The Cube
The man held forward the cube, the side for Earth facing them, and the symbol began to glow. They all looked at Earth, as suddenly glowing bands appeared around her wrist, and her arms began to raise into the air. "Wha- what is this?" she stammered, panicking, and tried to back away, but her amrs remained fixed in the air at the position of the wrists, still moving on their own. Lines of energy began to flow out of the bands along her fingers and up her arms, and they all looked back at the Bearer, who began to laugh, as he brought his free hand forard, holding it above the Cube.
"You fools," he said as he continued laughing, "do you really thing you can go against the will of the Cube?" From his hands, strings of light appeared to descend into the Cube, and as he began to move them with his fingers Earth suddenly screamed out, and when they looked back at her she was clearly in pain as her arms were being stretched in a way they wouldn't be naturally. She continued struggling to pull away, pushing backwards against the ground, until she was no longer able to. Panicking, she looked down at her feet, and then shook her head worringly.
"Stop this now," Water said, holding out his hand to blast the man with water, but before the spray could go forward the floor in front of him raised up, blocking the shot. The raised floor then broke apart, and flew forward toward him. He ran forward toward it instead of dodging it, and jumped up onto it as a platform to jump up to the ceiling. He punched through the drop tile, grabbing onto pipes above it, and then suddenly the sprinklers all came to life, pouring down water. "Now then," he said, "I believe I said stop."
He looked down to Air and nodded, and she nodded in return. She then held her hands up, and a fierce wind started blowing in the room, swirling around and gathering up the water from the sprinkler, preventing it from falling to the ground. She then clenched her hands together, and it all converged on the Bearer, who held up his free arm to shield his face from the onslaught. As he did this, Water then reached down with his free hand and undid his shoelaces, and loosened his boots. He lifted one leg backward and then kicked it forward, sending the boot flying toward the Bearer, but missing. He then did it again with the other boot, hitting the cube and knocking it out of his hand.
Earth fell to the ground, and Fire ran over to help her up. As he went to touch her, though, a shock ran through his body, and he pulled back. "Uh uh," the Bearer said in mocking response, bending down to pick up the Cube. Water jumped down to the floor and began to run forward to attack him, but from his sleeve a small metal bearing rolled into his hand, which he tossed forward toward Water. Once it hit him, he stopped moving, frozen in place, and the ball fell to the floor. "That was a little clever," the Bearer said, picking up the Cube and holding his hand up to it once again, the strings of light reappearing. "I wasn't expecting to get a shoe thrown at me, anyway."
He moved his hand, and Earth stood to her feet, then stepped forward and grabbed at Fire. He tried to get free of her grab, but, enhanced by whatever spell the Cube held her in, her strength was much more than he was expecting, and he was unable to overcome it. "I will admit, though," the Bearer continued, "puppetry was never a strong suit of mine, and trying to control her is proving to be more work than I thought it would be." Air ran over to try and help pull him free, and Fire watched as the Bearer put his hand down on the top of the Cube, and the strings fell down from his fingers. The Bearer reached into his pocket, and as he pulled his hand back out Fire could see several more of the small metal bearings in it, which he through forward at the three of them, hitting the three of them.
Water was the first to be able to move again, finding himself locked in a small metal cage. He could see nothing else in the room, the only light a beam coming from above him which illuminated nothing else. He tried holding his hands up to use his power, but the bars of the cell began to glow, and he realized it was engineered to absorb his power. "Bearer," he decided to shout instead, "are you out there? Show yourself!" The response was simply a laugh, and three additional lights came to life around him, revealing his other three companions, who were still frozen and each in their own cage.
"Very nice tools," came the Bearer's voice, from somewhere in front of him. "I'm glad I saved these little balls." Laughter filled the air again, and a new light came on, illuminating the Bearer. In one hand he held the Cube, and in the other hand he held a remote, which was pointed toward the ceiling, controlling the lights Water guessed. Gasps of air came from his side, and he looked over and saw the other three had unfrozen as well. "And now that you're all awake again, we can move this into its next phase." He pointed the remote to the ground next to him, and a platform opened up, revealing something as it rose from the ground.
"What is that?" Fire asked, as a light came on over the rising platform. Upon it was a column, with a board atop it showing a large grid of gold wires. Water frowned, not expecting this move. As far as he was aware, this was supposed to be destroyed, and the company had made a cheap imitiation for its minimum effect. Seeing it again after so many years made things so much worse. Although, as he thought about it further, perhaps it was a good thing taht it was still around after all.
"That," Water said, "is the Pedestal. It is used to bring out the full power of the Cube. And with both in his control, the world is doomed."
Date posted: 18 December, 2011 Tags: regularspelling the_grand_game writing
« The Bearer | The Pedestal »