The Last Piece
An Elsewhere Tale
The puppet-lord hung in the air like a marionette, his arms
moving jerkily as though controlled by one not accustomed to their
manipulation. Once fair and even handsome in a cold way, the puppet-lord’s
corpse was now bloated and covered with cracks that showed nothing but darkness
beneath the creature’s skin. Rows upon rows of needle-like teeth were bared as
the horrible creature snarled at the intrepid heroes who faced it.
“Kinda funny, isn’t it?” One shouted over the hiss of stream
steam that filled the chamber.“Mister ‘I manipulate the strings of fate’ ending
up as the biggest puppet of them all.”
“Yeah, really poetic.” The elvish sorceress said through
clenched teeth, her crystal staff exuding a purple-tinged glow that enveloped
her and her companions. She flinched as the puppet-lord’s engorged hand slammed
against the magic shield. “Any chance you can hurry up and think of a way to
kill the bastard?”
“Working on it.” One peered through the flames filling the
chamber with difficulty. The blue-green
streams of steam energy escaping from seams in multiple pipes
hinted that the stream generator was about to become an issue. He considered
using this to his advantage, but decided against it; the stream generator was
directly beneath the city’s busiest district; if it went, a sizable chunk of
the city would be going with it, to say nothing of his companions, Lena and
Gregor.
He glanced at the short form of Gregor, who was busily
digging through his backpack, presumably for some artifact or object that might
give them a way out. While the young
archivist had managed some impressive feats, One feared nothing in the fellow’s
bag would be enough.
It was a shame; One had enjoyed the assignment. Gregor was a jolly fellow who never let his
dwarfism inhibit him in anything he did, even his repeated attempts to woo the
sorceress Lena. Lena was quite a
refreshing change from the usual archetype as well; she hadn’t questioned him in
the slightest, even after his slip up in the Boverstall Marketplace. She knew he was something more than a simple
traveler, and had accurately guessed his presence had something to do with her
and Gregor’s mission to stop the puppet king.
The three of them had made quite the team; Lena’s magic,
Gregor’s strange affinity with anomalous artifacts, and One’s technical and
Elsewhere know-how brought them past the gates of the Locked City, into the
puppet-king’s throne, and now directly fighting to save the fates of thousands.
There was one thing he could do; invoking his Anti-ka Maru would
leave him powerless for awhile, but would give him the strength to defeat the
creature and save his friends. That was a last-ditch option, however, and he
wouldn’t go that far unless he was certain there was no other way.
That’s when he saw it; the beast passed through a spray of
stream escaping from the pipes, and as it did so, One saw the escaping stream
follow; it wasn’t mere coincidence; the foul thing was absorbing it, growing stronger
as it pulled more of the stream into itself.
Lena must’ve noticed it as well, as she soon shouted, “The
generator! It’s absorbing the
energy! If we shut it off-”
“-it might starve the damn thing!”Gregor finished.
“Guys, hurry!” Lena said, visibly struggling to maintain the
protective field.
Unfortunately, it was too late; the puppet king brought both
fists down on the magical bubble with enough force to shatter it and slam into
the ground with enough force to knock Lena, Gregor, and One off their feet. It
approached Lena, its twisted body crouched low and its maw open as though to
devour her whole.
“Oy, Ugly!” As the creature turned, Gregor leapt onto the
Puppet King’s gangly neck and pulled his now-empty backpack over the monster’s
head. The puppet king roared and staggered away from Lena, its arms sweeping in
vain as the elven sorceress moved out of its range.
“One!” Gregor shouted, “Go for the console! I’ll keep it busy!”
Nodding, One powered up his tek-boots and dashed toward the
generator’s controls, narrowly ducking under another sweep of the puppet-king’s
claws.
Leaping over the railing surrounding the controls, he
scanned the console briefly before finding the emergency deactivation
button. As he raised his hand, however,
another hand slapped over red plunger, sending a loud warning klaxon echoing
through the chamber. One barely had time to register the smile on the face of Narrator
Number Two before the stream generator rumbled to a halt, the steam escaping
from the pipes ceasing a few moments later.
The puppet king turned toward the generator, no doubt
sensing the loss of its power source. It
staggered in the direction of the generator, despite the fact that Gregor still
had his bag over its head. It fought to
throw him off as it walked but only managed to injure itself as its limbs crashed
into the metal pipes that formerly carried stream energy across the city.
