Things Lost and Found (a Waglington and Mianite fanfiction)

Chapter 72

The song of the day is "Selling the News" by Switchfoot. Um... My evil muse may have escaped from its dungeon again... WH here is based heavily on the book he gave Tucker in his S2 Day 96 ~ 32:20 and on his appearance in the finale. This is a short chapter, and it is meant to leave more questions than answers. If a season 3 ever comes around, this'll give me some room to work with. I have ideas... Anyways, enjoy! ^.^

*World Historian's POV*

I watched through a window in the void as the self-proclaimed heroes left the Nether. No one had ever escaped one of my extractors before, and I was unsure how they had avoided falling to the trap that was Amniosis. He had not interfered except to wake the blood mage. I wrinkled my nose in distaste at the reminder. I had caught the Mianitee fair and square. He had been mine!

I felt a presence materialize behind me. "Tsk, tsk. Knocking someone out and their falling asleep on their own are not the same thing. So he was not yours to keep."

I growled at my old nemesis but did not turn around. We had been playing this game for what felt like eons. When I first traveled dimensions and figured out how to siphon quintessence, he had tried to talk me out of it. When that failed he warned that world's gods, and they ousted me from their world. I had taken down other worlds since then, but he had just as often engineered my defeat. Let him think he'd won those battles. Even worlds I couldn't physically manifest in anymore I could influence indirectly. He couldn't win forever, and I had plenty of time and quintessence to wait.

I had extractors running and plans in motion in so many worlds simultaneously. How had he noticed what I was doing in this measly world? No matter. I would not be deterred, not when I was so close.

This world—the home world for one of my selves—had been destined for destruction for a long time, but things had not really picked up until I slew Dianite. Little did I realize that killing Dianite in this world at the same time as the sky people killed Dianite in theirs had caused a rift. A rift those heroes and their counterparts unwittingly jumped through. The newcomers had proven most helpful. I never would have gotten Helgrind inside Amniosis without them. He may have inherited none of my daughter's magic, but he had certainly gotten a healthy dose of his father's creativity. It's a pity he never got around to using it outside his dream.

"They are interesting, aren't they?" He said from behind me. Of course, he had seen who I was watching. "You're underestimating them, you know."

I rolled my eyes and glanced in his general direction. I could never look directly at him because of the light magic radiating off of him like a beacon in the void. "They're human. There's nothing to underestimate," I said with disdain. "Don't you have anywhere better to be?"

I heard him sigh and shake his head. "I still don't understand why you do this. Surely you realize that no amount of power will ever be 'enough,'" He said, feigning exasperation and concern. I was wise to his tricks and would not let my guard down. He sensed he was losing and wanted me to give up my hard won advantage. When I did not answer, my nemesis left, taking his intolerable light magic with him.

I banished my foe from mind and returned to planning my triumph. I decided to check in on the champions—that is what they must have been to hold so much of their gods' quintessence—and see how much time had passed. I had a tendency to lose track when in the void. I did not want to fall behind schedule because of him. I opened another window and saw they had taken the wizard to the young goddess and were now dispersing. I could see the wizard and goddess through one of the upstairs windows of the house. I never thought I'd see that quintessence again, let alone outside the Realm of Mianite. The thin corona of silver and red quintessence surrounding him was tinted lavender by the goddess's healing magic. The wizard would not be a danger any time soon. I had drained enough of his quintessence with his magic to keep him out of action for a few days, even with her aid.

Wizards had their quintessence tied to their magic. Weaken one, and you weaken the other. The gods had a vast amount of quintessence, but they gained most of it and their power from their mortal followers. Get the mortals to lose faith in their god, and the god loses much of their strength. Ah, mortals. Mortals had very little quintessence in and of themselves, but they had the most active imaginations of any creature I'd seen across the realms. Their quintessence was tied to it. They could produce more quintessence with a good dream or idea than a young god possessed, but they couldn't bring any of it to bear like a wizard or god could, or even an elf for that matter.

Speaking of mortals... I shifted to a view of the sky people one at a time. They appeared to be moving to my old place. Mianite had claimed it as his own and retreated there when he wanted to get away from his responsibilities. Ironic. He had grown up wanting nothing more than to be a powerful leader, yet he missed the days when no one expected anything of him. Well, I will be happy to relieve him of his responsibilities when the time comes.

My plan was moving along nicely. Things would come to a head soon enough. All I had to do at this point was wait. Waiting did tend to grow wearisome though. I could go check on one of my other extractors, I mused. As I was about to close the window to Ruxomar, I saw the zombie one walk by with his crimson Dianite quintessence. I allowed myself a grin as I recalled tormenting him in Amniosis. The funny thing was, I did very little. He supplied most of his nightmare himself, and Amniosis made it a reality. Come to think of it, he left his sword with me when he ran. I fingered the hilt of the extra blade hanging from my belt. I should return it to him.

I stepped through the window onto a stone brick path. The Dianitee was at his compound packing up his ME system. He was oblivious to my presence. A patch of mandrakes to one side of the path shuddered in fear, and I withered them with a glance before they could screech a warning. This is a much more interesting way to pass the time. I might even pay his friends a visit after this, I decided. After a quick look around, I found the perfect place to leave his sword. I left the blade and a message and walked back through my window to watch.

He made the discovery ten minutes later. His face drained of its green color in a very satisfying way as he examined my work. I had left his sword pinning a note to the trunk of a silverwood tree that had been growing beside his front gate. It and a perfect circle of grass around it were now grey and dead. He set down the bag he had been carrying and approached the tree. He set one foot on the lifeless grass as if it might burn him through his shoe. When nothing happened, he walked the rest of the way to the sword. Again, he acted like he would be burned when he touched the hilt. Finally yanking the sword from the tree, he picked the note up from where it fell.

I had given no signature, leaving it up to his ample imagination to decide whether I or his Dianite were the greater evil. I enjoyed watching his expression change to anger and fear as he read the threat. "You'll watch as your friends fall one by one and know there's nothing you can do to stop me."