Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new one-shot. NOTE: I do NOT own Mianite, Minecraft, any Youtubers mentioned, or any other copyrighted thing mentioned.

Wizard's Heart

"So how does your magic work exactly?" Jordan asked curiously, watching me with wide eyes as I took out a whole row of endermen with a starstrike spell. We were in the End, collecting ender pearls for a prank on Tucker and we had decided to see who could collect more pearls. But since Jordan didn't have the ability to shoot a row of stars down from the sky like I did, there wasn't really any competition.

"Well, first off, there's a source," I abandoned my rampage and flew over to Jordan, who was resting atop one of the obsidian towers, his eyes reflecting what little light came from the Void stars. "Here, you know where your heart is? On the left side of your body?" Jordan nodded and tapped his chest where his heart was. "I have a magical core, just opposite that. Every wizard does - it's their source. When you're younger, it's smaller, and therefore you're not as powerful. But the older and more experienced you get, the more it grows. And it's actually a physical source too, like a sort of liquid energy. Here, feel it," I took Jordan's hand and pressed it against my chest where the magic core was. Jordan's eyes widened and he jerked his hand away.

"It felt... electric. But like a heartbeat too," he stared at me in confusion. I chuckled lightly and held out my hand, letting red sparks fly from my fingers.

"That's right. It acts like a second heart, pumping magical energy through my blood veins. In fact, it actually flows through my heart. I couldn't live without it. If it was removed, I would die," I explained. "Also, it makes up a third of my blood flow. So that's why it takes longer for wizards to recover after they've been physically hurt - but they also have a higher resistance to wounds because of it."

"That's so cool!" Jordan exclaimed. "Is there any way to implement it into someone else's body?"

"There is - it would be like a surgery," my eyes darkened. "But to condemn someone to such a fate as that, to have to suffer for a prolonged amount of time because they had no magic before eventually dying; that would be one of the most vile things someone could do. Imagine having to live with a numbered amount of days, slowly being paralysed and in eternal agony."

Jordan fell silent and I could tell he was thinking intensely; his face was all scrunched up in an expression that just shouted I'm lost in thought. Finally he asked, "What does the core look like?"

"A bit like an atom would, I suppose," I shrugged. "I've never actually seen it myself."

That was a lie.

"Go! Before they take your powers too!"

I tore myself out of the memory and put on a smile, winking at Jordan. "And I hope you'll never find the desire to see either."

"Would I really do that to you, buddy?" Jordan snorted, clapping me on the shoulder and sliding off the tower, landing on the air as easily as if he had landed on the Endstone far below.

"Of course not," I replied evenly, shooting down another starstrike spell at a large group of endermen. "Besides, I'd kill you as soon as you got close."

"I don't doubt it," Jordan laughed. "I wouldn't dare dream of taking on a wizard."

"Good," I nodded, swooping down to collect the ender pearls from the bodies slowly turning into white smoke. "Now, I think we have enough pearls, don't you?"

"Yeah. I've got a couple dozen here. How many do you have?"

"Seventy-six," I replied promptly. It was met with an impressive whistle from Jordan and I smirked. Starstrike spells were so useful. They burned a lot of magical energy, but it could regenerate quickly under proper conditions. Jordan flew over towards the portal home and I followed him, diving into the star-filled pool and surfacing back in my bed. I lay on the sheets for a while, resting my eyes and enjoying the softness of the mattress before I got to my feet and walked over to the ladder, climbing up to the balcony. The sun felt good on my cool skin and I jumped up, hovering for a bit before flying off to find Jordan so we could make our liquid enderium prank.

Then something hit the back of my head and the world went black.

I was blindfolded.

I hated being blindfolded.

"Hello?" I called out, unable to disguise the note of fear in my voice. "Guys?"

I could hear distant laughter and it sounded like my friends - but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. There was the faint feeling of breathing over me and I flinched away. It retreated and I trembled, trying to move my hands but finding them tied down. I was lying on some sort of cold surface and from what I could feel, I wasn't wearing either my cloak or a shirt.

"Guys, this isn't funny anymore," tears pricked the corners of my eyes, even though they were still tightly shut. It occurred to me to try my unbinding spell, but when I muttered it under my breath, nothing happened. Crap. There must be some sort of curse over me, preventing me from using magic. All of sudden, real fear set in and the first tear trickled down my cheek. This wasn't my friends; they wouldn't scare me this badly, blindfolding me and tying me up, just for a prank. They weren't like that. They weren't cruel.

"Hush little wizard," someone hissed and I yelped as the ropes around my wrists were tightened; enough to where it almost cut off the flow of blood and magic. I dully thought that this was to make sure that I wouldn't be casting any attacking spells until I realised that if they already had the spell-muffling curse on me, they wouldn't exactly need extra safety measures.

