Chapter 15: A Warped Mind
Tlopfest quickly got his trusty pan out and rushed towards Wardes, screeching in the guttural language of the pigmen. The knights around Wardes, distracted by the mad pigman, were quickly disposed of by the traitor. Turning towards the pigman, Wardes couldn't help but smirk. "I suppose now is as good a time for that re-" However, Wardes didn't get a chance to finish his thought before Tlopfest pounced on him, forcing him to block the pigman's attack.
Tlopfest, in all his rage, continued to pound down on Wardes, never letting him up and forcing him to constantly defend. Even though Wardes could mostly defend against the pigman, some attacks were getting through, causing some bruises on his arms and tingling vibrations. "Founder above, it's like trying to attack a storm!" Continuing to defend, Wardes was eventually backed into a corner, literally, with Tlopfest hitting harder and harder against his rapier. "Yet you forget, you stupid familiar, who holds the real power here." With that thought, Wardes quickly grabbed another Aer crystal and threw it on his rapier tip during one of Tlopfest's attacks. This quickly empowered his rapier and pushed the pigman back a bit.
"Hah! Let us see how well you can hold up against this again, familiar!" Wardes taunted. Growling, Tlopfest quickly rushed back into the fight, continuing to scream in anger at Wardes.
With a gasp, Tlopfest awoke in what appeared to be a barren wasteland, with dark ground and a rather strange looking sky. "Wh-what happened? I…made it to where Louise was, then…?" Tlopfest, confused at his predicament, picked himself up and started to wander the landscape. "How did I end up here? And where is here anyway?" Tlopfest eventually came across a small pillar made of the same material as the ground. Looking closer, the pigman could see that it was more purple than black, and cubic to boot.
"Why does this look so familiar?" Looking around some more, the pigman noticed some holes in the ground further away, as well as what appeared to almost be cracks with strange, pink blocks underneath. Heading to one of the holes and looking down, Tlopest could see…himself?! Fighting against Wardes with his pan. Having started to take some damage, Tlopfest could only watch as his other self continued to fight erratically. "Is that…me?"
Turning away from the hole, Tlopfest quickly ran over to one of the floating cracks. Once close, the crack opened up slightly, allowing one to see inside. Looking through Tlopfest saw a memory of him first stepping through to the overworld, a look of awe and bliss on his face. "Th-that's when I first awakened…is this..my mind?!" Running to another crack, Tlopfest looked in and saw himself fist interact with an Ignis crystal from Thaumcraft, recalling the magical tingle that coursed through his fingers. Another showed him discovering electrical power with what looked like a derpy looking batman and a sorceress. "Nic….Sorce…" Tlopfest didn't dare reach into the rift, instead pulling away to continue looking around.
"Ok, so I'm within my mind for some reason, having access to my old memories and current whereabouts. But why does this look like this? It doesn't make any sense!" Finding another crack, Tlopfest looked in and saw himself doing some thaumaturgical studies. More specifically, Auromancy, or manipulation of the magic aura. Suddenly, the memory pigman clutched his head in agony, as a headache suddenly came on. "Of course…warp." As he muttered that word, a small headache came upon Tlopfest, with eerie moans sounding about him and a slight crack forming in the sky. "Oh no….not again!"
Looking behind him, Tlopfest saw a small group of see-through Eldritch Guardians appearing. Reaching for his pan, the pigman found that he didn't have it on him, or anything actually except for his clothes. "Ah…..crud." Turning tail, Tlopfest quickly ran away from the Guardians in hope of escaping them. However, said Guardians quickly gave chase, continuing to moan and start throwing Eldritch Blasts at him.
"Tlop…..fest…." the Guardians moaned.
"As if they weren't bad enough, now they're moaning my name?!" Tlopfest quickly ran behind one of the pillars, causing the Guardians to move past him and lose sight of him. Quietly sighing to himself, Tlopfest looked towards one of the holes in the ground. "I gotta figure out how to wake myself up and get out of here, and fast! There's no way I am any match to those idjits if this keeps up."
Meanwhile, real Tlopfest was continuing to battle Wardes, however it would appear that the tables had turned against the pigman. Having lost the advantage of surprise and fear of his opponent, the pigman was losing ground to Wardes, being pushed back towards the center of the chapel. As Wardes sauntered up to the pigman, he smirked in victory.
