I started a continuation of this story for a test so I made sure to remember it and put it here, here's the result after adding more. This part leads into the story this is a prequel of a lot more. I still need to find it. Though I may have to slightly change it when I do.
His search had been for naught. George found the man exactly how he'd found his parents the day they began hunting him. Skin pale as snow, ice to the touch, face still holding the ghost of the last exclamation for help. George's last hope was gone. He had one option, dangerous, but there. Steal the man's magical items and train himself. Any mistake would be catastrophic without someone guiding him, but he had to do something. He prefered to die by his own miscast of a spell than by being anywhere near them.
Five near deaths, six injuries and two destroyed towns later, George finally figured out the spell that had interested him, how to turn people into puppets. He hadn't fully mastered it, he could get them to look like puppets in an instant but it took time until they were actually puppets, but it was enough. He'd even studied a bit into how magic worked.
One was born with it, but until they began training, no one could know it was there. It was random if someone was born with it, but Masters in the craft could easily find children with the power.
There were also some rules concerning magic duels. Not very strict, but they were there. One in particular he never let himself forget, in case he ever found himself in one, the defeated would be either dead, or magically bound to the victor and must serve them until either one of them died, or their master said any tense of the word "free" to them.
The next time they found him, they were harmless puppets after a glance at him. They would never hurt anyone he cared about again, they wouldn't hurt anyone again. He was finally safe.
After all of that training and never having a master to guide him, his magic was restless and he didn't know how to control it. He had to keep using it. He ended up starting a traveling puppet show, The Lost and the Lonely (the name needed work, but it still drew a crowd wherever he went) and traveled the world to keep using his magic and his spell.
Here is the part where my original story would easily be able to start, but as I don't have it, I'm sorry if you've gotten excited, but you're going to have to wait until I find it. So sorry, I will try to find it as soon as I can.
