.”

>You didn’t expect the Lich to have a student.

“So, that would make you his…?”

>You wave your hand, asking for him to finish.

>”Hm, me? Oh, I’m his apprentice. Got my soul stuffed in an iPod, been a Lich ever sense.”

>He pauses, trying to frown.

>”I don’t think he appreciates my full talents, really.”

>You try not to cringe.

>This young Lich hardly had an academic air to him, you could easily and readily see him getting on Chroniclers nerves.

>You were thankful, atleast, Trixie was marginally competent.

“Well, any assistance you can give me would be appreciated. I’m not well-read on this form of… magic.”

>He nods, before moving off to a shelf.

>”Well, first things first, lemmy get the Beginners manual to Teleportation. It’s rough, but-“

>You cut him off

“I’m not looking to learn this form of magic. I simply want to study this spell he was researching.”

>You forcefully jab your finger at the page.

 

>After a few moments, the younger Lich nods in understanding.

>”Alrighty. Tell ya what, you keep doing that, I’ll go see if I can’t get Twilight to come help out.”

>You nod.

“Good, be quick.”

>With a lazy mock-salute, he poofs in a flash of light and perfume.

>Wait, what?

>You sniff the air.

>It smelled like flowers in a bright summer field.

>Oddly specific.

>You begin your work once again, looking for the components and necessary tools.

>Tzeentch willing, you might just be able to pull this off.

>Hours flew past as you studied and checked the detailed ritual.

>It would require insane amounts of energy in the form of this ‘Mana’.

>To be frank, you were completely aghast at this whole thing.

>The sheer level of amiability, it could do things not even the greatest Warp Sorcerer could achieve.

>And with such ease, it looked!

>Time manipulation, annihilating entire fields of battle with only a mild vestment of energy, the list went on and on.

>And you were horrified by it.

>This was completely alien to you, more so than the Necron Techno-sorcery.

>This called upon a realm of knowledge that you weren’t sure even existed in your world.

>Was this completely  unique to this realm?

>No, it couldn’t be.

>You still felt the warp here.

>And that Lich, he could still…

>You stop your thoughts there.

>He moved out of empty shadows, literally materializing out of them.

>This was a universal thing, not just a limited fluke.

>You still held power in this world.

>He, it would seem, had his own tricks as well.

>You push yourself away from the table, and look at yourself, hard.

>What in the Warp were you doing?

 

>This was a realm of magic and knowledge you knew nothing about.

>It was amazing in and of its self you could improve a spell as you did.

>And all it took was thinking of Prospero, and it’s…

>Your eyes go blank, gaining a thousand yard stare.

>Why couldn’t you remember anything about Prospero?

>Why was it the only thoughts relating to it, was its name, and it being the reason for your hatred of the Space Wolves?

>Like a wall, it hits you.

>You know exactly why.

>With a scream of rage, you toss the books from the table.

>This blasphemous text, the cause of your greatest sorrows.

>That Lich, with his vile magic that defied everything you knew, stripped your mind of your two most closely guarded memories.

>He tore from you Ditzies face, the moments you had, which drove you onwards.

>He stripped from you all of your memories of Prospero, of its sands and cities, the great spires of light and learning.

>With a bellow of pure hate and rage, black flames leap from your outstretched palm and incinerate the books and scrolls on the table.

>You scream out in anger at the fate you have been given.

>You unleash so much pent up, well restrained hate, that when you finally come to your senses, having vented, only then does what you’ve done come to light.

>You sink to your knees, tears rolling down your cheeks.

>You have destroyed the Library, incinerating nearly everything within.

>You have destroyed a great repository of knowledge that was irreplaceable.

>You have destroyed your only way back home to Ditzy.