"I must say, familiar, you certainly know how to fight…on the level of these fools," indicating towards the fallen knights. "But you are still no match for me."
Growling, Tlopfest quickly ran back to Wardes intent on killing him with his pan. Before he could, however, Wardes muttered his whirlwind spell under his breath and cast it towards Tlopfest. Tlopfest was thrown against the far wall, getting impaled on one of the hanging candles. Grunting in pain, the pigman struggled to get off without injuring himself much more, since he was on his last heart. He may act feral, but even he still has his survival instincts intact.
Wardes pointed his rapier at Tlopfest, but instead of firing off another spell, he turned towards Louise. "Louise," he stated, getting her attention. "If you know what is good for both you and your familiar, give yourself up now. Otherwise…" A small tornado appeared on his rapier's tip.
Louise looked down towards the ground, a shadow covering her eyes. "Wardes…not only have you betrayed all of Tristain, you tricked me, killed my friend's cousin, and tried to enslave me." Louise got up, slowly shuffling towards Wardes. "But your worst offense yet?" Wardes continued looking, somewhat confused as to where this was going. "You. Hurt. My. PIGMAN!" Rage showing in her eyes, she quickly drew out her wand and cast "Fireball!" at Wardes. Of course, an explosion hit him instead, knocking him away from Tlopfest at least and letting her get to him. Just as she reached him though, the pigman was able to slip free, only to fall to the floor and take out the last of his health. Falling to the ground, Tlopfest could only let out a pained grunt as Louise ran over, calling his name. Tlopfest, for his part, looked up to Louise and uttered one last thing before the last scrap of consciousness went away.
"Lou…ise…" With that, his whole eye closed. However, instead of sitting still, the pigman started to glow and have particles come off of him.
"W-what's going on?!"
"Louise!" Derf called out from Tlopfest's back. "This is bad. Tlopfest is actually dying this time. Quickly, you gotta get me into his hands!"
"How the hell-"
"JUST DO IT!" Derf yelled out, much more forcibly than usual. Startled, Louise quickly unsheathed the sword and put it in Tlopfest's fading hands. Right as she did that though, his runes started to glow brightly underneath his glove. "Come on partner, come on! Get back here and finish this fight!"
Back in the mindscape, Tlopfest was continuing to run from the Guardians. He was able to get them off his tail for a few minutes, but every time they quickly found him again and chased him anew. What's worse, they had started to scream at Tlopfest, threatening to make his warp start activating again. The crack in the sky also appeared to widen as they continued to scream at the pigman. "This is why I hate these idjits.."
Finding another tower to hide behind, the Guardians flew by once again, giving Tlopfest a breather. "Ugh, I'm starting to wonder if they're just toying with me now.."
"...artner! Partner!" Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed throughout his mind.
"Derf? Is that you?"
"Partner!" Suddenly, what appeared to be a middle-aged-looking wizard dressed in simple garbs appeared next to the pigman. "There you are! What happened?!"
Tlopfest, startled by the appearance, jumped back a couple of blocks. "What the-who the hell are you?!"
"It's me, Derflinger! Come on, we don't have time to waste!"
"What are you talking about? I've been running away from those stupid Guardians for-" Before he could finish that thought, the moans of the Guardians floated back towards them. "Oh for Nether's sake! Look, if you're really Derf, you should be able to help me get rid of them. Do that, and I'll do what you need me to do."
Rolling his eyes, the man that claimed to be Derflinger suddenly changed back into a familiar sword, throwing itself into Tlop's hands. "Happy?"
"Very." Turning back towards the Guardians, Tlopfest brandished Derflinger, causing them to halt in their pursuit. "Payback time you annoying ghosts!" Letting out a battle cry, Tlopfest quickly slashed through them all, making them disappear. His mind seemed to brighten up slightly as well once they were vanquished. "Right, so…how do we get out of here?"
A moment after Louise's attack, Wardes stood up from the rubble that covered him. "Damn, nothing is going to plan! I'll just have to grab Louise and get out of here. Hopefully the ring's effects will…" Wardes didn't finish his thought before he noticed a light coming from Tlopfest. Glowing bright, the old rusty sword that is Derflinger transformed into a much more polished blade. Even better though, the pigman's particles from his death were reversing, eventually making him whole again. At that, Tlopfest opened his eyes and inhaled, also having his glowing eye relight.
