Chapter Text
Magolor has been talking to the Lor once again. Of course, it never responds. He's not sure if it's because the Lor can sense his ill intent, or if it's because the rumors of the Lor having a mind of its own are false. Magolor suspects it's the former. While he believes his goal of taking over the universe and changing it for the better is a noble one,he knows not everyone would agree with it. However, if the Lor did not agree with what he was doing why did it still let him use it?
Oh well! If he keeps thinking about this, he won’t get anything done. Discarding the stray thoughts about the Lor’s nature,Magolor floats over to the ship's monitor to check if the ship has reached his destination. The destination being the wish-granting clockwork star,Nova. you see Magolor hasn't had luck obtaining the master crown by himself. Although he has the power of the Lor on his side, it seems it may not be enough. Now if he simply wishes for Nova to get him the crown, that would be quite easy! The people may think he was cowardly for this...oh well! He could just simply lie and say he took it himself! Once he has the crown people would have to listen to him!
Magolor knows that to summon Nova, he has to go to multiple planets for it to show up. Still, there's no harm checking where it's supposed to be! Maybe someone already summoned it, and he can use that to his advantage. Perhaps, he can swoop in and steal their wish? Is that even allowed? Well, it's not like someone would just let him use their wish, how dumb would that be!
Looking at the monitor, Magolor sees he's getting close to the area where Nova should be. However, there is something strange on the monitor. The screen tells him there's some sort of life form ahead. It can’t be Nova since Nova is a machine and technically not alive...Is someone making a wish? If so, this could be his chance! Making the Lor speed up to catch the person by surprise, Magolor reaches his location and halts to a stop. Magolor leaves the Lor and quickly flies over to Nova.
Flying past what he assumes is space debris, Magolor halts to a stop once he finally reaches his location. He is frozen by the sight he sees. Nova is there but not completely. Bits and pieces are scattered around the area. Gold chunks, along with the random objects that made the clock, now float haphazardly around the area. Stunned, Magolor tries to reason what happened to the comet that was Nova. Did someone destroy it? That seems possible. Maybe someone thought the amount of power the clock held was dangerous and needed to be destroyed? That may be correct, however it doesn't leave him less frustrated. What's he supposed to do now?! He doesn't have any other ideas. Maybe he could find the other clockwork star? Oh, but he has no idea where that one is!
Floating in circles in frustration with his ears flopping down, Magolor tries to think of a solution to his problem. Hmmm... Maybe he can rebuild it? No. Magolor knows ancient tech like the Lor, but not the one of a clockwork star. Find an ancient and ask them to rebuild? Too risky and probably impossible to do. Ugh, he's getting mad now. Maybe he could find the idiot who destroyed Nova in the first place and put them into their place! No. No, Magolor just needs to calm down. He needs to think rationally.
While breathing in and out slowly, Magolor attempts to calm himself down when suddenly something hits him. He gasps slightly and falls forward before quickly turning around to see what hit him. The offender is a person. Magolor remembers the Lor telling him about the life form and quickly puts together that this is them! The person is a ball of purple wearing a blue and red jester hat. They are face down and limply floating. Are they passed out? Do they know what happened to Nova? They have too! They're passed out directly near where it usually resides!
Magolor considers his options: he COULD bring them onto the ship and fix them up from whatever happened to get them to spill whatever happened to Nova. They'd have to after he helped them. However, they could be dead. He would just be bringing a dead corpse into his clean ship...He’ll take the risk. It's his best option at the moment. Maybe after he has more info, he can figure out a solution to this whole situation. After making up his mind, Magolor scoops up the purple limp body of the stranger and begins making his way back to the Lor past all the parts of what was once the clockwork star.
Once back on the sleek white and blue of the ship, Magolor takes the stranger into one of the many rooms. He sits the stranger down onto one of the many beds on the Lor and quickly floats back over to the main area.
“Lor, show me what's wrong with the newcomer.”
The Lor’s main screen lights up as words begin appearing on it. Magolor, during one nasty cold,had found out the Lor could scan anyone in it for any ailments, and he has been using this to make sure he was always in top shape. Can’t rule the universe with a tummy ache! Looking at the screen, Magolor pauses at the info it has given. It seems there is somehow no major damage on the newcomer. However, they have been knocked out in some sort of magic induced coma.
“Can you wake them up?”
The response is not immediate, but it eventually comes.
