Before we came to be, there were guardians. Ones known for their protection and balance of elements. They lived in a dimension known as Aesagarus, a dimension divided by carbon plains and and vast oceans. This story begins with a man coated with armor of platinum and his servant Vibracon. Every element had two guardians, a ruler and a servant. Vibracon may have served the Platinum Fortress, but his gift lied elsewhere. He controlled velocity itself and could move faster than light, much faster.

Including Platinum, the elemental biomes consisted of Carbon, Water, Lightning, and Fire. They were always in dispute over power, but the Fortress of Carbon did not engage in the conflict. The leader of the Fortress of Carbon, Calman, was devious. In their ignorant arguments, they did not recognize that Calman had other plans. He created an army of slaves, forged in Carbon and forced to his bidding. He wanted Aesagarus all to himself. His conquest of the dimension would lead to success, but not without retaliation. The ruler of water, Vamia, struck immediately. Yet with a lack of an army, her attempts were useless. Calman slaughtered her servant and Vamia was left fatally wounded. In her last breath, she created a subdivision of water to lead a rebellion in the ashes of his conquest. This subdivision was the element of frost, and she cast it into the void to return upon the next eon.

The leader of lightning, Folan, lashed out in anger and mistakenly killed his servant in the rage. In these two losses, he was furious. He attacked Calman alone and was near victory. Before Folan could finish Calman, Calman’s servant impaled Folan with a flaming trident. Calman’s servant had the appearance of a demon with the horns of a ram.

Calman easily manipulated the ruler of fire, his name was Talvinian. This only added to his force and he had one more target. As he reached the Platinum Fortress, he was welcomed with Jolan, the leader of platinum. Jolan wielded a sword and shield made purely of platinum and he challenged Calman’s reign. Calman easily overpowered Jolan, but Vibracon set up an ambush and prevented Jolan’s death. Not for long though, Calman instead would take Vibracon’s life, but plans had changed when he found a carbon spear in Jolan’s chest, who stood in the way.

Vibracon in all his rage, took Jolan’s sword and slaughtered everyone at a blazing speed. Calman and his servant both lied dead and his army suffered the same fate. Vibracon then killed himself to prevent suffering a worser fate, isolation. The leader and servant of every element faded away and left but one thing, a seed to the future. Sealed inside 6 crystals were their gifts, waiting to be reopened. Waiting to unleash chaos once again.

Part One

The year is 1980, at Portland State University there is a man known as Gabriel. He is a junior and his brother, a senior. Gabriel has always wanted to join track but he was never good. His brother Kevin however, was basically a gold medalist. After his classes, Gabriel would sit by the track and ponder his life choices. One day walking back to his house he saw a crystal, as white as snow and was a perfect sphere. It was lying in an alleyway. After taking it nothing was different, just a nice souvenir. The next day on the track he wanted to run. He took one step and he thought of his brother, the next his mother. He felt weird like every step he took his life flashed. He started gaining speed and it felt like a slideshow. He felt himself sprinting as hard as he could. He saw his entire life repeating over and over again. 20 years going by every second, he could hear the flashes. The crystal then started to glow, brighter and brighter. It went to being the light of a flashlight to the light of the sun. Then, the white glow surrounded him like an aura of energy. He was sprinting so hard his eyes were closed, all he could hear was wind passing by. He was scared to open his eyes. Once he worked up the courage, he could tell he wasn’t tired at all, even though he was still running. He opened his eyes and saw long stretches of blurs, like lights and buildings. He stopped to look around, he found silver armor attached to him like tape and a quarterstaff on his back. He also saw a sign that translated to english. It said “Kolkata, India”.
Gabriel, trying to stop himself, trips and flies through the air, landing in a crowded market. He gets up in a panic and attempts to ask anyone where he is. No one pays any attention to him and treats him as a ghost. He seeks shelter in an alleyway and tries to reactivate the crystal, but the light dims down. He couldn’t think straight, so he just walked the streets for hours. Sunset hits and the walkways clear, but he keeps walking. He walks until civilization is scarce. He lies down in the dunes and waits for anything. He passes out.

Gabriel wakes to find himself in a car. The driver speaks to him in an unknown language. After Gabriel shrugs, the driver begins to question him, “You speak english?” Gabriel has no other option but to respond. “Yeah.” “Where are you from then? Europe?” “Portland.” “How’d the hell you get down here?” Gabriel shrugs. “I think I might’ve been a bit tipsy.” “Tipsy enough to travel 8,000 miles with most of the journey being water? Including the fact that it took you a minute n’ a half.” Gabriel is silent.

“How’d you find me?” Gabriel asks. “I had a feeling, I think me and you are alike in the fact that we are both ‘tipsy’ in a way.” The driver looks back with gunmetal eyes and holds his hand out for a shield to fold out from it. “There was a disaster in Montana. They say it was an earthquake, but there were boulder-sized shards of some black substance breaking through the ground and up. I think someone caused this.”

“Where are you taking me?” “Montana of course.” “Why? What do you want from me?” “I want your potential, a war is coming and we’re gonna need it.” “I have a life to get back to.” “But your life has just begun.”

Gabriel thought about his life and saw this new beginning unfold. He was scared, but finally saw purpose in himself. He convinced himself to take a flight to Montana with the driver. “I’m Gabriel.” “I’m Hansen.”

Part Two

As the plane landed, a black spike erupted from the ground and stopped the plane in place. The spike impaled both pilots and destroyed the cockpit. Gabriel and Hansen ran out to find the cause. They saw a man in front of the plant with a hood over his head. He waved his hand like a command, and the spike from the ground retracted itself from the cockpit and turned its attention to Hansen and Gabriel. It was like it was alive. It lunged at them while still attached to the ground. Hansen deployed his shield and covered his face and prayed. The spike hit his shield directly and launched him meters back. Yet his shield had no sign of being scratched. The hooded man then raised his hands and black, rocky cylinder raised from the ground and elevated him to the planes height. The stone in Gabriels pocket began to glow, it blinded the man. At the same time, Gabriel found himself covered in metal besides his face. He had the quarterstaff back as well. He felt the speed in him, he felt lighter than wind. He could control it, everything moves slow and he moved faster. He ran up the cylinder and swung the quarterstaff as hard as he could. He knocked the man off the platform and Gabriel gained confidence. Hansen was back on his feet and together, they took turns placing hits. They finally took him down, but Hansen planned something else. He raised his sword to impale him, but Gabriel quickly ran over and kicked the sword out of his hand. Hansen reluctantly agreed to keep him alive.