Without the stream energy, the creature’s limbs grew thinner
by the moment. It eventually managed to
drag Gregor off its shoulders and hurled him to the ground, prompting a
panicked cry from Lena. With a final anguished roar, it took a step toward the
fallen man, only for its spindly legs to shatter under the force. It collapsed on top of Gregor in a broken
heap that wheezed for a few moments before finally lying still.
“Gregor!” Without a second glance at Two, One leapt from the
console platform and hurried over to his friend. He hefted the corpse of the puppet king off
the ground and tossed it aside as Lena knelt beside Gregor, her hand on the
side of his neck.
“His pulse is strong.” She said, worry in her delicate
features. She leaned down and held her
ear over his mouth, only for him to swiftly kiss her on the cheek. Relief mingled with annoyance on her delicate features, Lena
sat up and slapped Gregor’s cheek.
“Totally worth it.” The little man said, grinning from ear
to reddened ear as One helped him up.
They stared at the corpse of the puppet king for a long
moment before Gregor asked, “So … that’s it?”
“I guess so.” Lena said uncertainly. “We already destroyed
the artifact that turned him into this.
With the puppet king himself dead, all held in thrall should be free.”
More silence followed.
“Seems like there should be, I dunno, more fanfare.” Gregor said,
rubbing the back of his head. “I mean, we just saved the city, didn’t we?”
“Perhaps a parade is what you desire?” Lena asked, a kind
smile on her face. “Our actions today have left the world a better place.”
“Yeah, I know.” Gregor said, “And I’m glad, really. He needed to be stopped before anyone else
was hurt. I just …”
To his surprise, she knelt down and brought his face to
hers. One couldn’t help but smile as his two friends kissed. He had long suspected
that Lena was harboring some affection for Gregor, and Gregor had been all too
willing to confide in One about his feelings for her.
When they released, Gregor gulped and said weakly, “Does
this mean you’ll go out on a date with me?”
“Don’t push your luck, little man.” She walked toward the
heavy iron doors that led out of the chamber for a few moments before adding,
“Yet.”
“All right.” Gregor said, snapping back to his usual cheery
self, “C’mon, One! Let’s go get something to eat.”
“I’ll catch up with you later.” One said, patting Gregor on
the shoulder.
Beaming, Gregor jogged after Lena, unaware of the envelope
One had just stuck on his back. One hated drawn out goodbyes, and figured the
two had plenty to talk about on their own without him hanging around.
Shaking away the light feeling of Story’s End, One walked
back to the generator’s control console, where Two was waiting.
“Well look who finally decided to show up.” One said, his
hands on his hips. “Are you just bored, or did you run out of prostitutes?”
“Of course not. There’s no upper limit on debauchery, man.”
Two glanced at his watch. “That reminds me; I’ve got an appointment in about an
hour. I’ll spare you the details. Wanna
get something to eat before then to celebrate me successfully completing this
assignment?”
“Your successfully completing this assignment?” One said,
unable to believe what he was hearing, “You disappeared months ago! We hadn’t even met Gregor yet!”
“Ah, but I pushed the emergency shutdown button.” Two said,
cracking his knuckles. “Not too shabby,
eh?”
“You pushed it a second before I could.” One said, his eyes
narrowing.
Two shrugged. “I was still first, which means that I saved
the day and deserve all the credit for the assignment. See?”
Two held out his cellphone; on the screen was a chart
displaying Dreamers and their completed assignments. One, who didn’t particular
pay attention to the completion chart, was startled to see his own bar
surprisingly low, while Two’s bar was quite high. It didn’t take long to put
the pieces together.
“Flipping the switch on Trask.” One said as realization
stole over him, “Closing the valve on Algos, stopping traffic in Masske. You’ve been taking all the credit for all the
assignments we’ve worked on just because you did the last task?”
“Hey, relax, One!” Two said smoothly. “We can’t all be the
best.”
One could only glare at his partner for a few moments as the
CPD formed on the nearby wall.
As they started for the door, Two put his arm around One’s
shoulders and said, “Besides, it’s not about who gets the credit; it’s about
helping people. At the end of the day,
you’ve made the universe a better place, and that’s what’s truly important.”
“Get stuffed, Two.” One said as they passed through the doorway.
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