What was more concerning at that moment was the fact that I recognised the voice.

"G-Gaines?" I whimpered, feeling shameful at my current, shivering wreck. "Deviser Gaines?"

"Yes, now shut up," Gaines grunted, making sure my blindfold was securely fastened.

"Let him see," a new voice interrupted. "Surely he wouldn't mind having a view."

Gaines hesitated and my heart thudded heavily, fear and panic fueling its pulse. Finally, he untied the blindfold and I blinked, the corners of my vision slightly blurry from the tears. I was obviously in the Deviser's laboratory, but in a part that he hadn't shown us, with smooth metal walls and a flickering florescent light. Gaines stood in front of me, looking cross as he glared at someone who was standing over my shoulder. I craned my neck to try and get a glimpse of who it was, but Gaines slapped my cheek and I flinched, whipping my head back around to face him. Terror danced in my eyes as he brushed against table to my left. It was filled with a lot of shiny tools... made for quite possibly an intense surgery.

"My Observation Bot was watching you," Gaines explained tartly. "You really should learn to be more careful - or just realise that he never leaves. I've been waiting a long time for this."

"You're sick," my voice trembled and my stomach twisted into a knot. "How could you do this?"

"Because I want to be powerful!" Gaines roared suddenly, slamming his hand down on the table I was lying on, narrowly missing the side of my head. I let out a short scream and he continued, eyes growing in fury. "I want to be able to cast spells, and make my own portals without there actually being portals; I want to have magic!"

"Calm down, Gaines," the other voice spoke once again. "The poor mite just was asking you a question."

"Right," Gaines muttered, straightening up and running a hand through his wavy brown hair. "Right. Sorry, my lord. I got a bit carried away."

"It seems so," the voice chuckled. "He's going to be in enough of a panic anyway. Why make it worse?"

"Sorry," Gaines said again. I was frozen stiff in horror, only able to watch Gaines with fearful eyes as he picked up a small surgical knife. "My lord, would mind enhancing the lighting? This flickering won't be enough to see properly."

"Of course," the voice purred. Someone snapped their fingers and the florescent light suddenly stopped flickering and became brighter, almost blinding me. I squinted, staring to the side to avoid the worst of the glare, although it was still pretty bad.

"Hold still," Gaines whispered, and there was a small twinge of pain as he made the first incision slightly to the right of my chest. It wasn't more than a few inches long and he dabbed at it with a cloth that smelled strongly of antiseptic. That's when it started getting truly horrifying.

Gaines grabbed a needle that was about as bit as his hand; something that would have made me cringe, even in normal conditions, and poked the tip of the needle into the incision. A slight electric jolt shot through my body and it didn't take a genius to figure out that it had connected to the magical core. Gaines didn't hesitate before drawing back the top of the needle and filling the glass part with a shimmering red substance.

I started screaming.

Agony clouded my mind and suddenly I realised that I had had no idea what pain was before this. This... this... was true anguish. Gaines filled the first needle and stuck in a second, then a third, and then a fourth. I never stopped screaming once as my muscles twitched and spasmed, my vision faded in and out of existence, and my heart fluttered weakly, trying to keep me alive through the ordeal of having my very life sucked away from me.

My voice snapped and my howls were abruptly cut off into harsh wheezes. The pain faded too - but only to an extent. Gaines grabbed a spool of wiry black string and a normal sewing needle and started sewing up the open slit, staying silent even though he had four needles filled with my magical life force sitting less than a foot away from his reach. I felt broken inside and started crying silently as Gaines finished up the sutures and nodded, as though pleased.

"Sick," I rasped quietly, staring weakly at him.

Gaines only shook his head, an amused smirk on his face. "Strong," he corrected, picking up one of the needles and waving it in front of my face. "Very strong, mortal."

It only struck me after he said that... but I was mortal now. I didn't have my powers.

I didn't have my powers.

I didn't have my powers!

No!

I awoke facing the blue sky, lying on the ground in the middle of the town, where I had first arrived in the world. I groaned, rolling over, but immediately started coughing, hacking up a greenish black substance. I trembled as I shakily felt my chest, feeling the slightly raised bumps of stitches.

So it wasn't a dream.

I was still robeless and shirtless, and even though I really didn't fancy my pale, scrawny chest being shown to the public, clothes were the least of my worries. My top priority was finding someone to help... Jordan, Tom, anyone. I forced myself to my feet and stumbled through the town, mostly abandoned after the taint had struck it and the king and prince were gone. They had gone to other places in the world, like Urulu, but again, that wasn't my main worry right now.