Coughing, Tlopfest reached a hand up to his head. "Ugh, that was horrible. Felt like I got hit by a dang truck…" Looking up more, Tlopfest noticed Louise over him, tears threatening to come out.. "Hey Louise. You al-" Before he could finish, Louise wrapped the pigman in a tight hug.
"You stupid familiar! I thought you were dead!"
"Well, you're still partly right there."
"Hmph. As touching as this scene may be, I am afraid that this will have to end now." Wardes haughtily told the duo. "Although it pains me to be defeated, at least I was able to achieve two of the objectives." Reaching into his coat, Wardes pulled out the letter from Wales.
"Wait, isn't that..?" Louise asked, shocked that he got it.
"Yes, the letter between Henrietta and Wales. Grabbing this and killing the prince were those two objectives. The third was you, Louise." Wardes glared at them. "But seeing as your familiar is revived and you are not under control I shall leave for now. However, if Reconquista cannot have you, then it would be best for you to perish." With that, Wardes crushed an Ignis vis crystal against his rapier/wand and cast a major fireball towards the roof of the church, breaking it apart and causing much of the structure to become alight. "Goodbye Louise, and good riddance, you stupid familiar." With that, Wardes quickly ran away, leaving the two of them in the middle of the fire.
"Louise, hold on to me. Whatever you do, don't let go!"
"Wait, but-"
"There's no time Louise!" As if luck wasn't bad enough for them, a piece of the ceiling started to crash down on them. Seeing this, Tlopfest quickly got Louise under him to try and protect her as much as he could. Before it hit though, a duo of voices could be heard.
"Levitation!"
"..." Opening his eyes, Tlopfest could see that he and Louise were in a small bubble of sorts, floating above the remains of the chapel. Looking around, Tlopfest could see their friends riding towards them on Sylphid, Kirche waving to them.
"...Oh thank Minecraftia that you guys made it.." Tlopfest could only sigh in relief when he saw them. Looking down, Tlopfest saw that Louise was knocked out, probably from a mixture of exhaustion and (possibly) having her head hit the dirt. "Just you wait Wardes. This isn't over…" Looking to his side as well, Tlopfest noticed Wardes' hat floating with them, singed on its' edges. Before Sylphid reached them, Tlopfest grabbed it with the same hand that held Derf as he and Louise were gently dropped on Sylphid's back.
"What happened down there?" Guiche asked, worry evident in his eyes at seeing the state the two of them were in.
"And what was that great explosion? Was that Louise?" Kirche added as well.
"We…we're alright, I suppose. Wardes got away, though, and he got the Princess' letter." Sighing in defeat, Tlopfest could only tighten his hold on both Louise and Wardes' hat and Derf. "But, we're alive, so I'm grateful for that." Seeing as he didn't seem to want to talk much more, and Louise was still knocked out, the two of them nodded and looked back towards Tabitha, who was guiding Sylphid away from the ruins.
Looking down towards Derf, Tlopfest now noticed the change in the sword's appearance. "Whoah, what happened to you, Derf? Also, how did you get in my mind?"
"Your emotions, partner. The gift of Gadalfr is partially attributed to emotions. The stronger they are, the more powerful the user becomes. Part of that helped with my transition, and well, clearing your mind seemed to make it better as well. Speaking of, what the hell was all of that?"
"That…" Looking down, Tlopfest had some shame show up on his face. "That was the price of pursuing Thaumaturgy to the extent that I did." Having a small headache come on, Tlopfest jumped slightly at the sound of a creeper behind him. Although he knew it to be fake, the pigman couldn't help but look behind him. Just to be safe. "My mind was completely corrupted by some of the things I saw and learned. After so long of living with it though, I was able to seal it away for the most part. With that episode of mine though….I fear that it may start slipping through again." Shivering, Tlopfest laid down on Sylphid's back. "I just hope that I can still control it before someone gets hurt."
Before he closed his eyes to get some rest, Tlopfest glanced at Wardes' hat again and remembered his deal with the 'Crystaline Gang.' "Right, that could come in handy." Tlopfest thought. Looking towards Tabitha, Tlopfest asked "Hey Tabitha, can we drop by La Nocher before we head home? I have some business there that I need to take care of."
Well...that could have gone better huh? At least Tlop and Louise are alive. Add the Warp shenanigans starting up again, and you've got a small recipe for disaster. Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!