“I can speed up the process of waking him up, but you have to use your magic to fully wake him.”
Magolor sighs. This has to be some sort of strong magic if even the Lor itself cannot fully wake him. He wants to wake the newcomer, but Magolor is not experienced very well with healing magic. He's never needed it. But Magolor isn't one who gives up. This person knows what happened to Nova. He needs this info. No healing inexperience will stop him!
“Do it. I will do my part in a moment.”
Magolor floats away from the Lor’s monitor and heads over to one of the ship's many rooms, but he's heading specifically to the one he has made into a library. Bigger than most other rooms in the lor and circular in nature,the library is lined with tall book shelves full of books all from different planets he's visited. It is lit by multiple hanging candles, a mix of browns,yellows and dark blues. A single table in the middle of the room with one chair specifically for him. Not like anyone else would use it anyways. Magolor floats over to where he puts the magic centric books.
While flying over, Magolor scans the shelf for anything relating to healing. He sees mostly books relating to either offensive or defensive magic, nothing relating to healing. Magolor starts to wonder if he even had any books about healing until his eyes finally settle on a dusty,old and ragged looking book with a simple “healing magic” title on its side. He takes it out and flies over to the table before sitting and placing the worn book down. Magolor just sits there pondering. He doesn't remember buying or gaining this book but one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth! Magolor opens the book and is surprised to see that the words in it seem to be handwritten and well written nonetheless. Magolor pretty much speed reads the contents.
What Magolor gathers is that healing magic focuses on someone's will to help someone. Magolor frowns at this. He's not sure if he can do that. Sure, he wants to help him, but only because he has info Magolor needs. Is that enough? Well, no harm in trying. After closing the book and placing it back upon the shelf, Magolor begins floating back to where he left the newcomer. The newcomer is still there however, his face, instead of being emotionless, is now scrunched up. It seems he is still not awake.
Magolor holds out his hands over the unconscious body of the stranger. While focusing on his need to wake this person up, He feels a strange sensation like he's about to cast a spell but somehow it feels lighter? It pools in his hands, but Magolor keeps his focus. He needs him to wake up. He needs to know what happened to Nova! Then after a moment, the newcomer suddenly shoots up with a gasp which makes Magolor stumble back with his hands in tow. Manically the newcomer starts frantically looking at his surroundings until his eyes finally land on Magolor.
“Wha-”
Magolor swoops in before the newcomer gets the wrong idea.
“Hello! Glad to see you awake, I'm Magolor. I found you floating while passed out in space, so I brought you back into my ship. Are you alright?”
The newcomer squints his eyes and scans Magolor, quite clearly trying to get a read on him. He suddenly gets a giant smile on his face and nods.
“I’m fine! Haha! Man, Oh man, I must be lucky if you found me waaaaaaay into space! Oh, name's Marx by the way!”
Magolor pauses...that's one way to react. Oh well he’s awake, time to ask the big question.
“Right...Where I found you was where Nova is supposed to be, but all there was were broken parts of it. What happened?”
“Oh my gosh, were you gonna make a wish!? That's suuuuuuper unfortunate. I feel so bad! Well you see it was crazy what happened, so I was about to make my wish when this monster showed up and blew it up! It was crazy!!!”
What? Is all Magolor is thinking, he may not get out much, but even he could tell that this Marx guy is lying. Why? Is he hiding something?
“Okay, what did this monster look like?”
Marxs keeps smiling.
“Oh it was HUGE, super big and scary, I didn't stand a chance and neither did Nova! One hit and BAM! Nova is gone.”
Marx’s smile falls into a sad expression which Magolor suspects isn't genuine.
“You’re messing with me aren't you?”
“Noooooooo.”
A pause.
“Okay, yeah I am.”
Magolor groans and tugs on his hood in annoyance.
“ Listen I need to know what happened to Nova, I have to make a wish and seeing Nova in pieces doesn't bode well.”
Marx gets a sinister grin upon his face at this.
“Oh I can tell you! But I wanna know what you're going to wish for first!”
“I think saving you from the cold of space and waking you up is enough for this info.”
“Oh it’s not like I don’t appreciate that! I do. It's just that I'm really curious, I'm not saying anything until you spill!”
“Okay. Tell me, and I will say it.”
“Nuh uh, you say it first. I'm not risking you just kicking me out when I spill!”