I made it across the bridge leading to Tucker's, my legs barely supporting my weight because of how badly I was shaking. I felt like my head was made of clouds and my eyes would flicker shut occasionally as I struggled to stay conscious. I attempted to go into Tucker's house but I found the door locked, meaning that the blood mage was probably out elsewhere, maybe in a group with the others. Disappointment weighed heavy on my heart and I lurched away from the door, heading to Jordan's. He was more like to be at home nowadays, since he had collected too many resources to count and spent his days sorting through chests and organising them.

It seemed like ages before I made it to the towers and spotted Jordan on the lower bridge, staring out over the landscape. The dragon statue cast shade on the surrounding rock and I was grateful for the slight relief from the burning sun.

"Jordan," I croaked, sounding strained and hurt.

Jordan's head whipped around and he stared at me, as though surprised. "Wag, where have you been? We were - Oh my Notch!" his voice rose to a shrill screech and he jumped off the little bridge, landing lightly on the ground and running over to me. "Waglington! What happened?"

"Deviser - Deviser Gaines," I choked out, reaching out shakily and grasping Jordan's shoulder. He quickly wrapped an arm around me to support me and I swallowed, continuing as best I could. "He took it. My magic. Observation Bot heard me and Gaines took my magic."

"Oh my sweet Ianite," Jordan breathed, running his fingers over the rough stitches. "Wag, you have to lie down. You're going to faint."

I nodded in a grim confirmation and Jordan quickly scooped me up bridal style - to which I protested feebly - and flew me back up to his house and the floor with his bedroom on it, resting me down on the mattress and pulling the rumpled sheets up to my stomach.

"I'm going to go get help," Jordan glanced at me, turning to leave once again. "Try to stay awake until I get back, okay?" I nodded weakly and Jordan took off, leaving me alone.

It felt so insanely horrible without my magic; so weak and helpless. There was a hollow feeling in my chest and my heart was beating too quickly and faintly, trying to make up for the lack of magic in my body. It seemed like ages before Jordan got back, with two other voices following him.

"Time constraints only allowed me to find Dec and Martha," Jordan apologised, standing aside to let the two aforementioned helpers in to see me. "I'm going to fetch one of the other wizards now." He darted back off and I glanced dully at Dec and Martha, who were frozen in shock at my appearance.

"What? Just because you've never seen me shirtless before doesn't mean you have to be awestruck by my amazing bod'," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Dec, smirked a little but Martha started to tear up, hands shaking. Dec noticed and shook her shoulder lightly, concern showing in his eyes.

"Hey, there's no time for that. Wag needs your help," he scolded lightly. "I can do priest stuff, but I need someone to assist me." Martha nodded silently and I did my best to give her a reassuring smile. Hey, at least I wasn't in pain yet, but...

I couldn't feel my fingers.

Dec and Martha swiftly made their way over to the side of the bed and Dec took hold of the situation, advising Martha on what to do with her still-growing goddess powers. I barely listened, beginning to find it difficult to concentrate - and even though it was enough of a problem before, now I couldn't even force myself to do so.

All in all, the situation wasn't looking too hopeful at all.

"Wag? Waglington!" Dec snapped his fingers in front of my face and I jerked my slowly dimming gaze over to the ginger. "Hey bud, stay awake, okay? There's no telling what would happen if you fell asleep."

"I'd get some rest, probably," I grunted, letting my eyes slide shut. The world faded away around me much faster than I was used to, and even Dec and Martha shouting at me to stay awake faded into the darkness as well.

"I don't know what to do with this," Matt blinked, staring at Wag from where he stood beside the bed. I shuffled my feet impatiently, well aware of Dec and Martha's concerned stares boring into the back of my head. I had brought the wizard over in hopes that he would be able to help, but he appeared just as much at a loss of what to do with Wag as anyone else. Wag had apparently fallen asleep and was making small whimpering noises, face occasionally scrunching up in pain.

"Helping him would be nice," Dec muttered, earning a nasty glare from Matt. "Well, I certainly don't have any desire for you to just sit around and do nothing."

"He was my friend for a much longer time than he ever was yours," Matt hissed, not looking at Dec as he took Wag's wrist between his thumb and forefinger, checking the pulse. "I would help him if I knew what to do... you say Deviser Gaines took his magic?" this question was directed at me and I hurriedly nodded, wondering if that had anything to do with anything. "I want you to go find him. Even just a needle full of the magic would be enough to make sure that Wag won't die. If he's already injected himself with the magic then - then may be impossible to save Wag."

