Book 3 Ch 14: Deja-Vu

Michael and Ollie took some time to recover from the fight. They ate some of their remaining trail rations as well as some fish Ollie had managed to yank out of a river with magic. Michael didn’t consider that particularly sporting, but it was easy to forgive when he had the option of fresh fish instead of hardtack and salted pork.

Ollie was playing with one of the puppet corpses while Michael finished his food. He extended strings of magicka to the limbs of it and was making it move like a marionette.

“That’s unsettling,” said Michael before he took another bite of fish.

Ollie had the puppet moonwalk a bit before doing the charleston. “Why? I don’t think they were alive to begin with. Not like I’m playing with an actual corpse.”

“You don’t think that having to justify it like that kind of makes it an odd thing to do in the first place?”

“Nope,” replied Ollie, making the puppet start to breakdance, showing a level of control over it that Michael had no choice but to acknowledge as impressive. If they’d been moving like that when they were fighting them, they would’ve had a lot more trouble.

“I wonder what the world they’re from is like?” said Michael.

“I’m guessing it’s short on lumber,” said Ollie gesturing to the stumps that surrounded them, making the puppet he was controlling do the same gesture with the same body language.

Michael scratched his chin. “Can you do that to a person?” he asked.

“Probably, but I’d have much less control. These puppets seem to be designed to be moved by magic. People also naturally push back on those kinds of spells with their internal magicka.”

“Could you make Marcus dance then?”

“Maybe, but he’d be hard to string up in the first place…” he paused. “Be funny to make him, though.”

Michael chuckled. “Should we keep one of them? May be helpful to have something like that with us.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to use it well in a fight,” replied Ollie.

“Yeah, but if we need to use something as bait or a distraction it could be useful.”

Ollie bounced his head a bit left and right as he considered. “If you carry it, sure.”

Michael moved over to one and lifted it. It was solid wood, but not terribly heavy. He could also fold it in some very odd ways that made it much more compact than it was before. When he was done he was able to make it fit.

“So, the new spell you wanted to try, it was the portal?” asked Michael.

Ollie nodded. “I had the fundamentals down, but I wasn’t able to maintain it for long enough to really test. Being near a rift and fighting meant that my deeds were active which gave me the extra edge I needed to test it. I think, once I finish coiling my magicka channels, I’ll be able to use it even without my deeds active.”

“That’s incredible,” said Michael. “I could sense the kind of power it took Sylas to use it, and I didn’t think it was something anyone else could do.”

Ollie shook his head. “I would never have been able to figure it out myself, but the notes we found basically laid out exactly how to cast the spell. He was meticulous, and the man copying and translating his notes added several small addendums that helped as well.”

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“It’s still impressive,” said Michael with a smile, patting his friend on the back.