Magolor groans again as Marx starts lifting his feet up and down while he waits. This guy is a handful, who does he think he is? Magolor could definitely just threaten him, maybe summon one of his swords but he has a feeling that wouldn't work. He could lie about it. Yes, this seems to be the best approach, it’s less messy this way.
“Fine,I want to improve my ship. I travel a lot so it'd be beneficial.”
“That's a Lie.”
“What?”
Marxs grin grows wider.
“Well why would you wanna hide that? You seemed to have been hesitant to tell me your wish earlier, and the answer you gave wasn't something someone would be hesitant to share! So what's your real wish?”
Panic rises in Magolor, something he hasn't felt in awhile, as Marx emphasizes “real” in his sentence. What should he say? Of course, Marx is right that it was a bold faced lie, but should he admit that? One thing is for certain, this Marx guy is sharper than he looks. Apparently Magolor has been thinking for too long, because Marxs starts speaking again.
“Honestly, no need to lie, it can't be any worse than what I did!”
This catches Magolors attention. “any worse than what I did”? What does he mean by that? Feeling bold, Magolor decides to tell the truth.
“I wanted to wish for Nova to get an item of great power for me since I cannot achieve it as is.”
“Hmmmm...lemme guess, you want this item so you can rule over everyone huh?”
If Magolor wasn't shocked before, he sure is now.
“How did-”
“Yeah, I'm right. I got that vibe from you! I knew because I basically tried to do the same thing! My case is a bit different though!”
“...You tried to rule over everyone?”
“Well not EVERYONE , only a single planet I lived on.”
Magolor is too stunned to talk.
“Anyways, since you answered, I guess it's my turn to spill. You see, I had this plan to rule over my home planet Pop Star. It started with me getting the sun and moon to fight. When everyone was in a panic, I approached the local hero Kirby and told him he needed to summon Nova. Guess what! Kid fell for it. HA! So I waited until he summoned Nova, and BAM I swooped in and stole his wish and told Nova I wanted to rule Pop Star! Oh, it was great. The look on Kirby's face was so funny! Unfortunately for me however, it seemed I underestimated Kirby because he stopped Nova! Obviously I went to stop him, but the little bastard used his hammer to swing me directly into Nova. Then, it blew up with me inside!”
Magolor watched as Marx spoke his tale, Standing and jumping in place, his expression shifting to fit parts of the story. Magolor was in awe. Marx was truly something else, and Magolor wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
“Okay so, lemme get this straight. This Kirby kid pretty much blew up Nova to stop you from taking over his planet?”
“Yep!”
“Well, that makes much more sense than whatever nonsense you were saying before. It seems I can’t use Nova for my plans after all.”
“Seems like that, unless it puts itself back together somehow.”
“Like that'll happen”
Magolor begins pacing around thinking of his next plan of action. Nova is clearly a no go now. What else can he do? He's not powerful enough to defeat Landia, and neither is the lor! Magolor keeps thinking, lost in thought. So much that he doesn't even notice Marx getting off the bed and coming towards him.
“Ya know, you could just do what I did!”
“Do what you did?”
“Yeah! Kirby is a powerhouse. I can guarantee he can get that item for you easily, if you convince him too.”
“Uhm, wouldn't he be on guard from your attempt?”
“Trust me when I say that he really is too trusting for his own good.”
“I don’t even know what he looks like!”
“He’s a Pink ball with blue eyes, pretty easy to spot.”
“I-I I don't even know where Pop star is!”
“It's in the name, it's the planet that's shaped like a star hard to miss.”
“Why are you even trying to help me?”
“Honestly? Well I kinda wanna see someone put that pink puff ball in his place. It'd be really funny to hear about.”
“I honestly don’t know how to respond to that.”
“I get that a lot! Anyways, I should probably leave now. We both got what we wanted, so I see no reason to stay!”
“Right..”
Magolor isn't sure why, but he finds himself disappointed at this. He quickly dismisses the feeling as he leads Marx to the exit of the ship. Before exiting the open door to the star-ridden void of space, Marx looks at Magolor one last time with that grin plastered on his face.
“See you around Magolor! Or maybe not! Hope you find what you're looking for!”
Magolor cannot even respond as Marx suddenly sprouts a pair of golden wings,hesitates for a moment and quickly flies out the Lor’s exit. After Marx’s leaving, Magolor finds the ship feels a lot quieter and empty than before.