I swallowed and nodded, fully realising the seriousness of the task at hand. If I failed, one of my best friends would die. I made no delay from then on out, running out onto the walkway and taking flight, heading towards where I knew Gaines' lab was. It took a while, but the horse statues finally came into view. I dropped in flight until I was flying close enough to the ground to dive headfirst into the passageway that led to Gaines' secret lab.

Gaines himself was nowhere to be seen at first, but since the only lights that were on came from a half-hidden side room, I had a pretty good guess of where he might be. I snuck into the room as quietly as I could and saw Gaines standing with his back to me, right sleeve rolled up and a needle filled with a shimmering red substance in hand. There were still two full needles and an empty one still rolling away on the floor. As I watched, Gaines stuck the needle into his arm and pushed the top down, inserting Wag's magic into his own body. He shrieked in pain and immediately flung the needle away as soon as it was empty.

I was about to make my move - go up and knock Gaines out before stealing the last two needles - when something very heavy suddenly shoved me to the ground. I yelped and rolled over, springing to my feet and drawing my sword to face...

Mianite.

The god was staring at me, one robotic eye clicking and whirring mechanically as he assessed me. He had no sword drawn, but I was hesitant to fight a godly being. He didn't need a sword.

"My lord!" I heard Gaines gasp from behind me. "What -"

"You really should be more careful about who could creep in here," Mianite's voice was a low chuckle, as though he was amused. "He could have stolen the magic and gotten away with it, leaving you squirming on the floor as usual."

I could practically feel the tension crackling in the air from Gaines but knew it wasn't safe to turn around to see his fury. But I knew that Wag could be dying right now... and here I was, caught at an impasse. I had to do something besides waiting for my fate to be decided by my two adversaries.

I took a deep breath and flicked my wrist, hoping that my aim would be close enough. My sword was sent spinning backwards through the air and I whipped around, catching a glimpse of Gaines falling onto the ground and scrambling away as quickly as possible to avoid it. I darted past the disoriented scientist, snatched my sword off the ground, and pocketed the two needles. There was a faint swish and I screamed as a searing pain bloomed all through my leg. I nearly collapsed and felt a warm liquid run down my calf, not looking at the throwing knife that I knew must be buried deep in the muscle.

I faced both Gaines and Mianite when I turned around, but didn't hesitate when I sprinted past Gaines, who drove another dagger into my shoulder and almost sent me reeling off balance, and elbowed my way around Mianite, who made no move to stop me. I heard Gaines shouting at the god behind me but I ignored it, panting heavily as my leg screamed in pain. It occurred to me that Mianite was most likely honouring our alliance by not hurting or stopping me, and I was all the more grateful for that right then. I took flight and made my way out of that Notch-forsaken laboratory, blood splattering on little droplets on the ground below.

The flight back home was fairly uneventful, and I dropped into the sea a few times to let the water cleanse some of the blood off of my leg. By the time I landed back at my towers, the pain had faded to a dull twinge and I gave Matt the two needles filled with magic without a word.

From here on out, there would only be hope.

I opened my eyes and was met with a ceiling made of stone bricks and a chorus of relieved cries. I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked around, seeing all my friends scattered around the room, eyes shining with joy.

"How ya' feeling, mate?" Tom asked, shaking my shoulder rather roughly. I grinned up at him and my hand instinctively moved up to my chest. There were still stitches - but they seemed neater and more precise, like they had been redone.

"Better," I admitted, and it was true. I did feel stronger... like...

Like I had gotten my magic back.

"Awesome!" Jordan smiled warmly. "I'd have hated to have gotten stabbed twice for nothing." I started as I looked at him, seeing that he did indeed have bandages wrapped around his leg and shoulder.

"So what all happened while I was out?" I inquired curiously. In the next five minutes, Jordan summed up what went down and I listened with my head tilted to one side, taking in all the information. Once he was done, I pushed back the covers, got to my feet - still shakily, I'd admit - stumbled over to Jordan, and gave him a hug.

"Thanks," I whispered. "Thank you so much."

"No problem, buddy," he murmured back.

I smiled and took a few steps back from the others. With a few quick words, I once again had on a dark T-shirt and my thick robes, hiding the scar on my chest.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I flashed a grin at everyone. "Waglington is back."

Well. That was written in... *checks how long I've been listening to "Bleeding Out"* 3 hours. And finished at three in the morning.

So I actually came up with the idea for this whilst in Food Lion - something about wizards losing their powers always tends to make my stomach twist in that unpleasant way that lets me know I have to write something from it. And also, I'm super sorry I haven't updated this in so long - I was working on a different one-shot that I ditched and want DiamondOasis37 to continue. She doesn't believe she can though, so why don't you go show her stories some love and let her know that SHE CAN!